Going to Bridal Shower

Going to Bridal Shower

I will be attending my SIL's bridal shower this coming Sunday and I still have not bought her a present. What does one usually get a bride-to-be? I think the bridal shower present has to be something specifically for the bride, don't you think? I don't want to give her home stuff because well, isn't that what you give a couple for their wedding?!
I ran across some naughty nurse costumes and I immediately thought of getting one for her. Haha. Would this be a gift for her or a gift for the groom-to-be? If I do get this, I hope that there won't be any opening of presents during the shower itself. If it were just us younger ones, I don't think I'd be embarrassed to be a giver of such a present. But my mom and MIL and oher older folks will be there too. I don't want to embarrass them! LOL!

Be prepared...

Be prepared...

Even when I was working outside the home, the income I was taking home was very minimal. We still relied heavily on DH's pay. It was almost as if we were practically living on one income. Because of this, early on, we looked for good life insurance quotes that would significantly decrease the financial stress on our family should something happen to DH. Even though I do not bring in money, we have taken out a life insurance for me too. Why? Well, should something unfortunate happen to me, the cost of childcare for all my 4 children while DH works outside the home is still quite significant. And when the insurance is paid out, I hope that it will allow DH to lessen his work hours so he can spend more time parenting the kids.
As a stay-at-home mother and wife, I am able to stay home because DH is able to earn enough to provide for our families. I'd like to think that the reverse is also true. DH has the freedom to work longer hours because I am able to stay home and be a hands-on parent to the children.

A New baby...

A New baby...

not for me, but for 2 friends and I am sooo excited for them. It is both their first babies.

One of my friends had a baby boy. She as the one I gave the diaper cake too, if you recall a few posts ago. They eventually had to perform a C-section because she was not progressing. Nevertheless, in the end, her beautiful baby boy was born, healthy and without complications. Do fathers still hand out Backwoods cigars when a son is born? I've only heard of that practice here in the US but have never really encountered it. That isn't very healthy now, is it?

My other friend has not given birth yet. I just learned of the pregnancy this week and I am beyond thrilled for her. She miscarried a few months back and was really heartbroken. She is now entering her 2nd trimester, have heard the baby's heartbeat and everything seems going well. I pray that this will come to full-term and that they will be blessed with a healthy baby in April.

All these babies being born is somehow making me miss having a baby in the house. Right now, it seems crazy given that my life is so hectic. But I'm really missing the baby days. Sigh.

Injured

Injured

SIL has been injured the past 2 weeks. She had been training for a hike to Mt. Whitney which she is scheduled to climb sometime in September. She had been working hard in the gym, even exercising on the stairclimber while carrying a packed backpack - trying to simulate hiking conditions. She must've overdone it because she seems to have pinched a nerve or something. From what I understand, she is unable to fully extend her arms upward. And she experiences some tingling sensations radiating from her back to her shoulder to her arm. DH has advised her to get an MRI to see the full extent of her injury. I truly wish her well. She is such an active individual and I hope that this injury does not do any lasting damage on her body. If she had injured this at work or at an accident, she could definitely hire like a Morristown personal injury lawyer. Unfortunately, this seems to be her own doing. At least she's got insurance to cover some of the costs. Otherwise, it could definitely have been worse!

Starbucks Free Pastry Day

Starbucks Free Pastry Day

Tomorrow, July 21st, participating Starbucks stores here in the US will be giving away 1 free pastry per customer with the purchase of a beverage. It will be from opening until 10:30 am. You will need to print off the flyer or if you have cellular phones, you can open the free pastry page at starbucks.com and show the barista. How cool is that?!

I wish I could say that I'll be availing of this. I know some people who will be taking advantage of this for sure. I'm not a big Starbucks drinker. I stay home and brew my own cup of coffee or when I want to indulge, a cup of Tassimo espresso. Mmmm... yum!

iPhone apps

iPhone apps

As I was cleaning and dusting earlier today, the iPhone commercial aired in the show I was watching on TV. Their phone apps are really cool. The iphone accessories are fun too. Seems like they've thought of things to make life easier for everybody. "We've got an app for just about everything," is what they say.

Well, you know what app I want to have as I stood there with a rag on one hand and Windex on another? I want an app that will clean my house! I want an app that will erase the dust and grime with a touch of a finger. I want an app that will mop my floors with the swoosh of my hand. Yes, that's the type of app I want!

And yes, I'm kinda grumpy because cleaning and me don't get along very well, in case you have not inferred that by now. Hmp!

Infomercial King

Infomercial King

I was so surprised to see a photo of the funeral of Billie Mays in the paper last week. I didn't even know he died. I'm not like a fan or anything but if you live here in the US, there was no escaping Billie Mays' big presence on late-night TV. Even if you did not know his name, you would definitely know him by the products he sold. He's that guy with the big voice endorsing Oxi-Clean. I'm sure he sold other stuff too but they escape me right now. He was pretty convincing too. I bet that he could have sold heart jewelry if he wanted to! I wonder how many products he was able to sell through all those infomercials. I'm tellin' ya - those late night infomercials are dangerous. LOL! They get you to buy stuff you won't necessarily buy in normal circumstances.

Netbooks?

Netbooks?

I've been seeing these small notebooks on sale lately for around $200 and frankly I don't get it. It's got puny computer memory that makes it basically for email and internet use. I've been researching a bit about this and most are not giving very favorable reviews on them. But then I read that AT&T and Verizon are offering discounted netbooks when you sign 2-year contracts with them. If one is intending to use these primarily for their portability, wouldn't you be better off with just getting the iPhone perhaps? I really do not understand the target market of this product. Has anyone gotten one of these netbooks?

Earth Day

Earth Day

I did not even realize that it was Earth day yesterday. Yeah, I guess I'm so out of the loop! LOL!

I may not have known it was Earth day but I have been doing my part. For about a month now, I've gone back to putting out the laundry to line dry instead of using the dryer. It's been helpful that the weather has been beautiful and sunshine's been abundant. I think that for most of the year, I can do this regularly.

Aside from the benefit of saving electricity, I have found that hanging our wash in the clothesline has helped me stay on top of the never-ending loads of laundry. I do at least a load a day. I've been doing this for a while now so that it does not get too overwhelming for me. My "problem" was that I often forget them in the dryer or if I take them out, I don't always fold them and so clean unfolded clothes piled up.

However, since hanging out the laundry, I've been more diligent in folding the clothes. I feel quite proud actually that I'm staying on top of this. I've even bought a new steam iron and have done more ironing in the past month than I've done in the past year! LOL!! I'm kidding of course.

I'm invigorated a bit by my renewed sense of responsibility towards the care of the earth. I've even become more aware of earth-friendly appliances in my friends' homes. I was just over at my friend's house over the weekend and noticed that her toilet has the half-flush option so it does not use as much water. I'm wondering now how I can improve our water efficiency in our home. I was told that I should look for the Water Sense label when looking at water fixtures. I'll have to look into this when there's a new Grohe faucet sale.

DH has replaced our light bulbs with more energy efficient ones too. But I want to replace our outdoor lights with these solar powered lamps I saw at the newspaper last week.

Check me out - I'm being so earth-good!!! Woohoo!

Weddings Galore

Weddings Galore

We recently received news that there will be 2 weddings happening at the end of May within a week of each other.

BIL will be getting married at Las Vegas on Memorial weekend. We'll be going as a family of course! I'm not exactly sure what the arrangements are going to be though. DH is taking care of that. I have no details on the wedding either. I did not even know they were planning to get married that soon! Accdg. to BIL, they will have a church wedding too - someday! LOL! I don't think this was their original plan but I'm still happy for them. They're both grown-ups and they're responsible for their decisions.

A little less that a week after BIL's wedding, DH's friend is getting married in West Virginia. He's still deciding whether he will go to that wedding or not. This is a really good friend and we'd love to celebrate with him. Yet, we're not sure if this is something we can afford. At the most, it would probably be just DH flying to West Virginia to attend this.

Given the traveling that DH will be doing, it might be prudent to look into travel insurance online. Our current insurance could have this covered but we need to make sure.

I *heart* Costco, part 2

I *heart* Costco, part 2

Another reason I heart Costco is that it caters to a broad spectrum of customers. From middle-income families like ours to, I suppose, high-income families. Why do I think the rich shop at Costco too?

Well, I browsed thru their jewelry & watch stand in the warehouse and was surprised to see really high-end watches. The $400-$500 Victorinox Swiss Army watches
were simply the middle category of the group. They had movado & chanel and other brands I had not even heard of that cost in the thousands of dollars. Yes, thousands! I most probably have not heard of those brands because I am not their target market! LOL!

Seriously, you gotta love a store that is able to cater to such a wide-range of customers, don't you? And you'd think that maybe they're rich because they know how to spend their money wisely. And buying in bulk is wise!

U2 at Fordham

U2 at Fordham

Bro3 is all excited over the opportunity to watch U2 play an exclusive gig for Fordham students tomorrow morning. It will be broadcast live at Good Morning America. Apparently, only those with legit Fordham will be allowed into the concert area. Bro3 jokingly says that he finally knows the reason why he was brought to Fordham! LOL!

I wonder how big the concert area will be and they will have those big video walls or those tv stands.
Anyway, I'm really excited for Bro3. A few weeks ago, he got to be in the audience for the Conan O'Brien show. This time, a U2 concert. He is indeed having an awesome NYC experience, don't you think?

Father & Son

Father & Son

Ever since the 2009 started, I have noticed an extra effort on the part of DH to have some father & son time with DS. Not that DH did not spend time with his son before. It just seems that he is more comfortable now with DS. Perhaps it is because DS is getting older and they are able to find common activities that interest them both.

In January, they both went to a Lakers game at Staples Center. DS also signed up for the City Basketball League so they've been shooting hoops whenever DH is free. The games are on Saturdays so there are games that DH misses because he is at work. In the past month when DS' games were in the afternoon, DH would come home early so he could be at the game.

From the picture above, Guitar Hero has become another activity both boys enjoy.

Also, just last Sunday, DH took DS to the Nascar races in Fontana speedway. (On a sidenote, DS dropped our point & shoot camera there. The LCD screen is busted. It still takes pics but you can't preview your pic anymore. Good thing that thing's at least 5 years old already. If it were the brand-new camcorder DH had just bought over the thanksgiving sale in November, I'm sure he would have been livid!!!)

Back to my point...

It really warms my heart to see my 2 boys bonding thru activities. Watching this growing relationship also strengthened the stereotype in my mind of how males bond through activities as opposed to the bonding of females through talking and relating. Women are more relational. Men relate better when it is in the context of an activity. I'm sure there are exceptions but DH leans toward the stereotype.

Anyway, earlier today, I told DH how much I appreciate the time and effort he's been making for DS. To which he replied, "You should do the same for the girls. They're getting older too, you know."

Yup, I really should make more effort in spending one-on-one time with each of my girls.

Bad day

Bad day

I had an awful day yesterday. I felt like a zombie the whole day. It was one of those days when you wish you had a duplicate to do all the errands for you. Or maybe a robot that you can add a chip in for an energy boost or maybe performance enhancing parts like automotive performance parts. What? You don't wish that sometimes?!

Anyway, I woke up later than usual with my head soooo heavy. I wanted to sleep in of course but could not. Prepared DS' lunch then took him to school. Prepared breakfast for the girls and took DD1 to school. Came home, had breakfast, cleaned up a bit. By the time that I felt I could get a little bit of nap, it was time to pick up DD1. Had lunch, put DD3 down for her nap, cleaned up lunch stuff. By the time I was ready to lay my head on my enticing bed, it was time to get everyone ready to pick up DS from school then head off to my friend's house so she can babysit them while I got to the dentist. After my visit to the dentist, I pick the kids, take them home, prepare dinner, feed the kids, give them a quick wash down. Then it's time for DS' pack meeting. Again, I haul all 4 kids to the school haul. My head's already pounding and my body's about ready to fall but I survive. The meeting ends at about 8:30. We get home. Brush the kids' teeth and haul them off to bed. Ugh!

I'm glad that day is over and done with. Today seems a better day. I'm off to pick up DS now then off to take him to basketball practice.

When did life get so busy?!

In Search of the Perfect Computer Desk

In Search of the Perfect Computer Desk

We've been looking for the perfect computer desk for my mom to put in their room here. There isn't very much space. In fact, there's very little space. I was looking at some laptop desks in the sunday paper ads but I could hardly find anything. There were some that looked like Rackmount monitor on flimsy poles. The perfect size would be a nice secretary table like the one my dad is using right now. DH and I found that desk years ago at a clearance sale somewhere. I found one online but I'm not sure if it's a good price for it considering that there is still shipping and handling to be added on to it. Anyway, still on the lookout for the perfect desk. I've got several more weeks before mom comes back.

Uncertain Times

Uncertain Times

The economy is real bad right now. So many people are hurting. One of our friends was laid off last week. Though it did not come as a complete shock (he works in the banking industry after all), it still hurt of course. They are still lucky though because they do have some money put away as cushion for times like these.

This just got me and DH discussing about our finances. We hardly have any cushion in the event he gets laid off. We used it to finance his studies for 2 years and we still need time to recoup it. As long as he keeps working, we'll be fine. And being in the medical field, he's kinda safe. He half-jokingly said that should anything happen to him, it would be better off if he were dead since he's got good term life insurance rates rather than be disabled and not have enough to support the family. Not funny at all!

During these scray economic times, it is imperative that we put our trust in the Lord. In uncertain times, the only sure thing we can hang on to is God.

One more reason to go organic

One more reason to go organic

So, I was talking to my friend a few weeks ago and learned that she has developed an allergy to chicken when she moved here to the US. She used to eat chicken all the time in the Philippines with no problem. In fact, when she goes home to the Philippines, she eats chicken there and does not have any allergic reaction at all!!!

Our hypothesis for this would be the kinds of feeds being given poultry here. Or maybe even hormones possibly being injected into their systems. I've heard that cows are being injected hormones which makes them grow bigger and produce more dairy products. But it would be safe to assume that this causes a negative effect too. One effect I've read is that the meat and dairy products from these cows have less CLA content which is an essential fatty acid beneficial to us.

If you've developed an allergy to a certain food, try going organic and see if this helps.

Organic foods are more naturally grown. But they are more expensive too - which is a bummer for money-conscious moms like me. I'm slowly trying to incorporate more organic products into my grocery list. Oftentimes though, cost prohibits me from doing so. Feeding 8 people healthy meals is not an easy thing to do when you're on a tight budget.

My dream home ...

My dream home ...

remains a dream...LOL!

With home prices down, now would be an ideal time to buy a house, right? It would if you had cash to pay for it! Or if you've got at least 20% for downpayment plus really excellent credit. So, even if we wanted to buy a house now, it is not possible.

I gotta be thankful though for this house that we have. At least we have a roof over our heads without the threat of foreclosure other homeowners have been facing.

But quite frankly, this isn't my dream house. My dream house has a big backyard where my kids can play in their wooden swing sets, where there is enough room to entertain. My dream house has a big kitchen, maybe a kitchen island and a breakfast nook where the kids can do homework while I prepare dinner. DH's dream house has a game room or at least an area where he can put a pool table in.

For now, this dream house remains a dream. It continues to be a dream since it's free to dream anyway. LOL!

Hope you have a dream-filled weekend!!

A semi-purge

A semi-purge

The seasons are changing. Although the change in seasons in not as pronounced here in So.Cal as it would be in the east coast, there should still be a slight change. The air should be a little nippier. Light sweaters and flannel pajamas come out of the closets. Yes, that is what it should be. For a couple of days, it did get a little chillier. Lately, however, it's all been warm.warm.warm.

Anyway, I've been getting ready for cooler weather. That means an overhaul of the kids' wardrobes/closets. A little purging was in order. The summer clothes DD3 has outgrown is being given away. I had made the decision not to keep these baby clothes because there just wasn't any more space. Purging their closets led me to a semi-purging of my own. And I discovered at the back corner of my closet the 2 boxes of wholesale fashion jewelry my mom had brought from the Philippines last year - or was it 2 years ago? Not entirely sure now. Anyway, it was a LOT! It's a long story how these got to me. I really was not sure what I'd do with it. One Christmas, I gave some away as Christmas presents. Still, loads were left over. Fortunately, several weeks ago, our parish had our fall festival and they were asking for donations. I decided to donate everything to them. I don't know if they sold any but at least it's not cluttering my closet floor anymore!

I still need to look through the rest of my clothes and see if there are any I need to give away. I did a major purge back in spring so I think I won't need another big purge anytime soon.

Life on Mars

Life on Mars

Yesiree...fall TV programming is here!!! Right at this moment, I am on our couch watching "Life on Mars." Looks really interesting. Premise is interesting too. This cop is hit by a car and finds himself in the year 1973. Looks like he was transported as his present self back into the past. It seems he was transferred to the current NY precinct but he's acting all kooky. If I were working there, I might wonder if there was any mental employment screening done on this guy. He's just acting all weird.

Anyway, I'm liking it enough that I might just stay and watch till the end.
What are you watching in the Fall TV lineup?