This is seriously not funny anymore. You have a working computer but it’s so freaking slow working on a layout would take forever. You have T1 connection but can only drool over the kits you will be working with. We were supposed to have the new computer yesterday but it wont happen until Wednesday next week…ARGH!! The wait is killing me. Im tearing my hair out by the time the PC is up and running Id need a hair transplant in New York! All I can do right now is take TONS of pictures (ooooh, you have to see Martha now, so pwetty!) and organize my files. Edil finally gave in and gave me the external hard drive of my sister’s not-working laptop and sold my bulky EHD (so I have some sleek thin EHD now, ha!) so Im organizing my kits - listing my unused ones, looking for patterns I have so I know potential uses for them….it just gets so frustrating that I cant do anything with them. Oh, did I tell you I won a $25GC from ACOT for the Andrea Burns’ LO Contest? I got their Collaborative Kits - Celebrate Life and Relax. Rejuvenate and some Amy Tanabe goodies. Lucky me
Id love to share pictures but the computer at home is a loser — LOL. Not really, but Im not just used to it being slow — it’s still Pentium II and all (it’s my sisters’). My sister who is a Fine Arts Major is thoroughly intrigued with scrapbooking and now that they are studying photography and doing magazine layouts, she is borrowing the brushes in some of my kits and looking through the CK magazines I have (wait, Im not violating any TOUs here right? She is using them for personal use and will credit on their editorial mock up…). She is going to buy a manual SLR (a requirement in her class) and will tackle B&W photography and of course, her cute little niece is the subject I hope I get to have some nice (free) portrait shots!

OH, one more thing, somebody referred a local distributor of CK, BHG Scrapbooks Etc, SS and Scrapbook Answers here in my country! Yay! Im really really thinking of which mag I can subscribe to — I can only choose one (due to money constraints), so I need some help They are currently offering 15% discounts plus 5 back issues so it’s really a steal (They slash off the shipping rates as much as 80%). Pinay scrapping friends, if you need more info, please e-mail me :).

The AL FreeStyle and Designing with Type books I ordered from a fellow Pinay scrapbooker based in Chicago will be delivered soon. She is really nice and offers low shipping rates She is currently in CHA right now and taking pictures for her store. And pre-ordering for Pinay Scrapbookers of course! Please do check Sahrie’s store: www.scrapbukan.com and her CHA blog: www.scrapbukan.typepad.com.

Ok. That’s enough enabling for ME right now, LOL. Im planning Martha’s baptism already since it is only now that we can really plan and all, my parents were ready to have Martha baptized without me already (We have a tradition that newborns need to be baptized within 2 mos of life). It’s going to be pretty simple, as compared to Matthew’s but she is going to have the type where the priest will really submerge her in water instead of just having water pour over her head. That should be fun. I should have done that with Matthew instead I chickened out last minute. Edil was so angry because all the other kids were looking so cute swimming in the baptismal something (what do you call it? pool? LOL) — babies are really instinctive when it comes to water. All of them were baptized the traditional way whereas my Matthew was baptized with clothes on, LOL.

Anyhow, I wish all this scrapping time out is good on my mojo. I hope my creativity comes back with a vengeance! LOL. Till next time, I will really try to share Martha’s pictures and video…maybe later. Yep, Ill most definitely try it.

OH! Big shout outs to fellow W@Wies now N@Wies who are expecting!! Leslie, Tin and Jacque!! Congratulations! And to one of the most creative designers I have the privilege of working with - Andrea Burns - who is expecting as well! Congrats! Im in the middle of a baby boom!!! LOL.

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Big changes are coming to our household and our married life in the next two days. IF it comes to fruition, I’ll sure be blogging about it, and you sure will notice it too :). I forgot to mention househelp has arrived last week - thank God. She’s turning 18 two days after Matthew’s 6th birthday, living in the province in a house without electricity since she was born, and does laundry everyday for only 100pesos for 8hrs of manual laundrywork. She hasnt stepped into high school, and has an alcoholic wife-beater of a father. Grim? That’s when you actually appreciate the beauty and the Hand of God in everything and everyone. She remains optimistic, cheerful — that girl has a LOT of potential. She dotes on Martha (she has been working since she was fourteen — depressing, aint it?, and been caring for her nieces at home). She has patience (at least for now) with Matthew. I hope and pray she lasts. We really really need her so Edil can work. We risked a major financial move this week that we BOTH need to work or else we are dead.

I cant believe I will ever say this but yes, Im actually feeling the crisis our country is facing - economically, politically, environmentally. It scares the hell out of me as a parent. I finally understand the reasons why my parents were so worried about us when we could not care less. Case in point: I work graveyard shifts at 9.30PM. Since money is tight and we are pinching pennies, I dont take the cab anymore. I ride the jeep and take the bus, almost 3 times a week (weekends I take a cab since it’s family day so Im always running a little bit late). I see little boys, the same age as Matthew’s, on the streets, begging, smelling and sniffing rugby, or worse, heckling passersby for food or money. I see their parents, with newborn babies, on sidewalks, with only cardboards for a home. I know it maybe a common sight in some places but there was one instance that floored me: A kid no more than 12 I think was sniffing rugby right beside his Dad, or someone old enough to tell him NO. And you know what? Less than 500 meters away were cops. COPS! It depresses me so much to the point that Im actually scared for them already — and the hundreds of homeless kids (For those who dont know, inhaling rugby or gases take out hunger pangs, and induce a state of “feeling high” — their escape, obviously).

And then I go home, with food on the table, it aint much sometimes - sometimes, there arent any prepared. But there will always be something, someone, who will deliver, fresh bread from our next door neighbor - my grandmas, or my Mommy coming home with food from Amadeo. I go to sleep, on a bed, it aint much, but I can turn on the A/C when it hits a hundred degrees outside. I drink clean water. I can take a bath in a toilet — it aint has a tub, but it is sanitary. I eat, three times a day, sometimes I dont like the food, but I dont have to beg for them, dont have to go from one lunch to the next wondering where I will get the next meal. I dont have the money I want for the things I work for. But God always gives me what I need. Always. Without Fail.

So the next time you sip a Coke, or enjoy your fries, think about how lucky you are that you have the money to buy them instead of griping about how you dont get to fine dine anymore. Outside the window, homeless kids will be waiting for your leftover food.

Sad, aint it?
What will you do? Me, I will always be grateful for what I have, now.

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Living without a computer with an internet connection for almost three weeks has made me appreciate all the moments, you know? It made me capture those things I would’ve not noticed have I been in front of the computer, scrapping, ironically trying to “capture and freeze” moments, when I miss those moments.

I swear, when I have the time to scrap again, it will be all about those moments - the craving for attention my little Matthew is doing because he is not used to being in the shadows of the limelight since he was born, my princess Martha’s precious smile, giggles and cooing, those little talks with my husband, the hunching of Edil’s shoulders because of some problems we are facing — yep, those moments.

And maybe, just maybe, I can find my style.

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d. ALL of the ABOVE and I still encountered God
Have a great weekend ahead, Im going to be working, but enjoying nevertheless. Ill be back with my old self next time.

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