Daily Gratitude

It’s been a month since our househelp went back home to her province, and left us with no househelp since. Having none has taken a toll on my patience and energy. I had to learn to deal with all the housework and managing my irritability when tired and stressed.

One benefit to our current situation though is that my eldest daughter would volunteer to cook her meals (she would do this also before but I see this more often now). Earlier, it actually felt good to help her out cook her pasta. She would also initiate at times (though not always) washing her own dishes (and extending to a few others).

My youngest daughter, on the other hand, have learned to offer help around especially when she sees I am tired.

Things are not so bad. 😊

Tiring but not bad. 😊

Daily Gratitude

Gratitude #1

The long weekend was great. Tiring but great.

It started Friday night when we capped the night til about 3:00am playing darts with friends. I had to wake up early depsite sleeping at 4:00am because of my eldest daughter’s dental appointment— this is the day she gets her braces.

After lunch, I ended up sleeping for almost 3 hours. That was how tired, sleepy and grumpy I was (getting only 3-4 hours of sleep almost every day during school days).

Sunday and Monday was the best. Initially, we had scheduled only a day trip on Sunday to Calatagan to kiteboard. It ended up with us going home Sunday then going back to Calatagan Monday (another 3-hour trip each way back and forth) for another day to kiteboard since wind forecast for Monday was better (and Sunday winds were so light and tide was low, I only got to kiteboard for 30mins and hubby did not).

Thankful that despite the strong rains & squall on Monday, we got to ride even for just a few minutes… a much better ride than the past sessions.

Happy. We’re getting there….

Also thankful for meeting new kiteboarders. New friends. It amazes me at times the different kinds of people we meet in the windsurfing and kiteboarding community.

Plus side in going home on Sunday night was we got to play darts for almost 3 hours with friends. We had to close early since we had to get up early Monday morning for our drive back to Calatagan.

Kiteboarding. Darts. Fun. Tired. Exciting. Fulfilling. Relaxing.

Definitely a fun-filled weekend to remember.

Gratitude #2

Tuesday morning. Back to reality.

I know waking up early at 4:30am isn’t exactly the thing I look forward to. The best thing though about every morning that I love is when I wake up my kids, I get to lie down and hug them especially my teenager who doesn’t normally want to be hugged anymore. I guess this is the only time I can get to hug her for a few minutes while I wake her up, and whisper a prayer for her .

The kids are growing up so fast. Every morning while I wake them up, I get nostalgic and remember especially during the much younger days of my eldest daughter (2-5 years old) where every night, she would ask me to massage her back before she sleeps. I used to lie down and hug her as well every night till she falls asleep.

I only pray my youngest would continue to be sweet and touchy and loves being hugged.

Warm. Sweet mornings. Loving moments. Enjoying my kids.

Missing This Blog

I kind of miss this personal space of mine. It’s been a while since I let some thoughts flow from my mind to this blog… I say some since as much as I want to openly and freely write down thoughts and feelings I still find myself censoring knowing this is not entirely a private site.

I thought having the wordpress app on my iPhone a few months ago would enable me to reconnect with my blog more regularly despite the busy schedule nowadays… Well actually come to think of it, it’s no longer always so busy but I guess my routine have changed and blogging had been pushed back…

But there are days I really feel I want to write- doesn’t matter what and doesn’t really matter if it’s through this blog or a private journal. However something always more important comes up…

I am glad I’m able to write now and I feel thankful for technology as I write this entry via WP for iPhone… since I didn’t want to get up anymore and open my computer.

Now You See Me, Now You Don’t

Half of 2010 just whizzed by and I realized only now that I haven’t posted any entries here nor visited any other blogs.

It’s a cliché but time does really fly especially when you are busy with many things — in my case new ventures and projects.

This year had a good start and hopefully it continues… Abundant blessings, lots of positive changes, and new opportunities.

The thing though with new ventures is I had to readjust schedules. So a number of previous “usual” activities were pushed to the side. However, as things slowly start to normalize and become more stable, it’s probably time to slowly bring back those activities– one of which is blogging. 🙂

Hope time permits… crossing fingers…

Just Thinking…

I know I don’t post much about some activities hubby and I do for our community. I just don’t feel I need to nor want to. After all, action is better than words (right?)… And I prefer to write about non-essential stuff which doesn’t require much thinking… Hahaha!

But recently, I realized that there are instances where words (well, written words) can also influence. I don’t consider myself an influential blogger since I blog for my own personal reasons… nor do I think of myself as an exceptional writer who can move people to action… but a few reads recently made me think.  I figured (and hope) that by sharing some more important activities, experiences and messages, some persons (at least one) may learn from it and be moved to care about a cause.

Hmmm… so when do I have the time to write more meaningful stuff ?  🙂

Back.

I just realized it’s been almost two months since my last post. Time really flies. My schedule last March was so toxic, I barely had sleep with how many batch of orders for invitations being finished, not to mention the preparations we had to do for a seminar for the parish end of March.

After everything was done, I got sick first week of April.  Post-stress sickness. Haha.

Holy Week was refreshing since I was able to relax and enjoy time with my family. We didn’t go out of town… just stayed here.

Although my day is still not complete without logging into my computer, it was also quite refreshing spending more hours away from my computer during the past weeks.

Now, I’m back… missed my blog! 🙂

Unexpected.

With voice cracking and moisture brimming in my eyes,  I say:
“Thank you Dee for sharing this award with me. Thank you for believing in whatever crap I have written here in my blog…”

Bow, thank you! 🙂 Hahaha…

But seriously and honestly, Dee, thanks!

This “Honest Weblog” award is a first and definitely unexpected. I blog because it’s relaxing and serves as an outlet for me, but I never really expect stuff like this.

Nonetheless, it’s fun…

Anyway, the award rules go something like this:

“When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to said person so everyone knows he or she is real.

Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have 7 friends. Show the 7 random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with “Honest Weblog.” Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon. List at least ten honest things about yourself. Then, pass it on!”

Okay, so here goes ten things about me…

1♦ If you haven’t seen a Chinese-Filipina who in the slightest hint doesn’t show any Chinese features and speaks Cebuano instead of Chinese, then you gotta see me. I’m a deep-set eyed morena who doesn’t even speak and understand Chinese. You can say the only visible evidence of my Chinese ancestry is my last name (maiden name)… which is actually now my middle name after I got married.  I’m a mixed breed Filipina (sounds like a dog… hahaha) — mix of Davao-eño, Cebuano, and Manileño — having been born in Davao from Cebuano parents and grew up in Manila.

2♦ I’m a frustrated artist, frustrated musician, frustrated photographer, frustrated swimmer, frustrated tennis player. Writing these down made me realize I seem to have a lot of frustrations. Hahaha.

Makes me wonder where and what I’d be now if I seriously pursued one of these. I wanted to take Fine Arts in college but never did. I’ve been told during my younger days I had the potential to compete for swimming. I was much better in piano and guitar when I was young but never really took it to heart. Arts, music and sports seem to come easy for me, yet I took it all for granted.

3♦I love to read. I’m a sucker for romance (and vampires)… Yes, I’m a fan of the Twilight Saga. I’ve probably read it a hundred times – all four books. But even then before that existed, I love reading about vampire stuff already… and romance. I also used to like supernatural, dark and weird books from authors like Stephen King, Anne Rice and Christopher Pike. Now, I don’t think my heart and mind can take anymore scary stories.

4♦ I’m a Computer Science graduate (which explains my computer addiction) who only worked for two years applying the technical education I learned, then moved on to do IT sales and marketing for four years for one of the top worldwide IT company… and who has now finally drifted to the world of arts and crafts.

5♦ I never knew how to cook until I got married. And my teacher in cooking? No other than hubby! He taught me all the basic meals – nilaga, sinigang, tinola, etc. I never imagined I could learn to cook and now, I’m even learning to cook more special meals like kare-kare (well, for me it’s special and one of our favorites).  But cooking has never been one of my passions. I’d rather bake. Now baking is something I know how to do since high school (but haven’t done in years).

6♦ I’m a water person. There’s nothing more relaxing than being in or near water — a beach, a pool, a lake. I especially love the sound of the waves rushing to the shore. That’s why I love to swim and I love to windsurf. Ironic though, one thing I am afraid to do is scuba diving. Imagining myself underwater makes me feel claustrophobic.

7♦ For five years, I lived (with my family of course) in an exclusive housing compound with only 32 houses with big sprawling lawns for each house and no gates or fences (just like in the movies), just trees and shrubs dividing the perimeter of each house. It has its own school, golf course, swimming pool, tennis court, pelota court, huge baseball field, bowling alley that cost 5-peso per game (during that time), a large field with helipad and a local phone where you dial only 3 numbers to call your neighbors. Those were the days!

8♦ One of my fashion fetish (and shopping weakness) is swimsuits… I think I have a collection enough to open a boutique.  Okay, so that’s an exaggeration. I just can’t help myself especially if there is a sale or a nice design! I even had a few of my own design made and customized for me.  When I was younger, my fetish was with shoes (and still is, though this one’s more controllable now). Hubby would joke then I was like Imelda Marcos.

9♦I am now 5 years sober from being a softdrink addict. I haven’t drank softdrinks since abruptly stopping in 2003 due to an acid reflux attack (which I was unaware of) that got me rushed to an Emergency Room because I couldn’t breathe anymore.

10♦ I’m a night owl (making me a late riser). My mind thinks more clearly and faster at night especially when everyone’s asleep. It’s one thing I need to change though especially when my eldest daughter starts grade school next schoolyear ’cause that means waking up very early for me too.

So, that’s ten things about me… my “long” ten things I should say. Sorry ’bout that.

And now I’m supposed to pass it on… tooooo…… Via, Bing, Light, Blogusvox, Gibz, Ayen, iMom, Momisodes whose blog entries I enjoy reading (and two of them don’t even know of my existence… bwahaha!)…

Taking A Breather

Finally, things have died down a bit and I have this free time to sit around, relax, surf, open my blog and post an entry. I was surprised to see the new dashboard design in wordpress. Cool! I like the new design. Feels more organized to me, though I’m still kinda getting used to it.

I missed photohunt for the whole month of November. There were just so many tasks to do that I couldn’t find the time. I had been sleeping very very late (or should I say very early in the morning) for the past weeks. It’s time I catch up on my sleep before things get busy again as the holidays are getting near.

Speaking of the holidays, I felt panicky this morning as my daughter told me that Christmas is just 14 days to go. Oh great! Where did time go? I haven’t done any Christmas shopping yet. And there are so000 many gifts I need to buy!!!

I hate shopping in December as the malls are crowded, lines are long and traffic is just bad. Shopping during this time is plain stressful for me! So I thought of buying some gifts online, and I started earlier today. I was able to find one item that I could give to eight persons.  Eight down, eighty-five to go… Good luck to me!

Random Thoughts or None At All

Why is it when I have the spare time to blog and write, my mind is blank… and when I don’t have the time, my mind races with so many things I want to blog about especially when I’m about to go to sleep or while driving a car?

At this moment, wanting to take advantage of this spare time, I want to write something… yet I find myself just staring at my computer screen… typing nonsense.

Sigh.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Still so many things to do. And so limited time to do them.

There are moments when I wonder if all these things I do is all worth it. Yet again, at the end of the day, I remember why I am doing these.

One thing for sure though, despite the sleepless nights and aching back, I love what I’m doing.

And that one thing matters.

And This Is Why I Blog…

When stress, frustrations, anger and anxieties keep me awake and restless at night, one thing that pacifies me and settles my state of being is blogging (and reading other blogs). Yes, it is an outlet.

I forget about the stress of obligations, projects to do and schedules to meet. I cool down effortlessly after a bout of anger and frustration. I can momentarily let go of all anxieties and worries.