Caroleen’s Treasures

I was almost done with the book I am reading. We had a power black out at 3 in the afternoon. Good thing about it was I had waxed the floor, arranged the boxes and crates that we are going to bring when the truck comes. My sister Crislyn finally had time to shape up their room too.

Ella just played around with the girls as usual. It was much longer today. I am thinking about giving the two girls stuffed toys before we leave. There are toys from our store that hadn’t been sold which I am planning to give to the kids in Agusan. Ella doesn’t play with stuffed toys that much, might as well give them to children who don’t have toys. They are 11 and 9, much older than Ella but I know they will be very happy to have one.

To those who wished that the truck will come today, please wish some more. I have not expected much about it coming over today but I have crossed my fingers. Might as well cross my toes too I don’t care when as long as it will not be late for Ella to get enrolled in kiddie II.

Done with the laundry this morning after I leisurely read my book “While I was Gone”. I bought it on sale last January for $.80. To think that Oprah’s Book Club seal is on the cover made me feel so proud that I did made a good buy. My left eye hurts so I read with just the right. I am used to it (the occasional pain) since I have been having this problem two years now. I had it checked and was told my eyes needs artificial tears. My eyes gets dry easily that results to sharp, agonizing pain. The drops cost almost a can of Ella’s milk that I resorted to visine.

I asked Donald to get the laundry on the clothes line because my fingers starts to hurt (or itch?). They need exercise on the keyboard and can’t wait to read my emails. I surely had a reason to get anxious on reading those because I had an email from Academia-Research telling me that I passed the trial test as an essay writer. At last I am now a member of the team! This will keep me busy since my blog was not approved yet by ppp or smorty Can’t wait for my blog to be 3 months old! I have set a countdown and I still have to wait 2 months. But I will tire them anyway by resubmitting my application every now and then Maybe they will approve my blog just to get rid of me

Ella as usual played with the kids. She’s getting better on skipping rope which she does more of a run than of a jump. I was having my small dose of reading while Donald did some downloading on the pc when I heard the annoying door bell of her doll house that goes over and over. I stood by the window to see six heads! There are only three different sizes of heads yesterday, and some other days when the boys joined in, that made five. But now there’s another head popping in and out. I want Ella to experience what is it to play with other kids but Lord I don’t want to see seven heads tomorrow

I woke up late again today. I felt lazy to get up so I grabbed the book I started reading yesterday, shifting from side to side trying to find a good position. I had a scoliosis like my sister Crislyn and that made lying on my left so uncomfortable. But they say beautiful ones had this and that makes me feel better everytime it hurts

It was half past twelve in the afternoon when I decided to start on my 5th assignment. My BIL’s colleague and his family came here to see how my BIL and my sister work as captcha coders. They had a seven-year-old son along and Ella was pleased to see a a kid in the house. He was shy at first but Ella used her super convincing powers and in a short while they are playing with her doll house :-)

When they left, the neighbor’s kids came over and played with Ella’s toys. I didn’t allow them inside since this is not our place and besides there is more room to play outside. While they are playing, Ella came to my side to ask if she can show her dollhouse to the kids. I was thinking since we are moving soon, might as well let them play with it outside. I first asked her why and she said : “Palagi lang kasi sila tanong nang tanong ano itsura ng doll house ko…” (Because they always ask me what my dollhouse looked like) Poor girls, they might not have dollhouse. I looked at Donald and before he said NO, I reminded him of the move. Ella excitedly announced that they can play with it and the other kids really enjoyed.

We got a message this afternoon that the truck will be coming over tomorrow Maybe I got a hint about it since I was hurrying to finish many assignments as I can. Ella had prayed about it every night and she sounded very demanding last night that we should move ASAP. God really listens to little kids prayer I bet, she will complain as soon as we arrive there about missing her tita’s and tito, lola carmen and lolo tony (my sister’s in laws), puto and maya (the dogs) and her new friends here whom she played with everyday but doesn’t know the names. She must have been very thrilled on having them around that she forgets to ask. LOL We will really miss them but we will visit them as often as we can. I am excited and a little bit scared ’cause it might be postponed again. We thought that they are not interested on having us to help in the church work there since we are kept waiting for two months to move. Donald and I are talking this week about him finding a job here in Davao and looking for a little place to rent. I was even thinking where to enrol Ella this June. Glad that they still want us to be there. There is 90% possibility on settling in Agusan and that thrills me so much. I hope, i hope, i really hope the truck will come! I’m crossing my fingers.

Yesterday, Ella played with two boys (I guess they are around eight or nine). When I woke up this morning, they are already on the adjacent lot waiting for Ella. I went outside to bring out the laundry that hasn’t dried and saw the two boys and two girls! So now it was multiplied and it scared. I told her this is not our house and she shouldn’t call the kids over to play. But Ella didn’t call them, they just appeared from nowhere. Maybe from the house at the back. The girls were also the same age as the boys I guess. What else could you expect for a girl who hasn’t played with REAL kids? She dashed outside upon hearing the commotion and was excited to see the girls. They played almost all day having just a few minute break for lunch. When Donald went to the mall to check my sister’s account (cause she couldn’t get off her online job) I sent Ella along to have two rides of merry-go-round and see some real kids. (And to send the girls home too) I felt guilty because when I try to explain my point, we ended up having this short battle of wits:

Me: Pauwiin mo na sila baka hinahanap na sila ng Tatay nila. Dito ka na sa loob maglaro (Send them home now, their father might be looking for them. Come play inside.)               

Ella: Mommy, gusto ko ng kalaro. (Mommy, I want somebody to play with.)                       

Me: Laruin mo si Carrot. (You play with Carrot)                                                                   

Ella: Gusto ko ‘yong nagsasalita….’Yong totoo. hindi naman nagsasalita si Carrot. Bakit kasi hindi pa ninyo ako bigyan ng kapatid…(I like one who talks…Carrot doesn’t talk. Why don’t you give me a baby sister…..)

That ends our debate. I lost. A.G.A.I.N.

Here’s a photo of Ella nd Carrot (Excuse the picture quality…I only used my cellphone here)

Anyway, there are things that I should be celebrating today. One is, my blog is approved by Link Worth. Yipee!!!  and I am working on my essay to submit for Academia Research. Hopefully, if my essay get approved I can earn $$$ for writing essays! And most of all, it’s my Daddy’s 54th birtdhay!  Well, he’s not with us in Davao. We rarely spent time togther since he’s in our small farm in Pagadian but we will see him on Mamang’s 2nd death anniversary in May. Daddy just loves living in the farm which makes him closer to nature. He loves fishing very much and I usually go with him when I was a kid. He taught me from hunting for worms in the backyard which I will put in my hook as a bait, to finding the good spot in the river to throw my string. We will leave the house early in the morning and have to walk a few miles to reach the river. My sister Crislyn never went with us since she just loves staying at home and my younger sister was just a baby then. My fish pole, which Daddy carefully made, has three hooks which catches three fishes in just one sitting. After a day of fishing, we will walk home when the sun sets with our catch of carps, tilapia and electric ells. Oh I missed grilled fish fresh from the river.

Daddy was then in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and he raised us in military way. We were not allowed to talk infront of the food nor we are not allowed to talk about other people’s lives. To him gossip is what average people does. “Mano” and the use of “po” and “opo” are a few things we couldn’t forget. Daddy is hardworking and very disciplined person. I didn’t hear him say unpleasant things to other people even how mean they are. But inspite of how good he is, Daddy is not a good businessman. He has tried different businesses and all failed. To him, when people couldn’t remit the day’s earnings he still gives them stocks for the next day. He always say “How can the pay their debt when they have nothing to sell today?” And this goes on and on until they couldn’t pay anymore the debt they owed him. When we ask him why he won’t go after them and demand for their payments, he would just answer “They will pay if they want.” Worst thing is, some of them even denied that they owe him money and he will just shrug and say “Bahala na ang Diyos sa kanila.” This we call Daddy’s CHARITY work.

I was complaining about the hot weather yesterday (and my title of that post: Summer heat is on!!!) that it didn’t give me any right to fuss about the weather today God must have heard my grumbling yesterday and he sent Mr. Sun somewhere to hide so I could concentrate on my task. We had rain showers almost the whole afternoon and goes on until tonight. I was trying to finish my task but dysmenorrhea disturbs me same as the internet connection that is too slow which I suspect due to the rain shower. So…..this means it will be best to suffer summer heat than having a slow connection

Ella has slight fever last night but subsided after I have given her cold compress.  In the morning, she played with the dogs outside while constantly coming in to play in the pc. Tonight she is feverish again, this maybe because of the change of weather. I called her in when when it was getting dark and she wanted to play Penguin Diner again. I should be submitting my report tonight so I refused. This sents her pouting all the way to the room. I pity her. She plays all by herself with boxes, tupperwares and her crayons and papers.  I know she wants her toys so I asked her if she wants me to bring her doll house and she nods. Good that she is very easy to please She even plays with Lola Carmen (my sister’s mother-in-law) Ella call her baby and she takes care of her, asking if she already had her milk etc. Every night that her Lola Carmen  arrives from the office, they will play mother-baby thing. Sometimes Lolo Tony (my sister’s father-in-law) plays with them For many nights ago, they can coax Ella to eat dinner with them and they have this contest who finishes first. Ella is looking forward to chocolates that Lolo Tony gives her when she has cleaned her plate But sometimes Ella would call for time-out because she could not consume everything on her plate. Even so, good thing that she had still chocolates.  :-) 

Wondering what happened to the truck that we are waiting forever? Still it didn’t appear. *sighs* Although I am a really anxious on moving to Agusan, good that it didn’t appear A.G.A.I.N. as I was stuck on my newfound online job. 

Remember my first assignment as virtual assistant? I started the work last April 6, the next day my report was ready for submission. But then, my dilemma was how will I suppose to continue my job if we will be moving the next day? I just went on with my work and never bother about the move, silently hoping that they will give us another excuse for not having to come here to get us. As I expected, the truck hasn’t arrived. We are told that the somebody took the battery from the truck (I don’t know if it was stolen) Just a brief preview: that truck we are waiting for is owned by a couple who are members of the church in Agusan. We had an arrangement made with them regarding the truck. Since it travels to and fro Agusan and Davao, it would be best for us if we will have to wait for it. This way, we can save $150. Although I was very anxious to move and get settled in the province, I think it is good that we are still here in the city so I could still work online and earn before the big move.

Ella was super into her The Secret Garden cd and for  a week now, she plays as Mary Lennock (correct me if I mispelled it) almost all the time. She wore my sisters shirt and boots, bonnet and she ties a small valance around her neck as a scarf. Then she will carry this pooh bag on his back and march outside the yard. After feeling the heat; she will then go in and remove her “costume” and start on her “art attack” thing. She draws pictures and give it to us as a gift E.V.E.R.Y.D.A.Y and she never gets tired of doing that. If she sees me leave my seat infront of my pc, she gets settled here in lightning speed and beg me to let her play Penguin Diner which she discovered herself. We are into Penguin Diner too after we discovered it was fun! Most of her toys and books are packed already for the move and I am just very thankful that she knew how to entertain herself.

Ella grew without other kids and that’s why she has learned to play alone. Last night, she scared me to death. It was already dark and I was working with my pc, I knew she was just playing around. She knew it is a NO NO to go outside the gate (except when she is asked to go to the store in the corner) and she never did violate this rule. So we all go on about our things thinking that the little girl was just somewhere doing her own thing too. After a while my younger sister asked where Ella is, I stood up and looked outside the house but there was not even a shadow of her. We called her name many times but we got no answer. This frightened me because it was rule #1 for her to answer when we call  her name. I went to the corner store but she was not there. I looked around to where the kids are playing street games hoping that she was there, but no sign of her. I was about to go back to the house when I saw Donald with his worried and somehow amused face. That made me doubt him. He told me Ella was not in the house but I insisted that they were just playing a joke on me. They played that game many times before. He will tell Ella to hide underneath the pillows and will pretend to look very worried. I was relieved from the thought that it was one of their game. But when I got in the house, my sisters confirmed what Donald was saying is true. That instant, I can almost hear my heart pound. I went straight to the room to check and was relieved to find her curled up behind the door.  She was soaked in sweat! She must have been there for a long time waiting for us to notice her absence.  Maybe she was too bored playing alone and tried to play a game on me but this time she did it without her daddy’s help.

 Oh I pity my little princess, she played hide and seek ALONE. That was the worst part of having no siblings to play with, you got to hide and wait until mommy and daddy notice that you are gone and start looking for you

You can not just tell how kids can drive you crazy. I have some memories of Ella’s that really drove me crazy which I would like to share. I will write about it  if my mood permits :-) For now, I will recollect all those moments so I could have a good sequence. Ella’s Mischief…coming soon.