Getting Ready for School

We live on the other side of the world, so school here is about to start (1 week and counting) whilst others in blogland, summer vacation is just approaching. My kiddos are excited to go back to school, see old friends and of course get new things!

My eldest, Brandon...

My youngest, Liam...

My boys are so sweet. It only takes a small thing to make them happy, such innocence. We are not well-off. Don't get me wrong, we can afford mostly everything that we need and for that I am very grateful; it's just sometimes, we can't afford everything that we want. C'est la vie as they say and my boys understand and I'm proud of them.

Anyhu, after the department store we went to Jolibee, it's the equivalent of McDonald's over wherever you beautiful people are :) On our way out, I asked the kids to do some poses with the statue of Jolibee so that I can blog about it, this is when I realize they are growing up because they went "mom-miiii!" in an embarrass tone. They used to love having their pics taken with him! LOL, well, Mr. T. thought he would look cute so here he is,

Isn't he sweet? (Mr. T and not Jolibee, LOL!)

By the way, I swear I had followers since the last time I logged in to blogger (I even blogged about it!) but now I have none :( Does that mean I was unfollowed??? LOL, oh my oh my! Hope you all have a great week ahead! Linking this to a beautiful linky party hosted by a beautiful lady...

Getting Comments is Addictive

Hello beautiful world!

I was thinking this morning, I haven't blogged for a couple of days now! Oh my, what would blogosphere think of me?!! and then I thought, why did I start doing this in the first place? For myself of course! I mean I was over the moon when I saw I have 6 followers! and when I read comments under my post, I WAS SO EXCITED! You cannot imagine how excited I was. I want to thank all those lovely and beautiful ladies that took the time and read my blog. You have no idea how happy you made me feel when I read your comments and saw your pics on my sidebar :)

What is my point exactly? Well, receiving comments is addictive! It's like the first time you tasted an ice-cold coke in a hot summer's day and all you want to drink after that is just coke. The same with blogging, once you first tasted someone commenting on one of your posts, you just want to keep the comments coming, the followers following! And if you haven't posted for a couple of days, SHEESH! peer PRESSURE! I mean you pressurize (I think the word pressurize sums up my state of mind at the mo, lol) yourself into writing about anything so that you can post it into your blog!

So I am taking a deep breath and keep reminding myself that blogging is not about pressure, it's supposed to relieve stress after a hard day, my blog is supposed to be a kind of journal as per say so no pressure, no pressure at all.

I am just so excited that I may happen to make a lot of new friends because of this blog. What a lovely opportunity that would be!

Stay beautiful everyone, outside and in....

Carmen xoxo

Work, Work, Work Wednesday!

Hello beautiful people. What a manic Wednesday! All day long I felt like this!

I work at home for an online company, it's an 8 hour day shift. For some reason, most of our web-based tools weren't working or working really really slow! On top of that other tasks were assigned so I was having a brain overload AND the it's really really hot here! Gosh, I feel like we live in the desert or something!

And for this reason I've been constantly thinking about the beach today...

Just sitting on the beach with a cool drink...

Enjoy the beautiful scenery...

Make new friends...

Or just play around like a kid!

These pics were taken Feb of this year. It was our company conference and it was held in Boracay. It was the first time I met everyone in the company!

Linking this to...

It’s Tuesday!, You gotta Love That it’s Tuesday!

Hello beautiful people… You know why I love Tuesdays? I love Tuesdays because it means there are only 3 more days to go till the weekend. Yeay!!!

Although its been sooo hot here in the sunny Philippines, weather report said that there is a typhoon coming. Hopefully, it will just pass by and get eaten by the ocean (not sure if that is possible but in my head everything is possible!) and that the sun will just keep on shining...

To be honest, I like it when its cold! Why? because my allergies are shy to come out when its cold. but when its hot here, gosh! I think my skin thinks I'm rich coz the meds for my skin allergies cost a fortune!

Going back to the weather (oh my! LOL) seriously, the Phils get hit by typhoons more than you can imagine. We use up the letters of the alphabets twice for their names in one year! It's that season again so hopefully, any one coming over here will not cause any destruction.

The image I posted is of my backyard. As you can see, I live in the COUNTRY! Lots of grass and lots and lots of clouds! ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!

Wishing you all contentment, subsequently HAPPINESS...

Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. John 14:1

I have a friend overseas. I met him online through my work at oDesk. I used to write articles for him for his website. He sent me this picture.

Recently, his sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. It's the kind of cancer that's very aggressive. She was due for surgery on Saturday because the chemo wasn't working. Him and his family are very distraught by all of this. He is the eldest so he feels the weight of the world on his shoulders I think.

I know the feeling, I've actually experienced it myself when Mr. T. was in an accident a few years ago. But I think God will not give you anything that you can't handle, there is a plan for everyone. So when I heard the gospel at mass last night at church "Do not let your hearts be troubled, Trust in God, trust also in me" I felt a sense of uplifting. I know things will be ok for him and his family whatever happens.

Trust in God, do not let your hearts be troubled.

Trying my first link at Debbiedoos Blogging and Blabbing

My Nokia N70

Hello beautiful people!

Ok, about my Nokia N70, I recently made a post about my new free phone. I am still over the moon about it because it's free :) It made me happy especially because of what happened to my old one.

I've had my Nokia N70 since 2006! That is a long time. Mr. T. got it for me for my birthday. Honestly speaking, I wouldn't spend that much money on a phone (it was P12,000 at the time, a lot of money for me) This is what it looked like:

What you have to understand is that I get attach to things especially when they are given to me. They hold a special place in my heart. So this phone I fell inlove with. Even though it doesn't have the same capabilities that other phones have these days, for me it was a great phone! 2 months ago it broke, it just wouldn't come on. So I asked my sister-in-law's hubby to have it fixed coz he knows someone. After about 2 weeks he brought it back, only to find that he changed it to something worthless. He took important parts from it. I noticed because my phone is gray. The one returned to me was black. I told him to return it and he did. However, his COUSIN said that he did not change anything, he fixed it, didn't take anything etc, etc.

It still gets to me how people can be so bad. Call me naive but to be honest, I would like to think that there is good in everyone. After that, I couldn't use the phone anymore. He took the memory stick anyway so all my contacts were gone (he said the memory stick wasn't there when he opened the phone!) I couldn't even look at the phone because it made me angry. I eventually gave it to my mother-in-law (I thought about smashing it believe me!)

Anyhow, it was a big deal to me because something important was taken away from me and they tried their hardest to insist they didn't :( SO when I got that call saying I'm getting a new phone, I was ecstatic. Life has a funny way of turning things around to make it beautiful again :)

Speaking of beautiful things, here are some things that made me smile that day;

Raindrops on leaves :)

Flowers in bloom :)

So that is the story and I dedicate this post to my N70.

Wishing you all contentment, subsequently HAPPINESS...

Free Stuff - Don't You Just Love It!

Don't you just love free stuff??? I do! yes sirrr-y! It doesn't really matter what it is as long as its free I'm happy to accept it.

About a month ago, my net provider, smart communications called and said that our contract will be expiring soon and would we like to renew. Of course we do because they are the only provider here in my area! I know the contract will expire in September so it is still a long way away. They wanted us to come in and sign some papers but it was Mr. T that answered the phone. You know how men are, meaning they really don't care about the little details so when I asked what they said, he just grunted "something about renewing contract and they want us to sign some papers now" so my reply was, that is just weird because September is more than a couple of months away. So I didn't give it a second thought. And besides, I needed to go down there the following week to pay so there's no hurry.

Well, well, well. When I went to pay, I was told that when they called they had a FREE cellphone to give to me if I renewed. Of course since I didn't, they gave it to someone else!!! Sheeeesh! But to cut a long story short, they said they will reserve my "retention giveaway" as soon as their head office has sent more. I was so gobsmacked coz the phone they were giving away was not half bad. It was a Samsung champ. It's not an iPhone or Blackberry but it is still decent for a FREE stuff. LOL. So I went home and hoped and hoped that it will still be the same kind of phone.

Oh well, IT'S NOT! they called the other day and this is their giveaway at this time :)

And here is my cellphone model... LOL :))

It's pretty to look at, yes. cute, yes. can it text, yes, call? yes. So IT IS a phone and a FREE phone at that so it is OK and I'm very grateful to Smart communications for giving me one! My next post will be about what happened to my old phone and how it broke my heart! So stay tuned.

Wishing you all contentment, subsequently HAPPINESS...

Sulit 1M Members Raffle Giveaway

Sulit.com.ph is paying it forward via a fantastic giveaway because they have reached 1M members! You just gotta love them! As for me, totally love giveaways especially if they are iPad2 and blackberry cellphones! So I'm in!!! Well, I have joined the raffle but if I actually win is a different matter! However, you know what they say, nothing ventured nothing gained is here goes my entry!


Sulit.com.ph Buy and Sell
Join the 1M Raffle Giveaway

Good luck to everyone, but I would really love an iPad2 or a blackberry cellphone pllllzzzzz :) winning any of these gadgets will make make me smile in my sleep tonight!