The Stickers on the Wall

Being a full time mom is a very satisfying experience, but at times it can be depressing and stressful. I know because I’ve been there many times. And I am sure that if you are a full time mom, you can relate to my sentiment.

In my home, there are many causes that can bug me down into depression like: (1) When I come to realize that the day comes to an end, and yet I haven’t earned a single penny; (2) When some of my friends invited me to go malling in SM, and I can’t go with them because no one will take charge of my children during my absence or worse I had no money even just for snacks; (3) When my husband forgot to give me a call during the day just to say “Hi” because he was busy with his work; (4) When I feel that nobody appreciated the work I’ve done at home; and the list could go on and on…

Before, when I was depressed, I ate and ate without feeling any satisfaction or I just laid down without falling asleep. There were even times that I hosted pity parties, and shed my tears away. When I could no longer bear the pain, I would sometimes call my husband at work to pour out my feelings. The problem was that he could not stay long with me on the phone because he had a meeting or deadline to catch up. This only made me fell worse.

I went like this for years until I discovered the joy of collecting and posting stickers.



Now instead of wallowing in self-pity when I am depressed, I posted stickers around my home, and did other creative activities.

I decorated this white cabinet when I was depressed because I could not go to Super Metro (a department store) because nobody was willing to look after Leyan.

I decorated our wall just above Hummy, our bedroom air conditiner, when I was depressed because I wanted to eat Da Vinci pizza, my favorite, but my allowance ran out.

As full time moms we can never avoid situations and circumstances that can depress us; that's life. But we have a choice, to be a productive and creative full time moms, and gain back our life!

Children's Summer Schedule

It was Sunday right after attending mass in our local church, my husband and I called for a family meeting to discuss a very serious matter. All the members of the Derit family namely Magsy, Cybelle, Leyan, my husband, and I attended. Everybody was very serious.



The topic of the meeting was to discuss the summer activities of the children. We felt that we have to implement a schedule so as not to waste the precious days during school vacation. One of the activities decided was to assign chores to the children.




Since we believe that feedback and reward system is very important to reinforce good behavior, my husband and I devised a daily monitoring chart. Based on the chart, the children are to be rated based on the following questions: (1) Did she remember her chores? (2) Did she do her chores well? (3) Did she do her chore with a happy attitude?

At the end of the day, I will put a check and an X on the chart (see pic above). It’s very important that they should be there when I do the rating so that I can explain to them why I put an X to Cybelle’s chart or a check to Magsy’s chart, for example.

Then once a month they will get a reward based on their rating.

Last Sunday, my husband sent Magsy to PlayMaze Park Mall and they dine in KFC as her reward.





Cybelle will receive her reward by the end of the month.

The Good Old Fashion Cucumber

Bedtime is always a struggle between me and my angels. They will resort to all sorts of childish tactics – pleading, begging, asking the never ending ‘why?’, crying, delaying, ignoring, negotiating, and so on and so forth – just to buy some waking time, leaving me stressed out. Then I discovered the cool and soothing touch of the good old fashion cucumber.


Magsy and Cybelle love sleeping with cucumber on their eyes because it helps them relax and chain their boundless energies; children of their age, Magsy 8-year old and Cybelle is 6-year old, are like the bunny in the battery commercial – they keep going and going and going…until they run out of power and drop. Fortunately, the children find it a treat to wear cucumber in their eyes because it feels like they are inside the saloon having their beauty rest and foot spa. So now it is less stressful to me to put them to bed early, especially when I have a blog to finish.

What if I run out of cucumber?

Then I have to say what every mother would say to their children when they want something done soon, and won’t take a ‘NO’ for an answer: “Because I said so.”

PS: It's better to store the cucumber inside the refrigerator for several hours before using.

The Joys of My Heart

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Hi! My name is Ruveylene and I am a mother of three lovely girls – Magsy, Cybelle, and Leyan. Just like any mom out there, I adored my children and only wants what’s best for them. But being a mother is no easy task since nobody taught us how to raise children. It is for this reason that I started this blog to share the valuable lessons I learned the hard way after eight years of being a full time mother.

As a mother I won’t pretend to be perfect but I tried my best to learn from my mistakes, so that I can become a better mother to my children. I think this is the most important thing that a mother should do.

It is my sincere hope that you all learn something from my heartaches, joy, and experiences of being a loving but imperfect mother. After all this blog is for you, a mother who loves your children but is unsure if you are doing what’s best for them.

So read on and feel free to comment and ask question.