New Year

We welcomed 2009 at the Cereno’s, with Nanay. Bonding with the cousins, who are growing faster than I imagined. We played cards, with the lipstick dot as punishment. You’ll know who got the most punishment from the picture.

I look forward to the days and months of 2009. Praying for good health, safety and happiness. And hoping for new and good things ahead.

Nicknames

When I was a little, my two playmates were Ate Deeday and Cho-choy. Our Mamang gave us these nicknames that are far more different than our real names. Cho-choy and I served as younger siblings of our Ate Deeday and for a time, we lived happily in La Loma.

Years passed, we left and led on different lives. But the nicknames, Ate Deeday and Cho-choy kept. Still graduated on the same university, though at different time zones. And the closeness we’ve kept. That we’ll never share with any other Marcial cousin.

I reminisced a bit because of the picture on the stairs. The three of us had same picture when we were little. Where is Cho-choy? In Bulgaria during the time the photo was taken. Thanks for the ubong, Choy!
My nickname need not be mentioned, I was lucky, I didn’t carry it growing up.

December 25, 2008

The old Christmas tree was retired and Ate Deeday bought a new one. Aside from that, nothing has changed. Still the wackiest, naughtiest, funniest, loudest and weirdest Christmas family reunion. Thanks to Tita, who made Kare-kare and Morcon. Yummy.
They say I was the luckiest “Marcial-cousin” because I was getting four gifts already while the others had nothing yet. Some are protesting that it’s been more than a year since our wedding and we shouldn’t be receiving weddings gifts anymore. I just smiled back them, thanked the ones who gave them and said, I am more blessed this year. Not that they aren’t blessed. It's just that at the back of my mind, I was thinking, I am really lucky. Because I have these.

Tito Mario

This was a pre-Christmas reunion, because it was Tito Mario’s birthday and his sons and daughters decided to throw him a party.

I call him the wise one, for not only was he the eldest amongst Papa’s siblings, he had the most number of experiences in life (along with the most number of children). At the back of his graying hair, is a very sweet and thoughtful Tito Mario. He saw to it that his family was complete during our wedding because he promised. He keeps newspapers clippings of Elijah when he sees one. He gives good advice and encouragement on our life and decisions. He treasures memories and keeps photographs. My favorite is every graduation picture framed and hanged, starting from his eldest daughter Michelle, up to Marlon. Though Marlon's took some time to be placed on the wall because of the lack of a picture frame. His gratefulness is transparent at even the smallest tokens that you give to him and his family.

Humility, his best trait. He’s not of proud material things but he knows the one thing that is his pride and glory, his children.

Happy birthday Tito Mario.
And Lij too.

Work Week Two At A Glance

How do you get a good view of a house that’s being constructed? With all the soil diggings, cement and sand scattered around and piled up concrete hollow blocks. For me, the sight of it is beautiful, in any angle.

I just have some rants on the building permit. It’s been more than a month since we passed the papers but we haven’t got feedback yet. And because of this, we couldn’t get electricity connection. And the funds because of the loan. And we’re running out of that, almost. Just hope the engineer contacts us soon.

So it starts...

Had a week off from work and I was glad I was able to spend it fruitfully. This was the first week that we started to build the house. I got to meet the work force behind the construction, watched and learned a bit. Also arranged papers for the water and electricity supply, and canvassed for the cheapest raw materials.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed. And hope it will turn out okay.

Saying Goodbye...

Bought a few years ago, because I truly liked the design and color, was one of my favorite slippers. A team-up of Nike and Lego, Clikits hearts are snapped onto the designated holes on the slippers. It took me sometime to find the biggest kids-size to match my feet. When I did, another dilemma came in when I lost one of the hearts. That, eventually, was resolved.

The other day, I was wearing it and it just snapped. It got broken. Unable to be repaired... So, as I say goodbye to my slippers, I thought of transferring the Clikits to my Crocs, as Jibbitz. Luckily, it fit. I didn’t have to completely say goodbye to it after all. I didn’t want to throw it all away, along with its memories. So I’m still keeping parts of it with me.