Winter storm Jonas

I was at Walmart earlier today to pick up an equipment mat for our treadmill (oo, seryosong exercise na ito).

While waiting in line, I spied several customers picking up bags of ice melt so I decided to pick up a couple of bags too on my way out. I figured there must be something coming our way.

Good thing I did, looks like we're in for a lot of snow this weekend.

I remember the last time we got a forecast of a foot of snow - my car was entirely buried, including the radio antenna!

Peter Sam

So I got Swe-Cha a Peter Sam train today and when I took it out of the bag, he immediately exclaims, "PETER SAM!".

Now, he's been very good at remembering the Thomas & Friends trains. He could identify them by their pictures long before he can even communicate his basic needs to us.

I asked him, "How do you know this is Peter Sam ?" I didn't really expect him to answer a "how" question yet but I was curious and I thought I'd ask.

He points to where the packaging says the name, "See ? P, E, tersam" as he pointed to the letters P and then E and then the rest of the name.

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He looked out the window this afternoon and saw snow falling. He says "Oh, it's snowing!".

Caza Trail Sweet Iced Tea (KCup)

The Sweet Iced Tea k-cups I ordered arrived a few days ago so hubby and I amused ourselves brewing some iced tea on our Keurig machine this afternoon. We've been experimenting on the different combinations that we'd brew just so we could get the iced tea to our taste.

The manufacturer recommends a 6oz or 8oz brew.

The first one I tried was an 8oz and it turned out too strong, despite being watered down by all the ice I put in. We brewed a few more cups from the same k-cup, mixed them all together and eventually got the desired taste but we lost track of what we did.

This evening, I did a 10oz strong brew followed by a 6 oz strong brew, it tasted too watered down. Next time, I'll try and 8oz and a 6oz - this is actually the purpose of this post, so I'd remember what combinations I've tried already and how it turned out.

Interestingly, these k-cups aren't Keurig 2.0 compatible but the first 2 we brewed worked! The machine didn't complain until we were on our 3rd k-cup, sabi siguro nya inaabuso na namin. And so we took out our secret weapon - yung FREEDOM CLIP. It's a clip that you install on the keurig to bypass the DRM checking.

Conclusion, "not bad". Don't know if I'll buy more of these in the future - mukha namang matagal tagal mauubos itong 24 pcs if we can brew a lot from a single cup and share it. Hubby finds it too sweet so we might opt for just regular breakfast tea. I do like it naman. Note that this is sweetened with Stevia and has 18g of sugar per serving.

O'hare

Last weekend, we brought Swe-cha to the salon for his haircut, mahaba na kasi hair nya.

Since he does so well these days (during haircuts), we save time by having our hair cut at the same time. 

Most of the time, it works out well. Kaya lang, medyo palpak last time. The hair lady must have misunderstood me because she cut my hair too short. 

Now, I look like this (see below). Buti na lang may sense of humor ako. =P

Conversations

I've always tried to engage Swe-cha in conversation and we're getting some progress lately. Katuwa because he used to just ignore me when I ask follow up questions but these days, he really makes an effort.

Scenario 1:
Swe-cha: Potato Sticks please mom.
Me: Why do you want the potato sticks ?
Swe-cha: I need eat!

Scenario 2:
Swe-cha: Florida, Seaworld
Me: What will you do in seaworld ?
Swe-cha: the shamu ride
 Me: What will you do in the shamu ride ?
Swe-cha: do you want to scream ? ahhhhhh! (and raises his arms the way people do on roller coasters)

Scenario 3:
Swe-cha: Coke, Mom
Me: (I pretend to misunderstand) Okay, what do you want Mommy to cook ? Do you want egg ?
Swe-cha: Coke!
Me: Yes, I'll cook for you, what do you want to eat ?
Swe-cha: I drink the Coke, Mom.
Me: How about you just drink milk ?

Having fun

Sometimes, I look back at our conversations at home and I just have to smile. We live a simple life, but we do have fun.

Just this afternoon, we were watching a movie we had recorded on the DVR - "The Mighty Ducks". I referred to Joshua Jackson (I could not recall his name until I googled it a few seconds ago) as "that Pacey guy who later starred in Fringe" and this was how it went from there:

Hubby: sya rin yung nasa Dawson's Creek diba ?

Me: (thinking "aba, naintindihan nya!") oo, sya yung isa sa mga bida doon

Hubby: related ba yun sa Melrose Place ?

Me: Hindi, baka Beverly Hills 90210 iniisip mo.

Hubby: oo nga pala. Anong story nung Dawson's Creek ?

Me: Meron kasing creek...

Hubby: tapos ?

Me: hindi ko na alam, hindi ako nanood ever eh. Baka similar plot doon sa tagalog series na "Tabing Ilog"

Both of us laugh at this point....

Hubby: SERIOUSLY ? TABING ILOG ?

Me: oo, I'm not kidding.

Hubby: e anong story nung Tabing Ilog ?

Me: Meron kasing ilog...

Hubby: tapos ?

Me: nasa tabi sila

Hubby: tapos ?

Me: hindi ko na rin alam, hindi rin ako nanonood nun eh.

=)

New Year's Eve 2016

This is our new year's eve spread pamahiin/pampa-swerte spread.

For the first time in many years, we actually had 13 types of fruits as opposed to just 13 pcs. I didn't intentionally set out doing it this way, it just happened.

We have:

1. pineapple
2. apple
3. orange
4. kiwi
5. avocado
6. cantaloupe
7. honeydew
8. asian pear
9. strawberries
10. blueberries
11. mandarin oranges (halos)
12. red seedless grapes
13. bananas

Then, as my friend K has taught me and because I like doing these little pamahiins whenever I can, I prepped 3 containers and filled them to overflowing with 

1. rice (bigas)
2. salt
3. water

I put coins in at the last minute to symbolize financial blessings. As K taught me, the containers have to be filled to the point of overflowing to show abundance, the containers do not have to be very big. I happened to have bread and ham (in the box) so I put them out as well, nothing to do with pamahiin.

These preparations become the subject of a long discussion between my and my Achi every year. She always asks kasi what to prepare and when I give her the list of things, ang dami nyang objections & questions. For example:

Achi: Nako, now I'll have to buy salt pa kasi konti na lang yung nasa bahay. kelangan ba puno? ang hassle. E kung bumili na lang ako ng container and then yung buong container ilalagay ko sa table, pwede na ba yun? Ang hirap kasi ibalik sa container ang salt if na pour out mo na. E kung kanin na lang na cooked gamitin ko? Marami kasi kaming naluto, para di na ako maglalabas ng bigas.

... and ... so ... on.

And this goes on every year. Nakakaloka no ?

And as a response, I go through my own long-winded explanation / sermon with the following bullet points:

• these are pamahiin, you don't have to do them if you don't feel like doing it
• I did not invent them, tinuro lang rin sa akin. Don't ask me to give you different variations. 
• So far as superstition goes, my belief is that you do what makes you feel good. For example, on most years, my 13 fruits are all just a combination of apples, oranges and grapes and I was okay with that because I was too busy to do more shopping.

Now, if you're asking me for things that you can or cannot do or what to substitute, hindi ko masasagot yan. That is all you. As I keep repeating, "Do whatever makes you feel good". If you want to put the whole salt container on the table instead of pouring it out, edi sige. Do that and be okay with it. Do not ask for my approval kasi hindi naman ako ang nag imbento nyan.

On a different note, Swe-cha decided to end the 2015 with a bang. 

I'd already prepared the fruits and these containers and set them out on the kitchen peninsula. 

While I was upstairs prepping the bedrooms, I hear clinking noises. I called out to Swe-cha and he came running, when asked what he was doing, he said "eat strawberries, yum!"

argh.

I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as I ran downstairs and this was what greeted me. He decided he wanted to eat strawberries and that was what he did. Ewan ko why he had to mess with the platter - the apple, salt, rice and water, naglaro lang siguro.

So I washed some strawberries and gave it to him. Surprisingly, kinain! Hindi marami kasi hindi matamis yung strawberries eh, sayang :( He has not eaten strawberries before today, hanggang drama lang and saying "strawberries, yum!" as if he really tasted them.

After this, he ate some blueberries too. Hindi nya nagustuhan. Pero at least he tried willingly.