Banana From Philippines

If you live here in USA, you will always crave for Filipino foods no matter what. That is why when any of us will hear that there are Filipino stuff available nearby, we always grab the opportunity to go and check for it.

One of my Filipino friends posted a picture of a plate of cooked bananas in Facebook yesterday that she just bought from a Filipino store here in our area.

After I saw the picture, I craved for it, so I went there, too, right away. I even had to interrupt my husband's working on his homework just to take me to the store. Disappointed. The store closed early. I was craving for it too bad that I was thinking about it for the whole night. This day, I had to work morning shift. My husband was in school for the whole day, so it was my dad-in-law who picked me up from my work. I realized I still have the bananas on my head so bad that I asked my dad-in-law to take me to that Filipino store, and of course, he did.

Finally, I got these bananas. Although I have to admit that I was a bit surprised to see that these are packed frozen bananas. The instructions says to either steam it or micro-wave it. I steamed it right away we got home, and had it for snacks before I took a short nap.

Thank you, Lord, that Filipino food are available here in our area. Thank you, Lord, for giving me an understanding husband and a loving family, too.

Meeting New Filipina Friends @ Baby Tom's Birthday Party

I have been extremely busy lately between so many things that going out with my friends became close to impossible lately. My friend, Jeanny, invited me over to her son's 2nd birthday two weeks ago, and she asked me if I could help her prepare a "bam-i". It is a Filipino food that is suppose to be present on every Filipino birthday party. Well, I told myself; "I need a break". This could be a perfect break for me, catching out with my friends and at the same time, eating our own Filipino foods that we miss so much. So, I requested a day off from work for the particular day... and everything happened as planned, only for one thing though, my husband was not feeling good, and was not able to join us.

I had the chance to meet two wonderful new Filipina, and became friends right away with them. I met Jelly and her family who drove all the way from Palm Beach. I also met Elvie and her family, who, to my surprised, just live to the area where we live; and who also, prepared all the foods including desserts (except of bam-i and cake). She is a superb cook. We all indulged ourselves with the Filipino foods. We shared our funny experiences as wives and mothers. And of course, any gathering can't be complete without the excitement of picture taking here and there... again and again... We had such a blast.

On next Saturday, Elvie will be hosting another party. It will be her birthday party. We are looking forward that more will show up on that day. It will be another day of fun. It will be another "stress-reliever", fun-filled and tummy stuffing day. I just hope and pray that my husband will be feeling well on that day and so that he can be with me on enjoying this moment.

Want To Be Proactive? Follow The 5 P's

How do you generally control life situations? Do you cause things to happen, or move only after things happen? These are important questions to ponder, especially if you’re keen on being successful and happy in life. The most successful people in life are the ones who are proactive. Proactive people don’t sit around waiting for things to happen – they get up and make things happen. They thrive on being self-reliant and resourceful, and on taking responsibility for the task at hand.

Proactive people are always moving forward, looking to the future. They choose to actively engage rather than passively observe. Being proactive is a way of approaching the world. Reactive is: “I’ve got terrible abdominal pain. Maybe I’ll go to the hospital.” Proactive is: “Even though I’m symptom free, I want to live a healthy, long life. To this end, I exercise a lot and eat wholesome, non-processed foods.”

So, are you proactive or reactive in life?

Certainly, you can’t help being reactive sometimes in life. Living in the moment often means being flexible and adapting to a fast-changing environment. At other times, long-term plans must be scuttled in favour of a quick solution. Unavoidable road blocks also pop up every now and then – the kind even the most proactive person on the planet would not have been able to predict.

Proactive people exhibit five key behaviours, otherwise known as the 5 Ps:

Prediction

If you want to be proactive, developing foresight is vital. Learn to anticipate events and problems with your creativity and logic. Use your imagination and think of multiple outcomes for how an event may unfold. And don’t always count on the past being a solid predictor for the future. Keep yourself on your toes.

Prevention

Once potential obstacles are identified, the next step is to find ways to overcome them before they turn into real road blocks. A proactive person takes control of a challenge by confronting it head-on before it becomes insurmountable.

Planning

Proactive people don’t do ‘here and now’ thinking. They look ahead and anticipate future consequences for decisions taken, in a chain of events that leads to one result. Focusing on where you want to end up is key.

Participating

Being proactive means taking initiative and being part of the solution. Don’t simply react to the actions of other people. Engage with them. Make a contribution and exert influence. Relationships and on line dating with anyone should be balanced and two-way streets. Whether they meet through friends or on Dating sites Birmingham couples can often fall into lazy routines of staying in, watching films and not communicating. But now spring is in full bloom, be proactive with your partner by getting outdoors, exploring and doing something new together.

Performing

A proactive person takes action in a timely, effective manner: no excuses, no procrastination. Being proactive means taking responsibility for your actions and being careful about what steps you take. You are not just reacting impulsively to a situation or others.

Sun Umbrella

My parents-in-law are now home in Michigan. They left yesterday early morning. Tomorrow, my work schedule and my husband's school schedule conflicts (again), and that means he can't take me to work. Should I say that the day has finally come that I have to ride shuttle bus to take me to my work place? I don't know. We will see what will happen tomorrow. We can ask my husband's cousin, Annette, to take me to work though, but deep inside of me is that I really want to try to ride the shuttle bus going to work. I want to be independent. However, I have worries. What if I can't make it on time to my work place? How long do I have to wait on the road (under the sun) before the shuttle bus will pass by? Thinking about the burnt skin I will have made me say "Never mind the shuttle bus. I will ride with Annette." I don't have sun umbrella; and even if I had, I will not feel comfortable using it because nobody does here in Florida. They would think that you are silly for using umbrella against the nice sun rays.
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This is something that my husband (and most of the Americans) can't understand. Asians like me don't want to be under the sun. We avoided it as much as possible. Our skin easily get burn and wrinkled from sun exposure. Unlike the fair-skinned Americans, it takes time before we regain our true skin color. That is why, if you go to the Asian country, particularly Philippines and Japan, all women, even men, used sun umbrellas when we go out during the hot day.
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Another thing is that American women who have sun-tanned skin symbolizes their social activities in life, while Asians who have fair skin symbolizes higher status in life. The funny thing is that, Americans are trying to fake their skin by going to tanning parlor, while Asians are manipulating their skin by using whitening lotion. Crazy, huh?

Emergency Food

My husband and I had decided to do something that I believe is a smart idea. Every time we buy groceries, we always buy extra one canned goodies to put away for what we call "emergency foods". You will never know that you will need them, and it is better to be ready than to be sorry.
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Emergency foods are for the unexpected time that we can't go out to buy our food because of some calamity, like for example, a hurricane, which is very common here in Florida. Emergency food is also a good solution when an unexpected group of visitors comes up and, of course, you have to serve them some dinner or lunch.
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The other day, I had decided to put out all the canned goods from our pantry to sort them out, to arrange them in order according to their "best before" date. Few of them will hit the date soon, and so I have decided to put them on our kitchen counter to remind me to use them up soon.
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Well, emergency foods also served as our helper when both of us were too lazy to go out to buy for our dinner. It happened to us sometimes, and it was a relief to have them. They also serve as a "good samaritan", for when some neighbor in the middle of their cooking realized that they need something, and that they missed to buy it, they would call us and asked us if we got "it", and if we do, their problem is being solved then. It happened a lot to us, too. Thanks to the "emergency foods".

Our Retirement Trip Out West

Guest post written by Burt Lancaster
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My wife Darlene and I have traveled for years, hopping from place to place across America. We’ve never really cared for airplanes, so we try to drive everywhere, enjoying the quality time we get to spend with one another.
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As a retirement present to myself, I recently splurged on a brand new BMW for us to ride out west in together to celebrate the beginning of our golden years. Well, a few states into our journey, I couldn’t help but notice that I was having an exceptionally hard time deciphering what Darlene was saying to me in the car. We saw a sign when we were about mid-way advertising hearing tests Las Vegas NV , which got me thinking: Maybe I should get tested.
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We stopped at the Miracle Ear location and, as it turns out, I definitely needed some type of aid. Before making any decisions, I called my sister from the road to get her opinion. She said she’d recently gone to miracle ear WA and was thrilled with her hearing aids. I was sold.
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When we finally arrived in Cali, I decided to get fitted for my hearing aids in California , right then and there. And, well, we’ve been enjoying wonderful conversations ever since!

Sending A Letter For My Mama

It has been a week since I came home from my 4 weeks visit in the Philippines. I promised my mama that I would write her a letter right after I got here. She was very anxious to know that I made it back here safe and sound. Although I called her via cellphone, I understand that she still wants to get a letter regularly. That is something that we both enjoyed doing. I might make one tomorrow, but most probably, I could mail it on Monday, and she can start expecting it in two weeks. I hope there are other ways to make the service faster.
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In a little more than a month or so, I can then start expecting a reply from my mama. Checking in our bobi mailbox everyday is always exciting. I just got a package from a friend in Michigan the other day and it made my day. I just love the thrill that I feel when I hold a package and start imagining what would be inside of it. The good thing is, I never was disappointed.
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Talking about mailbox, bobi mailboxes are becoming common around. Well, I can understand because it got style and figure that you can really say “good-looking”. Mailboxixchange.com got them a lot more of contemporary mailboxes . It is the supplier of the durable and latest style in mailboxes. Hop on in their website now to view them all.

If You Don't Like Where You Are, Move. You Are Not A Tree.

When I committed myself to become a wife to a foreigner, of course, goes with it was the assumption of living in a foreign country for good. I was excited with the thought. I always have the sense of adventure in me. It took me over a year staying here in USA before I started to feel homesickness. Thanks for the internet and long distance telephone calling; without them I couldn’t have lasted this long. The funny thing is that I am now the “foreigner” in this country.
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My husband and I were talking about emigrating to other country in maybe several years from now. We haven’t decided on which country yet, but the thought alone gets me excited already. I know some people hates being mobile very often, but not me. I find it exciting.
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Talking about excitement, and if to emigrate sparks an interest in you, I suggest that you visit the website Emigrate.co.uk. I find a whole bunch of interesting information from them. They are the number one emigration advice site in the UK, with daily updates in emigration news, emigration guides and some good stuff over at the emigration blog. It is jam packed with useful stuff for people thinking of emigrating. Their services includes emigration, immigration, visa types and educate you on the relevant laws of emigration. This website comes in very handy way with their guide for every country on Emigrating over there.
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“If you don’t like where you are, move. You are not a tree.”

Are You Looking For Nice House In Columbia, SC?

If you have been driving from Michigan to Florida or the other way around, you will agree with me if I say that of all the places that we passed by it was the South Carolina that captures our heart. The scene was just so awesome, especially the beaches and the city of Columbia. My husband’s cousin was considering moving there soon.
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I wanted to help her find a nice house in Columbia, SC, and it was not so hard because it didn’t take me too long to find this, Columbia SC Homes For Sale. There I found how Columbia, SC is indeed a great place to live with its great schools, good economy, friendly people and beautiful houses to choose with.

Live Your Lifestyle

I am very excited to live in our “love nest”. I am packing our clothes right now. The days that remains for us in staying here in Michigan is getting fewer. After 14 months of our marriage, at last, we will be on our own. Although it is not really our dream house, but both of us understood that we have to start living in an apartment, then eventually, as the years will go by, God will bless us with our dream luxury house.
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Talking about luxury house, HousePlansAndMore.com offers a wide variety of home building resources to make your luxury home plans search simple and easy. They help you find your home plans that meet the kind of lifestyle that you want. They offer pre-drawn house floor plans ready for purchase, it includes amenities that you need such as backyard project plans, garage plans and shed plans. Anything you need in helping you for your home plans, resources and house building needs are available in their website.
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If you are planning to build your dream house, don’t let this information slip out from your hands, visit their website and you will surely love their featured dreamluxury house plans . They also have several hundreds of “Do-It-Yourself” House Projects. Have fun building your “love nest”. Live your lifestyle.

Lap Band Surgery + Personal Attention

On my previous post, I was talking about the wedding that happened this day. The bride was worried about her gown; she said that she had gained more inches on her waistline after she ordered online the gown from China. But when she has her gown on, I had observed that it wasn’t bad at all. Also, she doesn’t need to sit down, so it was all right. And yeah, right after the ceremony, she went to change her gown right away for her to be able to move around.
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I heard from one of the guests suggested a lap band. And speaking about lap-band, let me share to you the site of Dr. Richard Collier, JourneyLite.com. He is a lap band doctor , who provides the premier and comprehensive lap-band weight loss surgery program in some Texas areas. He is known as a successful surgeon in this field with a highly praised team program approach for patients following their surgery. Each patient receives Dr. Collier's personal attention every office visit before and after surgery, including nutritional counseling, psychological guidance and behavioral modification. Check his website for more information.

The Notion Of Reading Love Novel Books

This picture is taken in the house of our Aunt Kathy. She got a bunch of love novel books. Since she is not allowed to move around very much because of her delicate health lately, and reading these books filled her day.
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I used to read a lot of these kind of books several years ago. Actually, I started reading these kind of books during my age of 13, because my mama had a bunch of love novel books, too. I remembered I tried reading one out of curiousity, then, I found out that I enjoyed it. It leads to another book... and another book. It later leads me to get interested in more thicker love novel book. But the time come that my eyes started to have problem, and it prompted me to stop reading from then on. Although I still read nowadays, but I am more careful on what I am reading. I rather choose to read something very useful for my life such as devotional reading materials, christian books and above all, the Holy Bible.
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There is a notion about reading these love novel books. I remembered one friend told me that I will not get married if I read a lot of these kind of books. Although it was explained to me... and how I understood it was that, reading these kind of books will make you fantasize a lot of a specific man to come to your life, but it won't, and that's how you end up to be an old maid. But later did I realized the logic to it; reading these kind of books gives you the picture of a perfect man and a perfect relationship, and that is why if you are in a relationship, the tendency is, you will be comparing the person or your relationship to the story you had read... and having found flaws, you end up breaking the person or the relationship you are into... and go on looking for the perfect person and the perfect relationship... all those ideas are from the book you are reading which is way too hard to be possible. And thus you end up not marrying at all.
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Well, I believe it can be possible. It will depend on how you view life. Somehow, I am glad that I am already married and had got over that notion.

Are You Living Responsibly?

It is undeniable that our earth is getting older and older, and that sooner or later, our natural resources will run out. But sad to say that only few considered this fact. The planet that we live in is badly wounded and we, human beings are responsible on that. Sure enough that we don’t have the intention of doing something bad to our planet, it is our ignorance that get us there. That is why there are a lot of campaigns helping us became aware about the critical problem of our planet and what we can do to help.
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However, there are groups of people that are working together for the sake of our environment. A new website that I found, The Tree of Tomorrow aspires to become an outstanding and influential reference and resource about this subject. Their aim is to highlight and concentrate on the most inspiring stories and practical information about ecological living.
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Let me share to you what I just found out in their website, an Ecovillage Living. The name alone sounds environmental and resource- friendly. Ecovillage are urban or rural communities of people who strive to integrate a supportive social environment with a low-impact way of life. One of the ways to achieve this is by integrating various aspects of ecological designs of living that sustains. This website will be a wind that carries the “best of the best” ancient words and new ideas on responsible living as seeds to those who are ready to get into action. The Tree of Tomorrow Site is a place of “How To’s” for responsible living. Now that the solution is being presented to us, our role will be to help implementing them.
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We need to be responsible in our daily living for the sake of our children and our children’s children. Encourage others to be responsible, too. Let us seek ways to be a part of the solution that our earth needs. If you got some exemplary thoughts and ideas about living responsible, this site is open for contributions. Let your thoughts be heard throughout the world. Although we don’t know how long our planet can hold us, but I want to believe that we still have the chance to change.

Food-On-The-Go

"I'm hungry. Are you?"
"Yeah."
"McDonald?"
"Sure."
"What do you want?"
(Grin)
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This is the usual conversation my husband and I had if we get hungry on the road. He knows already what I want from McDonald. I am just so crazy with their hot McChicken Sandwich, while my husband like their Big Mac. It is our favorite food-on-the-go.
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What is your favorite food-on-the-go?