Oil Spill/Leak Disaster

This is a picture I found online. At first glance, it can very well be a picture of a painting - oil painting, maybe? It's OIL alright but it's not a painting. It's a picture of the oil spill in the Gulf. It's now about a month and a half - 45 days to be exact - since the oil spill. Sadly, even after numerous tries to fix it, there seems to be no end to this disaster.

Here in the sunshine state, the people are bracing themselves because the oil is expected to reach the white beaches in the panhandle as early as tomorrow - Friday, 4th of June. Thousands of tar balls are on their way to mar some of the most beautiful beaches in the state. If and when that happens, they're saying that those beaches that will be affected will never be the same again. I hope not....

Warning! Updating!

After weeks of not coming here, I am now doing what I should have done a week or so ago. But I wasn't able to... so I'm doing it now.

Nothing much has happened between now and the last time I posted here but I feel like I have a different perspective in life now. I went through what I'd like to call a 'roller coaster' ride in the last few weeks but all's good now. Without going into too much detail, I had some kind of a health scare about 3 weeks ago. I didn't take any chance and went to my doctor right away and he ordered some tests for me. The result? Good. Not superb since I still need to go for a follow in a few months but at least I can now breathe easily again.

Waiting for the doctor's call was nerve-wrecking. There was not a day that I didn't feel like crying or breaking down. But life had to go on so I tried very hard to keep my mind off it but with very little success. One minute I'd be laughing and being care-free, the next minute I'd be sulking and thinking of the what-ifs. All I could think about was our little one who is still very much dependent on Mommy. The husband is of course very supportive and was trying to be positive. But his face showed how worried he was. Pimples all over. I didn't know he'd be that affected with what was going on with me. I was wrong.

But that's all water under the bridge now. Life's a lot sweeter now and I try not to ignore even the slightest thing that happens around me and in me. For now, I'm just thankful I'm alive...

Reasons

That's what I believe in. In more cases than one, THIS proverb has helped me get through some really difficult phase in my life. Most of the time, the 'REASON' comes years after...and sometimes, that's the only time I would realize why things happened the way they did.

Right now, I am in a situation where I'm trying to stay positive. Generally, life has been good to me. Yes, there are ups and downs like a 'roller coaster' but that's life. Even though I am not a fan of this 'thrill' ride, I have no choice but to accept that life is indeed like a roller coaster. I am hoping and praying that things will work out for the better...whatever that is!

Neglected but...

...not forgotten!

I can't remember how many times I tried to update this blog in the past several weeks but I always come up short. Sigh....

So what gives? Not quite sure, honestly. I know I am not THAT busy. I guess it's just my being lazy most of the time. Not a good thing since I have a responsibility to update this blog at least once a week or even once a month. I guess my blog's title of "Wahm Talks!" is not apt anymore. Maybe I should just change it to something more appropriate like 'Wahm Sleeps'?

Anyway, since it's been almost 2 months since the last time I updated this blog, I have a gazillion things to write about. Where to start? How about from the beginning, maybe?

April: Birthday! There is only ONE important event [for my family anyway] this month. It's the little one's birthday. Yep, my baby has turned another year older this month. Just like her other birthdays, we celebrated it as a family. I had a doctor's appointment on that day. Dad decided to take the day off and we spent it running errands. We were out most of the day but we had a great time because we rarely have the time to do that now. Aside from our day out, we also had the 'traditional' ice cream & cake and opening of gifts.

May: Mother's Day! The little one likes to celebrate in her own little way so anything on the calendar that's marked is worth celebrating to her and Mother's Day is definitely one of those 'celebrations'. Normally, she and Dad go out together to find me a gift. They've been doing that since she was around 4. Before that, Dad would get something and just asked her to give it to me. This year though, we did something different for this day. We went GO-CARTING! It was my first time to be on the 'wheels' of a go-cart. Hubby thinks it's the closest I can get to driving a real car. After the go-cart escapades, we decided to hit some balls...in the miniature golf they had in the amusement park. After golf, we let the little one play in the arcade for a few...then we headed home.

All in all, both events turned out pretty well. We diverted from the 'norm' [here] and it proved to be great fun. Maybe next year we can also think of doing something different to celebrate. In the meantime, the little one is waiting for the next 'event' which is Father's Day. I am hoping I can blog about that much earlier than I blogged the last 2 events.

Spring Weather

... is the best!! To me anyway.

The weather was great the past several days prior to yesterday. It rained cats and dogs yesterday afternoon until early this morning that's why. BUT...that's only for half a day yesterday so all is good because today, it's GORGEOUS out there once again.

As I stated in my post before this one, I AM NOW TRYING to focus more on the good things more than the bad things. It's actually easier to do the opposite but why dampen your good spirit with one bad [weather] day amidst all the sunshiny days we've been having around here, right?

This weekend, the husband was also able to take a full day's off after months of working like a horse. He's been working 16-hour days [sometimes longer], 7 days a week so yesterday was very much welcome & needed. We took advantage of his day off by spending family time in one of the mini-golf course attractions not too far from where we live. It's our second time to do that and we all had a blast. The first time we did, I didn't participate. Kill-joy me, eh? But I'm a KJ no more because I joined in the putt-putt yesterday. Hep-hep-hurray! Hubby kept on saying: I really enjoyed that! Tee-hee...

Aside from the mini-golf 'tourney', we also did some mining where we collected 'jewels' [ semi-precious stones - from a bag of dirt] the old fashion way....shaking off the dirt in water to look for that oh-so precious stone. Evertime there's a colored stone, the little one would blurt out: We're rich! Umm..not quite baby. She really enjoyed the mining tremendously that we're now thinking of doing it for real...going to a real mine-site either the one in North Carolina or Arkansas. That would be FUN, FUN, FUN....so I'm crossing my fingers that we can do that one day.

Counting my Blessings!

And I've been blessed many times in my life so I better start counting them or I may just lose count, eh?

This is also the same topic I posted in my other blog PinayWahm, only here, I'd like to focus more in counting work-at-home related blessings. How's that?

The reason for this post is simple. I want to concentrate more on the good things that happen to me [and my family] instead of sulking and complaining about the not-so-good things. Who is with me on this? You? I hope so.

"Work is SLOW." That's probably my biggest complain. I knew when I decided to be a WAHM that this is the case. Work will not always be busy. So why do I whine about it? Human nature maybe? It seems to be the case when things are not what we want them to be. But I'll try to look at the positive side. When work is slow, it gives me more time to do some other things like chores around the house and more bonding time with the little one and the not so little one [aka hubby]. Time off from work also gives me time to relax, slow down and just be away from my laptop...which is VERY rare. From now on, hopefully, I'll find less reason to complain about and more reasons to be grateful about. So there...

Speaking of being grateful, I just heard from a job I applied for so many months ago. I have not been hired yet but knowing that there is still something out there for 'me' is something I'm excited about. It's not related to any of my present work-at-home jobs BUT it's something I can also do from home. Isn't that exciting? So if you are looking for a job, be it something you want to do from home or a job out of the home, just keep on applying. Don't let the economy deter you from turning in your resume. One of these days you may just get a call for something you applied for months [even a year] ago. Then you'll know what I mean....

Irresponsible?

Video from: The Washington Post

Cute. Amusing. These are the 2 words that came to mind when I heard this audio recording of a child directing flights in one of the busiest airport in the US - JFK airport in NY.

After getting over the 'cuteness' of it, reality sets in. Did that really happen? Did a child [probably younger than 10 years old] just directed flights from the air traffic controls towers? Apparently it happened and it's now making headline news around the country [world?]. The father who is a certified air traffic controller and his supervisor are now suspended pending an investigation of this particular incident.

The pilots listening to the little child's direction were obviously amused by it since they went along with it...and even praised the 'junior' traffic controller at one point.

I have a feeling the person/s responsible for this will be in the spotlight for quite sometime following this controversy. I can't wait what he has to say as to why he let his child take the reigns and allowed him to direct air traffic.

Undecided

Still.

I didn't have the chance to read more about transferring this blog to Wordpress platform that's why I'm still not sure if I want to move it or not. Let me correct that. I WANT to move it BUT I still don't know how.

In other news.

Work is SLOW. Very slow. I haven't heard anything from one of the companies I work for in more than a month. I am hoping there's just no work available. It's unnerving to think of the possible reasons why [they've been so quiet] but I'm holding on. I'm not totally idle because I still have blogging and my other WAHJs to keep me 'somehow' occupied.

On the other hand, hubby is still very busy. He doesn't have any day off anymore because it's just him and a partner who work in their shop now. They hired a couple of people to help them during the start of this job. Unfortunately, it didn't work they wanted it to so they had to let go of those people.

Right now I'm just thankful that he has a job and that he comes home every night after a long day's work. I can't imagine him working somewhere else and only coming home over the weekend. That's a reality that a lot of people need to face. I just read about this man who had to do just that...move 1,000 miles away from family to keep his job.

Decisions...decisions!

I have not updated this blog for quite sometime. A month, to be exact. I got a wee bit busy with my other blogs as well as with my other WaHJs. Work has been so sporadic lately that I try to catch it whenever it's released. Sometimes I get lucky, some other times, not so.

Anyway, I am thinking of moving this blog in wordpress. I have no idea how to do it but I can learn, right? I didn't know anything about blogger when I started blogging but here I am almost 3 years since I started. I'm guessing that in 3 years, I'll be saying the same thing. LOL....

I already started reading about wordpress but so far, nothing is making sense to me. I know some people who would be more than willing to help me out but I want to figure it out myself first. If and when I get stuck, they I'll 'probably' ask someone to help me out. For now, I'll take my time and read as much as I can to learn the ins & outs and everything in-between about importing & having a blog using the WP platform. Wish me luck????

TYLENOL Massive Recall....Please Read !

Not too long ago, I posted about a recall on Tylenol for Children/Infants. This time, the recall is for the ones that the adult population take.

I'm a Tylenol user so seeing this massive recall in the news is a bit alarming to me. I only use it when my headache or some pain just wouldn't go away resulting to me not being able to function and do some needed tasks online and/or off line. The bottle of Tylenol that we have was bought several months ago so I'm not even sure if I should worry about the recall. Benadrly allergy medicine is also in the list of recalled products but not the one I use daily.

What triggered the recall? Moldy smell that made some people sick. According to the FDA about 70 people have been reported to have gotten sick ranging from nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach pains. I and my family have not experienced any of that so maybe the one we have is not included in the recall.

In case you have a bottle of Tylenol, Motrin or St. Joseph's aspirin in you medicine cabinet you should probably check if it has a moldy smell. If it smells, maybe you can dispose the bottle altogether. A full list of the medicines that are recalled can be found HERE. Take some time to check the list just to be on the safe side. It's better to be safe than sorry.

from: Yahoo News & McNeil Product Recall Site

Decade Past...Revisited

Has it really been 10 years since the so-called Y2K? I can barely remember the different 'horror' stories being circulated around that time but I can remember that it was all for NOTHING! I was still teaching in Taiwan when 1900 bid us goodbye. Year 1999, I remember spending the only Christmas I spent in that country which turned out to be one of the biggest regrets in my life. It was my mother's last Christmas with us and I chose to spend it away from her. Yep, a decision I would never forget...

As I start this new decade, I want to go back in the decade past and list 10 things that happened to me during the last 10 years ~ good & bad ~ which changed my life forever.

1) 2000 - ~ A year of mourning ~ Year 2000 saw me losing both my parents ~ just 4 months apart. Life changed drastically for me after their passing because my life revolved around them when they were still around. I was left with the question: What do I do now?

2) 2001 - ~ Hello, Love - Online ~ Meeting my other half....half across the world...thanks to technology! Early part of this paticular year, I met my now-husband online.

3) 2001 - ~ I do! ~ Marrying my other half. Yep, meeting online, meeting in person, meeting family & friends and marrying my husband all happened in the same year - in a span of 4 months...

4) 2002 - ~ A Child is Born! ~ Our child, that is. Welcoming our little angel. Exactly a year after 'meeting', the husband and I had our little bundle of joy.

5) 2002 - ~ WAHM Journey Begins ~. The same year our little one was born, I also started my journey of being a work at home mom. My first official 'WAHJ' was online tutoring which lasted for about 2 years. From there, my other work-at-home jobs came rolling in....

6) 2004 - ~ Home Sweet Home ~ Or is it? We decided to have our first family home built this year which turned out to be one of the biggest trials we would have as a family. The original builder of our dream home turned out to be crook who is now languishing in jail for ripping off 100+ families of hard-earned money.

7) 2007 - ~ Home Sweet Home, For Real ~ After the heartache, emotional roller coaster ride and financially draining experience we had with the crook builder, we finally decided to hire another contractor to build our home sweet home.

8) 2007 - ~ Hello Blogging! ~ After months of lurking in the blogging world aka "blogsphere", I finally decided to take the plunge and started my first blog. About 2 years+, I now have 2 other blogs, this one - WAHM Talks! & Pinay WAHM...plus another one I created for my high school batch in preparation for our just concluded Silver Jubilee.

9) 2008 - ~ GUILTY!!! ~ The year started with a bang for us....the builder who screwed us was sentenced to jail for 20 years! Justice is served!!!

10) 2008 - ~ Moving Day, At last! ~ The year we finally moved in to our very first family home. It only took 4 long years overcoming bumps along the way...but we made it.


Ten years is a long time. A lot of things had happened to me and my family during the past decade. The 10 I listed are just the ones I can come up with at the top of my head. Hopefully I was able to remember the most important ones. But who knows?? I'm an old lady already so pardon me if missed some important events in my life...hmmm...but then again, only me would know that, right? TOINK!!!

Happy New Year!

It's 2010 ~ and it's been a while since I've updated this poor blog of mine. What can I say? BUSY, maybe? That's partly why but I can't say I'm THAT busy to ignore this blog. It's just poor time management on my part.

I wish I can say that I'll be better at managing my time this year but I'd rather not say that.

One of the things that a WAHM like me takes pride in being a WAHM is the flexibility of our schedule. That means I can do things at my own time in my own pace. It's what everybody wants, right? Flexibility. That's true to a certain degree. But there are times when I wish I don't have that much flexibility. Why? For one, I tend to disregard other things and concentrate only on some. Not good. The result? I have some unfinished chores here, there and everywhere.

I've been a WAHM for the last 7 years or so. In all those years, I've never really followed a schedule. The only schedule I follow is the one that involves family. No matter how busy [or lazy] I am, the little one's needs are always a priority...followed by the husband's and my needs. Work? That's where flexibility comes in. I work when I can. The downside...work is NOT always there waiting for me. By the time I'm done with the 'priorities', there is a big chance that work won't be there anymore. Sometime I feel bad that I am not able to earn some but that's how it is. The husband and I always say: Little One is the priority with a capital P...and that won't change for as long as we're around.

This year, I'll TRY to manage my time more efficiently. Hopefully, I'll be able to attend to things I neglected last year [like this BLOG] on a regular basis. I am also hoping that I will be able to start some things I should have started years ago. I won't be naming what those things are to keep me from humiliating myself if I won't push through with them again....haha.

That's it. No big new year "brouhaha resolutions" for me. The good thing about New Years...they always come no matter what. That means, we can always go back to making some 'new year's resolutions', right?

Happy New Year, everone! All the best in...