Yep!  I was tagged seven times, the oldest ones dating as far back as 29 November!…

#1 “The Other Half” – tagged by Cheh on 29 November

#2 “The Wallet Tag” – tagged by Nell on 29 November

#3 “The Question Tag” – tagged by Em on 01 December

#4 “On-line Monito Monita” – tagged by Pinky on 04 December

#5 “Christmas Wish List” – tagged by Thess on 12 December

#6 “The Christmas Tree Blog Parade” – tagged by Thess on 10 December (I realize this sould be #5 but due to a technicality, which is, I read #5 first, this tag takes 6th place.  Hee hee!)

#7 “What’s In Your Bag” – tagged by Nell on 14 December

And so, before the list gets longer than Santa’s list of nice and naughty children, I’d like to do at least half of the tags, as in now! *rubs hands together*

oOo

#1 Cheh, this is for you….“The Other Half/Husband Tag”

This tag is all about getting to know a blogger’s better half and a number of blogger friends have done this already. Guidlines for the tag: 1) First Name; 2) How and where did you meet; 3) Characteristics; 4) Your plans 20-30 years from now.

The answers:

1)  First Name – Hubby’s first name is Raymund…but I don’t call him that anymore…as in not since high school.  His nickname is Dondi, which, I don’t use to call him as well.  Hee hee!  What’s in a name, ‘no?    To me, hubby is ”Don” or, as you may have guessed already, “Munchkin”.    Abby used to sometimes call him Don as well (a big no-no!) and teasingly, Daddudz (how John Lloyd Cruz calls his father in one of his telenovelas before), which was meant to be a joke but never left Abby!  Whooops! My fault!

2)  How and where did you meet? –  We met in  high school.  Ours was the last “semi-coed” batch from UST High School.  “What’s semi-coed?” you might ask.  Classes were all-girls and all-boys.  We share the same building and the same teachers but never together in the same classroom.  I was from section 1 girls and hubby, section 1 boys.  We were “brother/sister” sections.    Hahaha!  And you know how it often is in school, there are no formal introductions, yet, everyone knows almost everyone (at least in our case, people from each other’s class!).  But our first ever “close encounter” was the JS Prom when we were in 3rd year.  He asked me to dance…because his date kinda “strayed” and decided to dance the night away with her upper-classman crush (and who, for a while, became her boyfriend!).  Oooh, hubby’s so going to kill me for this!  But that was just that.  A dance which meant nothing to both of us because, I on the other hand, had another crush as well, who was supposed to be my cotillion partner but he got sick and had to go home early.  Hmp!

It wasn’t ’til the Senior Debaters Society’s summer training, the summer right before we became high school seniors, that hubby was nabighani with my brains and beauty.  Nyahahaha!  Walang aangal!  Site ko ‘to!   Come the JS Prom of our senior year, we were now each other’s date.   And for the next 2 years, hubby patiently waited for my sugary sweet “Oo“.  What can I do?  I didn’t want to have a boyfriend in high school!  That early, I was already thinking how can I tell my future kids not to have a boyfriend/girlfriend at a very young age when mommy had a boyfriend at 15 or 16?!  Yeah, I was (and maybe still is!) conservative.  Hubby and I finally officially became a couple on 23 November 1993, his birthday.  We were both 18 and we were each other’s first (and last!) boy/girlfriend.  From that fateful day on, there was no turning back for us.

3)  Characteristics – If there’s only one thing I’d forever be grateful to my in-laws for, it’s raising hubby to be the the perfect gentleman that he is.  I have but kind words to describe my husband, and I’ve already said a mouthful in this post.

4) Your plans 20-30 years from now – I don’t know about plans but this is the dream I’ve envisioned for myself…for us( *wink*):  We’re living in our 5-bedroom dreamhouse with a well-manicured front lawn and backyard, the sound of giggles and laughter from little kids (not ours but Abby’s and “maybe” her brother’s or sister’s) filling every nook and cranny of our home.  My brother and his family lives nextdoor to us…and so do my Mom and my uber-rich, guwapo, and superdeedooper bait stepdad.   We have a weekend/vacation home, too!   We take fabulous vacations, just the two of us now, but we often treat our kid/s and grandkids to the most fabulous get-aways as well.  We’re very proud of how Abby and “maybe” her brother or sister grew up to be such fine people and married equally fine people.  They, too, live on our street.  Hahaha!  Our grandkids bring us the greatest joy and with a knowing smile, we watch our own kid/s take a crack at disciplining and raising their bundles of joy.  (Mwahahaha!)  In our fifties, we are still very much madly in love with each other, looking younger than we truly are…healthy and looking more beautiful than we’ve ever been…holding hands…reminiscing the past…looking forward to an exciting future…and embracing every bit of our beautiful life.  *sigh*  Thank you, God, for all these wonderful wonderful blessings!

Consider yourself tagged if:

1) your other half’s birth month is: January, March, May, July, September, November

2) your birth month is:  February, April, June, August, October, December

And with that, I declare tag #1…mission completion.

oOo

#2, Nell, this one’s for you…wherever you are (hee hee!)…”The Wallet Tag”

This is my wallet…

It’s Fossil, it’s leather and it’s red…the color of luck!   This is how it looks inside…

Where’s the money?  Hahaha!   You can’t really tell what’s inside, can you?  This ought to make it easier…

First column:  the wallet.  Still inside are my US credit and debit/atm cards, Abby’s and my health cards, Texas and Philippine driver’s licenses and my US Social Security card

Second Column (top to bottom): a Chinese lucky charm (although I now consider all my wallets and bags, with or without lucky charm, lucky!), H-E-B buddy bucks for Abby, 8 dollars in cash (6 for me and a 2-dollar bill, which is Abby’s) and my Philippine credit cards and store membership IDs (CVS, Best Buy and Borders)

Third Column (top to bottom): frequent customers cards (the ones that establishments mark after every visit so you get a freebie after a certain number of visits), a coupon for Abby’s salon – Snip-its and store receipts.

You’re tagged if  you have a Visa or Mastercard credit cards in your wallet.

Tag #2…mission completion.

oOo

#3 Em, this one’s for you…“The Question Tag”

The question:  What’s the hardest part in your immigration that made you want to go back to the Philippines?

My answer:  Only two things.  First, missing my Mom.  We’re “buy one take one” before I married.  We became “buy one take two” when I married.   Hahaha!  And second, missing everybody else: my brother Edward and his wife (my sister!) Claire and my pamangkins:  Jad, Kylah, Macy and Sophie.  Almost every weekend, my Mom, my brother Edward’s family of 6 and my own family of 3 (that makes 10!) hang out together anywhere and everywhere our restless feet take us.  I can hardly wait to be doing that again really really really soon.

They say asking questions makes a person smart.  Consider yourself tagged if you believe that to be true.   My question:  What do you consider to be yout Top 5 Blessings for 2007?

Tag #3…mission completion.

oOo

And for today’s last tag…

#4  Pinky, I’m am terribly sorry I wasn’t able to do the tag: “Online Monito, Monita”!  I missed the 16 December (Philippine time) deadline.   I promise to diligently do your next tag.

Tag #4…mission incompletion (hahaha!).

oOo

The rest of the tags, I will tackle tomorrow…or Thursday, US central time (tumawad pa!).  Hahaha!

I hope everyone’s week started wonderfully as it should.  Be sure to enjoy the rest, ok?  God bless, y’all!