Since Manny Pacquiao is still a hot news item after his fight with Antonio Margarito of Mexico, I might as well talk about the two women who had great influence on him.  The 8th division world boxing champion has a pretty wife Jinkee whom I had written about on my previous post and now let me talk about his mom.  She is Mommy Dionisia Pacquiao (Mommy D for short) who like her famous son has also gained celebrity status in the Philippines.  She used to avoid watching  the many fights of her son Manny, and opted to watch his fights in the comforts of her home or hotel.   For every Manny’s fight she is the “prayer warrior”.  But this time around, last November 13 at the Dallas Cowboys stadium in Texas, Mommy D decided to be among those in the audience and  joined the cheering crowd as Manny fought Margarito in a fight for the super-welterweight world title.  Along with millions of Pacquaio fans, she jeered and cheered but the poor mom ended up in the hospital while watching the title fight.  Anxiety attack!   For a mother, it is true that you will somehow feel the pain and sufferings of your children.   And it happened to Mommy D, she said in an interview that when Margarito gave Manny a big blow on his side, she suffered the so-called panic attack and collapsed!  And later on learned that he won!

Mommy D is no doubt  an instant celebrity and with money to spend, she is believed  to have undergone  a bit of make over like her daughter in law Jinkee!    She is even referred to  as Mommy D , way different from what she was called before,  Aling Dionisia.

See what fame and fortune can do to a person!  And as long as she  knows how to share her blessings and she will be blessed even more for sure! 

Mommy D with his son; the boxing champion, Manny Pacquiao

She is none other than Maria Geraldine (Jinkee) Pacquaio, wife of Manny. She is now dubbed as the First Lady of Philippine Boxing.  Many are not surprised at all to see her transformation to a girl of the province (probinsyana) type that has come a long way to her new image.  She now shows refinement and glamor attained and I’ve read just recently, that she is now one of the billboard models of the well known beauty clinic- the  Belo Medical Group.  This might explain it all why Jinkee looks a lot different compared to the first time people saw her.   Hmmm, she can do all her make over to her heart’s content because for all we know, she has the money to do spend for it.   She too can pamper herself with Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Hermes, Jimmy Choo and Birkin bags that cost half a million pesos.   I believe it was her  way to relieve tension!   A bag lady huh!

Jinkee’s well found glamor and fame met the demands of her being a public figure and her make-over best illustrates the power of money!

Lucky her!  And for Manny… strike while the iron is hot!

We suscribed to Pay per view to watch the live telecast of Pacquiao and Margarito boxing fight and it was aired early Sunday morning.  My husband woke up as early as 4 am hoping the fight will start soon but it was already past 6 am and the main event has not started yet.   Fearing he might miss the start of the fight, he asked me to hurry up because he wanted to take me to my office much earlier than usual.   I was reluctant since it was too early but gave in to his request.

The long wait was well worth it!  Pacquiao gave a good fight against his much taller opponent Margarito.  And the Filipino nation rejoiced with his victory!  Though I missed the live telecast of the fight, I was not worried at all because there will be replays in almost every Filipino channel .

My 2 children were playfully teasing each other after the fight and my daughter out of the blue blurted out that he hoped his brother considers boxing instead.  Well,  the millions he made after every fight somehow made a person thought of how to make “easy but bloody” money out of it.   Anyways, he was trained and disciplined to hone his boxing skills and he deserved his hard earned money. 

Well, he made us Filipinos to be proud of our brown race in the field of boxing.

We were privileged to have a 10 days Haj holidays so we thought that the house needs to be cleaned to make wise use of our idle time.   We’re almost halfway packing the boxes and are ready to be shipped anytime this week but I know it will be past Christmas time they might receive the cargo.   Anyways, it will be worth the wait!

Excitedly, I woke up early today and started my project clean-up but the problem with me is, I always find that once I’ve started to clean, I won’t stop until I’m done.  Oftentimes, I will be engrossed in de-cluttering the room that I tend not to mind other members of the family because I am all set in finishing the work that I have started.   I will just give detailed instructions to my children and they will carry on.

I am proud to tell that my children were taught early the importance of helping out with chores at home.   We made them learn how to do the dishes, make their beds, set and clear the table and do simple house cleaning.   We do it on rotation basis and so far, till today, they are doing their chores without being reminded or bribed which sometimes most parents do.  They have learned their responsibilities and that started at home so now that all 3 of them are living together in a condominium by themselves, we never worry because we have already taught them  basic life skills which they are now putting into good practice.  We have instilled into their minds the importance of learning to help out , team play and the pride in every work accomplished.

I always work with attitude….  Doing chores with music makes the time goes by fast and before you know it, you are almost done with work.  I never see it  as drudgery so as not to give wrong signals to my children and they might pick that attitude and carry it on with them.   They too learned the art of working with a smile, sorrounded by music.  Every heavy work becomes light because we are happy doing it.   That’s attitude!

So, let us adapt the “let’s whistle while we work attitude”.  It works!

My last post was about my next project of general cleaning and re-decorating our flat.  However, when my husband fetched me from work this afternoon, he sadly mentioned that the haris (caretaker) of the building told him that all tenants need to move out after Haj holidays.  Haj holidays?  Are they kidding?  It is barely 2 days from now and where on earth can we find ready flats for rent!   Apparently, the buildings were sold to another real estate office and that the new owner will renovate the 3 buildings.  If that happens; after applying fresh coats of paint and the flats re-modeled,  they will demand for higher rental fee. The news came as a bombshell because such short notice will displace us.  It is hard to scout for a new flat nowadys.  Thus, clever real estate businessman are in disguise of renovating the flat to bait for higher rental.

Moving out from a flat you called home for so many years entails struggle and to let go is to disassociate your emotional attachment to the house.  You need to psyche or make the mental decision to let go and focus that you won’t live here forever.

I did not have much sleep last night that is why I was yawning from time to time while in the office.  I started to talk to officemates and friends in case they know of any available flat but still I am not convinced that we will soon be transferring.  My fears are silly!  I hate moving because we had tons and boxes of clutter we have accumulated through the years and each one hold sentimental values.  Every nook and cranny of every room holds a special memory.   My children spend much of their youth in this home.

We called our flat our home and this is a source of pride and the personal touch and investments we had done to make this place homey with all the decor and improvements made us feel accomplished and satisfied.

Thing is we can’t stay here forever.  I am having separation anxiety because emotionally I am not ready, we are not ready.   In fact,  we wanted to stay…  However we have to look towards the future.  Never look backwards….

We will in time… and we are still hoping there will be positive changes coming before our lease contract expires.

For now, we are going to scout for a possible new address…

The cargo boxes that needed to be shipped are still here… Due to our very busy schedule in the office and other community activities, I almost forgot that there should be a lead time of 45 days cargo time if its by sea and about a week by air.   The boxes are lying around here and for sure my relatives back home are all excited because almost every year we sent them cargo to feast on.   So, this morning, realizing that I might be caught in the middle of cargo traffic, I told my husband that I will set my week end for organizing everything for shipping.  That way too, I can start doing my general cleaning and hopefully a little re-arranging and decorating just in time for the holidays.

I thought of getting rid of the carpet in one of the big room where we usually use as holding area for guests with kids.   Holding area for them to watch TV, draw and play around while we elders do our household meetings (it’s a part of our spiritual get together).  I would like to have the carpet replaced with either  vinyl or parquet floors.   It will be easier to clean and would save us from the hassles if we party or receive guests with kids who sometimes can accidentally spill drinks on the carpet.

So that would be my project before Christmas for I am sure that we will partying more often than usual.

I was glad that I availed of the free flu vaccine in our hospital initiated by Family Medicine Department.   Since the weather is changing from hot to cold temperature,  more people are getting sick of cough and colds and majority are young children and elderly.   As the old saying goes “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.

It is the start of winter months here and our body is trying to adjust to the sudden shift of temperature.   We got used  to having maximum of 50 deg. hot temperature and we woke up one morning this month of November feeling  the chilly air as we stepped outside going to work.  It reminds us that indeed Christmas is just around the corner.

Ah! Christmas time!  And for overseas workers like us, you can’t help to feel melancholic with thoughts of home especially in  one of the most festive holidays in the Philippines.  We are lucky that our children can come anytime we wanted them to visit us  for they are on a dependent visa.  Actually, they were born here but even how much we wanted to keep them here with us, they needed to go back home to pursue their university studies.   And so they can come as they wish.  However, for those who are not on family status, getting to see their families only comes once a year or it may be frequent as long as one is willing to shoulder the round trip ticket.

I haven’t set up yet our Christmas tree and our house is still devoid of decorations in this land where Christmas is just an ordinary day.

So, for most Filipinos out here, there will always blue and white Christmas

It is on the plannning board now!  The plan for an Asian trip will be mid year 2011 but booking should be done earlier to avail of the promo fares which are 50% off.    However, yesterday when I tried to arrange  for June or July flight,  all promos were already fully booked.   HOwever, I am still hoping that we can chance upon a good date so I am checking CEB site from time to time.

We are planning to go to Singapore, it will be a group tour again just like what we did last December 2009 when we went to Hongkong.  We were 15 in a group and we had a good time!   My children (and relatives too) are looking forward to the planned trip and hopefully I can already have the early booking confirmed.

This time it will be a Singapore tour, actually our second time in the city and first time visit of my Mom, siblings , nieces and nephews.  I know that they will find the city interesting as much as they enjoyed our Hongkong trip last December.   The Universal Studios is a big come-on and for sure they are going to enjoy the many rides and attractions it offers.   I will also arrange for Malaysian tour while in Singapore.  It can be travelled by land and I would love to try again the steep cable car ride to reach Genting highlands.

I hope all  of these plans will materialize.   It is a family bonding time we hope to do yearly… we want to  go on group trip while we still have the means to do it, while we have a job good enough to support our trip and while my husband and I are not still afflicted with arthritis and rheumatism.

Anyways, we make sure that even our extended families will enjoy the many blessings we are receiving by sharing it to them in many ways like  including them in our tour plans.

Yeheyy… I know that they are smiling from ear to ear because of the free trip.  Oh well….

A friend called  a week ago asking for any available Halloween costume I might have in our closet.  Her son should come in his best Halloween outfit not necessarily scary but was encouraged to be unique.  She told me that almost all children come in costumary cartoon characters outfits while the braver ones used scary masks and all sorts of spooky make-ups and they wanted to be different this time.   Well, since my children all all grown up, I had already given away all of their small clothes, all school  costumes- used for United Nations parade, Halloween, Nutrition month, their Santa outfits… what else?  So, I can only suggest (as if I am a fashion guru..lol) and we found a 1970s afro wig and told her that maybe she can have her son used it as Michael Jackson come to life and apply very pale make-up and touch of dark color to circle around the eyes.   That’s all I was able to suggest and hopefully  she liked it.    I  believe there are a lot of toys and novelty shops here that sell masks and wigs and you can be different in a way if you will be more creative.    Afterall, you will only be using it once a year and not necessarily you have to buy expensive outfits.

The next day when I reported to work,  the phone was busy with two of my officemates comparing notes about Halloween costumes they had prepared for their children and were excited too!

I mused and said to myself,   dare to be different… creativity is the key!

Summer months are almost over!   We have survived once again the unbearable hot summer days and nights of May to October with almost 50 deg. C/ 122 deg. F  maximum temperature especially at noon.  The burning dry wind in summer is particularly unpleasant.

I’ve heard that a long time friend will be coming for a visit and it”s good that she will be coming after summer for any visitor in the states of Arabian peninsula should be prepared for very hot conditions .   We have seen people who suffered from heat stroke and heat exhaustion and that can be a threat particularly to new arrivals in the Kingdom.  School and offices timings are sometimes cut short or even cancelled when the scorching heat becomes unbearable.   The children in school feel uncomfortable and restless and the decision was based on previous experiences when students complained of nosebleeding and heat exhaustion.

The nights are getting to be little bit chilly and the days are somehow comfortable enough.   I am looking ahead to a busier week-end to pack our summer clothes and unpack the bulky jackets, cardigans, sweaters, jogging pants ready for winter.   The shops now are teeming with winter clothes and it I am trying to resist to shop however, when we visited a local shop, I grabbed a fashionable sweater and a scarf to match.   I’ve seen an ankle boots and would love to own a pair!

People are getting ready !  For now, bye hot summer and hello winter!