I don't think I got to post some of these here so I am doing so now :-)
These are some of the stuff I baked and actually remembered to take photos of them. I'm not a patient person at all but in the kitchen I am a different person! I love to cook and I love the smile it brings to my family's faces and tummys.

[homemade roasties and grilled pork chops in BBQ sauce + salad]
{brownies, dark chocolate cake, chocolate chip muffins, Simnel cake, Victorian sponge cake, lemon drizzle loaf, random chilled dessert i made (lol), almond cherry slice, chocolate chip cake)

chocolate cake i baked for James' birthday

almond cherry cake

fruit muffins, double chocolate cake, banana loaf

mince pies

fruit scones

First time for everything

As Dr Grant said 'There's a first time for everything'.
Thursday had a lot of firsts for me indeed. It was the first time I didn't feel sick and found out otherwise. It was the first time someone had to take my blood pressure four times, twice on either arm because she thought 70/60 was too low. It was the first time I allowed someone to take my blood sample without someone else in the room to hold my hand. It was the first time I heard my blood get sucked up through a tube. I chose not to look even when the doctor said the needle is out. I was pretty sure that's what she said but for some reason it felt like 3 needles were still inside me. It was the first time I saw a big metal thing digging into my skin and it was the first time I had ever have to lie down for two hours while I wait for the IV fluid to finish dripping through a tube into that metal apaaratus that was still digging in my skin. It wasn't the first time that a doctor asked me to stay overnight at least for observation because she thinks I am well dehydrated and hypotensive. She wanted to put me through 4 more hours of IV fluid. I know she means well but I didn't feel that ill to be staying overnight in the hospital. Of course I found out I was probably wrong because when I got home I felt like I was going to faint many times. I knew it was only adrenaline that was keeping me on my feet in the hospital and when we stopped by the chippy for some food as I wasn't allowed to drink or eat anything all day in the hospital. I never felt so tired and dizzy and in pain in different areas of my body alternating every now and then. The surgical pain pack that the doctors prescribed me to take home really came in handy because the headache that hasn't left me for a week has finally worsen to its worst. How did she know I was going to be in pain?
For the first time that day as well, I could hardly swallow a tablet, and I had to take 5 before going to bed. I had always been very good taking oral medicines, one gulp per capsule in one second. But I just felt so weak I could hardly swallow a tablet.
I'm feeling a wee bit better today but still not well. I only eat because I know I can't take meds on an empty stomach. I don't really feel hungry, I just feel really really tired.

Which telly series character are you?

Which Desperate Housewife Are You?

More on Desperate Housewives. Created by BuddyTV

Which Sex and the City Character Are You

You scored 40% Carrie

Your answers peg you as a Carrie-type, much influenced by the Air Sign qualities associated with Gemini, Libra and Aquarius. Like confident Carrie, a sex columnist, you're curious and perceptive, always seeking answers and never satisfied with the superficial. An Air Sign influence can lead to indecision and an avoidance of tough issues, like with Carrie and her on-again, off-again attachment to Mr. Big. Forward-thinking, incredibly intelligent and witty, you just exude quirky charm. You'd be utterly bored by someone who's just a pretty face or hot body -- though you don't mind looking and flirting! You're more turned on by an equally smart and funny mate, someone who challenges your mind and makes you laugh. You love to talk, so you need a good listener who's open to playful and eccentric ideas about love and lovemaking.

Which Grey's Anatomy Character Are You?

More on Grey's Anatomy. Created by BuddyTV

WOW screenies

a little birthday party in Ironforge for my brother who turned 34 on the 17th =)

it's like Daggerspine all over again

gratZ to moi!

The stranger that made me smile today.

It's rare but it happens. Now and again we stumble upon a complete stranger that paints a big smile on our face the way nobody else can, and nobody can wipe the giggles off our hearts either.
This wasn't the first time it happened to me but today I needed something to smile about. I didn't have a bad day, no, in fact I had a good day out with my husband and I got a new non-stick baking tray which I have already christened with chocolate chip brownies!

I was watching a video to Kelly Clarkson's "Already Gone" because it's my favourite song at the moment and I stumbled upon Nick Pitera's version of the song and I was truly amazed by his gift. At first I thought it couldn't be real, he's probably lipsynching someone else's voice but then I searched for live videos by him and I found a couple where he sings on the spot in the middle of New York's busy traffic and another where he sings the National Anthem in front of live audience. Anyway, whether or not it is him what matters is that a stranger was able to lift my spirits up. Sometimes it only takes a stranger to make you realise life is really wonderful. It is rare but it happens.

Darna

I never liked superhero soaps which have been widely popular in the Philippines. But this morning WOW does not appeal to me at all and there aren't any chores to be done. So I went to the website where I watch Filipino soaps and variety shows. The latest post was DARNA. It is the Philippine version of Wonder Woman. So many movie and soap versions have been made and all of them were rubbish. Curiosity got the better of me and decided to have a look at the new Darna installment. And no surprise, special effects still haven't moved on in 2009. It was laughable. To make it all worse, Janice de Belen's acting is the crappest of all crap.

But the thing that got to me the most is the storyline. There were three women - one who has no problem getting pregnant and was on her fourth child, one can't have a child at all and the third just recently had a miscarriage because of complications which caused her husband to go back to his mistress. In desperation she resorted to going into the mountain with a chicken for an offering to the 'gods'. That again isn't anything new. But what I found really pathetic about it is that how the third woman was crying over a husband who would readily leave her because she can't give him a child! She wanted so much to have a child to secure her marriage. What a load of garbage! It'a all right to want to have a child especially for a woman in her mid thirties who feels that she is running out of time but if she wants that child to make sure her husband doesn't leave her, well that is well and truly wrong. A child doesn't complete a marriage nor a family. Having a child should just add to your happiness as a couple. If you're not secured in your marriage then you shouldn't be in in at all.

Rest in Peace President Maria Corazon Cojuangco-Aquino

On the morning of the first of August as I always do after James leave for work, I switch on BBC World News and there it was: I wasn't surprised to know that the Former President Aquino has indeed passed away after suffering from colon cancer. I wasn't surprised because for the past few months I have seen her daughter Kris Aquino who is a well known endorser and presenter back home update the people of her mother's condition. It is also well known that she is very close with her mother and swears by her Mother's love. The last week of July where she told The Buzz that she will be away for a time to be with her mother, I knew that all wasn't well. Apparently the doctors told them they were only talking about a couple of weeks. I am not at all political simply because I choose not to be. Perhaps it is because I grew up in the Philippines and PI politics is pure garbage. I've heard some people tell me that if I think this way then nothing will ever change. It doesn't matter how I think, I ALONE can't change the circus that is Philippine politics. I have never voted. To me there was no point voting because I don't like any of them. I don't want to have to choose between the bad, the worse and the ultimate worst. They all say the same things, make the same promises. Read the same speech that are not even their own. Their goal is set on the pot of gold that is somehow located in Malacañang Palace with no intention whatsoever to share it with the rest of the country. I really hope that the quality of education and the education system itself improves in the Philippines because I feel that until then people will be too ignorant to know better about these Politicians.

I am aware that the late Former President Aquino has brought people together to bring the Marcoses down and bring the democracy back to the Philipppines but I salute her not for all the Political Merits she's received, rather for the good mother that she was. I don't know her personally so you wonder how I could possibly know? I observe. I know that throughout her son's political career she has been there - every campaign and every victory party and I'm sure behind the scenes she was his source of strength and inspiration. Kris, as annoying as she could get sometimes, is a very successful and independent woman and she loves her mother to death. Former Preseident Aquino has three other daughters who are successful in their own right but unlike Kris and Noynoy they chose not to be in the limelight. She raised all five children on her own after her husband was assassinated in 1983. Raising kids is hard enough let alone raising them all on your own. To be successful at it deserves some props. It is by far way better than any political merits one can be awarded. For this I give kudos to Former President Corazon Aquino. May her soul rest in peace in God's embrace.

For the second time in six months my blog disappeared on the web and this time it just magicly came back without any explanation email from Google. It's probably for the same reason as before, their automated spam detector mistaken my blog for an automated one. Ah well all that matters now is that it's back and Ishould NEVER forget that anywhere online is NOT a reliable storage system! Needless to say I took out my external hard drive where all our back ups are stored.


My new Sony Cybershot 12.1 MegaPixels