Pinay WAHM

That's me almost everyday of my life. Some days are worse than the others but just like my allergies, I have learned to just deal with it since it seems to be part of my system...yes, just like my allergies. Anyway, it's been a 'semi-productive' day for me. "Semi" because I wasn't able to finish everything I wanted to get done. For one I wasn't able to walk on the Mobia today because I got caught up with paperworks ~ lireally because I was punching holes on them so I can put them on a binder. I'm pretty sure half of the papers are not important [blank forms, etc] but I don't have the time to go through the 'yard thick' papers we have accummulated. I tried to go through what I could and shredded them until I blew up a fuse so that's about. I still have a bunch of papers to go through and I'm hoping I'll finish them before the week is over...but that is unlikely. I can wish though, right? It's almost the middle of the ...

Yes, that's a question. I'm just wondering why our little one is so into this lately. I thought she's out grown these kinds of things already. Well, apparently not. Some days she's trying very hard to convince us that she's a 'grown-up' already. Some days it's the opposite. Is she having some sort of a mid-life crisis as a pre-teen? Is there such a thing? I cannot remember what I went through [nor do I want to remember honestly] when I was her age...so maybe there is such a thing. Anyway, she made a 'black' print [blue print for the pros, LOL] of the house she wants to build with Dad. Dad just says okay everytime she brings it up. But Dad being Dad, he already started looking online for doll houses. I told him to make sure we can use the reward card we recently acquired to buy that doll house so we can start racking up points already. That's the only reason I agreed to get that reward card anyway...for the points. I don't really like usi...

One of my nieces finished a hotel and restaurant management course in college a few years ago. It was a surprise to me when she told me that's what she wanted to take. I thought she'd be a teacher or a nurse. But it turns out that she really wants to own a restaurant someday so that explains her choice of course. But life does not happen as we plan it to be. It just happens...and that's what happened to her. She got married, then had a baby. Her plans of working then saving got pushed on the side to take care of her growing family. She is now back in the work force in order to help her husband sustain the family needs. Her son stays with my sister in law while she works during the week. She only gets to take care of him during the weekend. Her plans of owning a restaurant one day is still in the back of her mind. It may not happen anytime soon but I'm glad she's not giving up on it. That much needed start-up funding is what she needs to make this dream a reality and...

Everytime I get a bill either in my email or online, I cringe before I even get the chance to open and read it. Let's face it, everything seems to be MORE expensive nowadays. This is the reason why we're thinking of either terminating some of the services we have like cable and just look for some other alternatives to watch our favorite shows. One service we can't do without though is electricity. So even if the rates go up, we have no choice but to accept it and just find ways to either cut back on our use of it or look for other ways to save on electric bills. I read somewhere that new jersey energy rates have gone down considerably for some by switching energy company. I just wish that's possible around here...but it's not because we only have one electric company that serves our area. Still, I'll try and find out if our electric company here offers some energy saving tips I can take advantage of. Paying hundreds of dollars a month for electricity is just ou...

So much to do...don't know what to do first. Hmmm..... Well, I actually started already...by blogging! Ta da! I really have a lot of stuff that I need to do so I better get started on something. I didn't do much over the weekend because I just wanted to relax and do whatever...and that's exactly what we did. Hubby was thrilled [I think?] that I finally went with him and the little one. To where? Somewhere out there. After visiting that place, we just went to some stores to look for things we can put on the overhead planter [?]. It's a challenge to find something to put up there because, first, it's up there. Second...it's up there. LOL. The husband has to do it himself because there is no way I'm going up there to put whatever we decide to put there. I can't even go past the 3rd step on the ladder...much less UP there! Anyway, I'm hoping to finish sorting through the papers in our home office. I started it last week but I still haven't finished s...

I think that's what it's been anyway since we didn't have anything pressing to do so we just did what we wanted to do. Yesterday we stayed home. I did some work and some cleaning...as usual. The husband put some weed killer on the yard because we've been invaded by the fire weeds once again. Today we went to the store to look for a weed killer specifically for the pesky fire weeds. I really hate those weeds because they sting bad. Not only that...the effect of the sting lasts for a day or two. Anyway, while at the store, we also looked at some yard signs we can use for the other property. We just don't know anymore how to keep unruly kids [adults, maybe?] from going into our yard leaving their trash laying around except for putting up more signs. Our neighbor out there is good enough to let us know when something unusual seems to be happening down there so we're somewhat aware of it but that's all they can do. How I wish we can just put up a high fence ther...

These are our guitars. I got my guitar some ten years ago as my very first Christmas present from the husband while the little one got hers a couple of years ago. Hubby got me the guitar because he knows I used to have one back in the Philippines. He figured it would keep me entertained during the day when he was at work. It did for a few months...until we had the little one. After that, I could barely pick it up because I obviously got busy with some other things. I still play every now and then but it's very rare...which doesn't make the husband very happy because he really likes it when I play the guitar. I'm not very good at it, just good enough to actually accompany me sing a song or two. SinceI don't play it regularly, it's usually out of tune when I pick it up to play it. That usually is a reason for me to put it back down again. I don't know how to tune a guitar properly. It's very frustrating to me because I should know how to do that since I play ...

On display! We got these fat chefs one day for no reason at all...initially, anyway. We just thought they're so cute so we decided to scoop them all up and bought them. They weren't expensive [less than $10 each] so we didn't think twice about getting them. It was only when we're about to pay for them that hubs told me he thought they'd look good on the space above the kitchen cupboards. We don't really have any theme or anything going on in the house so I just went along with it...and voila..now they're up there looking at us....tee hee... We have 2 more on the kitchen counter but I wasn't able to take a picture of them. Maybe next time...

That's my oldest brother. I cannot believe he's turning 50 today...but he is. I called last night to wish him happy birthday. He was busy prepping the food for his 'golden birthday party' that he's throwing for his co-workers. He said he spent the whole night deboning milk fish for my favorite dish ~ rellenong bangus ~ or stuffed milk fish. Ugh! Just to rub it in, everytime I call they tell me that's what they're having so I'm getting kinda' used to it. Still, I cannot wait for the day when I get to eat that dish again. The real one and not the frozen one I get in the Philippine store every now and then. Another weekend...and it's a bit cold around here. It won't be very cold but colder than the previous days. We've been having 80s here throughout the week but today it will only be in the low 70s so that's a good change...I guess. No big plans for us this weekend. I have to attend to something later on but that's about it. As usua...

Fortunately, I haven't had any serious skin problems myself. Except for the occasional pimples [Hello Aunt Flo!] and some skin irrations every now and then, my most serious skin problem is probably the one I get whenever I have to change earrings for long periods of time. There was a time I had to ask my doctor about it because it just wouldn't go away and my ear lobes were always sore. He recommended a cream and it cleared out only after a few uses. My grandson in the Philippines on the other hand is having some bad skin problems. His mom [my niece] sent me some pictures. I instantly felt bad for the little boy because the flaking and redness don't like comfortable at all. My sister-in-law tried every remedy she knows but nothing has worked as of yet. My niece said that it's starting to worry her so she asked me about natural seaweed body wash that she read about online. She tried to look for it locally but she couldn't find any local dealer so she asked me if I ...

Thanks for the article from Jermaine Haynes My husband and I just moved into a new house in a pretty rural area. I would have never thought that we would end up living so far from the city, but it is much closer to my husband’s job. Although it is not a lifestyle that I am used to, it is pretty peaceful most of the time. There is not as much nose or traffic, and the stores are not nearly as crowded. When we moved in to our new house, we needed to set up all of our utilities. We had cable, electricity, and water set up . I had to ask my new neighbor if she knew anything about satellite internet setup . She said she used satellite internet and gave us a phone number to call to have ours set up. It was actually pretty easy to do and they set it up fairly quickly. Everyone around here is so nice and helpful. I think that I might be able to get used to this small town feel. I might like it here more than I thought I would.

I decided to clean the back-up file cabinet by going through some old paperworks and decided to shred some papers we no longer need. In doing so I blew up a fuse causing partial electrical outage in the house. How did that happen? I guess I overused the paper shredder...not a guess actually. I really OVERUSED it! Toink! I actually thought I broke the paper shredder at first because the green light on it just went off. I tried to mess with it a little bit until I gave up. Then the little one came to me saying that her clock probably needs new battery because it's off. Hmmm...that shouldn't be because it's plugged into the wall. That's when I realized there's a power outage. I automatically thought it's another outage in our area so I dialed our electric company to report it only to be told by an automated response that there's no power outage in our area. Huh?? I looked around and realized that only half of our house had an outage. Oooppssss....I blew up a fu...

So what else is new, right? I can't even remember the last time I didn't have to take allergy medicines. Yep, I have to take the medicine daily, sometimes more than twice a day. My husband has already surrendered to the fact that I will forever be sniffling. Honestly, I've long surrendered to that fact myself. I just don't see my allergies going away. That is until a friend who went to see an austin tx allergy doctor told me that it is indeed possible to live allergy free. Just like me, she had her allergies way back when we were still teaching in the same school in the Philippines. She came here a few years before I did but it's only a few years ago that she decided to seek professional help for her allergies. I still have to learn more about what she had to do to be allergy free but I'm very excited just knowing that I may not have to live with allergies my entire life. Guess who's happier than me? Clue...I'm marriend to him. Ha!

We only have a few days left before the end of this month. That means it won't be long and it's going to be Valentine's Day...aka 'Heart's Day'!Ha! We don't celebrate it here...but we acknowledge it. It's hard not to when you have an over excited little one who wants to observe every single occasion she can possibly coerce us into observing. So we try to somehow acknowledge it by giving each other something...a card or chocolate. Nothing extravagant. When I was still teaching, Valentine's Day was a big thing to my students. They're pre-teens and teenagers so it's expected. Needless to say our admission office would usually be flooded with flowers because of all the deliveries on that day. Unlike today where one can order flowers online , which I think is very convenient, during that time the flowers needed to be ordered in person or by phone which were then delivered at our school. I've never ordered flowers online myself but the husband...

I wish I'm talking about my belly...but I'm not. I'm actually hungry at the moment. Toink! I'm talking about my lovely nostrils! I have to breathe in and out through my mouth because I'm so congested as a result of my allergies...which is brought about by our lovely weather down here in the ALLERGY state. Even our weather people here are stumped as to why we are having almost summer like temperature here during the day and cold ones at night. Winter is still a long way to go so I'm pretty sure there will still be some really cold weather coming....and some more allergy attacks to look forward to. Yee Haw! Aside from the neverending sniffling, things are doing okay around here. Work has started to pick up already which is keeping me busy once again. I'm not diving into it it head first yet because I have other things to do for now but I'm sure I'll be busy as a bee here in a few weeks. For now, I'm busy doing 1 thing and 1 thing only....sniffling!...

Wasn't it just last week when I posted something about TAGS here in my blog? Yep, it was. I wasn't doing much [still isn't actually] so I thought of 'bactracking' and looked back at my early days of blogging. Lo and behold, tags were abundant during those days. But that's not what this post is all about. It's all about a TAG I got from Ate Beng of Beyond My Quiet Zone . Yep, she just gave me this... Unique! I don't know about being unique but thanks much Ate Beng! I decided to post it right away even if she hasn't officially bestowed it upon me. Talk about overly-excited, eh? Haha.... Anyway, it's Monday again! Anything new? Not much around here. Hopefully we'll start getting busy at work this week already. I'm starting to get a wee bit 'antsy'....

What am I missing? I know that a 1 year old's birthday is a milestone. So I get it that some parents go overboard sometimes when it comes to having a party for it. Balloons, plenty of foods, maybe a clown or two, games for the guests. I think those are acceptable. I even see some with themed party, etc. I don't know how much that would cost but I'm thinking it's somewhat affordable because I'm seeing it a lot [thank you FB!] in pictures anyway. What I don't get are the 'pre-birthday' photo ops. Why? They treat it like a pre-nup now? I can understand one spending probably...a thousand dollars which is about 40K in Philippine money for the party itself but 100K PHP or more is just a way too over the top for me...for a 1-year old's birthday anyway. I don't know. Maybe I've just been away far too long and this is how it's done now. I'm not quite sure actually. But to be honest, I just don't see myself spending that much for a birt...

I was chatting with a former co-teacher in Taiwan who now resides in the UK. Giddy is the only word I can think of to describe her last night because she just got engaged! Well, she's now officially engaged because he finally put a 'ring' on it. They've been engaged for a while but the ring had to wait. Anyway, things are looking up for her and her future hubby because aside from planning a wedding, they're also in the process of looking [and possibly buying] a house. My friend lives with her uncle right now. Her only responsibility is paying her dues ~ rent, utility bills, foods ~ and that's about it. Now that they're looking into buying their very own house, she has to deal with stuff like insurance such as home which of course includes contents insurance . My friend admitted that she's quite overwhelmed with everything that comes in owning a house. I can only tell her what I do myself when it comes to those things....let the husband take care of it. H...

That's how it feels anyway since my other job is still on a standstill. That may change soon though because we just heard word that we 'may' start getting busy again real soon. When that happens I'll be whining of how busy I am I'm sure. Odd... Anyway, I've been going through this blog's archive and it's kinda amazing to backtrack and read old entries I tell you. One thing's for sure...my early days as a blogger revolved around 'tags' or as we like to call them 'memes'. Most of them were 'getting to know you' stuff like '7 Random Facts About Me' , or things about 'My Better Half' , or 'When We Were Young' ...etc. I'm not sure if new bloggers still do these types of tags/memes but they were sure fun when I was just starting. We learned a lot about our 'blogger buddies' and it felt like we knew each other even if we've never met in person. As I was backtracking through the old posts I ...

Every now and then we see a couple of our neighbors ride their horses around here. We live close to them that's why they pass by our house whenever they are out riding. Everytime that happens, both the little one and I would run to the windows to watch them pass by our house. It's something we don't see everyday so it's rather exciting. The little one's evaluator also has 4 or 5 horses that she takes care of and it thrills her to no end whenever we come visit her evaluator if only to see the horses. I guess this is the reason why she's been asking if she can take some horseback riding lessons in the future. Hubby is very much willing to let her take lessons some day and I already started looking at some riding supplies like equestrian riding boots that she can use if and when she goes to horseback riding lessons. Since I know next to nothing when it come to horseback riding and the things one needs to go on a horseback riding, I've been surfing online tryin...

Obviously....that IS the question! Ha! Yes, I am now at that point where I have to make that decision. Before long the gray will be overtaking the black so to speak so I need to make a decision sooner than later if I want to dye my hair [at least the gray ones] black [or some other color] OR not. For some this may not be a big deal but to someone like me who has..ummm...'virgin' ^___^ hair it's kind of a big thing. Even at this age in time when hair coloring can be as simple as having your nails done, I haven't tried having my hair dyed or colored...not even a strand of it. Dramatic eh? Haha. Anyway, I will have it done. The only question is WHEN. Do I wait until I can no longer stand seeing the grays popping out everytime I comb my hair or do I do it now...well, soon? Maybe I'll look good with a head full of gray hair...or maybe not. I'm also torn whether I will stay 'black' or if should try/experiment with other colors. Hubby saw someone's hair col...

Yep, I'm talking about the day of the hearts which will be in less than a month. We don't do anything extra-ordinary on this day since it is so commercialized already. Cliche as it may sound, I kinda' agree that everyday should be like valentine's day. Our little one though likes days like Valentine's day so we go along with her...yes, even the Dad who is anti-Vday! Ha! Anyway, while we were at the store last weekend she kept bugging me about getting one of those heart-shaped boxes of chocolate truffles...for Dad. I kinda' have a feeling it's not REALLY for Dad you know so I just said maybe next time. We usually get her something for this day and this year I'm thinking of ordering a chocolate cake online to surprise her. I already found a website that has a lot of good ratings from customers and I may just give it a try...you know, ordering a cake online. I'm sure she will get her chocolate fix with their rich chocolate cake because by just looking ...

We just got each a tricycle last weekend. It's been our plan to go biking every chance we get but it's only now that we finally got the bikes...well, trikes. Why tricycles? It's more fun? Partly but also because the little one hasn't learned how to use a bicycle yet. She fell off her bike one time and she wouldn't get on it anymore...well, until recently. Unfortunately, her bike is too small for her now. As for me, I can bike...but I haven't been on bicycle in more than 20 years. I learned to bike a bit late...in high school already because my parents wouldn't allow me to get on one. I finally learned because a friend had a bike she used to take with her when we'd go around the neighborhood. But even if I learned how to bike, I never had the chance to bike as much so you can say that I've always been a 'nervous' biker. Anyway, a tricycle is a much better idea for us because we will be using it only for fun. Maybe when the little one is a lit...

...again for something I probably shouldn't be worried about but I'm only human so I guess it's normal, right? Anyway, I'm trying to keep busy so I won't think about it much. It's almost Friday already so before I know it it's going to be the weekend again. Hopefully we can go somewhere to spend some quality time together over the weekend instead of being cooped up in the house. We got ourselves some new bikes which the hubs will be picking up tomorrow so that's probably in our weekend agenda...biking. As expected, the little one is very excited about them that she cannot stop talking about the things she wants to do with her bike. I'll be posting pictures of them as soon as we get them.

About 2 months ago, we decided to replace our elliptical machine with another fitness machine for the reasons I mentioned in my post below. The replacement we got is a lot more expensive than the elliptical BUT it would have been doubly expensive if the husband didn't come across a coupon that we were able to use to purchase it. He was so proud of himself for finding that coupon that he couldn't stop talking about it for days. He was telling everybody he knows about the great bargain he got because of that one 'big find'. I for one also like finding great coupons especially for big ticket items. But there is one thing I am more proud of than stumbling upon hard to find coupons and that is stumbling upon a site that offers great items at a fraction of their retail prices with no strings attached...no codes to enter or criteria to meet except the FREE registration on the site if only to make the purchase process a breeze. Yep, there is such a site in existence and it'...

We're finally getting a break from a cold snap we've been having since earlier this week. The temperature dipped as low as in the teens in some areas. I think we had some 20s in our area for 2 or 3 days. All I know is it WAS a COLD there for a while. Our plants definitely felt it because most of them are looking pretty dry! Well, not really pretty. I think it's the end of our pretty looking garden for now. Hopefully they'll spring back to life in spring...LOL. Other than the cold weather, nothing much is new around here. Work has stalled for the past several weeks now. It's usually the case during this time of the year. But like I said in some of my previous posts, a lot of my "colleagues" are on edge because of the slow down. I can't blame them because for some this job is their lifeline. I am hoping work picks up soon because I really feel bad for those who depend on this job to put food on their tables. On a happier note...it's TGIF! Yay! No pla...

'Toy'??? More like a toy that will kick our "tushies". I'm talking about this: It's our new exercise/fitness equipment. It's a Nautilus Mobia treadmill/climber that we got last week. We used to have this ...an elliptical which I got as a Christmas present from hubby last year...which we already sold to somebody we know. Hopefully it will help the new owner as much as it helped me. Well, that will depend on how much the new owner will use it since just like any other fitness equipment, this one will only yield the desired result if it's used, right? So why the switch? Because we need one that both the husband and I can use. He tried using the elliptical for a few months and it definitely helped him lose some weight. But in the long run, it became less comfortable for him when he's using it. Primarily because the machine was sort of 'designed' for me. It was originally for my use only but when the need for him to lose weight [to improve his...