ON waking up, some annoyances

I barely slept. I woke up every hour. Then I was able to sleep for 1.5 hours but woke up to the blare of fire truck sirens. Where was the fire?

Husband thinks it might be the fire department just reminding everyone to be vigilant about fires during New Year’s Eve. That’s reassuring, that there’s no major fire is taking place. But the chorus of fire trucks sounding their sirens was scary. It always has been.

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HHCn came. She said the three newspapers (Bulletin, Inquirer and Star) now cost P60. I was aghast. I only buy papers on Saturdays when I feel there are more interesting features to read. I checked the paper’s prices: 18 each for Bulletin and Inquirer, 20 for Star. So that adds up to P56, which I’ve been paying for years. Why was Mr. Newsman suddenly overcharging us?

I had HHCn go return the papers. MN apologized. He thought it was Sunday. He returned the change. Vigilance is key. MN is forgiven.

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Told HHA our menu for Christmas eve, more like our menu for dinner on the 31st: baked salmon (our current fixation) and chistorrado, a paella with only chistorra chorizo et al. in it. She said we had no more baked salmon. I clarified with her: we had cooked 1.5 kilos for sister’s in-laws, 1.0 kilos for Christmas Day lunch and I knew I had a smattering left, what I usually have sliced to eat as sashimi. She said she had used up everything. I insisted on the one I have her cut for sashimi. Was that all gone? I know it shouldn’t have been. Then she said there still was that.

Is Mercury in retrograde?

Why a confluence of annoyances so early in the morning?

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To backtrack, yesterday, claimed my P2 jamon de bola care of Citibank from Rustan’s Supermarket at Shangrila. There were only 3 of us with the same idea. I was third in line before some two others followed suit.

I was expecting to get 4 or 5 but per the lady manning the place, I was entitled to only 3. I thought our credit cards were infallible. Citibank, in its ads, said that one needn’t bring charge slips. So I threw all of mine away. Alas and alack, when I said I knew I had 4 or 5 to claim, lady asked me to present the charge slips. I pointed out what Citibank said in its ads. She said there was no other way. Bummer, Citibank.

Later, in the upper floors, I saw a few other people with the telltale Purefoods ham bag with them. So many must have claimed yesterday, deterred by the long lines pre-Christmas. And husband overheard how the lines were long still yesterday so that they ran out of ham to give.

NIce promo but the logistics need to be improved, methinks.

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The Shangrila Mall has a raffle come Feb. Purchases of at leastP2.5k in a single receipt are entitled to one raffle ticket per P2.5, not like Citibank’s promo where even if your bill were P100k in one receipt, you’d still be entitled to buy just one ball of ham at P2. Further, the raffle tickets of the mall are nicely printed: huge spaces and long blanks for kilometric addresses. A word of caution: the space under the signature line is a tad tiny making it difficult for one to sign well. I had to elevate my signature to come up with my usual signature.

The price of the raffle of Shang is a hybrid car, Lexus no less. I broached the possibility of winning to son, who like his father, thought of a problem if we won immediately: having to charge the car’s battery would consume electricity and cause the Meralco bill to shoot up. I shut up  when he said this, though I was tempted to say the following”:

a) naka Lexus ka naman

b) benta na lang natin at a loss?

Good girl was I yesterday, still hoping Santa would give me a present. I kid.

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Had lunch at Lemon Grass. A late lunch like at almost 2 pm. My nose was stuffy so I ordered soup. The lady who took our order suggested the 5-Spice beef noodle soup. I took her suggestion and will go back for another bowl soon. It was so good, reminiscent of Ling Nam in the seventies and eighties. The ones I get to order in xxx et al. aren’t as good. I’m glad LG’s is comparable to LN’s.

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True Value has many things selling at discounted prices: bike racks at 30% off, tie-down tackles at 20% off, M&M’s scented candles at 70% off (flavors in one box are lemon, milk chocolate and I forget the third). And a whole lot more.

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Forgot to check out Debenham’s which sent a text message to the effect that everything is selling at 20% off.

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Went to Lancome at Rustan’s ground floor to give a box of cheese rolls to Christian who had attended to me the past months so graciously and patiently despite my dunce moments. He wasn’t around and his smiling cohort informed me he was clocking in half day. Toward evening I texted Christian to ask if he had gotten the cheese roll. He said he had and it was his last day. Oh no, another favorite of mine leaving. Years back, it was Third of Cyma in Shang. But I’m happy for Christian who will work in Duty Free Dubai. I’m not surprised at this good fortune of his. Christian is an ideal sales person who can only be an asset to whatever company he works for. He has product knowledge and a good disposition. Lancome’s loss, definitely.

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Called Rustan’s supermarket in Katipunan and asked my suki in Customer Service to please prepare queso de bola for me. Was asked how many. I said just one. They must have found my request odd, to reserve but one. So why? I am not sure what HHB will get should I just ask her to look for Marca Pina queso de bola herself. She might get two, she might get a different brand, etc. See one such story here. She has her moments. Like last night, I asked her to hand me my facial wash. The one in blue, I said. Before I could use it, she had left the room. When I checked, I saw she had handed me this

instead of this

 Imagine if I had absent mindedly opened the bottle and put its contents on cotton to clean my face?

That’s why I keep telling son and husband never to rely on her giving them the right medicine when they ask her for any. She likes to adlib.

Yesterday, I asked for the Tshirt husband got for Christmas that was too tight for him and which he had turned over to son. HHB said HHC had washed it. I asked why. HHB said it had a mantsa (speck of dirt).

Later, I asked HHC why she had washed it. HHB was present when I did. HHC’s answer: because it was lying on the table with the other gifts.

sigh.

But HHB has a good heart. She just tends to have her moments.