People will probably never look at me the same after my last post. LOL!

Didn't mean to gross anyone out. That conversation just struck me as very amusing. It really does represent what usually takes place in our house. Which probably makes our family one step away from the loony bin. Ah, but we do have lots of fun....


Anyway, can you tell I'm upbeat? Yep.

I'm bursting with excitement and quivering to the tips of my freshly pedicured toes. Uh, no, I am NOT pregnant.


Because it's FRIDAY. Yep. You can tell it's been a long week when just the thought of Friday sends me into paroxysms of delight. Or maybe it's the white cheddar cheese popcorn I'm munching.

It's Friday, it's a long weekend, I have a heavenly banoffee pie saved up for Sunday dinner, and a tub of Chef Tony's popcorn to last me till the drive home tonight. I also have a ton of feeding bottles to wash, a wedding to go to, and a whole lot of cleaning to do but that's beside the point.

I'm just disgustingly bubbly and happy right now. And I haven't even eaten any chocolate.

Weird, huh?

One of our typical conversations during breakfast:

Faith : (with a proud smile) I swallowed my vomit Mommy!

Me: that's great, baby!

Joshua: You know mommy, sometimes I swallow my vomit too!

Me: Really?? Me too.

Hubby: Yuck! That's gross!

Me: What?? You've never swallowed your vomit before??


Well? It's normal, isn't it??

Let's Play I Spy!

I hadn't realized it's been three weeks since I last posted.

The truth is, I'm drowning. In housework (see above). And in work. With no end in sight.

I've been trying to finish cleaning up the house the past few weeks. Trying being the operative word. Above picture is a sample of the toy area which I was able to partially clean up one weekend. It took me the whole day and I was very very tempted to throw the whole lot out the terrace. But since it would quite negatively affect my mommy polls, I contented myself with occasional bouts of really loud screaming and pounding on the xylophone. It was a good thing the kids were hijacked by the grandparents again. They would've thought their mom was crazier than they already think I am.

I know that other people are not used to having help around. I salute you. I really do. I don't know how you do it. My current household situation is driving me nuts.

Don't get me wrong. I've been liking cleaning up and organizing the house but the lack of time to do it is very frustrating for me. In between a four hour commute, caring for the kids and the day to day housework, well, you get the picture.

So I've been denied my daily pleasure of visiting your blogs and I'm sorry. I'm also sorry for this rant after three weeks of being gone. I just had to get it out of my chest.

*Holds breath* SIIIIIGGGGHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

There.

I'm okay now.

Time to go visiting.

We had already walked past it. A good 10 steps past it. But the brief glance that I took stayed with me. I obviously have self control issues.

I am such a SUCKER for Haagen Dazs strawberry ice cream.

After the brief detour from the ice cream counter and while I was scarfing down my cone, I happened to look at the poster for the Armani store -- the usual gorgeous guy wrapped around a super skinny model. A question popped up.

Me: Do you mind very much that I'm not super sexy? (Don't ask where the question came from. I am an expert at asking these types of questions.)

Hubby: No.

Me: So you agree that I'm NOT super sexy?

Hubby: (with an ooops! expression on his face) Was that a trick question?

Me: Yup. And you just failed miserably. (Honestly, you'd think he'd be used to trick questions by now.)


And we laughed ourselves crazy on the way back to the car.

Eleven years, two kids and the occasional let's-just-have-a-quick-dinner-cause-I-need-to-unwind date but we still have such a fabulous time with each other.

So, nope. Can't complain.

A Two Second Post

There is a reason (besides the obvious one) why you should NOT text while walking.


You are liable to get a faceful of dry, hanging coconut leaves.



Let me tell ya. It is VERY embarrassing. Especially if happens on the road two minutes away from the mall.

I know, I know. It's Monday.

Click This!!

http://www.linein.org/media/screenclean.swf




I obviously have no time to blog.

It's the weekend!! Yay!

I took a short trip to the bookstore today and was followed by a group of kids (around 5 or 6) with their nannies. One of them was crying while the others were chattering to each other.

So I was browsing through the "Fresh from the Box" section when they came in, and this little old lady (a foreigner) suddenly exclaimed, "You shouldn't be bringing children in here!".

Frankly, I was surprised at her outburst. Since when are children not allowed in a public bookstore???!!!! Especially a bookstore that has a huge and delightful children's section with tiny tables and chairs to play and browse in???

Crabby old lady. She didn't stop muttering to herself as she walked further into the store. It kind of upset me a little -- enough to contemplate actually going up to her to tell her to go to a bar where she will definitely NOT encounter any kids. Hmmpppff!

Anyway, here's what I got:

1. The Black Book of Hollywood Diet Secrets. Because I really need to lose weight. And because I hate reading traditional diet books. Who am I kidding??? I'll probably read it with a bag of Doritos right next to me. And chocolate.


2. 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. For dreaming about getting away from it all.


3. Samantha James CD. Because I like her music.
Anybody see Bee Movie yet? Thinking about bringing the kids to see it this weekend. If I can still function after the "Daddylympics" at school tomorrow afternoon. I um, tend to get very excited and worked up about games and stuff.

*Yawn*

Am so tired. But I'm back to posting. I think.

Have not touched my laptop for non-work related purposes since Christmas so I know it's been a while. Personal circumstances have changed quite a bit since last month and I have less time for personal stuff, even reading. It's been chores, chores, chores for the past two weeks.

I hope you all had a nice Christmas and New Year's break. Judging from the sporadic visits I've been able to squeeze in, you guys had a rocking holiday!

I DID have a lot of fun during the holiday -- the to-do list kept growing since I usually dropped the serious stuff for blowing bubbles in the yard and a no mercy, kick-ass water spray fight with the kids and the hubby. I got ganged-up on more times than I liked but I got them good with face shots while they were in the middle of refilling, heh heh.

And speaking of no mercy, that was my mantra as I went through our closets for my annual it's-January-so-we-have-to-organize time. So far, I've got more than a dozen trash bags piled up in the second floor of the house, ready for charity and a possible garage sale.

I smell changes in the air this year, one of which is the fact that my sister is now married and will be moving out of the house. Such a beautiful wedding and I will post pics as soon as I muster enough energy (and time) to fiddle with the camera. My younger sister and I got teary eyed when the doors to the church opened and my sister walked in with my parents.

Have a good weekend folks!

Too many late nights, two kids who had colds and here I am -- completely miserable with a bad headache, a cold, and achy muscles.

I should be in bed. But am obviously not.

It sucks to be me right now.

In the meantime, since I am such a ray of sunshine today, let me cheer you up a bit with something a friend of mine forwarded.





Not sure if this will be my last post before Christmas but if it is then I'd like to wish you a Merry Merry Christmas with your loved ones.

P.S.
If you get a chance, watch Avenue Q. It's hilarious! Totally worth it.

Me Time

Alright, thinking totally selfish here. Just in case my siblings or the hubby are still in the dark....

Top five on my Christmas wish list:

1. Shopping spree at Zara (with a spending limit, of course!)

2. Gift certificates from my favorite bookstore.

3. Philosophy's Amazing Grace perfume. Or Satsuma body butter. Or the complete Calvin and Hobbes collection. HA HA HA!!! I'm cheating!

4. Video iPod. With the complete seasons of Sex and the City, Buffy, and Ugly Betty already loaded. Hey, it IS a wish list!

5. 30 minutes alone with Gerard Butler. Just to talk, of course! LOL! What?????!!!! (If you get me this present, I will be your willing slave forever!!!!)

What's top five on your list??? :D

Just watching

This morning, I just waited.

And watched.

Without a book or any kind of reading material (not even a brochure).

It wasn't as bad as I always thought it was.

Sipping my peppermint mocha frappucino, I waited for the mall to open so I could replenish my vitamin stash.

I'd forgotten how fascinating it was to people watch. Or how peaceful it is to just sit still.

I watched a cute little girl with her mom and grandmother eat her belgian waffle and drink her iced tea. Then she spilled her water all over her pretty dress. Her mom was so cool and calm. No scolding. Just wiped her down and gave her her tea again. I wished Faith was with me.

I used to be uncomfortable with waiting by myself. I used books as my armor.

Maybe I'll deliberately forget to bring one sometimes.

"It's that time of year, when the world falls in love..."

This line is from one my favorite Christmas songs (The Christmas Waltz). And despite the hustle and bustle, the heavy traffic and the never ending deadlines at work, I find I really love this time of the year. I even like listening to the piped in Christmas music in the malls.

My weekends in December are already fully booked with get togethers, a baptism, a wedding, and the usual family reunions. Thankfully, all of my shopping's done and I've wrapped half of the presents already. I'm looking forward to seeing old friends, midnight mass and the kids opening their presents.

I've got a ton of tags to do and forgive me if I forget to do a couple of them. I promise to get to them over the next two weeks.

Right now, I'm just taking the time to breathe and think about what I want for Christmas in case the hubby is wondering..... :D

Anywhere but here

It seems all I have time for nowadays are once a week posts. It's been a busy week and thankfully, my weekend's starting early. Tomorrow's a holiday commemorating one of our national heroes.

Right now, a military group has taken over a local five star hotel protesting the current government. It's the same group that took over the Oakwood hotel couple of years ago. They've allegedly been joined by two bishops (not sure, haven't been listening to the news at work). This is happening right at the heart of the business district and people have been let out of work early due to safety.

EDSA, the main thoroughfare, has been closed to traffic and people expect the police to storm the hotel shortly. My husband is already on his way home, having found someone to hitch a ride with (the car's with me) since I doubt I will be able to enter the area. Traffic, as expected is already bad everywhere. In fact, I'm wondering how I'm going to get home.

Things are really looking bad. Can't blame the group for protesting. The country's going to pieces -- poverty is at an all time high (two children have committed suicide citing severe poverty as the reason), the government's greed and corruption is vulgar (they're not even bothering to hide it well).

So sorry for the doom and gloom post. It's times like these when I really think about migrating to another country. This situation is what my kids and my (future) grandchildren will be growing up to. That's just sad.

Waiting for the Weekend

This is what was right next to me since yesterday. Have no idea how many I've eaten.

Am tired from lack of sleep and a tantrum from Faith that involved a lot of crying and screaming and me cleaning up her vomit from the floor. The smell of sick never fails to make me gag. I'd rather pick up a dead cockroach (which is the hubby's job -- after I kill it).

Thank goodness it's Friday and time for me to head for home. Now I just have to wade through rush hour traffic. How fun.

Tomorrow is Joshua's exam for the Prep level so am keeping my fingers crossed. Then we are watching Enchanted in the afternoon.

Have a good weekend folks!

I can already feel the cool wind blowing every time I exit the office building to get to the parking lot. It's only 6pm but it is completely dark outside.

Yep, it's that time of the year again.

Despite the explosion that killed several people at the mall around a month ago, the malls are bursting with holiday shoppers. I'm glad I'm 73% done with my shopping. So it says in my excel spreadsheet. Hmmpphhh. Yeah, so I'm OC about making lists. My worksheet goes back to...(checking spreadsheet)... *gasp* 2002?

I'm trying not to run around like a chicken without a head (ever seen one do that? I have. Darn funny once you get over the ICK factor) this year. I've got school stuff to take care of , toys and clothes to sort and give away, a garage sale to organize, remaining presents to buy plus work.

I'm trying to savor the last few weekends of November before it gets really hectic next month. Meanwhile, I wanted to share pictures taken last weekend from a Grandparents' Day at school and two birthday parties the kids were invited to.


Josh and Faith clowning around while waiting for the program to start. Only the Nursery and Pre-Nursery class are included in the program.


Inside the classroom where the grandparents had to do an activity with their grandkids. That's my mom.

Faith's number about to start.

They did the Five Little Monkeys song. I was able to videotape the whole thing. It was so cute!


She had her face painted at the birthday party.


The two of them had fun at the playground at the other birthday party the next day.



Weekends are getting crazier and crazier!

Happy thanksgiving to those who are celebrating it this weekend! :D

The one with the ring

Something Diesel said in a comment in the previous post made me remember an incident that happened three years ago.

You know how women tend to bloat when pregnant? Well, unless you're Heidi Klum, of course. Anyway, I usually stop wearing my engagement and wedding rings at the onset of the 6th month of pregnancy cause they don't fit anymore.

It was about four months after giving birth to Faith that I decided to try on my rings. It was only 5:15am and I didn't have to leave for work for another 15 mins. The kids and the hubby were still deeply asleep in the bedroom.

You kinda know where this is going right?

I took out my rings from the jewelry box and put the wedding ring on. So far, so good. Then I put the engagement ring on top of it. It fits!! I looked at my hand and noticed it still looked a bit tight. Maybe next month, I thought and decided to take it off.

I pulled and pulled and pulled. Could. Not. Take. It. Off.

I washed my hands and soaped the finger thoroughly. Nuh uh. Tried baby oil. Still not working.

It was when my finger started getting really red that I woke up my husband. He couldn't believe what was happening at first then I showed him my finger. He suggested soaking in cold water. Then hot water. My finger (the top part) now looked like a small Hungarian sausage. I had visions of my ring finger getting amputated.

I ended up in the emergency room at 6:15 in the morning. I felt so stupid when the nurse asked what was wrong and I had to show her my finger. And no, I don't need a wheelchair, thank you very much.

What are the chances of an emergency room doctor having a contraption that cuts rings off? It looked like a plier only it had something round that cuts the metal off the finger. How lucky am I???? Pretty darn lucky for a stupid girl who should've known better. The orderly who assisted said I was lucky Dr. Ring-plier was on duty. The last time someone's ring had to be cut off (*sniff* I'm not the only one, I guess), they had to use a steel saw. And there was blood.

The hubby, now that he knew the finger was not going to be amputated, started to laugh in the car on the way back to the house. No amount of dirty looks and slaps could stop him.

I took the day off from work. Better than having to explain the angry red finger that still looked like a sausage.

I was just thinking that seven years ago, I was on my honeymoon. By this time on that week (Nov 8) hubby had already lost his wedding ring on the beach. AFTER I warned him not to wear it as it might get lost in the surf. He was understandably upset and for posterity, I took a picture of him searching in the sand for the ring. Tomorrow would be the day that we went island hopping. I remember throwing up in a (thankfully empty) shopping bag that belonged to a Japanese girl sitting next to me when we stopped for snorkelling just off the beautiful beach in Phi Phi Island. Very embarrassing.

Sometimes it feels like we've been married forever. And I mean that in a good way.

We still make each other laugh. A lot. And we still fight very rarely.

It's been a great seven years.

Ummmmmm......

The road to weight loss has never tasted this good.

- Japanese Sesame Dressing
- Romaine Lettuce
- Mandarin Oranges
- Crunchy Cashew Nuts

I've been having this for lunch for the past two days. Really, really yummy! I don't even feel that I'm on a diet.

First dress fitting for the wedding in three weeks! Aaaaarrrgggghhhh! Maybe watching multiple episodes of Ugly Betty wasn't such a good idea.

All Saint's Day

Every 1st of November, people flock to the cemeteries to visit their departed loved ones. I'm sure this isn't unusual but over here, it's more than just a short visit and a prayer. It's an occasion to gather and eat and talk. It's like a party actually.

I remember when we used to go to North Cemetery in La Loma. We'd have to park somewhere far because roads would be closed to accommodate the crowds. Then we'd walk for more than an hour through crowds so thick, you don't even have to walk on your own sometimes. The press of the crowd would keep you moving.

We transferred our grandfather's remains to a nearby memorial park and it became easier. Now I have both sets of grandparents and an aunt in the same place. I left the kids at home this year with the hubby. I didn't think the crowd and the heat and hanging out the whole day at the cemetery would be good for them.

We still had to park a short distance away, below are my siblings while they walked behind me and my mom (she had an umbrella!). You can see we try to dress for comfort as the heat can become unbearable! Cars are lined up going inside (it's hardly moving, I don't know why they bother).



Scenes from the cemetery. Tents like the ones below lined up as far as the eye can see.




You can see how crowded it can get with a lot of people cramped over a small plot of land. Despite this, people stay from morning till night, even spending the night sometimes (Oct 31 to Nov 1).





Lunchtime! Typical Filipino food -- Grilled liempo (pork), diced tomatoes and onions with red egg, the ever present green mangoes, my Dad's bopis (don't know the english name for this) and tuna pasta that I prepared. The one below is what we call talangka. I don't eat it now (though my mom says I used to) but they like it. Ewww!



Is it too weird that I didn't take pictures during my vacation but I took pics of the cemetery trip?

Trick or Treat!

Thought I'd show you what the kids wore to their Mid-Year party at school last Friday. The theme was Enchanted Forest. I took a half day off work and played hooky with the kids till lunchtime. It was so hot and humid but I had lots of fun ogling the costumes!

Take a gander of my own fairy princess Faith in her fairy princess costume courtesy of my fabulous aunt who sent it from the U.S.



Joshua got a Buzz Lightyear costume which he couldn't wear to school so I had to scramble for another costume at the last minute. He went as a bear, which he thought was cool, thank goodness.



Here's Faith's Nursery class.


And Joshua's Senior Kinder class. Take note of the kid in the bird costume. Heard he just got out from the hospital the day before but insisted on going to school to wear his costume. I would've gone to school too if it were me.


Have a Happy Halloween everyone!