Sandier Pastures

13 SCENTS/SMELLS I LIKE

1. Vanilla - I haven’t met someone who doesn’t like the smell of vanilla. It’s an essential ingredient for baking but not limited to it - Aromatherapists use it to create a relaxed, euphoric mood and to counteract tension, frustration and irritability. The sweet, exotic aroma is also associated with sensuality and confidence.

2. Butter - I love the smell of butter in butter cakes, cookies, rolls or simply butter as it is.

3. Cinnamon- I even used to buy cinnamon candies and just smell it. Studies also show that cinnamon smell can increase alertness when driving. It wouldn’t work though to have a box of Cinnabon in the car as it is more likely you’ll take your hands off the wheel and reach for the cinnamon rolls!

4. White Musk - My favorite scent from The Body Shop.

5. Lemon/Lime/Citrus - I like this smell to start my day! It’s full of life! The scent of lemon has proven effects on the mind. It relieves mental fatigue, improves mental clarity, alertness, memory, sharpens the senses and reduces stress.

6. Freshly baked bread - Just the smell can fill up my hunger!

7. Burning wood - Just because this smell reminds me of the simple life I had back home. We did not have a gas or electric stove, and used wood to cook our food.

8. Lavender - One of the things I look forward to summer in Japan is this plant. The smell of lavender is always very nice, not too faint nor overpowering. Studies show that it calms the nervous system, making it a sedative. It also reduces stress in the body with its anti-spasmodic qualities.

9.  Baby smell - I love the smell of babies even before I became a mom and more so when I became one 5 years ago. If I hold a baby, I don’t just kiss, I breathe in the smell until almost all the smell is gone!

10. Chocolate/Cocoa- This smell I couldn’t get over. Try baking some brownies? I love how the smell of chocolate stick even to my pillow cases. I would put out my pillows when I bake choco-walnut fudge brownies to make them smell like gooey chocolate!

11. A box of new Crayons - because they remind me of my first box when I was little. Seeing and smelling crayons always make me think of the unlimited room for creativity.

12. Jackfruit- If you are unfamiliar with this fruit, you are likely to find this in your local Asian market. Jackfruit, when ripe has the strongest and richest smell of any fruit in creation - in a good way! Just in case you were thinking of the the dreaded Durian smell, I promise, jackfruit is not that bad! Some sites mention that the smell of jackfruit is almost identical to the smell of rotting onions! Don’t believe it - I personally think it’s not true. By the way, Jackfruit is probably my next favorite fruit in the Philippines (the first would be mango), not just because of the scent but because of the taste.  

13. Believe or not, Gasoline! - I open the car windows when I’m in a gasoline station just to smell it. How many others share this same crazed passion?

Find out others who are wordless here and here.

Disclaimer: I did not take this photo and of course, this is not in Dubai!

An old friend buzzed to tell me about an upcoming reunion, an alumni homecoming in my elementary school back home. It’s been 20 years since I graduated from elementary school and though I have met and talked with some classmates, I haven’t met and talked to two of my bestfriends since graduation. Yeah, some best of friends we are.

I am excited to see them and all the others who can come to the alumni homecoming scheduled coincidentally when I’m in town. It would be fun to see old, familiar faces with bigger hips and some beer bellies. No offense, I mean no one has retained their 12 year-old vital stats, right? 

The gym was full yesterday, I almost didn’t have the chance to use the treadmill. The pool was packed with families with kids too. I don’t know, it just seemed like a fitness day celebration of some sorts.

After working out, I went to the shower room to find it full of shrieking teenagers, some comparing suits and pinching the sides of their bodies, with worried expressions on their faces. I can almost scream, ”Dudettes, you should see mine!”

Anyway, among the crowd of noisy teeners, I found a small child about 1 1/2 years old walking, in barefoot on the WET bathroom floor. Clearly, none of these teeners is the mom. I looked around and finally asked people where the mom is, while holding the child with my hand. Accidents happen in bathrooms, some resulting even in death! People wearing rubber slippers were even walking carefully and now this small kid is left there to walk around the wet and slippery floor, barefoot!!??

The teeners said the mom is inside the steam bath room. Out of the blue, the child looked up at me and cried. The mom, alarmed at the sound of her wailing child stood up and with angry expression on her face, pushed the glass door and walked in my direction.

Ooooh, this better be bloggable!

She asked what’s the matter. I told her that the child was walking around, could slip and hit her head. The mom asked me, “my baby is crying, did she slip?” I said, no she did not but she MIGHT.

She grabbed the baby from me and snapped, “No, no, no, normally, she is fine. She will not slip, normally (she must really like this word!). I bring her here everyday!”

Pardon me? She just said two lies. First, she is not coming everyday. I am and I have never seen her or the baby. Next, what does she mean that normally, the baby will not slip even on wet floors?

The teeners just shrugged their shoulders, thinking I should not have meddled. Shouldn’t I? As a mom, do they really think I can just ignore a child in danger?

What would you do?

This week’s theme: Emotions

I took this photo of Pristine during our first weekend in Dubai. There was a program at the mall and being ever curious about everything, she participated. That time, she only spoke and understood Nihongo (Japanese language). Everything was new to her, the place, most especially the language. She spoke zero English and could not understand any instruction and simple conversations from the children around.

I can only imagine the emotions she must be having that time.

As a mom, I saw mixed emotions of confusion, anxiety and fear in this photo. I could not help but feel a little bit guilty of subjecting her to some kind of emotional torture when we relocated to a totally different place but I am amazed by how children adapt very quickly to their environment. We put in her school and almost instantly, she picked up words and sentences and day by day her English improved. Right now speaks fluent English even in her sleep! I can see that it has certainly improved her confidence and erased her fear and insecurity.

Have you heard of it? I came across this wonderful thing over at Casto Creations and here is my birth verse:

Mark 11:22 NIV
“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.

You are a child of God, His treasured possession. He created you in His own image. He chose the day for you to be born. He has a plan and a purpose for your life. Cherish your birthverse.

This hits the spot because I am not religious. I know I need to keep my faith and seek to believe (more), again. 

Care to find out your own birth verse?

BIRTHVERSE consists of 366 verses chosen from the 66 books of the Bible. Each verse correlates the chapter and verse with its month and day.

Three of my friends had/will have their babies this year and all of them had/will have baby boys. This week’s TT will be my favorite boy’s names although I won’t be able to use any of these because it would not match our family name.

In no particular order,

1. Patrick

2. Richard

3. Jason

4. Daneil

5. Josh/Joshua

6. Chris

7. Nicholas

8. Dylan

9. Michael

10. Logan

11. Mark

12. Adam

13. Sean

Do you have a boy? What’s his name?

The weather forecast says it will be hot, humid and hazy for days with a lot of dust. In Dubai resident’s term, sick time is here. The air around us is so dirty and dusty that in the mornings, I could not even see buildings around us clearly. Gust winds have picked up fine sand and dust and hurled it into the air to powder us this summer.

Ick.

We are all sick at home, except for mother who should be called superwoman. It’s the first time I’m sick since the New Year. The babe had been taking meds but still sneezing and coughing, worse every morning when she wakes up, M had been absent yesterday because of chest pains due to coughing and I am so ready to throw in the towel and stay in bed too but can’t. I was busy with some work so I kept the sickening feeling aside and took the comfort of Strepsils with me. I finally went to the doctor this morning.

I miss the blue skies and crisp air during the winter. All we got right now is heat, a humidity that’s steadily climbing everyday (it’s about 50% humidity and 38C-42C now - will rise to near 100% in August/September!) and really polluted air. Just outside my office are diggings and heaps of dug up sand for the construction of Dubai’s first railway system, so it makes the pollution worse.

Counting down, it’s 55 days until my vacation. Fifty and five long days until I’ll breath fresh air in rural Japan again. 

View of Japan Northern Alps in Nagano Prefecture - a view I see everyday on my way to work and from the backside of our house in Japan.

Just the sight of this picture makes me want to take in all the deliciously pure, clean air!

I can’t believe it has gone a couple of days without me updating this blog. What happened? I could write a string of excuses reasons why but it will all just sum up to, “real life got in the way”.

I got busy with work. Who knew, after all my rants of not doing anything in the office especially on Saturdays and Sundays when it’s normal working days here and most of the people on Earth are out basking in the sun. My work load has suddenly increased and I was nailed to my cubicle, to my chair! Toilet time be damned. Once I finally went to the washroom late in the afternoon only to feel burning pain. It can’t go on like this so I’ll have to ask my boss to replace my swivel chair with a toilet seat instead?

Yuck, no.

Back to my being absent for quite a while. I have learned (or maybe mentioned before) that blogging is like taking piano lessons. It’s a habit that’s formed and developed. Once you miss out on one or two piano sessions, you dread pounding on the keys again. Well, at least that’s how I feel and that’s what happened to me when I took piano lessons before.

But I’m not going to ditch blogging altogether now, I am back and if it means waking up at 5 am to write something, I’ll do it.

My bloggy friend, Kailani over at An Island Life is hosting a fun Bloggy Hoss Elections where you can nominate your favorite blogs for categories like Most Athletic, Head Cheerleader, Most Talkative, Nicest Personality, Most Artistic, Most Likely to Succeed, Brainiest, Class Clown, Best Looking (blog design) and Most Popular - kinda remind you of high school? The nomination is finished and voting is now open.

While this looks like a campaign, it’s not - - I just want to say that someone has nominated me in the Brainiest category!! That surely surprised me and I have no idea who put my name on the hat. If I do, I’ll give that person a good gift for Christmas. For the meantime, whoever you are, thank you.

Now I know that Hollywood feeling: it is elating just to get a nomination. The Oscar statue is just the icing to the cake!

So, if  you are up for it and want to vote or simply want to check out the nominees (there are lots of wonderful blogs worth checking out), go hop on to the 2008 Bloggy Hoss Elections now. Voting ends on the 12th of  June.