What exactly is the mommy look? Is there a fashion style for forty-something moms who have college kids? Often my girls tell me “but please… Read More »Mom fashion is a quandary
Shopping with my daughters is always an opportunity to bond with them. Stress and worry from schoolwork sometimes makes it difficult for them to really talk to us. When I ask how they are , a usual reply is “okay lang”. I sometimes wonder if that means they are ok or they don’t feel like talking about it yet. When I notice a little downtime, I treat them to shopping or a rejuvenating spa. I suggest “Do you want to go shopping or need a massage?” More often than not, the sparkle in their eyes show that they appreciate this gesture. So this is what I told L . “Since you have no classes on Thursdays, maybe we can shop in Divisoria” .
One unusual trait with L is her frugal nature. As a daughter, she is very generous giving everything she earns to us. But with clothes..no! She refuses to buy “branded” clothes. Her favorite shopping places are Divisoria or the “ukay-ukay” (thrift stores). I even gave her money to buy Levi’s jeans but she won’t hear of it. I often tell her that she should own at least a pair of Levi’s jeans or splurge once a year on a branded dress. One day, she finally got a Levi’s jeans only because she got it at a discounted price from a fund raising project of their Katipunan Magazine. L only buys if it is a bargain. Haayy. Her logic is clothes are so trendy that the next month, they just go out of fashion. She doesn’t want to spend unecessarily on clothes, shoes or bags. Maybe she will change when she is working.
Isn’t it silly that a mother is practically telling her daughter to splurge a little more on clothes?
Today, we went to Divisoria to buy materials for her crotchet gift project she planned to give her friends. We dropped by 168 Shopping Mall to see if there was anything new with this mall. Right now, 168 mall has more stalls and more interesting shopping finds compared to our June shopping adventure. The problem was the deluge of christmas shoppers.
The crowd at 9:00 AM was hampering our movements especially in the first floor. I bought two handbags and I could barely walk down the crowded aisles. Moving around was difficult. L bought a dress worth 250 pesos , a pair of shoes worth 200 pesos and a few belts and accessories. After buying my gym outfits, I discovered I could not continue shopping . (TIP: bring an assistant to help you carry the load) . We carried shopping bags that we could barely hold on to.
Read More »Christmas Shopping at 168 Shopping Mall , Divisoria
For the past 3 days, I have been taking it easy by minimizing my online time. I even took a one day leave. See , last Monday after working for two hours on the internet, a hairlike strand just appeared in my field of vision. It felt like I had hair in my eyes which refused to go away. Oh no, I panicked. Am I getting blind? I am aware that diabetics like me are prone to diabetic retinopathy. Everyone with diabetes will develop diabetic retinopathy. Regular eye exams when first diagnosed with diabetes, and then at least every two years, will reduce the risk of vision loss and blindness. I couldn’t believe this was it. The start of my blindness. But I protested silently. I just had an eye angiogram 8 months ago and it was normal.
I paid a visit to my Philamacare-HMO opthalmologist who in turn referred me to a retina specialist for a retinal pathology. The opthalmologist saw some fluid in the retina but wasn’t so sure about it as my pupils were not dilated when he examined me. Yesterday, I waited for Dr. Chan at the Medical Center Manila for two hours. While waiting, I befriended some of the patients whose eye problem stories made me even more nervous. A diabetic woman who is a few years older than me is almost blind. She underwent a laser operation to save her eyesight. Before the operation, she could only see headless people . Though she still has blurry vision, at least the people she sees have heads on their shoulders. Eek, I thought. So that’s how it is to be partially blind? I comforted myself with the thought that perhaps my defective eyesight is still in its early stages. The nurse checked my long distance vision and I still had a 20-20 vision. Hm, that’s good news. Then she placed a few eyedrops to fully dilate my pupils. Good thing my husband dropped me off so I didn’t have to drive home with dilated pupils.
Sunday is supposed to be family day. But both girls were engrossed with their school activities. Lauren as Associate Editor of Katipunan Magazine needed to… Read More »Pampering Couple Day: Relaxing spa
Friday and saturday were stressful days for us. Butch and I commemorated our son’s 6th death anniversary by embarking on a new mission which will… Read More »Couple Spa
It’s inspiring to see before and after photos of people who have lost weight. Take for instance Five stars who went to fat and back like Janet Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, Anna Nicole Smith, Nicole Richie and Jared Leto. Janet lost a whopping 70 pounds:
Janet’s secret is not lipo, not starvation, not gastric bypass. A few months back, Janet signed up for a healthy gourmet delivery service called Fresh Dining, a company that is becoming Hollywood’s new thing.
There’s a similar service in Makati that prepares the [tag]Southbeach diet[/tag] and delivers it to your house. I know of a couple who ordered this diet plan. It cost them 20,000 pesos (roughly $400) every 15 days. God, it’s way too expensive. The result. They didn’t lose weight and I think even gained some poundage. So much for Southbeach diet.
My weight management plan was based on South Beach diet which I prepared by myself. Nothing fancy or expensive. It worked combined with daily exercise at the gym. At the age of 48 years old and afflicted with diabetes, I ‘ve achieved a [tag]weight loss[/tag] of of 30 pounds over a period of 4 to 5 months. I have 10 more pounds to lose.
So here’s my before and after pic:
Sports should have been one of the children’s activities. Yes, there were swimming classes but no volleyball, soccer, softball or basketball. Sure, L kicked her… Read More »Sports in the family
I told my daughter , Lauren ” Did you know that [tag]belly dance[/tag] was taught by mothers to their daughters for easy childbirths?” She raised an eyebrow. I added, “At least you’re learning it now while still single“. Lauren rolled her eyes. She decided to tag along with me last week for belly dancing . Ahh, we had so much fun. After the belly dance session, she went to the “Girl Shoppe” at Market! Market! and bought me red hip scarves with coins while she got the purple for herself. This morning was our second session. The second time around is so much easier . Belly dancing reminds me a bit of the “hula” or “hawaiian dance” which was the craze for pre-teens in the late sixties. I know how to sashay my hips like a graceful hula dancer. But belly dance is different.
The dance’s movements teach you to focus on moving one part of the body, and make muscles and limbs toned yet flexible. One learns to control body movements, restricting them either to the upper or lower body. In “shoulder shimmies,” for instance, only the shoulders, arms and chest should move, not the waist or hips. Source
If I narrate the whole story on how I fractured my leg, perhaps “Maalala mo kaya?” (weekly TV drama series in ABS CBN) might get… Read More »Disabled for 6 months