Everything Great and Grand.

For LDD that is!

So it’s time for shopping again! Check out what I’ve got…

Only for $1 today!

$3 today!

Grab it here!

This is a very nice read that I can totally relate. I was in tears after reading this…

What Matters
By Cito Beltran
Broadcast-Journalist
The Philippine Star

Having opted to live a less stressful lifestyle away from the limelight or
the Rat Race, it’s but normal for people who made the choice, to sometimes
wonder if they did the right thing. They experience pangs of guilt about
being underemployed, less productive and certainly reduced in their income
potential. While everyone else is BUSY making a LIVING, you ask yourself if
it’s a mature thing to be at home or semi-retired at the farm. Are you
wasting all your God-given talents raising kids, growing your own food, or
simply living on very little money and simple needs? Shouldn’t you be
involved in today’s politics, today’s technology? And are your friends right
about saying “Sayang Ka”? Last month, a friend called me about an opening
in a major corporation that was paying P300,000 a month, all the perks, and
even a brand new Volvo. My friend asked me how I would react if the job was
offered to me since I was very qualified. It took me all of 5 seconds to
tell her I wouldn’t accept it. To begin with P100,000 would certainly end up
with the government as taxes. That would leave me with only P200,000. To
earn that, I would have to be at work by eight everyday, instead of coming
up with imaginative tricks to wake up my daughter like placing her puppy in
her bed, or simply standing over her watching this angelic child in her
field of dreams. I would have to eat breakfast by six, leave the house by
6:30. That means no more breakfast conversations with my wife and certainly
an end to our morning prayers not just for us but for family and friends.
From the P200,000, I would have to spend at least P20,000 a month or 10% of
net to pay for gasoline driving the brand new Volvo to office everyday. So
in effect, I would only be earning P180,000 or even less. Not to mention
that my friends who sell Mercedes Benzes, Jaguars, etc. would brand me as a
traitor. From the net salary of +/- P180,000, I would have to give up the
lunch I have with my wife 3 to 4 times a week at home. Instead my power of
choice adds another burden where I would have to decide daily where in the
business district I ought to have lunch, merienda if needed, and from time
to time even dinner. I would have to choose from a menu instead of whipping
up something in my kitchen. When you add up the bill, plus service charge,
plus VAT you can easily average another P20,000 in expenses. Which means,
that what we originally thought would be a net income of P200,000 has now
gone down to P160,000. In the absence of maintenance you can enter about
P10,000 as your average monthly repair bill for labor
and materials. So now, you discover you’re only earning P150,000 a month.
Instead of being in a HOME I own, I will have to try to be “at home’ in an
office where I will be spending more of my “awake time”. This finally solves
the puzzle; why do we always fill our offices with personal stuff which we
will have to take home in a box when we retire, resign or get fired? From
having my independence and personal views, I would then have a real live
flesh and bones Boss (because of what I thought was P200,000 a month salary)
can tell me how to jump! Someone who’s seniority or proprietary rights
automatically makes him right even if he’s stupid. Because you now have to
spend most of the time at the office or behind a desk, you can’t do your
regular walk in the park or jog around the village which is also your
bonding time with your spouse, your kids, or your dogs. You either join a
gym or get a personal trainer. When you total fees, travel, and outfits,
your monthly fitness bill would be around P5,000 which means your net pay
just went down to P145,000 a month or less than half the original offered
salary. My dear wife reminds me to include clothing and image-related
expenditures specially for women. The clothes, the make-up, the jewelry, as
well as the business accessories such as the laptop loaded with Vistas
program, the latest cell phones, iPod etc. Even if you paid all of that on
installment for 24 months, it would be in the area of P20,000 a month which
further reduces your income to P125,000 a month. The problem with this major
part of the expense is many people mistakenly call them necessary
investments, professional expense, but don’t see them as deductions from
PERSONAL wealth. It would also mean, not sharing the responsibility of
taking our child to school, missing out on small talk that tell you big
things in children’s minds, and dropping out on all the parent-child
activities. I would also nullify all the adjustments we made in the last 5
years where we integrated home life with work in order to be more of a
family than employees with a family. Speaking of home life, anyone who
spends a lot of time at work can testify that in your absence you will have
to hire a full crew to do all the maintenance and repair you use to prevent
or do yourself when you spend time at home. In your absence, who’s going
to fix leaking roofs, flooded toilets, busted aircons, creaking doors, or
all the usual things REAL MEN with real tools do? If I actually went out to
get the job that pays P300,000 plus a brand new Volvo, it would have cost me
breakfasts with my wife, trips to school with my daughter, morning talks and
prayers with God, affirmation of my role as husband, father. I would be
relinquishing responsibility for my house, as well as my home. What we’ve
done is determine what really matters, what and how much we really need,
give up what we don’t need or care for and trust in God and not in men.
This is what I call real life cost-benefit analysis. To make an accounting
of what we think we’re getting against what we know we’re losing. Sometimes
earning more actually costs more.

You may want to check out LDD’s 12 Days of Christmas Sale from December 13 – 25, 2007.

For their first day….25% off all Templates, Quick Pages, Photo Tools, and Quick Cards. All sales start and end at Midnight MST.

Hurry check out their shoppe here. As for me, I was browsing their shoppe since last night… LOL!

I woke up really early today (well, for a weekend and a late night party last night) because I needed to check my email. When I saw my email I remembered LDD’s 12 Days of Christmas sale! So I checked out their shoppe right away and look what I got…

Only for $1.40 today!

Only for $2.10 today!

If you want to grab these and in the mood to shop now, check out their shop now – 30% off all Products by Lisa and Leora, today only! All sales start and end at Midnight MST.

1. Whats one thing thats heavily weighing on your mind?
- Did I pack our things for our trip well? I hope I got everything since I don’t want to leave anything especially Alex’s stuff

2. What’s one thing you’ve learned from a good friendship gone bad?
- Friendship needs time and effort to make it work

3. Whats one thing you’ve learned lately from love?
- There is one person who is really meant for you…

4. Is there anyone special in your life at the moment?
- Oh, yes, Hubby and Alex

5. Whats a happy time you’ve had in the past week/s?
- Shopping spree, get togethers with friends and family

6. How far would you go for love?
- Well, I’m not really sure…

7. Is there anything in your past that you’d like to do/try again?
- None.

8. Whats your favorite kind of weather?
- Sunny but windy, definitely not humid!

9. Why is this?
- I love to be under the sun but I don’t like sweating as well.

10 . Who do you like to spend your nights with?
- Hubby and Alex

11. Are you an emotional person?
- It depends, if it’s the time of the month, I am definitely an emotional person

12. Can you cry in front of others easily?
- Nope

13. Whats something that can always make you feel better?
- Same as Jane’s shopping can also make me feel better. LOL!

14. What does love make you feel like?
- Secured. Happy. Contented.

15. And losing love?
- Devastated. Empty.

16. Are you self conscious?
- Yes!

17. Do you think of others before yourself?
- Well, when it comes to Hubby and Alex, yes.

18. Where do you see yourself some time next year?
- Still working in the same company

19. Do you tend to make relationships complicated?
- sometimes.

20. Do you think you’d be able to survive a whole year in jail?
- No way!

21. Who do you feel the most comfortable to go around?
- Hubby

22. Is there something that you’re waiting for? someone perhaps?
- Waiting for tomorrow for our trip!

23. One thing you’re looking forward to..
- The holidays

24. How do you feel about change?
- Not too comfortable, I’m used to routines.

25. Any plans this summer?
- Go to my hometown to celebrate Alex’s 2nd birthday! Wuhoo!

26. What are your plans for your next birthday?
- I don’t know yet.

27. Do you think someone out there is in love with you?
- hehe! Siguro!

28. How do you feel right this second?
- I feel full since I just had breaksfast with Hubby (Alex is still sleeping)

29. One word that describes you at this point of your life?
- Contented.

30. What do you think about this survey?
- Cool!

Snag this if you like!! (*wink*)

Sharing this nice read by Efren Cruz.

Managing one’s debts starts with a good look at your finances
Getting out of debt may not be that difficult as long as one
exercises self-discipline.

Efren Ll. Cruz, Senior Vice-President and General Manager of
Grepalife Asset and Management Corporation (GAMC) and author
of “Pwede na! The Complete Guide to Personal Finance,” likens the
whole process of debt management to losing weight.

“The first step is to see how much you currently weigh,” Mr. Cruz
told BusinessWorld.

Applying this to debt management simply means “knowing how much you
owe and what kinds of debt you need to pay,” he said.

There is no better time to conduct an inventory of your debts but
now, especially so if you are one of those referred to by the central
bank as having owed credit card companies P69.3 billion as of end-
2004.

“The very first thing that you need to do when your are in a debt
trap is to stop borrowing. And how do you stop borrowing? Limit your
credit card use, don’t bring them with you, put them in a freezer or
lock them up in a safety deposit box, make it more inconvenient for
you and once you have done that, take a look at where you are, assess
the debts that you have and try to pay off first the most expensive
ones,” he said.

By the latter, Mr. Cruz means classifying what one owes by when they
are payable.

Read the rest of this entry »

Most of you know I’m a recovering porn addict.

I was addicted to it for years—and it almost destroyed me.

Today, God has healed me and continues to heal me.

If you don’t know this part of my life, read my two books, Your Past Does Not Define Your Future, and 7 Secrets To Real Freedom.

More than my writing or preaching, I think one of the greatest things I’ve ever done for others is to share my scars to them. It gives people hope that they too can be healed and change their life.

It’s like the vegetables I eat. (Be patient with my analogy.)

My friend tells me I’m like a goat.

Because everyday, he sees me munching on raw salad.

Specifically, raw green “organic” vegetables.

Here’s something you may not know about organic: They’re physical appearance won’t be perfect. They’ll have pockmarks. Flaws. Blemishes.

Why?

Read the rest of this entry »

A nice read I got through my email…

Closing Cycles
By Paolo Coelho

One always has to know when a stage comes to an end. If we insist on staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the meaning of the other stages we have to go through.

Closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters whatever name we give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that have finished. Did you lose your job? Has a loving relationship come to an end? Did you leave your parents’ house? Gone to live abroad? Has a long-lasting friendship ended all of sudden?

You can spend a long time wondering why this has happened. You can tell yourself you won’t take another step until you find out why certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have turned into dust, just like that. But such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved: your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your sister, everyone will be finishing chapters, turning over new leaves, getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a standstill.
Read the rest of this entry »

By Letty Jacinto-Lopez
The Philippine STAR 03/08/2005

The debonair groom turned to his beautiful bride and
whispered, “Honey, now that we are married, I only have one rule that
you and I would live by: ‘Do not borrow money or lend it.’”

That’s my kind of guy. If my daughter ever finds one like him, I
would make sure that he gets to the church on time. A man like him
knows what the excess and shortage of money can do.

As a young couple builds a life together, they need to examine their
hopes and dreams about the present and future. A great deal of that
involves finances, where money will be used as a way to measure
themselves and others. The “have-enough-money-and-you-are-
independent, don’t-have-enough-and-you’re-dependent” phenomenon.

Read the rest of this entry »

Until I read this…

“When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened?

- Winston Churchill