Come join us in our nesting place.

In my previous post, I mentioned about animal insurances. Aren’t we all surprised with that? *smiles*  Gotta admit I was surprised and amazed when I first heard about it. Now for the benefit of dog and cat lovers,  I’m going to give away the links to the cat/dog insurance sites where they can learn more of that subject.   Go here for cat insurance and then here’s another one for the dog insurance.  (Amazing that  even with insurances, each have a unique place!)

Hokeee *wink*, cat/dog insurance taken cared of, here’s another thing before I go offline. When I opened my Wordpress account today, I noticed the number of comments waiting for my approval.

It has reached more than two hundred already! I’m surprised. I know though that not all are real comments; most of these are blams (blog spam) with the only intent of linking to another website. But I’m surprised that the number has risen sufficiently in just a few weeks. Is this an indication that the number of spammers internet-wide  have risen significantly? Or have I been such a slacker for so long already (and that I could no longer keep up with these things)? *sigh*sigh*

I’m now breaking my self-imposed blogging hiatus because I read earlier today (really early like 2 AM!) the draft of a memorandum circular by the National Telecommunication Commission about their plan to have all content developers (i.e. bloggers), providers, etc… registered.

Contents, Information, Applications and/or Electronic Games Providers, Contents Developers, Information Sources, Applications Developers, and Electronic Games Developers are required to have commercial presence in the country and shall secure Certificate of Registration (COR) from the Commission.

Read more of the Memorandum here

My initial reaction was one of incredulity. Registered, ey? And then there will be a registration fee. My eyebrows were raised ceiling-high! At an unholy hour. My gawd. I really could think about a million and one  benefits the department can reap from the registration *smirk*

Then when it all started to really sink in, I could only laugh my wicked witch laugh. This is all really hilarious. (And that’s the understatement of the year!)

Finally, I’ve finished reading Ariel’s Journey, a book written by Doug Kane and Christy Wood. It has actually taken me much longer than necessary as life’s really been busy at my end these days.

For awhile there, I had thought I wouldn’t be able to finish  this 275-page book on time. But I had wanted to see how the story unravels til the end that’s why I was reading it on my way to work for a couple of days!

So anyway, the book tells the story of five girls, who originally set off for a trail ride but were unexpectedly transported 800 years back in time, to a place in Iceland called Holar, to rescue a chieftain’s daughter.

Except for the body-slamming episode of two competing girls, the first few chapters were a bit dragging. Strangely though, in these chapters, I was mesmerized and amazed by the character of one of the girls’ mothers (Karen) in the story. I totally like how her mind works and how she handled the drama of teenage life. I desperately wish I could be a smart parent as she is when the time comes.

In Chapter 7 however, when the magical adventure of these five girls began, I found myself intrigued. I was certainly enthralled with the horses -with their “abilities.”

Overall, I find the book entertaining and informative. I’ve never heard about Icelandic horses before (oh, well I’ve never even really ridden a horse except for photo ops!) but now I’m glad that I know a little about this breed. A touching story about love, hope, courage, triumph and most importantly, of friendship, I must say Ariel’s Journey is definitely a good read for teenagers, and I’m pretty sure much more for horse-lovers.  Adults will find this a fun book too -I’m sure everyone will have a great journey back to memory lane -like I did!

In closing, allow me to quote one of my favorite lines from the book: “You don’t have to care for every person you meet, but you have to learn the skills of how to get along with everyone.”

And then before I put the last period in this review, I’d like to thank Parent Reviewers and Blue Ink Press for giving me the chance to review this beautiful book.

My entry is now up at Our Makiko. Have a lovely Saturday!

I found this lovely prayer that Father Stephen has written on his blog and thought it’s  too beautiful for me not to share it. He actually called this the Blogger’s Prayer.

So compassionate, so faithful, so loving You are Our Father.We ask You to increase our faith and our love for You that we may use blogging as an instrument to fulfill Your purposes. May we become bloggers of truth and promoters of peace.

Help us to be steadfast in our Christian commitment that visitors may find in our blogs a source of encouragement and inspiration. Give us strength to proclaim Your word, that we may play our part in breaking down the walls of hostility in the world and use our blogs to strengthen the bonds of friendship, solidarity and love.

Make our hearts meek and humble that we may treat our readers as friends, not as unique hits, that we may strive to change ourselves for the better more often than we pimp our site templates, that we may find more time to ease the pain of someone in our own home than to reply to comments left by strangers, that we may interact with our next door neighbors as often as we chat with our blogrolled friends, that we may be more concerned about helping the less privileged than about the number of subscribers to our RSS feeds.

Deliver us, Father, from spams and viruses, from pride and selfishness, and from the temptation to replicate images without permission and copy ideas without crediting the original authors.

May we always be united as a network of bloggers and friends working together in Your name. May our blogs lead us closer to You.

We ask all these through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.

I honestly don’t think I’m so good at blogging or writing… but I’m trying -maybe eternally trying so HARD.

Anyway, Melanie thinks MaK!Mej! is loveable. Awwwwsss thanks Melanie. That’s just so sweet. Melanie is one of the closest blogging friends I have and we’re similar in many ways - *ahem* paranoid moms ey?

In turn, I’m going to pass this on to Momisodes, WhatWorksForUs, Iris, Lynn and Kellan .

Gracie and the Storyteller gave Mama Meji the E.

I’ve known Grace since highschool -and we eventually bonded in College because we were both in the College paper. I can still vividly remember (despite my failing memory at times) our trip to Baguio. Looking forward to seeing you again, Grace.

I’ve known the Storyteller just recently but I am always grateful for the kind words and thoughtful comments she always leaves on my posts.

So now, I’m passing the E to ALF, Regina, Chuck, Lareine, Melanie, Pam and Ana

Melanie shared this with me.

And I’m sharing it with these wonderful bloggers: Iris, Lynn, Kellan, Regina, Chuck, Lareine, NuttyGal, Pam, Ana, Sreisaat, Che, Thess, Grace, Maiylah, Joyzee, Shane, Xhein, Gracie, Momisodes, Liza, WhatWorksForUs , Storyteller, Elina and ALF. And yes it includes you Melanie, so it has become a CIRCLE of love now.

And while I am here thinking for a write-up, Sheryl Crow’s anti-war song keeps on playing in my head. But really, wouldn’t it be great if we never have to ask Where Has All The Love Gone?

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