Watch your mouth, Mommy!

We found out that having Xofia watch TV later in the night towards her bedtime contributes to her restlessness during the night. There are nights that she'd sit up in the middle of her sleep and whimper. It's scary. There are also nights that she'd continue popping bubbles or calling TV characters with eyes closed. So we stopped the videos right away. Her nighttime activity must only include light play. No excessive mental and physical stimulation. Not even potty-training. It settled her a bit, and I was afforded an additional snooze time.

It's amazing how she accumulates words everyday. We talk to her in straight, big people words, no baby-talk allowed in the house. She'd repeat the words you said and get those words real fast. Before you know it, she'd be talking to you using those words. It's wonderful! Well, only for those words you'd like for her to learn!

Last night at the dinner table, while I was busy strapping her to her seat, she grabbed my soup bowl. Because you never know what two-year olds do with ceramic soup bowls, I hurried to yank it from her hands. In my haste, I stubbed my little toe! Because it was so darn painful, the F-word escaped from my mouth.

Xofia looked at me and said with such gusto, "f**k!" She was beaming ever so proudly, I was lost and sat there unbelieving and immobile.

The three of us, me, my husband and sister looked at each other and laughed.

Big mistake, Mommy. Big mistake.

Catastrophies everywhere, is this really happening?

Luzon has been ravaged with flood courtesy of typhoon Ketsana, the worst the country has seen. I don't have to see the news and scour the internet for information, help is needed everywhere. If you have something extra to spare, please don't hesitate. The universe or the power greater than the universe know how to repay you. And what goes around comes around. We need not experience the flood ourselves to see how horrible it is. Please help.

The very same day that the rain never stopped falling in Luzon, I was somewhere north of Cebu fishing, unaware of what's happening farther up north in the country. We had few rainfalls and a considerable wind, but that was that. Since we were offline practically the whole day, we didn't know what happened until we came home late that night.

We were supposed to be in Manila today, for Xofia's checkup. We postponed because there are two more typhoons looming by the Pacific. In Indonesia a killer quake has claimed lives and more are missing. A tsunami triggered by an earthquake struck Samoa. It's all just happening at the same time, it's overwhelming to say the least.

What are we really doing, in our part, to take care of the earth? Is it too late to be doing something, to at least ensure that our children and their children will still have an Earth to call home?

Do we even care to be bothered?

I know how to fish!

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A day at Intosan Water Park

So we've been wanting to spend time with good friends Pang and Glenn since Glen came back from the US. Thinking of an opportunity of a long weekend, we planned on a day trip to Intosan Water Park in Danao City.

The place, though lacking the standard of a starred resort hotel, didn't disappoint. Xofia had a blast with the tiny water fountains, and I swear she could stay there the whole day, she won't mind. For a P120 entrance, it'd do for families with lotsa kids. Probably grownups wouldn't have as much fun, but surely parents will enjoy. We parents get a natural high seeing our children happy and enjoying life.

The major downside was the lack of upkeep and cleanliness of bathrooms. Or maybe I'm just too particular with bathrooms. Because I didn't want to stay in the bathroom longer than 3 minutes, I took my shower outside, soap and all, and changed clothes by the vanity inside the public bathroom. Took me two minutes tops inside.

Will probably come back there, but I think I may first want to know how often they're cleaning their pools.

Rain Barrels for collecting rainwater

For the longest time, there is not a day without rain. And of course, I am loving it! I don't like the humidity that comes before the rain, I like the rain itself. I especially like the first few drops as they slowly and deliberately wet the earth. I like that smell.

As what Barney (yep, the dinosaur) had said, when we're thirsty, we get our water from the sink (or bottle) but the plants and trees had to wait for the rain to fall. Rain also, is the best water for the plants. Water from our tap may contain chemicals like chlorine which are harmful. In this thought, I was seriously considering of getting rain water barrels for rain harvesting. Because of the bills I've been grappling with lately, rain barrels simply provide an energy-efficient, if not energy-free way of collecting water.

There are rain barrels for sale that look like planter boxes and decor. If you need to put the barrel out front, it's important to camouflage it to complement the look of the house.

OK, ok. Function first, but if I can have both functionality and aesthetic, why not?

Bills, bills, bills!

(image from thedigeratilife.com)
My whole life is full of bills!

Then there's auto-credit that my card company is offering to place all my bills in 1 single bill. Yay, I won't have to wade through bills after bills anymore. But then that's not the issue. Technically, I still have the same number and amount of bills to pay.

Imagine this.

We don't use running hot and cold water in the house. We've long abandoned the water heater because, hey, who needs hot bathing water in the Philippines, really?

We stopped using the rice-cooker. Not because it uses too much energy but because helpers just love to bust them.

We only use airconditioning during the night, in one room, usually.

Almost all lights in the house are energy-efficient, save for the one in the stock room and the flourescent in the guest room.

We don't use the washing machine. Oh yes, because I have a helper who's idle most times of the day, so yeah, I let her wash by hands. It's more efficient anyway. :-P

And still I get a whooping P5K~ electricity bill. I think it's a joke.

So, I read the Green Living section of realsimple.com. They have a good article on cutting energy cost. Some, I've been practicing, some I need to enforce on the helpers. Let's see if next month's electricity bill will show any improvement.

Small space bar

We entertain a lot. Our house, because it's practically right smack at the city, becomes the unofficial gathering place for friends and family. And because we're living in a small townhouse, I need all practical storage solutions that doubles as something else.

In connection to entertaining, it's very important to have a bar where guests gather around and socialize. But because my dining area is small as it is, there's just no space to tuck a bar somewhere. I find this bar with wheels practical.

The bar showcases a built-in stemware rack and wine station. I could just easily roll the bar from the dining area to the living space where people usually spills over. After entertaining, I can push it out of the way under the kitchen island. Perfect!

Another practical solution that also caught my eye is this undercabinet wine glass rack.

The hanging wine glass rack had me swooning. What better way to display your crystals than this? Plus it doubles as a wine rack. And oh, be still my heart, it comes in polished chrome. Chrome just has this way of matching with any decor.