You are currently browsing the monthly archive for November, 2008.
Thankfully! Earlier this morning I braved the Greenhills shopping center bazaars and nearly finished my Christmas shopping! And that includes the mini-raffle items and souvenirs for our department’s Christmas party.
For my department, I was given a budget of P1k for raffle items, and P1k for souvenirs. Luckily, I was at the bazaar quite early that I was able to get a good look of stuff on sale before the swarm of people came in at around 4 PM. Here are the stuff I bought:
Raffle items
1. Sarong – P150 (I want this for myself!)
2. Leatherette sling bag – P130
3. Bag organizer – P150 (I want this, too!)
4. 14-CD holder – P140 (this is nice. looks like a miniature case of beer)
5. 3 shot glasses – P130
6. Knick knacks tray – P70
7. Boracay lamp – P100
8. 6-picture frame – P90
Total = P960, underbudget of P40. Hooray to my haggling prowess!
Souvenir items
1. 5 pcs. shawl – P100 each. These are really nice, quite thin but colorful shawls. The weight is perfect for the tropical weather, and the overall effect is classy. These were originally priced at P150, but then again, haggling is LEGAL and expected =D
2. 3 pcs. scarves – P80 each. These are for the 3 guys, originally priced at P100. I wanted to get them something nicer for P150 each but the girl can’t (or so she said) give me any discount. So yeah, girls rule. =D
Total = P740. Pretty good price for the stuff I got. My sis even wants to keep two of the shawls, but, she has to wait until after the party!
Now, I have to give in to my legs and feet’s calling, and give them a well-deserved rest.
The permanent teeth was fixed last Monday! The only time I felt pain was when the dentist was clearing up the excess cement from my gums. I refused to take any pain reliever for it, but the migraine was a different issue. I took a paracetamol for it. After 28 years, I now have a better looking teeth, and getting lots of compliments for it. I shelled out 20K for the upper part, and 30k for the lower ones. Honestly, it’s worth it.
Sister update: No news about the lumps in her (sis 1) breasts. Or maybe I am just too busy and self-absorbed right now that I failed to ask. This same sister lost around 40K at her office. She acts as the custodian for an employees’ fund, and forgot to deposit the collection. Left the office and the next day, it’s gone. She tried to resolve it by herself and applied for a loan but the processing is ever too long and the money is needed. My older sis (sis 2) helped her out and gave her the cash as a loan. Sis 1 is also scheduled for an operation to take out an excess teeth and quoted a 10k bill. I wonder how she’s going to finance that. I myself is tight in cash.
Happy thanksgiving!
I have been scarce the past few days. There are several reasons. There’s the teeth business which will thankfully be over and done on Monday. There’s the network problem at the office. Our local area network is busted and the IT people are in and out of our department trying to make connections for the entire building. They are connecting a cable from my computer to be cascaded to a router so the whole ground floor will have connection.
Then there’s actual work. I am stressing myself out over the thought of the company’s SVP asking for our group’s output and having very little. Sure, I can say we are having network problems. But still.
And there’s planning for various parties. And deciding on gifts to give out. And finances which is going down the drain if I don’t get a hold of myself.
I used to visit all the blogs on my blogroll at least once a week, and a handful of those, I visit everyday. But it’s getting harder and harder each day.
Right now I have my weekly laundry and pressing lined up. I’m supposed to bathe my dog this morning but it is raining.
Give me a stinky dog anytime.
I had always wondered how godmothers and godfathers decide on what to give their godchildren. Especially on Christmas. I have a total of 3 official godchildren and it was always hard to think of something appropriate for a certain age, is practical, educational and unordinary. Toys are a given, but what sort of toys? Should I give clothes? Or cash?
It is noticeable that as the child grows older, they prefer cash more than toys. But then, how do I make sure they make the most out of the cash? It doesn’t help that you don’t trust their parents to spend the money wisely. As a child I get to keep all the money my godmothers and godfathers gave me, and I placed everything in a plastic jewelry box under lock and key (isn’t that fancy?). I remember counting the crunchy, uncrumpled 20s and 10s and the occasional 100s in that box. Ah, bliss.
Yesterday I braved the malls and bazaars to start my Christmas shopping and got a total of 20 coloring books, 4 wall stickers, and a Dora the Explorer sticker book.
discounted coloring books
I got everything on a discount. The coloring books were originally priced as P20 each, but the lady gave it to me for P15 for a minimum of 20 books. The stickers were P25, and I got them at P20. These will form the first batch of gifts I will give my 2 godchildren, one 6 years old and one is 3 (very mature for her age, so yeah, she can color).
Next time I visit a bazaar, I will look for connect-the-dots books and some storybooks at the same price range.
How did I come up with the coloring books and all? Because I want them to be able to play, have fun, and learn. And they’re cheap!
…then, why am I so stressed?
With only 36 days to go before the Big C, things are getting rougher and rougher. Metro Manila traffic just got worse. It now takes me just a little less than 2 hours going to work, which should have been just 15 minutes with no traffic.
It’s now quite impossible to get on a shuttle the moment you arrive at the terminal. I wait for an average of 20 minutes since mid October and this waiting has put me into trouble. It is only November 19 and I already registered 4 lates. We are only allowed a max of 4 times of tardiness, or we will get a reprimand. Crap.
Several of my reports are delayed, several of my subordinates are also delayed. My boss is still forking some new task for me and my staff like I have more than a pair of hands.
Today, the planning for our department’s Christmas party/get-together went in full swing. It took us a halfday of emails to decide on a date, another half day for a venue. And about an hour to decide on the food that we want. Being the 2nd senior member, I was smacked right in the middle of everything.
Since almost all of our staff are new hires, us seniors took it as our responsibility to shoulder most of the expenses. Our manager pledged (indirectly) a max of P5k, and I pledged P2k.
I am targetting a max of P10k in Christmas related expenses, and a few extras for wedding gifts for my friends.
Also, my schedule starting 2nd half of December is extremely tight. There’s the company party on the 17th, division party on the 19th (tentative), my own circle of friends’ party on the 20th-21st. If the division party pushes through on the 19th, we will move the department’s on the 21st-22nd. And we still have to report to work in the morning (it’s a Monday).
I think I will be glad for this craziness to be over.
Two weeks ago, the jeepney operators rolled back the minimum fare by P0.50 to P8.00. It’s not much, but of course once added up it is significant.
Just this morning, the FX taxi I take to work asked just P40 from the original P45. I was surprised…pleasantly surprised.
Cooking gas (LPG) also rolled back nearly P200 a tank. Just in time for the holidays when cooking will soar in many houses.
If only the oil prices will roll back some more, I will be a less stressed girl.
Happy morning!
Skipped halfday of work yesterday to go to the dentist. The procedure he did consisted of over 20 pricks of anesthesia and swabs of topical ones. Then he reduced my teeth to stumps where the temporary teeth were glued. I am now wearing the temp teeth (not pretty and definitely not comfy). The permanent ones will be fitted on Saturday then Monday, if the adjustments are too big. So that’s another halfday off work.
Yesterday’s spending:
Fare to & from dentist & work: P123
2 boxes of eggpie as bday gift for a friend: P320
Snack: P20
PS: The trip to the denstist almost always have me end up with a splitting headache. It’s even more painful than the procedure itself. I guess it’s the heat from commuting.
BALUT! Yes, the thing described by foreigners and Filipinos as gross, odd, aborted duck egg! (Stop reading now. This will gross you out.) The one we slurp the amniotic fluid and eat everything. Head, feathers, beak. Yum!
It’s been ages since I had one. I will insist that we eat one during our Christmas party/sleepover. Should be fun!
Finally. After putting it off for over 3 months, I paid my dentist the much needed visit. I am having the upper part of my teeth fixed. The lower portion was done last August, and the bill nearly burned a hole in my pocket. I needed 3 months to recuperate.
I had a bad set of teeth eversince I was a kid, so the visit sort of gave me a surreal feeling. As if I am finally, finally getting out of childhood and into the world of adults with nice, clean smile. If only I had listened to my parents about brushing, sweets, veggies; if only our family have a good teeth genes… If only. I wouldn’t have to spend a total of nearly P50k now to fix my teeth. And all through those thoughts, tears were literally running down my cheeks not because of the sadness and regret, but because the mold was pushed so far back to my tonsils.
After he took the mold out my mouth, I climbed down his chair and discussed the price. P20K. Whew. He is going to fixed bridge a total of 8 teeth. I guess inflation and worldwide financial crisis is finally hitting us. I hastily handed him a downpayment of P5k, and waited outside as he discussed a different procedure for my friend.
The friend was advised to get a panoramic x-ray of his teeth and jaw, and that his 2 incisors will have to be pulled out before the braces. Now, this dentist would have done everything possible to save the teeth but the structure of my friend’s mouth was incorrect so he needs to pull out the 2 to give space for the others to get in and correct his bite and all. His quote?
P38,000. Exclusive of x-rays (about P750), 8 fillings for P250 each and pulling out of the teeth.
Wow. No wonder the dentist can afford a P10-million house (I overheard his phone discussion to a real estate agent. LOL).
I’m ashamed. And I call myself a PF blogger.
I don’t know what is happening to me. It is only the middle of November and I already had a total of 3 trips to Starbucks and 2 to Bo’s coffee. And I didn’t just order a frap or plain coffee. I ordered cheesecakes and chocolate decadent cake each time. To sum it all up, I spent nearly P1,000.00 on coffee alone. It doesn’t help that our building has its own Starbucks.
Last Sunday I went out and spent P500 on some pants and splurged on a half gallon of frozen yoghurt for P350.00. I seldom go out on Sundays but I forgot to buy a gift for our department’s Kris Kringle so I had to go. To think that I was on the mall the whole Saturday afternoon.
The chicken breast fillet and beef I bought for lunch went bad, as well as the carrots and cucumber. Nearly P300 down the drain.
I am so out of focus right now, and end of year is so near. There are gifts to buy and wrap, personal goals to attend to, demanding bosses to satisfy. A lot of stuff is going on in my mind that I simply resort to reading blogs hoping to get back on track.
Focus. (I’m witnessing history repeat. Thanks, Incubus.)
They sent me some lovin'