Image from East London Local

As mothers, we always dream that our children grow up to be intelligent kids.  We do everything we can to develop them in that area and in future groom them to excel academically.  That's why when it's time for proper schooling we hope to enroll them in the best schools around to ensure that they get quality education.

But the building blocks to nurturing our children's intelligence starts at home.  To make our children love READING books and exposing them to this activity as early as you can, benefits not only them, but us as parents too.  We teach our children that reading is fun, they learn a lot about the world and themselves, reading improves their discipline, concentration and their speech, and we create a great bonding time and build a strong relationship with our children which they will remember when they grow up.

Our children surprisingly knows how to navigate the gadgets we have at home like our mobile phones, tablets and laptops.  That's why I feel that it's now more important to expose them to books and make reading a habit.


Making 9-Year Old Read
I have two sons who are seven years apart.  My elder is already in 4th grade and my toddler is not yet in school.  I was able to develop the love for reading to my elder son when he was much younger.  I always set aside some budget for books.  But things changed when he turned seven.  This habit started to dwindle and he was more into play.  So when he turned eight and I found out that he started having interests in comics, I found the opportunity to regain his love for reading.  I started buying him K-Zones and since then, he has been collecting and making side trips to book stores or magazine stands whenever we're out in a mall.  I also set up a neat study or reading corner in his room.

K-Zone Back Issues from BOOKSALE

My son's study and reading corner in his room

My son's K-Zone collection - P40 - 50 (back issues) to P100.00 new issue

• Be sensitive of his wants and interests.
• Hit the part where he is interested in and go for it.
• Buy reading materials of his interest but make sure it's also educational
• You don't need to buy new issues all the time, back issues work perfectly the same plus it's practical, you get it at P50 - 70% off!
• Make a reading and study corner that he could call his very own.  At this time, they like having their own territories or taking responsibility and ownership of things.
• Keep on encouraging your child to read.
• Praise him for reading and learning.
• Remind him the importance of reading and learning new things which will benefit him in the future.
• Listen to his trivia and jokes whenever he would share something new which he learned from reading. 
• Don't forget to be amazed and LAUGH!

Making my 2-Year Old Read
I started reading to him when he was still in my tummy.  When he turned two, he saw books as stuff he could destroy, tear and step on.  So I bought hardbound books instead.  But the books always had to compete with gadgets and his toys.  With that, I found a way to make him interested in reading and even make him initiate the activity by doing what I did for my elder son.  Since he loves truck and train toys, I bought him books that has trucks and trains.  I chose books that teach about letters, numbers, colors, shapes and songs.  My toddler even has his own bookshelf!  My tips below:

A bookshelf for my toddler's books

I turned his love for truck toys to reading

A Tonka Truck book with drawing board - P120 0nly

Little Blue Truck hardbound book (his current favorite) P85.00

Arthur's Truck Adventure - P60.00

Sesame Street Book - P55.00

Sesame Street Counting Book - P45.00

One of my toddler's favorite books, The Wheels On Barney's Bus - P120

• Set a time of the day when to start reading to him.  Reading before bedtime works all the time.  With this you are creating a habit 
• Don't insist reading on him when he is holding a tablet, a mobile phone or watching television.  Your toddler will all the more resist the activity.
• Be sensitive to his interests as well so you can get an idea to what types of books you'll buy for him. What toys does he like?  Who are his favorite cartoon characters?  Buy books that has them in it and for sure he'll drop everything for you to read to him.
• Read with a very animated voice.  Make the characters alive!
• Praise your toddler always for doing a great job in reading.
• Make a little reading corner or allot part of your bookshelves where he could put his books.
• Make reading a fun activity

School season is here once again and for me, nothing beats preparing my son to school than giving him a nutritious breakfast to start his day right!  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, they say and I do believe that!  When we give our children a healthy breakfast, it fills them with energy to last the day.  It helps them focus in school and gives them in good moods.

Cereals in the morning

I remember my mom preparing our breakfast everyday before I go to school, and I'm talking about HEAVY breakfast.  Now I perfectly know why.

For breakfast, we usually have,

• Rice - plain or garlic
• Bread
• Eggs
• Meat: Corned beef, sausage, hotdog, sliced ham, bacon, longganisa, etc.
• Pancakes with butter and maple syrup
• Oatmeal 
• Cereals

Econo Packs of Nestle Koko Krunch and Honey Stars

We have our favorite breakfast cereals with MILO.

Have you ever bought something, like a piece of clothing that you know the moment you fit it, it's meant for you?  How about, knowing that particular dress came with an unbelievable tag price, worth less than Php500.00 but looks worth more than a thousand pesos?

I know that very EXACT feeling!  Since I've been singing regularly in a hotel lounge, looking good is a requirement, at least with the clothes I wear.  Lately, I've been scouting for sales in the metro because I don't feel comfortable buying an expensive outfit which I will get to wear only once (in my performance days).  Plus I don't like the feeling that all my talent fee will just go for shopping.

Being the practical shopper that I am, I knew I scored 10 on this pretty green long sheer dress!  You wouldn't believe that it costs ONLY Php 399.00.  I bought the winner dress at SMX during their 3rd edition of "The Great Luxe SALE" last weekend.

Taken inside the elevator of Luxent Hotel after our gig

Necklace for less than P200.00

Let's Think Green

Now forgive me for the blurred photos, took this using my mobile phone in a dim-lighted hall of the hotel.  Have you scored on a winner purchase lately?  :)

Are you an OA protective mommy?  I admit one time in my life, especially with my first-born, I WAS.  But now, I've learned to accept (with a lump in my throat) that I cannot keep him to myself or be there for him 24/7.  I just ensure that I am the best mom that my kids could have by teaching them good values and how to do things right.  But as children, they could also commit mistakes along the way, so while I can, I will always lead them to the correct path in life by teaching by example and keeping an open communication.  After all, it's a mother's duty to make sure that her children is on the right track while giving them the space to learn on their own.  This holds true with my fast-growing elder son who's turning 10 this year, few more years and he's a teenager.

Welch's new app and I think so much alike in this area.  They have exactly the same philosophy which I live by:

"You can only do so for your kids, especially when it’s time for them to grow up and face the world on their own." - Welch’s Philippines

The world-famous grape juice brand came up with a cute game called Trail the Bunch. Basically, all you have to do is help the Good Grape find its way back to the Good Bunch, it’s so easy!

Here’s how you play the game:
1. Like Welch’s PH on Facebook to access the Trail the Bunch Game.
2. Find the Good Grape’s way back to the Good Bunch using your mouse pointer.
3. Collect these along the vines:




4. REMEMBER: Avoid touching the vines and the game’s bugs as not to go back to start.
5. Complete all the levels and register to qualify for the weekly raffle of a Welch’s gift pack. The Top Scorer of All Time will get a chance to win a Sony PS3 Super Slim!


When I tried the app to also earn entries, I got entertained and hooked to the game.  Being a competitive me, I was actually challenged not to touch the vines! :)

Welch's PH Trail The Bunch Facebook App

Do you want to also enjoy the game like I did?  Click here to start playing now: http://bit.ly/trailthebunch

Hello JUNE!  We finally meet again.  How time flies, it's already half of 2013 which also means that it's Back-To-School time once again.  Some schools had started their classes today, June 3.  My school boy will start theirs next week which is the reason why I'm still 85% to completion for our preparations.

I've done some back-to-school shopping mid-May covering major purchases such as school uniforms, school bag, lunch kit, shoes and some accessories.  This time, what I am busy with is covering his notebooks and books and buying the remaining small items for his grooming kit to say I'm 100% done with back-to-school preps for him.

Speaking of writing notebooks, I'm a bit particular with the quality of my dear school boy's notebooks.  Their school sells their own but it was sold-out when I was supposed to buy for him.  Plus, I find it a bit expensive for P45.00 each!  So off to National Book Store we went and my practical shopping powers boosted once more.

I've had experience in some types of notebooks in the past.  Because kids will always be magnetized to
super heroes or other cartoon characters, notebooks with them on cover sell like hotcake.  I was a victim of what you call in marketing "pester power" when kids have convincing power or influence over mommy which item to buy.  I bought poor quality notebooks last year.  The paper used was very thin and the red and blue lines were not clear.  Here's a sample of his old low-quality notebook:


Notice how the print on the next page could be seen on the current page? It's that thin.  The paper wasn't that white too.

Below is an image of the notebook that I chose for him.  I'm satisfied with the quality of the paper and the printed red and blue lines.  Each leaf of the notebook is thicker than most of the writing notebooks sold.  The paper is clear white as well.  This is the closest, maybe even better, to the school-logo-printed notebooks sold at my son's school.  Winner pa is that it's almost half the price!

Below is the image of the writing notebook sold at my son's school.  Quality wise, it's better than most notebooks sold at the popular bookstore we grew up with.

But when I placed them side by side, the writing notebook I bought at the bookstore for almost half the price his school notebooks is at the left, while the notebook sold at his school is at the right, the former's paper was whiter than the latter!

With this, it's confirmed, my purchases were of quality and more practical choice.  The character notebooks were the same price as this one but with poor quality.  The only CHALLENGE was, it only comes in one color: PINK!

I don't think my son would appreciate it being seen in school with pink notebooks.  The solution is, cover the notebooks with boy-looking wrappers.  Gift wrappers cost between P3.00 - P7.00 in bookstores.  In one wrapper you could cover 2-3 notebooks.  Let me show you a step by step on how to easily cover notebooks, should it be your first time to do so.  I've been covering notebooks and books since I was a student myself.  It's a therapeutic activity for me.

NOTEBOOK COVERING 101

Here are the materials you will need:
- Notebooks to cover
- Gift Wrappers
- Scotch tape
- Scissors
- Plastic Cover

1. First, cut the gift wrapper into the size of the notebook you are covering.  An inch per side allowance is ok.

2. Center the notebook onto the wrapper, fold one side of it onto the hard cover (could be front or back) and secure it with a scotch tape.

3. Fold the other side of the notebook's cover, but DO NOT secure it with a scotch tape yet.  This will just serve as a guide where to tape it.  The next steps will tell you why you shouldn't tape it yet. :)



4. At the inner end/near middle part of the notebook where the leaves are binded/stitched/stapled, make a diagonal cut starting from the end of the wrapper to exactly where the notebook lies.  Do the same for all four sides of the wrapper.
5. Open/spread the wrapper as seen below (the side which you didn't secure with a scotch tape) and fold inwards the part where you cut it.  The folded parts should be aligned with the notebook's tips for a neater look.


6.  Now re-fold the side of the wrapper which you laid open on #5, and this time, secure it with a scotch tape.

At this part of the process, you've secured the sides of the notebook, front and end covers.We'll now deal with the top and bottom parts of the notebook in the next few steps.

7. Open the notebook and let's start with the front cover.  Cut the wrapper diagonally at least an inch from where the folded wrapper meets, to the corner of the notebook as shown below.

8. Do the same on the other side of the notebook's corner.  Do step #7 and this step on all remaining corners.

The finished/cut corner/s should look like this.

9. Fold the top part of the wrapper to hug the notebook and secure neatly with a scotch tape.  Do this on all remaining corners.



10. Voila!  You've successfully covered the notebook with a wrapper of your child's choice.  It's recommended that you still use a clear plastic to cover the writing notebooks of your child/ren to protect it from liquid spills or pre-mature deterioration.

There it is my loves!  Hope you learned something new from this post.  Do we have the same style in notebook covering or do you have a different one? :)

Hello loves!  How is everyone?  If you have noticed, I haven't posted as much as I used to recently.  Super namiss ko kayo, so please forgive me.  I really have been busy with a lot of things at work, with family and back-to-school matters, with our band's weekly gigs and finding time to rest.  Anyway, the closest thing to me next to my undies (err excuse me, hihi), is my mobile phone.  That's why my Instagram and my Facebook Page are always updated naman.

Anyhoo, remember what I told you before, aside from working full time, I also have an acoustic band?  Yup yup, I love singing and I am so fortunate that I still get a chance to do what I love on the side and get paid for it.  One of the requirements in singing in a band is to look good and have presentable clothes.  Waaah!  Which means, just like a celebrity, I can't be seen with dresses that I've already worn in my past performances.

Oh muders, I got a shock of my life one time when I searched for a dress (that still fits ha!) in my closet a few weeks ago after coming home from work to prepare for a gig.  WALA NA kasya sa akin!  I panicked literally, luckily, there's still one piece of clothing that was hidden somewhere and it still fits.

The following work week I went out to shop for clothes.  But I promised myself that it should be less than P1,000.00, better if less than P500.00, otherwise, dun lang mapupunta ang TF ko for singing! :)

True enough, I unleashed my practical shopping powers and voila, I got really fab dresses for less than P500.00 beat that! :)

Here they are:

White and Black jumpsuit that magically elongates me!

Dress that magically hides mommy tummy!

Lakas maka-sexy the off-shoulder dress

I still have two dresses, but I haven't worn them yet so I'm a bit shy to share it, but I'll share it in another post once I've worn them.

Apart from dresses, I also found a super duper fab DONYA shades for less than P100.00!  I shared it earlier via my Instagram account.  Here's how it looks:

I love wearing DONYA shades, make me feel so Donya talaga!

Less than a hundred shades

The tags that made my eyes popped!

Here's where I scored these purchases:
White and Black Jumpsuit: Cinderella, Glorietta Branch - P465.00 only (originally P799.00)
Gold Off-shoulder cocktail dress: People Are People - P499.00 only (originally P1299.00)
Donya Shades: Saizen - P88.00 only! (Everything's P88 at Saizen!)

I love bargain shopping and sale hunting super!  It's where you get super fab stuff for super low and sometimes unbelievable sale prices!

Til next shopping loves!  How about you, have you bargain-shopped for something recently?  Share please?

The Mom’s Grocery Blowout Promo will give mothers a chance to save as much as Php10,000 on groceries!  They are actually nearing their grand draw so hurry and join their blowout promo!  Who wouldn't want a grocery blowout right?  I treat grocery shopping as one of my stress-busters and as well as a ME-Time.  So I'm excited about their promotion.

Mechanics of the Promotion:

1. Open to all Appebon Kid Facebook fans with ages 18 years old & above and residents of the Republic of the Philippines.
2. To join the promo:
   • Go to the "Appebon Kid" official fan page
   • "LIKE" the Appebon Kid fan page
   • Go to the Appebon Kid Survey Promo App
   • Click "JOIN" and fill up the registration form
   • Click "NEXT" to proceed to the survey
3. Only those who have completed the registration will be able to answer the survey.
4. Participant must answer all the questions in the survey
5. Participant will gain one (1) raffle entry upon answering all the survey questions.
6. Participant may only answer the survey once.
7. Participant may earn one (1) bonus raffle entry when they "Share" the FB application after answering the survey. Maximum of one (1) bonus raffle entry per participant.
8. Winners will be drawn weekly through an e-raffle from May 8, 2013 to June 6, 2013. Draw dates, covered period, dates of announcement of winners, number of winners, prizes are as follows:

   Raffle Draw	Covered Period D	raw date	Announcement of Winners	No. of winners	Raffle prize per winner
   Weekly Draw	May 8 to May 14,2013	May 15,2013	May 16,2013	1	P3k worth of Sodexho GC
   	May 15 to May 21,2013	May 22,2013 May 23,2013	May 23,2013	1	P3k worth of Sodexho GC
   	May 22 to May 28,2013	May 29, 2013 May 30,2013	May 30,2013	1	P3k worth of Sodexho GC
   	May 29 to June 4, 2013	June 5, 2013	June 6, 2013	1	P10k worth of Sodexho GC

9. Raffle draw will be held at C3 Interactive Manila, Inc. 6th Floor F&M Lopez Building, C. Palanca St. Legaspi Village, Makati City, Philippines with the presence of a FDA representative and Westmont Pharmaceuticals Inc. Representative
10. Promo period runs from May 8, 2013 to June 6, 2013.

I actually joined the promotion and hope I do win!

Here's my entry:

Appebon Kid is a daily supplement in delicious strawberry flavor that helps enhance children’s appetite. It contains Vitamin B Complex, Iron, and Lysine to help enhance children’s appetite.



For more information on Appebon Kid, like them on Facebook.  :)

Dear Louise,

You have always been the strong woman your close family and friends knew.  You also admit the fact that you are not perfect, but so are others, that's why you kept on pushing forward and improving yourself in the aspects you know you already do well but more especially on things you know you are not at all good at.

Looking back at you as a naive high school girl from an exclusive school, you've always thought of yourself as someone special but still was very insecure.  You started to explore on your talents and were thankful to your parents for supporting you and staying up late to pick you up from your rehearsals in glee club and acting class.  You started to blossom because of their trust and because they gave these all to you.

In college, the time your family experienced financial challenges, you were crying inside because you least expected it.  You even compared your situation then to your older siblings who didn't experience what you and your younger brother were going through.  But from that, you learned to be practical and frugal, you learned to be more sensitive to your parents and most of all, you became resourceful.  Your heart got broken the very first time from a relationship of almost four years, but it taught you a lot about love, acceptance, moving on, re-channeling stress and appreciation of yourself.

You've been a go-getter after graduating from college but like others, had stumbled so many times from stupid mistakes and wrong choices in life, at work and in love.  When you got pregnant and was forcefully married, you knew, your LIFE WAS GOING TO CHANGE.  Indeed it happened, from a flourishing career woman to being a plain, dependent, and insecure housewife.  You weren't happy with that marriage and you and your ex-husband always fought.  It was the most depressing part of your life.  The only treasure you were holding at that time was your child.  You knew despite your depression, you had to fight, you had to move forward, you had to plan, you had to be stronger, all because you wanted to give your child a better future.  So you did.

Do you remember that you've been thrown too many stones and gossiped about by both people you knew and didn't?  You've been judged because of your decision to be annulled.  But you said, it's your life, not theirs.  You didn't mind them and instead you focused on regaining the life you turned back to, the person you always were, but this time with a little hand holding yours, your child.  The child who was the reason for your strength, your hope, your optimism, your careful choices, and even your fears.  You focused on rebuilding your career to support your son solo and on being the best mom you know you could be.

Somewhere along the recovery road, you met this wonderful guy who became your best friend, your band mate, your business partner and little did you expect, now the love of your life and the father to your second child.  Since then, you were at peace, at a happier place, at the moment in time when things just fell so rightfully into places.

You are the woman who has gone through a lot but didn't let the depression win you over.  You fought and found happiness and peace, all for your children.  With that, you've created this blog to share, to help and to inspire others.  I am happy for you and I hope that you achieve more so you could give back more.  You've always believed that in giving you are also receiving.  And that's what you're doing.  Because it is in doing that, that you are blessed.

You always say, You are not Perfect, but You are the BEST that your Children and your Hubby have.  Your children can never ever replace you.  You feel guilty sometimes for working so hard, don't, it's for them.  You feel sad at times when you don't give them everything they want except if they do good deeds, don't, you're teaching them to value the things they have, because they worked for it.  You cry after disciplining them for doing something wrong, don't, you want to them to learn their lessons, lead good lives and be better persons.   You fear that your boys will be grown up men and leave you, don't, because with the way you show them your love and how you communicate with them, they will never forget the first woman they love, YOU.  You are not perfect, but you are in your children's eyes.  You may not be a supermodel, but you're assured by your hubby always, that you're the most beautiful woman in his eyes.

Yes Louise, you may not be perfect, but remember nobody really is.  Enjoy the ride called LIFE.  It's not assured to be a smooth one on a straight road, there will be bumps and curves, but you can always have a stopover to rest, recharge and pray.

Yours Truly,
Your Partner in Crime - Yourself :)