How To Love Your Husband

1. Pray for him daily.
2. Speak words of kindness.
3. Give him unexpected gifts.
4. Thank him for something good he has done.
5. Praise him for one of his good character qualities.
6. Be humble enough to confess your own failures.
7. Reaffirm your commitment to him.
8. Initiate a special time of lovemaking with him.
9. Spend time with him doing something he likes to do.
10. Obey God and let your husband see Christ in you.

This Is Getting Ridiculous

I feel like a ping pong ball… I am again to be transferred back to my former unit…; the unit I was more than happy to leave…

Yesterday, my boss talked to us. When he called the meeting, I had no inkling that this meeting was going to involve me… I’ll have to hand it to my boss though, he handled the situation pretty well… he tried to break the news to me as gently and as professionally as possible…

My former boss resigned (something I was hoping for while I was there…) and so there was a void in the organizational chart. A section head will assume that position, and being that I worked there for sometime and that I supposedly I had a “grasp” of the transactions(boo), I was hand-picked (blech!) by our division head to assume the vacated position….

Hmmm… how do I feel? Mixed emotions really, all of them negative. Hahaha! I thought I was already home, back to my original department 12 years ago…back with the boss I’ve stayed loyal to through the years and through the other bosses I had… only to be brought back to the unit I (ehem) disliked and which I thought I’ve finally escaped. Hay.

Although this time, I can choose to see this positively. This time I was transferred because apparently I already know most of the transactions there. As opposed to trying to teach a new officer everything about the department.  

Please bear with me. I just received the news yesterday afternoon, just before leaving for home. I’m giving my self 0.5-1 day more to wallow in my misery… then tomorrow, I’ll be back to being a ray of sunshine. =)

This is a blessing. This is good for me… the universe has conspired for this to happen… this is meant to be…

Hmmm. Maybe tomorrow I’ll believe these words…

For the mean time, I still have a couple more hours to wallow in my misery… hehehe.

UNFRIEND is the New Oxford American Word of the Year

How many times have I uttered the words “it’s a good thing there is Friendster / Facebook”? A few too many! =) Well, I AM thankful for these social networking sites. For an introvert like me, it’s a great way to stay in touch with long lost friends… without having to actually commit to awkward “catching up” conversations. You can stay privy to their latest activities just by simply peeking into the latest pics they uploaded to their account or reading their shout out or status. Do you know of anyone who doesn’t have an account? In our office there are only a handful of people left… they are the only ones who can’t relate to what the rest of our group is talking about (Farmville, pet society, café world, typing maniac etc.)

The fact that Unfriend —as in deleting someone as a friend on a social network such as Facebook, was even chosen as the word of the year is proof enough how widely these social networking sites are used worldwide. Just say it and everybody understands. Sure there were other contenders for the honor of being the word of the year. According to a Oxford University Press USA blog post, words like netbook and sexting were in the running, but in the end, Unfriend won hands down. Haha!

There, I just had to share that factoid. Ok, gotta go, I’ve got a list of people that I gotta unfriend. *wink*

 

Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

As I previously shared, I went on a shopping spree on scrap books, and one of these books is The Big Picture by Stacy Julian. In the book, she listed books that inspire her in her scrapbooking projects, I copied her list thinking that I’ll check them out the next time I go window shopping in our local bookstores. She had only good things to say about a particular book: Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. She said that it is a must-read for all scrapbookers. That the author has proven that ordinary life is interesting, important and valuable. Aha! That was enough for me… I got really curious and interested.

I got the chance last Friday. Hubby and I went to Powerplant Mall in Rockwell, Makati. Of course I simply had to pass by Fully Booked =)  I asked customer service if they had the book in stock.. after a few minutes of frowning into the computer monitor… his face lit up, yes ma’am we have one copy! Lucky me!

He proceeded to ask an assistant to bring it over to us. When I got it, hmmm… it wasn’t really what expected, it didn’t really ring any bells and whistles.. It was a simple paperback…bearing my favorite color combination: blue and yellow. =) There was a simple upturned umbrella on the cover.. and these simple words: I have not survived against all odds. I have not lived to tell. I have not witnessed the extraordinary. This is my story.

That’s what struck me. Those statements summarized my whole life! Haha!

Although I was hooked, I wasn’t reeled in that easily. How do I say it? It wasn’t exactly love at first sight for me. When I opened the book I initially couldn’t understand what it was supposed to be. I had dates and lists and tables of random tidbits. I felt confused. This was supposed to be an inspiring book, and yet as I skimmed the pages I didn’t feel inspired at all.

So I stood there, in the middle of Fully Booked, trying to decide whether to purchase this supposedly great book… in the end, I decided to trust Stacy Julian (she is a scrapbooking guru after all). The book wasn’t that expensive anyway at P546.00.

When I started to read the book… I still didn’t like it that much. I just kept on. Until slowly, I started to understand…I started to relate…

And then I came upon an entry: “Tries to write fiction in a creative class in college. Keeps writing the truth, stuff that actually happened“. Ding! That’s me again! For the longest time a writer for me is a writer of fiction, and since I can’t even come up with a fairly decent short story, I have always cringed at the thought/dream of me being a writer. Friends keep on telling me I write well, but how can they understand that I write well only when I am sharing my own thoughts and feelings? How can I make them understand that I need to be inspired/moved by what I am writing about to be able to write well. All the while I though I was just a literary freak that way. Writers are supposed to write prose, and amazing stories… not short, simple, irregular statements of thoughts and ramblings. AKR understands! Hehehe! She even wrote a book about it! She went on to share how mastering the segue worries her, how her writing is such that each paragraph does not drift fluidly and seamlessly into the next. Goose bumps ran up my arms. It’s like she’s a kindred spirit!

I bought this book to inspire me in my scrapbooking projects, instead it has inspired me in my writing…

Thanks for the inspiration… thanks for understanding… thanks for giving due credit and attention to the much-unappreciated ordinary life.

 

 

The Secret:: Create Your Tomorrow

To create your tomorrow, go over your day tonight when you are in bed just before you fall asleep, and feel gratitude for the good moments. If there was something you wanted to happen differently, replay it in your mind the way you wanted it to go. As you fall asleep, say “I will sleep deeply and wake up full of energy. Tomorrow is going to be the most beautiful day of my life.”

Good Night!

 

- From the THE SECRET

Weekend at last!

 Audit time once again… schedules to prepare. Reports to print. It’s been a pretty toxic time at the office… so the weekend is a very welcome break! Hay! At long last! I can sleep in!

But wait, there’s more! Hubby and I still have to face the battle that is EDSA Traffic tonight. We are going to pass by many malls and most of them are having a midnight sale… on a Friday (gimmick) night! Traffic jam for sure! Oh well. At least there’s the weekend to look forward to. =)

 

Terrific Toddler Tips: Understanding Your Toddler

Every person is unique. We have heard this time and again.  We all have our own peculiarities. We react to situations differently. We all exhibit our individuality. Our dear toddlers are no exception. In fact, it is around this age when they start to develop and show their own personality. We see a particularly jovial child and compare him to a somber, serious looking one… and we have the tendency to judge him as a cheerful child, while the other one is called moody.

This is important advice: parents, don’t label your child. Being called a “difficult child” or a “shy child” is very limiting. We should aim to be encouraging rather than restraining. Being labeled is like being judged for life. It is like your future is laid out already. A difficult child’s” actions may be dismissed as acting up or just misbehaving as usual, instead of being addressed. A “shy child’s” parents may go around saying that their child is an introvert since childhood…always has been, always will be. So instead of encouraging the child to get out of her shell, reaching out to others, and making new friends, they are conveying a message that she has always been like that… and will most probably be the same for the rest of her life. This leaves very little room for her personality improvement.

Don’t confuse understanding and getting to know your child with excusing and accepting problem behavior. Understanding her doesn’t mean that you will side with her no matter what. It doesn’t mean spoiling her rotten and expecting the world to adjust to her quirks and impulses. Yes, you love her, and you will stand by her no matter what, but she will still have to find a way to fit into the world, no matter how unique and wonderful she is. An example: if by chance, your child has a tendency towards aggressive behavior towards others, her parents should find ways to modify her conduct rather than making excuses for her. It part of our obligation as parents to make sure that our children can happily and successfully thrive on their own and peacefully co-exist with others.  

Also, don’t compare children. Comments like “I wish you were more like your sister” or “you’re brother is …, why can’t you be more like him?” may only be words to us. After a while we’ll forget about it, but the damage it can do to our toddler’s self esteem is inestimable. Let us not assume that she’s too young to even understand. Words are powerful, and they can get into one’s subconscious and contribute to that someone’s life programming.

Our toddler is a little person. She has the ability to think and feel. It is only right to make an effort and try to understand our toddler. Rearing a child doesn’t only involve feeding, and bathing a child but also getting to know her, and encouraging her to be the best that she can be. =)