My Weekend Journal

The rainy season is here once again. It is time to bring out our raingears such as umbrellas, raincoats and boots. During this season, it is nice to sleep and just let the time pass by. Rainy days can make one feel lazy. Nevertheless, I suggest not letting the rain get you down. You do not have to be gloomy also just because the weather is gloomy. You can still do many things to brighten up those rainy days. You may cuddle up with a nice book you have always wanted to read and be swayed to another world when it is too wet to step outside your door. You may sit in front of your computer and watch TV Online, do some social networking or see your friends online. You may also take out your cards and board games and have fun playing with the whole family or friends. Go out, relive your childhood and play in the rain. (My kids love this idea! They always long for a rainy day so they could go out, run and play in the rain.) Just be sure to take a warm bath immediately after. Gather ...

One can survive everything, except death. Death is inevitable. We do not know when it will come to us. If the people we love are taken away from us by death, the way to have them live with us is to continue loving them. People all die, but real love remains forever. We can always cry over our loss and wish that they would come back but we would feel better if we continue to smile and be thankful for the borrowed life they have shared to us and cherish all the memories we have with them. The sad news came to me on the 5th of January. My husband called and informed me that her beloved mother has submitted herself to the overpowering force of death. After her two-day battle for life in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit, she has finally met our Maker. The loss of her dear mother brought sadness to our hearts and we can do nothing more but grieve. I can barely remember Xander, hubby's brother-in-law, sending us home in his car. Was it a Toyota Camry ? I have not taken notice. Who...

My two boys had sore eyes last weekend. On Friday afternoon, my eight-year-old son, Kuya , arrived from school with red eyes. He got it from their teacher who chose to attend school despite having sore eyes. I am not sure how many other kids got the infection from her. I told Kuya not to touch his eyes to prevent further infection to the other eye and to lessen its possible spread to the whole household. He did follow me but eventually, while sleeping, he unconsciously rubbed his eyes with the face towel he kept on his bed. When he woke up the next day, he had two red eyes! My toddler got sore eyes too! We treated their eyes with Terramycin eye ointment and the redness were gone within a day.

Wish I could have more than enough time for my kids. With my work schedule [I'm on a graveyard shift], household chores and a toddler that took most of my time (and energy), I could barely have time to help them out with their studies. I could not remember the last time I have helped them with their homework and school projects. It must have been a long time! Sigh* One of the many responsibilities of a good parent is to help and assist their kids with their education. With this, I failed – I'm guilty. But that does not make me a bad parent, does it? I'm trying to stretch my time and energy. My kids are busy preparing for their exams. It's their first grading exam and they are trying their best to have good marks. It has always been their dream [and our dream for them] to be on the honors list. Will they make it? I'm crossing my fingers. I just remembered when I took the entrance exam at Xavier University, my mother was with me. We brought snacks and drinks, an...

Our first visit at D' Family Park It has been more than a year since we last visited D' Family Park in Talamban. It is the first park of its kind in Cebu. It offers an alternative and wholesome recreation site within the city while promoting the protection and regeneration of plants and animals. One can find swimming pools - for kids and for adults, a picnic camp site that is great for holiday camps and the likes, a vast children's playground with play things like swings, see-saws, slides, tykes play stations and more, a wildlife sanctuary, a mini-zoo and botanical research garden with a nursery, a multi-function club house and pavilion designed to suit one's needs for any social activities. The 20-hectare area is nature-friendly. Trees surround the whole complex. Lying nearby is a one-hectare lagoon with colorful school of fish. Park goers are provided with ample parking spaces for a minimal fee. The park has a large stage, equipped with an up-to-date sound syste...

It has been a family practice to have the first hair cut when baby turns one year old. Before going to any salon, we'll cut a few hair strands and insert them to a page in a book. It was believed that the child would become smart or would excel in some fields depending on the kind of book where the hair was inserted. Is this a joke? I personally do not believe this crap but I do it anyway, hahaha! We won't lose anything here if this is not true but, if it is, then baby will grow smart. I did this to my first two kids and I will do it again to my baby (though he is not a baby anymore, I still consider him my baby). Oh, well, huh. Belief or No Belief, we are going to have baby's first hair cut. His hair has grown long and thin, and it becomes unruly especially after getting out of bed. I did the first hair cuts with my first two kids. However, with the second one, I went to a salon and let the hair experts finish the job. I realized then that it's more difficult to cu...

My daughter had a spelling exam and their teacher let them spell the word she pronounced as "wither". She asked her teacher what she means but her teacher did not mind her because it was an exam. So she spelled the word as how she heard her teacher - wither. The result – she misspelled the word. Confused? Well, what their teacher really meant was "weather" and not "wither". She complained to me that their teacher does not know how to pronounce the words correctly so she got wrong in their exam. I just told my daughter, "Next time, you ask your teacher to use the word in a sentence so that no matter how she wrongly pronounces the word, at least you know what the word she needs you to spell". I was left wondering how their teacher could effectively teach when she can't even correctly pronounce some simple English words. Well, some (or many?) teachers need REAL refinement on this aspect.

Can somebody help this little one put on the headset? When baby's in our room, you could always find him either pressing the keyboard, pulling the mouse, helping himself with the headset, biting the mouse pad, and the worst, unplugging and/or plugging the power cords! Oh my!!! What could a 220 volt power do to a little one?

The whole family had a great time yesterday. After giving our thanks and saying our prayers, we went to SM. Oopsie, I don't mean the mall but the Lapu-Lapu Public Market. People from Lapu-Lapu ("Opon") and Cordova already knew this but for those who don't have any idea, you may be wondering why we call it SM. Well then, I feel obliged to do some explaining here. We're from Cordova and whenever we go to Lapu-Lapu public market (commonly known as "Mercado") we ride a Multicab headed for "Sulod Mercado" thus "SM". Nothing really fancy about the term's history, eh. Okay, it's corny, so I'll stop this nonsense, lol! Anyway, we did a little shopping at Unitop, took our lunch at Mang Inasal, and made our grocery at La Nueva Supermart. It was our first time to visit this branch of Mang Inasal. What I like most with Mang Inasal, aside from the chicken barbecue, is the unlimited rice. I finished three cups of rice. What an app...

When I got married and had children, I have given up almost everything I used to do when I was still single and free. Everything has changed. Everything is very different. The only hobby I have before I was married was reading novels. I love to read stories of people; and historic romance was my favorite. Contrary to my friends' favorites, I was never hooked with Danielle Steel but I also love to read her stories. I also love to read science fictions and detective stories but always, the historic romance novels kept my interest in reading; and stories about Indians and their life are my favorite. I love their traditional cultural values, the way they live, the way they view life, nature, and family. I kept myself updated with book sales, schedule of new arrivals, and see to it that I'm one of the first clients to avail of the bookstore's promos. I had collected a number of books, some were lost, some were borrowed and were never returned, and most of them were stocked i...

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of NMEDA . All opinions are 100% mine. It was a hot but windy afternoon in Alcoy, a perfect time for a siesta. I lazily laid my back on the bamboo lounge chair and browsed an old photo album. I just flipped the pages because the faces were unfamiliar. I continued doing so when a page caught my attention, and I was stuck on the page. It was a photo of my ever so thoughtful grandmother-in-law together with her grandchildren, which includes hubby. She's with the creator now but she's still fondly remembered. When I was pregnant, she's the one who constantly reminds me of the foods I should not eat and gives advice on the things that would help me through my heavy months. When I had my two kids, she's the one who would always ask if the kids had eaten their meals. As she got older, her body gradually became weak until she could not walk and stayed on a wheelchair. The cane that served as her third foot stood still on her...

Mommy, Mama, Nanay – however we call her, she's still the very same person who carried us for nine months in her womb, and will be carrying us forever in her heart – our beloved mother. She is the most important woman in our life. She had made great sacrifices, pain, grief and sorrow for us, to make sure we are happy and secure. Her presence and nurturing affects our entire life and the way we see life. No one can ever replace her in our hearts. Every year, more and more white strands are visible on her crowning glory; a sign that she is not getting any younger. Have you seen her eyes lately? Those two bright loving eyes that watch us when we were still young have changed their colors too! They are now somewhat dull but the loving spark is still there. Those eyes that could clearly read my temperature reading when I have fever now need an eye wear to see clearly. This Mother's Day, nothing is much more significant than our mother. This is an occasion specially dedicated to...

I'm home alone with baby. I'm bored and sleepy but there seems to have lots of household chores to be done. Baby is asleep now so I found this moment to relax. Hubby left early this morning. He and his officemates are going to Camotes to enjoy the weekend. I would really love to go but I can't leave baby behind or carry him along because he has not yet fully recovered. My other two rascals are taking their vacation in Alcoy. I'm sure they are now enjoying the clear waters of Tingko Beach. I've never traveled or had fun outing or going to a beach since I got pregnant, much more when baby came out! But it's really no big deal for me. I would always choose to be left home and take care of my kids.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Bliss Living . All opinions are 100% mine. We rarely celebrate Mother's Day when I was still a kid. Perhaps it was because my parents were not really conscious about occasions like that. We do have school projects like cards, beaded jewelry, and other crafts that we were supposed to give to our mothers on their special day but mine were mostly hidden on a box together with my other collections and were never personally given to my mother. However, I know Mama had seen them because she used to check my things and always had her way of finding things no matter how I tried to hide them. Guess what, she even reads my diary! Now that I am a mother, I understand and feel the significance of Mother's Day and I share it with my children and hubby. Last year, my kids made a personalized greetings card for me. Tears fell from my eyes when I read their simple note inside a heart, "Mama, thank you for taking care of us. We lo...

We've said "bye-bye" to the hospital this morning and were just so excited to come home. My baby is fine now although he still has the cough. There are at least four medicines to maintain - two antibiotics, salbutamol and zinc supplement. Giving those medicines is so difficult because baby would spit out the liquid. We have tried tricks like putting sugar on the spoon and let him have that sweet taste first then the medicine. The first try was successful but it does not work always. He would even spit out his sweet Vitamin C supplement. (*sigh*) At night, he still has nightmares. He suddenly cries while sleeping. Maybe he was dreaming of his hospital ordeal. My poor baby.

Hubby and his friends had their night out party last week and I also went along out of a sense of duty and respect (as if I don't want to go and unwind, lol!). We went to an " eat all you can " food establishment because that's all we can afford considering their large bulks. The foods were great and we left the place with heavy stomachs! After a long and entertaining conversations or should I say humorous nonsense talks, they agreed to go to a videoke bar to sing their hearts out and burn the calories they just earned. We went to a restobar in Cebu City. The place was simply cool and it's not crowded. You could enjoy the night without worrying much of your safety because there were guards visibly posted on their places. Their singing machine karaoke system was great! You could sing like Jason Mraz or Jojo without burning your throat. Your voice comes out neatly even if you are not musically inclined. You'll get a feeling of singing like a pro (at least)! H...

[photo: express.howstuffworks.com] Got this from The Wall Street Journal and thought of sharing this to you. I agree that teaching kids about money will help them become responsible when they grow up. Understanding the stock market at an early stage is not really a kids' stuff so I would better wait for them to grow much older. However, we could always teach our kids some ways on how to earn money. There are many ways for kids to earn money and a good example is selling food item kids would love. When I was in grade school, I sell chocolates, chocolate-coated biscuits and yemas . My classmates were sweet lovers and they always buy from me. At the end of the day, all my stocks were sold and I'm left with an empty chocolate container and a box full of money. Pretty cool! Ryan Snook Adapted from "Piggybanking: Preparing Your Financial Life for Your Kids, and Your Kids for a Financial Life." Copyright 2010 by Jeff D. Opdyke. Published by Harper Business, an imprint...

I got goose bumps and was teary-eyed while watching her perform. She has wasted so much time but I believe it is not yet too late for her to show she has talent. Josephine Aton is a single mom from Cebu City. Her only dream is to sing, perform on stage and show her talent. Now, what can you say? Isn't she amazing?

Being generous does not come easily for kids. They have the tendency to be self-centered and even hostile. However, all kids are born with an amazing sense of caring for others. Parents need to encourage the positive side of their children and nurture the instinctive feelings of concern that kids have for people around them. Here are some things parents can do to develop the value of generosity and charity in their children. Teach the importance of sharing . Make your kids understand that sharing is important in maintaining relationships. Be a role model . If parents behave in charitable ways, the kids will also become charitable. They model themselves from the living examples they observe rather than the words they hear. Expose your child to other role models . Your child would benefit from the great personalities outside your home.   Let your kids practice sharing . Find opportunities that bring out your child’s generous instincts. Involve your child in activities that...

The weekend was so tiring. We just stayed at home but the household chores and the baby consumed all my energy. I wish I have even just a day to lay my back flat on bed and take the complete rest I need. Since baby got sick, I rarely had enough sleep. With the dark circles around my eyes and the dizzy feeling caused by stress, I would be compared to a walking zombie. A new household help came tonight. I wish she would be different from the previous nannies. My baby had changed his habits since he got sick. Before, he laughs a lot and would cry only when he is hungry or sleepy and when something is bothering his diapers. But now, he seldom laughs and often cries. I still have to adjust to his new ways and I wonder if his new nanny could do the same. With my baby’s new habit, I would not be surprised if the new nanny would only last for a month or so.