High School Woes

I got this survey question from fellow blogger, Jan.

What were your worries and fears when you were in high school?

Ah, high school life, oh my high school life how exciting, kay saya!

I had a lot of fun in high school. Despite going to an all-girls' school, it was one of the best times of my life. It was the time when I established friendships that I keep and cherish to this day.

Like any teenager, I worried about a lot of things. But the most major ones were: my grades in my waterloo subject; Math (Trigonometry and Calculus) and the PROM.

Math was my weakest subject and I have to admit I really struggled through it. I even had a tutor to help me out. Thank goodness I made up for that weakness by getting good grades in English and History. As long as there were no computations involved, I was fine.

The PROM; the biggest Big Deal of high school life was a constant cause of worry and nervousness. It was the first time I ever went on a real date. It wasn't the best date ever, actually it was pretty much a disaster. If there's one thing I learned from that episode, it's that when things get so bad, they can only get better.

Now I worry about more grown-up things like bills, the mortgage, my family's welfare. Ahh, youth is indeed wasted on the young, eh?

It's all in the lighting

House decorating is something I’ve never really been interested in. When I was single I didn’t really share my mom’s constant interest in the house ware section of department stores. She loved to look at the latest furnishings and sometimes would pick up a new vase or decorative item to add to our already-full display shelves. Mom especially loved lamps.

Despite the central lighting in the rooms in our house, such as a chandelier or a lighted ceiling fan she would still add table lamps or floor lamps to strategic corners to emphasize a favorite painting or figurine. She said it added warmth to the ambiance of the room. Back then the only important lamp to me was the one on top of my study table.

Now that I’m married and have a home of my own I love to go to furniture shops and browse through online home stores. I remember being pregnant and dividing my time between the home and baby sections. I’m still searching for the perfect lighting fixtures for our living room. Right now we live abroad in a furnished apartment and I can’t wait to go home and update our little abode’s look.

Awards from Friends

I got these awards from Pat. Thanks girl!

I'm sending this out to Tricia and Rynor.

On being domesticated & chores tag

This was passed on by Marie!

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This meme is pretty simple. Here are the rules:

1.) List down the household chores you hate and why. Do you think you can survive without helpers and nannies?

2.) Copy the image.

3.) Tag as many girlfriends you want, the daddies and hubbies can also join.

4.) Add your blog's link in the domesticated divas linky love. You can add all your blogs.

5.) Leave ME a comment and I'll add you up in the masterlist.

DOMESTICATED DIVAS: Living the Healthy Life / Sripe & Yellow / Vanity Kit / Mind Bubbles / Something Purple / Em's Detour / Insights from the Grocery Cart / Living A'La Mode / Joy's In Life / Sheng's Simple Thoughts / Coriander Dreams / Gorgeous Traveller / A Traveller's Domain / Lemon Iced Tea / One Hundred and Eighty Degrees

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MY ANSWER: I dislike ironing mainly because I'm not really good at it. I also don't like washing greasy pots and pans. Sometimes it's hard to get the oil out. Living abroad has forced me and hubby to do everything by ourselves. Since I'm a SAHM I do most of the housework. I've learned a lot of things along the way and am nowhere near being a domestic diva but I'm slowly getting there. Haha! It would be nice to have some help though so I can just focus on my daughter.

I am tagging Mec, Joanne and Jan!

Island Fever

Have you ever heard of cabin fever? It’s when you have been cooped up indoors for such a long period of time that you just crave for a change of environment. Being on an island for seven months makes me feel that way. Don’t get me wrong, Marshall Islands is a beautiful place to live in. It’s quaint, peaceful, pollution-free and generally crime-free. But after you get your fill of the beach and the open sea, there’s really not much else to do around the island. For a country that used to be a U.S. territory, it is not very developed especially when it comes to recreation.

Downtown Majuro, MI's capital

There are no malls or department stores, no high-rise buildings or fancy restaurants, no parks or museums, no sports facilities. The nicest-looking building is the National Government Office where the President holds office. There are three hotels, all three-star in rank run by Americans and Taiwanese businessmen. There are no high-end beach resorts either. There’s a resort on Eneko Island that offers modest accommodations but all the other islands are pretty much uninhabited. Hubby’s boss owns another island, Enimanit which has small nipa huts imported all the way from the Philippines that provide shade and serve as picnic areas but this island has no electricity so visitors can only stay until sunset.

the rarely used Convention Center

There are many small grocery stores and a couple of big supermarkets. There are a few clothing shops that sell mostly muumuus (a dressier version of the housedress or daster, it’s the Marshallese women’s favorite attire) and simple casual clothing.

Native Chapel in Laura Beach

The country is a group of small islands, the biggest and most populous is Majuro. The three hotels have their own restaurants. There is a Japanese restaurant, a number of Chinese restos, a Filipino eatery and a Vietnamese take-out place.

There is cable TV but there are not too many channels too choose from. There’s Channel V, MTV, CNN, Fox News, Star Movies, Star World, BBC News, Knowledge Channel, National Geographic, Animal Planet, Australia TV, ESPN and a bunch of Chinese channels. There is TFC too. However, if it rains too much, reception becomes snowy or disappears altogether for a couple of days.

the biggest & tallest, National Government Building

Marshall Islands definitely needs some dire sprucing up. The island would be a great tourist destination if only it had the attractions for beach-loving travelers. I haven’t gone diving or snorkeling but I hear that the corals and underwater life are a sight to see. The beaches are clear white sand and turquoise waters, it’s sad that most of the local people are not conscious about maintaining cleanliness though. The beaches near the city already have some pieces of trash littered about the shore. The outer islands are better preserved. Visitors are required to bring their trash back with them after staying on the smaller islands.

Sunset views on both sides of the island

Our weekends are spent at home, in the company of Rynor’s work mates, going to the beach or watching DVDs borrowed from the lone video rental shop.

We still have a few more months to stay on this tropical island until we go back home and, as hubby calls it, “join the real world”. Meanwhile, it’s almost sunset and time for me to take in the lovely ocean view from our porch.

Dusk on the island

Fab Frames at Fab Prices

I’ve never been into eyewear despite being nearsighted. As a child, I hated wearing my eyeglasses and was only too glad to shift to contact lens in my teens. But a few years back an ophthalmologist recommended that I have eyeglasses handy to allow my eyes to rest from time to time. I grudgingly bought a pair and have stuck to them since.

My hubby is also nearsighted but is totally my opposite when it comes to eyewear. He loves collecting eyeglasses and shades and encouraged me to check out this new online shop he discovered called Zenni Optical. He said they have incredibly stylish new frames at unbelievably affordable prices.

They have a huge selection of frames, with single vision lens, sunsensor (potochromic)lens, tinted sunglasses lens, bifocal lens and progressive lens. I was at first skeptical, but became a true convert when Zenni Optical was on FOX News! I couldn’t be happier. Now I have a wider array of fabulous frames to choose from. Zenni Optical $8 Rx Eyeglasses are an absolute steal.

God's Pharmacy

I got this as a forwarded email and could not help but share it here in my blog...

It's been said that God first separated the salt water from the fresh, made dry land, planted a garden, made animals and fish... all before making a human. He made and provided what we'd need before we were born. These are best & more powerful when eaten raw.

God left us a great clue as to what foods help what part of our body!

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye... and YES, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

The Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopene and are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more than three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Avocadoes, Eggplant and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats one avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? It takes exactly nine (9) months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increase the number of sperm as well to overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.

Oranges, Grapefruits, and other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like the body's cells. Today's research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body's cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic, also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.