I love working at home but there are some things I miss working at the office. Let me list it down.

1. I miss having officemates to chill and talk to.
2. I miss eating out.
3. I miss the air-conditioned offices.
4. I miss my 13th month pay and other benefits.

What I don’t miss from working out of the home is being away from my family.  So I guess I would have to do without the things I get from them like the free plastic business cards that cooly bears my name. There’s nothing more important than being with my little ones while they’re little. Anway, I can still go back to work when they are much older.

It’s a brand new year! I know a lot of you have really positive vibes for this new year. I am also very positive and optimistic myself. It’s only the third day of the new year and I have already written down my personal goals.

In addition to that, my husband and I had a sit down yesterday to write down our family goals for year 2012. It took us an hour because the kids were butting in and out of our conversation but yes, it’s already written down for posterity. It’s a small step to achieving our goals but I’m glad we already took that small step.

One of our goals was to have a budget for this year. I also plan to list down everything that we spend so we’ll have an idea where our money went. I am glad there are now online bill payments like ach payments because we can pay our bills easier. It also helps me to track where our money go.

I will tell you more about this later. If you haven’t done you planning yet I advise to do it right away. They say the people that write down their goals achieve success more.  It’s not too late because it’s only the first week of January.

Happy New Year, everyone!

My son loves Angry Birds? Well, who doesn’t? That’s why when we went to the mall to buy gifts he kept on saying that the only thing he wants to have is an Angry Bird t-shirt. Angry Birds merchandise can be found everywhere especially in the small stalls but I don’t know why I couldn’t find one at SM Department store that night. When at last I found a stack of Angry Birds t-shirts on sale I didn’t hesitate to buy two for him. So now he’s a proud owner of his very own Angry Birds t-shirt. Just look at his proud face!

Just one thing though, the t-shirts were supposed to be on sale but one was still worth more than P200! I hate it when stores mislead you when giving deals. That’s why sometimes I like shopping online more. For example, you get red envelope coupon codes it really means you get good savings. They don’t increase their price just so they could give a discount after.

I’ve been hearing about yogurt and how many people like it so much. So when Teriyaki Boy gave us these two yogurts for free I was excited to try it out.

I thought the taste was similar to ice cream but I was dead wrong. In fact me and my husband didn’t finish these. I realize now how hard it is to maintain a healthy lifestyle. If all we want to eat are delicious food then we’re going to be in big trouble someday. I don’t want to spend time in a hospital in the future even though they’re equipped with Howard Medical mobile computer carts because I want to be healthy. So I better start getting used to the more healthier yogurt instead of ice cream.

One thing that I love being married to a musician is I get to go to places I wouldn’t normally go. Like the picture above. It was taken at a music studio at Cubao. Musicians rent these studios so they can practice their music without noise. Normally, my hubby and his band mates would be there for two hours.

So while they are getting creative with their music I do everything I fancy. I remember that time I had my overdue manicure and pedicure at a nearby salon. Another time I got to read a book at a bookstore ( the last time I did that was years ago!).

Since their session doesn’t last too long I don’t get bored. After we would be going on a date! Hubby would be grateful that I accompanied him and I get to eat anywhere I want. This simple pleasures makes me happy. I love my being married to my husband and it’s just a bonus he’s a musician.

As I’m typing this away I’m watching my kids sleeping in our king sized bed. I thought that getting a bed this big was the biggest decision we had since I gave birth to our youngest. It was and for a while. I even bought some body pillows because we had some extra space. We were so ecstatic that we had so much space. That was a few months ago and now it doesn’t feel that way anymore. My youngest grew up so fast that before we know it we were back to the same old situation again.

My hubby even had the same thoughts. He remarked how pretty soon our kids should have their own beds. I’m still relishing the fact that they are my babies and they love sleeping in the same room as us because I know soon they would like their own space. But I am resigned to the fact that they’ll grow up soon and we can’t keep upgrading our beds just so we would fit there! haha

I realized I never told you the story why I bought my beloved Macbook Pro. My first plan was to buy a cheap netbook I did my research and chose the Asus 1215B. Hubby’s friend has one and he said he has no problem with it. And because I wanted to save money and I wanted something that is portable and light I went ahead and purchased the Asus 1215B.

It was a decision I regretted terribly. On the first day I started using it the touchpad was already failing. I damaged my wrist a few months ago which meant I couldn’t use a mouse so I really needed for the touchpad to work. It failed a couple of times and the more I used it the problem became worst so we returned it.

Ultimately, we got it refunded and the day we collected the check bought myself a Macbook. It was quite an upgrade compared with the Asus netbook but it was really worth it. The Macbook Pro’s touchpad is so unbelievably smooth that I swear it cured my hurt wrist. I read somewhere that you got to splurge on things that you will use often. It’s so true because I get to appreciate it every day that I’m using it. Thank God I got a second chance. If the netbook didn’t have any defect then I wouldn’t know what I’m missing.

Aside from being a work-at-home mom I am also a homeschooling mom. My son and I began our homeschooling journey last May. It was more difficult than I expected. I almost gave up but my son really wanted to continue so we went on to the next level. We ordered our next set of materials from School of Tomorrow. It will keep us busy for another 6 months. This time around instead of answering five pages for each subject per day we will go the slow route and start with 3 pages per day. This is so we can have time for other activities like doing art and storytelling.

What I like about our homeschooling is we are free to go away on vacation any time we want. If ever we wanted to get those caribbean all inclusive packages I saw online we can without fear of missing school. We can do it while on vacation or just work double time when we arrive home. We are actually set to go on a vacation this January. It’s an 8-day vacation in the beautiful island of Bohol. It’s also our first out-of-town trip as a whole family so we’re pretty excited.

Last month, I got an experience of a lifetime. I got to attend my very first concert ever with Jason Mraz nonetheless. It was unplanned because we found out too late he was in Manila but my hubby was a huge fan so we bought tickets anyway. It was the first time I set foot at Araneta Coliseum which they now call Smart Araneta. I expected long lines and lots of stanchions but remarkably everything was so organized. There were lots of entrance so there was no problem going inside. I guess the long lines I hear about is a thing of the past.

The concert started on time and he sang for more than two hours. My hubby said that was a feat for a singer. He really gave us a show. We’re glad we didn’t miss it. Next time though we’ll buy tickets that are nearer so we’ll enjoy it more.

My hubby just gave me an extension of his credit card. I was not in favor of having credit cards before because I’ve always heard horror stories about credit card debt. But now that we have been using it for a few years our opinions have changed. Having a credit card is more convenient. It can also help us keep track of what we’re spending our money on. Not everyone go into credit card debt especially if they’re responsible with it. That’s why we have been faithfully paying off our dues every month.

What I fear more are the electronic thieves who can get your credit card information without even holding your card. I heard an rfid credit card or credit card embedded with rfid will give you more security from such thieves. Ask your credit card companies if they’re issuing such card and have yours exchanged for added protection.