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You Spent What?!

13 Oct

It’s been a while since I had a call from home. M2 called me on the mobile and sounded very excited.

“Mummy! Guess what? We walked to Domino’s today for lunch,” she went on enthusiastically. It was a Friday and she had to stay back for cheer practice without coming home for lunch first. This is a one-off occasion and out of the usual Friday routine.

“Ah. You did, did you?”

“Yes. And you know what? The lava cake was so good! Sooooooo good!” she reported.

“I see. Maybe next time when we order Domino’s, we can get it too,” I suggested.

“Uh-huh!” she readily agreed.

“So how much did you spent?” I queried.

“Forty five bucks.”

“What? Forty five bucks?!” I was shocked. “You spent forty five bucks for lunch!”

“Err… Yes but there was change. Five bucks… and my friend paid a little bit for lunch too.” She tried to explain, “We ordered pizza, Pepsi, chicken wings, the lava cake…”

“You know how much I spent for my lunch today?” I interrupted her and went on without giving her a chance. “Five bucks. I spent five bucks for my lunch today and you! You spent forty five for yours!”

“Five bucks? Is that all? I could have bought you lunch with my spare change.”

Ooohhhh….. That child of mine. I was speechless.

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How Come I Never Got Flowers?

5 Sep

I am not a flower-loving kind of person but once a year, if I do get a single rose or a bouquet during Valentine, I’d appreciate it. But for no reason or occasion, I’d pooh-pooh at it instead.

Last week, M1 came home with a bouquet of nice smelling flowers, given by her school teachers. It was their way of thanking her for doing a good job as Head Librarian (she steps down this year) and also to wish her well for the trial exams and the eventual big exam. I have never, ever in my life received flowers from my teachers at all levels of education.

So I find this very sweet and motivating what the teachers have done for her. Now if only my teachers then did the same act, I might have done better in my exams. On second thought, if this did happen, I wouldn’t have pursued graphic design and end up doing what I am doing now.

Smell the flowers!

Smell the flowers!

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Can I Choose My College Now?

26 Aug

My girls are all grown up with M1 literally ready for college next year and M2 having turned 13 this year. It was several months ago when hubby was advising M1 about college choices and M2 was listening just as intently.

Soon after, M2 said to hubby,“I supposed I am going to face this talk in four years’ time, huh?” and he nodded.

She then declared, “Can I choose my college now?” thinking this would save us and her this big decision-making challenge.

Cute.

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BFF

12 Aug

The endearing initials, BFF – best friends forever, is timeless and every girl knows what it means. I believe it is understood and used by all the females in the world, myself and my girls included. But I am not sure if guys use this endearing term though. Anyway, my BFF is mostly my Secondary/High school friends; some even goes back to our Primary school days, that is, way, way back to 7 years’ old when we first became friends. This makes our relationship far longer than that of mine with my hubby! After all these years, we are still a close-knit group and there’s a lot of years that has gone by, let me tell you!

We have grown from being naughty, smart and fortunate giggly girls to successful, happy and giggly adults. From the day we left high school to pursue all kinds of career and direction, we’ve somehow kept each other in our minds. A big thanks especially in the 90s when technology and the internet boomed, we hooked up. Then Facebook came along and of course, the smart phone, along with a whole bunch of social apps, we have become closer and more connected than ever.

Two weeks ago, four of us met up. And it felt like we’ve never parted. BFF indeed. The laughter, giggles and giddiness had all the waiters and waitresses raising their eyebrows at us whenever they walked into the private room to top up our green tea. Despite our differences in worldly experience and all being mothers, the conversation always goes back to the good ol’ school days, cracking us up with new bouts of howls over the nostalgia.

I thoroughly cherish these occasions, so my dear BFF, let’s meet up more often!

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So I Can Have Your Coffee?

10 Jul

Starbucks

I was running late for my lunch appointment when the iMessage came. It was M2 and the Drama Queen act unfolded…

“Can I have the Italian Starbucks? The one in the kitchen.”

“It’s normal coffee that I drink. Are you sure?”
“There’s no sugar in it.”

“Yeah, I’ll add sugar.”

And I thought that was the end of this, then…

“Guess what? I passed 200m and shot put.”

It was standard school sports that morning, so I was getting an update on it.

“That’s good.”
“But I don’t think I passed long jump!”

“Oh well…”

“Cause I fell flat onto the sand”
“It hurts…”
“My leg hurts!!!”

“Oh dear”
“Ouch!”

“My eye hurts…”

“Oh no”
“I call you now…”

“There’s sand in my eyes” then pause, then the request came.

“So I can have your coffee?”

I think Drama Queen was at her best here. Yes, I did call and yes, she did have my coffee with lots of sugar added, as reported by M1 later.

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I Can Math

1 Jul

M1 was happy with her results but feels that there’s room for further improvements especially on those subjects attaining ‘B’. M2, not to be outdone, declared that she did improve but M1 questioned her particularly on the languages.

“What did you get for English?” she challenged, “What did you get for Mandarin?” clearly think she had M2 cornered.

Unperturbed, M2 replied, “I did well in Math. So I speak Math!”

How does one speak Math? I am speechless.

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A Promise is a Promise

30 Jun

Exam results are back! As expected, M1 topped her class again. So she’s getting her reward – an Ed Sheeran limited edition album which we had to buy online from his website. A promise is a promise, so how can I break it? She did her part and I have to as well. But I nearly fainted upon learning that the shipping charges cost as much as the album! Well, a promise made has to be a promise fulfilled. The album will be on its way soon after the release.

As for M2, well… This is where I feel caught in a predicament. The 80 percent average was not achieved but it’s a top ten position in class. What do I do? Does she get the phone as originally negotiated? A top ten is pretty good for her ability, an improvement from the last exam but this was not the deal as agreed.

Nonetheless, she wasn’t too upset at not getting the phone but very happy with the top ten and promised to do better in the next exam. That’s the way to go, gal! Let’s hope her promise made will be a promise fulfilled too.

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Selective Hearing

30 May

M2 has mastered the art of selective hearing recently. Plugged into her music with her big Sony headphones, she would conveniently ignore hubby or me whenever we ask or remind her on school assignments for the day.

However, she can amazingly pick up key words, mind you the headphones are still in place, whenever M1 shares stories with us on the latest developments in school, be it news or gossip!

Hubby concluded it is definitely selective hearing.

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79 is Not 80

22 May

Mid-year exams are around the corner and motivation needs to be provided for the girls. Unlike M1 whom I am proud to say can achieve her targets, M2 needs a little bit of encouragement. So I offered my old iPhone4 seeing that the need for a mobile phone had cropped up again recently.

There was no tussle over the iPhone4 for ownership after I upgraded because I did not allow a tussle to occur. Although by hierarchy, M1 is entitled to my old phone, she is pretty contented with her hand-me-down Android phone from hubby.

But since M2 has been grousing for a phone, why not just dangle the iPhone to entice her to do well? After all, the iPhone4 is just sitting there collecting dust. All she needs to do is to achieve the 80 percent average target for all her subjects.

M2 is hesitant because firstly, my old iPhone4 was problematic (that’s why I changed) but I convinced her ever since I upgraded, the old phone seems to be okay. The choice was tough: a smartphone or no phone. The second reason being, she wasn’t sure she could achieve the 80 percent overall. So she negotiated with me.

“79? Can ah?” she asked me several days before the exams started.

I merely raised my eyebrow and commented. “79 is not 80. Does it look like 80 to you?”

She cringed. Silence.

Then she tried again.

“What if it was 79.6? Cos if you round up the point six, it would be 80!” she sensed victory in putting her mathematical skills to good use!

Hrmph. We shall see…

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Oh! Pixar Lights!

12 May

The study areas were created and both girls were extremely happy with the result. To top off the space, we needed to get lights for them. So I promised them after work, we will run off to IKEA to buy the lights. I was even reminded every hour via iMessage after they came home from school. Such was their excitement especially M2.

So at the lighting department in IKEA, hubby and I were debating between aesthetics and practicality. He decided it shouldn’t be halogen-based to minimize heat issues when used over a prolonged period. I pushed for those swing arm worklights that uses energy saving bulbs because I used to have them when I was in college and secondly, I thought they were the most practical. Braced to a furniture, it looks sturdy and won’t topple over even if handled too roughly but hubby thought they weren’t pretty. But in the end, my insistence for practicality won over the pretty table lamp choice that he had in mind.

When we came home, both girls waited excitedly by the door because we called ahead to announce our return with lights for them. The front door opened and dramatically, the lights were shoved forward to present to them.

“Oh! We got Pixar lights! Yay!!!” one of them exclaimed. Wow. I never even made that association and in my mind I knew it was the right choice. Without giving us a chance to have dinner, the lights were quickly assembled and put in place with our help of course. The two study areas are now complete with Pixar lights.

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