Preschool Teacher Gift Ideas

As you know, my Hyzyd is already in daycare. He got a very great teacher and sweet teacher's aide. I would love to get them nice and meaningful New year's gift. Do you have any preschool teacher gift ideas?

I'm a preschool teacher myself and I can say I always appreciate the thought. To give you further idea, the following are the best gifts I received from my students:

1. Mall Gift certificates. I can't forget that $15 Gift certificate to Tesco Lotus where I spent it on my New Year's Party outfit!

2. Notepads and pens that are personalized with my name on it.

3. Special Cookies from SP Bakery.

4. Handmade note cards with my preschoolers drawing colored by themselves. I got teary-eyed with the simple greetings and "Thank you's".

5.Gift basket filled with cosmetics.

If you wanted to give something special for your child/children's preschool teacher, try to find out if your child’s teacher has a hobby or collects anything. Is she doing yoga? Then a custom-printed yoga block suits her well. Does she wear a charm bracelet?  Does she have a collection of kitty cat magnets on her filing cabinet doors? By paying attention to those subtle details, you just may find the perfect gift idea that is uniquely special for your child’s teacher!

What about you? What are you giving your child’s teachers this year? What special gifts have you given them in past Christmases/ new years?

All gifts, no matter how big or small, are appreciated. I'll tell you later what's my gift for Hyzyd's teachers.

Happy ChistMas Greetings to all!

Wishing you all the joys of the ChristMas and Holy-Day Season. As we celebrate this glorious time of the year, may Christ's presence be very real to you.

Warmest regards and wishing you God's richest blessings for the New Year.

The X-Factor USA first Winner is...

...Melanie Amaro! She's my bet since the beginning when she sang "Listen" on her audition. She even made an immediate impression on the X Factor judges during that initial audition. The 18-year-old's road to success was not easy. Can you believe that she was cut from the competition during the Judges' Houses portion of the show by mentor Simon Cowell? I was really shocked that she was not chosen. Thankfully, Mr. Cowell realized that he made the biggest mistake and personally went to Melanie's house and asked her to be back on the live show!  Since then, Melanie has sailed straight through the competition and was finally declared the winner during Thursday night's live final, taking home a $5 million recording contract! 

How to Help Typhoon Washi ( locally known as Sendong) Victims

 When Hatyai City was hit by flood , we're informed and partially emotionally ready...but when it actually happened (around 10:30 PM) and reached 3 meters high (no one expected the water to rise more than a meter) I'm in panic. I never felt such kind of fear that brought chill to my spine. I prayed soooo hard liked I've never done before. I didn't sleep until I'm sure that the water stopped rising. After 3 days, the water started to recede. Imagine the mess it made- our place is strewn with mud, garbage and debris...and no water! 

The flood that covered Hatyai City last November 3, 2011

I'm really touched with our Thai neighbors. They're soo concerned about us that everybody's giving fresh milk to Hyzyd. Some gave us bottles of mineral water. They gave us two packs of relief goods -rice, canned goods, noodles, oil and soy sauce.  I'm impressed of how fast the government send help to the victims. I even saw the previous Prime Minister near our area. He personally visited Hatyai City and helped on giving relief goods. Thanks God for our friends who visited us and hand us food and diaper.

Since then, every time I heard about floods, I whispered prayers to the victims. I've been in their shoes! I'm really put into grief when I learned that Typhoon Washi (locally known as Sendong) caused flash flood that swiped off lots of houses, belongings and the worst, lives in Cagayan de Oro City and Iligan. They've experienced much worst than what I experienced. It came like a thief in the night when everybody's soundly sleeping. They were helpless when it happened. I think, we can help them.

Here’s how :

Visit  Philippine Red Cross and you can donate online (credit card, paypal, online banking, megalink, Bancnet, GCash


SMS
Text REDAMOUNT to 2899 (Globe) or 4143 (Smart)

G-Cash
Text DONATEAMOUNT4-digit M-PINREDCROSS to 2882

You can donate the following denominations:
Globe: 5, 25, 100, 300, 500 or 1000
Smart: 10, 25, 50, 100, 300, 500 or 1000
And did you know that you can send your old clothes and other useful materials for the victims of Typhoon Sendong to ANY LBC and JRS BRANCH AND THEY’LL SEND IT TO CDO/ILIGAN FOR FREE? 

Your help (even in small ways) could save lives. Give LOVE (through your monetary assistance, time and effort) on CHRISTMAS. This is the best Christmas gift we could offer to the people of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City. On the other hand, we at Pinay Mommies Community (PMC) accepts donation to help the victims buy food, clothing and drinking water. We can't help all the victims but at least we could make a difference and bring hope to some of the victims . You can send your donations via paypal addressed to admin@pinaymommies.com and place "PMC Cares" on your subject. 

You can visit Pinay Mommy Online for other options to help CDO and Iligan City victims.

What is important on Christmas?

Facebook walls are now flooded with Christmas greetings, Christmas parties, how one trying to find sexy nurses uniforms (never thought that Christmas event could be fancy dress-themed event too) or gathering ideas from friends on what to give for Christmas. Wow! Christmas is really on the air but if you're here in my place...you really miss how we Filipinos celebrates Christmas.

Though the city's mall in here have Christmas trees and Christmas decorations but still there is no excitement as I count the days leading to Christmas. There's no excitement among children. There's no Christmas parties to anticipate nor Christmas vacation to enjoy. We'll all be in school until the 30th of December. We'll be having New Year's Party though. I terribly miss the goodwill and good wishes and fellowship. On Christmas eve there's no church bells or clusters of families making the annual troop march to Church with grandma.

But I was reminded that having the perfect Christmas doesn't depend on having perfect Christmas party, Christmas trees, ornaments, dress, gifts or vacation. It all depends on your feeling of gratefulness to God Almighty who sent His son Jesus Christ to save humanity from eternal condemnation. We do try to celebrate at home when we can and invite our friends. It is always fun to share with them our food and traditions. As Christians we observe Christmas time by honoring the Lord through soulwinning, helping the poor, singing Gospel hymns, and drawing closer to the Lord in the Scriptures.What is important on Christmas? It is the spirit of LOVE for everyone.

Happy Christmas to all!

X-Factor UK 2011 Winner

Oh.Em.Gee! It's a dramz overload, and I'm up as early as 3:00 AM to witness (via YouTube) the final moment of the epic X Factor 2011 Final at Wembley Arena in front of 10,000 people. Drum roll, please! And the winner is...LITTLE MIX! They're my favorite act since the beginning of the Live Show. If you watch this one, you could relate with me...he..he...

Little Mix make X Factor history as they become first group EVER to take home the crown- win the ITV talent show! The members Jesy Nelson, Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall auditioned for the competition as solo artists. They weren't pick during the boot camp but was called up again to form the girl group. They were mentored by Tulisa Contostavlos, the N-Dubz star.

Little Mix have now released their cover of Damien Rice's Cannonball as their winner's single, and are hoping to clinch the coveted Christmas number one spot with the track.

Congratulations Little Mix! Watch them perform their first single, Cannonball.

Why Buy iPad 2? Here Are 7 Good Reasons

I heard a lot of good things about iPad but I wasn’t interested because I don’t have money to buy one…LOL! But it’s good not to buy the latest greatest thing immediately after its release because I’ve always noticed that a much better version will appear after just few months of introducing a new gadget like in the case of iPad 1. With the new version of the iPad now available, many people are quick to ask "why buy iPad 2?" Is it really worth buying the new model when there are other tablets on the market, and is it worth current iPad users upgrading their device? 

Why buy iPad 2? I also asked the same question when I saved enough money to spend for a new gadget. Brainstorming with my hubby and bro help me come up with 7 good reasons on why I need to buy iPad 2:

1. I don't have an iPad. Why need to buy one if I already have one?…LOL! Kidding aside, the success of the original iPad has shown the critics that this really is a useful, stylish, easy to use and worthwhile device that truly has a place on the market. 

2. Large Choice of Apps. Although there are a number of other tablets on the market, pretty much none of them have as many app choices as the iPad. There are hundreds of thousands of iPad apps available in the Apple App store, and more are being developed every single day. This is a huge advantage when it comes to choice, and the new iOS operating system upgrade brings even more potential.

You want educational games or interactive Bible Stories for your kids? You can download apps for FREE. You want Glamour, ELLE, Reader’s Digest, Disney’s Family Fun or National Geographic for Kids magazines for your iPad newsstands? You can download them all for very low prices compared to buying these magazines in hard copies. Even playing drums on iPad is made possible for you!

3. A Gyroscope for Better Gaming. Although the word gyroscope might not mean anything to you, what it can bring to the iPad 2 might. The iPad 2 now features an added gyroscope for much more accurate motion censoring. This means that a number of games and apps will become even better like car racing.  

4. Affordable. Apple have decided to price the iPad 2 at exactly the same price as the original model, which means we’re not going to have to pay any more money for getting a sleeker design, front and back cameras, faster operating system and more. I think the price 15,900 ThB for iPad 2 16 GB is reasonable.

5. Camera functionality. The new cameras on the front and back of the device are its main new features which are missing on the original iPad.

6. Students' Tool. iPad 2 not only offer students the chance to browse for information in quick fashions, but they also allow them to more easily collaborate on projects and become more engaged in their learning process. They have become exceptional tools that soon every classroom will strive to have. You could adopt iPad 2 for educational purposes. There are about 100 iPad Apps Perfect For Middle School, 100 + Apps for high school and about 65 Apps for elementary.

7. Teacher's Tool. With iPad 2, teachers could have hundreds of terrific last-minute digital resources that are perfect for a wide range of classrooms.

Because of these 7 reasons, I’m happy to buy iPad 2 for my family as my Christmas gift for them. We find it very useful for my high school teacher hubby. His class became even more fun and interactive! Like yesterday, their lesson is about types/genres of movies. He downloaded to his iPad 2 movie clips for every genre , played and showed them to his class and let them guess what type of movies are Twilight, Transformer, Toy Story 3 , Harry Potter and more! At home, Hyzyd has great time listening to stories like Aesop’s Fables and enjoyed helping the crow filled the pitcher so that he could drink or tapping on the fox to help him jump high so that he could eat the grapes. He’s also into connecting numbers to form a shape or animals. He loves it so much that I don’t have time to use it for myself! With iPad 2 comes a great responsibility for parents to control how many hours should you let your child play on it.

Have a great weekend friends!I'll sneak on our iPad 2 while the little owner is still sleeping..he..he...

Mommy’s Day out: Time for Us to De-Stress

Other moms asked me how I did it- teaching preschool, maintained 7 blogs, take care of my three-year old son, my hubby, household chores. I could say God is my strength and wisdom. Through the years, I learned how to organize my time even waking up at 3:00 am to start my day. But there are times I get stressed out especially now that Hyzyd is in preschool. As he’s still adjusting to his waking schedule and new environment, his demand for my attention, time and energy resources sap me out. While Hyzyd is my high priority this time, stress sometimes results, and too much stress is harmful both mentally and physically.

Research has shown that constant, chronic stress can compromise your immune system, leaving you with weakened defenses against illness and disease. Stress also takes a toll mentally and emotionally and can leave you with a reduced ability to cope with situations that require clear-headedness. I

When you’re really stressed out, the feelings eventually spill over into your entire life, your home life, your work and other aspects of your life. It’s known that stress can even contribute to heart disease, depression and the progression of cancer and other conditions.

For these reasons, it’s important to schedule time each to day de-stress and work on keeping stress levels manageable. One of my ways to de-stress is get out of the house with other mommies and has a day out! As important as it is for me to spend lots of time with my kid, I need time to myself too. Last month my sis-in-law and another friend schedule a monthly mommy’s day out and do something fun! We’re blessed to have hubby’s who saw our needs to de-stress and agree to leave our babies to them while we have time for ourselves.

Yesterday we had our much anticipated Mommy’s Day Out! We do our hair and make-up before heading to JB Hotel for an eat-all-you-can buffet lunch, swimming and massage. Thanks to my younger sis who captured the moment- sweet bonding of friendship:

The mommies riding on Thailand's famous taxi- the tuktuk!

What we chose for this month's venue for our mommy's day out is J.B. Hotel at  99 Jootee-Anusorn Road, Hat Yai,

In the hotel's restaurant, they offer a promo for eat-all-you-can buffet lunch: Buy 2 tickets, free 1. So , we're able to save 179 baht! Sweet deal for a delicious, sumptous, luxurious lunch with Thai and Japanese dishes and delicacies! The chat we had is priceless! We talked about how is it being able to work outside the home while also raising children, how we admire my sis-in-law in her decision to stop working to personally take care of her baby. We chatted like we haven't chatted for years that we even discussed about the benefits of buying used restaurant equipments! Yeah, one of us is planning to open up a new restaurant in the future. 

There's so many food . Sky is the limit! 

We dived into the coldest water on earth! Brrrrrrrr!!! It's sunny but the moment we decided to go on swimming, it started to rain! We supposed to have a sauna bath afterward but sad to say that it was broken on that day! For only 100 baht, you can have your time in the swimming pool, sauna bath plus a time to use their fitness equipment in the hotel's fitness center.

Last stop for our day is at the hotel's massage parlor. Instead of Thai massage, we choose the aromatherapy full body massage (600 baht each for 1 hour and 30 minutes). Aromatherapy uses essential oils that are thought to have healing properties. Aromatherapists believe aromatherapy can boost well being, relieve stress and help to refresh your body.. Aromatherapy massage uses essential oils derived from plants to achieve therapeutic benefits.

The subtle aroma of the essential oils fill the air around us during the massage.

AROMATHERAPY FULL BODY MASSAGE BENEFITS:

* Relaxes, balances and harmonizes the body.
* Reduces stress.
* Strengthens the entire body and supports the body in its own healing process.
* Encourages a healthy immune system to fight infection.

 We get back home feeling refreshed and recharged! We're ready to face mommyhood again!

I had indeed a colorful weekend and I wanna share this here:

Thanksgiving on December!

It’s December already! Few more days and we’re going to welcome another year. Though Thanksgiving Day has passed, for me, each day is worth celebrating and thanking God for everything He’s done to my life and to my family. I welcome December filled with hope, gratitude, and happiness. It is a time of togetherness and for appreciation of our family and friends. I learned to live each day with joy and liveliness.

Last night before we go to bed, I teach Hyzyd a new memory verse (after he learnt 2 other memory verses: 1 Thessalonians 5:16 and 17), 1 Thessalonians 5:18 “In every thing give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” It reminded me how our dear mother used to teach us this memory verse and encouraged us to be thankful even we don’t have new dress for Christmas or Christmas dinner on Christmas Day as long as we have good health or that we’re still alive and kicking amidst financial challenges. This helps us develop a happy and thankful attitude.

This December, why not try to start your day with a thankful mindset. You can involve your family so that you can see how blessed your life is. To start, you read this post because you have computer and internet connection. Millions of people out there don’t have computers and internet connection.

Here are a few ideas to get you started having thankful attitude:

1. Celebrate the gift of life. Every time you wake up in the morning, thank God for a new day. Lots of people didn’t wake up this day. Celebrate life, not only by saying "Thank You" but also by stepping out of the home to experience something fun (e.g., pick up your samsung digital cameras or your DSLR and explore the world of photography with your family, try family sport game, go hiking, pick wild flowers, appreciate the nature, watch sunsets and more!). Joy and happiness are the best vehicles to gratitude and a zest for life. You can ask all family members to write down one positive thing about each of the other family members they are grateful for. Decide to read these notes out loud when you are together at the dinner.

2. Cook together and eat together. Cooking and eating are important for human bonding. Sharing a meal with others is what makes the food even more enjoyable. This is an opportunity to share your daily experiences (the good and the bad) with those you love and those who love you the most. Why not organize a tea party every Sunday afternoon. You can invite your friends too. It’s a good time to catch-up with each others life within the week. Share your gratitude with each other. When we share positive ideas with people we grow closer to them. Remember that food is more than just nutrition for the body and brain. It is nutrition for the mind and soul. 

3. Build family connections. Christmas time is a good time to put aside any family disputes. Model good family relations to your children so they can grow up and value the relationships they have with their siblings and extended family. 

4. Be thankful for your family. Use this month to remember all the positives about everyone and to recall all the positives they have done for you. Find a subtle way to tell everyone what you appreciate about this family member and watch his or her attitude change that night. This is a great opportunity to show your kids how family can connect.

5. New and old tradition. Sometimes it's just easier not to cook the traditional favorites or put up the decorations. But believe it or not, this little, seemingly unimportant traditions are what we crave and what we remember from our youth. Celebrate your yearly traditions and think about developing a new tradition that incorporates the uniqueness of your family! As a family unit, what is your strength and what are your interests (e.g., using arts and crafts, visually represent what each of you is thankful for)? Use your family's uniqueness to establish a new yearly ritual.

Happy Christmas everyone!

2011 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) Winners!

Was able to view live on TV this years Mnet Asian Music Awards-the BEST Asian Music Festival held in Singapore. It's the time of the year where every artists and fans from Asia and around the world become one under the name "MUSIC". It gathers around 1.9 billion Asian People! Why, I got interested to watch this? I blame it on my younger sis who's into Korean music, dramas, fashion and anything Korean! We're following the Dimple Couple of We Got Married -actress Kang Sora and Super Junior's Leeteuk who are both in this Music Festival. I never thought I'll be back to my teeny-weeny years where I giggled on romantic gestures of this couple. If you're not into Korean and not watching We Got Married (popular reality South Korean variety show, in which the show pairs up Korean celebrities to show what life would be like if they were married. Each week, couples are assigned missions to complete, with candid interviews of the participants to reveal their thoughts and feelings.) then you can't relate with me.

Without much ado here are the 2011 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) Winners:

Grand Prize:

Song of the Year : 2NE1 "I am the Best" (We Filipinos have special attachment to Sandara Park, one of the members because she started her acting career in Philippines!)

Artist of the Year: Girl's Generation "The Boys"

Album of the Year: Super Junior "Mr. Simple" (Yeeeyyyy, the group's leader, Leeteuk, is the reason why we watched MAMA 2011!) . Here's Teuk's Album of the Year speech which is heartbreaking seeing the boys shed tears (source WGM Kang Sora and Leeteuk Fan Page) :

Hi, Singapore, with our members SJ, together passed the gorgeous 20th generation, very thanks to you all. Has experienced so many difficult things and its countless, the members are together helping and support each other, and also for the member who can not been together here, now maybe is watching tv, and also for the member who are far in the distance, I love you.

And also for our best and biggest fanclub, when there is no one who give us approval, when there is nobody knowing us, let us to become a best and famous people, the fan's name, makes me feel great scene of E.L.F from all around the world, thank you all once again!

We SJ are like ugly duck, we are expecting one day until the ugly duck to become a swan, always helping a lot of SMent CEO Lee Sooman, and Kim Yingmin ...etc and also who wrote the song for our Sorry Sorry of Yu Yunjin teacher, thanks a lot.

Keep named and thanks for those who helping SUPER JUNIOR;

Sincerely thanks to you all. Maybe this is the last award ceremory before I enlisted the army so this is a very memorable ceremony, we will continue to work hard to become a best SuperJunior ever in the future. Thank you everyone.

Cr taiwanluvsj

Aww, I nearly cried when the boys were crying but this speech! Heartbreaking. SJ you deserved this and much more!

xkyu

For the complete list of winners, visit the MAMA page here. My sis and I we're even enjoying ourselves capturing shots from the TV screen. Wish I could process them earlier and post some photos here.

Have a nice day everyone!

How To Stay Safe In The Cyber Monday Sale

Happy Thanksgiving Day!

I can't wait for "Cyber Monday" to do some shopping online. There are huge benefits of waiting until "Cyber Monday". Aside from avoiding the massive crowds, it's when online retailers traditionally knock down their prices, and millions of people will shop on the internet even when they wouldn't normally. Although online shopping is very safe, this is a prime time for scammers to suck you in. Make sure you follow these four security tips to stay safe in the Cyber Monday sale.

1) Keep Your Computer Protected

If you're using the internet at all then you need to keep your computer safe with antivirus software. Download all available updates to keep on top of the latest threats. When you are online, shopping in any Cyber Monday sale, you can also make sure your credit card details are safe when paying if you see the "https://" in the address bar, often accompanied by a lock symbol (depending on your system).

2) Be Wary Of Individual Sellers

If you're buying direct from big name websites, such as Amazon or Best Buy, then you're probably safe. But when you start buying from lesser-known online stores, or third party sellers, you need to exercise caution. Cyber Monday is an easy time for them to lure shoppers in with seemingly good deals. If you've never heard of a company, look them up with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), or check their feedback history if you're using a site such as eBay.

3)  Look Out For Red Flags

One important red flag to look out for is when you hear about a deal directly in an email. Does the Cyber Monday sale sound too good to be true? Has it been sent by someone you've never been into contact with before? Sometimes links can show one address, but send you to another when you click on them. Be very wary of such links, and don't click them if in doubt. You should also always avoid giving direct bank information or PayPal details unless you're logging in directly on the bank website - never send it via email.

4) Pay With Your Credit Card

If you're shopping with people or companies you've never used before then the best way to protect yourself in a Cyber Monday sale is by paying with a credit card. If you don't end up receiving the items then you can dispute the payment with your credit card provider. Many card providers also protect you from stolen card details. Just make sure to check your statements often so you know exactly what's going out of your account.

Camping in an RV

Are you interested in going on a camping adventure especially this December with your family? I observed through movies that in the United States, camping is a popular pastime. One of the many reasons why camping is so popular is because of all of the choices they have- in a recreational van (RV) / motor home or in a tent.

If you are able to camp in an RV, you may enjoy doing so, as many RVs appear as if they are small apartments or small homes. RVs often come equipped with working bathrooms, kitchens, and televisions! This is nice if you are looking to enjoy camping, while still being able to bask in the modern luxuries of life.

On the other hand, the biggest disadvantage of camping in an RV is the cost of doing so. RVs are expensive to buy and if you are looking to camp on a budget, you may not be able to afford to buy your own RV. Of course, with that in mind though, you should know that you don't actually have to buy an RV. There are a number of individuals and companies that have RVs available for rent. Renting an RV, instead of buying one, is a nice, affordable way to camp in style. Just don’t forget to include roadside assistance service plan. It is worth every penny for every road problems that might come your way. With roadside assistance service plan, you won’t worry if your tires need changing or do major (and even minor) rv repair because roadside assistance service plan got you covered.

Is it possible to do RV (or Home Car) camping in Thailand? Yes it is! Visit thairv.com – a community for car lover RV Thailand for details!

Giveaway Alert: Holiday Giveaway!

As the holiday season draws close, it’s great to have a little extra cash in your pocket; to buy that last minute gift, or treat yourself to something nice. Well, we are here to help. WIN extra CASH just in time for the Holiday Season!!! Enter for your chance to WIN one of three CASH prizes. 

The first place winner will receive $60.00 USD, second place $30.00 USD and third place $20.00 USD. It does not matter where you live (Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, South America, or the United States), you can participate. The winners will be paid via paypal. This giveaway is sponsored personally and is not part of a blog exchange giveaway, thus your chances of winning are great! So you might be asking yourself, How do I enter the Holiday Giveaway?

1) Simply copy and paste the html code provided HERE.  Post on your blog. Use the title Holiday Giveaway!!!

2) Go to each site in this post (below) and place a comment with a link to your site's post
(you must go to each site to be qualified).

3) That’s it!

One entry per domain name. The winners will be randomly selected on December 16, 2011. See the Giveaway Terms and Conditions page for details by clicking the contest banner.

alexajeanne.info

anliz.info

bloggeriam.info

gobamafans.com

kidzgrowfast.com

myfitnesspointer.com

mygamedayblog.com

mygoodlifeblog.com

mykidzpower.com

pinaylife.com

wrozlie.com

How To Find The Best Amazon Black Friday Deals

Black Friday in 2011 is on Friday, the 25th of November. Mark your calendar because it’s the time of the year where you could get the biggest deal. Amazon.com is historically one of the best online stores that offer the biggest deals when it comes to online Black Friday deals. The problem is that the biggest deals are often claimed within seconds, leaving it very difficult to grab the products you want. If you want a better chance at securing great prices on Amazon Black Friday deals this year, take these 5 tips into account.

1) Black Friday Starts Early At Amazon.com

The first thing you need to know is that Amazon.com starts its Black Friday deals on the Monday before Thanksgiving (though this is subject to change). They want to get shoppers in the mood for deals all week long, so keep an eye out early on!

2) Deals Are Very Limited

Always keep an eye on the Amazon.com Black Friday section so you know what's happening. You can be present as your chosen deal goes live! Amazon.com Black Friday deals are limited in the time they're available and often only available to a select number of customers. This works on a first come, first served basis.

3) Deals Constantly Change

It's important to keep an eye on their Black Friday page so you know what they're planning in advance (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Friday-After-Thanksgiving-Sale/b?ie=UTF8&node=384082011). Amazon Black Friday deals will change each and every day, sometimes multiple times throughout the day. They may not give details of every single deal, but it'll certainly help you decide what you're interested in so you can be there on time.

4.) Sign Up To Be the First to Know

You need to sign-up because if you're an Amazon.com customer, chances are you'll get an email to let you know about the general Black Friday plans (but check your email delivery settings just in case). Make sure you also like their Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/Amazon) and follow them on Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/amazondeals), as they often announce deals here first.

5) Check Your Favorite Discount Websites

Lastly, keep eyes on the big discount websites or Black Friday resources coming up to the point at which you want to buy. Amazon Black Friday deals often leak in advance, giving you extra time to do your research and be ready to grab that deal as soon as it goes live!

When Black Friday arrives, Amazon.com will let you know how many deals are left. Don't delay if you want something - you have to click quickly if you're going to be in with a chance of grabbing the best offers!

Happy Black Friday Shopping!

Loy Krathong Festival 2011

My hands are so full since Hyzyd became officially a preschooler since last week that I forgot about Loy Krathong last November 10!

I'm looking forward for this year's Loy Krathong. Why? I've been here in Thailand for 5 years but I haven't got the chance to see this celebration up close and personal...teeheee...You see, the first time I was here (year 2006), bombings everywhere so we refrain from large crowds and the year after that...hmmmmmm..I'm contented by just staying in our apartment and watched from the distance the beautiful fireworks and floating lanterns in the sky.

What's Loy Krathong? Loy (some spelled it "Loi")  literally means 'to float,' while krathong refers to the lotus-shaped receptacle which can float on the water. It's the time of the year where Thais will float their krathongs on a river, canal or a pond lake during the night of the full moon. It's an event which does not occur on the same date every year; instead it counts on the full moon night of the twelfth lunar month which usually falls on November. The festival is believed to originate in an ancient practice of paying respect to the spirit of the waters. Today it is simply a time to have fun. 

 In our school, they're celebrating by holding Krathong-Contest Making for K-3 students. Originally, the krathong was made of banana leaves or the layers of the trunk of a banana tree or a spider lily plant. A krathong contains food, betel nuts, flowers, joss sticks, candle and coins. But some tried to make modernized krathongs - often made of bread or styrofoam. Regardless of the composition, a krathong will be decorated with elaborately-folded banana leaves, flowers, candles and incense sticks.

Here are the winning Krathong-creations of the students: 

This one is personally made by the Head of the Preschool Department, Pha Oi. She's really creative!

The K-1 has their Recycle Wear contest ! Look how creative the teachers are in turning plastic bags, papers, cardboard, plastics , and others into something wearable. Here are the top 5:

In the afternoon, our preschoolers were introduced to the tradition of floating the krathongs  in inflatable ponds. They were told that the act of floating away the candle raft is symbolic of letting go of all one's grudges, anger and defilement, so that one can start life afresh on a better foot. Some people will also cut their fingernails and hair and add them to krathong as a symbol of letting go of the bad parts of oneself. 

Governmental offices, corporations and other organizations usually create big decorated rafts. There are also local and officially organised raft competitions, regarding its beauty and craftsmanship. In addition, there are also fireworks and beauty contests during the celebration of the festival. Unfortunately, this is what I missed on that day! I'm so tired that I fall asleep as early as 8:00 PM! When I woke up at 10:00 PM I was able to witnessed the fireworks and floating lanterns out from our window. Hopefully next time we could finally witness the celebration especially the lighting of the floating lanterns like this one: