Random WAHM Thoughts: 11.2008

My Child Is An Achiever

Let me say that again. My child is an achiever. I knew it the moment I saw her in that nursery room a few hours after I gave birth. How did I know? Well, I am her mom. So. I mean it's a pretty normal for a mom to assume that her child/children will take the world by storm someday. Svetlana is one child who will do many great things as she grows older. In fact, she's starting to show potential at such a young age. Lemme share to you what she has managed to do so far:

She can open and close her hands upon request. And at a fast forward pace, too, that you wouldn't be able to keep up with your command. Impressed? Oh, I am just starting. Wait till you read the others.

She has already eaten most food that only one-year-old children are allowed to eat. Like hotdogs. And spaghetti (yes, the pasta and the sauce). And bread. And cup cakes. And rice. And everything else that happens to be on the menu. Remarkable, eh?

She has already ripped apart three lovely story books and ate some of the pages. Simply precious.

She has already tasted all the slippers inside the house. She's developed a fetish at six months already. How extraordinary is that?

She has already crawled all corners of the house (under the bed, too. yes.) and developed intimate friendship with the floor with her face constantly smacking on it. Exceptional? Yes.

She and her shadow are already best friends. They have come to know each other so well that Svet would stare at her shadow and talk to it for a full ten minutes. Now that in itself is an achievement. Everything else holds her attention for not more than two seconds. It's just wonderful.

I don't want to say more, lest a talent scout or an agent from the Guinness Book of World Records come knocking at our door to introduce Svet to the world as the latest child wonder. She is still too young for show business. I'll wait it out till she's 14. I told here she is destined to rule the world one day. She was shocked.

Award Time!

Harr! I got tagged by Honie, gave me this super cute Power Blog Award. Second one already, what can I say. hee hee.

The rules are:
1. Each blogger must post these rules.
2. You need to choose ten people to be awarded and list their names.
3. Let them know, they’d been tag.

Ten people? Waahh!! I only have like..three friends. Haha! Since I don't usually follow rules anyway, I'd give it to only eight people.

Aria of Aria'z Ink.

Virg of ZinesterSisters.

May of LittleNicholas.

Sterndal, down at her blog.

Claire, of ReanaClaire.

Techa of PensiveThoughts.

Numi of DreamWalkersWorld.

pehpot of camerasexy.

BPI is having remittance problems. Shush!

First, let me just say that I am greatly amazed as to why no one seems to be openly whining about BPI's remittance problems for the last week except for my friend Mighty here (and me, as you will read in the next paragraph), because I Googled it and I came up empty. What, is there some kind of major shushing that's happening? Who makes you shush? BPI? But then again, maybe it's just me and my bright mind at work. Maybe I just typed in the wrong keywords because I have a royal headache and I haven't eaten lunch yet but here I am yapping about my unfortunate experience with BPI. Anyway.

Like Mighty here, I should already have a tidy amount on my account ready to be spent by this time. Actually, my fellow freelance writers who had BDO for accounts got them LAST WEDNESDAY. Which left me and my buddies with BPI accounts still wishing for our money to please, please come. Okay so this just came in. I AM THE ONLY ONE LEFT WHO HAS NOT RECEIVED MY FREAKING MONEY! Now is it always me who comes last, huh? Because we don't have a phone?! Yes, we don't have a landline because we live in the woods. But I have managed to get someone to talk to BPI even without a phone. How resourceful of me.

So Caesar (the friend who made the effort to call BPI for me) called the renowned phone banking services of BPI. Guess what they told him. In summary, it would be "Here's a reference number. We will check it next week". Well, F YOU. Next week? I will be dead by next week so I will not need your freaking reference number by then. Thank you very much. You were way too helpful. I am so humbled. Now what is the use of boasting about phone banker-assisted transactions being available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week if you can't help me during my direst moment of need and only have a reference number to give me (which I obviously can't use to buy my baby diapers) and an offer to find out about my inquiries next week?!? Virg says they should totally sue their brains for non-support, and I SO agree.

Just so everyone knows, I am applying for a new bank account AT ANOTHER BANK because I don't want to maintain bank relations with my current one who cannot even admit that something is wrong with their system. Why do I always end up with companies with poor services? First Xoom, then BPI. I must be so lucky. The gods have chosen me to be the one to experience all this. You say shit happens? Yeah, well, to me it happens all the time. So brighten up. Lemme take all the crap.

If anything, this is a rant of a pissed off customer who is about to go wacko. Do not put on your faith in everything I posted here, because I am seeing red and that doesn't exactly spell objectivity.

I smell Christmas already!

What does Christmas smell like, for you? When I was still working, I know that Christmas is near when I can smell my 13th month bonus in the air. The smell of new money inside that envelope handed almost always late. Mmmmm. It's one of the most anticipated times in an employee's life, to be given that lovely bonus during this time of the year. But I don't smell it now. Poor me. Literally.

I should have mentioned this in my earlier post regarding disadvantages of working at home. WAHMs (or WAHDs, for that matter), DO NOT HAVE CHRISTMAS BONUS. Sad? Yeah. Am I regretting my decision to be a WAHM now? Nope. Not ever. As much as I would love to be given that, I'd pass the chance up for what I have now. Which made me realize, I'm not as money hungry as I think I am. I mean, come on. I would not trade measly cash that only comes once in a year for the opportunity to spend all the time that I want with this piglet.

Before I end up, noticed the cute banner on the upper right hand corner of my blog? Makes me feel the Christmas spirit even here in my blog, courtesy of the great Amanda Fazani who writes Blogger Buster, my blog bible. Hey, spread the spirit. Grab your own now :)

All in a Day's Work

I actually didn't do any real work today, so I don't know what's with the title. It's all I can think of writing in the title box. Just wrote a couple of papers and spent half of the day playing with my daughter who can crawl very fast now. *beams* Some I spent in tinkering with my blog. Yes. I know your eyes are rolling upwards. You can roll it back now. Since starting this blog, I have changed layouts like five times already. This editing my layout thing has been eating most of the time I spend in front of the computer lately.

Yet you say, "But I can't see any improvements on your site!". Well I can't either. So shut up and deal with it. I'm still on the stage of planning to ram my brains with HTML knowledge. I don't know when I'll actually get there, but I will one day. Just thank your lucky stars that I'd be sticking with this layout for a while since I'm really loving the four columns and the shade of blue. You won't have to adjust to what you're seeing for some time, will stop you from wondering "is this the same page I viewed a couple of days ago?" for a little while.

Took a picture of Svet today while eating her favorite hotdog.

Just to see if she looked any different than she did two weeks ago. I honestly can't see the difference. *me inside my head* It's because you see her everyday, dummy. Big cheeks. Check. Big eyes. Check. Small lips. Check. Yep. That's my daughter alright. Enjoyed spending most of the day with her today. Best day ever.

Note to self: WORK YOUR ASS OFF TOMORROW.

I'm Officially Devirginized (blog award-wise)

I love Gin! No. Not the local liquor that supposed to cause blindness with too much drinking (gin bulag). I was referring to Gin E, a fellow mommy blogger, for giving me my very first blog award. I am sooo humbled. See, this being my first time, I'm half afraid I might not do this right, being the overly bright person that I am. I should have followed my mum's advice and ate lots of food for brain development when I was younger.

Okay. So here goes. So this award given to me by Gin is called the Proximidade Award, given to blogs that, and I quote Gin,

invests and believes, in ‘proximity’ [meaning, that blogging makes us ‘close’ - being close through proxy]. These blogs are all charming and they aim to show the marvels of friendship. Let’s give more attention to them! So with this prize we must deliver it to eight bloggers that in turn must make the same thing and put this text.

Nicey, nice, especially for a first. makes me wonder if I was worth it. Haha! Anyways, Gin said she enjoys reading what she sees here, (or what little she can see here. harhar.) I'm just glad that she appreciates my twisted sense of humor. Hehehe. So as a recipient, I am honored to give this award to:

enday, for never failing to make me laugh with her posts. You are a jewel. I love your sense of humor.

sexychiicq, for being my avid commenter. Thanks for taking time to react to my posts. It seems you are the only one. Haha!

Super Gulaman, for teaching me how to tinker with my RSS feed. Harr! I am so stupid.

penstalker, for the super informative movie peeks on his blog. I can stay on top of film happenings because of you, Mights.

emz, another fellow mommy blogger, for insightful contents that I can very much relate to. Thanks for being you.

N, for that wonderful site review on LinkReferral. Here's hoping we forged a new friendship.

ms arah, for always updating her site. Because of you I never miss out on a soap opera. Hehehe.

pehpot, for your wonderful blog photos. I wish you all the best in your journey towards buying the camera of your dreams. Hehe.

Hmmm.. I guess that's it. That was fun! And another post to my blog. Yesss! Hey, Gin, thanks again for this. Off to eat dinner now.

A Disturbing LinkReferral Discovery

It is not what you might be thinking. I am not about to cry SCAM! because I actually find LinkReferral a good way to boost my page views (something that I direly need since I just started blogging and my site is still short of many things. Additional posts, for instance. Harhar.) Besides, I am just a basic member so I am able to use their services for free. So what did I find out, you ask.

I was at the site earlier this day and I decided to use the search function that they have been informing me about through email notification. I first searched for the keywords which listed my site in the results. Then I got curious and decided to search for fellow Filipinos who might also be LinkReferral members like me.

I typed in Pinay, since I am one and would like to find other Pinays in the site. I'm thinking to maybe check out their sites and make friends with them. Guess what came out in the results list. There were eight search results, and out of those eight, two are broken links, only one is active, and get this, the remaining five sites are porn.

Now imagine how demeaning that is for a Pinay like me. I was really pissed. I couldn't do anything about it. All I could do is change my site description to include the word Pinay or Filipina, so that I can at least decrease the ratio of porn sites against clean ones.

What a crying shame. Here I am thinking that Pinays are treated as conservative women and respected everywhere, and there they are debasing our dignity. Bunch of lowly scumbags. *expletive deleted*

Payment from Ciao Credited to my PayPal Today!

Since it's that time of the month when my sidelines' payment come in bulk, please put up with me for a while as I bore you to death with yet another post of how I fared in one of them. Don't you worry your mind so much, this will only happen twice or thrice in a month. If you're in luck, maybe it'll only happen once. Anyway.

So this time around it's Ciao, the community that pays you per review. I don't go there much now. Reason? They used to pay $1 per review. Until I came. Haha! They must have sensed I was only there for the money and immediately changed their payment system, changing it to only $.25 per review. Hee hee. But even if that's the case, it's still better paying than myLot, so if you are crazy about making reviews (I am not), then Ciao is for you. myLot is funner, but Ciao pays better. Oh when will fun and high pay be found together in one place? I pray and wait for that heavenly day. *sighs*

As I mentioned in passing above, Ciao pays way better than myLot, although if making reviews is not your favorite pastime, then you'd not last a second in that place. You'll puke from the adjectives spewing on every Ciao corner. Here's payment proof non-believers. I got this from three-four days of being there one or two hours a day. Not bad considering this amount in myLot will take anyone almost half a month to reach.

Yech. Still cannot get my screenshot right. Pardon my utter stupidity and go click on the picture for a better view. Well, here ends your misery.

My myLot Payment Just Came In!

Just in case you're wondering what the fig am I talking about, myLot is an online community that pays you for participating in their site discussions. These discussions are started by other myLotters like myself. They can range from the utterly spaced-out "Do you eat in front of the computer?" to the somewhat interesting "Should marriage contracts have expiry dates?" Okay, so both questions were started by me and I am self-promoting, so what?

To those who think myLot is a spam, lemme just browbeat you with the three monthly payments that myLot has sent to my PayPal account in the three months that I am a member there.

September Payment

October Payment

November Payment

Just click on the picture to see it in another window. I am so bad at putting screenshots. Never know how to put them properly, really.

Heeey! Watch your drool. That's $50.88 for three months pal. Okay, not exactly something to froth at the mouth about, but that's money you otherwise would not have if you were just spending your time porn-hunting. I don't even call this work money because myLot was a fun place.

Was? WAS? Yes. I did type WAS. I have not been logging in myLot these past few days. Reason? I have a couple of other sidelines in my hands right now that pays me thrice (four, five times, even) as much. I need all the money I can get my hands on right now since the holidays are coming and I am expecting lots, and I do mean effing LOTS of expenses. I'll go back there next year, I guess, when all this money hype of mine is over.

Man's Greatest Invention: Disposable Diapers

Mr. George M. Schroder, I would like to express my deepest thanks to you, for your ingenuity in coming up with a revolutionary idea, now commonly known as disposable diapers. Without you, moms around the world will have nothing to do but wash cloth diapers all day long, and have unfit sleep for as long as their children are not wee-wee trained.

I would also like to thank Johnson & Johnson for mass producing what Mr. Schroder dared to create.

No thanks to Victor Mills and his group of superfriends who invented Pampers, as your product left rashes to my poor baby's butt the couple of times I tried using it.

To JS Unitrade Merchandise, Inc., the Hygiene Professionals, who manufacture EQ Dry Diapers here in our country, I extend my sincerest gratitude for providing my baby with the highest quality diapers at a very reasonable price. Without you, I may have been forced to stick with the same quality but more expensive Prokids. Surprisingly, you manufacture Prokids too. Oh well, it really pays to know your marketing stuff.

credits to JS Unitrade, for the picture

Transaction Cancelled By Xoom

I am royally pissed at Xoom right now. I just had a transaction canceled by them, and get this, in less than two minutes after the transaction took place. Here's proof of my source of rant today:

Bullheaded that I am, I still contacted Xoom, despite the fact that they are infamous for their customer service. Somehow, I still hope for the miracle that Xoom might somehow clear things out for simple-minded people like me. I just need a simple explanation for my question.

Why the hell did you cancel the transaction?

Checked my inbox, and oh. Wonders of wonders! They answered in less than thirty minutes! Boy, that was lightning fast! I was truly amazed. Maybe there's still hope in the world, after all. BUT NO. I should have sensed there was something fishy when they responded that fast. Guess what they told me? A disgustingly copy pasted generic answer form that in no effing way helped me.

They make me laugh, Xoom does. Now I know why the company I am freelancing for does not want to use Xoom as their payment method. I therefore am taking a strong stand that:

I WILL NOT USE XOOM'S SERVICES AS LONG AS I LIVE. EVER.

ever.

Initial Thoughts on Working at Home, part 2

If you are looking for good reasons to start working at home or want to reaffirm your faith in the goodness of such job nature, then this post is NOT composed with you in mind. I will be talking about about the disadvantages of working from home, so hit the back button as fast as you can before it gets too late, or suffer the consequences of being discouraged forever. Hee hee.

The not-so-good stuff about working at home

Sick and tired of work-at-homes boasting about how wonderful their career is and had enough of them trying to convince you to follow their lead? Well here's some of the stuff they don't tell you about, things that most work-at-homes hate admitting to themselves:

Yearning for the normal office environment

Now if you totally hate your job right now (the stupid boss and the meddling coworkers), I think you will not find this disadvantageous at all. But for most of us who had a rather pleasant experience about coworkers (I'm leaving out the boss part 'cause I happen to loathe a couple of my old ones), this is one of the biggest setbacks of working at home. If it wasn't for the fact that my two most previous jobs required us to be online all day, thus I have good friends online most of the time (they haven't left their jobs, what brave souls), I'd go stir crazy from the lack of diversion once in a while.

This is especially serious for people who likes to talk to others as a means of breaking the monotony of work. It can get deathly boring after a while without anything, trust me. Screws tend to loosen one by one due to lack of social life, you know. As for me, what I miss most are the lunches that me and my former office mates used to take together, as this is the perfect time for that lovely chitchat (okay. tsismis, if you like). But then again, thinking back about what diminutive amount of things my salary can buy during those days makes me shut up and get on with what I have right now. I think the physical presence of friends is a small price to pay. After all, we do talk to each other still everyday, thanks to the wonderful instant messenger tools.

Unstable earnings

Another problem if you haven't found the work that can give you your supply of income on a regular basis. A lot of opportunities are there, yes, but only for the deserving and the persistent and the fortunate. Makes it all the more problematic when you dive into this career path and found yourself without anything to busy yourself with, or worse, without a single penny to support you (if you're single) or your family. Although employers pay ultramicroscopic salary, they offer income constancy. When I was still employed, I have already found my niche in the Internet, so there was no problem switching from there to here. So it would be wise to think before you leap, as with all other things in life.

Fortunately for you and for me (and the entire human race. err.), these disadvantages are workable. It's mainly up to you if you let your life go to waste by working at home, or enjoy the benefits while not turning pariah slash destitute at the same time.

Initial Thoughts on Working at Home

This is more like a primer of what readers should expect to see from posts in this blog from now on. Since this is a place for W.A.H.M.s, I figured I might as well start with the basics. First, and I hear everyone behind my back asking, what the hell is WAHM? It's short for Work At Home Mom, so don't ask me again if I misspelled my site name by typing in WAHM instead of WHAM because I sure as hell didn't. So let's get down to the other basics. Let me start by saying that WORKING AT HOME IS NOT FOR EVERYONE.

Okay. That was a bit of a downer for a primer, eh? Although I'm not here mainly to bust the myths surrounding the glories of working home (as I, myself loove being what I am today), I would just like to stress the fact that the choice to work at home does have its downsides too. It takes a lot (did I say a lot? Yes. i meant A LOT.) of guts to shift from being a normal career woman who has a nine-to-five job to being a WAHM. But let me not spoil your appetite for reading by weighing the pros and the cons as far as I see it. As with all other career paths, choosing to become a work at home person has its share of boons and banes.

Let's hear it for the oh-so-wonderful stuff

Many of you may have heard of the joys of being a WAHM. Well, I would have to say that they are, indeed, true (did I just hear sighs of relief?) There are actually a lot to boast of, and since it is already late into the night (and besides, you will hear me yapping all about this once I get my groove and start blog-posting like crazy), let me point out two of the most (at least for me) rewarding benefits.

Be able to spend a lot of time with your child/children.

"But I know that already!, you cry. Yeah, well, unless I bludgeon you with the idea, you will not really get the essence of how great a feeling it is to be able to watch your child closely on a daily basis. You say I would not have any point of comparison since I have not felt how it is to leave my child at home while I go work my butt off someplace far? I have, in fact. As soon I was able to work after giving birth, I took off to my mom's house since I didn't have my own computer at that time to work with (her house was only a block away from us, but boy, that is far enough when you have to leave a little child). And I hated every single minute that I was away from her. Too emotional for you? You'd only say that if: one, you are a guy so you don't have maternal instincts or two, you don't have children yet.

I think that's the worst phase that moms go through. Having to leave their child/children to the care of someone else while they try to earn a living. So that's why I made it number one on my list. (Note to self: Oh, so you have list now, huh? Make sure to NOT forget to continue with the rest of it). It was then I firmly resolved to get my own computer so I won't have to leave home (it takes the fun off of working at home when you're not exactly at home, right? Hehe. So now we live in another city, I have my own computer, and I can fully savor the joy of being with my daughter 24/7.

Work at your own pace

This is probably the most cited reason for working at home, not only by moms. You can choose to work evenings, or in the wee hours of the morning, or not work at all (my personal choice, if only I don't need the money), and nobody would tell you off for it. You can choose to work in your pajamas (my favorite work outfit), and nobody would give a bleep. You can stop work at desired intervals to check on all your social networking sites, update your blog and what-have-yous. Hell, you can even choose to not come back at your work until such time you feel up to it again. In short, you do not answer to anyone but yourself. I guess this is where discipline comes in. This very advantage would prove a drawback for some who cannot manage their time well.

Is this post getting too long? *checks to see* Yeah. It is. So I'll save the disadvantages for later. I'll leave you craving for the rest of the post (I hope).

How It All Began

I was a full time employee a couple of years back. That's how I plan to spend at least one fourth of the rest of my life, working for someone else who controls my time and basically every move I make. Although it was taught in college that it's okay to be employed first then have a business or be self-employed later, I never imagined myself where I am today. Not until my precious little daughter came. She's only six months and two days today, yet she doesn't know how much she's changed the lives of those around her for the better, mine particularly.

And so it was one of those boring days in the office and it was a mere three months before I was due to give birth to Svetlana (yep, that's my princess' name) when I was struck by the thought of having to leave her everyday to go to the office working for someone else. The idea of being employed after giving birth suddenly did not appeal to me. I told myself I'd rather stay home and take care of her to ensure that she has the support she needs from her mother while she is still in her early years.

It was then I decided to look for freelancing jobs similar to that of the one I had, and luckily, some officemates were already into freelancing, and gladly introduced me to it. Two months before I gave birth, I gave my resignation letter to somewhat reluctant higher-ups. I would not say that I am sorry that I left, given the joys of motherhood that I experienced by being at my daughter's side always. Now, almost a year later, I'm still glad that I made that decision.

Being able to just turn my head a few inches to my left and already seeing that angelic face, whether at play or in sleep, is the biggest reward for being a WAHM. And that's besides the fact that I earn more now than I ever did when I was full-time employed, abling me to give my baby what she needs. It would be unfair to not mention that me and my husband are still having financial difficulties right now, even with the fact that what I earn now is more than what I used to get. As we have just started this journey of parenting and living independently, there are a lot of difficulties along the way. But I am confident that we can withstand just about anything.

I mean, who can't with this little angel by our side? ☺

Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid from 03 November 2008.

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact me through here. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. The compensation received does not influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content. The owner of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics.

Even though the owner of this blog receives compensation for posts or advertisements, I always give my 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.