Logico Maxico - A Fun Way in Learning

Have you heard about Logico products by Grolier?

I learned about Logico products two weeks ago when their authorized distributor did a demonstration of their product in a community hall near our place.  My five year old son saw it and he tried his hands on Grolier's Fun Thinkers product.  He enjoyed doing the activity because he felt like he's just playing with tiles.  My husband requested for a demo at home so my elder daughter can also try her hands on Grolier's other products especially with Grolier's Logico Maximo which is suited for her age.

A set of Logico Maximo suitable for 8 years old and above

 

After trying an activity from the Logico Maximo, my daughter enjoyed it and she requested if we can buy a set of Logico Maximo.  At first I was hesitant because the price is heavy on the pocket ... one set of Grolier's Logico Maximo is worth 16,560 pesos (almost 400 US$), payable in three months (they have some payment options for 6 months to 12 months) ... but after looking at the whole set of Logico Maximo, I decided to order because there's just a lot to learn from this product and I believe that my children can still use this even if they are in high school or college ... I even enjoyed doing the activity in mathematics and geometry ... so this means, this product will be for the whole family.

The Logico Maximo that we ordered came with a free Fun Thinkers product which is suitable for my 5-year old son.

Set of Fun Thinkers suitable for 3 to 7 years old

We have already received our order and I give my children at least an hour a day to play with Logico Maximo (for my 9-year old daughter) and Fun Thinkers (for my 5-year old son).

I don't mind spending on books and educational toys because I know that my children can benefit from it. 

Planning for a Bohol Vacation

My family and I are planning to take a 3-day/2-nights vacation in Bohol with a side trip to Cebu just to taste the famous Zubuchon lechon.

I had been to Cebu with a friend last April and I only had the chance to taste CnT lechon.  CnT lechon is the best lechon I ever tasted but I have read some blogs that made a good review on Zubuchon lechon so I want to taste it and this time together with hubby and kids.

Since we will be traveling with kids aged 9 and 5 years old, I'm planning to get a travel tour package for the four of us but the adventurous and budget conscious me wants to plan and make the itineraries all by myself and make hotel bookings on-line but with all the available options available, I'm starting to get a headache.  Maybe I should make a list first of all the things we really want to do with this vacation and from that list I can narrow down the searches I'm doing on-line ... of course the priority will be our children's comfort and safety.

I hope I can get a good deal for an end of December getaway otherwise we'll just schedule this trip for an early summer vacation.

Phineas and Ferbs Twelve Hour Marathon

My children love to watch Phineas and Ferbs.  They love the inventions the brothers are always undertaking, the new songs being introduced with every Phineas and Ferbs episode and not to forget the always hysterical and funny character of Candice.

A lot of Phineas and Ferbs episode were missed by the children since school opened last June so when my daughter learned a few days ago that Phineas and Ferbs will have a twelve hour marathon today starting from 9:30 in the morning to 9:30 in the evening, she wrote it down and posted it on the refrigerator door and asked me if they can watch this twelve hour marathon.  Well, it's a Saturday and their third summative examination is already over so okay just for today, they can watch television for more than two hours besides, I also love watching Phineas and Ferbs.

Happy weekend everyone.

Get Discount on your Prepaid Loads

Are you a cellphone prepaid subscriber?  How much does your family spend on all your cellphone loads for a month?

In our family, hubby and I are both cellphone prepaid subscribers and the average prepaid load we buy every month is 600 pesos.

Two months ago, a friend introduced me to V-Mobile's LoadXtreme, an on-line one-stop shop where you can buy prepaid loads at a wholesale price.  With only 250 pesos (US $6) access fee, you will get a lifetime access to LoadXtreme's system and buy prepaid loads at a discount.  Please click here for a complete list of products LoadXtreme has to offer.

Without hesitation, I joined the LoadXtreme network and I'm glad I did because I get a 10% discount on all our prepaid load needs.  With our current monthly prepaid card expenses of 600 pesos, I get a 60 pesos discount monthly ... not much savings, you may think but if you sum it up for the whole year it can give us a free prepaid load for a month.  With all the prices of commodities going up nowadays, it's good to learn of some ways to save especially on our basic needs.

Since I can load all prepaid loads to all telecom networks, I told my neighbors that they can buy prepaid loads from me and I was surprised that I was able to sell more than 2000 pesos prepaid loads on my first month ... adding our own consumption, that was already enough to get back the 250 pesos access fee I had paid in joining LoadXtreme's network.

I'm really happy that I joined this LoadXtreme network and I invite you to join too. For personal discount or business purposes, V-Mobile's LoadXtreme can really help us.  This network is open to all Filipinos both here and abroad as long as you have a cellphone number from any telephone companies here in the Philippines.

If you are interested to join the LoadXtreme network just leave me a message or better yet visit my blog regarding LoadXtreme so you will have a better understanding of what V-Mobile's LoadXtreme is all about.

Steamed Fish and Vegetables

Steamed lapu-lapu, okra and camote tops with sliced fresh tomato.

One of my reasons why I decided to be a full time mother is to make sure that my family eats healthy and since I started staying at home, one of the changes I made on our daily meal is the way we prepare food.

My children loves to eat fried foods but as we all know fried foods are not so good to our health so hubby and I introduced them to a more healthy steamed or grilled foods.

Personally, I prefer to steam foods because it is easier and faster to prepare and you get the full flavor of the meat, fish or vegetable.

One of my favorite fish to be steamed is the spotted grouper or lapu-lapu in filipino.  After drying the fish, I just rub it with salt, pepper and dried rosemary then wrap it in aluminum foil (banana leaf if available) and put it in a steamer.  After a few minutes, the fish is cooked and ready to be served.

To complete our meal, I serve this steamed lapu-lapu with steamed vegetables and steamed rice.  The children loves this dish minus the vegetables but at least they are already starting to love foods other than the fried ones.

Disappointed with the Result

Manny Pacquiao won over Marquez via unanimous decision.

My husband went home yesterday after watching the live telecast of Pacquiao-Marquez third boxing match at the clubhouse but not like the previous fights, he did not asked me to open the television and watch the delayed telecast of the fight, he was not even happy to inform me that Pacquiao won.  He said he was disappointed with the fight and the result.

After watching the news and reading comments of boxing fans on the internet, I learned that my husband is not alone in his disappointment.

Well, that's the sport called boxing.  Like any other sports which requires judges to determine the winner, the issue of human error, negligence, favoritism or whatever you call it will always be present in every match.  But can we blame the judges? ... at their place, they see what we might have not seen and they might have not seen what we have seen ... so in boxing it would be better for a boxer to knock his opponent out so that all these doubts will be erased.

For Manny Pacquiao, win or loose, I'm still proud of him.  He have done a lot to put the Philippines in the spotlight and besides whatever the decision was, he has nothing to do with it.

It's All Set for Pacquiao-Marquez Third Boxing Match

It's November 13, 2011, the day most Filipinos are waiting for.  It's the third boxing match for Filipino Pride Manny Pacquiao and Mexican Pride Juan Manuel Marquez.  After several weeks of rigid training of both camps, it's now the moment of truth.

My husband is a boxing aficionado and he really loves to watch live all of Pacquiao's fight.  Good thing here in our place, our homeowner's association always make a pay per view subscription whenever Manny Pacquiao has a fight so my husband doesn't have to go far just to watch the live telecast of the fight.

The clubhouse all prepared for the live telecast of Pacquiao-Marquez Fight.

We attended the Sunday mass early in the morning.  Instead of the 10:00 o'clock mass, we attended the 8:00 o'clock mass so hubby can get a good seat at the clubhouse.

The early birds getting the best seat. 

The children and I will just stay at home and wait for the news of the fight's result.  I don't really want to watch the live telecast of the fight.  Once I know the result, it's the only time that I watch the fight's replay.  I don't know, I just can't handle the suspense that happens inside the boxing ring.

Good luck to both fighters and I pray for your safety, no major injuries whatsoever.

Freshly Squeezed Calamansi Juice for a Hot 11-11-11 Day

For those who are superstitious or those who are fond of lucky numbers, today may be a special day but for most people just like me, today is just an ordinary day which just happened to have a rare calendar date and that is 11-11-11.

Here is the Philippines specifically here in Metro Manila, the weather is hot.  I fetched my son at school at 11 o'clock in the morning and whooo ... it's so hot.  I just can't stop perspiring.

For a hot day like this, I love to have an ice cold freshly squeezed calamansi juice ... so healthy and so refreshing.

Calamansi is a small citrus fruit which is abundant here in the Philippines and is very rich in vitamin C.  To neutralize the sour taste of calamasi juice, I add muscovado sugar instead of refined sugar because muscovado sugar is more nutritious compared to other sugar, it has a strong flavor of molasses though but once you are used to it, it's not really that bad.  I also added a teaspoon of honey to this mixture and the children are starting to love this.

For a hot day like this, it's really great to just sit and relax and sip this ice cold freshly squeezed calamansi juice.

I'm Feeling Down

I hate it but I'm feeling so low today.  I think this is part of my PMS (pre-menstrual symptom) but I hate it when I feel this way.

I woke up earlier than usual but aside from cooking rice and transferring some books on the shelf, I did nothing but sit on the couch.  I just want to cry for no apparent reason ... oh I'm so unproductive during this time.

Mid morning, my son gave me a reason to cry when I can't find him.  Usually, every morning after my husband and daughter leave the house, I let my son play outside our unit with his friends ... a group of boys from 5 to 8 years old ... they are just playing at the second floor (playing area) of our building.  After a while, one of his friends knocked on our door looking for my son ... I thought they were together so I went to look for him.  After a few minutes of going up and down (we live in a 4-storey building) calling my son's name, I got no reply.  I went out of the building and went to the clubhouse thinking that he went there with his other friends but I still did not find him.  I was already at the brink of crying when I remembered to check him on our neighbor's door.  Their door is usually closed but my son sometimes go inside their unit to play with their 3 year old child and thanks heavens, he was there.

When we were already inside our unit, I have not controlled my tears.  I cried while talking to my son.

I think crying helped in lifting my spirit because after the crying drama, I felt relieved and somehow my mood brightened.

Another Price Increase for Meralco Consumers

I'm watching the news this morning and news about another price increase on our electricity bill is going to be implemented by Meralco this month.  It's just like a few months have passed since they implemented an increase and now they are again implementing another increase.

Their reason is that the Malampaya Powerplant was shut down since last week and repairs was made to this plant and the cost of the repair will be passed on to the consumers.  I really don't understand why all the costs incurred by these companies in repairing their powerplants, their transmission lines, substations , etc. are being passed on to the consumers ... what I understand is that, it will be another burden to us consumers who by the way are already burdened by all the prices of commodities which are going up these days.

Well, that's how life is, being dependent on all these utility companies.  We can voice out our grudges, they listen, but they continue with the increase anyway.  So, what's new?

Help! ... My Daughter is Afraid of Ghost

Well, everybody does.  Who wouldn't be afraid if you see something or someone who looks like those creatures in horror movies?  But what I found unusual with my daughter is that even if she has not seen any of these scary creatures in real life, yet she is afraid to be alone anywhere in the house not only at night time but even in broad daylight.  She said that she can't get out of her mind the scary scenes of horror movies she had watched on television and the horror stories she heard from her classmates.

Every time she takes a bath or do her thing in the bathroom she asks us (most of the time her younger brother) to accompany her and just stand at the bathroom door.  She won't get inside the bedroom alone.

We live in a small house, only 42 square meter area with two bedrooms and one bathroom.  The living room, dining room and kitchen are just a few steps away from each other so I really don't understand why she's afraid and always wanted someone to be at her side.

My daughter is already nine years old but she is still sleeping with us.  At the end of the year, I'm planning to have her sleep at her bedroom but with what she is behaving, I would find it difficult to leave her alone in her bedroom.  She is nearing her puberty stage and she should be using the bathroom all by herself with the bathroom door locked.

For now, I can't do anything but to tell her not to watch horror movies anymore and keep on convincing her that if ever there are ghosts (I haven't seen one and I hope I won't), they are in other places and our house is ghost-free.   I hope she will overcome her fears of ghost as soon as possible.

A Sunday Treat

I have mentioned in my post here that as much as possible, I serve my family a well-balance meal everyday but once in a while we indulge on "fast food" meals or what many call as "unhealthy foods".

Today is one of those days that we treat the children with what they love to eat ... Jollibee!

Hmmmmmmm ... yummy.  If the children can get their way, they want to have this everyday ... but that's a big NO from hubby and me.

Happy Sunday everyone.

Back To School

After a week long vacation for the semestral break, it's back to school again for my children in grade school and pre-school.  Back to the normal activities of bringing and fetching the children to school, preparing their food, checking on their assignments if they have done it and so on and so forth.

Our week long vacation was just spent here at home, doing some cleaning and organizing some stuff.  The children had fun doing their trick or treat activities here in our place.  It's a yearly activity they are looking forward every end of October.

Last November 1, just like any other years, instead of going to the cemetery and visit our departed loved ones, we just lighted a candle at home and prayed.  It's really hard to travel with children in tow during this season so it's better to just stay at home.

It's good that the children have taken their break and have relaxed a little because Christmas season is just around the corner and for sure they will be busy again preparing for all the activities they will be doing for their Christmas celebration in school.