Today, I am unloving...

... that I wasn't successful at teaching Noah good table manners.

I tried, I swear. But he would always complain that it was impossible because he was left-handed. Then I'd attempt to demonstrate it to him with my left hand. But since I'm right-handed, it felt so awkward that I couldn't do it right either. So years have passed, he's now 12 years old and he still holds a spoon like one holds a bike handle...

... rather than hold it like you would a pencil. 

Today, and maybe forever, I unlove... that I failed at teaching Noah good table manners. 

Photos are from acupofjo, fromainsleywithlove & annnniegirl. 

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am unloving... series. 

Today, I am unloving...

Noah goes back to school next week. So today, I am unloving... that summer vacation is ending because I will miss staying up late in bed with Noah talking about the oddest random things. 

During the past two months, because I didn't need to get him fed, bathed and sleeping by 830pm, we could have the longest conversations. Once, he brought up wanting to live in the US instead of the Philippines. So I enlightened him on the pros of living in the Philippines. We also talked about the cons of living in either country. This led to a conversation about our third-world state and what got us here. But the best part is that we got to talking about what we (and in the future, he) can do to make the Philippines a better place to live in. :)

Another night, we were talking about me going to work the next day. He pretend-cried and said, "You don't love me. You want to leave me." So I asked him if him leaving for playdates or sleepovers with his buddies meant he didn't love me. Of course it didn't, so he got my point. Then he said, I wish we were super rich so you don't need to work so we can buy stuff. I realized then, that our rushed conversations during school nights led him to the wrong idea about work. When he would tell me not to go to work, I would respond with, "How will I afford to buy you Legos?" or something like that to cut our conversation short and get him to sleep. But since it was summer and we could stay up all night, I got a chance to tell him I work because I love what I do. And I got to tell him that he needs to figure out what he loves to do and make that his career. Of course, he still maintains he wants to be a YouTuber when he grows up. Gah!

On a different night, Noah asked who puts money in the bank so Isabella can get money from the ATM. So I launched into how bank accounts work. This led to me showing him my BPI mobile app which led to a conversation about savings accounts, loans and investments. 

Things I never thought would be kid-friendly topics figured into our nightly conversations just because one convo led to another then to another. And this was only possible because we had all night. 

But when school starts, I'll be back to cutting our convos short, in a panic to get him to bed on time. I will certainly miss the learning opportunities in our conversations. So today, I am unloving that Noah and I will no longer have time for our long, random, insightful conversations. 

Photo from nyctaughtme.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am unloving... series.

Today, I am unloving...

So I turned 40 last February. For a whole year before, my friend A kept telling me that "It's like clockwork. The day you hit 40, your eyesight deteriorates." For a whole year, I was constantly teased about getting reading glasses as my 40th birthday gift.

Thankfully, I didn't get reading glasses as my present. And it didn't seem like I needed them. I was reading perfectly fine, thank you very much!

Until, on a whim, I tried my friend A's reading glasses... And it was, literally, eye-opening. The text on my phone (my only reading material during that night at Barcino's) seemed larger, sharper, clearer! I was shocked.

A week later, when the shock  (and denial) wore off, I had my eyes checked. And... [sob!]... I do need reading glasses!

Today, I am unloving that the "oldometer" really is like clockwork. And that I need to read any scale - oldometer or other - with (gah!) reading glasses!

Photo from heritage.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am unloving... series.

Today, I am unloving...

Isabella is going to college this coming schoolyear so she will be taking driving lessons before the summer ends. 

I can't help feeling ripped off by the fact that she will be taking lessons to drive an automatic. Having taken lessons at A1 Driving School the summer before college myself, there seemed to be way better value for money learning to drive a car with manual transmission. Now that they don't need to teach the lessons on shifting gears, on getting the right rhythm of releasing the clutch and stepping on the gas (in other words, "making timpla") and on driving on an incline ("hanging"), I'm not really sure what lessons I'm going to be paying for on an automatic.

Okay, okay, they may not bring her to steep inclines...

but they''ll make her drive in busy thoroughfares... 

... (I got honking-jeepney-and-bus-filled North Edsa on my Day 1 years ago!) which I would never do if she took driving lessons from me. And yes, they'll still have to teach her to parallel-park. 

Still... the absence of the manual gear shift just seems to eliminate the lesson that requires the most teaching. And somehow, it doesn't seem to be "real" driving when you don't know how to shift gears. That seems to be the essence of driving - feeling your car's power, knowing the right moment to shift gears as you speed up on the highway.

So today, I am unloving... that Isabella's driving lessons may teach her how to maneuver her car around the city, but it might not teach her the true essence and joy of driving. 

Photos from annniegirl and americanhoney.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am unloving... series.

Today, I am unloving...

Today - okay, for 7 weeks now, I have been unloving the whole cramped elevator situation in the office. In almost 2 decades working, turns out it's my first time to work in a central business district, in a high-rise office building, so the overstuffed elevator experience is new to me.

Everyday, while I'm thinking to myself that we're already packed like sardines in the elevator and no one else can possibly fit, more people push themselves inside.

It reminds me of that old sequence on Sesame Street where one, two, three... all the way to ten clowns come out of a tiny car. Well, that's how I see my elevator experience: like the clown car routine - in reverse! How in the world is that possible?!

I wouldn't mind being part of the audience watching the amazing circus routine. But this time, I'm one of the clowns getting squashed inside the elevator! 

Now I know how my clothes (and shopping loot) on out-of-the-country trips feel like in my overstuffed luggage. Gah!

Today, I am unloving... the overstuffed elevator situation in the office everyday.

Photos from annniegirl and deliciouslyorganized.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am unloving... series. Click here for my previous post on another elevator peeve.

Today, I am unloving...

Today, I am sobbing... because my iPhone crashed the day after we arrived from our vake. Yes, crashed. 

Soft and hard resets wouldn't work. And I, and several technicians (I went to 3 different repair shops), tried restoring it but it kept on churning out a window with error 1603 or 1604. Long story short, it's still in the "ICU" and the technician warned me that it has a 50-50 chance of recovery.

I didn't realize how much I depended on the gadget until I lost it...

1. Eventually, I came to terms with the possibility that the vake photos in my phone will be lost forever. "Possibility"... Okay, maybe I haven't fully accepted it yet. There still is that tiny sliver of hope that my iCloud backed it up somehow.

2. My heart still aches at the thought of losing my Notes entry on the kids' quotable quotes & memorable moments, observations & insights during our trip. The Notes app on my phone has become my journal for these memories. And unfortunately, once I type them up on Notes, my brain's memory almost automatically relinquishes the task to my phone's memory. :( And when Noah uttered a new quotable quote a few days ago, I had to scramble for a pen & paper to jot down his words.

3. I tossed and turned at bedtime this week. I initially thought it was jetlag. Then I realized it was because I was used to falling asleep to a game of Word Warp or 4 Pics 1 Word.

4. I couldn't book a massage & nail appointment because I didn't have my trusty contacts. I couldn't "go back to work" either coz I didn't have my "work" contacts and my to-do list app (of course, laziness - er, inertia might have been a factor too).

5. Even my social media activities were put on hold because I only accessed Facebook & Twittwer via my phone, not my laptop. Same for web-surfing, blog-reading, online-shopping (am waiting for something to go back in stock!) and even cinema-sked-surfing (what time is Ironman 3 showing?).

6. Doing errands with Noah was also a challenge because it  turns out, my phone has become his digital pacifier - something that kept him busy so I could finish my errands without his constant "how many more minutes?".

7. I was late on some bank errands too coz I couldn't transfer funds, pay my credit card bill  and even monitor investments via my BPI mobile app. Expense-tracking via my Live Expenses app was also put on hold.

8. Yesterday in church, I didn't have a  bible because I was accustomed to using my bible app.

9. If I lived in the States (where we were the past 5 weeks), I'd probably be missing my  GPS and weather apps.

10. Blogging also became harder to do (hence, the 1 week lapse from the time we landed). I usually write my blogposts on Notes during my downtime - at night in bed, when everyone's asleep and I'm still wide awake or while waiting for Noah & Isabella to get dismissed from their after-school/summer classes. So I'm writing this post on my little moleskine notebook with my BIC 0.5mm mechanical pencil while waiting for Noah. I barely finished writing #2 of this post and my ring finger was already sore! By this part, even my neck is stiff... coz I need to write in my notebook (on my purse) on my lap versus holding up my iPhone & leaning my head on the backrest as I type my post. I haven't even gotten to the inefficiency of having to retype this handwritten draft on my laptop later.

I only started using an iPhone when I went on sabbatical. Just 7 months ago, I juggled an office phone, a personal phone and an iPod touch. I remember feeling liberated when I moved to my all-in-one iPhone. No more charging tray with different sockets for my different gadgets. No more 3-pocket pouch to hold them. But 7 months later, with what-I -thought-was-a-mere-utilitarian-gadget missing from my life, I feel crippled. I guess my iPhone has become my personal assistant - my JARVIS (Have you watched Ironman 3?! Awesome! Oh and JARVIS stands for Just A Really Very Intelligent System.). Just a week so far without it and I feel... trapped.

After my long 5-week vacation, I yearned for normalcy. So it's quite unnerving that even though we're back home, I can't go back to normal. It's like my life is on hold... until my iPhone is recovered... Oh, I hope my iPhone comes back to life! I can't wait to start living again...

Today, I am so unloving... that my iPhone has not come back to life.

Photos from heritage and acupofjo. 

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am unloving... series.

Today, I am unloving...

... the hubby's and my poor family vake planning skills. The last time we went on a family vake to the States was during the Christmas season. We scheduled our theme park trip between Christmas & New Year and it was our worst decision ever! Waiting time at the line of each attraction was at least an hour, 15 minutes. And the park streets were so filled with people that we couldn't scoot to each attraction. We had to inch our way slowly with the throng. 

We ended up splitting up just so the kids could experience as many rides as they could. Noah and I rode It's A Small World while Isabella and the hubby rode the Matterhorn.

Photo ops were close to impossible - unless we wanted a photo of the attraction with a mob of people we didn't know. So our best one of Cinderella's castle was one that skimmed the top of the crowd's heads and captured just the upper part of the castle.

I would have thought we'd learned our lesson after that awful trip to Disneyland. But we didn't. We recently booked a family trip to the States in April and turns out, our days in Disneyland & Universal Studios will fall during Spring Break. Aaaagggghhhh!

We're hoping it won't be as bad as our December trip. Maybe we can go around the park together as a family this time. But I expect we will again end up with photos of just the top of the castle.

With our vake planning skills, maybe the only way we can get a photo of the bottom part of the castle is if we build one ourselves. :(

Sigh. Today, I am unloving... our poor family vacation scheduling skills. 

Photos are my own and from annnniegirl.

Click here for another theme park wish of mine.

Today, I am unloving...

Today, I am unloving... a particular motherhood routine (see previous post about my favorite motherhood ritual here)... Because Noah's yaya (nanny) left us in June and I haven't replaced her. Am thinking 7-year-old Noah no longer needs a yaya (am afraid having one won't teach him to be independent). So I'm doing all the mothering chores these days. And the motherhood routine I've been so unloving is cutting Noah's nails. The white edge of his nail starts so low (vs. starting at the very tip of his fingers) so he mutters "ouch!" a lot when am cutting them.

 

And for some reason, his nails seem to grow so darn fast! I seem to need to cut them every couple of days!

 

To make matters worse, they're not only long, they're also really dirty!

 

 

And yes, it seems Noah is literally willing to get his hands dirty! I don't know where Noah goes or what he touches, but there is often a black line of dirt where the white edge begins. No, not close to the nail tip, but the other end of the white edge -- where the nail touches the finger, making it even harder to clean.

 

Gah! These days, I am unloving... cutting my little boy's nails.

 

Photos from i'mjustsaying.

 

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am unloving... series.

Today, I am unloving...

Who would have thought this tiny little green thing could make me sad? It's a plug for the coffee slit on Starbucks coffee cups - to prevent spilling on takeout orders.

Apparently, this has been around in other countries for a while now. Some say it was used even before Starbucks changed its logo here. Isn't it sad that our anti-spill solution in Manila is still this Post-it-flag-looking tape?

I first spotted this green little thing (I heard it's called a spill stick because the other end of the plug is a stir stick) during my recent trip to Hong Kong.

Coincidentally, my SIL (who just got back from working in New York) got used to the spill stick and last weekend, asked for one when she was given the tape. The Starbucks barista replied, "Ma'am, sa ibang bansa lang po yon. [Ma'am, they're only available in other countries.]".

I can't help it. I feel so sad for the Philippines. I guess, for me, it's a little green yardstick of progress. And sadly, Manila's not there yet. Today, I am unloving... that Starbucks' little green spill stick has not made it to the Philippines yet.

Photos are my own and from here.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am unloving... series.

Today, I am unloving...

Last Friday, I went shopping for Noah's big school bag since he starts Grade 1 tomorrow. So more accurately, last Friday, not today, I was unloving... the school bag options I had before me.

I came from the Grade 1 orientation that morning and they recommended the big, rectangular trolley bags versus the backpack-looking ones with a trolley. This was because it could both fit the 7 long plastic envelopes which held the materials (books, notebooks, etc.) for each subject, and pulling them out & packing them away would be easier for the kids with the rectangular bag (If you don't know which bag I mean, check out this post from mymomfriday here where she dissects the anatomy of a trolley schoolbag.).

First, I was unloving... that there were no non-cartoon-character designs like the prints above from Dwell Studio (incidentally, it's home/table end-of-season sale time at Rustan's from June 1 to July 31). I would have loved for Noah's bag to have cute elephants and giraffes (Maybe two of each animal for an apt Noah's Ark theme?). Or a print with generic (vs. branded like Disney Cars) cars, trucks, bikes and airplanes like the one above.

Then, I found out how much the trolley bags were and I, not only unloved it, but loathed it. Almost P4,000!!! Unbelievable! Just a little more and you'll be able to buy an old model of Samsonite luggage! It just seemed excessive for a school bag! 

Surprisingly, each character (Justice League vs. Disney Cars vs. Batman vs. Ben 10 for boys) was made by a different manufacturer. So there was an eager salesman ready with his salestalk with every character trolley I inspected. Since every one of them were priced anywhere from P3,000 to P4,000. I ended up listening to each salesman's spiel and decided what to buy based on who gave the best reasons to buy their trolley. Every salesman talked about:

1. what could fit into the bag (legal size folders),
2. what could be placed in each compartment (like extra clothes in this pocket or pencil case & crayons in that pocket),
3. a raincoat for the bag,
4. a free lunch box, and
5. six spinner wheels (Yes, even more than my Samsonite! Seriously!).

But one salesman's spiel stood out - the Lightning McQueen one - because he talked about:

1. the durable plastic material of the cover & the sturdy board material of the bag's sides - strong enough for the child to sit on the bag,
2. the rivets that were lined with a waterproof material because, he said, kids spilling liquids on the bag was unavoidable,
3. the rubber material of the straps' clasps which prevents them from breaking off or pinching a kid's fingers (he would bend the clasps to show it wouldn't break and gave me a tip that a peeking white line signaled plastic),
4. rubber reinforcement on the back of the bag that is aligned with the trolley bars so banging of the bag's back on stair-steps will not lead to the trolley bars getting stuck or destroyed, and finally,
5. the lining of the free lunchbox was thermal to keep food hot. 

So Noah will be going to school tomorrow with a Disney Cars 2 trolley bag. Based on the salestalk, it seemed like it was the best one at the store. But I would have loved better-looking non-character prints or a much lower price. So today, I am unloving... the school bag trolley options in SM last Friday.

Photo from the Facebook page here of Quirks Marketing, distributor of Dwell Studio in the Philippines.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I Am Unloving series. Click here for the non-schoolbag bag I also bought last Friday. 

Today, I am unloving...

This (above photo) isn't really a photo of our pomeranian, Halee. But she pretty much looks like this dog. That is, until today...

It's just been so hot these days that we decided to give her a "summer cut". We're feeling incredibly hot ourselves and we're not even covered in thick fur. So we figured it would help Halee feel cooler if she had shorter hair.

But today, I am unloving... Halee's haircut. Our cute, fluffy dog now looks like Timone, a meercat. 

Talk about a bad hair day! Poor Halee!

Oh, but sadly, it doesn't end here. While writing this post, I googled to check if "summer cut" is something Isabella just made up. Turns out, it isn't and I came across this article here that says that "not all dogs benefit from a summer haircut". And poms are one of these dogs that might get harmed by a summer cut. Oh no!!!

So today, I am unloving... our dog's summer cut and the fact that we may have caused her more harm than good. Aaaagggghhhh!!!

Photos from annnniegirl and my own edited with pixlr.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am unloving... series. Click here for a previous post about when Halee was a still a puppy.

Today, I am unloving...

Today, I am un-loving... that happy nails make me sad. Because I can't have them.

This photo of purple & yellow-orange nails that I just posted here reminded me of my unfortunate reality. I am allergic to nail polish. My nails turn completely white (like the white ones on the tips of normal nails) and it will take at least 5 months to grow them out.

I noticed that black nail polish has been popping up everywhere. On Eva Mendez and Zooey Deschanel. And in a non-goth way. I haven't really decided if I would be willing to try out this black nails trend. But it doesn't really matter because I can't.

And it really is a shame because I would love to accent a completely neutral outfit with a pop of color on my nails like this!

Today, I am un-loving... that I cannot wear nailpolish.

Photos from garancedore, acupofjo, 101gramsofeyecandy and annnniegirl.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am un-loving... series.

Today, I am unloving...

Today, I am un-loving... that the classic children's stories like The Gingerbread Man, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Rumpelstiltskin and Little Red Riding Hood are no longer easy to find. The books nowadays - even the old Little Golden Books - are mostly about cartoon characters from TV and the movies.

I recently scoured a popular bookstore for The Three Little Pigs, Hansel and Gretel, The Hare and the Tortoise and even The Emperor's New Clothes for Noah. But there weren't any nice picture books of these classics. I found a few sets of these classics but they were more narratives than picture books so I knew I wouldn't be able to keep Noah interested. I did find compilations by Miles Kelly that collapsed our old well-loved stories into five-or-ten-minute stories. They made for wonderful bedtime stories - just the right length for a tired & sleepy mom and an eager, story-hungry Noah, but I would have preferred it if there were a little more illustrations and if the stories did not slightly differ from the classics I grew up with.

I have yet to find Hansel and Gretel, The Ugly Duckling, The Boy Who Cried Wolf and The Elves and the Shoemaker. Sigh... Today, I am un-loving... that classic children's stories are not readily available these days.

Photo from annniegirl.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am un-loving... series. Click here for a previous post on minimalist posters of children's classics. Click here for a previous post on the fairytale of marriage.

Today, I am un-loving...

Today, I am un-loving... having to work the day after Christmas. Christmas was over too soon. Just a weekend. So going back to work today was difficult.

Of course, it wasn't like a normal workday with the shorter hours and a lunch-out. It was also quiet with much less emails so I got to finish my to-do list pretty quickly!

Still, it would have been great if work stopped at my workstation today so I could sleep in or go shopping or meet up with friends or play with the kids instead. Today, I am un-loving... having to work the day after Christmas. Thankfully, the New Year's weekend is longer with the holiday on Friday!

Photo from i'mjustsaying.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am un-loving... series.

Today, I am un-loving...

Today, I am un-loving... hard-case luggages because they open in the middle. Sure, they're sturdier. But it is impossible to fill them to the brim like a soft-case one that opens at the top. With a hard-case, it is difficult to estimate how much you can pile up on the bottom half, beyond its middlepoint brim, without making it impossible to lock when you bring the top half down to close it. If you try filling both halves separately first, gravity will mess up your tightly stacked top-half and items you packed by the edges will spill out when you attempt to close your hard-case luggage. Soft-case luggages, on the other hand, can be filled to the brim. Even beyond the brim, because they stretch to conform to the bulges your tightly squished shopping loot makes. Of course, this is coming from someone who sits (even stands) on her soft-case luggage to ensure it is packed as tightly as possible.

Today, I am un-loving... my hard-case luggage. I might as well convert it into our dog's bed!

Photo from inspirationoohahh.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am un-loving... series.

  

Today, I am un-loving...

Today, I am un-loving... the fact that my kids have no ratatouille. Anton Ego was the tough food critic from the 2007 Disney Pixar movie, Ratatouille. When he was served ratatouille, a peasant stew, he was shocked. But the second the flavor hit his tongue, he was transported to his childhood.

He returned to the time he crashed his bike and his mother prepared the same meal, the same way for him. It comforted him in a moving, inexplicable way.

I feel the same way about my Lola's (grandma's) cooking. Her chicken in brown sauce is my comfort food. No matter how bad a day I have, when I taste that first bite of her chicken in brown sauce, I magically feel better. None of us can recreate it (not that I ever expected I could. See related post here). I cannot even figure out what goes into the mysterious brown sauce. To this day, my 90-year-old Lola cooks me my chicken in brown sauce, my ratatouille, as my birthday gift every year.

I realized recently that my kids grew up with Inday's (Inday is a typical househelper's name here in the Philippines) cooking. We've gone through our share of different Indays through the years so there really isn't any dish - cooked in a distinct, personal way - that they grew up with and could call their comfort food, their ratatouille.

Sigh. Today, I am un-loving... that my kids do not have their own ratatouille.

Photos from here and here.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am un-loving... series.

Today, I am un-loving...

A couple of days ago, after dropping off the kids at school, I decided not to go straight to the office. I stopped at Starbucks for some me-time. My plan was to have grilled cheese and ground coffee beans to prepare me for the grilling at the grind that day. I even had a funny book, Ellen's latest, Seriously... I'm Kidding so I wouldn't take the work day ahead so seriously.

But at the counter, I discovered that Starbucks had phased out my favorite Grilled Ham & Three Cheese on Italian Country Bread (see related post here). The barista said they replaced it with the more delicious Ultimate Grilled Cheese sandwich so I tried that with my coffee.

It was NOT. It didn't have the cheesy goodness of my old favorite Starbucks sandwich. Today, I am un-loving... Starbucks' Ultimate Grilled Cheese sandwich because it just doesn't measure up to its old Three Cheese counterpart.

I did enjoy my me-time though. I guess next time, I am keeping my order to just coffee.

Today, I am un-loving... Starbucks' not-so-Ulimate Grilled Cheese sandwich.

Photo from sparklesandpretending.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am un-loving series.

Today, I am un-loving...

Today, I am un-loving... the poor pedestrians I passed today with broken umbrellas. As I drove to work this stormy morning, practically every pedestrian I passed had a deformed umbrella brought about by the awfully strong winds. I felt sooo, sooo bad for them. :(

I really hope tomorrow will be better. Because today, I was majorly un-loving... the wind-blown umbrellas on the road.

Photo from Getty Images via here.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I am un-loving... series.

Today, I am un-loving...

Yes, this is a trivet. But the small one is a coaster!

Today, I am un-loving... the multitude of absolutely beautiful coasters out there that do not serve a coaster's purpose. I guess these lovely coasters are meant for colder climates. With the heat here in Manila, our glasses of cold water perspire and true, the pretty coasters prevent the formation of a ring on my table. But the little beads of condensation slowly build up on the surface of the coaster... then they form a pool that spills from the edge of the useless coaster... and instead of a ring, a translucent albeit white puddle stains the surface of my precious wooden table.

So these are just as useless as the ones with holes.

Only the glass ones like these - that catch the liquid - do the job. Sadly, these might be the best looking I've seen of this type of coaster.

They're also not so kid-friendly, being made of glass. Thick ones made of cloth or even the common crocheted ones work better for everyday use around kids.

Though not the prettiest, the native crocheted sleeve-type ones (which I fondly call "glass panties") work best in my experience. And luckily, using an apple green or ivory set of "glass panties" on my blue tinted glasses look quite nice. :)

But boy, do I wish the gorgeous coasters available out there worked just as well as my "glass panties" in keeping my wooden tables pristine. Today, I am un-loving... those beautiful yet useless coasters.

Photos from lushlee, here and here.

Click here for previous posts from the Today, I Am Un-Loving series.