Saturday, February 28, 2009

Food for the Soul: The Story of An Empty Chair

I got a new visitor from the site and as a practice I return all the visits as much as possible. When I did my visit on this particular visitor I was moved by a story about “An Empty Chair,” a story of death and faith. After reading it I found myself asking am I afraid of death? Maybe yes but not for myself but I guess for the sake of my little kids. If only I can schedule it with God I would have probably do it long time ago. The worries and fears of a mother thinking how difficult it would be for her kids to live and face the world all by themselves made me really feel so afraid and uneasy. When I had a heart to heart talk with my 8 year old girl about her attitude and school matters, I reiterated to her the importance of her education and character. The reality also that I do not own my life and that I would be very happy to see her this early learning things and behaving well. Of course for my beloved husband that I can be with him for the rest of our lives to love and serve him. For my family who needs my help and service.

There maybe several reasons for a person to be afraid of death. To others it may not be the death that they really fear for but the thought of leaving their loved ones. For me I guess I would be ready to face and be with God when the time that my kids are already grown up living blessed lives and when I serve my purpose as a wife, a daughter and a sister. That would take pretty much long but that’s my wish I had to God. Even living in this world is really pretty tough I will still choose to be with my loved ones till that I and them know that its time to part ways. Leaving them will really make me feel sad but I know time will come that we will be together again to live happily forever in the grace and peace of GOD.


A man's daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with her father.
When the minister arrived, he found the man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows. An empty chair sat beside his bed. The minister assumed that the old fellow had been informed of his visit. "I guess you were expecting me, he said. No, who are you?" said the father. The minister told him his name and then remarked, "I saw the empty chair and I figured you knew I was going to show up," "Oh yeah, the chair," said the bedridden man. "Would you mind closing the door?" Puzzled, the minister shut the door. "I have never told anyone this, not even my daughter," said the man. "But all of my life I have never known how to pray. At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over my head." I abandoned any attempt at prayer," the old man continued, "until one day four years ago my best friend said to me, "Johnny, prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Here is what I suggest." "Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair. It's not spooky because he promised, 'I will be with you always'. "Then just speak to him in the same way you're doing with me right now." "So, I tried it and I've liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I'm careful though if my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she'd either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm."

The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old man to continue on the journey then he prayed with him, anointed him with oil, and returned to the church. Two nights later the daughter called to tell the minister that her daddy had died that afternoon. Did he die in peace?" he asked. Yes, when I left the house about two o'clock, he called me over to his bedside, told me he loved me and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him dead. But there was something strange about his death. Apparently, just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on the chair beside the bed. What do you make of that?" The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said, "I wish we could all go like that."

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Food bite: Crispy Fish Fillet Recipe



My eight year old girl and hubby love this crispy fish fillet of Chowking. It offers the food in two packs: crispy fish fillet with rice and the crispy fish fillet Lauriat. When I cook for the family, I usually think of food that I am sure my kids will eat because they are a little bit choosy. I am planning to have it this weekend in time of hubby’s return from a business trip in the Bicol region. Chowking fish fillet looks kind of simple to prepare and besides kids doesn’t enjoy too much ingredients. The recipe below is my experiment based on the likings of my kids:

Ingredients:

  • Boneless fish fillets
  • Iodized salt
  • Eggs (beaten)
  • Bread crumbs
  • Cooking oil for frying

Cooking procedures:

  • Marinate fish fillets with iodized salt and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
  • Roll the fillets in eggs (beaten with iodized salt) and coat with bread crumbs. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.
  • In a frying pan, heat Cooking Oil on medium heat for 3 minutes and fry the fish fillets until golden.
  • Serve with mayonnaise-vinegar sauce, tomato catsup or any dip you have in mind. I preferred the first one.

Notes:

  • There are variety of fish you can use like Blue Marlin, Tanigue and Labahita.
  • High heat and prolonged cooking will dry up the fillets.
  • You can buy ready-to-cook fish fillets or buy fish and fillet it at home. How to fillet a fish?

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Philippines' Festivals: Guling-Guling in Paoay, Ilocos Norte

There are many famous festivals in the Philippines and there maybe not so familiar even to Filipinos like the Guling-Guling Festival. It is an annual celebration on the eve of Ash Wednesday held in Paoay, Ilocos Norte during the season of lent by PaoayeƱos.

In Ilocano dialect, Guling-Guling means “to mark, to smear, or to make a sign” and it is kind of similar to the Mardi gras in New Orleans or Hawaii’s Aloha Festival. A symbolic celebration of forgiveness among people indicated by making a cross mark on their foreheads which symbolizes their forgiveness towards people who “trespassed” them.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Hollywood buzz: 2009 Oscars' Top Winners and Fashion Face-Off

TOP WINNERS

Best Picture: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

Best Director: DANNY BOYLE (Slumdog Millionaire)

Best Actress: KATE WINSLET (The Reader)

Best Actor: SEAN PENN (Milk)

Best Supporting Actor: HEATH LEDGER (The Dark Knight)

Best Supporting Actress: PENELOPE CRUZ (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)

OSCAR FASHION FACE OFF

BRANGELINA vs. ZANESSA

The two sexy couples in trend-setting dresses and hot tuxes at the big night.


ANNE HATHAWAY vs. JENNIFER ANISTON

In similar cream-colored gowns, the two classic beauties dazzled at the Academy Awards.


PENELOPE CRUZ vs. MARISA TOMEI

Penelope Cruz of Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Marisa Tomei of The Wrestler battled for the Best Supporting Actress for the 2009 Oscars where the award went to Cruz.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE HIGHLIGHTS & PHOTOS.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Philippines' Festivals: Ibon-Ebon Festival in Candaba, Pampanga

The family never yet stayed in Pampanga for a vacation but we passed thru it on some of our out skirt trips. One of the renowned festivals in Pampanga particularly in Candaba is the very colorful and festive IBON-EBON FESTIVAL (also known as the Birds and Eggs Festival, as “Ibon” means birds while “ebon” means eggs). It is being held in honor of the local patron saint, San Nicolas de Tolentino, wherein the local government and the people of Candaba aim to boost food production and promote eco-tourism. The feast of San Nicolas de Tolentino has been believed to be in connection with the migration of tarat (bird specie known as the Brown Shrike) to Candaba. With a bird on a platter on his hand, the image of San Nicolas parades in the streets in a procession, along with the tradition of giving out San Nicolas cookies. Story has it that San Nicolas prefer vegetables over meat, once asked to have a fowl for a dinner, he made a sign of a cross and let the fowl flew away. More than three hundred miracles are attributed to him.

Lined up during the festival are other activities like presentation of high school talents, exhibits, and trade fair featuring products of Candaba. Along with these activities are the parade of participants clad in different duck costumes competing for the best duck costume at the town plaza, street dancing, duck race, bird program and an art contest, a bird kite exhibition, and a variety show.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Entertainment bits: The 200M++ 6/49 PCSO Lotto jackpot prize

Yipee!!! Last night (Feb. 15) draw for the 6/49 Lotto ended having no winner betting for the 6 winning combination of 30-43-38-42-46-49. We did bet for that draw but unfortunately the result ended up quite high. Right now, I am reviewing the 6 winning combinations for the period of January to February 15, 2009 to give me an idea for my next bet. The jackpot prize for the next draw amounts to a hefty Php200,000,000.00++ so I guess all Lotto outlets will be very busy accommodating people who want to find their instant fortune in this number game like me.

Below are the past winning combinations for the 2009 draws care of Yehey:


Valentine Meme from MPG, Monica & Metz

Love is in the blogosphere as bloggers celebrate the love month with this LOVE MEME. Wanna thanks MPG, Monica and Metz for sharing me the love and now is my time to share this love to others. Gotcha bloggers!


***start copy***
Rules:
1) Once you're tagged, install the corner banner at your blog as a third party html code. (The corner banner need to stay at your blog for at least 2 weeks).
2) Post about this meme,
Valentine's Love.
3) Add your blog/s with link/s to the Valentine's Lovers list and leave a comment at this post
HERE.
3) Tag all your special friends.
4) Please remember to update your list regularly so that you would not miss out anyone in your Valentine's Lovers list.

Corner Banner

Valentine's Love
Valentine's Lovers:

1.A Great Pleasure 2.Time Goes By 3.Listen With Your Heart 4.Glossalicious 5. Wishing on a Falling Star 6. Mariuca's Perfume Gallery 7. Simply Shinade 8. A Simple Life 9. Mommy's Little Corner 10. Ramblings of the Phat 11. 0007 Undercover TAGMEMAWARD CAT 12. Notes by Marvic 13. Maiylah's Snippets 14. Picture Clusters 15. This is a Miracle 16. purplefrogcat 17. Also Mommy 18. Both Sides Now 19. illusionaire 20. Candles, Crafts and Whatnot 21. The Brainy Bimbo 22. Sweet Nothings 23. Turn-u-Off 24. Chopsticks 25. My Views On My So Called Life 26. Gagay 27. Empty Streets 1027 28. Life According To Me 29. Yummy-as-can-be 30. Mom...Check Nyo 31. Everything Under the Sun 32. My Sweet Escape 33. Never Enough Stuff 34. Windmill on the Hill 35. Snapshot 36. Twinkletoe Writing Space 37. A Piece of M.I.N.D 38. Life is too short to be ordinary... 39. Our Journey to Forever 40. What a colourful life!! 41. Oh Fer Cryin' Out Loud 42. My Online Paradise 43. My Life Story 44. Moments of Colours 45. Lynn's Chic Spot 46. Simply The Best 47. The Spirit of Blogging 48. Tales of A Pinay Single Mom 49. Simple Life 50. Hit-or-Miss 51. Show Me Your Interest 52. Soy Wax Candles Blog 53. Night Clicks 54. Housewife @ Work

Need a collection agency?

I worked in a radio network for seven years and I could say that it was such an enriching and challenging experience. When I got in, I worked with the Finance team and practically handled almost every phase of the Accounting process. The company was only 3 years then and had minimal staff so a lot of work still on cue.

After my first pregnancy I got promoted as a Network Supervisor to handle the commercials, billings and collections. The first two items were quite easy to manage but collection for me was a nightmare then. I got plenty of collectibles and most of those were aging exceeding the allowable credit terms in the broadcast industry. The company thought of getting the services of a collection agency but due to budget constraint we were stacked to do the hard way of collecting those receivables.

If you are on the look for a collection agency then let AmericanProfit.net handles your collectibles. Founded in 2004 by 5 collection industry veterans, it was named as one of Collection Advisor's 50 Most Influential Collection Agencies in the industry after only three years in operation. So if you need help with your account receivables let the experts handle it.

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Valentine's Day in the pool

Hubby and I decided days before the VD that the family will celebrate it in a resort near the house. The entrance fee is very affordable and you can bring in food and drinks. In short no many restrictions inside the place. We are kind of tired strolling in the malls during special days so spending it in resort for kids to enjoy swimming will be a great idea.

Day before the VD, we invited hubby’s 2 brothers and their families to come with us for more fun. We left the house around 11am and arrives noontime in time for lunch before swimming. Entrance fees cost only P120.00 for adults and P80.00 for kids. The pools are 100-200 meters away from the entrance to give way for a man-made lake for fishing and the hanging bridge effect with landscape but they do have a service vehicle to transport their visitors inside. Pictures below will show you a resort in Montalban, Rizal near the Avilon Zoo that offers beautiful landscapes, varieties of pools, cottages and more amenities perfect for any occasion like wedding, family gathering, birthday, company outing and more.

ENTRANCE




POOLS, AMENITIES & LANDSCAPES









Resort: Noah’s Park

Location: Brgy. San Isidro, Montalban, Rizal (beside Avilon Zoo)

Contact Nos.: 0922-8544410 / 5171242 / 4014735

Thursday, February 12, 2009

How to Handle Series of Short Stack Publishing

***

There are people and things that we really find it hard to handle. I guess that’s part of our weaknesses as human. We can cope well with some things while crumble on the other matters. That is why we confide ourselves to others who are experts in handling things we can’t.

Short Stack Publishing is a London UK based small publishing house that came up with series of books to help people who are having trouble handling people or things around them. The How to Handle Living with Your Dog by Winkie Spiers and the How to Handle Your Recruitment Consultant by Herbie Henderson are part of their series that are currently out in the market.

If you are having a hard time handling things out check this home of the How to Handle Series and you may find the help you desperately needed.

Showbiz Buzz: Boy Abunda & Kris Aquino's SNN, Ruffa & Ai-Ai morning show

Today (February 13) is the last airing of Boy Abunda and Kris Aquino’s morning show “Boy & Kris.” Why? Though the show is rating on its time slot a new show will be handled by these two veteran hosts to run within ABS-CBN Primetime Bida entitled “SNN: Showbiz News Ngayon.” The said slot will be filled by beauty queen Ruffa Gutierrez and box office queen Ai-Ai delas Alas with “Ruffa & Ai” as the title. The show will offer a mixture of Oprah and Ellen Degeneres shows so expect freebies and giveaways aside from non-stop talk from these two showbiz personalities.

Get a glimpse of SNN below:

Philippines' Festivals: Pamulinawen Festival of Laoag City, Ilocos Norte

Philippines is blessed with rich and colorful celebrations in almost every edge of the archipelago. Every celebration in the island shows how the Filipinos value traditions, creativity, gratitude and unity. One of those festivals for the month of February is the famous Pamulinawen Festival.

The city of Laoag celebrates its annual Pamulinawen Festival being held on the feast day of the town’s patron saint, Saint William the Hermit. It runs from February 2-11 to give honor, pay homage and extend their gratitude to their patron saint believed to help them spared from calamities and disasters.

The festival features different activities from the locals like street dancing, the Miss Laoag City beauty contest, floral parade and more.

Video care of reysibayan.

New York Times recognized Zenni Optical



Seeing Straight Without Breaking Bank is what Zenni Optical can offer to its valued customers at this point of global financial crisis. Their online store offers Prescription eyeglasses for only $8! It is such a deal that comes with stylish frames and lenses plus other freebies.

Why Zenni Optical in the New York Times?! I guess because they recognize the quality and affordability of its products being offered worldwide. It offers a practical option to the buying public that despite the economic crisis there are still means to satisfy their needs without spending much or getting out of budget.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Online Flower Shops

Valentine’s Day is nearing and I’m sure lovers out there are thinking of what to give to their loved ones and excited what to receive in return. The special day happens to be on a Saturday so I guess different places will be very busy accommodating lovers, friends and families to celebrate the occasion.

Flowers is the most in demand item during this love season and if you are planning to buy one better do it early to avoid the rush and expensive charge. If you are busy and no time to drop by in the flower shops, below are five online flower shops for your reference:

Lushful flower arrangement with premium lush of 6 roses and 9 carnation mixture with greens and fillers for US$85 (Php 4,038) by ManilaFlower.com.


Two dozen red roses in a classic glass vase for US$120 from Linking Flowers.com.


ProFlowers.com has this 20 assorted Valentine's Tulips with free Ruby Vase for only US$29.98.


FTD Sweethearts Bouquet of red mini carnations, pink alstroemeria, pink roses and red roses along with million-star baby’s breath housed in pink, red and white colors of striped ceramic cylinder vase for US$39.99 by FlowerShop.com.

This fresh-cut Strawberry Floral Margarita arrangement is designed in an oversized margarita glass with exotic purple Dendrobium orchids, pink Asiatic lilies, pink alstroemeria and exquisite pink roses by Kremp.com for US$69.95.


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