The situation yesterday evening,

The remaining fishes decided on a joint suicide. Earlier than I had anticipated, they did not last even a week! I even took a video of them when they were very active, and it was only 2 days ago, but the size of the video is too big to be uploaded here. Mind you, we started with at least 10 of them.

K says that they are sleeping......so now the little tank is empty. For terrapins perhaps? No way, I am just kidding.

The fishes were so active yesterday but they have nowhere to go. Poor things can only swim round and round the small tank.

We have been getting casualties almost everyday. We are down to what, 6 of them longkang fishes and I'm expecting an empty tank by this weekend.

My colleague, who brings his kids to longkang fishing too, says them fishes don't last very long. When we were at the fish farm on Saturday, another family was there too but they returned all the fishes that they caught although no refund was given. It's the experience, I suppose. I told K and the hubs, if we return again, we will return the fishes too. They are either not getting enough oxygen, do not have the freedom that they have in the man-made longkang or the tank is over-crowded. Sigh.....

Bless the hubs, who have been the one changing the water in the tank. I told K to forget about keeping any pets...I do not think I have the energy to look after any since the hubs have already openly told us he is not going to be responsible in doing so.

We had such a packed long weekend and thankfully, we also rested well.

Friday started with the entire family, minus Bev who was on flight and James who we presume had work, visit my father's grave. It's been 27 years since my father has passed on. And I'm glad the 2 eldest brothers seem to have buried whatever old hatchet they had and the 2 elder SILs have also started talking. 

After the 1/2 hour spent at the grave, Robin and his family went off while we sent Jerry's family to the nearest train station to take their connecting bus to JB where they were going to spend the night at. The rest of us went for lunch at Tiong Bahru, took a walk around the estate to check out the quaint cafes and then went home to nap.

After my weekly magic-clean and mop, we were out of the house for dinner. The hubs had suggested checking out a fairly new shopping centre near his colleague's condo but the parking lots were so limited that we went off and went to another mall at Choa Chu Kang. We are quite sick of visiting the usual malls at our area and we didn't want to venture to town. 

And yesterday morning, we went farm hopping! We visited the fish farm first because I wanted to let K have a hand at longkang fishing and since it is our first stop, we were all energetic still. It took us a while to realise where to go for the easy catch and we brought home quite a few of those fishys but at least 4 have died at the time of this entry. :( I've told K that we should release them back to the waters the next we time we go again.

We went off to the goat farm next but missed the milking session as we were busy trying to catch them fishes earlier. But we got to pet the kids and that was enough for K. The hubs did buy a small bottle of goat's milk for her and 2 big ones home, which I politely declined .Live goats and mutton smell the same. Eeekkk.

We drove over to Bollywood Veggies for lunch and then walked around the 'farm' for a bit but there were not much to see. It looks more like a random plantation. We did go over to a proper agro-farm after but were not allowed to venture into the enclose area. So we stayed for awhile, looked at the fresh vegetables for sale and then went off to SPCA. Most of the dogs were bigger cross breeds and the cats didn't interest us much. 

Went back home and we all napped. Dinner was simple pesto pasta because I was quite sick of eating out although the hubs had wanted to go out, again.

Today, we had lunch near Ivy's parents after church. Her sis is in town from USA so it gives Ivy a week of rest while her sister takes over to look after their parents this 1 week. We went back home after lunch and again, napped.

When we woke up, the hubs decided to attend the wake of a friend's father and I decided to bring K down at the same time. Brought her to the playground where she enjoyed some 1/2 hour of play to reward her because she took her nap. The nice breeze downstairs made me allow K to play that long. Lol. 

So, we had a fun and rested long weekend. How about you?

Conversations with K

Children, they all grow up too quickly. Thankfully, I am not at the stage where I am asking when will she ever grow up. I just wish she doesn't!

I give K her bottle of milk every weekday morning at about 7am. A slow way to wake her up for school. Sometimes, she dream-feeds, sometimes she'll wake up by the time she empties her milk bottle. A lot of times, she asks me to sit with her and holds my hand while she drinks her fuel for the day. But it is also during this time, I go back to the kitchen and have my milk fix too. And I always tell her to drink first while I go switch off the kitchen lights. But I'll usually stay there, finish my milk and what-not before I go back to the room.

One day, after my usual excuse, she decided to stomp into the kitchen to check on me! 

K: I thought you said you come to switch off the light??!!

Me: *giggling* Ok, ok, I'm done. Let's go.

***********************************************************************

The other day in the car. We were talking as usual and again, I told her I don't want her to grow up because she wants to be 5, then 6, then 11. Her answer caught me off-guard and we ended up hugging each other.....awhhhh..

K: But even if I grow up, I'll still be your baby what.

************************************************************************

We went out for dinner on Thursday because the weather was SO hot. We wanted to escape the hot air, the sun's strong rays and immerse ourselves in air-con comfort. We did the same on Friday too but for different reasons. On my way back home, I saw the hubs and K at the playground and didn't want to rush through my cooking so agreed with the hub's suggestion to eat out, again.

With news reports that the sun is not going to be easy on us for a while, we were out again after I did K's laundry yesterday morning. We had lunch at the mall nearby and then went further to Kallang Wave Mall. The Victor's dropped by for a drink and also gave K a belated birthday present of yet another 'My Little Pony' set. Although the hubs and I do not indulge her, many others do. Maybe because they pity her? Lol.....

When the Victors went off for their next appointment, the 3 of us had dinner and then went to catch a swimming competition at club level. Something different to expose the girl with. And then we're home after almost the whole day out. 

And after church today, we went to visit Ivy's mum who had a fall. The fall was quite bad and had her bleeding from her head. Ivy shared with me that the nurses at the hospital mentioned that she cannot afford another one. When we reached their home, they were learning how to maneuver and fold the new wheelchair that they have bought. And because the old lady is so thin and weak, Ivy decided to let her put on adult diapers. It's not because she is not able to control herself but because the elderly couple stay on their own and my SIL's trying to think of the best way to manage the situation. It's so sad.

Awhile after the hubs, Tim and the kids helped fix rubber grips under the legs of the plastic chairs and stools around the house, we left. Thankfully, K slept in the car and all the way up as she didn't take any nap yesterday. 

I took advantage of the hot hot weather to launder the bedsheets while the hubs and K napped. The only person who didn't, despite being able to, was me! Poor me. Anyhow, thankfully K woke up in time and we were off again for a dinner invite by the Whites at their club. We had a good dinner with the Whites and Victors and then the 3 older girls went to bowl, with the 3 fathers joining shortly after. When we parted ways, it was already almost 9pm. I hope I get a good night's sleep tonight for the new work week tomorrow.

Our simple 2-dish dinner last night. Steam Cod-Fish and Stir-fried French Beans with egg.

The size of the cod fillet is sufficient for the 3 of us now but I reckoned that it would not be enough in time to come. Soon, I'll have to expand my 2-dish meals to include a 3rd. But I'm happy, we are all eating well. Thank God.

I have a colleague, who happens to be a neighbour. And when I say neighbour, I mean one who is living on the same floor as me. Yes! Not just in the same estate. I found out only after confirming the purchase of this place and was adamant to not say anything about it to her. Because, she's not exactly likeable and my ex-finance colleagues and I call her 'scanner' as she is one of those who scans a person from top to toe. And she is quite vocal too, in complaining.

But after about 6 months or so, she saw me and this time I didn't see her although I did see her once and she had no idea. So finally it's in the open. Well, between her and me anyway. The only other people in the office who are aware is my boss and maybe some of her departmental colleagues. At least now, I do not have to quickly scamper to hide or take a quick glance at her unit when the lift door opens at our floor. In the beginning, I could not believe my luck but I've since gotten over it. So, it's true. Things do become better when it is in the open.

Anyway, I needed to ask her if she has the same experience after we have been seeing lone centipedes in the house lately. The first time I saw one was early morning in the kitchen. The next few lone ones were in the balcony and common bath. I even saw 2 shrivelled up ones since we returned from Batam, 1 on Sunday in the balcony and 1 was in K's bowl, yesterday evening. We wonder where do they suddenly appear from? We figured because it's an old flat, 30ish, and there were no U-sleeves in the pipes. You can open the hair-trap and see the pipe all the way down. So the clever hubs placed our unused peranakan tiles over them before we left for the short get-away. 

But since we still see them around and thankfully solo travellers, I had to ask if my neighbouring colleague experiences the same problem at her unit, quite literally diagonally across the lift lobby. But she doesn't. So, I hope ours is an isolated case and will soon be condemned to isolation. After messaging the colleague at work through our internal messenger, I am also relieved to hear that her home has lizards and cockroaches' once in a while. Beats having to see them and scrambling for a rolled-up newspaper everyday.