Staying Cheap in London

When you hear the word London, there's only one word that would equate it. Expensive. Yes, it's true that things in London are very expensive. You see one banana and it's worth 99 pence a piece and you would think that it's very cheap. Actually, when you convert it to Ringgits, you would have to multiply it by 6. And if you wanna convert it to Philippine peso further, you would have to multiply it by 14. So you will have this equation: 99pence (.99 sterling pounds) x 6rm x 14 pesos = ... you get the maths? But I was told that if you go on a holiday you don't do maths. And they're right. If you do this, you won't enjoy your trip at all. So now, I refuse to do the maths. I am here to enjoy.

Before coming here though, I found a site from one of Air Asia's magazines about the cheap places to stay in London. And we found the cheapest one which was really worth it coz it's in the tourist spot in central London. I really thank God we found that article while flying to Phuket, Thailand. It's a blessing.

I am sure that if you look into the internet further, you would see a lot of cheap hotels that would include riviera maya hotels, especially if you're on the way to Mexico.

I wonder if we can find cheap places to stay in France. We're planning to drop by France if we have extra money... only if we have extra money.

For the meantime, we're doing the London the cheapest way we can think of... by walking.

Good morning, everyone! (with British accent). LOL.

it's me,

In London Now

It was only a dream... a dream I thought would always remain a dream. But God has different plans. He turned my dream into a reality. Although I had to go through tough times and uncertainty... it was certainly worth it. I am now in London with my husband. I had journaled my first night in London in my travel blog. If you have time and interest, you may check it out.

We went to the Kensington Gardens yesterday. It was beautiful with lots of maple leaves falling on the ground. I took lots of photos. Remember me telling you I'm a professional photographer wannabe? LOL. I tried taking beautiful shots... but that's all I could do. Will post some photos later.

So far, I haven't seen any manufactured homes. All I saw were beautiful white buildings. Am loving it. Am loving taking photos of them. It's just that they all look the same. LOL.

Anyways... will post more journal entry about my experiences in London later. The hubby and I are off to see Buckingham Palace and other sites today... hoping it won't rain.

it's me,

On Travel

When I'm on travel, I can't help but bring my notebook with me. What will all the online work I have... I must check my account from time to time. I don't wanna be late when submitting my assigned posts. But my notebook is becoming heavier and heavier. I wonder if I do online backup, I can leave my computer behind and check my online work in public computers?

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The Buzz

With all the buzz about mesothelioma from bloggers nowadays, I'm pretty sure that a lot of people are more aware of it, how it is being acquired... where to go for help, etc. It's always a good thing to be informed and I hope that those people working in a manufacturing company will be aware of it and be careful with too much exposure to asbestos.

And you thought I was going to blog about the Philippine show The Buzz, hey? :D

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How to De-Stress

Wherever we are, whatever we're doing, in some ways or another, we come to a point where we somehow couldn't take it anymore and we feel so stressed out. There are a lot of reasons to be feeling stressful. Staying at home doesn't guarantee you of a stress-free life. We all feel the stress... just in different level. The level of which depends on your choices in life.

So how do we de-stress? I can think of a few ways:

1. do some exercises. sweat it out!

2. sleep well. get at least 8 hours of sleep daily.

3. take a break. maybe plan on going for orlando vacations. any other vacations will do too.

4. and if for some reasons you cannot go for that dream vacation of yours, just keep on trusting that the Lord has better plans for you.

it's me,

Model Falling

Remember when I posted the wedding bloopers? I had fun watching them... and if that wasn't enough, I went on to watch some bloopers on models doing the catwalk. Well, what to do... I am on a de-stressing mood. I watch fun things on youtube:

I know we shouldn't make fun of that. I really pity her. I wonder why there a lot of falls going on around the runway. Could it be because of their shoes? Could it be because they use stainless steel tiles on their runway? I hope the organizers or designers will look into it. It's not easy ot be falling while doing the catwalk. I wonder if it could be a detriment to the model's career. Hope not.

it's me,

Armour

Our boy is so much into Bible Stories now. His favorite has moved from the story of Jonah to the Story of David and Goliath. I would hear him saying to himself sometimes: Just keep on trusting in the Lord. Sometimes, he would do the story telling... but only to himself. LOL. Anyways... he asked whether we could buy him an armour yesterday when we were out in Sunway Pyramid. He said, he wanted it for his birthday. How to say no to that? LOL. So we went to the Toy City because I remembered they had such toys there. It's a good thing that our boy is not asking for expensive stuff or stuff for grown ups like Imprinted jump drives, flash drives, real computers, and the like. Otherwise, habis... we'd be a dead duck.

it's me,

Small Garden

I would like to do gardening as one of my hobbies. I have a small patch of garden at the back of my house. I planted some green veggies on it... oh wait, I have asked my father to plant some green veggies on it... but they're growing like wild now. You can tell I don't cook much greenies... but I would like to plant other veggies. I have bought some seeds yesterday. Nope I don't wanna do like that of Drew Estate. A small garden will do. I feel motivated after doing a lot of virtual farming. There's a positive side to it, too... yeah? Hehehe.

it's me,

All Worship

I used to listen to music from my yahoo messenger. But since I started downloading the latest version of yahoo messenger, it doesn't allow me to listen to launchacast radio. Instead, it brings me to iTunes and I have to download the iTunes before I could use it. It's such inconvenient to use now. It has more music though... but that would mean... if I listen to music from iTunes which is downloaded from the yahoo messenger, I have to open more applications in my computer. Good thing there is Allworship.com music... Listening to worship songs has become easier. And the connection is much much easier. It doesn't break much. Listening to music from the internet is very convenient. You don't need to buy radio players, components, or even a rackmount just to enjoy the music. The only downside is that you don't get to listen to what you want. You just go with the flow... It's like listening to a radio. But it doesn't matter. Sometimes, I like to be surprised.

it's me,

Stressed Up

It has been a stressful week for me and hubby. Our effort seems to turn into a waste. I am still hopeful though. I will be until I hear the final verdict. And I'm hoping to hear it soon. It's not easy to be preparing for things you want to do and accomplish so badly and somewhere along the way, things don't go according to what we have planned. It is stressful. But this I know, whatever happens, it's all in God's tapestry. God's plan has been, is, and will be the best. We might not see it now but few years later, when we look back, we would just find out that every thing happened for a reason.

Right now, though, we can look for ways to de-stress. Scale back, if we can. Don't plan to do so many things at a time. Don't try to achieve that which is not necessary. Don't buy things you can't afford, it may be a newer, bigger, more sleek car... it may be a new hand bag you've been craving for ages (ouch), it may be an electric blanket you saw from your favorite shop, it may be an unnecessary travel (another ouch)... the list could go on.

Speaking of scaling back though... we are postponing Schenker's birthday party that was planned for tomorrow, on Saturday. Like I said, we are too stressed up. And we thought, if we wanna celebrate, it should be a real celebration and not just simply. When we talked to him yesterday, we gave him choices. And he was happy to have a bigger party next time, in November. I am glad. Our boy is growing up and he can understand a lot of things already.

But having said all these, there are some things that you need to be persistent about to be able to get it. So there. It really depends on what you wanna achieve in life. Then you can choose. And some of these things... it's worth the persistence and the hard work and the stresses. And God is there to guide us. And we would know. Especially when it is in-line with His will.

it's me,

Top Gear - Car Football

I was searching for some truck accessories online when I stumbled on this car football in you tube by Top Gear. It's interesting what people can possibly do nowadays. Instead of people using their feet and legs to kick footballs, they use cars instead. I wonder how they can waste so much money for this kind of sports. Imagine car being used to play football! I'm sure cars would be wrecked. Anyways, so much for my comments. If you're interested to see cars (of course with people driving them) play football, watch this one: (volkswagen versus aygo)

it's me,

She's An Inspiration

I have been getting a lot of visitors of late. One of them is my son's friend's mother. The last time I saw her, she was on the plus size. Now she's as thin as a stick. I asked her how she did it. She of course shared her "secret." Now it's not a secret anymore. She weighed 64 before and now she's 51. How she did it, I will blog later. She also works around the house so much. She said she mops the house at least 5 times per day. That one I cannot do. LOL. She said she doesn't have a lot of things in the living room in her house. A couch and a tv on one of those mounts, and that's all she has in her living room. That one I cannot do also. Hehehe. Anyways... I said she's an inspiration because of her determination to lose weight. She's so determined she lost 13 kgs in 3 months. That one I can.... do? Hmmmm.... not so sure... :(

it's me,

Funnier One

Just a trip. This one is funnier:



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Wedding Bloopers

I was trying to upload my kids' school concert in youtube but I couldn't seem to do so. It said upload failed. So I ended up watching videos in youtube instead and had a laugh of my life when I opened some videos of wedding bloopers. Here's one of them:

Any thing can go wrong, right?

It's just amazing that it's easy to capture funny and embarrassing moments. You can actually capture a lot by using video surveillance equipment too. But sometimes, you end up capturing what you don't wanna see. So just be careful.

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Upcoming Birthday Party

My boy is turning 5 at the end of this month. Can't believe he's already 5 years old. I asked him where he wanted to celebrate his birthday: at McDonald's, Megakidz at Midvalley, Sunway Club, or in the house? He chose to celebrate it in the house. LOL. He said he liked it when we had a clown at his party in our house last year. But I guess, with our tight finances, we can't afford to have a clown for his birthday. So we just explained to him that we will have a simple dinner for his birthday. I think we have enough space in our lawn to do a party for him.

Actually, we're thinking of putting up a patio furniture with patio cushions there but since, like I said, we are on a tight budget, we will wait until next time when I'm not on the go with the husband anymore.

We will have a small party, inviting just the close friends and family. I'm glad he's fine with it.

patio cushions


it's me,

Water Based Cosmetics

I used to suffer a lot from acne. I even did an acne treatment when I was still in the Philippines. I think acne was cause by the dust and the food I ate. When I was in Thailand, I didn't have much breakouts. And when I moved to Malaysia, I started having them again. With the hubby's prodding and all, I went for a skin test and skin consultation. Then I was told that with my type of skin, I needed to use only water-based cosmetics. I followed the advise and glad I did coz it worked and still working for me.

it's me,

Why Diet?

Friends ask me why I am on diet when I look fine and all. Well, the reason why I'm on diet is because of health reasons. When I discovered that my BMI (Body Mass Index) was beyond my range, I got panicked I straight away thought of using appetite suppressant. You know when you're not in your BMI range, your health is at risk. My kids are still young and I don't want them to have an unhealthy mother at such a young age. Since then, I started looking out for a good diet plan. Yes, I have lost some. But I'm still 5kgs away from my ideal weight.

it's me,

Q-Dees Concert 2009

(Click the image for bigger picture)

Yesterday was Q-Dees Concert 2009. USJ 18 and SS 17 centers merged together to pull off a successful program. Of course, our family paraded to the concert excitedly. It was Samantha's first ever performance on stage with a thousand people watching. Of course, her class performance was the cutest of them all - the darling of the concert, I should say.

Schenker's class did a Bangra performance. The daddy (and mommy too) was sooo proud of him as he strutt his stuff excellently. We all thought he was the best dancer of all. ;)

This year's concert was not as organized as last year's. But it's easy to tell that teachers did their best to prepare for this concert.

it's me,

I Am Back!

My sister has been asking me why I haven't been blogging. Actually, I've been blogging a lot but only in my other 6 blogs. Hehehe. Yeah, I know I have more than that... and more in the making. The reason why I seemed to have left this blog off was my contest. I knew I could do a post-dated post for my contest... but I didn't wanna flood my blog with other things. My contest ran for a month so it has been a month since I haven't really blogged here.

And so... what have I been doing for the past month? I had been traveling with the husband. Went to Melaka with him for thePlan09 Youth Conference. We went to Ranong, Thailand to see the work among the Mokens or the Sea Gypsies. After our trip to Thailand, we went to Brunei. It was good to see Brunei finally... for the first time, and met new friends. One of the highlights for these 3 trips was the food (aside from seeing God's amazing work among His people).

Actually, I said food was one of the highlights because I was actually trying to avoid eating so much because I've been dieting.. but couldn't resist much for their delish appeal. And so, yes. I've been dieting but also been eating. How contradictory could I get? Of course, if you want to know about my diet, you can go over my other blog and see how I fared. The progress is too slow I sure could use some weight loss pills.

So what diet plan have I used so far? I had successfully finished the 12-day Mayo Clinic Diet... and after that, I started doing a portion-control in all the food I take. Now I have started with my Banana Diet. I am on my 3rd day. Again, if you want to know my progress, you can head over at Janet Speaks where I journal my diet progress.

And so... that's it for my one month long absence. Other than that... I've been busy with facebook. I love visiting friends, checking out their linked youtube videos, checking out photos, updates, etc.

Now that my contest is over, (Congratulations by the way to all the winners... all of them who entered my contest were winners... I just had to choose the top 3. Thanks guys for joining my contest.) I am back to post more updates.

For now, I have to hit the sack as my little ones have to get up early to prepare for their school concert tomorrow.

Mommy duties resume too.

Ciao!

it's me,

And the Winners Are...

I'm one day late!!! I am sooo sorry. I was gonna announce last night and I fell asleep. I am so sorry. Now you would think that I don't care. Please forgive me.

Okay... here are the top three winners (in order): drum roll!

Before I say who are the top three, just wanna remind you all my criteria for judging:

1. Post ideas on how you show "CARE" to your family or friends and give a brief explanation for each idea.

we chose the winners by:

1. by the uniqueness of the ideas and
2. by the number of ideas you have come up with, using different aspects i.e. emotional, physical, intellectual, psychological, spiritual, etc.

Please if you think the judging was not fair, please blame my husband. Hehehe.

Okay... the top three

1. Her and His Story - first prize (you won $20 with 5,000 EC)
2. Not That Kind of Girl - second prize ($10 with 5,000 EC)
3. Blogguardian Hellsite: Overcrashed third prize (and surprise!!! you won $5 with 5000 EC)

They have come up with ideas that came along with brief explanation.

And of course, with my contest, everyone is a winner. Everybody shared ideas and every ideas would be helpful for me. So each one below will get $5. Surprise!!!

Aisha
Lalaine
Raya
Bogie
Jenn
Happi

Please contact me @ janet_bl@yahoo.com for your paypal and entrecard accounts.

Thank you soooo much!






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Officially Closed

I-CARE Blog Contest is officially closed. We have 5 more who joined since yesterday. Looks like it's more challenging to choose the winners now. I am going to ask my husband's help in "judging."

Thank you so much for joining. I will announce the winners tomorrow, on October 18. Please stay tuned...

it's me,

One More Day...

One more day and my blog contest will end. I'm going to announce the winner on October 8. Looks like it's going to be easy to choose the winners... and if there's no more entry by tomorrow... I know exactly who the winners are. :D

I have 5 entries so far. You might wanna check them out:

Aisha
Grace
Raya
Happi
Jenn

it's me,

Last Day of I-CARE Blog Contest

Today is supposed to be the last day of I-CARE Blog Contest. But since I'm still on the move, and I'm only coming home on the 5th of October, I have moved the deadline to October 7, 2009. My apologies, guys. I will announce the winners on the 8th of October, 2009.

Some of you may have asked: Why didn't I ask for sponsorship?

My answer is that this blog contest is NOT for SEO (search engine optimization) purposes nor I'm asking for backlinks (you noticed that the badge is just the permalink of my blog contest) for page rank purposes.

I am using the information for my personal use... and for those winners, your name and blog might appear on my publication.Yes, I do have a project in the making. It's not a Blue Advantage plan though. And yes, this is serious and not just for fun. This is for my personal file so to speak. So if you wanna join me, you're always welcome.

For more information, please click the badge below:

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