Blessings

I haven't blogged that H had finally found a renter in our townhouse. They moved in last Aug.10 where they also paid the pro-rated rent and the security deposit. The rental payment is due every 1st of the month and surprise, surprise, H handed the check today Aug. 31. I hope the renter does this every month! They are a newly wedded couple and she works in H's nursing home. We prayed for the right renters and looks like we got one! Thanks be to God!
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Today H decided to trade in "Leaky", (because the radiator leaks :) our Acura car. I was buying milk at Sam's Club when I got a call from him. He asked me, "Guess where I am at?" I replied, "Here at Sam's Club." He said, "I'm here at Toyota and I found the right truck for us. Of course I'll need your approval but I know you'll love this truck!" I drove to Toyota and voila, I love the truck and just like that we traded in our car and drove home with "Thunder". He is white, seats us 3 (H, M, and me) and can load all the wood projects H could think of. We decided to christened him thunder from his original name Tundra. Baduy noh..
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I got an A in my college algebra 1st quiz! When my professor handed back my quiz, (she would call us out one by one so we come to her table to get our paper) she said "Very good! Good job!" And she only said those words to me and me alone. And I got a perfect score!! I pray that I will be able to get good grades, sana laging A! (wishful thinking)
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I also got bonus points for my Anatomy class! My professor, an eye doctor, just loves to teach and would hand out bonus points if you answered correctly his question. He keeps on motivating us to study and I think it is working as the whole class is participating in the recitation! I was able to answer 3 questions correctly so I get to have additional 3 points in our coming exam (inakupo..--scheduled on Sept 13). I hope I could still get some more points next class. (Pwede kayang 100 points para di na mag exam-heheh)
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I don't have a class this Monday!!Yipeee..it's labor day and it's a holiday! H has work though. Basta wala akong pasok. Yippeee..!!

Lost camera

I cannot find my digital camera..huhuuh...:(
I was eyeing a different birthday present (--ehem--a purse--Hi Meeya )but it looks like I might get a digital camera instead. (Depende pa sa verdict ni H ngayon) I got this camera as H's birthday present in 2004. It is a Sony DSC T-1 5 megapix and it works right for me. I am the sentimental type as I still have M's birth pics, our first wedding annivesary trip, our trip to Pinas, M's 1st & 2nd bday pics, etc etc..(I still keep my favorite pics in the memory stick kaya daming files) The pictures, well, I have downloaded it on my computer and I have a back up copy as well but I just cannot find the heart to erase those pictures. Please Lord help me! I have searched everywhere. I am positive I left it in the house as the last picture I took was H's project. But where?? I normally put my camera beside my computer. Now, it's gone..huhuhuhu...
Asan na kaya yun? :(

Estudyante blues

I have met my professors and my new classmates! Most of them are nice! At this time, I have to admit that my fave subject is college algebra! When I met Prof. P, I just knew that I love her course already. I was jumping for joy as I tried to factor the polynomials and trinomials. How I miss solving those problems! I think I showed too much eagerness as she just called my name to solve one equation! And I was the only one she called for the next 1 hour and 15 minutes; Buti na lang, nasagot ko! (On second thought, my name is on top of the list, alphabetically arranged --yan ang napapala ng letter a ang surname)
I told H how I love math! I asked him, "Pwede ba akong mag-shift ng course?" He frowned. I said, "Joke lang". If only..
I have my algebra homework to do and I am really excited. I got my a&p homework, my lab and my cat too, but this can wait. Let's solve this problem first!
4x-3x+2xy-y..
Nope, biro lang..Me exponent eh but I cannot type exponent here. Just like the musical note in my captioning..Oh well..
Oh..I just remembered posting the "Umbrella video". I found it nice so I decided to share it. I thought of putting a caption on it but I accidentaly erased it after typing a long story about it. Hmmm..!
Have fun everyone!!

Back to school

I cannot believe that my summer vacation is over! By Monday, I will have to go back to school and indulge myself with my anatomy books and feast on my cat's intestines. (Ooopps..sorry) Seriously, it makes me sad thinking that I will have to leave my son while I study. I truly miss him. Being a hands on mom has lots of perks as one gets to see how it is to really really raise a child! I know how MIL has tried to spoiled him but until this time, M just follows my orders and gets scared whenever I try to raise my voice when he did something unpleasant! And when his time-out is over, M would still hug me tight and say in his sweetest voice " Da-na " which meant sorry. In his blog, I have posted how he says different words and I am the only one in the world who could interpret it. One time, I had to leave him and M wanted a glass of water! He said to his lola. "Yoya, wowo.." Lola replies, "What?" M said, " Wowo, pis". Lola then asked "Ano???" M said, now almost on top of his voice, pasigaw na.." Cup!!!" It was only then that Lola understood him. He was trying to say. "Lola, water please!" Lola gave him a bag of popcorn which M almost finished. That was why he was trying to ask for a glass of water.
H commented that I look sad this past few days! Eh kasi nga, babalik na ako sa school! Mami-miss ko talaga ang anak ko! He was asking me, whatever happened to my motivation?
Ohmygulay!! I have to buy that ti84 calculator for my algebra! Buhay estudyante! Gotta go!!

S visits me!

Hello everyone!
It was my friend S's turn to visit us here. They came Friday night H and I were very busy trying to fit in S's family in our house. We had to put an airbed at M's playroom for S's mom and dad who are currently visiting and will be back in the Philippines next month. Then, we had to squeeze S and her hubs in M's full size bed (the crib now turned bed) and S's kids in a futon (aged 8, 4 & 3) right below their bed. Nagkasya naman sila!
I cooked pork barbecue and grilled shrimps for dinner. The L's brought roasted ribs while the M's gave a cheesecake for dessert. S came from Jacksonville, a 5 hour drive and they were so happy to see what was in the dining table. Yummy!! We slept past 12 midnight as we had to share all the stories in the world! Daldal!!
I woke up early Saturday morning to cook breakfast but MIL was already done! She cooked (what's in my ref) longganisa, eggs and hotdogs and fried rice! By lunch, we had grilled short ribs and grilled portabella mushrooms. Thank God we had dinner at M's house to celebrate their son J's first birthday! My son enjoyed this birthday party and loved J's room so much he does not want to get out. J's room had a train theme and cars theme. I can't wait to finish his toddler room! We had to postpone our carpentry project this week because of our guests. I hope we'll resume next week!
Sunday morning, MIL had cooked again breakfast (Aga nya talaga gumising eh) This time, we had corned beef, spam, hotdogs and fried eggs. By lunch time, I asked S's mom to teach me how to cook pinakbet (she is from Ilocos). I think mil did not like that. Well, this is just my opinion. For lunch, we had inihaw na liempo and pinakbet. H commented that naihaw daw sya ng husto this weekend. Poor H. I just marinated the pork belly with lemon, soy sauce, garlic and pepper and voila!! It was a hit as everyone had a full tummy afterwards!
This week we have to go on a fish diet! We've had so much food!!! Grabeee...
S left after lunch and she was so happy to have spent the weekend with us. Busog na busog daw sila! I'm so happy to hear that!!

Weekend

Hello weekend! Goodbye weekend!
I do know that weekend flies so fast! I wish it could be extended! H and I share this fantasy!
Our Saturday started with the dvd movie 300. I liked it although I missed watching some scenes. M would grab me in the middle of the movie and would insist that I play with him. We would go to his playroom and once he settled in, I would go back to watching the movie. At times, he would notice that I was not in his room anymore so he would go back to the living room and when he sees me, he would climb unto my lap and start playing with my hair, my eyebrows, etc. I finally got to settle him when I put his favorite "shamu rocks" show on his dvd player. He loves watching this show over and over again.
When M took his nap at 3pm, H and I decided to finish installing the vinyl blinds in the townhouse. There is one applicant for the townhouse (H's officemate) and I really like her. They are newlyweds (got married last July23). The lady who is H's officemate wants to move in right away the moment she saw our unit last week but her husband wanted to see the townhouse personally. They have not called me yet but they have filled out the application. I pray that they are the right renters for this unit! Otherwise, may God guide us to the right people.
We finished installing the blinds by 5pm. We were not able to install the blinds in the sliding door leading to the patio because said blinds lacked 2 inches. Bitin! It did not look good so we had to place a special order for said blinds! It was 109 inches long and we bought 107 inches only!
We then went to Home Depot to buy some more wood for M's cabinet.
The next day, Sunday, I woke up at 8am. MIL was craving for shrimps so we drove to the shrimp store and bought 5 pounds of shrimps. She wanted to go to Walmart but I begged off as I have a schedule in church. Today, I am the assigned closed captioner for the Sunday Mass. I volunteered last March as the ad for a closed captioner caught my eye when I read the church's bulletin. The requirement for a captioner was 60wpm and should be willing to undergo training. I know I can type fast but not like the required one but I want to serve in my own little way. The ad said one can reach out to the homebound people by typing the words at the mass. So I applied and went on training.
At the moment, being a captioner really brightens my Sundays. It is nice that I am able to give back something to our Dear God. The computer can be really smart at times or really dumb. (sorry lord) Inside the tv crew room, I am provided with a headset and a microphone. Whenever I say, "The word of the Lord", the computer would sometimes type "The word of the Board" or "praise the lord" it will type "racist Lord". So whenever I see it on the computer screen, I should be fast enough to erase it and type the correct word. I only have 2-3 seconds to correct it. Otherwise, the wrong words will appear on the tv screen and home bound people, mostly elderly, or those who cannot afford to go to the mass and just watch the mass at home in their television would be shocked upon reading those words. I got to be trained by C, B and A though C is my favorite trainor. She told me to just pray before I start the captioning and just have fun doing it. Sometimes the computer can have a mind of his own and would type words other than the ones I have said. Trainor B is a perfectionist. He would insist I type a comma or a period after a sentence. He wants the word of God to be precise. Of course nobody wants to have mispelled words shown on the tv but sometimes it is just inevitable.
This morning, in the middle of the gospel, my computer hanged. I would type and say the words but it just would not pick up what I typed or said. I was tensed for a while. Then on the tv screen ( I had a tv beside my computer so it is like watching two screens at the same time) I saw the characters.."&*&(*&T!(*)(*))..I opted to close the program and thought of rebooting the computer. It will take some time so I figured to close the "caption-maker" program and click it again to initialize. Praise God it worked!!! So I was out like for a minute and went back live again afterwards.
I am telling you, it can be stressful to type everything in the mass especially the sermon where you had to repeat every word the priest say. I also had to type all the songs, etc..EVERYTHING!!!
Which brings me to a question, how do i type a musical note? I know how to type the N - read as enye. (alt 164) --it does not work this time, sorry..Kaartehan lang, I want to type that musical note before a hymn or song.. Does anyone know? Please help me as I would truly appreciate it!

Kitchen backsplash

Due to Jen's request, here's some photos of our diy kitchen backsplash. We bought the backsplash at Home Depot but we studied and read Lowe's guide in doing said backsplash. (see this link )The people at Lowe's were kind to share their own experience and tips when you are making your own backsplash and we appreciated their help. We also asked our friends R and C who had done theirs. Infact, our choice of backsplash resembles somewhat of C's except for the lower portion where we opted for the matched tile instead.
Here's hubs about to start. We had to turn off the outlet in the kitchen so as to be sure we were safe.






We started early morning and little did we know that it will last till the next day. Oopps, I meant until next week. We had to make sure that the grout was dry before we applied the sealant.








We were able to finish it and we were very happy with the result! Now, if only we can do the same thing on the other side of the kitchen near the sink and fridge so it will be balanced. H said I should stop thinking of home improvements as he gets into trouble everytime I think of something. Pero dapat kasi parehong side eh..I still need to convince him. Maybe he will do it next time, maybe next year!! Teehehe...But I did bought the extra tiles just in case he changes his mind. ;)

Choco krinkles

Thanks to Meeya I saw this Krinkles and it made me crave for one. I followed her blog and I was prompted to Abby who shared the krinkles recipe (Maraming salamat sa pagsagot mo sa email ko) So I went to my kitchen and experimented..




Afterwards, here's one happy fellow!




Here's a pic though it was not as inviting as that of Abby's or Meeya's. But here's the good news, my mom in law asked for the recipe when she tried one (or two or three I think). I told her I'll print her one but she wanted to copy it in her little notebook. That little notebook had all her secret recipes. Hmmm...




I need to bake some more!

DIY

I married a carpenter!
As you know, H and I love to Do-It-Yourself. This summer, we did our kitchen's backsplash. (I will have to post that pic sometime). Then, I thought of converting M's crib into a full size bed (nagiging tambakan lang kasi ang crib nya ng kung ano ano..este anik anik) and transform his nursery room turned playroom into a toddler room. So I began to hunt for the perfect shelves for his toys and other stuff. And I found this..

(photo courtesy of land of nod)
I also found another one but I thought this one was easier than the other one. Little did I know, Hubs was challenged with what I assigned him. He prayed to God for this project. And so he began his journey to carpentry.






I assisted him with this project. I took pictures, handed him his tools, charged the batteries, and cleaned the mess afterwards. My son M was also cooperative as he stayed with his lola the whole day. In a day, we almost finished one shelf. We forgot we had to put the plyboard at the back. We also had to paint it white. Well, that will be done next week.
So, what do you think of this?

Scholar

Praise God!
I was granted the Gulf Coast's scholarship for the school year 2007-2008. God is really good. I will not have to worry for the tuition fees for the fall and spring semester. Yehey..I saw their ad at the campus and I applied sometime March as I wanted to help H in my own way. I have been getting good grades (thank you Lord) which made me qualified for the said scholarship. This month, I was approved provided I meet the required average and I continue to do my volunteer work etc. This is the reason why I joined the closed captioning at St. Dominic Catholic Church. Oh well, this is another story.
I am really so happy. God is awesome! Thank you po Lord!