If you are on the lookout for inspirational movies - ones that are more on the spiritual level, you can join the Spiritual Cinema Circle online DVD club to receive inspirational videos and inspirational movies every month. If you sign up this month of May, you can do a free trial and receive ILLUSION the movie starring Kirk Douglas and three more terrific short films. As a bonus, you also get the Soulmates Collection which featuring six heartwarming short films about true love! So, all in all, you receive 10 films which is actually a $50 value, FREE! (You will only pay for shipping). What I like about this club is that there are no late fees - all DVDs are mine to keep. And lest you think this club is all about religion, it is not!

According to MovieMaker Magazine:
“Their definition of ‘spiritual’ has nothing to do with religion.
It’s about asking the questions who are we and why are we here?”

This sounds like a very great club to join in!

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I want to tag myself, as I want to know what my readers (YOU!), want to know more about or read in my blog, so here:

ASK anything you want by commenting below.

And once this reaches 5 questions, Ill answer in a post, let’s do this until I get tired of answering

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How important is market research in company that sells products? Very very important. For example, take the case of the importance of market research for TV stations revamping their primetime programs. They need to know which shows people really watch. They need to know which type of programs people want, what age group commands the most television audience and which type of show does the audience want and look for. Doing some research even with the simplest situation can do wonders. I always do some research on my own before making any big decisions.

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I have been an avid reader (and closet fan :D) of Toni’s blog for quite some time. So when I read the Lasang Pinoy 18: Oh My Gulay!, I knew I had an interesting topic to share about my love for Pinoy veggies.

You might be suprised that my favorite vegetable of all time (yes, Im overreacting, but it’s true!) is the ampalaya (bitter gourd) :). Yep, you read that right. I love eating ampalaya. My love affair with this veggie dated back as far as my memory can take me. When I was five years old, my Dad had this rule during meal times - we should have one serving (one takal as he calls it) of each prepared vegetable every meal. If we didnt finish it within 10-15 minutes into the meal, he would add another serving (or takal). Those days, the vegetables we always see on our table were: mongo, ginataang kalabasa and sitaw, string beans, the usual potatoes and carrots seen in tomato-based meals, and ampalaya. My brother absolutely hated it! I was then a kid who was afraid of getting punished so I just finished off my meals - a task which was not really hard for me ;).

But then, I grew to love to eat it. Most especially if the ampalaya is sliced really thin and cooked with scrambled eggs. Pair it off with a daing na bangus and I might never finish eating. I notice there are lot of variations of cooking ampalaya, but my Mom has taught me how to cook it so that it wont be so bitter tasting. I think the secret it to scrub the veggie first with salt before slicing it really thin. And as what my Dad has always said, “Ang pagluluto, naguumpisa sa masarap na ginisa. Dapat di sunog ang bawang and ang sibuyas madami!”.

There you have it, my favorite Pinoy vegetable! I wish I can share a recipe but alas, Im not a really good cook!

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It’s official - my sister will leave for the US this year. It is definite and decided already by the family and my sister cant be anymore happier. She is eager to start anew and be independent, and it helps that her boyfriend is based in San Francisco as well. The next plan for the family would be for my older brother to go there - to work or study. It doesnt matter as long as he goes there. My uncle has advised him to Contact Collins College or look at their site to know more about studying from home or studying while working. He has offered and is willing to take him under his wing if ever and when ever the plans to move will take place.

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I have been offered to get an insurance policy for me lately and I politely refused not for anything else other than I dont know anything about insurance yet! So I did my own research. Insurance policies - information about it, where to get it, what’s the best deal - they can be found in many life insurance articles at SecureInsuranceQuotes.com. I have been reading their articles for over three hours now, and my mind is slowly sinking in with some useful information. Great site!

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Such a bad combination, isnt it?

I believe this post is going to be like that, a mish mosh of things I want to say and things have happened the past weekend.

Health wise:

Im still sick. It’s manageable during the day, but it becomes a nightmare at night. I literally become a whooping barking dog every 30 seconds. It’s really dry cough - and I know drinking lots and lots of liquids will help. I think we need to replace the bed mattress though - I notice I only get wheezes when I lay down at night.

The kids are OK. Mom tells me the kids are eating every hour and having fun, despite the TV being broken a day after they arrived. There are a lot of greens, bugs and open spaces to keep them occupied. Matthew, TV freak that he is, didnt even want to go home.

The Weekend:

I had to work on Saturday so Sunday, I went to Amadeo to visit the kids and bring some groceries (turns out Mom bought groceries for them as well). Mom cooked for us - baked macaroni, inihaw na isda, liempo - yum, yum - and I slept. LOL. It feels good to sleep on a naturally cool and breezy environment, I tell you. The kids are looking good! Matthew’s puffy eyes are gone (due to rhinitis and allergies) and Martha is a wee bit taba, still a long way to go, but her milk appetite is back (I might add Pediasure to her milk diet on top of Gain Plus though. I read in the N@W group that it helps babies gain weight, not that she is underweight, I just want her back to her old chubba siksik self). I bought the SLR but did not take pictures because I got a massage..woot..and get this, for only 200 bucks. Woot some more, LOL. It felt.so.good. Im going to do it again this week when we go back plus a foot scrub. We had a great time with the grandparents.

AND, they have found an apartment - a gated, 2 story-level, with garage apartment. The apartment has two small rooms, nice spacious living room and dining room, cooking area at the back of the house (I really want this so my house doesnt smell like cooked food all the time), and a garage for the kids to play. There are cable, phone and internet lines available. And the rent is only 2,500 pesos. Not bad. But we were aiming for a house to rent. We will be looking at it this weekend. If we like it, we will get it so that we can slowly make the place livable come our transfer by Feb or March next year. Im actually pretty excited because we are making progress :D. Im actually planning what major furnitures we need (or ask for) and making mental notes on how to save for all of these. I just hope my blogging job stays strong (more on that later) and Edil gets regularized at work.

Money Matters:
Remember the money diet challenge I posted for you guys last week? Well, I kept all my expensed listed and I was ashamed of myself, LOL.
Read more… »

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Before I drown you all with my dozen posts :), Ill just do my assignment and get all the tagging done :). I was tagged by Mai and Mich regarding the Alexa train. If you are like me who is into paid blogging, having a nice Alexa rank will let you command higher pay. If you notice my Alexa score at the bottom left sidebar on my blog, it is currently at 176,010. Last February, it was still around 690,00+++. In just two months, it has gone down to 75% already and continues to go down :).

If you would like to jump in on the train, please do. Id also like to recommend that you do the Do-Follow list too. If you have a Blogger, there are instructions on how to get rid of the no-follow code here.

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I actually am not assigned a cubicle at work. QA Analysts are assigned their own personal workstation (no sharing) and from there, we can make it our own. Our office furniture involved our own computer, a good computer chair good for the back, headphones for listening to agent calls, some office supplies and bookends for manuals and endless supply of coffee. I actually am just three months into my newly promoted position and I am loving it so far. I get to be in control of my time and I just love weekends off now. I havent had a weekend off in three years so this is welcome break for me :).

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The Dell Inspiron E1705

I was bored, because I had to report for work on a Saturday so me and Edil talked over YM and browsed possible ideas for bookcase designs and a laptop. So we “assembled” that one that you see. With the decline of the dollar, it makes things cheaper. I hope by the end of the year, I can buy one. I plan to buy it in full - CASH - since I dont want to be burdened with payments. Soon, I hope, soon. Blogging money will give that to me!

Here are the specs (for the geeks):
Intel® Core™ DUO T2350 (1.86GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB), FREE Upgrade to Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Premium with 1GB of memory
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And let’s start with windows. We have been thinking of replacing our curtains in the house with vertical blinds. We have 8 windows, side by side, in the house, and it is no joke to have floor length curtains washed every week! I honestly did not know the difference between venetian, roman and vertical shades not until we browsed JustBlinds.com. It would be best suited for us since direct sun always hits our room at noon until late afternoon. It may appear more office like but we love it since they not only offer privacy - since we dont have trees in our place and houses are near each other - but protection from strong sunlight. Of course, we like it because it very low maintenance. They have removable window veins that can be wiped clean. There are also washable fabrics available.

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This was from Glo. She wrote this post for me and Id like to share it with you, especially for those TTC - trying to conceive :).

Goodluck.

Maybe next time, I need to post about those TTC - trying to control :). LOL. Like me!

There had been an animated discussion amongst online friend on getting pregnant and how to determine the sex of your baby.

Here is a excerpted summary of the book, How to Choose the Sex of Your Baby, by Landrum Shettles, M.D., and David Rorvik.

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Tattoos. I never had one. Im too chicken to try it out. My friend, Glo, has one, and Ive always wondered how mine would look like if ever I have one. I actually cringe at the thought of needles piercing my skin - hot needles at that, so Im glad there are temporary airbrush tattoo options now. My sisters are keen on getting tattoos on their bodies. The only thing that is keeping them is that they are sure my mom will very much disapprove! It’s a good thing temporary tattoos can now be achieved by using airbrush kits. The TAT store or Temporary Airbrush Tattoo (TAT) Store offers temporary tattoo supplies like designs, stencils, ink, tattoo kits and body art airbrush equipment. I will only go as far as having a glitter or henna tattoo though, I cannot imagine I can look at it when my skin starts to wrinkle or sag, 20 years from now.

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Edil and I, we have never been on a honeymoon. Sad but true.

You know what I really like to be in right now? Id love for Edil and me, just for once, be in a cruise ship, maybe join a Norwegian Cruise. We never had a real honeymoon. We had Matthew before we were married in Church, and after the wedding, we needed to save up so going on honeymoon is out of the question. There is something incredibly romantic about being a cruise with a loved one - it reminds me of my favorite movie of all time, the Love Affair (or An Affair to Remember). Id also love to go on a cruise to the Bahamas. We are celebrating our second anniversary in June and just for fun, I checked out the rates of cruises that month. Edil and I have never been alone on a beach together and the Bahamas would be the ultimate vacation for us!

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I have to report to work tomorrow *sigh*. And just when I have a long list of to-dos, and actually feel revved up and inspired to get working. The flu is still here and Im still pretty much lethargic, but at least I can stop every now and then and still be able to finish what is on my list. I was planning to visit the kids by Sunday and get to work straight from there on Monday since I work in the afternoon - but, I think it might need to hold off until next week. I was not able to buy Matthew’s books and uniforms as I was sleeping and drugged the whole morning - in fact, I even reported for work two hours late - not late technically, since I can have a flexible schedule (and I have a cool boss! :)).

Now, can I just say I am dismayed with the foreign exchange rates of the dollar lately?! It hit rock bottom to 45pesos to a dollar! OMG! Forgive me, if you think this will be good for the economy, but how about people in the export industry, their stocks will rise and businessmen will lose orders. How about the millions of families depending on OFW’s remittances, especially now, that it is enrollment period?! Buti sana kung umuunlad ang Pilipinas, e hindi naman. Same old (high) oil prices, same high electricity rates - all of these claims to operate on basic crude oil dependent on world prices — where is their drop in prices now that the dollar has dropped, aber?

Sorry, I am no economist - pero naku no, goodluck to me.

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