It's leap day

Today is a leap year day- an extra day added to the month of February in a leap year. Well, it occurs every four years in a year evenly divisible by four except for centenary years not divisible by 400.

Just some interesting tidbits about leap day and leap year: this month has five Fridays. Did you know that this last happened in 1980 and will happen again in 2036? A leap day is more likely to occur on Mondays or Wednesdays rather than other days because the Gregorian calendar repeats itself every 400 years. Therefore, every 400 years, Feb. 29 can occur times on a Monday or Wednesday, 14 times on a Friday or Saturday and 13 times on a Sunday, Tuesday or Thursday. I have a friend who celebrates her birthday today- leap year. When friendly folks ask how old she is, her answers, confuses them. She'll tell them "I'm 8 --and 32". Since its leap year, she will put 8 candles on her cake, its her actual birthday anyway. If its not leap year, she chose to celebrate it after the 29th which is March 1st, the reason is she get paid on the first of the month, lol.

Anyone who has a dog alarm clock?

SARGE

Yeah our dog always acts like a human. He always let's you know what he wants and if you don't get it for him he whines. It's really funny. He also always seems to know what you are saying to him and he reacts to things you say to him just like a human would. Like when we say "outside", he knows that its time for pee and poop, he will run to the door and bark. If we will repeat the question "outside?", his barks means "yes". I can't even count how many words/commands he knows. Although, Jon is not a fan of small dogs (sarge is a mini-schnauzer), he claims that he is one of the smartest dogs he had.

Sarge was a little puppy when my husband bought him to his friend who has a dog that recently gave birth to six puppies. Sarge is the only boy and gray color, all his sisters were black. My husband's friend told my husband if he wants a dog because that time he is alone in the house, I'm still in the Phillipines. So, they were bonded for 1 year before I came, that's the reason Sarge seems more loyal and affectionate to him. He even protects him, when he hears the word "ouch" he will barks at me thinking I'm hurting his master.


The most amazing things he does for me is waking me up every morning at exactly 7:30am on the dot! It's so weird how accurate his timing is. He sniffs my hair, push his mouth to my head many times until I wakes up. I just don't know how he does it at the exact same time everyday. Well, its good for me because I don't need an alarm clock anymore (it can wakes my husband up if I do). But its not good if its Saturday and Sunday coz' its time of the day that I don't want to get up early but Sarge makes it a habit everyday.

When anyone of us about to leave, you will hear him crying. I always see him running on the window and jumps on the couch looking at the window to see my husband heading to his truck. And my husband told me he does the same way with me. It's so sweet to think that he cares for me too. When I get back from work, he wags his tail and jumps at me.

We make sure we gave him treats everytime he do his job(pee and poop outside) or after every baths. Or after I brush his hair. Oh and his hair, this kind of dog needs grooming every month. We take him to the dog grooming salon monthly. And this winter time, I make sure that he keeps warm too, he joins me in my heated blanket. The last time we went to Walmart, I saw a cute winter coat for dog and bought it. He has dental chew treats too and chew bone. All these things are worth for, he's a good stress reliever for us. It's fun playing with him. Rubbing his soft hair feels good. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I'm pretty sure dogs understand you, maybe not in the way you think, they associate different actions with words and remember them. Like when you ask them if they want a treat over and over everytime giving them a treat they remember that sound means theyre going to get a treat, run over to the spot where they know they got it last time and wait. I'm also not exactly sure that they hear the words the way we do because i can say a word that sounds like "outside" and my dog will run to the door.

By the way, Sarge was named after my husband who is a Sarge in the US Army. People in the neighborhood call him Sarge.

Happy relationships

How specifically happy and strong marriages might be influencing our actual physical health? Do you believe that a happy and solid relationship can alleviate stress? Our day to day lives as a working mom or wife is very stressful but with a happy marriage which is good in our health, we can recover quickly from stress. We know that stress is associated with more health problems, if you don't learn ways to deal with it.

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I believe that our bodies respond to what is happening in our daily lives. This is really true, everytime I have a fight with my husband or misunderstanding, I tend to become weak and feel sick, got a headache, stomach ache, etc. We have this stress hormone cortisol, which normally rises and falls throughout the day, followed different patterns depending on gender and the state of the marriages. But women in less happy marriages rebounded more slowly, indicating that it took them longer to shed workday stress. Women in unhappier marriages also had less variation in cortisol levels throughout the day which links to more health problems.

There are studies found that married men tend to live longer and recovered from illnesses than single ones. My message is, for your well-being, having a good relationship is as important as eating your vegetables and doing your exercise.

Inventing a recipe

I always experiment whenever I'm in the kitchen. It's my favorite part of the house. Obviously because the foods are located there, lol. My family/friends sometimes wondering what foods I cook here in the USA, or how I manage to blend the taste of asian and western flavor in a recipe. Jon (my husband) loves cheese, we put cheese in almost recipes we cook. So, I set out to create a recipe with three goals: First, a meat with distinctive cheesy appealing flavor(for his satisfaction). Secondly, rice should be included (for my own satisfaction). And finally, a way of making my meat healthful while keeping them tasty. Here's my invented recipe, I name it Chicken & rice casserole.

Chicken and Rice casserole

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1) Prepare your ingredients: boneless chicken breast, 1 cup of rice, 1.5 cups of water(estimated for a cup of rice), 1 can cream of chicken soup, onion powder, black pepper, mixed vegetables(frozen or fresh, up to you) and shredded cheddar cheese.










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2) Mix and stir all the ingredients in a shallow baking dish (I used my 11x8") except the cheese and chicken. For mixing onion powder and black pepper, just use your own estimation. For me, 1 tsp. of onion powder will do and 1/2 tsp of black pepper I think is enough. I'm a black pepper fan, so I guess, will put again later. While doing this, you can preheat your oven at 375degreesF.

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3) Cut the chicken breast according to your desired size, I just cut the breast into halves. Season your chicken if you want, for more flavor. Then, you can now put the chicken on top of the mixture. Cover and bake at 375F for 50 minutes. At this point, I set the timer so I can do something else while cooking, like going back to the internet or doing laundry.

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4) After 50 minutes, here's what it looks like, the chicken is juicy. And the smell is really good.

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5) Sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly on top. Bake again for 2 minutes or until the cheese melts.

6) Here's the finished product. Let casserole stand for 10 minutes. Stir rice before serving. Try it too!

Wombs for Rent- Is childbirth being outsource?

I came across this morning a show in television tackles about surrogacy or surrogate motherhood which is growing in India. There are couples who are unable to conceive on their own and desperate to have their own baby. If they can afford to spend the cost for in-vitro fertilisation and spending another for hiring a surrogate mother. This is how it works, the women (willing surrogate mothers)are impregnated in-vitro with the egg and sperm of couples unable to conceive on their own. The couples who hires the surrogate mothers will cover all the expenses from pregnany until the delivery of the baby.

The couple they interviewed in the show comes from United States, they desperately wants a baby, they can't find a surrogate mother here in the States. It was emotionally and financially exhausting for them. Then they searched on the Internet, they found a site who caters to their need, "wombs for rent" which is located in India. It's so interesting that its a legal business there. A lot of women doing this job out of poverty, exploited to the extent of willingness to undergo the hardships, pain and risks of labor.

They also interviewed the willing surrogate mother from India. The woman said she will buy a house the money she receives from the American couple who's child she's carrying. It would have taken her more than 10 years to earn that on her maid month's salary of $25. Her own 3 children were delivered at home and said she never visited a doctor during those pregnancies. Very different now that her womb is being rent, with doctors, with complete medicines and vitamins, being more careful now than her own pregnancy before.

President's Day eve snow storms

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Sunday view of snow storm

I love Sunday. This is the time that I'm already done with my weekend routine homechores (laundry, vacuuming, housecleaning) which I normally do during Saturday. Usually, relaxing day, reading Sunday paper in the morning, then goes to church before noon. But as I wake up, it's snowing very hard, no sunshine, I took time to take photos of the snowflakes but its not visible in the photos, maybe its too bright. It's all white, plus the flash from the camera, I have no idea how to disable the flash.


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xxxxxxxxxxxxxxBeside our house, a restaurant called Happy's Place

I took this photo this morning, the winds blows the snows very hard in one direction. Detailed forecast shows that still windy this evening and snow will diminish into flurries late. Snowfall will be around one inch. It's good there's no school tomorrow, its President's day.

A FIRST IN WHITE HOUSE HISTORY?

Clinton: Determined to be the xxxxxxxxxxxObama: Determined to be the First
First woman elected PresidentxxxxxxxxxxxxxBlack elected President













ill be the extHillaryClinton Senator Hillary Clinton seeks to become First Woman elected to White House and Senator Barack Obama will be the First Black elected President of the United States in case he will win 2008 Presidential election.

Just checking the news today, Polls shows that they are the top contenders for Democratic Party's presidential nominations. Which Democrat would be more competitive? Which candidate would fare better against likely Republican nominee John McCain?

The first caucus was held here in Iowa, Obama won. But Clinton captured the biggest prizes, California, her hometown New York and Massachusetts. She also got New Hampshire and Nevada.

On their Super Tuesday showdown, Obama won 13 states: Georgia, Illinois, Delaware, Alabama, North Dakota, Utah, Connecticut, Kansas, Minnesota, Colorado, Idaho, Alaska and Missouri , some of them smaller, and Clinton won eight: California, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Arizona.

Well, I'm not really into politics and I'm not voting here ( got a woman President already in my homeland). I remember Hillary Clinton only for her controversial issues while she is the First Lady of Billy, whereas his Second Lady working with them in the White House. And her performance as Head of a White House task force to reform the U.S. Health care system is not remarkable. More controversial issues was her role in Whitewater Land deal, and her vote to authorize Military Intervention in Iraq.

As for Obama, Ophra Winfrey can get people(lot of fans) vote for him, she even raised million of dollars for Obama's campaign. She even draws big crowd here in Iowa, (knowing not a lot of blacks in here) during their campaign here. How important are endorsements? Especially from a celebrity who talks to millions of people a week in her top-rated daytime talk show in television, publishes a weekly magazine and has a radio show. It's proven whatever she suggests or says, people will do , unbelievably influential figure.

Of course, (since I don't know about politics here) first time I hear his name (Obama),being one letter off from US #1 terrorist, (i know its silly, is it only me?), its like Osama . So, I thought Americans will not like him, but surprisingly, he is leading the caucuses now, Hillary needs to get more percentage to be able to cope up with Obama's figure. But what's in a name, it is really that simple Muslim sounding name in it? I was exposed to a Muslim environment 3 years of my life aware of the words and names of Muslims, his full name is Barrack Hussein Obama, its so interesting. I have a lot of Muslim friends by the name of Hussein, Barrack, Osama, etc. working in King Fahd Hospital in Khobar, Saudi Arabia.

Just curious though, so I thought I'd look more into his Muslim/Islamic background if any. He was born mixed with a white mother and black father, they got divorced and his mom married a radical muslim man, he attended Muslim School in Jakarta (another Muslim solid country). According to sources, his stepdad introduced him to Wahabism, its the radical teachings of the Muslim terrorist?

I am not sure if its true but when he was sworn into office, he did not use Bible instead use Koran, and turns his back to the US Flag?(this is not from me, hehehe, just hear it from others). Just very intrigued to find this info, but no matter what his background, his color, the point is, not all Christians are Christ and not all Muslims are terrorists! don't look at religion, thinks about what person has accomplished and also are they making promises that are realistic.