My Family « Kutitots

My new Smurf companions

2 September 2011 • Comments Off

I didn’t have a totally “tomboy” childhood. I loved Voltron, but I liked cute cartoons too. The Smurfs is one of them.

It was quite lame watching The Smurfs for a Friday night date with my husband — far from romantic — but hey, it’s not often those little blue creatures get to be on a live action flick. Besides, it just goes to show how much my husband loves me — he endured an hour and a half of cuteness! 😀

Aside from our yaya who reveled in those quiet moments I’m glued to the TV, my sister also spent a lot of time watching cartoons with me as soon as she was old enough to. The Smurfs was one of our favorites cartoons.

I learned about the Smurf toys being included in McDonald’s Happy Meal from my sister. I made it a point to collect every one of them, with the main obstacle being: I rarely eat fast food nowadays. I haven’t had a burger in almost a year, and the most I’ve bought from McDonald’s are chicken nuggets and fries. But my family likes fast food. And that made collecting all eight toys possible.

The toys are now displayed beside my work computer. They’re quite a relief to see whenever the going gets tough at work (so cute!). But best of all, they’re a welcoming reminder of how my family — my husband, mom, dad, and sister — all made an effort to get Happy Meals instead of their usual orders for the past few weeks just to let me have my Smurfs. 🙂

Humility lessons from my Dad

21 June 2009 • 7 Comments

Daily Dose Family Stuff

Like my husband and I, my parents are as different as night and day. My mom (before her stroke), liked to talk a lot and was as noisy as I am at parties. My dad, on the other hand, didn’t really talk muchâ€”he was the quiet type before my mom had a stroke. But oddly enough, it was my dad who gave me a lot of sermons when I was growing up.

My mom preferred giving the silent treatment, while Dad could go on for hours lecturing me about something I did wrongâ€”or about to do wrong. So it’s really no wonder I got a lot of anecdotes from him. He liked making metaphors to explain things, and I have to admit sometimes I couldn’t help but do the same 😛

But among the many metaphors and anecdotes my dad gave, one sticks out as my favorite. Read more

Our first suburban Christmas

28 December 2008 • 4 Comments

Daily Dose Family Stuff

I have always been a “city girl.” Katipunan Road, to be exact. I lived along Katipunan Avenue, Blue Ridge ever since the day baby me was allowed to go home from the hospital after my mom gave birth to me. I studied at Miriam / Maryknoll College for preschool, elementary, and high school; then took up BS Communications Technology Management at the Ateneo de Manila Universityâ€”schools situated along Katipunan Avenue. The schools I went to were just less than five minutes away, so I never really had the need to stay in a dormitory. Simply put, I’ve been rooted to Katipunan Avenue for as long as I could remember.

It’s hard to believe that this year, we just spent Christmas in the suburbs of Antipolo. Read more

Have you put up Christmas decors yet?

2 December 2008 • 4 Comments

Daily Dose Family Stuff

I have! 🙂 With the help of my younger sister Joyce, of course. Serious bonding time between me and my sis 🙂

Ever since we moved to this new house, we had more space for decors like a 6-foot Christmas tree. The dogs no longer have the run of the house, so Marc allowed me to buy a tree that would be the centerpiece of our living room. Read more

At the Buhay Coke blog event!

1 July 2008 • 12 Comments

Daily Dose Family Stuff

I‘ve been meaning to blog this earlier, but Marc thought the weekend was the best time to format our hard drive and install a brand-new copy of Windows Vista. We wanted to get the Business version, but it was just way too expensive (Vista Home Basic is only about one-fourth of the cost of the Business version). Anyway,moving on 🙂

Buhay Coke ng Bloggers last Friday was actually my sister’s first-ever blogging event. Actually, it was the first party (with a lot of people) she attended with me (just me and Marc, and without our parents) ever since she got sick.

Joyce and me at the Buhay Coke party (thanks to Fritz and Juned for the pic!)

A gift from my sister

16 May 2008 • 5 Comments

Family Stuff

I’m not sure if this is a side effect of her medication or underdeveloped frontal lobe, but my younger sister Joyce’s thinking is that of a thirteen-year-old ever since her schizophrenia started. Sometimes it seems like she’s “stuck” being young, and she doesn’t really like doing things a well 22-year-old would usually like to do. She’d rather watch cartoons or play with her PSP console than go out and party.

But even if my sister is sick, she’s actually more thoughtful than a “normal” person would be. She showed her deep appreciation every time I cooked for her by taking out Shantee for a walk for me if I’m too busy or helping me wash the dishes in our kitchen. She even made me a home-made card for my birthday. Last Wednesday when Joyce and our dad were taking out china and glasses out of the moving boxes, she went to my home office and gave me this:

I know, I know. It’s just a mug. And I would appreciate anything my sister gives meâ€”because I know for a fact that it came from the heart. But there’s something more to this mug. I didn’t want to accept it at first, because I knew our late grandma gave it to her and that Lisa Simpson is her favorite character. But Joyce insisted, and said that this mug fit me. I turned the mug and this is what I saw… Read more

Letting go

8 February 2008 • 9 Comments

Daily Dose Family Stuff

For me, letting go is probably one of the hardest things a person can do, but should do. Screw me over and Iâ€™ll never ever forget what you did. Iâ€™ll eventually forgive you, but you canâ€™t expect that things will ever be the same again. I can forgive, but I never forget. Itâ€™s just the way I am, and Iâ€™ve long accepted that.

Old books in my old room

But when it comes to material things and other sentimental stuff, itâ€™s a different story. If I can get rid of clutter, Iâ€™d get rid of itâ€”not unless the story behind it made such an impact in my life that getting rid of the thing would be an insult to my memory. Iâ€™m the exact opposite of my mom when it comes to thingsâ€¦ She likes to keep things even if theyâ€™re just taking up space and have no use just because they had some sentimental value.

My dad is like me. So are my sister and Marc. And that, makes moving to a new house twice as hard. Read more

Yet another sad Christmas

21 December 2007 • 4 Comments

Daily Dose Family Stuff

Itâ€™s four days before Christmas and I still havenâ€™t done my Christmas shopping. I know itâ€™s going to be quite hellish battling it out with other last-minute Christmas shoppers, but I honestly still donâ€™t feel the holiday spirit. I am busy with workâ€”and I want to be busy with work. Marc has already informed our clients that our web team would be taking a Christmas break starting this Saturday, so Iâ€™m â€œmilkingâ€ this busy-ness as much as I can.

Why? Well, for one, work distracts me.

I think this is what Noemi calls â€œholiday blues.â€ But no, Iâ€™m not depressed. I still function like I used to, Iâ€™m just favoring quieter moments as opposed to loud parties. I know this sounds crazy, but I miss my dog Sheero so muchâ€”Christmas just isnâ€™t the same without her 🙁 Read more

Birthday gifts for a birthday boy

13 December 2007 • 8 Comments

Family Stuff

Marcâ€™s Crumpler bag My husband, Marc, just turned 27 today. As usual, he didnâ€™t let (and didnâ€™t like) people to know. He just went on a day trip for a client meeting with a friend, who had absolutely no idea that heâ€™d be sharing his car with a birthday boy. I really donâ€™t know how he managed to keep that to himself (I always made sure my closest friends remembered my birthday! Hehe). And to think he had kept on reminding me of his upcoming birthday for two months.

Marc had managed to weedle out two â€œadvanced birthday giftsâ€ from me: letting him buy a Nikon D40x and a ludicrously expensive Crumpler camera-laptop bag. Itâ€™s a good thing we already have Paypal here in the Philippinesâ€”I was able to get my blog earnings way earlier than cashing in checks, so I didnâ€™t feel too bad about spending that much for a ludicrously expensive bag. Iâ€™m going to keep on repeating itâ€™s ludicrously expensive because I really think itâ€™s ludicrously expensive. Read more

Finally, I have my very own Christmas tree!

3 December 2007 • 6 Comments

Daily Dose Family Stuff

Yep, you read it right: I now have my very own Christmas tree! Wanna see?

Gailâ€™s Christmas Tree

My tree was actually one of the first photos taken by the snazzy new Nikon D40x Marc and I bought as an early Christmas gift to ourselves. But of course, my dadâ€™s the one who took the photoâ€”Marc and I are still newbies when it comes to photography.

Youâ€™re probably wondering why Iâ€™m such a big fuss over this tree. Well, letâ€™s just say it has something to do with ownership, and the fact that Iâ€™ve always wanted to put up a Christmas tree. Read more

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