Author: Frugal Teacher Mommy

Teary-eyed after watching Mona Lisa Smile

I know it’s a bit late to write a short review on Mona Lisa Smile, but it’s better late than never, right?

As 2008 starts, my husband and I agreed to have a movie night every Saturday night. We’ll buy our favorite VCDs every week for the movie night. We’ll just get the cheap ones, so naturally it would be an old movie.

Since he’ll be having his high school reunion on a Saturday night, we decided to do our movie night on Friday. He volunteered to pick the movie, and when he went home, he has a Mona Lisa Smile VCD on his hand.

Honestly speaking, I didn’t like to watch it at first, but since he chose the movie, I decided to give it a try. I was not mistaken by my decision to watch it. It’s a good movie. It’s about Katherine Ann Watson, a teacher whose role is played by Julia Roberts, and she wanted to make a difference in the lives of 50’s Wellesley girls. She’s a terrific and free-thinking art professor who taught the students to enjoy life. Being an emotional watcher that I am, I became teary-eyed when the movie ended. I particularly liked the part where the students made paintings for Ms. Watson. This scene showed that the students finally learned how to appreciate their professor’s way of teaching them to live their lives to the fullest, to be happy and do what you really want. I dedicate this movie to all the teachers who are true to their profession and who are aware of their critical role in shaping the lives of their students.

Also included in the movie are Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Ginnifer Goodwin.

This is our first movie in our Weekend night movie series. I give Mona Lisa Smile four out of five stars.

Yey! It’s December!

Today is the first day of December. Christmas is coming! Yey! I’ve always been so excited about Christmas. Why? It’s because of the festivities, gifts and relaxation that come along with this part of the year.

I am a capricorn, and my birthday falls on the 23rd of December. Every year, my birthday gift and christmas gift are rolled out into one. This is the disadvantage of having your birthday close to Christmas day. If there’s a disadvantage, there’s also the good part of it. Since it’s vacation every time I celebrate my birthday, I don’t get to treat all of my friends, so less cash are spent. I usually spend my birthday with my family. Now that I have JE and Zoe in my life, celebrating my birthday is more fun and exciting. I wonder what will happen this year…hmmm…

I’m so excited that it’s December!

What a day!

I was on the bus already when my colleague told me that classes are suspended from 9AM onwards due to typhoon Egay. Oh my! I need to give a pre-final test to my EK2 students, and I have to give the abstract for our paper to Dr. Guidote. It’s quite disappointing to know about this suspension of classes, but what can I do? The good thing is, faculty can still go inside the campus, so it’s okay. But then, traffic got heavy to the point that the vehicles are not stagnant to their positions! To make it worst, my celphone has no load to make a text message! Since I’m quite near to Makati and JE’s almost done with his work, I’ve decided to walk even if it’s raining. The walking part is not that hard, because the rain is not really strong. Then some men shouted that they’re offering a ride going to MRT for only Php20.00, I decided to give it a try since I’ll be going with six other passengers. During the whole trip, we we’re riding on a wagon type of vehicle which is pushed by two men and called a “trolley”. It’s quite scary because we passed the squatter’s area, plus I didn’t know if the trolley is sturdy enough to bring us safe to our destination. Finally, we got to Magallanes. I didn’t get my change, may be it’s because I’m quite afraid that I’ll be left alone with the men who pushed the trolley…they’re quite scary to look at, believe me! I walked a little more distance to get to the main road, then I rode on a bus. To my dismay, it’s route will not go through the Ayala MRT station, so I have to walk back to Ayala. I feel so stupid for not asking the bus conductor if they’ll pass thru the Ayala station. Anyway, I got to Ayala, and I’ve waited for JE at Landmark. We bought some food and headed back home. Our trip was another 3-hour warming of the butt at the not-so-comfy bus seat. And then finally, we made it to our house! What a day!

The highlight of the day is my new experience which is riding on a trolley. Though it’s fun and made my travel faster, I think I won’t do it again. I’m not really sure about it’s safety, both the vehicle and the men who go with it look not so trustworthy. I thank God that I made it to Magallanes.

My Lot


I’ve been thinking of ways to earn extra money, and then I came across the page of My Lot. About the site, I find it nice and interesting. It helps me share my insights on different matters and I got to earn points at the same time. Though I haven’t redeemed my earnings yet, I enjoy visiting this website. It is a good venue for sharing stories and interests. I highly recommend this for everybody, especially for moms like me.