POC Expat Files: Isang Kakaibang Biyahero

I would like to share a very short story close to my heart. It's my own little way of honoring hardworking overseas Filipino workers.  I hope you can find time to read it.  You may find the story here.  (It is written in Filipino language.)

POC Buhay Pinoy: The Gypsy Life of a Magtia-tiangge

I met Mang Ver, a hardworking entrepreneur who makes a living by putting up a tiangge (bazaar) from town to town.  His gypsy way of life is very interesting. Please come and read his story here.

POC Health Article: Rabies: the deadly bite

March is Rabies Awareness Month. I would like to share my health feature on Philippine Online Chronicles about rabies. Please do your share to fight this deadly disease. Be a responsible pet owner. You may click here to read the full length feature.

POC Health Article: Colorectal Cancer

I'm happy and proud to be part of the weekly online publication Philippine Online Chronicles (www.thepoc.net). My first health feature about Colorectal Cancer is now up on the site. March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness month. Remember, awareness is the key. You may click here to read the full length feature.

Earn A Little Extra Cash

What do you love doing? Is there something you're particularly good at? Why not make the most of your free time earning extra money out of things you enjoy doing? Think about it and start earning some extra cash. You might find one of the suggestions below interesting.

• Make use of your love for photography by taking photos of special events. Start with small events like kiddie parties.
  

• If you have a great fashion sense and love shopping, you can apply as a personal shopper.
  

• Offer tutoring jobs on a subject you excel in (e.g. history, algebra, trigonometry, chemistry, etc.)

• If you love animals, like dogs for example, you can apply for a part time job at the groomer's. You can also "baby sit" the dog of a friend who will be going on a trip.
  

• Are you good in drawing or painting? Then you can consider giving weekend art classes to a group of kids.
  

• Organize a special event (e.g. birthday parties, weddings, anniversary parties) for relatives and friends.
  

• If you love writing, why not try some Freelance Writing on the side. If you're interested, you can check out available Job For Writers online. There are many Freelance Writing Opportunities that you might find interesting.

How to Make a Cabbage Paper Mache

To celebrate National Nutrition Month, Yohan's school hosted a fun hat making contest. All the students were required to create a paper hat with vegetable or fruit theme. Parents of preschool students were asked to do the task in behalf of the little ones.

This post also serves as my entry to Kailani's Group Writing Project #1 - "How To".

Jules and I thought hard about Yohan's hat. We decided to make a cabbage hat. Let me share some photos of our cabbage hat making...

Materials:
3 pcs. balloons
1 roll paper napkin
paint brush
flour
water
spray paint (green)
glue gun
scissors
glass containers

Procedure:

1. Inflate the balloons. Tape each balloon on an open glass container, preferably a wide mouth one. Coat a thin amount of flour or cornstarch on all balloons.

2. Put sheets of paper towel around the balloon by wetting each piece with a mixture of 1 part flour and 2 parts water (blend well). Make sure you wet every part of the paper napkin to ensure it sticks well to the balloon. (You can also use newspaper instead of paper napkin).


3. Coat all three balloons with layers of paper napkin using the flour and water mixture.


4. Let the paper mache balls dry under the sun.


5. When the paper mache balls are completely dry, pop the balloons inside.


6. Paint all the three balloons with green and let them dry again under the sun.


7. As soon as the paint is dry, start cutting the leaves of the cabbage. You will use 2 balls for the leaves. Set aside the 3rd ball for later.


8. Draw some veins on each leaf . Use a dark green marker.


9. Glue the leaves to the base of the cabbage. Use a glue gun for better results.


10. Assemble leaves by layers to make it look like a realistic cabbage.


Below is a photo of Yohan and some of his classmates proudly wearing their hats. It was great to see kids wearing different kinds of vegetable/fruit hats.


Yohan won best hat in kinder. There was one winner for every level. All the hard work was worth it.

Assistance in Making a Dissertaion

I believe that furthering one's education is a great privilege in life. I enrolled in graduate studies a few years ago. I enrolled in MBA in the same university where I graduated in college. I finished all my major subjects in MBA but I took an indefinite leave after I got pregnant. I still have to take up two electives and submit my essay thesis to get my MBA degree.

I found out that one can get valuable help online in doing one’s thesis through the help of dissertation writers. Everything seems so easy nowadays because you can already buy a custom thesis.

Featured Mom of the Week

Hi Friends,

I'm the Featured Mom this week on Pinoy Moms Network ~ Parenting Blog. I invite you to get to know a little more about me by visiting me there (just click the link above). Thank you!

A Writer's Cafe

Yvonne of Grow Your Writing Business is inviting people to share their "marvelous mini milestones and super successes" at the Writer's Cafe. In this friendly place, people are welcome to share their goals in writing and blogging and the trials that come along.

I'm not a professional writer but I'm glad Yvonne has welcomed me in this cafe. I told her that I wanted to share some of my small triumphs in writing and I was pleased by her sweet reply ...

I look forward to hearing about your “small triumphs”. I happen to know you’ve done some wonderful things, so it will be great to hear more about them.

Grab a muffin on the one out. They’re too good to miss out on. I’ve ordered some more for the next Writers & Bloggers Cafe too. Hope to see you then.~ Yvonne's message to me

Here some of personal highlights and sweet rewards that I'm grateful for in relation to writing and blogging. With a slice of delicious decadent chocolate cake and a cup of freshly brewed coffee waiting on my side, let me start sharing the following ...

Makiling Newsletter

• I've been writing for Makiling Newsletter (an official publication of our village comprised of resident volunteers) for several months now. The editor-in-chief personally went to our house to invite my husband and I to be part of their team. I was hesitant at first because I didn't have any writing experience but my husband said it would be a wonderful opportunity for us to take an active part in the community.
• When my husband and I joined the team, the actual newsletter was in black and white and needed some format improvements but I'm happy to see how the newsletter has improved over the succeeding months through the combined efforts of all the members.
• The team came up with an idea to open the newsletter to local advertisers to generate additional funds. The homeowners association allots a budget for the running of the newsletter but additional funds are welcome to make some improvements. The first time we announced about the available ad spaces, we were overwhelmed by the number of individuals and business groups that submitted their ads.
• Just recently, we issued the first colored issue of the Makiling Newsletter. We were able to do that using the funds we generated from advertisers. We were so pleased with this small triumph because it is a sign of progress.
  

Pinoy Moms Network

• I'm a happy and proud member of Pinoy Moms Network (PMN) (Parenting blog) which was launched early this year.
• I have written several articles for PMN and it brings me joy whenever my article is approved and published by the editors on the site. (I have a list of all my published PMN articles on the sidebar.)
  
• Recently, PMN has become a network of blogs catering to different fields of interests.
• The main blog now stands as an aggregator of newly-updated mommy blogs and contents of all the sub-domains.
• The PMN sub-domains are as follows: Fashion & Personal Style, Food & Cooking, Home & Garden, Parenting, Travel
• New and upcoming subdomains: Entertainment & Leisure, Health & Wellness and Tech Momma

Blogging Opportunities

• Recently I have decided to try the prospect of earning money through blogging. I have been approved to join PPP. I have written one post and I have a few still in drafts.
• It would be nice to earn some shopping money for Christmas. :)
  

Network of Friends

• I love the rewards of blogging especially the aspect of meeting wonderful people and forming new friendships.
  
• I'm happy that my network of friends is growing and I had several wonderful opportunities meeting some blog friends in person.

PMN Article :: Nurture Your Children's Creativity

Hi friends. Just want to invite you again to visit Pinoy Moms Network. I have another published article entitled Nurture Your Children's Creativity. Hope you can come by to the site to read it. Thank you very much.

PMN E-zine Launched

I'm thrilled because the new and exciting Pinoy Moms Network (PMN) is out and now running in full swing. The old PMN website has undergone a wonderful transformation. From a site that showcased latest members' blogs , it is now a remarkable e-zine (electronic magazine), launched last July 10, 2007. The PMN e-zine is an interesting source of original articles shared by Filipino mothers, divided into the following sections:

• Parenting
• Home and Garden
• Food & Cooking
• Lifestyle & Fashion
• Bringing Up Mom
  

The PMN e-zine was conceptualized by probloggers Connie and Noemi and together with the other hardworking section editors, Annamanila, FeistyMomma, Pinoyexpat, and Sexy Mom), the PMN e-zine team is off to a great start.

We are not dictating and we claim no expertise. We are mothers and we want our voices to reverberate all over the world. - Connie

The idea of putting up an e-zine was first presented to PMN members during our successful Mommy Lunch two months ago at Swiss Deli and Bistro. Everyone gave their all out support to the project. In just two months, it's fascinating how fast the idea turned into reality. You may visit the PMN e-zine here.

Protect The Gentle Hearts

Protect The Gentle Hearts

Born innocent.
Sweet and gentle.
Free from malice.
A pureness of heart.

A curious nature.
So eager to learn.
An open mind.
A trusting heart.

Ventures into the world.
So young.
So vulnerable.
Easily influenced.

Keep a close eye.
Supervise and observe.
Guide the innocent.
Shield from harm.

~ Rachel~

I wrote this simple poem as my own little way of supporting the noble cause of safeguarding the web for children. I first read about it at Yvonne Russel's site called Grow Your Writing Business. I agree with her that children are susceptible to exposure to pornography on the internet. It's a disturbing and frightening reality. Innocent children are lured into sites containing pornographic and dangerous content.

Yvonne has led me to this open letter by Mihaela Lica at Blogger Power. This open letter is a request to all the “adult site” webmasters to "require a password-protected login before allowing even free access to explicit adult content ... read more"

I believe that it's a noteworthy campaign and I hope that all the good efforts put into it will bring positive results.

Yvonne has led me to the posts of other bloggers supporting the cause of safeguarding the web for children:

Jose of Tried It Myself
Laura Spencer of Writing Thoughts
Paula of Paula Mooney

To know more about it, you may visit the sites mentioned. I support their passionate insights and I hope that you can take time and look into it yourself. Thank you.

192 Countries

I'm now part of 192 Countries. It's a writing endeavor of people from 192 countries. There is one writer for every country and each one cooperates to write on one blog.

My blog friend, Gabrielle was actually the one who suggested I join the group.

It's a wonderful site where you can learn many new things about different countries across the globe. Please do drop by 192 countries when you have the time.