abstracting and Chili Willy's.

There was a buzz among fellow n@wies just three weeks ago about home-based jobs and although I am already working home based as a medical transcriptionist, I am still open to other opportunities that I can do at home. Agnes posted something about being a home partner abstractor and this got me interested quite a bit. I have heard of this type of job and there were fellow MTs who were abstractors before, but I really have no idea of what they do. So I decided to try and emailed my information sheet and the required essays, and I was lucky enough to be included in the free training program yesterday. It was not as simple as I thought it would be. Abstracting is objective writing and an abstractor has to be direct to the point in writing the needed information from the articles. The training lasted for a day, and there was still a prequalifying examination. We will be informed on Thursday if we pass the prequalifying evaluation. I am ready to take this challenge if ever I would pass the exam as I know that as with all jobs, it would be difficult at first but practice makes perfect. Good luck to me!

After a day of information overload, I asked my hubby to have dinner at Chili Willy's at Robinson's Pioneer. I have read it here and since we are both suckers for Mexican food, we decided to try it out. It is located at The Forum Al Fresco and since we do not frequent this mall, we had to find our way there and somehow got lost...duh! We ordered Calamares with Green Chili Aioli Dip and Texican Combo Plates of Baby Back Ribs with Mexican Crab Cake and Grilled Pork Chop with Chicken and Chorizo Enchilada. My meal wouldn't be complete without dessert and we had Mexican "Mock Fried" Ice Cream Choco-Hazelnut. Their food was yummy! They also have a lot of food choices. I was raving about the Mexican crab cake because it was soft and tasty. Jeff liked the Enchilada and the "Mock Fried" ice cream. Chili Willy's is definitely worth checking out. While eating, we were already planning our next visit there and the food that we will order next...hahaha. Now writing this blog entry makes me hungry ; )

What makes me happy? What makes me sad?

Got a tag from Toni....

Start copy here:
Here are the Rules:
1. List things that makes you happy and what makes you sad..
2. Add your blog to the list. Feel free to add all your other blogs.
3. Tag other online friends you know...Toni, Jeng, You

What Makes Me Happy?

My family especially my hubby Jeff and son Joaqui makes me happy.

Good times with good friends always puts a smile in my face.

My accomplishments in life makes me happy.

Chocolates and other sweets make me happy.

Travelling, cooking, blogging, surfing the net and playing with Joaqui make me happy.

What Makes Me Sad?

When I see children being maltreated or children who are hungry, I feel very sad.

I feel sad when I did not do the things that I should have done.

I am sharing this tag with Emz, Rocks, Doc Joey, Concon and Mec.

I love the whole world

Me and my husband love this advertisement of the Discovery Channel. I did a little research on the song used on this video and it is actually a summer camp/children's folk song called "I Love the Mountains" and the tune for "I Love the Mountains" is modified from that of the song "Heart and Soul" by Frank Loesser (lyrics) and Hoagy Carmichael (music). Discovery Channel wrote extra verses and new lines for their campaign. I hope you all enjoy watching this as much as we do.

blog makeover

Well it's really not a total makeover, I just wanted something new on my blog. I had a light load on my work today and decided to change the way my blog looks. Most of the time, I do find changes quite refreshing and re-energizes me and gives me momentum. I hope I will blog more often, anyway I hope you like jengspeaks' new do. ; )

Do People Like Me?

This caught my interest and I got it from Doc Joey's blog

People Definitely Like You

You are very well liked, and many people admire you. You are friendly, well mannered, and fun to be around. Of course, you're not perfect... but that's okay. Your friends are usually willing to accept you for who you are! What People Don't Like About You: People don't like that you're not very interesting or engaging. You often bore them... and yourself. What People Like About You: People like that you take the them to get to know them and make a connection. You make people feel important. People like that you don't gossip or talk poorly of others. They trust that you will speak positively about them too. People like that you take responsibility for your actions and admit your mistakes. They appreciate your maturity.

Do People Like You?

party planning mode

Yup, it's on. Time does fly really fast...Joaqui will be turning two in four months and being the overly excited party planner that I am, my notes are done for Joaqui's 2nd birthday. Since I promised my husband that our son's 2nd birthday party would not be as elaborate as his 1st, we have decided that we are having a Jollibee party, for obvious reasons...I don't know a kid who doesn't like Jollibee.
As early as now, we have scouted four Jollibee stores and have inquired party details with all of them. And I have also inquired other party details that can be included that are not in their package (hahaha), so my real plan is really not just your ordinary Jollibee party (kaching!).
As my n@wie friends Jacq and Con would put it, front ko lang daw si Jollibee...hahaha.
Wish me luck on this ; )

while mommy was sleeping

Since Joaqui's previous yaya left, I was the one who is putting him to sleep, and so even with a new yaya (yes, we have a new AND better yaya) Joaqui still prefers me to put him to sleep. It is then that I discovered the early indications what Joaqui would become when he grows up during our before-going-to-sleep routine. When it's bedtime and he had his milk, we would play a little and then I would pretend that I am asleep and would just watch him secretly. My son never fails to amuse me with his antics before he dozes off. I don't know if he tires himself to sleep or bores himself until he falls asleep...; )
Joaqui can become a doctor. He has early fascination with anatomy. While I am quietly lying down and pretending to be asleep, he would identify body parts by poking my eyes, touching my lips or checking my nostrils (this one is a little gross).
Joaqui can become a priest. Sometimes I would catch him singing "alleluia" in different tones. There is the high-pitched alleluia and the low-pitched alleluia. This sometimes is accompanied by a gesture with his hands mimicking a priest giving a holy water blessing.
Joaqui can become an accountant. I never thought that he was listening to me when I teach him how to count. Just the other night, he was counting by himself...wan, tu, three, por, payv, veven, eight, ten. Now, I think just like mommy, Joaqui isn't good in Math...skipping the numbers six and nine...hehehe.
Joaqui can become a broadcaster. He would recite the things or the words that he would hear from us (especially from me) like "no, no, no, no!", "ma na" (tama na), "nap na" (enough na).
I think that as Joaqui will grow older, it would be more and more difficult to sell sleep, but I am enjoying this mommy moment and I can't wait to discover more before-going-to-sleep routine with him.

kwentong yaya

The story as to why I was not actively blogging lately....
It has been a week now since I have fired yaya Rose, Joaqui's nanny since he was almost 1 month. It was not easy, but the reason did not come from us. Yaya Rose was a relative of our family friend and we knew her way back. She now has two daughters, one in high school and one in college. When her husband was forced to retire early, she approached my mom and was applying to be a yaya since she was not doing anything and to have an income. We finally got her after having three nannies who either couldn't really perform well or was just really not competent enough to take care of a baby. Yaya Rose lives near from us so she comes in the morning and then goes home in the evening. She is really good in taking care of children, I even leaned a lot from her. She also does some household chores when Joaqui as asleep and helps my mom in some housework. We did not treat her as a yaya, we treated her as one of us. Sometimes when we go out and eat, I also buy something for her daughters. We give her a gift when it's her birthday. We also give her daughters Christmas presents. When my mother-in-law comes to visit, she would give Yaya Rose pasalubong also. I was also not strict with her time. At first she comes in at 8 a.m. and leaves at 7 p.m. Recently before the schoolyear begins, she asked if she could come in at 11 p.m. and go home at 9 p.m. I reluctantly agreed because I needed her at that time, but still she never heard any complaint from us.
I just realized now that the problem began when her husband went to Saudi to work. When she started to work for us, we knew she was an active officer for the PTA in a public highschool in our place. I knew that every May, she has to take a leave for a week to help in the school during enrolment, but this year she asked for two weeks of leave. I agreed that she would not be in for two weeks, but on the day that she was supposed to come for work, she said that she had personal problems, she was always dizzy, etc. and she could not come in until the next week. Eventhough I am a work-at-home mom, I still need someone to look after Joaqui so that I can do my work, especially now that Joaqui is so active. She is aware of my situation and I have asked her before to avoid being absent because if I could not work, I do not have an income. These episodes of not coming to work have become more and more frequent that almost every week, she has one or two days of absences. The reasons would be her daughter has fever (eh hello...college na kaya yun di ba...?!), or she has LBM, etc., etc. The one time that I really lost my patience was when she asked for an advance and then she did not come for three days (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday)!!! She finally showed up only on Saturday and Sunday and then was absent again on Monday...arrrgghhhh! So I finally asked her...ako pa nag-ask...when she came in on Tuesday, she did not offer an apology or an explanation as to why she was absent on Monday. I asked her if she still wants to work for us, she just answered "ikaw ang bahala." I was waiting for more than that. I was waiting for her to say, "naku hindi naman, etc., etc..." So that was a signal for me that she does not want to work for us anymore. I asked her to stay for a month until we can get a replacement. She said she would give me until the end of July...o di ba sya pa nagbigay ng date. We had an agreement, which I thought we did. The following day she texted me saying her mother had an emergency and she could not wait until the end of July. Napamahal na daw yung bata sa kanya and ayaw daw nya maghiwalay kami ng ganitong paraan...duh?! We had an agreement until the end of July...she stil owed me money from her previous advances.
For a week, I was taking care of Joaqui and working at the same time. I do not know how I did it, but I did it. I was yaya-less but still working. What saddens me though is that hindi sya itinuring na iba. We treated her well. Everytime she has problems with money and she would come to me sometimes for a month's worth of salary as advance, she did not need to ask twice. I was thinking that because her husband is now working abroad that she does not need to work anymore...well I hope she is right. That's my kwentong yaya for now. She was a good yaya to Joaqui and I hope we could find someone as good as her.

Pinoy Parenting Blog Carnival 5

This is my entry for PBBC 5 hosted by Guardian Angel.

Topic: What would you like your children to be when they grow up, and why?

As parents, we all have dreams for our children - we want the best for them that this world can offer. Some of us may see our children as extension of our lives that we want them to be what we are and sometimes what we had hoped to become but did not.

I dream that Joaqui would be a musician. At such a young age, he loves to sing and dance. Whenever he hears someone singing, he would watch intently. When we hear mass, we would always sit by the choir because he likes to watch them sing. He now can sing alleluia, alleluia amen. When at the mall, he would stop and watch those people singing on the videoke and would imitate them. He is sensitive to the rhythm of the sounds that he hears, be it animal sounds, musical instruments or songs. I think he would make a great musician someday.


I also dream that Joaqui would become a chef. He is such a voracious eater and is fond of eating (like his parents). When he was learning to talk, one of the first words he said was "yum, yum." Since then, when he sees food he would say "yum, yum" and sometimes if he really likes what he is eating would add "charap." I would love to see Joaqui become a chef someday and he would be so cute in a chef's uniform ; )

I could dream a million things about my son and somehow wish that all of them would come true, but in the end, as a parent I would support whatever dream he wants to pursue. I dream that my children would lead good lives. I would want them to live a full life and reach for their dreams with act of kindness and love every step of the way.

something to ponder...why do you want to have children?

This question had been in my mind for quite some time and I really don't know why this came up, so I decided to post this question for my fellow n@wies (newlywedsatwork). I was overwhelmed by the many responses I got and the different insights into this question. Yes, there are women who naturally would want to have children and there are those who would plot out a game plan with regards to their family life, and that includes whether to have children or not, and when to have them. There was a question of being ready physically, emotionally, spiritually or financially, and there are those whose time has not come yet for them to bear their offsprings.
I wanted to have children even before I got married, but I was also afraid that I would not be the kind of parent that my family expects me to be and I also had fears of what kind of life can I give to my children. Jeff and I had plans to have children a year after our marriage, but our plans and my fears were conquered by a great need to nurture and love. When Joaqui was born, I was overwhelmed by the love that I have for my child that sometimes I could not believe the joy this kind of love brings.
Having children is a gift from God that we can accept or not - a choice that we have to make. If we accept this gift, it is our responsibility to nurture this gift not only to bring forth happiness for ourselves but also to God who gave it. It is a gift that is given in His time, and while some of us wanted to accept this gift, it is only God who knows when to give it to us. As I became a parent, I have learned to give the best of myself to a life not my own. I have experienced happiness in both the complexity and simplicity of being a mother. I have learned to give and make someone else's happiness and welfare my priority before my own.
It's never a simple question and for the hardships and sacrifices for having them, the heart has it's reasons that reasons know nothing of.