by The Happy WAHM
Back in January, I wrote about my new beginnings. My eight-year dream of having a home office – a full space where I can entertain clients and not just a table in a corner of the living room – was finally realized. I don’t think I ever got around to sharing here how the construction went, or how my space looks like, so I will do that now.
Here’s how my work space looked like two years from when I started out as a WAHM. The first two years, I only had a computer table beside my newborn’s crib.
And this is my home office now. Well, not that clean when I’m working. 🙂
I also mentioned in that earlier post my dream of having my sites (I now have four) revamped. Today, I am happy to present the new look for The Happy WAHM. But in case you are visiting this site for the first time, this was my old header.
So you see, my 2014 is proving to be a year of realizations, of dreams coming to fruition. But these things did not happen with me sitting down, twiddling my thumbs, and waiting for things to come into place. I worked hard for these, while faithfully holding on to God’s provisions of good health, strength, and good clients. 🙂
And I would not have done all the hard work without the support of these important people:
My husband, who has fully supported all my endeavors from Day 1. Darna has a stone, I have a husband. ‘Nuff said.
My children, for being… well, the children that the good Lord has gifted me with. They really made my days as a WAHM feel like a walk in the park.
The WAHM community, for the daily dose of support. It’s a big community, so it’s just not possible to mention everyone’s name. But I’ll definitely mention my partner, The Techie Mom, who pressured me to go ahead with the re-design. Pressure! Seriously! Martine de Luna, for the inspiration. We still have that pending consult. Artique, for the header that I have taken down from the site, but will never be let go. And the one whose hands made me beautiful on the new header, Patricia of Fancy Girl Designs. I am, without exaggeration, in awe of her talent. And truly grateful that she took me in despite her long queue of projects.
Needless to say that this site re-launch also signals my more serious take into blogging, so I hope that you will continue to follow my ramblings as I trudge on in my happy WAHMing and homeschooling journey.
by The Happy WAHM
Are you presently homeschooling or considering homeschooling your kids? Then I hope to see you on September 6!
It’s the Second Homeschooling Conference, to be hosted by Manila Workshops and The Learning Basket, co-presented by Unilab.
We are actually on our sixth year of homeschooling, but this is the first time that I’m going to attend the conference. I only have, so far, attended the Homeschooling 101 by The Master’s Academy, the provider that we started with on our homeschooling journey.
Just looking at the topics makes me so excited! We are trying out the independent path to homeschooling this year, and I’m sure that the conference topics will inspire us more in pursuing our goals.
The conference speakers are hands-on teacher mommies themselves, and one of them is a person I look up to. She’s been homeschooling for 12 years, so I’m sure she knows just about everything there is to know in the field.
I’m also looking forward to finding some homeschooling treasures at the booths. I heard that Filway will be there, so I’ll make sure that I get their Philippine Almanac this time. I sorely regret that I ran out of budget in last year’s Manila International Book Fair so I wasn’t able to get a copy.
Check out the poster below for more details about the event, or you can visit Manila Workshops.
There’s still time to register, so I hope to see you there!
by The Happy WAHM
One fine day in May, less than two weeks before my son’s 9th birthday, I asked him. “What would you like Mommy and Daddy to give you for your birthday?” He answered, “Just a hug, Mommy.“ I asked why, have I not been hugging him enough? He said, he knows we don’t have money for gifts, so a hug would do.
My husband lost his job in March, and we have always been honest to our kids about our economic standing. We always tell them, we are not rich. We only have enough. But know that you are loved. And we will do everything we can to provide for your needs. The wants will come later.
And on that day, my son didn’t want anything, just a hug for his birthday.
But I insisted. I told him, it’s his birthday, and if he wants something, he just has to tell me, and we’ll discuss if it’s something that we can afford.
So he said, “When we have money, Mommy, can I have KEVA Planks?”
KEVA what!?
I totally had no idea what it was. Have not heard it before. So, after he went to bed, I Googled it, and found the KEVA site, and fell in love.
My son knows quality when he sees it. Apparently, he found it on YouTube. He’s been fascinated with structures, which started with the Twin Towers in New York, when he was researching on what happened in 9/11. He’s been building structures using his number sticks, in the process learning Math and History.
Below are photos of some of them.
New York City
The Pyramids of Egypt
The Stonehenge
Somehow, he stumbled on a video featuring the KEVA Planks, and he’s been dreaming about it since.
I showed the site to my husband, and we agreed that it would be good for our son to have, that it would be a good investment to further nurture his dream of becoming a structural engineer. We also agreed that it’s too expensive, and that shipping might be a concern.
We decided to sleep on it, and talk about it again another day. Had we found the site a year ago, we could have just have gone ahead and placed an order. But our situation is different now. We have to justify every expense, and however much we want to provide our son with something educational, it’s still too expensive for us.
The following day, I could not focus on my work. I kept on thinking about the planks, and how happy my son would be to have them.
Who am I kidding? I know I will be ecstatic to have them. And so will my husband, and our daughters, too. So I posted a shout-out on Facebook and asked if anyone knew where I could get KEVA Planks in the Philippines.
Sadly, no one (at least, not in my network) has heard of KEVA before. I described the product, and some replied with suggestions of variations of building blocks and Lego.
Nah, those will never do.
So, I went back to the site and inquired about shipping to the Philippines. No other than the Founder of KEVA replied to my inquiry, and he pointed me to the Sales Director of MindWare, the company that distributes KEVA, among other brainy toys. It turns out that MindWare has a distributor in the Philippines. I was given a link to the local site. Unfortunately, they don’t have the particular item that we want. My husband and I decided that we would get the structures set, but the site only offers the contraption set. I repeatedly tried calling for 2 days at different times, but no one picked up. I decided to leave a message on the contact form, asking if I could order the structures set in maple, and I received a reply with a link to the contraption set in pine.
Sigh!
We celebrated my son’s birthday with a simple cake, and a promise that Mommy and Daddy are doing everything we can to get him the planks.
After a few days, I received an e-mail from the local distributor, and he asked if we could meet. Me being from the boondocks, I could not commit to a personal meeting, so I sent him a lengthy e-mail instead, detailing our desire to have our hands on that particular box, the 400 Maple Planks. Well, truth is, we actually wanted the 1000 Maple Planks, but that would be too risky on our dwindling finances.
Never heard back from the distributor after that. 🙁
We considered buying from Amazon, but we were deeply concerned about customs fees. I went back to the MindWare site to see if I could at least get an estimate of the shipping cost. Quite unfortunate though, that they don’t offer international shipping for online orders. So, I wrote to MindWare again, and asked if I could order from them directly. We considered buying from them and have the product delivered to my mom-in-law so she could put it in a Balikbayan box and somehow save on customs fees. But my mom-in-law is elderly, and we really hate to put her to so much trouble over some pieces of wood.
I think by this time, Angela, the kind-hearted and ever so patient Director of Sales, was tired of me and my e-mails, and I further aggravated it by asking her for a coupon code. I just thought it wouldn’t hurt to ask, you know? A little discount will go a long way, especially with the dollar to peso conversion rate. I do this almost everyday in my online work, managing an online shop – create and give discount codes to those we feel deserve to have them. Our mantra in the business has always been it’s easier to keep old clients than find new ones. So I thought of giving it a try.
You believe that if you pray hard enough and sincerely enough, God will answer? I do. And He did.
I prayed for it as a gift to my son. I prayed for it as a gift to me. On my birthday, I created an online wishlist. Two days after that, I received an e-mail.
She, Angela, wanted to know what particular set my son wants, and asked me for my shipping address.
She was going to send me a set, at no cost.
BUT, I did not see that e-mail until after Typhoon Glenda.
From the day I started my quest for KEVA, I’ve checked my e-mail daily – morning, noon and evening. And always, Ken, the KEVA Founder, and Angela, have been prompt in replying. But after I’ve asked Angela for the coupon code, I did not immediately hear back from her. I was counting the days, and on the fifth day, I just thought maybe it’s not going to work. So I just stopped checking my mail.
Then Glenda happened, and I got so dangerously close to losing my job, too, because we had no power and no internet and my client had to hire someone to take my place while I was offline. I thought, that’s it. I, too, was going to be out of job. I was on the verge of depression then, but thankfully, I was strong enough to ward off the negative thoughts, and instead focused on improving my coaching module so I can offer it to a wider target market, and used my time offline writing new, and tweaking old, business plans.
And then in early August, just as I was getting my groove back, I decided to check on that e-mail address, and there it was.
I was in shock. An answered prayer! From a total stranger.
I replied, and did not ask why she was doing what she was doing. I just thanked her, profusely, and gave my address.
That night, I posted a status on Facebook about the kindness of strangers. It was cryptic, as I was not even sure if we would actually get the planks. I was trying to contain my excitement and my expectations. I told my husband about the e-mail, but we agreed not to let our son in on the secret yet.
On August 19, at dusk, a delivery van of 2Go stopped right in front of our gate, and my heart stopped. I thought I was going to hyperventilate. I don’t know how I managed to open the box without cutting myself in the process.
KEVA Maple 400
And for the first time in a long time, my son, whose bed time had always been 8:00PM, was allowed to stay up way past 10:00PM.
You will surely be seeing a lot more photos in the days, weeks and months to come. But for this time, I’m sharing what we have built, so far.
Jude’s Boat
Bea’s English House
Xia’s Contraption
Jude’s Tower
So, what do you think? Do you want to have your own KEVA Planks set? Please send me a message on my page. 🙂
by The Happy WAHM
It’s a happy day today!
Well, I really make it a point to choose happiness every single day. But today is a bit extra special. I spent my weekend creating opportunities while chaperoning my eldest child. Yeah, that’s me in the photo, taken by my youngest child, at some parking lot, with my laptop, typing away my ideas for a new service offering.
We’ve been a one-income household for the past five months now, and so far, so good. Well, budgeting remains a challenge, as it will always be. But I’ve been managing our finances for so long that keeping a watchful eye has been the norm.
But while I’ve been successful at budgeting what we have, I still need to add to my income so I can resume adding to our college and retirement funds. We sort of hit a bump with this part of the financial equation, and I have to work doubly hard to get back on track.
So my Saturday was spent building up on my idea, and part of Sunday was spent putting it on my webpage. It’s still a work in progress, and I know it’s not much to look at, but I am not one to procrastinate when I set my mind on something. I’ll improve on it over time. But the important thing now is to get the word out.
So what is it, anyway?
Do you ever find yourself reading an article, or a blog, or even a brochure, and proofread it while you go?
I am that kind of person. I read something, and in my mind, I insert a punctuation, put a hyphen, check the spelling, correct the grammar… you get the idea. And then I go ahead and send a message to the concerned person, when I can. “Hey, _____, you wrote _____ instead of _____. Should be _____.”
It’s not to offend, but to help out. And I do it in private, of course. Thankfully, these people appreciate what I do. And these people, they know how to do it correctly anyway. It’s just that people who are too close to something are not seeing that something as clearly as someone else would from afar. The easiest to overlook are the most common, I’ve observed. And so, this idea.
My Start-Up WAHM venture is now formally offering proofreading and editing services.
So, you ask me: What right have you to offer that service? What are your credentials?
I don’t have a degree, for sure. What I do have is a good head between my shoulders, a set of eyes for detail, a ton of patience to go over anyone’s material, and a lifetime of experience. As far as professional experience goes, I’ve been doing this for my client for quite some time now. I’ve proofread more than a hundred blog post entries in his site/s and more than a dozen of his books and programs since I’ve joined his business, one of which is now a New York Times bestseller and where my name was even mentioned in the acknowledgement page, so I’m pretty confident that I can deliver.
Again, the page is still a work in progress, but I wanted my readers to know about it first, and know about it today, a Monday, a day I claim to be the beginning of another great week.
So please check it out. Send me an inquiry if you please. I’m open to negotiations for mommy bloggers. And will really appreciate you helping me get the word out.
Thank you very much in advance, and happiness all around!
by The Happy WAHM
My middlechild is acrophobic. I noticed this when she was on that age when we were training her to get on and off the escalator. I thought it was just the moving steps that intimidated her, as she would hold on to me so fiercely it hurt, until I noticed that once we get to the next floor, she would make it a point to be as far away from the railings as she could.
She never intimated to us that she’s afraid. She never voiced out her fear. She’s the child who does not complain. She’s really quiet, oftentimes mistaken as sad, or even suplada, by people who have not even spent more than an hour alone with her. She describes herself as reticent. Her words, not mine.
At home, she would just sit at her desk and read. Or draw. She reads the dictionary as her pastime, along with the National Geographic Kids Almanac. So using reticent in an ordinary conversation should not come as a surprise. Her favorite storybook is the Adventure Bible for Young Readers.
When she draws, she goes into a zone. She puts on her headphones and plays her own music. She downloads music from the net and saves them in an old cellphone. We bought an SD card for her and let her use the old cellphone as her personal music player. She likes Japanese music, I think. Anime music, particularly.
She plays the piano, but aspires to play the violin later. In her words: “When we have money to buy a violin, I want to play the violin.”
Her favorite destination is the bookstore. On our weekend grocery outings, she would first ask if we would pass by the bookstore, otherwise, she’d rather stay home. Strike that. Her first question would be: “Are we going up the second floor?” “Are we going to the bookstore?” would be next. When I need to transact with the bank, or if I have other business errands, she would prefer to kill time at Book Sale, or National Book Store. She immediately veers to the arts and crafts section and feasts her eyes on art supplies. She likes to look at pretty things, but she doesn’t like pink. She is very feminine that way. Pink used to be a masculine color.
But what really strikes me as special is her patience to wait. Wait for the time when we can afford what she wants. Wait for the time when there already is a need for it. Or be content with what she has. Because she knows that what she has is what she actually needs. Wants versus needs. She has a clear sense of it, even at an early age. She would use a pencil down to its last inch of lead. Dahil pwede pa.
I remember that time when we attended a homeschool workshop in the city. She brought her sketch pad and pencil with her so she could keep herself busy while I learn Singapore Math. But somehow, she lost her pencil, so she could not do anything. During the break, I decided that we should swing by National Bookstore and buy her one. There, she saw colored drawing pencils that we don’t ever see at the smaller provincial branches. I could see how she really wanted to ask for a set, but was keeping quiet. So I asked her if she wanted one. She said: “Meron pa naman.” She was ready to deny herself of a better set, because she still has old crayons at home. My heart melted, so I volunteered to buy her something. She asked: “Do you have money?” I said we could afford to buy one. And she insisted: “Just the small box, Mommy. Mahal ‘yong big box.” She was eight.
Earlier this year, we went on a vacation, sponsored by my first love and hero, my brother. One of the destinations was the Treetop Adventure in Baguio. Now aware of her fear of heights, I did not volunteer her to take the canopy ride when my brother asked who would want to go. Surprise, surprise! She said she would. I asked if she was sure, and she said yes. While she was being prepped with the harness and all, I kept on asking her, and she kept on saying yes, she’s taking the ride.
She was shaking as we were strapped to our seats. But I just kept on watching her. I am also terrified of heights, and I was wishing her to back out, so I would have an excuse not to go, too. But she held on to her resolve. One station down, seven more to go.
On the second station, her resolve started to crumble. Tears started to flow. She asked if we could go down. But there was no way down from where we were. We had to go to the station where the funicular is. That meant two more rides.
We finished the required four rides, went down the funicular and met up with the others who went on a canopy walk. Afterwards, I asked Bea, so why did you take the ride? You said you wanted it.
Her response was something that will forever be etched in my mind.
I did not want it. I needed it.
I was taken aback. At ten, I did not expect her to have that view on what she just went through. I thought she simply wanted to join in the fun. I thought she just didn’t want to be left out. Those would have been enough reasons for me. But what she did was much more important. She acknowledged her fear, and charged ahead to overcome it. She braced herself and tried to be brave. But in the end, the fear was just too much, and she buckled. But I am mighty proud of her for putting herself to the test. She said she needed it. Needed to experience the extreme fear of going up a hundred feet above ground, hanging from her seat on the canopy, at some point her shoes brushing against the leaves of a tall tree. She may have failed to make it to the end, but she is now a stronger person. More attuned to her fears and up to what extent she can handle them.
She still avoids the railings at the malls, but at least she can now get on the escalator without having to hold my hand. After Typhoon Glenda, she even stayed by the window of our upstairs bedroom with her siblings and watched the trees sway with the then weakening wind.
