I first met Sister M, at the wake of Luijoe in May 2000. I looked around for the motherly Sister T, the principal that I… Read More »Parents and Our Children on Truth and Communal Action
If you stumbled upon my blog via Shop Talk, welcome to my blog. I came up with this welcome page to guide all of you along in case you have questions on blogging. First let’s tackle the obvious, what is a blog?
I was watching Gina de Venecia interview on “Strictly Politics” where she called the President’s sons — Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel Arroyo and Camarines Sur Representative Diosdado Macapagal-Arroyo as Spoiled Brats. Gina de Venecia said “the Arroyo children in the House are ““drunk with power,” and that the move to remove her husband was not done out of national interest.” They were instrumental in removing her husband, a vendetta for their son’s Senate testimony linking Jose Miguel ““Mike” Arroyo – their father – to the controversial national broadband deal with the Chinese firm ZTE Corp.
Were they acting as spoiled brats? or as loving sons to their mom and dad? Then I remembered my kids reaction the night of ex-speaker Jose de Venecia’s (JDV) impassioned speech.
Upon learning that the two sons played a part of the JDV’s exit, my girls pretended to have that the spoiled brat attitude , Oh daddy, can you buy me an island?
Blood is thicker than water, said my husband.
It may have been understood that JDV knew of his son’s plan to expose the ZTE broadband deal and didn’t stop his son.
My dad often told me to look at the silver lining when the going gets rough. An old quote says that “THE OPTIMIST sees the doughnut; the pessimist sees the hole.” Two wonderful opportunities came out of the family’s financial challenges in 2004: (1) More Family Meals at home and (2) Butch learning to cook.
I learned to bake before I tried my hand at cooking because I grew up in a bake shop that mom started when I was nine years old. By the time I was 21, I lived off-campus with my dorm mates which forced me to learn how to cook. Even the sauteeing and frying scared the hell out of me. I learned from watching. Soon, I got tired living in apartments that I built a house with my dad’s funds by the time I was 23 years old. Having my own home paved the way for me to experiment on cooking fancy dishes. I relied on my mom’s dishes and experimented or innovated on existing recipes. Having a degree in BS Food Technology helped me to be more creative with recipes. Through the years, I’ve accumulated these perfected recipes in a black notebook.
Baking hit the peak of my life when the girls were very little. I baked and iced their birthday cakes because the commercial cakes tasted dry and ordinary. How my girls marvelled at my Barbie or Disney themed cakes. Not only did they look magical, my cake tasted special. These days, I bake simple pies or desserts. Recently, I purchased a convection oven which ensures even temperature throughout the baking. Friends often wished I start a bake shop but I believed the bake shop’ stress caused mom to die early from breast cancer. I vowed never to venture into a large scale bake shop operation like mom did. Maybe one day, I will open a small coffee shop with baked goodies.
Are you curious about the lifestyle of 7 to 14 year old Filipino children? Sure, we know they have the inherent ability to assimilate new technology and adapt to change at such phenomenal rates but how much? Today, I attended the presentation of Cartoon Networks’ New Generations Philippines results of the first fully-localized study dedicated to Filipino kids with previous studies done in 2003 and 2005. Cartoon Network believes that such study is an integral part of its on-going quest to learn about kids, their lifestyle , opinions and behavior. The approach in conducting the study was based on face-to-face interviews with 1,000 child and parent pairs, surveying Filipino kids aged 7-14 years and their parents from socio-economics classes A to D in three metropolitan areas of Cebu, Davao and Manila in September and October 2007. Synovate Philippines was commissioned to conduct the survey.
The results are quite disappointing. TV is the number one choice for kids among various forms of media consumption.
The girls are now in their twenties and they have their own gimmicks these days. I can’t even schedule a photo shoot for a family portrait because their schedules always conflict with the date. The only occasion for us to be together is when we dine out or shop. Yesterday afternoon was one of those rare moments when they wanted to be with me. I was invited to the “All Treats No Tricks” event of All Flip Flops and Marta’s Cakes at the Bonifacio High Street where we get the chance to ice cookies or cupcakes. The girls thought it was an excellent idea to go to the swanky Bonifacio High Street and hie off to their favorite hangout, The Fully Booked bookstore. (Asides, I think Andres Bonifacio would rise from his grave if he saw his namesake being used for such a ritzy shopping complex. )
My dear husband offered to drive us (thank goodness) and meet up at the Fully Booked after the event. So we were at the tent across All Flip Flops and sat down to work on our cupcakes and cookies. My two lovely daughters sat across me and suddenly memories of their childhood flooded me. Those memories where we often did arts and crafts and even icing the cookies together. Where did the good old days go? As I iced my own cupcake, I know deep inside the girls are brought back to their happy childhood memories. Those were the days when I devoted a lot of my time cooking and baking. Those were the days we would look far and wide for a playground. These memories never die. Our childlike mind always lives in us and it is a good thing.
The day Lauren wrote her essay on “Generation Next, Generation Net” 11 years ago, I had no idea I’d end up being a blogger just like her. During those days, diarist or online journallers were relegated to the twenty something and below. Moms did not blog. Our kids must have been so influential in inspiring moms like me to blog. I am not alone. Take a look at JAngelo and his mom, Dine or Aaron Roselo and his mom blogging at AMomandMore.
Having read Lauren’s blog for many years sublimally prepared me for the launch of my blog 10 years later after she started in 1996. Let me count the ways:
1. Content (Good and Original) is King.
Good content shows the blogger’s own personality and flavor. Her story-telling style made it very interesting for her readers of all ages. Good content built a strong readership which she continues to enjoy until the present time. The power of stories to connect, captivate and persuade, creates a great way to grab hold of a reader.
Hear Ye, All Ye bloggers.
We have a new look over at the Pinoy Moms Network (PMN) which officially launched its ezine format at 12 midnight . With the new look comes new content. As I write this entry, the section editors are still awake at this unholy hour tweaking their entries . This just shows how much labor of love went into this new endeavor. Connie is right in saying that “it’s even misleading to talk about how much blood, sweat and tears went into the transformation of PMN.”
Speaking of Pinoy Moms, I invited a few moms to a small intimate gathering as part of my mini 50th birthday celebration. Thanks Dine, Chats, Lisaflor and Jane for making it knowing you had family affairs to attend to.
What I love about hosting parties is that I am forced to cook and bake. Ever since the girls went to college, I have relegated the grocery and marketing to my dear husband and merely supervised the daily meals to the household help.
The latest local showbiz buzz happened on Mother’s day of all days! What struck me is Annabelle Rama’s message to her daughter, Ruffa Gutierrez regarding the split-up with her Turkish husband, Yilmaz Bektas. As a backgrounder,
View Video of Annabelle Rama’s message to her daughter, Ruffa or
Read transcript of Annabelle Rama interview in GMA 7
““Napakahirap maging nanay. At saka ang anak ko, ang layo-layo sa akin palagi, nasa Istanbul. Biro mo, for one-year-and-a-half, hindi siya umuwi sa akin. Ngayon, nandito siya sa akin, haping-happy ako. Kaya Ruffa, ang desisyon mo, tuldukan mo na. Please lang, maawa ka sa akin. Kung gusto mo akong matigok, pumunta ka sa Maldives. Kung gusto mo pa akong mabuhay nang matagal, mag-stay ka sa akin.
My Tagalog is not too good but from what I understood from the above message is this It’s difficult being a mother. My daughter lives so far away all the time, in Istanbul. Imagine, for a year and a half, she didn’t go home to me. Now that she is here, I am happy. Ruffa, stand by your decision. Please, have pity on me. If you want me to die, go with him to Maldives. If you want me to live longer, stay with me.
They say “Mothers know best” and I believe Annabelle when she says that all she wants is the best for her daughter. The thing is her message reeks of manipulative control. It reminds me of myself a few years ago when I freaked out over my daughter’s boyfriend. I said the same cheesy dramatic lines when I told her to stop seeing her boyfriend. Guilt-tripping never works. You can’t blame me or Annabelle for using guilt-trip because our parents also used the same tactic to control children’s behavior.
Look at these two scenarios I had with my daughter:
In a few hours, Lauren will be on board the plane for Singapore with 2 guys (both brothers) *gasp* . One of the guys is Lauren’s band manager. I didn’t know she was travelling with 2 guys. The mother of the guys called me up and assured me that Lauren will be in safe hands. That was sweet of her to call me but I trust Lauren knew she would be in good company. At the last minute, the female companion backed out.
She loves the excitement and the adventure of travel. The travel itch started at the age of 10 years old when I “forced” them to join a cultural exchange program (choir tour) in the USA and Canada every summer. Those were my stage mother years where the girls were caught in the hustle and bustle of stage performances. During those travels, I taught the girls every immigration , travel and plane procedures because I knew they’d be travelling almost every year and I wasn’t sure if I’d always accompany them. I didn’t know it then but today, they tell me that their travel experience is something that they will always treasure.
While at Singapore , Lauren will meet up with a few Singaporean bloggers who have been her readers for the past decade. Imagine that!? During the early days of the internet, I was often questioned why I allowed my children to get online.
Questions often asked were:
Am I not afraid of pedophiles? Am I not wary of the pornography ? What if the online friend is really some serial killer?