I have a dream...

And that is to be...

*drum roll*

A housewife.

Yes, you got that right: the very thing my own mother warned me not to become. The very thing she chose to be when my younger brother was born into this world. The very thing she and my dad decided she would be to be there for our (their children's) growing years.

Momsie was on her way to a high-powered career. She was working for a multinational company, she had the brains, she had the skills, and she had that "corporate" attitude - something along the lines of "mess with me and you will rue the day your mother went into labor".

I got all that from her - my temper (more fiery and hair-trigger), my taray looks, my ease when it comes to communication (even in a language I do not speak), my razor-sharp tongue (I have made onion-skinned people cry with my normal speaking tone), and lately my "more corporate" look (up until three years ago, my style of dress is more of "collegiate" but I digress").

What I did not get from her is the "corporate dream". I never dreamed of becoming a high-powered executive, driving a luxury car (I'd prefer a pick-up truck!), toting the requisite laptop-BB-handbag combo (a laptop and a non-QWERTY phone will be a-ok), dressed to the nines (this part I can do, hehe), and living in a penthouse condo unit (a home on a farm, please).

All I want is to stay home with my dogs, my (future) kids, my (future) businesses, and keeping house. I'd like to be blogging about my day, the stuff I cook, things from the market, the latest in dogs and kids... you know, a stress-free (in the office/corporate sense of the word) kind of life.

I was home sick a few days ago and, though my body was heavy and wracked with fever with eyes burning like it had ten chili peppers in it, I found I still enjoyed doing the dishes, thinking of dinner, sweeping up the millions of hair my dogs shed, doing the laundry and mopping the floor (my latest addiction).

Momsie said, to be a housewife is to not have your own money (that's why I will put up a business) and to be a victim to routine (which is why I will keep more than one blog, and take lots of pictures). Now, more than a quarter of a century after she first said that to me, I still say I want to become what my mother is.

** Oh yes, PMS-ing!

The Food Blog is BACK!

Just a short break from my random ramblings about life to say:

My food blog is up and running again! Yey!

Do come by and leave a word or two!

The Duck House

As I said in my previous entry, Jeni the macho woman was going to attempt to build a house for our little duckies. So on a Sunday she came back with pieces of wood and chicken wire - which she proceeded to saw, hack, cut, hammer, and staple into a duck house.

1) With her assistant, Nadyne and a sleepy Nikka in the background 2) Nikka and Nadyne in the half-finished house

She wasn't kidding when she said she could do it. At ten pm, the last nail was pounded into wood and the little duckies had a home. The doggies liked it too!

Nadyne was very enthralled with the ducklings... the ducklings too, apparently, as they would rush over to whatever side of the house Deedee (Nadyne) was on. Congratulations, my partner in crime. Next time, build a house for us and the four babies. =)

Yes, I am still alive...

Much to the delight of my one or two loyal readers, and the chagrin of my one billion and one haters. Mwahahahaha!

Whew! Jen and I just finished moving to the new house one month ago. This is an apartment about twenty minutes from my place of work and 40 minutes from Jen's. It's not the same place I last blogged about. Yep, welcome to my (crazy) life: stagnant at some point then suddenly it changes at the speed of light.

So, we moved to the apartment a month ago, about fifteen minutes away from our old apartment. The price is Php1,000 (about USD30) more than the old apartment but the floor area is 3x more. Still small but big enough for two bipeds and two medium-sized canines (just recently: to avians to the tune of Anas luzonica). I suck at area approximation but I'd say it's about 40 sqm. It's still a huge mess; we have a lot of stuff to buy, fix and install... but all in all we're happy. The dogs are happy - they have a bigger place to roam in, they have playmates (the neighbors' kids), and they have their mommies all to themselves.

Jen just came back with more than 15 feet worth of wood, three meters of chicken wire, a new hammer and a bunch of nails. She's going to make a home for our two new babies - Patricia (Patty) and Dorothy (Dotty) - the wonder-ducklings! (A digression - Jeni will make it all by herself. I can hang pictures, scrub pots and pans... and mop the floor till kingdom come but I can and never will take up such a project. Jeni, my wifey, the macho woman! Hardeeharhar...)

We aren't actually sure what their genders are BUT we're hoping both are girls. I will be hard pressed to change their names to masculine if we're wrong. Patricio and Doroteo, anyone?

Anyhoo...

On the work front... hmmm, let's just say that I don't have much of a life outside work these days and that I spend more time at work than I do at home. Let's talk about more pleasant things, yes?

On the food front: I'm going to revive my food blog! Hurray! Since food is my biggest obsession and my greatest (non-living form of) happiness, it only makes sense for me to document and write about my best stress-reliever, yes? So I hope this is one thing that will become a reality really soon. I can imagine all the yummy pics (Bradir will teach me how to take good pictures, hopefully), the belly-busting meals (Jeni, my sisters and mom will help me chow down, that's for sure), and the trips to far-flung places in search of culinary satisfaction. Yowzah!

Another thing that I'm cooking up (that I hope will become a reality in about a year's time) is a store... I 've done two pilot runs (one successful, the other one less so) that convinced me that 1) it's possible, but 2) I need to prepare and study and polish my plans more. So yeah... despite everything that's happening in my life, I still have plans of adding more stuff to crowd my already crazy schedule. I'm masochistic that way, harrrr...

So yeah, I just wanted to check in to assure my two or three loyal readers that YES, I AM STILL ALIVE! So I will still be blogging about once or twice a week... and more frequently on my food blog. I HOPE!

It's a rainy day today. I do love rainy days. I love how the world seems to be washed clean by the angry droplets from the sky.

What I don't like is the occasional flood and the devastation it brings - but that's not a usual occurence.

We're moving house (again) early next month so I'm frantically trying to fit so many things in the 24 hours I have all day: work, overtime work, packing up the stuff in the apartment, walking Nikka (we walk regardless of the weather), fixing stuff in the destination house, QT with the family, and sleep.

Aaaah, sleep. Such a luxury I can't seem to afford lately, especially since my commute has again been extended from a mere 10 - 20 minutes (with the worst traffic) to a mind-boggling 1 - 1.5 hours (traffic nonwithstanding). My weekends aren't exactly sleep-conducive either, as I usually have overtime work to do... plus cleaning up the from-location and to-location.

Until this move is completed, I may never get enough Z's. On second thought... until we move again to a location near the office, where the girls have a garden to frolic in, I doubt "enough sleep" will be in my list of top-ten things I do daily.

Now I'm having second thoughts if I really want a (human) baby...

48 hours down, 48 hours to go...

The plane left at 9:35PM on the dot. We arrived 25 minutes early. Definitely a first for me...

48 of the best hours this month, so far. 48 to go and I am getting sadder by the moment. Whenever I'm here, I never want to go back to Manila. When I'm in Manila, all I think about is the next time I come here (and eat som tam coz I'm takaw like dut...) - crazy I know but I love it here. I love this city more than I love the city I have lived in for the later half of my life.

I want to call this home but I can't.

It was not meant to be.

Just like you and me.

And so, as I need to say farewell to this beautiful city I wish were my own, I need to say goodbye to you too. You, whom I wish were my own too.

Time will heal all wounds.

Pray tell... why do I write such incoherent posts lately?

TODAY (Day 11): Realization...

But we all know that life is unfair; we don't always get what we want...

Image from this site.