Sunday Stealing: The Twenty-Fiver Meme

1. Tell us about something that made you laugh last night.

My daughter.

2. What were you doing at 8 PM last night?

Reading a book while feeding my baby.

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?

Searching for recipe.

4. What happened to you in 2006? (Feel free to republish an old post from '06.)

I remember end of 2006, I moved from Richmond Va. to a small island in the pacific and I'm still in that island until now. :p

5. What was the last thing you said out loud?

Don't jump, you'll wake up your baby brother...

6. How many beverages did you have today?

kind? how many glass? 4 kinds, 5 glasses

7. What color is your hairbrush?

black/gray

8. What was the last thing you paid for?

insurance: health, car and social security disability

9. Where were you last night?

home

10. What color is your front door?

gray

11. Where do you keep your change?

quarters go in the 'coin jar' and all other coins go in the piggy bank

12. What’s the weather like today?

in our room, 76F

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor?

rocky road is our last ice cream

14. What excites you?

witnessing the milestones of my kids :)

15. Do you want to cut your hair?

I want to, but hubby is not agreeing with me

16. Are you over the age of 35?

nope

17. Do you talk a lot?

no, I'm the opposite

18. Do you watch Franklin and Bash?

Who? Don't know that show.

19. Do you know anyone named Steven?

no

20. Do you make up your own words?

yup, my latest "palo you"
We use both English and Filipino words when talking to our kids, my hubby taught her the word "Palo" which means "Spank." Since I haven't taught her the word "Spank" yet, I told her "I will 'palo' you, you need to obey/honor mommy" when I was disciplining her one day. Hubby was laughing so hard while singing, "I will palo you, palo you whereever you may go" with the tune of the "Sister Act" theme song.. Since then, I taught her the correct word. :p

21. Are you a jealous person?

depends

22. What does the last text message you received say?

We don't text anymore. We stopped using cellphone's text messaging option 4 years ago and we haven't decided on using one again, I don't remember the last text message I got.

23. Where’s the next place you’re going to?

hmmm, kitchen, I need to prepare dinner.

24. Who’s the rudest person in your life?

I don't know.

25. Are you crushing on anyone that you shouldn't be?

no

Saturday 9: White Wedding

1. Tell us about the most recent wedding you attended.

In March, a co-worker's wedding.

2. Do you enjoy attending weddings, or do they bore you to tears?

It depends.

3. Does marriage in general make you feel confident and good inside, or skeptical?

Gives me mixed emotion.

4. Do you have a photo blog? (If so, feel free to share the link with us.)

Yes, but haven't updated it in awhile. --- rache photography

5. Do you find yourself driving less due to the high gas prices?

Well, yes and no... Hubby drives more than I do.

6. What's the high temperature today where you are?

76-80F here in our house.

7. "It's not the heat, it's the humidity." Agree, or no?

Agree.

8. What's the hottest you've ever been in your life?

Well, it's always summer here in our area so I think it's always hot... Sticky hot. I find myself always looking for some hip hop clothes especially for indoor use. I sometimes can't take the sticky hot feeling.

9. Non-temperature related last question: In your opinion... who's hot?

hmmmm, no idea. My husband and my 3 month old boy.

Book List - 2011

In fear of adding more clutter in our house (especially during school year when I'm grading papers), I haven't really bought any book for the past five years, well except for books for my little girl and for my class, mostly workbooks.  I'm glad that I'm back to doing one of my old time hobbies and I'm building a good library. I find myself reading more and more especially before going to sleep and the moment I wake up. :)

I know it's already July, 5 more months before the end of this year, but I would love to finish reading as many books listed below as I can. I already finished reading some in this list. Some free books I read are not included :p Thanks also to my sister for lending and recommending some great books.  Since I'm so happy with the highlight and notes capability in Amazon Kindle and Nook, I will also re-read some books I've read long long ago.

1.  The Wedding
2.  Shopping for Time:  How to Do It All and NOT Be Overwhelmed
3.  Potty Training with Love
4.  The Rescue
5.  Mommy Teach Me:  Preparing Your Preschool Child for a Lifetime of Learning
6.  Mommy, Teach Me to Read:  A Complete and Easy-to-Use Home Reading Program
7.  Don’t Make Me Count to Three
8.  Organized Simplicity
9.  31 Days to Clean:  Having a Martha House the Mary Way
10.  The Daily Five
11.  Love & Respect:  The Love She Most Desires;  The Respect He Desperately Needs
12.  Shepherding a Child's Heart
13.  The Bible - following one year daily read plan

If you have any book suggestions, leave a comment. Some books about parenting, teaching, organizing home are the ones I like to add in my list for next year :).

Balcony Project Almost Done

Whew, I'm thankful! With our toddler and new born, I thought we won't be able to finish this home renovation plan but we're almost finished with one part of the project. After two days of going to every steel building, furniture and hardware stores we'll almost finish the main project - the estimate finish date is Friday of next week including the adding of the furniture and supplies. Here's a sneak peak of what makes us busy. So happy to have our toddler help as well. :)

Tablet with Educational Games

Did you pre-order the new LeapFrog LeapPad, they are no longer accepting any pre-orders until late August, we really wanted that for our toddler because of its awesome features or educational gifts. We hope that it will be the one of the best graduation gift for our toddler who finished her first pre-school year (K-2), she just turned three and she's really eager to learn.

She's always using her daddy's HTC Incredible and my Nook Color/mini Tablet in running educational games.  I'm sure she'll be happy to have her own tablet.  It's really memorable when we let her use the laptop or desktop computer again and she's touching their screens.  I guess she got too used to using those android touch screen device. 

Sunday Stealing: The Plaid Hat Meme

1. When showering, do you start the water and then get in, or get in then start the water?

----- i do both

2. Have you ever showered with someone of the opposite sex?

----- cute question

3. Were you ever been forced to shower with one of your siblings?

----- no

4. Have you ever dropped your soap on your foot?

----- yup, what a question :p

5. How old do people say you look?

----- 20

6. How old do you act?

----- depends who i'm with, sometimes when i play with my kids i feel like a kid again :) but there are occasions when i act like a 30+  yrs old

7. What’s the last song you sang?

----- twinkle twinkle little star with my toddler

8. Have you recently become a member of anything?

----- choir, math coordinator, newsletter club

9. What are your plans for next weekend?

----- get some important documents done, get our home and e-projects done, finish one of the books i'm reading

10. Do you kiss with your eyes open or closed?

----- hubby (closed), kids (open)

11. Whats the sexiest thing about Sarah Palin?

----- who?

12. Who’s the sexiest famous woman alive?

----- no idea

13. Who’s the sexiest famous man alive?

----- no idea

14. Does your family have a crazy uncle?

----- don't know

15. Have you ever smuggled something into another country?

----- no

16. Do you live in a city with a good sports team?

----- yup, football/basketball/badminton

17. What is the most unusual?

----- it's so easy to eat and gain weight but so hard to loose those excess weight

18. How do feel about the Goth people?

----- don't know

19. Can you fix or your significant other your own car?

----- my spouse can fix, i can watch or take a picture of him fixing it :p

20. Would you want to kill Casey Anthony yourself if you were guaranteed to get away with it?

----- nope

Saturday 9: Against All Odds

Saturday 9: Against All Odds

1. Have you ever tried to rekindle a past relationship against the odds?

nope

2. Do you like your job, or daily routine?

yes

3. Do you find time to 'smell the flowers' so to speak?

yes, afternoon or weekend walk with family; time at the beach or park... soothing... relaxing...

4. Do you have any problems thinking of things to write about in my blog?

sometimes

5. Do others consider you well organized?

sometimes/depends

6. Do you always have a “Plan B” just in case?

sometimes

7. How do you find yourself adjusting to new situations?

i'm not that good with change, i've to have a plan

8. Are you happy with where you are in this point of your life?

yes

9. Do you find the aging process we all go through easy or difficult?

yes

Breastfeeding Supplements

I previously wrote about my concern with breastfeeding. I had a tough 1st month with my newborn due to my seemingly low milk production. There are some things I did that helped with the lactation. I did get more than enough supply for my now 2 month old baby boy, however I encountered some problems when I started to go back to work and 2 weeks after my summer vacation started.

Here are the things that helped me with getting more than enough milk supply for my breastfeeding baby:
1) Nurse or pump frequently. (30min - 2 hrs) If I'm not at work, I'm always nursing. When I'm at work, I pump whenever possible. I nurse on each side until he falls asleep or pull off himself. I used to nurse for 30min-1hr. per side. Yah, no kidding... That long! So thankful my nookie lately joined me while I my little boy and I patiently worked hard on this.

2) Eat, snack often on foods rich in protein and calcium I did more than this, I became a voracious eater. I ate and ate that I gained and gained until none of my decent clothing feeds me. I feel like a sumo wrestling contestant but hey, I am glad that I no longer have my initial problem....

3) Drink enough fluids I'm still not good at drinking 8 glasses of water a day, but I'm trying and I drink juice and smoothie as well.

4) Rest

5) Fenugreek herb supplement 2 capsule 3x a day.

Well, there's a consequence with nursing frequently, at least for me. Now, when hungry, my baby cries and cries until mommy comes to the rescue and nurse him. He doesn't stop at all even when held or rocked by any other relatives/friends.