New Year's 2018

Another year, better than ever. We have settled in nicely at 405 and I'm truly enjoying the convenience of the place. The unit may be smaller but the proximity to Nyaong and Nyama really makes all the difference.

Zodiac Lanterns

Not sure if they are temporary fixtures at Heartbeat@Bedok but the zodiac lanterns are a pretty sight. Standing at about 3 metres they look grand and tall especially when they are lighted up at night.

Christmas 2017

This year's Christmas was a quiet affair. We have a couple of Christmas decorations up. Meimei wanted the tree set up but I sat on it. It's too much work, especially with OO being sick the past week.

We have Nyaong, Nyama, YeeYee over for dinner together. And then it was a simple present opening for OO, to plant fun into her day.

We bought her a set of Hape bricks and she seems keen on building up a house or structure. She does get into her usual destructive self though and kicks everything down.

Digitizing My DVD Collection

I'm been busy digitalising my DVD collection since I switched iMacs with Meimei. With twice the storage space I am confident I can fit all my DVDs onto the hard disk. It took me awhile to get the right formatting for the subtitle and resolution. But once I got it, it's just running through the disc one by one. 

OO is fascinated with all the disc I keep. Whenever I'm switching the next of discs to burn, she'll be there to help me 'pick' titles. As usual I try my best to keep her away from them. And it's a good thing she doesn't have the strength to pull out the drawers yet. Well ... it'll be soon when she can do that so it's all the more important I get the DVDs to a digital format so I don't lose them when the little ones play with the DVDs.

Gynae Visit - Dec 2017

It's always exciting when we go for the gynae checkup. Baby has grown to close to 2kg so we are making good progress. Meimei asked her usual queries on what she can eat. But she missed one after we were done so we waited patiently for him to finish the next patient.

Meimei caught Dr Loh as he was walking into his office and exclaimed with a sweet grin "Dr Loh, can I start to eat coconut?" Everyone in the clinic was staring at Meimei and I can see a couple of them letting out a grin at the corner of their mouths hahaha. I think everyone was amused and tickled about the question. Hehehe that's what I love about Meimei. She has this youthful persona that invigorates me.

BoyBoy Names

It’s time to brainstorm an English name for our Boyboy. It feels easier this time with a number of good boyboy names that goes well with my surname. I seem to lean towards names with 3 syllabus to match OO’s, but it’s not a must.

Anthony - Meimei finds it old and traditional. I think it's ok but somehow it reminds me of a Shakespeare play. Hmmm maybe not then.

Gavin - Gavin is a good name that strings well with my surname. However one of Meimei’s cousin is named Gavin so we are dropping this down the list.

Jonathan - This used to be my first choice before Meimei came up with Justin. Somewhat common and traditional but I like that it’s 3 syllabus and yet you can use the short form of Jon readily.

Justin - This is the top choice as of writing. Justin. Nice ring to it. Meimei came up with it and it looks to be her prime choice too. Helps that there are famous singers named Justin too, like Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, etc.

Kenneth - Meimei seems to like Kenneth but I have a cousin with the same name so I wasn't as keen.

Leonard - Leonard is one of the male protagonist in The Big Bang Theory sitcom. LB has a nice ring to it too.

Matthew - This was a strong choice till we ran it with Mama. She had a hard time pronouncing the name so this went down the list.

We have about 3 months to go before Boyboy arrives so if no new suitable names pop up, he may well be named Justin. The tougher task would be finding a good chinese name for him.

Lock Me Not

A stunning milestone happened today. OO managed to turn the bedroom lock and let herself out of the master bedroom. We were shocked.

There goes any hope to keep her confined to the bedroom when we try to get her to sleep. OO has always been an observant kid. She picks up our actions very quickly so we always try to be careful around her.

But we were not expecting this from a two and half year old .... haiz. A mix of proudness that she is smart yet a tingle of 'oops what now'. Oh well ...

Although I didn't managed to get a picture of her opening the lock, here's one where she is trying to stick a key into the door to open it, just like how we would.

Honouring A Gentlemen's Agreement

I've completed the 2nd round of interview last evening for this new opportunity I mentioned a couple of post ago. I think the VP Finance really liked my style and experience. I have a good feel that I'll get the role. But before I get any further, I have to honour a gentlemen's agreement I made months ago.

I've been deliberating about this since the first interview. It just doesn't feel right keeping this in the dark with the folks at work. And its been bugging me to no end.

You see ... I had given my word to my manager that I would inform her if I was ever looking out for another role. And in turn she will be my character referee. It was a good deal ... who better than your direct manager to authenticate your work ethic, experience, skills, etc. It puts you miles ahead of your competitors to be able to provide this reference.

So today I took the courage and asked my manager if she had a time to chat and laid it on her. She took it well but insist that I do not sign up for anything till she has had a chance to work through something on her end. Although she was careful not to commit anything, she kept sounding out that she will get all her resources and leverage to get me a permanent role. And if she can't, I have her blessing to get onto the next role.

I liked how our conversation went. Happy that I may have a more permanent role at my current workplace. I'll be here for 3 years come next January and have a good handle on things here. It'll be great to continue here if the permanent role materialises. But as always I keep my expectations down and wait. 

Year End Concert 2017

Today's OO first year end concert, and it's ours as well. So we were all excited about the event. Meimei has already spent a $100 odd on the dress and I'm glad OO is not ripping it apart when we try to put it on. Everyone had woken up early as we were given strict instructions to get the children to school by 7am.

She looks great in the princess dress, though the makeup was rather unnecessary in my opinion. They're just little kids and their youthfulness shouldn't be masked by layers of power or lipstick. Really don't get why the teachers insist on the makeup ... phhfff.

In classic OO character though, she had to be quirky about it and put on the helmet we just got her  to complete the look haha. Thankfully Nyaong and the maid managed to get her out of the house without it!

We arrived later at the community center to watch the performance. However OO froze on every playground or joint dance segment. It pains Meimei and I to see her close to tears as she stood awkwardly on stage when gazing around unsure of her surroundings. She simply stood there in her spot while the rest of her classmates danced to the tunes.

Haiz ... I think it might be better to pull her out of the year end performances next year. I noticed some of her classmates are also missing so I don't think it matters if she misses it.

Turtle Head

Since OO’s bad fall on her head while on the glider skate, I’ve been trying very hard to get her to wear a helmet. The problem was that when I first tried to get her to try one on, I accidentally clipped her and left a nick on her neck. From then on it was a up-hill task in convincing her to try on any helmet. I think we might have tried 3-4 times on separate occasions but she simply refused.

To try to entice her to put on a helmet we would point out to her other kids who are wearing helmets and tell her that she would only be allowed to skate on her own if she wears one. There were times when she would reply that she just wants me to push her and never wants to skate on her own.

Finally I caught her in a better mood after an hour of play at the paragon kids playground. I ushered her into the Mothercare store gingerly with promise of her cornflake and granola snack and got her to try on a helmet. She refused to let me clip on the helmet but at least I could confirm the sizing of it is correct. 

Interestingly ... once I bought the helmet, OO kept wanting to put it on. She would walk around the flat with it, like a badge of honour of sorts. We let her be since this might help her get used to a helmet and not have a phobia of it.

An Unsolicited Opportunity

It wasn’t that I was not looking. I sent 3 application via WDA’s jobsbank portal when I lost my SSO a month ago. Nothing was heard of those application, plus my heart wasn’t in it so I didn’t follow-up on them. 

Today, a familiar name messaged me on whatsapp. Joanne, one of the recruiters I’ve met before a couple of years ago. The usual catchup talk ensued, “oh how have you been? Are you still with this company, yada yada”.  Once she ascertain that I might be on the lookout for a new role she shared the prospective job description with me. 

It’s a permanent finance project role under the finance hierarchy with an e-commerce platform. Now I’ve seen a lot of finance project roles and very rarely are they permanent ones. It’s just the nature of this niche area of finance. Finance projects are typically finite, you are brought for BPO or ERP implementation or restructing, etc and once its rollout the role is surplus as maintenance is transferred to the operations or IT teams.

It definitely interest me since a permanent role will alleviate the stress and uncertainty I, and probably Meimei as well, go through every year when my contract role comes to an end. And now with OO and another kid coming along, it’s that much more important I cement a firmer role. Even if I love my current job very much I have to take a broader view and take one for the family. Simply put, it’s no longer about what I want but what is best for the family. Potentially longer work hours, more traveling, less time with family, but ... better security, more money and less uncertainty. 

So I diligently updated my resume and sent it off to Joanne this evening. No delays nor hesitation. *grin here’s the start to a potential new adventure. 

Exchanging I-Mac

Meimei doesn't use her iMac much, especially after OO arrive. So rather than leave it idle on her desk I decided to swap my hand-me-down iMac with hers. Well technically both are hers but the one she is using now is a late 2015 retina model with 2TB hard disk. Definitely better than the older mid-2010 model.

I've been carefully backing up both iMac into a portable hard disk the past week. The most critical of the files are the photos. We can replace music or movies or whatever else. But those photos are the precious memories of yesteryears and simply irreplaceable.

Now that I've completed the switch successfully, I can finally begin to 'digitalise' my DVD collection. With an extra 1TB of free space on the new iMac I might just be able to get them all into the iTunes library.

Winnie The Pooh Figurines

You would think we bought this for our kids. It definitely looks the part.

But this ain't no ordinary toy. It's more of a display piece and not for any kid's hands. These actually belong to Meimei.

She has been collecting them and trading for missing pieces over the past fortnight or so. A grown women with another kid coming along running around (I try to chauffeur her) exchanging pieces with strangers. And they don't come cheap at $5.90 each in random sealed boxes.

It's like there is more than one kid at home. And this one has lots of spending power to buy tons of toys. Scary? Hahahah.

Bruises From School?

When I question her she says two of her classmates hit her leg. Hmmm, tough to make out how true that is when it came from a 2 year old. But at least we can rule out anything more sinister.

It pains me to see the multiple spots of blue-black on her left leg. But I suppose that's part and parcel of going to school. Kids are going to get into fights, bad falls, silly bumps and whatnot. We just need to make sure it's not a bullying case or some adults dishing out unwarranted or excessive punishment.

Trip To Hillview - Dec 2017

We have not been to Hillview for close to a month. Gareth has been having bouts of diarrhoea so Dad and Mum advised against bringing OO there.  

So we were finally able to go this week and Meimei brought a treat for OO. She had prepared a tub with all the water-play toys. It was immense fun and OO was practically grinning ear to ear as she scoop and pour the water around.

I'm so glad Meimei thinks of these stuff. Now there are additional perks going to Hillview in OO's eyes. And it also satisfies our desire to let OO have more opportunities to have fun and play with water. A 'hitting two birds with one stone' example.

Gynae Visit - Nov 2017

Exciting visit, we could see the outline of our boyboy's face. Doc was pretty happy with the checkup which means so are we ;-) At 1.55kg he seems to be small to me but Doc seems satisfied. Meimei received the go-ahead to eat durians but I think we have to be cautious ... we don't want boyboy to get too big too soon haha.

Building Itunes Music Collection

Since I've started buying movies off Itunes, it was natural I started exploring the music collection too.  It's been ages since I've bought a music DVD. I've kinda lost touch with the music scene for years since we got married. 

In recent months Meimei has been sharing with me her favourites of youtube music videos she listens to while working. It was the gently push for me to exploring the 'lost years'. There were many familiar songs which I've heard on the radio and am now on my itunes playlist.

The key factors that brought me to purchase songs off itunes was that I could choose and pay for only the songs I liked. So much better than playing a full album price for a single song and a whole bunch of garbage. The other push was the ability to share my purchases with Meimei.

So I've been scanning through various 'best songs of xxxx years' playlist for good songs to add to my itunes collection. It didn't take long to get to 100 odd songs and I'm sure I'll have many more to add.

Giant Ear Wax

Holy whatchamacallit ... I just dug out a piece of earwax that's close to one and a half cm long from OO's right ear. Wow!

Let's hope that she can listen and follow our instructions better now that she can 'hear' better. Haha.

Getting Back Into It

They finally got me a SSO so I can start working though I'm not really able to work as yet. You see ... my old SSO is gone ... and with it all the database, ERP, configurations, accesses, licenses I've accumulated over the past years.

Some of these I will never get again since they were given only because I was working on those projects at the time. Or my boss had assisted me in escalating for the accesses. Now that this is a new SSO, I would have to start from scratch.

It's tough. Having to work through the red tape to get my licenses was already a chore. I doubt I will replace half or even 3 quarters of my previous accesses and setup. My heart somehow isn't in it anymore. I'm still trying, though some things I just simply let it slip by since I am no longer working on them.

Maybe it's a sign that I should start looking out for my next opportunity. It'll be 3 years in Jan and already longer than most of my other stints. Maybe it's time.

Grohe Warranty & Service

After the initial disappointment of the broken Grohe, we called our ID to 'complain' about the faucet. We had bought this from our ID's partner vendor so I was expecting good quality wares and not something which breaks after a year.

He didn't handle the issue himself but rang the vendor to give me a call. I was glad to find that there was a 5 year warranty after speaking with the vendor. They promise that someone from Grohe will come check on the broken faucet in a few days.

True to his words, a Grohe technician came to our place to survey the broken faucet and replaced one for free. There were no accusations of improper usage nor delays in rectification. I'm pretty impressed with the service and commitment of Grohe. Now this is what you get paying for a premium brand. They have just won me over as a consumer. The next time I need any taps, Grohe is the only brand I will consider.

Breaking A Grohe Kitchen Sink Faucet

The hard plastic channeling the water between the tap swtich piece and water pipe broke after a year. Grohe suppose to last 20 years. They don’t it like they used to ... why are we paying for the inflated prices then? For the brand?

The Sand And The Waves

The last time we were at East Coast OO wanted to play at the beach. I think she is fascinated by the feeling of sand running through her hands. So we granted her her wish this time by bringing her all the way to the water.

She was unsure and apprehensive about the sea initially. This is after all her first touch of the sea. But once she got used to the waves rolling in and out against her feet, she started playing with the wet sand.

She even tried to get me into it by chasing after me with a hand full of the sand. I was in my jogging shoes so I had to run in circles to avoid her. Next time I'm gonna come in slippers so I can join in the fun :-)

Stars And Rewards #2

OO just received her 2nd stars and reward toy. Meimei kinda planted stars quickly so she can justify to OO why she 'received' a full set of pots and plates. Muhahahha ... face saving tact by Meimei. The 2nd stars and reward toy pales in comparison to yesterday's 'gift'.

The Toys Looter

"OO loot my cutleries set toys!" "Its suppose to go to her on MY terms!"

"Hahah how she find them?"

"She come and sainai with me at study table then wriggle around and explore ..."

"What's that mama?"

Meimei was complaining to me about OO raiding her toys. Well to be fair, Meimei left the toys in plain sight under her desk. Once OO got hold of the box of cutleries there was no prying them off her. So Meimei unwittingly gave up her entire stash of pots, plates, cups and cutleries to her little girl girl. Who must be beaming with joy that she was a good girl and hence the big set of toys .... Hahahah

Paragon Playground

Since I didn’t have access to my SSO, there was pretty much nothing I can do. I would go to office everyday to check if there was any progress on my access. I get the same response from my manager and sponsor that they are still working on it. So rather than staring blankly at the four walls I would leave after an hour and spend the rest of the day with family.

It just so happens that OO’s school has an outbreak of Hand Foot and Mouth disease so she’ll be home the next couple of weeks. So I try to bring OO out of the house.

Today we are at Paragon while Meimei is in office finishing up some key work. OO had a great time at the playground and I’m glad we made the effort to bring her out. She was getting bored staying at home. We might need to start planning for other places to visit if my access lock out keeps up the rest of the week.

Someone Else’s Mistake

I discover today that the loss of my SSO was due to a change in the contractor management system. That and my sponsor not reading the email notice on my expiring SSO.

Under the old system, contractors will also receive notifications when their SSO are expiring. I used to get them 30 days before the deadline and then at 14 and 7 days if my sponsor did not act on it. The first thing I usually do when I get it was to chase after my sponsor to renew my SSO immediately for another 6 months.

This time though I didn’t get any emails since this is the new system. Bah ... it seems like a norm for this company to migrate to new systems and lose key functionalities. Why can’t they manage this better? Do they not have expertise to manage such project implementations? It says alot about how they manage projects ... I would think their customers might be suffering from the same failings too.

So anyways it looks like my SSO is gone forever. My manager has kick-started the process to get me a new SSO. Sigh .... is this the end of the road for this place?

OO’s Scooter

We recently took out a Globber scooter which we received for buying a carton of milk from Friso. Initially OO wanted to ride on her own. But that soon changed when she had a bad fall. Well I suppose that’s for the best. We’re not letting her push the scooter on her own till she gets a helmet.

Now she prefers to take the scooter rather than the tricycle when we go down to the playgrounds. I find it easier to push her around too with the scooter. It’s thinner and more nimble.

Losing All My Access

I rarely blog about work these days. Things have been going great at work for the past 2 years. I had just renewed my contract for another year to July 2018.

But something happened today that is going to test all of it. Right after lunch, I lost access to everything. Yes everything ... I couldn't log into the email, I couldn't get into any of the intranet or cloud apps. It's as though I wasn't an employee of the company anymore.

Goddamit .... did I just get fired like how they do it in the banks? You know you're laid off at a bank when you lose access to the systems. But wait ... I'm working in a manufacturing plant. They don't do these sort of thing here do they? Plus they could have just not renewed my contract a few months ago.

It occured to me after half an hour of trying to resolve my 'connection issue' that maybe, just maybe, my sponsor forgot to extend my SSO. They have a policy here where sponsors have to validate and extend a contractor's SSO every 6 months. And if they don't, the SSO is lost forever. But I didn't get any email notification of my SSO expiring. Weird.

Then my mind started running wild ... my SSO is an all-powerful one with many many accesses to databases and applications. And I'm like the only one with in in the whole plant. I practically setup the architecture of the analytics space at the plant. To lose access to all of it would be a horror.

I went to my manager right after and notified her of the issue. They're still working on it when I left early to take a breather. Arrghhh!

Almost 40

I celebrated my 39th birthday today by bringing the family to Gardens By The Bay for a family day out. Nothing beats having family around on a festive day. I don’t recall ever celebrating my birthday on the day itself. I work in Finance so month end are always peak periods where I cannot step away. So it is specially meaningful that I now have the luxury to do so.

It’s the tail end of the pumpkin exhibit at the flower dome but the colours are still vivid. OO loved all the bright colours and keeps trying to touch the flowers and pumpkins. More importantly we captured many photos with NyaOng and NyaMa.

Although we couldn’t go to the Children’s waterplay area due to the light rain, it was a fruitful and fun day out. *Thumbs up.

Gynae Visit - Oct 2017

I didn't blog about last month's visit as there wasn't really much updates. What's important is that both Meimei and baby is doing well. 

This month's visit was preceded by a test for pregnancy diabetes. It was quite a torture not being able to eat or drink 8 hours before the first test at 8.30am. Meimei was pricked at the arm for blood and again at 10.30am for another test.

We made up for it with lunch at Wild Honey. It was a birthday treat for me hehehe. But more than the food, I like Meimei's company.

We were back at Dr Loh's place early after lunch and went through the regular checkup. The only thing worth mentioning is that he OK-ed Meimei question on ice cream. Haha. She's always throwing such stuff at Dr Loh.

Consolidating The Blogs

It's tough to keep my other blog Little Rascal Productions blog updated with snippets and pictures. And I think no one, even myself, ever reads it. So I've decided to combine the two into this one blog. 

Thankfully Blogspot has a fairly easy export import function to let me transfer all the posts. And they keep their posting dates too. I had to clean up the tags though and label all of the transfers with 'snippet' tag. Small effort that took me a little less than an hour.

Popping Bubble Wraps

OO has a thing for bubble wraps. I think we can save quite a tidy sum by giving her an endless supply of wraps. No more buying toys from the department store hehehe.

Trip To Hillview - October 2017

OO managed to ward off any illness for the past month so we've been to Hillview every other week. She's always happy to run around the garden, something she loves very much.

Stars And Reward #1

OO's completed the first set of Stars and Reward and received a Hello Kitty cup we got from a McDonald's Happy Meal.

Pampers For Brown Meow

OO likes to reprise and mimic adult roles. Today she is helping Brown Meow 'change pampers'.

First Taste Of Ice Cream

Meimei has been getting ice-cream off and on as kind of a pregnancy craving for sweet and cold stuff. We have been grocery shopping at Bedok mall and before we make our way home on foot, Meimei excused herself to go grab a vanilla cone from McDonald's. She wants to hide the ice cream from OO haha.

I had just passed the corner of a block when Meimei messaged and say she has a treat for OO. Huh? What?

Well it turns out McDonald's was giving away free mini ice cream cones to children. Wow, what a smart gimmick ... hook them young! So Meimei took one and brisk walked to meet us so she can pass it to OO.

I've always thought either Nyaong or me would be the first person to introduce OO to ice cream. Hahaha ... but it looks like Meimei jumped ahead of both of us. Well at least I'm never gonna get an evil eye now if I treat OO to ice cream hehehe.

Single Patty Double Cheese Burger

I ordered double cheese burger from the McDonald's drive-through at Tampines Shell station for lunch today. Oddly someone seemed to have taken "double cheese" literally and gave me a normal single patty cheeseburger with two slices of cheese. They should improve on their staff training and quality control.

I went to check the Mac website and thankfully double cheese are still pictured as double patties. Imagine the horror if they changed it quietly to a single patty. Now don't get me started on the half slice of cheese for the fillet.

OO @School - Fish @ Aranda Excursion

OO's school has another excursion today. I think it's like a mid-term break sort of activity. Although it was expensive at $25, we were not about to deny her the participation in school outdoor activities if we can help it.

As usual she is all dressed up for the excursion in school attire. She likes to wear it too. I think it helps her feel like a part of the group. We'll get more outfits if we continue with the school next year.

Everyone had their head staring at the fishes in the pond that it took quite some time and close scrutiny to find pictures with OO in them. OO seems to be enjoying the outing and getting right into the action.

The only unexpected thing that came out of the excursion was OO bringing back a tank of fishes. Oops ... hmm I wonder how long this will last.

Stars And Rewards

Meimei says she spends every waking moment thinking of how to teach and train OO. Now that's real commitment and a whole lot more effort than just simply raising your child. And I'm glad Meimei does that, I would never have given it as much thought and consideration.

Meimei came up with a stars and reward system the past week. And it's been working like a charm for the most part. OO would react positively to the stars and reward scheme and do our bidding. There was only a minor glitch when she start toying and taking joy with removing the stars because she was naughty.

I suspect it's an excuse for Meimei too to buy more toys for OO. Haiz ... she spoils her rotten just like the rest of us. Wait ... maybe more than any of us really. Hehehe.

Dreaming of the toy rewards?? ;-)

Caddy MPVs Sightings

It's hard to find another Caddy MPV on the road. I've only seen 3 Maxi on the road and never the shorter variant.

Starlight Blue @ Beach Road Army Market - I've seen this twice already at the same carpark. The owner is either living or working at the block beside the Beach Road Army Market. I really like the tone of the Starlight Blue. It teases with a tint of blue in bright sunshine.

Chestnut Brown @ Marine Parade - Seen it at Marine Parade and on the PIE towards Bedok. Meimei doesn't like brown ... says it looks like poopoo colour.

Fontana Red @ Orchard Road Presbyterian Church - The owner is a church member and is always parked in the church carpark on Sundays. This is the first Caddy I've seen and one which built my interest in the car.

At the price the Caddy MPVs are going for and the niche that it fills, I doubt there'll be many more of these on the roads. I continue to keep a look out for them while taking pride that I drive a rare and understated car.

Friends Of The Zoo

We decided to take the plunge and buy the Family Friends of the Zoo membership. We even added Siti so she can come along and help look after OO. I think it's a wise choice seeing how OO loves playing water so much. Plus with the new Caddy I was more confident to drive such a long way to Mandai.

OO lazing on Papa after water play & lunch

OO watching elephants

Cheerful as we make our way home

Good thing is that it only takes 2 trips to make it worth our money. And thankfully OO is getting better in the car these days.

OO @School - Mid Autumn Festival 2017

I didn’t know it but OO’s school organise a walkabout with lanterns to celebrate Mid Autumn Festival. Its a good thing OO is dressed appropriately ... I supposed Meimei and Mama must have known about the event.

OO looks pretty happy and contented to sit and wait. When OO’s at school she is the nice and obedient little girl ... not the little bossy tyrant she is at home.

Mid Autumn Festival 2017

I didn't know it but Meimei had a KPI to bring OO downstairs to play with lanterns. This is a rare occasion where we let OO out of the house after dark.

OO was especially hyped about holding a lantern with a candle. She keeps trying to stare at the candle light through the top. I think it reminds her of the birthday cake candles.

We went down for a short walk around the basketball court. There were other older children playing with lanterns too. We took turns to take selfies with OO and came up after about 20 minutes. OO seemed disappointed that we didn't play longer but we didn't want risking her catching a cold in the night breeze. We'll go for longer strolls next year :-)

Bringing Back Our First Maid

Our first maid Siti has always been in contact with Meimei and Mama. She had just finished a 2 years contract with another employer and was back in Indonesia. She didn’t extend her contract as her current employer was not willing to give her 2 weeks home visit. 

Because she has been conversing off and on with Meimei, she sounded out she would like to come back to work for us. Meimei immediately jumped at the idea as we couldn’t take Emi no more. But I was cautious that she may be using us to come back to Singapore before jumping to another employer yet again. We made sure it was 100% clear that we would not allow her to transfer before her 2 years was up.

It's important we set the expectations right and make sure Siti knows we are having to spend a lot to hire her. We are giving up the agency fee we paid to bring in Emi and potentially incurring as much to bring her into Singapore. Plus Emi still has a month to go before she clears her loan, which we already paid upfront to the agency. That's money down the drain too.

A lot is riding on Siti owning up to her commitments. To her credit she offered to pay her own flight to Singapore. While I'm sure she thinking about not having to pay the agency several months of commissions, it is still a nice touch to show keenness. So it's up to us to see how we can bring her into Singapore.

Naturally the first step we took was to check with our current maid agency to determine how much it cost. And it was a shocking amount. It would cost us $2.6K for the agency to help bring in a maid. They cite that this is without a loan burden for the maid and engaging an agency helps to ease the immigration entry at both the departure and entry customs.

Hmmm ... it doesn't sound right. Singapore isn't like other countries. The rule of the law is strong here and procedures are nicely set out and freely available 24/7 on the Ministry of Manpower website. Why do we have to pay such a hefty sum to bring in the maid? I was expecting a couple of hundred as administrative fee ... not the $2.6K.

Meimei and I both agreed we were not going to pay this no matter what. We'll either live with our useless maid or try to bring in Siti on our own. So that point on, Meimei began her research on how to get Siti back as our maid. It's now about saving that $2.6K ...

So lo and behold ... Meimei actually did it! And it cost not more than $500. $500 vs $2.6K ... imagine the margin the agencies earn just to fill up a couple of forms on your behalf. I'll share how Meimei did it in the next post.

We brought in Siti a day after letting the useless one go. It's been a month now and the efforts are totally worth it. Siti is just as capable as when we first had her 2 years ago. Mama was able to go back to Indonesia for a break without worrying about Meimei and OO. We just hope she will stick around and at least complete her 2 years contract with us. If she can stay longer that'll be perfect but well ... we are keeping ourselves grounded for now.

Breakfast With Nyama

Sometimes we don't know what to get OO for her breakfast. Thankfully Nyama is always looking out for her little grand daughter. And good thing OO likes the buns that Nyama makes.

Uniqlo Discount Bin Shopper

I've recently discovered that there are good deals at Uniqlo if you don't mind digging through the discount bins. Well, if a T-shirt is going for $5, why not??

So I've been raiding the men's discount bins ever so often when I walk past a Uniqlo store. I just go straight for the bins and quickly check if there are any deals. In and out in like 5 minutes if I don't find anything.

Some are pricier at $12 like the collar blue shirt above but still worth it. I do notice that Uniqlo stores in neighbourhood malls tend to have lesser 'finds'. I think good deals are quickly scooped up by the aunties and uncles. That's ok ... the store at Plaza Singapura is always stocked with lots of cheap finds ;-)

Rubber Mats For The Caddy

I had initially planned to buy the original rubber floor mats from Volkswagen but $350 for 4 pieces is too steep. Plus there isn't any original mat to cover the 3rd row so those were gonna be customised ones anyways.

So we went for the customised rubber mats. $120 for 5 pieces covering first two rows and additional $80 for the 3rd with specific requirements to cover the under-seat of the 2nd row. This will help cover the whole 'walkway' into the 3rd row.

As with all things rubber, there was a bad latex smell when I collected it. I left it outside the flat to let the smell pass before installing it in the car. I'm pretty happy with the mats, they were cut nicely to size.

Our Little Farmer

OO looks so cute in the basket straw hat.