Caroleen’s Treasures

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.

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.

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.

I thought there will be no activity here in the church today so we slept like Garfield until almost 9 am We then heard Kuya Jun calling Bro. Donald from the “tora-tora” that he was driving. Wish I have a camera so I could show you how it looks like. All I can say is, when I first saw it I almost peed on my pants! Flipinos are really resourceful ya know! Anyway, they fetched the members in the farm a few miles from here for the music lesson that will be done in the afternoon. Ella was so happy getting a “tora-tora” ride and to see the ricefield and ducks.

In the afternoon, after the music lesson and all the members are gone, we went to the market to buy Caladryl or Benadryl for Ella’s insect bites and some rashes from the weeds around the yard. We tried 7 pharmacies with no luck! I feel like we are in Pluto….cast away…..there is no Public Hospital here, just two small clinics and a funeral parlor We passed by a little resto and we decided we will celebrate Father’s Day earlier so we ordered “halo-halo” (fruit preserves in ground ice and milk with ice cream and cereal on top) for Donald, cheese burger and iced tea for Ella and spaghetti with cheese burger and iced tea for me Before Ella took a bite, she happily greeted her Daddy, “Happy mother’s day Daddy!!!!” She almost made me pee! Then she said she was just kidding and when she had her first bite, she groaned, “Why did they make burger’s head so big? I could hardly bite it!” We are full and happy with our food, it is cheap and good. We left with a full stomach and Ella is so much excited to go to the park. We always made excuses to her for not going there…when she goes with me to the market, I say “Next time when Daddy is with us.” and when she is with her Daddy, he says the other way around. So now me and Daddy are with her there in the market, she was saying “Daddy is here, adn Mommy is here….I can go to the park…” over and over again.

So we walked a few blocks to the park. She and Donald went there ahead while I went to the pharmacy near the park to see if they have Caladryl or Benadryl. Still none….so I got another brand of ointment for insect bites. I hope it will work well. Ella really did enjoy the park, she is really a child….but me, nope…I was looking around and kept telling Donald that the $1,325.581.4 declared budget spent for the construction of the park didn’t went all to it. There is a skating rink which I doubt if it was ever used for skating or if anyone ever owned a roller skates or blades here. Then here comes the swings….there should me 5 but only one is in “good” shape. The other four has its chains but the seats are nowhere to be found. There are slides for kids which should not be called “slides” as kids could not slide from the top….they should push themselves so they can get down because the surface is so rough you could not slide down without pushing yourself. There’s also this silly looking round thing where two kids tried to get on there and spin it but they could not as it is so heavy and I just wonder how this works. Ella had so much fun on the swing and slides while I and Donald sat on a bench. We joined her in the see-saw and we did enjoy it…only our thighs hurts. We finally convinced Ella to go home, so we walked to the front gate so we could also see what is on the other side of the park which makes it a million’s worth. On the front part of the park there are two fountains….with no single drop of water. All in all, I could say the park is not well kept as you can see the weeds all over the ground unmowed. Only the part where the kids play area was kept clean. But the good thing I saw there was the 26 flagpoles with Philippine Flags. Truly they are vey patriotic here…..I have not seen such a number flags being flown in small town like this. At least, there is one thing that impressed me.

When we got home at around 6pm, I have dozed off while Donald sat on my computer and Ella did her own thing (eating…AGAIN). She cleaned herself, washed her face, feet and hands and by the time I woke up she declared she was about to retire. We were surprised as she usually sleeps late. So I asked Donald to wash her again with soap and I applied the ointment on her bites and spots. In no time she was off to dreamland

It’s Friday, the last day of school. So our Princess went to school earlier than yesterday. She was telling me last night that her classmates’ snacks are more “fun” than her “boring” biscuits. I was like, “Hey, who told you your snacks is boring? See, you got 4 packets of animal biscuits in different colors…that is fun don’t ya know?” (Oh yeah, I was speaking slang) But anyway, as I do not want her to feel sad about her snacks, I told Donald to buy wafer sticks at the store on their way to school. Oh who would have not been bored with the same snacks everyday?

Since three days in a row that she went home alone without her Daddy, (her class ends 30 minutes early) I reminded Donald to go back to the school 30 minutes before the dismissal time so she won’t miss Ella. Although this won’t make Ella happy, her Daddy was there in the school yard after their class. When they arrived, I asked her what happened at school. To my big surprise, she said “Some boys at school likes me.” I said, “What?!!!!”….she repeated “I said, boys likes me at school and they are calling me always trying to get my attention.”….I was trying not to laugh, I asked her “Then what did you say to them?”….she looked disappointed and said “I said my Mommy and Daddy will get mad at them.” Now that is a good reason for her Daddy to be there on time E.V.E.R.Y.D.A.Y. :lol:

In the afternoon Ella had a nice chat with her Tita Crislyn. She and Cheche had seen their niece on webcam with her new hair. Ella was so proud that she looked like Dora and was telling her Tita that she has a one peso coin that she will be sending in Western Union for them to buy a car She was also saying “I will send you some new clothes and shoes….for you, Tito Ace, Tita Cheche, Lolo Tony and Lola Carmen, I will Western Union it.” Oh well, this kid is so thoughtful that she even promised that when she grow up, she would go to manila to buy me a nice set of necklace and earrings.

Today is Lolo Tony’s birthday….my sister Crsilyn’s FIL. To Lolo Tony, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!!!! From Ella, Donald and Me We are sad that we missed the party As some of you know, Lolo Tony and Lola Carmen are like our own parents and grandparents to Ella. Ella just loves them so much. They are so warm and their home is like a home for us too. We are looking forward to seeing them again soon.

Oh I forgot to tell you about the lizard who has two eggs on her belly! Yes, you read it right! Last night, while I was here doing some blogging and Donald was on the bed, he pointed to me a lizard on the ceiling. You could see clearly that she has two eggs because she was just beside the flourescent light. It was like an ultrasound! I was amazed at what I saw. I think she was about to lay those as it has the size of a regular lizard eggs I see around the house when I clean. How I wish I could see a baby lizard just coming out of its shell. I just love lizard’s tail though. When I was still a child, I would grab a lizard’s tail. Then it will be detached from the body and the will be moving in frenzy on the floor. Oh well I know some of you are reacting violently, but hey, I am not hurting them. I just am helping them grow more beautiful tails

Enough of the lizard thing and we’ll need to talk about real life issues here. Early morning, we woke Ella and prepared for school. As usual me and Donald attended to her like she was a Princess She was as excited as yesterday and hope it won’t fade away as days passes by. I waited for Donald to come home from Ella’s school as we have to tackle a real life issue. The big issue was: today is LAUNDRY DAY. As usual, my assistant seemed to complain but just held it to himself or else his clothes would not have been washed Because we expect the sun will hide again after noon time, he helped me with 5 basins full of laundry. I soaked it last night so we need only to do a mild rubbing. I sent Donald to pick Ella up from school in the middle of taking care of the real life issue Ella seemed to be so tired walking to and from the school but she looked so pretty on her new haircut and Donald teased her that she looked like Dora But hey, Ella is prettier than Dora (she is my daughter remember!) I inspected her paper and she has a “Very Good” in it, better than the “Good” yesterday. They wrote the letter E and draw a picture of a man using the shapes circle, square, rectangle, oblong and circle. I have to tell her that they are still on a review of lessons last school year so she won’t keep telling me she needs to be in “ementary” school. (she’s so cute saying that word)

Today is such a tiring day for the three of us. We went to Ella’s school to ask if classes will start tomorrow. I sent Donald last week to get the requirements and schedule but he cannot relied upon that matter I guess. He told me it will be on Friday, so I just relaxed ‘cos I got plenty of time to get Ella’s school fees from my paypal. I have transferred it the other day to my eon account, since it was Saturday, I can probably withdraw the money on Thursday. Oh well, glad that the teacher told me she can come to school tomorrow and the payment will be on Friday. She gave me the list of requirements…the school supplies and uniforms. Guess what? We went straight to Tagum City, 2 hour bus ride from here, to get all the stuffs on the list. School supplies can be bought here but the fabric and other items aren’t. Donald stood on the line for almost 2 hours in the school supplies department and another 1 hour in the fabric department. I was thinking there will be less people shopping for school since classes will start tomorrow, but I was soooo wrong. The queue is so long that you cannot even tell where is the end of it. But anyway, we had a nice time there. Got to go! Had to sleep early for Ella’s first day of school. I will be back for more stories about today. Good night!