12.28.2013

I Want Skinny Sleep!




So! This pretty much sums it up!!! I, a mother who barely sleeps for more than five hours, am in serious need of SKINNY SLEEP!!!

Out with - beauty sleep (although I need that too...o.k.  it is still in)

In with - skinny sleep.

I am wondering though if less than five hours would count as skinny sleep...

Bet not. 

So from this day on, I am gonna experiment.

I will see if I get skinny on a six to eight hour sleep a night.

Check with me on the results...

After a century lol

Seriously, moms do barely get sleep every night.

Because that is the only time they can make things done- when the kids are asleep.

As for me, I sneak in afternoon naps.

I am lucky though if the phone does not make a sound in ten minutes (the kids are in school so they don't disturb my afternoon bliss) in which case I wake up, startled from my one-minute nap and can't get my sleeping groove back on again.

So, anyway, I am hopeful I can get enough sleep this vacay.

As long as I stay away from food.

Which is very hard...

My road to awesomeness is on hold.

Naka-holiday din haha




12.18.2013

Sick Day Yet Again



I think I have the flu.  I have sore throat and my eyes are burning behind their sockets.  And the worst part is that Adrian is, too.  When you are a mom, you forget about being sick because you think of your family first.  He is excited pa naman over his Christmas Party...He was having rocking chills last night and high fever so I was not able to rest really well.  The next day, I was informed he had wet poop.  I was very worried. In July, he had amoebiasis.  He was vomiting round the clock (seriously) for like five days and got mildly dehydrated.  We were not able to know he had amoebiasis immediately because he hides when he poops and just calls me when he is done.  And besides, he barely pooped.  Just projectile vomited every time.  This time though, we were able to do lab tests immediately because he was more than willing to give samples on account of his Christmas party and that I-have-to be-well-for-tomorrow's-party attitude.

I was shocked when he turned out positive with those entomoeba thingies.  I try to be clean!  I boil my already distilled water for 15 minutes!  (It can last up to around 30 or so if I get engrossed writing a post and forget I am boiling something)  He doesn't even eat left-overs!  Most probably, it could be the water tank, but I pray there won't be a repeat of this.  Unlike the first one, he is having high fevers and chills and he is pooping more than usual.  I hope he is better tomorrow because he is sooo looking forward to his party.

Remember those times when as a mom you say "Lord, let it be me instead of him/her..."  A lot of times I say this until my mom told me she used to say this about me, especially when I am having those terrible asthma attacks.  One time, when I stayed home for almost a month when I was in my first year in high school because of flu and a flu relapse, she prayed this and she ended up sick with the flu a week after I got better.

So don't ever say that, mommies. Ask the Lord to heal our children and to make you strong because you are the primary caregiver.  Di ba?  How many times do you have to clean the sheets with poop and vomit in the middle of the night while hubby sleeps soundly?  How many times did you have mastitis because you want to breastfeed your child?  How many times have you taken a bath and smelled so fresh until the baby will burp or pee on you?

Hurray for mommies.  By the way, I wrote a post about scents and how it can be a description of your perfect moment.  Now that I think about it, the most wonderful smell in the whole wide world is Baby Smell!  Seriously.  They may have not taken a bath, have burped sour milk, pissed or pooped, but they smell oh so glorious!  I just realized how wonderful baby smell is when I smelled Hailee (did I spell that right?).  Hailee is my grand-daughter!  Tama!  I have an apo na.  She is my niece's daughter.  My niece just turned eighteen the day my dad died and we didn't even know she was pregnant (athough I suspected).  anyway, thee good thing is that she did not do any harm to the baby and immediately was immersed into a responsible teen mommy.  I hope she will be like that forever.  She is also, by the way,  a living lesson to my girls.  I know they must have realized how hard it is to be a parent and won't even try to have kids until they are way in their forties (!!!).  Anyway, I enjoy the baby.

12.13.2013

Forlorn Friday


Don't mind me...I just realized this day sucked.  Funny ano?  I just realized it.  Nothing specific made me feel it.  Parang sobrang naawa lang ako sa sarili ko.  I just felt bad that other people are making you look bad even if you are not (AFAIK) and that I am getting cheated of something that should be equal.  And no matter how I try to ignore or be nice to everyone, people are judging me differently.

Forgive me for my drama...I am but just human.  And oh, by the way, this is not about my home, because everything is fine.  I really feel bad because people are thinking we are not making any effort, and you know, that big guy was right.  It is not about how smart you are.  It is how you are maabilidad.

But still, I think it is cheating.  And though hard as I try to forget those mean things, I still feel bad.  Because for some people, money is everything nga...And they move heaven and earth and destroy relationships just for it.

It sucks.  And the worst part?  They think they are doing. something perfectly...better than us.  Had we been given a fair share, I would work hard for it.

Geez, so sick of everything na...I want to get out bad na...

On a funnier note, maybe The Vince was having a terrible day as I am.

Sige na nga.  Friday the thirteenth kasi.

Kaya lang, dear Lord, don't make my everyday Friday the 13th naman.  Make it their turn naman...

Ok, back to the funny...The Vince forgot that I was in the office and left without me!

My Gulay.

I had to call him.

"Saan ka?"

"Pauwi na.Saan ka ba?"

"Office. "

"P@#$a.  Balik ako!"


Nicole gave me a massage today so that was one upside.

Downside...I am running out of cash.  And I know I should have more had these people hayy di bale na nga.  






"

12.12.2013

Sugar Sync Getting Sour




Something happened as I was about to write this post about Dropbox. 

So I am changing my Post Title to Sugar Sync Getting Sour. 
(Goes Over To Delete My Original Post Title "MY DROPBOX CRISIS: AVERTED" to the one you visibly see now.) 

I just read an e-mail that Sugar Sync will be transitioning to a paid service! 

I AM SO TEMPTED TO EDIT THIS PICTURE WITH THE BIRD FALLING DOWN!

I have Sugar Sync only because of Kindelirium.

Kindelirium is a group of Kindle lovers and owners who share Kindle love.

And that Kindle Love is massive!

Supporting a massive library...

Hosted by Sugar Sync.

We used Dropbox for a time.  (I still use it though for all my files.  And I pay for it annually.)

The problem with our Dropbox shared folder is that anyone can edit it.

Which means that once a member deletes a file, that deleted file will be shared, resulting in an empty file.

So I often found myself trying to restore deleted files (most of the times, other members do) while strongly berating new members that they should not sync the shared dropbox folder because the folder contains more storage than what is allowed in the free version.  A lot of times, a new member panics when he sees his dropbox folder has a memory shortage and would delete the group files, resulting in deleted files in all the members' shared folder.

This has become an issue that Kris, our admin, tried looking for a new cloud drive, and finally ended up with Sugar Sync.

Sugar Sync is a free online storage service which stood out in a way that shared folders can only be edited with permission.  This minimized the possibility of members unknowingly deleting files or sometimes, like what happened in dropbox, the entire folder

And we were perfectly happy with Sugar Sync.

Our library grew.  Literally abot hanggang langit lol.  It was book heaven!

Unfortunately, sweet times with Sugar Sync is coming to an end as it announced that on February 8 of next year,it will be transitioning to a paid-only service, with the free 5 GB plan as a casualty.  Its paid plans start at $7.49 per month or $75 annually for a 60 GB storage.

And ang malupit is that we - the old users who are perfectly happy with the free plan - won't get to stay with the free plan.  Your files have gotta go or you go back to Dropbox or some other free service.

You have an option to get the basic plan and avail of the 75% discount if you sign up by December 16.

But I already have a Dropbox Plan with around 110 GB of storage.  So getting another one with Sugar Sync is out of the question.  

However, I still mourn the Free Plan demise.  I bet the Sugar Sync guys belabored over this decision and must have sleepless nights before coming up with this decision.  

Because the truth is, going on a free ride has to end.  But then, Sugar Sync should still have included the free plan option and hope that most of them will convert to a paid plan.



12.07.2013

Saturday's A Killer



With the way I count the days, the hours, the minutes, the seconds to Saturday, you would think something big is happening on Saturdays.

Something big is happening alright.

And for this Saturday, my biggie is LAUNDRY.

Yup, say that after me, Laundry.

Relatable ba, mga muthers?

I always try to be efficient with my laundry. I try to do a pile one weekday so I won't be stuck with a big pile on Saturday so I would have more mall time to waste money that I should be investing (hehe).

Besides, I have my reliable Electrolux Fully Automatic EWT704.



It is one of my most-loved appliances.

And I would never do anything to hurt her.

Just tire her.

Because she delivers.

Imagine, you can finish a big pile without breaking into a sweat!  So unlike all the mommies I know who have those twin-tub washing machines and still make kusot.

With my Electrolux EWT 704, I can finish a book! And watch television!  And cook!  All at the same time.

It took multi-tasking to an entirely new level.

Okay.  Done professing my love with my washing machine.

The problem with this day is that one of our water tanks ran out of water.  Yes.  Tanke na lang siya.  Hindi na water tank.

I guess that is our perennial problem here in Q-M Subdivision.  For as long as I lived, we never had decent water supply.

I tried to live with twice a week water supply in 2 hours.  If the water reaches us - kasi our house is on a higher level.

The Baguio Water District sucks.  As. In.

So, anyway, the problem with this tank that ran out of water is that it is connected to my automatic washing machine.

Which means that if there is no sufficient water supply, my machine won't deliver.

Hayyy...

I can't have water delivered to this tank too because no hose can't reach it. 

Baguio Water District water lang ang pag-asa.

So, I did my laundry in the other washing machine na sem-automatic, meaning you turn a knob and it turns, but you have to watch the water tub because it won't automatically shut down.  And it doesn't do the job for you from start to finish.  You put water, soap, get rid of the water, fill it up, rinse.  I can't imagine I have been doing this for years before I got my Electrolux.

And the problem is sira ang spinner nya.

So I have to rinse and make piga the water from the clothes, put them in my basket then run to where my autowashing machine is then set it to drain and spin.

Ganun.

So I must probably have carried tons today.

Meaning no Jillian for me today.

Just Lotus smooth Biscuit Butter (dahil mahal ang Spekuloos) and my wet clothes.

Plus, I had to throw in 5 pieces of denims in the dryer, because with the weather being foggy and all, there is no way they would be dry tomorrow.  We have to leave early tomorrow for Nicole's Family Day!

And oh, let me tell you about my dryer...my second love din...hehe

Next time!

Till then!

12.04.2013

Wednesday! Malapit na ang Friday!



I saw on old -  as in OOOLLLDDD - friend today at SM City Baguio.  I didn't even plan on going to SM because the sight of stuff on sale makes me gooo craaazzyy ! (I actually do a mental twerking when I find something really good -  and it is on sale), but I promised Nicole that I will get her these:


O. K.  Back to my OOOLLLDDD friend.  She is literally old - older than my mom or dad.  She is around 85 years old.  She used to be a high school teacher in the '70s (so obviously she was not my teacher since I was maliit pa noon), went to the US and came back home here in Baguio as a real estate broker.  

She may be old, but she has really good PR and is good at selling, that is why I met her.  I helped her process papers for transfers of titles of properties she sold.  And small world ha, because she knew my mom.  My mom worked at the Baguio City Treasurer's Office's Real Property Tax Section.  (I met her after my mom passed away, though.) and she swore she was a good, good friend.   

Anyway, she reminded me of my grandma - a strict but sweet lady...

Anyway, I was on my way to the National Bookstore at SM when I saw her (after two years) walking ever so slowly with this 3-legged walking cane.

I rushed to her, so happy to see her and hugged her tight. 

She was happy to see me, too, saying I looked good with the usual "Tumaba ka" (which everybody I know who has not seen me for a long time always says.  Anobeh!).

Turned out she just returned from Tallahassee where she stayed for nine months.  Her son-in-law died of stomach cancer.  He was just around 50 and did not even know he had cancer until it was sobrang malignant na. He was a doctor.

Which made me so scared ha.  Every now and then (as in every minute, every second of the day), hospital scenes of what happened to my dad haunt me.  Between me and my brother, I have seen my dad in his bad days.  Three times I have seen him near death and survived.  Until the fourth when I whispered to him to "Go to Mama."  A lot of times, I hate myself for not being with him more in the hospital.  My brother, who had to go on leave from his work in Manila, would stay there the whole time, even sleeping in the car, to be near Papa.  But Papa chose to show his suffering to me.  He always appeared strong everytime he is around my Kuya.

So, anyway, my hurt would be for another topic.  Back to Mrs. F.

She was looking disoriented, because she has been away for nine months.  She was to meet a couple who are asking her to broker for a property (bongga di ba. )at Max's.  I walked with her, ever so slowly (she told me her three toes on her left feet are painful).  She drove to SM, by the way ha!  Galing.  When I grow old, I want to be as clear-minded as she is (but I sure don't want walking with a cane though).  She chose to go through the escalator, e fourth floor kaya yun.  She appeared tired once we reached Max, but happy because we caught up with each other.

And when we separated, I felt sad.  Lately, older people in my life are leaving....

12.03.2013

On Page Views


freedigitalphotos


Since this is a personal blog by moi, I don't really expect page views.  I might work on it in the future (like in a century?), but for now, I will just fill it up with my thoughts and rants.

So, anyway, I was checking on my page views awhile ago and as usual, it is super kaunti, wala sa kalingkingan  and bukong bukong ng mommy blog ko wherein I get around 900 to 1,500 page views a day or even the low page views of my other blog  which gets lesser page views - around 10% only of my mom blog (90-200), but this "other" blog with lesser page views get more opps.  I probably earn more from this than the other one with more page views.

So, anyway, aside from Ms Aileen of http://www.iheartgoodhealth.com/ and http://www.aileen-a.com/ and the occasional visits from other blogger friends like Louise of Mommy Practicality and from Beach Body and other workout companies, I saw a website that sounded new-something about "our meets".  O, di ba, parang facebook or myspace.

I clicked it and holy moly, porn site.  Napamura ako(quietly) and I had to point my mouse to X para mag-exit agad.

Nakakahiya kaya, eh nasa office kaya ako pretending to work! (Down time lang naman...Don't judge me hehe)

 Buti na lang naka-mute ang sound.

Then I started to worry.

Baka may virus.

(By the way, computer virus means VITAL INFORMATION RESOURCES UNDER SIEGE.  Yup, it is an acronym.  (I like to think this blog is sort of educating you, like yesterday, you just learned crabs and spiders belong to the same phyllum. Hehe)

So, anyway, I had to turn off chrome, run on my anti-virus program and ccleaner.

Hopefully, hindi makamandag ang site na yun (just gross)...






12.02.2013

Monday's A Killer!


Okay.  I am biased.  There is nothing wrong with Monday.

I just hate Mondays!



He he.

I watched Catching Fire last Saturday and it was great!  It was a lot bigger, a lot longer, with more movie magic.  Halatang ginastusan compared to the first one.  Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss was perfect.  Many times I felt how she feels in the movie I sort of cried.

The guy who played Finnick was not exactly how I imagined Finnick to look like.  Nicole insisted he is gorgeous daw.  Oh, well.  Teens do have different perspective on how guys should look like.

I felt Katniss soo much that after the movie, I felt an intense need to...

EAT CARBS.

Ha!

I ate carrot cake and Jollibee palabok.  So you guys know, I normally don't eat carrot cakes and Jollibee palabok.  Ang sarap pala!  Shoots!

After several hours,  I broke into rashes.

I am allergic kasi to shrimps, patis, anything malansa (We have no bagoong in our cupboard and I try to convince myself that crabs and that yummy alimango share the same phylum (? Tama ba?) as spiders.  They are arthropods!  So, if you eat these yummy sea creatures, you are like eating spiders.  Ewww!

Except this time.  Weakness ko talaga ang shrimps...

Weakness din ng skin ko.

Hayyy...

I hate taking in allergy meds pa naman.

They turn me into a semi-zombie.

Not that flesh-eating kind of zombie.

A blank, clueless, drugged zombie.

Ang nakakainis, para nang walang effect sa akin.

My rashes, as I write this very minute, are still around, looking angry and itchy!

My meds just made me sleepy.

This entire Monday!

Heck, I was yawning while doing those plank jacks of Jillian in Level 2.

Pero in fairness ha, super hirap ng Level 2.

I can't sustain the cardio in her first circuit.  I don't know what it is called but it looks like burpees except that you don't get up.  You are constantly on a plank position jumping back front, back front (I can't describe it really well, but I will consult Mr. Google later on how it is called.)

This is my second time to do Level 2.

I know.

Don't look at me that way.

This should have been my fifth.

Sorry.  Tao lang.  I missed my Friday, my Saturday, and my Sunday workout.

Tamad mode lang hehe.

(And so sick na kasi of Jillian's talk and her eyebrows.  Seriously. Hehe)

You know what I did instead.

Carbo loading lang naman.

Promise, will be better na this week.

The carbs must be worsening my skin allergy too.