10 Lists Every Mom Should Have

I'm the kind who always has to list things down by hand. I thought I was OC enough but after Googling for hours, I realized I have such a long way to go to being super organized. I've compiled this for all the other busy Moms out there. Regardless of whether you stay at home, work at home or even if you work outside of the home. I think these lists will really help a lot.

I've split them into categories for easier reference

PERSONAL

Family Information (i.e. mobile numbers, work/office numbers, school numbers)

Frequently Called Numbers (i.e. immediate family members, close friends)

Important Phone Numbers (i.e. Police, Fire Station, Hospital)

FOOD 

Grocery List (both blank and filled)

In my case, I always ask the helpers to make a list of whatever is inside the fridge/freezer. I ask them to tick off the items on the list when we're about to run out of them.

Weekly Meal Planner

Pantry Inventory

CLEANING

Weekly Cleaning Schedule

Chore Assignments for each family member (if this applies to you)

HOME, AUTO, GARDEN

List of all types of bills and a record of payments

Home Maintenance Record (this is going to be so helpful, I'm gonna do this promise!)

Storage Tracker

List of all your household appliances, electronics and gadgets

Gardening Master List

Vehicle Maintenance Record

MISCELLANEOUS

Health Records 

List of credit cards 

Did I miss anything? Please feel free to add to the list, if you think I did. 

Sunday Random Musing

Backgrounder : what inspired me to write this post? Two things:

I spent a few minutes going through my closet looking for a top I hadn't seen in a while and it dawned on me ... I need to populate my eBay listings because I have pieces that I can no longer fit into.

And then ...

A friend from years ago, Joan, tweeted about wolfing down a large bag of Cheetos all by herself. I reacted by telling her that it's okay, because she's so tiny anyway. Then we ended up tweeting each other about how growing old's a b*tch ... yadda yadda yadda. (Joan, you have a lot less right to complain compared to me because you've always been so tiny!)

I've never been ashamed to admit how old I am. Never lied about it, not even as a joke.

I'm 43. I'll be 44 this year (in November). I've been on this planet for 43 or so years. I graduated college in 1990, when most of you were entering high school. Speaking of high school, I sometimes look at old photos of me at this stage to remind me of how much better I look today. Don't most of us feel that way? I was a walking bamboo stick back then. No meat, just skin and bones. In college, I remained that way all throughout. In fact, I never owned a single sleeveless top because my arms didn't deserve the exposure. I'd buy the smallest size available and bring the piece of clothing straight to the modista to have it adjusted to my size because it would fall off otherwise.

That went on until I left college and started working. I finally tipped the weighing scale at 100 lbs sometime during my first job. It was a major milestone for me.

Then it all started to change after I had Sabine 6 years ago. Even after I had Anissa, I easily went back to my pre-pregnancy weight and was able to wear off and get away with wearing a bikini until she was 10. After giving birth to Sabine, I noticed the rapid changes. My metabolism went from fast to semi-fast then slow. My sleeping hours changed. I used to be able to survive a whole day without being sleepy, even if I spent the previous night partying. Today, I always say, all I need to do is sit down on a comfortable chair and that's it. I can fall asleep without even trying. I've officially entered that dreaded LOLA stage!

Physical changes have also become noticeable. Once while in the shower Sabine matter-of-factly said, "Mom, your tummy is jiggly like jelly." Then one time, Anissa asked me, "Mom, those stretchmarks ... are they gonna stay there forever?" Yup. Painful to hear. After years of complaining about never ever gaining enough weight, here I am today, wishing I had my 25-yr old body again. My weight is okay, I don't need to lose pounds. But these frigging inches are just so annoying! I shouldn't really rant about it though, because I'm never the kind to exercise. I've never been to a gym and the last time I took up a sport was when Anissa was a toddler. That episode didn't even last long enough for me to notice any changes. 


I've said goodbye to bikinis, tight-fitting baby tees, "free-sized" clothing in general. I've also moved up a size from strictly Small to Small, sometimes Medium (okay, okay most of the time Medium). In fact, in some stores where they make their cuts too small, I'm sometimes a Large. Gah. 


My friends will probably curse me for writing this post because people insist (and this is the part where I'm going to brag a bit) I'm not fat. I didn't say I was. I'm just saying I'm not what I used to be and I have problem areas, too. I guess the main reason people don't want to believe me is --- and thank GOD for this --- I have super skinny legs. Yeah, like chicken legs. I know how to flaunt them and I never used to but now I know I have to, to take the focus off the other parts of my body that I'm not loving. 


So there. In closing, I'd like to say that inspite of all these imperfections, given the choice, I would still like to look the way I look today. I'm 43 and people have a hard time believing it. Never mind the bulges, the stretch marks, the slow metabolism and the averse reaction to late nights out. 

Growing old's a b*tch, I know. But it really depends on how you look at it.

Kid Talk : Clean Up Your Own Mess

My current challenge with Sabine is how to get her to pack away her toys and all her kalat after playing. She tends to leave everything lying around and I always end up doing the clean-up part for her (if Yaya's too busy). The other day, I noticed that she brought her Play Doh up to our room. I didn't mind because th air-conditioning was on and I didn't have the heart to ask her to play downstairs where she normally does.

Around half an hour later as expected, she got tired and was going to move on to the next toy. But before that, she probably realized what a mess she had made and knew what I would say if she just left it there.

Sabine: Mommy, I need to clean this up but can you help me?

Me: Nope.

Sabine: Why not?

Me: Who made the mess ba?

Sabine: Me!

Me: Okay, that's why I'm not helping you. You need to clean up after yourself.

Sabine: You're the only Mom I know who wants her baby to be kawawa. And diba you said, helping others is a good thing? Tapos you don't want to help me eh I'm just a baby! Even if this is not your kalat you should help me because I'm not as big as you and I'm going to be so "hirapan" to clean all of this up.

She never fails to crack me up, I tell you. This conversation would've gone on and on if I didn't just give in. But I did so with the condition that we would help each other and she wouldn't leave me without doing her share of the cleaning.

I wonder what child services would do with me if we were living in the States? Hahaha.

Food Discovery : Camote Chips

So we got off our lazy b*tts to have dinner in Power Plant Mall earlier. My SIL who's an airline expat in Ho Chi Minh is visiting for a few days and we all got together for dinner. The lower level of the mall was again filled with food stalls but among the many that were being sold, this is what caught my fancy...

Camote Chips from The Sweet Life by Ange

I used to buy their cupcakes all the time. I didn't know that they've slightly tweaked their product line because they hardly had any pastries for sale (just their best-seller Frozen Brazo called Sweet Surrender and Red Velvet slices). Their stall was mostly filled with these in different flavors. I asked the guy manning the place for his recommendation and he said I should try the Salty Sweet version, which I decided to get.

Other flavors I saw were : barbecue, cheese and plain.

It's past 1 am and I'm munching on them because they are sooooooooooooo

DELICIOUS. They're not exactly cheap though, this bag costs P150.00. But it's really worth it. I am definitely getting more next time and I think I wanna try the other flavors, too.

They have a Facebook page, by the way.

I think it's safe to say that I'm bidding Pringles and Cheetos goodbye for now.

Seriously.

Kid Fashion : Baby Fashionistas

This is my Sabine's favorite clothing store. We frequent their branch in Eastwood Mall. If I remember correctly, this brand first came up on Multiply. It's a lot bigger now, with branches also in SM The Block and most recently at the new Lucky Chinatown Mall in Binondo (side note: I heard that this mall is super duper sosh and it's a stone's throw away from 168 Mall. I'm intrigued!).

Just two of the quite many styles we have from this brand 

Yes, my Sabine loves frilly, frou frou and maxi dresses. She loves dresses, period. It's always a struggle  with her whenever I insist that she wear pants or shorts. 

And since we're in Eastwood every single Sunday, it's beginning to hurt our wallets because she's forever peeking into the store and finding something she likes. :)

Guess what...tomorrow's Sunday. I'm scared to think of what's going to happen haha.

DIY Project : Workout Shirt

I've seen my Anissa get to work on her old shirts to change their look entirely when she gets tired of them. I've seen her do the same on newly-purchased ones, especially when she doesn't like the fit or the cut. This DIY project is really for her.

Source : Pinterest

This is also a good way to spend those idle summer hours at home, no?

Maybe I should look into my closet to find a shirt I can do this to.

Printables for the Organized (OC) Mom

Something I'd like to share to all the other Moms like me who have to have a list for just about anything. I'll break this series down to a few posts to categorize the types of printables I found in other very helpful blogs.

 Cleaning Schedule from Scattered Squirrel

 Another version from Clean Mama 

 

If you're a blogger and especially if you do it for the added income, you might find this helpful.

It's from Cutie Pie Printables

 

And here's something that all of us will find useful. A bills organizer!

I love coffee

 

Source : TidyMom

Faithful Friday

It's been more than a year since I signed up and got my first dose of God Whispers. Bo Sanchez started the God Whispers Club. If you subscribe to you, you get messages in your email, like God's talking straight to you. Since then, I've gotten so many creepy messages. Not creepy like scary or weird. Creepy because some of these messages come at certain times when I'm needing some spiritual guidance. 

Like today!

My favorite part in this messsage is : But if you let me, I'll help you conquer your fear, Patty.

This comes at such an opportune time, really. Can't say why because I have a feeling I'm getting ahead of myself (I'm panicky about things all the time). Let's just say that God gave me something to seriously think about. I'm being tested. It's making me look closely at my priorities and I might have to make a big decision very soon. Like next week soon. Sigh.

But thank you for this reminder. I know what I should do in the meantime. 

Pray for guidance towards the right decision. 

Have a peaceful weekend, everyone.

Sign up for your own whispers from God here

Mint

One of my bestfriends' favorite color has always been mint green. Since high school. I hated it. My favorite color has always been yellow, the pale kind. I don't think I ever had anything minty in my closet ever. But this color is suddenly so popular today. Am I the type to be swayed or did my taste for color simply change with age? I'm not sure. I've been looking for things mint and they've been avoiding me like the plague. I'm thinking that I'm being taught a lesson here.

DON'T HATE ANYTHING. NEVER SAY NEVER. And now I'm being taught a lesson.

Remember the necklace which I wanted so badly? After hours of deciding which color I wanted, I finally sent a message to the seller only to be told that it had been out of stock for a while. A few days later, another seller posted a photo of a necklace that looked just like it from Forever 21. I sent her a message, too, and she confirmed my order. I was ready to deposit my payment when she texted me to say that the one on only necklace that was shipped to her had been damaged in transit. Double whammy. Since then, I haven't found anything similar to it at all.

Next? I wanted something like this

I could run to the nearest F21 store to see if they have it (and I'm almost sure they do), but it's really too hot to do anything, I don't like stepping out of the house unless I absolutely have to. I saw the same necklace seller post a photo of mint denims on her selling page. JACKPOT! I messaged her to ask if she had a size 27. Guess what? She had all sizes except mine.

What on earth?!?!?!

Pinterest is loaded with photos like this. Boo hoo hoooooooooo.

When is this frustrating series going to end???

Dear Mint, I promise not to say I hate you ever again. I even changed my blog layout to honor you. Please don't make tampo na.

3rd in a row

I really shouldn't waste time and run to the nearest lotto outlet. I've been lucky in online contests lately. This month alone, I won the Ichigo Blog Giveaway and then 2 tickets Cirque Mother Africa c/o 2nd Avenue (Solar Entertaiment). Just yesterday, I chanced upon Sofitel's Twitter contest via a follower's retweet. The mechanics were easy. Everything was done on Twitter. All I had to do was tell them why I wanted to win and that would count as an entry. 

I only did it once, mind you 

Then late this afternoon, surprise surprise!!!

I. LOVE. IT

Thank you in advance, Sofitel, for this wonderful treat!

N and I are massage addicts. We indulge in this luxury at least once a week at home. I Googled about Sofitel's Le Spa and I'm totally impressed. Expect no less from a 5-star hotel, of course. I almost fell off my seat when I looked at their menu of services. Over 3 kyaw for a one-hour treatment!!! That's like 6 of our regular 2-hour sessions at home. N and I are really excited to go. It's also a chance for us to spend some quality time away from the kids. 

Sofitel already messaged me to say that the gift certificate is being processed. I'm gonna pick it up from them very soon. I can't believe this lucky streak.

Thank you and more please!

Metabolism boosters

Interesting.

Did y'all know this?

Simple and true

So appropriate

Here I go again. I have to be cryptic about something for now. 

But this quote stared back at me when I saw it. It's answered the question I've been asking myself all day. 

We'll see ... 

May I rant?

My apologies for this post. But I'm really just so disappointed. A few days before last weekend, the all-around helper asked permission to go on day off last Sunday. Our helpers only go on days off when it's payday, so they can go out and send money to their families. So we really expected her to be gone the whole of Sunday. Around late afternoon, I received a text message from her. She told me that she wouldn't be able to go home that night because a family emergency had come up. I asked her what the problem was. 

Her reply:

Ma'am, nabundol po kasi ng jeep yung kapatid at Mama ko habang nakasakay sila sa motor. 

(Ma'am, my brother and mother met an accident while on a motorcycle. They were hit by a jeepney.)

Horrors. I seriously felt for her and I asked her how they were doing.

Nasa Emergency Room po kami ngayon. Tinitignan po sila ng doktor. Hindi po ako makaalis kasi bukas pa ng umaga makakabalik ang step-father ko. Mga 10am po ako makakabalik.

(We're in the emergency room right now and the docs are looking at them. I can't leave because my step-father will return from work tomorrow. I'll be back by 10am.)

End of story. I didn't bug her about their situation because I surmised that being all alone, with two family members in the ER, she must have been so stressed out. I woke up way before 10am on Monday morning, went on my laptop as usual and a few minutes past 10am, she wasn't back. My kids' Yaya texted her to ask where she was, no reply. Several more texts later, still nothing. On my way to a meeting that afternoon, I got a text from her :

Ma'am, namatay na po yung kapatid ko. Ako lang po ang nag-aasikaso nang lahat. Si Mama po nasa ospital pa. Hindi po muna ako makakabalik. Pasensya na po kayo.

(Ma'am, my brother succumbed to his injuries. I'm all alone, arranging everything. My mother is still in the hospital. I won't be able to return just yet. Please understand.)

Again, I seriously felt for her. I called but she didn't pick up. I texted her and asked her to please text me when she's free to talk so we can discuss things. I wanted to ask her if she needed any help. But no reply from her the rest of the day. I started to doubt when I again tried to call her but her phone just kept on ringing. Something was starting to smell fishy. Still, I hoped to be proven wrong. I didn't want to believe that anyone would lie about her brother dying and her mother being in critical condition. 

The following day, Tuesday, she was still nowhere in sight and we hadn't heard from her. I didn't know what to think. Until N got a call from her parents. They were asking him if we knew where their daughter was. N immediately called me and even if I was at a meeting, I excused myself because I couldn't believe what I was hearing. 

Since that time, the helper has texted my Yaya to admit that she made the whole thing about her brother and mother up. It was all just a story. But we still don't know why she lied or where she went. We started putting the pieces of this giant puzzle together and suspected that her sudden departure had something to do with her boyfriend. Anyway, I'm not even going to wonder about the real reason. All I know is that she fooled me, all of us. We all felt sorry for her and all that time she was lying to us. Yaya says she has apologized ... to whom? Certainly not to me. Nahihiya na daw bumalik dahil sa ginawa niya. Siguro naman??? (She says she's too embarrassed to return to work because of the trouble she's caused. I figured!)  The thing is, the cellphone we handed to her for use during her employment is still with her. Some of her things are also still with us. 

At first, I really hoped she would come back. It will be hard without those two extra hands. I now deal with an irritable Yaya because she's doing the work of two people and she's tired. Sabine doesn't understand that Yaya has to work double-time and demands the same amount of attention from her. After thinking about it really carefully though, I don't think she deserves to be given a 2nd chance. I'll never be comfortable around her again. She sometimes takes Yaya's place in taking care of Sabine. Will I constantly worry and suspect her of doing something stupid again? I don't think it's worth it. 

I don't know where to begin to look for a replacement. We don't get our helpers from agencies, only from referrals. It's back to zero and I really hate it. Worst of all, I really feel so stupid for being made to believe that she was seriously in trouble because of what she claimed had happened. 

Modesty aside, Yaya has been with us for 16 years now. If I were an employer from hell, why would she stay with us all this time? I swear, some people just don't know how to value what they've got. We were really good to her, didn't treat her like crap because that's not us. 

And this is what I get in return. It never feels good to be abused by anyone. 

Moving on ... now where to find a new helper??? :(

The real deal on K-12

I came across this on my Facebook news feed. It gives a really clear picture if you still can't grasp the K-12 concept. Not to worry, I think a lot of people are still in the dark about the changes to come. Our educational system is going to go through some major changes, after so many years.

This is a straightforward illustration, don't you think?

Since Anissa is already an incoming Junior, she won't be affected by this anymore. It's Sabine, who's an incoming 1st Grade student who will be following this system. 

Good or bad? What do you think?

What's your favorite summer drink?

The heat in Manila has been much-talked about this past month. It's been almost unbearable, even when you sit still and do nothing, you break out in a sweat. That's how awful it's been. People have been tweeting about being so scared to see their next Meralco bill (isa na ako doon) because they've been using airconditioning more often. In our case, we have ours on almost the whole day. That's a valid reason to be scared right???

One of the things I've been doing to beat the summer heat is to drink drink drink. 

I had this yesterday at Milky and Sunny

Yellow Mango Shake in a gigantic glass

I didn't care if it gave me brain freeze, I really wanted to savor every sip I took

I'm now craving for Melon. The fresh kind that you can make at home with all those melon strips which my Yaya used to make for us every summer.

Cute Printables : Fresh Start Birthday

Here's something that's not character-themed that you can use for a simple birthday gathering

I love the vintage-y colors!

This kit includes : 

4 water bottle labels

4 blank tent label cards

8x10 subway art printable

3 cupcake wrappers

3 fry boxes

3 patterns of party rounds - great for cupcake toppers or favor tags

1 Birthday banner

To download this printable and see many others, you can follow this link:

http://leeloublogs.blogspot.com/2011/10/free-birthday-party-printables.html

Hope you're all having a good week so far!

Let's Draw Something

While everyone was installing this game on their iPhones and iPads, I took a step back and said to myself, "Nope, this is isn't the app for me." I'm probably the WORST when it comes to drawing. I have zero artistic talent, my hands are only good for writing and that's about it. I've been told that I have really nice and neat penmanship, nothing more than that. Sometimes even stick figures challenge me LOL. 

But friends kept saying they were just as bad but who cares?!  After weeks of watching people retreat into their own little caves while playing this game, I could no longer resist the urge to try. But I signed up using my Facebook account because I didn't want to play with random people (isnabera lang) plus, if people were to laugh at my pathetic drawing skills, at least they were my friends. 

I've been hooked since the day N loaded this into my iPhone. Heck, I even got myself a cheap stylus to make me draw faster. It's become a daily habit for me to play. I'm still too embarrassed to share my drawings to the madlang public. Whenever I come across a word that I can't seem to figure out how to draw, I call our resident artist, Anissa. 

Her version of Adele 

And her drawing of Justin Bieber

Here's a cute one done by a friend

One day, I'll have the courage to post my own here haha. For now, I'm really having fun laughing at myself and my other friends whose skills are at par with mine. I won't say who. :D