recuperating/relocated

i'm just taking my sweet time right now whatever i intend to do before the big wedding which i was not able to accomplish. i'm making a things to do list in winter so aside taking our two four legged son and daughter for their evening walk, i got something else lined up.

me and the "neck" (new term for the commander-in-chief) were so busy entertaining the people from the west coast before and after the wedding. when they left and i returned from my two weeks holiday, the only thing that i want to do then was to take a nap in every way i can and hit the sack as early as i could. i think we should get at least 99% for hospitality.

we invited eric b and his family from california plus the cruzada of course for a dinner at our place. as usual, everyone's favorite "crispy pata" were there. i did promise eric when we were in california that when i come back that i'll cook "crispy pata" for him to taste. in truth, "crispy pata" is so hard to make. there are so many preparations to make. it is just like the x'mas ham. and speaking of ham, it will be around again in the next two months from now.

as you all know, i had a deck built just this summer. it was big and made my house looks longer. i'm just waiting for the hot weather again so i could put a sealer on it.

when the deck was built last may, tim, the new head of the family, removed our air condition to make way for wider deck and it will be RELOCATED to the other side of the house. it is officially "fall season" now, there is a new air condition and furnace for the house which at the present time, both RELOCATED at the garage to be RELOCATED eventually to the other side of the house. only time will tell. i may be wrong, but i have this hint that it might be
RELOCATED sometime in spring HOPEFULLY!!!

this year it will be my turn to be treated for a nice "magic wok" dinner for picking boston celtics as the nba champ. one of the "treaters" predicted that the team that he is going to pick this year will be the next nba champ and hoping to be treated next year. so i said that my prediction is that i will be treated for sure first at "magic wok" before him.

grandma had an episode of blackout one morning. if it was not for the quick thinking of grandpa i think grandma had signed off. he gave grandma mouth to mouth resuscitation to revive her. after 3 tries, grandma were revived. jokingly, i told grandma that good thing her false teeth didn't interchange with grandpa during the resuscitation process. she is getting better now and hopefully it will continue.

we are closing another month in the calender and hoping i will be able to blog in three to four weeks time.

dad's b-day

my dad will be celebrating his 90th birtday on monday. for his age, he could still perform "fred astaire" moves, cooks their daily food, do their grocery shopping and some housekeeping.

it just shows you that what ever you did during your younger years to your self, the result at the end will give you what you planted.

it is safe to say that dad did not abuse his body during his youthful years. he smoked but quit when he was ahead, drinks when pride was at stake hit the sack at least by 10pm if there is no party scheduled.

tomorrow all the children and grandchildren will be at their party room to celebrate his 90th b-day. the mama's (ate bernic, ate nits and my commander-in-chief) are in-charge for the food preparation. there will be some visitors from the pillar's association (dad's organization) and there will be a surprise visitors from chicago, uncle bien and ate gloria (dad's remaining brother).

i really don't know how my dad will react. it has been years now since my uncle came over for a visit. i think it will be an emotional reunion not only for my dad but also for my mom, who is not in the best of health lately. they haven't seen this couple for some time now and i know uncle bien and ate gloria will be excited to see them also. it will be nice to hear beautiful stories that happenned long time ago one more time.

i hope dad will live up to 100 years. ninety is already a milestone and i don't want to miss this. i will be LONELY [TRAVELLER'S] if i won't be a part of this occassion no matter what. nobody knows what is instore for tomorrow and we will be all blessed if we could reach the age of ninety still capable of doing things that we like to do even though we are in the twilight of our time.

as ella would say [6 months ago] "great granddad amidst the gifts".

happy b-day dad!

VACATION

we just came back from our 10-day vacation from california. actually, it was a vacation and at the same unite with the commander-in-chief siblings. i was honored and humbled also that i was chosen to be one of the sponsors at marie and james' wedding which was held last july 19.

james is the commander-in-chief nephew and it was way back 1999 when he first met marie during our 25th wedding anniversary. i think it was love at first sight. they walked around my neighborhood so many times that night after the celebration and they don't seem to care even though the weather then was cold. frank (marie's dad) was going around in a circle for two hours looking for her. nobody seems to know. marie's circle of friends were playing see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil.

so many things happened during the course of their courtship. it was a test of how strong their relationship. and at the end, great love for one another prevails.

we went to las vegas in between our holidays. ate babes and ray were the winners while belen, the commander and myself were not fortunate enough. i'm not that fortunate when it comes to casino. it seems to me i have this mole around my behind. if ever i go back in vegas in the near distant future it will not be on their hot weather months. i just can't handle hot and humid temperature. maybe next time, i will make sure that i'll schedule myself for a"grand canyon" trip.

friday, july 25, a milestone b-day celebration of the four siblings of the commander. ate rose-65, lynne-60, eric-55 and dennis-50. it was held in one of oakland's golf country club. belen was the emcee that evening and she did a good job. an extenporaneous speaker just like my commander in chief when she does her adlib when she is mad at me.

it was a reunion of siblings and family and it could have been more joyous if my mother-in-law and brother-in law, cito from texas could have made it to the occasion. milestone celebration comes only once.

saturday, july 26, everybody still had their hang over. i met my h.s classmates and friends in pacific asia rest. in hayward for a mini reunion. the lovebirds - ogie and naomi, danny and jean were able to come. it was nice to see them again after we reunite in san francisco two years ago. they all agreed that the next time we see each other will be in toronto. i think i could handle that.

we arrived from california monday, july 28 at 1 am. i was able to report to work on that day even though my sleeping pattern has changed. next time, i'll make sure that i'll be off the day before i go back to work after a holiday.

BASEMENT PAINTING

i'm halfway done in painting the basement. i used the same color that i painted the whole house except the bedrooms. i like to finish this project plus cleaning and painting the floors of the laundry room before we head to san francisco this july 17. we will be attending the wedding of marie and james on july 19 and i'll be one of the sponsors.

before that week, the shingles on the roof will be removed and replaced. its been twenty years and i think it is about time for a replacement. i have experienced of having a leaky roof and it was not a very pleasant experience especially when it is raining very hard.

the deck has been installed and i'm just waiting for the weather to warm up and i'll be sealing it.

if i could only get the chance of clearing all the debris during the installation of the deck, i thinks it will look even better. i got so many things and plans for the outside but i could only do it after work and weekends. i'm just hoping my place will be ready before sept. l.

what's up

it has been awhile since i logged in at my blog. i do apologize.

after the kitchen has been renovated, the commander in chief and i went to a southern caribbean cruise. we flew to san juan, puerto rico last may 10 and went around the place. there is similarity with the old quebec to san juan. during our short stay in san juan, we passed by a souvenir store by the tourist area and bought t-shirts. the proprietor of the store was half pinoy. she was born in the philippines but her parents are from india and her husband is the same too but was born in the mountain province. we were surprised when she started telling us in our language about the prices of the items in the store. we were caught off guard.

we started sailing may ll with royal caribbean adventure of the sea and we did stay on the 8th floor of the ship overlooking the promenade. we started sailing to the farthest scheduled port of our tour which was barbados. monday was spent at the sea. we docked at barbados, tuesday morning. we went to st. lucia on wednesday, antigua on thursday, st. maartem on friday and last, st. thomas on saturday.

st. maartem and st. thomas are the places you want to go if you want to go shopping especially on jewelry.

before anything else, during our absence, there were people whom we would like to extend our thanks. these people were the one who looked after our place, the two dogs and fishes. thank you christie, frankie, norm, mel, tracy, loiuse and of the course the duo of tim and francis.

i did propose to norm and mel that even though that i have seen most of the southern caribbean island that i don't mind going back as long as we go on a cruise next year as a family group. it will be a wonderful experience as a family. i don't have any idea if everybody could join but one thing for sure, the umali's are geared for that.

it was an enjoyable cruise. we were bunch of pinoy from scarborough and mississauga. the total attendees were close to fifty. we were able to request the head waiter to cook for us adobo, pancit and "shrimp" sinigang aside from our scheduled dinner meal.

we arrived home 1am. monday. since it was a public holiday, we just stayed in bed for the rest of the day.

since my scheduled holiday was for two weeks, i started painting the living room and the hallways. as of writing, i'm almost done with my painting except the basement area and rooms.
there are so many things to do but you could only do it after work and weekends. hopefully, i will be able to finish some of it before the hot weather arrives.

thanks to francis for helping me. he did paint parts of the living room and then he fainted for two hours in our computer room bed. life in the big city.

tim moved to their new house a week ago. it is big. it looks like the christmas gathering for this year is set at major mackenzie and bathurst.

i will try to update my blog whenever i could. i don't want to be stuck at the "amidst of gift". i'll try to keep in touch as much as i can. again, sorry it took awhile.

NEW KITCHEN

after 6 days of messy surroundings, our kitchen is now renovated. relatives and guests who had seen my kitchen before will somehow be surprised. from the flooring up to the last coat of paint, it was the commander-in-chief taste all the way. my role is just to bank roll the project. it is good thing that c.i.b.c. is trusting me with their money.

the next move is to put back all the things in its proper places. while doing so, we are planning to repaint the walls of the dining room, living room and the hallways so it will blend to the color of the kitchen. looking at it now, i have to do section at a time. i don't think i could get away from just painting the color on top of the existing paint since the paint that is now on the wall is somehow dark and one that is coming is lighter.

if frank will be able to extend his hands, he is now an expert in remodelling and painting, this task will be a breeze before our scheduled holiday.

it will be nice working hand in hand with him. there will be no dull moment while we are doing the task because of his singing. i'm pretty sure that trae had an earful when they had their condo repainted.