On A Wonderful Day Like Today

Howdy everyone! Two days to go before Christmas. Pretty soon the long wait will be over. It'll be the birthday of Jesus and we were speading the good news of the birth that paved the way to the salvation of mankind. Wow, that's quite heavy stuff but really it's the truth. Anyway, I'm online (sickies) now, waiting for some office emails to come in. So while waiting, I'm just browsing through my favorite sites that help me do blogging for money . It's been quite awhile since I dropped by. I've already been reading up on some stuff about boxhead 2 . It's quite interesting. Stumbled upon something about age of war and saw so many things I've missed since I've been 'off-line' for so long. Truly I've missed the goodies in the world-wide-web. I really hope I came come back soon --- with a vengeance. Meantime, advance Merry Christmas everyone! Stay healthy and warm!

Here's our most recent family picture taken last December 11, 2010. The kids are growing up pretty fast!

For her school's Community of Helpers Day, we dressed up Zoe into a person with a profession that's close to my family's heart. Taking after her Lolo, Lola and my sister, we decided that the most apt job for Zoe was to be a teacher like them! Clad in a brown dress bought from the mall, with matching eyeglasses and white board, Zoe was all set to be a teacher for a day. Serious Teacher Zoe... Wacky Teacher Zoe!!! When she got to the school, everyone was dressed up in their favorite community helper outfit. Many were bakers and doctors. One was a soldier and a couple were nurses. But Zoe was a teacher and was mightly proud about it! I heard from the yaya that the kids had so much fun acting out the part. One baker even brought cupcakes to feed everybody in class! :-) Anyway, when Teacher Zoe got home, they realized that there was one more person who also wants to become a teacher... See Teacher Luigi! :-) Pwede! :-)

Lately, my work-life balance is so beyond me and I'm really getting so tired already. I want to be with my kids now more than ever but I couldn't and that really pains me a lot. They have been sick the past days and I have sort of need to put that fact aside because I have deadlines. What kind of mother I am? I'm a bad mother! In addition to that, I also want my prayertime back coz I feel that someone forcibly stole it from me. And especially now that it's the Christmas season, I want to feel the "Christ" in the season but, somehow, it's not what's happening. If only I could, I'll really want to shift to become a housewife-mom again. Maybe I can just stay as a blogger? But I do have a choice now?

'Tis again the season of Christmas and parents are in a rush trying to find the best Santa gifts to give to their kids. Well, inasmuch as that I'd like to be one with the true spirit of Christmas, it's a bit of an exception when it comes to my kids. We went to all the toy sales in town. Name it, we were there, bwehehehe. Here are some of the 'major major' toy finds that we got (as far as I can remember). Chicco Circus Suprise at 50% off: Barbie Cash Register also at 50% off: Mickey Mouse bike for only 1k: Chicco Talking Driver at 50% off (speaks English and Italian! Hahaha!): Thomas the Train Kiddie Ride On for less than 500 pesos: A kiddie tent with 100 balls (perfect for bahay-bahayan): We also bought lots of toys for our godchildren. But I'll have to keep mum about it unless I want them to find out early on what they're getting for Christmas. Happy shopping everyone!

On our anniversary weekend, my hubby and I (with a couple of friends) trooped to Tagaytay in search for a stress-free, love-filled weekend. Our feet led us to One Tagaytay Place, a relatively new hotel. The place was just right: warm and cozzy. We had taken time out to go to Sonya's for a full-body massage. It was wonderful, as usual. We also enjoyed dining at the usual Tagaytay eating places (more on that later). The following day was spent on going to Sunday mass at Lourdes Church and then passing by Tierra Maria as a thanksgiving to the five wonderful years of our being together. We pray for many more years of happiness and love. Happy Anniversary Honey.

Thank God (or should I say Allah?) for holidays. Today is a holiday for Muslims and everybody’s happy because there’s no work. Yahoo! For someone like me who has been going home from work early in the morning for several weeks already, this holiday is a welcome surprise. Never mind if tomorrow is back to the “asylum” . At least, I got to sleep and rest a little to recover from all the stress that I’ve been going through in the office. I’m actually just trying to make good use of time now at the computer before leaving with my hubby today for a quick merienda date. Busy couples like us need that important pocket of time to be together, to talk and just update ourselves with the things. I want to check out this newly-opened restaurant in Katipunan and try out their specialties. Afterwards, I’m planning on tagging him along to a place where we can check out some ceiling fans . You see I have an idea to put a ceiling fan at the attic. We’ve already pulled up our old sofa into that area an...

Technically, "the" day is still tomorrow... But since we're having a short getaway to celebrate the occasion, let me just insert this post na now. :-) I love you hunny! Happy 5th.

This is our latest family picture. We had the best time during the kids' birthday party! More pics when I find the time. :-)

...and these are some of those things. Ondoy was a rather sad and painful experience for my family, our neighborhood and thousands of other people. It left a huge dent on our finances, our properties and our lives. We would rather forget and hope that something like this will never happen again: not to us nor to our children's children.

My teenage "brother" approached me last Sunday night to ask help for his Math homework. He is now (again) in his 3rd year in high school and as you know, juniors take up Geometry. Maybe F forgot that I took Geometry about 20 years ago because he looked so sure that I could help him answer his assignment in a split of a second. Hahaha. Yeah right. Anyway, his homework was about triangles, particularly on SSS congruency. The problem was to prove that the triangles drawn on his notebook were congruent. It was easy enough! Why? It's because I had a secret Math problem solver by my side. You see, for free math help , you can just click on a button and your answer pops on the screen instantly. Now Math homework help is right on your finger tips. It's easy as one-two-three. ...and because of this, doing F's homework has never been easier.

These were the cupcakes which my cousin made for Zoe and Luigi's birthday party. They look so nice and we're honest-to-goodness yummy! Drop me a line if you want to order from her. Anyway, I'll be back with more posts, including my kids' birthday party pictures and suppliers' ratings (if I find the time to finish it!). Hehe.

I have a friend who needs to wear scubs for work daily (she's a nurse by profession, that's why). Anyway, I always fancy her nicely worn scrubs. They're so pretty that it doesn't seem to be scrubs at all. So I asked her one time about where she gets her supply of cute scrubs. She told me that she buys the textile to be used and brings it to her dressmaker for sewing. They are nice but bottomline was, it ends up very expensive. To cut on the cost of her uniform, I suggested to my friend to check out an online scrub store where she can find a wide array of scrubs for men and for women. And oh how her eyes gleamed with joy when she viewed their website. Buying scrubs has never been so easy as before! You can pick the design you like and have it shipped right to your doorstep. How cool is that?

I found this little doll sitting on our side table in the bedroom and I felt a little confused. I asked myself, "What's wrong with this doll?" ...then I realized that it was Ariel (The Little Mermaid) in Snow White's dress. ...I wonder if the Seven Dwarfs will notice. Hehe. Or maybe Snow White decided that she's had enough of Prince Charming and is now frolicking somewhere with Prince Eric together with Ariel's fish friend Flounder? Hahaha. Oh, it's like freaky Friday!

If there is one thing these days that’s bugging me, it’s F’s very low grades in school. I feel that he is not making an effort to improve on his studies. After being sent home to the province for a year and enduring the hard life over there, it still doesn’t seem enough for him to learn and change for the better. He still seems to be cutting on some of his classes, still doesn’t ask permission when he goes out of the house, still plays basketball all weekend long, still doesn’t wake up early, still doesn’t do his assignments…etc. etc. My list of “frustrations” goes on and on. Are all teenage boys like that? How I wish that some day, he will soon realize that all the hard work to answer the Math questions in school will result to something good for him in the future. I hope all those Geometry help which I offer him will do a lot of good in training him to be patient, observant and analytical. I hope he realizes that all that Chemistry help which we get is going to be someday good f...

Most of the stuff above came from my favorite place downtown - Divisoria! And it definitely made our party so "Sesame-Streety" and only for half the price. :-) L-R Sesame Street candy-pull (aka pinata), bargain toys from 168 (consists of good ol' yoyos, bubbles sticks, fans, jackstones, plastic wallets, white boards with characters, mini-rubix cubes, and lots more), kiddie lootbags (only 35 pesos each), lootbag contents (Lays, Oreo, Moo chocolate drink), chocolate candies, candy souvenir for each guest, signature frame (only 150 each), bubble gums!

...the letters L-U-I & Z-O-E! And of course, with a little help from the letters D-A-D and M-O-M! Happy Birthday kiddos! We love you Zoe and Luigi! More pics to follow!

We prepared a school party for Zoe on her birthday. It's her first time to actually celebrate like this. We got Jollibee spaghetti and hamburger for the kids, plus lootbags and balloons. It was so much fun! Here are the pics. Happy birthday Zoe girl! We love you!

I don't remember anymore if I was able to blog about our past monthly birthday celebrations for Luigi. Anyway, just to recap, we had these cakes for his 10th month: And then we this for his 11th month: And this one is for the FIRST BIRTHDAY! Happy Birthday my sweet little Luigi! We're going to have a big party for you on Sunday! I hope the weather cooperates! We love you!

Gawd. I missing blogging. I miss writing. For the past weeks, I found myself just plain TOO BUSY with work that I've forgotten what joy it brings me when I start to pound on my computer and just talk about anything under the sun. But most of all, I miss journalizing about my life, my kids, my family. I actually hate it when I feel that I've missed out so many of my kids' milestones because I'm too pre-occupied with deadlines and reports. How I wish I can go back to my old blogger life. Pray that it will happen. Hay. Meantime, let me indulge you with some of the party preparations which I've been doing. Luigi is turning 1 while Zoe is turning 4 in a few weeks. How fast time flies! These are part of their birthday invitation. I did it myself. Aren't my kids so cute? :-) We're having Zoe and Elmo of Sesame Street theme. I've already booked the place, the magician & host, photographer, the venue decor supplier. What are still lacking are the caterer, so...

Just when I thought I was back to regular pro-blogging, I had to let blogging be set aside again for more important things namely, work, Zoe's school and other domestic stuff. I had already missed out blogging about several interesting things about my wonderful (?) life. Generally, I'm still in transition stage with my new work and new responsibilities. Hopefully, by month's end, I'll be a back to a normalcy which I have been hoping for. That's in terms of my interior life, my financial status, my family life and love life (ahem). Anyway, hope to see you guys around soon. Feel free to leave a comment.

Is it just my appetite or is my photography really improving? I gaze into this bowl of strawberry ice cream from Mandarin Paseo Uno and my heart (and stomach) just screams ICE CREAM! Actually, I almost had given up blogging (notice how seldom I post anything now). I'm starting on a new job tomorrow (wish me luck!) and I'm setting myself some high goals which I think may cut the time for extra curricular activities such as blogging. But then again, I love blogging so much that I even changed industries for my career from banking to IT! Haha! Seriously, when I come across a nice item (like this ice cream picture) which I'd like to talk about or just a simple thought I want to share, I still couldn't stop myself from taking up blogging again. Still, my fingers yearn to blog! And just when I thought that I have really given up on the web hosting services I've gotten this year, I come across some piece of web hosting news and I suddenly I go back to blogging and pu...

To my dear Tatay~ You are the best father (and grandfather) in the world. You (and Nanay) are my inspiration and I take so much pride to say that I am your daughter. You have acted like a father to thousands of other people (your many many students, your teachers, our other relatives) but Ate and I are the only ones who are so lucky to really come from you. We owe you our vocation and the life we are living now. Thank you so much, Tatay. I love you! Your daughter, V. *pics taken during my dad's birthday last May 22.