awol appetite

I did say I should lose weight, and could manage that if I remembered to eat according to what my body burns. I had been eating slightly more than when I still had time to go to the gym 3 times a week, and that has been a horrible formula. and then...

Lost my appetite yesterday, and I’m not really sure why. Woke up with body pain, achy muscles and achy bones. Headed to the kitchen for breakfast and ditched my usual mug of barako coffee. Consumed only half of my half bowl of special K, and a small glass of apple juice. ate 1 skyflakes cracker at noon. Quarter of an apple at 6, and a cup of oatmeal at 10pm. Slept in between, as I nursed a fever and more body pain. No more fever and body pain today, but the appetite is still absent. same small glass of apple juice for breakfast. Cooked sausage and egg for the boys for lunch, but I only tried a small bite of each before realizing eating was a mistake. Had 2 marshmallows in the afternoon, a handful of root crop chips (hello sweet potato, purple yam etc.), and a cheeseburger for dinner. I did have a cup of tea after the chips as my headache told me I was having caffeine withdrawal, and plain tea would do the trick. yes, you read that, we went to mcdonald's for dinner. it what BBB calls "fine scottish dining." 

It has all been interesting, this not having a desire to eat. My stomach usually takes the lead in telling me it is mealtime, but i have not been receiving signals lately. I could now really say that this idea of consuming food is all in my head. And it has been strangely liberating, not having to think of what to eat, or what I shouldn’t eat (being 35 and having zero exercise other than lifting a 2 year old). This is the diet/fasting period I always thought I could manage, that I only imagined but never put into action, as I am not a diet person. It did come with a fever, headache, body pain, and 1 day of zero action, so i really don't know what's going on. 

Will talk to the scales when this is over.  

all still clear

Very rarely does a dream stick to me longer than the hour after waking. This one lingers. It was the guitarist of a rock band. And I was giddy in the dream (having a real time, school-girl era crush on the man, since their band was first popular when I was in college in the mid-nineties), and we were picking up from having been introduced for real last month. He was interested and I was interested, and the prospect was making me all giddy in a shivers-oh-my-god this-is-so-exciting-cool in a way I haven’t felt for a long time.  

It was the cross-over between reality and the dreaming that makes the dream linger long after other dreams have returned to the ether. And let me not analyze this dream for I know exactly what it means. 

is this jet lag?

just 31 hours after arriving back in cebu from the UK, i'm waiting for jet lag to hit me, and it hasn't. is this the un/jet lag? close to midnight and still operating at normal speed. have had a full day of unpacking and grocery shopping and house-fixing amidst playing with and looking after LP. even cooked chicken cacciatore for dinner accompanied by fresh mango juice, but we cheated and went to mcdonald's for lunch.

LP is not doing as well as he woke up several times last night not sure where he was and wanting a cuddle each time. i had to move his crib closer to our bed to help him settle (having him in with us not an option). and then he was whiny this morning, and refused to nap and refused dinner this evening save for a few morsels of rice and chicken.

anyways, i shall not question this too much as it might turn around and hit me full force. i was expecting bad jet lag as i always have had it arriving back to the philippines from europe. maybe it was the cold weather. or maybe i inhaled ash-cloud tainted air. whatever. bedtime. 

suddenly summer

i knew the first quarter of 2011 was gonna fly by fast, butnotthisfast.


yesterday, i realized, wow, its summer. philippine summer. and today i noticed it was almost 6pm and it was still light outside. 


except it doesn't really feel like it because we are busy getting on with all the things that need doing. lately we have been:


~ buying plants for our garden. our helper E has been using the 3rd day of her 3-day work week clearing the back garden of debris (rusty nails! broken bottles!), trimming the grass and such, and BBB and i have been encouraged to buy some plants to put in. in the back of my mind, i am planning how to dig them up and haul them away for the next time we move. we have purchased a over Php 2000 of various bits like peanut plants, sampaguita, mayana etc. some for blooms, some for color, some for smell, some just because. 


~ trying to get to the LP's pedia to get him a clean bill of health. amoebiasis is not a joke and we wanted to make sure he is all clear. and yes he is, except stool tests indicate he needs to restore his good bacteria. fortunately, he is rediscovering yogurt. he was off it since feb. and he got his booster for the pneumoccocal virus today. jab in the arm. did not cry, but he did give the doc a nasty look to say "what the heck was that for?!" check-up and jab was Php 3500 


~ inquiring about Gymboree's summer program, which is 3x a week (1.5 hours each) from april 25 to may 21. i had thought to make his Gymboree days more frequent in preparation for nursery school (which is 4x a week, 2 hours per). an i guess we are going to do that one. the summer program is Php 9300 for 3 weeks


~ and in preparation for Gymboree nursery school in June, we had to bring LP in for an assessment. which he passed. duh. he is interested in things, can follow instructions, and etc. despite being under 2 years old by june, which is their main requirement.


~ EB the painter/carpenter all around guy has been busy making 2 wardrobes for me and BBB. BBB and i figured that the cost of having 2 custom made is the price of 1 of these store bought ones we don't like. we're talking Php 10,000 for labor and materials for 2 EB custom wardrobes. and because fussiness can be in our blood but dressing out of giant plastic storage boxes is driving me insane, we went for the custom option. it is nothing fancy, but it works. and one day i will post pictures in this blog. 


~ and LP has been busy playing. our helper E has a little boy who is 5 years old, and her youngest daughter is around 10. we don't mind her bringing the kids around (so she can keep her eye on them rather than leaving them home alone) because LP then gets instant playmates! all around fun. and some peaceful work time for me. but i still get up every few minutes to see what they are up to. this house is too big sometimes. 

letter # 040111

dear LP,


sometimes i wish had two lives. one dedicated entirely to bringing you up the best possible way. the other one for me. 


the one for you is obvious now but something you may or may not remember later on ~ letting you pull my hand so you can reach something you want or go somewhere you want to go; catching you every time you spin yourself dizzy or when you want to play rag doll boy; sitting outside with you to watch ants and butterflies; stomping to make big splashes in two inches of bathwater...


but instead, sometimes, my hands are busy cooking dinner or washing the dishes, and i need you to stop being dizzy or being a rag doll so i can concentrate on the phone call i need to make. i need to sit at my laptop instead of sitting with you outside, and i need to turn off the shower taps so we can get on with the day. 


with two such lives, one can always be Mummy, and the other one can be Me. and Me won't have to steal sleep time from Mummy so Me can write the multi-million peso contract that hopefully gets approved. and Me won't have second thoughts about being away on location shoots because Mummy will always be with you. and Me won't have to hurry up on multiple errands because Mummy is looking after you. Me won't get cross when you try to play with the sewing box, and anyway that tempting sewing box full of interesting bits shouldn't be out because really, Me was stealing Mummy's playtime with LP. and you know what? Mummy actually never gets cross because she doesn't have to think about financial independence and other big grown up words like Me does. and Me doesn't have to think twice when a job offer comes her way that requires long hours of concentration doing research and writing, unbroken by things like mixing a bottle of milk, preparing a healthy lunch, and changing nappies. 


and Mummy doesn't cry, like i did yesterday, because i was tired of being mummy and just wanted to be me sometimes. not all the time. just sometimes. 


so help me, ok? and don't bite me when you are overwhelmed with affection for me. 

unintentional ska night

it was a work night after all. work being accompanying our new-ish marketing girl to represent BR at the Outpost for Earth Hour. a bike ride had been organized and we were a minor sponsor, there to see what was going on and see how people reacted to our new product.


wowzashit. i don't know what i was imagining the turn out to be. the parking lot was full of bikers and bicycles. and when i stepped out onto the street, it was lined with more! the count was 780 registered participants and 30+ marshals. i caught the start on video too!


and then it turned out, it was ska night at the outpost. facebook had told me this earlier, but such bits of info seem to pass me by easily since LP came along. 


and then i saw Marla of Island Joe. and i asked if she was singing. she said she wasn't sure (i learned later that only Dindo was schedule to sing, since Marla was supposed to fly out of town, except she missed her flight).


not sure became why not, as i heard her on the microphone with dindo and the rest of island joe. my "going home around 10:30pm" became "maybe after midnight" in my text to BBB who was home minding LP.


ska ska ska! i will not go at length about island joe's performance here. 


ok, i will. as usual, Marla and Dindo's singing were unbelievable and the musicians were tight. the only thing wrong with the picture was that Japan-based cleofas who's part of their horn section was in the crowd and not onstage, and i told him so. 


the outpost's wooden floor was absolutely vibrating, people were seriously dancing and singing along and having fun, and the aircon died. and i lost my voice. it was seriously ike being in a sauna. i don't remember the last time i was out dancing and singing like that. certainly before LP came along.


i decided to sit out the next set, which was Who's Next, also fronted by dindo (how he does it, i have no idea). also absolutely excellent and worth staying out for. 


i did lose the stress spot i had in my back. brought about by LP's new whining thing. but that is for another post. 

review: bridges salon

on my way to ayala for my haircut, i looked up at the JY Square building thinking:  i must explore more around here. here being the vicinity of our new neighborhood. there was a sign for Bridges Salon on the building facade, and boy was i glad i was paying attention. 


after my ayala hair cut fail that left me light-headed, i hopefully cabbed my way back to JY Square in search of Bridges Salon.


i marched in and was pleased by how it looked inside. i took a peek at the menu on the counter and noted than a haircut for women was 450. inhale. this had better be good. as i only have a haircut once i year, i really shouldn't be so skint about spending that amount. 


+ modern, clean, the actual service area shielded from reception. 
- except there was no one at reception. some seconds later, someone did poke her head around to ask if i had an appointment. "uh, no. i just need a trim, and i'm desperate."
+ mercifully, i was escorted to a hair-cutting seat without further comment
- though i did wait about 10 minutes before someone got around to the actual action


the hairwasher lady was impressed by how long, nice and heavy my hair was. heavy, yes, precisely why i need it cut to a manageable length. 


+ at least she didn't comment about the color. in fact, no one commented on the color. i've had salon staff arguing over whether my hair is dyed or color-treated in any way. no. have never done so. it is brown. end of story. 


"i just want to keep some of the length but i really need to make it lighter."


+ stylist (who had 2 other clients to attend to in turn, but that is how these places go these days) did all the right things. asked all the right questions at all the right times, including double checking that he was snipping the right amount before actually snipping away. 


- then i was passed to another lady who used a slightly too hot dryer to blow-dry all that was still attached to my head. that still took over 15 minutes. no, i don't own a blow dryer. my hair cuts are rare. having salon time to blow dry my hair even rarer. 


about an hour & 15 minutes later, the final check passed all my requirements, and i had salon-smelling. blow-dried hair to boot. i have the shortest hair i've had in years, though mid-bicep length (the most common length you'll see in shampoo & conditioner ads) is still quite long for most. 


am i going back? yes, when it all grows out. and i got their number so i can set an appointment first. 


cost:
cut = Php 450
tip = Php 50. i don't know if that was an acceptable amount. it is over 10% of the cut itself. 

light-headed

i've had my hair super long again since about 2002, averaging about 1 trim a year(!). lately its been feeling really thick and heavy--a dream for some, but it was seriously becoming a burden in cebu's strange weather (some days too cool, some days to humid) and it takes hours to dry naturally. i've even stopped using conditioner. when you have waist length hair, you can feel its weight. 


today was the day i was gonna have some of it chopped. off to ayala.


~ Bench Fix (where i'd had it done the last two years)
BF receptionist: ma'am, do you prefer senior stylist A or senior stylist B?
me: it doesn't matter. i just need a simple trim
BFR: ma'am, only stylist B is here and there are about 10 people waiting
me: what about your junior stylists? 
BFR: ma'am only the senior stylist cuts hair. 
me: i can't wait. never mind. thanks.
*mental comment: why offer someone who is not even there? 


~ Salon de Rose ( i swore off this place because the last time i asked for a 3-inch trim, they chopped off 6!)
SR receptionist hands me a sign-up sheet: ma'am, there are 3 other customers in line
me: how long is that gonna take?
SRR: around 1 hour ma'am.
me: seriously?  no thank you. 


i scan basement level 1 (where rustan's fresh is). there is a bruno's barber's (full), another barber (also full), and a ratty-looking Annie's (am i still in ayala cebu?). i brace myself and open the door. 


~ Annie's (there is a lady in a wheelchair having her hair and toes done, two staffers hanging out, and the receptionist)
AR: ma'am what will it be?
me: i need a trim 
AR looks over at ancient lady in wheelchair: is it ok ma'am, you have to wait. it takes a long time to cut her hair.
me: ah, no thanks. 


holy bejesus. now i'm glad i only have to deal with this once a year, not once a month!

honorable writer

that was the salutation that greeted me when i opened an email referral from kemps. kemps is like an online blackbook for film and tv professionals. i signed up for it light years ago, have forgotten about it, and have received about 3 previous inquiries that led nowhere. this one jumped out at me.


its a chinese company looking for a writer for 40 20-minute episodes. forty.


first, i am rusty as when it comes to doing script quotations. the last one i did was for PLDT in 2009. has it been that long ago already! to put that in context, LP was just a month old when i quoted for and wrote those scripts. LP is now 1 year and nearly 8 months old. 


second, i am jaded. yes. since moving to cebu, i have had more quotations that led to nothing than quotations that turned into paying projects. cebuanos pride themselves in being tihik (kuripot, stingy, but they'll define it as always looking for value for money) and it showed in my area of work. if i am lucky, i get a "sorry, project's not pushing through/not enough budget/can't afford you." IF i am lucky. otherwise, you hear zip zero zilch after being rushed to meet and submit a quotation. what'sup with absent manners, hey? 


anyway, so i am still treating this new project as a maybe until the contract is signed. they have agreed in principle to the amount i am charging, and their lawyer is looking over the contract i sent. 


wish me luck.

mummy's toys

its true sometimes, you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and nothing seems to go right. 


that's what happened after LP's late afternoon nap today. first off, he didn't even get to sleep in a bed. he napped from S&R, through a stop in IT Park for BBB to check out the event there, and woke up when we got home, in all, about 45 minutes. 


i have been re-working a funky ukay dress i bought last week. i was fine all morning, but this afternoon to evening has been painful. 


LP wants the dressmaker's pins. (whine)
LP wants the seam ripper. (whine)
LP wants the dressmaking shears. (whine)
LP wants to go through my sewing (lunch) box. (whine)
and if he can't have any of those, LP wants to get the dress off my lap so he can have me. (whine)


we did go through this when LP insisted all access on BBB's toolbox, but that was just tough, because it is a proper toolbox, complete with unknown bits & bobs and rusty nails. either we cleaned it out or kept it off limits. 


that's tough on LP who is so used to examining everything in the house and "helping" especially since we moved to this new house. Em with the cleaning--LP has his own mop. EB the carpenter/painter--LP gets to use a real screwdriver and paintbrush (no paint!). LP gets his own roll of teflon tape (from daddy's toolbox of course) when the plumber is here. And if someone is sweeping outside, there's a spare broom for LP of course. 


tonight has been painful, and no amount of explaining that those are mummy's toys obviously won't work at his age. i just wanted to finish the dress. and i didn't help that BBB just kept on reading the BBC news online. 

cooking boycott

last night i declared a cooking boycott. yup. i am going on a break from cooking dinner next week. with pasta bolognese being the exception, because i still have a frozen batch of sauce from the other week. oh, and arroz a la cubana which i can cook with my eyes closed. 


i saw the boycott coming. it started from the half-hearted chicken soup invention the other week, which was accompanied by the half-thought of chicken in lemon & lemongrass stew. the former because i refuse to dig into the forest of boxes to find my cookbooks while the memory of BBB's mom's chicken soup wafts in my head. the latter because i just wasn't concentrating on what i was doing.


this was still in the middle of when my boys were sick, and there was really no point cooking since they were in no state for eating. and then there was the breaded fish that decided to start to burn on the outside while remaining really moist inside (edible to BBB but LP didn't bother). and the last straw was last night's breaded chicken parmesan that decided to be tough and overcooked. bleah. don't get me wrong. i have cooked these dishes before to resounding appreciation. just not this week.


i grew up eating food that was fried to death. it was not all friend food (ah, i miss tagalog and bicolano cooking), but when it was fried, it was fried in a wok with smoking oil, fried so it was dry and crunchy, to kill all creatures not meant to be consumed in food (say, tapeworm from undercooked pork, and such). 


i developed an aversion to food swimming in fat, but equally not so very well trained in appreciating the moist insides of fish and chicken (i do eat meat medium rare). so i am my own enemy. and exasperated with my recent output, the general boycott is here. i know, i should just stop deep frying things.  

so really

how am i supposed to 

~ plan and cook 60 - 70% of our meals (the rest we eat out)

~ keep a home-office organized (at least the house cleaning is done by our 3x a week cleaner)

~ pick up after LP

~ entertain-educate LP (who now complains if both BBB and i are at our laptops and not minding him)

~ work with BBB on our brand 

~ keep up with correspondence with close friends across 4 time zones

~ gather momentum on my own video project

~ entertain inquiries for new projects

when there are only 24 hours in a day and only one me? 

really? how? 

missing my friends

(originally a letter to poste and mela)

contrary to popular rumor, i have not fallen off the face of the planet. i am lost in a forest of boxes in the new house, and drowned in issues which include prehistoric plumbing, sick boys, what to feed sick boys, a head cold, ant attacks, dengue terror, an office that needs to run, new rubbish collection schedule, our senior artist/designer turning OFW, DH(el)L etc. etc. 

the parade continues. plumber. house owner. painter/carpenter. cleaning lady.  messengers. couriers. mailman. the mailman demands we write the authorization to forward the mail from our old address. artist's yaya-less baby. accountant. collector. screen installer. mouse. yes. the mouse got trapped inside the house when we installed the back screen door. pumpkin do your job!

today, robert's 7x4 foot painting found its way closer to the wall its meant to hang on. its not up there yet. 

one day we will have wardrobes in the master's bedroom, curtains on our gazillions of windows, shelves for our gazillions of books and cds, grass on the front & back lawns, vines crawling on the walls, herbs outside the kitchen window, clean sheets flapping in the breeze and little person splashing around in his kiddie pool. oh, and i will have writing projects that pay and a little sewing machine in the off-bedroom terrace that i call our cage.

in the meantime, i am glad for running water, flushing toilets, a washing machine that works, a kitchen that is 90% done, a cat that knows to pee and poop outside, and tiger balm. the hi-fi is hooked up and blaring, BBB eats as i dictate ("i'm not cooking, we're eating out") and the little person sleeps in his crib all night.

and, if i am able to pull off a lechon camping lunch in our garage and handuraw pizza with alcohol on the dining table, then coffee and dessert with you guys should be a breeze.

what? j.k. rowling isn't sharing her patent on the apparation device just yet? oh well.

nursery school

you see, here we are. first we were just wondering what to name IT in my belly, and this week, we received a proposal from gymboree to send LP to their nursery school. 


how fast is that? there we were, saying we'll cross the bridge when we get there about LP's education. indeed, the once a week Play&Learn hourly sessions aren't exactly academic, yet here we are with a proposal amounting to at least 75k for a schoolyear. 


whoa. do we need this? i think 2 hours x 3 days per week (plus 1 day of 1 hour) sounds a bit hardcore for someone whose verbal repertoire consists mainly of hot, out and oh-wow. also i've read that at this stage, free and imaginative play is more important than a structured learning environment. 


so, what to do? we are considering it, and will make time to attend the gymboree nursery briefing next saturday. also, it doesn't have to be gymboree. will investigate my playroom, for instance. 

sunday score

4.5     hours spent at chong hua e.r. having BBB diagnosed. gastroenteritis.

1.5     hours spent waiting for LP to be diagnosed. inconclusive. "see your pedia tomorrow"

215    pesos. the price of a Savory Chicken meal which i decided to share with LP for lunch while BBB was drinking a dextrose through his arm

0       amount that LP consumed of the meal. 

65     my father's age that day (which possible would have been celebrated at Savory in Malate) had he lived beyond 42 

635    amount spent on ukay after BBB dropped me off from chong hua. this includes 2 dresses, 2 tops, 2 unbranded skirts, 1 dramatic luisa spagnoli red silk skirt and 50-peso skirts by betsy johnson and dolce & gabanna 

6      pesos for a pack of tissues from a convenience store along jones to fix my runny nose

30    pesos for 2 kinds of bananas--latundan and saba--on my way home

2      number of times LP threw up 

bleah.   

...and money escapes from your purse like sand

from a cost point of view, march 2's trip to SM looks like this:


    82        cab fare (new meter & new rates)
  985         PLDT bill
  331.80    MCWD bill 
     3         sm's handling fee for MCWD
  309.25    bits & bobs at Ace hardware
  268        Sbarro's horrible slice of chicago white pizza & half a baked ziti
  364.75    tops for LP at sm dept. store. the pique shirt was 50% from 450
3,000       3-months advanced payment at Smart Bro
  110        1 hour of play at Dave's funhouse
  199        BluPrint magazine
  185        3 pretzels & a drink at Auntie Anne's (only 1.5 pretzels consumed)
3,000       Globe mobile bill, of which 2600 was mobile surfing. never again!
  980        for 1000 load card for BBB
    70       cab ride home, old meter, with tip


Php 9,887.80  total


horrible. albeit 3k was advance payment and another 3k was mostly a mistake to be dearly paid for. 


in sad contrast, the current daily rate for a carpenter in cebu is between Php320-350


*sigh* 

time flies fast when you move in slo-mo...

i glanced at my previous post and mentally exclaimed: holy kamote! its march 2? and its march 3 as i write this. i knew the first quarter of 2011 was gonna storm past, what with beginning the year with the end of a UK holiday, the house move, and the kiwi wedding. but march 3?! 


and consider how march 2 was spent (still on time budget sheet mode)


8:00     LP woke up, BBB and i woke up
9:00     showered & beginning breakfast, thinking, SM for errands today, but it doesn't open til 10am. spent the hour directing our 3days-a-week helper Em. i taught her to use the washing machine to wash the sofa & cushion covers which hadn't been washed since they were unboxed in 2008, and prior to that god knows. more on this in a later post
10:00    get in cab with LP and the pushchair
10:10    browse in some shops in the new wing. i consider browsing my payment for all the hardcore chore-doing. i smugly buy nothing. not even stuff on sale
10:30    LP falls asleep as i queu at SM dept. store's bills payment center. did i say there are about 15 people ahead of me? 
10:55    done paying MCWD & PLDT bills
11:00    in Ace hardware to look for a plug for the bath, springs for my bouncy toy project for LP, a padlock for our cage, and to browse for other possibly useful things. 
11:50     LP wakes up at the Ace check-out. time for lunch
12:00     lunch as Sbarro's pizza in the basement where i learn the chicago white pizza is gross(pepperoni, 3 bits of pineapple, sweet-sour cheap ham, doughdoughdough & a bland topping meant to be white cheese). i used to like sbarro's. LP didn't think much of their baked ziti
12:45     roll into SM Dept. store's children's wear to score 2 printed vests and a collared pique shirt for LP.
1:10     roll into Smart Bro to claim my retention gift (a western digital external drive) and pay the internet subscription 3 months ahead so i won't have to spend an hour for the next 3 months doing so
2:10    nappy change and an hour at Dave's funhouse where LP has a great time playing
3:20    out of Dave's and poopy nappy change then into Our Home for cupboard, curtains & shelves ideas. bought an issue of BluPrint. not sure when i'll have time to read it
3:45    walk back to Globe to pay my mobile bill at their machine
4:10    snack at Auntie Anne's pretzels. their dough has been released by customs! LP ate 1/3 of a plain one with sprinkle bits of my cinnamon sugar 
4:30    browse our way to a kiosk selling cellphone load cards for BBB. LP falls asleep. and sleeps all the way to the house. 


I MUST REMEMBER TO ENROLL ALL THESE BILLS ACCOUNTS BACK INTO INTERNET BANKING

time budget sheet

when 2011 was rolling in, i thought to revert to my elementary school practice of creating a time budget sheet to sort myself out. essentially, its a time-based graph of your daily schedule. obviously, i haven't done it yet. 


here's the current simplified version:


  8:00 - 9:00*     start waking up
  9:00 - 9:30       shower, with or without LP
  9:30 - 10:00      breakfast with LP (if his daddy showers with him before i do as is usually the case, LP's breakfast takes an hour. or part I with daddy and part II with me, with some play in between)
10:00 - 11:30      random chores, random play with LP
11:30 - 12:30*     LP naps, i check mail
12:30 - 1:00        LP wakes up, i assemble lunch
  1:00 - 5:00       random chores, random play with LP with LP snack in between
  5:00 - 7:00       tea break for BBB & me, Pumpkin gets her dinner, i get to sit down at my laptop and end up doing one of the following: address my inboxes, check Batty Cat's inbox and do random work. by 6:30 i am assembling dinner in my head.
  7:00 - 7:30       LP wakes up, time to assemble dinner
  7:30 - 8:30       dinner time
  8:30 - 9:30       random chores, random play
  9:30 - 10:00     LP's bedtime routine of bath, some books/play and bottle. if i am lucky, BBB does this and i can go back to my laptop.
10:00 - 12:00      laptop time. and here i end up randomly surfing


i have two things i need to do: 


1) i need to block the random chores together to free up more time so i can 
2) get longer computer hours so i can get real work done. 


in the past year, the short slots of sitting at my laptop rarely results in serious work. i am theslowtostartandcanfinishwitharelishkind. there are things i actually want to do and am starting to resent household chores in a serious manner. i'd rather play with LP than do another chore. i'd rather make things than do another chore. i'd rather sort our my photos than do another chore. i'd rather write than do another chore. now tell that to the me who did not have any househelp after age 7 and did not mind household chores. see what she says. argument with the selves. started last year.  

random gold on a shoe-hunt day

last saturday, i was determined to not go home unless i had with me a pair of sandals/shoes to wear with the butter yellow dress for the kiwi wedding. my requirements were simple:


~ muted gold color (not shiny) or a neutral beige/nude or buttery yellow
~ it had to have some height but
~ it could not be anything other than a wedge heel because the wedding is by Taal lake and pointy heels would 1) sink in sand & grass 2) catch on concrete/rocks 
~ it had to be like sandals or slip-ons, or as friends and i said--glorified tsinelas


the closest i had were a pair of sky-high hemp-wedges with chocolate brown straps from old navy. not the ideal thing for chasing our Little Person around and coordinating with singers, technicians etc for the ceremony (i'm like the program sequence director)


anyways, i'd given SM and even robinson's a go the previous week, and regrettably missed some possible options during the sales since i was determined to get shoes after i saw the final dress. 


so round and round ayala LP and i went til LP got bored and fell asleep in his pushchair.


in a shop next to the Metro Ayala grocery entrance, i almost caved when i tried on a shiny gold strappy pair with a low pointy heel (notice it didn't fit any of my requirements) because i was tired. i just wanted to get something and get it done with. there were two older women (like in their fifties) sat on a couch minding their own shopping. they looked up from their feet when i walked past to get to the mirror to see what my feet looked like in the gold pair. 


walking back, one lady stopped me and said "miss, you have very nice legs" and the other sincerely concurred "its true. you do."


(i happened to be wearing a pair of short white Mango linen walk shorts) 


i caught myself and thanked them both. what else does one say when randomly complimented by total strangers?


i didn't get those shoes. i would up with a t-strap style that met all my requirements. from metro ayala. on sale for Php 399. although i might go back for that other pair. they were nice, made of leather, made in brazil, and on sale for Php 750 from something like 3k. 


where i would wear them to i have no idea. 

40 pesos is a lot of money

i am so annoyed with my normal supermarket options--yes, i mean rustan's fresh, metro ayala, and sm, and their various permutations and outlets (ace hardware, metro dept. store etc.).


being in the middle of renovating the house we are moving to, i bought a bunch of cleaning supplies last week, including scotch bright mop heads (just the heads, as refills, i still have the mop handles). 


i thought nothing of purchasing them at metro's department store because their prices for such thing were pretty similar to my other shop options, give or take a few pesos. 


the yellow mop head cost Php204, the blue & white one was Php234. imagine my annoyance when, JY supermarket being the nearest quick choice at the new place (and i was searching for a broom and dust pan), i chanced upon those two things: yellow was Php159+ and blue & white was Php179+


that's a difference of over 40 per item! gah! they were not old stock, and those where their srps. what's up with the difference then? fortunately don't need new ones all the time, but seriously, i am appalled at the waste. 


time to investigate the JY supermarket more closely then. 

superior ass

that's a joke between BBB and me. in 2004 he gave me a pair of Levi's 927 type 1 jeans. (you see, i am a levi's girl, and when we met, he was working for levi's headquarters in brussels)


the type 1 series is not your standard levi's jeans. and my 927 is super low in front (two-button fly, no zip) and tight in the thigh, and properly flared, with the exaggerated stitches of the type 1 series. i loved that pair, and a lot of people noticed it too. even staff at levi's shops would ask me where i got them. 


the inside joke is embroidered on the outside. the word "superior" is embroidered in gothic script using golden yellow thread--across the bum area. did levi's mean superior jeans, coz BBB and i always say perhaps it means i have a superior bum. 


to cut a long story short (and to disallow more of my levi's geekiness from showing through), those 927 were and still are my favorite jeans. i was wearing them til i was about 3 months pregnant. and the best part of all this is, i tried them on today and they fit. 


they don't fit well yet (uhm, can i say muffin top?) but having mysteriously lost 4 pounds in the 3 weeks we were in the UK for the holidays, i had the guts to try them on this morning (there was a bit of mold on it from hanging in this climate unused for sooooo long--is it really nearly two years?). 


yes, they fit. this is good news.  

score: black kimono dress

i was questing for a pair of shoes to go with my butter yellow organza dress which i am to wear as a bridesmaid for the kiwi wedding at taal lake (more gripes on shoe hunting later). 


tired and not having any luck with the shoe-shopping, i ducked into one of my old ukay haunts and braved the "new arrivals" section. i generally do not buy from new arrivals because i find that spending Php 180 for an ukay dress is not as good a bargain as spending Php50 instead. unless it is something truly exceptional, designer made, or something i have been actively seeking. 


i have been actively seeking a kimono-type dress robe. not one of these corny psuedo-japanese printed things with the Y-cut front and back. i meant styled like a bathrobe or a wrap-around dress. the last one i found in the same place was about 2 sizes too small and certainly not a good. 


i scored today. stretchy jersey material bordered with what looks like proper washed silk. all in black. knee lenght. and what looks like the right size. now, i am not a wrap-dress person. i just had it in my head that i wanted one of these things. and if i put it on and decided its not fit to be seen in, well, i could always use another nice bathrobe.


cost: Php 180   

somewhere in the middle of

~ moving houses. from this one to an even bigger one around the corner & down a rocky lane


~ choosing tiles. and kitchen sinks. and faucets. and toilets. and all that


~ archiving files and photos into my 500gig external drive


~ and trying not to get stalled by nostalgia and the compulsion to re-organize and re-label


~ trying to write for a job i think i need but not sure i want
battling with the current but soon to be ex-landlady who wants to pile her repairs on us 


~ hunting for shoes to match my custom designer dress for a kiwi wedding by taal lake


~ and deciding if we should book the previous night in manila or at the lake
wanting to write for the hobie challenge again and thinking i shouldn't be away for that long


~ packing up belongings and trying to let go of as many personal things possible


~ a cold at the end of jet lag and what was probably fatigue-induced flu


~ finding myself in the middle of all this and not quite sure where i am.