Sunday Pancakes

Today is Sunday and I decided to whip up some pancakes for morning's breakfast. Instead of the usual regular pancakes, I gave in to my demolition team's (my kids) request to try the chocolate flavored pancakes. Most of my kids, as you know, have food allergies, and chocolates are included in the list of foods that should be avoided. Thus, the grocery list was revamped with all chocolate based food products removed. Still, I settled in buying that chocolate flavored pancake sitting in the grocery shelf thinking that it wouldn't hurt if they eat this. Besides, moderate or controlled exposure to it would help them get over their sensitivity to chocolates.

So, they watch in full force as I cook the pancakes taking turns dipping their fingers in the batter. They even requested baby pancakes. Once cooked, they gobbled it up with every bite saying "yummy", "mmm".

Children are so easy to please. They take pleasure and appreciate the small things in life that we, as adults, tend to dismiss. Perhaps, if we could only rekindle the "children" in ourselves then happiness would not be so hard to find.

Pet Flowerhorn

One of the things that relaxes me is our pet Flowerhorn. I like staring at it and admiring its vibrant color and hump. Our Flowerhorn has been with us for close to a year. We bought it when it was just little and now it's bigger than my hand.

This is our second attempt to take care of this kind of fish. The first one died because of overfeeding. My kids would take turns feeding it, not being being conscious that it is already overfed. After having suddenly a dead fish, I searched the Internet as to proper ways to take care of it.

They say that owning a Flowerhorn brings you luck depending on the patterns on its body. The patterns, when seen up close, resembles Chinese characters. The more pronounced the patterns are, the better. The hump, on the other hand, signifies long life which is preferred by Flowerhorn breeders. It is also a solitary fish by nature. You can't mix it with other fishes. Abrupt changes can bring stress to this fish which could make it ill. However, once it has adjusted, taking care of it will be a breeze. It thrives on fish food made especially for Flowerhorns and worms are given as a special treat.

Well, for me, luck or no luck, I don't care. I still love our fish. He's a part of our family and looking at him for a few minutes is enough to find a moment of tranquility.

Marketing Trend

My friend contacted me last week asking if they can get me and my daughter to join a focus group discussion for a chocolate drink company. They were looking for moms with a 7 to 9 year old child and somehow I fit the profile.

So yesterday, at 5 pm, they came into my house and posed all sorts of questions mainly focusing on my relationship with my daughter and what sorts of things do we do together. They presented to me pictures of prospective packaging for their product and asked what appealed to me most and why. They also showed various pictures of what would describe my relationship with my daughter. The discussion lasted for about 2 hours wherein they ended it by giving a token of their appreciation for the time I spent with them.

It was a breeze and surprisingly I enjoyed the whole thing. Today’s research companies use a lot of these focus group discussions to get a feel of what consumers want in their product. Gone are the days wherein they would do the surveys via phone. They would rather spend time and resources on really getting to know their market before launching a new ad on TV or print.

A wise decision, I would say. It would definitely save them heaps of of money.

A Merge of Colors

Above is the picture of an opening decoration of the Landmark supermarket in Trinoma mall. It was so eye-catching that a lot of people stopped to admire it. The artist who did it was good since he was able to transform the simple balloons into a striking ornament.

The balloon decoration mixed in two shades of green and orange colors complemented everything, even the red background wall. It is similar to 2 people in a relationship having different personalities, beliefs and attitudes. No two persons are alike and this definitely makes us more interesting than our animal counterpart. Imagine the balloons all done in the same colors. Would it have been attractive? Striking? I don't think so. It would be bland and monotonous; the same way when two people living together have the same viewpoint and behavior.

Yes, there would be less friction, less conflict but it would definitely be dull, uninteresting and worst, mind-numbing. Our creator intended to have variety in His human creation. We have to believe that out of another person, one can learn and that the weakness of another person can be the strength of another. In the end, we may have different, sometimes opposing views but it adds flavor and spice to what we call LIFE.