If you want to be happy stop looking around and comparing yourself to others. Instead evaluate your life by looking within yourself. Find peace and happiness in a world you may not always understand. How? By appreciating what God has given you because He has given you everything possible that you have just forgotten it because you were too busy looking at what others have. Imagine how boring life can be when we are all the same that is why God made us all different. Stop being envious and erase that self-pity that is growing in your heart. Those negative emotions will become incurable disease- it is called CANCER!

The kids woke up early today but we wondered why the school bus wasn't there to pick them up. They've been waiting outside the house long enough so I decided to drive them to school. I was a little bit nervous because I didn't expect to be driving them to school. I drove them without changing my clothes. I really don't drive a lot most of the time I prefer to stay home. I called the school office asking them why the kids were not picked up and they told me the school bus went to pick them up early. Hmm, I wonder how early. It sounds crazy but what can I do. Later in the afternoon we went to H Mart to buy rice and some other groceries after we ate our dinner. We also got some slimming tea called Ballerina. It's a good alternative for slimming because it can help regulate your body without any side effects.

I started a new hobby yesterday called digital scrapping. At first I downloaded the free software but I didn't know what to do. I got tired of going around in circle in the site so I went for a nap. When I woke up I studied on how it works after a while I finally found out how it works! I was so happy. I have made 4 scraps since yesterday. Scrapping is really fun be it manually or digitally. It always feel good to be able to have a positive outlet. I'm learning a lot each day about the things I love blogging, scrapbooking, photography, flowers, designing and the list goes on and on. I made 2 scraps today that made me feel good. Designing from scraps can really help you forget your frustrations. I am learning a lot from other bloggers. I have gained a lot of friends day by day on the web blog. Each one has unique styles in writing and designing their blogs but it is nice to read and learn from each and every one of them.

My Children's Scary Experience

One of James teeth fell off today. He told me to keep the windows open so that the tooth fairy can get inside and do some magic and make his tooth grow again. How funny this kids are. I just remembered their dental appointment last Friday.
We went to my kids' school last Friday. We picked them up for their dental appointment. Both of them were scared. When we arrived at the dental office, they seem to like the place because it was full of stuffed toys. We filled up some forms for them. James was called in first. His tooth was checked and the assistant kept on praising him for being brave. I have to accompany him and he seem so restless. An x-ray was taken for his teeth about 3-4 times. He was crying at the last one because he thought the dentist was forcing him to open his mouth. I think he was just real nervous. He got his reward from the treasure chest. Then came Heaven who looks more scared than James. The dentist instructed me how to hold her. He said we will make it easy for her. But the way I was holding her made her seem uncomfortable. I have to hold her hands and feet tight and the doctor checked her teeth while the assistant wrote the observation. Then they took x-ray for her teeth teeth too. Then after that he told us to go back on Tuesday of this week to discuss on what to do with the kids next dental appointment. It's a long and boring process but we have to do because its mandatory for the kid's school requirement. Our teeth also is very important to be taken cared of to protect complications. Would you believe that it can cause heart disease? I hope one day they won't be scared to face the dentist that it would be a happy experience for them.

Oh I Love Taking Pictures!

Anything that has is related to art is really appealing to me. Cooking, garnishing, singing, dancing, writing poems and taking pictures too. Yes! I just love taking pictures of just about anything around me. I really love viewing at each picture specially that of my kids. They always bring sweet memories of the past. They seemed to have grown so fast that I cannot stop looking the sweet innocence of their faces when they were toddlers. They are simply adorable. For sure a picture tells a thousand words but I just want to view each and everyone of them. I used to leaf each album page but it seem to be a great task and so time consuming. The Digital Photo Frame Central has caught my attention as I searched on the internet for quality frames that could help me save time in leafing the pages of my album. They have a wide variety of latest models to choose from. There are portable pocket size to big ones. And best thing is their 10.4 digital photo frame is on sale for $30 off. I'm so excited about it. I can't wait to tell my husband that we need to purchase this item in as much as I really would love to have one.

A Precious and Rare Beauty

Our first anniversary was really a memorable one for both of us. Twelve months and counting of our blessed life as one. I gave him a simple and unique gift. Simple because it was just a card, unique because I handcrafted it myself. What matters most is its the thought that counts. My husband wanted to buy a gift for me but he thought that it would be nice if I will choose my own gift since I'm very meticulous when it comes to jewelry. Well at least he is practical about it. His nice may not be nice to me since he is not into jewelry. So we went to the Moorestown Mall to look for what I really like in Boscov's but I didn't like any of their jewelries there. We hopped in to Macy's and looked at their jewelries. Finally I found what I was wishing for. At first I was hesitant to get it because of the price but my husband said he's gonna buy it for me if its what I want and if it really will make me happy, so why not. I chose to have a medallion coin pendant which has lady liberty engraved in it. It is such a rare beauty and it is a lasting gift. How lucky I am to have a very kind husband.

Then we went to Mikado Japanese Restaurant for dinner. I really enjoyed our dinner in their habachi room where the chef grilled our food right in front of us. A lot of people there were celebrating their birthdays. The table staff sang at 4 times on different tables. It sounded rather funny because they seem to be out of tune of such a very simple tone but at least they had the guts to sing. Well serving was their career not singing so that was fine. I am looking forward to dine there again. I like the food and the ambiance.

My Anniversary Gift To My One & Only

I was having a hard time sleeping last night. I wanted to give something to my husband on our anniversary day today. I was already in bed but my mind was still fully awake so I crawled out of bed and handcrafted an anniversary card. I took a picture of it and hope he's gonna like it. My stepson was still watching tv while I was busy doing the card. At least, someone is there to keep me company. I was happy and contented that I got something for him today so I went to sleep around 2AM. I stuck the card between the mirror in the bathroom but he didnt notice it;-( So I let my son hand it to him this morning and he was so happy about it. I believe each one has an artist within us waiting to be explored. I couldnt even believe that I was able to make the 3D card.
Wow! Never have I thought that I'm already a year here. If you were to ask of the first time encounters and experiences I'll never forget I'm gonna tell you and these are (not arranged in chronological order):
1. first time to be in the USA
2. first time to drive
3. took the first driving exam and passed
4. got my first car
5. got our first house
6. celebrated our first anniversary
7. first time to bake
8. first time to see snow
9. first time to line up and wait outside at 5am to shop and it snowed
10. first time to experience winter, spring, summer and fall

The Joy of Being a Mom

Yesterday we decided to go and buy some toys for the kids. We looked for the nearest toys r us and we found it in Cherry Hill which is in Route 70. The kids got so excited with choosing their toys. Looking around James got more anxious and could not even decide what to get. He got a toy guitar in the Barbie aisle, well as long as he is happy with that. He got a batman toy and a so called Vincent, Im not sure what it is but it looked like a big wristwatch. Heaven got excited with her toy register, maybe she wants to be a cashier someday lol. She also got a boombox cd player, a bag, a camp rock cd and a flashlight.I helped her make her choices but I was having a hard time helping James with what he should get. I told James that next time he should make a wish list so that when we will go to the store he will not get confused on what to get. They both shared the cd player and both listened to their camp rock music. It makes me so happy to see them overjoyed. Kids are kids when it comes to toys. Amazingly I too have a kid in me maybe that is why it was easy to help Heaven chose her toys. How lucky that they are able to choose what they like. When I was young we only get new toys on christmas. But well that's how we want our kids to give something more than what we have had experience. I'm grateful that life has been kind enough to them. I am constantly doing my best to be a good mom to them.

These Long Time Blossoms

The sight of flowers makes me happy. One of the flowers I have loved collecting is the orchids. Yes, collecting orchids is fun. With utmost love and care they will produce the most beautiful flower for the longest time. How would you like that? When most flowers grow for a day or two and die thereafter not these orchids for their flowers stay about a three to four weeks. To grow them you have to water them every other day and feed them vitamins once every week. You can even sing to them or talk to them to make them feel loved. It sounds funny but most gardeners do that to their plants.

At first I thought they don't have smell but I have also collected a rare one- one that has a very nice fragile smell. Some of my collections are white denrobium that has a blush of baby pink on their petals, yellow danicing lady, an orange fire-like color orchid, beltius, waling-waling. I have more than a dozen orchids in my garden. I have posted some that I have taken pics of. They are a bit pricey but when I have learned to love them and they are a priceless collection to me.

Riding On a Specialized Bike

Biking is a form of exercise that is enjoyable. It is pretty fun especially if you got one specialized bicycle. Before we left Wheaton Illinois, our 15- year old son asked his dad to buy him a bicycle for passing ninth grade. He told us that he did is research and saw this specialized bike that he fall in love with that cost around five hundred bucks. Five hundred bucks? That seemed pretty expensive. But he asked us that how come we can afford to buy a brand new car for me and cannot afford the bike. We were almost tongue-tied. What a question! Well he was able to convince his dad about it so he got his bike. He left to Texas for a vacation a day after they bought the bike. I tried using the bike. It was really nice. One, two, three pedals off you go so fast and smooth. Never had I tried riding a bike moving so smoothly before. It was like riding with the wind. It was rather expensive but I tell you it's really worth the price.

It's Barbecue Time!

I love barbecue, do you? We went to the nearest Ace hardware in Marlton last week to look for a lawn mower. We can't find any lawn mower but we saw the grills displayed there. While we were looking at them, one guy told us that he used to have propane barbecue grill but when he got one charcoal grill as a father's day gift he liked it even better and never used the other one anymore. We bought our heavy duty Weber charcoal grill for the love of barbecue. I was so excited that I tried to carry the grill all by myself but I can't even lift it. One nice guy in the store offered to carry it to the trunk for us. We used it once and planned to use it again this weekend. The barbecue tastes a lot better using charcoal than using gas propane. Do you think so too? Some people don't like using this because it takes time but if you want good food you would always opt for something better. It seemed pretty old way of grilling but still more effective than anything I can think of.

Hip Hop Dance Aerobics

I finally opened my hip hop party dvd and used it yesterday. We bought it two weeks ago and never dare opened it, without any reason at all. I used it and had fun doing the hip hop dance aerobics right at home.I used to go to the gym but since I'm new here I don't know if they have a park district like the one in Wheaton, Illinois. So it's either I take a walk or do aerobics at home to keep myself in shape. My family has history of deaths of heart failure which that scares me a lot. Keeping physically fit is really important. I watched some movies too since I was just alone in the house after the kids went off to school. I like the first movie but the second one was too scary for me that I turned the tv off and went to sleep. What a boring day. I didn't even bother to write anything at all.
My husband's ex-wife called up later in the afternoon and we talked for about an hour on the phone. Seldom you would find friendship like this but yes it exists and we are friends. She lives in Texas but they are not from Galvestown where the hurricane is supposed to land. We talk about anything on the phone. We laugh at each other's jokes and my husband couldn't believe that we can talk for hours on the phone. Well, I am pretty flexible with most people and I think she is too. She is grateful that I am taking care of her son who is living with us. Why not, the kid is my husband's son so he's as good as mine too.
Today seemed cloudy outside. The hurricane Ike is on its way to Texas and people get panicky about it because they were told to evacuate just in case it will blow hard and cause much damage. Things get a little bit scary yes because its an open gulf with no sea wall at all. They are expecting the waves to be 20ft. when it reaches the shore that is higher than a two-story house. I hope everything will be fine there.

Slippery when wet

Today I started my day with a hike even if it was cloudy outside. I wanted to go to the store but it seem rather far. I like walking since its not too hot. I just went to a store nearest us to get some stuff then head back home to take a shower. I talked to my niece on the phone for an hour or two just about anything we could think of. I waited for my husband for the kids' dental appointment but he called up telling me it was cancelled. I heard the pour of the rain outside, got tired of sitting here all day so I went out for a little while. The road was slippery. I was on the intersection when I turned left and the rear tires slipped. I was nervous because that was my first experience. I did not run fast but I seem to be racing, I heard screeching on my tires. I went to the store and my nerves were still tense. I was scared to go home because I might have the same experience again. I was nervous and hungry all at the same time. I bought some food but never ate it. I was worried because my kids will be home and I need to be with them so I have to conquer my fear. I headed home safely thank God. I told my husband about the experience and he told me not to drive after the rain because when the heat and cold collides on the asphalt it will produces a slippery film that I should avoid. It was a learning experience. I will be careful again next time. Well, I think I was careful but scared.

Hibiscus aka Gumamela

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Hibiscus rosa sinensis is the scientific name of this tropical flower. It is also known as Gumamela. Its beauty and variety captures the eyes of many. They brought this type of plants here and amazingly they found out that it can survive the winter. When a lot of people call their kids after Rose, Daisy or Magnolia, my mom named me after this flower. Yes, she named me Gumamela. I have taken these pictures from my garden. I have collected around four to five different shades. Aside from these colors, I also have pink and white. The nice thing about this plant is it always bears flowers. I like to see the flowers every morning when I wake up. If you want to plant a flower in your garden choose this perrenial type so you will always enjoy the beauty of nature.

Entertwined Passion

Funny it seems when you remember things. When I was in my elementary and high school days I used to keep a journal. Writing has always been a passion of mine. I have joined some contest about essay writing, feature writing and editorial writing in high school and won. Then just all of a sudden it all stopped. Maybe because I studied Education in college and not Journalism. I could have continued what I have started then but well I wanted to always learn new things and have always dreamed of becoming a teacher. A dream come true for me. Who would have thought I would finish college. With my mom telling me she can't afford sending me to college whether public or private, I pushed myself to find alternatives of her not spending for my college tuition fee. Having finished high school was all she could financially afford. So in the process I ended up searching for scholarship programs and took series of exams and interviews. The Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Scholarship granted me a scholarship not just a in public school but a private school of my choice. My mom was so happy about it and supported me to the best of her ability. She worked doubly hard to feed us and to give me my everyday allowance. She has been a widow of five kids since I was five years of age. Raising us alone was no easy task. She has no educational qualifications for that but she strived hard to keep us intact, the five of us in one home. Motherhood needs no educational attainment true, but being a breadwinner as well is a different story. She was a father and a mother to us all at the same time. Our being so poor never discouraged me to finish my education. To learn with love, tolerance and perseverance I moved on. To make the story short, I graduated in 1995, got a job, got married, had kids and so the journal writing was long forgotten. I think I completely forgot about it because we were asked to make Lesson Plans everyday for so many subjects- English, Science, Math, Filipino, Social Studies and even P.E. Not just that, I also need to make visual aids. Too many things to do, my journals became lesson plans. Set objectives, make materials, evaluate students and record results-that's the life of a teacher. How would you love that?
Someone told me about blogging and it really rang a bell to me. I felt the urge, the connection so I started writing down here. I taught four years in the private schools and seven years in the public school. I have learned so many things when I was teaching but I stopped for a year because I have to relocate and settle down my family. In those seven years of teaching I managed to study Master of Arts in Teaching English every weekend but shifted to Special Education. I have learned to love Special Education so I really was able to finish my master's degree. I wanted to finish my master's so my income would elevate in the public school but then the process seemed to be slower than a turtle. I got frustrated with my first marriage and told myself this is not the life I dreamed to have for me and my kids. I want to rear children but rearing a husband seemed impossible so I let go. I had my annulment in 2006. It didn't stop me from loving. I met Terry online. We talk everyday since I met him. He is a passionate person and he patiently pursued me. He truly knows what he wants. He's sense of humor and wits captured my lonely and aching heart. Can you believe my aching heart has the capacity of loving again? If I didn't my heart would possibly stopped beating. It took him three visits(which happened every year), half the world away every time before we got married. One time we were sitting on the couch he asked me what took us long to get married, look what we had missed. I just smiled lovingly at him. We are married for a year now and we seem to pretty get along well with each other. I have always been persistent with love and life. And my love for writing? Always will be.

Home's Comfort

Our living room came alive with the brand new couch and loveseat set. The living room was really very bare before. The old couch we have been using from Illinois was placed in our family room. Terry thought of throwing that away because bringing it here would be too bulky but I told him that we should just bring it with us since the moving will be paid by the company where he is working. It was rather old but still useful. But we finally bought a brand new living room set. I was so glad about it. Not just glad but very glad. I remembered that my husband wanted to purchase the furniture from Direct Buy because he said its cheaper there but every time we go there it would end up chaotic. He don't seem to like what I chose for a million reasons. He manages our finances and he is a good spender. For all I know he wanted to buy a one dollar worth of living room set. But I am so happy now that he bought the living room set that of my choice from another store. It has an exposed wood with details carved on it. It is medium brown in color and had a little burgundy accents on the throw pillows that come with it. We bought a love seat and a couch . What I love most about it is the comfort it gives you when you seat on it. When we were at Direct Buy I was wishing even just a couch or a loveseat will be fine because of the price tag. My husband told me before that he will just purchase the items(the furnitures) for the house when I will be here because he is afraid that if I'm not gonna like it I will just end up getting another one to my liking and that would sound like a waste of money. How sweet. Thanks for the consideratin hon. I'm grateful that my love finally gave me what I want for our house.

Tornado Watch

We have a tornado warning up here! We only knew about it when we turned to the weather channel. They said it will last up to eleven tonight. I hope everything is gonna be alright. Gosh! It's been raining on and off since last night. The grass and trees have been drenched to quench their thirst. The ground has been pretty dry for the last week.
We had the chance to go this afternoon at BJ's Club. It's like Sam's Club where most of the items are bought by bulk. We went to the customer service counter and waited for a long time with so short a line because one guy was stuck in front of us. When it was our turn, we had our picture taken for our identification card. Have you ever tried your picture taken using an item scanner? That's how they took our picture there. Sounds funny but true. The card seem ugly but at least it's useful for us. The kids bought toys but James changed his mind. He returned his toy because he wanted to buy the Wall-E leapster which cost much more than we expected. I got my toy too, a porcelain doll that I started collecting. Now, I got two of them. Terry wanted to go to Super Fresh but I told him that it's raining and I don't want to go there so he dropped us home and went to the grocery store with Caleb. They actually went there to buy some food for Caleb. I told him to buy ice cream for me. When they went home good thing they never forgot to bring my ice cream! Woo, ice cream on a cold day, have you ever tried that?

What's up....

I finally got to see how the social spark works. I'm gaining friends in no time. I have read a lot of blogs and reviews. Nice thing about it is the opportunity is right there. Most of all I have claimed my blog. That was fast. ;-) Can't wait to take opp. Hehehe.

researching

I joined social spark yesterday but my gosh i didn't know what to do with itk stuff their talking about. I just hope how I did it works. I'm reading some blogs and reviews. Ouch it's giving me a headache. A lot of people can write blogs and there are beginners too. Well I'm one of the so called neophytes but I'm loving it. I'm waiting for my friend to help me change my layout. I hope she is already awake now, hehehe.

Driving...

My husband thought I will never drive again. He's confused of what's the point that I have my own car and driver's license yet I stay at home most of the time. Since we moved here I stopped driving the car he bought for me. Why not? I am not working. I am pretty much new in this place making me so uncomfortable in driving around. But without his knowing, I started driving alone the other day, back and forth, back and forth. Just last week, he bought me a gps so I will really be guided and I will know where to go. Cool stuff it is. He uses it too when he drive somewhere far. He bought it for me actually but I have never used it. I stil need time to get used to it telling me where to go. I am starting to drive around and I am getting familiar around the place.

Here Comes Autumn

Autumn is one of my favorite temperate season. Soon it will be autumn here. It's the season between summer and winter hence it will not be too hot or cold. It's the time of the year that the trees and animals will be busy preparing for the very cold season that would follow. You would see golden leaves, red and neon green ones too. It is also harvest time for crops. Some people call it fall because leaves start falling.
I took a picture of my first autumn in Wheaton, Illinois one beautiful day in the park. Illinois is one place which has harsh winters. It would not just be cold there but breezy too so it would always feel doubly cold. The trees would surely prepare themselves in hibernation by displaying their grand beauty before they sleep. That is why they have beautiful autumn there. It's a season full of colors and I really love it. It's also the best time to go to the park even if dusk hits the corner of the day a little bit early. I hope you like the picture I took. For me, it's just awesome!

First Day of School

Today is Heaven and James first day in school here New Jersey. They woke up very early and we waited for the school bus at the corner of Lincoln Drive but the bus driver said she will just pick them up right in front of the house which is a good thing for me and the kids. I followed their bus to school. I went to see them in their classroom and dropped the check for their lunch at the office. I met James teacher in their classroom and talked to her for a little while waiting for him. James came along with his ESL teacher who was kind enough to lead him to his clasroom. He was happy to see me there. He said hi to me and to his new teacher and went in his room looking for his name on the table. Then I went to Heaven's room, at first I didn't recognize her among the kids so I felt a little worried about her because she's a scary little girl. I asked her teacher if she was in there and she said to get inside for a little while and I did. She looked a little bit teary- eyed. She told me she doesn't have a pencil. I told her she got a pencil case in her bag with pencils in it. She was relieved upon hearing it.
It looked like an international school because a lot of the students and parents have different colors and talked differently t their kids. Well that doesn't really matter, what matters most is they will feel at home in their new environment. I think they will like it in Frances De Masi Elementary School.

September more...

September seem to be a pretty important month for me because a lot of things happen to me in this month. One: On the twenty- second will be my mom's birthday. Happy birthday mom! May you have many more birthdays to come. Stay healthy so can go here and visit us. Two: I will be celebrating my first year here in the US of A with Heaven and James, yeah its their first year here too. Wow! Way cool! And last but most of all it will be our first wedding anniversary. Happy Anniversary hon! Thank you for always being supportive, loving and caring me and most of all for spoiling your filipina. Hahaha.

Who is the captain of my ship???

A lot of things happen in life. There are some things that happen in a moment you least expect and sometimes you feel life is moving so slow that you want to push it harder. What matters most is the the way you handle things. Because of work, my husband wants to relocate somewhere. So we prepared and conditioned ourselves in the moving. Yet some people suggested he'd rather stay. Sometimes it gets confusing. My head is splitting. Conditioning yourself wouldn't be easy but once you're into it what would you rather do? And all of a sudden, when everything is packed up, somebody says now we stay. Oh my... oh dear.... Please make up your mind. Because now, I do not know what to do and I do not know what to say...Tell me who's the captain of the ship?

I am thinking...

There are times that life would be a little bit kinda boring. Maybe this is one of those days. I hate it. I have nothing to do, no one to talk with. Haha. Everybody's sleeping and I'm the only one who's still awake. I sleep late. With not much to do, most of the time I stay home,dude it's awful. The more it would be awful when the kids will be in school for the whole day. I have not worked for almost a year now. Its some kind of a pause from working and adjustment period for a new life for me or shall I say for us. At least the kids are doing better and better now. I wouldn't really be that worried that much about them. I'm gonna miss them when they will be spending their whole day in school. No one will be bugging me, haha. Well, what can I say. Summer is almost over so its now time for them to go back to school. School here starts on 4th of September. A week more kiddos and off you go. The schools in Illinois started a week ago. Well maybe because it gets colder there when fall and winter come. I wish I have work now. I have started to search for some work online. I'm excited to hear from the employers. I have worked almost 12 years in my life. I stopped last year to relocate and help the kids adjust. I hope and pray that work will be around here for me. Life is boring... can you I go driving?

Happy Birthday Mama

You are a person more precious than gold to me
Selfless, hardworking and patient always will be
I have learned a lot of things from you
Things worth living and remembering for a lifetime
Sometimes you're too frank yet I adore you
Of your honesty and sensitivity
Sometimes people wonder where I got my intelligence
And they praise me for such diligence
All of these I have learned from you
For all of these I am where I want to be
You have given up a lot of things for us
Thank you Ma for everything

Thank you Mary Ann

You could have chosen to be selfish but you didn't
You chose to share your life and expertise with me
And I greatly appreciate such kindness in you
I was amazed and I salute you for that Ann
A lot of things I have done today
You have helped me make my time purposeful
I can see your potentials my dear
I know one day you will do good in you field of endeavor!

Reaching my Dreams

Life's simple beginning has pushed me to dream big. I worked hard to reach my dreams no matter what. Hard work is always important to be able to realize all your dreams. No pain no glory, they say. I can always prove it right. I have burned my midnight candle. I have always been kind and humble and forgiving to people. My eyes were focused on my goal which is a life of contentment and simplicity. When can one be happy? Happiness has a broad definition, to each his own, but for me happiness is a life full of love, optimism, simplicity and contentment. Sure you can always define happiness to your own nevertheless I define mine the same. If I look back to the things I have done just to be where I am now I would never regret it. I thank God for giving me focus in loving and living for the people whom I love and value most. I had my own share of tears and sorrows with relationships yet it is in those experiences that I have learned to be strong not only for myself but for my children. I have served the public in my most simple way with no regrets and that is teaching. As I moved on with my life everyone was happy for me. I know some are jealous but what can you say. To all the people who have shared their life with me in one way or another, I thank you for giving me a chance. You made me strong and you have given me strength to reach for my dreams.