Healthy Options

Poor Enzo is sick with a cough and high fever, but when I called 'Dra. Cula' for advice, instead of prescribing anything new she made me buy zinc and a mask... for myself.

"You need to protect yourself; you know how bad it is when you get hawa from the kids."

Zinc alone is not something you can get at Mercury, so I went with Max to the new Healthy Options at Greenbelt 5 to look for chelated zinc. And when I walked into the newly-opened store -- all brightly lit in green and white, bigger store area and better stocked!-- I felt a wow, then an almost uncontrollable urge to buy out the store.

I had to keep my blinders on, but after I found my bottle of zinc, we peeked at the freezer section (organic chicken nuggets at php450! aray.) and found some frozen berries and vegetables that were a really good deal.

When your child goes home smiling because you bought him raisins and frozen all-natural raspberries for his fruit shakes, you know you've raised a kid who will probably make good food choices as an adult.

Guess there is a bit of brainwashing on my part, but I wasn't faking as I browsed through the store and exclaimed over all yummy healthy stuff available. I promised to go back for some organic mac and cheese though, lol. And maybe some fruit leather.

I wish I had a lot of money, if only to be able to eat the way I want without worrying about price...

Hacker Attack!

I hate(!!) hackers, especially the ones who wreak havoc just to annoy and disrupt the lives of other people. Hey, if you're sleuthing about because you think your spouse is cheating, by all means, hack! But private accounts of strangers with no information in it to benefit you? Some people really need to get off their flat a**es and live a real life. They will get their karmic comeuppance one day...

Real Love

Sickness and Health
by Catherine Newman, author of Waiting For Birdy

"Is that your husband?" The ER nurse is pointing to you, the fever-spiked lump who is snoring softly and muttering beside me. We've been here for hours, and for hours I've returned my lips over and over to your scalding forehead, as if to cool it, or, perhaps, to comfort myself. In just a little while longer, we'll find out that what you have is a severe case of strep, and you will swallow the prescribed pills, and I will finally put my lips to your quietly sleeping forehead and feel a welcome coolness.

But for now the nurse's face is creased with compassion and weariness — she is waiting — and it's not really the right time to tell her about your gentle strength: the way you rocked our baby in the sling for hours on end while you graded papers, rocked another baby three years later while you did your anatomy homework, babies peacefully asleep across your broad chest for what feels like my entire adult life. It's not the right time to explain what a funny contradiction you are, a hockey-playing massage therapist, or how just last week you lay your hands on a friend's father while he lay dying in hospice.

She wouldn't understand how funny it is that you gave me bedtime coupons — promising to turn in early on the nights I redeem them — because you're a night owl and I miss you in bed, or how it feels when I come down in the morning to a toasty kitchen because you've already lit a fire in our wood stove. She doesn't know that I'm strangely euphoric, sitting here thinking about how lucky I am to have so much to lose — my rock, my mystery, the love of my life — that I'm sitting here thinking in sickness and in health. I will, I think. I do. But all I can say is yes. "Yes. That's my husband."

Happy Valentine's Day, people. M.

Slumdog Millionaire

I was sure I'd be disappointed when I watched this movie, given all the hype and hoopla. So many times it's the movies that are quietly promoted that surprise me, not the touted blockbusters. I also had a yucky feeling it would be a pinoy-style movie, an implausible tale of rags to riches tied up with a ribbon at the end.

What surprised me more than anything was that the storyline was multi-layered and I was mentally engaged for the entire film, despite subtitles, thick accents and stereotypical characters, but most of all despite the peanut gallery composed of Dad (who paused the movie every time someone asked a question out loud), Mom (ano ba!!), Auntie Mo (who actually tried to answer Mom's questions), and Anton and Enzo.

Typically, Max fell asleep during the movie and Uncle Harry just munched on TJ chocolate-covered espresso beans. Other than me, I think Uncle Harry was the only one who got the nuances of the movie because he just listened and let the story unfold in its own way and speed.

And speaking of millionaires, the super lotto is up to 170 million. Time to place some bets. If I win, I promise to be true to my FB list of 25 Random Things—I will probably blow half of my winnings on gifts and travel. I daydream about traveling the world with my boys, then showering everyone with surprise gifts. There a couple of people I would like to give fantabulous gifts to, just because. I'd definitely share the wealth with staff who've been with me and Cyril through it all...

There are so many people in my life to be thankful for. They know they have my appreciation, but there's nothing like paying off a debt of gratitude with a grand splurge.

self-indulgent misery

Welcome the year of the ox.

I see the year ahead and all it demands of me and I'm completely and totally overwhelmed. At this very moment, I have no faith and I wish I had the luxury of having someone to love who could hold me up, right now, tonight, when all I have for company is my snoring kids and a glass of my favorite poison.

Self-pity is indulgent, but considering I have nothing else to indulge in, I will allow myself this one night of absolute misery and loneliness. I think I deserve it. Cheers.

Oops.

I did it again.

Stupid, stupid girl who never learns her lesson.

I'm better than this.

Where is a kick in the ass when I need one?

Time to unleash my arsenal of coping mechanisms.

Let's hope I don't gain five pounds in five days.

Instead, I wish to emerge from this with clarity and strength of will.

I miss my old life, my old problems, and my old way of thinking.

This new sh*t is so much tougher.

Too Much Danielle Steel

Before MIL left for LA in December, she sent me old books from Langka to dispose of/sell/give away... Of course I haven't done that yet, instead, I've begun reading through them all. No Greater Love, Silent Honor, Mixed Blessings, Lightning, Echoes, Wanderlust...

How do you know when you've been reading too many romance novels? You start believing in happy endings (the g-rated kind). Or at least, you begin adjusting your idea of a happy ending closer to "unreal" territory.

There is nothing I dislike more than books/movies/stories that end on a vague note. I'm the type of person who needs to KNOW. Sad or happy, I need to know. In fact, the ending doesn't even have to be happy. I just need some form of conclusion.

Danielle Steel is a very good "concluder". She is the mistress of tidy endings. If only she were real... I could rest assured that the messier and dramatic any situation is, the tidier and happier the ending will be.