Thursday - 6th day of the week

It's the little girl day! after breakfast (thanks dadee and viv for cooking), bong covered the side of the aircon and put up the pink curtain in her room. vivian was looking at the curtain design and was excited to sleep in her play/bedroom. one more thing she was excited about was going to the mall. i told her we were going to buy things for school. we bought black shoes, white rubber shoes for PE, white socks, sleeveless inner shirt (sandos) and a headband that matches her gingham uniform. when we got home, she wore them and was walking and posing like a model (kikay!).

Wednesday - 5th day of the week

A very tiring day for me. i set up our curtain, just 2 panels in the entertainment room. the curtain rod that we bought said extendable so i expected it can be adjusted between 120cm to 240cm but it can only be the shortest (120cm) or the longest (240cm). Anyway, i started with the curtain hooks, i drilled two holes for each hooks. i admit, this task is not easy, sigh... yes! bong arrived from work and helped me finish the last hook. thanks dadee! then the best and last part, putting up the curtains. viv said, "wow! mom nice curtain, bravo! bravo! how about the curtain for my room?" and i said "oh ok, daddy will do it =).

Tuesday - 4th day of the week

We decided to put the aquarium in viv's room. i started cleaning it, i transferred five fishy in a small basin. viv was checking them from time to time and said "mom they are ok and swimming". =) i continued washing the 70cm x 30cm x 40cm glass case, stones, shells & plastic plants. then we put back all the accessories. she even put the fish into the aquarium all by herself. i'm just glad she did not panic when the fish were wiggling as she transferred them one by one... of course with a fish net =).

Monday - 3rd day of the week

=) (smile of vivian), when i told her that she was accepted in school. finally, after four months in the waiting list, vivian got a spot as a reception student (next level to nursery). she got more excited when we were going to visit at 2pm. when we arrived, one of the teachers showed us the classrooms, playground, swimming pool (they have swimming lessons), computer room (at this early, playing with keyboard and mouse) and library. i saw excitement and eagerness in her eyes when we were going around and checking all the places. there was a short interview about her, she answered -" i watch tv, hmm cartoons, play..i only have one barbie but i have a lot in philippines". she also wrote her name and drew herself. we went to the admissions office, bought uniforms (blue & white gingham and PE shorts) size of an eight year old, just as we expected, also got sunhat, white bag for reading books, blue bag for extra clothes/swimming. then the school registrar gave us the list of requirements and the academic calendar for the year, for new students, classes start on september 8.

http://www.britishschoolmuscat.com/

good job dadee!

Bong received a performance recognition award this week. congratulations dadee! we're so proud of you...mwah! - from vivian & mamee

Sunday-2nd day of the week

We picked up the tv stand from home center warehouse, store policy no delivery for purchases below OR50. after dinner, daddy and vivian started to unpack while i was washing dishes and cleaning. after my kitchen chores, i joined them. we figured out the parts and materials to assemble based on the picture, disappointing the item did not come with instructions but fun playing 3D jig saw puzzle. daddy was making sure the right place for each wood, while i was putting the screws on the wood and vivian was the one giving us what we need identifying the colors and shapes of each parts and tools, of course aside from being our model. we lost track of time and did not care how much time we spent as we were having fun and excited to see what it looks like.....charaaannn!

Scabbers

World...welcome Scabbers, a 2.7L Black SPL Kia Sportage AT 4WD with leather interior, cruise control, mp3 player, auto cooling system, keyless entry, immobilizer, airbags, side beams and my wife's fav - sun roof. After weeks of going thru our different options, we finally came to this decision. A ride that gives us the flexibility of going off road, a comfortable ride for long road trips (possibly to Dubai) and, of course, the daily grind of driving around the city.

Its somewhat good timing as well (given it took me about 4 months to get my driver's license) that the showrooms are offering various Ramadan schemes these days. the package came with several freebies including insurance, 40kms maintenance and some other gifts. The SUV in itself is a great ride...great response and is quite comfy.

saturday - 1st day of the week

when i saw that spot, my hands were itchy on those pile of dried leaves. now the renovation of the apartment beside ours was over, i started the morning cleaning --sweeping, picking up plastics, cutting some branches and shoveling the soil. i stopped around noon then finished it late in the afternoon throwing four large garbage bags. looking at it, i want to add some low maintenance plants.

Sale! Sale! Sale!

Big sale this week in Home Center from furnitures to kitchen tools to picture frames. we went there yesterday, of course need to be there on the first day! it's a perfect time to buy furnitures and other home stuff, 30% to 50% off from the original price. good thing we had our window shopping every week, we already knew what to buy for the entertainment room and vivian's bedroom, i'm so glad all of them were on sale! we just saved one month worth of our living expenses, it's just so great! now waiting for the september 1 delivery.

we also dropped by at the car showroom to close the deal. our contact gave us a good price, one more cut from the discounted price plus free insurance, free 2 years maintenance, 6 years warranty and buyback contract for 4 years. tomorrow we will finally meet our new car....oh no! we need to come up with a name...hmm.

o harry update..

Bong and I finished the last book of Harry Potter, the Deathly Hallows. lots of revelations, some are expected and some are surprising. we still have the hangover talking about the characters who survived and died and of course the ending.

Long weekend (aug 9-11)

Day 1: Test drive day:
It's SUV that's it! that's all i can write... wait till the next post.

The adventure : Daddy started to drive after adjusting the driver seat, steereing wheel and mirrors. Driving on the highways with speeds of 100 to 120. vivian got comfortable right away at the back seat while I was checking the interior and manual. we headed to city centre for groceries around 2pm then, needing to return it at 5pm, we decided to pass by the house first to unload the groceries. after a long drive. daddy parked the vehicle in front of the gate, i saw his head going left and right, hands going all over the pockets, was thinking what the... he shouted, "forgot the house keys in the other car!" which was, by the way, in the parking lot of the car showroom.... harharhar daddy is getting old.... so we just left and went straight to return the SUV and transfer things to the car. bye bye SUV hopefully we will see you again!

Day 2: Pictorial Day

"daddy! vivian! time to take a bath!", as i was cleaning the tv room and viv's room then set up a "mini studio" t0 the first ever dad& daughter and the family photo op (viv & i just had it 2 wks ago). overall it's fun, another way of bonding and realization. viv, who is used to project in front of the camera since she was a baby. now she wants it her way ... the pose, facial expressions and even clothes to wear (we argued about it for quite a while)....2 more years and i won't have a say anymore.. even daddy can't do the superman lift to her anymore, (really had a hard time doing that pose) can't believe how time flies... sigh. 'til my next project =).

Day 3 : Stayed at home
The chores: I was preparing breakfast while daddy started to clean the car and front yard. the little girl was trying to help out, first with daddy but she was sent to the kitchen =), helped me with the juicer and set up the table. we had our normal yummy breakfast.

The drama: Vivian was not allowed to watch tv for a while, she pretended not to hear us while talking to her. daddy noticed it, as this was not the first for the week. she was sent to her room and no tv for the day. truly breaking our hearts every time we needed to punish her. we put a serious face on getting her disciplined..... for an hour =) then i called her to listen to the high school musical 2 OST. She gave us hugs and kisses and said sorry.

Do your own thing: Daddy was catching up on reading the new harry book. mommy on the computer. vivian taking a nap. ended the day watching "the wedding singer" (one of my all time fav) with vivian. daddy was still reading.

left my house at 1am this morning for some heavy duty work. it is now 3pm and I am still here at the customer site. I let some of my teammates go home, just me and one guy and a couple of customers trying to wrestle with an issue. I'd been hoping for resolution since 9am but...sigh...such is my luck. the upside is it will be a long 3 day holiday so at least will get some rest somehow. assuming that I get to home soon...or within the day...mwahaha! not funny....

Viv-tivities

vivian sings and dances with songs from showkids channel, hannah montana, disney videos and of course our family dance of "hotdog-hotdog-hot-digidy-dog" with mickey & the gang . i also managed to get some of her fav shows (totally spies, barbie movies, etc) and she can't wait for high school musical 2. busy with v-smile playing dora, mickey and little mermaid, her masterpiece of drawing daddy, mommy and herself, writes her name, copies letters and words from magazines and books. creative as she is with megablocks. getting "kikay" with barbie. also gave some tasks.. feeding fishy, (thanks to tito ayie & family) and an assignment with daddy every after dinner. we also do things together, help me sort the laundry, putting them in the washing machine, cleaning up dried leaves almost everyday, "phew! mom i'm pres-pie-ring!"

o Harry!

Two weeks ago, we watched harry potter the order of the phoenix in al-shatti. there were some scenes missing from the book, thickest of the seven (cho and harry jealousy discussion over tea , aunt petunia received a letter from hogwarts, etc) but surely still entertaining. well just last nyt, i finished the 6th book (half blood prince). enjoyed it! getting to know you-know-who and saying goodbye to a friend /mentor (are they shooting the movie?). it's really good timing... watched the 5th , read the 6th, can't wait to grab the last book (7th, the deathly hallows).