EL is officially ours :-)

Who is EL? EL is how we call our first baby. Our car. Hubby called him EL simply because it is a Lancer EL. Walang ka effort-effort mag-isip si hubby ng name eh. Hehe.

Why officially ours? The 4-installment period is over. Full payment made last April 30. Payment should have ended last March 30, due to the fire incident held last March 26 we weren’t able to pay because we needed cash for moving out to a new place (for DP and advances). Good thing no late payment penalty was charged. Hehehe.

EL is our first major investment (property). It may not be a fancy car; at least we have a car that we can use. We’ll just buy a brand new car when we have more than enough money. Hahaha. Tsaka na, house and baby is our priority now.

Background:
EL is actually the car I use when I was still single. It is my official runaway buddy when I home at Pampanga. Since the car is seldom used at home (Dad and Mom prefers the L300 because it is Diesel engine vehicle . . . mas tipid) hubby and I decided to buy it though it is not being sold. At super binarat nmin. Hehehe. Dad and mom gave in though the price is not right and to think it was on an installment basis. Sabi nga nila mabuti na ang binili kahit lugi kaysa hiningi. Hehehe. There were tons of reminders before they handed the car to us, kala mo bata ang tiniturn over sa amin. Hahaha. Ma-alaga tlga si Dad sa kotse, we actually expected those reminders.

Paging hubby, you might be reading this post. Please let me drive EL, I am always at the passenger’s seat. Hmp. You know that I can drive well at our province and I want to test my driving skills here in Manila. Hehehe

May 11: Didn’t make it to Mom’s Day

Yesterday was supposedly my due date of giving birth to our first baby. I almost made it sana sa mother’s day. Sayang. I am just wondering what situation would I be in right now if our baby made it. Hay, I felt this certain sadness while writing this. Maybe it’s true that things happen for a reason. We might not be able to buy a car and purchase a house if baby pushed thru. Well, God only knows.

It’s almost 8 months now since I was admitted to the hospital for a D&C. It was a nightmare for hubby and me. We didn’t expect that I am sensitive in terms of conceiving. Two months after my D&C we tried making baby again, until now . . . we are not yet blessed. We hope soon. We really want to have a baby and we are rest assured that we are ready at parenthood.

Let me reminisce what happened then . . .

Aug 4 - my last menstrual period

Aug week 4 - I was diagnosed with UTI. Had a week medication. Good thing the antibiotics given were safe for pregnant.

Sept 8 - Some spots appeared on my liners, I thought it was my first day. So I cleaned the entire house and did the laundry. Afterwards we headed to the mall to watch horror movie after movie went to the rest room and to my surprise my menstruation stopped. Then hubby and I heard mass standing for an hour with my high heels on (it’s Mama Mary’s Birthday). After hearing mass we had groceries.

Sep 9 - As I woke up in the morning there were again a few drops of blood in my liners instead of heavy flow since it’s my second day. So we decided to take a pregnancy test. After 10 mins of result waiting, it was negative. An hour after I check again the kit and it turned into positive but it was blurd. To my excitement I even jumped several times. Hehe.

Sep 10 - I woke up early with a smile in my face though there were still some spots in my pads. Went early at the office. After office, I had trans-v then visited the doctor and requested me to take pampakapit, vitamins and a 2 weeks bed rest.

Sep 11-16 - I was on bed rest. Good thing hubby can work at home. So while taking care of me he can do his office work. I lived like a princess. Hehehe. During this week I also had a urine test. I was super surprised of the result it went up to 34-36! This is my highest count ever.

Sep 17 - A week after medication we did another round of preg test. The positive line is almost gone. The doctor requested me to have another round of trans-v. Then it was confirmed that I was miscarriage sad to say I have to undergo D&C. I was immediately rushed at emergency. Operation is scheduled that night but my cervix is not yet opened.

Sep 18 - The operation day. I almost hit the nurse because of the too much pain of the vaccine she shut at my butt. It was the pampakalma. I was really at relax mode, d tlga ako kinabahan khit nung nasa operating room na ako. Then I felt another pain when the anesthesia was injected.

Sep 19 - We were back at our love nest.

Sep 20 - Come Saturday we went home to Pampanga – were I had my 2 mos maternity leave. Hubby needs to go back to office.

This is my D&C story.

Weekend Plans

Yey! TGIF! It's my fourth post for the day. Isn't obvoius that I am in petiks mode again. Just unwinding. Hahaha!

A weekend for me is doing non-routinely work that’s why I so love it! I want to be productive as much as I can. I actually get up early on weekends than weekdays. Hehehe. Every weekend I see to it that I do the laundry, clean the house and of course cook special food for hubby. (Hay! No wonder why we are getting bigger and bigger. . . Haha!)

Aside doing the household chores . . . this coming weekend Hubby and I are planning to do the following:

Saturday:
1. Have our sink fixed.
2. Set up the curtains rods. Yey! I can finally put my curtains on.
3. Stroll at the mall.
4. Watch dvds at night while relaxing

Sunday:
1. Press clothes
2. Attend Matt & Louela wedding at Tagaytay.

Happy weekend everybody!

Is cooking for Ronin?

It seems that I am doing a hobby transfer to my nieces and nephew. Hehehe. I am not claiming that I am pro, just like to share with the kids what I know. As much as possible I want them to learn other things than playing and watching TV the whole day. Yeah I know they are still young and I won’t push them. Of course I still want them to enjoy their childhood.

If arts is for Tammy and sewing for Rory . . . how about Ronin? Will cooking suit him? I guess having a 7 y/o cook student is no joke. I have to wait 3 or more years maybe before I can teach him.

As I observe Ronin he has a wide range of imagination. He can do several forms out of his tiny mat set. He loves puzzles and he is really good at it. I can’t even beat him at forming a puzzle. Hmmm . . . it seems that what he likes is far from cooking. Hehehe.

Mommy and I loves to cook but then again we didn’t made it as a part of our career though a lot of people praises the food we cook and encourages us try food business. Nah! I guess being in the food industry is a tough one. Using it in our everyday lives is more than enough.

Will Ronin be the next cook in the family? I hope that the signs of telling his mom that he wants to become a chef someday and watching cooking show will turn into reality.

If I’ll see my nieces and nephew grew up pursuing a career in arts, fashion and cooking its as if my dream came into reality. These 3 fields are my dream of becoming then – but I ended being at IT Specialist. Not bad at all, but there is no sense of fulfillment. Until now, I am longing to have a formal education in culinary, fashion and graphic arts. I hope when I have enough money to study these it is not too late.

Rory @ Sewing 101

Rory, my 8 y/o niece is going grade 4 this coming June. Eight years at old grade 4? Yes, she’s a year advance. She had summer when she was at pre-school and passed the examination to be accelerated from K1 to Grade1. Good thing she’s not left behind at school she even earned Best in Sibika and Filipino. Hmm . . . intelligent kid.

When I was in Grade 4, sewing was introduced to us and I did great! I was awarded Best in Home Economics at the end of the school year. Grand slam from Grade 4 to 6. Hehehe. Since Rory going grade 4 I thought of teaching her in advance -- Sewing 101.

Lesson 01: The Knot
Lesson 02: Running Stitch
Lesson 03: Outline Stitch

She did a great job! Her stitches were almost perfect but she doesn’t have enough patience and lacks focus. I guess mommy is right that Rory is still young – I don’t have to force her to learn new and complicated things at her age.

She was thinking of being a fashion designer when she grew up like one of the Bratz girls. I hope she will. Just like our love for art, no one among us (mommy, ate noli and me) didn’t take fashion/sewing skills seriously. We simply considered it as a hobby.

Tammy drawing Babis

(Babi – is a Kampanpangan word for Pig)

As I scan my picture gallery on my cam phone saw this cutie funny drawing of Tammy. Pictures below were drawn by her one Sunday afternoon. As far as I can remember that incident she grab a board and pencil and sat at my mom’s table making fast pencil strokes and keeping what she’s doing from us. After drawing, she laughingly revealed her work. Naughty Tam. (Iha, hindi kita tinuraun mag draw para mang-asar. Hmp!)

Tammy, my 6 y/o niece really loves to draw - and she does it well huh. Her drawings are far better than a 10 y/o child. For two consecutive school years she was awarded Best in Arts. Just like her tita . . . ehem. Hehehe. It actually runs in the blood - Dad and my sisters draw well too. Unfortunately none of us ended being a real artist. No one developed the talent and entered the field of art. I hope when Tammy grows up she’ll pursue a career related to arts.

When I have free time I teach her how to draw, blend - apply colors, shares some tips and tricks to produce a nice piece of art. She’s is patient in learning new ideas, a fast learner and applies what she learned. Bias ba dahil ako ang mentor? Haha!

Productive long weekend . . .

Oh I missed blogging . . . I have been busy lately at work and with my all time favorite hobby-sewing. Entry below talks about my activities over the weekend of May 1-4 :-)

Spending Labor Day @ Divi

Yey! It’s a holiday! I shopped at Divi with Hubby and Ate Noli. I missed doing this stuff – after wedding preps hindi na ako nkabalik dito. We had power breakfast (sinangag, crispy-fried dried posit, egg and coffee – yummy!) before living, making sure that we have enough energy to shop.

Our first stop: Ilaya St – as in ung kalye, and it didn’t fail us; there were tons of nice cloth for curtains – nakakalula. I ended up buying 10 yards of curtain cloth and 6 yards of curtain rings, and the price is super cheap. I also got 12 yards of cloth for my nieces’ uniform, cheap din. I wanted to shop for more cloth sana for pants and blouses kaso it’s super init and medyo mabigat na rin ung napamili namin. We can go back naman some other time. Malapit lang naman and besides I don’t have enough time to sew and I don’t yet have my own sewing machine. Nakikigamit lang ako kay mommy. Need to go home pa sa Pampanga para makatahi.

Our next stop is Divine Mart – sa may Ilaya St pa rin. We shopped for cloth pa rin for hubby’s pants – pricey pero maganda tlga. Then as we stroll along may nkita kmi polo barong na pamasok that are biggie sizes, parang ginawa for hubby. Hehehe. More than half the price ng nasa mall, pero the quality is the same. I just have to change the buttons.

We walked ng super layo just to have lunch at. . . forgot the resto name (kinda near Binondo Church. Serves Chinese cuisine - we love this kind of food. We really had sumptuous lunch dahil it’s a buffet with free dessert and bottomless iced tea all for 250. Pati sa food nkamura din kami.

After eating we parted ways. I went to Pampanga (home province) to spend my long weekend. Yey! I’m on VL the following day para I can sew and sew. Hehe.

Fridays
Fridays is how we (mom, tita & my sisters) call market day at our hometown simply because it’s held every Friday. There are lots of cheap stuffs that can be bought. It’s like a small Divi, streets are stuffed with lots and lots of items. Since I am on leave I had the chance to shop. I bought 2 cool sandos @ P50 only and cloth for my slacks (1-black & 1-light gray) @ P50/yrd. For my size I only need 1.25 yrds more or less a pants would only cost P90 including zipper, thread and electricity. Cheap noh?

I am so excited to sew all the cloth I bought kaya lng I only have limited time. Matapos ko kaya lahat ng ito? Gusto ko tuloy magbakasyong engrande. Hehehe


Daddy’s Birthday
It’s daddy’s day last April 29 and we celebrated it last May 3.

Though daddy has allergies I am still glad that he is healthy on his 59th year. A year to go and he is a certified senior citizen na. Hehehe. We celebrated his birthday differently this year. We usually dine-out or set an outing. It’s the allergies fault – they are not actually obvious but dad should avoid lots of food. He didn’t entertain the dining out idea because hindi daw nya ma-eenjoy ang food. Outing is not a good thing din because afterwards nagkakasakit naman ang mga bata. We decided to celebrate at home na lng.

Mom ordered special palabok while Ate Noli brought home mango ice cream cake from Conti’s. This served as our afternoon snacks. Yummy!

At dinner we invited over Lola and Tito Sonny’s family. Special food (by yours truly and hubby) served at our backyard, our fav dining spot for special occasions. We had shrimp tempura and crabsticks as appetizer, grilled hotdog for kids. Grilled t-bone steak, salad, rice and red wine as main coarse. Fruits and ice cream for dessert. Ang sarap ng kain and kwentuhan namin we were laughing the whole night. I hope daddy was happy on his birthday.

Happy birthday daddy!

Oh btw, I already finished my curtains (comprises of 4 panels). I made table cover from the excess cloth. I wasn’t able to finish my pants since I was assigned to do the cooking and grilling. Thanks babi for helping me out. Finish product pictures will be posted soon. :-)

The Boxer Shorts

I woke up early last Sunday (May 4) to be productive. I want to sew more sana kaso I have limited time because we’ll be going back to Manila at 3PM . Hay, back to routines na naman. How I wish to sew 2 slacks . . . I know I will run out of time so I ended making a pair of boxer shorts for hubby and me. The boxer shorts are so comfy sarap isuot. Thanks mom for sharing your cloth to us and helping me cut it.

Bling-blings!

Yehey! After the new look of our journal, bling-blings naman.

(1) Online Message Board (http://www.cbox.ws/)
(2) Blog Roll link
(3) Pinay blinkie - courtesy of Pinay Bloggers
(4) Anniversary Ticker (http://www.daisypath.com/)

Muntik na ako maloka sa kakahanap were to insert from the Hmtl template the blings code. IT pa man din ako pero hindi ako programmer. Hahaha! Good thing I figured out the other way on how to do it without the code insert thingy. Pang functional tlga ako, palusot. Hehe :P

I hope that I can improve pa this and be an active blogger. Find and tag some friends at our Blog Roll and eventually earn from this. Asa pa. Hahaha. Mukhang maraming pa dapat akong i-exert na effort to improve this and become a professional blogger.

Parang I am so obvious na - na wala akong ginagawa ngayon sa office. Hahaha! Actually, tapos ko na po, advance pa nga eh, yabang . . . Hehehe. Nag a-unwind lng para naman hindi ako ma-bore :P

Approved!???

Before I start the meat of my post . . . wala lng i just like to acknowledge my blog's new look. Hehehe. Still, a lil bit pale . . . pero mas makulay naman than before. Though pale, clean naman sya tignan . . . next time lalagyan ko na sya kaartehan. Add in a customized header cguru, I have to study pa on how I can do that. For the meantime ganyan muna . . . I dnt yet have the time and patience. Hehehe. . .

Approved? Oh yes! My promotion got approved na daw. Sup 3 na ako effective May 1, 2008. A single step na lng and manager na ako, and so??? I hope before this thing happens e nasa ibang company na ako. May 2009 naiinip na ako sayo. Hehehe. Paghahandaan kita and i'll be targeting that 6-digit salary. Haha!

My promotion is nothing to look forward to, nothing to celebrate. Why? Though promoted and a 17% increase will be given - it is still not enough, to think I am experienced and a SAP SD certified consultant. Hmp. Buti na lng at mabait ako, I still do good in my work at di ako nag a-AWOL wherein pwede naman dahil d pa rin ako pumipirma ng contract. Haha!

Sorry but I hate to compare what I am receiving with others. I strongly believe in terms of experience, quality-quantity, service and dedication to work I know I am way ahead. How I wish they know how to weigh an employee's qualification and fair enough in terms of compensation.

Just venting out . . .

House Update #01: Our Very Own HOME!

It's been months since i started searching for a house via internet, I give myself around 1-2 hrs a day to search (during lunch break or before going home/while waiting for hubby, minsan sinasabay ko na rin sa pag check mail pagdating ko ng office. hehe) I do some inquiry, requests for sample computation and kung pasok sa specs nmin we request for tripping.

Marvela: House model (this is how our home will look like)

Last March 15 we had another round of tripping. Met the broker at Festival Mall at 10AM then we headed sa Daang Hari to see the model units at Camella Homes Cerritos. We instantly fell in love with the model units and with the community. It's really nice! Dahil nagustuhan nmin we decided to see the actual site sa may Taguig (Diversion Road), lapit sa Petron C-5 and Market! Market! As per hubby's assesment ok naman daw sa kanya ang location, hindi kalayuan and malapit sa mga commercial areas. It's just a few minutes away sa Ortigas via C-5, Makati and airport.

After two weeks, we finally decided to invest. We made our reservation last Mar 31. 10% DP will be paid in 12 mos at 0% interest, less reservation fee. We opted for the 10 year term payment scheme via bank housing loan thru RCBC which will start after the DP.

Archi friends any advise? Ano dapat nming bantayan during the house construction? Btw, this is Camella Homes pla. Heard any reviews/feedbacks on this?

This April start na ung development ng site and expected turn over is by 2Q or 3Q of 2009. Sana 2009 na! Para makalipat na kmi . . . we are so excited to furnish our house, fill it with love and turn it into a home :-)

March 2008 (Busy-Fire-Home)

It's blogging time once again!

Finally, I finished all the asap system configuration, support for small but controvesial projects and my simplified but complicated tech specs for OR Automation Project. Petiks mode muna ulit. Need to rest muna my over used na brain. I am excerting too much effort pero not worth the pay for a SAP certified consultant. Unfair! Hehehe. Anyway, I know time will come for me and everything will pay off . . . yayaman din ako. 1 taon na lng! Hahaha!

March was indeed a very busy month for us (hubby and I) and ang dami rin happenings that we never thought na mangyayari.

Busy! Busy! Busy!
At work syempre! Since Hubby and I have the same profession we understand each other, so this is a no issue. There are times pa nga na we consult each other at kapag medyo light work load ko, I help him. Hubby is busier than me. He even worked nung Holy Week (lapit na ksi go live nila) so I spent the season sa Pampanga. Hanggang ngayon busy pa rin sya. Well I guess this is what IT profession really is, minsan dami work load, minsan wala (tulad ngayon). Hehehe. I love it!

On FIRE!
I guess some of you heard the angelica jones' fire incident. Hay naku! nadamay pa kami dahil we live on the same apartelle/bldg, 2f kmi while 3f sya. Good thing nothing bad happend to us and other tenants pati na rin sa things namin, binaha lng kmi. The worst thing is wala pa rin kami kuryente upto now. Aghrrr! Hindi namin kinaya ang init and mosquitoes.

We have 2 options naman where to stay while waiting for the electricity resoration. Siguro maselan, naninimbang or ayaw lng nmin tlga magkahiwalay. Option 1: Sa condo (Fort) ni ate, where she lives alone dahil wala naman bro-in-law ko. Option 2: Sa in-laws ko (Makati). Dahil we both dont want to stay sa side nya, side ko or sleep separately we ended checking-in every night. At ang gastos ah.

We are now looking for a place were we can transfer dahil hindi pa rin alam when marerestore ang electricity, pero sure sila na matatagalan - more than a month daw. Whew! We were advised by the care taker kung pwede lipat na rin kmi. like what other tenants did. Hay! We don't actually want to give up the unit since matagal na ako dito, 2001 pa. Aside sa matagal na ako . . . I love the location, malapit sa office, malapit sa lhat ng needs and the rent is cheap compared to nearby for rent apartments. Upto now hindi pa rin namin alam kung ano gagawin nmin. Ang hirap magdecide specially kpag ayaw mo iwan ang place were we both started relationship and shared our memories.

Our Future HOME!
It's not that we don't want to leave our rented love nest. Moving out is actually a part of our plan pero hindi pa ngayon ang takdang panahon by 3Q of 2009 pa dahil by this time matuturn-over na sa amin ang aming bahay. Yes on our very own home! Yiheee!

See my next blog for more details :)

Our 1st Valentine as Husband and Wife

A Valentine present from Celebrations Cake

It was nothing grandious and nothing was planned . . . . it wasn't the usual valentine celebration . . . flower delivery, dinner and exchange of presents. We even joked each other na dahil mag asawa na tayo wala ng flowers flowers at gifts pa. Hehehe.

We are not so excited in celebrating the season of hearts though it is our first time to celebrate it as husband and wife because there were lots of expences last month, this month and next month . . . so we are really in a tipid mode. Hehehe. Pero hindi pa rin namin pinalampas, it was a last minute planning.

We eneded . . . .

After office, Memond fetch me at the office then we decided to dropped by at Celebrations Cake (Wilson St, San Juan) to give the Barbie Doll for Faye's (memond's niece) Bday cake as a cake topper. Mr. Yu (the owner) even gave us a mini LOVE fondant cake. So CUTE! Sobrang na touch tlga kmi sa kanya (Mr. Yu). So bait! We never expected na bibigyan nya kmi ng cake.

Afterwards we headed to Cafe Ysabel (www.cafeysabel.com), buti na lng may available seats pa, by reservation pla tlga dun. I wasn't actually in the mood that night, d ako mkakain ng maayos my stomach is soooo bloated, parang sasabog! Hehehe. Dahil siguro sa buchi na minirienda nmin at sobrang kakatwa with officemates nung late afternoon. So I ended eating salad while Memond is eating Lamb chops . . . sarap! Kaiingit.

The verdict: the food is ok, masarap naman, good service - pricey (nagtitipid daw oh! hehe) nga lang pero the place is very romantic and cozy. A perfect place for dating.

Actually, I have an hidden agenda why we ended up dinning there. Hehehe. Dahil Cafe Ysabel and CACs (http://www.cacschef.com/) are both owned by Chef Gene nasa-iisang place lng cla. I was dreaming of enrolling at CACs kase. Pangarap ko tlga mag-aral dun . . . khit short course lng . . . so after our date we inquired at CACs, buti naman they entertained us. Wala lng para lng may idea ako kung gaano kamahal ang tuition fee nila. Hehehe. At para alam ko gaano kalaki ang iipunin ko or hanggang pangarap n lng tlga. Hehehe.

Valentines for us is not measured how it is being celebrated, what's important is that we are with our special someone :)

Happy Valentines!