*Sigh*

There are a lot of changes at work.  My boss' boss has left, as well another team mate in S. Korea.  For a day or two, I felt lost somehow and scared.  What if I happened to me too?  But I had managed to shake it off, life still has to move on, I knew. 

But then it hit home.  And it hit home oh so closely.  My very dear friend, one I drank with, smoked with (yes I was a smoker for a time but am now smoke free for 6 years!), ate with, partied with, hanged out with and shared my life with, is leaving the company.  She told me over the phone, 3 days after being told, so she was by then, quite calm.  I was the one crying.  I felt like it won't be the same anymore.  And I knew it won't be. 

For sure, the friendship will be there forever.  But we won't be seeing each other much.  No more quick chat over coffee.  I won't be able to pick up the phone and share the latest office gossip (hey, that's part of networking too! :D).  No more short messages over email or our messaging system.

I'll so miss her.  I just know it.  She has the juicest kwentos and the heartiest laughter at work.  We have been the unstoppable duo ever since 1999.  We always had each other backs', ready to defend each other and fend off preys.  No one can top that.

*Sign*.

 I'm pretty sure I can move on, but for now, allow me to wallow in this misery. 

With all these travelling

So my family and I went to HK last month.  TBH though, it feels like it was so long ago.  The past weeks have been a roller coaster ride at work, a frenzy of activity at home too, with sprinkles of family visits, birthday parties and hospital check-ups. 

Anyway... as I was saying.  Just want to share that if you're looking for a cheap, clean place to stay overseas.  Use this website to book for stay - http://www.hostelworld.com/.  They're the best!  Yun lang.  And TGIF!  Don't eat meat folks :)

Don't bring a toy to school

We have the same smile no? :)

Conversation with my little boy last night:



Mommy: When you go to big school, and then a little boy will get your toy. What will you do?


Little boy: Who’s the little boy Mom? What’s his name?


Mommy: Let’s say his name is Jay.


Little boy: The toy have my name*, it’s mine. But I will share with him.
*right now, he marks all his toys with his name.


Mommy: But what if he says it’s his na. He won’t return it to you. What will do you?


Little boy: Why will he not return it to me?


Mommy: Because he likes to take other kids’ toy.


Little boy: That’s not nice! I will tell teacher.


Mommy: But what if teacher is not there.


Little boy: Why will teacher be not there?


Mommy: Maybe she went home na?


Little boy: But teacher don’t go home before us.


Mommy: Ok, maybe teacher is in the bathroom.


Little boy: I don’t like the little boy.


Mommy: Ok. What will you do?


Little boy: I will not bring a toy to school na lang Mommy.


So there it is :D


Every pre-school Mom’s fear is your child gets bullied in big school. My son’s an only child so every kid he meets, he treats them as playmates. Sometimes he meets a bully or a kid who takes advantage of my son’s friendliness. I hate to see that happen but it does happen, specially when we’re at a new place or at a kids’ party. I try to teach him how to handle bullies or kids who take advantage of him. I rather that I witness it happening so I can then teach how to deal with the situation.


Our little one will be in big school this coming June, I hope I’ve prepared him enough to fight off bullies. From last night’s conversation, it looks like we still have a long way to go. But at least we’ve taken a step towards that direction.

Listen, and pray fervently

Devastating news woke me up from my nap yesterday. Japan was hit by a huge earthquake and then shortly followed by Tsunami. I have officemates, friends and family in Japan so I was worried. Seeing the videos made it even scarier. My Papa, a Nostradamus fan, said that Nostradamus predicted all these - and lots of scarier events to happy by December 2012.

I fervently hope and pray that the predictions won't come true. Right now though, Japan needs our prayers and help. We must do what we can, when we can. It's just the humane thing to do.

It makes you think of course about your life. A very sad reminder for us to savor each day, do the best the you can and tell the people you love, that you love them. May we strive to do that each day. And PRAY with all our hearts and souls to keep us away from harm.

Chickun Lunch Smack Down

Back in Cagayan de Oro, we have the yummiest lechon manok - there was Coron-Coron, Dear Manok (and my Tita would always say Love, Liza hehe), The Barn, Sr Pedro, among others.  For a time, my hubby and I were thinking of setting up a lechon manok business here in Laguna.  But had to postpone coz we couldn't decide on which one.



Andoks - half chicken

Anyhoo, so my officemates and I got to talking about how yummy lechon manoks are.  Of course we couldn't agree which one is the yummiest.  The Luzon folks have their Baliwag and Andoks.  The new entrant to this is Chooks-to-go.  I actually love Chooks-to-go, so I was assigned to bring it to our "Chickun Lunch Smack Down" LOL 

Baliwag - whole chicken

The "Chickun Lunch Smack Down" was scheduled on a Friday.  Thursday night, I asked the hubs to buy me Chooks-to-go at the nearby Rustan's Supermarket.  It was 7pm, but they didn't have any available chicken anymore.  So after the hubs picked me up, we went to a Chooks-to-go take out counter, but at 8pm, they didn't have any stocks too.  I decided to just buy the next day, before going to the office.  The Chooks-to-go guy told me that they'll be open at 9am and will have cooked chicken at that time.

Sr Pedro - Whole chicken

The next day, I stopped by the same Chooks-to-go store at around 10:15am, but they still don't have any chicken cooked!  Moral of the story: don't count on the chicken before they are cooked :D  And another moral of the story:  Chooks-to-go need to improve their inventory and store hours.  Seriously.

We still had our "Chickun Lunch Smack Down".  I just grabbed a lechon manok from the Sr Pedro stall, beside Chooks-to-go.  My officemates brought Baliwag and Andoks.  To this day though, no one wants to say which lechon manok is the yummiest hehe  But in terms of pricing, Sr Pedro is the winner at P189 for a whole chicken.  Andoks was priced at P150 for half a chicken.  Baliwag was priced at around P300 for a whole chicken.  So who's the winner now? haha

*Pictures taken by my boss.  Yes, the event was co-sponsored by the management :D

Growing up

My little one turned 5 last February.  And he's so proud that he's 5.  He now eats with us on the dinner table, when before he ate on his table.  He started to shower on his own, although still with adult supervision.  He now sleeps on his own bed, although still in the same room as us, and it's actually just an extension of our bed.  And he's learned to bike without the training wheels.  In fact yesterday, we biked around our village together.  Can't wait to bring him to bike with us going to Cardiac Hill!

Family of bikers :)

Our bed has been invaded

... by Mario, Luigi and the Angry birds!


This meant no space for Mommy :(