Living Mye Life

Despite the numerous cancellations of venue reservations, moved dates, change of plans and stressful preparations, we were able to have a free time for everyone.  Though we have to endure all the hardships of peak hours and traffic, we celebrated our much awaited and mostly anticipated Christmas party with Joj, Jai and Alec.  And it’s all worth it. When I saw Alec entered the room, I had a moment that the room started to light up.  He greeted us with a smile and a big bear hug and the sweetest kiss ever.  We never wasted any single moment and we take pictures and pose for pictures with him.  When the twins came, they brighten the room even more.  

We sing, we played games, we eat our hearts out, we talked about some news about them, and we teased our favourite teen love team.  And we continue talking amidst of all the giggling and screaming fans of them in the busy Mall of Asia; we were able to share some stories though our Starbucks coffee.  When Alec left our group and the twins strolled around and did some shopping I knew our time is over and we to call it a day.  It’s almost midnight but my thoughts are with them and it made me smile.  They are the best PBB housemates I ever supported; I will never regret any single moment I spend with them.  And wish I can see them again, very soon.

The basket of goodies looks yummy but I only get one Dak chopped ham and the red wine.  My Mom is lucky this month and she’s sharing her blessings with us.  An early Christmas treat.

 

 

This is the day when most of the couple rushed to get married in church or civil wise.  Or a pregnant woman due this December wanted to have her child on this day.  I sometimes don’t get the idea of the date hype but maybe they wanted to have the rare date written on their contracts.   And frankly speaking, it sounds good too. 

It may not be a big deal for me but I wish for a different December this year.  I wish to look for a better apartment to live with and eventually, have our own house next year.  I wish for my family’s health especially to my hubby who has a troubling knee injury.  I wish for my sister and my Mom’s food business to prosper.  I wish for my brother’s clean slate beginnings next year and his twins to be at good health always.  I wish for my nephew’s well-being and hope that he’s having a good life.  I wish for my baby Nate’s good health and he grew up happy and may all he have all the love in the world. 

I have a long list this year.  I can only wish it all come true.  So help me God. 

Its Yuletide season again and the words of 13^th month pay and bonuses sounds good to hear everywhere you go. Malls on sale and big discounts are waving right in front of your face.  My family just finished decorating the whole house and the Christmas tree is proudly standing in the corner of our living room, it feels so great knowing we will be celebrating holiday’s altogether.   My sister and I are planning for the menu to cook but we still have to prepare for her birthday on the 16^th of December.  She doesn’t want to celebrate it but we said you will have to spend it once a year so why should she worry on the expenses.

But one thing I am thinking of is what to give hubby this year.  I have a hard time looking for one thing he will like best and my best friend suddenly became my saving angel when she suggested giving my hubby retro glasses as she did to her husband the other year.  I immediately checked on my hubby’s glasses and I knew I have to give him a new one this year.  I can  focus on other plans now that I already put another check mark on my to-do lists.

I know we have a lot of things to do to improve our services and the place itself but with the help of God and my family’s perseverance, I know we can make it big in this business.

My family now venturing into food business and it is running smoothly and we are gaining regular customers as we are giving them the varieties of menu every day.  I told my sister to monitor all the expenses and we could start with just even a small profit as we are new in the business.  Actually, we are very happy with this new development as we are planning to do this for quite some time now.  The whole family participated and we keep helping each other to make it work.

 

I just talked as my cousin in the US who wants to make it big after her dad gave her a small fortune to start with her living.  She said her friend is helping her to venture into the stock market.  She doesn’t know how and when to start but at least she’s having an idea through stock market simulation game.  It helps her a lot and she’s getting all the ideas from there.  I keep on telling her to do it wisely and concentrate on her plans so she can prove to her family that she can make it on her own.  I just wish we can both become successful with what we are doing right now.

Nathan is growing fast.  Some friends will sometimes asked how old is he and when I said he just turned two, they said he looks taller in his age.  Well, we noticed that too.  And just like the other children these days, he is quite smart and observes everything he finds interesting.  What we like in him is we have no hard time taking his pictures.  He loves to pose in front of the picture and whenever he’s crying, we just say, we will take his picture and he abruptly stop from crying.  We can bring him to the mall without having a hard time coping up with running skills, we will just call his name and he’ll stop and goes back to us. 

I can’t believe I’m looking with his handsome face every day knowing how God blessed us with this little angel.  Last night, we went to do some groceries and he saw these lanterns for sale.  He gamely posed for a few pictures and takes a look with his breath taking smile.  What an angel! ♥

I always had a small talk with my friend who settles down in the US last year.  I got to know her when she had a short stint on the job training in our office but she went to Los Angeles to be with her parents and siblings before she even graduated.  She said she not comfortable alone and she misses her family so she decided to fly and be with them. 

Then after a while, we had a chance to talk about her life in the US and she said she has a part time job with their family friend business but she still hoping for much better job position in the future.  And she’s wants to start with finishing college first.  But she prefers the private home tutors more and her parents agreed to get one to help her.  I told her to do her best to finish her studies and I believe she can get through all that because she’s so positive in everything.  I am happy that she’s thinking forward despite of having a new life.  She really wanted to help her parents and she said she will make it good this time.  I couldn’t agree more.  

I’ve been reading a lot from internet that once we change our month they are posting that it should be good to them.  Well it’s November now and I can feel the smell of Christmas at night.  I really and badly needed a drastic change in our life.  I still have lots of plans and it remains as it is because there’s no way I can begin with it.  I need a lot of strength, courage, patience, understanding, perseverance, positive attitude to move on.  I need them all with me now. 

November promises lots of hope and I wish and pray God will shower us with His blessings.  I need to be strong, I need to be brave and I need to stay on tracks.   But I am happy.  I’m happy that despite of all the challenges, I remained as I am.  And that alone should scare all the bad things away.  So November, please be good to me.

After many months of planning and collaboration with other groups, the much awaited get together party with the sweetest and lovely trio of Jai, Alec and Joj was held last Sunday.  Thank God that their schedules weren’t on our GTG schedule and all is well that afternoon.  I was so stressed out but it’s all worth it.  I can see the smile and laughter and they were jiving in with the crowd.  Their family was so supportive and even join the games.  I couldn’t ask for more with the group I have today.  They’re the best, despite of the fact that some of them are miles away from us, you can feel with the way they supported us that they are just beside us, tapping our shoulders and telling us we can do this.  And we did and I’m so grateful for our group.  Different folks and strokes and different point of views but we are one.  

There are so many things that happened these past few days.   I think this is one of the difficult times I have to face.  But no, I can still hold on and I need to be strong and I have to keep holding on to my faith.  I need to with what I am before, strong-willed, fighting and positive.   Well last week, my hubby was still having pains in his right knee and he was sick for a week due to flu, cough and colds.  Then Nathan had a fever for 2 days and though he get past over it, he has now cough and he don’t want to eat anything except his milk and I’m having a hard time convincing him to take his “vitamins” which turns out to be his medicine.

A close friend of mine sent us a group message yesterday informing us that one of our friend’s hubby died from liver disease and it was all sudden.  Then I realized, he’s still in his 40’s and so young to leave his family.  But then, this is what you call life.  You have to learn living with it to the fullest because you will never know what will happen next.  I was suppose to see my friend on a get together by the end of this month but now I have to see her not because of that but because she needed us and to keep her strong, It was one of the difficult thing to do.  And I hope she will hold on to her faith, too. 

I’m having a cough too, and my body seems giving up and I want to lie down to bed.  But there are so many things to do this weekend.  I need to step up.  And I hope next week will be my week.

I have seen my sisters having a hard time in giving their children their everyday vitamins.  I often help them to do that and resorted to all kinds of distractions just to take their focus away from the vitamins.  My younger sister even cried one time and she don’t know why her son doesn’t want any of it even with a strong taste and smell of fruity flavour.  I was wondering that too and I told them I don’t want that to happen to Nathan so I think of some other ways to give them the nutrition they need without too much of the tug of war between us. 

 

My best friend recommended Smarty Pant's gummy vitamins that her parents and her daughter are taking for quite some time now.  She said it was given to her by her college friend and she immediately tried it.  I guess this is the best solution we could have and my parents could benefit with it also.  I need to tell it my sisters and they would be ecstatic to know that she can continue giving her son his vitamins without “fighting” with each other.  I believe my son will think that he’s eating his favourite candy.

How can you hide your emotions? How can you face others without them knowing that you’re crying deep inside, that you’re scared, that you’re lost, that you don’t know what to do? How do you keep the music playing? How can you smile and then feel sad afterwards?

There are so many questions that you can’t answer.  And then you wanted to blame someone but you can’t because that someone means a lot to you.  You started to feel strangely angry why she/he wouldn’t listen to you and now it’s too late?  We can’t cry over the spilled milk anymore, there are lots of what ifs but you can’t turn back the hands of time.  And now it’s a sorry lost. 

I hope time will give hope or stop running fast so you will still have time to make it up.  But…..  What will you do? What will be your options? What will you do to survive tomorrow? 

 

God only knows.  We’ll pray. He’ll answer.

Sometimes you have to sacrifice your family day and your friends  get together because you need to help fulfil a certain jobs that needs all of your participation and cooperation.  But because I belong to the high spirited team in our company where team work and determination matters, all the hardships paid off. We were able to finish the job in two-day time and I think it’s the first in our project.  Above all that, we were able to work happy and joyful and no one is complaining.  It makes all the works easier to do.  We even enjoyed a simple meal altogether in our canteen.  How was that? The pictures below say it all.

 

I think everyone knows within our family that my husband’s love in arranging our house whenever he can.  If he thinks that one furniture needs to go because it doesn’t looks good, then he will look for someone who needed that and then buys another to replace it.  During our first year together, I can’t comprehend why he’d do that when it looks new to me but now I understand what he wants and I grow accustomed to that.  I respect his taste when it comes to decorating our house and I sometimes joke him that he should studied interior designing instead of being an engineer.  His friends often asked him on what to buy in their living room or kitchen area to make it looks good. 

 

What we’ve been talking for weeks now is his idea of our bedroom make over.  And I might agree with him because our bedroom is our sanctuary during the whole day of work and I feel relax just staying in our bed while watching TV or reading my favourite books.  So when he said he likes his cousin’s idea of the modern bedroom set they just purchased in their LA home, he said he might consider buying it also for our bedroom.  I said he should think about it but deep inside I’m so excited having that new set in our bedroom.  I guess we should take a look in our savings first. We should decide what is best for our home.

Our favourite twin’s hectic schedules this month prevented us in our plans in surprising them for their 17^th birthday.   I was quite anxious if this will going to push through because they can’t even know their own schedule and sometimes they were notified a day or two before the event or  for their tapings or guesting time.  So when we found out that we’ve got a clean slate on their schedule after their live show last Sunday, i told everyone, this is really it.

 

 A friend was kind enough to pick me up near our place because I’m bringing all the gifts and camera and everything inside my back pack and I’m afraid to travel with it alone.  We went to a nearby National bookstore for our paper bags, gift tags (in which I found out that 3 of them were not in our paper bag!) We ordered the ever delicious ice cream cake for pick up (because it will melt after 45 minutes) and we reserved a room in Center Stage and we waited for the go signal to pick up the twins.  As always, their surprised reaction was epic and they couldn’t stop saying thank you for what we’ve done for them.  I ordered the foods, we started to sing and we talked about almost everything.  So when it’s time for the main surprise gift of the night, we couldn’t contain our excitement for them.  And their faces reflects all the joy and happiness and shocked all in one were epic.  I can’t help but feel the joy with them.  We extend our stay for another hour and we went to their condo and had a little chat with their Mom.  As usual, we went home very happy and fulfilled.  We can’t wait to be with them again, the soonest the better.

I bumped with a close friend of mine last Saturday.  We were classmate during college years and we hang out a lot until her family migrated to US after graduation.  So I was amazed by her transformations, and I am so proud of her achievements.  She treated me for a quick coffee talk and she said life is good in her job right now and she asked me if I can visit her if USA is in my to-go lists next year.  My stay and my expenses will all be covered and I said I will think it over.

 

She talked about her brother’s friend who was pulled over because of DUI and she was so concerned because her brother is in the passenger seat. And she can’t do anything about it because she was miles away and she can only talk to them and know more about the situations through their mother.  She is eager to be with her brother’s side as soon as possible but she is scheduled to leave to US until next week.  But her boyfriend assured her not to panic on the matter because they already got the phoenix dui attorney just in time.  My friend was so relieved hearing that and I told her everything will be alright.

 

We part ways after dinner and we wished each other good luck.  I’m so happy to see her after so many years.

 

The twins left early morning because of their provincial tour that afternoon and all of the sudden; the room was empty with just the two of us left to tend with some things to buy for our next event which is for the twins post birthday celebration with our group.  I rushed to take a bath (and I also tried to dive at the bathtub, ha-ha!) and stayed a little longer to feel the comfort of the luxury hotel. After all, we paid a hefty sum just for a 1-day stay.

 

I went home in a sleepy state.  But having a great time with your new friends makes all the effort worth it.  I was so happy that I’ve got to know them all, especially the twins and Alec.

 

 

My friend is worried on her upcoming written driving test next week.  She is currently so busy in school now and she is having doubts if she could pass the test on time so she won’t have a hard time commuting going to her school and then to her day shift job  and then back home.  So she has all the right reasons to get her driving license the soonest.  But she needs a guarantee that there will be no problem about it, her friend from work gave some advice to take the dmvcheatsheets driving test and it will guarantee her that she can sit back and relax that all will be well.  She’s having a tight schedules ahead now that the school year has started and she wanted to do it right the first time.

But she needs to prepare for and her friend recommends the interactive test drive to help her focus on the day of the exams.  But I know how she wanted this.  We always talked about it over the phone and we encouraged her that she can do it not only because she needed her driver’s license but we always believe she can make it.

We celebrated our Mom’s birthday yesterday, her official birthday falls at weekdays so we all decided that we should celebrate it at weekend so we will all be complete and that no one can back out from the sharing we agreed amongst us (ha-ha!)

But Mom’s doesn’t want cake anymore, from all the cakes she tasted every single occasions in our family, so when she saw a cake, she automatically declines to eat it. We are thinking of what can we buy that we cans still put some candles on it. And then my officemate reminds me if I am still willing to buy Mom an enormous siopao I am asking him to buy for me long time ago, so basically, that solves my problem in the cake area because the siopao is so big as a cake!

My mom has an epic face when she saw her birthday siopao! She never thought we will still celebrate her birthday and she was so happy.  We just ordered her favourite foods and noodles and we all talked about that awesome siopao we just ate in one sitting.  But above all that, I saw that our Mom is happy that despite of us being that busy in our own lives, we still have time to be together on her special day.  Of course! We will give her the best, because she’s the world’s best MOM! Happy Birthday, Mama!!

But my JaLec online friends whose not here in the Philippines surprises me with a dozen beautiful red roses with a cute teddy bear and a cake that was delivered by super dripping wet courier and I can only help them by giving them tip for a coffee to keep them warm.  But most of all, it was delivered on the time that I was chatting to them on the YM conference and I had a teary eyed knowing they did that even though we haven’t seen each other personally.  They even made a birthday video for me and sent it through my photobucket account.  I was so blessed with wonderful online friends and they bring out the sunshine in the gloomy weather of supposed to be my big day.  I can never thank them enough for that surprises and I owe it them for trusting me.  What a birthday! :)

But actually, I was down again with my ear infection, I felt this since last week and I thought I can stop it by some medicines I used to take during those days.  But it persists last night and I had high fever and I asked for a traditional massage to soothe my aching body but to no avail, the pains was persistent and I don’t know what else to do.  I tried to ease the pain by putting hot compressed on it but it only last for some minutes and I told myself this is not good, oh my God; I’m going to get sick again on my birthday.  I’ve been like this every year and I can’t believe that it will ever happen to me all over again and this time, my ever dreading ear infection.

I don’t know why my ears are so sensitive to viruses, bacteria or whatever but no one in my family had this but me.  Not that I thought this is hereditary but why me? I really wanted to enjoy my leave vacation and now I am lying for hours in bed taking antibiotics and dropping some otic solutions 3x a day to my swelling ears, oh my! And mind you, I can’t hear that much.  Good thing I have my friends online who I can talk to and wishing me well.  Or else, I will be in my depressing mode again the whole day.  I hope it will be over soon.

I’m so glad that my brother surpassed his challenges, too.  It was mind blowing for the whole family and I stop the urged to confront his wife when she leaves a message to my face book account asking for sympathy.  I love my brother but I told him that I need more time.  And he understands where I am coming from and he never pressed on the matter anymore.  He will always be the best brother in the world for me, no more whys and what. :D

Papa turned 75 years old yesterday and I took a leave of absence from work to celebrate another year with him.  My other siblings did the same way too and we said we shouldn’t let Papa know that we were all coming together but my Mom had a slip of a tongue and told our father that we will coming over that morning. Ha-ha!

It was just a simple celebration, we cook Papa’s favourite dishes, grilled pork and eggplant, chopseuy and pansit and he requested for fruit salad which I made it the other night and my brother from Qatar called to say his birthday wish and he said he’s in charge with the red wine. 

We planned to do the same with my Mama next month.  Well, we have 3 birthday celebrations this August including me and my twin nephews and our mother.  This means more party to come and I will look forward to it.

I know I’ve told everybody who knows me years ago that I’m happy and contented with my life that I ever forgot that I’m quite heavy for years now.  Well, I don’t want to call myself fat because I’m not.  I always thought that I’m not getting younger and that’s why my metabolism is not that fast anymore.  But the truth is I think it is something to do with the way I eat, my choice of foods and myself discipline.  No matter how I tried not to eat that much, I can’t stop the urge when I’m in front of the table and forget everything. 

So my hubby suggests that I should think about my heath right now.  I can’t take the risk of getting into trouble just because I am not eating the right food.  So he introduced me to his friend that is into slow carb recipes that makes wonder to her daily life now.  She’s urging me it to give it a try but she doesn’t know that it is part of my plan and I’m browsing the net to know more about it.  I just need to start it slowly and maybe I can replace our daily menu one at the time.  I know it will work for me. 

We bump with an old friend last week.  No, he’s more than an old friend, we consider him like one of our family.  And things get rough and we parted ways not knowing what went wrong.  He’s closest to my hubby and he loves my parents so much and my nephew who he particularly raised for 6 years.  He never forgets.  When he meets my Mom and my sister the last time, he cried while reminiscing the old times.  He said he never wanted to go and distance himself to us, but he thinks it’s the right way so things won’t be that complicated anymore.

I keep on thinking on what happened, we really did bond with him not just on the things he could and he can give us.  He considers us his family because all his family and relatives are living abroad.  So when we parted our ways, it was so painful that he planned to dissolve his company and go back to the US and stay there forever.  He’s asking for a sign from God and then He gave him the sign and he aborted the plans.  When my hubby and I are talking last night about him, I felt the pain, I also felt that long time ago and I hate the feeling that it’s all going back as if the wound is still fresh.  I wish we could all back to good.  But I know I’m wishing for the impossible.  Things will never be the same again and I just pray that he’ll forgive and forgets.  If we can heal the wounds on his behalf, we would do it. May our God Lord help him to move on and heal his broken heart. 

My cousin was ecstatic on the happy news that she and her boyfriend is finally engaged and that she called me on the wee hours of the morning just to tell me all about it.  I am so happy for her because they’ve been in a relationship for almost 3 years and everybody is quite anxious to see them walking down the aisle together.

So when she broke the news to us, everybody gets excited and starts planning for the big event.  Well, I told them they have to check the venue first and choose that is memorable to them.  They both weigh to consider some outside wedding venues.  Just like when we are planning for my wedding few years back, I carefully and meticulously choose the reception and the church that are conveniently located in a place not too far from each other.  

But my cousin told me that her future husband is considering an Estate Wedding and that too is on their plans.  I told them just to weigh all the pros and cons and they have to work together so to avoid the rush and the stress of planning.  I just want them to enjoy and feel the excitement as they move to the next chapter of their lives.

It’s not easy to be me – as the song goes.  I would like to think it's true.  I handled things differently and I know some people may not like or get used to it.  But inside this tough woman comes with a child that dreamt of having a wonderful life full of hearts and roses. Oh, I'm imagining things again. But you know sometimes, my fantasy runs wild and I regret not enhancing my chance and opportunity to be a romance novel writer.   This way I can channel my imaginations and put that on writings and I may get lots of money with it.  One day I will try to write again and let my friends know about it.

I wish I can turn back hands of time.  I might have another chance to right some things that may have gone wrong because I didn’t do my best and I didn’t think otherwise and intelligently.  But I always turn to God in case I don’t really know to deal with it. I always lay all my cards to Him. And I’m still waiting for His answers.  And I wanted Him to know, I never stop waiting.

With my current ways in driving, he said he might consider the free insurance quotes he received from his friend last week.  We will talk about it because we should be weighing in the pros and cons and our family budget, too.  We are also helping my niece to her college expenses and hubby said I shouldn’t worry much because his friend will give free finance tips to help us in our finances and I hope we can really push through with my niece college insurance.  I really wanted to help her finish her college because that is our ultimate dream for her.  We will have to keep our fingers crossed.

I noticed that the twitter world used to mention about Fifty Shades, and I knew then that it’s the newest controversial books that started as a fanfic story derived from Twilight books.  So I asked my office mate to get me an e-book copy and now my friends are all into the love stories of Christian Grey and Ana Steele.  It becomes viral and now Hollywood are planning to have a movie with this best seller books because people can’t stop talking about it.

Controversial because it is for adults only books but despite of the vulgar words, you will know that it has this story depicting the inner struggles and dark past of a wealthy man who fall in love with a ordinary college graduate woman.  The love story amazed me and I’m glad that it has happy ending. 

My hubby can only shake his head because here I go again, digging my thoughts and eyes on a book but I realized, it’s so been so long that I haven’t got into reading again.  I’m so glad that I’m back on the track again.  My friends until now are asking for my copies and I’m happy to share it with them and talked about the story on chat and on the phone.  One thing for sure, I will wait for the movie adaptation of the books and I will be the first to fall in line.

My cousin phoned me last night about how ecstatic she was on her plans to take a graduate course this school year.  She said she always dreamed of it almost every day because it will be her stepping stone for much bigger changes on her career.  I said I already know that through her mother, my Aunt when she had her vacation her in our place last month and we are all happy with all her achievements despite being on a working student status for quite sometimes.  

But she said she needed some time to prepare for the big thing and she said her friends recommends gmat prep and because she wanted to make sure she is on the right track.  I told her to take her time and focus because I wanted her to be ready when it started. 

She assures me that she’s also thinking on trying the Veritas Prep because of the good reviews and I told her to try everything that will help her reach her dreams.  I know she will make it big because she’s one of the best cousins I ever had.  Understanding, helpful, patient and loves her family so much.  I always pray for her success and I hope it will all come true.