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!

Our badminton racquets  were laid to rest for almost a year now.  Yes, laid to rest because our enthusiasm to play badminton died down.   But now, I have this yearning to belong to a sports club who played once a week.   I’ve been eyeing to join a badminton club and get back to action again. I know that we will find it hard to start all over again after we had been inactive playing for a year.   Muscle sores and panting will be one of them but I am open to that.  As long as we take the initial step and practice and play regularly, we will be able to slowly but surely get the feel of the game.   Before we hanged up our badminton raquets, we were already participating and actively playing in tournaments.   However, there were conflicts in schedules so we gave up playing in favor of other commitments. 

Now, that our schedules will allow us to play once more, I encouraged my husband to sign up in a badminton club for a game or two once a week.   We might as well do it soon because I can feel that my husband and  I are both slowing down.  Sports for all I know will make us active, fit, alert and young.  Winning more friends is a bonus.

I then have to take our racquets out  from it’s hiding place to see the light of day!

What will I do to complete my look for the coming wedding of my officemate?  Alright, I have spotted a gown in a mall somewhere and a pair of heeled shoes to match.  All I need to do is to purchase them.  I have already talked to my favorite hair stylist to do home service for my pedicure, manicure and hairdo and make up of course.  Since, I will be one of the sponsors, I wanted to stand out too (vain huh).  

 My stylist suggested to have an eyelash extension which is a hot new rage now.   I remember my friend whom I met few weeks back proudly displaying her thicker, longer, eye opening and prominent eyelashes.  Such a cool and sexy look! 

Okey, I trusted my stylist when she promised that  she will transform me on the day of the wedding with my new look to WOW!

My daughter tagged this pictures just to let me know that she’s getting gah-gah over these trendy footwear.  Well, alright they all looked good but told me she particularly liked the  shoes with 3 to 4 inches heels.  I can’t seem to get the idea of  those high heels to be a part of her wardrobe.  It’s impractical (for me)!  I know that it is modern and she gave me some reasons why she loved those shoes.

1.   It completes her looks in the proper pair in the right shades.  2. It make her look taller and will get noticed. 3.   High heels make her fell sexy and classy  4.   They make her feel confident, and said that when she will wear them, she will be able to maintain her posture. 5.   For her, shoes in a way help to really dress up any outift even if it an old pair of jeans, it will look great if worn with the right shoes.

I cut her short because I know she can give me 10 or more reasons so I will be convinced to buy her such shoes.   

Well, I reviewed the pictures and loved a pair too!  Hmmm.. I will still check and balance my budget.

I got a call from a friend an hour ago updating me of his plans to revive “Mabuhay” Toastmasters Club where my husband and I were a member of.  The club ceased to hold its weekly meeting when most members got so busy with their respective works and with their other committments.  The dwindling membership and attendance affected the club’s operation and saw it’s “death” early part of this year.   However, a well-meaning friend , a dentist Dr. Delfin decided to bring back life to the club by calling all members to once more join and participate.   We did responded to his call and signed up a reinstatement Membership form and the club will be in action again starting this Friday.    We have to give justice to the name “Mabuhay” which means “Long Live”!

We learned and appreciated the art of public speaking through this club so we are supporting it.  Although, we are busy but we promised that we will find time to attend just so we can contribute the skills we have acquired during our active years in Toastmastering.

I am already a CTM (Competent Toastmasters) and would love to target the DTM ( Distinguished Toastmasters Category ) hopefully.  Self improvement…

…. of migraine headache attack!   This usually comes once a month, much like a monthly period.  I just had an  attack very early this morning.  I have the onset of symptoms like flashing of lights (aura)-  experiencing flashing, brightly colored lights in a zigzag pattern usually starting in the middle of the visual field and progressing outward; and  nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.  It is already a warning signal that an impending headache is coming and  for sure, I will be pinned down to bed the whole day because the symptoms sensitivity to light and sound.  I considered sleep as the best possible medicine.  

My husband knows that if I had migraine headache that he will leave me alone and that he will not bother me for I will prefer to lie in our room with lights out during the attack till I got up and feel fine after around 12-24 hours.  Vomiting is the best relief that I can have then I will sleep and forget about the throbbing pain. 

Around 5pm  my husband knew perfectly well that I am doing fine for I am already working on this blog and chatting in the Facebook on the sideline. 

I have gotten used to this migraine thing that I already consider it as a monthly visitor.

We have been talking about how rotten our police force in the Philippines and yesterday,  as I strolled into the kitchen I noticed the bananas on the kitchen counter are rotting.   Wow! what a coincidence, here I am ranting how rotten our government is and now I have  rotten bananas here… lol….

My first thought is to make a banana bread.  I am not a good baker but instead of throwing those bananas in the bin, I searched for that note where I wrote the recipe for a Banana bread.   So…I sifted, and measured, and smashed those horribly rotten bananas and not long after our kitchen smells yummy.

So, don’t throw away rotten bananas.   I am posting the recipe I a friend sent to me thru an email and what a timely recipe for my rotten bananas.  So,  I have to do it right away before it will turn useless.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Yummy!  What a day to forget for a while the bad news about my country.

You bet!  Our cafeteria is buzzing these days with discussion about the hostage drama in the Philippines.  We, Filipinos somehow were so saddened by this tragedy and embarrased and angered by the cold blooded behaviour of the disgruntled police officer, Rolando Mendoza.  Lunch break became a lively discussion on how incompetent the police in handling such crisis.  It rattled the Philippines and it raised questions about the police ability to deal with hostage-takers.   It was reported that 8 Hongkong tourist were killed despite the hope that negotiations could bring the standoff to a peaceful conclusions.    But it failed!

Now, that the Hongkong government had issued a warning against travel to the Philippines and requested tourist still in the country to return home, we were telling our lunch buddies who are scheduled to tour Hongkong to cancel their vacation.   We were telling them not to take the risk, but of course we were just joking!  However, they were hoping that by the time they will go on tour, people had already  gotten over the news. 

So, we are expecting a busy cafeteria in the next few days….