Whining Hubby....Anyone????

You wonder who and why? Is it normal for a hubby to whine? You thought, only a wife has the right to? Oh no! Let me tell you, you're mistaken huh!

A couple of nights ago, as I was about to retire for the night, of course, after an interlude with my laptop, my hubby suddenly started emoting and blurting out innuendos, much to my surprise and disappointment. He said:

- look at your fingernails, looks like a witch'..... (I sneered at him and countered, "Halloween is just over honey");

- you need to visit a parlor, your hair looks it's owned by a witch...(again? "I want to grow it long", I told to myself);

- look at yourself in the mirror, you look like an owl, almost like a zombie, what with your darksagging eye bugs?, seems you're no longer sleeping because of blogging...(signs of ageing hon? I said to him almost in a whisper);

- the house is such a mess, it badly needs general cleaning....(I was almost boiling inside but managed to sweetly smile at him and said with a loving voice, "are you not satisfied what the househelp can do"?);

- there's nothing in the pantry and in the ref, except some few cups of noodles a can of tuna and a bottle of soda...??? ("Oh, that can wait, soon I'll go to the grocery" while trying to wink at him, but seems didn't work huh!);


- look at our closets, what a mess???( that, too, he saw? seems am givin' up on him, took one pillow and covered my face, but he continued to blah..blah...blah...!!! 


I wanted to banter back, but said to myself "everything he told me were glaring truths".

I pacified him sweetly, telling him that when he will be off for work again, everything will be in a spic and span condition and promised him I'd go to the parlor when I have the luxury of time.


"If you don't stop blogging, I'll blog blog you!!!", he said with a threat!


I didn't refute him though deep inside me, I am almost at a boiling point for trying to stop me from what's keeping me happy.


I tried to calm him though he doesn't look violent and whispered sweetly in his ears, "Honey, blogging is my best friend when you will again leave me for work, so please understand me, okay?".....

He didn't say a word or two but I slept peacefully beside him because I am sure that his silence meant he would be tolerating me of my addiction.

So blogging buddies, anyone of you whose in a dilemma like  mine? My advise: sweet talk your hubby, don't meet him at the height of a typhoon and that can surely do magic; and to those who doesn't have a mate yet? Try to find someone who is also into blogging and there would be no chaos at home...:) Keeps me thinking though, why can't both love blogging? If the wife blogs, the husband does not, if the husband does, the wife isn't?

P.S. I want to hear some real, cool reactions from my blogging buddies, single or taken or happily settled.

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T'was a bad hair day...

I was asked yesterday to transact official business today at the Governor's Office in Tuguegarao City which is a four hours drive from our place. Our service vehicle has to leave at 5:30 AM in the morning. I woke up at 4:30 AM so I have one hour to prepare myself and have breakfast but....t'was a mess, a bad start because instead of proceeding to have my breakfast and take a bath after, I still opened my laptop and checked on my mails and sent someone a short message and what happened? You might be shocked:

Beep...beep...beep....went the service vehicle in front of our house and I was still in front of my lapi! I ran to the bathroom and:

- took a 5 minutes shower;

- brushed my teeth for 1 minute;

- put on my clothes for a bare 2 minutes;

- gulped my one mug of coffee in 30 seconds;

- munched the almost burnt toasted bread I put in the toaster for 1 minute;

- instructed my kids in 1 minute who will also leave in the morning for their enrollment in Baguio City....

Then I grabbed my bag and the folder of documents and ran out of the house and rode inside the vehicle waiting for me with disheveled hair and a not made up face and everybody was shocked to see my present state, until they all laughed together at my sorry state.

I requested the driver to turn on the lights inside as it was still dark so I can comb my hair and put some loose powder on my cheeks and apply lipstick on my lips.

And when the wind blew on my face, I smelt of another fragrance! Oh no! It was my son's perfume that I sprayed on myself? Whaaaa....what a day!!!

This is the first time that this scenario happened in my whole working life and the culprit is: being addicted to blogging!!! I just smiled to myself and ignored their laughters....

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Chasing An ELUSIVE Dream

Every hopeful Juan de la Cruz

Lines up and wait for his turn while

Uttering a silent prayer that

Somehow God will make a miracle

In the consul's decision to grant him a

Visa, visitor or immigrant, for such is

Everyone's dream to get one.

Maria dela Cruz and her son Joe are in a long queue waiting for their turn to be called for finger scanning before an interview with a consul. Inside the waiting lounge, "No 273", the PA system announced. Mother and son went to the booth that was assigned with their number.

"Magandang hapon", (in English, good afternoon), the consul greeted.

"Good afternoon sir," answered Maria and her son with a bright smile on their face. The consul tapped the keyboard of his PC.

"Your husband works in the US, right?", the consul asked.

Hesitantly, she answered "yes, sir"!

"How many kids do you have?, the consul went on.

"Three sir and he is the youngest", Maria answered while simultaneously pointing to her son beside her.

"How old are you?", addressing the question to Joe.

"Fifteen sir", Joe answered smartly. The consul smiled. And Joe smiled back at him.

Maria uttered a silent prayer. "Lord, please, make a miracle. I badly need a Visa, I want to also visit my husband there once in a while, and see some other relatives I haven't seen for quite a time now". Her palms were sweating, she looked ashen and nervous.

She jolted in a surprise when the consul suddenly spoke. "As of now", the consul said, "I can see that you can't establish to me of any strong evidence that you will likely return back to the Philippines".

"But sir", Maria spoke, almost in tears. The consul moved his head in complete disapproval while handing back to Maria their passports and a blue paper which he marked with an X stating: You did not establish that your social, family and economic ties outside of the US are sufficient enough to overcome the presumption of immigrant intent. 

"But sir, can we apply again?" her disappointed spirit tried to put up a brave front at the moment though deep inside her, she wanted to cry hard already.

"Of course, you can, for as long as you can prove to me that your status have changed already", the consul answered.

Maria picked up their passports and the blue paper, looked around her for the last time and felt as if all eyes were on them for being denied a visitor's visa.

"Thank you sir!", she uttered with pain in her voice and took her son's hands and left the place.

Outside the embassy, she saw the sad look in her son's eyes. And he whispered, "Mom, you should have denied that Dad is working there, because that might be the reason that they denied us of our visa?". "No, son, we couldn't lie, they can see it in their database, and the more we will lie the more we will no longer have a chance to apply for the next time around", Maria answered as if to pacify her son's disappointments.

"Mom, I can no longer have the chance to see my Dad in his workplace and our relatives there. And my dream of going to Disneyland with my friends and cousins", Joe uttered, almost in tears.

"Well, honey that's life. Getting a visa is an elusive dream. Don't worry, we'll try again next year and hopefully,  God will touch the heart of the consul who'll gonna interview us by then", Maria said to her son. Joe just gave her mother a poignant smile, took her Mom's hand and they left the embassy grounds hand in hand, smiling at each other sadly.

They took a cab and on their way home, tears rolled down Maria's cheeks while her son looked outside the cab in deep thoughts, thinking when will his dream can come true.

(I wrote about this prompt, maybe in a an unusual way to illustrate how we Filipinos really consider being granted a US Immigrant or Non-Immigrant Visa a dream come true, especially when you have relatives living there and you wish to join them even just a few months only.)

Written for One Single Impression prompt

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Grounded!

"If you don't stop that blog, blog, blog you are doing, I will blog, blog, blog you!" That was the firm but compassionate statement of my hubby a week ago. And he added, "from now on, you're grounded from laying your fingers on the computer!" Huh!

I knew he was firm because he was so worried with my health but a hint of compassion in his voice suggest he will still tolerate me of my blogging spree.

It was a Wednesday afternoon in office. I sneaked into my computer and was chatting with my friend when suddenly, I felt excruciating pain in my head, it felt like it would burst. I wanted to knock my head on the wall coz it was really hurting so bad. I took an under time from office work coz I can no longer tolerate the pain and went home hurriedly with the help of an officemate, lest I would just pass out on way way home. 

I immediately lied down in bed but after a few minutes, I was sweating so hard and can no longer control the urge to empty my innards, and I did. Then I passed out. 

The doctor smiled at me, maybe to reassure me I would be just fine, but I felt I wasn't. Stress. Over fatigued. Prescriptions... prescriptions!!! Bed rest. Hot soup. For several days as implied by the doctor. And the most dreaded..., "stop being exposed to the computer and tv for the time being because of your migraine bouts and you need to consult an opthalmologist the soonest, and yes, don't forget your vitamins so your sinusitis will heal immediately". And he added, "stay in a dark room because bright light triggers migraine episodes". So, those were the culprits of that excruciating pain in my head? 

"Oh no!". I mumbled to myself.

I want to go back to blogville soon so I religiously followed the doctor's and my hubby's orders. Not too bad to be like an obedient child sometimes. And it pays.

Folks, this is my first post after my short break, but no assurance yet that I would be back to active blogging. I'll take it one day at a time.

To all of my well-wishers, Prams, Priya Joyce, Preety, Vyshu, Windel and Lena, thank you so much...you are all the reasons why I want to recuperate the soonest. And to all my other silent followers, thank you, too. I missed you all guys!

But, shhhh.......am just sneaking again, you know! Hope I will not be caught by my guardia sibil. 

Reality Check

Yes, we must. We must do some reality check, or sincerity check? and my friend says so. A simple rift caused me to do some reality check.

But now I do understand why we need to often undergo reality check. Especially if you are a dreamer like me. Dreamers are just dreamers. They often forget the real thing and what is real. They keep on dreaming though it seems beyond imagination and realization.

And now i realized that you can't have everything you want or anything you want in life. The best is, just dream, let it happen in a dream, it's free and nobody will know what you are dreaming of. Just keep it to yourself, just to satiate your imagination.

Brewing the Hirameki Way

Over a cup of tea. That’s how I while the time away. This is my third week that I am on leave in office. My daily routine is simple, casual and quite boring. I wake up early to cook breakfast, wash the dishes, clean the house where we are temporarily staying, do the laundry, cook lunch, sleep after lunch, cook dinner, watch TV, sleep. Boring. No mind exercise. Just physical exertion day in and day out. That is, while waiting for the schedule of my husband’s operation. He’s on medical leave due to an accident he met at work. Dx: Rupture of extensor of Digitorium tendon? That’s a medical term. In layman’s term, he can’t move his middle finger because the tendon that makes it mobile was cut during the accident. The shipboard doctor who attended to him overlooked the real injury. He applied two stitches to the cut/wound, put a brace to keep the finger in place. Believing it has already healed, he removed the brace only to find out the finger was damaged. Result? Medical sign-off from shipboard work. So here I am, attending to my special patient. And I am on leave from office work.

But why brewing the Hirameki way? I love to drink tea, almost three times a day which may be the cause of the yellowing of my teeth. Lipton Yellow Label tea. At the back of the box of the tea is etched the following: “Brewing the Hirameki Way”. And what’s all about it? I have to use my eyeglasses just to be able read what it means. HIRAMEKI, it says, is a word that means “Get inspired”. When you get stuck, you need to feel relaxed but alert so you can get Hirameki. And this is because the tea is made up of black tea leaves that contain Theanine. Theanine helps bring you to a relaxed but alert state of mind. Hmm…nice!

I’m quite stuck for almost three weeks now. Now I realized how important one’s work is. Before, I wish I could get absent from work whenever I woke up not feeling well, but I need to go to work. And being stuck, I crave for tea. Thus, I drink tea every now and then. And while being bored at home, while drinking tea, I try to write blogs. I have written several blogs now but I can’t post it yet. No net connection in the place where we are temporarily staying. I have even finished Chapter 6 of my short story, and maybe, write Chapter 7 after finishing this post.

Thanks for every cup of tea. I feel alert and inspired to finish every chapter of my short story and some other posts such as this. It really helps to brew the Hirameki way. Does it make sense? Maybe, but it’s up to you, my followers. You may just as well try to brew the hirameki way so you may get inspired, relaxed and alert amidst the changes, the interludes and the chaos that we encounter in life.