WE'RE ALL MARRIED!

FILC is now composed of 4 "misis"-es :) What a cool way to cap off 2010 :)

PARIS!

We're headed to Paris in April of next year! Woooohoooo!!!

Thanks to Air Asia, we're flying there from KL at a super low price, and during Holy Week pa! I can't believe our luck! I loooove low-cost airlines! More money for hotel & accomodations :)

I especially love this trip because we've been hoping to be able to take a long trip somewhere far, like Europe or NYC, before Q3 of next year, which is when we plan to start getting pregnant. BUT we also don't want to spend too much, keeping in mind our other responsibilities.

So this chance couldn't possibly have come at a better time, at a better price or for a better place! What better city to visit than Paris, to "cap off" the time in our marriage when it's just the 2 of us? :) Perfection! I LOVE IT!

well-maid

This is what happens when you employ someone whom you need more than she needs you. The househelp we have now used to work for my mom when I was still in high school and college - she left us about 4 years ago to get married and get pregnant. She now has a 1.5 year old kid, whom she and her husband had to ship off to Davao so that she can come and work for us. My and my mom's spiel to her to convince her to come under my employ is that she will be able to save money for her son's future education. We reminded her that the work involved in being our maid is not that big - our condo barely needs an hour's worth of cleaning per day, and she and her husband will still be able to see each other every weekend (yes, I let her go home every Saturday morning and have her back by Monday morning the following week).

It took some discussion for her and her husband to finally agree to this arrangement. They had to take their son to Davao to leave him with his parents, and then she finally started with us about 3 weeks ago.

This morning, she tearfully told me that her mother-in-law reported that her son has been having a hard time sleeping at night, and even has on-and-off fever, presumably from missing his mother. He would cry out at odd hours at night: "mama!" Her husband is also facing some changes at work, and after some thought, might end up earning even less from his current job. Hence, they're now entertaining the idea of just going home to Davao and settling there. Either that or they bring their kid back to Manila and just find some other work here that will enable them to be together as a family.

As much as I feel for her, especially since her baby is still so young and she's a first-time mom, I also can't help but be a little selfish in this instance. I know I don't need a full-time maid, and can even manage with a stay-out, but I need someone I can trust.. someone I can leave my home with during the day and trust that nothing will go missing. And that's the part that's tough to find.

Oh well. We ended our talk with me telling her to discuss December plans with her husband this weekend. I ended up allowing her a week off in December too - told her to pick between the week of Christmas or the week of New Year's. I hadn't run this through my husband yet, but I figure at her current state, I had to make a concession to allow her to see her baby. I also told her that I can allow her another week off in April when her baby turns 2.

Any tips? :s

8 weeks to go...

until this year is over! I can't believe how fast time flew by this year, more than any other year (that I've been alive, that is :P )

We've also been married for 7 weeks now (which reminds me, I need to follow up Pat Dy on our wedding photos), and I must say, it's been quite a happy ride. I'm just allowing myself these next 8 weeks to acclimatize and get used to being a wife, but as early as now, I'll lay out my goals for next year. I've put the key words in highlight, just for emphasis. Hehe... here goes:

1. Learn to cook. Not just heat things up in the oven.
2. Seriously keep track of our expenses (I've stopped monitoring since the latter part of the wedding planning process since the numbers kept increasing and it was getting quite depressing) and strive to maintain a healthy savings rate.
3. Work towards my promotion to Senior Manager. I know this may not entirely be within my control, but I want to make the effort anyhow. This way, even if I don't get it, no regrets. I'm still happy with my company and my job, but we need to move forward, not stay still :)
4. Go back to teaching and finish up the remaining 3 terms for my MBA degree.
5. Get preggers (Q3 2011 onwards!)

8 weeks to go til 2010 is history, but I figure for the above tall orders, I need these 8 weeks to ready myself :) I CAN DO THIS!