Upgraded to ceiling fans

Super busy day!!!

Every year hubby sets aside some savings to upgrade our little home for the comfort of everyone. Last year we upgraded water heater for the second bathroom (which came in handy as both girls go school and need to shower at the same time).

This year, no difference. We upgraded ceiling fans for the master room and dining hall. We also changed almost all lights in the house. But this year’s upgrade is super duper exhausting. First need to set up/ arrange the things nicely. And then so much cleaning to do plus the runs to drop and pick up the girls, speeding up clean up for the master room – so that the girls can nap and Noelle can have her mandarin class, and cooking lunch plus dinner.

Norrah was a pretty good girl – helped me with lunch preparation, completing her own worksheets, playing herself and finishing up her lunch without fuss. With the mess around, I couldn’t leave Norrah alone with hubby but to bring her along during pick up. Actually she is happier to go than stay at home. 🤣🤣 When returned her, I told her to nap herself and she did!

Glad to say – all settled by dinner time! I can’t wait to drop dead in bed- cos Aunty didn’t nap and woke since 4am. 🥲

Photo: https://youtube.com/shorts/OM39a3zMHxE?feature=share

DIY floor improvement

It was another spontaneous decision (before I moved things into the store room)! 🤣🤣 CFO rolled eyes 🙄🙄 but approved! 😛😛 So we quickly made a journey to pick the floooring pvc yesterday evening. It tested our mathematical skill to calculate the pieces we needed. 🤣🤣

I started work this morning, took me about 2-3 hours. It was FUN doing it actually – my me time, I stick every piece by myself and some need cutting (so don’t expect perfection). Few pieces don’t match the original colour we wanted (but there wasn’t enough stock of the same kind), but then we will cover that area with stuff.

Ok, the newly renovated room is ready! 🤣🤣🤣

Video: https://youtube.com/shorts/Gj6oP5yXF9E?feature=share

DIY room improvement

To begin with, my hubby is not a DIY person (even little stuff, he will rather pay for help 🙄🤣).

As I grow up seeing my dad doing DIY home thingy, I championed this DIY room improvement but drag my hubby along to buy and pay the stuff needed plus manpower. 🤣🤣 (this is our store room but two years plus of lockdown, slowly cleaned it until almost empty! We are turning this room into an isolation room if required. Or else, one of the girls room in the future. )

We painted the room together yesterday (our girls had fun painting it too) and I stick the PVC floor mat by myself this morning. Not calculating the manpower, the refurbishment cost is less than RM300. Most important thing is everyone especially myself enjoyed the process. In fact, I am very happy with the outcome! 😂 I am proud of myself. This is something I want to shout for myself.

Painting the store room

Family activity today: Painting the store room aka isolation room 🤭🤣

I have slowly decluttered the store room over two years 🤣🤣. And with Covid19, I always tell hubby if anyone of us need quarantine, store room will be THE isolation room. On Friday night, I showed him the ‘latest’ decluttered room! 🤣🤣 The hubby joked ‘do we need to put wallpaper – Get Well Soon!?’ 🙄🙄🙄 As a result of his banyak mulut, I told him I wanted PAINT it instead.

The kids were ‘YEAH’ -ing with the idea! So it was a spontaneous plan to paint the store room. Yesterday we took time to move everything out and bought the paint. The kids chose PURPLE as the colour.

This morning we executed it! The kids were so excited about it! I thought Nikki and Norrah won’t be staying long, but they painted the whole first coat. Noelle stayed with us until the end of second coat.

It took us about 3 hours plus to complete this painting activity! 🤣 Same number of hours to hike Bukit Wawasan but hubby said this is more tiring because of the ceiling painting! 🤣🤣🤣

One small room, 5 litre paint…

Photo: https://youtu.be/ZGkc16HjjgI

Together we build a ‘better’ home

Our ‘old’ kitchen cabinet

When we moved into our unit back then in March 2010, it was an empty unit. It considered ‘well kept’ (or rather we took it as it was). Due to lack of funds (we don’t have PAMA funds), we slowly build our furniture and electrical appliances (well, until space limitations 😂)!
After all these years (we are into our 6th year and no intention to move ‘yet’), we finally did our first renovation at home – at this particular corner where I spent most of my me time, if not with the kids! Yes, the kitchen! The decision was also partly due to the collapsing surface! 
It took about a month (or more) planning and another two weeks for actual work done! And today it is finally completed! 😊😊 I would say the small renovation was also a learning curve for us especially hubby (choosing sink, cabinet, colour combination, etc) and also an opportunity for me to declutter.

Nothing real fancy here but I am satisfied with my working corner!
Thank you hubby 😘😘and Happy Father’s Day! 😝😝😝
*colour combination by hubby

Inayou cooker

The Inayou cooker and my girl (while waiting for the ex-owner)

I finally got the Inayou cooker. Actually, my heart has been itching for one, but it is not cheap (for me), more than RM100. Then, I saw at the Preloved facebook page – someone was offering to sell hers off! And, the COD place is just the mall right behind where we live! So, I finally got it, second hand for RM70. According to the ex-owner, she only washed and used once, and for no particular reason, she just didn’t like it.

 

The whole set (except for the measuring cup, which was not given – but I was told that the measuring cup is the same size as the Avent cup) was in good condition. One thing that I found out that its socket head is different from Malaysia. Fortunately, I had a travel adaptor which fits into it. Also sadly, the instruction is in Chinese. I googled for the English instruction, but no luck – just got to find some recipes from blogs (that’s good!). Then, I posted on Healthy Food for my Baby facebook page, and there are some comments, which I want to save it here. They are certainly important notes for me.

 

From Anne Aw:

There’s no timer. The pot will auto off or auto keep warm mode when food is ready. It cooks rice well but not so for porridge. Don’t cover the lid tight if you cook porridge because it will spill out. Either you don’t cover or cover lightly so steam can come out. Also, cover the outlet with a cloth just in case the water spill out. I suggest you try cook something with the pot before you take it out for trip.

 

Some blog reference: http://thewondermummy.blogspot.com/search/label/Inayou?m=0

 

From Aikoon Law:

You must do trial cooking as if you are on vacation, if not later you have problem determining the cooking time, water level etc. Hard ingredient like carrot, potato are harder to soften in this type of cooker, may needs longer time.

 

From Amy David:

Cook porridge is easy, put water and cook till soft. I don’t measure water, will just add water and cook it dry till the texture I want. As for meat, I normally steam chic/beef/pork with spring onion and blend. Steam mix vege and blend. No salt added for my LO is 10mth old.

 

From Joanne Lim Khai Weih:

1 cup of the Inayou measurement cup is approximately 3/4 of the normal measurement cup. Not easy to cook porridge with the mini rice cooker as it takes about 1 hour. I use it to cook pasta and porridge (if I’m not in a hurry) to make sure I master it before travelling. Don’t cover or even put on the lid when cooking with excess water, it will spill. Even cooking pasta with minimum water it did spill. Red means cooking and Green means keep warm. Once the water is running out, then it will automatically turn to Green. However, in terms of cooking porridge, although it turns Green, it doesn’t mean the porridge is ready to serve! You do need to try and see if it is soft enough, otherwise repeat the procedure again. Add in water, Put on the lid and press it while push the button down, then remove the lid and continue cooking. These are what I usually do.

 

From Veronie Liew:

If you happen to travel back to Taiwan, make sure u get a voltage converter because I brought my seed there and didn’t manage to use it due to the voltage difference. My cooker never gets boiling for the whole night l0lz!!! Hong Kong and Singapore was alright though.

 

I tried using it today since my girl is not feeling that good today. So, I made pork, carrot and tomato porridge using short grain rice. I find that I need to stir it from time to time in order to avoid it from burning below. Then, it is then I found out that red light means cooking while green light means keep warm.

I was told that even when it turns to green light, it is not necessarily that the porridge is done – sometimes the ingredients not too cooked yet, and we would need to add more water for it to start cooking again. Overall, I find it just a normal cooker, but the size is ideal for travelling. I would need to try out more recipe, but not too often though (as there was someone saying that we should go slow on the frequency – though some say that they use it on a daily basis. Two persons that commented say that their cooker knocked-off; one even showed that it exploded! Yes, I have conflicting reviews from people but I think it bogs down to the manufacturing “luck” – which day and who assemble it? LOL!)

 

Anyway, this is how my porridge turned out to be:

 

But, my girl didn’t want to eat it!

And cried:

Rather eat hami melon:

And, I made her cheese omelette:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return purchase of sofa and dining table @ Seng SKH Furniture, Jalan SS 25/23, Taman Plaza, PJ

After more than two years of using the smaller size dining table (4 seaters) and the “hot” leather sofa (which is of lower quality because we did not have much budget that time), we decided to make a change. We wanted a bigger dining table to occupy “growing” number of occupants soon (actually just an additional baby for the moment) and to make the current 4 seaters dining table as my work desk (instead of me having to sit on a Japanese style on the floor). We definitely needed a new sofa set because the cushion of the older sofa has been tearing off.

 

We made a return to Seng SKH Furniture, our reliable local furniture shop. We actually went there on a Friday night and spent a good 30 minutes in the shop, listening to recommendation and making the decision. Our budget, though increased, wasn’t that much actually. After the good explanation and assurance, we decided to go for the “marble-liked” dining table (6 seaters), which also have better seat cushions. We also decided on the fabric kind of sofa, instead of leather sofa. The original price of the dining table set was about RM1,200 and it was on offer at RM1,050. On the other hand, the sofa was also going out on offer at RM800. So, the total bill comes to RM1,850, which was within our budget. We bargained a little and the owner decided to give us an additional RM50 off. We paid a RM100 deposit and agreed that it will come the following Thursday. 

 

In addition, we requested that they help us with moving out the older sofa. However, they declined except if we were willing to give tips to their worker on the day the new furniture arrived at our place. The reason being they do not have a spot to dispose older furniture and thus need to find place to dispose it.  We pondered on this – but later did not have them carrying away the old sofa away as we decided to retain it. We also requested that they come after office hours since we will be away for work. In addition, we wanted to pay by my Maybankard Manchester United Visa Card (to fast tracked the possibility of point accumulation over the weekend). Hubby requested that we come over to the shop after the furniture is sent to our condo – which they agreed.

 

We failed to receive a call from them on the following Monday and Tuesday. So, hubby rang them on the Wednesday. They actually remembered and already planning to come on the following day. On the Thursday night, we waited and they arrived about 15 minutes later than expected.

 

 

Nevertheless, we are overall satisfied with the service and the furniture (so far). We are happy that they could accommodate on our requests.

Electrical service by K Cool Aircond & Electrical Services

It has been more than a week since our water heater’s switch broke down. I actually bought the replacement switch for hubby to fix. However, when hubby tried opening the old switch cover, he noticed that the wire has burnt down. As a result, it was difficult for hubby to fix it. We actually called our electrician, who is a relative, but he wasn’t available and will get back to us sometime later.

So, we have been showering with cold/warm water for more than a week. It was until yesterday when I was about to get back to our condo unit after washing my car, I saw an electrician waiting for his customer at the ground floor. I braved myself by approaching him and asked if he knows how to fix a switch for water heater. I told him that I have already bought the switch but have trouble fixing it. He says he can help but he would need to settle his existing customer first. He took my number.

 

I waited about one hour before he called me. He managed to get the switch fixed. He first checked on the existing one, switch off the house electric, remove and replace the switch and then tested on it. He even advised me that I should not have bought the same type of replacement switch because it is easy being burnt down again. He charged me RM20, which was reasonable to me (as I was prepared to pay RM50 if our normal electrician comes over). I guess the cheaper pricing could have been it has saved his transportation cost, as it was just door away.

I asked for his name card, which he left in the car. He said that he will drop the car into our inbox, which he did. Well, we have an alternative electrician now. He specializes in air conditioner services and house electric circuit.

Ants start crawling back

It is just less than a month from the time we had the pest control treatment from Pest Paramedics. However, the ants are seen crawling back this morning. And, in fact, I saw a lizard back on top of the kitchen ceiling. The man said it supposed to last two months while the advertisement says that it could be up to six months – guess not! In fact, the ant bait did not crowd any ants as mentioned by the worker.

Pest Control Treatment for RM80 instead of RM160 by Pest Paramedics @ Streetdeal.my

I have wanted to tried out pest control treatment (due to ants and cockroaches around the house) but I have no clue who should I approach. Also, I have been looking into discount sites lately. There were actually few pest control treatment deals almost at the same price, ranging from RM 80 to RM 90 (if I am not mistaken). However, I choose the pest control treatment by Pest Paramedics for one simple reason – they can come during the weekends and public holiday (just that purchasers need to set the appointment earlier).

After the purchase of the deal, I obtained my voucher (for this post, I have decided not to reveal my voucher number as the dealer easily knows who am I, where I live and my contact number). I attached the voucher and email to Pest Paramedics to set the appointment on a Saturday morning. They were quite prompt in responding. I actually also emailed them few days before the appointment on whether should I prepare anything in advance, which they replied that I needed to move my furniture about a feet away from the wall.

On the day, I was really pleased that they came on time. The worker straight went into the toilet and started spraying the treatment. He then went around the condo unit before finally finished at the kitchen. At the kitchen, he actually put some gel baiting on an area where there were a lot of ants. All these were done within 15 minutes. He then gave us a service report. Before going off, he also mentioned that Pest Paramedics is currently having promotion where if we were to sign a one year contract, which is six times a year (once every bi-monthly), the price will be RM 420 (where it will be RM 70 each time that is also cheaper the deal that I purchased). We weren’t force or push into signing up the contract (which was good). He told us that we can clean up the place after about three hours.

Overall, I am pleased with their service (in terms of handling customers and punctuality). However, despite the voucher saying that the treatment can last about three to six months, the worker personally told us that it will last about two months. I feel that the poison wasn’t sprayed evenly. Also, the poison spray smell wasn’t as strong as the one I used to experience in my hometown last time (for the same kind of treatment). While putting the gel bait, the worker was rambling that the cost of the gel bait (one stick) is about RM120 and our deal is just RM 80 (I did not know why he did that though). He told us that after a while or two days, all ants will gather at the gel bait area (up till now – about 9 hours, I don’t see a single ant there).

Well, after we came back in three hours time to our condo, we found one death cockroach in the toilet (just “crazily” happy that one died?). I will try to update if there’s any difference in the next two months.

Follow up read: Here

Electronic products can be more expensive from community store.

I guess I am naïve to think that big electronic stores like Best Denki always offer price at high mark up price compared to community stores like Jintex Electronics. It is until I checked on the price of Electrolux Blender EBR2601 at Best Denki, Tropicana Mall today. The blender was priced RM 19 cheaper than the one I bought. It was the current promotion going on, I guess. Well, I think the lesson learnt is never assume that big and/or franchise electronic shops always sell at higher mark up price.