baby rambutan

when we were expecting our third child i was approached by several cord blood banks to store his cord blood at birth. it was a very exciting time for us, and i was quite tempted but when i looked into the costs i remember they were quite prohibitive. i regretted not doing it–who wouldn’t want to be on the cutting edge of scientific research, when enormous strides could be made in the development of treatments for cancer and Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and other catastrophic illnesses?
tough times like today may make it even more difficult to make this decision but Cryo-cell offers reasonable pricing. if you’re expecting a baby why not look into their limited time offer? if you enroll now it’s like buying an insurance policy for a future that can possibly yield a rosy future for your family’s health.

our niece has just turned sweet sixteen, and her present is a trip to London with her parents. lucky girl! we just came home from her birthday dinner, and my farewell words to her after a lovely evening, which ended with a piano performance, were: “send us a postcard okay?” she was a little bit taken aback. “huh?” “you know, from London?” and then her face lit up, and she said, “oh yeah! yes i will!”
it must be because the sending and receiving of snail mail, be they letters or postcards, is not really very much a part of this current crop of youngsters’ lives. to me, getting a postcard from a friend traveling abroad gives me such a thrill, seeing the photograph and the stamp and appreciating the effort of sending it to me. priceless!
lately a lot of the postcards i get are from the dentist and the eye doctor reminding me of my need to make the dreadful appointments. it is a very effective way to get my attention though. more likely than not, i will call.
the visual and immediate appeal of postcards is undeniable, and there is an easy way to have them personalized for multiple purposes: invitations, announcements, business uses. there are many designs to choose from; i kind of like this cute one…

and then there’s the option of uploading your own photograph and adding your own logos or icons to put your very own personal touch.
i’ve sent and received photographs in the mail before, just putting a stamp on the back and delineating clearly the field for the address is quite easy. but now with the option of picking a particularly favorite photograph and ordering several copies for distribution to friends and families–that would bring back the romance of postcards that i’m quite fond of.

i was tagged by ces, my sweet neighbor. and it has sort of coaxed me out of my incommunicado mode. i reckon, here’s my chance to explain, where i’ve been and/or what i’ve been up to! sorry, i’ve been in hibernation, just sticking close to home, “nesting,” as it were.
somehow, i just feel so cold, six months of cold already! aaaaarrggh! i really just want to snuggle down in bed under two down comforters and snooze, but i can’t do that all day…i even mentioned it to my Doc, and he’s checking it out.

so here’s why i’ve been absent.
7 things* keeping me from blogging, i love: *inanimate, tangible, just stuff.

1. the swimming pool!
i think maybe that’s why i’m cold–getting out of the pool even after only a half hour of laps and despite taking a good strong hot skin-peeling shower, i am chilled to the bone, and ravenously hungry! yet i can’t stop swimming, there’s something addictive about it, and i know i will feel physically and mentally BAD, and lost, and guilty if i skip. and as soon as i get out i am plotting my next session. i try to go every other day but it doesn’t work out for weekends very well, i feel guilty about not hanging out with my kids.

2. movies!movies!movies!
ever since i got my own tv in the kitchen, and husband switched our cable service provider, i have been watching them, while i do dishes, while cooking, mopping, etc….
in particular i like movies where the scenery is engaging, like the English countryside, French (kahit subtitled!) castles,…and i’ve even seen “The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros” on sundance. made me wistful for Manila.
i also borrow from the $1 big box at the supermarket, and from the public library (free for two weeks! only in America!)
*i’ve recently been blown away by “I’ve Loved You for So Long”, in particular the performance of Kristin Scott Thomas. couldn’t take my eyes away from her–and she’s onscreen 99% of the movie.

the bloodiest yet funniest movie i’ve seen in a long time: “Hot Fuzz”, it’s worth mentioning because i really hate bloody movies but this one is the bomb.

i love where kids are the stars: “August Rush,” “Millions,”
“Nobody Knows,” “Eve and the Fire Horse.”

i love funny guys like Ricky Gervais, in “Ghost Town.” and when a funny guy’s in a sweet drama, e.g. Adam Sandler in “Punch Drunk Love.”

Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married,” was a revelation; i had pegged her under the Meg Ryan/Julia Roberts/Sandra Bullock category, where in each and every movie they somehow end up playing themselves and not the character. Anne H. proved to have another dimension in there somewhere. the movie itself? thumbs down because it felt like watching someone’s wedding video–i found myself flipping through my Saveur magazine during the long bits of wedding rehearsal and ceremony.

3. costume/period dramas on yootyoob–”Lark Rise to Candleford,” (help me, somebody! i need to watch Season Two!!!), Little Dorrit, Masterpiece Theater, Mystery, and any old BBC special…i am there.

4. daydreaming about summer–and that includes perusing garden catalogues, searching for peonies and snowdrops and bluebells, and climbing white roses, and looking for our new charcoal grill. first day of spring today? guess what, it’s freezing cold and windy, and it feels like we’re in a time warp/twilight zone/nightmare kind of trap. planning our first cookout of the year keeps me sane.

5. poring over old cookbooks and cookery magazines. (shockingly predictable!) see #2.

6. glass…i love glass things! it’s got something to do with transparency. long before it became a Presidential campaign byword, i wanted to surround myself with glass when i kept getting disappointed by deception, duplicity, and pretext. so i go to the ukey ukey[second hand] store to look for interesting glass jars, drinking glasses, vases, and so on. .50 cents each lang naman! i think husband throws away some of them when i’m not looking….it’s okay dahling, i know, it’s my sickness.

7. cat fur. especially on the cat, in between the ears and the suede like fur on their ears. meow!
i’ve been hanging out a lot with my cat, just enjoying his presence. i am contemplating getting a dog, but i don’t think i can convince my family, they think dogs are smelly.

so…i hope i will get back into the swing of things again. here’s to hope, that the warm weather really is coming back, SOOOOOOON. or else.

you reading this? you’re tagged! please let me know if you did by leaving a link and if you don’t have a blog, just post them here….sige na.

i’ve had a bit of blurring in my vision lately. it’s quite frustrating actually! all my life it seems i’ve had this one terribly myopic eye, the left one, and it didn’t help that the environment i was raised in looked down on girls who wore glasses. you know why. the guys don’t make passes–just ask Ogden Nash!
i’m not that girl though… i just want to see clearly! i’ve had quite a few pairs of glasses, and i’ve had quite a lot of fun picking out the styles to wear. luxury is when you can get a different pair for every mood, for every look if you’re a die hard fashionista…or should i say, dare i say, fashion victim?
if i had my druthers though i’d get a pair of Holiday frames that came with sunglass shields…to give you an option when that blinding sun hits the glaring snow, when everything seems white hot and blinding…kind of like when you need to ski down the street in snow shoes to get to the corner store to buy the paper and milk for the kids. yeah it’s that blinding. and yeah like tomorrow here in Boston. we kind of forgot with the 60 degree F weather this weekend.

husband and his old old friends from elementary school are going to see each other tonight. yes they go way back when, immigrants and sons of immigrants who grew up in the city but every chance they got they went hiking and camping and skiing. now that they’ve settled down they see each other at parties and reminisce about the days when they’d go on and on without shaving and showering…real wild mountain men! i wouldn’t be surprised if they’d daydream about going off again in search of nature trails…and i’d point them to this website that sells these cool tactical pants…they look like real serious gear with all those pockets! and the gusseting and the sturdy fabric guarantees ample protection against poison ivy? nettles? poison oak? and whatever else this city girl can only imagine in those trails.

I had to get new eyeglasses and give the progressives another try–the ones from a couple of years ago were not doing me any good, I just couldn’t get used to them. I ended up either taking them off and tripping on things or getting dizzy. The optometrist persuaded me to give them another try, saying that the technology had improved in the last two years.
I was tempted to order contact lenses!
After having three babies though, contact lenses don’t fit my lifestyle anymore and so I focused on getting better and lighter and fashionable eyeglasses.
Lucky for our family we have insurance coverage but even then I ended up with a co-payment of $150, even with sticking to the plan’s selection (not too stylish, unfortunately).
I wish I had known about eyeglasses from ZenniOptical.com!

Whether you need single lenses, bifocals, progressives, and those magical eyeglass-to-sunglass transforming ones (photochromic)…their prices that are so low you’ll go nuts in picking out the best fashion eyewear–maybe a fashion-mad girl can get one for every occasion?

They’re so with it, price wise and selectionwise, that the buzz reached Clark Howard.com, a popular consumer advocate site.

They are able to keep prices down because they sell their own brand directly to the consumers.
I’d say these are perfect from children who are active or prone to losing their glasses–almost-painless replacement, right?

I wonder if these would look good on me? from the $8 selection!

hummus on feta cheese and kalamata olive bread

i don’t know why it is. the crocuses are peeking out, the lily of the valley shoots are all over, and even the old hundred year old maples’ leaf buds are shyly unfolding. i should be leaping for joy now that we’re finally crawling out of the winter that seems to have lasted six months.

instead i don’t have any appetite, and have no desire to cook. cookbooks are “falling” from the sky into my lap. my food magazines still get delivered. lucky for me i have a husband who likes to experiment in the kitchen/lab and who has taken this week off to hang out with our kids on their spring break.

lucky for me too i have the bread machine to play with, it is just about the only thing drawing me in to the kitchen.
i’ve made five loaves so far: white bread, sweet bread, whole wheat, feta cheese and olive, and brioche. yes! brioche! i’ve labored over that dough–it usually takes me 2 days for each attempt (gooey sticky buns; ensaymada). it is my favorite one so far, and it is all i can do to stop myself hugging my R2D2–for that it what the Dak auto bakery looks like.

we have just a small loaf each time, but it’s just right for sampling and because of the ease of use, i am contemplating the possibilities, of all the fresh hot loaves i can make. daily?!

it’s almost enough to shake off these springtime blues.

“…the stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
pour away the ocean and sweep up the woods;
for nothing now can ever come to any good.”

— W.H. Auden
(more…)

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I’m all for shopping on the internet!

Yes, at first I was really wary of it, and heeding all the warnings made me shy away from ordering anything. At first.

Now I am its number one FAN, and would willingly endorse ONLINE shopping for all the presents this Christmas season. I just don’t like going to the mall, and it’s truly dreadful when it’s crowded and everyone’s jostling for space, eyes glazed and shoulders stooped from all the heavy bags.

And one of my favorite shopping sites is overstock.com. I bought a really warm wool comforter for my #2son who has asthma…well before his pediatric allergist recommended getting rid of his down comforter I already switched, and got myself a fine-quality wool comforter at half the price of the big box linen stores. Then of course I “checked it out” (my son needed me to fall asleep with him at the time, he was only two or three?), and had to get one for our bed too! So on and on it went, and I have never been disappointed by the bargains and low-cost shipping over at overstock.com. You’ll find just about everything you can think of….I even found a costume for next year’s Halloween that my youngest has been looking for ever since he started playing with playmobil British soldiers!

Then what do you know, they are having a great contest, All I want for Christmas Giveaway for the holidays!

Check out the cool video, take in the rules, and start that wishlist! and enter to win prizes for yourself and five of your beloveds–values of up to $1,000 each. You can enter once a day and must submit 5 friends’ email addresses to “spread the love.” This is what I’m wishing for…to replace the wedding ring that disappeared into the black hole of our house and the engagement ring that broke in my finger while doing Cinderella work…

I was so surprised that thess my favorite “tagger” had already “tagged” me to be one of her nearest and dearest! thanks thess! Though I can’t elect you to be my taggee (only United States residents, sorry!) I would love to win one for you! among my N.A.-based blogger friends i’d nominate sardonic nell, Jmom, Manang Kusinera and fish fish. (not to mention my siblings and cousins and aunts….!)

Hurry, you’ve got until December 7 and then there’s that $5,000 Grand Prize!