Coup, OT and Fever

Yup. Lots of things happened today. Sort of.

We basically stayed home the whole day for the above named reasons in the title.

{COUP}

Oookay. Another coup d'etat (sp?) in the Arroyo administration right now. Gen Lim and Senator (although he should NOT have been eligible to run while in jail!!!) Trillanes staged a farce of a rebellion and marched from the Makati Regional Court to the Manila Peninsula Hotel. Ummmm, yeah. Their idiotic escorts let them do it.

Sure, it was planned.....the Magdalo group were seen brandishing their red armbands a few minutes into the march. But I guess it wasn't planned very well since NO OTHER political group went to support them!

The rebel group was holed up in the posh hotel for about 6 hours, with the military finally ramming an APC through the front doors of the hotel to lob some tear gas. Basically just an exercise for the police and military, in my opinion. After a few minutes, the rebel group came out surrendering. End of story.

Total political, idiotic, and naive suicidal tendencies, Trillanes has. Again, he should NOT have been elected a Senator in the first place. Hmp.

{OT FOILED. AGAIN}

Because of the coup, Dad's occupational therapy session was cancelled. Both the therapist and I reached the same conclusion separately: we didn't want Dad to end up sitting in traffic because of the coup. To get to the clinic, we would have to pass through both Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo which MAY get involved in the whole drama.

So....no OT again for Dad. And he didn't want to do any exercises at home either. He was glued in front of the TV watching the whole coup unfold.

{FEVER}

My poor baby has fever!!! :( Ranger has an unusually high fever. Will have to see if it will run its course. In the meantime, he really needs some nebulization since I can hear some wheezing starting. Sigh! Another round of asthma attacks waiting to happen.

{SCRAPS}

SCARECROW
JAMESTOWN SHIPS
BOAT BUILDING

TTFN!

Calendars are UP!!!

Today is a holiday, Andres Bonifacio Day. Andres Bonifacio, one of our national heroes took the backburner to Jose Rizal in terms of recognition as THE national hero. Why? Maybe because he wasn't of the wealthy class, he wasn't fully educated....colonial mentality of the Filipinos showing in the early years.

But the kids (and adults, in a way) know him pretty much because this day to commemorate Andres Bonifacio's birth gives them another day off from school.

And this holiday is timely in a way, especially after the attempted rebellion was quashed quite decisively yesterday. We did have a curfew from 12 midnight to 5 am, though, which raised a lot of questions as to the legality of the President or the PNP in calling for a curfew.

Whatever. All we know is that it's a holiday :)

We did go out for lunch at Cyma, a Greek restaurant in Shangri La Plaza, for Ate Becca's birthday. Good food, good company. HUGE portions, and totally delish! We had lots of appetizers and kebabs, and this humongous rack of lamb! Whoa! And for dessert? A souffle-like chocolate cake filled with gooey oozy chocolate inside, served with vanilla ice cream on the side. Oooohhh yum yum! :)

Afterwards, I braved the crowds and plunged into the Greenhills tiangge to look for some stocking stuffers and some gifts if I found any. Egad, what a CROWD! Ugh! This is exactly WHY I always go shopping first thing in the morning ALL the time!

***

It's the last day of November, and the kids have been reminding me (incessantly!) to put up their Advent Calendars. So we did that today.....all NINE of them, hahahahaha! Since I didn't have my materials with me, I improvised and used Rogan's and Raine's old, smaller calendars for Robyn and Bric. I printed out the letters of their names and stuck those on the calendars so that they wouldn't be left out :) Hopefully, Mom or Elizza will be bringing the felt cloth when they get home so that I can make proper calendars for the 2 babies.

Here's a photo of the calendars lined up all in a row along the hallway. Thank goodness La Vista has an extra long hallway! As it was, 7 calendars spanned our room to Lola's Room, and the 2 others had to go on the opposite side, covering the woodwork alongside the horse-glass :) So yeah, that's a LOT of calendars the elves will be visiting every night starting tonight until Christmas!


{SCRAPS)

Here are some pics of our trip to Hong Kong with Tita Belen:

HOW TO EAT PEKING DUCK
SHOPPING!
ALL SHOPPING-ED OUT

TTFN!

Shopping Online

Yes, again. I have to make my purchases before Mom leaves the States on the 5th. :) So then she can bring my goodies home. Uhm.....SMALL goodies that'll fit the suitcase, Ma! Hehehe.

A few of my must-hit stores are Target for clothes for the kids and other knick knacks and other impulse purchases, Amazon for books (for some books I can't find here), and my all-time favorite go-to store, Best Buy. I've already gotten a Leapster and some cartridges for Ranger from Amazon. Being shipped as I write this. Can't wait to see his reaction when he gets them on the 7th! :) As for books, I'm on the lookout for Beowulf, especially after watching the movie. I want to know if the movie missed a lot of key parts, or if it was true to the book.

As for electronics, I'm still on the lookout for great Nintendo DS Lite bargains for Raine. This is her one thing on the wish list that she really really REALLY wants. I'm still comparing prices between just buying the unit here or ordering it online in the States where it could be cheaper even with tax included. Best Buy offers it for $130, so I'm off to the good old standby site for coupons and discounts, Coupon Chief. I need to save me some money!

{SOME SCRAPS}

Will put these out here now just in case we lose our internet connection again, like we did last night. NO idea what happened.....all I know is that it sure is hard to live without internet connection AND cable tv! Hehehehe.

PORTOFLIO NIGHT HERO

PORTFOLIO NIGHT ROGANTTFN!

My Baby is Sick Today :(

Poor Ranger! He's had a fever the whole day...probably started yesterday when he still went swimming when he wasn't feeling well and had the chills afterwards. His temperature ranged from 37.6 to 39.3 degrees. Round the clock Calpol to try and get rid of it.

He didn't go to school....but when he had taken a shower at around 1030 am, he was insisting on wearing pants because he wanted to go to school! Hehehehe. We just told him teacher wasn't there and that he should stay home. Although he has a fever, it didn't stop him from playing with his toys and watching TV. He's not as active as he really is, but at least he's still moving. And he ate a LOT at dinnertime! Yeah!

One good thing about Ranger....he loves doing his "homework". I got him this Preschool Workbook that he could work on if he got bored with everything else....and it seems that he loves to color and write! He's soooo excited about tracing lines to form letter! That's my boy! :)

Working from Home

Since Mom went to the States, I've been bringing Dad to and from his physical and occupational therapy sessions and his doctors' appointments. In the month or so that Mom's been gone, I think I've been to the office twice or thrice. That's it. It's hard to just leave Dad at home and risk the wrath of mother dear, hehehe.

Yesterday, Dad went to VWL and it was my chance.....however, Marivic mentioned that we were in dire need of Christmas garlands for the decor and she needed it asap if the house were to be ready for Mom's inspection when she arrives in 10 days!!! Aaargh! What's a girl to do?!?!

Checks from both MVC and VWL are being sent to the house for my signature. Almost every night! Sigh! This week though, I was busy with printing the RPUs for the columbarium vaults. Yes, Bang, I did them and finished printing them AND was finally able to figure out the mail merging thing just now!!! Whoohoohoo!!!! A major sense of accomplishment here!

{SOME SCRAPS}

Here are some older pics that I dug up:

ON THE STEPS
FAMILY IN 2001
GOOFY 2001

THE HULK

Video of Bric

Here you go, Boydee and Bang. Your precious little one, attempting to go up the stairs. You could tell he WANTED to go up, and he did, all the way! Don't worry, yaya was behind him, ready to catch him if he should slip....but he didn't.

And no, he hasn't started walking yet. Still on his tippy toes. Yaya said that he now has 4 teeth down, and 3 up. His new teeth were what made him irritable and unable to go to sleep a few nights ago, hehehe.

I'm hoping the video is uploading properly...

Ok, I think it has uploaded. It's the first time I've used Blogger to upload so crossing my fingers that you can see it ok! Enjoy! :)

Nag, Nag, Nag

Nag--that's the best word I can find to mean makulit in Tagalog. That's what Raine has been when she realized that she wanted a Nintendo DS Lite for Christmas. Actually, she can't even *wait* for Christmas; she wants it NOW. Sigh! We told her that she had to sell her Game Boy (it was Ate's old one) and we thought that would give us a few weeks of peace and quiet. But uh...nope. In the next 2 days she had found a buyer: her Lolo Doc! Hehehehe. She is short of P2,500 for the unit, but I had told her that her Papa would cover it.

And she didn't stop reminding us every single second, practically! Aaaargh! And apparently, she also wants the newer WHITE DS Lite! Crossing my fingers that it's not that hard to find, either! I kid you not when I tell you that for at least 4 days straight, every word that came out of her mouth when she talked to me or to Papa was something along the lines of "When will you buy my DS?" or "You can get the money out of my piggy bank now and buy my DS". Hehehehe.

She has SOOOO been wanting her own DS ever since Raegan got hers. I guess it's the kids' own version of a laptop? A cool, hip laptop. Whatever makes them happy. :) Didn't know there were different colors available AND on top of that, they have different kinds of "sleeves" for the DS Lite! Sheesh! Maybe to express their own individuality?!?!? Oh well. That'll be next on her wish list, I'm VERRRY sure! They have funky covers, too, like Transformers which I think are cool :). Oh, and the DS Lite happens to have a girly bag available for it, too. Ever since Nintendo came out with the pink version, I guess they realized that a lot of girls wanted in on the cool fun too!

{SCRAPS}

I'm getting my older scraps posted to prepare for the onslaught of newer pages that I've been scrapping, or trying to find time to scrap. The designers I CT for have been hit by the designing bug, hehehe!

RAFAEL X 3
MARKET MEAL
LIGHTING ON THE ROAD

TTFN!

Went on a Date :)

...with dear hubby. We first went to Virra Mall to try and get Raine her DS Lite, but Rondic's info on the price of the unit plus the R4 were wrong, so we figured it would be easier to buy it in the States. We had time for a quick lunch at CPK (love their Greek Pizza!) before we decided to watch Beowulf. I wanted to read the book obviously before I saw the movie (that's me) but oh well. No time! Japa didn't want to see it since he said it was all CGI--computer generated images. But there was nothing else to see and I wanted a classic movie....so off we went.

Movie summary:

In the age of heroes comes the mightiest warrior of them all, Beowulf. After destroying the overpowering demon Grendel, he incurs the undying wrath of the beast's ruthlessly seductive mother, who will use any means possible to ensure revenge. The ensuing epic battle resonates throughout the ages, immortalizing the name of Beowulf.

And I LOOOVED it! Action packed, dark, loud. Kept me tense all throughout the film, hehehe. The CGI didn't bother me at all, especially since the characters honestly did look almost exactly like their human counterparts. And of course, sounded like them. Japa says it would have been better if everything were real, but imagine the expense and the impossibility of some of the scenes!

Loved loved LOVED Angelina Jolie as the Queen of the Darkness here. Man, that woman has a body to die for!
Look at her! One can only wish! Hehehe. But seriously, that body dipped in gold was just incredible....even if it was CGI. Beowulf wasn't so bad either. Loved the part where he was naked to fight Grendall. Totally funny, and it became a game to find out just how risque the animators/directors were going to be during that fight scene. Heehee!

Anyway, I'm still buying the book to find out what parts in the movie were embellished, what characters were merged, etc. I always say the book is always more complete :) And it is a classic right?

After buying some Christmas garlands and some other Christmas decor, I went home and passed by Abada to look at our rooms. Told Shirley that we would be moving in in 10 days' time more or less, when Mom got here. The paint job in the kids' rooms made them look like new. The new beds and mattresses definitely added to the look as well. Our master's bedroom looked old-fashioned next to them, hehehe. But we didn't want to wait any longer since we've been out of our own home since July! I wonder if we need some contemporary bedroom furniture to update the look a bit instead of a paint job....but then again, I think paint is lot cheaper than new furniture, hehehe! Maybe in the downstairs rooms we can go contemporary, maybe futuristic? :)

TTFN!

The Year is Winding Down...

I cannot believe November is slowly ---ok, quickly--- ending. Where in heaven's name did the month, the YEAR, go?!?!? Sheesh! I have got a TON to do for Christmas!!! Can you hear the panic in my voice now? The kids' Christmas parties are coming up very soon and I have yet to finish gift bags for the gifts they give their classmates. In fact, I know I have *some* gifts I shopped for before, but I'm pretty sure I have to go shopping soon since we decided to enroll Ranger for this semester. And the teachers! Oh my! Gotta get the teacher list from the kids! Man, what a month! And the bad part is that it's going to be even more hectic in the next few weeks!!! Aaaargh!

Hectic, full-of-stress, and bills to pay. Of COURSE I'm going shopping...and I've done some. But the shopping I do NOW will reflect in the statements in December!!! Sometimes I really do hate having to end a year because of all these! It doesn't help things either when at the end of the year, we have to pay off the term life insurance quote we got for Ranger from Tita Cora Sanchez. Dang! We should NEVER have even asked her about it! Hehehe. That's what we get for caring about our child's future, LOL! But at least the kid has insurance, so that's fine with us. I just wished we had planned it in such a way that it doesn't have to be paid in December, that's all.

November is winding down, and everything is now focused on Christmas. The Advent Calendars, the little gifts, the Christmas decoration, the big gifts. So many lists to go through and cross out! And OMGosh!!! Our gift cards!!! Ack! So much to do, so little time! :) The story of all our lives, I'm sure, during this busy holiday season.

Ok, not only do I have to do all these things, I have to think of my CT requirements too! :) So yes, I'm scrapping whenever time allows....

Some Halloween Scraps:

MR SCARECROW
TTT

Still waiting for some Christmas kits from my designers then it's off to dig up some older Christmas photos :)

***

Dad surprised us all this morning by being ready at 930 am!!! We were expecting to go to mass at 1030 at Della Strada, but noooooo------he picks today to decide to be ready for the 10 am mass at Padre Pio! So we all jumped in the shower and took hurried showers to make it to mass. And make it in TIME we did with 5 minutes to spare!

The kids were clamoring to eat out, so I told them to ask Lolo Boy if it was ok AND if his blood sugar would allow it. Luckily, he had awesome blood sugar records for about 3 weeks now, and we were all rewarded by having lunch at Omakase, our all-time fave restaurant.

Dad was good, eating only Chicken Teriyaki-don with a couple of pieces of sushi and a few sips of miso soup. I took out the skin and he looked at me like I was crazy, but I told him it was icky stuff and that he shouldn't be eating it. Good thing he was in a pretty agreeable mood and just nodded. Crisis averted, whew! :)

Off to scrap....or make gift bags....whatever I feel like I *have* to do. :)

TTFN!

I have NINE Kids!!!

Yup, it's official. As of today, Japa and I have NINE kids, hehehehe! Reese and company and Bric make 9 for us. For a little bit less than a month. Fun but noisy that's for sure. What a riot La Vista already is, as Reese, Rielle, Riley and Robyn move in for the weekend!

With the exception of the babies, we all trooped for an evening of Disney's Enchanted movie.
The kids absolutely loved loved LOVED it! Of course, I loved McDreamy a.k.a Patrick Dempsey in this one. Very prince-like in his prince coat during the last few scenes! Aaaahhh! Total eye candy!

Grabbing the standard summary of the movie:

The tale follows the beautiful princess Giselle as she is banished by an evil queen from her magical, musical animated land--and finds herself in the gritty reality of the streets of modern-day Manhattan. Shocked by this strange new environment that doesn't operate on a "happily ever after" basis, Giselle is now adrift in a chaotic world badly in need of enchantment. But when Giselle begins to fall in love with a charmingly flawed divorce lawyer who has come to her aid--even though she is already promised to a perfect fairy tale prince back home--she has to wonder: can a storybook view of romance survive in the real world?

Really cute story line, and a lot of funny, unforgettable moments! I looooved Susan Sarandon in this movie. Ega, for someone her age, she sure is HOT! Trust me to like the villain in the movie, hehehe. But honestly, Disney villains have the BEST parts!

I was trying to place the voice of the queen, and Japa came up with Susan Sarandon....actually, he said that it was the voice of the mom in Mr. Woodcock, hehehe, and I came up with the name. :) I loved the way Susan Sarandon made her appearance in New York....very dramatic and you couldn't NOT look at her!

It was funny the way all of the characters came up this ONE manhole in all of busy New York! You would think they'd need a mover NYC, the way they were appearing in the scene!


One of my MOST fave scenes was the singing and dancing in the park. That was funny and cute, and that curtain-dress of Giselle was very pretty.

Ok, I can't end this post with having a pic of Mr. McDreamy himself, now could I? :)


We were going to have dinner afterwards, but Riley and Ranger were asleep (halfway through the movie). I guess non-animated movies don't hold their attention, hehehe.

TTFN!

OT and PT

Dad had his initial assessment for his Occupational Therapy yesterday. On our way there, the therapist texted me to ask me if Dad could climb stairs..because the elevator in their building was out of service! I told her that Dad can climb stairs but NOT 3 flights! So she asked if we could just meet somewhere else just so she could make the assessment.

We went to Starbucks, hehehe. Gotta get those stickers to get my lovely leather-bound planner, you know! Anyway, off to Starbucks we went. The therapist's name is Penny and she was pretty thorough with Dad and very nice. So no, Dad couldn't frown and pout with her, hahahaha! He answered all her questions clearly and with some thought. Very good session in that regard.

Penny also brought some instruments with which to measure Dad's grip, his pinching strength and other things. She had some flash cards to tell her where Dad stood in cognitive matters and memory. Basic stuff, really, but they had to be done. When I was buying coffee, she had apparently asked Dad to sign his name. All he did was to make a squiggly line and that was it. He had just enough strength to hold the pencil, but couldn't do anything with it anymore.

If anything, all these "tests" gave Penny an idea of where to start with Dad and what she wanted him to do. She asked Dad what she could do for him. After some thought, Dad said "to sign my name, and to do normal things like feed myself." One of Dad's assignments was to have more concrete examples of the "normal things" he wanted to do for himself.

For Physical Therapy, Dad is progressing with each session. Literally making great steps (yes, pun intended!) during 2-hour sessions. He is walking more fluidly (when he's not tired of course) and is speaking a lot more clearly now. He is frowning less because he is able to understand quickly what we are talking about. Yes, his appetite is still there, which is good, and he doesn't complain when all that is cooked for him are fish, rice and veggies. Ok, and chicken, too, sometimes. He understands what meats can do to his kidney (finally!!!) and he tries to avoid them more consciously now.

All his effort is obviously so that he will get stronger, but a primary motivation for him is that he wants to surprise Mom when she gets home with how strong he already is compared to when she first left for the States. He has gone a long way in less than a month!

I'm getting ready for his and Mom's questions of what to get the other this Christmas. They always ask, every year, without fail. What should I get for your Mom? What should I get for your Dad? Hehehe. Now I have to surf for some romantic christmas gifts for the both of them. They don't want some cheap-y gifts either, but something that they can splurge on. And they're not easy people to come up with ideas for gifts, let me tell you! We kids have had to be creative when thinking of gifts for them, hehehe. Off to put my thinking cap on!

Some scraps first. I did these using some quick pages. I just put some more embellishments and I was done in less than 30 minutes! A record breaker, for sure! :)

CHOCOLATE BRIBE
FIVE LITTLE DUCKS

TTFN!

What a Feast!!!

Well! All I can say is....Thank God Elizza was here for Thanksgiving! Otherwise, I wouldn't know what food to have prepared, hehehe. She ordered the turkey with paella stuffing from Chef Laudico---this was the same guy who prepared our turkey last year. And it was sooooo delish! I kid you not! The breast part was nice and succulent and oh-so-yummy! And the gravy didn't have gross liver bits in them, thank goodness! The only thing we were missing was the cranberry and applesauce. Maybe he forgot to send those with the turkey.

Then the yams! I told Lai that we *had* to have yams to complete the meal, especially since we didn't have cranberry and applesauce trimmings. So she bought some canned yams, dumped them in a pyrex, covered that with butter, peanut butter and nutella, then topped with marshmallows. Pop in the oven and voila! Yummy yummy yummy yams!!! That was one of the first things that got DEVOURED, hehehe. Both kids and adults LOVED it!

Let's see, here's what we had for our Thanksgiving Feast:

Turkey stuffed with Paella rice
yummy yams :)
steamed fish (I know..this was SOOO not Thanksgiving-y)
French Onion Soup
Salad
Filet Mignon
cupcakes
chocolate cake
ginumis

I didn't even touch the filet mignon at all, as I was busy stuffing myself with the turkey! hehehe.

The kids had a blast since Lolo Doc brought them some sparkling cider, and Lai got them some sparkling grape juice and strawberry juice, too. So yeah, their meal was complete! Even Ranger was trying some soup! :)

We didn't get dressed this year....we just wanted to eat, eat and EAT!

Some Thanksgiving quiz fun:

Your Pilgrim Name Is

Desire Cushman

What's Your Pilgrim Name?

and LOL on this one:

You Are The Turkey

The center of attention, the meaning of it all. Too bad you put people to sleep!

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

It's Thanksgiving!!! At least.....in this part of the world it is. :) This is not a traditional Philippine holiday, but since we've all lived in the States, celebrating Thanksgiving has been part of our year. It's a good day to give thanks and for our family, it's always a good excuse to have turkey and all the traditional trimmings.

This is the first Thanksgiving without Tita San fussing over the turkey and her stuffing. But she wil always be a part of Thanksgiving, definitely. For me, Tita San was the one who really introduced us to this holiday. When we were in the States, she didn't have to go all out in preparing a huge Thanksgiving feast since we really didn't know anything about it. But she researched and experimented and she came out with a totally delish dinner all by herself. And she's perfected it throughout the years.

There are many things for me to be thankful for, this year. There's my family, and my extended family. There's my new sisters, and sis-to-be. Didn't forget you, Zhar! Hehehe. I know you're a faithful reader. :) Dad's improving strength, my healing back (knock on wood!), my will to exercise! The kiddos' health, their involvement in sports and their good grades, our relationships. My scrapping, my CTs, the TIME I get to have scrapping :) Every little thing, every big thing I can think of, I thank God for everything. I thank Him for ME and my life.

I am posting this early, just in case I won't have time later on today. We've got dinner and a tentative photo shoot with all the kids pre-dinner time. Cross your fingers for us!

Ok, I really NEED to try and get some shut eye for tomorrow. Lots of things to do!

Some {SCRAPS} before I go though! :) Here are some layouts of our vacation in 2001:

THE MISSION
LIVING IT UP

TTFN!

Bric's Visit to the Doctor

Ok, Bang, your turn! :)

I met Bric and Mila at the doctor's clinic. They had been in to see her by the time my PT was done, but Agbayani was waiting for me. Thank goodness there wasn't anyone else there! Hehehe.

Anyway, Bric was there for his chicken pox vaccine. I thought he wasn't going to be given one because he had a cold and had a little bit of cough. Agbayani did give it to him and told me that Bric was supposed to have the vaccine on the arm. But because he was so magulo, she instead told the yaya to hold him tight while she injected it on his leg. Hehehe. I could just imagine your son turning this way and that to either look at the syringe or because he couldn't stand to be so still for too long!

He was prescribed Disudrin, three times a day for his colds. He cough was dry, so Tita Doctor said to have some Ventolin ready for him to be nebulized with IF he started sounding like he had phlegm in his lungs or something. Bric had regained all the weight he lost when he had the runs a few weeks back. He is now a healthy 11.8 kilo-baby. VERRRY heavy, hehehehe!

Tita Doctor said she was so surprised that you weren't with Bric. She didn't know you guys had gone to the States and why. So we started talking about you guys (were you biting your tongue?) and of course, I *had* to start bawling no! Sigh! I was apologizing for losing it, and she said it was ok. She got depressed also daw when Mila was trying to explain about the baby. So we started talking and she did say that you were in very good hands there, that yes, there weren't a lot of facilities here for the baby and all that. Haaaaaay!

She told me that she sends you her prayers and wishes that you will be alright.

Oh, Bric was given an antihistamine. Tita Doc said that his dry cough is most likely being caused by some postnasal drip. His colds may be a cause of allergy, and hence the antihistamine. If the colds disappear and cough is dry, then it's allergens and no need for the Ventolin and nebulization.

Before I left for dinner with Lai (celebrating Rielle's 2 silver medals at ice skating!!!), Mila showed me Bric's ankles. Apparently, he was bitten by some insect. I'm thinking mosquitoes, but Mila was adamant that they didn't go out. I'm saying mosquito because I was just bitten while inside the house. Anyhoo, the bites looked nasty and didn't seem normal. No, not swollen, just a lot of little bumps on his ankles. So I told Mila to put some Elica or some such ointment on it. I will check on it in the morning and let you know.

Ok, it's close to midnight and I need to surf the boards and try and scrap! This dang Snood game is just too addicting sometimes! Hehehee.

TTFN!

Termites

Just a short commercial break from your blog read :) Had to mention some termites here and how I hate them. I'm sure Elizza does, too, after having to live out of their home for 4 years while it was being renovated and the workers spied some termites in the woodwork. Ugh! The sad part was, most of Apitong was nice, hard, Narra wood! Man oh man!

Termite infestation happened in Abada, too. I had some hardwood flooring installed in the upper rooms and the game room (to be converted into a gym) and right before the workers were going to lay down the wood slats, those dang termites showed themselves IN the wood! Thank goodness they didn't gnaw all the wood, which were stockpiled in VWL and covered in plastic. We were hoping that the queen was somewhere in the VWL warehouse and that the rest would just die. And I think they did, because after a week of treatment (I think), the workers were able to kill these pests and install the wood. There was *some* damage, but not a whole lot. We were still able to cover the 4 rooms and the landing upstairs, including the stairs, with the maple wood. So all was not lost. But man, those termites sure costs money in terms of time and effort eh?

Sentimentality or Depression or Just a Bad Dream?

This was my question this morning when I saw Dad. He seemed a bit down as I was set to leave for an appointment at the parlor. I sat down beside him and asked what was wrong. And he started to cry....

I knew right away that he had had a bad dream. I asked him and he said yes. I asked him what it was about (although I had an inkling of course), and he refused to say what it was. As I sat with him, trying to draw something out of him, he whispered something. I brought my ear to his mouth and asked him to repeat it. He said, "Goodbye" to me. And Dad started crying again.

I think I know Dad well enough that I didn't panic or get scared about what he said. Apparently, he *had* a bad dream again about him dying. Dying, passing, expiring. They all mean the same thing eh? And I told him that he probably had that dream last night because he wasn't able to pray; the kids did go to his room to pray with him (I'm there to supervise, hehehe) and he told them that he wasn't about to sleep yet. So I guess he forgot to pray before he drifted off to sleep?

Anyway, I told him that I was going to research on the internet about what these dreams of his mean. Death, dying...I'm sure there are meanings out there.

{DEAD FINGERNAIL}

Remember Dad's black fingernail? Well, it fell off. The nurse and the caregiver couldn't find it; we figure it fell in the sink when Dad was brushing his teeth. Why am I bringing this up? Well for lack of a better comparison when talking to Dad, I latched on to his black, dead fingernail which was now a grossly-surfaced PINK nail. Or is that the underbed of the nail?

Anyway, I told him that MAYBE he should equate his dream to that of his nail falling off. Finally. To take it to mean that his old life --- his weakened state, his refusal to use his voice, etc--- was finally going to be replaced with the positive, the NEW. That this could be a turning point in his life where he was going to be strong mentally to be able to overcome the effects of the stroke on his body and mind.

I think---I HOPE---that something of what I said did enter his mind. I felt so bad for Dad. Knowing him, he was deathly scared of his dream. Again, I assured him that I was going to find out what his dreams meant.

We finally got him to bed; I knew he was tired mentally because of everything that we'd talked about. Before I said bye to him again, he mentioned that he wanted to talk to Mom. I told him ok, but that I wanted him to rest first (and take a shower) before he talked to Mom. I asked him what he wanted to tell Mom out of curiosity and he said, "I want to tell her goodbye" and he started crying again.

So we went through the whole gamut of our previous discussion again. Mike the Nurse and R.E the caregiver were all agog at everything that was happening, hehehe. I later told them that part of their job was to make Dad feel good about himself and what he was doing. That Dad having negative feelings about himself would definitely not help him improve his state of mind and body.

So again, with the reassurance that I'd find an answer for him, he finally fell asleep. And I went to the parlor. Of course, I couldn't stay for very long.....and it was good I was a little bit late because 3 people attended to me at once: the hairdresser, the manicurist and the pedicurist. In less than an hour, I had a haircut with shampoo and blow dry, a manicure (french tip) and a foot spa and pedicure. I *was* going to pass by the grocery to buy some much needed things but I figure I better get my arse back home to see what was up with Dad.

I get home to find him in the kitchen, eating lunch. Mike and RE happily reported that Dad was FINE after his nap. I asked Dad how he was feeling and he looked up and smiled this beautiful, rested smile :) He said thank you to me and started to eat as if nothing had happened. Hehehe.

{PHYSICAL THERAPY}

Dad's PT was incredible today. I left the rehab place early though, to meet Bric and Mila at the pediatrician's clinic. So Dad was left with his troop of boys at the rehab clinic. When I was done with Bric and was on the way home, Aguila phoned.

Before I could ask any questions, Aguila burst out with the news that Dad did really really REALLY well at PT. Each session of PT ends with Dad doing some walking, with the aid of his walker, from the beams to the reception area or the door to the clinic.

Today, Aguila happily and ecstatically reported, Dad walked. WALKED. As in by HIMSELF!!! I could hear the excitement in his voice, and it was contagious. When I got home, I waited for Dad. The car came in not 5 minutes later.

I waited for Dad to go up the stairs and started shouting and hugging him. He had this HUGE GRIN on his face. He KNEW why I was so excited. Oca, Aguila, Mike and RE were all smiling and SO happy for Dad. It was just an amazing moment. Really!

Now Mom, if you're reading this, try and forget about it. I asked Dad if he wanted to call you and tell you about this major accomplishment of his or keep it as a surprise. He thought about it, held my hand, looked at me and said "I think I want this to be a surprise." All said with a huge smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. We're getting Dad back!!! WHoohoohoo!!!

So for those of you in Polaris reading my blog, NOT A WORD to Mom for now since she doesn't read my blog anyway (hmp!). Hehehe. Ok?

{THE DREAM MEANING}

I did some research and this is what I found:

To dream of your own death, indicates a transitional phase in your life. You are becoming more enlightened or spiritual. Alternatively, you are trying desperately to escape the demands of your daily life.

To dream that you die in your dream, symbolizes inner changes, transformation, self-discovery and positive development that is happening within you or in your life. Although such a dreams may bring about feelings of fear and anxiety, it is no cause for alarm and is often considered a positive symbol. Dreams of experiencing your own death usually means that big changes are ahead for you. You are moving on to new beginnings and leaving the past behind. These changes does not necessarily imply a negative turn of events. Metaphorically, dying can be seen as an end or a termination to your old ways and habits. So, dying does not always mean a physical death, but an ending of something.

On a negative note, to dream that you die may represent involvement in deeply painful relationships or unhealthy, destructive behaviors. You may feeling depressed or feel strangled by a situation or person in your waking life. Perhaps your mind is preoccupied with someone who is terminally ill or dying. Alternatively, you may be trying to get out of some obligation, responsibility or other situation.

Not a bad thing, after all eh? Gotta show this to Dad tomorrow morning.

Now just so this won't be another boring picture-less post, here are some scraps of our East Coast trip :)

MAKING ROPE
THE PRESIDENTS

TTFN!

Gearing Up for Some Shopping

..over the Thanksgiving weekend, that is. Black Friday. Not sure why it's called that, but what I do know that it's one of the BEST times to go shopping for Christmas and get awesome deals all over the place!

One of my first stops will be Coupon Chief, of course. I've been a loyal customer ever since I blogged about them several months back. I've saved some money using the coupons they have online, and all to stores I would have frequented anyway! I'm up for a new laptop VERY soon, and I'm going to be hitting either the Apple store or Best Buy for my deals. Yes, I can still use my rewards zone card at Best Buy, but by going to Coupon Chief first, I get to know whatever deals, promotions and coupons they have for what I want. Definitely a very cool deal!

With a few days before Black Friday, I guess I should start bookmarking what I can....after all, there are only a few hours in a day, hehehe. I plan on hitting the online stores on midnight of Thanksgiving in the States. Yes, there are great deals to be had!

Scrap Pages

The usual monday today. I exercised on the elliptical machine, yay! That's close to 2 weeks (I think) I've been on the machine. Almost everyday, I might add. I've already told myself that my weight does not matter just as long as I'm losing the inches. So there :)

PT in the afternoon with Dad. He has been progressing very well, PT-wise. He's doing a lot more with every session. Walking a bit farther, doing more bending/squatting to strengthen his legs. He's even started doing some step ups, some tip toes to for his calf muscles, and more stretching. Dad's complained a bit about his right shoulder hurting, but Dra Dungca's prescription of having Tylenol twice a day for a week seems to be helping.

TRYING to get some work done, but I can't do anything at home, ugh! Not conducive, if you know what I mean. Trying though, just trying. *roll eyes here*. Sigh!

Here are some catch up scraps:

MATCHING SHIRTS
PRESIDENTS' PARK
CHINESE GIRLS
HOUSE OF SKINS

As always, the images are clickable if you want to leave some love or to see the credits :)

TTFN!

Bric's Corner

Ok, I know Bang has been stalking my blog the past few days, impatient about news of her little one. So sorry I wasn't able to update since it's been REALLY busy here. At least for me. Hehehe. So many roles to play! :)

Ok, let's see.....relax, grab some popcorn popped from home theater popcorn machines, and watch...er...read on:

FIRST SHOWER. Yup. I finally got Bric in the shower long enough to give him one. It was actually last night, when we came home from Robyn's party. But because we were all so tired, no one thought to take pics. And both Mila and I were concentrating on keeping Bric busy enough so that he wouldn't be scared of the shower spray.

I think having Ranger in the shower with us definitely helped. Bric was distracted by both the shower spray and Ranger, and he was SO sweaty, he probably welcomed the cool splash of water! He was a bit hesitant first, but he saw that Kuya Ranger was enjoying the water, he slowly began to let his guard down. Soon, he was reaching out to touch the water with his hands. Hehehe. You could tell he was very careful while he oh-so-slowly reached out. When he touched water, he looked at me as if to say, "is this okay?" Hehehehe.

I soaped him, and finally put shampoo on him (actually, it was Ranger's baby soap, since Mila forgot to bring up his shampoo). To rinse, he stopped moving when he felt the water running down his head. Hehehe. As in, he didn't move. For a few seconds. This is Bric after all---he can't stay still very long! When the water ran down his face, he was of course shocked, but between Mila and I, we kept up an endless stream of "conversation" and sounds so that he wouldn't even think of it. Then we were done! No crying, no tears, nothing! :)

This morning, we took a shower again. This time he remembered the bathroom and was squirming a bit when I took him inside. He was trying to climb up and away from the spray, using his finger-toed feet (hehehe) to scrabble up, using my fat as steps. Disgusting picture, I know, but that's exactly what it was! Hahahaha!

It took a little bit for him to calm down again. This was when we figured that having Ranger in the shower with helped a lot. But he allowed me to soap and shampoo him and he was unafraid to touch the water spray this time. He would play with it, looking at how the water would run down and through his open fingers. Observing everything, this little one.

He freaked out when I rinsed the shampoo from his head though. There was no Ranger to distract him, and I think he already knew what the effect was going to be, hehehe. He started wriggling and making his ugly/funny face and was about to cry when I pulled him out from under the water. Then he opened his eyes really wide as if to say "what happened?!?" Hehehe. Then we were done! He was fine and I'm hoping he's gotten used to the shower already. Just waiting for you, Boyds! hehehehe.

WALKER. Not his own walker, but Bric was getting the hang of using Dad's walker. Since he walks really really fast (almost a run, honestly!), I had to hold the walker on top to keep him from falling flat on his face because of his excitement and speed. Bric was able to walk around Dad's room, turn, go to the bathroom, into Mom's dressing room, to the mirror and back to the room. Without falling down or faltering! He is a determined little boy, and it seems he wants to walk soon. :) I think it'll be a bit,. though, as he is still on his tippy toes most of the time.

APPETITE. Holy Moly, this child of yours can eat, eat and EAT! He's had his meal, but every single time he sees us at the table, he up and shouts, demanding to eat as well! Doesn't matter what it is, but he wants at least a few bites of whatever we're eating. Don't worry, he gets mostly rice or fish, Bang, hehehe. Ok fine. Sometimes some meat :) According to Mila, he eats his full meal, more often than not finishing with a whole banana! He's a growing boy, I guess, and wants to eat whatever he sees. A good thing though: he does stop and will refuse to take another bite if he has had his fill. So I don't think you have to worry about Bric eating to bursting point :)

LOLO BOY. Bric does love his Lolo Boy, and it shows every time he looks at his namesake. Honestly! There was a time that Dad was having a coughing fit while taking his meds. What did Bricky Boy do (he was in his stroller)? He simply put his hand on Lolo Boy's forearm and looked at him as if to say, "slowly, Lolo Boy. It's ok, I'm here." Sweetness, really. As in his face would be totally concentrated on Lolo Boy!

Bric would get all excited at his first glimpse of Lolo, practically running in place, with his feet going back and forth. And he jumps all the time, too! The best part of the day I think is when Bric is in his crib and Lolo Boy in his transporter, right next to the crib. The two would utter their different sounds of conversation, and Bric would keep jumping. The poor mattress, hehehe. And Bric loves to show off in front of Lolo Boy. He would try and cross his crib walking, with his arms outstretched to catch himself on the other side. Really funny, the way he'd do it, too! I wish I had a video, but alas, my phone/camera were in the other room :)

Ok, this should be it for now.

{SOME SCRAPS}

GIRLS ONLY IN HONG KONG
IN THE LOUNGE

ARRR! I absolutely LOVE this layout of Raegan! She looks great as a pirate, complete with the pose and the hook. Oh, and she even said Arrr! with feeling, while trying to smile! Hehehe. This is going to be one of my all-time fave Halloween layouts for sure!

STREETDANCE

TTFN!

Robyn's Party

The doctor thankfully allowed Robyn a "day pass" from the hospital. But only for 4 hours....to attend her own birthday party. Hehehee. At least her fever had subsided and she was well enough to go home for her party. The only thing keeping her at the hospital was to finish the cycle of antibiotics given to her via an IV.

The party was a lot of fun. Elizza went all out for it. Nah, no pictures again.....for the reason why, see the post below, hehehe. But there were huge balloon formations --- trees, flowers, insects. A great cake with a huge number 1 on it, along with mini cupcakes with little frosting insects on them. Music was blaring all around, as the sounds were emanating from the mounted audio racks strategically placed all over the garage and the lawn.

There were some games, although we missed them since we waited for Dad to get up from his nap and get dressed. The kids went ahead as they were excited about the party and the party "loot", ie., prizes, they could get.

Food was plentiful: the usual pasta and fried chicken of course. Then there was pizza, soft serve ice cream, crinkles, hotdogs, hamburgers and cheeseburgers and a shawarma stand!!! Yummmm!!!!

It was also good to see some of the football crowd there, along with their kids...I cannot believe how all the kids have grown! And we've all witnessed it and have become steadfast friends, despite the fact that we don't see each other that often anymore.

And there was this funny acrobat/juggler/magician who captivated both kids and adults alike. He was hilarious! I swear, he could've been a comedian! He rode this uber miniature bike, he balanced on trays and glasses, he did lots of things! Very cool show he put on!

The kids had fun, the adults had fun. The party was a huge success! And yes, Robyn was there, smiling and having fun, too, despite her disposable diaper-clad right hand, which covered the needle for the IV. Definitely a birthday she (ok, ALL of us!) would remember!

TTFN!

Photo Shoot

Well, I finally became semi-organized and arranged a photo shoot with the kids. I set it out by the lanai, with the morning sun shining from behind. A couple of king size sheets went on the windows to serve as a backdrop and the "floor". A had the ottoman from Randy and Stella's room brought down for the kids to use --- this was the greatest idea I ever had, hehehe. Ranger was a natural with that ottoman, allowing the other kids to seat themselves wherever in relation to him.

Luckily, the older kids didn't have classes yesterday, as a rest day from their field trip Tuesday. They went to the Mall of Asia where there was a new Science Discovery museum. They had fun and had a blast.

Anyway, yes, I took a LOT of pics, however, as of this writing, they are still in my camera, in my compact flash card. So, no pics for the shoot! Maybe in the next few days, when my schedule isn't so out of whack any longer.

Hang on, I have these, since i want to scrap with them. But the rest will have to wait since I have less than 1 gig on my poor laptop! I was on a downloading frenzy again during DSD, hehehe.


I think these came out pretty good, huh? I did some auto level adjusting in Photoshop for the last pic, and some defogging, and that was it! Natural light did soooo much for the pics! And yes, that ottoman will be featured more prominently in Ranger's pics from the photo shoot, hehehe.

Bang, I took some pics of the Brickster, but like I said, I don't have space on my laptop to download any more pics. I'll post some when I get around to downloading, I promise! :)

Ok, next step is getting my pics onto my calendar pages so I can have them printed out. THAT'S not going to be easy for sure, what with EVERYTHING I have to get ready for Christmas! Aaaargh!!!

TTFN!

Strrressssful Day!!!

Aaargh! What a day! Not only did we have to bring Dad to physical therapy, we had to let Alex go...because of dang d.r.u.g.s!!! The twerp had been taking shabu and a random drug test of all the boys in the household showed his use of it. Dammit!

I know Alex cares for Dad and wouldn't put him in any danger, but obviously, we don't want to put Dad in a situation where it COULD go out of control. Our control, that is. Having someone using just wasn't safe. At all. So we had to let him go. He knew, even before Rondic and Rodney called him outside to talk to him. He knew the consequence and he looked deeply saddened by it.

The one good thing out of it is that Mom and Dad have offered to help him do rehab. Alex was such a big loss, since Dad and all of us, actually, trusted him in caring for Dad. And believe me, caring for dad is NO EASY thing!

So we go to PT without Alex, and to make matters worse, Aguila was confined in the hospital for some excruciating migraines. That left Oca, Rani and myself to take Dad to PT. Which was no big deal, actually. We just had to do some readjusting of what to do what and when.

Dad's PT went REALLY well. He did the full 2-hours; I didn't show myself when I was done, which makes him want to go home sooner. So I stayed at the reception area, out of site, until he was done. But I was seeing him do squats and walking a little bit more fluidly. Good things, for sure!

{STRESS MESS}

Dad's PT session went TOO well, and I know he had exerted himself to do all the exercises put to him. By the time we were home, I expected him to go straight to bed. But nope. He wanted to go to the kitchen. I reminded him that it was too late to have a snack, but that we could wait a half hour to have an early dinner. He agreed, and he took some catnaps while in his transporter.

Dinner came and Zeny was feeding him. When he was 3/4 of the way done, he started fiddling witih his apron straps and buttons. He had a glassy look on his face and he wasn't responding to ANY questions. He would try and talk but no one could understand him at all. It was all slurred.

Frantically, I thought he had another stroke. I touched Dad's arms and asked if he could feel them. Yes. I touched his legs and asked the same thing. Yes. He even lifted his legs up for me. He seemed to be ok, but he just wasn't responding to our questions. His blood pressure was 148/84 or something like that.

Then we figured that he was just exhausted. He couldn't even finish his food. He couldn't talk. So we rushed him to the bedroom, changed him and laid him down. Not even a minute and he was fast asleep. That fast. Snoring up a storm, too!

I took his BP in half hour intervals, just to monitor it. The numbers seemed to be going down, which was a huge relief. Rodney came home and Dad was up. When I checked in on him, he was smiling and laughing at what happened (although it was NO laughing matter then!!!) when Rod would tell him what happened.

Rod is Dad's lifeline, in a way. Dad was holding Rod's hand and they were just chatting. This reminded me of the time we were in the hospital in the States or here, I can't remember, and Dad was feeling very very down. It was only Rod who could make him do things like eat and sit up, etc., and only Rod who could brighten Dad's day (or night). Dad would calm down when Rod was in front of him. Why? Dunno. Special bond? Maybe. Whatever it is, I'm glad we had it today. Took our mind (and Dad's) off what COULD have been, you know?

SUCH a relief! :) Ok, off to bed after such a stressful day!

TTFN!

Happy 1st Birthday, Robyn!

Happy Birthday, baby! Robyn turns ONE today! But the sad part is that before her whole day ended, she was rushed to the emergency room at Medical City because her fever spiked to 40'! Yikes!

So after close to an hour or so in the ER, Rondic and Elizza texted us to let us know that Robyn will have to be admitted for testing. Seems she has some sort of infection inside, which explains the high fevers that wouldn't go away. Apparently, the fever has been on and off the past few days.

The POOR BABY!!! :( They're going to have to stick a needle in her to hook her up to an IV. The pediatrician wants her antibiotics to be administered via the IV instead of orally. Hmp! I would probably have fought the pedia tooth and nail to have my baby home with me, hehehe. But that's me. Elizza would never think of doing that! :)

On a happier note, Robyn has been walking quite steadily....with Dad's walker, hehehe. You want proof? Here, this pic was taken a few days ago when Dad wanted to eat "out".....and we went to Apitong for our "restaurant". Safer food, and we knew what he was going to eat.

Anyhoo, here's a pic of Robyn and Dad's walker:Too funny huh? Hehehe.

I hope you get better soon, Robyn! You have to----you've got a birthday party on Saturday!

TTFN!