:Looking at the Sky on Friday #38

I and Josh dropped by JennyL' house to bring snack from Ruth's birthday and since my bank is just two streets away we decided to take a leisurely walk at it's 5pm already and there's no more sun to worry. I also felt like having some shots on the area as I've seen the sky and liked the slowly creeping sunset mode. I kinda liked the different shades that formed in the clouds. It's really nice to walk sometimes because most often you'll get some nice shots! Do you agree?

Happy Friday! Visit more of beautiful sky photos here!

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Facing Life After Rehabilitation

This modern generation with high technology gadgets and equipment has really gone so far in terms of innovations but modern science can’t cure the oldest addiction that affected human and that is drugs. As I can see it’s becoming severe as the years go. Greed must be one reason as illegal drug pushers keep enticing the youth to use illegal drugs. Becoming drug dependent starts with trying out then little by little you became comfortable with it which will then result in addiction.

There are many reasons and factors involved including family problems, peer pressure and lack of love. I know this by heart because I have a close relative who’s been a victim of drug addiction and when he stopped his addiction resorted to alcohol. He has gone treatment in drug rehab center for eight months and when he finally graduated the treatment programs I was convinced that indeed he has been cured because he looks and speaks well. He tried to change and return to normal life but when temptations courted him again he returned to his vices.

We tried getting him to church but he keep on saying later, I guess he’s not yet ready or was afraid to face the realities of life. His mother did everything to separate him from his friends who influenced him to drugs and now he’s doing fine. I came to realize that people who have drug abuse background and undergone rehabilitation treatment should be given enough love and care to survive life after rehab center. Without our help and God's guidance they will not be able to face normal life again.

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:WW - SJES Drummer Boys

These are the drummer boys of SJES who greeted Mayor Ilagan and Gov. Ynares when they arrived on our induction last week. I admired their talent and skills on playing drums because they've trained only in the school with jus one hour for about three times a week compared with other instrument enthusiast who enrolled in a formal school. They only paid an amount of I think P10-20 pesos per session as allowance of the trainor and that compensate for the skills they've gained from drums' training.

Happy WW visit more entries -> here.

Wordless Wednesday

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Managing Apartment

There are lots of things to remember when you’re running an apartment business according to my brother. He has apartments in different locations which he constructed to prepare for his children’s studies when he’s no longer working in office. It’s a great help to him and his family as it gives him enough returns for their expenses.

Apartment business is good source of income but you have to be ready with maintenance expenses because every now and then the building will need minor repairs and after several years some renovations. Just now he told me that he need to check on the spa filters if it has anti-microbial technology to prevent bacteria and some other microbes from growing. Tenants nowadays are becoming aware of modern technology that should be installed on their apartments so my brother is keeping some updates on the modern maintenance of his buildings. Anyway he really needs to be updated, at least for his current residential and small building projects.

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Math Camp 2009

I accompanied my daughter Gen for the first time in her Math Camp last Aug. 7 wherein they will compete in various match challenges. It’s the first Math Camp competition ever because in the previous years they only had Math quiz bee, Math-rathon and other usual Math Challenge. This time together with 10 other schools chosen students from SJES vied for Math Investigation, Math Trivia, Math Rail, Math Race, Human Calculator, Mr.& Ms. Math Camp and some other Math Challenges including Math Yell and Cheers. The only thing that worried me then was that they only had one day to review after the screening, oh boy I’ve experienced being a contestant in a quiz bee and though it’s very exciting it’s not a very happy experience for me. But when I asked Gen and her classmates I was amazed at their courage and expertise in facing challenges and competition. They’re not in any way frightened, may be just a little nervous which was expected in any contestant.

We were about 3 batches of vehicles who went to Karangalan School as the school is the district center for Cainta District 1 and I get to see it for the 2nd time, the first time was with Ruth when they had won the oral language speech for ‘The Bells’ last year. I was happy enough for Gen and her partner Angelica who got a place in Math Trivia, it’s a difficult challenge as you’ll never know the boundaries of the trivia scope. SJES got the second place in Math Investigation, 4th in Math Rail and 3rd in Human Calculator, 4th in Math Yell/Cheers but nothing for other competitions.

All in all we were glad that even if they had no review for the competition they fight strongly and I wish that they will have at least one week notice for the kids because it somewhat affected their school academic as it’s also their periodical exams. Well anyway I just helped Gen review for her academic subjects the weekend after that. I told her to relax and rest that weekend as she’s also included in the group of students who joined the Journalism competition. We had a very hectic schedule that week and the coming week after that, I guess my being a WAHM helped them a lot now to be academically active.

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When to Use Hidden Camera

Do you ever feel an urge to monitor what’s happening in your house when you’re not at home? Sometimes we need to know what’s going inside our house when we leave our precious kids in the hands of their nannies. I believe in the privacy rights of helpers and nannies but there are situations when you can’t trust anyone to take care of your little ones but you can’t do anything or have no choice but to leave them in the company of household helpers.

This situation usually arises when your child had a previous experience of maltreatment from helpers thus trusting isn’t that easy to give anymore. With the help of a Hidden Camera you can monitor the newly hired helpers and nannies if they can be trusted enough to handle and take care of your kids. There are many types available for your specific needs like those which look like an ordinary air freshener, air ionizer or a tissue box which are not so obvious. I marveled at the ideas of using ordinary things to hide the spy camera.

If you’ve proven or see for yourself that your helpers cannot do harm to your kids then that’s the time that you can remove your hidden camera to free yourself from feeling guilty that you’ve spied on your household members. Actually it’s not a good feeling to spy on others but when it’s badly needed it can be of great help to those working moms who doesn’t have a choice but to leave their little darlings in the hands of their household staff.

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Small Talk Six : Rest and Relax

Rest and Relax....

Six things that you can think that will make you well rested or relaxed.

1. A day on the beach with family

2. Baking and cooking special foods relaxes and excites me because I love doing it. It's also a bonding time for my kids and hubby as they try to learn by helping me.

3. Reading inspirational books including the bible.

4. Traveling in the countryside and stopping by the woods to have lunch relaxes me

5. My hobbies - playing bowling, badminton, scrabble, word factory, chess, text twist, blogging and shopping relaxes me

6. Best of all, attending our church fellowship service and singing to my soul's delight relaxes my body, mind and spirit. God's bosom is the best resting place of all

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Budgeting Skills

It’s payday once again and as early as now I’m planning our budget together with the bills we have to pay. As this is the 15th of the month we have only water and internet bills to pay for plus the school service of my son. It’s easier this pay period because the bulk of our expenses come at the end of the month so I’m planning carefully to insert some extra commodities so as not to interfere with my month-end budget. Being a wife and mom doesn’t only means loving and taking care of your family. It also means being smart and wise in spending your hard-earned money or else you’ll end up short of funds for your basic essentials.

When we were newly married it’s easier to plan how we spend our money but now that we have three schooling kids a lot of budgeting skills should be used. Well if I failed with my skills we will end up getting some cash advance like what others do. But as of now I can still manage to get by with my hubby’s salary and my online job. It gave me a breathing space for my allotted money for our expenses. Luckily I’m getting plenty of work to keep me busy and contented with my income. I’m glad though that anytime I’ll be needing cash for emergency situation I can always get payday loans to help me get through. You’ll never really know when you need extra money for certain situations so you better be ready with some options. Anyway I just learned that it’s easy and quick to apply. Really fast cash!

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:Looking at the Sky on Friday #37- Libis Area

This is the view from Mercury Ave. in Libis just a few blocks away from my office when I was still working. I dropped by our office for some requests of my boss and I took this shot at the center island while I'm crossing the street. I just felt the urge to take a shot of this beautiful formation of clouds atop an office building near my own office. Clouds formation changes every now and then so if you saw an awesome cloud scene you'd better capture it or it's gone! That's why I love my Canon point-and-shoot digicam, it's handy whenever and whatever!

Happy Friday! Visit more of beautiful sky photos here!

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Missing My Hometown

I missed going to our hometown and I’m planning to go there again on a non-occasion date. I just want to feel the cool breeze of the air coming from the mountains, the air in our province is still fresh and smells good. I also want to have a decent photo shoot there of beautiful scenery, pretty orchids and some nice subject for my weekly photography tag.

It’s always been a cool respite for me to spend my day reading or taking pictures of whatever comes to my mind. And if I’m going to do that in Laguna I could very well be going home with great pictures of scenery and beautiful flowers plus whatever subject that may arise there.

I’ve noticed that Josh was so excited in seeing field animals there like carabao, cows and horses. Well I don’t blame him for acting like that as there are no field animals in our place.

Our last visit has made Josh wanting to experience riding in a horse, next time I know he’ll be asking about equestrian apparel. When the time comes that he’ll be asking about that maybe I can show him the site which provides horse riding apparel and horse riding equipment for men, ladies and young riders. He’ll surely love it!

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:WW - Fancy Well

Just fancied these two prominent figures in the district school's front garden where they held the everyday flag ceremony. It's not real, just an addition to the landscape of the school, just love taking pictures on the place because it's big and has a lot of landscape around the vast area. Karangalan Elem. School is the district office for schools under Cainta Unit 1 and this is where academic competition, quiz bee and other inter-school activities are being held. We're there last week for the first district Math Camp participated by 11 schools. Gen was chosen to compete for Math Trivia.

Happy WW visit more entries -> here.

Wordless Wednesday

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Simple Joys

Children always love having new things like toys, clothes, school items, shoes and bags. As children they derive their happiness even on the simplest of things yet they found joys in it. My kids are no exception as every time I go out with them they are contented just to be with me eating on their favorite fast food restaurant, playing one or two hours on the arcade and shopping one or two items for each one of them.

I have three kids and my time is full taking care of them the reason why I resigned from my 16-year old job. I treat them fairly enough because I don’t want anyone of my kids think that I have a favorite kid. When opening of classes begins we see to it that we shop for them all their necessary things in school like books, uniform, shoes, School Backpacks and many other school requirements. Even if shopping is a bit tiring I just go through it because I see smiling faces after we’re through. Now if I don’t want to get tired I’ll just look on some sites like Do It Tennis which offers complete source for school bags and other things associated with it. Their backpacks are available in known brands with different style to suit your specific needs.

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