:PH#187 Bird(s)

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This is a shot taken from Josh' educational tour in Bioresearch, Parañaque. Philippines. It's hard to take a good shot of them as they were in a cage, I had to put the lens inside the wire to have a decent shot. Anyway I really love seeing parrots and their vivid colors which are usually green. To familiarize yourself with some info on this bird please read below details I got from Wikipedia.org

Parrots, also known as psittacines are found in most warm and tropical regions. Characteristic features of parrots include a strong curved bill, an upright stance, strong legs, and clawed zygodactyl feet. Most parrots are predominantly green, with other bright colors, and some species are multi-colored. The most important components of most parrots' diets are seeds, nuts, fruit, buds and other plant material. Parrots are one of the most intelligent birds, and the ability of some parrot species to imitate human voices enhances their popularity as pets.

For more photo hunt 'Bird(s)' entries just visit tnchick.com

Casual Wear for Me

As I’m now working in the comfort of my home I’ve changed half of my wardrobe, bags and shoes. At first I find it difficult to look for clothes to wear when I go out of the house. Majority of my things were bought for my office work so I find it awkward to use some of it when I go to the bank, school and wherever I go. Some of my blouses are too formal and comfortable only on air-conditioned rooms while my shoes are more or less closed shoes, I don’t wear open toes in office. Since I started working at home I bought some pieces of comfortable casual tops, casual bags and shoes to match these casual things. Now I need to add some slippers and sandals just like Naot sandals which I saw when I was shopping online. I need to look casual because I always feel overdressed on school occasions and meetings

How Do I Tell the Truth

This question intrigues me as to what this test might open up on my personality. I grew up being honest and open but I sometimes regret it because it makes me so fragile. I can't do something about it because it's the real me. Now when I tried answering the quiz it matched perfectly with what I'm expecting. You can try this one out also and see for yourself who's the real you :-) Well it's just a quiz nothing serious! Look at my results:

You Are Honest and Open

You are a very honest person, yet you somehow avoid being brutally honest with people.
You know that the truth often does hurt, so you try to cushion the blow as much as possible. And because of your approach, people do appreciate your honesty.

You're the type of person who complements before you criticize. You try to put the truth in perspective and make it seem not so dire.
And whenever you're stating your opinion, you make it clear that it's just that ... your point of view. You can only speak your own personal truth.

Scheduling My Tasks Ahead

I started my chores early in the morning today as I need to do plenty of online tasks. I don’t have due tasks for this day but I promised myself to do my work ahead of time to avoid rushing. I had a 10 year experience of working in a team of bidding proposals and we always have to work overnight just to finish our proposal and submit it on time. My senior boss used to work on his best with nerve shattering deadlines that I became immune with overworked and working without sleeping for three straight days.

Now that I’m working at home I can plan my work even on busy household days. I see to it that I have time for everything – for my family, my house responsibilities, my hobbies which are cooking and blogging and for my online works. Right now I’m cooking our dinner and looking over those Hudson jeans my cousin is talking about. It’s hard to do multi-tasking jobs especially when you’re cooking, it makes me forgot some spices.

Working on Something New

I’m working on my new blog and I’m so amazed how time flies so fast, imagine it took me hours just to decide on the template, choose and fix header to match the template and decide on the blog description. After more than an hour of choosing and fixing template and header I then worked on the settings and layout including cbox, feedjit, mybloglog and many others. It’s really hard to start another blog again but what can I do? I feel like I’m bursting with ideas again and this time for a shopping, techie stuff and tips’ blog. I’m in the mood now for starting a new blog, well a different kind from my usual blogs. It’s taking my time from my online tasks and I always have to work overtime in the evening to cope with my work. I just hope it’ll be ready next week for visitors and traffic.

Fruits of Hard Work

I had quite a tight schedule for two weeks that I often do my online works late at night or until dawn. Sometimes I’ll rest for about two hours before waking up again for my kids’ breakfast and packed lunch. I’m just lucky that my face didn’t suffer from acne through consistent overnight blogging or I’ll need some acne treatment to treat them. I’m also glad that I’m not working anymore in my regular work because for sure I will not be able to cope up with online and offline tasks. At least here in my work-at-home job I will earn big if I work hard unlike the regular office works which limits your earning abilities. I’ve worked hard and did multi-tasking jobs but never earned what I think is appropriate for me. Although it’s a major decision to quit a very stable job I was glad that I’ve made my decision sooner because opportunities are flooding now.

:Today's Flowers #66

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This is a shot from Bioresearch as you can see the butterfly deliciously floating on top of the yellow blooms. These are two different yellow blooms almost the same but different in its petals. Just thought sharing this pic with a butterfly as I patiently waited for it to land to the flower even if the tourist guide in my son's educational tour was calling us already for the next tour lol!

Happy Monday! Visit more beautiful flowers at Today's Flower => here.

:PH#186 : Music

This is Josh and his classmates imitating the looks of Freddie Aguilar and singing Freddie's 'Ako'y Isang Pinoy' in their school celebration of Linggo ng Wika last August. The program presented different Filipino costumes and traditions, songs and dances. Btw they didn't want to wear long hair wig just like Freddie's hair, they say it irritates their head skin lol! Aren't they cute?

For more photo hunt 'Music' entries just visit tnchick.com

Vacation Plans on Holiday Seasons

I’ve been reading and visiting sites and I learned that many of them are planning to go on a vacation or returning to home country. Here there are many promotional sales on ticket for a travel to Cebu, Davao, Bohol, Boracay, etc. You need to be very fast in reserving online to be able to book and secured slots for the promo. Speaking of vacation I have a former primary and secondary classmate who offered his house in Palawan if in case we happened to go there. If I have the time needed for that maybe I’ll plan to be there not just for one day but for a week or so. It’s nice for him to offer lodging as some all inclusive vacation packages are expensive during holiday seasons. That way we can save our money and use it for other necessities .

:Thursday Challenge - Youth (Children)

"YOUTH" (Young, Energetic, Optimistic, Children, Baby, Education,...)

These are the young energetic CHILDREN in our Church Sunday school and this picture was taken in our camp meeting last December. They were having some games here as they were being taught by our youth teachers. The children like the place there in Villa Dominga because they can run and have games with so much space and fresh air while we were just nearby at the conference hall having fellowship service. We'll go there again on December and my kids are all excited, they're counting the days now!

See more Thursday Challenge 'Youth' entries here!

Comparing Health Insurance

I’m not really into getting much insurance to cover my family’s immediate needs for hospitalization and other emergency requirements. I’m contented with what we have for now which is the government health insurance which is mandatory for all government and private companies. This health insurance is easy to maintain as it’s very affordable and amount is automatically deducted to our salary. I and hubby are both members but when I quit regular employment I stopped paying for my premiums because hubby’s membership covers the whole family. Well this is good enough for us but it’s also limited unlike other insurances which cover a lot more. I’m thinking of getting another one and I’m glad that I can get health insurance lead to search and compare affordability and coverage of other health insurance companies.

:Today's Flowers #65

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This is quite extra ordinary as it's a creeping flower plant that grows creeping around wood or any wall that it's been set up to. It's my first time to see this kind of flower which is one of the flowers grown by Josh' school. I thought that this is an upside down flower of some sorts. I don't the name of this pretty dropped down red flower so if anyone knows the name please help me!

Happy Monday! Visit more beautiful flowers at Today's Flower => here.

Checking Out Prices!

Time is running so fast and another 6 weeks more it will be Christmas and of course days before that will be my birthday also. I need to know the price of some gadgets I want for myself and since I’m not in the mood to shop around the mall I contented myself with surfing for those things. Anyway all of them are always on the net, shopping is no problem these days as long as you have the money. Online stuff are available on many sites and I tried to find my to-buy lists on Cyber Monday Specials. Of course I want discounts and sale items, who wouldn’t? Now I have an estimated amount of all those things, next question is when to buy them.

Taking a Nap to Relax

I had a relaxing afternoon yesterday when I let myself take a nap for about two hours before returning to my online tasks. I don’t usually give myself such pampering but I was on a bad blogging schedule for the past two weeks doing my online works until dawn. It started when I pushed with my bathroom renovation project where I supervised the workers almost full time and let all my works be done in the evening up to midnight and until dawn.

It was a bad schedule for me because my blood pressure went down due to lack of sleep. I wish I could have a vacation package just like the Outer Banks vacation rentals I’ve heard from my friend. But because it’s still school season I don’t have a choice but to post phone any plans I have regarding vacation. I can’t imagine leaving my three kids to my Mom while I’m relaxing on a cottage by the beach.

:PH#185: Veterans/Military

For this week's theme I'm posting one of my shots from Josh educational tour. Picture was taken at Philippine Airforce Museum where many of military pins, badges, patches and memorabilias were preserved. It was nice seeing all those military pins, uniform, equipment and everything about Philippine Airforce.

For more photo hunt 'Veterans/Military' entries just visit tnchick.com

Always Have Clear Copies

As we passed by a store that sells DVD movies Josh urged me to buy one for him. I didn’t say no to him but told him ‘later’ as I’ve had an experience with buying DVD’s with that store. The movie has no sound and the copy is not clear. I can understand sometimes those people who prefer the original ones as the copies are really clear and you have a peace of mind that you’re buying the original and not just copies. And speaking of very precise and clear copies my hubby told me to buy bluray disc player and disc to get my desired clarity. He’s right and I’ll take his advice.

Saturday 9: Be True to Your School!

Saturday 9: Be True to Your School

1. What was your favorite subject in high school?
~~ Chemistry
2. Do you watch reality shows? Which ones?
~~ Yes, PDA, PBB (not everyday)
3. What's your favorite all time reality show?
~~ PDA
4. Do you feel "reality" shows are real or are they faked?
~~ Sometimes I sense they're not real except for PDA
5. What did you look like when you were a teenager?
~~ Thin and sporty
6. Whose advice do you listen to?
~~ My Mom, Pastor, Hubby, Siblings and trusted friends.
7. How often do you sick?
~~ I rarely get sick.
8. Do you like or dislike change?
~~ Yes, I like changes, without it you will never learn anything
9. How many times in your life have you had a broken heart?
~~ Once.

Join us at Saturday: 9.Enjoy the weekend!

Nice Treatment for Your Nails

I happened to see my former office friend whom I’ve never seen in two years. As always few hours are not enough for us to talk about everything that we’re doing right now. We talked about our families, our other friends and what’s keeping our time now. She resigned from office ahead of me and she ventured into her own business. Busy schedule and lots of responsibilities kept us away for months without communication and we were so happy to see each other now and took advantage of the day to update each other. I told her that I’ve started working at home and doing some online works. I was surprised that she has ventured into a different business now. She’s into nail care products business and as such I asked about how she came into this kind of business. We both have sensitivity in our nails even before we were together and the desire to solve her problem lead to some research that helped her. She wanted to help others so she built a clinic and store for it.

One of the first things that you will notice in people especially women when you come to meet them is their nails. Having clean and well maintained nails is very becoming and a plus factor to a woman’s total look. I have sensitive nails and I’ve thought of every possible solution to make it healthy and strong. This includes applying moisturizers and lotion during cold season to beat the dryness. We should treat our hands and nails with special treatment once in a while to make it look and feel wonderful just like our face and hair. Anyway treatment can be done in your own home if you don’t have time to go to salon like my cousin who has someone who goes to her house to clean and put nail polish on her. It feels wonderful having your hands and feet get special attention.

Now back to my office friend she’s still looking for other nail care products that she needs for her business. She wanted variety so we browsed online for such things and we came upon www.nailsinc.com which offers wide range of high quality nail polishes and nail care products with different variants. Their products are chip resistant and easy to dry. They also have plenty of nail treatments and accessories, just about everything you need to pamper your nails.

What attracted me are the complete nail treatment pack for weak and peeling nails. It’s all I need for my problem nails and hands. It will be a good treatment for bendy nails. The kit includes express remover wipe, cuticle oilpen, 4 way buffer, hyde park base coat and albert bridge super glossy top coat. Check them out for your own particular needs, my friend already did.

Friday Fill-Ins#149

And...here we go!

1. Plans and schedules for next week includes setting up my new blog, going to SSS and enroll for self-employed status, pay Philhealth premiums .

2. I'm happy when things are happening as I planned it, well sometimes if it didn't happened as I want it I'm still ok.

3. The last thing I drank was herbal tea .

4. One of the most valuable things in my life is my faith.

5. I like plenty of toppings on my pizza.

6. Dear November please make my friend JennyL's birthday happy on the 16th.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to finishing my tasks early, tomorrow my plans include going to market and grocery with my kids and Sunday, I want to leave everything behind and concentrate on our Sunday service!

Medical Legal Illustration

I’ve been using the PC for almost 20 hours a day and most of the times I feel pain in my wrist due to constant typing and manipulation of mouse. It’s not new to me as I’ve been a constant user of computer ever since I graduated from college. I’ve graduated with a course in computer engineering so it follows that every job I take me always have a PC as my working tool. I even had a job which requires me to work sometimes on a straight 72 hours with just meals and one hour sleep as break from using PC. It was hard on your back and on your wrist plus a lot of deprivation in sleep. I was just lucky that I didn’t develop a wrist problem which is so much like arthritis.

I was even warned by my sister years ago that research has found a certain ailment which is made worse by severe misuse of our wrist like using it in a wrong position of keyboards in computer. Her officemate has been diagnosed having a Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and she was advised to rest her wrist as her sickness might worsen if she’ll not heed the advice. Their office alarmingly changed the position in each computer they have because their doctor confirmed that wrong positioning of wrist while typing will worsen the newly found ailment. It’s best to rule out all possibilities of having it.

Nowadays medical professionals find it easy to discuss to their patients the theories and facts about sickness and diseases by way of using medical visual aids Medical Legal Illustration. MediVisuals made it possible for medical experts to inform and guide their patients through medical legal illustrations for various medical reasons. It greatly helps in determining the extent of injuries for workers’ cases, injury lawsuits and other cases where medical illustrations are needed. It facilitates a better understanding of a more detailed inside view of the human’s body and an accurate medical conditions that can be use to settle arguments.

:Thursday Challenge - "Food"

"FOOD" (Fruit, Vegetables, Cookies, Candy, Meals, Food for Animals, Feast, Hungry,...)

My entry for this week is our food feast last year when my friend Jen and I attended a get together dinner with our old friends. We're all busy so we decided to have potluck meaning each of us will bring some food for the occasion, no pressure, no price, just anything that we want to bring. When we finally unwrap our foods we laughed because some have the same kind. We have two bilaos of pancit, two packs of lechon manok and two pork liempo. It's good that we also have fruit salad, some mushroom steak, plenty of pika pika foods (chips) and various kinds of drinks mostly softdrinks and iced tea. And we love the hershey's kisses on our table courtesy of the host, they have plenty!

See more Thursday Challenge 'Food' entries here!

Tour Around New York City

Traveling is one thing that many people loves especially if it’s a vacation travel where you’ll get to see different places, meet new friends and have the experience of knowing the cultures of other countries. It’s even better if you travel with your family as you’ll experience a different kind of bonding with your loved ones. I always say that if I travel abroad for a nice and good vacation I would love to have my hubby and kids with me.

Well there are things you need to remember in your travel especially when you’re in vacation or tours. You need to get a good transport accommodation that will ensure your safety but will not affect much of your budget. If you’re traveling in New York you might as well booked for New York Bus Charter to bring you to various sights of New York with the best coaches and safest driver.

It’s nice to tour around New York City seeing Statue of Liberty, Top of the Rock, Empire State Building and many other beautiful sights if you feel you’re safe and comfortable with your transportation. NYC bus charters offers service package to families, group or an individual like you. The bus can get you from the airport to wherever your destination is or you can booked for hop-on, hop-off bus tours which will take you to known best places in the Big Apple. They provide these services for reasonable prices. Now you know where to get services for your day trips, conventions and tours. Just visit them online at nycbuscharters.com for schedule and fees.

Sleep Deprived

Still feeling sleepless even after a four-hour sleep. I've been working hard every night that I only get around 1-2 hours of sleep for four days because when I work until dawn I also have to wake up before 5am to prepare food and things for my two daughters and then my youngest and hubby. After they were all off to school and office that's the time that I'll do all my offline and online tasks. Pretty much like an ordinary mommy :-) but I'm not accustomed to having afternoon siesta as I've worked for less than 20 years in various jobs and sleeping is not allowed of course except on lunch breaks. I'm not one of those who rests or sleeps on breaks that's why I'm not so keen on afternoon breaks. But I would want to in the future so I can recover from dawntime OT , just a little adjustment I think!

Trying Out New Recipes and Restaurants

If there’s one thing that satisfies me that’s cooking and I think it’s already in my blood and veins. No matter how busy I am or how hectic my schedule is I always make it my pleasure to cook for my family. I’m an experimental cook which means that I don’t cook according to book because I always put something of my original spices and style in what I’m cooking. I’m also a very economical cook that I always find a way when the needed ingredients are no longer available or too expensive to buy. Cooking is a wide field of people trying to put their heart into what they’re doing. I always believe that it’s already in my heart ever since I was young.

I was born into a family of musicians and cooks. My grandparents on both sides were the community cook whenever there’s a wedding or feast. They even made some money out of cooking. Even though I wasn’t trained by them as they died when I was a child I grew up in a home where cooking binds the family. My Mom used to bake our birthday cakes and cooks very well too. Now that she’s not that strong to cook her always gives me some tips on cooking.

I’m trying out chicken and pork dishes in a baked-style cooking as per request of hubby and my kids. Though it took me more time than cooking it the traditional way it brings me happiness that I can make them happier by preparing extra ordinary meals. I’m now into experimenting various style in cooking spare ribs and trying out some nice sauces. But for those who really have no time to cook you can treat your family once in a while in nice restaurant that serve impeccable dishes and I’m sure they’ll be happy dining out somewhere for a change.

I happened to have a chat with one of my former officemate now living in Manhattan and we’ve been talking about good old days when we hop around restaurant in Libis for some good fine dinner. I told her to check out Rosie O'Grady's, one of the leading Restaurants In Midtown Manhattan where they serve the finest steak and seafoods. Tourists frequent the place as they’re just about the area near Times Square, Rockefeller Center and a walking distance to major museums. It was a nice location and superb foods so there’s no stopping my friend now. She’s a real fanatic of fine dining restaurant especially upon looking at their menu like this one : The Prix Fixe Lunch Menu.

Learned My Lessons Well!

I think I’m staying up late this evening as I’ve got a long list of tasks to do. I’ve learned my lesson now I will not do my tasks on due dates. That habit has affected me a lot and I’ve scolded myself for doing so. I’ll finish all my tasks due for tomorrow even if my sleep will just be a dream. It’s always better to be early than running for deadlines. I hate that habit of mine and promised myself I’ll change. From this day on I’ll leave a one day allowance for the tasks so if there’s a correction of problem I’ll be able to manage it.