Not just yet.

I can handle having super powers. I can handle the skimpy leather suits. But I can't run on high-heeled boots. Not yet.

You see, for me, boots are one of the best things that man ever invented. I love them so much that if I have the money, I'd buy every single pair I'd fancy.

If I were to be a superhero, I would need to be very agile. I could probably fly, but I've gotta be the lamest superhero ever if I can't run.

Majority of the supoerheroines I've encountered (Yes, I've met them, we're closefriends, textmates if you will ) wear high-heeled boots. And I've got to be the most boring superheroine if I don't wear one also.

One of the pairs of boots I love wearing at work

Even if your answer is no, it's okay for a superheroine to go barefoot or wear flats or pumps or mary janes, I WANT to wear high-heeled boots if I were to be a super hero.

Gotta wear my boots during my morning runs from now. Wait, I don't do morning runs.

That's why I'm not yet a super hero.

Labels: about me, boots, superheroes

Technically, today is the last day of my maternity leave. I go back to being a corporate slave employee on Monday.

That's another reason, actually, why I haven't been able to update regularly. I'm trying to make the most of my time with my kids while on leave because I will be missing them terribly when I'm back at work.

I still have a couple of days, but I miss them so much already.

Labels: about me, family

Thanks to my dad's military assignments, I have been around the country at least more than the average city person. Still, there are many places I'd want to go to. I wish I could have the time and resources to be able to travel around the country again soon. Or at least before I die hehehhee.

Check out how much you've traveled the country with this nice map thing. It actually made me realize how much more of the country I haven't been to yet.

My Lakbayan grade is C-!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

Labels: about me, travel

I just realized that it is impossible get a rating of less than 3 stars in Guitar Hero III because if you're not good enough to get 3 stars, you can't finish a number.

So there's nothing really remarkable in what I have accomplished as narrated in my previous post.

But my average rating now is 4 stars, so I guess I have improved a lot since I've started.

Still, I can't help but laugh my ass off when I think about getting 3 stars is remarkable.

Oh well, on with the wait for Kobe.

Labels: about me, gaming

I hereby proclaim that I do not consider myself as a gamer anymore.

I am no longer a gamer, at least based on a real gamer's standards.

I used to be very competitive when playing games, be it console or computer gaming. I play to be really good. I play to kick ass. "Career" mode, as they call it.

I used to have a great time with Mr. Frost kicking ass on our favorite online game. We would play for hours, being in the same party, helping each other complete quests or power level.

I can still remember how my temper would rise up when I can't complete a crash course in Burnout 3. Or when I can't get past an AI opponent in Soul Calibur 3. Or when I'm stuck in God of War 2. I wouldn't stop until I achieve my goal, which is to win or finish the game.

When I gave birth to Issen, I thanked heavens for the invention of nursing pillows, specifically My Brest Friend. I could keep on playing PS2 or computer games even while breastfeeding my baby. "Look, Ma! No hands!" had a new meaning to me.

Now, I just play to relax and enjoy what little "me" time that I have. I didn't really lose interest. I can't really say that becoming a parent does to you, because I know a lot of parents who are still playing as hard as they did when their bundles of joys were not existent yet. Priorities and perspective probably just changed.

Instead of playing, I'd rather write for my blog most of the time. Instead of checking out game sites to keep myself updated with new game releases, I'd rather read blogs in my network or check out baby sites for tips on child caring.

I still play, though. Currently, I'm playing Guitar Hero III while waiting for Kobe's fashionably late grand entrance. I finished the Easy Career mode in two days. Since I just started playing the damned game when my maternity leave started (I kept putting off playing it because I'm afraid I might get addicted and won't be able to concentrate at work), I think getting no lower than 3 stars is remarkable. I'm getting better, though, but I haven't moved on to Medium mode. It's too damn hard for my temper.

So right now, I'm trying to enjoy the game and the music on Easy mode, trying to get 5 stars for each number.

Yep, I'm still playing. Not as hard as before, but I'm still playing.

Does that still make me a gamer?

Labels: about me, gaming

Yes, this site's page rank and authority are dropping dramatically. Probably because of lack of updates. My own blogging activity and rounds has been irregular as well.

But I couldn't care less. My second child is going to make his grand entrance any day now and I'm cramming on a lot of stuff.

Yes, the Supreme Being of Procrastination strikes again.

I owe rounds and tags and updates to a lot of people. My maternity leave will start next week. I swear I'll dedicate at least one day to make up to everyone.

Labels: about me, update

Things have been really toxic at work, plus the fact that Mr. Frost and Issen got sick, so I end up owing a lot of people some visits and comments. I need to catch up on my rounds if I don't want my only friends to forget that I still exist.

And that catching up starts now.

I hope I'll have enough time this weekend to really catch up.

See you in your online territories.

And yeah, I'll be posting more awards on my other blog because the ones who tagged me are my fellow moms. Check it out later.

Labels: about me

Summer is a few days away and talks of the beach and outings are all over the place.

I used to love summer, but now, I can't stand hearing people talking about the company outing or wherever they'll spend their summer vacation. Why?

Because this is the third time that I can't join the company outing. Three years in the running.

Summer outing of 2006, I was just 3 months pregnant with Issen. We did't go because Mr. Frost and I decided that the 4-hour travel won't be good for me and the baby. Find out here what we did instead. Don't worry, it's wholesome.

Summer outing of 2007, Issen is already almost 7 months old. Unfortunately, the company outing coincided with the wedding of Mr. Frost's sister. The wedding was held in Laoag City, a city about 12 hours drive from Manila. The outing was scheduled on the day of our flight back to Manila from Laoag, so we were still planning to go to the company outing. However, when we got home, we were so damn tired that we can't bring ourselves to travel another 4 hours on the road even if our travel back to Manila just took us about a couple of hours by plane. So there, we weren't able to go.

This year, I will be giving birth to Kobe by early April or late March. And needless to say, I will not be in shape to go to the company outing by mid-May. I doubt that my body will be physically ready for several hours of travel to the beach, let alone for the activities in that outing. And even if my body can take that beating after pushing out another life from my body, I don't think I can leave my newborn Kobe for a couple of nights. I don't think so.

So there. I've actually accepted my fate. My curse. That I am not meant to join the company outing. For three years in the running.

Who knows what will come up next year to prevent me from going again?

Before I go, lemme share this cartoon with you. Something that I long to experience.


Credits go to University of Rochester Outing Club and PhoneyBusiness for the cartoons used in this post.

Labels: about me

Both my husband and my son are sick.

I'm not feeling very well, either.

And there are stuff at work that need my immediate attention.

Talk about wishing to be at several places at one time. And to feel a lot better.

Labels: about me, family, frosts, Issen

Ugh.

The work-at-home plans has to take the backseat for a bit longer. I was hoping that by July this year, I could resign from being a corporate slave an employee and start making a living without having to leave home.

But as fate would have it, there are important matters that we need to attend to and settle before I can afford to start from scratch. And sadly, we can't accomplish this with me relying on a barely earning start-up venture.

This doesn't mean, though, that I have to put my plans on hold. I will still continue laying down the groundwork so we still have extra, no matter how small, coming in. Who knows? I might get really lucky and I can stay at home earlier than expected.

Oh well. Let's get on with the show, shall we?

Labels: about me, plans

Senator Mon tagged me and "obliged" me to display my desktop for everyone to see. I'm at work right now and I decided to do a quick post on this because I sooooo love my desktop here.

Click on the image for a better view
I am one of the lucky few to be issued a 19-inch wide-screen LCD monitor, so my desktop is quite wide. I so love this particular picture of my son, which was taken last New Year's celebration.

I just realized that in majority of my favorite shots of him, he's wearing that striped brown romper. Useless trivia.

I won't be tagging anyone because I saw that most of my blogger friends have done this already. To those who haven't, feel free to grab this tag. Don't forget to let me know you've done it so I can take a look.

Labels: about me, friends, tags

I am seriously considering a work-at-home career in a few months time.

I have come to terms with myself and finally decided to stay at home to be a hands-on mom to my kids. I don't want my kids growing up and learning unacceptable values and principles while their parents work their butts off to provide them their needs and hopefully, their wants as well. I'm not saying all kids of two-income families turn out to be rotten, because that's not the case. It just so happens that with our environment and living arrangements, it would be best for our family if one of us stays home with the kids.

More details about this soon. I need to sort everything out before I disclose my plans to the public, including my clueless boss.

Right now I am in search of means to earn money online, aside from paid posts, and offline, like small businesses that would allow me to still be in control of my schedule.

Any suggestion and/or recommendation will be greatly appreciated and will be added to my list of options for further consideration.

I'm serious. I need all the help and ideas I can get.

Labels: about me, plans

Here's another popular quiz that my friends are posting on their blogs.

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	6.6
Mind:	6.8
Body:	6.5
Spirit:	6
Friends/Family:	7.7
Love:	9.1
Finance:	3.1
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Notice the Finance bar? That's what you get when you have lots of debts to settle! So spare me when I try to make extra money online to make ends meet!

I don't care much about the other aspects, but I'm so thankful that this graph proves that I have so much love in my life. That's what I need to get through in this cruel world. Drama queen mode.

Labels: about me

I owe a lot of people some blog visits and tags. My apologies.

Work have been pretty toxic the past week and it didn't help that I've been experiencing lower back pains since Saturday. It's torture, I tell you.

So even if my PC at home is now working perfectly, as much as I want to, I really can't catch up with my blogging duties and obligations. I really can't do much, even at work, when my mind refuses to process any information other than the fact that my lower back is in sooooo much pain.

I'd go now and spread/share my misery with the first unlucky person I meet on the hallway, but I need to meet a couple of deadlines.

The show must go on.

Labels: about me, pregnancy blues

My fugitive friend (who recently got engaged - congratulations to you, but who the hell is the unlucky guy? ) once called me a sellout. A SELLOUT.

I beg to disagree.

For argument's sake, let's try to define what sellout actually mean. Here's the definition by Dictionary.com:

sellout - noun

1. an act or instance of selling out.
2. an entertainment, as a show or athletic event, for which all the seats are sold.
3. Informal. a person who betrays a cause, organization, or the like; traitor.
4. Informal. a person who compromises his or her personal values, integrity, talent, or the like, for money or personal advancement.

Well, I'm definitely now a sold-out show, although I wish I could be one. And I've definitely, absolutely no cause organization to betray.

Am I a person who compromises his or her personal values, integrity, talent, or the like, for money or personal advancement? I don't think so. I may be making money here (not much so far, if I may add), but never have I said or done anything that is against my principles and beliefs.

My personal posts remains the same - personal. Even my paid posts are most of the time related to my personal experiences.

I'm just a little hurt that I am being branded with something that is far from the truth. I've worked hard to put this blog where it is right now. It hasn't reached the skies, but I'm doing what I can to bring it off the ground.

Now you're telling me I'm being too sensitive and it was just a joke? OF COURSE, I'M SENSITIVE! I'M PREGNANT, FOR PETE'S SAKE! I have all the rights and the excuses to be sensitive because I'm pregnant. Ha!

Labels: about me, friends

A quick update...

• We finally found a new nanny! Read more about it here.
• Mr. Frost, with the help of some friends at work, has fixed my home PC and got it working already! Yey! I just hope I still have the energy to work on my blogs when I get home from work. I've been extra exhausted the past couple of weeks. Probably because I'm nearing my due date. GASP!
• Speaking of which, an officemate gave birth this weekend. that makes me more excited, antsy, panicky about my own childbirth. I was checking my birth records with Issen last night and saw that I gave birth at 38 weeks. I'm on my 34th week now and that means one month more and I'll be on the edge of my seat waiting for Kobe's D-day. I didn't realize I'm this far along already. I thought I was still on my 7th month of pregnancy.

Gotta meet some deadlines first, then I hope I still have the time to post my sentiments on the updates mentioned above.

And yeah, I owe a lot of girls some blog visits. Sorry, my dears, it's been really chaotic in my world lately.

Now, let's all have a nice day, shall we?

Labels: about me

I'm seeing this in a lot of my friends in my blogroll, so I thought it wouldn't hurt a fly to try it on my own pic.

Presenting, magazine cover for MAXIM FOR THE FRUSTRATED ...


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Labels: about me, funny pics

Something beautiful happened earlier this week that lifted my spirits up from the stress I've been going through.

I GOT MY BOOTS!

Remember the pairs of boots that I've been pining for last year? Well, I got them! I haven't taken pics of the actual items, but I got them last Monday. Yeah, I know this is another late post, but until my PC at home is fixed, I can't update as regularly as I want. It's okay, it's almost done. I probably be catching up on my bloghopping and paid opps at home by tonight.

Anyway, I am so loving them! I can't wear the knee-high boots yet, because pregnant women are discouraged from wearing heeled shoes as doing so increases the chances of developing those ugly varicose veins on my legs. Not that my legs are so damn pretty, but I don't want them showing early signs of ageing, do I?

I wore the Angel-Devil boots last Monday, though. I just wanted to try it on, but they felt so much more comfortable than the flat pumps that I was wearing that I wore them (the boots) the whole day. It felt like walking flat-footed on carpet, probably because it has a fur-like material inside, from the leg part all the way to the bottom part.

Spammer, my "uber shopaholic officemate/friend/future godmother of Baby Kobe" (oh yeah, I owe you another post about Baby Frost #2's name ), also got a pair of the Angel-Devil boots, and she got hers the same day I did mine. However, since the boots didn't really go with that she was wearing that day, she waited till the next day to wear hers. Good thing, too, because we don't really want to be called "The Boots Twins". Or somebody might brand one of the the Angel, and the other the Devil. They'd probably have a hard time deciding who's the Angel and who's the Devil between us.

Labels: about me, favorites

... what I've been going through the past week. A terrible case of stress.

I've been unable to update you guys for the past couple of days because my PC at home still isn't working. Been really busy at work and I even went down with fever on Valentine's Day.

I'm stressing over a number of things right now.

• Issen's nanny is pregnant and I can't find a replacement (HELP!).
• My PC at home is still broken (somebody's gonna fix it today, I hope they'd fix it for good).
• Mr. Frost is away for the weekend for an event at Laoag City, north of the Philippines, about 10 hours travel by land from Manila.
• I still am not feeling well, physically. Clogged nose and slight fever still holding up.
• Being the powerful goddess that I am, somebody has stabbed me on the back and is trying to bring me down by spreading rumors about me and Mr. Frost. Good luck to her.

I'm at the office right now (yes, on a Saturday morning) because I need to do some work wherein the details need to be from today's numbers. I am also waiting for the guys who'll fix the PC.

Ugh. I hope things will get better soon.

Labels: about me

Last month, I absentmindedly applied for Payoneer Debit MasterCard. I didn't even check the pricing tab because what registered to my mind was the free application and card delivery. What a big mistake.

Like I said, I applied for it absentmindedly, so after I got the confirmation email, I completely forgot about it. Until the payment for my paid opps came.

Imagine my surprise when I received an email from Payoneer with the subject line Good News! You have received money from [insert paid opp website here]! They automatically changed my payment settings from Paypal to Payoneer! Without a notification whatsoever!

Thing is, I need to activate my card first before I can load the payment I received into the account. And I haven't received the card yet. I sent an inquiry to Payoneer's customer support regarding delivery period of international cards. To be fair, their customer support was efficient and prompt in replying to inquiries. They said international card deliveries usually take 3-5 weeks. I planned to wait until 5 weeks since my card was approved (based on the date of the approval email I got) before I follow up on it again.

Sure enough, I got my card a couple of days after I made the inquiry. I immediately activated my card and loaded the payment I received into the account. As it turns out, there's a $10 activation fee. And $3 monthly maintenance fee. And $5 immediate load fee. So that's a total of $18 deducted from account as soon as I loaded it funds.



I checked their fees and pricing table, and I found that they actually charge you for every transaction you do. Darn it.

I thought of ways on how I can transfer the funds to my Paypal account because I was planning to save all my paid opps earnings so I can buy a nice, reliable breast pump. I wanted to convert every cent in my Payoneer account to my Paypal so I can avoid further deductions like maintenance fees, which are automatically deducted from the account.

After so many hits and misses, I finally discovered that you can use ALL (as in down to the last cent) of your debit card funds to send money through Paypal. I think your debit card must have some history of activity to be able to send money.

Bottom line, that's another episode that I'm charging to experience. If only I could remember to be more aware of my internet activities, no matter how trivial they may be.

Labels: about me