At Home With MrsC

Raising a family, making a home.

MrsC | Patricia Cuyugan

Tristan and Friends at Sophia’s 7th Birthday

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After Ivan’s McDonald’s Party last Sunday, we made a quick trip home to freshen up, then went straight over to Alabang Country Club for Sophia’s 7th birthday celebration. The little guy was very excited about having two parties to attend, and he was really looking forward to spending time with his classmates outside school. That’s why Mr C and I really cleared our schedule last weekend to be able to accommodate both of our little boy’s scheduled events. What a busy 6-year this one is!

Sophia’s party was ballerina themed, and everything was pink and white and just lovely. Oh the joys of having a little girl! Every time I attend events like this one, I thank my lucky stars that my kid is a boy. Had I given birth to a girl, I can’t even begin to imagine all the stuff I’d want to buy, from clothes to accessories, toys, school stuff, decor, EVERYTHING pink, purple, glittery and pretty! So yeah, thank goodness I have a little boy!

We were one of the first among the school people to arrive at the party, and Sophia and her mom greeted us right when we got there. Her mom is such a cheerful, fun person. I totally love her already! Once we were seated and some of the other kids arrived, the party host came in and started the party off with some games.

There’s the birthday girl in her cute pink and white polka dotted dress.


Goofing off while the kids were dancing in front.

The host asked the kids to get one of their parents, and the little boy chose his daddy LOL!

It’s a good thing the game was really simple. It was sort of like a treasure hunt where you were to bring everything you own that’s color purple. I have so many purple things in my bag! Everything from my wallet, card holder, hairbrush, even my driver’s license case is purple!

This is Mr C’s “We’re so gonna win this game” look.

Thought I was off the hook until the moms were called for another game. I had to dance. Twice. Haha! It was fun.

The party lasted until past sunset. Everyone was just enjoying the games, magic show and puppet show that were part of the program, and of course the yummy buffet prepared by the club. Before the party ended, there was a nice slideshow of photos of Sophia from birth growing up, and she also performed two ballet numbers. So cute! Oh, if I had a little girl…

More games!

Puppet show, then pabitin!

We had a blast! Thanks to the Matsuo family for inviting us! I really hope all the kids can join us when we celebrate my little boy’s 7th birthday next year.

Much love and happiness,

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It’s December! Are You Ready For Christmas?

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Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. It’s December already, and I haven’t even started shopping for Christmas presents yet. Good luck to me. Luckily, I only have two godchildren and Mr C has none. So I think we can still manage with only 25 days to go!

Meanwhile, Mr C has been asking me what I want for Christmas, and for the first time in years, I don’t want a new phone. I’m still perfectly happy with the BlackBerry he gave me last Christmas, which is great because before this one, I changed my phone once a year for maybe three or four years. Spoiled, right?

Honestly, I haven’t thought about what I want for Christmas. Last year I had a pretty long list with bags, makeup, gadgets, clothes, shoes and all sorts of other things. Last year at Christmas time, I was really stressed out at work and feeling detached from my family and friends. It was one of my busiest holidays ever, and to tell you the truth, I’m happy I don’t have to go through it again. Maybe that’s why I don’t have a long list of things I want this time, because I’ve had a fulfilling year. Maybe instead of wanting objects, I’ve learned to value the more important things. Oh wow, that sounded very mature for me.

I think the top ten things on my Christmas wishlist this year are peace of mind, health, happiness, comfort, security, love, strength, inspiration and faith, for me and for my two boys as well. And ok, maybe there’s one big thing I want too. This…

Click here to view listing.

What’s on your holiday wishlist? And how are you with your Christmas shopping? Are you giving out a lot of gifts this year? I’d love to hear from you!

Much love and happiness,

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Pocket-Friendly Holiday Potluck!

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I’m participating in the Spend-Less Holidays: Saving While Savoring the Season Blog Carnival, hosted by The Frugal Fil-Am and Dainty Mom. We’ll be sharing our tips on how to spend less this holiday season, so that we can have a more meaningful Christmas. Please scroll down to the end of the post to see the list of carnival entries.
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You’ll know that the holidays are fast approaching when notice your schedule getting filled up with parties. One annual holiday reunion that I look forward to is a pre-Christmas dinner with my high school friends. We started this tradition in college, so that we were sure to spend at least one day out of the year together to catch up on each others’ lives. We made it a point to really free up our schedules  over the years for this one important evening, and so we’ve managed to keep it going for the last 12 years.

With all the other parties, entertaining in our own homes, plus the gifts and giveaways we spend for each Christmas, my girlfriends and I decided we should make our celebrations as budget-friendly as we possibly could. We’ve just started planning this year’s get-together, and it’s going to be another pocket-friendly holiday potluck. Here are some budget saving party tips and tricks we’ve learned over the years that we’re definitely doing again this year.

Organize a dinner at someone’s home and make it a potluck!
Choosing to have a potluck party in someone’s house is definitely cheaper than dining out, specially for groups of families. In our case, a bunch of us are already married with children, which means we would have to pay for three heads instead of one at a buffet, or choose to order three dishes if we go ala carte. On the other hand, having a potluck lunch or dinner means you only need to prepare a dish or two. At the same time, it doesn’t put too much stress on the host of the affair, since everyone pitches in for food.  You can have a lot of fun with your food this way because you can choose to theme your entrees, like maybe having a Mexican or Italian feast, or traditional holiday fare.

Plus, potlucks are always fun because they give you a chance to share your showstopping recipes with others. It’s also an opportunity to try your friends’ specialties, and maybe pick up a recipe or two while you’re at it. This year, I will be bringing chicken ala king, a dish that my father-in-law taught me to prepare. The nice thing about this is you can just serve everything in a nice dish, or you can choose to go a little more fancy by getting pastry shells for everyone. I usually get pastry shells from French Baker. They’re the best!

Making this for our potluck in December

If your group of friends aren’t really fond of cooking, opt to have food delivered, or find an inexpensive catering service. Many restaurants offer group meals these days. We actually opted to do this on one year that we were lazy to cook. We ordered a huge family-style Chinese feast and just split the bill.

Kris Kringle and Secret Santa
No holiday get-together is complete without presents. One way to spend less on presents is to set up a Kris Kringle activity for your event. You can now do this online through websites like Secret Santa, so your exchange gift is more personalized, and you don’t need to worry about getting together beforehand to draw names. It also adds a fun highlight to your celebration when everyone starts opening the presents they receive.

Also, if you are hosting the dinner and want to give individual presents, why not make them “hardworking?” Use your gifts as place markers for your guests. Or you can also arrange the gifts into a nice centerpiece to create a nice accent on the dinner table. At a recent event, I saw small, colorful food keepers used as vases for floral arrangements, and then after the party, guests could take home the flowers as well as the nice food keepers. Great idea, right?

There are so many ways to save money while entertaining over the holidays. At the end of the day, the most important thing is that you have fun and that you get to reunite with friends and family. Spending less while spending quality time with those you love, that’s a winning combination for the holiday season!

Annual potluck with the girls through the years. One of the highlights of my holidays for over a decade.

What are your money saving holiday party tips? I’d love to hear from you!

Discover more ways you can save during the holidays by checking out the other Spend-Less Christmas Carnival participants!

Much love and happiness,

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Thankful Thursday: Being Truly Blessed

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I had a not-so pleasant morning. I woke up from a really irritating dream. I was in a room with someone who did something bad to me in the past, and she was telling other people in a super loud voice how she was the real victim, and I was a liar. Instead of confronting her, screaming “Amalayer? Amalayer?” (I’m sorry, I just had to…), I just stood there and stared at her with my signature evil eye.

I woke up feeling really bad. I never fought back when the mess with this person happened, and it frustrated me that even my subconscious didn’t do anything to fight back. I wish I could have picked up a 500ml bottle of Red Horse beer and hurled it at her head with all my might, if only in my dreams. But I didn’t. And so I started the day with one question in my mind – was this a sign of weakness or a sign of strength?

Weapon of choice.

I told my best friend the story and she said, “Your look is more strong and painful to endure than a Red Horse bottle. Trust me.”

After I read her message, I couldn’t stop laughing. My morning made me realize two things. One, not fighting back is not a sign of weakness. It is, in fact, a sign of immeasurable strength. Two, this person does not matter, and I should not bother with her.

I have more than enough people in my life who make it worth living. I have accomplished so many things I never thought I could. I have been gifted with love, health and happiness, and in my life, I am truly blessed. I have the greatest friends and the most amazing family. I have a job that allows me to do what I love while caring for those I love. I live comfortably, and I want for nothing.

I believe that when we remove negative influences from our lives, we make room for the positive. We open the doors for happy people to walk in, and open the windows for a little bit of sunshine. In the last four months I have welcomed so many wonderful new friends into my life – moms from all over the world, soon to be new members of our ever growing family, co-parents from my little boy’s school, and people I meet through work.

My newfound friends from the DLSZ Parents Association Batch 2024, after our Thanksgiving Mass last Sunday.
(This photo belongs to Paul Meim.)

It’s all about perspective. I am truly blessed, and I am thankful. What are you guys thankful for?

Much love and happiness,

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On Confident Women and Inspiring Moms

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A few days ago, I had the chance to hear Bianca Valerio talk about being a woman of confidence. One of the perks of my job as a script writer is being able to experience events like this, and getting to meet fabulous people like Bianca, who is a host, a model, an author, an image consultant, a makeup artist, and a spokesperson for confidence, all rolled into one glamorous package.

That particular day, I was glad to be where I was, listening to her speak. It was really a case of being at the right place at the right time for me. Everything she said made sense. Everything she said made a difference. One thing that stuck with me was when she said that happiness is a choice. Many of us choose to wallow in self-misery, or choose to see the bad things in life and overlook the good things. At the end of the day, it really is your choice if you will choose to make the most out of your life, regardless of what life has in store for you. Now that’s confidence and inner strength.

One of Bianca’s quotable quotes.
(Screen grabbed from Bianca Valerio’s Twitter account.)


The thing about Bianca is, she is also a mom. She shared a little bit about what kind of mom she wants to be for her daughter, the things that she does differently from her parents, and the lessons in parenting that she learned from them. What really impressed me was that she was talking about parenting to some moms in the audience who were much older than her, and have had more experience as parents, and there they were nodding away, agreeing with her and learning from her. That’s when I realized two very valuable lessons – You can’t be a mom without having confidence in yourself, and us moms should stick together. We can learn something from one another, regardless of age, nationality, or years of experience.

That for me is such a phenomenal thing about moms worldwide. We form this huge network of women who just want to be the best moms we can, and try our very best each and every day. And our biggest cheerleaders in all of this are our fellow moms. Unfortunately, not all moms think this way, so I consider myself lucky to have met so many moms who do.

There’s my mom, who has always been really very hands-on with us, and never failed to be there for me whenever I needed help or advice as a mom.  There’s my mom-in-law, who brings so much wisdom with her, stuff I would never have learned had I not met her. I have a wonderful set of moms I can talk to over at World Moms Blog. I have this great network of Work-At-Home-Moms in Manila who . I’ve just become friends with fabulous moms at my son’s school too. And there’s Bianca, who has become such an inspiration.

When I started this blog, one of the things I wanted to do was feature the supermoms in my life. I became a mom relatively young, and I was so very clueless at the start. This will be just a small way of giving back to those moms who have motivated me and continue to encourage me to be the best mom I can be. I think I’ll make that a project for this blog in 2013. I’m sure that they have great stories to share with other moms, and would be great teachers for new moms. It will be my way of paying it forward. Does this sound like a good idea to you?

Who are the inspiring moms and confident women in your life? What are the things they do that inspire you? I’d love to hear their stories!

Much love and happiness,

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Bringing Out The Morning Person In Me

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The past week has been really hectic. As if the sudden burst of activity wasn’t enough, we were in for a major schedule adjustment because for some reason, life decided to begin way before 8AM from Monday til Sunday!

We’re admittedly a family of late risers. A typical morning for us involves getting up at 7:30, breakfast at 8:00, then taking daddy to work at 8:45. After that, the little guy and I spend a slow morning at home, then start preparing for school at around 10:30. Given this, you can just imagine how much of an effort it was for all of us to be where we had to be by 8AM every day last week.

Of course, the first and most important step was waking up early. I am proud to say that I successfully managed to wake up, get up and function by 6:00 every morning, all week! That is a huge deal because I am NOT a morning person. All of a sudden the coffee maker became my best friend! I saw this on Facebook last Wednesday, and I could totally relate.

As seen on the Deal Grocer Philippines Facebook Page

Achievement Unlocked: Becoming a Morning Person!
From Monday til Wednesday, I got the kid to school before 8AM, and the husbandry to the office before 9. The kiddo and I were promptly at school by 8AM on Thursday for our volunteer work as part of the Fair Committee for Senior Prep. I made it with a lot of time to spare for my 8AM call time in Makati on Friday. Our whole family got to settle into decent seats for the kiddo’s performance at Family Day in school on Saturday. And we were all super prepared real early for our long Sunday. We made it to school by 10AM for mass without rushing, and prior to that Mr C was able to buy a fruit basket for us to offer. The little guy and I even had breakfast before leaving. And today, we were up and about by 6AM again! The little boy and I had a lot of time to prepare breakfast, and our family got to enjoy a relaxed morning meal together before we had to drop off Mr C at work. That is a huge deal for us.

I really hope I can keep this schedule up, particularly for me and the little boy. We get to accomplish a lot during the day since we have 2 whole extra hours in the morning. And the best part is, the little guy sleeps earlier at night, buying me a few extra hours of quiet time to work or just watch TV. They say it takes 21 days to build a habit, and today is officially Day 8. Keeping my fingers crossed that we can keep this going for the next 13 days at least, and eventually adapt this schedule permanently.

To the morning people out there, how do you do it? I’d love if you can share some tips to successfully sustain this early-riser phase of mine. And to the night owls, would you be up for the challenge of becoming a morning person? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Much love and happiness,

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