Scraps of Mama

Osaka Album Almost Done

2011-09-18T21:52:00.003+08:00

Yup! Almost done. Hoping I really do GET it done. Soon.

Page 28, or thereabouts:

Credits:
Journaling reads: Bikkuri Donkey. This was what was actually written on the front of the menu! But this itsy bitsy restaurant (it was really cramped!) served THE most delicious curry burgers with best rice ever! Oh, and cheese ON the burgers? More yumminess!!!

Everything by eNKay Design at The Digichick

kit - Inner Beauty (collab w Karen Lewis)
template - Eezy Peezy 5 Templates

font - by Darcy Baldwin

Methinks this is going to be a 30-page album....all I've been adding so far for the last few pages are FOOD pages! Hehehe. Yup, that's exactly what we pretty much did when we went to Osaka :)

To Blog or Not to Blog....

2011-01-12T17:55:00.002+08:00

....that is the question :)

it has been a looooooong time since I've written something on here, whew!

Restaurant City, Anyone

2009-05-12T20:03:00.000+08:00

Ok I admit it. I caved in. I had held out for the looooongest time I could....but the kids' incessant OBSESSION with this particular game on facebook was too hard to resist!

LOL!

Presenting, my restaurant in Restaurant City:

I finally settled on Big Momma Meals, hahahaha! I also use that sign board to advertise to visiting clientele what particular ingredients I needed the most.

It is NOT an easy thing to set up, what with worries about chairs and tables, stoves, layouts, popularity rating, ingredients and gourmet points. The list seems endless! Sheesh! But after just a day or so of playing (errr....did I say PLAYING? hahahaha!) on RC, it was addicting.

Now I totally understand the kids. How they, upon arriving at a house with a computer, rush in the room, turn on the computer, log on to facebook---making sure they use different browsers so as NOT to slow down the game, lol ---"feed" their workers....before turning to us to say hi, sit down and regale us with tales of their day.

OK.

Just what I need most, another thing to keep me busy.

Becoming the Biggest Loser

2009-05-11T20:40:00.000+08:00

Well, not IN the show, but at least STARTING a workout program. I coerced the kids, including Reese, to join me in the morning. They "reported" for exercise at 830ish am and we set up everything in the den which had the space to accommodate all 5 of us.

And we went right into......

Yup. We actually did it! Hehehehe. Obviously starting with Level 1, we followed Bob's instructions. And paid for it by the end of the day! Man, were my LEGS aching! My goodness! It hurt to walk down the stairs, to get up on the bed, to just move my legs! Sheesh! I guess that's what happens when we rarely use our muscles, LOL! Man!

And the sweat! Was it pouring down our faces and our bodies! Even the kids were sweating up a storm; Rogan stopped after the first few minutes and asked if he could just take off his shirt and exercise topless, hehehehe. Apparently, it worked because he didn't stop for the entire session, including the Biggest Loser Yoga! Whoa!

The only thing about all the sweating ---especially down the face--- is that pimples are most likely going to crop up. And with Raegan and Reese, that'll be another visit to the dermatologist for sure to get some acne treatment. I'm probably going to have to go too, if these pustules start popping all over my face! Blech!

After workout, I had to quickly shower and get to work....but I barely got any office work done because I was concentrating on fixing stuff for Lola's birthday trip to Singapore! Sigh!

It's Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T22:55:00.000+08:00

This is me holding my Mother's Day gift:

Yup, an iPhone! Whoohooo!

I think I was making Japa edgy because I didn't rip apart the package first thing in the morning. Well, we woke up at 850 am and we decided to catch the 930 mass. Yeah. Hahahaha! But we made it in TIME! Whoohooo! Anyway, the packaging of my gift was pretty great! Totally creative, especially for Japa if you ask me. The pics are still in the camera; but I'll be scrapping those sometime soon, hehehehe.

After mass, I had my Mother's Day breakfast at Starbucks with the kiddos (sans Ranger) and Papa. It was relaxing and fun, with the kids eager to tell stories of what's been going on in their lives. Yes, we see them everyday, but for the past several days, they've been sleeping over at Apitong. Peace and quiet at home, but God only knows what a madhouse it probably is over at Lai's house! Bwahahaha!

After mass we headed over to Ayala where the kids spent a good part of the afternoon just cuddling the new puppies:

And here's the biggest "kid" of them all, playing with the puppies' mom:

Dinner was at some Japanese restaurant where we ate 'til we were stuffed!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the moms out there!

Parlor and Potter

2009-05-09T19:08:00.002+08:00

We went to Louis Phillip Kee's salon at the Fort to have our hair done. Bang, Lai and moi. Bang and Elizza had some major hair stuff done, primarily coloring AND highlighting. That highlighting part was the killer in terms of waiting time, hehehehe. I had my roots colored, as well as some hot oil treatment done to moisturize my hair, what with the almost-daily routine of ironing!

Anyway, I brought the first Harry Potter book along (HP and the Sorcerer's Stone); yes, I intend to read everything again BEFORE the Half-Blood Prince shows in theaters. Just so I can FEEL the entire story and not get lost in all the storylines for the different characters before the movie comes :) WHY? It's me, hahahahaha! So if you're counting, you would be correct in computing that this will be the 8th time I'm reading the first book in the series.

Suffice it to say that I practically FINISHED the ENTIRE book waiting for Lai and Bang! More for Lai, since Bang was done earlier than Lai and we even had lunch at the nearby cafe! Hahahahaha! Yes, Elizza was in there for close to 5 hours!!!

I would have taken pics, but my poor phone had tons of pics and I had no spare sd memory cards on me, lol. I mean, Elizza got up no less than 4 or 5 times to have her hair shampooed! Bwahahahaha! And I thought I was going to take long with my haircut, my dye, my oil treatment! Of course, Lai had all that PLUS highlights and eyebrow threading hehehehe. Yeah, it must have been the threading that took an extra 3 hours or so :)

Ok. Book 1 down, on to Book 2!

It's Mother's Day tomorrow and I have absolutely NO time to make something. Sigh. Oh well. Next year :)

Rounding Up April

2009-04-30T20:58:00.000+08:00

Getting the questions to the Round Up from Katie the Scrapbook Lady:

Round Up: April

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?

I read ONE book this month, Kathleen McGowan's The Book of Love. A continuation of her previous hit, The Expected One. The books tell of Jesus' possible life of marriage and the story of his descendants and where and what they preached. Pretty explosive stuff, if she had published it as non-fiction. But hey, I'm pretty open to new ideas and this one has potential! :) I got this book just before we left for Singapore so needless to say I did get a LOT of reading done, almost finishing the book during our stay there.

Magazines, just Time. Trying to be intellectual here and keeping up with current news and trends, hehehe. This one came with an extra issue on Global Warming and its effects on our environment and, ultimately, the world. Interesting ---and scary!--- stuff.

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?

We saw 17 Again starring Zac Efron. Cute movie. But I can't believe this is the ONLY movie we saw this month! Hahahaha! I guess we were too busy with swim meets and traveling!

What special days did I celebrate and how?

Raegan's 11th Birthday

Japa's 40th Birthday

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

Raegan got a Guitar Hero game for her DS from us. No gift for Japa as of now. There hasn't been a whole lot of time to think of what to give him, eek!

The kids got their prizes for swimming well at Toys R Us. Rogan got an early birthday gift --- that hideously expensive Lego Star Wars--- early, which was added to his swimming prize.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

Taking special care of my back, what with all the sitting down I've been doing for all the swim meets this month! Food input has been extremely plentiful this month, too, LOL, so I'm promising to cut back AND to exercise more next month! (keeping my fingers crossed!)

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?

The swim meets were pretty major events this month. It was fun to have some time alone with Raegan during our trip to Singapore. It was equally fun to have the 3 older kids plus Coach Jana for a day in Hong Kong, too.

We spent some quality time in Hong Kong, especially during the trip to the HK Science Museum and the loooooong walk to it, hehehe.

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?

Definitely that HK restaurant where we spent most of our meals, Yun Nan Restaurant. And the local Park N Shop supermarket, where we had el cheapo but filling meals! Yeah!

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

Toys R Us stuff, hehehehe. I guess picking up that laser tube for the engraving machine while in Hong Kong counts as a highly unusual purchase :)

What were my scrapping accomplishments this month?

Another 22 pages scrapped this month, including my pages for Proj 365.

Anything else noteworthy to record?

Just a quick note to say that I never knew swimming could get soooo expensive! With all the trips we've been doing this month, it's breaking the bank! But it's worth it, too, since we get to spend so much quality time with the kids. Nothing like sports and all it teaches, eh?

***

Nothing exciting happening today.....just a family board meeting. Teleconferencing with the twins who are in the States.

Last Day in Hong Kong

2009-04-29T23:36:00.000+08:00

I stayed up late to pack our bags. I woke up early today to pack our bags. :) We let the kids sleep in, since we got home late for the first time during our entire stay in Hong Kong.

Breakfast was McDonald's, as usual. Only this was, Japa didn't check the bags and we ALL got Egg McMuffins which we did NOT want!!! Grrrrrr!

We had lunch at our "regular" restaurant for the last time.....and finally took a photo just so we would remember the name. I mean, we had been eating most of our meals here for the past 6 days, lunch or dinner. And none of us knew the name of the place, hehehehe. So, for posterity's sake:

With all our bags packed, we stopped by the Concierge to pick up the laser tubes that were ordered by the Columbarium. And we were surprised by the size! At least it was light! So....we figured that it was best if Japa would take all the bags to the airport via taxi. When all the bags and the crate were loaded, I noticed some space in the middle of the back seat. I told Rogan to squeeze in there, heheehhe. That's at least one boy who would NOT be a liability on the MTR (I'm talking about having to constantly keep in him in my sights just so he wouldn't get into trouble or some other such thing).

We finally got to the airport. The kids rode FREE on the Airport Express train, so we saved some money there :) Japa was first in line in the Business Class line, flashing the Premier Elite card. Whew! Thank goodness for that one. The lady was verrrrry nice, helping Japa check in the crate at the oversized package section AND giving us ALL seats in the upper deck!!! Which meant that we got Business Class seating! Whoohoohooo!!!!

Here are a few pics of us enjoying our seats before take off:

Uneventful flight, with Ranger nodding off in his uber comfy seat before take off. Raine didn't throw up, and we were one of the first ones off the plane. We claimed our bags, paid a minor amount for the laser tube in the crate and went off.

We dropped off Raine and Raegan in LaVista because they were going to sleep with Zhar; Rod had left for the States yesterday.

And finally, finally, FINALLY. We got home. Ahhhhhh. Nothing like your OWN bed!!!

Girls' Time and Boys' Time

2009-04-28T23:44:00.001+08:00

After having breakfast at McDonald's, we went our separate ways:

{GIRLS' TIME}

We went to Mongkok so that the girls could see what Hong Kong shopping was like. That it wasn't all department stores and fixed prices. Of course, the first store we went to, Bossini, was where the girls had fun shopping, hehehehe. They picked out shirts and jackets and were happy.

Mongkok showed them the stalls and stalls lined up on the streets. And the bargaining! Coach Jana taught them that they could chop off as much as 60% off the asking price of the vendors! Even *I* was surprised that we could go that low; I guess I was so used to shopping with Mom, who'd go only so low with her bargaining skills :) Apparently, prices were dropping because most of the goods were coming from China.

After shopping for a few more things, we passed by Park N Shop to get lunch. At 3 pm. Hehehehe. Yup, the girls got a chance to "live" the life of a Hong Kong shopper: going without lunch because there were still so many stalls to go to. :)

After a lovely lunch of char siu pork and roasted duck and rice that left us fully satisfied, we rested a bit before hitting the pool. Yeah right. It was *still* freezing water in the darn pool, despite the warmer temperatures outside! Sheesh! The ONLY reason why I ventured into the water was because the girls were playing with their new camera that could take UNDERWATER shots! Look how COOL this is:

All I did here was to hit Auto Levels in Photoshop and our skin tones were highlighted a bit. Otherwise, the pic was clear as day! Is that cool or what!

After the cold pool, the steam room was a WELCOME treat! We stayed in the steam room for probably close to an hour. Japa said that he heard us all the way to the gym, we were laughing and chatting up a storm! Hahahaha!

{BOYS' TIME}

When we left McDonald's, the boys went back to the hotel. And Rogan literally pooped up a storm. Our toilet overflowed and Japa had to call Housekeeping in a major way! Hehehehe. Ugh. Thank goodness us girls weren't there to witness the grossness of it all! Ewww.

The boys took a short dip in the cold pool as well; they couldn't stay that long since Ranger's lips were turning purple. They also had a much-needed stay in the steam room, long enough for Ranger's body to heat up.

{DINNER}

We found out that there was a Toys R Us by the Tsuen Wan station. So we walked aaaaaaalllll the way there. It took us about 15 minutes of straight walking and by the time we got to the Discovery Park Mall, we were hungry! After a short stop at the toy store that didn't yield a Star Wars Lego set, we proceeded to the food court.

And oh my goodness, was it totally authentically CHINESE! Everything was in Chinese, with the exception of McDonald's and KFC! After settling the kids onto tables and chairs, we bravely lined up for our food. Thank goodness the cashier could understand what we wanted. Sort of. Hehehehe. Obviously, we stuck to the "safe" staples of pork char siu, roasted duck and chicken. Everything with rice, of course.

And were we FULL by the time we were done! I regret not taking a pic of our food though, since everyone dug in when the food was set on the table. We were that famished! :)

{SCRAPS}

After dinner, I hurried everyone home because I needed to do 2-weeks' worth of layouts to qualify for the incentive over at Weeds and Wildflowers Designs. And I made the deadline, barely!

TTFN! I still need to pack! We're finally going home tomorrow!

Squeezing in Some Educational Time

2009-04-27T23:39:00.000+08:00

What's a trip to Hong Kong without a trip to.....the HK Science Museum? :) It opened at 1 pm, so in the morning, we all trooped to Ocean Terminal to Toys R Us to get some prizes for the kids for swimming well.

Apparently, Raegan seems to be getting too old for toys; she couldn't for the life of her figure out what she wanted to get. She finally settled on some huge bubble thing. I have a feeling she just grabbed it just for the heck of getting something. At least it wasn't expensive; Raegan knew she was in for some clothes shopping this trip.

Raine picked out a dancing mat thingy, the one that you hook up to your TV and has some songs that you dance to while stepping on arrows on the mat. Ranger was content with a small Lego Star Wars toy. Not that he'd assemble it himself, but he's been Star Wars-crazed recently!

Rogan, on the other hand, had a huuuuuuuuuge problem: he couldn't figure out what Star Wars toy to get! And of COURSE he was looking at the huge expensive ones! Sigh! He really really REALLY wanted the AT-TE Walker, it was the second most expensive one of the bunch! Aaargh!

We told him this was going to be partly a prize and a birthday gift (his birthday's coming up in June) to which he quickly agreed to. Boy, let me tell you, he could NOT wait to get his hands on this thing! :)

Ranger freaked out when he realized we had to leave all the toys at the store just so we wouldn't have to carry everything around when we went to the HK Science Museum. It took some major convincing to do, but he grudgingly agreed to let go of his "prize". Hehehehe.

And so we walked and walked and walked. And walked some more. Apparently, I had told Japa the WRONG information. I totally thought the Science Museum was the Planetarium...which was why we took our sweet time over lunch since we thought that the museum was next to Ocean Terminal.

Was I majorly wrong! We were on the OTHER side!!! And so, after walking for a little bit over an HOUR through the HK Theater of the Arts and the Avenue of the Stars (which, by the way, looks very very clean and new, with this awesome glass encased deck with a whole view of the Harbor!!!) and a playground where the kids spent some 15 minutes playing, we arrived at the HK Science Museum.

Whew!

This dinosaur skeleton (a Lufengosaur) greeted us at the museum lobby. It was pretty big; skinny, but big. Very cool. I asked Japa to take lots of photos because I have a few dinosaur kits that I can use, hehehehe.

When we got there, we were a bit dismayed to see lines and lines of school kids outside the museum! Ack! We thought we'd have a quiet and pleasant stay inside the museum!

So we started at the lowest floor since most of the school kids rushed to go up to the topmost floor. Good thing, too! At the bottom floor, we enjoyed solving some puzzles. Rogan even refused to move to another station until he had at least tried to do the puzzle! :) I know we spent a LOT of time in that puzzle area!

Then it was off to the World of Mirrors where we had so much fun laughing at ourselves as we went in front of mirrors that changed our shapes and heights. There were some freaky mirrors too, that seemed to cut off our bodies!

There was this cool capsule room that proved that people's perception of time differ when placed in the dark. Even Ranger had a try at it, he wasn't scared of the dark!

With so many things to do in the museum, I could probably fill a whole album with photos! By the time we were done (taking our sweet time doing all the different things), about 4 hours or so had passed. Now THAT was money truly well spent! :)

Mantas Swim Meet Day 2

2009-04-26T22:47:00.001+08:00

Last day of swimming races!

The girls had 4 events each, while Rogan had 2:

Raegan
200m free - 2:46.58, 4th in heat (personal best) [splits: 0:36.82 - 0:42.73 - 0:45.02 - 0:41.82]
100m breast - 1:41.09, 6th in heat
50m fly - , 3rd in heat
50m free - , 5th in heat

Rogan
200m free - 3:01.54, 4th in heat (PB!!!)
50m free - 0:37.96, 7th in heat

Raine
100m breast - 1:51.19 (PB) - DQ'd because she jumped too early :(
50m fly - 0:48.34, 4th in heat (PB)
100m back - 1:43.21, 5th in heat (PB)
50 free - 0:40.87, 6th in heat

And that's it! The Mantas Swim Meet 2009 is over. Overall, a pretty good showing, I thought, for everyone. For Raegan, for swimming well in a higher age group, placing in the upper middle of the pack. For Raine, for all those ribbons. Her DQ, by the way, is the EXACT event that she DQ'd in last year, hehehehe. Maybe she got TOO excited for the 100m breast?

And Rogan! Check out his time in the 200 free. His previous time was 3:24; he chopped off 23 seconds!!! The impetus? We told him that he'd earn double points towards a "real" Star Wars lightsaber if he could get his time down to a sub-3. And the wonder boy really swam his heart out. He didn't let up at all. When he finished, he automatically looked up at the time board, saw his 3:01, looked at us up in the stands and screamed in frustration (with a smile, sort of). Awwww. I told Japa that he really did swim all out, and we couldn't fault him for that. He swam very well. I guess all he needed was the proper bribe.....er, push. :)

With swimming over, time to think of more training, upcoming school, parlor time for hair, nails and the best acne treatment. Time to take Raegan (and maybe Raine) to the dermatologist to have some major cleaning done on all our faces. Walking in Hong Kong's busy streets (even if it is in provincial Tsuen Wan) isn't all that great for the skin!

Here's Raine with all her ribbons:

And last, but definitely not the least, a huge shout out to Japa:

HAPPY 40th BIRTHDAY, Japa!!!

I know, not exactly the 40th birth year celebration we envisioned, cheering on the kiddos at a swim meet, but I promise I'll make it up to you. How? No idea, hehehehehehehe. Suggestions are welcome! :)

Mantas Swim Meet Day 1

2009-04-25T22:35:00.004+08:00

Here's the entire contingent of the Ayala Harpoons to the meet:

All 3 of them....plus Coach Jana. Hehehehehe. Such a laaaaarge group, eh? The kids were a bit embarrassed to be parading in front of everyone with just the 3 of them, but they couldn't NOT go around the pool right? Hahaahaha!

The kids had 3 events each:

Raegan
100m free - 1:16.32, 3rd in heat (personal best)
50m breast - 0:47.95, 4th in heat
200m IM - 3:05.78, 4th in heat (personal best)
[splits: fly - 0:40.54; back - 0:48.99; breast - 0:54.39; free - 0:42.00]

Rogan
100m free - 1:27.13, 4th in heat (personal best)
50m breast - 0:53.60, 4th in heat (personal best)
50m back - 0:47.66, 4th in heat (personal best)

Raine
100m free - 1:28.49, 1st in heat!!! (personal best)
50m breast - , 4th in heat (personal best)
50m back - 0:48.98 (didn't beat her personal best)

It was a good day for everyone. If the truth be told though, I was expecting a medal from Raine, considering it's her last year in the 8 and under age group. But she was thwarted again and again by her nemesis, Mary Rose, who did get a few medals. Oh well. A lesson for her in terms of doing better in training and not taking training for granted.

Coach was happy that everyone did swim their PBs in most of their events. I can't remember if Raegan got PBs in the first 2 events, since Singapore. She did well in her "first official meet" in the 11-12 age group. She placed in the top 10th to the 16th in all her events, so that was a good showing.

Raine, as expected did well, getting ribbons in all her events for the day. She showed some poise during the start AND towards the end of her swims. In the past, she'd just about died in the last half of the race. Today though, she was pretty consistent in her speed, so that was good.

Rogan, though, was a big surprise. Last year, he was always towards the bottom of the pack in the overall ranking. For today, he was 4th in all his heats, which weren't even the slowest heats! His placed somewhere in the middle of the pack, which was awesome for him! :)

It was a little bit confusing following the events because apparently, the team from Thailand entered the event 4 days ago, AFTER the programmes had been printed! Aaargh! I wasn't about to buy a newly printed programme for HK$40 when the kids had a free copy of the old programme, WHICH the organizers put on sale btw, for HK$20.

After the races of the day, the kids took showers and we all trooped back to the hotel to rest up a bit. Not even an hour later, we were downstairs for dinner so that the kids could go to bed early and be ready for another day of swimming tomorrow.

I'm A Swimming Momma

2009-04-24T09:08:00.000+08:00

A swimming mom. One who follows her kids to the pool and back.

And that's what I pretty much did today. I didn't want the kids to be too tired from too much walking this close to the competition, so I got breakfast for them and coach at the nearby McDonald's. Besides, the kiddos were tired from yesterday, what with having to wake up so early and the flight.

After a leisurely morning, the kids' stomachs decided that they were ready for lunch. So off we went outside to walk in search of food. We vainly tried to look for this hole in the wall place that we ate at last year, with Lai and Reese, but couldn't find it. The kids were complaining that they were hungry and by this time, we had been walking for a good 15 minutes or so.

Fine. The kids pretty much bullied me into going back to the hotel where KFC was. Yup. That KFC. Hehehehe. Where we had dinner last night. Oh well. I guess athletes would rather eat something they know for sure than risk some new food that could ruin their tummies.

Mid-afternoon, the kids got ready for swimming. I wised up since last year when I had all their stuff in ONE bag that *I carried most of the way from the hotel to the pool. This year, each kid had his/her own backpack and packed their OWN things. If they forgot something, well too bad. Mama wasn't about to go on a 10-minute trek back to the hotel for that forgotten item.

I know, so un-swimming-momma like, but hey, I'm teaching responsibility, right? Hehehehe.

So we walk to the Shing Mun Valley Swimming Pool, a few minutes' walk from the hotel via long footbridges. Made it easier, not having to walk on the sidewalks as cars whizzed past the kids. Every mom's nightmare, I'm sure.

And as the kids trained for the better part of an hour or an hour and a half, this swimming momma took our her current copy of Newsweek and tried to catch up on world issues. :) Ahhhh.....the Swimming Momma life :)

For dinner, we waited for Papa and Ranger to arrive. We went across the street for dinner at this restaurant where they served HUGE bowls of noodles and soup! Rogan of course went the safe way and ordered some chicken in creamy sauce and rice.

Our entrees came with a drink, but since most were teas, the kids wisely declined. So Japa and I split the drinks and mine were all juice-based:

From the left, that's kumquat tea, almond with lychee tea, and peach tea. All oh-so-yummy and refreshing! :)

Pulling Suitcases

2009-04-23T21:31:00.004+08:00

What a day. It started at 4 am, when we got up to get ready for our 8 am flight. We met Coach Jana at the airport and lined up for what seemed like hours just to get through immigration! Sheesh! I have NO idea what the hold up was, but that line was looooong!

We got through and I must admit I sort of dumped Rogan and Raine on Coach; I was so hungry I couldn't wait to get inside the lounge where I could eat! I left some money with the kids so that they could have some juice with their sausage and rice, and so that Coach could get some breakfast as well. Raegan and I went to the lounge; it was her turn this trip since on the last trip through NAIA, Raine was the lucky person to go with me to the lounge.

I hurriedly ate some arroz caldo so that we could sit with the kids and Coach before we were called to board. Told you I felt guilty! But hey, at least I was full, hehehe. We boarded the plane and although we had bulkhead seats, we were waaaaaay over at the back of the plane. Not good if you have a daughter like Raine who has a tendency to barf due to motion sickness. Uh huh.

How far back you ask? If the plane was up to row 115, maybe less, we were at 85. So of COURSE I had Raine drink her Bonamine to prevent her from feeling dizzy! Luckily, she was able to control herself and didn't even feel dizzy. And this was at the BACK of the plane! I was so proud of her! hehehehe.

We landed, got our bags and went on the train to get to our hotel. Luckily, the Airport Express has a promo until May where the kids travel for FREE!!! Yay! Gotta love that word! We went down at Tsing Yi, crossed to the Yellow Line, and after 3 stops, crossed to the Red Line, heading to Tsuen Wan.

We got off at Tai Wo Hau and proceeded to lug our suitcases all over the streets. Yup, the streets. We started to walk from the station to the hotel (a few blocks away). Then we got to the bottom of a footbridge that wound itself all the way up and across the streets. Ooookay. At least there was a RAMP that allowed us to pull our suitcases up the footbridge!!! And thank goodness for the person who invented the 4-wheeler suitcases; although it wasn't exactly a cinch to use up the ramp, it made life sooo much easier! Poor Rogan had to contend with a suitcase while the girls each had a roller. I had the other suitcase and the humongo duffle bag that had all their swimming stuff in it. Sigh!

Our rooms weren't ready so we left everything at the concierge and went to search for lunch. Across the hotel, on the ground floor of a building, was this obscure place with noodles and rice dishes. We were SO there! We remembered this place from last November when we were here for Mantas as well.

And boy, were we all hungry! The act of pulling those suitcases was reason enough, I think! These pics are evidence enough:

And no, the pictures aren't ruined. That's STEAM from the food that you see rising from the dishes!

Earth Day Part 2

2009-04-22T18:20:00.000+08:00

Today is Earth Day the DAY. :) The kids started to freak out when I mentioned that we were celebrating Earth Day today. I meant "we" in the collective, globewide "we". They thought that we were going to "celebrate" by not using any electricity for one whole day (as opposed to Earth Hour when it was just one HOUR). LOL.

I went over to the Earth Day Network, to use the Footprint Calculator, and see how many planets are needed to sustain my lifestyle. The results:

Sheesh! It would take NINE planet Earths to sustain MY kind of lifestyle IF everyone on Earth lived like me! And I thought I was pretty ok, trying to do my part to save Mother Earth! I guess I have a penchant for relying too much on convenience and technology.

I spent a couple of hours running all over the place buying last minute stuff that we need for our trip to Hong Kong. Thank goodness I decided against going to the office. It practically took me the ENTIRE day to pack everything! Two suitcases and a duffle bag. No rush, no panicking. Just a slow, systematic way of putting everything in the proper place. :) Yes, call me OC.

I was able to:

1. buy my hanger-thingy for my undies
2. get the R4 cartridge for one of the kids' DS
3. buy Krispy Kreme for the kiddos :)
4. shop for vienna sausage for food on the plane (yes, the kids WILL eat that no matter what)
5. withdraw some much needed money for food and incidentals

All the above in the space of a couple of hours. Not bad, I say!

Ok, continuing to pack.....

Earth Day

2009-04-21T19:01:00.004+08:00

Not Earth Day the DAY, but Earth Day, the KIT, by Jacque Larsen. :) Designed at the last minute for Earth Day on April 22nd, Jacque brought out this kit for The Lily Pad's Tadpole Tuesday:

I didn't have the photos we had of the Earth Hour last month on hand, so I thought out of the box and came up with this:

hehehehe. I liked how it turned out, with a touch of whimsy. Sort of. And that quote is just PERFECT, don't you think?

* * *

When I left the office today, the staff were asking me why I wasn't joining them for Office Aerobics anymore. Well, it HAS been quite a busy month, what with the Singapore trip and the upcoming Hong Kong meet to go to! Whew! Definitely a whirlwind few weeks! I *do* miss exercising (gasp, is that me???), especially the aerobics sessions at the office!

I have announced that I was going to be serious on the exercise front starting May. For sure. I've asked the kids to help me out on this and, with a promise from me that Papa wasn't going to be in our exercise sessions, they willing agreed. We've lined up swimming, running and walking so far. It has yet to be scheduled, but hey, planning's a start right? Then there's Office Aerobics every Tuesday and Thursday. I can pencil in yoga at home in the mornings if I don't get to do anything with the kids. I also want to try Kettlebells. Looks interesting AND fun at the same time! Making a note to self to do some more research on these funny looking dumbbells!

So yes, I am SERIOUS about starting to exercise a tad bit more than usual! :)

Girls Out at the Parlor

2009-04-20T21:23:00.000+08:00

The nail parlor, that is. It was time to go to Le Charmant since the nail in my middle finger snapped. It was irritating me so much that I cut and filed it....to the edge of my finger bed. Yuck! So because it was an unsightly thing to behold, a trip to the nail salon had to be made.

I had Raegan come along to try out the nail wrap for her bitten-nails. I was thinking that the wrap would help her grow her nails and help her avoid biting them. Besides, the nail wrap makes your nails hard, it'll be difficult to nibble at them, hehehehe.

Raine's eyes lit up when she heard we were going to the parlor (didn't matter what kind of parlor it was, just as long as it was a kikay thing), and she practically begged to come with us.

So, with both girls in tow, we got to Le Charmant. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so:

The pic above shows Raegan's hands, nicely wrapped and french-tipped. With nail art, to boot, since her manicurist had so much fun doing her nails! Hehehehe.

I have yet to take a photo of Raine's lavender nails. They came out really nice and girly. Trust me, that was the best option since she wanted PURPLE, i.e., eggplant (!!!) colored nails! I told her to choose an age-appropriate color or go colorless; her manicurist I guess felt a little bit sorry for Raine, so she brought out the lavender colored nail polish :)'

Before they dropped me off at the office, I told the girls not to be too conscious of the nail polish on their hands, especially during swimming! God forbid that they wouldn't touch the wall hard enough because they might ruin their nails, hahahahaha!

Scrap Happy Post

2009-04-19T21:17:00.000+08:00

It was a hot hot HOT Sunday! Sheesh! Blistering hot! It just HURT to step outside! Ugh!

We all woke up late, so scratch the plans to go to mass in the morning. We did have a late breakfast, at around 10, which was nice since we were all present at the table. Chit chatting, we almost lost track of the time and had to scramble to get showered and dressed for lunch at Ayala.

Now Japa and I know the trick to having the kids avoid huge lunches at his house on Sundays: late breakfasts! LOL! All of us were surprised that the kids ate just a little bit for lunch. Some rice, a little bit of steak, and that was it! Whoa! It's never happened in the history of all their meals at Ayala! Bwahaahahahha!

The kids with Japa took up yaya badminton in the front yard. Don't know how they did it, but like I said, it was sweltering outside! Blech!

Like our homemade "net"? Hahahahaha! A nylon rope, for pete's sake! Oh well. Anything to keep them active and having fun during this seemingly loooooong (and hot!) summer!

At 4 pm, we attended mass. And yes, it was hot hot HOT in church! Man oh man! And good thing I was listening attentively to the homily because the priest mentioned that it was Divine Intervention Sunday today. Note to myself: look up Sister Faustina and read up on her.

Anyway, the priest said that those who say confession today and attend mass (or was it receive Holy Communion?) will receive an indulgence. That sat me up straight and I quickly whispered to Raegan that we had to attend confession since we missed Easter Sunday mass last week. Raine of course, trailed us and went to confession too. I should have told Rogan to go with us too, darn it! Oh well. Next time. :) As it was, the girls and I stayed well after mass since the line for confession was soooo long! And did I mention that it was hot? Hehehehe.

Ok, talking about scraps, I was quite the productive scrapper today:

AT THE SPORTS SCHOOL

NOODLES AND DUMPLINGS

SINGAPORE-BOUND

Can you tell I've on yet another album? Hehehehe.

Providing More Jobs

2009-04-19T11:41:00.000+08:00

With the worldwide recession reaching all corners of the planet, having an opportunity to provide more jobs is always a rewarding thing to do. Enter the world of the Medical Assistant. Basically, a health assistant, or a medical executive assistant, this job entails being able to run a medical office or a physician's clinic smoothly. Yes, it includes filing, billing, and coordinating appointments, but the job also involves basic medical stuff like drawing blood and taking vital signs and doing urinalysis.

Sounds like a normal job, one that will be needed no matter what. I mean, there are always new doctors graduating each year, and they'll be opening their clinics right? There are a growing number of Medical Assistant Schools out there now and it's imperative that you choose the right one. And hey, if you're busy now, the best path to take would be getting a license online.

Enter the St. Augustine School of Medical Assistants. In a mere 6 to 8 weeks of online studying, you get to have your medical assistant certificate! Now that's pretty fast. And efficient. Good luck in job hunting!

A Take on Straw Hair

2009-04-18T23:06:00.000+08:00

We went to Monte Vista for the 1st birthday party of Yana. Although it was hot, at least it didn't rain, nor was the sun blazing hot on that day. And with 4 kids, plus the 4 kids of Lai, we had some MAJOR presence at the party, especially during the games! Hahahahaha! Story of our lives......at least, until the kids are too old and/or when they figure out that they're too old for birthday parties of toddlers!

The funniest game during the party had the kids make straw hair. Partnered up, one kid had to put as much straw (literally, DRINKING straws) into the hair of his/her partner. At the end of the timed event, the group with the most straw strands would win. Here are the hilarious pics of the kids, and you'll know what I mean when I say that I was lauging my head off during the game:

That's straw hair, literally! Hahahaha!

At the party, I had some delish dessert - mango sago in cream. Yes, very yummy, especially since it was very cold, but as soon as I finished a bowl of it, I regretted it, lol. I could FEEL the cream running through my veins, clogging up arteries. Blech! And it filled me up so much that I could barely enjoy the rest of the food! :( That will teach me to eat dessert first, hehehe.

Sigh. It's time to really start a diet in a major way. The problem is that there aren't any diet plans here. I want to be able to try the Nutrisystem plan (I think Roc has done this and has lost a of weight while she was on it, right Roc?), or even better, the Nutrisystem Diabetic meal plan, to control sugar intake.

The plan looks pretty yummy; of COURSE I checked out the food for each meal. And hey, they have snacks! Hehehe. Everything looks good, but I'm just a bit concerned on the sodium intake. I've read somewhere that low sugar foods sometimes have their sodium levels upped to make up for the lack of taste that less sugar gives the food. I think it would help if there was a breakdown of food components for each meal or entree, just like the ones we see on food labels.

I love the fact that you don't have to count calories. The system counts it for you. The danger though, could lie in the fact we can add grocery items. They suggest some items, but what if the dieter decides to substitute chocolate or some other high-calorie alternative? It'll be a waste of money, food and time obviously, but still. I DO like the fact that we can add to their food with salads and yogurt and cottage cheese and stuff, which gives me a feeling of being more in control.

Ok. Now to find if such a system exists here at home so I can really start my diet. And yes, Japs. With exercise :)

Oh, I uploaded one page today.

SKIPPING GRADUATION

TTFN!

Rambling...

2009-04-17T19:21:00.001+08:00

{DRIVER}

Sigh. Reporting for site duty today. Again. But I did have a driver this time, hehehehe. Lola's driver, Mandi, was volunteered by dear mother today. At least I did have time to read my latest copy of Time Magazine during the drive...and had a catnap, to boot! Ahhh......the advantages of being driven around. :)

{READING MATERIAL}

With the traffic here, I probably read half the magazine going to the site! Sheesh! It was a very interesting read, and I picked this mag specifically because of the kids' blog project (take a look on the right side of my blog for a link). I figured they'd love to scan through the magazine to look at the increasing number of endangered animals on our planet....and that they can make a difference somehow.

I'm still planning on them adding to their website. They can do at least a drawing or two of an endangered or about-to-be-endangered animal, add a bit of research, and I can upload. At the very least, they'll be learning something and hopefully, in the process, they can figure out something that can help save this "new age of extinction" from coming about.

Scary thought that even *we* as a species can become extinct. The bad part is, *we* would have brought it upon ourselves because we are destroying our home, our planet. There's a lot of people out there who are either uneducated or misinformed, or worse, they just don't care about the trash they contribute to Mother Earth!

The kids have been fantastic about recycling, not using styrofoam, and conserving water and gas, among other things. That's the school-and-home-partnership at work :)

{MOTHER'S DAY}

....is fast approaching. May 10. Yikes! That is just a few weeks away, and I haven't thought of ANYTHING yet for gifts! Oh the stress! Hehehe. I did come across this site for cookie wedding favors. And no, I do NOT cook or bake willingly, hahahahhaa! But Raine does seem to enjoy doing it, so maybe the kids and I can do something like this? They bake and I package. LOL.

Yes, the best of plans will most likely be put on the side. But just looking at the site makes my mouth water! Not just because of the chocolate chips and other goodies, but take a look at the cutest packaging for an edible wedding favor! Can anyone say scrapbook-inspiration? Lots of eye candy here, literally! My fave has got to be that polka-dotted pair of pink and brown and blue and brown. (yes, sisters dear, the PINK one!)

Come to think of it, this wedding candy favor treats don't have to be limited to just weddings, right? I DID think of them for mother's day....and with the option of making your own logo, heck, these can come in handy for corporate giveaways and Christmas gifts! Hmmmmm......can you hear my brain cogs whirring yet? :)

Anyway, my mind will be searching for other gift possibilites for Mother's Day. Gotta have a lot of options before actually doing something right?

{17 AGAIN}

Yup, the movie. I took Raegan, Rogan, Raine and Reese to see it. Opening day today, I think, but luckily, not a whole lot of people at the mall at 145 pm. For summer, it was surprising.

Summary: A middle-aged father wakes up to find he's seventeen again. So, he enrolls in the same high school as his children to be close to them.

What would you do if you got a second shot at life? Class of 1989, Mike O'Donnell is a star on his high school basketball court with a college scout in the stands and a bright future in his grasp. But instead, he decides to throw it all away to share his life with his girlfriend Scarlett and the baby he just learned they are expecting. Almost 20 years later, Mike's glory days are decidedly behind him. His marriage to Scarlett has fallen apart, he has been passed over for a promotion at work, his teenage kids think he is a loser, and he has been reduced to crashing with his high school nerd-turned-techno-billionaire best friend Ned. But Mike is given another chance when he is miraculously transformed back to the age of 17. Unfortunately, Mike may look 17 again, but his thirtysomething outlook is totally uncool in the class of 2009. And in trying to recapture his best years, Mike could lose the best things that ever happened to him.

Overall, *I* enjoyed it, although it was expectedly predictable. For me, at least. The kids ---ALL of them--- thoroughly enjoyed the movie. They were laughing and smiling all the time, so I knew they were getting their kick. Read that as "kilig to death" hahahaha! And simultaneously, all 4 of them brought their hands to their eyes during the kissing scene/s. Too funny! Of course, there were some times in the movie that I would literally guffaw because of some outlandish outfit of Ned (Zac Efrons best friend in the movie who plays his dad when Zac is 17 again and tries to win over the principal). The kids would look at me like I was crazy and....if there were more people in the theater, they probably would have melted in their seats if they could. Bwahahahaha!

Totally funny, totally cute movie. If your daughter goes gaga over Zac, or even if she doesn't, she will after seeing him in 17 Again! :)

Mom Was in a Snit Today

2009-04-16T21:18:00.002+08:00

Sort of. She found out I drove myself to the Site. Using the suburban, to boot! Hehehehe. Well, Randy didn't report to work since he had some swelling of some arthritic whatever. He didn't look well a day or so ago, so I'm pretty sure it was a valid excuse.

Japa had taken the Everest to work since he had several meetings. So I was left with Rex, the big boy. And I left home at a non-peak hour just so there wouldn't be that much traffic. I got to the site in 45 minutes, which wasn't too bad.

The issue with my dear mother is that I drove when there were other drivers at home who weren't doing anything. I also drove in a not-so-low-profile vehicle, which isn't always a good thing. And I drove to the site, which was quite a drive, as opposed to just to the office at the Galleria.

Okay. Well, I told mom that I was perfectly capable of driving myself, I was a strong woman, and that I would be going home early enough so that the kids could have the car for swimming. Our driver was in some government office in the morning, which was why I had to drive in the first place. She was probably wary of the fact that I may sideswipe some bozo driver (which this country has too many of) and have to face motorcycle accident attorneys, among others. Hmp. This, from a woman who steps on the accelerator while driving downhill; just ask Elizza. Bwahahaahahha!

So yes, I was at the office, still with NO internet and barely any signal. But there was so much stuff to do, the time flew by! And that's a fact. Too soon, it was 230 pm, my targeted departure time.

All I can say is, thank goodness for SUMMER. There was barely any traffic on Katipunan since school was out! Whoohoo! So it was smooth riding all the way home.

I uploaded more Proj 365 layouts:

And that is half the month of April done! See why I'm loving this project? :)

No Internet and No Signal

2009-04-15T20:56:00.001+08:00

Grrrr! It was soooo frustrating today! I was at the site and there was barely any signal in our office! Which meant it was sooooo hard to communicate via cellphone! And in a country where texting is such a big thing, you can understand my frustration.

To top things off, there was NO internet as well! Aaaaargh! The gods are conspiring against me! I couldn't access email (among other things); and there were some things that I needed from my email account for work! Blast it!

Anyhoo, I did manage to get some things done...despite the lack of technology!

No wonder I sort of scrapped in a frenzy when I got home. There was internet, my cellphone was getting its messages, and I had a couple of hours before the kids got home.

I continued scrapping for my Proj 365:

I am LOVING doing these!

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

2009-04-14T21:04:00.000+08:00

Or at least, trying to. Woke up reeeeaaaalllly late. Like 1030 late! That's not normal for me. I did wake up around 630 am; I downloaded some scrapping stuff and ended up going back to bed. For a few more hours, hehehe.

After a few hours at work, I went home to enjoy some peace and quiet before the kids got home. I gave the boys their Lego Star Wars and they crammed themselves into a corner of the room to work on it. Rather, Rogan crammed himself into a corner and quickly got lost in his own world of spaceships and droids. Ranger kept going up to his Kuya and asking, "Is it done yet?" Bwahahahahaha!

To quiet his brother, Rogan shoved a few pieces of legos into Ranger's hands and told him to work on it. Here's what the little boy came up with:

Yup, he did that all by himself! I didn't know that these droids had to be put together. I assumed they were all in once piece, lol. I guess not. Since when did Lego toys get so complicated? Sheesh!

Raine was busy finishing her Little Women book, so that she could start on The Wizard of Oz, the book that we brought home for her. It came in this pretty hard bound cover, and had some illustrations in it.

I am SOOOOO happy that the kids are finally getting into reading. Slowly, but surely. I hope. Crossing my fingers that the trend continues. The trick is, I think, not to force them into it, obviously, but to have them CHOOSE what books they want to read.

Raegan was busy with her still-new Guitar Hero on the DS.

Yup, getting into the swing of normal things. :) It's good to be home!

Super Duper Early Flight

2009-04-13T21:43:00.000+08:00

Like 5:55 am. That's in the EARLY morning!!!

And that meant getting up at 3 am or so to take a shower, stuff our nighties in our suitcase, zip up and grab a taxi. We left the hotel at 4 am and even at that hour, we weren't the early risers at the airport! LOL! There was a line waiting to check in! Whoa! Good thing I had paid extra to get us those front seats! Row 2, not 1. I was going to pay an extra $4 each for a row 2 seat but NOT an extra $20 for the bulkhead! Hehehe.

And pretty much everyone nodded off to sleep during the 3 1/2 hour flight back home. I had a cat nap of sorts, waking up because my neck was soooo stiff! Ugh! We landed at Clark, grabbed our bags and were out of the terminal by 10 am.

On the drive back to Manila, we passed by McDonald's for some much needed food. I know, not the greatest food of all, but it was fast...and via the drive thru.

I had promised Raegan a shopping trip when we got home, so we got dropped off at Trinoma and she shopped for some shorts and shirts. The poor child wasn't feeling well at all (she had vomitted before we left the hotel) and I had her sleep the rest of the day while the others went swimming.

Yup, I slept too. And I finished my book:

Part 2 of the Magdalene Line, it further delved into the possibility that Jesus was married, had kids and other descendants. More importantly, author Kathleen McGowan relates that Jesus and Mary Magdalene wrote a gospel called the Book of Love.

Lots of intriguing tales and definitely has realms of possibilities. I love this book and its predecessor, the Expected One, too. Easy reading, making me want to go and research stuff. Yes, including history books. Although of course, I'd want those history books to read like fiction, lol!

Ok, off to a meeting. Yes, my dear husband scheduled a meeting for tonight, the day I arrive from Singapore, with a super duper early flight! Aaargh!

Last Day of the Meet

2009-04-12T19:47:00.001+08:00

It was a lonely taxi ride in the early morning. It was just Raegan and me in the taxi, and we were at the Sports School by 635 am. It was DARK when we got to the pool, and were definitely the FIRST ones there!

And so at 645 am, we had set up the team's place by the pool:

Perfect eh?

Two events for Raegan today, completing her EIGHT events in the meet.

The 100m breaststroke is one of Raegan's favorite events. She says she can skip the 50m, but she rules the 100m, lol!

She was first in her heat and 11th overall (out of 28). Pretty good numbers I'd say!

The second event was the 50m freestyle. This event across ALL age groups had TONS of entries....because it was the 50m freestyle! We had to wait forever for each of the kids' age group to be called!

Raegan's 2nd place finish in her heat gave her the 16th overall spot, out of 33. Still the fastest swimmer from the Philippines in her age group! Whoohoo!!!

And that wraps up the 7th Asean Inter-Club Age Group Swimming Championships.

Oh wait. In all competitions, there will be laughter.......

and tears.......

Reese was pissed and sad that she didn't beat her time of 0:33 at the 50m freestyle.

Danelle was crying in this pic because Reese was crying. In another photo, Leny was crying because Danelle was crying! Hehehehe.

And how was YOUR weekend?

Happy Easter!!!

Day 2: 7th Asean Inter-Club Age Group Swimming Championships

2009-04-11T20:17:00.000+08:00

The girls were insistent that we NEEDED to be at the race site early so that we could get the team some seats. The poor team was like a group of squatters, sitting on the floor because there were no assigned seats! Grrr!

So as we speeded to the Woodlands at 640 am, I looked up at the sky and remarked to the girls: "Hey girls! The MOON is STILL out!" Bwahahahahaha! Hmp.

At least we DID get an awesome spot for them, right by the 10 meter-to-go mark. We had ample space to lay out their mats and then surrounded that space with the monoblock chairs. Basically blocking out anyone who wanted to squeeze into their space, hehehehehe. Yes, call us protective. Oh, and Coach Archie did have a bench-throne right in the middle of everything :)

Three events for Raegan today:

First up is the 200m freestyle. She was easily the first in her heat, by a big margin. This event gave Raegan her BEST showing so far, coming in 10th overall, out of 26! Hmmm.....a mid-distance swimmer maybe? Probably too early to tell, but at least she used this particular event to help calm her nerves a bit, for the 100m butterfly.

Second event was the 50m breaststroke. Ahhhh. Raegan came in 2nd here, behind her friend Kate (who's always neck and neck with Raegan in swim meets, hehehe).

Take a look at how CLOSE their times are! Lane 2 and Lane 8. That ONE second difference was the difference between 13th overall and 16th overall, out of a field of 33 breaststrokers in the age group.

Last event of the day was the 100m butterfly. THIS event Raegan was soooo nervous about. I asked her what the problem was last night and she answered that this was the FIRST time she was going to compete in this event. She was confident in her 50m fly, but she knew that the 100m fly would be a test.

And last night, she just could NOT keep still! I finally did some visualization with her, to calm her down. After that session, she opened her eyes and told me she was calmer. A little bit. In the middle of the night, I was wakened by Raegan FLAILING in bed. When I looked at her, she was doing the backstroke on the bed! While sleeping! Hahaahahaha! I guess she really was nervous!

She came in 4th in her heat, which was enough for a 12th place overall out of 20. Not bad, considering it was the first time she swam this event, but she did look pretty slow and her arms so heavy. When she went out of the pool, she looked pretty tired, but relieved that this was over. I told her that at least she now had a good gauge of her abilities for this particular event, and that she should try to compete in it again to see how she would do.

One of her main goals was to beat Franco in this event, which she did, by 0.38 seconds! Heheehhe. Healthy rivalry here, which is good! At least it will push all of them to swim better and swim faster.

Check out this series of pics of Reese:

Hehehe. She didn't want to eat the broccoli that came with their packed lunch. I told her I was going to SCRAP a page about her if only she ate a piece!

Happy 11th Birthday, Raegan!!!

2009-04-10T20:12:00.000+08:00

Oh my goodness! My first baby is ELEVEN years old today!!!!! Officially (?) a tween....or has she been a tween for several years now and I was just clueless? Lol. Wouldn't put it past me! :)

A different birthday "celebration" of sorts.....Raegan and I are in Singapore and everyone else in Manila. Well, we did have a "pre-birthday" dinner of sorts before we left, when we ate at Sweet Inspirations, but I guess it's still always best to do something special on your birthday.

So.

We started the day getting up REALLY early. We did have a swim meet to go to, hehehe. Breakfast was a pathetic bowl of noodles. Yeah. The breakfast of champions right there, bwahahahaha! But the birthday girl was pretty content and looked happy with her noodly power breakfast:

Packing up the things she would need for the day, Raegan didn't forget her birthday gift, her new Guitar Hero for the Nintendo DS:

We actually got this yesterday, at a Toys R Us inside a mall on Orchard Road, but I told her she could only open it today, for her birthday. So she was excited to rip into the box and prepare everything for her (long) day today.

The birthday girl had a pretty good day, swim-wise. She improved on all her times, and came in first in 2 heats and 2nd in another. The Singaporeans were just incredibly fast! Raegan was 16th (out of 28th) overall, the top swimmer from the Philippines in the 10 and under category.

Her second event was 100m freestyle, one of her favorites (I think). She came in first in her heat, and placed 15th out of 33. Again, top swimmer from the Philippines in her age category, woot!

Last event for the day was what seems to be Raegan's specialty. At least, that's what it looks like to my untrained eye. The 200m individual medley. I like to think that Raegan's coaches took note of her potential in this event when she placed 4th last year at Mantas. Raegan came in 2nd in her heat (to some Singaporean) and was 14th overall, out of 24 swimmers. There was one other Filipina swimmer, and another from Brunei. The rest were Singaporeans.

Yes, the swim meet pretty much took the whole day, never mind the fact that we left right after Raegan's last event. After a couple of hours rest at the hotel, we were off to dinner. An early dinner, since we all had to be up with the moon, er, sun, tomorrow.

Raegan shopped for a few things, the FIRST time she willingly and enthusiastically shopped for clothes! Lai got her a pair of shorts and a shirt for her birthday, too, which added to Reagan's stash for the day, hehehe.

Here's my baby's "first official shopping spree":

And for dinner? Raegan treated us to an all-time favorite: KFC!!!

hahahahaha! I know, I know, what a place to celebrate! But trust me, we ALL wanted KFC! While I was buying our chicken, Lai went to the nearby Yoshinoya to buy R.I.C.E. Of COURSE we had to have rice with our chicken! Wouldn't be complete without it!

And yes, we were STUFFED by the end of the meal! Not to worry, the kids definitely need it for tomorrow's events. As for us moms, uhm..........it was a GREAT meal! Bwahahaahahha!

Stress in Singapore

2009-04-09T23:15:00.001+08:00

What? Stress on only our second day in the city of the Merlion?!? Read on and you'll find out why.

{BUS TRIP}

We asked our lovely "smart" lady at the front desk (who shall be unnamed since I don't want to be the cause of her possibly losing her job) told us that there was only ONE bus that would take us to the Tampines Mall. Yes, we decided to be adventurous today and explore another mall; one with a Toys R Us since I wanted to get the boys their Star Wars Lego.

Anywhoo, this front desk lady explicitly told us to go to the bus stop on the LEFT side of the gate. Okay, check. We were there. We waited for about 15-20 minutes and the bus finally came. Check out Lai's pic above. It does say Tampines, yes? So we all excitedly dropped in our coins for the cheap fare (compared to taking a taxi!). When Lai, who was last in line, dropped her S$1 in the box, the stupid driver asked us where we were going. We told him we wanted to go to the Tampines Mall and he looked at us and said that we were on the wrong bus!

He could NOT have missed the fact that we were all tourists. Yes, we stupidly thought it was the correct bus since we were directed to it, but hey! It's my blog and it's my story! Hahahahaha! Anyway, to cut a long story short, we had to get off sans our fare since the stupid bus driver would not return the coins to us. Hmp! He probably pocketed the damn change!

So we crossed the street and waited for the CORRECT bus. And yes, we asked the driver BEFORE we even boarded and dropped in our precious coins! Finally! On the way to Tampines!
Forty minutes or so later, we were still on the darn bus, chugging through millions of bus stops through a residential area. Yes, the smart front desk lady assured us that it was only going to be ONE stop! Sheesh!

Of course I spent the time in the bus wisely, snapping pics with my handy dandy cellphone! Hehehehe. Much to the consternation of the kids. But they still smiled for the camera!

{TAMPINES MALL}

As it turned out, the mall was the LAST stop of the bus. Sigh! So we got off and followed the crowd. And they led us to the mall. We were all agog at the newness of the mall. Apparently, everything was new: the mall's opening day was TODAY!!! So much people, so many sales, so little time.

We agreed to meet after about an hour, and off we went our separate ways. Ten minutes later, I got a text message: Coach wanted us at the pool at 12 noon instead of 1:45 pm! What?!?!??? LOL. I looked at my watch and it was 11:15 am. Right. Hurriedly, I texted Lai and Matec about the news. And Raegan and I hurried through the mall in search of Toys R Us. Which was nowhere to be found! Ack!

We were in the WRONG mall! Toys R Us was located in the OLD Tampines Mall. We practically ran through the MTR station to get to the mall and buy the boys' Lego before we woud have to meet up with the others. We got to the meeting point a minute or so after everyone had. Is that stressful or what!

{DIVIDE & CONQUER}

This was the strategy that we swimming mommas came up with. It was the most logical. So:

I would take the 3 kids to the pool, passing by the hotel to get their stuff. Reese was the only one who was wearing her swimsuit.

Lai would buy Dic's basketball shoes first.

Matec would buy lunch for all of us, and we would just eat after the kids' practice.

Grabbing everyone's shopping bags, we rushed to the taxi stand and got into a taxi. Thankfully, there was no traffic. As we neared the hotel, I distributed the keys to the kids and told them to dump the shopping bags and grab their swimming stuff as fast as they could. I had barely chit-chatted with the taxi driver when the kids stormed out of the hotel doors with their bags in hand! I swear, it wasn't even a minute when they tumbled out of the cab!

{SINGAPORE SPORTS SCHOOL}

And so we arrived at the race venue. Whoa. It was a huuuge sports complex! I guess the kids here concentrated on their respective sports while studying. There were dorm rooms, gym, a built-in track along the inside of the building! No wasted space for sure!

The rest of the team had just gotten there, too. Barely. They had come from the airport and had only time to check in and leave their bags in the hotel rooms before having to board the bus that would take them to the sports complex. And we thought WE had it bad, hehehehe!

The kids were barely in the water when Lai and Matec arrived with food! Not that we ate when the kids were still swimming; we wouldn't hear the end of that, no sirree!

After close to an hour of swimming, the kids were done. A quick shower and we all trooped to the school cafeteria to see what was for (late) lunch and to eat our lunch. Matec and I ordered their lunch. It was a reasonable S$4 for a ton of food, plus juice and a dessert of orange slices. Good thing we did, too, since Raegan and Franco dug into their duck toppings AND then ours! Yikes! Hungry maybe? Heheheh.

Then it was back to the hotel to REST. Like we had a choice. We had to bring the kids to the south for their powwow with Coach Archie later in the evening.

{NEWTON CIRCUS}

Nope, not a circus with a big top and animals. It's a tourist-y place of food, food and more food. It was 7-ish and we were famished. Wrong thing to be when ordering food in a place like this, especially if you're Elizza!

Some pics of our ginormous meal:

This is Elizza, with mouth watering as she gazes into her black-pepppered crab's (dead) eyes:

This is the uber uber YUMMMMMY fried rice that we had. As in! When we ordered it, we put it down in front of Raegan and Reese as Lai and I searched for more food to order. We had barely ordered our other food and sat down to wait, when we saw that the girls had practically INHALED 3/4 of the fried rice!!! So Lai jumped up and got another big order; take note, this big-sized order was supposed to be good for 4-5 people!!!! Ack!!!

And yes, both of us adults almost finished that one extra order of rice!!!! It doesn't look all that great in the pic, but trust me. It was verrrrrry good! Probably with tons of MSG mixed in, hehehehe.

Here's my oyster omelet which I had to have, just like Lai had to have her crabs:

I know, gross looking, but totally yummy!

Last, but not the least, the carnage of our table after our meal:

Blech!

It was powwow time for the kids and the team while we swimming mommas waited in the lobby for them.

Home to the hotel, chatted with Japa and the other kiddos for a bit, before falling asleep.

Sooooo stressful, yes? :)

In Singapore

2009-04-08T20:13:00.006+08:00

I am finally showered and all CLEAN after a pretty long day! Ahhhhhhh!

The day started at 445 am, when our alarm went off. A quick shower, a dash of ironing for the hair, a quick Mcdonald's breakfast courtesy of Elizza and Reese, and we were all off for Clark Air Base...in Pampanga....for our flight to Singapore.

What airline? Tiger Airways, a Singapore-based airline that offers el cheapo fairs! As in! The fare I paid for BOTH Raegan and myself were still less than what we would have paid for on Philippine Airlines for EACH of us! So now tell me WHY wouldn't we drive the hour and a half to the airport?!?! Hehehe. Soooooo worth it!

The catch for the cheap fares? No food on the plane. Not too bad actually, since we did eat before the flight. And since we were up early, Lai and I were fast asleep for a good part of the flight. Raegan and Reese were yacking up a storm, reading and playing their DS games the whooooole time!

Here are Raegan and Reese just before boarding the plane. Good thing I had my handy dandy cellphone camera on hand. And yes, I insisted they stop and smile, hahahahaha!

Here we are at the Singapore BUDGET terminal airport. Take a look on the lower left corner of the photo. It clearly shows the word BUDGET terminal, hehehehe. What, like this is a lower-class (well it actually is) level of terminal?!?! Gasp, gasp! Bwahahahaha! It's just so....so.....so un-sosy like you know? :)

{FUNNY HOTEL STORY}

From the airport, we hail a taxi. Our driver spends probably 5 whole minutes leafing through a book of maps. Then we speed off, and he starts punching in the address of our hotel in his GPS. While driving. He asks me to call the hotel, and I do, so he can ask for directions. He talks while driving. A manual car WITH a stick shift! He literally needed THREE hands!!! Sheesh!

Anyhoo, we get to a sort of residential area with big white structures. Apparently they were the British Army barracks way before. There are some buildings in one part of the camp that the Singaporean Army still use. Anyway, it was an okay-looking area, and we finally got to the hotel.

I swear, as we were driving up to the front of the hotel, I heard Reese say, "YIKES!" Bwahahahahhaa! I am laughing as I type this up! That remarked totally made me laugh and it was EXACTLY what we were thinking, only that she said it out loud!

It wasn't the greatest looking hotel, that's for sure. And we were MIGHTILY RELIEVED that we had the wrong hotel. Sort of. We were dropped off at the old wing; our rooms were in the new wing. The lobby was much much MUCH better, and the rooms were pretty decent.

I guess it's hard for US if OUR kids have been used to the standards of Mamalyn! Haaaaaaay! I swear, I'm going to hold true to my promise - er, threat! - of booking a really rinky dinky room for us to stay in during one of our trips! Hmp!

This next photo shows our FIRST meal in Singapore.

Man, were we sooo hungry! It was Yoshinoya for us, at Compass Point, some mall near the hotel.

Here's a fave pic:

Raegan totally enjoying her dinner of noodles with dumpling......at the food court on the highest level of Compass Point. That bowl right there was a mere S$4! What a meal, eh? Hehehehe.

Pre-Singapore Preparations

2009-04-07T20:46:00.000+08:00

For dinner, we congregated at Sweet Inspirations for mongolian food. It was a pre-birthday celebration of sorts for Raegan, who won't be here for her 11th birthday to celebrate with Papa and her siblings.

After dinner, we stopped by La Vista to say hi and bye, and for a few wishes of "good luck"s to Raegan and Reese.

Then it was time to pack. Yes, it's last minute packing, as usual. Again. No matter how early I try to plan, I end up putting everything into the suitcase at the very last minute. Then staying up late for other last minute stuff. Not sure what, but it's always the case when I travel: staying up til the wee hours in the morning before we leave. Sigh! Our flight's not until 10 am, but we have to leave early because we're leaving from Clark, a good hour and a half away if we're lucky. Oh well. At least we can sleep on the way there.

Starting to Scrap My 365

2009-04-06T23:33:00.001+08:00

With everything I got yesterday, I finally started to play with them! And boy, was I busy! But everything came together so fast, it was just exhilirating! For example, I finished monthly summaries just like that *snap*!

Pretty cool, huh? :)

I'm still deciding on whether to have my books printed monthly or quarterly. I guess we'll see how I do in the first few pages of scrapping the actual days. I guess the layouts came together so fast because I had my pictures at the ready, all labeled (uploaded to my Proj 365 Blog), and ready to be scrapped.

Thank goodness I had organized all those pics! :)

I actually made a mistake of flattening all my layers for the February Summary; I realized it only when I opened it to copy shadows and sizes. Ugh! So yes, I had to do that page all over AGAIN! But using templates and with my photos ready, it was a cinch!

Shopping for Scraps

2009-04-05T22:26:00.001+08:00

There's a HUGE sale going on at Weeds and Wildflowers Designs today! A sale I've been waiting for so that I could pick up the Life 365 Collection....and then some. Yes!

Here's the wonderful stash I got. Stuff that I had saved for---which meant NOT buying anything in the scrapping world for several weeks. Seriously!

I spent most of the day downloading. With our wonky connection, it had to take the whole day! Grrr! Something going on there......hopefully it's because they're improving speed and all. Sigh!

I canNOT wait to scrap with these! Whoohooo!!! Sooooo worth scrimping for all these!

A Morning Walk and an Afternoon Assessment

2009-04-04T21:30:00.001+08:00

The older kids were at swimming training, and Japa soon followed to bike around the village. After scrapping a bit and downloading, I decided to go power-walking in LaVi. Sort of. But when I had made the decision to get up, the rain poured. As in huge raindrops, and pouring in SHEETS! Whoa! It's the summertime, Mother Nature!!!

After an hour or so, the rain finally stopped. Ranger was in his couch potato position, looking like he was going to spend the entire DAY in bed just watching TV. I finally coaxed him to get up and get dressed, purportedly to visit Bric, hehehe.

So off we went to LaVi, and I was able to persuade Bang to come with Bric in tow.

The half hour of walking was pretty good, and I worked up a sweat in no time. I guess those Office Aerobics classes did some good, hehehe. I did miss them the last week when I was sick, that's for sure.

Bang and I kept up a pretty good pace, I thought, although my heart wasn't exacty pounding from the exertion. It was enough pushing the kids in their strollers, especially during the constant upward ramp in the route that Bang had us do. Whew!

And Bric sure entertained us the WHOLE TIME, talking non-stop round trip during the entire half hour. He had a continuous monologue going, lol!

Here's their photo when we got home. I fished out a couple of juice packs from my bag and gave it to them. I asked them if they were tired and they resoundingly said "YES"! Bang and I looked at each other and laughed, THEY were tired?!?! All they did was sit there in their strollers! LOL!

And thirsty---boy, did they chug that juice down like THEY had done all the walking!

In the afternoon, while Japa took the girls to the parlor to have a summer hair cut, I took the boys to have an assessment done for Filipino. Kind of like Kumon, in a way, I guess. Ranger apparently, wasn't all that ready to be enrolled in the program. He was still conversing in English during the entire assessment, hehehehe!

Rogan probably fits perfectly in their target market: older, can read, and refuses to understand Filipino. Truly his father's bane, hehehe. He knew a few basic words, but it was obvious that he needed a lot of work on developing his vocabulary. In Filipino.

I wish I had a ready photo of the girls with their new hairdos. They looked adorable with the shorter hair! Of course, it was all nice and fixed since they came from the parlor. Crossing my fingers that they'd be able to fix their hair like this everyday! Yeah right. Here's hoping that they'd at least ATTEMPT to fix their hair the way it should be fixed! :)

Homemade Tattoos

2009-04-03T22:13:00.000+08:00

When the kids woke up this morning, it was to find some homemade tattoos, i.e, from Papa's markers, on various parts of their bodies. Rogan had a Philippine flag on his arm, Raegan a flower, colored in with red. But Raine's was the best one of all. Papa told her that he tried drawing on her arm or tummy, but because she was moving so much while she was asleep, he had to settle on making his mark here:

The red lips were drawn on Raine's back, the only place Papa could reach without ruining his drawing, hahahahahha!

Her homemade tattoo is on her lower back, just above her arse, bwahahahaha! She was spinning around trying to look for her tattoo; I had to take a photo of it just so she could see it!

After the day at the office, I *SO* needed to veg out.....by scrapping! And boy, a day off from scrapping sure can recharge the creative mojo!

EGG HUNTING

ON TIPPY TOES

THE WATER SPRINKLERS

DS BOYS

Yes! That's a bunch of pages done, whoohooo!

Game Night!

2009-04-02T21:56:00.002+08:00

It was Game Night! We all gathered around the kids' round table: Raine, Raegan, Rogan, Papa and moi. Ranger was behind Papa, immersed in his DS games.

Raine - Mrs White
Raegan - Mr Green
Rogan - Col Mustard
Papa - Professor Plum
me - Ms Scarlet

I had forgotten how much FUN this game was! And, more importantly for me, it was a very good tool to hone the kids' logic building and problem solving skills! Shhhh, don't tell the kids that this is all educational, otherwise it would surely suck all the fun from the game, hehehehehe.

Papa came out the winner, guessing the correct suspect, weapon and room JUST before I did! Hmp!

Oh well. Maybe next time. This sure beats the ole' Marco-Polo game that the kids have been playing every night this week....with their father! LOL!

The Sickies Have Spread

2009-04-01T21:42:00.000+08:00

Wouldn't you know it. The rounds of diarrhea had started with Raegan a few days ago. Then Raine followed a day after, with Rogan the next. Today, it was Ranger's turn. Although not watery, he had an "accident" while we were in the office for a First Wednesday Mass. He complained of a tummy ache, and slept through everything, including lunch.

He didn't have a fever in the morning, but it soon reared its ugly head a little bit after lunch. Thus precipitating yet another early exit from the office for me today. Sigh! At this rate, it's a wonder if I get anything done!

So we went home. The older kids went to training and I stayed home with my baby :) Fever of 101.8 degrees. After a double dose of Calpol 6 Plus, Ranger was fine and had no sign that he had had a high temperature. After about 5 hours, I gave him his regular dose.......and saw that it wasn't working! Grrrrr!!!! How frustrating is this??? I didn't want to overdose the child, so I was being careful, but his temperature was still 101.5. I guess it'll have to be a round-the-clock-every four-hours kind of night tonight. Just to get rid of the fever.

And the poor child wouldn't eat, he wanted me to be beside him all the time. Ahhhh......boys and their penchance for milking sympathies when they're sick! :) Say a little prayer for the little guy, that his fever breaks sometime during the night please! I hope and pray to God that this will be a one-night thing!

With Ranger's head or feet on my lap, I scrapped this: (do you THINK I could concentrate on work???? LOL!)

SPRING IN THE FLOWER FIELDS

Of, off to tend to my baby......and either scrap some more or update my Project 365 Blog! :)

Rounding Up March

2009-03-31T21:26:00.000+08:00

Getting the questions to the Round Up from Katie the Scrapbook Lady:

Round Up: March

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?

Eeek! Another no-book-read month! How awful is that?! I wonder if my excuse of researching for GSS would be sufficient? I did get the kids started reading Grammarland, so that's a plus, right? We've done the introduction and Chapter 1. It'll have to do.

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?

I thought we'd average a movie a month, but we did manage to squeeze in New In Town starring Renee Zellweger this afternoon. Japa was able to come home early (the kids needed the car and driver since I had used the other car to fix our tickets for Hong Kong!). So, 2 movies this month:

For TV, it was just CSI everything. Reruns.

What special days did I celebrate and how?

Swim Camp

Mom's Birthday

Year-End Program of the kids

Start of GSS

Swim Meet

Earth Day

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

A toothbrush sanitizer for Mom's bithday, which she said was something she had wanted for a long time! Yes! Score on that gift! :)

But I think the best gift that we gave Mom was going to mass with her on her day, and helped arrange Dad's gift of 63 roses and a mini-album that listed 63 reasons why he loves her :)

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

Blech! Lousy head cold and sore throat. The pits to have BOTH of these at the same time!!!

Does discovery of an Age Spot count? LO!

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?

Office Aerobics was great because it gave me my 2 days of exercise in a week!

Earth Day was pretty memorable, with the country (and thousands of cities around the world) going dark for a full hour.

Oh, and finally convincing Mom to go to the nail salon to have our nails wrapped. I think she was pretty happy that her nails were a lot longer this month, and that they'd last a minimum of 3 more weeks with no breakage! Hehehehe.

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?

Nothing new and adventurous this month. Shangri La (twice in a day!) and Silk in Serendra were the only 2 places we ate out this month. Oh, I guess we can count eating a Magoo's Pizza while watching a movie? LOL!

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

Nada this month. Although it sounds like such a boring month, it sure was busy as heck!

What were my scrapping accomplishments this month?

Only 22 pages scrapped this month, and probably another 3 more using quickpages. Eek! I guess I'm slowing down?

Anything else noteworthy to record?

I guess I should mention that I'm feeling proud of myself for surviving (albeit barely!) life without a yaya even when I'm sick! :)

Office aerobics have a special mention as well for giving me some much needed exercise.

An advanced Happy April Fools' Day tomorrow :)

I Feel Lousy

2009-03-30T18:54:00.000+08:00

Ugh. I feel awful. Watery eyes, clogged nose, sore throat. Add to that almost no voice from all the cheering I did for the kids during the swim meet. Does not make for a pretty picture, that's for sure.

But valiantly, I got up, took a shower AND herded ALL four kids into the van to go to the office. I envisioned that I would give them GSS work which would keep them busy enough so that I could get a few hours of work in.

Umm....not that I said I had "envisioned" it to be that perfect. And of course, as we all know, NOTHING is perfect. Sigh.

First, Ranger wanted me to sit beside him when he did his painting. Ooookay. Not a very good start.

Then, when I had finally maneuvered myself out of the conference room (that's where I had their "classroom" set up, hehehe), and settled into my chair, the big kids started walking in one by one to ask me the SAME set of questions!!! Ack!!!

Finally, an hour or so after lunch, I called it quits. I couldn't concentrate with the kids going in and out of the office and making the entire place a playground (grrrr!) and I was coughing up a storm. We got home just in time for the kids to leave for training.

I settled in and drugged myself with Theraflu, which helped a lot. Ahhhhhh!

Feeling a bit better, I scrapped (since I had left my work stuff in my computer bag in my office, whoops!):

MEETING POOH

VERDUGO PARK

No Yaya :(

2009-03-29T21:30:00.001+08:00

Yaya, nanny, babysitter. All mean the same word. And mine, along with our cook, went on vacation! Yesterday! Waaaaaaah!!!

I just KNOW this is NOT going to be an easy week....or half month. The kids' yaya will be back in mid-April and it sure seems sooooooo faaaaar away!!! Heheehe.

Sure, I exaggerate (a bit), but in all honesty, life is much much MUCH easier with a yaya for the kids. And you don't appreciate how much easier until you're left with no yaya for a period of time. Sigh!

Japa and I copped out a tad: we took the easy way out and brought the kids to see Monsters vs Aliens. Yes! A relatively PEACEFUL and fight-free couple of hours!

Movie summary:

When California girl Susan Murphy is unwittingly clobbered by a meteor full of outer space gunk on her wedding day, she mysteriously grows to 49-feet-11-inches tall. Alerted to the threat of this new monster, the military jumps into action and Susan is captured and secreted away to a covert government compound. There, she is renamed Ginormica and placed in confinement with a ragtag group of other monsters: the brilliant but insect-headed Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D.; the macho half-ape, half-fish The Missing Link; the gelatinous and indestructible B.O.B.; and the 350-foot grub called Insectosaurus. Their confinement is cut short, however, when a mysterious alien robot lands on Earth and begins storming the country. In a moment of desperation, The President is persuaded by General W.R. Monger to enlist the motley crew of Monsters to combat the Alien Robot and save the world from imminent destruction.

And the kids LOVED it! Ranger sat through it all, away from Japa or me, seated beside Rogan, at the END of our row of seats. He did NOT sleep through any part, but just sat contentedly, munching on his chips and popcorn. He was still and did NOT move until after the movie was over. Really over, AFTER the part after the credits *wink wink*

Yes, for those of you who have yet to see it, make sure you stay until the very very END. That means after all the credits have rolled up. Not the greatest post-movie scene ever, but hey, remember we were squeezing in the peaceful part sans yaya as much as we could. Hehehehe. That is precious time indeed!

Then after a short dinner at Ayala, we went home. I wasn't feeling very well at all. I think I must be coming down with something since my throat really REALLY hurts when I swallow! And clogged nose? Not fun at all. Grrrr! Time for some much needed meds!

Swimming and Earth Day

2009-03-28T23:02:00.000+08:00

The kids competed today at the ULTRA. Warm up competition for Singapore most likely. It was a hot, hot HOOOOOOOOOT day! Incredibly hot, it was unbelievable!!! Sheesh! We were up early since Japa and I went with the kids because Romy was bringing Kocet and Sibred to the airport.

So at 720 am, we were settling ourselves on the concrete bleachers in front of the pool. Good thing there was SOME shade, so there was a little bit of respite despite the heat. And in true Filipino style, instead of the 830 am start time, it was at 9 or 930. Grrrr!

Here are the kids' events and their times:

Raegan
200m freestyle - 2:50 (2nd in her heat)
100m breaststroke - 1:39 (4th in her heat)
200m IM - 3:11 (1st in her heat) [splits: 0:43-0:50-0:55-0:43]
50m free - 0:35.18 (2nd in her heat)

Rogan
50m backstroke - 0:49.48
100m breaststroke - 1:55.81
200m IM - 3:46 (5th in his heat) [splits: 0:53-1:03-1:03-0:47]
50m free - 0:38.41

Raine
50m backstroke - 0:47
100m breaststroke - 1:55.40
200m IM - 3:56
50m free - 0:41 (4th in her heat)

Reese
200m freestyle - 2:59 (4th in her heat)
50m backstroke - 0:43.48
200m IM - 3:25 (1st in her heat)

Rielle
200m freestyle - 3:44
50m free - 5th in heat
100m breaststroke -

All of them were in the 12 and under category. Yes, you just KNOW my eyes are rolling, hehehehe. We didn't stay to even take pics of the final times and places, it was THAT hot! We just wanted out of there! Hopefully, the coaches will have everything!

{EARTH DAY}
We celebrated Earth Day with the rest of the world for the very first time. The original plan was a SIMPLE dinner in the middle of the garden, surrounded by candles. The meal was equally simple: fried chicken, hotdogs and burgers.

But our dear mother decided she was going to have a thanksgiving mass said for dad.......and lola invited the rest of the clan. So our simple dinner turned out into a party, pretty much, lol. With a buffet spread of so many foods, I don't know where to start the list!

Oh, and yes, the lights went off at exactly 830 pm. Mom had torches set up around the garden, so we had some light. We also had a couple of fans turned on; it was too hot without any air circulating at all. We tried in the beginning, but it was really stifling. The whole house was lightless, with the sole exception of Dad's room, for obvious reasons.

A few minutes after 930 pm, the lights went back on. Lola kept a very careful eye on her watch; she wanted the hour to be just an hour, hehehe. But it was a good feeling to have that we were one with hundreds of thousands in the world dedicated to take this little step in the fight against global warning. It was also heartwarming to have just family around, chit-chatting about our lives, about our families.

It would be interesting to know what the total wattage or whatever the Earth Hour people use to measure how successful this hour of no-light is, and what the effect is for the planet.

Here's to Mother Earth!

Squeezing in a Layout

2009-03-27T13:45:00.001+08:00

I'm at work and have hit a mental block. Sooooo......I clicked on Photoshop and came out with this:

ENTERING TOMORROWLAND

AND, it wasn't too hard to boot! In fact, I only used ONE paper. Uh huh. Just ONE paper, from this new pack of Jacque Larsen:

It was easy peasy :) Of course, the hard part was trying to figure out what pictures I was going to use! Hehehehe.

Ok. That's it from the office. Finishing up some stuff (like health insurance!!!) before I head home. I am NOT feeling well at all. I think I'm coming down with something.

The darn kids must have been drinking from my water bottle from our ref in the room.....and left their germs to spread in the water! Ack!

Pee, Nails, Sleep

2009-03-26T20:57:00.000+08:00

I know, weird title, hehehehe. Soon to be explained, below:

{PEE}

Ahh, the "dangers" of having a 4-year old sleep on your bed. Ranger was exhausted from all the swimming he did yesterday. Even when coach would be holding Riley and Ranger was supposed to be resting on the side, he would swim to the bottom and up, go to Bric and try to console him, and back. No wonder he was tired!

Anyway, apparently, he was scared to go to the bathroom by himself (he can't turn the door knob on that door) and he was scared to wake either Japa or myself to let us know he needed to go to the bathroom! Grrrrr! My memory foam!!! Waaaaaah!

Oh well. That was at 530 am. And if you know me, I was hard pressed to go back to sleep. Sigh!

{NAILS)....and WORK

I was finally able to convince Mom to go to Le Charment, the nail salon, and get her nails done so they'd last longer :) Yup, I took a photo of my hand with my wonderful-looking nails in their french-tip, wrapped glory.

By the by, those ARE my real nails, with some sort of powder wrap on them. I had them put on about 3 weeks ago (yup, they last that long, thank goodness!) so that one nail with a huge break in it wouldn't drop off on me. I loved the results, and have been extolling their services ever since, hehehe.

My nails have been sturdier and the best part? Becaue of the nail wrap, the nail polish doesn't chip as often! Seriously! The day after I had my nails done the first time, I was typing the WHOOOOLE weekend and then 2 more days or so and there was NO chip at all!

So of course I had them done again! They took out the wrap, nipping at it after soaking it in some solution. They were just going to add some fillers but I said no, I wanted the whole thing to come off so that they can put in brand new ones. I wasn't going to pay them a bundle for doing half a job, now would I?

Two hours later (hehehe, yes, it takes that long!), Mom and I were happy campers indeed with our nails! I should have taken a pic of mom lolling on the chair with 3 attendants: one for each hand and the other for a pedicure. But my nails were still wet, so there.

After the nail salon, I told Mom I had to go back to the office. A TON of work still left to do, but I have been so tired the whole day. Maybe it was because I was up at 530 this morning???

But anyhoo, off to work I went. Since I was sleepy, I sooo wish I had some voice recognition program to use to make work easier. Imagine, lying down and giving instructions, and having the computer get it right the first time around! Ahhh, that would be awesome, wouldn't it? They probably cost a bundle, but what if it would make someone more productive and efficient? Hmmm.....something to think about yes?

And with our trunk-hunting capability for the phone line in process, having a speech recognition software installed would have a ton of advantages! Like having the client talk into the phone and make an option, and the computer would be able to forward that call to the proper person! Cool, huh! Whipping out the wish list! Hehehehe. Just in case.

{SLEEP}

And no, I didn't do aerobics today, sad to say! :( I was just too tired and sleepy to be of any use; I don't think I'd be able to bounce around following the instructor!

So here I am at home, very tired. Uploading a couple of pages I had done late last night and early this morning (yes, because I couldn't sleep! hehehe) and I am calling it a day!

FLOWERBOX

A FUNDERFUL DAY

G'nite and TTFN!

Swimming Lesson and Start of GSS

2009-03-25T21:58:00.001+08:00

After a few hours at the office, the Sisterhood (minus Zhar and Stella) went to Ayala Heights to see Swimming Lesson #1 for Bric (#3 for Ranger and Riley). Lai and I were telling Bang NOT to be there because of the high likelihood that Bric was going to be bawling.

When we got to the pool, the kids were already there. Bric, in all his matching glory (rash guard, trunks, floaters), was supremely confident in the kiddie pool. He was jumping and splashing around; when someone handed him a kickboard, he gamely put his weight on it and continued jumping around. Ahhh....the confidence of a toddler! Hehehehe.

Bang was pretty sure that Bric wouldn't have a problem since he was such a water baby. I reminded her that Ranger was a water baby as well, but he cried a good 30 minutes when coach was holding him with no swim vest and no floaters. True enough, Bric started freaking out when he realized he was in the water in the big pool with NO floaters. Hehehehe. He immediately started screaming for Bang, until Lai and I told her to hide somewhere. He then started calling out for his yaya, and we banished her from the poolside. Poor baby, I know, but it was the only way he would get used to the water withOUT his support personnel in front of him!

Bric did a roll call of us there sitting on the wall, hoping against hope that we would at least go and get him from coach. To no avail. He called Elizza after me then Yaya Kuuuuuucet (hehehehe). I looked at Lai and told her NOT to look at Bric because she's a true softy! Hehehehehe. When Lai wouldn't respond to Bric, his last course was calling Haydeeeeee! Uh, sorry kid, she's the last person in the world who would jump in that pool to save you......I don't think she can swim all that well! Bwahaahahaha!

Finally, after an hour of crying (and forcing himself to vomit, ugh!), Bric was finally allowed to go out of the pool. At least, he stopped crying for a little bit, enough to answer coach with a "yah" when she asked him if he was going to be back tomorrow. Hehehehe.

Hopefully, this whole day didn't traumatize the poor child! :)

{GSS}

Ah yes, the Gavino Summer School. We started tonight, since the kids were so excited to use their new materials, hehehehe. And they did pretty well in their sketching, even Ranger! I may set up a blog (yes, another one!) just so they can see their work online :) I'm sure they'll love that!

........ok, I just set the blog up. Go to the Gavino Summer School Blog and check it out. The kids would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see your comments, so go ahead and leave them some love :)

Harder Aerobics

2009-03-24T22:00:00.001+08:00

Site duty today :) The day started late, though, since I dyed my hair a deep dark brown. Yup, all by myself; the advantages of having much shorter hair, hehehe. Cheaper, too! I took my time blow drying and straightening it.

Boydee arrived to pick me up and we went to the site together. He attended the funeral mass of Oel's dad while I went straight to work. I would have been much more productive if it weren't for the internet connection going all wonky again. Sigh! Otherwise, it was finalizing monitoring work sheets, calling some clients, coordinating payments.

I didn't have time to even set up my DVD burner to back up files to disc! I was planning to have that running in the background, but there simply was no time to take everything out of the bag and set it up. Oh well. Sometime tonight as I watch TV....or scrap.....maybe.

I did get to Office Aerobics on time, though! And MAN, it was just HARD today!!! I'm not sure if it's because I was tired in general (which I'm sure it wasn't), or our aerobics sessions keep getting harder and harder! I was telling Bang during our burning-butt exercise that Lai might DIE if she waits too long to join us since our workouts seem to be getting more and more difficult to do! Hehehehe.

Can anyone say Jane Fonda workout? Yes, those famed exercise sessions that brought on the aeroics craze. We were doing ab workouts and leg-burning exercises like there was no tomorrow! And holy moly, did I find out the HARD way that I had lower abs!!! Ugh! I'm usually pretty good with ab workouts but I have to admit that my humongo legs were totally weighing me down. LITERALLY!!! Most of us were grunting, huffing and puffing in the latter part of the hour. Yes, I was probably the loudest since most of the staff were probably too shy or too embarrassed to make loud noises :)

This is probably the last thing I'm going to do tonight, I'm that tired. I did try to scrap, but I found myself staring at Photoshop for about a minute without doing anything. That's when I realized I was tired, hahahahaha!

I just want to veg out in front of the tv, pop in a DVD movie or TV series and just RELAX!!! Obviously, some home theatre seating would be waaaaay preferable to this super duper old thing we call a couch which leans against the foot of our bed, but beggars can't be choosers, lol! This old thing probably has at least a couple more years on it, bwahahahaha!

Look at all the endings of my paragraph....they end in laughter. Yes, I'm delirious and tired. Signing off now before I keep laughing myself silly!

The Wake Chapel in Use

2009-03-23T23:33:00.001+08:00

I spent the entire day at the Site today. The Wake Chapel was used for the first time, with Oel's Dad, Rolando, interred there. The area was a flurry of activity this past weekend, because the Wake Chapel was very clean. Not spotless, but pretty clean. I was surprised, lol! It looked really big and well, CLEAN!

Several couches were arranged, and several sales agents were waiting for Oel and his family to arrive. The coffin arrived at around 1230 pm, and was set up in the place of honor, in front of the crucifix. I was teary-eyed when I greeted Oel and his wife who, obviously, had reddened eyes from tears. They were very grateful for what the company had done for them. But hey, they're family, right? And we take care of our own.

Ok. Kinda sounded like the mafia, now didn't it? :)

In the evening, there was a mass said for Rolando and the entire office attended and mingled with some of the sales force and Oel's family and relatives. Putting aside the homily, it was a pretty moving service, especially when family was called to spray holy water on the coffin. Oel's stance was one of disbelief, and he paused before he started to sprinkle the coffin with the holy water.

Apparently, his dad's death was pretty sudden. He was a strong man. But he was wracked with extreme pain towards the end, and had told Oel that he was tired. Tired of fighting the pain, tired of it all. He told his son that if the doctors managed to revive him and put him on a machine, that Oel would pull that plug when he saw it. As it was, Oel told the doctors not to try and revive him anymore.

That's probably one of the most difficult things a son or daughter can ever say to a doctor, isn't it? Hard to fathom, but it's a decision that must come from the patient and must be respected by everyone.

Talk of supersitions abounded during the time we stayed at the wake chapel. Some of them (that I understood!):

1. On the way to Manila from Batangas, the funeral procession made several stops at elderly relatives' homes. This was so that none of these elderly relatives would follow the dead too soon. Also, people were said to whisper to the dead to take away their aches and pains and bring it with him to the afterlife.

2. At night, during the wake, avoid looking at a mirror when you're by yourself. It is said that if you don't see your reflection, you'll be dead soon. Creepy, I know, but aren't most superstitions?

3. At a wake, family members aren't supposed to see you off at the door because this would mean passing on the death to another family.

4. When coming from a wake, you shouldn't go straight home, especially if you have old people or very sick people at home. This way, you don't "rub" being dead onto the others.

So in the custom of keeping #4, we (Mom, Bang, Lai, Japa and moi) went to Serendra to have a late dinner at Silk. Yummy Thai food! A bit too spicy for me, but it was good! We had Tom Yam (sp?) soup, some stir-fried stir-fry seafood, fried king fish, steamed bass, and the best dish of all: pad thai! :) Although the restaurant had pretty good ambiance, it was a tad bit hot for me (or maybe it was because of the spicy soup? Hehehe. I loved their restroom, though. It smelled so fresh but not overly flowery. It reminded me of some of the historic hotels we've been to on our tours in Europe and the US East Coast.

Mom was craving for dessert; yes, she of the no-cakes-and-ice-cream-for-Lent sacrifice, hehehehe. We decided on Portico where she had coffee sansrival and Lai and I had brownies a la mode.

The sansrival wasn't anything fantastic. In fact, it looked downright skimpy! Four thin wafers atop each other and sprinkled with what looked like coffee flavored chocolate sauce. I like my sansrival chewy, this was crunchy. So crunchy, that when you stuck a fork in it, the wafers splintered into several pieces.

The brownie a la mode was a different story, though. Yummy and chewy. And the ice cream wasn't plain vanilla, it was coffee-flavored scoop! Sorry, though, that we had to make mom sit through this forbidden dessert of hers :)

It's Official.....

2009-03-22T23:33:00.001+08:00

....I have a darn AGE SPOT!!! Ack!!! It's at the base of my neck, on the left side. Of all places to be, it had to be in a visible area!!! Grrrr!

And freckles! Holy moly! I had always wanted to have freckles....as a KID, NOT at this day and age! Sheesh! I asked a dermatologist, Elise, what these brown spots were, thinking that they were sun spots. They sure were.....freckled ones! LOL!

And this darn age spot is an indication that I *am* going to be forty this year. Hehehehe. Honestly, if it were situation somewhere else, like my upper arms or something where I can hide it from view, it wouldn't be such a big deal. But at the base of my neck??? The only thing that can hide this from view is a scarf (I'll DIE wearing a scarf in this horrid heat wave we live in now), a turtleneck (blech!), or a really thick necklace (ummm......nope!).

What are my options? Aside from just leaving it, there is laser treatments, which is horrendously expensive! Scratching that from my list, lol! There's also diamond peeling, which is ok, if I had the time and the effort to religiously go to the dermatologist's clinic (I really don't). I also have some creams that were given to me. We'll see how that works.

Ok, that's my big news for the day. LOL!

The girls were out the entire afternoon and evening: Raegan went shopping with Tita Bang, and Raine went to try out tennis with Tita Zhar and Mamalyn.

Japa was at the Shrine, overseeing details for the wake of Oel's dad who passed away yesterday morning. The boys stayed at home: watching tv, playing the PS3 (or was it the PS2? I can't keep up with their toys anymore!) and their Nintendo DS, playing the computer.

Me? Scrapping like crazy to get an album done for Bishop!

Got these pages done using CT stuff:

FR PATRICK

I used Vintage Charm, a collab between Matahati Designs and Faith True at Scrap Orchard for my Fr Patrick layout. Perfect touches, I thought! :)

CLIMBING MONT ST MICHEL

I used Patricia Christensen's Spring Fever kit for this fun page of us making our way up Mont St Michel (except for the stamp cluster). Perfect colors, I thought!

And I used fabulous quick pages for these:

MAISON ST JEAN

SR MONIQUE

BY THE ROADSIDE

Incompetence

2009-03-21T18:19:00.002+08:00

incompetence in·com·pe·tence (ĭn-kŏm'pĭ-təns) or in·com·pe·ten·cy (-tən-sē)
n. The quality of being incompetent or incapable of performing a function,

At the hospital, we were getting ready to bring Dad home. Finally. The plan was ---and this had the ok of ALL is doctors--- that after his dialysis session, he could go home. Ok, great. Dad was brought down to the Hemodialysis Room at 3 am. He was done at 7 am. Add a few more hours of bathing him, and technically, we were ready to leave at 10 am. Obviously, even BEFORE Mike had attempted to bathe Dad, word was given to the nurse's station that we were going to be leaving.

Fine.

The only thing was, we were missing ONE doctor's ok to leave. Grrrr! But Dr Martinez had ALREADY given his ok the day before so really, everything SHOULD have been fine.

Fine.

Just how long was it going to take to prepare the bill? Especially when the past few days, we had been given an initial statement for us to go over. After an hour or so of just waiting, Mom made it clear that she was NOT going to be paying for a full day for the room. So the nurses technically checked us out at 11.28 am, just before the cut off of noon.

Fine.

FINALLY, someone from billing went up and gave us the bill. I brought this to the Business Center on our floor (the few privileges of being the Suite Floor) and planted my arse in front of the person there to pressure her to move HER arse. Which she did. Rein did go all out in trying to speed everything up.

After a few minutes, (or what seemed like mere minutes since I busied myself checking my email in the lone computer in the Business Center), the (pregnant) cashier FINALLY came up. She asked for my credit card and other pertinent cards like Dad's Senior Citizen ID, the hospital card, etc. I had these out in a flash, just so she'd get the hint.

As I was waiting, almost bored to tears, I heard the cashier ask Rein repeatedly if our bill was ok..since her printout read 12:58 pm and our checkout time was 11.28 am. In other words she wanted us to pay the full day for the room to cover her slow butt! #$%^&!!!!!

This made me see red, but I controlled it, thank you very much. The stupid cashier asked Rein the same thing about 3 more times and that was it: I butted in their conversation and almost-rudely asked what the problem was. The cashier took one look at my face and quickly answered "nothing". Hmp!

Well obviously, she couldn't ask the question again with me in front of her face now could she?!? So she swiped my credit card and had me sign it.

Fine.

Ten minutes later, I was STILL waiting for her stupid highness to give me back my card and my receipt. I could see her over the counter punching numbers on her calculator and comparing her set of papers to our bill. What the #$%^&???? Very pissed, I asked her what was taking FOREVER???? She looked at me and very obviously saw that I was nearing slapping-her-stupid-self-point, so she sheafed her papers and said that everything balanced.

Like I cared one iota about whether it balanced or not!!! I mean really! Everything's on the computer and it printed out right? Before the computer could spew all the totals, all the departments concerned had input everything. So what the heck was her $%^&* problem????

Aaaaaaaargh!

Incompetence at its best! Leche!

Squeezed in this layout today:

LISIEUX

I'm trying to finish the album for Bishop Tumulak of our trip last year :) I'll probably be dipping into my QP folder just to hurry things up, lol!

Did I WORK Today!

2009-03-20T23:55:00.002+08:00

I have soooooo much stuff to do, especially before Boydee comes home from Korea!

So off I went to the office and buckled down to work. And work I did. I totally forgot it was Friday, and therefore should have fasted and abstained. I ordered Chicken Nuggets and inhaled the lot of them while typing on the keyboard, I was too busy to stop and enjoy the food!

Click, click, click. Type, type, type. Rustle, rustle, rustle. Mouse, laptop, papers - both actual and electronic copies. Sigh! In the midst of the working I *still* had to do some coordinating so that someone would be in the hospital with Dad at around 530 or so, so that Mom could go to her daily mass. Thank goodness for technology and group sending via cellphone! Hehehehe. Made things soooo much easier!

Thankfully, Mom's 3 angel veterans in the office (Bechay, Letty and Elma) stayed on while I was still working.....they were going to lock the office for the weekend. Startled, I looked at the time and it was 745 pm! I felt bad that the 3 ladies had to wait, so I told them to go and order pizza for all of us so that we had something to eat. I was waiting for the driver to come get me, too, after bringing Japa to his poker game.

And so at 9 pm, stuffed from pizza and brain-tired from work, I left the office to finally go home. Tired, but with a feeling of major accomplishment. No, I didn't finish everything I had to finish, but I did chop off a pretty big chunk of work....the kind that required so many details. So it was definitely a big hurdle that I had just gotten done! Whew!

Before I retire for the night, here are a few pages I didn't get a chance to upload last night:

HAPPY MOMENTS

HONG DISNEYLAND (back cover, most likely)

A BIRTHDAY PRINCESS

Aerobics for the Third Time

2009-03-19T21:52:00.001+08:00

Oh yeah, oh yeah! Doing the happy dance here!!! I am on a roll with aerobics, lol! Sounds a bit archaic, I know, so........80s, but one of the Sales Directors here at work suggested having some aerobics sessions. So heck, why not right? It's exercise AND I get to suffer ---er, workout--- with other girls from the office, too!

And today was the third session in a row (started Tuesday last week, every T-TH). I just about died with all the leg workout, but I just sweat up a storm, hahahahaha! As in! Not even 10 minutes I think and I could feel the sweat pouring down my face! Alright! This is a good sign, yes? Sure beats being on treadmills anytime! Usually, I start to sweat only on the 12th to 15th minute whenever I start to exercise, but the aerobics sessions so far have been pretty good for me!

Yes, we've got abdominal workouts as well, so I know this will be good for my back!

PTC x 4

2009-03-18T15:29:00.001+08:00

And the PTCs start. Hehehe.

PTC 1 was Ranger, at 830. No problems, good grades. Ranger was writing better, pressing on the pencil more than before. His assessment test scores were pretty good, too. He just needs more practice using his motor skills, like cutting with scissors, coloring within the lines, etc.

PTC 2 was Rogan, with Teacher Erika squeezing me in since her parents cancelled for the next time slot. Rogan had pretty good grades, too, mostly As, a few Bs. Like in Filipino, hehehehe. To be expected! He was a messy student, requiring a whole garbage bag to himself to clean out his locker! Ack!

PTC 3 was Raine. Last of the kids with Teacher Tess. For now. Hoping that Teacher Tess will still be in school when Ranger reaches the 2nd grade! She was excited that Raine almost got a perfect score in her Math exam! She was the one who told Raine to take it easy and make sure she went back to check her answers. All As was all I could see on Raine's report card.

PTC4 - finally!!! - was Raegan. I rushed up the stairs since I was a few minutes late already. By this time, I was lugging more than a foot-worth of report cards and projects from the first 3 kids. I dumped everything outside the Grade 4 door and went in. Teacher Nez was all praises for Raegan, nothing else. She is so funny, and obviously oh-so-loves her class very much! Wishing she'd go on to Grade 5 with them, but it looks like she's staying on at Grade 4. At least Rogan gets to have her this coming school year.

Teacher Nez was returing to me Raegan's painting that was displayed in the lobby of the UP Theater during the Year End Program, and I asked her if she wanted to have it. She looked at me like she couldn't believe I said that, and I told her that I'm sure Raegan would want her to have it, too. Hesitantly, she took it and then with a big smile, she said thank you and that she was going to hang it in her room, hehehehe.

Here's the "famed" painting. Teacher Nez pointed out to me that Raegan's trademark is that flower at the bottom. Most of her artwork has this flower, albeit in different colors and different sizes, but it's there to be found. :) Cool. Gotta watch out for that and see if I can spot the "hidden flower". Hehehehe.

A Day at the Hospital

2009-03-17T21:53:00.001+08:00

I *was* supposed to go to the Site today, but Mom didn't have anyone with her in the hospital. The second male nurse couldn't quite cut the work required for Dad. Oh well. So I spent another day at the hospital, TRYING to work. The most I could do, really, was write several memos. And that was it. I tried to do numbers stuff, but the hospital environment just wasn't a conducive working environment at all! Sigh!

I did beg Mom that I *had* to leave by 530 at the latest so that I could attend Office Aerobics, hehehehe. I need to keep that going just so I'd get some exercise in! We were smarter today, leaving the AC on a tad so we can get some air. It was better, and I think everyone did pretty well. I worked up a sweat pretty quickly, which was an achievement in itself, LOL!

Here are a couple of pages I got done yesterday:

SNAKE BOY

2ND AQUATHLON

Oscraps Turns 3

2009-03-16T21:34:00.004+08:00

Oscraps is having a huge sale! And of course, Nina Scraps Designs is part of it, celebrating with a huge 33% off all her designs!
And Nina has a NEW kit, Springy Days. Check it out and see all the yummy scrappiness here:

And yes, of course I've scrapped with it already:

NATIVE HORSE

Go check out Nina's stuff! You won't be sorry!

Year-End Presentation

2009-03-15T21:24:00.002+08:00

It's been a looooooong day! Mostly because of the kids' Year-End Presentation. This year, it was held at the UP Theater and the poor kids had to wait backstage for TWO whole hours before they actually came up on stage! Call time was at 330 pm, but because of the awarding of the Intelligence Awards, it seemed like forever before the program proper actually started!

We had the following awardees:

Linguistic Intelligence - Alexander Lacson. I nominated him for his awesome little book, 12 Little Things That We Can Do For Our Country (or something like that).

Logical-Mathematical Intelligence - John Gokongwei, Jr. The big guy wasn't there, but his daughter, Robina, was there to accept the award.

Spatial Intelligence - Rey Paz Contreras. He was an interesting man, a sculptor who uses his ability to help set up a community-based art training program. But he seemed to talk forever, and I know I had a catnap during his speech.

Musical Intelligence - Chin Chin Gutierrez. She was a beautiful lady, inside AND out. She spole in a lilting voice and advocated for a cleaner environment, mainly for our children's benefit. However, her aceptance speech was a tad bit too long when she took the mike and performed an indigenous song. It was a beautiful, local lullaby, though, and Chin CHin sang it with grace, accompanied by body movements of a bird, I think it was.

Interpersonal Intelligence - Cecilio Pedro. Yes, the guy behind Hapee Toothpaste. I nominated him as well. I texted Bang and she mentioned that Papa Ces was in Taiwan with Boydee! Hehehe. Cecilio accepted the award in a pre-taped segment, which was pretty cool :) and short and sweet!

Intrapersonal Intelligence - Gamaliel James Auste. He founded the Cancer Warriors, which concentrates on raising funds for the Filipino child who has cancer. He's a young guy and he's already done so much!

Naturalist Intelligence - Illac Angelo Diaz. Loooove his first name, and hey, his face and body weren't too bad either! LOL! This guy helps the urban poor build low cost houses, cheap and fast.

Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence - Noele Wenceslao, Janet Belarmino, and Karino Dayondon. Collectively known as the Filipino Women Mt Everest Team, they were the first female team to reach the summit in 2007. I don't know why they weren't there to accept the award, but I know that they visited the school sometime during the schoolyear.

And so finally, we come to the program proper. Entitled Batang Pinoy, Batang Bayani, the whole program was Filipino-based. It featured native instruments and local Filipino artists, all of whom were just awesome in their performances! They sang with the kids and really connected with them. They must have spent some time practicing with the kiddos because everything went perfectly!

Rogan was funny in his cameo "solo" as an OFW. He posed in the center in this weird position, we were all laughing at him, he was so cute! Hehehehe.

Rogan was the first of our kids to "perform". In quotation marks. Practically ALL the boys in his class were up stage, banging at the native instruments, hahahahaha. Probably to get them out of the way as the girls danced. Rogan and his gang were having the time of their life though, as they laughed, banged, swayed, banged, and sang....as they banged on their instruments!

Raine was next to come on stage. She didn't dance though and was in the background playing some instrument. I later learned that the music teachers were very particular in choosing who were going to play the instruments because that was the accompaniment to the UP Chorale's song. Ooookay.

Four numbers later, Ranger came out in his Superhero costume. All the kids were just darling in their outfits! Ranger danced with gusto and it was so obvious that he was having so much fun onstage! Good thing, too, because when we left the car to go into the theater, he had just woken up and was NOT in the greatest of moods!

Another four numbers away, Raine was up. She didn't dance though and was in the background playing some instrument. I later learned that the music teachers were very particular in choosing who were going to play the instruments because that was the accompaniement to the UP Chorale's song. Ok. Next year I should tell her to NOT do the instruments so I can see her onstage. Of course, with her size, it was easy to spot her, hehehe. Take note of her sandals, below. She spied that in Tita Zhar's room and knew IMMEDIATELY that it would go well with her costume!

Right after Raine, was Raegan's class. The best for last? Most likely. In the past few programs of the school, it seems that Raegan's class has always been the finale. Yes, they were pretty organized and GOOD! :) I barely saw Raegan as she was running all over the stage during their entire number! Ahhhh, the disadvantage of being one of the tallest ones in the class. She was holding on to several pieces of cloth that the class used to simulate waves or something. In the end, the pieces were fit together to form the flag. And Raegan was BEHIND the cloth helping to hold everything together! Hehehehe.

Very good program, and when it was all over, it was time to collect the kids. Raegan and her class were apparently bawling because they would miss each other over the summer. Even the boys were crying, as well as Teacher Nez! They were that close. You would think they wouldn't see each other after a few months! Hehehehe.

Scrapping at the Hospital

2009-03-14T22:48:00.001+08:00

I spent practically the whole day at the hospital today. Dad's been transferred to Telemetry, which allowed us to stay in the room with him the whole time. Of course, there were still visiting hours, but the staff were very nice, allowing us to go in and out anytime. They sort of knew us, what with Dad being in and out of the hospital so many times in so many months, faces were very familiar.

While at the hospital, Dad was asleep most of the time. He just had dialysis yesterday, which makes him tired, so he sleeps it off the following day. I used the time wisely, scrapping and catching up on CT requirements. Thank goodness the creativity was there; I had quite the productive scrapping day today!

DISNEY HATS

ROGAN WITH CHIP N' DALE

DISNEYLAND RESORT STATION

BAD HAIR DAY

No wi-fi in the Telemetry section of the hospital, so I still have to upload these pages tonight.

Not bad for a day's scrapping eh? :)

Happy Birthday, Mom!

2009-03-13T07:49:00.000+08:00

My dear mother is 63 years old today. We surprised her by showing up at church for the 6 am mass, to thank the Lord that Mom was given to us and to Dad. We are very very lucky to have Mom as our mom :) She is an inspiration, a pillar of strength, the epitome of faith. She is the foundation of our family and has played a huuuuge part in making us the kind of people we are today.

We all like to think we turned out pretty well, lol, and that's mostly because of the way Mom brought us up. It wasn't easy for her, transferring to the province when she first married Dad. She was a city girl, that's for sure, a socialite. But she uprooted herself to be with Dad. And she coped. Sure, she had her rough times, especially with Dad busy at work AND playing mahjong during the early part of their married life. She was pregnant with me and then with Boydee within 2 years. Life didn't seem easy for this city girl, that's for sure.

But it made her stronger, more a molder of character. And from that we all benefited. And for that we thank her from the very bottom-est part of our heart.

Even today, her birthday, her first though was still to be with Dad. We did try and coerce her into showing up for her birthday dinner, but she didn't want to leave Dad's side. We were all hoping that Dad could leave the hospital today, but it wasn't to be. Oh well.

After mass, we trooped to Shangri-La for breakfast. Yummmm! Then Lola wanted to treat Mom and all of us for lunch. After that HUGE breakfast. Yeah right! I couldn't put another thing inside me! So I begged off, since I had so much work to do anyway.

With that one big meal, I was set for the day. But noooooo....Boydee texted us in the afternoon saying he had made reservations for dinner at Shangri La. Again. Nooooooooooo! LOL! Mom wanted the grandkids to celebrate her birthday as well, which was the reason for dinner.

So we were all seated, stuffing ourselves silly from the plethora of seafood at Heat, when Mom calls and says that she's NOT going to make it to dinner after all! WHAT??? What's a birthday without the celebrant??? Heheheee. Soooo typical of mother dear! At least we were all sated and full! :)

This birthday celebration surely is one for the record books! :)

With Dad in the hospital, we all conspired to send Mom a gift from him. Of course, we already knew what it was. I just confirmed it for formality's sake when I went to see Dad yesterday. We were to have 63 flowers delivered in a bouquet or arrangement, red roses and white roses. We --ahem, *I*-- made the card; everyone absolutely pitched in to give 63 reasons from Dad as to how and why he loves Mom. Thankfully, with everyone texting me something, we did come up with 63 reasons! Who would have thought it was an easy thing to do! Sheesh!

And for the information of the brotherhood and the sisterhood, I stayed up til 3 am printing, cutting and gluing to make that card come together. I was so tired, I didn't have a chance to take a photo of the finished product, darn it! Oh well. When I see it next, I will :)

Happy Birthday, Mom. We love you!!!

Ad Materials Meeting

2009-03-12T20:03:00.000+08:00

Can anyone say.....FOREVER?!?!? I swear, it took forever for this meeting to end!!!

Ok, fine, I exaggerate. A bit. We started late morning, through a working lunch and finished between 3 or 4 pm, I can't remember anymore! Bang was there, with Mario. Alex to assist. And Boydee. I rest my case. Bwahahahahaa! It wasn't too bad, really, there was just a TON of things to go through!

Total rehaul of all our ad materials, and then some. This included letterheads and envelopes, and calling cards. Then there were brochures, novena cards, fans, postcards of some sort, billboard posters and the sales kit. Holy moly, the sales kit was a production in itself!

Artsy fartsy sales kit, that's what it was. A beauty to behold but if you know me, I tried to tear it down by giving disadvantages left and right. Hey, that's my job. Not to rain on anyone's parade, but to look for the loopholes, the cons, of any project. :)

The printer guy came in, and it was another round of discussion as we went through all sorts of paper; thin, thick, laminated, glossy, etc, etc etc. Aaaargh!

By the time we were done, the entire conference table was strewn will all sorts of paper and prototypes of the ad material. Alex must have needed some luggage to haul everything out of there afterwards! I kid you not, with the way everything was laid down on the table (and it's a HUUUGE table), we were hard pressed to see the actual table top!

My head hurt towards the end, with the never ending thinking.....I guess it's not easy thinking of BAD things about something, hehehehe. But it was FUN. Yup, there, I've said it. It was a pretty good challenge wading through all that cr....er, stuff. LOL. We talked some Photoshop terms, layout terms...and came off a bit knowledgeable in that area, bwahahahahahaa! Thank goodness for scrapping, eh? Wouldn't have known all those details to tell the artist on what to click and move in Photoshop! :)

And yes, scrappers, I *did* say that it was such a faux pas to put a shadow on TEXT!!! Eeek! :)

Ok, I need to lie down here and REST. Just typing about all this again and my head is throbbing! I need an Excedrin!

La-Ga-Re

2009-03-11T23:03:00.006+08:00

Lagare. In Filipino, it literally means "saw", as in the tool. In English, it roughly means "all over the place", going back and forth, like a saw.

Anyhoo, to better illustrate, here was my wonderful schedule for today:

845 am - left the house to bring Japa to Makati
936 am - dropped off Japa at his meeting
955 am - arrived at the Site, ready to work.
1:20 pm - left the Site to go back to Makati, to pick up Japa
1:35 pm - picked up Japa and proceeded to go to Ortigas
1:55 pm - dropped Japa off at his office
21o pm - went to Megamall to buy some books at St Paul and to pay for our bar stools (finally!!!)
245 pm - arrive at the office. finally.

When I got to the office, it was straight to Mom's room, just in time to catch Chris the interior designer going over MY bed for the Van Gogh house. Whew! Hehehehe. At least I had the final say in the few, minor details Chris wanted to confirm.'

Then it was off to my room to interview a potential receptionist. Among other things. It was typing all over again, this time for work instead of for the kids' projects! Sigh! Summary pages for 3 potential employees so Boydee could see everything at a glance. Then I typed more stuff, mostly for the columbarium.

Stuff like points of discussion, maintenance monitoring sheets, multi-media system hook up, wireless security systems, forms galore for a gazillion things....and the list goes on and one. And on. After a few minutes, back to Boydee's office to discuss the employee summary sheets.

A good thing that came out? I stayed a little bit longer just to text the 3 applicants that they were going to start working tomorrow and on monday! :) At least we made a few people happy with the prospect of a job, right?

Ok, this was the extent of my scrapping for the past WEEK or so! Sheesh! Rogan did all the writing, and some "directing" in how he wanted the final project to look like:

The pizza slices:

The whole pie:

The boxed pizza pie:

So, what do you think? :)

One More Project To Go!!!

2009-03-10T21:36:00.001+08:00

Yes, I.....er, the kids....have ONE more project to do! Ack! The past few days have been all about typing, typing and more typing. Seems like that's what I've been doing the whoooooole day! Sheesh!

I swear, these projects of the kids are just going to be the death of me! Luckily, ALL the Kids Can Projects have been all typed up and submitted....and on the blog. Someone rescue me from all the talk of endangered animals! Hahahahahaha! I've said it, and I'll say it again: thank GOD all the kids agreed to do the SAME project!!!

Different endangered animals, sure, but everything else was the same. Watch out next year, maybe we'll talk and research all about the crape myrtle tree, hehehehe. Always good to be different, eh?

Ok, like I said, ONE more project to go. And that's Rogan's book report. The boy sure does want to be different. He said he would rather NOT do a Sandwich book report like his sisters. Makes life difficult for his poor mama. Ya think?!?!? Sigh! He was soooo set on having a PIZZA book report, I didn't have the heart to say no.

So off I searched for a pizza box template and thank goodness I found one! Now, all I have to do is print, cut and assemble. Maybe I'll show it off tomorrow. But I have to order pizza to be delivered.....just so I have a box to put his Pizza Book Report in!!! Hehehehe. What, did you think I was going to MAKE a pizza box??? I would.....if I had the time! LOL!

This is probably going to be the most convenient P400 plus I'm going to be spending for this pizza (box).

Stay tuned 'til tomorrow for pics of the project. Maybe. :)

Oh, I did this layout for Jacque Larsen (I'm guesting this month) and I need to upload it tomorrow:

BELLE

Last of the Library Cards

2009-03-09T23:41:00.000+08:00

....and last of the Kids Can Projects! Whew!

These are Rogan's endangered animals:

A heartfelt and relieved THANK YOU to Heather Roselli for coming up with these library card templates! They were a lifesaver for this family! :)

Finishing Up the Projects

2009-03-08T00:53:00.001+08:00

It's crunchtime. Or close to it. The kids are feverishly finishing their drawings and their research, while I upload what I can to their blog. Raegan's project is due tomorrow, Rogan's the day after Raegan. Thank goodness for small favors, eh? Hehehehe. Sigh! I will be ecstatically happy when this week will be over!

It was a busy Sunday. We started by going to the Swim Camp for a parents' seminar given by Coach Powers. It was mostly stuff Japa and I knew, since we were athletes, too. Once upon a time, hehehehe. At least for me. Japa still is. I have no claim whatsoever to the title of athlete now, LOL!

Japa took the kids to Ayala while I begged off. I had to make huge dents in the project otherwise the kids would never be able to submit anything!!! Ack!

Here's Raegan's final library cards, crafted by yours truly, thanks to templates from Heather Roselli:

Oh yuck, sorry, the photo wasn't photoshop-ed. It came straight from my cellphone camera :)

A close up of the library cards:

Swim Camp x 3

2009-03-07T23:49:00.000+08:00

Raegan, Rogan, and Raine all attended the swim camp this morning. It was exhausting, according to them, but they were excited about it. They came home with stories about how to wait and dive into the pool during relays. The proper way to do the butterfly. And the breaststroke.

Raine proudly told me that Coach Archie had told Coach Rick that she had good form for the butterfly. Rogan added to it saying he heard it too :) That was a first, for sure, LOL! Rogan backing up Raine!

Poor kids though. After swimming, they had Kumon afterwards. I pity them sometimes.....they don't seem to have too many breaks, what with swimming and Kumon, on Saturdays! This weekend will be jam packed for them, too. They've got the last day of swim camp tomorrow! Yikes! Exams, camp, projects. It's a wonder we're still standing now!!!

Mass at the hospital, a quick dinner, then it was back to the drawing boards. Literally. The kiddos still need to finish up their Kids Can Project, and I've got to update their blog! Like I said, it's a packed weekend!

Sign Language

2009-03-06T21:55:00.001+08:00

I interviewed a hearing-impaired person today. His name is Kim and he is an intelligent person. He can also communicate well. Despite his being deaf, his non-hearing did not deter Kim from talking to me. Sure, his words were a bit slurred (some were) and sometimes it was hard to understand him IF one didn't pay attention, but he sure was a talker, lol!

He unashamedly used his hands to communicate. And spoke as he signed. He told me who he was, how old he was, why he wanted to work for us, etc.

And it came to light how truly pathetic some people in this world are: Kim told me that he had gone on several interviews where the interviewer just bluntly told him that he couldn't hire Kim. This, without attempting to interview the guy first!!! Yes, there is a strident, indignant tone to how I said it! The reason? They said that Kim would not be able to communicate with other employees!!! Ack! The NERVE of some people!!! Just makes you want to hit them, doesn't it! Grrrr! Pissed ME off when Kim told me those things! Sheesh!

Anyhoo, I did call one of Kim's references, and Bambi was all praises. She said Kim was dedicated, focused, a hard worker. He was conscious of the time and would not allow himself to have even a minute less than what was required.

He would be a good addition to the staff, I believe. I look forward to learning from him as well. I'm pretty sure it would be a very interesting time with him at the office. And yes, I want to learn how to sign, too! :)

Sandwich Book Report, Take 2

2009-03-05T22:46:00.001+08:00

Yup, another sandwich report, this time for Raegan, featuring The Bridge to Terabithia. Thank goodness the basic sandwich has already been done! :) This time around, it was much easier to put everything together.

But Raegan was pickier than Raine, that's for sure. She searched for the main photos, and sat beside me, especially as I was doing the cover. She also insisted that I put a ROPE on pretty much every page because she said the rope was a key object in the story. LOL! Talk about detail-oriented!

Raegan's Sandwich Book Report, ready for submission:

Individual pages here:

Two down, one to go! Crossing my fingers Rogan wants to do a Sandwich Book Report as well, LOL!

Swim Camp

2009-03-04T19:22:00.001+08:00

Raegan was one of the few 'small kids' picked by Coach Archie to join the Swim Camp with Coach Rick Powers. Cool! That in itself was an achievement, I thought :)

Raegan was excited when she came home, saying that she learned a lot in the few hours of the seminar and training session. There was talk of lactic acid, proper nutrition, stretching, visualization and other swimming things. She said the swimming part was easy; I told her it was only the first day, bwahahaahahha!

Raegan took down notes in this itty bitty notebook of hers. Can you see me rolling my eyes? She also scribbled some notes on the 2-page paper that was given to the swimmers.

When she got home, I knew she was tired, but also alert because of her excitement. Taking advantage, I told her she had to study a little bit more for her exams tomorrow. The excitement faded a little bit from her eyes, but she knew that there was studying to be done.

The advantage of having the kids still do training during their exams? The exercise does help clear their brains of extraneous stuff and will actually help them absorb MORE. Trust me. Been there, done that! :) So the kids have NO reason to complain at all! :)

Ok, off to update the kids' project blog!

Sandwich Book Report, Take 1

2009-03-03T19:12:00.006+08:00

Warning! Image heavy post!!!

Raine's Sandwich Book Report, featuring Princess Pooh:

Individual pages are here:

Isn't that a COOL project?!? I was excited helping Raine do it, too! Those are her words, not mine. The scrapping was mine, though, LOL! I thought this was an awesome way to do book reports! It wasn't even boring; in fact, it was fun! :) And yes, it was good to bring out the glue sticks and studs and other tools.

Squeezing in a Book Report

2009-03-02T22:12:00.002+08:00

OMG. Could this week even be more stressful?!?!? What a start of the week! Not only was I doing exam reviews, Raine arrives from school and announces that she had a Book Report due. This week. On Wednesday!!! Aaaaargh!!!! It was all I could do from screaming my head off!

She is so lucky her mother is a scrapper! That was the good thing. The bad thing? I had to read her story so that I could understand what she was trying to say in her report. Raine thought of what to write, typed everthing on the computer, and emailed me her report. Thank goodness for technology....and for the fact that the kids know computers. They should, seeing that we pretty much have enough desktops and laptops for everyone to use, even Ranger!

Ok, gotta go and hopefully some creative mojo comes my way for the Book Report! SOON!

We did finish Raine's Kids' Can project:

Some close ups:

Weekend Before Exams

2009-03-01T14:06:00.000+08:00

.....and what am I doing? Yup, exam writing. With a frenzy!!! In my mind, I had assumed exams were going to be next week. Boy, was i WRONG!!! It's THIS WEEK!!!!

So I pretty much fastened myself to my laptop, feverishly typing away, making heads and tails of the kids' books, quizzes, tests, role sheets, etc. I swear, after this week, I do NOT want to talk anything about science and social studies! Blech!

Rounding Up February

2009-02-28T22:53:00.000+08:00

Getting the questions to the Round Up from Katie the Scrapbook Lady:

Round Up: February

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?

I finally did some reading this month! Yeah! It helped that the kids went to Serendra at The Fort for their late Christmas gimmick, and we spent a few enjoyable (at least for me!) hours going through Fully Booked, this 5-floor bookstore at a corner street there! I picked up ---and read--- two Jodie Picoult books:

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?

We saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Good thing we watched it at the very start of the month, since we didn't have a lot of spare time during the month.

For TV, we finished Monk last month and started on NCIS. Finished NCIS in a few days, I couldn't stop watching it! Started on Numbers as well.

What special days did I celebrate and how?

February: we celebrated the birthdays of Reese and Rielle with dinner. Valentine's Day was at La Vista, starting off with Tito Rey's lechon baka. There was also school's Family Day and we went to Enchanted Kingdom to celebrate.

We had a special all-girls' trip to Hong Kong where we ate, slept, ate, shopped, and ate :) Yup, that's all we did!

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

Swimming towels for Reese and Rielle. Nerds candy for the kids' Valentine's Day. Pooh and friends stuffed toys for Teachers' Day. Nope, didn't do anything scrappy-fancy for Valentine's Day this year. It was sooooo much easier and stress-free to just give away the boxed candies! Yeah!

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

Migraines, during periods. And a little bit before, a little bit after. Barring all the walking and shopping we did in Hong Kong, my back was fine. Except during those days of the month. Bugging the heck out of me, too! Grrr!

Ranger had to have some antibiotics again. As usual. Sigh! For some bronchitis or near-pneumonia. Again. I better pack some pounds into the little runt, he's too sickly!

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?

Hong Kong all-girls' trip (with a chiko, Rod)
Math Quiz Bees for all the kids. Raegan got 4th, Rogan 2nd, Raine 3rd.
Iron Chef for Raegan - didn't realize it was such a big deal until I saw it in school, lol!
Rogan's Trumpets play where he sang a solo.
Everyone except Rogan joined the Ateneo Aquathlon again this year! Mama and Raine did the entire thing, while Japa and Raegan did a relay. Reese and Avic did a relay, too, and so did Matec and Franco. Rielle did the entire thing by herself, which was just AWESOME!!!

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?

Cappricciosas (sp?), a new Italian restaurant in Greenhills. Almost everywhere we went to in Hong Kong was a new restaurant for us. With Bang in charge of food, each meal was an experience.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

Nothing special was bought this month, including Hong Kong shopping. Probably the only stuff I did buy for *ME* were scrapping stuff, hehehehe. Shhhh!

What were my scrapping accomplishments this month?

Only 15 pages scrapped this month. Ack.

Anything else noteworthy to record?

Raine passed her taekwondo promotion test and is now a Blue Belter. She also won a GOLD in a mini-competition during the promotion test! I was off my time for the Aquathlon this year....by a minute! Grrr! Oh, and I am guesting for the wonderful Jacque Larsen this month!!! Love love loooooove her paper pieced designs!!!

[A SCRAPPED PAGE]

Squeezing in this last pager for the month:

SNAPSHOTS OF MY FAMILY-MACAU

Can you believe it's going to be MARCH tomorrow?!?!?! Sheesh!

Exam Writing

2009-02-27T13:24:00.001+08:00

Yes, I have work to do. Lots of it. And I have the "other" work, which involves the kids and ALL their activities. So I'm taking a breather before I actually start typing up the reviewers for the kids' exams. I've found out that this helps them a LOT. I get their books and go through the pages for the quarter. I pretty much include definitions and fill in the blanks to make sure they remember what they've read. And yes, I mix up the words, too, hehehehe. Not to confuse them, but just to make sure that they're not remembering words and definitions based on the positions of those words on a page or something.

Then I ask them to answer my "test." It's guaranteed to be tougher than their actual exam, which should be the case while reviewing, right? :) And it HAS proven worthwhile, based on the past quarters.

So, some steps to exam writing:

1. Get the kids' books and prop them open next to the laptop.

2. Get the kids' Pointers for Review and keep them next to the laptop at all times. Better yet, make a copy or 2 just so I have a copy and the kids have their own copies.

3. At this stage (elementary level), just go through whatever is in the Pointers. Trust me, most teachers won't surprise their students at this point in their young school life :)

4. Identification - this one's a basic test item. Definitions galore. These are usually found either in the first or last part of a book chapter. Invaluable resource for exam writing, hehehe. I rarely include dates because really, who memorizes those things??? Except the REALLY important, famous ones.

5. Fill in the Blanks - Here is where I put the dates in, but as part of the question and NEVER for the child to answer. I found it helps the kids retain the dates more effectively because they read it and see it in the sentence; they now relate their answer (hopefully the correct one!) to the date written on the test paper.

6. Essays, Problem Solving - This teaches the kids to think. And it shows you how much of the lesson they understand enough to apply it to a real-life situation. Most of the time, I am surprised by the kids' insights. These aren't the usual from-the-book answers, but something they really think of!

7. Illustrations - Most of the time, especially in the younger grades, it's soooo much easier for the child to DRAW what he or she means instead of writing about it. Besides, writing takes forever to do, and illustrations on the paper looks so much prettier, lol!

8. Quizzes and Tests - Make SURE you have these on hand! Even if the answers come up twice or thrice, it's okay. At least the kids get a feel for what the exam may be like. And the best part, you don't have to think of how to do True or False, Modified True or False, Matching, and Multiple Choice. Not that easy to write a test you know! Besides, with the tests and quizzes in hand, it's soooo easy to change things around! Then you'll see if your child has studied or not!

9. When you type up the questions, MAKE SURE YOU TYPE THE ANSWERS right after the period!!! Trust me on this one! You don't want the child to ask you after he or she takes the test and you come up with zilch on this one! :)

10. When you're done with typing up the test, DELETE all the answers and SAVE AS the exam. This is what you'll print out for the kids to answer, and you'll have your answer key safe and sound.

Hope the above steps will help you in making your own exams for review! Sure beats having to pay a tutor to do it, eh?

Okay, now that I've inspired myself by going through the list above (hehehehe), off I go to type up some more exams!

Projects, Projects, Projects

2009-02-26T22:22:00.001+08:00

***screaming***

I am up to my eyeballs in kids' projects!!! We always always ALWAYS attemp to NOT cram, but so far it's been impossible not to. For some strange reason, no matter what our intentions, we will realized that we only have so many days to complete so many projects!

It sure doesn't help either that I found out the kids have their exams NEXT WEEK. It sure wasn't in the "dates to remember" note I got from their teachers!!! Aaargh! So, with projects galore AND their exams coming up next week, it will NOT be a good week from now until then! Harsh? Not really. I'm just saying. Throw in Kumon and swimming training, and there really is NO time to give!

I've said from the very beginning that I wasn't going to be taking out Kumon and swimming especially because the kids had to CRAM for a project or a test! Valuable lesson to be learned here is time management. Including for me!

Ok. off to make reviewer exams in Science and Social Studies for the kiddos. AND force them to finish off their drawings for their projects and start on the research. I do NOT want to do their project for them, no siree.

Yeah right. Famous last words. LOL.

Lent Starts Today

2009-02-25T18:02:00.001+08:00

Ash Wednesday. Start of Lent, and days of repentance, in preparation for Easter.

A short history of Ash Wednesday, and what it stands for, courtesy of Wikipedia :)

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and occurs forty-six days (forty days not counting Sundays) before Easter.

Well, no WONDER we always count it as more than 40 days of sacrifice! LOL! See what a little bit of research can do? We definitely learn more everyday! I never knew that we shouldn't count Sundays as part of the 40 days of Lent! Hmmmm...

Ash Wednesday gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of the faithful as a sign of repentance.
At masses on this day, ashes are imposed on the foreheads of the faithful. The priest marks the forehead of each participant with black ashes in the shape of a cross, which the worshipper traditionally retains until washing it off after sundown. The priest or minister says one of the following when applying the ashes:

Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return - Genesis 3:19

Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel. - Mark 1:15

Repent, and hear the good news. - Mark 1: 15

We attended mass at the office, where Father Al of PACEM said mass. Then it was a relatively light lunch, since we all mark the day with fasting and abstinence.

What are we giving up this year?

Japa - just fruits and protein during the weel
Me - no beef or pork and no really bad swear words (trust me, this is sooooo hard for me!)
Ate - no rice at dinner
Kuya - not doing bad things (this is from him. We'll see how it holds, lol!)
Dete - No seconds (rice) at all meals
Ranger - well, he's a baby, so he doesn't understand the concept yet.

Technically, the kids don't have to do anything since they're all underage for fasting and abstinence, but we did give them a choice if they wanted to do some form of sacrifice or not, and they all chose to do something. So that's good :)

Showing Off More Scraps

2009-02-24T20:53:00.000+08:00

Just catching up on uploading layouts on the ole' blog:

FATHER-CHILD DAY

FRAMED HEARTS

HOT OIL HAIR DAY

I'm pretty sure I've used the photos in the last layout at least a couple of times, but aren't the girls just sooo cute here? Hehehe. Lai, we have GOT to have more of these girly stuff just so we have more kikay pics!

Dad's Out

2009-02-23T21:16:00.000+08:00

Yay! Dad's been released from the hospital and went home this afternoon! Clean bill of health? Not really. I know he still has some antibiotics to finish, and of course he's weaker than when he was admitted, but he was in high spirits because he was going home. His bed sore was debrided and it looked nice and pink. Still gross looking but it looked way fresher than with all that dark green and black stuff around the sore. Ick.

And for all of us, it was with another sigh of relief that Dad has hurdled yet another obstacle.

Ok, here are some scraps that I haven't had a chance to show off yet:

POOH RIDE

WALL-E

The Aquathlon and The Artiste

2009-02-22T21:19:00.001+08:00

{AQUATHLON}

Bright and early and Japa, the girls and I were off to Ateneo for the Aquathlon. Second year in a row and here we are! Yeah! Hehehe. For me, it was just the perfect excuse to get off my arse, hehehe. Call it my annual bout of exercise, bwahahahaha!

My goal wasn't to come in first, obviously, but to beat my time. This year, the organizers borrowed this thing called the RFID. Made the whole event feel so.....professional, hehehe. They gave us this band that we wore on our right ankles. That was on us during the entire 600m swim, and the 5k run. However, it was only activated when we stepped on the starting mat AFTER the swim and AFTER the run. It therefore recorded only the run part; the swimming part was still tallied by the event's organizers.

This year, the damn Lipovitan I took with my medicine overwhelmed me. I don't know who of you take Lipovitan, but for those who do, I'm sure you understand what I mean when I say I felt this rush of blood going through my entire body, making me almost hyperventilate. Which technically, wasn't too great if you were in the water trying to avoid gulping in globs of water as swimmers splashed around you.

After getting over that Lipovitan feeling, I started to feel better and stretched out my strokes. I finished the swim in 18:20. Should've been better if not for that drink, I swear, hehehehe. I think I was a tad bit faster last year.

And let's not even get started on my transition time, LOL! It took me 3:10 from the time I got out of the water to the time I started my run. Don't these people know how HARD it is to put on a b.r.a when you're wet?!?!? As it was, for the second year in a row, I ended up NOT wearing my support BECAUSE I was having such a hard time putting it on! Sheesh!

And then the run. I felt pretty good. Maybe it was the Lipovitan finally kicking in properly? I don't know. But I knew m,y body was fine. And yes, that pain reliever Roby prescribed for me (Arcoxia) was truly heaven-sent! My back was fine, my ankle was fine, my breathing was fine. Cool! I finished the whole thing in one hour and eighteen minutes. One minute more than last year!!! Grrrrr! Must've been my transition time, you think? :)

{THE ARTISTE}

Ah, yes. Our Artiste in the family had a performance today for their final Trumpets play. He had the minor lead for the boys; the whole play centered on the girls, who comprised 98% of the entire cast, lol! Yup, 2 boys, Rogan and Nathan. Rogan had a few solo parts and after a rocky start where he started off higher than his usual voice (hahaaha) he quickly lowered it and everything pretty much went smoothly.

He looked just darling up there on the itty bitty stage. So big, yet so shy. Hehehehe. He did well, although the stage was a bit cramped with all the kids crammed on there, and he was in the back too. Good thing he was pretty big, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten to see him during all the dancing parts.

He was sooo excited to be on that stage. You could see it in his eyes, in his movement. He was a little bit consious in the beginning (who wouldn't?!) but he warmed up pretty quickly towards the middle, even directing the other kids to where they should be standing!

And he's already talking about Trumpets during the summer!

After the play, Rogan and Raine rushed off to attend Kiel's birthday party while the rest of us brought Mommy Nena and Doods home.

What a day!

Heck, what a WEEKEND!!!! :)

***Trying to upload a video of Rogan singing, but it is taking FOREVER! So forget it! :)

TKD

2009-02-21T23:11:00.000+08:00

TKD. That would be Tae Kwon Do.

Japa and I were at Amorante Sports Center to support Raine in her Promotion Test from Yellow belt to Blue belt. We arrived at 730 am and entered the air-conditioned hall. All I can say is, THANK GOD FOR AIRCONDITIONING!!!!

This would be our hang out place for the next.....are you even ready for this???.......c'mon, sit down and get ready.......

We were inside the Amoranto hall for the next ELEVEN HOURS!!!! Egad!!! All this waiting sure ranked up there with...with.....CHESS! (spit that out when you say it, and you probably get how I felt the whole day, ROFL!)

At least with chess though, with Rogan, it was only about 4 hours or so. Excruciating 4 hours. But hey, it was ONLY 4 hours.

Today was just unbelievable! I mean, all I can do is just LAUGH about it since it's done! Sheesh! We waited a couple of hours maybe before Raine was finally called for her promotion test.

Check her out:

Take note of the high kick, pointed toes, and FILTHY feet! Bwahahahaha!

After successfully completing the test, (we assumed she had gotten promoted to the Blue belt since Coach Allan didn't send her home, hehehe) we waited and waited for the mini competition to begin. And waited.

Did I say we waited yet? LOL.

I don't remember anymore what time the competition started, but suffice it to say that all the parents were relieved that it was action time. Guess again. Yup, we waited some more.

Finally, Raine was called. She was one of the last ones called from her school. So off she went to the stage to get ready. After a few more minutes of waiting (it was a LOT of minutes, actually), her name was called, asking her to step up. She did, excited, and grabbing at her gear. Only to be told that she was advancing to the next round since her opponent was a no-show.

Ohhh-kay.

After sort of celebrating that she was going on to the next round for all of 2 seconds, Raine was pissed. She practically shouted, "What?!" , turned her back on the announcer and stomped off the stage. LOL. A real athlete, I like to think. She was so looking forward to actually doing some competing during the competition!

A few more hours of waiting and the EXACT same process happened. By this time, Raine I think was pretty weary with all the waiting and just nodded and sighed when told her opponent was yet another no-show and that she was advancing. In the meantime, little did I know that my competitive (not-so-little) daughter was, in fact, watching the OTHER group of competitors in her category and looking to see who was advancing. Sneaky, eh?

Another few hours and news got to us that Raine was actually in the GOLD medal round!!! Hahahahaha! How's that for a FIRST time competition in a new sport for her??? Hey, after all that waiting, we were going to TAKE the opportunity! :)

And finally, oh finally, the blessed time came. The gold medal round, and of course, the one and ONLY round for Raine. Raymond, husband of Joy, remarked to us that he sure wouldn't want to be Raine's opponent. I asked why and he responded with, "are you kidding, after seeing Raine's reaction when her first opponent was a no-show, you just KNOW she's got everything pent up inside!". LOL.

There were 2 rounds of 1 minute each, with a break of 20 seconds in between. You get points when you kick your opponent in the body, 2 points in the head. Don't worry, they've got armor. And so it started. From the start, Raine was down by a point. Then it was 5 to 3. Yikes. I was getting a little bit worried, but was cheering for what it was worth. And yes, the whole hall could probably hear me, hehehehe.

Then Raine delivered the crucial blow: a kick to the left side of the head. Although Raine's opponent was seemingly stunned for a second, it was enough. She was wary of Raine from that point; I like to think Raine was buoyed by the fact that I was practically jumping for joy at the sidelines and cheering her on, hehehe.

Raine started charging and gave her opponent a few more semi-strong kicks. I knew she was getting tired. There was an accidental kick, though, when her foot slipped and hit her opponent's groin area or upper thigh. Ouch! Then it was break time. One of her coaches talked to her, pumping her up. And all too soon, it was time for the second and last round. My poor girl sure was getting tired. Her kicks were getting lower and lower, but she was still being aggressive and charging forward. Like I said, the damage had already been done, since the other girl, although taller than Raine by a little bit, was all weepy, especially when she glanced over at the monitors and saw that she was down by a couple of points and that there was barely any time left.

And yes, just call my Mama Banshee when the buzzer sounded. Hahahahaha!

At 630 pm, after 11 hours and a GOLD medal, we went home. FINALLY.

Congratulations, Raine!!!

Settling In

2009-02-20T12:10:00.000+08:00

Jet lag? From Hong Kong? Hehehe. Nah. Just resting a bit. Resting my back actually. All that walking and standing in Hong Kong were NOT therapy at all for my back. I did have Mang Romy come over to give me a massage.

Ahhhhhhh!

I sooooo needed a massage after several days of walking, commuting....and eating! :)

7 Chikkas and an Unico Hijo

2009-02-19T21:37:00.003+08:00

7 Chicks and a Guy. That was us, traveling to Hong Kong. Mom, Lola, 4 sisters-in-law and me......oh, and Rod, the Chikko. Hehehehe.

It was supposed to be an all-girls trip, but Rod maneuvered himself in and thank goodness he did! At least he did the guy-stuff, like get most of our bags from the baggage conveyor, lug the bags in and out of the airport bus, carry the ton of stuff we shopped.....and ate the food that no one else could stuff inside our already-full selves!

Yes boys, this is the barest minimum of what is expected of you when you go with the girls.

I'm stealing this pic off off Zhar's blog since I don't have any pics. I (wisely) didn't bring a camera, big OR small. Stella took tons of pics and Elizza brought out her camera when we insisted she did (probably because Stella's cam had run out of batteries). Hahahahaha.

And what a trip we had! The main purpose of the trip was twofold: One, to force mom to have some R&R, what with all the time she stayed at the hospital watching over Dad, AND two, to eat authentic Chinese food. This CRAVING for REAL Chinese food started with Bang and Elizza a few weeks ago. We didn't get our fill of real Chinese food during the Chinese New Year, and it's been a topic of conversation ever since.

So....our Hong Kong trip was filled with tasty, authentic Chinese food. For ALL meals except breakfast. We had our regular breakfast at the Executive Lounge and it was quite filling, really. However, with Bang in charge of food (O.M.G!!!), our tummies were streeeeeeeetched out to the max with 3.5 days of appetizing, heavy, oily and yummy lunches and dinners!!! Heeeeelp! hahahahaha!

It was a FUN-filled trip, too, with the laughter, the secrets (that weren't really secrets since everyone knew what it was before the hour was up), the kikay stuff, the shopping....and the eating. I took pics with my phone for my photo-for-the-day, but that was it.

I leave it up to you to click on my sisters' blogs on the right for a full-blown account of where we ate and what. I don't think I remember everything!

All I know is that we had delish Peking duck, dimsum and the uber uber yummy lobster in some creamy buttery sauce, on the last night that Tony (friend of the twins from Taiwan) brought us near the racestrack. Oh my oh my oh my! That was just DIVINE!!!

It was the FIRST time I remember us being gone from our hotel room the WHOLE DAY! From after breakfast to AFTER dinner! Whoa! And we had Lola with us, too! Whew! By the end of the trip, my back was so sore from all the walking and the standing. Foolish me forgot to bring a gidle to act as a brace of sorts. Tsk, tsk!

I did manage to scrap, though, so my bringing my laptop wasn't a total waste! Hehehehe.

ON THE CAROUSEL

Hong Kong Still

2009-02-18T17:36:00.000+08:00

still eating......

and eating.....

and eating..........

ok, throw in some shopping too! :)

Still in Hong Kong

2009-02-17T18:36:00.000+08:00

Eating.......

eating...........

and

eating.............

Off to Hong Kong

2009-02-16T14:00:00.001+08:00

In Hong Kong......

checking in at the Holiday Inn....

eating.......

making chika.......

HS Reunion

2009-02-15T22:07:00.000+08:00

Out of about 45 girls in Section 5, 17 or so showed up to our little reunion. I'm pretty sure we were a little bit more than the girls in this pic, but hey, of COURSE I posted the photo where my largeness is covered! Can you see me? Bwahahahaha!

Let's go through the list:

Seated: Gina Beng looks pretty much the same. Quiet, but can sport a loud laugh :)

Becky is the same as ever, I don't think she even ages! Hmp! Hehehe :)

Pia Abe, looking radiant and downright glowing for a 40-year old preggy lady! Oh, too have looked like her when I was lugging around the kiddos! LOL!

Lizzie and Isabel, both soft-spoken as ever. Not moving a muscle unless needed.

2nd row: Michelle H, always with her ready smile, was a delight to talk to. Chitchatting about anything and everything.

April. O.M.G. As hilarious as ever. It was nonstop laughter and talking as soon as she stepped in the room.

Girlie. Love that riproaring laugh, although she was a little bit subdued tonight.

Mariza. Always a lady, and a girl scout to boot; she had a small notebook and some markers which she passed around, making sure everyone put their updated information on it. To be turned into a directory of sorts. Great idea!

Pia Barb. Hehehe. Gotta smile when you talk about Pia! She always has a huge grin on her face.

Alou. We did have this reunion just for her (and Guia). It's been 5 years since she's been back in Manila and did she demand we have a reunion of sorts because she wanted to see everyone! Looking lovely as ever, Mrs Cross was talking a mile a minute and flipping those locks around :) Hey Alou, I'm holding you to that offer to stay with you in San Diego!!!

Martini was the ever-efficient one, rounding up everyone (with Malou Gamboa) and making everyone pay for tickets to some fundraising event :)

Jing was as tiny as ever, looking slim and thin (darn it!, hahahaha!) in her black halter and white pants.

May Ann. Was May-Ann :) Gregarious, asking after everyone and everything in everyone's lives! Totally miss this chick, and yes, I owe her second son sooooo many years' worth of gifts! (he's my godson)

Next one's moi.

Vicky, the TV girl. Newscaster diva. You would think all the fame's gone to her head, but nope. This soft-spoken lady gal was still very lady-like, prim, proper and.....I could barely hear her talk, hahahahahha!

Last of the bunch is Lally. Cousin-in-law, believe it or not. Looking HOT in her little blouse, hahahaha! And yep. Same as ever Lally! She was a little bit on the quiet side (not too much though) because she had left a very sick Allana with Aljo....in Bacolod!

It was a raucous few hours....enough to give me a headache with the nonstop noise and chatter. I expected it though; that IS what you'd get if you throw more than 15 women who haven't seen each other in years in a room! :)

I did have to leave early to go to Reese's brithday dinner though. Where I ate a LOT of stuff (as usual). HAPPY 12th BIRTHDAY, Reese-y poo!

Ok, gotta PACK for Hong Kong tomorrow!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T22:35:00.000+08:00

Ahhhh yes. The day of L.O.V.E.

Traditionally, lovers express their love for each other by sending gifts, cards, flowers and/or chocolates (yummm!). We haven't celebrated this particular day in the truest sense since it has been way too commercialized everywhere. Restaurants are always full AND traffic is just horrific!

Besides which, if you really think about it, do we honestly need this day to remind us to tell the people we care about we love them? I didn't think so. :)

I did, however, scrap a page in honor of today, hehehe.

MY HEART

We all gathered at La Vista for dinner. Tito Rey had ordered lechon baka and it was delicious! Mom of course, arrived late, coming from the hospital. Dad was in pretty good spirits because he was in his "regular" room, so that made Mom feel pretty good as well.

As usual, it was eat-til-our-insides-were-full time, and we pretty much rolled out of La Vista going home! :)

The Presidential Suite

2009-02-13T23:29:00.004+08:00

This is Dad's room. The Presidential Suite of the hospital. LOL. Standing joke of the family, when it comes to Dad and his choice of rooms while at the hospital. I will never forget the expression on his face when he was wheeled into a "regular superior room" after his stint at the ICU or at the Telemetry Floor a few years ago. He looked around, frowned and spat out "I don't like this small room!" Hehehehe.

And with Dad's luck, of COURSE the Presidential Suite was available!

Good thing Dad transferred out of ICU this afternoon, too. I was bogged down at work and didn't leave until about 730 pm, I think. No wonder my back is still stiff, with all the sitting down I've been doing.

And no, I have NOT finished with the insurance stuff, nor the ID numbers stuff OR the Appraisal forms. Aaargh!

Oh well. Tomorrow will be a new day. Maybe I can finish something while I'm at the hospital first thing in the morning to relieve Rod and Zhar. Mike the nurse was struck down with fever today and couldn't make it to the hospital.

Tomorrow, Dad will be having a debrieding (???) of his bed sore. Gross, really, but it involves the scraping of his dead tissue around his sore. Eeewww. But it has to be done, otherwise it will never heal. The main thing we're concerned about is that he has to be sedated for the procedure. And if the past is any indication, Dad is always in this lethargic state for a long period of time every time he is given a sedative.

So again, the family thanks you in advance for all your prayers and well wishes. Keep them coming!

Oh, and yes, I scrapped! FINALLY, after a week!!!

8th MONTH - RAINE

And I am DONE with the ALL the kids' 8th month pages! WHoohoohoo! Hey Sisterhood!!! Have YOU guys been doing your pages??? Hehehehe.

Nerdy Candy

2009-02-12T22:35:00.000+08:00

I left work early so that I could wrap gifts for the kids' teachers; not only is Valentine's Day happening this weekend, but it was Teachers' Day at school. For all FOUR kids. With a minimum of 2 teachers each.

I rummaged through my stock cabinet and stock boxes and surfaced with some Pooh and Friends little bean bag dolls. Whew! The day was saved, hehehehe.

For the kids' classmates, I was able to buy Valentine's Nerds candy before we left the States. Good thing Walmart was selling these early:

They had space at the back with a To: and From: and the kids wrote their classmates' names on there. Not an easy task, with close to 90 names to do, but I made the kids do the writing since I was wrapping gifts for their teacher.

As usual, I did NOT have the time to do something creative and artsy :) Sigh! I keep meaning to do a project for this particular occasion, but time somehow always eludes me!

Maybe next year! :)

Scribbling at Work

2009-02-11T19:58:00.000+08:00

What with going back and forth between the main office and the site, it is so hard to keep organized! I'm usually an organized person, making lists and keeping tabs on that list, but this splitting-myself-between-2-offices is a tad difficult, hehehe.

I'm attempting to organized what I can, but I'm still at the lower rungs of the ladder. Finally, not relying on what I could put onto the computer, I grabbed a steno notebook and WROTE. Yup. As in pen and paper, with my HANDS. Heheehe. Awful handwriting for sure, but that scribbling worked! Sort of. Enough for me to jumpstart my brain in thinking of ways and means to better organize the stuff that I need to do.

So next week---or rather, in a couple of weeks---I will be armed and ready. Hopefully. There's something about actually using your hands to do something; and I'm not talking about just typing at the keyboard here. Really making something with your hands. Like writing :)

I Hate Numbers!

2009-02-10T20:22:00.000+08:00

Ugh. There was a reason why I did NOT take Accounting while in college: I couldn't stomach the plethora of numbers and to deal with them. Another ugh.

And what did I do today? I was haunted by numbers! First was the family's health insurance. O.M.G. The amount we have to spend for insurance!!! Mind boggling. Exploring different options, and desperately trying to narrow it down. I just found out that we have to have new policies in place by the end of the month!!! Panicky? Ya think???

Excel and numbers. And vice-versa. I was ready to puke numbers by the end of the day, and I could feel a migraine coming on. Aaaaargh!!!!

Dad's Progress

2009-02-09T15:38:00.000+08:00

Here's what's happening to Dad:

Dialysis was done last night. To clean his blood.
He is on antibiotics to help him fight infection.
He is becoming hypotensive. (whatever that is)
Despite all the fluids being pumped into him (IV, food, meds), he has very low urine output.
Blood pressure is very erratic.
Levofed being given to him to stabilize his blood pressure. However, this medicine constricts his blood vessels and isn't helping his kidney any.

Until his blood pressure is stable, Dad will be in the ICU. Dialysis is being scheduled for 3 times a week.

Please continue to pray for Dad.

Family Day at Enchanted Kingdom

2009-02-08T22:51:00.000+08:00

It was the annual MI Family Day. Good thing this year, we didn't have to go out of town to do it. This was a major issue last year, and why we did NOT go....there simply was no time!

Sadly, our little family had to be divided: with 3 kids in grade school, everyone was participating AND had to be with their grade level. Of course. Raine had dibs on me, and we wore green. Rogan had dibs on Papa, and they were in orange. Raegan gladly had yaya (and Ranger---she wasn't *that* glad to have him, heheehehe) and they all wore red.

And because we were all in separate places for most of the day, whoever had the camera was the only one who had pics! Heheehhe. See, Japa? I just KNEW we had to hang on to your old camera!!! Oh well. Good thing Japa never got tired of taking photos! I haven't looked at the photos yet (sorry, they're still in the camera as of this writing!), bt I'm pretty sure there are tons of Rogan. Raine has a few, since I had the camera for an hour or so. Raegan, probably nothing since we were never able to pass on the camera to Coset. Ranger had a few.....when he told me to take a few pics of him with my cellphone, hahahahahaha! Wise kid!

He was eating his ice cream and asked me to take a photo of him eating it. I told him Papa had the camera and he looked at me like I wasn't thinking and said, "No, Mama, with your phone!" Hahahahaha! Now why didn't I think of that???

Bright and early, we were at Pancake House, stuffing ourselves with breakfast. Good thing we did, too, as we had our own version of the Amazing Race until 1 pm! And the kids sure were hungry! Thank goodness we had pre-ordered meals, so we got those fast. But of course, a burger and a drink wasn't going to be enough for the kids and their bottomless pits of a stomach, so Japa ordered a huge cheese pizza for all of them.

Raegan was officially a tween: she didn't eat with us, and she went with her friends for the remainder of the day. Oh well. She's responsible enough and obsessed with the time, so I had no problem with her whatsoever. Rogan on the other hand, was another story. This boy has NO concept of time. At all. And there was no way he was going to be left on his own, hahahahaha! Actually he was, for an hour or so, but thankfully, the park was small enough that Japa found him: at the Laser Tag area. Raine falls somewhere in between her Ate and Kuya. She could be responsible, but when she's having too much fun, she'd willingly forget the time! :)

So our estimated departure from the park at 4 pm was actually just that. An estimated park. After several snacks and waiting for all the kids to show up, we started moving towards the exit at around 5 pm. Right before the exit, we went on one last ride: the Rio Grande Rapids. Um yeah. And *I* was practically soaked to the skin! Right before we had to leave!!! Aaargh!!!

The kids changed in the car. And so did I. But I had a slight problem: I wasn't actually planning on getting wet or even sweaty for that matter, so I didn't have any extra clothes! Luckily, Japa had an extra pair of cargo shorts. Right. And an extra shirt WHICH, as it turned out, was really Rogan's. Double right. And if you know me and my largeness, you just know it was going to be a TIGHT SQUEEZE (yes, pun pun pun!!!) from that moment. Hahaahahaha!

But hey, I guess I *did* lose some weight! I literally squeezed myself into Japa's shorts, but I got the zipper to close. A tight fit across the thigh area, but hey, at least I was dry. Now the shirt. When I found out it was really Rogan's shirt, I said no way was I going to fit in a men's SMALL. Not with these arms and chest! Good think Raegan said she had one of her Big Dog shirts---a Youth 16-18.

Are you screaming with laughter yet?

It was a Pepto-Bismo PINK shirt. And it was dry. Sighing, I ripped my wet shirt off of me and twisted and turned until I got myself into that shirt. And I didn't look TOO bad, bwahahaahahha!

And NO, there was NO picture taking of me in that dubiously sexy outfit! Japa's camera had no battery, and there was no way I was going to use my cellphone camera to remember this particular event! Hehehehehe.

All in all, it was a fun day. Raegan's team won 3rd overall. Grade 6 took second and the champions this year was the Prep team.

So Sleepy!

2009-02-07T22:48:00.000+08:00

I have no idea why, but I was just really tired today. In the morning, I was at the hospital with Dad, bright and early (9 am-ish). I stayed a couple of hours because I needed to get home before Japa left for Chie's son's baptism; I had yet to wrap a gift. I meant to do it last night, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Laziness, yes. And now I'm paying the price! Not that I didn't get enough sleep last night.....I think I've gone by on way lesser hours of sleep. But, oh well.

After the hospital, and rushing home to look through the stock cabinet for gifts, wrapping and sending Japa off, I lay in bed. My laptop was on, hoping against hope that I'd be able to scrap something. But NCIS won out and I started watching a few episodes.....only to nap. For at least two hours! Heheehhe. I just simply fell asleep!

Good thing the kiddos weren't there....after their Saturday morning activities of swimming and Kumon, they went to La Vista to play with Bric. Then to Apitong to hang out. They were back by 430 pm so that we could all go to the hospital chapel for our anticipated mass. Best to do it today than be uber tired tomorrow from Family Day.

Since we were early, I dropped by to see Dad. And was in time to see a (minor?) procedure being done on him: an inter-jugular tube (???) to give access for the dialysis machine. The doctor advised against him having the access point in the leg again, to avoid it being infected so easily. So Dad had his neck cut open to insert the tube. Ugh. Bloody procedure, obviously, it being a major artery!

* can you FEEL my hair standing on end yet??? *

I actually wanted to be in the room with him when the doctor did the procedure, but they shooed me out! *POUT* The nerve! hmp!

After mass and another short visit to Dad upstairs, we brought the kids to Omakase for dinner. And did they dig in! Like they hadn't eaten for several days! (it was more like hours, if the truth be known). I guess they missed their favorite restaurant, hehehehe.

Ok, am not even attempting to scrap tonight. We need to be up REALLY early tomorrow to go Enchanted Kingdom for Family Day.

G'night!

E.R.

2009-02-06T16:12:00.000+08:00

No, not another tv series. Dad had to be rushed to the ER yet again....only 3 days after they arrived from the States! Sigh! Is our air quality that horrible here? Most likey. Dad said that he was having difficulty breathing; Bric went to Mom and heaved his little chest up and down to demonstrate how he saw Lolo Boy. Luckily, Mom did go and check on Dad and found him taking unusually deep breaths.

So off to the hospital they went. Bang sent a text to everyone and we made arrangements to go to the ER.

When I got there, Dad had all sorts of tubes attached to him, he had had an xray or some scan, and he had an oxygen mask on. He looked pale and thin on the hospital bed. Soon after, he was transferred to the ICU. We were pretty much chased out since it was in-between visiting hours. Mom of course insisted that she be let in, and the nurses had no choice but to let her in. If they didn't there'd no be stopping Mom, so they did the smart thing, hehehe.

The initial diagnosis: Dad may have sepsis, some sort of blood infection. He will be needing antibiotics to help fight this infection. Additionally, his blood pressure had to be monitored because it was dipping below his normal reading. A good thing that came out of the start of battery of tests being administered is that Dad's lungs are CLEAR from liquid (relative to what he already has in there) and he does NOT have pneumonia. Whew! Thank God for small favors!

But like I said, Dad didn't look all that great in that hospital bed. Hoping and praying he gets lots better soon.

NCIS-ing It

2009-02-05T19:49:00.000+08:00

I have a new obsession, er, series to watch: NCIS. Love love LOVE this show! The mystery, the humor, the bantering between the characters! Did I say I LOVE this series??? Hehehe.

And Mark Harmon was my first ever teenage crush I think, hahahaha! I forgot what that movie was (The Merchant something or the other) but man oh man, what a MAN! :)

I wouldn't say move over to CSI just yet though. I think they're totally different things. Love the closure on each episode while leaving us bits and facts of certain characters. Would love to know everything about each interesting character! Fast paced and although concentrating mainly on the Navy, I don't care. I have fun watching it.......

......which is most likely the reason why I have NOT scrapped in several days! I can't watch and scrap at the same time because I might miss a clue or some crucial piece of evidence or conversation or scene! Obsessed? Sure, you can say that. But I'm loving it! :)

Ok hush, off to watch some more until I fall asleep.......

Quiz Bee, Iron Chef and Teacups

2009-02-04T18:28:00.000+08:00

{QUIZ BEE}

I was in school bright and early. At 815 am. Sigh. The things you do to show support for your offspring, hehehehe. ALL 3 older kids were one of the representatives of their class for the Math Quiz Bee! To get chosen is a big thing! So yay for all of them!

Raine was first up. As usual, she looked extremely LARGE on top of the stage, as she sat next to her classmates. Hehehe. Her face was expressive enough that I could tell whether she got the right answer or not. And when she didn't, she'd scrunch her face or roll her eyes up, hehehe. Although she flubbed a bit on the Roman Numerals, she got THIRD place!!!

Rogan was next, at 915 am. I pulled him aside before he went up the stage and told him good luck, and did he know his Roman Numerals? :) My son confidently told me that he had studied for the Quiz Bee and that he wasn't worried at all. Hmp! And he cockily sauntered up the stairs to take a seat at one of the rear desks!

I had needlessly worried after all. He was supremely confident all throughout the quiz bee, hehehe. Can you see the grin on my face as I proudly type? He breezed through to SECOND place!!! Now, if ONLY he had circled his expanded numbers and gotten a couple of points for that, he would've been champion! Next year. :)

{IRON CHEF}

While Rogan was having his quiz bee, I was running back and forth between the covered court and the HELE area of the school. Raegan was in the Iron Chef for her class and was getting all flustered and mad at her groupmates. The boys were EATING what they were preparing and my daughter was having a major fit! Her face was as red as her shirt and I'm guessing it took all of her control to keep from screaming at the top her lungs to tell the boys to stop dipping their hands in the wok and shoveling the Yang Chow Fried Rice into their mouths! My poor child! She definitely did NOT need to be stressed an hour before her quiz bee......but it sure was funny to see! Hehehe.

But can I just say that it was ONLY their group that did NOT have a parent or a yaya helping them cook, clean up and decorate the plates for presentation. I mean REALLY! Sometimes parents have NO sense at all!!! For stuff like these, people, leave your children alone because they will and do cope with whatever happens! Sheesh!!! Pissed me off royally. Pretty soon, I could've joined Raegan in her hissy fit because of some people! Grrrr!

Good think I *was* running back and forth between Iron Chef and Math Quiz Bee, hhahaha. Forced me to relax as I took in gulps of air. Couldn't miss a moment if I could help so I could snap lots of photos! :)

I waited in the covered court for over an hour for Raegan's Quiz Bee to start. Although home was very near, it was useless to waste gas to go back and forth. Plus, Ranger had to be picked up anyway, so I had the driver wait outside instead.

Anyway, back to the {QUIZ BEE}

Raegan of course was a nervous wreck going up the stage. As usual. This girl sometimes has no confidence in her abilities and it pisses me off! Anyhoo, she sat down and chit chatted with the other representatives. Well of course she did; when she's nervous she can talk a mile a minute!

I couldn't follow or even remotely GUESS what the answers were to most of the Grade 4 questions. The numbers just sounded TOO big! Hahahahaha! And this is Grade 4?!?! I didn't even hear of some of the terminology they were using until I was in high school, I think! My goodness!

Anyway, by the middle of the Quiz Bee, I was hoping Raegan would squeeze into third place, but she faltered some on the difficult questions. But hey, FOURTH place is pretty good, too! That coupled with her stressful Iron Chef period, made for an overall productive day!

What a haul for my kiddos today! Whoohoo!!

{TEACUPS}

Katie Nelson asked me to scrap with her newest kit, Natural Spring:

And when I saw it, I automatically thought of the Mad Hatter's Teacups:

Whew! What a day!

Appraisals and Scraps

2009-02-03T23:55:00.000+08:00

Back at the main office today. Working on performance appraisals. I need need *NEED* to get a base appraisal for all the employees sometime yesterday, hahahahaha! As in ASAP! Like late last year. Sigh! But hey, again, my word for the year has been working magic and is actually enabling me to finish what I need to do!

And what with all the words on the computer screen today, it felt GOOD to just have to look at pictures for a change!

PLAZA INN
MICKEY JELLO

Our Hong Kong Disneyland is looking pretty good --and fuller-- with what I've been scrapping. Hopefully, I will finish this album sometime this year, hahahaha. Seriously. I'm doing our September 2008 trip....and we still have a November 2008 trip to HK Disneyland that I have yet to start on!

Posting this early.....I can't wait to try and fall asleep. Is this what age does to you: requiring you to function on less hours of sleep in a day?!? Sigh! Seems I've been going on an average of 4-6 hours of sleep the past few weeks and it's making me miserable. I try and take longer to wake up, but nothing's doing the trick! I wake up at the slightest noise, or lack thereof, like when our airconditioning turns off automatically, hehehehe.

It does help that we have a brand new 4-inch memory foam mattress. It took a while to get used to how thick it was though, but now that I have, my sleep has been pretty good. My back is cushioned and I can feel myself SINK in all that thick memory foam stuff. Of course, I could also do with a sleep number bed, like the one we have in the States. The girls love that mattress, too, allowing us to have a softer or firmer mattress as we wish. Ahhhhhh!

Ok, off to bed!

Before I forget, a very HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to RIELLE!!!!

Site Work

2009-02-02T23:32:00.000+08:00

Spent the day at the site, working on rate sheets, among other things. Boring day at work, in general. But at least I'm still sticking to my word for the year (work), right?

I know, a month late, but hey, mine really did come out as WORK!

What with the "birth" of Rex the Suburban, it's going to take a lot of hard work making ends meet. Which is why I'm always on the lookout for whatever small business opportunity there is out there. I'm willing to explore anything, but so far I'm enjoying earning some scrapping money by blogging! :) Totally easy, and so up my alley! Now, it's just a matter of keeping to a schedule and actually blogging everyday.

Oh and watch out too, I'm promising myself I'm going to catch up on my Project 365. Soon. Hehehehe. I know I have the photos, it's just a matter of narrowing it down to a few and then one. And then scrapping with them. THAT'S the hard part, the time-consuming part. But I want it done, and so I'm going to hold myself to that promise :)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2009-02-01T18:12:00.000+08:00

Benjamin Button:

"I was born under unusual circumstances." And so begins "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," adapted from the 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards: a man, like any of us, who is unable to stop time. We follow his story, set in New Orleans from the end of World War I in 1918, into the 21st century, following his journey that is as unusual as any man's life can be.

Japa and I finally got to see Brad Pitt in Benjamin Button. Beautifully, touching movie. Dramatic for sure, but with many lighthearted moments. Loved it, and would probably see it again if I had the time. I was surprised that it was close to 3 hours long, I was so engrossed in it. Brad Pitt was very very good here, as was Cate Blanchett. Classic? Most likely. :) Hmmm.....maybe I should look for the book? Probably more details.

* * *

We had lunch at Capricciocas, an Italian restaurant along Connecticut Avenue. Yummy food, everything we ordered was good. Unfortunately, I think my tummy is acting up, what with all the cheese and creamy sauces that I filled up on. Yuck. Oh well, you think I'll lose a few pounds? Hehehe. I sure hope so!

Rounding Up January

2009-01-31T22:12:00.000+08:00

I'm taking a cue from Katie the Scrapbook Lady and will TRY and be faithful in doing my Monthly Round Up for every month this year. I was pretty good last year, but I stumbled major time towards the last quarter I think (maybe even before).

But hey, new year, first month, new resolution. I hope. Keeping my fingers crossed! Hehehe.

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?

Hmm....I'm afraid I had *just* come to the conclusion that I absolutely NEED to start reading again. I've been floundering for words whenever the kids and I (or Japa and I) would discuss things; I'd vainly search for a word in my mind, most of the time coming short. So yes, I have GOT to start reading something --anything-- again!

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?

Offhand, all I can think of is MONK. All seasons so far, hehehehe. I am LOVING Tony Shalhoub, too! I also like Wizards of Waverly Place --- I know, totally kiddie, or tweeny (?), but it's just such a refreshing tv show. And of course, I can't not mention ALL the different CSIs. Love them all!

A single movie this month: Bride Wars. I watched this with the girls and it was quite entertaining.

What special days did I celebrate and how?

Let's see. New Year's Day was spent in the States. Although we didn't do anything special, it was made memorable because we were complete as a family again. Not having Dad in the house for the Christmas countdown was bittersweet; it was great he had spent the whole day at home and that he would be getting another day pass for Christmas Day, but it was still different. It wasn't tradition. So for New Year, it was just a GREAT feeling overall to have Dad home at last. He was discharged the day before New Year. And the family started the year right: complete.

Chinese New Year was celebrated by just eating out. At Causeway. Dimsum and a plethora of Chinese food.

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

We had some "leftover" gifts from Christmas when we arrived. And the gifts of the office staff are STILL in my closet. Yet to be given away. Gulp! This is a wake up call, for sure, to have THAT done! Hehehehe.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

It was the month of pins and needles, numbness and swelling of the hands. The hypersensitive feeling I had on my upper legs was enough to spur me to visit a neurologist and my endocrinologist. I had a nerve test done, which basically announced that I had slight carpal tunnel syndrome in both my wrists. My legs? Nothing to be concerned about. My back? Just a little bit of twinge when they stuck in that needle during the nerve test, but otherwise it's fine.

I also had a TON of bloodwork done, which I passed with flying colors. ALL my numbers were right smack in the middle of the NORMAL ranges. For everything. Hah! Yes, I'm all smug about those numbers, and proud of them! At least I now have my baseline numbers. Just in time, too, since I turn 40 this year :)

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?

It was a busy month to have fun, hahahaha. I remember watching Monk with the girls, and Ranger had his Father-Child Day for school. Japa went, along with Rogan and Raine and if the number of photographs were an indication, they had a blask.

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?

Well, not exactly new, but I did make some spam sushi for the kiddos, as well as spam musubi. It came out pretty good and we ate sooooo much rice for that particular homemade meal!

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

We bought a new car!!! Finally! We settled on the Suburban, a blue LT and it is a monstrous beauty! We named him Rex. Yup, definitely a boy's name for this vehicle!

What were my accomplishments this month?

I scrapped 29 pages :)

Anything else noteworthy to record?

I had my hair chopped off!!! Ten whole inches! I've got a new look :)
I've also resigned from a couple of Creative Teams.
My Word of the Year: WORK. And so far I'm sticking to it! )

[SOME SCRAPS]

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

The kids were off to their first "gimmick" of the year. They had their post-Christmas swimming party, along with the other younger kids from the team. The day started with training, then brunch at Teriyaki Boy, then the whole day was spent wandering about in Bonifacio High Street. The older girls wove through the aisles of Fully Booked while the boys and Rielle and Sara played games at Time Zone.

When Rogan's money ran out, we took him home, along with Raine and Rielle. Raegan stayed on to catch a movie (Beverly Hills Chihuahua or something like that) and didn't come home 'til about 9 pm! Sheesh! And they're just kids! Hehehehe.

Oh well. At least they had a blast....and I got a haircut :) A whopping TEN inches off! Sorry, no photo yet. As usual, I'm too lazy to download from the camera. Besides, I think Lai has some of the better pics in her camera :)

I Couldn't Help Myself....

2009-01-30T20:08:00.000+08:00

...The fabulously talented Kate Hadfield had an awesome too-good-to-pass-up 40% off sale at her store and I picked up some of the cutest stuff I've been eying:

Now tell me that those weren't SO worth it!!! When will I use them? I have NO idea, but they were just too cute to pass up! Probably on the kids' First Year Books for the Sisterhood Challenge...we'll see. I can't wait to play with them though!

I scrapped quite a few pages today, here are a couple:

LOVIN' RAINE'S BOOTS
WHIPPED CREAM FACE

Go ahead and click on the images to leave me some love! :)

Photoshop-ing

2009-01-29T23:55:00.001+08:00

I know. I made up a new verb, hehehehe. I was practically on Photoshop the whole day today! At work, it was open to do Rate Sheets for columbarium stuff. A LOT of stuff. You would think my eyes would be crossing over from being in front of the computer the whole time, but noooooo! Of course I *still* have the strength to keep them open to scrap.

Nothing finished tonight, unfortunately, although I have a couple of in-progress pages. We got home late tonight, spending an hour or so at the wake of Jerome's stepdad. He had passed from his battle with colon cancer. His journey began 2 years ago when he was diagnosed. I'm not sure if he had an operation, but he had aggressive chemotherapy treatments. He went to Stanford and to Singapore for these. While in Singapore, he almost died because apparantly, your body can't be TOO weak in order to get chemo. Maybe the chemo dose or formula was too strong? I don't know.

Condolence and sympathies to Jerome and family. Prayers going out for your stepdad and for you guys.

Another Day, Another Doctor

2009-01-28T20:32:00.000+08:00

I seem to be on a health streak of some sort. That, or maybe I'm just determined to have all my baseline numbers in. Take your pick.

I went to see Dr Mike Villa, an endocrinologist. I asked him about why my thyroid numbers had seemed to normalize. I had always thought that once you got started on medicines for either hypo or hyperthyroidism, you took it forever.

My thyroid numbers had some movement, especially when I was pregnant. But I've been off the the meds for a few months now and I'm fine. I thought there was something wrong with me that could've been brought on by some movement in my thyroid numbers, but there was nothing. Everything was NORMAL.

Oh, and despite the fact that I hate, hate, HATED his medical scale (it was TEN pounds more than usual, I swear!!!), at least it did show on record that I had lost 10 pounds or so when I saw him last.....about 10 months ago.

Dr Villa was obviously HAPPY that I looked good, that I had lost that weight. He said a little bit more.....and prescribed me my Duromine. Yup, happy camper I am, hahahaha! But get this, the good doctor told me that we're going to set my goal weight as.....are you ready for this.......

............

...........

.............

............he wanted my goal weight to be A HUNDRED AND TEN POUNDS!!!! That's 110 pounds in numbers.

Ok. You can pick yourself off the floor after you've laughed your head off.

I swear, if I hadn't been SHOCKED when he said that, I probably would've reached out and given him a shakedown. Was he absolutely OUT OF HIS MIND?????

Holy COW! Someone chop off HALF my body right now. Then we'll probably be lucky to get that number. My goodness!

His reasoning? Always set a goal that's very lofty, so that when you get even just half of that, you'll be satisfied.

Oooookay. Whatever. I'm more of a realist, so I told him, nah...I'm aiming for 20 pounds, 30 if I push it (which I'm not).

110. *can you see me shaking my head and rolling my eyes*

Anyhoo, I scrapped:

RANGER'S PHOTO SHOOT 2008
SNOW

How much weight do YOU need to lose? Bwahahahaha!