9 DAYS

I need a vacation.

The kind where you don't do anything but lie down.

With a good book.

Or with an ipod.

Or a book full of crossword puzzles. (Yes, I'm a sucker for crossword puzzles. The easy ones lang, ha? Hehe!)

With an ice-cold bottle of beer within arm's reach.

The kind where you don't hear the hurly-burly of the city or the voices of your agents on the floor.

The kind where all you can hear are the sound of the waves hitting the shore.

The kind where all you have to worry about is how to shake the sand off your clothes and your sarong.

Thankfully, I will have that kind of vacation in 9 days.

My soul sister, Aina gave me round-trip tickets to Coron for my birthday. We are leaving in 9 days. Amazing Race partner, Gea is arriving from Singapore next week just so she can join us.

I miss the feeling of sand between my toes.

And I miss getting tan lines.


See you soon!

ZEBRA

I love my new (and only) sneakers!



And did I mention that they only cost $12 at Walmart?

STRESSED

I've been having a REALLY stressful week.

You see, my all-around helper left for Bicol last Friday so she can vote. She promised to be back Monday night. She even left a lot of her things at home so I was pretty sure she would be back.

But she never did.

I tried calling her but she couldn't be reached. She's the cousin of our neighbor's helper and even she can't get a hold of her. I have a feeling she bought a new sim.

So for the past week, I have been cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner at home (Joaquin's Yaya's can only fry). And because of this, my usual three 2-hour naps have gone down to two.

I wish I could say that things are sailing smoothly at work but it hasn't. It has been a really bad month for my team. I've been working for the same company for the past 5.5 years and for the first time last week, I cried (just tearful. I wasn't sobbing) in front of my boss. And when I talked to my team a couple of hours after that, I cried too (first time that's ever happened also)

When it rains, it pours. *sigh* C'est la vie. (or can I blame this on Mercury Retrograde?)

Thank God it's now Friday. I have a full day tomorrow and I'm looking forward to doing all these:

     1. Lunch with Charo and Kookie.
     2. Groceries 
     3. Going to the airport to pick up my sister, Francine who's arriving from the US.

I hope I can spend Sunday in bed sleeping, eating and watching DVDs. And Lord, please make it rain.

Have a great weekend, guys!

P.S.
If you guys can refer a helper who can cook, clean, do laundry and iron, I will be VERY VERY grateful.

STIEG LARSSON

Has anyone read Stieg Larsson's series of books? They're supposed to be really good. I'm itching to buy but would like to know if anyone has read it and if it's really as good as they say it is. Let me know.

The secret to getting 5 hours of sleep

I can't remember the last time I slept for 5 hours straight. Since the start of the year, I've been taking 2-3 naps a day.

On a normal weekday, my sleeping schedule is:

6am-8am (or whatever time Joaquin wakes up)

10am-12nn (in time for lunch with Joaquin)

2pm-4pm

 

You'd think I'd get enough sleep on weekends, but no. My body clock is so used to being awake at night that even if Joaquin and I sleep at 9pm, I still wake up between 11pm-12mn and I stay up till 5am (so if you're in the village and you wanna stop by and hang out at an ungodly hour, feel free to holler. Hehe!). Huhuhu!

At around 6:30am yesterday, I couldn't sleep. Joaquin was already awake and he was eating breakfast downstairs and I was still tossing and turning in bed. I just could not sleep.

So I decided to go for a run.

I ran for half an hour. It was hot but the sweat felt really good. I binged on persian food the night before and I had to burn all the calories from the kebabs, baba ganoush and ox-brain. When I got home, I showered and watched some TV with Joaquin. I dozed off at 8am.

I woke up to the sound of Joaquin and his yaya arguing. Joaquin wanted to watch more TV and Ate Edith wanted him to go to bed.

"Anong oras na ba, Edith?"

"Ala-una na po, Ate"

It was 1pm. I slept for 5 hours!

Hallelujah! :)

PILYO

Joaquin is now 3.5 years old and he is growing up to be very pilyo. Very talkative too.

We went to his school last Saturday to pay for tuition and while were choosing uniforms, he was talking to his Yaya and pointing at things, telling her what they were.

I was talking to the nun who conducted Joaquin's admission interview (She said she was my teacher in preschool but she was a novice then. I keep forgetting her name.) when she suddenly looks at Joaquin and says, "You know Joaquin, you're going to be a great storyteller one day!".

I smiled at her but deep inside, I was thinking, "Si Sister talaga, ang bait. Hindi na lang sinabi na madaldal yung anak ko." Hehee!
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Yesterday, I was scolding Joaquin and he just wouldn't listen. So I said, "I'm going to spank you na!" and then I raised my hand and looked at him straight in the eye.  He blurts, "High five, Mama! High five!"

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This afternoon, I caught him with his thumb inside his mouth again. So I go, "Stop sucking your thumb!".  My son looks at me and then puts 4 of his fingers inside his mouth. Then laughs.

Ang pilyo, noh?