GUESS WHAT?

I won’t let the day pass without saying…

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS!!!

HEY, HEY, HEY! HO HO HO!

HO HO HO!!!

However, though Christmas is for anyone who wants to celebrate, let us never forget the real reason why we celebrate, okay? It’s CHRISTmas! I’m not against any Christmas figure, but there’s a reason it’s not called “Clausemas”, or any other “-mas”.

Why we celebrate CHRISTmas

If you’re not Christian, that’s okay. No real religion is bad religion. Practice the good that yours preach. If it doesn’t teach you any good, then what are you doing in it?

If you have no religion, then celebrate humanity. It doesn’t take a lot of effort to be human, but it does require effort from you.

Please, always stay positive and keep smiling. Never let depression rule you. It’s a debilitating disease — the longer you nurture depression, the more it will debilitate you. It could be clinical, yet it doesn’t mean you should let it rule your life. It’s hard, we know and we understand, but ultimately, it’s all up to you. Many have succumbed to this deadly affliction; don’t be part of the statistics. We love you. You are important to us. Maybe we are just not good at showing it.

This world is not an easy world to live in. It is up to us to make things work the way we want them to work. Just be happy for the world even if the world seems to smile downwards. Give and expect nothing in return. Spread love and joy and you will feed the hungriest of hearts.

Remember, we’re all in this together.

December 2016 RECAP #MonthlyRecap

It’s the new year! Time to start over. And while my new year’s resolutions list hasn’t been made yet, one of those resolutions would be to blog more (which is not necessarily synonymous to writing more, although that’s a resolution, too).

I did find ways to blog last month, but my blogging was somewhat erratic, mainly because I “chilled”. I still plan to chill, but be more productive, anyway. Plus, I’ve got other plans to take care of.

So here’s a recap of my December 2016:

Blog-wise:

(1) Hash potatoes!!!

#MondayMemoirs – (see My Decade-Old Grown-up Christmas List)

#MondayReviews (none)

#TuesdayTunes (see Awesomely Techno-weird Musical Instruments Part 1) – I was supposed to post the second part last December 28, but I didn’t get to finish it. Will post soon.)

#AskWednesday (none)

#WhatsupWednesday (see Going Disney)

#ThursdayTips (see How to Properly Use Sitelink Extensions)

#FeatureFriday (none)

#FreakyFriday (none) – It was supposed to be only for the whole month of November, anyway. I did promise true horror/ghost stories. I have not forgotten.

Saturdays and Sundays, or any day, could be about anything. I will post anything when I feel like it, like So… (a quick Christmas greeting), The Legend of the Fifth Turtle (a repost), Hippie’s Guide to the Multiverse (reblog of an interesting post of a young blogger I know…I like featuring young writers/bloggers to encourage them more).

My three-in-one poetry post Tula ng Puso: Pananampalataya, Pag-ibig, Pag-asa (Poems of the Heart: Faith, Love, Hope) last November made the cut. My poems (well, the link to them) are now featured in the Saranggola Blog Awards site. I just found out the winners a few minutes ago. Didn’t win, sadly, but it’s still okay. There will be a next time. I’ll try not to procrastinate again.

(3) My Trending Stories. Nothing to share for now.

(4) A to Z Challenge. I want to join again this year so I am already thinking of a theme. *crosses fingers*

Social Media Reach-out:

Again, I am very thankful to new followers. They keep on coming, even if they aren’t a lot. I certainly hope they’ll stay. Anyway, as I am now making it my tradition, let me share more: people who follow me and/or whom I follow, and/or whom I actually know. Do visit them–you might have to jump over to other blogging platforms like Blogger, though.

If I haven’t mentioned you yet, nothing personal, okay? Will get to you. I am adding really new ones, too. It’s to hit two birds with one stone as I won’t have to go looking for links to their blogs/sites again. Definitely, I will first try to see if they are legit and active blogs. My call, guys.

Here are my awesome online friends and would-be friends, in alphabetical order:

 Ally,         Anne-Marie,         Debbie,         Damyanti,         Eyoalha,        

Jacob,      Justine,                  Lori,               Roo,                    Sanch   

More bloggers to link to in the coming months, for sure. “Old” ones, new ones.

Fiction/Story- and Poetry-writing:

We’ll see what happens.

Literature:

I shared a poll last time, unfortunately, I think only one person voted. Kindly take the poll, pretty pleaaaasee…..? Not sure which to pick. Wanna cast your vote for me?

Personal:

Christmas was good! The family celebrated it with the husband’s clan. Well, their clan, the husband’s and the kids’. A few dramas, but it was good. Several reasons why I chose to celebrate there, which I won’t delve into. I don’t see any reason for now not to do that again next year. Oh, and I won a TV from the Office party raffle! That was perfect since our old one has not been working for a long while. We were to have it fixed, then bam! Won the TV 😉

New Year’s Eve was good, too. Our little family was complete. The kids were happy, the husband was happy, I was happy. Best New Year’s I’ve had in years. There were only a few stuff on the table: spaghetti, chicken drumsticks, chocolate cake, and sliced bread. The spag and the drumsticks were a hit with some visitors, so it was totally great. Neighbors shared sopas (Filipino noodle soup), pansit (dried cooked noodles), “Graham” or “ref” cake (Google it, he he), and gelatin, which we all ate the following day (refrigerators are heaven-sent!).

We really wish to have a much better year this year.

The family hasn’t had a chance to eat out so we’ll probably do that one of these days. It’s gonna be a four-in-one celebration: Christmas, New Year, our second wedding anniversary (today, January 5), and my husband’s birthday (January 23). Hitting four birds with one stone, right? I’m just waiting for our family movie date to push through then we’ll do that on the same day.

Meanwhile,…Save for the new one, we’re done with all seasons of the  The Walking Dead. I admit to checking out IMDb every now and then. It does not really tell much, anyway, although I do find out a few things prior to watching episodes. I’m more interested in how the whole story is developed so a few spoilers do not really “spoil” me. I have read some reviews and reactions about Season 7, too, so at least, I am already warned especially about Episode 1. I told the kids Glenn dies in Episode 1–OOPS! SPOILER!!!

Well, I wanted to prepare them for what’s to come because apparently, fans were fuming over the violence and of Glenn dying (so what was Abraham, chopped liver?…OOPS! SPOILER AGAIN!!!). I understand about the latter, but the first complaint? It’s been there since the very first episodes. If you couldn’t handle it, you had the choice to turn your head away, change the channel, or turn the TV off entirely.

I’ve got more to talk about, but I realize this is becoming more of a feature on TWD, so I’ll save those for some other time.

Now that we’re temporarily done with TWD, can you recommend any good series? I’m continuing with CSI: Las Vegas, but my husband isn’t into it and it’s got too many sexy scenes (many unexpected) to skip over for the sake of the kids. So I’m going solo with this, as always. (Gosh, imagine once I start with Game of Thrones!)

 

….Alright, now that we’re up to speed, time to go writing more! Toodles!!! 😉

‘Tis the Season #atozchallenge2015

For those who know me personally, it’s no secret that the recent years have not been that kind to my family. But still we continued and continue living, regardless of those hardships.

I do have to say that the emotional and mental fatigue, if not the physical, can sometimes take its toll. I also have to say that the same things often keep me from writing. I can go on and on about my problems or how this or that person has been mean to me or my family, but this is not what my blog is about. I want to let go of the anger and the angsts, yes, but not dwell on them more.

Writing is great therapy for loneliness, etcetera, yet I have realized that when it comes to anger, it just does not work for me personally. I get to express, but I never get to forgive, much less forget, so I just ignore the urge to do it. Anger does not help me in my self-cultivation. It’s what’s been keeping me from becoming more of a better me.

So please understand why I can go on week after week not posting a simple hello. I can’t, for various reasons – lack of time, lack of resources, sometimes plain lack of energy and urge.

What I have been saying in the last posts, that I am somewhat under medication, is true. It’s really not something bad: I AM PREGNANT. Yay!!!! Yeah, blessing right? Of course, it is.

But though it’s not bad, it’s still serious as I have been taking meds for months now to make sure the baby develops, that there would be a heartbeat. I have age and my recent history of miscarriage against me. Thankfully, it’s been growing these last months, almost four months in January, and does have a heartbeat. I don’t want to fail at this again…

It sounds easy enough, but sometimes we run out of resources, and there are other factors, that it has been a kind of mental and emotional torture for me considering we’re still in the crucial first trimester. These…things have made me more stressed out and irritable to the point that it is hard for me to contain what I feel.

It has come to a point that other people have come to judge me and say I am making life hell for my family. Do you know how it feels like to go through something like this and be judged by the very people who have watched me grow and should have known that I may not be the nicest person, but I would never make life hell for my family? I may not be the nicest, but didn’t they see the sacrifices I made three years ago to save my family? I tried to lessen the physical hell my parents were experiencing within themselves the best way I could even if I was not sure of the outcome. It hurts so freakin’ bad that they would say this about me especially when I know they could tell other people and I wouldn’t have the chance to defend myself…But okay, you know, you gotta ignore no matter how hard.

But anyway, I said I don’t like writing about anger and angsts and yet, here I am. Today is Christmas, it’s the season to self-reflect and, hopefully, be kind to everyone. I will not lie and say I’m being kind, but I am still trying and praying that God forgives me for I am still a hard work in progress. There’s the New Year ahead and like I always say, there is nothing wrong with resolutions, so I’ll try to work on my list 🙂

Anyway. thank you all, for your friendship, online or not, and you will all be in my prayers tonight, that’s for sure.

So let me just greet you a…

I pray that you all enjoy this season and strive for the “merry” in Merry Christmas 😀

***********************************

And because I have not posted for the #AtoZChallenge again, please let this be my “S” post for the challenge, “S” for “season”. Just give this to me, please…? 😉

Here just to say…

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND

A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Sorry I couldn’t post anything. Too long to explain why, but I don’t want to miss the chance to greet you all. I hope you all enjoy the holidays!!! 🙂

If I am able, I will post something these coming days…