Kutitots

Awakening of the hibernating book worm

5 September 2012 • Be the first to comment

I was around 7 years old when I first learned to read. I wasn’t exactly the quickest learner — my classmates in the first grade were long into reading more complex sentences before I could even string two words together. But my late grandma was patient, she taught me to read diligently. It wasn’t long before I fell in love with reading.

As embarrassing as it is for me to admit, I got addicted to the Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley series. Love Stories. Nancy Drew. Christopher Pike. A few classics like Tess of the D’Urbervilles, The Little Prince, When Worlds Collide, The Joy Luck Club, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and my all-time favorite: To Kill a Mockingbird.

I probably amassed quite a collection of books back then, but lost most when we moved. I didn’t read much when I started working (at a call center for 6 months, then eventually to having my own home business), until I got hooked on Harry Potter. I probably bought only a few other books besides that series for the past five years, but the need to keep sane from the all the work deadlines lured me back to reading. I was starting to amass another book collection when my husband Marc finally got fed up seeing my books everywhere, and got me my own book cabinet :) Read more

How’s your spending?

28 April 2012 • Be the first to comment

Daily Dose

Well, mine sucks.

My husband Marc recently brought me along to a meeting with our accountant who handles the accounting of both our business and personal finances. As it turns out, our business books are ok — although our accountant suggested we should price our services a bit higher. But the personal? Ha. Bottom line, we “seemed” to spend a lot.

The sad thing about it is that we technically don’t. And when I say “technically,” I mean that me and Marc usually just spend on basic needs and utilities with the occasional movie date or two. I don’t spend on clothes (as I’m rarely out of the home office anyway), and Marc, being a typical guy, doesn’t as well. We don’t buy gadgets that we don’t need for work. So why the awful finances?

Two words: CREDIT CARD.

I’m really, really starting to hate those words. Seriously. Read more

Finally, a new blog theme!

26 March 2012 • Be the first to comment

Tech Things

I was planning to launch this new theme last February 14, but life (and work) happened. In case you’re wondering, I haven’t turned sappy and decided February 14 was such a romantic day it deserved a blog theme launch. Valentine’s Day happened to be the day I bought the Kutitots.Com domain, and saved myself from living with a totally disgusting domain such as pataynadaga.com (can you believe I actually considered that for a blog name? Gah, I surprise myself sometimes).

So what brought about the new theme? Nothing much. The old one was just really — well, old. I grew tired of it. Unfortunately, the web designer side of me trumped the blogger side — I just couldn’t bring myself to blog when I thought my layout was already fugly.

Does that mean I’ll be blogging more? Well, maybe. It took me around two months of almost-regular blogging on the recently-revamped Pinoy Dog-Lover before I got distracted with other things again (ie. work). I guess we’ll just have to wait and see :)

Got a few kinks to polish in this new theme. I’ve also kept the design as simple as possible, but hopefully it’ll take a while before I get tired of it again.

Help CDO and Iligan recover: Donate now!

20 December 2011 • Be the first to comment

Daily Dose

It’s really sad this had to happen just before Christmas. While we all ready ourselves for a festive Noche Buena, our brothers and sisters in Cagayan De Oro and Iligan are left homeless and some are even missing. A lot of families are torn apart. Some are lucky to be rescued, but others have already been lost to sea.

My family had been affected by 2009′s wrathful typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana). We lost a lot of treasured belongings. Our bungalow was a wreck. Worst of all, we lost a lot of canine friends who passed on one by one from drinking flood water. But we’re still very lucky. We survived, and we eventually recovered.

They say Sendong is worse than Ondoy — the death toll just keep on rising. For someone who still freaks out at the sight of rising flood water, I can say without bias that what happened to my family is not even the tip of the iceberg for those who lost their families and homes to Sendong.

Let’s help the survivors of CDO and Iligan recover. Details here.

For Metro Manila residents, you can send donations through LBC Foundation. That’s what we’re doing.

See? Even my dog Shantee is helping pack stuff for the survivors :)

For AJ

9 September 2011 • 6 Comments

Daily Dose

I was planning to write a long memorial for my blogger friend, AJ Matela, but I couldn’t. One post just couldn’t do it justice.

Thank you for all the memories, badet. I will never forget you, and how you always gave me stomach gas from all the laughter and bitch moments we shared. I will miss you, but I’m also glad you’re at peace and free of pain. I’m sure you’re now teaching those angels up there how to party, and chasing unicorns so you can finally have one of your own.

From now on, every time I see a rainbow, I’ll think of it as you checking up on us (pwede ba namang mahuli ang badet sa chismax?!). You are now my Rainbow Brite. Farewell, my friend.

** AJ’s family needs assistance. Please visit 1000 Volunteers for AJ to find out how you can help.