3D CARD FOR MAMA

My mother will celebrate her birthday on July 7. She will be 82 yrs. old. I made a 3D card for her. I do it now since I want to send it on time. I hope that she will receive the card on her birthday or before. But if she will have it after her birthday then it is better late than never.
Without her I won't be here. Mama, I thank you for all the efforts raising me and my brothers and sisters. I know now how hard it is to raise children. Your love given us is immeasurable. And of course to my father who is always there for us, you will never be forgotten. I will also make something for you on your birthday on September.

You can show your affection to your love ones on special occasions in different ways. This is one way of expressing yourself by using your fantasy and creativity, making 3d cards is the best way. The time you spent in making is very valuable because time is gold. The Dutch people feel grateful and special when you give this kind of card.
Here you can go to school maybe 2 evenings per week or home study if you want to take some (hobby) short courses like: film and photography, dressmaking, make-up and beauty, interior and exterior design, creative and poem writing, calligraphy, sculpture, painting and many more. Most people here have useful hobbies, not hobbies like watching t.v., eating or bar hopping. You can also join workshops. 3D card making I learned it from my Dutch friend. She attended some workshops about 3D card making and scrapbooking.
To make the 3D card these are the things you need:
colored cards and papers , scissors, 3d decoupage papertole, 3d glue, pincet
Try. If you have problems in making, please don't hesitate to write or leave comments. I will try my best to help you. Show your creativity. You can do it.

TO MAMA, HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HUGS AND KISSES FROM ALL OF US! WE WISH YOU STRENGTH, MORE YEARS TO ENJOY LIFE, AND GOOD HEALTH!
WE MISS AND LOVE YOU SO MUCH!
ENJOY YOUR DAY!

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KING OF POP, REST IN PEACE

YOU WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED

I was shocked when my husband told me this morning that Michael Jackson died. I heard from the flash news yesterday night that he was brought to the hospital. He died of heart attack. He was 50 yrs. old.
When I was in high school his songs Billie Jean, Beat It, and Thriller were so popular. Whenever there were school programs everyone wanted to sing his song and try to imitate his style in dancing. What funny was at that time nobody could pattern his dance style. I like some of his songs.

He was one of the most talented superstars in the history of music. His songs, style and dance inspired everyone.

MY DEEPEST CONDOLENCES TO HIS FANS, FAMILY AND LOVED ONES.
REST IN PEACE, MICHAEL

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Tefal Actifry Deep Fryer

This year's mothers' day I received a tefal actifry from my husband. I was very happy because it works and helps me a lot in preparing our food. Everybody likes french fries but everybody also knows that it is not healthy since it is cooked in deep oil with high temperature. When I fry the fries in the actifry I don't need oil. Since frozen or free cooked food like: chicken nuggets and fries etc. no need to add oil. Thus, is it healthy. We already tried shoarma, chicken nuggets, frikandel, mixed veggies and it tastes delectable. For non-frozen food, use only 1tbsp. oil. When you see the video on You Tube, they fry fresh fries that's why they put one tbsp. oil. Turn on the timer. No need to stir. While waiting to cook you can do other things maybe watch t.v. When you hear the beep then it is done. So, easy!

Nowadays people are very busy about their health, eat good food but healthy food, is what people aiming for. Almost everybody is health conscious. Many tried different kinds of diet programs and didn't succeed. Maybe you can try this actifry.
This is one of the things which I may call investment for health and money. Actifry is not expensive. When it comes to (kitchen) appliances I am very choosy for the functionality. When I buy things I should think it many times like how often do I use it? Is it functional? Is it durable, etc.?
This is one of the best gifts I ever received. My husband really knows what I want when it comes to appliances.
Pleasure and health can go together by using actifry.
Healthy and time saving.

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HAPPY FATHERS' DAY!

"You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around - and why his parents will always wave back."

I baked my favourite cake last night. I have just finished decorating the cake for my husband. The kids made something for their papa. Annabel and Kevin are very excited to give the gifts to their papa. They are now watching t.v. waiting for their papa. Frank is still asleep. When it is weekend he usually wakes up around 10 a.m.
This afternoon a Dutch friend of ours will pick us up, me and my kids. We go to a festival here in our place.
Frank will pick up grandma this afternoon. She will also join us for supper.We will have barbecue this evening. For the bbq, I marinated chicken drumsticks and chicken filet. Hamburgers, sausages, mushrooms, paprikas, onions are my favourite too for bbq. Wine fits in this occassion. I like red wine. Sometimes I drink red wine during ordinary dinner. Red wine is good for the heart.
The weather is nice so we can sit outside and enjoy the bbq.
How do you celebrate Fathers' Day?

To my papa in the Philippines, I LOVE YOU PAPA, YOU ARE THE BEST!
To my husband Frank, YOU ARE THE BEST PAPA TO OUR KIDS, I thank God for being the father to my children.

TO ALL FATHERS AND TO MY FATHER, HAPPY HAPPY FATHERS' DAY, ENJOY YOUR DAY!

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Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid from 08 July 2009
This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.
The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network.
The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.
This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.
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AMSTERDAM ARENA

"architecture and eloquence are mixed arts whose end is sometimes beauty and sometimes use"

AMSTERDAM ARENA is opened by Queen Beatrix on August 14, 1996. Architect Rob Schuurman designed the ArenA. Ajax has 202 million guilders spent on the stadium. The arena is the house of AFC Ajax, the Amsterdam football club.
Turf, to take good care of the turf Amsterdam arena puts lamps after each game.The lamps promote the growth and recovery of the turf.

AMSTERDAM ARENA has the ff. features:

- the first stadium in Europe with a retractable roof.
- 18 minutes to close the roof, by means of 2 movable panels of 40x118 meters.
- each sliding roof weighs about 400 tons and each part is powered by eight engines
- land area of 35,000 sq. m., equivalent to 4 football fields
- the top is 78 m. high
- 1,650 posts which support the 150,000 tons Arena
- since Euro 2000 has 51,628 seats
- 10 founder lounges with 10 seats each lounge
- the Royal lounge has 40 seats, 1,564 business seats and 4,109 seats for other certificate holders
- 54 skyboxes, 8 sklylounges, and 12 skyrooms with a total of 820 seats
- the press gallery is the largest of all the Netherlands' stadia with a total of 230 seats
- 12,500 parking lots in the vicinity of the stadium
- 102 cameras and a TV circuit with 302 tvs
- a big screen of 50 sq. m. build up of 1,000,000 LEDS
- each screen weighs 13 tons and can be dismounted
- the heights of the gallery rings has a sharp angled, and therefore visitors can sit very close to the field.
- the design of the stadium was the principle that everyone should be able to see the sidelines without  obstructions (of the people infront of you)
- 15 escalators access to the second ring since Aug. 14, 2006

Great artists who performed in the arena:

The Rolling Stones performed 8 concerts in the arena.

Celine Dion in June 1999 with biggest number of visitors (61,083)

in the summer of 2006 the 500th event took place, TOPPERS IN CONCERT

Madonna in Sept. 2, 2008

and many more...

from 1997 until 2007 the Amsterdam Admirals have played more than 50 matches in the Arena

in the summer of 2006, millions of visitors have toured of the World of Ajax (one of the Netherlands' football club

in the summer of 2007 a total of 20 million people have visited the Amsterdam Arena for one event or the other.

I was there recently during the concert of TOPPERS, you should visit the place. THE ARENA IS FASCINATING! When you tour Europe don't miss to drop by at the AMSTERDAM ARENA.

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TOPPERS 2009

TOPPERS, a famous group Dutch singers, Gordon, Rene Froger and Jeroen van der Boom. Gordon and Rene welcomed with great pride Jeroen van der Boom this year new Toppers colleague.
I celebrated my birthday last April, my husband asked me what kind of gift I wanted to have. Toppers ticket, I shouted. I have seen the 2008 show in the dvd. It was a spectacular show. I absolutely wanted to see it. So, he ordered the tickets via internet last April. After months of waiting, yesterday night was the night. It was 25 minutes drive to Amsterdam arena where the concert is held. Amsterdam arena is the first stadium in the world with an underground passageway and the first stadium in Europe with a retractable roof . It has a capacity of 51,628 seats. Just imagine, how big it is. Last year's show there were 180,000 visitors. That was three days show. We arrived at the arena at 8:p.m. The show started at 9 p.m. so we still had enough time to park the car, look for our seats, relax and be ready for the show. Exactly at 9 the show opened with smoke, light effects, etc. We sat at the fourth row nearby the stage. They had 4 big screens so that people can see clearly and sing with the Toppers since they put the lyrics on the screen in every song they sang. They sang English and Dutch songs. The songs were all perfectly selected. You know Dutch people are very enthusiastic audience when it comes to concerts.
Surprise your love ones with Toppers ticket for next year show.
IT WAS A NIGHT OF SWINGING, DANCING AND SINGING!
IT WAS AN AMAZING NIGHT! EVERYTHING WENT SO PERFECT.

DON'T MISS NEXT YEAR'S SHOW. SEE YOU THERE!

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credit to the people who helped me

I WANT TO GIVE CREDIT TO THE PEOPLE who had helped me in making my blog.
A MILLION THANKS, SHIE, FRANK and JEN!

The last few days I was very busy changing my fonts and colors even my template. This is my third template. I didn't like the second template since the flowers in between topics destructed me. My template now is much bigger than the last two. The entries are more visible.
Sending messages and calling my friends for help made me easier to do all the changes. Internet browsing for links which I wanted to put in my blog. I enjoyed experimenting all the colors and fonts which I liked. It was sometimes frustrating if you change some layouts and you didn't know how to put them back or you lost them. I've learned a lot and to thank my friend whom I didn't meet Shieangel and Jenny from The world of Filipina forum. They helped me a lot. Shie responded my messages very quick and gave some tips. And of course my husband, Frank who did all the posting of the pictures and changing the templates.
Those who want to make blogs you can ask me for help and I will be there to help you, just what my friends did.
As of this time my blog is stable. Maybe I may add some gadgets and link but the settings and layout are good.
A HEART FULL OF THANKS, to you guys!

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diaper cake

Three months ago one of my friends, gave birth to a baby girl. We have been communicating thru phone and also via chat. Last Saturday at the Independence Day BBQ Party it was our first time to meet each other. I brought with me her gift, diaper cake which I made. It is very easy! A little bit of your own creativity and a little bit of time is all you need. It is affordable and unique. Most people just buy baby clothes, let it wrap and done. In the diaper cake you choose what will go into the cake like: rompers, stuff toys, etc., so you have the final say on the price. You can make it expensive or just a simple but attractive one. The items which I put are very useful, I put 4 rompers which the baby can use for months and a stuff toy. The diaper is size two so the baby can use it next month. This is not a gift the mother will want to return. Returns always happen with gift, because some friends give the same gifts or clothes which will not fit the baby anymore. I hope that my friend likes it.

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At last mango milkshakes!

I have been looking for Filipino mangoes. I can't buy it here in Holland. I think there is no market for these kinds of mangoes. Yesterday I was able to buy it in one of the food stalls at Spaarnwoude Park where The Philippine Independence was celebrated. I bought 4 mangoes. My gosh, imagine 1 mango was 2.50 euros and that is (let me see my currency converter how much is that)... that is 167.99 pesos, so 4 mangoes cost 671.94 pesos. In the Philippines 1 mango costs 11-15 pesos (=.16 euro cents). How cheap is it there! Since I crave it so much I ignore the price. I closed my eyes and handed 10 euros to the vendor. If I have to compare the prices then I will go home without mangoes. Me, my husband and my kids were craving for it. Right after supper, I got the blender put ice cubes, two mangoes, fresh milk, sugar...turn the blender on, and ta---da... mango milkshakes. I will make it again this evening since I still have 2 mangoes left. The next mango milkshakes maybe in the Phiilppines, I don't know when.

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Philippine Independence Day, the Netherlands

June 12 is the Philippine Independence Day
The Philippine Declaration of Independence occurred on June 12 in the Philippines, where Filipino revolutionary forces under General Emilio Aguinaldo (later to become the Philippines' first Republican President) proclaimed the sovereignty and independence of the Philippine Islands from the colonial rule of Spain after the latter was defeated at the Battle of Manila Bay during the Spanish-American War.
The Filipinos in the Netherlands celebrated it yesterday. This is one of the Filipino activities which many Filipinos are looking forward to every year. We left home around 10:30 a.m. to Spaarnwoude Park where the celebration was held. The organizers prepared a show like singing and dancing. Many brought tents and a lot of food with them. We didn't bring anything since we just wanted to roam around and meet friends. There are several reasons to go there, to meet friends, to buy Filipino products and food, etc. There were many food stalls.
My goals to go there were to meet my friend (Jenny), I know her from a Filipino forum. It was a short meeting because they went home early. To meet my old friends and of course to buy Filipino products and food. It was nice meeting old friends and enemies (not really, hahaha) whom I have not seen for almost 3 years and a half. It was unbelievable to see my friend's children grow very fast. I have a friend who was pregnant when we left and of course her child is now 3 1/2 years old. I bought mangoes and noodles. Annabel likes noodles. I roamed around to look for dried fish but I found big ones, I like small ones. I went home without it. We went home around 4 p.m. I bought chicken bbq so that I didn't need to cook for supper. My husband also enjoyed meeting his friends from a Filipino-Dutch forum.
Suffice it to say that it was a nice day not only the weather but above all meeting old friends.

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buttered chicken, chicken joy

Did you experience that sometimes you can not sleep because you want to eat something?Last night I could hardly fall asleep. I kept on rolling on my bed. I was thinking about food... buttered chicken. This morning right after bringing the kids to school I went to the grocery store. I bought veggies, bread and drumsticks. When I arrived home I immediately marinated it. I cooked the chicken together with the sauce. I made batter from flour, water, soy sauce, salt and a little bit vetsin. I dipped chicken in the batter and then fry.
Every Friday afternoon the kids are free from school. The school is until 12 noon. So, I picked them up at 12 noon. While we were walking going home, I told my daughter "you know what we gonna eat for lunch?". She immediately answered... fish. I said "no". She likes fish, just as I do. We gonna eat buttered chicken (chicken joy). She shouted "yeah, chicken joy". When we were home, I immediately prepared the table. When she saw the chicken, she was dissatisfied and told me "mama this is not chicken joy". She was really disappointed and almost cried. I was laughing inside to see her face. I told her just try. She tried and said "it doesn't look like chicken joy, but it tastes yummy". It was a relief for me. They want to eat the leftover this evening. My son was very happy of the buttered chicken since it is his favorite food, rice and chicken. My "chicken joy" (hahahaha) was then a success.

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fresh strawberries, rich source of folic acid

I was a little bit busy the last few days. I was not able to write updates of our life here in Holland.
Now, is strawberry (aardbeien) time. The strawberries are cheaper this time compared to the rest of the year.
When we lived in Almere (a place in Holland), opposite to our house was a garden. It's a big lot, you rent the lot, then you can grow plants, flowers and even raise chickens. We don't have this in the Philippines, renting a lot to grow vegetables and flowers. My friend has a garden she plants strawberries every summer. She gave a pail of strawberries to me everytime she harvested them. You can harverst it throughout the summer. Unfortunately, I have no more contact with her. Now, I have to buy it. My son likes it so much. He likes strawberries with sugar. I slice it into quarter and sprinkle sugar on it. I have just made milkshakes. I put sugar, fresh milk, ice cubes and of course much fresh strawberries. Turn on the blender and then you have it, very fresh and delicious strawberry milkshakes. When we were in the Philippines I often made mango milkshakes and I miss it now. Try strawberry milkshakes, it's delicious and nutritious.
Strawberry is a rich source of folic acid, folic acid helps to prevent / reduce birth defects involving brain.

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