I’ve received a phone call from a relative just today and she is based in Canada.  I was so glad to have heard from her after long lost years of not hearing from her.  She told me that she got my number from another cousin whom she met by chance  a week ago .  She  gave an open invitation to stay with her once I decided to go for a visit.  I’ve heard that she got a huge house with a pool and a beautiful garden.  I would love to go there but not during winter time!  No way!  Although, I am dreaming to see snow but I know myself,  I won’t be able to withstand the extremely cold weather.   Maybe because, I’ve been living here in Saudi Arabia for more than 20 years now and my body is very much accustomed to hot weather.   The  slightest drop of temperature makes me shiver and  made me running to grab for my sweater.

It has been a long time dream of mine to go as far as United States, Canada or Europe.   Hopefully, I will be able to visit either one of those countries in the future.   Right now, I am so excited over the idea of making a perfect plan for  a Canada vacation.   My in-laws are happily settled in Toronto and they’ve been urging us visit them and if it materialize, I will be hopping from one house to another because of the many invitations I received from relatives and friends.

Oh well… hopefully soon.    That’s for sure!

… yes, I can feel that I need to do something about my expanding waistline.  As my age increases and so does my waist and hips.   What to do about it?  Self discipline!  But I can’t seem to get into the right track.   Lazy me.  I’ve been planning to start even a simple work out but  dismissed the idea when work in the office tires me during the day and I can feel that my energy are all drained up.

I am already getting worried and panicky because the big day… the wedding of an officemate is in October- a month away.  Of course, need I say I want to look my best!  It will be a photo op to post in my Facebook.   Just kidding!  Primary reason is that I am not getting any younger, my clothes does not  seem to fit right,  I feel so heavy, etc.

Let me think… Detox might help.   They said that it will help cleanse specific common toxins and habits off our lives.  Toxins creates harmful effects in our body so we need to get rid of it.   How?  A home remedy was given to me long time ago but I did not try it so I believe that it’s timely while I have this nagging urge to start my self proclaimed ‘detox program.  I hope once I started this, I will continue on because for sure there will be times that I will feel like quitting.   Determination.. ah do I have it?  The mind and body should be prepared for the experience ahead.

Drink each day drink 6-12 glasses of the following mix combined in a glass or jar and to drink continuously for 10 days.

• 2 tablespoons lemon (or lime) juice (approx. 1/2 lemon)
• 2 tablespoons of genuine “grade B” maple syrup
• 1/10 Teaspoon or more cayenne pepper
• 1 cup (8 fluid ounces) of water, room temperature

I guess the mix is not so appealing but maybe this will work.  I hope you will  join me in this program.  Let us be detox buddies.  Let’s give it a try!

I will report to you the results , just give me 3 months max.

I  came upon pictures (lots of them) from our trip to Hong Kong and I particularly liked the jump shots !  My 3  children along with their cousins had a blast and tirelessly jumped their might to have a perfect shot.   While we, their  elders gamely posed too.  Even my Mom barely jumped  few inches off the ground and it was a real joy.   Call it a leap for joy!  Too much excitement, I guess..  We toured the city, explored the night market for  bargain hunt but went home with only few finds.   Actually shopping in HK is not part of our itinerary but decided the last minute to go for a walk.  At  least they were able to see for themselves the famous Tung Choi street night market.

We enjoyed Hong Kong a lot.   Let us “jump” to that!  lol.

We are more than glad that we had already visited Hong Kong before the celebrated hostage drama happened in Manila.   This very unfortunate incident was broadcasted and criticized by millions of people.  The Hong Kong government warned their citizens from traveling to Manila!  And we Filipinos have this second thoughts of going this time because the “issues” are still hot.

As I mused about that news, I told my husband that it’s good last December we already had visited Disneyland.  Our family made few good side trips to Hongkong before but Disneyland was still non -existent so, when it was announced that it is already operational, the family planned to go again and my immediate family  especially my Mom whose been wishing to tour Hong Kong are included in the group tour.

We started mapping up our trip as early January 2009, purchased tickets  on line by mid-March and excitedly counted the days and months till the big day.  We came in 3 separate groups.    My husband , my youngest son and me travelled from Riyadh to Hongkong,  another batch; my sister and her family came all the way from Australia and the last batch of 8 people came from Manila.  So, we , the first 2 batches met them in the airport for a happy reunion in Hongkong.   Since, we  know more or less how to go about in that place, we acted as their tourist guide.  Hong Kong is a haven for tourist.

Going out in a big group is terrible but fun!  For first timers in Hong Kong like my Mom and my siblings along with my nephews and nieces,  they were in awe at the majestic view of Victoria Harbour especially at night.   We spent our whole day in Disneyland, next day, we went to Ocean Park, The Peak and many places that offered a lot of good memories.   We were impressed too with their  transport system especially the MTR (Hongkong train ) which is very quick and efficient.  The overall impression and the tour itself is very fulfilling.

Well for now, we just have to wait till the bitter memories died down.   We don’t have any immediate plans  of going back to Hong Kong.  We might as well  explore more our country -the Philippines.

It  promises beautiful sceneries as well.

We feel sorry for a friend for refusing to wear sleeveless shirts because her armpits are horrendously dark and ugly (gosh!). It was a “sight not to behold” as we teased her.  Every time, we talked about armpits, she cringed because the truth is; hers is something to be ashamed of.   She blames shaving for causing the darkening and she seems to think that her deodorant is making it worse.   She has tried whitening soaps, creams but nothing seems to work.   She had tried lemon juice soaked in her underarms for an hour but she quit and instead squeezed those lemons for a refreshing drink.  Lol!

She is inferior and would shy away from swimming and get- together.   In our group we have a friend who seemed to be the epitome of beauty and know it all who endorsed a derma product which she swore to high heavens that it really worked as she was giggly showing her smooth and white armpits.  Well, we were told that exfoliating will do the initial trick to eliminate dead skin and using Sephora brand and Derma Doctor is one of their effective product lines.   It is called a brightening deodorant for she had seen great improvement in no less than 2 weeks and told us that it really brightens her day with every use because she feels confident with her underarms. She maybe is exaggerating but we had seen the results on her and we believe her.

She just wanted to share this information to anyone interested to give it a try and I am posting it, hoping it would be of help to countless women who have the same problem as my other friend. Well if it still does not do magic, a professional help is what we need.

There is still hope…

Travel sometimes worries me especially in choosing a hotel to stay in.   We had an unpleasant hotel stay that spoiled our time away from home when my daughter was bitten by bed bugs  a year ago in a hotel where we stayed in.  Since then, I am very much particular with hotel choice.    It was miserable because she was scratching and scratching and soon after…red welts appeared on her skin.   It was very annoying and she was grumpy the whole time that even us were got affected of her bad mood.   I can’t say that the hotel is not clean, in fact, it is  a 4-star accommodation but for some reasons, it was infested with bed bugs.  We immediately checked out after a day and vowed never to come back again.   An aunt reminded us to check the bed mattress for creepy pests especially the back part and to have an idea what a bed bug is.

My daughter suffered for 2 days before the itching subsided.  Initially,  I had it washed with warm water and soap to remove any toxic substance in the bite.  However, her body reacted negatively to the insect bite because it was worst, she was scratching and itching like crazy.  We applied soothing calamine lotion to help her withstand the uncomfortable feeling while we were heading home.  It was only after 2 days, the itch was gone but the memories of that hotel stay lingers.

It was an experience to learn from.

Ramadan Eid will be from the 7th till the 13th of September  and it will be week – long holiday.   I have already applied for my exit reentry visa for we planned to go to Bahrain.   Of course not only to eat pork & hotdogs.. but primarily to attend a conference.  Yes, pork here is “haram” or forbidden so we can only have a taste of those kind when we are home for vacation or to a place where it is allowed.

We will be traveling by land and and our reliable Camry will take us far; about 6 hours long drive from Riyadh.   We will travel by convoy,  with 5 or more cars and I guess, the trip will take a bit longer because two cars will have children on board.  We are expecting it to be a relaxed ride with plenty of breaks and pit stops – no rush.. leisurely travel.

Since my children are all grown up, I gave some tried and tested car travel tips to my friends who are going with us along with their kids.   I told them to pack a special bag with crayons, pads, books, toys, activity sets to keep them busy.   Along with those, they needs to pack snacks, juices, towels, a small medicine kit, baby wipes for emergencies.  CD’s or tape their favorite songs so they can sing along, or a laptop to let them have a good cinema while on the highway.  Well, there are  kids who can easily fall asleep while on the car so bring their favorite pillow.  And how we wished that the kids will be easy to deal with so our  friends  will not get burned out.

We are looking forward to our happy vacation 2 weeks from now!

As I woke up early today I said a little prayer “Thank you Lord, I am alive” !  Indeed, we have to be thankful for the mere fact that we see the light of day because there are people who died in their sleep.   I woke up thankful that my husband is still snoring besides me, which means he was with me the whole night unlike other wives who fell asleep waiting the whole night  for their husbands to come home.   Thankful too, that we have something on our table to eat even how simple it might seem unlike for others who still have to beg just so they can put something into their mouth to alleviate their hunger.  Thankful that we have the means to communicate with our children who are far from us unlike others that they are at a lost on how to trace the wherabouts of their loved ones.    Thankful that we still have a nice pair of shoes to use where others can’t walk because they lost their limbs.   Thank you for the many blessings… thank you!

There are a lot to be thankful for.   And this morning, I am greeting the whole world “Good morning!”

Before he got hooked in playing badminton, my husband was a bowling afficionado.  He never missed to bowl every Wednesday night in a 5 star hotel few minutes drive from our place.  He plays really well!  Winning medals and trophies gives him the hype to improve his skills.   He was a regular fixture in bowling tournaments and we were his avid cheerers and supporters.  Our family are always in tow everytime he plays but it came to a point that he needed to play less till he stopped. 

He then shifted to playing badminton when he  founded CBA (Certified Badminton Afficionados) a badminton club which trhrived  for almost 2 years.   The club is no longer in existence when we decided to stop playing and members looked for an alternative club.  Sad, but we hope to revive the club one day.

However, the passion in playing bowling is still there.  He plays once in a while.  The pulse for strike is still evident everytime he throws a ball.   He is  still good at it afterall!   Really, bowling is my husband’s game!

Excitedly, I was sweet -talking my husband to buy me a new pair of shoes because I told him I am ready to play badminton.   It’s been a year since we stopped and I missed playing.   We were regularly in the court before and we invested in branded and pro racquets.  However, it came to a halt when we got so busy. 

I know it is never to late to indulge again in one of  my favorite sports!