Claire of All Trades

Piece of me attempt #1

2011-09-14T13:52:00.000-07:00

I am waiting for Zaia to go to deep sleep my tummy is rumbling and the artisan bread that I bought 2 days ago is beckoning me along with butter that is ready to be lathered unto the bread. Arg! I should have eaten rice and not just instant noddles.

Good the baby is sleeping I can finally toast the $4.50 bread that only I would eat. I had to mention the price, gad that was one hell of an expensive bread but I was curious as to how a real freshly baked (not store brand from grocery) bread would taste like. I love it but Yiek and Caleb couldn't care less, I shouldn't have gotten the honey whole wheat and went with plain white or rye bread knowing the they both are not crazy with the whole wheat variety.

Oh good, Zaia is sleeping I can finally make my 3rd cup of coffee -- 2nd cup of decaf coffee if I wanna be anal about it.

Glancing at the items discarded on the floor and looking at Caleb watching Backyardigans -- I should pick up these items on the floor Yiek is going to complain yet again about how a fantastic housewife I am for keeping the house clean with a smirk on his face.

There that should be enough, I have folded a basketful of laundry, picked up some items on the floor. Let me go back and enjoy my coffee, bread & butter, and ipad.

Why am I blogging? I should be organizing my coupons, it's triple coupons today if I go too late then ALL items will be gone. Hmmm..the man from Harris did say that they get delivery on Thursday and Sunday, maybe I should do it on Friday -- wait there is the consigment sale that I have to go to.. Oh well! Tomorrow then I'll organized tonight and then go tomorrow maybe with Caleb since he likes to push the cart so much but what about Zaia, the feisty baby girl hates the carrier now how am I suppose to keep tabs on two kids AND still coupon. I must go tomorrow, I don't have spaghetti noodles for friday night. We need to cook spag friday to bring to our beach trip Saturday. Such scattered thoughts.....ahhhh that is damn good butter and bread. Maybe I should splurge on LuRpak butter yes no yes no...

I still have dinner to prepare, now what should I have for dinner? If only the husband isn't so picky! Oh I'll have fish tinola! I had forgotten that I bought scrap salmon. This should be good for Zaia and me but my two boys, gaad why are they so picky? I eat everything and they don't why must they make my life so complicated aaahhh...

*** Note: an attempt to blog my day tnday activies, an experiment for me :) More to come in the next few days

Flawless Makeup

2011-07-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

I am a very simple girl, I don't know much about make-ups and other kikay stuff. In fact my daily routine is just facial wash! I should remedy that and put on moisturizer night and day.

With 2 kids I am always in a rush so usually I either go out make-up free or do a quick foundation and lipstick while in the car. These past few months however I had a really bad allergic reaction to pollens and it left my face with white spots plus now that it's summer I am having an eczema breakout. Arrrgg! So, now I make an effort to apply make-up. I've been using bare minerals but I have to confess this make-up is more than 4 years old! I need to upgrade.

I saw this tutorial in youtube and it's been really helpful!

I figured I'm not getting older, heck it took me 5 minutes to figure out my real age when I was filling up a form yesterday. I had to calculate current year - my birth year, I could not believe I'm 32 now!

I have a lot of cheap make-up here so I need to invest in those high quality make-up now, as in now na.

1. Primer - shoot me I don't know about this product! A primer is used to make your make-up last all day, so that's why I've looking washed out after a few hours. I've been hearing good things about the MAC primer so I'll be heading this weekend to buy one bottle.
2. Concealer - I need a really, really good concealer to cover my white spots. I'm still researching so any recommendation is most welcome!
3. Foundation - I'm still confused on this one do I need liquid foundation or will a mineral foundation do?
4. Foundation Brush - I have a kabuki brush but it seems I need a better brush to a have apply the foundation more evenly like this MAC foundation brush
5. Cheek Blusher - read that the best all around blusher is the NARS Orgasm Blush. What a name huh?
6. Bronzer - to look always glowing. I have mineral veil from Bare Minerals and bronzer from Stila, it should be good for now.
7. A good powder - might go with MAC as they do have good powders. I've let my Mom try their powder and she has never looked back.

Sheeessh, this will burn a hole in my packet, the NARS blush alone would set me back by $26 and primer by another $30. Yiikkees! oh my gulay.

I already have a concealer brush so that should take

Consignment Sales

2011-07-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

I chanced upon a this blog when I was surfing around and I was hooked, she is in my neck of woods too! I wish I could go to yard sales but at this time it's hard with an infant who is still breastfeeding, maybe next year!

Well, she posted about a consignment sale and being the bargain hunter that I am got really excited about going there. I wasn't disappointed, aisles and aisles of girl's and boy's clothing and toys oh my! Apparently, consignment events are big here the reason I am loving my area more! I'm a bad mama, my little one had a little fever last Saturday but still we went and I got tons of clothes for $70. If I were to average the cost it would be less than $3 per item of uber cute clothes. I swear my head was spinning from browsing that I gave up after an hour.

Caleb got a Handy Manny toy for $6 (originally 40), a brand new crayola color explosion for $3 and a Fire Engine Freddie to the Rescue book. It's an old toy that sells for $30 at amazon (used one at that!). I should sell this book and make some money, no?

My loot baby included, lol.

There is another one happening this September and I'm stoked to be shopping there. Thinking of consigning some of my stuff to get an early pass. This is so addicting.

Travelling with an infant and toddler

2011-07-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

My sister is getting married this December and I will be traveling alone with 2 kids. Say what? I think I have just gone crazy, you can't imagine how anxious I am on this dreaded trip. 25 hours of travel time ALONE with a 14 months old infant and almost 4 year old toddler. I might just go ahead and shoot myself. Yes, yes.. I should do that.

I've read up on a lot on this topic lately and well here are my plans for survival and a sort of checklist for me in the future.

For my toddler:

1. So what if I will get weird looks, I will put a backpack restraint on my toddler. I'd rather take the weird looks than take the chance of him getting lost in the crowd.
2. In connection with 2, I also have this distance alarm device that will beep when he is a certain distance away from me. Yes, I am making sure that he won't get lost in the crowd, one incident at the mall was enough lesson for me!
3. I bought a DSi XL for him last May so planning to buy him more games. I just hope he won't shout while playing as he does now when playing Dora "arriba! arriba!" .... yikes! Other passengers might not like it.
4. I am planning to buy an IPad just for the trip, my son can sit in a corner and tinker with the iphone for hours! Our Iphone was our survival device when we made a long car trip from NJ to Charlotte (11 hours trip) and NJ to Raleigh (9 hours trip). I'm thinking that he'll love the IPad more than the Iphone since it's bigger. The night before the trip I will load up new Ben10 and Pokemon episodes plus a couple of new games and IBooks for him, that should keep him busy for a few hours. Yes? Okay okay there is another reason I'm buying this, simply because I like having this waste-of-money gadget, I have the apple ipad envy.
5. Toys and lots of toys to bring in the plane when the ipad can't be used (during take-off and landing) and when he's bored silly with the device. I bought this really cool magnet toy from World Market. It's a playhouse that you can stick table, chairs and other stuff to create a scene. It's similar to the pic below but imagine a house with 3 floors.

5. Coloring books, puzzles, stickers and mini story books. Not only is it educational, he will have fun with it too.

For my infant:
1. I am planning to buy an Ergo baby carrier so I can have my hands free with taking care of my active toddler. Zaia likes being close to me than being put in the stroller anyway.
2. Request a bassinet even if she does not fit I'll have extra legroom and a place for her to play. If I can't have the bassinet I'm planning to buy the FlyeBaby, it will save me from having her on my lap all the time.

3.I'll be bringing her extra baby food and lots of snacks just in case the airline will not have something for her.
4. Breastfeed her as often as she likes, so what if my breasts will go sore and I will be parching as long as she doesn't wail a lot it'll save me from sanity.
5. New toys that I'm planning to gift wrap they said they'll have more fun unwrapping the presents. Planning to use those shiny and shimmery wrappers.

For both:
1. Double stroller.
2. Extra clothes for the 3 of us.
3. Pain medicines such as Benadryl, Tylenol and Motrin. Chamomile and other natural medicine to help her relax.
4. Two kinds of thermometers: rectal and IR thermometer.

How o how am I going to bring all these things in one bag! I still have a lot of questions but I have to save it in a another post. Do comment if you have more suggestions :)

Caleb Speaks #4

2011-06-22T07:23:00.000-07:00

Overheard while I was driving.

Caleb: Mommy, Zaia is eating bread!!!
(Scare shitless that she might choke )
Mommy: Caleb, take the bread out from Zaia. Get it! Get it!

Caleb: I can't Mommy it's in Zaia's tummy.

*bitaw pud unsaon man hehehe

Life so far...

2011-06-20T13:43:00.000-07:00

So it's been 6 weeks since we moved here, how have we liked it? We liked it a lot! Although we do miss our friends back in NJ and the glorious food there i.e. Ramen from Mitsuwa and endless choices of filipino food. We find life here relaxing worlds away from the rat race in NJ, we actually have some semblance of *gasp* family life. Although we do wake up earlier we found out that it isn't that bad at all, it's amazing how you get a lot of mileage when you do that. People here just wake up earlier, garage sale at 7:00 AM, imagine that, I don't think I have it in me to wake up that early unless I have someone to shop with. Our apartment's parking lot is deserted by 9:00 AM.

Yiek goes home 2 hours earlier than in NJ so we now have time to go swimming at our complex's pool which is conveniently a few feet away from our unit, time to go to the library to borrow books, biking for Caleb, a walk to and from the playground and time for me to do a little bit of grocery shopping and deal hopping.

Parks are a-plenty here so we visit one or two every week to stroll and let Caleb play in the playground. It is really a family oriented place and that's exactly what we were looking for.

I am still adjusting though to making food from scratch, dinuguan for one (something I tried and failed miserably) and other pinoy food, I can't find here. I did find one but what weird hours, open only on weekdays from 9-4 PM and every 3rd Saturday of the month. I guess we have to wait for July then to try the resto. Not to worry though, one will open this august so it's something we are looking forward to.

Photography

2011-06-15T13:24:00.000-07:00

Hubby has been busy building up his site. One of the reason he wants to move here is to have more time with his hobby which is photography, our kids have thousands of photos that I'm literally getting cross eyed just looking at them. He is willing to shoot for free just to add new faces to his profile. So if you are near our area, shoot him or me an email.

Our bugoy aka crazy kid, Caleb.

My little dolly, Zaia.

Head over here to see more.

History repeats itself

2011-06-15T09:07:00.000-07:00

Zaia is Caleb #2 in the making, same kakulitan and the same sleeping habits. I told Yiek that we were cursed to have hyper kids, our karma for being bitchy *smirk*. We go to church and we'd see kids same as our kids age and they are behaved, how the hell do they do that? We look at our kids, Caleb going up and down the chair and Zaia jumping and moving like crazy. Yikes! When we go to a restaurant, guaranteed, food all over the floor and me, eating with one hand while holding a jumping baby. Reminiscent of the past 2 years++ ago this time with a kid who is playing with our drinks i.e. putting ice on the other glass and transferring water from one glass to another, or playing with the condiments. I have mastered the art of multitasking!

Now my pet peeve, Zaia waking up every hour at night. How the hell am I going to survive with next to nothing sleep. Caleb was like this until I weaned him and he was drinking formula. This must also be the curse of breastfeeding, both kids will not take the bottle. With Caleb, I had to give him a bottle everyday just so he would take it because I know I'll be going back to work. God, what a martyr I was before, I'd pumped and mix his milk with formula because he would not take pure formula. With Zaia I let go, did not bother to pump milk and did not bother to make her drink from a bottle nor formula. The only formula she drank was when she was 1-4 days old at the hospital. Bless her heart, she doesn't take the bottle but took to the Tommee Tippee Sippy Cup right away. My only challenge now is to make her drink formula milk or maybe I should go directly to whole milk when she's one.

I've lost my train of thought ..... ahh Zaia not sleeping through the night. Ayayay I guess I'll just have to wait until she's weened and hopefully she'll sleep through the night by then! Gaaad, still a long way to go since I planned to wean her after our Cebu trip. I did not want to deal with security checks, bringing formula and bottles, it's just so much easier to pop a booby don't ya think?

Mom envy (?)

2011-06-13T09:41:00.000-07:00

I was talking to a friend about how darn lucky mommies are in Singapore because getting a yaya(nanny) is possible and affordable. An impossibility in countries like here in the US of A, Australia or Japan, well it is possible but it can cost and arm and a leg.

Lucky bitches but then it got me thinking, is it a good or a bad thing? I may not have the luxury of having household help here but I feel like we get to be more of a family unit, emotionally closer to my kids and husbandry. We have no other choice but to fend for ourselves. See here, I grew up with a nanny but sadly, I don't remember being read books before sleeping, going for long walks and having a parent playmate. I remember reading books by myself, playing outside with other kids and basically doing things by myself. My parents and I we were not close in fact I only felt some connection between the two of us after I got married and moved out of the house. We are not the family to kiss and hug yikes it would be so darn right uncomfortable. The 3 of us sibling consider our nanny (tia vicing) our second mom and I hate to say this, since she took care of us from getting ready to school, waking us up, preparing everything for us, she was more the mom to me that my mom was. I could talk more to her and be more comfy with her. Now, I am happy to say though that my Mom and I are now close due to distance separating us and that is a good thing.

So now here is my thought, is having a nanny really better? I don't want to lose the connection that my kids and I have, I am their go to to everything and it can be a thankless job but it does feel darn good.

..to be continued (have to pick up the kid from summer camp)

School Boy = Lunch Box

2011-06-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday Caleb started summer school. I had to enroll him because we were driving each other crazy, he's bored and wants to play with me all the time. Have you tried talking to a 3 year old for a couple of hours, it can make you go nuts! I can't pretend to be sipping cups,playing hide and seek, cooking food and be a big bad wolf who blows his house every damn day. To be fair it's cute when he does that, we pretend that Zaia is a squirrel who eat nuts and I pretend to be his house guest but but the novelty wears off quick and I can not do it every damn day for a couple of hours at that.

So I enrolled him in a preschool summer camp, he is there from 9:00 - 1:00 AM which means I have to prepare lunch for him. I have been enamored with those cute bento lunches such as the one from this site. Maila my friend from Japan sent me a complete set of pokemon bento box and Caleb is over the moon excited to use it. I used it today and his lunch box was wiped clean! The challenge is what to cook because he is a very picky eater and how to decorate the box.

In the mean time let me surf the first for ideas but soon I'll be taking a picture of his first decorated bento box. Excited to do it!

Hi y'all

2011-05-23T13:55:00.000-07:00

It's been 2 weeks and 5 days since we moved here and we LOVE it. Yiek goes home 1.5 to 2 hours earlier than when he was in NJ so almost every afternoon we let Caleb bike around our complex's parking lot with other kids. Our complex also has a playground but I am too lazy to go there aside from the fact that it is mostly dominated by Anaps and they aren't the friendly kind, they mostly talk by themselves in a language foreign to me, Caleb only hangs out for a few minutes because the kids ignore him! Poor kid, he is at the stage where he wants to have a playmate BUT since he is young the kids here ignore him and treat him as a baby. I feel so bad for him but I can't play hide and seek with him all day and we have not seen a kid his age yet but he is making progress, the kids near our unit are warming up to him and have included him in their plays.

We love our apartment, it's smallish but good enough for the 4 of us. I LOVE that I have my own washer and dryer, I did have that in NJ but for me to dry the clothes I have to go down to the basement, not a fun thing to do when lifting a basket full of wet clothes. Now I can just load the washer and when it's done immediately transfer the said clothes to the dryer what a time saver! Can you tell I am excited by these feature? mwehehehe I also bought the washer/dryer unit at a second hand shop at such a bargain price so I am happy with that.

We are still exploring the place and it is indeed geared towards family, there are a lot of family activities to do with just a quick search in the internet. Last weekend we went to two, the state fair and Artplosure. There were a lot of nice arts for sale in the Artsplosure by individual budding and known artists that we promised to buy art decors for our soon to be house next year or the year after that.

I have enrolled Caleb for 4 sessions at Little Gym and he will soon start with summer camp this June 1. Summer camp will be thrice a week from 9-1 PM so he will have time to play with kids his age and I can bring my sanity back on days when he is in school.

The only thing I don't like is waking up early, oh boy the people here WAKE up mighty early, believe it or not Yiek arrives at his office 9:00 AM and he is always the last one to arrive. It's such a struggle to wake up early and sleep early for night owls like us. Oh well, we have to adjust because we have no choice when the kids will start school soon. School starts as early as 7:30 am que horror!

Moving South

2011-04-19T07:43:00.000-07:00

What we were waiting for, it has finally happened. Just when we gave up on it. Such is life! We finally decided to just stay on NJ for the time being, I've even zeroed-in on a neighborhood to buy a house. I enrolled Caleb in a swimming class at YMCA and then the kicker happened in a span of 1 week. The job Yiek was eyeing in NYC was not so great afterall and then an offer came to work in Raleigh,NC (the state and town we've been eyeing to settle in) and after some serious discussion we decided it would be the right thing for us.

Yiek will be starting there on May 9 therefore my mad dash to pack things, cut lose ties here and move! It has been stressing me out these days, it doesn't help that I do EVERYTHING. Gaaad, can I just say my Hubby is so useless in this area. I PLANNED it all, I kid you not. I have so much things to do and I can't really do much because have your tried packing with 2 kids, hah! I wish you luck.

So far, I have called the moving van and reserve an apartment. I find it so funny to move into an apartment we have never seen before! But compared to NJ the apartment I chose is a luxury. My day is filled with calling and emailing people. Stress Level = High.

I have a garage sale to plan to so far I have donated to 3 boxful of clothing, segreted 3 cartonful of "to-garage" sale items. I still have 10 or more tasks to attend to ahhh... ehhh..iiihh...ooohhh...uuuhh

2011-04-18T07:36:00.001-07:00

The hell with weight watchers, the secret to losing weight is doing a BIG move ALONE. Take that! lost 2 pounds without doing anything.

Itch to have another bag again!

2011-04-14T13:25:00.000-07:00

I think I have an addiction with diaper bags, yes, yes I think I do. I just bought one last month because I could not sleep just thinking of the bag. Hah! how's that for obsession? How many diaper bags do I have? I was cleaning out my closet and I found 6 diapers bags, 4 of that I will be junking. Seriously, how many diaper bags do I need. Apparently, it can never be enough.

Now, I found another one to salivate over. It's a JJ Cole Swag Diaper Bag, Bronze Drop, isn't it gorgeous? It doesn't look like a diaper bag at all, it makes me feel more normal and not the crazy mom that I am now. Jeez, I don't have an excuse to buy one and my birthday is still 3 months away *sob*.

Caleb Speaks #3

2011-04-13T14:06:00.000-07:00

Going home from toddler school:

After I gave a strawberry frosted donut....
C: Mmmm...yummy!
M: What's the flavor?
C: Pink!
M: No, I mean what does it taste like? Does it taste like banana?
C: No, It tastes like donut.
M: Oh. okay. (Kay donut man dyud siya wa nako ma say hehe)

At the stop light..
M: Is Zaia sleeping?
C: No, Zaia is sad.
M: Why is she sad?
C: hmmm...I'm not sure. (mura naman ni korek oi)

Caleb Speaks 2

2011-04-12T15:41:00.000-07:00

C: there's a big problem
M: what?
C: playdoh is broken
Mommy fix the playdoh, Caleb be happy again

Confessions

2011-04-11T15:35:00.000-07:00

I don't know how Moms do it here I am certainly having a hard time adjusting. Try functioning with as little as 2 hours of sleep a day and tell me how great you feel and I will shoot you.

Today I am a walking zombie, Caleb had to squeeze-in beside me last night and his hands just would not stand still. He has this habit of touching my back, arms and any other parts of my body. I tired moving him back to his bed but he keeps on coming right back. It was driving me crazy. To top it off, Zaia woke up early and I feel really feel crappy.

We had to go to make up school this morning but Caleb was being impossible, he would not hold my hand and kept on walking away from me. It was dangerous because we were on a busy street. When I got home, I attempted to sleep but Zaia woke up 30 minutes after. My only consolation was Caleb slept while watching "How to drain your dragon" movie. This just isn't one of my good days.

I have a mountainful of laundry to fold, dinner to cook (halfway ready), and boxes to pack. It has become a tad bit overwhelming for me. Our house is a mess with things here and there, I have to sort it out to to-pack, to-garage-sale, to-donate and to-throwaway. On top of that I feel guilty that I have been a negligent Mom to Caleb, I have used the TV as a babysitter, I was planning to teach him alphabets, read books and do a little bit of homeschooling but as the day ends I do nothing. SO much more now that I have to pack our things for an upcoming move. There are times when I want to bang my head you know, why ever did I get into this, so many times I feel like I am in a middle of a meltdown. The only thought that makes me somehow survive is that pretty soon they will not be dependent on me and I will miss these moments.

I wish the husband would be more proactive, go earlier than usual and give me some time off. As of now I don't have the luxury, I can maybe have 5-10 minutes to take a bath, wash dishes or surf the net. It doesn't help that Zaia wants nothing to do with him, cries non-stop and only want me. HE usually goes home at around 8 and the thing that gets me is that I have to remind him to go home early while I am home going crazy. Aaahhh.... I hope it will change once he switches jobs and the culture there is muc more family friendly. Wonder why I am always active in FB it takes the craziness out of things and well, when the baby wants to be carried all the time the only thing I can do is sit in front of the pc.

Okay I am done with my ranting, I have to clean the fish i.e. murder the fish because truth be told I have no idea what I'm doing.

Mom to mom connection

2011-04-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

Just this morning I met a Mom at Caleb's class. This isn't Caleb's regular class schedule but he wasn't able to go 2 weeks ago so I had to schedule a make-up class. She's Filipino though she was raised here, has a 5 month old baby girl and an almost 3 year old toddler girl, in the span of 15 minutes we talked about how overwhelming our kids are and bam instant connection. We both were holding our babies in the carrier and looking on at our toddler kids. We have so much in common that she invited me for a lunch date this Thursday to talk more, great just great, just when I'm making friends here I have to move out fo state. Very good! *smirk*

Baby Steps to Financial Freedom - 2

2011-04-08T08:12:00.000-07:00

Okay I should be cleaning the house and fold our going-out-of-control newly laundered clothes but I've got the itch to blog so what's a girl to do but scratch it right?

I must admit the first part of this list are not exactly baby steps since they require a substancial amount of money but I've thought of more ways to save more this I promise are small steps.

But first let me ramble about this condo loan from pinas, can you imagine paying 17% yearly in interest. Oh my! I've long wanted to take this burden out it was an investing mistake we were young and well we were not thinking clearly. I'd like to think I've matured a little bit in making financial decisions I hope so!!! WE tried to transfer this to a lower interest loan but since that was the peak of recession the bank could not loan us a big amount. Now I'm thinking of crazy thoughts once again. What if I get another bank loan in pinas with lower interest, accept whatever they can loan us, be it 60% of the appraised value or whatever. Pay that amount to the high interest condo loan and have the high interest loan recalculated with whatever is left. Can that be done? Jeezz..I think I'm over thinking. It's a good thing that we have a renter to set off the interest payments but still paying $$$ per month is not joke.

Back to small steps.

1. I was surprised to fine extra cash this month to put in as savings and our credit bills are not that much, in fact it's the lowest in months! I had to wrack my brain on what I did and I attribute it to pure laziness/tiredness. I kid you not, because I was too lazy to go anywhere these past few weeks our credit card bill went downhill. Also, I no longer look at much deals online because my computer time is limited so I have to thank the kiddos with that. Now that warmer days are here I can't promise to be that good though, summer clothes are too nice to say no to right?

2. Disconnect services that are not used. We have vonage ip phone which we pay $11 per month, we don't use it we were just too lazy to call and disconnect the service. 11 x 12 = 132 a year enough to buy a coach wristlet. Must call tonight.

3. Finally submit our electricity rebate, gaad why am I so bad with rebates.

4. Use whatever is available in the pantry, I still have lots of meat in our freezer. I need to put in my thinking cap to cook meals with what's on hand.

5. Lay off on the coffee! I've been having Dunkin Donuts coffee 2-3 times a week or if I must have coffee I'd lay off on those blasted value meals. Caleb's toddler school is near a Dunkin Donut store while he is in school I'd usually go there to get my caffeine fix. WOuld you believe I like their brewed coffee more that Starbucks? I think Starbucks is overrated.

6. Go back to the drugstore game, I have stopped my couponing frenzy I do still do it in small ways but I've been lazy. In CVS and RiteAid, I can get items for free by playing their drugstore game, I should go back to that since I'm out of shampoo.

7. Do a garage sale, we have so many junk that I think it's time to let them go.

The laundry is calling and taunting me, must go there NOW hehe.

Baby Steps to Financial Freedom

2011-04-06T07:28:00.000-07:00

I am a saver but I don't think I'm that financial savvy. So in an attempt to be one I want to start making baby steps starting NOW.

First on the list is to offload one auto loan which has the highest annual rate. A light bulb struck last night and it got me thinking a LOT. If we pay off this loan we can convert to a liability only auto insurance from full coverage, a difference of 100-200 per month. That's enough for a one-person ticket going to Pinas. Not only that, we don't have to pay for the monthly interest rate on the loan.

Second is to transfer some of our savings to an index fund. Our savings is sitting on a 0.9% (used to be 5% before the crisis) online savings account. It earns such a laughable amount, it's not even enough to buy a box of diapers. Why index fund? Based on my readings index funds have lower cost than mutual so you get more bang for your buck. Next step is to research what index fund to invest on. Goal: do this within the next 2 weeks and transfer 40% of savings to these funds.

Two baby steps for now will think of more later, baby is crying can't think.

And so it begins..

2011-03-21T15:13:00.000-07:00

Spring is here so that means lighter clothes. I was browsing at Macy's and found the dress below. So freakin' cute!There are other cute dresses there too.

Perfect as an easter dress. Now need to find shoes that goes well with the dress...

Caleb Speaks #1

2011-03-16T12:45:00.000-07:00

A new feature on this blog chronicling my son's silly and cute phrases.

Last night...
Caleb: Mommy..mommy..I feel better.
Me: Why? What did you drink? (Afraid that he chewed on the homeopathy pills)
Caleb: Cokes...*burp*
Me: Oh okay (relieved phew)!

Today while going to school:
"Mommy are we there yet? Are we there yet?" repeat multiple times - and so the pesky question makes an appearance ... must....put on earplugs next time

Pinas Vacay

2011-03-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

I want to go home to pinas badly this year, initially I wanted to celebrate Zaia's birthday but with way things are going it's not happening. Things are moving slowly than expected and we cannot make definite plans. I wish the one we'd hope for would happen next month so I can make plans such as enrolling Caleb to a preschool, enrolling for a summer class and booking vacay tickets among other things. I just felt like things are in a slow motion and I wish I could push the fast forward button.

As it is I have two options. One to push through with my September plans, go home in time for Zaia's birthday, I stay 4 weeks longer and I bring Yiek's dad with me. I cannot go back alone with 2 kids, gaad I can't imagine a crazy kid plus a walking toddler so I need back-up help. He will also help take care of the kids while I go job hunting. The only caveat is that I'm scared of doing double of what I'm doing now. Yiek's dad doesn't know how to cook, I highly doubt he knows how to do household work and I'm not even sure he knows how to take care of kids. So I am not too sure about this.

2nd option and one I leaning to wait til last week of Nov go with a friend who kindly volunteered her services to help me take care of the kids. Yiek will go christmas time 3 weeks later that us and we will go home together. I'll start the job-hunting January. It's christmas the happiest holiday for pinoys need I say more? Also, my BFFs will probably be going home around that time and we can finally meet again after exactly 2 years. Sigh! I miss these gals.

I guess if I take option 2 I have to let go of Zaia's *bongang bongang*1st birthday plans and opt for a simple one here in NJ with the same expenses I might add. Hayyy... I just hope that April would be IT so that I can finally start planning.

UNited Nations cooking

2011-03-10T16:48:00.000-08:00

I never thought I'd enjoy cooking. I am not really creative and I don't whip up food by imagination. I just like spewing up new recipes every week. I am never one to cook the same old time recipes like the hubby is, now he is a good cook but he does cook the same dish over and over again. His tagalog style adobo, dry adobo, visayan adobo taste the same.

Me, I try one or two recipes a week and some of them have become a keeper like ginataang langka with dilis (cooked the same as bicol express), sisig and sizzling pork chop. Yesterday, I cooked tinolang isda for the first time and it was so delish! Next will be chicken tinola. I have developed an addiction to bok choy and there seems to be a lot of dishes to try with this veggie.

Now my fingers are itching to try new international and local dishes. Below is on my will cook soon list:
1. roti canai ( a favorite malaysian/indian dish of ours)
2. thai drunken noddle
3. crepe (strawberries are on sale this week)
4. dinuguan (it seems easy)
5. tinapa pasta (inspired by Ria)
6. hainanese chicken
7. Kaya Jam - because I miss Kopi Roti the coffee shop
8. Chili Crabs

and more ....

Material Wishlist for 2011

2011-03-08T07:46:00.000-08:00

My material wishlist in chronological order!

1. King Size Bed - our queen size is getting to be too small for us. Most of the time I have 3 hours sleep max the reason I am tired ALL the time. I need this for my sanity because the kids want to scoot closer to me not Daddy but me!

2. A toy bin to keep the pesky toys away.

3. Breadmaker to make yummy breads such as pandesal, loaf breads, focaccia bread etc. Oh my! the possibility is endless.

4. A new computer table because our current one is dying.

5. Vacuum leaner that can suck the life out of all the dirts, dust and allergens. We do have a vacuum but I want to upgrade to the one below they say it's the "best" and the price is not a joke that's why I can't commit to buying one.

6. If your floors are carpeted and there will be a crawling baby soon, a deep carpet cleaner is a must. I might get this soon with my reward points, so yay! zero payment for me.

7. A new funky diaper bag, that is stain and spill repellent. I saw one at babies 'r us but the price I just can't take because I get tired of diaper bags easily. I am getting tired of my coach diaper bag and I thought I'd be forever toting it because I invested in the darn bag.

8. Of course, I'd also like an LV Neverfull bag. This will forever be in my dreams *smirk* because I can't take spending that much for a darn bag.