A Walk Through Life

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. :-) .

I've written too soon. I thought my previous post would be my last post for March but hey, there's still a day more before we enter the month of April. Well, anyway, I promised I'll write about my sister-in-law (hubby's youngest sister) and her hubby's coming home from Norway. It is actually my SIL's first return to the Philippines after she got married with Geir, a sweet Norwegian guy who is also more or less like her age. The most common thing between my side of the family and hubby's side of the family is that we all love to sing especially when we get together, whether or not there is a special occasion to celebrate. So, when we got together with Ruth and Geir, we all had a great time videoke singing; although most of us were quite reluctant to sing already because we couldn't sing at par with Geir's performance. He always tells his wife he doesn't need alcohol in order to have a great time. And he's right.  Well, here's the video

For some reason, I'd like to end this month with a happy post, although, this could rightfully make for a good April Fool's post. Have any of you ever drank or tasted beer? To be honest with you, I have and I did. I remembered I was in fourth year high school then when I had my first taste of beer - it was a glass of pale pilsen and it was with my mom's permission. It tasted bitter at first but then I got used to the taste. :-) She believed that beer, if drank in moderation, has a health benefit - something to do with good blood circulation. When I was already working, and for some reason, I learned to occasionally go out with friends on a weeknight and engage in long talks with them. We could chat all night with beer and some chips to go with it. Don't get me wrong, though, I wasn't and I am not alcoholic, although there was a point in my life that I overly drank and vomited because I thought I could handle it (it was a stronger kind of beer) but when it was ti

I promised to write about Dipdip's first birthday celebration, so here it goes.. Dipdip's first birthday celebration was a "simple celebration" like we wanted it to be. It was in fact a belated birthday celebration because it had to be celebrated the day after her birthday. Her birthday fell on a Friday and so we thought it would be convenient for the attendees to celebrate it on a Saturday. The nanny and I took Dipdip to church on her birthday, though, to thank God for giving Dipdip good health. On the other hand, her father was sick for 3 days. He had fever which was secondary to tonsilitis - thanks to her sister's chocolates hehe (I'll write about my sister-in-law and her hubby who arrived from Norway in my future posts). Thankfully, hubby was out of bed on Saturday. The birthday celebration turned out well. This may well be just a first first birthday celebration since my in-laws will also be celebrating Dipdip's first birthday with them along wit

Here's a little something for everyone, especially the moms out there, who are looking for dresses or clothing for their own kids or to give away as gifts. Our friends at Little English have a great line of clothing for our children of different ages and sizes. I've looked around at their site and I really fell in love with their Smocked Dress collection! Yes, I do wish to have one of those hand smocked dresses for my little girl, Pauline. Haven't you checked out their site just yet? I would love for you guys to come check the site out. They do have nice colors and great designs for children's wear, very distinct southern style -- cool and definitely comfortable to wear because of their smart choice of fabrics!

It's been a year ago since I've written about coming home with Baby Pauline (Dip-Dip) from the hospital. This time, I'd like to do a little recap with DipDip's one year milestone. Newborn It was March 26, 2009 when I delivered Dip-Dip via Caesarian, it wasn't a planned Caesarian. It was a decision we both had to make at the eleventh hour to ensure that she will be safely delivered into this world. I guess Dipdip pretty much liked it inside my womb that she didn't want to come out. And of course, it also had something to do with my safety as well. It's funny because some friends would blame it on my age (referring to me as "old") because I had Pauline at the age of 32 years old. But what can I do - I only got married just a few days before I would turn 31, ya know. Well, anyway, we were so happy that the Lord has answered our prayers to bless us with a child. She was 6.8 lbs (3.1 kgs) when I delivered her. Not bad! First Month This was a pic

Hubby signed up for a new abs training program just this month. Check out how this abs training program goes and see if this is something that could work for you as well. :-) As for me, I tried it once but I have quitted from this program because my little Dipdip's weight was no joke. Let's just play something else, princess! Hehehe

A friend of ours is getting married to his girlfriend of three years this year. He asked me and hubby if we can recommend our supplier for our wedding invitations that we sent to our family and friends last October 2007. Well, we promptly said 'NO.' If you've been with us through our wedding preparations, you will understand why I don't want to have anything to do with that supplier anymore. I almost had laryngitis ranting too many times about the quality of their work. Why can't they get the spelling right or miss out on one or two important names from my entourage when we've provided them with an electronic copy via e-mail? Frankly, I don't care how they would do it for as long as they don't disappoint us with the quality of their work. We've complained for errors four or five times already because every time they would correct an error, another new error gets introduced. Can you just imagine my frustration? It's not even a rush work because

Hackers.. they're  all over the internet! Facebook users, beware! I have just read from Yahoo about the Facebook virus . Yes, there are major hacking activities going on attempting to hack user information from Facebook users. How they do it? Well, they would send you an e-mail (or what we call a spam) asking you to reset your Facebook password using the new login credentials from a zipped attachment which apparently contains the virus or the software which will then hack your password and other important information. If you are not so aware of it, you would probably think that the mail really came from a Facebook Security staff. Guys, if you have received this kind of email, please ignore or delete it! Never, in any way open the zipped file. When I got this e-mail, I knew there was something fishy about it. I'm glad my instincts were right.

This is a post of gratitude. I know I have said my thank you's to these guys already but I just want to do it here, so that when Didpdip grows up, she will be able to see this. Come next week, Didpdip will be celebrating her first birthday. There's always something with "first birthdays" that would really make us want to celebrate, especially for the sentimental moms like us. Hubby and I were going over our financial ledger, though, and already agreed to celebrate Dipdip's birthday by ourselves. However, there's a little pressure to have at least a simple celebration especially because they say it's a first. And so, thanks to my father who got my brother to donate something for Dipdip's birthday, we can hopefully have a simple celebration next week. Didn't have anything planned yet, as of. Well, another surprise came in just this week. A friend of mine "Cat" emailed me to say that she'll be sending a little something to help with

It was shown on television that hours before Manny Pacquiao fought triumphantly against Joshua Clottey, the famous ring announcer Michael Buffer had walked into Manny's room to have his gloves signed. Here's what Dipdip's Ate Virgie (the nanny slash relative) had to say about it. "That Michael Buffer – he is not a boxer, right? I don't think he will have any use for those gloves." Stephen and I can't help but laugh at her innocent comments before we had the chance to explain that the gloves were autographed for memorabilia's sake. :-)

I found this beautiful song I'd like to share with you guys. It's called " Two Words " by Leah Salonga. Trivia: she sang this song at her own wedding. Check out the song, I'm sure you'll love to hear it over and over. :-) Oh, I'm in love again..

This is my first time to join the Mommy Moments! We don't really "own" a car. But my husband has been "driving" Oliver (the car has a name and it's a vintage car, LOL) for more than a year now. It's his sister's car, actually. She bought it second hand. When she went to Norway, the family agreed to let us use it for the meantime so that we can have a comfortable ride whenever we plan to visit his parents.   Oliver is rather old, but still he and hubby are still capable of bringing us to safety... With God's  blessings and guidance, of course! If anyone wants to join us at the Mommy Moments, just click on the Mommy Moments badge for the details.

I'm not sure if I have a future in writing travel blogs. I think I'm not really good at it. But I'll try. I'll have to start by writing about any of our escapades or travels here in Cebu and hopefully in other parts of the country. I'm naturally a homebody but I would definitely look forward to travel anywhere with my family, that's only if the budget would allow. So, who knows! My camera would be working perfectly by then. :-) So, for now I will just leave you with pictures from one of our old travels taken last Easter of 2008 while Dipdip was still in the works . :-) This one was in Lingay Beach Resort and Restaurant situated in San Remigio, the northern part of Cebu. Actually I just realized they do have a website (a multiply account), so if you are planning to go there, it will be good to check out their site for inquiries, reservations and stuff. By the way, I am not paid to write about them but trust me, you are not going to pay dollars from this reso

Here's another entry from mom's journal of happy moments . I don't know why she found this one funny. Well, back then, she always finds the humor in everything; even in difficult times. Read on below if you want to know the details. Back To The Original  My eldest daughter, a high school graduating student wanted a new pair of shoes. Our remaining budget could not afford to buy her one, except when she has to wait for the next payday. She has caused me confusion when she, on tantrums, demanded immediate replacement when she kicked the worn-out shoe in front of the T.V. set where we were viewing at the time of her need. I really noticed when she kicked them off the floor that there are holes in the soles.

This is my first time to join Music Monday. I thought it would be nice to greet the week with a beautiful song, Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now , originally from Starship but I think the band did the MYMP version in this video (from our October 2007 wedding). This was played and sang during our wedding dance. Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now lyrics Looking in your eyes I see a paradise This world that I found is too good to be true Standing here beside you, want so much to give you This love in my heart that I'm feeling for you Let 'em say we're crazy, don't care 'bout that Put your hand in my hand baby, don't ever look back Let the world around us just fall apart Baby, we can make it if we're heart to heart And we can build this dream together, standing strong forever Nothing's gonna stop us now And if this world runs out of lovers, we'll still have each other Nothing's gonna stop us, nothing's gonna stop us now Woh woh