Caroleen’s Treasures

Probably this is the most tiring day for me since school has started. Donald usually goes to school with Ella and was the one who is attending PTA meetings. But today was different. Ella asked me to go with them at school for their Nutrition Month Celebration and won’t accept my alibis that MsE or GE won’t let me end coding because the queue is very high. As early as 6:30 in the morning, I already sent pm to the admin asking for permission to log off at 8 am and stated my reason but it was already quarter before 8 and still no response from them.

Ella: Mommy, sama ka sa amin sa school….please….(Mommy, please go with us to school.)
Me: Baka hindi ako payagan mag-log out eh….(I may not be allowed to log out.)
Ella: Lambingin mo lang si MsE…wag mong biglain para hindi magalit. (Ask MsE in a sweet and  gentle  manner so she won’t get mad…)(It was like-Break it to me Gently)
Me: Eh paano pag ayaw talagang pumayag? (What will I do if she won’t really allow me?.)
Ella: Eh di patayin mo na yang computer mo. (You shut off your computer.)

A 5-year-old does know more than we isn’t it?

Luckily, Crislyn went online a few minutes before 8. maybe she has received my SOS txt message and also MsE has answered my pm because one coder called her about my case. She apologized that she hasn’t responded immidiately because she was also coding that time to help keep the queue low. Ella and Donald went ahead and I followed after an hour. The whole program went fine.

Each level has table to set. There was a table setting contest and the “binignit” cooking contest. Our group, the kinder 2 won. Since it was Nutrition Month Celebration….nutritious foods from the GO, GROW AND GROW food groups were served…..roasted pig and chicken, hotdogs, spaghetti, cake and ice-cream plus there are candies Well, I cannot argue with the master minds of this because I was not there during the meeting. All I can do is grumble why on earth does they have these sort of food in such celebration. Nutrition Month Celebration…so nutritious food should be served. But hey, maybe it was during my time…:lol: It’s generation Z now. Ella was busy pointing who did this, who did that to her…But anyway, the whole program was a success!

In the afternoon we went to Bunawan, a town next to Trento, to follow up about a neighbor’s lot that she was planning to sell (to us). Bye for now, have to rest.

Thanks to Yen for considering me an online buddy ;) 

Awarded: Mai | Yen | Carol Your blog where you posted this.

My first award ever from 4 months of blogging I am passing this award to my online friends Julie, Crislyn, Borski and Nai, Sheng, Beverly, Avee, Miah, Lizz, Michelle, Mitch, Jean, Annie, Arlene Vicy and Prily.

Enjoy!

It was drizzling early in the morning and we had no problem waking up Ella for school….you just say she can wear her raincoat today, she’d jumped out from bed in lightning speed. Me and Donald are coding for more than 13 hours since last night. Glad that the boss lets me ask Donald to take my post when I needed to pee or rest for a while. The whole day was wet! But I cannot let the laundry sit there for another night so I went out after lunch still drizzling.

At 10 in the morning, Donald went to fetch Ella bringing her boots. She was even more thrilled to use those used rain boots that we have bought at the Ukay-Ukay stalls in Tagum last week. When we went to Tagum, she saw a pair of pink rain boots and insisted on buying them. But I told her to stay with the pink one and I will look for a nicer pair. Luckily we found a yellow Pooh boots that she tried on and would not want to remove it. She want to go home, riding a bus with rain boots on in a starry starry night. Now she finally got the chance to wear them, grinning from ear to ear while walking.

I have washed the curtains last night and was not yet completely dry but I will hang them anyway and let them dry up. For the clothes, I hope in three days it will get dried. With this weather, I doubt if it will.

At school, some of Ella’s classmates (boys) are making fun of her everyday. From Monday to Friday, she will tell me one has kicked her canteen on the grass, the other put her bag in the trash can and one has spat on her notebook. I cannot enumerate all the other foolishness these kids has done to her. So last week, I have told her what to do in case someone bullies her. I grew up with bullies and I am thinking I was a big moron not to have scared them. I have told her what she must do and what she must say. So today Ella reported that there were boys who keeps on pulling her hair. They kept doing it even she tried to ask them not to….so she stood up and said to them with her hands on her hips…”Do you all want to see stars?????? Pull my hair and I will show you some stars over your heads.” And they stopped. That is my girl!

I think I should teach her that because just last week, a girl in Ella’s class was pricked by a sharp pencil on her right cheek. The poor girl was spitting blood and was rushed to the clinic. When I heard about it, I told Ella not to let anyone do that to her and let the bullies run for their lives when they try to bully her by saying the scariest things she could think of.

Tomorrow’s laundry day and my ritual begins with soaking it overnight. So tonight I have segregated all the laundry in different tubs but I wasn’t happy because there’s only two baskets full of laundry. I am not used to washing small loads and this won’t make the clothes line so colorful. But anyway, Donald is the one who will be smiling because he won’t spend hours hanging clothes.

I also rearranged the living-dining room. Since we moved here without any furnitures, the only furniture we had is Ella’s study table plus the long and tall table that as here before we moved in. We used it as our dining table. A week ago, we moved inside the small table from the shade in the backyard and put it on the corner as Donald and my table and I put two plastic book shelves on the side of the wall. So we just imagine our house with three tables and no chairs at all. Ella has a wooden chair that goes with her study table and we got plastic ones that we borrow from the chapel and carry it back before the worship service on Sundays.

Since Ella was not allowed to go to the neighbor’s house except to her Lolo Iting and Lola Sinta’s house which is just beside our house, whenever she saw a kid passing by the house she will call whoever it was. One time a girl was with her when we asked her to buy something at the store. I have not seen this girl before. Ella introduced me to her saying, “Mommy, this is Joy-Joy. Joy, this is my Mommy Carol.” I was doing the dishes that time and overheard their conversation.

Ella: When were you born?
Joy: I don’t know.
Ella: What!!!! You are not born? You are just found and picked from the garbage?

I was about to faint.

 

No, not the movie of Mandy Moore but the America’s largest fundraising event and awareness promotion on Alzheimer’s disease. My grandfather on my Dad’s side suffered from this disease started a few years until his death. And with the increasing number of older men and women are suffering from this disease with their families having not enough knowledge regarding this disease. This event does not choose age and gender. Everyone is welcome to join and be one of the champions in the fight of Alzheimer by taking part in Alzheimer’s Memory Walk which will be a 2-3 mile walk in the early weekend morning in the fall. This is a great time to bond with the whole family. You can support the cause, have exercise and quality time with your family. With the success of this event, you have walked with purpose and moved towards the world’s without Alzheimer’s.

 

I was not able to blog yesterday because I was called for back up early. And since it was Saturday night is my shift on OHJ, I was coding until the worship service was about to start. I have more than a dozen kids yesterday on my Sunday School class and we continued on the story about Moses. It is good that kids from the neighborhood was here at last. Ella wore the dress I have sewn. Of course I feel so proud that I have sewn her a dress. But even it is the simplest design I have seen in the internet, I still had a very hard time figuring out what part to pass through the serger machine first

It was also our Meal Fellowship and a baptism of two more souls after lunch. It was just a simple fellowship and everyone enjoyed the food. I wa expecting to see frog on the table but there is none. I hope next fellowhip there will be “adobong tokak” (frog cooked in soy sauce, vinegar, pepper, onion, garlic, ginger and bay leaf with a little sugar).

Today a package from Australia arrived. My friend Kylie sent it and it was a big envelope with gifts for all of us three. I got….

Donald got….

And Ella was so happy to receive….

There is also some seeds but I will keep it and plant it in our own yard. We are planning to buy a lot near here and we pray God will bless our plan. It is nice to live here in the parsonage but it is better to have a place to call our own. Of course we will not buy an expensive lot. Got to go now, have to check on how to get a passport. Who knows we will need it someday

My second earning from OHJ was sent this morning to my eon account. Yey! I was supposed to sub for Crislyn but there are some changes now. Those who have shifts have none and all are on calls. So I still worked since they needed a back up from 9:38am to 6pm. I have a shift tonight on graveyard but we’ll see if I can get in.

I have sewed a dress for Ella. I will post the photos later when I finish 6 dresses.

As I was reading some blogs, I came through a blog that talks about a car accident wherein a family of 11 was riding their SUV and a truck came crashing in their side. Glad that there is no one severly injured. But if it was here in the Philippines with most peole not wearing seatbelts, they could have been all dead with the strong impact. With this incidents, I was thinking more and more in looking for cheap life insurance quotes that we can afford. It will really help a lot.

I am doing this very quick because they called for back up for OHJ early. Today I had my very first breakfast since we moved here. Ella played almost whole day with a short nap. When I woke up, she was not in bed anymore and was busily drawing in her desk.

Ella is missing Mamang Eling more and more each day and she always talks about the things they did together and she remembers every details. She asked me to post some of their photos together so my friends who has “Caroleen’s PRESSURES” can see it. Though I told her it is not pressures but TREASURES…she just grins and continue on her pressures. ;))

Manang Eling and Ella when she was two months old 

Chubby Ella at 4 months old

During our visit to our hometown, Ella was 15 months old 

Mamang visits her in the city at 18 months old

Kadayawan Festival 2005; Ella is 26 months old

There are pictures of them that I haven’t scanned yet and some are still negatives. Ella was turning three when Mamang died, only 9 days before her 3rd birthday. Hope you enjoy the photos of my Mamang Eling and her little Ella.

As promised, I will post photos of Ella’s study table and uniform. I also forgot to tell you that I made her a shoe pocket from my box of rags.
 

We are crossing our fingers that she will really study

 too excited to go to school in her new uniform

Her new shoe pocket, hope this is the answer on my headache from scattered shoes.

 I even personalized it by printing her name.

I am so tired and I wanted to sleep. We have just arrived from Tagum, 2 hours away from here….and while we stopped by at one of the bus terminals, we finally got a chance to take a photo of the Filipino Skylab.

A motorcycle that can ferry 12 passengers.

In this case, the driver carries 7 sacks of bananas and two passengers. I cannot imagine myself riding in that vehicle, I might turn very pale in fright and call all the saints in heaven. LOL But Ella will really be over the moon when she’ll will have a ride in this because it gives her a lot of air! She told us we will get off the bus and just ride there because the bus we are in has no auto air conditioning. She cannot stand without it or some fresh..cool air.

Thank goodness I was out from OHJ seven minutes before 8am. Donald woke up Ella, bathe, dressed, fed and walk her to school. Ella wore her P.E. uniform and I was suprised how she has grown tall in just a month! When we bought it, I made sure it has some allowance so she can wear it longer….but man, this girl sure does in growth spurt! She has literally outgrown ALL her clothes in a span of 5 months! She grows taller than our income OHJ is such a blessing and thanks to my sister Crislyn that she encouraged me to apply as coder. Now we we have something to look forward to each couple of weeks aside from my blogging.

The butterfly is still inside the house and it went inside our bedroom. I was sewing the rest of Ella’s pyjammas when I noticed it was on my back…resting in the curtain. Donald had the uniforms of Ella and I was wrong when I said on my previous post that I am a bit disaapointed because when I examined it closely, I am very devastated. I spent the whole morning until dinner time repairing it. The neckties are such a mess, the embroidered intials of the school was like that of an amateurs work when in facts she has been sewing for over a couple of decades now; the necktie itself is too long; the edges of the uniform has not passed through a serger machine (only zigzaged and really looks like hell); the button holes are not shaped as a button hole but a human eye; the green skirt has a yellow thread in the inside and the skirt is 1½ shorter. I was grumbling why on earth the seamstress has measured Ella when she did not follow the exact measurement especially the length! I unstitched the embroidery in the necktie and the skirt. I sew the skirt and the necktie the length that I wanted. Which is supposed to be and I must say, the right length. What took so much of my time is the initials in the necktie, as it was my first time to do it, I redid it 20+times until I finally got the result I wanted.

Today Ella’s study table was finally delivered from the furniture shop beside us. It took 20 days before it was done but it is worth the waiting because it is finely made. I will post a photo tomorrow.
As some of you know, Ella’s plastic table flipped from the truck when we moved from the city and since then she was writing and drawing and even reading on the floor. This was our first project from my coding job.

Last night Ella watched tv in the neighbor’s house. I do not know why she remembered it. We do not have tv since moved here and she seldom asked us to go over there and watch. She has been so afraid of being locked out at night time especially when we do not want her to go over and watch tv in the neighbor’s house. Thisf amily has no little kid so Ella has been the center of attention. When I saw the butterly came out from the back of the plastic cabinet, I closed the front door so it won’t get out and I can take snaps. Little did I know Ella saw it and came rushing home thinking she has been locked out. She was so thrilled seeing the butterfly too and after a while she went back there. I think it was past 9 in the evening when she called from the neighbor’s porch telling us to lock her out. I asked, “Are you sure????” She wuickly replied, “Yes, I have the key here.” If you thought she was just kidding, you are wrong. We locked the door and she came home and used the key she has with her.

The house has benn packed with kids and a mother. I would really get old earlier when we will live here for good. I get stressed too with the neighbors problems on money, school allowances, debts and even food. Just before lunch, three sibling came over to play with Ella. I know their mother was working in the ricefield and they were left alone by themselves. I asked what they have for lunch, the 8 year-old girl said rice with vinegar and salt The other kids are 3 and 1. We sent her to the store to buy a can of sardines for them to share. Ella now eats whatever on the table knowing that her friends has no food on the table and goes to bed hungry at times.