by The Happy WAHM
Last January 15, I posted a status on Facebook asking for anyone who’d be passing by Pampanga to please buy me a Masa Podrida by La Moderna Bakery.
Well, to be honest, it was not just for anyone. It was meant for my husband, who was at that time in Bulacan, on his way to Pangasinan. Though he does not actually do Facebook at all, I know that one of his colleagues who was with him at the time regularly checks in. So, I was kinda hoping that the post will reach him.
I was introduced to Masa Podrida by a good friend from Pampanga just a few days back. Ate Aleth and I became friends online in one of the advocacy groups I joined back in 2007. And that day, we were about to meet another cyber friend, from the same advocacy group, for the first time, so she brought some goodies with her from Pampanga, and among those was the Masa Podrida.
It was love on first taste! It became my favorite morning staple, with freshly brewed Batangas coffee. I finished the whole jar in less than a week.
So… on to the Facebook post. The very first to comment was from Ate Aleth, who promised to bring me another jar when we meet again, which, given the history we have, will be in another year. [Sigh!]
The next comment was from [drum roll] Lanie Aquino, who simply said, “Owner is my friend, how many do you want?”
I was jumping up and down, literally!
The next question was, “Where do you live?”
And here they are…
Arrived by LBC this afternoon. I was expecting a jar, and I got four! If you can see me now as I write this post, I’m smiling from ear to ear, while munching on these goodies!
I have sent a thank you message to Ate Lanie Aquino, but I guess she’s not online yet. Oh, yes! That Aquino! It thrilled my daughters to the bone when I tell them she’s related to the President. Really, Mommy? But how do you know her? Oh, well. Mommy’s secret. 🙂
So if anyone of you reading my post swings by Guagua, Pampanga, don’t go home without the Masa Podrida.
by The Happy WAHM
Who would believe I’d spend Php2,174.50 just for parking?
Well, I just did!
We were in Lipa City earlier. My aunt has been texting us in the past two days that we should come for lunch as today is the city’s fiesta. So we went. But alas, it had to be a short visit, as I have forgotten to take Jude’s eye drops at home, and he really needs those for his ongoing eye treatment. Nothing serious, but we need to be vigilant in following the doctor’s prescription as those are Jude’s eyes we’re talking about.
So, much as we’d also like to extend the visit to our friends’ house, we immediately headed home after lunch. But I requested that we swing by BDO for a few minutes to get some cash. Our best bet was the one at Robinson’s so we could avoid the killer traffic at the city proper. The plan was that I’d be dropped off at the mall entrance and they’d park just near the entrance and wait for me there. It being a Sunday, and the city’s fiesta at that, the parking was full, so Jojo drove around ’til he found a spot in front of National Bookstore. Naturally, the kids wanted to go inside. I was thinking, oh, they may be running low on origami papers and maybe they want to buy some. So while I was at the ATM, they were left inside the store.
Joining them after a few minutes, I found Xia in front of the Classics shelf. Uh-oh… Shakespeare again! Then Jude came out of nowhere and then he was pulling me to another shelf, showing me a book of the Philippines and telling me how good it is. I looked at the price and almost fainted. It’s Php1,185.00. Oh, no! How do I discourage him from getting this one? Maybe a less expensive version is lying around somewhere? So I frantically looked for one and found something for Php635.00. But he wouldn’t have it. He wants that particular one. Think! Oh, maybe if I tell him that we have to use the money he’s been saving to go to Enchanted Kingdom, he’ll forget about this.
So I did.
“Ok lang po. Mas gusto ko ang book.
While we were haggling over the book, Bea tugged at me and said, “Mommy, doon lang ako sa kabila.” And I said, okay. So off she went, while I continued to show Jude some books that are far less expensive.
He was getting impatient and was looking like he was about to cry.
“Mommy, ang kailangan mo lang, isang one thousand, isang one hundred, isang fifty, isang twenty, isang ten at isang five.”
Clearly, I was losing the battle. So I took out the plastic card case that I’m using to keep his money and let him pull out the bills needed. He stopped at twenty, as that’s the lowest denomination he has.
“Paano ‘yan? Wala ka nang ten.”
“Tatlong five na lang, Mommy.”
Okay! We’re buying this one.
Here comes Bea, with the book of Japan. Price? Php1,039.00. Aaaargh!
“Are you sure you want this? Are you sure you’ll read this? It’s expensive!”
She just stared at me, with those about-to-cry eyes, then picked up another book. “Ito na lang po.”
It was Basic Japanese. And I remembered that we bought the Japanese Pronunciation book when we went to the book fair last year. She finished that in one sitting! And she practices the words with Jude. So she must really be into this. And Xia has been writing haiku.
Okay, let me see if I can do something about this.
I went to the cashier and inquired. Could it be that this book may be up for a discounted price?
Oh, please, please, please! Let it be on sale! I’ve learned from being at National Bookstore so often, that there are items that are already identified with a permanent markdown, only they have not taken to changing the tags. So when there is a book that we really want, we sort of ask first. Or ask when the next sale event will be, for most of the books we buy are actually the not-so-popular ones.
And alas, it was! For 50%. Bea’s in luck! My wallet is not.
Okay now, what about Xia? I can’t be buying these two their books and deprive Xia of her Shakespeare. Earlier, I was telling her that those classics can be actually downloaded free from Amazon. She just needs to install the Kindle reader in her PC. But her dad butted in. “Marge, she can’t bring the PC around.” And we have not given her the liberty, yet, of bringing the laptop outside of the house.
Now here comes Jojo. With three Shakespeare books. Oh, no!
“They’re on sale, Marge. From Php209.00, they’re on sale at Php100.00.”
Need I say more?
And so that was to be the most expensive parking ticket one can get in a free parking space.
I have to admit, though, that while I am here ranting about how much I had to spend on books outside of the family budget, deep inside, my heart is rejoicing that my kids have learned to love books early on. I can’t remember a time that they ever asked for toys. Except maybe at the height of Jude’s interest in cars, which was immediately overtaken by his interest in flags and geography. But even then, Jude would even say no when we offer to buy him some more cars for his collection. He was very discriminating when buying cars, as he was not just after the car per se. He was looking for style, for functionalities, for a story that comes with it.
So now, as I am writing this post, Xia is already deep in the world of Othello. And Bea is patiently waiting for me to cover her books so she can start reading. It’s just like her to be obsessed about covering the books first, so they will be protected. And Jude? He’s already on a tour around Manila.
And as I’ve always said before, if a thief ever comes into our home, the only thing of value he can find are the books. These are our treasures, as these are our way of giving our kids the window to the world.
by The Happy WAHM
And this was exactly what I did this morning!
Us WAHMs always have our plates full with the daily tasks that we need to accomplish. So when the computer threatens to leave you hanging, that definitely constitutes as an emergency.
For the past three days, my PC has been acting up. The CPU has been emitting a high-pitched, continuous sound, followed by the monitor dying immediately after boot up. It would always resolve after I switch it off and turn back on again.
This morning, the act went to full play, and the monitor just wouldn’t light up at all. The sound just wouldn’t be abated.
Breathe in, breathe out…
As I sat just staring at the PC, the pages of my planner came illuminatingly clear in my mind. Transcription of that messy audio needs to be submitted today, I have to resolve the bug in the Inner Circle with Jake, the plans at Training Peaks need to be added to the shopping cart, the programmer messed up the script yesterday and I need to see if it has been resolved over the night so I know at what point to run the sales export, Racquel’s website should be live for Jenn, need to submit the images to Dropbox for Dr. Jankoff… and the list continues to the end of the page. I always manage to keep my planner filled up, which is good. But not today.
Breathe in, breathe out…
Okay, I am calm. I am not going to panic. There are worse things that can happen.
Breathe in, breathe out…
As calmly as I could manage, I called the tech.
“Dad, uh, the PC, I think something is wrong.”
He comes out, and I started counting my blessings.
Blessing #1: This happened today! When husband is home. He’s been out-of-town on a business trip since Monday, and he was not supposed to be home ’til Friday. He finished early so he arrived last night.
Blessing #2: Husband was looking calm, so I was hopeful that he could fix the problem.
Blessing #3: With the CPU busted, I now have the time to clean the windows.
And I did! Really! And while I was at it, I also had the inspiration to sort the trash at the back. You know, sorting the cans, bottles, plastics, getting them ready for the guys who buy them.
And just as I was winding up with my inspired cleaning and thinking about doing the laundry, the tech shouts “YES!”
Blessing #4: The PC was fixed.
First order of my workday, back up all client files and pictures. You never know when another episode of wailing will end with a gasp, followed by total silence.
Blessing #5: That we had the sense to buy a 1TG external drive, so no problem with the humongous amount of data that I needed to back up.
Breathe in, breathe out…
And what do you know, it’s evening now and I’m writing about the experience. I survived! I didn’t panic! I was calm, collected, and most of all, I made myself productive!
Being intentional works! It gets the windows cleaned. 🙂
photo credit: Susan Sharpless Smith via photopin cc
by The Happy WAHM
So okay, like I really have the time to do this today. I don’t, but hey, I’m entitled to play hooky once in a while.
While getting ready to get back to work after a sumptuous lunch of pork sinigang that my hubby prepared for us before leaving for a business trip, I was browsing through Facebook and came across the link to the latest blog post of a Mommy friend, a fellow homeschooling, soon-to-be WAHM, Racquel Guevara. Her post was about teaching her children life skills, one of which is making bank deposits. There was an invitation to comment, and I did. It was kind of kilometric that I thought, hmmm… I have not been posting anything on my blog because I don’t have the time, and yet I had the time to write that long comment. So why not write a quick post, while I’m at it? And the topic is good. Right along the alley of homeschooling moms.
As parents, it is really up to us to teach our children life skills Those that will really matter in their journey through life. Oh yeah, nouns and pronouns are important, but those are things that they will learn anyway, as they trudge along the levels of education.
But what they really need are what can’t be learned inside the fours walls of a classroom. And that’s why we homeschool. Because we want to learn as we live. Not just when we are attending classes or lectures. And while it is true that the best things in life are free, like hugs, and kisses, and laughter; bills still need to get paid. And no matter what the song says, love alone won’t keep us alive. So we show them the value of hard work, we make them understand that money is not something we should take for granted, we teach them how to budget and save and work.
For our 13-year old, we have started to give her a hands-on training on budgeting and saving. Since she already attends a traditional school, she already takes a daily allowance. When she was eleven, we opened a bank account for her, in her name, with her signature. No ATM card, just a passbook that I keep. Then last year, when she started attending a traditional school, I asked her to make a passbook out of the pages of her old notebook. I made her a deal. That I would match whatever amount she could save. She’s really crazy over an electric guitar (forgive my ignorance, but I believe it’s called a Gibson Les Paul, or something with Cherry) and she knows it’s expensive so, the sweet girl that she is, she’s not really pushing it. Such a blessing that our children really understand our economic standing, but this I may write about next time. So I told her that it’s really going to take me some time to raise the funds for that, but if she’ll help, we may find a way to get it sooner. So every afternoon, she would give me whatever amount is left from her day’s allowance, and I would record it on her passbook, and I would sign. By the end of the school year, we were able to deposit Php5,500. Php2,750.00 came from her, plus the matching amount from me. And during the year, too, she was able to buy some of her school project materials without asking from me.
Well, what do you know, but this year, she may end up with a lot bigger amount, since she’s been doing some copy-paste jobs for me on weekends and holidays. Tasks like converting Powerpoint to Text, or taking out data from a PDF file to be put in Excel. And last December, she did not ask for a field trip allowance, instead she used part of her savings to buy souvenirs for us all. And I really appreciate that about her. That while she knows spending on souvenirs could mean less savings for her, she really doesn’t seem to mind. She does know the value of giving, too!
by The Happy WAHM
Captured this picture of my eldest child with my phone right before dinner tonight.
She’s not making a fashion statement or anything. She’s just doing what she does best: being the sweet young lady that she is.
Everyday, upon her arrival from school, she would go directly to me, here at my workstation, on her way to the bedroom she’s sharing with her younger sister. She would kiss me hello, we’d exchange kisses for a few minutes while we go over our routine Q & A: How was school? Do you have assignments? What did you have for lunch? Have you had snack before coming home? Go change and have your snack. Blah, blah, blah.
But about three weeks ago, her brother just came up with this game of annoying his ate. When he hears his ate arrive, he would open the door, and knowing the routine, he would run to me just as his ate is also coming towards me, and he would embrace me so that his ate could not get her kiss. This has been going on for weeks now, like a game of tag. And Xia would always find an opening and still get her kiss. But this afternoon, Xia just had it with Jude.
To annoy Jude back, she intentionally did not come to me, but went straight to the bedroom to change. Well, knowing Xia, she was in there a looooooong time. I started to feel impatient, so I called her to come out. She took her sweet time, and after about 30 minutes finally came out. By that time, I was also getting annoyed. She came to me to get her kiss, but I was not going to give in easy. I expected my kiss the moment she came in, and I expected her not to be bullied by a little boy. So I ignored her. No kiss today. Then we heard the car come in.
Bea and Jude went to open the door for their dad, while Xia went back to the room. When she came out, she had her school bag and her school necktie on, came to me and had her daily dose of kisses.
Oh, well… What can I say? She’s really very sweet. Beautiful, I’d say. Inside and out. And she definitely knows how to warm my heart.
