September 1, 2012 – Pinay New Yorker

Minutes to midnight and I’m back. I thought the steak fajita would help, along with some Magnum afterwards, but nope, I didn’t quite get any help with the pain and discomfort beyond this feeling of happiness that filled my stomach. Well, one part happy and feeling okay is better than all the parts of Dinna feeling all crappy. =)

And I got a very nice surprise from the boys after they left me at Michael’s to troll the aisles and get my pick for the week while they played at Dave & Buster’s. I actually finished quicker than usual knowing what product I would get for my 40% off coupon for the week along with the acrylic paint colors I wanted to add to my supplies. The lines were not inordinately longer than the usual “long”, and while I tried to sit and wait by the park bench inside the store (presumably there for the other waiting husbands or kids while Mom does her craft shopping) — they were taking forever. I ended up standing up again and grabbing something else (using the smart coupon on my blackberry instead of the printed coupon I used the first time around), plus additional acrylic paints which were 40% off this week (you can’t beat that!), and still there was no sign of them. Finally they pulled up by the entrance and I got in the car, and Angelo excitedly handed me a surprise present (and there was no occasion) — a new Michael Kors leather wallet… Speechless.

After that, it was Target. I had no more energy to go anywhere else, and I would have even skipped Target, but I needed to get Angelo’s supplies for the coming week. The growing boy eats a boatload of cereal and the current snack of choice: Rice Krispies. Of course by the time we got home I realized I forgot to buy one important grocery item for the coming week: burger patties. (The carnivore my son is has forsaken bacon for all beef burgers.) The truth of the matter is that he prefers the ones from Pat LaFrieda of FreshDirect so I am not totally without recourse.

I tried to do some newspaper collage postcards to add to my Flickr album as I put Angelo to sleep, but all I managed to do was to finish one and I couldn’t quite get moving with the next. I just wasn’t into it. I gave it up and opted instead to browse the internet for images and videos about Artist Trading Cards and Mixed Media Art. (No more postcards for me at least until Monday, I promised myself.) When I went to pick up my album URL and I visited my Flickr Photostream, I was so amazed that the link I had submitted to the Art Journal Every Day linky list on Julie Fei-Fan Balzer’s blog had brought so many views to the graphic of my latest Art journal entry I wrote about below. But what totally bowled me over where the words of artists — real artists — who hopped into my Flickr set based on that link and left a comment. It totally made my day. These are the people who teach me and inspire me to continue to aspire to create.

I always try to find something new that I learn from day to day. The moment we stop trying to learn is the day we wilt away and die. Even in the little things that don’t seem to matter, we learn.

Two nice surprises for the day — how can you beat that? I know I should be so lucky.. sometimes I wonder why they keep coming when I am not deserving. Then I remind myself to just take it as it comes — enjoy the moment before it passes — and move on.

I’ve been busy with the postcards (yet again) and addressed three Sesame Street postcards to three Filipino fellow postcard collectors. This was a postcard I had gotten a couple of years back from Sesame Place, back when my now 8-year-old was starstruck by the sight of Elmo, Ernie and Bert and Super Grover. These days, it’s the postcards from Disney Hollywood Studios showing Star Wars that gets his attention.

I already have a copy of this which I had sent home addressed to my son, and remember that I had bought it to trade away. I haven’t been trading for the last 8 years but have continued to collect postcards. Alas, it’s time to weed out the postcards which don’t belong to my collecting interests so I offered them to Postcrossing Philippines on Facebook of which I am a part of. All three have been picked up and are on their way.

It’s a sunny Saturday here and I guess we’re going out for errands after the usual family lunch. I’m not too upbeat about it because I’m not feeling well. (Something we ladies have to deal with on a monthly basis.) This time around is particularly painful, but I’m trying to think happy thoughts to chase the pain away. (The boy was sitting on the sofa shoulder-to-shoulder with me waiting for me to finish with the laptop so he can play an online game that he can’t do on the iPad. I gave him a look and told him it takes me longer to write if someone’s waiting on me. I think it worked.)

Three day weekend on our side of the world as the United States celebrates Labor Day. We have no special plans. Just stay home, do errands, relax and recharge.

I plan to continue organizing the postcards, work on my Art Journal and my Altered book, write a few letters (penpals and friends await!), and maybe, just maybe, read a chapter or two more of my current book which has been mothballed a couple of months now, A STORM OF SWORDS: A Song of Fire & Ice Book III. “Kindling” (hahaha!) used to be a comfort, but nowadays, I’m not that close with my e-reader anymore. Maybe it’s time to renew the friendship, specially since I always have the work Ipad with me.

Three day weekends are going to be scarce and precious now that school is opening this Thursday for New York. My little guy is trying to enjoy what’s left of summer, but isn’t particularly excited. (Or he’s just trying to hide it.)

I just want to be able to sit down and paint, do collage, and try new things. And I’m doing one of my favorite things right now which is writing here. =) Literally, it made me smile.

I’m thinking Steak Fajitas at Chili’s this afternoon. =) Yet another smile. No guacamole for me, though. Everything please BUT the guacamole. I Except when served at Dos Caminos, I’m not particularly fond of avocados except as a dessert like we make it in the Philippines.

Lunch time for the mother-in-law so have to go and get a-heating in the kitchen. Here’s to a fruitful long weekend for those of us here in the US.