Jojo's Gift

Finn and I surprised Jojo with this Edible Arrangement that I had delivered today, instead of tomorrow since we won't be home tomorrow. Isn't it beautiful? This is the medium sized arrangement with chocolate covered apples, flower shaped pineapples, cantaloupes, honeydews, strawberries and grapes. They were all so sweet! I'm happy with the quality of the fruits. I had to store them in containers after we had our fill and then I counted the skewers ... 90 in all! They were plastic skewers which is great so that I can reuse them (^_^) Definitely worth ordering again for a special occasion.

Class Trip

Today was Finn's first class trip ever and boy was he excited! It's also his first ride on a school bus (^_^) There were 3 parent chaperones along with 4 teachers so we were all assigned 3-4 kids. I had 2 girls and 2 boys with me, including Finn. The parents were asked to be in school between 9-9.15am and of course I was there at exactly 9am (ever so punctual). We waited in the office for the kids to get ready and then their teacher assigned the kids to the chaperones. We all went out to the bus which was waiting outside already. Finn sat with a girl (who tried to kiss him by the way) on the 2 seater, and the 2 other kids and I sat on the other side on the 3 seater. Once everyone was buckled up, we left for Williams Center in Rutherford. We were the only ones there since the cinema opens at 1pm. Everyone also got a bag of popcorn and a juicebox. The movie was cute and I think everybody enjoyed it. Once it was over, we cleaned up, went to the bathrooms and did a headcount. Then it was back outside to wait for the bus. We were back in school by 11.45am, right on time for their lunch.
I had fun coz it was my first time to ride in a school bus here too (^_^) The bus I rode in when I went to school before was old and rickety and dark. This bus is nice, clean, and had seatbelts for everyone. You know another nice thing about this trip? It was free! Free transportation, free movie, with free popcorn and juice too (^_^) I hope I get to be a chaperone for every class trip ... hehehe.

Tips - Part 2

Last night's episode on "I can make you thin" talked about emotional eating. I guess most people compensate with food to make them feel better during times of sadness, stress, loneliness, anger, trauma or whenever there's some overwhelming emotion. We always see this kind of behavior in the movies right? The girl had a bad relationship or whatever and then you see her at home in her pjs, grabs a spoon and eats ice cream straight from the container and sits in front of the tv.
When we have these ups and downs in our mood, we need to keep it stable. This technique was developed by an American doctor (his name escapes me right now) and all you have to do is take 2 fingers and tap on some accupuncture points. Here's a diagram:



Here's what you should do:
1. Tap under the eye
2. Tap under the collarbone
3. Tap under the eye
4. Tap the side of the hand
5. Tap the back of the hand (in between your pinky and ring fingers)
6. Close your eyes
7. Open your eyes
8. Move your eye down to the left
9. Move your eye down to the right
10. Look around 360 degrees one way, and then the other way
11. Hum a tune
12. Count aloud 1-5
13. Hum a tune
14. Stop

He says this isn't a diversion but a way to reprogram your brain. Try it right now. Think of something that you really want to eat. Keep thinking of that while doing the steps above. Afterwards, check to see if you still want that food. He says you might have to repeat it a lot at first. But once you get the hang of the steps, you'll need it less and less. I guess even if you're not an emotional eater, you can still try this technique when you're overwhelmed, to keep your emotional equilibrium in check.

New Battery

For months I've been asking for an extra battery for my camera and today I finally have it! Jojo somehow gave in and ordered it for me, without me knowing, so when the package arrived this afternoon, it was such a pleasant surprise (^_^) And he also added this charger kit which I can use in the car, pretty handy! I wanted to have it before our friends from Manila arrive next Sunday. We'll be showing them around NY and I don't want to end up with a dead battery when I know I'm gonna be taking tons of pictures right? So I'm glad he finally bought me one. Thanks BAJ! Mwah (^x^)

Tips

I'm gonna share with you Paul McKenna's tips on losing weight. This is from the show "I Can Make You Thin" that aired last Sunday on TLC. There's gonna be 4 more episodes in the coming weeks so I'm gonna watch those too.

There are 4 golden rules to follow:

1. When you're hungry, EAT!
2. Eat what you want, not what you think you should eat.
3. Eat consciously.
4. When you think you're getting full, STOP eating.

Sound crazy right? But here's the logic. When you're dieting, you usually starve yourself. What happens is, your body then thinks that there's not enough food supply so it goes into storing mode, meaning, it becomes efficient in storing fat to help you get through the "famine". That means your metabolism slows down.

With his technique, you're essentially retraining your body not to store the fat, but instead boost your metabolism. The key is rule no. 3 - eat consciously. This can be a bit hard since we've been "trained" since we were kids to eat fast and finish what's on your plate. He calls it the Clean Plate Club. But with rule no. 3, you do the opposite. In fact, if you can eat with your eyes closed, do it. It removes the need to clean your plate. So what you do is, after putting a spoon/forkful of food, put down the utensil, put your hand down. Sit on your hand if you have to. Then chew your food slowly, really taste it. He says chew it 20 times. When you're done, take another spoon/forkful, put it down and chew slowly. This is help you notice when your stomach is telling you that it's full. When you eat fast, there's not enough time for that message to reach your brain, that's why we tend to eat more than we need to. Once you feel that you're getting full, stop eating. If you get hungry 1o minutes after, go eat! As long as you don't forget to do rule no. 3. Oh and also, no distractions while you're eating - no TV, no reading - so you can really concentrate on eating.

With regards to rule no. 2, he said to toss out anything that you don't like, even if you THINK you should be eating it. Only keep food that inspire you. As long as you follow rule no. 3, you won't be over-eating.

Eating slowly is hard especially if you're a fast eater. I got bored yesterday from chewing ... hehehe. But I didn't finish what I put on my plate. I got hungry a bit later so I had a bite from my leftovers. I hope I get used to this and maybe see some results.

Now I know why Finn can't seem to put on some weight ... he's such a slow eater!

Silly

My two boys being silly - Finn put his arms in his dad's jacket too (^_^)

New Clock!

I've finished making Finn's new clock! It's different coz I designed the face myself so you're not gonna see this in the stores. But I wasn't able to make it funky as I envisioned it coz I bought a clock kit instead of buying the separate components. I think I did good for my first try at clock making (^_^) Next time I'll do something funky!

So here's what I did. The kit came with the wood base, the clock mechanism and some templates but I didn't use them. I painted the sides yellow and let it dry. I started to look for a Spongebob image that would allow my salvaged hands to look like they were his actual hands. I found this twisted Spongebob from the movie poster Big Twists and just erased his arms. I made the background myself, imitating the flowery sky of Bikini Bottom, and placed Spongebob in the middle. Using the Spongebob font, I placed the hours inside and the minutes outside to help Finn tell time quicker.

Once that was printed, I brushed Mod Podge on the base and carefully smoothed the print on it. I also Mod Podged the Spongebob stickers on the side, just to give it some added interest. When they were all dry, I placed the clock mechanism with the salvaged hands and voila! A new clock (^_^)

Spin-o-clock

Finn had a Spongebob Spin-O-Clock in his room, given by his Lola Thel years ago. Saturday night when we got home, we were changing the times in our clocks in preparation for DST. So I changed the time in his clock, and hung it back on the wall.

After a few minutes, something crashed. I looked in the bathroom and maybe some of the bottles fell over ... nothing. I went in his room and there it was, lying on the floor, broken, pieces everywhere. Finn began to bawl (T_T) I felt so guilty for not checking if it went on the hook well enough. I said sorry a lot of times and tried to comfort him. I picked up the pieces and thought maybe I could salvage something and make a new wall clock for him. The only thing I was able to salvage from the clock were the hands. Maybe tomorrow I'll go to Michael's or Rag Shop to buy a clock mechanism and a base to make him a new clock.

Yesterday after taking Jojo to the airport, he and I went to K-Mart to look for a new clock. He saw a Spongebob alarm clock and said he thinks it's better coz it won't fall and break. I told him we could go to Target and check out what they have but he said he wanted that one.

I still have to think of the design of the clock I'm gonna make him. Something different, funky and what-not. Spongebob of course. Better get my thinking cap on before I buy my materials.

The birds and the bees

On our way to dinner last night, Finn suddenly asked me ...

Finn: Mommy, how do boys help girls bring the baby out?
Me: Boys don't help bring the baby out, it's just the girls, the mommies. Boys help make the baby, but they don't do anything to bring the baby out.
Finn: Oh yeah, that's what I meant. How do boys help make the baby?
Me: Why do you ask?
Finn: I just want to know.
Me: silence ... thinking of how to explain it.
Finn: Mommy, how?
Me: Well the girl has the egg (making a circle with my thumb and index finger), and the boy has the sperm (other index finger wiggling). It comes out of your pototoy (I know, I should correct this term already). When the sperm joins with the egg, that forms into a baby. The baby grows inside the mommy for 9 months.
Finn: How does the sperm get inside?
Me: silence again ...
Jojo: Mommy, tell him (with a straight face)
Me: Remember when you asked me where you came out? (Finn opened his legs and pointed to the spot I showed him before ... but that's another story) That's where the boy puts the pototoy for the sperm to swim up to the egg.
Finn: Ohhhh ... ... ... You mean babies grow from eggs like some animals?
Me: No, that's just what you call it. The egg is very small, and the sperm is even smaller. When the sperm gets inside the egg and they start to form the baby, it's called an embryo.
Finn: Oh ... I had a fun time swimming inside mommy (I told him before that there's water inside with the baby, hence the swimming)
Me: How do you know?
Finn: I remember.

So there you go, a very direct approach. I'll show him pictures of a baby growing next time, if I don't forget. He's very interested in the human body and science in general. I'm glad coz I love science (^_^) Sometimes he'd just ask me about trees, space, or rain (we discussed about the rain last night too since it was raining), even death and religion and I'd tell him something and he goes "what else?". Very inquisitive. It's a very good thing to want to learn (^-^)

Weight Loss

I'm trying to lose weight so I'm cutting down on calories. I don't need 2000 calories especially since I'm always on my butt in front of the computer =P so I really need to watch my calorie intake so that I burn more of what I take in.

This is my dinner tonight. Doesn't it look yummy? It's Dannon's Light & Fit Orange Mango yogurt with 1/3 cup of Kashi Go Lean Crunch which is a mix of 7 whole grains and sesame cereal ... yummm!!! Last night I had the same thing with Strawberry Kiwi yogurt instead.

Typing

Not bad! I guess I haven't lost my touch even if I don't type that much (^_^)
82 words

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