One of the fun activities for children is TV viewing. I know, I enjoyed this immensely when I was a child, watching TV upon coming home from school, when I have my snack or when I do my homeworks (I hope my children would not be able to read this, lol).

Whenever i have time to watch at noon whenever go home for lunch from school (yes, we can go home for lunch), I watch Return Engagement on RPN9 especially when Dorothy Hamill is featured ice skating.

The shows I loved watching in our TV enclosed in a wooden cabinet with sliding doors and blue anti-radiation film as protection (no, not like a pop up TV) are Sesame Street, The Electric Company which is also a Sesame Street production, The Secrets of Isis (an Egyptian woman warrior who brings out her triangle pendant with the eye when she transforms into a superhero), Jacques-Yves Cousteau’s Undersea World and Land of the Lost.

Anna Liza and Flor de Luna were also a hit then but I prefer watching the former.

What about… continue reading this entry »

The date has been set and so was the place. But the traffic was a different story.

Instead of heading to the set time and place, we detoured.

But who cares? With excellent fun and bonding moments, we are getting even better with every dinner/EB we have.

Shoe paradise. Cookie (in brown) and Chateau (in aquamarine) bought a pair each of ballet shoes from one corner of the CMG shop.

We walked around looking for a place to eat, with our chatter trailing us until we reached Burgoo. We had another dinner at Burgoo a few months ago.

Chateau aka iMomOnLine, Cookie aka Scrooch Chronicles, Feng aka From Dawn till Dusk, Rowena aka The SweetLife-Rowena, me aka TeacherJulie and GreenBucks, Lynn aka TheMomZone and Avocado Express and Lady Cess aka Occupation: SAHM.

Food was served. Yummy food, all steaming hot and smelling great. Did the chatter stopp when the food came? No, we went on and on, talking about so many things, mainly about our kids, about things that interest us and sharing new things we have discovered.

After dinner, cups of decaf and ice cream cones settled down our tummies. The chatter went on and on. If it weren’t for the time, which was almost midnight, I am sure we would not stop. There are still so many topics to talk about like gardening, home and bathroom fixtures perhaps, time management tips from Lynn, door designs from Chateau, traveling to Palawan with Cookie (huh?), setting up a laundry shop like Wenchie’s, tech know-how and blogging tips from Cess, setting up a good business from Feng, and teaching tips from me.

Maybe a group project where we can do something for others and for ourselves should be planned too. Who knows, that might materialized soon. For now, we are probably planning to have another EB soon. Any suggestions, ladies?

Here is my Sunday market adventure.

Every Saturday, participants post photos based on a theme. The theme for this Saturday, July 19, 2008 is to post a photo which will prompt the uninitiated the question: “What IS that?”

What IS that? A tractor in the sea waters of Subic Bay.

What IS that? Arroz Negro. Black Squid Ink Rice from Kabisera ng Dencio’s Restaurant which specializes in Filipino food.

To the US residents, please help support The Fresh Air Fund, click here and here. Thank you very much.

See other Photo Hunters here.

photohunt

I have written several posts about the struggles and financial crisis that the world is experiencing. Almost everybody is doing some crunching, tightening of the belt, budgeting, curbing the expenses, or whatever these are called, just so they can adjust to the rising expenses of the commodities.

Single-income families are affected by these things. Why even those double-income family like ours is affected too.

For those stay-at-home-moms or people in between work opportunities, there are so many different ways to be able to help augment the family’s or the personal finances.

Starting a micro-business setup or small business opportunity is one way to start it right. There are so many ideas to develop, so many business opportunities waiting to happen.

There are a lot of things to consider before plunging into the world of micro-entrepreneurship.

Not because one makes the best-tasting blueberry cheesecake does not mean she can market her goods and profit from it. Not because one can design and sew intricate baby clothes means that this person will be able to open up a baby clothes shop and be successful. Interested in candle-making, digital or scrap booking, photography, writing, cooking, gardening, balloon design or even jewelry design? These can turn into profits if the right steps are taken.

Success (read: financial gains) doesn’t happen overnight.

The first step towards attaining the goals set is to draw up the goals, realistic goals.

It wouldn’t hurt to attend seminars to gain first-hand information on the different know-how of the business one wants to invest in. It takes time, energy, money and effort to invest in a business so it is for the best that one is armed with the skills one needs in order to start right and achieve the goals that have been set.

If people with special needs are able to attend, learn and earn from sheltered workshops, so can you. Yeah, that includes me too.

It is summer already in the Unites States.

Here in the Philippines, our summer season ended a few weeks ago. Yes, we still enjoy a few days of warm (or humid) sunshiny days but lately we have been getting a lot of rains.

My summers as a child were spent going to/attending summer camps. No, not the two-three weeks summer camp but 3-5 days summer camp sponsored by our church. During those times I have enjoyed days sleeping in tents or huts with friends, met new friends, learned new things about God, friendship, and a whole lot of things.

But my summer camp adventures, are not the gist of this post. I have received an email from Sara Wilson, the Outreach Coordinator for The Fresh Air Fund to help them promote the summer adventures for children from the city, specifically New York City.

Now why should I care write a post about this?

There are several reasons:

1. The Fresh Air Fund has been established in 1887 and has helped a lot of New York City kids experience a different kind of summer vacation.
2. There are still children, mostly ages 9-12 who are still awaiting for host families who will sponsor their summer adventures this August.
3. I live here in the Philippines and not anywhere near New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York so I just wrote this post, just in case somebody is able to read it and volunteer to be a host family.

Contact The Fresh Air Fund here and help a child have a memorable summer.

Let’s face it, the internet is THE repository of information needed for almost any topic that one needs to find. The days when people go to the library and look for references in books is not something that the young people of today do. Not that I am saying this is less fun and more arduous and time consuming than searching the web which has updated information.

Searching the internet for topics of varying interest is a breeze. Searching the internet could also mean getting information or data that are not accurate especially now since anyone can basically put up their own websites and claim to be professionals.

Either way of researching for resources, going to portals or online resources is one of the better ways to do research on certain topics.

One example is the topic of SPECIAL EDUCATION which covers so much ground, in terms of the different resources related to it.

Below are links from an online resource site for teachers called the TeachingTips.Com,

• For teachers teaching different fields of specialization:

50 Must-Read Up and Coming Blogs by Teachers

Can you please scroll down the page when you visit it until you reach #24? I see a familiar name there

Teacher Julie: Julie blogs about her experiences teaching special education in the Philippines as well as many other issues related to education.

• For Special Education Teachers:

The Ultimate Guide to Special Needs Teaching: 100+ Resources and Links

Have fun visiting and reading the resources.