sick :(

at home on a workday for the second day in a row. i should be ecstatic about spending time at home for no other reason than that i get time out from work, but this is forced time out. yeah, the school nurse made me go home yesterday because of a stomach virus.

two nights ago, i threw up my dinner. this continued until about 2am of the next day (which was yesterday). i thought i'd purged myself of whatever was troubling my stomach thus i went ahead and drove myself to work even though i was feeling nauseous throughout my drive. however, what i was feeling slowly got worse as the minutes passed. when a temperature reading showed me that i was running a fever, i knew that there was no way i could stay in school and work.

i was also losing water fast...from a combination of vomitus and diarrhea. eck and double eck!! and it didn't help that head movements gave me dizzy spells. my head was pounding and oh, the body malaise! i don't want to go through all that ever again!

so yesterday i had loads of tea and gatorade to replace the water i was losing. i also had hours and hours of sleep with a hot water bottle on my tummy keeping me comfy.

my daughter was craving for a pizza yesterday, and it sounded good, but i knew i wouldn't be able to handle the grease. i asked her to hold it off 'til today.

i'm feeling much better now, though my mouth still feels all bitter. i've brushed my teeth and tongue so many times since yesterday i've lost count, yet still the bitter taste lingers. the body aches are no longer as pronounced, and my head no longer spins as much.

however, my tummy still rumbles. i wonder if my daughter can hold off her pizza craving for one more day.

if there's a good thing that came out of this, it's that i was able to chat with my youngest son at a time when i was supposed to be at work. he sent over some of his class pictures and you can view them here. he's leftmost.

why does the mouth feel all bitter when you're sick?!? k, time to brush this acrid taste off yet again!

one drip at a time

whenever i donate blood, i've gotten into the habit of letting the phlebotomist know these two things:

• that it's hard to look for a vein where they could safely and painlessly do me a venepuncture. it doesn't matter to me which arm they use, because whichever one they use they'd be faced with the same "challenge" - where the heck's my vein?!? hehe, no, they don't use any expletives. in all but one donation, whoever's attending to me end up asking a more experienced phlebo to actually do the puncture. which is fine by me. :)
• the other thing is that i drip slow, and i do mean real s.l..o...w.... they usually smile at me indulgently when i tell them this, until they realize how slow it's really going. stats say that an actual blood donation takes 5-7 minutes. it takes me no less than 25.

despite how slow i go, i reached a landmark of sorts when i donated this month, and i didn't even realize it. when i was done, aside from the usual things they give, they also gave me this mug.

my online record says i've donated one and one-eights of a gallon.

it all started with a single drip. :)

a sweet tooth's challenge!

most, or maybe all, of my students know of my fondness for sweets. kisses miss? how about starbursts? skittles? or even a slice of cake or a piece of their choco-chip cookie. all offers of sweets accepted. i dont turn them down! :)

last month (yeah yeah, a stale story. but at least i'm updating! :P), victor gave me this lollipop that he's been promising to give me. his first attempt was a failure because he ended up eating it instead! that's how good it was! well...according to him.

i got a taste of the lollipop when victor successfully resisted the temptation to eat it yet again. on the drive home, i unwrapped it and popped it in.

it tasted weird. and it just got weirder, and weirder. i ended up putting it back in the wrap it came in when it started changing colors. when i got home, that's when i read what it said on the wrapper regarding the "flavor" of this lollipop.

wait. chile?!?!? four layers of chile?!?!? in a lollipop???

i never got to the promised gum in the middle. :D

shhhh! :)

she's finally coming over!

she's been here in the US since february 25th. with LA as her port of entry, my aunt's fiance fetched her from the airport. original plan was for her to stay over for the night and then to come over to TX. however, my aunt wanted her to stay with her for a while so they could, in my aunt's own words "bond." how could i possibly say to "no" to that? :)

so that's where she's been. my daughter, maan.

while in LA, it didn't surprise me that my aunt showed her some of the sights of hollywood. funny how my daughter chose to have her pic taken with johnny depp's prints! depp happens to be one of my fave actors!

right now she's in the air, finally on her way over to TX!

thus... gotta leave for the airport now to meet up with her! wheeeee!

posts in between november and today will just have to wait until spring break. yup!

"honey, i'm home!!!"

blogging from my home country. :)

arrived at almost midnight of monday and spent until 6am just chatting the night (day?) away with my sister. also had a reunion with my dear dog chester. yes, MY dog. my sister and nephew better not argue with me on that point! hahaha! norman, carlo, this is the same dog that you gave me right before i left. she's a big girl now, getting on in years but still as beautiful yet as spoiled as ever!

considering that i slept at a time when most people are getting up, it's pretty early for me to be up and about already. i only have about a week to catch up with friends in manila, and then i'll be off to davao to be with family. lots to do, lots to do...and so...

better log off and actually start doing them. :)

not yet packed but...

the countdown is now down to hours instead of days!

i really need to start packing already! :)

countdown to take off!

it's finally november! a few more days... just a few more days! :)