School has started early with my two children. The youngest still has a few days left to enjoy her “free” days before she goes back to school.

It is a difficult time for us this year with three different schools and three schedules to juggle. The strain is showing early, well in to the first week that classes started. This is going to be a very loooong and challenging school year indeed.

I try to look beyond the “inconveniences” of conflicting schedules and try not to think about doing the alternative easy way: go back to where it is comfortable, where it is easy and where we are not duly inconvenienced with some concerns.

I am keeping my fingers crossed and offering a prayer for a positive response regarding an alternative option about some concerns we are having.

For now, I am thankful with the children’s school placements, for the challenges that I hope and pray will not only make them better students but better persons in the long run.

How was your children’s summer vacation?

My children definitely had a wonderful time bonding with their cousins for more than a month when they stayed with their grandmother (my MIL) down south. They slept late, woke up late, went to different places and met new friends.

While they were doing that, I myself got busy with some of my students.

One of which had his summer job. he was supposed to work with a publishing company, one of the many brochure printing companies doing a bit of proofreading under time constraints. He was however brought to a different place of work.

There were those who took up sports like basketball and swimming. There was one who learned cooking from their househelp. Another started learning baking basics at her home’s kitchen.

Now that we have already started school, I want to say that I am still not into the back to school mood. I want summer back, oppressive heat and all!

We are thankful for weekend sale at the mall. Yesterday, we attempted to go to a nearby mall having a biennial sale but tough luck,  all roads were leading to that particular place and we didn’t attempt to even try entering the parking lot.

We may not have bought all the things we need for tomorrow’s school opening but we got the big (and more expensive stuff like bags and shoes) stuff covered. I like to think we do “wise spending” because of the following:

• we only buy what we really, really need based on a list, written or mentally remembered
• we wait for the list of things to buy that the school gives so that we do not overbuy nor get things we won’t actually be needing
• we spend a little more on essential and everyday things like bags for heavy books, shoes as well as those packed food essentials like food containers (do not scrimp on these especially because you usually put hot food and if the container is made of cheap plastic, who knows what toxic chemicals it releases). Getting these things at a bigger cost is inexpensive than getting these for less the cost and less quality which means you buy another bag because the bag strap broke or the shoe sole disintegrated.
• we take note of the leftover school things we have so we don’t get the same things. So far we still have brown envelopes and paper folders as well as erasers, pencils and pad papers from last year’s school supplies at home. Not to mention manila paper, illustration boards, bond papers and colored art papers.
• we do not get easily distracted with other items on sale be these fancy cute non-essential things, and I also try not to go in a hardware store during sale season ( my fave store I admit and I love looking at paint patches, gardening tools, even look online for handles at reidsupply.com)

Do you spend wisely? You should because as our parents used to say, money doe not grow on trees

Brigada Eskwela 2013 has started last Monday.

This is a joint effort by the Department of Education, the families of the students enrolled in all the public schools in the Philippines as well as the private corporations that wish to take part in this concerted effort.

We ourselves took part by joining last Monday. We brought cleaning materials to a particular high school.

I would have anted to donate books but the most we have at home are for elementary level so those are not needed in the school where we gave the cleaning materials to.

If you or you know anyone who have things that can be donated to a public school near your place, please approach the Principal or teachers-in-charge of these schools to know how to go to the process.

The following would be helpful:

• schools supplies (pens, pencils, pad papers, notebooks, big paper sheets like Manila paper, cartolina, art materials)
• books (or even tables and chairs) for the library
• computer software for their computer laboratory
• musical instruments (and probably musical sheets, best ableton software for music production, stands for musical sheets) because the DepEd has training to enhance the music curriculum to enhance musical abilities of the students
• cleaning materials to be used for the school year like brooms, dust pans, garbage bins
• building materials like paints,  wood boards, and tin roof

This is it.

In a few hours’ time, we go through a new phase in the changes that are about to happen to my children. While the youngest is happily vacationing with my MIL down South, the eldest child and the boy are going in different directions, to two different schools this coming June.

I don’t know how I will juggle having three children in three different schools and I know the schedules are going to be a bit crazy. I don’t know if I can still bring over projects, assignments, printed materials that have been left on a table somewhere and remembered when they are within the confines of the school.

The eldest child will be enrolling for her first semester in college.

The son will have an interview to a school because he passed the school’s entrance exams.

I hope and pray that we are doing the right thing in guiding the children through the steps for the realization of their dreams.

I am also sure that my husband and I would be there for them all throughout their learning process and even beyond that, maybe even if there are employment screening at easy back ground tasks to be accomplished for them.

Am excited for both of them. I better get some sleep because we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.

Around Holy Week, I decluttered one of the cabinets. I found junk, a lot of it and I also found treasure.

These treasures that I have forgotten, remained at the back of the cabinet with the tube still ok though a bit flattened. Inside a tube is this: My horses!

I mean a cross-stitch pattern of horses I made pre-blogging era. This made me think of english riding apparel for women as well as rides beside a bubbling brook, over hills, amongst trees and beyond the horizon.

Did you use to cross-stitch as a hobby and not as a school project?

I used to have several projects that I was able to finish before my fingers were used to tap-tapping the keyboard and grew stiff after being out of practice. I took up a cross-stitch project two years ago and nothing came out of it anymore.