1. Suave: Rosemary & Mint Shampoo

I was using another mint shampoo that cost $6 before. This is more affordable and I love the scent. It also has lavender and lemongrass in it.












2. Dial: Cranberry Body Wash

This is something new I decided to try after seeing it at Walmart. Love it! The scent is sweet but there's also something citrusy about it. It also comes in bar form.










3. Baking Soda

Yep! Good old fashioned, baking soda! I've been using it on my toothbrush before I use regular toothpaste. And I've started using it to exfoliate my face 2x's a week. If you click the link it also gives you some other beauty tips for baking soda!














I've heard this powder has been around for many many years. I just started using it last year to set my foundation. It's nice & light and has a slight perfume scent to it. The container is huge so it lasts a long long time!










5. Yardley English Lavender Soap

I'm lucky enough our local Dollar Tree carries this. I love the strong scent of lavender. I also like L'Occitane's lavender soap, but this is more affordable!













6. Tom's of Maine Natural Lavender Deodorant 

I haven't really found a good deodorant that works like my Secret vanilla does. Unfortunately I've grown tired of that scent and I've gone through quite a few new ones lately that just didn't do it. I'm loving Tom's of Maine though. It actually lasts through the day and I absolutely love the scent of lavender!










7. Carmex Lip Balm

Can't go wrong with Carmex! I buy the one in the little jar, only because I've had 2 tubes destroyed by little rattie teeth! I definitely love using this in the winter for chapped lips.


(Nope, not getting paid to recommend these products! I just wanted to share them, because I love them!)

Other Articles:

Bath & Beauty Products 1

Bath & Beauty Products 2

L'Occitane Verbena Products

More L'Occitane Products

Headed to Pennypack Park today and ended up at Peddler's Village later in the day. Got some nice shots with my new camera! (Click for bigger version of the photos.)

Hazelnut

Rosie

Lily

Pepper

There are better quality versions of some of these photos in my Flickr album here.

And all of today's pictures in my Photobucket album.

I took a bunch of random books out from the library this time. There are quite a few new ones I want to read but the wait is just too long. Maybe in a few months I'll be able to take them out when they aren't so popular.

What I want to read:

1. Room : a novel- Emma Donoghue

2. Fly away home- Jennier Weiner

3. The red queen- Philippa Gregory

4. Captive Queen: A Novel of Eleanor of Aquitaine- Alison Weir

5. The world is bigger now : an American journalist's rescue from captivity in North Korea- Euna Lee

Here are the random books I picked out to read for the time being. I did online key word searches in our library and found some interesting reads. The Elizabeth Smart one I picked because they are about to begin the trial and the story interested me.

1. Bringing Elizabeth home : a journey of faith and hope- Ed Smart (Pretty good.)

2. In a gilded cage- Rhys Bowen (I liked this- a good mystery book!)

3. Annexed- Sharon Dogar (It was okay- not very descriptive.)

4. Wicked girls : a novel of the Salem witch trials- Stephanie Hemphill (The whole book is written in verse with not enough details. Hard to read.)

5. Revolution- Jennifer Donnelly (Didn't love it, but wasn't bad either.)

6. The world I live in- Helen Keller (Very interesting read.)

I discovered a mammary tumor on Pepper yesterday. Those suckers just pop up overnight it seems, because almost every day I am checking the girls for lumps. I'm not having it removed. Pepper has too many other health issues. She's always been smaller and weaker than her sister Poppy. Pepper is around 10 months old but she's as small as a 3 month old rat.

The pet store I got her from (Same place I got Basil & Sage from.) had her and Poppy in cedar chips, which are toxic to rats. It can cause long term respiratory issues, which Pepper has. They were selling the rats as feeders. She's always had breathing issues, wheezy lungs. She had a few episodes back in September where she would be struggling to breath and getting cold all over. She's been on antibiotics and now she's also on Prednisolone. It is an anti-inflammatory so it helps with her lungs. We call her my "asthma" rat. Hopefully the prednisolone will also slow the growth of her tumor as well.


My Basil boy!  He is getting older. I'm not sure of Basil's age. I would say he is some where past a year already. He's starting to show signs of Degenerative Osteoarthritis. His back legs are weaker and sometimes stiff when he walks. He doesn't lift his tail when he walks anymore either, he drags it. He's having trouble climbing, some times he will slip a bit because of his back legs. Poor guy. Hopefully he doesn't get paralysis. He doesn't seem to be in any pain right now. If he shows signs I'll have to take him to the vet so he can be prescribed a pain killer. I've also started treating him with the prednisolone since it's a corticosteroid and can help with inflammation.

Everyone else *crosses fingers* is healthy and doing well. I'm hopefully going to take Pepper and a few others to the park with me tomorrow.

My prizes from NYC Girl at Heart & Kodak arrived today! Yay!

Basil my old guy was my first subject after I figured out how to set the Macro setting and how to focus the camera before taking a shot!


The digital picture frame is pretty neat. You can even select to view photos from your friends Facebook albums or your own! It has wi-fi but you can also upload photos from your computer to the frame through the Kodak Pulse website. The first picture I added was my Manila Bay sunset photo!


Thank you so much Patty & Kodak! I love it! I can't wait to head to the park later this week and get some pretty fall shots with my new camera!

I can't believe it's already November. I'm excited for Thanksgiving this year! Why? Well, I've spent the last 2 years in the Philippines during Thanksgiving. While it was wonderful being with my husband, I have also missed being at home for Thanksgiving with my family.

F.B. and I always set that day aside to go out and have dinner, since Thanksgiving is an American holiday and not celebrated in the Philippines. We would pick up Martinelli's Sparkling Apple Cider, which we always have at every holiday meal with my family (Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Years). I was so happy they sell it in the Philippines!

Thanksgiving 2008 in the Philippines


Thanksgiving 2009 in the Philippines

Hopefully next year F.B. will be here in the USA to celebrate his first Thanksgiving. I'm excited to share that with him and have him some taste pumpkin pie, hehehe!

You either believe in ghosts or you don't. If you don't, they still make a nice story around Halloween. Being a Christian, I do believe in spirits, angels, etc. I do believe spirits come back at times. I do believe spirits sometimes have unfinished business.

One time in the Philippines, I told F.B. I would tell him ONE ghost story. I ended up keeping him awake until 6am talking, haha!

I've lived in 2 "haunted" houses in Philadelphia that stick out in my mind. The one home we lived in for 11 years. It was a 3 story row home with 5 bedrooms. All the other row homes were 2 stories on our block. This house was built in the early 1900's. It still had the original gas lights on walls in the house though they no longer worked.

The very first night we moved in (I was only 10-11 years old.) I heard someone walking down the long dark hallway. I got up and went to my doorway to say goodnight to what I thought was one of my parents. No one was there... I think I ended up reading the rest of the night with my night light on!

That would happen a lot after that. You would hear someone coming down the hallway but no one ever appeared.

We would always hear someone running up and down the 3rd story stairs at night time- continually on occasions. The 3rd story had it's own separate corridor from the rest of the house. There were two bedrooms up there that were supposed to eventually become mine and my brothers but no one really wanted to sleep up there. You would just get this strange "feeling" when you went up there.

Sometimes you would hear organ music coming from the 3rd floor. All of the other houses were 2 stories so it wasn't coming from our neighbor- who you could hear talking sometimes down on the lower floors.

There had been a fire in the kitchen years before we moved into the house. The one day my mom was down in the basement doing laundry and there was smoke coming from the kitchen. This awful burning sulfur rubber smell. I ran into the kitchen to see if the oven was on and it wasn't. Called my mom upstairs. By that time the smoke had disappeared.

We had wall to wall carpeting in the house. The one day we were all down the basement, my mom and brothers. We heard loud heavy boots clomping on a wooden floor upstairs. My mom ran upstairs because the neighborhood we were in wasn't the best and she thought someone had entered the house. She checked everywhere but couldn't find anyone. It was after wards we thought- how could boots make a clomping sound on carpeting?

This happened to my mom one time she was alone in the house with my baby brother. The same thing- she heard footsteps and thought someone had broken into the house. But she couldn't find anyone. She ended up calling my dad.

My mom has said there would be times she would feel some one tap her and think it was one of us kids. She would turn around, but no one would be there. 

Doors would occasionally blow open in that house. It was really annoying. Even if you locked them. 

Sometimes at night I would feel someone sit down on the end of my bed. It would freak me out.

When our younger brothers were born (a year apart.) My younger brother and I shared a room for awhile. We had bunk beds and would sleep with our bedroom door open. The one night my little brother came into the room- (I saw his shadow in the door way.) He sat down onto the bed on the bottom bunk. I started to talk to him and he didn't answer me. I said his name louder. Then he started calling from the bathroom next to our room- he had been in there the whole time.

There would be times when I would be sleeping in and feel someone sitting or laying down onto the bottom bunk when my brother wasn't there. Eventually I just got used to feeling the bed move or squeak.

About 6 years ago we moved to Northeast Philadelphia. To a two story twin home. You would occasionally hear someone walking in the hallway at night there too. We had wooden floors there. I hated going into the basement because I felt like someone was watching me down there. (Part of the basement had been finished with a kitchen, etc.) You got this weird "feeling" down in the basement. I kept mentioning it to my mom, who eventually said, "We didn't want to tell you after the last house- the old lady who lived here before, died down there."

There were strange things in the garage there. Strange fluids in jars that the old owners had to remove before we moved in. There were tons of anatomy books and embalming books in the attic. Most were moldy and destroyed. They were from the 1900's. The one I kept (and still have) that wasn't too damaged was from 1905. After we found the books we wondered if the fluids in the jars had been formaldehyde or something. We think one of the past owners worked for a funeral home... perhaps...

freedigitalphotos.net

So I'm starting a new meme!

Rules: Choose 5 of your favorite blogs and share what you think you have in common or how/why you connect with that blog/blogger. (Similar interests, hobbies, etc.)

1. Keeping up with Me

Jacki is Filipina, I am American. She was married in the USA and I was married in the Philippines. She and her husband worked through immigration and F.B. and I are currently working on immigration. That definitely set the foundation for our friendship. I love reading about Jacki's experiences now living in the USA and how my husband will experience the same some day soon.

2. NYC Girl at Heart

Patty and I both share a love and passion for our cities. For her, New York and for me, Philadelphia. We love our cities, we love sharing about them! We are both East Coast girls! We also love Philippa Gregory's books. And our pets are our babies. (Her dog Max & my rats!)

3. Misguided Mommy

Shannon's husband is Filipino, which is something we have in common. We've always been able to laugh or joke about the little odd quirks or terms our husband's have or use. Like how my husband calls sneakers, "Rubber Shoes", or how her husband puts ketchup on everything & calls flip flips, "slippers". She also loves cooking, which is something I love to do too.

4. Chronicles of an Exhausted Mom

Stephanie and I connected over Tudor history at first. We both love reading about the Tudor's and are fascinated by that era. She also has gone through the immigration experience with her husband as well.

5. Berto and Kwala

I really enjoy Karen's blog posts about the Philippines. And the fact she lives pretty close to where my husband lives is something we have in common. I've driven through her city many many times, even though we've never met yet! She's posted about places I have been before, malls F.B. & I have been too. I like that we share that in common. She also loves to write, which is something I love doing too!


There are many other reasons why I love these blogs as well. The blogging world is a great place as it opens your eyes to other's experiences through life, other places, other cultures. As you follow along, you become connected to that blogger, laugh when they do, cry when they cry, share in their happiness and joy and make some new friends along the way.

I made my very first smoothie today! I've always wanted to try making them at home. But I was always too lazy, lol! I've been looking at different recipes the past few weeks online so I decided I was finally going to try making a smoothie.

I got a bunch of frozen berries from Aldi. (I love Aldi they are so cheap!) Blueberries, Raspberries, Strawberries, Mixed Berries. Also shopped at Walmart for my other ingredients.

(Ignore the rat book & Philippine postcards, hehe.)

Here is what I put in my very first smoothie:

1/2 cup of water.
1/2 cup of Almond Milk. (You could use non fat milk too.)
4 ice cubes.
1 tablespoon of Vanilla Yogurt.
1 tablespoon of Kretschmer's Wheat Germ
1 half of a medium sized Banana.
3 large frozen Strawberries.
Handful of frozen Blueberries.
Handful of fresh Spinach leaves. (Or frozen.)
2-3 packets of sweetener (to your taste).

(You can add or decrease any of these ingredients to your liking.)

Blend everything together in a blender until smooth. I used the frappe setting on our old blender. It turned out AMAZING! You CANNOT taste the spinach at all, so don't be freaked out. I made my brother try it and at first he looked at it and made a face, but when he tasted it he wanted a glass for himself. All you could taste was the banana and the sweetness of the berries. The smoothie turned out blue in color because of the blueberries. The recipe makes a very large glass. It definitely fills you up.

I'm so glad I tried this! I'm gonna be on a smoothie kick for awhile. With not working and not getting out as much I'm going to substitute it for one of my meals (probably lunch). Excited to just try making a plain raspberry or strawberry smoothie also with the same ingredients. This way you get your fruits and veggies, protein, fiber, vitamins, etc. 

Here is a website with other fruit smoothie recipes:

Healthy Fruit & Green Smoothie Recipes!

Here is a great blog with smoothie recipes too:

Coffee & Sunshine

I am so excited! (I know 2 blog posts in one day!) I entered the NYC Girl at Heart & Kodak blog contest 2 weeks ago. You could earn extra entries by doing extra stuff. One was tweeting about the contest every day on Twitter. I never had a Twitter before the contest. But I really wanted to win, lol! So I ended up joining Twitter. (And I'm glad I did, because I really enjoy using it and I like how I can link my tweets to my Facebook).

I've entered many many blog contests and I've won a few small ones but never a major prize giveaway! I was so excited and almost had a heart attack when I read Patty's blog this morning! 


I've won a Kodak Easyshare M580 Digital Camera and a Kodak Pulse Digital Picture Frame!


I'll definitely write a blog when my prizes arrive to thank Patty & Kodak! I'm excited because my Sony digital camera is quite beat up so I really needed a new one! I can't wait to use it! Thank you again Patty and Kodak!

Edited to add: This was picture I picked for my initial entry in the contest. Manila Bay Sunset. I took the picture at Mall of Asia during my late 2008 trip to the Philippines.

My sister in law was married a month ago on 9/25/10. Her wedding was featured online at Bridal Book Philippines:


In immigration news, F.B. mailed off all the documents to our immigration lawyer the other day. He should receive them by this Tuesday.

I've been stressed out over dealing with unemployment. I had to reopen my claim from last year. It expires on October 30th. I'm only going to get 2 payments out of the rest of this claim. I filed for my first checks last Sunday. Friday the money had still not been deposited so I had to call them. (They don't answer calls anymore- you have to schedule a call back.) When they got back to me they said there had been some sort of "stop" on my account. The lady had to update stuff on the computer so my payments would go through. They really make you work for your money.

November 1st, I will have to file a new claim and it's always a hassle as well because they deny me at first. Our payroll department is never timely and usually half my wages are missing so unemployment never has a record that I worked during the year. I always have to mail all my pay stub copies to them, meanwhile 3-4 weeks go by with no money until they straighten it out. They do give you back payments. But it's a hassle every year. (The woes of a seasonal employee, lol.) I should be called back to work the beginning of January if not sooner.

My cousin Jessica has started a blog! Yay! So excited! You can check out her blog at: I Believe in Pink. Stop by and welcome her to the blogging world! She is just getting started. She has a beautiful baby girl named Kayleigh who just turned one month old on October 3rd.

Jessica & Kayleigh (Photo credit: Christina)