photo hunters:: original

our family on my mother's side call ourselves "pamilya ganda" (the beautiful family). hey, love your own right? lol! this is a pic of one of our family reunions years ago. it includes some of the original members of the pamilya ganda, (we've added more cousins, husbands and babies since then) this pic is really special to me since it includes my grandfather and mom who both have passed on. my being thinner then is another big plus in my book! lol!

that's me on the left side of my grandfather =)

Feast One Hundred & Sixty Two

Appetizer

How are you today?

i am happier than i've been the past few days. more tired though since we're still adjusting to our new nanny setup...

Soup

Name 3 television shows you watch on a regular basis.

recently none, since i can't even turn on the tv because usually i'd be too tired... but before, i regularly watched desperate housewives, house and grey's anatomy.

Salad

What’s the scariest weather situation you’ve experienced?

it happened a few years ago, when Manila was directly hit by a typhoon named Winnie and we had non-stop rains that the river near our place eventually overflowed causing tummy-deep floods. and the scary part was that the water rose at around midnight, when almost everyone has gone to bed already, not noticing the danger we were all in. good thing the water didn't reach inside the house since our house was a bit elevated, sadly some of our neighbors were not as lucky.

Main Course

If you could wake up tomorrow morning in another country, where would you want to be?

italy, tuscany to be exact. recently i've re-watched my fave movie Under the Tuscan Sun with diane lane, and every view from that movie was just so enchanting!

Dessert

What do you usually wear to sleep?

hmmm... some times tshirt and shorts, other times a night gown =) depends on whatever i pull out first from my closet.

an answered prayer...

"jesus' blood never failed me yet..." this is from a song of my fave jars of clay.

yes, my God has again manifested His infinite kindness... as found in the Bible: ask and you shall receive. we now have a nanny, and today was her first day. so far so good. hubby gave her instructions regarding bea's complicated feedings , and i'm keeping my fingers crossed (and my eyes lifted to the heavens). i hope she understands bea's condition and patiently take care of her. i kept on asking her earlier how was her first day of work... she just kept on smiling... i don't know if she is just shy, or if it is a bad sign.. i choose to stay positive and hope for the best.

our nanny nightmare

we are officially nanny-less. last friday, our nanny of 10 months walked out on us. she previously asked our permission so that she can go out and go to the local courier (LBC) to send some money home. before that, she asked for her full salary, under the pretense that her younger sister was sick with dengue and that her parents were asking for money. i tried to be considerate and even though my budget was really tight, i gave in to her request. stupid me, because i had no idea that she was planning to leave already, i gave her another P500 and asked her to buy bea's milk on the way home. that is what i resent the most. ok, so she didn't want to work for us anymore, i can understand that, but she knows that the P500 was my last money (because i told her so) and she knows that bea's milk can will be empty by afternoon, and yet she still had the gall to take the money and walk away. i mean, she could've bought the milk first, drop it off and then leave... or make up an excuse not to do the chore since she has no intention of returning anymore... if she had any consideration for my daughter. =( good thing lolo was there, when it was snack time already and still no nanny in sight, he volunteered to go to the drug store and bought a can of milk. =)

it was carefully planned. earlier that day i saw her carrying a blue plastic bag and brought it outside, she said she was just taking out the trash... later i realized it probably contained the belongings.

so now hubby and i are taking turns taking care of bea. i took care of her for 4 days straight, (thursday to sunday) because hubby was busy. earlier, i had to go to work already, so it was hubby who stayed home with her. we really need to find a nanny soon!

i'm trying to look at the bright side. i'm thinking it's better this way. lately, we noticed that our nanny is more irritable than usual, (she used to be so patient with bea), then last wednesday, when i called home to check up on bea, lolo resty told me that bea vomited her lunch. he said that during lunch, bea was so cranky already that she was crying and still the nanny kept on feeding her... until she threw up. i felt terrible. i specifically told her that once bea starts crying, that she should just stop the feeding. i mean we are spending so much money and effort just so bea can get over her food aversion and eat normally and then she does this. grrr...i am so afraid that bea will be reminded of the yucky sensation of vomiting and associate this with food again. (we went through therapy and tons of meds just to help little bea get better). good thing though, so far she's showing no signs of it affecting her progress... =) thank God!

when i got home that night though, i did not reprimand her, because i am always trying to be careful in talking to her since she is SUPER SENSITIVE! whenever we call her attention because anything at all, she takes it personally... one time when hubby (a super hands-on daddy), told her calmly that he wanted a chore (i can't remember which one anymore) done a certain way, our nanny started to cry and told hubby that he should stop meddling with what she is doing and since he seems to know everything, maybe he should take care of bea himself! imagine the nerve! i know we should've looked for a replacement right there and then, but we couldn't find any, and we really needed a nanny since we were both working. *sigh*

anyway... i just wanted to share our nanny nightmare these past days... i sure hope God sends us a good nanny soon! =)

friday's feast # 160

Appetizer

When was the last time you visited a hospital?

two weeks ago, for my daughter's monthly checkup

Soup

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how ambitious are you?

sadly, a six.

Salad

Make a sentence using the letters of a body part. (Example: (mouth) My other ukelele tings healthily.)

tongue - two of nine guests unexpectedly expired... (how morbid i know!)

Main Course

If you were to start a club, what would the subject matter be, and what would you name it?

a club of mothers having problems with their nannys. (there will be another post about this!)

Dessert

What color is the carpet/flooring in your home?

marble in the living room, orange tiles in the kitchen, cream vinyl in the bedrooms =)

photohunt::plastic

this pic was taken on our way to a pool party, which was to be bea's first pool experience. i just think she looks so cute with her pink plastic glasses on. she looks so summery!




this next pic was taken in a toy store. i just had to take a pic since this was the first time bea showed any interest in plastic barbie dolls. =)

movie:: 1408

a refreshingly old-fashioned film going for the suspense rather than the blood and gore. it is a film about michael enslin ( john cusack), an author turned ghost debunker. he goes to places that are supposed to haunted to try and find out whether it is for real or not... then he rates it according to just how scary the place is. it turns out that enslin is in fact jaded with is work since in all the places he's been to, he has yet to see an authentic ghost sighting. that is until he gets a postcard from an anonymous sender... a postcard from the dolphin hotel in manhattan, warning that he shouldn't enter room 1408. of course this intrugued him even more!

samuel l. jackson is also in the movie as gerald olin, the dolphin's manager, who's bent on stopping enslin from checking in room 1408, where it has been documented that no one stays alive for more than an hour... dan dan dan dan! the carpenters' haunting song is a nice effect to the already spooky movie.

hubby and i were very excited to watch the movie, being the suspense-genre fans that we are, and i must say it did not disappoint. there were scenes in the movie that were really scary, plus the feeling that there is that one-hour countdown in his life makes it all the more creepy. we watched enslin steadily descend from cocky cynicism to curiousity to self-doubt and finally fear...

as always, i looooved john cusack. subtle good looks, enough charm to forgive him for his cockiness, funny, shows vulnerability that even when he tries to cover up the hurt he is feeling by being brash, i tend to feel for him...

so, what did i think about the movie? nice spooky movie, great acting. will probably watch it again on video =)

feelin' a bit blue

i don't feel so well. i'm not in the mood. (ask my co-workers, they'll attest to that!) i've been feeling a bit under the weather... i'm down with the sniffles... so is hubby, and we got it from bea. =( she's been sick for a week now. she had a fever for a couple of days, good thing she responded to paracetamol, her cough is still there though. she's drinking ventolin expectorant. last time, she drank disudrin, but after a whole bottle, we couldn't see any improvement, so the pedia recommended a new medicine... after a week, her cough is subsiding... i hope she fully recovers soon. =)

i blame the ever-changing weather! it would be raining one day, then scorching hot the next! arghh! a lot of people are getting sick. i hope the weather stabilizes soon, maybe my mood will too.

Parenting Tip: How to Show Respect

one day, i will get a chance to teach my daughter good manners and right conduct... i will emphasize to her the importance of respect, both giving it and earning it. sometimes we wonder "what has this world come down to?" violence, drugs, teenage pregnancies, broken families...

i think respect, or the lack thereof, has a lot to do with it.

respect for one's self and for others is really important. and i believe this life lesson should begin at home...

so how do we show respect? here are some simple ways that will surely go a long way:

• look at a person's face when talking and listening to them.
• show up at events on time.
• say "please" and "thank you" and "excuse me" as needed.
• speak kindly.
• let them go first.
• apologize when you offend others. don't crowd people's space.
• wait patiently.
• keep your promises.
• take people's requests seriously.
• leave things better than how you found them.
• be mindful of other's property and privacy.

(from Lists to Live By)

photohunt::music

i'm having a hard time with this week's theme, this is what i came up with: some scenes from our little girl's first birthday that involved music or songs...


our theme for bea's party was sesame street, here's cutie and huggable elmo dancing to an upbeat music as bea watches nearby.





here's the candle blowing part of the party as everyone sings the happy birthday song... notice how mommy and daddy are doing the blowing while the little one is staring intently at elmo...

friday's feast # 159

Appetizer
Using only one word, how does grocery shopping make you feel?
delighted!

Soup

What is your favorite part about the season of Autumn?

well, we don't have autumn here, being a tropical country, but from what i have seen in the movies... i guess the change of colors and pace, everything seems to slow down during autumn time.

Salad

Have you ever had any bad experiences online?

well there was this one time, when i haven't installed an anti-virus/anti-spyware program on my computer... i felt like someone was controlling my laptop... and is making fun of me. whenever i click once, it comes out as a double click, when i open a window, it will minimized, and whenever i logged in a site, i will automatically logged out. can you imagine how frustrating that can be?! good thing the anti spyware software took care of it!

Main Course

Name three things that make you happy daily.

waking up to little girl's kisses and antics =)

talks with hubby... be it our marathon phone conversations or our late night talkathons =)

reading ... either my books or blogs in the net =)

Dessert

What one household cleansing or organizing item would you not want to be without?

hmmm... this is difficult for me since i am not really into household cleansing or organizing... but i guess the washing machine, since i am really terrible at washing stuff by hand. i tried once before with just a small pile of clothes and it took me forever... plus i felt like i didn't really do a good job about it! ... also a vaccuum cleaner since i am allergic to dust.

movie review:: silent hill

i got to watch silent hill last week in video. it was only after looking for it over the internet did i find out that it was based on a video game... much like resident evil. that probably explains the uber sexy policewoman...

hmm what can i say about the movie? weirdly enough, i liked the it.

it is a story about rose and her adopted daughter, sharon. rose(radha mitchell) is troubled with sharon's actions... sleepwalking episodes, blackouts just before shouting "silent hill". after searching the net, rose finds out that silent hill is in fact a ghost town, it used to be a coal mining town until a fire struck the mines and it has been burning since then, causing health problems among the residents. rose decides that going back to silent hill will help sharon get over her problems. boy, are they in for a surprise...monsters, demons, torture galore.

the story is a wee bit confusing. the scary scenes were really scary though... i just loved the scene with the ehem... "cleavaged" zombie nurses attacking her, the scene was both funny and scary!

what i really loved is the imagery. i just loved the idea of having an alternate universe. the real one, which has vibrant colors and the other one, where everything is gray and dusty... cgi was great, compliments the whole movie rather than hogging the limelight. the little girl was creepy too...

it was an engaging,creepy movie.

quality time with the "pisss"

bea loves looking at the aquarium and the swimming fishes inside. in fact, one of the first words she learned was "pisss" (fish). here are pics of her and lolo feeding the fishes. after throwing in a few fistfulls of pellets, lolo decided the feeding was enough... he said he feared they might've overfed the fishes... thanks to my li'l girl's over enthusiasm! Lol!

bea's monthly checkup

last thursday, we went to st. luke's for bea's checkup with her 2 doctors. we first went to her gastro, sadly after 2 months of treatment, she has lost more than 2 kilos... although looking at the bright side, she seems to be slowly getting over her food aversion. she's eating some solids although it is taking forever to feed her. the doc insists on keeping her feedings at a maximum of 45 minutes. this is really difficult to follow since by that time, she still has eaten / swallowed almost nothing yet. the doc said that be keeping her feedings long, we were making bea cranky and uncomfortable, and she may again associate these discomforts with food. oh well.

next, we visited her pedia... we were supposed to have a DPT booster, sadly we have no budget for that yet... so we scheduled that for next month. the doc is also concerned with her weight loss. she also insisted on keeping our feedings short. she increased bea's vitamins.

although we had bea's ears pierced on her 3rd month, we had her ears pierced AGAIN since the holes healed and closed. last june, we noticed bea kept on pulling at her ear. we suspected an ear infection, but when we had them checked, there was nothing there. the doc said it was just probably accumulated earwax. after a month, when hubby was bathing her, he noticed bea's earrings had accumulated so much dirt at its lock (pakaw), he decided to remove them so he can clean them, that was when he saw bea's earholes red, swollen and infected. it had pus (sorry for being gross!) on the holes! no wonder she was visibly irritated. her hypoallergenic earrings (which we bought at SM) were not so baby-safe after all! since then, she stopped wearing earrings to allow time for the infection to heal, thank God it did heal, but by then, the holes closed up already. bea was given paracetamol before the piercing, and as expected, she wailed when her ears were shot. but when the tears subsided and we showed her her reflection in the mirror with the new earrings she started smiling again =)

book fair fever

yesterday, after our 6th post mss, we went straight to the world trade center in manila to the international book fair. woohoo!!! the happiest place on earth... well for me at least! =)

discounts were as much as 65%! it just so hard to buy stuff when you're on a very strict budget! hehehe. anyway... these were my purchases:

i bought books for me and for bea, and i also bought a smaller more portable bible. =)

i just looove this time of the year when book sales are always held. national bookstore also has a sale on international titles. great! more books to dump in my closet! =)

i made hubby promise to remind me not to buy another one because i have enough books to last me till next year's book fairs. hubby refuses to make that promise saying that i'll just end up being upset with him... he just knows me too well! =)

photo hunters::dirty

back in november of 2004, the philippines experienced a very strong typhoon named winnie, and manila was directly hit. these pictures were taken during the eve of my birthday and lasted up to the wee hours of the next day... at around 11 pm our neighbor rang our doorbell frantically. he was warning us that water was rising fast! (we lived near the marikina river)

we watched helplessly as the water started pouring in our garage. at its peak, the murky water chest-deep along our street. our garage and house was elevated which was a blessing since the water did not reach the house. sadly, it did "drown" our car though.

here's a pic of our neighbor's house

our drowning car... hubby was able to salvage it's computer box, but sadly it didn't run the same way again since then... the carpets were completely ruined too.

the morning after... the water subsided already leaving us with a muddy mess and a smelly car!

friday's feast #158

Appetizer

Who is the easiest person for you to talk to?

that would be my hubby... i consider him my soulmate. i can talk to him about everything! we have our private jokes that make us laugh out loud. a simple look from him and i know what he wants to say...

Soup

If you could live in any ancient city during the height of the quality of its society and culture, which one would you choose?

somewhere in france.... i have always been enchanted with their language, and from what i watch in the movies, being in france seems to give you the feeling of always being in love... =) it would be lovely to have that feeling everyday...

Salad

What is the most exciting event you’ve ever witnessed?

the pope's visit here in the philippines, world youth day. we camped out at the rizal park and joined the activies!

when i joined a political rally, expressing our discontent with our then president.

Main Course

If you were a celebrity, what would you do for a publicity stunt?

i'd spread bad rumors about me, then appear on tv projecting an underdog image, tearfully trying to explain my side. but then again... this is common already! hahaha!

Dessert

What do you consider the ideal age to have a first child?

i think about 28 to 30. old enough to be responsible young enough to enjoy your kid.