Thursday, May 31, 2012

Birthday Blowout - DAY 1!


TODAY IS GETBLUED/ THE 12TH MAN DAY.

Win 1 of 5 GetBlued or The 12th Man merchandise! Make sure you follow all instructions below to get the maximum number of entries.

Prize 1 - Medium
Prize 2
Prize 3
Prize 4
Prize 5:  Large

How to join? Get as much as 10 entries to this giveaway! Check out Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Today's Blowout has been brought to you by my brother's shirt companies (hehe!). The prizes come in specific sizes (shirts) and cannot be exchanged for another size or prize. You must be able to pick up your prize from any House of Praise Store (Panay, SM North Edsa, V-Mall, Robinson's Galleria, SM Megamall, St. Francis Square or Festival Supermall).

Thank you, K, M and Sioti K of KCube.

https://www.facebook.com/getblued.ateneo
https://www.facebook.com/12thManFutbolPH


But that's not all! I have more to give away. Come back everyday to check for the next blowout!

Yay! Happy Birthday to me!

BIRTHDAY BLOWOUT!

T'was my birthday yesterday! And I had planned this blowout to run for the last 14 days of May. Alas, work and life got in the way (again!). So we're starting today - a day AFTER my birthday... because I still want this to happen! After all, I have all the swag here, waiting for me to give them away.

A little disclaimer first. I work for brand. I have been in Marketing for the past so and so years. Because of what I do, I have friends in the same line of work - thus the abundance in swag. I ask demand my friends for promotional items and they oblige. Haha! The prizes you will see in this blowout have zero cost to them. My friends have paid zilch to get them in this blowout, and I have paid zilch as well. Everything is here because I have cool friends who love me. Naks!

God has been so good to bless me with so much (the secret to youth included, ha!), I don't feel a day over 16. Haha! Seriously. So I wanted to share my blessings with you! This blowout will run for 14 days (non-consecutive, depends if I find time to post). I will be giving out 5 things per blowout day. You have about 3 days to send in your entries (from the time the blowout is announced). 5 winners will be picked per blowout day to win one out of 5 things. All in all, I will have 70 prizes and 70 winners. So yay! Watch out for Day 1!


*NOTE: Congratulations to sweetie_mayumi for winning a special prize for guessing what's next on the blog this month. :) It's still May, right? LOL! Leave a comment below with your Twitter ID and I'll send you instructions on how to claim your special prize.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Missing!

I've been swamped the past two weeks! You can't imagine how I can possibly fit everything in 24-hour days! But I've managed - only this blog had to suffer. I AM trying to get everything back on track though. (Can you feel the stress? Lol!)

Today, I took a break for a few hours because my missing-in-action friend and colleague FINALLY visited after four years! FINALLY!!! (can't reiterate that enough)

H used to work for us, but left to work for her church. She's been very instrumental in how I changed my outlook on dealing with a verbally abusive spouse, and I praise God we crossed paths once upon a time. Today, after four long years, she came for a visit, and D and I took time off to catch up!

I miss the good ol' days. Especially those times when we had at least 3 people to share the workload in the office. Haha! If I had this team with me today, I wouldn't be missing out so much on blogging and keeping this blog updated. Lol!

But I WILL be back this week! With a bang, nonetheless! Watch out! You wouldn't want to miss my comeback!

Friday, May 18, 2012

How to Load a PEZ Dispenser

My kids are crazy about PEZ candies


When I was a kid, my dad would bring home a new PEZ dispenser from the US, just for me. Too bad, I didn't know anything about collecting and didn't think this would be valuable. Nowadays, you can get PEZ candy from just about any local supermarket.

My dad still loves buying the kids PEZ candy. He takes them to the little grocery store beside the office, and treats them to a pack each time the kids are there to visit. RL probably has over two dozen dispensers - Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Lightning McQueen, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, etc. A was delighted to find that they now have Littlest Pet Shop dispensers! I'm just a tad peeved that the distributor doesn't carry the candy refill packs here - what a way to make more money and have parents buy dispensers each time. Ha!

Anyway, when I was in Hong Kong with RL a few months ago, I had to load and reload his dispenser over a dozen times (we shared the candy with friends). I never really learned how to load that thing properly, and it took me several tries to find the perfect way to load a PEZ dispenser WITHOUT touching the candy with your bare, oftentimes, dirty hands.

Last time A and RL got their PEZ from my dad, my brother and I thought to document step-by-step instructions on how to PROPERLY LOAD PEZ INTO A PEZ DISPENSER.

Here's how:

1) Choose a PEZ dispenser.

A's Littlest Pet Shop PEZ Dispenser with Orange-flavored PEZ.
2) Take a PEZ refill pack, and tear out one side of its wrapper. Make sure you tear out a narrow side (see photo below for reference) You can peel off outer wrapper if you choose to do so; I just find it less time-consuming to leave it on. Plus the outer wrap keeps the inner paper wrapper from tearing during handling.

Peel off wrapper off one of the narrow/ thin sides. Make sure you leave 3-sides of the wrapper around the candy.
3) Open PEZ dispenser and secure candy tray with finger. Make sure the tray doesn't slide back down. Have your "peeled" candy ready, and angle it such that the open "narrow" side faces the open tray.

Use pointer finger to secure candy tray from slipping back into the dispenser.
 4) Push the whole refill pack into the dispenser's candy tray. The whole pack should fit all standard PEZ dispensers. Make sure you are still securing the candy tray, such that it doesn't snap back down into the dispenser.

Push everything into the open candy tray, narrow-side first.

5) Use wrapper to push the PEZ candy all the way into the tray. Look, Dad, I didn't use my bare hands!

Keep your candy clean! Don't use your bare hands! The wrapper keeps it finger-free. Hehe.
6) Make sure the candy is aligned and you don't have one protruding out of the candy tray. Snap the candy tray back into the dispenser.

Once all the candy is in, snap back candy tray into dispenser.
7) Tilt dispenser head back to open. Et... voila!

Enjoy! And don't forget to brush your teeth!
Do your kids love PEZ, too? My kids are PEZ cccccrrrrraaaaazzzzzyyyyy!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Then and Now.

When we were kids, my brothers and I did all sorts - stuff I don't see kids ever doing now. I don't think I'm THAT overprotective with my kids, but when I think about how my childhood was, I can't help but wish the same for them.

Do you feel the same way? I mean, I remember playing in the rain, climbing trees, playing tag with my neighbors, etc. Most kids I know (including mine!) stay at home most of the time, glued to the TV, playing with their toys and gadgets, or whatnot... (too sheltered is the word I may be looking for here).

Do you remember the stuff you used to do as a kid? Do you see your kids doing the same today? I've been reminiscing a lot about my childhood lately and noticed that my kids don't really enjoy the same activities I used to enjoy as a kid.

I don't think my kids will ever get to...

Photo Credit: www.elephantjournal.com
...CLIMB A TREE. Well, we used to live in a condominium in the business district. No trees there. And we don't have trees where we live now. They aren't the kind you can climb or hang from. BUT when I was a kid, we used to play out in my granny's garden, play hide and seek, climb trees, wade in ponds... you get the picture.

Photo Credit: www.eleanorharbison.com
...WALK ON TOP OF MONKEY BARS. Ok, so maybe I'm to blame for this one. I always call them down when I see them climbing anything in the playground. BUT when my cousins and I were kids, we used to pretend we were in the circus. We'd spend hours on end playing on the swing set at our granny's house. I remember my cousins and I would even compete to see who can stay upside down, hanging from the monkey bars, the longest. And we'd go across the bars, over 8 feet above the ground, without fear or hesitation. Yes, I was crazy like that. Hehe.

Photo Credit: www.jacquelicious.com
...PLAY IN THE RAIN. Who hasn't? Well, not my kids. A has visions of dirty canal and estero water getting dried up during the water cycle and coming down again as rain. No soap in the clouds to clean that out, right? So they don't. I've never gotten sick after walking in the rain. I don't care about getting drenched. But my kids? Don't count on it. BUT when I was a kid, my cousins and I would play in the rain. We'd wade in flood waters around the compound. Once, my brothers and I even took out the "Slip N' Slide" and had a swell time playing while it poured. Fun times!

...SLIDE DOWN THE STAIRS WITH A MATTRESS. Ok, so maybe only a handful did this as a kid. Our staircase here at home is kinda narrow, and I don't think it'll be safe for my kids to slide down with the crib mattress. BUT My cousins and I used to take an old mattress and slide down our granny's long staircase. Once, during the summer, when my cousins, brother and I were at my godmother's house, we slid down their stairs backwards, holding on to my cousin R's old mattress. We tumbled down and R ended up in the ER. Hehe. Oops.

...CLIMB UP TO THE ROOF TO PICK FRUITS FROM TREE BRANCHES. There are no flat roofs to climb here. Nor are there big fruit-bearing trees around our house. BUT when we lived in the old compound, we'd climb up the emergency ladder, up to the terrace roof and pick Indian Mangoes from the tree in our granny's garden. When we moved to New Manila, our house had two huge Star Apple trees. You could climb up to the roof and pick one, sit under the canopy, and reflect on life. LOL!

There are other things I can think of, but I don't think I'd want my kids to try 'em now. Ha! Like say, catching tadpoles (I was around 9, and I was with the Pastor's son - we used to go to the old Calvary Chapel at Amoranto and caught the tadpoles from a dike, eeew, I know) and wading in flood waters (while catching fish from our neighbor's overflowing fishpond). Or dipping my feet in my dad's old pond and realizing there was a toad in it, about an hour too late! Haha! This list could go on.

All this reminiscing is making me miss my childhood. My brother and younger cousin, T, would take our bikes every afternoon (we called ourselves the Bikecrossers!) and just ride around the compound. We pretended we were secret agents and our black Cocker Spaniel, Beulah, was our chief. Haha!

The good ol' days. How I wish I could let my kids see how carefree life was back in the day when I had nothing to worry about. It's just so different now. Or maybe that's because we choose to make it so.

What did you do as a child that you wish your kids can do today?

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Happy MOM's Day!

Photo from: 1800baskets.com
I am having a very busy week. So let me go ahead and greet all my mommy friends a Happy Mother's Day! (Lest I forget to drop by tomorrow)

Cheers to all the self-sacrificing, selfless, nurturing, loving, compassionate, hardworking and beautiful mothers out there! YOU ARE LOVED AND BLESSED!

Proverbs 31:28 "Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her."


PS. I will be back on the blog on Monday. :) Have a great weekend!

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

STOP!


This morning, my good friend L sent me a verse via text. Was too busy to stop and read. I had a rough, rough day. Tuition day tomorrow and I am short. R won't help, and I don't want to fight about money anymore. I cried and asked God so many questions.

Just now, I had to text L for something and stopped to read the verse she sent over 12 hours ago:

"Lord, You are the answer to our questions and the solution to our problems. Only You have the wisdom to work through the storms. In You we find help, and hope, and healing, Amen. Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: 'I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears'." Isaiah 38:5

AND...

"They cried out to the Lord in their trouble, He saved them out oftheir distresses" Psalm 107:19

And to think I liked her status on FB this morning (which had these verses too)!

When God wants to get His message across, it is useless if we do not stop and listen. Life may go too fast, that we do not even bother listening back after we throw a prayer His way. WE HAVE TO STOP AND LISTEN! Look! He had His promise ready for me even before I asked!

I am expectant, Lord! RAIN DOWN!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

And The Winners Are...

So, my officemate D (for Dugong! LOL!) was supposed to pick winners Monday morning. Turns out he was on leave for the long weekend (oops), and I didn't want anyone else to do the honors. So we moved the draw to today.

Entries!
There were dozens of entries but noticed that a lot of you didn't bother with the bonus (why?). So anyway, I checked each and every tweet, double-checked your accounts to see if I failed to see a retweet, checked for comments, etc. And finally had everything set up for D to draw the winners.

Dugong picking winners the old way. Names in a cup!
We decided not to roll the names up anymore as it was getting late and we had A LOT of entries. So after cutting them up we mixed it, and placed the names in a cup. D decided the mixing wasn't enough so he mixes the lot over and over again (seriously!). And again, after each name was drawn.

And so, the winners are... (drumroll please!)

CONSOLATION PRIZE: FIVE (5) NO COMPROMISE SHIRTS from WORSHIP GENERATION

You each win one (1) No Compromise Shirt! Congratulations! 
SWAG ATTACK PRIZE: FIVE (5) HEAL OUR LAND CDS by the PLANETSHAKERS


You each win one (1) Heal Our Land CD! Congratulations!
So yay! Congratulations! Please wait for my DM on Twitter (you need to follow me in order for me to send you a Direct Message, so please do follow).

Thank you for joining Swag Attack III!
This contest was brought to you by our generous friends at House of Praise.


~~~

Now that that's done and over with, can you guess what's coming up this month? ;) First one to leave the correct answer on the comments section below wins a special prize!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Football is Life.

I bet a lot of my friends can say so. My twitter timeline goes crazy whenever there's a game in play. But I will not pretend to know something about something I know nothing about. LOL! Nope, I haven't caught the football bug. Well, not yet.

On a dinner date with friends, I had the girls give me a quick tutorial. But it all sounds foreign to me really. Don't get me wrong, I love sports. I know a thing or two about baseball, basketball, and a little about golf. But bah! I guess not having a man in my life has taken its toll somehow. I know nothing about football! Well, not exactly nothing, more like I don't have the passion for it. Not like how most of my friends and family get into it.

Ah yes, family. My brothers are sports nuts. They're into biking, basketball and all sorts. So much so that their girlfriends complain about poor quality time. LOL! Better into sports than other extra-curricular activities, if you ask me. Hehe.

So when my not-so-little brother expanded his shirt business to include Football, I wasn't at all surprised. And so, please excuse the proud big sis and this shameless plug - yes, even if I know zilch about the latest craze in Philippine sports.


Football is FINALLY blooming in the Philippines! Show your love and support for the beautiful game with The 12th Man - official UFL merchandise and other cool, exclusive items for Filipino futbol fans!

Filipino Football Fanatic, Kids P300.00/ Adults P400.00
This one's for you, Igan! LOL!
United Against Racism, P400.00
Ah yes! The shirt for die-hard football fans!
Football is Life, P400.00
The 12th Man makes other Filipino football-themed items aside from the usual Shirts. Check out their Lanyards...

Football is Life, P200.00
United Against Racism, P200.00
Goal Natin 'To, P200.00
Stickers...

GOAAAAL! P100.00
Goal Natin 'To, P80.00
and more! (For a full listing of available products, photos and prices, check out The 12th Man's full product catalog on Facebook)

UFL's Marketing Man, Coco Torre, with Loyola Meralco Sparks FC's James and Phil Younghusband!
Official UFL merchandise by The 12th Man is available for sale at The 12th Man booth at the UMak for all Div1 and Div2 matches. Their booth is by the grandstand entrance. 

The 12th Man booth at UMak. 
Their products are also available for purchase online via their Facebook page and email. 


For inquiries and orders, email them at the12thmanfutbol@yahoo.com.
Facebook: /12thManFutbolPH
Twitter: @12thManFutbol

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Sooooooooo Hot!

It is officially Summer! I love the sun and all, but seriously, these days have been too hot! My little boy has been complaining about the heat. He says it's too hot to even move. LOL! Who knows where he picked that up but I agree with him 100%!

We've been taking a bath at least twice a day to beat the heat. RL swims in the morning, and sometimes again in the afternoon. The heat gets really bad, you often find yourself sweating right after you step out of the shower (yes, folks from the north, it's THAT bad here). Good thing we discovered SoTrue

SoTrue Castile Soap is made from 100% pure saponified olive oil and is delicately scented with pure essential oils. Mild enough for newborn babies' skin, Castile soap is prized for its gentle cleansing and moisturizing properties. You can even use them on your hair!SoTrue because these soaps are TRUE Castile soaps, no other vegetable oils are added apart from pure olive oil. SoTrue because these are REAL soaps as they naturally contain glycerin and do not contain harmful chemicals.

Mia Rocha-Lauchengco's firstborn had eczema. So she did some research and found out that most baby soaps in the market weren't mild enough for her little girl's sensitive skin. From her research she learned that true Castiles were the best for babies, as they were also called "newborn soap" - being gentle and mild enough to use on newborn skin.  And so started her quest for good, clean soap. But the Philippines didn't have much to offer when it comes to pure Castiles, so Mia decided to make her own soap.

She made some for family and gave some to close friends. She made soap on and off, until she got pregnant with her second child. Turns out, her little boy also has eczema. So she went back to making soaps for her kids. This time though, she thought of selling her Castiles. Thus, SoTrue was born.

SoTrue Castile Soap - from L-R, Lemongrass Peppermint, Coffee Peppermint, Peppermint Cinnamon and Rose.
In addition to the Castile Soap line, SoTrue has introduced SoTrue Naturals Skin Repair Balm - also one of my favorites!
Actually, a lot of the organic and homemade soaps out there are marketed as "Castile Soap", with the term 
used 
loosely 
to
encompass
 any 
soap 
that 
uses 
only 
vegetable 
oils (such
 as 
the 
more 
economical
coconut 
and
 palm
 oils).


SoTrue 
Castile 
Soap, 
however,
 has
 chosen 
to 
be 
true 
to 
the 
definition 
of 
true 
Castile
soap,
upholding 
the 
centuries old 
soap-making 
tradition, 
by 
using 
only
saponified 
pure 
olive 
oil 
(not 
pomace)
 and enriching 
it 
with 
therapeutic-grade
essential 
oils 
from
 Australia, 
France 
and
 the 
United
 States. 
SoTrue Castile Soap 
contains
 none
of 
the 
harmful, 
synthetic 
chemicals
 found
 in 
many 
beauty 
and
 cosmetic 
products
available 
today, making it safe for use by children and pregnant women.

Mia says, "I am committed to making only soap I would use on my own young children. If I won't use them on my own kids, I won't give them to you."

This business sense sounds familiar, actually. As it is the same with NappyCakes. I wouldn't put anything on the diaper cake that I personally will not use for myself or my kids. So when I learned about Mia's soaps, I knew I had to give them a try.

Our favorite soap right now is SoTrue's Coffee Peppermint Bar. Hands down a winner, especially on hot, summer days.

Coffee Peppermint! Smells so good. My room smells so nice because of this bar.
Think cool and perk-me-up. I don't think I'll ever take a bath using another soap, especially in this heat. SoTrue's Coffee Peppermint Bar will surely awaken those senses and keep your body cool, long after you step out of the shower. I feel refreshed especially after using this on my face (And yes, because SoTrue is real Castile, you're sure it's mild and safe for your face, too).

Try their best-selling TLC line - the mildest soap variants for young children and those with sensitive skin. I want to try their Lavender Oatmeal Soap for RL, who, like me, suffers from skin asthma and eczema flare-ups.

Each bar of SoTrue Castile Soap is handmade and prepared in small batches to ensure the quality of each bar - making a very nourishing and moisturizing soap that is both luxurious and mild. 

SoTrue Castile Soaps, all in a row. 
Watch out for Limited Edition bars like this delicious-looking Christmas Bar!
I love, love, love this soap! I have been raving about it for weeks. I've always associated pure, organic soaps to be those that melt right away (and melt a hole in your pocket at that), but SoTrue has proven me wrong on both points. In fact, we're still on our first bar (the secret to this is keeping it dry after use)! And they're not as pricey as I thought they would be.

We're talking real Castile Soap here.

SoTrue Castile Soap - So cool. So good. So true. Try it and let your skin feel the difference!

For orders and inquiries (and the list of available products), text Mia at 09175334206.
Or email her at sotruecastilesoap@gmail.com 

http://sotruecastilesoap.com/

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