100% Kelly

Thank you Mandy!  You know I love  your blog too!

And thank you Gracie for giving me this award!  This is better than me receiving knock out roses from the husband!

Your blog is one of my must reads too!  I must apologize though for the lack of posts.  I’ve been feeling so lazy lately

this is the J’Adore Tien Blog Award which means I Love Your Blog in French.

Manu attended swimming classes this summer and I must admit his progress exceeded my expectations. Whereas before he would always cling to Gats when they go swimming, lately he can already swim to the pools edge on his own – of course I‘d want Gats to still support him during his swim. The catch though is that he wanted to have the same toys that he plays with during swim-class: water squirters, rubber fish toys, styro-foam floaters, etc. We managed to get some of his favorites and he plays with them during bath-time. Our only problem now is how to make him turn off our sink and shower faucets since he enjoys water activities so very much.

Here are photos of him swimming to and from the pool edge on his own (with the help of Teacher Dess of course):

It’s almost a month since I asked the yaya to leave, and until now, I haven’t found somebody to replace her.  Since then, I assumed the role of a mostly a stay-at-home mom (mostly, since I still go to work some days).  It has been pretty easy taking care of the little man, compared when he was younger.  I could turn my back away from him and just let him play with his dinos, watch jurassic warpath videos or his “feydurit” tv shows while I surf endlessly and covet bags that I cannot afford or daydream of Vegas vacations !  You may think this is crazy but I window shop a lot for baby stuff too! I already even bookmarked some of my favorite baby-related websites and even have a wishlist of all things baby-related at amazon!  At times I realize that this is a waste of time, so I stop and try to do something productive like, say, organize my home?

First on my impossible list is the meal plan.  You see, I just got tired of hearing my helper asking, “Ma’am, anong ulam ngayon?”.  So instead of me hearing that line every single day, I created a meal plan.  I just downloaded a free template from the internet, printed it out, wrote down dinner menus, and there you go!  I have a month’s worth of dinner planned (for my family, it’s really just simple since all the helper needs to prepare is dinner).  Here’s the template that I used, which you can download here:

Second, closet organization.  From my 3 years experience of handling helpers, I learned that giving out instuctions to helper is like giving instructions to a child.  Instructions must be super duper specific, they must be repeated several times, and they must be followed-up every so often.  So I created a idiot proof way of telling my helper how to organize the closet:

Now, If the househelp doesn’t get that, ewan ko na lang.  Ewan ko na nga lang because when opened this drawer this morning, a pile of handtowels were placed on top of the “briefs area” omigulay.

I am supposed to put out the area rugs to liven up the living room a bit.  I had second thoughts though as the husband and the little boy has been getting allergies from dust and pollen recently. It’s probably time to consider another type of rug – one that does not accumulate dust particles, or at least very easy to clean and maintain. Speaking of changing rugs, I’m also planning on changing my curtains as mine are already screaming for replacement.  The mechanism on the curtains in the dining area are already failing, and the roman shades in the bedroom are already worn.  I just have to find a supplier for both who can give me the style and quality I want with the budget I have.

The little boy rarely watches shows that do not involve a cat chasing a mouse all day, a bear who eats nothing but honey, and a long-neck who always gets his dino buddies in trouble.  So when he stares at the TV for reasons other than the above-mentioned, I get reaaaaalllly curious.  There were just two incidents of such and the reasons?

#1

At two years old, Manu was already mesmerized by Marian Rivera’s beauty.  When her commercial is on, he stops what he’s doing at the moment and just stares.  Meanwhile, Gats and I just let out stifled laughs (laughter?) and think that our boy has good taste This went on for about two weeks, then it was gone.

Just recently I caught him staring at her -

Just when I thought I was the only pretty woman in my little boy’s eyes, Nicole Scherzinger comes in the picture. When I caught him staring at her (during the Jai Ho mtv), I asked him, “Is she pretty?”  Normally, he would answer no and tell me that I’m the only pretty girl in his life (yeba), but during this particular time, he immediately smiles and nods his head several times (read: yes, she’s pretty, i like her).  Hmm… I thought he liked tisays but this proved me wrong.  Anyway these two women are both gorgeous and sexy (who do not, i guess, resort to buying home gyms to maintain their great physique) so I guess Manu is on the right track!

A tag from MM –

8 Things I’m Looking Forward To

1. Hong Kong trip
2. Full recovery of Manu.  He got hospitalized two weeks ago, then had the flu a few days after! Haaaay!
3. A responsible and caring yaya
4. Selling more of my items in ebay
5. A bag
6. Getting pregnant (next year pa naman!)
7. The parents’ new house
8. Bigger profits for the company

8 Things I Did Yesterday

Gosh, I was just at home the whole day so this is gonna be b-o-r-i-n-g —

1. Took care of the little boy
2. Surfed the net
3. Ate white rice for lunch.  You see, when I’m at home, I only eat brown rice.  But yesterday, my urge to eat white rice was overwhelming so I cheated!
4. Wrote checks
5. Sent the yaya candidate to the clinic for a physical exam, and to the NBI office for NBI clearance
6. Watched cartoons (thanks to the little boy, I know the program schedules of Cartoon Network, Nick and Disney Channels already)
7. Stayed in bed
8. Tried calling Pag-IBIG (but couldn’t get through)

8 Things I Wish I Could Do

1. Draw.  Talking here about drawing clothes.
2. Sew
3. Dance the flamenco
4. Buy a house
5. Take fat loss pills
6. Go the gym more often
7. Grow money in my backyard
8. Speak French and Spanish

8 Shows I Watch

I really don’t get to watch a lot since 90% of the time, Manu is watching his shows.  But if I do get to watch, I watch these:

1. American Idol
2. House
3. Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style
4. Clean House
5. The Real Housewives of New York (it has been monthss since I last saw this.  don’t know if it’s even airing)
6. Project Runway
7. Battlestar Galactica
8. This certain Brit style show on Lifestyle / etc

8 people to tag

1. Gracie
2. Tracy
3. Nikki
4. Mich
5. Jane
6. Jesse
7. Vannie
8. Kathy

A few years back we were forced to remove our area rugs to prevent our little toddler from tripping as he was just starting to walk back them. Lately, though, we miss have this simple item that clearly distinguishes from the other parts of our condo, and even livens up our living room because it’s not as vanilla as our ceramic tiles. Maybe it is time to start using it again since our boy is already walking properly and no baby (yet) that might trip over it.

Just like a pair of jeans or a basic top, my sunglasses have to have the perfect fit.  That’s why a week ago, I went on the hunt for a perfect pair.  Here are all the photos.  I am posting everything even if I look funny in most of them

So what did I get?  NOTHING!  Well, I did get something but none of the above.  It was a great buy since it fits me well, the color was what I was looking for, and it was dirt cheap! No it wasn’t from i2i (ba yon?), though it is made from China (bwahahahaha!).  So I expect it to die on me around next week

I’ve never been fond of using cardio machines - treadmills, ellipticals, steppers - since I started working out. I can spend forever aero-dancing on the floor, but not even 20 minutes on the treadmill. I look at the other gym goers and I wonder how they do it – concentrate and not get bored with just being stationary. I do step on the treadmill and transport every time I feel like it (which is like 2 out of 10 times), but as soon as timer hits the 20-minute mark, I get off.  I’d rather sweat doing something else

This is the closest that I can get to being thin.  So Vina, thanks for the tag!  Got me inspired to continue what I started just this week, i.e., eating less.  I hope it produces results..

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