We're moving again...

...no, not to another country, thank God! (although i wouldn't mind doing that later in life).

We are moving to another house this Sunday to have more room for our growing family.

When A and I bought our house in the Philippines, I remember making a vow that it would be my last transfer after moving from one apartment to another since college. Apparently, I had to break the vow because after a year, I had to move to free company housing as part of my relocation package. Then the following year, our Australian visa got approved and we had to move here.

At the rate rents are rising in Sydney, we aim to get our own house here soon. So, I won't be making vows anymore. Instead, I'll change my mindset into acquiring as many houses as I can. Hehe! Libre naman ang mangarap...

Old?

A few days ago, Vince and I were walking home from the mall. Earlier, he asked me what my plans were when we reach home. I told him I'll watch a movie.

As we were approaching the house, he asked again,"What are you doing at home, mama?

Mama: Sleep.

Vince: But mama, you said you are going to watch a movie!

Mama:Oh, did I say that? I forgot.

He was silent for a while then blurted out," Mama, when you were small with Tita Chiq and Tita Fran, was it a loooong, long time ago?"

I almost choked. The kid must have thought I am too old because i keep forgetting things. Hehe Can't blame him.

Yesterday, Vince and I were at the mall to while away time while Papa was in school. We were enjoying a light lunch when we heard a band and the people started to gather around the stairs. It was Santa’s band, happily playing Christmas carols and Santa obliging photo ops for the kids. I had mixed feelings, happy that I got to hear Christmas songs but sad that we are spending our first Christmas away from our loved ones.

Vince: Mama, it’s not Santa. That’s only a man, pretending to be Santa!

Mama: Oh? Really? But there is a Santa, diba?

Vince: No mama. They’re just pretending.

Eeeek! How does a mother deal with the fact that her 5 yr old already knows the truth about Santa?
A few weeks ago, I have been eyeing a nice Christmas stocking which I had planned to hang for Vince come Christmas. As a child, I have always looked forward to December 24 when we had to hang my Papa’s office socks and wake up the following day checking the various goodies that were placed inside. It was not much- mostly just junk food like Hi-C, pretzels, cheap chocolates and biscuits but I remember feeling very special receiving them. Even after I found out the truth about Santa, I still enjoyed hanging the stockings and pretended not to know anything for the benefit of my younger sisters.

I am just so disappointed that the little one found out this early. BUT I am not giving up. I’ll find a way to incorporate the ‘stocking’ into our Christmas activity this year…

Reminiscing...

Funny how some songs can transport us back to certain times in our life. In church last Sunday, the song Morning Has Broken was sung during mass. The same song was played during our JS Prom in college-don’t ask me why because I don’t understand it’s relevance to a prom until now. :P

I remember my excitement then since it was my first prom-we didn’t have that in high school. And, I had a funny feeling that I’d get to dance with my crush. :P No, I am not referring to A. Although I had a serious crush with him in college, he was crashed out from the list a few days before the prom because he started courting my friend. Haha! It was actually another guy who was dropping hints that he was interested in courting me.

That night, I was part of the prom committee and I was glad things were turning out well. I was all smiles during the actual junior-senior hand over ceremony as my crush was supposed to be my partner. But by a fateful turn of events, I was suddenly face to face with A onstage. The next thing I knew, he was handing me a red rose and the official photographer was telling us to stay closer together. Then there was the blinding flash of the camera and then I remember A holding my hand and leading me down the stage.

I did get to dance with my crush before the night ended. And A asked me to dance, too. But it was A who walked me and friends home.

Our love story didn’t kick off that night, though. It took 5 years of friendship before we realized that we actually loved each other.

Last Sunday, I asked A if he remembered our prom night and his answer was “siempre!” But he still insists I wasn’t his crush then. Grrrr! :)

I still have our JS prom photo, now safely tucked in our wedding album- a reminder that we cannot really tell what the future holds for us. As it turns out, that little photo would be the first of thousands more to be taken of us together. For A though, it was a reminder of how bad his hair was back in college. :)

Full and Sleepy

I am sooo full.

Our office network and landlines shut down at 11am so the whole Finance team decided to take advantage of the downtime to go out for lunch. It was the first time we were complete, usually it’s just us in our section. We decided to head out to our favourite resto called Ribs and Rumps because they serve the most succulent ribs in our part of town. We got salad to go with our ribs and the seafood platter which actually should have been called chips platter as obviously, there’s more chips there than seafood. Haha!

It was a good lunch, with a lot of laughter and light banter from even the toughest manager in the team. After all that food, I am sooo sleepy now. Counting the hours till knock off…

Melbourne Cup

Today, all of Australia was glued to the Melbourne Cup-the most awaited annual horseracing event in this country. An excerpt from the Australian Govt website reads:

"Melbourne Cup Day is Australia's most famous Tuesday. At 3.00 pm AEST, on the first Tuesday in November, Australians everywhere stop for one of the world's most famous horse races - the Melbourne Cup.

It's a day when the nation stops whatever it's doing to listen to the race call, or watch the race on TV. Even those who don't usually bet, try their luck with a small wager or entry into a 'sweep' - a lottery in which each ticket-holder is matched with a randomly drawn horse. "

At the office, the huge plasma tv was set up once again so that the employees won’t miss anything. An account was created online so that we can all place our bets in the sweep. Upon coaxing from my officemates who said that pregnant women are lucky, I placed $20 but won only $3.30. Haha! Well, I should say it was good enough for me. Anyway, I was more interested in the boxes of pizza that were ordered for us. Yum! Yum!

Pamper Night

We invited a few of our girl-friends last Sunday for a pamper night at home. A friend of a friend was actually selling organic beauty products and she had some sort of a demo. Although it was one of those networking stuff, we couldn’t resist the rare opportunity to relax, get-together and yes, be pampered even for just a few hours. The boys had to take care of the kids while us mommies were in the living room devouring everything that we can out of the free session. Kakainis lang that the lecturer was so slim even after having a kid of her own. I feel even more bloated looking at her. :P But heck, afterwards, we ate a lot of barbecue, pancit, chicken ala king and grilled shrimps. Hay naku, ok lang na di kami as sexy as her basta busog! hehe

Trip to Canberra

We took advantage of the October 6 Labor Day holiday to visit Canberra and see for ourselves their famed Floriade Festival.

We hopped on a Chinese tour bus, which turned out to be a bad idea because we were the only pinoys in the group and the tour guide spoke in Mandarin 90% of the time... :)

First stop was the Cockington Gardens where one is treated to an international display of miniature houses. Of course, the Philippines was well-represented...

Pinas' very own Maranao House

Nex stop was the Australian Mint where the Australian coins are made. You can actually make your own coin here with your name on it. But when we visited, the machine conked out.

The treasure-chest :)

We then moved to the main reason of our trip here...the Floriade Festival. I have never seen so many tulips in my entire life!

Tulips in all colors

Final stop was the Australian Parliament House where the senators and the house of congress hold their sessions.

The hall where Australian senators hold sessions