blahs

We are happy to announce that we are pregnant! We are now on our 18th week and next week, we’ll be undergoing an ultrasound to find out our baby’s sex.

Its been 3weeks now that I’ve had some great relief from nausea and vomiting, which was pretty hard during my 2nd and 3rd month.  I didn’t have much cravings for any specific food but instead had an aversion on some that used to be my favorites. Thank you for Skyflakes, mom’s chicken wings and Senyorita breads for getting me through tough times =D I will patiently wait for California maki, calampay, Tatoy’s lechon baboy, among others after childbirth na lang.

My weight had been pretty much the same during my last 3 doctor visits. My doctor tells me it shouldn’t be any reason of concern since its still pretty early in my pregnancy and I have plenty of time to gain weight. Ideally, one should gain between 25-30lbs during the course of pregnancy. I still wear the same tops I’ve had pre-pregnancy and have only bought maternity pants for a more comfortable fit.

Its 130 am right now and while waiting for my husband to come home from work, I am trying my best to resist myself from creating a baby registry until after the ultrasound…

Can’t wait to see our little one.

Vince, moms and I saw Caregiver, the movie, last night. Normally, it wouldn’t be the type of Pinoy flick my husband would want to watch since it didn’t have Toni Gonzaga or Bea-John Lloyd in it…(ops? sorry B..hehe) But he obliged us since mom had expressed wanting to see it since they started airing the trailer on TFC. It was only going to be shown at Stonestown UA Theater and none of us have been there before. My brother warned us of the Mariz-type atmosphere of the place. I couldn’t relate since I haven’t been inside those "type" of movie houses. Vince explained and I understood as soon as we got in.

Being inside the theater, I recalled our old sinehans in Iloilo. Just the ones I’ve been to at least…My memories include watching Shake Rattle and Roll movies and Tyanak at Cinema…I also remember having to run for my life a few times because of threats of bomb, fire and due to someone merely shouting "Inaway Ta!"…I remember chaperoning a cousin at Allegro. I felt awkward sitting next to them and pretended not to listen to their corny and pacute conversations…My husband on the other hand, shared how he was able to watch adult films as early as grade school at the "other" movie houses I dare not mention.

(will add more to this post…or maybe not)

Everyday before work, whenever I would get ready in front of a mirror, I loudly complain to myself that I’m getting fat…ter…Okay, I started getting a little chubby siguro a couple of years back, but now I can say I’m just plain fat. Please don’t imagine Delia Atay-atayan yet. That’s just to describe how I feel with what I see and being my own worst critic. None of my regular clothes fit anymore and I always end up having an invisible belt because the pants have gotten a little too tight and the waistband always leaves its little souvenir (if you know what I mean…or maybe not). Gosh, its one of those things I never imagined myself saying years ago when I was so "skinny"(or my brother would say tiki w/ an emphasis on the 2nd syllable). I was so niwang back in HS that I almost looked emaciated. I couldn’t look back at old pics without laughing at myself. When my husband, who was my boyfriend back then, visited my mom at home, I made sure to ask our Manang Anet to screen all our photo albums and remove any pic where I looked skinny and ugly. Of course, it was impossible for my husband not to find out when my mom mismo told him about my instructions.

Anyhoot, before I go any further, this blog will not be about my plan on losing weight but to share my dissatisfaction with my weight changes. I don’t need any tips or articles on weight loss as I have easy access to that information. I know I’ll eventually be motivated enough to lose the weight but let me complain for the meantime. How could I resist great food when I’m surrounded by good cooks at home? Both my husband and sister-in-law makes all these yummy-licios dishes and even my brother would whip up something every now and then. It surely doesn’t help watching Food Network all the time and having a husband who lets me have my cravings.

Friends who haven’t seen me at this weight ask me if I’m pregnant. Pregnant? Not anytime soon. I plan to lose a little weight first before taking on any baby weight. hmm….Even in my phone calls to nanay, she would remind me, "Te Ting, nagay patambok dira ha, basi indi ikaw magbusong". hayy…

To be continued…

Lately, for some odd reason, I’ve been getting a lot of unsolicited financial advise. One time during a staff meeting, I was seated next to my Russian co-worker who started telling me what her net worth was. She told me she could already retire with all the investments she had and was advising me how to maximize contributions to our retirement account and etc. Sure. She was so secured she could retire but just couldn’t yet. She tells me she wants to wait till she’s 63 so she can get the maximum Social Security benefits and she had only 5 more years to go. I remember during that same staff meeting, she bursted into tears, telling our supervisor how difficult her clients were. Hmmm….Okay, wait till you’re 63 or die of stress. Whichever comes first. Basta maximum lang ang SS??!

This afternoon as I was going through my cases, Amigo, our janitor (I’m sure he had a name but he never corrects us) started telling me about rising mortgages and foreclosures. We would usually just exchange ‘holas’ and ‘kumustas’  but he was extra chatty today and shared a little more than I need to know. He told me how he works 2 jobs everyday and how he barely sees his kid because of his real estate investments. It’ll be all worth it kuno. If his kid grows up missing all that quality time with him, would it really be worth it?

A lot of people I work with have been in the same place longer than I’ve been on this earth. They make plans of traveling the world when they retire.  Unfortunately for some, they never see that day.

Life is too short.

I just CANNOT wait to go home!!! I was starting to feel like my life was starting to go out of balance when I was not able to go home for the holidays last year. I just couldn’t do that to myself again. I have to puli for the holidays. Not only its my favorite season of the year but its during the holidays that my soul (naks!) really yearn for that quality time with my family (esp. my husband and mom). Now that I’m re-reading my blog, I find it funny na February na, and yet I’m talking about last year’s holidays. Its just because going home reminds me of Christmas everytime. Everything’s just happy, complete and perfect.

The challenge in this year’s trip is traveling with my less than 2 yr old niece, Sam. Our first trip outside the house (of course not counting our trips in our backyard) na kami na duha lang upod. When asked kung kaya ko, I think to myself, it really is too late to be answering that question right now. We already have plane tickets, already packed and her lola has endured sleepless nights na out of extreme excitement to see Sam (what about me?!)…hehe…hay naku….And definitely I don’t take this responsibility very lightly especially when I saw the notarized statement from her parents, assigning me parental care and control of their daughter during this trip. I’m pretty sure the experience will make a good muni-muni moment, if I’m ready to have kids. Gosh!

Anyways, I am excited to go home, spend time with my most favorite people in the world, eat Tatoy’s, Breakthru, Elcar (anyone?), Nanay’s, Ng Anet’s, Itik’s and maybe shop a little and get plenty of R&R =)

Its 9pm on a Saturday night and I’m at home watching the teleserye debut of "Maging Sino Ka Man". I can envision my husband cringing while reading this. He’s not really a fan of pinoy teleseryes…but I am…of certain ones lang. So I will find out within the next few weeks, if I will like this new series. I had religiously watched Bituing Walang Ningning, crying my heart out up to their last episode. It was pretty heavy. I loved it…hehee…

What I am NOT a fan of is cooking…Alas nuebe na and I am waiting for my food to be delivered. I am shameful but I must admit this: I CAN’T COOK (gasp!) My mom, who is just a GREAT mom, was just happy to cook for us while we were growing up so I never really had to worry about cooking. She was strict about making us learn the other chores but when it came to helping out in the kitchen, she actually let us get away with it. I think I’ve sliced some carrots and poured sauce in a pan a few times. When I came here in the states, I’ve been lucky that aunts and grandparents lived with us and cooked for us. When they moved out, my sister-in-law moved in and she’s a GREAT cook.

Two days ago I tried to cook, for lack of a better name, silverfish torta. Everyone was tired that night and I felt like I had to step up. I steamed some okras and asparagus and found a cup of silverfish in the freezer. I could have cooked miswa but defrosting the meat would take a long time. I thought torta would be really easy coz all I would need are eggs and silverfish. Unfortunately, I beat too many eggs and the tortas looked more like pancakes. People (dad, bro, sis in law) had to dig in to find the silverfish in the torta. People started asking for bagoong to put in their steamed veggies to make up for the lack of ulam (my tortas were getting snubbed!). I failed in the kitchen, yet again =(( This was my second attempt.

My first attempt was to cook Adobo. It was a pretty expensive adobo ha coz I had to pay a long distance call to manang anet in Iloilo just to get the instructions from her. She was pretty detailed but she forgot to mention to me that I have to boil the chicken and pork to make them tender (okay, I know its supposed to be common sense) but I followed everything else she had instructed me to do. My adobo looked good. It was just hard as a rock.

I have not lost hope. I come from a family of good cooks. I married someone who’s also passionate about cooking. I love to eat. And I love watching the Food Network (if that helps). But my kusina is not open to the public…nope..not yet…hehhe

I have been quite busy this past week, responding to calls, emails, scheduling appointments for our potential renters for our "in-law" apartment. For people here in the US, an "in-law" is a term to decsribe a room that is usually adjacent to a garage or a room located in the ground level of a house. Usually, that space is converted into a mini-gym or storage but most pinoy families usually convert it to another room, equipped with its own bathroom and mini-kitchen and is rented out for added income.

Our "in-law" is a 2 bedroom, 2 bath unit, w/ its own private entrance and kitchen. Since mortgage payments are starting to get really painful, I have decided to take the lead to advertise the space. We have done some renovations w/ the floor and bathrooms and I felt pretty confident we’d get some good hits. 

And we did. I received 3 emails and 5 phone messages. I screened and returned some calls and got to ask a few questions over the phone. We had our first visit Friday night from 2 gals who said they’re roommates. One of the gals, I can only guess, was around 40-50 yrs old and the other gal told me she was 22. They seemed pretty okay up until I asked them if they expect potential visitors on a regular basis, like their families or friends or boyfriends. The question was meant to be a heads up for us and not meant to pry into their weird lives. That’s when I think I opened a pandora’s box and got all the info that I didn’t really need. They started telling me how they were both Christians and do not believe in fornication (they really used this term)…and that they can give me their pastor’s number so I can call the pastor and get some advice (on WHAT??!?!)…and how they were brought to each ther by God as roommates for a reason…The weirdness and awkwardness of the conversation would have been tolerable pa tani, pero when they both put their hands on top of my head and started praying, I was just screaming on the inside (oh no PLEASE! puli na kamo!)..plus they gave me inconsistent information and I even found out they’re NOT currently roommates… There were just red flags all over…One of the gals said she’s taking up her Masters in Drama Therapy (She could be a pole dancer for all I know!)

To make a really long story short, they like the place, even willing to pay a security deposit but I told them it wasn’t necessary. We still had a few ppl scheduled for the weekend to visit the place and I’d let them know by Monday. After they left, I locked the fence, locked all doors and ran upstairs huffing and puffing and told everyone.

Sorry weirdos. Nawp.

I woke up at 8:30 today in panic. It’s a Monday and for some reason I thought I had missed my alarm or may have snoozed it again. But I caught up pretty fast and realized na ho-li-dayyy! Woohoo! (visualize the Chandler Bing dance) Yes! Wala trabaho!

I had a plan for this long weekend, I really did. Pero Lunes na and I still haven’t started anything on my list. For one, I have a huge pile of laundry waiting for me. My room is also waiting to be cleaned. A lot of reorganizing and redecorating needs to be done to accomodate my new (and bigger :P) bed. I had bought it 3 weeks ago and its been stuck in the garage. I have been sleeping on a mattress on the floor and dust has accumulated underneath it…uck! But I will get it cleaned up =)

Back home when I was much younger , nanay would knock on our doors at 8am every Saturdays to get us started in cleaning our rooms. If I had slept in her bedroom that night, she would just pull the blanket off of me and start clearing the bed nga ara pa ako forcing me to be up. She would give me a silhig and bunot. I would then go back to my room, lock the door, lay in bed and use my other leg to scrub the floor. Although I was really sleepy, I made sure to make a scrubbing sound just enough for my mom to hear that I was actually doing something. Of course she knew I wasn’t. Maybe the long silent gaps in between scrubbing tipped her off. Panic would set in when she starts knocking on the door, calling me CHRISTINA(!) asking to inspect my room. I would only have 2 choices: to unlock the door myself or wait for the door to be unlocked right before my eyes. And that would be a very looong Saturday morning where I’d get lectured on how I could be a good mother and good wife etc…We had help in the house but nanay always made sure we knew how to do the chores.

Nowadays, I still get loving lectures from my mom pero sa phone na lg =P And I don’t get lazy that often anymore ha….

I am sooooooo in the mood to buy a new pair of shoes! Just the other day, I was able to get a good deal for a new blazer I had been eyeing for the past 2 months. Since it was a little bit expensive for my budget, I was able to restrain myself from buying it. Just when I had gotten over my heartbreak of not getting it, I saw it on sale (50% off!!!)…Hay te, nabakal ko gd man…Lipay gd ako!

So going back to shoes, I saw this very cute pair of ballet flats and a very sexy pair of peep toe wedge next to it…I really should be looking for shoes pangtrabaho because I wear out my shoes easily…Again, I was succesfully able to restrain myself from buying. But it was sooooo hard! Maybe I would be able to patiently wait for it to go on sale for the next few weeks (or maybe not?). I have been feeling (just a little) stressed lately that I feel I deserve to get me some new goodies…hehe..Whachuthink Itik? =P

Just finished talking to my mom on the phone. She was telling me how our beloved manang at home was feeling quite depressed and suggested I call home and cheer her up a bit. These aren’t unusual requests and being the dutiful daughter that I am (:P), I reassured my mom that I would take time to do so…

Isn’t it interesting that even as we get older, we still are our parents’ kids? Our parents
still see us as the same people they had asked to throw the garbage, clean the room and etc.
The difference is now you’d be asked to help resolve family conflicts. Nonetheless, you are still obliged to do as you are told…