Paper Ads, a Waste of Paper and Trees

It was November 5, 1991 when continues rain flooded Ormoc, a city of Leyte located in the eastern Visayan region of the Philippines. The flood claimed 4,875 lives excluding the bodies that were found after the official count was proclaimed. The number one cause was the drastic cutting of the trees to make way to the sugar cane plantation. There was also illegal logging and some trees were used for paper.

Trees are being cut everyday to make paper. I know we couldn’t avoid not having paper but can’t we minimize it? Don’t you know that a ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees? It bothered me when I woke up this morning and saw a bunch of paper ads. We always get that every Sunday with the morning paper. Papa always keeps it and drops it at the recycled bin at our church but there are a lot of people that just mix the paper with their other trash that made it even harder to recycle. I also find those paper ads very useless. Everyone else could go to the store’s website and view what the ad for that week without having to deal with having paper. A lot of companies are doing well with doing things paperless and I hope in the future we will eliminate having paper ads completely. That would make a huge difference and lesser trees being cut.

Moving

My dear friend and her husband are moving to their new apartment. She is very excited because this will mean a new beginning for them. I wish I have a lot of time in my hands, but I am so busy myself. I would really love to help her with the move and settling things up. They had been waiting for this time and now that it is here, I am so happy for them. There are a lot of things that they still need. I already left her a message to let me know if she needs anything. She mentioned before that they really need new office furniture because they never had any before. It is so exciting and tiring moving but in the end, it is so worth it.

Back Up

I need to start being serious about printing Frankie’s pictures. It seems like I kept deleting the pictures that I have in the digital camera and now they are gone for good. I still hated myself for not getting an online backup when he was a baby for his baby pictures. When our computer broke down on us, all of Frankie’s baby pictures were gone for good. There was no way I could retrieve them. In fact now that I am in school it is the more I would like to get a back up, so I have a place where I could store all my assignments and paper works. You’ll never know something might happen to them.

Frankie Singing

There is no time in a day that Frankie and Papa are not singing. In fact because of that, our VCD player broke. Frankie had learned a lot of songs not only baby songs. What I find very amusing is, when he sings, he wants us to sing with him. He likes his Dada to sing with him too, but Ryan always tells him that he doesn't know how to sing. Before going to bed he likes to sing then he enjoys listening to me sing too. I hope he will continue to love singing when he grows up. Here is a video of him this morning. He had a fever last night and had a clogged nose. Excuse the picking of the nose. :)

Treatment

I remember my late grandma having to suffer with arthritis all the time especially when it was a little cold outside. There were times when her hip bones and spine becomes inflamed that prohibited her from moving too. I remember her crying in pain, and we felt so useless because there was nothing we could do. We were not sure if what she had was still connected with arthritis. We couldn’t afford to take her to the hospital, so she pretty much carried the pain. I wish we had the ankylosing spondylitis treatment then in the Philippines but we didn’t. It is so nice to know that there are people and places that people that are suffering from Ankylosing Spondylitis could go and seek treatment.

Life Insurance

I started looking for life insurance quotes online to see if we could afford to get Papa a life insurance even if he hesitated when I asked him. I was stunned with the amount of people who called us and left a message. The email that I gave also was flooded with quotes from different companies. It makes me ask, where were they when I was looking for health insurance for my Dad? I guess now I have so many options to look at. I better start going through them also find something for me too. I still don’t have any life insurance myself.

Role Model

I was in one of the registers checking out a customer when my co-workers and I saw a little girl deliberately eating the candy bars that we have by the check out lanes. She was eating them one by one, and she must have eaten four when one of the ladies that I worked with came up to her and asked where her parents were. The little girl’s parents were just nearby sniffing on the perfumes/cologne as if nothing happened. When the little girl dropped one of the candies, she picked it up and a back of lip gloss that we sell fell from her pocket. She grabbed it and put it back on her pocket. We were all astonished and couldn’t believe what we just saw. Our supervisor approached the parents and gave them the candy wrapper that their daughter dropped on the floor expecting them to pay for it of course. The mother just smiled as if it was ok with her.

I went back to my department to finish what I started. I have not seen them after that. I took my lunch, and when I was getting ready to zone, I was so surprised to see the same candy wrapper that our supervisor gave the mother hidden in the back of one of the shoes. Right next to the wrapper are two empty boxes of perfumes that were stolen because we couldn’t find the content of it anywhere. I am not trying to judge people or say that it was them who stole those stuff I found and other four things that my other co-workers found, but you could just imagine.

However, if it was the case, how could the parents let their kids see their stupidity? I am over the shoe department, and I always get old and used baby shoes or kid’s shoes in a shoe box that we sell because the parents put a new pair of shoes to their kids and walked out with it without paying for it. The kids see it and they would think that it is alright to steal. Some parents also liked switching none clearance shoes and put it inside a clearance box, so they could pay the cheaper price. I just had a couple a few days ago, and what was sad is they have their son and daughter with them. What is going on with this world? Are we that desperate to get the things that we couldn’t afford that it is alright to do the wrong things in front of our children? If you can’t afford it then you don’t need it or save for it and buy it when you have the money. These kind of people makes me sick because their kids will be doing the same things when they grow up. How about you? Are you good role model to your children?

Planning for Retirement?

It makes me laugh every time I see how much deductions I have from work. Twenty percent of my check goes to our 401K and ten perfect of Ryan's goes to our 401K too. It hurts a little bit because there are other things that I would love to pay off with that. We only have fifteen hundred left for my car, and I really would like to pay it off completely but Ryan said that we can't touch the 401k. I guess it is good thing for the future, so we don't have to worry about retirement. I asked him about the orange account just to pay off the car, but he is concern that something might happen and we need emergency money. It seems we still have a long way to go before retirement but as he said, when are we going to start? When we are old and can't enjoy our retirement because we need to work? I guess it makes sense. I am not used to this back home I guess. Good thing I married a man who makes sure our future is secured.

Ping Pong Set

I wanted to get Papa a ping pong set for Christmas. I contemplated on it and was wondering why people were returning them to the store that I am working with. One customer said that it was too small for a regular sized table and it wasn’t worth the price. Papa really enjoys playing ping pong. We used to have different kinds of game tables in the Philippines when I was growing up. He made the tables himself, and we used to play different kinds of games. I wonder what happened to it now, now that Papa is here.

Electric Cigarettes

I love and miss the Philippines, but there is one thing that annoys me when I am there. I hate it when people just smoke everywhere. I can’t breathe when someone smokes because I am not used to it. Nobody in my family smokes that is why when I around people that smoke it makes me cough. I wonder if they have electric cigarettes there now for sale. It must be a nice idea to get my uncles some of those because all of them smoke. They probably find it interesting. I am sure it will feel and taste like they are smoking the real thing minus the side effects.

Money

I am so pleased with what we have done for the past year. Ryan and I have been transfering money to our account somewhere unseen and it is amazing how it adds up after a year. We have not touched it even if Ryan had paid for our Philippine trip tickets. We would like to have all the cash we could have when we remodel the house when the market is getting better again. We have not done the taxes either. Ryan always does it last minute when it is almost the deadline. Since I don't have any idea about it, I just leave it to him. I don't even remember him doing that early on. It is always around the end of March or early April. It is ok though. We have plenty of time.

Career

I didn’t want to go back teaching when I first got here. I know that I still have a long way to go with taking some classes, and the students here are way different in terms of their attitudes than in the Philippines. After giving birth to Frankie, I realized that I should go back to school t teach again. Seeing him everyday makes me want to be with kids again. I just want to have a career where I am not going to be dependent with my husband for the rest of my life. With the recession, I noticed that there are a lot of people going back to school to better themselves and their careers. I definitely agree that there is no age limit when it comes to learning.

Furniture

I am so excited that this month is the last month that Ryan and I will be sending a big chunk of money to the Philippines. Grace is graduating soon and this is her last month in school. I have almost covered all her graduation expenses except this very last one. I feel so happy and accomplished that I had helped my sisters get through school. All I need for them to do is to pay it forward. To help those who need help that is around them. We would still be sending to the Philippines, but it would not be as big as we had been sending. I told Ryan that now I could save my blogging money to be able to get a modern furniture for the living room. We still have that old beat up one that Frankie had torn apart. I am not in a hurry though because I want to get a really nice. It might take months to save, but it will be worth it.

Filler

I really hate it when I plague my blog with paid post. I know it is a blessing, but I also don't like it when I can't write a filler because I don't have the time anymore. I did most of my writing first, so I am done with it then did school work. It really didn't take that long but it is thinking of what filler to write is what I really hate especially when I have quiet a few readers in this blog who never fails to visit me every once in a while. I will be off to work in a little bit. I did what I have to do last night in English, so I don't have anything that needs to be done. I am still contemplating on the next thing I should do about something, but I think I have made my mind. So to my constant readers please excuse my blog for not having anything new.

Internet

Losing weight is so much easier these days than probably 20 years ago or so. There are tested weight loss supplements that are available for people who need its help. There are a lot of them though, so one needs to be very careful on which one to go for. That is what I like about the internet because it is very useful in helping one decide which to go for. It makes it losing weight a lot easier. I just love the internet, and how it helped a lot of people just like me.

Stressed but Not Giving Up

It is now 12:35 p.m. and I haven’t eaten anything yet. Papa had been calling me, but I have so much in my head that I wanted to do that first before anything else. I am starting to feel a little hungry now, so I will definitely be grabbing something to eat in the kitchen. It has been really stressful lately with my classes, but I am not giving up without a fight. I decided to keep this one class and let my teacher know that I am not giving up because he crushed me down. I have so many essays to do for his class. I am not going to get a C in his class because I know I could do better than that. It seems like I am losing weight with all the stress I have to endure. I guess that is good, so I don’t need a female fat burner to lose the weight. After lunch, I will be heading to school and there do what I have to do.

Our Babies Are Having Babies

Ryan loves our guinea pigs. He has always been like that with animals anyway. He always makes sure to play to each of them with Frankie before he goes to bed. I love listening to them giggle in our bedroom when both of them are trying to play with the babies. Anyways, a few weeks ago, Ryan was in the bathroom trying to play with them again when he called me at the top of his lungs. I came in running because I thought something happened. He looked at me with a puzzed look on his face and said, "Sweety, the other baby is pregnant". I looked at him and said, "what?" I was told that we are getting both females. They accidentally gave us male and female. I checked and she was pregnant indeed.

It's been three days since she gave birth to the two babies. I am so thankful that we only have two. Dada wants to keep them, and he promised that he will take care of them for me. He knew I have a lot in my hand these days. The babies are so cute, and Frankie just loves them. Here they are.

The Babies with Dada and Frankie.

Gold Coins

When I was in high school, I used to collect stamps from different countries. I had a lot of pen pals from different parts of the world, and I used to keep the stamps. My aunt and uncle are also in Australia, so every time they send me letters I kept them. I had an album full of stamps. Unfortunately, I left it when I came here in the US. Now that I am here, I like collecting old coins though. It might look so insignificant to some, but they are interesting especially when they look different. Maybe when I have the money in the future, I would love to collect gold coins. It is a nice thing to collect since the value gets higher as it gets older.

Multivitamins

I had a full load when I was teaching back in Cebu. My classes started at 8:00 a.m. and that went on until 4:30 p.m. Of course I got an hour lunch and recess. It was the most challenging career I ever had. I had six classes everyday with different lessons. I studied every night before going to bed. I had to travel almost two hours to get to work. I was so thin when I was teaching that was why Ryan used to send me multivitamins. That multivitamins really helped me a lot. I started eating more and gained a little weight. I used to take stress tablets but that didn’t work. Thankfully, Ryan was there always supporting me.

Gates are for Babies

Frankie is not so little anymore. When he was younger, we tried to baby proof the house and that included the gates up for the hallway and for the kitchen. When he started climbing, we would always find him by the kitchen door opening one of the kitchen drawers. He loved going through the spoons that he didn't even mind if his little toes were hurting while hanging on the gate. I used to call him my little daredevil.


Now the gate days are over because Frankie can easily climb and jump on the other side of the gate. Yep he is that tall already. He even wears size 10 shoes now. We left our gate up to his point because he goes through everything. He is such a smart kid that he can easily operate things especially the ones that has something to do with electricity. He knows how to turn on the computer and the printer and where to go in order to shut it down. He even knows what number we should have in our humidifier, and he operates it every night. He knows how to put together his new toy from Dada to the TV. He is very observant that is why we are so careful with what we say in front of him. Our only child is growing so fast.

Energy

“We need to do something,” that is what Ryan kept telling me. I have been so tired lately all the time, and I need all the energy I could have to keep going. I really miss the Philippines and its sunny weather. Even if you just go for a walk, you will always sweat and feel energized. The winter here in the US really makes me feel like I can’t do anything else but laze around. My girlfriend and I agreed that we are going to go to the gym, but when I started going to school, I don’t have the time to do it anymore. There are top fat burners in the market these days. I better start reading and see what they have to offer.

Summer Break-out

It makes me sad every time I see teenagers that have a lot of pimples on their face. It made me think of the things I went through when I was in high school and college with it. I had scars all over my face and, it surely did make me feel so ugly. I hope Frankie doesn’t have to endure having acne. I know Ryan had some too during his teenage years. My parents also had them too during their teenage years. At age 31, I still get them occasionally but not as bad as when I was younger. For some strange reasons though, it gets really bad during the summer especially around the side of my face. Maybe it is time for me to look for adult acne treatments that I could share to Ryan when he break out every once in a while.

Racism does Exist

Racism is unfortunately present even to this day and age. It is a sad truth that will always haunt this nation, but what if racism came from a four year old child? It made me ask, what are the parents teaching their kids at home these days? The story I intend to share is a true story that happened recently, but I won’t be mentioning names to protect their identity.

“We were all stunned,” one of my co-workers told me when she visited me in my department. Out of curiosity, I asked her why.

A four year old child was separated from his mother. The child had been looking for his mother for quiet sometime. After roaming around the store,he finally gave up and came up to the register asking for help.

“I was afraid someone will snatch me,” the child told the cashier who happened to be white.

“I will make sure that we will find your mother, just stay there because I will call for help” the cashier reassured him.

The cashier used her radio to ask for help and immediately one of my co-workers who were nearby came up to the register. She talked to the child trying to calm him down. She asked questions about his mother, so she could page her. In the beginning the child did not say a word. She tried to convince him to give the name his mother, so they could find her.

“I can’t forget the look on that child’s face when he said, my mommy told me not to talk to black people.”

“We were all stunned with his answer, and all I said was wow.”

When she was narrating the story, I couldn’t help but see the disappointment in her. What are the parents teaching their kids these days? I wonder if he asked his mother why he couldn’t talk to black people. I wonder what the answer of the mother was. That child will grow to be hateful which I considered a vicious cycle. He will have this family soon, and I am sure without hesitation he will also forbid his children to talk or be around black people. It is a sad reality.

Scanning Accuracy

The holiday was so bad last year. It was ok in my department, but they kept on pulling us off in our areas and put us in the registers. It was fine in the beginning, but it got annoying after a while because we have a lot of things to do in our respective areas. I really can’t complain because it was not that bad compared to my previous job where the holiday was horrible. The Symbol LS2208 made checking out really easy. Symbol LS2208 is a barcode scanner with a wire attached to it that could reach places to make scanning easier. Thank God for these scanners. It made life easier.

Fireplace

I have always imagined our house with a fireplace, but when Ryan and I were looking for a house, we were just looking into what we could afford then. I wanted a fireplace or a basement, and we don’t have any of both. We have central heat, but I am sure it would have been awesome to watch TV in the living room with the fireplace on. I told Ryan that we could always get one of those Amish fireplaces that we can easily install in the living room. I know exactly the perfect place for it. Hopefully, it gets a little cheaper after winter is over, so we could get one for next year.

I Hate Goodbyes

Just this past week three of the people that I worked with are leaving. A couple was because they could not handle it anymore because they have other full time job, and the other one got promoted. I was up in customer service earlier signing their cards, and I couldn't help to feel sad. We were the pioneers of the store, and we had a wonderful relationship. We were so nice with each other. We eat together all the time. One co-worker brings food everyone shares. Dan was the most awesome supervisor I ever had. Even if I don't work for him anymore unlike before, but I was still really sad when he left.

I don't think I will ever find a boss as awesome as him. He taught me very well, and how to be patient with people that need help. I am sure I will see him around but he will always remain in my heart. Out of the original ad set team, there are only 4 of us left. How sad.

Priorities

When I was growing up, I used to ask my father why our house was very small compared to our neighbors. My father was a laborer and that was what helped us get through school especially me and my brothers. He used to tell us that he spent every peso he had to send us to school, so we could be educated. I truly see it now. My neighbors have big houses but uneducated kids who will always be dependent to them. My parents were very smart, and they planned it very well. That is why sometimes I felt like giving back to them and fixing the house. It would be awesome to see Kohler faucets in the bathroom or kitchen, but I don’t want my parents to live there any longer; I don’t see any reason to update it. Maybe soon but we’ll see. We have to fix our house first.

House in the Philippines

I was so static when I saw pictures of the kitchen floor in our house in the Philippines with ceramic tiles. Papa was the one who installed it, and it really looked nice and well done. He also did the same thing in the bathroom. We have an outdoor bathroom in the Philippines and one had to leave the house to use it. The tiles were already up when Ryan and I visited the Philippines in 2004. It’s been a while since we’ve been home that is why I can’t wait to see how the house looks like now. I am sure it looked so old and rugged after all these years of wear and tear. I wish I have the money to have it fixed, but if we ever decide to make a descent house, I don’t want it in the same location. It would be nice to have one in the province where my mother grew up, in San Fernando. The house would look awesome overlooking the ocean.

Everything Happened For A Reason

Everyone are very excited for our upcoming trip to the Philippines. The balikbayan boxes had been sent, and I am sure it will get there soon. I have waited too long to go for a visit and now that it is a few months away, I am very sad. After all these excitement, I could not make it to see my sister graduate, and it upsets me so much. I just couldn't believe after the school changed her graduation dates three times back and forth and after I booked the tickets, they turned around and changed the dates to almost a week early from our arrival. I thought they already decided for a date. They had the parents there to agree with everything before I booked and now I get this. It was like a big rock thrown at me. I wanted to call the school and give them a piece of my mind, but Papa is afraid that the school will retaliate and do something to Ging-ging. I know they can do that there. I am just upset. I waited four years for this and now it is just a little wait I get one of the saddest news.

I talked to my brother, and I told him to take a lot of pictures. I also asked him that if he could find a way to borrow a video camera, to do so. I did not put it in the balikbayan box because I thought we will be able to make it, and we will just hand carry it with us. I had flashes in my mind about all of us there in her graduation. Taking a lot of pictures and posing in the school ground and now it is not going to happen. I am still trying to figure what this meant. I know that if things doesn't work according to plan, I always look for a reason, but I still couldn't find a good reason for this. I am disappointed, but all I needed to do is go on and enjoy myself with my family. I hope my uncle and aunt could join us. Here are some pictures of her with the dress Papa and I got for her. If you are a friend of mine in fb then you have seen these. Here she is.

Doesn't she looked lovely?