TIME TO GIVE AN UPDATE

[piglett]

     Well it's been almost 2 years scene my wife arrived from the Philippines


what a ride it has been. I may have to chop this post up into a couple pieces


but i'll do my best to relay all that has taken place the good the bad & the ugly 




     
     Once my sweetie arrived we had to run around & do all of the normal kind of stuff


go apply for her SSN  once that arrived she got her non driving ID


she then went looking for her 1st job. As luck would have it she got hired at the 1st place she went to


which was a fancy inn located next to the lake. They needed someone to clean rooms & she needed


something to do while she got ready to take her nursing exam here in the states (more on that later)




     I think i'll back up a little at this point & tell a little about what i had already learned before my


wife arrived.


In the Philippines there are a few different classes of people. I'm not saying this to be mean


but facts are facts. there are the super poor who live in a bamboo nipa hut. these can be nice girls


but to be honest if that is as far as their family had gone i would say run don't walk to the nearest exit.


that is unless you wish to take care of the whole dam extended family (i'll pass folks)




the next class is the family that lives in a 1 story cement block house. someone in the family is


bringing in some pesos , in other words these people know what work is. they may not be


always be asking for your hard earned cash.




the next class is people who live in a 2 story cement block house.


this type of house, even in the PI cost real money. either the farther or him & is wife have a good job




the last type is the person who lives in a gated community


their house may be pre fabbed poured concrete or maybe just cement block but the house is really nice


again someone is making money, in this case real money.




my inlaws have the 1 story cement block house but they have 7 children who have attended college


they all know what hard work is


they also know just like 90% of the population of the PI knows what skipping meals is all about


yes i said skipping meals. for most people there this is just normal when your growing up.


it was common for my wife to have to take boiled banana to school for her lunch


it was that or nothing at all. she would also go up in the hills to pick things that she


knew tasted good. she would take there to school so she could trade for a couple sheets of


paper to write on.  she was one of the lucky ones, many others didn't ever get a chance to attend school.


or if they did attend they were never able to finish.




so once i knew me wife would be arriving here i bought some baby chicks


she loved the idea & it gave her something to do so she didn't have time to be homesick


i also prepared a large area so she could plant a vegetable garden. again more to keep her busy

the next thing i did was to buy 4 fifty pound bag of white rice from costco


i put the rice up stairs in  5 gallon food grade  buckets which had mylar vacuum sealed bags


inside them. this setup is said to be good for up to 25 years


my wife knows she will never be skipping ANY meals while here.


i got large brownie points from doing these simple things


here is my wife a couple month ago with one of our monster buff orpington roosters


   















       

[piglett]

ok i'm back to give all of you next part of the story


1st i wasn't trying to say that all of you guys looking to marry a Pinay


need to become "farmer brown" with 40 acres & a mule


but if your new wife sees that the kitchen cabinets are stuffed full of food


plus if there are things falling out of the freezer when she opens the door


you look like your really taking care of business




money


all of us in this country are rich


we are rich when we are compared to 98% of the people in the PI


so if you marry some little cutie & then you have to tell her


"sorry we can't do that, we don't have any money"


you will be looking like a real clown


she sees you as rich but now you don't have any money


she will quickly be asking what type of gambling you have been doing


or what kind of drugs you spent all the money on


this is especially true if your PI wife hasn't been in the stated that long


once she had been out & about she will start to see a little more clearly


& hopefully figure out that your really not rich


but this takes a while.


so i would say if you already have 14 credit cards nearly maxed out


& it's common for you to be all stressed out about your lack of money


clean up your mess 1st then go off to find your dream woman


if not there is a good chance that you will "loose face"


in other words she looses respect for you


gaining it back can be an up hill battle

[robert angel]

Great stuff Piglett! How is she adjusting? I bet she was very happy to see the first crocus poking out of the permafrost ground layer, LOL. What (besides winter) surprised her about life in the USA? As I recall, your vehicle are all stick shift--is she the only Filipina I ever heard of who can drive a stick? Is she able to get in touch with home occasionally? You eating lots of chicken adobo? My wife eats grits and oatmeal in the morning--not a staple back home.

She's a very pretty lady--she doesn't appear to wear makeup--just a natural beauty like my wife==pretty when she wakes up au natural. (if I may so myself) She has a nice, kind look on her face, but I'm sure like most, if you tick her off, she can let you know--that's people -- human nature in general, but I bet she's not an over the top drama queen and gets over stuff fairly quickly. My wife has seven siblings too--I think that makes a person easier to get along with than with the typical only child. My first wife was an orphan and that reared it's nasty head over time.

Not sure about the size of that mighty chicken in the picture--do you live by a nuclear power plant?

[piglett]

Great stuff Piglett! How is she adjusting? I bet she was very happy to see the first crocus poking out of the permafrost ground layer, LOL. What (besides winter) surprised her about life in the USA? As I recall, your vehicle are all stick shift--is she the only Filipina I ever heard of who can drive a stick? Is she able to get in touch with home occasionally? You eating lots of chicken adobo? My wife eats grits and oatmeal in the morning--not a staple back home.

She's a very pretty lady--she doesn't appear to wear makeup--just a natural beauty like my wife==pretty when she wakes up au natural. (if I may so myself) She has a nice, kind look on her face, but I'm sure like most, if you tick her off, she can let you know--that's people -- human nature in general, but I bet she's not an over the top drama queen and gets over stuff fairly quickly. My wife has seven siblings too--I think that makes a person easier to get along with than with the typical only child. My first wife was an orphan and that reared it's nasty head over time.

Not sure about the size of that mighty chicken in the picture--do you live by a nuclear power plant?

she has adjusted well, she isn't much on snow but i guess she will get used to it (she'll have to   )


she likes spring & fall the best i think. I would say the lack of jeepneys shocked her quite a bit


I'll have to ask what other things she would put on the "shocked list"


i have had her out driving the old Corolla some. she still has a long way to go


i have 2 more weeks left in this semester then i get a break


1st on the list is to go buy her a cheep car with an automatic trans 


i don't like hearing "what peddle do i push" as we approach a stop sigh


too much going on in the car at once


i want her to just work on steering the thing


"removing" 1 peddle should help, can't hurt


we buy a phone card every couple weeks from pinsonsale.com


there have been a couple of medical issues in the province


buy no real requests for $$$ (except for the medical bills)


i'm guessing the talk i had with them did the trick


i think it was Ray that pushed me to having such a talk with them on my 1st trip there


thanks Ray , solid advice 


our roosters reach 10lbs or more so there is plenty of chicken in the freezer


plenty of duck too .... yummy




A guy i met on one of the online chicken forums has a place south of where my inlaws live


so i sent him some hatching eggs while he was in california (he works there)


he rounded up the Philippine customs paperwork so he could import them


& got on a plane, long story short some of my large breed chickens are in the Philippines


he is looking to add some size to the tiny local fowl there


here is a link , hope the Mods don't mind me posting it for everyone to see


http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/731675/getting-the-flock-out-of-here-a-diary-of-a-crazy-chicken-man


the plan is for me to slide on by his place in the PI the next time i am over there


to pick up some youngsters for my farther inlaw


he is going to flip out when he sees how much bigger they get than the local birds






i think my wife has a little makeup but i never see any of it on her


so i guess it will last a very long time 


My wife does have a moody streak that shows up once in a while


at one point he started getting much worse


we figured out it was one of the side effects of the birth control shot she was getting every 3 months.


as soon as she skipped the next shot all was well.




































 

[Ray]

Two hundred pounds of rice? Holy rice fungus Batman!
 
A 50 lb sack of rice lasted the two of us over a year. Better to buy it in smaller quantities so it's always fresher. You will need to start making a big family soon to eat up all that rice. Or you could always feed it to the chickens... 
 
In that photo, is she dancing with the chicken? Cool!
 
 
Ray
 
 
 
 

[piglett]

Two hundred pounds of rice? Holy rice fungus Batman!
 
A 50 lb sack of rice lasted the two of us over a year. Better to buy it in smaller quantities so it's always fresher. You will need to start making a big family soon to eat up all that rice. Or you could always feed it to the chickens... 
 
In that photo, is she dancing with the chicken? Cool!
 
 
Ray

she can go through some rice, i can tell you that

i think she could go through 100lbs in a year

i "help" her with some of that 

given the way i packed it

it should be good for up to 25 years 

i was looking to impress upon her that she wouldn't be skipping ANY meals here

so i went a little overboard with the rice

we are holding off on the big family for now

i have 2 years of school left

then she needs 2 go semesters so she can get her LPN license

the state board of nursing was telling stories 

they had said "oh you all set , come on down"

BULL SH! T 

then they said "sorry we made a mistake"

we had a hearing & basically they told her to go kick rocks!!!

so she took a nurses aid course which is what she is doing now

she can get credit for her academic classes but all of her nursing classes have to be re-taken

[Ray]

Pig,
　
If she really wants to pursue a nursing career, you might want to check out some school options.
　
I don’t know how it works back there, but here in Commiefornia, many of the community colleges have excellent RN programs. It’s not a bachelor’s degree, but it leads to a license as an RN and the programs are "easier" to get into compared to a university level program. My sister and my daughter did it that way. Community colleges are more cost effective too. I would be very wary of the private nursing schools because they are very costly and you will likely have to go into debt with student loans for many years.
　
However, she is still going to have to pass the licensing exam… Probably the best source for more info is from practicing nurses in your area.
　
Hey, when you finally do finish off that rice stash of yours, try some smaller samples of different rice varieties to see which ones she prefers. I would definitely say that the most popular among stateside Filipinos is Thai Jasmine, but brown rice or Basmate varieties are easier on your body. White rice really spikes your blood sugar and I understand that is one reason for the number of type II diabetes cases in the Philippines.
　
My wife prefers the Thai Jasmine or Calrose rice while I like the long grain variety, so we compromise by mixing one part Jasmine with 2 parts long grain. Then we eat brown rice in between batches. For fried rice, the long grain works best for me.
　
You have probably noticed that Costco has the best prices for rice and that Thai Jasmine costs about double the price of long grain.
　
Ray
　

[thekfc]

Nice update.

Piglett, what the heck are you feeding those chickens? 

200 lbs of rice - that is a whole lot of starch. 

We usually get Thai Jasmine rice - 20lb bag at at time.

Let me go back to watching Bubble Gang - Sam Pinto, Jackie, Maureen and the other ladies do look great in their swimsuits. 

[piglett]

Nice update.

Piglett, what the heck are you feeding those chickens? 

200 lbs of rice - that is a whole lot of starch. 

We usually get Thai Jasmine rice - 20lb bag at at time.

Let me go back to watching Bubble Gang - Sam Pinto, Jackie, Maureen and the other ladies do look great in their swimsuits. 

those chickens are a large breed that was imported from Orpington England


sort of like a small turkey


i think our rice stash is jasmine rice if i recall rite


we have gotten the calrose before


i don't like it as well


i only want my wife to cook tasty rice in her pink hello kitty rice cooker 

[piglett]

Pig,
　
If she really wants to pursue a nursing career, you might want to check out some school options.
　
I don’t know how it works back there, but here in Commiefornia, many of the community colleges have excellent RN programs. It’s not a bachelor’s degree, but it leads to a license as an RN and the programs are "easier" to get into compared to a university level program. My sister and my daughter did it that way. Community colleges are more cost effective too. I would be very wary of the private nursing schools because they are very costly and you will likely have to go into debt with student loans for many years.
　
However, she is still going to have to pass the licensing exam… Probably the best source for more info is from practicing nurses in your area.
　
Hey, when you finally do finish off that rice stash of yours, try some smaller samples of different rice varieties to see which ones she prefers. I would definitely say that the most popular among stateside Filipinos is Thai Jasmine, but brown rice or Basmate varieties are easier on your body. White rice really spikes your blood sugar and I understand that is one reason for the number of type II diabetes cases in the Philippines.
　
My wife prefers the Thai Jasmine or Calrose rice while I like the long grain variety, so we compromise by mixing one part Jasmine with 2 parts long grain. Then we eat brown rice in between batches. For fried rice, the long grain works best for me.
　
You have probably noticed that Costco has the best prices for rice and that Thai Jasmine costs about double the price of long grain.
　
Ray
　

 
there is a community college in the area (hour away) that will give her credit for her academic classes. so she just needs 2 semesters to become an LPN


if she wants to do the RN thing after that she will need to go down to the big college (probably more money)


i'll see how it all plays out

[piglett]

stay off the streets everyone


it's just not safe


my wife is learning to drive


you have been warned!   


piglett

[robert angel]

stay off the streets everyone


it's just not safe


my wife is learning to drive


you have been warned!   


piglett

Nice Toyo there Piglett! The Asawa's lovely and looks quite pleased as well. I fully assume it's an automatic tranny. Those Toyotas are like they're part animal--long living ones at that. That car looks very clean--you must have been on the look for a while! Our 1997 must have some kind of magnet in it somewhere--it seems metal shopping carts are attracted to it.

[piglett]

the guy who had it was moving back to Porto Rico in July


so he had no use for it anymore


we will try to go for a drive each day till she is ready or i'm ready for the nut house 


i got some money off because the muffler was in the trunk 


i already ordered a replacement pipe which was 90 bucks


she should be ready to take the written test in a couple more weeks


the driving still requires some work


her turning is awful & backing up it proving to be a challenge


lane usage is improving, so maybe there is hope?

[robert angel]

the guy who had it was moving back to Porto Rico in July


so he had no use for it anymore


we will try to go for a drive each day till she is ready or i'm ready for the nut house 


i got some money off because the muffler was in the trunk 


i already ordered a replacement pipe which was 90 bucks


she should be ready to take the written test in a couple more weeks


the driving still requires some work


her turning is awful & backing up it proving to be a challenge


lane usage is improving, so maybe there is hope?

Hahaha--yes there's certainly hope and I daresay a good degree of certainty, but you might want to practice parallel parking in particular.

The last time my wife parallel parked was over nine years ago, when she passed her driving test. (the first time!) We don't have a big need to p. park, but when she does, I have to take her there and before she drives into the city alone, if I'm working, we drive and map out the route the day before, including the closest parking garage--groan......

[robert angel]

Nice Toyo there Piglett! The Asawa's lovely and looks quite pleased as well. I fully assume it's an automatic tranny. Those Toyotas are like they're part animal--long living ones at that. That car looks very clean--you must have been on the look for a while! Our 1997 must have some kind of magnet in it somewhere--it seems metal shopping carts are attracted to it.

That there Toyota Corolla is the best selling car of all time. Period. It's been around since 1966 and has sold about 38 million around the world. Pretty sure it's had different names around the world, but by and large the same car. Strange--not a Camry in sight in the top ten all time best sellers.

The number two best seller? It's not a car--it's the Ford F series truck/s, which has been around since 1948 and for the last 32 years in a row straight, has been the number one best selling vehicle in the USA.

The F150 has less domestic (USA) content in it than a Toyota Tundra. Then again, bet ya didn't know that some Ford Mustangs are running transmissions made in China, did you?

I guess the nation as a whole must be very concerned about gas and gasoline mileage, eh?

We'll see about next year, as Ford is about the bet the whole farm and franchise, by moving the entire Ford F series to all aluminum bodied trucks! They say it'll save up to 700 pounds weight per truck. Hmmm, body shops, tool up!

There weren't a lot of cars to choose from back then and the market was very different, but also in the top ten, but it had an amazing amount sold in a relatively short time,  was the Ford Model 'T', which had a price very much in America's 'sweet spot'.

While the Corolla's the only Toyo top tenner, Honda's got the Accord and Civic in the top ten (anybody remember what total crap the first Honda cars were?) and Volkswagen's got three different cars in the top ten--including two in the top five.

Didn't do the Math, but maybe Volkswagen's sold more overall than anybody and they are expected to be outselling Toyota soon, becoming the number one auto maker.

Anybody care to guess the solo GM model that comes in at #10? Hint--it's a Chevy.....

Ooops--forgot--this is P.L.--does anybody even care?  But hey, what goes better with chicks than cars?    

http://247wallst.com/special-report/2012/01/26/the-best-selling-cars-of-all-time/

[michaelb]

Wouldn't make it home under its own power, huh?

[piglett]

my corolla has over 307k on it & it still doesn't wish to die


i did have to start adding some oil


but oil is cheep so there is a case of store brand oil in the trunk


i have no use for a VW they just don't hold up well in the long run




an all aluminum truck......?


that should be interesting, why not just plastic?




take care guys


pig

[piglett]

well i have a large update for my update page............


took the wife to the ER last night at about 1AM


she was having to pee often & not much would come out


we figured urinary tract infection






not exactly..................










the best guess the hospital could give us is












 


she will deliver in October !!!




we have one in the oven boys & girls


 

[robert angel]

That's great news, Piglett! Congratulations!!

Now the other shoe---you do know that from here until delivery day, given her 'delicate condition'--that she has full license to be meaner than a bobcat in a burlap bag?--LOL--I bet things will be just fine.

[piglett]

she has full license to be meaner than a bobcat in a burlap bag

LOL   


it's only 5 months..... how bad could it be?






thanks


piglett

[michaelb]

Congratulations, Mr. Piglett. Take good care of her.

[thekfc]

Congratulations to Mr & Mrs P.

[fathertime]

Congratulations pigglett! 


Fathertime!   

[piglett]

thanks guys 

[Ray]