Rean again…
Kids can be fascinated with things in amusing ways. My kids are no exception. Their latest fixation was with the iTouch. They wanted to buy 2 of these great iPods, one for each of them. So I asked them why they wanted these fancy gadgets. It was quite hilarious when my daughter replied they wanted it so they could call me and play games. I really didn’t have the heart to tell them that they really wanted an iPhone. I guess they’ll find out when they learn to read iPod reviews.
Rean here…
A fit body has always eluded me in the past. Although I had a few thin years , I never had what you consider a well chiseled physique. My condition became worse when the stress of industrial work encouraged me to bulk up to 208 lbs! I experienced pains in my back and at times elevated blood pressure. An offer to teach ballet turned the tide as I embarked on a daily regimen of demonstrating floor barre leg lifts for little kids. As my load increased, lbs went off , as well as, inches from my waist. I now weigh 178 lbs with a 34 inch waistline ( from my previous 36-37). Moreover, my abs are beginning to show and my chest becoming more defined. I realized that my lifestyle was so sedentary after losing 30 lbs when I got a physically demanding job. It’s also amazing to have achieved this without a dip station or a home gym!
I do a little bit of home-based printing on my printer and it can be very expensive even to print simple full-color pages in bulk. I usually run out of magenta ink. Stores usually run out of this color so I’m doing a little research on 108R00724 to see if I can use it as an alternative. I also converted one of our printers to CISS (continuous ink supply system) but I haven’t been using it for months because it died on me a few months back. I have to bring it back to the guys who converted it and it’s a lot of hassle. I’ve been toying with the idea of switching to another system…maybe laser printing or one of those multi-function printers. There aren’t many choices available locally so I think I need to check the manufacturer’s websites to see what other options are available to me.
Rean here again…
When I learned that the book “Red Pyramid” was out, I was excited. The first installment of Riordan’s Kane Chronicles reminded me of thrills I had with the Percy Jackson series. In gratefulness to a friend’s son, who lent his Percy books to me and my kids, I took the earliest chance to purchase a copy for his birthday. The journey home was filled with anticipation of cheers from my kids, for getting their friend his much awaited book. Surprise greeted me as I found another copy on my kids desk, my wife took them to the nearest bookstore during the day. While it turned to be a blessing in disguise, an answer to my son’s prayer, I sure wished I called my wife before my copy passed through the barcode scanner.
Rean here…I’ll be your blogger while Tes is working on a project.
Ambivalence has floated around me in the past few days, as I learned at least 3 families close to us are moving. My brother-in-law and his bunch are off to Canada while our dear friend from Davao is embarking on a family exodus to Alabama. To top it off, our neighbors are now setting their sights on California. It’s not one of those Branson vacation packages but rather a more permanent arrangement. While I’m glad for the improvements in these families’ lives and wish them all the best in their new homes, the chats and visits will surely be missed. Hopefully we can visit them in the near future
This week has been relentless as far as news upon news of deaths and near-deaths reached us. A dear colleague of ours recently passed away because of the Big C. Yesterday, we went to the wake of the mom of one of our friends. There was also news earlier this week about one friend who had a medical emergency due to an allergy that almost ended in tragedy. We also got the sad news that our long-time gardener passed away yesterday due to a vehicular accident. He was on his way home from doing his gardening rounds in our village when he figured in an accident. The sad part about it is we never really got to share about God that much to him. Such is the nature of life. It is not ours to say how long or how short we shall live. A Medicare plan is always a good thing but this only takes care of the physical realm. It only addresses the realm that we see but what about the unseen realm? The word of God says that what is seen is temporal and what is unseen is eternal. I know that I draw comfort in the thought that our friends who have passed surrendered their lives to the Lord and that they are now in His loving care. I do have regrets though about our gardener. I know that we could have shared the gospel at least once. Unfortunately, the busyness of life got in the way. I have resolved since and instructed my kids as well to try to at least bless the water delivery boys who deliver water once a week, or the mailman or the cable guy collector whenever they come knocking at our door. A simple “Thank you. God bless you and Jesus loves you.” might not seem much but perhaps it might open up the opportunity for them to know the Lord as we know Him. You’ll never know…
Have a blessed weekend everyone. Go bless someone!
Acts Manila performances at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. My second ballet video 
Credits: Ms. Chelo Gemina, Artistic Director-Acts Manila
photography: Tes Pedrosa-Tirol
In honor of this special day, I came up with a few freebies to celebrate the life of my father. (downloads available right here) I was inspired by this desktop wallpaper typography tutorial I found and tried it out myself. Here’s what it looked like originally:
here’s what I did:
(.png file opens in a new window. right-click and save as)
Here’s how I used it in my layout. I tweaked the quote a bit. :
(clockwise: Lola Lumen with daddy; at the Golden Gate in SFO; with me in Tacloban; joking around in Samar; Lolo with Kai in Cavite; posing beside someone’s car? in Canada oops car insurance blogger on the loose hahaha)
additional credit: storyboard by dodiesa, les brumes textures
I turned it into a quickpage:
(Large file alert: 56mb .png file opens in a new window. right-click and save as)
Comments appreciated… Enjoy!
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August 4, 2:30 am….
I still remember this day…three years ago. I’ve been going back and forth on this post…typing and deleting…typing and deleting again and again… and again. There are no words that can truly convey how much I miss you… It’s taking me forever just to finish this post…I think I’ll just start another one later and not clutter this one with a lot of talk. This one is just for you.
I love you daddy…
and i miss you
… so much.
Haven’t shared a layout here in a long while so now is the best time to do so, don’t you think? Here’s what I did for the July Issue (part one – click the archives) of The Daily Scrapper. The Daily Scrapper comes out with two issues a month (one every two weeks) to give you more of the latest scrapbooking news, awesome products, awesome layouts, hybrid tutorials and online coupons from your favorite online scrapping stores. Shop in your pajamas or sip a cuppa joe while you browse through the different featured posts and while you’re there, grab the freebies as well!
Title: Sand between my toes
Product used: Along those lines vol. 1 by One Little Bird; Paint the Moon textures; Les Brumes textures
Thanks for looking folks!
Scrapbooker. Layout Artist. Photographer. Dancer. Travel Junkie. Stage Mom. Homeschooler. Most of all, little lost lamb found.
