"In today's worldwide state of economy, it is wise to invest in something solid," said my friend. True. It is not the time to gamble on new and struggling businesses. If you are a newbie, it is not the time to try your hands in the game of stocks either. The best option, if you have the capital or the means to get the capital, is franchising. Franchising refers to the methods of practicing and using another person's philosophy of business. I have always wanted to go into franchising. All I have to do is produce the capital and the franchisor will do the rest: the product, the service, the system, all presented on a silver platter. My friend acquired a franchise for a 24/7 outlet and she says it's doing fine. If I go into franchising, I'd definitely chose a Subway franchise. Great food. Good service. I wonder how much it costs?

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Today is the day that I plan to put up my Christmas tree, Christmas lights and all other Christmas decors. The keyword is "plan". It is not unusual in the Philippines to put up Christmas decors in November. Heck, I know a few who put up their Christmas decorations in September! Now, that, I will not do. I usually do my Holiday decorating thingy on the first week of December. However, having Ethan constantly bugging me on "When do we put up the Christmas tree? Lucas has theirs up!" mantra and a pout, well, I have to do my decors early. Okay now, first thing first. Ummm.. what's my #1 to do thing today again?

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I just have to get a Holiday Glass Frames From Zenni Optical. Wouldn't it be cool to sport a Christmas-sy eyewear for the holidays? The popular online eyeglasses shop is offering red and green frames to go with the festive Christmas air we all are starting to "feel". Malls are now fully decorated for the Holidays. Christmas carols are being played on air. Christmas shoppers are doing their utmost to get the best bargains. What better bargain can I get aside from the $8 Complete Rx Eyeglasses from Zenni Optical? Consider, gifting your loves ones with eyewear this Christmas. Check it out.

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I was able to "do" what was on my "to do" list for today. First, I was able to wake up at 5:30 a.m. Second, I did not forget to unload my son's dirty laundry from my car. Third, I was able to go to a paint store and bought the paint I needed for my current project. Fourth, I went to the site and did the faux finish painting I was set on doing today. Basically, a good day save for one thing. My whole body is aching like hell now. The painting job I did for five hours is now causing me pain - my arms, my back, my neck, my legs, my hamstrings. Ouchie! I'm off to la-la land. To all of you, have a nice weekend.

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"Ethan! It's way past your bedtime. You better turn off the TV and DVD player now."

"But mom?! I have to finish watching Nat and Alex. They're so cool!"

So, I ended up watching the one of the TV movies of Nat and Alex with Ethan. Who are Alex and Nat? They're the Wolf brothers of Nickelodeon's The Naked Brother's Band. The Naked Brothers Band is a musical comedy series that brought Nickelodeon's highest-rated premiere in seven years. The series began on February 3, 2007 and is currently in its third season. This season, Nick is 13 years old while Alex is 10. The 5th TV movie, Mystery Girl, premiered on October 18, 2008. On November 22, the 6th TV movie will premiere.Operation Mojo.

It seems Nat has lost his Mojo and had to go to the woods to do some "dudification". Live chat will be available so tune in. Help Nat get his Mojo back. Go to www.natnalex.com. The more hits the page gets, the more Mojo Nat gets. There are other ways to hep Nat get his Mojo back. One, watch and share to five people Nat's Youtube video. Second, subscribe to Nat's Youtube channel and last, make www.natnalex your home page. Go check it out.

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My son's birthday was a two-part celebration. On the Sunday before his birthday, we decided to eat out for dinner - pre-birthday dinner. We ate at A Vennetto - pasta and pizza. On the birth date itself, we braved the early evening traffic to get to my son's university so we can celebrate his birthday. This time we ate at TGIF or better known as Fridays. Here was how we looked while pondering on what to order.

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Yes! I have found a way to gift all my relatives in the USA! No. I'm not flying to the US anytime soon. No. I'm not sending stuff from "here" and shipping them "there". I am sending them Chocolate Gifts for Christmas. The site is www.gertrudehawkchocolates.com. I found the site while browsing for gift ideas for my brother and his family. It is so hard to think of gifts for them. If I give them any article of clothing, they might not like it. If i send his kids video games and other electronic stuff, I cannot afford them. So what's the best gift can I give them? Chocolates. Everybody loves chocolates, specially those made by Gertrude Hawk. See for yourself. The chocolates are to die for and highly affordable.Choose your products, pay for them and have them shipped to your "giftee". Neat! I would not mind getting one myself.

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My new blog template was tweaked by LJ, of Lady Java's Lounge. I would like to extend my sincerest thanks to LJ for having the patience to deal with an exhausting client like me.

The 125 X 125 widget is a gift from LJ. Nice isn't it? However I need your input dear readers. Do I change my blog's widget or not. Look to your right at my profile. Yes. That chubby boy is my widget. Which of the two attracts you more? Input please. Thanks.

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Hollywood celebrities are getting wiser- investment and business-wise. Jay-Z, one of the best rappers of all time has co-founded a brand, excuse me, a lifestyle of clothing and other accessories for men, women and children. Founded in 1995, Roca Wear aimed at an international and borderless lifestyle. It is now a lifestyle of clothing apparel famous in UK, Japan, Canada, Europe, Korea, Middle East, and Russia. The company has also extended its merchandise to shoes, handbags, scents, eyewear, belts, jewelry, hats and more. I browsed the website and found real cool Roca Wear Jackets for my son. Perfect for Christmas.

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Cheating husbands beware. A friend sent this picture through email. It seemed like a husband cheated on his wife. The wife got to know of the infidelity and instead of hacking her husband to death - and where there's almost a 100% chance of her being incarcerated - she "picked" her husband's car instead. Wise move? Nah. She should have opened the hood and hacked the engine.

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I am in awe of Kimora Lee Simmons. She is a model, an author and CEO of Baby Phat. If you still don't know, Baby Phat is a brand of an ultra hip-hop and urbanized line of clothing designed by Kimora herself. The brand has spread its wings and it now carries accessories for phones, jewelry, shoes, handbags, and even beddings! Baby Phat is the corporate "sibling" of the clothing brand Phat Farm. I browsed the site an saw these to-see-is-to-believe Baby Phat Boots. They are just gorgeous. Baby Phat has a varied range of ankle and tall boots made for casual, formal, winter, outdoor, hip and more. Check the site out for real cool boots and other stuff.

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Here are some more interesting trivia. Knowing them will not make you smarter or rich. However, interjecting these trivia in some conversations might prove useful in projecting that you are a "know it all". Heck, it might even save your life.

21) To escape the grip of a crocodile's jaws, prick your fingers into its
eyeballs. It will let you go instantly.

22) The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

23) The "pound" (#) key on your keyboard is called an octothorp.

24) The only domestic animal not mentioned in the Bible is the cat.

25) Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated .

26) The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.

27) "Dreamt" is the only word in the English language that ends in
"mt".

28) It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

29) In Chinese, the KFC slogan "finger lickin' good" comes
out as "eat your fingers off".

30) A cockroach can live for 10 days without a head.

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One of my girl friends has this battle - with her bulges- for the longest time. Every time she gets pregnant, she keeps almost all the weight gained during pregnancy. From a svelte 108-pound pre-pregnancies weight, she know weighs 154 pounds. Exercise could have helped her lose weight but she has a chronic back problem and she can't do aerobics and active sports. Under doctor's advice she can do brisk walking and some modified weight training. She's also considering taking Apidexin to hasten up her weight lost. She said it's her target to lose some weight before Christmas. Good luck girl friend!

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Twilight, the movie had its US premiere, November 16. I read in the news that there was a throng of screaming, crying teeners and panting not-so-young-women adults lined up outside the movie house. Not since Harry Potter has a book-to-film journey inspired so much enthusiasm — or so much anxiety as the case may be. According to me, Stephenie Meyers is no J.K. Rowling. However, Edward Cullen proved to be the "ideal" or rather the "fantasy" man of well, almost all who read the novel, including me. I quote unquote a movie review: Having lost much of its bite transitioning to the big screen, Twilight will please its devoted fans, but do little for the uninitiated.. True. True. However, come hell or high water, I WILL WATCH THE MOVIE. Daughters 3 and 4 already have their "Team Edward" shirts. Umm.....nah....I guess I'd be too juvenile if I wear one.

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My brother calls me on a weekly basis. He lives in New Jersey while I am here in Manila. Our calls usually last 20 to 30 minutes. The call's duration actually depends on the nature of our conversation. There was a time that we troubled shoot my daughter's laptop - a three way call between my brother, a service technician, and I. My brother almost had a heart attack when his bill came. It was a whopping $385.00.

My brother had his overseas phone connections discontinued and opted to use international calling cards instead. He uses the site www. Getmecallingcards.com for it has a large selection of phone cards that you can choose from. Bro said he just picks his call's destination, choose the phone card that he prefers, pay for the card through very secure online processor, then get the PIN. Call the toll-free-number required, enter the PIN on your phone, punch in the numbers and voila! A user also has the option to register his phone to avail of the no-PIN access. He's happy now with his international calling cards.

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What a sloooow day. I let go of EC dropping as pages take forever to load. I checked my broadband speed at speednet and it's at 2195 kbp - fast, right? So why is EC and Multiply taking forever to load? I was supposed to upload pictures at Multiply but decided against it as the login page won't even load. I have some opps waiting to be done but the slowness of the day got into me. I took and fetched Ethan from school. Did some errands. Planned to exercise - the key word here is "planned" and done some blogging. My writing's done, for the day. I was into reading blogs but some blogs just make my head spin. Better stop reading. Why? Never mind why. The blogosphere is filling up with bloggers. I wish more bloggers would/could(?) write articles of worth. Why? So that I'll have something to read and maybe learn something new in the process. Oh hum... I think I better hit the sack.

ZZzzzzzzz........

Dang! It's only 9:30 p.m.

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One downside of "getting" old is the inability to sleep well. I hardly sleep. It's not that I don't want to rather I just can't sleep! I miss those younger years when I fall asleep dead as a log the moment I hit the bed. Keeping 8 to 7 hours of continuous sleep is essential for everyone. Sleep is the time our body repairs dead tissues. Sleep is essential for our major organs to detoxify and rejuvenate. How can my body function well if I lack sleep? I tried two different sleeping pills. Pill number 1 has no effect on me. I was still wide awake at 1:00 a.m. It was a total waste of money and effort. Pill number 2 knocked me out in 5 minutes flat but I was awake after four hours and could not get back to sleep after. Funny, but that particular pill made me groggy and woozy. It's so hard to toss and turn all night long! I need good and safe sleeping pill. I browsed online and found a site called http://www.Forcesleep.com


Force Sleep has been around for a number of years now and has been used by tens of thousands satisfied customers. The product is liquid with safe ingredients like Doxylamine Succinate and Melatonin. The product would help get your 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep. You'll wake up with no groggy feeling, but rather refreshed and energized. Regular use of Force Sleep can even regulate your sleeping pattern. This is ideal for people with sleep disorders. It's a sleep aid that is so easy to use. Just 2 teaspoons and you'll be set for a good night's sleep. Click on the link to now more.

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Read and be amazed. Continuation of Trivia

11) Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to slow a film down so you
could see his moves. That's the opposite of the norm.

12) The original name for the butterfly was "flutterby"!

13) By raising your legs slowly and lying on your back, you can't sink
inquick sand.

14) Mosquito repellents don't repel. They hide you. The spray blocks the
mosquito's sensors so they don't know you're there.

15) Dentists recommend that a toothbrush be kept at least six feet away from a
toilet to avoid airborne particle s resulting from the flush.

16) The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley's gum.

17) Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than the entire Nike
factory workers in Malaysia combined.

18) Marilyn Monroe had six
toes on one foot.

19) Adolf Hitler's mother seriously conside red having an abortion but was
talked out of it by her doctor.

20) The three most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola, and
Budweiser, in that order.

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My brother's house is old, as in old. It was a 25-year-old house when he bought it and that was 15 years ago. He said that the house has undergone countless renovations and additions that it was almost tantamount to building a new house. He is seriously considering building a new house.

Building custom homes may be very expensive especially now that economy is unstable. However there are a lot of companies who now build custom homes at a very reasonable price range. Schumacher Homes is one such company. The company has proven custom homes are not exclusive to the high income brackets anymore. It has built custom homes right across USA leaving behind happy-satisfied clients for over 16 years. Schumacher Homes has raised the bar in their custom homes. It is by far, the best value in custom homebuilding.

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Trivia: matters or things that are very unimportant, inconsequential, or nonessential; trifles; trivialities. But I've always been interested in trivia. They spice up a conversation. They make a person sharing the trivia seem intelligent and well-informed. Here are some trifles I'd like to share. Read up.

1) Look at your zipper. See the initials YKK? It stands for Yoshida Kogyo
Kabushibibaisha, the world's largest zipper manufacturer.

2) 40 percent of McDonald's profits come from the sales of Happy Meals.

3) 315 entries in Webster's 1996 Dictionary were misspelled.

4) On the average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily.

5) Chocolate kills dogs! True, Chocolate affects a dog's heart and nervous
system. A few ounces is enough to kill a small sized dog.

6) Ketchup was sold in the 1830's as a medicine.

7) Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the
same time.

9) There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.

10) Leonardo da Vinci invented scissors . Also, it took him 10 years to paint
Mona Lisa's lips.

Who knows you may actually say to a friend putting on lipstick "hey, LDV, painted Mona Lisa's lips in 10 years." More to come.

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