Any Mommies in mid-late 30s or over 40 with small children?

[tamarind]

Diana,
My boy used to get ill for 2 weeks every month, even though he only attended half day kindergarten. He was hospitalized due to HFMD once at 4 years old and then again at 6 years old. He was also not eating well and was very skinny. I gave up and kept him home for most of his K2 year. He has no problems after he started primary school.

My next door neighbour's boy attending CC was also extremely skinny because he does not eat well in the CC, and the teachers don't bother to feed him.

So not all kids are able to strive in CCs.

 

[tamarind]

mumusings,
You are changing your existing kitchen ? How long have you used it ?

 

[snowball32]

Hi Mumusings,

Yes, I agree with Tam to use Solid wood for kitchen cabinets. Beware of Ikea furniture as they do carry a great deal of furniture with compressed wood material.

For table-top, recommend that you use solid Granite top. Downside is solid granite top only comes in Black colour. If you use Quartz (something like cultured marble), it will cost about 25 - 30% more.

Hi Tam,

Yes, agree that not all kids can strive in CCs....gotta beat those viruses flying around in the first 6 mths at least.

 

[mumusings]

Hi Snowball/Tam,

Don't worry, mumusings is a stickler for quality. Hahaha I even checked where the kitchen cabinet frames are from! The oak and beech door frames are made in Hungary

These are the black and oak ones (only 2 series). The white ones with glass are made in Sweden.

Pine furniture are from Canada, Slovenia, Poland, Lithuania, Sweden and even China.

I am one such person who needs to know what I am buying and where items are from hehe... I walked through the warehouse section at Tampines (where all stocks for self-assembly are) to look at the boxes for 'Made in ___'.

Ikea's commercial-grade stuff (eg. S$179 wardrobe) are largely from China, Vietnam, Thailand. Bamboo from Vietnam/China. I guess the price tags and 5/10/25 year warranty are better indicators for range of items that are 'safer' to purchase for ease of mind.

Agree with u on granite, Snowball. Have always been very loyal to heavy stones

These days, compressed quartz and silestone are beautiful but very much more expensive.

Tam: Our kitchen is abt 10 years old. Still functional but we are considering doing a general overhaul to the layout and materials. Lucky for us - it's a rectangular one that's about 6 meters long, 7.5 meters if I include my storeroom to be manipulated into a pantry. Very easy to fit in Ikea's cabinets because I'm intending to set aside 1/3 space to make my own backyard. Love washing clothes and I must have this little haven to myself. I don't have much kitchen equipment: <30 cups/plates/bowls/saucers in all, cutlery set for 4, 4 pots/pans and 1 double-pan. I don't overstock food or toiletries so 4 meters of top/bottom is more than enough to hold a slim fridge and everything we have.

Have already done a 3D plan of my kitchen online using Ikea's online programme

Very useful + free programme 'cos you can delete/add/change size and match with colours of tiles/ceilings/walls! Am having fun doing colour matching for every other part of the apartment (just dont add the cabinets - only play with colours of walls and windows).

 

[snowball32]

Hi Mumusings,

Wow....u really did your research well, 佩服，佩服

My reno is almost 90% done now...Kitchen finally complete, bedrooms done. Living room ready.

I am also believer of going by price and also product warranty for indication of range of items purchased.

Now left with the installation of toilet doors/ yard door and shower screens and paintwork and final touchups. The MBR toilet bowl seemed to be leaking

Racing with time now as we need to shift next Wed....keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[mumusings]

Hi Snowball,

Kid is a fan of Ikea so we make a trip monthly

I used to just knock on doors and read labels but realised that countries of manufacturing differ. Some items are listed as made in 'SE' and one staff (pretended to know) said SE means not-stated. The store at Alexander said SE stands for 'Sweden'!!!! Another item was made in 'Lithuania' but I think the aunty couldn't pronounce it and told me that the wardrobe's made in 'Italy'... That's the problem when different staff has different interpretations of what they read on the computer. Others will say "sorry, we can't know where because usually made in China and 3rd world countries".

I was lucky to finally meet a nice Malay girl who checked with manager and learnt how to search for the data for each piece of furniture. Helped us narrow down which range of items to get. Also going to buy only items with 10 or 25 years warranty.

Hahaha the perks of being a SAHM is the time I have to myself to go around staring at labels and descriptions.

 

[snowball32]

Today plumber came &amp; confirmed the toilets' bowls leak. One due to a broken gasket, change gasket hopefully problem solved &amp; the other got crack beneath. Git the toilet bowls from shop recommended by ID, so ID settle replacement ( heard from their phone conversation that the shop refused to change as delivery done 2 weeks back. I juz pretend din hear anything a&amp; innocently ask when replacement come.....heeeheeee

 

[mumusings]

Hi Snowball,

Which brand of toilet bowl is this?

 

[snowball32]

Hi Mumusings,

Brand is Cassanova I think.

But, it shd b skills of the plumber not toilet bowl brand that cause the leak lah.

 

[mumusings]

Hi Snowball,

So you've moved in already? Everyone must be both excited settling in

Congrats. Feel happy for you!

 

[snowball32]

Hi Mumusings,

Not shifted yet. Planned/ must shift by next week. My plc dun allow us to shift on PH &amp; weekends. So we chose to do BIG shift nx Wed. But still got about 10% reno works pending. Have hastened Contractor to conplete essential works nx Mon / Tue. Minor works can still do after shift. Dine with abt 85% pkg at home. Hope to finish more by tomorrow. Nx Mon &amp; Tue gotta watch Contractor like a hawk to make sure they complete what needs to be completed. Stressed......

 

[mumusings]

Hi Snowball,

So long as your appliances and toilets are working + beds to sleep on, everything else should be bearable. I remember when my parents bought our home, we shifted in right after tiling was done! We camped on mattresses until the new beds arrived! I remember placiong groceries on the empty kitchen curbs (only fridge arrived). Was fun seeing the place transform itself through months into a complete home. No choice 'cos both my parents were working and taking leave was no-no in the 1980s.

 

[snowball32]

Hi Mumusings,

The plumber will be changing the toilet bowl tomorrow. Citygas only powering up my stove on Wed itself. If I had known, I would hv opted for cylinder gas as its very troblesome getting citygas coordination for private estates. They hv been giving us problem from redoing the gas pipes till now installation.

Well, at worst, I'll go Courts get a hotplate or induction cooker to use first.

Rest of essential works will be getting the toilet doors installed latest bt Tuesday.

 

[snowball32]

Minor touchups will b done after that we shift. Never ending if we want every defects done &amp; we do not need to move liao

 

[tamarind]

snowball,
Share with you a bad experience. When Citygas powered up my stove, they detected a leak. The Citygas people made my carpenter hack the back of the kitchen cabinet so that they trace the leakage !!! The carpenter had to hack a few ugly big holes, then in the end the leak was traced to the external connection. It was not necessary to hack anything at all. Faint...

My carpenter patched up the hole quite neatly, but I was still quite upset. One consolation was that he never charged me extra money for doing all this, otherwise I would have vomited more blood.

 

[tamarind]

mumusings,
My first kitchen cabinet also lasted 10 years and was badly rotten because water sipped into the cabinet.
My ikea kitchen is also 4 meters long, and we do a lot of heavy cooking. One advise is not to place top cabinets too close to the cooker if you do heavy cooking. Otherwise the heat will damage the top cabinet after a few years.

 

[tamarind]

Hi mommies,
This morning my hubby and I drove all the way to Tiong Bahru Bakery for breakfast. Their croissant and coffee are to die for ! Almost felt like heaven. Highly recommended.

 

[ahpeng]

Hi mommies

Anyone has any feedback about "hidden bed"? Thought of installing for my gals due to space constraint in the room.

Thank you in advance

 

[snowball32]

Hi Tam,

Gheeee....my goose pimples stand. Last week after my kitchen was done uo, I called citygas for connecting the gas piping to stove n turn on gas. Citygas personnel told me that I've to get some authorised gas contractor who did my gas piping to do it. I informed my reno contractor to coordinate &amp; was advised by gas contractor that citygas should do it. In the end, still citygas rep coming only this Thu. Now I understand why citygas is still not popular after so many years. Keeping my fingers crossed that the connection goes well

 

[mumusings]

Hi Helen,

What's hidden bed? The ones that look like wooden platforms with hidden compartments within (like the Taiwanese type)?


Hi Tam/Snowball,

My contractor was worse (for previous home).

(1) Took out rubbish chute and left it exposed. Luckily I happened to had a visitor who wished to see my place. Opened the door to see FLYING roaches all over because HDB was doing fumigation. You can imagine how yucky the entire sight was. Fortunately cabinets/fittings not done so those creatures had no where to hide. The fellow had the cheek to say "ok I send my men to seal up the chute tomorrow". Can you imagine if neighbours threw down curry/soiled diapers etc?? They didn't even tape up the hole with plastic sheets.

(2) My brand new Ariston heater was 'discarded by mistake' even though it was placed together with all other BRAND NEW toilet/kitchen fittings and appliances. No proof so I had no choice but to buy another heater at my own cost.

(3) They almost did my kitchen curb in the reverse order, almost cementing 1+m for washer and only 70+cm for fridge.

"Terrible" is an understatement to describe contractors if one meets with the worst.

I have learnt from these reno works that home owners MUST monitor the schedule in case of lapses as such. Many women tend to be blur about certain details or feel intimidated handling tough conversations with errant contractors who push the blame to their sub-contractors.

I was quoted S$1200 - S$1600 just to do marble flooring for a bathroom. I cabbed back home with 20+ pieces of 20cm/20cm thin marble tiles. S$210 after 20% discount. Hacking/tiling costs S$800. I save S$600 and I get to choose the exact hues/grains of marble tiles personally at the shop at no extra cost.

Better to just co-ordinate different aspects of renovations ourselves. Cost-effective and cuts out middlemen! Lots of research to be done beforehand but at least I'm now less 'suaku' about technical stuff around the home. Also no chance of any suckers over-charging. Always check out distributors and suppliers instead of relying on them for product reviews 'cos they'll likely push you to maximise hacking and building unnecessary features at home.

 

[mumusings]

Hi Tam,

These days we buy freshly grounded coffee from wet market shops selling coffee beans. I haven't bought coffee maker so we use Daiso's coffee filter cup + paper filter

S$6 for 200g of Costa Rican coffee powder -- makes buying coffee so fun because the store has all sorts of beans. You can mix beans. The old man was kind to seal them into 100g packs for freshness. These days we don't drink any coffee out there if it costs above S$1 because 200g powder makes 10 days of coffee for my hb (about 4 to 5 cups a day). 10 cents a cup!!!

 

[mumusings]

Hi Tam,

Talking about yummy food. Here's something I found at a coffeeshop while being lost around Tai Seng last week. This is the sort of beef hor fun that I love

http://mumusingseat.blogspot.sg/2012/10/eating-out-beef-hor-fun-and-chicken.html

Only S$4.50 and very well-cooked!!!

 

[snowball32]

Hi Mumusings,

I can't agree more with you on reno. Nothing beats our own monitoring &amp; ensuring that things are right.

Like today, painter, plumber &amp; carpenter supposed to come to complete the final works but only painter came &amp; plumber came very late in the afternoon. I was at new place the whole day to wait for furniture delivery &amp; chatted with painter. He paiseh &amp; end up repainting the entire living room &amp; MBR &amp; common room. He also did proper patching up &amp; touchups.. I can imagine the painting works left half done....At least this satisfactorily done

 

[bloom75]

mumusings,sound like u have lots of fun doing ur own interior decor for ur kitchen.

snowball, citygas = PUB piped gas? My sis' HDB somehow does not have piped gas and she had to order cylinder gas. Very troublesome as she need to have someone waiting at home when the guy deliver (she used to have a help but no more)

My kitchen is compressed wood (i think, definitely not solid top). Hope it won't fall apart soon (we rarely cook) as I don't think I can stand the idea of renovating the whole thing

 

[mumusings]

For all:
Read this a while ago on Yahoo:
20 most overpriced (marked up) products
http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/20-world-most-overpriced-products-095521796.html


Hi Bloom,
Cylinder gas is troublesome like you pointed out! One time my aunt was mid-way cooking a feast at home and the gas ran out. We waited for an hour for the new order to arrive and a few dishes was cooked mid-way. The disastrous reno was long time ago. Cross my fingers the next one will be a breeze to work with.

 

[snowball32]

Hi Mumusings/ Tam/ Bloom - Lesson learnt from renovations. Contractors needs close &amp; personal monitoring. Cannot rely on main con or coordinators. Another lesson learnt - contractors will drag n wait till you are hardup for time to shift then we will be more "chin chai" to accept what has been done. Give sfficient leadtime also useless.

Till now still cannot solve gas installation issue. Nx Tue the city gas guy coming.....gruggggghhhhh

 

[mumusings]

Hi Snowball,

So you moved in yet or waiting for gas problem to be fixed?

 

[snowball32]

Hi Mumusings,

We shifted in 2 days ago....we sian of packed food. Went to Courts and bought an induction cooker. Can have home cooked food liao

 

[mumusings]

Hi Snowball,

Which brand of induction cooker is this? Did you need to get special pot for cooking? Sorry am doing some looking around and been reading about induction cookers.

 

[mumusings]

Hi all,

First time frying onion rings. Tried out with 1 new zealand onion. 30 cents = 20 rings + leftyover bits for an omelette. Very easy to do - just need any type of flour+water+pepper/salt.

Just onion rings: S$0.30, with sauce S$0.80
Sauce cost more than the rings because I used bolognaise sauce + cut up some fried luncheon meat.

http://mumusingseat.blogspot.sg/2012/10/sweet-onion-rings.html

 

[moorspa7]

Hi mumusings,

Thanks for sharing the onion ring receipe. Looks delicious. Will try out with the organic onions that I bought.

 

[mumusings]

Hi Moorspa,

The joke is I ran out of flour and used whatever self-raising flour left for the batter.

The large organic onions should work out fine. Kid is always asking for onion rings at Burger King and they cost S$2.80 a portion or we end up getting a meal just for a drink and the rings.

Just make sure you keep hands/onion as dry as possible for easier frying. I ate these + luncheon meat for light lunch today. Goes well with bbq sauce too.

 

[moorspa7]

Mumusings,

Thanks for the tips, as I am not very good with frying food. I tend to forget to keep my food or hands dry.

 

[ahpeng]

mumusings

Hidden bed/hidden wall bed is a bed that can be pushed up or pulled down. It helps to save space. Jus went to hidden wall bed today and the price for one single bed is abt $2200. Forgot to ask if it is nett price or have to add gst etc... will be looking at other options too

 

[mumusings]

Hi Helen,

Do you have the address to the shop which sells hidden bed? Do they use solid wooden frame/boards? I rememember vaguely reading abt them in interior magazines a few years ago.

Hi Moorspa,

Am not good with frying too. Just pushing my luck at times and was scalded before so these days I lower the flame before putting anything into the oil + run away if anything happens!

 

[ahpeng]

mumusings

The hidden bed showroom is at beauty world PLAZA #01-09 not centre(we went to the wrong place and could not find the shop). another one we will be visiting is called spaceman. you can check out their collection b4 making a trip down.

 

[snowball32]

Hi Mumusings,

I bought the Taiyo brand that comes with a steamboat pot. Easy to use....just use any pot that is flat-based. Boil water superfast. The cooker comes with a few functions - boil water, deepfry, stirfry, steamboat, braise, soup .... good enough for our temp use. Paid < $100 for it. Will keep it for future use for steamboat / light cooking after my gas stove is up.

 

[mumusings]

Hi Helen,

Where's 'spaceman'? Sounds like something the kid will like. Thanks for the input.

Hi Snowball,

For my next kitchen, I likely will use induction (less fire hazard) but will keep a portable gas cooker for emergency. Good excuse to change out all the pots hehehe... I've read good reviews of the Taiyo induction cooker. In fact, I've noticed that many food stalls are using this product.

 

[snowball32]

Hi Mumusings,

I have thought of using Induction cookers as my stove during the renovations and do away with the Gas issue. But, Induction gas cookers do not come cheap. A 2-cooker tabletop stove cost more than $1000. It gives a clean and neat look. Decided not to due to cost. Now abit regret with the Gas issue. But, nevermind....what's done cannot be undone....

Here is some pix of my done-up kitchen, with minor modification needed for the corner cabinet door as it cannot close properly.

 

[snowball32]

Hi Bloom,

Yes! CityGas = PUB piped gas....Now PUB is split into 3 sectors - Power, Water, Gas....Big headache with them when it comes to Gas issue in Condo....hope problem can be resolved soon.

 

[mumusings]

Hi Snowball,

Very neat kitchen - is it squarish? Let me know how the sink goes (considering getting back Blanco 'cos that's what we've been using). First time I'm seeing teal/greenish window frames. Nice

 

[snowball32]

Hi Mumusings,

Yes, my kitchen is squarish, making cabinet arrangement very easy. This is the 1st time I am using Blanco granite sink. Got a good deal from HoeKee - sink &amp; tap set cost $599. I chose this model that is deeper &amp; has a bigger sink on one side to ease washing of big pots &amp; prevent splashing. Heard both good &amp; bad feedback on this brand....will give my feedback after using it for sometime

The window colours come with the condo's standard colour. I changed the sliding window, so use back same colour powder coated frame to syncro the colour of the windows with rest of the house

 

[happy_33]

Hi snowball,
Nice kitchen!

 

[snowball32]

Hi Mumusings,

I used the induction cooker to fry beehoon for breakfast yesterday morning....very fast and easy to use. In addition, used it to braise dark sauce meat with egg and taupok for dinner....my maid commented easy to use too

Finally, we get to eat home-cooked food.

One thing, the pot used MUST be flat based for the cooker to sense the weight of the pot to produce heat. Otherwise, the induction will shut off automatically when left idle for 1 min --> Good safety feature.

My Supor Diamond frying pan do not have a base FLAT enough to be used for the induction cooker.

 

[snowball32]

Hi aa,

thanks

 

[mumusings]

HI Snowball,

I am using Blanco's stainless steel sink and it's served us well since we do heavy cooking/washing daily. Am thinking of trying the type you've installed next time since it's supposed to be heat and stain resistant.

Yes, the pots for induction cooking must be compatible. Have you seen those German Silit pots? Their heavy and cost up to S$699 each!!! I was so shocked to see the pricing + I can't lift the pots 'cos their super heavy. Better to just get Meyer/Tefal/Supor ones at 10% of the price haha. Ikea induction pots (the 365' range) comes with many-year warranty now. I think I saw the offer at S$130+ for a 7 piece set. WMF is also forever having special deals for their shiny steel pots set at S$160+.

I'm keen on buying a set of patterned melamine tableware set from Mustafa (20-piece) at S$79 or S$129 (40-piece). Many designs and I'll have less stress using them 'cos my son likes to dash about the kitchen. Their Superware collection is marvellous and so far very hardy to use (the ivory ones in most of my blog posts).

I have Corelle tableware at home but find myself hardly using them (except for re-heating/steaming) anymore!

 

[mumusings]

To all coffee lovers (Tam, Helen and Rona especially):

Been having daily body/foot scrub using the coffee powder from hb's drinks. Such a lovely treat and at no cost! We decided not to get a coffee machine but to manually filter using a paper filter and Daiso's filter cup (a conical stand with holes to be perched atop a mug). I leave the used coffee powder to dry overnight. Mix with facial wash = face scrub. Mix with shower gel = foot/body scrub. Scents up the toilet!

http://mumusings.blogspot.sg/2012/10/home-mumusings-94-coffee-permanent.html

Glad to put all the used coffee powder to use. I place a bowl of it on my kitchen top and the ants seemed to have vanished.

 

[ahpeng]

mumusings

wow wow wow u r a genius! hahaha my mum usually empty the coffee powder into the soil. was told it helps plants to grow well! must try this foot scrub hopefully can get rid of those ugly flaking heels!

btw if i go to the showroom at spaceman, will update you. now we have one big headache cos my gals' room already has a platform with storage. Am not willing to hack away the platform as it solve my storage problem. But to install a hidden bed, i must have enough allowance. check it out at http://www.spacemanstore.com/

we visited Waterbay EC and they used this hidden bed in the storeroom/maid room

 

[mumusings]

Hi Helen,

Where's the waterbay EC? It's useful visiting showflats since many of the new apartment these days have small rooms and folks have to play on optical illusion and furnishings to make them appear spacious.

I have flaking heels too

Seems to be working well. Doesn't pinch the pocket and can use as much/often as we wish since hb guzzles coffee like water. 1 day = at least 10 teaspoons of coffee powder. Great for scrubbing back and hands too. It's moisturising despite being grainy. The ants in at home aren't too happy with my latest discovery.

Thanks for the links. If you're able to take a picture of the bed, please PM me or post here.

Great idea to fertilise the soil. I started a tiny nursery of 6 pots of saplings (chilli, bryophyllum and balsam) 2 weeks ago. Will feed them caffeine when they're taller and stronger. Hopefully will help spur their growth hehehe...

 

[mumusings]

Hi Helen,

Browsed the spaceman website. Just what my sis and kid will like

Thanks a million!