Posts

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Somebody Loves My Blog!

This post from Em Dy really makes my weekend. Thank you, Em!

 

In turn, here is my list of 10. May you spread blog love all around…

1. Chuckie’s A Day in the Life…. – for writing not just about your showbiz life but for showing us your humanity and spirituality in the face of adversity…

2. Jayvee’s A Bugged Life – yoga became a common factor for us but dude, I also read your blog because of its techy stuff in there!!!

3. Jun’s Mabuting Balita – Bro Jun, I really admire you for taking blogging to a new spiritual level to spread the Good News

4. Rona’s Scraps of Mama – Rona, you do amazing things with scrapbooking which I cannot even begin to imagine. My photos are still all in envelopes stuck in plastic stackables somewhere!

5. Mayi’s In a Nutshell – You are a nutty mommy right after my nutty heart, Mayi!

6. Noemi’s Touched By an Angel – Your blog will always be on my lovey dovey list, Noems!

7. Schumey’s The Philippine Experience – Bro, you tell it like it is in your blog. Now if only more Filipinos can take what you say to heart and …just go out and DO THE RIGHT THING!

8. Anton’s Our Awesome Planet – Congrats new Daddy and more power to your super duper awesome blog.

9. Julie’s TeacherJulie.com – Because there is so much to learn from your blog, Julie!

10. Rachel’s Heart of Rachel – It just takes one to see that your blog is ALL HEART…

And although they already got this award, I still want to mention why I love their blogs:

** Dine’s The D Spot – Dine, you’re my idol mommy, that’s why!

** Cathy’s Midlife Mysteries – Cathy, obvious ba? Your breadth and depth of topics just keeps me coming back to read what’s up with you.

** Connie’s Mommy Talks – I laugh at your posts, Connie. Humor in real life…

** Chats’ iMom – A techy Mommy after my own heart you are, Chats.

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Halloween Sweet Treat

I was feeling a bit down yesterday after seeing off our youngest M2 who was bound for China. When I got home, I opened up my computer and saw a linkback from Mayi. Guess what….she included me in her list to get this Halloween Sweet Treat!

 

Without her realizing it, she had brightened up what I thought would be a miserable day. Thanks, Mayi!

And as it is with happy things, it is not meant just for one’s self but for others as well. So I will “BOO-laga” some of my sweet bloggers:

1. Dine (aka SexyMom) – for her quiet strength, caring spirit, loving heart

2. Cathy – for always reminding me of how good life is when it is centered on Him

3. FGPG (whose blog remains private) – a friend who just left for China and who is not just a great gym buddy but also a consoler, advisor and simply….a wonderful friend.

4. And last but not least, to a virtual Bro…Schumey…who does not fail to remind me to drink water (my kidney stone problem). Now here is someone who really has a caring persona! Thanks Bro! Enjoy the treat!

You may pass this treat on to other equally sweet bloggers!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, everyone!

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As My Kids Fly the Coop…..

It takes getting used to but I think I am slowly learning the “let go” technique.

Our eldest daughter C1 just came back from a 5-day trip to Hong Kong with long-time high school friends (Gin, Pam, Cha, Meg) who also happen to be her schoolmates at the BLUE school. With them was their “friend-cum-bouncer-cum-bodyguard” Harold who is also from the same school.

It was C1’s first time abroad without at least one of us. Prior to departure, I collected all the cellphone numbers of her companions, googled the hotel’s address and did all the stuff mother hens normally do.

But I guess this is a time when TRUST (not just in your kid, but in the way you reared them) comes to fore. I had to trust in that trust.

Well, she is back home with loads of pics from HK Disneyland which I will be posting shortly. But in a week, another kid flies the coop. This time, it is our youngest boy M2 who will be away in China on a foreign study program with some of his batchmates and teachers. Will I miss him? Hell I will! But I know that we will both learn from this experience. For him, it is learning to survive without yayas, fending for himself and drawing on his own resources. For me, another lesson in letting go…

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Blog Action Day: Recyclers Unite!!!!

Today, October 15, is BLOG ACTION DAY!

I know that over here in the Philippines, the day is about to end. But over in North America, the day is not quite half over yet so I am sure there is time to get this thing spreading.

On this day, bloggers from all over the world will blog about — the ENVIRONMENT!

It is really about time we all do our share to protect Mother Nature. The recent spate of very strong earthquakes, devastating typhoons, floods, etc. all point to the urgent, urgent need to protect our planet.

A blogger by the name of Elaine posted some dates of Waste Markets in Metro Manila. While her post was dated January 2007, most of the information on locations and dates of the waste markets are still relevant as well as some telephone numbers of the agencies behind these moves.

Here are some examples of recyclables from her post:

Non-traditional wastes

 

  • Used acid-lead batteries and rechargeable lamps
  • Junk electronic and electrical equipment and appliances

    • * CPU (complete/incomplet e/case) and monitors
    * Printers, scanners, fax, etc
    * Motherboards, PC/telecom cards, printer/med grade boards, hard disk, power/ monitor boards
    * old/obsolete/ broken Betamax, VHS, DVD players
    * Microwave ovens, toasters
    * Electric fans
    * other office and household equipment and appliances

  • Empty ink/toner printer cartridges, dot matrix ribbon cartridges
  • Damaged CDs, VCDs, VHS, betamax and radio cassette tapes
  • Busted tiboli (Christmas) lights
  • Used oil (for registration – do not bring to the area)
  • Styrofoam (polystyrene) and other packaging materials (for donation)
  • Cellphone and cellphone batteries (for donation only)

    • Traditional Waste

  • Used paper and cartons (newspapers, komiks, notebooks, reports, old test papers, phone directories, etc)
  • damaged/broken plastic furniture, containers, bottles, etc. (anything plastic!)
  • Aluminum and tin cans (soda/food cans)

    • You can also exchange these traditional waste items to new products! Used paper/cartons for double-ply tissues, plastics or aluminum cans for plastic hangers…

    If we just look around our homes, we will really find a lot of junk and gunk which can be brought to these waste markets and exchanged for cash. I think we would be surprised at how much cash we can generate from stuff lying around. At the same time, we know these would be recycled into reusable products.

    Let’s do our share to protect our planet!

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    An Animated Childbirth Video

    Childbirth is scary to most people. Movies depicting childbirth show women screaming in pain, shocking the senses of young and sensitive children. My girls have asked me in the past about this and I have always tried to be as candid with them about my experience giving birth to them while trying to explain it in a non-frightening way.

    I went through 4 normal childbirths and I must say each one was different. Some were easy, some were more difficult. C1, although she was my first, was the easiest birth. I recall that she just sort of slipped out. M1 was a different case. He had his umbilical cord around his neck. No wonder I had to be induced as my labor did not progress. And thankfully, my doctor felt the cord and cut it before it choked him. C2 and M2 were painful births which, thankfully, did not last that long.

    With the advent of technology, ultrasounds now are not what they were before. New mommies now can actually “see” their babies even before they were born. I did not have that technology available to me then, too bad. I have also wondered what my doctor saw from his perspective since he would put me to sleep as soon as most of the baby was out. Obviously, at my end, I had no idea what it was like on his end. 🙂

    Finally, here is an animation from YouTube that is wholesome enough for everyone to watch. It helps that the background music is classical, thanks to J.S. Bach.

    Hope my 2 girls see this and realize that a mother’s pain during childbirth is NOTHING compared to the joy afterwards of holding your baby. It never ceases to amaze me that you carry this life inside you for 9 months, feel it move and kick, and afterwards, you are faced with this baby that is 100% dependent on you.

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    Freedom from Braces — Not Yet!

    Yesterday, I got the news from my ortho which I did not want to hear but expected. The long-awaited freedom from braces before the end of this year won’t happen.

    Yes, these metal contraptions will still see the New Year!

    In a previous post, I said I was so looking forward to having these come off by December since my inlaws were going to celebrate their Diamond Wedding Anniversary and I wanted to have all our pictorials with me….BRACE-FREE!

    I mean, how many couples in this whole wide world get the chance to reach 60 years of marriage??? And those pics will be permanently displayed in all our family walls! And me still with braces! 🙁

    I guess this is one of those “setbacks” in life I need to deal with.

    Looks like gaining a little bit of weight to put some flesh back into moi will have to wait a little longer….

    sigh….now to practice smiling with NO teeth showing….