Pinay WAHM

Back to normal. The past week went by fast. Hubby had 3 days off from work because of Thanksgiving. We stayed home for the most part of it but it was a much-needed time off for him. The little one was of course thrilled because she had a playmate....and that's what made the week seemed short. The coming weeks will be long again because of the deadlines they need to beat. Hopefully they'll be able to finish what's needed done before Christmas...or else they'll be working through the holidays. Anyway, time to hit the sack already. There is work for me to do but it can wait until tomorrow....I think.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's probably one of the older generation's favorite line. And when I say older generation, I now actually mean...ME! Ugh! Yes, I am admitting that I am no longer a young one. Young at heart, yes. If there's anything that makes me more aware that I am indeed getting older, it's the physical changes I've been noticing. And no, I don't only mean the outer physical changes that I see when I look at the mirror. It's also the aches and pains I'm starting to notice more and more everyday. I think I will be needing an msm cream sooner than I thought I would because of the joint pains that keep on bothering me. It used to go away after taking a tylenol or two but it's no longer the case. Hubby said I might have some form of an arthritis which I also think but I don't want to go to the doctor telling him every little aches and pains I feel. I will one day when I'm ready to be told that yes, I am indeed gold to my face...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanksgiving is done and the last bit of turkey has been eaten by the husband as his lunch today. The other goodies we cooked have been gone since Friday. We're now back to eating 'regular food'. But it won't be long before we indulge some more since another holiday is just around the corner. I don't know yet what we'll make for the 'feast' [as the little one likes to call it] but I'm pretty sure I'll be needing the best colon cleanse out there as soon as this last holiday is done. Today we went to look for my Christmas present. Ha! Hubby asked me last week what I want. As usual I didn't have a clue what I want. On Thanksgiving day, I finally came up with an idea as to what I want so today we went looking for it. I won't be revealing it here now but I will in due time. I'd probably have it as soon as next week so it won't be long. There's quite a few to choose from but we already narrowed it...

Do you know where your TURKEY is???? Thanksgiving Day - Anonymous Thanksgiving Day will soon be here It comes around but once a year If I could only have my way, We'd have Thanksgiving every day. from: Thanksgivingworld.com From our house to yours....Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Let's be grateful for everything that we've been blessed throughout the year. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our curio is finally in its place. Hubby called his brother to come over to help him move it from the trailer he hauled it in to our living room. I didn't realize it was that heavy. I actually offered to help move it but hubby said I won't be able to lift it an inch. Tee hee... Our next mission...to buy stuff we can put in it. One thing I didn't realize is how big it is. I thought it would be a little smaller but it looks okey in our living room. The top shelves are bare right now and I can't really decide what to put in it. I'm sure we'll come up with something before long. We're not in a hurry anyway. If we're able to go almost 2 years without it, what's another 2 years to decorate it? LOL...Nah....I'm sure it won't take that long...especially now that it's up to us and not some unprofessional whatchamacallit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As a little girl, I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grow up. Actually, I didn't know until I was in college already. I enrolled in education not really knowing if I wanted to be a teacher or not. My mother was a teacher and that somehow made me choose education even if I wasn't sure if I really wanted to be a teacher or not. After graduation, the first jobs I applied for were nowhere near teaching. I wanted to work in the office. Fortunately, I didn't get the jobs I applied or I wouldn't have ended doing something I didn't know I would love so much....teaching. I don't know if I'll ever go back to teaching in a regular school but if not, I'm glad I had the more than 10 years of teaching in my memory box which I will forever treasure. I'm NOT closing my door to it completely but I'm thinking of maybe exploring some other avenues if and when I get the chance. I think I mentioned here that one day, I...

It's Thanksgiving week! Yay! Exciting especially if you have a little one who is counting the days. She keeps saying: Don't forget Thanksgiving! LOL. Of course we won't. How can we when she keeps reminding us every hour by the hour. Dad likes to tease her and say: Oh I almost forgot about it ...but thanks for reminding me. It's going to be a short week because of it. Most people are taking a long weekend I'm sure but not the man of the house here. He'll be off on the day itself but I'm pretty certain he'll be back to work the next day. They're super duper busy until the early part of next year so taking looonngg weekends are is out of the question for now. But then again we're happy and very much thankful because he has work....and that would be first in the list of the things we will be thankful for this coming Thanksgiving Day!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And I didn't know about it! Ugh! I got busy with "trying to be busy" that I didn't hear my email alert. I'm about to hit the hay but I thought of checking my emails first....and there they are...2 emails from my boss letting me know that work is ready. The emails' time stamped were at 2 and 5 respectively so it's been almost 8 hours and I just read them. Oh well...maybe tomorrow I can do some...if it does not run out. For now I need to go to bed so my allergy won't kick my arse tomorrow...and because That's about it. Wishing you all a relaxing weekend!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Back in the 1990s, I was in a car accident. My co-teachers and I were on our way back to the school where we worked after running some last minute errands for our Christmas party. Our school driver was behind the wheels and he wasn’t a very patient driver. I remember thinking that we were going to be in an accident if he didn’t slow down. He was in a hurry because we were almost late for the gathering but I’d rather be late than land in a hospital. What do you know, we had an accident. In his aim to make it on time, he didn’t realize a truck in our way was stopped because it broke down. It was too late when he realized it so we hit the truck. We weren’t seriously hurt but it was scary. After filing the report, we went ahead and attended that party we were in a hurry to attend. I don’t believe there was any lawsuit or anything like that for that accident since the only damage done was on our school driver…he was fired by our Directress. Everything was sett...

Everytime hubby has to be on the road driving for more than 10 hours, I worry. I can't help it. He is a good driver but I can't say the same thing with the other drivers on the road. To avoild the anxiety it brings me, I try to stay busy...and that's what I did today. I cleaned....until after dinner. Since he had the trailer with him, I was able to clean some in the garage. It's hard to clean it when the trailer is there because it occupies half of the space and I had to go around it in order to get to some areas. I got busy cleaning there that I forgot the time. I ended up vacuuming in the house at around 7 already. At least I finished cleaning most of the house already. Tomorrow will be a lot easier and I'll be able to rest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yes, I'm talking about the show. I think this year's competition is a lot more controversial compared to the previous ones. Last season it got a little bit controversial as well just because one of the contestants was the mother of those 8 kids who used to have a show. But that's nothing compared to this season. The controvery this time is mostly about the Bristol Palin. Aside from being the daughter of Sarah Palin, they're saying that SHE CAN'T DANCE! What a surprise. Actually, that's not the surprising part. It's the fact that she's still in the competition 2 weeks before the finals. Right now, there are only 4 pairs left. One of the judges' fave Brandy was surprisingly sent home last week...and that irked a lot of people. Not me...because I don't really watch it. I just read about it. LOL... One really irked individual was a man who shot his TV with a shot gun when Bristol was announced 'safe'. Isn...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Literally. I was watching the news yesterday [I think it was yesterday anyway] when a report about a little boy was aired. The boy got a metal detector as a gift from his parents. He used it for the first time on the same day he got when he got the beep he was waiting for. He stumbled upon something…a gold coin. He was ecstatic with his find but what came next made his parents a lot more excited. It turned out the gold coin is a rare kind of coin. They brought it somewhere to be checked and they were told that the coin is probably cost as much as….5 million dollars! I almost fell off my chair when I heard that. I know that gold is in demand right now because of its stability but I wasn’t expecting one gold coin to fetch that much money. Sweet! Hubby has always wanted a metal detector. Everytime he sees one in those TV shows he likes to watch he’d always say that one day he’s going to get one for himself. He wants to hunt metals as a hobby when we re...

That's me in the 1900s. LOL...that's how the little one likes to call it anyway. My niece finally uploaded some of my old pictures. I left all my photo albums when I moved here. I've been asking my niece/nephew to either scan them or take pictures of pictures...LOL. They did and they finally upload them in FB. I hardly recognized myself in those pictures. I was so thin! I showed them to hubby and his reaction/question: Where is that girl??? LOL....My reply: Somewhere inside me...I think I swallowed her. Haha.... Seeing those pictures made me think of my one and only desire during those years...to gain weight. I wanted to at least hit 100 pounds. It never happened while I was single. I was less than 100 lbs when I got married. I of course gained the weight when I got pregnant....and never lost some of it. My wish then and now are still the same....to hit 100 pounds....this time by losing and not gaining....

After waiting for 19 months, the curio is finally here. It was a long agonizing experience dealing with the guy that built it. It was a total nightmare. The hubby had to drive to for approximately 16 hourse just to pick it up today. It's definitely a long drive but he wanted to see the finished product in person even if the guy emailed us some pictures of it. We just can't trust anything he does or says anymore so even with the pictures as proof that's why the husband was willing to drive that far just to pick it up. Anyway, it's here now. We're satisfied with it but not impressed. It was obviously done just to get the rest of the payment...which he doesn't deserve. Oh well...one thing is for sure...we'll never do what we did just to have a custom made furniture....trust somebody we didn't know from Adam.

Yes, you read that right...I'm actually doing a tag! The last tag [or meme as we bloggers fondly call it] I did was a hundred and one years ago. That long huh? LOL... My Friday Sis - Clarisse aka 'the Wonder Wifey' tagged me on this one about a month ago and I only got the chance to do it now. Better late than...later? Heniwey...thanks C! Here are the THEE RULES that it came with: * Be sure to thank and link back to the person who gave you the award. * Share 7 things about yourself. * Pass the award to other bloggers who you think deserves it. * Be sure to let the bloggers know you chose them to receive the award. ---> Okie dokie....here are the 7 things that I may [or may not] have shared here already. 1) I like bargain shopping...online. Who doesn't, right? 2) I don't drive....because I can't...yet. 3) I *think* I'm obssessed with pajamas. I can't seem to stop buying them. Am I called a 'pajama-holic then? 4) I'm not really fond of the cold...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Every now and then the husband and I get into some serious talks about the future. We have some long term plans as well as short-term ones that we want to accomplish in a few years. We know there's a lot of hard work to be done if we want any of these plans to materialize. We make it a point to be practical in everything we do. Sometimes we get carried away and buy more than what we planned to buy but that's rare. Most of the time we stick to the plan so I think we're good. LOL.... I mentioned here several times that if I have the money, I'll buy me gold bullion . It turns out, the husband also thinks that is a good idea. I know he's into stock and stock trading recently but it's only now that he mentioned he also wants to invest in gold. Gold a[s well as some other precious metals like silver] has passed the test of time and is staying solid even if everything around it is crushing down. We're not buying yet but it's someth...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Next to our respective husbands, of course! LOL...This year, the honor went to Ryan Reynolds. I must say it's a good choice since he's good looking [enough to make Scarlett Johansson marry him]. He also had quite a few films that raked money in the box office this year. This video that I'm posting here is not so much about him though but the 'perennial' first runner-up - Patrick Dempsey. It's from Jimmy Kimmel show...and since the show is aired so late at night, I just found this in one of the entertainment websites. HILARIOUS~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After almost 2 years, 19 months to be exact, the corner curio we ordered from a guy in Georgia is finished! You read that right, 19 months for a curio to be finished. There’s nothing special about this particular curio except that we couldn’t find one to our specifications. We thought the best route to take was to order a custom made one. It turned out to be the worst route ever. Never again will we go through that in the future. I honestly thought we won’t ever see that curio but now it’s done. Why didn’t we give up on it? Because we paid the man a 50% deposit for it and it’s a lot of money especially at this time of economic crunch. What’s going to happen next? Hubby will be going to Georgia to pick it up. He chose to pick it up himself because he wants to do the inspection first before paying him the rest…which he doesn’t deserve in my opinion. It’s a good thing it’s not the middle of the ice season of else hubby will need some tire chains put on his ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's how the husband called it. LOL. Hubby has a few retirement accounts that he's been evaluating lately. One of them was from his old job nad it's just sitting with no returns. He wants to use it to invest into some stocks that look promising. Since I am his beneficiary, I had to sign the papers before he can do the transfer..that's why he said that. I wasn't even aware that I was the beneficiary. I guess it's something automatic to him because he made me beneficiary of everything right after we got married. I don't really know much about investing or stocks for that matter. I used to think that the best investment one can make is to buy a house or real properties. But with the recent housing industry collapse, my way of thinking has shifted. I would rather buy gold bullion today instead of investing in another house or a piece of property. Unlike real estate, the market value of gold and its marketability has been prett...

This is a picture of avid boxing fans in the Philippines. As far as I can remember, boxing has always been a popular sport back home. I still remember 'Thrilla in Manila" although I didn't watch it. I remember our neighbors getting together so they could watch it as a group. Navarette was the name that used to come to mind whenever I think of Filipino boxers. He used to be famous but it was a brief one. Today, Manny Pacquiao is synonymous to 'boxing' back there [and everywhere, maybe?]. Why not when he's been setting world record after world record just like what he did when he beat his latest opponent yesterday. According to the news, crimes come to a halt whenever he has a fight. One can only wish....if he can fight daily. Of course that's not possible. After this latest victory, I wonder if he will return to the ring again. A Mayweather bout is what's everybody's waiting for. But is it worth it? Anyway...I don't watch boxing. I...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My first trip to the US was in 1999. It was supposed to be a “business with pleasure” trip but mostly pleasure I must admit. My place of choice for my first US trip was California. Aside from the very famous tourist spot there, I also have a lot of friends all over that state so it was the most ideal place for me to visit. For most of my stay there, I stayed with a good friend who has a long beach apartment . She and I used to share a room when we were still teaching in the Philippines so it was like a given that I would stay with her while I was visiting. It was like old times…too bad the ‘business’ part of that trip didn’t materialize or we would have been living in the same area [if not in the same apartment] right now. A few years after that trip, I moved here in the US. I am on the opposite side of the country from my friends but at least I’m no longer a thousand miles away from them. It's a lot easier & cheaper to visit them now. But since we...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This time it's not me. It's the man of the house. We were both stick thin when we met some ten years ago but that's no longer the case. We've gained more weight than what we planned or wanted. At first, I'm the only not very happy with it. He was fine with it and said he fet great. Not quite the case lately. He's starting to feel some discomfort I guess so he's trying to think about trimming down a little bit. He's convinced that it's happening already because he's seeing some drop on the scale...but that was so last week. LOL. He doesn't think he lost any this week. We are not doing anything different by the way. Well, maybe a little. He stopped snacking after dinner. Since it doesn't seem that he lost any this week, I'm thinking of looking for the best weight loss supplements out there to aid in this 'battle'. Frankly, I don't really want him to shed off the weight but for health reasons, ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yes, it is. It's Veterans' Day today and it's a national holiday. I knew Veterans' Day is coming up but it totally slipped my mind it's actually. The little one was the one who reminded me that it is today. When I was still working outside the house, I knew all the holidays weeks away. Primarily because of the day-off from work. Now that I'm a WAHM....such is no longer the case. Christmas can even probably sneak up on me and I'd be totally be surprised. LOL... We don't normally feel it here when it's a non-working holiday. Hubby still goes to work while I work. One of my jobs today emailed letting me know that it's going to be a slow day because of the holiday but there was still some work that came my way. I guess we're not the only ones foregoing more & more holidays now. That's just the way it is now I guess. But that's not saying that we should forget about those that fight for the country. We sh...

Just one of her many doodles that little one gave me. She made this one for me last Saturday... I guess as a 'thank you' for sorting out the stuff in her bedroom...LOL. She didn't tell me about it and I just saw it after I was done in her bedroom. It was sitting on the counter still 'wet'.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of my nephews graduated high school about 2 years ago. Just like a lot of young kids, he wanted to start earning his keeps as soon as he finished high school. No amount of advice would make him change his mind so my brother let him find a job and work. One year into it, he had a change of heart. He discovered that getting just the minimum wage would not cut it to survive even if he’s still living at home so he now wants to go back to school. The only problem is…he really doesn’t know what he wants to take. He said that he wants take up something that won’t take long to finish and something that would make him marketable. He’s interested in computer work, networking etc so I sent him some links to the Chicago CCNA and the Virginia Cisco Course websites. He’s always on the computer anyway so I thought it would interest him to work in and around the computer if he gets certified. I have yet to hear what he thinks about it but I’m hoping he’d go that rout...

...came across this today. I also saw Manny's interview in 60 minutes last night where they showed footages of his early boxing days. He has come a long way. I can't help but wonder why he still fights. He said himself in the interview that he has attained what he wants to attain in boxing. Maybe he should retire from the game while he's at the top. He can just concentrate with his new endeavor in politics....or maybe form a band with Will Farrell? Maybe...not?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ About a year ago, one of the first companies I worked for was bought out by another company. Unfortunately, one of the departments they phased out as part of the shake-up was the department where I worked. I really loved working with this company because we were given some benefits that other companies won't give work-at-home employees like me. For one, they deducted taxes from our bi-monthly pay. That's one less headache when it's tax time since they filed it for us. But the one benefit I really liked was the option for us to contribute to a retirement account like the 401k. It felt good knowing I was able to set aside some money for the future even if I am a work-at-home Mom. Unfortunately that had to stop as soon as the company was bought out and we were let go. Right now, I have my 401k sitting idly in some retirement fund. Honestly, I have no clue what to do with it. I can probably move it to another company where it can earn something or may...

It's a cold one, too! Hubby said it's perfect...and I say....BRRRR.... We're bracing for a colder weekend though because of the cold front. According to the local news we'll have even lower temperature tomorrow & Sunday. But knowing how fickle-minded our weather is here in our neck of the woods, maybe it won't get that cold. Fingers crossed...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yep, we're in for a very cold weekend. If the past couple of days were rainy, the next couple of days [or more] will be cold. Today we woke up with a higher 30s temperature. As of this writing, we're having lower 50s. If my computer weather bug is right, the highest will only be in the lower 60s. Can I say....brrrrr???? I'm sure glad that the warmer clothes I ordered online for the little arrived earlier this week. She's already wearing one of the outfits today. I still have to get her some more plus some new shoes as well. The one we got her a few weeks ago are sandals because it was pretty hot during those days. Now I have to find some shoes that will keep her little toes warm and comfy. I'm thinking of getting her either ecco shoes or some UGG boots if I find one that she likes. She has to approve of them or else they will be ignored. I can no longer do what I did before which was to decide which clothes or shoes she likes. She...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Finally, no more political ads on TV and no more political calls numerous times a day. It gets really tiring seeing these ads over and over again so when Tuesday came rolling in, I was one happy camper. On Wednesday, the little one asked if this and that candidate won. I think she asked about 3 particular candidates and I said yes they won. Her reaction: Well then, thanks to Daddy! LOL. She thinks they won because of her Dad. She really thinks her Dad can make things happen and that he knows everything. But come to think of it...Daddy [aka 'the husband] does know a lot of things. I'm not just saying it because he's my husband. He's really the jack of all trade. He can fix almost anything...from computers to anything that needs fixed around the house. I can aso ask him questions about anything like what rack mount computer is to what the black hole is all about. I can even ask him questions about places in the Philippines and he'll be able to g...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Everytime we want or need to buy something, we take our time to research the product. This is especially true with the husband. When his Blackberry's trackball stopped working, he was originally planning in ditching the phone and buying the much hyped about iPone4. He started researching and weighs the pros & cons. It took him days to do research before he finally settled with an iPod instead of an iPhone. It was a wise decision because he later found out that the trackball on his Blackberry can be replaced and so he did and now it works just fine. If he bought an iPhone instead, he would have ditched his Blackberry. Doing research before purchasing anything always pays off...at least to us anyway. Right now, he is busy researching document management softwares because he wants to buy one for the company. I think today is Day 4 of his research and I'm hoping he'd be able to decide before the weekend. If not, then his weekend will be spent...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You'll think that after hearing bad news after bad news you'll get used to it already. Not quite true...especially if the bad news hits close to home. We've known for a while now that somebody close to us is having some problems with his house...the 'F' word - foreclosure. Truth be told, he was advised by my hubby not to pursue with his plans of renovating that house a few years ago considering the housing market's situation. He didn't listen saying it would get better before it could get worse. Boy was he ever wrong. The problem with this person is he rarely listens to my husband. Why he even bother to ask for my husband's opinion is beyond me. The sadder part of this story is he spent most of his retirement money in renovating that house. Now he doesn't have a house and lost a lot of money in the process. I don't know why he didn't think of investing his money in something more stable. Personally, if we have the...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's my favorite line before. It's also the best way to describe the birthday I just had. I don't make a big deal of my birthday. The day IS a big deal in the Philippines since it's the day when people flock to their loved ones final resting place. In the little cemetery where our relatives are buried [including my Nanay & Tatang], there's literally hundreds of people at any given time during the day and night. If only because of that, my birthday is almost always remembered. Where I'm at now, it's just an ordinary day. No flock of people, no big fuss about it. That's how I like it. The only one that makes a fuss about birthdays [and any other dates marked on the calendar] around here is our little one. To us, that's quite alright. This is what she put on my laptop in the morning of my birthday. She knows my laptop is the first thing I go to [if I don't have to wake her up anyway] when I go out of the bedroom. Str...

...has been added to my collection of birthdays. My wish? How about a bigger head for me and smaller one for the little girl. LOL... Seriously, there's not much I can ask for even if we're not rich financially. I think I have more things I'm thankful for than for things to wish for. For one, the husband has a steady job and I'm very thankful for that since a lot of people can't even find one during these hard times. I know quite a few who now have to turn to payday loans to make ends meet. One friend who called to greet me earlier was telling me that even if she has a job, there are times that they can barely pay everything that needs paid. Her husband used to have a regular job but he got laid off about a year ago. He started a small business soon after that but with the present economic situation, the business hasn't taken off. It's when I hear stories like this that I really appreciate what we have right now.