It Pays To Know: Metro Manila Street Crimes

I received this email from a friend.  Please read and be vigilant.

Happy Weekend and Take Care, Mommies! :-)


METRO MANILA STREET CRIMES

Most crimes are committed on the streets, while riding on public transportation, in shopping malls, and in other areas with high people concentration. The most frequent crimes perpetrated across the metropolis are pick-pocketing, robbery, confidence schemes, and to a lesser degree, credit card fraud. While these crimes are common to many other major cities, the names could be different for these are the ones used mainly in Metro Manila.  

My Shopping Bag: Working Mom Magazine's All About Baby

Last Saturday, Don and I went to Working Mom Magazine's All About Baby event at the Rockwell Tent.  I heard that a lot of items will be on sale so we decided to drop by.

The only item on our shopping list was to buy cloth diapers.  When Julia turned 18 months last July, Don and I decided to try using cloth diapers for her.  At home, Julia uses a cloth diaper but she still uses a disposable diaper every time we go out.

Of course, true to form, that was not all I purchased :-)  Here what's on our shopping bag:

It's a WAHMderful Life Workshop!

You are a stay-at-home-mom.  You make your home beautiful and you take care of your family and children.  But at the same time, you also want to do something that you are passionate about and earn from it.

You are a working mom like me and you would like to be a full-fledged work-at-home mom.

You are happily engaged to the man of your dreams and you plan to be a work-at-home wife and soon, a work-at-home mom.

If your desire is to be in one of the situations I mentioned above, then you HAVE TO attend the only workshop for women who want to work from home while making a home.

Visit Dainty Mom here to know more about the workshop.  You should also register NOW to avail of the early bird discount.

Yes, I am a working mom.  But, my ultimate goal is to be able to work at home, start a business, manage my blog and earn a modest income so that I can help support our household expenses.  Best of all, while I do all that, I want to provide my family a beautiful home and take care of Don and Julia.  So, I look forward to attending the workshop and learn from the experts.

Shhhh, don't tell my boss ;-)

{News Release} Post-it® Notes Goes Super Sticky + a Scotch® Giveaway

3M Philippines introduces a new member of the Post-it® Notes family – the Post-it® Super Sticky Specialty Notes. These notes which come in stylish designs and a variety of shapes and colors, make jotting down notes more personalized and noticeable.

Post-it® Super Sticky Specialty Notes come in three fun shapes –stars, flowers, and hearts. These notes are made with a specially formulated adhesive so they can hold on stronger and longer than any other note.  Post-it® Super Sticky Specialty Notes are ideal for vertical and hard-to-stick-to surfaces like fridges, lockers, and walls and will stay in place until you take them down or move them around. You can even use them as an alternative to gift cards!

“We are glad to introduce a more versatile and artistic note -- the Post-it® Super Sticky Specialty Notes. These are made especially for those who want to express themselves, show love, make others feel good and inspire people with a handwritten message which can be positioned practically anywhere,” says Ms. Haydee Casapao, Stationery and Office Supplies Division Head.

Each pack comes with two pads of 2.9”x2.8” Post-it® Super Sticky Notes and are now available in leading bookstores, office supplies, and department stores.

3M and Post-it® are trademarks of 3M.

3M captures the spark of new ideas and transforms them into thousands of ingenious products. Our culture of creative collaboration inspires a never-ending stream of powerful technologies that make life better. 3M is the innovation company that never stops inventing. With $30 billion in. For more information, visit www.3M.com or follow @3MNews on Twitter sales, 3M employs 84,000 people worldwide and has operations in more than 65 countries.

** ** **

Scotch® Kids Scissors and Magic^TM Tape Cool Color were temporarily out of stock but don't worry, it is now available at National Bookstore and other school supplies stores.

Because we are so happy that it is available again, 3M Philippines is giving away two (2) Scotch® Kids Scissors and two (2) Magic^TM Tape Cool Colors to Crusin' Mommyhood's three (3) lucky readers! Yey!

Using Rafflecopter, do the following:

1. Like 3M Philippines Facebook Page
2. Follow 3M (@3MNews) on Twitter
3. Like Cruisin' Mommyhood's Facebook Page
4. Follow me (@CruisinMomhood) on Twitter
5. Tweet about the Giveaway

That's it!  Easy!  So, join now!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Emergency Preparedness To-Do List

I live in Quezon City (since 1995) and  I studied college in a university at Taft Avenue, Manila.  So I guess I am pretty much familiar with flood.  I remember my first time.  I had no choice but to walk towards our house in knee-deep flood.  As I felt the dirty water on my feet, I called my mom (using Motorolla MicroTAC, hahaha!) and cried.

Year after year, our house experience flood.  I stay on the second floor and when my aunt was still staying on the ground floor, her furniture and cabinets were elevated, in anticipation of the flood.  When it rains and it starts to flood, like robots, we transfer our cars to an area that is not flooded and my aunt transfers to the second floor.  When the flood subsides, we clean and move on.  We did the same when typhoons like Milenyo and Ondoy hit Metro Manila.

However, having Julia in our home now made us realize that we cannot deal with natural calamities the same way we used to.  During the recent monsoon flooding, we realized that we need to do the following (not just in case of typhoon and flood, but also other natural calamities and emergency situations):

Mommy, Why Do We Experience Flood?

I'm glad Julia is still too young to ask me that question.  But, I know my answer anyway.

No, it's not because God is angry that the House of Representatives ended the debate on the Reproductive Health Bill.  No, it's not just because the Philippine Government do not have the right programs to prevent pollution and flood.  No, it's not because PNoy is too lazy to think of ways to solve this problem.

Anti-Carjacking 101

Reposting this from Caltex Philippine's Facebook Page.  For moms who drive, please take time to read this.

Anti-carjacking tactics:

1. Know how carjackers operate - carjacking can happen anytime of the day, but this usually takes place during the late hours in he evening or early in the morning when there are less people to witness the crime.


2. Stay Alert - avoid being a victim, always stay alert and approach the car with the keys at hand.  Look around and check inside your car before getting in.


3. Always keep your doors locked and windows rolled-up.


4. Drive in the center late to make it difficult for would-be car jackers to approach the car.


5. Don't stop to assist a stranger whose car seems to have broken down.


6. If the carjacker threatens you with a gun or other weapon, surrender your car.  Do not argue.  Your life is with more than a car.


7. Report the crime immediately to the police.

The Highway Patrol Group Tactical Operations Center may be reached at (02) 726-1261 to 62 and 0906-3745375 or call the PNP hotline at 117.

From the Philippine National Police Website (www.pnp.gov.ph)

My Blog Favorites this Week

I have not visited my Bloglovin' or Reeder accounts for the past few days.  So, I'm glad I arrived at work very early.  I had a chance to catch up on my blog reading.  Here are a few of my favorites this week:

Chronicles of a Nursing Mom

Dainty Mom

Daphne

First Wives Club

Life As I Know It

Manila Mommy

O.C. Mom in Manila

Pastor Paolo Punzalan

Raising Homemakers

The Better Mom

The Mommy Journey

Topaz Mommy

Truly Rich Mom

What blogs do you follow?  What are your favorite blog posts this week?

I Won... Finally!

I won a Lander Personal Care Gift Pack worth P1,000.00!!!  Forgive me, but this deserves a blog post because I do not win (even when I was pregnant) raffles/lotteries often.  You can't imagine how happy I was when I received a tweet from Michelle of My Mom-Friday informing me that I won.

St. Luke's e-Health

I wrote in my previous post that health care is one of the employee benefits that I appreciate the most.  I did not realize its importance until Julia was born.  And lately, I have been going to the hospital for check-up and therapy.  Yes, I am getting old.  I can feel it.

Working six days a week leaves me with one (1) day to do everything -- household errands, go to church, spend time with family, go to a salon for haircut, manicure or pedicure, pay bills, go to the supermarket, etc. Because of this, I have learned to shop and pay bills online.  With my work schedule, managing my leave credits is a challenge.  I usually reserve them for Julia's pedia appointments. So, I am grateful that St. Luke's Global City is an accredited hospital of our company HMO provider and it is just walking distance from where I work.

How to Recover Corrupted Files

While I was doing my files back-up (from office laptop and thumb drives to my external hard drive), I discovered that most of Julia's last quarter 2011 digital photo files in my thumb drive are corrupted.  I couldn't open the file folders!

Seriously, I thought I was going to collapse.  I couldn't breath well, I was sweating!

Having a Child IS Life Changing

I found this at the Facebook page of Demetrius Redd Allen.

What have you given up to be the best mom for your child?

He gave us Mom

I couldn't stop myself from crying when I saw this video from Chuvaness.

As a child of God, He knows exactly what we need, so He gave us Mom.

{Snapshot} Unconditional Love

Julia -- my constant reminder that GOD'S LOVE FOR ME IS UNCONDITIONAL.

International Symbol for Marriage

I did not laugh at all when I saw this.  Call me KJ, manang, boring or whatever you want.  I love to shop but money doesn't control my emotions, decisions and relationships, like how wives are portrayed in this photo.  We wake up early, do household chores, manage household budget and expenses, take care of our children, work 8-12 hours a day and still manage to be a loyal wife, compassionate mother, loving daughter and an accommodating friend.  If your credit cards can afford to pay for all that, then I will gladly accept that this photo is the "international symbol for marriage".

Marriage is a serious matter to me and I do not appreciate jokes like this.  

What about you?  What do you think of this photo?

Photo from Flickr

{Snapshot} An Old Photo with my Mom

Davao City (1979)

Winner of Name that Place + Expo Mom Plug

I was so happy that all who joined the give-away were able to guess the exact name of the places I featured in Summer Hangouts.

{Snapshot} Seriously, We Need A Bigger Bed!

MEET OUR BED BUDDIES
(L-R) Vilma the Lady Bug, Bacon, Panda Coco, Francis (or Kiko), Minnie, Mickey Jr. and Mickey

Last Night's Concert

Last night, I slept for only about 2 hours because of our Dhaka, Bangladesh drama.  I must have had too much coffee this morning because it's 5 minutes to Wednesday and I'm still singing Wilson Phillip's Hold On music video posted by Neva (Manila Mommy).

I started searching for music videos of my favorite songs back in the 90s.  Yes, 90s.  Yes, I am old.  Yes, you can laugh all you want.  I love the songs before (90s and older).  They are songs, not noise!  But, that's just probably me.

Anyway, here are some of my favorites:

Lessons Dhaka Bangladesh Taught Us

Last night, I was supposed to finish an article for posting today.  I was too tired and sleepy because of our team building yesterday.  But, that was not the reason why I decided to set aside blogging that night.  It was 7pm and I have not heard from Don since 2pm.

Last Sunday, April 22, Don left for Dhaka, Bangladesh for a business trip.  We had apprehensions about that trip because of the blogs and articles we read about the country.  However, Don assured me that there is nothing to worry about since he will stay at the hotel after work.  His return flight is scheduled on Thursday, April 26.

He was supposed to arrive Dhaka Airport at 9:50pm.  I received a text message from him at 11pm.  He and his colleagues arrived safely but their bags are missing.  Their flight to Hong Kong was delayed so they had to rush to their next flight to Dhaka.  They were told that their bags will arrive in the evening of the next day. Worse, they were informed that there is a nationwide strike due to political unrest.  With no extra clothes, they stayed at the hotel the next day, April 23, because of the travel ban that was imposed from 6am to 6pm.  Don sent me a text message at about 2pm saying that he is okay and again, reassuring me that there is nothing to be worried about.