Caroleen’s Treasures

I feel dizzy from my first day trial for OHJ. I started 12 midnight and ended 8:40am. That was the looooongest 8 hours and 40 minutes of my life. I was supposed to end at exactly 8 in the morning but there are still a long queue of captchas so I stayed for 40 more minutes as a labor of love.

An hour before I started, Ella was begging me to feed her. She finished a plate of rice and mushrooms during dinner and has eaten two packets of wafer sticks as her midnight snack yet she feels she is starving. I ignored her at first and continued on my blog hopping but she began on her long litany of “Why won’t you feed a hungry child? I am your daughter….My tummy is really sad now. Please, please feed me!” Who can resist such a cute child? Sides she is the cutest to me ‘cos she is mine So we went outside and I gave her a bowl of Koko Crunch with milk while I cooked instant pancit canton and made a cup of coffee to keep me awake the whole time. I was afraid I cannot make it through 8 hours of coding and doze off on my keyboard.

When Ella was done, I sent her back to the bedroom while I finished my pancit canton and coffee. Then I sat infront of my pc and waited for the clock to strike 12 midnight. I pmed admin that I am starting my training when it hits the 12. The first hour went well as well as the second one. But on the third hour, I started feeling sleepy. I was listening to the Carpenters and was rocking on my chair to keep me awake and I bet the lizards are laughing at me. I feel dizzy on the fourth until the final hour of my trial. I can feel my eyes are rolling involuntarily like I am having seizures I was grinning when at long last the clock struck 8. Glad I survived the longest 8 hours. Whew!

In the morning, Ella and Donald left for school while I was still coding, when Donald went back from there I was done and was dying to flatten my back in bed. I first checked and replied to emails and at 9:30 am, I decided I should be in bed. But guess what? I have not slept at all. The kids were outside the house playing, then Inang and Tatang came to do a little tending of the plants and shoveling dirt around the chapel. Donald gave them a hand but me? I am frozen in bed trying hard to sleep. But all I did was close my eyes and convince myself I can rest with the kid’s noise. 

After luch, I have dozed off with Donald and Ella in bed. I woke up feeling more tired and groggy. Went to shower at 5pm and sat in my pc doing my rounds of blog hopping. I am really hoping I can still make it through tonight until 8am again tomorrow. I think I made this post long again today (I told myself I’d make it short this time) :-) Bye for now! Got to find some good recipes that I can send to my online friend.

EDITED: Julie was asking if we are heading for winter here and Yen also asked if we were abroad now Nope, you are both wrong. We don’t have winter here Julie…we only have the dry season which is the summer and the rainy season. Here in Agusan, the weather makes me crazy Yen. I will be hiding on my blanket yet I wanted to grab another one. Brrrrr……The weather here are both extreme. There are days when the sun will shine and the heat is so intense in the morning until noontime…then it will rain hard in the afternoon. But yesterday, it rained whole day We are hit by the typhoon’s tail. Dunno what is the name of it, kasi ala kaming tv dito.

It is feezing cold today. I went to bed at 2 am and Ella, who usually doesn’t want to be covered with blanket, whispered to me “Mommy….pa-share ng kumot….” (Mommy, let me share with the blanket….) Poor Ella. I hate it so much when I’d be awaken by freezing cold and I could not move my hands to grab another blanket. It is raining early in the morning but Ella never complained about taking a bath in this weather because Donald heated up some water. She was in her long sleeves and jeans today to keep her warm in school.

In the afternoon, I had an informal online job interview for Online Home Jobs (OHJ) and was asked to complete a task. My eyes are rolling as if I am having seizures. I cannot keep my self awake so I dozed off for a few minutes. I’d be having a 3-day training graveyard shift beginning 12 midnight until 8 am. I hope I can stay awake the whole 8 hours I will be having cup after another cup of coffee just to keep me from dozing off.

We had mushrooms for dinner (again), Ella and Donald is going more crazy over it and I am happy with that as I like mushrooms so much too. We had company over dinner, Charlie is Ella’s friend who is turning 10. He was the one who helped Ella bury her chick. I like Charlie more than any other friends Ella have. Here’s their photo together taken during Ella’s birthday. Glad Tita Crislyn went over here for the party with her new SLR camera.

Hopefully I’ll have my camera back so I can start taking photos again. I missed it so much and I wanted to join the group of the camera crazy group I hope I can get some sleep before my training tonight but I think I will stay up blog hopping.

Early in the morning I woke up feeling fine. As if I got the complete sleep my body requires. I crawled to bed at past two in the morning reading blogs but too tired to comment After Ella and Donald left for School, I sat on my pc and went on Opps hunting but no luck I wish tonight I can grab…even just one.

I did some box wrapping today too. The shoe boxes and other boxes I found around the house I wrapped with gift wrapper to give it a more decent look to store stuffs like Ella’s school supplies, my craft supplies and other abubots. I have done several boxes and went to see some more box in the second room where I put all our stuff from Davao. I saw a box outside the house and asked Ella what is the box doing outside. She said she has nothing to do with it so I asked my other child…I mean my husband about the box sitting on the table on the shed.

I found out that Donald put it there the other night when he caught the rat (named Donald Jr.) and put it inside the shoe box. So yesterday, Donald was grumbling about the rat who escaped from the box. He was saying….”He was such a rat!” What else could he call it aside from rat? So to make the story short…(I hope it will really make it short) He caught the rat in the sink the other night, put it in a box with two holes in it. He covered the box and inserted a lit paper (of course it was smoking) to suffocate the rat. He could not kill it as he feels unhumane to kill a living thing (Remember when he doesn’t want to kill bugs and he would just drop them in the chamber pot to drown instead of squeezing them to death?) After sometime, thinking that the rat have died, he went back inside the house. The following morning when he woke up, he saw the box empty. So the brilliant rat escaped! I told him, “You should be ashamed of yourself. The rat is laughing at you. You didn’t know while you are trying to suffocate him, he went into prone position and covered his mouth and nose?”

So much of the rat story In the afternoon, I and Ella had a nap.  At three pm I went to see a doctor for my chest pains and was advised to have a ECG and x-ray in the city. So this means we are going to Davao again. I was hoping it can wait until next month so I can save money for it.

After the check up, I went to pick up a few items in the grocery store and a little present for a 2-year-old boy who invited us for a small party this afternoon. I also got few wrappers to use for the other boxes and also picked up pencils and erasers sets that i can give to two other kids in my Sunday school class who will be celebrating their birthdays next week. It is not much but I am sure they would be happy to receive a present as they are not used to having some during birthdays. After the quick grocery shopping, I went home to drop the grocery bag and off we went to the party. It is far from here and we are the “guest of honor” Only us came from afar, most of the visitors are relatives and friends nearby. They house is small and you can tell they are struggling financially but hey, the still managed to give the boy a happy birthday We had spaghetti, buko salad, bihon guisado, cake and Coke.

When we are done and full…we sat there chatting for a while when we received a message from Tatang to go to her daughter’s house ASAP ‘cos it is Ate Venus birthday too. Oh this is what I miss…too much food It is getting dark when we left the place. I feel horrified by the dark clouds  as it will pour heavy rain (if I say heavy, it is really heavy) It is a remote place and we are like in the woods in the story The Red Riding Hood. We ran as fast as we could, Ella was on her Daddy’s shoulders while I was following them. Only a few cabs get there and we are just so lucky there was one. As soon as we got on the cab, it rained so hard. When we finally arrived at Ate Venus’ place, Ella had a nice time chatting with the visitors who are two to three decades older than she. Only a few friends were there but we had soooo much fun. The visitors could not help but laugh when after we sang “To God be the Glory” and Donald said a prayer, Tatang began to sing loudly The Birthday Song and two more songs. We sang with him trying not to laugh but the visitors almost fell on their seats in laughter because they assumed they can start filling their plates with food after they said Amen :lol: Since we are full, I had only a little rice and steamed catfish. I also picked puto cheese which I really missed and so are Donald and Ella (this is what we are making back in our hometown before to earn a living). We also had buko salad, choco moist, chicken soup, bam-i and fried quail We left with a bag of food for Bogart who patiently waits for us at home.

Not much going on today. After Ella was sent to school, Donald went back home and headed back a little later to pick her up after class and they went to market together. We need to go to the market everyday for food as we do not have fridge. Donald was complaining yesterday that he won’t ever go to market again. It was my first time to hear him say that. The reason? No one will give him a ride home. I was saying that to him, that I loathe going to the market ‘cos I have to walk far just to get a ride to the market, and would wait until my eyes went all white before I can get a ride back home. He never believed me and was accusing me of making up reasons not to go there myself. And now he knows how it is to stand there and being rejected by those stupid drivers who chooses passengers. I often pay double so I can just get home. Now, he knows. And hey, karma bites

So today, I gave him a list of what I needed him to buy. I need cocoa butter for Ella’s insect bites. Some are fresh but the healed ones can be applied with cocoa butter to lighten the scars. When they came home, Ella had a 12oz plustic cup of chocolate shake with marshmallows in her hand. I asked her what is it, instead of answering my question she said in most defensive way, “Mommy, I never asked to buy this…but Daddy asked me if I wanted it and I just said YES….” She was so pleased that she and her Daddy went to market, as that is the only place here that she goes once in a while and she loved the bonding moment.

We had sauteed mushrooms for lunch which Donald lovingly prepared He was telling Ella that this was his favorite ‘cos Mamang Eling prepares this for him always and he loved the way Mamang cooks it. He asked me the the other day to cook mushrooms for him and so I did. Now he wanted to try it himself and he got it perfectly. He is a good cook and love his cooking so much! Hope he will read this so he will be over the moon and would forever do the cooking. But trust me on this, he is really a good cook. I just loved his chicken soup, adobo, afritada and everything else. I was just pissed off last Sunday when I was about to cook lunch and he interrupted me saying he will cook rice first, so I just left the eggplants in the sink, went back to do my task here. I was dreaming and craving of grilled eggplants for days, so I bought short but plump eggplants that could fit in our charcoal stove. I lost track of time and he called for lunch, eggplants were served…not grilled but boiled! I could not do anything about it, the damage has been done and it is Father’s Day by the way. So today, he bought a bunch of eggplants and said he will make up for the lost eggplants. So for dinner, we had grilled eggplants in fish paste with tomatoes and eggplant omelet. Yumyum!

While I was working in my pc, something bit me on my foot. I ignored it thinking it was just a mosquito. Then it bit me again the second time, and it was soooo itchy and it’s it stung. I caught it and I sqeezed it to death. I don’t care if it has babies waiting for her at home because I think it is the same kind of insect that bits Ella. She has plenty of bites all over her body and she scrathes it all the time. I have to put alcohol to cool it and ease the itch then apply on some ointment for isnect bites which I think doesn’t work best for such kinds of bites. What Ella needs is Caladryl to ease the itch. So what else can I do but put on some cocoa butter on the scars to lighten it.

Ella begged to play with her doll house and other toys. I put it on the second room before her birthday ’cos we need more space for the visitors. Now she finally get her way on it. I put a mat on the floor and she played almost all afternoon. She was holding her Power Puff toy, and I overheard her say to her toy, “Oh…be careful…wear your ”shit” belt…”. I am sorry for the french but hey, we laughed to our hearts content and when we are done with the belly exercise, I called her in the room and said it was not a “shit belt” but a seat belt.

I crawled in bed at almost 3am and woke up before 7am to help Donald prepare Ella for school. I woke her up and she moaned wanting some more sleep. In minutes she was on the table infront of a bowl of cereal and milk. We usually bathe her on the sink during school days ‘cos the bathroom inside the house is not yet finished which was turned into a storage room. We are using the bathroom at the back of the chapel which is more or less 100 yards away. Not convenient for us but we have no choice. After bathed and dressed (I let her wear jeans and polo shirt ‘cos her insect bites are becoming more worst each day), I kissed her goodbye and off they went to school. The three of them, Donald, Ella and Bogart. I went back to bed after they left, it was cold morning and I snuggled under my fleece blanket. When Donald went back from school, he sat infront of my pc and minutes later he said he will check the atm machine in them market and pick up Ella at school on his way home. He tried to withdraw money from my eon card but yesterday it says, “Please transact in your own bank.” I was upset a bit but forgotten about it as soon as I accepted I really need to go to Davao just to get money from my account and also to get a check up. Gladly today he was able to withdraw money from it enough money for our week’s food. It was just a site problem yesterday. I am grateful I can access my eon card from here.

When they arrived home, Ella came to me in bed and said, “Mommy, I got a ring” and handed me a gold fancy ring. I asked her where it came from and she answered, “From the boy in school…he dropped it on my paper while I was writing and told me it is for me.”  One of her admirers whom she spoke about last week. It was a ring that could fit a 5-year-old’s finger! It was unbelievably funny to hear but I was alarmed that my daugther will start dating soon! Oh well I leave it to Donald’s hands. He already talked to her about it and reminding her to study well in school, no boyfriends yet. When I asked Ella what did she say when he gave her the ring, she answered “I just said, thank you….” I know it is quite different now but hey, we are in a small town in the province…I couldn’t imagine how the kids in the city behave. Maybe they are bringing chocolates and flowers for teh girls in school? I can’t tolerate it and I said I will go to her school and talk to the boy and his mother. But the thought of it makes me look like stupid So for now, I have to deal with this by talking to Ella not to entertain suitors ‘cos we have no couch in the living room yet.  

After lunch, she and Donald had a reading time. They read a Dora book and she is learning fast about numbers in Spanish. I am not a Dora fan actually. When Ella was a baby, I never let her watch Dora cd’s ‘cos Dora was Spanish but now she is growing up, I think she can handle many languages. She can even speak straight Cebuano and translate it in Tagalog  When she grow up, she can be a good translator. Trust me on this

We never let her out the house in the afternoon as her red spots and insect bites worsen. She is asking me to get her to see a doctor ‘cos she don’t want to have scars on her legs. In the evening, after dinner, she was singing a song…”This is A way, I comb my hair, comb my hair, comb my hair…this is A way I comb my hair. Early in the morning.” We told her she was singing it in a wrong way, and it should be “This is THE way I comb my hair….” We let her sing it again, but over and over she sang it the wrong way and was insisting it is the right way because it is the way they sang in school. I am on my wits end when Donald let her sing it again in bed, tries to say the words slowly but messed up when she tries to sing it. We then told her she SHOULD sing it right or ELSE she’d get punished. We know she can very well sing it and learn fast, but she is just refusing to learn ‘cos as what she says, her classmates sings it that way and I cannot handle stubborn kid. I went to get a stick to give her a swat if I needed be when we heard her say, “I wish I never sang it here….” Oh kids really can drive me nuts! But of course I should let her know or see I am laughing or she would think she is cute. I can go to the other room to gain composure and get right back with a serious looking face.

Who would not dream of having their own home with complete home furniture? Even Ella at a tender age of 3, she knows what she wanted. We travel a lot before from the province to the city and along the way she points all the houses she liked to have. Now that she is 5 and is very much into arts, she draws her dream house with a porch. She is crazy with porches and chimenys too! Her dream house is that of a Western type of house.

Whenever Ella sees a baby, she will be very excited and would run towards it, hold it and would turn to me and say, “Mommy, why can’t we have a baby yet? See they have one!” As usual, my reply would be, “Our baby is still in heaven playing with Mamang Eling and soon God will bring it down here.” Although we do not have a baby yet, I am collecting baby clothes and I even have a baby bedding ready. But Ella found the bag of it and dresses her doll and teddy bear with those baby clothes.

This afternoon as I am lying in bed to have a rest after a ‘lil stressful class with the kids, Donald said “You look so beautiful in church.” I teased him by saying, “That is why you missed a note in your song leading ‘cos you are staring at me all the time as if seeing Ms. Universe.” Oh well…she is my number 1 fan and Ella is the number 2. He was telling me to prick this pimple I have on my face and was saying he is not used to seeing me having pimples and most of all acne. I told him if God will give me acne I don’t worry at all ‘cos I know where to get the best acne treatment. The only problem is if I can afford it.

It is Sunday once again. Donald was in charge of the whole worship service and bible study…even in song leading as Tatang and Inang were in Davao to attend some important matters. In my Sunday School class, I have only 5 kids. I am sad that the others are absent but this made the kids happy as they can have more snacks if the others are absent We have a story about Noah and the Ark which they all love. Who wouldn’t love stories from the bible with great pictures? I have to remind Ella more than once that she should not tell what will happen next ‘cos the others has not heard it yet. In between the story, she have asked for a time out twice to get a drink inside the house And she asked me to put down the book and put a marker on it to make sure she wouldn’t miss anything, as she wanted to hear the whole story once again. After the story and some singing, we made Father’s Day cards. Ella was the last to finish but I was not surprised. She is really slow. I have a problem with her as she talks while she does things. And she supervises other kids’ works before she would sit down to do her own work. I have to sit down and talk to her again about this. I am glad I have the chance to join the last part of the worship…been missing singing hymns with the congregation for more than a month now. I always keep the kids long enough to make sure they won’t loiter around and create noise during worship.

I am not feeling well and I have slept for hours in the afternoon after we shared a Father’s Day lunch of boiled eggplant This is my favorite but to Ella and Donald, it was the food they both loathed. Too bad they had no choice but to eat it. I had a hard time convincing Ella (and Donald too) that it can make your skin fairer.

Donald was asking me if we won’t have a Father’s Day date. I told him we already did yesterday. I know he was just kidding and even if he wasn’t, I am not feeling well to go out. Just before it gets dark, I sent Donald over the market to get me medicine for my headache and chest pains and dinner too. I was wondering what causes Ella to have these red spots and bruises….like insect bites which she scratches and turned her skin into polka dots same as Donald’s legs I hope the ointment we bought yesterday will have a good effect to her. I hate to see her skin like this, if Mamang Eling is still alive, she would surely say, “Ano naman ang nagyari sa legs ng Neneng ko? Hindi ka na pwede mag majorette niyan….”