Irene Was Here

The hurricane Irene made a landfall here at the East Coast early this morning. Preparations for the hurricane have been made days before its expected landfall. There were hundreds of evacuation areas for residents who are required to leave their homes especially those who are living along the shore. Hospitals evacuated or air lifted their patients to other hospitals that will not be affected by the hurricane. Residents of assisted living homes like the Assisted Living Ohio were also evacuated to safer grounds. This is also the first time that New York City shut down their mass transportation service. By noon time yesterday, all buses, trains and subway stopped operating. Almost all businesses in the city were closed due to the hurricane Irene.

This morning, we woke up with good news. Hurricane Irene already made its land fall but as we heard in the news, there were no major damages in our area. The wind and rain that was very strong before we went to sleep last night had died down. Irene was in our area not as a category 2 hurricane but she was downgraded to a tropical storm when it hit new jersey and new york areas. Infrastructure damages are minimal although of residents still have no power as we speak. Transportation in the big city is slowly coming back to normal. A thorough inspection has to be done especially the subways before they open to the public again. Tomorrow it will be a bright sunny day here but the clean up has just began.

Home Cooked Meals

In preparation for the coming of hurricane Irene, I cooked a lot of food for storage just in case we lose power and we cannot cook. We did not eat neither of them yet because last night we ordered pizza. We will have some for dinner tonight and the rest will be for the rest of the week. Saves me from cooking after work. Everything is in the freezer now. Thanks Irene but no thanks.

Let's Go For Straight Talk

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Straight Talk for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

 

The day has come again to pay my cell phone bill. I am paying almost $90 per month for my phone bill alone every month! I cannot wait for the contract to finish next month and switch to another carrier. I am looking into Straight Talk and pay only $45 for an unlimited monthly service which includes calls, text, picture messaging and web. Imagine how much savings I can make if I have to pay $499 only for one year of service! That is shopping money for me already. Another plan that is also available is the “all you need plan” for heavy phone users where you get 1000 minutes, 1000 texts and 30 mb of web surf.

 

Straight talk has everything you need to send text messages, surf the web or call a friend or loved ones without spending too much money but with great nationwide coverage and excellent reception/connectivity.  You are not tied up with any contract; there are no surprise bills and no credit checks when you sign up for Straight Talk.  I asked my husband’s opinion about it and you know what he said, " mom knows best ."

 

Not only is the cost of service low at Straight Talk, reconditioned phones can be bought for as low as $10 too. These are phones that have a camera, mp3 player, mobile web access and blue tooth capability. They also have the smartphones with touch screen, app capable, voice navigation, camera video recorder, music player, instant messaging and blue tooth. The phones Straight Talk carries are from trusted manufacturers like Motorola, LC, Kyocera, Nokia and Samsung.

 

Always bear in mind that on top of these excellent services, there is no activation, reactivation and termination fees. International long distance is through a prepaid calling service that would let you make calls anywhere from your cell phone, office or home phone.So what else can you ask for?

 

Here,  you can watch and see how amazing Straight Talk is.

 

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At The Supermarket Today

It's chaos at the supermarket. People are just grabbing anything from the shelves. This the aisle for the water. They are all gone, also the batteries, flashlights, milk and bread. We already have water but we went back today to buy vegetables, bananas and rent out dvd's. There are no shopping carts in the store and the parking was a mess. Everybody is doing panic buying.

Food Shopping In Preparation for Hurricane Checked

We are preparing for the possibility of getting hit by Hurricane Irene. Hubby bought gallons of water, batteries and flashlights this morning while i run to the fresh market to get more eggs, fruits, fish and milk. We will be renting out a lot of movies too!

Have a safe weekend to all!

Getting Ready For The Storm

I was doing some research on home security cordova when I saw the breaking news on my Direct TV. Our governor has declared as official state of emergency as we prepare for the coming of the big storm. People that are living along the Jersey shore are asked to leave voluntarily and stay away from the water. We also got a phone call here at my job from the local police that they will start evacuating families that live close to the river. There is an area here where it gets flooded when the river crests after a big storm.

I am very sure supermarkets will be packed starting today until before the storm arrives. I already have a list of what we need. We have enough food in our refrigerator but I will stock up on water and batteries. I already asked my husband to fill up his van. I will do mine on my way home tonight.

It is still a wait and see situation. If Irene will change path, we will just get rain. We continue to pray that people will be safe in their homes or wherever they are. Be safe everyone.

From My Co-Workers

Our birthday cake from my co-workers. It was a maple walnut ice cream cake from Carvel. My co-workers always celebrate me and Peter's bday, a co-worker (mine on the 16, his is the next day) plus our own birthday cards signed by everybody. It was a perfect cake for a warm day.

Our Weekend

We pretty much spent our weekend in a park in NYC. My husband had a tennis tournament which started Saturday and was supposed to end yesterday but because of the rain, the games were ended around 4pm. This tournament is held every year for single and double matches. The number of entries this year tripled than the previous years. It needs some crowd control especially during the first two hours after the games started last Saturday. There was a temporary velvet rope within the registration area and barricades were installed during lunch time. Lunch was free and nobody was checking if you joined or not so everybody was invited to eat. Food was abundant so I guess they expected the big crowd.

My husband lost in the semis for the single match. The double match was still ongoing when the rain started to pour yesterday. The game is being rescheduled either tomorrow afternoon or Saturday weather permitting. I am wishing hubby and his teammate good luck for tomorrow or the next game. Hope they will make it to the championship round.

See's From California

This is the box of see's candies from friends in San Francisco. They were here to a visit a week ago. See's is the famous old time favorites that has a factory in San Francisco. When you say see's, it always reminds me of the beautiful city of sanfo.

Tracfone For Kids

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of TracFone for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

 

When we went to Orlando, we forgot to consider how big are the theme parks so we came unprepared with regards to our means of communication. On our first day, there was an instance that the daughter followed a wrong path that we could not find her for a few minutes. We do not want that to happen again so before we went home to our hotel we passed by a retail store to buy a Tracfone. It is that easy to get a Tracfone. It is available at major retail stores nationwide for real TracFone customers.

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Not only are Tracfones easy to get but also not expensive to own. If you want a means of communication with your kids without spending to much money, Tracfone is the answer. There is no contract, no credit checks, no activation charge or cancellation fees for real TracFone customers . You pay as you go online or you can buy cars at retail stores. They offer phones from trusted manufacturers like Motorola, Kyocera, LG, Nokia and Samsung. It is your choice if you just want the simple "candy bar" phones for as low as $9.99 or the bluetooth-enabled "smart" phones that have so many features like camera/video recorder, web access, app capabilities, mp3 player and full QWERTY keyboard for as low as $29.99. For the monthly plans, you can get a 1 year service card for $119. There is also a feature where you can buy for $19.99 and you double your minutes. Other plans available are 200 minutes for $30.00 or $9.99 for 50 minutes. To call international is not a problem on this phone too. There are 60 international destinations that you can call from your phone for free.

 

There are a lot more features on the Tracfone. Check this out on this video.

 

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She Will Be Wearing School Uniform

In two weeks, school is going to open. My daughter’s first day of school is on Sept 2nd which is a Friday for only half of a day! I do not know why they decided to start the school on a Friday, the day before Labor Day weekend and for only four hours. If you are away that time, most likely you will not cut your vacation or I will not be surprised if not a lot of kids will show up that day. In the past, they always start school after Labor Day but this year turns out to be different.

Another thing that is new for this school year is they will start wearing uniforms. High School and Middle school have started wearing uniforms two years ago and they decided to include the elementary this year. I have no complaints about it. Actually, I like the idea that kids wear uniform to school. The top will be anything maroon and the bottom is khaki pants, skirt, skorts, or shorts. For the footwear, no specifications were given but of course no flip flops or slippers to school! With regards to my daughter, she does not really care (for now) whether she wears uniform or not but she requests for skirts not shorts or pants.

Seafood Salad

This seafood salad is not only colorful but yummy. My Filipina friend brought this to me at the office today. What a lunch! This is what i need after too much eating of meat and seafoods during our vacation. Yum!

Seeing DearFriends For Only 60 Minutes

Few weeks after I have made reservations for our hotel and flight to Florida, my friend who lives in San Francisco called me to reserve the days August 8 and 9 because they are coming over here in New York for a vacation. First thing I told her was to move the dates to a week after but it was too late too. We picked the same dates for our vacation, they are coming over that day and we are leaving for Florida that same day too at different airports though. And also, Isabella’s god mommy, who is a cosmetic dentist in CA, was with them.

So they came last Monday here while we were in Florida. They spent two days in New York, and then they drove upstate to see the Niagara Falls. From Canada, they drove for 12 hours to Washington, D.C. to see the White House. Despite all our hectic schedules, we managed to set a date to see one another before their flight back to San Francisco and that date was last night. Originally, we were supposed to meet over dinner but it did not happen again, then at 10pm, then finally at 11:30 pm at the hotel where they checked in. We just saw one another for a good one hour and bade goodbye again. They leave early morning so they have to be at the airport so early. We were just laughing about the circumstances. Hoping it would not take another 6 years before we see one another again and not for an hour only!

Get Rid Of The Oil?

When we talk about breakfast, we always have bacon in mind but we know how fattening they are. We tried to lay the the cooked bacon on a paper towel to absorb the fat before serving and we see how fast the paper towel gets wet. Here is a different way of doing it. You can hang the bacon on this one:

See the fat at bottom plate? That's how much fat intake you can have if you eat all these bacon. It does not totally get rid the fat but at least lessen. I love bacon but i don't eat it that often now. Maybe once in a blue moon.

Flooding in NC

Have you seen the flood that hit North Carolina? I was watching the news and i saw houses and cars underwater. I even saw a hotel roof gave way because of a flash flood. The drainage pipe that runs through the roof burst flooding the hotel with water. This was a big inconvenience to people who are staying at the hotel and on vacation. As i was watching all these on TV, I called my friend who lives in North Carolina to check how her family is doing. At first, she did not pick up the phone but after few minutes she called me back. She was teary eyed in telling me about what happened in NC. They are not in the flood area but she knows people that got effected. I forgot to ask her if she was able to get a storm damage insurance for her house. I know she mentioned to me the last time we spoke that she was at http://www.thesteamteam.com/ getting information about water damage austin.

How far is North Carolina from Florida? I want to stop by my friend's house on our way back to NJ. I have not seen her in a while. This will be the best time to have a mini reunion if we get the chance.

Shopping For Trip

We made reservations for our Disney World trip about two months ago. It is also about the same time that I have been doing my shopping for this trip. We do not need a whole new ward robe, only some new summer clothes for my daughter and I while hubby is alright with all his dri fit shirts. He is the classic one when it comes to clothes. As always, when I do my shopping, I go for sale and clearance items.

As I was browsing online for summer dresses that we need for our trip, I came across Roaman’s (http://www.roamans.com), a store that specializes on sizes 12W to 44W. They have a big summer sale at 50-70% off on everything. I also found plus size dresses and denims at buy one get one at 50% off. Check out also the wow sale where you can get shirts for as low as $8.99. They also have shoes, accessories, sleep wears and special occasion dresses.

Shop at Roaman’s now. Avail of the free shipping for your purchases by just signing up using your email address. I am so happy I found this store and made a lot of savings. Once you are registered to receive their email exclusives, you will get a free shipping coupon. Use that coupon to get free shipping for your first purchase. Happy shopping!

What is $20 at KFC?

1. 10 pieces of chicken (you can mix the original, extra crispy and grilled)

2. 3 large sides (corn on the cob, coleslaw and mashed potato with gravy)

3. 6 biscuits

All Our Bags Are Packed But...

I was doing my packing when I remember that the airlines now charge you for a fee for every checked in baggage. The last time I was on the plane was when we went to the Philippines and I do not remember being charged for checked in baggage. The controversies about these fees make airline passengers check how their chosen airline charge before heading to the airport. There are already two bags sitting in our living room with custom labels with name, address and telephone number made by hubby but if the airline will charge us more than $50 for two, we will just bring one. I can use one of the custom label for the daughter’s backpack.

One thing I have to check also is the size of hand carry item allowed and how many. There is also an online check in (with a fee of course!) that I have to get familiar with. If I can do everything online, it would be great. With three kids with us during this trip, I want to go directly to the waiting area, sit down and wait for the flight to be called.

Sponge Bob Is Melting

We bought this ice cream from Mr. Frosty. Mr. Frosty is the ice cream truck that goes around our block during summer selling ice cream to kids. I don't really buy from Mr. Frosty but it so happened that we were outside the house when he came. The daughter picked this sponge bob ice cream which she did not even finish but she ate the eyes though (they are gum). How much? $2.50.

Parent’s Choice Instant Formula Savings Sweepstakes

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of PBM Products for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

 

I have known Parent’s Choice instant formula many years ago when I was shopping for the right formula for my baby. Parent’s Choice is an exclusive Walmart brand available in all their stores and online too.  When she was born, I received several branded formula from the doctor’s office as samples but when I was shopping at Walmart, I was able to compare it with other brands, Parent’s Choice Instant Formulas has the same ingredients that your baby needs but at a very affordable price than other branded formula. It was a very smart way of saving money by switching to Parent’s Choice but not sacrificing the quality of milk you are giving to your baby.

 

Now, Walmart’s Parent’s Choice instant formula launched last June 1st the Parent’s Choice Infant Formula Savings Sweepstakes Sweepstakes in partnership with PBM Products, LLC, a Perrigo Company where they would pick one lucky winner of a $10,000 college scholarship in the form of a College Savings 529 Plan. This is a chance for parents to save money for their child's education. For more information on how to join the sweepstakes, you can visit their website at http://parentschoicesweepstakes.listrak.com/ and fill out the form then submit your entry. Good luck. Hope one of us could be the lucky winner of the $10,000 scholarship.

$12.99 Meal @ Fridays

I think the $12.99 meal deal on Fridays is back. You get a choice of appetizer from their menu, main course or dinner meal and dessert for $12.99. We have not been back there yet but this is what I had the last time they had this deal. I had garden salad as appetizer, fridays shrimp as my main dish and brownie obsession for my dessert.