While we were in SM Taytay yesterday, andrea and i had to send cat and mateo somewhere else so we can look peacefully for the items that we needed to buy. Little did we know that by doing so, we would end up buying additional items… like CDs.

You see, when they left us, they accidentally came across a Barney exhibit at the center of the department store. And mateo, being a true Barney fan that he is, immediately took a liking to the episode on display. When they came back, I told cat to explain to us why they took so long. She did and before we knew it, andrea and i were checking out the exhibit ourselves. We saw several episodes that we liked. And before the day was done, we’ve already bought a new Barney episode and a Barney audio CD. We even bought a Disney movie (Finding Nemo) just for variety.

Mateo had really bad diarrhea a few months back and it turned out that he got infected with amoebiasis. He was treated for 10 days and thankfully, all is well now. I remember a time when he was just around six months old, he didn’t have bowel movement for more than three days! Andrea was so worried because she’d often have problems with constipation and she knows how difficult it can be. That time, Mateo’s pedia recommended prune juice and it worked like magic for him. As for Andrea, after having that Colon Cleanse before giving birth, she haven’t had any problems with constipation again. Of course, she makes sure that she drinks lots of water and eats lots of fruits and vegetables. Even before, there were times when she’d think about having her colon cleaned to get her excretory system back to normal. Unlike other women about to give birth, she actually welcomed that part. True enough, it helped her feel better and she likes to think that it helped in regulating her bowel movements.According to her, there are also a lot of products now like oxypowder for those who would like to try colon cleansing. She’s just hoping she won’t need it anymore in the future.

I swear, when we left the house yesterday to go to SM Taytay, we weren’t expecting to see any mascots in the place. We didn’t even plan on going around the department store in the first place, but we did. And that’s where it happened.

We saw Robby the Rabbit being accompanied by salespeople as he went from one section of the department store to the next. A lot of customers were following him everywhere he went, and children were staring at him with either fear or excitement in their eyes.
Mateo, as expected, wasn’t an exemption. He looked at the mascot with bewilderment. He was really tentative at first, afraid to go near the overgrown bunny (but I couldn’t blame him), but then a familiar music played in the background and Robby started dancing, something that mateo understood perfectly. I guess we can blame Barney for that.

Anyway, as soon as andrea put him down on the ground, mateo started doing his thing. He started dancing to the music and following Robby’s lead. And after a few minutes, people were looking at him as well. Andrea and I, being proud parents that we are, just simply let him continue prancing around in front of the small stage where Robby was dancing on. I was so amazed at our little babsy, and I guess so were some of the people there too.

That was mateo’s first encounter with a real dancing mascot, but it certainly wasn’t going to be the last. It turned out that there was a parade of mascots happening in the afternoon so we stuck around. Soon enough we saw the other participants in the parade: Garfield, Snowpy (ice cream), and Pizza Pooh (a Pizza Hut mascot I guess). I think there were more but I couldn’t recall their names anymore.

I don’t know about the other kids there, but mateo certainly had loads of fun. I hope we can catch more mascots there next time.

Before I started working, credit cards meant nothing but classy ways of spending. It had no appeal or use for me at all. But that was before I had a job and a family to take care of. That’s not the case now.

You see, credit cards have become very essential for me and andrea. The moment we moved out of our parents’ house, we started supporting ourselves. But because our spendings do not always coincide with our pay days, we sometimes run out of cash for buying stuff that we needed. It was at this point that we realized we needed to extend our buying power. That’s when we started using credit cards. Up to now we still do.

I know it can be trouble sometimes, especially if you’re not careful with handling your budget. (Believe me we’ve both been there.) But we can’t deny the advantages of credit cards. Especially nowadays, most stores accept installments at no interest for several months to credit card owners. Who wouldn’t want that?

This is exactly why most of my co-teachers are starting to inquire about or own credit cards. Those who still don’t have are asking about all types of cards: credit cards for people with fair credit, credit cards for beginners, and even credit cards for those with poor or bad credit line. They’ve even tried various sources from the internet like creditnet for example, which by the way is a very helpful and informative page for people like us who engage in credit cards.

Anyway, these credit cards really becoming a craze, a necessity, and new way of life for most of us. It’s really starting to replace paper money, this plastic money.