Black Friday Experience

Well, this is my experience as a retail worker not a shopper during black Friday. I was at work at 4pm and the store I am working with opened up at 5pm. When I got to my workplace I was shocked to see the very long line and there were tents outside too. I believe they were camping there since earlier of the week.

The management offered coffee to shoppers also outside and some of my co-workers were handing coffee to those who wanted it. It was pretty systematic too because when the door opened I didn't really see people rushing in. There were police officers also at the door and outside the store standing by.

I was at the front lane and the check out line was very long but we were pretty much fast in checking people out. I wasn't really sure about the situation at the sales floor but with us in the front lane there wasn't any issue at all.

I heard and seen on the news wherein some stores had problem with customers rushing inside and customers got hurt. I am not sure if I will do black Friday shopping. I know you can really score on some door busters but I just don't wanna get hurt while going in with the crowd once store doors opened.

Our Thanksgiving Day

We did not plan big for our Thanksgiving but something that our family can enjoy as part of our tradition. As usual turkey is present. This is our third time cooking whole turkey and I use different recipe each time. I love to try different flavors and this year's turkey was for me the best taste so far. I copied the recipe online and I'm so pleased with the result.

With all the food we prepared until now we still have some left over. Tomorrow we will be tossing some of it that we can't already consume. I know we shouldn't have cooked too much but we already did and now I may need to click here to help me not to gain too much weight. We have invites for holiday parties and I have to watch out not to binge to much. I hope I can help it.

Oily Face

One thing that I really don't like when I am gaining weight is also having an oily face. Maybe I have too much excess fats that it will come out on my face. With the oily face also goes the blackheads. It's been two years now that I have facial and I am pretty sure that I will need blackheads treatment already especially on my nose area.

I asked hubby to prick some of it but there are those stubborn ones that I don't want him to prick too hard. If only having regular facial is not expensive I will do it every month. I can't afford it here. One of these days I will go to the salon and have one to pamper myself. I know I deserve it since I've been nice :-)

Our Baby is Growing Fast

Our little one is growing so fast. I think that's how babies are; they grow fast like a weed. I am really cherishing each moment with our girls.Paying attention to their every development for when the day passed you can no longer bring back the time.

It seemed like I gave birth yesterday but our DD2 is now seven months old. Five more months and she will turn a year old. It will be a great milestone for her having reached a year in existence. I can't wait for the day but also be missing the times when she's just a tiny little baby.

Right now I am already thinking of what will be the theme on her first birthday. I will surely be needing 1st birthday invitations to give out to friends. For our oldest girl we haven't given her a birthday party on her 1st birthday but we made it up on her third. We were moving when she turned one year old. Hopefully for our second daughter we can give her a nice birthday celebration when turn one.

Stocking Stuffers

Have you decided what to give for your loved ones this Christmas? I have the tendency to procrastinate in buying stuff. I always told myself to start planning early but I ended up doing it in an eleventh hour. My husband was telling me she may have to go with the crowd on black Friday because of one item he's eying of getting for one of the kids. This will be our dilemma now because I have to work early and I don't want him to drag the kids out that early.

Anyways, one cute stocking stuffer I am thinking of getting are custom usb drives for our students. We have four students and I am pretty sure they can use it with their school research or whatever they can use it to. It will be handy in transferring their files from one computer to another. I hope I still have time to order it. It is really a neat idea.

Christmas is Here

Well, not literally that Christmas is here since we have to celebrate Thanksgiving first. Why I said it's here is because we decided to put up our christmas decorations this early. Hubby had our tree up yesterday and before I went to work we decorated the tree. Both him and our preschooler finish decorating since I have to leave for work.

Usually we will have it up after Thanksgiving but he already cleaned up our storage and took out the decors. I don't want him to put it back so we have it up now so early. Our older daughter love the idea of having the Christmas stuff up already. She helped out her Daddy hanging the ornaments.

When I got home from work the tree looked gorgeous already. The kids were already asleep. This morning when our eldest woke up she went to our bedroom. She then told me she broke some ornaments and she's sorry. According to hubby she was banging the ornaments like cymbals and it got broken. Good thing she's not hurt. Only her feelings since Daddy put her in a short time out.

I am glad though that we already started decorating for Christmas. Now we will just have to do a little shopping for gifts to wrap and put under the tree.

Work Update

Now that I'm back working I feel like I need to go fast every time. It's not really easy but so far we are handling it well. I like the idea of having productive time rather than just moping at home when I feel frustrated because I am not working.

At any rate, this time the challenge of going to work outside home is tough for me. I am not used to driving in the snow. The past days until now we have a very low temperature here and even had snow storm due to this arctic blast. We are expecting a very nasty winter.

I went to work last night and I was driving very slow because of the icy road condition. I even asked my husband to drop me off but I don't want him to drag the kids in a chilly evening when picking me up. So I braved it and thankfully I got to my job place fine.

I got off at 10pm and boy my car was frozen I had a hard time opening it. I stayed in the parking lot for few minutes to defrost my windshields. The road became so slippery because of the frozen snow on the ground. I don't have a traction tire so I was driving very slow. Good thing my job is only 3-5 min away from home. I hope the weather gets better because I will be working very early on black Friday.

Baby Acne

Babies go through a stage where they will have some rashes in their face as well as what we they call baby acne. When I had my first born I wasn't that comfortable looking at my baby with these small rashes and acne in her face that I asked my husband to bring her to the hospital for check up. When we did the appointment I asked the pediatrician if there is an acne solutions that work for her acne. The doctor told me that it will go away and heal itself. True enough I did not apply anything to it and it just faded away.

I learned my lesson the first time that when we had our second baby I did not panicked when she had the same during the first few weeks of life. I know that it is only temporary and it will fade away. Right now I noticed some small rashes on her forehead and I am not worried since I know it will fade away as well. Last month she had some on her cheeks and I did not do anything with it then it went away. I only wash her face with lukewarm water. When I bathe her I will only wipe her face with the lukewarm towel and sometimes with a little of baby bath soap. Their skin is just so sensitive that regular soap is not advisable to use.

Diet Solution

I know come next year a very over used new year's resolution will be to lose weight or have a healthy lifestyle. With this, many will be looking for diet solution. Many will be looking for an effective weight loss supplements in order to shed the pounds gained during the holiday season. I may say, I may be one of these people that will put lose weight in my list for new year's resolution. Every year I have this in my list but I am only good during the first few months and will be lazy afterward. Next year I will try not to make a commitment. I will just do whatever I can to live healthy. Actually I don't have to wait until next year. We should do it daily. We should live healthy because it is for our own good. I, for myself need to start now and not next year. We have family history of different diseases and I need to do it not only for myself but also for my husband and my kids. I want to see what they become and I can only do that if I am free of illness and be safe at all times.

Sending Out the Holiday Cards

Wow few more days and it's December already. I am planning to have a personalized holiday cards to give to our family, relatives, and friends. Last year I just bought boxes of greeting cards that I sent out to everybody. I wrote all by myself the addresses outside the envelopes because I did not print any labels. I could have used rubber stamps for convenience but it totally went off my mind. This time I will be more organized and plan it will so I will not repeat what I did the last time. I will also do my best to send out the cards as early as possible so it will be in their hands before Christmas and not after the holidays. I know, I asked forgiveness to all my relatives and friends that got our holiday greetings late :-) I am going to do my best that it will be early this time.

Longest Power Outage

Ever since I came here in the US I haven't experience a power outage that will last for an hour until last night. The evening started with rain and not so strong winds. When hubby came home from work around 6pm I asked him if it's still raining. He said it was raining. After we had dinner I noticed our light flickers. Hubby said he has a feeling that power will be out. Then it went off for a couple of seconds and came back on. It went on and off for a few times until around passed 9:30pm when it went off and didn't came back on.

We constantly check outside and the wind was blowing so strongly you can hear its sound and creaking of trees. It was scary to look at. I know by then that the power company will have their plate full fixing damage power lines. True enough the power outage went until the morning. I wasn't able to cook breakfast nor heat anything. Good thing we have hot and cold tap water. I submerged our daughter's food jar in a hot water to warm it while me and DD1 had cereal with milk. At lunch time hubby bought us hot lunch and brought hot water for the little one's warm milk. It was so thoughtful of him to do it for us.

So far, it was the longest power outage I experienced here in the US. I thought I have to discard our food in the freezer if the light did not come on today. Now I need to replenish our emergency supply that we used up last night, like batteries and stuff.

The Traditional Country Fair

Contribution by Johnny Avila.

My missus loves the country fair, it's a chance for her to sell the jams and preservatives that she has been making for the last few months from the fruit in our own garden, all the jars traditionally topped with pieces of white cloth tied and with thin string, all sold from authentic looking wicker baskets, typical country style.

This year, I really wanted to go to the country fair, there was to be a pie eating contest, and this year, we were going to win, not me, my 13 year old son, he is skinny, but he could eat alot, like a little Desperate Dan. The missus walked around selling her jam to locals and tourists, whilst I watched over a sheep dog, guiding the sheep perfectly into a temporary pen. I bought a raffle ticket to win a free lunch for two at the local pub, I didn't win, but the pubs landlords daughter did, strange that.

The day continued at a lovely slow pace, the missus sold all but two of her jams, my son came second in the pie eating contest, and I had bought a thimble, with a picture of a church on it, for my mum. And now the day is over, I can go home to relax in front of the television set, and watch some expertsatellite tv.

V-Shape

God's creation is just amazing. You can revel the marvels and beauties of nature and every time it is just breath-taking.

Early last month we decided to drive around our area and its neighboring places. We then drove to the famous Mt. Ranier since it was a not so cold day. On our way there, we drove to this road where the trees are all aligned on both sides of the road. When you look beyond the horizon you will picture out the V-shape canopy of trees seemed like to point to the end but as you drive through it is endless. I then took my camera and click a random picture. I only have a 7.1 mega pixel point-and-shoot camera but I think it still looks lovely.

I really like to look at picturesque views and it give you some sort of pleasure. It's kind of relaxing and make you weave a dream.

Friday Night Ritual

Guest post of the week by Hal Hughes.

Every Friday night me and the family have a ritual. We go to the theater and see the second or third movie on the marquee, whichever has the most vowels. It matters not what that movie is, since we are all lovers of cinema, even the bad kind, and knowing in advance what you want to watch simply ruins the surprise. Of course, some times the surprise is extra gory, as the violence in movies has been amped up recently beyond anything I could ever imagine in my wildest nightmares. And the kids will be having plenty of them, nightmares, as they watch gore movie after gore movie thanks to our randomizing system.

One day the kids were so fraught with consternation that I had to apply a sedative to their veins, the ones I steal from the hospital where I work. That did the trick, and even induced a bit of memory loss, which was good because the memories they accumulated were enough to ruin their fragile minds. The next morning we ate delicious pancakes and planned our next Friday night. The theater experience is really something that has brought our whole family together. Of course, as we live in a shoddy neighborhood and leave at the same time every Friday, I always make sure to set the inhomesecurity home security alarm before we leave the house.

Dressing Your Furniture

One thing to update living room sets is to put a slip cover on it. That is what we did before with hubby's futon. We bought futon covers and basically change it when it's time to. It is inexpensive and give your living space fresh look. I also tried slip covers for the sofa and couch before we bought our new sets.

Right now, the type of furniture we have in our living room is a sectional. I am not sure if I can find exact size for it for slip cover. I may have a hard time looking for one when I decided to dress it up especially that holidays is coming. I like to decorate for Christmas and I might just get a Christmas theme pillows if I can't find a nice slip covers for it.