The man of the house was sick so we stayed in during the weekend.

Weekends are supposed to be for fun and relaxation. Families have their different ways to relax and have fun.

Some go to parks while others go visit their relatives. Some go out of town to unwind and perhaps go swimming or just being one with nature. Some go to malls where they chill our while having a cup of Starbucks coffee after hours of shopping or buying groceries.

We weren’t able to go anywhere but that was ok since we had a simple but wonderful lunch.

The mussels all ready to be baked. These are topped with butter with garlic bits and finely chopped basil. The basil is home-grown.

Fried fish with some  dried rosemary bits and some garlic bits.

Mussel soup with fresh lemon grass stalk which does wonders to someone who doesn’t feel well. The broth for this is usually Sprite but I decided to get a stalk of the lemon grass in the backyard which we usually use for tea and the aroma was just right.

We had a brunch of home-cooked meals and the children enjoyed what was prepared. We ate almost everything and declared that yes, home-cooked meals are the best

Fine motor skills are skills that require small muscle movements with the hands and fingers in coordination with the eyes to perform precise activities. This coordination with the eyes is also called as eye-hand coordination.

Activities that require eye-hand coordination are scribbling, coloring, writing, cutting, copying, encoding on a keyboard, use of a mouse with a pc, painting, tying shoe laces, doing a jigsaw puzzle, opening and closing objects, buttoning and zipping clothes, eating, pasting, and even turning pages of a book.

The most important concern for parents with school-aged children would be writing. The tripod grip, cutting, copying and control of the pencil and spacing of letters.

At home parents can try to let their children use different materials to write with: colored pencils, markers, pens, chalks, magic slates, finger painting and even drawing on different materials like on the sand, on the soil and with the use of non-toxic bath paints. Just make sure that they know where they are supposed to write and where not to write.

Eye-hand coordination is important in developing the fine motor skills because this will help your child in doing tasks that are necessary in the activities that they do in school.

Developing the fine-motor coordination skills may reduce anxiety later on that might develop when the child has difficulty coping with more demands that come from school activities.

Remember, doing these activities should be fun

There are several classes of people in our societies, even if we do not tend to classify people as such. I have often heard of the terms class A, B, C, D and even E. There are first class and there are even those that are called low class.

There is a term called the elite and a term called the masses.

There is what we also call as old-rich, or those whose families were into businesses that has given them unquestionable wealth and prestige.

There is also what is called new rich or nouveau riche. More often, these so-called nouveau riche people are being scoffed off by the old rich. Why? The reason why would be because they are more aggressive, they used to belong to a lower class strata, they seem lacking in breeding and  are deemed “uncultured.”

For me, to become a nouveau riche or a self-made man is not a bad thing. I think this is even better because I know these people would not rest on their laurels. They have worked hard to be where they are and had not depended on the family’s fortune, prestige and class. As long as they do not step on other people’s toes, they have a right to the good standing that they are experiencing for themselves.

Your vote could mean additional funding for malnourished children. Please click here to vote.

International Medical Corps (IMC) is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs.

The world’s children are vulnerable to the different sufferings: diseases, famine, war and a host of other events that make them scarred. With food prices going up, it is not a surprise that many people are below the poverty level and could not afford to buy even their basic needs in order to survive.

Please help fight hunger and malnutrition. Please do not forget to vote here. Thank you.

I think we have a budding artist and writer in our midst.

No, not the eldest child nor the middle child but our youngest child, who is 5.9 years old.

Tania has always been advanced with her fine-motor skills even when she was younger.

She can draw well using the pen and paper. Please take notice of the dimensions of the bunch of balloons.

She can also use the MS Paint in the computer.

She also loves to write her own stories. I know I have thrown out some of her stories and have not documented these but now that she has a new set of stories, I plan to put these together and make something like children’s book with her drawings and written stories in it.

This would be a good gift for relatives especially grandparents during Christmas or special occasions. You might want to try this too

Every Saturday, participants post photos based on a theme.The theme for this Saturday is VIEW.

I have lots of photos to choose from so I decided to put two in my other blog with a  post entitled Hanging Bridge or View Deck.

I have decided to post three photos that I took from the passenger window during our road trips and here they are:

A pine-tree lined highway view during a late afternoon trip home from visiting my parents.

A view of the skyline of one of the business centers here in the Philippines. Hmmm…I can see my workplace there in the middle part.

My son enjoying his view of the picture window in a bus.

I have read this and it is very fitting to the photos I have been posting, that WE have been posting:

“The camera makes everyone a tourist in other people’s reality, and eventually in one’s own.” by Susan Sontag

Have a great weekend everyone!

photohunt