Caroleen’s Treasures

There are so much stuffs going on here, the reason for the lack of updates. And if you are following my blog, you know that if I miss blogging in one day or two….I might as well be missing the rest of the week. I hate it when my blogging momentum is suddenly disrupted because I had a very hard time trying to get my brain to write something about what happened the past days. Maybe you noticed I am not writing long posts now as I do not have the time and I do not want to bore ya all with stories from the jungle.

So where did I stopped? Oh the email of Cecilia. After reading it a bazillion times, I still couldn’t get her point and so I just guessed what she was trying to say and I am lucky that I got it right. I was too exhausted that day because we woke up very early to get two kids ready. While Donald and I did some last minute preparation for our long day, these two had a great time together.

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I dreaded this day to come because it is Eman’s immunization day again. We woke up earlier than usual. Got Ella ready for school and after they left, I started preparing for this day. Eman woke up in a very sunny disposition…….he has been told over and over for the past days that today he’ll get another couple of painful shots but he somehow forgot that that day is today.
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Donald decided that today will be the last day of Ella’s tutorial class. Not that she is doing excellent in reading but we don’t have budget for it anymore. If I were to decide, I would want her to continue it until classes starts on June 1st. I am quite happy with the result of sacrificing to pay for it because Ella could now read. Well not that fast and not that excellent but at least she could confidently take the test on Monday. The reason why we chose to sign her up for a paid tutorial class instead of the free summer class is because we are in a hurry. We are running out of time. The summer class is packed with almost 40 kids so there would be a little chance of her to learn as fast as needed. See, when I brought her to take the Special Education (SPED) entrance test last Monday she could not read a word. Of course she can read some of it but I know she is not so sure of herself. If I would assess it, the test is for the third grade and if only it wasn’t written on the upper portion that it is for the 1st grade, I would have asked the teacher if she has given Ella the wrong test papers. We will let her take the test on Monday and let’s see what happens.
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This morning Eman and I went with Donald and Ella to school. We didn’t stay there actually but instead we went to Ate Lourdes’ house which is just across the street. Ate Lou is the wife of the church treasurer and she and her husband are one of the nicest couples that I ever met. They treat us like family and they adored Ella and Eman so much. 

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Gee, I thought we will spend the rest of the night in darkness. Glad the power was back at 10:30pm after an hour interruption. I am working on the two other rooms in the house for several days now. They needed some organizing. Started both at the same time and I am hopping from one to another and until now neither of it was finished. I had no idea how come it always needs some work when no one uses them. Some of our stuffs are in the middle room and Ella’s toys are in the third room and it seems I am cleaning and organizing it every other month! We even never allowed Ella to go in there to play these past months to avoid a big mess but even so it still looks like it was ran over by a tornado. I can’t work straight because I am breastfeeding Eman from time to time but I am trying to get this done before Ella’s birthday.

Last Saturday, a relative of the church members died of old age so we went to their place this afternoon. There weren’t much people there and the church where the old woman was attending isn’t doing a service. I do not know why. Since the funeral will be tomorrow, Donald arranged a schedule of service with the family and he came back there tonight with other members of the church while Ella, Eman and I stayed at home. I am not going there at night time because it is very far from here and there was no other ride than a motorbike.
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Our day started much earlier today. It wasn’t 8am yet when we headed out the door to the health center for Eman’s immunization and Ella’s tutorial class. It was gloomy and it drizzled the whole day. I wanted to be early because there were too many mommies and babies last week and we were the first to arrive. I and Eman waited outside while Donald brought Ella to school for her tutorial class that should start at 8am too. She was pretty much excited because she really wanted to learn. I made a deal to her that once she pass the entrance test for SPED class, we will throw her a birthday party. But then Donald and I are talking about making her repeat Kinder 2 if she wanted. I have asked her more than a couple times and her answer is always no. She was even so confident when we are on our way home, telling us that she can now read well and that she can make it to the 1st grade. Read more… »

I have been slacking again in my blogging lately and I really hate it. There are some stuffs that I wanted to write but I can’t seem to squeeze it in my daily schedule right now. I remember I promised to write about our reunion in my PIL’s farm, our latest trip back to my hometown during my grandfather’s wake, the reunion after the funeral, our short stay at Manang Inday’s house before going back here and the most important of all is Eman’s birth story.  These past month I can’t stay up until midnight so my stories are neglected. I am so bad but I will try to write as much as I can. Read more… »

Today’s been good. I was hoping last night that I will feel better today because there are things that I planned to accomplish before we get back to Davao which will be this Saturday. I kept on ranting to Donald yesterday about the laundry that I wanted to be done, the receiving blankets that I have yet to sew, Ella’s toys that needed to be sorted and the two rooms in the house that needs to be decluttered. He told me it can wait but I can’t leave the house again without these done. Since I have been sick since Monday until yesterday, I only have today until Friday. Read more… »

I finally got hold of my fabric and spent most of the on my cloth diaper project. I was too excited that I let Donald check if the package has arrived from Davao so after dropping Ella to school, he went straight to LBC. He said their reason of not being able to deliver it yesterday is valid because their courier van goes straight to San Franscisco, a one hour drive past here, bringing all the packages that are supposed to be dropped here. I don’t get the point of wasting gas driving past here and bringing the packages back. Anyway, I am happy that I can continue making diapers for Emmanuel yet I really could not understand why I always get short with it when I have carefully measured the length that I needed putting a half meter allowance. It happened again! I am such a moron. So instead of whining, I make use of the scraps again. Read more… »

Today is the first set of 3rd Grading Examination and Ella said she’s ready. They had Mathematics and they are into addition. I am not so worried anymore about her score maybe because I have already convinced not to expect too much from her. After all the school isn’t that good at all and we might enrol her in Kinder 2 again next school year. It will all depends on the assessment of the school in my hometown if Ella could be in the 1st grade. The standard there is pretty much higher than here. I haven’t gotten over with my great regret about choosing that school because it is just a waste of time and money. There are only three private school here in town and we chose Life and Light Learning Center because we heard good feedback from parents. The one that I also like is far from here. It’s near the market and the school area is so small. If only I haven’t been too picky about the accessibility and the small space of that school, Ella could have had better education there. But since I wasn’t the only one who decided that we choose the school where Ella was now so I am not feeling too much guilt. Only half because he shares it with me. Read more… »