ark of avilon zoo

After we went to Salcedo Saturday Market we headed off to Ark of Avilon Zoo in Tiendesitas. Joaqui got scared of the sheeps...but he enjoyed chasing after the chickens and looking at the fish tank. There were not a lot of people that day, to think it was Saturday and it was quite hot inside. Here are some pictures from Ark of Avilon.

salcedo saturday market

I have heard and read a lot about the Salcedo Saturday Market but never had a chance to visit until yesterday. It's a good thing Concon mentioned it to me last Friday and since we do not have plans this weekend, I dragged my husband to Makati and brought Joaqui along. I do not frequent the markets, but I am always intrigued by these kind of markets where there are fresh produce, homemade specialties and organic herbs and vegetables. The market is open from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and we arrived there at 11 a.m. Since it was already late and we plan on going to Avilon Zoo later that day, we just went around and bought cooked foods and had lunch in one of the tents there with chair and table setup.

There are native items, much like the ones sold under the Quiapo bridge.

This one sells siomai, siopao, cuapao, etc....looks yummy

There were lots of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and even plants.

There are a lot of stalls selling barbecues and this one is from Dela Rosa's Deli.

What we also like about Salcedo Market is their nice playground. We let Joaqui and his yaya Jane play here while we went around. Joaqui had a grand time playing on the slide.

I have noticed that there were a lot of families who go there and have their little picnic in one of the tents, from the grand parents to their children and grandchildren. It was nice seeing families get together and Jeff and I thought it was a good idea to spend Saturday mornings there when the weather is good. I would also want to visit the Legaspi Sunday Market and compare it to Salcedo ; )

practical tips and more

As a work-at-home mom, my work entails me to sit infront of the computer and access the internet often. The internet has become my handy dictionary, map, almanac, recipe book, diary and what-have-you's and it always provides quick answers for questions that I have. It's a good thing that I always read practical tips and more. It is a very helpful website for moms like me who are not just looking for tips but sensible advices on a wide array of topics like food, shopping, money, health, etc. What is refreshing to know is that it is written by a mom like me (and a doctor too), so I know that we have the same concerns with regard to providing the best for our family.

What I like about this website is that it provides information and tips that actually work and sometimes makes me say...yeah, why didn't I think of that. It helps me a lot especially on the best ways to save money, tipid tips and online business and sidelines. So if you're looking for more than just tips, visit www.practicaltipsandmore.

YES

...say YES to something that scares you. Moving out of our comfort zone is the only way to expand our horizons.

This was from the Gay Times Magazine (a magazine for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders) that caught my attention while I was doing an abstract. So true...

ed's blogsary contest

It's fellow Pinay Blogger Eds Blogsary and she's giving away prizes. Check it out for a chance to win!

It’s Eds Blogsary! Join her contest and have some moolah on your paypal!

My Precious Niche

Just Me… Eds

Eds Mommy Life

Contest will start on September 25, 2008 (12noon) till October 25, 2008 (12 midnight) Phil. time. I will announce the lucky winners on October 27, 2008 MONDAY!

propagating friendship award

Thanks to Lani, Sheila, and Emz for this award...

I love the blogs of these people and I'm glad to pass this award onto them! All they need to do is to leave the following message on their post when they pass the award on to their chosen eight bloggers.They all are charmed with the blogs, where in the majority of its aims are to show the marvels and to do friendship; there are persons who are not interested when we give them a prize and then they help to cut these bows; do we want that they are cut or that they propagate? Then let's try to give more attention to them! So with this prize we must deliver it to 8 bloggers that in turn must make the same thing and put this.

I am propagating this award to Eds, Arpi, Irmee, Jody, Jown, Sheryll, Ruby, and Joey.

Creative Award

Thanks to Mec for this award...

The rules are:
* The winner may put the logo on his or her blog.
* Put a link to the person you got the award from.
* Nominate five blogs.
* Put links to the blogs.
* Leave a message to the nominees.

I am passing this tag to Jacque, Con, Joanne, Mari and Rhea.

party planning 201

Plans for Joaqui's 2nd birthday party...

VENUE: Even though Joaqui's 2nd birthday is three months away, I've already booked the venue. Just a side note, I thought that since it will be a Jollibee party, I would encounter no problems in reservations or in dealing with suppliers, but the Jollibee staff in Ever Ortigas proved me wrong. Since we anticipate that we will have more than 100 guests, I have been inquiring about getting 2 function rooms. When we inquired last August, a SMART personnel told us that to get 2 function rooms, a minimum of 15K for food expenses is required and the date of the party should fall on a weekday. I have contemplated on the dates since December 28 falls on a Sunday, but since it is important for us to get 2 function rooms, we decided to hold it on December 30 which is a Tuesday. When we went there two weeks ago, we were presented a higher requirement for food expenses (20K) and we were asked to wait for their December schedule since December is a peak month. We would have not been furious if the manager herself told us so, but we were accommodated by a crew who goes in and out of the manager's office to tell us the answers to our questions. I am an objective person and if in the first place they told us it would be impossible to book a party for December, I would have exhausted other resources. Long story short, I confronted the manager and detailed to her what I have been told by their not-so-SMART personnel and gave my reasons for booking this early, which is obvious because December is a peak season for everything. In the end, I got the date I wanted and confirmed our reservation.

THEME: Jollitown

FOOD: We already decided on our food choices from Jollibee's new party packages.

INVITES: At first I really wanted a more personalized invitation, but since hubby keeps on reminding me that it is a Jollibee party, we just got the themed invites included in their package.

ENTERTAINMENT: When we attended a Jollibee Meet-up and saw all five mascots (Jollibee, Hetty, Twirlie, Popo and Yum) dancing and entertaining the kids, we were excited to have them all in Joaqui's party. You get the idea ;) I also plan to hire a face painter.

VENUE DRESSUP: I still wanted to make it extra special by having extra balloon setup and tarpaulin for the venue. I have asked Jacque of Party Boosters to do this for us and no specific plans are still made.

CAKE: I'm not yet decided on this one because I am not quite satisfied with the Jollibee cakes. I am looking at possible cake suppliers and I'll see what we can come up to.

LOOTBAGS AND SOUVENIRS: Jollibee items care of my SIL who works in Jollibee. ;)

GUESTBOOK: I am thinking of having a personalized guestbook made.

PHOTOGRAPHER: Having had a professional photographer at Joaqui's 1st birthday party, we know how important it is to have someone capture those memorable moments during the party. Still looking for one that fits our budget ;)

I hope everything works out well for Joaqui's 2nd birthday party and we are so excited as our little boy turns two.

joaqui with the flashcards

Again I hope you will allow me a proud mommy moment. When I started showing Joaqui these flashcards, he was not interested at all, now at 20 months, he can identify all the pictures in the flashcards. He is such a bright little boy. ;) Here's a video of our flashcard recital :)

Sidenote: I had just woken up when we recorded the video...obvious ba?! Meron din ume-extra extra dyan...mommy ko yun...mwahahaha....

it's all in a day's work

As a medical transcription editor, I often encounter errors made by medical transcriptionists that sometimes really make me laugh. I have compiled some that I hope you will find funny too.

...so we are going to check his "blood bladder (gallbladder)" - hmmm...ang konti naman ng blood nito

I have, kind of a, "got feeling (gut feeling)" that he is going to have - ano daw?!

…and the change in the stools with somewhat lighter color and being a little bit more "brilliant (buoyant)" - shining, shimmering, splendid ang poop!

actually assaulting another resident knocking out "a two (tooth)" - a one, a two, a three?

No "stool length (stooling)" concerns voiced. - pano nya nasukat?...hahaha

We will continue to monitor "stool length (stooling) frequency" and follow up as needed - inulit pa!

Her heart is regular sinus rhythm without "any history of spur (an S3 or S4)." - kelan pa nagkakalyo ang heart?...tsk,tsk,tsk

He played some basketball a couple of days ago and "rode (rolled)" his foot. - can you imagine that? sinakyan nya ang paa nya!

He came down after retrieving a rebound and "rode (rolled)" his foot on another gentleman's foot - mwahahaha...inulit pa sa ibang tao!

She seems to be having difficulty keeping her "training pot (train of thought)" on her main problem - afraid naman ako dito...

And I'm sure there will be more of these next time.

family fun time

I mentioned here that we had dinner at Mom & Tina's cafe with friends Concon, Jacque and Rhea with our hubbies and babies in tow. Too bad we couldn't stay long because we still had to go to Valenzuela that night and Jeff couldn't take more pictures because we were busy chasing after Joaqui..hehehe. Here are some pictures from our family fun time. I hope next time Ayn can come and I'm excited for our next family fun time ; )

mommy Jacque and Simone

mommy Rhea and Andie

mommy Concon and Joaquin

pretty Simone

lovely Andie

my first abstracting job

Here's the continuation on my attempt on abstracting. The first post can be read here.

After four days, I received an email informing me that I had passed the prequalifying examination. At first I was quite hesitant to start on this because I was not quite in the mood yet. I thought that I would just have a difficult time and it would be a waste of my effort, but then I decided to give it a try. I asked for journal assignments and they gave me 9 articles to work on. Below is a sample of the article.

I was surprised because the first article was 26 pages long! I was staring on my computer screen for about 20 minutes thinking how would I start. I opened the manual they gave us during the training and went through some of the pages. I scanned the article and attempted to write an abstract. It took me an hour to write the first two sentences! After three hours, I actually finished three abstracts. The next day I tried finishing the remaining six and submitted my work for their review. On that same day, I received an email from the reviewer stating the revisions I had to make. Again I was surprised because I only had to do minor revisions like rephrasing a sentence or changing an opening phrase, etc. In fact, two of my abstracts were without any revisions at all. ; ) I now actually enjoy this work a little because the topics on the journals were interesting (although I do not actually read the whole journal, I just scan them for information). I also feel good because I think I did well for a first timer (nyaaaks!). I had finished the second set of journals (which were weird photographs--yes, they also do abstracts on images and photos) and wait for the feedback, so I still would wait and see if this is something I can do on a long term even on a part-time basis.

Why do we need friends

This is a tag from Emz. Thanks for considering me as a friend ; )

We need friends for many reasons,

all throughout the season.

We need friends to comfort us when we are sad,

and to have fun with us when we are glad.

We need friends to give us good advice,

We need someone we can count on,

and treat us nice.

We need friends to remember us

one we have passed sharing memories

that will always last.

Spread the poem of friendship.1. Everyday Life 2. Words of Love 3. Sheng's Simple Thoughts . . . 4. good thoughts, good trades 5. Ours and Our Kids 6. Jengspeaks 7. You!

I am passing this on to Jacq, ConCon, Rhea and Ayn.

spread the Christmas spirit

Something from Con at the start of the BER months...
It's so simple. Copy the photo below then write your blog and your wish this Christmas 2008. Your wish has to be something PRICELESS and SELF- LESS... something that money can't buy... something that another person will treasure dearly.

1. Bits and Pieces by Jan: I wish Gino and I will be able to convince friends to help us sponsor a simple Christmas party for the children of White Cross Children's Home in San Juan.
2. The Wifey Diaries by Jannesse: My birthday falls on the 22nd of December. I have always wished to spend it with orphaned or abandoned kids. I'd be super happy to spend my birthday with them. That way, they get early Christmas presents from me. Oh, and can I wish for a baby, too? Please?
3. The Versoza Inc. by Con: I'd like to have a simple Christmas party for all the children of our employees. Times were hard on our company this 2007, but still, the Christmas Spirit should not be overpowered by it. Christmas is about family. So our Christmas party should not be for employees only, but for their families as well. Also, I wish our clan would make it a tradition to have a Christmas gift giving project. My Tita Doi started it last year with the Antipolo church children. I am looking forward to this year :)
4.Jengspeaks by Jeng: Every Christmasmtime, our group Friends Empowered to Serve would solicit money, clothes, food, etc. to give to our chosen charities such as Anawim, PGH Chilrdren's ward and the street children of Manila. This year, we hope to be able to give more and add the families along the pier in our list of recipients. We also want to give the children there a simple Christmas party with food, games and gifts.

I'm spreading the Christmas spirit with Joanne, Pheng, Rocks, and Jammy.

wacky weekend

Wacky weekend tag by Joanne ; )

Thank God for weekends! Last Friday, me, hubby and Joaqui had dinner at Mom & Tina's Cafe with fellow n@wies Con, Jacque and Rhea and their hubbies and babies. It was not really a planned get-together but it was fun. We really had a good time plus the food was superb at Mom & Tina's. It was a little chaotic with four toddlers in tow...could you imagine?! It was like having a mini children's party in one table. It was a fun time where our hubbies talked about cameras, taking care of children and all sorts of stuff while some of us (well, it was mostly me and Jeff) took turns in going out because Joaqui wanted to go up and down on a flight of stairs...and soon the other tots followed. Hahahaha....

the rules of a toddler

This is so cute and I can't resist grabbing it from meng. She found this on LoveThoseKids, a very useful manual for parents who have toddlers.

The Rules of a Toddler

If it is on, I must turn it off.If it is off, I must turn it on.

If it is folded, I must unfold it.If it is a liquid, it must be shaken, then spilled.

If it is a solid, it must be crumbled, chewed or smeared.
If it is high, it must be reached.

If it is shelved, it must be removed.

If it is pointed, it must be run with at top speed.

If it has leaves, they must be picked.

If it is plugged, it must be unplugged.

If it is not trash, it must be thrown away.

If it is in the trash, it must be removed, inspected, and thrown on the floor.

If it is closed, it must be opened.

If it does not open, it must be screamed at.

If it has drawers, they must be rifled.

If it is a pencil, it must write on the refrigerator, monitor, or table.

If it is full, it will be more interesting emptied.

If it is empty, it will be more interesting full.

If it is a pile of dirt, it must be laid upon.

If it is stroller, it must under no circumstances be ridden in without protest. It must be pushed by me instead.

If it has a flat surface, it must be banged upon.

If Mommy’s hands are full, I must be carried.

If Mommy is in a hurry and wants to carry me, I must walk alone.

If it is paper, it must be torn (and sometimes eaten-->Joaqui).

If it has buttons, they must be pressed.

If the volume is low, it must go high.

If it is toilet paper, it must be unrolled on the floor.

If it is a drawer, it must be pulled upon.

If it is a toothbrush, it must be inserted into my mouth.

If it has a faucet, it must be turned on at full force.

If it is a phone, I must talk to it.

If it is a bug, it must be swallowed.

If it doesn’t stay on my spoon, it must be dropped on the floor.

If it is not food, it must be tasted.

If it IS food, it must not be tasted.

If it is dry, it must be made wet with drool, milk, or toilet water.

If it is a car seat, it must be protested with arched back.

And last, but definitely not the least…
If it is Mommy, it must be hugged.