By J, on June 9th, 2009
Nowadays, we face a lot of uncertainties. Changes have been taking place in our lives as fast as lightning. With the economy in the dumps, we also see a lot of changes in our environment. What used to be a great and secure neighborhood, it’s no longer a surprise to see a changing landscape. Crime rate has been steadily rising. It is surreal, but those are the realities of life.
That being said, we should all the more make sure that we get the best home security system that we can afford. Knowing that we have that important security measure, such as the GE home security system, we can be assured that our property is secured twenty four /seven year round. In fact, the Maintenance Manager in our condo briefly mentioned to me that they are looking into upgrading the system here in our complex and get the GE alarm system.
Yes, we live in a high rise (at the 14th floor) and I sure love high rise living already. I wouldn’t trade having a view of the ocean on one side and the Manhattan skyline with the Empire State Building as the centerpiece on the other side. The view was the pièce de résistance when we got our place. Sure, we came down a bit, as we have moved here from another high rise and we were then at the 17th floor, but the sweeping views more than made up for that.
With the looming building security upgrade as intimated to me by the Maintenance boss, that may also prompt us to look into GE home security system. I know we are secure with what we have now, but I think it’s now time to upgrade to a wireless hom e security system.
By J, on June 8th, 2009
With all the baking I’ve been doing in the past few months, it’s only a matter of time, then I will start looking for the best diet pill that can aid me in losing weight.
Dilemma! I don’t know what to do, because I love to bake my cake and eat it too. I have been slaving myself in the gym(whenever I can squeeze it in) too for the past few weeks hoping that this will allow me to bake my cake and devour them too. The problem is, I still am unable to keep a gym routine. It’s not easy to squeeze in a 30 or 40 minute gym time.
I blame this on the fact that I rise late everyday. Before I know it, it’s already late afternoon and I’m not halfway done yet with some chores. If I can only wake up at a decent time in the morning that would solve this problem.
Yeah, I should not complain here. How about if I was a typical working woman? I guess, baking would be out. In the end, it really is just a matter of choice.
By J, on June 7th, 2009
I can’t stop baking. Not even my creeping weight can stop me from trying. This is the result of my baking activity last week. As you are very well aware of, I bake every Friday, rain or shine.
This was devoured, and gone in three nights.
Needless to say, I’m really having fun baking. It has been a good way for me to use my time on Fridays. I never thought I would enjoy baking immensely. Even if I still have so many things to learn, and that holding the pastry bag to make beautiful creations is way too challenging for me, I know that I’m in for the long haul. It feels a lot better knowing that I know the ingredients of the cake we’re eating.
Prior to baking, we always bought bakery made cakes. Yes, it was a lot more convenient, but the advantage now is that I can “pick and choose our own poison” LOL.
By J, on June 7th, 2009
Our close friend, L, just came back from her two-week vacation in Dubai and Egypt. The vacation that would have included us (as we have started planning for it with her), but because of the slew of air mishaps involving commercial airliners since the start of 2009, we have been leery of flying, in this case it would have been 14 hours straight to Dubai. In the meantime, we just enjoy viewing tons of photographs and the token that she brought us:
 
I didn’t know that Dubai is big on dates (the fruit). If only she gave me permission to post some pics of the Great Pyramid, I would have shared them here. I guess, it’s not the perfect time to have photos of the pyramid here. Maybe that perfect time will be when we get to go, and I own the copyright to those pics.
It’s almost the middle of the year, and as you can see, we haven’t traveled anywhere yet. We normally go to two destinations every year. This year, it is probably fitting to explore more of the US. I love the fact that it’s closer to home, and flying time is kept to a minimum. Perhaps, looking into Vegas vacations is in order. This week, my husband will be off from work for two days, and it means we will have more time to look into possibilities of booking a Vegas escape .
The past few weekends, my husband was actually prodding me to look into booking a weekend retreat (a 3 days 2 nights vacation) just in time for his two days off (a long weekend for us) this week, but I don’t normally go for such short getaways. If he has to take me somewhere, it has to be a minimum of at least one week. Packing for a short getaway is not that enticing to me.
He will have more days off in the coming months. Then, I won’t mind setting foot again in the Sin City. Who would say no to a week of fun in the entertainment capital of the world?
By J, on June 4th, 2009
Unbeknownst to most is my passion for interior decorating. In fact, I embarked on this passion eons ago when I first had my first place at the young age of 24. I had another fire of “it” after I got married as I had the chance to work around with my own hands decorating our home. It’s always been a great past time for me, tweaking around a certain room and changing the orientation of the furniture and decorative accessories.
Lately, I’ve been eyeing to replace some area rugs, particularly the one in the eat-in kitchen and the foyer. Our home is a carpet-free zone, because of my preference for bare floors. Our bedroom is even carpet-free. I just have a large area rug right under the bed. Believe me, my husband was hesitant to go bare floor all over our home at first, but now he is so loving it. He’s used to wall to wall carpeting, that’s why.
I just love the flexibility of area rugs. They are easy to replace, you can even change your rugs as the season changes, or when you just feel like changing the “feel” of a certain room. And imagine how beautiful it is to see your gleaming wood floors and your slate, granite and marble tiled spaces anchored by a rare, wool rug. Simply lovely!
By J, on June 3rd, 2009
Yesterday marked the start of my driving objective – to drive and use the car more frequently. I know, it’s such a waste of time and money but I have to do what is needed to save the life of a six year old vehicle that is practically like new. In fact, you can still get a whiff of the “brand new car scent” inside, something that is all too common when you drive your brand new car off the dealership.
I intended to troop to the mall 7 miles away from our place, but because there was no traffic on the Parkway East bound, I kept driving. I ended up at the mall located 21 miles away from where we live.
The weather was pleasant, in the lower 80′s. Somehow, I needed the AC so I had it on. Midway, I started to sweat so I turned up the AC. But even with the AC on high, for some reason I was sweating. I started to get nervous thinking the AC was not working properly, although, cool air was coming from the vents.
It was then that I realized that I was seating on the driver’s seat that is heated. Wheewww! I must have inadvertently pressed and turned on the heated seat control button.
It was not the best feeling. During the winter, I take refuge from the icy temps on those seat. If I’m not behind the steering wheel, I even somehow try to curl up once I’m seated. Yesterday though, was nothing but a huge discomfort.
I had fun, and my wallet had fun too. Not good, because this just forces me to spend unnecessarily. Tomorrow, if I drive around again, maybe I won’t even head out. I’ll just turn around and head back home.
By J, on May 30th, 2009
More often, that is.
Our Memorial Day weekend started great. In fact, one of the things that my husband and I wanted to accomplish was to go and pick up that xbox 360 that we have pledged as a birthday gift to the son of my Brazilian friend. But, that did not happen. See? No matter how well laid out a plan is, if an unforeseen circumstance comes in between, it just ain’t going to happen.
Of all the days, it was the day that Cordie (our almost 6 year old Honda Accord V-6) chose to conk out. The battery died! Yes, an untimely death!!! The battery is only 15 months old. We replaced the almost 5 year old battery (the original unit that came with the car) in February 2008. Cordie is always serviced at the Honda Service Center, and as luck would have it, that Saturday when the battery died, the service at the dealership was closed and didn’t open till Tuesday. Gosh! Who could wait for that!
Off we called AAA to request a jump start or a tow whichever was needed. It turned out that the battery was completely discharged. The service guy from AAA recommended us to have the car checked. Of course with all the activities last weekend, we didn’t want to be stuck at home.
We had Cordie serviced at the nearby shop and just when we were told the battery is good and it just needed to be recharged, it suddenly died again. I already started to think it was a problem with the alternator, but thankfully it was not. We ended up replacing the battery.
It’s now working fine. This car is almost six years old (in September) and it is very rarely used, as the mileage is only 10,600 miles. The Mechanic emphasized the NEED for us to use the car more frequently to prevent FURTHER DAMAGE. I understand that an idle car greatly affects the life of the battery as well as the alternator. To prevent more electrical damage, we need to use it more often.
Now, I found a good reason to head out everyday to the Mall. The nearest mall happens to be only 1.5 miles away, but there’s also a Mall a little farther, about 7 miles away. What a great way to keep driving.  Yeah, when gas prices are slowly creeping up again. But, I have to do what is needed, as my husband won’t want to bother driving to work. Who wants to deal with the Manhattan traffic anyway.
By J, on May 29th, 2009
Xephan and Reema, thanks for this award. What a perfect time to get this – just when I needed a lift from all the nonsense that has been going on lately.
Lovely may not be the perfect adjective to describe my blog, but because you find this blog lovely, who am I to argue. Thanks again.
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