Follow @tinybudsbaby on Instagram, @tinybuds on Facebook, and through its official flagship stores on Lazada and Shopee. You may also join the “Tiny Buds Family” Facebook Community to learn more.
Thursday, November 11, 2021
Review (book): "Seeds of Hope" by Tiny Buds
Follow @tinybudsbaby on Instagram, @tinybuds on Facebook, and through its official flagship stores on Lazada and Shopee. You may also join the “Tiny Buds Family” Facebook Community to learn more.
Monday, October 18, 2021
My hobby: Solitaire card games! (plus a confession)
Let's get the confession out of the way: I play online games while I'm working! Yes, and it's okay. Much of my work as operations manager of a communications agency based abroad is waiting for submissions to come in from our writers and artists. So when I approve copy and wait for the artist to lay it out, I switch to the tab where Solitaire is on and I play a few card games.
It's better than toxic Facebook, believe me! Social media reels you in and you go up the heaven of cute corgis and kittens or down the hell hole of news and negative comments, and then you're too distracted to go back to work. So I've gone back to my childhood hobby of playing cards, but this time online.
I actually still have a deck of cards on my bedside table and I play solitaire sometimes on the bed as I chat with my husband. If he's reading or working and can't talk, I sing the Carpenters' song, "Solitaire" while I play. It's one of my favorite sad songs.
Solitaire is a game my grandparents taught me to pass away afternoons, listening to radio dramas. My Lola said you can ask the cards a yes-no question and if you win the game, then it's a yes. So that's another confession. I ask the cards stuff!
So anyway, let me tell you about my new find, Solitaire.org. It has dozens of free solitaire games like Klondike, FreeCell, Spider, gin rummy, crazy eights, hearts, and more. Like a LOT more. But I usually just play solitaire because it's my favorite. It calms my mind and helps me focus. Makes me better at remembering deadlines and editing work. So it really is a good way to while away the time when I'm waiting for work to come in.
I don't dislike it. In fact, I play it every day because I just really want to get to Level 10! But I definitely don't play this game when I'm working. It doesn't relax me. It brings out all my killer instincts and I just want to blast those balls to kingdom come!!!
So let me reiterate that I don't play Zuma Ball while I work. Instead, when I'm not playing solitaire, I play this: Candy House. It's like Candy Crush but slower and more mellow. So again, makes me feel calm. which is great when I'm working.
There are dozens more games at Solitaire.org. Sometimes I let my kids play the games, too. For school! Patterns are part of math, you know! I highly recommend these games for your kids as a fun way to recognize patterns.
And that's my little secret! And my new online find. Try Solitaire.org, too! Happy Monday and I hope you have a great week, everyone!
Sunday, September 19, 2021
Frances Finds: My favorite house in Sun Valley Antipolo!
Tuesday, August 10, 2021
Frances Finds: Beautiful house at The Glades Timberland
Hello! Ooh, I've been away. I've been busy preparing for the start of school and homeschooling, preparing my talk for the homeschooling event #CHIPSThriveAtHome summit, writing for the upscale property website Upside PH, and selling my book, Not Invisible!
(Please buy Not Invisible: A Memoir from Shopee, Amazon, Kindle, and Google Play. Thank you!)
Anyway, I breathed a bit over the weekend, and for relaxation, I decided to watch property videos. Well, it was still kinda work since I wanted to enhance my real estate vocabulary for my Upside project but it was relaxing work. Anyway! I know you guys know I love Mid-Century Modern (MCM) houses. They're open, sprawling structures surrounded by floor-to-ceiling glass windows. I just don't know if such a design works in the Philippines, what with our earthquakes, super typhoons, floods, and usyosera and pakialamerong neighbors.
Sa kaka-YouTube ko for houses, I saw three houses I really, really like, but I'll show you this one from The Glades Timberland first. Then tell me if you want to see the other houses!
But, first, no, hindi ko siya bibilhin so sa mga real estate people, please don't email me! Ang layo grabe. For me, sobrang malayo ang Timberland. Second, depende sa size ng lot, 16M to 25M yata ang price nito. Wala akong ganung pera haha Wish ko lang! And even if we had 25M, we wouldn't spend it on a house so far away from our families and friends. That said, I like it, I like it! Let's take a look:
Wednesday, July 07, 2021
The Beauty Bakery PH is serving some skin care goodies!
Got some goodies and I gotta say I love them! A few weeks ago, The Beauty Bakery PH sent me their curated beauty kits. Each kit contains specifically formulated products that work well with each other. You don't have to think about what goes with what because Beauty Bakery thought it up for you!
No scent! Except for the facial wash, which smells like lemons. |
Has practically no fragrance, which is a big plus for me because I don't like heavily scented skin products. |
Smells lemony, which I associate with Pledge wood cleaner and polish. |
*First photo grabbed from The Beauty Bakery PH's Instagram @beautybakeryph and Facebook The Beauty Bakery page. Follow and like them!
Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Review (book): "Homeschool Moms at the Feet of Jesus" by Teresa Gumap-as Dumadag
I got an advance copy of this book so I was able to go through a few days of devotions. Homeschool Moms at the Feet of Jesus is a book I'd have appreciated way back in August last year when we chose to homeschool because of the pandemic. It really addresses the fears and worries of a new homeschooling parent and it may have helped me adjust my attitude.
Sunday, June 27, 2021
My fun mom find! Free educational online games for the kids (and me!)
Logic games |
Math games |
Music games |
Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Review (book): "Abi Nako, or So I Thought" by Jhoanna Lynn B. Cruz
Yes, as with all of us, Joy suffered heartbreak many times over, but unlike most of us, Joy is so brave and relentless to wrestle with her demons and learn from them and then write about it with no fear of judgment. Joy writes about the Cebuano phrase "abi nako." In Tagalog, it means "akala ko", and diba there's a saying, "Maraming namamatay sa maling akala"? "Akala ko" is never a good thing. Joy writes, "The Binisaya dictionary tells us that 'abi' means 'to misconstrue, misread,' while 'nako' means 'mine.' In this language, my misconceptions are not only my own, I must also own them. Thus, I am not just misreading it; it is my own misreading."
Abi Nako, or So I Thought by Jhoanna Lynn B. Cruz is only P450 and may be ordered from press.up.edu.ph. It's also available in the UP Press shops on Shopee and Lazada.