Fabulous!

Seems that awards are abundant all over the blog world (^_^) Thanks to Kaye for presenting me with this Fab Award. I pass it on to Hazel, Mawie and Rhea for being such "loyal" employees (~_^)

Woohoo!!!!

Finn got his Junior Black Belt this afternoon along with this huge trophy (^_^) Congratulations Finn! I'm so very proud of you. Next goal ... black belt!!!

Got tagged and awarded

Thanks Mawie for this award (^_^) And I pass it on to the same people that I tagged below.

Got tagged, also by Mawie, about shopping. I tag Cessna, Hazel, and Liz.

~ Start copy ~

It’s very simple. When you receive this tag, copy the whole list and add your own shopping tip to the bottom and pass it on. Don't forget to link to your blog.

1. Wear comfy clothing when you’re shopping. You don’t wanna fuss with too many laces and buttons when you’re trying clothes on.

2. Choose stores offering some kind of reward program, e.g. purchase points, rebates or store coupons. Knowing how the program works and when to use them will save you a lot of money in the long run.

3. Always ask for a discount or bargain, especially when you pay cash for big purchase like furniture and electrical items, you will be surprised how much lesser you have to pay.

4. Buy in bulk or from the hypermarket. Hypermarket like Giant and Tesco has greater offer than places like Jusco or Parkson. (I’m referring to household stuffs)

5. For food stuff, always check the expiry dates, get items with later expiry dates so that you can store them longer.

6. Warehouse discount, off-season handbags products sale, factory outlet stores are great places to find super-ultra-fabulous bargains. -and again, don't say i didn't tell you this :p

7. When you find something that you like, try and look around first, who knows the next shop offers it at a lower price.

8. Don't go crazy shopping just because it's sale. Think carefully whether the item is something you would buy for the regular price but couldn't afford it. Otherwise, you might end up regretting buying the item.

9. Wait for end of season sales to buy seasonal items when they are very, very cheap as the stores need their old inventory sold. Also wait for holiday sales when almost every store has some kind of sale or special offer going on.

~ End copy ~

Belt Test

Finn took a belt test this afternoon for him to be promoted to Junior Black. For normal promotion tests, they break only one board but since he's going for Junior Black, Master Kim made him break 6 boards so he can show off different breaking techniques. He did a wonderful job (^_^) Congratulations Finn! I'm sure you'll earn your Junior Black Belt.

Kicking Skills

Breaking Technique

Yummy-tastic!

For some reason, I just remembered this photo and can't believe I forgot to share with you all! This was taken in Narita on our way back from the Philippines. Would you believe Finn finished the entire bowl? Yup, and as he would sometimes say - it's yummy-tastic!

Tandemu

I am just loving this song right now! I first heard it on FUNimation when they were advertising the Mr. Stain on Junk Alley DVD. It just makes me want to dance myself silly especially when you see Mr. Stain (Garakuta) and the other characters dance to this (^_^) I had a hard time tracking this song down and finally, I found the artist (Halcali) and here's their video. Makes you smile doesn't it? Now to put it in my phone (^-^)

38 Qs

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night? Finn
2. What were you doing at 0800? helping Finn prepare for school
3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? walked Finn to school
4. What happened to you in 2006? went apple picking in sept and saw my first covered bridge in oct, i think
5. What was the last thing you said out loud? see you
6. How many beverages did you have today? so far only one (milk)
7. What color is your hairbrush? light blue
8. What was the last thing you paid for? lunch at wendy's last monday
9. Where were you last night? home
10. What color is your front door? brown
11. Where do you keep your change? in the car and Finn's hershey bank
12. What’s the weather like today? it's drizzling
13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? love potion #3 at baskin robbins, and tin roof sundae
14. What excites you? anime, video games, vacations
15. Do you want to cut your hair? not right now
16. Are you over the age of 25? yes
17. Do you talk a lot? sometimes
18. Do you watch the O.C.? no
19. Do you know anyone named Steven? yes
20. Do you make up your own words? i think i've done it before
21. Are you a jealous person? yes
22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘A’. Anna
23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’. Karen
24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? Jojo
25. What does the last text message you received say? my mom asking me to call her sis
26. Do you chew on your straw? no
27. Do you have curly hair? no
28. Where’s the next place you’re going to? Finn's school to pick him up
29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? don't know
30. What was the last thing you ate? animal crackers
31. Will you get married in the future? already am
32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? haven't watched a movie in a long time
33. Is there anyone you like right now? yes
34. When was the last time you did the dishes? this am
35. Are you currently depressed? no
36. Did you cry today? yes
37. Why did you answer and post this? was tagged by Mawie
38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey. Aggie, Hazel, Kai, Kaye, and Liz

Texas

We have a map of the United States for the state quarters kinda like this one and Finn asked for that this morning. I didn't know why but then after a while he called me with a frustrated voice saying it doesn't look like Texas. "What doesn't look like Texas?" And then I saw that he drew this map on his Etch-A-Sketch.

I was so impressed!!! I included an outline of Texas for comparison. I mean, it's hard enough to draw something simple on this but a map? Wow! After I kept telling him how proud I am of what he did and taking pictures, he forgot about his frustration (^_^).

On Cars and FiOS

Every week, we change cars. No, it's not because we're rich, it's because Jojo travels every week and so he needs a car. He can't take ours coz then I won't have anything to use. So he rents one every week, paid for by his company of course. These are the last 3. We weren't able to take pictures of the previous ones but from now on, I'll be posting our car of the week.

We've been waiting for FiOS to become available in our area for a long time and finally, it's here! We had it installed on Wednesday (we're the first ones in our neighborhood too BTW) and it took 5 hours to finish! First he had to run a cable from the pole to our house and then set up the "brains" inside our apartment, change the cable box, connect the brains to the tv and phone, set up the wireless router which is somehow linked to everything as well, add another box for Finn's room, test the connections, test the internet and after 5 hours, everything was a-ok. So now we've got the power of fiber optics for our TVs (picture is awesome) with DVR so we don't miss a show, we've also got TFC now coz Comcast didn't have it, and what I'm so very excited about is I get to watch anime 24/7 with FUNimation!!!!! No more fighting over who gets to watch in the living room coz Finn has his own box with all the channels available plus ondemand (^_^) I also like the way they organized their channels. Local TV gets the first 49 channels, then entertainment next, then sports, then news, information, etc. Like Finn, all he needs to know are the kids channels and all he has to do is go up or down a channel, unlike with Comcast, 43 and 44 is Nick, 136 is Disney, 13/21 is PBS, it gets confusing.
Another good thing about FiOS is it's amazing speed! I uploaded 140 hi-res pics yesterday and it would have taken the whole day with DSL but it only took like, 10 mins or less? AMAZING!!! I'm telling you, if you have FiOS available in your neighborhood, get it! We got the triple-play bundle so we now also have long distance for the US and Canada with caller ID. It costs about the same as when we had Comcast plus DSL and phone but you can't even compare the two. FiOS is definitely superior. Hmmm ... I think Verizon should pay me for this entry (^_^)

Finn looks like ...

I won by only 6%! Jojo's friends or family members say that Finn looks like him but the same is said from my side so we always say that he's 50-50. But I guess it's more like 56-44 ... hehehe (^_^)

UPDATE:
I did it again with a different picture for Jojo, without his glasses and this was the result:

So it really is 50-50!

Birthdays

Found this on Liz's blog and decided to do it myself. To do this, you need to list 3 events, 2 births and 1 holiday. I'm gonna list all 3 of our birthdays here ok?

June 2 (Gemini) - Bambi

Events:
1. 1780 - The Derby horse race is held for the first time
2. 1835 - P.T. Barnum and his circus begins their first tour of the United States
3. 1946 - Birth of the Italian Republic: In a referendum Italians decide to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic. After this referendum the king of Italy Umberto II di Savoia is exiled

Births:
1. 1731 - Martha Washington, First American first lady (d. 1802)
2. 1960 - Tony Hadley, English singer (Spandau Ballet)

Holiday:
1. Independence Day Samoa 1962

March 30 (Aries) - Jojo

Events:
1. 240 BC - 1st recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet
2. 1842 - Anesthesia is used for the first time in an operation by Dr. Crawford Long
3. 1954 - Yonge Street subway line opens in Toronto. It is the first subway in Canada

Births:
1. 1853 - Vincent van Gogh, Dutch painter (d. 1890)
2. 1945 - Eric Clapton, British guitarist/singer

Holiday:
1. Spiritual Baptist/Shouter Liberation Day - Public holiday in Trinidad and Tobago

January 29 (Aquarius) - Finn

Events:
1. 1595 - William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet is probably first performed
2. 1959 - Sleeping Beauty, an animated feature produced by Walt Disney based upon a fairy tale, is released
3. 1978 - Sweden outlaws aerosol sprays due to their harmful effect on the ozone layer, becoming the first nation to enact such a ban

Births:
1. 1843 - William McKinley, 25th President of the United States (d. 1901)
2. 1954 - Oprah Winfrey, American producer, actress, talk show host, and publisher

Holiday:
1. Roman Catholic saints - Valerius of Trèves, Saint Juniper

List:
Mommyness is Happiness
This is a miracle
HiPnCooLMoMMa
MommyBa's Journey
Bernales Family

Don't forget to copy the list, remove the first link and add your own at the bottom (^_^)