Buying House, Selling House

Over the last few weekends, hubby and I had been busy house-hunting. We really love the Serangoon Garden area, but prices of the freehold houses there are quite dear. We saw a unit at Summer Place (off Lorong Chuan) which we really love, but it's beyond our budget. After considering that the house is not that near the market and there's no MRT station within walking distance, plus the need for major renovations, we decided to give it up.

Our agent brought us to look-see a house in Kovan. Although we've never really liked Kovan because it's so congested, the house we viewed is not in the heart of the messy roads. The front and back of the house are unblocked, and there's a 24-hr coffee shop just round the corner! Kovan MRT station is about 10 mins walk away, so is Heartland Mall. Because there was a 'competitive bid' from another interested buyer, we were practically rushed into the decision to put down our 1% deposit within half-and-hour! [Till now, I'm still trying to convince myself that buying a bigger house is a necessity in view of the arrival of Chloe and domestic helper, and possibly my parents.]

Now as we come to the point of emptying our bank accounts for the new purchase, we need to sell our current apartment soon. I can't really bear to sell my current place because it's just 2-years old and I do love the environment very much! Everything about the apartment is perfect (to us). In the mornings as we wake up to the gentle sunrise outside our bedroom window, we hear familiar birds calling/chirping. There's absolute privacy as no one can look into my rooms - we're the highest unit overlooking the private estate in the vicinity. I think apartment units with this kind of unblocked/beautiful view is not easy to come by in Singapore. But boo-hoo, I have to let it go. Very soon my current home will only be a fond, fond memory. I hope I can find a buyer who will love the apartment as much as we do......

Bright and sunny master bedroom.....

I love the master toilet, it has a bathtub plus a shower area, and many many windows!

Second bedroom which is so under utilized..... : (

Study room.....

Kitchen......

Dining area......

Living room.....

Balcony, with stairway leading to the roof terrace.....

We call this Sky Lounge @ Eden, a place where our friends like to come over for a drink.....

Driving with a "New" Instructor

On Saturday evening I tried out my hubby's car for the first time and drove around my quiet estate, stopping along the road-side a few times to adjust my seat. Somehow just not used to driving a continental car - the signal lever is on the left, the seat is much longer, the accelerator pedal is too far and my darling hubby's steering wheel is too heavy (thanks to the 225/40R18 tyres). So different compared to the light and kinky Comfort Driving Centre Toyota Vios I had been used to driving!

My latest "play-thing"......

I guess all I need is to practise more and jolly-well get used to it. But my 'new driving instructor' (i.e. hubby) is quite "ngeow" - he is pretty concerned that I may scratch his new Italian rims. So every time I round the corner, he will complain that I'm too near the kerb. Of course he tries to be nice and blame in on the heavy steering, and 'gently' persuades me to return the steering wheels faster. Ha ha!

I drove from home to Jalan Besar for dinner and then from Thomson Road to my parents' place in Yishun on Sunday night (minus the parking since there're no black-and-white poles... ha ha!), taking the looooongest and least-traffic routes. Quite fun even though it was just 60km/h! Hmm.... not sure when I'll be able to filter lanes more confidently. I encountered a huge problem with night-driving because my night-vision is not very good after the Lasik operation. I hope to overcome this too once I get used to driving after night falls.

I'm a New Driver!

I got my new Class 3A driving licence this morning! Since I started taking driving lessons, I prayed for courage before every lesson to tackle the 'machine' and the roads. Up to 5 lessons ago I was still fearful at every lane change (well, I still am quite afraid). Some drivers just don't give way!

My prayers intensified in the last week. The anxiety of the driving test weighed so heavily on me, I thought I might pass out inside the test car! I did give myself a bit of pressure to pass the test because my tummy is getting bigger by the day. Last night my hubby drove me around to familiarise myself with the test routes. Fortunately I did have a peaceful sleep and woke up very early this morning to get ready for the test (my 'warm-up' session was scheduled for 815am).

Did some silly things during the 'warm-up' session like missing the turning points in the circuit - which is something which I had never encountered before during lessons! Lots of deep breathing and praying helped keep me calm, until the sky became over-casted and my fierce-looking tester arrived! Worse still, I was assigned the second most difficult test route - one that requires multiple-lane changes and U-turn at Eunos Link!

But by God's grace, I did not panic in the circuit. I did get 12 demerit points in all for not checking blind spots in the circuit and 'turning the steering when vehicle is stationary' while parking. I was spared the 'Emergency Brake' - thanks to Chloe! My greatest present came when my tester did not take me on the actual test route, but we went on a much shorter route, where there was absolutely no traffic, no need to do U-turn some more!!

A smile broke on my fierce-looking tester's face for the first time when he conveyed the results to me back at the driving centre. I felt truly relieved that it's over, and can't thank God enough for his divine intervention in the whole experience. It's a miracle for someone so timid like me to pass my driving test at the first attempt. Hallelujah!

I Made it Through the First Week!

The first week of work at a new organisation is always the toughest week. It's when you're new to your work, the work environment and colleagues. Plus, generally one is unlikely to launch straight into work and start clocking 10-hour days, so it can get quite boring.

Fortunately for me, this is not really a 'new organisation', although I am now with a new team. There was no important work for me to do yet (how blissful!), and all I had to do in the past week was to read up materials to familiarise myself with the new portfolio. But I did launch straight into a series of lunches with old colleagues and ex-team-mates. : ) It feels nice to be "home" in a familiar place, and I'm so excited to catchup with my old friends at work. I am seated at a nice workstation by the window facing our vibrant Singapore port. What was even more pleasing was that on the second day of work, we received our bonus and pay adjustment letter. What a welcoming gift!

However, I am struggling to adjust to the gross lack of sleep time - only managed to clock 7 hours of sleep per day - no naps at all, and can't have coffee to keep me awake in the afternoons! I hope I can get used to this soon man......