A Practical Way of Investing?

To be honest, I know too little about investments. I'm saying this because earlier today, while watching TV, I saw this commercial about investing for your child's future, especially for their education since it costs a fortune here to send your kids all the way up to college. It was then that I realized I haven't really thought about it. I'm aware of the fact that it really is so expensive here to send kids to college, but in the back of my head, I just wasn't paying much attention to it. It's not right, I know and I should start doing something about it as early as now, especially that we got three kids to worry about. But because I'm a stay-at-home-mom right now, there's nothing much I could do to contribute money for their future.

Then, I saw this silver bullion bars from golden eagle online and when I read about it, it kind of looked interesting to me. I don't know how this thing works, but if it's something I could use as an investment for the future, why not give it a try, right?

I still need to read more on that before jumping into a decision.

They've Got Their Own TV!

Finally, we got our boys their own TV in their bedroom! Thanks to Black Friday for the great deal we got on TV wall mount. A 90-dollar worth of wall mount that we got for like $30. How cool is that?! Now, the boys get to watch their own TV shows whenever they want.

We already got them a couple DVDs for kids like, Barney and Friends, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Thomas, and some movies for children their age. We still are planning on getting them more especially the Baby Einsteins, which they say is a good one for little kids. I'll start looking for that online to see if we get a better deal than buying it from the store. Sometimes, it's better that way. Or, I wouldn't mind getting second hand DVDs as long as they're in great condition. Anyway, it's not the label of it being new or not that matters. As long as the kids get to enjoy and learn new things at the same time while watching is the most important thing.

But of course, we still set a limit on how long they can watch TV in a day. That's also an important thing. We don't want the kids to get hooked on watching TV all day and not do other activities at all. Right now, we let them watch a maximum of one hour a day. And usually, we turn their TV on at right about nap time. So when they get tired, they can just take their nap and then we turn it off.

I'm glad that the kids are happy and that they won't ever get bored just being in their room playing with their toys. And above all, I'm so happy that in a short amount of time, the little boys already learned a lot. Kai sings the Barney song all the time, while Kade imitates what his brother is doing. They're learning their ABCs and they're starting to count now, too. And to think that Kai learned his ABC all on his own, to me, is something amazing. I thought I'd be the one to surprise the kids with new things we teach them. But it turns out to be the other way around. They definitely know how to surprise us with little things they learned without our help. And I cannot be more proud of them than I am now. God indeed blessed us with three beautiful and amazing kids!

Plans for New Year...

Like Christmas, our New Year's Eve celebration is going to be simple. We didn't make any plans as far as going out because it will just be too much with all three kids and the cold weather outside. We will stay at home, prepare a small family dinner and watch the New Year's countdown on TV like we did last year. I wish we could do more, but living far from friends and families, there's nothing much we could really do right now but enjoy whatever we have.

The hubby said he'll get us black beans(?). It's something new I learned from his Mom, actually that they put on the table on New Year's Eve. I don't really know what it's for, but I think it's for good luck as well. I'd probably bake again and cook pasta. I don't really know if we'll have as much food as we did on Christmas, but I'm sure it'll be a great dinner again with our little family. As long as we spend it together, I wouldn't ask for anything more. And after dinner, that's when we all sit in the living room for the countdown. On New Year's Day, it'll be a family day - a whole day that'll probably be spent at home doing things together and spending quality time with the little ones.

So, that's pretty much it for our New Year. What about you? How are you going to spend it with your love one?

Basketball, anyone?

Our boys are definitely had grown bigger! As a matter of fact, our oldest, Kai, is already over 3 feet tall and he's only two and a half years old. Kade, the second one, is catching up. At one and a half years old, he's almost as tall as his older brother. I know for sure that these kids are going to be taller than me in a few years. Definitely not looking forward to that!

Anyway, I have this little idea for the boys. Aside from the gifts they got on Christmas, I would like to ask my husband if he can put up a small basketball court by the garage where he and the boys can play whenever it starts getting warmer outside. I don't mean the plastic basketball toy that's just for toddlers. I'm talking about the real thing so they can have it for a long time. I just don't know what it'll require to install it. But I hope it has nothing to do with any welding equipment because we don't have it for right now. Mounting it to the garage wall won't be a problem because my husband is so good at it.

I don't know if he'll agree, but I think it's a good idea so the kids can enjoy outdoors and start getting into sports as well. It's a good exercise, too since we want our kids to stay fit and healthy. Might as well start at a young age, right?

Fire!

The other day, I received a sad news from my family that one of our neighbors' house caught on fire. Their house is probably 6 houses away from ours, not too close but it's not too far, either. Unfortunately, I don't know how the fire started, but the family affected lost almost all of their belongings. I'm just glad to know that nobody got hurt. It probably was tough for them to put out the fire considering that we have no fire department in our own town. The nearest one is about 24kms away, an hour long drive. Thanks to all the people of our town who did their best to help one another in putting out the fire! They were able to contain it before it totally spread out.

If only our place has good water pumps, maybe it'll be possible to have our own firetruck so we don't have to rely on other town's fire department to respond to situations like that. We don't have a good supply of water there and I think it won't be a good thing to begin with. It's something that people there should learn a lesson from. It's always better to be ready all the time. I think it's about time they take that into consideration before something else worse happens.

Almost Over... Already?!

I am still in shock, really, that tomorrow is already New Year's Eve! I was talking to my husband about this earlier today, and I told him it just doesn't feel right. I mean, it does feel like it's only been yesterday when we had the countdown to 2011 and now, it'll be an all-new countdown again to a brand new year. Time just flew by so quickly, and sometimes I wish it'll just slow down a little bit. I can't help but feel happy and sad all at the same time. Happy, because I know I'm getting closer to seeing my family back home again after almost three years of being away. Sad, because it makes me realize that my kids are growing up too fast, and the people I love get older with each year and that is something I dread the most. I am so far away from home, and if you're in my shoes, you'd probably be thinking about the same things, too especially when you have a Grandma who's already 90 years old, if you know what I mean. A lot of things make me worry and I honestly don't know what I'm going to do in case something happens and I'm a thousand miles away from them. I just don't know how I'd take it.

So much for that. I think it's time to reflect on the things that happened this year and go back to the memories created and moments shared. I'd say, 2011 was definitely our year. We received so many blessings that I can't even begin to say thank you for. But I think it's better to save it for later. After all, we still have one more day to spend before we completely say farewell to 2011. One more day to create beautiful memories for this year. One more day, and it's a whole new beginning again!

Wanted: New Phone

My husband has been in constant battle with his old phone because it just doesn't work well anymore. I can't even count the number of times he told me that his phone froze, the screen went blank, and it basically just won't function like it's suppose to. He's been wanting to get a new phone but he just couldn't decide yet on what to get without having to get a new contract from his phone service company. He said he doesn't want to sign another 2-year contract so he'd be eligible for an upgrade just in case a new one comes out next year.

He's been looking at different types of phone for the past few days now but I haven't heard him said a thing about him finding a new one. I don't know what kind of phone he's really trying to look for, but I do remember him mentioning the htc incredible s phone. He said if he can't find what he really wants, he might go with that for the time being. He can be a little particular when it comes to stuff like that because like what he always tells me, you get what you pay for. Well, I guess he's right. If there's a specific phone that he really likes right now, I think it's wise to wait and just go right now with something that may not be the same, but is also a good one.

I really hope he'd end up getting the same phone I have so we both could enjoy the same things I get to do with my phone. And above all, I can track him down if I want to. I'm just kidding! Like me, I'm just waiting for the phone I really want and hopefully, it comes out next year.

It Definitely Was No Fun!

Christmas time is over, sad to say! We really had a busy week that we honestly hardly felt Christmas this year. It's like, it all happened too fast! I think all the preparations and making sure everything must turn out fine on Christmas kind of taken away the time you could've spent on something more valuable. I don't mean like preparing and buying gifts and all that mean nothing. But sometimes we do forget to just take things slowly. We tend to get overwhelmed that we look past things that could've been worthwhile.

Anyway, I'm just saying in general. My thing here really is, the clean up after the big day. As what I said, we had such a busy week that we needed to put some chores off to give time to what was important. So now, I'm here to pay the price!

I started cleaning up today. I really planned on getting as much things done as I can, but I realized while in the middle of putting things away, that we have no storage bin for our little girl's toys. We had two boys first so the toy bins they have are, obviously, for boys and are already filled with their stuff. That kind of made me feel a bit disappointed with myself for not thinking ahead of time so I wouldn't have encountered the issue I had today. I could've finished cleaning so I don't have to worry about it tomorrow, but I didn't so now, I'm doomed!

Another thing was, going through the mails that were just sitting in the magazine rack was definitely no fun! We totally didn't pay much attention to it aside from grabbing mails from the mailbox every morning. And now, we've got a ton of mails that we need to sort through so the rest can be shredded or thrown away. Here's the most fun part of it - the tiny envelopes that got inserted in between those bigger-sized mails almost drove me nuts. When I picked up all the mails, some of them fell and went all over the floor. I was like, great! I had no idea there were a lot of them. It was a waste of time having to clean that up. I think I might need to do a little shopping again for at least two brochure holders where I can put the standard size envelopes, especially the ones for the bills, so we don't have to dig through a whole pile of mails just to locate them. I will put one in the living room and the other one in the kitchen. I'll just wait till I get a better deal on them, but I'm definitely will be buying two for sure.

Weird Winter

It's only our second winter here, but if I were to compare it to last year's winter season, I'd say this year's kind of a bit odd. Well, to be honest, based on my own experience of being here for a year and a half now, I do find the weather here somewhat weird. I can actually count the times the weather forecast was actually correct. I mean like at one time, it showed that it was going to rain, but it actually turned out to be sunny. It showed sunny, but really the whole day was cloudy and gloomy. It's like, it changes every second.

Take this year's winter for instance. Last year, snow started coming down as early as December 2. That was the very first day the whole surrounding turned white. And from then on, it never stopped snowing. We even had snow still even up till April. Spring with a little touch of winter. How weird is that?

On Christmas Eve last year, it snowed pretty hard and the photos below can pretty much tell you. The snow covered our entire driveway and it was up to about 14-15 inches high. It was fun! I don't really like snow that much, but having to experience my very first white Christmas was a total blast! I couldn't be more happier. Of course, I didn't get to play in the snow as much as I wanted to because I was already 3 months pregnant at the time, and I had to stay extra careful. And you probably read my mind - yes, my husband shoveled the entire driveway all on his own! I wanted to try but he said it wasn't safe and he'd much rather do it on his own than see me walking on the slippery driveway and having the chance of getting into an accident. Although he did make sure to put salt all over it, he still thought it wasn't safe enough for me. I think that was very sweet and thoughtful of him, don't you think?

Christmas Eve 210

Shoveling the snow...

Anyway, I just can't believe that it's already past Christmas and the entire surrounding still looks as if we're in the mid Fall or something. It hasn't snowed yet where everything got covered in it. It snowed on Saturday last week, but it barely covered the grass in our front yard. And now, like usual, I just checked the weather forecast on my phone and it showed no snow until Friday when it just showed snow tomorrow about 3 hours ago. I really hope it'll actually snow even on New Year's Eve. We never got to experience white Christmas this year, and a white New Year would definitely make up for it. I want to make snowman and snow angel with our kids!

Please, Mother Nature, let it snow! I'm begging you!

I Hate Dry Skin!

One of the many things I really don't like during winter season is, dry skin. For some reason, every winter, my skin turns dry and at some point, it even gets a little flaky and I really am not happy about that. My skin has never been this dry till we moved up here. And I definitely didn't have the need to use a special type of lotion just to keep it moisturized. I usually would only use one brand and type of body lotion, but during the winter, I use an alternative. There are times when I feel like it doesn't really do anything to my skin and I'd get frustrated, that's why I think it's about time to start looking for a different moisturizer.


When we were still in California, one of our good neighbors gave me a natural body cream and moisturizer and it helped a lot. I had mild dry skin because of my pregnancy at the time and I used that every after bath. It gave me such a relief!

Well, I haven't seen the same product here yet and I really am hoping I'd be able to buy here soon. My husband did tell me to try on something for the mean time and I guess I might do that. I really don't have any problem with something like seaweed body cream even if I haven't used one before. I guess I'll never know how it'll work on me if I don't give it a shot. Who knows, it might just be the one that can really help cure my dry skin right now. I'll look for that the next time we go grocery shopping. I need to put an end to my suffering because it really is annoying me!

A Very Sad News

I have seen the news on TV a couple of times now about the typhoon victims in our country [Philippines]. It's so devastating and really sad that I had to stop myself from watching the news because it only saddens me more and more. The last time I watched it, I got goosebumps when I heard the reporter said that the casualties went up to 900+ and still counting because there are still some people missing. The typhoon, Sendong, didn't only claim too many lives of our fellow Filipinos who were severely affected, but it also brought so many damages to the agriculture, infrastructure, and other properties.

Above all, it really is sad to know that this all had to happen right before Christmas. I couldn't help but feel their pain of not being able to enjoy the holidays, especially now that they've lost their loved ones. Properties that got damaged can be replaced, but not the lost lives of the ones they love.

According to the local news, it might take them weeks to clean all the debris scattered all over the place. They definitely will need heavy equipments like skid steer to get all the job done. Clearing all the debris would require a lot of work.

But in spite of all this tragic event, I still can't help but feel so proud of how strong and resilient Filipino people are! Everyone is doing every little thing they can to lend help to the typhoon victims. Even the ones who got affected didn't fail to help each other out in their own little ways. That just shows that no matter what we, the Filipino people go through, we'll always find ways to bounce back because we know we always got one another to lend a helping hand.

May God bless the people in all the affected areas!

I'm Definitely Writing Again!

Needless for me to say how many times I've already said I'd go back to writing again and never really did, because I, myself, don't even know the actual number of times I said so. But lately, I've really thought about it and I do miss writing. I miss being able to freely pour my heart out - my innermost thoughts and feelings that I couldn't say out loud. I miss that feeling of freedom when I know I am able to say anything I want. It never ceased to bring back memories I thought were long forgotten.

Writing, to me, is a therapy. Aside from music, this is the only thing that can stir up my imagination and yet keeps me sane. I got into writing even more when I arrived here in the U.S. about two and a half years ago. I didn't have a lot of people around me to talk to while the others leave for work, that's why I wrote and wrote and wrote. Pretty much, it sounds like I was talking to myself. And it's still the same until now.

Given that I am a stay-at-home mother of now three children, I unfortunately am residing in a place that's far from possible acquaintances, leaving me with nobody but myself to really talk to while my husband is at work. I engage in small talks with my kids, of course, but it's kind of a little tough when the oldest one is not even three years old yet, and most of the time, he just blunders out whatever comes into his tiny head. So, I definitely am resorting back to writing before I completely lose my sanity. [hehehe] I don't really have that much of an option, do I?

This time, I'll do my best to make this a start of something better...

Here -- and There...

Working in a hospital can be a very tough job. I know this because I took up Nursing and every time we were doing our clinical rotation, taking care of patients is not an easy thing to do especially for Nurses. We were the ones who were constantly on the go. Checking patients here and there, making sure they are well taken care of, and above all, we were the ones carrying out Doctors' orders and making sure they were all met in time. There were even times I handled four (4) patients, and making sure I was able to meet all their needs was really such a big challenge. But I'm not going to lie, though. Running from one room to another was kind of an exercise and I considered that part a fun one.

The only thing I wished we could have used are stuff like medical carts. Oh, how it would have been so much easier on our part to transport medical things from one ward to another, or from one patient's room to the next! It was a bit of a hassle carrying too many things all at once and not having anything to put them on once we were inside the patient's room. I remember, we would even put our stuff on the patient's bed while taking vital signs. It was a little of an inconvenience, I'm sure, on both our parts, but we had no choice. But here, even in their examine room, every single thing is so well-organized. There's pretty much a place for every equipment. Now, that's really handy. It makes the job easier and it can get done a lot faster when you know where to locate things that you need to use. It saves not only the patients' time, but most of all, yours.

It's Christmas No Matter What!

This probably is going to be our first Christmas with hardly anything under the tree. As much as it saddens both my husband and I, there's nothing we could really do to better the whole situation. It it what it is right now. We don't even have any plans yet on what we're doing on Christmas Day. But regardless of how tough it may seem right now, my husband always knows how to find ways to make things special. And I know he will not let this holiday go by without putting smiles on the faces of our little ones.

It has been tough, there's no lie about that. And I won't sugarcoat anything just to show off when that is not the real situation we're in right now. Like any other families with only one person working and bringing in money, our family faces hard times as well. And nothing can make me feel more sad than the fact that it happened to us right before Christmas.

I am not after crowding the tree with gifts and all that. But of course, as a mother, I would also love to have at least one gift for each kid to open up on Christmas Day. Something they may not fully understand yet, but at least would leave them with a memory they can always look back to when they're older. I would love to keep the family tradition we started 2 years ago - opening presents on Christmas Day.

Last year's Christmas was totally different. God sent us blessings more than what we could have prayed for. Not only did our little boys get to have presents under the tree, they received a lot of toys! And the great thing about that is, we got them for free!

I won't lose hope that things will eventually turn out good for my family. Anyway, I've already been told by my Aunt that if we don't come up with any plans for Christmas, we're invited to join their families. I think that, right there is already a blessing I should be grateful for.

We still have a few days left and a lot of things can still happen. Anyway, as long as we get to celebrate the holidays together as a family, and that everybody is happy and healthy, I wouldn't ask for anything more. After all, the true spirit and meaning of Christmas is, showing and sharing love with one another. And of course, spending time with our love ones. So, regardless if we don't get to have a lot, Christmas spirit will still surely be felt in our household. That, I can guarantee! :)

New Magazine Rack

Last week, I won a bid on a magazine rack from an online store. It was so cheap and the shipping was free so I took the chance to put a bid on it, and luckily, I won! It's a simple black magazine rack that I just bought for us to have something where we can store our daily mails. I really didn't have to buy it but I figured, might as well since we usually would get a lot of mails everyday and we just leave some on the table and thus, creating an eyesore. I want a clutter-free living room from now on.

I'm glad, too that it got here a day before the actual estimated date of delivery! I was not supposed to get it till tomorrow, but I'm so thankful it's already here. I already cleaned the living room and I got to put away the mails and I can't be more glad to finally see it actually neat and clean. I'm not saying that it hasn't been clean at all. What I'm trying to say is, every time we'd get mails, because we didn't have a space to put them for the mean time before going through each of them, we'd put them on the center table, or sometimes on the couch. I got tired looking at them so I thought of something that might just help - a magazine rack. That's when I decided on getting even just a cheap one as long as it will serve me its purpose. And it does!

Now, I'm waiting on my guitar stand that my husband promised he'll buy for me. That's one thing I definitely would need a place for. I already found one online and when I showed it to him, he liked it as well and he even said that the price is just right. So, let's wait and hopefully, I get it here soon.

New house

My older sister, Gloria, is in the market for a new house. She always has to have the best of everything and gets very restless if she has to stay in one place too long. One time she got tired of living here and got her husband to take a job in Washington, D.C. Then they bought a house just over the line in Virginia. So her husband had to commute to work each day. She has two kids, a boy and a girl. At the time, they were in elementary school and of course enrolled in a school in Virginia. Well when her children got their report cards, their grades were not as high as my sister wanted them to be so they moved back home after just one year. They moved into a very exclusive neighborhood that celebrities and professional athletes live in. Now her children are in college and are not home very much. So she is getting the moving bug again. I have no idea where she will end up this time. She does not have to work so she is on www.clearwirelessinternet.com all the time. I told her that she could go online and look at houses all over the country through the internet. So that is exactly what she is doing now. But, she always gets what she wants.