Friday, September 25, 2015

New Postal ID

        For Pinoys who does not have any  digitized ID to transact with other government offices, you can now avail of the new Postal ID. It is digitized and  recognized  as one of the primary ID's that you can present when transacting with various offices. 
  
         Both my husband and I got hold of our ID's yesterday. It was delivered in our home. We  applied in  Sta. Rosa Postal Office  because it was the nearest postal office that is also a capturing site. For other capturing sites and other info, please visit the Philpost website here

         Procedures are almost the same as  with any other government agencies. You'd be ask to fill up three similar forms, attached the required documents, pay for the fees, and have your details encoded and your photo taken. Please also note that the staff who would encode your details will be asking you to review what he/she have encoded. Take your time reviewing because once they have captured and saved your data, it can never be edited. Only when your digitized ID expired.

          The required documents are as follows:
            1. Birth certificate;
            2. Marriage certificate for married women;
            3. Barangay certificate; or in absence of this, any utility bill 
                                with the applicant's name  and address

         I think the delivery dates varies with the postal office that you applied with. When we were applying, the postal teller told us that we should expect its delivery after 22 working days. But ours came a little early. It was delivered in our doorstep within 12 working days. 

          The Philpost website states that the postal id would cost around 414.40. but my husband and I paid a little higher than that. I have no idea why and I didn't dare ask the teller because our line is getting long. 

            

She taught me.

       It was a general-cleaning day. Tambak na naman yung abubot ni Ikay. My daughter loves collecting all sorts of paper. It may be a cute advertisement of her favorite toy, or some magazines handed in the supermarket,  you can bet she will be keeping it. She has more blank notebooks and stationary than any other kid her age. And the more she collects, the more "tambak" there is in our room. Which means, more cleaning duty for me. 
       
         So, here I am organizing her stuff, when I stumbled in these apology notes that Ikay made for me whenever I get mad at her for her misdeeds. 

          Napangiti naman ako at ngayon ko lang na-appreciate yung mga notes na 'to.  How easy it is for her to say sorry, how easy it is for me too, to forgive her. Sino ba namang magulang ang makatitiis sa anak na nag-apologize na thru letter, then verbal apology with hug and kisses pa. :)

          KIDS. They will teach you things in their own little way. Things that will make you question your beliefs for yourself, on how you treat other people, on how to tell things without hurting their feelings, and on how to love unconditionally. Giving away gratitude is very easy for them. Give them a candy, or a toy, and they will love you forever. Give them their time-out and let them think on what they did, and they will give you an apology.

          Pero yung mga grown-ups, na gaya ko, minsan masyado ma-prinsipyo. Ang hirap magpakawala ng simpleng "sorry" lang. Ang hirap mag-sabi ng "thank you", o ng "salamat". Mas pinaiiral ang pride.


One of the many apology letters

She loves me!  :)

         Sabi nga nila, be a child. See the world in through their eyes. Malay mo, may makita ka na instant solution sa problema mo. Simple lang naman ang buhay ng bata, gusto lang nila na mahalin sila, magmahal at maging masaya.


Sunday, September 20, 2015

Acid Reflux, anyone?

       Late July of this year, I suffered from a stomach flu. I wasn't feeling right at that time, and I kept on having watery bowels for three straight days. So I self-medicated and had some loperamide. It offered some relief from my frequent visit to the bathroom. But it just did not stop there. 

         After that week, I experienced a lot of discomfort. I felt like there was a ball of air in the lower part of my neck. I'm not feeling any pain, but it was uncomfortable.  My stomach seems to be full of air too. I  kept on belching to take the air out, but nothing  seem to work. Then there also the experienced of water brash or having this excessive saliva in my mouth which made me spit all the time.

          Since I didn't have the time (or the budget) to visit a doctor, I consulted Mr. Google. And he did have the answer to my symptoms. I was actually having an acid-reflux or GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease). The more I researched about it, the more scared I got and apparently it was stress-related.  I have always been a stressed-out mom, a junk-food lover, and a soda-lover...really a bad eater. I have never been a vegetable-loving person but I do love fruits. 

           With GERD,  one have to continuously avoid some foods though. You must avoid caffeine, soda, milk, citrus, and spicy foods.  Pastries and sweets must be taken into moderation as well as some dairies. 

            My symptoms were mild, the heartburn I felt was never that painful, only some heaviness in my chest area. I never took those medicine that were supposed to inhibit the acid in our stomach because those medicine also kills the good-bacteria in our gut and makes other bad bacteria thrive. Again, after researching, I found this probiotic that can help our  stomach with its good bacteria. So I tried it first and lo and behold, it worked! For me it did. I took one pill in the morning with at least a hour before my breakfast. And then another pill at night, two hours after dinner. A week of this regimen, and you will have some relief from GERD symptoms. The probiotic that I tried was called OM-X probiotic. It is a potent probiotic made in Japan. It was introduced to me through my daughter's pedia when she started having this tummy aches again this year. In their website, OM-X is said to contain at least 92 plant-based ingredients that has been naturally fermented for three to five years. Though it is a little bit pricey and hard to find in some drugstores here in the Philippines (always out of stock), I believe its still worth a try for GERD sufferers.
          
            GERD is a battle. Specially if you love eating like me. When I was younger and things got a little stressful, I would just grab a bottle of Coke and a pack of chocolates, and there's "happiness" back again and "stress" would just flew out of the window. But not now, I cannot do that anymore. I also miss my morning cup of coffee. The good thing with all of this is that I lost some weight. And I gain the determination and the discipline to avoid junk food and to eat healthier. 

              It's been two months now. Half of this time was being miserable and just crying, and half of it was  acceptance and the will to control my life back.