Sweetest thing on a gloomy Friday

 

Watch what I do....



Ok, ok... lemme show you...

Now, do as I do... see?

Now, do it on your own...

Lemme tighten it... good job.

why.i.am.jologs.or.baduy

I guess the new term is jejemon. For me it's still ba-duy. Here's what I found online.

Baduy- low-class; uncouth; unfashionable; having mass appeal; similar to jologs.

Jologs-Derived from the combined words daing (salted fish), tuyo (a type of dried fish) and itlog (egg). Dyolog then became Jolog, a term for someone who is tacky, but implied in a more negative tone and often referred to people who belong to the lower class of society.

So, yeah I guess I am jolog. I am a jolog because:

1. I love Aga Muhlach and Richard Gomez. Hey, they are really handsome men. Right?

2. I love Ruffa Guttirez and Kris Aquino. Oh my gawd, this is really baduy. Try saying this ala Ruffa G.

3. I like wearing "dusters". I had one that was so worn out, my sister tried to throw them away. I just feel so comfortable with them.

4. I think Ocean Deep is the best love song ever, followed by Maybe It's You. So what? C'mon give me a break. Don't tell me you never liked this songs?

5. Before I buy anything, I check the price first. I do not buy full retail unless it's a bag.

6. I eat like a  patay-gutom ( destitute), ala kargador ( stevedore). Yes, you can laugh.

7. I am loud. Super loud. But I am fun.

8. I eat tuyo, daing, bagoong, cornik and all the talipapa food you can ever get. Talipapa= A Filipino term for fish-market with temporary stalls under a flat shed. Like this:



9. I believe SPAM is gourmet.

10. I openly discuss my love for House and Bones.

11. I insist Charice and Regine Velazquez are world class singers. Yes, they are!

12. I reenact any funny antics in my little village like I am paid to do so. I dance like Manang Amparing, I mimic Manang Carmen when she used to call her daughters, I tell stories of how our neighbors used to fight, I illustrate how the ladies in town would breast feed their babies while playing cards and smoking cigar all at the same time. I should be a clown. Is clown baduy?

13. I eat isaw and balut. And kwek-kwek. And fish ball. And pretty much all Filipino street food, especially binatog.

                          

                          

                         

14. No matter what people say, I still think Hello Kitty is cute, and so is Garfield.

15.Despite my age and all that I witnessed in my existence in this world, I still believe in love. Naks. Ang sweet.

First off, this would be so long if I did not decide to do this list in less than 20 minutes. I wanted to challenge myself on what I can come up with in this timeframe so it is more authentic. I thought of this mainly for fun and in know way should offend anyone who likes/dislikes my list. I suggest you make your own list and see what you can come up with. I actually had fun doing this. Most importantly, I am not ashamed to be baduy. Not at all.

Can you tell me what makes you baduy too? Have you ever had that moment when you thought you were baduy only to realize everyone does the same thing, they were just too " quiet" to say?

On a more serious note, I think calling people baduy/jologs based on their color preferences, food choices and habits is not a good thing. Of course, I have my own share of misgivings. If you are in the receiving end of "malicious" intent being called a baduy, please refer to this list and make them know, you are not baduy because Bernadette thinks it is actually cool. Kidding! have a good evening peeps and bring on the baduy mow-ments!

Weekend review ( Labor day weekend edition)

I worked double shift Friday so I slept half of the day. Hurricane Earl left Boston without much damage and by Saturday, Bostonians saw Mr. Sun and everyone re-booked their Cape Cod hotel rooms. The kids and I went shopping at a&f because I managed to have $75.00 in gift cards. They had spend 100, get 25 back promo, and yes, you guessed how much I spent. Technically, my sister and I spent it together. I get to spend the gift cards by myself. Methinks that's fun. By the time you pick up 2-3 shirts at Abercrombie, that $75.00 is gone though, so I had to shell a few more moolah. " Aber, aber..." Hahhaha. KC and I went to the nail spa and she had her first real spa visit. Funny thing is, it was a teen age boy who did her nails.

 My DD ( Dear daughter) is a kikay too.

 I saw the cutest thing ever. Look for yourself.

I got KC new shoes and new flipflops. They are adorable.

 The boys went to the Apple Store while we did all this. I love my 2 boys--- NO COMPLAINTS WHILE Ate and Mama shop. After the spa, we met up with my sister, Janette who was visiting from Montreal. We went around malling for a bit and we went separate ways to prepare for Sunday's big event--- Joey's first bday party at the Lombardo's in Randolph MA. The kids and I had to pick up Mr. Hubbs in Holbrook, but before that,  we had our ice cream-hotdog bonding moment. We do this as often as can be. I love spending this moment with them.

Sunday was party day. Saw a lot of friends and family. Though we constantly see each other, it is good to see friends and family in a different place, all dressed up to the nines. It is one happy party. The staff at Lombardo's is awesome, the place is clean and very well prepared.  We played a lot of games and it is nice to see people relax and be on party/vacation mode, letting their guard off if only for a brief moment. There was a lot of smiles and laughter and a whole lot of love for Joey. There were cameras everywhere. The "official" and designated memory keeper is Vince. He has the nicest lens and if you see this guy in action, you will be amazed. He has the passion of a professional yet the relax mode of a playful memory keeper. I have to constantly remind myself that someone might catch me at a bad angle... joke! Have you ever been to an afternnon party where people danced like no one was watching? This is the ultimate crowd! So much fun!The day is not over yet though. The "After Party" is at Fridah's place and we had tons of food and we all gorged on lobsters. We stayed there till 11:30 pm. So, to summarize, the brunch is at 11am, party ended at 4pm, after party starts right away and the night is over by 1130pm. Did I say I worked double sHi*t on Friday? I know.

Labor Day- Since Mr. Hubbs is working, he was just going to meet us at Georges Island. Yes folks, we went to explore Boston harbor Islands, ended up exploring only Georges Island because there is so much to do. We went to take a peek at Spectacle but did not have time to explore this beautiful island. This is my family's second time here at Georges but it is still beautiful. Miss Sol and RN Eric with Grace liked the place though, so I am glad I tagged them along. Just exploring the islands seems to give me this sense of vacation, although technically we are only 25 minutes away from home. We hop on the boat in Quincy, it is so much cheaper and easier to get parking than if we did Boston. The sight of boats, water, birds, hills, old Fort Warren, war ruins and families is a sight to behold. As Boston Harbor Islands slogan says "minutes away. worlds apart."

Unfortunately, Grace had to leave the island earlier than us because she has to catch her flight out to Cali. Boo! We capped the day ( or the summer) by deciding to do a barbecue. We bought tilapia and eggplant, some okra, chicken wings, pork ribs and fruits.... called my sister and her family... INSTANT party. Again, family and friends make the difference.

How about you? How was your weekend. I hope it was fabulous like mine.

Notes From A Child

I saw this at Daphne Osena's blog, thought I'd share.

1. Don't spoil me. I know quite well that I ought not to have all I ask for. I'm only testing you.

2. Don't be afraid to be firm with me. I prefer it, it makes me feel secure.

3. Don't let me form bad habits. I have to rely on you to detect them in the early stages.

4. Don't make me feel smaller than I am. It only makes me behave stupidly "big".

5. Don't correct me in front of people if you can help it. I'll take much more notice if you talk quietly with me in private.

6. Don't make me feel that my mistakes are sins. It upsets my sense of values.

7. Don't protect me from consequences. I need to learn the painful way sometimes.

8. Don't be too upset when I say "I hate you". Sometimes it isn't you I hate but your power to thwart me.

9. Don't take too much notice of my small ailments. Sometimes they get me the attention I need.

10. Don't nag. If you do, I shall have to protect myself by appearing deaf.
11. Don't forget that I cannot explain myself as well as I should like. That is why I am not always accurate.

12. Don't put me off when I ask questions. If you do, you will find that I stop asking and seek my information elsewhere.

13. Don't be inconsistent. That completely confuses me and makes me lose faith in you.

14. Don't tell me my fears are silly. They are terribly real and you can do much to reassure me if you try to understand.
15. Don't ever suggest that you are perfect or infallible. It gives me too great a shock when I discover that you are neither.

16. Don't ever think that it is beneath your dignity to apologize to me. An honest apology makes me feel surprisingly warm towards you.

17. Don't forget I love experimenting. I couldn't get along without it, so please put up with it.

18. Don't forget how quickly I am growing up. It must be very difficult for you to keep pace with me, but please do try.

19. Don't forget that I don't thrive without lots of love and understanding, but I don't need to tell you, do I?

20. Please keep yourself fit and healthy. I need you.

The weekend review 7/31

Well, I have decide to create a weekend review and hopefully it will be a weekly deal. Hahahah! Goodluck to me.

Saturday was crazy. When I say crazy ---- it is crazy. I worked double shift Friday ( 3pm-11pm-7am) not knowing  ( maybe forgetting is a better word) that my friend Grace and Vince's joint birthday party is LUNCH time. What could be worse than that? I can tell you. Worst is, when you are tasked to deliver the catered food! This is what I needed to do--- the food should be picked up in Randolph, 20 minutes away from my place and get the rest in Brockton, approximately 10 minutes from the first pick location and bring it to Boston about 25-30 minutes away from where the food would be coming from--- the food should be there before the guests arrive at 12pm--- and making sure to the very least able to take a shower and prepare the kids as well.. So, I enlisted the help of Mister Hubbs to pick up the food for me since he is at my in-laws which is about 5-10 minutes from food pick-up location. That did not go very well because traffic was bad on I-93 even on weekends! So, change plans. I told him to go ahead, bring the food to Boston, me and the kids get ready,  go to the party and he will come back home and dress up too--- that way, even if we were late, the food is there.

With great company and great food--- the afternoon was awesome. Wait.... that should be, "the day was awesome"  for we all stayed together till about 10pm. We had so much fun. What with the boys dancing Katy Perry's Hot and Cold  and playing the Wii like "parentless" children! Our group seems to be trending towards children--- we had 3 babies and 5 kids, easily creating chaos. But it also offered opportunities for beautiful photo ops, darn those kids... they are so cute! It was nice catching up with friends who I have not seen for a long time and meeting new ones as well. I have to say, the view at Vince's place is beautiful. From their aparment, in both bedrooms, you have waterviews. From the living room is the awesome view of the harbor.

The girls ended up going to the movies after the party. Yes, I know, we are tireless. They watched Leonardo Di Caprio's Inception movie. I was dead tired and the kids needed to sleep so I decided to go home too. I am sure the girls appreciate the "no kids zone". Hahahha.

Tha was fun.

Need to read something?

Saw this gathering dust at work lounge so I figured i could make use
of them.

Dear Tita Grace

Hello Tita. We know it's your birthday today, so we decided to celebrate it for you!

We drove all the way to another city to eat here, because we thought it would be nice to see something different because you are unique.

Of course you should know by now, Mom and Dad would order seafoods because they love seafoods as much as they love you.

Dad's seafood platter

Mom's macademia crusted salmon

 My brothers and I decided to have  the true and tested kids' favorite---macaroni and cheese with chicken fingers. Oh wait, Josh had hamburgers and fries because he thiks you have not been to Germany and therefore it would be good to eat hamburger  to channel some powers so that you would be able to travel there very soon.

Josh had hamburger

Kuya and I had macaroni and cheese

By the way, here's Mom and Dad who truly think you are a terrific friend.

We had a very wonderful meal but never as great without your company.  So we decided to top it all by having the sweetest dessert, yeah never as sweet as you, I know, but this should come close.

Yes, we went to Dairy Queen because you are the birthday Queen.

Nothing but the best for the birthday girl, we got THE BLIZZARD! Like the Blizzard, you are sweet, smooth and has that special "IT" that makes people come back for more.

See how I love the Blizzard? But not as much as we love you, eh?

 Oh, by the way, even after another year, you look so much younger every time. So Tita.....

Happy 25th birthday to you!

 I have a confession to make Tita. My Mom let me write all this and she was telling me what to write, yeah that's right. I could have written this letter by myself but she loves you so much she wanted no room for mistakes so she had to be there. Either way, I still feel the say way.... you are unique, true and tested, terrific, great and sweet friend.

BTW, while we were waiting for our order, a nice elderly lady came to Mom and said that her husband had told her to "go over there and tell Mom and Dad what a beautiful family they have." Iisn't that great? Well, I know we are family to you but I would like to take this time to tell you that you are family to us too!

Enjoy your special day and please introduce your special someone to Mom soon, she's driving me nuts telling me how successful and beautiful you are, AND very intelligent and that she feels that guy must be so lucky.

PS. Just as long as he is not dugyot. Ummm, what's dugyot?

Love,

KC ;)

Day off from work means bookshopping

So, today is my day off from work because I worked the weekend. Usually, I am off the Friday before and the Monday after. Consequently, I would pick up some overtime on Thursdays and Sundays. After last night's 16 hour shift, I dropped off the kiddos to their summer school, went back home, picked up where I left off from my 24 ( the TV show) marathon. I finally reached sleepdom at 10AM. My sleep was rudely interrupted by the alarm to go pick up the kids at 12PM. I went back to sleep till about 330pm and since I promised them we would go swimming, I had to drag my half sleep self to the pool. They were happy, so I guess that makes up for my lack of sleep. Usually, on my days off, either we eat out or I cook a really big Filipino meal. We ate out. Hahhhahaah! Then, off to book shopping. I really wanted to go to the store to buy the case for Paddy ( iPad's official name in my household.) Well, you know what happens when you say you going to get that only, you pick up some absurb and really useless things then you realize the credit card bill is up to your neck.

Anyways, our monthly book shopping resulted to this.

This book is supposedly good. It must be, she is reading it now.

I need not explain this. But to those who are uninitiated to Pherry, he is really a bookworm and likes watching Discovery, History and National Geographic channels.

Here is Josh and Pherry with their Wimpy books. The movie diary should be the last "accesory" book.  KC has the DIY book but of course, Josh has to write his own Wimpy story, right? I got them the whole series in hard bound books because they love it. Besides, the author is from Massachussetts and Pherry's 3rd grade teacher actually knows him!

Here is today's stash.

I live in a tiny condo. But believe me when I tell you, my tiny place is about to be run over by Legos and books. Wait, maybe trampled by those huge dinosaur robots.

I really do not mind spending money on books. In fact, I love it when my kids would rather buy books than when I tell them to grab some clothes. I am a voracious reader myself, so I know the feeling of reading a good book. Hopefully, they will continue to explore new worlds and learn new cultures to gain a better understanding of the world we live in, or simply to enjoy a beautiful story.

Today's Filipino treat

Many times I crave for food that I just can't find here in my adopted home. A few days ago, I was craving for "binatog". Don't you just love it?  Here's something to make you drool. 

 But, today these will just have to make do. A friend just came from the Philippines and these are his treats for us. No binatog but this will do... for now.

Reminiscent of my Tatang's ( father) coffee days. He'd sit early morning, go out the street, peoplewatch(?) and comment on the days gossips. Hahahha!

You'd wanna give this to that guy who "forgot" his hygiene when  he left his parents' house. Clorets basically is toothpaste....

                                           

Ooooohhh... did I tell you love this? This is the bomb!

                                          

                                              

                                           

So, now I am craving Clover Chips and White Rabbit  candy. Anyone can send me. I am a very grateful person... LOL.

What about you? What food are you craving at the moment? Please tell me it is NOT taho because I did not just dream that last night and the other night and the night before that. No, I did not. I swear...

To brighten my day

KC, my 9 year old daughter loves to doodle. She likes sending me and her dad little notes, simple drawings with hearts and holding hands... you know, girly stuff. Today, on our way to Minado, our favorite seafood buffet place, she handed me this.

Isn't she sweet?

And then, because we were listening to Charice' CD, she wanted to write the lyrics of one of Charice's songs which had Filipino lines. Oh, blaaah, the title of the song escapes me.

KC's attempt to write in Filipino. Pretty good ears for catching this phrase from a rap song, isn't it?

Reunited and it feels so good

KC and her favorite stuffed toy Selina found each other! Again.

Dance recital 2010

This is a long and overdue post.
As many of you know, KC and Pherry attend dance school. KC does the traditional ones---ballet, tap and jazz and modern hiphop, Pherry does hiphop with her. So, on Wednesdays, they go for 1 hour class with about 30 minutes drive to their school. Kc does her traditional dances on Saturday, she goes for 2 hrs. for those 3 dances. They attend Gold School in Brockton MA. It is one of the most respected dance schools in the South Shore. Their recitals and performances are really worth it. Why do you think we drive 30 minutes everytime just to attend the school? Simple---because it is the best! From their receptionists (they are sweethearts), to the teachers and the parents.

But as any other event, the dance recitals are stressful. The Gold School always slate their recitals on Memorial Day weekend. So, they had dress rehearsals the day before the performance, which parents can take videos and pictures. This is really frustrating, why? Well, they say it is your chance to do so, but then someone's yelling, stopping the dance, some kids are missing... and such. I understand it is a rehearsal but then they should at least allow a "no announcement-no interruption" after all those major corrections. Why does this matter too much to me? Because they do not allow you to take pictures and videos on performance day---which is rather good---but.... they sell DVDs and pictures that are way too expensive and so general--- like who want to watch an overpriced DVD for 2-3 hours to see your child dance for 3 minutes and may not even be focused?  More so, because KC and Pherry's hip hop performance were in the second show... I have to buy 2 DVDs! Isn't that a joke?  First of all, I have to buy 2 sets of tickets for family and friends to watch both performances ( KC and Pherry dance only the hiphop on the second show---nothing else) and now, I need to buy 2 DVDs---all for a whopping $60.00!!! Second, because they are put on the second show for the hiphop, we were basically there for a whole day! Hopefully, they can fix the schedule better next time. I stress--- no 2 sets of tickets and no expensive DVDs---please!

Ok, so now the venting is over. We went to the dress rehearsals with my "mommy arsenal". Ponytails, costumes, shoes, makeup, bobby pins, safety pins, gloves, fans, hats, bodysuits, nylons and the school checklist. All set to go! We arrived there a little late because I was not familiar with the place---am not used driving there because Mr. Hubbs usually brings them--- which that day for some reason he decided to go fishing!

If you are surrounded by little girls and boys in beautiful colorful costumes, it is very destressing for me. Those little bumblebees and ballerinas are just too cute.

Here's me doing my "mommy-is-not-stressed" job.

She missed the tap dance rehearsal. But here she is with the Spanish Nutcracker ballet. If you ask me, they are live dolls. The girl in the middle would be a star! She is an awesome ballerina!

This is a video of their Spanish Nutcracker ballet

Here she is in her jazz costume. They have this boy in this class that is awesome! I think he is a star!

Here's a video of their tap dance performance. Watch out for that little boy.

Isn't he a natural?

While waiting for her dance routines as well as their hiphop dances, I took some photos which I believe describe the chaos and beauty of parenthood.

I have to ask 4 times to take this picture. They are such happy girls they can not stop talking to each other and like they have not seen each other for a very long time.

Needless to say, I do not want to be their teacher. Teachers are the most patient.

Despite the high cost of their costumes, I truly love seeing the girls so beautiful.

... and how could your heart not be happy when you see this?

For our lunch, we went to McDonald's and scoured the townsquare to get those silly bands. Nothing! Good! They are way too expensive. We went back to practice and waited for their hiphop. I think is is more tiring for me to wait than to actually do my mommy job. I was so glad I did not bring Joshua with me because then he would have been bored and driving me nuts. After all the craziness, we got our second wind by late afternoon. We did a little "happy pictorial". Here are the photos:

Then, we went crazy looking for tap shoes. KC has the superb ability to lose everything, in a moment. I kid you not. We went to 2 dance stores and unfortunately because of the upcoming holiday, they closed early. My last shot was at the mall for Payless Shoes. They carry dance stuff but I was very sure they did not carry tan tap shoes. I tried and of course they did not have any at all. They offered to order it for me but the performance is the following day. Since I was at the mall already, I went for a quest of the "Magic Bun." It's this little gadget that makes making a bun so easy. I saw it on one of the girls and her mom said I could find it at Claire's. 

 Boy, they have different kinds. I got Hairagami brand which turned out to be very difficult to work with specially with KC's long limp hair.

Here's the hairagami one.

 But this is the easier, more user friendly one.

These are my new bestfriends. Putting KC's hair is a breeze. No more fighting. Hahhaha.

Here's how it looks.

 

We went to Justice ( KC's favorite shopping destination) and got a few bargains. I love this bag and hat with the scarf.

We got this flower print blazer. Since it is with hint of greens and blues, KC loved it. The dress is chiffon and so soft. I think we got them both for only $10.00. Yes!

 I did not find any tap shoes. I contacted Margie ( one of the nice receptionists in school) if she can find me on the lost and found bucket. So off to rest and sleep for the big day tomorrow.

Recital day is a family event for us. As with other families, it is the culmination of a year long  dancing, practices and the saga of beautiful art. For my family, I am always excited to see them on stage, whether it is something they accomplished in school or extra curricular activities. I try to let my kids participate in activities but not to the point where they are so exhausted.

I invited family and friends to come watch with us. Even my mother-in-law who had a stroke recently came. My close friends came too. The show as always is very impressive. I loved how they only let late comers enter in between dances. Of course there are still "divas" who insist to be seated when they wanted, but the volunteer parents and students were very good in telling them not to disrupt everyone just because they were late. Over all the show was great! Here are the pictures we had AFTER the performance.

My in-laws

Good friends Sol and Stephen

Tita Sol and Tita HG congratulating Kuya Pherry

Vinceter is the sweetest. He always take time to take beautiful pictures of my family.

My beautiful princess

My first born is growing up so fast. Here is ChristoPher ryan

KC is always irritated when her hhair is up. She likes it down and loose

Mr. Hubbs may not say it so often but he is more excited and proud than me, everytime

I cherish moments like this 

Proud parents, yes we are

... and proud little bro. This Fall, Josh will be doing hiphop too

Here are random pictures I took during the chaos.

... and the day ends in barbecues and beers with family and friends. I believe everything is more fun and enjoyable inspite of the chaos and body aches when you are with friends. I do this every year and yet it seems to be a new thing everytime. The chaos, the missing bobby pins, the unironed dress, the missing hair accesories, the missing shoes------ and on and on...