TOPAZ HORIZON

I got this from WendyB's fantabulous fashion blog, Wendy Brandes Jewelry. I plan to follow in her footsteps--she used to work for CNN and People.com and now she's a jewelry designer and woman extraordinaire! Someday, I'll be just like that!
Now, this award is funny--WendyB made it out of guilt (haha) for all the people who gave her awards or tagged her and she forgot to thank them or pass the awards/tags along. Since I tagged her twice and may have given her an award, too, I grabbed and claimed this Seal of Approval! I know WendyB will approve.

Kae of Accidentally inLOVE also told me that she nominated my blog for Nuffnang's Asian Bloggers awards. Wow, thanks! I hardly qualify, though--this blog is not well designed, not influential and everything else Nuffnang requires an award-winning blog to be! But super duper thanks, Kae! And happy birthday!

I asked my readers to pray for little Mio who is suffering leukemia. And I'm happy to report that many of you have not only opened your hearts but also your wallets! In the 3 days since I asked for your help, we've raised PHP 8,000! Someone in faraway New York sent dollars and some bought beauty products (shop here), the proceeds of which will all go to Mio's chemotherapy.

Thank you! I've always believed in the goodness of man and the kindness of strangers and I'm grateful to you for affirming this.

Anyway, I'll be posting more products on my beauty blog this week as we need to raise more funds. If you wish to donate, you can send to my PayPal email address: prettypeddler@yahoo.com.ph. You can also deposit your gifts to this account: Charisse F. Espinar, BDO-SM City, Savings Acct # 0670 385 018. Please address checks to Charisse Espinar.

God bless you for your generosity!

Looooooong weekend! I spent it doing inventory of beauty products to sell for Mio's leukemia treatment. I've added more stuff on my beauty blog so please check that out and do buy! It's for a good cause.

The weekend was also spent finishing the trilogy His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. Well, that was an interesting read. I won't say a lot about it except to say that I enjoyed it very much despite these:
1. I'm a fundamentalist Christian so reading a work that glorifies a second rebellion against God was a bit disturbing.
2. While the storytelling was fantastic, I really don't like it when the message is spelled out for you--this patronizes the reader: "If you didn't get it yet, this is what I'm saying!" Towards the end of the last book, The Amber Spyglass, the author begins to editorialize and starts really hammering home his message. Like, SHOUTING it. That's not a very good thing to do. If you've written it well, there's no need for the preaching. The writer has to trust that his reader got his message.

Anyway, aside from that technical glitch, the books were amazing. But I'm warning you now that if you're from a Judeo-Christian background, you may not like the trilogy. Its main message is the destruction of the Almighty God. I won't go into a theological discussion here. But I did tell God at my bedtime prayer, "Father, I'm thankful that I live in a universe that has You as its Sovereign Lord because though life isn't perfect, I feel loved by You. And that's just perfect."

My dear readers,

I am storming the gates of heaven for a little boy I hardly know. His name is Jose Emilio, or Mio, he is 5 years old and he is fighting for his life.

I know his mother, Jasmine Mendiola. We used to work together--she's the former fashion editor of Total Girl and she's a makeup artist so we've been at a couple of shoots in the past.

Jasmine is a fighter, very tough and very strong. I only hope her beautiful child inherited some of her strength because he's going to need it in his fight against leukemia. Mio has acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), a cancer of the white blood cells. These cells fight infections. When a person has ALL, his body has a harder time fighting infections.How does one even explain to a five-year-old kid that his body has rebelled against him? The diagnosis was made just this week so we are all just reeling from the shock and praying, praying, praying. Jasmine has started a blog--it's very raw and emotional and reading it is heartbreaking. I can't even imagine what she is going through as she writes:

"He knows he’s sick and yet he remains thankful to God in our evening prayer for the toys he receives, for the nurses and the medicine that will help his 'owie' go away. I have yet to give him the world I promised him.

I think you’ll all agree when I say that Mio deserves this army. His childhood is the war I wage. I’ve always thought I had forever with my little boy and I used to just want it to pass us by so he can be a grown man, the kind who is everything good, smart, healthy and handsome.

I’ll have to put that on hold and fight this battle NOW... I have nothing but your love and support although I hate being over-bearing. But like any parent, I will beg, borrow or steal. But we are good people with kind hearts. I can only ask for you to rally the gates of heaven so my son—and all the other children in the world unjustly suffering this illness to have a chance at a normal and yes, dramatic life."

At this point, we all don't know how to make this mother's pain go away so I will very humbly ask my readers to help Mio fight his leukemia by donating whatever amount you can to help finance his chemotherapy. We will appreciate anything you can give at all!
If you wish to contact Jasmine, please visit her blog, The Enemy in Mio's Body. And please keep Mio in your prayers. We need those most of all. Thank you!

DONATION UPDATE: Gosh, the PayPal donate button isn't working. Sorry! (Thanks, Rowie for telling me about that!) While I try to figure out how that works, the PayPal email address to send your donation to is prettypeddler@yahoo.com.ph. I'll coordinate with Jasmine on how we can make donating easier--I know some of you prefer G-Cash or bank transfers. Again, thank you! Please spread the word!

ANOTHER UPDATE: I'm selling beauty products to raise money for Mio's treatment. Go to my beauty blog (click here) and please shop! Thank you!

all photos from Jasmine's Facebook account

First of all, I'm not angry anymore. After listening to me rant and rave like a lunatic last Tuesday night, my husband wryly told me, "Well, if you handle trash, expect your hands to get dirty."

Indeed. So I won't complain anymore even if I am now a lot poorer because I just paid for some celebrity's new clothes. The company will reimburse the cost so I'm not too upset except that I'll have to watch my spending until the check comes!

On to better news, I will happily share what's making me really excited today:It's an ant killer! It's a poisonous substance that attracts the little critters. It doesn't kill them right away. Instead, it's more insidious, allowing the ants to bring the substance back to the nest and feed the queen ant and larvae ants with the poison. It's fascinating to watch... and a bit horrifying, too, as the ants come out full force to devour the poison. So you'll have to replenish with a drop or two because the ants get really greedy. Then after a few days, no more ants! There are absolutely no ants in the house now!!!This is such a fantastic find! Now if someone can just make a batch of this stuff for that celebrity pest... I kid, I kid!

Terro Ant Killer is available at Handyman for just PHP 149.75.