my Monica-closet house

My house is not the unbelievable, disastrous mess you see as the "before" in the show Clean House. But just like Monica (see more of my Friends obsession here), I've got a closet... okay, a corner... fine! corners and drawers... that are shamefully piled high with category-less clutter.

Now that I have time on my hands (see related post here), I've been cleaning out those closets, corners & drawers that have accumulated clutter since we moved in 8 years ago. Am far from done but so far, I've unearthed 2 VHS players, 3 telephones, 3 vacuum cleaners - all in the storage cabinets under the stairs.

I also found my Advantix rolls, so organized in their special box. 

This, together with film negatives and "developed" photos, are now in the box of photos here.

I also found these casette tapes... 

I have always been an OST lover. Do you remember Ally McBeal and Reality Bites? The Apo & Michael V ones are my hubby's. No one has owned up to owning the Randy Santiago tape though. Amazing how we still have a brand new tape (which has a price tag at the back of P47, just in case you wanted to know).

The Basia CD isn't even mine! Borrowed it from my friend S in college and turns out, I never returned it! Eeep! 

Notice the masking tape label on the Workshy CD? That was for our wedding - to guide the music guy on which tracks to play and when. How primitive huh? The hubby and I scrambled to put these labels on our CDs the day before our wedding! When wedding coordinators and digitally-organized-playlists didn't exist yet.

I also found stacks & stacks of Isabella's childhood books and VHS tapes. After taking out those that can be handed down to Noah and my nieces, I gathered everything up for donation to the Philippine Toy Library. I have to admit I was teary-eyed the day I said goodbye to my baby girl's books & Veggie Tales movies. But the idea that they would now make other children happy felt pretty good.

So far, this de-cluttering has been a dusty yet delightful trip down memory lane. :)

Photos are my own and from here.

Click here for the ofdotsnthings version of this post. Click here for another ancient thing about my wedding. 

Philippine Toy Library is a group of volunteer-friends who provide the experience of play to Filipino children living in cramped, congested areas. PTL transforms idle spaces in barangays/schools/parishes into fun & educational playrooms to keep kids off the streets. Drop-off point for donations is near Ateneo, behind Kenny Rogers, at 56 Esteban Abada Street Loyola Heights, QC (zip code is 1108 in case you want to send them a box of toys just like a friend of mine from Singapore recently did). So go and de-clutter your homes, donate to PTL & bring joy to more Filipino kids.

dear person taking my photo

While picking the pumpkin shots for this post here, this letter started writing itself in my head. Because how many times have you crouched down or tilted your head or bent your body in an attempt to fit into a photo... Only to discover later how much head space there was above you so you could have actually just stood up straight?

So it's not just you, dear T who took this particular photo. I am also addressing this letter to a lot of other friends (& random waiters in restos)...

Dear person taking my photo, I really wish you would tell me if you were going to zoom out enough for me to fit my whole un-contorted body in the photo so I can get out of my contorted pose. Please do not immortalize me in a photo with my upper body in an unflattering right angle. Also because crouching down - worse, squatting unnecessarily - is not really a breeze either (yes, I'm that unfit) especially when I'm also trying to suck in my tummy (hehe).

Plus, it makes you seem like a professional photographer! The one photography lesson I retained from the hubby (yes, all that aperture talk was lost on me) is to resist putting people's faces in the vertical middle of the frame and instead, minimize the space above people's heads - especially if that's mostly just a blank wall or unsightly ceiling.

So dear non-professional photographer taking my picture... Kapag kasya naman ako sa picture (if I fit into the picture anyway), please please tell me not to bend or crouch down anymore.

Photo is my own.

Click here for previous posts from the Dear... series.

How Halloween didn't go exactly as planned...

I had a specific criteria for Noah's Halloween costume this year. First, I didn't want to spend so much (after all, I no longer have a monthly salary). Second, I wanted him to be comfortable (I didn't want him to feel hot in thick, full-body covering). Third, I didn't want his costume to be very common. But most importantly, I wanted Noah to want his costume - to love it.

So I started by asking Noah what he wanted to be this Halloween. He answered, "Captain America". Okay, I admit, like Pat of 101gramsofeyecandy here, I love crafts but 90% I do in my head and only 10% actually get done (okay, maybe just 5%). So off to the department store we trekked. Noah wanted the hard-plastic mask and not the soft cloth-mask the commonly available Captain America costumes come in. He also didn't like the readily-available costume because it was light blue, not dark blue (as you know from here, Noah is quite a perfectionist). Since the mask cost about as much as the costume, I was quite glad the Captain America plan didn't work out.

So I searched Noah's cabinets for something that would work and found his eyeglasses and Harry Potter wand (which my brother handcrafted for him a while back). Then I searched the web for photos of Harry and found this.

Perfect! Coz I thought younger Harry's cape & Hogwarts uniform with the tie would be too hot to go trick-or-treating in. Plus, Noah had this Old Navy shirt in his closet already! I thought, how comfy it would be to go trick-or-treating in a t-shirt!

Armed with my internet photo, I successfully convinced Noah to want to dress up as Harry Potter. I just needed to get him round-rimmed glasses (as I said, he's a perfectionist). Just the cost of play glasses, I was fulfilling everything on my criteria!

Then... I got the call from my mommy-friend C. Turns out, another mommy-friend hatched the idea of making our boys come as Ninjago masters (the characters of the Lego Ninja show on Cartoon Network).

My mommy-friend C is a true crafter - actually doing the crafts instead of just in her head. So she made these unique costumes for the boys.

Noah's the white ninja.

Oh, and I just had to show you this. Isn't this the cutest Sensei Wu ever?

So that's how Halloween this year didn't go the way I planned. I ended up spending on a costume and Noah did not only end up going trick-or-treating in a long-sleeved shirt & vest, he also went around in full headgear! But he didn't care about the heat. He had the most fun at the back of C's pick-up with the rest of his Ninjago friends. Just posing at PhotoMania's photobooth seemed like a lot of fun!

I did tick 2 things off my list. It was a unique costume - the boys won a prize for it and one kid even approached me to ask where Noah got his costume. And Noah absolutely loooooved his costume. And at the end of the day, that is all that matters.

What about you? What did your kids come as this year? Did you make the costumes yourself? Or did you go for a store-bought one?

Photos are my own and from nyctaughtme, here and here.

Click here for the costume Kris of ocmominmanila made for her daughter (yes, Kris has more DIY-genes in her than I do). Click here for previous Halloween posts.

oops, my neurosis is showing...

Signs that my candy obsession might be a tad neurotic:

1 I always have a plastic pouch of strawberry tape in my bag. And they're for me, not the kids. In fact, I have to admit I secretly wish the kids don't ask for some. Haha, selfish!

2 I truly believe my tummy has a separate compartment for candy. No matter how stuffed I am -- as the hubby would say, "kapag kasing-tigas na ng ulo ko yung tiyan ko" (cannot be translated for my non-Filipino readers so just read as "No matter how extremely full I am..."), I still have space for candy.

3 A trip to NYC is not complete without a visit to the M&Ms and Hersheys stores. I've had photo ops with the M&Ms mascots, I drool over the huge tubes of uniquely colored M&Ms (in unique pastels, easter colors and even different shades of neutrals)...

... and I struggle with the decision to NOT buy a pair of M&Ms earrings...

... or Hershey's memorabilia (and I go through this tug of war in my head every single time!).

4 I have a Bubbleyum messenger bag that I use as my office laptop bag. I shamelessly bring it to the boardroom amid my colleagues' Prada and Furla laptop bags (Don't worry, my direct-reports still respected me, or at least they acted like they did. Hehe.).

I first spotted it in FAO Schwarz but the tug of war in my head went towards not-buy. Months after though, I regreted my decision and purchased it online.

Oops, is my neurosis showing yet again?

Photos from annnniegirl, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Click here for previous posts from the Oops, My Neurosis Is Showing... series.

Regret...

While at a stoplight on the way home on one rainy night about a year ago, an old man walked past my car on the sidewalk. He didn't have an umbrella, was completely drenched and was clearly shivering from the cold rainy night.

I didn't have an umbrella in my car either. All I had was this new down rainjacket I had purchased just the previous week in Hong Kong.

I hesitated. I wish my first thought was that he might get insulted because it wasn't clear if he was homeless. But that wasn't my first thought. Sadly, it was that my jacket was expensive.

I hesitated for about 3 seconds and by then, the light had turned green and I lost the opportunity to comfort a shivering, old man on that late, rainy night. I regret that moment to this day. I wish I had not been that selfish.

3 seconds of hesitation. A nagging regret I will carry for years to come.

 

Photo from frommetoyou.  

visions of a mugshot

I just got a call from Noah's teacher. Turns out the Daddy of one of his classmates wants to talk to me. Oh no!!! What did Noah do?

I am dreading the conversation with Noah tonight. Moreso, the conversation with his classmate's parents. Because I have visions of him in a mugshot. :(

Gosh, I hope he's innocent.

Photos from here.

Click here and here for less incriminating posts about Noah. Because I promise, he is a sweet, sweet boy!

why i can't buy these rainboots

Am obsessed with this pair of Hunter Wellies (possible reasons are in this post here). But I cannot rationalize buying yet another pair of rainboots.

You see, I have 3 pairs of Plueys already. This was the first one I bought.

Then a year later, I couldn't resist buying a new pair and even bought the kids their own. Here are pages from one of Isabella's scrapbooks on our Plueys purchases.

Yes, that's only 2 pairs of Plueys. Problem is, in 2009, Isabella and I had the same shoe size. But since then, her feet have grown bigger so I got her Catstooth hand-me-downs. And that makes 3. Eeep.

I have rationalized their existence by keeping one at home, one in my car and one in the office for unexpected rain. Sadly, I don't have any other locations to justify the matte green Hunters above.

Unless I can justify this foldable boot from Redfoot. They're lightweight and waterproof with a fleece lining that will come in handy when it gets cold.

I mean, my 3 pairs of rainboots are too big & bulky to pack when I travel to a cold, rainy place. So I need this foldable one, right?

Haha! Even I know that's a flimsy excuse.

Photos from acupofjo, Redfoot and here. Most of the photos in the scrapbook pages are my own or from Plueys Manila. Since the scrapbook pages were never meant to be published, I'm not sure if there are other photo sources. So if you know where they came from, please email me so I can give due credit.

Click here for the of-dots-&-things version of this post.

liar, liar, pants on fire

I am the worst liar. Lying makes me sooooo uncomfortable. I cannot even manage the little white lies to get through village gate guards. Even when I don't even have to say anything. Just being an accomplice to the hubby's "Hatid lang siya [will just drop her off at her house]" while motioning at me with his thumb is major pressure for me! I cannot even manage a confident-nod-at-the-guard-like-I-know-him-because-I-supposedly-live-there.

Ellen deGeneres says in her book, Seriously... I'm Kidding, that people tend to lie about their age, their weight, their natural hair color, and how cute their friends' babies are. I don't get why'd you'd lie about the first 2 (unless you're 16 and trying to get into Euphoria -er, I mean a club) because your age and weight show anyway. What's the point saying you're a size 2 when you're obviously a size 8? And I guess lying about your haircolor is not so relevant in this black-haired part of the world. But I have to admit that friends' babies thing is hard. I really can't lie so I end up saying "Aawww..." or "Soooo tiny." And it's not that their babies aren't cute, it's just that I think all newborns really look the same so it's hard to say if one is cute or not.

But after reading ocmominmanila's tweet the other day, I realized there is one thing that I do lie about. "The 21st century's most frequently told lie is: ☑ I have read & agree to the Terms & Conditions."

Photo from here.

oops, my neurosis is showing...

I have a problem with floating stickers on the windshield.

When I'm inside the car, I can't seem to look past them. So they give me a headache.

Because I need the stickers to be out of my line of sight, the only acceptable windshield space is the bottommost portion which is hard to get to because there's hardly enough space for hands to fit - what more hands that are trying to stick the sticker as close as possible to the bottom edge of the windshield? Not to mention the fact that the stickers cannot be stuck in a lopsided manner. I need them to be evenly aligned to the edge of the windshield. I used to stick them on an acetate film. But acetate films are hard to come by these days (do overhead projectors still exist?). So I actually haven't stuck an LTO-registration sticker on my windshield for 5 years now. And you know how much of a dutiful driver I am from here. So while I feel guilty about it, I really prefer a clear, floating-sticker-free windshield like this.

Oops, is my neurosis showing again?

Photos from annnniegirl.

Click here for previous posts from the Oops, My Neurosis Is Showing series.

guilty

Eeep. Am guilty. I have to admit there is this feeling of hatred in the driver in me. Not towards bicyclists, but towards motorcyclists.

Not only because they take away the one fun thing about catching a red light here. But because they weave in & out, often dangerously overtaking from the right side. I think the idea of designating a motorcycle lane is the right thing to do. But a whole car lane on Edsa does not seem to be the right way to do it. Because daily Edsa traffic is proof that the volume of cars is just too high, the motorcycle lane will always be occupied by cars too. And the motorcycles will just overtake from the right or left of those cars in the motorcycle lane. It doesn't help that the motorcycle lane is a middle-lane because they tend to spill out to the left & right lanes, affecting all 3 car lanes -- rendering the motorcycle lane pretty useless.

I think there's something to learn from bicycle lanes. Bike lanes around the world are small. They don't fit cars, just bikes. Maybe they should designate 1 or 2 motorcycle-wide lanes on Edsa as the motorcycle lane.  It will segregate cars from motorcycles, keeping everyone safe. Perhaps this is why "love is among cyclists". They have their own lane - safe from dangerous overtaking against much bigger vehicles, yet still unperturbed by the heavy traffic of cars in the car lanes.

I remember the time when buses would weave in & out of Edsa traffic, going from the leftmost lane to the rightmost and back. We've managed to get buses to stick to their lane. I'm sure we can get motorcycles to do the same! As long as they can have their lane all to themselves. Maybe this is one time that sharing [lanes] leads to hatred and selfishness leads to love...

Photos from designsponge.

a row with rows

I've got a row with rows. Pardon the pun, I couldn't resist. :) What I mean is, I've recently realized that there are some pretty frustrating things about queues these days...

The half-hearted queues - A popular drugstore here in Manila has those queue posts with retractable belts leading to the pharmacy counter. But when you get to the counter, it suddenly becomes free-for-all and people just find gaps  along the counter (even if they don't necessarily fit a whole person) to squeeze themselves into it. And once you find a gap you can fit in, you have to try to catch the attention of a drugstore personnel to get what you need. So I wonder: what was the hopeful-beginnings-of-a-queue for then?

The invisible queues - I see these mostly in mall bathrooms. A small line begins to form before the first bathroom stall, then someone enters and bypasses the line and creates her own line at the second stall. Soon, the people at the back of the original line rush to create a third line at the third cubicle. Since I'm sure I didn't have Harry Potter's cloak of invisibility on during these times, I tend to ponder: do they really don't realize there's a common line? Or do they just believe in shrewd line-picking (which results in a "Woot! Woot! I picked the fastest-moving or shortest line!") over the fair first-come-first-served line?

The imaginary (really unnecessary) queues - For me, this is the worst of all. You know how baggage claim belts are pretty long (and winding) at our airport? I can never understand why people line up behind me - even if there's a wide expanse of empty portions around the conveyer belt. So they end up pushing me, trying to catch a glimpse of the bags passing and even force me to move aside if their bag comes before mine. I would be okay if it was a really big plane and there were just so many passengers around the belt that a queue is necessary. But when it's not, I really cannot fathom why they queue up behind me (hitting my calf with their trolley a number of times) when they can have their own empty space in front of the belt, just a few steps further. In fact, I've contemplated a lot about this (yes, it takes that long for my bag to come out) and I think it's better for people to stay away from the belt (i wish airports would paint a yellow line a meter away from the belt so people can stay behind it like they do at immigration or ATMs) since you can spot your bag from afar anyway. And once you do spot your bag, that's when you can go beyond the yellow line to pull your luggage from the belt with enough space to maneuver the heaving of bags off the belt and onto your trolley (is it obvious my bags are always at maximum allowable weight - and then some - vis-a-vis 5'1" me?). Isn't this a much better baggage-claim system?       

Don't get me wrong. I'm glad to see people lining up more these days. But I just wish we'd do away with these half-hearted, invisible, and imaginary (really unnecessary) queues.

Photo from annnniegirl.

talking pet peeve

I recently realized I don't really enjoy movies with talking animals. I don't mind talking dwarfs like Smurfs or even Gnomeo & Juliet. Or talking muppets like Kermit & Gonzo. I even adore talking cars like Lightning McQueen & Mater and talking toys like Woody & Buzz. But talking animals - not so much. I watched Happy Feet, Ice Age and Madagascar primarily for the kids but I didn't really care for them very much. It's worse when the animals are dressed in human clothes.

So imagine how much I was silently kicking and screaming when we watched Alvin & the Chipmunks 3 in the movie house about a month ago. Especially since I hadn't watched neither Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol nor Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, which were both showing right next door.

I don't really know when this strange aversion to talking animals started. Come to think of it, I much preferred Lion King on Broadway versus the animated movie. And I wonder if it's because people played the animals' parts in the theater version? Though I do remember liking Shirt Tales a lot when I was growing up. And they were talking animals in human shirts! Now isn't this bizarre?

What about you? Do you like movies with talking animals? Or are you also praying there won't be a 4th insertion to the Alvin & the Chipmunks series? Do you also watch movies you don't particularly care for because your kids want to? Do you end up watching more kiddie movies in the moviehouse while blockbusters get relegated to screening via DVD?

Photo from heritage.

   

by the nth outfit...

I tried on countless outfits this morning because every one of them was too tight. Sigh... I am at my fattest. I am exactly the same weight as I was when I gave birth to Noah. Granted, I only gained 18 pounds during that pregnancy and the pounds all seemed to go to my belly. But I cannot fathom how I can weigh the same as when I had an 8-pound-baby and all that amniotic-fluid-and-placenta stuff in me!

And by the nth outfit, I was not only so depressed at my fatness that I wanted to binge on breakfast, but I was also so late for work, I didn't have time to go to the gym anymore. Painfully ironic, right?

Photo from annnniegirl. 

i miss riding...

I used to ride. Since I was 3 years old. But I haven't gone riding in a while. And I miss it a lot. I even miss just looking at beautiful horses (yes, sorry to discriminate, but not the sad, malnourished-looking kalesa-type of horses). Somehow, thoroughbreds have a calming effect on me. At the risk of making this seem like an oops, my neurosis is showing post, I have to admit that just seeing a horse's handsome back calms me. You know how only the horse's behind is seen when they're in a horse trailer? Well, I am soothed when I chance upon such a horse trailer on SLEX - probably on its way to its ranch home in Batangas. They need not be thoroughbreds. I remember passing Sta. Ana on the way to my Makati office during my first couple of years of working just to chance upon some part (behind or other) of a fine-looking horse. 

Gosh, I so miss horses. I haven't seen a handsome one in a while. It doesn't help that the horses eluded me during my last couple of work meetings in Manila Polo Club (why are they always out back?!). I guess I really should schedule a trip to Subic's El Kabayo Equestrian Center soon...

Photos from annnniegirl.

Click here for actual posts from the Oops, My Neurosis Is Showing series since I know, this post is suspiciously like one of them.

gifts under the tree

There never are gifts under my tree. I always end up wrapping gifts at the last minute - the night before I have to give it out. So while I absolutely love Trisha-of-Playtime-Break's color-coded giftwrapping idea via OCMomInManila here, I really haven't had the chance to wrap gifts early enough for them to have some wait time under my tree.

Even for my kids' gifts, I end up spending December 24 from noon onwards wrapping the gifts I will be giving out to the family that night and the day after. Oh no! Am I depriving my kids of the eager anticipation of finally unwrapping their Christmas gifts? Am I keeping them from excitedly wondering what is inside their wrapped gifts as they hold it up to their ear and shake it days before Christmas? :(

Photo from anniegirl.

   

oops, my neurosis is showing...

I have a meticulous photo-organizing system. I organize photos chronologically. So on big family vacations or on special occasions, I find it so difficult when there are so many cameras.

My chronological photo organization is put to test by multiple cameras - multiple photo sources. Would be easy if every camera had a uniform date and time. But of course, that is impossible.

So first, I organize the photos by camera: my folders will read cam1, cam2, cam3, cam4. Then, I create folders per activity. It's easy when activities are defined. Like say, lunch at Puca Beach. But idle leisure time drives me nuts. Like for example, hours playing in the sand. Based on the chronological order in each cam's folder, I figure out which idle activity went first. Oh, and when Isabella and Noah split up and go enjoy different activities, I end up having to have an Isabella folder organized by activity and a Noah folder also organized by activity.

Oops, is my neurosis showing again?

Photos from everythingfab and streetfsn.

Click here to see the first peek at my neurosis.

that kind of day

As awful as it may be, I have to admit I draw a bit of comfort that even models have that kind of day.

That kind of day always makes me late for work. I end up trying on many different outfits before I find one that doesn't make it look so much like that kind of day.

But when that kind of day goes on for weeks, it's either time to hop on the treadmill or go shopping for bigger clothes! I prefer the latter. After all, as Carrie Bradshaw once said, "Shopping is [my] cardio." :D 

Photos from harpersbazaar and here.

Click here and here for previous posts on that kind of day.