Caroleen’s Treasures

I promised before that I’d post a photo of Ella on her new haircut (I think I promised myself and myself alone) So here it is….her photo when she turned 5 with her long hair.

And her new hairstyle….

Well I like her new look now, at least I can send her to school with a head band and not worry about tying her hair wet.

I lost internet connection at 4am so I got some sleep before Ella went to school. I feel so sore on my back when I woke up from my naps. Yes I had several naps. I again did some cutting of fabric for her pyjamas. Did I mention before that there was a neighbor that keeps on coming back to borrow money? She did come back thrice and she seem not to believe we don’t have money to lend. We don’t really have some extras, only we have enough for our needs and my medication. Then there’s another neighbor who went here last night to borrow money for food, I said I have no change so I offered to lend her if we can find a change of my bill. The she refused to accept since I don’t have a change, I offered a pack of noodles and a can of corned beef but she didn’t accept it. Why would I offer to lend her and I said no to the first? Because the second one needs food, the first one just needs money to pay her debt (she loaned money to buy lotions and other beauty products and to me it is not a necessity). Then in the afternoon, a third neighbor came to borrow money to pay the truck who will deliver wood for their furniture shop. So this one is a need to (to my judgment) so I loaned her the amount since we have ordered a desk for Ella. If she can’t pay it, I can deduct it on the amount of the desk.

I am honestly stressed with all the rantings of my neighbors. Each day I can hear each one of them complain having no food. As much as we can, we try to help. But now I need some medication, all we hope is for more opportunities to come so we can still hand the kids some biscuits when they come here with grumbling tummies.

This makes Ella understand how hard life is….so last night while I was busy cutting fabric, she she was busy counting something on the floor. Then I heard her complain some are missing. I looked at her and there on the floor were nails in different sizes and with different thickness of rust in it. She said she will sell it so we can have money. She told us once before but now she seems to be serious. I said she don’t need to make money herself because Mommy and Daddy are the ones who does it. But she insists, saying she want to help so she can buy slippers for the kids here. Oh well, I can’t argue with her at this point.

Tonight we went to Tatang and Inang’s place. Ella wanted to ride her bike because we couldn’t fit in the motorcycle. Me, Donald, Ella and Cheche (the one who fetched us). We said NO so she was forced to ride with us. When we were half on our way, the motorcycle died. In the middle of woods, without a single light and a house near. So Ella was grumbling more saying if she only rode her bike, we can get there on time She was saying…”because I said so….” and “Mauna na lang ako sa inyo Daddy…” (I will go ahead of you Daddy…) and started to walk. Gladly Cheche had a celphone so she sent a message that we are stuck there, anotehr motorcycle came to get Ella and Cheche while I stayed with Donald and Uncle Jun who fixed the sparkplug. It was an old one and needs overhaul or replacement.

After a few minutes, they finally made it run. So we had a nice dinner and chat with Tatang, Inang and half of their family (I say half because not all children and grankids were there) We took some snaps and was thinking it must be better if Tatang and Inang wore renaissance clothing for more drama and effects.

Today is Ella’s first day of school in Kindergarten II. We woke her up at 7am, Donald prepared her cereal and milk which is her favorite breakfast since her Tita’s brought her a big box of it when they came here last week. The big box was emptied in just 4 days so I have to get her another box as she pleaded to have those when the school starts. Donald bathe her while I prepared her clothes and lunch bag. While we are dressing her (yes WE) Donald was drying her hair while I put on her dress and shoes and Donald was saying “You are the luckiest girl in the whole world! You have two people serving you!” He always say it everytime one combs her hair while the other one put on Ella’s shoes….or lotion and powder….we do this when we are in a hurry and no time for Ella’s little hands to do all those things. But mind you, she is not pleased at all as she is so independent. She wanted to shower alone, dress alone, prepare her milk and cereal alone…and we let her do these things and she always does it pretty good. We agreed last night that Daddy will get her to school which made her pout again as she wanted to go to school alone….I mean alone with Bogart. See, Bogart is her doggie, she gave him last name same as ours, so Bogart is now Bogart Lee.

She was talking to Bogart last night about school. That she will be going to school tomorrow and wanted him to go with her to make sure no one bullies her. So today, as they walked to school, Bogart was following them and when Ella went inside the classroom Bogart found a nice spot there and settled under the teacher’s desk. Sure did he understand what Ella said last night but Donald has to tell him to go home as he might get in trouble with the kids at school that are afraid or hates dogs. And of course we don’t want the school to ask us for additional fee for Bogart While I was trying to rest, I heard Bogart went in the house followed by Donald. The class will end at 10:30 am so Donald went back to sleep as he is too exhausted from the trip and long wait on the line yesterday. He said he will pick Ella up before 10 am and when it was time for him to go, we heard Ella calling “Mommy! I am home!!!”. She was sooooo happy that Daddy wasn’t able to pick her up. She and a neighbor walked home and has a very big grin. I asked her how was school and she said she was bored to death at school because the teacher made them write their names, the letter A and draw and color the different shapes which she says she knew it already and was telling me she could not wait to be in “ementary” school

After lunch we decided to go to the post to mail a card for a friend’s son then went to haunt for a nice and cheap saloon in town. We found one at the new market building which sure looked nice and the sign on the glass door says “Haircut P50″ (around $1.7) so we went in. The plan was me getting a trim there, Donald will go to a barber shop  and Ella will keep her hair long. But we ended up getting all our hair cut there. After me, Ella sat infront of the mirror as she was asking us to cut her hair short like Princess Sarah. So she got a shoulder length hair with a bangs. She looked more pretty now! How I wish I had my camera…. Donald also looked more handsome! Ella kept telling everyone that her Daddy has a new haircut and that he is more handsome now

Whe we got home, Donald worked on the dirt and gravel that was dumped in the church yard. He did the shoveling and Ella went playing around. I agreed she can play so she will exhaust all her energy and will sleep early tonight. Inang went here for a short visit and we helped Donald by picking and throwing stones. The kids saw us and decided it is fun to do what we are doing so they went in the yard and picked and threw stones too. That made the work easier. Oh how I wish those kids will show up here in time for yard work and help ‘cos they always come here to loiter and run around the chapel with their “toy tires”.

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