Nostalgia

Nostalgia it is said is about longing about the things of the past, remembering only the good times. Looking through old photos, i can't help but feel nostalgic about things and places of the past. Browsing through my latest photos during a trip back to Bohol, once again I was kept reminded of the place where I was born and where we, as a often family go back to in times of fiesta of my father's hometown, Lila. Back then, whenever we got home no matter how dark it already is, neighbors, relatives converge at our ancestral house eager to welcome us, share whatever it is that we brought from Mindanao, even when it consists only of a loaf of bread, and several manos of "tabako."


This one is recent, taken at the airport while the blind entertainers were rendering us beautiful songs. The youngest of the three have the voice of a pop star, and his choices also were surprisingly current.This following photos are the sceneries that you will pass by when you travel from Lila to Tagbilaran. The sky seem overcast it's really about 5 o'clock in the morning when we left Taug. Initially, i thought of spending the night in Tagbilaran so that it will be easier for us to go to the airport but Ng Delma offered to use her car to bring us to the airport early. That is how generous and kind and how good a bol-anon spirit is. Most of my relatives are like that, I am proud to say. Really...

This was inside the hinagdanan cave.These are taken at our home in Iligan sometime in the 90's. That was the pre-leukemia, pre-accident days. Sometimes, I have a tendency to divide timelines before and after those two defining events. I have written my thoughts on those times.

Mama still had her nose

But that is all it is, reminiscing. I like the present with all it's challenges and revelations. Also, vacation time with the family is almost always an occasion to look forward to.

Cozy Resort, Rosales, Pangasinan

Hubby decided to spend the weekend at Rosales, Pangasinan in part to accompany his uncle who is to be a principal sponsor at a friend's wedding.

We left manila around past 10Pm and traversed the rainy SCTEX around past 1am. We checked in at Cozy Resort in Pangasinan. The room we had was big and clean for 2,500 a night, it should be it's the suite room. It had simple furnishings, and a really strong airconditioning unit but the television set is not working and there was no refrigerator. The resort itself is situated in a ricefield so the only water facility available to entertained guests is the two swimming pools. My daughters really enjoyed the pool. But then it is easy to please them, anywhere with a body of water where they can dip is enough for them.

Breakfast consisted of daing na bangus, spam, eggs which costs 95 pesos along with coffee and or milo. I never did like salty foods but neither do i like bland foods. The breakfast was just bland. And their were flies on our breakfast table. Maybe they could have put something to deter the flies considering the place was really clean.
Over all, i think this is a good enough place to stay. We have only been to Pangasinan only one time and we stayed at Urdaneta Garden Resort. I would recommend that you stay here if you have business to do in Rosales or you just want somewhere else to sleep. Otherwise, if you want rest and relaxation and something more, like good food and really excellent service(like the guard being onhand to open the gate of the resort and we didn't have to honk twice, or that the tables are set for breakfast and waiters readily available and no flies please!, or that toiletries are already in the rooms without having to call room service) maybe there is a better place elsehere.

I may just add that the employees were really polite, they only probably need a training and instruction. Here's the contact numbers just in case you will be going to rosales:

Cozy Place Resort

Bgy. Rizal, Rosales, Pangasinan

(075) 582-2696 / 09175011444 / 09194182489

cozyplaceresort.multiply.com

youtube : cozy place resort

Joyride..Jeepney Rides..

If you have been to the Philippines, you can not help but notice the Jeepney. It is the most popular means of public transportation here. It is also the most colorful, the most useful, hindi lang pang-publiko, pampamilya pa. Really! At almost all family occasion that requires transporting several people at least cost, the Jeepney is present. It has become a national icon.When US troops left at the end of world war II, there were hundreds of surplus jeeps left either sold or given locally. True to Filipino ingenuity, we made several changes to the body. Filipinos added roofs to protect passengers from the elements, enlarged the body to accomodate several people and then painted and decorated it as if it were a moving extension of the home. Thus, you will see rugs, curtains, throw pillows even on jeepney. And so it was in this tradition that my beloved parents are shown here, photos courtesy of twistedsunshine. This was taken during the wedding of Kristin Lagria and Joel Namoc at Tagbilaran City, Bohol. It is nice to be seated facing friends and families which we only see now and again during reunions and family occasions. Gatapok jud ang mga bol-anon diri.

By the way, the two pictures above are from wikipedia. Going back to the topic at hand, notice in the 3rd pic that there's a small rectangular stool in the middle. Yup, that's right. In Bohol at least, the drivers maximize the jeep's capacity so much so that you will find it really difficult to get out of the jeep because even the center aisle is occupied. But no one really complains because for one, it is a way of life in Bohol and secondly, Boholanos are by nature easy to please, good-natured people. I think.

Cebu...Gateway to the Visayas

I was able to avail of cebu pacific's promotional fare from cagayan de oro to cebu for my parents which costs me only P400.+ one way from cagayan de oro to cebu. Since the family event was already scheduled June, I bought the ticket last February. I also availed of the same fare for me and my daughters. Also with me is my dear mother-in-law who helped me and hubby settle some of our issues.

Every time I get to be in Cebu, I try to find time to visit the Sto. Niño Basilica, light candles and say my prayers and thanksgiving. Back when I was still doing my review at San Carlos, I promised that If i pass the board exam I will make it a point to visit Sto Nino yearly. If I am unable to go to cebu, i will hold a get-together in our house in honor of the Sto Nino Fiesta every January. And so, straight from Mactan Airport we took an airport taxi which i paid around 295 to get us to the Basilica.

My kids are fortunate enough to have experience air travel so many time considering the cost. I experience air travel only with my first job straight out of college. Both my daughters where not even 2 years old when they had their first plane ride. Hubby loves going to places that can be reached by cars so we are used to travelling at night. We spent christmas of 2008 on the road travelling to Zamboanga. And if there is a bonding activity that binds us closer, it is travel. And so, I must always set aside a budget for travel. My kids are comfortable at airports, at gasoline stations for our toilet needs and at hotels. Really, travelling allows us to appreciate God's creation first hand.

Cebu is a good travel destination if you want to reach as many places in the visayas as possible. Virtually, everything is accessible. Bohol for one is just a fastcraft away. Most of the islands in fact are just a short boatride a way. And hey, don't forget to visit the Sto. Niño.

Beauty giveaways from Topaz Horizon

I have been an avid reader of Topaz Horizon and her beauty blog site ever since i chanced on her when Nuffnang featured her as blogger of the month. Anyway, she has these assortments of fabolous beauty products to give away. The guidelines are :

1. Write about the contest in your blog


2. Make sure to link your post to her post


3. Leave a comment in her site informing her of your post


4. Wait until she announce the winner on June 26

Shipping is on her. So what are you waiting for? Take a look at what's at stake in her post

Flu-like Symptoms

Yesterday when we were in Cozy Resort in Rosales, Pangasinan the kids spent most of the morning time in the pool. After lunch, Aj told me "init ko". I felt her and i think she did have a fever even until now. Last night her temperature is 38.9, this morning it's down to 38.3 . It's probably ordinary flu, but sometimes swine flu come to my mind and so i spent time googling swine flue. My source is from the Center for Disease Control. Here's a summary of what i found:

It's a new type of the influenza virus. It is contagious and it spreads from human to human but the exact manner of transmission is not really known. The symptoms is similar to the seasonal flu which includes fever, cough,sore throat,runny nose, body aches, headaches, chills and fatigue. Sometimes diarrhea and vomiting also accompanies those symptoms.

It is said that a person can be contagious from day zero up to 7 days when he get sick. That's a long period to quarantined yourself. You will not be infected with swine flu if you eat pork. Since there is no vaccine available at this time, it is better to take certain precautions like:

• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze and dispose of the tissue properly
• Wash your hand with soap and water after you sneeze, even alcohol based hand cleansers are also effective
• Avoid touching your nose, eyes and mouth since germs spread this way
• Stay at home for 7 days or until you are symptom-free for 24 hours which ever is longer to prevent spreading the disease.
• Drink lots of liquid, and rest.

As for AJ, hubby doesn't seem concerned so he probably thinks it's just ordinary fever. Hopefully, in the meantime she seems okay and she eats so i'll just give her plenty of liquids,paracetamol(tempra) to lower temperature and tender loving care that only a mom could give.

Paid-to-click sites...

If you're struggling like me to earn money online, I'm sure that at one time or another you have encountered PTC sites or Paid-to-click sites. These are websites that tells you they will pay you so much if you go and surf their ads, click the sites usually after observing around 30 seconds.Payment per click ranges from .025 to .07 at least those that i have found and tried.
There is this site that i have been laboriously clicking for the past month http://www.flybiz.com/ .

What draw me to their site is that they are offering .07 per click and $77 bonus upon registration plus they said instant cash out. Well, it's not true because as of yesterday i accumulated around $1,000+ and i wanted to cash it out but i can't because they want me to register for referrals which will require that i pay them money. I decided to just delete my account. So there, I rid myself of junk email and a useless PTC site. Well, not actually useless because they promised a pay-out ofa minimum $10,000 US for free members. I guess, I'll just have to find other online ways to make money.

Anyway, I still have three more PTC sites to try on. Actually, it's an old account(Performance Bux) but i haven't been logging in because it just seems so much effort to go to their website and surf on their ads. However, if i have proven that indeed anybody can cash out their earnings without paying additional, i wouldn't hesitate to blurt it out here. So there...

Quick then, Not so quick now..

I went to mr. quickie mega mall yesterday to have some keys duplicated. It's located on the lower ground of SM B. It was about past 12noon already so the sales attendant told me that i have to wait a bit more because their staff was still having their lunch. No problem with that, i still have to go to Banco de Oro anyway to pay some bills. The nearest banco de oro at smb lower ground did not accept bills payment and i was told by the guard to go to sma upper ground near National bookstore . So i went there, filled up some forms but decided i wont anymore because the line was too long and i had very important things to do back at the office. When I got back to Mr. quickie, the guy was still halfway duplicating so again i went out and did some grocery shopping.


Finally for the third time when i went back to mr. quickie the keys were ready but i still have to wait some more even though there were three attendants on the counter. The other one was entertaining the customer, i don't know what the other two was doing. In fairness, when i was already entertained by one of the attendant, the other also approached me and asked me.



Anyway, i just thought that it would be quick at mr. quickie. The other time that I went there to have another key duplicated, it was really quick. I think the employees where really just doing good work but it probably would help if the customers has an idea how quick a single transaction would be. Exactly how many minutes would it take to duplicate a key? or to resole a shoe? I think they should post their standards, just so to quantify improvements.

Home

We are officially starting our life here in the big city. Although it's been a week since coming from bohol, We still stayed at citiland shaw tower for the past two months. It's only just this friday, independence day that we've really transferred to our new home. Fitting, isn't it that we timed our moving in and moving out on independence day. It's not for anything symbolic. It's practical because there's no work on that day. This is our bare living room. Notice that the hallway to the kitchen has natural lighting, I like that. The metal shelf we bought from Robert who really took the effort to find a place for us. This one though is found by hubby. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a laundry area and kitchen. The master's bedroom has a door towards a balcony looking over the main street.
Today, We were so busy buying stuff for the new home. Most of the furnitures we bought along shops at pedro gil in paco. They deliver the items and compared to malls, we got all those things at a bargain.He had three of his friends come along to help us. We had dinner last night at Aristocrat in malate. By the way, i absolutely love their strawberry shake. This morning, we had brunch at Max's still in malate along with Leo, a cadet as his office to help us get the remaining things at his boarding house in sta. ana. It's really true about Max's chicken, theirs are simply the best. I found a new max offering, the mongo with sardines, i liked it except that i found it too salty. The picture below is the kitchen leading towards the laundry area. Water is no problem yet and so far flooding does not seem to be a problem because the house is situated on a high area.

Anyway, this is one of those times i like being married. Having someone to lean on to especially in those times where men are most comfortable doing manly things around the house, like getting the men to help move stuff, setting up the aircon, providing the finances...hehehe.

This is our kitchen which i also love. I intend to spend much of my home time here learning how to cook. Hopefully, time will come when hubby will also learn to sit still at home. By the way, he already cooked his first meal here. Really, i like these family moments when all the four of us are together. Below is the master's bedroom with abby's feet showing. The dresser that you see is also from paco.

And we're working things out...no need to sweat the small things.

Bakunado sa flu

Me and and my two daughters had our flu shots at Dr. Riza Canoy's clinic at Mindanao Sanitarium last June 1, 2009. I thought it prudent for us to have it considering it's already rainy season and with the h1n1 cases in our country and how expensive it is getting sick, since i have the money now, we might as well have our shots. The pedia shot cost about P600 while the adult shot costs about P700.

Anyway, Dr. Riza has been my kid's pediatrician since i become a member of cocolife. She's very nice and good to her patients and that's probably the reason why her patients just keep on increasing.

Apartment Hunting

It's so difficult finding a place to live especially so in a big city. There are several things i need to consider foremost of which is the rent and location. Rent is primarily dependent on one's capacity to earn money. A prime location means that rent is on the higher end. A prime location would mean good neighborhood, good access to commercial, recreation center, ease of transport, schools,churches.

A house with grounds would be best if located in manila but even if it's in neighboring suburbs, you would have to have a car to be able to move around which entails another expense. A condominium offers the security and ease of access. But then again, affordability is the issue. If it were not, I would love to own a piece of The St. Francis Shang-rila Place

It is so in the city, it's near shangrila's rustans, sm megamall, st. francis church,mrt shaw station,edsa central market,and it's along shaw and st francis st. My ideal place to be living in. Perhaps if i should win the lotto, i will buy a 3-bedroom unit.1 bedroom is for me and hubby, the other bedroom is for my kids and the other still to my househelps. Problem is, it's like aiming for the moon and i don't even buy lotto tickets much less shop at shang-rila. I do like doing my groceries at rustan's but i doubt that's part of the promo. They have this on-going promo where they are giving away a unit if you will shop at shangrila and you're name is chosen. I guess it's goinf to stay a dream.

I should get back to reality.