En Wants to Learn to Cycle : Mar-14

Qi learned to cycle at 12 years old. Xuan learnt to cycle at 11 years old. Suddenly juz at the beginning of the March holidays, En announced to me that she wants to learn how to cycle by this holiday!

As mummy, of course I support her!! At her age, En is growing fast, and I am not sure if it is sound investment to buy a child bicycle for her.. Her interest may not last. I still recall how Qi had asked for a bicycle and Mummy bought her a pink Barbie one for her birthday. After the initial spark of interest died off, that pretty Barbie bike stood in Ma's room for the longest period of time.. many years!! *sweat*

I began to ask around to see if anyone has a child bike to give away.. Sharon happened to want to discard Colin's bike.. I was in luck!! Before long, En succeeded in getting me to bring back Colin's bike..

Although the bike seemed a lil' small for En, it did not have training wheels, hence easier for her to manage, I thought. En was so excited and could not wait to begin cycling!! Unfortunately, Colin's bike has not been used since last year, and the tires need pumping. We had to wait for her pa to do that.

After a few tries, both En's Pa and Yeye concluded that the bicycle's tire could not be pumped due to a faulty valve stem. Bicycle shops nearby said the entire tire would have to be changed and it may be more worth it to get a new bike instead. Well, that rendered Colin's bike useless.. En was devastated!! Her disappointment and cries promoted her Ah Mah to intervene and promised to buy her a new bike!!

Although En was slated a new bike, it was not smooth-sailing too. The first bike shop we went on a Thursday aftrrnoon was surprisingly closed!! En burst into temper seeing the closed door!!

Deciding not to give up so easily, we looked up and called the shop and found out that this Lor Ah Soo bicycle shop only opens at 2:30pm! Fortunately we were juz 20 minutes away from that time.. And waited until the shop opened.

Looking at En, the aunty in the shop recommended a 18'' for En's height. However the 18'' bicycle has been out of stock for many weeks! Stock would come only the following week.. We left the shop very disappointed. 

I told Victor En's disappointment. Seemed that her Pa can empathize fully because that very evening after he knocked off from work, he sped to Giant to get a bike for his precious princess. Well, 18'' is out of stock at Giant too. Not wanting to disappoint his princess, he went on to the Ave 5 bike shop! Well, 18'' is out of stock there as well!! Feeling disappointed and fed up by then, he called up the Ave 8 bike shop who told him that they have juz assembled one 18'' bike; one and only one. Needless to say Victor flew down to buy that one and only bike!!

Despite being a Hobson's choice, it's a beautiful bike and En loves it!! I have to bring her downstairs to let her test out her new bike the very next day morning!!

EARTHWORMS !! : Mar-14

One of my missions as a homemaker is to enable and ensure my family eats healthily and knows what is food good for our bodies. Juicing and fresh fruits have since become staples in our lives, and rarely one day passes without a juice or fruit for us.

Since the beginning of 2014, I set out to live more responsibly and sustainably, trying to incorporate the 3Rs into my lifestyle - reduce, reuse, recycle.

Juicing, though good for our bodies, generate a lot of wastage in the form of pulp. There was a time when I tried to use those pulps in our other food such as soup, but the amount of pulp we generate from juicing daily is simply too much for us to eat!! Hence I explored ways and means to use the pulps. Which brought me to the world of composting and vermicomposting. 

Through composting or vermicomposting, I can reduce my kitchen waste, and at the same time, create fertilizer for our plants.. Although I do not have green fingers, looking at the plants Ma occasionally adds for her cooking convenience and Pa lovingly waters everyday, I can almost envisage the day where I can juz walk to the plants and see which ones are ready to be harvested and eaten! Or juz readily pluck off some herbs or spices from our plants to add to our food in the kitchen.. So you see, I am looking forward to the days when we will have lots of food plants and therefore a real need for natural fertilizers!! (^_^)

Between composting and vermicomposting, the former takes a longer time and hence a larger space as compared with the latter. I began to read up on the main characters in vermicomposting - the earthworms. I also tried to find out how to build a viable home for these worms in the confines of our hdb flat. Surprisingly, I realized there are many local Singaporeans out there who have been doing and blogging this! There are also some local suppliers of earthworms suitable for our climate!

Not willing to spend a bomb on the vermicomposting box available from some local worm suppliers, I ordered my box online. Thereafter I have procrastinated on the purchase of earthworms for some reason or other..

Until Victor grew quite fed up and literally made me call up a worm supplier in front of him!! Well, that works. And before long, we have ordered 200 grams of earthworms for $50, to be collected on the first working day of the following week!!

On a Monday morning, 10 March, I drove home with an open ziploc bag full of earthworms and earth!! Vic asked me if that bag indeed held 200 grams of worms. Hahaa!! I wouldn't know!! Juz like the many purchases from blog shops, it is based on trust, I guess..

When I brought Qi home after school, she immediately sprang into action fixing up my worm home with the accompanying instruction manual! By late afternoon, the worms have been settled into their new home!!

Finally there is rain! : Mar-14

I could not remember when was the last time Singapore had not been raining for such a long time. However even before Chinese New Year, it had not been raining... All the grass turned brown and you could see how thirsty the plants and trees were.  Then, the first drop of rain finally arrived on the 15-Mar-14... accordingly to the news, it was 8 weeks ago since we had the last drop in Singapore.  What a great relieve for greens, Qi even took out the camera for a shoot and Hong brought out his saxophone to play a celebrating number.

Mama's Birthday : Mar-14

It's Mama's 67th birthday!

En'en having some playground fun : Mar-14

Since Qi and Xuan have grown as teenagers, it has been a while since we visited the playground at Pasir Ris park.

2008@Pasir Ris Park

2009@Pasir Ris Park

While we are fetching Xuan to a party at the Pasir Ris holiday flat, I decided to bring En'en to the playground again for her to have some fun.  She really enjoys herself very much, especially the swing.  Well, which kids don't... even Qi and Xuan enjoy themselves too while they are younger.

2014 : 3.16 Video : May-2020

This video must had been created for our district discussion meeting for 3.16 during 2014, uploading to youtube now. :-)

Nice Ally shoots : Mar-14

Some nice shoots taken while Ally went for a swim...