Refreshing!

My first refresher course took place this morning at 8am. For those who avoided the AMK area thinking that I'd only be driving in AMK, boy were you wrong. I went as far as Sengkang and Punggol. And no.... whatever traffic jams you were caught in was not caused by me!!!

I was surprisingly calm and not nervous (at all!) about the refresher, which was so different from how I felt when I first tried driving in our own car a couple of months back (I was basically so freaked out that I dared not even step on the accelerator). Perhaps knowing that I'm driving someone else's car (bang also never mind) or the fact that someone with experience is sitting next to me makes all the difference.

This morning, my instructor Mr Tok picked me up in his gold Toyota Corolla at AMK MRT. When his car stopped, I hopped into the passenger seat, without even realising he was getting ready to get out of the car. Then he asked if I can take over the wheel. I thot to myself, "If I can, why did I sign up this course?"

Anyway, I politely mentioned that I've not driven for a long long time, so I would like to build up my confidence on the roads again. He then drove us to a less crowded road and stopped at the roadside for me to switch to the driver's seat.

I started slowly and stuck to the left-most lane. After 15 mins later, we went on to do changing of lanes, filtering, U-turning etc. Mr Tok was also very chatty and we talked about irresponsible driving and how we should learn from their mistakes.

We did more driving in Sengkang/Punggol, and before I know it, the 1.5 hours were almost up. I drove back to AMK MRT and confirmed with Mr Tok details for our next lesson.

I never expect myself to say this, but I am really looking forward to my next lesson next Tuesday!

Refresher Course

"Do you really need to take it? That bad ah?"
"Where will you be taking the course? I'll avoid that area for the time being..."
"I'll teach you!" (um.... this friend is currently based in Australia)

There you go.... some of the comments from my FRIENDS after they learn that I am keen to take up driving again. =P

Anyway, after getting no results from my appeal for private instructor from my FB contacts, I decided to take up the 4-lesson course from SSDC. Each lesson is abt SGD73 (for 120 mins off peak) + registration of $21. Their approach is pretty structured - including expressway driving, parking etc.

After lunch at my MIL's today, I asked Chester to drive me to SSDC. I enquired at the reception on the refresher course and was told that for a course in auto, the next available slot is in July. Gosh, and I thot I was the only one that was not confident enough to go on the roads. For learning in the manual mode, the wait is 2 weeks. By then, I would need to start work.

I previously found this IDrive, which I thot was rather expensive ($50 registration; $40/hr), and it would appear to be the next best alternative. I've completed their online enrolment form and I'll wait for them to arrange. Hopefully the instructor is not some psycho, hot-tempered ah chek.

Wish me luck.

The End to Ants

I have written about my ants woes in an earlier post. Between then and now, I'd probably swept away thousands of ants, some alive, mostly dead (from the ant poison baits we placed).

After I swept the dead ants out early this morning, I was disgusted to see many more on the kitchen floor an hour later. It's like "where the hell do they come out from and in such mysterious ways that leave no trail?

Just when I was reaching for the broom (again), I noticed some activity near the entrance to the sewage hole on the floor.... there are a handful of ants trying to make their way out to the kitchen floor. THAT'S IT! That should be the nest!

While I was excited that I've found the source of my problem, I wasn't sure what to do. Chester suggested spraying insecticide, so that the ants will not come out from the hole. I did that and the surrounding area, and what I saw next gave me goosebumps.

It looked like a scene from movies like Mummy and the now-showing Indiana Jones 4 - hundreds of ants start spewing between the gaps of my kitchen cabinet. Ok ok, I may have exaggerated, but ants were really coming out from one corner at the base of my kitchen cabinet. It appeared that the fumes were forcing them out, and they came dropping out onto the kitchen floor in masses - splat splat - creating a dead ant heap. Not sure when the massacre will end, I left it alone.

After 10 mins, I returned to clean up the mass/mess. Hopefully this is the last I'll see of them.

Mayenne's 1st (uh... 2nd?) Birthday

Again I was waiting for Chester to upload all the pictures before I can put up this post.

The party was great. Other than the usual birthday fanfare, I think the highlight of the party was for Mayenne to meet her new friends. Some of them whom she may have already met earlier on, but I guess she's too young to understand then.

Mayenne is certainly not the shy kind - she will reach out to touch her newfound friends, as if to say "Good to meet you!" In one instance, 2-year-old Jonesy (Soo Poh's son) had to leave the party early. So both mummies carried our babies so that they can say goodbye. Soo Poh then asked Jones to give Mayenne a kiss on the cheek (the side without the ant bite), but instead of doing that, he leaned forward so that Mayenne could kiss him!! Haha!


We can never take a perfect picture if the picture has more than 1 kid:
One for the album:


Please go to Chester's blog for more photos.

Damn those antz

About a couple of months ago, our house was invaded by swarms of ants, of various species. In bid to eradicate them, we placed ant baits at strategic spots in the house.

While we know that it takes some time for the bait to be brought back to the ants' nest such that all ants will be poisoned, today we are still in the unwelcomed company of these six-legged creatures. We observed an interesting phenomenon: instead of staying in their nests, the ants all crawled out from the nest to die. This resulted in me having to sweep away hundreds of corpses every day. I even found a heap (I am not exaggerating) of dead ants, like a mass gravenear my window sill. Sometimes, the ants were not exactly dead but half-groggy, and I have to chase after them.

Worst of all, they attacked Mayenne, even though she sleeps in a high cot. Just the day before her 2nd birthday party, she had at least 7 bite marks on her body, of which one is smack right on her fair rosy cheek. Sigh.

In a fit of anger, I threw away all the baits a couple of days, as I thot it's a self-fulfilling prophecy - the more baits you place, more ants will come, and I believe there are just too many nests to tackle.

Hopefully the situation will improve and my darling Mayenne will not have to suffer anymore.

Two Strikes in a Row *ding ding*

Having it back to back is certainly thrilling and joyous! Yippee!!
*wink*

Mayenne's 1st Birthday

We celebrated Mayenne's 1st Birthday last Sunday (1st birthday as in 1 years old and the order number one - she will have her second party this coming Sunday). Chester did a great writeup on the happenings that day, so I am not going to duplicate that. Please see his blog for more details and photos.

Just want to say a few things here:


Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for organising this party (I just needed to order the cake). Mayenne was clearly happy and at her best and cutest behaviour throughout the party - she din even complain about the endless queue of people wanting to carry the birthday girl, a heavy diaper (Mummy forgot to change her in all the excitement) and a late milk feed (again Mummy was overwhelmed).


The cake was a winner as I have never seen people asking for second servings and 3kg birthday cakes being eaten till it ran out - I had to make sure that I've saved a slice for myself or else there wouldn't be any left! So it is a no brainer for me to order from the cake shop for the 2nd party.


Looking forward to the BIG DAY this coming Sunday!!!

Mothers' Day Gift

Yesterday I celebrated Mothers' Day for the first time in my life, as a Mummy. I kinda missed it last year, as Mayenne was still in my tummy then.

On Mothers' Day morning, we woke up to a strong waft of the smell of poo, and later found out that Mayenne has poo-pooed and the poo has leaked out from the diaper. As she didn't make any noise after she woke up, she practically created poo art on her bed.

Chester and I quickly organised ourselves: first we washed Mayenne up, then he changed her in another bed while I attended to the war zone. As I didn't have time to wash the bed linen, we deposited them at my Mum's for the maid to help us wash, when Chester went out to buy McDonald's breakfast for me (as a Mothers' Day treat - thanks Hunny).

There is a Chinese belief that poo signifies "cai" or prosperity. All I'm going to say is that I'm Chinese and I'm a believer.

=P

In Transit

I am currently in between jobs, and loving every minute of it.

I am thankful to my ex-boss who has released me earlier than my 3 months' notice (well I did serve 1.5 months to ensure proper handover). I am also thankful to my future employer who allowed me to take a month's break before I start work at the new place.

Although I'm in transit, I'm certainly not doing any sitting around. I have planned a to-do list, and this is how it looks like (for now):

• Organise Mayenne's parties (yes plural - one at my MIL's place and the other at my Mum's). This itself has its own long to-do list (caterer, cake, guest list, decorations etc).
• Take a driving refresher course. Chester has been so cynical about my motivation to sign up. I'll prove him wrong (even if it means me taking just one lesson - haha). When that happens, please stay away from AMK.
  
• Go for eyebrow embroidery (to end my suffering of looking like "La Bi Xiao Xin" every morning due to over-zealous drawings to balance out my brows).
• Go for a short holiday with Chester (if I can convince him to do so).
  
• Update my blog (here I am!).
• Boost the economy by doing my duty during the GSS.
  
• Spend quality time with Mayenne (when I'm not shopping - just kidding!)
  

I'm sure before I know it, the month is up. Notwithstanding, I will do everything I can to maximise this time as it certainly does not come by that often.