The Ref Door Project

Toni's "ref door project":

What does your refrigerator door look like? Take a pic of it and post it on your blog! Let me know when you do so I can write an entry with links to your ref door posts. If you don't have a blog, you can leave a comment and a link to your ref's uploaded image.

I update the Ref Door Project every Monday! See you next week!

P.S. Don't judge a person by his refrigerator door!

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Take a peek at my fridge door:

As you can see it contains some magnets of cities we've visited, a white board that says "You are your child's best toy", calendar and advisory from the school and drawings of my daughter.

I have more magnets collected in 1993 like Meeya's geography fridge, but I have to throw them away when we migrated to Canada... this year, I started collected magnets of places we visited again... so its gonna take me awhile before my fridge will look like Meeya's.

Check out the fridge door of Anna, Iska, Daphne, JMom, Omom, Watson, Pasion and Pia...

I'm inviting Kai, Fenny, Lam, and all those who attended the "wedding of the century eggs" to participate in this project! If you decided to participate, please leave your link here and/or in Toni's blog.

Movie Marathon continues

1. Yours, Mine and Ours: very funny and entertaining... I don't want to live in a house like this one, either as a parent or as a kid.
   
   A new meaning to the term "Full House" is realized when a couple of widowed parents meet, fall in love, get married and move in together, bringing together a rather large number of children - 10 from her and 8 from him.
   
   
2. Pride and Prejudice: I have heard of this book/movie a lot of times but have never gotten myself the chance to read the book nor see the movie... until recently. Highly recommended to all lovers out there!
   
   A sumptuous new adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel following the adventures of the five Bennet sisters, including the strong-willed Lizzie, the serene and beautiful Jane, and Lydia, the youngest and most impetuous, and their attempts to find husbands.
   
   
3. The Aviator: It's a great movie but not my kind of movie.
   
   The Aviator follows the successful career and intimate relationships of the young Howard Hughes, from thee start of his fortune with his late father's invention of the drill bit, to his ever expanding enterprises in such widely diverse industries as film-making, aviation and electronics.
   
   
4. Just like Heaven: I love this movie very very much. Definitely a 5-star movie for me! Highly recommended to all hopeless romantic like me!
   
   After an accident puts Elizabeth Martinson into the awkward state of being with no physical form, she finds herself haunting David Abbot, the man who ends up moving into her apartment. Unwilling to let a ghost make him move out, David soon finds himself falling in love... with a ghost.
   
   
5. Spanglish: I am not a big fan of Adam Sandler. So I never thought I'd like this movie but I did.
   
   A beautiful native Mexican woman Flor, with an equally stunning twelve-year old girl, a golden child, becomes the housekeeper for an affluent Los Angeles family. Of all the horrifying pitfalls she worried about in this new culture, Flor had never fathomed the peril of being truly embraced by an upscale American family.
   
   
6. Derailed: This is a good movie though I sort of guess the ending of the movie. This should teach men never to cheat on their wives! haha!
   
   Charles Schine and Lucinda Harris have noticed each other on the commuter train before. One morning their conversation leads to a flirtation which turns into an evening drink and then, before either one can stop it, a passionate one-night stand. But suddenly a stranger explodes into their world, threatening to expose their secret and lures them into a terrifying game with more surprises than they saw coming and more danger than they may survive.

Next on my list are Crash, The Interpreter and Starsky and Hutch...

Movie write-ups from RogersVideo.ca

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Here's some stuff for you to read! My next update will be in May. Enjoy the rest of the week!

What's in a name?

Sorry guys and gals, am really too busy to update my blog... tax season is almost over, so I will be back in my blogging mood soon...

In the meantime, here's some recently registered chinese baby names born in the Philippines:

Born during the night = Andy Lim
Born blind = Kenneth Sy
Born being swindled = Lino Co
Born while cooking = Nilo Toh
Born as 10th child = Sam Po
Born while being courted = Lily Gaw
Born fat = Bob Uy
Born little = Kathy Ting
Born different = Eva Yan
Born with porridge = Lino Gaw
Born looking for someone = Allen Sia
Born while counterfeiting = Faye King
Born during Sunday = Lyn Go
Born with malice = Mali Sia
Born angry with someone = Ally Tan
Born with picture = Lara Huan
Born with sweets = Ken Dy
Born undefined = Sam Ting
Born while taking a bath = Lily Go
Born not to take a bath = Dinah Lily Go
Born while buying = Bill Li
Born secretly = Tina Go
Born to pass flatus = Otto Tin
Born ugly = Kaw Yan
May reklamo ka??? = Nath Ting

Happy Easter to all!

We are off to NYC tomorrow to visit hubby's sister and brother.

Enjoy your long weekend!

My Family

Then...

CREDITS: Scrapbook-bytes.com

and now...


CREDITS: FishScraps.com

Meet my maternal grandmother. She just celebrated her 92nd birthday surrounded by her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

She have 10 children, 30 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren (if I counted right)!

I don't see a lot of my grandma since we live in Manila and she stays in Cebu. The last time I saw her was in 1998 when I introduce hubby and my son to her for the very first time. And since then we have never gotten the chance to visit her again.

Seeing the family get together pictures suddenly makes me homesick... it may take us years before we can visit Manila again.

"A penny saved is a penny earned"

Working is good! Other than being compensated and having my own spending money for a change, I also get the chance to meet different types of people from all walks of life.

Here's a Puerto Rican guy who works for the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission). As a bus driver, he earns approximately $70,000, a single dad with 2 adopted teenage daughters and a sister on disability. His sister has her own source of income. Taking care of a disabled person, the government gives you a big tax credit and because of this, he is getting good refund. But despite his "high" income, he still needs "instant refund" for his tax return.

Instant refund meaning my company will issue him a check for his tax refund instead of waiting for it from the government since their processing time is a minimum of 10 working days. And because it is "instant refund" we charge more (based on the refund amount).

Here's another chinese guy whose annual income is a little over $100,000. He is married with 2 kids, wife is not working because one of their kid is autistic. Despite having that much income, he also wants "instant refund." I told him that refund would take 10 business days only and he said he can't wait as he needed the money now. Again, he is getting a lot of tax credit being the sole bread winner of the family with a disabled child.

My question is: when will it be enough? How much income is enough to say that we can live comfortable and stay out of debt? These people have a good source of income and yet they needed money now (obviously waiting for 10 days is too long for them)!

A sample computation of our fees for instant refund:
For a refund of $1000, we charge $80...
a refund of $3000, we charge $180...
a refund of $5000, we charge $280...

If you are getting a $5000 refund, would you do instant refund? or would you rather pay around $60-100 tax preparation fees and wait for the refund in 10 business days? I wouldn't do instant refund.

I always tell my kids that "a penny saved is a penny earned!" And I've always believe in this.

"Not spending money has the same result as earning money, so to save a penny is the same as earning a penny."

Age is a state of mind

My boss would always laugh at me whenever I have to use post-it to remind me of my pendings and things to do. She would remember my pending better than me.

I'm the kind of person who had to list down my grocery list to make my shopping easier and faster. Is this a bad thing? Or am I simply getting old and being forgetful?

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Friday: My client was an 78 year old elderly. She came in with her 50+ year old daughter who claims that her mother doesn't know if she filed her previous years tax return or not. The mother claimed to have file her taxes on time. She also seems to be quite alert for her age. Her presence of mind is still there eventhough she doesn't remember the year she was born. Though I feel like the daughter wants us to think she's incompetent.

So to satisfy the daughter, I called and verified with CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) and was told that she is up to date on her taxes. This lit up the face of the mother.

Once I've done her return and told her our fees, the daughter looked surprise at how much we charge. The mother on the other hand just willingly paid me in cash, no question ask! While I was issuing her a receipt, she took out another $20 and put it in front of me which I ignored. The daughter, who counted the money she paid me, knows that its extra and started to reach for it. The mother then gently slap the hand of the daughter and said "that's for her (meaning me). She's done such a great job for me." Of course I told her its not necessary but she insisted. Then the daughter said "my mother doesn't even give me $5."