Losing A Father

We just got back from Davao last night and I feel very exhausted due to a couple of sleepless nights. We went to my father's hometown because he chose to be buried there. As you all you know, my father passed away last October 16, 2011. I flew all the way from America just to see him for the last time. When in Davao, I saw there were only very few flowers offered or placed on his coffin so I had to buy funeral flowers at a local florist.

But the bouquet of flowers I bought wasn't something very nice. I wished I could find another decent florist nearby so I could offer my father the nicest flowers he could ever have. But anyway, I doubt those flowers being bought by people for his funeral had some additives for cut flowers because they wilted and died too soon.

Too bad I am not so familiar of the place. I could have gone to several florists and chose the best funeral flowers for him. Anyway, the big hurdle thrown to us is over. He is now laid to rest and I hope he is resting peacefully with the Lord in heaven. Hard to imagine living a life without a father but life goes on. I know he is happy where he is right now and I am pretty sure he is watching over us!

15 New Uses Of Tea

Tea drinkers would be so happy to know these 15 new uses of their favorite drink. A great practical article on Yahoo Shine that saves a lot of your time and money if you would follow what is written here.

1. Clean carpets: Clean up musty, dirty carpets by sprinkling dry, used green tea leaves on the carpet. Let them work their magic for about 10 minutes, then vacuum them up. Delicate Persian and Oriental rugs can also benefit from a sprinkling of tea leaves. In this case, sprinkle nearly dry, used whole tea leaves on the rugs, and gently sweep them away.

2. Shine wood floors: The tannins in black tea can help shine and color hardwood flooring. Follow your regular floor cleaning routine by carefully rubbing some brewed tea into the floor (don’t use too much water on hardwood flooring) and letting it air dry.

3. Polish furniture: Brewed tea also can help clean and shine wood furniture. The tannins in tea will re-color light spots and scratches in wood surfaces. Dip a soft cloth in a small amount of strongly-brewed tea, and use it to wipe down scratched tables, chairs, and more. Woodworker Jim McNamara suggested using "regular orange pekoe (Lipton's) or other dark tea" in Woodworker's Gazette.

4. Clean mirrors and windows: Tea can remove stubborn, greasy fingerprints from glass, and make it sparkle. Simply rub a damp teabag on the glass or fill a spray bottle with brewed tea.

5. Clean toilet stains: Rumor has it that used tea leaves can magically remove stubborn stains in the bottom of the toilet bowl. Just leave them in the toilet for several hours, then flush the toilet and brush the bowl.

6. Soothe a sunburn: Tea can soothe sunburns and other minor burns. Dr. Oz suggests sponging sunburned skin with "cooled chamomile tea" for it's anti-inflammatory effect. Don't try this if skin is broken.

7. Soothe tired eyes: Warm, wet tea bags can reduce puffiness and soothe pain around tired eyes — and tea bags on your eyes look a little less ridiculous than cucumber slices.

8. Soothe bleeding gums: After a tooth extraction or when an older child loses a tooth, try putting a cold, wet tea bag in the mouth where the tooth was lost and bite down on it. According to the Cleveland Clinic, "The tannic acid in tea helps healing blood clots to form (blood clots function similarly to a scab on an open wound). It can reduce bleeding and soothe pain."

9. Shine dry hair: Brewed tea makes a good conditioner for dry hair. Rinse with (unsweetened) tea and leave to dry for a while, then rinse again with water.

10. Improve skin: The Mayo Clinic suggests that herbal tea ingredients chamomile and calendula can help soothe dermatitis when prepared as a topical cream. Consult with a qualified health practitioner before using these remedies.

11. Soothe acne: Some acne sufferers swear by washing their faces with green tea because of its mildly antiseptic properties. Dr. Andrew Weil suggests washing with calendula flower tea as a natural alternative to benzoyl peroxide.

12. Tenderize meat: Marinate tough meat in black tea to make it more tender.

13. Add to compost: Pouring strong tea into a compost bin will help speed up the process and encourage more friendly bacteria to grow, improving the compost.

14. Help houseplants: Occasionally use brewed tea instead of water to feed ferns and other houseplants that like rich, acidic soil. Spread used tea leaves around rosebushes, then add mulch and water. The tannic acid and other nutrients will benefit the plants. A few used teabags in the bottom of a planter can help the soil retain water, and adds valuable nutrients.

15. Dye fabrics: Green and black teas have long been used in dyes for fabric and paper, particularly for generating a beige, faux-antique look.

Not A Mention Of Online Dating

I just read an article on yahoo about five surprising places to find love. It is kind of a long article which for me is too much to do since I don't like reading! Anyway, while the author mentioned five places to fall in love, there was not a mention of online dating which for me could be the perfect place to find your soulmate. Although a couple met on tweetup still it is not the same as online dating which you register yourself, create your profile and upload your photo/s.

Thousands of dating sites out there which serve as a match maker to those who are lonely, wanting to find love and believe in destiny. Hard to believe it? I tell you, it works for us and for a lot of my Filipina friends too. In fact, there was a study about people finding love in person and online dating, the surprising result to online dating is that, it works just as fine as dating personally.

If two people are meant to be together, they are meant to be no matter what the distance is. If they are bound for each other, no matter how hard the hurdles thrown at each other they will overcome them. We are a living example of online dating for my husband and I met on the internet 7 years ago.

Five surprising places to find love

By Susan Johnston

Love in the snow lane

For Marie Melsheimer, 35, love didn’t walk in; it slid into the back of her car during an icy winter in Bend, OR 17 years ago. “I was stopped at a stop sign and my car stalled,” says Melsheimer. “His truck slid into the back of my car and he broke my taillights and dented my bumper.” The guy offered to fix her car, so they exchanged phone numbers. She blames his inexperience with the icy road conditions for their fender bender, while he blames her car stalling. Regardless of who was at fault, Melsheimer says it was love at first sight. “I was on my way to my grandmother’s house,” she recalls, “and after leaving him, I arrived there to tell her I had just met the man I was going to marry.” True to both their words, he fixed her tail lights — and they married several years later.

A purr-fect match

Plenty of romances come courtesy of some trusty canine companions at the dog park. Without daily walks, though, cat owners don’t have a similar excuse to socialize. That didn’t stop Whitney Shore, 26, and her now-boyfriend from striking up a conversation at the vet’s office. “I was bringing one of my cats in after work on a Tuesday, and he was bringing in one of his cats, too,” says Shore. “I noticed him when he walked in and was pretty excited when he sat down a couple of seats down from me. We started talking and continued talking for the next hour.” Though he’d already left by the time Shore’s appointment wrapped up, the clever cat-lover pieced together details from their conversation and left a note on Shore’s car with his phone number. “We met for brunch that Sunday, which turned into us going to the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, which turned into dinner, which then turned into a movie,” she says. “All told, our first date was 10 hours… and the rest is history!”

Sparks fly at 30,000 feet

Scott Trosclair, 29, was flying to Oakland, CA when a girl with big, grayish-green eyes sat down in the seat next to him. Her name was Emily, he learned, and they struck up a conversation, chatting about his move from New York City to the Bay Area and the fact that they were both wearing Rainbow sandals. Though they talked for the entirety of the flight, Trosclair waited until the last second to ask for her number in the baggage claim area, just in case she turned him down. Fortunately, she didn’t — and four years later, Trosclair planned a surprise proposal on another shared flight. “We met flying from Orange County to Oakland, so I proposed on a flight going the opposite path,” says Trosclair. “When we landed, I had her brother, mother and her mom’s boyfriend meet up with us in a limo.” Since they met while traveling, the pair included some airplane and travel motifs in their wedding this past spring.

Tweet love

Even social networks designed exclusively for online conversation can lead to real-world connections. Just ask MoniQue Shaldjian, 24, who met her fiancé Mike at a Tweetup in Phoenix last year. “I had seen his Twitter handle in a retweet here or there,” she remembers. “So, I’m at this event, and I got a tweet from him that said, ‘don’t leave, I want to meet you.’” She went to shake his hand and he went for a bear hug. Later, they both went to a bar to chat, and the conversation flowed as if they were old friends. Although Mike didn’t ask for MoniQue’s phone number that night, they started following each other on Twitter and she texted him after seeing he’d tweeted his phone number to a client. Things took off from there. MoniQue says that she “never imagined” she’d meet her husband at a Tweetup, but their shared interest in social media has helped the couple to bond.

Connecting on a commuter train

Long train rides may seem like a waste of time for tired commuters, but Holly Johnson, 27, actually met her husband Jesse while commuting from Boston to Worcester, MA. “He said that he saw me in the window and thought I was pretty,” Johnson recalls. But she wasn’t looking for a love connection, so when Jesse asked to sit next to her, she answered: “I don’t know why people ask if they can sit next to someone else — it’s a free country.” Still, it’ a long ride to Worcester, so the two started chatting about politics and discovered they shared some similar viewpoints. Jesse offered Holly a ride from the train station, but she insisted on taking a cab instead. “I thought he was a weirdo stalker,” she admits. “As it turns out, he really was just being nice.” Holly reluctantly gave him her cell number, not expecting to hear from him. However, Jesse called the next day. Now, eight years later, they’re married and have a child together.

Susan Johnston is a freelance writer who has written for The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, Parade, and many other publications. She met her boyfriend online but loves hearing unusual “how we met” stories.

Article courtesy of Happen magazine.

LIFTED FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE

Helping A Cousin Find A Mate

Who says finding your mate online doesn't work? My husband and I are the living example of online dating. We met at a dating site seven years ago. I am from the Philippines and of course he's from Texas. We are two souls bound to be together. Two completely different personalities yet in love and relationship is getting stronger as years pass by. In fact, we are celebrating our seven years of happy marriage next week.

Another example of couple who met online is my cousin whom I have not talked to for two years in the other state. She too, found her husband at a dating site of course with my help. As young as 17 years old, I taught her how to chat, set up an email account and register herself at different dating sites so she can marry an American. She was successful!

Then I am thinking of helping another cousin in the Philippines to use the the internet so she can start registering herself too. I would want her to create a profile at a Christian dating site for a great chance of mingling or dating with christian singles. I am more than willing helping people those are interested to make their life gets better instead of just screwing around boys in our country who proves nothing but make a lot of children and have nothing to support them.

He Find Me Weird Which Is Weird

We are turning 7 years of our marriage in 11 days. Wow that long already? It felt like it was just yesterday when we tied the knot. I am blessed and thankful for another blissful year of being together. In relation to me being married to my husband, I still find him attractive and handsome despite of our slightly grown bellies (I don't take that as criticism instead it's a sign of progress for both of us, we are having a good life you know lol), I am too vocal of my feeling towards him and from time to time, whenever I feel like saying it, I would blurt it out to him saying, "hmmmmm you look so guapo times like when he just showered or coming home from work". Then he would reply to me, you're weird. For what? For finding me handsome, he said. LMAO! So what? Of course he is handsome because I picked him. I married him!

The Right Place For Scrubs

The last visit of my babies' Pediatrician was about three weeks ago. The nurse who handled our little Pearl looked so pretty, pregnant and just attractive looking nurse. Not to mention she wore a very nice pattern and color of scrub uniform that day. I asked her where did she buy her scrubs and she said at http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/categories/Scrubs/Scrubs-for-Women and I was like, oh really? I told her, I do a lot of reviews in that particular scrub site and to tell you what, you have come to the right place when it comes to buying real affordable nurse scrub uniforms. Yes, believe me, it truly is the place where to buy cheap scrubs. If you are looking for a new set of uniform, you might check it out yourself and tell me what you think. Wink!

5 lessons learned from 18 years of marriage

Another great article I read on yahoo on how to keep your marriage alive throughout the years! I share this here so my readers who missed reading it on yahoo are able to read it.

1. A strong marriage is built of tiny actions.

“It’s the little things.” Such a cliche! Such bad sentence construction! And such truth.

Related: 35 for 35 — Things I have learned in my 35 years

Each time you discuss instead of demand, you strengthen your marriage. Same goes for speaking with respect instead of sarcasm, and listening instead of dismissing, and engaging instead of eye-rolling.

Each action is like a brick. You choose whether to use it to build a foundation or a wall.

2. But don’t forget the grand gesture.

Buying flowers or surprising your spouse with a vacation, an iPad, or a day off from dishwashing won’t make your marriage. But it will cause your partner to snap out of the day-to-day routine and take notice. Sometimes that’s all it takes to get the ball rolling in a very pleasant direction.

3. Never underestimate the importance of a good laugh.

Sometimes life as a grownup can be hard, boring, and downright drudgery. Another cliche fits here: “If I didn’t laugh, I’d probably cry.” So laugh. A lot.

Related: Marriage advice for new parents — 7 ways to baby-proof your relationship

What do you both find funny? Comedies? Jon Stewart? Silly t-shirts? Private jokes? Sneezing pandas? Write a “funny” list, then commit yourself to experiencing at least one of these things together every day. You’ll thank me.

4. All good marriages have a supporting cast.

There’s an odd fallacy about marriage (middle-class, American marriage, perhaps) that it should somehow stand on its own. If two people love each other, have shared values, a little chemistry, a decent job, maybe a kid or two…that they should be able to figure it out. That a good marriage can withstand life’s slings and arrows, if not unscathed, then at least intact.

Guess what? Life’s a lot bigger than two people. Sooner or later, a sneaker wave will knock you down, and you’ll need a hand to find your balance again. Perhaps it will be something small, like a messy house or a bad habit. Or something big: job loss, a health crisis. It may be something good: starting a new business, or winning the lottery. Or something bad: a death in the family, or an affair.

Whatever it is, there are people who can help.

Everyone’s supporting cast looks different. Some include a housecleaner or a babysitter. Others include a marriage counselor or a psychiatrist. Some need a financial advisor. Some just need their extended family or their friends. But everyone needs someone.

Related: 9 tips to spice up your marriage

5. Treat your spouse as you hope your children will treat theirs.

Little eyes are watching. Little ears are listening. And little minds and hearts are learning about partnership and marriage from your example.

I say this not to promote guilt, paranoia or dishonesty. The worst thing we could do is to project a facade of shiny perfection to our kids. They’re smarter than that, and such playacting hurts and confuses them.

But it’s worth remembering that kids really do follow our lead, and we owe it to them to be mindful about what we’re teaching. And we owe it to ourselves to dig deep for the good stuff. We’re worth it.

I’d love to hear your pithy marriage wisdom. What have you learned so far?

- By Asha Dornfest

Basketball Wife

Guest post by Von Battle

I moved to a new cubicle at work this week, and thus I have a new neighbor. Her name is Jessica, and she is something else. I didn’t even know Jessica worked for my company because she is in the office so infrequently. Now that we’re neighbors, I have an even better idea of her leisurely schedule. Jessica comes into the office for about three days out of the week. She never stays the whole day, just long enough to make some noise and show her face so no one will move into her cubicle thinking that she no longer works there. If there’s something that I can say about Jessica, it’s that she is always dressed to a T in high high heels, fake eyelashes and designer duds.

I called her the other day because I needed a form that I couldn’t find. I asked her where she was. She hesitated for a moment and then stated she was at lunch. I asked where she was eating. She told the nail salon. Home girl has been watching a bit too much Basketball Wives on her Directtv.