Lalaine's World

Dessert at Dolce

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Mon, 28 May 2012 14:40:00 +0000

It was a weeknight and there wasn't any reason for us to go out. But that night, I felt like I needed a breather after a difficult homeschool day with the kids. Yeah, the joys and challenges of being a SAHM and Homeschool! So, I was so relieved and excited when Hubby announced after dinner that we are going out for dessert and coffee. Yipee!!

Since it was 'my night', I chose where to go and we went to Dolce, the elegant looking cafe at 108 St or Thanon Roy Pet. I remember we reluctantly went there once ( last year!?) because we thought the interior looked too elegant and we might not be able to pay the bill. LOL! But we were proven wrong since their prices are almost the same with the other cafes we've been to.

So, I had a chocolate cake and a Cafe Latte'..and it was bliss!.. It was like all my tiredness and and stresses disappeared.. LOL! That was all I needed ( cake and frappe') to feel better....thanks to Hubby for the treat.

Grade 12 in the Philippines

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Mon, 28 May 2012 14:26:00 +0000

I heard that the Department of Education in the Philippines is pushing on our elementary schools to be until Grade 12. I really haven't searched on this topic yet, but I've got a little bit of info here and there.. err..mostly rants from a few of my Facebook friends.

I can't give a strong opinion on this subject yet too, since I haven't researched about it. But, my initial reaction was actually quite negative one, since it would mean more years of study and therefore more expenses for the parents. In Malaysia, they also have a different system of education and it's longer too if you proceed to get a degree , but what I like about it is that even if one doesn't pursue a higher education and just go to Regency Beauty Schools , there are always good paying jobs available (that is if you're not too picky).

I just hope that this move (Grade 1-12) from the government will truly give our people not just a better education but more jobs too!

What about you? What's your opinion on this issue? Please share..

For the meantime, let me Google about this Grade 12 thingy and see what it really is about. :)

This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com or contact Regency Beauty Institute – 3583 Alpine Avenue NW – Walker, MI 49544

Cool Air and Handy Man Hubby

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Mon, 28 May 2012 14:21:00 +0000

I love it that our front grill door already has a netting. Now, we can open our 2 front doors wide open without fear of mosquitoes getting inside our house. Thank to my Handy Man, Hubby who did all the work yesterday. Now, the cool wind from the outside ( since it just rained) can freely come inside and the whole house seems like having central aircon. :)

I wonder what's next on my Handy-Man-Hubby's list of things to do..not sure if he needs a flexible metal hose to do any future work, but it'll be nice if he can fix a mini garden in our front yard.. but wait, I think I'm supposed to do that.. Hmm.. but it won't hurt getting a little help from the expert. :)

Super Mom and Grammy Winning Award Artist

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Fri, 25 May 2012 07:04:00 +0000

I've just been to a site where Super Mom, WD40 and Jo Dee Messina was introduced. It's actually my first time to hear about her, but I can't help but be impressed as to how she has juggled her soaring singing career and household at the same time. I'm not sure though if she has toddlers or she's homeschooling or if she has people to help her around but the fact that she's successful in both aspect of her life is already worth commendable.

As for me, I'm not juggling both full time career and family , but just juggling between housework, homeschool and last in the line is my online 'job'. Though its tiring at times, but most of the days, I'm just grateful for the opportunity to 'train up our children the way they should go'. The joy of seeing them learn and grow holistically can never be replaced. And of course the unlimited hugs, kisses, thank you's and I love you's that you get each day. Bliss!

Car Breakdown

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Wed, 09 May 2012 09:29:00 +0000

We're in Malaysia right now and we came here by our car. If you're a regular reader of my blog, you would have known by now that our car has not been in a very good condition. But since it's our 'best' option to travel to Malaysia, we used it anyway. And we soon regretted this decision as we were reaching the Juru toll and our car overheated. Good thing that Hubby's brother just live nearby and so, we had a place to stay while our car was being repaired. Oh, it was quite stressful as we don't know any reliable mechanic in the area and we felt that the auto shop where we sent our car seems to have overcharged us and didn't do a good job in repairing it. We also had a few things that needed to be done and we were quite unsure about everything because of the car repair. But to make the story short, we praise God for his protection and provision at the end.

Play Dates

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Tue, 01 May 2012 19:03:00 +0000

Last week was a lot of fun for my kids. Two of their friends came over for a few afternoons. Since their age ranges from 4-9 , I had to think of activities to keep them busy. On the first afternoon, we had crafts and movie time, then had baking on the 2nd afternoon and we played dress up on their last afternoon at home.

They really had fun and my kids have been looking forward for those afternoons. I also enjoyed being with them, teaching them and dressing them up. But admittedly, at the end of the day I get so exhausted that I could just lay on bed and stare on the ceiling for hours. LOL! I guess, it was also because I cram all my housework and homeschool in the morning just to leave the afternoons free for the kids' activities. But, I'm looking forward for more playdates with the other kids.. maybe not for consecutive days though but maybe we could do hat once a week or once every other week.

playing dress up

baking time

Missing the Skate Park

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:51:00 +0000

A few months ago, my daughter has been so excited about skating. We used to go there almost every evening and even bought for her knee guards and accessories like those from Cybertech to protect her. Actually, she still is excited about skating, but we haven't been sending her for skating at the park because during these times, I like to spend more time inside the house than outside. Going out in the evenings could actually mean more expenses because we're more likely to eat out. But I guess, with planning and early home cooked meals, it's still possible for us to send her for skating without us spending a single baht. We'll have to work on that next time.

His Love is New Every Morning

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:55:00 +0000

I love this photo. Though this is far from a professional photographer's photo, but whenever I see this one, I just remember the song, 'The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning.. '

This was actually the song that I sang, when saw this scene from our little cottage at the resort where we stayed last week. For a split second, I wished that I could just live in that place so, I can see that view everyday. But then, I was reminded that no matter where I am, the sunrise will always be beautiful because it's a reminder to us that God's love and mercy is new every morning... and great is His faithfulness....

Lyle's Before and After Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:46:00 +0000

The photo above was Lyle when he was still about 2 years old. This was taken in the Philippines and there'a actually a funny story behind it. He was out of my sight that night and I was looking for him. And there, I found him 'stealing' food from the table.. LOL! So, you can see the reason why he was so chubby!

But recently, he has lost some weight and a lot of our friends asked why he seems to have lost so much of weight. Oh, how I wish that they could ask me that question instead (LOL!) then I won't be doing any diet and supplements hexaghen reviews anymore . But anyways, I think my son has lost weight because he hasn't been drinking so much milk like before. He has also grown much taller now.

So, here's how our not-so- little boy looks like now.

Thank God for Good Health

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:36:00 +0000

I thank God for good health especially for my kids! It's been more than a year since we went to the hospital. The last time was when my son had an appendectomy last year. That was one difficult experience for us. My son was only 3 years old and it was such a pity for him to undergo an operation. But we praise God because he recovered very well and was already very active the day after he got discharged from the hospital. Even if our pediatrician was not Giridhar Kamath DO, but he's a very good and gentle doctor.

Anyways, I'm just thankful that our family is in good health!

Happy Birthday Zane Girl!

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 03:24:00 +0000

It was my niece's birthday the other day. My kids and I enjoyed looking at all her birthday party photos. As my sister said, the only had a simple birthday celebration, but even then it looked so much fun and it was so obvious that my niece had a blast on her birthday.

Oh, we wish we were there for her birthday. My kids could have enjoyed the games and the party too. I could remember my boy's reaction when he saw the Ben 10 balloons and my daughter was always saying, 'Wow, it's so nice!' when we saw all the photos.

Here are a few of her birthday photos:

Belated happy birthday Zane girl!!

Horse Riding Video

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 06:18:00 +0000

I have a few videos in other social networking sites that has been lost and some I can't retrieve. Too bad that I already lost the original files of those videos and I can't post them separately here. There is this one memorable video in which my 3 year old daughter rode a pony for the first time. She was so excited and was chattering away with her excitement. I could still remember that day when she asked us to buy her a pony as a pet. LOL! Oh, I won't mind buying horse fly sheets , but a pony? Hahaha!

From Curly Hair to Straight Hair

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 06:06:00 +0000

My daughter use to have cute curls when she was younger and her hair was longer. But when I cut her hair short after she turned 4, I noticed that her hair became straight and her curls never came back even after growing her hair longer.

I wonder if her natural curl will come back or is her hair naturally straight. Hmmm.. But nevertheless, I like her hair whether curly or straight. She has nice, shiny black hair and is jut like she has used Cleopatras Choice hair care . I wish my hair could be as healthy as hers but then after using all the hair straighteners and hair dyes for years, my hair has become dry and dull.

Before: Curly Hair

After: Short straight hair

Drawing Fun!

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 05:52:00 +0000

My kids love to draw, color and paint. They could spend hours just doing this and are even finishing our ream of A4 size paper so fast! Sometimes,I get so surprised at the amount of paper they can finish in a day and the amount of mess they also make while drawing. Yes, papers, crayons and colored pencils will be everywhere. It's good that they can also clean up after they finish but sometimes it's still 'shocking'. LOL!

Anyways, here are a few samples of the work they did last night. You can see that they're just so happy in letting their creative juices flow.

Lyle with his earth and spaceship drawing

Tricia and her Easter drawing

80 Baht Coupon for every 600 Baht Purchase

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 05:44:00 +0000

Big C has this promotion for the month in which you get an 80 Baht cash coupon for every 600 Baht purchase. That's actually quite a big deal right? It's like getting back more than 10% from your purchase.

It's good that we did our monthly groceries at Big C last weekend because we managed to get a total of 160 Baht cash voucher. Of course I safely kept the cash voucher that was just printed out from their bixolon receipt printer. We will surely use these cash vouchers on our next grocery trip.

Ikea Visit Cancelled

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 05:37:00 +0000

When we were in Bangkok last week, I really wanted to visit Ikea with my friends. My daughter was also looking forward to play in their playpen with her friends. But unfortunately, we have to shorten our stay in Bangkok and cancel our Ikea visit since we couldn't get bus tickets for Friday due to the long holiday.

I wonder when I could get a chance to visit Ikea again. I really want to buy their 99 Baht milk frother and their cupcake stand. There are actually a lot of tempting things to buy there from utility knives to their colorful plastic picnic sets, but I just can't afford to buy everything I want.

New E-Passport

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 05:05:00 +0000

I finally have the new Philippines e-passport! Thank God that for the smooth though not so fast processing of my new passport. I waited for 6 weeks to get this since it has to come from Manila. It's really good that I decided beforehand to do my passport application early especially since my Malaysian visa is already due to expire early next month.

Mother and Daughter Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:26:00 +0000

A few days ago, I brought my daughter with me to a trip to Bangkok to collect my new passport. It was a very short trip yet memorable for me and my daughter. This was our very first time to travel alone together. So, I was the 'leader' (no choice) of the trip and I felt all the pressure (literally, too!) of doing everything during the travel. It was then I realized what Hubby goes through when we travel like he has to get the taxi and haggle the fare with the taxi driver, talk to the local people and ask for directions , and then he has to carry the big bags and etc. So, now as the 'leader' of the trip, I did everything including carrying the full backpack. We don't have a Deuter Act Lite , so my backpack feels quite heavy after carrying it for awhile.

But for the memorable part of the trip, I had more quality time with my daughter. We talked a lot, played a lot and ate a lot! LOL! I could still remember a few of our 'serious' conversations and sometimes, I can't believe that I'm only talking to an almost 8 year old girl! I could already imagine how we will be talking when she's in her teenage years. It was fun to get to know my daughter more and 'hear' what's going on in her mind. I can't wait to have more memorable bonding moments with her and my son too!

Hatyai- One Week After

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 15:11:00 +0000

One week has already passed since the bomb explosion at Lee Gardens in Hat Yai. According to the news, there were 3 casualties and hundreds of injuries from that incident. I could still remember the goosebumps that I had when we heard the news and the thought that our group were supposed to go there for lunch. I felt fear as I heard several ambulances passing us by going to the area. We prayed as we heard of the hundreds of people being injured and trapped in the building. But we were also thankful for friends who only had a few minor bruises (no need for ekg machine ) even when they were inside the building during the explosion.

Now a week later in Hat Yai, the city is not as crowded as it's supposed to be on a weekend and you can see more of police and military around as they do their checks. I've also 'heard' of a few bomb threats in the malls, but sometimes one is not sure anymore whether these are really real threats or just rumors. Sometimes, after a traumatic incident, people can't help but be more fearful and thus explains the 'threats', rumors and etc. Anyways, but we continue to pray for this city that indeed the God of peace will reign over this part of the world.

It's Taken

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 14:51:00 +0000

I mentioned earlier that we were 'eyeing' a house near the park. It was a beautiful house with a garden. When we called the number,the owner was still in Japan and will only be back that weekend. It so happened that Hubby was also traveling that weekend so, he never got to call the owner when he was away. Then a few days ago, when Hubby passed by the house, he saw that someone has already moved in. Yes, the house is already taken! Hubby said that the house looked so much better now with the yard being swept and the with garage floor coverings being washed . We were a bit sad that our 'dream house' was taken, but as what I said earlier, we will know when that house is for us because we will be able to negotiate for the rental price and everything will be smooth. And since it didn't push through, I know that God has a better plan for us. :)

To the Southern Bus Terminal

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 05:01:00 +0000

I'm quite nervous now. It's almost time for us to check out from the hotel and travel to the Southern Bus Terminal. The easiest way to go the Southern Bus Terminal ( Sai Tai Mai) here in Bangkok is by taxi. But I heard that it's very far and would take an hour or more to go there (depending on the traffic). So, I'm sure the taxi will charge us the maximum rate. As thrifty as I am, I want to save a few hundred bahts and take the bus! I've already research on which bus to take and all the other details, but I'm still quite nervous and excited. It'll be an adventure for me and my daughter. It's good that we're not so much in a hurry, so we can always take our time waiting for the bus and etc.

Okay, I've got to go now.. Praying that our travel to the bus station and back to Hat Yai will be smooth and sound. But before that, I have to check on a website sent to me click here . Okay, have to go now and be blogging back tomorrow in Hat Yai!

1st Time at Central World

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 04:46:00 +0000

Yesterday was our first time to visit Central World in Bangkok. It was just then that I realized that it's just beside Siam Paragon. My daughter enjoyed our time there. It seems that there are more fun things to do ( according to her) there for kids. There's an ice skating rink, a free play area, Toys r us, Clay Art and TK Park. But since we were out of time, we were not able to go to TK park anymore.

For the shopaholics, Central World can be a shopping haven. Many famous signature brands are there in the stores from clothes to accessories. If you're looking for medical computer carts , then maybe you have to look at some other places since I didn't see any there.

If ever we get a chance to visit Bangkok again, we'll surely visit Central World again. Oh, there's just so much to see in Bangkok but we don't have the luxury of time.

Sanuk Baking Day

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 01:58:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I taught a few Thai kids to bake. I only thought about 3-4 kids were going to come to the house but I w

as surprised yet happy to see them bring a few more kids. We have a very small kitchen so, I decided to work in the dining area. It was chaotic but fun! Haha! My kids were also around and they also joined in the fun. Tricia was always telling me that she's having so much fun and she wish everyday is a baking day with her friends.

At the end of the day, everyone was so glad with the cupcakes and brownies they baked and asked them to bring a few so they

can share with their family. I'm looking forward for another baking session with the kids, but I'll have to see my schedule since we'll be quite busy traveling this week and the weeks to come.

Looking for Crafts

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 03:08:00 +0000

I spent a considerable time yesterday looking for crafts (i.e paper crafts) to be used for our Summer Workshop for the kids. I guess the kids are quite tired doing cutting and coloring work and it's good if they could do something unique. Most of the beautiful crafts I found need some special materials that can only be found on special crafts stores and toys stores ( i.e yo yo store). I had to google and google different keywords until I found the perfect craft for them.

I hope the kids will like their craft work for this week and I'll surely take photos of them.

The Special Leather Bag

noreply@blogger.com (Lalaine) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 02:45:00 +0000

I got to see my special leather bag the other time inside our storage box. Looking and touching that leather bag has brought so much of memories and made me miss my late father. You see, that bag was not just an ordinary bag. It's made out of a big leather jacket that my late father bought from a 2nd hand shop. And then, he cut it, made a pattern, designed it and had it sewn to become a leather satchel.

I had worn this satchel during my university years until I was working for the Levi's stores ( vis-min area). That satchel has truly been to a lot of places and it's good that I brought it here with me in Thailand. If not, it could have also been lost in the recent flood. This is one of the 'remembrance' that I have from my late father and I will keep it, let it undergo leather repair and give it to my children. This will remind them of their late grandfather who was very thoughtful, creative and loves to design things even a special leather bag for their "Amma" (mother).