Sunday, November 16, 2014

At the Pumpkin Patch.

Obviously, this was an overdue post but I'm still going to share it anyway, lol! We lucked out this year. None of us got sick in October. Woohoo! So we tried to do something fun for him in relation to Halloween. We took him to a church-sponsored pumpkin patch. I think he had fun. There's so much pumpkin to choose from but we ended up buying only 3...because that was all he wanted, lol! He picked all three and he put stickers all over them when we got  home, lol! Funny kid!

I was aware that he was a little overdressed for the event but I was hoping to get some decent shots of him while he's there so I put on his formal outfit. Unfortunately, there were too many people walking around to really get a good shot so I just settled with some candid poses. Below are some of my favorites.







Thursday, November 13, 2014

We're taking charge of our health.

Health is wealth. It may sound like a cliché but nothing else matters if you’re not healthy or won’t be able to afford quality health care for your family. Being government employees (hubby is a federal and I am a state employee), I would say one of the perks of having these jobs is the health insurance coverage, most especially Montana State employees. In addition to the State’s contribution towards our insurance policies, we even have nice health centers where State employees and their families can visit 100% free of charge. No co-pays thus no out of pocket expenses. My 3-year old gets sick very often and I always take him there. If they need to run more tests like lab tests, X-rays, ultrasounds and such, they will refer the patients to the bigger hospital in town. And the best part of it is that it’s absolutely free. I didn’t have to pay a dime when they did an ultrasound scan on my gallbladder when they suspected it to have stones. My little munchkin recently had a bad wheezing cough that lasted for weeks and they had to XRay him and we didn’t get charged for it because the state health center ordered the test. I mean it’s absolutely amazing health coverage that Montana provides to their employees.

On top of that, we have free health coaching, free dietitian, once a year free eye checkup, free preventive screenings such as cervical cancer screening, mammography, well-child care, routine immunizations, diabetes screening and more, all provided by the State to its hard working employees. Why does the state dump so much money investing for their employees health? (one may ask) It’s quite simple. Because an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. In the long run, the state can save a lot of money with the health care insurance expenses if they stay on top of their employees’ health issues. Definitely makes sense! And so because of that, I think we are very lucky. But that doesn’t mean if you’re not government employed, you can’t have great insurance providers as well. You’re just gonna have to do your research and find a great agent for health coverage that’s gonna help you meet your health care needs without spending a ridiculous amount of money.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Best earphones ever.

I have gone through earphones like crazy. I usually buy the cheap ones in my favorite color but to be honest, they don’t really last very long with mediocre sound quality. So when my last set broke on me again for less than a year, I’ve decided to just get me a nice, expensive shure 315 earphones. They are awesome. This particular model blocks ambient noise because of its custom fit sound isolating sleeves. It’s truly high quality and the buds fit comfortably in my ear. Definitely worth the price.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

My Little Buccaneer on Halloween!


I was excited for my little man for this year's Halloween. It's his first time to go trick or treating. Well, not by choice though. We were just that unfortunate that every Halloween for the past 3 years, he gets sick. So we'd end up staying at home wearing whatever costume I bought for him for that year. So when Halloween 2014 was approaching and he didn't show any symptoms of getting sick, we made plans. I took time off from work and Jeff and I took him to the walking mall to go trick or treating. He had a blast. I picked this cute little buccaneer costume from Amazon and oh boy I think my young man looked adorable, lol! He originally wanted to wear his Spiderman costume from last year but thankfully I talked him into wearing the buccaneer outfit instead. I agreed to let him bring his Spiderman bucket so he can have at least some Spiderman spirit, lol!

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

It's that time of the year again.

Our Philippine wedding anniversary is in 2 months, so I can’t help but reminisce the beautiful and grand things that had happened that day. It was a "dream wedding come true" for me. My family, relatives and the closest of my friends have all attended and witnessed a very special moment of my life. Not to sound like I’m bragging, but we spent a whole deal of time, sweat, effort and money into making my dream wedding come true. We thought about all the minute details. And in hindsight, I could have listened to my friend when she suggested that we might want to have a dj present during the reception. At that time, she was looking for a wedding dj in wilmington for her wedding that happened in the same week that I had mine 3000 miles away from US. But we decided not to have one at the reception anyway. We did hire a group that sang the whole time at the reception and I think we liked it that way. We're not really party people anyway, lol!

Monday, November 3, 2014

Small guitar for him.

My little man is showing some interest in playing the guitar. I mean I know he’s really too young to learn anything useful but he likes to spend time with his Dad when he’s down there practicing in the basement. He helps his daddy tune the guitars, lol! I know it’s more like playtime for him but I think if we encourage him and support him with it when he’s old enough to take guitar lessons, it will be wonderful. We have both electric and acoustic guitars but none for a kid his age, so we’re thinking of getting him a ½ size acoustic guitar for Christmas. I am looking at our options as to where to get it. We have a guitar store in town so we’re probably start our search there. I heard of Musicians friend, an online music store so I think we’ll check it out as well.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Have two left feet.

I’ve always admired people who have the innate talent to sing and dance. They seem to have so much poise and grace in them. Some people who aren’t so gifted though but likes to learn how to dance would sometimes even go to dance lessons. I remember when we had our Philippine wedding 4 years ago, our wedding planner asked us if we would like to do a special dance number as a couple, lol! I was all for it. I mean I’m not a dancer or anything but I think I can dance. But hubby wasn’t too keen about it. Even if I’ve suggested that he should take a short term private dance lessons santa monica. He just isn’t comfortable dancing let alone do it in front of so many people.