my sunshine bloggers

I believe this year is the best year for my walk through life blog because of the awards I've received this February -- The Beautiful Blogger Award about not so long ago and then now the Sunshine Award!

my baby at eleven months

My walk through life blog presents...

Dipdip at eleven months old! This only means one thing -- One more month and she'll turn a year old! :-)

Yes, she just turned eleven months and she's such a talker! Only that the right words won't come out from her mouth just yet.

Watch this video only if you want to see it. Thanks! :-)

a cheap ink for a printer

Do you own a printer that always runs out of ink? Are your children always complaining because they can’t print important pages for their projects just when they would need it for the week’s submission? Why, what’s up with that inkless printer? Why do you own a branded printer but can’t afford to buy that most coveted ink? Surely your printer now is lying there useless and abandoned because you didn’t buy it new ink. You say you would just wait until your next month’s salary comes so you can buy the ink for the printer without messing on your budget. Wow, so that’s how expensive your ink is? I tell you, we all need to be practical. So, don’t go for that expensive stuff anymore. Why be so lavish about an ink when you can buy cheap ink? With a cheap ink, your need to print a lot of pages will no longer be put on hold. You don’t worry now about your children being late on their projects again because they won’t be, ever. You don’t worry about printing your own self-made greeting cards. So, what are you waiting for? You better shop for it now. Choose the right ink that’s compatible to your printer and inquire about free shipping.

fascinated with words!

It is still February, right? I figured you want another dose of happy moments from mom's journal...

During one of our home parties given in favor of my brother who has just arrived from his singing stint abroad, he had 2 of his closest friends (Bebe and Roque) to stay up late for a very interesting discussion - a topic about linguistics applied to different countries.

Manny, my brother said that in Japan, it was very hard to apply what you can easily learn in English.

"In English language," he said, "we can use terms to substitute the words we mean to say. Synonyms, in short."

"Yes, it's true!" the younger visitor of the two, nicknamed Bebe, said. "Just like for example when we say "like". It's like "love" and there's another term for that. There are many substitutes you know... it is...." he forgot and asked Roque about it.

Roque mentioned many synonymous words yet they haven't agreed because the younger said, "it's just at the tip of his tongue!"

Finally, the discussion was over for it was already very late in the evening. In fact, they're the only ones left even after the informal party was over.

Manny had gone back abroad for another singing engagement.

During the fiesta of the community, Roque assisted the basketball game as announcer. He noticed Bebe signalling him to come down from the announcer's booth. He gave a sign language that Bebe should wait. But Bebe kept waving for him to come down. Roque excused himself and went straight to him who was standing near the audience at the basketball court.

"Yes?" Roque demanded "What is it?"

"I remember now, the other term for "like" which we discussed last time!" he said enthusiastically.

"Whattt!!! That was such a long time already, okay, what is it?" Roque was a little bit interested than annoyed.

"FASCINATION!" he proudly answered.

- Lifted from Mommy Diana's Journal of Happy Moments

Hahaha I thought it'd be much funnier if he had called Tito Manny, mom's brother, via long distance just to let him know what was at the tip of his tongue.... Hmmmm FASCINATION, is it?

my tito Manny, right here! :-)

Now, friends, just by reading this post, you've learned synonyms! Please don't let that stick right at the tip of your tongue! LOL

on cars and car maintenance

The next paragraphs you will read below are my husband's thoughts about cars and car maintenance. I am just his secretary for now. And he is guesting on my blog! :-)

In the past, owning a car was considered a luxury, but today it becomes a necessity especially if you're living in urban areas. Commuting in a public transportation can either get you fired or deny you to get that elusive promotion because of tardiness. Therefore, owning a car is a must to get to your workplace on time.

A car provides us comfort and independence to get to the place we want. This is why it's very important to have it regularly maintained by trusted car maintenance shops. If you're in Dallas, for example, there are plenty of Dallas auto repair shops that can help your car engine to give its best performance. Aside from giving the car's engine maintenance care, we must not forget that power without control is dangerous. I'm referring to your car brakes. You don't want your car to experience sudden acceleration. And you don't want to drive with brakes not working properly. Better safe than sorry - have that brake job done now!

If you're no longer happy with maintaining your old car because it is draining your pocket with all of its maintenance cost, you can look for a replacement - one that can provide the comfort and features that you need. Do your research on the internet or you can read the reviews about Chevrolet Silverado. Who knows this Chevy might suit your style.

on gaining weight after giving birth

Listen now, would you buy this idea?

I had a little discussion with a relative about wives gaining weight after delivery and having a hard time losing it. This whole discussion started when this relative was surprised to see me not losing so much of my maternal weight ever since I gave birth almost a year ago now.

Yes, it's almost been a year since I gave birth but for the life of me, I'm still not reduced to my desired weight, shape and form. 

Photo courtesy of Shiela Hamac

Anyway, going back to the discussion on gaining weight, she and her sister told me that I did not lose weight because my husband did not fool around and that I can easily get thinner if he turns unfaithful. They said they were telling from experience. 

Now, would you rather have a faithful husband and not lose weight?  On the contrary, why would any husband stay unfaithful when he has a sexier wife now?

So silly. But then relatives are relatives. Maybe they were just telling me that to make me feel better about my weight because I've been compensated to have a faithful husband by my side. Is that really how it works now? LOL

 

kids know how to shopwiki?

Hubby and I came across this neat shopping website called http://shopwiki.com. We found it to be a really cool shopping website because it not only provides cool items for sale but it also serves as a great guide to any shopper. This site provides great tips to the buyers on just about anything - from the latest and upcoming deals, some recommendations and reviews, and some good reads about each of the product that they've put on their site. I mean, this shopping wiki is literally an updated library of products and items for sale - probably the neatest and most organized shopping website we've ever came across with.

Actually, it was hubby's 10-year old youngest cousin who showed it to us last week when he hinted about his two year's worth of missed Christmas and birthday presents from us. Well, what can we say but we were really impressed with the little guy's taste. Why? He showed us the link to the Xbox 360!

He didn't have a hard time looking for his favorite Xbox Games since everything on the website is indexed accordingly by product categories. Oh, and he said he's hoping to get a new Xbox 360 Headset as well! We'll see about that yet, little guy!

my mom's secret wish

I'd like to share my mom's secret wish. She shared it to the Lord in her prayer first. Well, we always share our secrets with the Lord, right?

 

If you can't read this, it says "Lord, I wish  I could make just one book that is one of the best sellers! If one by one all our dreams will come true, please let this be the one."

Even though I know she wasn't able to fulfill her wish because the Lord already made the courtesy call for her to be in Heaven, I can make that wish fulfilled for her pretty soon. If I can't do it myself, then I'll pass it on to my little girl. :-)

So, my secret wish is to fulfill my mom's secret wish. I guess it is no longer a secret, huh?

What about you guys? Would you like to share one of your many secret wishes? *wink*

beautiful blogger award

I believe this is my first time to have received an award like this. It's really a great honor--many thanks to Jenn, Lea and The Twitterer for this award.

Because of this award, I am now obliged to divulge 7 things about myself:

• I am not a singer but I love to sing!
• When I was in high school, I was a member of the SRC (St. Rita Choir) and I had the chance to perform with the group for a large audience on many occasions including a fundraising concert, school performances, Christmas caroling, and the best one of all – we've sang at funeral masses as the church choir!
• I used to dream about being a lawyer someday.
• Now I just want to concentrate on family and writing.
• I am a sentimental fool - I cry over television soaps - whether they have happy or sad endings!
• More than that, I am a funny person (at least I'd like to think of me as that)..
• I used to think I was Bridget Jones (LOL)

Now, what's left to do is to pass this award on to beautiful bloggers like Shanix, Bchai (i know you've been tagged already), Andrea, Juliet, Vannex, and Pearl.

The rules are simple. Just simply follow this format - acknowledge the one (or the ones) who gave you the award, share 7 things/facts about yourself, and pass this award to other beautfiul bloggers you know who deserve this award.

Got No Pain!

I'm saving this space again to make way for Mom's journal about me when I was 10 years old. If you have read my prequel to the writer and the pen post, then don't miss out on this one. This happened when I was in the fourth grade, I think. I guess I was a little hard headed during my younger years. :-)

Read on if you're curious about what I did which deserved this entry to my mom's journal of happy moments.

Got No Pain! 

My daughter, Joan, has something in common with her brods and sis. It was her way of handling physical pain in a detached manner.


One time, she was trying to play spinning top. I immediately told her to give back the top to her elder brother coz she has no right to play a game that befits the opposite sex.


She was 10 years old, this time. However much I rebuked her not to do such a thing, she positioned herself to spin the top and she did it clumsily that it landed not on the floor but on to her gums! Believe me, I really saw blood coming out from that offended gum before the spinned top fell on the floor.


I could not fathom why this girl turned around with her back now facing me and she jumped like she won a prized game. She shouted with pride, "Got no pain!"


But I turned her face towards me and I saw tears of pain falling from her eyes.


This time I laughed.

Here's the lesson learned -- Children, obey your parents!

On Haste Being Waste

"Haste makes waste." But why do superiors keep pushing 'SPEED' to their subordinates? Why do some of them care about the quality less than the speed? Well, maintaining a so-so quality with a huge emphasis on speed can bring on good and better income for the company. But the question is, for how long? While this is quite a disappointment for employees who want a touch of perfection in their work, they can't do anything about it but to comply.

Indeed, it makes such a waste to do things in haste. How many times did we try doing things too quickly that we didn't and aren't able to do them well enough and only to find ourselves doing and re-doing it again?

Again and again, because time is gold, we shouldn't do things in haste. We don't want to get stuck doing the same thing because we haven't done it well the first time.

Nothing personal. Just my random thoughts. :-)

It's Brushing Time!

When dipdip's teeth started to appear, which started somewhere between her sixth and seventh month, we have already started putting a little fluoride on her teeth and gums. This was the pediatrician's instruction. We were worried at first because she doesn't know how to spit it out but we were told that it's okay for her to swallow some fluoride as long as it is just a little amount. We've been planning to really let her brush her teeth because each time she sees us brushing our teeth, she gets so amused and looked really excited to have the same experience. Last night, she ate a lot of fish and we didn't like the smell of her mouth after taking her dinner. So, we decided it's time to let her use the new toothbrush that's meant for her age. By the way, we only used just a really, really, really tiny amount of the toothpaste because she's not learning how to spit it out just yet and we have also learned that too much fluoride on a child can cause fluorosis - not a very good sight to see for anyone's teeth. We also agreed to not use fluoride on her brush all the time. Pretty soon, we'll probably let her hold the tooth brush herself.

What time is it? It's brushing time!

My Valentine Blessings

On Valentine's Day, I didn't have my husband and my daughter to myself. We were celebrating it with my in-laws. I would have wanted to celebrate it with my own family as well but they were literally in different places. Aside from that, the invitation from my in-laws came ahead. It was like we were really booked to be with them on February 14 like two weeks ahead. It was a fun celebration even though it was more of a birthday celebration and fiesta in honor of the patron saint, Sto. Niño. I am happy to say that my in-laws really treated me like their real family even from the start of our marriage. Because we are really family now, right? There were lots of food prepared on the table. And I managed to eat just a little of everything. All right, I guess I slipped again. But it's Valentine's Day, okay? And there are February birthdays to celebrate. So, why shouldn't I partake?  :-)

Even the papaya's felt really special on that day.

Overall, it turned out to be the best Valentine's celebration because it is celebrated with family. Valentine's Day is all about love and families. Anyhow, I have all the time with my husband and my daughter at home, every single day. I am happy because I'm blessed to have them in my life.

With that, I will end this post with a beautiful article about Faith Declarations from my favorite inspirational speaker and writer, Brother Bo Sanchez. I suggest that you guys really read it. It's a short article, anyway. They are faith declarations for married people, people wanting to get married, and for people who want to remain single with God's grace. Let us all be inspired, not just on Valentine's Day, but every day of our lives.

Top Ten Things I Slightly Don't Like About Valentine's Day

This one is inspired by Mary's Madness Top Ten list, here are the top ten things I slightly don't like about Valentine's Day!

1. Restaurants Are Filled
Sure Valentine's Day is a time for great dinner dates and all but when all you wanted is to eat at your favorite restaurant and there are no available seats, you might just end up ordering for a takeout and then find yourself celebrating VDay in your home!

2. Valentine's Day is on February 14, Not February 15!
When both of your salaries fall every 15th and 30th of the month and you weren't able to save a portion of your previous month's earnings, you and your partner are off to celebrate it the next day. (Now this solves the problem on list #1).

3. Celebration of Valentine's Day can sometimes be too expensive.
If list #2 is not a problem, you're lucky -- but be prepared to have a fair amount of cash on your wallet. Or at least have a credit card that's not maxed out!

4. Taxis Are In Demand.
When both you and your partner only rely on taxis as the means of transportation, be prepared for your varicose veins to complain! And if you have arthritis, you surely wouldn't look forward to going out on Valentine's Day next year.

5. Love songs and loads of love songs everywhere
Don't you just hate it when you want to hear Lady Gaga's Bad Romance and all they're playing are songs that help you remember all your debts and then fall you right off to sleep?

6. They're Showing Nothing But Mushy Movies
I do love to watch mushy films but not too much of it like they're playing a movie marathon. La la la la la caught in a bad romance~

7. Can't get enough of everything RED!
Don't you just hate it when everywhere you turn, almost everybody is wearing red, including YOU? LOL
(But I would definitely love a glass or two of  red wine)

8. Stores are flooded with flowers and chocolates and you're wondering if you're getting any (hope my husband reads this! Hint hint hint)

9. Hotels and inns are fully booked! Not that we're planning to be there, hahaha.

10. More women get deceived by men and then pharmacies would run out of pregnancy tests next month (Not that it happened to me, LOL)

Do you have a top ten list? Go and make your own now!

An Old Valentine photo of me! Don't you just hate it when you can't go back to this weight? :-)

Time Is Gold But...

Why do we take the time to smell the coffee? Why do we take the time to smell the flowers?


Why didn't it say that 'Time is diamond' if we were to emphasize on how precious time really is?

Quite frankly, it is not realistic to think that we have time forever in our hands. In fact, we are catching up on it!

Seriously, time is gold but we don't need to rush. In fact, it means that our time is precious that we need to spend it wisely. Let's not do too much goofing around. Let's not keep doing too much intermission in our lives when we know we've got so many things that are left undone.

updating files with directory sync

Oftentimes, I would also need to use my husband's PC when it would be time for him to to do maintenance check on my computer. Yes, his computer is also my work station especially when he's not using it. Well, actually, we do it reciprocally. I mean, we do make it a point to have backup for our important files on each other's PC. Our dilemma is when we tend to update with the outdated and not the other way around. It is definitely a good thing and a blessing that things like directory sync came to being. We no longer have to do complicated things like copying our working files to a USB flash drive so we can use it on his or my PC. We are so glad to know that the software for synchronizing directories or files can be downloaded for free. Cool, huh! I am not really a very technical person, so hubby takes care of our file maintenance and to keep both directories from our computers synchronized. Now, we can definitely exchange places anytime we want because we make sure that important data gets updated from both computers. With this free software, we no longer have to worry about working on outdated files!

the spaghetti love story

To tell you the truth, it's my husband who does much of the cooking around the house. I believe he cooks better than I do. And faster, too! If you want me to cook, you better give me a lot of time so I can do it pretty good. When husband is cooking, he would already heat the pan or start the cooking right away while he is also busy cutting, slicing or preparing the rest of the ingredients to his recipe. He's definitely an ideal home chef! As for me, I like to have everything cut, sliced or prepared ahead before I turn on the heat and get everything started.

Yesterday, when there was power interruption, I decided to make spaghetti for all of us. I thought it would be a perfect pre-Valentine's Day treat! I especially made my husband's spaghetti plate extra special by carving out small hearts by knife from the red bell pepper. I secretly carved it out when he did the errand to buy the can of spaghetti meat sauce. So, when I served him his spaghetti plate, he was like surprised to see the special hearts that were on top of his spaghetti. I guess he appreciated it but still acted like he didn't. He mustered a smile and made the nicest comment about the three hearts. He said that it looked like some caveman did it because they were perfectly carved. Yeah, right! :-)

brother's biggest achievement

After all the many things I've written about my brother Jason, I still feel like writing about him. Brother J had been my long time boardmate or housemate for many years before I got married and lived with my husband. In all those years where I became her guardian parent when he was still a student, I guess you can say that we've put up with one another, hehehe. I guess at some point (or shall I say 'at times') I was the typical 'overprotective' sister that most siblings would not dare wish to have. During my time, back in my student years, I've never really fooled around. I was the typical student and a home buddy. Sure, I have friends but they're also my kind. So, when it comes to Brother and my younger sister, I thought it would help them be in the right path if I act as their sister disciplinarian but then I realized that this has not really helped at all, especially with my brother, because most of the time they would end up hating me for it. I'm not saying I'm not close with my siblings, though. It's just that there are lots of things that we disagree on. Let's probably just call it generation gap. Today I'm not wishing for anything more for my brother J but for him to fulfill what he wants to achieve in life. Now that he's not living with me and is now in another country, I was very happy when he told us that his biggest achievement is is his faith. So, to my brother, keep it up! Rock n Roll!

conversation with grandma

My brother McAldz has been working in Abu Dhabi for almost 3 years now. Even though he's got a job there, it's not a job which afforded him some luxury, which explains why he would hardly make overseas calls to us. On one special occasion, he thought of calling our grandmother to check on her. He thought it would be a beautiful conversation with grandma considering that it had been a long time since they caught up on each other. However, instead of getting a good greeting from the other end of the line, he didn't expect to hear an angry voice.

Grandma: Wa ko nalipay sa imong gibuhat!

(Translation: I am not happy with what you did!)

McAldz (puzzled): Ngano man 'la, unsa diay akong gibuhat?

(Translation: Lola, why, what did I do?)

Grandma: Nganong karon pa man ka kahuna huna ug tawag nako?

(Translation: Why have you thought of calling me only today?)

LOL. I really found it funny when brother relayed this to me because he really thought he did a really major offense! Well, come to think of it, our elders are sensitive when it comes to affection and they would really appreciate our thoughtfulness. So, I guess, brother really did a major offense. And the rest of her grandchildren who forgets to find time to call her are guilty as well. :-)

love love love... or unrequited love?

Okay, this is February; so I guess I should write about love, love, love. Hmmmm, are you feeling mushy? Let's get my fingers typing now. How do I begin to write something about love? Oh well, I got a clearance from my brother to write something about his lovelife. Or should I say the love he never had? Hahaha.

I told him, maybe it wasn't love. Maybe it's an obsession with love. Well, let me kindly just rephrase it--maybe it's an obsession, period. But who are we to judge, anyway?

This younger brother of mine (he is 7 years younger), when it comes to one person, is probably the world's shyest person. Well, torpe would have been the most appropriate word for it but I don't know how to translate that in English. I tried to Google it but I am not satisfied with the translation. But anyhow, he probably had reasons for being so shy about his feelings at that time because he felt he was no fit for her, being just someone who didn't have anything to brag about. That was his perception about himself at that time but if you ask me--he should be proud just by being the person that he was and already is.

Okay, he really didn't tell me much about her except that she's a picture of perfection. She's this someone she calls his "ideal" girl. They do have one common love for sports – that's tennis! She's pretty, intelligent and simple. This girl really has some personality that I would really understand why my bro would fall for her. In fact, I think I was beginning to like her, too--for my brother, I mean.

But I don't know what went wrong--I guess she knew about my brother's feelings but brother dear can't seem to win her heart. Is this a case of unrequited love? Maybe. After all this time, brother J can't seem to move on. He tried to but all his relationships failed because somehow he would unintentionally compare his current gf to this "ideal" girl he couldn't or didn't have. Everytime he would receive a forwarded e-mail message from his "ideal" tennis girl, his heart would leap for joy and then it'd be back to square one—he'd fall all over again, even if they no longer see each other! Now, is he crazy or what? What must he do in order to move on? Or should he really move on? Maybe this is still an unfinished love story. Who knows? Er, what do you think? Hehehe, sometimes I really hate love and its complexities!

she walks away from her mom

I thought I should post this video of dipdip where she happily walked away from her mom to be with the nannies who usually take their walks every afternoon. This was the same day we took the many faces of my baby. I was surprised to see my daughter, now at 10 months, walking away from me because she loves to stroll with her friends. Oh my, she's really walking now! I never thought it would be this early but oh well, there might be other babies who walked earlier than she did. I just thought I wanted to "baby" her, you know--where you just simply cuddle her and all. Now, she wouldn't usually want to be carried because she likes to walk!!! And I was like thinking of postponing her to grow up faster hahaha just kidding. Anyway, so here's that short video of my daughter walking away from me. :-)

Eminent Eights

It's tagging time! Thank you, Andrea, from Memories As A Mom for this Lucky Chinese Tag - we're not Chinese but it's definitely fun to fill up these eights!

♥ 8 TV Shows We Like to Watch ♥
It's Showtime
Wowowee
Sharon
Banana Split (Daily Servings)
ASAP 2010
Pinoy Big Brother
Rated K
Oprah

P.S. Except for Oprah, those are Philippine TV shows, so some of you probably could not relate to it. :-)

♥ 8 Favorite Places to Eat & Drink ♥
Jollibee
McDonald's
Gerry's Grill
Max's
Chow King
Sunburst
Shakey's
Pizza Hut

♥ 8 Things I Look Forward To ♥
Going to Bohol to have a closer view of the Chocolate Hills
Going home to San Carlos City (my home town)
Weekends! and lots of weekends to spend with family
Have enough budget to beautify our house
Losing more weight and feel good about myself again
Watching at least one live concert a year
Family's good health
Another year of blessings

♥8 Things that Happened Yesterday ♥
Took a shower
Bathed our Didpdip
Did my regular work routine
Had breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner
Had some playtime with Dipdip
Took a nap
Experienced power interruption
Had Dipdip for another warm bath so she can sleep well during night time

♥8 Things I Love about Winter♥
My friends get to wear their winter outfits and I get to see them on pics
Friends get to see snow and blog about it (and keep wondering how cold the place can get)
My friends would have a good excuse not to go to work because it's chilly
My friends would probably be having more sips of coffee and chocolate
Hmmm, it'd probably be the best time to open a bottle of red wine
My friends would enjoy cuddling up with their partners
Refrigerators can probably take their vacation
The fireplace would probably be one of the eight places that they would like to be in

P.S. We don't have winter around here hehehe

♥ 8 Things I Am Passionate about ♥
Loving God
Loving my family
Food hehehe
Writing
Friends
Pictures and videos
Music
TV

♥ 8 Words/Phrases I Often Use ♥
Oopppsss (when something I did turns out wrong)
Whattttttt? (of course I heard it, but say it again please)
Reallly? (I'm not sure if that is believable)
Are you sure? (Have to verify again)
Okay, fine (I give up!)
Mama, dip! (Have to keep saying Mama so my daughter would not forget to call me Mama)
Yikes! (I don't like the taste and the thought of it!)
Garrrrrrr! (You get into my nerves!)

♥ 8 Things I Learned from the Past ♥
Life doesn't wait for you--it goes on and on and on.
Laughter is still the best medicine.
Never postpone your happiness. Be happy right here, right now!
Always learn from the best.
Learning to rejoice in your silent victories.
Writing really is the best weapon for boredom.
Writing is part of my life and my legacy.
We don't age, we grow old!

♥ 8 Blog Friends To Tag ♥
Bchai from Sprite 24.7
Jenn from My Sweet Haven
Shanix from Je Vais Te Dire Un Secret
Pearl of veni ... vidi ... vici
Geeten from Writings of an Introvert
Juliet from My Weekend Journal
Eikcaj of Living Life to the Fullest
Vaneza of C'est la vie

Have fun filling this out! *wink*

fascinated with videos and music

Ever since my camera started to play stubborn, I've been hooked to creating videos of my daughter. I thought it was even twice the fun creating videos than taking pictures because you can get to see and re-live that exact time and moment when you took them. You can hear laughter, or hear the conversations that took place, see movements, facial expression, etc. I now took my camera's inability to take good pictures in a good light because like I said in my previous post, I can also turn my video shots into photos, anyway. I've also learned to become more and more fascinated with videos. In fact, my daughter, as young as she is now, loves to see videos of herself. She is also delighted to see other videos which have bright colors and with great music. This prompted me to search for Video & Music on Rapidshare. After a few short lessons from my husband on how to identify files that can be downloaded for free versus the paid ones, I finally had the time of my life looking for and downloading my favorite media files. And oh, I didn't forget to scan them--you'll never know what you're gonna get from shared files. :-)