A very Merry Christmas!!

First off, I wanted to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas!!!

I know that this is the first Christmas without my mom so it feels sad and nostalgic but I know she would want me to be happy for the sake of my kids, to make them feel the happiness of the season and I hope I've achieved that :) I admit that it's such bad timing that both Patrick and I are suffering from asthma right now. Must be from the cold and the stress hahaha Oh and despite it, we still cleaned the house which probably aggravated our health hahaha

But nevertheless, we cooked Baked Zitti with mozzarella cheese (way expensive I must add but very delicious!) Patrick made Chicken Macaroni salad which we both can't eat hahaha He also cooked some Fiesta Ham. Oh and I bought a chocolate roll and a platter of brownies from Goldilocks but unfortunately we can't eat yet too hahaha the kids love the food though :)

All in all, it was a happy Christmas, the kids got great toys and gifts which they're enjoying right now hahaha Thanks to my mom and my brother and all the people who have shown their support and love through the years :)

Merry Christmas to everyone!! Love ya!!

A Hectic Pre-Christmas Weekend

20 December 2008

It looks like we've been very busy for the past few weeks but it's really only during the weekend that we have time go out. It's also the only time to shop for Christmas dinner without having to face the hordes of people in the supermarket when it gets near Christmas eve.

Anyway, we went back to Mall of Asia (looks to me like it's our favorite mall hahaha) but really it's only because it's big and even with a lot of people around, there's still space to freely walk around.

We bought gifts for the kids again :) They're really spoiled this Christmas! :) and gifts for Den too. Funny enough there was a sale on wedding rings but we only looked around because they were still too expensive even though they're already on sale hahahaha It was just like a hint to us to really go through with it LOL


As a treat to ourselves (well more for Patrick and I), we ate at TGI Friday's. I can't believe how expensive they've become but the food we ordered was absolutely delicious! hahaha we were told that the servings were good for 3 people. We each finished our orders by ourselves - no sharing!! what does that say about our appetites hahahahah but really, it was really good.. more so than the food at Hooters hahahaha

I had the Jack Daniel's Chicken and Shrimp while Patrick had the Jack Daniel's Porkchops. Dana had the Fried Macaroni and Cheese and a Strawberry Milkshake. The food came with corn, mashed potatoes or rice pilaf and bottomless drinks. Dylan loved the corn! By the time we were finished, we needed to be rolled out with a wagon because we were so full! :)

After that we met Den near the Fireworks area. She was coming from a jaunt at the Star City with her friends.

Another trip to SM Mall of Asia

We sure love going to Mall of Asia. What we like about it, is though it's a bit far compared to the malls beside us, it's so huge that even with a lot of people shopping, you're not going to feel claustrophobic. There are a number of our favorite restaurants, like Don Henrico's where we had lunch on Saturday (coincidentally, it was kind of a belated 14th anniversary outing). Oh, and if we haven't mentioned it, Patrick and I are planning on getting married next year hahahaha

Well, the first item on my list was getting to Picture City where they have a 10+3 promo. For every 10 pictures you develop, you get 3 additional pictures free. So I prepared the pictures we needed to print on a CD and when we got there, we asked for 260 pictures printed ! LOL that's a lot of backlog from our library LOL We also found out that they even give away free 8x10 pictures for every 50+15 pictures. So we got 4 free 8x10's from them hahahaha Not bad, eh?

Oh and before I forget, we stayed until 11pm because they extended their shopping hours till 12MN!! We ate at our favorite Italian restaurant (Don Henrico's) for lunch. We had Al Pesto Pasta (Patrick thought it should've been called "Al Garlic" because it was too garlicky for his taste) and Extreme Mushroom Pizza and Fish and Chips! We then roamed the mall for bargains. Patrick bought 2 Krispy Kreme coffee thermos jugs, one for himself at work and the other to give for his Christmas Kringle buddy. We bought the kids new shoes (again!), bought a pair of shoes for me and gifts to give the young nieces and nephews :) We passed the local hardware store (kinda like Home Depot) and I wanted to buy so many things for the house because they were all on sale ! LOL But I only ended up buying 3 different screws for the new speakers LOL

Den joined us in the afternoon (she had practice for her PE Dance Class) and it took her 1 and a half hours to get there because of traffic! I was kinda worried because she gets carsick. Good thing she didn't throw up LOL

We ate dinner at Hooters Manila (yes, we have one!). Patrick was certainly enjoying himself. It was way too expensive for a regular dinner though. I had the Grilled Chicken Salad, Patrick had the Onion Rings and Den had the Swiss Mushroom burger (in this photo). I think it was also a little bland, unless they didn't change their recipe to fit the Manila taste. Or maybe, it's really bland but guy customers don't really notice because they're too busy ogling the girls !! LOL

It's still okay for the family, they did give Dana something to occupy her time although you can't tell in this picture LOL. I'm not bothered by their skimpy outfit, coz it wasn't so skimpy anyway. Den even liked their shirts hahahaha But I'm sure there are conservative people out there who will most likely find something objectionable about it LOL

You can appreciate it's location though because it's right by the bay so you can walk along the quayside after a hefty dinner and feel the breeze :) I guess I just didn't like the fact that they didn't even ask if I was finished eating when they started clearing up our table. And they took so long to give you back your change. My kids and I went out after we were finished, leaving Patrick to pay the bill. We were waiting for him for more than 15 minutes before he came out. It turned me off. They worked so fast to clear your table and then took so long to give you back your change, what was that??!

On to the next stop! :) We had a bit of trouble going home as there were no taxis around and the line was horrendously long. In the end, I didn't want to wait because I wanted the kids to be able to rest so we paid P450 for a serviced taxi. They were asking for P550 but that was already too much because the regular fare was only around P150. In the end, maybe they took pity on us and gave us a discount. But at least we got home faster than those people waiting in line, probably far longer than us.

Patrick and I couldn't wait to set up the rear speakers. We didn't sleep when we bought the TV and the DVD player because it's hard to set it up when the kids are awake LOL This time, we woke up early to set up the speakers and we tried Jurassic Park with it and we had a blast!! woohoo!! hahahaha

Bought some new appliances!

I mentioned in the previous posts that we've been looking at DVD players while shopping at the malls. What I forgot to mention was that we were also looking at television sets and PC's as ours have gotten pretty old. Our TV is almost 15 years old and has been repaired a number of times. The PC, we contemplated on upgrading but there are no available parts left :)

Well, we were all surprised by a little windfall that came our way. One of my aunts, Tita Cora, arrived in Manila last December 11 and with it came a balikbayan box from my grandma for Sharon and myself. She was also the messenger for a bit amount of money from my Grandma and my aunt and uncle in Washington. Needless to say, combined with these and some of Patrick's Christmas bonus, we were able to take advantage of the Christmas sale at Abenson's in Robinson's Ermita.

We got P1000 off the Samsung CT21Z58 that's something like this except that the speakers are hidden but gives absolutely clear sound nonetheless. I love its glossy finish. It even came with a free TV Rack. Patrick purchased the combined Philips DVD and Home Theater System (Philips DVP-3260)which was also on sale for less than P1000. Its got great reviews, can read almost any kind of disc, has karaoke function and a built-in USB drive.With all these purchases, we got an additional P500 discount hahahah Not bad for a day's shopping :)

Personalize your holiday gifts

Now that Christmas is just around the corner, I’m getting pretty hectic about what to get the people on my Christmas gift list. It can get quite tedious having to think about each and everyone’s preferences but it’s really nice to get them something that’s meant specially for them, something they’ll use and still have them remember you when they’re using it.

Well, personalized holiday gifts seem to be a great idea and fits any age, gender and personality. I especially like the 16GB personalized thumb drives because, let’s face it, everyone uses them. They’re really handy, pretty useful and practical with a variety of colors to choose from, and with a customized laser engraving so there’s no chance of mistaking it for someone else’s thumb drive, it’s really a great holiday gift. For your friends and loved ones who are really environment-conscious, there are wooden USB Flash drives available too.

If you’re looking for a more business-like gift, one that can spread holiday cheer as well as serve as a great marketing tool, the Business Card USB Flash drives and Personalized Pens are your bet. They come with free lines of engraved text too!

So if you’re looking for great, personalized, customized gifts for the holidays, look no further because Pexagon Tech has all these in store for you at 20% off too!

Dinos Alive In Manila

December 6, 2008 - We went to see Dinos Alive World Tour 2008 at the SM Mall of Asia. Patrick just got his Christmas bonus and we decided to take the kids seeing as how they're big fans of Jurassic Park :) and it's better to go earlier than later when more people will crowd the place. Fortunately, the crowd was minimal and it was a relaxing experience :)

The kids though got scared of the big dinosaurs, Dana in particular, which made me think that they should illuminate the dinosaurs more rather than creating such a dark and scary theme. Kids who are older may like that ambience though but for kids my children's age, it really scares them so it takes away the fun.

However, Dana brightened up when she went "digging" for fossils ! She also took part in the Alaska games zone and we watched a film showing at the Dino Theater from the QTV show, "Prehistoric Park". Coming out into the open air, the kids played at the giant inflatable slides after which we ate at KFC. Oh, we also got 5 sticks of Purefoods hotdogs! yummy!!

We got our very own souvenir photo from the Kodak stall (for P300+) and bought some toys from the merchandise store next door :) lots of cool toys on sale!! great bargains!!

We finished the day with dinner at Sbarro after going around appliance stores looking for good deals on DVD players!

We got home way, way late!! We were all exhausted but it was good fun!!

(edit) Click here to see the pictures we took.

Hannah's Baptism

November 29 - Hannah's Baptism at the EDSA Shrine and reception at the Max's Restaurant in Robinson's Galleria.

We had a lovely time. Hannah's so cute! :) I think she looks more like Toni than Stevie hahaha Dimples, Jericho and Rhys were also there but they came a bit later.

The food was yummy ! There was fried chicken (of course!), pancit canton (chow mein), shrimp fried in batter, beef stroganoff, chopsuey, leche flan (man, writing about all these makes me hungry again! hahaha)

After, we went around Robinson's Galleria itself because it's been such a long time since we've been there.. We got Dylan new slippers for going out (they're more like sandals), bought Dana some jeans and then we had snacks at Krispy Kreme (the best donuts in the world!)

Visiting Loyola

After so many attempts at visiting Patrick's Mom at the Loyola Memorial, we finally made it. We always intended to visit it's just that money matters sometimes interfere or even the weather isn't cooperating. Well, we're glad that the situation's improved and we were finally able to visit her.

In a way, it was also cathartic for me as it was like visiting my mom's grave as well. It was painful but it helped.

It was also nice that the grave was still in well-kept condition and that we met the caretaker to give him his due.

After that, we went to the nearby Marikina River banks Mall and were able to take advantage of the sale they were holding. Bought some shoes for the kids and pajama sets (which were long overdue) and Triumph bras for myself (hahahaha). Patrick was supposed to buy new jeans but he didn't find something that he liked. Oh well.. there's always the next sale! :)

How my kids have grown!

For the past couple of weeks, I haven't been doing any writing at all! Good, because it allowed me to catch up on a lot of household chores LOL Bad, because we're going to be quite broke again LOL

Honestly though, I was glad that I wasn't doing any writing because it allowed me to look at my kids real closely. And I noticed that they really have grown!!!

Dana's pants, shirts and shorts have gotten so small for her. Dylan can reach across the desk where the laptop is and get access to all his DVD's!! And just the other day, Den noticed that Dylan has grown really tall and now his head has gotten past the stairs railing.

Also, Dana and I were playing Suikoden III on the Playstation and with it, I noticed that she can read whole sentences already!!! The dialogue for the game is read not heard so that allowed me to watch and listen to her. She was reading the dialogue by herself!! Gosh, that surprised me !! I mean, I knew that she knew how to read but the skill with which she was reading was awesome!!!

Dylan is also pretty much potty-trained already. He's gotten used to going to the bathroom for both peeing and pooping :) The problem is, when he's wearing just briefs he still has an accident because I think it confuses him and he thinks it's a diaper! hahahha when he's wearing shorts, he doesn't have any problem LOL When he's taking a nap, he even wakes up and goes to the bathroom and then goes back to napping :)

Time is really flying by and I wish we can slow it down some :) I still want to spend more time with my kids :) Although I do am lucky that I've been there for them all these years.. It IS a privilege :)

2nd Sem has started, more expenses coming our way!!

Oh my gosh.. the 2nd semester for Den's freshmen year has started last November 3 and we're plagued with so many expenses. Those who have kids in college and university will understand what I mean LOL

Can you imagine this? I think their generation has turned into a generation of waste. I apologize before hand because this post may have a few gripes in it so be warned! :)

What I mean by a generation of waste is this. For instance, every sem, every student is required to take PE classes, right. So that's fine. The problem is the uniform - for every class there's a special uniform. She took soccer last sem, she had to buy soccer pants, a cap, gloves, socks and a shirt for P700 a set if I'm not mistaken. After that, she's not going to use it anymore. For this sem, we just went to the mall to buy her a pair of dancing shoes because her PE is social dance. I thought it's just your regular pair which may cost around P300, at the most P500. This is on top of her PE Uniform which already cost P700 yet again. Well, guess what? The danged pair of shoes retails for P2,000 pesos!!! Is this right? Do I need to spend this much for a PE Class???? What the heck?!!!

I remember when I was in college, we only had a regular skirt, shorts, jazz shoes and a shirt for our PE Uniform.. All girl students have the same uniform regardless of their PE class. The shirts are color-coded based on year level, so the whole ensemble you can use for a year's worth. The only different PE Uniform is that of the swimming classes, which is understandable coz you can't exactly swim with a skirt on.

I just don't get it. It was just lucky for me that when we went to this mall, they were having a pre-christmas sale so we got the shoes for 50% discount. But still, it's a big chunk of cash out of our budget... It's just not right, man!!

At a time when people are trying to scrape off every little thing they can to live day to day.. this is a big blow.. I don't know what their university is thinking!!!

Well, enough of this ranting.. I was able to buy some sandals for both Dana and Dylan at a fraction of the cost yet again :) I'll post the pictures soon :) Oh and DVD's for kids were on sale - if you buy one, the next DVD that you buy will only cost P5 hahaha. I bought Dana one of Thomas the Engine and the other of Pingu :) That was a steal !!