His name is Abue

Last Sunday, October 3, I was awaken by a puppy's cry. I hurriedly went downstairs and yes! He just arrived!!! A few weeks ago, my brother has been talking about buying a puppy for the kids. I said a Golden Retriever is child friendly and so likeable. But then he chose to bring home a dachshund, a gray one. He's so lovely!! The little guy is only a month old but oh boy, he's so makuliiiit!!! The kids readily engaged themselves with the little guy, and he seemed to like them, too. I will try to post some pics of this new addition to the family. =)

Clutter Box

I found a couple of hard boxes yesterday and I thought it would be a nice container for Tea's CDs, small toys, or even use as a clutter catcher. You know kids love to play and then will just leave their toys scattered on the floor. No matter how many times you tell them to put things in their right places after playing, being child as such, they often forgot. Anyways, last night I asked Tea to help me cover up the empty boxes with old glossy magazine pages. We chose colorful pages so it will not be dull or boring to look at. Tea enjoyed doing our "project" and after we finished covering one of the boxes--wow! it was so nice!!! Now, she can have a pretty container for her CDs that will protect it from dust and for her other small toys as well. I cannot locate my USB cable, so I'd rather post the pics next time.

Happy Tuesday!

Breakfast Date with Mikey

Hmmm, just another typical Monday off-work day and another breakfast date with hubby. We just dropped Tea off for school, and we just finished having our breakfast -- tapsilog for him and pork sisig for me (calories, calories)!! Never mind-- I try to indulge myself into these kind of foods at least once a week. I have my routine brisk walking every morning five times a week hehehe. Another long hours to peek what's new in our chaotic world. Have a good week ahead fellas.

Misty Tuesday

It's Tuesday morning. The sun looks hiding from me, eh. It was my off-work yesterday and it's a US holiday in the States today, so it's a 3-day off-work for me since Sunday. I enjoys days like this because I have a long time to spend with Tea. She's quite excited too because I can send and pick her up from school myself, and we can have afternoon naps together. I am looking forward to a time where I can work in the comfort of my own home and spend quality time with my daughter before she grows up. Well, my schedule right now is fine because I can get to work on an 8-hour basis and able to come home before 6 PM, still, more time to spend with the family. But in the Philippines' economy nowadays, we all need to have an extra job so we can earn more than we can with having a regular-paying job. Working abroad is the least thing from my mind. I want to before, but now that Tea is growing, I feel she needs both of us during this time of growing years. But who knows where fate may lead us, right? For the mean time, I will enjoy Tuesdays like this with Tea and Dad, and I am looking for more Tuesdays like this in the coming years.

Grandstand Tragedy

It was a lovely Monday morning when I sent my daughter to school. My husband and I had a "breakfast date" (we often do that when it's my off-work days and I have the time to go along with them when he sends Tea to school) and we really had a nice conversion until it was time to pick up Tea from school. When we got home, Tea hurriedly turned on the television to watch her favorite noontime cartoons. It was not so long when a news break flashed on the television and Erwin Tulfo was reporting about a hostage taking going on in Quirino Grandstand. From then on, I never turned off nor changed the channel of the television so we can have an update on what's happening about the negotiation. I never thought that once very calm negotiation will end up in a horrible end. While we were watching everything, I was having mixed emotions. I felt so sorry for the lives lost--not only the victims but the perpetrator as well. There was a lot of "could have beens" in my mind at that time. But what can I do? The very least thing I was able to make at the time was to pray that everything will turn out fine--but it never happened. I felt as if my world crumbled.

The aftermath of the tragedy is more devastating for me. The travel ban imposed by the HK government followed by 5 or six more countries. I wonder how come some Filipinos can be insensitive at times? I sympathized with the Chinese people about what they feel, it's a natural reaction. And this, to see pictures spreading on the Internet with students, even police men, having their pictures taken (with all big smiles) with the tragic bus behind --that's adding insult to injury. Talaga namang mapapamura ako kung ako ang relative ng mga victims with their action. You see, they are allowing international community know what kind of behavior, attitude we have (those who had their pictures taken). They don't even know the word RESPECT.

What had happened was a wake-up call for the government. Mister President indeed has a lot of cleaning to do with our system if he really wanted to have the Philippines take the road towards PAGBABAGO. Of course, everything will be feasible--if all Filipinos will unite. With what had happened, the very least we can do now is to bow our heads, be humble.

To the international community, please do not condemn a whole nation just because of one man's action. We Filipinos are truly peace-loving people. Even with insurgencies in our country, the Philippine government is making an utmost effort to resolve them. Let us move forward and do not stagnate.

Let me end this writing with this quote:

"There is a saying in Tibetan, 'Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.'
No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster."

Dalai Lama XIV

My prayers go to all the victims and their families.

Post-Birthday Note Part 2

On my birthday, I decided to try making a no-bake blueberry cheese cake. It has been a longtime plan for me to try doing this myself. I just bought Magnolia cream cheese and just followed a simple recipe I found on the Internet. My Tea doesn't like blueberry preserves that much so I made a cake without any topping on it, just the cheese cake itself, and she even enjoyed it. Everyone in the house loved it. My hubby even requested to have some in December for Christmas but with strawberries this time, in time of the Christmas season. I am looking forward to it, too.

Post-Birthday Note

I just turned 38 years old last August 23rd. Time really flies so fast. It never fails me to get excited every time my birthday comes. I started it by throwing a pre-birthday treat for a few close friends a day before my favorite day. We ate at Amici Italian Restaurant at Megamall. Oh, how I love their pasta. You see, I'm not fond of pastas but this one is just simply irresistible. We had Spaghetti Carbonarra, spaghetti tossed with smoked bacon and mushrooms in a cream sauce with parmesan cheese and black pepper; Spaghetti Bolognese, Spaghetti served in a rich beef bolognese sauce; Mozzarella Fritta, Diced creamy Mozzarella coated in breadcrumbs deep fried and served with barbecue sauce (this is yummy!); and Calzone Amici, Folded pizza filled with ham, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, tomato and Mozzarella cheese. What my friend told me is true--I won't regret celebrating my birthday there. Not to mention it was raining a bit that day-- they say it was a blessing--a cozy pasta pigging out and nice friend talks catching up on things. What a nice pre-birthday celeb it was.

Toothache...Argh!

I had a toothache the past few days. Oh my, I just can't believe it's very agonizing. The pain woke me up in the middle of the night, good thing I got some pain reliever in hand and I was able to go back to bed. I've never had this kind of pain, not in my entire life. It feels like all my body parts are aching. It so happened that I'm not fond of taking pain relievers. So what I did is search on the Internet for some home toothache remedies. Good thing there are some which can be found at home, even in our backyard. I tried oregano oil---whoa, the taste is soooo bad for me, but it really helped 100%!!! I am now thinking of having Tea's molars sealed once she get her permanent ones, but I still have to consult the dentist about it because I read that once teeth have been sealed they are likely to have lesser percentage of receiving restorative care or treatment. For now, I will have my darn tooth pulled out. Will my Tooth fairy coming over?

Happy Monday!!!

June Happenings

June has been a very busy month for me. This is my daughter's and hubby's birthday month. Tea celebrated her 7th birthday at McDonald's with Disney Princesses theme. Boy, what a happy girl she was. We bought Disney princess pens in Divisoria as her giveaways (kids loved it). This has been her wish for her birthday, and we were so happy that we decided to celebrate it at McDo because everything just went well. We invited a maximum of 50 persons--immediate and extended families from both sides of the family, Tea's close friends, and her ninong/ninang. There were only less than--at most 20 children so they really enjoyed the excess souvenirs, loot bags, and balloons. The McDo staffs who attended the party and took care of the games and activities are very accommodating too. Not to forget Tea really loved her birthday cake (she even cried when a kid scratch her cake's icing). We have no regrets celebrating Tea's memorable day at McDonald's. It may have cost us a bit more than we expected but nothing compares to the joy, the smile we saw in her face that day.



Another surprise for all of us was when my mom-in-law called four days before Tea's birthday saying she is coming over from Palawan to attend Tea's birthday. Yahooo!! Double happiness for us because we have not seen her in four years. So I booked her a Zest Air ticket and sent it to her. Thanks for the online booking, it was really a big relief for us and for nanay not to get so tired compared to riding on a ship. Though her supposed arrival has been canceled for a day, she was able to take the trip the next day.

Then 30th came and it was hubby's turn. Nanay cooked fried chicken and we just bought Pancit Malabon. We bought a special cake for him, of course our little girl blew the candles for him. Indeed, June was a tiring month for us, but it's all worth it. ^_^