SO HOW WAS YOUR SUNDAY?

We went to my parent's house today to celebrate my mother's birthday.  It's been a long time since we celebrated her birthday will all the family around.  Present in the dining area was my nanay, the celebrant, tatay, granny, me, jammy, jay-jay, callie, my husband don, my two daughters gabby and yvaine and our labandera manang henny.  We had lunch with bulalo, lechon, fish fillet, and menudo as the main menu and a triple chocolate cake with cashew nuts for dessert.  It was a small celebration, but it was nice.

After lunch, we headed home.  On the way we stopped to buy dvds, chips and drinks  for another movie marathon.  Before finally going home we took one last detour.  We went to the San Antonio de Padua Church in Sibulan to spend a few moments with God.  My husband and my eldest daughter Gabby decided to light candles over at Mama Mary's grotto while Yvaine and I went inside the Chapel of Adoration.  Short but solemn, nothing better to calm the nerves than an hour at the Lord's house.  (Photo courtesy of www.godumaguete.com)

So how was my Sunday you asked, quiet and perfect.  No ramblings whatsoever.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday to the fullest everyone for Monday is just around the corner.

MULTITASKING!

I was on all fours yesterday.  I had to do the laundry in the morning.  In the afternoon I had to clean the yard because it was starting to look like we were the ones squatting on the property instead of all the weeds scattered around.

Did I mention that I had a one year old daughter?  Yes, I do, and let me tell you she can be a handful.  As if I wasn't overloaded with chores yesterday, she decided to join in on all the chaos, so apart from all the chores I had to finish I also had to do all her bidding in between.  If only there were people who would pay good money to see my kind of juggling act, I would be filthy rich right now.  As you can see on the photos below, Yvaine Raphaelle, can be adorable one minute and then "evil" the next, hahaha...True one year olds can be pretty demanding, but it's all part of their charm too.  Besides she doesn't have a clue that mama's overworked for the day, she was probably thinking I was playing game and she wasn't in it.

Of course you all know that aside from being a stay at home mom and a housewife, I too am humble businesswoman, which meant that I also had to attend to my client's needs. So with my washing machine running, my daughter on my lap, I was also on the phone with a client to finalize the ice cream package he was getting for his son's birthday on Saturday.  Would you believe I was able to sort all the details out with my daughter crying her heart out on my lap.  I sure my client didn't hear her. (Photo of Nestle ice cream cart courtesy of Kutsara At Tinidor blog)

Now I know what you're thinking.  You are probably thinking that I should get help.  True! I've had that thought spinning in my head for days now, but hiring an extra pair of hands is a luxury that I can't afford now.  Besides it's pretty hard to get decent help these days.  You gotta match their price and the rest days that they demand otherwise you're left hanging out to dry again.

This Friday twist of mine has got me thinking that the concept of multitasking must have come about long before Merriam Webster added it into her vocabulary.  I mean just think women who are like me have existed many eons ago, so whoever was the first woman to juggle tasks like I did or worse, had to come up with a system that let her do all tasks properly...and whoever said that stay at home wives and moms had the easiest jobs in the world is a fool.  It is never easy otherwise those who say so have never encountered the job first hand.

Anyway, it's Saturday, a new day.  Less multitasking today all you miss and missus and more relaxing, unwinding and fun.  Have a happy weekend everyone.

POWER OUTAGE,LAUNDRY,AND DESTRESSING!

My day started with a power outage at 3am in the morning.  It was so dark and so silent that I could hear the flapping of mosquito wings too close to my ear.  Naturally I got up and took the nearest cardboard box I could fan to use as a fan to fend my daughters from the dangerous bites of these dreaded insects.  I was up waving my arms for an hour and a half until the the electric company decided to stop my misery and switch the lights back on.  Wasn't it so gracious of them to do so?  Yeah right!  Anyway I got back up at seven in the morning to the sound of my youngest daughter banging on the door.  When we got down, I was surprised to find my husband sitting in the dining area with breakfast served on the table.  Talk about transformation!  I hope he didn't do this just to sway me over to his side again.

So Friday, laundry day.  Yup it's that time of the week again where I sort the whites from the colored ones and power the washing machine for heavy duty washing.  I wish laundromats were cheap, it would mean one less chore to worry about.  The lesser chores, the lesser stress.

Speaking of stress, I got an email from Oprah.com today containing 7 ways to reduce stress.  Dr. Oz, Oprah's resident MD, believes that these tips are the most effective means of lowering our stress level.  I'm just going to enumerate them for your reading convenience, as for the explinations,  click on the link below to get a full understanding of these steps.

http://www.oprah.com/health/7-Ways-to-Reduce-Stress_1#slide

DR. OZ's 7 WAYS TO REDUCE STRESS

1. Take more restroom breaks.
2. Show up five minutes early.
3. Change your stress eating.
4. Quit stress drinking.
5. Get your heart pumping.
6. Make it a comedy night.
7. Enjoy the company of friends.   

Here's what I think.  If your restroom or bathroom or john or loo or whatever you call it, is clean and uncluttered then undeniably you'd be coming out of there stress free.  However if it's messier than a pig's pen then you better not be pissed you got out of there still covered in stress.

Showing up early to whatever function or scheduled activity you have is indeed less stressful for me.  I get to prepare myself for whatever it is that I need to do or composed myself to create a good impression to whomever I have to meet.  If you are a working person, it shows your peers that you are in control, organized and focused too. 

True I am a stress eater, every time I feel down, I crave for comfort foods.  On top of the list; burger and fries and an ice cold tea to quench my thirst.  If I am at home I crave for my husband's tuna pasta.  Hey wait tuna pasta is healthy.  It has juicy tomatoes, omega 3 enriched tuna, olive oil and basil.  I gotta crave my husband's tuna pasta more.

Well drinking has never been a problem for.  I don't quite enjoy it as I used too during my teen years.  I guess I kind of outgrew the fun of it.  I don't even drink much during ocassions.  I prefer soda or iced tea or better yet water.  I guess I deserve a hoorah on this step then.

Now ever since I got married and gave birth to two daughters.  I never really got the time to exercise and keep myself fit.  The only exercise I seem to be doing is walking around the house and climbing the stairs up and down to do all my chores.  I really want to pick up my badminton racket and play singles again just like I used to in my college varsity days, but without a baby sitter around, tha't will just have to remain in the dark.  For now, the chores will have to do, at least it show's that I am not sitting down all day.

Friday is movie night in our house, and since Dr. Oz recommends to comedy night, I guess I'm gonna have to convince my gang to watch "How I Met Your Mother" with me.  Also I need to ask my husband to make that famous tuna past of his for our pigging out session, instead of serving fries and donuts and tacos to the gang.  Sounds like a good plan to me, don't you think?

http://www.cbs.com/primetime/how_i_met_your_mother/video/?pid=SakDud5rtvULQztH5HGyYJx34mlVtHYx

Well our house is kind of far from the company my husband and I keep, but I will try to convince them to enjoy comedy night with us.  After all the more the merrier. 

Well now that I have my destressing plan laid out, it's time for yours.  Click on the link below, maybe Oprah or Dr. Oz might have suggestions.  Good luck!

END OF THE BAD DAY

I gave my husband the ultimatum today.  Unless he wants us to be so drowned in debt, he has to pay up so I can make ends meet, and that he did.  Sometimes you just have to strike that hammer to get results.  Otherwise I'd be singing in despair tonight just like Tevye wishing he was a rich man.  Oh if I were rich indeed I wouldn't have to work hard, all day, long day, if I were a wealthy woman.

I feel sorry for what I did to my husband though, setting limitations for him is not an everyday thing in our household.  But, like I said, a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do.

Well fellow ramblers, it is time to sleep, but before I do allow me to share with you a message I received minutes ago from a friend who has no idea the goings on in my life.  He has no clue how troubled I am, but sent me thïs most appropriate message.

 "Somtimes all we need in life is to tell whatever it is that we have inside.  We just need to let it out then let it go.  Whatever the consequences, we just have to be brave enough to stand up with our feelings.  No one said life is easy, but we should not make it a lot harder besides life is too shorts.  So do what your heart tells you.  Stop thinking and stop worrying.  Just keep this in mind; you might not have a second chance so spill it out and embrace the outcome."

Goodnight everyone, I hope tomorrow will be a better day for all of us.

BAD DAY!

Today I found myself waking up to nightmares that have haunted me for days.  At breakfast I couldn't bring myself to eat.  I hated facing my husband across the table, I hated the sound of my youngest daughter crying and whining on her high chair.  My morning wasn't a joy to behold so I went outside instead, and started sweeping the Mahogany seeds that have been so unkind enough to fall into our yard.

You see our household is in such financial ruin and it is affecting me so much that I cannot handle it anymore.  This horror is suffocating me.

In my point of view I am sacrificing everything that I have for my family, all the money that my business earns is divided among payments for depot electricity, house electricity, school fees, gasoline expenses, groceries, water payments, gas payments, etc., that I haven't got anything left for myself.  I had cash tucked away in the bank to pay for all our obligations, but my husband has his cash problems to deal with, and the only thing to bail him out is to use said funds.  I do not know if he ponders on the fact that deadlines for payments are looming and I am in such a mess that my psoriasis is getting worse and I am constantly in a state of anxiety and paranoia.  Most of the time I wish business cycles never had lows so that we would always be on top of things as well, sadly that is not the case.

Today, I found myself scrounging for every legitimate PTC sight on the net to earn what little income I might.  I searched jobs and applied to every possible position I thought myself qualified on Odesk.  Pathetic isn't it.  Sometimes I wish all the "get rich quick schemes" were true so that people like me won't have to worry about looking for the next centavo.  Well such is life, yesterday we were up, now we are down.  I just hope we can find a way out of this ditch soon for all our sakes.