Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You're off to Great Places!

You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself

any direction you choose.

- Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss

We recently purchased Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss. It's one of the

books we got for Little M's homeschooling. Little did I know that it would 

turn out to be a book that we all would enjoy. 

Oh, the Places You'll Go is a book about life. It presents a no nonsense view

of life that children and adults can appreciate. It tells us how sometimes you'll

be up, and sometimes you'll be down. Regardless, it's what you decide to do

with your life that matters: if you work it, good things will manifest in your life.

And so if you're ever in need of a simple pick me up, grab a cup of tea and

curl up to Oh, the Places You'll Go. It's guaranteed to give you a good dose

of warm fuzzies.

Merry Christmas 2011 : Emmanuel by Fr. Manoling Francisco, SJ

Emmanuel by Fr. Manoling Francisco, SJ

Isang dalaga'y maglilihi
Batang lalaki ang sanggol
Tatawagin Siyang Emanuel
Emanuel

Isang dalaga'y maglilihi
Batang lalaki ang sanggol
Tatawagin Siyang Emanuel
Emanuel

Magalak isinilang ang Poon
Sa sabsaban Siya'y nakahimlay
Nagpahayag ang mga anghel
"Luwalhati sa Diyos!"

Isang dalaga'y maglilihi
Batang lalaki ang sanggol
Tatawagin Siyang Emanuel
Emanuel

Isang dalaga'y maglilihi
Batang lalaki ang sanggol
Tatawagin Siyang Emanuel
Emanuel

Isang dalaga'y maglilihi
Batang lalaki ang sanggol
Tatawagin Siyang Emanuel
Emanuel

Kahuluga'y "Nasa atin ang Diyos!"
"Nasa atin ang Diyos!"
"Nasa atin ang Diyos!"

- - -

Kuya B (3 yrs. old): "Mama, whose birthday is it?"
Kuya B's Mom: "Anak, we're celebrating the birthday of Jesus."

I had not heard those words mentioned in a looooonnnnnnggggg time.
So much so that I consider myself blessed to have been reminded of
the true reason for Christmas.

A Blessed Christmas to you and your family!

A Day in the Life of an Overseas Filipino

The December 2011 Calendar

My goodness, how time flies! I can't believe it's been a week since M and I moved

into our new home. I'm really happy that the family is finally together again.

As you can see, we're starting over... I thought it was about time we made a

calendar for our Christmas activities... Unfortunately, we didn't have a printer,  

so I hand made the calendar instead. 

Yes, moving overseas is not just about packing your bags and leaving; more

so when there are kids involved. This move has long been planned and prayed 

for. Our non negotiable: we'll do this only if the family can be together.

I share this because I know many Filipinos dream of living overseas. Don't 

just jump and take the plunge. Pray and discern. Research and prepare as

much as you can. 

If you're leaving a spouse or child behind, give yourself a deadline for how 

long you will be apart. Learn from the mistakes of others; there are way too 

many broken OFW families. Refuse to be a statistic!

A new adventure has begun. It is scary and exciting at the same time. We 

continue to pray for His blessing, guidance and grace.

p.s. I just realized that I did not say much about what my day is like... It's 
not all set yet... However, the goal is for me to do VA work during the 
evenings so that I can take care of M during the day. 
... Oh yes, the calendar photo is dark as it was taken late in the evening...  
Computers and toddlers don't exactly work well together...  As such, I have
limited my computer use to late at night... 

38,000 Millionaires (US$) in the Philippines by 2015

Over the weekend, Z mentioned that Php50million in the bank is the bare 

minimum for a Pinoy to be considered rich these days. 

I wondered, How many people actually have this much assets??? 

Well according to Julius Baer - "The Philippines will have 38,000 millionaires 

(in US$) by 2015". Hence, the Php50million number.

I'm not quite sure when Php50million became the gold standard but I must

admit I wasn't paying attention when this figure was pegged. I mean is this

really an exact science? And if it is, what should it mean to me?

If you don't know where you're going, you might not get there. - Yogi Berra, 

American Baseball Player and Team Manager

The short conversation that I had made me realize how much I've changed 

through the years. You see, 10 years ago, I was like other people; listening 

and believing others who had a definition for rich and successful. This brought

me some heartache because I was apparently chasing after things that were 

unimportant to me. 

At some point, I woke up and realized, "Hey, wait a minute, this isn't what 

I want." I then started making life choices based on what I assessed would 

work best for me.  I'm happy to say that at this point, I'm quite happy with 

the decisions I've made.

Some people will scoff at what I said and write me off as naive. But you 

know, the thought of that doesn't really bother me. C'est la vie. We all have 

our own reasons for being. Others have the right to be them, I have the right 

to be me, and you have the right to be you. 

Image courtesy of areasauburnphotos


p.s. So what about the state of our economy? Don't get me wrong, the more
financially stable we are as a people, the better. But I'm less hung up on
the ultra rich. What I'm hoping for is for the Philippines to have a stronger
middle class.

You don't need Php50Million to be middle class. But you do need enough
money to have a home, provide for your children, retire comfortably and then
give some to those still trying to get there.

How to Conquer Overwhelm

The cheque is in the bank. The kid is tucked in. The hubby is prepared for our big 

move. And yet I can't shake off the feeling that something is amiss. Why why why?

3 Things Im doing to conquer the Big Overwhelm:

1. Revisiting my Goals and Priorities.

Im blessed because I can still afford to be a WAHM. However, being a WAHM

doesn't mean I have all the time in the world to do the stuff that I want to do. 

Yes I've managed to get rid of the travel time but I'm just as busy as when I had the 

corporate job. 

One activity I've had to rethink is homeschooling. My homeschooling attempts

have been on and off. It seems more realistic to do it less frequently but more

consistently for a longer period of time. Meaning, I should ditch the grand plan

of homeschooling everyday because 3x a week is really more sustainable. Then

when we do our big move; M will probably attend school; I will just focus on

providing quality after school activities. This makes more sense than me worrying

that M isn't getting the education that he needs.

2. Embracing my humanity.

I am not a superwoman. And it's okay that I am not. So some things are not

working out in the way that I'd want them to. No use kicking myself on things

that are clearly unrealistic. I can accept that certain things don't fit. I can adjust. 

I can create new plans. I can do other things to achieve the same end goals.

3. Recharging my spirituality.

I definitely need to get my prayer time back into gear. I need God to enlighten me

on what needs doing and what needs pruning. I need Him to provide me with

courage and strength for the challenges up ahead. And I need Him to teach me

to appreciate the blessings and opportunities that I'm overlooking. Oh yeah, only 

He can assure me that things will work out.

I guess I'm like most women; trying hard to be a superwoman when all I really 

need to be is myself.

Image courtesy of daedalust

Be Gentle

Image courtesy of lrargerich

Discipline

- "In the field of child development, discipline refers to methods of modeling 

character and of teaching self-control and acceptable behavior." - Wikipedia

Since day one, we've encouraged M to be gentle with people. M is allowed

to rough up his toys as much as he pleases but with people, he knows  

enough to be gentle. 

Our small successes:

- When M was a newborn, I would tell him while BF, "Be gentle." I'm proud
to say that M has only bit me twice.

- When M was a few months old, I would allow him to touch my face. I
would always say, "Be gentle." I'm happy to say M never got into the 

habit of hitting people.

- When M was more than a year old and hitting could have turned into 

a way of venting out frustration, M remembered that he should be gentle

with his cousins.

- Just this weekend, at 1 year 3 mo.s, M sat beside Lola C, his 90+ yr 

old great-great-grand ma, and gently caressed her arm. Yup, 1 chalk up

for being gentle.

"Be Gentle" is a simple, loving and age appropriate way for us to teach M
discipline. We're starting young because good habits don't just happen overnight;
good habits need to be developed over time. I hope this encourages you to
discover simple, loving and age appropriate ways to teach discipline to your
child.

The Longevity Project

Today's comfort-seeking, me-myself-and-I, have-it-all-now proponents
should take heed to the findings of The Longevity Project: Surprising
Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight-Decade
Study by Howard S. Friedman PhD and Leslie R. Martin PhD.

Conscientiousness is the key to living a long happy life. Very old school,
but I couldn't agree with it more.

Conscientiousness
- n. the quality of being in accord with the dictates of conscience; also known
as principled and religiousness
- n. the trait of being painstaking and careful;
also known as carefulness, meticulousness, thoroughness, diligence, and
stringency

According to The Longevity Project, conscientious people know how to
weather out problems. Conscientious people also have good habits which
keep them out of harms way. They also know how to "self-heal" --- it's in
their nature to find their way to happier relationships, happier careers and
happier situations.

Okay this is oversimplifying things a bit. What Dr. Martin and Dr. Friedman
are hoping for is that we read The Longevity Project and discover for ourselves
what the studies reveal about living a long and happy life.

I've always believed that there's value in putting in a good day's work.
Ideally, you have work that you love; work that keeps you productive
and adds meaning to your life. Not there yet? Then keep on trying!

Establishing good relationships in one's family, work place and community
are equally important. We are social beings that need the love and the support
of others. Just to emphasize, they need it and so do we. Something to consider -
relationships need time and attention for them to grow.

Then there are goals. H and I are big on projects. We always have one in the
works. It's exciting to know that there's something to look forward to down
the road.

Last but not the least, there is faith in God. We pray, go to mass, avail of the
sacraments, and do acts of charity. Of course, we've made mistakes. That's
why I'm glad that God has His arms wide open when we've come to our
senses.

Yes, this all sounds like a lot of work. If you're conscientious, you'll learn
how to figure it all out. Hehe. Of course there are days when we get tired
and wonder if we've gone cuckoo for doing the gazillion things that we do.
That just means it's time for a breather. Then it's back to fighting form. If
you're asking, "Is it worth it?" My answer, "Definitely, astoundingly yes!"

Time to Change Tactics

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting 

different results." - Albert Einstein

I have OFFICIALLY said yes to the My Online Wealth Breakthrough Moment

challenge. OFFICIALLY because I have been trying to get at it since day 1. 

I've been wracking my brains as to why my attempts never flew.

Then it hit me, it's time to change tactics! As with most things in life, you really

have to do different things to get different results. 

I need 150 blog posts by June 30, 2011. Yes, that's 2.5 months from now. 

I've been telling myself, "I will blog daily". Unfortunately, that never happens. 

By day's end, I'm just too tired from the day job and the errands. Im also the 

one who puts M to sleep. And anyone with a toddler will know what I mean 

when I say: telling M it's time to sleep is different from him actually going to 

sleep. 

So, I'm trying what other bloggers do: block off hours of time to create scheduled 

blog posts. Okay, the rules do not state that we have to write all the blog posts 

ourselves. On occasion, I may try inviting guest bloggers. But beyond that, I prefer 

writing the posts myself. 

Stay tuned to see how this all works out.

Ukelele Boy

Lhen's comment reminded me of this cute and amazing kid.

For those who are wondering... Here's a message from his proud papa:

"He is 5 years old now.
He speaks Japanese.

He and I started playing ukulele only one year ago.
We first learned the uke by watching a TV program(NHK).
The program lasted three months.

※Our English isn't very good so I'm sorry if the grammar is wrong."
Can you beat that hehehe...

What's so important about today?

Search this:
From and including: Wednesday, 22 September 2010
To, but not including : Friday, 31 December 2010

And you'll get this:
- It is 100 days from the start date to the end date
- Or 3 months, 9 days
- Alternative time units:
8,640,000 seconds
144,000 minutes
2400 hours
14 weeks (rounded down)

~ courtesy of http://www.timeanddate.com

I wish you all the best MM!

I want to cry!
One of the, if not THE favorite blogger is going on a sabbatical!?!
Probably never to be heard of again!?!


It gave me no comfort to see his face in the farewell shot...
But he does deserve to go on a break!
What to do what to do what to do?????

My farewell message is in Comment #308:

I’m so sad… I want to cry… waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
I will miss you and your posts MM!

But yes, you do deserve a break. I wish you all the best!
God bless and may you find what you’re looking for =)

Baby M's Diaper/Baby Bags

http://www.flickr.com/photos/grafixer

Some people might think of it as being a cheapskate.
But I have never bought a diaper/baby bag for Baby M.

Right now, we have 3 bags in all. One is a gift. Two
are from the hospital. These bags are pretty sturdy.
So it surprises me that other people don't use them.

Well now, another free bag is on its way. I can't wait
for it to arrive! I'm quite excited as I heard it looks
good.

Yellow Thinking Hat

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sherrattsam

"Students were deciding on issues they'd like to take action on. We used
the Yellow Thinking Hat to think about positive aspects of their life that
they could expand upon..."

This is something I should do more often...

Focus on the positive:
in me,
in others,
in my life,
in my surroundings,
in my experiences,
in my country,
in the world.

Choose, Act, Reflect

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sherrattsam

"...Choose, Act and Reflect. As the students go through this unit, they
are keeping a record of their choices, actions and reflections by writing
on index cards and sticking them up. This is to get them use to thinking
about everything as part of the cycle, and to track their work."

3 Powerful words: Choose Act Reflect

My 2010 Mid Year Assessment

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andreweick

"I believe that behavior never lies and by examining your results, I
can see a clear picture of your commitment, I can gain an innate
sense of your character, I can grasp a near perfect understanding
of your beliefs, and I can mostly certainly see what you are really
made of.

Your results are a reflection of what you believe to be true about
yourself.

Your results tell me how you think.

Your results tell me how you talk about yourself even when no one's
around.

Your results tell me what you do every single day.

If you want new results, if you want a new reality, there's only
one way--just change!" - Gary Blair

2010 is already half done. The middle of the year is usually a
self-assessment time for me. Time to analyze what I did right,
what I did wrong, what I didn't do and what I still need to do.
In the past, I always found myself wishing I had done more.

This time around, I can proudly say "Job well done!"

The past 6months have been pretty productive. Taking care of
M has been a fulfilling 24/7 task. Add to that work. Plus the
personal projects H and I have.

My life is not perfect. It doesn't have to be either. I believe
I did the best that I could. That's good enough for me.

Warren Buffett recounts the best advice he's ever received

What’s the best advice Warren Buffett has ever received? You might be
surprised: It has nothing to do with money.

"The power of unconditional love. I mean, there is no power on earth
like unconditional love. And I think that if you offered that to your
child, I mean, you’re 90 percent of the way home. There may be days
when you don’t feel like it — it’s not uncritical love; that’s a different
animal — but to know you can always come back, that is huge in life.
That takes you a long, long way. And I would say that every parent
out there that can extend that to their child at an early age, it’s
going to make for a better human being."
- Yahoo News

Thank you Mr. Buffet for sharing this with us. Today's society needs
to be reminded that the true riches of this world do not have a dollar
(or yen or euro) sign on them.

Time to move on

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mats_eriksson

First I was in love.
Then I was heartbroken.
Now it's time to move on.
.....

I have a few friends who've been stuck in a relationship. Sometimes
it's this one guy. Sometimes it's this image of a guy (which is why they
always end up with the same type). Year in and year out I would tell
them, "Pleeeaassee, let go! It's time to move on!". Apparently, it's not
that easy to follow one's own advice...

3 random events made me see the light. First, a question from J --
"What's your passion?" -- led me to a pathetic non committal
reply. Second, an email from C, an old officemate, made me wax
poetic about the good old days. Third, a conversation with A on
careers made me realize it's time for a fresh start.

Apparently, I need to let go of my old career! Gotcha!

Will I go back to it? Maybe. Maybe not. What's more important is that
I focus on the opportunities and challenges that I have in the HERE
and NOW.

p.s. please bear with me... anything older than this post is a
SIGNIFICANT post which I brought over from my other site.

More TV Equals School Trouble Later

http://www.flickr.com/photos/treehouse1977

"Toddlers who watch too much TV may struggle in school later,
with measurably lower scores in math, and they may get bullied
more than other children, Canadian and U.S. researchers reported
on Monday.

Less surprisingly, children who watched more TV at age 2 weighed
more by the time they were 10 and ate more snacks and soft drinks,
the researchers reported in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent
Medicine.

They said children who spend more time watching TV and less time
playing with other kids may lose valuable chances to learn social
skills.

Every additional weekly hour of television at 29 months corresponded
to a 7 percent drop in classroom attention and a 6 percent drop in
math skills, the researchers found.

"Despite clear, age-specific recommendations from the American
Academy of Pediatrics that discourage any screen media exposure
during infancy and less than two hours per day beyond 2 years of
age..." the researchers wrote." - Yahoo Health


Here's some interesting news. What's more interesting is that this
concept probably applies to other "high tech" kiddie gadgets that
were not yet available at the time that this research was made.

So what's the alternative? Good old-fashioned activities: tummy
time, singing songs, reading books and playing with toys are
just some examples.

Yes, you read that right. As parents, we have to relearn the lost
art of using one's creativity to come up with fun -- and educational
-- activities for our kids.

* This post first appeared here.

We've reached the 3 months old mark!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robbie73

"Babies under 3 months of age follow internal cycles of sleeping and
eating. By around 3 months old, though, they begin to be influenced
by the combination of this internal wiring and the external world —
the routines you create. Some babies naturally and easily fall into the
rhythms of their household. Other babies have a more irregular
sensibility and are more resistant to the cues you provide.

You can help settle an erratic baby's temperament by building a
daylong schedule of feeding, playtime, bathing, and other activities
that's consistent. Try to work around your baby's natural inclinations.

Finally, let go of ideals of perfection: If you have a baby who resists a
regimented schedule, the best you can hope for is more regularity in
your household — not a complete absence of disorder." - BabyCenter


Stephen Covey was spot on when he said that with people, one needs
to be effective not efficient. As a WAHM with a newborn, my schedule
still follows the baby's. Baby M does have a basic pattern. It's not "on
time" but rather a matter of "phases". He's just a baby --- and he's
just doing what all babies do.

I have learned that: It is I that must adjust. It is I that needs to be
flexible.

As a result, I am less stressed out about getting it all done. And
M and I are simply enjoying our time together.

* This post first appeared here.