When SAHMone Speaks Meme #1

Q: Looking back the days when you were still single, how would you differentiate your life now? How do you keep up with your busy schedule every day?

Opposite ends hahaa! Back in my single days, I live in a rural area,  I wake up and breakfast is ready. I go to office and come home late for two reasons: over time or a meet up for drinks with my friends. I buy all clothes, shoes, and bags, and ukay-ukay I want. I only have myself to think and my grandparents to keep proud of.

These days though, we are living in a  super city. I have no career and no social life. My life revolves around my two boys. I am on the lookout first for sale on children's clothes or for Hubby's office suit. I learned to cook and bake, although I still need a few pointers on how to keep the house clean hahahaaa. I totally don't have social life - like a girlfriend that I can go meet up with every weekend. So I pour my heart out on blogging where I meet virtual yet caring friends and Mommies who support each other. Thank goodness for this platform or I had been on my wits end for the longest time.

I am more tired, I put on a lot of weight, but I feel happier and fulfilled than ever before!

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Log Playhouse

As we prepare for our move next month, we wanted to familiarize ourselves with the community. We visited the area yesterday and got acquainted some families. 

A couple particularly stayed long to chat when they learned that Hubby works for the construction industry. The father wanted to put up a log play house in the courtyard. Apparently, her six-year old daughter has been asking one for years so she can invite her friends to her own tea party.. And now that he is spending more time with business trips, he feels guilty and thinks that the log playhouse will somehow make up for his absence. 

Fortunately, I recently read about a website that specializes on log houses.  You can purchase a kit-set of garden Log Chalet or a log playhouse which you can assemble in a day. The father thinks it's brilliant as he just didn't know where to start. Hubby offered to help build as soon as the log playhouse kit arrived.

We left happily knowing that when we finally move next month, we have friends we can count on. 

Harley Davidson Airbrush Design

I am soo not a biker/rock chic but when Harley Davidson staff if offered an airbrush tattoo during the annual Gulf Bike Expo, I couldn't say no ((^_^)).

Harley Davidson Custom Design

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Why Has The World Stood Silent?

Is the Arab blood the least valuable blood?

Arab States Unrest

HCG Diet For Weight Loss

After taking my son to a scheduled vaccine, we dropped by Caribou Cafe in Health Care City to meet up with some friends. We arrived fifteen minutes late and everybody was talking about HCG or Human Chorionic Gonadtrophin hormone which is said to be a helper in weight reduction program.

I've been thinking of shedding around 5 kg so as soon as we arrived home, I Googled and found out that HCG diet is indeed very popular these days.  It is a homeopathic, all-natural substance that there is no injection required. Just one drop under of your tongue and the HCG hormone helps you lose weight and more importantly, keeps it off for the rest of your life.

I am glad to find about this option on wight loss as many of my online friends also inquire on such topics. Unfortunately, i haven't popped any diet pills but HCG sure looks promising that I am taking a closer look.

Good one, Machete!

Cartoonish and violent but Machete is one enjoyable film. I absolutely adore the lead cast Danny Trejo who was always picked for the role. Hubby and I watched it last week and until today, we are still giggling whenever we recall Machete walking with his knife.

The plot is about illegal immigrants and Mexicans crossing the border. Other than that, I'm not saying anything else lol! Get your copy when the Chinese guy rings your door bell.

I can't wait for the sequel Machete Kills and Machete Kills Again hahahaaa!

Learning PPC Marketing

A very good blogger friend recently informed me about her new venture on pay per click (PPC) ads. PPC is an internet advertising model used on websites, where advertisers pay their host only when the ad is clicked.

While I am thinking of ways to optimize my site, Hubby especially asked me to keep my blog as personal as possible. My blogger friend said that pay per click marketing will work for me because the advertisements will be displayed on my sidebar and that it will always be relevant to my posts. 

I am now trying to read as much as I can on the subject. Times are hard and if I can bring in some money without compromising our family blog's content, then I might just sign up for PPC.

Little Brown Church In The Valley

The Little Brown Church In The Valley  sits in a beautiful park alongside Highway 218 in the town of Bradford, near Nashua, in Northern Iowa. But it wasn't there when the song was written.

A New York native  named William Pitts, about twenty -seven was travelling by stagecpach from his home in Wisconsin to Fredricksburg, Iowa to see his girlfriend. It was a bright afternoon in 1857. When the stagecoach made a pit stop in Bradford, Pitts took a stroll among the trees tp stretch his legs. The gently sloping hills formed a slight valley and the Cedar River flowed peacefully by. that grove of trees, it seemed to Pitts, would be perfect setting for a church.

Unable to erase the scene from his mind, Pitts returned home and composed the words and music to "Little Brown Church In The Valley." Nothing came of his song however and he filed it away.

Five years later, Pitts, now married to his sweetheart, relocated to Iowa to be near his elderly in-laws and to teach music at Bradford Academy. Imagine his surprise when he saw a church building sitting in the very spot he had previously envisioned it. Christians in the community, growing tired of meeting in abandoned stores had determined to build a church.  The Civil war was raging and times were hard but by 1862, the building was up. It had to be painted in the cheapest color - which was brown.

When Pitts saw the little brown church in the valley, he rushed home and found "Little Brown Church In The Valley" packed among his papers. He sang his hymn at the building's dedication in 1864. Soon afterward,s he sold his manuscript to a publisher in Chicago for twenty-five dollars. He used the money to enroll in Rush Medical College. Pitts spent the rest of his life as the town physician about fourteen miles from Bradford.

Today, The Little Brown Church boasts a membership  of about one hundred thousand but it is best known for the hundreds of weddings and thousands of tourists who flock there each year to see the church in the valley by the wildwood, the little brown church in the valley.

Note: This is an excerpt from the book Then Sings My Soul. I was given a review copy and I thought of sharing my favorite stories and inspirations for some of the best loved gospel hymns.

Email Marketing Works On Busy Mom

Hubby's been working very hard for the past couple of months. I am planning  early next month to take him somewhere for a quick weekend getaway. I've been checking on Jumeirah Hotel Properties but  it is still the peak season for tourists coming to Dubai so the rate is still beyond our budget.

 Royal Club, The Palm

Luckily, I received a marketing email from Royal Club The Palm offering discount on bed and breakfast. When I checked online, the property has a swimming pool and private beach - exactly what I had in mind for my boys. The rooftop pool is not temperature controlled so they have been deprived of water play for the past four months.

I hope other companies will follow suit. If they track email marketing, it works for the busy Mommies like me. When my son takes his afternoon nap, I quietly sit down with my favorite cup of coffee, check my emails and  in between, chat with friends whoever is online. I don't have the luxury to sit down, browse through travel brochures or ring the hotel reservation desk to ask for rates. If I read a promotion on my inbox and it falls right our budget, I pick up the phone to confirm reservation. That simple.

Traditional Wine Shop

In small. barrels, you find the good wine.....One of f the local wine shops we visited in Venice near Piazza San Marco.

Tighten logic with malleable spanners

Being accustomed to UAE culture - where alcoholic drinks should be discreetly consumed, - we opted to savor our purchase back in our hotel room =)

Our purchase on top of the charming Venetian furniture of Hotel Diana. 

"A bottle of good wine, like a good act, shines ever in the retrospect." 

[Robert Louis Stevenson]

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My Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid from 20 February 2011

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact tonton@mrspinkihan.com.

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The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

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E is for Electronic Toilet Seat

The world's first 5-star Trackside Hotel, Jumeirah The Meydan features sophisticated rooms and suites. Everything can be controlled at your finger tips. A gentle touch of the screen and your curtain opens, AC turns on/off, lights, doors, etc. 

 The bathroom as well is all digital. We heard fellow hotel residents exclaimed "Toilet is unbelievable!"

Everything only operates when user is seated on the toilet bowl.

The triangle bath tub even has personal tv screen.

The bath features Aigner in Leather Toiletries.

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Gulf Bike Show 2011 (Part 2)

After drooling over the bike exhibit of Ducati and getting an airbrush tattoo from Harley Davidson, we settled down to watch the crowd.

Tighten logic with malleable spanners

Biker's world is fascinating: leather, beer, smoke, tattoo, and live bands.  But I am glad Hubby does not take his bike interest to that level. I'll never find my way around kohl eyeliner and I am such a lace-lovin' girl =)

Beer is available but Hubby has to work in the afternoon so we settled for soda and frapuccino to go with fish and chips.But by the time the bike stunt display was on, Andreas fell asleep so we settled to watch from our table.

English Tea Cake

Happy Birthday to me. ((^_^))

All the world is birthday cake, so take a piece, but not too much.  

George Harrison

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Yummy Sunday

Thankful Thursday

All the late nights and hard work are slowly paying off. It has not been an easy journey.And being married to a workaholic is far more difficult that you can imagine.

Hubby takes his work very, very personal. He works late at nights or gets up very early to do more. Sometimes he will go to office at 4am in the morning. I have shared photos of his projects and those towers, he does not do them one at a time. They are to work on them all at the same time. That is how to work in the desert.

We arrived Dubai in May 2006. Hubby was hired from Saudi Arabia as Structural Engineer. In 2008, he was made Design Manager for the Hollowcore Department. It was a position created for him and a promotion that shook the entire design section. Some of his closest friends in the office asked,"Why, what did you do?"

Those comments were very sad to hear but coupled with more hard work and prayers, Hubby proved his co-workers two things: 1) that his then Chief Engineer was never wrong about his potential; and 2) that he deserved the promotion.

Andreas was one a month old when Hubby received that recognition. And because he felt the pressure that they were expecting more from him, he worked every Saturday in the office for the next 4 months. Not wanting to miss on Daddy duties, he will bring us with him to the office. We will clear some space so Andreas can sleep on the table. 

I enjoyed it at first few weeks. Then I got bored staring at the ceiling and listening to phone ringing. So after a month, Hubby decided he will drop us at Mall Of Emirates on weekends while he work in their office.Andreas and I then spent every Saturday for the next three months in the shopping mall. We got acquainted with the lady cleaners and  I nursed him in all the baby room available. It was very hard as I needed an emotional support rather than go window shopping.  But Hubby needed to stay in the office for the three of us to survive.

It was around 2010 that he relaxed a little. He has established his authority. People enjoy working for and with him. He was trained to become one of the company's accredited office auditors. He was witness of fact in one of UPC'c biggest arbitration case.

About two months ago, the CEO informed him that he is up for another promotion. We were soo over the moon! We thank God that he continues to give us enough so we can be of help to other people. Hubby immensely loves doing charity works. He is probably one of the most compassionate people you'll ever meet. I just don't blog about them to protect the people involved. We know in our heart that these people continue to pray for us.

Thank you to all who sent their messages of kudos. This has been very lengthy but I just want to answer one question sent by a friend which she included in the message.

How do you handle being the wife of the manager?

I haven't read a book about it but based on common sense and listening to that little voice inside me, I got by doing these:

1. Never ask how much your husband earns.

2. Show interest in his work. It may sound very, very technical at first but you can always Google or visit Wikipedia.

3. Try to know more about the subordinate staff. If they have kids, send a small present. This will endear your husband more to his staff. It shows he cares for them, not just what they can do for the company.

4. If you know you are bound to ran into your husband's staff and co-workers, dress up but keep accessories to a minimum. There is nothing more cruel than showing everyone you can buy yourself a necklace from Damas. You maybe your husband's trophy but let the dress do the talking.

5. December means giving everyone a chocolate bar.

6. Remind your husband to reward the tea boy, cleaners, and security guards from time to time.

7. Let him have thirty minutes or an hour to himself upon arriving from work.

8. Take care of the holiday details.

9. Don't call or e-mail or text him at work unless your apartment is on fire. Let him concentrate at work so he can concentrate on you when he comes home =)

10. Do charity work.

D is for Deer

A spotted axis deer we saw during a quick visit to Dubai's mini zoo.

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