Save Earth!

The rainy season has started! It has been raining almost every afternoon since last week and I guess that is good news. The dams are filling up again and that would mean that there will be no more power shortages. It also means that there will be more water for crops! I read that El Nino is quite over and in its place will be La Nina. I also read that the sun is brewing up to spew some nasty solar storms that tech and communication gadgets will be be greatly affected. Isn't it tiring hopping from one problem to another?

The price we have to pay because we abused mother earth. We really should do something to help alleviate global warming. It is not too late, right? Let's do something about it! Every little effort counts.

Wrinkly Hands

Aside from being in use for more than half a century now ( say what?!) my hands are all the more "wrinkly" because I have been doing some cooking, cleaning and dish washing since my maids left. It is a good thing that my laundry woman is still with me or else I'd be forced to either machine wash all our clothes or take them to the laundromat.My mother said I should let my kids do the household chores including the cooking. I don't think that's possible since my four girls work and leave the house at the crack of dawn. They come home from 6:00 to 7:00 pm with D1 occasionally on a 36 hour duty. My son stays at his apartment because of school. That leaves Ethan to help me around the house. Ethan "not helping" me is helping me.:) D3 sometimes help out in the cleaning when her clinic hour is set later then usual. Anyway, I think I need a better anti wrinkle lotion as the one I am using is not working at all. My hands are still wrinkly! Must be the age.

Give me an M...A...I...D

Just when school is about to start, my two maids decided to leave me hanging. The older one left some 3 weeks ago because her 2-year old was sick. Unless my older maid is secretly a doctor, I can't find logic why she needed to go home. Logistics dictate otherwise. She has no money and she still owes me. I told her that she should just send money but she said she wants to go home. So I let her go. A few days later she sent me a message asking if I could send her the money and then some so she could come back. I refused to answer because in truth I really don't want her working for me anymore since that time that she let her pregnant daughter drop by my house when the whole family was out. My older maid even had the tenacity to ask D1 for free pregnancy vitamins. Anyway, older maid is out of the equation.

The younger maid left a few days ago. The little squirk was related to older maid. They both told me that younger maid is 18. The mother of younger maid came over and asked if she could get her just turned 16 daughter. No problem. Take her away.

I think I just about had it with maids. But! no matter. I need one. No. Make that two.

I Wonder

In her mad quest to lose weight fast in time for the school's opening in two weeks, D2 went to the gym to exercise after work. She was up late last night doing the million and one things teachers do right before the start of the schoolyear. She was tired and hungry but still went to the gym. I was not able to fetch her as I went to accompany a friend to the doctor. D2 commuted coming home. She paid the fare and promptly fell into sleep. She was awoken by when she felt the vehicle stop and its passengers get off. It was right about this time that she felt something was amiss. Yup! Someone stole her wallet. It is a good thing that she only kept 500 PHP in that purse. Poor dear! Tired and 500 PHP poorer. I wonder when her dad will finally come around to parting with his precious money and buy D2 a car!

By Jones!

D2 teaches history to graders and high-schoolers. I have an affinity to history and more often than not, it is only D2 and I who discuss history. United States history used to be taught in high schools here in the Philippines. I think it was about when the US military bases were uprooted from Subic and Angeles that US history was eliminated from the Philippine high school curriculum too. My girls and my son do not know much about US history which is kind of "sad" as American history is a hodgepodge of rich events and circumstances. Anyway, the American colonial years in the Philippines is still included in the Philippine history. The other night, D2 was busy preparing for upcoming AY 2010-2011. She was busy browsing the net when she asked me what know about Gulf Coast Jones Act.

Huh? What's that? Is that the same as the 1916 Jones Law?

D2 rolled up her eyes and said "Mom, the Jones Act I'm referring to pertains to US merchant maritime act of 1920 and not the 1916 Jones Act pertaining to Philippine autonomy."

I said "duh!?" and asked her why. She smiled and said she was just testing me if I know about the maritime law. Well, why should I? My knowledge of US history does not include maritime laws! And how many Joneses were there in the US congress from 1916 to 1920?