A Walk Through Life

Change. We all want to change for the better but, at times, it is such a struggle to be able to successfully do so; but once you finally found the courage to take the first step towards the process of "change", everything else will soon follow... hopefully, with God's will and guidance. However, it is always possible to find yourself falling into the trap of going back to the previous state you are in. You might feel tired about your failed attempts at changing because you would always find yourself back at square one rather than progressing towards the finish line. And you will then start to wonder and ask yourself, "Why did I mess it up, again?" Of course, it is easy to figure out why you failed because you will be able to assess the consequences of your failed attempts. On the brighter side, you can always start again - 'more intelligently', as Henry Ford puts it. Today, with the help of God, I am changing. I am starting again more intelligently to...

Didn't you realize how quickly the days go by? I began to realize that it's almost Christmas time when we officially started our Kris Kringle this month. Definitely, it’s time to buy gifts these days. It’s really fun and exciting to be receiving a little something each week. I am looking forward to the revelation part where we get to know who’s been giving us the gifts we’ve been getting each week. Speaking of gifts, I have also been planning to give something unique as a Christmas gift to my hubby. Clueless on what to give, I started to browse online for gift ideas and this led me to seeing pictures of Tungsten Rings, particularly the wedding rings. Oh, I would have loved for us to be wearing beautifully designed wedding rings made of rare and durable metal like Tungsten to symbolize our rare and enduring love for each other; however, we already have our wedding rings because we've been married for 4 years already. So, I'll just have to suggest that my friend in the...

I just love it when the U.S. celebrates Thanksgiving holiday. I am loving this holiday more this year especially now that I just got back from working in traditional office. The company I work for follows the American holidays in determining our non-working days. This is why I was fortunate to have enjoyed a two-day respite from work. In fact, I'd consider it as a four-day vacation from work if I were to include Saturday and Sunday. Yey! Thank you, America! :-) In connection with the Thanksgiving holiday, I told my husband I am going to post again something about gratitude. I always have a lot of things to be thankful for in my life. Overall, life has been great. Despite a few setbacks here and there, I feel like the Lord has been very kind to me and my family. With God's help, there weren't troubles that me and my husband weren't able to endure together. I think I've said or written this somewhere. Why do I feel like I keep repeating myself? *grin* In terms of wo...

After careful consideration, I have decided to go back to working in traditional office. It was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made considering that I have always wanted to stay and work at home so I can also be where my daughter is. Among the many plausible reasons I have, recent health concerns in the family added more weight to the decision that at least one of us should be back working in traditional office setting so that the whole family can have health insurance as part of the benefits. Anyway, I am not going to be working in the office the whole day and my Saturdays and Sundays are always free. Indeed, even as a freelancer, work-at-home employee or a casual worker, it’s really important to have an amount set aside for contingencies such as health setbacks and other emergencies. Sometimes, we tend to put these things off (if not forget) hoping that we would stay healthy all the time and especially since we’ve always known ourselves to be not the sickly type. However, w...

Lately, we have been getting a lot of calls from representatives of different banks. Some of them wanted to talk to me while the others wanted to talk to my husband. I wonder where they got our names and telephone number. Perhaps they got it from a telephone directory or from the bills that were sent to us. It could be from raffle coupon forms that we have religiously filled up at the malls hoping we would get lucky. Could it be possible that some establishments would sell customer information to these banks? Anyway, these bank representatives were calling us for one purpose; and that is to tell us that we are qualified to avail of personal loans. Personally, I was really surprised how confident they were to offer us this type of loan when they do not even know yet if we are capable of paying them back. To be really honest, it looks really tempting to avail of a loan because we could use it for house improvement and other important things. To rely on our salaries from working onl...

Just wanted to write a quick and short note - I'm still alive. :-) A month after this domain expired, I realized that I'm not ready to take down this blog. For some reason, I'd still want to keep this despite not being able to write updates for ages. Thanks to things like "grace period", and husband's approval, I was able to reactivate this blog with grace. Period. Today marks the end of my blogging hiatus. Hopefully. Welcome time management. I'll take this walk through life again one day at a time. :-) Just wondering if I still have some readers... I certainly hope so.

Happy Monday, everyone! Life had been extremely busy that I missed to update this blog as often as I would have loved to. As usual. I thought I could fit blogging regularly but I guess I will not push myself too hard on this itinerary anymore. Hopefully, I can manage to at least update and do some blog hopping on a weekly basis. We'll see. No matter how busy I get these days, though, I am still loving life. Stress won't defeat us if we believe that there's a God who can lighten all our burdens. If there's anything heavy that I was not able to address yet at this point in time, that would have to be my weight. Even my husband would remind me to exercise more or I might be able to make myself an eligible candidate for the second season of Biggest Loser: Pinoy Edition . It's not funny but he's right, though. So, I won't complain anymore if I hear anyone telling me the obvious that I'm getting bigger. The truth hurts, indeed; but if that's what it ta...

I'd like to further affirm my declaration that I am not yet done with summer  by putting up another post about it. Yes, I am so not over it yet. In fact, this cover song Summer Breeze from Jason Mraz just keeps playing over and over my head and I am still not tired of it. Not all episodes of last song syndrome irritates me. At least not this one. I think it is possible to have a very long but relaxing trip when you're listening to beautiful songs like this. Okay, probably anything from Jason Mraz (and John Mayer...). Okay.. here's the song I am talking about...

One of the things I wouldn't forget about being employed from an American outsourcing company before was the fact that we've also celebrated American holidays with our American bosses. I would remember that when it's a US holiday, it's usually the time of rejoicing for us because it means we have no work. However, a more in-depth look at the holiday made me realize that we should not rejoice only because it's going to give us a respite from work; instead, we must also understand why we celebrate such a thing. The month of May, come the last Monday of the month, is US Memorial Day. Now, it's clear to me because I already got myself educated that this day is in honor of those who died in the service of the military such as, but not limited to, those who became officers and crew of the USS Bluegill . I believe that declaring a holiday in memory of those who died for the country's sake is indeed a great form of respect we can give to them. Remembering those who ...

Just had two great weekends (Saturday and Sunday) this month of May. On Saturday, on our way to our in-laws, we dropped by at Greenwich pizza to meet up with two ex officemates. I thought we wouldn't be able to make it to dinner time because it was really hard to get a ride and the weather wasn't cooperating. Thank God, they're still there, though. Pizza, pasta and french fries with friends -- hmmm, friendship is making me bloat! :-) Sunday was Mothers Day. Happy Mothers Day , mother bloggers! Or should it be blogger mothers? Both, didn't sound too good :-) In my previous post, I mentioned we were going to spend this day with the in-laws in Aloguinsan . We were supposed to be basking at a beach called " Hidden Beach " in Bonbon, Aloguinsan; however, the road going to beach I envisioned to be a paradise beach seemed too muddy because of the heavy rain that we decided to make a retreat and went in one of the beaches in Pinamungajan , instead. It would have bee...

I am already excited to pay my hometown San Carlos City (Negros Occidental) a visit because I haven't been back there for ages since our family already moved here in Cebu. Time to check on my calendar for this itinerary. I told my husband I need to find some time to show him and our daughter what our hometown looks like. I thought we deserve to spend at least a day or two in one of those beautifully developed resorts and beaches there. I can only imagine myself waiting for my cold drinks, sitting on a beautiful outdoor lounge chair and enjoying the breath of fresh air. Oh, and did I mention taking a dip in the water, too? Summer or not, we're going to make a splash. Tomorrow is Mother's Day and I get to spend it with my in-laws at Aloguinsan . Not good with geography but it's in the southern part of Cebu. I don't know which resort in Aloguinsan we are heading but I hope to get good pictures so I can share it here on my blog. Sadly, I am still stuck with this old...

In line with the Department of Health's immunization program for children between nine months to eight years old, my little girl received her measles/rubella shot on April 29th. Even though she's been completely immunized already with the MR vaccine when she was under a year old, I did not hesitate to let her receive immunization again because I have paid attention to their campaign on television and got myself educated that it's still okay and safer to get another shot. I thought they'd never make it here in our place because it is almost the end of their door-to-door immunization campaign but I am glad I was wrong. Anyway, I got to tell you how brave my daughter was. I could hear the cries of some toddlers in the neighborhood when they received their shots but my daughter didn't shed a tear. Yes, it's the same painless reaction all over again when it comes to the needles. In fact, she just watched how the needle entered her skin. Not quite like her mom, eh! ...

As far as I can remember, my husband has been wearing prescription glasses ever since the first day I saw him in the same office we were working before. Some people who would talk about him would actually refer to him as the "guy with eyeglasses" when they would forget his name but I must say, though, that even then, I already knew there's something more to him than just being that "guy wearing eyeglasses". I guess it just can't be helped that his eyeglasses are already part of his personality. He's been wearing them since college. More importantly, he just can't leave the house, face the computer, or read books without them. Incidentally, some time this year, he said goodbye to his old pair and bought a new one. We thought it could last for another year before he would be able to buy his next one. It was like our little girl decided it when she grabbed the eyeglasses while he was carrying her and just let the pair fall to the ground. Anyway, w...

For those who are still renting an apartment, it is time to consider buying and owning a house. It is a waste of money if you spend for a place of dwelling that you can never own even in the long run. For this reason, it is practical to invest in a good house where you won’t think about having to look for another place to stay later on when landlords or apartment owners would already decide they no longer want to have the place rented. Indeed, renting a home will not provide you with the security that you will always have a place to go home to for many years. It is time to decide on buying a good home now rather than in the future because the price of homes will surely increase in the future. Below are some important things to consider when buying a good home for the family: 1. Location. If your purpose is to have a house for the family that you can all go home to every single day, you need a location that is in close proximity to where you are working. You don’t have to live nea...

I told my husband maybe it is about time that we would agree to a home makeover because the house looked almost too boring already. It’s been three years now since we moved here but it seems like we still haven’t done much to get past its vintage look. :-) Anyway, it’s not like I am insisting for a total makeover all at once. I just want to make a few little changes at least twice a year. It probably wouldn't hurt our budget if we would just spare some amount every payday for a home improvement project. Perhaps, we can start painting those vintage looking walls with odorless paint. Then we can probably add hanging cabinets so we can already have proper place of storage for some of the wedding gifts we have received three years ago. Most of our gifts were just collecting dusts in storage boxes and these boxes are just simply eating up a lot of space in the other room upstairs. I’m really all about saving some spaces in the house and put them to good use. In fact, I’d like to be abl...

I thought I'd wait forever but when the mailman came to our home two weeks ago to tell me I have a little package to receive, I knew it came from booksneeze.com . I've long been expecting this free book because I had asked for it last year in exchange for an honest review but, for some reason, I was informed that the book was sent back to them. Thankfully, after confirming to them my home address, they had promised to send it back. So now the book is already in my hands. Anyway, this book entitled " Living Life In The Zone " came right on time for Holy Week. To recall, I asked for a free copy of it so I can also give it to my husband as a gift. :-) Anyway, it's conjugal property now. Even though this is intentionally written for men, I have also found the time to read it but only when he's already done reading it for the day. So far, I did find the first few parts of the book to be a good read. I'll definitely be back to write about my review of this boo...

Last week, I found myself looking back on my childhood and younger days as a sort of reflection during the Holy Week. Flashbacks! My thoughts suddenly returned to my birthplace – the place and the home where I grew up. This is a part of my life where I will always cherish the most because those days were my carefree, innocent, and free-spirited days.  Aside from the wonderful upbringing of my parents, the challenges I have encountered during my childhood have made me a stronger person – someone strong enough to face life's challenges as I moved forward towards adulthood. an old photo from my childhood... another old photo with classmates... Today, even though I already have a family of my own and living far from my first home already, I am still happy that I am connected to my classmates, friends, and neighbors in the past. Thanks to technology and social networking sites, we are now able to keep in touch. Just even seeing pictures of old acquaintances from my hometown bri...

After watching The Seven Last Words program on television (I forgot what channel we were tuned in) where some speakers were invited to talk for a few minutes to narrate their own story/experience as it relates to  The Seven Last Words of Jesus Christ before He had breathed His last breath, I was completely touched by this message from Matthew 9:13 which was also shared by one of the speakers/sharers:  "But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’   For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

Okay, so I failed again. I failed to be be back from the blogging hiatus earlier as I promised I would. Somehow, I misappropriated my return to the blogging world but, hey, please spread the word out - the resilient woman is back :-) Now I understand why one of my blogger friends chose to quit the blogging world to prioritize other more important things like taking care of her toddler, her family, and her studies. I don't blame her. As for me, though, I really have no plans of leaving the blogging world for good. I am resilient. This is why I keep coming back. :-) Anyway, I'll just let you in on my past activities that have kept me busy. Aside from work, parenting has kept me and my husband busy. Yes, weekends especially. We make sure that we have time to bond with our toddler who just turned two years old last March. Yes, she has already entered her second year and so far, she's been a little harder to handle. Quite an attention seeker! Let me share to you ou...

Hello mashkans ! Obviously, I forgot to leave a message and took an immediate hiatus from blogging. Although I know I don't really need to explain anything, I feel like I owe it to my friends and fellow bloggers to let them know that, as always, I appreciate all the visit and comments and that I shall be back to blogging pretty soon. So, in answer to my friend Georyl's post on blogging burnout ,  I'm not really bored with blogging. It's just that life gets in the way sometimes and it really needs to take a back seat. LOL Missing you my friend and everybody else in the blogging world. You understand, right? :-) Rest assured that I'll return all your visits and I promise to come back with some awards again to give. This blogging hiatus shan't be long as I look forward to March. Soon, it will be my daughter's second birthday!

This is my post-valentine treat - an untold story from the past. Was it love at first sight for me? You decide. :-) I just had my successful job interview with the owner and CEO of the company that day. So, when I told a good friend of mine who was already working there ahead of me that I was already shaking hands with the CEO and got the job I was applying for, he happily toured me around the department to get the feel of the office where I would soon become a part of. It was an "unofficial" tour because it's actually HR's task to welcome and introduce me as the newest addition to the work force. Anyway, looking back now, I was really glad my friend toured me around that day because that day happens to be the first time I caught sight of the man that I didn't know would become my husband three years later. :-) The first time I saw him, he wouldn't even look up because he was very busy and seemed too preoccupied with computer-related tasks that he ac...

When we were still dating, I got almost all of my " I love you's " from him through text messages. Yes, he's not really the vocally expressive type. I asked him why and his explanation was that it's a little awkward for him when he would say that in person because even in their own home and even when members of their family are all close to one another, they wouldn't say I Love You personally to each other. Then I told him that it's time that he express himself well vocally without feeling awkward about it. I don't remember exactly when it was. It started with me saying this to him first where I would get the " I Love You, Too " back and then gradually he would just surprise me with those words without me having to say (or suggest?) it first. Oh, I hope you didn't think I was the one who gave him a hint that I was interested in him. No, not at all. It's just that he had his own way of courting a girl. In fact, I remember the first ...

No, I'm not really asking. How Do You Fall In Love? by Alabama is my favorite song of the week. Since it's almost Valentine's Day, I'd like to feature this beautiful song here on my blog. What do you think of this song?  Well, just in case you'd like to sing along, you can find the lyrics to the song below: How Do You Fall In Love? How do you fall in love? When do you say I do? When is the perfect time To spend the rest of your life? Seasons may come and go And sometimes it rains and snows And there will be highs and lows So only you will know You never know just where it will find you 'Cause it can come on you so fast Seems like it takes forever When you want it so bad But don't ever take it for granted 'Cause it's more than sowing some seeds It takes sun and water So give it what it needs And that's how you fall in love That's when you say I do That's when you know it's time To spend the rest of your...

I'm getting quite unusually nocturnal these days. There are really times when I love to work on a graveyard shift even when I'm at home. No, I'm not an insomniac. It's just that my body clock sometimes changes. Yes, this doesn't happen very often. Why is this so? Well maybe this has something to do with my previous work experience before when I was still connected with a data processing company which operated 24 hours each day of the working week. Yes, it was a long time ago 2-year experience with a graveyard shift assignment in the corporate world. I had no problem with that night shift assignment. In fact, I was one of those who had volunteered for it. Along with some of my officemate/friends, we were the pioneer shift for our department at that time. I realized it wasn't really hard to be working on a night shift at that time because: 1. I was still very much single (no husband or baby to think about), although this made me less visible around the dating ...

The love month is here. Hello February! You're reading an entry for Couples Corner and I am supposed to talk about our first kilig/sweet, exciting moments.Love, love, love! Hmmm, a trip down memory lane is indeed a good way to prevent Alzheimer's, isn't it? Care to know our first " kilig ", sweet and exciting moments within our getting to know you better stage? I recalled those times when a common officemate friend would tell me he's been asking for more information and facts about me, including my mobile phone number! My inexperienced heart went chug! chug! when I learned all about it. Thoughts and questions were already running in my head. Is he really interested? Does he really like me? Or does he just want me to become his textmate? I think he is interested. Oh, I know I needed to be careful in dealing with men.  He started sending me friendly messages through YM which he never did before and I would secretly reply back so as not to cause a stir. LOL....

Memories from our old home. Ahhhh... Nostalgia! And the rats said, " Who moved our cheese? "

It's Monday. Happy day, everyone! I'd like to share a wonderful song I just discovered today. It's called " The Basics Of Life ".  I feel like the message of the song is very timely because of what is already happening in our world today - so much chaos, so much war, so much crime, and so many other things that most of us do that no longer conform to what God originally wants for us to do. Well, let me know if you liked the message of the song.

There's really no stopping January to end soon. Yay, Valentine's Day month, almost! So now I need to get out of this blogging hiatus fast and catch up with my last two posts for January. By the way, my rock star brother turned supervisor celebrated his birthday on the 26th while a DG BFF is celebrating her birthday today. Happy birthday to the both of you, J and J! I promised myself to devote a post for my New Year's resolution before January ends. I've written this last year but I still haven't executed some of them. I had this saved in our computer so I think my husband had been all over this list and probably laughing, too, because there are just some of them that I couldn't bring myself to start doing. My analysis? If it's anything related to doing something for myself, it would seem like, procrastination is my best friend. Oh, I hope not! Okay, I really don't want to come up with too lengthy post about me and my New Year's resolution. :-) ...

January is almost over but it looks like I just started to realize I haven't been writing much around here. I know I haven't been updating this blog on a regular basis but I just can't get out of this "busy" mode still since the start of the New Year. Anyway, I guess I should be able to catch up now. I hope to write at least two updates a week and visit back my blogging friends who also took the time to visit me here. I think this would be a good setup for the time being. Reminds me, I have yet to post my Lovely Blog Award s (and my Mashkan awards !) before this month ends. Anyway, I was talking to a blogger friend the other day and asked me if I ever thought of hosting this blog to wordpress. I thought, it would be cool to be blogging in a wordpress platform but I need to research first if it's possible to retain the PR I just earned back from G this January in case I'd consider transferring my three-year-old blog to a wordpress web host. Any experts ...

Are you a Facebook user? Have you reviewed the way you control or share information on this social network giant? I'm sure you are already aware that Facebook is not just there to give us all the perks of providing leisure and fun time for us to keep up with friends, share photos and videos, or play the many online games that are there to steal minutes or hours of our time. Yes, Facebook makes money too - from sponsors and advertisers. In fact, I heard they are capitalizing on user-generated content as well. They can make money from our simple activities on the site such as "liking" brands or products or even check-ins to stores when advertisers would pay for such content to be published so that it becomes an effective form of word-of-mouth advertising. If you haven't noticed it yet, look through the "Sponsored" part of your Facebook page to the right. More often than not, you would see the name of your friend "liking" a brand, company, or we...

It's always been said that here in Cebu, Christmas celebration is somewhat extended because of the Sinulog celebration. Well, I did notice that. Even tourists and visitors from other cities and countries flock to Cebu to be a part of this celebration. Time was when I was one of those people crowding the Fuente Osmeña Circle. I've also watched the Sinulog Grand Mardi Gras live thrice within my single years. I didn't mind how much a ticket would cost me as long as I am seated properly and I can watch every Sinulog contingent/participant well. Then afterwards I would get to watch the impressive fireworks presentation for a few minutes. It was fun because I am part of a lively and happy crowd but when it's time to go home, it's a little disappointing and exasperating when you can't easily get a good ride back home. Today, while everyone is busy visiting the Sto. Niño church and out in the Sinulog streets, we choose to stay where we are. We will be going to churc...

Just recently, I saw photos of my Tito Manny (my late mom's brother, one of the characters mentioned in  fascinated with words post) in Facebook. All I can say was, " Wow! He's in the news ! " This photo is courtesy of my cousin's girlfriend As far as the photo goes, he is holding a write-up about him where he's called a " human karaoke machine ". Well, it's basically because he performs and entertains as a one-man band. I wish I have a copy of that paper. I tried to search for it online and I was able to read it only from Google's cache because the link was no longer working. I think I'll have to pay a few dollars to be able to read and print a copy of it. Anyway, I think I very well know his story, especially his humble beginnings. After all, he's my uncle!. :-) Hmmm.. would you believe he's already 50? Anyway, he doesn't look like he is. Just a proud niece! :-)

Obviously, I've been away from the blogging world for such a long time. :-) It was like I was away for a year (line inspired by Nestea Iced Tea commercial where the cutie guy said " last week was last year! ") that I didn't know what to write so I can gracefully welcome myself back. Anyway, there are no alibis explanations this time. Okay, I admit I was busy. Aside from attending to work and health concerns, we (hubby and I) made some decisions that involved our family life. All these things "and more" that I chose not to elaborate yet on this blog have kept me away from doing any blogging updates towards the end of the year. I thought next time it would be a good and polite idea to leave some sort of a " Hiatus " message so as not to keep all my blogging friends wondering about me. I agree I'm not really good at it but for the sake of New Year's resolution, let me make it up to you next time! Anyway, December wasn't so bad after ...