[WQ] Ice Cream and Summer Treats

 

As long as it is still Summer, one thing is for sure, it will definitely be a subject of some of my posts – and then some.

Now Teacher Julie of Greenbucks has asked us an question that revolves around summer. She asked: “What is your favorite ice cream flavor or ice cream concoction?” And my answer is….

Well, honestly I am a very easy person. I love anything that has CHOCOLATE in it. However, even I have to admit that I am partial to a certain flavors. These are:

• Double Dutch – without a doubt my all-time favorite
• Classic Chocolate
• Rocky Road
• Selecta Heaven: Belgian Chocolate – to be honest, I am not sure if this is the correct name.

In terms of other ice cream concoction, I have to say Shakey’s Super Chocolate Shake makes my knees weak. I also like Dumaguete’s pride and joy: Panda Ice Cream’s Fried Ice Cream – in chocolate of course.

I remember a post I made a few years back about making your own ice cream. Just click on THIS link to find out how you can make your own without the use of an ice cream maker!

Now, for an interesting addition – which is not related to ice cream, but is still a Summer treat on the healthy side: frozen grapes. How does one make frozen grapes? It is an easy process, and quite easy to perfect. Here are the steps for the perfect frozen grapes:

1. Rinse the grapes.
2. Drain the grapes and make sure that it is free of excess water.
3. Place the grapes in the freezer.
4. Wait for 30 minutes or an hour, and then check on the grapes every after 10 minutes.
5. Wait for the grapes to be partially frozen but not rock or ice cube hard.

Voila! Frozen grapes for a hot summer day. Delicious, healthy, and easy to make. Yum!

How about you? What flavor of ice cream do you prefer? Check out other answers here.

A nod to self-appreciation

Taking a note from what ShenZee said in the comment of the previous post, plus Tita Ebie’s words of wisdom, add in a post from Bo Sanchez yesterday for added measure, and I have somewhat brightened up a bit. Thank you to those who were kind enough to cheer me up. True, it is best to just shrug off annoying factors, bad days, and just smile.

Funny how appropriate Bo Sanchez’ post was for me today. The lesson of his post was “Whatever you give to yourself, you give to others more.” That way, if you dislike yourself, you are bound to dislike others as well. So I was thinking, why not appreciate ourselves more instead of self-depreciating? Bo answers this question with a small exercise to heal oneself through appreciation: sit down and list at least 25 things you like about yourself. A hard process, and it certainly took me a long time to do it. However, in the end, it made me feel much much better and now, if you do not mind my saying so, but I like myself a bit more right now.

Now I see no reason to beat myself over things OTHERS say about me. I believe the “kebs” attitude went out the window last week… and maybe there will be days and weeks that will be like that. I hope that this will be a start of something new.

In light of my quest for self-appreciation, I shall not stop there. Here are some ideas I gathered to help me progress through the process of self-appreciation – on top of listing things I like about myself.

• Take better care of myself.
• Exercise and eat better.
• Destress and find time to unwind.
• Acceptance of who you are.
• Count blessings.
• Stop comparing self with others.
• Develop and share talents.
• Think happy and good thoughts.

Hey, I think this could really, really work! Well, maybe not right now… But I think its starting.

Last week, I hate ME

*This is a rant. Please help me if you can…*

Last week was hell for me. For those who know my IM handles, I am sure they would have commented at one point or another that my status is not exactly happy as pie. Oh wait, Kiki said pie is never happy – it is just pie.

I have not been blogging lately, right? I hate the fact that at the end of the day my WordPad is still empty. It never used to be. I used to have lots of things written in my WordPad – ideas, thoughts, possible blog posts, and other things. This week – everyday I get zilch. Okay, except for that “Rude” post – which I will discuss further today.

• Last week started with the after effects of the OFFERTIME. The offertime ate up my laundry time, which was bumped into Sunday.
• Sunday was hot and with the pile of laundry to be done, I spent the whole day washing otherwise I would not have anything to wear – nor the kids.
• The Sunday laundry bumped my set day of work – so I tried to make up for it at night. BUT as fate would have it, perhaps muscles were cut and my arm ached so much. I had to sleep it off.
• Sunday night – roaches ate me. My whole left arm ached and was swollen. Typing became hard.
• Monday was first day of seminar. Typed using pencil – taking down minutes of seminar. Gah. I never realized seminars were that tiresome. Who knew? I was never an officer of anything – art pool maybe. I instructed D to wake me up after 1 hour of sleep. He says he did, but I just waved him off. Stupid Lurchie.
• Tuesday – same thing. My presence was wanted and I had to bust to and fro. Boo.
• Heat is exhausting. Same instructions went to D. He swears he sprinkled water on my face at night to wake me up – I did not budge.
• Wednesday. I had to rush paperwork at the office, more rushing, rushing, and rushing. PLUS D felt the need to strike up an argument – hence no attempt to wake me up for work. Died at night and bumped already bumped work to do. Cousin asked for favor…
• Thursday – D still miffed, kiddos were sick. Lurchie rushing. Dying at the end of the day, PLUS with D still not in the mood to be cooperative, Frankie was being extra clingy.
• Friday – Kids still sick. Lurchie going nuts. Internet going nuts and gave out. D still miffed but slightly okay. Lurchie knocked out – woke up to work, zonked out on lappy.
• Saturday – went out to kickstart brain at 6 am. Returned only to discover 8-5 BLACKOUT (Will Dumaguete ever change?) from Amlan to Dauin. Took my fully-recovered kids to the beach since the house felt like an oven. Went home at 4:45 pm. Bathed kids. TRIED to work immediately. Cannot seem to write.
• Cannot seem to write.
• Cannot seem to write.
• Cannot seem to write.
• Cannot seem to write.
• Wrote post on rude people since all throughout the week, I felt like a rude people magnet. I have no idea. Everyday, somebody comes up to me and comments how fat I am. Thanks a lot.
• Cannot seem to write.
• Write – rewrite – delete.
• Write – rewrite – delete.
• Write – rewrite – delete.
• I really want to die now.

Conclusion: apparently if something makes me want to go on a rampage and kill people, I can write something albeit sloppily done.

Add insult to injury – somebody told me last night, while I was fighting with myself for not being able to write the things I needed to write, that I CANNOT write (I just type) – that I do not have what it takes to be a writer. THAT my writing does not have depth, and that it is just not “writer material”. These words coming from a friend. (yes, this fueled the rude post)

I have been battling with my writing for the whole week. AND I’ve been bawling my eyes out: a) because of D and his drama; b) ’cause I am tired; c) because I am half a step away from throwing Emily (the laptop) to the wall.

I hate myself. I hate my lack of writing abilities. I hate last week.

Somehow I have a feeling this week will be the death of me. AND I think I may have lost my supposed-writing skills. Or lack thereof.

See? I cannot even write straight – think straight.

Okay. Now I am going to cry again.

P.S. … wow. I managed to write a post. BUT THIS IS NOT WHAT I NEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dealing with Rude People

How acute are your “rude people” senses? I am quite gifted. You see, I have “Spidey” senses when it comes to rude people. It’s like I can sense it from the minute they walk in and open their mouths, and when they do speak, my radar goes nuts and then bam! We have a winner. Somebody just got attacked by one of the rude people. It may not be me who is attacked, and it may not be you, but anything a rude person does just pushes my buttons.

Unfortunately, there is not much that can be done for these incorrigible people. They can’t help it. They do not even know they are being rude. I think people who realize that they have been rude can be forgiven. Some days are just off days, so you cannot help them. But those who are simply rude by default are rude on a daily basis. And like I said, they cannot help themselves.

However, in as much as you cannot change others, there are ways of dealing with these situations which come at least once a day. In connection with this, I have been looking for tips, and here are some really good ones that I have been trying to adapt.

• Diversion – While nothing can be done for a rude family member, or a childhood friend, you can always think of more pleasant thoughts to divert your mind from the annoyance. It is not foolproof, but it will help your blood pressure to ease up a bit.
• Count to ten – This trick helps much when you are getting angry, but as I have discovered, it can also help get you out of trouble. Saving your breath from issuing a scathing remark can save relationships and reputations in the process. If you are anything like me, rude people can easily be your source of anger. Ergo, 1… 2… 3…10.
• Non-rude counters – When people come up to you and say “Oh, my! You are as big as a cow/pig/HOUSE”, rather than take the person’s stinging words to heart, you can always counter or reply in a way that would stop the person from further commenting. For example, for the statement above, I have this readied reply which goes like, “Really?! It’s a sign of progress.” Then maybe top it off with a wink.
• Imagination overload – This tip is one of my favorites. It allows you to do as you please with the rude person – only you have to do it in your mind. Go as extreme as you want and imagine. Say for example, somebody says you are just a failure, then you can imagine a thousand 10-ton granite boulders to fall on that person’s head – or whatever your heart desires.

While wishing ill for somebody who has pushed your buttons is not exactly a good thing to do. Technically, you are not wishing for such things to happen because those things have already happened in your mind. At any rate, going down to a rude person’s level is not a really good idea.

Heck, if I had my way, I would pull that person’s brains out. But I am not exactly THAT brash by nature, so perhaps I will just nod and smile, then find a way to talk about the weather.

If you have other ways of dealing with these types of people, I would really love to hear about it in the comments.

Secure

Yesterday, during our OFFERtime lunch break, a colleague of mine said, “you’re lucky your husband allows you to go out – no questions asked.” By “go out” I believe she meant that D allows me to do as I please without asking a lot of questions, no follow ups on where I was, no anger because I’m out of the house – again.

It’s true, though. D is not exactly like other guys. Although I am quite sure that most women would say their guy is not like other guys, but what guy is, right? What I mean is that D never shows that he’s jealous. Most guys I know – save for a few – are a bit jealous when it comes to their other halves.

Like, say for example, my colleague. When she declares that she has to do something or go somewhere, she says her husband automatically asks a lot of questions, asks who she is with, what she will be doing, and other questions. While these are normal questions any concerned person would ask, it is the frequent follow-ups, some accusations of lying and getting angry in the process is not.

D is not the jealous type.

Believe me, I have tried and tried to get him jealous – just to see if I strike a nerve or two – but to no avail. I guess that is why he does not mind me traipsing about in short shorts or short skirts (but he does not allow me to wear dresses), or go as daring as a tube top can go – even without a jacket or overcoat! Yet nothing.

(more…)

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