God Bless You Santa and Your Gifts Much Appreciated!

Looks like we are fortunate to have an early gift from Santa. Our secret Santa Claus had given us gifts! Thank you very much Santa! Much appreciated Your generous gifts for my family is superbly wonderful.

Ten More Days To Christmas

My husband has leg cramps for the past days working so hard but not dampen his spirit of a colorful, happy  Christmas. I know that he was planning to have Christmas lights to adorn the house but with his arthritis bothering him for quite a while that was postponed and then suddenly I saw him with a ladder and then started hanging all those long lines of mini-bulbs. There, you can see on the photograph above what those glittery Christmas lights he displayed. We wont be over zealous and exorbitant just like other families having those giant inflatables of Santa Claus and snowmen. A simple decoration is just good enough. Knowing those families have young children who are delighted to the celebration of Christmas, I cannot blame them for giving their children the best and beautiful way to recognize the divine birth of Jesus. Then who would like to see Santa? lol

We don't have a Christmas tree inside the house because we usually have the fresh douglas fir tree every year and to set it up we have to wait until the 20th. Or maybe the 16th. Whatever!

Ten days from now it's Christmas Day. Yey! Are you excited people? I think am more excited than my own children. My children have almost everything on their computer desk. They are the modern young people who are equipped with modern technology. That's the usual, normal life in Canada. You don't see much people outside the house, nobody at the malls on standby, nobody gallavant and if there are young people out in the open maybe group of students participating in recreational activities with their teachers and guardians or unless if the ground has thick snow and that's the only time when parks and recreation  center have them for winter sports activity.

Thinking of the government getting into the internet waging war? What? The internet is a vital too for education and recreational activity for most kids and seniors. It is the source of any informative news, the truth and some fake news. When you see demonstrators, wicked, and unruly cruelty in other parts of the world throwing stones at each other causing billions of dollars in damages, causing destruction of business establishments? You can blame it to "they've got nothing to do" in their own homes. They don't have access to modern technology. Give them computers and the next thing you know those people throwing stones wont get out of their homes because their hands are busy playing video games. If they really want out of the house, better give them employment. Lead them to do something good and be resourceful. Let them work. Provide WORK to people of all ages. It's the government's job, it's the government's official to provide employment and to employ people within their own territory.

GOVERNMENT is of the people, by the people,  for the people and  PEOPLE who needs people! WE ARE THE PEOPLE. ARE WE THE GOVERNMENT?

Honestly. it's the POPULATION of PEOPLE that elect(ed), voted, and had chosen Government Officials and it's the PEOPLE paying the Government Officials to serve the country and its people and the people will be the human beings who will take them out of power when they abused their power in the office where they are seated.  Believe it or not that's written from the BOOK by the Geniuses of those who are responsible for the BALANCE & CHECK.

GREETINGS: A Message Of Love, Hope and Joy

Is it getting cooler or getting warmer? Honestly, the weather temperature varied differently from October, November 2017 and I don't know yet in December whether we 'll have snow or it's gonna be hot or cold. Sure, it's nothing to do with Katy Perry's "Hot & Cold" famous song. How about fireworks?

I don't know why it's warmer than unusual in the island. What's happening? E.T. are you involved in this global warming? I hope not.

I know so many gimmicks nowadays. I first thought that's only for the starlets to do because of airtime they want to steal from the main event.

So, it's now almost December 2017. I mean in few hours from now...DECEMBER the most beautiful, wonderful month, the yuletide, the birth month of the "Son of God" the most acclaimed, most awaited exciting month when gifts are exchanged, given and received.

A month that is very special, a month to celebrate with the whole family to enjoy and share and get together. Your family are your friends first and foremost of course. Value your family first need I remind you every now and then?

To those who will celebrate their birthdays for this month: Have a merry, happy birthday. Wishing you all the joys, the happiness, good health, peace of mind and happy long life as we all await for the New Year for good luck and prosperity abound. GOD BLESS US!


Cheers,
E.Verna

Entertainment Value

Waking up to a brand new day of fake news is not funny. I don't know what it is but do you like listening to an everyday of fake news on TV?

But how sure are we to know if the news are fake or not? To find out the source of fake news? What television station, channels and reporters who are dealing with sending reports and messages of fake news when they just read what's on the teleprompter being aired and broadcasted on our television screen. Then who to blame? The writers that put the messages on the teleprompter. ?

It could be that the fake news are just "leak sort of a gossip" amongst employees of the television networks or just mere hearsays for the fun of it and it bubble up to bigger news. Could it be that they are only covering a much bigger news, too confidential to broadcast and using this fake news as cover. Cover to hide.

Do you like camoflauge? Or you are over fatigue and breaking news is part of your daily ritual saving the life of  television networks? Of all questions I don't have answers because I'm not part of any broadcasting network or channel station. I am only a participant in viewing news everyday through flat screen TV.

Can we consider fake news as entertaining as true real news? Could be true to most of us because it's part of entertainment. Maybe fake news are real news and real news are fake.

It's always a guessing game now because I think we are in generation of  bored people. Something to talk about. Practice your ability to talk and socialize.

Food That Makes Us Humans

For the love of food especially if the food are deliciously delightful. When it comes to cooking my favorite viands no gimmick is needed to accomplish the task. All I need are the valid, complete ingredients and in barely just one hour the viand is cooked for lunch or dinner and we are happy to have a happy meal for the whole family to taste and enjoy.

However lately, I am being repetitive of what I'm cooking and I need to stop the repetition. So I cooked something different.

We bought young okra, eggplant and bittermelon for pinakbet. Those three common veggies are known in asian countries but not in the western world. Whenever I cooked this special viand my children only picked those tender meat and sauce for their steamed rice. My husband always had a frown on his face when I cooked this viand (once in a blue moon) because these veggies are not his favorites. Okra is slimy when cooked and has lots of white seeds inside, while the eggplant is mushy when cooked and bittermelon is bitter of course. I like bittermelon because it's good for lowering the blood pressure. For those people with high blood pressure this vegetable bittermelon is good for you.

 This is the kind of food that makes them happy and put a smile on my family's face. Palabok is superbly tasty and delicious noodles with toppings of incredible yummy ingredients: ground pork, hard boiled eggs sliced thinly, shrimps, diced fried tofu, with hot spicy shrimp sauce, cooked to perfection. Garnish with thinly sliced cilantro and spring onions. For added spice, try sriracha sauce and squeeze calamansi juice.

For desserts: Blueberry-pineapple tidbits muffin and or apple turnovers.

 Husband bought this turnovers from the supermarket and on its label was "Cherry" but turned out the turnovers were stuffed with "Apple."

I know that's weird! What the hell happened?

For my evening snack I preferred a feshly brewed hot coffee and raspberry swissrolls. T'was the night before the game...

OMG! It's Already November!!!!

Halloween is over? It's okay. You can still wear your halloween costumes for next year's celebration and if its too small for your body next year you can swap your costume with your friends or buy a new one. I know you had so much fun last night.

From what I witnessed last night's parade of people wearing costumes they really deserved a whole lot of applause. It's not only for kids, even toddlers and babies wore their costumes. I had seen toddlers wearing costumes from the set of "the Lion King" and based from their favorite action heroes. It was unbelievable that their parents wore costumes too to celebrate this one day and night of festivity. How could that Halloween is more happier than Christmas?

Adults wearing superheroes costumes: dressed as Superman, Captain America, Batman and cowboys, indians, fairies, and cartoon characters. Only few people wore witches and scary costumes. Everyone would rather want to look beautiful and handsome. That's really nice eh? Sudden change of mind that being scary is not fun especially when you are a fan of "The Walking Dead" and FTWD and other zombie apocalyptic movies. That's right, it's better to look amazing. Halloween can be fun, clean and beautiful.

Now what? For those who are still grieving due to their loss of loved ones we sympathize with them. Our heartfelt condolence to their families. Let us believe that there is heaven and there is GOD Almighty who will be there with us in times of need and when its time for us to be anchored in God's hands and be there too in heaven with Him.

Let us give thanks and praise to our LORD GOD. In the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit. +

The Giver. The Receiver.

Bad News:

You cannot make people like, love

understand, validate, accept or be nice to you.

You can't control them either.

Can you?

Good News:

IT

Doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter

Be Kind to yourself

Love and respect your own family

Family matters first in the eyes of God

HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY!

Another day of giving thanks

Gratitude for the many blessings.

Note:

Everyday is thanksgiving day.

Cheers!

Oh my God! It's also the Wedding Anniversary of my Parents-in-Law. Wherever you are  Mom and Dad hope you are in heaven and having a grand wedding anniversary celebration up there with God.

Above picture is with my family and in-laws (my husband's parents) including my husband's aunt and sister. Hmmm... I'm so glad that I have a picture with them here because you know most of the time in every occasion, most of the time I was the photographer taking photographs of  the whole family.

You bet it right I love photography because golden memories are hard to come by. I love people smiling or having a good time. A good laugh and all what we cherish right there at the moment of awe and grandeur. I missed them, missed how we get together, drink Vodka and had those unforgettable stories (of their childhood days, the year of Depression WWII, etc, etc.) then end up with the Norwegian sweet cake for dessert. Of course the dinner is hearty, the vegetables are fresh from the garden, if there is turkey Mom always have crabs on my plate. But most of the time Mom would rather have big roast beef as the main course dinner.

Happy Wedding Anniversary! Cheers! Skohl!!

It's About Family

26 YEARS AGO here we are on this unforgettable event of my life, with my husband Lorne on our wedding day reception at Via Mare. It was an awesome, amazing reception actually, very classy, beautiful and organized. It was well planned in a short period of time plan however it turned out what we expected...it was beyond me. Anyway, after 26 years reminiscing the good ol' days and after all what I heard that I should had a simple wedding and should had plan about buying a house and just got married in a simple wedding ceremony without all the pompous lavish wedding entourage and classy reception. You know the kind of simple wedding ceremony in front of a judge with two wedding sponsors and a simple reception at the restaurant with just two sponsors and that's it.

What? That's weird right? I arranged my brother's wedding and paid for half of his wedding to my sister- in- law and I will have a simple ceremony wedding of my own? Wow! Who am I? I mean have to sacrifice my own happiness so that somebody can have a beautiful wedding paid by me? My husband paid for all the wedding expenses: Church, Reception, Honeymoon expenses. We had 100 invited guests. We had a judge, lawyer, soldiers and General for wedding sponsors. I think only 55 to 65 people attended our wedding instead of 100's but we had wedding gate crashers at the reception, some people we don't even know. LOL. How ridiculous eh? Sure that's product of your imagination ha ha ha! The wedding feast at my parents home was financed by my parents and me. It was a double reception so that the whole family and clan can be together in one place sort of family-together. The neighbors were able to share the feast  and that's what sharing happiness is. My wedding reception at Via Mare was kind of very formal and some of our invited guests are too shy to attend and the reception at my family's house helped them feel at ease and feel at home. That's one so great thing about Filipino families are the close-ties the close-relationship of the whole entire clan, the relatives and good friends who would like to share memories with us. After all, wedding is about unity, binding ties with the people who are there through thick and thin. It's about FAMILY.  You are getting married because you also want to have a family of your own.

Anyway, I should not inform everyone about that eh? Okay, 26 years ago it was the happiest day of my life and I hope my husband felt the same way. After 26 years I had three children, actually they are young adults now: Ty age 24 and the twins are age 23.

Marrying the man, the man that you love and be with that man for the rest of your life... isn't that what every woman wants? You are getting married with the man that you love for eternity and hopefully the man has that set of mind that he is marrying the woman he loves and will stay with her for the rest of his life... for eternity.

Marriage is not about convenience, for money, status quo, companionship or because you get married because the woman is pregnant. Or you get married because of fear. Marrying the person because everybody's talking about you and the whole town is gossiping about you is a total disgrace.

Always marry for LOVE. And make sure that you both want to get married because you want to have a FAMILY of your own, from your own DNA and RNA.

Honor, Prestige, Virtue, Conscience

Why strategists have to do everything in advance? Simply because they are advance planner. As a matter of fact it's through their visions, important plans are patterned so that there could be Plan A to Plan B if it failed then try another plan. So many plans and so many trials.

The art of war, the art of positive thinking. Everyday is  an art of war for self defense especially if you work for the Department of Defense.

All games have  a masterplan. Who is the decision maker and who follows all the actions, every action is crucial and whether your team wins or loses then IT DOESN'T MATTER!

It doesn't matter because in every game and the most valuable game there is on planet Earth only requires your "participation." 

No cheating is the one and only honor that is truly honorable by which virtue and prestige, valor and the love of sports that matter. HONOR, VIRTUE, PRESTIGE the most important asset in winning.

You won but you had cheated your way in that game then you are a loser!

In everything you do there is that CONSCIENCE that matters.
It's just a game but it's also a plan and a good strategy.

Interesting TV Series

Do you really want NUMBERS or NUMB3RS's return to your tele-viewing night of fun? How many times you change channels at night while watching these shows/series: TBBT and other TV Shows on the same time slot. On Monday night, how many of you will change channels because CTV has THE GIFTED and at the same time another Channel has THE VOICE. Or another series compete with the brand new series THE GOOD DOCTOR.

We can forgive you if somehow you were able to watch THE GIFTED instead of watching the "BLIND Audition." Obviously, in "The voice" they are truly concerned about the voice without perceiving who are the singers and what personality that goes with the owner of the "voice." What if the singers are lip-synching on the blind audition? Whatever! It's not my problem.

In AMERICAN IDOL, you can see the person individually as each one contestant represent their talent in singing, their mannerism, behaviour and attitude all at once in their "first screen audition." First thing first, you can SEE THE FACE of the singer. We are truly from the race of THOMAS the Apostle whose motto and principle is TO SEE IS TO BELIEVE.

Worse of these contests when the winner who must compete thousands of other contestants and then end up with just a cheap price of a brand new car unlike in the AMAZING RACE,  the winners receive MILLION OF DOLLARS. In AMAZING RACE CANADA the winners win $250,000 + the all expense paid trip around the world, gas, 2 brand new vehicles. I think the judges and producer of these talent shows should provide better prizes worthy of the singer's talent.

I know too many tele-series now on TV Channels and viewers suffer from channel-changing in between commercials to find out what's happening in another series.

So what's happening in QUANTICO? When the FBI Agents would rather become CIA? How about DESIGNATED SURVIVOR? Who will last or booted off from the White House where Pres. Kirkland is the designated survivor?

Anyway, we enjoyed watching Freddie Highmore as the smart autistic surgeon who was seconds to doing his first surgery until one surgeon disappointed him from performing his first operation. The Hospital surgeons are not only egoists or arrogant but simply they thought they are well experienced and they worked in that hospital for such a long time than Dr. Shaun Murphy although taking credit from the genius of an autistic surgeon Murphy is somewhat a matter of envy, jealousy and narcissistic attitude of those 3 older surgeons. What happened if the old President of the Hospital is away or not present or not knowledgeable in the "hospital situation" in and out of the operating room. It could be chaos. It could be chaotic and the victims? Poor innocent victims, the patients.

September...Here Comes October!

End of the month, what can I say. It's time for Calendar of events for October 2017. Aren't you glad September is almost over? Actually September is OVER! It's already October in many parts of the world.

OCTOBER

4  October - Sukkot begins at Sundown. A Jewish holiday

5  October - Wedding Anniversary
                    World Teacher's Day

9  October -  Thanksgiving Day
                     Columbus Day

12 October -  Simchat Torah begins at Sundown

16 October -  Boss's Day

24 October -  United Nations Day

31 October -  Halloween

Time is passing by so fast, so swiftly and I know so many of you are so pissed of right now about the many unbelievable, incredible stories out there. I am so pissed of too because we can only blame ourselves because we keep believing what we can perceive on our television sets on the screen of our TV are exactly the truth. Not all that we can see are the truth on TV. Maybe every news out there is half truth (on certain percentage). Maybe they are a duplicate copy of what is believed to be the truth. Maybe they are just sort of fabrication. A syndicated, fabricated stories for controversial issue to gain popularity or access to a news that are hidden and cannot be put on public display and the newscasters are just playing a role or part to just describe certain issues in a manner that we can all understand but we can't agree with what they are trying to imply because of judicial process. Maybe what they are broadcasting now are of the past, what they hoarded in the past are the news of today. That they do not know the sources because they are anonymous and they make their own stories. I don't know. The bearer of news and or the people behind the news and the contract they signed in to bring journalism live and as fresh as the air we breathe. By the way is the air you breathe fresh?

Is the air cooler than before? Autumn...winter... it wont be long and it's Christmas.

Life Goes On

There is always something to do. There is always something called IDEA. There is always something called strategy.

I am a Mother fist and foremost. I am a wife to my one and only good husband. Thank God! Only one! I have only three smart children and they are already in their right age enough for them to think for themselves. They have a mind of their own.

I have a mind of my own. I can think for myself.

I blog. I have amazing blogs. I write and tell stories. I do not aim for popularity to make me happy. I am happy because I have a good family and blogs to keep me busy.  I cook our family meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Lately there's no reason for me to cook something for breakfast.

I do the housecleaning, laundry, organize the household except the garage. We have a small garden for floral and that we raised vegetables and these veggies are already past their prime and we gathered the last beans for seedlings next year of 2018. There are green tomatoes and swiss chards and it's a matter of time when to harvest them before the onset of the fall season. The weather is still unpredictable cooler at early morning then warming up in the afternoon and cooling down at night. The temperature varies most everyday. Is that normal? Truth is just about normal.

Life goes on in this part of the world. Thank you our dear Lord God for another bright shiny day.
We can't get away from the shining, we love something that shines.

One more time with smile on my face... survive!

LIFE GOES ON whether you like IT or not.

Time Is Always On My Side

Time ))) is always on my side))) Yes it is. OMG! It's already Tuesday. What have I done? Or rather what have you done for me lately?

It's already the 26th of September2017 and I thought will blog starting October instead but my hands would like to post something and I'm in the mood to write.

Actually, my hands are acting up, as if the nerves are a bit damaged or having sort of "reflex" that I can't explain. Oh my God! Pasmado na!!! I hope it's not an onset of Parkinson's disease. I am too young for such ailment. Then I remember the actor Michael J. Fox is younger than me and he was suffering from such illness.

I could be using my hands too much. Maybe my computer is making my hands in an out of control motion. I know that we humans are not to overuse our own hands and legs and when we acted out like machines or in a robotic way then the injury could be devastating.

So many of us in the world of work would like to work non-stop. We are not lazy! we are just happy to work because WE LOVE TO WORK. However, when our mind, body and soul and our health jeopardize our own spirit and the will to do the work freely and when hindrances upon barriers stop us from doing the things we love then what else can we do?

Upward Memory Lane

If I were to choose to go on vacation or holiday it will be in Victoria, BC. Why? Because the city of Victoria is one of the most beautiful cities in Canada. Actually considered "the most beautiful city in the world" because of its stunning spectacular sightseeing tour, the views, the majestic spots, the architectural buildings dated back from 18th Century, amazing parks and incredible museums that you will be thrilled and awed of how incredible collections of the vast wealth that these museums had collected from the past to present time.

Of course I love the Butchart Garden with its collections of hundreds to thousands of plants, hundreds to thousands of different species from natural to exotic flowers. Just the species of roses, tulips, dahlias, carnations and all the flowers you haven't seen yet in your lifetime are there for you to see and there's nothing wrong if you take photographs and to be photographed alongside with all the botanical flowers, plants and trees inside the huge garden is more than a joy to be remembered forever.

You have a garden at your own backyard or front yard at home? No problem, just view the many floral in this marvellous garden and you'll be delighted at how you can learn how these plants survive and thrive in a place like this.

 I love this lovely pond adorned with variety of tulips, marigolds, petunias, daisies and other popular flowers. At the middle of the pond are replica statue of sturgeons. I think they are sturgeons the expensive fishes that produce the most expensive caviar. Truth be told that these special fish sturgeon are raised only for caviar.

 Another pond surrounded with beautiful flowers and the fence with climbing vines of pink flowers. Down below the fence are red flowers so many of them. So many thousands of flowers that I have problem remembering them one by one. I know they have the complete collection of all the flowers of the world. The garden boasts of species of irises, begonias, petunias, hyacinths, azaleas, rhododendrons, clematis, oriental lilies, tulips, daffodils, chrysanthemums,lotus, cherry blossoms, strawflowers, dianthus, poppies, wallflowers, hydrangea, snapdragons, geraniums, magnolia, lupins, forget-me-nots, too many ground covers such as omphalodes verna. There are peonies, gladiolas, and a lot more that you can ever see and one day sight-seeing is not enough.

 There are hundreds of roses species in Butchart Garden I have seen so many of them in my lifetime but there's one that caught my eyes that day... it was the tiger patterned roses. It was one of the most beautiful three toned roses. The petals were velvety touch and the colors are of purple, red, pink, with white spots as if they are  from the orchid family.

 This part of the Butchart Garden with the majestic fountain have floral of marigolds, daisies and mums. At night time, spectacular fireworks is the main attraction on this site.

And on this part of the beautiful garden where I posed once again on the star-shaped colorful floral garden, heard people passing by yelling at us, "Your baby will be a star!"

OMG! Obviously my tummy is big! I was pregnant with my baby who was born on August 3.

A walk in the park, a walk in the maze of flowers is one of the most joyous fun way that human beings have to deal with for relaxation, stimulation of the minds increase your word power through memory.

First Thing First

A cup of hot brewed Maxwell coffee is all what I need first thing in the morning before I proceed with my laundry. Yup, it's time to clean our bed sheets, pillow cases, comforters and clothes plus towels and other linens. Do I have to replace the ordinary regular comforter to the heavy winter bed ensemble or buy a new one? I only have 3 bed in a bag set that I used for a year. The lighter comforter is for spring time and summer time and the heavy set comforter is for autumn and winter season.

Bedroom ensemble set. Duvet covers

I don't know, maybe wait for the time when we have extra money to splurge, have to remind myself that we have to go shopping for groceries. Not too many stores/supermarkets around the island having caselots sale. To shop at Costco? With the renewal of a membership card is like wasting $150 worth of groceries. Yeah, that's the membership fee, $150 is costly!

Now what? There's a lot to think ahead of time. I don't know how early snowfall in this part of the island or are we to experience snow once again this year? We had so much snowfall in November 2016, December to January of 2017. So better think of winter snow tires. I know that my husband spent $1,500 worth of durable winter snow tires last year and I don't know if those tires are still ok this season. I hope so. There are too many expenditures that are on the list. Think of the "first thing first."

Roof over the head, food, and other essential basic needs. Thinking of the most important things not on the lesser value.

Next is, not to do harm.

Fake News Again?

It's chilly cold this morning which is better than previous weather temperature in the past. I would rather like a cooler breeze than hot weather temperature where it's unbelievable to breathe. Air is so thin in hot, humid weather that's for sure. Hot temperature triggers increase in your blood pressure and you are always mad about something. You wonder why people in hot climate zone fight all the time for no apparent reason. They keep firing up the sky so that it will rain. An old technique that if you keep firing the clouds, or sending smoke up the sky then the atmospheric temperature will change and the stratosphere will accumulate certain electrical charges and what happen there will be positive and negative charges, thunderstorms and lightning occur and folks that's the magic of physics and science. Old tested experiments.

Let me remind you it's already year 2017 not year 1917.
Play 1917 and you'll end up in World War I & II.

2-0-1-7  Two- Zero- One- Seven

Did the ozone layers finally open up? Who knows? Are you in the Antarctica? Canada is closer to the North Pole. I don't know if the North Pole is covered with ice at this point in time but there are parts of the Northern province especially the highest peak with snow already. Or the snow on those peak are probably there since January and hasn't melted.

News Today: North Korea fired its second missile towards Japan and landed in the ocean. Really? Are you sure? Is there a tsunami? OMG! Maybe they are playing WAR GAMES?

OMG! Dunno which news are fake nowadays and news reporters are laughing at the news? We all have to laugh because so many gimmicks and tricks. Halloween is coming soon and I don't know whether have to celebrate that day of trick and treats. A day of goblins, witches and evil.

Vanity Or What?

I couldn't believe that I was wearing a size 2 top and skirt in this picture. It's hard to believe! I can't believe it either. How that happened? Ha ha ha! No camera trick here, just that I was slim way back then, very petite and it's unbelievable that after 4 years, from size 2 to size 10 now that is totally unbelievable.

Blame the food. I can only blame the delicious food I cooked everyday. Sometimes, I stop myself from cooking and baking, the hell with it.

Then, if I stop my number one daily chore at home, my husband and kids will suffer. It's not that they will starve out of food but there are uncooked food in the fridge and the freezer, all they need to do is cook, the action word COOK your own food and leave me alone and let me starve so that I can have a slim body. OMG! Vanity!!!

Whatever! If the food are served and the food are delicious why not eat.

Okay now, don't be so crabby!

I know you like it.

8

8 EIGHT is a beautiful, lucky number. I might as well post my pictures here. 8 of me. Wow! How many clones Tatiana had in her "Orphan Black series"? The last episode it was foretold that she had 874 clones. Would you believe that? Consider me having 8 clones only. Ha ha ha ! J/K

In Star Wars the movie, we thought that the Queen Amidala was the real queen but it turned out she was only a decoy and it was Padme the rebel, warrior the true real queen. Whatever, because the queen doesn't talk and can't talk in the movie.

There are so many sequels for the original Star Wars and the fans can't get enough of another sequel after another to be seen in the silver screen. Star Wars is becoming a "Bible" and you wont believe it might be the next generation Bible in the future. You think that's unbelievable?

Possibilities are endless.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks daughter Tam for taking photographs of me when I'm in the best and brightest mood.

Paint Job

House painting is the most in demand job during summer time. Professional house painters make lots of money doing contract such as this, however, this kind of job is seasonal and depends on what kind of weather out there. There's no worries when the paint job is inside the house and the house is empty of any furniture. You don't want the painter to move your heavy furniture because that's not part of their job.

Anyway, I searched through the internet on how professional house painters are paid > based on their skills. So this is what I discovered on their pricing:

Paint Job Price only excluding Price of  Pressure Washing

Is the price too cheap? Probably it's only the "prime coating."
The second coating (painting would mean extra paint so additional charges required.

You have the skills, you are professional house painter and if you are not paid properly for your kind of work then there's something wrong. Either you are being cheated or you want somebody to abuse your kindness.

My Husband The Tour Guide

My husband went boating and fishing then came home with only two live crabs inside the bucket. I asked him where's the fish? He told me that he's just the "tour guide."

What? I couldn't believe what he said. He was out in the ocean, in the Deep Water Bay with his 24 ft. boat with no fish to show me. He woke up early at 5 AM and then arrived at past 5 PM that's enough hours to catch something from the ocean. Anyway, he just want those guys to enjoy their fishing and catch the salmons they want. The guys caught 6 big salmons and when he  hauled in the crab traps at least there are 10 male crabs, fortunately inside the trap and the rests were female crabs which you know that they have to release them back to the ocean to propagate or produce more offsprings or baby crabs. Eight crabs for my sister and her family and two crabs for us. All the salmons for them and just two crabs for us.

That's how nice my husband is. It's okay, we have enough salmon fillet in  packages inside our freezer.

I don't go with him fishing and crabbing besides, he never asked me anyway. He once told me that it's wavy and too many hundred reasons why I should not go. The boat has a covered mattress and seat in a private room, a portable toilet just in case, however... better not use the toilet if you want to sleep in that cabin. Besides the boat is specifically to use for fishing and to go where the school of fish are treading, hiding, swimming and what else could those fish are doing? lol

Whatever, I cleaned, boiled and cooked the crabs for dinner.

Once again the weather is stupidly hot. We can all wish that after Labor Day the cooler air will be back to normal and it's Autumn season here we come.

Return to School tomorrow for millions of Canadian students. Good luck students and keep on studying and learning something new.

Wedding Pictorials

Planning of getting married in September? Great! The calming effect of the weather changing, cooling effect of autumn is evidently felt now.

If you have a wedding planner then everything will be alright, less stress, less pressure. However a professional wedding planner will be very costly.

A wedding expense is costly no matter where you look at it from the very beginning, starting with choosing the best wedding gown for the bride and for the best tuxedo fit for the groom and all the wedding entourage. The venue, Church or beach in whatever place the union of two people in love decide to say "I DO;"  where the bride and groom decide to get married, to the place of reception and the sumptous, delicious menu to delightful wedding cake. It's the reception arrangement and coordination of color motiff and beautiful colors of flower arrangement on every dining table and ribbons tied to the chairs. It's gonna be a mind boggling planning, thinking or almost everything from the minute details to large details... but you know the possibilities are endless.

However for the memories, great awesome, amazing memories always think of the memorable photographs and videos that will remember your nuptial for the rest of your lives.

Memories, photographs and memories...

Did you know that if you ask a famous photographer to shoot your unforgettable moments through the lens of their cameras would be so costly? Famous photographer charges from $8,000 to $10,000
for the whole, complete photography from the wedding ceremony at the church to the reception. Hopefully, there's a studio photography for the groom and bride included in the package deal. A studio pictorial is where there is that projected light that resonates to the whole aura of what you ever wanted to keep your desired  photographs away from any disturbance in four corners of every picture. Meaning no photo-bombers on the sides of desired pictures and it's controlled by the hired photographers. The colors on the background, lighting effect, the space and decorations are controlled by the bride and groom and the photographer. Actually according to the taste of photographer for the quality assurance.

I searched over the internet and find out for myself the pricing of such wedding pictorials. And the list goes like this:

SeptemBER

First day of the month of September and you think with the "ber" on its month then it's gonna be cooler days from now on? Not a chance! The weather network's meteorologist predicted hot summer days until Labor Day.

I only have seen a fallen yellow oak leaf from the old tall oak tree at the backyard at the nearby forest. Maybe there are autumn foliage now in another part of the city within the island. Most of the trees surrounding the area here are alder trees and douglas fir trees. I have to walk out from the subdivision to the next block to see those beautiful maple and birch trees to see their leaves color changing mode.

So, it's September and the Calendar Events as follow:

September 4  - Labor day
September 5  - Wedding Anniversary of my Parents
HAPPY 64th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY to MY PARENTS

September 10 - Grandparents day
September 11 - Patriot day, Birth Anniversary of President Ferdinand Marcos
September 20 - Rosh Hashannah
September 21 - International Day of Peace
September 22 - Autumnal Equinox
September 29 - Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement)

Have a pleasant day today and God bless everyone.

People's Princess & Queen of Hearts

 

Princess Diana's D. Anniversary today. It's hard to believe that she passed away just like that... so tragic and ... Rest In Peace and God bless You!

Wherever she is right now probably in heaven with the angels. For all the good things, for all the good deeds and all the accomplishments she did for her family, friends and all the people who received her love, attention, support, and compassion,  thank you,  we are forever thankful.

Princess Diana will always be the People's Princess and Queen of Hearts. She will always be the world's inspiration when it comes to strength against oppression and adversity. People will always be inspired about her sense of fashion, kindness, humility, exceptional beauty and simplicity.

Always remember that "She's the One."

Photography Time

I'm an amateur photographer so better post some photographs for today. How about fresh blackberries from our yard?

 Blackberries & Strawberries combination

Serve it right!

Be careful when picking berries

Watch out for those sharp thorns and slivers

Clean the blackberries first in a bowl of water, rinse the many tiny thorns and slivers out before you put them in your mouth.

I'm an amateur photographer and trick is not part of my system.
I'm an amateur photographer and I'm perfectionist!

Happiness Is...

Hey it's Tuesday! What should I post this time? Another show and tell or "Fun with Flags?" Ahahahha! I like that portion of "The Big Bang Theory" where Sheldon and his gf Amy had that small production fun with flags and their semi-drama comedy of anything about nothing until you laughed because what they are doing is funny/ridiculous and their facial reactions are somewhat confused, uneasy and camera conscious smart ass.

I know, should not write that "ass" whatever you want to call it. It's just a word. When you fall into trap about finding a replacement for that word it becomes another word and doesn't have the same meaning or definition.

You as a naive, innocent human being was invited by your relative to attend a party and then someone in the party is not your friend and then they talked about you in a situation that compromised everybody that in the conversation somebody is using "a made up name for that somebody that they disliked like the name of the dog or cat for instance is used." It's not funny/hilarious at all. It's sort of a discrimination made lightly to cover up something that's embarrassing.

OMG! Disguises. Do you have a cover when you blog? I think most of you have disguises and cover or using pseudonyms and I can't blame you because publicly you don't want to shame that person or group of people.

It's too late for me to have disguises or pseudonyms in writing. I would like to write the truth just the same as in the Holy Bible. Why lie about everything? What can you get from lying and deceiving people?

Science fiction or fantasy would be a better story  to write or have some adventure and challenges that tackle about anything out of the ordinary. But who cares? This is a blog. This is my diary. If you are not interested in reading my post then jump over to another blog. And then that's what happened why some blogs are blocked or flagged.

My children are grown-ups, they are young adults, no babies at home that's for sure. My home is adult-oriented now and everybody can think for themselves. I'm happy and glad that I don't have to babysit anybody or look after young children. If I would be babysitting that would be fine but at the rate of babysitting nowadays would be $10/hr $15/hr. In 1999 the rate of babysitting per child is $4.50/hr. Would you believe that? Looking after and caring for children is one of the hardest work ever especially if that child is naughty and never listens to command nor never pays attention to elders. There are too many children whose problems are over the roof  ( as if they are mini Darth Vader) that no parents can control them and that's where the government support is much needed. Intervention of extra help is needed for such children to live normally as much possible.

Oh well, there's always a solution for every problem. Bring VICTORIOUS & BIG TIME RUSH shows back to NICK TV so that we're all gonna be happy. LOL.

Monday Post

Yey! It's Monday and it's back to work at my blog. What to write here when I aready blogposted something in another blog and because people need something new to see and listen to. But this is a blog so what should be posted should be a photograph not necessarily a video with sound.

Wow! All of a sudden there's that flashboy who deleted what I have typewritten.  Dude don't hack my computer. You think I can't see you?

So let me post these photos because that's how we start with mnemonic.

 My husband is finished with paint job on the house. He even rented that long ladder to be able to reach the highest point of the wall up to the roof. It's scary to even look at what he is doing but that kind of work is what employment  that pays better: construction, building houses and establishments.  Blue collar jobs are the most in demand work nowadays. Demand for labor and demand for supply.

 I looked up and I looked down and found this old, dry small shrub that was on the ground beside the fence and lifted it and told myself this is an "art."  My son yelled at me to throw it. "Don't even take it inside the house," my husband said. I was staring at that dry small tree and thinking I can paint this and make it a "small Christmas tree." LOL.

Oh well, took more photos of the lively, colorful flowers (plant) that my husband planted. He spent at least $100 worth of florals : begonia, purple velvet petunias, red petunias. Is it worth the price?

After my photography session and after I picked some hearty fresh beans from the garden I decided it's time to cook something for dinner.

My favorite way to have salmon prepared and cooked and baked, yeah the way I want it. Two big fillet of salmon, one is baked with mayonnaise on top and spices  and one fillet of salmon with spices of black pepper, salt, sprinkle of ground oregano leaves, without mayonnaise and calamansi juice poured evenly on the surface of the fish. Yummy good of course! All it takes: 30 minutes in toaster-oven at 450 (degrees Farenheit).

 Dinner & a Movie? My son had chosen Scarlett Johansson's movie GHOST IN THE SHELL. It's not that bad of a story of a perfect soldier named Major used by scientists to be their obedient powerful cyber robot soldier to defeat criminals. Her brain is real human but her body is patches of moulded plastic robots. It's a science-fiction movie similar to Universal Soldier. OMG! Similarities. That's what it is with movies nowadays. What happened to originality? Scarlett is a good actress let her stay with Robert Downey Jr, in Ironman.

Work That Benefit The Whole Family

The frequency in blogging is much admired in many websites around the world. Actually everyday is good as if it's a news network. Blogger made it  a point that Blogger the blogpost.com is sort of a diary for so many of its hundred thousands to millions of its members that's why if the frequency of blogging is everyday let me tell you it is not that annoying. What is annoying is when your favorite blogwriters do not  blog as often as you want them to. You keep dropping by to read something new and you find them in a hiatus for a month without something new to offer or nothing's new to show and tell.

It's not my business anyway, especially if those blogwriters love to travel and their blog is about travelling in Europe, in Asian countries and in the Caribbean or in the Mediterranean countries. They have so much to show and they have too much to spend that's why. Their money is all over their abode.

While me I am stuck most of the time at home and travelling is sort of maybe if there's a special occasion or something very important to do and see for myself what's happening in those places.

With too many expenses such as rental home, electricity, internet, television, food, clothing and other basic necessities in life then to travel in all pleasures is somewhat awful  and absurd. My husband has vehicle and so as my son not only those vehicles need gas, insurance and other miscellaneous bills to pay it's a matter of having to work full time. Remember that in Economics? A full time employment is a much needed to keep yourself afloat. That a rising tide lifts all boats.

Just recently one of my sons had a visit with his dentist and in 30 minutes being there at the dental office for one tooth filling, waiting to be called then the dentist had his gum injected with anesthesia to keep it numb for the dental process and in just few minutes the dentist work is done in less than 30 minutes and he paid for such work. He paid for his own dental fee. One tooth filling is costly. $153. I'm glad he is mature enough to pay for his own dental and medical bills.

OMG! It's nice to have dentists in the family. My cousin is probably lucky to have 2 dentists (son and daughter) in her family, she doesn't need to pay for dental works.

I had problems too with my tooth before when I was young. I ate too much milk nougat and candies with caramel inside those candies. I was 8 years old when I had that stupid tooth that needs to be pulled out. I was afraid to have it pulled by dentist so I waited and waited that I can pull it out without the need to see that long needle (anesthesia injection). I tried my grandmother's old remedy however it only worked for few hours and the pain keeps coming back. Up to the last minute when the pain is unbearable finally surrender to the dentist and have that tooth out. My father was a soldier and all his dependents (whole family)  received free medical and dental benefits and because he also worked in the hospital. That's what is so great about having a military man  in the family.

To others:

Whatever it is, control your intake of sweets especially candies, jellies and caramel. Avoid sweet stuff that sticks to your gum and teeth. Avoid smoking and do not smoke. Cigar and tobaccos are menace to you health and can ruin your teeth. It can cause cancer! Control your intake of sweet soda and sweet beverage and iced tea. Brush your teeth with Colgate 3x a day or every after meals. Don't tell me I didn't warn you.

Bye for now. Gotta watch "The Walking Dead" marathon at aMC Channel.

There Is Always Something New To Blog

What else should be happening in our small island somewhere in the Pacific? Ha ha! You don't know that the island is located in the Pacific? We are in the "Pacific Theatre."

People who live in the Pacific Theatre know how to act and react to any kind of weather condition and all the many disturbances that surround the entire island and the nearby islands. We live in a group of fishermen, carpenters, merchants and God knows what they are doing.

We are not in Venice. Are we in Italy? I don't think so! The new Italian country is now in Global City, Philippines.

However, our small island is still considered as "Total Drama Island" and it's okay to act and react. What else to do anyway?

Everyone has an attitude and thank God we brag about such attitude. It is something to brag because we can't brag about the house, car or any other kind of vehicle because everyone lives in the house and everyone has vehicle. Several people owned electric vehicles and there are spots for EV cars to load/charge electricity within the city and that's the ultra modern technology right there.

Then I looked at our TV and watched this commercial about "Clorox Scrubtastic." Wow! That's neat! I would like to have one like that for cleaning bath tub, that would be handy and it's only $39.99 + tax.

Work With Pay

My husband keeping busy working, definitely WORKING WITH PAY! It's the world of work for him that should bring in the bacon. Pressure washing and painting is not an easy job, actually the hardest jobs because of the risks involved. It's a contractual work so salary or wages are paid after the work is completed.

For other workers doing this kind of job? It would be the same rights of workers being applied.

The World of Work

Watching TV shows and TV series still is the cheapest, economical way to be entertained. However when the news on TV is about terrorism and the many disaster and bad news you don't call that as a form of entertainment. Bad news can lead to depression, anxiety and fear. It triggers a downfall in some of the stocks in the Stock Exchange. It leads to something inevitable crucial moments for those who are involved and most of all it leads to unhappiness.

I wish to have all the textiles I need to keep me busy instead doing something that is more than productive rather than being influence on television shows that promote elimination of race, bullying, and rejection. Groups of people gang-up on individuals they disliked because these people are the quiet-type, no vice (doesn't smoke, doesn't gamble, not a drug addict or individual without friends or not sociable). Why the liars and deceptive people are well liked by such group of people? Creepy?
Maybe it's the social norm that whoever talks too much or an individual who talks more than the non-talker  should be the leader. It should be a person who can reason out better and wisely should lead the group, and somebody who has enough financial capability should manage and lead after all nothing is done when you don't have the capital and financial resources to do the work.

All standby when there's no source of finance. Nobody works when nobody pays.

The world of work is about work with pay! After all the basic needs of humanity have something to do with payment to all such needs and wants.

Can't see or read me here? I'm at MY BLOG, MY WORLD.

Thanks and enjoy the day!

GOD bless us all.

Survival

Are you on the side of food? You wont believe how many times it was proven that FOOD is the most important priority to survive.

Watch ALONE survival show about known survivalists, skilled and efficient contestants who compete in the wilderness with only few chosen tools and clothing to test their skills and ability to survive longer in an island surrounded by water and the forest where they can gather source of food, from the trees where they gather source of heat and shelter despite of the environment's sudden extreme changes in the temperature who among them can stay in the island by themselves without other source of food and means to live in the civilization where they once lived. Of course we can see and view them through the lens of camera they brought and was relayed the happening leading them to starvation because they are surrounded by the environment we thought they can gather food and any kind of fish or marine life edible for food but that's not easy though. When the frail bodies do not gain the nutrients they need to keep the strength to do the work, then the energy is lost and their frail bodies cannot do the work until they become unconscious.All for the prize of quarter million of dollars. That's a lot of money. You wont be able to earn such wages in one month or even in a year. Is that the prize? I don't know the exact prize for such competition on how to starve and survive.

Brooke and her husband thought with better shelter than the rest of their competitors and fire inside their built-in fireplace plus all the games they played to keep busy and few fishes they caught everything's okay. Brooke looked so sick already from the time she was gathering those heavy rocks from the beach to make a customized fireplace. Then the food they gathered like the creatures attached to the rocks called limpids. Do you think that's edible? I never see those limpids at the supermarket. If those creatures are not for sale in the market it only means that's not really edible. It's a risky seafood. Then the giant hairy snails...will you eat such snails? Only when you are starve to death and there is nothing that you can do to get any food, nor no fish or anything, nothing that you can get from the lake. Is that a lake or ocean? What they never try is to build a raft, so many of those trees with trunks and branches to build a boat, because probably the fish are just there at the middle of the ocean or lake. Are they not allowed to hunt deer or any wild animals in the forest?

They are probably doing some kind of test on survival. Everything is about survival. Test and research. How life on another planet would be if all your source of food is gone and survival in another planet would be crucial if the new planet has no vegetation or sort nor any animals to where they can get leather or fur for clothing, most especially for its meat. Maybe if there is source of water at least, humans can live for few days because with the presence of water in another planet could only mean there is air and oxygen and you can breathe, but for how long? Maybe, if you have bags of seeds of all kinds of vegetable seeds and it will take several days for plants to grow. For a brand new tomato seed planted on soil, would take a day for the tiny sprout out from the soil. It will  take 2 months at least for the tomato plant to bear flowers and another 3 weeks for the fruit to come out. For the fruit to grow to its size for picking, give  another month. Well that depends on the amount of fertilizer, sunshine and a lot of care for the tomato plant to exist and bear fruits. For beans to grow and bear the long, chubby beans? It takes 4 months for such plant to grow from its seed to bear its vegetable, right for picking.

In the movie MARTIAN starring Matt Damon as an astronaut stranded in Mars alone, he was able to plant potatoes. It takes few months for the potato plants to grow and yield. Potatoes are root crops and give carbohydrates. When these potatoes are fermented you can produce alcohol, wine, tonic and source of heat and can be distilled as source of energy. The energy derived from potatoes can be a source of fuel for rockets. It doesn't make sense? How could that be? I know, how could sugarcane can also be a fuel for vehicles in Brazil and Cuba?

Photographs and Memories

 I love our garden even if it's a small one at the backyard. Watering the plants feels not a chore but a pleasure to do my best to keep the bean plants (veggies), tomatoes (veggies), swiss chards (veggies) and strawberries growing and bear fruits. Remember tomato is a vegetable not a fruit.

I was amazed of the strawberry plants, only three shrubs but already yield lots of fruits and I first thought after their fruits are harvested that's it no more then another batch of strawberry fruits are growing again and the second batch of fruits are bigger.

 I also love the blackberries. Picking them one by one is such a joy but I can't fill up a bucket yet because the berries do not ripen at the same time besides too many thorns surrounding the branches and their leaves are textured that if you wont be careful your hands will be full of scratch. I wont hurt my hands and arms trying to reach these berries. I only want to taste the blackberry if its sweet or sour.

 Everyday, blackberries have too many hundreds of visitors mostly honeybees, bumble bees, different species of butterflies and wasps and yellow jacket. There's a swarm of those insects and if you're not watchful then you'll get the swarm too on your body. Yuck!

 The only thing that makes me happy is when the garden is the subject of my photography. Well, the picture above was taken by my daughter who I keep on insisting that she should study photography at the local Community College. My daughter Tam knew how to use digital camera and she knows how to focus and aim camera and that's why I am the subject of her photography. Thanks sweetie for this awesome photo.

 Oh those beans. My husband said this is the "Oregon giants." I think this is from my collection of seeds "Dragon tongue beans." Originally from my Mother-in-law's collection of beans from Greystone's garden.

My family had an amazing garden too way back in 1971. My father loves gardening even up to today and he has that green thumb where every seeds grow and yield perfectly.

This is an aerial view of that garden surrounding my family's house in Philippines. We don't have a camera that time so this image below is to show you what was cultivated, harvested and what we had during the Green Revolution Project.

Verdad Family Garden

At the front of our house there were trees and vegetables such as: Guava tree, taro plants, fortune plants, mango tree, coconut tree. The next row, my father planted sweet potato and cassava plants, chili or jalapeno plants, upo and keylimes (calamansi). We also had a small pond for tilapia (native fish) beside the kangkongan plot. We had those stalks, dozen of sugarcane beside the water tap. While my grandmother planted her favorite flowers such as rosal (gardenia), roses, and San Francisco plant at the front house. She also planted the hibiscus (gumamela), jasmine (sampaguita). Right outside our front house's windows where we can see those 3 papaya trees along side the small pond for edible snails (kuhol) which crawled through our windows sometimes. Other trees were planted on the right  side of the house such as: Breadfruit, jackfruits, banana trees and the aratilis tree just grew there by itself. On the left side of the house we had caimito tree, banana trees (dozens of them and younger plants sprout every six months) then mushrooms in hundreds grew under the banana trunks, coconut tree, camias tree that bears non-stop of its fruits since 1971 to 2005. I don't know if that camias tree is alive up to present time. Palagi syang may bunga. All year round the camias yields so much of those sour fruits which we used for sinigang (sour soup base). At the backyard we had guyabano trees (soursop). I'm not sure what year we had those farm animals such as goats, rabbits and chicken (white leghorns) and the brown chicken, the mother hen had its "crown-like head." I remember when the mother hen died and I was crying non-stop and my grandmother stopped me from crying because that's only a chicken. That chicken was my pet that's why.  I think we had the farm animals in 1974 to 1977. We also had a tiger cat and a dog named Mutley. The cat and the dog treated each other like family. The cat Tiger (her name) thought she is the mother of Mutley.  Weird right? Long story to tell. Our pet dog was named after smart Mutley the brainiac partner of Dick Tracy in the Wacky race (my favorite cartoon show on TV). The next dog was named Mutley II and the next dogs are named Hunter I and II.

Oh my memories! I have photographic memory so even if without digital camera way back then I can picture everything through my mind. The best part is I can draw those memories and give life to them the way I want it.