Cleaning Up

I can just imagine the all the firework junk over at Apitong after last night. Yikes! Major clean up, for sure! Here at home, it's major cleaning up as well, with Christmas gifts all over the place, and some wrapper strewn somewhere in the room and den. Sigh!

I need to get some plastic containers for the kids' toys for rotation purposes. I think I got that idea from Janet Phillips, but I'm not sure. The kids' toys are stored in huge bins, with only a few toys left out. The bin stays hidden in the closet. After a few weeks, or when I see the kids being bored with the current set of toys, it's time to take out the toy bin and rotate in and out some toys. According to Janet, it works like a charm, and the toys stay nice and neat at the same time! I soooooo need that organization and method to all this toy-chaos in the days following Christmas!

The rest of the house isn't looking too spiffy either. Because of the Christmas rush, doing some fixing up was put on hold. Yes, the upstairs looks a lot neater with the new wooden floors in, but the downstairs definitely leaves something to be desired, hehehe.

I was reading on the scrapping boards about the new Dyson vacuum cleaner. Seems it's a huge hit, and a lot of people got it for Christmas gifts. I need that cyclone-type of suction for the gross dust in the carpet downstairs. Ugh. I shudder to think about how thick it's gotten! Our old vacuum cleaner sounds pitiful in comparison to the Dyson power that the website says it has. I can just imagine. This vacuum would work well here since for some reason we accumulate a ton of dust. I'm not sure if it's the surrounding, or if it's due to Shirley's cleaning incompetence.

We're slowly going to renovate the downstairs as well, changing the carpets to wooden floors. A slow (not to mention expensive!) process, but it's got to be done. I *want* the look of the house changed! But a vacuum cleaner---most likely a handheld---will be retained because I want the mattresses, pillows, curtains, sofas, etc, to be vacuumed once in a while. The boys have asthma, and it's improved by leaps and bounds ever since we got the wooden floors :) So yes, we still need a vacuum cleaner, and one with super duper strong suction at that.

Ok, off to scrap some much needed pages. It's been a loooong time since I scrapped and I need my ME time :)

Trip Cancellation

Dang it! France is out for this year! At the Relics meeting, it was deemed that we did NOT have to accompany the Relics from Lisieux to Manila anymore. Apparently, we may not even have to bring the Relics back to its home! I have NO idea where the thought came from that we had to go with the Relics. Sigh!

So all that coordinating with the travel agencies and rushing to have passports renewed were all for naught. So are the thermal socks and gloves I just bought yesterday, dang it!!! And I can't return those either since I bought them in Green hills! Aaaargh! I just KNEW there were forces at work AGAINST our trip to France! The extremely difficult time we had trying to get the flights confirmed should have been indication enough.

Next trip to Europe I plan, I want to go back to Great Britain. It's almost been 20 tears since I've been there and I'm sure there are a LOT of things that have changed. UK Holidays is also more affordable now from Manila, with the advent of flights from Hong Kong via Virgin Airlines (or some such name...I forgot what it is).

After we visit London, I want to be able to go to other areas of England. The coastal areas will be easy to plan vacations to through the network of Haven Park resorts. They put a lot of emphasis on environmental friendly vacations AND family time, so that's a good fit for us. Of course, I don't picture the boys and I communing with nature all that much, but Japa and the girls are going to be all for it, I'm sure.

Ooooh! And I just checked their website and they have activities planned for kids every single day just in case the parents want to have some time for themselves. How cool is that? Hehehe. Planning a family vacation and already planning on leaving the kids somewhere, LOL! A few hours won't hurt though, right? Haven parks seem a good fit for us with sports activities, and water water WATER activities! Pools and seaside places! That is SOOO calling us! Need to check it out more!

Mom's Here!

Yayayayay!!! Mom has finally come home from the States! This means one thing for me: TIME! Time to wrap Christmas presents, time to DO Christmas presents (hehehe) time to shop for the poor kids, time...precious time!

Not that I minded staying with Dad, but I never realized how much time it took to keep him occupied and to make sure that he was in a good mood to attend his therapy sessions. Moving in to La Vista was the ONLY feasible thing to do, otherwise it would be impossible to be on top of things pertaining to Dad. Yes, there are some care homes out there, but nothing beats the tender loving care one always gets from FAMILY, right? And that's what we do best.

With me living here, I am able to oversee the nurse and caretaker in their daily activities and interaction with Dad. The cook submits the week's menu to me and I can go over it to make sure Dad's diet conforms to his diabetes-controlled environment.....or at least, I try to. There are days he would be difficult and insist that he can eat anything. That's his way. And I totally understand that and deal with it.

In the month or so that Mom was away, Dad has fallen into his schedule of physical therapy three times a week and just recently, a session of occupational therapy once a week. We have tried to add the OT into his daily routine with some success: we've done a few activities that his therapist has deemed Dad's "homework" for the week :)

I love the days when Dad doesn't complain or frown and just does his different therapies because he WANTS to do it, sometimes I like to think he ENJOYS doing them. For him, the challenge is GOOD..it makes him exert a little bit more effort both physical and mental. Yes, he gets tired, but that's to be expected and I always anticipate it.

He has complained about not being able to take longer naps the past few days, and I told him that maybe that's his body's way of telling him that he does NOT need as much sleep anymore! Which is a VERY good sign, indeed! Now......he just needs to show off a little bit to Mom so that she can see the progress in his daily routine.

Hopefully, with Mom here, I can finally get caught up in work and more importantly, the Christmas stuff I should have had done last month! Hehehehe. Oh yeah, and I absolutely NEED to scrap, too! :)

TTFN!

Nag, Nag, Nag

Nag--that's the best word I can find to mean makulit in Tagalog. That's what Raine has been when she realized that she wanted a Nintendo DS Lite for Christmas. Actually, she can't even *wait* for Christmas; she wants it NOW. Sigh! We told her that she had to sell her Game Boy (it was Ate's old one) and we thought that would give us a few weeks of peace and quiet. But uh...nope. In the next 2 days she had found a buyer: her Lolo Doc! Hehehehe. She is short of P2,500 for the unit, but I had told her that her Papa would cover it.

And she didn't stop reminding us every single second, practically! Aaaargh! And apparently, she also wants the newer WHITE DS Lite! Crossing my fingers that it's not that hard to find, either! I kid you not when I tell you that for at least 4 days straight, every word that came out of her mouth when she talked to me or to Papa was something along the lines of "When will you buy my DS?" or "You can get the money out of my piggy bank now and buy my DS". Hehehehe.

She has SOOOO been wanting her own DS ever since Raegan got hers. I guess it's the kids' own version of a laptop? A cool, hip laptop. Whatever makes them happy. :) Didn't know there were different colors available AND on top of that, they have different kinds of "sleeves" for the DS Lite! Sheesh! Maybe to express their own individuality?!?!? Oh well. That'll be next on her wish list, I'm VERRRY sure! They have funky covers, too, like Transformers which I think are cool :). Oh, and the DS Lite happens to have a girly bag available for it, too. Ever since Nintendo came out with the pink version, I guess they realized that a lot of girls wanted in on the cool fun too!

{SCRAPS}

I'm getting my older scraps posted to prepare for the onslaught of newer pages that I've been scrapping, or trying to find time to scrap. The designers I CT for have been hit by the designing bug, hehehe!

RAFAEL X 3
MARKET MEAL
LIGHTING ON THE ROAD

TTFN!

I Need Me Some Internet Provider...

...a super duper speedy one! Sure, mainly for all the downloading I do for my scrapping, but it always helps to have the speediest one out there, right? :)

I would dearly dearly love to have wi fi Broadband. Fast, always on, my laptop's wi-fi capability attaches onto it at once. Uber fast, for sure. And no iffy connections, either! Now if only our internet connections here are just like what I found at BT Total Broadband: fast, sure connection, lots of add-on services, and the best part? The price!!!

The equivalent of P2,000 is chump change for what I can get. Such features as a Home Hub, security software, knowledgeable customer support, and integration with phone call services are grrreat things to have attached to your wi fi broadband carrier, right? Sigh! How I totally *wish* that we had such things here in the Philippines and not have to pay my right arm and hand (however way that idiom is supposed to go) for it!

Ahhh....dreaming, I know. I wish I lived in either the US or the UK now. All in the name of internet providers, hehehe.

I'd be able to surf the boards in no time, upload and download in mere seconds, no matter how large the files. Blog with the speed of light. Ok, pushing it, but I'd be more excited to blog just because I won't have to wait forever for my pages to upload!

{SOME SCRAPS}

SO PROUD OF YOU
FUTURE ROCKSTAR
LOVE IS SHARING AN ICE CREAM CONE

As always, images are clickable for you to leave me a comment (please! hehehe) and to see the credits.

TTFN!

Renovation: Painting

Well, I did it! I gave the contractor a down payment of P15,000 to paint the girls' room. The balance will be given to him upon completion of everything in there: the stripping of wallpaper, painting the walls, reconstructing some closets in the bathroom, painting those closets. Maybe I can even squeeze in a new TV cabinet (or TV table) from him :). Or maybe even repainting the window frames.

Those babies are SO old! Older even than the wallpaper, I think! Hehehehe. Japa and I have been thinking of changing those as well, when budget permits. I detest the grills that are on them now. Ugh! I'm thinking of casement windows or tilt and turn windows. These types:

And yes, they seem to have a double glazing finish on them, which means that they don't have to painted again for a long time! :) Which is what I REALLY need!

All these Home improvements projects of mine are going to be costing a bundle, I think. But I'm having fun trying to decide stuff, you know? I also ask the kids for their opinions, since it's their room, and it's fun to see what they think of things, too.

Lots of stuff for me to do! Decide on a color scheme---gotta go to Pottery Barn for Kids for that, hehehe---and take before pictures!

Toothache!!!

Horrible horrible horrible! I know the filling had come out of my upper molar at the far-reaching cavern I call my mouth (hehehehe). But I was eating cereal --- CEREAL!!! --- last night and I guess I chewed hard enough that a piece of the tooth came out!

Since then it's been horrible! I went to the dentist first thing in the morning...in EXTREME pain. And all she could tell me was that she couldn't pull it out (which was what I wanted to happen to get rid of the dang pain!) because the anaesthesia and the alcali whatever from the toothache would be at opposing ends. The result? She'd be pulling my tooth out withOUT any anaesthesia at all (at least, that would be the overall feeling).

Ugh! I went and bought prescribed antibiotics...I forgot to ask for something for the pain. Out of desperation, I went ahead and took Gabapentin (Neurontin) in the hopes that the nerve relaxant would do it's job on my flaming tooth. With an oreo icepack to my cheek and writhing with pain, I finally fell asleep, thank God!

Again, horrible horrible horrible! Ugh! NEVER do I want to feel pain like that again!!! Worse than childbirth pain? Uhmmmmm......probably not, hehehe. But still!

{SCRAPS}

SCENE OF THE PROPOSAL
This is the Traje de Boda (the wedding dress room) at La Cocina de Tita Moning where Rodney proposed to Zharmagne last June 12.

Credits: kit - A Day to Remember by Tina Williams; stitched swirl with bling - Dreamer Kit, a collab by Gina Miller and Miriam Lina at SSD; vintage frame - by Nancy Comelab; cardboard overlays - by Linda Gil Billdal at Scrap Artist; photo filter - Virtual Photographer; fonts - Adler, Arial Narrow

BEDTIME WITH DIEGO
My baby with his favorite bedtime toy: Diego.

Credits: kit - Some Kind of Wonderful, a collab of SSD designers; vintage frame, playdate stamp - by Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals; font - DJB Suzie by Darcy Baldwin at Blue Flombingo; layered sketch, clock, stitches - Misfits 2 Collection by Janet Phillips

No, I didn't scrap these with a toothache; just uploading my layouts every chance I get to update my blog and scrapping gallery:

{TRAVEL PLANS}

Sigh! With that, it's obvious there are no concrete plans just yet with regards to our flight. We STILL don't know whether we're going to be bringing Dad to Hawaii. I told Mom that if Dad decided that he didn't want to go to the States anymore, Japa and I would be flying straight to Las Vegas to find some cheezy, dresses-up priest to perform marriage rites on our anniversary. Hehehe.

Speaking of travel, writing here as a reminder to ask Japa about his medical insurance....just in case he were to get sick while we were in the States. I have no problem as my insurance is in effect in the States. But for Japa's, we just need to double check. Having medical travel insurance is a safety net for the both of us. For Japa and for the kids. Best to be safe than sorry AND have to shell out major bucks just because you weren't covered right? A way cool insurance to have is one that not only covers travel, but insurance for the loss of personal things, for loss of passport and cash, even missed departures! Besides, it's always better to get a family rate than an individual rate, eh?

Ok.....the pain is just horrendous to do anything on my tummy. It's upright only...and it's killing my back! Back to reading :)

TTFN!

Need to Count Calories?

I hate dieting, but somehow the class I took in Nutrition in college all those years ago has stuck with me. I know the basics of food counting, and can roughly estimate the caloric content of a number of foods. Pretty good memory, if I do say so myself! :)

To take the guesstimate out of calorie counting, this calorie counter is quite a useful tool. Did I just type a redundant sentence? Hehehe. Anyway, if you needed to know the nutrional value of a certain food, just plug it right in, click on "search" and voila! You have the numbers you need for your diet notebook or even your exercise journal! No need for those quick count calorie books or a scale or a calculator. All you need is this handy dandy calorie counter and you can happily (and safely!) count and monitor what you eat and what your burn.

The best part? It's free! :) I just plugged in my weight and the type of yoga I do and for how long. In 30 minutes, I burn more than 100 calories. Not bad for major stretching and supine exerciese, eh?

Stairlifts

With Tita San arriving tomorrow night, everyone at home is rushing around trying to fix everything. RJ has had Marlyn contacted to have her clean Trafalgar, Mom has told Marivic to call Letty to be on standby for daily massages for Tita San, Mandi has been tasked to make sure all the cars and the Lakeside apartment are all spic and span and ready to be used. And Lola? She's making sure everyone does their jobs :)

IF Tita San is going to be staying at Lakeside after staying at the hospital, it would be extremely difficult for her to get to her room on the third floor! What they need are stairlifts of some sort to help her move around the house more. Stairlifts are, simply put, a way for disabled and elderly people go up and down stairs. They're kind of like escalators for the home, where the person is seated.

I never realized that there were different kinds of stairlifts, including for outside the house! Of course, if Dad had this installed at home, he'd be totally lazy to exercise going up and down the stairs! It is good to know that there are safety features such as the all-important seatbelt, on/off switches and safety sensors that make the stairlift stop if something gets caught in the mechanism. There are also options for a stairlift that will support seated or standing attachments.

It is good to know that there are a plethora of products out there that cater to all sorts of people, including those that have disabilities.

Online Shopping

As I shopped during the NDS sales, it occurred to me why we couldn't apply the same shopping cart software for the Shrine. It's easy to use, easy for clients to see the vaults they want to purchase, easy for the to pay via credit card. How much convenience can we ask for?

It seems easy enough to install an online store for the Shrine. The ecommerce software is easily available, and doesn't need any programming involved on our part as management. And it has inventory control!!! This is exactly what we need for 38,000 vaults! We can apply discounts to client purchases, have a "featured" vault or area, and they can even generate sales reports on a per customer basis!

One more thing, it can easily be integrated with MYOB software! Didn't we just purchase that software? I know it's still NOT installed, but at least we're set if we do decide to open a shopping cart for the Shrine.

Randy and Boydee, if you're reading this, you have got to check it out!

Bedside Happiness :)

For so-so days and days where I don't think I've got enough mojo in me to be creative and scrap, sometime I wish that I had a digital photo frame by my bedside. What we gave Dad for Father's Day a year or 2 ago. Dad just LOVES it and keeps it by his bedside; he loves looking at it right before he goes to sleep.

As for me, I simply won't store my photos in the memory card that comes with the digital frames. Oh no no no! I'd put my LAYOUTS in there to show them off! I think if I get a big enough digital frame --- say one of those 10-inch ones--- then I'd be set. :) I'd get one with either a dark mahogany or black finish. Those would look smart in my room. And yes, I'd clear my bedside table to make room for it, hehehe.

I remember Rodney saying that we paid about $250-$300 for a 7-inch frame. This digital picture frame site sells a 10-inch one for $199! Oh, AND it comes with a free 128-megabyte memory card. That can store a LOT of layouts for me! Hmmm....I wonder if I can set up the frame to stand upright for my 8x10 layouts? :)

Back Pain Does Not Make Me A Happy Camper

Sigh! I woke up this morning feeling slightly better than yesterday. The forced rest definitely helped. I was able to get some 6 hours of sleep, which is plenty for me, considering I've been getting less and less sleep nowadays. Have no idea why, though.

A special meeting was held in La Vista to talk about the Golden Ridge project. Of course, I just KNEW that I wasn't going to last very long, sitting down. I was already anticipating that I wouldn't last very long :). I did arm myself with a microwaveable heat pack, and some pain killers.

When I couldn't stand the pain, I took some painkillers. I took regular ibuprofen, wishing I had heard about Nurofen Plus earlier. It seems it was specially formulated for people with migraines (that's me!) and back pain (that's also me!!!). And....O.M.Gosh....it has CODEINE!!! Oh the wonders of codeine and what it can do for me! Hehehe.

I know I was prescribed codeine after I gave birth and let me tell you the RELIEF it brings. Long lasting relief! Which I may need if this back doesn't get better!

I was so excited to read about Nurofen Plus and the possibilities of having it on hand...only to find out it was available in New Zealand, hehehe! Okay....I just scrolled down a bit and it says FREE delivery WORLDWIDE! Whoohoo!!! Gotta love technology!

Before I order though, I'm going to do a little bit more research....I need to know if this great-sounding painkiller has caffeine in it. In my experience, for my migraines, my reliable Excedrin for Migraines does contain caffeine; I try not to take it too late in the day because I'd tend to stay up really late because of the slight caffeine content. So needless to say, if Nurofen Plus has NO caffeine, you can safely bet that I've switched! ;)

Now.....resting time....and scrapping time, hehehe.