D txt msg dat made my day

This message from hubby gave me a wifely high all day yesterday:

No mre dinner 2nyt. Ubos na. Ang sarap be. Mwah! 

 

Weeeeeh! Even if I don’t get to cook our weekday meals, I take so much pride in the fact that Jane and I serve healthy and yummy dishes. Every Friday night, I am just home. No gimmiks. No Friday night movies. After watching Agua Bendita,  I review my cookbooks, search the net for recipes and plan our weekly menu. Come Saturday early morning, I go to our neighborhood talipapa to buy the meats and veggies for the week.

Juskoday!BPA in Receipts!

Afraid! Be mega-afraid! There is BPA in receipts! And what is alarming receipts contain much much much more BPA than the usual bottles. In addition to that, BPA from receipts get easily absorbed by our skin.  Waaah!

I am very alarmed because for one, my son’s favorite pastime is playing with PAPER. He likes to wave, crumple and tear them up. I don’t think we’ve let him play with receipts since he likes glossy papers with pictures. But I am sure there were instances when I cleaned out my purse, organized my receipts then held the baby. Oh men! oh men!

I wonder if there is also BPA in newspapers and in printouts from regular printers.

Familia Kiki loves to read

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In my first 25 years of existence, the only non-school books that I’ve read are Of  Mice and Men, Hundred Years of Solitude, Tuesdays with Morrie, Order of the Phoenix, and a Sidney Sheldon novel on schizophrenia. The first two, I read because my high school literature  teacher required me and my classmates to. I enjoyed reading these two so much that I bought my own copies  and re-read them a couple of times. Order of the Phoenix and the Sidney books, I read out of boredom. I was fresh out of college and did not have work yet then. Tuesdays with Morrie, I read out of curiousity. My Ilang -ilang dormmates were raving about how touching it is.   And tt really is. I remember missing dinner because all I wanted to do was bury my head in the pillow and cry.

That is 5 books in 25 years. To say that I was a bookworm is a major lie. I didn’t like reading books because I don’t have the patience to wait for the ending. I always jump to the last chapter to find out. Plus, books without pictures bore me. Comics and magazines are a different story. I used to be  an avid collector of Archie comics. I had as many as 90+. I know because I was so obsessed with my Archie comics, I catalogued them the library way. Hehe. And in case you are wondering, I have always wanted Archie to end up with Betty. As for magazines, I have a gazallion. Back in HS, I would save my baon so I can buy a YM magazine. I wonder if YM is still in circulation. Before Candy mag came, there was YM, an imported and expensive magazine for teens. I remember the first Candy magazine that I bought, Anna Payabyab or something that sounds like that was on the cover. When  I got into college, Candy became Cosmo. Cosmo became Marie Claire and Real Living when I became a working girl living on my own. Now that I am a wife and a mommy, I read Smart Parenting and Good Housekeeping. Amazing how my preference in magazines changes as I mature. Summit Media, if you are reading this, I love you and would love you more if you give me a free subscription.

Water Crisis Survival Boot Camp

Last week, we had an impromptu practice on how to survive with little and later on, absolutely no water.

You see, in this part of South Manila, water comes only from 4-7PM everyday. A water tank is therefore a staple site in every house in our village , if not in the entire Better Living.  It  is not really that bad especially once you get used to it.

But, no water at all is an entirelly different story. 

Monday. I came home from work and got the most exciting news that Jane was not able to fill our water tank because pressure was not strong. Since Monday is laundry day, by the time Franco was done taking a bath, the only water left in the house were  drinking water and Aki’s distilled aqua.  Thank you to our neighbors, Franco’s brother and his wife, from whom we were  able to ask for 2 pails of water, one for my bath, and the other for washing the dishes. If we knew that water won’t come the next day, we would not have asked from them and just maximized our stock of mineral water. Again, thank you, F and M!

Anyhoo, so these are the new rules that we rolled out during the survival bootcamp

DAY 1

– No serving plates and spoons. Jane still put our plates and utensils on the dining table but when we were ready to eat or if  we want some more, we’d to go to the kitchen which is just a few steps away and scoop rice and ulam straight into our plates.

Not on the Playpen!

Not on the playpen!

Can you guess what this is? If you are thinking of something yucky, you are right!

It was a busy Sunday for Franco and me. Franco was just about to sleep and I was busy looking at the pictures. Aki was inside his playpen so we were sure we could rest for a few minutes. I heard my husband say Ay, umotot! but I did not bother. I’m used to the little bulate’s stinky fart. Next thing I knew, his poop was all over his back, his legs and on the playpen mesh wall! Nice one, anak. You never fail to amaze and surprise us.

I Heart Waltermart!

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Because I  stained my dress, a pair of  shorts, our bed sheets, ever dependable hubby agreed to an impromptu grocery at Waltermart Makati. When I was still a single working girl, I stayed in a rented apartment in Washington, which is just a short 5 minute jeepney ride away from Walter.

The very first item I bought were these green liquid hand wash refill at Watson’s. I have been looking for an affordable  handwash for about a month now. I bought ours for about 70 bucks, liquid, bottle and pump included, at SM. SM refill retails at 60 bucks. Unacceptable! Watson’s buy-one-for-69-get-the-second-pack-for-one-peso promo was perfect for my wallet!

Then we went to the waltermart grocery to buy myself some modess packs, and our favorite cheesy franks from Mother’s Best. Cross my heart, swear to die. Their cheesy franks really are really one of the juiciest, cheesiest and yummiest hotdogs in the whole wide Makati. There was also an ongoing promo for ground pork and beef. For just 99 per kilo, who can resist?! In our neighborhood talipapa here in Better Living, ground pork sells for 160 per kg.

Birthday Cake Boo boo

Treasures from Diviland

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I took advantage of one of last month’s non-working holidays and trooped to Diviland to buy lootbags and prizes. Good thing, ever dependable Janey was there to help me because after only 4 hours of shopping we went home with two huge bags full of toys.

100% Natural, 100% Pinoy, Baby Products

100% Natural, 100% Pinoy

Giga Insect Repellant

DEET-free. DEET is a chemical  found in most insect repellant. Overdose of DEET can cause serious damage to the brain. Our pedia said it is only a cause of worry if used excessively. Well, as a mommy, I’d like to shield my baby from all possible harm no matter how unlikely the damage could be.  What I also like about Giga Baby is its lemongrass scent. I sooooo hate anything that smells like citronella which unfortunately  is the active ingridient of most natural insect repellants. I also like that the Giga insect repellant is in the form of a liquid spray and not a lotion. For some reason, my kid’s a lint magnet. Putting a lotion on him will just make him attract more lint to his skin. Although sometimes we spray Giga directly on Aki’s skin, most of the time, we just spray his clothes to shoo away those pesky mosquitos.  And I know Giga works because I tried spraying it to a mosquito. In no time, the mosquito was flying in small circles until it fell to the floor. Bwahahaha! Buti nga sayo!

Meet Mong-ki

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… Aki’s baby bwatha  and the latest addition to Familia Kiki. I’ve been on a search for Aki’s very first piggy bank and I just could not be happier that what we found was monkey (when I was a kid, i was teased Maqui Monkey) ! I bought Mong-ki for a  just 75 pesos at the 7th Agraryo Trade Fair last Saturday.

I miss going to trade fairs! Even before nationalism became cool these past couple of years, I was (and still am) already  a big supporter of locally made products especially if they are made by SME’s. I’d always drag Franco to Megatrade to check out the latest fairs. And when my favorites,  Bicol and Region3 trade fairs are in town, I’d leave work early and troop to Megamall to catch the first day. I think my house looks like a mini trade fair. Hehe