Uber Xcited!




Mubadala World Tennis Championships in Abu Dhabi

 

I am going to see Roger Federer!

Super duper excited for this event.

I bought tickets for the Day 2 and 3 games.

A New Year gift to myself and hubby.

Can't wait!!!!!

I Am Cramming!

[Source]

I wish I’m a wonder woman so I can carry heavy furniture and be able to move our things in just a snap.

I wish I am The Flash so I can move fast enough to multi-task and be finished in shifting before Friday (quite impossible!).

I wish I have Hermione Granger’s Time Turner so I can work full time at the office and be doing the arrangements and interiors of our new home at the same time.

Gaaaahhh!!!

I know I’m just cramming. I thought that last week’s four-day holiday will give us enough time to move to the new flat so we can sleep there on the 10^th (Friday) without too much fussing and cleaning about. Here is a time-line of my happenings since last week:

29 November (Monday): Sneaked out from our lunch time to go to Jebel Ali. Bought a second hand sofa for 600 Dirhams. Not bad for one 3-seater and one 2-seater beige sofa. The problem is that we bought it miles and miles away from Sharjah. And we have to arrange for the pick-up on Sunday from Green Community West.

30 November (Tuesday): Signing of the tenancy contract with our property agent, issuing postdated cheques (for the agency fees, SEWA deposit, municipality fees and rent)

02 December (Thursday): Scheduled to look out for furniture and stuffs but cancelled since Hubby is working even if it’s a holiday.

03 December (Friday): First thing in the morning, hubby and I went to our new flat to take measurements. Just so we would know the specifics of what to buy or not. By 11am, we’re on our way to Sahara Mall (still in Sharjah) to look at the sale offers in Home Centre. We saw a nice computer table there. At 2.30pm we took an Arabic lunch at the food court. We reached IKEA Dubai at 4pm. Saw this really nice red shelving unit and thought of buying it. We listed down the things we wanted to buy but ended up with buying only the shoe rack, some candles and some kitchen stuffs. We decided to just come back on another day for the shelving units because they won’t fit into the cab. At past 8 in the evening, we saw ourselves struggling with the baby and our shopping stuffs on our way to Karama where we will have to buy our bed. A done deal was made for a king-size bed and a mattress for 800 Dirhams. We went home tired and hungry!

04 December (Saturday): This day, we went to Sharaf DG to use my 100 Dirham voucher since it will expire on the 16^th of December. We managed to buy a rice cooker and a microwave plus a free 100 Dirham voucher (again!). We used both vouchers and from the total price of 340 Dirhams, we only cashed out 140 Dirhams. Sweet! After that, we ate our dinner and headed to Carrefour at Sharjah City Centre. We bought a TV with a free touch-screen cellphone, a gas cooker, a fridge and a washing machine. By the time we finish, it was almost 12 midnight! Another tiring day.

05 December (Sunday): It’s a no working holiday for me and a one-day leave for hubby. At early morning, Hubby left home at 8am to meet the pick-up driver at Satwa Dubai. They are going to pick up the sofa I bought at Jebel Ali. After that, they headed to IKEA to buy that shelving unit we’ve been eyeing since Friday. We’ve got the truck so why not maximize the use. We rented it for 300 Dirhams. Quite cheap already if you ask me, and that includes the labor too. They arrived at 11am in our new flat where I was waiting. We did the carpentry work for the shelving units and the center table and some cleaning until 5pm. And knowing how OC my hubby is, we only managed to finish cleaning the kitchen and the master bathroom. By this time, my back has gone missing with too much pain.

06 December (Monday): Deliveries of the appliances arrived! Since we’re back to work already, I have asked my babysitter to take the receipts to the security guard so he can receive the items. It’s a relief that the admin of the building were so nice when it comes to assisting their tenants.

07 December (Tuesday): After work, I went to an Etisalat branch in Sharjah City Centre to apply for an internet, landline and cable TV connection. At 10pm, our bed set was delivered and assembled at the new flat. It was huge!

08 December (Wednesday): I went to the new flat to wait for the internet guys. The appointment time is at 8pm and while waiting, I washed the new dinner wares, took out the microwave and rice cooker from their boxes, and inspect the appliances delivered. Etisalat came in our new flat at 9pm for the installation of the internet and landline. The cable TV connection will come in another appointment day. I came home at 9.30pm, almost the same time as hubby. After eating our dinner, we packed some of our clothes, shoes and other stuffs to prepare them for the big move!

09 December (Thursday): Oh! This is today right? We’re planning to move most of the small stuffs today. And that is if hubby comes home early from work. He usually comes late, like later than 9pm, so I’m not so sure if we can really do this tonight.

Sigh.

Big SIGH.

Tomorrow is the big day and there are STILL so much to do!

I’ll update you soon (with pictures) after we move in.

For now, wish us good luck.

Finally!

My eagerness has paid off.

We're moving to our new home on the 10th of December.

It is not that much but it's enough for our small family.

Hubby and I are sooooooooooo busy with work that looking for the right furniture and basic things drive us mad because we don't have enough time. Good thing that we are having a National holiday this week.

With a measly budget, it's really difficult to find the right bed or the right sofa. But we're hoping we could furnish our home with something relaxing, homey and happy!

I'll update you soon!

Bye for now!  =)

Wishful Thinking

I’m back at work.

Not much backlog though, which is good. I mean there were lots of things to be done right at my table but I’ve finished them up in no time. It’s not an easy job. Not a difficult one either. I think I have just become comfortable that things have become very “routine-like”.

Being an accountant, life is the same every month at the office. Same transactions, same amounts, same payments, same instructions, same reports. It’s boring not because I don’t have enough workload but because no matter how much or how many transactions I will have on my hands, it’s still the same job over and over. In short, it’s still BORING!

I miss the challenges of auditing. But I don’t think I can come back to it. For more than 2 years, I’m stuck with a boring job and I feel that I’ve been left behind with what’s new and latest in the auditing world. I am no expert in this field. Yet, I am so eager to learn and grow in it.

But maybe I am not so eager now because I have to turn my time into something ultra-productive: a 9-hour day job, a mom to KA, a Femme Candy entrepreneur, a wife and a cook.

I have friends who have started taking up the CIA (Certified Internal Auditor) exam and they were doing great. They are single, they have money and they have TIME.

I dream to have another job that is more challenging but not too time-consuming as I need extra time to take care of our home and KA. But I do hope that it will be something not so-accounting but better pay. Haha!

That’s just me.

The 3D's

No. This is not about 3D as in three-dimensional thingies.

I have decided to write about my own 3 D's, which I am experiencing while on vacation.

Dilemma

I suppose, being a mom and a wife requires so much: time, energy, wits and luck (anything you can add?). Anyway, here are the things that keep on nagging me about my first D:

1. My cooking skills is being challenged. Staying at home also means being responsible for the meals of the day. I really don't care about my breakfast (which I usually skip) or lunch. I am not too picky when I'm at home because I am naturally-born lazzzzzzzzy (I just felt the need to emphasize it with too much Z's). I usually eat what was left behind from the other night or just pop out some instant noodles. So the thing is, dinner is always a dilemma to me. I know I can cook but I'm losing the creativity in cooking. What I mean is, I can't think of any fresh idea to cook for dinner. It's always giving me a headache. I have searched the internet and the more it gives me options that are not viable due to limited variety of veggies and meat available here. I'm not sure if this is just me, making this whole thing as a pain to my own neck.
2. Having a nanny is good even while I'm on vacation because it gives me time to be all by myself. Some times I do what a good mom does when she's at home: taking care of her child. But this makes me think that the nanny is paid on full salary while I AM DOING HER JOB.  So I give her the full task on her hands: changing nappies, feeding, sleeping, playing, bathing etc. I, on the other hand, have the time of my life watching Glee marathons and Survivor Philippines re-runs. And that makes me feel GUILTY. I know that the presence of the nanny is of no-excuse because being a mom needs no day-off. I just realized that I need some time-outs just to reflect, refresh and re-energize. And that's the time my nanny comes in to help me out with KA.
3. I am super glad that hubby got a job and right now, he's really busy with work, work, work. But so much things have changed since he got the job. He works in Dubai, which is the neighboring emirate of our residence, Sharjah. Ideally, going to the other emirates takes only 15-20 minutes of your time. But since traffic jams have become a normal day-to-day thing on weekdays, travel time is up to 45 minutes, at the least. And that's just in the morning. Come evening time, traffic is heavier even until 11pm. I myself travel for one hour and 15 minutes, at the least, during the evening when going home from work. And here's the dilemma, hubby stays at the office until 9pm and gets home by around 10pm or past that. For hubby, this means less time for me and KA. Plus, he takes home some work too! By the time we are down at 12, we even haven't talked that much about our plans of moving out in a new flat. And this takes me to my fourth dilemma.
4. We can't move out until January. I just knew it! I know that one of the reasons why this is not pushing through is because of the lack of planning and communication in our small family. I plan all the time. As in, with most of my spare time, I keep a file of our budgets, expenses and income. I am an accountant and I just can't help being one even in our domestic premises. Hubby is also an accountant but he's a guy and I do understand that he's not into this kind of things, budgeting and all those things. I have to admit it. I do get disappointed in him sometimes because of his lack of interest. Whenever I bring out the subject of moving out, he'll always tell me that we are not yet ready financially. When I give him the option that we can take a bank loan, he'll tell me that with the loan money, instead of getting our own place, why not use it to partially pay out our property (which was purchased through the financing of a bank back home in the Philippines). And now, he's telling me that if I am really keen in moving out to a new place, why not search a cheap one in Dubai, and that is just impossible. Did I say that a 1-bedroom flat in Dubai will cost us at least forty grand in one year? Fact: A one-bedroom flat here in Sharjah will only cost us around twenty-five grand.

Disaster

I hope that my litany doesn't turn you off in reading my blog. This is just my second D but I'll keep it short and simple. Haha.

1. In the duration of my vacation, there were already two instances where dinner was a big DISASTER. The first one, if I remember it right, was about something I cooked which was matabang (means bland). Hubby and I have different taste buds and it freaks me out sometimes because when I cook the meal of the day, it tastes so salty for me already. But when hubby comes to taste it, it's still bland. What to do? The second one was when I bought some frozen tilapia. I was so excited in preparing it grilled-stuffed-style. I have minced onions, bell peppers and tomatoes and mixed them all up with soy sauce, some oyster sauce, pepper and salt. I stuffed them laboriously inside the tilapia bellies and fried them. The smell was just really nice and I thought that dinner will be a perfect one. Dinner time came and hubby got the taste of my masterpiece. I just can't forget the fact that he just tasted it once or twice, then never again. Hubby's Reason: frozen tilapia doesn't taste as good as the fresh ones. I gave the rest of the disaster-pieces (there were 3 tilapias) to our flatmates. I did not eat one because it just hurt me big time. (By the way, while I'm writing this, hubby gets a glimpse of this and he's just laughing it out. It's okay. That was already behind us. Although now, I really get anxious with what I am cooking for the next dinner meals since that last event gave me a phobia in cooking. Thanks for losing my confidence.)

 Delight

Oh, how I long to be on this subject since my headstart gave me a flashback of the not-so-good things in my life. But this third D is just as simple and short because that's just how I relish the delight I have in them.

1. I did say that having a nanny while I am on vacation is a good thing. That delights me, a lot! Else, I won't be able to handle KA all on my own. Who will do the laundry, the dishes, the cooking? The nanny just takes care of KA and that's it. I'm afraid that if I ask her to do all the above, she'll ask for an increment. And I just can't.
2. Glee marathons. I just love Glee. I enjoy the singing and all the drama behind it. I'm a frustrated singer but I love music. I need Glee to update me with my interests in life which is music. Ever since I have come in this country, got a job, got pregnant and gave birth, I have had no extra time to update our songlist in our laptop. Did you know that I don't even have an MP3? I know that Glee may not update me with all the music trends going on around the globe but it's enough for me now.
3. Survivor Philippines Celebrity Showdown. I'm rooting for Aubrey Miles because I think that she plays it well. When I can't watch the live telecast through this site or this site, I look for the uploaded ones and watch them on my time-outs with KA.
4. And lastly, but certainly not the least, what most delights me is spending time with KA. He has grown taller and heavier but I still carry him when I lull him to sleep. It's hardwork but I just take it as a regular exercise: dancing him in my arms till he falls asleep. It's bliss when I look on his face, innocently beautiful in his slumber.

Ooopppssss! It's past 1am already. I'm still wide awake. So is KA. Hubby is already sleepy and we still need to wake up early for KA's Friday morning walk in the park. Wish us goodluck there.

Happy weekend everyone!

The Good and The Bad

The Good: Officially, it's my first day of my 2-week vacation. Actually, it already started last Friday, which is the first day of the weekend.

The Bad: I did not have enough sleep, which is explained below. I forgot to wash my face this morning and apply that Rejuvinating Day Cream. Horrible, right? Another horrible thing is having more prominent dark circles around my eyes. I'm officially a zombie.

The Good: It's actually really really nice spending time with KA, even if he was a bit more cranky than usual, a bit more cry-baby than usual, a bit more clingy than usual. He's sick and he needs constant assurance that someone is always out there to comfort him, love him and give him kisses. If I am not on vacation, I am not so sure if I can take an absence of work. That would certainly break my heart. So this is a good thing. Am I being redundant? Haha.

The Bad: Our KA is not feeling well. He's having colds. For the duration of the night, KA and I were like zombies, we both feel very sleepy, and yet, we can't. I spent the night carrying him in my arms, lulling him to sleep, sitting him and myself in a lounge chair (to prevent me from knocking myself out while standing). So all is okay for the next five minutes when suddenly, KA would burst into tears plus some loud howling because he realizes that we are sitting and NOT standing. HE JUST KNOWS even without opening an eyelid. We ended up sleeping for just two hours, tops!

The Good: The babysitter arrived to help me out with KA. I decided that even if I am on my vacation, the babysitter stays regularly during the day. For one, KA has grown so much that my frail little body won't be able to sustain carrying his weight all the time or controlling him when I wash him when he's pooped. Well, a lot of mommies might frown upon this. You see, I've tried doing these things alone when hubby is at work on Saturdays (which is also the sitter's off). And if I remember it too well, it was a total chaos when KA pooped. I was wiping away the slimy smelly creamy thing on his behind and KA doesn't mind what I'm doing because even if I give him all his toys or anything that can entertain him, he would still turn on his side, right or left, then tries to crawl out away from me. Good thing that we do it on the floor, else, if he's on a changing table, he must have fell. Anyways, so he crawls away from me and there, the poop stains his shirt, the floor, the changing mat, his toys. And the worst thing has to come when we are on the tub to clean and wash because we ended up all wet. So really, the babysitter and I will be helping hand in hand in taking care of KA.

The Bad: Tonight might be a repeat of last night. Not having enough sleep and KA being cranky because his nose are clogged. Goodluck for tonight!

The Good: Of course, I'd like to end this with something that made me smile. Here's a picture of KA last Saturday when he woke up from his afternoon nap (just before the onset of his colds). He's just adorably cute.

The Halloween Party Pictures

Here's a glimpse of what happened at the office.

Lots of interesting costumes.

Thanks Florence for the pictures!

Oh no! All the pizzas gone?!

The Treats (at the reception area)

One of the witches

The Office?






Lots of people at the poolroom



Of course, I need someone to take a picture of me as souvenir.
Sorry for the hair. It's just baaaaddd!