Bummer!

I wrote a good post earlier but it failed to be published and wasn't saved either. too bad....

*walk back to cave*

Home is 6 years old.

I'm relieved we have bought a new second hand washing machine which replaced the old one. The spoilt one was here since the day we moved in, left behind by the previous owner. Not sure how long it had been used before us. At least it served us for these past 6 years.

Then again, with the old age this home is, everything else seems to be falling apart. The bathroom door in our master bedroom can't be closed, the walls on the side of the doors to our rooms have cracks, the skirting has some parts falling out, the kitchen cabinets are old and worn, the aircons don't quite produce cool air, the curtain railings dangling, wardrobe door has been ripped apart by didi years ago, paints on the walls are stained, main door can't open properly, dining chairs becoming rocking chairs, dining table visibly tortured, plants dying, microwave oven san san dei, pressure cooker also san san dei, clothes hanger has some loose screws, some electrical points switches can't be turned off, and to add on to this already long list, last saturday evening, the water tap in the laundry area burst open and flooded the whole area! We are so screwed.

With this long list of repairs that need to be done one day, I think we got to move out to get it all done. In the interim, IF we do move home, we can finally sort out the junk that had been accumulating in the store rooms. Out goes the junk, not to the new home, please. IF we do move to a new home. Can't wait for that to happen though. A new breath of air would do us some good, I do hope.

Their favorite subjects in school.

When school started, I learned that the syllabus for the pri 1 students has changed from this year and all the books are different from past year. That meant the books which I had bought for didi, are all non relevant to meimei anymore. What a bummer! I was thinking of saving some money finally by passing some books from one to the other.

Looking at the progress of schooling for meimei, I think she really has it easy. Not that I'm complaining. Whatever it is, I am glad that the BM seems not to be as tough as before. They are learning from the basics, expanding their vocab in everything around them. It does seem more like kindy stuffs, but I'm happy! Really, BM should be taught in a more structured way than before, rather than just expecting the kids to know how to make a sentence or understand a whole paragraph. Or probably I'm just lazy.

Comparatively, (not that I intended to compare), meimei seems to have more affinity to BM and Maths rather than Chinese whilst didi's subjects are Mandarin and Maths. Korkor's favorite subject, no doubt has always been science. He would be the geek.

How old are you?

Meimei developed a knack of asking everyone around her how old they are. It was harmless initially, but when it gets too overboard, it began to irks them and me.

My mom was around for the last few days, and whilst in the car, she asked her how old she is (for the uncountable times we know of). So both of us just ignored her and pretended we didn't hear her. She then started to answer her question herself with another question, like "51?"

Wanting to just quickly shut her up and changed the subject, I replied "yeah, you are right!".

She then pondered for awhile and said "Can't be!". I asked why? She said "You are coming to 40 already mah.. how can y-poh be 51? It's too close!"

I was taken aback and humored that she has that notion. And I wondered if she knew why she can't be 51 if I'm turning 40. I tried to probe her further but she can't give me the answer.

Very much a logic person she is. But of course, she couldn't yet tell that y-poh would have been 11 when she gave birth to me. The boys wouldn't have had the same conversation at that age. They would just probably accept it, and as history shown, they weren't quite interested in this topic anyway.

Doing exactly what I said not to do.

I went to bed at around midnight on Sat night after a great night's out alone with 2 hottie mamas, while hub watched the last episode of his addictive tvb series. I was furious he woke me up at 3am when he climbed into bed finally.

On Sunday, he was, naturally very tired and slept in till very late. The kids went very hungry till we were up and about to have our brunch at 11+. The afternoon was spent mostly at home after that while the hub just snoozed away on his comfortable bed. By the late afternoon, the kids were nagging non stop for a swim downstairs and I told them to get their dad off the bed to take them down while I prepare dinner.

He finally was dragged out from the bed, and was very cranky and irritated. Barked at didi for his sloppy done homework and demanded that he does the corrections there and then before getting down. That made didi crying his eyes out, as he had been very very patiently waiting for the time to go to swim.

I ordered the hub to just take them down, pointless to be telling him to rework his homework when he ought to have done it during his naptimes. And I reprimanded him for staying up so late every night, going beyond control more and more, and taking it out at the kids for his tiredness, when he should be spending more quality time with them instead.

Dinner served and done, we spent some time reading a couple of library books and off they went to bed.

The same night, I turned on the movies, after days letting hub have the TV all to himself.

127 hours, a whole movie made on just an ordeal a hiker had to go through while he was trapped alone in a canyon. Pretty boring in the beginning, but later on, it was quite a good watch, I would say. Though very gross too.

As it ended before midnight, I turned to another one, intending to watch a bit before calling it a night, and in the end, I cried my eyes out all the way till the end, climbing into bed at 2am. I have to eat my own words! Damn!

Have you watched "Aftershock"? It was so so so so sad. I think the best tearjerker I ever watched!

Knowing her classmates is not so fun.

What is it with girls demanding everyone of her family members to know all her friends in her class? Or is it just mine?

Last year, she would come up with this crazy quiz whenever we were in the car and asked questions like "OK, who can tell me the names of my friends that start with letter A" If didi shouts it out, then she'll say, "You are CORRECT! You get 1 point!". This gets to a stage where it was very irritating and annoying the heaven out of korkor and he would purposefully NOT answer her. When that happens, she would demand and demand till they succumb to her own personal delight.

This year, in fact, it's today, that I am "tested" by her with the names of her classmates, again! (sort of). She told me the names of the girl and boy who starts the Q everyday outside their class and it goes on till... I don't know! And she demands that I remember them all! Today she tested me, that little bugger! And I'm supposed to answer her all correctly! I told her mommy's getting old and don't have a good memory anymore and she would sarcastically imply I'm suffering from Alzheimer. Surely she didn't use that word, but it sure hurts!

Maybe next time I ask her to write the names down instead. Sigh... the torture I'm getting from her at this young age already!

1 reason why it didn't work out.

One of the reasons I broke up with my ex-boypren in uni time, I told him, was that I always at the losing end when in an argument with him, coz we converse in Mandarin! Can you imagine? Me? Saying wo-ai-ni when I actually wanted to say 'get lost'? It was a lousy excuse for breaking up, I know.