Movie Date

One of my girlfriends is planning a girls-outing this Saturday to watch a movie. Sadly, not everybody is available. One is out of the country on a business trip; another has a visitor coming over; and the other one's daughter is sick. It looks like it's just gonna be her and I. Anyway, it would be great to go out with her, we haven't done this ever. We always go out on playdates with our sons, but never just the two of us. But I'll play it by ear. Hopefully my son will get better instead of worse, he's on medication for his congestion right now. Anyway, if plans push through, I guess we're going to see "He's Just Not That Into You".

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Gadgets I Can Not Do Without

My day doesn't end without checking my emails at least. My laptop is one of the necessary electronic gadgets that I can not do without beside cellphone. Beside email, I use my laptop for banking online and keeping abreast with the latest news around the globe. But when I'm on the go I would rather have a netbook than my fairly big lappy. Netbook is the next gadget I'm hoping to purchase for when I travel (hopefully) this summer. I love it because I can easily stick it in my purse. It's very small, light weight, highly portable, energy efficient and inexpensive. I can carry it anywhere I go to check my emails, to browse the web and send instant messages to friends and family. Hopefully I'll earn enough money in my online work so I can buy one of those netbooks I am checking out online.

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The Cold Cycle

It looks like we're going on the cold cycle again. My son has bad cold since Saturday and he woke up really congested today. He vomited twice the past days due to coughing. I brought him to the doctor today and he was prescribed with Albuterol puff to ease congestion. My hb also woke up with stuffiness as well, and I've been sneezing since this morning. Yay, I hope this cold cycle won't be as bad as the last one we had. And I hope that there will be no more cold after this, please ;-).

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Get Through the Emotional Impact of Car Accidents

I've been driving for over 20 years and I only had one accident. I was rear ended by a taxi cab on my way home from work. That was when I was still in the Philippines. After that accident I was not able to drive for maybe a week on the same road I had the accident at. But since it was a shortcut route going home I just had to face my fear and drive that way again, and things got back to normal. When I moved to US, I thought that I won't be able to drive in the busy and wide freeway, it felt very different. But just like what the common joke we have in my country - "When you know how to drive in Manila (a very busy city in the Philippines with full of reckless drivers), you can drive anywhere in the world". So I did. It doesn't matter how careful you are, accidents happen the least you expect them. I was not injured in that accident but my car was damaged, and the accident had an emotional impact on me. If you're from Illinois and you get into car accidents, it's very reassuring to know a Chicago injury lawyer who can get you through this frightening and confusing event in your life.

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Weekend with Friends

Over the weekend I hosted a potluck get-together with some close friends in my place. Initially, it was intended to be just a simple lunch on a Friday (schoolers' winter break) with my friend Dhoy whom I haven't seen in a long time. Then I thought of inviting my good friends Barb and Lanie over too. Dhoy already met them online thru blogging but never in person yet. But since the winter break of Dhoy's daughter was used to payoff snow-related school cancellation, I moved it on a Saturday and was able to invite more friends and their families too.

The last time I saw Dhoy was when Joanne was only 3 months old at the birthday party of our friend's son.Now, Joanne is already 5 years old! But it's not that we don't talk or chat with each other, we do. It's just that we haven't seen each other in the flesh. I met Dhoy in a jewelry store in Manila where she used to work. She assisted me in finding a diamond necklace and we exchanged phone numbers and the rest was history. The next time I visited the store where she worked, her co-workers told me she already left for US and got married. I was really surprised. Since I will be moving to US too, I asked for her number which they were kind enough to give to me. And the first thing I did when I got here was to call her. It was good to know that we both live in the same state. I hope it won't take another 5 years before we see each other again, LOL.

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Great Buy For a Frugal Mom

Since the economic downturn, all I think about is finding ways to be frugal to save money. The lifestyle that we're accustomed to are no longer applicable. We have to tighten our belt and curb our expenses. I monitor controllable expenses like electricity, gas and water and try to keep our usage to the minimum. Buying in bulk can save me money, but I only buy the ones that I am sure I can finish before they expire. I buy store brand products which are a lot cheaper than the leading brand. I saw in one of the featured shows on TV, that store brands are actually made by the leading brands anyway, so the only difference is the packaging.

I am a regular online shopper too, and when I shop I always look for great deals that also offer free shipping to maximize my savings. I don't buy anything at regular prices, even when the economy was still good. I always wait till the items are on sale with huge slash on prices before I buy them. One of the sites that I love to shop online at is Buy.com because I always find great buys at really huge price cut on their site. Since I love to take pictures of my son everyday and turn them into a nice digiscrap layout, I need more sd card with high capacity to accommodate my shots. Buy.com has 8GB secure digital high capacity (SDHC) card for only $14.35, an 82% savings with free shipping! Who can beat that? If this is not a great buy, I don't know what is.

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Seven Years and Little No More

Seven years ago, hb and I pledged our love in front of our family and friends and dear God above. This was the most exciting and memorable event that I've ever planned and organized in my life. All the members of my entourage including the readers, commentator, gift offerers are families, relatives and friends. Everything was perfect. Today, we're celebrating our 7th year wedding anniversary and I made a special layout featuring my flower girls and ring, bible and cord bearers. Here they are seven years later,,,little no more.

See other photos here.

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A Realization

I realized that holding a blog contest is not a bed of roses, it entails a lot of work! I've been working late every night the past weeks, tallying entries and really checking all blog posts and links. The contest was a big success so I guess complaining is not in order. Aside from staying up so late, I also sidetracked my online work like EC dropping and paid posting. I promise that starting next week, it's gonna be business as usual here again. I feel sorry for not updating all my blogs. Taking lots of rest and recharding are on top of my to-do-list over the weekend, so hopefully I'll have more energy to write new posts next week.

I have so many things to write about, like the mis-adventures of my little tot and believe me they are all for the books. My little tot is now in his very active, inquisitive, curious, nosy and independent stage, that he's up to something all the time. So next week I will write about them. And would you believe, I am losing weight too? Yup I weigh myself every morning when I wake up and I was 2 lbs lighter today! I don't remember changing my eating habits, in fact I have been eating too much junk at night while working online. I guess I won't need to try the best weight loss pills I am reading about.

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Midnight Snacking

When I stay up late at night doing online work, which is very often, I normally have snacks beside me. Sometimes I'm not aware anymore how much potato chips or cheese snacks I have gobbled up, especially when I'm trying to catch up on deadlines. Midnight snacking became such a bad habit for me that is so hard to break. I only wish I would never use diet pills ever to get rid of excess weight.

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Hoping Things Will Get Better Soon

I was sorting through all the mails we received to check if all tax information we need came in already. We've planned to do our taxes earlier this year to make use of whatever refunds we will get, but apparently I don't see that happening anytime soon. Every year we always file our taxes around March, so technically we're loaning the government our precious money for free! The thing is, we really have quite a lot of tax documents mostly from stock investments that don't come in at the same time. The last time I checked, we've only received about 75% of the tax documents and add to that the income I earned from blogging.

While sorting through the mails I also saw a couple of cheap term life insurance quotes that I might consider looking at. Since I'm the one budgeting and balancing our bank account, I want to limit expenses to what we really need. So far we've forgone most of our unnecessary indulgences like eating out; subscription to fave magazines and newspapers; Friday night pizza delivery; weekend shopping and the likes. Hopefully things will get much better soon.

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Another Outing with Friends

Today, after yesterday's snowstorm, we went out for another playdate at my girlfriend's house. It was sunny but still very cold. My hb woke up early to take out the garbage and plow the driveway so we can get out of the garage. I welcome another outing after being 'caged' for days. But even before the time I was able to fold some laundry, and load another batch that I didn't finish the other day.

My son was not very enthusiastic to see his little friends, despite enticing him of details of what he can look forward to in that playdate. He was busy playing with his toy piano and once in a while rolling the noisy lawn mower toy around the house. There are times when it is difficult to get my son away from what he is doing. When we need to get out of the house on a certain time, I give myself at least 30 minutes allowance to put on our outdoor gear. I always get him ready as soon as he gets up in the morning. So he's all set to go, unless he gets himself really messy before we leave.

The kids had a great time. Actually they were just in one room playing with different things. My son is way older than the two, but these two are the little friends that he sees often aside from his Gymboree playmates. He tends to be a little bit bossy and intimidating around kids much younger than him. I noticed that he likes kids much older than he is. Anyway, the moms also look forward to playdates to have some outlet aside from motherhood, so we had great time most of all.

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