dana820.blogspot.com

Yumm... chicken liver from last night. Only 3 days until Christmas. It's been a busy week and I think it'll be like this until after New Year's. It's a good kind of busy; lots of excitement with just a hint of stress. Before you know it, another day's done and you're down for the count at bedtime. It rained today. Had leftover chicken liver {delicious!} for brunch. Opened a few presents {not mine} after dinner. One was a set of stainless steel fork, spoon and chopsticks in a neoprene zippered pouch - it was cute; the pouch was cute. We started planning for Noche Buena . That's only 2 days away. I saw a couple of Christmas gift baskets with food here so the staples are pretty much covered - ham, cheese, pasta. Can't wait.

someone told me that jollibee's sausage-"silog" was the most substantial meal on their breakfast menu. i want to try the corned beef next. we had an appointment earlier. we were out the door by 6 a.m. and arrived early for our thing. the thing was done in less than an hour. on our way home, we bought jollibee takeout because no one wanted to cook breakfast. we were home by 9:30 a.m. i ate and then i slept. it was a productive morning.

Glad the appetite's back. So far, when I get up from the dinner table, I walk like I'm full-term-preggy. Harhar.

was out of it last week - caught a virus. it was sudden. couldn't do much but rest, take tylenol for the aches and fever, 'ascof' for the cough, and wait for it to run its course. it started dawn on saturday, nov. 24: fever and chills for 4 days {mainly at night, in bed}, blunt pain around the rib cage started on day 2, productive cough started day 3, general icky-ness was gone by day 6. now, it's day 8, still nursing a barking cough but apart from that, i'm a-ok. thank goodness.

Listed batteries I've used for this MS wireless 3500 so far. Conditions: *mouse uses one AA *usage = 6-8 hrs/day, everyday *choices were down to what's available at grocery stores close to our house *all are alkaline # Eveready {black and red} - terrible {lasts less than 1 week} # Eveready Gold - bad {lasts 3-4 weeks} # Energizer Advanced - inconsistent {lasts between 1 week and 3 months} Using Energizer Max now {cheaper than Energizer Advanced so I guess Max will have a shorter life on the MS 3500} but had no choice, the store doesn't have anything else. The mouse originally came with a Duracell - that one lasted 6 months. Need to get a Duracell but will have to get that at a hardware store at the town plaza.

Breakfast was good. No, it was better than good! Was so full. What did we have? Fried left-over fish paksiw, tocino, tomato+salted egg. Spent 4 hours on a laptop tonight - the same laptop that crashes the router when someone in particular uses it to surf. As expected, s**t was in one of the browsers {IE, yeah}. So I did what I could: updated, scanned, added an extra layer of protection and left a note not to use IE anymore. I should've added another note not to surf s**t anymore - but they'll just forget; after repeated infections on several machines over the years and needing to reformat them after because the damage was so bad, you'd think the lesson would stick. Maybe they don't care. But hoping it's sorted, for now, at least.

... of shorts. Was in a sewing frenzy. Sewed myself a pair of shorts using satin from a very old {dated, mid-'90s} cocktail dress, by hand. The finished product is not a total bust for my first try. Lucky that we found a length of garter in the sewing kit, that got me going. For some reason the fabric smelled weird {like rust} after it was washed. Anyway, after wearing it twice and making adjustments, I think it's fitting and looking nice. It's red too - just in time for Christmas.

Shrimp from Sunday OK, the PC has been running beautifully for nearly two weeks now. Replacing the dead cmos battery, hardware-cleaning, etc. did the trick. Wonderful. Wished I knew how to do all that stuff {and could do them if I did}. Been a beavering away lately. It can be busy this time of year.

quick update on the recent pc power-on problem ... the computer stopped booting up during the weekend; every time i tried, it would power-on but won't post. figured the cmos battery was finally empty {and maybe something else}. we checked it earlier and saw that: # cmos battery was empty, AND # motherboard had bad capacitors {bubble-topped instead of flat-topped; should've taken a photo, sayang }. after changing cmos battery, cleaning, etc., they got it working again. re:mobo, was advised to let it ride until it dies; then we'll replace it. okay.

here's the continental cake from max's corner bakery that we had a few months ago. the cake was rich, dense and delicious. piss {don't read below to keep good mood} not two days ago, i told them straight to scan and clean their machine 'cause it and whatever they're doing on it particularly are crashing the router. now, they're on it again, doing whatever, and the router crashed three times - lesson NOT learned, obviously. thought i made myself clear when we talked but here i am nervously baby-sitting the poor router; keeping one eye on it while i work; hoping they get the hint and quit and do the right thing. on the third crash, all router lights dimmed and went out - the panic; nearly gave myself a heart attack. stressful. seriously. not fun. router's slowly dying 'cause of it. pissed. happy thoughts... think happy thoughts... happy thoughts

blood accidentally cut myself. it's small; not even painful {yet} hardware cmos battery drained, i suspect. bios prompt; time and date not current. probable reason for pc power-up/boot hiccups. will replace cmos battery asap; should be a cr2032 3v batt. hoping our computer-guy's still around; haven't seen him in years; will see if i can reach him tomorrow. i'd do it myself if i could. dammit. towel happier note, ordered aquazorb towel from zalora. wondered why they're not sending tracking info until it was delivered directly by zalora messenger, not lbc like usual; cool. the aquazorb bath towel is so nice; lightweight and super-absorbent. i might get another one.

noticing hardware issues on pc power-up again. it's the same thing i mentioned in May last year - wear and tear . the problem obviously went away since then... but it happened again yesterday and today. it was really, really, really humid the previous week so i think the bad weather had a part in it. was stressed yesterday when it took several tries until it booted properly. today, it took two tries. as usual, had to be calm and patient. on a different note, it's raining steadily today so the temp is down and it feels nice. will get this posted then off to bed.

i won? i won! {happy dance} $25 amazon gift card, baby. shopping money, woohoo! 'twas random lottery for doing a survey. got the message that i was picked, last week. waited until they sent a working code to celebrate. they sent the code yesterday. woohoo! this calls for choco froyo + banana now, what to buy? {holiday presents for nieces} oh right.

desserts last week: banana + peanut butter banana + frozen yogurt desserts this week {so far}: instant oatmeal + milo yakult looking forward to eating reheated kfc twister tomorrow it's been a hot, humid September happy tuesday!

impulse-buy
 Online shops' product pictures can be misleading. They sent me silly micro-shorts when I ordered regular ones -- twice! I rarely shop on a whim; was reminded why. d.i.y.-ish Can't get out to buy a floor lamp so this will do for now. Boxes aren't stacked according to size but this is holding well and sturdy. Pat in the back; makes me happy. Might need a few more inches off the floor; will add more to the heap then, maybe.

weee... food! moved my things around again. me thinks someone's having a hard time letting go... hence the clutter. let those old things go. nobody used them in half a decade. they're gathering dust. donate what's still good, i said. throw away the bad stuff, i said. let them go! then we can be freeeeeeeeeeee... of clutter! and freeeeeeee of dust! well, we can never really be dust-free here; so annoying how quickly dust collects. but it will be easier to clean when there are fewer things scattered about, and fresh air can get in easier in a more open space. my eyes are puffing up talking about dust.

wrote many times about how our router was having connection problems and how we needed to power-cycle to get it working again. but i'm starting to think that our router is not to blame. i'm starting to think that one of the laptops here is causing the router to turn off. well, it doesn't technically "power off." the wi-fi light would turn off in some cases but even the wired desktop is not spared. it kicks us all out and stops connections. good thing that a power-cycle still fixes the problem. i'm starting to notice a pattern, narrowing down which devices are connected when it happens. and the problem happens while a particular laptop is online and they're browsing or whatever it is they're doing online with it. it points to that one specific laptop. all of this is speculation and i need to test it to be sure. problem is i don't want to have anything to do with that laptop. na-da. nil. zilch. i don't even want to ask. i suspect ...

Hello September! bursting at the seams OK, so I splurged on FOOD last month. We all did. We ate so well. I can say that we were unable to fit leftovers inside the fridge on more than one occasion. Thank goodness this doesn't happen very often. trying to be martha I started using a mix of bleach, water and a few drops of dishwashing liquid in a spray bottle to clean the area around bathroom sink. I spray it on, leave it for at least 5 minutes, rinse the area with water and wipe it dry. Wiping it down afterwards is an important step. I think I can do this regularly; it is easy because I filled the spray bottle almost halfway which is enough for more than a month if I go at it twice a week. I attack the stubborn hard-water stains with an old toothbrush but getting them off will need more elbow grease than I can gather. Oh well, at least I'm trying.

I was going to shop online tonight but thought that this isn't a good time for it. There was the long holiday this week and next Monday (27th) is a holiday again so I figure that online stores must be backed up on shipping orders. I'm not going to risk it. I mentioned that I went to Tagaytay last Saturday. Here are a couple of pictures I took on our drive home; we were passing through Sta. Rosa here, I think. Happy Friday!

Ordered from Max's restaurant a few days ago. I called right before 6 p.m. and the food was delivered less than 30 minutes later; nice. max's sweet and sour fish fillet The "sweet and sour fish fillet" was delicious as usual! Thumbs up! max's gambas con aligue This was the first time that I tasted their "gambas con aligue" and sadly, I did not like it. It seemed that the shrimps were frozen. I don't think I'll buy this again. Happy Wednesday!

We attended a children's birthday party in Tagaytay yesterday morning. It was fun; was happy to see old friends again. We stopped by the Good Shepherd Sisters shop on our way home and I bought a tub of their delicious ube jam {halaya} for 130pesos. We're having a long, 4-day weekend now. Most people don't have to go to work until Wednesday because the 20th and 21st {Monday and Tuesday} were declared holidays by the government. Happy weekend!

i planned to splurge but the month started badly so i don't feel like doing or buying anything. so far, i have only spent money on the usual, everyday needs which don't count. but there are two weeks of august left. i may feel differently before the month is out. then again, maybe not. i don't even know what i want. ooh, maybe i really don't want anything at all; this could be a good thing.

...and someone said it's because of the weather. I had chills and fever last night; woke up today feeling nauseated with a bitter taste in the mouth. I have been eating small bits of food frequently and I'm glad I'm keeping them down; still feeling hungry though but we think the nausea will be gone tomorrow so I'm looking forward to eating a lot by then! I really enjoyed a chocolate sundae - the cold and sweetness cut through the bitterness so that was good. Took one Omeprazole {losec} so I wouldn't throw up but I think I'll keep the trashcan close to the bed tonight to be sure. I had a temp of 38.7C for two days prior too. I wasn't able to take my temp last night when I had the chills but I bet it was at least 39C. So if you're feeling nauseated, I suggest eating ice cream or sundae or sweet tart or any other sweet dessert - they cut through the bitter taste in the mouth and you can enjoy eating again. Of course, you can't just have sweets all ...

yesterday's tocino our old linksys router is acting up. we've had to power-cycle it to get it working as it should {power cycle = unplug then plug in power strip after a minute or longer}. i think we started noticing that issue in june or as early as april if i refer to my entries here! but it hasn't been happening regularly so thank goodness for that. anyway, i try to turn the power strip off altogether when i get the chance but it's hard to time it right {like when no one's around or they're sleeping}. we had fish sinigang sa miso for dinner. it was delicious. sinigang + garlic fried rice = good combo. sinigang + coke/soda to drink = bad mix.

August is here! What's up? After the fever, I started coughing; the barking kind. Now, I'm not "barking" so much and I think I'm recovering well. A typhoon passed through. Sad to learn that many areas were flooded. For two days, we lost cell signal from Globe Telecom. The signal came back yesterday. Our old dog got away and there was havoc for four days. That old, tiny dog's so territorial. Anyway, all's OK now except that someone's nursing a small dog bite that we think is healing and drying nicely; as long as they don't scratch the scab there shouldn't be a scar. They're going to the hospital for shots too. WAH update: I'm not bookkeeping anymore. Well, I'm still wrapping things up but after that, then, that's it. I was so behind and not confident with what I was doing. We parted ways with no trouble. Many years' worth of paperwork will remain here and will be disposed of accordingly - four years storage is wh...

... was my temperature yesterday. After going around the household, I think this bug finally got me. Earlier today, it went down to 38.7. Tonight, I think the fever's gone but I feel nauseated. There is a bitter taste in my mouth and the only thing I happily ate was a sweet egg tart at dinner. I took Omeprazole an hour earlier and sucked on half a losenge. I'm saving the other half of the candy for later. Hopefully, I don't throw up in bed. Happy Monday!

fever and cough people around me are getting sick  - one had a fever, one has a fever, one has a cough. must be the change in the weather. there are bursts of rain. it's not so humid anymore. i dare say the air has been cool and dry since yesterday. then again, at this point, i know that the weather can change just like... that! albite on symbian latest bedtime reading is a nice classic from the '20s. happy that i found the albite reader for symbian many months ago and because i don't jump between books, using it has been ok; plus, it looks nice. i finally let go and uninstalled the old b&n e-reader on my nokia yesterday; adding ebooks to it was a chore. nook app finally bought nookbook#3 of "a song of ice and fire" {thanks, you-in-the-us!}. it's figuratively gathering dust but i'll get to it, eventually. it's in the desktop b&n nook app though reading from the monitor gets a little uncomfortable on the neck and bum.  i don't know but ...

strange day. sleep was staggered. woke up several times before i decided to get up even if it was too early for me. ate breakfast. tried to nap in the pm; i think i napped for an hour before i woke up. ate an early dinner. the photo above was my second dinner so i had two meals within two hours of each other. it is now past 10 p.m. and i am full and sleepy. fingers crossed that i will get a good night's sleep tonight and wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow.

i have the toilet flush repair fund ready right here. now we're waiting for someone to call a plumber - hopefully, they don't forget. we've been having bursts of rain. they don't last very long and it does get very humid before it pours. i notice colors on my specs when light hits it {prism?}. is that normal? the optician i saw didn't really explain the prescription to me. now, i think the specs should have been anti-reflective too but they did not mention that to me at the eyeglasses shop. they were just pushing me to buy up to thinner lenses without talking about it much - only that it won't be heavy and will look better. for what i paid for, i think they should have given me more useful advice than that. then again, the colors in the reflection i'm seeing could be tint from anti-glare coating; but they never mentioned the lens would be coated. i don't know anymore! happy monday!

hello sunday! woke up early to sounds of a busy house: people talking, banging in the kitchen (tenderizing beef for tapa) and a-little-too-loud radio from somewhere. oh, i was also hungry and sweating (temp in mid-30s probably). after a brekkie of lechon paksiw and pineapple juice, my lids were dropping so i went back to bed. sleep did not come quickly because it was too hot; when it did, i think i got over an hour in so that was good. so, i'll have the "toilet flush repair fund" ready this week. should get that ticked off the to-do list before the month ends. hopefully, they'll get a good plumber to take a look at it. can't believe it's already july. where'd the sugar-free kdo go? it's been out-of-stock at our local robinsons since early june. last time we checked, no other store had it around here. have a nice rest-of-your sunday!

last week's hash brown and boiled hotdogs i woke up with itchy hives on my legs and arms yesterday. it was an allergic reaction to something; i don't know what. someone gave me claritin and the hives went away a few hours later. the rest my day was ok except that i felt unusually tired by midnight so i went to bed early. surprise, surprise, i slept through 12 hours! did not realize i was THAT tired. it must've been the claritin.

the previous week's meals were nice... pot roast, tuna pesto spread on bread and savory pork caldereta with lots of cheese. i wish i took pictures. i am feeling yucky today. could be the weather: hot then cold then hot = headache, gloom. could be effects from last night's meds. could be the weather {yes, this again}: hot=sweaty and cold=dry; either makes walking and other ADLs difficult. my adage in times like these is "one step forward, two steps back" so i know that means to take it easy and stop testing myself today and also, to stop worrying. actually, that's more of a warning.{myositis}

i wrote about following up and then finally receiving the zalora philippines store credit + complimentary voucher here: chasing zalora philippines . so i redeemed them June 13, Wednesday, midnight. {note: no confirmation email received} i received an email from xend with my package's tracking number on June 13, Wednesday, late afternoon. my zalora package was delivered June 15, Friday, early afternoon. excellent. this zalora philippines online order was completed successfully.

lechon kawali and broccoli+oyster sauce here's tuesday's lechon kawali, broccoli and fried rice. i can't get a decent photo... oh well, what's new? haha. we found a couple of old, small dresses in storage. i think they're from the '90s! one has small holes in it but they're not so obvious, i can work it - i'll just wear it inside the house. the other one, well, that looks like i can use it for... well, something, so that goes in my closet. it's wonderful that they still fit me - but maybe they were my sister's. i never got to make a d.i.y. shirt dress anyway so finding these dresses was a happy coincidence.

party pork and beans here's one of the easiest pork dishes that i know! it's stewed thick; delicious! so good when spooned over rice. i did not make the one in the photo but if i were to make one, the recipe would not be too far off. what i'd do is saute chopped garlic, add the cut-up pork, add water and boil until the pork's almost tender, add a can of pork and beans and cut-up potatoes, then let it all boil until it's thick and cooked. i'd smash some beans on the side of the pot with the cooking spoon while it's boiling too so it'll be thick and savory. soooooo easy, sooooo delicious.

high on the agenda is chasing zalora philippines to give me the store credit+voucher we agreed on last monday, may 28. i was one of the many buyers on the zalora website whose orders were lost when they moved warehouses last month. customer complaints flooded their facebook page then, but they have since deleted the angry comments from their wall. choices two weeks ago, they offered me two choices: they'll try to fulfill my paid order but that will take another two weeks or i can just cancel it. if i cancel, i can choose to get a refund or get store credit+voucher. i cancelled and agreed to the store credit+voucher because it seemed like they're back on their feet and i wanted to give them another shot. waiting for recompense an email reply on may 28 said that they'll send the store credit+voucher in 2-3 days; but i got a call on may 29, tuesday, that i'll get them in a week so i waited a week. a week has gone and still no recompense. i was getting anxious. i s...

take-out longsilog longsilog brunch was delicious. i ate left-over shakey's pizza and mojos for dinner. bought a pizzanatic card last night; it still costs 299 pesos. everytime i see the shakey's delivery menu, prices are higher by more or less 10 pesos per item. at the start of 2011, the pizzanatic promo: 1 large, thin crust pizza + 1 1.5L coke + 1 free large, thin crust pizza = 407 pesos. towards the end of 2011, the same promo was 414 pesos {i can't be sure, but this is what i remember}. this year, it's 422 pesos {ordered it last night}. see? how often does shakey's raise prices? twice a year?

picture - I did not take a good photo of today's food so I won't put it up. specs - I think I'm getting used to my new eyeglasses. I see everything well enough from afar. In front of the PC, it's not all OK. I don't understand it. mice - Surprise, surprise: my wireless mouse is holding up. I've been using it everyday for nearly two months and I haven't had to change the battery yet. I'm almost tempted to unplug the PS/2 mouse now. I've dropped that wired thing so many times, it isn't working as well as it's supposed to. Do I dare go on and work without a backup mouse {even if this one's iffy}? Why is it an issue? Because I can't get behind the machine to unplug/plug it so easily. headset - I've dropped my wired headset many times too. Sometimes, I need to tweak it for sound to come out on both ears. Irrelevant but... "No wire hangers!"

Weatherman said that the rainy season officially starts today. Hello, rain! It did rain today, with thunder and lightning, but mostly it's still warm and humid, like right now.

sleep has not been good lately. i blame the weather. i've woken up several times because of it. i sleep ok with a blanket because it's cold. then i wake up later to get it off me because it's close and muggy. then i wake up again because it's chilly... you get the idea. hope everyone sleeps well tonight.

bought someone a gift online last week {monday, 14th} but it did not turn out well. they were in the country then but they flew out this week {wednesday, 23rd} before the gift was delivered. i followed up and the store said that it might take another two weeks to confirm delivery because they are moving warehouses so there is a backlog on earlier orders. they said if i wanted to cancel, they will offer me store credit or a refund. i cancelled. hopefully they'll get everything updated and sorted out very soon. the online shop? zalora

yesterday we returned the bad specs yesterday. after a little chat, they took the glasses away. they came back and confirmed that the left lens was cloudy. they will scold complain to the lens-maker and fix it. they asked if the right lens was ok. i said i couldn't tell. after a short while, the optometrist took out the metal frame with lenses {corrective/diagnostic tool?} and put it on me. i said the correction was good, just like last time. doctor said this was the same prescription as my new glasses {so i think she meant that the right lens should be ok}. they said i didn't need to go back there and someone else can pick up the fixed specs. it should be done by tomorrow, they said. they will call me, they said. ok, i said. thank you, we said. today got the call this afternoon. asked someone to get it for me. i put it on... hmmm. might need to get used to it pa .

so disappointed. asked someone to pick up my new eyeglasses. when i tried it on at home, it was BAD! half of the left lens was not polished so it was blurry. when i close my left eye, the right was not all OK. correction was off. i am going back there tomorrow so they can fix it. so disappointed.

ate too much chocolate ice cream last night; rocky road. they cooked pancit and i bought dessert for mother's day. today i mentioned how i was hyper and giddy last night; that i may have had a sugar rush from all that ice cream. the reply? i should visit a clinic and get my blood sugar checked. ay, di na nga ako magku-kwento.

paksilog pak siw- si nangag-it log from last week. soooo good! new specs prescription i went to the eye clinic thursday afternoon. had eyes examined and picked out a frame for my new eyeglasses. everyone was so nice and helpful. so my current prescription is... wow! big numbers! my eyesight is worse! no wonder i'm having trouble with the glasses i have now {it is over 4 years old naman kasi }. at the end of the eye exam, i had the bulky metal frame on with the lenses sticking out and i was happy that i could see the tiny letters in front of me clearly. then the optometrist took it off and asked me to put my old specs on... the difference was massive! i wanted the bulky metal frame back! LOL frame the new frame is... it's not as big as i wanted. it's the same rectangle that most people wear but the clear plastic back was a little different so i went for it. and it was the only one i liked from their cheapest frames. pretty penny prices were... high {fram...

goldilocks brownie and blondie snacked on these the other night. i moved the table lamp again. thinking about "multicoat" for the eyeglasses i'm going to get. lens are top priority; frames are not. couldn't care less about brands as long as they are big, full frame, black and plastic {hey that's what i have now!}. might come home with something different though... we'll see!

i mean gigabytes for cloud storage just from the last few weeks: google kicked up 'docs' space to 5 gigs {woohoo!} msn {hotmail, live} skydrive is 7 gigs for new users. old users can keep the old 25 gigs but you better click on that free upgrade on your account ASAP! now on to the weather... it let up today. it was dark and overcast. there was thunder and it finally rained. that's about it. enjoy your weekend!

someone is playing a game on their pc at the moment... from the other room... loudly. cling! clang! ting! ka-ching! don't want to turn it down, ha? even if it's almost 2 a.m., no padin? i can't think. excited. i might get new prescription eyeglasses next week. toilet flush repair will be pushed back to next month.

hello, month of may. the temp is in the high 30s with relative humidity at 48% daw . from what i understand - we sweat to cool us down but sweat doesn't evaporate easily in high % humidity so we feel icky and sticky too. yesterday, it rained for a minute. it was cold again for a minute. it was an amazing minute.

last night's dinner Supermarket futomaki {P55 from Shopwise} went down well last night. I finished the lot... ate slowly so no umay . Success. LOL It's Wednesday. Already? Time flies.

Ooohhhh, it rained. Temperature is down, so comfy cool now. Catnap! ----- So that was a nice nap. Took a bath, had an early dinner and on to biz-nizzzzzz. ----- It is almost 10PM at the moment. It is still cool so that's nice; hope this lasts longer. Someone bought sushi rolls from the supermarket that I will devour tomorrow. Specs are a little foggy though, will wipe them... Done! Happy Monday!

sweet longganisa and left-over chicken aftritada So that was a good breakfast. Had a nice catnap and decided to wash my throw pillow which was filthy {cover is not removable}. Did it on the bathroom sink. Not a full wash though {might destroy it, I don't know}; mixed laundry detergent + water, dipped a sponge, squeezed so it was just damp and scrubbed. It took a few dips and squeezes but it was a quick process. After that, I cleaned the sponge so it's not soapy, squeezed excess water and scrubbed again. The sink was icky so I guess that worked. The pillow's drying outside now and I'll get it back inside tomorrow. I'll see if it looks less filthy then.

Hello. Woke up before noon to a blackout. It was VERY hot. Someone said Meralco cut the power off to make repairs and that they'll turn it back on by 2 PM. True enough, electricity came back at 2 PM. I slept through most of it so I wasn't terribly bothered. I heard kids screaming from across the street; they were not happy. toilet flush fund So the planned "new eyeglasses fund" will now be the "toilet flush repair fund." Might need to replace the flapper or maybe the whole mechanism because water is leaking into the bowl; so wasteful. baking soda+hydrogen peroxide Quick update on cleaning old tiles and grout stains {bathroom sink} with baking soda + hydrogen peroxide paste: it's going well. I don't measure. I just sprinkle baking soda on the area, squirt some hydrogen peroxide on it, attack with an old toothbrush and rinse off with water. I see the difference afterwards because it dries white. If I keep doing this {which so far, has been occasion...

today's longsilog Thinking about making my own shirt-dress. I have this t-shirt that fits well and if it was longer, it could be a dress. I figure if I get 2 yards of good fabric {stretch cotton?}, I can lay this shirt down, mark the fabric on each side {a few inches out and longer at the bottom}, cut and sew them together. All by hand because we don't have a sewing machine. It's simple enough in my head and I know it will be easier if I know how to sew. BUT I can drop the new fabric idea {spend zero money - yay} and use this guide with a man's dress shirt . There should be one around here, smelling of kulob but nothing a quick wash can't get off. Of course, what I will make will not come out as close to amazing as the ones on Dana's tutorial. Mine will probably look like a paper dress that you put on a cutout cardboard doll. Oh and the sleeves... how in the world am I going to do that?!? There might be blood, sweat and tears with this still-thinkin...

Chikity China the Chinese chicken Have a drumstick and your brain stops tickin' So hot and muggy now. It is worse at noon and sometimes after midnight {yes I said "after midnight"; think dripping sweat at 2AM}. Someone said I should turn the a/c on. Right, not gonna happen {until i can't bear it or the hardware here starts melting}. Why? Because households in the Philippines pay the highest electricity rate per kwh in Asia ! That's why.

it WAS bad yakult! my tummy rumbled last night. thank goodness i didn't barf. we checked the other four bottles from the same lot tonight and they were all spoiled; had a hint of sour, like orange juice. i suspect it was left in the heat before the grocer put them in the chiller because they were marked to expire 28th April pa . sayang. on a happier note, we have been eating ripe, sweet mangoes for the past two days. yum.

hello tuesday! blame i slept 10 hours as expected, made up for what happened yesterday. seriously, one bad zzz followed by one good zzz - again and again - what is happening? because nothing's different... wait! there is that c24/7 supplement and there is that anxiety {not new but only a little worse}. so, i'll pick one and blame that. caution i could have ingested bad yakult tonight. it tasted off. i thought it was my strawberry lip balm until i smelled the bottle - that was off too. too bad i already swallowed most of it. well i'm not yakking yet. still, it can be an interesting evening. better put the garbage can close to the bed tonight. then again it was a teeny 80 ml thing so it can't be that bad, can it? heck i'm probably worrying about nothing. then again... dun... dun... dun.

my monday did not start so well. did not sleep ok; i woke up many times. now, my eyes are puffy and the mind is cloudy; it is affecting me badly. i think i'll be knocked out tonight and that is what i am hoping. that's something to look forward to, i guess. i am trying to think of what i ate earlier. i think i had left-over chicken adobo. there was corn soup and i liked that. i took the last of my yakult tonight; will buy more tomorrow. a five-piece pack costs around 39 pesos here as of now. it's a bank holiday today - araw ng kagitingan .

summer, felt like it started maybe 3 days ago. it is sticky. you go on fewer bathroom breaks 'cause you sweat a lot. drinks are taken out of the fridge and they don't stay cold very long. i think the billions of l.casei strain in yakult die before i can peel the foil cap off. so easter weekend is going to be a long one; most places are on holiday break and won't open until tuesday. i know i should've taken money out of the atm yesterday! happy easter.

Yesterday's brunch - my first plate for the month of April. That is left-over pork hamonado from someone's event the night before, and a side of homemade warm eggplant salad. The first quarter of the year has gone by so fast. So what notes do I have about the past three months?  One thing pops in my head now: Prices. Prices. Prices. They are up, up, up!  We bought an 11-kilo tank of LPG last week and it was 800 pesos. I planned to go to the bank but now I think I don't need to. That expired plastic can stay an ordinary ATM card; I don't really need the "visa" function at this time. Then there is that plan to visit the optometrist for new specs. I'll see when I can do that, hopefully before April ends. I wish that I can just get up and go all by myself... But sadly, no-can-do. I need to ask to use the car, ask for a driver, pay that driver, ask carer to come with and buy snacks for everyone; in addition to the money I will be shelling out at the cl...

I was going to upload a picture of tocino but thought that I have a lot of those as of now so my canned meat and scrambled egg from two days ago will do. It rained last night and it was a little warm this afternoon. But it still smells like rain so the cool weather might go on a little longer. Dinner tonight was monggo and fried fish; just because it is Friday. I polished my plate off, drank my Yakult and made myself a cup of decaf. It's time to work now so that's about it.  Ta-ta!

oh it is cold now. windy and cold. i want to go to bed and hide under the covers. i have goosebumps. and there are mosquitoes.

hello. it is tuesday. i have a lot of things i want to share but need to edit myself before hitting "publish." as this is a journal that i keep reading over and over, i want to it to be light and happy {informative even that i made a 'reminder' tag because my memory's not so sharp as i would like to think} to keep me in good spirits. i can add "rant" to the words that i'm sick of reading, to be honest, and if i use that word again, kmn. mice update moving on, i still use my battery hog of a mouse . i haven't put in a new battery yet since 1-27-12. surprised? of course not. the old ps/2 mouse is the workhorse and the wireless batt-hog only gets to see action if i'm designing {which is like some hours, a number of days every 2 or 3 weeks}. so i save battery money and i know now that using 2 mice at the same time is a-ok. while it's not the setup i hoped for, it's not a huge hassle. brimming with what oh my, the head is brimm...

yummy find from one of the neighborhood supermarkets {um, robinsons} - frey chocobloc dark mini. the more or less 50-peso pack has 4 individually-wrapped bittersweet dark chocolate pieces so that's more packaging than chocolate, no? i wonder if they sell it in big blocks too.

browser crash my old mozilla firefox browser started crashing last week. i can't pinpoint what's causing it yet but i suspect one of my browser apps. so it was time for {a dreaded} an update; but its newest version did not work with my current ff so i needed to update the browser too... toinks! updated but not fixed after updating everything last night {though fairly quick and easy. nothing appears to be missing. so after a few tweaks, i'm up and running}, i went to bed feeling ok about it. then the browser crashed again tonight, ugh! i'm starting to think it's random but something's unstable and i still suspect the same app/add-on. so until they roll out an update with the fix, i'll have to bear with it as it's not like i can disable it and move on - "it" is the password manager so it is pretty important. 4/29/12 update: problem appears to be fixed on march 25, i followed this fix from mozilla support . i remembered that the crashes star...

when will i learn not to zoom for a picture? LOL all the broken sets were picked up Saturday morning; one was fixed and returned that evening. they put that in their room so my tv is back! yay! that was quick so i did not miss it too much.

i had lunch with friends last week and we had a fun time catching up. someone brought this box of purdy's and it was... nom, nom, nom.

Last night, I suggested that they take my small, crt tv to the other room; their flatscreen broke kasi. They said they'll get theirs fixed so I'll get mine back {no mention of when though}. Now we have a sort of tv purgatory outside -- three tv's in line for repair. I'm not kidding. Sure we can argue wear and tear but... {sigh} OK I'll stop there. I'm just going to say that I hope to get my tv back in good working condition. {Sure it's ordinary, small, crt; but it's LG and barely a year old.} Besides, they're paying for digital so they need a better tv than that to get their money's worth.

my brekkie a few days ago. ham and egg yumminess. next time, will try not to break the yolk {or maybe they like it dry}. we have this adorable one-egg pan that makes cooking eggs fun; but we use the wide pan when we need to cook more than that. we don't want to waste gas -- speaking of which, lpg costs so much now. it's like over 700 pesos for a small tank now! {sigh}

i had visitors yesterday and we had a fun afternoon; a very welcome break.
 we ordered in {should start ordering more than we need}, nibbled on purdy's {i took a picture, will upload soon} and fresh bananas. i only managed to sleep an hour the night before but i caught up on missed sleep today so that's great. see, i rarely make plans for lunch but when i do, i try not to sleep before or i won't make the date {i'll just sleep through it! not good!} i just had my afternoon coffee and i'm watching tv. fyi, i slept 12 hours straight {properly caught up, oh yes, and i feel fine}. LOL
 ok off i'll go to freshen up now. will have dinner {is that spaghetti?} and then start the day's work on the computer. 
happy sunday!

hello. hello. the days go by so fast. relieved so the heaviness on the chest and shoulders is gone. a day off {ok i took two} from scrubbing stains sorted that out. so pleased. i can 'attack' them again bwahaha {but will probably pace myself and take 2 days off in between scrubs}! snip snip i am seriously thinking of getting a paper shredder; a cheap, small, economical shredder. snipping old docs and junk mail with scissors is taking a toll on my right thumb {besides eating A LOT of time}. i do believe that's a callus forming there eek .

grout on my mind i think i gained weight {which could be a good thing at the moment - as long as it's not too much} so i'll visit the old scale later to see where i'm at. but what's REALLY bothering me lately is this heaviness on my chest and shoulders since i started scrubbing old grout stains. i hope this is just my chest and shoulder muscles working ok, and not a myositis flare or as someone we know would call it a leak . anyway, for me, that means to stop obsessing about grout for now and see how i am in the next day or two. food supplement to try normally, this costs 1,200 pesos {very steep for a box with 30 caps} but someone gave me a box as a freebie 'cause they wanted me to try it - someone said someone claimed their kid took this quite well; and it's free so thanks. the bfad permit number on the pamphlet tells me it should be harmless; i guess i'll find out soon i hope so.

has it turned summer so soon? i've been sweating at noon every day this week so far. 
i'm going to eat before starting the day, as usual. that's boiled hotdogs, scramble and sad looking instant mac n cheese. so i'll tuck in now. happy friday!

poor sleep only managed to get in 3 hours of shut-eye today as there was a lot of activity outside my door. since i couldn't get back to sleep, i took my brunch. i forgot to put my medicine close to me so i did not take a dose this morning. i am supposed to take it 3x a day but the side effect is too much so what i would do is drink a dose or 2 a day; i do take the recommended 3x when i feel particularly ok to handle it. i hope to nap a bit this afternoon or else i'll be yawning at the computer later and my eyes will be dry and teary too. no nap hi i'm back. it is now almost 10pm. the 'nap plan' was not successful but i do feel ok {no dry and and teary eyes} and i'm only slightly tired. i guess i'll beaver away and catch up on lost sleep later. jerky someone brought a big bag of beef jerky home. here's my already-gnawed-on strip. it was very yummy.

outside please last night they came in holding a figurine. they were putting it down and picking it up - on the tv, on the tv table... so i put my foot down and asked them to keep it outside with the others. like i said, vicious clutter cycle. accessorize speaking of yesterday's events, there was a break in the routine as someone had an event to go to and i was helping accessorize their outfit. i would have liked to do their make-up but there wasn't enough time. i did suggest a necklace i had with a huge shiny stone {that has been gathering dust; i polished it on my shirt first, of course}. i was glad to see that they wore it through the event from souvenir pictures they brought home. chooks dinner chooks - they sell roasted chooks. true. LOL. so someone bought a whole roasted chicken tonight from 'chooks.' it's flavorful on its own but we paired it with 'mang tomas' {ung sarsa, for lechon}. i had my favorite dark meat and some carrots from last night...

just moved, not removed 
 i want to get rid of my room's clutter. i am doing it slowly but they keep bringing stuff in - bed frame, luggage, garbage bag with old pillows - it's a vicious cycle. i wanted to throw out a worn-out pair of shoes but someone asked if they could have it; i said yes. now, instead of it cluttering my room, it's part of the clutter on the shoe rack outside. {sigh} 
grout cleaning 
i want to de-stain the bathroom. since i discovered a quart of neo-care cell cleaner {the kind they use in hospitals} and saw it worked so well breaking down decades-old grout stain, i can't stop thinking about it. the bath/sink CAN look better, err, slightly improved. {i think we need to re-tile and re-grout but that's a can't-do as of now}. heck, i'd get down and detail the entire thing with a toothbrush if i could!
 low on neo-care 
the bottle's running low though and i guess i can't get another one {expensive at us$11 on ebay - i have...

lunch everyone woke up late Sunday and cooked no brekky. that's grilled marinated pork belly on the left; on the right is kamote tops + sliced tomato in our trusty vinegar-sugar-water combo. i'll ask how they prepared the kamote tops - most probably raw and rinsed - but i'll ask. { Update 3rd March 2012 : So I asked: the kamote tops are boiled, drained and left to cool before the wet ingredients are added} cup love if i find another ceramic cup like this {see upper right} - tall and skinny, not heavy - i'll buy it.

theories i said {a few posts down} that i couldn't send mms {to email} on globe prepaid for some months and that when i tried i would get a time-out error. i had theories why it quit working for me too: one was it has something to do with globe taking away kb browsing for prepaid sims, another was globe silently cut mms from its services {OA but possible - theory nga eh}, another was our network signal went from OK to poor. settings again anyhoo, i figured i might as well get the access settings again; maybe it's a "2-year" thing {theory ulit} since the last time i did that was feb 2010 {yes, i saved the message}. so i sent a request --> texted "Go" to 2951 --> and when I received the config settings, i saved it as "default" and moved the mms to where it should be sa connection>>destinations. i didn't need to delete the old settings naman, just set which is 1st or 2nd priority. and then... test i composed an mms {to email}, ...

there is no chill today. everyone else is napping this afternoon. it is very quiet now. might as well lie down for a little while.

i was misinformed. mixing vinegar+sugar {should taste like sweet, tangy calamansi or other citrus concentrate} and cold water was right but the grated radish needed more work; otherwise it will be bitter. so the grated radish prep goes like this: generously sprinkle w/ rock salt work it in {think 'knead' - mix, fold, massage. you get the point} grab a handful, squeeze out liquid, separate throw away the liquid do it again then the mixed-vinegar-sugar-water is poured {if you want sliced tomatoes too, add them at this point}. mix everything. the ratio of the vinegar/sugar/water mix should cover at least 1/4 of the grated radish {eye-ball it, depends on the bowl/container}. taste it. it should be sweet, sour, tangy {and make you do a sour face}.

*UPDATE* Bought a song on mymusicstore on 1st Feb 2012. It was easy peasy and a-OK. mymusicstore.com.ph went live a couple of days ago. it's still in "beta." i have not tried it yet. their database of local and international artists looks good, lots of choices. again - i have not tried it yet - just want to make that clear. i think i'll wait for a FAQ page, more info; a lot of questions need clearing up {i don't see these mentioned in their "terms" as of today}: are these mp3 files? {nakasulat sa terms kanina, "most" are drm-free, sana specify nila} how big is a file; bitrate? how many times can i download my purchase? {what if the connection drops while downloading, diba? it will be disappointing to have to buy again if something goes wrong.} payment methods? {press releases mention paypal, CC and smart money - they should make this clear on their official page, no? kasi when i checked kanina, di agad kita. actually, parang wala ata ak...

yesterday's ham and egg. ahh, i missed posting food pictures and yes, i still go over old entries to look at... old pictures.

when it comes to sugar-free, 3-in-1 coffee mixes, we prefer kdo. but when robinson's supermarket {the only store that carries it in our community, as far as i know} ran out of it this week, we tried the sugar-free san mig mild. smells san mig's tasted ok {kdo is so much better} and it smelled... not very good, unfortunately. i can't describe it really; "metallic" comes to mind. prices a box san mig's costs 10 pesos more than a box of kdo's. san mig is pricier, it doesn't taste so good and the smell is off; ripoff. globe prepaid mms i can't send mms {to email} on globe prepaid anymore. i actually noticed this months ago. i've been getting the time-out error. does this have something to do with kb browsing being unavailable to globe prepaid subscribers? globe did not make any announcements about that {not that i know of} and they should fix the error on their text message "kb browsing is not unavailable to globe prepaid..." LOL....

hungarian ang schublig if you look closely, you might be able to tell that a couple of the slices are darker {hungarian} and the rest are lighter {schublig}. yeah, i couldn't tell at first but they did taste very different. the hungarian was peppery and spicy while the schublig was very mild. boiled then fried i was told they boiled the sausages {whole, probably} before they fried them. they may have been so big that frying alone wouldn't cook it all the way through without burning; i assume, but what do i know?

fish and beans fry a fish then open a can of pork and beans. eat them together with rice. yummy. foodx3 i ate three times tonight: early dinner {see fish and beans above}, dessert {two handfuls of chocolate-covered almonds}, and late dinner {pancit malabon}. pics it would have been nice if i added pictures.

I made an entry last week {Jan 5th}. I didn't post it then because the next day {Jan 6th}, the mouse came back to life. I took the battery out that night and when I put it back in the next day, it worked again. 5th Jan 2012 - technological problem! thumbs down, new mouse ; it was great when it worked. i was prepared to take on this battery hog but then it quits on me 1 month and 3 batteries later; so much for trying to get rid of cables. this ms mouse 3500 just turned me off all wireless stuff for the desktop. who knows how long i'll feel this way about it {drama}. I used a newly-bought "energizer advanced" alkaline then {over 100 pesos for a two-battery pack}. When I turned the mouse on on Jan 6th, the yellow power-indicator lit up a little longer before it faded and the mouse worked fine. I am taking notes because earlier today, January 11th, the mouse's power-indicator lit red before it faded {meaning the battery's running low}. January 6th-11th, that...

happy 2012! hope your NYE/NYD was great! though my 1st day of the new year was baaaddddd... i was sick!!! stop reading now if you couldn't care less because i will start talking about it... now: i suspect it was bad hot cocoa or bad pork on NYE but none of us are sure. it was either GER or indigestion - the nausea, bloating, reflux - it was all yuck. i puked before bed. i vomited in bed {on the bed, to be clear, blech} at 4am, yuck. for the most of january 1st, i was in bed, in the corner with vomit bags, tissues and a trash can beside me. i could not sleep, threw up once before noon and about 3 times {i lost count} within 6 hours in the afternoon. i was sleepy, nauseated and hungry. i thought, "this is it, i'm not going to get any better, we're going to have to go to the ER." early in the evening, i took one capsule of "losec 20mg" for the GER. my feet and hands were clammy too so i drank water with a dissolved tablet of oral rehydration salts - ...