>Family Ties. Ricky's fourth aunt from Zamboanga stayed with us for a few days this week. She and her daughter Pinky arrived here for a two-week vacation. Can you imagine my mother-in-law has a total of 8 brothers and sisters - one in Manila, one in Cebu, and five in Zamboanga. Once they get togther, it's nice to hear them talk because they start catching up - what's happened to them, any malady or sickness in the family, what happened to their children/granchildren, what happened to their spouses including members of their spouses' families. Their real-life stories are more colorful than any TV melodrama! How can you beat hearing stories about death(s) to distant relatives or friends; whose spouse ran off with whom; who went abroad and who came back; what aches and pains they underwent and their corresponding remedies; criticisms on decisions made by which spouse; how the children are doing in school and work, etc., etc.... Ever since I was small, I've always liked to listen to grownups talking to each other. It's not really eavesdropping, more of like they were talking and all the while thinking I wouldn't understand.
What gives me inspiration is the fact that in times of trouble in the family, they all band together and support each other, try to be there to help or lend a hand. They show us that in spite of what they like and don't like about each other, they're still part of ONE family. My dad has 11 brothers and sisters - but that's for another day... he he.....

Something Bad to Something Good. Suffered thru a six-hour brownout last night. It was the result of a heavy downpour - the first this year. What's the first thing that goes thru your mind once the lights go out? OH NO!!!! Another wasted night! Can we go out instead - to somewhere with electriciy, with aircon? I hope the kids don't get fidgety and irritable. I hope the kids can sleep with this heat. Can't use the computer or watch TV. But then again....Brownout nights remind me of years ago when we used to have brownouts/blackouts during strong typhoons. Everything was done by candle light, dinner and even lessons we had to do. My brother, sister and I would seek out the coolest room in the house, just get together and start talking. No TV or radio to distract us. We'd talk about what was happening with our lives - which during that time was more about school - the teachers and the workload; our friends - a little gossip here :) ; a touch or our "love lives" - crushes, do you think he's/she's cute, what's he/she really like....TV show, music, and movies were among our shared interests. We enjoyed the feeling of being able to share and talk amongst ourselves. Those times are dear to me, since now that we're all grown up and have our own families we have less of that kind of time together.
With the children last night, we played an alphabet game with them to keep their minds off the darkness and the rolling thunder. We picked out letters in the alphabet and asked the children to give us words starting with those letters. We also let them guess some words by giving out clues about what that word sounds like, what it letter it begins with....we had a pretty good time with lots of laughs and seeing the children try to outdo each other. They slept alright with me fanning over them till the lights came on.

Not really a good day. Met a fellow school parent and she was telling me her mom passed away and the burial was last Sunday. Last Sunday was Mothers' Day. Can you ever imagine how you'd feel if you had to bury your mom on that particular day?
Also received news that one of our college schoolmates and ex-co worker passed away. How could anyone die so young?

White Ants Literally translated from a Chinese term for termites.... They are the reason I've spent a week away from blogging. Ricky found out our house had a little termite problem and had asked a carpenter to take a look. The carpenter arrived last Monday and started knocking on the garage ceiling, the doors, and the walls of the house. They started their work outside - tearing down the plywood, putting on new ones, painting, and finally spraying the pesticide. After a few days, their work moved to the inside of the house. Fortunately, the damage wasn't extensive, but if left unchecked, who knows? We might end up living in a cardboard box - all walls and ceilings all hollowed out! :)
We didn't want the kids to be exposed to the dust, the wood chips and pesticides being used, we decided to let them spend a few days outside the house while the repairs were going on. Since we had a few free nights in Cebu's hotels, we used them. We spent a night in Waterfront, a night in Montebello, and a night in Cebu Midtown. The hotels were near enough so we can check the progress of the repairs. The children had fun trying out the different pools, the bath tubs, new surroundings. Rance likes the waterso much, he wants to go to the deeper parts. Bea just likes to stay in the kiddy pool where she knows her feet can touch the pool floor. It was really hard to get them out of the pool. Swimming is the first thing they mention in the morning and they would forget about dinner just to stay in the water a little longer. They couldn't get enough of eating in different restaurants for days in a row. We had ihaw-ihaw, the never-ending Jollibee and McDonald's, pizza and pasta, and always-present Chinese. Both children were quite tired out when we finally arrived home last Sunday to celebrate a quiet Mom's day.
It took only a few days out of the house to let me realize how dependent I am to my old trusty computer. I missed checking my email and seeing if I could chat it up with my friend in manila who happens to be online. Or simply surf for a while. Since I've got some pending work for my Mla. clients, I miss not working with it. As expected, my mail hit their critical limits, so I had to clean them up a bit. My work is staring me in the face - 1st quarter income tax returns for 18 companies!!!! I also have to finish some company financials I've been putting off for a long time. Did I say everything is ASAP???!!!

In A Whirl. The past week just zoomed by. My mom was in her final days of vacation here in Cebu. She likes spending time with her grandchildren and accompanies them to summer school and shopping, eventually ends up spoiingl them in every possible way. My brother and sis in law also came by to enjoy the beach - sort of a pseudo honeymoon type of vacation. We had the tour of restos around here - inihaw, Singaporean, Thai, and of course, the never-ending Chinese cuisines. I was the source of questions regarding where this and that were located, where can they buy these or do they have these things here. During the last few days, we eventually ended up visiting the malls - finding bargains not available in Mla. and buying local delicacies like otap, rosquillos, dried mangoes, dried fish, Chinese sausage, banana chips, green mangoes, and chicharon. We even made a beeline for the famous CnT lechon early Saturday morning, so we could get the nice parts - RIBS. YUMMY!!!! Just enumerating these food stuffs make my arteries choke!! :)

A Big Boy Now. Rance surprised me today during dinner time.Everybody was sitting down and starting to have dinner. I, on the other hand, was just getting something to drink, when he suddenly said, "Mommy doesn't have a spoon." Huh? Everybody turned to look at my plate and true enough, I only have a fork beside my plate. "See how he looks after his mom?" Ricky commented. Ahem...ahem..... I'm really proud that he can be thoughtful and can already think about somebody else besides himself.

Simple Joy Received a letter today from Remy, a good friend of mine. We've known each other since the 90's. Although we don't talk as much as before, we try to keep in touch with each other's milestones - career, marriage, and kids. It just warms my heart to receive letters through the regular postal system. It's kind of old-fashioned in a world of email and texting, but I don't mind.

In April, Maya Angelou was interviewed by Oprah on her
70+ birthday. Maya really is a marvel who has led
quite an interesting and exciting life. Oprah asked
her what she thought of growing older. And, there on
television, she said it was "exciting." Regarding body
changes, she said there were many, occurring
everyday...like her breasts. They seem to be in a race
to see which will reach her waist, first. The audience
laughed so hard they cried.

She is such a simple and honest woman, with so much
wisdom in her words. Because of that, I share
this...by Maya Angelou

When I was in my younger days,
I weighed a few pounds less,
I needn't hold my tummy in
to wear a belted dress.

But now that I am older,
I've set my body free;
There's the comfort of elastic
Where once my waist would be.

Inventor of those high-heeled shoes
My feet have not forgiven;
I have to wear a nine now,
But used to wear a seven.

And how about those pantyhose-
They're sized by weight, you see,
So how come when I put them on
The crotch is at my knee?

I need to wear these glasses
As the print's been getting smaller;
And it wasn't very long ago
I know that I was taller.

Though my hair has turned to gray
and my skin no longer fits,
On the inside, I'm the same old me,
It's the outside's changed a bit.

Ma's Here My mom arrived today for a two-week visit. She's part of a group of Chinese women who practice dance together five days a week in Binondo. Some of these women plus their instructor are here to teach the local instructors a year's worth of dancing lessons. Dancing to them means ethnic Chinese dances involving fans and might include some gadgets I'm not aware of --- just kidding.... Well, dancing for them is a way for them to exercise and an excellent way to get in touch with the Chinese culture in terms of song and dance. She's currently staying with her friends, but when the sessions are over, she's going to stay with me for a few days. She brought some cinnamon buns laced with chocolate - YUMMY!! (FORGET the calories!!!)
Got to meet some of her friends and they're quite nice. They kept saying I looked pretty and that my mom didn't look like she had a daughter who already has her own family. Who wouldn't like hearing those compliments huh? I think their average age would be around 55-60, with children all grown up - so I'm thinking they know what they're saying. Ha Ha Ha!!!

Happy Birthday My little girl! 6 years old and as precocious as any six-year old girl can be. This year, she knew how to count down her birthday. She knew that March came before April - she said "After March, it will be April, April is my birthday." Come April, she'd count the days. A sample line would be - "It's April 5, tomorrow is 6 then 7 then 8 then 9, then it's 10 - my birthday. You should buy me a gift, put it in a box, and put a bow on it." She's taking summer classes now - math and reading - she seems to enjoy it. She attends class twice a week, does her work everyday for about 30 minutes and still has the resta of the summer to enjoy :) So far, she likes school, I just hope she maintains her enthusiasm through history, trigonometry, and phsics.
House Help My nanny went on vacation two weeks ago. I have my hands full with looking after two kids. Fortunately, the nanny was able to find another house help - a younger one with no previous experience. At least, I don't have to worry about house chores and can concentrate on the kids. I literally don't have time to myself anymore, so as you can see, I'm blogging this in the middle of the night. My work is on hold as of the moment, luckily (or not!) I don't have a full time job, so if it's really urgent I do it midnight or early morning. Anyway, the up side is I spend time with my kids, but the truth be told - it's draining me both physically and emotionally. Imagine never ending questions of can i have this, can you read this, can i do this, i want this, i want to go there, i want you to play this with me, not to mention monitoring meals and sleep. Whew!

Cold Feet? You know what Rance kept on telling his teacher during his first week of school? Somehow, he thought of telling his teacher that I was calling for him. His teacher said it happened around once or twice during the one-hour session. Fortunately the teacher didn't believe him and instead directed him to other activities and told him that he hasn't finished his class so I won't be there yet. Maybe it's a kind of insecurity - like somehow, he had to be sure that I didn't leave him and he wanted to check that I was indeed waiting for him.
Yikes!! Paid the children't tuition fee today - can you believe everything amounted to a total of seventy three thousand pesos??? Books not included yet!! My goodness! Why does it cost so much to educate a child these days? Can you imagine how much we'll be paying by the time they reach college? Maybe three hundred thousand?

Ggrrrr...... Found a nice and simple template and can't even publish it properly! Ano ba yan?!?

School Rance is starting summer school this week. The course is called developmental reading. It's supposed to introduce him to the look and sound of letters of the alphabet, to let him start to read phonetically. I still have to see if he'll absorb the lessons. So far, he's into letters "L" and "I." I think they start with these letters since they're the simpler letters to recognize and write :) What happened to always starting with "A?"
Decided to start his school days earlier than June. I'm afraid na come June, he might not want me to leave his side. I'd have to attend the whole class with him - imagine learning the alphabet again, singing songs, reciting nursery rhymes, painting and drawing. Hey, wait a minute, that doesn't sound bad at all. :)

Proud Mom Bea is top five of her classs. She just got home from the practice at school. Hay!! At least all my the tutoring paid off :) Just got the acceptance letter from school for Rance. He'll be starting nursery this June. At least he passed his interview and entrance exam. I'm a bit curious as to how he'll do in school.

Summer What does summer mean to you? Does it conjure up images of the sun, sand, and beaches? Does it make you think of long languid days of lazing around? Got married on a sunny summer morning seven years ago today. Is it true what they say about the seven-year itch? I just wonder.....*bad* Anyway, we were able to spend our honeymoon here in Cebu admist their famous beaches. We spent about a week here just sunbathing, enjoying the quiet, breathing sea air. We also spent a few weeks in the city. Now that we're here, can you imagine we haven't stepped onto the sands of a beach since the time we moved here?

Vacation. A school year has ended for Bea and summertime is here! Yehey! No more lessons! But me, as her mom, I still try to get her to do practice writing her words, to read a book or two, or do her numbers. Killjoy ba? Not only that, I've been meaning to enroll her in math or reading/language summer class, so as to improve her skills. I'm also trying to get Rance to summer class so as to slowly initiate him into a classroom setting - with teachers and fellow students. Ricky, on the other hand, wants the kids to learn how to swim. :)

Tests. Time to take the final exams. I just hope Bea will be able to ace her exams. I'm trying not to give her undue pressure. I try to steer her into thinking that understanding the lessons is important and that knowledge is already an achievement. I will raise my voice sometimes, because I know she can grasp the lessons or memorize things easily but seems to have her attention elsewhere. How can you explain to a child that he or she has to get high marks from now till high school in order to get to a good college in order to get a good job, eventually land into a high-paying one that would provide him/her with her everyday needs and lifetime goals? Come to think of it, nobody explained anything to me :) I just did what I thought needed to be done. Studied! Maybe I shouldn't explain anything, just help her and tutor her in her lessons.

Cartoons. Took Bea to watch the Powerpuff Girls :0 I love cartoons! I can still remember spending the entire Saturday morning in front of the TV for my weekly "fix" of cartoons. In my time, cartoons didn't have mini-shows in malls, nor did they have meet-and-greet activities. I don't think there were licensed pens, crayons, water jugs, or bags before. In short, everything I owned was generic, but the things I had weren't of bad quality, they just lacked my favorite cartoon characters' faces on them. I didn't mind at all, they were still mine to use and play with :) Are today's children hooked on their cartoon characters that they have to have their faces on everything they own? They presence of the cartoons doesn't guarantee quality does it? You'd be surprised and amazed at how many things these cartoon characters have their faces on!

One Big Step. Today my little boy Rance had an interview in school. He's 3 going on 4 this Aug., and he's going to apply for nursery at his sister's school. It's one big step for him - starting school and being in school for the next 17 or so years. I hope he knew the answers to the questions the teacher asked him. I've taught him the basics - letters, numbers, colors, shapes, some songs...but he's kind of a restless child. He can not sit still. After teaching him for about 20 minutes, he gets restless. I've also introduced educational computer games to him, just to give him variety while trying to learn his numbers and letters. We'll know the results in two weeks' time. I hope he passes :)

After A While

After awhile you learn
the subtle difference between
holding a hand and chaining a soul

and you learn
that love doesn't mean leaning
and company doesn't always mean security.

And you begin to learn
that kisses aren't contracts
and presents aren't promises

You begin to accept your defeats
with your head up and your eyes ahead
with the grace of an adult not the grief of a child.

And you learn
to build your roads on today
because tomorrow's ground is
too uncertain for plans
and futures have ways of falling down
in mid-flight.

After a while you learn
that even sunshine burns
if you get too much
so you plant your own garden
and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone
to bring you flowers.

And you learn that you really can endure,
you really are strong,
and you really do have worth.

And you learn


And you learn


With every goodbye, you learn.....

1971 Veronica A. Shoffstall