Star Reward Too?

Last night, Renee showed us happily this piece of reward her teacher diana has awarded her :

When asked on what basis was she given this and she replied : "because I've got 5 stars, so teacher diana gave me this". I probed further : "Oh, how and what did you get the star(s) for?" and she said "for being a good girl". Awww, ain't that nice... To further encourage her, I complimented her for the good work and that papa and mommy are very proud of her, she smiled, :).

*I guess I've never expected this extra 'act' from the teacher 'cos teacher diana has appeared 'busy' with handling the children. This, I must say, is very good as children grow/prosper well under the care of loving teachers.

The PoliceGirl!

Yes Mommy, I like the New School

Earlier, under the impression that another branch's better, I had contemplated switching Renee over, especially when she hadn't seem very enthusiastic about going to the current one initially.

However, the Principal of the current CC has been rather pro-active and from the changes they've catered for Renee, even if they were very minor changes, we appreciate the thought and effort. On Wednesday, Mrs Teoh has called and even followed up with me on Renee's progress and asked if we are to confirm pulling Renee out. I told her then that I've yet to look into the matter and will revert to her by today. Upon our 2nd visit to the other branch, it appeared that it didn't have much difference afterall(the 'changes' that we've seen and liked during our 1st visit didn't warrant the switch enough) and that the staff do not carry the 'personal touch'. Perhaps, those whom I get to chat with already knew the details, :).

This morning, Mrs Teoh waited for us personally at the door and discussed further with me on Renee's progress(including meal, nap, activity times) in the centre and I really appreciated that as it gave me a better insight of what Renee has actually 'learnt'/'done' in the 'school'. She even suggested to let me bring back the worksheets, arts/activity work she's done so far to gauge(which the chinese lang. teacher really did show me when I went to pick Renee, but I felt there's no need for me to bring back so I just glanced 'thru. Lao Shi even futher updated me with her observations). We told her that we've actually decided to let her continue for the time being and just now, I learnt from Renee that she's been allowed to participate in the year end school concert performance(they actually felt sad that Renee had wanted to participate but they didn't let her 'cos thinking that today would be her last day).

Earlier, Renee had mixed feelings about the other branch but she ultimately chose to return to the current one which suits me equally fine, :).

The Hand Over(mommy's car) II

The buyer had phoned daddy around 3pm yesterday and requested for the hand over at 5pm but later on, more delay cropped up with his car dealer(he's got a car dealer to handle his documentations) and yesterday's hand over was postponed.

This morning, his car dealer phoned daddy and informed him that we'd need to pay him 1.5% for their service. WHAT? This company is obviously trying to pull tricks with us and daddy told them off. There's no such practice in the market(we've even double-checked on this with a couple other dealers to ensure that the market practice has not changed over the last yr) and we didn't even engage their service. Daddy then informed the buyer about this nonsense and told him that this company is not an honest one and suggest to him to talk to them. If need be, we could even recommend him a reliable dealer. The buyer said he'll speak to them but we waited a while without his reply and thus, daddy gave him an ultimatum - deal off after 5pm today. Minutes later, he phoned back to say that everything's settled and will meet us for the handover at 1pm.

We got to the dealer's office at 1pm and as the buyer's late, we went for our lunch. By the time he arrived, we've already wasted an hour. The 2nd half of today was totally wasted, no thanks to this dealer, whose ignorance of the standard paperwork requirement further delayed all proceedings til 4:30pm! During such time, we were made to turn back(having asked them to get the matter sorted out before we would hand over the car, we were already on our way back to the office) and there were quite abit of haggling on documentations for they did not want to give us the letter of release when the bank loan has been approved, on Wednesday and WILL BE SETTLED to them, including our balance payment by next Tuesday! In this case, how can we release our car over?! Geez. To think that they're 'CaseTrust' stamped, OMG! I mean, if they can't trust the bank to deliver payment, who are they to expect us, who don't know them at all, to trust them on the payment?

By the time we've finally handed over our car to the buyer(crossing our fingers that this dealer will really release the balance amount to us within 2 weeks - which is already a ridiculous arrangement since the bank loan is already approved and will be settled by next Tues the most), the 3 of us were totally exhausted, all from the frustrations we've got from the dealer - if only the buyer would just take our suggestion and go to the one we've recommended and save us all the trouble.

*The details of what had taken place during those irritating hours would make one's blood boils, so I'll spare the info. Can u imagine, up til the time we've handed over the car, each time daddy's mobile rang, he'll go "oh no, what is it again this time". Yes, it is that bad...

Daddy's client had phoned him about his arrival earlier today and that meant no family dinner outing for us this evening. And now that I don't have a car, daddy has to send us home for our dinner... This shall be the way-daddy sending and fetching us, for the time being and I'm ok with it except that after hving driven for ~1 yr 4 mths, I'm beginning to be dependable on its convenience, hahaha. Well, as long as it's just going to the office and home, then it's still fine and in fact, suits me more than fine(reason as cited in earlier post, heee) but going to my personal 'treats' on my own like facial and whatsoever, would deem errrm, un-'appealing', kekeke.

The Hand Over(mommy's car) I

Last evening, we were informed by the buyer that his loan application has been approved and that we could hand over my car over to him after the documentations, so whilst Renee's in the shower, I quickly went down to unload my stuffs from the car(so as to avoid lugging the stuffs to & fro today).

This morning I drove Renee to the CC again(this time, not needed only for the purpose of handing over the veh.) but when daddy met me at the office carpark, he told me the buyer mentioned there's been some hiccups and he'll inform us again when to hand over, aiyoh, I've unloaded literally everything from the car already! Waste my time lah. I really don't enjoy driving home from the office as the traffic is always super heavy with big trucks and the cars are usually either moving very fast or slow that makes lane changing tough(though still manageable la 'cos I'm not completely new, heee). Worser when it's after 6pm, JAM! However, it had been a challenge to me and although it's brought on a little 'stress' for not so experience driver, it's given me an opportunity to drive in 'mad traffic'(comparable to driving along Little India during peak hours) more often, hahaha.

I had been sooo happy that I could finally just relax in daddy's car from this evening onwards but with this piece of news, haiz. Daddy, on the other hand, cited 'regret' again last evening that the car's to be handed over, hahaha. He had liked this car as well and he said that perhaps we could find another of the same model but one with the new facade, hahaha. Ya, I don't mind 'cos I like its features and outlook too, but I hope we'll only get it(if this is really sold) when Renee's resumed schooling with the Preschool! I don't want him to get me another, after going through the trouble of selling this off, just for the sake of HIS convenience! It would be a waste of $ as I see it to have it parked at the carpark most of the time OR in order not to have it parked there, made me drive 'un-necessarily' when we usually come/go and to/fom the same place, right?

How's Renee's reaction to this sale? She said "Haiyah, I don't want other people to buy mommy's car! Oh mommy, you must remember to take out the CD ok!". Then "papa, you must buy another car for mommy ok, buy one with the arrow arrow(she's referring to the Citroen's logo)", hahaha.

Cow Jump Over the Moon

This is what they've done during their Speech & Drama class last Tuesday :

This week's - today's? Nothing, lolz...

New Site For 'Mommy's' Work

It was pouring yesterday morning but with daddy driving, we still manage to reach the CC by 9:33am even though we've left the home only at around 9:10am.

I've been looking for a suitable web builder for some time now(well, I've actually kinda stopped looking since the birth of Renee though, heee) and recently, taking the cue from my mentor, I thought, why don't I simply shift it to a blog as well! So I guess, for now I'd be busy with this other blog of mine for a while, lolz...

On A Lighter Note

Ok ok, after my earlier post, I think I should touch on something 'lighter'...

Renee had started another new piece today and citing its higher complexity, Ms Mok said that this will also take a longer time, 2-3 weeks of practice at least, especially when Renee, being young, need to start it on legato(normal/smooth bowing) play first and go on the 'actual playing' from the next lesson. As prompted by Ms Mok last week, we had arrived about 20mins earlier today. However, she did not end our lesson earlier but instead, stretched our lesson all the way til 12pm(supposedly to be frm 11:30 to 12pm). It was very nice of her. She passed me a current copy of the ABRSM selected violin exam pieces and told me to make copies for Renee's practice. Again, I told her that I'd hope for Renee to go for the later one or if she really thinks she's ready, perhaps can even skip grade but she said 'don't worry'. Anyway, if we've got time, I'd TRY and let her play the songs, for practice purposes and see how things go(not sure if even got time or not hahahahaha).

When daddy came home with our dinner, he told me that the intended buyer has requested to view our car again. Good thing he's nearby this time and so daddy went over after dinner. His whole family had came down to view the car(probably very excited about the car and it holding a 2 digit no plate, kekeke - and yes, selling the car with the no plate, 'cos first of all, it'll be very troublesome to retain it, secondly, it's not my choice of no. hahaha) instead of just his wife, which he's mentioned earlier, lolz.

The next few weeks would be tough(for me) on the home cleaning area as firstly, PX has to skip the next Sunday to go for her NDP parade dance rehearsal and then she'd be going for a short holiday break thereafter. No choice, just have to do the cleaning and ironing myself lor, arrrgggghhh...

A Little Scare...

Hmmm, now that I thought about it again, I felt a little 'shaken' though it might just be a scare over nothing, but still... Anyway, here's what happened : We both went to the mall after Renee's violin lesson as daddy's out for golf and PX won't be here till 2-3pm, so I thought to have our meals there.

After a little shopping here and there for almost 2 hours, I decided it was time to go home and we went back to the fireman's lift area. Why did we go there? It was because I've parked my car at a lot neither here nor there, no where near any passenger lifts or escalators and I've seen a few people whom had parked near mine, gone to the mall via 'that door' which was the nearest. I had hesitated initially when I got there but decided to just take the elevator anyhow. However, although I hadn't 'felt good' about having to go through there, I went back the same way, as I didn't want Renee to complain of the looong walk to the car using the 'proper lift channel'. Whilst waiting for the lift, 2 men came in and 1 smiled at Renee. He was also holding folded newspaper. I know I know, I shouldn't judge, but it sure didn't feel right at that moment and when Renee told me about something, I quickly took the opportunity and asked if she'd like to go back and get some more but she, of cos unknowing of the situation, said NO. Then, the lift arrived at our level and "Amitābha", a lady was inside - she had wanted to come out but went back in again, so I quickly went in with Renee(preparing to go out should this lady really goes out) and as this lady was fumbling inside her bag, I quickly pressed the 'close' button and hit onto my level button. The 2 men did not follow in... Now, that sure seemed funny right?

With this experience, I told myself that should I go there again, or even to anywhere for that matter, no short cut route, safety first! I took the opportunity to brief Renee again about not taking the elevator with strangers.