Product Review: Happy Call Double-Sided Pan

I am not the best cook in the world. Okay, scratch that: I am not a cook at all. I do have the interest and I do enjoy spending time at the kitchen, but as a yaya-less WAHM, more often than not, I do not have time to cook at all.

In fact, I recall that one of the tips I gave in this post about preparing to be yaya-less is to be armed with numbers of nearby food delivery service. Right? Right?

But recently, I have been enjoying cooking yummy grilled food (healthier, right?) without having to worry about smoke and without having to leave my work.

The answer? A Happy Call double-sided pan.

I have heard of this product years ago, but we only bought one late last year. And we haven't looked back. This is no sponsored post, but it truly has made cooking easier, healthier, and more time-efficient for me.

The other night, for example, I had to cook dinner quickly for my sister, Yuri, and me, so I got out a couple of slices of chicken (we pre-marinate then and stick them into the freezer). I had to microwave the slices to hasten the defrosting.

Then I took out the Happy Call pan and smeared a tablespoon of olive oil. Actually, you don't need to put oil since the pan is nonstick, but I like putting olive oil in the food my son eats. I also like its smell, which may or may not be my primary reason.

(Sorry for the quality of the next three photos. I was only able to use my cellphone's camera during the evening while cooking.)

Christmas Gift Idea: Hot Rod City Playmat

I know Christmas is only days away, but I'm sure some of you are still shopping for gifts. Am I right or am I right?   

If you're looking for a gift for a young boy in particular (any age!), my suggestion is the Hot Rod playmat. You can also buy it for a little girl who loves cars!

Basically, it's a mat designed with a terrain and tracks. That's right; it's designed to be run over by cars and trucks which are, safe to say, are the obsessions of many little boys.

I got mine when I won a Cudsly gift certificate giveaway on Manila Fashion Observer. I contemplated on buying a Kiddie Sofa (which was what I really wanted to buy pre-winning) but decided it would be too bulky to ship and may be left unused because as a mobile little person, Yuri likes carrying his chair around.

So I decided to buy something that fuels the vehicle obsession. I did not, however, want to buy another truck during that time. Then, I stumbled upon the Hot Rod City Playmat.

First Look at Certified Positive Daily Interact Planner

I thought my Certified Positive planner for 2014 was the best.

Until my new Certified Positive planner for 2015 arrived.

It wasn't as if the 2014 version of the planner left a lot of room for improvement. On the contrary, I thought it was perfect! In fact, when I was awaiting the arrival of the new planner, I imagined it would be difficult for the Certified Positive team to "upgrade" what would basically be the same planner with the same content. So I prepared to received a planner that, at best, would be equal to last year's.

Well, I was wrong!

Attipas Shoes: A Review

I am fortunate enough to have received a pair of Attipas shoes to review, which arrived last week.

But let's talk about shoes first. I love kid's shoes. Because I have a boy, I think the best way to be "fashionable" is to invest in many good pairs of shoes (since we can't dress up everyday!). That's why Yuri, at a tender age of 2, has more shoes than me.

However, we have two problems. First, he's outgrown many of them. Second, when he likes the feel of one shoe, he won't wear another pair.

Luckily, Attipas is comfortable enough for him to live in.

Attipas shoes are functional baby/toddler shoes that look like a cross between shoes and socks. The upper part are super soft socks while the soles are durable but flexible rubber.

I believe these are the best kind of shoes for little humans who are only learning how to walk or are new to walking. They are very comfortable and light!

A Quick Review of Etude House Drawing Eye Brow

I do not wear makeup but I do know that I need to groom my brows to look presentable. Etude House's Drawing Eyebrow helped me with that.

(I didn't plan to blog today but one look at my overflowing drafts folders gave me a little panic attack!)

Okay, so here we go. I'm unfortunately blessed with weird eyebrows. They're, somewhat thick in the inner edges and really sparse toward the outer edges. In person, they may look okay, but in photos, I look as if I have half-brows.

I have nonexistent brows. (Photo comes from this post.)

Pitiful brows!

I have complained about my brows for as long as I could remember but I keep on forgetting to just buy decent brow makeup. But when opportunity presented itself when I was alone at Abreeza after an event, I finally went to Etude House to pick a liner.

(The night before, I liked for reviews of dummy-friendly eyebrow makeup and many recommended Etude House.)

Upon entering the store, I asked the lady which shade would suit me best. She gave me the #1 shade, which is dark brown. Then she said,

"Pero ma'am, kailangan ayusin nyo po muna kilay nyo."

I laughed. It's true! My brows were really a mess that day.

Anyway, here are photos of the product:

So what's the verdict?

April's Happy Packages

Oh, c'mon. It's May today? Seriously, how did that happen?

I haven't even gone to the beach yet! #WAHMproblems

Anyway, I write about my grocery finds every month, but for this month, I have nothing to write about. There are three reasons why.

First, I'm trying to minimize buying processed and packaged food, so most of the time, I only buy fresh produce. It doesn't seem to make sense to write a post full of fruits, veggies, and meat.

Second, since the mortgage we have to pay for our house will be increasing effective next month (which is today pala!), I need to minimize my expenses. Especially on food.

Third, I really didn't find a need to try something new because I'm contented with the current brands I've tried. So I didn't really have a new "discovery" to feature.

Buuut I did receive a number of packages this month! Some of them I bought while some of them I received. I think they're rather post-worthy because they are useful not only during the summer (so hot!) but also throughout the entire year. Here they are:

Ready for the beach!

1. Sunblock - Coppertone Water Babies and Belo SunExpert

Sunblock's a no-brainer. In a tropical country like ours, sunblock should be used year-round. Yuri used to use Midori natural sunblock with an SPF of 30, which is frankly enough, but since paubos na, I felt the need to buy one with a higher SPF since this year's summer is just - grabe - drought level. I know Coppertone's not natural or organic, but it's the most cost-efficient for me. And I used it as a child so...

Meanwhile, the Belo sunblock is from - drumroll - Sample Room! This means I only paid for its shipping. I haven't tried it yet but I soon will!

Another addition to our library. Yay!

2. Bible Story Set

Ah, another addition to our growing library. I love this set of books because it's the prize I won from joining MomsterTeacher's blog givewaway. I was blessed too much because God allowed me to win three contests! What I love about these is the way the stories of the Bible characters are written in a simple way - perfect for kids.

I'm excited to introduce Yuri to Jesus; actually, I already did!

GIGA Baby Balm, GIGA Massage Rub, and GIGA Insect Repellant

3. Gifts from GIGA Philippines

I wrote and raved about the GIGA products I've tried, and they really are some of the best natural products I've used. Despite trying several brands of insect repellent, GIGA remains to be my favorite. And even as a toddler, we still use GIGA baby balm for Yuri's insect bites and minor cuts. Yuri just loves using it on himself and I'm not even kidding.

They didn't have to, but GIGA was kind enough to send me a small gift containing - what else - my fave products! They also included something I haven't tried yet: the massage rub. I love it! Perfect timing, too, since I'm looking for a minty balm just in case Yuri catches a cold. Nice!

My camera in a poor lighting condition. Hehehe

4. Samsung WB150F

Baby Steps to Domesticity

I don't know how to cook.

Sure, I know how to make basic adobo or prito-prito, and I can whip up the most basic desserts and snacks, and while the interest and willingness to learn are there, what held me back from really learning how to cook are two things:

1. Our stove/oven is not in its perfect state. One can only use it using matches, and I'm a bit pyrophobic.

2. The measurements scare me.

Okay, I'm sure you weren't expecting the second reason, but if you were a keen observer, you would notice that all "lazy recipes" I posted didn't have actual measurements! In fact, what I did was only copy the recipes from the blogs I referred to (credited, of course), but what I did in reality was only estimate the measurements.

It would have been fine if the recipe only called for teaspoons and tablespoons, but what happens to recipes with actual required grams of ingredients? Scary.

But because I want to be a kitchen goddess someday and I cannot yet buy a new oven, I know I need to be a measurement maven (and only estimate when I already know what I'm doing!).

So when Tmart.com emailed me and asked me to review one of their products, I immediately chose to write about the kitchen scale.

I know, out of all the things to review, kitchen scale pa talaga? Well, the thing is I really want one and I don't have use for the other options anyway. Also, out of the options, it was the one I feel I could really use in the long run. And it's a decision I don't regret because the actual scale looked really good.

Presenting, the Tmart Kitchen Scale:

Whiter Smile in Just Minutes? Possible! (Review + Giveaway!)

How long does it take to whiten teeth? Hours? Days? Weeks? What if I tell you you can have whiter teeth in just 20 minutes? Would you believe me?

The eyes are the windows to the soul, they say, but I guess the smile is the door to it. Don't you agree?

I love smiling. You can see in most of my photos that I always pose with a toothy grin. I also love smiley people. I get the feeling that they are warm, approachable, and trustworthy.

Physically speaking, a good smile would be my weakness. I love seeing a good smile and a good set of teeth on a person. In fact, every person I have ever liked has good teeth.

Job actually has very nice teeth. I often tell him that his teeth are the nicest I have ever seen, and I'm not kidding! He has a serious dental regimen (which he started when he was a young boy), which involved not eating sweets and hard fruits - basically anything that can disrupt the alignment of teeth and can cause discoloration.

Unfortunately, I am not as disciplined. I have a sweet tooth and am fond of eating anything without regard. I'm pretty blessed to still have a decent set of chompers, but some of them are filled with pasta, my two front teeth are crooked, and most have yellow undertones.

Well, I can't change the fact about the pasta and the crookedness of some of my teeth, but I can do something about its color, can't I?

It's pretty amazing when I received an invitation to try Smile Brilliant's LED teeth-whitening kit. How very apt and very exciting! Of course, I just had to try it!

Here are the contents of the kit:

Teeth-whitening pen

Teeth-whitening gel

LED Light

Lip guard/protectors

It also comes with an instructional brochure. Admittedly, the kit looks intimidating at first - but don't be. It's actually very user friendly! Before I show you what I did, here's my "before" photo:

I think my teeth look nice enough (hehe), but they have yellowish undertones. Thus there is a need to whiten them. Here's how I used the kit:

Yuri and the Attack of the Insects! (Review: GIGA Baby Balm)

I always let Yuri play outside whenever the weather permits it. First, Vitamin D is good for him. Second, it tires him out and he sleeps deeply in his afternoon naps. Third, well, I just want to see him a bit tanned than just white.

However, I had to stop him from going out for a while. This is because a few weeks ago, Yuri got a huge insect bite on his leg:

I didn't know what caused the bite. Is it a mosquito? Is it an ant? Within the day and in the next days, he got several new insect bites all over his body:

What caused those big angry bites? And those are just a few of his insect bites ha! There were more insect bites sprouting in the next days. There were a few mosquitoes in the house, but they never bite Yuri because I always see to it that he uses an insect repellent (we use GIGA and Human Nature). Those insect bites didn't look like mosquito bites, either. However, Yuri was visibly bothered by them. Kawawa. :-(

I hate you, but it's not your fault this time!

As first aid, I tried putting on his eczema ointment. I'm sure it doesn't do anything to the insect bites, but because I didn't have anything else at hand, I was hoping it would relieve the itch.

However, it did not. While it did not harm Yuri in any way, using that medicated cream only made him smell like medicine. So the next day, I did my research and found out that GIGA, a store I frequent, sells a baby balm that could be used for insect bites. That Sunday, I immediately bought one:

Like what I said in my November Fun and Frugal Finds post, I like how the balm has a pleasant smell. It's not overpowering unlike medicated creams and Citronella sprays. This means I could use it without irritating our noses (I am very sensitive to strong smells).

More importantly, after just one day, I immediately saw it taking effect. Take note ha, that was less than 24 hours. The big red angry bites immediately reduced into these:

Mother's Pasalubong from Baguio Citey!

It's been one week since my mom arrived from her trip in Luzon. However, I put off posting about her pasalubongs because it was not appropriate to write about them during Yolanda's wake. Now that things are looking up, let's post them once and for all!

Strawberries and longgan

Na pinapak ng little boy

Yuri also enjoyed disrupting lola as she arranged the stuff on the bed

For the neighbors: Jars and jars and jars of...

Strawberry jam

Peanut brittle and

Strawberry jam ulit

As well as candies from Baguio and Pangasinan

Human ❤ Nature Loot

This Human ❤ Nature loot has been here for more than a week already! Yes, to state the obvious, this is a late post. Yuri says, "Sayi!" (That means sorry, if you don't understand toddler-speak. :P)

Anyway, I placed the order last Tuesday after I ran out of liquid cleaner for Yuri's utensils. I wanted to try something else, and I really wanted to try out HHN. One, because the products are organic, and two, because they benefit local farmers. These reasons beat buying imported brands hands down!

Like what I said, I placed the order last Tuesday, and guess what, they arrived in less than 24 hours! In Davao City! That's a first, actually, and I have a sort of steady relationship with online shopping. They came in this cute box:

Now, before I digress further, here are what I bought:

I only bought three products because this was the first time I ordered. I'm not exactly well-versed when it comes to organic products. I didn't know whether I would like them or not. I bought the essentials: dishwashing liquid for Yuri's utensils, insect repellent (every mom must have one!), and lipbalm for my dry, pale lips.

So, for the mini reviews! Let’s begin with the HHN (I always type HHWW! Haha!) Tough Love Dishwashing Liquid. I find that it is thinner than commercial dishwashing liquids, like Joy, and thicker than baby bottle cleansers. There is no issue here, but what is great about it is that it is so bubbly. I love bubbles! Also, it has a really fresh, lemony smell, making washing Yuri’s utensils a lovelier task.

Next is HHN Bug Shield Insect Repellent. I still have my Giga repellent, but I needed to buy a smaller one to take with me when we go out.