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

Exam Pointers

XY's mid-year exam results are all back except for Art. I'm really satisfied with her results. I try not to make a big deal out of the marks (of coz the higher the better hehehe) but more on how she fared in the subjects. I'm very happy that she showed improvement in terms of careless mistakes. A good gauge is the Maths papers. For Paper 2 (subjective paper), she made 1 mistake and lost marks for 2 questions because she didn't show the complete workings. Definitely a big improvement. And that's truly rewarding for her "tutor". *big smile*

Everyday during the exam, I had to keep reminding her about the pointers we've discussed. Well, I'm no expert, just helping her to score better. :p Do share with us your exam pointers too. Some pointers that I drill into her :
* read the questions carefully.
* check back all your answers after you've finished the paper, as many times as time permits. Or at least 2 rounds.
* in Maths, use different calculations for checking. For example, if the question is an addition, take the answer to do subtraction for checking.
* for fill-in-the-blanks or matching questions, fill/match the answers that you are very sure of first. If you're lucky, whatever's left is the answer for the question you've left out. If there are more than 1, no choice but to make the best guess. :-)
* check your spelling. Although you choose the right answer, you may/will not get any marks for spelling it wrongly.
* check the back of the paper. Some are printed on both sides. Don't miss out any questions.
* for Maths, show the workings (how you get the answer). Otherwise, even though you get the right answer, you won't get full marks for that question. This was how she lost some marks. (Refer to picture below.) That was really tricky. So after this "lesson", I told her to show ALL the workings in future tests/exams, to be on the safe side.

~ so tricky, got the right answer, but no full marks ~

Locked Out Of The Room

The kids were playing with the computer room door and accidentally locked the door, with nobody inside. What do you do?

Step 1 : Scream at the kids for playing with the door.

*steam still coming out of the head*

Step 2 : Search for the key. Try your messy storeroom.

No luck?

Step 3 : Try the bunch of spare keys. Although you're almost 100% sure the key isn't there, who knows, it could be your lucky day. Or maybe miraculously, some other key is able to open the door.

No such luck. *start to get frustrated already*

Step 4 : Call your hubby to see if he knows where the key is. But don't count on it. Most of the time, he'd be clueless. :p


Step 5 : Search the internet for "How to open a locked door". One of the links given.


Step 6 : Start looking for expired credit cards or membership cards.

I used the iTalk phone card as it's not as hard as a credit card, so it's more flexible. Slide the card between the door and the frame. I started higher up where the gap is slightly bigger. Slide it down to where the lock is. Push and bend and twist the card, while pushing the door slightly.

Ta-daaa! The door's open!

Baking Tips

I got these tips from Hotel Equatorial's monthly brochure which features their dining promotions. I'd like to share these baking tips on temperature, cookware, ingredients and techniques with you here.

1. Turn on the oven 10-15 minutes before you plan to use it to allow time for it to heat to baking temperature.

2. Shiny pans reflect the heat, and are your best choice for cake baking.

3. Have all ingredients at room temperature for best results.

4. To speed up the softening of cold butter, grate or thinly slice it and let stand for about 10 minutes over a bowl of warm water.

5. Toss nuts, raisins and chopped fruits in flour first. This will help keep them suspended in batters.

6. Cool the cake thoroughly before frosting.

7. Apply a thin layer of frosting to the cake then refrigerate until it is set before applying the final, heavier layer of frosting. This will seal in the crumbs, ensuring a clean final appearance.

Bye-bye

Nope, this is not a suicide mission gone wrong. hehehe Although I've been feeling a bit moody lately, I wouldn't resort to suicide. Too chicken for that. If you've noticed, I haven't been writing very frequently and I've also blog-hopped less. I don't know why, but I don't feel very energetic. I used to be able to stay up till 3 am but the past week, I fell asleep together with the kids. Just couldn't get up to have some 'me' time. So I don't have much time to update my blog, read other's blogs and leave comments or watch my Cantonese serials. (I'm very far behind already. Too many AOD shows to catch up. The Astro MAX is running out of space!) Moreover, we'll be going for a short family holiday in 2 days' time. And I haven't started packing yet. So friends, please bear with me. I'll slowly pick up the momentum after the holidays. I'll see you when I'm back ya. Bye-bye for the time being.

Ok, back to the picture above. How did that happen? I was using a red pen but didn't realise it has leaked. And I got ink smeared all over my hand and fingers, and the computer table too. Then I remembered reading somewhere that toothpaste is able to clean up stubborn stains. So I gave it a try.

It was much easier to remove the stain from my hand with toothpaste as compared to soap. Yes, I tried to experiment with both. As for the stain on the table, the toothpaste did a good job. I've stained it before (previously was blue ink. I do sound very clumsy, don't I? LOL) but couldn't remove the ink with soap. Now my table is squeaky-clean... bye-bye stains!

Unexpected Power Cut

Just now while brushing XY’s teeth, suddenly everything went dark. We were in total darkness. Couldn’t see anything coz the whole neighbourhood’s power supply was cut off. Kakak was downstairs so I asked her to bring the torchlight up. Got some nagging from hubby coz there’re 3 torchlights in the house but only 1 that’s working. The rest of the batteries were dead. So for unexpected power cut like this, it took a longer time to be able to see and move about. Have to wait for Kakak to bring up the torchlight and candles.

I was thinking in my mind, how long will this power cut last. Do we need to ‘hide’ in the car to enjoy some air-cond or go to a mamak shop (most convenient place - got food mah) to get out of this stuffy house? After lighting up the room and the washroom (for XY to continue washing up), we were about to light more candles when the power came back on again. Yoohoo! No more worries. Thankfully this time it only lasted less than 10 minutes.

I just want to share with you some good practices in preparation of or in the event of a power cut.
* It’s good to keep candles and matches in a place that is easily accessible.
* Keep some torchlights (with working batteries hehehe) at places that you spend a lot of time in, like the living room and bedroom.
* Call TNB to report the matter and maybe you can find out what’s wrong and how long the disruption will last. You can get the number (for enquiry/complaint) from your electricity bill.
* If possible, get some battery-operated fan so that you won't tire your hand fanning yourself or the kids.
* And not to forget, when in total darkness, move very very slowly, with hands extended out, to avoid knocking into furniture or people.