Just Jaded..

Yesterday, we attended another fiesta. This time it was one of my college bestfriends, Yese who invited us in their home in Malinao Albay. The weather has been erratic with lots of rain and thunderstorms here so I was hesitant to go since the place is a bit distant from our house. But Chinks was excited to see Jaypee and my friends other kiddos and I just couldn’t refuse her request to go.

We were invited for dinner, and lol! I’ve already forgotten how much food is prepared during fiestas! I sure ate a lot and judging by the photos we took (hehe I won’t ever post it here..) I feel like I’m already balooning like mad. I’m pretty sure someone would mention reading quicktrim reviews to me.

Grrrr, that’s something I don’t really enjoy when taking vacations here! Either they tell me I should get an 8-5 office job, which I easily rebutt by saying, Thank you, but I’m doing quite well freelancing and really I even earn more than a bank manager hahaha.. or simply telling me I got so fat already!! I know I’m chubby and all but hell, people can really rub it to your face and they do so insensitively. And most who told me I’m huge are mostly those who aren’t thin either. Lol! If anything else, I’m now more inspired to lose weight and when I do, I promise to come back and seek out those who told me off and parade my thin self around.

Haha obviously, too much eating in fiestas is making me delusional..More later..

Thanks for hopping along again.. Please do subscribe to my blog's via RSS or Email and be regularly updated.

Living in Phnom Penh: One Week To Go!

And I’m all frazzled! Chinks school is about to end so were busier. Last week was spent in a construction haze and dust that its only now that I could take a breather. I know last two weeks most of my postings were of the meme variety.. Well, being a stay-at-home mom is a tough job. I don’t have a helper so everything falls on me. I seriously wish there’s at least 40-50 hours per day.

Why the hurried construction? We actually didn’t have plans yet of constructing a fence around our property coz were still dumping soil on our backyard to raise it up to the level of the street, but two weeks ago there were two separate incidents where an intruder/trespasser came in our compound. It scared me and it just made Hi-ace paranoid since he won’t be with us for a few months. We have a gate but that time, it was open since our neighbor {Hi-ace’s relative} keep going out all hours. Then a guy just came in went inside our neighbor’s house (adjacent to ours) and got knives and a scissor. Then he proceeded to cut his hair in front of our yard. Then he got some paper, cut it all up and scattered it all over. And while he was doing that, he didn’t quit muttering something, which was really freaky! Thankfully, our front door was closed so he didn’t come inside our house.

The second incident was around lunch time, another guy came in and kept looking around. Before Hi-ace can come out and ask him what he wanted he just ran like he saw a ghost or something. There and then, hubby decided to call for the contractors to build a fence around the house. And what he had made is about 3 meters high so I’m kinda feeling like were in a maximum security prison but I feel safer, much safer.

It’s still so dusty all around and I’m feeling like I’m going to need some allergy bedding soon. Then after all that hooplah about intruders and construction, I had to rush with my shopping and preparing things I’ll be bringing home to the Philippines next week. Whoa!! Next week, I could hardly contain my excitement anymore. I haven’t been home for almost two years and I’m also looking forward to springing the surprise visit to my parents who has no idea well be going home. Everything is arranged and thankfully, our relatives who knows about our travel plans have kept mum about it so it’ll really be a surprise.

Having fixed my things already, this week, I need to prepare Hi-ace’s things too coz I don’t have much time when we get back here in August. Well be arriving 11th and in less than 5 days he’ll be flying out too. Sssh, I think I miss him already and the prospect of staying here in Phnom Penh just by ourselves, stresses me just a bit..

More later..

From Frustrated to Excited

I Got Frustrated..

Because I thought I managed to save our photos from Kep from being lost when my PC was reformatted.. That’s what I thought. I have two hard disks, one containing my OS/Programs and the other one for data. When I reformatted the drive for the OS all things in my data disk was not affected so I was ecstatic that I wouldn’t be losing any important data save for the bookmarks in my browsers.

But last night when I was about to post more photos of Kep, I couldn’t find it! I was ready to tear my hair out when I remembered I didn’t save it to my data disk but on my main disk. I was in a hurry that time coz we were leaving for Siem Reap..

What else can I do? Nada.. I’m just so frustrated..but I’d rather not deal with it so I just decided to get excited.. How does one induce excitement? Easy for me.

Then excited..

I simply thought about our impending one-month vacation to my home province- Albay, Philippines! Yipeee..I really, really miss the place and mostly my parents. We’ll also be taking a lot of side trips so I’m so excited. Chinks is also looking forward to it. She has a lot of ‘pet chickens’ there and she said she’s excited to count them already..

It’ll be a month of catching up with my parents, eating a lot of Bicol foods (laing and bicol express, here I come!), daily swimming or walking near the beach (our place is just a few minutes away from the beach), doing some gardening (err really sitting down on Mama’s outdoor cushions and reading books, while she does the gardening bit), catching up with friends.. Just lazy activities like these with people I really miss makes me really excited..

Mama and Papa has a huge garden.. Keeps them busy and healthy..and us, a place to laze around..

One more month to go…

A Little Rant From A Stay-at-Home-Mom

I was unsure about posting this on a Monday morning. Ranting is something that I rarely do coz I’m the type of person to easily let things pass, to resolve things diplomatically and I don’t usually get too affected by what is going on. I’m usually cool-tempered but once I’m piqued I can also be an obstinate enemy.

But I figured this is something that I feel strongly about and I might as well get it out so it would more or less free me of stress and bad feelings. You see, I had been a stay-at-home-mom for about six years already. It’s a choice I made, it was not forced on me by my husband, he stands by me because it was a choice I made. If ever I decide to go back and join the rat race again, I’m 100% sure he’d back me up too.

Ever since I started to stay at home and actively take care of my family I have gotten used to comments already from I think well-meaning relatives and friends who can’t help but say.. “Why are just staying home? What about your degree? You’re just wasting it!” or  “Why don’t you get a job?” or “You’re putting yourself in the backburner etc”, the variations could actually go on and on..

I even have an aunt who makes it a point to always drop by our house in the Philippines whenever she’s in town just to give me a lecture. I just took things in stride probably because they were used to seeing me always on the go and stressed about a job. And they must have meant well too, it just that I also think they were really being totally insensitive. I’ve also gradually became immune to remarks like this already.

(more…)

Reminders to Self..

I’m slacking off, I know. Not with blogging though, I’m pleased to say since February I’ve been posting regularly hahaha. I dunno, it just helps me cope with homesickness and missing my parents back home in the Philippines. It must also be because I know were going home in July. (I hope my mother won’t read this, and for my relatives checking this out, PLS. don’t tell my parents about our vacation in July, its supposed to be a surprise for them)  It should be a secret but I can’t help blabbering about it again, that’s how excited I am about going home for a long vacation. Lol! I just hope they won’t find out in advance so they can enjoy the surprise of seeing Chinkee again. Did I mention they don’t really miss me but only Chinks? Hayy, I’ve resigned myself to being ignored since I gave them a grandchild. Haha, seriously I don’t mind, I find it very amusing though, how my parents dot on my daughter.

Anyway, this post is about reminding myself again what I have to do this March..Some sort of checklist for me, I’m placing it here because it pressures me to accomplish the task.

Home and Shopping..

• Look for an area rug and some of those Khmer style floor/sitting cushions.
• Look for a door chime or maybe make one myself.
• Nag Graciously ask Hi-ace about painting or tiling the front stairs.
• Re-pot my bougainvilleas.
• Visit Boeung Keng Kang Market again and hunt for 4 panels of embroidered curtains.
• Shop for tank top shirts or thin cotton shirts. Should not get sidetracked with cute kid stuff =)
• Look for a backpack. I can’t find my other bag and I need one before the 26th.

Crafts..

• Check O’Russey Market for some seed beads. Japanese or Czech variety will do.
• Also for some beading thread.
• Continue downloading beading patterns.
• Make some beading patterns with my bead tool.
• Search for suppliers of polymer clay online. I had no luck finding it here in Phnom Penh, hayy!

Web and Blogging

• Finish uploading plugins to my new blog – Lui-Bloggera.
• Update other blogs.
• Finish TaskWise schedule reminders.
• Upload free ad spot banners and headers. (I keep forgetting this!!)
• Visit and read more blogs..

Important (yeah  these are really important)

• More cardio exercises.. jumping rope go, go, go!
• Veggies and fruits only for dinner. I should go with this strictly. lol!
• Buy dumbbells.

A Laid-Back Weekend..

I had a really good and fun weekend and thinking about it, living in Phnom Penh have mellowed me down a bit. Before in Manila, I used to be always out and about, rarely staying in the house, always stressed out about business, the traffic and the smog. That’s what I love about Phnom Penh now, life is at an unhurried pace, I get to have leisurely walks, coffee and gossip with Filipina friends, explore Phnom Penh’s bargain havens. In short, I’m more relaxed now, enjoying and appreciating things the way they should be enjoyed. But be forewarned, I’m in a story-telling mood, so this post is rather long..

Friday..

Met the Fabulous Pinay’s of Phnom Penh (haha! yeah I call them that..) Zarah, Josiet, and Che (blog ka na ulit, Che so I could link ) @ our now fave hangout Brown Cafe. After about 2 hours of girl talk, we all decided to have lunch at Khmer restaurant – Sugar Palm along St 240. Hmmm, food was bland and a bit pricey so I must say I have tasted better stuff. But then again, the company was great so I forgot about the not-so-good food.

After lunch, we went off to check boutiques along St. 240. Love this street, definitely a fashionista’s haven with elegant boutiques and Cambodian silk and product stores along the sides. Then, we checked Diva boutique along St. 57 , well a bit pricey but they do carry  a good selection of brands like Bebe, Guess etc, though they tend to stock on teeny weeny sizes.

After Diva, we all went different ways and Che invited me to meet her cutie daughter Isabelle. Their place is just a few meters walk so I happily agreed. Met the pretty doll-like Isabelle. I also got to hitch-hike home with Che’s nice help, Pheary who lives near my place. That must be my lucky day =).

After a few hours rest at home, my sister wanted to check out City Mall, Phnom Penh’s latest shopping heavyweight, right beside Olympic Stadium. We roamed around the mall, and seriously, I’ve been there a couple of times, but the layout still mystify’s me and I always manage to get lost several times each visit. We got so exhausted and ended up having dinner at Pizza World coz Chinks was demanding to eat spaghetti..

(more…)

Living in Phnom Penh: A Simple Christmas..

I’m feeling the side effects of Christmas. =) Wallet is almost empty haha, I can’t seem to fit my jeans and I’m obsessively browsing for the latest ellipticals so I could plan to buy it to help me with my gain weight struggle. That is, it usually ends up with just browsing and planning haha!

Anyway, Christmas has been fun albeit a quieter one. This is the second Christmas we have celebrated here in Phnom Penh and though I miss the rowdy, and really festive Christmas we used to have in the Philippines, I think I’ve also gotten used to the way we celebrate it here. It’s one of the things I had to adjust to.. Living in Cambodia means celebrating Christmas in a quieter but still meaningful way. The most important thing is that I’m with Hi-ace and Chinks and on Christmas eve I was still able to talk for about an hour to my family in Bicol, Philippines.

The last week was spent shopping for presents and it was a bit difficult coz of the schedules. I had to shop while Chinks was not home which is hard coz she’s in school mostly mornings and shops open late 10 am so I don’t get much time and I had to keep most stuff from her. I hate spoiling surprises! She had a lot of fun though and was really happy about the presents she got. I also had to prepare stuff for her school Christmas party (which is really annoying if you ask me coz they scheduled it December 24th).

December 23, we also visited some Khmer friends we met in Manila and we had some sort of impromtu get together. Then we went off for dinner with another Pinay friend at a Filipino resto and as usual Hi-ace and his best friend feasted on sinigang and crispy pata and I was of course tempted to steal a few bites.. Bad bad for the diet!

December 24 was a quiet day for us. I cooked Chinkee’s fave foods in the morning. She told me she’ll die if she doesn’t eat spaghetti with lots of hotdogs and cheese on Christmas (she could really be overly dramatic!). Hi-ace still had to go to office and in the afternoon he had to attend a wedding. He came home a bit late and we had our own Christmas celebration. Just the three of us and it was nice. Something we’d want to make a family tradition. Initially, Hi-ace wanted to take us out, have a fancy dinner in some hotel but I wasn’t up to it. I didn’t feel lik e going out and just wanted to cook something we both like and have a quiet dinner at home. Which turned out really better than I thought..

I also made an hour-long call to my parents in Bicol, and it just made me miss them more. It’s my brother’s birthday on the 25th so we usually have a big party at home and they were telling me only us were not present. The only good thing about it is that, Ma told me she’s cooking 3 kinds of pasta, they have beef caldereta plus hordes of desserts so it’s just great I could avoid that though you can imagine me salivating for those stuff we usually have on Christmas eve.

The Christmas day was spent sleeping late for us. I was dead tired and later in the afternoon, we again had to prepare to attend a wedding. I had to go since the mom of the bride is a close friend and work colleague of Hi-ace, so I had to dress up. Why are Khmer’s so sooshyal when attending weddings? Before I did not bother much, I’d just go wearing semi-formal clothes, no makeup but haha this made me standout. Imagine everyone, even just wedding guests wearing glittering gowns and outlandish hairdo’s! So I tried to make effort, at least I put minimal makeup and donned my Khmer dress. At least, the food was delish!

There goes my Christmas for 2009. Hopefully, I could be home in the Philippines for Christmas 2010…

Cheers to Year 2010!

Living in Phnom Penh: Good to Be Back!

Last week has not been a very good one for me. Chinks came home from school last week sneezing and coughing a bit. We brought her to our family doctor and he gave her some medicine for colds and cough and she got better in a few days time. Then, it was my turn to have cold and before I knew it I was running a fever.

What I thought to be something that would go away within a day or two. It’s really a rarity for me to get sick and have to be in bed so I get really cranky and depressed when this happens. I still remember, last time I got sick was in 2007. Same thing, a flu. Anyway, I stayed home most of the time, I had to be indoors coz I’m really prone to asthma and bronchitis whenever I have colds so I try to avoid dust, and its dusty here in Phnom Penh (as in!). I also missed meeting Phnom Penh friends and I was looking forward to some girlie chika-chika..

(more…)