You know when people says the word pumpkin, the first thing that comes into mind is Halloween.  And the first thing that you will remember are the lanterns that are used to decorate the yards or most American homes.  However, pumpkins are not just for lanterns.  I heard that some Japanese folks eat them raw because of its sweet taste.  But in North America, pumpkins are made into pies.  A pumpkin pie is a sweet dessert like most pies, but is usually made in the fall and early winter.  North Americans would usually prepare it on Thanksgiving, Christmas and of course during the Halloween.  This dessert is so loved and is a seasonal treat (meaning it’s made during special occasions), a lot of companies came up with products that has similar flavor.  And since this pie is usually served after the Thanksgiving dinner, a lot of memories are made while enjoying it with the rest of the family which could also be the reason why there were songs written that mentions it and a lot of people love it so much.

Here is a sample of a Classic Pumpkin Pie recipe:**

I went to the office today even if it was my rest day to monitor some calls for it’s the end of the month and I need to do some catching up.  I have spent four hours of my rest day in the office an hour of which was spent waiting for the tool to open up.  Sheesh!  There were a few people when I arrived for I made sure that it was the end of the shift so that I can get a station to work in.  Penny was there and he called me when he saw me,  I was like “yes…?”  He opened a lateral and handed me a box and a certificate.  I was like what is this for?  He said “read the paper…” (what a friend huh?) He can be annoying sometimes but in a good way.  So I read it.  It’s an R and R for performance from our clients.  It turned out they had an awarding last night and the representative from our clients who arrived from the US brought some giveaways.  Along with the certificate is a Stanley Vacuum Bottle!  What a surprise!  My mom has been bugging me about getting one of these things so that I can have a hot drink everyday and I have been wishing to get one but can’t afford to get one and so God made a way.  God is really good!  He always gives me what I need in the right timing.  Could this be?  Could this be the surprise that my stars have told me that I have wrote about?  Wow!  It is indeed a good surprise.  But I pray that there will be a room for another one for I do have this one prayer that I would want to come true before the end of the month.  My CSat score!  I hope it will increase before the month ends.  I only have 8 surveys and it’s not looking pretty well.  Lord if it’s not too much to ask, please, please give me more top boxes. Please…

4AM, September 17th, 2008.  After eating my “breakfast”, I went ahead and went through my messages on my chatbox and clicked on the links of my fellow bloggers.  And so I was brought to the Technology in Daily Life’s site and saw this refrigerator which reminded me of my friends who complained about missing food that are stored in the fridge.  And the culprits… are the rats that stands on two legs and can look around the fridge without disturbing what’s inside of the fridge.  And since there are a lot of you in the house, you can’t point your finger to whoever because you are not too sure if your charges are correct.  So for those friends of mine, here is the answer to all your worries.  A flatshare fridge with multiple doors so each one of you can actually get his/her space.  With this new model, you will no longer hear lines like “oh I’m sorry, I thought that was mine,” or “it wasn’t me”.  However, am not sure if these doors comes with a lock.  I hope they do.  If not, then I sure hope that Electrolux, the manufacturers of the said fridge will consider adding that into their designs.  Hehehe…

Don’t you ever wonder how people came up with the names of the cosmetic procedures that we have today?  Names like Bangkok Beauty and all that.  I don’t know if that applies to other places but in the Philippines, people will know where you had your procedure done by the name used to describe the new you.  Like when you say Bangkok beauty, it means you had something done in Bangkok.  Which is kinda interesting because it’s not obvious which part of you was enhanced.  So people who hears that will have to make their imagination run to know which part of you was changed.  Although using names like Houston breast implants will be a better way to name the implants that will be used for any procedures.  Because as a consumer, you will have an idea which is the best manufacturer of such products.  Remember that implants are foreign objects that are added into our bodies so it is important that we know that they are safe and of good quality.  It is as important as knowing that who ever will be doing the procedure is a competent doctor.  We definitely wouldn’t want to have the nightmares that happened to some people who have undergone some procedures and ended up regretting that they even thought of going under the knife.  So if you’re planning to get something done like having some collagen added to your lips to have lips like Angelina Jolie, I truly recommend that you research on it before rolling it out.  Keep in mind that we only have one life to live and the reason why we make decisions like these is to make us feel better about ourselves not the other way around.

I guess you guys know a guy named Ed Neumeister, a composer and a jazz trombonist from Topeka, Kansas or Johann Gottfried Neumeister (1757-1840) who compile 82 organ chorales of various composers (38 thought to be by J. S. Bach) which was passed onto Christian Heinrich Rinck (1770-1846), whose library was bought by Lowell Mason in 1852. Mason’s collection was bequeathed to Yale University at his death in 1873. There it lay for over 100 years until discovered by Hans-Joachim Schulze and Christoph Wolff in 1985.  But do you know a guy named Daniel Neumeister? I guess not a lot of people do.  For he is not from the entertainment world.  I don’t know what’s going on these days but people seems oblivious with the existence of people like Dan Neumeister who plays a better role in the society that he belongs to.  He may not be good in playing a trombone or may not be able to read a lyric sheet but he sure can lead on organizational development change.  He has a 27 year experience in the medical service industry as a consultant so people can definitely count on him on things like financial management for medical centers and public hospitals.  Would you want to know more about Daniel Neumeister?  Here are the sites that you can visit:  http://danielneumeister.wordpress.com/, http://daniel-neumeister.blogspot.com/, or http://www.danneumeister.com/.

I was browsing the web on for some car care tips ( not that I have a car of my own). I guess I was just curious on the proper way to take care of cars.  So I happened upon the website of one of Shell’s franchises in the Philippines and boy, their tips are very extensive.  I guess anybody who is a newbie could definitely use the information on the said site.  Although I was a bit amazed to not find covering your car with a car cover when you’re not using it as part of it’s car care tips.  I guess who ever wrote it  was more concerned about the enginge than the over all look of the car.  But come to think of it car covers can also help maintain the car right?  It can help protect the car from humidity, moisture and dust which could damage the paint of the car and the engine as well especially if you won’t be using it for a while.  Is this correct or is it just me?  But anyway, if you go visit their site, just add my tip to cover your car with a car cover to their list of car tips for additional protection and car care.  Hehehe…

I didn’t realize how important life insurance is in the US until I saw an episode of Oprah on taking care of one’s finances.  On that episode her guest specialist scolded a couple for the wife has no job, the kids doesn’t have health insurance and the dad doesn’t have a life insurance.  You might say so what if they don’t have an insurance?  I guess the guest was a bit concerned about waht will happen to the kids if something happens for the couple has a very large debt.  Like what if the dad died.  Who will take care of his family when he’s gone?  I don’t know how a person qualifies for a life insurance there but in the Philippines, you will have to go through an extensive health examination before you get a policy.  If things are the same in the US then I wonder how Oprah’s guest will react on a no exam life insurance?  I guess she will be handing out pamphlets and forms to everyone she meets and make them get a policy from a company who offers it just to make sure everybody is insured.   Thinking about the discussion that I listened to in that episode, it made me think to get a policy now.  You know just to make sure that everything will be in place if ever something happens.

One thing that I don’t like about being upset aside from being upset itself, is I have this urge to shop like most women do.  It will be good if I find myself in the supermarket for how much could you spend on groceries right?  But it will be very bad for my finances if I ended up in the shoe department in a mall because if I have a lot of money with I could end up buying three or more pairs of shoes.

A few days back, I had an argument with my mom over the phone, a very petty argument but I ended up so upset with myself because I know that I have lost the argument and I have hurt my mom (a lot) which I don’t really know how to fix just yet.  So I went out of the house and ended up in a mall and found myself having the urge to spend.  I was thinking of eating at the Sphagetti Factory (since eating is one of my ways to calm myself) however, I thought about my financial state these days so I decided to visit the supermarket.  Since I was craving for sphagetti and some grilled pork I bought 3 pieces of pork steak, 400 g. of sphagetti and 500 g. of lean pork meat (yes, am a carnivore).  I spent around three hundred pesos (ouch!) but comparing it to the amount that I could spend on eating in a restaurant, it’s a lot cheaper.   So here’s my Pan Seared Pork Steak with Rosemary and Oregano And Aglio Olio Sphagetti with Parsley which reminds me of a dish I had at Casa Verde last weekend. I think it was Tommy’s steak And Aglio Olio (which has beef steak instead of pork).  After preparing and savoring my creation, I felt a lot better (though it did not take away the fact that I still have an issue to fix with my mom).

Christian V. Siriano is the designer that our dear fashioistas should watch out for. Or should I say one of their most sought after designers? He’s only 22 year old but he had proved so much that it is just right that he should be given a space in the fashion world. I remember the first time that I saw him was on Season Four for Project Runway where they were asked to make clothes out of Levi’s jeans and make them into a new outfit. Seeing what he came up with, I knew that he’s really good and it turned out the judges of the program agreed with me (not that my opinion counts). During the show, a lot of people are in doubt if he’ll be able to pull it off ( I guess it’s because of his age… you know how some people are, they tend to associate age with experience, skills and talent. sheesh…) but he proved them all wrong. Now at the age of 22, he had designed clothes for fashion icons and big celebrities like Victoria Beckham, Heidi Klum, Dayna Devon, Kimberly Clarke, Eve and am sure the list goes on and on.

Below are some of his creations and if you want to know more about Christian, his works and how to order visit his site at http://www.christianvsiriano.com. Am sure you’ll love him even more.