juls random thoughts

I know...I know... I've said a couple of times that I'll be back to blogging but I never did. This time, I really am hoping to be back. You see, I am pregnant and about to give birth next week!! Yes!! I'm having a scheduled CS next weekend, Saturday, March 1. I'm giving birth in The Medical City again, my OB this time is Dra. Sheila Illescas, same OB as Faye and Aimee. Oh, and the best announcement, we're having a GIRL!!

Ok, now that most people are slowly leaving their personal blogs. I, on the other hand, is setting back this blog for public viewing.

Why, if you may ask?

Well, I have so many stories that I want to tell. Mostly, this time I want to focus on our travel stories. It may not be a lot but I want to document it somewhere, complete with pics, so as such, the reason for reviving this blog.

So, hoping for a more active 2013!

When we started living on our own, my life had a huge change as well as my schedule and my responsibilities. Not complaining though as I love managing a household. When we moved, Kurt is on his kindergarten in CSA, morning schedule. On a weekday our schedule is as follows:

Mondays: this day is different as my car is on coding. I wake up at 5:15 to take a bath then at quarter to six, I wake up Kurt, give him a bath and change him to school clothes. Once done, Kurt would wake up the dad if he's still not awake then he takes over as I need to leave already. By 7pm, I'm on my way back to house. Upon arrival, have dinner, teach Kurt with his school work then take him to sleep. When he's already sleeping I go down, cook food for the next day then work. My day would usually end at midnight.

Tuesdays to Friday: the difference is that I don't have to wake up earlier to take a bath, I prepare Kurt then when his school bus picks him up, I do either of the three: 1. go back to sleep if I've already cooked the lunch and dinner for the day the night before, 2. prepare for work if I have to be in the office early, and 3. cook if I am too tired the night before that I was not able to cook.

Also during weekdays, I already plan the menu for the following week, I have to be done by Friday because by Saturday, we go to the grocery.

I learned during the first week that it's hard to go to the grocery with no list and no idea of the food to prepare the following week I ended up going to the grocery everyday just to buy the ingredients for the food I have to cook.

It is harder but I love what I'm doing. All this extra chores are nothing compared with the freedom of living on your own.

Next on my post, the schedule I designed for the helper.

Changed my blog template. Is this the start of me going back? I know I initially said I am going back, returned my blog to public but after a few days, decided to put it back on private. I still don't have the motivation to journal. Hopefully, my groove will be back soon.

I want to cry. I want to cry my heart out. I don't know kung hanggang kelan ko pa 'to makakaya. I wish there's an easy way out. But kahit anong way piliin ko may bad consequence.

I am home, working at home actually. Decided to do so to be able to watch The Oscars and I am just so lazy to prepare early on Mondays as my car is on coding so in the past few weeks since the start of 2010, I've been either absent on Mondays or working from home. So after a few months of being MIA, I think I'm ready to go back to blogging. I missed documenting our life, it sort became my online journal cum scrapbook, which speaking of, I haven't done anything for so long. So, let me see.. what month did I left scrapbooking? I think December 2008. So what happened from December 2008 to this moment. On top of my head, for the first time, my sister and I together with our parents went to Singapore. I booked a February 2009 trip on November 2008 with Cebu Pacific's zero rates, you see, there is no required date for the trip, what's important is that this trip pushes through. Given that there is no set date, I was able to book a plane fare for three for only P6,000+, really really cheap. As based on my estimate, I cannot join them, the booking is for my parents and sister. This trip was planned because my tatay's ICD (same function as pacemaker) needs some serious checking. His ICD was installed in the US in 2007 and since they cannot go back to the US and the version of his ICD is not yet available here in the Philippines, the nearest country that has it is Singapore, which is good in a way so they can visit my brother who's now living there since 2006. Will do a separate post on the details of that Singapore trip, but anyway, I was not able to resist not joining them so, since I have expiring miles in PAL, used it and joined them. Glad I did! it was such a memorable trip and a good bonding activity.

Second trip I had was on May or July back to Beijing again for a week. This is work but light work so we enjoyed it a lot. It's my second time in Beijing so I'm ok with not visiting all the tourist spots again. Hmm.. what else? ah yes, Kurt started in big school. And the biggest move of all, we finally moved out to a new home with just the three of us. Well, it's good and bad at the same time because we're supposed to have our own house built but because of typhoon Ondoy, plans changed that we've decided to rent first.

So.. to track back on the major things that happened, I'll be doing a post about the following:
- Singapore trip with my parents and sister
- our Holy week
- calipanga outing in Nasugbu, Batangas and Tagaytay
- the RAFlympics
- Beijing trip
- Kurt's move to big school
- our almost own house
- typhoon Ondoy
- moving out and living on our own
- December 2009

Then after this, hopefully, I'll be able to do the current happenings

I don't know if there is such a word, probably there is, as there is negativity. This is what I wish for now. For me to see things in a positive way. I have always been a negative thinker, too much of the auditor in me probably but I think things happened to me because of the way I look at the world. Now, I pray for positivity, I hope to see the good side even in the worst of situation. Help me God.

I have been such a delinquent blogger now. I just don't feel sharing or writing about our happenings. Hopefully, I'll be back in the groove again. Hoping and praying that we'll be over the trials we're into right now.

Though few days late already...

Hope everybody had a merry and blessed Christmas, a time with family and friends. I have saved some of text messages that I have received from friends. Posting here those that I love the most because of the message it conveys:

From my co-reviewee, Lesley:
Wishing you the timeless treasures of Christmas, the warmth of a home, the love of a family and the company of good friends. Have a blessed and happy Christmas!

From my college friend and JPIA co-officer Yvette:
I wish you peace, love, good health, good people around you and the contentment of being with a happy family. Merry Christmas!

From my officemate Inah:
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the governance will be on His shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor. Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 May Jesus reign in our hearts always! Merry Christmas!!

From my officemate Ryan:
May Christ come to you and your family this "Christmas" with the gift of Love, the blessing of Hope and the promise of Peace.

From my co-reviewer Mark:
Great gifts are not found in any store. The best present is stored in the hearts of people. It has unlimited supply and bears no expiry date.

From my sister in law ate Ireen:
May Christmas blessing shine on you and may the special love of Christ be with you and your family all year through.

From my brother in law kuya Arnold:
It's time to reflect the true meaning of Christmas in our lives. A Blessed Merry Christmas to you and your family!

I wish I can write here what I truly feel this holiday season. But it is something that I will keep only in my heart and my hubby's sister in law's (ate Sweet) heart as she knows some of it. LOL! These feelings made me not wish for any material things. I guess that's the lesson that I got from this experience, that true happiness cannot be bought from a store, that happiness can be obtained when you feel peace in your heart.

As for the little boy, he was very happy this Christmas, he got all of his wishes:

• Hubby's officemate learned that the little boy wanted to have the Ben 10 ultimate omnitrix, kind of her that she bought it and gave it to the little boy as her gift.


• For the Bakugan battle brawlers, my boss (our wedding ninang) gave him three of these then hubby's officemates gave him too so he have a total of five Bakugan now
• While for Tech Deck, good thing his mommy2 and daddy2 gave it to him as a gift as that is one of his wishes for santa but "santa's helpers" couldn't take buying that toy for him as "they" find it so impractical. LOL!
• Santa claus gave him the big bike. The little boy is so happy. Santa gave him a really big bike that even I can ride it. The little boy enjoyed using it around the street, he actually knows already how to ride and get off it. Too bad thought that when "santa's helpers" were looking for the safety gears, they're out of stock so ayun, nasugatan ang little boy sa tuhod when he fall off. Good thing it was a small scratch at hindi naman sya nadala to ride the bicycle. And another good thing that we were able to see knee pads, elbow pads and hand guard from SM toy section in Megamall the other day so the only thing lacking now is the helmet and his all geared up.


• Our gift for the little boy is a billiards table. Funny, as it is not only the little boy who enjoyed, even the titos and lolos are playing it.

Obviously, hubby and I are not thrilled on buying toys influenced by Cartoon Network as we both find it overrated so good thing that he receive gifts of these toys as we'll definitely not buy those. We both agreed that we'll only buy practical toys. I guess it's also because of the fact that the little boy will only play with these toys while it's still new. He easily lose interest with these types of toys as he prefer outdoor activities.

I already took pictures of him on his bicycle but haven't uploaded it yet so will post it once I am able to empty my camera phone.

That's what I'm feeling right now. Been like this eversince my exam ended at 1pm this afternoon. I've already been to the parlor, had a hair cut (a really short one), had foot spa and pedicure, been re-reading my Twilight book BUT still I feel empty, tired and lonely. I don't know if the exam was very hard but there are probably 10 questions which I have definitely guessed and then I have these answers that I initially marked with a question mark with the intention of reviewing them later on which I have never had the time to do so. I guess that's what surprised me. We had a mock exam two months ago, same format, 200 questions that we have to answer in 4 hours, I finished ahead of time, took 3 hours plus and that already includes me reviewing my answers but this time, I never had time for that. My co-examinees didn't seem to be as bothered as me, I don't know why, was it really just me who really thought that the exam was hard? I was so affected that I even shed a few tears when I got home. I am very very tired, you see, I only was able to sleep last night at past 2am or was that 3am, then I woke up at 5:15am. The little boy won't let me sleep last night. Of all the nights, that is the night he decided to stay up late and he won't even let me sleep. Eh since, sleeping has always been my problem, I can't sleep even if I am sleepy already, I was only able to sleep when he finally decided to go to sleep beside me. My MIL was even kind enough to keep him company in the living room watching cartoons while I attempt to go to sleep in our room, hubby is out for a christmas party and he's out again today for his bowling then kita-kits with highschool friends.

I don't know if for how long I'll feel this way. I hope I get over soon as it is already affecting my view of all the other aspect of my life.

I am just so tired. I know I did my best in preparing for this exam. I faithfully attended all the saturday review class, only missing a half day due to an office activity. I faithfully read the review manual three times!! the first one, before the class discussion; second time, was when we were given one month to study before the mock exam and the third time was after the mock exam and before the actual exam. I attended the group study. Even patiently studying everyday after office, sleeping at 12 midnight the earliest for that matter.

Hay... I know this post is so...frustrating. I am.

I am almost back. I'll already have my exam tomorrow. After months of preparation and a week of leave to study, eto na ang final moment. I'm not studying today. Masunurin akong bata, as told by the reviewers, I'll rest today. So while the little boy is in school, I'll be surfing the net, reading blogs.

I know...I know... I haven't update this blog for so long. I am supposed to post about the following:
~ little boy's birthday in school
~ his first exam
~ his trick or treat

BUT as usual I am so busy. Busy with everything but mainly because I am preparing for my exam this December. I only have a month left to prepare so I have to treasure the precious time that I have to study. So, I apologize for this. I will definitely be back with a vengeance, but it does not mean that I won't be accessing this blog until the exam, I will but probably not much updates. But I definitely still visit your blogs. Don't worry! hindi ako magpapaiwan sa chismis.

The little boy is turning four on Monday and he is very excited about it. He'd attended a little too many parties of his classmates that he can't wait for his turn.

No extravagant celebration as the school discourages it (to avoid inggitan). Simple celebration only during their snack break. The little boy initially wanted a Thomas the Train themed party, unfortunately, looks like I still have to buy the party things in the US as we did not see anything available here. Good thing the little boy agreed for a Disney Pixar's Cars theme. We bought the following this morning in Toy Kingdom, Megamall:


1. Paper plates:


2. Paper cups:

3. Plastic lootbag:

4. Cone hats:

5. Inflatable balloons

I made a really simple invitation, see sample below:

Then I'll order a Cars themed cake from Ria. A sample of the cake shown below, got from her webshots album.

Tomorrow, I'll be heading to Landmark to buy the loots.

Kurt and his classmates had a presentation this morning during the 8am mass in the village. I was so teary-eyed as I can't believe that he's a big boy already. I am so proud of him as during the entire mass, he was very well-behaved even if he's far from us as he is with his classmates. They sang Angel of God and even had some actions to go with it. Funny lang the little boy as he only did the acts on the first round, on the succeeding rounds, parang nag-sink-in sa kanya na ang daming tao, natulala na. Here are some of the pics:

Kurt before the mass:

During the presentation, before priest's final blessing:

With kuya Sean:

With lola, Iyos, lolo and kuya Sean:

More of the pictures here.

Hubby celebrated his 3_th birthday last friday. I can't think of any other gift for him so bought him an orange Lacoste polo shirt instead. I'm actually thinking of buying him a new cellphone as his Globe phone badly needs replacement but that thought caught me offhand, hindi ko agad napag-isipan at napag-ipunan so I decided against it. He loved his polo shirt, kala ko lang eh he's so payat na that I bought size 3 instead of 4 so we have to go pa to Greenbelt to have the size changed. His officemates treated him for lunch in Aveneto that friday while the two of us had dinner in our favorite steakhouse, Gulliver's. Of course we ordered the prime roast beef Gulliver's cut and a glass of wine. We chose to order the wine per glass now as the last time when we ordered one bottle, si hubby lang ang umubos kasi di ko type lasa but surprisingly, this time masarap yung wine that I finished my glass while hubby ordered another one. It was a very good meal, ganda pa ng view and when we arrived there, kami pa lang dalawa, aga kasi namin. I usually order dessert after a good meal but since hubby brought with him a very big cake from his officemates, I just ordered coffee and decided to wait for the dessert at home.

Saturday night, we had a simple dinner at home naman with his side of the family.

Saw this list from BFAD's website updated today. This list contains the products that they will be testing for the presence of melamine but to be sure I think it is safer if we avoid these products now.

1. Anchor Wam Frootmilk Drink Mango Magic
2 Anchor Wam Frootmilk Orange Chill
3 Anchor Wam Frootmilk Strawberry Spin
4 Dutch Lady Pure Milk
5 Farmland Skim Milk
6 Greenfood Yili Pure Milk
7 Jinwei Drink
8 Jollycow Pure fresh Milk
9 Jollycow Slender Lowfat Milk
10 KLIM Instant Full Cream Milk Powder (1.8 Kg)
11 M&M Chocolate brown 40gm
12 Meiji Hokkaido Azuki (red bean ice cream)
13 Meiji Ujikintoki (red bean and green tea frozen confection)
14 Mengniu Original Drink Milk
15 Mengniu Pure Milk
16 Milk Chocolate Bars/China
17 Milk Chocolate Candies/China
18 Milkboy repacked
19 Milkboy repacked
20 Monmilk Breakfast Milk Walnut Milk Beverage
21 Monmilk High Calcium Low Fat Milk
22 Monmilk High Calcium Milk
23 Monmilk Milk Deluxe Pure Milk
24 Monmilk Pure Milk
25 Monmilk Suan Suan Ru Sour Milk Beverage (Mango Flavor)
26 Natural Choice Milk Ice bar
27 Nespray
28 Nestle Carnation Calcium Plus Non Fat Milk Powder (1.6 Kg)
29 Nestle Chocolate flavor Ice Cream Cone
30 Nestle Dairy Farm Pure Milk
31 Nestle Vanilla Flavor Ice Cream Cone
32 Nutri Express Milk
33 Nutri-Express 15 Nutritional elements (blue, red and orange label and cap)
34 Nutri-Express Milk
35 Nutri-Express Milk Green Apple
36 Prime Roast cereals 28gm
37 Pura Fresh Milk
38 Snickers brown 59gm
39 Strawberry Sorbet
40 Trappist Dairy Low Fat yogurt drink
41 Vita Fresh Milk
42 Wahaha Orange
43 Wahaha Yellow
44 Want Want Milk Drink
45 Yili High Calcium 250 ml
46 Yili High Calcium Milk 1L
47 Yili High Calicium Low fat Milk Beverage
48 Yili Lowfat Milk 1L
49 Yili Milk
50 Yili Puremilk 250 ml
51 Yili Puremilk 1L
52 Yinlu Milk Peanut

I just wonder though when they'll start the testing or whether the testing is ongoing already.

We've decided not to move the little boy to another school. I know a lot of mommies/friends out there will react to this but after serious thinking we decided to make him stay with the current school.

Rest assured though that when we decided this, it's because we did it for Kurt. He love his current school, even his teacher and moreso his classmates, so we can't imagine taking that away from him. I guess its better this way na rin as when we move him to the other school his school service will be a tricycle and I can't imagine exposing him to a lot of pollution caused by the smoke kasi mahaba-habang tricycle ride din yun and given that it's a rainy season, kawawa naman sya. We'll again reconsider next year but I think for this school year, we'll letting him stay. And he's becoming more active now in school, I guess it helped when we talked with the teacher kasi she makes Kurt recite more often so nasasanay na sya and even raises his hand now to answer the teacher. We also got his "report card" last weekend, I wish I copied/xeroxed it but he got mostly satisfactory, MS (can't remember what this stands for). The "report card" is per activity like: goes to class early, participates actively in class, indepent, etc.

I am sooo busy that I hardly have time to open this blog and post a new entry. Busy season in the office hasn't formally started yet but I am busy with all things related to it such as planning and admin. My role as the cluster's scheduler is so hard!! add to that pa that I am studying. I have whole day classes every saturday and it doesn't end there, I have to make sure that I study every night. Then there is pa our school dilemma for the little boy which until we haven't fixed yet due to matters not within our control and matters that we can control.

I know I have some tags pending, will do it once schedule permits.

It's a monday. New week. New day of the month! It's "ber" month already. I can almost feel the Christmas spirit coming. I just can't wait to play my Christmas cds.

Have a nice week everyone! I'm off to training. Will do updates later.

Thanks Tet! I'm kinda nervous and excited as there's not much words that starts with letter J!

SCATTERGORIES.

It's harder than it looks!

Erase my answers, enter yours, send it to your friends.

*Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following.

*They have to be real places, names, things. Nothing made up!

Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial.

You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

WHAT IS YOUR NAME : Juliet

4 LETTER WORD : Jump!

VEHICLE : Jeep?!

TV Show : Oh no! The Jetsons?

CITY : Jersey City in New Jersey, Jacksonville

BOY NAME : Jonathan

OCCUPATION : Jobless?! LOL!

SOMETHING YOU WEAR : Jeans! wipee! madali lang

SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM : Jergens lotion! uy totoo eto ha, meron talaga

REASON FOR BEING LATE : Just plain lazy

SOMETHING YOU SHOUT : Juzkoday!