Another Swim Meet and Some Home Repairs

I don't know how many inter-club swim meets the kids have had this year, but today they swam for the very first time in a 50-meter pool. We had tried to mentally prepare them a few days before today just so they'd be ready for a much longer swim; double their usual training distance.

Although the kids were told to expect some muscle aches throughout their swim, they were semi-complaining about the actual thing. Hehehe. There were some kids at the pool who even shouted at the end of their race, "Coach, I can't breath!" Hehehehe. That was Franco. Totally funny, but kids are kids, and they coped wonderfully.

Raegan won all her races, as did Rogan. Raine came in second in freestyle but annihilated her competition in the other strokes. Rielle swam wonderfully in the breaststroke and came in first in her event as well. The only thing they lost was the head-to-head relays against the Celebrity Sports Rapids. But overall, the Ayala Heights Harpoons still came on top at the meet.

I've got some scrapping to do with the great pics Japa took! :) After I had taken a few pics using his Sony DSLR, I didn't like the pics I was taking with my point and shoot, hehehe. So I just told Japa to take loads of pictures and leave the editing to me :)

{Home Repairs}

Time to get the house in shape. Rogan's toilet started leaking in a major way and we had a couple of people from VWL take a look at it. Thank goodness they didn't have to destroy some bathroom tiles and the toilet to fix the leak. Apparently, some blockage in the drain or something.

Looking at renovating the boys' room a little bit, too. Taking out one entire wall of closets maybe, and having a TV cabinet made for more flexibility. I want a reading corner in there somewhere as well. A new headboard for sure, with NO carving on it. Roller blinds. No chandelier, but maybe ceiling fans are an option to save on electricity even though there is an air conditioning unit in the room. Now I need to find some modern ceiling fans that will go with a kid's room.

Let's see what else....still thinking whether to fit another bed in there or just be happy with one bed, since Raine will eventually have that room and the boys will be moving downstairs. Window frames need to be changed for sure, since they're really old. Oh oh oh! And the carpet will finally be taken out and wood floors put in. My dear asthmatic boys will be happy about that, especially Japa, hehehe.

The wooden floors will be done when Japa and I are away in July and the kids in either Apitong or La Vista. The repainting of the cabinets and the installation of shelves will hopefully be started this coming week. I need to look through magazines for a look that I like and to find a modern fan company, too.

Any ideas? Please feel free to list them in the comments section :) Thanks!

Now, off to scrap at least a page before I get really sleepy (while watching The Fantastic Four on Star Movies, too!)

TTFN!

Scrapping Drought!

Seriously. Here was my last layout:

START OF ART
Ranger starting to color...His OC-ness "made" him line up his crayons in the upper left photo.

Credits: kit - Take Time by Karen Heckathorne at Divine Digital; folded paper template - Easy Peasy by Karah Fredricks at Blue Flombingo; polaroid frames - Frame It by Nina Scraps at Oscraps and ndisb; font - DJB Suzie by Darcy Baldwin at Blue Flombingo; layered sketch - by Teresa Ferguson at SSD

And this was done THREE days ago!!! Three whole days and then....nothing. Ugh. I have been surfing....and shopping, hehehe. Sooo many sales out there, I kid you not. But I've been looking :)

The point is, I haven't been scrapping. Not that it's been a lack of mojo. Not really. Just been busy....doing the chaplets for Randy and Stella's wedding! Hehehe. We pretty much have an assembly line here. Sort of. I cut the memory wire and glue a silver stopper to one end. Then the whole thing is beaded by the girls or the yayas or Shirley's kids. Then it goes back to me to glue another silver stopper on the other end.

A bit time consuming, but assuming we want to finish 500 chaplets before the wedding, we need to do at least 40 a day (!). We have been making progress though and we will get this done much sooner that I have anticipated.

Ok, off to Celebrity Sports Plaza for the kids' swim meet!

I'm Actually Being Read!

Whoa! My brothers and their better halves actually read MY blog!!! How cool is that?!?!? I just came from having dinner with everyone in Serendra (only Japa wasn't there, he was in a meeting) and the boys commented that my blog was TOO commercialized. Hmp!

Fine. Owing to the fact that they actually READ my blog, I decided on the way home that I was going to cut down on the ads and make my blog more entertaining again. Hehehehe. See you guys? See how much I love you? Mwah! Hehehe.

Well, I won't promise I won't completely do away with the ads.....I DO need my scrapping money you know! But I will severely cut down....it was getting a little bit too tedious for me anyhow, trying to balance everything. So this decision was easy to make in a way :)

You guys happy now, dear bros and SILs? Huh? Huh? How about you keep commenting --- yes, that means actually leaving me some comments!---on my blog posts, and I'll restrict the number of money-making schemes I put on here? Should be a good deal eh? So don't be shy!!! Click that comment button!!!

Now, I really REALLY need to do some scrapping done...or dang, still need to do some more chaplets! Hehehe.

TTFN!

Stressing about School!

Me that is, not the kids, hehehe. School starts Tuesday next week, and all I've done is set aside the kids' notebooks, binders, pencil cases, bookbags and PE uniforms. That's it. No labelling of their stuff, nothing! Ack!

Elizza's luckier in the sense that she has more time to prepare school stuff. Reese and Rielle don't start school until the 18th!!!! We figure it's because the sisters of the Assumption are all going to Rome for the canonization of Mother Marie Eugenie, the foundress of the Assumption.

Mom I think was supposed to go with Sr Luz and the other AC sisters, but with everything that's happening with Tita San and Randy and Stella's wedding, she can't. She probably wouldn't enjoy going to Roma, Italia (get those Rs rolling!) without us, hehehe. Besides, it's the start of summer in Europe and could get very very hot and humid.

I swear, if it weren't for the wedding, I'd be pushing Mom to go to Rome.....with me in tow, of course! Hehehe.

Now, back to labeling school stuff...ugh....

Brain Games

If you know me, I love brain games. I'd rather do these than some inane video game, hehehe. Crosswords were a staple for me before. Now it's Sudoku. I almost always have my Sudoku book with me, no matter how huge a book it is, hehehe. Although I love crosswords and sudoku, I don't like see-a-word type of puzzles, or math problems. Weird I know, since I like words and sudoku numbers, but there's something so brainless about just looking for the word in a grid. Plus it crosses my eyes! Hehehe. As for math problems, ugh. No thanks. Got enough of those in school. But I can rearrange numbers to form the solution, which is why Sudoku is appealing to me.

Another great number game is deciphering codes. Not via numbers preferably, but letters. I ran across this code:

SHX OGUONPR ZI RWP MAEJ ZUSBO-VCJSFPX OPKJCBLUSBP SGDURMPR

went to some site and attempted to break the code. Got it on the first try without realizing it, hehehe. There's a HUGE clue for you!

Decoded, the message says:

SPY SWEEPER IS THE MOST AWARD-WINNING ANTISPYWARE SOFTWARE

Hehehe. I just talked about that in a previous post, didn't I (go look a few posts down hehe)? But I can't begin to stress how important this particular program is for me. If you take a peek into my hard drive (which, by the way, is getting filled to capacity yet again!) it's 90% scrapbooking-related! Or close to that, hehehe. I also have three other EHDs almost filled with scrapkits and photos. Which I have to burn to disk, making another mental note to self here.

Anyhoo, with all those downloaded files, I do NEED the Spy Sweeper don't I? Gotta protect those precious photo files and scrapbook kits. At all costs! The program protects you while shopping online as well, and God knows I do that often. *roll eyes* So yeah, stressing the fact that my laptop needs protection even more when we add online shopping to scrapbook downloading. Are you still with me here? :)

Ok, I think I'm going to skip office and get my beadwork organized for the wedding giveaways. The kids are helping me thank goodness, and that's a huge start! (Then I'm going to play around with that decoding site!)

TTFN!

Scrap!

I need a photo post to break the monotony in my blog, hehehe.

BRIC-KY POO
Bric and me.

Credits: kit - Friends by Nina Scraps at Oscraps; doodled circle overlay - Heatwave by Dani Mogstad at SSD; tears - by Jen Caputo; font - Adler

I used Nina's kit, Friends, which has been put in the Family and Friends section of the Oscraps shop. This section features the products of kind-hearted and generous designers in the Oscraps community for the benefit of Carla Gibson's family. Carla was an Oscraps designer who died suddenly of an aneurism sometime last week. It was all very sudden, and her death created a loss in the community. Very sad, very tragic. I am fortunate to be a CT member of Nina, one of the truly generous designer out there. She has a heart of gold, Nina does.

Still A Pounding Head

Woke up to my cellphone ringing....Lai calling at an ungodly hour of....820 am?!?!??! Yikes! Major oversleep for me; me who is usually up by 7ish each morning, no matter what time I end up going to sleep! But I still have my migraine, pounding away. Technically, I shouldn't even be in front of my laptop because the screen brightness may not exactly be helping things a bit, but I have a NEED to check my email first thing in the morning, hehehehe.

Was it just me last night, or was there something wrong with Firefox? Waking my laptop from hibernation the whole day, I could not, for the life of me click on anything in Firefox. In another separate incident, on the desktop this time, Firefox just closed suddenly on Japa. Don't know why though. Can anyone hazard a guess?

Making a mental note to self to have my future new laptop (hehehe) outfitted with Anti Virus and Spy Sweeper programs. It pisses me off that there are some people out there who's main goal it is to destroy computer users' systems. Thank goodness I have a few good programs in place that blocks the few basic ones, but I think I'm going to want something stronger and more effective. A few months back, while in La Vista, there would be this totally irritating pop-up window that kept appearing. It said something about there being an attempt to infiltrate my computer system and that I should click on something in the window to stop it.

Sigh! I would click cancel or quit the window and it would appear. Numerous times, in succession! Can you believe it? To this day, I have NO idea what it was! All I know is that when I was away from La Vista, those pop-up windows never appeared! Aaargh!

With the amount of downloading I do, too, from digiscrapbooking stores and sites, it's always a good thing to have my "first line of defense" in place. I mean, I do trust most of the download sources/stores, but one can never be too sure. Besides, I need to protect my precious scrapbooking files and pictures, right? I'd die if something happened to those!!! :)

Ok, time to take my Excedrin. Hopefully this dang pounding will go away soon!

Head Ouchie :(

Major migraine alert!!! I've been surfing the boards a bit after clearing all the beadwork stuff and my head is just pounding! I really should turn off the ole laptop, but just trying to catch up on email and other news in the digiworld, hehehe. Can anyone say addict? LOL!

But seriously! I can't even take my trusy Excedrin since it has caffeine and THAT will keep me up even more! Sigh. Ok fine. Turning this off seeing as I can't even scrap! There goes my one-a-day page goal again. Good thing I scrapped quite a few yesterday!

Meet the Robinsons Among Other Things

Yup, we saw it today! The kids were uber excited and, being that this was their last few days before school started, we went to go see it. In a nutshell, the movie's synopsis:

When Lewis meets a mysterious boy from the future named Wilbur Robinson, the two travel forward in time where Lewis discovers the amazing secret of the Robinson family.

Lewis is a brilliant twelve-year-old with a surprising number of clever inventions to his credit. His latest and most ambitious project is the Memory Scanner, which he hopes will retrieve early memories of his mother and maybe even reveal why she put him up for adoption. But before he can get his answer, his invention is stolen by the dastardly Bowler Hat Guy and his diabolical hat - and constant companion - Doris.

Lewis has all but given up hope in his future when a mysterious boy named Wilbur Robinson whisks our bewildered hero away in a time machine and the two travel forward in time to spend a day with Wilbur's eccentric family. In a world filled with flying cars and floating cities, they hunt down Bowler Hat Guy, save the future and uncover the amazing secret of Lewis' future family.

Ok, I copied that from the press release, hehehe, but I'm just very tired right now and I didn't want to think too much of how to explain an animated film! Suffice it to say it was a pretty good movie; the kids surely enjoyed it. It was a tad bit predictable towards the end, but hey, it's Disney, right? So definitely NO sad endings!

{Dress Fitting}

Final fitting over at Paul Cabral's today. I finally got the bell sleeves that I wanted and yes, they were waaaaaaay better than what he had originally planned for me. So a big WHEW to that! However, when I sit down, my boobs are literally about to spill over, no kidding. My dress is tight enough at the bust that it holds them in. Barely. So I was told to bring DUCT TAPE (!!!) on the wedding day to try and hold some of them in, hehehehe. Interesting how that will turn out to be!

{Other Stuff}

There were some other emotional stuff that needed weeding through...I have some notes and I'm going to post that on my blog soon enough. Just a bit draining, which is why I'm tired now.

Finally started getting a system down for the chaplet giveaways for the wedding. Getting the hang of how the ends are to be glued and all. Hopefully, I'll be able to distribute and delegate a lot of the work by tomorrow. The kids and I finished close to 20 chaplets all in all, which isn't too bad for a couple of hours' work.

Tomorrow, I'm going to print out some coloring pages for the kids to do. I found this site where a lot of characters have been drawn out, ready to be printed out and colored by the kids. Where oh where was this when our summer started?!?!? Hehehehe. It's definitely GSS material! And the cool part of it is, you can color the drawings online. Is that instant gratification or what? Hehehe. At least the kids will be entertained for a couple of hours at the very least.

There's a lot of characters that the kids know too, like Bratz, Barbie, Tinkerbell, Cinderella and other Disney characters. Another great feature is that you can upload your own drawing (ok, your kid's drawing), color it and send it to your friends! You can even have your friends color it. Nothing like getting your own artwork distributed eh? Very cute concept, and one that the kids will enjoy because of its interactiveness. Moms will be entertained by it as well as a vehicle for showcasing the art talent of the kids.

Might as well get the kids into "school mode". Basic coloring skills should be a great way to do it! :)

Ok, I'm pooped. TTFN!

The Sisterhood Challenge Part 3

The Sisterhood Challenge continues....

Part 3 entails scrapping a double-page spread about each child's Baptism.

For inspiration, we used
the left page is by MyEbella and the left is a sketch by Jen Caputo. The goal for this particular challenge was to list down and include the names of the Godparents for posterity. Pictures would obviously be great, but names should do :)

And yes, I am done with Raegan's Baptism spread!

RAEGAN'S BAPTISM - Left Page
Journaling reads: Lola Belen holding Raegan while Father Leo Steinbock prepared the baptismal font.

Quote reads:

Welcome precious little child, so fresh from God above,
Baptized today in Jesus' name, held in His arms of love.
May angels guide your tiny feet & bring you smiles to wear,
And may our Heavenly Father always keep you in His care.

Credits: kit - Petites Fleurs, a Songbird Avenue Collab between Dianne Rigdon, Meredith Fenwick and Jan Crowley; tear - Imperfection by Michelline Martin at The Digi Shoppe; book plate - by Christina Renee at FPD; tag - Bend It Tags by Debbie Knorr at SBB; circle stitch - by Gina Miller; photo filters - by Holly McCaig; fonts - Adler, DJB KeelyB and DJB Liz by Darcy Baldwin at Blue Flombingo

RAEGAN'S BAPTISM - Right Page
Journaling reads: The Sacrament of Baptism was performed by Fr. Leo Steinbock at St. Kevin's Church in Los Angeles.

Credits: kit - Petites Fleurs, a Songbird Avenue Collab between Dianne Rigdon, Meredith Fenwick and Jan Crowley; tear - Imperfection by Michelline Martin at The Digi Shoppe; journal tag - Altered Journalers by Jackie Eckles at Little Dreamer Designs; bend action - Convex Action by Jen Caputo; fonts - SBC Stone Inscription, DJB KeelyB by Darcy Baldwin at Blue Flombingo; layered sketch - by Jen Caputo

The best part was that since I had already picked the photos for each page, scrapping was relatively a breeze. Sure, it took a little bit over 2 hours I think, but since the hard part was done (choosing photos), I just scrapped. Love it! Can't wait to start on the other 3 spreads! :)

Safety at Work and at Home

In the construction of the Shrine, we as employers, have to have SAFETY as one of our primary concerns. We have a number of people climbing scaffolding and painting, cleaning and doing carpentry work many feet above the ground. That's a VERY high fall if something should happen.

With a lot of finishing work being done to the ceiling and the dome of the Shrine, a must for all workers are Hard Hats. Right. I've maybe seen one or two people wearing one. Next, with the grinding of granite walls and floor tiles, not to mention columbarium vault covers, Safety Goggles are another must-wear safety requirement. I haven't seen anyone with a pair on. Filipinos in general are uber stubborn when we're talking safety here. For some strange reason, there is no pressing urgency to practice safety at work. I'm still wracking my brain to come up with a half-decent reason to give employees to convince them to start practicing safety while in the work place.

Maybe we need more one-stop stores for our safety needs. If we have more of those here, it would show more people that it IS an important concern for everyone. Talk of and practicing of safety starts with the employer, is what I say. With costs of high insurance and medical care nowadays, safety in the industrial workplace is a must.

A nice thing to see in a safety store is a section for Home Use Safety. Things were we can get equipment to ensure a safe environment while at our DIY home bench/garage area. First and foremost, First Aid Kits are a priority. No home (or garage workplace) should be without it. How about fire extinguishers? Emergency lights, flashlights and lanterns are also good.

Thank goodness Japa is conscious about these things. With the exception of fire extinguishers, we have everything else. I hope :)

Trading Overseas

Not physical trading, but stocks. Japa just told me he was looking to trading internationally, more specifically in China and in the US. He is scheduled to talk to this guy who can help him trade. I wonder how different this is from an options screener*....I've come across that term recently and I've always been intrigued by it. :)

I don't like anything to do with finance but if there is a tool out there that helps you analyze the millions of stocks and bonds out there in a timely manner, wouldn't that be a huge help? Time saving too, I'm assuming. Japa's tied to his laptop every weekday morning because of trading. I'm sure this will be a big help to him.

*This blog post is based on information provided by Blogitive.com.

May Round Up

This Round Up is a bit late, but I just HAD to do it, for posterity's sake....and for when and if I do a Year That Was sort of scrapbook album :)

My May 2007 Round Up

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?

On the first of May, I started a brand new blog, The Average Bookworm. I think it'll be a good look at the kinds of books I read throughout the month and the years to come. And yes, I'm definitely going to be updating that blog a bit with each book I read, good or bad. I want to work on getting back to being a voracious reader again.

Ok, books I've read in May (with links for MY own review about the book, hehehe) :

1. For One More Day by Mitch Albom
2. Xerxes Invades Greece
3. Started reading Illustrated Tales from Shakespeare, a super duper concise version of Shakespeare minus the English thee's and thou's, etc :)
4. Sophie Kinsella's Can You Keep A Secret?

Not a bad list. I have YET to start reading Harry Potter all over again. Since I'm pressed for time, I think I'm going to go ahead and read Raegan's British version (we bought her books in Singapore, so I'm pretty sure they're the British version, hehe). Should be interesting to read the differences, if any.

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?

We watched Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Great movies, both.

For TV shows, I started and finished Brothers and Sisters! Thank goodness for downloadable episodes! Great great AWESOME series! Love it and can't wait for next season! I've also started watching Charmed, the series about the Halliwell sisters who are witches.

What special days did I celebrate and how?

May 5 - Father Benny's 50th birthday. Mom and Tita Vkyh threw a surprise party for him, his first ever in 50 whole years!

May 8 - The twins' birthday. We had a wonderful, just-us-family dinner at an upscale restaurant. Love days when we can do this!

May 13 - Mother's Day and Housewarming Party of Dic and Lai. Simple and relaxing day.

May 14 - Local Elections. Although of course I wasn't able to cast my vote since the stupid lists didn't have my name on them! Grrr!

May 17 - Shrine's Inauguration. Formally turned over the Shrine to the Military Ordinariate of the Philippines. Of course we're still finishing up (and spending for!) construction and the interior.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

Still my back of course, but it has gotten a lot better because of YOGA! Yeah! I've been very very good about keeping a daily schedule of my yoga and have finished the first 3 weeks of the 10-week program!

In other illness and health concerns, Tita San had another emergency operation in her brain, starting with her passing out during their Korea layover. Prognosis doesn't look great for her, with her doctor giving her 3-4 months to live. She's beaten the odds before, and everyone has been praying for her recovery.

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?

Aside from all the birthdays and parties we celebrated this month, we also had:

1. The Sisterhood Challenge - Bang, Lai, Cathy and myself started this group to force us to finish our babies' first-year albums. To date, we have done the cover pages and the first month double spreads. Working on the baptism spread next.

2. Swimming Competition - an inter-club meet, with the kids all winning in their respective divisions. Raegan swims fast in the butterfly, Rogan in freestyle, and Raine in the breaststroke. According to their coach, they've all improved their personal best times.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

Ummm.....digiscrap kits! Hehehe. Yes, despite the plethora of stuff I get from the awesome designers I CT for, I still have this URGE to buy more stuff! Hehehe.

One of the single BEST purchases I ever made was this book right here, How to Use Yoga by Mira Mehta. I chose this book primarily because of the 10-week schedule included towards the back of the book. A lifesaver, really, and it's done wonders for my back. I've bought this book for Bang and Rodney as well, that's how much I love it!

Oh, I almost forgot, there was an unusual purchase I did make: my PINK formal blouse for the Shrine Inauguration! Hehehe.

What were this month's disappointments?

Tita San getting hospitalized again, was a disappointment of sorts. The major disappointment was in how her children responded (or lack thereof) to the whole situation. That'll fill a looong blog post am sure. *roll eyes here* Edited to add: In fairness, RJ has stepped up to the plate and done an okay job being the big brother and the head of the family that he is now.

What were my accomplishments this month?

I made major strides in finishing my Cebu Album! Whoohoohoo! A few more before everything is finalized and everything is uploaded to Shutterfly.

I made some modest amount, enough to make those digi purchases *wink* and then some more.
Scrapping TOOTS:
1. Darcy Baldwin has asked me to stay on and be part of her CT!
2. Karah Fredricks has extended my Guest CT status to June!

So YAY me! :)

Anything else noteworthy to record?

Obviously, we had to scrap the birthday trip plans for Lola's 88th birthday. There was no way she was going to leave Tita San behind while she went gallivanting all over China could she?

Almost done planning for our trip to the States for our 10th wedding anniversary. Oh so close! :)

April Layout Count: 41!

***End of Round Up***

Last Page for the Cebu Album Done!

Yippppeeeee!!!! This is the last page for the album and I should have enough, and I have everyone who was in Cebu in it! Whew! With this family, that is a LOT of people! Hehehe.

SAND, SUN & SMILES
Elizza, with her point and shoot in hand, wading in the ocean to get better pics of the kids. Her DSLR stayed on shore.

Journaling reads: With camera in hand, Elizza braves the water to take better photos for scrapping purposes!

Credits: kit - Justy Punky 3 by Royanna Fritschmann at My Digital Muse; paper fold - Easy Peasy by Karah Fredricks at Blue Flombingo; sun shape, bikini, sunglasses, hot stuff tag - Heatwave by Dani Mogstad at SSD; notepaper - Vintage Relic by Royanna Fritschmann; vintage frame - by Nancy Comelab; fonts - DJB Juliana in a Hurry, DJB Lorraine Bold by Darcy Baldwin at Blue Flombingo

Ok, off to upload to Shutterfly and order to get that free shipping! :)

Anniversary Trip Plans

Writing this down here just so I have a reminder for me to do some more stuff for our Anniversary Trip in July. Stuff such as:

1. Print out our e-tickets
2. Print out mapquest directions
3. Compile our time share confirmation docs
4. Rent a vehicle
5. Start packing!!!
6. Research online on local attractions
7. Budget for whatever! :)

Number 4 is crucial. I know it's the middle of summer in the States when we go, but I have to get a confirmation of sorts from Mom if her and Dad will be coming with us for SURE or not. Obviously, if it's just Japa and me, then a small, inexpensive car will do. But with the folks, then it's a whole different story. We have to have a big enough vehicle to fit all the suitcases (and shopping stuff, hehehe) plus Dad can't be cramped and will need major leg-room.

Also, as I'm doing most of the driving, I need to renew my driver's license once I get to the States, and read up on whether getting a radar detector is a good idea or not. I mean, I do try and follow the speed limits, but sometimes I just floor it when there are no other cars on the road. :) Of course, I've usually relied on just me looking to see if there's a police car in the near vicinity, hehehe, but sometimes it's nice to have another pair of um...."eyes" or whatever to help me :) So shhhhhhh! :)

Additional Education

Hmmmm....school again, anyone? At least nowadays, it is so easy to "go back" to school. With the plethora of online colleges now, it's as simple as clicking on "Enroll". With schools such as capella university*, getting an [additional] degree for me should be quite an experience, I think. There's such a wide variety of choices of degrees to choose from now, sometimes it's mind-boggling, especially when I see the "newer" degrees available.

I've always wanted to get into Law and also Education...so maybe getting a degree in either of these areas online is an option worth considering, in my honest opinion. Okay, my biased opinion. I've always like school, and online schooling is looking more and more appealing. Now, to find more hours in a day..........

*This blog post is based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, visit Blogitive.com.

Serendra

After mass at 10 am, we went to Serendra to have lunch with Japa's side of the family. We were celebrating 3 birthdays: Mom Nena's, Jopie's and Justine's. We ate at Polokai Grill, a hawaiian restaurant. It was pretty good, but not cheap. I had shrimp pasta, Japa had this ginormous squid steak, Rogan had pork chops and rice, Raegan the chicken and rib platter, Raine a pizza (but she ended up eating Raegan's leftovers, hehehe) and Ranger a cup of soup and 2 slices of pizza! Whew! I don't remember what everyone else ordered but there was a lot of food.

We also caught up on news with Regie, Japa's younger sister, back from Chicago. She said she didn't like staying there as the weather was too extreme and she was simply homesick most of the time. And here we thought we could visit her sometime and have a place to stop by in Chicago! Hehehe.

{Bookstore Run}

After lunch, Raegan and I went to the bookstore to pick a book series for her to read. Junie B Jones was getting to be too easy for her, and I could barely pick a word from the books to supplement her vocabulary! She would breeze through the books and I felt that she needed a litte bit more of a challenge, especially since I wanted her to learn more words.

So she looked and looked and looked. I pointed her towards the older kids section and she spent a few minutes looking at books. With some suggestions, she narrowed down her choice to a couple of books from the Little House on the Prairie series: Little House on Rocky Ridge and Little House in Brookfield.

This series is appropriately for Grades 3-5, which is fine for vocabulary purposes. And at least she's chosen chapter books again, so that's definitely a plus! Hopefully, she'll get into reading again, right before school starts.

Now to work on the other two kids.....

All that time spent in the bookstore brought back memories of reading books just for the pleasure of it. I survived on Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, the Bobbsey Twins and all books written by Enid Blyton. I've always had a thirst for knowledge and that has definitely helped me during all my school years.

Cebu Album: Almost Done!

I know, I know. I already used this title a few posts down....but I just realized while looking through my album pages that Japa and I did NOT have a pic of us while in Cebu!!! No can do, right? It IS my album after all! Hehehe.

CEBU SUMMER '07
Japa and me at Bang's beach house in Cebu.

Credits: kit - Scrapdish Designers April Mega Collaboration Kit; ribboned buttons - In the Lines by Angela Barton at SSD; clothing label, date tag - Heat Wave by Dani Mogstad at SSD; vintage storyboard - by Katie Pertiet; font - Adler

By this time, obviously, I am veering away from the blues and greens that I've used almost exclusively for the album. Now to get more pages uploaded to Shutterfly so I can order my album SOON!

Socy Talipapa and School Musings

How exactly to explain this to my non-Filipino readers (not that I have a lot, hehehe...but I just don't want to alienate anyone)? Socy, short for feeling "social-ite"-like, i.e., not liking feeling without money, not mendicant-y :) A talipapa is Filipino for wet market. So really, my title means a wet market for those with money to spend.

So anyway, I went with Sisterhood - Bang and Lai - to Salcedo Village to go to our Socy Talipapa. There was a TON of food, both cooked and raw. The stalls were erected on an empty parking lot in the middle of the business district of the country. Meats, dishes, flowers, desserts, fruits....there was just so much variety, it was amazing for someone like me who hates going to markets. Out of the 3 of us, I, who was very reluctant to go in the first place, came out buying the most.

I bought apples and pears and sinigwelas (some local tart-y fruit) from the fruit stand. I also bought bibingka and puto bungbung, native rice-based delicacies. Melon juice, crinkles, black-ink paella and some Malaysian sweet bread rounded my purchases.

It was sweltering hot, but I was excited with my purchases. And the ONE thing that made this place totally UNIQUE??? It was probably the ONLY talipapa kind of market in the whole wide world that had SHOPPING CARTS available for use as we went around the parking lot. Heheehe. Only in the Philippines, only in Makati. Wish I had photos to show, but Elizza has them and hasn't shared them yet. :)

{School Musings}

With school for the kids a week away, I am a flurry of activity preparing for it. We haven't done any GSS (our summer homeschooling program, hehehe) for several weeks now, and I feel so guilty! Of course, the kids are having fun playing Wii and don't even bother reminding me about it anymore! Sigh!

I did pay off tuition for the whole year now, which was about P300,000!!! Sheesh! Can anyone say TOO MUCH?!?!? Aaaargh! Good thing I'm happy about their school, otherwise it would be like pulling teeth if you forced me to pay tuition! I like how their school has an advanced curriculum AND that they go until Grade 6 only in the elementary level. That saves me at least a year's worth of tuition! :)

I wonder if they're going to be taking up Astronomy anytime soon. The kids have touched on the subject of space ever since preschool, but I wonder how much more into detail they'll go in the elementary years. Raegan will be Grade 3 this year, and I'm excited to see her curriculum!

I love the interactive guides and images I see on meade my sky, a website that features the latest in astronomy gadgets and other technological toys :) I know, I'm a nerd, but I loved studying astronomy in college and the kids have shown a more-than-passing interest whenever they study space and the planets and stars.

Plus, with astronomy news such as Pluto not being a planet and what a blue moon is (which is what we just had the past month), it behooves me and the kids to know more about our planet and our galaxy.

Plus, I bought a digital scrapbooking kit with space and stars and the constellations in it, and I've been itching to use it! Hehehehe. But you knew that, right? ;)

The Sisterhood Challenge: 1st Month...All DONE!!!

Whoohoohoo!!! I am SO done with the 1st Month of all 4 kids for The Sisterhood Challenge!!! This took a looooong while because it was a double page spread for each child's album, and I had to hunt down pics for the first 3 kids :)

But it is done! Here are Ranger's pages:

LEFT PAGE:
Credits: kit - Fiesta Tropicale by Connie Prince (Digi Diva) at Divine Digital; stork card - by Jen Wilson; paper fold - Easy Peasy by Karah Fredricks at Blue Flombingo; envelope tie - by Sonja Vanderhaegan, from the In Memory of Miles kit; torn and curled shapes - by Jen Caputo; star sticker - by Amy Knepper, from the For Miles Kit; buttons - by Chere Edwards, from the For Miles Kit; twinks - by Gina Miller; font - DJB Lindy by Darcy Baldwin at Blue Flombingo

RIGHT PAGE:
Credits: kit - Seascapes by Connie Prince (Digi Diva) at Divine Digital; paper fold - Easy Peasy by Karah Fredricks at Blue Flombingo; staples - by Christina Renee, from the Miles Kit; film strips - Don't Be Negative Cluster by Gina Miller; felt xoxo - by Tiff Brady, from the Miles Kit; font - DJB Lorraine bold by Darcy Baldwin at Blue Flombingo

In a nutshell, here are all 4 kids' 1st month layouts:

All I can say is, WHEW!!! :) On to the next Challenge!