A Walk Through Life

I'm joining the Mommy Moments again! The theme is blue and so I have to use again Dipdip's older pictures because I don't remember if she has anything else blue other than this hand-me-down dress which was already outgrown by the daughter of my first cousin. Anyway, whether she's wearing a brand new dress or a hand me down, anything looks good on her. As the Chinese proverb goes " There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it. " *wink*

Lately, we've been experiencing power outages. Sometimes, it just gets so irritating when you have some unfinished work to do and some deadlines to meet. But then again, I don't want to allow my frustration to rule over me. In life, there are power outages that we call trials. We hope to be able to face them without fear or frustration. God knows all our needs. He knows what's in our hearts, and all our desires. Therefore, brownouts or no brownouts, I welcome them with love. As my favorite author, Og Mandino, had written - " I will greet this day with love in my heart! " Thank you Lord for all the brownouts so that we may appreciate light! Thank you Oh God for never leaving us...

Music Monday, here I come! Let me share to you one of the songs that has a huge impact on me. I am referring to this song by NewSong entitled " Defining Moment ". This is a song from their album called Sheltering Tree. This album was on my wish list two or three years ago, I love all of their songs in it. I've been looking everywhere for this album here but I couldn't find it at my favorite record bars. What's your defining moment ? Let us all aim to reach this ultimate defining moment in our lives. NewSong - Defining Moment Found at abmp3 search engine Defining Moment Lyrics There comes a time in every heart a time of real decision When we reach the point of choosing how we will live our lives All our hopes, all our dreams will rise up from that moment The moment we surrender and choose to follow Christ He's been waiting all our lives to hear us say I am yours, Lord, take my hand and lead the way When you believe He's all you nee...

Am I late for Mommy Moments? Yours truly wants to catch up! The theme is all about RED. I love red, they say it is my lucky color. However, I wasn't quite sure why pictures in red are quite limited. So now, I'll have to use old pictures again because I realized that my daughter too didn't have too much of this color. I wouldn't be surprised if hubby doesn't have any red stuff, though. I let her wear red during the reception of her baptism. There goes the red bracelet, too. She was about four months old then. She also has a red rag doll. Well, dipdip is already sleeping now, I forgot to do a photo er video op with her holding this earlier. I like her pose right here so this has to be part of her red moments. Here's another family pic where I wore an old red shirt. I'd like to take the chance to thank my sister-in-law for the new red pair of sandals that she gave me when she was here. I really love it! Somehow she just knew what I wanted. The s...

"Oh, honey when I die Dress me up in a coat and tie Give my feet a pair of shoes That I haven't worn in a long time Put me in a golden box Not a cross on a pile of rocks Bury me where the grass is green And the gates are shining..." The quoted text above is the chorus to the lyrics from a song entitled " Poor Man's Grave " by a band called the Eraserheads. The melody to this song is so good that I can't help but sing along; however, if I would have to look deeper, it would cause me to think "is it really necessary to have a grand funeral"? I believe it wouldn't matter anymore when we're dead. However, the fact remains that it is important for most families to bury their dead with a decent funeral. It's like a form of last respect for a dead loved one. Personally, I came from a family who didn't have the benefit of a good insurance. I remember when one would get sick, we can't expect dad's insurance ...

[The paragraphs you will read below are from my mommy Diana's journal. Even though she has already joined our Creator, I still feel very much connected to her in many ways, especially because I kept her journals with me. I've always loved her funny and natural way of telling her experiences even though I know that sometimes there are emotional or sad stories behind them, just like this one.. Read on if you are curious. :-)] I was inside a room in a hospital, I wasn't supposed to enter... of course, I can read numbers, have virtually memorized the room I was always visiting and sometimes doing some attendance ... the patient was a dear person in my heart. Naturally, to go back in that room was instinct. I forgot that my patient has insinuated the other day that he will transfer to a very expensive suite 'coz staying there for almost a month was flagellation if he won't transfer. The attending nurse had announced earlier there was now a vacancy on that long coveted...

I've been looking for the perfect song for my Music Monday entry. I know a lot of great songs. In fact, everyday I've always experienced a "last song syndrome". However, I don't like what I've been hearing lately - they are always music from politicians' ads on television (didpdip is enjoying them, though). I don't feel too mushy to feature my favorite love songs as well. Thankfully, I bumped into this really beautiful song by Gary Valenciano. It's called Take Me Out Of The Dark. This has been a favorite song of mine ever since this song became a hit. It's been a while since I last heard this song, so when I heard it and read the lyrics again, I can't help my tears from falling. So, I'm sharing this to you now. Hope you'll find a deeper meaning to the song like I always do... Happy listening! Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. Rules are simple. Leave ONLY the actual post link here and grab the code below...

I have read from my mom's journal about an old neighbor's account of his bad ordeal at a certain hospital. I would not mention which hospital it was because my mom didn't mention it in her journal also. The man complained about a painful and an immobile finger. Surprisingly, it was only his forefinger. He was then being referred and sent by the company doctor to that certain hospital. At the hospital, he was asked to have a series of tests - blood, urine and other tests. What's even more surprising to him later after those tests was that he was then lifted to the stretcher and then brought to the operating room. Before he knew it, a nurse started shaving him below. He then began to worry because somehow he knew he's not supposed to be there. He then stood up and asked the attending nurse if he really needed to be operated on just because he had complained of a painful finger that wouldn't move. The nurse and her team looked surprised because they thought he was ...

So yesterday, the first home owner's meeting happened. The developer met with us to inform us that since all units were already occupied, we need to form a home owner's association because they are going to turn over most of the responsibilities to the association with regards to the implementation of the rules and regulations. It was also our time to get to know the rest of the people in the neighborhood because we only knew a few. Anyway, I still can't remember most of their names, just their faces. We have yet to elect officers in the future but for the meantime we have appointed members of the ad hoc committee - these are our key people who will work on the by-laws of the association. Well, my husband was appointed  as one of the members of that committee. Oh, and Juliet got appointed, too! I'm happy because finally my shy husband will now interact with this committee. It's a good training ground for him if ever he wants to be a politician someday, LOL.

When I was in college, I wasn't able to buy all the textbooks that were required for all of my subjects. I was hesitant to ask additional money for textbooks from my parents because I know they have already stretched the family budget just so they could be able to send for my allowance, tuition and other school needs. What I usually do is spend some time on the library to borrow and read the book which cannot be brought home. Yes, I was always visible at the library. Sometimes, though, when the reading would take too long, I would have the pages photocopied so that I will have to read them at home. Nowadays, it is easier to acquire the textbooks that you need at a lower cost because there are now used textbooks that are sold online. Come to think of it, it is more practical for people to sell textbooks that they no longer have any use for rather than to have them rot in their homes. In a way, they are helping other people to acquire the books at a cheaper price. If only there was a...

It's Friday and you guys already know what that means - it's Mommy Moments time! Well, let's get down to the theme. It's all about Yellow. Mommies get to share "yellow" kids' stuff. Well, let me just share to you that my Dipdip's favorite cartoon character is Winnie The Pooh . So, that is why we have come to love Pooh as well. These photos were taken just today, an exclusive shoot for the Mommy Moments :-) I just remembered she also wore yellow the morning of her birthday. She was trying to be a singer but ended up dancing, anyway. :-)

posted with husband's permission Even before we got married, husband already noticed that he is starting to lose his hair. Yes, he has HIV – his "hair is vanishing". :-) He said there is a good chance that he will turn bald after a few more years. In fact, he said he had proposed to me a little earlier than he should because he wanted to be married before he loses his charisma because of his thinning hair. Oh well, he thinks that was a good joke. It is my husband's dream to grow back his hair. He had wanted so much to prevent himself from getting bald. And so I supported him with his dream. At first he had tried an over the counter shampoo we bought at Watson's with the active ingredient "Minoxidil" that is said to stimulate growth of hair but after a few months of spending for it and getting no results, he finally gave up on the expense. If only we can afford a hair transplant, I would've supported him on that just so he can feel good about...

We are looking forward to attend to the first home owners meeting that's going to happen this Saturday. In our more than two years of staying here in this low cost housing, we will finally have a home owner's meeting. We don't know the agenda, though. Maybe it has something to do with our list of complaints. Or maybe it has something to do with handling over the responsibilities from the developer to the homeowners. Maybe we get to elect officers. A lot of maybe's because the subject was just a "general meeting" for the homeowners. Hopefully, it's now time to meet our rich neighbors and shake hands with them, eh? Hmmm, I think I am not looking forward to it, anymore. :-) *shy mode*

We've always known the importance of securing our family's future, especially on the aspect of health and wellness. This is why we never run out of vitamins and supplements at home. Health is even more important to us now that our work at home job does not have the benefit of a health insurance even though it pays better and that we have the luxury of doing both our jobs in the comfort of our home. Yes, when we were once employed outside our home, we had that health benefit and Dipdip was even included in the coverage. Now that we are no longer connected to that company, we no longer have that kind of insurance and it's like everyday we are all wishing and praying we will always be in the best of health. Now, we're saving up for a health insurance. I know that we can scout for a lot of insurance providers here in our country, though. Husband has an insurance that he's been paying since he was still single but it's a retirement insurance, somewhat likened to a p...

It's Monday and it's Music Monday time once again. One of my favorite songs is " How Do You Keep The Music Playing? " by James Ingram and Patti Austin. This is a beautiful and meaningful song especially for the couples out there.      Get this widget |      Track details  |         eSnips Social DNA    We also have a home video performance of this song where I sang only at the first part but I don't want to embed it here, only because I was there during the first part. But if you want to view how I messed up the song, you can view it here . :-) How Do You Keep The Music Playing? Lyrics How do you keep the music playing? How do you make it last? How do you keep the song from fading too fast? How do you lose yourself to someone and never lose your way? How do you not run out of new things to say? And since you know we're always changing How can it be the same? And tell me ho...

After we lost "Finch", a family dog from my side of the family, when he got bitten by a stray dog and was able to witness him dying, my fascination for pets or dogs started to dwindle. However, about a month ago, hubby had been meaning to have some pets around our house because he wants to develop our little daughter's fondness for animals. He thinks it is a good sign that Dipdip has fondness for stuffed animals. We have also noticed that whenever she sees cats or dogs everytime we are at the in-laws' place, she would instantly scream in delight. So now, I think I look forward to a pet in the family. I got inspired a little more when we saw beautiful puppies for sale online. There are also dogs for sale but we'd like to have us a cuddly puppy so we can raise and let them grow into a beautiful and well behaved dog. Last Saturday, when we were heading home from beach day at Lingay Beach Resort, a furry dog caught my attention because it was sitting on the ch...

We've all grown so much. Me and my siblings. I never thought we'd be living apart but then again when I got married and when these two brothers of mine already got their jobs abroad, it was already hard to keep the four of us together. Right now, brother McAldz is with dad in Medellin, Cebu and my sister has a job in the city. And brother J is in Bahrain still. I wonder when all four of us can have the time to be together with our dad? Even though this wasn't beautifully taken, I guess I'll just have to hold on to this 2006 picture of the four of us being together in the photo.

What are your reasons for having a basement in the house? Well, we don't have a basement constructed in our house but if you ask me, here are some probable reasons for having a basement: 1) You need some neat place to store some stuffs you won't be needing for a long time. For example, this can be a good place to store some of your belongings, like wedding gifts and some old furniture that don't have any more place in the key parts of the house. 2) For some people, they would make an extra bedroom right on the basement so they can accommodate some of their relatives for a sleepover. 3) Some would also create a basement because they want to have a place to go to if they want to have some peace and quiet to themselves. 4) Sometimes, the basement can also serve as a hideaway wherein one can make a secret passage leading to the basement in case a threat of danger is approaching. If you have reasons for having a basement in the home, you should also consider Waterproof...

I love seminars! One of the activities that I miss from being an office employee was going to seminars. Yes, once in a while, we get to attend seminars that could really enrich and help us to become better employees and better individuals. I was looking at old pictures and found these pictures from my Multiply account. These are pictures from one of the echo seminars that I've attended. receiving my certificate for having attended the seminar showing off our certificates.  i knew we learned a lot but right now, i couldn't remember what was that seminar all about. all I remembered was that this was a fun seminar. here's the best part of the seminar - eating time! hehehe After some careful analysis, I realized that I missed eating from Jollibee a lot. I guess it's time to let Dip-dip meet the happy bee. :-)

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This day Saturday was beach day with the in-laws. My sister-in-law and her husband will be returning to Norway on Wednesday and would like to have another bonding time together with us before their trip back home is due. The Lingay Beach Resort in San Remigio, Cebu became my in-laws' favorite beach to go to after they've been there for the first time in 2008. Yes, we're back in Lingay! If the beach resort owner knew I have blogged about it, they would have probably given us a good discount, LOL. There were many changes to the place, including the price. They've increased the rent to the rooms and cottages a little bit which was understandable because it's already been two years and I believe they still charge lower than other beach resorts. They now have a swimming pool area and they charge a hundred pesos for adults and fifty pesos for children. Oh well, we didn't want the pool because we all want white sand and sea water. Finally, we were able to have ...

We're fond of singing through our Magic Sing . Hubby and I bought it as one of our conjugal properties but we had it before we even got married. We have used it for entertainment when he and his family came over to my parents' house to ask for my hand in marriage. Today, it is easily connected to our television. I got a little problem with the sounds though because it's not giving us the karaoke or videoke feel. It wasn't quite like the set-up at our in-laws' place where they have hooked the Magic Sing's audio to a sound system with a large speaker to boost the sound. I don't want that kind of set-up here at home though because we might make enemies with the neighbors. I guess adding TV speakers would already be enough to make the music and audio from the magic microphone blend perfectly well with the singer's voice. Hmmm, that's not a priority expense for now, though. Who knows?

I missed Mommy Moments for a while. Now, I'm back. :-) Anyway, the topic is all about baby's shoes. So now I'm sharing this to the rest of the mommies here. For those who would like to join in the fun in sharing their shoes stories, just click on the Mommy Moments badge. this is her old pair. she first learned how to walk with these shoes. it's too small for her now. :-) she has a pink pair. but it won't fit her just yet. we're putting some tissue inside just so it would fit her. talk about parents' ingenuity! this one is a hand-me-down (her first cousin used to own this pair) but it fits just right! i don't know if this would fit under the 'shoes' category. let's just call this a footwear. :-) so now, she's pretty much walking with this hand-me-down pair!

Did you remember how you vowed to your spouse to be with each other " for richer or for poorer ", etc., during your wedding day? I don't know how many recessions and financial difficulties we will be experiencing together but hubby and I have promised to hold on to that promise, no matter what. Looking back, we were really in a tough financial situation when hubby temporarily lost his job because of the recession. Even though the company gave them their retrenchment benefit, still it wasn't enough for our future expenses considering that I was pregnant at that time and almost due for delivery. We really need to prepare for the future expenses especially for the baby's needs. There's also the need for house improvement since we need to construct rooms for it. Good thing that hubby's life insurance has the benefit of personal loans which really helped us a lot to get through our financial woes. Loans are not that bad at all, if availed for the right...

You may have noticed that I have been sharing home videos lately and have almost turned this blog into a video blog. :-) Forgive me for doing this again because I just can't help but share this next video to the world because this one is just seriously hilarious ! I took this video of my father-in-law singing. This is just one of the series of videos that I took during our karaoke sessions. Check out how the performance turned out with the in-laws around. Now, this is why I love my in-laws! :-)

Going on vacation is fun and exciting especially if the destination is new to us. However, we need to make sure that we can have a great vacation by figuring what we want to do and where our destination will be. Perhaps friends, relatives or family members can give some ideas on the travel destination. After having a brainstorming of ideas on destinations, the next thing to worry about is how to bear the cost of the accommodation and other expenses. If the chosen destination is a city then you have to prepare more money especially if you plan to stay for a long time. To stay in another place will usually require you to book for a hotel room; or at least that's what you may have been used to doing. However, if you don't want to have to pay for the standard price for a hotel room and end up incurring more debts on your credit card which will eventually lead you to financial trouble, you need to be a little more resourceful when it comes to booking for an accommodation. Instead ...

Last weekend, as I mentioned earlier, we were at our in-laws to celebrate Easter Sunday with them. Among other occasions to celebrate (hubby's two cousins graduated from the Nursing course), they also held a little celebration for Dipdip's first birthday. So, literally, it was dipdip's second first birthday celebration. I don't have pictures to show yet since we have already returned Papa's handycam and we weren't able to download the pictures and videos prior to leaving the gadget to the rightful owner. I was able to take a shot of the balloons from my own injured camera though before it automatically shut off because I forgot to charge the batteries. Hopefully, I will update this post with pictures of Dipdip with her cousins wearing party hats. Hmmm, looks like everybody's spoiling my princess... Thanks to all the sponsors! :-) By the way, I'm no longer expecting a third first birthday celebration but.... who knows? hahaha

Last Saturday, I had a telephone conversation with a good friend of mine, Shiela. We were both busy since the start of the year that we didn't really have the chance to catch up on each other. It was Black Saturday but I picked up the phone to let her know that I am at my in-laws' place at that time. Our conversation went from simple hello's to planning on a new business venture together but still can't agree on one fixed business venture yet. Anyway, in one of our 'serious' business conversations, we thought of putting up an online store to sell used but fashionable clothes and other used items. Here in the Philippines, it's called ' ukay-ukay .' I don't know yet how profitable it can turn out and how saturated and stiff the competition is in this kind of market and whether there'd be a huge demand for it because it still needs some serious feasibility study. I think it would be fun and exciting to have our own business but I am not quite ...

For my music Monday entry, here's a wonderful song and video of Love Is In The Air , a version sang in one of our videoke sessions with Geir, my sister-in-law's Norwegian husband. If you've been to my previous posts, you must have watched him perform an Elvis song. Love Is In The Air is a 70's song which was made popular by John Paul Young. Love Is In The Air Lyrics Love is in the air Everywhere I look around Love is in the air Every sight and every sound And I don't know if I'm being foolish Don't know if I'm being wise But it's something that I must believe in And it's there when I look in your eyes Love is in the air In the whisper of the trees Love is in the air In the thunder of the sea And I don't know if I'm just dreaming Don't know if I feel sane But it's something that I must believe in And it's there when you call out my name (Chorus) Love is in the air Love is in the air Oh oh oh Oh oh...

As you already know, I've already had my own parenting blog. I just bought the new domain name like two weeks ago. Husband and I have been debating over the choice of the domain name because we could never agree on each other's suggestions. It wasn't until I came up with the domain name 'our life as parents' that he finally agreed with me. Thankfully, this domain name was available for registration and so I have quickly registered for the domain name so that I could start writing contents for it for the month of April. As you know, we also argued about the choice of the website's extension - whether it should be a dot com, dot info, dot org, etc. I thought a dot com would give my parenting site more authority but husband wanted to use a dot info because it costs less to have than a dot com. Eventually, he finally gave in. Anyhow, all my sites are still hosted under a free platform but eventually we will see about acquiring a new web hosting service for the new...

In lieu of the upcoming May 2010 Elections in the Philippines, I thought it would be timely to share this politics anecdote that my mom had wrote in her journal: Did You Or Didn't You ? My husband had run as a candidate in our barangay. Once in a while we got misunderstandings because even then we almost lost our privacy. Now and then, even if we slept, someone knocked on our doors. Others came when we were very busy...just to ask donations and others... quite intentional during the campaign period. "You've not yet seated, you have already too many commitments, how much more if you're elected!" was my comment, shared by my eldest daughter, a 17-year old college student. "Never mind, we, our party agreed to give!" was his reply. After the election, he landed almost at the bottom. In short, he wasn't elected. Since I was not unhappy , my children looked at me with a suspecting eye, " Mom, did you vote for Dad?" :-)

My husband lost his 20/20 vision when he was still in college. He said that it was caused by too much exposure to computers since he was a computer science student back then. At first he thought he was sick when he ended up dizzy, having headaches and felt like vomiting after he stayed in front of the computer for long hours but when he told the symptoms to his mother, she told her that he might have an eye problem. To correct the problem, he had to wear eyeglasses from that time on. His first eyeglasses back then didn't provide the best solution to his needs since he only had ordinary eyeglasses lens but he had already remedied the problem when he bought another pair of eyeglasses that are suited for computer users. Looking for a reliable optical shop for our specific needs is not that difficult, the internet is a great help to learn more about eyeglasses. As for me, I used to have a 20/20 vision but when I got pregnant in the middle of 2008 and had my eye examination during a...

Good Friday, it was indeed! I just can't help but rejoice last Good Friday not only because of what the observance of Holy Week meant to us but because my brother from Abu Dhabi arrived on that day. After two years of not seeing my elder brother McAldz, I sure did miss him. We were very glad he was finally allowed to go on vacation. Well, what can I say-- he's still the same funny brother that I've written about in one of my February 2009 posts, who didn't quite know how to use his facebook account yet :-). Yes, he has a facebook account but he's not the one updating it, it's my other brother J. I guess I'm going to have to spend some time to teach him how to do it.

Hello guys. I'm inviting you to my other blog which talks about our life as parents . Since this walk through life blog is more or less a general blog, I thought of coming up with a specific parenting blog. I've just started out writing my first post and I don't have any followers yet. I hope to see you guys out there if you would love to. I have yet to figure out how to add my blog as a new tab or something. And I am still looking for the perfect template.  Suggestions are welcome but I'll have to take a sleep for now. I'll be adding my blogroll later. May my best friend Google find it and index it soon and hopefully give it a decent pagerank. :-) .