Weekend list

Below are the things I wanted to do over the weekend... Let's see how I fared...

Want to do this weekend:
1.  Watch Prince of Persia - I've been itching to do watch the film since last week.  But we couldn't find the time or when we found the time, I wasn't in the mood.  We were scheduled to watch Friday night, but I had to work on a report due 12 midnight.  So it's rescheduled again.  Monday, perhaps?
2.  Watch Sex and The City - Already made plans with my UP girls on Saturday.  We found out one friend is arriving and another is pregnant so we ended up cathing up for 4 hours :D  SATC probably on Wednesday...
3.  Bike! - Sunday morning was the time :)
4.  Yoga - This was supposed to be Saturday morning, sadly it didn't pan out.  Maybe next week.
5.  Visit the salon for some hair pampering - Rescheduled when Mama is here next weekend!

To dos:
1.  Grocery - S&R visited on Friday.
2.  Palengke - check!
3.  Prepare my little one's school supplies - He's on his 3 school year and it's transition class, so his classes will be earlier.  He said that he's excited to see his friends.  I'm excited to see him excited.
4.  Get the flu shots for the family - done!
5.  Sell our PC - we haven't been using it since the hubs and I each have a laptop.  It's an idle asset, so better to sell it, right?

I'm actually looking forward to Monday... mainly because it's a long weekend next.  Have a great week all!

Creep at the park

We went out to a big water park for the family outing last April. It was a fun day but was capped by an unnerving event. Enough for us to go to the police and report it.


It started while I was waiting for my sister to get her henna tattoo finished. I was sitting by near the shower area, then I saw a man with a video camera following two little girls in bathing suits. He looked like the father or the uncle of the girls. So I just dismissed him. After a few minutes, I noticed him again, a little further away still filming, but different little girls in bathing suits. When he noticed that I was staring, coz I was really staring this time, he moved away. He was acting so weird, so suspicious.

When we were about to go home, I told my husband of what I suspect. And we decided to tell the security people of the place, who were actually already investigating the guy. They said that a mother reported him the previous weekend but they didn’t catch him.
Long story short, he was caught. When they looked at what he was filming – he was filming little girls in bathing suits. Little girls who are 10 and below. When asked why he did that, he said he gets aroused watching them. He got excited watching the girls – sick right? I was super grossed out. Get this, that guy looked like a good soul. Like a doctor. Or a teacher. A banker even. He speaks softly. He speaks and acts like an educated person. But he certainly was a pedophile.

Sadly though, there’s no law against Pedophilia in our country. He got detained for a night. But was let go. It’s all so frustrating and alarming. I took a picture of the creep, to remind me of what he looks like and looks indeed are deceiving. I’m itching to post it here, to warn people of what he is and what he’s done, but it’s also a risk.

As a parent, what can you do to protect your children from a world where there are laws against pedophilia? It’s a scary world out there, but do you tell your children how scary it is? I have a little boy, so he wasn’t in the video but I got friends who had daughters in the film. I asked them if they told their girls what happened. One mom said she told her daughters about being filmed without their knowledge. Just so they know they should vigilant about their surroundings. But one mom didn’t inform her girls. She reasoned that they were too innocent for such information.

I personally don’t know if I’d tell my child of what happened. If there’s one thing I learned from that experience, it is to be vigilant about your surroundings. Don’t trust people easily and to be careful of what you wear in public places.

I’m writing this to warn Moms, and Dads too. It’s our responsibility to take care of our kids, that includes keeping an eye for them. There really are creeps out there.

I haven't...

Seemed like I've forgotten about my blog.  But I haven't really.  Life just happened.  No, more like, life overtook me.

April was a frenzy of activity.  Attending birthday parties almost every weekend.  And my two sisters graduated.  Trip home.  A cousin from Canada came home.  White water rafting - the best!  Zip line in Bukidnon - Asia's longest and coolest!  Then I had to attend to my Mama's operation.

I tell yah, life really did overtake me.  I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I'm the most un-athletic person I know.  And I know a few.  But I've recently taken on a sport, which I feel I will stick it out with.  Biking.  Mountain biking to be exact.  Though, I have to bike on a real mountain and I bike mostly on paved roads, I have taken to biking.  The hubs actually was the first who got interested and he then bought me a bike too. 

In our neighborhood, most bikers ride to Ayala West Grove.  It's an uphill climb of about 3 kilometers.  I never thought I could get there.  The first try, I stopped 3 times.  Then next try, I stopped twice.  On the third try, I had a one quick stop.  But now, I already bike all the way non-stop.  I'm eyeing the "Cardiac Hill" in about a month's time.  I don't wanna push myself too much :)

March Highlights

I've had a lot of experiences the past few weeks but I've been too busy to sit down and write.  Aside from going to work to earn a living, I've been home to Cagayan de Oro.  Spent a lot of time at my son's school.  Did some home improvement projects.  Currently working with our landlord to fix up minor house repairs before we renew our contract.  And also organizing my family's trip to attend my sister's graduation after the holy week.

It's Holy Tuesday and I'm all busy with work, no time to go to a resort.  I didn't even get to reserve us even just for a night.  We'll just spend it at home then and probably go to our club house pool for a dip.  I actually don't also want to do the mad rush...so home is fine with me.  Plus I'm still enjoying our new sofa haha

One of March's highlights: Dahilayan, Bukidnon's 840m Zip line.  Did this with my family - the little one, the hubs, my Mom, sister, cousins, nephews and niece.  Borrowing from my teenage nephew, it was SICK! :)

Another March highlight: my son's Moving Up day.  He loved dancing to "I don't care" and "Poker face".  He was wonderful too.  He got the "Reading Whiz" award!  We're proud parents indeed.

It's raining!

I never thought I would be happy to see rain but I am!  I'ts raining now.  It's not the heavy rain, but the shower kind of rain.  And it's all good! :D

Thank you God!  Humans, plants and the earth need the respite from really hot weather.

Ah! The beach!

This was our view while sipping Mango and Banana shakes

It was my Uncle's 71st birthday on February 28th.  Healthy at 71 is something to celebrate and that we did indeed.  Went to Laiya, San Juan, Batangas for the weekend.  The beach was clean and the water was cold, very different from the last time we were there which was 2 years ago.  The road going there was already paved all the way to the resort, so travelling was very comfortable, unlike 2 years ago too.  We stayed at the same resort, the Kabayan Beach Resort. 

The cottage was clean, although we were cramped since the cottage capacity was only 6 and we were 9 total, plus 3 kids.  All the other bigger cottages where already in use.  Plus there were too many fees, like an extra person is paid PhP650 and the kids were paid for PhP250 each.  That's the first time I heard of kids being paid, in any resort.

The little one enjoyed the beach so much, he swam from 7am to 11am

They also had massages in the resort.  And the service wasn't good.  From the reservation, to the actual massage itself.  The manangs were not good at all, and they were so distracted.  The one assigned to the Hubs was even texting while doing the massage.  So not professional at all.

After swimming, we hanged out at the playground

Aside from the additional fees and the bad massage, we had a wonderful time - swimming, spending time with the family and celebrating 71 years of my Uncle. 

The birthday cake we brought all the way from Laguna to Batangas...

sure glad it made the trip

The quest for Braun's thermometer probe cover

The little one's running a slight fever since 4am today.  Our trusty 4-year old Braun thermometer isn't working, since we ran out of probe covers :(  I thought it would be quite easy to find covers since, you know, they're just covers.  But of course, I was wrong.  I been checking Mercury and checked with Watson's too, they don't have it.  I found probe covers in Mercury this morning, but it's for other brands, not for Braun.

I checked online and found a few, but no one sells in the Philippines.  So now I had to buy another digital thermometer.  It's just Ph200++, something I had a hard time parting with.  I should have checked when I was in HK last month.  The search for that Braun probe covers isn't ending yet, I still have a few options:  (1) ask my friend to find me in Singapore, (2) ask my Aunt to get me in the US or (3) check with my Pedia since I got it from her.

Wish me luck!

UPDATE:  We went to my son's pedia yesterday afternoon for a check-up.  And I asked her about the probe cover, told her about my quest and lack of results.  She said the probe covers are only available in the US.  Thankfully, she had extra and since she's going back to the US in April, she'll share one box with me :)  So I have a precious 20-cover probe box to last me, at least, 2 years. haha  Then I'd have to ask my Aunt to buy me in th US when she comes home in June.