Caroleen’s Treasures

Each day I do my daily post more and more early. The past months and weeks, I post just before midnight when the day is almost over and I can talk about what has transpired during the day. But since I started my training on OHJ last Friday until Sunday, I make it a point to post something early in case I will be called for back up.

Last night, as I am writing my post, Crislyn told me to do per piece (that is do coding and get paid by the number of captchas successfuly coded) so the Admin can see me always on the site and will give me a slot on Fusion (a project where a team of veteran coders and lucky newbies works and paid per hour). So I quickly finished my post and pmed Admin that I want to do per piece. I was asked if I am done with my three day trial and I said yes and told him I did fusion (was on Fusion13) the other night. He said, I can do fusion and Fusion13 is mine. Yay! I am an official coder now and I got my own Fusion account! But hey, doing per piece is more relaxing to me that Fusion ‘cos you only think of yourself while in fusion I get so tensed when I see the queue length…and see the Admin calling for back up coders. I started my graveyard shift at 9:47pm until 6:47am then I read emails and responded when they asked me if I still wanted to work so I ended up coding again for three more hours. Although I get more tensed at Fusion, it is a lot more fun there.

Today Ella did a random act of kindness…but if it’s up to you to decide if it is actually kindness or being just stupid :-) Her classmate asked her if she had water because he was so thirsty. Knowing that she has only orange juice on her lunch bag, he guided his classmate to the school canteen and told the lady, “Ate, ate…pakibigyan mo siya ng tubig.” (Please give her water) So the lady handed the child a 10 pesos bottled water. The lady thought Ella and the child are brothers and sisters and that Ella will pay for it. While Ella was thought it is for free  When she was asked money for it, she gave her the one peso coin that they found on the playground earlier that day. But the lady said it was 9 pesos short and Ella can’t pay for it as we don’t give her money  and she carries her lunch bag each day. I don’t know what else happened in the canteen. Hopefully tomorrow I can write about the ending of the random act of kindness that Ella did. I have to ask Donald to talk to the lady…if the water has been paid by the mother of the boy. If not, Ella really needs to pay for it BUT we will have to sit down and talk about not doing it again ‘cos we can’t afford to pay for someone’s food or water.

It was such a tiring yet fulfilling day. After I have posted my entry last night, I got a message from Kuya Ace that I will be called for a back up coding. Most of the coders lost power due to the typhoon and there is a very huge amount of captchas to be dechipered. So I took the shift from 1am to 9:15am. I am getting more used to this job although there is still a long way for me to go. There are still a big room for improvement and that will surely be filled in time.

At 7am, Ella and Donald started preparing for school. Like yesterday, she wore  knee socks that goes with her jeans skirt and dainty top. She will wear knee socks for some time until her bites will completely heal. I am regularly putting cocoa butter on it so the the scars will fade quickly. I hope it will…soon.

I should have slept after logging out from the site but I missed blog hopping and chatting so I spent a couple of hours more infront of my pc. Just before lunch, I went to do the laundry that I soaked last night. I decided I have to finish it today even I needed sleep because Mr. Sun appeared today. He is always playing hide and seek with us and if he hides, it takes a couple of days before he decides to show up. Donald helped me as usual and we had a good lunch, chicken liver After lunch, we went back outside to finish the last batch of laundry then we took a nap afterwards. I didn’t feel well rested after hours of sleep (it is not actually a nap!) because I had some bad dreams. Made me more tired.

Oh I gotta go. Crislyn sent me a message to do coding tonight. Wish me luck!

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.

I crawled in bed at almost 3am and woke up before 7am to help Donald prepare Ella for school. I woke her up and she moaned wanting some more sleep. In minutes she was on the table infront of a bowl of cereal and milk. We usually bathe her on the sink during school days ‘cos the bathroom inside the house is not yet finished which was turned into a storage room. We are using the bathroom at the back of the chapel which is more or less 100 yards away. Not convenient for us but we have no choice. After bathed and dressed (I let her wear jeans and polo shirt ‘cos her insect bites are becoming more worst each day), I kissed her goodbye and off they went to school. The three of them, Donald, Ella and Bogart. I went back to bed after they left, it was cold morning and I snuggled under my fleece blanket. When Donald went back from school, he sat infront of my pc and minutes later he said he will check the atm machine in them market and pick up Ella at school on his way home. He tried to withdraw money from my eon card but yesterday it says, “Please transact in your own bank.” I was upset a bit but forgotten about it as soon as I accepted I really need to go to Davao just to get money from my account and also to get a check up. Gladly today he was able to withdraw money from it enough money for our week’s food. It was just a site problem yesterday. I am grateful I can access my eon card from here.

When they arrived home, Ella came to me in bed and said, “Mommy, I got a ring” and handed me a gold fancy ring. I asked her where it came from and she answered, “From the boy in school…he dropped it on my paper while I was writing and told me it is for me.”  One of her admirers whom she spoke about last week. It was a ring that could fit a 5-year-old’s finger! It was unbelievably funny to hear but I was alarmed that my daugther will start dating soon! Oh well I leave it to Donald’s hands. He already talked to her about it and reminding her to study well in school, no boyfriends yet. When I asked Ella what did she say when he gave her the ring, she answered “I just said, thank you….” I know it is quite different now but hey, we are in a small town in the province…I couldn’t imagine how the kids in the city behave. Maybe they are bringing chocolates and flowers for teh girls in school? I can’t tolerate it and I said I will go to her school and talk to the boy and his mother. But the thought of it makes me look like stupid So for now, I have to deal with this by talking to Ella not to entertain suitors ‘cos we have no couch in the living room yet.  

After lunch, she and Donald had a reading time. They read a Dora book and she is learning fast about numbers in Spanish. I am not a Dora fan actually. When Ella was a baby, I never let her watch Dora cd’s ‘cos Dora was Spanish but now she is growing up, I think she can handle many languages. She can even speak straight Cebuano and translate it in Tagalog  When she grow up, she can be a good translator. Trust me on this

We never let her out the house in the afternoon as her red spots and insect bites worsen. She is asking me to get her to see a doctor ‘cos she don’t want to have scars on her legs. In the evening, after dinner, she was singing a song…”This is A way, I comb my hair, comb my hair, comb my hair…this is A way I comb my hair. Early in the morning.” We told her she was singing it in a wrong way, and it should be “This is THE way I comb my hair….” We let her sing it again, but over and over she sang it the wrong way and was insisting it is the right way because it is the way they sang in school. I am on my wits end when Donald let her sing it again in bed, tries to say the words slowly but messed up when she tries to sing it. We then told her she SHOULD sing it right or ELSE she’d get punished. We know she can very well sing it and learn fast, but she is just refusing to learn ‘cos as what she says, her classmates sings it that way and I cannot handle stubborn kid. I went to get a stick to give her a swat if I needed be when we heard her say, “I wish I never sang it here….” Oh kids really can drive me nuts! But of course I should let her know or see I am laughing or she would think she is cute. I can go to the other room to gain composure and get right back with a serious looking face.

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.

It’s the 4th day at school of our Princess…Princess Dora Since they have no uniform yet, I let her wear her pair of Princess tops and skirt and her Princess sandals that we bought her last December. I have to let her wear all her clothes so the money we spent to it would be worth it as she may outgrow them all any day soon. I was very suprised last Sunday when I saw her wear the sandals and her feet almost reach both the rear and front end of it. I bought it way too big so she can wear it much longer but boy, it was only 6 months and she’ll outgrow it soon. My oh my….she is on growth spurt! As I have noticed she has grown back her baby fats back which she lost last month and she grows tall very fast! Was it because of cereals? But aside for cereals, she never fails to eat rice and nibble on some finger foods she can find in the cabinet. Have to keep all her food there as some kids will just go inside the house and eye on the food laying on the table, I feel bad not giving them but hey there are 5 of them and sometimes more! So if I’d give them each a packet of cookies, there will be no more for Ella. With my meager earning from blogging, we really need to be frugal and wise. But of course we give the kids some treats whenever we can.

So as usual, Dora…I mean Ella walked home without her Daddy. Donald was about to go when she came calling on the door that she was home. I told Donald to tell the teacher not to let Ella go home when he was not yet around, sides it was 30 minutes earlier again than their dismissal time. I asked Ella who she is with on the way home as I am worried she may get lost. But she answered “I walked with my classmate and her Tita, we are chatting along the way when I realized they are turning to the opposite direction and our house is on the other direction so I took the way home…” Oh well, Ella’s memory is real sharp. She can even remember all the things her Mamang Eling did to her and the gifts she recieved.

After lunch, siesta time! My favorite part of the day! When we woke up from the nap, Ella and Doanld went walking around the block. Ella actually rode her bike without the trainer’s wheel. She is been doing it since last October adn she is pretty good in it now. Good that Donald had repaired the seat AGAIN…with all the wires and thick rubber bands around it to hold in place, it sure does looked like better than the bike we saw last week. Oh you could have been peed on your shorts if you were with us! It was a little bike driven by this little boy…it was a usual bike like the ones I have seen around only the handle bars are replaced by  a steering wheel made of a bike tire and held together by wood. Pinoys are really very resourceful!

Had a nice dinner of sauteed mushroom and about to retire early. Good night to all!

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 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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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!