Don't you just love after-christmas sale!

All christmas decor were on sale for 75% off and so we stocked up on christmas lights. Yes, our Christmas will be very bright next year. I just love that thing at the bottom where it says "total savings" and it's a whole lot more than what I paid.

Not only that all clearance items have an additional 75% off. Too bad, there were not a whole lot of choices but I found this really cute skirt and just paid $5 for it and it was originally $40. Makes me wonder how the sale are back in the states and wondering about it is making me wish I was back in the states.

so spooky...

I'm here upstairs surfing the net, M is sound asleep, & G is at work. I hear something coming from downstairs. It sounds like the DVD player is on. I thought to myself, did M wake up? No. Did G got home early? No. I went downstairs and the DVD player is on. I wonder if this house is haunted.

A few months ago, they unearthed 5 skeletons in an area not very far from where we live, about a 5-minute walk. They said it was about 4,000 years old! Shortly after that, other stories started circulating around. I know this 2 cleaning ladies who work at the high school building and they both swear that it is haunted. Strange noises would be heard in the middle of the night, like doors banging & all that other creepy stuff.

Apparently, the older houses in our area have this weird thing. The attic door would suddenly open by themselves. And they tend to do that during stormy weather when the wind is blowing outside, perfect for a night of haunting.

Why is it that in horror movies, they always feature a rickety old porch swing slowly creaking thru & fro in the middle of the night while a leafless branch taps the upstairs window.

I hope I can sleep tonight.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to G's holiday party.

I don't like going to these kind of functions, mainly because I don't know anybody and the reason I don't know anybody is because I don't like going to these kind of functions. A dilemma.

We got there and I knew it was going to be a long night. It seems like all the other spouses have their own clique. We headed towards the bar and G got his first drink of the night. I looked around, there was a lady sitting by herself. She caught my eye and smiled, so I smiled back. G took forever to get his drink. The lady motioned to me to join her and have a seat and I did.

We started with the usual small talk. Another problem I have, I am no good with small talks. She asked me if I wasn't drinking and I replied that I really shouldn't I'm driving but I really need one. She said same thing with her but as soon as she walked in, she said she needed a drink. We started talking about how everybody was dressed. See the thing was, it was supposedly semi-casual but for some reason, a lot of the spouses were wearing something that I would say semi-formal. I thought she didn't looked too bad, she had some dress pants on, a red top and a black jacket. What it boils down to is... I felt under-dressed. Don't you just hate that. She asked me where I lived and she said that we're practically neighbors, her house is the first house in our area. That's when I realized who she was.

She's Chef's wife. They arrived here the same time as we did and while we were in temporary housing, they lived across from us. I admit, I have this thing, I am big on first impressions and the first impression that I have on her was not positive. I thought she and her husband were too loud and I thought her husband was obnoxious.

She then proceeded to say that I should get a drink and we'll just share a cab home. I walked over to G and talked to him about the plan and he agreed. I was amazed how this lady took the effort to include me. Maybe, she too was feeling left out, I don't know but she came with another spouse, who incidentally also got here the same time frame but they actually bounded and remained friends. All in all, the night turned out pretty good.

I see her around a lot now and when we do run into each other we try to catch up. Too bad that we only have a few more months left here. The point to all this is...
I shouldn't be judgmental. If I actually made the effort to talk to her back then who knows, we could have been very good friends by now.

Dear you,

Merry Christmas!

Hope you and your family have a wonderful christmas. We wish you all the best and hope we were there with you.

Love & kisses,
MGM

I have a dream.

I dream that one day, G & I will live by the sea in a nipa hut but a little bit bigger and with flushing toilet. It will have white curtains everywhere. Everything in the house, from the table to the bed is made out of native materials, bamboo maybe. We will wake up to the sound of the lapping waves and eat breakfast in the garden surrounded by exotic flowers & palm trees. At the back of the house, we will have a small orchard or a vineyard (not yet decided). We will then spend the rest of the day just lounging around, or maybe have family & friends come over. At night, we will have a bonfire by the beach, roast some hotdogs or marshmallow, or maybe grill some bariles or whatever G caught that day if he went fishing.

Maloloka talaga ako sa mga kababayan natin dito.

"Are you Filipina?", "Do you speak the language?", dyan nagsisimula ang lahat at kung sasagot ka ng "Oo". Patay kang bata ka! Susunod kasi ang "Tagasan ka sa atin?" na tanong. Ang madalas na sagot sa tanong na yan ay - "Ipinanganak ako sa kung-saan-probinsya, pero lumaki ako sa kung-saan-lugar-sa-metro-manila." Karamihan dito, ewan ko ba, tinatago nila ang pinanggalingan nila. Bakit? Hindi ko alam, basta ako hindi ko ikinakahiya na taga-Davao ako. Ipagsisigiwan ko pa.

Baka kasi, nilalait ng iba ang mga taga-probinsiya kaya hayan tuloy ayaw nila malamang probinsyana sila. Ano naman ngayon kung probinsyana ka talaga. Ano bang masama doon? At sino ba sila na para laitin ang mga promdi! Meron ding iba na mga laking-manila na hindi na kunyari marunong mag-bisaya pero nakakaintindi naman daw sila. Tigilan mo ako! Ang tigas-tigas ng dila mo, baka madapa ka dyan at mapa-"agay" ka at mabisto ka tuloy.

"Punta ka sa bahay, birthday ng anak ko, may konting kainan, tayo-tayo lang." Ano ka! Halos di na magkasya ang mga bisita sa bahay nila, inimbita na yata ang buong pinoy community dito. At ang pagkain, umaapaw. Syempre, andyan ang ever-present lumpia with matching tatlong klaseng pansit at kung anu-ano pa. Hindi ka talaga magugutom. At naku siguraduhin mong bongga ang gift mo at baka ma-tsismis ka at hindi ka na ma-imbita sa iba pang birthday party.

Mag-ingat sa "Oy, atin-atin lang ito ha pero si ano..." at meron pang pahabol, "hwag mong sabihin kay ano ha." Pero kinabukasan, makikita mo silang dalawa magkasama ulit. Ano ba yan?

"Anong ginagawa mo? Punta ka dito at nagluto ako ng...", ang totoo nyan, hindi naman talaga ang pagkain ang habol nila sa'yo. Kadalasan meron silang bagong binili at gusto lang nilang ipagyabang sa'yo. Pwede ba, kung sinigang or pansit ang niluto mo, marunong din akong magluto nyan. Buti sana kung bulad or lechon yan, pupuntahan talaga kita. Ang sama ko, ako na nga ang inimbita ako pa tong nagrereklamo!

Kaya nga minsan tuloy pag may nagtatanong sa'kin na pinay ba ako, gusto ko nang sumagot ng hindi.

PS
Loko lang to, wala akong maisip na matinong topic. Wala akong kaaway dito. Mabait kasi ako eh.

monay

Well, I did clean-up M's room and I did try to bake pan de sal yesterday.

And I got monay instead. So, now I know how to make monay.

Ingredients

2 packets rapid yeast
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup warm (100 - 110 degrees) water
2 tbsp vegetable oil

1. Add 2 packets of yeast & 1 tbsp sugar into the warm. Stir until dissolved. Let stand for 10 minutes. The yeast mixture will become foamy the same consistency that of hair mousse.

2. Add remaining sugar, vegetable oil, salt & 1 cup flour. Mix. Add remaining 1 cup flour. Mix again. At this point, the dough becomes difficult to mix and somewhat flaky.

3. Knead. It took me about 30 minutes hard-core kneading to get the dough somewhat soft & supple.

4. Place dough In a lightly greased bowl, turn the dough to get the other side greased. Cover with damp towel and let stand for 1 hour in a warm place. If using oven, towel needs to be borderline damp/wet.

5. After an hour, the dough will rise but the volume is not about double of the original size. Divide into two. Roll to a log & cut into smaller pieces. The dough, at this point, feels fluffy (I don't know how else to describe it.) Ball smaller pieces of dough.

6. Bake at 325 or maybe it's 350 (my oven is weird) for 15 minutes.

Goodness, not another I'm-bored-post again.

I really am, though. G took that trip, he's probably at some supermart store right now stocking up on socks & briefs. M is still at school. My schedule dictates that I should be doing something worthwhile right about now but I don't feel like it. Two things I could do right now, clean up M's room (Lisa and Jonjon are coming over - what's the point, they're going to mess it up anyway) & I could make pan de sal.

Instead, I'm sitting here, staring at the computer, thinking of posting something but nothing comes to mind. In the last hour, I've checked for updates on my frequently visited blogs, nothing. I wonder what everybody's up to. It's 11:30, I'm getting hungry. I should change my time setting. I don't know what time zone I'm at but it's wrong. It says that it 3:18 am. 8 hours behind. Hey, that's Cali time.

I think my phone just rang. I'm so lazy right now, I don't even want to get the phone. Anywho, it's probably just some telemarketers. I hate telemarketers. I know they're just doing their job but it's so annoying. I got a call from them a while back at 9 in the evening. WTF!

"Can I speak to the bill-payer?"
"It's 9 in the evening! What are you doing calling us up at this hour?" - then, hung-up.

A while back, we got a something-gram in the mail. It said something like "We've been trying to reach you. Please give us a call at this number" It was a 1-800 number. Thinking it was probably something important, G called them up, only to find out that we're eligible for some sweepstakes. G was really upset.

"I'm paying for this call so you can tell me that we might already have won something?"
"It's a toll-free number sir, you won't be charged for this call."
"If I'm in the States, yeah, but I'm not!" - the rep went on to say something and G was, "I'm hanging up now, I am not paying another cent for this call."

So, remember Strawberry Switchblade?

I didn't think I have any SS but the other day, I discovered I have one song, "Since Yesterday", and then I remembered I love "You Let Her Go", so surfed and found this site and they have downloadable rare tracks. =) And rediscovered another song, "Who knows what love is".

And if you're a big 80's fan, listen here, currently playing "don't put another dime in the jukebox, I don't wanna here that song no more."

Yes, I have plenty of time in my hands.

I've wanted to create my own skin for the longest time (creative daw kuno). Finally found something I could use. I changed M's, too. It used to be just a simple kiddie art but she saw this one and wanted hers just like mom's but she wants it pink cause "Pink is my favorite color." And so pink it is. I went crazy on hers (I think). Very pink indeed.

This is it for this blog but I just might add some more stuff to M's.

"Hey, hun, bad news... they want me to go on a trip" G says, but I'm suspicious, I bet he wants to go.

"When does it leave?" I'm just worried, Christmas is fast approaching and although we have no plans, it would be nice to be spending Christmas together this year.

"Thursday, for 5 days, I should be back on Tuesday." They (meaning supervision) always say that but most of the time, it gets extended. Long pause. I'm getting annoyed now because G never thinks about these things.

"What do you want from me?"

"I was just wondering if we had plans that I forgot about." He wants me to think that he doesn't really want to go and maybe he can get off it if I can think of reasons why he can't go. Long pause.

"Well, you have those things on EBay."

"That's right. Maybe, I can just tell the buyer to pick it up next weekend." I knew it! He does want to go.

"On Christmas weekend???" I'm just being difficult now. He should just have came out and said it in the first place. How hard is it to say, there's this trip and I want to go. Of course, I'd get all upset but it won't last long.

"I don't know." He's just being petty now. Long pause.

"Never mind." He's sounding all annoyed. Like, it's my fault that he can't go. He such a baby sometimes.

"Never mind what?"

"I'll talk to them and see if they can stick somebody else."

"Where are you?"

"At work." I checked the time, it's 9:30, he gets off work at 7:30.

"What are you still doing at work?" I hate it when he stays at work longer than he has to. It's not like he gets paid overtime! See, if he left at 7:30 like he was supposed to, then, supervision wouldn't have found him just hanging out there. They would have called him and I would have been right there when he took the call and I would have said, hey, you got those things on EBay and he would have told them so and they would have found somebody else to go take the trip. BUT...

"They asked me to do some stuff on the aircraft, I should be home in an hour." More like 2 hours.

"Is there anything else?" Now, I'm really irritated.

"No, that's it. I'll see you in a bit."

Maybe, I'm just being such a brat.

Don't get me wrong, I love my G5 (yes, it's officially mine now) but...

It has this white indicator light about the size of a dime at the bottom right corner that comes on when you turn it off and when you put it to sleep, the light pulsates. Not a fast blink, about a 5-second interval blink, it goes dark then slowly brightens up. The problem is when I it's bedtime. Man, oh man, It's very annoying! (Yeah, I find digital clocks annoying too with their bright red or green LED lights.)

I guess, I wasn't the only that got all bothered about this since about a couple of months ago when I checked for software updates, there it was, the solution to my problem. I quickly downloaded the upgrade and now the indicator light dims at night time! Now, I can have a good night sleep. It's kinda funny how they released an upgrade for such a minor thing but hey, who am I to complain, now I don't have to prop a CD case in front of it AND I have a night light now.

Good night.

Wake up at 7:00. Take M to school at around 8. Get home by 8:30. Do chores. Play Katamari. Sing. G gets home. He sleeps. Look for something to eat for lunch. Try and do something productive (?). Pick up M at 2:30. Home at 3 pm. Get ready for M's activity for the day. Cook dinner. Supper at 7 pm. Get M showered up. M at bed by 9. Fall asleep with M. Wake up at 10. Online. Sleep by 11:30.

A typical day.

sugarpie, honeybunch, you know that I love you...

Another pointless post. I'm bored. Waiting for G to get home, it's his birthday today. Got tired of singing. Don't want to play katamari, I got a headache. Nobody online! Nobody that I know of. This headache is killing me. I had it last night but since it was so close to bedtime, I decided against Tylenol. I woke up with a heavy head, my neck hurts.

So, what is everybody doing this Christmas? I can't believe that same time last year, I was so excited to go home to pinas, seems like yesterday, which means sis has been married almost a year now! Happy Anniversary, A & M! Just got a ping from a friend. It said "www.winterrowd.com/maze.swf <--- try this game para malibang ka..... tell me ano prize mo after..... bz pa ako masyado eh!" ---> go ahead, try it, you might get a prize, I didn't get any, I kept bumping into walls.

It's almost lunch time. Got no food at the house. Need to do groceries. What's up with my sentences? Who cares.

red red wine, goes to my head...