Blues And Bliss

I was tagged by marikenya for my blues and bliss of year 2007. My apology for not posting this to my other blog, thanks for the tagging meme. I’m on my fourth month of blogging and this is also my first new year here, same as marikenya.

Here’s how it works:

1. Copy some of the description of this tagging meme and modify it with your own.
2. Provide your Blues and Bliss answers like how I gave mine.
3. Post the name and the link of all those who joined this meme including the one who initiated it, that’s me hehehe and the one who tagged you! If you get a pingback, include also that person in the link list.
4. Let’s all have a wonderful 2008! Cheers!
*******
My 2007 Blues -
-My hubby left to US last February, came back in July and left again before Christmas. Whew!
-Domino effect of economic crisis… I had bad income from our family business. Bad income means more investment to keep the business running.

My 2007 Bliss –
-Gained new friends from blogging and met almost all of the members of my mobile clan, Katufors.
-I was elected as one of the officers to our business association.

***As you can see, 2007 wasn’t a good year for me and hoping that 2008 is a better year for the Philippines. Consider yourself that you’ve been tagged. Welcome 2008!

life pinoy rambling

New Year In The Philippines

Just like Christmas, New Year’s Eve is a time for celebration for the whole family. New year is new beginning, we welcome the new year full of hope for a better year. For me, this is the happiest time of the year. Most filipinos observed many traditional beliefs during this time, let me share some things that I know and follow. I usually start my preparation after Christmas… the earlier, the better.

Days before New year’s Eve:

1. General cleaning of the house – whatever cleaning we made the whole year, there are things we sometimes forgot or disregard to clean. Broken things, empty bottles or canisters, worn out clothes should be dispose.
2. Appliance, furniture, fixture or thing that needs repair should be fix before new year.
3. Check your indoor and outdoor plants if they need extra care or if you need more in a certain place.
4. Dispose all empty bottles or canisters if they are not needed or replenished.
5. Make a shopping list for condiments and other food supplies needed. Rice and salt containers should be full.
6. Buy a new table cloth for dining table if possible.
7. Buy anything new that you can wear, polka dotted design as much as possible. It can either be a shirt, a blouse, a dress or even an underwear… anything that you can wear. Shopping malls usually have their year end sale, grab the opportunity.
8. Pay all the household and personal bills.
9. Every member of the family should be at home before countdown.
10. It is common belief in the Philippines that loud noise and sounds drives away the bad spirits. Inspite of the firecracker ban, many filipinos are still buying firecrackers. Make a safer means of loud noise such as stereo, banging of pots, torotot, etc.

Before countdown:

1. Open all doors, windows, drawers, closets and lights.
2. Prepare the medya noche at the dining table. I usually have pasta or pansit, salad, ham, bread, 13 round variety of fruits ( seedless and sweet fruits), castanas, tikoy, round candies and chocolates.
3. Prepare coins for the entire family’s pockets.
4. I put a coin on every corner of the house, every step of the stairs, drawers, closets, windows and doors. This is my father’s belief which I still follow.
5. Hang thirteen pieces of grapes or a small pineapple on your main door.
6. If you live in a community that loves fireworks, make sure that you have ear plugs.

Happy New Year!

1. Ask the children in your home to jump. Its a belief that children who jump will make them taller. At my age, I still jump with my children.
2. From the main door, drop some coins and round sweet candies inside the house.
3. Welcome the new year with loud and safe noise.
4. Change the old calendar to new one.

First Day of the year:

1. Medya noche with the family.
2. Don’t forget to eat some tikoy or rice cake. It is a belief that sweet and sticky food when eaten on the first minute of the year brings prosperity. It can also be serve at breakfast.
3. Avoid unnecessary expenses.

pinoy event

Merry Christmas!

From glitchline, wishing you the timeless treasures of Christmas… the warmth of home, the love of family and the company of good friends. Have a blessed and meaningful Christmas.

Customized Blogger Template

The screenshot below was my old template I’ve used for 2 almost two months. I am attracted to sunset that’s why I use it as my header image now. Got to make this post to remind me of my old template design. 2 nights ago, I want a new lighter look and feel to my blog… I was thinking of a template that I can easily customized depends on the season and my mood.

I’ve searched for free template design and I’ve found the screenshot below from dzelque Blogger Templates. I really like it… what happened to the lighter look and feel?

Here it is now. It’s a lot different… I’ve widened the body, transferred the sidebar from left to right side, widened the sidebar, customized colors, sunset on my header. I still have many customization to do… for now, I leave it the way it is. I hope you like it, its not that professional but I’m proud that I’ve customized it myself. It’s a good start already.

UPDATE 12/28/07:
The template still loads slow because of the images and widgets. I don’t know if it was a bug but I can’t update technorati since I’ve used the template. I’ve settle for the default template and made some modification.. its easier to debug default codes.

Katufors Christmas Party

Katufors Christmas Party

What: Katufor’s Christmas Party
When: Dec.15 6pm – Dec.16 6am
Who: Katufors
Where: Villa Majia, Pansol, Laguna

Another Katufor GEB, our Christmas party. Katufor derived from the word “kain-tulog-forum”, don’t take it seriuosly… its just a name. This was our second time at Villa Mejia in Pansol, Laguna. We seldom see each other, we communicate through mobile SMS, forum, friendster and YM, we make it a point to organize such get together once in a while. Maybe, the next GEB might be on summer vacation.

Anyway, most of the members came from Bulacan and Nueva Ecija, some from Manila, Caloocan, Batangas, Laguna. Members present: Ace, Alexis, Athan, Cadaver, Fatima, Glitch, Grande, Jac, Jade, Jearic, Jeff, Jhanrich, Mafel, Metal, Mybernal, Nathalie, Neth, Nol, Phonetics and Sarah plus 5 non members. The companion of Jhanrich, Jap from Nueva Ecija became a member after the event.

Foods and drinks: Canadian ham, BBQ, Litson Manok, Beef Brocolli and Macaroni Salad plus 2 bottles of Grand Matador & 24 bottles of Red Horse Mucho. Whew!

Overall, the Christmas party was fun, no dull moments. Members from the north left at 7am while the rest (mostly from south) stayed and continued the fun until 4pm that day.

technorati tags: event pinoy