I'm free!

On Wednesday, Yen's question # 7 went: What did you have to learn “the hard way”? And I answered: Spending before earning...

See, I have five (5!!!) credit cards and all of them are maxed out. Talk about having no control over my spending, huh? Considering that I am not earning a regular income and my online "business" isn't that lucrative (yet, hehe). And can you believe I've maxed them out even before the financial crisis hit my family?!? Anyway, the expenses were more on months (or years) of groceries, petrol and dining-out.

And then the other night, I just could not sleep because I was thinking of all those debts! Well, at least those that I owe from Citibank (kakapraning sila mang-harass hah!). I was worried I'd get into jail for failing in my responsibilities (yeah, I was worrying ahead!) and worrying even more that Baby Dot just might loose the Momma (that's me!) for losing a legal battle. Paranoid? Yeah, that's me!

So the next day, I talked to my Mom and she agreed to one of my suggestions. Insert sigh of relief here.

Yesterday, I went to Makati and closed my Citibank dollar account. I figured I can just open another account when things become more manageable. And then I paid off ALL my dues in my two Citibank cards and had them TERMINATED. Remind me to call again on Monday to confirm the termination because I don't wanna receive bills from them anymore. Ever.

The net amount from this transaction was used to pay off some of the dues in my other cards. I'm planning to keep just one among the rest. And I chose my BPI express to keep for emergencies ONLY (because they're the nicest! ;)) And then the remaining two cards will be terminated as well. Soon, I hope.

So I'm free. At least from Citibank. Wahoooo!!

The early bird gets the worm.

This goes true for me today. After preparing breakfast and after Ane (and LBB) left for work, I decided to turn Ivy on and check my emails, instead of going back to sleep. Yes, I am still sleepy and feeling so tired. But knowing now that I was emailed a task perked me up :D When I logged-in, I was even able to take a grab bag task that doubles my payout (of course double the work! LOL!).

So let me just get a glass of cold water and I'm off to "work" :D

Lumpiang Hubad

This post isn't about a particular food or porn. Wala lang ako maisip na title and since I haven't organized my thoughts, this is gonna be a messy entry. LOL!

I realized that I have so many things to share that aren't worth sharing anymore heheh. I nearly composed an entry yesterday then I got hungry. We went out for a quick merienda and then when we got home came that realization :) Anyway, it was a nice merienda because we went to my childhood lugawan place, Nena's in Bulacan!

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Ane haven't felt Dot's kicks. Because everytime he stops whatever he's doing and tries to feel my tummy, Dot would stop moving, LOL!

I'm big now, at least the tummy! Time for another bump pic. I didn't see my mom for a week and when she came here, she was surprised how big I got hehe. Even my MIL gave the same comment.

I wore my maternity pair of shorts yesterday and I almost didn't fit! Argh! It was only the second time and I'm glad I remembered to wear it yesterday. I probably won't be able to use it up to full-term. Sigh. Ane suggests I wear it while I can, sayang ang pinangbili! Thankfully I can still wear the pair after giving birth.

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I didn't have to wake up early yesterday because we were in Malabon and Ane had no work. But guess what?!?! I woke up at 530am even without the alarm! Talk about getting used to the daily routine my mom imposed, huh? But of course I went back to sleep hehe.

Or it could be that I am really having a hard time sleeping nowadays. I really have to sleep sideways and there must be a pillow behind me.

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And the lower backaches!! It's starting to bother me now. I can't stay seated (when seated, I need to be reclined and again, a pillow to support) or standing up for long periods of time.

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Ivy fell AGAIN from the collapsible table this afternoon!! Glad she's still working. And I noticed that the "fan error" never occurred again after the first fall last week. At least something good came out from my clumsiness.

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That's it for now. Gotta go down in the kitchen and prepare tonight's dinner. I realized I love cooking and I enjoy feeding my family (as long as everything I need is available), kahit minsan palpak ang luto ko! LOL!

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I wanna eat some cake and ice cream. As in now na! Sigh.

Shopping, shopping!

Today is Ane's day-off and we scheduled to have the truck serviced today for maintenance. We decided to go to the mall while Espee is being serviced. Anyway, yesterday I received an anonymous text saying that all SM Advantage and Prestige members (am one of them) gets 10% off on ALL items all day, for today only. I was hesitant to believe it since the text didn't come from those 4-digit numbers (ie. 2977, 2640 etc.) but I forwarded it to Ane just the same. I instantly knew, when he replied (even if he didn't say so) that he smelled he's in trouble! ::Wink::

We left Espee in Isuzu and got to the mall. It was true after all that we can get 10% discount for all purchases in the department store! So while having lunch at Kenny Roger's (which I didn't enjoy, I forgot to tell the cashier I wanted the breast part!) I listed what I needed to buy (and wanted! hehe). We got gifts for my godchildren who I will on saturday, stuff for Joaquin (a pair of jeans, 2 pairs of shorts, a polo shirt, a polo, a shirt and pairs of briefs), cargo pants for Ane, I got some underwear too, a make-up bag plus vanity mirror, and some socks. Yay! I wasn't done looking around but we needed to go already. I dropped by the bookstore to get some office supplies, too.

I wanted to shop for clothes but I'll do that next time. Husbands can get pretty impatient while the wives shop, I tell yah! :) My brother picked us up from the mall, dropped Ane at the service center, and then off to the garden. :)

Last 10 days in bullets

Only because I cannot compose a better entry and I don't wanna forget...

• Books read -- Stardust by Neil Gaiman; and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (review to follow)
• Movie watched -- Stardust (very timely when I finished the book)...review to follow, but let me just say that I loved both the movie and the book because there are details found in book that are not in the movie and there are things in the movie that made it, well, cinematic (for lack of better term)...and is Clare Dane's nose really that big (just that I only noticed this in the movie heheh)?
• Restaurants we ate in -- Max's because I was too lazy to prepare lunch; Haf Chang (spell check) along West Ave with MIL after we checked out the pick-up truck; Ysidro's in Guiguinto (yummy and cheap!) for dinner on Wednesday coz we wanted to listen to the new performers; Dampa Libis with the E's on Thursday night coz I was craving some chili crab and they were just to glad to meet-up; and then Lunch at Burgoo Promenade on Saturday.
• Purchases -- I am now a proud owner of Havaianas Alert, the model that almost never had my size (next target if the Silver Top Crystal!); some dibedi's from Metrowalk; computer ergonomic chair (a wheel of which is still unattached as of this time hehe).
• Disappointments -- Digital Scrapbooking Oct-Nov ish running out of stock even if I am subscribed.
• Health concerns -- terrible cramps during badminton games on Saturday (I was crying in pain when both of my butt muscles started to cramp after a bad fall) and Ane wasn't there to hug me. Early signs of colds that is now full-blown.

Freeloader for a day.

That's what I was yesterday. Hehe.

Ane bought me coffee and blueberry cheesecake at Coffee Bean at The Block.

Later, I had a free late lunch (and free counselling, too! hehe) from Clarice at Teriyaki Boy also in The Block.

Then, I was on my way to the garden when a previous SK colleague was also in line for the FX...and she paid for my fare as well!

Dinner was on Mommy.

How's that for a freebie day, huh?

Anyway, my few hours with Clarice was amazing. I told her it was a blessing in disguise that we texted last week and decided we should meet this week. We were supposed to see each other on Wednesday but we had to move it to Thursday. It's not true at all that when you own a business (like the two of us), we can just go anytime, and time is on our hands. That is just so not true. Wait till a client calls, hah! Of course am not gonna make wagwag the details of our conversations in this blog but let's just say that I've just spent the most relaxing afternoon after so long. ♥ Thank God for friends :)

Techie stuff that amaze me and LO share

I admit I spend so much time on the net everyday. I am always amazed by how much I can learn and snag (oh freebies!). Anyway, I've had Lightroom installed in my laptop months ago but never got around to tinkering with it. Until this week when I tried to open it and allowed myself to be awed by what it can do with my photos in, literally, a click! Not to mention that today, I learned to load presets, hehe. I was about to post a new topic over at the Bebots' forum on how to load presets when I thought of doing some research myself. I have a lot to learn!

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Yesterday, I logged on to blogger and noticed this new feature posted as a bulletin. Well, have you heard of Blogger Play?!? It's a slide show of the photos and graphics uploaded to blogger in real time. It's a pretty distracting site yet I cannot stop looking. The snoop in me kicks in! Hehe. I find myself oohing and aaaahhing and sometimes asking "WTF is that?!?". Harhar!

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Tonight, I installed in our PC ACDSee9. I've heard a lot of raves about this product and the moment I opened it, I understood. It is so much friendlier than the older versions, IMO.

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It's amazing that a client (my BIL) would pay big and hardearned bucks for a service that sucks! Of course we didn't know that at first. But as the days went by, we realized that it is so unreliable to upload files for sharing. Ugh. I hope my BIL gets a money-back, he still has 79days left but we decided not to use it anymore.

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Lastly, I finally scrap! You can view it here in my "creative" blog .

Baby Blues

Just wanna share with you some of the amusing things I heard this week, on Babies:

The Department of Health (or at least the featured Hospital, can't remember the name) considers the month of September as the Month of Baby Deliveries (or something to that effect). Think. If Babies are born in September, they were probably conceived during the holiday season which is usually cold. Hehe. Makes sense. Especially if the parents have nothing else to do.

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While bloghopping, I came across a mother (Marj), also a doctor, who went to see one of her patients just before getting admitted to the hospital for labor. She even did her rounds prior to her trip to the labor room. Dedication! :) She did give birth hours after that.

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A Senator's wife gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, after seven years of waiting. Bliss!!

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A young local actress, Camille P, admitted that she is 4mos pregnant. Her manager said that her ward is young (at 22) and the pregnancy was unplanned. She fled to the US and will stay there until she gives birth. If it was unplanned, why engage in unprotected Pre-marital s*x in the first place?

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Nature has a funny way of teaching lessons. Those who doesn't want kids get pregnant so easily while there are those who after so many failed attempts (like us) aren't blessed yet with a child. Those who can't afford to give shelter, much more enough food to all their children, have more than six kids (side: I have an uncle who has TEN kids and figured he has one too many AFTER the tenth kid was born! duh?!). While there are some who are capable of raising kids (financially, emotionally, physically and psychologically) miscarry or lose the child after birth. We are so ready yet God is telling us to wait. As a friend once told me, "Be patient, maybe your angel is also still waiting in heaven to be dispatched." Funny way of putting it, huh? So wait it is. :)

Bloody! (An update)

So I got the results this morning. All numbers! I need to go back to the doctor so she could explain to me what it all means, hehehe. But looking at the results and the normal ranges, I am within the ranges :) I still need to hear it from the doctor herself, though.

Thank you Mich and Donna for the comments on my original post :)

See, even my right arm is bruised (but not as bad as the left arm). When I returned for the results, I asked the releasing girl if this was all normal. She asked me if I was told to apply hot compress, well, they didn't. She asked me a lot of questions like when I had the extraction done, etc etc. I was blabbing until the woman sitting there waiting for her result called my attention. And showed me a bruise much much bigger than mine (and she had her extraction on Sunday!). I was stupefied and felt ashamed my worries are "miniscule" compared to hers. But whatever! Hay, just let it go, and hope I need not go through something like this again in the very near future.

The fact, however, still remains. The medtech who handled me for the first time probably wasn't trained enough to poke needles. Sheesh.

OMG!!!!!! (edited 09 aug)

Gasp!

"Avenue Q in Manila will be directed by Bobby Garcia & Chari Arespacochaga. It's set for August-September 2007 at the Merlaco Theatre. I can't wait!"

The OST alone made me laugh so hard...this I gotta see! Since I can't afford yet catching it in Broadway (meron pa ba dun? :))

Badadayyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!! Stitchhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

***The musical will actually be shown at RCBC Theater in Makati from September 7 - 23 , all Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. As of today, August 9, Sept15 8pm run is already sold out.

A quick one

I consider it still early (been sleeping past 1am for three nights!) yet I am already very sleepy. I feel so tired. So this will be short but contemplative :)

I am sad. And I dunno why. I always always find myself feeling so low with no particular reason. I also feel lazy and bored...I just wanna lie on bed.

Anyway, we went to have my sister's car checked this afternoon (maintenance routine) and while waiting we strolled in Valley Fair. Bought a few stuff to be brought home (Manila-bound in 1.5 weeks!). We dropped by the Discovery Channel store and this Life is Good shirt caught my attention (Ane bought it for me and it is also 30% off!):

And there's another label that says:

I realized everything boils down to the choices I make, ain't it? Makes me wonder: Have I made all the right choices? At the moment, I would have answered: "Not at all". But since God sent me a message today (Life is good!), I will have to sleep for now and maybe all the negative vibes in me will go away when I wake up tomorrow.

But before that, I would like to share with you the conversation we had upon leaving the house earlier. Ane and I saw this outside and it sparked the exchange:

Ane: That's ampalaya! (bittergourd)

Me: No that's patola! (vegetable that makes a loofa..dunno the english word for it hehe)

And then Joaquin came out with his dad, shouting:

J: Hey that's a pickle!

And we all laughed :) Smart, this kid is! But of course it was not what we said it was, those are budding flowers :) Sigh, I miss him already and we are still here! One last thing, if my brother G is reading this, he'd probably be so happy to know that today, we got him this:

It is the latest Paramore CD "Riot" and am sure he can't wait to get hold of it :)

There. Notice I actually uploaded photos, these are from my mobile phone. Hmmmmm...gotta work on the trip pictures soon!

Tata for now.

Answered prayer

No we are not pregnant yet. Hehe.

Right after I published the photoshopped portrait below, my BIL got an email from the Bride. Apparently, she contemplated about the whole thing. No she hasn't seen my work yet. But realized that they made it hard for us to take their picture together. So she suggested a post-nup session! Hallelujiah! :)

You know I wasn't that happy with my work so I was glad they scheduled a session when they get back from their short trip. We won't be here anymore so my BIL will just send the copies to me. Yey!

**We tried printing my output and it wasn't perfect (I knew it!). But thanks Mich for praising it. I appreciate it! Hugs!

Today's happenings

What a boring title, I know.

Anyway, I woke up late this morning on the wrong side of the bed. I had an issue with Ane that I'd rather not discuss here. So I skipped brunch altogether. Although, I was sooooo hungry! Sheeesh. We cooked pancit bihon last night, and I ate a lot but that didn't satisfy me because it wasn't rice. Yeah, I was mad at someone and I punished myself. Well, that statement alone got me thinking: Huh?!?

Good thing we went out to canvass something that RL wants from here (for his baby car!) and Kuya J dragged us to Pick up Stix to grab some Asian food. Whew! We found out that the thing RL wants is cheaper than when ordered online so after we texted him, we paid for the DP already. :)

Then we dropped by an electronics' store but we haven't been there long when Joaquin decided he needed to poopoo! Now this boy has been potty trained pretty well and we are so proud of him. But his timing can just be sooooooo untimely? hhehehe. He just can't do it at home (well, he does most of the time). It's either he really can't control it or we spend too much time outside. Hehe.

A weebit later, we fetched Ate from work and we headed to The Winchester Mystery House, a tourist landmark here in SJ. Ane and I joined the 430pm tour. It would have been a very informative one but the family who joined us kept on cutting the tour guide so the poor guy seemed lost in his own words. The Victorian mansion was very interesting, though, and very eccentric at that. Afterwards, we walked through Santana Row, a very impressive upscale street that can be compared to Greenbelt :) We just pretended we belonged there, hihihi. Then off to Valley Fair mall for dinner and I also got this kikay stuff to add to my small BE possessions. :) I got it for $10 less courtesy of my sister's frequent buyer card. I am a girl! :) We also spent a few minutes at the LEGO store (man, those toys are really expensive huh? but fun to play with).

We got home before 9am and I started surfing the net. I'm still a bit disappointed at Ane but when he agreed to let me subscribe to this for a year, I can't help but smile. Nasusuhulan din naman ako. Now if only I can make him let me get this, this and join this, then I would be the happiest wife, for now. Hahaha!

And now, it past midnight...I need to get some Zzzzzzz's now. Need to be up early tomorrow for another day of escapades! :) But before that, I'll share this:

You Are 70% Weird

You're so weird, you think you're *totally* normal. Right? But you wig out even the biggest of circus freaks!

How Weird Are You?

I just found it funny that I had a hard time answering Mami Carmie's tag when I am 70% weird according to the quiz. Hehe. And another:

You Will Be a Cool Parent

You seem to naturally know a lot about parenting, and you know what kids need. You can tell when it's time to let kids off the hook, and when it's time to lay down the law. While your parenting is modern and hip, it's not over the top. You know that there's nothing cool about a parent who acts like a teenager... or a drill sergeant!

Would You Be a Cool Parent?

Ain't that that nice to know? :) Haaaayyyyyyy. Good night!

San Francisco

So anyway, I should really post some pictures so you will see how awful I looked earlier today. Am not really a fashionista but then again, I know what looks good or otherwise..hehehe. The temperature today was around 7-9 degrees C. That's too much for me.

First stop was at Pier 39. I would have bought myself really hot coffee, but I realized that standing under the sun (with no sunblock, argh!) will make me feel comfortable. We walked a bit, took some pictures and decided at 11am that we should go grab lunch already because we wanna miss the long queue's at the restos. We had some nice lunch at Bubba Gump where the ambience is the same as that of Greenbelt's. Yum! The service is really good, our server was so accomodating. We also had a nice view of the Marina. We couldn't linger any longer because people started to arrive and we needed to give our table up for them.

And then we tried to catch a trip to Alcatraz but we weren't able to get any tickets. Tickets were sold out until Monday (bad timing I guess, we were there during the Memorial Day weekend). So we decided to walk towards Powell Street so we could ride the famous Cable Cars. It was an exciting ride, going up and down the steep streets. At the end of the line stood Westfield Mall (and a lot more vagrants). So yeah, we were malling again, hehehehe. The interiors/architecture of this mall is rather different. More like a church/palace to me, teeeehhheeeee. Very nice indeed.

This is also where I experienced having make-up in the mall for the first time :) So the raves about Bare Escentuals are true. If you know me, I do not wear make-up everyday. If I can get away without it, am fine with that. So it's a nice surprise for me to find something that does not irritate my skin and is cheaper than Chanel (which works for me too!) :)

After getting coffee at Starbucks, we were back again on the cable car to Pier 39. Sadly it was time for us to go home. A day is far from enough to explore all the nice places. I vowed to come back... I just don't know when.

We didn't go straight home since it was already dinner time when we were still on the road. It was Gerry's Union City for us. Not that we are already missing Filipino food but it was a break from all the American food we've been eating :)

I never knew

that it could be this emotionally draining and stressful on this side of the world. Don't get me wrong, though. I am having quite a good time experiencing a lot of new things and I enjoy being with Joaquin but there are things I can't seem to run away from. Sigh. I must be PMSing. Sheesh.

Anyway, on to more positive things...

I played Badminton today. Yup after about 5months of not holding my racquet, I decided to join Ane, Gi and Kuya Jun. I did pretty well but not better. I think I even got worse than the last time I played! Hehe. I stretched a little and am glad my body is okay eventhough I did a lot of running ang bending and jumping. Good luck to me when tomorrow comes. Ane said I should prepare myself, hehe. Maybe I should take Ibuprofen before I sleep eh?

So yeah, we went to Fremont again because that's where United Badminton Court is located. But before that, we visited the bookstore once again. Ane gave me permission to buy a CK Scrapbooking ideabook which costs $5.98 (original price is $16.95). Oh yeah! Happy me c")

Before we played, we grabbed a bite at In-N-Out (again!) and it was so funny Kuya Jun had the guts to ask about their "Secret Menu"! Hihihi. The girl on the counter was giving him the "look" and blankly told him that there is no such thing because their entire menu is posted in their website. Go google it hehe.

The rest of the day was spent like this: after the games, we went to Costco to buy some things, dropped by a model townhouse unit my sister is hoping for, went home, steamed some clothes, picked Joaquin from school, dinner at home courtesy of Mom (yeah, both she and Dad arrived on Sunday), went out to check out this store where clothes are cheap, drove thru Jack-in-the-Box for some snacks, and then home again.

Tomorrow will be busy because it's Ate's Deparmental Graduation. :)

Before I end this, lemme share with you Joaquin's Prayer before meals (read til the end, you will be as surprised as we are, I was able to record it but I cannot play it in the computer, duh):

"God is good.

God is great.

Thank you Lord, for our Food.

Amen.

Praise the Lord!

Don't give up!"

:) Night everyone!

Yesterday

I cried.

Ane and I were at this government office fixing some papers for my FIL. Since Ane and I are both idealistic, we won't give in to red-tape and bureaucracy (sad to say, some civil service offices here are only "efficient" when one resort to such activities). So we were both ready for whatever hurdles we had to go through.

But we weren't so ready to wait for FIVE long hours. Outside the office (while we see all employees thru the glass in the airconditioned rooms, laughing and chitchatting, noh). In the heat of the weather (must have been more than 30 degrees out there). Really thirsty. We were both tired and sleepy. And me on the first day of my period with no clean washrooms around (it was nasty and yucky).

So when we were told everything was done, after five hours, I couldn't help it anymore. I cried out of relief, frustration and all the other feelings in the world...and found out that they had an encoding error! Encoding could have been the first step in our transaction and yet they still misspelled FIL's name (we would have cared less if the address was wrong) and nobody bothered to correct it while the papers were inside! They simply smiled on their booboo, didn't reprint our documents, and promised to just fix the records in their computer. Talk about efficiency. Sheesh. We decided to push not it anymore because 1) we had another errand to do, and 2) FIL said we will just do something about it later (naawa na siguro sa amin, huhu).

We rushed to the grocery to buy a few things for the garden and raced immediately after that to our event that night. It was a very tiring day but while driving, Ane playing his IPod and this song came up:

ORDINARY SONG

By Janno Gibbs

Just an ordinary song

To a special girl like you

From a simple guy

Who's so in love with you

I may not have much to show

No diamonds a glow

No limousines

To take you where you go

But if you ever find yourself

Tired of all the games you play

When all the world seems so unfair

You can count on me to stay

Just take sometime to lend an ear

To this ordinary song

Just an ordinary song

To a special girl like you

From a simple guy

Who's so in love with you

I don't even have the looks

To make you glance my way

The clothes I wear

May just seem so absurd

But deep inside of me is you

You give life to what I do

All those years may see you thru

Still I'll be waiting here for you

If you have time

Please lend an ear to this ordinary song

Just an ordinary song

To a special girl like you

From a simple guy

Who's so in love with you...

Ane reminded me that this is his song for me. Ain't that really sweet? The day must have started so bad and yet my dear husband ended it perfectly :)

Here I am, blabbing again hehe

{Today}

I was up really early, as in 635am. I carpooled with Ane to Makati and then my brother G picked me up from there (with Z of course). We went straight to his school, met with his adviser and got his Final grades. When we entered his homeroom, he started leaping and his smile was from ear to ear. He was so happy to find out that he finished Third Year with Third Honors and a Year-end Deportment Award. Yabang! It amazes me how my little big boy can get good grades and I hardly see him study! Must be the genes, ehek!

I hitched a ride with my other brother R to the garden, got here a bit after lunch time, had someone pay the phone bills, checked my email and decided I needed a Facial treatment (last one was in February!). Hihihi. So the tx ended and I am now composing this entry while eating a big bowl of Champorado. No wonder my ass is bigger and my waistline totally disappoints me. Sigh.

{Yesterday}

I woke up in the morning (late, as usual) with a very weird feeling in my stomach. And I suddenly remembered that I drank a cup of Biguerlai tea just before I went to bed the other night. Now Biguerlai tea, on every pack, claims to be a Slimming tea and something something (ehehe I forgot to bring a pack with me today at work). Mamita B swears to the effectivity of the tea because it works for her. She warned me though I will frequent the washroom the next day after taking. Which happened and it was nasty. My stomach was upset the whole day (not the mention the stiffness of my neck! Argh! Another story.) I decided to search the net on the main ingredient of Biguerlai, Senna Leaves, and I found out these:

“Senna (Cassia angustifolia) is a small shrub that grows in regions of the upper Nile of North Africa and Arabia. The ancient Egyptian doctors used senna over 3500 years ago for their royal patients and the elite. It was also used by the Arabian physicians as far back 9th century A.D. After being introduced to Europe during the Crusades, its popularity as an herbal remedy exploded. While available as single product, senna is often combined with a variety of aromatic herbs.
Today senna is a commonly used laxative and is found as an active ingredient in products such as Senokot, Fletcher's Castoria, and Ex-Lax Gentle Nature. Senna can be found growing naturally in most tropical regions of the world. Both its leaves and its seeds are medicinal. Senna is able to relieve constipation by stimulating the colon, whereby speeding along the passage of the contents. Consequently, there is less time for fluid to be absorbed from the stool and it remains soft.” http://www.nutrasanus.com/senna.html

Aaaaawwwww, so that makes a lot of sense. And I realized that it will never suit me, unless am constipated, hehehehe. I simply hate the feeling. I also considered that my body is prone to stomach aches and indigestion problems. So Biguerlai is not for me.

{The other day, Monday}

I was at the Mall with LBB. He got some birthday money and decided that he needs to update his wardrobe. I happily went with him as Ane also gave me some shopping money to splurge on myself and not necessarily for the house. Hihihi. So there I was, searching the mall for new clothes. It’s disappointing that most new clothes out in the market are skinny this and skinny that. Whatever happened to the clothes for the not so skinny like me?!?! The other designs are lacy if not “sparkling” which is totally not me. Am a simple shirt and jeans gal and my built isn’t at all girly (broad shoulders and hips and fat!! eeewww). I ended up with a couple of plain shirts and three polo shirts and…….drum roll…..another pair of Havaianas! Knock-knock! Who’s there? Addictus havaianus!! I was so happy when I went to All Flip flops and found just the model and color that I wanted and saw on the net. Of course, when LBB and I fetched Ane from the office & told him of my new pair, he rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth. Oh he loves me! Hahahahahaha!

{Sunday was Easter}

Ane started our day right by hearing mass (it was an additional day off for him). I know it doesn’t make up for the rest of the Holy Week when we did not participate in any church activity…but I am happy that we were able to partake in the Holy Eucharist. Easter Sundays are also renewal days of every Catholic’s Baptism. I remember, every year, having to answer questions asked of our Parents and Godparents in our Baptism and then the priest would bless everyone with Holy Water. That Sunday was different for the priest asked if we brought along a candle with us. We didn’t. Only two among the churchgoers had candles with them. The priest was dissapointed and even told us that “Ah hindi kayo pinaalalahanan ng inyong pananampalataya. (your faith did not remind you)” Now, that isn’t a nice thing to say right? I felt bad, mind you.

Anyway, after the mass, I dropped Ane home so he could get more sleep and then I proceeded to a Rotary event where we met up with the GSE (Group Study Exchange) Team from Korea. The team consisted of five and they are all nice and adorable. They understand basic English and two of them even speak good English. Throughout lunch though, they were silent…until I decided to talk to them. As our conversation went, I realized that they were just waiting for someone to start chatting. I did. They even asked if I studied in the US (which I didn’t) because they said my diction is very good and my pronunciation very clear. So there, the point of this paragraph is to brag! Hahaha Nah. I was just confident because they aren’t Caucasians, heheheh. It was so sweet of them that they gave me a phone chain from their country.

Later that night, Ane and my brothers were in Eastwood to celebrate LBB’s birthday (DOB April 4). We went around the mall, LBB got himself a new pair of Chucks, and Ane a new pair of Ipanema (taksil!). Then we just had dinner at Something Fishy (we always dine there but that night, we decided to try some other dishes) and had dessert at some Chinese Resto (only because we felt bad seeing the place with no guests). We were supposed to get some coffee but we were all full and tired so we went home.


So…..I just realized that I am being a bit chatty again and this post has become too long. I’m afraid my readers are getting bored already (yes the three of you!) so I’ll stop. I have stories to tell still but that deserves another post.

Layouts Galore (and backlogged entries?) :)

Ok, so today is the last day of the third month (which reminds me, March Monthly roundup is due, and I haven't even written my February roundup, arrrgghhh!! I suck.). And here I am updating a forgotten blog. I decided I won't explain where I've been or how has life treated me since the last time I posted. I will just have to type away. I probably won't realize I am blabbing again, heheh.

And I won't promise anymore that I will never neglect this little space of mine again. I feel I am bound to break that promise again, anyway.

***me thinking where to start, how to start...got tons of stories to tell and am left speechless, huh...organize, organize thoughts!!!! nunininuninuninuninu....***

I guess I'll start with new happenings :)

Yesterday was Ane's restday (he's in a new project with 12hour-shift, no he's not a security guard heheh, and takes Fridays and Saturdays off). We left the house after lunch, went to the garden, so I could check the cafe. Before 5pm, we were Manila bound. We thought of going to The Zone in Makati to check out new Havaianas stocks but decided against it...we didn't wanna get stuck in rush hour traffic. So we ended up at The Block and checked out Chocolate. And a happy me left that store with two new pairs of Havis :) Yep two!!! My DH is the best for allowing me to buy. I am now a proud owner of a pair of Sunny 2007 (the Pink one!!!) and a pair of Baroque (white top and black sole). I so wanted to have that Orange Cartunista but there were no sizes for me :( and there are no beige ones of that Summer Dots model (the picture of which I posted here in one of my previous posts).

By 7pm we were already seated at our usual Saturday-after-game-hang-out-place 4xForce located along Granada St. near Greenhills. It was their 1st year anniversary and as regulars, the E's (that's us!) scheduled to be there to support them on a Friday night :) (really, seeing each other on fridays is turning to be a regular thingy because of different "agenda" springing every week! Last night was the fourth friday already!) Great time! There were bands and free drinks. Ane and I were supposed to get there later but because we didn't wanna miss on anything, we got there after J and before everyone else! By 9pm, we were almost complete and I had to leave them and go see my old church friends at Music21 in Timog. I entered room 18 and there were Beng, Cherie, Jeff, Jeje, Jojo and Randy already. Kuya Jim came later. It's nice to be with old friends. Wasn't able to join them for coffee at Starbucks because I had to return to 4xForce by midnight.

I woke up this morning with Ane asking for "something" (ehem), then I fell asleep again until he was telling me it was time for him to go. Ane and his parents were scheduled to go to Libis to leave Max there and bring home Rubio (I think that's what I wanna call the new car!). Sadly, Max was traded in for an Isuzu Sportivo. I'll miss Max, wwaaaaahhhhhh!

I went to the garden around lunch time today. I fixed a few things, downloaded something from the net and Mom listed my bank itenarary come Monday. I would have stayed, if only for the Champorado Tita Grace was preparing but it became so noisy, I couldn't take it anymore (plus the fact that Ane was waiting for me already). See, election fever has struck our small town. Candidates' jingles all around...including Dad's. Yep he's running for office.

Before I left, I went to see Mom in their room and I saw a book, entitled: Mommy Talk: the "Oh's" and "Oh no's" of Motherhood. It's a compilation of weekly articles at Philippine Star of Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan. So I asked mom who owns the book and what it was for. And I was taken aback with her answer: "Sa iyo yan, binili ko (it's yours, I bought it for you)". So I took it, smiling. No, we're not pregnant yet (and am not gonna dwell on that). Mommy made me smile today :)

Didn't last long there because Ane will play at GBC and I, to stay here at Brothers' house. We are spending the night here, as usual. I decided not to play anymore (I stopped playing Badminton about three months ago and not sure yet if I wanna go back playing...deserves another post). So here I am, updating this blog. We got here around 4pm and I immediately finished the layout I started on Thursday, which is this one:

Credits here.

Sheliza Vittoria was born on 4:04pm 21 March 2007 to my cuz Frenz and wife Sheila. Sheila was in labor for almost 24hours and has a lot of labor room stories to tell! Pictures for this LO were shot on day3 as the new family was preparing to go home from the hospital. Tomorrow will be Vittoria's Christening and I am one of her Ninangs :) She's the latest addition to my 20 godchildren (whew!).

And this one, a long overdue LO share:

Credits

I "finished" this layout in January but had to wait for Rissa and Robie's Wedding picture :) Journaling Reads: They say whoever gets the Bride’s bouquet, will marry next. I caught Sheila’s and I passed mine to Rissa.We got married six months after the other. That’s three weddings in a year!

This next one is one of my first wedding LO's:

Credits here.

The picture in the LO is by far our favorite! Everybody agrees :) This may be considered an accidental shot because Flea positioned himself at the altar to get this shot only because he had nowhere else to place himself (we had 5 photogs, remember?). This came out really really nice!

The next three layouts are my take for the Bebots' challenges for the first half of March. Too bad I wasn't able to join the second half.

Scraplift-a-Bebot Challenge. Credits here.

Heritage Challenge -- Honoring Women. Credits.

AD Challenge. Credits dito.

Am done :) For now. Hehe. Ciao!

Blah blah blah

Since I am in such a crazy and chatty mood today, I can't even think of a proper entry title! I've been meaning to blog since Monday...but I've been distracted every now and then. Talk about suffering from ADD, hehehe. Believe me, this is gonna be a long entry.

So at 6pm today, I sat down and connected to the internet. My mistake is that after I visited Baddicts, I jumped immediately after to the Bebot's forum for the nth time today. And I found this wonderful link on PSCS2 actions...I swear I didn't see it even if it's been sitting there since Friday last week. So I just had to download some of the actions. And of course, I had to try it too! Hehehe. I even remember posting a picture in this entry following a tutorial linked by Flea. With the new actions I dl'd, I get to create a faux IR effect in just one click! How cool is that?!

{On to other things}

Hahaha, I don't even know where to start! Geesh. Okay, okay. I'll write something about me and Ane's 5th anniversary as Sweethearts. There wasn't a big celebration. First, because it was a Thursday and I have work late nights on Thursdays and Ane has Badminton training as well. Second, we are on a really tight budget after we splurged during the Holidays. One good thing about the timing is that I was ovulating that day! I even texted him "wag mag-ubos ng lakas!" Mwehehehe. We're really hoping we nailed it this time, 'coz we can't wait to become three :). And yesterday, I sent him this:

Credits found Here.

I felt sorry that it was a late gift, but hey, I had work to do. Hehehe. I think he liked it, though, because he sent me an SMS saying that he felt the same way about me. Yihee! **insert kilig icon here** :) Oist, wish us luck!

{Work related}

There is no clear work description for me, since this is a Family business. Day in, day out, it's always been the same. Except that for the past month or so, I've been tasked to create marketing materials to boost our sales, only because I am OC and patient and loving the new things I am learning with PSCS2 and IllustratorCS2. But since I procastinate a lot, I've missed the deadlines I imposed on myself (bad habit! and besides, there's no deadline actually, which is worse!). So my brother dear decided to put his foot down and waited (actually watched over my shoulders) on me to finish. Good thing, in the past week, I finished six (6!!) tarpaulin designs for the Diner and Garden (3 or 4 more to go!), 2 Valentine's day tarps for Daddy, and a jersey design for the basketball team we are planning to manage come summer time -- everything burned in CDs and everything printed, yay!

{DigiScrapping}

Is something I really enjoy doing. I am happy that I am able to fit some scrapping time in my very erratic lifestyle. I happily share four of the latest layouts:

Credits here.

This is my entry for the Bebot's February Challenge. It was indeed challenging, coz we had to document our day. I had fun though.

Credits here.

I did this layout using the extraction technique. Of all the LO's I've done, I'd say I am most proud of this one. Although this seems pretty simple, it takes patience and a lot of effort and a steady hand to extract almost perfectly.

Credits here.

Alyanna (Nikki to us) is my Goddaughter. When we received all our wedding pictures in CDs, I noticed that all of our photogs (5 of them) had shots of her :) Nobody can resist that charm, eh?

Credits here.

This is a layout that I finished in January but somehow wasn't able to post here, hehehe. This was my entry for Susan's challenge #41 over at Lifts with a Twist.

{Sunday's treat}

I missed another badminton day last Saturday. So Sunday was my first real day out over the weekend. We woke up a bit later so we missed the 10am mass at MTQ. Thinking that the mass at Promenade is at 11am, we didn't rush, only to find out that the mass started at 1030!! Late again! :( Brothers, Ane and I had lunch, a simple one this time: Eat-all-you-can Siomai and Yangchow Rice at Dimsum and Dumplings. Hay...these eat-all-you-can promos are really not my thing. Rip-off! hehehe Only because I am not a big eater (defense mechanism acting up haha!).

We watched Charlotte's Web at Promenade. It was a nice movie, so cute. Dragging on some parts but stayed true to the book. Worth watching, especially for kids. Anyway, watching the movie previews made us plan to watch more movies this year! There's just so much to look out for...but not enough moolah to do it every week (especially when I prefer to watch only in Powerplant, G4, Greenbelt or Promenade, arte noh?). After the movie, I was able to reserve a copy of Harry Potter 7. Didn't care if there will be more than enough copies come July 21, 2007...Am simply excited to have the next and last book!

After Greenhills, we brought the Brothers home, picked up our things and headed to The Zone in Makati, not to play but to buy Mommy the Havs we promised her. :) And because Fafi Jonas stayed true to his words...that supplies are abundant there...I was able to coerce my darling Husband to buy me a pair of this:

Hay am so happy to have a husband who spoils me once in a while. He said I could make my collection bigger when I only have extra money and I can only purchase once a month. ONCE A MONTH?!?! Sigh. These are the ones that I am drooling for:

Pictures courtesy of Flipflopstyle.com.

{On to other things...again}

I am so happy that the Internet (DSL) connection is already transferred from our receiving room to our office! We've been requesting for the transfer since late last year and boy, I was too happy to see the men working on it when I arrived on Monday. :) More web time from now on, hihihihi...

Yesterday, I brought Keisuke to the Vet to have his deworming shot. He was such a darling and didn't give us a hard time. He was all nice and proper :) He even saw a cat at the doctor's office and just looked! (he barks when he sees a cat when he's at the garden). The doctor announced that our dear puppy is in perfect shape, whew! I think, though, he got stressed riding the car, coz he was sneezing all the time, hehehe.

{Thanksgiving}

We are so thankful to the Lord that the our Tatay's (lolo) 2nd wife's brain surgery went pretty well. There was a large benign lump that had to be taken out. The doctor didn't promise that she would be able to talk again, and there was a scare that she might get paralyzed after the operation. We were having a chat with Tatay this afternoon and gave the news that she is now able to talk again! Although she can't walk yet because her body is still too weak, she is now the same old her -- very talkative! Praise God.

{Prayer}

For the family that I know...

Lord, give them the strength to accept your will. Help them ease the pain and the worries that they are facing right now. Enlighten their hearts and souls that they may go on living as You planned. Give them peace of mind, and of heart, that they may still be able to see and count the other blessing that You continue to bestow upon them. Make them understand that anything is just but temporary and that even if there are rough roads ahead, they will still be able to go through that as long as they stay together.

Amen.

{Closing}

No proper ending. Just that, it's 1047pm and I haven't even started yet with the closing duties at work..heheeh.

Till next! :)