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.

renovation

september is the month that we are all anticipating for. people from the west coast are planning to attend timmy's bachelorhood ends. since most of them are coming, we have decided to make some changes in our place before september comes.

one of the changes that we are intending to do is to renovate the kitchen. since we moved here last july 1988, the kitchen has been always the same. we just changed the paint of the cupboards and walls.

we were able to hire the contractor that was referred to us by john and queenie. the price is just what i'm hoping for and i'm pretty sure that by the time we started cooking on our new range and putting our cooked food in our new fridge it will be more. it will take at least two weeks to finish. so in two weeks it will always be "take out" dinner everyday for us.

do i hear anybody inviting us to come over for dinner? we will not be so selective and the invitation has to come from the heart.

odds and ends

it has been awhile since i touch my blog for updates. it is not that bad considering that the last time that i blogged was march 15. frank, one of the blogger police, reminded me the other day that i'm due.

today, there will be a surprise party for my brother jojo. it will be his 60th birthday. it will be held at his daughter's brampton home and the place will be rocking at 4pm.

jo, as i call him, is the second to the youngest in the family. since i'm the youngest, we did have an ups and downs relationship which is normal during our younger- younger years. while we were growing up, we did have our differences, i'm always right and he is always wrong. he settled down at an early age of 17. he and my late sister-in-law nelia, had their first child, poleng, after 5 years of waiting. anna and christie followed soon.

they immigrated in canada in early 80's. now the three daughters have a family of their own.

jo is the side kick of his common law wife, lynda who is an insurance representative. his main task is to be a designated driver and input in the computer the necessary info regarding pertinent clients. i do admire and respect my brother from what he had accomplished so far considering the education that he attained.

hoping he'll have many more birthdays to come and we wish him the best of everything.

as i predicted, our fil-american contestant in american idol, ms. malubay, finally got voted out last week. truly, there are so many contestant that are better than her. point and case, the lady with tatoos on her right biceps is one of the hurdle she has to overcome. knowing the filipino community, they will embrace her for what she accomplished during her stint in the american idol. i'm just wandering when will an asian american be an american idol champion? whenever it is , the cell is still in the bag and by that time it happens, i might be 6ft below the ground.


going back from the audition until the magic 24, i don't see any korean, japanese and chinese participants. with the exception of william hung couple years ago, it is always us "flips" who always in there. i guess, we filipinos loves to sing even in times that we are mad. i know a woman who makes her own tune and sing the words she wants to blurted out to her husband. the neighbors thinks that she is just singing an opera. what a way to disguise as long as the husband is taking it all in. it is called SPONTERANEOUS singing.

before i end, written or verbal comments are appreciated especially if you are a blogger or non-blogger who is a silent participant.

the snow is starting to melt and warm weather is almost upon us. pretty soon, backyard bbq is an open season. time to go to the park and enjoy the breeze of air of summer.