Author Archives: admin

A New Martin Guitar

My brother is coming home today and guess who is the most excited? It’s my hubby of course!

A few weeks ago he was fretting about a new Martin guitar. He found one that he liked online but it was too expensive so he let it go. However my brother will not go back to the US in another two years which means it will be a long time before he can buy another Martin guitar. So he felt really bad about letting it go.

After seeing his long and sad face I knew I had to encourage him or he would never buy his guitar. It took only a nudge or two and he was able to find another one he liked – that’s because the first one has already been bought.

So guess what today his new guitar will arrive. We are a couple of pesos poorer but as long hubby is happy I know it is worth it. Whether it’s a new guitar or guitar effects from musicians friend as long as it will make hubby happy I would never object.

Fabric Hunting Success

Went fabric hunting with a customer. We were looking for the perfect fabric for her sofa. Prior to this, I already looked at three different fabric stores for something that she would like. All got the thumbs down.

Finally, she personally visited thus our trip to the fabric store that day. She eyed all the fabrics silently. I was silently praying she would find one she likes.

Then this yellow fabric caught her eye. I say she made the right choice.

Here’s the final outcome.

image

image

An Update at Last!

Yes I am still alive and kicking! It’s been more than a month since my last post and I am so guilty of neglecting this blog.

Just an update on our lives.

Our Kuya Z has finished his Level 3 PACES. It took a year for him to finish because I was not at home to supervise him like the previous years. Hubby took over the job but he is also working at home. Now we’re thinking of enrolling him in a regular school – actually I really want to enroll him this June – but we’ll still see how it goes.

Baby Zack is no longer a baby. He is already 2 1/2 years old! At this age, he can already express what he wants clearly. What he wants, what he gets and if we say no he will cry loudly to express his disapproval. We are already instilling discipline in him by making him understand that he can’t have all that he wants all the time. So far hubby is succeeding. Zack is already showing some fear when his Dad puts his foot down.

Hubby is still working from home. This August he will be celebrating his two years as a work-at-home Dad. Yes that’s two whole years of no commute and no gas consumption to and from work. It’s great having him home all the time. I hope my two boys realize how lucky they are that their Dad is always at home and always by their side whenever they need him.

As for me, I am still working at our store. It took many months for me to finally start up our online business but finally, I think I am getting used to it. :) It has taken a lot of my time and kept me away from the kids but I’m hoping that soon I don’t have to go to the store everyday and I can manage everything from the home. This is still a wish but I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it would be a reality in the future.

As for our house construction in Taguig, it’s been halted the past few months because of bureaucracy but construction will resume this month. :)

 

The Absolute Best Hydroponics Set-Up

 photo Hydro1_zps2678818e.jpg

The best hydroponics all starts with the best equipment. Beginning hydroponics, it is very important to ensure that you have a quality carbon filters, plus the right form of grow tents and lights for your specific need. Should you be having trouble deciding best places to look or even begin, give http://www.thelashop.com a try. They already have a fantastic reputation. Even though it is very important to discover cheap supplies for hydroponics (so that you don’t break the bank), it is very possible to keep everything quality while still for no more. LA shop has become known for making products not simply cheaper, but much easier to purchase also. Reviewers have mentioned products being 50 dollars cheaper than other rival sites, and customer care was always great. Hydroponics is a superb hobby to get started on up, which enable it to even be an enterprise in a small town. Growing your plants indoors allows you to not have to be worried about the weather constantly and definately will allow you to not deal with any earthquakes such as floods and thunderstorms which could ruin a complete season. All the products available are already through testing so they really are ensured that will help you and be efficient to your garden. One important thing that LA shop Hydroponics is known for actually is their customer care. If any product arrives damaged or dysfunctional, they may be more than happy to help you with no hassle! Few companies are like this nowadays so the customers are very appreciative. In order to give hydroponics a try, start at the library and get a few books in order to learn what really goes into it! This is a very rewarding experience which is an easy way and also hardwearing . plants. Your grow tents will be really important to preserving your indoor garden so be sure you choose quality tent material!

Taking Charge of Your Child’s Financial Education

 

Children are natural shoppers because they love new things, and those who do not yet know the value of money or how the monetary system works may not understand why most people simply cannot buy every single item that they want. Although no one enjoys depriving their children, some deprivation is a normal part of growing up. Moms and other parents who successfully teach their children the value of money are less likely to experience children making frustrating demands on the family coffers.

Actual money-handling skills and techniques can be taught in a variety of ways, but most children learn best through the example of their parents. Following are several ways that the average mom can help her children to become smart shoppers instead of facing a future where they’d be perpetually wallowing in debt.

Using Coupon Codes Well and Often

It used to be that people had little choice about where they shopped, but modern consumers can select from an abundance of retailers. Rather than buying your cosmetics at expensive brick-and-mortar department store counters, you can easily save money using BH Cosmetics coupons with online retailers.

Watching online retailers for specials and close-out sales is another excellent way to obtain substantial savings on health and beauty products. Because retailers have significantly more competition than they did before online shopping became popular, it is usually easy to find items such as coupon codes for BH Cosmetics on a regular basis. Moms can set a great example for their children if they let them watch while they order products online while using promotional codes or coupons and explaining how this saves the family money.

Teaching Kids to Shop Online 

By the time your children are running their own households, shopping for most items will primarily be done online. Our society is already seeing a decrease in brick-and-mortar retail establishments, and the American mall is all but dead. Teaching your kids the ins and outs of online shopping now will serve them well in the future.

Some parents provide each child with a prepaid card containing a small amount of money and allow them to shop for certain items online. If you decide to do this, however, you shouldn’t just let your children loose with the card. Make a game out of it instead to see who can get the most savings by shopping around for sales and using coupon codes.

One way to make children understand the benefits of saving is to take the amount that the child has saved and put it aside. Presenting it to the child after a few dollars have added up will provide emphasis concerning the value of learning to save while shopping.

Should You Provide Your Child With a Credit Card?

Some parents feel that children should not be given credit cards under any circumstances, and other parents believe that using to learn credit wisely is an important part of a child’s financial education. This is a highly personal decision, and some children will naturally handle money better than others. You should never provide your child with a credit card if you feel as if he or she is not ready for the responsibility.

Regardless of how you feel about giving credit cards to children, you should never do so before allowing them to gain some experiencing using debit cards. These have built-in safeguards that will protect them from exceeding their spending limit and are frequently preferred by adults as alternatives to credit cards.

It’s Been Four Months

After four months of having an online store I now realize how much a challenge it is to do this. It’s practically a one-man show with me doing the site updates, marketing online on ad sites and social media sites, taking orders, answering queries, scheduling deliveries, and checking the items before delivery. But as hard as this would be I have no reason to complain because the real heroes are the furniture makers who make the furniture with their bare hands (for custom made orders) and the delivery boys who brave the Manila heat and traffic riding in our non-airconditioned trucks to make sure the items reach their destinations. Whenever I feel overwhelmed about everything I just think of these hardworking men and strive to be better with my more “cozy” job.

Anyway, it’s been a struggle from the start but I’m glad we’re featuring more and more products everyday therefore giving our customers more to choose from. We aren’t selling premier mounts and home accessories just yet but who knows we will even sell that in the future? As long as customers don’t get tired of patronizing our store we will never get tired of giving them affordable furniture that gives more value for their money.

Spotted: Red/Black Table at Spoon!

Last night, I was watching Spoon on Net 25. It has been a long time since I turned the channel to Net 25. Janice de Belen, the host, was interviewing the talented singer, Dulce. They were talking about – I guess, her career but I wasn’t really paying attention.

Why was I not paying attention?

Because my eyes were glued to the round table they were using. When I saw the red and black glass table I knew right there and then it’s the same table we were selling at our store. I scoured the internet for videos of that episode with Dulce but I couldn’t find anything. I wanted to kick myself for not taking a picture of our television screen. But I didn’t take a picture because I knew that it wouldn’t really capture the beauty of the table.

When I finally landed at their official website I got excited. It turned out they were using this same table for a while and they have lots of pictures to prove it. (Note: These photos are Net25′s Spoon.) Let me share the photos with you and give you a detailed explanation about our table.

Here’s Arnel Pineda and Janice De Belen chatting amiably while eating merienda on top of the Red/Black table. There are two of them there but this table actually comes with four chairs. Two people can dine comfortably here but it was made to fit four people.

 photo 20120521-_MSW4493_zps1553d3c3.jpg

Here’s Carla Abellana’s Dad, Rey PJ Abellana, sharing a cake with Janice. Can you see how the table is divided into black and red hue equally in two parts each? If you think the red is the fiery red hue then you bet it is. It’s really that bright in person.

 photo net2512of14_zps27c768bb.jpg

If you think Actor-turned-businessman, Marvin Agustin, was enjoying his meal too much then who wouldn’t if you are surrounded with wonderful bright colors? From this view you can see the black and red chairs that comes with the table. I told you before there are four chairs in all so they must have hidden the other two. What I like about the chairs is they’re round too which means they fit snugly around the table. Absolutely no wasted space. You can literally put this in a small corner and never worry about it wasting space. When not in use it can serve as a beautiful accent. You can cover it with a variety of tablecloths on different occasions but it would still look good even without it.

 photo Net25-10_zps43ca9dc8.jpg

Here’s another photo of the table with Luke Mejares and Janice. If want more space but with the exact same design then I recommend the square version of this table.
 photo net2519of26_zpsba54e29a.jpg

For this last picture, I am not sure I’m familiar with the guest. Maybe it’s because of the angle. Can you tell me her name? Anyway, this table comes in various colors. We also have the black/white and purple/black combination. Aside from the 4-seater it also comes in 6-seater.
 photo net259of18_zpsf222ad20.jpg

Account Suspended

I woke up earlier this morning to do some blogging. When I checked my blog, all the blood drained from my face.

The reason?

I forgot to pay my hosting bills!

It was bad enough that my favorite blog was down. (Love your own. haha!)

But I got scared when I realized even my favorite online store was down. You know what I meant.*wink

So I hurriedly paid for the invoice, panicked some more when that didn’t fix it, called for support from my host, which finally restored all my sites. Whew!

The technical agent told me it usually goes back live ten minutes after payment. If that was true it was probably the longest ten minutes of my life.

So reminder to myself, always pay your hosting bills on time.

Same goes with your other bills – electricity, water, rent, GMF health insurance, etc. You might not like the feeling of paying bills but these are important in maintaining our quality of life so we just have to do it. Imagine not having to pay for electricity but enduring brownout. Nuff said!

What One Week Without Z Taught Me

Sorry for no posts again. I really need to start writing in this blog often. But it doesn’t mean nothing is happening. There were a lot of things I wasn’t able to share which I now regret. As the song says, “If only I could turn back time…” hehehe!

Anyway, this song was my family’s theme song last week.

You’ll never guess what happened.

It started when we visited my mom. I had this sudden idea for Z to stay with her for a week. It hasn’t happened before so I was surprised when Z agreed. So the following week, we dropped him there with one week worth of clothing, said our goodbyes and we went home.

Oopps, before we went away pala Zack wasn’t too happy when he finally realized we were leaving his brother behind. We were already outside ready to go inside the car when I told him his brother was staying. Even at two years old, he realized right away that was not a good thing. So he tried to drag his brother towards the car. When his Dad started the car he was torn between being left behind and trying to drag his brother so he started crying. I admit we were laughing so hard at this point because of Zack’s dilemma. Z even teased him more by pretending to ride in the car and when he was already calm Z would suddenly jump out and get Zack’s attention. Of course, the little one would start to cry once again. Then we would all laugh.

But when we were already on our way home, guess who started missing Z the most?

By that time Zack was already calm and happy and have forgotten about his Kuya. But inside the car the silence was deafening. It was Ate Rose who broke the silence when she blurted out, “Ang tahimik. Nakakamiss si Z!” At that point there was already an ache in my heart and I was questioning whether I was mad to suggest that he be left behind.

To make the story short, we terribly missed him over the week. The house was so lonely. With no one tinkering with the les paul all the time the house was so quiet without Z. I then had an epiphany of what will happen in the future when the kids are no longer living with us. When it’s just me and hubby in the house. I admit I have been guilty over the past months of not spending time with the kids. After all I had uprooted my family in order to start our online business so the past months I had the pressure to sell. I have been away at the store most days trying to learn everything I can and at night when I come home I’m too tired to do anything. But after having a glimpse of what the “future” will bring I now realize that the children are still the most important.

I don’t want to sing the tune, “If only I could turn back time” by the time we are old and wrinkled so even though it’s hard I am more determined than ever to manage my time better and make my family my priority.

Now Z is back in the house. Hurray! Next time I will think twice before making him go on vacation alone.

 photo wpid-IMG_20130225_010449_zps09502fb2.jpg

Another Tooth Missing

My son Z lost his front teeth when he was four years old. Now, that’s too early for a kid to lose his front teeth. We waited for three years before signs of his replacement teeth appeared. Now that he is already eight, he finally grew his permanent teeth and we said goodbye to his toothless grin.

Or so we thought.

Because last month, just before we went to our Boracay he lost another tooth, not exactly at the front but at the side that is still well visible.

Here’s what happened. He was sitting eating his breakfast when he suddenly shouted. “I lost my tooth,” he said excitedly. He hurried to where me and my husband were sitting and told us how he gently rocked his tooth until it detached. I was very elated with the news, particularly because that saved me some money from dental bills (no, we don’t have dental insurance for individuals), until his Dad quipped, “Uhm, didn’t you just got your front teeth back and now you’ve lost it again?” Anyway, we laughed at the irony but nothing could dampen Z’s good mood. After enduring nearly four years with his two front teeth missing, one little toothless gap at the side won’t put him down.

Here he was at D’Mall in Boracay still looking quite happy. Do you see his missing tooth?
 photo file_zps5dcd12ba.jpg