In less than two months, my kids and I will be flying out to Manila for our much awaited holidays.  I can’t even begin to list all the things I want to  accomplish while on vacation like getting hair and facial treatments, spas and all the works.  I’m pretty sure when I get my facial, I’ll be told once more to take extra care of myself by eating healthy and exercising just so I can achieve a healthy skin and avoid acne (click here to know more about this skin problem).

Although we have achieved quite a number of to-do’s and managed to relax a bit at home during this three day weekend, it would have much, much better had it not been raining.  Along with the rains come the cooler breeze especially at night time, I wished we have outdoor fireplaces to let in more warmth!  Oh Spring, I hope to see the sun shining more often these coming days.

I plan to draft out a “chores” schedule that me and my husband (and hopefully even our eldest child) will follow.  I believe it will lessen the physical stress with us being able to focus on mainly what is scheduled thus needing immediate attention.  For example, if the bedrooms are scheduled for that day well, the toilets and bath will have to wait.  Right now, I’m working day to day without a specific chores/ task at hand and I find myself very tired at the end of the day trying to cover every single chore at home.

We have moved quite a fair bit of furniture in the new house since we got the keys last Friday.  We realized how all our furniture seem to look small now relative to the space that we now have.  It makes my husband and I consider buying a few more pieces to replace the dining area and TV stands.  We are in no hurry, we want to make better purchases moving forward.

Since my husband made his first car purchase in Sydney in 2007, he has never changed his car insurance provider.  Although we have received brochures and offer letters from companies offering cheap car insurance, we never bothered consider them because the satisfaction we get from our current insurance company is hard to beat.  We just hope that the good rates and service will never change.

There are huge TV deals being offered by the big electronic shops here in Australia.  It is very tempting to buy especially now that the Aussie dollar doing very well against the US green bucks.  Even the prices of game consoles and music gadgets have gone considerably low.  My mom purchased a Wii console before she left for Manila and she has made huge savings.

I have heard that a sure fire way to lose weight is to go on a cleansing diet or detoxification.  Many articles will attest that it does not only assist on weight loss, it also helps in achieving good health and well being.  Unlike many lose weight fixes and pills that are surprisingly popular, detoxification is not at all risky.  There are many doctors and other health professionals who can recommend reputable detox centers and it is just a matter of finding the time to do the program.

Halloween parties are not really big in Australia.  And so far, my daughter hasn’t had the chance to dress-up and join trick-or-treating, too.  This year though, I think her school will hold some sort of an event where kids will wear Halloween costumes.  I’m sure my daughter will enjoy this event and will no doubt dress-up as one of her favorite Disney princesses.

September marks the start of busy happenings and celebrations in our family.  The most significant happenings are our kids’ birthdays, vacation trip home, the Christmas season and our wedding anniversary.  As early as this month, I’m already thinking of gift ideas and my (long) gifts’ list.  Nothing beats wrapped gifts given to loved ones.  Onecall coupons or gift certificates are good and practical but is somehow loses that special ‘touch’ you’d only get when an actual gift is given.

My cousin once got interested to work at a local pharmacy in their suburb in California, USA.  It was his summer break and he wanted to earn some money to buy a gadget that he’s pining for.  But his mom, my aunt, firmly objected to the idea and said that she’ll be worried if my cousin will be assigned to man the cashier’s register.  She said that merely opening the mmf drawer (cash register drawer) is already a temptation to the customer standing in front of it and there’s no way that she’ll put my cousin to such a situation.