I miss blogging so much. I miss my posts about the foods I cook. I hardly have time to cook now due to my very busy schedule. I wish I could post and share my recipes of the foods I cook. But, for now, I will just share to you the photos of our food in our small canteen that will serve as our promotional products. Hehe. I will post pictures on every post. And to start with, here’s a photo of our Adobo Meal.

In our canteen, we offer value meals for just Php40, which includes rice, viand, iced tea, and free soup.

God has been so good to us for giving us so much blessings, for keeping all of us healthy, for letting us to have our small business, and for having a stable job despite the economic crisis. We are happy because we can share these blessings in our own little way by providing job for our crews for them to be able to earn through our canteen because they have no jobs before.

It’s been six months since we opened the canteen and it’s doing okay. It’s not our bread and butter, but it’s good to know that it is where we get our budget for our daily meals aside from extra savings. We need to save more because we are planning to have our own house in the next two years.

For the past years since I started working, I usually organize a Christmas Party for less fortunate kids in our neighborhood. I invite them in our house to have a simple party with some foods, games, and lots of prizes. It’s my own little way of sharing my blessings and I know somehow that I was able to make them happy. Since I now reside in my husband’s hometown, I decided to continue what I have started in my hometown. I have organized a feeding program today for a DAYCARE CENTER here in our place. I prepared spaghetti and hotdog on sticks for them, including their moms, and gave them cookies for take home. As far as I know, they enjoyed the foods I cooked. I also brought Andre with me to the Daycare Center for him to be able to play with the kids. The feeding program lasted for only an hour. Though short, I know I was able to make that hour momentous to those kids. I feel flattered hearing them say “Thank You”. It means a lot to me, knowing that I was able to make some kids happy in my very own little way.

Again, I want to thank you oh Lord for these wonderful blessings and praying for your continuous blessings for us to be able to share them to less-fortunate kids like them.

Happy Holidays!

By the way, here are the pictures and a video taken during the feeding program.

We’ve been very busy shopping for various stuffs, aside from the gifts that we are to give to our family and friends this Holiday Season. I’ve been using my credit card for shopping because it is more convenient to purchase various stuffs using credit cards because we all know that there are many pick-pockets during these days. It’s safer compared to bringing big amount of money especially if you’re going to purchase expensive items. I’ve been a shop-a-holic for the past two months, which made my credit card almost reaching its limit. Hehe. Haay, I’m glad there are banks that offer 0 balance transfers. It would be easier for us to pay the stuffs we purchased using my credit card.

We are planning to buy a second-hand car. We are considering having a 1998 model of a Toyota GLI or a Mitsubishi Lancer because that’s all we can afford. At first, we are thinking of buying a brand new one, but we have decided to save our money for the downpayment of our dream house instead. Besides, there are several second-hand cars that are still of good quality.

Here are the things that we should consider in buying a second-hand car:

• all features of the car should function well
• the auto air conditioning should be cool
• the tires should not be worn out
• the engine should be in a good-running condition
• the interior and exterior of the car should be clean
• the car must be registered

Christmas is really fast approaching because it’s starting to get cold and you can find lots of shoppers in the malls. We went to a nearby mall yesterday with Abeth and Andre to buy some stuffs for our canteen and we were so surprised to see lots of people in the mall. We thought that there would be lesser people because it is a Monday, but we’re wrong, it was a holiday pala. Kaya ayun, nakisiksik kami sa mall. As usual, there are so many items on sale. Buti na lang din I have started buying gifts last November pa to avoid the Christmas rush. But, I’m not done with shopping yet.

It was also yesterday when the giant Santa Claus was launched in the mall and I took pictures of Andre with Santa and look what he looked like….

Here’s a slide show of Andre’s picture taken a week ago with Winnie the Pooh and friends at the mall.

My sisters abroad are encouraging us to pursue our plans in migrating to Canada. Beforehand, we have plans to migrate to Canada, but there were change of plans. Abeth and I are hesitant to pursue our application because, aside from our canteen business, we both have good-paying jobs here. We’re lucky to have our respective jobs that we can’t afford to lose them by taking our chances in migrating to Canada because we are not sure what the country can give us when we get there. Besides, we don’t have the guts to give up our jobs here because we are contented with what we have right now. We think that we can still give Andre a better future even if we stay here in the Philippines. We just want a simple life, to have our own business, have our own house, and have good-paying jobs. We still believe what this country can give us. It’s slow, but we believe we can make it. Hard work is the key for achieving a good future.

It’s true that there will be a better future for Andre if we’ll stay there, but we also believe that he will have a good future here if he’ll be able to study in a reputable school and if we’ll teach him how to strive and work hard. Life abroad is very fast and there’s a big difference between living in the Philippines and abroad. Life in the Philippines is simpler.

For now, we just want to travel to the US. We want to visit my siblings and go to the famous places in the US, like Disneyland, New York, Hollywood, and experience Vegas vacations. And we’re planning to go there next year sana if our budget permits hehehe.

Maybe my sisters and I have different views in life. But, we’re not closing our doors and migration is still an option if it is really needed. We don’t want to think of the future very much in advance. Life is too short. Baka mamaya we’re preparing too much for the future tapos di na pala tayo aabot sa future. We want to enjoy life, we want to enjoy every single moment of it. Losing a loved one made us realize this. I know God has better plans for us and He’s been so good to us. We can never tell what His future plans are…we can really never tell. For now, we’re enjoying what He’s giving us and thanking Him for all these blessings.

Can you figure out what’s in the picture?

They’re Andre’s drawings.

Can you recognize what he sketched?

Well, they’re cars…

Do you agree?

I agree!

These drawings made me a proud mom. Here’s the story behind it…

Andre and I woke up today at 7am today, while Abeth is still asleep. He went late to the office today because he’s so lazy to get up. While his dad is asleep, Andre had his morning habits: asked for milk, looked for his favorite die cast Lightning McQueen, and “poopoo-ed”. So, after doing his ‘thing’ we went to the bathroom to wash his bottom and took a bath together. After taking a bath, we went back to our room and left him with his dad as I prepare myself to go to the market.

Andre saw a paper and a pen on my desk and then started drawing. He loves to draw. He loves to trace his hands and feet. So, I left him with his dad and he continued drawing. He’s kind naman every time I left him with his dad, and even if his dad is asleep.

Then I went to the market and go straight to the canteen afterwards to bring the meats and other ingredients. While I’m in the canteen, Abeth brought Andre to my mother-in-law before he left for the office.

After preparing the foods needed for the canteen, I went back to our house to do my work naman. Then I saw these papers on my desk with Andre’s drawings. And I’m so amazed with what I saw. I saw those drawings and made me a very proud mom because he was able to draw cars. Though not perfect, but I know they’re cars. There’s the body of the car with two wheels on it. I immediately called Abeth and told him about it and took pictures of his drawings at once. He loves cars. He really do. Actually, Lightning McQueen is his favorite most especially Disney’s Cars The Movie. He watches it everyday, in the morning hanggang sa matulog na sya. Hehe.

This really made me really proud and happy aside from Andre being able to read the alphabets. Yes, he knows how to read all the alphabets, but only the capital letters. Hehe. But hey! He can already read and now he can draw. Wala lang….I’m just happy that he’s growing up as a bright child kahit na makulit sya. We’re thinking of buying him wooden swing sets as a reward.

I also made a collage of this little kulit’s pictures.

My bestfriend in college, together with her husband and baby boy, dropped by our house last Sunday to get her favorite Starbucks thermos that she left during my birthday. I noticed that she’s getting fat and so am I. Hehehe. I remember when we were still single, we both tried several diet pills to help us to lose weight because we’re both “chubby”. They were effective naman kasi we both lost weight. But now, after giving birth, we both gained so much weight. Kaya ayan, we’re thinking of taking diet pills again.

Most companies are busy in the last quarter of the year since this is the time for making the annual budget. As an assistant plant manager, Abeth makes the projections for capital expenditures and production costs. One of his tasks is to look for a possible supplier of cheap auto insurance for their trucks. They should be reliable, should have a very reasonable contract price, have a good after sales support, and have quick response on claims.

My cousin who used to stay with us took a leave of absence in their school for one semester because he suffered from Behcet’s disease. It is an autoimmune response where the immune system turns on the body, trigering inflammation of the body parts. Small blood vessels around the body become inflamed. The cause of Behcet’s remains unknown, but it’s often preceded by a viral infection. Some expert says that the causes may be genetic. He experienced recurrent painful mouth ulcers that make his eating awfully difficult. At first, we though that it was just a simple “singaw”. But, what is so alarming is that he had lots of them inside his mouth and in his throat, which make it very difficult for him to swallow. We shouldn’t be taking mouth sores for granted pala because there might be a more profound reason for having these. He also developed acne-like rashes and thought that they were just simple acne that can be treated with a simple acne treatment. He has recovered now and ready for school in the next semester. I’m glad that he’s better now kasi sayang naman ung scholarship nya.