Prepping the toes

Just dabbed some petroleum jelly on my toes — getting ready to do some serious buffing and cleaning after taking a shower later.  Spring is here and that means open-toed shoes.  Open toed shoes mean a pedicure’s a must.   So while I’m debating upon whether I ought to get a new nipper (the Revlon one I have I’ve actually had since I got here in 2000 — never been sharpened..), I guess I have to start trimming and prettying up the toenails.  My hands can do with some pampering, too.. I might actually have the time today.  (Keeping my fingers crossed..)

A Week and a Half to go

In a week and a half, Mom is leaving for Manila.  I suddenly remembered that I have yet to pick up her ticket from the travel agency.  I postponed doing this only because Mom had asked me about possibly moving her flight up to an earlier date.  (Bringing her to the doctor helped ease her anxiety about her health and has convinced her to wait it out til the 20th.) 

I feel sad thinking about her leaving Angel and me here in New York despite her promise to return soon.  I also feel the weight of her anxiety about returning to Manila where we are still trying to hold on to the home we had grown up in.  She is so excited about going home, but I know that there is also a sense of resignation in her returning.  While she remains hopeful that she might win the lotto to save the house, I know that deep in her heart, she knows that losing the house is inevitable.  When I think about her burden, I, too, wish I could win the lotto so I can solve her problem.

So what are we to do when she goes on the 20th?  I have already asked permission from my boss to be off on the day she leaves.  Alan will stay home with Angel the Thursday and Friday following.  Fortunately, my boss leaves for Asia the following week when I hope to work from home.  It’s going to be tricky “holding the fort” while we await Nikky’s arrival.  I am hopeful we will manage somehow.  We have to — it’s part of parenthood after all.

I can sense a sadness in Mom’s tone when she tells Angel she is leaving soon.  I know it breaks her heart to leave her dear grandson — considering their special bond.  But if only because of this, I know she will come back soon. 

She’s been with us a year now but it doens’t feel as though she had been here that long.  If not for the pain she has been suffering and her anxiety about the business back home, I wouldn’t mind keeping her here with me longer.  Of course there’s her visa to worry about.  I miss Mom already — the year she’s been here has really been special to me because it made us even closer to each other.  I cannot wait for her to come back and be with us again.

Saturday Evening

My Saturdays here in New York City are mostly uneventful for several reasons.  Weekends saw Mikey, my stepson, with us, so leaving him in our apartment and later, our co-op was out of the question.  For the most part, Alan and I planned our dates for weekdays and rarely, if ever, went out with friends on Friday nights.

Since Angel came, we would normally opt to stay at home and just fall asleep in front of the TV, sometimes indulging in a late night movie when Mom could sit with Angel since we took care of him through most of the day anyway.

Gone are the late night Saturdays I used to have in Manila — spent late with Fe or some other friends.. maybe watching a movie, going around the malls (usually with Nikky), or partying somewhere.  All part of my new life here in the big apple.

So I’m sitting here blogging at just a few minutes before midnight, and topic after topic is popping in my head.  Talk about being inspired..

 

Lutong Pinoy: Sweet Spaghetti

I’ve always loved sweet spaghetti.. from the Jollibee Spaghetti with a hint of spicyness to the street turo-turo spaghetti steeped in ketchup, and there was the Unimart cafeteria’s spaghetti sauce I loved way back when they had this fastfood in what later became the ManilaBank arcade.

From time to time Alan would request this sweet spaghetti, and tonight, I did it not really out of choice but as a consequence of “recycling” some Arroz A la Cubana that’s been in the fridge for three days now.  It offered me a way out of cooking a full dinner because I came home with a headache after spending the afternoon in the mall.

I started by frying one hotdog sliced diagonally in olive oil, and then I added the arroz (ground beef), some tomato sauce and sugar.  The sugar took out hint of cumin and chili.. It came out rather well.. not quite the yummy treats of old, but it gave a hint of what I used to love and know from my childhood from back home.

 

Spring in New York City

Spring has finally arrived and the tulips are in bloom.  I couldn’t help but snap a picture yesterday (still on the QM1A bus stop).  Pretty, pretty colors indeed.  I sat down by the ledge of the bank by the corner and put my bags down, and the tulips caught my eye.  No less than two sets of tourists stopped and posed and took pictures by these tulips in concrete flower boxes by the building on the corner of 56th Street and 6th Avenue.  Goodbye winter!

Craft Report: Thinking Yarns While Waiting for the QM1A

The QM1A bus is the Fresh Meadows/Glen Oaks to 6th or 3rd Avenue Express bus from Queens to Manhattan

I grabbed the chance to go home early Friday because the boss was off and I wasn’t feeling too well.  I meant to meet up with an old ICQ Filipino Friends buddy who was visiting New York from San Francisco but the fact that I wasn’t feeling well plus Angel’s condition made me decide against going, specially after my friend Anne said we can just meet up the next time they are here in New York.

I ended up waiting for Alan for almost an hour — and while I was there waiting on the 56th Street bus stop of the QM1A Express bus, I kept thinking about yarns.. and the projects I could do and would want to do.  I was thinking perhaps crochetting was more my thing than knitting — more so with my clapotis. I am still resisting the urge to buy any more yarn because I feel I have more than enough to work with for the next couple of weeks.

Projects and more projects.. sometimes I wonder how I can even think of doing any more considering I barely have time balancing work and home and motherhood.  With motherhood taking priority and most of my free time, there isn’t really much left for other things.  For one, my personal website has taken a backseat to this blog — which reminds me, I must update a page or two soon.

Perhaps I will be able to pull off my plan to give away my works by Christmas.. one by one.