In Case You Didn't Know...

... and I'm late acknowledging it! But better late than never, right?

Have a great weekend!

Thursday.....

I have this same graphic in my other blog but I'm still using it here because it's too cute not to share. That's exactly how I look like [only with dark brown eyes and darker skin with slimmer fingers...LOL] on Thursdays. I'm sure I can get an AMEN to that, eh?

So far the day is going ok. I haven't really done a lot but I'm about to dive into some work again. I have no idea what the weekend schedule looks like for me. At least we don't have to beat a deadline this week, I don't think so anyway. So maybe I'll be able to finally have that relaxing weekend I was meaning to have last weekend. Still I'm not holding my hopes high because it's only Thursday. Things may change from today to tomorrow. One thing I know...even if we have to beat a deadline, I'd probably take a few hours off sometime during the weekend because someone in this house got bored out of his wits last weekend.

That's it for now...Seeya!

One More Day...

... and it's going to be the most awaited day of the week...Friday! Yay! But before that happens we have to get through this day first, right?

I'm still pretty busy with work but never too busy to do some online shopping...tee hee. I've never owned a pair of ugg boots but it seems I'm always asked about them by my nieces. I told them I really don't need boots where I'm at because the weather don't really call for boots even during the winter time. Out of curiosity I asked them why they're so interested in them anyway. They are in the Philippines and if I don't need boots where I'm at, I just don't see the reason why they would. They said they're just curious but I know it's more than that. I have a feeling they want ME to buy a pair for myself. Why? Because I usually send shoes back home that I no longer use. Since I barely go out of the house, more often than not, my 'used' shoes that I send are barely used.

The only question is....will I ever buy me a pair of boots anytime soon? They don't look too appealing at the moment. What with the temperature going us high as the upper 90s? I don't think so....maybe later this year.

PinayWAHM is BUSY so....

I hope you all have a great day ahead!

Retail Ttherapy

That's what I need to do. Why? Because I just received a not-so-good news...from one of my bosses. Since I have a few work-at-home jobs, I also have a few different bosses. One of them emailed today to let us know that her term in the company will be ending soon. She's the only 'boss' I've known in this particular company so it's definitely a downer to learn she's leaving soon. This company has been "quiet" for a while now which means we barely get work from them lately. I'm thinking we will be hearing a lot less from them now that our boss no longer works for them. I wonder if this is the start of the end?

Like I said, I haven't done much work for them lately. I think my last paycheck with them was early this year so it won't really hurt much financially. Well, maybe it will since I'm busy shopping at the moment. I may just spend more than I am planning as my retail therapy for this bummer. Is it Cyber Monday yet? At least with this special day, I can shop more and spend less...but it's not so I better stop shopping now before I break the bank.

Break...

That's what I'm trying to do. My original plan of taking it easy the past weekend turned out to be the opposite. Taking it easy was just not possible because of a deadline given to us by our boss. We weren't able to finish what needed to be done last week so we didn't have a choice but to work on the weekend. We barely made it actually but we did...I think. I'm still waiting for the email saying we did it and I'm hoping we were able to beat the deadline.

In the meantime, I'm here browsing and looking for a blouse that I've been wanting to have since forever. I've seen a couple but they're not exactly what I want but if I don't find the exact same blouse I want, I'd probably go with the ones I found already. They're on sale anyway and I found some coupons I can use to even lower the price they're on right now. Maybe I'll be able to find some coupons for free shipping as well....

Fireplace

One of the things that the husband really wants to have in a house is a fireplace. In the old house, we have a fireplace. We only get very few days of cold weather here in our neck of the wood but we always had the fireplace going when that happened. Unfortunately, we don't have a fireplace here. It doesn't mean that we won't have it in the future though. We still have a long way to go as far as furniture and decoration is involve. But it looks like before we get to some of those, we may just get a fireplace first. I have no idea where or what kind of fireplace we're going to get but an Amish fireplace is something worth considering...similar to the one in the picture. Our place is not big at all so the size of this fireplace will be perfect for our living room. And since it's a rolling fireplace, it means we can actually move it from room to room. The only problem is...I'm not sure the husband would like a 'moving' fireplace. But we'll see...

Here We Go Again...

So much to do, very little time to do it...but, it's Friday so who cares, right? Woot! Woot!

I'm a wee bit way over my head with work. I've been staying up late so I'm like a walking zombie most of the time. I'm trying to finish what needs done but all I really want to do right now is sleep. Help?

But like I said, it's Friday and that alone makes me feel like jumping up and down...will do that later though because I'm way too tired to even lift a toe. I'll try to relax and sleep as much as I can this weekend. I don't think we have any plans to go anywhere...that may change of course. For one, we had to cancel some things we ordered for the little one's bedroom because one of the pieces we ordered was discontinued already so we cancel the whole set.

The store offered another piece for the discontinued one but the reason we chose what we did was because it's a SET. Anyway, there's no rush. We just thought it's time to 'upgrade' the little one's bedroom because she's not so little anymore? HUWWAAATTT??? Did I just admit she's not a baby anymore???? I must NEED that sleep more than I thought, eh?

Souvenir

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So the husband just got back from another business trip. This time around, we knew how long he would be away although we were hoping he would be able to cut the trip short. No can do. The client just squeezed his stay to the last pulp. Oh well. He gave them so much room to wiggle so they took advantage of it. Needless to say, much of his stay there went nowhere. Instead of accommodating him, it was the other way around.

As for me, I'm just glad he's back home. The little one feels the same way of course. It seems she's getting used to the idea that Dad has to take trips sometimes for his business. One thing she's definitely loving are the souvenirs that Dad brings her when he gets back from his trips. During this last trip, he brought her back some local currencies of the place he went to. I would have loved to see him bring home some gold coins instead but it's not in the budget for now. LOL. Maybe next time when he goes to a place where the price of gold is much lower than what it is here. Aside from having them as souvenirs, they can be our investment as well, right? Why not when the price of this favorite commodity stays stable amidst all these economic meltdowns we've been experiencing. We don't need a fortune to invest in gold so that's a very feasible plan for us.

Anyway, that's just a plan. I really have no idea when his next trip will be but I'm hoping we will at least have enough time to recover from this last one before he goes to the next one. In a year or two, maybe?

Sleep vs. Work

It's going to be a long day for me today. I've been having a tough time the last few nights either going to sleep or staying asleep. Hopefully, I'll stay awake as I go through the grind today.

I haven't been doing a lot of blogging, especially bloghopping, lately because it's been quite busy in the work front. It's all good, of course. I'm just glad I have a job amidst all the unemployment news I've been reading and/or hearing online or on TV. Just yesterday, our local channel here reported that there is now a ratio of 5 people to 1 job vacancy. That means that 4 of these applicants will remain unemployed. For how long? No one knows.

So even if I'm really sleepy right now, I'm going to work...if only to show how thankful I am that I have something even if it's not my so-called 'dream job'....

Attracting Customers

One of the things that we don’t do a lot around here is eat out. My husband likes home cooked meals and so do I. So most of the time, we just sit back and relax and eat whatever is available at home. Also, more often than not, the food we order when we eat out is something we can fix at home anyway. But there are also times when we get the urge to go out and try one of the restaurants around here. Since we don’t go out much there are quite a few restaurants around here we still need to try…and we tried one last weekend.

So how was our experience with this restaurant? Let me just say that this restaurant has made a good investment when they chose to have a Direct TV business as their service provider in their restaurant. Why? Because if they didn’t have it, there’s a big chance we would have walked out the place first chance we got. Yep, the service is just not that great. The waiting period between orders was too long I would have fallen asleep if not for the TV that kept us occupied. The waiters and waitresses just seemed not interested to actually do their jobs.

Having some kind of a Business cable service is probably one of the best investments these restaurants make today and that’s for a variety of reasons in my opinion. Sometimes it keeps patrons [like us] from walking out when the service is not as great as we want it. But most of the time, having Dish business service attracts customers especially during the Superbowl or the World Series. A lot of restaurants around here actually host these Superbowl or World Series parties and I bet they make a bunch of money doing that.

Dropping By To Say...

I've been away for a few days...away from my blog that is. I didn't go anywhere. I just got a bit busy so I wasn't able to visit even my own blog...or maybe I visited it a couple of times...just didn't have the chance to update it.

Another weekend is about to end. Now we wait for another, eh? Happy to say I've been productive this weekend. I was able to do most of the things I want to do so YAY!

Time to start making dinner. See ya!

Innocent? Me?

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Hard to believe but that's what came out in this test. Maybe I am...innocent, I mean...and I just don't know it? Tee hee...

Anyway, I just finished munching down some chocolate ice cream - moose tracks - in a cone...then I saw this 'test'. Here's the result. I wonder if the hubs would believe this result....

You're Sweet Because You're Innocent

You may have been hurt many times before, but you don't carry it with you in life. You still fundamentally expect people to be good, and you give them the benefit of the doubt. You're innocent, but you're not naive. You know who could harm you, and you stay away accordingly. Whenever you can, you open your heart up to possibilities. Life is so much richer that way.

The Sorbet Test

Apartment Hunting Made Easy!

Apartment hunting is exciting but challenging for the most part. That’s my experience anyway when I was still single and was living in apartments. It’s exciting because you get to explore while looking for one but mostly challenging because it’s never easy to find one that meets everything you want in an apartment. Not too long ago, finding, say, Charlotte, NC Apartments, meant you had to go driving around Charlotte searching for one. That’s what I did with my friends when we were looking for a new apartment back in the late 1990s. It wasn’t fun because we would drive aimlessly then stop if we see the sign ‘apartments for rent’. Needless to say, it was a stressful time.

But since the internet, such is no longer the case. If you’re looking for Luxury Durham, NC Apartments all you have to do is go online and visit NC-Apartments’ website. With a click of a mouse, you will be able to see numerous available apartments at a location you prefer. How hard can that be, right? It’s like having available Rent High Point, NC Apartments right at your fingertips. So now, there's no need to wait until the weekend to do apartment hunting because the website is open 24/7 like a convenient store. How I wish it was that easy back then. It would have saved me and my friends a bunch of gas money and of course some unnecessary stress. At least now I know where to go if ever need to look for apartments in the NC area.

The 'FAN'

This the reason why we had to take a trip back to the Philippine store today. The store owner promised the little one a fan similar to the one displayed on the wall of her store. The fan on her store wall is actually a souvenir fan from the Philippines but she said that she could get fans similar to it in the 'tiangge' she goes to every weekend.

Unfortunately, it was raining when she went so the 'bangketa' [sidewalk] didn't have any vendors so she wasn't able to find the fans. But since she promised the little one a fan, she just gave her this one which she got somewhere else some time ago. She said she knew the little one will be coming back this weekend and she didn't want to disappoint her. Such a sweet lady. Anyway, the little one is happily playing with it right. She said she can now'open' it easily....haha. The joys of simple things, eh?

Relaxing Sunday...

Thought I'd take a break from my boring 'job' and just laze around the house while waiting on the husband to get ready...and the laundry to be done. We're going to the Philippine store again today. We were there last weekend so we shouldn't be going this week because I only want to go there once a month at the most. TEMPTATION is the reason. I tend to buy more than I should whenever we're there that's why which is not good for my neverending weight loss saga. But the owner told the little one last weekend that she's going to buy some new stuff that includes 'hand fan'. The little one wanted a fan that she saw on display but that's just what it is....a display so the owner promised to look for a similar one when she does her usual shopping for the store.

That's our 'major' plan for the day...LOL. That's too much excitement for me anyway...tee hee

Beauty School

School has just started in the Philippines. My nieces & nephews are all going in different directions now as far as schooling is concerned. Most of them are either in college or taking some post-graduate degrees. I'm glad they like school so much that they seem too happy to actually go to school forever. LOL. One of my nieces though had to stop going to school because she got married and is now expecting a little one in a month or so. After giving birth to her child, she's planning to go back to school. Instead of finishing her course, she now wants to take up cosmetology. She's always been the type who likes anything and everything that has something to do with being beautiful. She's always fully made up even if she's only hanging out at home. I believe she'd be good in this field because of that.

She has no idea though which school to go to because there's not a lot of beauty school in our province. How I wish we have something like Jacksonville Cosmetology School back home to make it easier for her to decide. Unlike this school which has been in the business for more than 50 years, most of the cosmetology school there are very new. Maybe they can move here in the sunshine state and go to this school, eh? If only it was that easy. I'd probably send her some information about this school anyway so she can have some kind of a basis when looking for a school.

It's been a busy one for me. Ya know...the usual weekend chores. I've finished some and there are still some waiting on the wings...but they can wait a little bit longer, right? I'm taking a break for now to read, maybe nap a little.

The sun is out in full force today. Beach lovers are probably having a ball right now. I wish I am one but I'm not. I'm perfectly happy staying in the comfort of our little abode. Maybe tomorrow we can go somewhere so we can get some fresh air. Hopefully, the weather will be good as well. The last time we went out we got a bunch of rain.

Sleep Deprived?

It sounds so negative, doesn't it? It's like I'm being forced to stay up. Well, that maybe true in some aspects. It's not anyone in particular that's 'forcing' me to stay up late at night. It's more like 'something'...which is work. I don't know why but I seem to be more productive when I'm working at night. There's just too much distractions during the day to be as productive I guess. The silence at night seems to keep me in work mode that before I know it, it's way past midnight already. Not good for my aging skin. Dark circles as well as fine lines are much more evident these days that not even the best anti wrinkle cream will help me any. I don't think anyway. I've been using a night moisturizer regularly but even if I slather that all over my face then keep on skipping on sleep, wrinkles will show up whether I like it or not.

So what do I do? I have a few ideas actually. I just don't know if I can follow through them. But how would I know if I don't give it a try, right? I better start jotting down these ideas before I get distracted again.

Buying in Bulk

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We don't normally go to stores that sell stuff in bulk for a number of reasons. We don't have enough storage space to keep things in bulk. Although we have been planning in buying some meats in bulk so we got a freezer when we moved here. The brand-new freezer is still sitting idly in the garage waiting to be filled with goodies. Another reason why we try to avoid stores that sell in bulk is the temptation of buying some things just because they seem to be cheaper if we buy them in bulk even if we really don't have any use for them. Maybe if we have some kind of a buy and sell business then buying stuff like wholesale electronics won't be such a bad idea. That's how buy and sell businesses make money anyway. But for personal use, I just don't see the practicality of it for now.

There are things though that I buy in bulk every now then. My lotion would be one of them. My reason is simple...the lotion I use not cheap when bought at a regular price. So, I wait for the store's sale season like semi-annual sale then grab as much as I can. They cut the price by 75% so it's really worth it. As a matter of fact, I did just that. I now have a year's supply of my regular lotion. Now I can sit back and relax while waiting for their next sale. Ha!

'Julie Boy'

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Finally, after searching for them online for months, my former dorm mates and I are in contact again. It took a while but we're finally in touch. Thanks to another dorm mate who started a group in FB. As I was checking at old photos posted in the group's page, I realized that I used to have more male friends in the dorm than female friends. I guess I was more comfortable then hanging out with the boys than with the girls. That's probably because I grew up in a house that is dominated by men. I have 3 brothers and most of my cousins are also males so I was always surrounded with natural testosterone. Because of this, I unknowingly developed some mannerisms that were kind of 'manly' during those years. I'm guessing that's the reason why my dorm friends used to call me 'Julie Boy'...and they made sure to remind me of that when they leave me messages in one of the pictures.LOL. It's not offensive or anything, I think it's actually cute and sweet that they still remember their 'nick name' for me back then.

Anyway, it feels great to finally track them down. We're all leading different lives now but it sure is fun to see how we all turned out. We're still tracking some friends and we're hoping to be able to see them in our group's page ASAP.

Question...

Answer: You bet!

Another busy one for me. I'm trying to get into some kind of schedule in order to be more productive. So far...it's not happening yet. I'm supposed to be in bed about an hour ago but I am not. I'm hoping I won't suffer from allergy attack tomorrow as a result of my staying up this late. With work being more predictable lately, I'm positive I'll be able to be get into some kind of a groove in the days to come. Fingers crossed of course.

With that being said...Pinay WAHM...out!

New Clothes

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While getting ready to head out over the weekend to run some errands, I realized that the little one is running out of clothes that fit her. I've been getting her new clothes [online] almost every week but those are mostly clothes that she wears around the house or house clothes. We don't go out much so I don't really keep tabs on her 'going out' clothes that's why I missed it. Good thing Dad got her a shirt as a remembrance of his last trip. He does that everytime he goes out of state even if he comes back on the same day. Anyway, last Tuesday I decided to look for some new wardrobe for the little one. Since she's old enough to choose what she wants, I let her decide what she wanted to get. We jumped from website to website to find her some new clothes. I was surprised that she likes urban clothing now. You know the 'hip-hop' kind of clothing. I've got nothing against this type of clothing. I was just kept off guard when she kept ignoring clothes that she used to like a lot such as fairy tale inspired shirts. Sigh. Yep, she's growing way tooooo fast for me. I don't even want to think what's coming next. Somebody please save me.

Disappointed

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Attending the 4th of July party was something we didn't plan in doing. It was my first time to attend one so I wasn't sure what to expect. I kinda' knew there will be a lot of chit-chatting among the attendees since that's what happens in any gathering like that, right? I knew there will be lots of foods that I haven't had in a while so I tried to brace myself and prepared to, umm...pig out if need be. There are a lot of weight loss products out there anyway that I can turn to, right? LOL But I may not be needing any of them after all because the food was not what I expected so I didn't eat much. To say I was disappointed is probably an understatement. The food was 'the' reason that's why I was talked into going. So I wasn't happy when I took my first bite. The little one even commented that one dish was 'yucky'. I can't blame her. It seemed like the caterer skipped a bunch of ingredients they shouldn't have to cut costs sacrificing the foods taste. I hope the next time we attend another gathering, the food will be a lot better. The question is: WHEN? Tee hee...

Too Fast...

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I know I've said it many times here in my blog [and in my other blogs as well] that our little one is growing way too fast and I don't like it. But...do I have a choice? When I was putting the Father's day video together, I couldn't help but be teary eyed seeing her as a little baby. I know I couldn't wait for her to grow up then but I somehow miss those days when she was all clingy and was always hanging on to me. She still clings to us every now and then...especially the last week or so which I think is the result of Dad being away for a number of days. Anyway, physically she's changing by the day. Just this week, I noticed that she has little pimples around her nose. I am hoping they're just the result of the heat because I don't really want to think she'll be needing acne skin products this early. I'm keeping an eye on them just in case but it sure makes me realize more how fast she's growing. Any advice in slowing down time? Anybody?

The 4th of July

We didn't have anything planned. I thought we would just stay home and chill just like any other day. But the husband came across this 'kabayan' in the store on Friday and mentioned to him that there's a gathering being hosted by a Fil-Am group for a 4th of July celebration. It's being held near our place. So...he thought it'd be a good idea to check it out. We did. Good idea? Not quite sure about that. I've been here in the US for 9 years. Believe it or not, I've never been to any gathering hosted by a Fil-Am group.

It's good to see a familiar 'group of people'. Everybody there was friendly which is expected, right? There was an entrance fee covering food which to my opinion was 'so-so' at best. Well, honestly, I personally didn't like any of it except for the sticky rice. The 'lechon' was of course the main attraction on the table. The food was catered and we had to line up to get our portion. Not a big fan of that but that's how it is I guess.

Before dinner, it was the 'mingling' part of the gathering. I don't really mingle so I just absorbed whatever was happening around us. We sat on the table where an owner of a Philippine store that we go to sat as well so there was some chit-chats. After dinner, a short program was presented....mostly Filipino/Fil-Am kids/band showcasing their musical talents. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or what...but those who sang just tried to 'mimic' Charice Pempengco and Arnel Pineda. I know these 2 are making us proud but can we at least try to be a bit original? We weren't even sure if they did a good job mimicking because the sound system of the place was horrible. Anyway, the little one had a blast running around...chasing that little 5-year old [with her in the picture] all over the place. She also tried 'dancing' but her dance usually comes out like 'chicken dance' so it was funny watching her.

If only for her having fun, I would say it was worth it. Would we go again? Maybe, maybe not. They have quite a few get-together lined up but I'm pretty sure it will be same-o same-o. Eating, singing and dancing. It's good to do that every now and then. But monthly? Not quite. Anyway, I am now a member of the group [after shelling out the $$$ for membership fee] so I'm sure I'll be getting notifications everytime there's something coming up. I guess it's time to polish my dancing shoes...err...bakya [wooden shoes].

Father's Day Present...

This is the real father's day present we gave Dad on Father's Day. I already posted one video which was a photo slide with the same background - the little one singing her version of Taylor Swift's 'Best Day'. That video was made because I had some unexpected free time on my hands so it became a bonus father's day gift for Dad.

Half Full or Half Empty?

How do you see it? Admittedly, I see it both ways. Unfortunately, I tend to see it more on the 'half empty' side than I care to admit.

Anyway, today is the first day of July. That means it's also the first day of the second half of 2010. Six months passed..six more to go...thus the 'half-full/half-empty' post.

The first half of my 2010 was a combination of good & not-so good [aka...bad]. LOL. So in between making slide shows for fun, let me jot down how my [our] 2010 has been so far.

Let's start with 'half-full' scenario. Work has been pretty steady the past couple of months for both me and my husband. If it continues, there is a good chance we may be able to take that long 0verdue visit to families 12,000 miles away before the year ends or at the start of the next year. Right now, it's the timing we're having a problem with. Fingers crossed, we are hopeful that there will be small window of break time which may give us the chance to do just that.

And for the 'half-empty' scenario, I still have the thyroid problem although it got a lot better compared to last year. It's been a year since we learned about it and so far, the medication is working. The doctor thinks I may be off them for good if it continues to improve. The other not-so good thing was my little health scare a couple of months ago. It was probably my scariest health scare so far...and it turned out to be something as bad as WE thought it would be. I still have to be monitored for it but for now, it's nothing to worry about.

That's our first half of 2010 in a nut shell. Hoping and wishing that the second half will be a lot better...with God's will, it will be I'm sure.

Back to Normal...

What is normal to us anyway? Being together would be the obvious answer. Like I mentioned in my previous post here, the husband was away for almost 2 weeks for a business trip. It wasn't supposed to last as long as it did but it did. He had to cancel his return trip a couple of times just to give in to their customers' request but he wasn't too happy about it. We weren't happy about it but such is life for a small business owner like himself. Sometimes you have to set aside what makes you happy in order to make it in the business world.

He is back home now and we're 'almost' back to our normal routine. I'm still sleep deprived [and so is he] because of the crazy schedule we had to follow while he was away but all's good now. One positive thing that came out of that trip would be his unexpected weight loss. It's the opposite for me though. I think I actually 'found' what he lost...and it's all my doing. I have to admit I didn't like being away from him...especially if it's something he's also not happy about. I kind of went into mini 'sweet bingeing' by baking brownies and cobbler during the time he was away. The little one was thrilled because we don't normally bake that much sweet in a span of about 10 days. Oh well. I guess I have 'separation anxiety' that I didn't know existed. Now I really have to look for some diet pills that work and see if they will indeed work for me. Or maybe, I can just stop putting those fattening foods in my mouth right about...NOW!

He Lost Weight?

No, not the elephant on the left...the husband! I guess he won't need any noxycut anytime soon now that he lost some weight already. So how did he do it? Definitely not dieting. He was away for almost 2 weeks for a business trip. His regular days [here] at work ranges from 12 to 15 hours a day on the week days and sometimes through the weekend. There are days they can be longer though depending on the urgency of the job. But during this 'prolonged' business trip, his days started at 4:30 AM ending at 9 PM at the earliest, even on the weekend that he was there. There were even a couple of days when he worked until 1:00 AM just to finish what needed to be done.

The long hours he put in definitely helped a lot in losing some of the pounds but he said the food he ate contributed as well. Even if he ate mostly in restaurants during lunch & dinner, the food he ordered were mostly healthy ones. He tried a burger once but it wasn't the best so he opted to stay with local foods. Now I know what to do to lose some weight....go on a business trip! Problem solved! Tee hee...