backdated post on Royal Caribbean Cruise.

We went on our first Cruise trip on the Royal Caribbean Mariner of the Seas on 19th Feb - 22nd Feb earlier this year.
This is also Kaelyn's first trip out of Singapore as well.

This trip was organized by my mil and she booked us as early as last October.

It was fun because we went with the extended family (from MIL's side) and hubby's cousins but a little bored because the shows have a certain timing that doesn't suit to our kids.
We ended up with this sort of schedule: breakfast, play/swim/walk around, lunch, nap, dinner, sleep.

But I love how the kids adapt to the Cruise and is able to sleep on their own!

Goodbye HappyCall and Hello WMF.

Back in 2012 when the Happy Call Pan was a hype, I actually got to know the Happy Call Alumite pots.
I like that the lid can be put to stand and has an opening to let off the steam and prevent overflowing due to boiling.
So when it was still new and highly priced in Singapore, I sought to purchase in Gmarket.kr for mom.

It came in a set and since mom doesn't need the smaller pots (cos she was cooking for at least 4 pax then), I told her I would take the 2 smaller ones for my new place.

And when I moved, I took the 2 pots with me. Additionally, the mother in law and grandmother in law also gave me some pots. 2 of it is the WMF pots. I didn't quite use those pots because I was still attracted to the Happy Call ones.

Lately, I noticed that the coating on the Happy Call pots weren't like before and I contemplated to change but I wasn't sure if I still want to buy the Happy Call pots (for economic and health reasons).

I tried to Google for reviews and lifespan of the Happy Call pots but I couldn't find any. I read that for those coating, if you are not comfortable anymore, then you should replace for health reasons. At the same time, I read somewhere that one shouldn't use high fire on those pots/pans with ceramic coating as it releases harmful stuff.

Since the hype has sort of died down, the price from Qoo10.sg was much affordable than before. After the coupons and all, it was about $180 for the same set I bought back in 2012. I was also thinking, do I pay $180 which will last me another 3.5years or so~.

Honestly, I like the Happy Call sauce pan because the handle is not hot when you cook and hold it and I don't mind paying $180 for 5 pots set and using it for 3.5years before replacement. But I contemplated because my stove's fire is pretty big and I am scare that the helper will use high fire for the ease and I am indirectly adding harmful substance to the food we eat daily. Also, the opening at the lid is quite hard to clean and thus, it will collect dirt.

So I also considered WMF since I have 2 WMF pots at home and it's a o'trusty brand. I think stainless steel pots are lasting but expensive and heavy. Not only that, the handle is also metal and will conduct heat. By chance, I was at TANGS Vivo earlier and saw this 3 pots set that has exactly the sizes of the pots that I want to have/buy and the design is same as those I have at home. After much contemplating and seeking advice from my mom, I bought the set! :)
A pleasant surprise would be that it comes with a further $10 discount because as part of the CITI promotion, if you are a CITI card holder, you get free TANGS membership (I was told it's lifetime if you make purchase of any amount every year) and the welcome gift is the $10 voucher.

The only bad thing I did was to boil the water (part of the "first use" instruction) when the bottom of the pot is not completely dry and it left a burnt mark. I tried to use the vinegar as I vaguely remember the sales lady telling me, but to no avail. Lucky it is not that bad and I can live with it.

So Hello to WMF and Goodbye to Happy Call.

Next up, is to change away my pans which also has ceramic coating. So now, I am looking for good alternatives. :)

Goodbye T-10.

Have been contemplating to use LED lights at home but I was lazy to go and source.
The T-10 tubes in my mater bedroom has been burning out too often and that finally got me down to sourcing from TB.
After consultation with the TB sellers, and combining dad's requirements (he also wants to get some LED lights), I sort of decided the lights will need to have certain dimensions (to fit the covers), made in Taiwan (better lasting) and have to come with isolated drivers for safety purpose.
After asking a few, it's mostly the LEDs are MIC or not isolated.

So through recommendation from my colleague, Dad and I went to Woodlands 11 to view the LEDs on Saturday. The LEDs are said to be made in Taiwan but assembled in China and it comes with drivers (though we are not sure if it is isolated or not).

The price is comparable if you get it from TB (with shipping fees included) so we decided to get it locally since it comes with a 3 months warranty and what you see is what you get!

Then yesterday, dad came by to help us with the installation of the lights in our MBR. Thanks dad!

When we opened the cover, 3 out of 4 tubes are burnt. So can you imagine how bad it hurts the pocket whenever we change the tubes. Hopefully the LEDs don't burn so easily and last longer...
Oh, digressing, the plastic portion of the cover also giving way, so dad suggested to do some modification to the cover which I will do it in my own free time.

dating Sunday

The man and I went on a date on Sunday.
Today is Thursday already and I know this is a bit late in updating.
I have been wanting to update this space but I stared at the "compose" page for a while before I thought of the content.
Life has been mundane and not worth updating here.

Everyday is just about waking, sending the kids to school, work, pick them up, shower, dinner and a little play and revision before they head to bed again. On bonus days, I will bring them to the nearby neighbourhood bakery to get donuts. (the bakeries near our place doesn't sell donuts, I think we took it for granted that donut in bakery is common, but no, it's not... no demand.)

So on the weekend that just passed, the little Missy decided to tag along her brother to go PoPo's house and leaving us a quiet Sunday. We kinda missed her presence in the house.
But we were able to sleep in a little later without any disruption.

It's been a long long time since we last went out as a couple (less the movie dates). That Sunday, I was thinking to myself, how good if the man will bring me out to jalan jalan. The next moment, he came into the room and asked if I wanna go out... Of course I said yes but we both ran out of ideas on where to go (because we have nothing specific to buy) before we decided to go to Ikea where I can get the shower curtains.

Off we went and had lunch at Tampines Ikea, got our stuff and home sweet home.

Later in the evening, I went to pick up the kids from my mom's place and there goes the weekend.

Short yet lovely couple time.

Zojirushi Electric Vacuum Airpot

Have been contemplating over getting the air pot replaced or install a filtered water dispenser ever since I found out our air pot have a little rusty stain at the rim.

Googled a bit and I am attracted to getting the 3M Hot, Room Temperature and Ice filtered water dispenser but I fret over the installation because we need to be near one water point but the place allocated is not anywhere near. However, I believe the professionals should be able to advise on this if they come by for a site survey. A few reasons held back this decision. I read from some online sources that the filtered water will filter away some of the fluoride currently present in our tap water and reduction in this healthy level may cause tooth decay. For the adults I think is still okay since we do brush our teeth daily but for the kids, I cannot help but think it might result in early decay of their milk tooth since they are still not brushing their teeth properly and consistently.

Another reason is the maintenance. The air pot I wanted to buy is $328 (or rather the price I got for) and the dispenser is $1488. Then the dispenser requires regular changing of the filter which is about $100++. The current air pot lasted me for about 3+years so if this $328 can last another 3 years, then it works out the dispenser is cheaper.

It just came to my mind that because the water source of the dispenser is connected directly to the tap, it means if there is a sudden cut in water supply, we will not have extra if the storage uses up, since it has the hot, room temp and ice water serving. Currently, we have jugs and bottles to store cold and room temperature water.

And so, for now, I am sticking to the Zojirushi Electric Vacuum Airpot. A replacement to my current one in the kitchen! :)

one crazy Sunday.

We call this the crazy day!

For the longest time we (the usual MJ kaki babes) have been trying to arrange for a meet up but nothing materialize due to work commitments and all until we decided on 6th March.

The plan was to meet up for steamboat dinner + MJ and we will go marketing at the NTUC that afternoon.
However hubby suggested that we do marketing on Saturday on our own (the girls will give me their orders) and they can just come over straight.

Came Saturday and hubby had something to attend to and also we have a family dinner that night so we couldn't make it to the NTUC. Informed the girls that we had to stick to the original plan and they came up with an even crazier idea... that is to sleep over with the kids at our place!

Though crazy, I thought it's fun too but too bad, due to space constraint, we aborted the idea.
Next we decided to go to the wet market early in the morning to buy the ingredients for the steamboat!

In the end, we got the most enthusiastic babe that says she woke at 6.30am and promptly gave all of us morning call at 7am.

We got to the market, had breakie and started our marketing.

Havent visited the market for a decade... or maybe even more! I recall my mom would bring me to the market as well and ask me to 'watch over' the groceries she bought at this waiting point while she goes into the wet market to get more stuff. I also remember fussing over outfits, I couldn't get proper outfit to go market and I end up throwing temper at myself and decided to not go out because of it.

After marketing, I sent one of them back to get her kids while the rest made our way to the NTUC to get some other stuff that were not available from the wet market.

Then back to my place where we had lunch and prepare the food for dinner. Then of course, there were MJ too!

Because there were more of us, we decided to play Thai Ban Luck. It was fun.

Too bad we have to end early because the kids needed to go to school and most of us needed to work tomorrow.

Looking forward to more crazy things to do!

the kids.

I was browsing some blogs for the past few evenings and I realized the more blogs I read, the more I am inspired to blog, so here I am.

Ethan is starting his in-school enrichment class today; the first enrichment class I signed him up for, after we pull out of lessons from Agnes' class when he first started Child Care.

Kaelyn is more of a follower so I am not so worried for her because I noticed she does generally well.
So the concern falls back on Ethan. He is doing okay but after discussion with some mommies in the forum, I feel that his learning is way below the same group of kids. He does not do counting very well for numbers beyond 20. He still cannot write his Chinese name yet. He is not doing addition...

I hope to work on this gradually by spending some writing time with him and coaching him on the strokes.
As long as Ethan is on the right path, I have less worries for Kaelyn because her brother can then be that positive influence.

Let's hope Ethan doesn't lose out too much on his learning because of all the distractions he is facing.