In truth, I always try to look at the silver lining. First, being pierced on the foot is such an excruciating pain but at least now I already got an anti-tetanus shot which is good for ten years. Somebody told me “ganon?! kailangan mapako muna bago magpabakuna?!” LOL. Second, because we are so scared of dengue, we tried harder to keep our house clean and dry, plus mosquito spray every morning and Off lotion for the babies (Note: don’t apply the lotion directly on baby’s skin). Third, I realized that revisions should not disappoint me. Mr. X is very professional in correcting my work. He said my grammar is correct but I could have written some of my phrases in a better way. He’s actually doing me a favor because he’s pushing me to improve my writing skills

Everything considered, I am so blessed. The fact that God is so kind to me has been my favorite thought during the past few days. I am still alive! No tetanus. No dengue. Best of all, my hands are full of writing assignments. I couldn’t care less if people are thinking that I’m not doing anything to improve my life. Haha.

Funny is that we used to call him Baby Justin Boom Boom Pow because he dances every time he hears that popular Black-Eyed Peas’ song. Now that he’s turning one, we changed his nickname to Baby Justin Boom Boom Bakulaw. Bakulaw as in monster Not that he looks like one. My nephew is kidnap-worthy cute! But the fact that he already has four front teeth makes us feel that he’s growing fast. He started walking two weeks before he turned eleven months old and he’s very smart, you can’t trick him.

We want to invite all his cousins and some of our neighbors’s kids. Basically, it would be a small family gathering but we also want to invite a few close friends. They are still undecided if invitation cards are needed since most of the guests live very near our house. I think it would be great to send personalized invitation cards such as the ones I saw from luau invitations website. My sister is an artist so it would be very easy for her to design invitation cards for her son.

It was a very happy wedding ceremony. After the bride and the groom exchanged their “I do’s,” the priest said “the bride may now kiss the groom” which made everyone laugh. It’s just disappointing that I had to leave the wedding reception very early. While everyone’s enjoying the party, I had to go to work. Night shift. After changing my dress to a corporate attire, I then planned to leave without a word. I didn’t want to disturb the bride and her family because they were too busy talking with the visitors and it actually felt awkward to say goodbye in the middle of so many people. Fortunately, I found a way to say goodbye to the bride’s sisters. I knew it would be impolite to go without informing them.

A few days after that, my best friend asked me to search for wedding thank you notes wording samples in the internet. The couple wanted to send simple thank you card to those who gave them gifts and money. She’s still a little annoyed that I left her wedding party too soon but she easily forgave me.

I’m quite sure they are going to love it. Me and their parents have never attended such parties so we want them to experience the excitement of dressing up and mingling with friends. What about a superhero costume for Jazz and a ballerina dress for Eros? Makes me wonder what kind of costume my little ones would choose? Well, in case they are going to opt for violent costume characters, I’m not going to allow them. No bloody, no horrifying, no terrifying ideas, please. LOL. As if I were the parent.

Perhaps I should take them to a shop where every costume is lovely and adorable like Frannys Feet Costumes, what do you think? I think Little Mermaid would look great on Eros because it fits her character well. She’s very pretty and she’s going to be a singer. On the other hand, I would love to see Jazz in a Spongebob costume. He’s going to look cute for sure

He speaks a language which I cannot comprehend. It must be Japanese. Sometimes I think it’s German. Good thing there are bubble callouts above his head so I am able to understand what he’s saying. He’s very funny. One time he told me “Y’know I’m bored. You should entertain me or else …” and then on another instance he told me “It’d be good to redecorate the house. I could scorch everything but let’s decorate instead.” After saying those things to me, he’d laugh like crazy.

Sternchen demands a lot of time. He is annoyed when we are not doing anything. He always wants to play, to shop, to eat, to decorate the house, to go to the amusement park, etc. I never had the opportunity to play Tomagochi in my whole life but he reminds me of it. Honestly, this game is great for people who are not busy with important matters.

I almost died when I checked my blog the day after my due date. It’s not visible anymore like it’s deleted forever. To make it worse, I also couldn’t access my Paypal account. What’s wrong with me? I keep more than 15 passwords so I tend to forget which password is for which account! Not only that, I’ve forgotten my password for sterndal.com too so my host had to re-set my login details. Funny, I told them somebody hacked my blog so I couldn’t log on anymore. They asked me to provide my database name which, guess what, I’ve also forgotten. HAR HAR!

Good thing the technical support was able to find a way to reset it. I couldn’t thank them enough. So aside from paying my bills I also had to come up with a universal password. I don’t want to request a password reset everytime I’m going to logon at odesk, facebook, and blogfullife.com. Speaking of Blogful Life, I haven’t written anything in that blog for ages but I’m back

There is one thing this laptop brought out of me – my interest in technology which I thought was long forgotten. When I was in college I really really wanted to have my own PC. I was supporting my self back then and although I had no tuition fees to worry about I still couldn’t afford one. Years passed by and truth is, I think I’ve already lost my thirst for anything considered techie. But now that I have this lappie, I am more than excited to familiarize myself with installing programs and troubleshooting. I especially want Windows Office 2007 and Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.

• Venice Vienna
• Vienna Christine
• Vienna Angela
• Eidelle Vienna
• Alyssa Vienna
• etc.

So there, my newly born niece’s name is Vienna Rose A. Vargas We are still undecided if her nickname’s going to be Eros or Anya. My brother likes Eros because it means God of Love in Greek mythology. My sister-in-law likes Anya because it means grace. Our mother likes Ayen, my sister likes Ina, while neighbors have already started calling my niece as Enyang. Well, I hope it’s Anya but whatever it is, one thing is for sure, Vienna Rose is very pretty and she doesn’t look like a vienna sausage HAHA! She looks a lot like her late grandfather which means to say she’s the xerox copy of my brother! At the hospital, the nurses were calling my niece “Valentina.” When asked why, they said her name, Vienna Rose, reminds them of Valentine’s day. Coincidentally, Baby Anya was born on the love month – February.

ATM: I’m already running out of cash (just 120 pesos in my wallet!), have to withdraw asap! I also need to drop by the supermarket to buy diapers and other baby supplies, then go to Meralco to settle our electricity bill. I’m just thankful that I already paid Mrs. Money-Eater in full last payday so I don’t have to see her face tomorrow and hopefully forever. Never again will I allow myself to be treated like a common criminal. No sir, no ma’am! (mimicking a character from one of VC Andrews’ novels).

NSO/SSS:  Having trouble with my membership in social security systems. The clerk said my SSS number/ID is just temporary because I haven’t submitted my birth certificate yet. HUH?! But I already gave it to them four and a half years ago! GRRR! I was told that if I want to apply for a salary loan, I have to give them my NSO certified birth certificate. So okay fine. But I’ve already lost my copy so now I need to request for a new one.

Passport: I can feel it! My dreams of working abroad are starting to realize. It was not that impossible as I have first imagined. When the angel told me about it, I honestly thought it was too good to be true. But, you know, opportunities come unexpected and in cluster. First, there is a chance of working in Korea (initially as a TNT but my friend’s friend’s friend promised to help me find a tutorial job as soon as I get there). Then, there came another one which is not sure yet but the mere fact that the angel considered me for this opportunity is enough to keep me joyful for the past few days I think it means she considers me as a friend! Anyway, I’m getting a passport, just in case any of the two will push through.

Dental We’re already two months late for our cleaning and check-up. I need to phone my dentist’s secretary to ask for an appointment not only because Mom is already freaking out but I’m also paying a small fortune for my and my mother’s medicard. I don’t really want to use our health insurance because that might mean being terribly sick, but dental is different, doesn’t necessarily mean we have cancer.

First, Aunt Leticia told her that she needs to learn how to drive. Since, driving lessons are too expensive in the US, she will have to enroll in a driving class here in Manila. Apparently, there are no jeepneys and tricycles in Houston and getting a cab everyday to get to work would be very expensive. She needs a car but Aunt Leticia promised that she’ll take care of it. Second, she needs to find a nice place where she could stay, not necessarily luxury apartments in Houston but just somewhere safe and comfortable. She’ll be all by herself the moment she arrives in Houston because Aunt Leticia won’t be there to assist. But finding Houston apartments wouldn’t be that hard. There are  websites in the internet that can help, such as houstonapartmentlocator.org. Third, she needs to spend a lot of time with her son, Hans Christian. Two years without vacation leave is too long, the four year old boy would surely miss his mother.

During Aunt Nerizza’s call, we sensed that she’s not 100% happy with the opportunity. She had emphasized over and over again that if only Hans’s father didn’t passed away too soon, she wouldn’t even think of working abroad. Mothers, you know, they always think about their child/children’s future. She has a lot dreams, she wants her son to study college in America someday, Harvard if possible As of this writing, she still has one month to bond with her son and watch her favorite television programs such as CNN and National Geographic.