Christmas is just around the corner and almost everyone has a reason to hold a Christmas party, may it be at school, office, church, neighborhood, etc.  Just to have an excuse to have a celebration.

One of the most important thing for this celebration is exchanging gifts, or the monita-monito.  This tradition has been around since time immemorial and in this modern technology era, it still being practiced.  However, I noticed that although the thought is still there, variations have been applied maybe due to necessity or for practical reasons.  Given the present worldwide economic crisis, you couldn’t just let go that easily of your P500 worth of gift.  So to make sure that you will be getting what you really want, most people will openly tell to everyone what he wishes to have as a gift.  In this scenario, the giver wouldn’t have to go to the trouble of looking for the “perfect gift” which we all know will mostly be not, but will come up with the gift that his monito will surely appreciate. more…

Two weeks ago, when I was trying to use our washing machine’s spinner in the middle of washing our clothes, I found out that it is not working.  Since I really need to finish what I’ve started, I’ve continued with my wash using the old fashion way, wringing the water out manually.

I was able to finish my task, but later I realized that the drying part takes longer as compared to using the spinner.  The usual 1-2 hours drying took almost the whole day.  And since the weather is not that good, I have to watch out for the rain or I’ll end up redoing my wash again because it will leave a rather not nice smell on our clothes.

We discussed about replacing the washing machine since it already marked its 10th birthday this month.  But when we checked on the price of new machines, it’s too pricey.  So we thought of having the spinner repaired which costs us around P800 as compared to 4K-5K of new machine, giving us a huge savings .

Yesterday, Nanay, the girls and Samuel, my brother, went to Tiaong, Quezon to visit my brother’s family.  This trip has been long overdue because the girls been asking us to permit them to go to Tiaong for quite sometime now.  So after many justifications and promises, we relented.  Anyways, this tops the field trip they supposedly had last week but were not again allowed to go to because there’s not much to see on the itinerary.  At least the girls would never nag us about the field trip thing for a long, long time hopefully.

Well today is just any other day for Gabi. She’s still    like the usual, looking for something or someone that she can complain about. First, she still insists that we should join their field trip eventhough we have explained to her for so many times already why we will not be going, but still it seems she does not understand. Second, when she went home for lunch, she casually asks for P300. I asked her what’s it for this time and she told me that it will be payment For the cd compilation of all the activities they have in school. It seems that all activities from around last year or 2 years ago were recorded and now were available in this cd.

I patiently told her that this would not be necessary since we also have a recorded copy of all their activities at school, be it a video or a photo. So the fun begin! She keeps on arguing that it is really needed because all of them in class already reserved one copy and they were able to have a preview of what it is and they’re very excited to watch it in full. I explained to her that p300 is overly charged, they should have produced a yearbook instead of this random videos and digital photos, at least a yearbook is memorable. But as usual, above her tears, she keeps on insisting that we need to purchase the cd. I asked bam if she knows anything about this cd and somehow she has an idea, but what puzzles me is why is it that she’s not that insistent as her older sister? I asked also bam’s classmate who’s at our house at time about it and he told us that he will not be buying the cd. more…

I learned this familiar children’s rhyme from Barney, the purple dinosaur when my kids were just babies. Kids and parents just couldn’t get enough of this cuddly, make-believe friend. We had several VCDs at that time of his adventures with his friends, along with the never-ending bubbly songs that entertains the children. And the best part is usually the last part where they will sing the ‘I love you’ song which we all knew by heart. more…

When I looked at Bambam’s monthly exam results, I was not disappointed because she did fairly well, all her ratings were above 90%. She was not able to achieve her target of 100%, because we told both of them that anyone a perfect score means P100 as her prize. Lower than that, no prize.

As I reviewed the mistakes to make sure that they are legitimate ones. One of her mistake in English was from part I where the students should supply a proper noun for the given common noun. For the common noun ‘hero,’ she supplied the proper noun, Supergirl. Well, this just shows how much DC Kids comics she have been reading lately.

The first reading of newly elected officers for Imelda SDA Church were about to begin. Everyone is alert as to who the new set of officers will be. This election is I think very unique as compared to other elections from the past. What makes it unique is that the tenure for this set of new officers would be for two straight years as well as the technicalities that all board members should not be elected as member of the special and nominating committees. I find it odd that when the board presented to the body this new rule, nobody objected and it was unanimously agreed by everyone. But when the election for the special nominating committee is well underway, then I’ve heard some complaints about the tenure which is very long. Maybe it took them some time before they realized what will be the impact of what they have voted at. I am not that concern with these issues because first of all, I am not a member of the church. So as much as I wanted to protest the tenure as well as other technicalities of this year’s election but I do not have the right in the first place. more…

We are scheduled to meet with Ascel, my future cousin-in-law, at MAMC lobby around 3pm today. I brought my two kids and nanay along since the two kids does not have school because of teachers meeting. So for her to get to know and see for herself the two kids, I decided to bring them along.

We talked about the flower girls dresses, the program, my ‘role’ which is now as one of the ushers, and Jimer’s participation in the reception program. It’s really very hard and complicated for these two people to organize their wedding since both of them are half-the-world apart, and they have to communicate through the internet. We’re now counting the days, weeks and months prior the actual date on December 30, and we’re all very excited about it. And its not everyday that someone you know is getting married, and the fact that this event has been long overdue for my cousin, Alex, and that’s what makes it more special. more…

Gabi went down the stairs hurriedly as if someone or something is following her. I thought she was just playing with Bambam but when I saw her shocked face, I know something is not right. She immediately went to me and cried that there was this hairy caterpillar on the window beside the clock. I was confused as to what she had seen so I went upstairs to their room and checked the windows but found none. So I asked her again where and she pointed to the window in our room. She does not want to go near it because it gives her the creeps. When I checked on the window, I found that there is a little brown higad (hairy caterpillar) on the window. I was surprised to find it there, of all the places, so I sprayed with an insecticide. more…

Thank God it’s Friday. Yup, I look forward for this day every week just like any other ordinary employee. However, to get home early is impossible because in all of the days in a week, why the h— buendia is always congested every friday going down to Baclaran. After passing south superhighway I have to step out of the bus and start walking to reach my destination LRT Buendia station…because if not, I will be having 9-9…get it! more…