HDB Home Improvement Program - Stay in!

Recently, quite a number of HDB Home Improvement Program (HIP) cases are scheduled to change waste pipe and toilet upgrading, mainly in old estate.

Today is day 10 for our family. It's supposedly the end 😀

Next post will be dedicated for home owners, what to do. This post alone will be for parents. 

Firstly, what is involved? The program is a mass renovation of waste pipe (compulsory) and toilets/shower (optional). Lead time per flat is about 10 working-days (inclusive Saturdays). It's done in mass production style, so per HDB block, roughly about 2 months (depending on number of units).

During the 2 months, expect:

* hacking noise

* dust (comes with above)

* lift breakdown and jam (as a result of carrying pails of cement and the non-stop activity of the construction)

During the 10 days, expect dysfunctional kitchen, toilet/shower, and washing machine.

Sounds scary, right?

Before starting, there's about 6 months to a year involving voting, inspection, options, ... During this time, we prepared mentally, looking around for other living option and other alternative arrangements (laundromat, count no of uniforms necessary, ...).

During those time, we also considered:

* bunking in with friends or relatives

* economical hotel (something from 100+ per night)

* Airbnb apartment rental

However, by God's grace, something downed on me a few weeks before the renovation starts. We are having a pre-teen in the house. By law of nature, she complains A LOT. So I had an idea of staying in during the whole chaos to let them see and experience the discomfort. Cruel Mommy, right? Well, tens of other families with no other option did it. So I thought, should be do-able.

Now, after completion (sort of), I am really glad that we did it. We've grown closer and the kids perspective of life have opened up. They're more willing to accept less than ideal condition, and the experience has provided the much needed nudge towards gratitude for 'given' comfort.

If you're game, below are some tips:

1. Prepare everyone mentally. Mine happened right bang in the middle of exam time. So I've told them to revise earlier. With all the noise, concentration will be reduced.

2. We isolated two rooms. One for study, pantry (microwave inside), and dining. And another one for sleeping. Everyone wears slippers at home, with mats in front of the room. Before climbing into bed, use wet wipes to wipe off feet (of course, we also use the portaloo to wash feet, but the amount of dust is to-experience-to-believe).

3. Blocked entrance to these two rooms as much as possible by painter plastic sheets. It is a challenge to tape it to both ceiling and floors. But be patient and you're saving yourself lots of work, and protecting your furnitures too. Tips: tape both sides (in and out) at each top and bottom side. For top, at some interval, strengthen by having a perpendicular tape instead of parallel to the side.

4. Bring out all the unnecessary stuff from inside the two rooms. You'll appreciate the space. Mine, other than bed, I keep in only: land line, all children school books, enough clothes towels bedsheets for two weeks, medicines, first aid box, iPad and PC. We also moved the fridge to a good lesser-dust 

-exposure area.

5. Other than wet wipes, prepare disposable cups plates fork spoon straws, mineral waters (don't forget the 500-600ml ones for the kids to bring to school), cup noodles, vitamins, milk, snacks.

6. One consolation for my kids was the constant eat out/food delivery. So Mommy, get ready to keep your fingers crossed for the amount of MSG. 😝

7. In each unit, there'll be one portaloo (portable toilet) installed. But beware, contrary to the claim, there's no hot water. And, the water supply is small. So to keep it not smelly, prepare to have some wet area around it. Why? Use buckets and scoop to flush. Oh, and we also only used it for emergency wee in the evenings. When it just arrived, I wiped everything with bleach. On the second day, the worker steps on it everywhere (they need to do something). Oh well... A matter of adjusting expectation.

8. Kitchen sink can still be used for brushing teeth and washing face. I was even tempted to wash my hair there but in the end used the downstairs temporary toilet/shower all the way.

9. Be prepared to q to use the common temporary toilets/shower. See the positive side, all my neighbors commented that we've grown closer too.

10. Always try to see the funny side no matter what and be amazed at how adaptable human beings are.

All the best! 👍🏻

Worst Parenting Mistake

This post is a note to yours truly of the worst parenting mistake possible. Which is... *drum rolls* to believe that your child do no wrong.

Mind you, very little parents never scold their children. This is not what I mean.

But, how many parents you know that always side with their own children when something happen. I do trust my own children, will back them up when situation arises. But the crime lies in the frequency, ALWAYS.

This includes when they're telling stories of what happens in school. Especially with young children, please please please always take it with a great dollop of salt. Below are a few familiar complain from a primary kid:

* He laughs at me when I get bad marks.

It's normal to express joy when one get a higher mark. Laughing at is a very very different case. I know some kids are truly mean. But please... If you achieve something and you managed to stay stone-faced, you may cast the first stone.

* She always cut queue

* He never help me

Indeed there are some kids that have no respect for order. But the word 'always' and 'never' are very strong, yet have been very frequently used by primary schoolers in Singapore (I have no experience with secondary schoolers, yet).

* She snatched my book

Children are naturally impatient. They always want to get what the want... Fast. To me, I set 'snatching' as forcefully taking an object against the current holder will. For children, mind you, taking things (especially test paper) itself is frequently termed 'snatching'.

Always bear in mind that children have limited vocabulary, and their subjectivity is very very high. Listen to their story, and explain the other possible point of views.

So what it got to do with the worst parenting mistake?

With all the distorted fact above, likely one child will complain about friends after friends after friends. When the parents agree with the child? Right! The child may eventually ended up with no friends, and also a very negative emotionally.

So there... Prepare your bucket of salt. Treat other children kindly. They are the jems of their parents' eyes too.

No. 1 Tip in exam

I am not in any ways a good scholar. Nor am the mother of exemplary students.

But so far, at P4 and P1,they are stress-free and, thank God, achieved band 1 in all subjects so far.

For me, a very simple rule of thumb is to sleep early the night before exam.

Enough sleep helps the brain to process information (I.e., the questions) clearer. It also reduces panic, and therefore the hazard of panic induced answers.

The night before exam, it's too late to cram in whatever things that's not understood yet. Instead, parents of young children are challenged to pace their daily study, so that the progress is gradual. Understanding the subject well (vs memorizing it) helps to build up the foundation necessary for the next level.

Two pages a day for 30 days is better than 40 pages a night before.

Hope it helps. And hope I can be committed to perform my parental duty above. Should the tip cease to work in the future, I'll revise this post :P

Painting a Presentation

Just want to make a quick note to remind myself that indeed working the corporate life is an art.

Presenting in the title also covers reporting.

Presenting skill is one key component in higher level work. To convince others of an idea, the presentation must also be backed up with confident communication skill. Pretty much a good salesman skill.

Most juniors give facts. If we're lucky, the facts will be organized in some sort of manner. Reader (audience) needs to digest, separating the important information, making the head and the tail of it.

However, from the seniors we can expect a performance. Sit back, listen and see. You will know the essence precisely how s/he wants it. If the presenter communicate well, there's even a chance that you'll believe the content, and act on the message. A good presentation is halfway done.

Below are a few pointers that I've gathered over the years:

1. Understand what you need to present. This is absolutely necessary. By knowing your content well, not only you'll gain the confidence to talk about it, but most importantly you will be able to do the below next steps well.

2. Confirm what is the aim. Consider your audience. Be as specific and you can. For example, to highlight point x, downplay point y, so that they will decide towards point z, ....

3. Sketch the big picture. Device a strategy of the presentation flow. Jot down the important point of every slide or section.

4. Develop each slide, choose your content carefully. The more is not the merrier. Not all little details need to be in. Put what's necessary. For this I like to use graphical rather than points. Takes a long time to do up, but it can be easily understood, even across culture/language. This is to ensure decision is made based on correct facts. You don't want people to come back thinking you have twisted the facts.

5. From each slide, highlight a few points that are the key. This can be done by many ways: bold bigger text, boxed up, utilize the space, etc.

6. Beautify the package. As much as we value products that are packaged beautifully, a good looking presentation will appeal more. Audience tends to be happier in listening/reading. It's not a waste of time when done cleverly. Some basic:

* Use a professional font throughout. Most of the time, you have many source. By copying from left to right, it'll looks messy and doesn't reflect well on you.

* Pay attention to font/figure size and spacing. Important content should be easier to spot. When space is limited, do not size the font such that it becomes very small and illegible. People feels uneasy with fine prints.

* Choose a color theme and stick to it. Manage the colors to emphasize, downplay, or to guide the attention in the flow.

* Outlines are not necessarily be black. Black, dark outline for many figures cramped into a slide will make the slide looks tangled. Try using a more subtle color, trying out the line weights.

* Choose a gender neutral color scheme. Equality aside, you want to attract everyone.

7. Review, and review, and review, ... 

Well, this is a skill that gets honed with experience. Practice makes perfect. I myself am newbie here. Drop any comments if you have tips to share.

Happy painting :)

[Good books] Chicken Soup for the Soul series

I find that people opinion on the Chicken Soup for the Soul series tends to differ in extremities. Some love it, the other half sneer at it. Gimmicky? Commercialized heart warming stories?

Well, taking a step back, I can see the gimmicks. With more than 250 titles and counting, sure  the series has approached some very specific souls which make the spectators shake their heads in disbelieve. And, tone of the book depends on who co-edit/write it.

For me, I've been reading Chicken Soup series for almost 20 years, on and off. And at the very least, it reminds me every now and then to count my blessings. Secondly, some of the short stories has cheered and encouraged me along the way. Now in the 30s, I can appreciate its title. Well... It feeds and warms your soul!

Below are three titles that are my personal favorites:

Chicken Soup for the Expectant Mother's Soul

Read this during one of my all time low after my first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage at almost 20 weeks. I couldn't help to wonder what went wrong, how about the next ones, ... whether there'll be a next one since the grief was so hard to bear. Fortunately I bumped into this book in the library. Unexpectedly, the stories inspired me that everything is possible.

Life Lessons for Loving the way You Live

This book is like a crash course on serenity prayer. If you want to change it, go and change. Otherwise, be at peace. I think, this book helped me to at least save many years of wondering and wandering. After reading it, I know what I want is to mommy the children. Working is just to support this goal. It matters less where or what I work on.

Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul

My 10 years old daughter found this book in a bargain section and she bought it. After reading it, she has some sense of acceptance of her life. Come to think of it, surely it's tough to be a child. Almost everyday, your world is changing. New abilities, new teacher, new friends, ... So, back to my preteen. I think there are some situation or problem that she doesn't even know how to phrase it, or whether to share it with us her parents. The book affirms that what she's facing is normal, happens to other preteens as well. And of course, not coming from her naggy parents, she is more readily receptive of the message (I could've said some of the advices myself, but it won't sink in as well).

So that's my top three titles. What are yours?

PS: To those new to Chicken Soup series, if you want to start, start from the original first book. The sequels tend to be less exciting.

Much Ado About Feeling Beautiful

Recently I had a major change happening. To cope with it, I am making sure that I'm 'uncluttered'. Uncluttered, to me, means that I am not distracted by the smallies, and that I feel comfortable to face come-what-may.

Unexpectedly, one of the small thing that works for me is taking care of myself. Hence the post title. It's not about looking beautiful. Wanting to look beautiful brings round the challenge to please others' eyes. But in wanting to feel beautiful, you have only yourself to answer to.

Without the burden of others' perception, we can truly design and enjoy the process. Everyone can do it. It does not depend on the $$$ sign. For me, for example, instead of going to the expensive spa, I had a good scented scrub and did it myself while watching a funny TV episode. Afterwards, with a nice moisturizer, definitely the feeling is good.

Another example, tried out new shampoo or conditioner. And took time to blow dry my hair instead of wash and dash to go. Haha I know it's normal for most ladies. But for me, with two little ones tugging and pulling, I need to make a conscious effort to steal the time.

In short, when we feel beautiful, your confiden is boosted multi folds. With the newfound level, you're good to go wherever life takes you.

[Good Brands] Klutz

We fell in love with Klutz 9 years ago when I discovered a Klutz book below:

It's not expensive at all, considering the hours of fun derived from it. Most of Klutz book... Well... Kit, more appropriately. Most of Klutz kits are reusable over and over again. Using the materials provided handily in the sturdy pouch or container, the child can do and redo many sets of instruction provided in the book. Afterwards, children can make their own creation. The idea behind each kit is simple, but very stimulating.

After that, we got about 5 other Klutz kits, none disappointing.

So, imagine the joy when we spot this:

Two of our favorite brands combined! Lego and Klutz. If Lego is cool, Klutz brought it to a new level by introducing the dynamic engineering theory into it. Super!

This post is not sponsored. It's purely an info sharing.