~ Start Copy Here ~

Instructions:

1. Pick up the nearest book of at least 123 pages.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Spread this tag to as many people as you can.

Book Tag Chain: 1) Only The Good Stuff, What Simply Works 2) Working It 3) Your site here.

And I would like to read the excerpts from the books that my following friends are reading: Abby, DPhatGirl, Weng, Nell, and Mamah.

~End Copy Here~

“One of France’s most enchanting country hotels lies on a 200-acre working ranch in the heart of the intriguing region known as the Camargue, along France’s southern coast. A microcosm of the area’s wild rugged scenery, the ranch is both a government-protected bird sanctuary (known for its flocks of pink flamingos) and the final frontier for the guardians some of the last cowboys in Europe. You can ride out on one of the 300 snow-white Camargue horses or help the herders gather the stocky black Camargue bulls, which are raised for races.”

~ An excerpt from the article about The Camargue and The Gypsy Pilgrimage in Languedoc-Roussillon, France from the book 1000 Places To See Before You Die, A Traveller’s Life List by Patricia Schultz

I know it’s a pretty unremarkable bunch of sentences since it came from a travel book, hehe. I do hope it did whet your appetite a little bit about visiting The Camargue. It is after all, one of the places you should visit before… you know.

Anyway, if given the chance, though, one of the places I do want to visit among the 1000 places listed in the book right now would be La Samanna at St. Martin in the Lesser Antilles (page 889 in the book, fyi). However, I don’t really know if I could actually afford it so I’d probably consider looking at St. Martin villa rentals and then enjoy what the rest of the island has to offer without really breaking the bank. Unless of course the Discovery Channel sponsors my vacation then that’s totally a different matter. :)

Ano ito, ika ninyo?

Ang berdeng crayola na ito ay ipinasok ng aking anak sa kanyang ilong noong nakaraang taon. Hindi nga siya tumalon sa mataas na tulay o gusali ala Dante Varona pero, naman, muntik ko pa ring ika-atake sa puso ang stunt niyang ito. May kukulayan ba kasing puno o kermit the frog sa loob ng ilong at naisipang gawin ito?

~~~

Luntian kong mundo DITO sa aking isa pang LP entry.

CSE specializes in providing unit handling conveyors, food handling conveyors and components for various material handling applications for their customers.

A flower within a flower.

I remember a few years back when my friends and I had this idea for a small business franchise, a laundromat to be precise. However, one of my friends felt that the decor of the store was too pristine and would definitely need a splash of color. That’s when we thought about stealing my mom’s prolific bougainvillea plants to put inside the laundromat. What prevented us from pushing through with the “interior decor” was, simply, the pots were too huge. :) Needless to say, that hair-brained idea was bleached off. :)

1. Each blogger starts with ten random facts/habits about themselves.
2. Bloggers that are tagged need to write on their own blog about their ten things and post these rules.
3. At the end of your blog, you need to choose ten people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog

1. I am a Sudoku convert. I never used to like it because of the numbers involved (numbers=math), but it is still a puzzle and I’m a junkie for puzzles.

2. My mom was formerly a math teacher and my dad’s an engineer. I honestly don’t know why I don’t have that math gene coursing through my veins.

3. I have never had acne. Although I may have had a few pimples here and there, even during my hormonal adolescent years, I’ve never had the need to use ProActiv ever. Thank you for the great genes, mom!

4. However, I am keloidal and I have the scars to prove it - my CS, my cyst extraction on my wrist, as well as my chicken pox scars - my battle scars.

5. Coffee makes me sleepy. It makes me hyper for a while but, after a few minutes, crash.

6. My head is full of useless trivia. Useless, I tell you.

7. The comment keycodes for my blogs all have a theme. For CODPG, the keycodes are “it” bags. For Working It, the keycodes are chocolates. And for MyParty, the keycodes are party/disco places in Manila which were hot in the early 90’s.

8. Although people rave about Good Shepherd’s peanut brittle, my favorite will always be Romana. I prefer my nuts whole.

9. When I was still living in Pinas, I have always preferred McDonald’s over Jollibee. But now, I can’t make the palabok, chickenjoy, yumburger, and peach mango pie cravings go away.

10. I have been living in the US for a total of 4 years, 4 months, and 12 days, and have moved to six different cities since. And ate at McDonalds more than I can count.

I’m supposed to tag ten people. I’m just tagging everyone who has 10 letters in their name (aside from Mamah and Tin, of course). Ready, set, go! :)

Our weekend was pretty uneventful. We mostly just stayed home and finished unpacking and organizing our final boxes of stuff. We also dropped by the nearby Ikea store to take a look at some pieces of furniture that I saw on their online furniture catalog. Had I the presence of mind, that shopping trip would have been the subject of my weekend snapshot. However, I didn’t. And anyway, the one thing that really psyched me up over the weekend was the arrival of my friends from their month-long vacation overseas.

And look at what my good friend and her family brought back for us: homegrown treats. Yum.

Cashew tarts.

Pastillas.

She also brought us some danggit (a kind of salted fish which is yummy when fried to a crisp).

Uber smelly, but yummy all the same.

Pure, unadulterated taste of home. Even for just a while.

Thanks, Mother Sheng! Welcome back! :)

~~~

Thanks for viewing our sweet and smelly weekend at home.

Our peppery seafood weekend lunch HERE.

More weekend snapshots HERE.

For instance, a financial expert from Northern Trust, a premier provider of banking, asset management and asset servicing to affluent families and individuals and leading institutions worldwide, would be able to properly advice us with, let’s say business checking accounts that would work with our needs, rather than impede our goals. These are the kinds of opinion that are valuable to us both for the short-term and the long haul.

Why?

Because I don’t have pictures of me preggy!

Why?

Well, as some of you peeps know, I was mostly bedrested while I was pregnant, so no opportunity to take pics of my baby bump. Sad no? The only pic that comes close is this one:

It was a pic taken during a despedida party we held for one of my dearest friends, Dial (in green, up front and center) as she was leaving for a scholarship in the Netherlands.

I’m the one in yellow (second from the left, at the back). As you can see, my baby bump isn’t even visible haha! But I do know that I was pregnant back then because we held this despedida at my home so that I could attend it despite my condition.

Trivia: two ladies in the pic are currently sporting baby bumps! First is my Australia-based friend Ochey (directly behind me, in white), and Judy, the Dragon Lady as she is known in the blogging world (directly in front of me, in black)>. Congrats ladies mommies!!!

Pop Quiz: two people in this picture are members of WifeSpeaks, and four people in this picture are members of Litratong Pinoy. Can you guess who? :D

For this baby bump game, I would like to tag: Weng (whom I know have the most gorgeous preggy pics), Dang, Toni, and Abby.

Just click this link if you want to read more about Zenni on Fox.

It’s a pretty contentious question, no doubt. Ris asks…

Should I spank my child or not?

I grew up in a household where the belt and the chinelas were ever at the ready for every little infraction. Admittedly, my sibs and I were pretty pasaway and, from what I can remember, we eventually developed an immunity to it, too, haha!

Now that I have my own kid, I understand how important instilling a sense of discipline is. However, my answer to the question is a qualified: Yes, I will spank my child if needed.

Qualified because I believe that there are less violent approaches to disciplining a child - time-outs, withholding currency, etc - which I prefer to employ first. Besides, once you spank a child a few too many times, I believe that the child learns to overcome his/her fear of it, which then renders the punishment routinary and then eventually moot.

And like an evil violent cycle, some parents may “improve” the method for increased impact: now its the flipflop, tomorrow the belt, the next time its the golf club, and perhaps next time, heaven forbid, a taser, which totally blurs the line between discipline and child abuse. For me, that’s unacceptable. No amount of life insurance for kids would bring back a child that has succumbed to the extreme violence of corporal punishment.

Which is why I try to spank as sparingly as I could (in the four years of Ninna’s life, I think I was only able to give her a spanking twice, in the tooshie, ever!). It’s also why I think my Ninna is scared of even the just the word “palo” because she knows it does hurt and she hasn’t developed an immunity to it yet, hehe.

However, I draw the line for three very extreme things: intentional lying, willful disobedience, and blatant disrespect. And even then, there are levels as to when I would unleash “the wrath”, the last straw being if her actions should cause someone else to get hurt. I will personally teach her how hurtful her actions are by letting her feel the pain herself. Besides, no bastos action should be left unchecked, at least that’s what I believe.

So no, I will not spare the rod. However, God gave me the power of reason, the ability to know both my and my daughter’s limitations, which I know I as a mom should not use sparingly.

To the following moms, Maver, Weng, JMom, Dyes, Julie, and Pinky, will you spare the rod?