I hurt my lower back again end of the last week. :-( Ever since I hurt my back in November/December 2010, I've had issues with it. My back is always sore at the end of my work day and commute home. And now I've re-injured it...

I was lucky to get into my doctor this morning around 10:30am. He has me on methylprednisolone & extra strength Tylenol. I took the same medicine when I injured my back before and I remember the steroids were like a magic drug and that the pain went away pretty fast. Right now it's really painful for me to sit/stand/walk, etc. I have horrible pain when I have to roll over or get out of bed too. Ugh. Hoping I feel better soon!

My doctor wants me on light bed rest all week. (I can only get up to shower/bathroom or get a meal). I really didn't have a lot of leave left at work, so it looks like a few of the days I will have to use leave without pay... which really really sucks.

I never took pictures of the floral Target placemats I ordered. When they arrived, instead of being black & white... they turned out to be black and frosted clear; (That was not mentioned on Target's website) Clear did not work with our dark wood dining room table. The design did not show up well at all...

I didn't want to return them because I really liked the design, so I've been trying to find something to go underneath them. We finally found white contact paper at Dollar Tree. So I sat down and put contact paper onto the back of each placemat. (Was that ever tedious, lol!) Now the color is showing up how I wanted it to. Black & White. Plus the contact paper can be cleaned with soap & water. :-)

The lamps I ordered from Target arrived the other day. Only when I opened the box. Instead of two of the same exact lamp. I had two very different damask lampshades. One was smaller and more narrow, the other was like the picture on Target's website, bigger & rounder with gray around the damask pattern. They looked pretty stupid standing next to each other when I wanted two matching lamps.

I took the lamps to our Target to exchange, but they had to do them as a return. They gave me a Target giftcard with my refunded balance. Luckily they had the same lamps in stock so I was able to pick out two matching shades this time. And I did see that more narrow damask shade there. So to anyone buying two of these damask lamps online- just be aware you may get two different style shades and you may have to return them! (The model number for both of the lamps with different lampshades were exactly the same too!)






I got some really cute aqua & black & white baskets at Dollar Tree. I put them on our entertainment stand to organize things.


 I also found these really gorgeous turquoise pillows at Target. They weren't on sale, but I really loved them and there were just 2 left. I got both of them to put on our black & white chairs in the living room.


I looked all over Target's website. But apparently they aren't selling this pillow anymore. The turquoise damask is a velvet material. (The UPC is: 065153726 18x18).

I made Pancit Canton tonight with some of the goodies I bought from Phil-Am Foods. (Pancit in the Philippines, reminds me of American/Chinese lo mein in the USA.) 

No carrots in our version though, they aren't my husband's favorite, hehe. Instead we had, chicken, shrimp, quail eggs, cabbage, onions & baby corn pieces. We still have leftovers. :-)


Things I purchased from Phil-Am Foods to make the Pansit:

Pancit Canton Seasoning

Pancit Canton Noodles

Quail Eggs

I have an obsession with damask patterns. Especially white & black damask. I think it's elegant & regal. (My Tudor Dynasty obsession probably fuels that). 

I ordered damask patterned dishes from Target not that long ago. (I still want to order 1 more set of those when we have a little extra $$$).

I've had these damask lamps from Target on my wish list for awhile. They were originally $19.99, but they went on sale for $15.99 so I ordered two. :-) I'm not sure if we'll put them in the living room or our bedroom. We only have one table lamp in our bedroom at the moment.


As you can see from my Pinterest boards: Home Decor & Kitchen Decor. (I have pinned & notated items we own). We've got a black & white and aqua theme going on in our house. (See: Ikea loot post).

I also recently got these cute aqua owls on Etsy. They are in our living room.

Today is my 4 year anniversary of blogging! I started 'Tunay Na Mahal' back on March 17th, 2008! It's been a space for me to share my long distance relationship, our immigration process, life in Philadelphia, travels to the Philippines; my pets & things I love!


P.S. Please check out these items I'm selling on Ebay!

We ordered some more Philippine goodies from Phil-Am Food the other day. They are always super quick with shipping... (but then again New Jersey is pretty close to Philadelphia). ;-) I put in our order on Sunday and our items arrived this morning. I always loved shopping in the supermarkets in the Philippines, and I'm always excited to try foreign foods. Hubby & I ordered lot's of goodies! It was like Christmas today!

All our goodies!

THE BEST coffee EVER!

Salted eggs are soooo good!

March 6th was F.B.'s 1 year anniversary since he came to the USA. We celebrated by getting Chinese Takeout for dinner. :-)



We still have a ways to go with immigration though... around September I have to contact our immigration lawyer again. We will need to rehire him. It's going to cost around $1,500 to finish everything- (That's including our lawyer's fees). We have to file to remove the conditional status from F.B.'s green card which expires March 2013, but he needs to file for the I-751 90 days before his 2nd anniversary in the USA.

Evidence that will need to be submitted when we file our Form I-751 to remove the conditional status off F.B.'s permanent resident card:

1. A copy of the Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Card (both sides);

2. A copy of the Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Card of CR children included in the petition (if applicable);
 
3. Documents establishing joint ownership of property and/or joint tenancy at a communal residence;
 
4. Financial records showing the commingling of financial resources and liabilities, e.g., joint bank accounts, joint federal and state tax returns, insurance, utility bills, joint installments and/or loans;
 
5. Birth certificate(s) of child(ren) born to the marriage (if applicable);
 
6. Affidavits of persons having knowledge of the good faith of the marriage; and
 
7. Photographs of the couple taken during the marriage.

NOTE: Our lawyers Peter J. Gonzales & Shanna Stanton have changed firms. They are no longer with Kahiga Tiagha. They are now with Green and Spiegel LLC, but still located in Philadelphia.

When you leave your pet rats home alone for the weekend. ;-)  Hehe! 

(Just wine residue!)

And... a close up of Violet! :-p

My treadmill has been collecting dust lately... I still use it occasionally, but it's gotten a bit repetitive. I really haven't been working out regularly for over a year now, which is bad. I wake up at 4:45am and with my 1 hour train commute both ways to work, I don't get home until about 5pm at which point I'm always so tired. I really need to get back into working out every day, but I needed something to motivate me.

I started researching exercise bikes online at first, but then I saw it really only strengthens muscles in your legs & not all over. I saw the Gazelle Edge Trainer had 1,012 good reviews on Walmart.com and it supposedly strengthens muscles all over your body. Plus the price was right, $99.00 which was cheaper than some of the exercise bikes I was looking at. I've also read online it's good for people with bad knees (which I definitely have). It also doesn't use electricity, which is a plus!

So using some of my tax refund, I went ahead & ordered it from Walmart.com with free site to store shipping. (Being in an apartment now, I really love that I can order my item and just go pick it up at my local Walmart, instead of waiting for a delivery I might miss).

My husband & I set it up last night, it probably took about 30 minutes to put it together. This morning was the first time I tried it out. It definitely takes some getting used to, I don't think I've mastered it yet, since you need some balance to make it work. But I used it for 20 minutes, while listening to music on my iPod.

You definitely work up a sweat and the muscles in my calves & biceps & gluts feel a bit sore now. (I'm sure other muscles I don't even know about will be hurting when I wake up tomorrow, lol!). The timer on it doesn't let you cheat either, when you stop moving, it stops moving. So I definitely got in a full 20 minutes.

I'm not going to add my review to Walmart.com until I've used it for a full month, but it's definitely something new to get me motivated about working out again. Plus I love that you can fold it up when you're done to store it in a closet or against the wall. It weighs just under 50 pounds.

You can get the Gazelle Edge Trainer on Walmart.com for $99.00 and Amazon.com is also selling it for the same price!



And no... I did not get compensated in any way for writing this post! I'm just excited about my new toy, so I thought I would share my thoughts with everyone! I do use Amazon associates, but I have not collected any money from it. I mostly use it to links to products I'm talking about!

We had this for dinner the other night and it turned out great. Thought I would share my recipe with everyone! It's pretty easy to throw together!

Cheeseburger Lasagna: Crock Pot Recipe

• 1-2 pounds of ground beef
• 1 large onion chopped into small pieces
• 2 jars of Ragu Double Cheddar Sauce.
• 1-1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese. (I only had enough cheddar to coat the very top, so I used mozzarella in the middle layers).
• 2 cans of diced tomatoes. 
• Oven ready lasagna noodles *(make sure the box says 'Oven Ready' noodles, these are noodles that are already slightly pre-cooked so you don't have to boil them).
• 1 Teaspoon of Goya Adobe all purpose seasoning (red lid)
• Bottle of ketchup.

(You could also add bacon to this recipe by cooking up 6 slices of bacon and crumbling them into the ground beef while it's browning). 

Ingredients- (ground beef & shredded cheese not pictured).

Step one: 

Brown your ground beef & onions in a frying pan. Toss in 1 teaspoon of Goya Adobe all purpose seasoning.

Step Two: 

Coat the bottom of your crock pot with a thin layer of the Ragu double cheddar sauce. Next a layer of your ready cook lasagna noodles. (You may need to snap some in half to fit; make sure you completely cover the bottom with noodles).

Layer of cheese sauce & lasagna noodles broken to fit.

Your layers should go like this:  

• Lasagna noodles
• Diced tomatoes
• Ground beef & onions
• Double Cheddar Sauce
• Shredded cheese
• Criss cross of ketchup.
• Lasagna Noodles

1 finished layer, waiting for more noodles

Repeat process until you get to the top of the crock pot. Top with more cheese sauce & shredded cheese & a criss cross of ketchup. Let cook on low for 5-6 hours. Enjoy!

Sorry for the lousy after photo, but it tasted really good! :-)