How Much Do You Spend?

How many times do you do grocery shopping in a month? I do mine twice a month. I used to do it on a monthly basis but it seems like nothing lasts for a month nowadays. I remember my first years of raising a family, spending a certain amount in groceries would give me 8 bags full, but that certain amount now can only allow me to shop for a bag full. Prices have gone up. I refuse to look at the prices sometimes because if I do I will end up buying nothing. Do you guys memorize the prices of the usual stuff you are buying? Good thing the receipt printer gives a very clear printout of the stuff that I buy so more or less I have an idea of the prices and how much budget to set aside for grocery shopping. I wonder if your groceries eat a big chunk in your budget too?

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Are You Ready to Celebrate?

Who's reading for the Christmas Eve celebration? I am not yet that ready since I need to prepare a lot more stuff for our "noche buena". I didn't prepare much this time, I think we're just having ham, 3 kinds of cheeses, some red wine, baked chicken wings and baked macaroni and grapes. That is not much, considering we had a lot last year. Well I learned my lesson, we don't get to finish everything that we prepared. I haven't finished baking banana pineapple bread to be given away. I've done 6 so far, and need to do 10 more. I will be making it in a little while and hopefully be able to finish it before tomorrow. Good I'm done with shopping, I was out yesterday and the mall was just full. You can barely move. It's been this way all these years, and seems like everyone didn't learn their lesson, me included...bleh.

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10 Years Younger

That was how I looked when I attended the concert last Saturday. When my son saw me, he was like "Wow! You look 10 years younger Mom! It's probably the clothes that you wear." And I said really? So you want me to dress up like this all the time? I was expecting for a big YES, but here's what he said. "Nah, I don't think so. I want you to be simple." Boo! This son of mine is quite conservative, but he knows how to appreciate though. While in the car on the way to the concert, we talked about him. N said that he thinks Josh would be quite strict with the woman in his life. I think he is, with his remarks and comments he should be getting someone who is really submissive. I hope that is just for now.

**Looking 10 years younger is just the opinion of my son. It may not show in the photo, lol!

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Dad Committed Adultery?

This is really a funny conversation that happened between me and my son Josh plus our driver. We were cruising Makati Avenue on our way home from Rockwell.

Driver: Ma'am di ba dati one way ito? (This used to be one way)

Me: OO (yes)

Driver: Naalala ko nung isang wedding coverage namin ni Sir. Pinasok namin to, hinuli kami ng pulis. Buti mabilis mag-isip si Sir. Sinabi sa pulis late na sya sa kasal nya. Buti nalang naka americana sya. (I remember passing this street, the policeman stopped us and told us that it's one way. Good thing Sir immediately thought of something. He told the police that he was getting married and he was late already. Good thing he was wearing a suit.)

Josh: Mom, you didn't get offended when you heard that story?

Me: Why should I?

Josh: You know Daddy committed adultery.

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Christmas Break

It's the start of the Christmas Break for the kids. They had their Christmas Party yesterday. Oh they brought home a lot of gifts from classmates and friends. I asked them if they enjoyed the party, and they answered in unison, "YES"! They had some games which they enjoyed. Ish on the other hand got an award. She is the Best Singer in their class. She's happy with what she got. Hmmm, all those singing while taking a bath paid off huh ^_^.

Anyway, Ish asked if she can go to her classmate's house. We allowed her to go, but she has to be brought there by our driver. Originally she was to ride with her classmates, but we were not totally ok with that. She was kinda bargaining with us, but NO. I told her, if you wanna go, then Kuya (the driver) has to bring her, PERIOD. After some chilling out at her classmate's house, they proceeded to Trinoma. I immediately took a bath to accompany her, again we're not ok with just herself and her classmates going to the Mall. Times are hard, and she is too young to be by herself.

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The Boy Who Turned 12

That's me and my darling boy. That was taken during his birthday, the 15th of December. We had a small dinner over at a chinese restaurant at Mall of Asia. We asked him what he wanted to have on this special day. All he wanted was Noodles with Soup. So I got him Beef and Wanton Noodles. At first he wanted some Crabs (that to him is good food), but later he changed his mind.

Anyway, what's with the number 12? The day he turned 12, he transformed into a typical teenager. I think he now takes interest in girls, talking about them almost everyday. I told him that I was happy with that (ahem), not that I wanna be a grandmother soon, but really. I'm as excited as him. I love listening to his stories.

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Motherhood

Seems like for the last 4 weekends, we have been watching movies. Oh I love it when N treats us to movies. It’s a nice way to bond with my teenagers. We get to have dinner together at any restaurant we pick, we can play at timezone while waiting for the movie, or probably shop for a good 30 minutes. It makes us closer as a family. I wonder until when this will happen. And while we are still at it, all I have to do is enjoy the company of my teenagers. Yeah yeah teenager is stressed here. Gosh it’s frustrating to have teenagers, sometimes I don’t and I can’t understand how they think. I try to be cool as much as possible, but most of the time I can’t cope up. So all I do every night is pray for them. And the Lord has answered my prayers. The teachers said they’ve improved a lot in their attitude, which gave me a sigh of relief. All I can do now is really pray harder and harder, for I can’t really take full control of them anymore. Gone are the days when I can “terrorize” them to do some things. Oh I love motherhood, a never ending challenge!

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Discipline

This is a very interesting tag passed on to me by the Mother of QQ. She wants to know whether I still use a cane to discipline my teenagers.

I remember spanking my kids when they were still young. It’s either using the slippers, a belt or my bare hand. It was mostly my hand that I used though. Nope, I didn’t have second thoughts of using the “rod” especially if they don’t obey orders and rules in the house. Of course I will have to talk to them first and warn them, and if they ignore me, that’s the time I “hit” them. But now that they’ve blossomed into teenagers, it’s pretty hard. All I do is talk to them and if I get frustrated, I shout/scream! After which I ground them for a day, depending on what they did wrong. When my son does something wrong, I keep all his “toys” (laptop, gamecube, ps, ps1, ps2, psp, nintendo wii, nintendo ds and gameboy). As for my daughter I think I will confiscate her cellphone and iPod. In other words, I will take away their “life”.

Now I am asked to tag 5 more and include my answer in the list below.

1. Miche does not spare the rod.
2. Chinnee still spare the rod at this moment.
3. HiPnCooLMoMMa Can’t use the rod at this point

Let me hear how other moms discipline their kids:
Chairman Vanidosa
KC
Rhada
Wenchie
JMom

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Warning!

Can she be strict? She placed a warning post it on the mirror. Apparently the helper cleaning her room did something with her headbands. I love how my darling doll turned out to be. Now she takes care of her things. She can even fix her own room now. She used to be soooo disorganized, but now that she’s a little older, she wants everything neat. You will seldom find clutters in her bedroom. Even her desk is spic and span. I wonder who she’s like…AHEM!

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Mother-Daughter Bonding

This is what we do every night before Ish goes to bed. In between watching TV, I blow dry her hair. She likes to take a bath at night so she won’t wake up early in the mornings just to get ready for school. And she said something like, “I don’t want to bother you in the mornings Mom, to comb my hair.” Yes, I used to do that every morning before she goes to school. She wants me to style her hair, nah make that fix her hair. She claims that she does not know how to put the clip properly. She claims too that whenever I’m the one putting the clip, her hair stays in place. I’m happy with our bonding time. If my darling boy goes for a massage, then my darling girl goes for a blow dry. Mommy’s special touch is still there, it’s one way of showing my love for my kids.

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Phew! (*slaps forehead)

I was just starting to read these books again (actually I am done with the first few pages) and what do you know, I was put to test right away. I just couldn't control my anger and my temper rose to great heights. There are just times that we parents get so frustrated and it just breaks our heart. No, I will not stop reading this book even if N does not believe in it, he has his reasons for not believing and I couldn't quite firgure what. Oh well, the joys and frustrations of mommyhood, it's sometimes hard to cope up.

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