Another Year Older Wiser

When the clock struck 12 midnight, we were at the Immigration check point at LCCT. We just came back from Singapore. The main intention was to bring the kids to USS. Will blog about it in a different post. But I'd like to write about an unpleasant incident of the trip here. Our 9:20pm flight was retimed to 11:20pm. That's TWO hours delay! Gosh, we were already so tired and can't wait to get home. Although our baggage has already been checked in, we managed to change to the next flight, which was slightly earlier at 11pm. Luckily everything went smoothly after that -- 11pm flight was on time, boarding was swift, our baggage didn't get lost and we didn't have to queue for a taxi. We reached home at 1am.

We all slept till 10 in the morning. Didi skipped school to get a good rest. The kids are more excited than me. They said they wanted to behave on my special day. Although they failed miserably (especially didi), I guess I should appreciate their effort. :-) PaPa surprised me with a bouquet of flowers. Actually it was jie jie's idea and PaPa executed the plan. In August, I made a new pair of spectacles and PaPa paid for them. So when he asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I said the spectacles are considered my present. I'm so kind to him hor?

~ a dozen gerberas ~

PaPa asked me to decide where to go for dinner. Since it's a weekday and we just got back from Singapore (have been eating a lot of "restaurant food"), I decided to just have a simple meal at home. We had pandan kaya cake for dessert. The kids love it. Less than a quarter of the 0.5kg cake is left for tomorrow's breakfast.

~ pandan kaya cake from Tong Kee -- nice! ~

Aaaah... I feel so blessed and loved. Received so many greetings via phonecall, sms and FB wall from family, relatives and friends. The greetings in FB were really overwhelming. Thank you so much for your warm wishes.

Passport Renewal

Woohoo! Exam's over! I mean my girl's exam. hehehe Today is the last day. So after sending her to school, I can breathe a sigh of relief. She's having a one-week (Deepavali) break next week and we'll be going for a short holiday. Will tell more after we're back, okay? :-)

While discussing about the flight tickets with PaPa, I realised my passport and didi's have less than 6 months validity. *ooops!* At first, we wanted to go to Immigration Department on Monday. But on Saturday night, while checking their website, I found out that the branch near us opens on weekends. We went on Sunday morning so that didi didn't have to skip school.

Reached Immigration Department at 8:10am. The queue was already very long, all the way to the staircase. Heard from the officer that the applicants that day were more than usual. I got my number at 9:30. Good thing we have a place to sit. Waited with didi while PaPa went for breakfast with jie jie. Kept him occupied with his Maths workbook (his choice). After jie jie came back, they kept each other company and made a lot of noise.

Documents were processed at 11:40. The officer checked to made sure the documents were complete. Thumb print was also taken. Next is payment. My number was called at 11:55. And at 12:30pm, our passports were ready for collection. Luckily we don't have to come back the next day as they close at 1pm. It took about 4.5 hours to get our passports done. Considered efficient, right? :D

For those who plan to go to Immigration Department to renew your passport, these are what you need :
1) Form - can be printed from their website (print on A4 paper, on both sides) or obtained from Immigration Department
2) IC - original and 1 copy (photocopy front and back of IC on the same side)
3) 2 passport-size photos
4) Current passport

And for applicants below 18 years old :
1) Form
2) Birth Certificate - original and 1 copy
3) 1 copy of guardian's IC (photocopy front and back of IC on the same side)
4) 2 passport-size photos
5) Current passport

I Went Too!

Went where? To the much talked-about book sale -- the Big Bad Wolf sale. Since Friday, I saw many posts about the sale in FB. I also ' beh tahan' already so I applied "leave" from hubby today. I brought XY along while CE stayed at home with PaPa. We went after lunch, reached the venue at 2+. It was very easy to find the place using GPS. Along the way, I saw many "wolf" signage too.

Good thing I've read about others' experience, so I knew we had to wait for the shuttle bus to bring us to Hall A (where the sale is) from the parking lot. When we reached Hall A, there was a queue but I think we waited for about 5 minutes only. We headed directly to the Children's section. We "systematically" covered the whole section. As expected, some of the tables were quite messy. I think we spent almost 2 hours at the Children's section. Then I wanted to look for my books. But they are quite difficult to find, unlike those advertised in their website and bestsellers. There are so many tables for General Fiction and they don't seem to be arranged by author. I didn't see any Dan Brown books and the John Grisham book I bought, I just picked it up from a non-related pile. :-)

After 3 hours in the hall, the damage to the pocket was only RM106. Felt quite out of place coz other people's boxes or trolleys were filled to the brim. hehehe

~ RM3 each ~

I like the toy clock coz it looks quite "durable". I've bought educational clocks made from paper and wood before. The paper one got torn very soon and the wood one, its minute and hour hands can be moved separately. This one, it's like a real clock. You wind the button behind, it'll move the minute hand and the hour hand will move accordingly. CE immediately "played" with it when he saw it. He has always been very fascinated with time. He likes to keep track of time. He moved the toy every 1 or 2 minutes, to be the same as the digital clock in our living room. The problem is, he finds it a bit tight to wind it from behind, so he moves both the hands on the face. Thus making the hour and minute hands go out of sync. :-|

~ top : RM5 each, bottom : for hubby (RM15) ~

~ RM8 each ~

This being my first time to the BBW book sale, the experience was very pleasant. The place is air-conditioned. It didn't feel hot at all although there was a big crowd. There are many payment counters so it didn't take long to pay. I've waited much longer in Tesco. :p And for a public place, the toilets are very clean. *thumbs up*

Note : I'll go MIA again (what's new eh? :p) as CE is having his exam starting tomorrow and XY's will start the following week. Here's wishing "All the best!" to the children who'll be having their year-end exam.