Happy 2nd Birthday Rhaine Danielle

Last July 10, 2011, Sunday, my little girl Rhaine celebrated her 2nd birthday. It's a very simple celebration. We cooked spaghetti, fried chicken, hotdogs and mallows on sticks, menudo, dynamite (chili finger) and I prepared coffee jelly for desert. Her tita weng brought cake and ice cream. We just give out food to our new neighbors and celebrate the special event with our family. Our first visitor is Mamu followed by my BFF Anette. In the afternoon Tita Weng and Michael arrived. Late noon Tito Andy and his family arrived too. It was my brother Darwin as our last visitor. Bad for me since our computer is still broken I did not bother charging my digital camera. Though we don't have any pictures to keep, the memories will stay in my heart. This day the stye on her right eye is almost healed while on the other eye it just popped. I love you Rhaine!

Depression

Wikipedia says its a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behavior, feelings and physical well-being.^[1] It may include feelings of sadness, anxiety, emptiness, hopelessness, worthlessness, guilt, irritability, or restlessness.

Have you ever felt this way? I guess its hard because you are fighting against yourself. It's a matter of will power, a matter of convincing yourself. Its not just a matter of choice just like what they said happiness is. If its emptiness, if you feel incomplete... what should you do? I guess the only way is to go back to the light... this kind of feeling overcomes us when we forget about God. We feel so alone in the dark forgetting that there is a great light, a sovereign God. 

Housemaid or Yaya Salary

My husband is about to leave to work abroad so he told me to look for yaya or housemaid. I wonder what is the basic salary for them and what benefits should I give. When my first kid was still a baby we got 4 yaya's who did not last long. The first one decided to apply abroad, the 2nd one decided to apply locally, the 3rd one left with my watch, huhuhu, the last one just decided not to proceed. I am reading the web and it scares me because of a lot of bad experiences they are sharing. Very few shares good experience. I don't also know what is the minimum salary range this days. I guess just like any other employee, you would stay if you are getting good benefit and you are happy with the environment. I hope Lord will help us find a kind, responsible and most all someone that can be trusted.

Taiwan Placement Fee

My husband applied for a job in Taiwan and currently is waiting for a job order. He applied at Jerzon Manpower in Buendia. He already passed the interview and the medical exam. He was told once the contract arrives they need to pay for down payment and make another payment once the ticket is available. We need to prepare about P95k. Wew! I find it too big for a placement fee but he said that is the trend for Taiwan jobs. I did find Jerzon in POEA list but I really don't have any idea about working abroad. My dad mention that they have a neighbor who just left for Taiwan and did pay P95k. My husband is really excited and have lots of dream for us. Me, I have mixed emotions. I understand that he would be able to provide us better financial support but then thinking of him to be far from us really frightens me. Anyway, I guess that's how life is, it is full of risk. I pray to God that this would be for the betterment of every one. 

Hana Kimi Drama

After watching Hi My Sweetheart, this time my friend lend me Hana Kimi. Its story is about a girl who flew all the way from America and disguise as a boy to enroll in a all boy school just to be with his idol. She keeps on pretending as a boy without her knowing that Quan (her idol, or I would say love one) already knew that she is a girl. The story is really funny and exciting. See how Quan will protect her so that her identity will not be known and how they secretly love each other. Both Hi My Sweetheart and Hana Kimi are good to watch but for me I still love and enjoy Lin Da Lung in Hi My Sweetheart. Anyway try to look for this novela and its something that is good to watch.

My Mercury Suki Card

I have this Mercury Card Suki Card that I always swipe every time I buy medicine or some food from them. This works like SM Advantage card but with Mercury you don't need to pay to get it. I remember you just need to present receipt with a total of P1000. You can collect receipts until you have a total of P1000. For every P200 accumulated purchase you get 1point. Each point is equivalent to one peso. Last week is the first time I used my accumulated points. I think I already have around 134points and I decided to use 110 points. I bought 30pcs caltrate plus which cause P210. With my points its like getting more than 50% discount. Well, well, I did the math and that means with 134 x 200 = P26800. Wow, for the past year I already spent that much with mercury... urgh! Anyway it still feels good to get a discount. 

Note: Unredeemed points will be reverted back to zero if the Suki Card is not continuously used for 180 days. 

A Little Landscape

Two days ago a man in motorcycle came knocking at our door. He was offering a landscape in front of our house. We have very little space in the front (approx 6x18 feet) which I was not able to afford yet to fix. I am planning to close it and put a gate. He offered me 3k for the landscape plus a little kickback, P500 for his own pocket. He offered me 1month to pay it. I got carried because of the installment plan. He even offered additional service like putting stones on our wall, adding groto and having a waterfalls with fish pond. Well I thought having a fish pond is ok but my mom says its already expensive. He is offering me 11k for the landscape plus the waterfalls with fish pond. So I decided instead just to have the landscape. Since my computer is still not fix until now ( a different story ) I am unable to take a picture and post it here. Anyway I am satisfied with the outcome and is waiting for the blue grass to thicken and become very green. I don't have a green thumb but I hope our little landscape would look better and better as days goes by. I am still planning to have a gate but I am planning to keep our cute little landscape. 

Hi My Sweetheart

I have a friend at work who enjoys watching Koreanovela, Japanese drama and Taiwanese drama. She even read articles about the artist. I was able to watch some of these through local channel but now I have no time for it. She give me a link to watch "Hi My Sweetheart" in You Tube and she also let me borrow a dvd for it. I just finished episode 1. I find it very light and relaxing to watch. It makes me smile and laugh while watching it. The story is about a very rich nerd or dork and they describe him. He is the only son and he grew up being protected by his eldest sister. His sister was not able to get married because of him but she was over protective that he grew up alone with no friends, not knowing how the outside world. At the age of 20 he decided to move out and study college abroad and that's where changes in his life takes place. 

Moving to Our New Home

We moved to our new house last Sunday. I took advantage of the Monday off since it is US Memorial Day. At least I will be at home to assist my husband fixing things. We started moving around 5:30am. My dad told me to prepare rice, water and salt because it should be the first item that we will put inside the house. It should be put in the middle of the house to have good blessing. It is my husband who put most of our items in boxes... I guess that is why most of them doesn't have label (hehehe). Anyway we don't have lots of things. Thanks to my mom for our sala and to my Tita Milet for our dining set. We used to live in a small room in my mother's in law's house and I thank God after so 6 years of getting married we now have what we can call our own home. This may not be a mansion or very big house like what most are dreaming of but I am very thankful to God for this blessing. 

Suntel 350

We are planning to move next week and since there is no telephone available yet in our area I decided to apply for Suntel Wireless Plan 350. It got approved and I got the phone yesterday. I was given 3 phones to choose from and I got the Nokia C1-01. I was told that I have unlimited calls locally (Cavite Area), unlimited calls to any SunTel or Digitel Landline, NDD and IDD are pre-activated but of course there is a charge. One thing that I don't like though is that they don't offer security code for NDD or IDD calls. What I did instead is activate security keyguard on my phone so that a keycode is needed before you can unlock and start using it. In less than 24hours our line got activated and I was able to try it last night. At first I am unable to call. After making a call using our area code 046 it started to work. I tried again with out the area code and I can call local numbers, yey. My number is also a local telephone number not what I read online saying their number is a cellphone number. I am not sure if its a different plan. Anyways I hope I would have good experience since I am tied to a 24 months contract.