Happy New Year Everyone

Happy new year to all!

Let us all welcome the new year with new hopes, renewed enthusiasm and full of positivity that everything will be alright for us and for our families.

The past year should serve as inspiration, if it had been a good year, continue what you had started. If it was a sad one, do not lose hope, but be challenged to exert your best. Let all the negative things be part of a learning experience.

Let God be your guide, be an inspiration to face all the challenges ahead. Do not fear, as long as you know your heart is pure, full of good intentions; that you had not trampled upon the rights of other persons, all good things will come back to you. This is embodied in the saying :"What comes around, comes around."

Let us welcome the new year with all good things in mind, shun negative things.



For more inspirational words: http://charlee-felice-corner.blogspot.com/2014/12/silent-prayer-spoken-to-god.html

Merry Christmas Everyone

Merry Christmas to all my online friends!

Today, December 25, we celebrate love and sharing, the real essence of Christmas; be it on December or some other months as stated in the Bible.

But though we celebrate it lavishly with all the new clothes, lots of food on the table, let us not forget the true meaning of this celebration, that God gave his Son to us to guide us (John 3:16).

Let us just concentrate on the positive things that Christmas brings: family reunions, sharing and caring for everyone. This is the time when families, though many are too busy with each others lives, take the time to gather and meet in a relative's house to share fun, have news from each other, get the children know their relatives, etc.

It is sad that with the passage of time, many families drift apart. Let us not allow this to happen. Children must know their lineage, they must be close to their relatives; help each other, guide each other. If families are strong and united, so does communities, and then society.

This Christmas, do not be sad if you have nothing to share your loved ones, but the best gift for them is, share your positivity.

Lighting Our Christmas Lantern

A home-based Mom should be a handy Jane to fix things at home while the husband is not at home and nobody can do it.

I was prodding my husband  this past weekend to have the Christmas lantern tested, if it is still working. He did not remove it from our terrace since it was installed there two years ago. The Christmas lantern was made of capiz (shells) mounted on steel frame, and with different colored bulbs inside.

And since it is already December 16, start of the "Simbang Gabi" (Night Mass) but actually dawn Mass, I felt the need to have some "Christmas spirit" in our home. I just wanted a lantern to signify the star that the Three Wise Men followed as guide to find the Baby Jesus in the manger.

If it did not work (light up), I planned to buy a simple star to put in front of our home. So this morning, I connected the extension cord to the outlet, and then I switched it, and lo! it worked! It is still blinking beautifully.

I was so happy looking at the lighted Christmas lantern.

So Busy With Online and Offline Works

Sorry friends, I failed to continue building my blogsite, because I was so busy with online and offline activities.

One was about family concerns. We had been on  a bereavement phase after the death of my brother-in-law. Was a tragic one.

Then I was down with flu. Good thing I recovered fast. Now,we are busy getting medical checkups/laboratory tests because our medical insurance will expire by year's end. So we have to use it because we paid for it. We will renew it next year. We are thankful that we were not able to use it for hospitalization. Thanks God!

With writing online, I am in different sites, and got so engrossed with one of it that it almost ate all my hours in a day! Now, I distanced a bit from it after some frustrations.

Now I am in Dailytwocents.com which looks like a more reliable site because it is owned by two writers. Hope I won't fail this time. By next week they will be sending payouts and I am waiting for mine too, for October payments. It's not that big, but the joy of receiving something for your efforts meant a lot.

Pan de Sal (Saltbread)Vendor Held Up

It is so heart-breaking to see the pan de sal vendor, a boy at that, who was robbed of his Php 200 or $4.7 earnings in Caloocan City, Metro Manila, Philippines.

It was posted in a social media site and netizens expressed anger for what happened to the boy who was trying to earn the decent way, but the evil holdup man pounced on him and took his earnings.

Usually, vendors like that get only a certain percentage of the gross sales of the bread. The boy had to remit the portion for the bakery owner, and usually only five or ten percent would be his net income for that day.

Police should track down and put that robber in jail, so he could not victimize other people who are trying to earn decently.

The incident should serve a lot of lessons for the rich to share to the poor like that boy, who tries all his best to earn to help his family.

Been Busy Lately with Other Writing Sites

Freelance writers have so many works to do.

One day I may find myself hooked in a paid-to-write site when a good client asked for some articles. Then another day in a revenue-sharing site that pays so much among the sites today. I returned to that site after being inactive for some months since December 2013 due to some issues. Returned in June when I found my cash nearing redemption. So I said I will "test the waters" if I will get my payment.

I got it! They paid me. That was nice, a very good income for a home-based Mom like me who wants to still write and earn, and enjoy home at the same time.

So now, I am back there, along with other revenue-sharing sites that I visit once in while. Strike while the  iron is hot, so they say. So am doing that. In the meantime, I may post here once in a while to be in touch with you my dear friends.

Thanks for visiting and reading.

Karma Works

While at my sister-in-law's wake, I got to talk with the mother of my best friend, who was slain while inside a cargo ship years ago. This was a continuation of my other blog last  July 4 entitled: Old Songs Remind Us of Past Events.

It was good she was there, to fill in the missing data in my blog. It was a clear story of karma.

She said my friend will soon be installed as the captain of the cargo ship that was then sailing in Norway. But he was found dead inside his cabin with stab wound. The suspect was a Filipino who got jealous for the position given to my best friend.

The suspect allegedly was about to dump the body of my best friend into the sea, but some nuns discovered the plan, so the suspect got caught and penalized for his crime. It was unclear how the nuns got into the ship. The nuns were the ones who communicated with my best friend's wife about the incident. They helped repatriate the body (cadaver).

It reminded me that my best friend served as altar helper, or a priest's assistant during Mass. It could be the first work of good karma for him. He was religious and served the church, so the nuns, gave back to him his good deeds as church helper.

The suspect served his sentence in a jail in Norway for several years. The suspect returned to his province in Northern Luzon, Philippines. It was reported that while in a drinking spree, he was stabbed by one of his drinking buddies. That was the second case of the workings of karma for my best friend.

What do you think?

Old Songs Remind Us of Past Events

When you hear an old song, does it remind you of the past, it could be a happy or a sad one. It could be about a person, a relative, or anybody important to you.

Just this morning, while my husband was listening to old favorites, those folk songs from the early 70's or 80's, the song "The Greenfields" by Brothers Four, was played. (I just searched the internet for the name of the singers).

That song was always sung by my best friend, who was also a close relative,  during high school. He had such a nice voice, that he was always the one tasked to sing after the nightly rosary and floral offering held during vacation, in May.We were neighbors, almost all related to each other, who met after dinner,  prayed and offered flowers to the image of the Virgin Mary. 

We perform  the so-called "Flores de Mayo," (Flowers of May) where we offered flowers to the image of the Virgin Mary. We had a makeshift "chapel," the front terrace in the home of a former teacher/researcher at the University of Maine. She was a very intelligent woman, a former Philippine government scholar, a Chemical Engineer, who opted to retire and went back to the Philippines. She became our leader in the nightly floral offerings and rosaries. 

And so my best friend, always sang his masterpiece, "The Greenfields." We were in high school then. 

I got no news what happened to him when I went to college. I was already in my day job as a journalist when I learned that he died mysteriously in the cargo ship where he served as its Captain. He was intelligent, specially in Mathematics. Maybe he studied about Seamanship or Navigation Course in college.

His death remained a mystery. His mother said she did not know if there was foul play. I did not have the detailed account of the cause of his death. Communication then from Manila to the province was hard, unlike today where there is internet and mobile phones. So news like that happen without the knowledge of relatives in some far places. 

Joining Fraternities Could Be Fatal

Joining fraternities could be fatal these days.

One such incident happened recently when an 18-year old student from the College of St.Benilde in Manila died during an initiation rite of a fraternity.

I was thinking of a topic for a post at one of my writing sites, the Day2daytips.com, a Filipino-owned revenue-sharing site, when I heard and saw on television, aired by Jiggy Manicad of GMA channel 7 about the incident.

It was heartbreaking to see a young man being dragged by some two or three companions out of a room apparently to take him to a hospital or somewhere.

The victim was clad in green basketball shorts, usually worn by a La Salle student. My son is always wearing one, which he got when he was still a member of the lawn tennis varsity team at La Salle.

For a mother who also has a son almost that age, I was terrified. How much more of the real parents of the victim? It was tragic, so senseless loss.

How could the culprits done it? Were they in their right minds when they did the hazing? Didn't they know the limits of physical endurance?

Were they intoxicated with liquour or banned drugs that they inflicted that torture to a young man?

Hope that the justice be served and the culprits learn their lessons.

Though there are laws against hazing, it has no teeth, and even if schools banned fraternities, it is the student who should have the right discretion.

Beware When Riding Taxis in Metro Manila

When riding taxis in Metro Manila, tell the driver to drive carefully, or else he is putting your life in danger.

We should had told this to that reckless taxi driver who put our lives in danger yesterday.  We almost got hurt when the reckless taxi driver we hired,  hit another taxi cab that came from a blind intersection on our way to my sister-in law's home in Manila.

His taxi cab bumped the hood of the other taxi. Good thing he was able to step on the brakes. We suffered only minor bumps due to the impact;  my husband at the head, and me at the left foot. 

Thanks to our guardian angels, we were saved.

But the two reckless taxi drivers, with both their car's hoods destroyed, lost hours of earning, and had to pay their operators for the cars'  damages. Most of the taxi drivers in Metro Manila do not own the taxi cab, they were required by the operators to hand in a fixed portion of the day's earnings, called "boundary." 

After deducting that "boundary," say, it was fixed at $50 for 10 hours shift, the remaining portion will go to the driver. So they rush to get more passengers to earn more.

Or they would "cheat" and charge the passenger higher than the usual fare, though the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board had mandated fare amounts,  to protect commuters from unscrupulous drivers. 

So when hiring a taxi, forewarn the driver to drive carefully because they are responsible for your safety.

Other safety tips:

> take a photo of the taxi's plate number and name using your cellphone camera, or just note it in a paper. It usually printed at the door panel . If you can, include the face of the driver, for future reference.

> send that photo (through SMS) to a friend or relative. Or just send a text message to a friend or relative that you are in that particular taxi, include the name of the taxi and plate number.

These tips will be of help, and the driver would be forewarned that you are smart enough to ward off his evil plans.

But not all taxi drivers are careless  and bad, there are still those that adhere to professionalism and good customer service. 

Online Writers Today are Quite Lucky Vs. Writers Decades Ago

Online writers, more so, freelance home-based writers today are very fortunate enough to work in  the comforts of  home with the use of latest technology.

Thanks to the internet, to the Wifi (wireless fidelity), to the mobile internet USB's, and to the gadgets like personal computers, laptops, tablets, ipad, android phones, that we use today to send posts to our favorite writing sites, or to clients who get our writing services.

Anytime that an idea pops up in our heads, we just sit in our favorite corner or place in the house and encode the article, submit it to the site or to your client. We can write for many sites, usually content sites, where we earn residual income. Though the income is quite small, it is less tedious, just like you are writing for fun, and earn at the end of the month, or once you met the specified cashout.

Gone are the days when a writer had to type voluminous text on paper, using typewriters, have it checked or edited manually using liquid erasers or plain rubber erasers to make clean copies. Or have a garbage can nearby to throw in used papers, when the writer could no longer remedy the errors using erasers. Such a lot of paper wasted. (Or when editors annoyed with the poor copy, throws in your article there!)

When the copy/article was finished, the writer have to submit it to the publication
or  client asking for the writeup, have it mailed using snail mail. It will reach the destination about a week, if it is for local submission. The writer has to pay the post stamp, enclose a SASE or a self addressed stamped envelope, where the editor/requester will mail back the copy for editing/revisions, or if it is totally rejected! (What a heartache!).

Good thing the fax machine came into use years later, in 1980's in the Philippines, where typewritten articles were sent to the requester or editor through it. The fax machine (short for facsimile machine) is like a printer attached to a telephone. If the copy is received, you will get a confirmation receipt, or you should call the recipient through the telephone for confirmation. This is also to assure that the copy received from the other end was clear. The writer has to re-fax it again if it is garbled or unclear.

This is just easier if you are not running after deadlines. But if you are a field news reporter, doing your article in a not so nice press office somewhere, it is such a big headache! The next day, you will find out that your editor just used four lines, or a paragraph from your report, which was just incorporated in a bigger story of the same topic.

These are just some of instances when we could say that online writers now are so "blessed!"

(Thanks for the visit. Next time, I will share with you some of my experiences as a news field reporter.

Constructing My Blogsite, a Hit or Miss Experience for a Non-Techie

This is really a funny, annoying, but fulfilling experience.

A non-techie like me, who only knows basic computer use, save for using wordpress, and a few programs, trying to build a presentable blogsite for the first time.

I made it, after reading some tutorials on how to build a blogsite. Thanks to the numerous tutorials in the internet, and even here on Google, where a newbie will just have to follow the prompts. The Facebook Group, "Ask Filipino Bloggers," was really a big help. The administrator there is so helpful to immediately answer queries regarding putting up a blogsite. He also advised us to register for an Adsense account to monetize the blogs.

Special thanks too to my online friend, writer_csm,(Connie S. Miraviteblogs) for encouraging me to put up this one, so I could earn well from my writings.

This is such a fulfilling experience, where I could write all what I want to write, of course within the bounds or rules set by Adsense, and the basic rules that all online writers know.

Having your own blogsite gives you freedom to write, to express your thoughts, to post anytime you want. It is like building your home, your refuge, a place where you could go back and cherish the moments you had, as you got it printed on the pages of your blog.

In the meantime, I am still improving this favorite project, till it gets the presentable look as days go by, as I learn how to make it more professionally-designed one.

Thanks for reading. Good day to all of you!


My photo of a gumamela flower (Hibiscus). I used my Samsung cellphone camera.

From simplewoman to acelawrites

It was September last year when I joined a revenue sharing site, my first taste of online writing.

Though I had years of experience as offline writer, I found it enjoyable and easy, because I could write my thoughts, without attribution to sources, just like when writing a news story. Of course, you do not have to credit anybody when the words were from your mind, from your ideas and thoughts. That is a beautiful expression of yourself, a venue for your passion for writing; the joys of online writing!

And so I used the pseudonym "simplewoman" in that site. But after a few months, I searched the internet for the name simplewoman, and I was surprised to had seen the name Simple Woman, who also has a blog. So I asked the site owner if I could possibly change my username because readers might think I (simplewoman) is the same person as Simple Woman. We are different persons.

To rectify my "error," I used "acelawrites" as my pen name. Though I use the same
photo am using for simplewoman and acelawrites, so my online friends would know I am the same person.

The lesson here is to check first if somebody out there uses the same pseudonym to avoid confusion. Writers value name recall because we earn from visits from friends or other people who know our pseudonym.

Could You Eat Your Food and Use it as Grooming Aid?

Could You Eat Your Food and Use it as Grooming Aid?

Have you eaten avocado? Scientific name:Persea americana. 

It is a very nutritious fruit, with so many health benefits. Nutritionists say it lowers bad cholesterol level, reduces blood sugar level, good antioxidant, a good source of fiber, among others.

It contains glutathione that is why many use it as part of their beauty regimen. It can  be used for facial treatment. Just mash the meat into a smoothie form, and then apply directly onto the face. Leave it for 30 minutes then rinse with water. You could feel the suppleness of your skin, due to the essential oils in it.

You can use it also as hair treatment. Just apply the smoothie into your scalp, massage it well, cover with shower cap just like when you are having a hot oil treatment. Rinse after 30 minutes, and see the soft, shiny hair. You can do this twice a week for good results.

Avocado could also be used as body scrub to smoothen skin. Just apply and rub liberally on areas you want to treat.

Have fun eating avocado,be healthy and beautiful at the same time!




My photo of a Ti Plant.

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Hurray! Created My First Blogsite!

After some self- tutorial, I finally made this blog site for my writings.

This would be my personalized site where I could share my passion for writing on varied niches, whether it be on parenthood, about pets, plants, gardening, entrepreneurship, health, and so many aspects of life, even my life and work as a journalist many years ago.

Hope you will enjoy reading my posts.

Nice to meet all of you here.