A different kind of toy

Like most kids, my boys, Rafa and Vince have a gazillion toys between them. We rarely buy them but they are lucky to have generous relatives and friends who shower them with toys on every special occasion. But because we have a tiny house, it is a constant struggle to organize these toys. Our solution is to put them in boxes, keep them in the cupboard and alternately take out these boxes so the boys don't get bored playing with the same toys over and over again.

There are days when we just hide them altogether, like when we had Rafa's bday party a couple of weeks ago. However, the ingenious little tot, found a way to amuse himself.

 He took some bottles of Coke from the kitchen.

 Lined them up like this at the same time practising his numbers counting- one, chooo (two), T (three), Fo (four), ayve (five), ix (six) and the rest was eeeechhhh.

 and drove his bike straight through.

then he'd start all over again.

You might have noticed some Skyflakes in the photo. Yes, he played with those, too. Stacking them inside his bike's trunk and dumping them everywhere.

After an hour, he sat down and ate some of the Skyflakes. : P

Notes:

1. Our kids know the rules on drinking Coke.

2. My boys would gladly pick Skyflakes over the Australian icon Timtams. They are very pinoy at heart :)



Blogging at 5am

i woke up at 3am today to get some readings done while the boys are asleep.  aaarrgh, it's autumn in australia and temperature is dipping, making it so hard to wake up at dawn. it was a struggle to read a few pages, parang wala akong naintindihan, wala talaga ako sa kondisyon. haaayz!


anyways, after 2 hours, here i am surfing the net again. and boy, was i thrilled to discover my lawyer-sister's blog. hehe i'm sure she didn't want me to find out that she's blogging but hey, something brought me there! me thinks she's a better writer than i am. ulawon lang jud ni sya! go, go, ck baby! keep writing!


in another news, my other sister, fran and i are 'busy' preparing for our future. haha! serious! i can't go into details here, yet but this is making me so excited. 


this is senseless blabbing again. 


got to go back to bed now.

Harmony Day

Today, our company celebrated Harmony Day.

This is an excerpt from the internal communication sent out to staff:


“Australia has a rich history of multiculturalism, and proudly celebrates this cultural diversity each year on 21st March through Harmony Day. This event is managed by the Australian government Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), and is an opportunity to celebrate the different cultures that make Australia a great place to live, by embracing our differences and sharing our commonalities.


As individuals of different backgrounds and heritage we bring to the workplace an array of skill sets, ethics and values, specialisations and expertise, areas of interest, networks and experiences which contribute to the overall success of our organisation. We have embraced cultural diversity throughout our regional team and also recognised that the opportunities diversity introduces play a key role in our everyday business, and is indeed one of our strengths.”


At 12nn, we all headed to the break-out room for the International Food Fiesta where there was a table laden with food from various countries. It was also a charity event and with a gold coin($1 or $2), you get a “passport” that allows you to sample as much of the food as you can. Here are some photos:

 Lamb pastry from Greece and Taro chips from Samoa

 Baklava from Greece

Oatcakes from Scotland

Almond Biscuits from Malta

Bibingka from the Philippines. My Filipino co-worker asked her sister to make this.

and this was my plate.

Wednesday’s Random Ramblings

We’ve just had our team’s quarterly lunch at New Shanghai Restaurant in Chatswood. I’m stuffed and I have period pain and stiff neck. I’m sleepy and I want to go home. But I have to sit here for a few more hours, pretending to do some work. So I am drafting this blog entry as a new message in my Outlook, so people will think I’m busy. Teehee!:D :D :D


There’s a lot of things going on in my mind…nothing significant really. There’s something bothering me but I can’t pinpoint what it is. So I am blaming it all on PMS. Afterall, it’s that time of the month.


I’ve been slacking on my readings. I am in denial that I am several chapters behind. I don’t even want to look at the study calendar, afraid of knowing exactly how far behind I am. Geez! I badly need motivation to study but right now, there’s just none. I keep saying that if I can’t finish my readings, I’ll just have to defer. But deep in my heart, I really want to get this subject done so I can move on to the next. Sadly, I’m beginning to question the purpose for all of these. Magagamit ko ba talaga to? Will this make my life better? Yayaman ba ako pag naging CPA ako? Hahaha Ewan! Basta gusto kong maging CPA sa Australia. Yun lang yun!


Speaking of studying, I am loving our brand new couch. Ngayon ko pa lang sya na-enjoy since we bought it last year. Ang galing, very fluffy and comfy. Sarap nga matulog, err, mag-aral dun eh. Naalala ko tuloy ang pinakaunang couch namin. Pinulot lang ni hubby sa tabi ng kalsada. Faux leather couch na gutay-gutay, kulay blue at maroon. Binalot lang namin ng fitted sheet at nilagyan ng pin para matakpan ang bitukang lumalabas na. Kakahiya nga kasi minsan, lumalabas ang pins, winawarningan muna namin ang mga bisita bago umupo—UPO AT YOUR OWN RISK! Bwahaha Pagkatapos ng ilang buwan, may nakita kaming sofa set sa Vinnies. Ang ganda! Bulaklakin, pinkish at parang galing sa bahay ng mayamang lola. Ang mura pa, $50 lang for the whole set. Sosyal din naman sya tingnan sa pictures pero pagmag-isa lang ako sa bahay, parang naiisip ko kung buhay pa kaya ang lolang may-ari ng sofa? Wahahaha


Gosh, walang kwenta ang sinusulat ko. From English to Taglish- from the team lunch, to studying, to sofa. Have to end now bago pa ako magsulat ng Spanish.

My youngest son, Rafa, and I share the same birth month, March, with days exactly one week apart. This year, he turned two while I turned..aaargh, never mind! I stopped counting when I turned 25 :D

We had a joint celebration last Saturday at home with about 40 adults and kids showing up despite the heavy downpour. I am moved no-end that our friends went out of their way to bring beautiful gifts for Rafa and me, delicious food for everyone and stayed with us all afternoon with a few even staying until midnight. It was a day spent catching up with friends, non-stop laughter, singing, dancing and of course, eating!

The night before, hubby and I stayed up late. Me, wrapping almost a hundred dumplings and him, making these chocolate puddings.

Chocolate pudding made by hubby.

I abhore the taste of lamb but hubby made these barbeque lamb so tasty, I swear I'm loving lamb now.

There was so much food that the guests had to take home some and we're still eating left-overs three days after :-)


Side story:

Almost 3 years after we moved to Australia, I am happy to say that it's really becoming home now. And a big part of that is the fact that we have developed our own circle of friends here. Although busy with our own lives, it's just comforting to know that there's a whole bunch of people you can call out whenever you need help. Most importantly, there are people who are sharing the countless migrant (mis)adventures with -through good and bad times.

Since my birthday last year, we have started a small tradition to pool money together for whoever is celebrating their birthday so he/she can buy something nice- something which one wouldn't ordinarily buy or can't afford to buy. Last year, most of us girls wanted fancy bags while the men bought picnic gear or branded clothes.

For my birthday this year, I chose to buy the very thing I have wanted for a long time- a diamond ring. *Insert BIG grin here* With money from my friends, matched by hubby and me, i was able to buy a decent ring with some carats in it. I am one happy celebrant not only because I have a beautiful ring, but because this is from special people in my life.

A love affair with Shiitake

At work, I have a Malaysian colleague who loves to cook. She always has nice lunches and we often exchange stories about food from our home country. She's also a big fan of shiitake mushrooms, something  I like to eat but have never tried to cook. Let's just say that shiitake has always intimated me, I didn't have any clue how to use it. Haha How weird is that? 

Always helpful, Peilin explained how to prepare shiitake and even brought me a small pack so I can give it a try. But I never got to use it, I probably lost the pack when we moved to a new house. 

A couple of weeks ago, Peilin brought some dumplings that had shiitake in it and it tasted oh so heavenly. It was similar to the dumplings we often get from the Chinese restaurant. So finally, I decided to give shiitake a chance :) Brought a small pack last week and made some dumplings which tasted soooo good the hubby and the boys loved it. Pity I didn't take photos.

I had some shiitake left from last week's dumplings and decided to make braised pork with shiitake mushrooms, broccoli, oyster sauce and sesame oil.

This was today's lunch.

I googled shiitake and learned that it's a good anti-oxidant, has lots of Vitamin D and is good for the heart. WOW! 

I guess shiitake will now be a regular at my house :-)

Mama's visit to Australia

My mum was here between March and May last year. I'd like to share a few photos of that memorable, wonderful time we spent with her :-)

Mama at the Opera House

Sydney Harbour Bridge with the boys.

Me coaching her how to pose. She loved it so much, she posed like this in most of her photos haha

Outside the Australian Maritime Musuem

At Taronga Zoo. She loved the cable ride here.

Outside St Mary's Cathedral where World Youth Day was held in 2008

Overlooking Bondi Beach

Enjoying the fine sand and cool water at Bondi Beach

We are all looking forward to her next visit...(padungog-dungog! hehe)

Our daily visitors

                         These birds visit us everyday because we feed them with leftover bread.

On this particular day, we had four cockatoos and two lories.

                                         They are so domesticated, they're not afraid of people. We even hand-feed them.

The boys excitedly feeding the cockatoo.

On some days, they allow us to give them a pat.

On track?

A few days ago, I had one of those days where housechores just get the better of me. I was so tired from work that arriving home and realizing i have to cook dinner, feed the kids, bathe them and supervise my son with his homework then study for my exams hit me so hard, I couldn't stop my tears from falling. Pathetic, i know :) But I bet my entire life's savings (which is not much hehe) that some of you can relate.


Vince, who saw me crying while washing a mountain of dirty pots and pans, came up to me.



Vince: Mama, what's wrong?
Me: Nothing. I'm just tired.
Vince: Okay. Is there anything I can help you with?
Me: No, I'm okay. You can help me by doing your homework now.
Vince: Are you sure? I can wash the plates if you want.
Me: No, that's fine.



This time, I was already sobbing. Not anymore because I was tired, but because I was deeply touched by Vince's gesture.



I might be off-track with housechores sometimes but I'm pretty sure I'm on the right track with parenting :-)

Bobbin Head Point

This is our family's favorite spot. It's called Bobbin Head Point and is very close to where we curently live.We come here every chance we get to spend a quiet day away from all the noise of the city.

look at that great view. i usually end up sitting on my picnic chair, dosing or taking photos of the boys.

hubby likes bringing all types of balls.

the little one having a go at soccer :)

there's plenty of birds around. they're not afraid of people. look at those cockatoos.

the hubby and another guy trying to catch some fish. it takes so long to set up that fishing rod but he's never caught any fish yet :)

we brought my inlaws here on New Year's Eve.

trying football this time around

Flying kites on New Year's Eve

they never give up :-P

but of course, what's a picnic without the barbie*?

* Aussies love to shorten words. "Barbie" is short for barbecue. They call breakfast, "brekkie". No kidding!  :-P