Used To’s and Want To's

I am a little sleepy now and as I fight the urge to close my eyes and snooze (because I am at work haha); these thoughts came to my mind. I don’t know I just started realizing that there are things I used to do and think that hasn’t been doing/thinking lately. Along with that come the things that I wish to do. Here are some:

I used to write short stories, poems and the like. It would be nice to be creative again.

I used to think I would never get married. How wrong I was (laughs!)

I used to have a very nice handwriting. People are always impressed when they see my handwriting. But now since I type almost everything, I find my fingers a little clumsy when I write and my handwriting is not as nice as before.

There was also a time when I thought I would never earn a degree (I used to be a confuse college student)

I used to be wary of computers and all those high tech stuff. Now I can barely last a day without going online.

I used to worry and wonder why I look so young. (Back when I was 22, people would say I look 15 (that definitely have changed now)

I used to be wary of credit cards.

My Wants

I want to have more time for reading novels.

I want to be really independent.

I want to be a good cook.

I want to be a good wife and mother.

I want my own business.

Tweet

A Few Tips To Get Organized

I am always struggling to be organized and I admire people who seem so controlled. The challenge to keep everything in order and in its place is one of the things I want to impose on myself. So I was impressed when I saw this article and website that features everyday items you can use to help you reduce clutter and get some stuff in its order.

One of the articles feature how one can get organized using everyday items. These are my favorites:

Coat Rack as Jewelry Holder



I am into accessories so I have lots of earrings, bracelets, and necklaces in my jewelry box. Stored this way, the necklaces though can get rumpled or worse broken so this coat rack would be a nice little thing to add in our room so I can take care of my necklaces better.

Magnetic Clip as Recipe Holder



As I have said before, I am slowly learning how to cook and can’t wait to try out the recipes I saw on the net so this magnetic clip to hold my recipe as I cook is a nice suggestion.

Tissue Box as Grocery Bag Holder



We have lots of plastic bags in our house that we keep and recycle as garbage bag. We store them in a huge old basket in the kitchen and though it is okay, this tissue box as plastic bag holder seems a better alternative, looks classier than the old basket.

Tweet

Quiet and Rainy Tuesday

The rain showers that started yesterday seemed to have calmed everything, the surroundings and the people. I don’t know if that is just my reaction. But rains during summer although it is a reprieve from the sweltering heat of the past weeks always seem weird and out of place to me.

The heat last weekend was too much for me that I end up having a haircut again. Made my hair even shorter, the length is a little below my chin now. I noticed that lately I am attracted to really short but stylish hair. I love the hair of Suzy Entrata of Unang Hirit. I think I will try that look next time. Maybe after I gave birth or after letting my hair grow a little longer which may take a while.

Anyway back to the rain, here at the office the rain seemed to have quieted the place. It seems to have drowned the unending complains of the people that it is so so hot. The weather is gloomy and the color of the afternoon is pale, so in contrast with the blinding brightness and scorching sunshine. Maybe there is energy from the sun’s rays that is washed down with the outpours.

The gloomy weather makes it deal for snoozing which is made worse by the fact that I am having trouble sleeping at night for the past two days…Makes me crave for soup dishes too.

It is quite unusual to have rain with thunderstorms in the month of April and it made me aware that the summer season is almost over. This is quite early this year because summer rains usually happens during the months of May which I always associate with the fact that summer is about to end. Just like before, the first rains of the summer made me a little sad because it represents the passing of the season, like another pleasant visitor that stayed for a while and left lots of memories but now just have to say goodbye. It also reminds me that I haven’t maximize my summer experience this year, because I am pregnant and can’t travel nor stay out of the sun too much.

Well I think the rainy weather made it an ideal time for me to reflect and I realize that raining or not, there is really no reason for me or anyone to feel sad because there are so many beautiful things in this world and I have so many things to be thankful for.

Tweet

What’s Up With Me Lately?

Myspace What's Up Comments

The past weeks seems to have gone so fast for me. Before I knew it, I am almost 5 months pregnant, halfway through my pregnancy and getting excited and a little nervous each day. Well not so many things happened as I mostly just stayed at home. Here are some of them:

I am a little anxious because I am suffering from bouts of headache, fatigue and nausea lately. Maybe because of the extreme heat nowadays and it is also my body’s way of telling me to get more rest.

I can’t wait to learn if I am a carrying a boy or a girl. Right now, as we are not yet sure of the gender, we have not started to think of a name yet.

Getting hooked up with some websites like Facebook. It is easy to be addicted with the games. I had a virtual farm and pet there. My pet’s name is Tinkerbell and I always run out of points to buy her cool items. I am also into paid to post forums now. I just tried it and I am earning extra bucks from it.

I am not going to join our company outing this summer. Finally I decided that I am not going to join my officemates in the summer escapades of our office this year. Made me quite sad but I just had to let it go. Me and my baby would rather rest.

I am slowly learning how to cook. Maybe all I need is practice. I have been searching for recipes on the net and trying it out myself (with the help of my husband). So far so good, far from perfect but it’s a start. I prepared tuna and mushroom spaghetti and chicken afritada. I love the spaghetti and the chicken is okay. I wish I will learn to cook more dishes.

I have two new credit cards. These credit card companies keep calling me to offer new cards for free and without the need for me to apply and submit documents so I just accepted it. It’s a good thing that I am not really a compulsive shopper.

I have been wearing dresses and skirt to work almost everyday. I used to wear jeans everyday so it’s a new thing for me. As a consolation, I get lots of compliment about how cute my outfits are.

Late this week, I started to feel hunger pangs I think almost every hour. So unlike the previous months when I have no appetite. Now, I feel like I can eat a horse ( laughs). Saw this as a good sign.

Finally this weekend is quiet and a little lonely for me because my husband is required to attend a team building activity in his office. He will be away for two days and that just feel like forever (okay I am exaggerating hehe).

Tweet

100 Truths Tag

Two cool bloggers passed me this tag so I just have to accomplish this now. Thanks to Dee of Tales from the Mom Side and Dhen of MsTeenyBopper.

Here are my answers:

01. Real Name Carmela

002. Nickname(s): Mabel, Mela

003. Age: 31
004. Horoscope: Aquarius
005. Male or Female: Female
008. High School: Rizal Technological University
009. College School: University of the Philippines

010. Hair color: Black
011. Long or Short: Short

012. Loud or Quiet: Quiet
013. Sweats or Jeans: Jeans
014. Phone or Camera: Camera
015. Health Freak: A little
016. Drink or Smoke: No to both
017. Do you have a crush on someone: None
018. Eat or Drink: Eat
019. Piercings: Ears
020. Tattoos: None
021. Social or Anti-Social: In Between.
022. Righty or lefty: Righty

Firsts
023. First piercing: When I was still a little girl

024. First relationship: With someone I’d rather not remember

025. First Best Friend: MayAbigail
026. First Award: Don’t remember
027. First Kiss: with my first boyfriend—I’d really rather not remember (laughs)
028. First Pet: A dog
029. First Big Vacation: Hong Kong
030. First Love at first sight: Don’t believe in that

031. First Big Birthday: When I turned 7.
032. First Surgery: None
033. First sport you joined: Bowling

This or That
034. Orange or Apple juice: Apple Juice

035. Rock or Rap: Rock
036. Country or Screamo: Country
037. NSYNC or Backstreet boys: Backstreet Boys.
038. Britney spears or Christina Aguilera: Britney Spears
039. Night or Day: Night
040. Sun or Moon: Moon
041. TV or Internet: Internet
042. Playstation or xbox: Playstation
043. Kiss or hug: Hug

044. Iguana or turtle: Turtle.
045. Spider or bee: Bee
046. Fall or spring: Spring
047. Limewire or iTunes: Limewire.
048. Soccer or baseball: Baseball

Currently
049. Eating: Yes, boiled egg

050. Drinking: Milk
051. Excitement level: Normal
052. I’m about to: Go to sleep

053. Listening to: the news on TV

054. Plan for today: The day is almost over, just sleep and rest
055. Waiting for: The time when I will give birth.
056. Energy Level: Normal
057. Thinking of someone: My husband

Your Future
058. Want kids?: Yes, I am pregnant

059. Want to get married?: I already am.
060. When?: Hubby and I got married on January 17, 2009
061. How many kids do you want: Two is enough
062. Any name on the mind: None as of the moment
063. What did you want to be when you were little: To be a nun ( haha!)
064. Careers in mind: Teacher
065. Mellow future or wild: Mellow future.
066. Something you would never try: Drugs and cheat with my husband
067. When do you want to die: when it’s my time

Which is better in the boy/girl you like?
068. Lips or Eyes: Both

069. Romantic or Funny?: Romantic

070. Shorter or Taller?: Taller.
071. Protective or Caring: Caring
072. Romantic or Spontaneous: Spontaneous
073. Nice Stomach or Nice Arms?: Nice Arms

074. Sensitive or Loud?: Sensitive.
075. Hook-up or Relationship?: Relationship
076. Trouble Maker or Hesitant?: Hesitant.
077. Muscular or normal: Normal

Have you ever

078. Kissed a stranger: Never
079. Broken a bone: Don’t think so.
080. Lost glasses or contacts: Nope.
081. Ran away from home: Nope
082. Held a gun/knife for self defense: Never
083. Killed somebody: NO
084. Broken someone’s heart: Maybe.
085. Had your heart broken: Yes, once upon a time.
086. Been arrested: Nope.
087. Cried when someone died: Yes.
088. Liked a friend more than a friend: No

Do you believe in
089. Yourself: Of course.

090. Miracles: Yes

091. Love at first sight: Not really.
092. Heaven: Yes
093. Santa Claus: A little. I am a child at heart
094. Tooth Fairy: No
095. Kiss in the first date: No.
096. Angels: Yes

Answer Truthfully
097. Is there 1 person you want to be with right now?: Yes!
098. Are you seriously happy with where you’re in life now?: Yes
099. Do you believe in God?: Of course

100. Post as 100 truths and tag 10 people. Now I am tagging Garando and Rica.

If you want to grab this tag, then just post a comment and I will add your links.

Tweet

Happy Easter :-)

Myspace Comments

Tweet

Cool Items for Mommies and Babies

I saw this old pregnancy magazine at home and decided to browse it. I’ve actually seen the magazine before but since I was not pregnant then, don’t give it much attention. Now, I am so amused at al the cool items for moms and babies that I am seeing in this mag. I am particularly interested in the following items:

Three in One Body Pillow from Moonlight Slumber

• Designed in three parts, this maternity pillow supports your little dreamer from prenatal to preschool.
• A great sleep aide for expectant mothers. Helping them attain side sleep position recommended by gynecologists for baby's health while keeping mom comfortable and cool to help her sleep.
• Separately it is a curved pillow and bolsters to grow with your child making the Serenity Star a purchase that your family will use and enjoy well into the future.

Halo Sleep Sack Wearable Blanket

· Replaces loose blankets for safer sleep.

· Reduces the risk of rebreathing (the inhalation of carbon dioxide), which has been associated as a possible cause of sudden infant death syndrome.

· Allows your baby to stay safe, warm and cozy all night long.

Musical Pregnancy Pendant

And I really want this one…but sadly I can’t find any store or retailer that has them here in the Philippines. I hope someone can tell me where I can get some of these:

• Chime rests low on belly
• As moms-to-be move, chimes plays
• At 20 weeks, baby soothed by sound
• During nursing baby plays with bola
• Timeless keepsake

Tweet

A Post From The Not So Distant Past

I was deleting old files from my pc when I stumbled upon something that I have written last year. I wrote this around October 2008 and I made an effort to write it down because I find it so weird at the time. Please allow me to share an old post:

Weird Nightmares October 5, 2008

Around 5:30 pm, my boyfriend dropped by. He had dinner in the house and we spent quality time with each other. Time passed by so quickly that before we knew it, it's almost 11 pm. It's quite late already so I asked him to spend the night at our house. He can sleep in the sofa and just go home by 5 am so he will not be late for work tomorrow.

My mother agreed as my boyfriend (actually fiancee) is no stranger to us anymore and we will be married in three months time. So I bid my boyfriend goodnight and went upstairs to sleep. He is supposed to call me via my cellphone around 4:30 am when he wakes up so he can go home.

But alas, my cellphone rang around 12:35 am...I thought it was already 4 am and was really surprised when i saw the time on my phone. I was about to fall asleep again when I realized that my boyfriend may want to say something to me so I went downstairs.

I saw my boyfriend fully awake and with a little worried expression on his face. I got concerned so I asked him what’s wrong and he said that he had a really bad nightmare. He dreamed that there are ghosts and monsters in our house. That got me scared and pitied my boyfriend because I know that he has a weak heart when it comes to those things. I hugged him tight as he told the details of his dream to assure him that everything is alright.

In his dream, there seems to be a gathering in our house so there are so many people. Some are his titos and some people he doesn't know. Then suddenly came a great storm then there were monsters and ghosts who want to enter our house. He used all of his strength to locked our door and when my mother saw that he is having a hard time, my mom helped him prevent the entry of unwanted and scary visitors. He also mentioned about seeing some sort of snakes that hid when his titos tried to catch it. He said that the dream seems so real and long that his body got stiff and when he woke up, his lips were so pale and his heart was beating so fast.

Now that is not the really weird part. The really weird part is that we suddenly heard my mother move upstairs so I went to her and guess what---she also had a bad nightmare and my mom's dreams is almost identical to the dream of my boyfriend! Oh God, I am really scared now. The similarities includes gathering in our house as there are so many people; also both of them saw snake. The only difference is my mother saw my father and dead grandmother in the dream. In the dream, my father seems to be angry about something.

I find this really weird because they seemed to have twin dreams and I wonder why my father is angry. And imagine my mom and boyfriend seemed to have dreamed it at the same time- around 12 am...only an hour passed since we bid each other goodnight. Oh god, this is an early Halloween story. My mom, my boyfriend and I end up chatting until 2 am before we decided to sleep again.

Pray before you sleep guys.

Tweet

Japanese Love Stories

One of my officemate is an anime fanatic and he loves to watch and download all these Japanese anime and movies. He offered to lend me some of the love stories he had downloaded via internet and am grateful because I loved both of them.

The plot of Japanese love stories (unlike many from Pinoy love stories) are very unpredictable. Viewers keep guessing and thinking as the movie progresses.

The title of the first Japanese movie I watched is Sky of Love (Koizura). It turned out to be a touching teenage love story. It stirs all kinds of emotions and as the main characters are high school students, it brings back not so distant memories for me (laughs).

The differences between the Japanese cultures from that of ours are also evident in the film. Some part of the movie can be quite shocking too. Imagine, the female lead, Mika, is a high school freshman when she got pregnant.

While watching it, i felt the love, the excitement, shock, anger, and sadness. In the end, it almost made me cry. For those in search of a good touching love story, I recommend this one. Here’s a youtube video I found.

Tokyo Boy is another Japanese love story I recently watched but it is very different from Sky of Love. It is narrated in two ways, from the point of view of the female lead and the lead guy. The complications brought about by love and split personality disorder is discussed in the film (very original for me). I love Sky of Love more but Tokyo Boy is also okay. As of this moment, I am craving for more Japanese love stories.

Tweet

My Brand New Camcorder!

I have a new videocam! Since the start of this year, it has always been my plan to purchase a new gadget and my choice is a camcorder. I think it is a great investment because we will find it very useful in special events, quite appropriate now because we are expecting a baby. Having a video cam will let us record all those special moments. I think that is one of the primary reasons why I want a video cam.

Anyway, the brand of my digicam is canon and since I am satisfied with it, my choice of brand for a camcorder is canon too. We went to SM Appliance Center at the basement of SM megamall first but the choices there are limited so we were advised to go to the SM Appliance Citibank sale at Megatrade Hall 3. I was surprised that there are Canon videocams that are priced as low as 10,000+. The features of that are okay but I realized that that cam would require us to purchase lots of mini tapes which can be more expensive and also inconvenient in the long run.

So we chose Canon DC310 which can automatically record in DVD. It is priced at Php 26,950 and we purchased it via card on six months installment. It can be purchased for as long as 12 months installment but don’t want it that long so settled for the six months instead. Another reason is that purchasing it for 12 months would require me to pay the annual fee of my Citibank card next year and I don’t want that. You see for the last two years of being a member, my card’s annual fee has always been waived!

Here is my new cam!

Features

# 1.07-megapixel CCD (DC330/320)

# 800k pixel (DC310)

# 45x advanced zoom (16:9)

# DIGIC DV II Imaging Processor

# QuickStart

# Real Widescreen recording and large 2.7” LCD

Superb Image Quality

# Large 1. 07-megapixels CCD (DC330/320)/ 800,000-pixels (DC310) with 1/6" sensor for high-resolution image quality.

# Super Spectral Coated Lenses to reduce flare and ghosting.

# Genuine Canon Optics for high definition images with exceptional clarify, contrast and resolution.

# Electronic Image Stabilizer (EIS) automatically detects and accurately compensates camera shakes for crisp sharp images.

# Color Correction Filter gives footages its rich color quality.

Superb Optical Performance

# High magnification power without any image quality deterioration with 45x advanced zoom in 16:9 (widescreen mode) and 46x in 4:3 (standard mode).

# 37x Optical zoom with 2000x digital zoom for greater zooming capability.

# 3 preset variable zoom speed control (SPEED 1/SPEED 2/SPEED 3) and 1 variable speed for greater flexibility and professional style zooming.

I think we made a great purchase and am happy with it! We also got some freebies! For purchase of Canon camcorder series from March 15- May 15 of this year, it comes with a free portable DVD player and a videobag.

Tweet

I Enjoyed Watchmen The Movie

My husband and I went to SM Mall of Asia I think two weeks ago for a movie date. We intend to watch at IMAX but we are not so interested with the current movies being shown so we opted for the regular cinema instead. We chose Watchmen and it was a good decision. I was hesitant at first because I thought I would not be able to understand and appreciate the plot as it is based on a comic book.

Watchmen is really PG-13 because many scenes are violent and just not appropriate for younger viewers. But it was a great movie for my taste. I have read a lot of bad reviews though.

I also noticed one trend in action movies nowadays. Just like in Kill Bill, soft music is played while a violent act like murder and fights happens. The irony of it makes it unusual, interesting and much more real. I like the opening scene in the movie where the world and US history is displayed comically, amusing and educational in a way.

It is so unlike me to enjoy movies with lots of actions scenes but I find Watchmen very intellectually stimulating and well done. I think it is artistic and the effects and visuals are great. All characters are interesting and they are depicted as much humans as well as superheroes, with flaws and embarrassing past. My favorite characters are Rorschach and Dr. Manhattan. My favorite dialogue was uttered by Rorschach. He said to fellow prisoners: I am not locked in here with you, You are locked in here with me!

The movie is quite long though and there seem to be no climax (at least not so obvious) but the story unfolds nicely and the ending is okay, both sad and happy . Glad to have watched this film.

Tweet