Pinay WAHM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We're home and we made it out alive!! Haha..I'm exaggerating of course. We had one busy Saturday. Well, to me anyway. We got home about an hour ago, well about 2 hours maybe, from our appointments. We only had 2 appointments but we were out of the house from 9 AM - 4 PM. We met with the 'drapery people'...I meant person. We only met with the owner of a local drapery company. He's an older guy who is originally from New York. He's very nice and very helpful as we were practically clueless as to what we want. He gave us plenty of options and suggestions which we of course gladly took. We had the meeting from about 9:30 - 12 noon. He took a liking to our little one and gave her a toy kangaroo right there and then. He also promised to make her something special for the blinds in her bedroom...nothing big but I find it very sweet because he noted it on the paper. He told her it's a surprise...which is not good because now I have to ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I just got this email from Nina of Bizymoms.com with the following attachment. It's an original article written by Bizymoms.co m about International Children's Day and she wants to share it all with mothers like me and some of you out there. So I am reposting it here as International Children's Day is just around the corner - June 1, 2008! INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S DAY The 1 st of June was declared as International Children’s Day, but each country changed the date according to their ease. Children being the heart and soul of the future are suffering from many difficulties around the globe. Here are some of the statistics to show the pathetic state of children globally: · About 4,500 children die each day from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation facilities. · Over 90 percent of deaths from diarrheal diseases due to unsafe water and sanitation in the developing world occur in children below 5 years old. · ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So what do you have planned for the weekend? Us? It's going to be one busy Saturday. Sunday is up in the air so that's good. Saturday, we have a 10:00 AM appointment with the 'drapery' people. Yeah, that's what I call them...sod people, sprinkler people and now drapery people...LOL. I don't really know the names of the companies so I just call them the way I know them. Smart, eh? hehehe.. Anyway, after that we have another appointment. We are meeting the cable people in the new house. Yep, the cable has to be ready when we move in so I can B-L-O-G right away....hahaha. Actually, it's a combo of phone, cable and internet so it's a 3 in 1 thing. Then if we have time, we may just swing by the appliance store again. This time to look for a freezer. We are planning in getting one that we can put in the garage for bulk storage. That's what we're missing here. We don't have a big freezer so we can't buy meat or an...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I was tagged....again! LOL! Nah..actually, I love doing tags lalo na pag ayaw ko ng mag-isip. This one is from Cathy . I just stumbled upon this one while I was at her site...hehe. Thanks, Cathy ! Here we go... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rules: 1. Each blogger starts with 10 random facts/habits about themselves. 2. Bloggers that are tagged need to write on their own blog about their 10 things and post these rules. 3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose 10 people to get tagged and list their breads. 4. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged and to read your blog. Ten Things about Me... 1. I decided to take up my masters because I quit my teaching job....shouldn't it be the other way around??...haha. 2. I wanted to become a nun...to scare those inside already...hehe 3. I only had one boyfriend who was older than me...the rest were younger by a few months to a few years, hubby included....cradle snatcher...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So Rachael Ray has been doing these TV commercials on Dunkin Donuts. I've seen a couple of them and they were okay, I guess. I like watching her shows at the Food Channel but not the Rachael Ray Show that Oprah is producing. Anyway, her commercials for Dunkin Donuts already came under fire by one food critic who said that her commercials are sending the wrong lessons to kids. How? Because it's for a donut company maybe? Just recently, Ray's latest Ad for Dunkin was pulled out though by Dunkin itself. It has nothing to do with her endorsing the product but what she's wearing on the advertisement. Yes, her choice of wardrobe....particularly her S-C-A-R-F! Here's a picture I got from Yahoo . Some people complained that the scarf she's wearing in the ad resembles kaffiyeh, the traditional Arab headdress. It seems that this particular piece of clothing symbolizes Muslim extremism and terrorism. Yep, the "T" word agai...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I grew up believing that getting vaccinated is a must. I still believe that getting it is a must so we make it a point to have our little vaccinated when needed. But with all the news and so-called first hand experiences on the connection of autism and vaccination, I can’t help but sometimes question if there is indeed a connection between the two. One pediatrician, Paul Offit, MD , decided to shed light on this by writing a book called "Vaccinated". This book has been getting good reviews by those who have read it already. He even used what Maurice Hilleman experienced as a basis to narrate what he wants to convey to the public. So if you are one of those who still have questions on the importance of vaccination, you may want to get a copy of this book and be enlightened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My first post here today..kinda' late huh? Well I got a bit busy cleaning. I just find it hard to peel myself off my chair once I start blogging like yesterday. Yep, I was supposed to do my cleaning yesterday but didn't..hehe. Anyway, I just thought I'd post something here before my regular hopper start calling the 'blogging patrol' because I am "MIA"! I'm done with my cleaning. Now I am roasting chicken for dinner. Not sure what to make with it. Maybe some kind of potatoes as usual...just have to decide what kind. I'm signing off here for now. Thanks to all that came to visit... and are coming to visit. See you later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Snake in the Snow" One snowing day, the kids were playing. They were having so much fun. But then a snake came by. And was wanting to come out of the bushes. To the ice. The kids were scared. The snake came back inside the bush. The kids were happy! So the kids went inside for some hot chocolate. And told their mom about the snake. So as the day went on they lived happily ever after. The End

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Time management is probably the biggest struggle I have as a WAHM or a work-at-home-mom. I have the basic schedule that I follow but I want a more predictable schedule. My work schedule pretty is much dependent on work of course. Unlike other 8-5 jobs, work in the work-at-home industry is very unpredictable. I work for 3 different companies in the same industry and some other side jobs that I only do on certain times of the year...plus the blogging of course. And all of these jobs I have are in demand jobs so the competition is stiff. When work is there, everyone is working. That means I have to work, work, work. My blogging is the last on my list as I only do it if I have nothing to do. Why? Well, it's because I don't look at it as a J-O-B. I've been doing this for the last 5 years or so and I still struggle with this 'time management' thing. I have always been big on schedules so being in 'limbo' is not something I am crazy...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And I am not talking about people who don't do their jobs...it's much worse than that. I just read in Yahoo about a couple of 'losers' [excuse the word] who put up a 7-day old baby for sale in Craigslist! Why? Because the baby was a 'surprise' and they want a better home for him/her! Yeah, right! They said it's just a hoax but c'mon! It just baffles me what other people do. Let's say it's really a hoax which I personally think is a big L-I-E! Why would they put an innocent baby in such a risk? If it's indeed a hoax why did they a certain amount for any taker.... Canadian $10,000 ? I'm glad they're caught and I admire the lady who reported them to the Canadian police as soon as she read the advertisement. I just hope they get what they deserve and the baby be taken away from them. I can only imagine what future that baby has with these kind of parents. from Yahoo News

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So I have been on this side of the world for about 7 years...yep, 7 years on Jun 13. With that many years I have been here, I still have not learned how to drive. Actually, I have not EVEN TRIED. I have my learner's permit but I yet to put it into use. Anyway, this afternoon when we got the mail there was this junk mail on cars. The little one gets those kinds of junk mail as she likes to cut out pictures from them. While I was busy picking up, I heard her on her "pretend phone". She was 'talking' with the people in the car place that's in the junk mail. I couldn't hear everything she was saying but I knew she was trying to 'buy' a car! She was reading their 'offers'... Anyway, when she 'got off' the [pretend] phone she told me that she's buying me a car. Yep, a car for me. And guess what? She's getting me a car with "training wheels" !!! Yippee...and do you know what she'...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yep, it's raining men...I meant tags. As if I have nothing to do, huh? Actually, I do. I have some coding to do and I did some already. But I'm taking a break...c'mon! LOL! Anyway, I tagged Juliana RW so she tagged me back...hahaha. So I thought I'd do it ASAP or she may not accept my tags anymore....just kidding, Juliana RW . Thanks much for this tag. As the title says, it's now time to post [some more] pictures of our little one and yours truly. I actually have very few pics of me and our little girl but I do have them. I had to dig through my stash to find them though. I think I posted some of them here already... First pic was taken when she was probably 6 months or so...at the beach! This was taken on the plane on our way to California in October 2005. This was taken I don't know when...haha. Just us messing around with the camera, I think. This was taken in December 2007 at DisneyWorld...with Goofy. He wouldn't leave! ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lookey here...I just got me a new purse...hehe. It's a cross-body bag. T his is my kind of purse. I am not big with big purses. I also don't do with handbags. It's either a cross-body bag or a back pack. Anyway, I've been looking for one for a while and I just can't get around in buying one. I finally sat down one day and got this one from Fossil . Yep, I got it online. I tried looking whenever we go out but I just can't find one that I like so when I saw one that's cheap enough, I bought it...yep, I look for the cheapest one. The one this one replaced is less than $10...it's on sale so I got it real cheap.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Got tagged last week. These are 3 of them, I think. I may have missed some so my apologies if I did. I'll try to get to them as soon as I remember where they are...hehe. The first one is from Dez and Eds ...thanks, ladies. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My First and Last Tag Participants: 1. Me and Mine 2. Creative In Me 3. Little Peanut 4. Pea in a Pod 5. Sugar Magnolias 6. Supermodel Wannabe 7. FunFierceFabulous 8. A Sweet Taste Of Life 9. My Life in this Wonderful World! 10. PinayWAHM 11.ADD YOUR BLOG! First * First real job: Teacher * First screen name: matua, I think... * First funeral: My maternal grandmother - I was 2 I think. * First pet: Never had my own pet. We always had cats and dogs when I was younger. * First piercing: Ears * First tattoo: too chicken to get one... * First credit card: It's not a credit card, per se. I got this 'booklet' which is in effect a credit card because all I had to do was presen...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ H-O-M-E-!!! Where else?? LOL... Yep, we were in the house in the morning but we went to the new house after lunch. Last time I wrote an update , I mentioned that the we were waiting for the sod people to put the sod in place on Saturday as the sprinklers were installed already. Saturday came and went by and we didn't get any call from the sod people. The husband thought that maybe they didn't work since it's the holiday weekend. Surprise, surprise! The owner of the sod company called this morning letting us know that they did in fact started putting down sod on Saturday and that he was in the property finishing up - on Memorial Day! So my husband had to drive up there to meet up with him. Why? Because we had to pay him for our part of the sod. The builder only paid so much and we had to cover the rest. Hmmp! Anyway after meeting up with him, my husband called me to ask if I wanted to go down the property...yes, he had to come back here and pick ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A tag from a kabalen...finally, a Kabalen..hehe... Vhiel - Can of Thoughts . So to my Kabalen...dacal a salamat! As the title of the tag implies, this tag is all about "D-A-D-D-Y"! Why? Why not, right? I'm guessing this is probably because it's Dada's Day come June 8! Ha! If we're wives with kids we're supposed to brag, err, blog about our husbands as Dads. Just like a lot Moms out there, I cannot ask for a better Dad for our little one. He is her playmate when he's home and he gives her anything her little heart desires...within reason of course. He waited a while to become a father and I think he is enjoying every second of it...and I'm glad I am a part of it. These 2 have a lot of pictures together as I am 'trigger happy' when it comes to taking their pictures. But here are 2 of my favorites. Can you say "Daddy's Little Girl"? {Start Copy Here} Started by...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Do you still remember the 'pop-ups' that kept coming up not too long ago? It was so bad that we even got some nasty pop-ups like porn ones? Well, I noticed that in the past week or so, the pop-ups are back again. No, not in my site but in other blogs that I have been visiting. Yesterday and just now, I noticed that the pop-up [full page pop-ups] have "Rank Widget" on them. So I'm pretty sure that some, if not all, of the pop-ups are because of this widget. Please check your widgets. If you have the Rank Widget, you probably should take it off your blog before the pop-ups get worse. I don't know which blogs have the pop-ups [or the Rank Widget] because I have about 5 or 6 windows open when I do my usual hopping. All I know is it's most probably caused by this "Rank Widget" just like last time. Thanks much.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you are using nipple cream to help soothe dry or cracked nipples from nursing, you may want to stop using it and read this article in Yahoo . According to the news article, FDA is saying that the cream contains ingredients that may be harmful to infants. The ingredients are chlorphenesin and phenoxyethanol and may cause: - respiratory distress - vomiting - diarrhea The particular cream is called Mommy's Bliss Nipple Cream , marketed by MOM Enterprises Inc. Here's a picture of the product. This the specific product mentioned in the article but you may want to check whatever it is you're using and see if it has the 2 ingredients mentioned. The company [MOM Enterprises, Inc] has stopped selling the product. Mothers whose children may have suffered adverse effects because of this product should contact the FDA's MedWatch at 800-332-1088. from Yahoo News

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With the big move that’s happening soon, I have been packing on and off already. Since it’s getting really close, I have to start doing it regularly now. I have to pack a lot of things still since I am not even halfway done. I still need a lot more moving boxes to pack everything. I also need packing papers and some bubble wraps and tapes. I cannot wait until all of these come to an end. Just thinking about packing the rest of our stuff is making me tired. I don’t even want to think about unpacking them once we’re moved. Arrggghh! Help?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's the weekend...the Memorial Day weekend actually here in the US. A lot of people are probably heading for the beach or are actually in the beach now. Us? Well, not quite. We're actually stuck in the house waiting for a call. Whose call? The guy who should be putting the sod in the new house...well, not in the house but around the house. The husband is home today actually. He's rarely home on Saturdays as he also works on the weekend. But he opted to stay home...and wait in agony [hehe] for the 'sod guy's' call. I just hope the guy is putting sod or else they will have one pi**ed customer in the husband here. He hates it when people just don't do what they say they will. Once this guy calls, we may go out to do some window shopping...well, window treatment shopping. We still have not picked the curtains and/or blinds for the house and we have to do it soon. We may also go to the Philippine store to get some 'champorad...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My father used to have a friend who fixed watches for a living. This friend of his would get a lot of branded watches that were never claimed so he would sell them to anyone interested. My father would get a few to try and sell them himself so we would have watches like Chopard and other fine watches at home that we got to try on. That probably started my ‘want’ of owning one of the Chopard watches that he brought home. I still don’t have one right now but someday, I am planning to get me one of these babies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now that our humble abode is about to be finished, I can say that I am starting to breathe a little better. I am not taking that sigh of relief yet as we still have to do the closing but I am positive that it's going to happen really soon. Anyway, I got this email from a friend about a week ago on the: "25 Ludicrously Expensive Celebrity Homes" After seeing these houses, I can't help but think that our little home will probably fit in one of the rooms in one of these houses...LOL. But I'm fine with that. If and when we win the lotto big time, I will make sure to buy one of these houses...Not! Without going to the list, can you guess which celebrities actually own these humongous houses?? Of course you can...Bill Gates, Oprah...need I say more? How about the Trump?? LOL.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It's that time of the year again when a lot of people run to the beach everytime they get the chance. We're not beach people so we don't do that but now that the best beach in the US according to "Dr. Beach" himself is practically in our backyard, I may just ask the husband to check it out. Dr. Beach a.k.a Stephen P. Leatherman is a Florida Intl University professor who comes up with his Top 10 beaches in the nation every year. The beach is actually part of a park in Clearwater, Florida...the Caladesi Island State Park . Yep, it's part of an island and is only accessible by boat. It takes a 15-minute for a $9 fare boat ride to get to it. Not too many people go to it though probably because the time of stay is limited to 4 hours only. Aside from the Caladesi Island State Park beach, Dr. Beach has the following in his list for 2008 Top 10 Beaches in the US . 1. Caladesi Island State Park, Clearwater, FL 2. Hanalei Beach, Hawaii 3....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I always tried to be financially responsible. I try to stay within my boundaries because I am afraid to get into any kind of financial trouble. But life is unpredictable and I really do not what can happen in the future. I am not wishing that I will ever get in kind of debt but I am sure glad that credit counseling is available if that ever happens to me. One place that I would check if I ever get in any kind of credit problems is ACA 4 Help. It is a place that offers not only credit counseling but also bankruptcy, debt consolidation, debt settlement and pay on your own programs. With the help of ACA 4 Help, one has the chance to get back the life that one had before debt got in the way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yep, the little one and I just finished our very first "hula hoop face-off"! LOL! We've been doing short ones for the past few days but today, we had the longest one --- at least 30 minutes of hula hooping without dropping the hoops. Who won? Well, she did technically BUT not really. She said she's really tired and she asked me if we could just stop since we're both trying to win. So I said ok and stopped. Guess what she did? She kept on going. Hmmp! Little booger tricked me. I must say though that she's getting really good at this hula hooping. She's only been doing it for less than 2 weeks but she's becoming an expert already. She's even trying to walk while doing it. Next time I know she'll be doing some clown tricks while hula hooping. At least I worked up some sweats and I had fun while doing it, too. Hopefully, it will help shed a few pounds here and there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yep, I got a bit busy today. I have not done my hopping as I usually do. I did some 'hit backs' but that's about it. So what have I been up to? Well, work for the most part. Today is also laundry day so I had to do that in between my coding. I didn't blog as you can probably tell from the lack of posts today. This is my first one for the day actually. I will probably do a couple more before I go to bed. It's been rainy this Thursday afternoon in our neck of the woods. It's not hard rain but more of a drizzle. I guess that's good as it's been really dry last week so the weather man here was reminding us all the time of 'fire'. Now that problem is solved. Some updates [again] about our house. I posted last week that the Project Manager was looking into doing the closing with the house this week. Unfortunately, it didn't happen and it won't be happening this week as it's already Friday tomorrow. Actually ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I originally didn't plan on writing about Mr. Art Bell and the email letter that was supposedly been written by him and has been circulating online for a few years. The letter contained some derogatory statements about Filipinos. Just recently, the said 'email letter' resurfaced again but this time, it's being posted on some blogs. Some even went bloghopping for the purpose of making fellow Filipinos aware of the email letter. Let me just say that I've read that letter years ago and I never really paid attention to it and I didn't pay attention to it either when it resurfaced again...but I thought I'd say my piece here then leave it at that. In this age of technology where a lot of things can be circulated around the world with just click of a mouse, we should be careful in believing [and spreading] everything that we receive and read. Like they say, "take it with a grain of salt". One place I go to to check the vali...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I don’t play any kind of sport…unless hula hoop is considered one. Anyway, even if I don’t really play any sport it does not mean I am not interested in them. My husband is a big football fan so we get to watch a lot of that during its season. Another sport that I get to watch ever now and then is tennis. But I only get to watch it on TV and never in person. I think that if I have to choose one sport I would want to learn how to play, it would have to be tennis. I just feel that I would be able to play it even just for fun. In the world of tennis, the Wimbledon tournament is probably the most popular in the world. It seems that all tennis players prepare for this one more than the others. During the Championships, a lot of people want to see it in person. But getting the Wimbledon debenture tickets is not that easy. Because the Wimbledon tournament is one of the most awaited events in tennis, the tickets sell like hotcakes once they are out. One place t...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So the next Olympics will be held in Beijing, China. I've seen some funny signs, ya know like the "Welcome for Coming" LOL, which others say is a sign that Beijing is not ready for the Olympics. But then I got this email with these amazing pictures of some gardens being readied for the event. Here are some of them. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My nephew is taking up medicine. Needless to say, my brother will not be taking any deep breaths for a while, well, until his son is finished schooling anyway LOL. Since that’s going to be a few years away, they try to buy his school supplies like exam gloves in bulk. They also try to buy second hand medical books as they are much cheaper than the new ones. They also try to cut corners so to speak, as much as possible. Hopefully, within a couple of years, my brother can start taking deep breaths again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Got a couple of tags from my blogger friends. They are 2 different bads but they are both about friendships and they originated from the same tag. So thanks to my blogger friends, Denz , Dez and Nova for these tags. Rule: 1. Copy from ::Start Copy Here:: through ::End Copy Here:: . 2. Add your blog to the list. Feel free to add all your other blogs. Just make sure to post this to each of the blog you added in the list. 3. Tag other online friends you know.You don’t need to be tag in order to join. If you want to join just post this one in your blog. 4. Let me know your blog’s name and url by leaving me a comment HERE . I will add you to the master list.That way, everyone is happy and can meet new friends too! 5. Come back once in a while to get the master list! Let’s see how this makes our Technorati and PR goes up! 6. DO NOT REMOVE THIS: scrap page made by Yen . Using alphas and tapes from Kate H., flowers from Ida,paper by Catrine. 1. Me and Mine...