Going 5!

The birthday presents I ordered online for my son's upcoming birthday on the 16th came in today. The delivery man buzzed on our intercom this morning and my nosy preschooler called my attention as I was in the kitchen making his breakfast. He usually follows me to meet the guests outside. Surprisingly this time he didn't show interest in who's at the door because he was busy singing along with Mr. Tumble!

Yes, he has progressed from liking trains with faces (Thomas et al), he now appreciates the fast bullet city trains. He is indeed growing up, saying that Thomas engines are for babies! Luckily, they're all from the same maker which is Tomica and his old Thomas tracks can be used with his new fast city train which I got him. I also got a new of tracks that has a railroad crossing on it. I am sure he's gonna go nuts when he opens his gifts.

So the parcels are carefully hidden in the spare room now. I can't wait to see his reaction when he sees them with his birthday cake and balloons! Roll on August 16!

All images courtesy of Toys R Us.

Cheesecake!

Cheesecake has been one of my favorite desserts. And when I say cheesecake, I meant any kind!

Tomorrow I will try to make one, I am so excited! There are 2 ways to do it, it can be baked or not at all. Since it is my first time, I think it'd be best to do it the easiest and less complex way.

Thanks to the thousands of videos of how to do it yourself in YouTube!

Headers

Lol. Finally I was able to personalize my header. Hurrah! I tried customizing my own templates with Photoshop for hours last night, which I find too complicated and eventually I gave up. Very challenging indeed, I might try it next time.

However, I am thankful for the one site I found that gives out customizable headers for free. Creating own headers comes in handy with the help of Smashing Magazine for beginners like me!

My next project will be to make my own template! Good luck to that! Guess, I will be needing the help of my little bro who knows the ins and outs in Photoshop.

The Return of the Comeback

It's been 2 years, 5 months and 6 days since my last entry. Obviously, a lot has happened to my life, it was a huge leap, I can say. I moved to the UK 2 years ago, leaving my boys behind for a "greener pasture" as many would say (although it's literally greener pasture in spring and summer hah!). Having no friends and relatives in a new country, my job has kept me so occupied and the drive to bring my family over was intense. After 11 cold months, 5th of March 2010, my husband and my then 3 year old son landed safely in Newcastle, made me the happiest woman on earth. Finally, I am complete however, it didn't end there because my life has just started. And yes, I have cried hard but I laughed harder.

So now I am finally back. Alive, alert, awake and enthusiastic!

I MISSED BLOGGING!

Here in my world, I talk about almost every random things under the sun. Be it love life, a little bit of fashion, immigration, married life, motherhood, technology, nursing career, education, womanhood, entertainment, health, politics (maybe?), my faith in God, family and friendship, name it, I might have it. But then again, depending on my mood.

PS: I have lost all my contacts in my used to be Blog Roll. Being the fan of gifted and talented bloggers who can customize their blog spaces into their own liking, I have tried doing that but unfortunately, the HTML editing has left a mess resulting to total abandonment of the hobby due to the disappearance of all my gadgets! With all my might, I tried to recover them but sometimes it's best to know when to stop.

christin collins

This was the latest movie that reactivated my tear ducts. I was so touched by this flick which was directed by Clint Eastwood based on actual events. Angelina Jolie portrayed a hopeful mom who never stopped searching for Walter, her 9 year old son who got lost. She saw herself saving the others as she faced and unfold the corruption of LAPD during her time. She tried desperately to seek the answers to all of her questions and finally known the truth that changed her life forever.

I felt the love, anger, betrayal, remorse, pain, hope and faith as Christin Collins struggled for her quest to find her lost boy. A must see movie.

Biological Research

We attended a 7th birthday party of my MIL's officemate's daughter Giana which was held at Biological Research along Sucat Road. The food was sumptuous and Andy loved the pasta, he also enjoyed the magic tricks but was kind of scared with the assistant clown. He called him "mumu." But anyway, he was shouting with glee when he saw a bird coming out from the magician's hat. The safari-themed party was decorated with lots of balloons and tons of candies and lollipops which also served as their centerpiece. I was busy feeding Andy that I failed to take photos of them. My bad.


We also had a chance to tour the whole park, it costs 150 bucks per head but because we attended the party, we had it for free! There were monkeys, different breeds of birds and chicken, ducks, snakes, butterflies, bees, insects, turtles and fish. Andy enjoyed it the most. He often wanted to be carried when we have walks like this, but this time he ran around and even left us at the end of the line, looking out for him. But he also wants his pictures taken that's why when I tell him "picture" he'd stop and say "cheese!"

He was very happy, full and tired. My Andy had a truly wonderful time with this outdoor activity. He even took home 2 small fish in a small tank for a souvenir! He named them Thomas and Henry. I would love to take him to different zoos around the world someday, he will definitely appreciate the ecology's flora and fauna. God's wonderful works of creation.

am back

Hi to all of my blog friends who dropped by and said their hi's and hello's in my message box. I missed blogging too and I missed reading your posts!

I was very busy these past few months after the NLE of course, as I have to think of the next step that I have to take for my family's future, make a move and not just simply get stuck in the euphoric stage of passing, heheh. Life must go on, Aileen. Plus the sad fact that my laptop isn't done yet. I just don't find using windows XP convenient anymore, switching to it from windows vista is sort of difficult for me. But anyway, here I am, alive and blogging!

After finding out that I made it, I was high for weeks. Kept coming back to the site where they first posted the names who passed the board. Kept telling myself that I wasn't really dreaming. Thanked God for giving me this chance, promised Him that I will do my best to be the best nurse that I can be. Texted all of my friends and classmates and exchanged "congratulations". Called my family and relatives to announce the good news. Thanked my mom and siblings for all their support and prayers. My in-laws who took care of Andy while I was gone for the review and my husband who still puts up with me up to this very day.

When I was attending college, I thought that after graduation, this will be over.. I was wrong. When I attended the review class, I thought that passing the exam, this will be over.. I was wrong again. After the result was posted, we have to go back to PRC to verify and to get our ratings. We need to buy the tickets for our oath taking and register as full pledged nurses. Pay for the certification of passing and board rating, pay for the metered stamps, pay for the registration, diploma, etc. Neverending fees indeed. This isn't just simply falling in line and then your turn to the window. Oh no. You will fall in line against 69,000 graduate nurses. Plus thousands more who are applying for the exam on November. Including the retakers. We have to undergo these challenges to somehow take a glimpse to the possibility of our dreams in effect. It isn't easy, yet not impossible.

The last day I went to PRC was to sign for our license ID. I was told to come back on November 7 and after that, my precious PRC license will be in my hands. I am all done with all the paper works. I passed my application for licensure in California, still waiting for my eligibility though. But what the heck, with the economy in the US, we are talking about 3-5 years in waiting, so I am really not in a hurry to take NCLEX.

What's next?

After passing the exam, though still high, I kept myself updated with nursing issues. I log to allnurses.com every now and then to keep me posted of what's happening and to catch up with the latest, be it local or abroad. I have to admit, but I don't see myself working in the hospital here in the Philippines. I just don't see it fair, paying the hospital big fees just to undergo training and do volunteer work plus long line in waiting. I have a kid to feed and considering gaining experience here, is far from my options. After I graduated, I promised myself not to ask financial aid from my mom. I was thinking that if I do volunteer job, I will just end up asking for extra money from her, because it is not a paid work. Funds will not be sufficient enough for food and fare and it's like when I am still in school. No difference at all.


All this time, I have mastered the immigration law of US, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and United Kingdom with regard to nurses. I have weighed my options and after months of confusions of what to do and where to go, I have decided to leave the country. And hopefully before 2008 ends, I am gone.

Sad but true. Overproduction of nurses in the Philippines somehow made the quality of nursing education below standard. We have to battle different tests just to prove that we are "quality nurses" as we claim. I have read a lot of stories about Filipino nurses working in different parts of the globe, some good and some bad. So it's really up to us to stand up and prove ourselves. I am inexperienced nurse myself but I am ready to learn and share the skills that I have brewed in school for quite some time now.

God speed to all my colleagues.