A New Blog Template to Start the New Year

It's the beginning of another year and to start off the year, I have decided to change my blog template for a fresh new look.  I first looked at many free blogspot templates and chose this Tehijau template.  I downloaded and unzipped the file.  Then, I went to my blogger account, made a back-up of my old template (in case I did not like the new one) and uploaded the new xml file.

After doing that, most of my old widgets got jumbled and it took me a while to fix everything up. I also did some clean-up and removed widgets which I thought weren't really necessary.  And here's the final look of my new blog.  So, what do you think? 


Got to go now, but let me greet you first ...

MAY YOU HAVE A MOST BLESSED NEW YEAR AHEAD!

My Most Significant Bloggable Event in 2010

Batang Yagit is hosting a Christmas Giveaway sponsored by Jehzreel Laurente.  I would like to join by answering his question "What is the most significant bloggable event that happened to you in 2010?"  This will also serve as a reflection of my blogging experience in 2010.

I've been blogging since 2007 but it was only this year that I came out of my shell and mingled with other people in the blogosphere.  I'm still a newbie in blogging compared to the likes of Winston, the blog owner of Batang Yagit and Jehzreel Laurente, the sponsor of this giveaway.

I joined some contests and giveaways online, some of which I won (thank You, Lord) - prizes ranged from $5 to $100.  The contest that earned me $100 was very timely because it allowed me to help my sister raise funds for her recital, she's studying Voice in UP.

But the most widely participated and probably the most significant was the Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards (PEBA).  PEBA is an alliance of international Filipino bloggers which recognizes the best and outstanding blogs of Filipinos living and working abroad by staging an annual international blogawards.

I wrote a blog post entry in late September entitled "Dalawang Mukha ng Pag-ibig ng Ina" which was among the 28 nominated entries that was voted upon worldwide by OFWs and non-OFWs.  The reason I joined the contest was simply to express my thoughts on this year's theme about Strengthening the OFW Families and hopefully to inspire other people. I really did not expect to win.  But thank God, I did - top 9 among the top 10 blog winners.

What I also like about the contest is that I made friends (though I'm not really a person who has good PR) and learned about the experiences of other fellow OFW contestants.  Also, I was happy that some friends liked my entry; one friend even campaigned for my post in his Facebook Wall.  That was really touching.

One more thing I'm thankful for in 2010 is that because of blogging and joining contests, I was introduced to earning as a freelance writer.  This opportunity was also very timely because with the money I earned I was able to help in the expenses of my mom who recently was hospitalized because of heart attack.  She actually had to spend about half a million pesos to undergo angioplasty.  But thank God that she's recovering now, though she still has many medication expenses.

This year was really the most fruitful year for me in terms of blogging though I have merely scratched the surface of the blogging experience.  Where it will lead me in 2011, I still don't know.  But I'm ending 2010 with a heart full of gratitude to God.

Thank God for a Thursday of Fun and Surprise Winnings

Last Thursday, the day after the 3rd quarter exams of our children, the school had a "Palarong Pinoy" event at a park. It was a time when our children with their schoolmates had the opportunity to play some "Filipino" outdoor games - really good physical activity for our kids.  Our whole family went to the event and we just had some fun time together with our kids and the teacher and parents of our children.

Janel and her classmates

Kristel walking with an apple on the forehead with her classmate.

Emmuel playing tug-of-war with his classmates.

Emmuel and his team won.

Yuan trying to remove the grass on his socks.

Angel is eating pizza with his daddy

When we got home then came the surprises.  I tuned in to the Philippine Expat Blog Awards (PEBA) 2010 awards night live streaming to join the other OFW all over the world waiting to see who came out as the winners.


Thank God I was chosen as one of the top 10 winners for my blog entry "Dalawang Mukha ng Pag-ibig ng Ina."  I was top 9.  I really wasn't expecting that since in the voting poll, two weeks before the awarding, I was really way down the results of the voting list out of 28 entries.

Thanks to the PEBA organizers and the sponsors of the event as well as all the OFW and non-OFWs who supported this event.  Here's the list of the Top 10 Outstanding Blogs OFW Bloggers Category of PEBA 2010.  Check out the winning posts of these fellow OFWs.

Top 1 - Animus, Kuwait

Top 2 - Gremliness, Dubai, UAE

Top 3 - KAYNI'S CORNER CAFE, USA

Top 4 - BAUL NI NOEL, Saudi Arabia

Top 5 -¡SOY NEGRENSE!, Saudi Arabia

Top 6 - Journey of a Prodigal Daughter, Macau

Top 7 - GUMAMELA SA PARAISO, Taiwan

Top 8 - Deconstructing Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Top 9 - THE JOURNEY of my LIFE,  Saudi ArABIA

               and STAY AT HOME BLESSINGS, Saudi Arabia

Top 10 - BATANG GALA, Canada

That's not yet the end of the surprises that day. While checking the news feed in my Facebook account, I noticed that Mhel of Just Another Pixel already announced the winners of the Thirty on 30 contest she hosted and when I went to her blog to check it out... SURPRISE... I also won 3rd place for my blog entry "The Change that Had the Greatest Impact in My Life."  Thank you, Lord for another blessing.  Thank you, Mhel of Just Another Pixel.

Last Thursday surely was a day of fun and surprises.  Thank You, Lord, for all the joy the life brings.

Our Little Christmas Tree

Last week was a tiring one for me. I had to tutor our 4 children for their 3rd quarterly school exams.  Whew!  I'm glad it is over.

Immediately after the exams, we set up our Christmas tree (that was just last December 15).  It was not a new one, I just dug it up from our store room.  It is just a little Christmas tree - about 3 feet tall. This is the first time we put up a Christmas tree in 5 years, I think.  My daughters were particularly asking me to put up Christmas decors  as well as the Christmas tree.  They have this sentiment because they saw the Christmas decors they have in school. This year is the first time we enrolled them in school so this is something new to them.

This is how our Christmas tree looks like...  Kristel is the one who hang all the Christmas balls and small trinkets.  See how happy the two girls are when it was done...

I like this simple Philippine-made Nativity or Belen.  I bought this 7 or 8 years ago at the Duty Free Philippines.  Don't you think it is cute and creative?

Setting up our Christmas tree was a relaxing activity that day. It gave me some bonding time with my little girls. It reminded me of how we also put up our Christmas tree when we were still little children. 

There were a couple of other fun things that happened last week. I'll post about them tomorrow.

Making Money at Home With HubPages

I have mentioned in one of my old posts about receiving the Versatile Blogger Award that I earn the most from Google Adsense by writing in HubPages.  I mentioned there that I would be writing a post about it and this is it...quite overdue actually.

What is HubPages? HubPages is a one of the places online where aspiring writers or authors (called Hubbers) can publish articles (called Hubs) on topics they know.  By publishing content, authors share in the revenue generated through advertising vehicles such as Google Adsense, Kontera, the Amazon and Ebay affiliates program.  Aside from the potential revenue, HubPages has one of the best community of Hubbers who support and help each other.

I've been with HubPages for about 15 months and have written 30+ hubs. I started with HubPages because I was curious if it was really possible for me to earn a little extra from my writing. (I was not doing well with earning from blogging though I am quite hooked to it.)  I was a bit scared at the beginning because I am not really a writer, but I tried it anyway.

The first few hubs I published, I started earning cents into my Adsense account from day 3.  Since I was also very busy at home, I sometimes put off writing for another time.  When I discovered that there was such a thing called Hubmob Weekly Topic in HubPages, I joined in whenever I can.  It is a sort of a program wherein Hubbers can join by writing about a specific topic on a certain week.  It is good that I am joining that because sometimes I honestly do not know what to write about.

When I had written about 15 hubs, I noticed that I was already earning more in my Adsense account. I figured that I needed to write more hubs if I want to increase my income. That's a little difficult for me to do because of having to take care of my kids.

Anyway, now after 15 months, at 30+ hubs, I'm averaging about $20-25 per month. That is actually fair enough, considering that I am not really doing much in promoting my hubs (It's a good thing the search engines love HubPages) and I'm actually only able to publish as little as 1-2 hubs per month.

Another year is about to start and one of the things that I would include in my to-do list for the coming new year is to write more hubs. I know other authors in HubPages are earning more from writing hubs, as much as $1000 per month.  THAT IS COMPLETELY PASSIVE INCOME.  And we don't have to pay even a single cent for domain or anything.  All the publishing tools and tutorials are available for free.  So, why not take advantage of this revenue stream by writing quality content!

Would you be interested in joining the HubPages community and earn some revenue?  Why not join HubPages?  If you do join, let me know and I'd be one of those who would first welcome you to the HP community.

Disclosure: The HubPages link in this post carries my affiliate link.  Hope you join with me in HubPages.

IPad and IPhone Delivers Hi-Tech Christmas Music

I watched this video today on GodTube and I think it is really cool. This North Point i-Band had a concert and they played some Christmas songs without using any traditional musical instruments. Guess how they creatively played their music? They used their iPad and i-Phone to play Christmas music. It's just amazing how people are able to invent and use all sorts of things.

Since it's gonna be Christmas soon, I hope you enjoy listening to these Hi-Tech Christmas music.

Getting Addiction Recovery Help

According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, Addiction is a chronic disease that has something to do with a dysfunction in the brain's circuitry especially those relating to reward, motivation and memory. Biological, psychological, social and spiritual manifestations may be present with this dysfunction such as  impairment in behavioral control, craving, inability to consistently abstain, and diminished recognition of significant problems with one’s behaviors and interpersonal relationships.

Standing in the desert in the middle of nowhere, literally.
Image by Troy Stoi, Stock.xchng

The term addiction is commonly associated with psychoactive substances such as alcohol, tobacco and other drugs but now it is also applied to compulsions that are not substance-related, such as compulsive shopping, sex addiction/compulsive sex, overeating, problem gambling and computer addiction.


Some forms of addiction may become progressive and not only lead to social problems but to disability or premature death. It is a must that people with such problems receive help and assistance the soonest possible.  Usually, the family should initiate this if they really want to help their loved one.

There are two websites that I would like to share with you regarding addiction recovery.  These present programs which are able to help people who are suffering from addiction.

The first is RecoveryNowTV.  It has a network of addiction recovery programs which have pledged to provide help for people in any addiction situation. These programs are available throughout the country and provides a viable solution of rehab programs that will work with any lifestyle and schedule. There are counseling programs, inpatient substance abuse programs and home sobriety coaching programs which are great options to work around anyone's busy schedule.

The second is Celebrate Recovery.  It is program founded in 1991 by Pastor John Baker of Saddleback Church. It is a recovery program that addresses all types of habits, hurts and hang-ups.  It's goal is to help people overcome habits like sex disorders and drug addictions using a twelve-step program based on Christian principles. If you want to see lives changed in dramatic ways, if you want to see hopeless marriages restored and people set free from all kinds of sinful habits, hang-ups, and hurts, then try the Celebrate Recovery program and allow Jesus to impact people's lives.