Mommy Diary

Archive for February, 2010

Last Sunday, we bought Z his Audi. It’s a battery operated car that he can drive and at the same time it’s remote controlled. It’s really expensive and out of our budget but Z kept dreaming about it in his sleep. At home he would ask me if I thought the car would still be there when we go back. I assured him it would still be there but inside I was also wondering how disappointed he would be if it goes out of stock. So after three weeks of thinking if we should buy it or not we finally decided to give it a go.

We used our credit card for paying for this. At the counter, they said we can choose to pay it in installment for six months but with interest. We were tempted but we declined. We chose to pay it in full. This is our only credit card and it took a long time for us to be able to get approved for one. Yes, it took so long that I was already thinking we need to get credit cards for bad credit instead. Finally, after a long time of waiting it finally got processed and now we have our one and only credit card so we vowed to be responsible in using it by buying only things we can pay in full.

Anyway, this morning Z came home with a letter. It was the schedule of advance exams f0r students that are candidates for honors! Yey! I wanted to kick myself for hesitating to buy him his Audi. Z proved to us that he deserves his gift. This is his reward for doing a good job in school.

Recently, I came to know about asbestos and how it causes Mesothelioma Cancer. They said it’s extremely dangerous and if you inhale asbestos fiber that’s when you get sick. As a mom, I am always on the lookout for dangerous things that can hurt my little one. So imagine my shock when I heard that asbestos can be found in familiar things. I searched wikipedia and here’s what I got:

drywall and joint compound

plaster

mud and texture coats

vinyl floor tiles, sheeting, adhesives

roofing tars, felts, siding, and shingles

“transite” panels, siding, countertops, and pipes

fireproofing

caulk

gaskets

brake pads and shoes

clutch plates

stage curtains

fire blankets

interior fire doors

fireproof clothing for firefighters

thermal pipe insulation

Are those things familiar to you?  I know some of those items are used in our house structure but I’m particularly concerned about the vinyl floor tiles. That’s what we have at home and everyday we’re in contact with it.  Z is walking on it barefoot, playing on it, and even lying down on it from time to time. That is really scary if it has asbestos fibers in it. I  really have to research more asbestos and will also ask our landlord about it.

As a mommy, I dream of the time when we’ll be shopping for our new home. The perfect time is when we have a considerable money in the bank more than enough for a downpayment and we can buy our dream home. If we can buy it for the full price then the better.  That’s also the time I would be looking for insurance quotes to make sure my dream home is fully insured. I wouldn’t want an accident happening and then we’ll lose everything just in a snap.

Now, I’m wondering if this house is covered by insurance.

I’m sure the couple who bought this were looking for their perfect home .  What could have been more perfect than a luxurious 6-bedroom house on a top of a cliff, with breathtaking view, and on sale for £150,000, just a tiny fraction of its original £1.5million price? There’s just one tiny catch – the previous owners deserted this house because they thought there was too much of a risk of  a landslide happening. The new owners must have be positive thinkers because they decided they would grab this chance and bought the property. Unfortunately, just a week after they bought it part of their garden has already collapsed!

How about you? Are you willing to buy this home even though you’ll be losing some soil from time to time?

Angelina Jolie is a picture of health these days. She looks really blooming which is natural for a woman in love. She looks so vibrant and lovely that she wouldn’t need a finger pulse oximeter to monitor her health at this time of her life. Just look at those pink cheeks, the twinkling eyes, and that infectious laugh. At 34, she is in optimum health which she needs to be in order to keep up with her six children, her grueling filming schedule, her charity works, and keeping the hottest man in the planet, aka Brad Pitt, satisfied. LOL!

She and her partner Brad Pitt are currently in France. While she is shooting her next film, The Tourist, Brad plays the doting daddy to his children. I have seen their picture in the internet and aren’t they a lovely family? To think that they have six children in between them. Of course, they must have an army of nannies but if they are good parents then I think they make it a point to talk to all six of them one by one. That can be so tiring and I should know. I have only one child and it’s already hard for me.

I know a lot of rumors are circulating about the couple and that it’s all just for show but if they are real the rumors are not true then she is setting a high standard for all the other moms. She’s proof that some women really have it all. What do you think?

I have been a stay-at-home mommy turned work-at-home mommy for three years now. I never thought I would last this long staying at home but I did and I’m happy I get to work and earn too without leaving my kid behind. Still, there are things that I miss about working in an office.

Here are the five things I miss about working in an office:

1. Benefits like SSS, medical insurance, and Pag-ibig. My current employers don’t give me those benefits. If I decided to continue then I have to pay it out of my own pocket.

2. Friends from the workplace. Nothing beats a warm and friendly office environment. Sometimes I feel so alone while working at home. I’m an introvert but I need someone to talk to sometimes too. Before I have to beg my husband to talk to me when he gets home and he’s too tired and wanted to sleep right away. Now, thanks to blogging I don’t feel so lonely anymore.

3. Eating out. Nothing is more fulfilling than eating out after a hard day’s work! My teammates and I used to go to Festival mall after our shift and just eat and pig out. You know how it was when you are with a big group of people and everyone starts asking, “Where are we going to eat?” and everyone would reply, “You decide.” My teammates can never decide so I would pipe in and say, “Let’s eat at Shakey’s.” They would agree with me grudgingly because they can’t decide. But after 3 consecutive eating out at Shakey’s because I am the only one who tells them my choice they finally said enough of Shakey’s already. LOL! That was my favorite. I love eating at Shakeys with them.

4. Getting free stuff like gift checks and promotional calenders and winning in office raffles and contest. I remember I won 2k at bingo sponsored event in our office. I can’t explain it but there’s a thrill that comes with winning something you didn’t work hard for or just simply getting something for free even if it’s small stuff. At home, I get no more freebies but now thanks to blogging I get free stuff too when I go to events. LOL!

5. Clothes, clothes, and more clothes. Oh, how I miss shopping for beautiful office clothes.  I don’t have any reason any more to dress up and my wardrobe needs serious updating – I mean SERIOUS! Yes, that’s the thing I miss most about working in an office – it’s shopping for clothes. Not the friendship and the team builing or the benefits but the shopping. LOL! Just kidding!

Okay, that’s my list. I wanted to list out ten but I can’t thing of anything else. Maybe that means I’m still happy working at home.

Having a son means I’m seriously at a disadvantage. Yes, I love my son to bits and I won’t exchange him for anything but sometimes I think Daddy is having all the fun. I tell you, he gets to relive his childhood through Z. He gets a kick out of buying Z lots of toys which are toys for little boys which means Daddy also likes because he’s also a little kid at heart. I can’t tell you how many times I have rolled my eyes at him every time he says, “Let’s go to Toy Kingdom!” This he does without fail at least once a week. Once there Z and Daddy – particularly Daddy – roam the toy store for an hour or two to look at the toys for boys. They look at toy cars for hours always struggling to pick the perfect one to add to their collection. Once they found THE ONE, four eyes lit up. hehe I can’t say which set of eyes is more happier but I think the bigger one has more twinkle in the eyes. LOL!

I, on the other hand, just busy myself with asking sales agents at the mall for free insurance quotes while father and son roam the toy store for hours. Have I mentioned that we really need it and we don’t have insurance for everything? That’s how I keep myself busy. I had no interest going around the toy store whatsoever. Then two Sundays ago it was my turn  to see the perfect toy, the thing I can say as THE ONE! I’m talking about this:

Sylvanian Families

My heart  fluttered when I peeped inside. The details are amazing!

Sylvanian Families

Oh, how I longed to have it. Growing up I hadn’t things as beautiful as this and I’m not ashamed to admit I would buy it in a second if I have the money.

So it has been two weeks that I have been dreaming of this but look what we bought last Sunday.

My son's Audi

Yes, Daddy has all the fun. *sigh

As promised, I have given out the first batch of blogs to the BC Bloggers Participants!

It took me hours to verify the urls plus the title of each blog (next time I would ask participants to leave the title too to save me some time, whew!) but it’s a labor of love for me. I’m really happy so many joined. Kisses and hugs to all of you and for my friends whom I bugged to join because I thought nobody would join at first. LOL!

I hope you add the first batch of blogs as soon as you’re free but don’t wait until Wednesday, okay? It won’t be fair to the others who added yours right away.

For those who still wanted to join but didn’t make it on my deadline watch out because I will be organizing another one in the near future. This one would be for a new set of bloggers. (I don’t advise the others who have joined to join again because you would end up with too many links!)

Okay, I need to get back to work now. Let’s visit our new blog friends after adding, okay?  I’m sure they’ll be delighted to know other BC Bloggers.

See you BC Bloggers!

If you woke up this morning to find a new BC Blogger Badge in your sidebar then don’t panic! No, I didn’t manage to hack into your blog and replace the codes but Kaye did. *evil grin

I commissioned Kaye to make a cool badge for BC Bloggers but I got itchy because I had nothing to do the previous days so I decided to make a temporary badge. When Pehpot found out that new badge came after she had just finishing adding the old badge to eight of her blogs she panicked. She knew I was going to ask her to install the new badge in  all her blogs as well. LOL! So she thought of a solution asap and asked Kaye to do her own little magic (yes, until now I don’t know how she did it) and replace the codes at my photobucket account so it will reflect the new badge instead of the old, ugly one.  So you can breathe easier now, we didn’t hack into your blogs but just changed the code at photobucket instead. Now, you don’t have to suffer having an ugly badge in your sidebar. Thanks to Kaye, BC Bloggers has a new stylish and spanking new badge! Clap, clap, clap!

If you don’t already know, Kaye is gifted in htmls and can make beautiful and gorgeous templates for your blogs. You might want to check her blog and get her services too. She’s also a work-at-home mom like me and she gives all kinds of services – er, blogging services. So let us support work-at-home moms so they can still continue to work at home and take care of their kids at the same time.

P.S. If you are a guy and you have concerns having a girly badge then just leave a comment and I’ll provide you with the code for the old one.

We’re going at Fun Ranch tomorrow. We are going to attend a SuperMom event and the good news is I can bring Z along. We went there only once before and Z super loved it because of the different rides available. It’s like a mini-version of Star City or Enchanted Kingdom but right within Pasig. Hubby is excited too because he’s really a kid at heart. Although he wouldn’t fit on the kiddie rides just seeing his son riding on those would make him happy already. I, on the other hand, is excited to meet more bloggers that share the same hobby as me – what else but blogging. My other blogging pals, Fedhz and Pehpot would be there too. I have so much work to do today but knowing that it’s going to be fun and socializing the next day just makes me so happy. It’s hard being a work-at-home mommy but at least we get to take a break once in a while and mingle. That’s what I really love about blogging. I’m meeting people that I wouldn’t have met otherwise.

Are you a BC Blogger?

1. Are you a blogger who has a full-time office job but still try to sneak in some time in the office to blog?
2. Are you a stay-at-home mom who has her hands full because of her kids and try to make some time blog hopping so she can be updated on what’s going on with her blogging pals?
3. Are you working at home struggling to balance juggling your work and blogs at the same time?

If you answer YES to one of these questions then you’re a BC Blogger. So you’re a BC Blogger if you’re BUSY but still willing to participate in Blog exChange of links.

I have the PERFECT idea that would make your life easier.  Read on.

We all know that one of the most important part of blogging is link building. Aside from posting quality blog content this the second most important part. Without doubt, this is also the most difficult part – more difficult that writing quality blog posts.

Currently, here’s what bloggers do when exchanging links:

1. Visit as many blogs as they could.
2. Leave a comment on each one asking for a link exchange.
3. Copy the blog url and paste it on your blog.
4. After a few days visit the blogs again to make sure your link is posted and if it’s not then you have to erase their url in your blog or nag the owner to put your links or else

That’s so tiring, isn’t it? If you have multiple blogs like I do then the result is one big headache.

This has been my problem so finally, I thought of a neat solution that would solve our link exchange problems. Why not create a LINK EXCHANGE network so we don’t have to do the tedious task of hopping through 100 blogs asking or begging for a link exchange?

Now perk up your ears as I will let you on the BC Blogger’s Secret.

Here at BC Blogger’s Secret we don’t have to BEG for links.

Here at BC Blogger’s Secret all the people you will meet are willing to exchange links with you.

Here at BC Blogger’s Secret the steps are so FAST and EASY.

Here at BC Blogger’s Secret you have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

If you want to join just follow the steps below.

1. Copy the html code of the BC Blogger’s badge and put it in your sidebar. More people joining means more success. This is required. You won’t be included in the list without this.

2. Email your blog/s HTML code to sweetypaula@gmail.com with the subject,  I Want to Join BC Blogger’s Secret.

3. Make a post about BC Blogger’s. This is optional but a short post is highly appreciated as our success is going to depend on more people joining. So please make a post about BC Bloggers and spread the word.

UPDATE***BC Bloggers 1 and 2 has finished and so was our successfully BC Bloggers’ Party. So now we’re opening our doors to BC BLOGGERs 3. Click here to join.

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