Sure, I like Christmas.
But this year, I think the Christmas spirit possessed me. Actually, I found lots of inspiration from my job. And so I decided to decorate a little bit more than usual. First things first – our 13-year-old tree looked so tired so I decided to retire it and got an 8-foot replacement.
Yep, our home has never been so Christmassy.
Daughter Patch revamped the old wreath – she took out everything and glued red paper roses (from Dapitan Christmas Market) instead. She finished off with a nice golden sinamay bow.
Tags: Christmas, Christmas decor, Christmas decorating ideas, Christmas DIY projects, Christmas wreath, Dapitan, Dapitan Christmas bazaar
It’s a chilly December morning in Metro Manila, and I am loving every moment of it… Oh yeah, I have a blog! Lemme check on it…
For the __nth time, I’ve totally neglected my blog. Boohoo.
So I am finding this time to do a quickie. (Hmm, not my favorite term, by the way. 
Do a quick search and you will find only one other post with “quickie” in it hehe.)
I honestly have not even visited my own blog in weeks! I was expecting it to be dead in terms of traffic. But wow, thank you, readers for keeping my blog traffic alive!
There aren’t new blog posts, but if you could click on the “Archives” and “Categories” here to the right —->, you’ll find that there are over 5 years’ worth – 5 years! – of blog entries. Well, yeah, some are just nonsense stories about my kids, others are recipes and food places you might find interesting.
So what’s been keeping me so busy? Yes, I am still tsupernanay (translation: chauffeur extraordinaire) to my kids. On top of that, I’ve taken on a really nice work-from-home job that I enjoy so much. Suffice it to say that I Tweet and Facebook (v.) for a living. Hmmm, not actually for my whole family’s “living” (that is husband’s job), but I get decent pay and love, love, love, love what I do!
Okay, I’ll end this post before it gets any more random.
And in case I disappear again into my work cave and forget to greet you, let me be the first to say:
Merry Christmas! Fill your hearts with love, joy and positivity. Enough with the hate and biatching- there’s too much of that already.
“Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.” ~Marianne Williamson
(I hope to be back though – I haven’t posted my wishlist yet!)
Do you often find yourself mulling over a business idea, but not knowing how to get started?
Are you employed, but now want to spend more time with your family while still being productive?
Are you one of those who believe that entrepreneurship is the way to a “better life”?
Before my husband became a businessman, he worked several years as an employee. Like most entrepreneurs-at-heart, however, he started feeling discontented and wanted to be his “own boss.”
And so he ventured out on his own.
He had several business ventures; most were initially successful. But somehow, something always turned bad and the businesses became unsustainable. In short, lugi. In fact, it was lugi x 4.
Four businesses – all flops.
But he never gave up. He firmly believed that when you are down – deep, deep, deep, deep, deeeeeeep down (no, I’m not exaggerating, we got that low) - there is no other way but up.
With this mantra, he persisted and kept looking for business opportunities.
Our business today has to do with the construction industry. It is doing fairly good now, though it wasn’t like this when we started 4 years ago. The first 4 years were bumpy and full of challenges – not encouraging at all. But my hub, he just kept on.
Aside from his indomitable spirit, hub would not have made it this far if not for help from financial institutions, business partners and friends who supported him.
And that is what I am writing about today: help for start-ups and small enterprises.
SERDEF: Small Enterprises Research and Development Foundation
Businessmen who are just beginning need all the help they can get. Likewise, SMEs (small/medium enterprises) constantly need assistance in financing, training manpower, improving technologies – essentially, at getting better in what they do.
That is why there is SERDEF. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: business, business ideas, business opportunities, business talk, entrepreneurship, how to start a business, resource for entrepreneurs, SERDEF, small-medium enterprises, SME, UP ISSI
In this blog, there’s a category I dedicated to V called “V Quips”. It’s all about her witty and funny remarks.
Well, she doesn’t stand alone now in the funnies category. Nate’s vocabulary and speech talents have grown in the recent months by leaps and bounds.
Here’s a couple of the duo’s recent riot lines.
~~~
V, memorizing a Bible verse for Christian Education test. She quotes a verse in Isaiah, with feelings and actions: “All the grasses may wither and the flowers may fall, but your word shall remain forever.” (imagine her dramatic way of talking and acting.)
She pauses, with an discontented look. “Hmmmm, you know, Mom, it should be: All the grasses may wither and the flowers may fall, but your word shall remain for all. That sounds better, right? It should rhyme…”
~~~
(I posted this on my Facebook profile, but I wanted to share it here.)
I hear Nate getting back from his afternoon walk with the neighborhood kids. He races up the stairs and into our bedroom where I was napping. With twinkling eyes and that adorable smile (this little boy will break a lot of hearts), he gives me two gumamela flowers:
Nate to me: “For you! Put it on your ears… I know you love pink… Don’t let it die!”
And the punchline, with a half-wink (he still can’t do a full wink): “Papa never give(s) you flowers…”
All together now: *aawwwwww*
Enter, Miss V to burst the bubble… ”You know, sioti (little brother), Mom’s favorite color is blue. She hates pink.”
Tags: funnies, gift ideas, Magnate, my kids, Red Envelope gifts, V Quips
- Do you have trouble controlling internet usage in your home (whether your own internet time or your kids’)?
- Do you sometimes/often/always catch your kids playing online games on their devices instead of studying?
- Are you concerned over porn and potentially harmful sites such as Omegle and Chat Roulette that your kids might be exposed to while browsing the Net?
- Do you want to block certain sites, but it seems like the process will cost a gallon of your blood (because of nosebleed)?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, read on! And make sure you read through to the end, because you could win a Linksys Cisco E4200 Wi-fi Router – from the high-end range of the Linksys E Series.
—–
As a mom of three, including a full-blown teenager and a ready-to-blow pre-teener, I have good reason to control internet use at home. Aside from being in that curious stage, they are also innately wired. They, like most modern kids, have a knack for technology. No need for manuals or step-by-step guides – they just know how to go about something techie.
That’s not always a bad thing. But if their computer use is not reined in, it’s dangerous. There’s even a debate now on whether internet addiction should be considered a mental disease. So yes, I think we agree that too much internet use is not good, most especially for kids who are in the stage of forming life habits.
Not so long ago, I installed Chrome Nanny, an application that enables me to block websites and set timed access, on my laptop.
However, Chrome Nanny has its limitations -mainly that I could not install it on my daughter’s mobile device from which she primarily accesses the internet. That leads to another limitation of browser-based parental controls: one can always launch another browser that doesn’t have any control app installed.
Enter, wi-fi routers with parental controls
Cisco Philippines, through Mommy Mundo, recently gave me the chance to experience and review the Linksys E1000 Wireless-N Router. It’s not just a wi-fi router; it also has parental control that can limit access time and block sites for specific users.
Like most wireless routers, the Linksys E1000 is easy to install. Just insert CD-ROM into your computer and follow onscreen instructions.
However, my internet connection at home is Sun Broadband that uses the Huawei B200 Modem/Router that was provided by Sun. Being a wi-fi router also, the existing modem conflicted with the E1000. “IP address conflict” is what Salvador (from Cisco) called it. I risked losing some blood (as above) if I attempted to figure out a work-around. So I waited for Cisco’s technical assistance.
Fortunately, Salvador made this for-dummies installation guide. It’s easy to resolve the IP address conflict, after all. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Cisco, how to block Omegle, how to block websites, how to limit internet access, How to set parental controls, internet safety, Linksys E Series, Linksys E1000, Linksys E4200, Linksys routers, parental control routers, wifi routers, wireless routers
So I went along again with Hub on his latest China business trip. Our hosts, who have been our export agents for over 10 years, so graciously entertained us. Because it was a strictly business trip, dinners and massages were our pinaka-leisure time. (Oh, the massages are for another blog post!)
The humble, unassuming shao bing (read “shao ping” without the air sound on “p”… If you studied Han Yu Pinyin, you know what I’m talking about. )
On our last eve, our hosts brought us to a restaurant that still cooks shao bing the traditional way: on the inside-side of a barrel oven (<– my own term, I do not know what they call it). They said it was one of the local special delicacies.
Shao bing is a common Chinese bread or biscuit that is filled with something either savory or sweet. The shao bing of Zhejiang province (where we went) is usually savory, stuffed with ground pork and leeks and wonderful spices. I remember now that on my first trip here, I had another version of shao bing for breakfast. That one seemed fried as it was quite greasy.
This shao bing had thin dough and wasn’t greasy.
There doesn’t seem anything out of the ordinary when I saw the shao bing. It tasted yummy, of course. But the way it’s made piqued my curiosity. I wanted to see that barrel oven! So they asked the head waitress to bring me and hub to the kitchen to see how the shao bing is made.
We were led to the kitchen downstairs where a fresh batch of shao bing was being prepared. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: China travels, Chinese food, Chinese snacks
My bunso, Parker, has grown in leaps and bounds in the past months. We got him in March when he was just almost 3 months old – cute and cuddly. Today, he is a few days over 9 months. Still cuddly, but no longer cute. He is BIIIIIIIG!
I thought I’d share this before and after photo below. Both pics were taken by daughter Patch. On the left was when Parker first visited the village park in March. On the right was a photo taken a few days ago at the same park.
Even if he slobbers and drools and could almost knock us down when he jumps on to us… even if he chewed on the car’s mudguard (please not the tires, or else should we get big, thick ATV Tires??) and all the table legs’ corners, aaaack, we don’t regret having Parker one bit.
Parker is a sweet little big boy. I look forward to coming home because he would always run towards the gate when he hears me honk. Parker looks forward to hub’s coming home more than anyone else though. That’s because Hub, and only he, lets Parker chew on his arm!
Hay, time flies. 
Tags: Golden Retrievers, Goldie pets, Parker, Pets & animals, pets for kids
One of the more memorable life-experience gifts we gave our family is this simple, almost-spontaneous trip to the beach we took in December last year.
A few weeks back, I was watching a replay episode of Oprah about Happiness where Goldie Hawn was guest. The book by Dan Buettner, Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way, was being discussed.
As always, a lot of things struck me while watching the show. For instance, I learned that a study has actually proven that sitting quietly for just 10 minutes each day will improve one’s happiness. (I should try this.)
A Harvard University study has shown that spending just 10 minutes each day sitting and breathing—doing absolutely nothing—will increase your happiness.
Interestingly, one of the calmest and most contented persons I know is one who practices meditation. No, he hasn’t always been calm and contented. On the contrary, he used to have explosive temper. But today, it seems nothing agitates him. Well… except his ex-wife, hehe.
Here’s another one: Up to 50% of your happiness is genetic.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley found that people can be born happy—up to 50 percent of your happiness is genetic. (40 percent can be learned and 10 percent is influenced by life circumstances.)
So, if you think you were not born happy, don’t despair. You can still work on the other 40%.
The other thing that stuck to me from that Oprah episode is this: Life experience gifts bring more long-lasting happiness than material gifts. Again, a study actually proved this. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Christmas gift ideas, Dan Buettner, gift giving, gift ideas, gifts, happiness, Happiness study, how to be happy, Oprah on happiness
Like most mommies, I try to give my kids yummy and nutritious school lunches most of the time. But my two girls are growing up, and their taste buds are becoming more discriminating – demanding could be a fitter term. They easily get bored of their school lunches so I need to vary the menu. (Haay…)
That’s the reason why I am always on the look-out for new recipes. Last week I watched Chef Bruce Lim whip up an easy but delish Asian Stir-fried pasta dish. A few weeks back, there was a Korean cooking demo at the girls’ school where I learned how to make Korean seafood rice roll and authentic Chap Chae (which I’ve yet to blog about, by the way).
Last Friday, I went to a cooking demo on healthy lunchboxes by Ms. Nadine Tengco at SM North Edsa’s Active Fun.
Nadine Tengco, a US-certified nutritionist, is the fitness nutritionist of the TV show Pinoy Biggest Loser. She advocates eating – yes, eating – instead of reducing food intake to lose weight. (Hmmm, I like her a lot na!)
Anyway, Friday’s cooking demo was all about healthy school lunchboxes. Nadine showed us how to prepare healthy snacks that kids can bring to school and actually eat (not give away to classmates, hehe) using Soyami Chips.
Top: Ms. Apples Morales of Soyami and Active Fun assists Ms. Nadine Tengco during the cooking demo. Bottom (photo courtesy of Soyami Marketing): The mommy bloggers pose with Apple.
Adding soya is an excellent way of improving the nutritional value of a meal. It helps to decrease fat and cholesterol, while increasing fiber content. Soyami Chips are MSG-free, GMO-free, transfat-free, and made from 100% soya. So adding Soyami to our kids’ school lunches is an easy and yummy way of making their meals more nutritious.
Sneaky Mac n' Cheese, Sneaky Tuna Nuggets make sneaky-healthy school snacks.
Here are the recipes.
Tags: Apple Morales, benefits of soya, family health, healthy cooking, healthy eating for kids, healthy food, healthy recipes, healthy snacks, healthy snacks for school, home cooking, Nadine Tengco, school lunches, Sneaky lunchbox, soya, Soyami Chips, Soyami Soya Chips
Among the country’s many problems, such as corruption, insurgency, and education, it is easy to drown out the issues on health and wellness.
So Unilab, in its effort to promote healthier lives for Filipinos, launched a project called Unilab Ideas Positive (UIP). It is a cause-oriented project that harps on the Filipino’s inherent trait of Bayanihan, and the youth’s creativity.
Unilab Ideas Positive is a yearly competition for college student groups to come up with bright, innovative ideas in helping alleviate health issues in their own communities.
This year’s Unilab Ideas Positive has 11 semifinalists. What’s at stake for each youth group?
For the Grand Prize Winner:
- Ideas Positive Trophy for their school
- P100,000 seed money for the implementation of their project
- P50,000 cash prize for the group members
- P10,000 honorarium for the group mentor/faculty coach
For the 2 runners-up:
- P75,000 seed money for the implementation of their project
- P30,000 cash prize for the group members
- P5,000 honorarium for the group mentor/faculty coach
You can have a say on who wins by simply voting for the video of your favorite Idea Positive. Let’s support this worthwhile project by casting our votes.
How?
1. Like the UIP Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/Unilab.IdeasPositive. This is required to be able to vote.
2. Go to the Unilab Ideas Positive website, and log in with your Facebook account (you will be prompted at the home page).
3. Click the “VIDEOS” tab (or click this link) to watch and vote for the best Idea Positive.
Voting ends tomorrow, September 7, so go now and make your vote count! Your vote can help transform a community.
Tags: Unilab, Unilab Ideas Positive
