In our attempt to make our homes safe for our kids, we see to it that sharp objects are out of children’s sight and reach. But accidents happen no matter how careful we think we are. What if in your haste to move onto your next task, you unmindfully left a knife or a box cutter somewhere in the house and your kid got a hold of it? I bet you’ll be worried to death, but not if your cutting tools at home have safety features. So be a wise buyer next time. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

In my post “In Search of the Perfect Nanny,” I listed my criteria for choosing a yaya (nanny), which are as follows: she should have protective maternal instincts, she should love being around kids, and she can tolerate kids’ mischief. Today, a new helper was brought to us. I realized, in the course of interviewing her, that I actually expect more from someone to whom I would entrust my son.

These are the questions I threw at her:
1. What’s your complete name? How old are you? Are you married? Do you have kids of your own? How old are they? Where are they staying? What is your hometown? When was the last time you went home to the province?
2. Have you worked as a yaya before? Where, when, and how long?
3. Where did you last work? Were you fired, or did you resign from your last place of employment? Why?
4. What is your educational attainment?

After interrogating her, I laid down my house rules, namely:
1. Drink Vitamin C everyday. This is so that she’ll have a strong immune system so I am assured that she is healthy and capable of caring for my little one. I provide for this, by the way.
2. Take a bath early in the morning and wash herself at night. I also advised her to wash her hands always and make sure Justin’s hands are clean at all times. Hygiene is very important, especially when kids are involved.
3. Don’t spank the kid, shout at the kid, or speak harsh words. Be patient, gentle, and kind.
4. Be like a kid in that she should play with my son when Justin wants a playmate. Justin is an only son and the only time he gets to be with other kids is when he’s in school or at the playground.
5. Don’t text when taking care of my son, except when it’s an emergency. My son is at the stage where he’s most active and curious about his surroundings. To protect him from harm, the yaya should focus her attention on him and him alone.
6. Tell me when accidents involving my son happened, no matter how small (e.g., a bump on the head, a fall from the bed, a cut on his skin, etc.) in case he needs to be rushed to the hospital or be given first-aid treatment.
7. Don’t go loitering in the hallway or downstairs and gossiping around.

So tell me, are these too much to ask?

I think we’ll be having bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner tomorrow. That’s because we ran out of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) today, and the supplier said they had already ran out of stock of our brand (M-Gas) since last week, and there’s no way to predict when supplies will be coming in.

I haven’t kept abreast of local and international news lately, but I needed to check if this problem will last long.

According to GMA News.TV, “The supply of cooking gas remains tight for small retailers even as the Energy Department’s inspection has so far cleared some suppliers from allegations of hoarding.”

Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers Association (LPGMA) President Arnel U. Ty said in a phone interview that the supply situation is expected to ease on Saturday with the influx of LPG imports.

It was earlier reported that there was no LPG shortage, and the problem was actually with the distribution of the supplies.

I hope our LPG supplier is not one of those guilty of hoarding, or else!

Yesterday and today are general house-cleaning days for us. We couldn’t accomplish the task in one day because hubby and I were taking turns looking after our little one. (Note: Our all-around helper went home to the province last December 15 and promised to come back first week of January. In her latest text, she said it might take a while before she could return. So there, I’m actually looking for a new helper as I will resume work on January 5.)

Day 1: I dusted everything, swept and mopped the entire house and changed our bed sheet, pillow cases and curtains while I assigned hubby the task of tidying up our electric fans (we have two, but he cleaned only the one in our bedroom; the one in the living room, before New Year, maybe?). Justin was entertaining his dad the whole time by talking nonstop and asking never-ending questions.

Day 2: I scrubbed our toilet, bathroom floor and wall tiles, washed all the soiled rugs and shower curtain and decided to finish off what’s left in our laundry basket. Oh, did I mention my hands have not recuperated yet from the manual washing of clothes I did last Saturday?

Any tips on how to make house-cleaning fun and easy?

Later today, Manang, Justin’s yaya (nanny) will be going home to the province to spend Christmas with her family and to undergo an operation. My work for December doesn’t end until the 20th, so for next week, I actually requested my 21-year-old niece Tin-tin to baby-sit my son while I work. From the 20th until the end of my Christmas vacation (January 4), the tasks of taking care of my son and manning the household will rest solely on my shoulders. My chores will include:

1. Taking care of my son
2. Cooking
3. Washing the dishes
4. Washing Justin’s clothes and other small stuff every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights
5. Cleaning the house every Saturdays
6. Ironing clothes every Sunday

Whew! I will need super powers to do all these. Will I survive? Hopefully. Well, I wouldn’t really be entirely without help as my husband will look after our son while I do the other chores. Plus, I will ask my sister (Meann) or nieces (Tin-tin and Ayie) to pay us a visit every so often to help lessen my load. Shrewd? You may say so.

The answer is you can’t. You can complain day in and day out. You can rant and rave. Unfortunately, the consumer is always at the losing end of things because, again, you can’t do anything to have your Internet connection back unless the company you’re complaining to is quick enough to respond to your perennial whinings.

One of the disadvantages of an Internet-based job, like mine, is you’re at the mercy of your Internet service provider (ISP). I lost my Internet connection late Monday night, early Tuesday morning, to be exact, so I wasn’t able to work at home last Tuesday and Wednesday. My Internet connection came back Thursday night, so I was able to work the whole day of Friday at home. From Saturday until last night, I had been having intermittent to no connection at all.

I have complained several times already. Our account is very much active as we haven’t been remiss in our monthly payments. The call center agents have been giving us the same answer. First, there was really no problem, so the agent said she’d send off a technician to our place. When I called customer service again, there was now restoration work around our area. I called them up again last night, and there’s no more restoration work going on. So what is the problem?

I really don’t know. Perhaps, it’s about time we change our ISP.

A beaming snowman, a glistening Christmas tree, and a miniature Santa Claus

In an attempt to spruce up our small one-bedroom unit, I passed by National Book Store last Sunday to purchase Christmas ornaments. I had a hard time selecting what to buy. We can’t have a “real” Christmas tree because there’s not enough space in our place to accommodate that. And because my son is ever so curious of things in his surroundings, that tree won’t even last until Christmas because, for sure, he’ll be busy playing with all its trimmings, branches, and all. I opted for smaller stuff instead, ones we can place on a high shelf and ones that Justin can’t touch.

Because I work Mondays to Fridays, I do my grocery shopping once a week so it doesn’t get in the way of my work schedule (See my article “How to Make the Most of Your Grocery Shopping.”) Besides, I work at home, so it becomes quite a chore to dress after work just to buy groceries. I’m usually tired by then, and the only energy I have left is for taking care of my son Justin.

Suffice it to say that I have to prepare the week’s menu ahead of time. Before I head to the nearest supermarket, I make a mental or physical list of all the ingredients of the meals that we’re going to prepare at home for the entire week. Now, there are things I consider when preparing our family menu for the week.

First, I take into consideration each family member’s food preference. My husband likes sinigang or nilaga, so I make it a point to include any of those in our weekly fare. He’s not really a fish person, but when he’s in the mood to eat fish, it’s usually the small types, like tawilis or salay ginto, so again, I make it a point to buy any of those or both if they’re available. My son Justin, on the other hand, likes tomato-based dishes, so it’s imperative that we have one of those in our weekly menu, too. For myself, I prefer fish (bangus, especially) and vegetables.

Of course, I also have to keep in mind my family’s health, but as you can see, we already have a good (healthy) combination of food from our individual preferences. For one week, we usually end up having one or two pork dishes, one or two chicken dishes, and three or more fish/seafood dishes.

Here’s a sample weekly menu for my family:

Monday – Fried tawilis and sautéed ampalaya with shrimp
Tuesday – Chicken tinola
Wednesday – Adobong pusit
Thursday - Menudo
Friday – Sarsiadong tilapia
Saturday – Fried chicken and chopsuey
Sunday - Pork sinigang

You might be wondering why we only have one dish for the entire day. I also planned it that way because Justin’s nanny doesn’t have time anymore to cook new dishes every meal. Besides, I want her eyes only on Justin the entire day. When Justin was smaller, our next day’s meals were prepared the night before (See my post "How to Have Some Semblance of Order in the House When You Have a Baby.") Since I now work at home, I have enough time in the morning to look after my son before my work shift, so the nanny can now do the cooking in the morning.

When you have a baby in the house, your schedule becomes a wee bit crazy. Gone were those days when you only plan for your husband and yourself. Now, everything revolves around the baby. Suffice it to say that you have a new master in the house, so tiny and yet so powerful that everyone is at his beck and call. After I gave birth to my son Justin, I had to come up with a plan to create some semblance of order in our lives.

First, tomorrow’s meals will be prepared the night before. This is so that my son’s nanny is focused on just taking care of Justin the entire day.

Second, washing of Justin’s clothes and other small stuff will be done at night and not everyday, but three times a week only. Hubby and my clothes go to the laundry shop.

Third, general house cleaning is done once a week, usually on a Saturday or Sunday. When this happens, I have to take my son out of the house. It’s either we go to the rooftop of the building where we previously rented a studio apartment or the whole family (daddy, mommy, and Justin) takes a stroll in the mall.

Fourth, baby’s feeding bottles are sterilized everyday. I have to make sure I "fix" these bottles (pair the bottles with their covers and fill the bottles my son will use for the day with distilled water). The purpose of this, again, is to lessen the work that Justin’s nanny will do so her full attention is only on my son.

These simple steps definitely made things a lot easier for the entire household.

When we settled in our condo unit last May, one task gets added to my list of responsibilities—grocery shopping. It makes perfect sense since I was the one who passes by the supermarket everyday on my way home, that is, when I still have to report for work in our Boni, Mandaluyong office. Now that I’m a work-at-home mom, I find it harder to leave the house after I’m done with my work to buy things we need at home, especially when I have to do the grocery shopping several times a week. I need to come up with a plan, and here’s a list of things that works for me:

1. Do the groceries once a week – Before, I used to do it twice or thrice a week, but I realized it was a waste of time, so I decided just a few weeks ago to start buying groceries once a week only. The time I save here is just about the only time I have for blogging. At least, I manage to find time for this. I do my grocery shopping either on Saturdays or Sundays.

2. Have your grocery list ready and stick to it – I usually prepare a list of things to buy in the supermarket the night before I actually head to the nearest grocery. I check whatever supplies we had left or what needs to be replenished. I start with toiletries: Do we still have soap, shampoo, facial wash, toothpaste? How about laundry soap/detergent powder, toilet cleaner/all-purpose cleaner? Then, I check our kitchen cabinet if we still have enough or no more supply of onions, garlic, ginger, coffee, sugar, creamer, cooking oil, salt, flour, tomato sauce, vinegar, soy sauce, etc.. I then proceed to our refrigerator to check for whatever food items we have left out of the previous week’s grocery shopping. Finally, I do an auditing of my son’s milk, vitamins, and snacks for the entire week. Knowing the specific things I need to buy reduces the time I spend in the supermarket. I don’t need to scout every aisle in the grocery to see if there’s something in it that we need at home, plus, I get to resist the urge to buy on impulse.

3. Ask for help – Since I’ll be buying one week’s supply of things we need at home, I can not carry all the grocery bags on my own, no matter how hard I try. More or less, the entire purchase totals eight to ten kilos. So I need someone bigger than me to carry the heaviest bags. This is where my husband comes in handy. He hates doing the groceries, so I’m usually just the one doing the picking while he looks around for other things to do, like buying DVDs or checking out the latest gadgets in the nearby shops. I text or call him when I’m ready to pay my grocery bill.

Following these simple steps makes my grocery shopping a less time-consuming and a more fun activity. Give this list a try. You might benefit from it, too.

Since we now live in a condo unit with limited space available for storing things and prior to this, we rented a studio-type apartment where we encountered the same problem, I make it a point to dispose of things in the house that I don’t think we have any use for anymore. I usually start with my things, then my husband’s, then my son’s, and then the household stuff.

My Things – I first sort my closet for any piece of clothing that’s been lying there untouched, for, say, three months or so. I do the same for my shoes and bags, which are not that many, I should say. I don’t believe in buying too many because (1) they cause a strain on my budget, and (2) having too many choices complicates things. When you only have one or two to choose from, you really don’t have to spend too much time deciding what bags or shoes to wear for the day. This way, you can devote more time to more important things.

Then I ask myself the following questions: Do I still like this thing or not? Am I saving it for a special occasion? Will I be using this anytime soon? Will it prove handy in the future? If the answer to these questions is no, then it’s about time I get rid of these items.

My Husband’s Things – I usually follow the same steps I adhere to when disposing my personal stuff. The only difference here is that the questions I ask myself are now directed towards my husband. He is now the one who decides which of his things should go and which should remain.

My Son’s Things – There’s only one thing I consider when deciding when to discard some of my son’s things: Does my son still have a need for them? If my son has already outgrown his clothes, shoes, toys, etc. then, by all means, they can be handed down to whomever has a need for them.

Household Items – Final step would be to look for other things in the house that we have no use for like old cooking implements, old newspapers, old kitchen towels/refrigerator covers/curtains, etc.

After all’s been properly disposed of, the entire house looks immaculate and roomy. I then carry out my duties for the day with a light heart. That’s about all the energizing I need.

I officially started working from home last July and all because we were having problems with Globe in our Mandaluyong office. (We did not have phone and Internet at the office for well over a month despite numerous complaints.) The adjustment wasn’t all that bad as I’m the type of person who easily adapts to situations. After more than two months holding office at home, how do I find the experience? I’d say it’s both good and bad.

I’ve had some benefits working from home. First, I get to know how my son spends his whole day. I can text or call Manang any time I need to give instructions: if they can go to the playground or not, if Justin should have Cream-O or champorado for his snack, to tell Manang to stop Justin from playing with the DVD player or his VCDs, or simply to ask what happened if I hear Justin crying. Second, I don’t really need to wake up that early. I can wake up at 7 or 7:30 am and still start my work hours the usual time. I don’t need to commute anymore, so the time spent on commuting is added to my sleeping time. Finally, I save a few hundreds on transportation costs. I spend Php50.00 everyday to go to and from the office. (I still go to the office occasionally, though.) The savings from this get used up in other household expenses. It’s not really that bad working from home, I guess.

But it has its downsides, too. The thing is Justin doesn’t really know I’m working in the bedroom, although he can very well hear the sound of my typing at times and he will actually know I’m inside if he looks hard enough through our bedroom’s translucent door. He tried doing that one time; he actually saw me, and I hid in the farthest corner of the room to make him believe I wasn’t really there, that it was his imagination playing tricks on him. Since he doesn’t know I’m just inside the bedroom, I had to make as little noise as possible. I’m actually learning the art of sneezing silently, but I haven’t really mastered that yet. I have to bring my lunch, merienda, drinking water, and “arinola” inside the room because going out of the room meant the end of my working day. When my official work hours are over, I text or call Manang again to take Justin to the bathroom while I prepare for my grand entrance, again making my son believe that I came all the way from the office. That’s a lot of pretending to do. Whew!

So, given the pros and cons of my working at home, do I still want to continue with this arrangement? The answer is yes, for the time being, until a better opportunity comes along, and I hope that opportunity is just around the corner.

Anytime now, we will be moving in to our condo unit in Ortigas, nothing fancy really, just a small one-bedroom unit, which we will soon turn into our new home sweet home, what with our little Justin in tow.

To date, we have made a total number of seven apartment/house/home transfers since Ed and I got married. In 1996, we lived in a studio apartment in Washington, Makati. A few moths after, we rented a house in Dasmarinas, Cavite in the same subdivision where my parents live. We moved to a bigger house within the same subdivision in a little more than a year’s time. When the owner’s son had to use the place, we had no other recourse but to move to my parents’ house several blocks away. In 2002, we finally had our own house in Tanza, Cavite. But with the rising cost of transportation and the tiring trip to and from the house and because we both work within the vicinity of Mandaluyong City, we decided to rent another studio unit near Crossing and had our house in Tanza rented out. Three years after that, we are finally moving in to our second home.

By now, I should have been used to the idea of transferring to a new place, but to be honest, I still get the jitters. It is not easy packing and unpacking things, considering what to bring to the new place and what to dispose of. And there is even no guarantee the pieces of furniture we bring to our new home are as good as the time they get hauled into the mover’s truck. Plus, everything costs a lot: from the boxes to the lipat-bahay truck to the tips you give to all the people who would help out in the transfer to all the appliances we need to purchase again.

Adjusting to the new place also takes time and effort. Now, we have to plan the week’s menu, check out what items need to be replenished at home every time we leave the house because unlike in our current apartment where the wet market is only a stone’s throw away, our new place is sprawled alongside other tall buildings where no sari-sari stores are allowed to operate. The nearest buying area in our place is the Robinson’s Supermarket.

The truth is I’m getting tired of all this moving in and out. I hope this is the last time we are going to do that. If, Heaven grants, we will be able to sell our house in Tanza, we plan to buy a house somewhere near, a bigger place for our son to roam around. But we do not have to transfer anything from our condo now to that house because we will be buying permanent things for the house just like what we are now doing for our condo unit.

I just wish for a smooth transfer and that we all get to adjust to the new surroundings in no time, especially my son. I hope he also gets to meet new friends and playmates there.