Random Stuff

* Summer is here. It has been hot the past few days. Hot like Manila.

*Elijah is growing up soooo fast. I was told by a lot of people that babies grow up so fast but I never thought it was going to be this fast. Everyday that I look at him he seems to be different. Chunkier legs, new tricks, more talkative and the list goes on.

*Gymboree has been fun for both of us but mostly for Elijah. He always has fun just being able to crawl around and not hearing me tell him "not there", lol. Sadly, he hates it when it's time to play soccer with the other babies. I hope he would soon overcome that.

*We had a fun vacation last week. Fun but short! Can't wait for next month when we fly to Vancouver.

*2 weeks ago, I set-up a new blog. It's still in the works but I'm hoping to finish it soon.

Driving

One of the things on my to do list is to learn how to drive and to confidently drive alone. To learn is one thing but to be actually driving is another. I took up my first driving lessons way back in college. If my memory serves me right it should be around 1998-1999. I was pretty successful with my driving lessons back then as I was able to drive the streets of Quiapo (any one who has been there would agree with me). I practiced a few times after my driving lessons but never really got to driving the streets of Manila.

A few years after, My co-workers encouraged me to practice driving again. I did and we drove around Quezon City one Saturday afternoon but that was it. Long after that I was a happy passenger. I never really took it upon myself to go drive as traffic is always bad. I felt happy being the passenger. Getting rides from other people or just taking the public transportation. To drive has been on my list to learn but then half of me didn't really want to do it as I felt driving in the streets of Manila was stressful.

After moving here in the States, I just knew I had to drive. Public Transportation in the city we live in is not easy. Just getting to the grocery can be a problem. Yes, I can walk and I still sometimes do that but not when I have bags to carry and a little boy to push around. So, a few months after I moved I took the driving test (written) and then passed the actual driving test. I started driving the side streets but not the freeway yet as cars go really fast (around 12m/hr) and I'm not to confident yet since I'm always clueless as where to go.

Finally, after more than a year of driving the side streets I finally drove the freeway. It was not as bad with the gps telling me where to go. I love the speed though. It can get stressful when the little one starts crying but all in all I think I'm doing a pretty good job.

Yey to me for finally crossing out one item off my list (and for finally being able to blog again!).

Help!

I seriously need weight loss pills that work! It's been 3 months since I gave birth and I still have to lose 15lbs. I still can't wear my pre-pregnancy clothes. With a vacation coming really soon, I need to lose weight soon since vacations also mean weight gain. lol. I've been cutting down on carbs but I'm having a hard time on not eating sweets. I love chocolates. Add junk foods to that. I've been trying to exercise. Not easy but little steps and I know I will get to my desired weight.

Random Stuff

-It has been cold (for me at least) for me but I know I should still be thankful as we don't get to experience blizzards like the other parts of the country.

-The shooting that happened in Arizona is really sad. Totally senseless killing. I'm just glad that the government is taking steps into making sure that their are stricter laws with regards to buying guns and even with blackhawk holsters.

-My heart goes out also to those affected by the flooding in Australia. Watching it on TV kinda reminded me of Ondoy in the Philippines. to

-With all this happening around the world, it makes me not want to watch news.

Mid Week

I can't believe it's already Wednesday! The first two days of the week went by so fast. I can't wait for the weekend to come as it's time for us to move back to the house. I've had enough of just staying in a hotel room. It has been nice to be here while the house is being renovated but I miss our house too. The coming days are going to be really busy getting everything ready for the house and making sure the contractors get everything done. Other than the house project, I've also been looking for a birthstone jewelry for "tornado". I'm looking for one with his birthstone that I could wear :D Hopefully the rest of the week is going to be as good as the past 2 days.

Long Weekend

Hooray for long weekends!

We didn't really have anything planned for this weekend. I know a lot of people took advantage of this weekend to go out of town and enjoy the last few days of summer but we never really got to plan anything plus T is busy with work and home stuff. I did look up online on the Branson vacation packages, it was really tempting but we had more important things to do so we have to cancel that for now and hopefully we can go again some other time. It was really best to stay home and I'm glad we did. We got to have dinner at LA last night and their was no traffic. No traffic on a Saturday night. T got to finish a lot of things around the house to while I sleep, read and surf the net. Hopefully we get to do some fun things later today and tomorrow though. At least he gets to enjoy his long weekend too as cleaning is no fun.

Dead Tired

First step of home improvement started today with the installation of new windows. It only took half a day for them to finish and it took me 3 hours to clean up. So tiring! I couldn't afford to wait for T to get home before I start cleaning up because the house was so dusty. I was so tired mid-way the cleaning but I knew I had to finish. This are the days I miss being in manila and having people around to help in cleaning the house :D. I told T I won't be able to cook dinner anymore and for us to either just eat out or for him to bring dinner home. I'm glad I was able to finish cleaning and still have time to rest while looking online for pool filters for my aunt. I'm glad I moved my doctor's appointment from this afternoon to tomorrow morning because I don't know how I would have finished cleaning early enough to make it to my appointment.

Haircut

I badly need a haircut. My hair is so dry and so long. My last haircut was December 2009. I don't really need anything major, I just need to have the ends cut. The only thing is I don't know where to go and it's kinda expensive here so I'm really having a hard time convincing myself to go to the salon to get a hair cut. I asked T if he can cut an inch off my hair and he said yes and grabbed the scissors immediately. I told him I won't let him cut my hair with ordinary scissors. hell no, teehee.

Blessings

The social security disability insurance that my dad's friend is receiving after the accident he encountered at work is truly a blessing to their family. Since my friends mom had retired last year and her sister still in school my friend was really troubled on how to go about with their daily expenses since she's the only one working. Little did she know that her dad was going to be receiving insurance money.

God works in ways we cannot see. She didn't expect for this blessing and is more than thankful because it covers for her dad's medicine and their daily expenses.

Ack!

So many things to do and yet I still feel so tired to do anything. We came back from our week long vacation last night and I need another vacation to get some rest from the vacation we just had. It always feels like that. I have tons of household chores to do and it's during this time I miss the househelp in manila. I also need to find a good document management system for T. He needs one for work and has asked me to help him with it. I also need to update my blogs and I want to blog about our trip. Hopefully I can start on all that tomorrow. For now I shall rest.

Lazy Thursday

I wanted to go to best buy earlier to see what are the good deals they are offering for the memorial weekend sale but I was not feeling so well this morning and decided to just stay home. With the not feeling well, my plan of cleaning the house was rescheduled for tomorrow too. The whole day was then spent on reading, watching TV, surfing the internet and surfing the internet. Before I knew it, it was already 5 in the afternoon. I'm feeling much better now and that's the good news so I should be able to finish my chores tomorrow since I won't be able to do any of those over the weekend.

Thoughts of Moving

The thought of moving is giving me stress already. I remember when I had to move 4 months ago from the Phils to the US, I told myself I would only be bringing the things I need. It was sad to leave the junk I have accumulated in last 30 years behind but having to bring them over would need the services of a long distance moving company. Something I was not willing to do and definitely could not afford :D.

An idea of moving came about a few weeks back. The thought of it was exciting but then again very stressful. Things didn't materialize as they should and we know it was God's way of telling us to stay wherever we are right now for He has better plans for us.

Nuninuninu

The coming weeks are going to be really busy. No vacations for now (though i would really want to go to San Diego or San Francisco). We will just be busy fixing the house. It's not one of my favorite things to do but it's something we have to do and we can't procrastinate anymore. We thought we were headed into a different direction but seems like God has a different plan. I think it will work out just fine and it's perfect for us. I have started the "clean-up" by boxing the used golf balls I have seen in the garage. Next stop is the kitchen. I still have to empty 2 cabinets. In short, we really have a long way to go.

Change

I'm not someone who looks forward to changes. I've been so used to so many things that change scare me. In the past few months, major changes has happened. I'm in a new country and I had to leave my home for 30 years.

I've realized though that change is not at all that bad. I'm missing my family in Manila but at the same time I love the family I have here too. It's difficult to be torn but the change is making me grow up. Which I know is good.

Before all I had to worry about is on what to wear when I go out, where to find best acne treatments, where to go over the weekend but now I think more of the future. Change made me more mature.

I've learned to start embracing change. More changes are to happen in the coming months. And I'm all excited with it. Change is good and exciting. Change makes me a better person.

Monday Blues

Had a productive, fun but tiring weekend. Weekend's go by so fast and adjusting to spring forward is not a helping at all. We went home late last night and had to wake up early this morning since T had to go to work earlier than usual. We were up by 6:30 am and in reality, that's only 5:30 so it was still really dark outside.

After T left for work I had to crawl back to bed and get more sleep. I would want to spend the whole morning in bed but I do have laundry and chores to do but no choice but to get up and have some things done. I just feel sooo lazy every Monday. Is it just me?

I'm just looking forward to next week as we leave for Florida and then we will have a 5 day weekend. Yey!

Stormy Week

Looks like it's going to be a week filled with rain. Bad news for my sister who is flying in from East Coast as it's not a sunny California as she has wished. I'm wishing I won't get sick though as the week and the coming weekend is going to be a busy one. That's one reason I stocked up on vitamins for me and T. Good thing we decided to go to Costco last Saturday and I was reminded that I need to buy vitamins. I hope we get a better weather towards the weekend though. We have a full weekend planned.

Busy

And bored. That's me. I have things to do every day and have even skipped on studying for the past days but it seems like my days have always been full. Im doing more house chores right now while we look for another helper. We do have one right now but we need another one. It might take a few more days before my Aunt finds one or before our current house help finds one that could help her around. I've been looking at the free directories for agencies but then again we are not really too keen on getting one from an agency. till we find one, I would have my hands full of doing things around the house.

So yeah, its chores and errands that take up the most of my time. Oh and not to forget is making sure my dad is drinking his meds, BP is ok, and visits to the hospital for his check-up. Im hoping things go back to "normal" soon. That I find time to study again and finally take the NCLEX. I had to reschedule my exam as I don't think I have had enough preparation to take the exam. I know I have been studying for months but I have planned a last week hard core review that Im not able to do because of my dad's hospitalization. Atleast my dad's doing ok now and I guess that's all that matters.

After The Typhoon

After Ondoy and Pepeng, obviously a lot of work is to be done. It's not the time to point to our government officials on what to do and on what they didn't do. It's not the time to be lazy and just wait for relief goods or help to come our way. It's not the time for self-pity.

It's the time to get our acts together and to work and to make sure we recover from what hit us. It's the time to think and contemplate on the lesson we need to learn from all of this. It's the time to work together and help each other.

A lot more has to be done. A lot of people would need to build their homes again, A lot lost family members and they would need all the support to recover from the tragedy. Schools has been damaged and one I saw on the newspaper would need new preschool furniture as they lost everything.

I just pray and hope that people would not take advantage of the situation. Help could only be given up to a certain extent. After all the help, they'ld need to work too. You can't just go depending on other people for your food and shelter. The community and the government could only help but you could not expect for them to give you everything.

What Now?!?

I hate it when I can't make any plans. I used to believe that I'm a patient person but looks like my patience has been growing thin the past few weeks. All the waiting and the uncertainty is killing me. I know I have other things to worry about (like my upcoming NCLEX, that I had to again reschedule!) but at times I find myself not being able to concentrate and just lost and frustrated. I even forgot to get the air filters for my room from my Aunt's house. Apart of me is thinking I should not really stress out but then again since I don't know on what is to happen in the coming months, I end up stressing again.

I know, I'm crazy like that.

Pfft!

Woa! I just realized I have not posted anything in 13 days. Just so many things to do and my review has taken up so much of my time. Im such a bad blogger! I have not update my other blog for close to a month now and to think that blog does not only need updating but I have yet to finish the layout as I changed it about 2 months ago. I'm hoping to find time to do that soon. If not for the health insurance leads I need to look for, I don't think I will even remember updating my blog.

A few more weeks and then I'll have time to do anything and everything I want.