Gildavid Bulletin

Prankster

Back home, when someone does not want to take a bath, he or she is referred to as "kandingon" (kanding, meaning goat) because goats don't like to take a bath.

I told David about this and, for lack of a better term, I translated "kandingon" as "goaty". He found that amusing. Since then, we have used that term on each other when we have not had a bath yet.

One evening, I was very tired to take my usual shower before going to bed. When I woke up the following morning, I found a sign on our bedroom door that said "Caution Beware of Goaty Girl", hahaha.

I laughed and took a shower. David was doing his exercises in the basement so I knew he had not had his shower yet. I took a red pen and crossed out "girl" and wrote "boy" on the sign. Then I went downstairs to prepare lunch. After David was done wiht his exercise, we went upstairs to take a shower. He saw the new sign and laughed.

Married life is a joy when couples take the time to laugh and have fun.

Before Sping Exits

Click here for pictures of new flowers blooming in our yard: http://mgcr168.bravejournal.com/

First Tennis Practice for 2008

     Finally, David and I were able to go to the tennis court to practice with "SP", our ball machine.

     I expected my shots to go all over the place (and outside the fence) after having stopped playing since February, but to my surprise, my shots were not bad.

    I struggled with my overheads and serves until David told me to pay attention to my wrist. He suggested an exercise that would help me with my serve. We sat on the service line and tried to serve the ball from that position. It worked but I definitely need to practice some more.

   

For the first time, we took pictures while practicing. Maybe next time, we will take a video as well.

Gildavid Manor FIrst Anniversary

This day last year, we moved into our new home which we fondly call the Gildavid Manor. The "Gildavid" part obviously stands for Gilda and David and we chose "manor" because the streets of the subdivision have either British or Scottish names. 

David saw this house listed at an internet realty website. The picture of the sun room caught his interest. We decided to drive through the subdivision to see what it looked like.

When we entered the subdivision, I had a very good feeling about the place. I loved the meandering roads, the beautiful trees, the over all lay out, and the lovely houses. Most of the subdivisions we have previously visited to were flat. This subdivision was elevated. It had good feng shui.

I remember telling David, "If we are going to live in a subdivision (as opposed to a house in the city), I would choose this.".

We found the house and David liked its outside appearance. I was pretty neutral.

We continued to look at other houses. We browsed through over a hundred listings online, drove through several subdivisions and went to open houses. Finally, we had our sights on a house in Upper Arlington which was conveniently located near a church, a park, the library and a mall.

We sought the services of Andy Show, a Buyer's Agent to help us with the process. On our first meeting, he jokingly told David, "In my experience, it is the wife who buys the house, we only pay for it.".

Andy arranged for us to see the Upper Arlington house (and a few other houses). We were seriously considering making an offer for the Upper Arlington house when David decided that he wanted to take a look at (what is now) the Gildavid Manor.

The moment we entered the house, we were impressed. Even Andy, who had been to thousands of homes, was very appreciative. When we saw the sun room, we were dazzled. It looked even better than the picture we had seen online.

David and Andy said that I was beaming. Andy added that, from my reaction, he knew that this would be "it" for me.

However, as much as we liked the house, we had some concerns. It was way more house than we needed. David was apprehensive that we may be way over our heads with the maintenance of the yard. The landscaping was profesionally designed by the former owner and it would take a lot of work to keep it looking that way. I volunteered to do the job.

We had a few more discussions with Andy regarding the merits of the both houses. We studied the market analysis that he had prepared for us. We concluded that this house would give us the best value for our money so we decided to make an offer.

The whole process went smoothly. The former owners were easy to deal with and our agents were very competent and professional.

During the time when we were "in contract", David and I would drive by the Gildavid Manor twice a day. In the morning, we would drive by to check on the house and in the evenings we would drive by to "tuck in" the house. I bet the neighbors were wondering who were and what we were doing, hahaha.

The day before the closing, the former owners invited us for a "walk through". They have retired to Florida and came for the final closing. I was happy to meet with them in person in a relaxed setting. I was curious to know who they were. From a feng shui perspective, I wanted to find out if they had auspicious luck while living in this house. I was pleased to learn that, indeed, they were happy and successful during their stay here.

After a pleasant visit and walk through, we were handed the keys to the house. We were to meet again the following morning for the final closing.

I remember how excited David and I were that day. It was an exceptionally busy day too because my father in law was inducted to the Delaware County Hall of Fame that afternoon. I had to do some cooking for the party after the induction.

The closing took about 20 minutes. We signed papers, got some gifts from Andy, chatted with other agents and it was over. The remote control to the garage door was turned over to us and we said our good byes and well wishes to the former owners.

The first thing we did was to drive to the Gildavid Manor. I remember how great it felt to use the remote control of the garage door for the first time. We walked around the house going from room to room. David was saying, "I can't believe we now own this house." I said, "You better believe it.".

We then rushed to my father in law's induction ceremony which was followed by a party at the induction venue and later at his residence. After the celebration, we went back to our new home and again walked from room to room. It was a funny feeling, almost surreal.

The following morning, we officially moved in and welcomed and our first visitors (my father in law and his two close friends Ron and Diane). We got our first house warming gifts, a potted plant from Diane and a set of fine furniture from Richard, David's cousin.

It doesn't feel like we have already been here for a year. At the same time, it feels like we have been here far longer than that.

To celebrate the first Gildavid Manor anniversary, I baked a cake for dessert and gave some to the neighbors. I offered a prayer of thanksgiving for the blessing that is the Gildavid Manor.

Spring is Here!

After a loooong winter, spring is finally here! It is such a joy to wake up in the morning and look outside the window and see our bulbs coming out with colorful and lovely blooms. When we bought this house last year, the former owner (a professional landscape architect) told us that there were plenty of bulbs in the front yard. We bought the house late spring last year, so we did not see how the front lawn looked like in early spring.

We were pleasantly surprised to see the lovely flowers coming out in full grandeur. I look at them and my heart breathes a prayer of gratitude and awe.

Spring has always been my favorite season and this year's spring is extraordinarily beautiful. Every time we go out, I would exclaim, "Look, how lovely that looks!" David would say, "Yes, but it is these flowers that's causing my allergies". Fortunately, I have no problem with pollens so I am happily enjoying the season

It feels great to be able to get out of the house and work on the yard again. There was a big pile of yard waste (3 years worth, according to our next door neighbor) in our backyard that needed to be cleaned up.

Last year, David called a junk pick up company for a clean up estimate and we were told  that is would cost about $500!!! We decided to do the job ourselves but we were not able to do it until the middle of last month. It took up three weeks to do it. It was a lot of work. Luckily, David and I work well together.

Cleaning up ones yard is not a simple task in Columbus. Yard waste cannot be burned, they have to be placed in special paper bags. When you have a lot of yard waste, that can cost quite a bit of money. You can also use uncovered garbage cans and boxes. Twigs and branches can be tied in a bundle (my Girl Scout training was put to good use). Yard waste collection is done weekly, so we had to make sure that all the bags and boxes were placed on the curb for our pick up schedule. 

See how much yard waste we put out for pick up, in the last two weeks!

Venting!!!!

      For the last few days, I have been furious over articles that appeared on the local newspapers in Cebu about a Pasyon organized by, I am ashame to say, an uncle (my father's cousin) of mine. He wants to sell my great grandparent's legacy for 30 pieces of silver, and yes, he did it on a Good Friday too, how apt.

     I have found two blog entries written about this event by a father and son. Both say basically the same things, giving only my uncle's side. It is not surprising though because it was their family that promoted this event. I have no quarrel with them,  but I have decided that the time to give the other side of the story. The post below was my reply to one of the blogs mentioned above.

     I am posting this here for those who know my family and have read the newspapers.

Hi Karlo,

     You seem like a decent and intelligent guy.I am writing this comment in the interest of fairness and truth and I hope that you will not censor it.

     I just saw this and the other articles written about the event in Mantalongon. I am the sister of Roel (your father missplelled his name) Reynes the barangay captain. We have been asked not to speak out in order to avoid further controversy, but I cannot keep quiet anymore. I have to admit, I was seething with anger when I read the articles written in the newspapers.I know your father, we used to hire him to do some writing in my former office (I am now U.S. based) and I saw you a few times as a young boy, how quickly time passes.

     “The holding of the Good Friday event faced stiff opposition from a reactionary local official who sent goons to threaten local residents from participating in the Pasyon, absurdly thinking that it would diminish his feudal influence in the area. This, however, did not prevent more than 15,000 people from witnessing the affair”.

Here are a few facts you may not be aware of:

     When I learned that Joe was going to organize the Pasyon, I lobbied for it to be stopped, yes me. The rest of the family did not want this event to push through but opted to keep quiet to avoid embarassment. As you may have noticed, there was not one single family member of Joe who came to support him.

     Not Conrada Almagro whose name he shamelessly used when it was convenient, and who he mockingly insulted infront of the people. The same Conrada Almagro who built the Christo Rey. By the way, that is not Christo Rey Mountain Park, that is just called Christo Rey. Joe cannot just decide to call it as such because he wants to. He is one of the owners (being an heir of Crispin Almagro) but he is not the sole owner and, unless the other owners would agree that it be called as such, that name holds squat (and he is no longer the administrator, he was impeached).

Joe’s siblings and immediate family were not there either. In fact, from the news articles, I got the impression it was your family that became his closest support group. What does that imply? I am not at odds with you, I am only trying to get the facts straight.

     Roel Reynes is not a reactionary politician, neither does he have goons, and most of all he does not have a feudal mentality.

     Years ago, we knew there were developers interested in Mantalongon. We were concerned that these businessmen and developers, who have no love for Mantalongon and are only there to make a profit, would connive with some goverment officials and turn her into a tourist spot. We did not want to see hotels rising on the land which our farmers, and their families, have tilled since the time of our great grandfather. We know our farmers by name, I have been godmother to some of their children, I have slept in their houses. We could not bear to see them become waiters, bellboys, caddies, and maids serving tourists. We were concerned that the negative side of tourism, especially prostition, would emerge in this place that had given us so much. We wanted to preserve our farmers’ dignity. You see, as land owners, it would be in our interest to connive with these developers and make ourselves rich, but that would be treason to our farmers. So, when we became aware of this problem, we met with the people (I facilitated the meeting) and told them that there was a threat to Mantalongon. We told them that as a family, we were not going to sell them to the highest bidder.

     The farmers said that they would fight with us. I can still remember the ideas they came up with, from blocking the bulldozer to physically beating the construction workers.

     Conrada Almagro’s legacy is that she was loyal to our farmers and they were fiercely loyal to her. I was her assistant for many years and I learned this style of leadership from her. Most members of my family, including Roel, are of the same mind set. That is why people are loyal to him too, he does not need goons. People support him because he is the grand son of Conrada Almagro.

     Sadly, Joe is of a different mind set. He wants to turn Mantalongon into a tourist attraction. He has no ties to the land and to the people. His sidekicks are the undesirables of the place, addicted to drugs, and became abusive. Under Joe’s orders, they uprooted expensive anthurium flowers and cut down the trees of Christo Rey. Trees that have been there since we were children. That was why my other brother, in a fit of anger, hit one of them.

     Joe saw an opportunity to make money out of Mantalongon at the expense of our farmers. That is why we are opposing his efforts. That is why my brothers openly opposed him. We are afraid that he will sell Mantalongon to the highest bidder. Why? Because he has already sold his mother’s land in Alcoy (and did not give his siblings a share of the money). Our great grandparent’s gave very clear instructions that the land should not be sold, except to family members. We are only following the instructions of our ancestors who gave this land to us in the first place.

     Joe is a smooth talker and can be charming when he wants to be. He can even give you a sad story about how his family had been unjustly treated, forgetting that the Reyneses, who he had been attacking, are the same Reyneses who took him and his siblings when their newly widowed mother could not take care of them. He cajoled the family into making him an administrator and in less than a month caused so much damage. That is why he got impeached.

     So you see, things are not what they seem.

     Here is an article I wrote in my blog years ago about Mantalongon: http://mgcr168.bravejournal.com/entry/19512

     This is what I have to say for now. I hope you will give us this space after using a lot of space giving Joe’s side. Thank you

Guilt Free Shopping

    Last Wednesday, I asked David if I could go with him to the center where he was doing volunteer work. He is part of a group of volunteers helping senior citizens with their income tax preparation.

     I had planned to go with him last month but David was worried that I would get bored. We would be there for a whole day and I might not find something to entertain myself with. I just decided to stay home.

     Tuesday last week, I asked him again is I could come. I had been rearranging the house using the Form School of Feng Shui (as opposed to the Compass School that I had previously used) and I needed a break from all the moving and analyzing that I was doing (see "How I Drove My Husband Crazy" entry at this link: http://mgcr168.bravejournal.com/).

     David agreed to take me with him with the advice that I bring a book just in case I got bored. I told him that I would be fine. I brought a "just in case" book along to make him happy.

       Indeed, I was more than fine. I had a great time! We had lunch together and I went shopping at a nearby store.

     I went to Goodwill, a thrift store that sells donated goods at very low prices. The funds raised by this store go to support the different projects of Goodwill. My cousin, Delia, and I have been there twice in the last 2 and a half years.

     I thought I would spend about an hour or so just looking around, but I ended up spending the whole day there. The store had been newly renovated and it was very clean and spacious. It did not feel like a thrift store at all. I looked for inexpensive housewares that I could use and found some lovely porcelain jars that would make great Feng Shui enhancements.

     The first time I went to Goodwill, I did not visit the clothing section because I was not sure if I was willing to wear second hand clothes. However, In-in ( a friend who used to work at Target) told me that Target donates their unsold clothes to Goodwill for tax write off. In other words, if I am lucky enough. I can get brand new clothes at very low prices! So off I went to the clothing section.

     I was delighted to find things that would actually fit me! Since I got here, I have been having a hard time finding clothes that I could wear. I found several that day. I ended up buying 3 pairs of pants, 1 skirt, and 4 blouses! They were not only new, they were designer brands as well.

    

    

     The clothes, together with the 2 porcelain jars and flower vase plus a lovely candle holder cost a little over $40 and change. That was a bargain! Even David said that I did a good job ( I swear he just spoils me to death, hahaha).

     The best part of my shopping adventure was that the money went to a good cause. Thanks David for giving me a wonderful day.

How I Drove My Husband Crazy

Click here for this blog entry: http://mgcr168.bravejournal.com/

Have a meaningful Holy Week everyone.

More pictures of "The Blizzard of 2008"

     Here are more picture of the super blizzard that struck Ohio over the week end. I posted an account of our "blizzard experience" here :  http://mgcr168.bravejournal.com/

Biometrics and Blizzard 2008

     "That sucks!" I exclaimed yesterday when I heard that we would be having a winter storm on the day of my biometrics appointment. David was not looking forward to the drive downtown because the forecast was for 14 inches of snow (in March!!!!).

      My appointment was for 1pm. The last time I had my biometrics taken, I waited for over three hours.The second time we went to the same office (for our interview), we waited for almost one hour (the interview itself took only about 5 minutes). David and I were concerned that the same thing would happen again and we might end up driving home during rush hour traffic and in the middle of a winter storm.

     A year ago, we drove through a winter storm when he took me to  the airport for my flight to Michigan. What would have been a 30 minutes trip took over three hours. It was during the rush hour, traffic was barely moving and the road was slippery. A small driving mistake and we would have found ourselves sandwiched between buses. :(

     We did not want to go through the same experience again. We decided to go earlier than our appointed time with the hope that we would be accomodated before 1pm. That way, we would be home before the storm would hit in full force.

    We watched the news and were ready to leave before 11:30 am. We even managed to sneak a photo session, for posterity, before we left, hahaha. Snow was starting to accumolate on the deck outside.  

     We got there before twelve noon. There was only one other applicant! I was given a form to fill out and less than one minute after I handed back the form, I had my biometrics taken.

     It went smoothly. The staff was very professional and courteous. Before he touched my hand, he explained to me what was going to happen and what he was going to do. As my fingerprints were taken, I observed that there was a percentage number beside the photo of my fingerprint on the computer screen. I assumed that it showed the quality of my fingerprint. I saw 53 and I jokingly said, "According to Law and Order, a 4 point match is not a good score. You need a 12 point match. That is way above 12". He laughed and explained that he was not looking at the number, he was looking at the image itself to check if the loops and quality of the lines were good.

     After the fingerprinting, I was asked to sit on a chair so he could take my picture. I was asked to remove my earrings. He said, "You can smile but do not show your teeth.". Now, how on earth do they expect me to smile and not show my teeth? That was one tall order! Fortunately, I must have managed to do it because the picture was good at the first try....and that was it.   

     We were in and out of there in less than 20 minutes! David was dumbfounded. He could not believe our good luck. I whispered to him, "I asked the Sto. Nino for help.". He said, "Thank you Sto. Nino." :)

     As we were driving home, visibility was getting worse. The road was getting slippery fast. We had planned to go to an Asian buffet for lunch but decided to drop by Wendy's instead so we could be home before the weather got worse.

     When we got home, the wind was blowing hard and the winter storm warning was changed into a blizzard warning. This was the view of the snow when we got home.

      This was only about one and a half inches of snow.

     According to the news, the last time there was a blizzard warning in Columbus was in the late 1980s, and that if we would get over 14 inches of snow it would be a record high. As much as I want the cold weather to be over, I have to admit that I am looking forward to the sight of 14 inches of snow tomorrow morning.

     What a day!