And yet again

I technically promised myself I would be avoiding double shifts. Aaaargh! It is very draining, physically and mentally.  Overtime pay is good but man, these night shifts are a major pain. Please make me rich soon. I should start betting on the Mass lottery! Or maybe, I should change profession? That's all folks. It's 6am and I have been here at work since 3PM... yes, 3Pm yesterday.

Because I do not like roses

Because I am not fond of roses, this is what I got this morning from Hubby and the Kids.

As white as can be! Boy, am I glad I have my little angels to perk me up after working an overnight shift. All worth it. So,  to make you more jealous  on Vday, here are more pics...

Lovely day! Enjoy the rest of your Vday!

Repost: In honor of Vday: Heartwarming

It has been said, time and again that there is nothing more heartwarming than a child's embrace, the soft touch of their tiny little hands and the glow of their faces even with simple things. Yet, they also say the sweetest of things, in a manner so innocent they do not understand why you are crying and laughing at the same time. Ah, the miracle of an innocent child...

On Valentine's day 2007, I did not make any particular plans going out. Aside from the announced snowstorm ( ahhh New England), my husband and I have been in job transitions in a way too complicated that it is taking a toll on me. Last year, I took pictures of the kids, all in newly purchased red tops, with I LOVE YOU inscribed in a home- made billboard, in chronological order by age. As such, I had the pictures framed, beautifully wrapped and the kids were excited to go out dating with Daddy. We had a sumptous dinner at a favorite family restaurant. That was last year. So this year, I bought a shadow box, filled it up with hubby's pictures with the kids, made some artwork and love notes from the kids... whoooaaala! A Valantine's gift. Included with that simple gift is of course my Valentine card. I left the shadow box and an 8x10 picture of him and me on the dining table so that he could see it once he gets home. It turned out he planned for a night out dinner, being a school day, what with the traffic and the snowstorm, we ordered pizza instead. Here, my friends start the real story.

While eating our " special ordered gourmet PIZZA from Domino's", Karmina ( my second child and only daughter), asked " Do you know what my favorite holiday is?" My husband said, Christmas because you get a lot of gifts! " Naah.", Karmina said. So each one went on to guess, halloween because she gets to be a pretty Princess, Thanksgiving because she gets to go to cousin Lovely's house, or maybe even valentine... because she is allowed to drink soda. With her usual dramatics which includes leaning her head to the left and clasping her hands, putting them to her cheeks, sweet smile and blinking eyes, she goes " Mom, Dad, my favorite holiday is Mother's Day and Father's Day.. wait a minute, that's two holidays, "because I love you both." Aaaaaawww, isn't that sweet! I was so moved by that. Imagine the " pinch" I felt! At that moment, unlike in movies or any written scripts, I just sat there unable to think of a great comeback, a ready sweet retort only imagined by great writers, but what can I say? But unlike in movies , this is real, so there is no unexpected standing, crying and sobbing while talking, but there is a great deal of joy in my heart, a love that no one is able to write, to describe or act out. For the human heart is unable to fathom to the deepest of emotions, specially that of an innocent child. You see, for an innocent child, that was just that. Plain and simple... unplanned, not in need of any acknowledgement or award whatsoever. To KC, that was just any ordinary sweet things she always does.

I may not have a lot of material things, but I have my daughter. I may not have higher degrees or high professional placement but I have someone who loves me. I may not be perfect, but I have a family who supports me. I might have made mistakes... but looking at my daughter, she is more than my redemption. It's as if God is telling me that whatever may come, He is there and He loves me. It is easier to believe that with Karmina around.

P.S.
Karmina Cielo means beautiful sky. She is truly a beauty ... from the sky.

Mom.

A beautiful birth story

This is such a beautiful story. It is beautfully written showing very raw  human emotions. I choked and cried, it was painful to read, but it makes you read over and over, knowing that it is in your heart and no matter what happens, you feel so much love and blessing eminating from this beautiful family.  Read on and be blessed!  here you feel what real love is. If you are interested with the new development of this beautiful family, click here.


Please, let us all love without bias and prejudice.

Because of snow

Since New England is anticipating another snowstorm, the public schools decided to make this a half day, meaning the kids will be off at 11:25. They say Boston will get 8-12inches of snow and the South Shore, more! That's always the case. We always get more. Bummer! It's suppose to start around noon, so I guess my commute to work is screwed! I remember this crazy day in December 2008. So, what to do now? INterestingly, I feel like cooking chicken with brocolli and cheese. Will post pictures of my dish later.

Guessing game

Guess what this is:

Cute skulls

More clue? Here's one more.

The skulls are so kyoot!

No, nothing comes to mind? I grabbed this right away when I saw them. I think it is adorable. Ok, no more guessing! Here is my ......latest purchase for Pherry... i hoped Josh had one too, and me and KC!

It's a shirt!

My clam recipe

Been craving for clams lately. It does not help that I read the marketman on a daily basis. Last week, he posted a clam recipe and I started to cry in pain. I wanted it so bad. The pictures were unbereable. It looked so yummy. I promised myself I would try to cook it, soon! Come Sunday, I went to Kam-Man, an Asian superstore a stone throw away from me and got all the ingredients. I got the short neck clams because I do not know the difference of Akegai and short neck. I figured, they look the same. I had to rush because I have to go to work! I also picked belt fish for deep frying for the kids!  When I sauteed the ginger and white onions, it was very fragrant as marketman describe, it inspired me. LOL. Here are some pictures... they are not the best as they were taken by Pherry on his iPhone, I was busy cooking.

Did you know that rice wine's alcohol content ranges from 12-17%? That's like 3x the alcohol content of most American beers! Funny thing is, they do come in a disclosure, something like this: intended for cooking, not to be sold as alcoholic beverage. How is that? There were so many brands and the alcohol content is mostly 15%. So, I guess, it is so much easier to get drunk eating my clam recipe than your beer!

My 12% alcohol rice wine

I sauteed the ginger and white onions first, the aroma filled the room. It is this sweet and soothing smell. I guess the ginger does that to me.

 As suggested by marketman, wait till brown and put the heat high as possible before adding the clams.

I usually use wok when stir-frying

When all the clams are open, wait just about 3-5 minutes. You do not want to over cook your clams or else, it will be rubbery. Tha's why it is important to crank up the heat so it is quick. At this point, my clams smelled so good. It felt like I was living on the seaside town of Aparri again. You know, that sea salt smell and the breeze! Ok, ok, I am exaggerating.  I added black bean sauce and a little bit of cornstarch to make it a little pasty. Then I added oyster sauce. I used Mama Sita's vegetarian oyster sauce. I always buy Filipino items whenever available. I feel I am helping Philippine economy that way. The Mama Sita brand is available at almost all Asian stores.

See the time? I am supposed to be at work by 3pm

Lastly, I poured just a little bit of rice wine, about 3 tbps. Remove from fire. The heat generated should be enough to absorb the wine flavoring! Whoala... serve with white rice! The family's verdict? Delicious!

Marketman's--- with green chilli

Mine... no peppers and green chilli - kids hate peppers!

All this in under 15 minutes. It is so easy yet delicious... try it! It will save you a trip to Chinatown!

Those interested with marketman's original post... click here. Thanks marketman!

This is why we should not vote for these moviestars!

I cringe. Eeek. I pity. I am embarrased.

Being with kids. Again

On Tuesday, my niece Fridah ( who collects Barbie), had to go to her training. I will be babysitting for a couple of days..  She is a Practical Nurse. I do not know what the difference is from an LPN, CNA or even an RN, but, she's a nurse.  I am so lame.

I took care of her kids, they are sooooo adorable. Precious is 5 and the baby, Joel Michael is about 5 months. We call him Joey although his parents want to call him Jem for short. You know, Precious.... Jem. I know! Funny. Actually, Precious is Precious Gabrielle but I love calling her Ice. They are both adorable. Fridah dropped them off about 9AM, KC and Josh are home around 12PM because Tuesday is half day for city public schools. Can you imagine my day? I had to keep stopping Josh from kissing Jem, kept telling Ice to stop nibbling and tell KC to let Ice watch her TV show. Haayyy! But, eyelavet! The good thing about taking care of kids other than your own is that you enjoy them so much knowing that at the end of the day,  you give them bak to their parents. You know what they say about uncles and aunties, they are the ones who say yes to everything... yes to chocolates, yes to messy and yes we can get that. Who cares if the baby's gonna be hyperactive? Mom will pick them up later. WHo cares if the preschooler wants to color his shirt? Mom will wash it later. See, you enjoy the moments with them, Mom will clean them up. Hahahha!

While Jem was sleeping and Ice was watching Nick Jr.,(like preschool on TV", is their tag line), i tried ( tried is the operative work) to clean my bathroom. I tossed away my old make-up, cleansers, lotions, sunscreen, mouthwash and little things that are just occupying space. Useless and waste of money. As I mentioned 2010 to do listt, I would like to declutter my bathroom essentials. One less thing to cross off my list, yahoo! Ice came over and said,  "why you have lots of make-up?" I said i do not. She snapped back " yes, you do." I guess that's a sign for me. No more make-up, even if they are 95% off. Oh kids, they tell you things like it is.

Here she is, eating spaghetti which surprisingly she loved! "Mamu, i love it!" Really? "yes". It warms my heart. I bet she loved the Filipino style sauce. Filipinos love to make spaghetti sauce with hotdogs and make it a tad sweet. See, her mom cooks really good, so I am really happy she liked my spaghetti, without any bribe from me.

If all kids I babysit is as good as Jem, I could make this as a profession. Jem is incredibly easy. He is 5 months only, which would make taking care of babies this age a little bit on the fragile side. But Jem is so quiet, only cries if he is wet or hungry. But only for a moment. He cries only to get your attention. Once he gets to see you, he starts to smile. 

Ice and Jem

Oh, did I tell you I have to pack my kids and these 2 adorable bunnies in my car on the way to Boston,  to work, then hand them over to Hubby?  I felt like a schoolbus driver sans the rowdy kids. My kids adore Ice and Jem. I think it comes with their ages. Since Joshua is 7, he still gets a little jealous when Pherry pays more attention to them. At the same time, they fight on who gets to sit with who, and who gets to read a book for Ice and who gets to sleep over. The list goes on and on.  They had a blast being cramped in the car!

I am sure my kids and Ice had a blast spending time together but if someone loved it more than anything, it would be me. Josh is now 7, so he is not quite the baby anymore, so it is refreshing to spend time with younger ones. Babies are pure genuine happiness. Personally, it inspires me to see a baby. It makes me reflect on the simplicity of life and how to get the most of it, you know, going back to what is essential to us. Hearing Ice's giggle, makes me go back when we are carefree, not careless but carefree, when the world was all about the little things in life, when a smile can make you forget why you were upset, or when a soothing hush can make you stop the tears from flowing or when you are contented with just family, when home was your stronghold!

Don't you wish everyone around you  be as simple, honest and happy as babies?