Hot Wheels Lamborghini Reventon toy car of my son, in a mostly black setting consisting of a mouse pad

Now if only the other toy cars look as scratch-free and dent-free as this one (which I had to take a photo of before he plays with it), we could have these other toy cars in glass cases to display. But alas, the joys of playing with his so many toy cars is nothing compared to an almost new look but never played with toy car.

The kids love toy cars including Hot Wheels but they’d rather have the real cars than those not-real car designs.

I’ve been sick for almost a week already. What should have been “just an allergy” turned out nasty. I don’t t remember getting this sick except for two times: when I smelled paint several years ago and was confined to bed for almost a week and when I was pregnant with my son.

If I’m right, the culprit is that smell of paint on the roof that our Mr. Fix-it Guy is applying. I smelled it faintly before I took a nap last Wednesday and I woke up feeling so much worse than when I felt the allergy last Monday.

I got all symptoms one wouldn’t wish for when they think being sick is a good excuse to not go to work:

• aches and pains like muscle pain and headache
• cough
• clogged nose though there’s nothing to blow out but air since this is allergy
• dry lips and parched mouth
• bland taste so i won’t probably need lipozene just yet since I haven’t been eating normally
• itchy eyes
• can’t breathe
• no fever and no itchy throat
• ringing in my ears when I blow my nose too much (considering nothing is coming out) continue reading this entry »

With so many special education schools/centers mushrooming in the metro offering the “best special education programs“, parents have difficulty choosing the one that best suits the required helpful programs for their special needs child(ren).

For those with teen-aged children, however, their choices are few regarding the right placement because only a handful offer college courses and these usually are two-year associate courses.

Others choose to go the practical educational programs by way of technical and skills-based courses like those with computer and culinary skills among others. These alternative career options are nothing to be ashamed of, if some parents feel their children are “degraded” without a four-year degree course.

Children diagnosed with special needs can show their best by developing skills through social enterprise. They not only learn practical social skills, they also learn to be independent.

In this article, children with autism learn social skills in a coffee shop while they earn money, it is heartening to read about children being independent learning money, people and social skills.

Isn’t this what parents want? After all, parents can’t be there at all times for their children.

Been reading back posts I’ve written about teens.

I have a teenager and I must admit, much as I love her, there are times we don’t see each other eye to eye. I don’t think I’ve wanted patience, no, fortitude now more than ever. Parents with teenagers would probably agree with me.

All is not lost of course, since above the grunts and monosyllables that seem to escape their lips, there are a few topics teenagers and their parents can talk about:

• the latest fashion trends
• tech gadgets, whether you can afford to buy these or not, this is a good topic
• how to treat acne. Yes, this is a good topic too for them who are conscious about their skin.
• trips, yes, trips though not necessarily with your family members, LOL
• food, what do you know, though they always say they don’t want to get fat, their appetite is huge

Keeping the communication lines open is not easy with teenagers who’d rather be left alone but reaching out to them shows them that you care about them and that you love them.

Been reading about a mom blogger apologizing for mistakes she did in some of the posts she wrote in her blog.

In her words:

I have occasionally posted information and homemaking tips that were inspired by other places on the internet. I always used my own information, gave my own advice and did what I thought was right.

Yesterday, it was brought to my attention that my intentions were thought of as malicious and that I had stolen with the intent on making money off of other people’s ideas. I have been accused of stealing.

Uh-oh. Using others’ information, ideas and tips is not copying as long as the writer, or in this case, the blogger, injects his/her own points of view using his/her unbiased opinions and experiences pertaining to the topic.

To sell these posts and earn from it is another story.

I for one write articles inspired by what I read online and through the books and magazine articles I’ve read. In fact, real life skills was inspired by a New York Times article.

One form of stealing is doing copy-pasting and not disclosing the post as buzz marketing or as press release. Whether the topic is about a product being launched, about a personal experience, even lipozene side effects or photos with all rights reserved grabbed from another site without permission and used in an online site, as long as the contents were not written by the blogger, well, I don’t know what word to call these but content stealing.

Is there another word for that?

What this mom blogger did was apologize and remove the posts that were said to be ripped off and sold.  Lesson learned: everything online can be read and searched for. So it is always better to be an original rather than be a copycat.

I just wish that some bloggers will.. ahhh, never mind.

Silhouette of the city at dusk. Summer in the Philippines is hot, as in super hot. Humid. The clothes sticking to the skin kind of humid even if night time has arrived. Gah!

Thinking about it makes me want to grab a glass of “halo-halo” shaved ice with sweetened fruit and ice cream as toppings.

On the other hand, I’d rather we have the summer heat than the rainy season which brings flooding. We can do something about the heat but are helpless when the floodwaters are here.