Destress in stress in a week-tight compartment

“Irene, let’s go in Baguio. We can stay there for a night or two,” ate Judy suggested.

It is our third quarter break. We have a week off before the start of the fourth quarter. Ate Judy and I were talking about how we are going to spend this precious break after months of hard work.

I was almost tempted to agree. Especially that I have no provincial project and out of towns this year. Spending a day or two in Baguio seems a pleasant way to de stress and recharge.

But, on second thought, I disagree. You see, I am now trying hard to save. I have to stop losing my money through squandering. Instead, I spent my week’s off, productively here in Metro Manila – mostly in our home.

On Monday, I looked for my unfinished cross stitches. But thinking that I could not finish that in a week time, I just decided to do general house cleaning. I scrubbed and disinfect the kitchen sink and the rest room until those became as white as pearl. I sprayed household insecticide until the crawling cockroaches can crawl no more! I waxed and scrubbed the floor until I almost see my face reflected on it. And while resting, I looked after my plants.

On Tuesday to Thursday, I tutored and help my cousin John in his homework in College Algebra. I coached him in solving 250 problems – from simple age and geometry problems to complex mixture and investment problems. Solving investment problems made me understand, again, how money grows in a daily compounded interest. I also guided him in completing his templates in Drawing 1.

During nights, I read this investment book entitled, “The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need” by Andrew Tobias. I read it until the wee hours in the morning. I bought that book, discounted and tax free, in my favorite Book Sale store in Metropolis, Alabang. It gave modest and sound advices on how to deal with the whole investment process.

On Friday, I planned to have a massage but I was not able to contact my reflexologist. I spent the whole Friday afternoon, window shopping, at Shangrila, instead. I love going to the malls alone. There, I did not forget to eat my favorite ice cream and drink my favorite branded coffee. Yes, for me, coffee is nice after you eat ice cream or vice versa. Anyone can try it. Next time, I’ll try ice cream over coffee – iced coffee!

On Saturday, my sister Ingkay suddenly blurted out sweetly, “ate, di ka na nagluluto ng recipes mo.” I said, “ bakit nami miss mo na ba ang recipes ko?” She said, “oo.”

Cooking is one of the things that I also enjoy. Just like every other important things in life, we have to cook with our heart, so that we will have the best taste of our recipes. Cooking is not about the finest ingredients, after all. It is about how much love we put in it. I really love cooking and I usually cook with love.

Tomorrow’s Monday again. My third quarter break is almost over. I still have a looong list of the things I wanted to do – outside of my work. For example, I was not able to read my newly acquired John Grisham book. I was not able to visit Tommy, and many more. Indeed, I cannot able to accomplish everything I wanted to do in a week-tight compartment.

On the contrary, just thinking about the things I did is so stressful. But I was able to de stress, somehow. :)