Best Global Brands Ranking for 2010

I saw this from a link posted on Facebook:


Coke is number 1! Yey, Coke!!!

To view the rest of the list, click here: Best Global Brands Ranking for 2010

Love will be our home

There's a song stuck in my head for a long time. Thing is, I remember the tune and most of the lyrics to the song. But I can't remember exactly where I got it from. I remember this much though, I must have learned it sometime when I was in high school.

Since I had a little free time tonight, and the song is playing repeatedly in my head again, I decided to Google it. I found out that the song is "Love will be our home" by Sandi Patty.

Sandi Patty.

I remember now. Sandi Patty is a gospel singer and I used to love her songs when I was younger. I think I had a couple of her albums on cassette tapes (whatever happened to those, I wonder?).

Anyway, here are the lyrics to her song... the song that has been stuck in my head for over a decade:

Love will be our home

by: Sandi Patty

If home is really where the heart is

Then home must be a place that we all share

For even withour difference our hearts are much the same

And where love is we come together there.

Wherever there is laughter ringing

Someone smiling, someone dreaming

We can live together there

Love will be our home.

Where there are children singing

Where a tender heart is beating

We can live together there

Love will be our home

With love our hearts can be a family

And hope can bring this family face to face

And though we may be far apart our hearts can be as one

When love brings us together in one place.

Wherever there is laughter ringing

Someone smiling, someone dreaming

We can live together there

Love will be our home.

Where there are words of kindness spoken

Where a vow is never broken

We can live together there

Love will be our home

Love will, love will be our home (4x)

Motherhood 101: What do you think of nursery rhymes?

We bought Andrea a nursery rhymes CD a few months ago. But it was only recently when we put the CD on the car stereo to entertain Andrea during short trips that I noticed that some are a little... violent :-/

Some of the rhymes I know from my own childhood (i.e. think Jack and Jill with Jack breaking his head). Some I know I've heard but was never really too familiar with the words. Well, Andrea's CD came with a song book so now I can review those rhymes in detail:

1. Sing a Song of Sixpence

Sing a song of sixpence

A pocketful of rye;

Four and twenty blackbirds

Baked in a pie; (Janelle: eeeeew much???)

2. Three Blind Mice

Three blind mice (2x)

See how they run (2x)

They all ran after the farmer's wife

Who cut of their tails with a carving knife...

3. Five Little Ducks

Five little ducks went swimming one day

Over the pond and far away

Mother duck said "Quack! Quack! Quack!"

But only four little ducks came back.

(Janelle: Song continues until finally no little ducks came back... I'm wondering what to tell Andrea when she's old enough to ask whatever happened to the little ducks she likes so much)

4. Goosey, Goosey Gander

...There I met an old man

Who wouldn't say his prayers

So I took him by the left leg

And threw him down the stairs (Janelle: need I say more?)

Doll Dresses

After I cleaned up the little girl dolls from Andrea's stash, I lost interest in the 2 Barbie dolls that came with it. Both Barbie dolls were in good condition but their hair were a little messy, their gowns a little dated, and they didn't have any shoes. At the time I was able to straighten their hair a little using hot water: pour hot (supposed to be boiling... but I was afraid of scalding my hands) water on the doll's hair, then comb (to straighten) or style and allow to dry (to set). I'm an amateur at this (and I didn't use boiling water as instructed), so it didn't turn out as neatly as I had hoped. I will probably try again.

Anyway, I have also been downloading doll dress patterns online and have been excited to make my own for a while. I was so inspired by the DIY doll dresses I saw online. Those people make it look so effortless! However, after I tried making a pair of pants and seeing the outcome... let's just say that's when I lost interest. I planned to just buy Barbie clothes at the mall but they were a little expensive so I put it off and told myself, I'll wait until Andrea and Helaena are old enough to appreciate the Barbie dolls before I spend money on it.
Last weekend however, while shopping at the mall, I saw a few dresses for a doll named "Haidee". I think it's made locally. The gowns are being sold for only P100 (around $2.50) each. The quality was not as good as the original clothes made by Mattel but some look good enough. I chose one and bought it to see if it will fit the doll:

It does!! And the dress is not bad either.

I'll buy more when I get the chance to go back to the mall.

More good news on the doll arena... last weekend, I also went to Divisoria (THE flea market of Manila). I saw doll dresses as well and they only sell for P40 (less than $1). I also bought one but it doesn't fit as well as the one I got at the mall. But they also sell doll shoes that fit Barbie dolls for only P25 (around $0.25) per pack! And each pack contains 3 pairs of shoes. I'll post pictures when I get around to taking proper photos.