by The Happy WAHM
It used to be M/V Doulos that my husband and I would look forward to each year. Both voracious readers, we consider trips to the bookstore a date, and going to wherever M/V Doulos would be anchored a special occasion. Then the ship ended its voyage, and we discovered the Manila International Book Fair. This year is our third.
For the past two years, I’ve only taken the girls with me. Husband is not really keen on taking our kids on long trips with anticipated long walks. He says it’s not wise for the kids to get tired when the parents are more likely to be tired also. And I get that, totally. This year, since we agreed that I should go on a weekday to avoid the crowd, I was just going to take Bea. Jude was to stay behind with his Dad, while Xia has school. But when Jude learned about the plan, he was teary-eyed. He wanted to go. He was going to look for books about the Titanic and the World Trade Center, two of his latest interests. His Dad tried to explain that Mommy cannot take both him and Bea because Mommy has not been feeling well. He said, okay. Then went to the room and stayed there.
It worked.
So we tweaked our plan. Dad and Jude would go, too. But we’d have to leave really early so we could be home before Ate Xia gets home. But when Xia learned about this, she, too, wanted to go. So a pink slip was requested. 🙂
We got there before opening time. We had our game figured out. Daddy and Jude would go their way; Xia and Bea would go theirs, and Mommy… well, she’s going to talk to her colleagues at the Filway booth, go around on her own, and would be summoned when either of the two teams need to pay already. Mommy was the banker.
Xia came prepared. She knew what she wanted and was done with her shopping in less than an hour. Bea was a bit slow, always looking at the price tags. She’s very concerned about the budget. Jude was relentless in his search for his books, but was not getting any headway. So we re-grouped, literally. Mommy went to accompany Jude, and Daddy went to look for Jude’s books, too. Finally, he found an only copy, a 2014 print of the Titanic from a UK publisher. And of course, it was not on sale. 🙁
Bea finally decided on this set. Expect some posts on Bea’s culinary sojourn here. 🙂
Part of Xia’s loot.
A few of the other items that the kids are sharing. They share the love for Pokemon. Actually, an argument ensued over these. Jude wanted the Character Guide 2, but Bea said to get get the Character Guide 1 because it doesn’t make sense to skip it. But Jude, thinking that he could only get one, wanted the later version. Good thing that the sales assistant was very helpful, and pointed out that getting both copies would save us money, so we did. Bleach and Naruto are also part of their growing collections.
But the biggest, and priciest, find is the Sacred Geometry. Really excited to start reading this with the kids!
For myself, I wanted to get a sewing book, or any craft book that I could really use for my goal of learning some crafts this year, and I found Sewtionary. It’s pricey, so I put it back on the shelf, thinking that I’d go back to it when all the others were done shopping. But alas, my brain conveniently forgot about going back after all the receipts have made their way to me. My eyes saw the bags of books, and the brain registered something like, there’s no more room for one more book. Enough!
I think I’ll just put it in my Wishlist. Someone might take pity and make it my Christmas gift. 🙂
by The Happy WAHM
Are you presently homeschooling or considering homeschooling your kids? Then I hope to see you on September 6!
It’s the Second Homeschooling Conference, to be hosted by Manila Workshops and The Learning Basket, co-presented by Unilab.
We are actually on our sixth year of homeschooling, but this is the first time that I’m going to attend the conference. I only have, so far, attended the Homeschooling 101 by The Master’s Academy, the provider that we started with on our homeschooling journey.
Just looking at the topics makes me so excited! We are trying out the independent path to homeschooling this year, and I’m sure that the conference topics will inspire us more in pursuing our goals.
The conference speakers are hands-on teacher mommies themselves, and one of them is a person I look up to. She’s been homeschooling for 12 years, so I’m sure she knows just about everything there is to know in the field.
I’m also looking forward to finding some homeschooling treasures at the booths. I heard that Filway will be there, so I’ll make sure that I get their Philippine Almanac this time. I sorely regret that I ran out of budget in last year’s Manila International Book Fair so I wasn’t able to get a copy.
Check out the poster below for more details about the event, or you can visit Manila Workshops.
There’s still time to register, so I hope to see you there!
by The Happy WAHM
One fine day in May, less than two weeks before my son’s 9th birthday, I asked him. “What would you like Mommy and Daddy to give you for your birthday?” He answered, “Just a hug, Mommy.“ I asked why, have I not been hugging him enough? He said, he knows we don’t have money for gifts, so a hug would do.
My husband lost his job in March, and we have always been honest to our kids about our economic standing. We always tell them, we are not rich. We only have enough. But know that you are loved. And we will do everything we can to provide for your needs. The wants will come later.
And on that day, my son didn’t want anything, just a hug for his birthday.
But I insisted. I told him, it’s his birthday, and if he wants something, he just has to tell me, and we’ll discuss if it’s something that we can afford.
So he said, “When we have money, Mommy, can I have KEVA Planks?”
KEVA what!?
I totally had no idea what it was. Have not heard it before. So, after he went to bed, I Googled it, and found the KEVA site, and fell in love.
My son knows quality when he sees it. Apparently, he found it on YouTube. He’s been fascinated with structures, which started with the Twin Towers in New York, when he was researching on what happened in 9/11. He’s been building structures using his number sticks, in the process learning Math and History.
Below are photos of some of them.
New York City
The Pyramids of Egypt
The Stonehenge
Somehow, he stumbled on a video featuring the KEVA Planks, and he’s been dreaming about it since.
I showed the site to my husband, and we agreed that it would be good for our son to have, that it would be a good investment to further nurture his dream of becoming a structural engineer. We also agreed that it’s too expensive, and that shipping might be a concern.
We decided to sleep on it, and talk about it again another day. Had we found the site a year ago, we could have just have gone ahead and placed an order. But our situation is different now. We have to justify every expense, and however much we want to provide our son with something educational, it’s still too expensive for us.
The following day, I could not focus on my work. I kept on thinking about the planks, and how happy my son would be to have them.
Who am I kidding? I know I will be ecstatic to have them. And so will my husband, and our daughters, too. So I posted a shout-out on Facebook and asked if anyone knew where I could get KEVA Planks in the Philippines.
Sadly, no one (at least, not in my network) has heard of KEVA before. I described the product, and some replied with suggestions of variations of building blocks and Lego.
Nah, those will never do.
So, I went back to the site and inquired about shipping to the Philippines. No other than the Founder of KEVA replied to my inquiry, and he pointed me to the Sales Director of MindWare, the company that distributes KEVA, among other brainy toys. It turns out that MindWare has a distributor in the Philippines. I was given a link to the local site. Unfortunately, they don’t have the particular item that we want. My husband and I decided that we would get the structures set, but the site only offers the contraption set. I repeatedly tried calling for 2 days at different times, but no one picked up. I decided to leave a message on the contact form, asking if I could order the structures set in maple, and I received a reply with a link to the contraption set in pine.
Sigh!
We celebrated my son’s birthday with a simple cake, and a promise that Mommy and Daddy are doing everything we can to get him the planks.
After a few days, I received an e-mail from the local distributor, and he asked if we could meet. Me being from the boondocks, I could not commit to a personal meeting, so I sent him a lengthy e-mail instead, detailing our desire to have our hands on that particular box, the 400 Maple Planks. Well, truth is, we actually wanted the 1000 Maple Planks, but that would be too risky on our dwindling finances.
Never heard back from the distributor after that. 🙁
We considered buying from Amazon, but we were deeply concerned about customs fees. I went back to the MindWare site to see if I could at least get an estimate of the shipping cost. Quite unfortunate though, that they don’t offer international shipping for online orders. So, I wrote to MindWare again, and asked if I could order from them directly. We considered buying from them and have the product delivered to my mom-in-law so she could put it in a Balikbayan box and somehow save on customs fees. But my mom-in-law is elderly, and we really hate to put her to so much trouble over some pieces of wood.
I think by this time, Angela, the kind-hearted and ever so patient Director of Sales, was tired of me and my e-mails, and I further aggravated it by asking her for a coupon code. I just thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask, you know? A little discount will go a long way, especially with the dollar to peso conversion rate. I do this almost everyday in my online work, managing an online shop – create and give discount codes to those we feel deserve to have them. Our mantra in the business has always been it’s easier to keep old clients than find new ones. So I thought of giving it a try.
You believe that if you pray hard enough and sincerely enough, God will answer? I do. And He did.
I prayed for it as a gift to my son. I prayed for it as a gift to me. On my birthday, I created an online wishlist. Two days after that, I received an e-mail.
She, Angela, wanted to know what particular set my son wants, and asked me for my shipping address.
She was going to send me a set, at no cost.
BUT, I did not see that e-mail until after Typhoon Glenda.
From the day I started my quest for KEVA, I’ve checked my e-mail daily – morning, noon and evening. And always, Ken, the KEVA Founder, and Angela, have been prompt in replying. But after I’ve asked Angela for the coupon code, I did not immediately hear back from her. I was counting the days, and on the fifth day, I just thought maybe it’s not going to work. So I just stopped checking my mail.
Then Glenda happened, and I got so dangerously close to losing my job, too, because we had no power and no internet and my client had to hire someone to take my place while I was offline. I thought, that’s it. I, too, was going to be out of job. I was on the verge of depression then, but thankfully, I was strong enough to ward off the negative thoughts, and instead focused on improving my coaching module so I can offer it to a wider target market, and used my time offline writing new, and tweaking old, business plans.
And then in early August, just as I was getting my groove back, I decided to check on that e-mail address, and there it was.
I was in shock. An answered prayer! From a total stranger.
I replied, and did not ask why she was doing what she was doing. I just thanked her, profusely, and gave my address.
That night, I posted a status on Facebook about the kindness of strangers. It was cryptic, as I was not even sure if we would actually get the planks. I was trying to contain my excitement and my expectations. I told my husband about the e-mail, but we agreed not to let our son in on the secret yet.
On August 19, at dusk, a delivery van of 2Go stopped right in front of our gate, and my heart stopped. I thought I was going to hyperventilate. I don’t know how I managed to open the box without cutting myself in the process.
KEVA Maple 400
And for the first time in a long time, my son, whose bed time had always been 8:00PM, was allowed to stay up way past 10:00PM.
You will surely be seeing a lot more photos in the days, weeks and months to come. But for this time, I’m sharing what we have built, so far.
Jude’s Boat
Bea’s English House
Xia’s Contraption
Jude’s Tower
So, what do you think? Do you want to have your own KEVA Planks set? Please send me a message on my page. 🙂
by The Happy WAHM
My middlechild is acrophobic. I noticed this when she was on that age when we were training her to get on and off the escalator. I thought it was just the moving steps that intimidated her, as she would hold on to me so fiercely it hurt, until I noticed that once we get to the next floor, she would make it a point to be as far away from the railings as she could.
She never intimated to us that she’s afraid. She never voiced out her fear. She’s the child who does not complain. She’s really quiet, oftentimes mistaken as sad, or even suplada, by people who have not even spent more than an hour alone with her. She describes herself as reticent. Her words, not mine.
At home, she would just sit at her desk and read. Or draw. She reads the dictionary as her pastime, along with the National Geographic Kids Almanac. So using reticent in an ordinary conversation should not come as a surprise. Her favorite storybook is the Adventure Bible for Young Readers.
When she draws, she goes into a zone. She puts on her headphones and plays her own music. She downloads music from the net and saves them in an old cellphone. We bought an SD card for her and let her use the old cellphone as her personal music player. She likes Japanese music, I think. Anime music, particularly.
She plays the piano, but aspires to play the violin later. In her words: “When we have money to buy a violin, I want to play the violin.”
Her favorite destination is the bookstore. On our weekend grocery outings, she would first ask if we would pass by the bookstore, otherwise, she’d rather stay home. Strike that. Her first question would be: “Are we going up the second floor?” “Are we going to the bookstore?” would be next. When I need to transact with the bank, or if I have other business errands, she would prefer to kill time at Book Sale, or National Book Store. She immediately veers to the arts and crafts section and feasts her eyes on art supplies. She likes to look at pretty things, but she doesn’t like pink. She is very feminine that way. Pink used to be a masculine color.
But what really strikes me as special is her patience to wait. Wait for the time when we can afford what she wants. Wait for the time when there already is a need for it. Or be content with what she has. Because she knows that what she has is what she actually needs. Wants versus needs. She has a clear sense of it, even at an early age. She would use a pencil down to its last inch of lead. Dahil pwede pa.
I remember that time when we attended a homeschool workshop in the city. She brought her sketch pad and pencil with her so she could keep herself busy while I learn Singapore Math. But somehow, she lost her pencil, so she could not do anything. During the break, I decided that we should swing by National Bookstore and buy her one. There, she saw colored drawing pencils that we don’t ever see at the smaller provincial branches. I could see how she really wanted to ask for a set, but was keeping quiet. So I asked her if she wanted one. She said: “Meron pa naman.” She was ready to deny herself of a better set, because she still has old crayons at home. My heart melted, so I volunteered to buy her something. She asked: “Do you have money?” I said we could afford to buy one. And she insisted: “Just the small box, Mommy. Mahal ‘yong big box.” She was eight.
Earlier this year, we went on a vacation, sponsored by my first love and hero, my brother. One of the destinations was the Treetop Adventure in Baguio. Now aware of her fear of heights, I did not volunteer her to take the canopy ride when my brother asked who would want to go. Surprise, surprise! She said she would. I asked if she was sure, and she said yes. While she was being prepped with the harness and all, I kept on asking her, and she kept on saying yes, she’s taking the ride.
She was shaking as we were strapped to our seats. But I just kept on watching her. I am also terrified of heights, and I was wishing her to back out, so I would have an excuse not to go, too. But she held on to her resolve. One station down, seven more to go.
On the second station, her resolve started to crumble. Tears started to flow. She asked if we could go down. But there was no way down from where we were. We had to go to the station where the funicular is. That meant two more rides.
We finished the required four rides, went down the funicular and met up with the others who went on a canopy walk. Afterwards, I asked Bea, so why did you take the ride? You said you wanted it.
Her response was something that will forever be etched in my mind.
I did not want it. I needed it.
I was taken aback. At ten, I did not expect her to have that view on what she just went through. I thought she simply wanted to join in the fun. I thought she just didn’t want to be left out. Those would have been enough reasons for me. But what she did was much more important. She acknowledged her fear, and charged ahead to overcome it. She braced herself and tried to be brave. But in the end, the fear was just too much, and she buckled. But I am mighty proud of her for putting herself to the test. She said she needed it. Needed to experience the extreme fear of going up a hundred feet above ground, hanging from her seat on the canopy, at some point her shoes brushing against the leaves of a tall tree. She may have failed to make it to the end, but she is now a stronger person. More attuned to her fears and up to what extent she can handle them.
She still avoids the railings at the malls, but at least she can now get on the escalator without having to hold my hand. After Typhoon Glenda, she even stayed by the window of our upstairs bedroom with her siblings and watched the trees sway with the then weakening wind.
by The Happy WAHM
I first heard of Balik Bukid last year. But only after people were already talking about it on Facebook. From the photos and the blogs, the fair seemed like fun. So I made a promise to myself and the kids that we’ll be at the next one.
And we were.
We’ve just arrived home from this year’s Balik Bukid at Hacienda Sta. Elena. And boy, it was indeed fun! Come to think of it, fun is an understatement. It was exhilarating. More so for the kids. Each of them had a personal high.
Xia riding a horse. And a big one at that!
Bea conquering her fear of heights. I was truly worried that she’d feel the fear halfway up and panic, but she was able to hold on and finish the climb on her own, and go back down again. Truth be told, I was only able to take a total of three shots of her on those ropes. I was shaking. Very frightened that she’d have an episode. I know that feeling so well. The paralyzing fear of heights. But she was a real trouper. Even asked if she could do another climb. But my heart could no longer take it. So, no.
Jude catching a fish.
And I had a personal high, too.
I did something that I have not done even in my teen years. And not even when I was moonlighting as a production assistant for live concerts.
Today, I finally had the courage to ask a celebrity for a photo op. Look at this!
Well, I actually approached her with: “Ah, excuse me, but can my kids have a photo with you?” And my kids were like: “What? Why? Sino s’ya, Mommy?” So I explained: “Sorry, my kids don’t watch TV and they are not familiar with Philippine show business.” And she replied: “Oh, that’s okay! I don’t watch TV myself, and I wouldn’t know me either if I’m not me.” Ha ha!
So here she is with my girls.
The little boy was at that time having fun boating with his dad, which was a good thing, coz I wouldn’t have had the courage to approach Maricel had the dad been around. He frowns on these things. Being a fan and taking pictures of celebrities. It’s simply not in his zone. So it was a good thing that he was not around. 🙂
We met a couple of fellow WAHMs. Hmmm… now that I think about it, these WAHMs are both artistically gifted. Ginnie of The Green Mailbox and Nica of Carlos and Veronica. Awesome talents, these ladies!
And Xia had a bag personalized with her name by Ima, who also does calligraphy. And what do you know, the other lady in the photo below is also named Isabelle. She’s actually one of the angels of Manila Workshops.
Thrilled also to have re-introduced myself and the kids to a cousin-in-law, whose online store will be launched next year. But for now, you can find her here, and below, with my treasures. Jude really was in his element this whole day, making faces for the camera.
And lest I be accused of turning my site into a photo blog, I’d better stop posting photos here.
To the organizers of the country fair, thank you for putting up such an organized event. The attendants were all so accommodating and helpful. The facilities were well-maintained. Like the toilets were cleaned after every use. Alcohol bottles and paper towels in every turn. Attendants maintaining cleanliness of the grounds. Security personnel so snappy. All the kuya‘s who assisted my kids through the horseback riding, the carabao ride, the rope climb, the feeding, the boating, the fishing… kudos to you! You were their heroes! Until the next Balik Bukid!
by The Happy WAHM
I was just browsing through my feed on Facebook this morning, and I came across a question from a fellow homeschooling mom about printers. She’s soliciting recommendations for inexpensive, good brand printers. Having gone through the same predicament when we were just starting to homeschool, I jumped in with my 10 cents’ worth of input. But well, I write like I speak, so you can just imagine that the comment was a bit kilometric, and I was not even done. So here goes a post on my journey through printers.
Our very first printer was an Epson R210, immediately followed by an Epson c65. We bought the R210 because at that time, I was still very much into desktop publishing. I learned early on that it is always important to have the right tools for the task you want to take on. I wanted to print directly on CDs, and the R210 offered the feature I needed. Then we started homeschool, and I stopped my desktop publishing business because it was too labor intensive for me and I simply do not have the time.
Who am I kidding? The real reason I stopped my desktop publishing business was because I did not, do not, and will not ever have the talent in graphic design. Why I even started is beyond me!
On to homeschool. We needed that really important homeschool tool, the printer. As we considered brands and models, we also looked for one that would be best for board papers, because from what I knew about homeschooling at that time, we were bound to print a lot of portfolio dividers and cards, so we chose Epson c65. It is designed to print on heavy paper, but works great on an 80-gsm sheet, too.
But why Epson? Husband says, best to use a tool with parts that are readily available. Epson has a production line in Laguna, so Epson it was.
When we were offered to have the printer converted to a continuous ink system, we did not hesitate to say yes. At that time, a 15-ml. cartridge costs more than Php500 already, while a bottle of 100-ml ink costs Php150. I need not be a math genius to see how much the savings would be.
But wait!
For me to enjoy the 100-ml. bottle of ink at Php150, I had to shell out Php3,500 for the conversion first. Still, we thought that converting to a continuous ink system would be more economical, considering the volume of printing that we were anticipating. We had two homeschoolers, and there would definitely be a third. It pays to plan ahead.
After about 6 months, we started to have problems. The tubes would get clogged, there would be lines on the images, and normal cleaning would not do the trick. So we had to do deep cleaning most of the time, which wasted a lot of ink. Plus, when we print large images, the paper would feel wet, because a lot of ink goes to it.
Then our scanner died. We had to get a new one. No homeschooling family should go without a scanner, right?
So we went shopping for a scanner. And we found a Canon printer with a scanner. And it was so inexpensive. The decision to retire the Epson printer was made, since it was no longer functioning well anyway. And it has served us for 2 years.
And as before, we were lured to have the printer converted to a continuous ink system. With Canon, its own print head was used. Unlike when converting an Epson, where the print head would be removed and the conversion package would have its own print head. Which is the reason why converting a Canon is cheaper than converting an Epson. It only cost us Php2,000.
It could be overuse, or it could be the quality of the conversion, that caused the Canon to retire after a year. The funny thing is, we didn’t even get to buy new ink for the Canon. The ink that was loaded during the conversion was all we were able to consume, and then it died. Well, actually, it was like diagnosed with something terminal, and trying to save it would ultimately cost us a lot more than getting a new one.
So off we went our merry way to shop for a new printer with a scanner. And we stumbled upon Epson’s latest offering. The L100 and L200. Both have continuous ink system already built in. The L100 is just a printer, while the L200 has a scanner and copier. It was so new, the ink refills were not even out in the market, but we bought the unit anyway. The unit came with 3 tanks filled with colored ink (Cyan, Yellow and Magenta) and 1 tank of Black, plus 2 extra bottles of Black, both 70 ml. According to the staff at the store, the ink will come out with a retail price of Php250, but I have not refilled my colored tanks yet, so I have no idea how much it really costs. I have just refilled the black tank, using the first of the two extra bottles.
The exciting part about refilling, you cannot use any other ink but Epson’s original ink. When you have to refill a tank you have to input a code that’s found on the bottle itself. Otherwise, your computer, or the printer itself, will not detect the ink that has been put in. Also, you cannot be an OC about refilling, the way I was. Like, I saw the ink level on my monitor, and thought, “Oh, it’s getting low. I’m going to refill.” And so I did.
I just went ahead and opened the tank and poured in the ink. And I was like: “Why was I not prompted for the code?” And nothing happened. The ink level did not rise. And the level continued to go lower and lower.
And then one day, there was an alert. You need to refill. “Oh, yeah? Now, you’re telling me? From where I’m sitting, the tank looks full.“
Good thing this Epson baby does not talk back. So I just went ahead and opened the tank. And of course, the system detected that the tank was open. And it told me to pour in the ink, which I pretended to do. Seriously! Then it told me to enter the code. “A-ha! Let me see how smart you are.” I entered the code from the bottle that was used when we bought the printer, and the system told me I was being naughty. So this thing is smart. It knows when you’re using a used up code. So I entered the correct code, and just like that, the ink level magically rose.
We’re still enjoying this Epson L200. And if there is one important lesson I learned in experimenting with printers, it’s always best to use original, and not mess with the warranty. We’ve had this printer for about a year now, and I have yet to do any cleaning.
For mommies who are still deciding on what printer to use, here are some important notes that I have learned through my printing journey:
- Buy a printer according to your intended need for it. If you are planning to print on heavy paper or board paper, make sure that the printer can accommodate that.
- Use good quality paper to take care of the print head. The smoother the paper, the better for your print head. I use 80 gsm for our homeschool worksheets. And I do use both sides of the paper.
- Print something everyday, even just a page, to prevent clogging. This one is really important especially to those who use the converted printers.
- Go for the original continuous ink system, like this one from Epson. Not sure if other companies have followed suit about coming out with their own continuous ink system, but it really is worth it to buy and use the original. You get to maintain the warranty that way. And also, if you factor in the conversion cost, you’ll find it’s even more expensive to convert.
If I may just add here how to test for good quality paper. To know if your bond paper is really good, try to tear one up. Don’t crease it, just up and tear it in the middle. If it tears up straight, it’s good. If you get a zig-zag tear, not so good.
Photo from epson.com.ph
And oh, I just found out that the models have been upgraded to L110 and L210. So my L200 is no longer in the market, it seems. And while I’m at it, a little disclaimer here: this is not a paid post for Epson. Although I wish. Ha ha!
Happy printer shopping, mommies!
