Meet The Thordies

After the rain, what? Yes, after the rain and the storm we are given a very clear sky, gentle breeze and a good sunny day.

Our village is readying its fiesta celebration for its patron saint, San Andres Apostol. It will be on the 30th of November but in our meeting this morning, the body decided to move the celebration on the 29th because it was a Sunday. However, the feast day will not be changed but the fiesta mass will be a day in advance to make sure that many people will hear mass.

The parishioners of Greenwoods Executive Village are working to finish the parish rectory after the bishop has assured us that once it is finished, a parish priest will be assigned to serve the needs of the people. Despite a number of fund raising activities, it seems that money is still the problem. The village has well off residents - politicians, actors and actresses, government officials and international servants. I wish these people would recognize the needs of the church and one day drop by with an envelope.

I don't mind the rain if it means the outpouring of blessings from our talented actors and actresses or our high calibre politicians. The sun always shines from behind!

Last month I got a back sprain when I lifted my Cannon Printer trying to transfer it to another location. I did not know I am not that strong anymore. I thought I had retained my usual energy when I in my thirties.

The xray result says, there was a displacement of I don't remember the medical term typed on the reading but I was told to be ready wearing a body brace. As of now I can't sleep lying down on my side; I should be flat on bed so that the displacement will not turn serious. But as it is, one gallon of water is too heavy for me. I back aches whenever I lift something heavy or when I sit for long hours in front of the computer.

I would really appreciate an assistant in all my activities.

Been so busy the past couple of weeks. I don't know if I forgot my time management skills or there were really activities that could not be left undone.

We had a fund raising in the church in order to build a rectory for the parish. Our chapel will soon become a parish and everybody was excited to sell the raffle tickets, the final draw of which was June 28 where one lucky winner brought home the brand new Avanza. It was a handsome car fitted for a lady driver and I also prayed to be the winner. But when it was drawn and somebody else name was taken, it made me sigh a relief because at least our job was done.

Before the raffle draw I accompanied by sweetheart to his hometown in Kalibo. His purpose was to be fully recuperated from his stroke. We visited Boracay, (the Pearl of the Pacific) where I have a long-term membership up to 2032. Then back to his town in Kalibo where he is staying until now. He decided to stay for his mission while I returned to Manila for my personal activities.

Prior to this Boracay visit, the Flores de Mayo was successfully accomplished. Fifty five sagalas honored the Blessed Virgin with roses and prayers. Thanks to the municipal band of Mayor Ilagan and the drum and lyre from Pasig.

Several other activities piled up together that made myself so tired and suffered a flu. Mind you it was not the A(H1N1) virus because after two days I am again up alive and kicking.

With swine flu topics everywhere in the newspaper and in almost all radio and TV reports, I wonder why pork still demands a high price in the market. There is less traffic in the pork section of our market than the fresh fish and dressed chicken sections. Is it because buyers are afraid to eat pork or is it because of the high price they tag per kilo?

Our buyers are more educated nowadays. They, and I am one of them, want to be sure the food they buy is safe. Even if there are announcements from the department of health that the flu is viral and therefore not in the meat, still buyers don't take the risk.

It is not also expected that the vendors will keep the high price of their pork. In the past, whenever there are news similar to what we have at present, you can expect a bargain price. This is a sign of maturity and intelligent options of both our sellers and the buyers. But who are the end lossers.

It's been three years now since I retired (early retirement option) from my office position in an international organization based in Manila. I thought I will enjoy the rest of my life because there is no more traffic in the morning, no more difficult boss, and no more credit card collectors. I was wrong. I miss the morning traffic and the difficult boss. I miss wearing blazers for an office wardrobe. While I did not escape the credit card collectors. For my existing cards, collectors call me at home. Some representatives of credit card companies call to offer credit cards. I learned to ignore them.

I wish I could work again in an office. I am tired of being an interim caregiver. I am not a typical retiree who is satisfied doing nothing. I feel I will die early without a gainful job. Can someone else help me please.

Last Sunday, I felt so heavy for any activity at home. So after lunch, we watch the old movie, "The Terminal" which has Tom Hunks as the main character.

I missed the airport. It has been more than 2 years since my last travel. In the movie, the airport became Tom Hunk's world when his visa was cancelled. A civil war broke out in his country the moment his flight touched the airport so it was considered non-existent. Tom Hunks cannot go out of the airport because he has no visa. He was told by the immigration officers to wait until the war is over. He waited for more or less on year when finally peace was restored in his country.

US Visa was granted to him and the first thing he did was to go to New York and had his father's favorite sax autograph. His father waited for this autograph until he died without seeing his favorite sax' signature.

The lesson I learned from the movie was patience and obedience. Tom Hunk's love for his father made him travel from his country to America just to keep his father's death wish. He had patience in waiting to find ways to eat, find a contractual job, and find a girl for his love interest. You have to learn how to wait because if it is not due, you will not get it no matter how hard to try.

In meal management, the author of the book, A Guide to Meal Management and Table Services, gave the following wine rules:

1. White wines should be served chilled, while red wines at room temperature.
2. White wines should be served with seafoods and chicken, red wines with meat.
3. Rose wine would be fine with Chinese dishes; if the meal is served family style a choice of red and white wines would be okay.
4. The sweeter rich-flavored wines would go with dessert, should be at room temperature; sweet champagne should be chilled
5. Wine should usually be served in clear glasses; they show off the beautiful color.

As part of the Lenten season's activities of the CWL unit in our village, we participated in a vista iglesia last April 4, 2009. We assembled at our meeting place as early as 5:00 a.m. and by 6 o'clock we were on our first scheduled church. We visited 7 churches where five belongs to the Vicariate of Our Lady of Light, and two belongs to the Vicariate of St. John the Baptist, our former vicariate. Last of the seven was the Christ the King Parish located on top of a mountain in Muzon (Taytay, Rizal - Philippines). It was known in the vicinity as the "Church in the Sky".

The church was not so big but it was really built as a tourist attraction. Inside and out you can see the work of art. In front of the church was a huge man-made mountain. It was not finished yet so we did not scrutinize it. On the right side area was a structure which will house the priest and the other part maybe a formation center. It was a breathtaking sight that when you look around while there you can only say, thank you Lord for making me a part of your creation.

For two nights I had not been able to get a good sleep because of colds. I could not breath through the nose but through the mouth. It was only after drinking a glass of boiled oregano that I had a little relief. My sister recommended this herbal medication which she found it to be effective to her grandchildren.

It is difficult to have colds even if you do not have fever. I could not concentrate on my writing jobs and could not generate intelligent ideas. I am also afraid to sleep because the more I could feel the difficulty of breathing. Neozeps and decolgens are not advisable if you have clogged nose. My oregano drink decongested my clogs.

Some people are so thankful that they finish schooling. They will be out of school and will look for a job. In other words, their lives will be changed. But when you finish a course and work does not mean that you stop learning. You still continue to relearn what you had already learned inside the class. You know why? Because if you stop learning and will only depend on whatever you pick up in your job, you will not grow professionally.

Think about your career plans. Do you want to remain in the entry level position until you retire? Of course not. So what do you do. While on the job, see what else you can do to improve your skills and knowledge within the organization. Lack of planning increases the chances that nothing will happen. When you have a plan with clear objectives, you increase your chances of making things happen for yourself. Ask yourself the following questions:
"Where am I?"
"Where do I want to go?"
"How will I get there?"

I received a telephone call from a guy who did not identify clearly where he was calling from. He asked if I already picked up the scholarship voucher reserved for me as one of the lucky names chosen to receive this promotional gift. I said not yet because I am not interested. The guy insisted that the voucher was purely promotional and that I would not be required to buy or pay anything when I pick it up. Because of his convincing skills, I went to his office to pick up the gift.

The reason I was indifferent at first is I had several experiences about this promotion thing in the past. One was an accident insurance for P50,000 which was good for a day. Would you hope to meet an accident so that you could use the insurance? Another was a vacation for 2 package which took us 4 hours to listen to their advertisement before I was asked to draw a rolled paper saying "Better luck next time".

I was surprised with the new experience because the scholarship voucher was really reserved for me. Now I can say that not all promotional sales are bad. I am glad I can let my niece attend a two-year course in a computer school.

As a secretarial educator and a former secretary myself I would like to share new ways and approaches for doing the work of the professional secretary effectively and to describe necessary steps to prepare for advancement.

Your role as secretary (or administrative assistant) has changed dramatically over the last decade, with greater responsibility and more skills expected of you now. In keeping with these changes, many secretaries are facing new and challenging work responsibilities that require highly developed communication skills and a comprehensive understanding of organizations. Current concerns with human resources development has promoted awareness regarding secretaries' contributions to the organization. Yet, you, the secretary, must take the initiative, making your objectives known and taking steps toward achieving them.

Your old secretarial images may suggest that you are there to take orders, but the new realities of the job say that you are there to think and offer ideas. Which image do you prefer?

I have not written for the past several days because of my accepted responsibility as part writer for the SEO articles passed by my friend. Although it was not a waste of time - never - to write those types of articles, I also missed blogging. I managed three blogs and have not given attention to all of them. So before I start engaging myself again to the new batch of 20 articles for copywriting, here I am putting on little ideas for the "Thordies".

Raffy, my husband, was invited by his brother (my brother-in-law) to take a seaside vacation in their province in Kalibo. My children would not allow unless one of them or me could stay with him to attend to his needs. I understand their concerns. Imagine sending to relatives a helpless patient who could not even manage to attend to his personal needs.

"Compulsory" schools nowadays offer a lot of subjects to their students in order to catch up with the trend of time. One student, a K1 in our tutorial center brought out an English subject assignment on sentence construction regarding "subject" and "predicate". Is this the trend in schools today? I am wondering if a 4-year old boy understands the meaning of subject and predicate. Well, that is why he needs a tutorial support.

But is it not a waste of time, money and effort to offer subject matters like that to small children who would only be playing at school doing socialization. But then, again who would go to our tutorial center if all the subjects are as easy as 1-2-3.

Thanks to these compulsory schools. They are giving us good business.

Our dog, Cheeyo, gave birth to four healthy puppies last night. All the puppies look like their mommy. And the mommy dog was so proud of her puppies that nobody could come near them for a look. She became so protective for fear maybe that her puppies may get hurt or may be snatched or whatsoever.

That is the instinct of a mother. Humans and animals feel the same with regard to protecting their offspring. But unlike humans, animals have only a short span of loving their offspring. In the case of dogs, when the puppies turn teenagers in animal age, the mother leaves them and treat them as if they did not come from her. But this is not true with humans. Mothers' love for their children is undying. Even if some children are not as good as others find them, for mothers they are the best. Pieta!

Neighbor is every person apart of oneself: parents, relatives, friends, acquaintances, classmates, officemates, employers, superiors, and servants. Two prominent virtues regulate our relationship with our neighbors - virtue of charity and virtue of justice.

Justice requires that we render to our neighbor what is due to him. We render to him that which belongs to him by right. And yet, we may render also to our neighbor something which does not belong to him by right. We render it to him on the basis of charity and concern for him.

Unlike justice, charity is not a legal obligation. But it is no less binding upon us because we are morally bound to be united to others on the basis of mutual love and respect.

Cheers!

Valentine's Day has just passed. I forgot all about it. I was not aware of the date and the day it was celebrated. Is it because I was preoccupied or I am past my age?

I shop for second hand laptops on the web. I love the mini laptop but before we can contact the owner, the item was sold.

Today I was only able to write only 9 articles. It's all the fault of my internet provider. My son said there is heavy traffic of Smart Bro users in our village. I plan to get the service of Globe.
When that time comes, and I have my new desktop computer or laptop, I will be able to write as much as 15 articles a day with only one interruption -- caregiving.

My son hates any tomato-based food and that includes pizza. But this pizza is different because it had all the works minus the tomato sauce. We had this pizza (Pizza Bianca from Shakey's) for Valentine's Day

Feel free to view my other Weekend Snapshot entries here:

Living a Sugar Free Sweet Life
Sugar Free Sweet Moments

I have a one-bedroom unit at the Pearl of the Pacific Boracay which was acquired through the time share scheme. My entitlement is once every 2 years for a maximum of 4 days stay. This year I would have an entitlement again. The problem is Raffy's health. I cannot bring him there. I plan to rent it out to interested occupants. The rate is 25% discount the regular hotel rate (hillside accommodation and without airport transfers). Two weeks reservation (and full payment) is required. Those interested may get in touch with us through email: mrtordecillas [at] yahoo [dot] com [dot] ph or through a comment to this post.

In order to make friends you have to sell yourself to others as a good person and one worthy of friendship. In school, you have to sell yourself to your teacher on the idea that you have learned enough in his subject to be worthy of a passing grade.

To obtain employment you have to sell yourself to your prospective employer as one who has both personality and training or experience, in order to do his job acceptability.

Making friends is a natural tendency of people. As the song goes, "people need people" in their struggle for life.

I am happy with my new job. I earn like those who are employed. Yet I still can attend to the household chores, provide the care needed by my sick husband, and most importantly, I enjoy what I'm doing. Of course, I have to. I have no choice!

But seriously speaking, I love what I'm doing. I don't experience getting up early and prepare myself for the job. No hassles, no traffic, but -- no office mates to share fun and problems. I only have my computer and my sick husband.

My son and his Ninang (godmother), who is my only sister by the way, are such bookworms. They both love books so much that when Ralph's grades for the second trimester came out, my sister was so happy and gave him a 500 peso National Bookstore gift cheque. With the gift cheque, he was able to buy two books: Amelia Bedelia Helps Out (he is such a fan of Amelia Bedelia and even calls our house boy Amelio Bedelio, hehehe) and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

The latter is an interesting book because it's funny cartoon novel written like a diary. Oops, journal, I mean. Greg Heffley, the wimpy boy who wrote all the entries in this "journal" apparently wanted to have a JOURNAL, not a diary. But his Mom bought one that says DIARY in the cover. He thinks diaries are for wimps and journals are cooler.

"Diary of a Wimpy Kid" is the #1 New York Times Bestseller of Jeff Kinney. It is hardbound and a steal at 435 pesos.

Feel free to view my other Weekend Snapshot entries here:

Living a Sugar Free Sweet Life
Sugar Free Snapshots

weekend-snapshot

Wheelchairs cost a lot of money these days. My neighbor informed me that in Avenida and along Bambang streets, plated wheelchairs cost only around P2,500 but the painted ones cost only about P1,200. That was 3 years ago. Yesterday was different. Plaited wheelchairs range from P3,200 to P5,600 per unit. The painted ones cost P2,800 to P3,000.

Because of the high cost, I opted to buy a walker. The walker has four front wheels and an adjustable seater. We will use this to practice my husband walking. Anyway, the doctor did not advise him to use a wheelchair so he would not become dependent on it for his movement. But because his left hand and arm are still very weak, we have to escort him on his left side in order to make use of the walker. Did I not waste my money?

I hope someday our tutorial services would become a kindergarten school, to be elevated to elementary, to high school, and to college. I had always dreamed of operating my own school where I can use my administration and supervision skills. My training is in college for bigger students. My children are used to deal with small children.

I plan to offer life skills subject for grown ups. This is what our country needs today. A training which can immediately give one a decent job for a living. Together with my children, I will pursue this dream. God helps those who help themselves.

Fr. Suarez, the healing priest is coming to Adamson University on Saturday for a healing mass. Netnet booked her uncle for healing. My problems were solved - the car's brake was fixed this morning. We can transport Raffy to the university quadrangle. A wheelchair was borrowed from the university clinic. We will not drag him from the car to the quadrangle and back.

God really provides! Gene is more than willing to drive for us. I heard him talking to his boss at the pharmacy.

God is good! He will give a beautiful day on Saturday, with the sun moderately shining in the middle of the day during the healing mass.

Since I stopped being employed (by an employer), I stayed home as a "caregiver". Sometimes I wonder if it is a blessing or a curse. But most of the time I consider it a blessing. I stay home the whole day, do the household chores, as I have no maid, and monitors the budget. Our water bill reduced to about half the previous amounts, same as with the MERALCO bill. My bedroom is always fixed and my kitchen is in order. Yet I do my blogging. Is this not a blessing?

When do I consider it a curse? When my patient calls me for his peeing time. Other chores of a hospital nurse or attendant are sometimes giving me a high blood pressure.

My new job entails a lot of computer hands on. I love it because it keeps my brain busy. I don't experience traffic on the road because I don't go out for transport. I don't spend for transportation because my fingers do the walking. I don't have to resign from my other jobs: caregiving, housekeeping, laundrying because my office is just a step from our main door. So far these are the advantages.

Has it any disadvantage? Of course, there is - we have only one computer and all the members of the household also use computers.

Holy Week will be in April. Before this date, we should take one step back, in order to take five steps forward. It is a good idea for families to have a retreat so as to withdraw briefly from similar surroundings and distractions in order to gain ground in our relationship with God.

A retreat is: a break from routine; fun; relational; active; affirming; surprising; and a step in a spiritual journey. Spiritual maturity requires one to stand back, evaluate and then move forward into new depths of faith. This is a step in the conversion.

A retreat is not: an escape from reality; meaningless fun; isolating; passive; manipulative; boring; and vacation. Frequent retreat goers return feeling good and spiritually revitalized.

I came across an interesting article in INQUIRER.net about parents who are hands-on in helping their children with their homework. It is written by Cathy Babao-Guballa.

Everyday, I remind my Grade 5 student to always thank God for his mom. His mom sends him to me after school during school days but they have a regular tutorial session every Saturday morning. I applaud his mom's efforts to help him in his studies considering that his mom is very busy with their business. As a tutor, I can only help a student with his studies for only an hour or so a day. I think that being taught by a parent brings off better results.

There are many tips in helping children deal with their homework that were pointed out in the said article. I choose not to add it here because of copyright policies so you just check the article out yourself by clicking here. I agree with the tips that were pointed out in the article. However, I would like to add the importance of modeling the importance of good study habits to our children, too. Most children, above anyone else, idolize their parents. I see that clearly in Ralph. He's already eight years old and most of his interests are influenced by his dad's interests. I guess with the limited time that they have with each other, he is trying hard to get my husband's approval of most things. When it comes to music, he agrees on my list of recent pop tunes.

Having said this, modeling also becomes a powerful tool in instilling the value of education and good study habits. Most parents may not be enrolled in graduate school at the moment but this does not restrict them in modeling diligence. We can read a worthwhile book while our children are reading their own school books so reading becomes an enjoyable bonding activity. We can exchange notes on what we have read afterward. Or we can make them feel how interested we are on their school activities and lessons by picking out an activity, say a TV viewing session, related to their lesson for the day. These simple things may unimportant but I strongly believe that they reap out good rewards in the end.

Yesterday was our 34th wedding anniversary. I thank God we are still a pair. We were only 25years old during our wedding and since then I prayed that whoever will be recalled first will give the one who will stay the assurance that everything will be okay.

Since my husband got a stroke, I have always wanted to bring my husband outdoors through a wheelchair. It would be probably a nice gift for our anniversary.

Thirty four years ago at 6:00 p.m. on January 27, 1975 Raffy and I exchanged marriage vows at the Our Lady of Assumption Parish in Malate. (At dawn of the same date was Nora Aunor and Cristopher de Leon's beach wedding in Pangasinan.)

I feel proud to show my children and relatives that even during this trial in our lives, we are still together. For us, it is not the material things that is important in a married life -- but the respect, trust, understanding and love for each other.

Since coming home from the hospital last December 30, Raffy has been sleeping in the living room where a small bed was assembled so that friends and relatives who would come to visit him will not go to our bedroom. Last night, however, Toto and Lucky exerted extra efforts to bring their dad to our bedroom where we slept together. It was a great relief to see him moving his body through his right hand and leg. It was his way of greeting me a happy 34th anniversary.

First of, you may be wondering why we call ourselves "The Thordies". Our patriarch was once part of the population of Overseas Contract Workers (now known as Overseas Filipino Workers) who set out for the Middle East armed with a firm hope of a better future.

Back in the eighties, compact discs were non-existent and the latest techie audio machine was the radio cassette player. Our father had one of those that probably helped ease his loneliness in Libya. He regularly sent recorded voice messages on blank tapes. Being young kids then, it was the next best thing to hear our father's voice compared to expensive overseas phone calls.

Along with these voice recording tapes were his Beatles and Elvis Presley mix tapes. On each side of the tape, he fervently wrote RAFFY THORDY with his signature letter A that looked like a star. He was known as Thordy to his overseas peers.

Fast forward to the nineties....


1996
This picture was taken one night in November while we took a break from our silly scary story telling session. That was also the first time we called ourselves "The Thordies".

I guess we were just so happy with this picture that we still attempt to take a picture of us siblings donning the same pose every Christmas or New Year.



2004


2005


2006


2008 - Lloyd was with our mom in the hospital, looking after our dad.
Gene, Yenne's husband, became the impromptu replacement for his spot.

See how we have changed? We are still a happy family with a bond that became tighter over the yeas. This blog is intended to be one of the elements of this bond. We share a common interest for writing, camera whoring, and the internet. Now with Mom also writing online, we see this site as a melting pot of sorts of the diverse thoughts from our beautiful minds.

Stay tuned for more of our writings. We hope to know more of you, too!