Chinese New Year

BEFORE NEW YEAR's EVE
The celebration actually starts on New Year's Eve with the reunion dinner. By New Year’s Eve, you should have done the following:
Clean the entire home to get rid of all the things that are associated with the old year.
Put away all brooms and brushes.
Pay all your debts.
Resolve differences with family members, friends, neighbors and business associates.
Buy the following:
- red money envelopes
- oranges and/or tangerines
- circular candy tray
- flowers (especially plum blossom, peach blossom, water lily)
- a new set of clothes and shoes for children, preferably something red or orange.
Get new dollar bills from the bank. Insert the new dollar bills into the red envelopes. Now the red envelope is called a lee see or lucky money envelope.
(note: Very few modern families follow all the "cleaning" traditions.)
ON NEW YEAR’s EVE:
Get together with close family members (not including married daughters and their families) for the "reunion" dinner.
Pay respect to ancestors and household gods. Acknowledge the presence of ancestors because they are responsible for the fortunes of future generations.
Open every door and window in your home at midnight to let go of the old year.

ON NEW YEAR’s DAY:
Decorate your home with symbols of good fortune. Here are some suggestions:
- Colors: Bright red (happiness); gold/orange (wealth & happiness).
- Fruits: Oranges and tangerines (good health & long life); tangerines with leaves intact (long lasting relationships; fruitful and multiply as in having children); persimmons (happiness and wealth).
- Circular candy tray (candy for sweet and circular for togetherness).
- Flowers: If flowers bloom on New Year’s Day, it will be a prosperous year.
- Red banners or couplets with New Year wishes and symbols of good fortune in gold.
Here are some suggestions for food:
- Jai - a combination of food that represents good fortune. Jai comprises of ginkgo nut, black moss, dried bean curd, bamboo shoots, vermicelli and scallion.
- Fish and chicken represent prosperity. Always present the fish and chicken as a whole. Do not cut them in pieces. The head, tail and feet (for chicken) must be presented to symbolize completeness.
- Noodles represent longevity. Again, they should not be cut.
- Desserts include oranges, Chinese New Year cake (ni gao) and prosperous cakes (they look like golden nuggets).

DO’s & DON'Ts on NEW YEAR’s DAY:
- Greet others with "Gung Hey Fat Choy" which means "Wishing You Prosperity and Wealth".
- Give two lee see’s to each child. Because happiness comes in two’s, do not just give one. This is your way of passing good luck to the next generation. Business owners also give lee see’s to employees and associates.
- Wear brand new clothes - preferably in red. Children should wear new clothes and new shoes.
- Don’t wash your hair.
- Don’t sweep the floor.
- Don’t greet people who are in mourning.
- Don’t drop your chopsticks.
- Don’t say the number ‘four’ (Chinese homonym for death) or mention death.
- Don’t borrow or lend money.
As you prepare for this important holiday, think of the changes you want to make in your life ... perhaps spend more time with your family, reduce your credit card debts or pursue a new interest. Gung Hey Fat Choy ... and Happy New Year!

http://www.familyculture.com/astrology/rat.htm

It takes a loose rein to keep a marriage tight. ~John Stevenson

honestly, it's really hard to maintain a good and harmonious relationship with your hubby...with all the temptation around...but let's bear in mind that the more we hold our husbands in their necks the more they would want to break free...so just loosen the reins girls and enjoy life...we have so much to do, so much to explore and nice kids to nurture. Let's keep ourself busy so we wont be thinking of any bad thoughts....

http://www.quotegarden.com/marriage.html

shoot shoot shoot

shoot shoot shoot

my friends during my nursing days

I am also a graduate of BSN, graduated last october 2006 from Dr. Carlos Lanting College, I miss my nursing days, the endless exams, tiring duties and the very looonnnggg lectures, i also miss my friends who were always there eventhough we would skip lunch just to go home early...hehehhe, halos lahat sila nag rereduce! ano na saang bansa na ba ang nasakop nyo? We are still here in the Philippines, I am still working as a dentist and a full time mom and wife....

im lucky

Your Luck Quotient: 76%

You have a high luck quotient. More often than not, you've felt very lucky in your life. You may be randomly lucky, but it's probably more than that. Optimistic and open minded, you take advantage of all the luck that comes your way.

How Lucky Are You?

how weird am I

You Are 50% Weird

Normal enough to know that you're weird... But too damn weird to do anything about it!

How Weird Are You?

time

Time is too slow for those who wait,

too swift for those who fear,

too long for those who grieve,

too short for those who rejoice,

but for those who love,

time is eternity.

~Henry Van Dyke~

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Happy Anniversary Papa and Mama

Feeling better

Thank God, athen is feeling better. No more vomitting today, i brought her out to have a bathe of sunlight. She is livelier and her giggles are back. Love you my sweety pie.

St. Therese Novena

I would like to share to all of you this powerful novena of St. Therese...

Prayer to St. Therese
St. Therese, the Little Flower, please pick me a rose from the heavenly garden and send it to me with a message of love. Ask God to grant me the favor I thee implore and tell Him I will love Him each day, more and more. St. Therese of the Holy Face of Jesus, pray for us.
Novena to St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face
The Twenty-Four “Glory Be to the Father’s” is said particularly from the 9th - 17th of the month. Pray 24 Glory Be’s and between each say “St. Therese of the Child Jesus, pray for us.”

face painting

hi! one of my hobbies is face painting...once i helped the face painters at my sons school...it's a lot of fun. you can visit http://www.snazaroo.com/ for the kind of paints and for their catalogues, here are some of my works...

*Start Copy Here*

You do not have to be tagged to play along. This game is simple and so are the rules.Copy from *Start Copy Here* through *End Copy Here*Add your site(s) to the list. Just be sure to post at each site you add.Tag or don’t tag, your choice, however, the more tags you create the bigger the list will grow.Let me know your blog’s name and url by leaving me a comment HERE. I will add you to the master list. (If you would like the scroll box code, leave me your email address and I will email it to you.)Come back and copy the master list back to your site, often. This process will allow late-comers to get as much link benefit as the first ones in.1-Attitude, the Ultimate Power 2-Juliana's Site 3-Rusin Roundup 4-Grow Rich Along With Me 5-Comedy Plus 6-lynda's loft 7-Amel's Realm 8-MAX 9-Speedcat Hollydale 10-Mariuca 11-Complain Complain Complain 12-Mariuca's Perfume Gallery 13-Life Is A Roller Coaster 14-Sugar Queen's Dream 15-First Time Dad 16-Life 17-My Life 18-The Painted Veil 19-My Thoughts 20-DatCurious.com 21-Little Aussie Cynic 22-A Nice Place in the Sun 23-DatMoney.com 24-moms..... check nyo 25-wifespeak 26-sweet and complex living 27-

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almost everyone is suffering from flu

almost everyone is hit by the flu...maybe because of the bad weather that we are having...i hope we will have a better weather tom.,even my son kenneth is sneezing, my mama is also stricken with it, even nathan who is at dubai...Get well soon everyone...so we should not forget to take our vitamins and drink lots of water... health is wealth!

still sick

i'm really bothered with the flu that athena has...i wasn't able to sleep last night and the whole day she was still vomitting...her throat is very irritated, i'm giving her antibiotics every 8 hrs round the clock. i hope she gets well soon! Love you baby. I will not be tired watching over you.


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