My Sugar Free Sweet Life

Who among you has watched "My Super Sweet Sixteen" on MTV? Well, it was my first time to watch the show the other night and I was so shocked! "My Super Sweet Sixteen" is a documentary featuring coming out parties of wealthy kids in the US, Canada, and UK. The episode that we watched the other night was about the party of Diamond, the daughter of a drag racer, who I found to be such a spoiled brat!

When I turned 16, I didn't have a party. When I turned 18, I didn't even have a formal debut. Did it make me less of the person that I am today? No. But I guess, rich kids can have it all, don't they? Sad. It seems that their parents have more to worry about. At least, the worst that I can imagine my son asking for in the future are
hip hop clothes and I think I can live with that.

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I have started taking Releaf Forte sambong capsules today. Sambong is an herbal plant native to the Philippines which is known to be a natural diuretic. It was prescribed by my husband's urologist two years ago to treat his kidney stones. Since I'm also having problems with my kidneys, I figured that it can help me. It's a natural herb anyway and I have already tried drinking its tea. Besides, sambong also helps treat hypertension which I also started to develop later this year.

Screencap from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQF6mQNi5Zo

When my father suffered a stroke in December 2008, my mother had to spend Christmas Eve at the hospital to look after him while my siblings spent Noche Buena at our house. We thought that it was the saddest Christmas we can ever have in the family. However, this year proved us all wrong. A cousin of mine is going to be laid to rest tomorrow afternoon, just hours away from Noche Buena. What could be more gloomy than that?

My kuya's passing was unexpected. I still can't fully understand why he chose to leave this earth during the Christmas season. We last saw each other during my sister's wedding in 2008 and I'm having this guilty feeling of not being there when he needed someone to talk to. I feel sorry for my favorite nana and for the whole family for having to suffer from this loss.

I've been playing Christmas songs for 3 days straight now just to feel the cheerfulness of the holiday season. Even my 2010 christmas gift list is not complete because I'm not in the mood to buy gifts and wrap them. I hope you can help us pray for the eternal repose of my cousin's soul and for the emotional healing of everyone in our family.


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I got my Love Minerals "Boracay Bronze" compact foundation today, yay! It's my first time to try out mineral make-up so I'm pretty excited about how it will work on my skin. I trust Human Heart Nature products anyway so I know I won't get bad results.

I'm going to do a more comprehensive review of the powder foundation in my kikay blog. For the meantime, all I can say is that the tone suits my morena skin well. It's almost the same tone as tanning bed lotions so I guess other fair-skinned girls may find it too dark for their taste. Nevertheless, I am happy that I did not waste Php 395 for this.

Don't you just love its name? It makes me long for the beach.


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My mother-in-law, who's also a diabetic, has been drinking turmeric tea for a week now. In an effort to make it more acceptable to our taste, she added coffee to the tea. I just starting drinking turmeric extract with my coffee this morning and, surprisingly, it did not taste annoying at all. Have you heard about the benefits of luyang dilaw (turmeric)?

Photo: “turmeric root” by foam, c/o Flickr. Some Rights Reserved

It's final, we're spending Christmas' Noche Buena here at home and we're not going home to Bicol to spend New Year's Day either. My sister-in-law and her family aren't coming over for the holidays, too. No one's going to look after their home while they are away. Well, I kinda understand where she's coming from. Thefts and robbers frequent homes during this time of the year. Just the other day, a blogger-friend wrote about how they were almost victimized by the Dugo-dugo Gang. It was a blessing that her maid was smart and never believed anything the scammer told her. Other homeowners are not as lucky as she is.

The Dugo-dugo Gang usually victimizes househelpers who are left in the house while the homeowners are away from home. They place a call and convince the helper that her boss figured in an accident and that they need money for the hospital bills. They will then tell the helper to look for money or valuables and deliver it to the caller.

Millions of pesos have already been lost to this modus operandi. Don't be the next victim. Here are some things that you should do to protect yourself and your properties from the criminal minds of the Dugo-dugo Gang:

• Keep the househelpers informed. Teach the maids not to believe anonymous callers and inform them about the modus operandi. Tell them to verify the information first with another relative or housemate. If you have a health card, you can also inform your maid about this and tell her that, with it, you will not need cash to pay for hospital bills.
• Have a caller ID installed. This way, you have a record of the phone number used. You should also teach your helper to just take note of the number and call a relative or family friend to help verify if the call is legit or not.
• Secure your perimeter. Before they operate, one or two members of the gang will hang around in the vicinity to get more information about their next victim. Tell the helpers to have the gates and doorknobs locked at all times especially when she's all alone in the house.
• As much as possible, do not keep money and valuables at home. Keep your money in the bank and your valuable jewelry kept in a secure vault. If this isn't possible, just be sure to keep your valuables safe and keep it a secret from the kasambahay.
• Be a friendly neighbor. Build a good relationship with your neighbor. This way, they can look after your house when you're away and vice versa.

I was looking for coco sugar last Sunday at the supermarket and I wasn't able to find one. However, as I checked the cardboard displays in the organic products section, I was able to find this box of Stevia sweeteners in convenient packets.

I have finally found a new OB-Gyne whom I found to be very friendly and accommodating. She's Dr. Maria Elsa Aquino of Healthway Shangi-la Plaza and MetroDocs Clinic in Marikina. After inducing my menstrual cycle, she gave me Clomid which I took for 5 days (from Day 2 to Day 6 of my cycle). I will be undergoing a pregnancy work-up and I hope that, with Dr. Aquino's help, I'll get to conceive in 2011!

It's the 10th day of my cycle today and I'm scheduled for follicle monitoring tomorrow. I still don't know what to expect as it is my first time to undergo such a procedure. I read that it entails having a transvaginal ultrasound to check if I have developed follicles or if the size of the follicles are good enough for conception.

Aside from the pregnancy work-up, I also need to get back on track with my weight loss goals if I want the work-up to be successful. I'm going back to doing the Wii challenge I started almost a year ago. I'm also looking among my list of the best weight loss supplements for one that is all organic and with the least side effects.


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While shopping at the Noel Bazaar 2010 last weekend, I was able to chance upon these:

Click to see larger image.

I miss gardening. Back in Laguna when I wasn't writing for a living yet, I had more time to garden. I personally cut the grass and trimmed the plants. I also had a lot of fun rearranging and updating our garden landscape. When Christmas season comes and we need to adorn the shrubs with l ights, I'd trim them into cute shapes so that they'd look like Christmas treats when they're all lighted up.

Why this sudden craving for garden time? Well, I've been searching for gifts that I can buy online and I chanced upon some outdoor furniture that I'm sure would look in our garden. I remembered planning to buy more blooms and replace the "balding" yellow bell that we have right now. I planned this months ago. I still haven't found the time to accomplish it.

Gardening, at least for me, is a great way to de-stress. It's gives me delight to see my plants growing and when people make compliments about our garden. It also gives me the chance to burn calories without even getting tired. How about you? Do you also enjoy gardening?


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There's a happy feeling in our home today. The husband's finally moving on to a new company. I am so happy that he's finally got the job that he wanted and in a location that is more convenient and nearer to our home. I'm also feeling optimistic because I know that he'll be less stressed out. Oh, and we'll finally be having our weekends with him!

IT Jobs are aplenty these days but my husband found it hard to find a company that is stable enough in the industry for him to take the giant leap. He's sailing in a week's time. Nope, not overseas. We just tell friends and family that he's sailing soon because he's crossing over to a global shipping company based in the country.

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