Little Grasshopper

December 16, 2016 would have been my late little sister's 36th birthday.

14 years have passed since I last saw her alive but I still miss her and I am always reminded of her by the people I meet, the shows I watch, the little things I see.

There are times when I would wonder-- what if she was still alive? What would she be doing? I know she would be the richest because she was very prudent with money. I know she would have dragged me 2-3x more than the places I have visited because she was more adventurous. I know she would have talked sense to me whenever I fret or worry because she was level-minded. She was younger than me but that didn't deter her from telling me that me being her senior doesn't mean I will always be right. She was that cheeky but I was not affected because she was also my best friend.

When I was a newbie teacher she shared to me the lessons she learned from her college psychology classes and berated me not to label people as I was prone to do before. Up to now, whenever I look for clothing or a pair of shoes, I'd look at what I had in mind - simple, elegant, simple, beautiful, simple - and so I browse and browse and browse and then in my mind, I would hear her voice saying - "you want something simple yet it's so complicated for you to get it." You see she was always with me when I went shopping before and I would drag her to all the stores before settling to buy.

My sister was practical but funny and a bit of a prankster. She knows how to be "malambing" and she would fetch me from work and let me buy her fries - cheese flavored or sour cream. We'd walk going home. It was a long stretch but that was how we shared more stories even if we were roommates.

She would tell me about her day, her friends and told detailed stories. She told me I was a better storyteller and should I want to write, I should (still in the things to do category for me). Most summers were spent at home cross stitching, reading books or helping mom with her extra income projects.

She was frail when we were young. She was physically small but she grew tough and had a strong mind. She knew what she wanted.

It was a terrible loss when tragedy struck. 

But we were always reminded she is in our midst.

A few days after my sister died,our house was full of grief. But we noticed a little green grasshopper on top of our cabinet where we store our china and where we put our African Violet plants. When we visited the cemetery, we saw again another small green  grasshopper above her tomb.

*Image courtesy of Google Images

Every time there is an important occasion, we saw one. Being Igorots who believe that the grasshopper might represent her visiting, we took special care that we just leave the little insect and not bother or kill it. Sightings of this special creature became less and less as time went by.

When my husband was still my boyfriend, I told him about this little grasshopper thing. I couldn't believe what I saw when he called me to their kitchen one morning and pointed to me a little grasshopper a few days after being married. So, she came to check my new family. This was 6 years ago.

My last visit from our little grasshopper was last year - when I was 2-3 months pregnant and my husband was overseas. I had a delicate first trimester and being separated with my husband for the longest time was a bit difficult to bear. I was also emotional due to my hormones. And that was when our little creature visited me when I was about to cry ( I resist not to so as not to upset Little Pia who was still a nugget in my tummy that time). The little grasshopper was standing on our floor tiles.

When my baby was born last year, she was 33 weeks premature.. a premie just like my late sister. It was tough because we had to spend another week at the hospital, a month after I gave birth and stayed for 12 days for her to be at the NICU, to have her treated this time with aspiration pneumonia. It was hard. I  prayed. And in my mind,  I talked to my sister to be the guardian angel of my child. To be her protector and watch over her. We are blessed since my baby recovered well. Last year, we went out from the hospital on December 16.

So, yes this date - December 16 -the start of simbang gabi and Christmas carols is truly special.. and it always reminds me of our little grasshopper :)

Christmas Stockings

Now that we have our own child, I can understand why parents are very excited in making their children's' Christmas memorable and fun. And this might be the reason why Lola J wanted us to experience an American Christmas in one of the rare times she was with us in the Philippines during the holiday season in the late 80s.

One December night, she asked us, her 6 grandchildren to hang one sock each in the room Jamie and I share with my young brother Mark and sometimes, Jeanne. We somehow suspected that something exciting was about to happen. Jamie and I agreed that we get the longest socks and tacked these on our wall with the stockings of my sibling and cousins. Of course, the younger ones followed suit - we all wanted long and large ones so that what we expected to be placed there will fit. It kinda looked like this but we had ours "thumbtacked".

*Image courtesy of Google Images

And so we waited during bedtime for something to happen. Jamie and I being the oldest, kept our vigil even if it was "lights out". We used to sleep early before-- around 8 pm with 9 pmbeing the latest. Jamie and I agreed to remain awake but I couldn't keep watch so I fell asleep. It was time to wake up when I felt Jamie poking my ribs with her elbow. I didn't know the time but I saw Lola J and mama kneeling infront of our stockings. I can partially see them because of the light from the living room streaming inside our bedroom door. And boy, were they noisy even when they were whispering. 😂

Lola J was instructing mama how much she should put on each sock while she was filling one. We can hear some muffled sounds like candies falling in the socks and on the floor. We were good girls so we kept quiet and went back to sleep when they left.

In the morning, the younger ones were already in our room looking at their socks which woke us up. They were very sure Santa Claus came by last night and gave them the treats which were different types of candies.😍

Lola J was beaming at us as they jumped up and down excitedly. Jamie and I  just kept quiet.. why destroy the excitement? I knew we'd blow it when we destroy the fun and we might not get other stuff on those stockings.😇 😁I knew we had some other gifts stuffed in those socks for 3 consecutive nights but I don't remember them as well as the first night we had the stockings.

Ahh to be young and to be blessed with a loving lola who wants us to experience this thrill! :) That was our first and last experience of hanging our socks.

More Christmas stories to come.

Oh Christmas Tree!

When I was 5 y/o, we did not have a Christmas tree.

We were not well off and a Christmas tree is one of the last things Mama would buy. Sure, we had the traditional shiny "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year" bunting but that's about it.

My fascination for Christmas trees was triggered by my cousins' Christmas tree. They were our neighbors and my siblings and I hung out there like everyday.

You could say that their Christmas tree was simple and common around that time but it literally awed the 5 year old me.

It was made of thin stick branches and decorated with foil garland.. and the most amazing of all...candies!

This is my poor sketch of that tree (from my Memory Journal) sans foil garland: 

I was mischievous back then. When no one is looking, I get one of the candies, pop it in  my mouth, suck it and put it back in its wrapper and retie the string where it used to hang. lolz.. I think, my cousins did the same because sometimes, some of the candies are wet and sticky. Eeewww :p Now it's yucky yet funny.. I know it's how I strengthened my immune system. :p

I've been asking my mom to buy a Christmas tree since then and she bought this 2 ft. "pink" foil Christmas tree when I was around 10 and we had it for more than 10 years. I did not like it that much. I wanted something like the "stick" tree which developed to plastic green Christmas tree as I grew older.

The gorgeous Christmas tree displays festooned with glitter and lights at National Bookstore and SM made me, all the more, yearn and long for one in my early adult years.

Finally, my family was able to have a "real" fake Christmas tree where we can put decorations in it was when I was around 23 y/o and working at a stable company. I used part of my Christmas bonus to buy one and it was even on sale. I was so happy and proud of myself. It was wish granted!

We used the beautiful and fancy decors Auntie Francise sent years ago which I used to hang in our windows and ceiling (pre Christmas tree) and I felt it was the most gorgeous tree ever. Sorry can't find an old picture of it.

This year, I got some raves with my Christmas tree that I posted in FB. It's our Pia Christmas Owl Tree. I re-used the decorations I made for my daughter's 1st birthday party early this November to trim our borrowed tree. The theme here is recycled -- since even the materials I used for the owls were from toilet tissue rolls, my niece's stash of eyes and a few old cupcake liners.

BUT - until now, I remember that brown stick tree clearly. The memory of that  Christmas tree (even if it's not ours) reflects important lessons such as:

- happiness is not based on expensive things or stuff.

- a childhood want will inspire you to achieve it.

- parents should strive to give their children happy memories to fall back on :)

Thank you for sharing your tree to us, Tegui-in family :)

Lola's Cream

November 25, 2016 marks the 86th birthday of my late maternal grandmother, Lola Juanita.

So many thing  evoke plenty of heartwarming memories with her. One of these always come up whenever I rub Vicks Baby Balsam on my baby daughter Pia's chest and back. I usually do this when she starts to have the sniffles and colds.

This act always bring me back when me, my siblings and cousins lived in one roof.  That was from 1985 to 1989 and our ages would range from 7 to 3 y/o until I was 11 y/o and the youngest was 7. 

Lola would be in the country annually for 2-3 months. During rainy or cold days or when she senses that some of us were beginning to develop colds, she would be sitting in the sofa by bedtime. She would all call us one by one. She asks us to kneel and place our head on her lap while she rubs her magic cream.ks.

* images courtesy of Google Images


I remember that I always anticipate the cold feeling when she puts her cream mixture first on my back. But her warm hand makes it soothing and relieving when she rubs it. She takes her time and doesn't rush even if we were 6 children. I remember particularly how she give more time to rub her cream on my frail little sister's back.

I recently researched Noxzema and it is supposedly cleansing cream. That's odd being rubbed on our chest and backs with Vicks. 

But then, it doesn't matter at all. Lola's cream has soothed and made us feel snug and warm while we slept. 

Happy Birthday, Lola Juanita! :) Memories of those cold nightly rituals still comfort me even after after 11 years since you joined Lolo with our Creator. Our cold bedtime ritual will live on with Pia sans Noxzema. :

Color My World 3

I have tried to research on some coloring techniques for flowers and I came up with this. A friend called it  my best so far. I used lighter shades of colors and blended some greens.

 After which, I shifted to another coloring set - Animal coloring pages from my aunt which I scanned. This is my first output from that set: 

Now, I shifted again to my coloring fans

The one below took me more than a month to finish it, having to hold it off every now and then. I wanted to experiment using jelly pens and putting some dots and lines in the illustration because the leaves and some of the wings are so large and devoid of some patterns.

I am very proud of this output since I devoted so much time experimenting on it and many liked the techniques I used.

I am planning to color mandalas next time,.,..But, as of now, I am on a break to rest  my eyes, I am planning get more ideas from the Net to make the mandalas more interesting.

On Unanswered and Answered Prayers

PRELUDE TO THE ACTUAL BLOG ENTRY:

There was a time before when my blog contained most of my musings, thoughts and feelings. That was more than 12 years ago in Tabulas where I met 2 of my closest online friends including Roselle of Snapped and Scribbled.

When I decided to have this blog I thought of creating something that's more positive and I avoided personal topics but having read some of Maine Mendoza's blog kind of reminded me of my previous Tabulas blog where I blurt out what I feel and think without thinking what other people might think of me. She is an eloquent and expressive writer... I became curious of her since I watch Aldub videos every night to make me laugh and make this pregnancy fun and light--- have to be happy and not stressed according to friends :) 

So, going back, I am going to put more personal thoughts in this blog like I did before.

THE ACTUAL ENTRY:

Reading about blogs on  love gone wrong and the feeling of  helplessness and "dying" because your dreams of forever with that person has died kind of reminded me when I had my first broken heart. I wasn't that young already since I was in my 20's but it hurt a lot. Even if my claim on that relationship is 4-6 mos. only. Hahaha!

I was crazy in the aftermath and had a fleeting  of "I will wait you for you" drama even if I knew that I was dumped and it wasn't even a good relationship to begin with and with someone who barely shows who he is. I guess, I was tortured by my emotional investment. I prayed to God that I hope one day he bangs his head and realizes his mistake of letting me go.

There was even a point that I posted  the video of Sarah Geronimo's "I still believe in loving you"  and a friend cringed and commented "For heaven's sake, don't!".  I felt embarrassed by the comment but it was a wake up call to STOP holding on to my one sided and blind feelings.

So I went on with my life  and made sure I had some adventures and take risks in my career, in my masters and other aspects of my life. My prayers changed and I was asking God that if ever He will give me someone new to love I hope he would love me back in return. But I was not really that keen into having a new relationship. I was so focused on my career.

But God, has heard my prayers..so after 3 years, I met my bestfriend, my sweetheart, my husband and my lover. It was good He did not answer my prayers on getting back with the first one I prayed for but He did answer my petition on a new love. I got so much more than what I asked for, 

2 years ago my husband introduced me to Gath Brook's song - Unanswered Prayers and it all sums up how I felt with him... until now that we're about to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary about  a week from now. =)

So for those who are dying from broken hearts .. just wait... magdasal, enjoy life, accomplish more in life and darating din sya..... sa tamang panahon ;)

Crossing stitches 1

Since I have been recommended by my OB to take it easy,  I've been coloring adult coloring books and doing nontoxic crafts.

One of these crafts I went back to make is cross stitching.

The first one I made is a baby announcement for my niece, Mia who just came out into this world last September 20.

I downloaded my pattern from the Internet and prepared my Aida cloth by outlining the lines so that I can easily finish my project.

If there is one thing I re-learned while pregnant is to be resourceful and creative. My mother in law has a lot of threads she bought overseas in garage sales so I did not use the actual colors specified substituted the nearest colors based on their descriptions.

I started with the bear and proceeded from there.

This is my finished project. I asked my sister-in-law to stitch the date of birth and weight of my niece after she gives birth in Canada.

My second project is a home decor for another sister-in-law who resides in Australia. Like my first project, i substituted the colors in the pattern. This is the final output:

Right now, I am working on another project but for me and my family this time. :)

I say "Goodbye!" and I say "Hello!"

It was a difficult decision when a few months back, my husband I decided that we need to prioritize family and health over work. So, I said a (temporary - I don't know how temporary this is) goodbye to teaching, my passion of more than a decade and to the institution I worked for for almost 9 years.

It was 2 weeks ago that hubby and I took my stuff from school. It just so happened that 2-3 days after, we had a serious typhoon here in Baguio wherein we had 2 days and 2 nights of brownout. It was kinda dark so  I did not do any crafting. Rather, I set out in  organizing and arranging work stuff I took from my former office since I resigned.

We got 3 bags and 2 boxes of my stuff. I am very grateful that our student assistants helped us pack these. I never knew I had a lot of stuff under my desk and lockers: 

Opening all my stuff brought out memories and it made me sentimental and a bit sad. :( I honestly feel that teaching is my passion but I have to prioritize my family  and our little one in my tummy whom we've waited for such a long time,

The largest box  brought out my personal stuff such as mugs, headphones, many pens, paper clips and even my sanitary pads and eraser.

Teachers have a lot of notes because we research what we teach- I speak for myself. We also have plenty of folders to hold our certificates from trainings we attended and we conducted (left photo below).

Opening one folder (right photo below) containing my schedule and my gradesheets made me a bit -yeah- sentimental :(

I opened all the Pandora boxes, and these is what were revealed- papers, evaluation reports, CDs, rulers, personal stuff-lotion, alcohol, mugs, baonan, fork and spoon, etc:

It even had the training materials I had in India for 2 weeks last 2009

And my doodles on every page of the materials. I remembered our strict trainer in Python programming. He was peering at my notes and sarcastically told me to doodle more including his face. He thought I was not listening and asked me to recite. Imagine that! I couldn't help doddle because  I was so sleepy and doodling keeps me awake and listen to him. 

 






















That training is one of the things in my life I cannot forget and I thank ASEAN and my institution for supporting me that time. Brings back funny and embarrassing memories. Hah! But I gained a lot of friends. :) I had to dispose the notes :( so I took pictures of my doodles (not that I feel like an artist :p)

Going back to this post, during the 2 day brownout break, I was also able to sort out my certificates from certifications, trainings attended, trainings conducted, working committee membership, outreach and community involvement, etc. I used  3 binders with plastic sheets for these. I might use them in the future when I decide to go back to work.

I love stickers and imagine my shock that I have more in school! I usually place those smilies on my students' papers. The rest, I just buy them and put them on my stationery set. Priscia, my niece gave me scrapbooking materials so I combined them all and placed them in one plastic folder. My smiley stickers are not here anymore since I donated it to a colleague and a friend who's very interactive with her students.

I also have plenty of scrapbooking stuff in school which I gathered in one box with my pamana from my sweet niece. She said I use it for our baby's room, decors and album. I could kiss that girl! :)

I also organized my various pens, highlighters, pens and washi tapes in one metal container. I have plenty of "maarte" pens from colleagues who gave these as souvenirs from national trainings they attended. I couldn't throw them for sentimental reasons and they're still working!

What do you know, the most I have in my collection are sticky pads!!! I had 4 or 5 from my nice but most of these came from me! I love buying them and giving them as gifts to my colleagues. Since we check researches and documents, stickies help us write our comments and tag pages. I organized them in my desk drawer.

After going through my work school stuff and organizing them with the ones I have at home, I also started raiding my closet. Goodbye to  my uniforms! *sniff! These are set aside for donation. 

Goodbye for now to a happy (yet very stressful) work life and hello to a new and exciting chapter in my and hubby's life. :) 

Color My World 2

The past few days saw me reviving my passion again in coloring. I was not feeling it for almost 2 weeks but when color inspiration came, I was able to color 3 pages from my 3 sets of coloring books.

I must admit I tried to find ways in improving my coloring skills and it is only recently that I am applying some things  I have learned.

Anyway, here are 2 of the Art Noveau Fashion pages that I colored:

A. The Lady in the Jungle. I titled it as so because it is full of greens... I debated on coloring leaves as pink and red ones. Heheheh. I started with the image below deciding to have a pink blouse instead of pink leaves.  

And this is  my finished project... I struggled with this because I got tired of the green color.. and I don't know if the cold, wet weather we experienced for days affected the texture of some of  the Faber Castell watercolor pencils I am using, Some of the leaves look rough even the purple skirt! :(

B. Lady in Pink Roses and Green. I got tired of the green colors from the first one I colored so I decided to make the twines brown even if it looks a bit dry. Hah! I enjoyed using light colors on this one. Again, some of the Faber Castell watercolor pencils look rough when I applied them on the flowers. I cannot "remedy" the damage done anymore. Coloring this was a breeze. It took me a few hours only.

I got tired with the ladies :p so I sorted my Coloring Fan set and decided to do this:

C. Fan with pastel-colored blooms

Since some of my Faber Castell Watercolor pencils got "cold" and rough :p I decided to use the lighter Crayola colored pencils I had. I only have 24 colors compared to the Faber Castell which is 48 +.

Before, I favored using the darker Faber Castell Watercolor pencils because I wanted bolder colors but the Crayola colored pencils allowed me to control the depth of the color better through lighter strokes and just by sharpening them.

I would say this is my best work yet because of the shading.. I hope to improve more as days go by and when coloring inspiration strikes.

Yesterday, i started working with a butterfly design but I stopped it since I need to finish my cross stitch project that my mom has to bring with her next week. 

Wood Nymph 1

My hubby and I love Korean food and the best restaurant for us that serves K-food here in Baguio is Woodnymph.

They have 3 branches here in Baguio but the one I am featuring right now are the foods we ate and we always order at their SM Baguio Branch. 

Introduced by my cousin, Sarah who taught Korean students before, are my favorites since then until today. These are: 

Jeeyukbukom

It's made of thinly sliced pork belly, cabbage and carrots and some other vegetables cooked with Korean spices and sugar (it's kinda sweet). I love eating this.

I captured the elegant carrot flower they made as a decoration to the plate. 

And we usually have jeeyukbukom with: 

Sundobuchigee. It is a seafood soup with shells and clams with soft tofu and soft soft egg with spicy broth,.. as in Whoooooo spicy.. My hubby and I can't get enough of this even if our nose runs because of the heat

Aside from these two of course are the side dishes. We especially love the "honeyed" marble potatoes and kim chi. I love also the sweet and cool sprouts because it balances out the heat and spiciness of the foods.

Best to drink water with these viands and usually get a dessert of cool Melona ice cream bar. :) Yum! 

Grumpy Joe 2

We've been to Grumpy Joe quite a few times and I am happy to see that I have pics on the last time we ate there months ago with my hubby and cousin which I haven't posted.

I love their pasta there and so the three of us decided to get their marinara pasta:

Perper was delighted with the serving and the no. of seafoods in the pasta. It was tasty.

I ordered a cheeseburger to be shared with the three of us. This was our first time to try their burger and we were not disappointed. It isn't really that special but it's good compared to others. There was a side dish of coleslaw and ketchup and mayonnaise as condiments. It was served in a circular wooden board for that rustic appearance.

And, we had their Mexican pizza! There was ranch dressing on top of the nacho chips. It was good. Although I love their signature Grumpy Joe pizza or the pepperoni with jalapenos  better than this. See related post.

And for refreshments, we got: water! Served in mason jar.

We needed water because of this toxic waste! Hot! Toxic indeed ;)

It was a nice experience since we have bonded with a cousin but I loved the first one compared to this in terms of the food we chose to eat.

Color My World 1

I am very lucky that during my birthday last month, my loving and thoughtful friend, Roselle, gifted me three sets of Creative Haven adult coloring books:

I have been looking for adult coloring books in local Baguio bookstores including National Bookstore but I was unsuccessful just like a colleague and a friend so receiving these made me ecstatic!

What I loved about these sets is that the pages have perforation lines which makes it easy to remove a page. I started with the Butterfly Designs and "progressed" with the Vintage Hand Fans and then, the Art Noveau Fashions.

I used the watercolor colored pencil of Faber Castell and Crayola. So far, these are my outputs:

A. Butterfly set
This is the fist set I worked with because I assumed it was the easiest.. I didn't know that sharpening the colored pencils would help me make the colors darker and I have plenty of smudges here

B. Art Noveau Fashion Set

I wasn't too keen with clothes at first, because it looked complicated but I enjoyed coloring this set. So far, I only colored one page as of yet:

C. Fan Set
 I started with this page and  I regret putting the orange background color but what's done is done.

I started with this  2 weeks ago 

and finished it today

I do not color everyday, only when color inspiration hits me...

I tried coloring apps in my mobile such as Colorfy but paper and colored pencils are for me. I was bored with tapping my phone and I do traditional coloring for radiation break from my PC and mobile phone. 

I really hope to improve more in my coloring skills while relaxing... I hope I can learn blending and other more complicated stuff..most of the time, I just grab the pencils and color anyway  I want :)