It's been almost a month now since we got back from that much needed visit to my native land to see friends and family. It was a short 2-week vacation but it was well worth it. It took more than 10 years to finally make that trip but we didn't plan it that way. Actually we've been planning to have or take that trip almost every year for the last 6 years or so but there was never a good time so we decided to just do it as soon as we saw a window of opportunity.  Ten years is definitely a long time and within that 10 years that I was away, I received several wedding invitations as well as birth announcements from my relatives back home. Yes, they still sent me those invitations even if they knew I wouldn't be able to attend because they wanted me to be part of the celebration regardless. I may have not been able to come home and attend all those important family events but getting all those invitations & cards made me feel that I was there in spirit.

Seeing my siblings and their families was definitely my main reason for going home. But meeting all my grandchildren and nephews and nieces for the first time was definitely very thrilling. They were born while I was away so I was excited to see them for the first time. I actually still have all their birth announcements kept here at home and my niece [who is the mother of the 2 children I met for the first time] was very surprised that I still keep them. I told her that  I still have all the cards they've been sending me in the last 10 years including her wedding invitation as well as their graduation announcements and graduation invitations. It's just the way I am. I keep almost all of the greeting, invitation cards I get from loved ones because I know that one day in the future I will get that same feeling of happiness I felt when I received the cards when I open that box holding all those cards to read those cards again. Yep, it's my box full of memories I must say...

So I decided to chronicle our 5-day road trip when we were in the Philippines in April of this year. The little one is writing her own report of the whole trip which means I am somehow forced to remember at least the itinerary to help her out. Since such is the case, I decided to just write down my own account of the road trip at least.

Anyway, it's been almost a month since we got back from that trip. I've more or less gone back to the grind of things around here. I still feel sad [homesickness still I guess] every now and then but it's a lot better now. I'm now trying to compile pictures and videos we took. It's a bit of a challenge since there's a lot to compile. So far I've made 1 video and have had most of the pictures developed already.

i am hoping I can send some copies to my family back home so they can have some form of remembrance from our 2-week visit there.

Our little one is a big 'Stooges' fan. Proof...she requested the tooth fairy for a loan [in exchange for her soon to be loose teeth] so she could buy the entire set of the Three Stooges DVDs. She actually got the set for her 9th birthday last year. I think she already watched majority of them.

Anyway, when she saw the trailer of the new Three Stooges movie she just couldn't contain her happiness. She waited for it to be released so she could watch it. The movie is Parental Guidance so we had no choice but to watch it with her...although even if it's not a PG we would still be watching it with her because we don't let her go anywhere without us yet. It was released while we were in the Philippines but we finally went to see it last weekend.

The verdict? She liked it of course...and so did Dad. Ha! Me? It was okay. I'm not really that big of a fan but I would say it's funny. The Dad even said it's way better than expected because it has some content in it...which I would agree. At least it wasn't all slapstick comedy...there's a story behind it so it's all good.

Now the wait is on for the DVD release....

 It's about time, eh? This poor blog has been idle for almost a month now. Oopss... I have a very good reason though for leaving it unattended for that long. I was actually away for a much needed vacation. Not just any other vacation. I, together with my little family, went to visit my clan back home. It's a much needed visit since it's been more than a decade since we actually saw each other in person. The last time was when the husband came to get me and to meet my family altogether. This visit was also the first time my side of the family is meeting our little one...who is not so little anymore.

It was a VERY short two weeks of course but so much has happened during that visit. Unlike the last time I had to leave, it was very hard to leave this time around. I tried to hide the tears away from them so as not to make it harder but I'm still crying everytime I think about them. Hubs asked me yesterday if I want to go back soon because he could feel it in my voice that I'm missing my family back home. Of course I want to go back but not anytime soon. I know that what I'm feeling and growing through right now is normal so I'll just let it pass and deal with it the best way I know how.

I'll be posting bits and pieces about it in the days to come. Hopefully I'll be able to do that regularly. In the meantime, I have some work to do...

What can I say...been busy with a lot of things lately so I could only update one blog at a time. I wish I've been able to update both but I just couldn't. I still have to do some last minute stuff so I'll keep this short and sweet.

It's Holy Week this week. At least that's what we observe back home. It's the culmination of the 40-day lenten season which ends this coming Sunday which is Easter Sunday.

Easter here in the west is very much different from the Easter I knew growing up. We didn't do egg hunting nor did we know any rabbit or bunny. All we knew back then was we would go to church at the crack of dawn to witness the 'first meeting' of Jesus and Virgin Mary after he ressurected from the dead. It's a magical moment for me when I was a kid because we would be watching and listening to this little girl/boy singing like an angel as he/she is being lowered down [simulate 'flying?]. Up to this day they still do that back home and needless to say....I miss it.

I'm on a different part of the world now and here Easter is observed differently. Our little one only knows what they do here and not what we do on my part of the world. Hopefully I'll be able to show her how Easter is observed where I came from....one day.

We're finally seeing some of our beloved plants springing back to life. Some are barely there but they're there and I'm happy because I'm tired of looking at dead looking stalks on the ground. They're not dead...just in hibernation I guess. In no time our little garden will be all colorful again!

Hubby is also thinking of maybe starting a small veggie garden in the backyard. I guess it's his last-ditch attempt to make use of that spot of our backyard where only weeds seem to grow. It's all a plan for now but it may just happen.

Anyway, I've been away from this blog for several days. I just didn't feel like writing...that's it. I guess that much dreaded 'BBO' [blogging burn-out] bit me. BBO is actually something that I heard from another blogger who as far as I know still has it [LOL...hi C!]. In my case I usually have it for a few days then I try to go back to it just because I don't really have much to do on some days.

That's my update for now! Enjoy SPRING!

Sort of.

I don't have much to blog about...and I don't feel like blogging so I'm on hiatus. Ha!

I've been busy as well searching online for some stuff. I need to get them before the month is over. They have to be here before the month is over or there's no use in even getting them.

Our weekends are also spent doing that...shopping. We're not even halfway done and we only have a few weeks to go so I'm kinda' panicking already. Hubby's doing his part but I have to do most of it.

Oh...and we've also been having some medical issues around here. Cough, fever, sore throat and pink eye. Those are the things we had to 'battle' in the last couple of weeks...and theyre all caught by the little one. Thankfully she's all well now except for one thing. She's on antibiotic right now because we've noticed that she had some white stuff on her throat that wasn't going away so we went back to her doctor last Tuesday. Hubby's not very happy with her pediatrician because she should have caught this last thing when we saw her last week but she said it was nothing. Being a doctor, we trusted her opinion. But like I said, the white stuff on her throat wasn't clearing up and we didn't want to risk an infection [staph infection specifically] so we set up an appointment earlier this week even if her fever, cough and pink eye were all gone. We just wanted to make sure it's nothing serious. Well, she said she can see what we were talking about and that it'll be better to put her on antibiotic. C'mon!!!

I have a few opinions about this but I'd rather keep them to myself. One thing I noticed though [as everyone else probably do as well], we wait [ sometimes for hours] at the doctor's office to be seen and when we finally see one, the doctor seems to be in a hurry all the time. It's like they couldn't wait to get it over and done with and do a half-a**ed check up. What's up with that? During the initial check up [last week], I think she was in there for less than 5 minutes. She looked at the little one's throat and just said it's nothing then prescribed us with a, get this, $100+ eye drop for her pink eye. That's it. That is just wrong. That's all I'm going to say for now...

Author: Joseph Sandoval

I recently decided that I wanted to open my own small business. I got laid off from my regular full time job about six months ago and I have been working part time at a local coffee shop ever since. I have always wanted to have my own business but had never really had the jump start to actually pull the trigger on it. When I got laid off I was really depressed and felt like it was the end of the world. What I actually learned was that it was the beginning of something great! I decided to start the business I had always dreamed about. I thought it was going to be too expensive until I started shopping around for some of the vendors I needed. One important vendor was for high speed internet. I have heard stories of how much high speed internet can cost but when I found smallbusiness.xo.com I found that it can be much more affordable than I had previously thought. I put the rest of my vendors together and now I am launching a very promising small business.

Or should it be 'Three Seasons'? And yes I'm referring to the real seasons and not the ultra rich hotel that celebrities like to stay in because they can [afford it]. Ha! With the way it feels around here today, it seems like SUMMER is right around the corner. Now my question is...shouldn't there be 'spring' between winter and summer?

Technically it's still WINTER right now...until the 19th of this month anyway. But even if that's the case, it already feels like it's summer around here already. Now, if it feels this hot during this so-called cold season, I can only imagine how the next season will feel.

Anyway, seasons aside...this week has been one challenging week for me. The little was sick for the half of last week and half of this week. We even had to make a last minute appointment for her with her pedia because she suddenly had a red eye on Monday. Pink Eye! I guess she caught the virus for both the pink eye and the cold over the [last] weekend when we went to the mall. She went into the bugzy jump and they didn't have the Purell like they used to...and voila! She harvested the virus right there and then.

That's basically what's been keeping me away from my routine in the last few days. I'm still online and doing some other things though. Work has been sporadic so I just do what I could. Hopefully it will start to come in steady in the next few weeks.