My Favourite Mommy Blog

When I decided to join Dance of Motherhood’s contest on favourite mommy bloggers, I did not need to take a lot of time to decide who she will be. She is Ree aka Pioneer Woman. I discovered her blog by accident, when she was mentioned by one EntreCard using mommy blogger who was also one of my favourite sites to visit. I immediately checked out the blog and man, was I addicted to her style of writing and the wonderful things she writes about!

The blog is called Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. Pioneer Woman is a mother of four and is married to Marlboro Man, her rancher/cowboy husband of so many years. She is sharing their love story in her blog, interspersed with posts about her exciting life as a rancher’s wife, which incidentally is the complete opposite of her once-glamorous rat-race kind of existence. She also has a food blog she named Pioneer Woman Cooks.

Pioneer Woman has a unique brand of writing and she is extremely funny, witty and smart all at the same time. Her photos are awesome, too! Check her out and see what I am talking about.

Dance of Motherhood’s contest is open to all. A lot of EC points are up for grabs, so if you want to join and try your luck, check out the mechanics of the contest here. Do watch out for her Father's Day contest as well. This lady is one generous blogger, I can say.

Gratitude

There is just not enough gratefulness in the world today. Look at me, I haven’t been too eager to thank my top EntreCard droppers and visitors. Shame on me.

To make up for that, may I just give recognition to where it is due – my second time only to do it since I started regular blogging middle of last year. To all my visitors who come and read and leave their comments here, thank you so very much. I know that even non EC users also drop by and I just don’t have any idea who they are. Nevertheless, I am offering my heartfelt gratitude to you all.

Checking my EC drop inbox, I have seen some consistent visitors. I think they deserve mentioning here and putting their links to increase their traffic. They deserve nothing less than that. Currently, these awesome bloggers are:

Fatherlyours.com – A father from the Philippines who blogs about his family and his life in general. I can tell by his posts that he is a caring and responsible family man – a rarity nowadays.

Happy family matters – If you are after great parenting and family tips, this is the place to go. An ultimate destination for those who love to hear wisdom on how to keep family life manageable and exciting.

Absolutely Mom’s - this is owned by a woman who comes across to me as kind and a good mom. Her site is like a journal of their family’s life. She mentioned that Amy Grant is her favourite singer – and I think Amy is great too, so that is one common ground we have there.

Cheaper by the Half Dozen – This has a lay-out that is easy on the eyes, even with ads on the fringes (which means this lady is brilliant at earning money from her blog!). I enjoy her posts, and with six wonderful kids, she does not run out of stories to write about. There is the occasional paid review as well, which, as we all know, motivates a blogger to keep going.

A Girl for All Status – A no nonsense blogger who tells things as they are - no fancy words here. Her honesty and skilled writing make the visit worthwhile. Even ordinary things that happen to her become great conversation pieces because of the way she presents them.

Mommieshome.net – This is one of the best mommy pages I have ever been to. It is brimming with posts that mommies will find relevant, wherever they may be in the world. Its lay-out, color and structure, though not too feminine for my taste, gives one the impression that it is a page to be taken seriously – which I find desirable in a blog.

According 2 Nessa – A mom who talks about anything that affects her – from family matters to politics. She has a healthy and funny take on life and this literally “infects her readers.

Humane Blogging Tips – This post is the place to go if you want help with serious blogging. The guy is keen on giving tips to pro bloggers. He comes across as a “blogging big brother” to me.

Puzzled Me – A blog owned by a teen-ager from the Philippines, expect to find stuff that interest the young. Puzzled Me mainly writes about TV shows he follows in the Philippines (at least as far as I have read so far). His latest post is about a book by a popular and brilliant Filipino writer. This goes to show that this teen-ager knows how to feed his mind as well. Hope he lasts for a long time as a blogger.

Dance of Motherhood – This is a fellow Filipina who has a funny way of recounting her entire family’s antics and daily happenings. If you want to be treated to stories about how a family can stay together and still have fun, check this out. By the way, she has a great lay-out too, which she recently updated and dressed up.

By the way, Dance of Motherhood just launched this awesome contest. She wants you guys to write about your favourite Mommy Pages you have a chance to win EntreCard points. Dance of Motherhood, is this enough for me to qualify? - hehehe! Kidding aside, i will write a post on this to be able to join your contest.

Next post, I will also mention the sites that provided me with the most number of clicks via the EC ads I placed in them. I want to do this as my way of thanking them – to introduce them to you and to testify to their effectiveness as carriers. Til next post, guys!

Healthy Momma is Hot Momma II

In addition to my last post before this, I feel compelled to share with you what I know about nutrition and its direct link to diseases. Well, we all know that food and nutrition have a direct effect on our bodies – our performance level, fitness to function or even our moods. However, not everybody knows about the link between nutrition and the immune system’s functions.

I got introduced to the emerging science of Nutritional Immunology some years back. There is this line of products from the US consisting of plant foods that are packaged conveniently for daily consumption. These products were researched and are produced by a Nutritional Immunologist who has spent the last two decades researching about cancer cure.

What she discovered in the course of her research was that, prevention is still the best weapon against the big C. And how to prevent it? – through plant foods, of course. Plants are naturally endowed with phytochemicals and nutrition that, if consumed by humans, can keep a highly-functioning immune system that can ward off 99% of diseases, including cancer.

So, my main point is, I want to encourage each one of us to consider switching to a purely or pre-dominantly vegetarian diet in order to achieve optimum health. Of course, diet, while making up a large portion of our health regime, should also be accompanied with regular moderate exercises and relaxation.

I mentioned at the start of this post that I was compelled to share about Nutritional Immunology. My reason is somewhat connected to the inspiration behind the Nutritional Immunologist’s pursuit for cancer cure. When she was working as an Immunologist/Molecular Biologist in a hospital in Utah, she saw a woman crying. She approached the woman and asked her what the matter is. The woman answered: “I have cancer and I am dying. I don’t know what will happen to my children when I am gone.”

It is heart-rending enough to be told that one is dying, but to have the added burden of thinking what will happen to the children you leave behind, that is sad beyond words. We Mommas will eventually grow old and leave this world but at least, we can do something to maintain our health and a good quality of life while the kids are young and need us the most. Not only that, if we are healthy, we get to enjoy life to the fullest, age gracefully and pursue our other interests while being the able, healthy and hot Mommas that we are to our lovely angels.

Healthy Momma is Hot Momma

Come to think of it, a momma’s health is crucial to the survival of her entire family. I realized this when my right elbow became too painful for me to perform the simplest chores in the house like cooking rice. I had to struggle to prepare breakfast and pack my husband’s sandwich for lunch.

My dearest hubby had to pitch in with the dishwashing and house cleaning chores. For more than a week, I couldn’t prepare the usual healthy dishes that are a fixture on the dinner table. Worst, I was not in the best spirits to be the darling mom and wife everyone goes home to at the end of the day.

Sadly, majority of families do not realize this critical factor to their own survival. When mom is on sick bay, the laundry piles up, there is no yummy food on the table (unless daddy loves his wok as much as his TV remote control), dust gathers up to several millimeters thick and there just is that melancholy and lonely air hanging around the entire house.

Specially for moms who are also working full-time, staying healthy is of utmost importance, as not only will the family home suffer if they get sick, but more so the budget – which is unthinkable during these hard times. It is therefore, imperative that we, mommas, have to ensure that we live, eat, think healthily at all times.

For me, I started doing this almost seven years ago when I decided to go vegetarian. Now that I am fast approaching middle age, I need to get a little bit more active as well to maintain my weight and keep my entire body more fit. Women are more prone to osteoporosis, but women with sedentary lifestyles are a lot more susceptible.

Menopause is also another milestone I will soon reach. With this are a host of changes from the hormonal level to the more obvious – the appearance. While I cannot escape menopause, I now have a “battle plan” to minimize its adverse effects. The hormonal activities may be impossible to affect, but staying healthy and fit will definitely minimize the discomfort. As early as now, I am starting to mentally prepare myself already, accepting the fact that it is just a phase and I will survive it.

I intend to cover all fronts. Aside from a healthy diet and an active lifestyle, I am also making sure that I have an outlet for the stress. Of course, blogging would be one of them. Cooking and reading are also top in my list of de-stressing activities that keep me relaxed. If you haven’t noticed yet, a momma’s moods have more profound effects on her family’s performance and stability than we all care to admit.

Last but not least, being able to practice a life of faith, knowing that the Lord is there for me every step of the way, helps me face life with a positive disposition. This helps a lot in maintaining my emotional and mental health. It is a comfort to have Someone bigger than myself to help me deal with life and the cruelties it can possibly bring on.

So, mommas, whether your families think about it or not, it is important that you take care of your health for their sake. A strong and healthy momma is definitely a hot momma, don’t you think?

Blogging Addiction Now Officially Incurable

See You In Blog No. 2

I am officially declaring that my addiction to blogging has now worsened to something between incurable and terminal stage. I mean, this is the point of no return for me and I probably would be blogging for the rest of my life – even when my fingers would already be too shaky and stiff due to arthritis (heaven forbid!) and old age.

I have a few brilliant realizations in the course of two years of active blogging: First, that blogging is like opening up my soul to strangers – some to eventually become friends, others to remain as spectators of my life.

Second, I have proven that blogging is an outlet of my creativity, as well as an escape to a perfect world, where I can project myself to the rest of the universe as sane and smart as I would want to be (do I hear murmurs of assent or dissent?).

Well, as proof of this blogging addiction, I set-up another blog, which means that I am opening my life just a little bit wider for all my readers to see a more “enhanced” image of myself. If you enjoy my posts here, you might want to see another side of my being by reading my other blog. In this second blog, I am the Filipina who left her country for greener pastures.

My interests here are everything that has something to do with Filipinos living abroad – their inspiring or heartbreaking stories, their struggles and the issues they grapple with. There will also be glimpses of the lives of others who are left in the Philippines, who are valiantly making a good life in their native land. In other words, Pinoy Around the World is about me as a Filipina – whatever that symbolizes, and my views about this phenomenal mass exodus of my countrymen to populate the rest of the world.

I am now one of those who maintain multiple blogs and can’t seem to stop creating more. I used to wonder how on earth these people could keep up with the demands of writing for more than one blog. Now, I know for a fact that it is as natural as living my life with all its different and unique facets. I realized that blogging with different themes need not mean myself living a fragmented life, but just living life while giving the attention and focus every aspect of it deserves.

Love With the Wrinkles on It

Last night, I stayed up late into the night to watch two simultaneous TV shows (how’s that?). One was about parents who are very concerned about their kids’ safety that they are, in effect, raising cotton wool kids. I stumbled upon this feature show because the phrase “cotton wool” caught my eye. Curiosity got the better of me because I really wanted to know what “cotton wool kids” actually mean.

That particular show is very contemporary UK. It is sad to note that this country has a very high death rate among teenagers due to violence. What is very lonely about the whole thing is a lot of the victims are good kids who were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Had they been more closely monitored and made better aware of the dangers that await them, who knows, they would still be here today.

There was one parent in the show who wanted to implant a tracking chip on her daughter’s arm just for her to be able to monitor where she is every moment of the day. To that parent, that will significantly decrease her worries. On the other hand, some of the kids who were part of the show also voiced out their fear of being harmed by other teenagers in the street.

The other show was of a completely different genre – it was on forensic science. The case at hand was about a 15-year old girl and her 14-year old step brother, who were found dead somewhere in Texas a long time ago. The teen-agers were killed by an acquaintance, who picked them up from their home in the middle of the night for a country ride. That is where the two TV shows came together for me, into one interesting study.

The children’s father/stepfather in the murder cases saw them drive away with their killer that night and the biggest question in my head was, why did he allow them to leave the house in the dead of the night – just like that? The show actually provided a very apt background to the cotton wool kids show in the other channel.

In fairness, the murder case tackled by the forensic science show happened two decades ago, when life was a bit safer for little ones and young people. It might have been that it was natural for teenagers to go for a thrill ride in the country late in the night back then.

But not these days. It would be unthinkable (at least for me) to allow teenagers to go out for a drive in the country with an unfamiliar person in the middle of the night. The parents featured in the cotton wool kids show might be a bit on the extreme end in terms of their concerns and the lengths they go to for their kids’ safety, but watching the program simultaneously with the murder story on the other channel, those parents seemed sensible to me.

It is indeed a scary prospect to let one’s child go forth into the wide, evil world on their own. I dread that day when my turn comes. The fact that I now have an 11-year old son means that it will be very soon. I am sometimes gripped with panic attacks and there have been bouts of intense desire to run away from such a proposition, which is impossible, of course.

After watching those two shows, I went to my boys’ room and seeing them asleep like angels, my heart swelled with overwhelming joy over the fact that they are mine and at the same time, with an overwhelming desire to protect them and shield them from pain and the dangers in the outside world. I wish I do not have to be such a worry wart, but I can’t help it. I love my kids dearly and though I entrust them to God on a daily basis for safekeeping, there is always that concern over whether they are alright. I think, this is my way of showing my love for them. After all, worry over loved ones is just love with the wrinkles on it.

Fun in Wa'er!

My boys went to their swimming lesson for the first time today. It was a momentous event for the whole family. Both boys, aged 11 and six, are in the same beginners’ class. The older one was enrolled in swimming back in the Philippines some four years ago but he did not want to go back after the first session. He is asthmatic and had very frail health back then. The insensitive instructor let him swim in an outdoor pool under a pouring rain for an hour. That evening he got the colds and was sick for a week after that. He never gave swimming more than a passing thought after that experience.

Fast forward to today, we were able to persuade him to give swimming a second chance here in England. So it was quite a funny sight to see him – big as he is, in beginners’ class, towering over his 4-6 year old “classmates”.

On the other hand, my little boy has had no experience whatsoever with swimming prior to today and he was literally quaking while in the pool. The fear was painted all over his face. We could see him from afar literally shaking! He finds it really hard to breathe under the shower so the fear must be due to his not being able to breathe normally when in water. I felt a twinge of anxiety seeing my baby go through that first lesson, but I think it is necessary for him to go through it. What is important is that he learns to swim as it is a basic life skill.

This important event comes in the heel of the saddest news I have heard this year – the death of my friend’s son due to drowning. All the more I feel the need to let them learn how to swim. While it is not a guarantee that they will be absolutely safe in the water, being able to swim will immensely free me from anxiety everytime they are in water.

My husband and I can’t swim, because back then, we did not have the luxury of having swimming lessons. In other words, we missed having fun in the water - whether it be the pool, the beach or the river. We are both happy that today, our kids need not miss out on that fun, what with all the fancy water sports and activities we have invented so far. I call that progress from generation to generation.

Tears for my Friend

It is with a heavy heart that I went to bed last night. You see, just before giving in to my droopy eyelids, I had the urge to check my email. Lo and behold! I found a very sad email from my friend who is currently based in Canada. She told me that her son back in the Philippines just died – he drowned. I am not sure how old the boy exactly was but I reckon, he was seven or eight years old.

I am not able to comprehend the depth of a mother’s grief when she loses a child but I can say that it must really be horrible beyond words. My heart goes out to my friend, and to all moms who have had to endure such an experience. It is eerie because a few hours before I read that email, these words flashed in my mind: “How sad it is for a mother to hold the lifeless body of her child.” For no reason at all, this crossed my mind. Then, that email. I don’t know what this means, but there you go.

In her email, my friend thanked me for helping look after her boy when we were still working together in the hinterlands of the Philippines – she, as a nurse, and me, as a Project Officer for a foreign-funded health project.

In the midst of her sorrow, she even had the time to thank me and her other friends who have been part of her son’s life. Maybe it’s the mother in her, that God-sent person who has the capacity to set aside her own feelings and needs for the sake of her kids. The world is a better place because of mothers like my friend, like you and me, who go through life with the mission of putting our little angels above our own needs and feelings. But do we have to endure heartaches of this kind, too?

Hot Momma Gets Credit Smart

I have finally found a part-time job here in England. It’s only been a week since I started, yet, I am beside myself with excitement at the prospect of receiving my first salary. I am earning my own money again and get to spend it the way I want. Up until now, I have been content to leave all shopping chores to the hubby, except for a few choices I need to make myself.

He offered to apply for an extension credit card for me as soon as I arrived here last year but I declined as I did not see the need for it. Now, I might take him up on that offer again.

Before actually doing that, I needed to look for answers to all my questions about credit in general. Luckily, there is this website called Credit Tips Center , where I got sensible answers about credit card concerns. I was delighted to see all sorts of people having the same concerns or questions as myself – at least, I am not alone in my lack of knowledge about credit cards and related matters.

Having all the correct information about responsible credit is important in order to maintain good credit history. If you are also looking for answers about credit cards, visit Credit Tops Center. You are assured of expert advice and sensible answers to all your questions.

The website also offers an array of choices of credit cards available via online application. Check out the website and walk away a little wiser in matters pertaining to credit cards.