Tea & Cats (in the Garden)

Juliane and I went to our neighbour's place for afternoon tea. Unfortunately Marieann had to take a rain check as she was not well. As usual, the afternoon tea was sumptuous and the company (with her cats too) was great! :) We always enjoy our tea and our cat therapy at my neighbour's place. :)

Mau tried to invite himself to tea lol

Mau getting some attention

Mau and Magnet

Magpie and Magnet in the garden

Magnet was stalking something until I interrupted him. Oops :P

Magpie on the wall

Magpie doing a catwalk

Early Bird...

opens the classroom doors! That is the case for Marieann. 
She has been going to school early for the past four days. When I asked her, she said that she is the Key IC. I was thinking to myself "she is the what?". She explained that she is in charge of the classroom keys and she has to be in school early to open the classroom doors or her classmates would not be able to get into class. I asked her how long will she be in charge of opening the classroom doors. She replied until she is tired of it. Looks like it may be her responsibility for the rest of the year since we live so near to school haha. 
Marieann is happy being the Key IC. I am happy that she is happy and for her to take on some responsibility. She is growing up! :)

Retail Therapy At Work

My work organisation organises a bazaar regularly. It is retail therapy for some of us lol. Through all these bazaars, I realised that there is a shopaholic in me. 

A dream catcher and a passport holder for myself

 The week before I was buying post-it pads for my colleagues, my girls and for myself. :) 

Intuition

My superpower is intuition. :)

Your Superpower is Intuition

You're the type to be more powerful than people realize. A lot of your strength lies with how you see the world. You have a knack for understanding what's really going on, with very little information. You make good decisions on the fly. You let your inner voice guide you, even when it defies all of the available facts around you. You sometimes just have a gut feeling. You have learned to trust your instincts in life. They have both protected you from harm and opened you up to possibilities.

What's Your Secret Superpower?

My intuition has been very accurate when it comes to people and I try to trust it as much as possible. :)

Repaired

Our land line is finally repaired after four days. Apparently, LTA punched/ cut the some underground phone cables on Saturday while working on the new Downtown line near Botanic Gardens. The land lines in Gleneagles Hospital/ Medical Centre were all affected as well which Singtel restored their services by Saturday evening. However, Singtel did not realise that a lot more land lines were affected including the surrounding estates like ours around Botantic Gardens. The "funny" thing was Singtel mentioned that I would be billed for the repair to my land line! I blew my top and refused to pay for something which was not due to my fault. I called the LTA in-charge and told them about my land line issue. LTA said they would check on it. 
Singtel didn't ask me to pay. I presumed that LTA has worked something out with Singtel. However, I will be checking my next Singtel bill very carefully.

Earthquake!

At long last, we finally had our Earthquake!

See how happy we are?! :P

It is a long standing tradition of our research team to celebrate each research mile stone with an Earthquake from Swensen's. Even though it is not entirely the same team from 2011 (we have a new member :) now), we work very well together! :)

Out of Order

Our land line has been down since yesterday. However we didn't realise it was out of order until late on Saturday afternoon. Initially we thought it might be the hand sets that were faulty. My father brought the hand sets to the shop he bought them from in the morning. The salesperson was nice and helped him to check. There are no problem with the hand sets. So the fault probably lies in the land line itself... :( 
Singtel was contacted and an initial check from their side revealed that the land line is faulty. They are sending their technician to our place tomorrow between 2-6pm for a more detailed check.

Flowering

Our basil plant is flowering. Such a pretty lilac flower. All thanks to my mother and her green fingers!

Comfort (Medicinal) Soup

I accidentally pulled my back again yesterday. It is the second time within 1.5 weeks! :( Either I am really clumsy or I am getting old. :( I worked from home as I didn't fancy taking the public transport with my back in this state. At lunch time, I was surprised by my mother. She cooked for me black chicken soup double-boiled with some herbs which are supposedly good for strengthening the back and bones.

The soup was a real comfort for me. Besides being tasty (no horrible, bitter herbal taste but rather light and refreshing), the soup brought back childhood memories for me. I was a very sickly child when young (falling ill at least once/ twice a month) and my mother used to double-boil all kinds of herbal soups for me, trying to build up my immunity and strength. 
Thank you, Mama!

Blank Space / Style (Taylor Swift Mash-Up) by Louisa Wendorff & Devin Dawson

A lovely cover/ mash up of Taylor Swift's songs, Blank Space and Style. :) 

Blank Space/ Style Mash-up by Louisa Wendorff & Devin Dawson (uploaded by Louisa Wendorff)

CCA Interview

Marieann had her interview with CCA Art Club in the afternoon. Apparently there are 27 applicants who applied to join the Art Club but only a handful will be selected. The interview took the form of a drawing. The applicants were asked to draw and the applicants' successful application will be based on the drawing. 
Marieann seemed confident about her drawing. All the Best!
However, she also has a Plan B. One of the seniors who was in charge of her class during the Sec 1 Orientation Week is a Librarian. :) 

No Remedial

Juliane was excited to announce to me that she did not receive any parental consent slip for remedial classes in school. Last year, she had to attend Math remedial but in the second semester. I told her that it meant that she has improved in her work but it doesn't mean that she can slack off. She has to continue to work on her studies or she may get a slip for remedial in the second semester 2015! Hopefully this "no remedial" can keep her on her toes, and work hard in her studies for this year. :)  

Rainbow Surprise

I found this surprise waiting for me in the office fridge! 

I finished it in no time haha. :P
A big thank you to my wonderful colleagues, Azlina, Filzah and Liyana! :)
We shall go for our Earthquake soon! :)

Chestnut

I don't know why but I always smile when I see chestnuts. Maybe because I used to have roasted chestnuts when I was young and it was always a special treat. :)

Dinner Party

My parents gave a dinner party to their friends from Xiamen who are currently in Singapore visiting their daughter and her family. My girls were amazed why my parents, their grandparents have so many friends and are entertaining every so often lol. 

Olive rice, chicken stuffed with mushroom & chestnut, beancurd salad, prawn & tang hoon

Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs)

There was a CCA Fair at Marieann's school this afternoon from 2-6pm where all the CCAs would be showcased to allow the students an idea of what the particular CCA is all about. All the students have to indicate up to 3 choices for their preferred CCA. Marieann has already decided that she would put Creative Art Club as her first choice (continuing on from her primary school CCA of Art Club). However, she could not find the Library CCA and Badminton CCA booths which resulted in her not submitting for her 2nd choice and 3rd choice respectively. Yikes! :( 
Just hope that she will be successful at her interview to join the Creative Art Club when they call her up next week.

Parent-Teacher-Meeting

It is Parent-Teacher-Meeting today for the parents of Secondary 1 students at St Margaret's Secondary School. The Principal's Address started promptly at 6:30pm, followed by a briefing on CCA Matters by the HOD CCA and lastly, an informal meeting between the parents and the respective Form and Co-Form teachers for each of the Secondary 1 classes. My main mission tonight was to find out how Marieann is really doing in school because she always replies, "Ok" whenever I ask her about school. She is a girl of few words. 
However, it was kind of sad when I overheard some parents instead of asking the teachers how they can support their daughters in Sec 1, they were asking about how soon can a transfer between streams take place. Sigh. :(

Grant Proposal

I finally decided to put in a grant proposal following up on my Phd work on student self-assessment. Wish me luck.

Trustworthiness

There's truth in the results of this blogthings quiz.

Your Introvert Strength: Trustworthiness

Your word is as good they come, and you do everything in your power not to go back on your promises. For you, reputation is everything, and you do your best to protect yours. You want people to put their faith in you. You take your commitments seriously, so you don't really make many of them. You never want to let anyone down. You are decisive and solid. You know what you want to do in your life, and there is very little drama as a result.

What's Your Introvert Strength?

Eyes on You Now

Now that Marieann is settled in her new school, my eyes are now on Juliane. She is in Primary 5 this year and it is an important year. She has the potential to excel but she is not pushing herself as she tends to be easily contented with an average grade. I need to find a way to motivate her. 

The Hanging Tree

This song just keeps playing in my mind after hearing it. It's not pop song catchy but its simplicity and the voice of Jennifer Lawrence gives it a certain endearing quality. :) 

The Hanging Tree’ James Newton Howard ft. Jennifer Lawrence (uploaded by Vevo)

Orientation Week II

Marieann enjoyed her Orientation Week at St Margaret's Secondary School. I am very happy. It is a good start for her. :)

Red

Marieann's house colour in secondary school is RED! I was secretly hoping for her to be in Green House again, same as in her primary school. Unfortunately she has been given Red House. Oh well, at least she looks good in red haha. :)

Public Transport Newbie

Marieann came home slightly later than the time she mentioned she would arrive home. As it turned out, she didn't want to board the first bus that came her way because it was crowded! She waited for the second bus. Sigh. A newbie to public transport. 
Apparently the crowded bus could still be boarded but she decided to wait for the next bus. Wait till she is seasoned user of public transport, she will be boarding crowded buses regardless just so she could get home sooner! :P 

Haunted Toilet

Marieann told me that during orientation, her seniors told her about the ghost stories in her secondary school. 
Why is it that the school toilet is always haunted?! What's the relationship between ghosts and toilets? Even Harry Potter is not spared the haunted toilet for there is Moaning Myrtle haunting in Hogwart's first floor girls' bathroom! :P

Orientation Week

For the rest of this week, Marieann will be having Orientation Week at her new school and she will be coming back only in the late afternoon. 
I hope she will make a few more friends, not just from Secondary 1 level but from other levels too and she will learn more about the school and grow to love the school.

Going to School

Being only the second day of school, I accompanied Marieann to school again. She was initially reluctant to have me go with her to school but relented in the end. Of course, I am her mother, she could not overrule my decision lol. We left the apartment at 6:30am, arrived at the bus-stop at 6:35am, boarded the bus at 6:45am, arrived at school at 6:55am. 
As we walked towards the school, I encouraged her to work hard with this new beginning. At the school gate, Marieann continued to walk into the school while I continued to walk to the overhead bridge to cross over to the other side to take a bus home. 
By 7:10am, I was back at home.

Week 1 Term 1 2015

This coming week is considered Week 1, Term 1 of 2015. For this week, the schools will be testing out and finalising their time-tables to make sure there are no clashes.

My Student's Wedding at Burkill Hall, Botanic Gardens

My girls and I were invited to my 1998 Primary 4 student's January wedding 2015 in mid May 2014. We have been really excited about it and even bought our dresses for the January wedding while holidaying/ shopping in Penang. We received our wedding invite in early December. 
On 3 Jan 2015, my P4 student, Charissa invited me to be a witness at her beautiful wedding to Paul Chen held at Burkill Hall, Botanic Gardens. 

The weather is beautiful, the ceremony is beautiful and the bride is beautiful!

Exchange of vows

Exchange of rings

Signing of the wedding documents

Dinner was Peranakan/ local food which is a change from the usual fare. Quite delightful! :)

Wedding cake and Desserts! :)

Photos with the bridge and groom before we go home

My girls are really happy to have attended and witnessed their first wedding and dressing up for the occasion. :) I am really happy for my student, Charissa that she has found the right man to accompany her in this life. Thank you, Charissa for inviting us. It is an occasion we will not forget anytime soon! I wish both you and Paul a wonderful and blissful life together! 
PS. Coincidentally, Chrissa, as my student, was a witness at my wedding back in 2000! I invited my students (4Prudence girls from 1998, 1999, and 2000) to be my witnesses. :)