Wife. Mother. Homekeeper by Choice.
Archive for the ‘Thoughts’ Category.
This picture was taken 3 years ago. It was my children’s first time in Luneta. My son was 4 years old and my daughter was still a baby and sleeping soundly on the stroller. We bought the bottle of bubble solution in his hand for P10. Wide open space, green grass, and lots of bubbles - boy, that was fun.
That was also the last time we visited Luneta.
My birthday is coming up, and I slowly inch my way towards the mid-30s. I know that I look it too, because I’ve been meeting a lot of new people and they couldn’t bring themselves to drop the “po” and the “ate” when talking to me. I still can’t believe it - I am now actually asking people to stop being “so courteous,” but their good breeding can’t make them do it. So what the heck, I decided to just see the bright side, and that is their parents raised them well.
Yes, I have peacefully accepted that I will be meeting more people who will feel compelled to bring out their good manners and right conduct by treating me like their grandmother. Good thing the grandmas of today are so fab. Wise. Elegant. Beautiful. Hmm. I now feel the courtesy is actually a compliment.
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Continue reading ‘Random Thoughts Hours Before My Birthday’ »
This is my entry for Learning, the theme for PMN Fampics this March.
I got the book I was reading from National Bookstore, which was about using astrology in making business and financial decisions.
I just sent an email about the gift of goodbye. That is, sometimes, the best thing a person can do to you, is to leave you and say goodbye.
I got this from Joel Osteen’s book, Your Best Life Now. One of the best inspirational writers ever. In the bookstore last week, I immediately fell in love with what I read at the back that I also bought Become a Better You. If I wasn’t on the verge of running out of cash (I was supposed to be in the supermarket!) I would’ve bought his Devotional right that moment. But I am going back soon, and I will get myself a copy.
It was good timing that I have read about goodbye as a gift when a person came to me telling me he couldn’t let go of someone special. I said, he may not realize it yet, but that may be the best gift they could give to each other.
And so I pondered on the many goodbyes I gave to and received from former flames, co-workers, friends, family. Those were difficult times. I guess that was why the term “The Long Goodbye” was coined. Some relationships are so special that we need time before making the goodbye final.
But if there had been no goodbye, had we chosen to hang on, we wouldn’t have realized that that goodbye was actually a blessing. Some people we just have to love from a distance, or perhaps at the other side of a closed door. Goodbyes paved the way to wonderful hellos, and we now enjoy the love of great partners, the company of great friends, renewed relationships with family.
* A great way to start this new year is to have a fresh new perspective. Get Joel Osteen’s books. Your Best Life Now costs PHP 465, Become a Better You is PHP 665 at National Bookstore.
This is NOT a paid post. My friend Len highly recommends Joel Osteen, and as your friend, I am doing the same.
Manong Basurero,
Just because our electric fan is in the garage doesn’t mean you can have it. Sure, it’s Christmas and you must have sensed I’m feeling kind of generous, but I’m not giving away our stuff. Anyway, here’s a nice big tip because you took all of our garbage bags.
***
Manong Sikyu in my husband’s company,
You must be used to spending Christmas eve in that building, but I can’t help feeling sad that you’re not home. I will console myself with the thought that the HR allowed you to bring your family over. And that you’re getting a hefty holiday pay.
***
A boy singing carols,
Sige na nga, here’s my aginaldo for you. Kaboses mo kasi si Makisig!
***
To our teenage neighbor,
We have our own sound system and our own collection of Christmas CDs, thank you very much. No need to share your music to the rest of us in this street.
***
To my children,
Your dad and I are pulling all stunts to make sure that when you’re all grown up, you will look back to the Christmas of your childhood with fondness.
You’re welcome.
***
To our families,
See you tomorrow!
***
To all of you,
I am full to the brim with holiday joy and I hope you are too. Happy, happy Christmas!
Love, Lady Cess
Oh pitty day! (Oh pretty day!) is one of the phrases that got stuck in my head after I finished reading Little Women by Louisa May Alcott years ago. A toddler named Daisy would exclaim “Oh pitty day!” first thing in the morning regardless of the weather condition.
And so, here I am, proclaiming it’s a pretty day indeed. Oh pitty day!
The sun is shining brightly. Oh pitty day!
I have great parents and siblings, a loving husband and beautiful children. Oh pitty day!
I have many friends, and I am blessed yet again with a new friend. Oh pitty day!
*I decided to let go of many things and to accept them for what they are. Oh pitty day!
*I decided to smile at past hurts and forgive. Oh pitty day!
*I decided to let God deal with things beyond my control. Oh pitty day!
I encourage you to count your blessings and shout with me. Oh pitty day! Sing with me.
It’s a great day, a beautiful day.
The kind of day that makes me want to say
I’m glad that I’m alive, I’m happy to be me
And that’s the way to be.
It’s a great way to start the day. Shout “Oh pitty day!” every day.
***
* Even only for today. I will try again tomorrow, and who knows, it may become second nature. If I slip, well, there’s always the next day! Oh pitty day!
I was in the mood to shop for a new blouse, so I went over this new boutique.
I was in there for about 2 or 3 minutes perusing the merchandise when this group of females came in. Immediately, the sales clerks greeted them a cheery “Good Afternoon!” and fussed over them and led them to their racks with new stocks.
I was there earlier than they were, and I was never given attention, I wasn’t even greeted with a monosyllabic hi. I looked decent, and compared to this group of females, girls actually, I, without a doubt, had THE purchasing power.
Continue reading ‘oldie’ »
My computer crashed.
I lost about 6 months worth of files and pictures and drafts. Tapos na akong mag-grieve. Wala na akong magagawa e. When my husband broke out the news buti na lang I was watching Grey’s Anatomy. Iniisip ko na lang, I lost files lang, ayon sa Grey’s Anatomy, patients die everyday in the hospital. O diba, hanep sa perspective.
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I was able to watch the movie “Babel” in DVD. Actually hindi lang Babel ang napanood ko, as you know now I watched Grey’s Season 3, and there was Little Miss Sunshine, The Departed, The Sentinel, Hotel Rwanda,…Â you get the drift. Marami.
 Anyway, I cannot forget Babel, because basically it was about just one (supposedly harmless) action that brought drastic changes to the lives of… uh, let’ see… at least 15 people around the globe, not counting the police and the government.Â
 I can’t shake the feeling that every thing, every little thing I do has an impact on people around me. This movie has made me think about the things I did in the past, I was wondering what were the consequences to people I know, even strangers.Â
You, have you ever thought about the lives you’ve totally altered because of what you have done?
***
In Little Miss Sunshine, a young man said he wished he could sleep for years, so he could skip high school and all the crap that goes with it.
His uncle’s response moved me, I took the effort to copy the subtitles and share it with you.
You know Marcel Proust? French writer. Total loser. Never had a real job. Unrequited love affairs. Gay. Spent years writing a book almost no one reads. But he is probably the greatest writer since Shakespeare.
He gets down to the end of his life. And he looks down and decides that all those years he suffered, those were the best years of his life because they made him who he was.
This is so cliche but I feel I must still say, we should be thankful for troubles coming our way because these are opportunities to make us better persons.
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I went to SM EDSA last weekend, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there was a 3-day sale.
Bumili lang ako ng mga damit-pambahay para sa mga bata. And then a thought occurred to me - I wish I know how to sew. Then I wouldn’t have to buy these clothes with prices I find ridiculous, at gagamitin lang naman sa bahay.
I’ve been wanting to learn sewing. Many years ago, I had an officemate (and she was only in her 20s) whose pretty blouses she almost always made herself. Yung mga usong short-sleeved floral polo noon, titingnan lang niya sa isang boutique, tapos bibili na siya ng tela at gagayahin na lang niya sa bahay. Voila! A beautiful original polo. Mura pa.
Kaya madalas akong nangangarap, na ako ang nanahi ng pambahay ng mga anak ko, uniforms, costumes, and maybe even my own blouses.
Kaya nung may tinitingnan akong blouse, I couldn’t help studying the pattern and the stitch - and it was all just straight stitch, that much I know. Mukhang ang dali-dali lang gawin, pero ang presyo niya, equivalent to how many kilos of prime beef. (Pero, hehehe, binili ko pa rin. Less 10% e. Saka by the time I know how to sew wala na yung blouse.)
My mom has a Singer sewing machine with 60 stitches which she bought 4 years ago, but I doubt if she’ll give it to me. Pero dati nang marunong manahi ang Mama. She sewed her school uniforms - by hand. Pero namulat na ako na meron kaming de-pedal na makina sa bahay, yung tinuturing nang antigo sa ngayon. Nung bata pa kami ang mga uniform namin sa school siya ang gumagawa. Mga damit panglakad. Kurtina sa bahay.
I read in an article that sewing is becoming a “lost art.” Naabutan ko pa yung panahon na ang mga batang babae ay tinuturuan ng sewing, stitching, cross stitch at embroidery. Pero sa panahon ngayon, where everyone wants everything fast and convenient, bihira na raw ang babaeng marunong manahi. Lalo na raw ang marunong mag-embroidery. If I’m not mistaken very few schools teach these things by now. Bakit ka pa nga naman mananahi ng blouse when you can get one hassle-free from a store?
I think one sure sign that sewing is indeed becoming a lost art is the lack of sewing machines being sold in malls. My mom bought hers in an SM branch. I went to the same store recently because I really want to purchase my own, and the salesclerk was like, flabbergasted when I asked for a sewing machine, wala raw sila non. In SM North EDSA, they only carry the brand Brother, and as per my web search, it’s not a good brand. Paano ka namang gaganahang matuto manahi kung dadayo ka pa sa malayong lugar para lang bumili ng sewing machine? And we haven’t even tackled warranty and after-sales service.
I was listening to DJ Mo in the radio this morning on the way to my son’s school. There was this male caller who was talking about courting a girl who is studying in an exlusive school for girls. This girl supposedly said that she cannot have a boyfriend yet. Turned down, in other words.
Mo asked him if he was poor or rich because girls of that calibre do not date poor guys.
Now DJ Mo has a female co-DJ, Andi. Andi reacted, told him that is not true. So Mo asked, “When was the last time you dated a poor guy?” Andi couldn’t say a word. Supposedly, she opened her mouth to speak, and then she just smiled.
Andi tried to defend herself, said she would be willing to date a poor guy. Then Mo asked, “What are your interests?”
“Wall climbing,” she answered.
“Does a poor guy go wall climbing?” Mo asked. Again, Andi couldn’t answer.
Mo said, when a couple goes out on date, girls of that “capacity” (his term) would want to engage in several activities, which only a rich guy can afford. A poor guy will keep inviting a girl on a Scrabble date and she will eventually lose interest.
This reminds me of the time I did date a “poor” guy many years ago. Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t dirt poor. He was nice, he was funny, he was smart, he was good looking. But there did come a point I was getting tired of going Dutch on our dates, and we rarely went out, though I didn’t admit this. I claimed that I was an understanding, open-minded feminist.
And then I met guys who paid for our dates. It felt great. It wasn’t about having free food, because I could very well pay my way in the places we went to. But, to quote Meredith in Grey’s Anatomy, I felt like “a freaking lady.”
I remember a particular date with the same poor guy. And so we went to this fastfood place, and for the first time, he paid for our meals. I was grateful and was about to say thanks, when he began studying the receipt. No, he didn’t study, he scrutinized. I felt embarassed, but I decided not to pay back my share. I was waiting for him to ask me but thankfully he was tactful enough not to do that.
Anyway, the relationship with the poor guy obviously didn’t work. There were many reasons why, but after listening to Mo, I now realize that one of the reasons why I myself gave up on him was his inability to pay for a cheeseburger for me.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some sort of a material girl. My husband can attest to that. But Mo has a point about guys who pay for dates. They are more… likeable, to say the least. In my case when I myself was in the dating scene, when my date footed the bill, not only do I felt like a lady, I also felt important and cared for.
And yes, my husband footed our bill when we were still dating.
