Saying goodbye

The Goodwill truck came and left yesterday morning carting away a tonfull of memories - children's books from more than a decade ago (which have somehow followed us with each house move), broken printers, keyboards, a stringless guitar, a washer/dryer that had sat in my garage for four years as 'decor', two (dead) UPS units, 1 lamp shade with gaping holes, 1 tarnished kinakalawang chandelier, a TIRE (!), giant stuffed toys, moldy bags, moldy shoes, and CLOTHES, CLOTHES, and more CLOTHES.

This morning, two men came and pulled out my AC unit, cleaned it, prepared it for its one-year storage (the place I'm moving to has its own ACs with no more extra hole for the one I have).

This afternoon, I said goodbye to my backdoor neighbor - White Cross Children's Orphanage. I did the one thing I should have done four years ago - I inquired about their volunteer services and was given the grand tour by Gloria the social services officer. I met all the little kids whose shouts, cries and laughter I've lived with every morning when I have my breakfast and every evening before I go to bed. (It so happens the ward for the 1 to 2 yr old kids faces the back of my unit. I finally met all 19 babies!)

Tomorrow is our last day at Luxor. It's also Luis' Graduation day.

The end is near

I am surrounded by boxes. This is my environment for the next six days. We're all packed and ready to go but it seems that everyday there's a crazy reason why we can't...
Tomorrow - because it's Easter Sunday
Monday - because Nikki has an interview at school and I have something in Makati at 11:30 AND I don't have a car. My car is in the shop ONCE AGAIN. It made 'tirik' last Wednesday. Must delete that blog entry about the super SWAT team on EDSA.
Tuesday - because it's my color coding day (not that it matters since I don't have a car)
Wednesday - because it's Luis' graduation day. It starts at 3:30pm. I wonder if I'll have a car.
Thursday - because it's Nikki's final exams' last day. Maybe I'll get my car back.
Friday - aaah..finally..this is it!

So in the meantime, I sleep on the floor and live with my boxes. It is NOT a pretty sight.

chop chop

Yesterday the men came and chopped up my narra four-poster bed because it couldn't go through the door.

For the remaining nights of our stay here, I sleep on the floor. The big move is scheduled on March 27 Thursday - after Nikki's final exams and Luis' high school graduation.

I HATE MOVING.

So - once more with feeling ... I am longing for Luxor.

blog leave

Too many things going on - I've decided to take a blog leave. A very stressful, herculean project up ahead which will drain me of all time and energy (my house move). Visit me again in April after things settle down a bit.

New friends

I mentioned losing Knowell the other day. That same morning, I also gained a new batch of friends - and this time, for some strange reason, both short-stay and hema wards had lots of adorable 3-year olds! The cutest stage in a child's developing years is I think at the age of three or four. They laugh, play, giggle, chat incessantly and are already "sturdy" unlike their infant counterparts. Well maybe not that sturdy at Kythe since the children I met all had leukemia or some form of cancer. Nor chatty, as most of them had developed a phobia for bad and scary things like needles and big people in white (doctors!) But still very very cute. Here they are, immortalized in my blog, on a beautiful Thursday morning. I do hope somehow I was able to cheer them up even for a couple of hours.. That's 4-year old Adrian Orpo leafing thru the book "Ang Prinsipe ng mga Ibon". I think he enjoyed touching the pages more than listening to me stumble thru the Tagalog words. Antonio Anghel Quminales, 3-1/2, hemophilia patient, enjoyed his shape sorter blocks..but not as much as he enjoyed blowing those bubbles!! What a cute pouty face!! Ah, and there's Alexa Renzel Sordan, cute 3-1/2 year old princess, enjoying her princess doll dressed in a sky blue gown. But the one who stole the scene and everybody's hearts was Princess Navarro, see her here smiling like a future artista in her pale pink spaghetti blouse and floral peejays, she does have the makings of a child star!! Oh if only I could see her up on the silver screen 10, 15 years from now... Of course let's not forget the older kids. That morning, I had the pleasure of meeting again my friend from my visit last February 2, 14-year old Jessica Rebucion. And I was so glad that I had the chance to fulfill the promise I made to her - I gave her a showbiz magazine featuring her favorite artista Sarah Geronimo. Now that made her very happy! Twelve year old Roselle Gado had such beautiful, chic looking hair (without going to the parlor!) which just fell so nicely around her shoulders, I had to tell her she looked like a model! See her here, the girl in orange - don't you agree? And finally, the eldest of the lot... A 17 year old boy by the name of Gary Obasky. I tried my best to cheer him up by challenging him to put together a plastic car with many many small parts (the type I would NEVER be able to
do) and he put it together in a few minutes..
That was my morning at Kythe. I certainly hope I amused the kids and made them happy as much as they made me! They will forever live on in this blog, smiling, blowing bubbles and playing with their plastic cars and toy princesses!

Huh?

As people took to the streets yesterday, numbering almost a million, clamoring for the resignation of our president, and burning with zeal and passion for the future of our country.... all I could really think about were my very heavy false eyelashes that were in danger of falling on my salad plate as I attended the Natori Gala Dinner / Fashion Show at the ballroom of Makati Shangri-La hotel last night...dum dee dum....