Busy Bee

     I guess I should be glad that I have been kept busy by work, housewife and mommy matters lately... I mean, it's better that I'm busy with productive things rather than be idle and not know what I should be doing nor what my purpose is.  It has been a month of many ups and downs... For the last week of April, I got sick, then as May came, my son was the one who had to be attended to when he couldn't take the heat wave that has been hovering over the country for the past several weeks.  I just thank the Lord that my husband and I are fortunate enough to be both earning enough to provide for our son's needs, I just can't imagine what I would do had we not have enough funds to bring my son to the doctor and buy medicines so he would get well.  True, there are times when I worry that hubby and I are not saving enough for the rainy days and there are even months when we don't save anything at all, but when I think of people who earn much less than we do and have more mouths to feed, I just count my blessings instead of dwelling on the bad...

     As of the moment, I am still occupied with tons of work, an active toddler brimming with energy and enthusiasm for everything his mind can grasp, a loving husband who keeps me sane, a family who continuously supports me and oftentimes still requires my attention, and friends to share stories with and remind me that I should also have a social life outside my family circle.  And with all of that on my hands, I am lucky to get the chance to post anything for this blog... or maybe I just need to improve on my time management skills?

One Last Post for March

We're only until noon today at the office and I'm glad I get to spend a longer time with my family (especially my son) this long weekend.  And so I wanted to end March with a short update for this blog...

First there's Adam, he's just a bundle of energy that never ceases to amaze me (not to mention, tire me out!).  He's a constant source of happiness.  He can say "mama" he wants to go with you (meaning "Sama"), he says "la na" or "nanana" to indicate that the toy he's playing with has somehow vanished or what he's been watching is finished or he's food/milk is all gone (meaning "wala na").  He walks with support now and often demands that he be put down (as opposed to being carried or in the stroller) so he can walk.

Then there's Charlie, my hubby, who often demands that he be "babied" too, hahaha!

And then there's work, which keeps me busy enough not to be able to update this blog as much as I want to.

And of course, there's my now more active social life... Thursday is the day for coffee with friends after office hours.  Or sometimes we just go to the mall and talk while we window shop (or shop period).  Or we go on a food trip and try out new restos...

Well, that's life...

Neck-Deep

Sleep-deprived and barely coping... that's how I would describe myself these past couple of days.  Adam has been sick for almost a week now.  We brought him to the doctor and was prescribed medication for Asthma (haaay! kawawa naman, my baby).  What's different this time is, gone were the days when it was so easy for me to get Adam to take his medicines... I guess he just has had enough of it.  He cries a lot and pushes away the meds.  Even when I try to nebulize him, he gets cranky and throws a fit.  Of course, even the shortest time of crying would cause him to cough even more and oftentimes he would throw up.  He lost his appetite, even for milk.  Now his weight is down and although he is beginning to start drinking milk again on a regular basis, he still gets cranky a lot.  To make matters even worse, I've had to cope (and am still coping) with a lot of RUSH work at the office.  And this is not even because I forgot a deadline or I was remiss in doing my job.  I have been waiting and waiting for instructions and for approval of layouts and whatnot for days and now that the "event" is near, the "higher-ups" realize that they only a few days to come up with results.  And of course, now they delegate me to deal with the "technicalities" and produce results in a snap.  Aarrrgh! I am trying my best but I can only do so much... last night (or shall I say this morning, since I slept around 1:00 AM), I had the strangest "dream": I was neck-deep in what seemed like black "goo" which looked really yucky and garbage-filled.  I was trying to come up but I was sinking.  Good thing, I woke up because I was already in a state of panic.  Weekend, I need you now!

What now?

When I think about it, it never ceases to amaze me how sometimes we choose a certain path with a certain goal in mind but when we reach the end of that path life surprises us with a totally different venue that we often get confused and oftentimes disoriented.  Before, I dealt differently with these "curve balls"... I used to punish myself by thinking about the choices I've made and dwelling on the "what ifs".  Now, I just take things in stride and pray that I would have the strength and wisdom to overcome the obstacles that come my way.  Recently, my mom was diagnosed with partial parkinson's disease.  Anyone who has been reading this blog in the past months would know that my mom is the one who takes care of my son, Adam while go to work everyday... Last week was a battle... I had to go on leave for a week because although my brother could help me out with Adam, he is far from experienced with regards to diaper changing, giving a 5-month old baby a bath, etc.  This week is a whole different battle -- yes, I'm back at work but my mind is constantly on the move as to how we could solve our problem with who would take care of my baby.  It's fortunate that this week my sister is on a week-long leave and is able to take care of Adam but the weeks to come after this is still a big question mark!  A nanny would be the perfect solution, of course, but hiring one isn't as easy as 1-2-3.  These days, it really is quite hard to find a nanny with whom you would be able to trust enough to leave your kids with.  (*SIGH*)

Back to Work

Today is my first day at work after my 2-month maternity leave... so far, I have texted my mom twice inquiring about Adam and it's only a little past 9am (I left the house about 7:45am).  Ganon yata talaga, hirap iwanan ang baby even when you know he's in good hands.  Specially since a couple of days after he turned 1-month old saka pa naka-latch on ang baby ko so I have been mixed feeding him (breastfeeding in the afternoon and at night and bottle feeding in the morning) eversince.  Anyway, to take my mind off Adam for a while (as if!) I have decided to update this blog and then concentrate on organizing the accumulated paperwork that I have to accomplish.  Time seems so slow though when you want to be somewhere else...

Weak-end

Saturday, 11.15.08

Spent the whole day at home. Charlie went on leave from work and my youngest sister slept over so we all just ordered food from a nearby fastfood and watched DVDs until the early part of the afternoon. By around 3pm my brother came over to fix my PC (which has been on the blink since last month) and we all just lazed around, listening to music while waiting for the re-formatting of my PC to be done. Way to start the weekend, right? Sitting around, watching tv for the early part of the day and then lying around just sound tripping the rest of the afternoon? Hahaha... I just feel so weak.... I don't even feel like cooking.

~ * ~

Sunday, 11.16.08

I finished a couple of layouts for my baby shower invitations... I am still not decided on the exact date yet (but I'm leaning towards the 12th of December) so I didn't print it out. Plus my guest list is still unfinished so...

~ * ~

Today, 11.17.08

It took me a long time before I became fully awake and ready to get out of bed... I feel so sleepy. I didn't feel like going to work and had to drag myself to the bathroom to wake myself up with a shower. I feel so lazy. But I have to finish several tasks at the office before the personnel audit so...

Rainy Monday

If we were'nt so serious, it would be comical... What is? Our hurried version of this morning's flag ceremony! We had to do everything double time because tiny drops of rain has already started to come down on us. Oh, and our usual monday morning breakfast together had to be hurried as well because everyone had different field assignments they had to run to right after the flag ceremony! It was like a scene from a cartoon.

~ * ~

Now it's almost 10am and I hungry again... You know what's bothering me these days... It's that I'm always hungry and yet after a bite or two, I feel like I'm busting at the seams already! It's the same with my liquid intake. I'm usually a healthy drinker - you know what they say, you have to drink 8 to 10 glasses of water a day - nowadays, after a couple of gulps of water I feel like going to the toilet already because I have to pee! Haay... just when I thought I have this pregnancy thing licked...

~ * ~

Today's whether made the busted lights at my office even more noticable than before... It's quite dark now despite it being just the start of the day. I have reported it to maintenance twice already, but still...

Monday Madness

I was 5 minutes late today, hence I was not able to attend the flag ceremony. But that's not what's bothering me now... It's this freaking cough and colds I am suffering from! I have tons of work to finish here in the office plus several errands to run to during lunch break and I can't seem to stop sneezing or coughing! Oh and did I mention that everytime I cough my tummy aches and I wonder if my baby is still ok... hay...

Anyway, I had very little done over the weekend because I have been feeling sick since Friday afternoon so I have nothing much to report. Just did a much needed shoe shopping yesterday (since my old office shoes are getting their well-deserved rest for a couple of months now - they don't fit me right anymore plus I prefer flats nowadays) and had a bit of room re-arranging (with the help of my sister, Mae) so as to accommodate the coming of the crib for the baby. Oh yeah, did I mention that hubby had a change of mind recently? Before, we were so set on moving to the townhouse we were able to acquire through Pag-ibig Housing Loan by January of next year - right before the baby arrives. Now, he's saying we should stay at our current apartment for a while longer and wait until the baby is older before we move so we would still be a stone's throw away from my parents' home and look in on their grandson while we're at work. I know it makes a lot of sense, but our apartment is so cramped that I had to be super creative as to the furniture arrangement so we could fit in our baby's coming stuff! It's good that my sister is currently on her Semestral Break and she was able to help me with the moving of the larger pieces of furniture (Charlie had to work over the weekend). And then after the exhausting re-arrangement, I treated my sister (and myself) to a meal at Karate Kid where I really enjoyed the potato balls and the bottomless iced tea, hehehe!

Hmmm... now it's back to work for me so I could meet my deadlines! I just wish this blasted cough would go away really soon, so I could concentrate better.

Going Through the Motions

Lately, I have been very slow in accomplishing work assigned to me. I feel tired and sleepy almost all the time plus the motivation just isn’t there these days. I guess because there are certain factors in the office that prevents me from being fully goaded into doing my best work-wise. Don’t get me wrong I still do the things assigned to me, but compared to what I can probably produce within an hour before… Let’s just say it takes me twice the time to finish a report I would normally accomplish way before the deadline. Nowadays, I would put off facing a certain report or task until I absolutely “have to”. Haay, I just pray that matters would improve in the coming months because I just don’t see myself working here long term anymore… It’s like I’m just going through the motion without really taking things to heart.

I read what I have written and I know I sound like I’m whining for no particular reason but believe me when I say THERE ARE REASONS! I just refuse to enumerate them and specifically pinpoint anything here in this blog because I don’t want to “incriminate” anybody and worsen the situation. Besides, for the moment, I have no other job prospects and intend to stay working here as long as I have to, if only for the monthly income (however low that income is). Times are hard nowadays even with both me and hubby working that I can’t really see us living the way we do now with just him working, specially now that we’ll have a little one to provide for soon. I guess I just have to stick it out here for a while longer…

Be patient, Heidi… There are others who have worse problems than you. And the way thing are now, I don’t think it could get any worse… Things could only be better in the future (however far that future seems right now).

I've Been A Slave...

an office slave that is... for the last couple of days and it's good that I finally got the chance to take breather! Work has been specially hard these past few days what with the constant pouring of reports to be accomplished, inventories to be done and new documents to be filed and cataloged! I am really grateful that my youngest sister helped me out yesterday with sorting out some of the documents I need to file (she's staying with me for the summer and I asked for a huge favor so she helped me out in the office) but still, there's still a lot of work to get done and not that many hands to do it on time. Am I complaining? Yes I am, because I have had enough "understanding" why I cannot be given a clerk to at least help me with the filing and receiving... why my office cannot be installed with an airconditioning unit when everyone knows that it is freaking hot in there... why some people cannot do their share of work and arrange their files properly so that it wouldn't add to my already heavy workload and most specially why I am hard at work all the time when I see some of my co-employees just taking it easy and kidding around with one another! If I just didn't take out a housing loan recently, I would definitely not have second thoughts about quitting this unrewarding job that I have and find fulfillment elsewhere! Oh please God, give me strength because the pressure is slowly getting to me already and my head is already throbbing from thinking of ways to de-stress!

Catching up

It's already the 2nd day of April and I have yet to post anything other than a couple of tags... This is mainly because I have been subjected to mountains of paperwork and rush reports at work! Well, I have a little down time from the paperwork now and I am still awaiting the submission of reports from some schools (which prefer to be ALWAYS late!) before I make a consolidation so I decided to post a little something about my recent events...

March 28

My friends/co-employees and I went to another co-employees' daughter's 1st birthday party after office. Belated Happy Birthday Irish!

March 29

I was supposed to go to another co-employee's despedida but was not able to due to a migrane attack... I spent the whole day inside my room with the airconditioning on! I'm sure our next electric bill will balloon due to this and our recent longer usage of the aircon... we just can't help it because it really is very hot these days. Anyways, Good luck ate Edith G.! I hope we would still hear from you even if you're already in Canada!

March 30

Charlie and I finished lots of house chores in the morning and then I watched movies on HBO while hubby went to watch a cockfight in the afternoon. We heard evening mass at St. Andrew's around 6pm and went straight home for an early dinner. We went to bed earlier than usual also, I guess because we wanted to be able to wake up early to start another work week the next day!

March 31

Let's just stay it wasn't such a good start for a work week for me... Reports were coming in late and the ones that I have received needed to be returned due to missing data and/or erroneous formats and data! I had to go on overtime just so I could make progress on the consolidation. Unfortunately, some of the schools still have yet to submit their data so I have not been able to finish the consolidation!

April 1

I attempted to write a post but ended up just doing a couple of tags instead because that was all I had time for... It really was a hectic work day yesterday! And still, some of the schools refused to submit their reports!

Today

Well, there are still a couple of schools who are really hard-headed and have yet to submit their data but that's their problem now... I have already organized the data that were given to me and made a partial consolidation and reported to our Administrative Officer which schools are delinquent. They would have to answer to the AO now... it's out of my hands... I still have other reports to finish but then that's another story... I at least have time to go bloghopping during lunch break and be able to post this!

Following Instructions

I guess I belong to a group who believes in giving other people the benefit of the doubt. I mean when I give out instructions to fill out certain forms and make a report, I believe I am giving such to responsible and educated people who will be able to accomplish them with ease. This is precisely the reason why I am irritated with the reports that were submitted to me... I mean, you'd think if they didn't understand the instructions they would at least call my attention and ask... but no! They proceded to make their own interpretations and do the reports haphazardly! Haay! Now I have to redo everything and double check each and every entry! Why?! Why do they make my office life so hard?

In an office environment (or mostly everywhere, actually) being able to follow instructions is an asset. It would be beneficial to everyone if only people were to follow rules and regulations. We would probably be living in a less polluted, less complicated world if that were the case. But let's be realistic, there really are people who seem to be physically and mentally incapable of following rules and I cannot change that... what's bugging me is when people who are supposed to be well trained in the jobs that they are assigned do not deliver what is expected of them just because they don't listen when they are given specific instructions. Haay... I don't know what else to say... I have said my piece, I know this will not be the last that this is going to happen, I just hate it when I have to repeat everything just because other people are irresponsible!

Monster Monday

I woke up this morning from a scary dream, I can't remember the details except for a few bits and pieces but I remember suddenly becoming aware that it was just a nightmare and a feeling of relief came over me...

Anyways, it's always hard going back to the usual work week after long weekends, actually I tend to think, it should be longer... boy, do I wish for a vacation right about now... But here I am back to work... back to the paperwork that needs to be done, back to the endless filing of documents, back to the room without an airconditioning unit! Summer heat is already making its presence be felt and who more to feel it than me? I sure hope I don't get an asthma attack soon because I don't want to be burdened with more work after a sick leave! Haay, why do I always feel that whenever I go to work on mondays, there's a monster lurking behind the door of my office? It's because we don't have a janitor on our floor these days and I'd have to do the cleaning all by myself! And the dust, could very well be a monster for someone with asthma like me! As if I don't get enough cleaning chores at home, I have to have cleaning chores at work too?! And today is specially more dirty because of the long weekend and my imagination is running even more wild than usual because of the nightmare I woke up with! Anyway, this is just another way of me venting out my feelings... now I'll be doing a little bloghopping during coffee break to relax my mind and be entertained by reading other bloggers' posts. And then it's back to work!

Working for a Living

These are the times when I wish that I am just a stay-at-home wife... workload seems to be extra heavy these past couple of days as there are reports, left and right that I have to accomplish before the Thursday-Friday holidays. Not to mention the report that has already been lined up for when we go back to work on Monday! Oh, and that's not all... the airconditioning in my office has yet to be installed and the summer heat is already starting to make it's presence be felt! But these are just ramblings of a tired and grumpy person (that's me!) Of course, I appreciate the fact that because both me and hubby are working, we were able to take on a housing loan and we will be able to move in to that house in several months... that we don't rely on anybody else for our expenses... and most of all, that we are able to afford the things we need and even some luxuries (provided it doesn't make such a huge dent on our savings that we are alotting for the renovations of our new house!)... haay, life...

Busy Bee

The past week or so has been really crazy making it quite impossible for me to update my blog... anyways, hopefully I would be able to go online more this week.

As for the "why, the long absence?" this is what has been going on:

Last week, Charlie got sick, maybe he got infected with the virus that infected me a couple of weeks back... anyways, he went on sick leave for two days and although I was still going to work during the days that he was at home and sick, I, of course didn't have time to go online because the free time that I get, I use to check up on hubby who was suffering from continuous high fever and severe headache as well as a runny nose. After a lot of TLC, he was able to go back to work after a couple of days. But the crazy week has only started for me... first I had to transfer more than a couple of thousand files from the old filing cabinets that they were housed to the new tambor cabinets that were delivered to my office... whew! talk about a lot of work! Plus I had to check that each file/folder contains the necessary papers... As in! Major work load! Good thing I am just in the last few drawers and this task would be over soon...

Manic Monday

When I woke up this morning, this was the first thing that came to mind... "It's just another manic Monday, I wish it was Sunday, 'Cause that's my funday, My I don't have to runday, It's just another manic Monday ..." as the song by The Bangles goes...



Well at least there's always the thought of Friday...

(Sigh... Sigh...)
Anyways, here's what's been happening eversince my last post:

November 27: Charlie got sick so he wasn't able to go to work, I wanted to bring him to a clinic to get a prescription but he said it's just his tonsils that was aching that's why he had fever so he just took the usual medication he takes when he has tonsilitis. (Men! Why can't they just admit it when they need to consult a real doctor?!)

November 28: I wasn't able to go to work as well because Charlie's fever won't go down and I decided to bring him to a clinic against his wishes. The doctor prescribed him with new medications and by afternoon he was feeling a bit better (Hmp, should've gone to the doctor in the first place, right?) Anyways, the rest of the afternoon I spent finishing the AVP that was due tomorrow for my Aunt's retirement tribute.

November 29: Still wasn't able to go to work because there were certain matters I had to attend to with regards to my Aunt's tribute, hey after this I'm thinking of doing this as another sideline... Anyways, my aunt's tribute went smoothly enough and Charlie was finally getting better (I was worried there for a time because he very rarely absents himself from work even if he feels a little under the wheather so I know he really felt sick that he called in sick.) BTW good thing I went home early from Makati where I set up the AVP or I would have been caught in the traffic caused by the Manila Peninula seige.

November 30: I was supposed to attend a team-building seminar at Cardona, Rizal but asked to be excused because I had to get another TVU which went well enough, now my OB is saying things are finally looking up for us in the conceiving department... hmmm... maybe... let's keep our fingers crossed...

December 1: Just stayed home all day while Charlie went to work.... finally finished putting up the christmas lights and decorations.

December 2: The usual sunday stuff... church, laundry, ironing of clothes, csi supreme sunday, foot spa...

Today: It's back to the salt mines for us! Just please, please let the work be just work and no more side stuff!

Monday Madness

I came to work a bit late today because I still feel queasy (eversince friday, I feel nauseous almost all the time) and found a montain of paperwork to be accomplished and reports to be done due tomorrow! Why does my always start this way? It's not as if I don't do the work assigned to me on time... it's just that work keeps piling up because I do all the work alone in a department that's supposed to consist of three people at the very least! I cannot help but whine about stuff like these because I always feel stressed and pressed for time. I really hope the staffing pattern for our office be enforced already because I don't know until when I would be able to endure this much work pressure. Specially now that I am not feeling well...

And now there are a lot of office intrigues and gossip going around and they are just irritating! It's not that I'm the one being gossiped about but it's just so frustrating to think that these people have spare time to gossip and cause intrigues about our co-workers when there are others, like me, who work almost non-stop! Well, I guess in an organization there are always certain factors that you cannot control and would definitely dampen your spirits but I really pray that things would work out without people getting hurt.

Back from Baguio

I arrived at around 10pm last night from a three-day seminar in Baguio... Now I feel so tired, and I took extra vitamin C supplements because I feel a bout of colds coming. I must tell you that I have been to Baguio several times before already and I've stayed at Teacher's Camp several times already also but this is the worst experience I've had visiting Baguio and Teachers' Camp. First, the room that we were assigned didn't have a comfort room of it's own so we had to share a common CR and shower stalls with almost a hundred other participants. And then the room also didn't have a single electrical socket so we had to go out to the hallway and plug our cellphone chargers there and stand there waiting or sit on the floor of the hallway or leave our phone there for anyone to see and get! In the morning I had to wake up super early so I would be able to take a shower because like I said we had to share 6 shower stalls with many others, and if you're late in taking a shower you would experience very little water supply or none at all and you have to wait several minutes for them to replenish their water in their tanks or something to get water again. But what's worse is there is not a hint of a heating system for the water so you end up taking a shower with freezing cold water! Haaay, I don't mind that so much because I like getting cold showers (although normally not that cold) but most of the participants are already middle-aged and some are even as old as my Mom so you can just imagine their agony in having to endure the cold weather as well as the cold showers as well! And then the overflowing number of participants rendered the dining hall jam-packed! If you were one of those people who walks slowly then you would have to endure the long lines queued to have breakfast, lunch or dinner. And if you're one of the really, really unlucky ones, after lining up and waiting for a long time you end up with a different, less tasty, hastily prepared make-do of a meal because the supply of the meal that the earlier diners were served has already been consumed. Haay, naku! And as if matters weren't bad enough... it rained, and rained, and rained... the 2nd day of the seminar granted us rains that made it even harder for us to enjoy Baguio. It's a good thing that the last day was a bit more cheerful because we were blessed with sunny weather and the organizers decided to fast-track the last topics so we could go home early. I am not blaming anyone though, this is just a typical rant, stating my dilemma about the situation... I know that Teacher's Camp is under a lot of renovation now and that the unexpected influx of participants gave the organizers of the seminar a situation where they had to make-do with a lot of things, but hey... I'm entitled to whine a little, right?

I still like Baguio though, I love the weather and I like seeing flowers bloom all around you so I would still come back and bring my hubby there (who is from Ilocos Sur, a stone's throw away from Baguio, but he has never been thre) this January... I would just have to make sure that we would have better accomodations and we would be able to enjoy the scenery and the weather! Anyways, I'm here now... home, safe and devoid of pasalubong because we werent able to go out and scout for the usual things we buy from Baguio, but there's still January...

Stolen Moment

Here I am, on my lunch break, trying to steal a few moments to myself... for my blog... for my sanity! Oh, and to let everyone know that.. YES, I am still alive! Swamped with work, constantly cramming to reach deadlines, suffering with tonsilitis, ngarag to the max, but still alive. Just one more day.... one more exhausting, weakening day and I would be able to breath normally again!

Complicated

Recently, I have been remiss in my duties as a blogger at updating my blog, but what can I do?! A lot has happened in the past week or so and unfortunately I have no ample time to blog about them... even now, I am just stealing time off from the grueling work that I still have to accomplish... Maybe in a month's time, things will finally settle down to a routine again and then I can get access to my blog more often. So to everyone who visits my blog... Thanks, I really appreciate the bloghops and all... And to those who tagged me or gave me something to write about, I really, really am sorry for not replying or not continuing the string but please know that although I want to do so, I just have a lot to finish nowadays and very less time to even visit my blog and even much less time to visit other blogs. Now I have to run... promise to back to my old blogging self when the dust clears!