Almost everyone in the blogosphere was busy making either their year-end posts or posting about their New Year's resolutions. I stopped making New Year's resolutions for years now; I just don't want to be disappointed at the end of the year knowing that I have failed to accomplish my resolutions. I just live each day as I should, sweet yet sugar-free. But I digress.
I am joining the rest of the population putting their hopes high for 2009. I personally think that this year has been hard on my family. I lived my sweet life this year with a little sadness knowing that I was living a comfortable life while my parents and siblings were having hard times. God knows I tried my best to help them. I know we'll all make it through somehow.
So, here are the highlights of my life in the year 2008:
January
4 - My family had an impromptu advanced celebration of our 8th wedding anniversary at Club Manila East. Our first time to visit the place and we definitely had a great time. We had dinner at the overlooking area in Antipolo.
8 - I had a series of tests for my diabetes and polycystic ovaries. I visited my new OB-Gyne, Dr. Florante Gonzaga of the New Medical City. My blood sugar level is stable but my resitance to insulin is way above the limit thus my monthly cycle is naturally affected.
12 - I had my hair rebonded! My first time! Sosyal!
22 - I survived another Urinary Tract Infection. UTI for diabetics like me is a serious one. I almost thought I'm having kidney complications this time around. It was my first time to undergo a kidney ultrasound and a creatinine test.
February
10 - Rap competed in the MTAP-DECS NCR Area 4 Finals. Their team lost but it was worth the experience.
2 - Rap bagged the Silver Medal in Academic Excellence and Gold Medal in Excellence in Mathematics this school year.
19 - My sister wed my brother-in-law after 12 years of being in a relationship.
May
1 - We finally went to visit the Manila Ocean Park.
16 - We bought Bronson, our brown American Pitbull Terrier. We named him Bronson after the funny kid from "Kasal, Kasali, Kasalo". 17-23 - We went home to Naga City for Ralph's 8th birthday celebration.
Half of my waking hours each day I devote to my online activities. Part of my online activities include chatting with friends and relatives either here or abroad.Those who know me personally also know that chatting played a big history in my life. I met my husband online and I never regret each day that I came to know him more through chatting even before we met. Chatting is an indispensable avenue for keeping in touch either with people you already know or those whom you want to get to know more.
Among all the chat rooms that are familiar to me, the Catholic Chat Room is one that made me quite interested. I am a practicing Roman Catholic and I revere every facet of my faith. But then, the internet is such a big place to be in, much more so if you're chatting with people from all parts of the world. Chatting with fellow Catholics gives me the freedom to talk about my faith more without the thought of creating an issue among others of different faith. The last thing I need would be a confrontation anyway. It also gives me the opportunity to discover how it is being a Catholic in other parts of the world. The Catholic population in our country is dominant and our Catholic rituals and traditions become a way of life. This is quite different for other Catholics who live in a place where Catholicism is not the dominant faith.
Whether it be for friendship, faith discussions, or finding a date of the same religion, the Catholic Chat Room is a place for online Catholics to be.
We have relatives and friends abroad. Before the Christmas starts, it is common for us to receive cash gifts from them because it's more convenient for them in terms of shipping costs. A month before Christmas, my sister-in-law who is a nurse in the UK already sent us money for gift shopping. I was tasked to buy gifts for our relatives here in the Philippines. Even though she's a thousand miles away from home, she still makes it a point to share her blessings to our relatives. This Christmas Eve, we both agreed to go online so she could see us celebrate Noche Buena (Christmas Eve dinner) through webcam. We got to say our thanks for all the gifts that we received from her. I know it sure is a lonely Christmas for them there being away and all. I promised her that I'll give our Christmas gift to her when she comes home for a vacation.
I could have sent her a gift card if she's living in the States though. Sending a gift card is very convenient especially when the recipient is abroad. The sender will be less worried that the package will be lost in transit, Using this, the recipient will have the liberty to shop for what he/she wants for Christmas. The gift card can be used in the retailer store itself or in the retailer's online store. GiftCardMall.Com is one site that offers gift cards for recipients in the United States. It has an exclusive network of leading shops and restaurants so you will be assured that their gift cards are accepted almost anywhere. Plus, you get to design the gift card that you will give to add a more personal touch. It's never too late to give a gift card as a Christmas gift. In fact, now is the best time to give it to your friends and loved ones. One reason is that because of the low pre-Christmas sales that the financial crisis brought, mark-downs are like to continue even after the holidays.
Don't you think that it's about time for you to give your overseas loved ones gifts after what you have received from them this Christmas?
I'm still up! I'm not that tired yet after all the work I did today. I guess it's the holiday high that kept me going. We just finished talking with Dulce, my sister-in-law in the UK. Rap and Olec had a nice time playing online chess with their cousins abroad. This is just one of the benefits of the internet that I am really thankful for. At least, my husband had the chance to celebrate Christmas with his mom and sister's family and his other sister and her family abroad. Not like me.
Mama and Lloyd had to spend Christmas Eve in the hospital with Papa. Ate Do and Jene, and my other brothers Toto and Lucky, came over to our home to have Noche Buena with us. I was caught in between celebrating with my husband's side of the family and being lonely with my siblings. I tried my best to be jolly since I am the hostess and we still pushed through with our traditional gift giving after our sumptuous meal of which I am so glad that my sister-in-law, Ate Cel, prepared. I also cooked the 3 Mushroom Mixed Vegetables and Maki-Sushi rolls and prepared the Fruit Salad for the feast. We also had Shrimp Tempura, Lechon Kawali, Barbecue, Hotdogs, Lumpiang Ubod, Fried Chicken, and Nasi Goreng. We bought a bottle each of Tequila Rose and Asti Martini and cans of San Mig Light but probably because everyone was so excited to unwrap their presents, we totally forgot about the liquor.
I hope they all like the gifts that we gave them. Rap was so happy because he received three new books, one of them is "Tales of Beedle The Bard" that he really wished for as to complete his Harry Potter series collection. I said a quiet prayer to Jesus Christ before I went up to our room because we were not able to go to the town's church to hear Midnight Mass. It was raining so hard and it's still drizzling up to now.
Our Christmas celebration doesn't end tonight. Later this afternoon, we will be going to my father-in-law's house in BF Paranaque to have Christmas lunch. From there, we would probably be bringing them to another malling spree.
This is a gold plated bangle that I bought from my mom. She put up a garage sale in our family home after she did her general cleaning. I hid this bangle from everyone else because she only sold it for a hundred bucks. I don't have any idea yet when I'm gonna use it but I don't want to lose this great find!
WARNING: Do not read if you do not want to have sad thoughts this time of the year.
It's 2 days before Christmas Eve and my father is in the Intensive Care Unit of a government hospital in Quezon City. He suffered another stroke; his fourth if I'm not mistaken. The last one occurred during Lent of 2007. We thought he would be more disciplined and concerned of taking care of himself. I guess his old habits never change.
I am sorry for bothering you with my sad thoughts at this time of the year. I lack sleep because he was rushed to the hospital at around 2 in the morning and I closely monitored everything by phone. Still, I'm blogging my heartaches away. Enough of these negative vibes. Thanks for bearing with me.
As a way of forgetting my troubles, I still went with my husband's family to the places that we planned to bring them to this holiday season. Today we went to Trinoma along North Ave. EDSA. This is my first time to visit this mall because my husband dreads driving the busy streets of EDSA. The next time I come back, I'll be taking the MRT instead. But I digress.
We arrived a little past lunchtime so we walked straight to the area where the restaurants are. I initally wanted to bring them to Mann Hann but we saw La Mesa Grill and decided that it's a good time to try something new. The food is not that impressive especially to my sister-in-law who is a caterer. The staff is not at all accommodating, not like in Burgoo where the servers stay alert and sensitive to customers' needs. The ambiance is quite okay though and just right for family get togethers.
After lunch, my in-laws needed to make some last minute Christmas shopping at Landmark. I stayed with the kids in one corner of the department store reading my Twilight e-book while they play the PSP. When the shopping was done, we went up to the park, had a little picture taking here and there and let my son play with his cousins at Time Zone. Playing in the arcade mad me feel a little better too.
We planned to eat dinner at Eastwood City but traffic was bad and we were sure that we're going to be stuck if we dared to make a U-Turn so we just drove straight ahead to Tiendesitas instead. There we had bilao meals while watching Megan Aguilar perform.
It was a tiring night for me but I'm still glad that I did not look like a zombie in the pictures. I think it's time to rest and sleep now since I'm starting to sneeze already.
I spent the whole weekend wrapping all the gifts and rearranging the furnitures in the living room to highlight our tree. My husband's relatives from Naga are coming over for the holidays that's why I needed to finish all the shopping and wrapping tasks before they arrive. We will be accompanying them around town for the duration of their stay.
I just can't help posting this. This video gave me my needed dose of laughter this early Monday morning. (Just in time when I'm starting to panic as my father is being rushed to the hospital. But I'll be writing about that in another post.) I have already seen pictures of this Barack impersonator a few weeks ago. He does look like Barack, a little thinner than him though and I think that voice is dubbed.
I use a Sony Ericsson K750i and I have been using it for more than three years now. When this model came out in 2005, it was the phone with the most high-tech features with its 2.0MP Camera, MP3 player, Music DJ, and Photo DJ applications. However, it doesn't have an e-book reader. Nowadays, I really need an e-book reader to catch up on my reading. I miss the times when I go with Rap to school and, while waiting, I just find the most comfortable couch at Starbucks and read the book that I brought for the day. I am glad to discover Wattapad, a site that provides a free e-book reader and e-books for java-enabled mobile phones.
I had to download the Wattpad Reader first to my PC and transferred it to my phone to avoid costs. The reader can also be downloaded through their mobile site. Then I searched an e-book (I chose Twilight), downloaded it to my PC and transferred it to my phone again. What's cool about the Wattpad reader is that I was able to adjust the font size and color and the backgrounds color to avoid eyestrain. I also rotated the text because the screen of my phone is not that wide.
Finally, I have a copy of Twilight on my mobile phone. It's so hard to find a copy of this book nowadays. I can now start reading it on my phone while waiting for my reserved copy.
Karaniwan nang nakikita ang mga batang lansangang nangangaroling kapag panahon ng kapaskuhan sa Pilipinas. Dala-dala ang kanilang mga sariling gawang instrumento at baon ang mga sinaulong Christmas songs, nakikipag-patintero sila sa mga sasakyan sa kalsada para sa kakaunting barya. Nakakatuwa dahil naipagpapatuloy nga ang atin nang nakagawiang tradisyong pangangaroling tuwing Kapaskuhan. Ngunit nakakalungkot rin na dahil sa kahirapan ay kinakailangan ng ilang musmos na sa kalsada ay makipagsapalaran.
Ang larawang ito ay kuha ko habang habang ang aking sasakyan ay nakatigil sa lansangan isang hapon pagpunta ko sa trabaho. Sa pagmamadali at dahil sa salaming marumi, ang aking larawan ay malabo.
It's a common sight to see children caroling in the streets during Christmastime in the Philippines. Armed with their self-made instruments and memorized Christmas carols, they roam the streets without considering the danger of passing cars just so they can have a few coins. It's nice to know that our Filipino tradition of singing carols during Christmastime is passed on to these children. However, it is still a sad fact that because of poverty, the safety of these children are compromised.
This photo was taken on the way to work one afternoon. It came out blurry because I had to shoot quickly before the light turned green and my windshield wasn't that clean.
These pair of silver accessories are my silver fab finds for the week. I plan to wear them on Christmas Day. I found bought these accessories from two different tiangge stalls in EDSA Central. The silver star bangle was at Php 150 while the silver hoop earrings are at Php 100. The saleslady from the stall where I brought the bangle also gave me a small bag of cleaning powder. Oftentimes, I tend to be careful and picky in buying accessories especially earrings. There have been times when my ears got irritated with fancy accessories. But I already tried these silver earrings and I'm lucky that I did not get any allergic reaction.
It has been a while since the last time I let my son play in a game arcade. When he got his PSP last year ( a prize for his good grades), he lost interest in playing games in the arcade. This weekend, as I left him with my sister in her shop in the mall while I did my Christmas shopping. My sister is his godmother so he was able to get a part of his early Christmas loot and used the cash to buy tokens in the arcade. He had a good time collecting prizes and tickets from the games and machines that he played.
I admit. I am one of the persons in the world who panic shop during the holidays. First of all, my time does not allow me to do as much shopping as I would have wanted during the weekend. My students, and even my son, have their exams week a week before Christmas vacation. Thus, I reserve my late November and early December weekends to worksheet and reviewer production for them. And because I shop during the holiday rush, I tend to just get the item that looks cute, priced just right, and comes with a free gift wrapping service.
I feel bad because I could have chosen a more suitable gift if I had more convenient time to spare. I could even make personalized holiday gifts for friends and family if I were given the liberty to do so. But there are shops out there who offer personalized holiday gifts for shoppers who are so busy like me. One such shop is Pexagon. They offer personalized pens, custom business card drives, personal thumb drives, and wooden usb flash drives. The best news is that they are selling these personalized holiday gifts 20% off from now until the end of the year. What a steal!
Try ordering one of these now if you are not yet done with your Christmas shopping.
Sabi ng aking doktor, mahirap daw talaga sa isang diabetikong tulad ko ang magbuntis. Kaya nga masaya na ako na kahit paano ay mayroon akong isang anak. Napaka-halagang regalo na sa amin ng Panginoon ang aming anak. Higit kaming nagpapasalamat dahil ang aming anak ay mabait at masikap mag-aral. Hindi niya kami binibigyan ng sakit ng ulo. Bagkus ay puro karangalan at kasiyahan ang kanyang ibinibigay sa amin. Lubos akong magpapasalamat sa Kanya sa napakahalagang regalong ito sa aking buhay.
My doctor already informed me that it's difficult for a diabetic like me to have children. That is why I am already thankful for my only child. He is the most important gift that I have received from the Lord. I am even more grateful because my son is a good boy and is doing well in his studies. He never gave us problems, rather, he gives us constant pride. I am forever grateful to the Lord for giving me my son.
This week has been a very tiring one because of all the weekend shopping and my son's exam week. But then, there are still a lot of things in my life to be thankful for so I don't really mind the stress.
This week, I am thankful ...
... that we finally take the car home from the service center after repairs have been done. I am also thankful that we did not have to shell out even a single cent because the warranty all expenses.
... for the Christmas parties that my husband's company gave out and will be giving out within this week. We really had a good time. Ralph loved the toy that Santa gave him. We are thankful we are living the Coke Life!
... that my teaching schedule this week was adjusted that I was able to teach Ralph for his exams.
... for the quiet nights I spent with my husband in our veranda.
What are you thankful for this week? Write about them by joining this meme.
This may sound insane but it did happen to someone close to me.
Imagine a couple sleeping soundly in bed when suddenly the wife's mobile phone rings and it is the husband who takes it. The husband looks at the phone and the number is unregistered in the phone's phone book. He takes the call and on the other line a man answers. It could have been just an ordinary anonymous phone call. Could even be a telemarketer or a bank representative. Except that when the husband answers, the man on the other line says "Hello! How was your day?". The husband asks "Who is this?" and the voice on the other line, realizing that it is the husband who is asking, drops the call. A big fight follows between husband and wife. After a long confrontation and assurances of love, they both agree that it was just an annoying prankster.
Marital spats like this do happen in real life. I don't know what pranksters get from doing this but I hope they do realize that they can ruin a marriage. In the States, there are services available for Phone Number Reporting. Through this service, an anonymous number can be verified. This is not just limited to prank calls but also includes annoying scammers, telemarketers and bank representatives as well. I just hope that we have a similar service like this in the Philippines to avoid the consequences that we suffer from prank calls.
It's so hard to find something white in the items that I purchased during this shopping season! Aw man! I hope the FMB mommies will forgive me for this one! Babawi ako next week, I promise!
The next Christmas party that I will be attending this week is my husband's company Christmas party. The theme is Mardi Gras and, as expected, everyone should be in a colorful outfit for that night. I'm lucky that colorful pants and shirts are the in thing this season so I got myself an aqua blue pair of pants and a bright pink shirt.
While we were on the look out for my husband's attire at Robinson's Galleria, my husband was able to spot a rainbow colored hat and tie. I also spotted this furry baseball cap that I thought would look good with my outfit. I loved it the first time I saw it so I bought it even if it was priced at Php350. I thought it was cheap considering that the stall is inside Robinson's Galleria. The stall's name by the way is Rebel Gear. I can't remember where it's exact location is in the mall but it's like an alley of tiangges and small boutiques.
After the purchase, we moved on to the department store to find a suitable bright colored shirt that will go with my husband's hat and tie. He wore his cap and tie with the shirt that he chose in the fitting room. He also tried my cap on and it was he who noticed the price tag on the cap. Clearly written on an orange sticker was Php 150! We rushed back to the stall to demand a refund of our Php 200. The saleslady initially did not want to give us back our money but I threatened her that I will report their store to DTI Consumer Watch if she still resists. My point is, if it's on the tag then surely it's the retail price! And besides, there was an orange colored cap of the same style that also has a Php 150 orange sticker on the tag. She did not have a choice but to return our excess payment back.
So that's the story of my fab holiday find for the week. A party cap for Php 150! I will post our pictures wearing our cute Mardi Gras attires soon!
Jollibee Amazing Aloha is back!
-
I think it was a month ago when I first read about Anthony Bourdain‘s raves
for Jollibee’s Amazing Aloha. The feature was shot in a branch of Jollibee
in C...
Nicole Kidman in the sexy thriller “Stoker”
-
From a script penned by Wentworth Miller and directed by acclaimed Korean
filmmaker Park Chan-Wook comes “Stoker,” a sexy and dark thriller starring
Nicole...
Prom Dresses UK - welcome to buy prom dresses uk 2012 on 1dress.co.uk. great quality at low prices! various styles of prom dresses are here for you to choose from! come on,opportunity knocks but once!
Super Slim - find best weight loss pills? click into official site - superslimonly.com.authentic super slim pomegranate on sale,free shipping!
weekend-snapshot
