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Archive for November, 2020


Alleluia!

For the first time ever in a period  of nine months, I went out of the periphery of the subdivision. I  needed a hair trim and I also wanted to buy gifts for the family.

My temperature was checked for the first time at the mall entrance then another check at the entrance of the DIY shop and finally at Kenny Rogers Roaster. I was armed with a small bottle of Alcohol and a small bottle with hand sanitizer is attached to my bag.  I am not complaining though but writing your name, contact number and address in the establishments I visited is sort of overkill. I know, they might need contact tracing later on (is there still one nowadays?)  but  I guess names and phone numbers would suffice.

I had my hair trimmed at David’s Saloon and the hair stylist said I am lucky there were no customers yet early this morning. Yes of course, I deliberately went there early so as to avoid the crowd. Imagine, nine months of not going out of our subdivision gate.  And the rate of the hair trim, there was an increase of at least 30% since I had my last hair trim there. 

I bought a  a manual grass cutter at ACE Hardware together with gardening scissors, a cutter and some Ramgo seeds for planting. Since I have a list of what to buy for the family, I was done in more than two hours.  The department store no longer wrap gifts for free but when you present your receipts, they will give you one gift wrapper for every P500.00 pesos or more cost of one item. Nice try, I enjoy wrapping gifts anyway.

A friend asked me how it feels going  out for the first time after so many months being on a lock down. I am no longer comfortable seeing a lot of people so I kept my distance.  What has this Covid pandemic done to us? Gone are the days when I could chat with baggers and cashiers while waiting for my purchases especially in supermarkets. Even tricycles here have that plastic between the driver and the passenger. Only one passenger is allowed so you could imagine the price increase of fares nowadays. Next venture would be at the supermarket when Josef or Jovy are not so busy to accompany me. Though we plan  to just order  food come Christmas, we still need groceries to tide us over.

We won’t let this Covid defeat our will  to live as normally as we can. We just need to have that self-discipline to protect us from the virus.

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REJOICE, HE is coming. A blessed Advent season to all.

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I am listening to the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s music on my small transistor radio while trying to think of what to write about this morning.

I haven’t checked  my stats in a while  and when I looked it registered a total of 634,181 at the moment. Not bad, not bad at all. I’d rather have a larger reach of visitors than having a lot of followers who I think don’t even visit my blog. Some are just there so you could follow them back. I don’t automatically follow those new followers  who have just one or two posts on their site.  Content is very important, something you can relate to, something you can learn something from.

Have you noticed? Most loyal bloggers and followers that I have now belong to the upper sixties. Maybe it’s because we have more time to write about anything under the sun, and in terms of experience, we’ve been there, done that.  Blogging is one of the most loveliest hobbies that I’ve ever ventured in. You can express yourself anyway you want anytime.

I must admit, this is going to be a laid back  Christmas celebration for me, for us as family. I wonder if I’ll ever get to see my siblings this Christmas. I’ll think of those times when we were together to celebrate this lovely occasion. When this pandemic leaves our shores, we’ll rejoice and be glad. It’s been almost a year since the lock down. We are still under general community quarantine. Some areas have more positive cases.  Add that to the worsening condition of our economy.  I hope 2022 would arrive soon so we could choose someone who won’t lead us to the doldrums.

Gosh, how nostalgic! Burt Bacharach, Mabuhay Singers’ Pasko Medley, Ray Conniff Singers, Bee Gees and occasional Christmas songs  by well-known artists.  When I get the chance to visit YouTube, I listen to the Pentatonix pop group. I love their Christmas album.

And let me have my countdown now. Hello Pete!  26 days, 13 hours and 6 minutes (Manila time).

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Whew! I am  finally done updating prayers and Gospel readings for the whole month of December 2020  at our Catholic page on Facebook. All I need to do now is to add some insights on how Christmas is celebrated around the world and that needs a bit of research. I have to source photos of  Catholic events this coming December since I could not find our previous albums in our page.

This morning I had my anti-pneumonia vaccine which will be in effect for five years. I would have brought Mom at the Senior Citizen’s Hall but she could not walk that well and she does not want to wear face mask. She could  not grasp the danger of going out without a mask. Besides, senior citizens at her age are not allowed to go out. They set the limit up to the age of 65.

I had a good chat with two long-lost friends today.  It is really so nice to get in touch again after all these years and it felt like nothing has changed that much. I had a video chat with one of them.

Tonight, I’ll catch up on my reading again.

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING to my family and friends living in the US. May you always feel the warmth of family and may you always be blessed.

Despite of what is happening around, we always have something to be thankful and to be grateful for.

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Sometimes, we’d rather have those small and simple things in life to make us happy, right?

Josef ordered a small transistor radio for me to replace the old one I usually use in the garden. It has an FM/AM/SW 3 band, Micro SD and blue tooth. So convenient to carry around. I could listen to news on AM or tune in to FM for all day music.  So easy to charge it just like you charge a cellphone. Heaven 🙂

I haven’t read for a while but I have a total of 120 books I have read this year as of last count from Goodreads. Years ago, I watched Love Story and also read the book I guess three times. Then I found a copy of Oliver’s Story and I got curious how Oliver would go on without his beloved Jennifer so I read it too. Lately, there is this Acts of Faith which was published in 1993 with 560 pages. I started reading it the other night, a story of three kids, one a Catholic who was abandoned by his parents and two kids, the son and daughter of a rabbi. From the tough streets of Brooklyn to ultramodern Brasilia to an Israeli kibbutz, and the splendor of two holy cities, Rome and Jerusalem, the story will bring us to these places. Reviews say that this is Erich Segal’s most ambitious and provocative novel to date. We’ll see, I am getting engrossed in it.

Simple pleasures and simple joys, they make life worthwhile.

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Do you remember?

The shy “hi” and “hello”

The hesitant smiles.

Then came the laughter

Listening to each other’s stories in between.

Crying on your shoulder,

And hearing those comforting words.

When friendship blooms,

Life alters.

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Nate Is 8 Now


Our Precious Bundle of Joy

That’s the smile I miss Nate. I do hope we could see each other soon. So glad to know you had a lovely birthday celebration.

This is the perfect time to explore more possibilities in life. Way to go. Keep up being a good, smart and talented kid. I miss you.

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Nate At 8


Can’t believe it, Nate is eight years old now. And yes, time really flies. I made an album today from his birth (first photo) and every year of celebration until his seventh birthday.

Nissa wrote this on her timeline:

“To my darling baby Nate..Oh my… just the thought that you are already 8 brings tears to my eyes. Watching you grow and blossom to the young man that you are now is truly a blessing. I love our late night conversations about everything under the sun- making choices, your dreams, happy memories, and even death. I love how you still depend on Mom’s back rubs to be able to sleep and yet be so independent in other things.

Every time I see you, I am reminded of how blessed I am that God gave you to me.I love you so much, my best buddy! I hope you enjoy your special day because you truly deserve it.Daddy and I love you so,so, so much and we will always have your back!

Love you 3000,Mom

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Here’s the photo I was trying to show you. I used my tab to upload it since it was the one I used to take it. It is in my media library, it loaded yesterday, I wonder why it is missing now. Look at the muddy water all around.

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