A satisfying day at the Mall

Yesterday, we trooped to Robinson's Manila to buy Den new pairs of shoes for the 2nd semester in school. "New shoes? Again?!" you ask haha yes, she needs new shoes because her feet are like a bulldozer for some reason and shoes don't last long in them LOL

Fortunately, when we went to Philam we found out that Robinson's Manila was having a sale so we decided to go back for some great bargains. And we did find great stuff, not to mention, getting confused about the whole layout because apparently, the new Adriatico Wing was expanded even more and it was surprising to see so many more shops! :)

Here are the bargains we got:
We went to the children's department because the kids needed new shoes. Dana got a pair of rubber shoes for P250 (down from P700) and Dylan's pair cost only P150!! In a world where shoes cost a minimum of P300 per pair, these were a steal hahahaha

We got Den's two pairs of shoes, for P200 each, a great buy since their regular price was P600 each !! So we bought two pairs and saved P800!! Not bad for a day's work hahahaha

Other items that we bought, though not on sale include light bulbs, an extension cord and a new phone cable. We ate at Karate Kid.. man, I really had a craving for their gyoza and Beef Teriyaki :) We brought home some california maki too :) We also bought a chocolate roll from Goldilocks. Yummy! We were so full from eating at the Karate Kid that we didn't eat dinner at all, except for the cake hahahha

Remembering the Dead

For most of us, Halloween is celebrated every October 31st. It was only in the recent years that the Philippines has adopted the tradition of Trick or Treat except that kids don't go around houses and neighborhoods, they go to the malls and some other event destination. Oh, they do go around in neighborhoods for those who live in the rich and upscale ones ;)

Anyway, after Halloween, there's All Saints' Day and then All Souls' Day - days on which you remember the dead. People go to cemeteries in droves, some have a reunion there, others spend the day cleaning the graves, tombstones and mausoleums. Most times, it's a very happy event, unless the dead that you speak of has only recently joined the ranks, in which case, it's a very solemn occasion.

During this time, we call it "Undas" in the Philippines, it used to be an ordinary day for me because I don't really know anybody who died, at least not someone close to me or the family. The only person I know who we visit at the cemetery is Patrick's Mom who died last August 2000.

But now that my mother is dead and the wounds in my heart are still fresh, I bear the weight of the season in my heart. I can't visit her grave because it's in the States. I can't lay flowers on her, I can't stay with her, I don't even know what her grave looks like. It's like I feel that I should be doing something but I don't know what.. It's like I'm in limbo for the dead, if there's such a thing.

It's just terribly hard and I comfort myself in the hope that wherever she is right now, she's happy and she's free...

It's Christmas time!

I just added another widget to the blog. I thought since we didn't even have a Christmas tree at home, might as well have the illusion of having one within my blog :) It even allows you to decorate the tree yourself and change the background color ;)

It's pretty simple but festive. My only decoration for Christmas ! :)

Scary night!

Last night, everything was just normal. We had dinner, the kids were playing and everyone was doing their own thing.

At first, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me when I felt like the lights were flickering. I didn't mind it at first. And then while Den was in the kitchen washing the dishes, she also noticed that they were flickering. So now, I was taking note of the interval between the flickerings (is there such a word?) just to check if it's not just a fluctuation in power.

Well, it happened again and this time, there was a "buzzing" sound from the circuit breaker. I was getting nervous now because, for sure, that wasn't a good sign. I asked Den to go downstairs and ask my uncle to check on our breakers because even if I looked and looked I wouldn't even know what I'm looking at LOL much less know what I'm supposed to do. Unfortunately, he was out.

So, I was really panicking now. The intervals were getting closer now (wow, like contractions in pregnancy!) until everything went pitch black, but the power was trying to come back on. I asked Patrick to just turn the breaker off. We didn't want to risk a fire.

It was then that we thought about the light switch in our bedroom which gets wet every time it rains. It was turned on last night so maybe there was already some short circuit going on which caused the circuit breaker to get hot. We turned it off and then turned the power back on. Thank God no more flickering. But, as a precaution, we unplugged the ref, the computers, the entertainment systems, the microwave.

An electrician arrived in the morning but the flickering never returned. What the electrician did was try to fix the sockets in Den's room which for some reason, lost all their power (this wasn't related to the flickering). He was also supposed to fix the light socket in our room. That's scheduled for tomorrow.

Wish me luck that we'll have this figured out soon! :)

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Okay .. the day has come and I'm now 36 years old!! hahaha It's so weird but it doesn't feel any different LOL

There also wasn't any celebration as I was sick. I remember that ever since I was a kid, during my birthday I always come down with something (usually asthma) and I spend the day at the hospital. At least this time, it's just simple fever and lethargy :)

I cooked tonkatsu and Italian roasted potatoes instead of the usual pasta .:) It was still delicious though :)

All in all, it was a pretty uneventful day :)

Tita Gigi's birthday celebration

Last Friday, October 10, we went to Dana's Ninong Carlo's house to attend a party for his mom's birthday. The Aguilos' have been a 2nd family to Patrick since he and Caloy became friends and it's also such a coincidence that they're related to me since we all hail from the same small island group in the North.

The kids were a hit (I'm one proud mama!) It was such a bittersweet feeling that these people, though not related by blood, have so much affection for our kids, more so than some of our very own relatives. It's like I'm seeing their enjoyment as a way of how it would be if my mom were alive and she was able to be with them in the same way.

We went home at around 1am LOL it was a good time to catch up and even Dana's Ninong Johann took the opportunity to give the kids his last year's Christmas gifts LOL see how much time has passed before we saw each other again hahaha

The pictures are of (top) Ninang Bito and Dylan and (bottom) the kids playing with the piano (like Chiaki and Nodame) hahaha

Congratulations, Stevie and Toni!

Well, we have a new niece, Hannah Sofia Garcia Tadeo, born on October 01, 2008 :)

I'm afraid I can't post pictures yet as I promised Toni she'll do the honors hahaha

All I can say is that she's cute!

So, congratulations guys! ;)

Lance's 2nd Birthday

September 27, 2008


Today, we went to Stevie and Toni's house in Marikina to celebrate Lance's 2nd birthday :) At first, we weren't sure if it will push through because it ws getting very close to Toni's due date. But, she had her check-up earlier in the week and the doctor told her that Hannah may be coming the week after. But, for once we were on time for a celebration coz we just took the LRT train to get there hahahaha

Unfortunately, Dimples, Jericho and Rhys weren't there.

The cousins just played around while we were waiting for Ate Rose to finish cooking :) Toni did cook the hotdogs! LOL The food was so yummy!! Ate Rose, Toni thank you! hahaha and to think we even had take-out LOL

Thanks goes out to Sharon, Toni's sister for the cake !! Ang sarap!! Delicious!!!

Dinosaurs in Manila!!

September 25, 2008 Yep, you read that right, in Robinson's Manila, there were 9 life-sized, fully-automated robotic dinosaurs from Denmark. We couldn't miss it considering we are all fans of Jurassic Park and it was cheap at just P25 per person. We were coming from Philam that day and Robinson's was just at the back of it. So we decided to go for it! :) and it was fun hahaha The moment we went in, Dylan let out a loud roar at the T-rex that was at the center of the exhibit. People around us were laughing :) Dana on the other hand was scared and didn't want to get near it LOL Lots of moments for picture taking as you can see :)

A trip to Manila Zoo

Saturday, September 20, 2008


It was Patrick's payday so we decided to take the kids to the zoo. For the longest time, they've been wanting to go but we always had little or no money to take them so it was such a relief that we were finally able to take them out of the house and bring them to where they wanted to go :)

The kids were so excited! Patrick and I were too because we knew that the zoo had undergone some renovation so we wanted to see just what's improved.

We were lucky enough to see the elephant during feeding time, so he's more active than usual hehehe We timed our trip to be a little late in the afternoon so the animals were awake when we got there. The highlight of our trip was the tiger who was up and about. I wish he had let out a huge roar to top off the experience but really it was such a magnificent animal.. and scary to think that he's so big and can bite your whole head in one gulp LOL

The experience was a bit marred when we encountered a family along the way and the father was pointing to the tiger and telling his kids it was a lion!!! oh my gosh!! how can you not even distinguish a tiger from a lion!!! there was even a sign on the fence telling you what animal that was! I was so irritated (can't you tell?!) hahahaha

Anyway, we were also happy to see the hippo moving about.. usually we just see the top of his body in the water :)

The ostrich was alive and kicking as well :) I wonder what happened to his other friends? The last time we were there, there were three of them.. hmm..

So finally, we get to the playground - there were swings, slides, jungle gym and even a fountain park where water shoots out from the ground in sequence. It would have been nice to shoot it but there were kids running around naked in the water LOL Only in the Philippines, I think LOL

Dana went immediately to the slides. She didn't like the swing because she says she may fall. So up and down she went on the slides.

Dylan was different. Since this was his first time to actually be on the slide by himself, he was a bit wary, although he was looking closely at his Ate Dana. When Patrick put him on top of the slide and let him slide, the expression on his face was priceless! It was like, "what was that?!" and then he smiled LOL Then Patrick put him on top again, let him slide, this time he made a sound LOL He said, woooooow!! all the way down hahahahaha after that he was literally unstoppable :) Poor Patrick hahahaha

After the zoo, we went to the nearby shopping mall to buy some groceries. We were able to buy Dana a Jumpstart CD which we immediately played when we got home.

It was a good day! :)