Valentine’s day is fast approaching. No, I’m not blogging about something special hubby and I are planning. It’s because for now, I have none. It’s too early. This is about a nice kit I saw at Shabby Miss Jenn shoppe. This is on sale, with 20% discount.

Well, I have other love-themed (or heart elements) that I have yet to use in my layouts. So I won’t probably buy any new kit. Btw, I’m starting to notice a pattern in my layouts. Or is a style starting to emerge? Let’s see. I’ll post some when I’m ready, say in 2010?

I always find a house, no matter how small it is, beautiful and inviting when it is well-lit. But I must admit that furniture could add so much depth and style to a simple room. A couple of lamps strategically placed here or there could give a house class and edge.

At Farreys.com, they have all sorts of lamps and lamp shades. You’ll find the lamp that’s just perfect for your living room or house office. Upon browsing, I fell in love with their mini table lamps collection. You can search the site (located at the right side of the page) for lamps by type, style, brand, finish and even price range. Now, you’re sure to find lamps that will go well with the rest of your furniture!

Today, I received a call informing me that we have been pre-approved for a car loan. This is for the new Honda City that we did test-drive last weekend. Since we will be finished with our current car loan, hubby thought we could upgrade to the new City. We have chosen the color of the car we want in case we push through with the new loan.

In connection to this, we started checking for insurance quotes for the new car. We are looking for the most affordable we could find online. I saw that onlineautoinsurance.com helps in comparing auto insurance quotes from different companies. No need to visit several websites to compare, you can compare it here on one site. It saves you time and effort. You can find the coverage that suits your needs, and fits your budget.

I’ll show this to hubby when he comes home tonight. I’m pretty sure he’s excited about the new car. But the question remains. Are we buying the new car?

I used to pride on my work as an Embedded Systems Engineer. I used to be able to program a driver for auxiliary components of a car stereo (head unit). I remember when the I-pod first came out. We had to make drivers for it to communicate with the head unit.

I know how important a driver is for any peripherals you have. I found this interesting site that offers drivers. One of the popular ones is the hp drivers mostly for printers. Of course, I just had to check if they have logitech drivers, and they do have one for all Logitech mouse! And, if you want to know if the driver you have is up-to-date, click on the latest drivers (located below) to run the check for you.

I’m just curious. Are Patricia Amaral and the Shabby Princess the same person? Or do they have some sort of agreement? I just found the kits too similar with each other. Well, at least for the papers.

These are from the Shabby Princess:

Now, here are some kits from Patricia Amaral:

Hubby and I are excited to plan our vacation trips for the year. On March we will go to Bohol to spend the summer with friends. Then sometime in October, we will go to one Asian country in time for the celebration of my sister in law’s birthday.

Hubby suggested we spend one vacation just the three of us. He’s eyeing the Carribean all inclusive family vacation. There are so many activities for family bonding offered at Azul Sensatori Hotel. Honestly, just taking pictures of the sunset and the beach would make me happy. But I’m excited to know that there’s a family barbeque at the beach, and entertainment on the Rooftop Garden Lounge. Isn’t that amazing?!

As you know, I’ve been trying to stay on this strict diet. It’s hard for me to be around people who eat every hour, well, just like my daughter.

So last night, when she asked for a snack (this was 2 hours after dinner), I had to think of something to give her that if in case I got tempted to get some for myself, it wouldn’t ruin my diet.

Not a bad idea, huh?

Before I submitted my laptop to the service center, I backed up my files into several DVDs. And I had to uninstall some applications that the network does not normally allow (but I’m sure wouldn’t be much trouble with what I do anyway). I was given a service laptop which I needed to reformat too.

When I copied my backup files, I was in panic when my presentation files with File Extension PPS couldn’t be read even if there’s Powerpoint installed. Good thing my officemate was able to repair it in no time using the software we got from the computerfileextensions.com.

According to their site, it is a registry conflict. The software is very helpful. They can help in various file extension problems such as File Extension DLL or even File Extension BIN. Try the software now.

Kung Hei Fat Choi!

Chinese New Year starts today. Chinese officemates brought some tikoy (New Year’s cake). It was so tempting so I went to the pantry and brought 3 forks for everyone to use. I just thought I could eat just one. But it tasted so good so I ate another… and another… and another. U-oh, that’s carbs! Now, the diet is in trouble. I wonder if the extra pound gained today can be shed off easily by a weight loss pill in a week. Tsk, tsk.

Speaking of Chinese New Year, I was glad to have watched one show featuring Chinese astrology. I was happy to hear that those born under the sign of Dragon are lucky this year. According to one Feng Shui expert on the show, Dragons have “the luckiest” star this year. Geez, hubby and I are both Fire Dragons. I wonder what the year of the Ox got in store for us.

I came home early today. The husband worked from home, which was why I had no one to fetch me from the office. I arrived home and saw the nanny still cleaning up some area rugs. I suddenly remembered and asked if the help had found a replacement from their hometown.

She then told me that her stepmother would be the replacement. Ok, I was shocked to hear that. I pictured the stepmom to be, well, old. So I asked how old her stepmom is. She answered “30”. Wow! I am older than her stepmom.

Honestly sometimes I find it irritating when this 19-year-old nanny calls me “mommy!!!” imitating my little daughter. Now I understand where her confidence (to call me mommy) comes from. I am old enough to be her stepmom! Suddenly, I feel old.

Are you like me who always takes so much time around the mall scouting for perfect Birthday gifts? It is specifically very hard when an invite arrives in less than a week! It leaves me little time to decide what to get. Then I found a nice gift idea over the internet. A book bouquet! As a mother, I always ask for books for my daughter whenever someone asks what gift I want for her. So I’m pretty sure the parents and the kids alike would like the gifts.

Among the Childrens gifts, one of most interesting is the Birthday Fun Box. It contains four activity books, toys, cookie and a balloon. It comes with a gift enclosure card. They also offer Baby gifts such as a Baby Einstein toy and book gift baskets. It will save you time choosing and wrapping gifts. Amazing, isn’t it?