Mauie Flores

Somebody's so excited... of course, it's me!

It's Friday tomorrow. That means its Daddyjun's rest day and we're going to visit the house again. Construction has already started. We expect the house to be finished by late March. Come second week of April, we can move out of our apartment and in to our new home.

That's our cute little house up there. Small but it's big enough for us. Well, for us people and not for all of our things. There's the big sliding door at the side facing the patio. I plan to convert the patio to a mini-garden cum dining area. My dining table is so big it will not leave enough space for the cook to move around the kitchen area. Maybe I can bring the kitchen area outside, too. Hmm... nice idea!

Anyway, Mama Babes will be sending back her furnitures to her house in Naga. I will be sending the extra bed and cabinet and some of my knick knacks to our bedroom at my parents' place.

Speaking of my parents' place...

Seems I will be spending more time there soon. First, our house will be nearer. Second, we'll be starting our playschool. I'll be teaching again, this time in our own school. Mama is busy now with the construction of the commercial area in our place. I asked her not to rent out the first floor but instead reserve it for me. Ate Do and I initially planned to operate a tutorial center. I will specialize in Reading, she in Science, and Lloyd in Math. Mama got so excited and thought of offering a Toddlers Class starting June. Naturally, I will be the one to teach since I'm the one who has the experience in pre-school. We'll start this April, after Holy Week. We're offering Refresher/Remedial Reading Programs, Arts and Crafts class, and Toddler Playschool. Oh, before I forget, we will be also offering Piano Lessons for kids since Lucky is in summer vacation and he wants a summer job.

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Last night, I dreamt of us moving to our new house. But it was strange. There was me, and Daddyjun, and Rap. But when I turned around, I saw myself holding a newborn baby. It felt so good holding him (I felt it was a boy.) and the scent of the baby lingered on even until I woke up. What was my dream telling me? Was it because of my frustration of not being able to conceive again?

I often tell people who keep on asking on asking us why Rap is an only child that it's totally fine with me. That I have accepted our fate. That we're still lucky, at least we had Rap and we are financially able to provide for not only his needs but also his wants.

Or am I just fooling myself? Am I just putting on a happy mask for others to see that I am okay?

Everytime I go out of the house I pass by the squatters' area near our place. I see the small barefooted children walking around the streets. I often tell Rap how lucky he is compared to those children. And everytime I pass by that place it seems I am on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Pity. Disgust. Worry.

Bottom line is, I get to have only one child and people in the slums get to have as many as they can. One of life's cruel jokes.

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November 23 of last year, I took charge of my life. That day, I decided to stop being fat for good. At 5'1" I weighed 174 lbs. You can imagine how fat I was. I still am, but my weight's going down every week.

Before that day, my blood sugar was way over normal. I started to feel pain in my knees, a clear sign of juvenile arthritis. My clothes either don't fit or I look like a walrus in them. I was wearing 36-inch pants. It's hard to get up and down the stairs.

I tried a lot of diet plans before but they did not work too well for me. SBD gave my kidneys a hard time. Once, I tried a diet plan that made me dizzy the whole day.

Today, I checked the scale and it showed 156 lbs. My waist is now down to 34 inches. Not that slim yet, but I am so happy with what I see. How did I do it? Simple. I took Orlistat (I don't want to write about the brand name, people might think I'm being paid to endorse it. Google it yourself. :D ) I also changed the way I ate. I eat half a cup of rice once a day, only at lunch. At breakfast, I only ate 2 wheat bread pan de sal with a slice of cheese or peanut butter or I drink a glass of taho. At dinner, I eat only some meat and a lot of veggies. We don't eat fried food that much now. Meat or fish is either steamed, boiled, or grilled. I also walk everyday. When I started, I only walked for 30 minutes, 3 times a week. After a while, especially in December, I made it every morning at 7am. When my internet connection started to get a little better, I made some research and learned that I need to make 6,000-10,000 steps a day. In a week, it burns 3500 calories. So, now, I walk at the Makati Coliseum parking lot an hour every day. I make 7,000+ steps. I hope I can increase it eventually.

Losing weight has given me more self-confidence. People has started to notice. I feel a lot healthier beacause I'm lighter. I plan to take the med until March, in time for summer. By that time, I think, I can stick with a herbal diet supplement that is cheaper. I will give an update next month. I hope I'll be at least 145lbs by then.

It's a long way to go until I reach my ideal weight. I read that losing 2 lbs a week is just right. Anything more than that is temporary and you'll gain it back again. So, as slow as it seems, I'm contented.

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I have been experiencing a slow internet connection since Dec. 26, 2006. The earthquake that hit Taiwan that day damaged undersea cables which, in turn, greatly affected internet users in the Philippines. From what I heard, majority of the affected are PLDT DSL subscribers. Unlucky me. I can't post pictures yet. I'm running slower than a dial-up! :(

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This year, we chose to spend it in our house and not at Pasig. I had a long talk to Mama about it. I felt I was already conditioning them to be used to spending New Year's Eve celebrations without us. Of course, I would like my family to be in our own house to meet the new year. Besides, I thought it would be safer if we celebrated it in our apartment. In Laguna Bel Air, at least, I was sure that my neighbors were not firing high-explosive firecrackers that might burn our house while we were in Pasig. I thought it would be a different case here in Makati.

To my surprise, we were the only ones who lit firecrackers when midnight struck. The neighbors were out of town. I guess they spent their New Year in their respective provinces. (Or maybe in their parents' houses.) Daddyjun blurted out, "Hakutin niyo ang mga handa, punta tayo ng Pasig!". Hahahaha! Still, we stayed and tried to make it as happy and as noisy as we can. Jun became busy with his Bogalicious (a term coined by Ate Do for the PVC Kanyon).

I cooked Steamed Talakitok, Bihon Guisado, Patatim, Meatballs Surprise, Garlic Pechay and Steamed Crabs. Mama Babes bought all the fruits that we displayed on our table that night. She rolled mandarins by the doorway for good luck. Ralph found it enjoyable and throwed mandarins as if he were a bowler! We sang our hearts away to dance tunes, reminiscing our Street Life gimmicks.

Today, at lunchtime Ate Do, Lucky, Jowee came over. Before 2pm, we were already in Waltermart to watch Shake, Rattle, and Roll 8 and Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo. I felt our money was wasted watching the former. I wish Waltermart featured ZsaZsa Zaturnah instead. I enjoyed the latter more. The script was funny and witty.

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