Grateful To My FIL

Since my papa passed away even before I got married, he obviously didn't get the chance to see my li'l princess. He may not be the type who would change my princess' nappy but surely he would enjoy her coz he's always been fond of babies. My FIL is such a patient man, at first I didn't know that he'd be the kind of grandfather that would take care of his grandchild but it turned out to be a great "lolo". He would always volunteer to look after my princess whenever he has the chance. He feeds her patiently, carry her all the time especially when we're out whether we're at the park or at the mall. He never gets tired of chasing my li'l princess and he plays with her even if it means playing "a tea party" with her. I just love to see him enjoying every moment he could spend with her. I'm so glad and so lucky to have him as my FIL, so happy to see a grandfather very affectionate to her only "apo".

My Own Household Help Blues

Unfortunately, I'm one of those who's having a hard time finding a "really" reliable household help. I am the type who is very lenient when it comes to handling them, I seldom and I mean seldom get mad if they did some thing wrong or broke something. Usually the only words that would came out of my mouth is " ano ba yan, mag ingat ka naman" (with a soft tone) and nothing else. My sister says maybe this is the reason why they're being so abusive.

I originally hired Juana to do the household chores, laundry, ironing of clothes, washing the dishes and cleaning the house which isn't a big one. When I saw that she knows how to take care of a child, I thought of her as a potential yaya. When I started my review, I decided to lessen Juana's load by asking someone else to do the laundry and ironing. So I made her a part time yaya (part time because she only look after my daughter when I'm not home)and the only workload that she has is cleaning the house. I can honestly say that she's lucky to have us as her employer coz aside from the fact that we're not strict, we provide all her personal needs (toothpaste, shampoo, soap & sometimes even lotion, etc.), we eat the same food, we bring her with us even if we're dining at an expensive restaurant and eats the same food that we eat. She had the chance to travel to different places, places that she has never been in her entire life. Her workload is lighter compared to the usual household help that I know. We allow her to watch a television. She doesn't cook. She only takes care of my daughter when I'm out and we never ask her to do other chores when she's looking after my daughter, not even when she's sleeping. We gave her a bonus last December (which we normally do) equivalent of her one month salary even if she's been with us for only four months during this time. But being the abusive or lazy that she is - she wakes up at 7:30-8:00 in the morning. The radio that i provided for her is turned on the moment she wakes up until bed time which by the way is not late. She sleeps every single afternoon. She doesn't have the initiative to do things that are expected of her, except for cleaning which is the only regular routine she does. There were several times when she watched something that ended up late and she didn't wash the dishes left in the sink, this I had to call her attention coz one thing that I hate to see is unclean dishes being left overnight. During the time that ironing is part of her job, I do the dishes at night coz I know she can't just wet her hands after it. There's actually more problems that I encounter with her. Now, if you'll ask me why I'm not yet looking for replacement, it's because my only consolation with her is that she knows how to take care of a child. I don't actually leave my daughter alone with her, there's always a relative present when I'm out because I can't trust her enough knowing that she has this hobby of sleeping in the afternoon. I am also not so sure if she's saying bad things in front of my daughter which she might be able to remember and later on comes out of her mouth. Added to the fact that I can't be so sure if she wouldn't hurt my princess if she became hard to handle.

I'm planning to have a heart to heart talk with her, hopefully I can make her realize that she's lucky enough to be with us compared to those household help who are being physically & verbally abused. I hope she'll get into her senses coz if not, I'll have no other choice but to let her go even if it means undergoing another screening and training.

Here's to a loving Dad!

(I'm posting this now coz I might not have the time tomorrow coz we will definitely be out all day)

It never came to me that he'd be a good dad to my princess, I didn't see him as the kind of man whose fond of playing with kids. I thought he'd be the kind of dad who will just be around but will not play with his daughter. As the princess grows, I've seen him changed a lot. I've seen him enjoying her, wanting to spend time with her, playing and watching cartoons with her. He can't even wait for the day when he and her princess could go out, just the two of them to have some bonding and quality time together. I realized people really change. He's one good example of it. From a man who is not so into kids, he turned out to be a good dad. He's even enjoying to see other kids now when we go out without our princess, whenever he sees a little girl he'd say "I miss the little princess" and would want to be home quick to be with her. And by the way, he was the one much more eager to enroll her to Gymboree (I thought of enrolling her to a school nearby coz Shangri-La where she's enrolled is quite far from our place) for a summer activity.

Dad,

I know you're doing your best to be the kind of dad our princess deserves. Thank you for being a great dad, for wanting only the best for her, for being a good provider (I just hope you wouldn't go beyond the limit so as not to spoil her), for being her playmate especially when I'm cooking, for being a sweet daddy and for wanting her to be a "daddy's girl" (that doesn't sound so good to me but I'm glad coz you want her to be close to you).

I'm glad coz I can see your eagerness to learn on how to be a better dad each day. You (and I) still have a long way to go but I know you'll do the best you can to raise her the way we both want her to be, a loving child and God-fearing one.

Happy Father's Day! We love You so much!!!

Happy Birthday Papa

For most of the people, today is the celebration of our Independence but for me and my family, this more than that, today is my father's birthday. I remember how papa would celebrate his birthday yearly, lots of foods, lots of guests and i mean a lot. In one of his celebration I was the one who cooked, a set of 10-12 menus if I'm not mistaken, good for 150-200 guests. His last birthday he celebrated it at our resort in Cavite, amazingly, almost all of his friends came not minding how far the location was. It turned out that it was his last birthday celebration, maybe God made it so special because it will be his last. A lot of people felt bad with papa's sudden death. He was a good man, a man with a kind heart especially for those who are in need. During his wake, we occupied the biggest chapel at Arlington and every night, the chapel and the lobby was filled with papa's friends. On our way to Holy Cross for the interment, friends from one street where papa grew up and has helped a lot of people requested that we passed by that place, we were surprised to see a streamer hanging on the street that says "Boss Bobot Mahal Ka Naming Lahat".Everyone in the coaster burst into tears upon reading it. We didn't know he has touched so much lives there, that those people loved him that much because of his good heart.

We still celebrate his birthday, usually we'll gather some friends and relatives and have dinner together. Mama still cries whenever we talk about papa, I still do.

Papa,
I miss you so much, ours wasn't the ideal father and daughter relationship but I love you so much and I hope I was able to let you feel that when you were here with us. I miss cooking for you, I miss those criticisms you were giving if you didn't like what I prepared for you, I've learned a lot from it. I'm a better cook now and I owe it to you. You're only grand daughter is growing so fast, I'm sure if you were still here with us you'd get her from us often coz you miss having a baby in the house. I love you pa.

Happy Birthday!

Reminiscing the old days...

A good friend of mine paid me a visit the other day. He was my former group mate when I was in college. Our Institute has implemented a Block Sections for all the Nursing Students and there were only three sections then so basically we were like High School students who almost knew each and everyone from our batch. I love our section, ours was the most cooperative one (no offense to other sections, this is IMHO), almost everyone has found a way to click and be good friends. Our group (Group D) has been friends since day one, of course there were ups and downs along with it, misunderstandings and some petty fights but we managed to patch up things in no time. Being a Nursing student then, almost everyday we had to stay up late (usually in my place since almost all of my group mates stays in the Dormitory) and do our Nursing Care Plan/Process (NCP) to be submitted the next morning. If we were not having our NCP's overnight, that's because we were on duty so basically we're still spending our nights together. Spending lots of time together, we started building a great friendship. After we graduated, everyone except me and Emer pursue their Nursing career. I wanted to but some things got in the way. When Edward visited me the other day, we didn't notice the time, we tried to catch up on so many things. How life has been since we graduated. How we missed the old days, our group mates. We talked about the idea of having a get together, oh how fun it would be coz our group always find a way to just laugh at anything under the sun. We can imagine how great it would be. The next day, I talked to Chris (another former group mate who is now in London) over YM and i told him about Edward's visit. He agreed that it would be really great if we will be able to set that get together but then he couldn't commit to that for now coz he's still waiting for his citizenship. Oh well, I hope they could all come back here at the same time so we can have that dream of spending time with them again.

Accidents do happen even in the most secured places...

I was going to bake pizza when something bad happened. I preheated the oven while I was preparing the pizza. When I checked on the oven, the flame was out so I tried turning it on again, little did I know that the flame was out longer that I expected, so when I introduce the flame, there, it exploded, it was due to the gas being contained inside without the flame. My feet got burned and the pain is severe. I did the first aid myself, I Submerged my feet on a cold water. I sent a message to hubby about the incident and he called right away, when he heard me crying he knew it was something serious coz he know I have a high tolerance when it comes to pain but this one is different, the pain is so intense that I just wanted to pass out for me not to feel any pain. On his way home I asked him to buy me Flammazine Cream, a burn ointment and some pain reliever. He insisted to bring me to the hospital but I said I'll be fine. Despite the pain reliever that I took, pain is not subsiding, the burning sensation is so intense that I kept on crying. I was observing it, checking for it's color & blisters and I thought it was just a first degree burn. At 11:00 o'clock in the evening I noticed the blisters started coming out so I decided to go to St. Lukes Hospital for proper wound management. Some part sustained a second degree burn. They gave me two shots of anti tetanus to prevent possible infection, cleaned the wound, applied Flammazine & put some dressing. The pain finally subsided but I still have to observe and hope that the wound will not get worse.

On the other hand, I still feel blessed that it was only my feet which sustained burn, it would have been much painful if my face and arms got burned as well. And most especially I am so thankful that my princess was in the living room when it happened.

Accidents happen and my passion for cooking will never go away but I swore not to use that oven again, last night, hubby bought me a small electric oven to make sure I will never use the gas range oven again. And when I say my passion for cooking will never go way, one proof was, last night I still cooked a special prawns & baked chicken for hubby despite the severe pain I was feeling (that's one way I can divert my attention for me not to focus on pain). He tried to stop me but I cooked it anyway. When my mom & sister came to check on me, sister said "ok ha, na burn ka na't lahat sarap pa din ng ulam nyo, hehe". See? I love cooking and nothing can stop me from doing it.

Fresh From The Wet Market

I woke up early today and went to the wet market near our place. This is unusual for me coz it has been almost 15years since the last time I went there. Since the supermarket has been a convenient place for shoppers (when they started offering seafoods & meat products), I have not visited a wet market. If I wanted some fresh seafoods, I'd ask a relative who regularly visits a wet market to buy some for me. But earlier today I decided I'd go there myself to try it once again. I was happy to see a few old faces, yup, amazingly they're still there, some of my suki way back then is still there selling the same thing. Although I doubt it if they still remember me. It's still the same place I used to go to but I noticed it's harder to ask for discounts now compared to before that a simple smile would make them give in to your desired price. I actually had fun coz I was able to buy lots of ingredients that you can never find in a supermarket, not to mention all the fresh seafoods & vegies they can offer. While I was there seeing a lot around me, I bought some things I don't actually plan of buying. When I saw the malagkit (Glutinous Rice), I thought of buying more ingredients so I can cook Ginataang Halo Halo (Mixture of Fruits cooked in Coconut milk). I was so excited, I cooked it as soon as I get home.


I also bought some ubod so I can make Fresh or Fried Lumpiang Ubod (Hearts of Palm Spring Roll) tomorrow. Can't wait to cook all the seafoods that I bought, Pink Salmon, Lapu Lapu, Milk fish & Lapu Lapu Fillet & Tiger Prawns! Yum-o!!!

When I got home, I smell like a fish! arggghh! It felt like I absorbed all the stinky odor from the market so I went straight to the bathroom.

Bangus Sticks

I was about to cook Sinigang na Bangus sa Miso, all ingredients were ready but then I thought of making a different one instead of the usual Bangus recipes. So here, I don't actually know how to call it. When hubby asked what was it, I just said, Bangus Sticks. It was my first time to try this so I'm not so sure with the measurements of some ingredients.

1 pc. Large size Boneless Bangus (milkfish)
1 pc Bread (size of a hotdog bun), diced
1 pc Egg
1/4 cup milk
Onion (chopped thinly)
A dash of All Spice
salt & pepper to taste
Imported Bread Crumbs
Oil for frying

Dip:
Garlic Mayo -just add finely chopped garlic to mayonaise - Kraft Mayonaise is my personal choice because of it's sweet taste.
OR
Sweet & Sour Sauce

Side Dish:
Finely sliced Fresh Cabbage topped with Japanese Mayonaise
Procedure:

1. Boil Bangus until cooked, remove skin and the remaining bones,set aside.
2. In a different bowl, combine the diced bread, egg, milk & onion. Mix until well blended.
3. Add the Bangus, All Spice, salt & pepper. Mix well.
4. Scoop a mixture of the bangus and form a stick (depending on the size that you want)
5. Dip it on the imported Bread Crumbs until covered.
6. Fry until golden brown

Bestfriends dream

It was mid of May when my best friend Ciel arrived here from London, she's been there for quite a long time. She met her husband there, built her own family, now she has 2 kids. Whenever she comes back here, we seldom find time to go out coz usually she divides her time between her family from QC and she also spend time in Pampanga, her husband's home town. She'll be staying here till July but it seems we can't still find time to go out coz she's breastfeeding her 2month old son. Aside from that, I know how busy balikbayans can be. We see each other once in a while, most of the time it's me who visits her place. I hope we can go out without our kids, just the two of us, at least before she gets back to London. Hubby offered to treat us at Shangri-La, Mactan but that's quite impossible because of her breastfeeding duty. *sigh* Well, she said she'll find time for us to have some time together. We we're talking the other day and we both thought how we missed the old days... We had so much plans then, we even thought of building a house beside each other so we could be neighbors and our kids would be best of friends too. We still dream of the same thing, her family is moving to Australia and she's convincing me to work there and fulfill our dreams of becoming neighbors and finally we can spend a lot of time together.

Toddler Jealousy

Nah, I'm not having a new baby and not yet planning on having one. There's this jealousy I see on my princess whenever she sees hubby and I being clingy to one another. She wouldn't approve us hugging or kissing each other if she's not in the middle. If she see mommy & daddy cuddling each other, she'd give us a frown and would say a very strong "NO, don't do that" and then she'll try to make her way to get in between us so she'd be in the middle. Usually she sleeps in the middle but the other night hubby slept beside me. At 3 o'clock in the morning I was awaken by a heavy thing that fell on my face, to my surprise it was the princess who made her way to get in the middle. I just thought maybe she's thinking, "and you thought you can get rid of me while I'm sleeping huh?" Clever child, isn't she?

Last night hubby and I went out on a date, we left her to my mom who lives a few blocks away from our place. The movie ended at around 11:30pm and when I asked my mom if the princess is still up, she said she's sleeping soundly so we decided not to get her. Funny how we sometimes think of wanting to spend our time together (minus the princess and yet last night, we kept thinking of her, missing her as if she's been gone for days. If it wasn't that late, we might have picked her up even if she's sleeping already.