A Luxury Island Holiday

Speaking of M, she is inviting us to visit her next year. She is organizing her entire family to go on a luxury holiday, and included us. I'm so thrilled! This will be like a second honeymoon for us. And Belle will be old enough to go with us too, I won't have to bring her milk bottles and sterilizer. We're trying to wean her off the bottle now, and I hope we will be successful by next summer. Summer is our target date, around April, the entire family is trying to fix their schedules to be free for at least a couple of weeks. That would be best for us too, it will be summer vacation for Belle's school, and summers here are so hot we always want to go to a mall to get free airconditioning!

For our vacation, M chose Mauritius, an island near the coast of Africa. Since she is extremely busy with her work as a medical assistant in a nursing home in London, I volunteered to research nice hotels there. Willy and I will buy our own plane fares to the island, but M will should the hotel stay. Whee!
The Le Saint Geran has suites with balconies or terraces, with sea views that I'm sure Willy will love. Willy is a great nature lover, and he would enjoy the vast tropical garden. It will be great bonding time for him and Belle, while M and I and the other women in the family enjoy the luxurious Givenchy Spa.

The Le Touessrok, on the other hand, has a more challenging golf course. We might try it out, but I'd have to buy golfing outfits for us. I wouldn't want us to be the laughingstock of the golf course.

This island getaway will be a dream come true for me. We will spend our time lolling around the villa pool, and exploring the white sand beaches. Willy and Belle will build sand castles while I take pictures. Hope I don't forget to bring extra sunblock. Thank you M, for making one of my dreams come true!

An Online Medical Assistant Course

M, Willy's niece, is now working as a medical assistant in a nursing home in London. It's quite a change for her, as she worked as a personel manager in a factory in Taiwan before. That's actually where I got to know her, when Willy and I spent a month in Taiwan last 2005. We were in Taichung City for IVF treatment, and although the treatment wasn't successful for us, the friends we made there are invaluable, and the 30 days we spent there bonded as closer as a couple.
M told us that she took an online medical assistant course before heading off to London. She looked up medical assistant schools, and decided that online was the best option for her. She told me that her online studies only took a couple of months and she received her degree. And her papers were processed super fast, because she was a previous overseas contract worker and had a good record. I've talked with her a few times since then, and she says her work there is very interesting. She is naturally caring and sweet, so the nursing center's residents love her, the staff is pleasant, and the work load just enough. She sometimes takes in overtime work though, because she says she wants to fill her empty hours. The other medical assistants, being that they have family nearby, want to spend time with their family. M says she will just combine all her sick leaves and vacation leaves to take a longer vacation with her family here in Manila.

PARENTHOOD

Remember what PARENT stands for:

Partner. Be there for your child and his teacher. Help your child prepare for school at home, and keep abreast of school events.

Advocate. Work for change in the classroom if you're unhappy with the staff or the curriculum.

Resource. Help your child by providing his teacher with information about him. The more she knows about your child's home life, the more she'll be able to help him learn.

Encourager. Support your child and his teacher. Believe in them. Compliment jobs well done.

Negotiator. Be willing to talk. Be open to finding innovative solutions.

Team member. Do your share of the work. Teachers can't fix everything themselves. A child's education takes place at home, too.

taken from ParentCenter

Looking for Holiday Eyeglasses

My mom went to get new lenses for her eyeglasses last week. She'd been having recurrent headaches due to her eyeglasses, which didn't have the right grade anymore. I told her I would get her a new pair through the popular online eyeglasses shop. So she agreed, saying that an extra pair of eyeglasses could come in handy. That way, she wouldn't have to keep remembering to move her glasses from one handbag to another.

I found a nice pair of holiday glass frames from Zenni Optical, and I emailed her the picture. They also have $ 8 Complete Rx Eyeglasses, which interested her, since she's someone who keeps misplacing her eyeglasses and forgetting where she left them.

88% ONLY?

You Are 88% Ready to Be a Parent

You are totally ready to be a parent. You pretty much have your life in order. In fact, there's a good chance you've been thinking about starting a family. You are financially and emotionally stable. You would provide a good home for a kid. It's also likely that you understand kids well. You've spent a fair amount of time around children. If you're already a parent, you are doing great! Keep it up. More kids wish they had parents like you.

Are You Ready to Be a Parent?

Cute Blogger Award

An award from Eds.

Here are the rules:
1. Each blogger must post these rules.
2. Each blogger starts with ten random facts/habits about themselves.
3. Bloggers that are tagged need to write ten facts about themselves. You need to choose ten people to tag and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged and also to read your blog.

10 Random facts/habits about me.
1. I entered college with Communication Arts as my major, but shifted to Literature in my second year.
2. I re-read the entire Star Wars series when I was pregnant, more than a hundred books in the series. Finished them in 4 months.
3. I love doing crossword puzzles and SUDOKU puzzles.
4. When I was a little girl, I wanted to become a flight attendant.
5. I love to bake, but I can only cook simple dishes.
6. I used to dream of becoming a stage actress! Now I just love going to watch plays. Watched HAIRSPRAY last Saturday.
7. My grandmother and I used to ride a horse-drawn cart (kalesa) going to Chinatown for afternoon congee.
8. My mom and dad's birthdays are 1 month apart in the same year. Hubby's birthday and mine are separated by 1 month too, but different years.
9. I am often mistaken for younger than I really am. Some people say I look like a new college graduate, which was more than 10 years ago na.
10. But when Sister was younger, I was often mistaken for her mother!

Now tagging: Carla, Cathee, Chris, Con, Crystal, Danah, Gigi, Jammy, Jown, CC

Friendship Tag

Friendship Tag

Received these flowers from Youngest. Thanks my friend!

And lovely are the blossoms
That are tended with great care,
By those who work unselfishly
To make the place more fair.
And, like the garden blossoms,
Friendship's flower grows more sweet
When watched and tended carefully
By those we know and meet.
And, if the seed of friendship
Is planted deep and true
And watched with understanding,
Friendship's flower will bloom for you

Sending these blooms to: Juliana and Kaleena.