A Fresh New Look

Looking at our home, we always think of ways to give it a fresh new look or make arrangements and modifications to make it more spacious or pleasing to our eyes.  From the original house, our family already made some renovations to extend its capacity and space.  Also, we made some improvements in our garden, like in its landscape, plants and other stuff.  But the fastest and easiest, for me, which create an impact is improving the interiors of our house.

Being tight in budget, improving or giving our home an elegant look does not necessarily need to be costly.  Here's how:

Change the curtains.  We don't need an expensive window to make it look great.  We just have to choose a good curtain that would wonderfully match our home interior. We can change the curtain rods with finials to give it a touch of sophistication and elegance.

 

Make some space.  We often come home from work, tired.  Wouldn't it be relaxing to see a not so crowded and clean room?  We have two "sala" sets or sofas in our living room, so we got rid of the old ones to make a comfortable space.  Getting rid by making a garage sale or simply giving away things you don't need really helps a lot.

Rearrange the place. The most costless way to change the appearance of your home.  Oftentimes, we overlook this simple thing.  But changing the places of your indoor plants, moving your television or home theater to other location and/or rearranging your furniture can do the magic.

Listen to Barney.  He is that purple dinosaur my kids love to watch.  He always reminds everyone that, "You can do anything if you just use your imagination".  And it's true; we just pictured out what we wanted to happen and checked out our fund if we could allot some for it, then tried to figure out how to make things possible.  The lesser the fund is, the greater imagination needed for it. LOL.

So widen your imagination, guys, and do wonders in your home.  Yahweh bless.

My PMA Cadet Years (Fourth Class) - Returning Home

In one of our community service, we visited a place we commonly termed as "smokey mountain".  Common sense will tell you, we didn't help clean the site, it's a garbage dumping area.   We were there to share some basic needs like clothing, toiletries, food and medicines to the residents, that it may somehow be of aid to them.  Though, these situation is common to our country, still... being there was a heartbreaking experience. Seeing all these people living with the garbage and having their homes just within the perimeter, having no choice, since it's the only decent source of income they knew that would support their family.  If only the government can do more...

A week after, we had another cadet hop (a social gathering with dances) within the month.  I think it's our pre-Valentine's day celebration, as it's held a Saturday before V-day.  It has always been a challenge for some cadets (like me, being not from Baguio) to invite someone for the hop, since you're just given a couple of hours to do so.  Lucky for me, I was introduced by my parents to their family friend who lived within the city.

Even without enough sleep yet (Oh well, I guess that's part of the training), we then had a running competition the following day, "cross country".  It was just like any individual running event with cadets competing with each other, but with a little twist, instead of rubber shoes, we wore combat boots... and we had to pass through different terrains like asphalt or cemented roads, rough roads and an uphill climb with just a single pathway to follow.  Proud to say, I was the 13th fastest to reach the finish line.

After a week long of preparation and drills, came February 17, when PMA celebrated its 91st foundation day anniversary.  And almost simultaneous with the affair was the Alumni Homecoming which occurred the following day.  Here, our guest of honor was the president of the Philippines that time, Fidel Ramos.  Though it was fun to see more visitors and known personalities as compared to ordinary days in the academy, the parade and standing motionless in the Borromeo field while waiting for the speeches and program to end was really tiring as it was much... much longer than the usual.  Good thing parade like this seldom happens.

A short pose before the parade.

And the challenges never stopped, as a day after, we braced ourselves to start a week long final exams in academics.  Just lucky if you had exemptions so you can focus more on subjects which you rot the most.  Why does remembering these days gives me the chill?... LOL.

So before the month ended (at last), we were given privilege to go on leave or rest for a couple of days, which I spent in our province in Cavite together with a "mistah" (classmate) which also lived in the far south.  I needed to go home to unwind and rejuvenate... and it's the nearest home I can think of in that moment.  I have always been grateful to Yahweh for being blessed with family nearby.  To Him be the glory, as always.

Recent Related Post:  Facing Another Year

 

Kadayawan Festival Calendar Of Events

"Ten Tribes, One Vibe" is this year's theme for the "King of Festivals"... our very own Kadayawan sa Dabaw.  We are inviting everyone to visit our city in this celebration which is scheduled this coming August 17-19, 2012.  Please be guided of the major and accredited events and activities happening around Davao City, based on the poster provided below.  Make the necessary reservations now to celebrate and enjoy the festivities with us.  Thanks. Yahweh bless.

 

3 Online Resources to Spur the Growth of Your Business

In business or in life in general, proper utilization of tools that are available is what differentiates the resourceful from those who aren’t. Really, no matter how many tools you have, no matter how expensive these tools might be, if you don’t know how to make full use of them, they will never be enough. If you consider yourself resourceful and are on the hunt for free or low-cost tools to spur your business’ growth, consider the following resources:

1. PickyDomains.com

Naming a business can be a tough business nowadays, given that hundreds, if not thousands, of similar products and services are already out in the market. Branding agencies are there for this reason – to come up with a unique and relevant name for your business, but they can also charge a lot, up to thousands of dollars.

PickyDomains.com, in business since 2007 and the first of its kind, is a crowdsourcing site comprised of 50,000+ registered creative individuals from different parts of the world, ensuring hundreds, if not thousands, of suggestions for every single order. To become a client, register with the site, fill out an order form and make the required fee of $50 if it’s a domain or name you need ($75 for a slogan) and list down your naming guidelines. Here is what makes this service absolutely risk-free: If none of the suggestions you receive catches your fancy, you get a refund.

2. Bitrix24.com

In more ways than one, technology has made a lot of businesses efficient. CRMs and intranet systems are just two of these technological advancements benefitting a lot of companies nowadays. The downside to these tools, however, they cost a lot, leaving those without financial leverage simply looking on.

Bitrix24.com is a corporate intranet solution that’s 100% free for companies with a maximum total of 12 employees. Bitrix24 combines several different work tools in a single platform, such as free and fully functional CRM, free activity planner, free file and document sharing, free real-time streaming, free workforce management and a whole host of other free tools. The application is cloud-based, so there’s no need for installation and can be accessible virtually anywhere via a smartphone or a browser, allowing you the flexibility of a workstation that’s on the go and at your fingertips anytime you so please. An upgrade to unlimited users is available at just $99 per month.

3. JetRadar.com

Business and travel oftentimes go hand in hand. And with the emergence of low-cost airlines and online ticketing sites, airfare has become dramatically cheaper, too. But what most people aren’t aware of is the fact that the ever-stiffening competition among airlines has caused some to go out of business, prompting those that remain to confine their best deals into their own sites and/or partner third-party sites. Consumers would then have to go hopping from one site to another to find the deal they’re out to find.

JetRadar.com is a search engine that specifically sifts through 700+ airlines and hundreds of flight and ticketing sites for airfare tickets that are the lowest possible, and makes them easily accessible by the public in a single web portal. This then dramatically cuts down the time and effort a regular deal hunter needs to find the air ticket that fits his travel and budget needs.  Yahweh bless.

Letting Go Of The Bottle

We had a heart to heart talk with our son... in as much as we wanted him to continue drinking his milk, he must do it without his bottle, as he  already started going to school.

Yes, I'm proud to say, my son already started going to school.  And unlike other nursery pupils, he doesn't need to be accompanied in the classroom or in school by a guardian.  We just have him carpooled from house to school and vice versa.  Very independent indeed.  There was even this one time, that he was asking for milk and we were all asleep.  He went out of the room, cleaned his bottle and filled it up with water, and  made milk for himself.  Though we asked him, that the cleaning part would be for mommy and daddy, so it would be thorough and safe for him.

Change wasn't easy for him.  We decided that he finally said goodbye to his bottle after 4 long years.  It's heartbreaking that he wakes up at night, sobbing, asking for his "dede" (bottled milk).  Understandably, it had been his comfort and sleeping  companion for a long time.  So, we comforted while reminding him of what we talked about, that since he is soon to be "kuya" or elder brother (as we are expecting our baby this year), he must already be drinking milk in a cup or a glass.  And for the same reason that he already started to go to class.  He simply replied, "Okay, po."  We now make him a glass of milk, which he gets to finish drinking using a little compromise... a straw.

From time to time he receives a couple of stars from school and he proudly shows them to us.  He loves to draw and color things, promising artist or architect, maybe (hahaha).  He can easily figure out his lessons.  And when asked what he did in school, he always answers, "We play... we color... we watch TV... we draw...".  Maybe that's why he is always excited to go to school.  

Looking at how he adapts to all the changes that come to his life, we think he will be just fine.  To Yahweh be all the glory, as always.