It's a Bright World

Andre, Jake, Michael, DD
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Jake is seen here with his classmates / friends from the Nursery 1 class. They all participated in yesterday's big production stage musical entitled "It's a Bright World" at the Waterfront Hotel Lahug.

Jake was a natural. He was dancing and acting out his (small) part like he's so used to performing. Now I'm sure "hiya" or being timid is not one of his traits. Thank goodness! That surely came from Jerry's dna. Hehe...

Judging from the naughty look on their faces, Jake and his friends all look like they had fun... Hopefully these fun-loving young school boys grow up in a bright world indeed.

That sure looks big... Jake

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That sure looks big... Jake, originally uploaded by gratitude.

Mosquito bite? Argh! I couldn't help but feel irritated at these pesky seemingly invisible bugs when I saw Jake looking like this one morning. No matter how we spray regularly and keep all doors and windows screened and shut... they never seem to disappear. Mind boggling thing is, it's Jake who gets bitten most of the time. It helps that we always apply aloe vera lotion to keep the mosquitoes away from his body... However, on this particular day, they chose to zero in on that part that we don't put lotion on. Kainis.

No more big lip the day after...Jake, originally uploaded by gratitude.

Letting Off Steam

shot at Max Brenner, Makati
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When you hardly have time to spare after driving the kids to school (at 2 different schedules), picking them up (again at different times), going home for lunch, setting up a new company, taking charge of the household, etc... the last thing you need is a nagging person who constantly makes you feel like you're not doing enough... And that person (God bless her) is not even related to me.

What would you do if you were in my moccasins? :P

Haay TGIF!

Random Stuff

InVISIBILITY

Ok I may have prematurely raved about Globe's Visibility . Now my Visibility connection is crawling...ever...so...slowly.
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Withdrawal Symptoms

After the Jobstreet Career Expo last weekend, my officemate inadvertently brought my laptop bag to her hotel, thinking it was hers. We all had the same red colored laptop bag issued by the company.

I have never been away from my Mac. I bring it along wherever I go. Imagine my surprise when I learned the following morning that it wasn't in the house nor in the car! Just when I was all excited to spend a few minutes of blog time...

That same day, I had fever.
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Clean Bill of Health?

My resistance must have been lowered by the hectic schedules we had the past couple of weeks, hence my bout with cold and headache a few days back. But after my basic panel / laboratory tests this morning, I'm glad to find out I'm A-ok.

Even my right leg x-ray didn't indicate anything to be worried about. Now I'm scared about the nagging bruise I have just above my ankle, right below my shin. Hmmm... Rebuke! I'll just pay the doctor a visit this coming Tuesday. Like my tests, I hope everything's normal.
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Have a blessed Holy Week, everyone!

Involuntary Weight Loss

Feeling lethargic since last Sunday... Threw up once and had several occasions of loose BM. It must be the mango shake from Orange Brutus which was my last intake just before having this bout.

Been having banana, apple and Gatorade since yesterday and just a few spoonfuls of rice and minute bits of "pork tapa" cooked ala "pork steak"... *Sigh*

I feel a little better today though compared to yesterday. I should be up and about in no time, meeting deadlines at work and being mom and dad for a few days to my boys.

Hopefully, the one good thing that comes out of this malady is a few pounds off my weight...

Want Lousy?

Have you tried calling any HSBC office?

I tried calling their Cebu branch for an appointment to discuss corporate cash management service and the answering machine prompted me to dial their customer service if I didn't know the extension number to press. I decided against calling and proceeded to email for an appointment. Their site said they'd get back to me within the next 2 days. It was filed last week, up to now, no feedback.

Today, I dialled the 24-hr customer service hotline at 878-7878. Guess what? You have a better chance of winning the lotto than getting through their Customer Service line on the 1st try...

*breathe in, breathe out*

Celebrating Special Days

Let me greet my own Paparazzi a (belated) happy birthday (12/10)! Here's my brother Junnie's tribute to the main man in our lives who molded us and taught us how to live God-centered lives: Paparazzi - the other side

We love you Pa!

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MIL with her favorite boys...


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Last Monday, the 11th, was my MIL's birthday. There was a planned dinner by all her kids. It was just a small gathering of family and relatives. Jerry's branch of the family (us of course) was there from early afternoon. And on seeing Jake and hearing him sing his birthday "serenade", Mommy was all smiles. She was a pleasant sight to behold. We're all glad she seems to have gotten over the blues brought on by Parkinson's. And we continue to pray for her health and peace of mind.



Among many things in common, we both love Jerry and kids to bits.

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OFF-TOPIC

Mommy (MIL) has remained affectionate of and concerned about my family in spite of her knowledge of some friction brewing in the periphery (blown out of proportion by a meddling person & concurred/tolerated by several others who should have known better but apparently did not know any better). I wonder who feeds Mommy the info, I wonder if the info is accurate.

When she learned about Jerry's weekly assignment in Manila during one of our visits to her, she asked me if everything's okay with me or if I don't mind handling our home, kids and work, all by myself. Aw, sweet... I told her we're managing. It's not a new set-up to me after all, since I've been used to Jerry's frequent trips (locally/internationally).

(Rant alert) Mommy's concern is genuine and runs contrary to the belief of some quarters who say I don't do my wife and mother duties well, who question our parenting style, who belittle our dedication at work, who question our every motive, or who call up my own parents to tell on me for something really silly (hahaha!), etc. etc.

Really now... We've been together happily for more than 15 years, even more than our detractors' (failed/dysfunctional) marriages. Jerry and I have talked a lot of times about the situation. We both agree that it doesn't matter what others say, as long as we're not guilty of things others do i.e. harassment thru blogs and text messages, false and malicious accusations, immature name-calling, or character defamation (all because of the word "bullsh*t"), etc. etc.

We know where we stand. We're so thankful to God that we have a normal family and a happy marriage, we live comfortably, we mind our own business, we have excellent kids and we have been blessed generously in sooo many ways.

My message to those who think otherwise (you know who you are)...

Deal with it. You and company, stop sending text messages like you are the aggrieved here, because you're not. All of you have done more harm than good. Capisce?

It happens...

Jerry and I have been together for the past 17 years, and married for 14.5 years. We are already familiar about each other's quirks, habits, thoughts, feelings, etc. We could even finish each other's sentence. We are what my parents would say like feet to an old pair of slippers - we are that comfortable around each other.

A few weeks back, we had a bit of a crisis at the homefront. Nasty things were said, mostly coming from me. It was borne out of anger, frustration, disappointment... but mostly out of anger. It was a point when I thought, hey, how could this be happening? We are always in control even in tight situations.... Jerry and I work in synergy. It is not 1 + 1 = 2. As a team, we are always better than 2 people or 2 heads put together. We always take pride in what we could jointly accomplish. What-went-wrong-then???



In the course of trying to resolve the issue, we sought other people's help. Instead of being bailed out of our fix, we were refused. Surprise, surprise! We were refused by the very people who were close to us. Instead, we were given unsolicited advise as if we didn't know any better. A lot of bull crap is what we got. Call it paranoia, but I think, fingers are pointed at me for bringing this crisis upon us.



Anyway, I have found a way to work around our situation. It sure was a rocky bumpy ride, but thank God for leading us to the right direction. Special thanks to Mama(razzi) for the valuable help too as always. Now we're back on track and probably doing a lot better than we were before the crisis.

And yeah, Jerry and I are still a team, thankyouverymuch.



(Images swiped from Memento's Flickr)

Cool

Yeah, everything's quite cool these days, as cool as that halo-halo pic from Maribago Bluewater Beach. Thankfully, I now have a clearer perspective of things.

I just had an epiphany. If it's too good to be true, then it probably IS. The very people whom you think would be ready to help, unfortunately, are the ones who (at best) might just be lukewarm about assisting you or (at worst) might be spreading things about you.

In fairness, some are good Samaritans, however, expect unsolicited advice like they know the big picture. *Shakes head*

Hmmm.... I'm glad some family members are consistently there to extend a helping hand. No judgments made and no questions asked.

Anyway...end of rant (hopefully my last one in this blog!).

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What are you reminded of when you look at my site name/logo on the mast head? Does the font look familiar to you?

Sirit (Give up)?

You might want to try checking out this free sign generator and make your very own logos. Here are a few more which I made...

Have fun! Obviously I had a few minutes of spare time on my hands... Hehehe...

By the way, that's the Disney font... :D