Note: My daughter is spending her summer obsessing over photography and Stephenie Meyer.

Well, with the school year already wrapped up, I am proud to announce that my second son, Aypee, is finally graduating from college. I say “finally graduating” because he shifted courses and so the delay. He is joining the graduation march on May 2 and already, he is very excited, though my husband insists I am the one who is more excited.

My husband and I are so grateful to God that despite our financial hardships in life, we’re able to provide education to our children. We keep telling our kids the only thing we can hand to them as inheritance is education. Therefore they should make the best out of the “privilege of the right to education” that we are able to bestow unto them. Not all young people are given the opportunity to attain college education. Even the United States, a developed country and a superpower at that, has many out of school youths, drop outs and those who simply cannot afford their high cost of college education.

So on May 2, we will accompany our dearest second son receive his diploma as a Nursing graduate from the Lyceum Northwestern University in Dagupan City. I am elated, yes, I admit. I have this Cloud Nine sensation right now, which I first felt when our first born, Marco, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Political Science at UP Baguio. That was in 2004, and I relish the high up to now.

Sorry folks, I’m just a proud, happy mom. I hope you don’t mind this shameless self promotion. I just want to share with you my joy as a mother.

You may want to see the official graduation photos of my kids: (more…)

“Sanay na sila.” (They’re already used to it.) This was my husband’s comment when I showed him this picture which my son Aypee took with his cam phone while we were driving home this afternoon.

But, jeez… these linemen can really give me the creeps. Just look at the man in this picture. He’s like doing a trapeze act while walking on the cables. The cables may have support from the posts alright, but he may lose his balance and fall on the concrete. He is not strapped either.

I don’t know, but I see this as downright negligence.

Anak, what do you really want to be ba - a photographer or a model?

But that does not discourage her from pursuing this interest. She keeps on taking pictures everywhere, using her cam phone. Or sometimes she borrows cams from friends.

(Side Note: I also like photography and at one time planned to enroll in photography workshops. But jeez… when you are a working mother, you’d wish there was a 13th hour on the clock just so you can squeeze in everything you need and want to do in a day.)

Here are some shots Gem took recently. Sorry I’m not good at posting pictures, as you know I’m just a mom-blogger, not a photoblogger.

Angels from a display shelf in the mall  (Nikon digicam) (more…)

It will take another Cory to move the country to stage another Edsa 1 act.

The world is too much with us: late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.

Little we see in nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

This sea that bares her bosom to the moon,

The wind that will be howling at all hours,

And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers –

For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be

A pagan suckled in a creed outworn,

So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,

Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn,

Have eight of proteus rising from the sea

Or hear old Trison blow his wreathed horn.

(William Wordsworth)

Filipinos are clannish. If you are planning to run in a local election, you might as well consider first the clan factor. Yup. Those who usually win are those who come from big clans. Thus it has become common practice for candidates to identify their roots by inserting family names of their fathers’ fathers’ fathers in their handbills and posters, to hopefully amass more votes.

Well, I don’t have plans to run in any election, but I might as well mention here my family roots. Who knows - someone out there reading my blog might find affinity to my ever expanding clan.

I belong to the Manlongat-Montemayor family from the flourishing town of Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan.

I don’t really know many or our relatives. Funny thing is that my husband knows more of them than I do. But I do know some family names that bear some connection with us. From my father’s side (Montemayor) - Manuel, Rosario, Tamayo, Tinte and Mamorno. And on my mother’s side (Manlongat) - Pascua, Ceralde

We are a big clan. Proof to this is this photo where my sister, sisters in law, brothers, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews and grand nephews, grand niece and cousins take a wacky pose on the wedding of my sister Eva’s (extreme right, second row) son two Saturdays ago. This is not all of my clan, however, because many of our relatives back in the province were not able to make it to the wedding held at the Parish of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Quezon City.

I promised everyone to post more pics (albeit wackier) here, so have a feast: (more…)

I heaved a sigh of relief and gratitude the other day when my neighbor’s househelp brought along with her to my house - someone willing to be under my employ as helper. So for three days now I’ve been enjoying the company of an assistant. She does the dirty work of washing clothes as well as cleaning, mopping and dusting the house according to my directions of course. She can’t cook though, which is okay with me because I prefer that only family members prepare the meals anyway. What’s important is that the house is now being kept clean and hopefully in perfect order in the next few days.

Ah, many nice things have been happening to me from Day One of 2008. I have, surprisingly, been taking definite steps to improve and ease my life. And one of the “bestest” of these moves, I’d like to believe - is my decision (err.. Marco’s decision…hehe) to switch to a new internet service provider. Marco spent almost two weeks here at home, but he had to be online all the time because his work is internet based. And he got so exasperated with the internet connection from our old ISP (Digitel Luzon) which was crawling so slow - even much slower than dial up! Hence, after much prodding from him, I finally called up our cable service provider, to give us a faster internet connection - quick! And lo and behold! in a matter of five hours - we were wired at a maximum speed of 100 kbps. Not bad, huh? It’s been over a week now since we got connected and I have no complaints so far.

Incidentally, I have wanted to post photographs from last New Year’s celebration in our family home (my parents’ house), but Marco is still busy with work and can’t upload the pictures he took with his camera. Anyhow, I took a few with my cam phone, and I’d like to show them here to at least share with you how we traditionally celebrate Christmas and New Year in the family.

This is John Montemayor, second son of my eldest brother giving his opening remarks before announcing “Our first meal for the new year is served”.

Every Christmas and New Year, we (my parents, siblings and our own families, and other relatives in some occasions) gather around the dining table at my parents’ house and John is always designated to say the grace before the meal. Because of this, we have jokingly given him the nomer “Father John” and sometimes “Pastor John”.

And since John, an entrepreneur, has recently constructed a conference room (for trainings and conferences of his employees) just beside my parents’ house, he offered to host the holiday gatherings this time.

Guess who? That’s my hubby belting out a Beatle song. And to think he only had half a glass of champagne. hehehe.

After the videoke - rat ratan naman! On the drums is Aypee; on guitar is Marco and on the microphone belting out a Pinoy rock number is Dennis, my sister Eva’s first born. Take note at how extremely different my two sons are: Aypee with ’semi-bald’ head and Marco with long hair. There was a time though, when both boys were in their teens - Aypee was the one sporting long hair while Marco went semi-bald.   Nonetheless, they have become best buddies now that they are grown.

The band equipment by the way is owned by John who loves tinkering with the drums to shake off corporate stress.

More pics next post. Hope Marco will be a more obedient child to his mom and upload the photos from his cam so I can grab them from his Flickr account.