Thursday, October 28, 2010

iPad

Christmas is coming and I'm a bit scared. I have a feeling it's going to cost us an arm and a leg trying to fulfill the kids' (big and small) wishlists. As they grow up, I noticed that the stuff they want have gotten smaller but more expensive. Ah, the beauty of technology. From iPhone, to ipad, to DSi, to LED TVs, to digital cameras. There's a slew of electronic items that will sure please the kids and the kids at heart. I for one would love to have an iPad. Not because it's the latest fad but I do believe iPad can be a useful tool in my daily life. I have many friends who swear by it. sigh. I need to start saving money quick! I have very little time left to get my iPad!

Insurance

We live in Michigan but we are so close to Ohio, you can practically say we're Ohio's stepchildren. We are about 3 miles to the stateline so we do most our stuff on the "other side". I love our little township, it's quiet, it's quaint, and it's thriving on it's own. But there are times I do wish we were 3 miles on the other side. Why? They pay less taxes and less insurance. Michigan's no-fault insurance costs us a whole lot of extra premium. No fault means the insurance will cover the damages, even if it was your fault in the event of an accident. I've checked carinsurancelist.com, hoping to save a little bit on our car insurance. I'll make the switch in a heartbeat when I find the right coverage.

Course shift

I've seen the rise of nursing as one of the most popular vocations in the Philippines. I remember a few friends who were so excited to join the nursing program right after graduating High School. I wish I had done the same. Instead, I went to a business school to pursue a degree a in Business Management. Here in the US, nursing is a blooming field. I know a lot of friends who are thriving in this field. You can look at healthcare job listings and nursing is in demand. I have a friend who was a teacher by profession, and is now studying to be a nurse. She said it's hard, but the big paycheck is a coming. Will I have the will to do the same?

time flies

Hard to believe summer is over. Other than our big summer vacation, I don't remember much about it this year. Where did the time go? We didn't go much to the farm and enjoy time with the in-laws. I find it sad that we didn't even throw a gathering in our place which we always did every summer. The kids missed out on outdoor camping, where they'd make smores and cherry pies using casters over a bonfire. My kids grew too much this past summer that we had to buy all new sets of clothing and shoes because the old ones don't fit anymore. Ahhhhh, can we stop the time just for a second?

Flooring

The holidays are coming and I need to schedule carpet cleaning again. Our cleaner advised us to have our carpets cleaned at least twice a year. Once in the spring, and once before the holidays. I wish I could do it by myself, but I know I won't get the same results if it was done professionaly. I just don't have the equipment they use. It can get costly having all these home maintenance. I've actually considered replacing our carpet with pergo
flooring. Someone told me it's much easier to maintain. I'm just not sure if I'm ready to spend money right now. But I can always get a free estimate, can't I?

vacation mode

Perhaps the most memorable vacation we took this year was Disney in Florida. We spent the entire week there, visiting one theme park a day. The hotel we stayed at only saw us in the mornings when we left for the park and at night when we came back looking tired and done for the day. Both the kids enjoyed it and they were both sad when it was time to leave. It was a really good experience. So positive that this early, I'm already looking at Orlando vacations online. It's the perfect destination for us.

Phone Problems

I love my android. It's the second smart phone I've bought since smartphones came out. My very first one was an old iPhone which I loved also. Too bad AT&T practically doesn't exist in our house. I bought an iPhone upgrade one time, only to return it a couple of hours later because I realized it doesn't have a signal inside the house. What's the use of having a phone that doesn't have signal? I am now with T-Mobile because they work fine at least. It's also 3G which I do enjoy. My only gripe? It doesn't work inside metal buildings. What gives? I don't understand. But oh well, I can use it most of the time. You can never have it all.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Lazy

It's lazy Sunday! The family slept in a bit, until 8:30, and we all headed out to the trail for a little jog. The weather is beautiful and we're trying to take advantage of it. I cooked a nice brunch of biscuit, sausage and gravy we all enjoyed, then we just lazed around the house for a while. My kitchen sink was a mess but I didn't care. I took a quick nap in the afternoon and I started tinkering with my FB and blog when I woke up. I even created my twitter account! yay! The best part? I'm OFF from work tomorrow! I'm not feeling the usual Sunday blues at all!!!

insurance

Life is busy. It's like living in the fast lane and there's no slowing down. We work hard and we party even harder. But do we ever stop and think about the future? Sure, we feel like we can handle everything, after all, we were raised to be warriors. There is nothing we can't do, right? Right. But we need to think long term. We need to quit living in the present and we should start looking at the big picture. Sure, no one can predict the future. But we can at least prepare for it. Look into disability insurance and protect yourself against the unexpected.

retail experience

I used to work in retail, but I was fortunate that I didn't work the sales floor where employees work longer hours and have to deal with difficult customers sometimes. I was in the back office, in support of operations. I enjoyed my job because it allowed me to learn new things. I was cross training each chance I had. I even learned how to trouble shoot the POS systems. There was never a boring day in my previous job, and it made me a more valuable part of the team. I have so many fond memories of the people I worked with. Oh, I miss those days!

acne

Darn it. It's almost that time of the month again. I can tell. I'm always hot-headed and I'm breaking out again. I thought acne doesn't affect old people anymore? I'm looking for mild acne treatment that won't dry my skin. I've had some bad experiences with over the counter acne treatment before. Instead of treating the problem, it aggravated it more. I wanted to consult the dermatologist but the backlog is sure to test my patience. The next available appointment is not until a couple of months from now. duh.

lolo

My grandfather died from colon cancer 30 some years ago. I was too young to remember, but I was told I was his favorite grandchild. He took me everywhere with him. He loved to jog, and we'd jog along Roxas Boulevard. He even requested to see me before the doctors performed his very last surgery. My mom described a picture of him holding my hand as we walked down the hospital hallway.

Now, with the advancement of Science and technology, I wonder if the best colon cleansing could have helped prevent his cancer?

back up files

I should have discovered and used document scanning before 2 out of our 3 laptops crashed. It would have saved me a lot of heartache. We have a lot of important documents saved in the other computers. And everything's lost, for now, at least. I know an expert technician or an IT geek would be able to revive the dead computers.

What's important is that we learned an important lesson. Back up files. It's tasking, but it can save you a lot of headache in the end.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Acne

I've never heard of epiduo before until a friend told me about it. Like me, this friend also suffers from acne breakouts, only hers is more severe. She swears by the product and said she never felt this satisfied before. And boy, she's right. Her skin looks a lot better, and she has more confidence now that she finally got rid of her acne.

I wonder why we still get acne at this age? I thought it's only for teenagers? Darn hormones!!!!

Zumba

I've been doing Zumba for more than a month now and I can say I'm really satisfied with the result. I do it twice a week, one hour per session. It's a high energy dance routine and I don't feel sore the next day. I haven't lost weight but I've lost some inches. My pants are not that tight anymore! I enjoy it not only because it gives me something to do in the evenings, but it also helped boost my energy. I wonder what'll happen if I added supplements for weight loss in the mix? hmmmm, something to think about.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

monkey business

I am not too happy with my homeowner's insurance at the moment. I can't believe they decided to make changes to the policy without even consulting with us. They added extra coverage to it without our consent resulting with a premium increase of $100. Granted it is probably a better coverage, but the thing that annoys me the most is that these companies think they can just make changes as they please. It's not their hard earned money, it's ours. Anyway, I think it might be time to check out other insurance quotes online. I just don't like being played for a fool.