I was so surprised this evening when I saw that my travel blog's pagerank bar was all 'grey' or N/A. As I've known having an N/A PR either means the site is still new or the site's being penalized by google. My PR for that blog has been PR3 for almost 8 months now ( except for a few days when it became zero) and I'm not so sure if it's really been penalized by google or maybe there has been some kind of a glitch.
I could easily accept a PR0 for that blog but not an N/A. But I've also done some search and found out that one very obvious proof that the site is being penalized is that it won't appear in Google search at all. I did search for my travel blog in Google, and thankfully it appeared. So, now I'm not so sure what's happening with my Travel Blog's PR.
I'll just have to wait for a few days and if it doesn't come back then, It'll be the perfect time to buy a domain for that blog. But I hope that the PR 3 will come back.
I haven't been able to cook much these days, thanks to my sis who has been doing more of the cooking especially during the time when we didn't have anyone to help us at home. My sis just loves to cook and she's fond of putting up her own recipe. Just the other day, she cooked beef steak and we were surprised that she was also bringing a bottle of wine given as a gift to her Hubby last Christmas. It's not exactly wine of the month, but they said that one's expensive. And since no one drinks wine in our family, so she poured it out on the beef ( not the entire bottle though). Result? A delicious, tangy beef steak. Hmmm... clever cook!
This is what we had at P Joe's Diner ( at SM) for snacks this afternoon. We both ordered their value meals. My Hubby had Chicken Teriyaki while I had the Sesame Original Burger. Their food's nice and quite affordable ( because we had the value meals) but I think I'll still be a fan of Bigby's. But I like P Joe's interior though.
A few days ago, I was experiencing pain in my lower left abdomen. The pain was still tolerable but I wanted to make sure what it's all about. So, off we went to my Ob Gyne.
Going to the Ob gyne reminded me a lot of my pregnancy days. How I gained so much weight during ( and after) pregnancy. How I looked so dull with all my pimples 'popping out' and skin darkening. I actually didn't care so much about my looks when I was pregnant. I would just be contented wearing borrowed matenity clothes and my Hubby's shirits (!). I can't imagine how I looked like at that time.
I admire pregnant women who still look so beautiful even with their protruding belly. Some women also blooms during pregnancy. I guess many of them really take the time looking for beauty products that's safe for them and their babies.
I actually just found one brand and it's called Beaute de Maman. It is said that Beaute de Maman is a unique line of health and beauty products developed by board certified obstetrician to treat problems specifically related to the physiological and hormonal changes expereinced by women during pregnancy. Not only that, I've also heard that its the product used by celebrity moms. Interested? Then you can order now.
I don't know what's the problem but I can't open my sites. I get this google error '403 Forbidden'. Oh uh, I'm am I forbidden to visit my site now? Maybe I have been visiting them too much frequently in a day huh. hhahah!
Here's what comes out when I try to open the site :
We're sorry... ... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.
We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon. In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious software.
If you're continually receiving this error, you may be able to resolve the problem by deleting your Google cookie and revisiting Google. For browser-specific instructions, please consult your browser's online support center.
If your entire network is affected, more information is available in the Google Web Search Help Center.
We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on Google.
This is a post that serves as a warning to people suffering from Psoriasis and taking a drug called Raptiva. It has been reported that the FDA has issued a warning that this drug has some Raptiva side effects. It can cause a serious brain infection called Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy or PML.
I've checked in the net about Psoriasis and here is what I've found.
What is Psoriasis? It is a chronic, non-contagious autoimmune disease which affects the skin and joints. It commonly causes red scaly patches to appear on the skin. The scaly patches caused by psoriasis, called psoriatic plaques, are areas of inflammation and excessive skin production. Skin rapidly accumulates at these sites and takes on a silvery-white appearance. Plaques frequently occur on the skin of the elbows and knees, but can affect any area including the scalp and genitals. In contrast to eczema, psoriasis is more likely to be found on the extensor aspect of the joint.
I'm excitedly waiting for our mangoes to become ripe! Yesterday, someone came to our house and told us a good news - my brother's mangoes are ready to be harvested! So, may Mom gave them a go signal to harvest the mangoes from the tree. A couple of hours later our neighbor came in the trisikad with 3 big boxful of green mangoes! woah! And we didn't expect that the harvest will be that much since it's divided into two ( for us and for the one who's harvesting it).
What to do with so much of mangoes? Of course, I've already thought of making layers and layers of Mango Float, Mango Shake (but have to check if our blender is still working), Fruit Salad, and everything else that can be made of mango. I guess we will have to be dizzy or 'drunk' with mangoes if we try to finish them off all by ourselves huh?
So, my entreprenuer sister had a very brilliant idea.. why not wait for these mangoes to become ripe for 2-3 days and then sell them off at a cheaper price ( from the market)? Of course, we got excited and thought that the money gathered will be used for the whole family (plus extended family, 18 of us all)to go for Yellow Cab. :)a
It rained hard again last night. And when it rains, we can't help but be more alert and keep watch on the river's water level. The flood that happened last month they said is cause by 'buhawi' , I don't really know what's the English translation for this but its some kind of a water sprout, or a twister that consist of water and when it explodes, it causes major flood. There was also a hearsay that went around saying that the government released the water dam which caused the flood. I'm not sure about this and I'm not even sure where our the dam for Cagayan de Oro is located ( or if we have one at all) but nevertheless, we are more alert now when it rains. Even our li'l daughter is watchful and immediately prays that 'there won't be flood anymore'.
My Hubby and I also have kept our documents and little valuables on a safe place, just in case something like that would happen again. We don't have much but keeping those important documents can really save us from future hassles and stress if kept in a safe place. Maybe if we have a lot of valuables documents and precious jewelries, we will be able to think about getting good Safes, but as for now, what we currently have is sufficient.
As I've mentioned in my previous post " Not so Silent Night', our Li'l boy was constantly coughing the other night. So, yesterday we decided to have him checked. This time, we went to a pediatrician who specializes in pulmonary medicine. This doctor is said to have a lot of patients so, we asked our cousin to set an appointment for us. Surprisingly, when we arrived at the hospital there were not a lot of people and in fact, we immediately got served.
The lady doctor was very kind and gentle to Lyle. She asked us a series of questions and took note of everything. So, the result of the check up? Sadly, Lyle is suspected to have asthma. She said, it's still due for observation but his symptoms are the same as asthma. She then told us some of the do's and dont's like avoiding applying cologne, powder, oils and everything that has strong scents and etc. She also prescribed some medicine for him.
As of now, Lyle's not coughing that much anymore. His medicine is truly effective. I just hope that it's not asthma because then, there will be a lot of limitations for him as he grows up. Praying for Lyle's healing...
My Hubby and I are fond of listening to real love stories. Whenever we meet and befriend couples, we will never fail to ask them how they met and their love stories. As always, there's this kind of sparkle in the eyes of the couple as they relate their love story. For sure, they can remember the feeling the first time they met and how they fell in love.
As for our love story, it's written in our other blog ' Day to Day Miracles' and everytime I recall those times when we first met till the time we got married, there's not just a sparkle in my eyes but a heart full of gratefulness to our God. Indeed, God has given me the best!
So, what's your love story? Or maybe you are still in search for your mate? He must just be there around the corner. :) I've also have friends who have met theirs in the world wide web through online dating sites. There are a lot of these sites like passion search online. Many of these friends currently have great marriages, but one has to be careful too as there are also some people online who are not sincere and truthful. All the best to those whose love stories are currently being 'written'.
The Piano man came the other day. We had to explain to him that the piano got submerged in the water (from the flood) twice, so he won't be shocked with the piano's condition.
Who wouldn't get shock when some parts are already rusted, muddy and not to mention the termites also attacked the back portion of it. Sigh! Such a pitiful sight. I'm sure any pianist would cry over its condition.
So, the man opened it, took a look at it. He told us that our piano has a good brand - Wittemberg. A brand new piano like ours he said, would cost around 200,000 pesos. Whoa! But the question : Is there still hope for our precious piano to be restored. Yes, he said, but he quoted 25-35,000 Pesos for all the repairs and to make the piano sound and look brand new. It's expensive because all the parts he has to buy is expensive. Whew!
Now, another question: can we sacrifice such a huge amount of money just to repair our piano? I don't know with my Mom. This piano, even though no one's playing with it anymore, has some kind of sentimental value as my parents bought this in the early 80's. So, even though none of us (the children) are so interested in playing it, but it's with the hope that maybe, just maybe one of the grandchildren will take interest in it and become a grand pianist. ;)
My Hubby really loves our place here in Balulang. He's into nature and not much of a city guy. So, when we don't have anything to do in the city, he prefers to stay here in the compound. And when we're here, he can't keep still. He'll be out there sweeping the ground, burning the dried leaves or tinkering with something outside. He has already done quite a lot of projects and he wants to accomplish more.
He wants to continue painting our 'lanai', put a net outside so that it will somehow 'catch' the falling leaves and can serve as a share, put a fence near the river to discourage the trespassers from entering the compound from the river and etc. It's not part of his to-do-list to change patio furniture covers, because we only have bamboo furniture outside.
Anyways, I'm glad that my Hubby likes it here and he's also doing things to make our place better.
Last night I had a toothache so I decided to take Mefenamic Acid to ease the pain. Either I was so tired or maybe because of the medicine I took, I fell asleep immediately. But even when I was sleeping I could hear Lyle boy coughing a lot. I tried to get up but only manage to ask a question or two to my Hubby and dozed off again.
Then, hours later ( which only seemed like a few minutes to me), I woke up and found Lyle was still coughing and my Hubby was struggling to put him to sleep. When I asked him the time, I was so surprised to find out that it's already 4am! Still groggy from my medicine, I asked my Hubby to sleep and took over Lyle. His cough was just so bad. He was coughing about 5 times in a minute. Even if he still seems to alert, but I could see that he's already so tired. I Prayed for him and thought of letting him try to use his cousin's nebulizer. So at 4:30 I texted the people from the other house and thankfully they're already awake.
So, Lyle's Kuya Renzee came and let us borrow their nebulizer. Lyle also got excited to see him at 5am and even blurted out his name for the first time, "Ya Renchee!" so cute!
And finally after giving him the medicine, we peacefully slept until 8:30 am. Whew!
It has been many days now that the river water looks so clean and clear. It's like its calling everyone to come and take a dip. I'm sure my Hubby and the kids will be tempted to take a dip later.
I just love this place! Never mind if we've had a traumatic flood experience a month before. Yesterday afternoon, as I was sitting down in our 'lanai', seeing the beautiful surrounding and feeling the soft wind on my cheeks, I told myself that I'll really miss this place when we go back. But then I resolved to make the most out of this place, by waking up early to see the beautiful morning and feel the cool air, by staying outside most of the time and opening our curtains in our room too see the view from our big glass windows. If our area is much much bigger, I guess this could make a good place to create rv parks. But nevertheless, I'm very thankful to God for giving us such a beautiful place ( I love my own native land...heehe).
Today is a holiday ( school holiday) in the Philippines. So, Tricia is a happy girl as all her cousins are present and they're all playing outside.
Yesterday, I was wondering why February 23s suddenly became a school holiday and I was only reminded when my cousin told me that February 25 is supposed to be Edsa Day ( and therefore a holiday) but our President moved the holiday on the 23rd because it falls on a Monday. It seems that almost every holiday has already been moved on a Monday or Friday. The reason for this, they said, is so that people can have longer weekends and therefore boost local tourism. Hmmm... That's practical but then, I wonder if it's also helpful for the people especially for the children when for sure the essence of these holidays will not be that meaningful anymore. There was even a joke being passed around that , if January 1st falls on a Wednesday then maybe our President will have to change the New Year's day to December 30 so that it'll fall on a Monday. hehehe!
I borrowed my cousin's SD card once because some of our family photos were there. So, I took out my own SD card from my HP Mini and replaced it with my cousin's SD. I was so engrossed with saving the pictures into my notebook when suddenly I forgot where I put our own SD card. I searched through it on the bed ( as I was on my bed saving files) , on the floor and everywhere. I panicked for awhile because I couldn't find it anywhere. Then, finally I tried to see if it's inside my notebook's jacket..and there it was! I totally forgot that I immediately put it there after I took it out from the notebook. WHew!! SD cards are so small and difficult to find once it's misplaced. How much more finding a lost micro sd?
This is one of my 'dry' days again when I ran out of things to talk about in my blog. You see, I'm currently maintaining 4 (active) blogs and in some days, it seems like I've already 'talked' too much. When you have a blog, your life becomes public and much more when you're into pro blogging, you're 'forced' to write more than you want to. But, nevertheless, it's fun and profitable at the same time.
Talking about life being public, there's also a tendency for us bloggers to be judged and criticized by other people. Imagine, a blogger's life is an open book. But that's life - real life. We can't please everyone and everyone always has something to comment about another person's life. But, let the blogging continue...
I can't believe that I've already been blogging for almost 2 years now. I wasn't really a serious blogger, I used to blog only when there were special events or circumstances worth blogging. But then, as time went by, I was also introduced to paid posting and that's when my posts became more frequent. Now, I can say that I'm not a newbie anymore. But in the almost 2 years of my blog life, I learn a lot of things and most of these I learned from co bloggers like me.
If you're a newbie blogger, I suggest that you also surf and read through other fellow bloggers especially those whose blog are on website tutorials and problogging. There's one site that I found to be helpful. It's a tutorial blog from a fairly new blogger where she shares her knowledge about website design and the like. The strength of this tutorial blog is that it is written in such a way where readers especially the newbies can fully understand. There's still not much content in it but I believe it has quite a potential and it indeed grow and serve to be a manual for the newbies. So, check out the web design for idiots main page website tutorials and see for yourself.
We were so happy because after almost 2 months of waiting, we finally found someone to help us out of the house and watch over the kids ( Lyle, particularly). She came on the 1st of February and it even took quite sometime for our Li'l boy to get used to her. Nevertheless, Hubby and I were able to go out and spend sometime together going on dates since she can watch over Lyle while we were away. Life was a bit free when she was here. I could take some time out to do my writing tasks. Take a breather when kids are getting uneasy and all those other conveniences.
But then, all these will come to an end tomorrow because she's already leaving and going back to her hometown. She said, her parents have asked her to go back home because of some reasons. Sayang! Teary eyed, she told us that she didn't want to go back yet but she couldn't do anything as her parents has been calling her since last week. And since we can't do anything to change her mind or her parents minds, we let her go with our full blessing.
I don't know if we could still find someone to help us in the house and watch over our Lyle. Now, we're back to square one where we tag our kids along wherever we go. No more regular dates with Hubby. No more time outs... No more adventures and etc. unless someone else out there is willing to offer an afternoon or two to babysit our kids. :)
Choose your own Adventure. Nancy Drew. Hardy Boys. These were the mystery books I used to read during my elementary days. And then I proceeded to Agatha Christie's books in the early part of High School. I used to like these mystery and detective stories and find them very challenging especially when I also try to guess the culprit of the story. But after I discovered some other kinds of novels ( you know Sidney Sheldon, Erich Segal and the like), I got diverted and forgot about these mystery novels.
But I have been reminded again of my fondness for mystery and detective stories when I came across the site called, 5 Minute Mystery. It's a sight where you can truly practice your detective skills as they post short but challenging mysteries every Mondays to Fridays. The stories are short and as the name of the site suggests, it's indeed only worth 5 minutes of your time each day. Once you've registered and play, there is even a ranking system in which you could go up to the top rank and become a Top Sleuth, depending on your performance.
So, are you ready to put those detective skills back into practice? It's actually a very good exercise to let your brain work. :)
This is my li'l girl. We were excitedly chatting with our cousins and having our snacks after the burial of my Aunty in the cemetery when we noticed Tricia at the middle of the road. Guess what she was doing. She was busily picking up all the plastic wrappers from the Buns that the visitors ate. Yes, people ate the Buns and just dropped the wrappers where they opened it. It seemed no one bothered to put them inside the trash can. Tsk..tsk..tsk..
So, my li'l girl painstakingly picked them up one by one and put them in the trash can. There were more than 50 wrappers. She was so serious in finishing her task that I was afraid that she won't notice the cars that pass by. Good that her cousins followed suit and they were able to clean up the road in no time. Good job kids!
We have indeed been blessed by God in spite of experiencing the flood last month. But as expected, we lost a lot of things due to that calamity but then as I write this now in the comfort of my Mom's bedroom and looking around me, I realized that most of the things that was gone has been restored if not replaced. Not only the house repairs have been done but there were also a bit of home improvements made too. The interior of the house has been newly painted, the once leaking ceiling has been replaced among other things. We didn't have to buy Cheap Blinds since our once muddy curtains have just been washed.
Its amazing how we are more blessed in times of 'tragedies'. Blessed to have people around us who show their care and love to us. Blessed to see how God amazingly provide for all our needs. Blessed to be safe and protected. Blessed indeed.
After many days of sunshine ( thank you, Lord!) the river water is once again clean and clear. It has been brown and murky for the past days of constant rain. But now, once you look at it, you can't help but be tempted to take a dip in its cool, clear water. Thus my Hubby and the kids got tempted and for the very first time, they all took a dip and bathe in the river. They all had a grand time playing with the water.
Seeing my Hubby and kids in the water indeed brought a lot of memories to me. I could remember that when I was still small, I used to look forward for the weekends when we would come to Balulang ( our home now) and bathe in the river. I remember my Grandmother bathing with me and putting the grinded coconut meat on my hair. I could remember the time when the river was still so clean and shallow where you can see the shells on the ground through it. I could remember the time when my father made a canoe and we would ride in it and use it in the part where the water was still ( near my Uncle's house). Oh,.. so much of memories with this river.. so much of memories in this place. And I'm glad that my kids are also building some of their memories here.
A few years back, I've been very active in my Friendster account. Everyday I would be spending so much time browsing through my friends' profiles, getting updated with their lives and looking for my former classmates and acquaintances in the site, and I would even regularly upload new photos and updates. But ever since I've monetized my blog, I'm now busy with my writing tasks and blogs and I seldom have the time open my Friendster account.
As time passed by, there are more social networking sites available in the web now. About 2 weeks ago, I've got an invitation to join a travelers social networking site. It was also such a cool site with a lot of potential but I just don't have time to update my profile there.
And last night, I discovered another social networking site. Its quite amusing because I found out that the site is exclusively for redheads and redheads lovers. Such a cute concept huh? Anyways, if you're curious you can go to their site and see for yourself. If you're a redhead you can even join them. I wonder what's next, maybe a social networking site for kids? or what about a social networking site for those who has cross cultural marriages? :)
I've just created my newest blog, " Not a Shopaholic". This blog is a journal of our 'shopping' experiences, sales, bargains, favorite products and favorite cheap shopping places in Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand.
I haven't written a lot of posts in it yet but you are always welcome to take a peek and comment. Curious of my new blog? Then, click here .
That's the number of unread messages that I have in my Yahoo mail as of this moment. No, I don't have than much friends or 'fans' who write me everyday but they are just those alerts from some social networking sites and newsletters that I applied before. Yes, I know I should unsubscribe to all these and start cleaning up my inbox. But with thousands of messages that need to be deleted, I need more time.
I wonder how it is with junk mails. I mean receiving real junk mails in your post box everyday. Maybe it could be annoying, and going to the post box won't be as exciting as getting letters from friends anymore since all we see are mails that we don't really need. Well, if you're experiencing this, then there's this removal of junk mail service called the Privacy Council. They will practically remove your name and address from every marketers and telemarketers list to free you from the hassle of deleting messages from your inbox, throwing those letters or answering calls from telemarketers. Imagine the number of trees that can be saved if many people opt for this service. Time and energy are saved too as you don't have to entertain phone calls that are not meant for you.
Anyways, if you want to know to End Junk Mail, then why don't you try for the service for free!
I've been here in the Philippines for 4 months now and guess what, I've been craving for Thai and Indian food for a long time already. It's not just me who's experiencing this but my Hubby too. We had a taste of Indian food when my Hubby arrived because he brought with him some Indian Curry powder so we cooked some Indian food for his birthday, but sadly after the flood, our Indian powder has also gone with the water. Huhuhuh!
A few weeks ago, we also went to Little Bangkok ( a very small shop that sells a lot of things from Thailand) and discovered some Thai green curry paste. Then last Saturday I made some Thai green curry for lunch. Yum!! Now I'm longing for more and would want to go to that shop again to buy some green curry paste. I hope they will have more things from Thailand so we can still taste the food we missed there.
I also wish there would be a future Little India here, where we can buy some Indian curry powder... hmm.... Good I'm not pregnant, if not, then my Hubby will have to go crazy looking for Indian curry in the whole of Cagayan de Oro city..hahah!
I just bought a new domain for my not-so-new Trying to be Fit blog. It was the first time for me to buy from this webhost and I was surprised to find it very easy. You see, I had some problems when I bought my 2 other domains. On both domains, I had to write to the support team several times before my domain worked perfectly well.
But in buying my domain this time, I just followed a couple of instructions and tada! my new domain was created! Yipee! Now, I just have to consistently write my posts on that blog.
If you are interested to find the best webhosting service for you. Then you better check out webhosting geeks. They've got unbiased web host reviews and rating that may help you choose the best website hosting. And not only that, their site has a new design which makes you navigate the site easily.
I'm excited! A few hours from now, we will be giving away gifts to the children and youths in our neighborhood. The gifts are not really from us but from the children from all over the US. It's a project called Operation Christmas Child from the Samaritan's Purse where each child in the US gives a boxful of goodies and stuffs to another child in a different country. The other week, I looked through some of the (plastic) boxes and there were some boxes in which the children wrote letters. It's such a touching gesture for these kids from US and the amount of joy that they're giving to those not so privileged children is just immeasurable.
I remember a few years ago, when I helped facilitate the same event and there were 2 siblings in our group. When we asked them to take turns in opening their boxes, the older brother got an inflated basketball. He was so happy with ball and I heard the younger brother said, he also wish he gets a ball. It's quite impossible for two gifts to be alike since the gifts are given by different kids from all over the US. But, indeed God saw that desire and guess what he got when he opened his box? Yes, an inflated basketball too! He was indeed so ecstatic when we saw that he got the same thing like his brother. :)
I wonder what other surprised the kids will get tomorrow. Can't wait to find out.
Finally, our internet connection has been restored. Our connection has been down for almost two months now and thank God that it's back. What's amazing is that my Mom's CPU and wireless router works perfectly now. If you remember, they have been submerged in the water during the flood. A lot of our things were also restored, after a few minor repairs and retouching.
My Mom is specially happy that we found out Buffet Cabinet though a bit run down now but we can still do something to make it look better. You see, this cabinet has been designed by my Tatay and made at the furniture shop where he used to work. So, you can imagine the sentimental value of this piece of furniture. It's definitely not an New York Furniture ( An Online furniture store, Affordable furniture for every room and every budget) but it's made of hard Narra wood. Now, we just need to buy a lacquer paint or paint varnish to bring out the natural color of the wood and restore it.
This is the title of the article that my Aunty Purie made in the booklet that she had made before she passed away.
Aunty Purie was my Mom's older sister. She was very thoughtful, jovial and young looking. Who could have ever thought that she was already in her late seventies with her quarter pants and tight fitting blouse? My Mom and her sis are still in style even if they are already of age.
But yesterday, it was time for my Aunty to go back Home. Even if it was a sudden death, but she was prepared for it. She even compiled a booklet with all her articles which was like a guide, a love letter, life manual for all her children and grand children.
I got the opportunity to read through the booklet but I couldn't finish it because all her loving words and encouragements makes me cry and miss her all the more.
Indeed, our Aunty Purie will be dearly missed..but as she has written.. She's gone ( for now) but not forever.
We were browsing our cousin's photo albums yesterday and we were surprised to see my family's old pictures in their album. Seeing those pictures reminded us, that we have practically lost all our childhood pictures and etc from the flood. Now, our children and great grandchildren will not have the privilege to see how we were when we were young.
This also somehow reminded me of the photos that I saved from our digicam to our USB flashdrive. I transferred all our kids baby pictures there with the hope of having it developed and printed out. But guess what, that precious USB flashdrive is nowhere to be seen! Where, or where??
Have you experienced this kind of data loss? Not a good experience huh? Good thing, with online technology we can now have Online Backups. So, whenever you get your data lost, you can easily retrieve them too. If you've got your own data loss horror story to tell then, log on to blog.sumobackup.com and you're find out that you're not alone.
Yes! We've got our flights booked...but not our return trip to Malaysia yet. We are still deciding when to go back to Malaysia since something came up... ( I'll blog about this later).
So, which flight did we booked? It's a flight to Hong Kong!! Yeah!! Just a few days ago, we found out that Airaisa was giving away free seats starting at 12mn in February 10th. We took note of the date..but where to get internet connection at 12mn?? The nearest internet cafe near the place we were staying closes at 10pm.
But amazingly , it so happened we made an emergency trip to Bukidnon on the 9th and yes, the place we were staying got wifi!
We literally waited for the clock to strike 12mn and tried to book for HK for August. But the fares were still high.. waited few more minutes, refreshed our browser several times and nothing happened. I almost lost hope and thought maybe HK is not part of the promotions. But only then I found out that the travel period for the promotion starts on the 12th of October. So, I searched for some dates and finally was able to get Zero fares our family's round trip tickets!! Yipee!!
And guess how much all our tickets cost? 540 RM ( just for the taxes since its Zero Fare) for the four of us! Amazing!! So, I'm so excited now for HK, I'm excited for Disneyland, OCean Park and etc.. oh, wait a minute, I think it's not me but my kids who are supposed to get excited. Heheh! But, I guess I have to wait for 8 long months for this.. :)
I remember the time during my elementary days when every Saturday, my father used to teach me some self defense moves. My father had a Black Belt in Judo Karate, and when I was little, I wanted to be like him. But unfortunately, I was already 14 years old when all these Karate, Taekwondo Classes were available in the city.
Nowadays, people opt to have self defense products to keep them safe too. Now, I can't remember those moves my father taught me, what I do now to be safe is to just pray for God's protection and avoid going home alone at night. :)
The other day, we attended the burial of my friend's father. It's the first burial I've attended ever since my Father's and the ceremony relived the memory of my father's burial.
Burials also somehow reminded of the fact that death is certain and we have to be prepared for it and live our lives here in earth in view of eternity.
Does the thought of death brings us to shudder in fear or joy to meet our Saviour? I'm sure a lot of people would rather not talk about it but if we are assured of our salvation, then we can face death with great confidence that our soul will spend eternity with God.
Burials are always a sad event. It's sad because we will surely miss our loved ones who passed away but on the other hand we are comforted with the thought that they are in peace with God.
The other day, we attended the burial of my friend's father. It's the first burial I've attended ever since my Father's and the ceremony relived the memory of my father's burial.
Burials also somehow reminded of the fact that death is certain and we have to be prepared for it and live our lives here in earth in view of eternity.
Does the thought of death brings us to shudder in fear or joy to meet our Saviour? I'm sure a lot of people would rather not talk about it but if we are assured of our salvation, then we can face death with great confidence that our soul will spend eternity with God.
Burials are always a sad event. It's sad because we will surely miss our loved ones who passed away but on the other hand we are comforted with the thought that they are in peace with God.
A few days ago, I've got a personal invitation from my email to join a travel site called Dodo.com. Here is an excerpt of the email .
Dear Lalaine,
I really enjoyed visiting your web site. Our travel community, dodo.com, is always on the lookout for other high quality web sites, like yours.
dodo.com was recently launched as a new online community for tourists, backpackers and globetrotters. Our aim is to provide information and networking services for travelers everywhere.
So, I visited the site and what caught my attention was the contest that they're hosting where you can win trip worth 10,000 Euro. Great! Well, there's no better time to travel than now since we are on our one year leave! So, I registered and join..and now hoping that I'll do win the trip. But for the meantime, I will have to fill in my profile, upload pictures and share some travel tips and enjoy the site. Great site indeed!
5) Register and Apply in all Get Paid to Post Companies. So, once your blog has already matured and you'll built some traffic and links, then it's time for you to registed to all the companies. I have made a list and review of all the companies I've applied and have worked with for several months now. I still have to update it though. But you can take a look at this post " How I Earn through Blogging".
6) Buy your own domain. Your own domain means your blog is no longer free hosted and doesn't have the .blogspot.com at the end but www.yourname.com. Actually, you can do this once you create your free Blogger or Wordpress account but you can wait for awhile to get the feel of blogging before doing this. One of the advantages of having your own domain ( www.yourname.com) is of course, more opportunies to write paid posts since some advertisers wants their ads only on paid domains,. There are also companies that only accepts blogs on paid domains ( like www.payu2blog.com , www.blogtoprofit.com).
How to buy your own domain? There are many sites offering domains at a cheap price but then, the procedure is quite difficult. For a hassle free (?) move, you can buy your paid domain from Blogger ( if your blog is from Blogger or blogspot.com) for only 10$ a year or Wordpress ( if your blog is from wordpress) for only 15$ (?) a year.
How to buy a domain from Blogger? You log in to your Blogger account. Go to Dashboard then, go to Settings then click Publishing and follow the instructions on How to buy your own domain. You need a credit card to buy the domain.
I still don't know how to buy a domain from Wordpress. I'll soon be buying a domain from Wordpress so, I'll have to blog about it later.
7) Create more blogs. To maximize the benefits of paid blogging,it will be good to have more blogs. More blogs means more opportunities. Of course you need more time to properly maintain your blogs. The blogs you create must be of quality and of interest to the readers. Don't make the mistake of copying and pasting your posts to all your blogs but make each blog unique and with a different theme altogether.
Okay, I think I've said too much already.. I'm sure that once you start blogging, you will learn and discover more things by yourself. I just hope that you find this series of post interesting. So, Happy blogging to all!!
I can't help but chuckle every time I remember my daughter once said that our place in Balulang looks like a 'deep forest'. We were walking to the main road that time and there were tall grasses and trees ( but coconut trees and banana plants!).
But anyways, she's also quite excited to go back to the 'deep forest' in fact all of the kids are. They're quite bored living in the 'city' and once again would want to run around the big spacious compound in Balulang.
For the meantime, everyone is busy cleaning up and preparing the place. Good thing though that the 'deep forest' doesn't have spiders and therefore we won't need a spider trap.
And in a few days time, we will back in the DEEP Forest.. Welcome! Welcome!
I have met some of my friends and cousins whom I've talked about blogging and how I earn through blog. They have a lot of questions and the first question is How to start a blog. So, I'll be posting a series about Blogging from the Beginners Level to Pro Blogging ( Professional Blogging where you earn through blog). As I've shared in one of my post, I'm not an expert but I would just like to share my experiences and learning from other Pro Bloggers like Ruby, Janet and etc.So, let me start from the very basic level.
How to create a Blog and earn through it.
1) You must have a blog. As a start you can create an account with any of the free hosted blogs like yourblogname.blogspot.com or yourblogname.wordpress. For a blogspot blog you can go to www.blogger.com to create a free account or wordpress.com. I personally started with Blogger but now I have a wordpress blog. Some 'get paid to post' companies don't accept blogs from Wordpress (like PPP or Socialspark) while I know only of one company who only wants Wordpress blog. So, I advise you can start off with Blogspot and once you get the feel of it, create another Wordpress account.
2) Post as much as you can in 3 months. For the next three months, don't think about monetizing your blog yet but enjoy writing your posts, visiting and learning from other bloggers. The reason for this is that some companies only accept blogs that are more than 3 months old while a few accepts blogs as old as 1 month.
3) Build your traffic and links. While waiting for you blog to mature, you can also build your traffic by letting people know about your blog ( or for advanced bloggers , creating an account on any auto surf sites or traffic building sites like entrecard.com, linkreferral.com and etc.) and build links by leaving comments on other blogs and exchanging links with them. It has been said, that doing these can increase your ranking ( Pagerank, Alexa rank and Realrank) and therefore, more opportunities to get more paid advertisements in the future.
4) Aim for your blog to get a Page Rank. This is one very 'mysterious' thing for bloggers. I don't even want to define what it is because the Google's definition is already quite confusing. But anyways, PageRank is one important thing for advertisers because some of them gives more opportunities for blogs with Page Rank. Thus, it is also important for us bloggers to have a high pagerank.
How to know a site's pagerank?
You can find out any site's pagerank by downloading the google toolbar in your browser and then press 'setting', then 'more buttons' and check 'enable pagerank'. Then you will see a line on top of your browser with a green bar. If you don't see any greenbar, it means the site your in doesn't have a Page Rank.
How to get a pagerank?
Oh, until now I'm still not sure how they calculate it. Some say the more traffic and links you build, the more chances you'll get a Pagerank. But then, I have another blog ( From Asia and Beyond ) that doesn't have much links and traffic but it has a Pagerank of 3. Maybe it has something to do with traffic, searches, links and a lot more. But anyways, you can search and study about Page Ranks as you go on with your blogging.
4) Create a Paypal Account - While waiting for your blog to mature, you can also create an account with Paypal( www.paypal.com) . You must have a Paypal account because this is the only way the companiespay you. Don't worry, Paypal is very safe, secure and credible. It's widely used in the worldwide web.
What are the requirements to create a Paypal account?
You must have a credit card or Unionbank Eon Account ( for those residing in the Philippines). Either of the two cards are needed for the verification process. But once your account is verified, there are many banks all around the world where you can withdraw your money from Paypal.
We are moving house... moving back to our original house that is. We didn't expect that after the Flood, we would be relocated for more than month in our cousin's house. Work and repairs were a bit slow in our house in Balulang because we only a hired a few people to work and they had to repair the 3 houses ( mom's and 2 sister's). But a few more days to go and we are moving back to Balulang.
But still, we are having long term plans to build a house and move permanently to a different location ( far from the river!) . Just this morning while our family has been talking about it, we all agreed that this plan can only become a reality maybe when someone will be a lot from us or maybe God will make another miracle of providing our family a big chunk of money to build a house.
Anyways, maybe anyone of you there is interested in buying house lots ( 100-150 sq meters per lot) in the Balulang Area, then you can always, contact me. Actually, I'm thinking now to get a real estate broker to sell our lots like Wilmington NC real estate . Hmm..what do you think?
Our God never fails to surprise His children and bless us.
You see, the laptop we were using when we were in Thailand was our organization's one. So, when we left for our 1 year leave, we didn't have a choice but leave it behind. Honestly, I was sad because I became so attached with that laptop due to obvious reasons ( my blog life! hahah!) but my Hubby always reassured me that God will provide another laptop for us.
He was planning to buy another one before he left to the Philippines but soon realized that it's not the perfect time to buy yet since there will be a lot of expenses incurred during the travel. So, we patiently waited and prayed for one.
Then, I saw the HP Mini which I blogged a few weeks ago and really liked it so much. We looked around and looked for the cheapest HP Mini in the city and finally found it last week! We found the best deal where we can pay it for 12 months with zero interest! The 'mathematician' in me made some calculations and found out that I only need to write about 8 paid posts a month and we can already pay the monthly installment. And the best thing is that, I have more than 8 paid posts a month! So, off we went to Limketkai and got our HP Mini. I was so happy that at least this will be one of the 'fruits' of my blog 'labor'.
But, our blessing didn't stop there. Then a few days after we bought our HP Mini, someone got a laptop for free, and since that someone already has a laptop.. guess what that someone did?? He gave it to my Hubby!! So, now I got an HP Mini and my Hubby got a Neo laptop! WOw! AMazing!!
So, indeed God provided for us another laptop..not just one but two laptops!! Thank you Lord for your blessings!! Sometimes I can't help but be truly amazed by God's grace because we don't truly deserved to be so blessed like this. But that's God's amazing grace!
I've been reading some blogs and have come across Amy Poehler. So, I googled about her and found out some details. Here it is:
Amy Meredith Poelher(born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian and actress. She was a cast member and parody news anchor on the NBC television program Saturday Night Live from 2001 until shortly after the birth of her child in 2008. In 2004, she starred in the film Mean Girls alongside Tina Fey, with whom she worked again in Baby Mama in 2008. She is also the first cast member in SNL history to be nominated in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series category at the Emmy Awards.
I've found out that Amy Poelher is quite a famous and good comedian. She has followers from all over the globe. If you are one of them, then there's good news as you can now get your own widget here and share with your readers in your blog and social networks like Facebook.
The following widget is a good segment as it addresses will inspire the teenage girls in changing the world through music and dance. So, if you have time you can take a peek at this interview by Amy Poelher. Check it out!
I'm not really a person who's crazy over signature products but a week after I came, the only sandals I brought from Thailand were already too painful for my feet. So, I wanted to buy a pair of comfortable sandals and it so happened that Havaianas in SM was having a 50% off sale. With my sister's proding and convincing me how Havaianas flipflops are comfortable and worth the money, I didn't have much choice but to be one of the many people falling in line just to get inside the store that day. Yes, the crowd was so much that people have to queue just to get inside. After much time spent in waiting in line and choosing the right pair for me, I got myself a Havaianas High for 750 Pesos! Whew! And I thought that I only had to pay 450 Pesos but somehow I misunderstood the pricing. But even for 750 I was already amazed as to how expensive a pair of flipflops can be and to think that the original price was 1,400+!!
Anyways, I was quite happy with my flipflops since it's really comfortable but I just don't remind myself of the price anymore. But then the 3rd of January came and it was the day that our house got flooded. Since our shoe rack is outside the house, of course all our shoes with my 'precious' Havaianas were the first things that floated away.
I already conceded with the fact that all our shoes, slippers and sandals are gone and would have to get new ones. I also thought of my 750 slippers and thought that I've wasted that money since I only used them for 2 months. All I could say was "sayang".
But then, miraculously something happened. .. Just yesterday my sister was doing some cleaning in her house when out of the blue she asked one of our neighbor's kids if she happened to see a Havaianas slippers anywhere after the flood. And surprisingly, she said she knows of our other neighbor ( who lives about 50 meters from our house) who did find one but they could'nt find the other pair. So, my sister just asked her to bring that slipper to her with a hope to find the other pair, She continued with her work and even asked some of the kids to get some bananas from the compound. And a few moments later, she heard all the kids so excited and waving the other pair of Havaianas to her, exclaiming, "We found it! We found it! "
Amazing huh!! So, now my Havaianas has been found! It seemed quite impossible to find a pair of flipflops that has been washed away from the flood, but I believe it's God's way of surprising us that indeed nothing is impossible.
I'm blessed by God! A wife to the most amazing man in the whole world. I'm a Mom of two amazing kids and we're staying, where else, but in Amazing Thailand.
