Downtime

Funny how God makes sure you get your time off.

To say that I have been stressed for the past three weeks is the understatement of the.. well, the past three weeks. Aside from the frustrations I had with my boss and my job, I suffered a week long cold, followed by stomach problems that lasted another week, and now, dysmenorrhea that forced me to finally take a day off from work. 

Saturdays have been spent quite well, balancing wedding preparations with quality time with Marc. Sundays have been for Church, GLC1 classes, and D-group. Rest has been evasive. 

I now am being reminded of God's fourth commandment:

Exodus 20:8-11 (NASB) Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

So, yeah, day off it is.

And to try to enjoy the day of rest, and hopefully relieve the backache, I brewed my TWG Moroccan Mint. Simple joy #11.

desperate times call for loose leaves... when teabags are simply not going to cut it.

Mint tea helps soothe cramps; at least it does for me... and the smell is wonderful! Moreover, Google informed me of the additional benefits of  having tea daily, so it's a big fat plus. Now if only I had pastries --lady fingers in particular, to go with these. Mmmmm!

Mighty Bond Mishaps

Simple Joy #10: Laughing at Mistakes

Whatever you do, do not hand me a tube of super glue that sticks like crazy in less than 5 seconds. I've lost count on the accidents that I've had with them. Apparently, when it comes to sticking things, I lose all logic and common sense. 

Anyway, since it feels real good to laugh, I'm telling you about two of them here.

Once upon a time, Marc & I were out having dinner with friends. Halfway through the dinner, my shoes felt heavy like something was dragging it down. I was sitting at this point, so the damage was not that apparent. After a few minutes, I had to get up and go to the bathroom, and that's when I noticed the soles were flapping around like crazy. Yes, soles! Both feet! Somehow, both of them have been dislodged up to half the length of each shoe. I then practiced dragging my feet to see if they were still walkable. They were, but there were no guarantees on how long they'd stay half-functioning, or on how they'd perform when I came face to face with stairs or sidewalks. Since everyone agreed to get coffee after dinner, Marc & I decided to either buy cheap slippers or get a tube of Mighty Bond. The slippers weren't easy to find, so 10 minutes later, we found ourselves fumbling with a shoe each, struggling in the dimness of the pickup's light, in an attempt to fix the darned things. Marc's came out ok. Mine on the other hand was another story. After less than 5 minutes, I held up my shoe smiling, proud of myself for fixing it, unaware of the quick drying glue dripping on my left arm. I had two, 3-inch long drips, before I realized I was making a mess. In an effort to fix the new accident I've created, I got glue on my fingers, and on Marc. I even got some on his watch! Go figure how that happened. At this point, I'm just really really blessed, God gave me someone who laughed with me through all this and he did not even get mad that I ruined his watch. I spent the rest of the night making kutkot on my arms and fingers while having coffee... Marc smiling at me knowingly.

Next story. Today, my 100-peso sandals started to fall apart. It wasn't as crazy as what happened to my heels, but it was also a sole problem. This time, it was on the right one only and it started to flap from the back. I got a tube of Bulldog Superglue that says it's specifically for shoes. I immediately got to work, forgetting my previous mishaps. As usual, I over squeezed and put in a lot more glue than I should've. The sandal started to drip on my office table. In an effort to minimize damage, I put the sandal down on the floor, onto some tissues. I wore the sandal and stepped on it so the soles stick together properly. After 30 seconds, the footwear was now stuck on the floor. I did not realize the glue had seeped through the tissue and stuck everything to the floor. I had to pry them off, trying real hard not to laugh at my stupidity. I then looked up from the tiles and what do I see next? My phone... on the table... where the previous drips were! True enough, my phone was another thing I had to pry off another surface.

I had nothing else left to do but laugh at my mistakes... and it felt really good to laugh. Praise God for these simple joys!

Simple Joy #9

Good / Great hair days!

Simple Joy #8 Cooking

Did not go to work today and made buffalo wings instead. Totally worth it!

Went to the supermarket to buy chicken wings. You'd want thawed ones, not frozen. For this, I used 10 of them, cut into 2 to make 20. Clean them thoroughly, make sure you remove feathers and whatnots. Make your cuts, if desired. I got rid of the tips. (You may use them for broth/stock for other dishes.)

Marinate and refrigerate. I used Worcestershire sauce and some other stuff I'm not allowed to divulge for the fear of losing my inheritance, as if there is any to inherit. (This is strictly a family secret, my father says.)

While chilling, prepare your breading. You can do without this, as some prefer. You can see the ingredients in the pictures. Usually, recipes don't call for thyme, but I'm addicted to it, and I put it on everything. Anyway, I don't really have the habit of measuring stuff, so I kinda taste it as I go along. Use a separate clean, dry, spoon or finger to avoid contamination, and spit the flour out after tasting.

Mix in the chicken, adding a little water if required. Coat every piece and deep fry. I've watched somewhere that soybean oil is the healthy choice for this. You'd want to do the frying in batches so you don't crowd everything in. They tend to stick to each other so you'd need stainless tongs to give them a little toss. Try to drop them into the oil slowly and as low as you possibly can to avoid splashing and burning yourself.

Make sure you wait for the oil to heat back up before putting in the next batch to ensure crispness. When the wings float, they're done. Leave them a bit longer if you want a darker brown color.

Next, make the sauce. It's fairly simple. Use your choice of hot sauce, add garlic powder, heat them over the stove with some butter. When it starts to bubble, it's done. Toss in your wings and serve with your choice of dip.

I haven't quite learned how to do a proper blue cheese dip yet, so I'm using homemade aioli, which tastes as good. Also, I separated some of the wings (right plate) before tossing the others (left plate) into the sauce for those who are not big fans of spicy stuff.

Hashtag for the day: #dietfail

Simple Joy #7 Long Overdue Student Permit

after n years of commuting and enduring the pains of mrt hazards, i finally decided to get my student permit. it was either this or a permit to carry (smirk) as i really need to defend myself from the other passengers nowadays. i opted for the lesser evil. simple joy #7.

here's a layman's run through as based on my experience in their san juan branch.
first, obtain an application form from the man at the first desk you see when you enter the establishment. you will have to provide him a copy of your birth certificate, which he will attach to the form before handing to you.
fill out the form, making sure you write legibly. for someone like me who's already employed, your tin will be required; a photocopy of your tin id will help. in my case, i had a photocopy of the e-confirmation.
after filling out the form, the tin id photocopy and a makeshift oath that you will be required to read out loud (just for them to make sure you can actually read) will also be attached to the application you just filled up.
you will then be directed to the evaluator window. once you have submitted your form, sit back and wait to be called. the lady will be calling you to the window for some follow up and/or further questions and clarifications on the documents.
another call will lead you to the picture taking and electronic signature thing. simply look at the webcam through the window and smile (or not, if you'd prefer a badass pic on your license to hopefully scare off the buwayas).
after a few minutes, it'll be the cashier window for the necessary dues. for mine, it was 317.63php. i would advise bringing smaller bills for the obvious reasons. in less than five minutes your student permit will be released. voila! complete with the hideous picture (no matter how prettily you grinned) and weirdly scrunched signature. yay! the whole process took me less than an hour.

in other news, i have new shoes. ^_^ pictures later.

Simple Joys #5 and #6 with Shrimps

i simply feel the need to get pampered today.

after a week of downtime due to the not-so-sure-but-looks-like-it mumps, i thought i was ready to get back to work and slave my ass off again. apparently not. a week of work sent me right back down haggard lane. i sat at my cozy office nook this morning and thought that it has been a while since i had my last pedicure. come lunch break, off i went to have my usual at california nails and day spa. turns out, i've been missing my used-to-be-monthly pedi for more than "a while". california nails and day spa has been boarded up closed. i ended up trying luxe nail lounge still at robinson's galleria. simple joy #5: pedicure.

due to the unexpected turn of events, i was not able to take pictures of the said lounge. as always, the first thing i noticed was the smell. the place smelled nice --a soft scent like fabric conditioner or light baby lotion. the ambiance was relaxing. not homey. not clinical. during the whole process, i kept thinking why haven't i tried their services before. the comparison with california nails inevitably went on and on in my head. while i had little to no complaints with the service i used to get, this was hands down better than what i was used to. i still got the perfect cleaning, but this time without the wince worthy digging on the sides of the nails. the polish was evenly applied and they had the quick dry thingy as well. at 220php plus tips, i am very satisfied.

moving on, my hair has been frizzy due to the stress, so i purchased what i hereby present as simple joy #6: dove's nourishing oil care serum. it actually smells like a lightly scented dove soap so i had no qualms about applying it to my hair. what i especially like about the product is that 1. it doesn't weigh my hair down llike other oil based leave ons and 2. a pump or two is enough even for my long hair.

we'll see if i get to use it all up in the days to come.

next topic: i've been craving shrimp for over three weeks now. here's what i got for lunch last friday...

despite being categorized as "rabbit food" in my mind, this was surprisingly filling and really yummy. now, if only i could get my hands on more shrimps...

Simple Joy #4 and Some Other Stuff

it's a particularly dull friday morning today, which is why i'm blogging about stuff i haven't had the chance to blog about, instead of slaving over projects, presentations, and whatnot. kinda expect this entry would be a bit of a soup of unrelated stuff.

let me start with a not-so-recent discovery of pan de manila's chocolate con leche. another one of my simple joys.

it's far from tablea, farther from xocolat, but hey, it works for me. it gets me through my coffee ban days and the hot chocolate smell helps me survive the everyday stress. it has a rich flavor without being exceedingly sweet; simply perfect with a warm pandesal and kesong puti.

moving on.

after two weeks here at my new office space, i'm bored out of my wits half the time. the other half, i'm walking back and forth to the area where i used to be. my new, ummm, cubicle is simply so far away from civilization everything else. it's not all that bad though. i get some privacy, and i'm farther away from my (biting my tongue here to refrain from inserting an insulting adjective and/or expletive) boss. unfortunately, the distance does not deter him from coming to me for every little thing. here's a sample email i got:

every. little. darn. thing.

next.

it's summer and i've been looking forward to a road trip ending at a beach. lots of sun, sand, and water! first up: outing with tan and friends. (insert game show buzzer tone for incorrect answers here) timing was off and it simply is not practical nor enjoyable to travel to baler with my red flag up. next: office outing. this is supposedly scheduled tomorrow. haven't had any announcements on the final details yet. might not push through. crap. there goes my summer.

Simple Joy #3

been meaning to post this.

here's my simple joy #3. a bottle or two of sparkling grape juice. have grown accustomed to having this during special occasions. this is due to the fact that i don't drink anything with alcohol, this serves as a nice bubbly replacement.

with valentine's day just around the corner, i'm thinking of having a bottle of the white grape ones with pasta or steak. ^_^

Simple Joy #2

i needed new shoes for a friend's upcoming wedding, so i shopped.


at four inches above ground level, i seriously need tan not to leave my side during the wedding to avoid fashion mishaps, i.e. sprawling on the floor.

as with all shopping adventures, here's the impulse buy:


technically, shopping's not a simple joy since it requires a whole lotta effort as well as a really really fat wallet. effectively lessens the frustration though. so here's a product of this weekend's shopping that shall count as my simple joy #2:

really really cute hair thingies. i know the bears aren't really age-appropriate, but i couldn't resist. they're checkered! at least i don't do pigtails anymore.

Simple Joy #1

so i'm always always stressed at work, right? i recently decided to take another step towards self improvement. here's what i decided to do... every now and then, i'm going to try to have simple joys --little things that make me happy or lift my spirits even for a bit. it's just to remind me how blessed i am, and so i can have something of a reference of what to do, get, or have to fix an otherwise hateful day.

today's simple joy is my pregroe shampoo. no, i do not have a strong desire to thicken my hair, nor am i thinning up there. my hair up top is just right.

i chanced upon this while shopping for puppy bottles and vitamin droppers pre-birth of the babies at mercury, trinoma. as i'm tried of the more advertised brands, i try some less popular ones every now and then. my first qualifying factor is almost always the smell. i abhor the tutti-fruity kinds as much as the heavily floral ones. pregroe has a mild scent that somewhat relaxes me.

for the actual usage, it didn't disappoint either. after shampooing, it left my hair smooth and easier to brush. unlike the more commercialized brands, i had no tangles even during the rinse. i haven't noticed if my hair has actually thicken, but hey, if it does, all the better, right?