Mother's Day 2011

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The special day for Mama's around the world falls on Sunday, May 8, this year. Mother's Day started during the seventeenth century in England. It was called "Mothering Sunday" and celebrated every fourth Sunday in Lent. The first official Mother's Day celebration in the USA was in 1914 when President Woodrow Wilson declared it a national holiday on the second Sunday in May.

I'm thinking of buying a mother day jewelry for mom. It's a necklace that's named languages of mom. Engraved around the pendant are "Mom" in nine different languages and script. A perfect gift for a perfect mom, don't you think so?

queen of multitasking

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The picture below is yours truly everyday. I know most stay-at-home or work-at-home moms can relate with me. I don't have a helper or yaya in the house. I do everything.

plus blogging, eating, washing the dishes = ME!

I can definitely say, based on experience, that working at home is much harder than working in a regular working environment. Especially with no maid! But the former is definitely more fulfilling than the latter.

happy birthday!

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THE MEMORARE

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help or sought your intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto you, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To you I come, before you I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word incarnate, despise not my petitions, but, in your mercy, hear and answer me. Amen.

birthday present

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My birthday is just around the corner, Saturday of next week. I already made my birthday wishlist a few weeks back. But last night, I changed the top slot on my birthday wish. I was ready-for-battle when I turned on my laptop yesterday. I had a mission that I vowed to accomplish - search for an interesting topic to write on my blog. I was wasting my time, for almost an hour, hopping from one site to another. Until I reached a website that made my day.

I have been wanting to replace our 10-year old television set. And when I saw Samsung 3D HDTV, that want turned into I-want-it-right-this-minute! So yes, this is officially my #1 wish for my birthday this year.

sleeping late is bad for your health

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...but I can't miss the reruns of The Nanny! I have been sleeping really late the past few days. I hit the sack at around 1am. Don't you dare put the blame on Fran Dresher!

The episode that I am watching right now, yes exactly right now, is so funny I can't turn off the television. Fran is trying to conceive and can't wait to buy the best prenatal vitamins. Even when Mr. Sheffield is guesting on Hollywood Square, Fran took her ovulation test right then and there.

i can concentrate on blogging

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Finally! I don't have to wash the clothes, dishes and clean the bathroom. I finally hired somebody to help me do all those things.

The picture above describes how I multi-tasked for 9 years. Except for the perfect hair, white dress and red heels. Replace the girl above with the girl in the picture below.  

                                                   

After 9 years of doing everything by myself. This is me now.

Yes! I can finally concentrate on blogging. Except when my son is at home, I should be available to his highness's every holler.

Now, I don't have to miss online opportunities, because finally I won't miss anything... I hope.

i now heart my curly hair

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My hair perm has gone from bad to "lovely curls", thanks to hair styling tips that I found all over the internet. A few months back, I was not happy with my hair. I was very brave, really I was, not to cry when I saw what the hair stylist did to my hair. It was exactly the hair perm that I told her not to give me!

"You should buy a hair mousse." She must have noticed that I was on the verge of tears. I was jumping up and down (in my head) when I finally found a can of the most expensive hair mousse in the grocery store. My long curly hair transformed into Total Beauty curly hair in just a few minutes after applying the hair mousse.

looove her hair

I get excited everytime I pass by the hair accessories section in a department store. I always end up spending more time browsing hair accessories than doing what I was supposed to do there.

A few weeks back I had a haircut. The hairstylist gave me a layered look. I was not disappointed this time, the haircut defined my curls more! I am not afraid to experiment with my hair now. Next to do is change my black hair color to blonde? Maybe not. 

Having a bad hair day? Make your curls lovely in just a few minutes. Watch video here.

are you forgetful? you need this...

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I am a very forgetful person. Not sure if it has to do with the anaesthesia used when I gave birth to my son. That's my excuse for being forgetful, the anaesthesia, and NO I am not getting old!

I forget important dates. My friends don't greet me on my birthday anymore. I think it's because I usually forget to greet them on their birthday as well. Sad but true.

That's why I have a collection of notebooks! Yes, notebooks. I have a notebook for passwords. I have a notebook for business ideas. I have a notebook for to do lists.

Here is my fave notebook. Why is it my fave? I can bring it anywhere with me. Look how small it is.

And admit it, it's so cute right?

Are you forgetful also? Do share what you do to solve that problem.

have you revisited your "past" lately?

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Borrowing photos from fellow Isko's and Iska's. A lot has changed. First of all, the students have their own netbooks (rich kids invading UP!). Back during my college days, we just visit internet shops. Everyone has a mobile phone now. 10 (plus!) years ago, only a handful has cellular phones. But, dear old Oble hasn't changed. Muscles still in the right place, no sagging skin whatsoever.

main avenue

oble

the fertility tree

Don't ask me though why that tree is called "fertility tree". Your guess is as good as mine.

you should try this product

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... if you have curls. If your hair is straight, I don't think this is the hair product that you need.

I have written about my disappointment when I had my hair curled a few months ago. Now, I am loving my hair! Yaay!

It's all because of the bottle you see on the left. VO5's styling mousse. I have been using another brand of styling mousse and was so distressed with the way my hair looks. When I switched to VO5, my daily worry and frown turned into a smile.

I am planning to stick with curly hair because it makes me look my age. With straight hair I look 10 years younger. I should be happy looking younger, right? Not with a son as tall as me already. People tend to get confused if I am his sister, aunt or worse -- his yaya!

I am not planning to use mousse for the rest of my curly-haired life. Waiting for my hair to get longer. Then chop-chop and goodbye to my bad curl! Will then have my hair curled by a professional. Then I won't have to use mousse to define my curls.

Rx: Minute Maid

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I spent the last few days of 2009 and greeted 2010 with colds. It was accompanied by a terrible headache that left me bedridden the first few days of being sick. My sister, MG, bought a bottle of Minute Maid for me when she passed by the grocery store near our house.

My sister knows that I am not a big fan of water. And because I have colds, I need lots of fluid intake. Mineral, distilled or tap water, I'm sorry I just don't like the taste. Don't tell my son though, I require him to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. My sister left the Minute Maid on the table when she arrived home.

The next thing that happened...

...they didn't stop until they finished every single drop of my Minute Maid. I am glad that they enjoyed drinking Minute Maid together.

Good thing my sister, MA, needs to go to the grocery store to do the weekly grocery shopping. I gave her a list of things we need in the house.

The first thing she did, after getting a shopping cart was go to the Minute Maid shelf.

I guess she went Minute Maid panic buying that day.

She even grabbed one from the freezer to drink on the way home.

Finally, I can now drink Minute Maid. With a bowl (big bowl, yikes!) of hot macaroni soup. Even when I am sick, I can still enjoy drinking Minute Maid.

After being sick for a few days...

...I am cold-and-headache-free. But that didn't stop me from drinking Minute Maid. Prevention is still better than cure. I enjoy drinking Minute Maid more when I am not sick.

What about you? Have you tasted Minute Maid already? If not, you are missing half of your life. Go and grab one now in a store near you.

it's that time of the month again

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My lower abdomen is so painful again. It's that time of the month when I have to endure dysmenorrhea for the first two to three days of my menstrual period. Why do I have to endure this tremendous pain every month. Maybe I should exercise more regularly. I should not just exercise when I feel like it, from now on I should exercise everyday.

I am not a big fan of pain relievers. Even when I was giving birth to my son, I didn't ask for a pain reliever right away unlike others who are regulars of the online site. I guess the monthly visits of dysmenorrhea helped me become used to severe abdominal pain. The contraction pain that I experienced while giving birth was just like the dysmenorrhea pain that I have every month.

I read somewhere online that pain relievers usually works by decreasing the brain's perception and response to pain. It also reduces the size or magnitude of the pain signal passed from one nerve to another. For the longest time already, I have survived the pain of dysmenorrhea every month. I don't need to buy prescription or even non-prescription dysmennorhea drugs eventhough the pain that I experience is so unbearable.

christmas wish: i need a day-off!!

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I am a WAHM. I have to deal with a lot of stress every single day of my life. People here in the Philippines have stay-in maids, I do not even have a stay-out maid! I do everything, everyday. I do the laundry, wash the dishes (don't have dishwasher!) clean the house, cook breakfast (of course lunch and dinner also), pick up my son from school. Yup, I am the maid, yaya, mommy rolled into one.

I am not complaining (not much). But the stress! Yes, I am stressed out everyday.

I need to unwind, I definitely need a day-off!

I would definitely enjoy having a janitorial cleaning service just for one day that can handle all of the daily duties for me like doing the laundry, washing the dishes, dusting the floor, etc. I am thinking of doing it once a month.

What would I do with all the spare time I'll have on my hands? I would surely visit a spa. I need a massage. I need to remove all the stress bottled up inside my abused body. A trip to the salon would be next on my list. I need to have my hair fixed, I don't like the hairstyle that I have right now. A professional hairdresser is what I need to fix my hair problem. A new look would be nice. Shopping! It's been a long time since I bought clothes for myself. I definitely need new shirts and dresses.

What do you think? Should I start looking for a professional cleaning crew?

i have a bad perm, help!

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I only had two hairstyle since birth - short hair with bangs and one-length long hair. When I was younger, I was contented with my straight, shiny, black hair.

Because of too much hair products (experimenting with different shampoos), my hair became dry, unmanageable and it curls in the wrong places.

I've been wanting to have my hair professionally curled. The need to have a new look was so intense already, my hand had a mind of its own that day. It already called my sisters' so called hairdresser before my mind could even react.

To cut the long story short -- I do not like my new look. I guess the hairdresser was not-a-professional-haircurler. She straightens my sister's (and cousins) curly hair. I showed her pictures of hair curls that I do NOT like. When I saw my curls, lo and behold! It was exactly the same with one of the pictures that I showed her.

And the nightmare doesn't end there. After a month, the bottom part of my hair is straight already and the middle part is still very curly!

Lessons learned:

1. If your sister is happy with the services of a person-who-straightens-hair, don't hire her services to have your hair curled!

2. A very, very cheap fee will never guarantee you a good service (I only paid Php400~ roughly $8)

I'm planning to have a haircut, just the bottom part of my hair. But just thinking that the people in the salon (where I am a regular client) might laugh at my ridiculous-cheap-bad-perm, makes me cringe in embarrassment!

What do you think should I do with my hair?

I am a multi-tasking mom

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According to Wikipedia, "Human multi-tasking or multitasking is the performance by an individual of appearing to handle more than one task at the same time. "

Multi-tasking is every mom's bestfriend. Multi-tasking helps me do all chores and errands that I have to finish in any given day. At 5am this morning, while taking a shower, I was instructing my son (over and over again) to finish his cereals (as well as to chew and not just swallow it because that's what he usually does when I tell him to hurry up). A while ago, I was doing the laundry and watching the morning news. Now, I am eating breakfast and updating my blog. Those are just some examples of my multi-tasking skills.

A study done by the American Psychological Association shows that multi-tasking costs time especially when shifting to less familiar tasks. I guess that study was done without mom's on their mind. All the tasks that I do everyday are so familiar with me already I can do it with my eyes closed.

I'm pretty sure all mom's will agree with me. Care to object, anyone?

WHY GOD MADE MOMS

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This was forwarded to me by a friend. Hope this brings a huge smile on your face.

Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:

Why did God make mothers?

1.. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.

2.. Mostly to clean the house.

3.. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?

1.. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.

2.. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.

3.. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?

1.. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.

2.. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?

1.. We're related.

2.. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's mom like me.

What kind of a little girl was your mom?

1.. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.

2.. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.

3.. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?

1.. His last name.

2.. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?

3.. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your mom marry your dad?

1.. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot

2.. She got too old to do anything else with him.

3.. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.

Who's the boss at your house?

1.. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.

2.. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.

3.. I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What's the difference between moms and dads?

1.. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.

2.. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.

3.. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.

4.. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?

1.. Mothers don't do spare time.

2.. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?

1.. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.

2.. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?

1.. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.

2.. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me.

3.. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.