A Salute to BIR RDO 045!

The BIR is probably one of the country's most maligned government agencies. Nobody loves the taxman.

But as quick as we are to complain, we should also be quick to give credit where credit is due.

In these past few days that I've been doing multiple transactions with the Bureau of Internal Revenue, I have been witness to the dedication and spirit of service of its people in RDO 045, so much so that I am compelled to write about them.

RDO 045 – I was amazed to see so much patience, kindness, and warmth in such a stress-filled place:

• the chief of the Collections department, Mr. Robert Caliuag;
• the security guards; 
• the ladies in TSS windows 2, 3, and 4; 
• the young men receiving ATP applications at Window 1; and
• the people signing documents and encoding reports at the second floor, especially the gentleman right beside the stairs and the ladies routing the documents to be signed.

They all extended kind help to a lost and confused taxpayer (me). If you know their names, please let me know so that they can be mentioned properly here.

But of special mention are two people in particular: revenue collection officer Elmer Torcuator and Taxpayers Service Section Chief Jose S. Flores.

Elmer Torcuator: Tapat sa Bureau

"Tapat sa Bureau" is my husband's favorite way of describing a person whose dedication to his job makes him go above and beyond the call of duty. Last June 10, 2013, I saw this kind of dedication in Mr. Elmer Torcuator.

He was in charge of receiving payments. I was at the line to pay for three certifications. Many were in line because it was the deadline for filing taxes withheld at source.

Anyway, I joined the payments queue at 4 p.m. I noticed that the line moved very slowly, so I went to the front to investigate.

It turns out that the new machines issued to the RDOs for making ORs were incredibly slow! It took around 5 minutes to generate one transaction, and most people in the line had more than one transaction to do. (Paging BIR head office: Palitan niyo naman po ang mga machine na ito!)

The BIR personnel did not stop people from falling in line, right up to 5 p.m. Walang cut-off. Needless to say, Mr. Torcuator had to stay beyond 5 p.m. to finish the line.

In case you did not know, government employees do not receive overtime pay, and there is no time-offset benefit either.

I completed my transaction five minutes before 7 p.m. There were around ten more people behind me, so it's safe to say that Mr. Torcuator was at work until at least 8 p.m.

Three hours of overtime work without pay would be enough to make many people cranky – but Mr. Torcuator was cheerful the whole time, chatting us up and keeping us entertained. It was a pain to be in line from 4 to 7 p.m., but this revenue collections officer made it all bearable. Thank you, Mr. Torcuator.

Jose Flores: The Gracious Chief

I was sent by the frontdesk ladies to see Mr. Flores because, apparently, he was in charge of processing requests for certifications.

I needed a certification because, as a registered BMBE, I am exempted from income tax. Since income tax is the basis of withholding tax, my income tax exemption naturally exempts me from withholding tax from my clients as well.

But the person in charge of my payments at [a certain publishing company] did not seem to understand that. So although I already showed her my Certificate of Registration which proved I was exempt from income tax, she still required me to get a certificate stating I was also exempt from tax withheld at source.

Mr. Flores granted my request for a certificate, but the certification he gave me was the standard certification stating I was exempt from Income Tax. Apparently, nobody ever asks for a certificate of exemption from withholding tax at source (probably because that is normally taken for granted when one is certified to be exempt from income tax).

When I saw that the certification only mentioned my exemption from income tax, I called the publishing company's accounting office to ask the abovementioned lady if this certification was sufficient to make her stop withholding taxes from my payments.

She said no. She needs to see the words "exempted from tax withheld at source."

Because I had already wasted so much time on her requirement, I found the courage to return to Mr. Flores with my phone and ask him to please do the explaining to the lady.

Now, mind you, Mr. Flores is a very busy man. His table was completely covered with applications for Authority to Print official receips/sales invoices. (Imagine how many businesses there are in RDO 045, and all of us need to have our receipts/invoices renewed by Aug. 30, thanks to Commissioner Henares' new OR/SI ruling, which we all heard about only in May because it was so inadequately publicized!)

But he graciously took my phone, talked to the lady, and tried to give her a quick review in basic accounting principles. And then, having failed to get through to her, he agreed to revise my certificate!

As he personally typed out the new certificate, he sighed a little and mentioned, "Dapat may iba na tayong natatapos na gawain kung hindi dahil dito." But he smiled and nodded at me, as if to assure me that he knew it was not my fault.

Finally, the certificate was finished and printed. It needlessly took up a busy man's time, but he was gracious and kind about it all the way. For that, I am extremely grateful. Thank you, Mr. Jose Flores.

Thank you, BIR RDO 045!

The Nanay Notebook is written by Blessie Adlaon, a work-at-home and homeschooling mom of four. Check out our About page to know more about this blog's author and our policies on advertising, press releases, and reposting.

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Book Review: Bugtong Bugtong 2

I loved Filipino riddles very much when I was a kid. My mother and siblings and I would take turns asking the riddles we knew, and we had fun guessing the answers.

Heto na si Kaka,

Bubuka-bukaka. 

What made the riddles even more fun were the funny images a lot of them evoked in our minds. Plus, they were a good way to expand our Filipino vocabulary. (Did you know there is such a Filipino word as kaka?)

Naturally, when I had kids of my own, I wanted to introduce Filipino riddles to them too. 

Isang bayabas,

Pito ang butas.

The problem was that my kids were raised with English as their first language. (My bad, I know.) It was not only because I spoke to them in English but also because when they watch kids' videos such as "My Little Pony," or when they play games, like the ones in Starfall.com, the language they hear is English.

So riddles were hard to introduce to them. The language, for them, was almost completely foreign. 

Balong malalim,

Punong-puno ng patalim.

"What's a balon? What is malalim? What's a patalim?" they would query. (Well, do you know what those are?)

And so I had to explain to them the meanings of the words, and that would completely ruin the momentum of the game.

In addition, they had so gotten used to visual stimulation (yes, yes, still my bad, I know), that they would get bored if one simply recited the riddle aloud to them. They wanted pictures, not just to help them understand the words, but also to excite their fancy.

Sa umaga'y bumbong,

Sa gabi ay dahon.

Now there are a number of books on Filipino riddles in the local bookstores today, but I have not found any that had nice pictures to attract the modern kid – until I discovered Bugtong Bugtong 2, from Ilaw ng Tahanan Publishing, a.k.a. Tahanan Books.

Needless to say, there is a Bugtong Bugtong 1, and I discovered the books a little late, but what matters is that I found them! Because if you're a mother looking to share the beauty of the Filipino language with your kids, these Bugtong Bugtong books are a valuable part of your arsenal.

Dalawang batong itim,

Malayo ang nararating.

Each page of Bugtong Bugtong 2 contains just one riddle. The rest of the page is an illustration that hints at the answer but does not give it away. The illustrations often clue the readers in too on the meanings of the words in the riddle.

What about the answers? Oh, you don't have to look for them at the last pages of the book. They're right there, on the same page as the riddle – but they are written not just upside down but also in mirror image form! So for your children to be able to read the answer, they do not only need to turn the page upside down, they also need to put it in front of a mirror. 

How brilliant is that?

Limang puno ng niyog,

Ang isa ay matayog.

It's so beautiful, I could cry. No, seriously. There would at least be some moisture around the eyes.

If you don't believe me, I suggest you go to your local bookstore and find Bugtong Bugtong 2, or drop by at Tahanan Books' main office, to see the book yourself and see what I'm talking about. Read it and weep.

Here's Tahanan Books' office address: Unit 402, Cityland 3 Condominium, 105 V.A. Rufino corner Esteban Street, Legaspi Village, Makati City. You can also call them at (02) 813-7165. If you get your books straight from the publishing house, you get a 10% discount!

Oh, by the way, in case you're wondering about the answers to the riddles embedded in this post – well, I could give you the answers, but that would totally defeat the purpose of the riddle, wouldn't it?

How about you try to guess, and I'll tell you if you got the answers right? Happy guessing!

DISCLOSURE: The Nanay Notebook and its author received no compensation for this article. A copy of the book was provided by the publisher for an unbiased review.

The Nanay Notebook is written by Blessie Adlaon, a work-at-home and homeschooling mom of four. Check out our About page to know more about this blog's author and our policies on advertising, press releases, and reposting.

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Why You Should Not Make Your Postpaid Line Application Through Globe's Online Store

...but not through online application.

Dear Globe Telecom,

Last February 24, I applied for a second postpaid line through your online portal. To facilitate the process, I also took your option to pay the required first payment through the same online facility, using my debit card.

Big mistake.

The next day, one of your agents contacted me to list the requirements we need to submit. I promptly submitted the requirements. After that, I never heard from her again. Could it be because my application was disapproved? Nah, I don't think so, because after two weeks, I got tired of waiting, made the same application via the phone hotline, and got approved.

With the approval of my via-phone application, I undertook to cancel the online application, so that my advance payment could be refunded.

But although it only took your agents 24 hours to contact me to submit my requirements when I was making my application, it is now taking them forever to click some button in their computer to cancel my application. I've called around six times to make the same cancellation request, and again and again and again, the agents on the phone asked me to wait up to 48 hours. Now, over 600 hours later, the cancellation is still pending, and my money is still frozen with you.

I am currently chatting with another one of your agents, this time through your chat gadget. I have asked her to escalate my issue. She has again asked me to wait for feedback from the escalation team, this time for 72 hours. I told her that I had heard that line before. Could I call them myself? She said sorry, that was not possible.

That cancel-and-refund button must be pretty hard to push.

Yours sincerely,

Blessie

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Easy Help for Varicose Veins, Heavy Legs, and Poor Blood Circulation

(Image by lucianotb)

Do you want to get rid of your varicose veins but are too lazy to apply topical creams, or find those creams too expensive? Do you suffer from leg pain due to fatigue or poor blood circulation?

You might want to try Antistax. 

I heard about the product this holiday season. I like it because

1. It's in tablet form. I don't have to waste time rubbing a cream into my legs for several minutes every day.
      
2. It works, and it works fast. Don't take my word for it. Take the work of the many clinical studies on the product. To quote one of them, "A clear and significant effect was already observed after two weeks of treatment." What's more, "This effect was still present and increased slightly after four and six weeks in all objective and subjective parameters tested in this study."
      
3. It's cheap, compared to similar products. At just around P25 per tablet, it will only cost me less than P400 before I see actual improvements on my varicose veins!

How does it work?

The active ingredient of Antistax is red vine leaf. This herb has long been used by the French wine growers for treating heavy, swollen legs.

Now before you shrug the product off as just another one of the gazillion herbal supplements in the market today, note this important difference: red vine leaf has been clinically studied, and the studies have been peer reviewed and published in reputable biomedical journals.

According to these clinical researches, red vine leaf really improves blood circulation and reduces varicose veins and leg swelling. It's not a placebo effect. It's not based on anecdotal "evidence" or old wives tales. It really works, whether you believe in it or not.

Now if you prefer to see the evidence yourself, here's the link to the clinical study from PubMed, the most trusted database of clinical studies in the world: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16512088.

If you want to learn more about Antistax, you can check out their website: http://www.antistax.com.

Do I sell Antistax? No, I don't. You can get it at Mercury Drug, Southstar, and Watsons.

Can you take them while pregnant or breastfeeding? The Antistax website does not say, which is usually a good sign because if it were dangerous for pregnant or breastfeeding women, they would be obliged to include a clear warning. By that logic, we can presume it is safe -- but still, I would recommend you ask your doctor.

DISCLOSURE: The Nanay Notebook and its author received no payment for this article.

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PRODUCT REVIEW: Frabelle Foods Honey Glazed Ham

On the day before Christmas 2012, I received a welcome package in the mail: a 1kg bag of Frabelle Foods Honey Glazed Ham! All the company asked is that I publish my opinion of it.

The problem is, I don't have a picky taste in food, so to give a proper review of the product, I asked my husband for his opinions. Now there is a nitpicking gourmet, if I ever saw one! 

As he was cooking the ham, he noted that the ham was made of whole meat. You could actually see the meat fibers as you slice.

And it was easy to slice. 

My hubby was too tired to bake the ham, so he simply sliced it up and fried the slices. Still, it turned out pretty good. He said, "Not too salty, and it has a slight sweet taste and a smokey flavor. That smokey taste is a sign of good ham. Not many companies take the time to smoke their ham nowadays."

On my part, all I could say was that it went excellently well with fried rice and white bread. (I tried it with both.) I asked my eldest son if he liked the ham as well, and he said, "Yeah. It was soooo delicious."

After our meal, I checked out the Frabelle website to find out more about the ham and what made it taste the way it did. Here's what I found:

• Made from fresh premium whole – muscle pork hamleg (cut of whole muscle meat)
• Infused with pure unadulterated honey
• Naturally smoked using imported woodchips

So I guess that is the secret.

Now would we buy the ham? Well, it depends on the price. Since I got it for free, I have no idea how much it costs -- but for its size and taste, cheapskate me would happily pay around P500 to serve it to my family. It would last us a few hearty meals -- and to think, I have four kids!

To find out more about Frabelle Foods other offerings, you can check out their website at http://www.frabelle.com.

DISCLOSURE: The Nanay Notebook and its author received no compensation for this review, except for the 1kg ham that was given as a free sample.

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The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex

This is one of the few times in my life that I am faced with writer's block. Sex is a hard thing to write about in the first person because when one talks about it, one does not only reveal her own secrets but also inevitably reveals some of her husband's as well.

So forgive me for being spare with my revelations this time; I don't want to drag my husband into anything he does not want to be dragged into. But this much, I can confess: For years, sex has been a difficult issue with me. 

Why?

It's because for years, I've been trying to be a good girl, to honor my kids and husband and my God. But I was born in a generation where sex has been portrayed by our movies and books as something that makes people closer to wild animals than to angels. So if we want to be closer to angels than animals, what happens to sex?

Identifying the lie

As any soap opera viewer knows, lies wreak unnecessary suffering into our lives. Small issues become big. What could have been happy lives become filled with sadness.

The idea of sex being an animal thing is a lie that I (and perhaps others in my generation) have swallowed, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who has suffered because of it. But how do you fight a lie that has been pounded into your head almost from the moment you gained consciousness?

Here's how: You bring it face to face with the truth. And thank God, last Monday, I found a book that spoke of the truth.

The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex

What are some of the truths I've found in this book? Let me give a short list:

• God wants us to have sex. Didn't he tell us to "go forth and multiply"? He wants us to have sex, and what's more, he wants us to enjoy it! How do we know this? Because when He created women, he gave us a clitoris, which serves absolutely no use except to give us sexual pleasure.
       
• Human sex is a spiritual act before it is a physical act. For women, especially, it does not begin with a burning in the loins. It begins with a burning in the spirit, a burning desire to let your husband know that you love him and you want to be one with him. It takes time for the body to catch up -- but it will, if you give it a chance.
  
  Oh, and by the way, since sex is a spiritual act rather than a physical act, your husband is not lying when he says he finds you sexy. You're his wife. He's built his life and dreams around you. His very spirit is one with yours. What could be sexier than that? (And how could it be that men seem to understand this better than we do?)
       
• Marriage makes sex clean. It doesn't matter what you did or what was done to you before you got married. Remember the Sacrament of Confession you received before your marriage rites? It forgave all your sins. God said so, and he never lies. It turned over a new leaf for you. From that moment on, you were clean. 
   
  And you remember the Sacrament of Matrimony? It gave you special privileges. The moment you were married, you and your husband received this huge license to give pleasure to each other in your marriage bed. You can touch, kiss, nibble, and lick anywhere you want, as long as it's really what you both want and not just what one of you saw in some pornographic material.
  
  If the Sacrament of Confession made you clean in the eyes of God, the Sacrament of Matrimony made you clean in the eyes of men.  Even if you had done something in the past that made you feel irrespectable, marriage gave you back that respectability. Believe it.
   
   Let me say it again: Marriage makes sex (and foreplay) clean.
     

Now there are many other truths that are found in this book, but there is not enough space to list them all. 

But to this I will attest: the truth does set you free. And how wonderful freedom feels!

By the way, there is one more thing I love about this book: with the way it is written, I could safely hand it to my kids and let them read it. It is very useful for sex education, as it also deals with the basic sex act, contraceptives, and other things you would want your child to learn about sex but can't find the right words to explain or describe.

Where to get the book

If you would like to know more about The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex by Sheila Wray Gregoire, click on the link to find it at Amazon.com. It cost me $11.68 (almost P500) to download my copy into my PC (no shipping fees!), and it's been soooo worth it. (No, I will not elaborate on that.) 

If you don't have a Kindle device, you can download the free Kindle app for PC, Mac, Android, or iPad to read this Kindle e-book.

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Book Review: Mga Kuwento Ni Lola Basyang, from Tahanan Publishing

This year, for our homeschool Filipino curriculum, we're not using textbooks. Instead, we're using "real" books. The goal is to expose the children to the true beauty of the Filipino language and, at the same time, Filipino culture (social studies integration!). To do that, we have compiled a reading list of Filipino storybooks for my kindergartener and second grader.

And what Filipino reading list for children would be complete without that timeless classic, "Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang," right? So we got one. Mommy, being the cheapskate that she is, did not want to pay for separate books, of course. Instead, we got an anthology of 12 stories from the publisher, Tahanan Publishing, for just P275. I'm still congratulating myself on getting a pretty good deal!

So what do I and my kids think of the book?

The language

In a word: beautiful. The language of "Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang" was something any purist would easily fall in love with. There was not a single word borrowed from English. I could imagine my lola from Bulacan telling me the stories using exactly the words used in the book:

May isang pag-asawang napakabait na malaon nang kasal ay hindi magkaanak. Mabuti nga't mariwasa ang kanilang kabuhayan, ulila man sila sa anak na mapag-aaliwan sa kanilang tahanan... ( from "Ang Prinsipeng Unggoy")

Of course, my kids had a hard time understanding everything at first. I had not wanted to translate or simplify anything at the start. But the kids complained that they could hardly understand anything I was saying, so eventually, I compromised by reading as is and then translating and simplifying:

Si Timo ay gumapang sa bubungan ng tinurang bahay ... bubungan means "roof," ... hanggang siya'y makababa sa dakong azotea ... Azotea is ... you know when you have a second floor in your house and you have a door on the second floor that leads outside, but there's a place for you to stand without falling?

Azotea became a favorite word in our house for about three days. 

The story plots

The plots were, I almost regret to say, not for general patronage at all! For instance, when I scanned the first story, "Ang Sirena sa Uli-Uli ng Ilog Pasig," I was shocked to see the violent ending:

"Siso, yayamang ikaw ay ayaw nilang alpasan nang hindi ka mapasaakin ay hindi ka rin mapapakaninuman!" at biglang kinagat si Siso sa gulung-gulungan. ... Iniwan ng Sirena si Siso na nagdaranak ng dugo.

In other stories, there were words such as "lintik" and "ulol." Apparently, our ancestors did not mince words; they called a spade a spade.

But I also I realized that this lack of censorship is part of Filipino culture: We are a warrior people. Suffering, daring, war -- these had been our lives. Death -- and violent death, even -- had been our ordinary reality. We could not shelter our children from them, so we didn't. Instead, we had carefully trained our children so that they could live with and survive violence without being overpowered or consumed by it.

Did the kids like the stories? Yes, they did!

I think it is precisely this lack of sanitation that attracted my kids so much to these stories. How do I know they liked the stories? Well, "Maryang Makiling" is a story with two parts. After the first part, I told them I'd read the second part the next day. (The first part alone was already much longer than our usual bedtime story.)

You know what seven-year-old Josh did? He took the book and struggled through all the hard words of part 2 all by himself, just so he would know what happens next to Timo and Maryang Makiling.

So will we continue reading these stories at night? Well, I plan to keep reading the stories, but I'll probably be censoring out the parts that make me too uncomfortable. When the kids are bigger and more thick skinned -- maybe when they're 10, as the publishers recommended this book for that age -- maybe then, they could read the stories by themselves and not be too horrified by the parts that now horrify their mom.

For now, though, I still want them to hear the stories. I want them to bask in the language. It is very seldom that I find such well-written Filipino stories. I am not about to deprive the kids of them, simply because their mom was such a squeamish chicken.

To buy Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang, you can contact Tahanan Publishing's sales department at (+632) 813-7165, or visit their showroom at Ilaw ng Tahanan Publishing, Inc., Unit 402, Cityland 3 Condominium, 105 V.A. Rufino corner Esteban Street, Legaspi Village, Makati City. Click here for more information. You can also buy other high-quality Filipino books published by Tahanan Publishing online at The Learning Basket.

DISCLOSURE: This is not a paid post. The author has received no compensation in any form from anybody to write this article.

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Apply for Your Unionbank EON Account Online

Here's another Unionbank EON post. Really, I can't help being a fan of this bank. It seems they designed their services specifically to cater to people who hate leaving the house -- people like me.

So here's the great news: You can now apply for your Unionbank EON account online!

Just go to the Unionbank EON online application form, type in your details, and wait for the bank to tell you when you can pick up your EON ATM/debit card from the bank branch of your choice.

When you go to the bank, bring the following:

• Unexpired valid photo-bearing ID with signature (passport, driver's license, SSS/GSIS, NBI clearance, voter's ID, etc.)
• Photocopy of the ID you present
• TIN and SSS number (might not be asked for but better to be ready)
• P350 for your first annual fee

You can pick up your card from Unionbank branches all over the Philippines, from Bacolod to Zamboanga. For a complete list of currently available pick-up branches, click here.

To learn more about this online application procedure, you can visit the info page at the Unionbank site, or call Unionbank at their 24-hour customer service hotline, (02) 841-8600.

UPDATE: My husband has recently tried using this service. It goes pretty fast. Right after the online application, he received a text message telling him he could go to his chosen branch that very same day and present his tracking number.

Well, he was not able to go that same day; he went a few days later. When he got there, he was interviewed for his reason for applying for the card. So as not to defeat the purpose of the interview, I shall not reveal here what answers will result in a denial of your application.

Anyway, he got approved, and the card was printed out while he waited.

DISCLOSURE: This is not a sponsored post. The author received no compensation in any form from Unionbank. The author is not affiliated in any way with Unionbank.

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Numa Store Review (and Wishlist!)

A few days ago, I received an invitation from Numa ("new ma") to visit their website and give my honest review of their store and their products. If you love shopping for baby stuff as much as I do, keep reading!

Numa is a baby supplies store with a mission: to keep our babies comfy and safe today while preserving the world they will live in tomorrow. That’s why all the products they sell are made with organic and eco-friendly materials.

So what can we buy there? Well, a lot. There are clothes and shoes, bags, toys, slings, carriers, strollers, diaper covers, books, and DVDs, to mention some. But here’s a list of my favorites:

1. Booby Tubes by Earth Mama Angel Baby. Make no mistake: I love breastfeeding. I breastfed each of my three kids for at least two years. (My daughter reluctantly stopped only on her fifth birthday.)
   
   But I must admit that breastfeeding has it downside too. In my first months, I always suffered from clogged ducts. For relief, I used a hot compress – but those could be so inconvenient to hold in place, especially when you have a baby to take care of.
   
   Booby Tubes solve that problem. These are heating/cooling packs shaped so that you can conveniently insert them into your brassiere. No need to hold anything in place, and no more clogged ducts!
      
2. Medela Milk Collection Shells. Ah, I wish I had bought these earlier. These silicon cups are for catching the milk that leaks out of your breasts, especially during the first few weeks of breastfeeding, when your body has not yet calibrated itself to the exact amount of milk your baby needs, thus overproducing at times. In my case, I leaked so badly, breast pads simply were not enough to keep my shirts dry. If I had these then, life would have been so much more comfortable and less messy.
      
3. Seventh Generation diapers. I have a confession to make: In the cloth vs. disposable diaper debate, I side with the disposables. I believe the people who say the environmental effect of disposables is just as bad as the effect of all the water and soap and washing machine energy we waste when we use cloth. And unarguably, disposables are more convenient.
    
   But when my babies are newly born, I am compelled to use cloth because my babies’ bottoms get diaper rash from disposables.
    
   Well, for my fourth kid who is coming in September this year, I have discovered an alternative to cloth. Seventh Generation diapers are made with chlorine-free and unbleached material, so they’re not just more environment friendly than your everyday diaper, they’re also much less likely to turn my baby’s bottom red!
      
4. FuzziBunz cloth diapers. There comes a point in baby’s life when cloth diapers become ideal: potty training time. The wetness of cloth diapers signals and encourages baby to use the potty.
   
   With my first three, I taught them to stop peeing in bed simply by leaving their diapers off and resigning myself to facing a wet bed in the middle of the night for a few weeks. But with the fourth, I’m going to use these cool cloth diapers with breathable waterproof covers and spare the bed of its nightly “blessing” until the baby’s toilet training is complete.
      
5. Boon Mush. This is my absolute favorite – yes, I saved the best for last. It’s a hand-powered food processor! It’s cheaper than an electric food processor (a big plus for me), it’s noiseless, and – here’s the best part – I can use it for chopping onions without tears! Oh, and yes, it’s good for making fresh baby food too, ha ha.

One thing I’ve noticed is that many of Numa’s products are listed at Amazon.com as “can be shipped only within the U.S.” Therefore, if you’re buying from the Philippines, Numa is a great place to buy baby stuff you otherwise would not be able to get from Amazon (or from other online shops, for that matter)! 

Now for the downside – yes, there is always one. Because I’m an online shopping junkie, I’ve grown accustomed to eBay, where the items you are buying are often described in full detail. Unfortunately, Numa’s online store does not provide full details. It only provides the name of the product and the picture. If you want to know more about the product you’re buying, you'll need to have Amazon.com open in another window. The price is not listed either. You only find out how much a product costs when you add it to your shopping cart. (Of course, if you think it costs too much, you can simply take it out of the cart again.)

As far as the online store is concerned, I would say this lack of details is where Numa's greatest room for improvement lies. 

On the other hand, the brick-and-mortar Numa shop is a cushioned, cozy, warmly lighted little nook that is pleasure to behold. I've also read from Manila Mommy's blog that they serve free oatmeal cookies in the store! So perhaps, the online store’s lack of features is Numa’s way of encouraging us to visit its beautiful offline shop.

To shop at Numa, you can visit their online store, numa.ph, or visit their brick-and-mortar outlet from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday to Saturday, at the AEK Building, 40 E. Rodriguez Sr. Ave. (between Welcome Rotonda and St. Luke’s), Quezon City, Philippines. For more information, you can call them at (632) 732-1522 or 711-9636.

Disclosure: This article is sponsored by Numa. All images belong to Numa. All views and opinions expressed in this article  belong to me; they are uninfluenced and unbiased.

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Paypal and the RCBC Mercury Drug MyWallet Card

(Photo by Toban Black)

Once again, I've received a message from somebody asking for advice on what to do because her Paypal withdrawal to her RCBC Mercury Drug MyWallet card is taking forever to appear in her bank account.

So I'm posting this article to tell you all right now: stop trying to use the RCBC Mercury Drug MyWallet card for your Paypal transactions! It has a bad track record as far as I could see from comments I've received so far on my old article, Withdrawing from Paypal to Metrobank, BDO, and RCBC.

It's true that some people have reported successful transactions for the abovementioned card. But there are also others writing with panic in their "voices":

HI.. ask ko lang nag withdraw ako sa RCBC Mercury Drug MyWallet Card nung Oct, 22 pero hanggang ngayon d pa cia dumadating. ano kaya ang problema bakit ang tagal yata ng delay.. hangang ilang araw ba ang maximum transaction period sa ganito.. slamat..

This comment was sent on October 31, nine days since the reported transaction. Paypal transactions normally take a maximum of five days from the moment you withdraw your money from the Paypal portal to the time your money appears in your bank account.

Or, to be more specific, when you withdraw your money, the transaction appears as "Pending" for about 1 to 2 banking days (holidays and weekends not included). Then it appears as "Completed," meaning that Paypal has completed the paperwork or whatever it does in its back office.

Two to four days after it shows as "Completed," it should appear in your bank account.

In my experience, if I withdraw from Paypal on Monday, the money appears in my bank account on Thursday morning.

Here's another comment:

5 days na eh hindi pa rin dumadating ang CASH from my PAYPAL to my MY WALLET VISA CARD.'.'.' Gaano katagal poh ba ang mga transaction na ganito?

And the most recent one, which came today and prompted me to write this article:

hello po, pwedi nyo po ba ako matulungan. I have a mercury drug my wallet visa card and I successfully linked it to paypal. Nag withdraw po ako nang pera from my paypal balance to my card the problem is hindi pa rin dumadating yung pera ko hanggang ngayon..malapit na mag one month from my withdrawal. .nag withdraw ako last dec. 28, 2011. Completed na yung status. I've been emailing RCBC customer service at sabi nila di pa raw sila nakakatanggap any funds from paypal. Ano po ba dapat ko gawin? baka mawala yung pera ko 

My advice to this last commenter was that she should request a formal statement or document from Paypal, so that she can show it to her bank, to prove that the money has been received by the bank.

She should also get a formal statement from the bank stating that they received no such amount from Paypal.

If she's lucky, her money will be returned to her Paypal account, minus P250 charge for the failed transaction.

That was my advice to her -- but to the rest of you, my advice is this:

Avoid getting into such problematic situations in the first place by simply getting a Unionbank EON card if you can't get a credit card to verify your Paypal account.

Unionbank has a formal arrangement with Paypal; their EON card is the only card I know that makes no deductions whatsoever on the amount you transfer from Paypal. The EON card has zero maintaining balance, though you do have to pay P350 per year to keep using the card.

I have been using my EON card for my Paypal transactions without any problems whatsoever for the last year.

Now, when you apply for your EON card, you may have to wait for two weeks before you get it (never mind that the teller said it would be ready in one week; chances are, you'll have to wait two weeks or more nonetheless -- but it's better to wait for a card for three weeks than to wait for money you transferred from Paypal to MyWallet for a month or more, right?)

Of course, I have my own complaints with the Unionbank EON card: if you try to use it for paying online purchases, it sometimes fails, even when it is sufficiently funded. It has failed me when I tried to use it to buy tickets online from Cebu Pacific. It failed me, too, when I tried to use it to pay for a home study course in California.

But as far as Paypal is concerned, if you don't have a credit card and a regular bank account, the Unionbank EON card is definitely your very best option.

More about the EON card here: How to Use Your UnionBank EON Account

DISCLOSURE: The Nanay Notebook has absolutely no affiliation with Unionbank. Know more about this blog's policy on sponsors and affiliates in our disclosure statement.

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REVIEW: Time4Learning.com

As mentioned in my previous article Educational and Child-Safe Computer Sites, we've signed up at Time4Learning.com, hoping it could help us in our homeschooling.

Time4Learning is a paid site, $20 per month, or approximately Php900. We signed up because during the demo lesson, Josh enjoyed himself so much, he practically begged me to sign up so that he could keep taking more lessons. On my part, I gave in because I liked the idea of a computer giving lessons for me.

It's now been three days since we signed up.

Well designed

One thing I have to commend Time4Learning.com for is that the modules are really very well designed. Josh learned all about contractions, compound words, food chains, water cycles, adding three numbers, and a good number of other things, with very little mental anguish on his part and practically no effort on mine.

The lesson plans take a bit getting used to, but once you become familiar with how it works, it's quite easy to use. If you're following a set curriculum from a different curriculum provider, like we are, you can browse through the lesson plans to find the particular lesson required by your curriculum for the day, note the chapter and subchapter, and click the links to them quite easily.

One feature that I think would have been helpful for users in this situation is a search box, but I couldn't find one anywhere in the site, not even in the forums and in the site map.

If you are homeschooling independently, you could simply set your child free to roam through the subjects, with just the instruction that he needs to complete a certain number of activities per day. Modules that are completed are marked "Complete," so it's easy for you to check what modules your kid has already done and which are still pending.

There is also a reporting feature that lets you view what lessons and activities your child has done throughout the day, and what his or her scores in the exercises and quizzes were.

A record is kept by the system on your child's hours and dates of attendance, as well as activities and scores, so if you're independently homeschooling and need to keep a portfolio, this site would be well worth your money.

All or nothing

But after our two days of use, we cancelled our account with Time4Learning.com. Fortunately, the site has a 100% satisfaction guarantee, so if you cancel your account within 14 days of activation, you get a 100% refund on your payment.

Last night, I received the email saying my refund has been processed and should appear in my account in five days max. I received the refund confirmation less than 24 hours after I cancelled my account.

Why did we cancel?

As I said, the site is great. It's fully featured, well designed.

It was too much of a good thing for me. It made the temptation to relegate all teaching to the computer. I missed teaching my boy -- but at $20 (or nearly Php1,000) per month, I felt obliged to maximize the benefit.

Do you see what my quandary was?

Then, too, there was for me the issue of paying for things we don't really need. Josh loves science so much, he would have learned the lessons from his own voracious reading, even without Time4Learning.com. The record-keeping feature was not of much use to me either because our family does not need a portfolio to get our kids' education validated. We are already enrolled with Kolbe Academy in Napa, CA, so that takes care of validation.

I couldn't shake the thought at the back of my mind that if I only got what I really needed from the site -- that is, the language and math lessons, without record keeping -- I may have needed to pay maybe just $10 per month.

But Time4Learning.com has no such options. It's all or nothing with them.

Recommendation

So would I recommend Time4Learning.com? Yes.

• If you are a working mom with little time to teach your kids personally and want his or her computer time to be productive, or
• If you're homeschooling independently and want an easy record-keeping system to prove that your child has, indeed, been spending a specific number of hours and days in school and that he or she is learning something during those times, or
• If you feel that $20 per month is a small price to pay for the kind of academic mastery that Time4Learning.com will surely help your child to attain,

...if even just one of the abovementioned conditions apply to you, then I think you will be completely satisfied with Time4Learning.com. 

But if you're just looking for exercises to supplement the instruction you already personally give to your child, I would say you could check out the other sites I mentioned in Educational and Child-Safe Computer Sites, which also provide excellent (though not as well organized and not always as didactic) materials for free.

Incidentally, should this review encourage you to sign up for Time4Learning, would you please tell them that you were referred by Lucy Abigail "Abby" Sasscer, the person who had referred me? This would earn for one of her kids a free month of membership. Thank you so much!

DISCLOSURE: This review is not paid for in cash or in kind by any individual or organization, and certainly not by Time4Learning.com. However, if you have an account with them, reviews such as this will merit a $25 honorarium. In the interest of transparency, Time4Learning will require that you post a disclosure statement that you received such sum from the company.

Questions about Time4Learning.com that this post did not answer? Please feel free to ask in the comments below.

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Educational and Child-Safe Computer Sites

Source: Ian Britton FreeFoto.com

If you're reading this post, you must have a computer at home. And if you're like me, your kids probably know how to use it. And you probably worry sometimes too (in my case, I worried often) that your kids may be getting into sites that are not exactly safe for kids.

So when I got this list of child-friendly, educational Web sites from my friend Abby Sasscer, who runs the Sacred Heart Home School, I immediately put the links in the kids' browser white list and blocked everything else! Now I know that even when my kids go online, they're not viewing anything violent, pornographic, obscene, materialistic, hate-filled, etc., etc.

What's more, the sites are educational! Just this afternoon, my son Josh learned all about compound words, contractions, living and non-living things, thunderstorms, ants, and armadillos in his two-hour session at Time4Learning.com.

If you want the same peace of mind that I've recently gained, you might want to check these links out too:

Starfall.com: I use this site for my five-year-old. It contains free activities beginning reading and early literacy.

EWTNKids: Since my family is Catholic, I especially liked this educational Web site by the EWTN Global Catholic Network. It contains all sorts of free activities teaching Catholic kids about their Church and their faith. There are also dot-to-dot puzzles, dress up games, music activities, etc.

Sheppard Software: Has free fun games for all sorts of subjects and grade levels. There was a game where an equation was displayed and you had to shoot the fruit that displayed the correct answer. (The kids were supposed to play it but I couldn't resist and had to "borrow" the mouse just this one time!)

Fact Monster: This site, I found myself when I was looking for arithmetic flash cards for Josh. The flash cards are great for motivating my son to practice math. The rest of the site is filled with activities and materials on other subjects such as sports, science, vocabulary, etc.

Time4Learning: We use this for our homeschooling because it provides U.S. state-standard curriculum (i.e. K-12) and activities for our kids. It's our first day to use it and, as mentioned above, Josh learned a whole bunch of stuff in a two-hour session. There is a free demo, but you have to pay to access the rest of the materials. Cost is $20 per month for the first kid and $15 for all other kids that follow. If you're not homeschooling, you might still consider the program as it is cheaper than getting a tutor -- and more fun.

SpellingCity: This is a sister company of Time4Learning. This site focuses on teaching your kids spelling, parts of speech, and vocabulary. A lot of materials are free. Paid membership, which allows you to register up to five kids in one payment, is just $25 per year.

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Christmas Gift Ideas: Festive Durable Cookware

If you're still looking for gifts for your loved ones, this might be what you've been looking for.

Yesterday, Chef's Classics by Sunnex Products Limited Hongkong released their new line of high-quality cookware called the Sampaguita series.

A splash of color

One look at the image above would explain so well what makes these pots so excellent for celebrating Christmas. They perfectly capture the characteristics of Filipino celebrations: colorful, bright, festive -- and overflowing with food!

Take a closer look at those colors on the pot. They're not just decorations; they're actually the names of Filipino dishes you can cook in each pot or pan.

So if you run out of ideas on what to cook for your guests (or for everyday lunch), all you need is look at your pot and there you have suggestions galore! Pork asado, chicken pastel, sotanghon, halabos na hipon, kare-kare, tortang talong -- not only do the pots and pans give you ideas on what to cook, they also let you know which pot or pan is the right tool for cooking your desired dish! How's that for a great idea?

These pots are so tastefully designed, you can serve your dishes right in them and your Christmas table will be all the better for it.

They're easy to clean too, because they are all lined with nothing less than the original DuPont Teflon. Non-stick linings can't get any more durable than that.

Proper care

Incidentally, during yesterday's media launch, the host taught us the proper way to prime the non-stick coatings of your pots and pans so that they last much longer:

1. Before first use, gently wash the coating with liquid soap and water.
2. Wipe the interior of the pot or pan with cooking oil.
3. Set the pot or pan on the stove and heat until the pan emits smoke.
4. Put the pan aside for 24 hours. You can use it the next day.

Of course, you should also remember to use the proper utensils with your Teflon-coated pots and pans. No metal spoons or spatulas, please. Use only wood or silicon spoons and turners to keep from damaging the Teflon.

Avoid using scrubbers when washing. Steel wool, of course, is a no-no. Just soak the pot or pan, then gently soap away the debris. The non-stick coating will do most of your work for you.

Quality and price

Because the Sampaguita line of Chef's Classics is made by the same Sunnex brand we have known and loved for twenty years in the Philippines, we can still expect the same high quality and durability that Sunnex has always been known for.

The colored designs are made of high quality decals, similar to what fire fighters use on their trucks and fire helmets. They are highly heat resistant. 

In fact, some have observed that the longer you use these pots and pans for cooking, the brighter the colors get. Like Teflon, their only enemy is steel wool, so keep those things away from them.

The bottoms of these pans are made of highly conductive serrated metal, so even if your stove top fire only hits the middle of the pan, the heat quickly spreads evenly throughout the pan's bottom. The serration, on the other hand, keeps your pan from slipping on the stove top.

The vented glass lids make it easy for you to check your food as it cooks without needing to lift the lid, letting precious heat escape. The lids are made with tempered glass and the edges are lined with metal, so they are difficult to break; and in the rare event that they do break, they only split, not shatter, so no dangerous glass shards scatter all over the kitchen floor.

You can get items from the Sampaguita series for as low as Php599.95. If you want to get the full seven-piece set as a gift for a very special someone (or for yourself!), you can do so for just Php4,299.75 at any major department store in the Philippines.

Disclosure: The author attended the media launch of this product. She has not received, nor will she receive, any monetary compensation for this review.

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Need a Business Card? Here's a Good Printer

This nanay has just got her own business cards printed for the first time in her life. (Wow, I feel so important, ha ha ha.)

It was high time, I guess. When you're a freelancer, you've got to make sure people can find you, and sometimes, you do meet people in real life, where a Facebook page doesn't always do the trick.

So last Friday, as work burnout kept me from working, I decided to get some retail therapy by shopping online for some business cards.

I went to Sulit.com.ph and found Bayani Antonio Jr. -- but he prefers to be called Jon.

Printer review

I contacted Jon via e-mail on Thursday morning asking about his charges for business card layout and printing.

I received his reply in an hour: layout is free, 100 pieces minimum (that's one box), but if I order 3 boxes, shipping is free as well. I could pay via bank transfer through BDO or RCBC, or via Paypal. I chose Paypal.

That same evening, I received his layout for the front and back of the card. (Yep, I thought I'd promote my blog at the back and my bread-and-butter in front.)

With a few small edits suggested by my husband, we finalized the layout before I went to bed that "night," which was practically Friday very early morning already. I'm sure all you working moms can relate.

Here is the finalized layout.

FRONT

BACK

The very next day (Friday), the cards were printed in glossy finish, so they look more like plastic than cardboard.

On Saturday, he shipped them out, and this morning, I received them. (Oh how I love getting things by mail. It's one of my secret pleasures, one reason why I do almost all my shopping online.)

Final verdict: I love this guy!

Sulit.com.ph page

I'm pasting Jon's details here from his Sulit.com.ph page because I can't really depend on that ad page link to stay active forever. He's based, I think, in Marilao, Bulacan, so if you're near there, the shipping may cost you less. (He  charged me the regular LBC rate for Luzon-to-Luzon shipping.)

CALLING/BUSINESS CARDS

One(1) side print                        300.00
        With lamination                      375.00
Two (2) side print                       350.00
        With lamination                     425.00
*Card box included

Free delivery via LBC for every 3 boxes

We accept payment thru BDO bank deposit
Account Name:   Bayani S Antonio Jr
Account #: 1840384601
Marilao, Bulacan  branch
or pay with your card thru Paypal

For more info please contact:
                  Jon                   09473938830                  
                  Mon                  09267279482   
                  Cathy               09074560286
                 e-mail: info@jonantonio.net

PS: Jon didn't know I'd be writing about him, so Jon, if you're reading this -- surprise! He he he. Thanks for doing a good job.

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FREE Downloadable Printable Award-Winning (and Perfectly Legal) Children's Books!

I'm supposed to be working to make up for yesterday's lost work day, as I had to play nurse to hubby who had an attack of supraventricular tachycardia (in layman's terms: super-fast heartbeat, super-low blood pressure, very dangerous. It sent him to the ICU in 2009.)

But just as I was about to start working, my friend Rich (pilya, maganda, at may magic powers) sent me this excellent link: http://canvas.ph/downloads.htm.

Mommies (and daddies), if you haven't clicked on the link yet, do so now. It will lead you to this excellent site where you can download wonderful, downloadable, printable, and absolutely free children's books written by Filipino writers. (Tarie, are you reading this?)

What's more, the downloading and printing out are perfectly legal, authorized by the publishers themselves, God bless them!

Of course, once you've read these wonderful, award-winning stories to your kids, you might want to buy the hardback versions. They are available in Fully Booked, the Ayala Museum and at 1/of Gallery in Serendra.

Let's support Philippine literature and early literacy! And cheers to free books!

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Transfer Money from Unionbank EON to Other Bank Accounts

I've just discovered a great feature in Unionbank's EON online banking system: It lets me transfer from my Unionbank account to other bank accounts such as BPI, BDO, Metrobank, Citibank, etc.

Why am I so happy about this? Why, it means I can now buy anything I want from eBay without having to leave the house! (Well, theoretically, anyway, he he he.)

Once upon a time, I could only buy from sellers who accepted Paypal and Gcash payments because it wasted so much time for me to have to go out and make a bank deposit. (When you're a freelancer whose pay is based on output, you gain a whole new appreciation of the adage "Time is gold.")

But with this Unionbank feature that lets me transfer to other banks, I can shop all I like!

Now all I need is the money to shop with.

How to use the local bank transfer feature

Truth is, I'm not sure if this is a new feature. It may have been right under my nose all along, but I didn't know because the first time I clicked on Unionbank's "Transfers" link, the only option it gave me was "To another Unionbank/EON account."

But the other day, seredipitously, I noticed the "Requests" link in my EON online portal. I clicked on it and saw this link: "Local Bank Transfer Request."

And there it was! The key to transferring to external banks!

I clicked on "Local Bank Transfer Request," filled out the form, waited three days, and the rest, as you know, is written in the first few paragraphs of this blog article.

And that ends my story. As usual, if you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Now if you'll please excuse me, I need to go to eBay and search for lovely things I could now buy -- if only I had the money! (Ha ha ha.)

PS: I tried testing it just now and discovered that the minimum transfer amount to other banks is Php500. You also have to wait three days before your transfer is reflected in the other account, and there is a cut off time of 1:00 p.m. Manila time. (It's pretty much like depositing a cheque.)

UPDATE: Banks charge various amounts to receive your transfer. This is true even if the banks' customer service officers say they don't.

For instance, if you send P1,000 to BDO, the amount that will be reflected will only be P800. BDO deducts P200 to receive your transfer. BPI charges P150. Metrobank charges P78. I'm not sure how much the other banks charge.

What about you? Have you used this Unionbank feature before? Do tell us about your experience!

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FREE Internet Protection for Our Kids

I have another confession to make: I let my kids go online.

Forgive me Father, for I have sinned. Yes, sometimes when I'm busy doing stuff away from the computer (ie, getting some food into my body or getting some food out of), the kids beg to be allowed to use the computer to watch movies or go to Google Earth.

Now how could a mom refuse a kid who asks, "Mom, may I please go to Google Earth and learn more about the Earth, the moon and Mars?"

(No, he doesn't really say that. The mother's brain fills it in.)

But recently, the boy has learned to go to YouTube to look for cartoons, or to PlayHub, which he discovered when one of my jobs entailed me to write descriptions of online games. (Yes, once upon a time, I played Flash games for a living. It could have been nice, but there was a constant crowd of people at my back disturbing me while I was trying to Learn to Fly -- I mean, write.)

So for a few days, I kept worrying that he might one day chance upon those nasty things we sometimes see in video, image, or game portals -- you moms and dads know what I'm talking about.

I wanted to install one of those Internet filtering systems we've all heard so much about -- NetNanny, CyberNanny, etc. -- but they were expensive! (Okay, they were $39 dollars. That's 20 orders from Dairy Queen, you know.)

Fortunately, I found a free one, and I've been using it for three days now. It's so strict, it won't even let me search Google images if I don't type in my password.

The first time I checked, though, it let me open the dreaded games portal. But a quick adjustment to the setting and it was all set to block anything with games.

Now I can have more peace of mind when I leave the kids with the computer (for just a very short time, really!).

Anyway, you waited long for this so here it is: K9 Web Protection. Go get it installed in your computer now.

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Discount Coupon from Zebebe Baby Products Online Store

Here's another online store I'm sure you mommies would like to know about as well.  

Zebebe.com sells baby products and ships them to Philippine addresses for a mere Php100 for Metro Manila buyers and Php200 for provincial buyers.

Now we can buy top-brand toys, clothes, books, and other baby stuff right from the comfort of our own homes!

What do I like about Zebebe.com?

Why, they accept PayPal payments! You can also pay through BDO and Gcash.

What can you find at Zebebe.com? They have

• toys, 
• children's books, 
• clothing and shoes,
• breast- and bottle-feeding gear, 
• health care gadgets, 
• head and body supports, 
• stroller accessories, 
• blankets, and 
• diaper bags.

And they hold an assortment of brands, including Baby Einstein, Crocs, Fisher-Price, Lamaze, Lansinoh, LeapFrog, Medela, Philips Avent, Playtex, and Manhattan Toy.

My favorite feature is the price filter, which lets you browse products by price.

And if your purchase exceeds Php2,000, shipping is free!

What don't I like about Zebebe.com?

The number of product options are still somewhat limited. For instance, they only have three items for Dr. Seuss books:

1. a 5-book beginner collection (The Cat in the Hat, Fox in Socks, Hop on Pop, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, and my all-time favorite, Green Eggs and Ham.)
2. Dr. Seuss's ABC (which is a fun book, by the way. I got ours three years ago, and my kids love it), and
3. Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can you? 

(I must add, though, that these eight books are great, and every child's library should have them!)

For breast pumps, they only have the Medela Harmony manual pump, which has received great reviews online -- but it is not a double-breast pump, which I think every working mom should have.

And there was this lovely tier dress that I so wanted for my 4-year-old, but it only came in one size: 6-9 months. Awwwwwww :-(

Finally, their customer service is rather slow at replying to e-mails, and they haven't published a landline number, which is weird, considering that their store seems to be based locally.

Recommendation

Overall, it's a nice online store. I can guarantee you this: you can't visit it without finding something you would want to buy.

And by the way, if you do decide to purchase something, here's a coupon code that you can input to get a Php50 discount on your purchase: nanaynotebook. (Use the Php50 to buy your kid ice cream or a cheeseburger.)

Happy shopping!

Disclosure: The Nanay Notebook and its author did not receive any compensation for this review. We are not affiliated with Zebebe.com. But yes, we may use the coupon code too, to get our own Php50 discount!

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Site Review: Human Nature Online Cosmetics and Hygiene Products Store

I'm a fan of online shopping. Why, with three kids to dress and lug around every time I go out of the house, it's a blessed relief to be able to shop in my pajamas and sitting on a chair.

And what's my favorite online shopping site of all time? Human Heart Nature.

Disclosure: The Nanay Notebook and its author are in no way affiliated with Human Heart Nature. We are receiving absolutely nothing for this review.

What's Human Heart Nature?

Human Heart Nature is an online store of natural products:

• cosmetics (lipsticks, mineral face powder, foundation);
• beauty products (moisturizers, toners, lotions, lip balms, scrubs); 
• hygiene products (hand sanitizers, shampoo, facial wash, feminine wash);
• etc. (anti-mosquito, massage oil).

It is the brainchild of Gawad Kalinga volunteers Anna Meloto-Wilk, Dylan Wilk and Camille Meloto. The company employs Gawad Kalinga residents and gets raw materials from Philippine farms, giving a good source of income to Filipino non-rice farmers.

What do I like about Human Nature?

I like their advocacy, but I also like their prices and the convenience I get from shopping with them, and the quick and cheap shipping!

We all know how expensive natural products can get. But you can get Human Nature products at prices very similar to store prices for regular products.

And when I order them online, I have the benefit of seeing customer reviews first, so I know which products to choose, and what to expect. So far, I have bought their

• Aloe Vera and Lemongrass Nourishing Shampoo
• Moringa Facial Wash
• Triclosan-free Sugarcane Hand Sanitizer
• Citronella Bug Spray
• Moisturizing Shampoo and Body Wash: Egg White and Aloe Vera
• Mango Butter Conditioner
• Bee Propolis and Beeswax with Calendula Lip Balm, Watermelon Flavor
• Sunflower Beauty Oil (for lightening stretch marks and underarms)
• Goat's Milk and Cocoa Hand and Body Lotion, Strawberry Scent (I think this scent has been phased out. what they have now are coconut, mango, and guava.) 
• Eucalyptus and VCO Moisturizing Massage Oil
• Aloe Vera and Chamomile Baby Shampoo and Baby Wash
• Aloe Vera Children's Shampoo
• Triclosan-free Acapulco Anti-Bacterial Hand Soap
• Super Fruits and Black Rice Grain Exfoliating Facial Scrub

I've liked them all (also because I always check the user reviews before I purchase anything). You can see some of my reviews at Nature-friendly Beauty.

I pay using my PayPal credits or, if those are zeroed out, I can use my credit card. There is also a bank deposit option.

Then I add Php80 for shipping, and I usually receive my order the next working day! How's that for instant gratification?

What makes Human Nature different from other "natural" product manufacturers?

So-called natural products are a dime a dozen nowadays because there is no government regulation of the term "natural."

But Human Nature takes "natural" seriously, so it has created its internal standards for its products. When Human Nature says "natural," it means

1. the ingredients are biodegradable and at least 95% natural, the same standard set by the Natural Products Association in the USA;
2. the ingredient come from a renewable resource with no petroleum compounds and be processed in a way which is not damaging to the environment;
3. a non-natural ingredient is only permitted if there is no readily available natural alternative and the ingredient meets strict criteria regarding human and environmental safety and biodegradability.

Human Nature also has its brick-and-mortar store where you can shop physically at 463 Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City, plus a good number of dealers all over the Philippines.

To learn more about Human Nature, visit their site at http://humanheartnature.com.

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Xend Express Now Picks Up in San Mateo and Rodriguez, Rizal

I received great news from Xend Express today: Starting March 16 (that's today) they will be picking up packages in San Mateo and Rodriguez, Rizal, as well!


(The offer used to be just for Metro Manila, Cainta, Taytay, and Antipolo.)

This means I can send packages again without ever having to leave the house. I can revive my eBay sales, which had suffered ever since Air21 stopped offering their free pick-up service. (I think Air21 still does free pick up, but only if your shipping fee reaches at least Php1000.)

 Anyway, I just thought I'd share this bit of welcome information to all you moms (and dads) out there in San Mateo and Montalban (a.k.a. Rodriguez), Rizal. Xend Express has reached us, whoopee!

For more information on Xend Express services, you may visit their Web site at http://www.xend.com.ph or call their customer service hotline at (02) 960-8282.

Disclosure: The Nanay Notebook and its author are in no way affiliated with Human Heart Nature. We are receiving absolutely nothing for this review.

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