Hazel Ceej

Encouragement. Don't we all need that?! Unless you are a super natural being you need encouragement, just like any normal person. We are talking of the type that we need for day to day living. As a working mother I need lots of encouragement and tips on how to run my household while raising a boy whose hyperactivity often coincides perfectly with times I tidy a certain part of our home. One minute everything's in order. The next I see the same things crumble right where they are like a sand castle dissolving in a rush of waves. The Colorado power pack audio set by Lorie Flem works nicely for me. It is an audio bundle filled with help, suggestions and yes, encouragement for wives, mothers, or women contemplating a home and family. As I listened to it, I nodded several times, thinking 'how true!' or 'haven't I encountered that situation before?' 'How did I survive it, I wonder....' This audio set is filled with inspiring examples of women in the Bible...

Terminal 21 is just another (nine-storey) shopping place in Bangkok. But you will be walking inside feeling like you are traveling. The mall is designed to look like an airport - It opened last year while the nation was dealing with the flood crisis.  Life does go on.  The world goes on. And it's right under one roof for Bangkokians and visitors - I was here for the first time yesterday, but only to have brunch in Mexico opposite the Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, not far from the city's municipal railway - There are more spots to see. Or I could get lost in a maze of shops in Tokyo.   ABC Wednesda y

  Tea and poetry commemorate a milestone on May twenty-third A greeting arrives happy birthday little guy! aren't you eight just once ? Smiling quietly his reply brings utter joy: I love you, Mommy! Haiku my Heart and Haiku Heights

On Wednesday, May 23rd CJ turned 8. Planning the celebration was ironically quicker in a distance than when I was personally fussing over every detail in previous birthdays. I woke up at half past six, Thailand time and waited for the clock to strike seven when it was eight in the Philippines to greet my little guy. He was already out biking. My heart danced at how normal a young boy's activity that can be. Grandma hollered, "CJ! your Mom's on the phone!" Pause - then it was a trumpeting sound on the line. He let me in on it: "my Ben 10 sword, Mommy." Oh, okay. I thought it was new year there already. Quite a birthday. Quiet and controlled as I put together a few things that bind us - A reading to commemorate CJ's eighth year - and eight things I am thankful for: reaching the eighth year in good health the opportunity to celebrate it big improvement on speech and motor skills having the means to provide for him feeling heaven's warmth on my tea table...

In this post: Booking Through Thursday and Thursday Thirteen Lu asks Do you have any pet that has a name inspired by your readings? If not, what would you pick if you DID? Do any of your friends have book-based names for their pets? (Or their children?) Piano lessons were imposed on me when I was a little girl. My love for reading extended to the short background of the music or biography of the composer written on my music books. I think I enjoyed the reading part more than working on the keys. Fast forward to 2002 I bought a toy poodle and named him Mozart, that's him on the sidebar, after the composer. I use his photo as a bookmark. My mother's dog is named Shakespeare, after you-know-who. (sorry for the HP reference). A fairy tale - addict young niece named one of our cats Snow White, and the other George, after King George. Thursday Thirteen: Books the feature dogs 1. Odyssey by Homer features Argos 2. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov features Banga 3. D...

In this post: Booking Through Thursday and Thursday Thirteen Lu asks Do you have any pet that has a name inspired by your readings? If not, what would you pick if you DID? Do any of your friends have book-based names for their pets? (Or their children?) Piano lessons were imposed on me when I was a little girl. My love for reading extended to the short background of the music or biography of the composer written on my music books. I think I enjoyed the reading part more than working on the keys. Fast forward to 2002 I bought a toy poodle and named him Mozart, that's him on the sidebar, after the composer. I use his photo as a bookmark. My mother's dog is named Shakespeare, after you-know-who. (sorry for the HP reference). A fairy tale - addict young niece named one of our cats Snow White, and the other George, after King George. Thursday Thirteen: Books the feature dogs 1. Odyssey by Homer features Argos 2. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov features Banga 3. D...

Songkran is the Thai new year characterized mainly by people celebrating it with water. According to Wikipedia, songkran is a term derived from Sanskrit, and may refer to new year celebrations in or parts of southeast Asian countries like Cambodia, Lao, Thingyan in Myanmar, Yunnan in China and northern Vietnam. Fifteen years in the kingdom and this recently concluded Songkran on April 13-15 was only my second time participating and really having fun - in Huahin, Thailand's summer capital last year and in Silom, the country's financial district this year. This is the Songkran 'make-up,' or that's how I call fragrant talcum powder mixed in water and rubbed gently on people's cheeks - Originally, water in bowls is poured on the wrists only. People exchange good wishes and go their way - Nowadays a huge fire hose spews water on revelers. In some instances it's not even water in the dippers, but whiskey.  Silom is closed to traffic. No one in this formidable crow...