The wife of Mr. Potatohead

Since Toy Story 3 and Ikoy getting Mr. Potatohead, he has long been searching for Mrs. Potatohead. For Ikoy, she is "Mises" (pronounced as read).

Last week, Mamacherub finally found her. And she's my Christmas gift for Ikoy. But Mamacherub couldn't resist telling the little boy, thus, he didn't stop until I agree to let him see the "Mises."


He played with the box, with Mr. Potatohead. He asked too many questions and told me to me read what's in the box, meticulously looking at the pictures at the back of the box and the accessories inside. He was happy but contentment will only come when the box is opened, and we have to teach him to be patient.

"Nuni, pwede ba si Mr. Potatohead na lang sa loob ng box tapos si Mises na lang sa labas?"

He had to try...

The Magician

Sa Loyola, magkatapat kaming nakaupo ni Ikoy sa maliit na stool. Si Papa, nasa tabi ni Ikoy.

Parang nagningning ang mga mata ni Ikoy at excited siyang sumigaw,
IKOY: Nuni!!! Magmamagic ako!!!

Pinakita niya ang takip ng mineral water sakin. Nilagay sa isang kamay niya. Pagtapos, nilagay niya ang dalawang kamay niya sa likod. Pagkalabas ng dalawang kamay niya, nakasara itong hinarap sakin.

IKOY: Nasan?
Nuni: Dito? (Tinuro ko ang isang kamay.)
IKOY: (Binuksan ang kamay niya.) Wala. (At inulit ang tanong.) Nasan?
Nuni: Dito? (Tinuro ko ang kabilang kamay nya.)
IKOY: (Binuksan ang kamay na ito.) Wala din! (Sabay tayo at kinuha ang takip sa stool.) Ayun! Magic!!

Natuwa kami at mukhang natuwa siyang natuwa kami.

IKOY: Ulit! Isa pa Nuni, magic ulit ako!

Inulit niya ang ginawa nya, tinanong-tanong ulit ako. Pero kinuha ni Papa ang takip bago pa man siya tumayo.

IKOY: Nawawala ang takip! (Nag-aalala.)
Papa: Ito o… nasa ears mo! (Nilabas ni Papa ang takip, waring nanggaling sa tenga ni Ikoy. Mukang naniwala ang bata.)
IKOY: Oo nga! Isa pa Nuni, magic ulit ako!

Inulit niya ang ginawa nya, tinanong-tanong ulit ako. Kinuha ulit ni Papa ang takip.

IKOY: Nasan na yung takip, Papa?
Papa: Ito o… nalaglag galing sa ears mo! (Nilabas ulit ni Papa ang takip, waring nanggaling sa tenga ni Ikoy, sabay nilaglag sa grass. Pinulot ni Ikoy ang takip.)
IKOY: Oo nga! Isa pa Nuni, magic ulit ako!

Unulit niya ang ginawa niya, pagkatapos ako tanung-tanungin, kinuha ni Papa ang takip pero sa pagkakataong ito, ayaw ilabas ni Papa.

IKOY: Papa, nasan na ang takip?
Papa: Hindi ko alam, hindi ko kinukuha.
IKOY: Ano yang takip na nasa hands mo?
Papa: Hindi ito sayo, takip ito ng water ko!

Naghanap ni Ikoy sa stool, sa grass, sa paligid, hindi niya makita. Humawak siya sa tenga nya, ginalaw galaw ito, tumalon-talon ng hawak ang tenga, nakabaling sa gilid ang ulo, sabay tumingin sa grass.

IKOY: Wala naman sa ears ko. Hindi naman nalaglag sa grass.

Tawa kami ng tawa lahat.

Para sa taong nag-aabang ng susunod na blog entry ko.

Hindi ko alam kung ano ang sasabihin ko sayo.
Hindi ko din alam ang gagawin ko.

Kapag sumigaw ako, lalabas ba ang bigat ng nararamdaman mo?
Kapag nalungkot ba ako, sasaya ka ba kahit konti?
Kapag nasaktan ako, mababawasan ba ang sakit mo?
Kapag umiyak ba ako, konti na lang ba ang iluluha mo?

Marahil,
Hindi.
Pero,
Sana.

Pupuntahan kita.
Makikinig ako.
Sasamahan ka.
Yayakapin kita ng mahigpit.

Happy days are here again..

I got the "Belen" out of its box when the ---ber month started. One by one, I started finding the right gifts for each person on my list. My sister and I were shopping one time and I saw this cute ceramic Christmas tree, and I thought it will be a perfect match to our cute "Belen."


Though Ikoy was worried when he saw the tree, "Nuni, saan mo ilalagay ang gifts? Maliit yung Christmas tree, walang ilalim." I just had to explain to him that I will put the gifts under my sisters' Big Christmas Tree.

It has been a while since I last wrote here. Perhaps because I didn't want to write about not-so-good-stuff. But I promise (to those waiting...) I will try to catch up. I'm starting to smell Christmas air, and lately, I got inspired with Glee's Duets episode,... happy days are here again.

Mother's Day

Ginger gave birth to three baby puppies this Mother's Day morning. This makes her a first-time-mom and thus eligible to be greeted a happy mother's day.

To my mommy Rose who's the best mom in the world, I miss you.

Happy mother's day to all moms!

Universal Studios Singapore

Even though they were only on soft opening and the Battlestar Gallactica had to stop operations, we still decided that after all the trips here, Universal Studios was new so we had to go and see.

For SGD66, it had a 10 dollar meal voucher and a 5 dollar souvenir voucher because of the soft opening. Nice shows: Lights Camera Action Hosted by Steven Spielberg where you get to be in a major hurricane hit movie set. Waterworld, based on the movie, was a different live water show which I found amusing. Also Shrek 4-D Adventure. I had a chance to meet Alex and the gang and took some pictures.

My favorite rides were Revenge of the Mummy, indoor roller coaster like Hongkong Disneyland’s Space Mountain, but better. And Adventure Rapids, like Enchanted Kingdom’s Rio Grande Rapids, but so much better.

Food was affordable, which was unexpected. The 10 dollar voucher could be good for lunch already. Overall, it was a soft opening, there were many people but not too much to cause a queue of more than 50 minutes, at most. The one whole day was almost enough. I thought I’d just want to see it once, but then, we’ll see in the future...

Leaving on a Jet Plane

This is for owner of the elephant.

From Armageddon, one of her favorite movies, one of her favorite songs.

The previous entry is somewhat a prelude to this entry. We have vowed that whatever happens, we will not take jobs outside the country or outside of Metro Manila for that matter. We could go abroad for a few days, to weeks, to at most, a month, but no further. The reason, we do not want to be any more distant apart than the 30 kilometers of Marikina and Paranaque, or Quezon City. ---From Papa, from Mommy and from each other. Whatever happens to our country’s economy, we will not leave the Philippines and migrate somewhere else because we don’t want long distance family relationships, and we can’t leave papa, who wouldn’t want to leave his house in Marikina.

About a few months ago, I received a text message from her, calling for Sisters’ Meeting. I paused for a while, thought what kind of news does she have. After a while, I knew better. We finally got to talk and she confessed that her company wants to send her to Singapore for TWO years!

Yes, two years. That is 24 months and 730 days. Yes, Singapore—that is 3000 kilometers from Manila. Immediately, I didn’t want her to go. Cherub, on the other hand, wanted to be open minded. She explained that the offer was good and she could go home any time. Yeah, I heard that from my best friend. And for the almost five years that she was in Singapore, I just saw her twice or thrice a year.

After a while, she said that she declined the job because their company lowered the salary. So we were happy again. But a few weeks ago, she said that they really wanted to send her and brought back the original salary offer. And she’s going.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo!!!


She doesn’t even know how to cook rice. All she can cook are: pancakes, fried eggs and hotdog! What about Saturday night sleepovers? Going to malls? Who'll take care of her when she's sick? She couldn’t even wash her clothes without me and Cherub. Ikoy will miss her. She is Papa's favorite. A lot can happen in years and she can’t be home only on special occasions.

After some time, I still do not want her to go. But after this same time, I had to accept it. She didn’t want to go either but she needed this for her job. And she says, for the money, so that she could immediately finish paying off their housing loan.

And now, we are counting the days till all her bags are packed and she sings:

So kiss me and smile for me Tell me that you’ll wait for me Hold me like you’ll never let me go Cause I’m leaving on a jet plane Don’t know when I’ll be back again Baby, I hate to go.

I am just holding on to her promise that she’ll go home as often as she could. I am also hoping that we could get Papa to visit her there. Though I am one hundered percent sure that she'll do just fine, I pray that it won’t be too difficult for her. Or else, it will be more than one Singapore trip this year.