Another Blog in the Making

After careful consideration of my available funds for blogging, I am going to cook another blog. This is going to be a lot different from my previous blogs because this will be a more informative one rather than like this which acts as my online diary.

I still have to figure out my way to finalize everything. I already have the domain name reserved. I just need to figure out which hosting provider will I use this time. I don't want to experience the same hassle that I've experienced with the other hosting providers that I had on my other blogs. I already learned that part of blogging lesson the hard way but it made me more cautious now.

Aside from that, I will have to devote more time to work on that blog. But that doesn't mean that I will give less time to maintain my other blogs. :) Wish me luck! :)

Entrecard Issues

Have you had this concern when you drop your cards?

I tried to close around 300 drops today, but I only made almost 245 drops because the entrecard pages are loading too slow. I guess, it goes with the blogs with a lot of unnecessary widgets, maybe it is with my dsl connection, or maybe because of the Entrecard tool. Whew!

All I know is that now, I am starting to be more careful in my dropping habits. Of course I'm doing my best to return your love drops, because that's the essence of joining Entrecard network right? But I am now starting to be picky with the blogs that I visit and place drops on after returning your visits.

I am also starting to cancel all the paid Entrecard ads. I just checked a lot of blogs that are also starting to do the same. I want to help Entrecard to generate money because I believe it will cost a lot for them to maintain the server that they're using. But I also believe that they should make up their minds. Will they continue to offer paid ads or just use the old way of placing EC ads on blogs?

What's your take on it?

Inconsiderate Neighbors

Have you had one in your area?

Today I got another dose of little sleep time because of some insensitive neighbors around.

One of our neighbors in the block is celebrating his birthday and I guess he is singing it with a 'bang'.

Why singing? Let's put it this way, I came home from my shift around 10 in the morning and he was singing in full volume using a rented videoke machine. Well I didn't care much about it until I realized that I can't sleep. I locked our front door, went upstairs, tried to lock myself in my room, then in my parent's and last in my sister's room, but I can still hear not only his voice but his other relatives belting something out. I cannot stand it.

Then I sprayed some relaxing mist in my room, in the beddings but it did not help me relax and put myself to sleep.

Even the milk strategy and earplugs did not work. Goodness!

I already told Mom about it, but I'm not sure if they approached our neighbors about it, but they kept on singing until I left the house around 9:30 in the evening.

I am a very sensitive neighbor. I respect the space and privacy of other people especially when they need to have some rest. Even if I need to adjust and let go of some stuff that I want to do, I'd consider first the welfare of our neighbors before I do it.

I just cannot understand why they can't do it this time. :(

Too Late to Buy Sunglasses?

I already have a pair, I have been using it for years but now I want to buy another one.

So I looked for my Belle De Jour Organizer where I have some discount coupons to use when my younger sister told me that it is too late to buy one.

I know it is now May, and here in the Philippines, it also marks almost the end of summer. My sister told me that I will not make use of it that much because it will be rainy season soon.

But I beg to disagree. In my opinion, sunglasses should always be part of my daily wear as I would use it whenever I go out in the office in the morning (after the shift). I have read a lot of online articles as well that sunglasses can prevent my eyes from the long-term affects of sun damage. Of course, I won't appreciate it that much today because I do not see the effects yet, but I don't want to take risks.

Anyway, to make this long story short, I will just buy a pair next week even if my sister would tease me after that. Maybe I'll just buy her a pair instead. What do you think?

Got Four Hours of Sleep

I am used to get lesser hours of sleep. I have been working in the call center for more than seven years now and I usually have this concern when my shift changes.

But now, aside from shift change, I still have to work out something on my other .com blogs. I just got the email today informing me of opportunities to earn something extra should I transfer my blogging platform that is why I am taking my chances.

Aside from that, I also have to check out something on some of my other blogging tasks. :) So that is something that I always look forward to. We are all in this global financial crisis and so we have to welcome every legal opportunity to earn extra bucks online. :)

So thats what happened to me. How about you? How may hours of sleep have you had recently?

Mom's Moments with Me

I already greeted my Mom this morning but today, I want to make this short post about my Mom and why I am grateful for her love.

When I was a little girl, I came to know my Mom as a disciplinarian. She would always remind me to act appropriately, give courtesy to others and just be a good girl all the time. At that time, it seemed that she single-handedly did everything for me, as my chef dad is always away for overseas work.

I even remembered how she would ask me to sing and talk to my Dad as she held the radio close to me to record my voice. So whenever we had those recording sessions, I would have to stop playing and do it. Only when we're through that I will be allowed to play with the other kids again. :)

When it comes to budgeting, she has her own way to do it. She would prefer to allocate just good enough budget for food to keep us healthy, but she would always tell us not to leave food on the plate (literally). She would always remind us to only eat what we can consume and not to waste food because it can also mean wasting my Dad's time and effort in his work. And that is something that I am doing until now, something that I can pass on to my kids as soon as I have one. Aside from that she would always impose for us to take care of our things so we don't need to buy one, talk about being frugal. :)

We had our misunderstandings over things especially as I grow older, but that's normal. I will tell you more of my Mom in my next few posts, but for now, I would like to share with you how thankful I am that I have my Mom with me. :)

Happy Mothers Day to all Moms, bloggers or not. :)

Cleaning Blog Categories

I still feel the natural high because of my simple and cute flower garden template.

Well the layout template work is not yet done because I still have to pepper this page with useful chunks of widgets and make it ready for some readers to visit. I'll continue with that blog work later.

Speaking of spring cleaning work on this blog, I also trimmed some categories here. This is better to keep my focus on the topics that I will have to write on this blog. Before, I noticed that I used blogger labels to act as tags ( since I was used to do that in Wordpress ) but now I just realized that labels do not work as tags but as categories. So I made some adjustments on my categories yesterday and this should look neat now.

I still have a lot of work to do on this blog. But I want to ask your experience on the same thing. How much work do you still need on your blog in terms of look and organization?


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Flower Garden Template for The Chefs Daughter

Remember what I mentioned last time about doing spring cleaning on this blog?

This is it. I finally started to make some changes in my blog. If you are reading this post today, you will see the new template that I am using.

This template is called Flower Garden 3 Column. I just came to check out this cute template when I did my usual bloghopping yesterday. The good thing about it is that I don't need to do much customization on the layout. It looks neat, good and simple for me, something that reflects this blog's posts and personality. :)

So if you would like to see his / her other cool templates, head on to Ipietown. You'll surely find a blogger template that you'll definitely like. :)

Blog's Spring Cleaning

After a few months, I checked this blog again and I decided to implement some changes.

For one, I had a hard time before looking for some templates to use that will fit this blog's niche about family matters. So what I am planning now is to continue and look for a nicer template that will satisfy my aesthetic requirement for this blog.

I wanted something clean, eyecatching and professional. I also wanted a template that has built in ads spaces so it can also help us get to some more.

So that's for the template. Aside from that, I have one more major concern to do ASAP.

That deals more about my blog's categories. I wanted to keep few categories and move the rest to the new ones. This I have to do right away even before I get to change my template and write some more posts for this blog.

And the last of my concerns is to think of some more content for this blog. When I started this blog, I initially want this to mirror my thoughts about my family and our relationships with our relatives. But now, I want to expand this to include some more issues about family in general. I will also have to think of a meme that will fit the theme of this blog, something that I can share to the rest of bloggers who share the same niche.

Well, I hope to accomplish all of these things just in time before my 29th birthday. :) I'll post the developments of my spring cleaning activity in the next few days, just to make sure that I will have an online accountability.

How about you? What was the last time you did 'spring clean' your blog?

Error in Uploading Pics in Flickr

My Dad requested that I upload the latest pictures on my Flickr account so he can check the development of the house renovation. Well since he is the one who's giving the budget for it, I wanted him to see how the once abandoned house became as beautiful as it is now.

But the thing is that I have been uploading our update house renovation pics in Flickr since yesterday but I cannot seem to post these pictures. I also tried to do this using my Eeepc but I can't seem to upload it still.

Anytime now, my Dad will be online again and will call my Mom via Skype to ask for these pics. I'll try to upload these again after their chat, but if it won't work for me (for the nth time) then I might have to find Flickr's support link to raise my concern.

Living Far from Home

I just uploaded some pictures of the house that my parents bought for renovation. You can check it out on my callcentergal flicker account.

At first, I do not really have that much idea as to what they will use the house for. In the first place, we are already paying the equity of the house that we are suppose to occupy after our wedding in December.

But things changed after realizing how far it is to live in Binangonan if we are going to work in Makati. I estimated the travel time as well as the budget for transportation, I just found out that I need a huge budget for transpo if we will commute as well as a bigger amount to pay for the gas should we have our own car by then.

Well aside from the travel time, I also noticed on our 'test travels' that I easily get tired after reaching the 'place'. I am anticipating that if that's the case then we won't spend as much quality time doing things at home if we're both tired coming from work.

In short, I just asked my Dad if he will allow us to stay in that house after the wedding (the property is under my name anyway) and what we will do is just to pay them a monthly amount until we get to own the property.

As for the other house, we will just have it rented so it can help us pay for the monthly amortization.

How about you? How far is your pad from your parent's house? Did it make you miss your family more? :)

Any Plans for Mothers Day?

Have you had something in place for Mother's day?

When I was young, I remembered giving my Mom a card with my own masterpiece (yeah, I'm good in drawing 'stick men'). I would sometimes cut out some colored papers and stick it on the card for an added touch.

As I grow older, I learned to give my mom a variety treat. I would give her gifts like perfumes, clothes, some household items, even flower pots (because she likes gardening as well). I'm glad that she liked it, especially because the money that I used to pay for it came from my own pocket and not from my parent's allowance anymore.

I would've given her some more expensive treats, but knowing my mom, she would love to just keep the money instead of taking advantage of some short-lived luxuries. That's one unique thing about her that I would love to do as soon as I become a Mom myself.

So now, I am thinking of what to give her for Mother's day. Can you suggest some good treats that I can give to her?

Jamie Pugh: A Different Kind of Dad

Jamie Pugh had my heart today. :)

And why not, this Dad proved the world how important it is to live the dream. Yahoo did not post his video yet, and a lot of people have yet to see how good he was.

Do a favor for me, please listen to his audition piece in Britain's Got Talent, he sang Bring Him Home (Les Miserables).





I can say that he is a different kind of dad. If a lot of dads would be the one to push the dreams of their kids, in his case he gave himself a push to conquer his fear.

I just learned from Jamie Pugh's fansite that his wife died in her 20's making him a young widower and father to his kid. Now that he got a new partner, he is starting to recover and build his life again.

I wonder how he is at home, being a singer dad. :) I would love to hear Jamie make it to the finals. I am not sure if Jamie will read it, but if you do, I wish you the best of luck! :)

Dad Watching Pacquiao-Hatton Fight

I remembered watching some of Manny Pacquiao's fights especially when he was just starting to get notice on national television.




That's one of my shared hobby with my Chef Dad. We love to watch shows on free TV while sharing our opinion on certain topics. This includes preparing the snacks we have to consume :)

I did not have the chance to chat with my dad days ago before the fight that is broadcasting on national TV here in the Philippines. But based on our previous habits, he will make it a point to watch the fight, even if he's now in Bermuda.

I could just imagine his cheering moments while watching Pacquiao's fight (especially if he's so into the fight).

How about you? Have you watched this fight with your family as well?

Photo credit: Pasky 29