no more yaya

Once again, Mateo's yaya went home. This time though, she told us way ahead of time that she wants to visit her mom in the province. Initially, she told me she'll be back after two weeks but after several days, she told me that she's not sure if she'll be coming back. It would have been no trouble at all since I'm supposed to stay home this summer. However, I decided to teach math summer classes so that we could augment our summer income too. My class is still ongoing until next week and we're left with no one to look after Mateo. The remedy we've found is to ask a former co-teacher's wife to look after Mateo while we're in school. Their house is just a few blocks from school so it's easy to drop him off and pick him up. Ever since yesterday, Mateo and I have our morning bonding times when it's just the two of us at home. It can be quite a struggle keeping him entertained. What we do is just play with his toys, read his book, blow bubbles, and anything else we can think of. Despite getting so tired with taking care of him and playing with him, I feel myself getting younger each day ;)

missing my friends

I haven't seen our friends for quite some time. Since we usually get together during summer, I'm missing them more. I would love to see their familiar faces and be able to catch up with each of them. It might be a good idea to plan a poker meet-up with them. Hopefully, a lot of us would be able to come to fill up several poker tables. Of course, it would be so much better if I win too. Haha!

back to work

I was able to talk to my dad a few days ago. He's been missing all of us really bad and he's having a difficult time adjusting to his work life again. His taste buds has been missing my mom's cooking and even his feet are not used to wearing work boots anymore. He felt more homesick when I gave the phone to Mateo and he heard Mateo say 'Papu'. He's hoping he can go home in six months. We're all hoping it's for good then.

water therapy

Mateo is loving the water these past few weeks. Blame it on the heat. Since he gets all sweaty and sticky all throughout the day, a dip in his tub is so refreshing. He could walk in tubs the whole day and he'd be happy. Since it's been so hot these past few days, we've been planning to have do some swimming next week. I'm sure Mateo would love that too ;)

young doctors

Some of my sister's friends will be graduating from medicine next year. One of them was talking about a mobile CME that she's been using. My sister was telling her that she'll be expecting free check-ups once she's officially a doctor already. We also have quite a slew of friend doctors already and we'd often send them a message whenever we have a medical question. It's great to have a doctor who's just a phone call away if you need anything. Not to mention that we get free consultations! Hopefully, we won't need to call any of them except to say hi :)

This announcement was paid for by Epocrates.

three days of bonding time

I'm still here. Still surviving :)

It's been almost four days since Mateo's yaya left and it's been three full days of morning bonding sessions between Mateo and me. For the past three days, it's just Mateo and me at home. He's still his active self and he loves to explore. He's play with anything, even kitchen faucets. We get to do a lot of things together and he get to enjoy each other's company. This morning, I had to do some underwear laundry. I initially planned on doing them once Mateo takes his morning nap. Upon seeing him playing with the pail, I changed my mind. So I had an assistant pang-gulo while doing the laundry. I have to hand it to him though, he's been very behaved and cooperative. I just hope he continues to be like this for another week or so.

freebie love

I admit, I love freebies! Just the other day, we were doing our grocery and I got a pack of diapers for Mateo for free. The brand is coming out with a new line of diapers and they are giving away packs of these diapers as promotional products. I told Ramil that maybe I should visit the supermarket every day just so I could get one pack a day too. Haha!

summer school

I've always been amazed at how the school transforms into a boisterous and rambunctious venue during most of the school year from an almost gloomy and dusty place during summer. I'm just pointing it out now because I had a chance to look around the school again this afternoon.

Devoid of teachers because of the summer break, even the faculty lounge now seems so forgotten. Dust has started to settle on the bookshelves. Some of the computers are also starting to adorn cobwebs while most of the CAT5e cables lie scattered on the floor. It almost seems like a vivid testament of the chaos and panic that happened before the school year ended.

And yet, all these will re-organized, restructured and cleaned again once the bell signals the start of the next school year. From a gloomy place, the faculty lounge will once again be filled with voices of teachers pouring out their frustrations over coffee or sharing funny stories of mishaps and bloopers.

It's an amazing transformation, but I guess that's just how it is for any school! Oh well! It's just another one of those things I would never expect from the corporate world!

a new friend

Recently, I met with a friend whom I haven't seen in a long while. I was so surprised when I saw her. I could barely recognize her. She used to be on the heavy side but the person that greeted me was a slender woman. Gone are her baggy clothes, she was in a tight-fitting sleeveless shirt. While catching up on what's happening with each other's life, she disclosed that the secret to her new figure are the weight-loss pills she's been taking. I learned that there are a lot of different pills out there like lipovox. She's very happy now with her body and according to her, she doesn't regret taking those pills. I'm happy for her, she seems more confident about herself now.

another mall trip

Yesterday, we went on another short mall trip that turned into a long one because of heavy traffic. Ramil and I planned on going to the mall to buy a gift for the wedding we will be attending this Saturday. However, my sister learned of it and said that she wanted to tag along. We then thought of including Mateo too. We spent a total of an hour inside the mall and almost three hours on the road. Still, it was a good mall trip. I got to have my favorite dessert, Razon's halo-halo. Yum!

another online community

I'm amazed at how much a person's life is online. With so many online communities, it's no wonder that social circles have all-new different meanings. Another new community lets you meet new friends, upload photo albums, join groups, start a blog, chat with other members, and listen to mp3s. There's no harm in trying since it all sounds so promising. Why not make your circle of online friends bigger? I might join 3gb community www.3gb.biz, might as well be more sociable ;)

minerals, minerals

I’ve always been a no-make-up kind of girl. My usual routine is to wash my face, moisturize, put on face powder, a quick dab of blush and lipgloss then I’m ready to go. During the start of March however, I discovered mineral make-up. One of the things that I don’t like about make-up is its tendency to increase the number of pimples on my face. But the rage nowadays is this kind of make-up that claims to be very mild on your face, unlike the chemical-based make-up that we’re used to. I ordered a free sample, played with it, and bought myself a small brush set in the mall to play along with it. The sample kit came with three small foundation containers, a blush, and a concealer. I wasn’t quite contented with the three different shades I tried. So I ordered another sample. Hehe! This time, I included a good brush and a finishing powder. Ramil would get amused with the number of times I would ask him if the foundation I’m wearing is just right for my skin color. I just got my second order. Excuse me, I need to try them out :)

price of rice

A lot of people are really worried right now with the rising prices of rice. Ramil and I even discussed it a few days ago and we planned on buying rice to last us for several weeks. We're not really in a panic buying mode but we just want to buy now in case the price reaches sky-high. Just the other night however, I realized that we could actually survive without rice. We just have to substitute with bread or other food. My dad, on the other hand, wanted to check out the current gold price. He wanted to sell some unused gold jewelry he has accumulated over the years. With the rising prices of different commodities, he figured he's going to need the money. It's just a shame that he might really sell a lot of gold stuff. I still consider those good investments. Hopefully, he changes his mind.