WAHM - What is It About

Work At Home Mom | Work At Home Mother | WAHM

Image grabbed from Google

A Work At Home Mother or simply put WAHM, is a woman who has a child (or children) that she takes care of at home but at the same time finds time to work and earn money while doing the job at home.

In this day and age, it is not new to find a mother who does not only take care of the household but also runs a company or reports to her clients or manages her own business.

Basically, the roles of mothers have evolved over the years making them now as providers/co-providers for the family.

So what exactly can a WAHM do?

1. Online English Tutorial

2. Virtual Assistance

3. Data Entry Encoding

4. Transcriptions

5. Content Writing

6. Social Media Management

7. Online Selling

8. Vlogging

9. Consultancy

10. Customer Service


And the list goes on...

These women are just unstoppable!

And you know what is amazing about this? It is the fact that they get the job done at home!

So you see, there are so many job opportunities available online that moms can take advantage of. It is basically up to them to find out which niche they think they're good at and then take it from there.

It is not easy for sure especially with all the household chores that need to be done, children to be taken cared of and husband to served. However, it is possible.

No wonder mothers are considered as one of the modern day heroes these days.

So, have you got something else to add to the list? Feel free to share your thoughts on the comment section.

One of the countless WAHMs all over the world,

Ann Mathew

Revival

I can't believe it! Has it really been THAT long since I last blogged? Well, it has been two years, six months and three days to be exact since my last blog post. WOW! Just W to the O-W wow!

Anyway, I'm back! Expect fresh content from yours truly in the coming days. I'm just in the process of listing down the topics I want to write about and I'm also going to fix my blogging schedule since I'm planning to open a couple more blog sites about two different topics.

So, allow me to leave now so I can work on my topic list. See ya again soon!

In the meanwhile, let me share with you a lyric video of Selena Gomez' song called Revival. I feel like I've just been revived after all these years plus I'm a fan of Selena so yeah. Enjoy!

My Good Friday Flashbacks

WARNING: Some photos may be disturbing for you so read at your own risk.

I could not help but get nostalgic today because I am sorely missing my home country during this time of the year, the Holy Week. So I've decided to check my photo archives and voila! I found my Holy Week snaps back in 2008 using just my mobile phone.

If you still do not know where I am from, let me tell you that I am from the country that is made up of 7, 107 islands called Philippines. It is located in South East Asia along with Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia and a few more countries.

If I am not mistaken, we are the only Christian country in that region and being a nation with majority of its people as Christians, Holy Week is one of the most important events that we celebrate. Basically, the Holy Week commemorates the last few moments of Christ before His resurrection or what is more known as Easter.

Mamusan Krus Magdarame

Magpalaspas Magdarame

Mamusan Krus Magdarame without their crosses

In the Philippines, there are Holy Week traditions that Christians religiously observe during this time of the year. For example, in Pampanga, my beloved hometown, Catholic devotees would have their Pabasa / Pabasa ng Pasyon (Reading of the Passion). This is a popular Holy Week ritual wherein devotees will chant the life, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ thru a narrative that is composed of carefully selected words to fit the eight syllables per stanza requirement. Everyone is welcome to chant during the Pabasa and I have had my own chanting experiences.

Our Puni back in 2008

Our puni has been using the same Pabasa Bible ever since I could remember!

Our Pabasa handwritten in Capampangan

Anyway, aside from the Pabasa, penitence rituals is another famous Holy Week tradition in Pampanga. Catholic penitents believe that one of the ways to repent for their sins is to experience what Christ had experience before He was crucified. Some penitents or magdarame in Capampangan (a local Pampanga dialect) would carry a huge wooden cross just like what Christ had carried and walk their way to every puni (a makeshift area where Pabasa is being held) and church that they can visit usually barefoot. These penitents are called mamusan krus (in Capampangan) / nagpapasan ng krus (in Filipino). Another kind of penitents are those who self-flagellate known as magpalaspas (in Capampangan) or nagpapalaspas (in Filipino). Their backs are deliberately wounded so they'll start bleeding and then these flagellants would start hitting their bleeding backs with their palaspas (a whip with a bunch of wooden sticks in the end). There are also those called magsalibatbat (in Capampangan) who crawl their way to the puni or church. Lastly, there are those penitents who get themselves nailed on the cross during Good Friday. They are called kristos.

 

 

In our street where we have our very own puni, the penitents who visit are those from the first three kinds. We do not have the kristos because those penitents are usually found in Cutud, San Fernando, Pampanga. It gets flocked by local and even foreign tourists during Good Friday to see penitents get nailed on the cross.

Station of The Cross Procession

Devotees joining the Station of the Cross Procession

Children at night waiting for more magdarames.

The children are the barkers whenever there's a magdarame coming so that the people in the puni will start the special Pabasa chant for magdarames.

Since today is Good Friday and I cannot feel its presence here at our current "home away from home", I could not help but get sentimental. It is because aside from the spiritual and religious aspect of this day, being together with my family and watching movies like The Ten Commandments and eating mader's sweet dish are what make my Holy Week truly special.

Okay, I am officially SUPER homesick right now. Somebody take me to the Philippines please!

Simple, Quick and Healthy Granola Bars

I have a confession to make. I have never eaten a granola bar ever until this day. No, it has nothing with taste aversion or allergy (thank God!) or unavailability. I guess I just did not have the chance or a reason to uhm, well, have it.

You see, almost all my life, I grew up not eating my vegetables and even fruits. I don't know the reason why but yeah, I grew up with a very unhealthy body. Fortunately, because of Babs, I started eating healthier food. I can eat lots of greens and fruits now without that puke feeling building inside me and I can really feel something good is happening in my system. I still eat unhealthy stuff like chips, pizza and other junk loaded with preservatives every now and then but I make it a point to try to balance it out or at least make up for it by eating clean food most of the time.

Good thing I survey everything that our nearby grocery store offers because it helps me whenever I'm looking for a dish that I want to try my hands on. In this place where we are currently at, sad to say, availability of ingredients can be very challenging especially if you are looking for non-Indian products. For example, we have pork here but you can't choose the cut you want to buy, what you see is what you get. No bacon, no ham, just pork meat. I'm not complaining because AT LEAST they have pork! Anyway, so why am I telling you all this? It's because I've seen our store sell dates and nobody or maybe only a few people are buying them. Since I am also clueless as to what I can do with it, I just ignore it and carry on with my grocery shopping. But ever since I read the perfect granola recipe I'm looking for online, I knew the day has finally arrived where I can no longer ignore those sweet looking dates crying "Pick me!" "Buy Me!" to every individual passing by their lane.

Going back to granola bars, I've read that these munchies are great post workout snacks and that they can even be used as a substitute for an entire meal. And since I've been on the prowl for easy and healthy recipes online that I can try, I've decided to give granola bars a go. The perfect and awesome recipe I found was from Minimalist Baker. Imagine, the recipe only calls for FIVE, yes, you read it right! FIVE ingredients only and it uses natural sweeteners instead of the usual processed sugar which is a BIG deal for me. Now let me share with you the recipe and the little tweaks I made.

Five-Ingredient Granola Bars Ingredients

• 2 cups oats (I used quick oats because that's the only thing available here.)
• 1 cup seedless dates
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup almond

Procedure

1. Pan roast the oats for a couple of minutes under low flame. Stir the oats every 30 seconds to roast the other side. Once done, transfer in a mixing bowl.
2. Grind/Blend the dates using the blade for milling dry ingredients. If you have a food processor, you can also use that. If the dates are dry and hard, try soaking them in water for at least 10 minutes before grinding/blending them. Once done, transfer in the mixing bowl where the roasted oats are in.
3. Mix together the honey and peanut butter in a saucepan under low flame then pour in the mixing bowl.
4. Throw in the almonds in the mixing bowl and mix all the ingredients together until everything has been evenly distributed. I used my hands to mix everything together. You can use a spatula if you're not comfortable using your hands.
5. In a shallow rectangular container, cover the bottom and sides with a cling wrap then spread the granola mixture in the container. Since I do not have that kind of container, I just used a rectangular plate, covered it with cling wrap, spread the granola mixture and shaped it using my hands. Make sure that you push the mixture in on all sides so that everything will bond together and not crumble later when slicing.
6. Chill the granola in the fridge for 30 minutes.
7. Remove the granola from the fridge and cut it into bars of equal proportion, serve and enjoy!

*You can keep the remaining granola bars in the fridge and they're good for consumption for a few days.

There you have it! I'm just soooo pleased with the way it turned out that I decided to share it with you guys asap.

Til next time!

My April Challenge

Since I had a hard time completing last month's challenge, I decided to keep this month's goals a bit easier to achieve. Not because so I can succeed in all of them without exerting much effort because I know I still will but because I want it to be more realistic and more practical with my current situation.

I know I am starting this monthly challenge two weeks late but I believe that I can still definitely do a lot of good things for the rest of the month. And it's not like I was not doing anything productive lately. It just so happens that I got caught up with personal matters and other stuff that I did not have the time, the energy and yeah, even the motivation to log in and share something with you. Anyways, I think what matters now is that I am back and I am ready to share some awesome experiences and learnings to every online reader who will stumble upon my blog.

Now moving forward, so for the rest of April, I've decided to publish at least 10 posts for this blog (AY = Ankamil Yepuda). I need to halt my second blog right now because I do not have the time for it since I am working on something else as of the moment.

As for my health goals, I will still do my best to do some exercises at least once a week but for this month, I will focus more on what my body is taking in and I think drinking green smoothie and limiting my rice intake are both good starters. Also, since I gained back (sadly) the 1 inch I lost last February on my waistline, I will do my best to lose it back again at the end of this month. Lastly, my last goal, learn to cook two new dishes, will not only feed my hungry belly but it will also enrich my cooking knowledge.

So there you have it! I shall now log out and start working on these goals and I'll meet you all again by the end of the month or on the 1st of May hopefully to share with you the good news about succeeding this month's challenge!

Enjoy the rest of the month guys!

My March Challenge? FAIL!

Whenever I look at My March Challenge, I could not help but sigh a deep sigh because all of my goals were not really that difficult to accomplish and yet, I still failed a couple of them.

It's just that last month was kind of a crazy month for me due to personal matters and forgive me because I will not be giving further details about it because I'd like to keep them private. It's just that it can be really challenging to accomplish something properly when your mind is preoccupied with something else. Also, the continuously warming and humid weather is not helping especially when it comes to working out.

So yeah, because I failed my March challenge, I am gonna have to sacrifice something. I have been dreaming of and drooling for some ice cream lately because of the summer heat. But because I didn't achieve all my goals last month, I will not allow myself to have any of that cold, creamy, smooth and sweet goodness until the rest of April.

I know that it's almost the third quarter of April now but I believe that I can still accomplish goals before the month ends so I am still gonna give it a go. Find out what my goals are for this month on the next post which will be up right after this one.

What about you, did you meet or are you meeting your personal goals as of this moment? And what do you do when you fail to accomplish them?

Feel free to share your experiences guys!

Stay tuned because my April Challenge post is up next!

Still Alive and Very Much Kicking!

Hear ye! Hear ye!

Ankamil Yepuda is still alive and very much kicking!

See? I'm still here!!!

My apologies for the lack of posts for the past few weeks. I got tied up with some very important personal matters hence my absence in the online world. Anyways, I'm back and have already lined up a number of posts that I will be publishing in the coming days so watch out for them.

In order to really make up for my absence, I'll be sharing with you guys a couple of awesome places that you can include in your must visit bucket list, food trip ideas and some simple but awesome recipes for a healthier you. I hope that you will enjoy and even get a few tips from them once they are up.

Also, for those who have read about my monthly challenges, you may be asking now, "Whatever happened to your March challenge and why have you not shared with us your April challenge til now?". Worry no more because I have a separate post for that which will be published next after this one.

So yeah, I hope you guys had a great weekend! It's getting warmer and warmer here where we are currently staying at. If only there's a nearby beach here that we can visit and soak ourselves in. In my homeland, the Philippines, this is that time of the year wherein it is all about hitting the waters! Oh well...

Take me back to the waters pretty please!!!

What about you? Do you have an upcoming summer getaway? Or do you have a spring break plan?

Well, whatever your plan is, just don't forget to slather some sunscreen lotion on your skin specially your face before heading out!

Have an awesome Spring Break or Summer Vacation (depends on what part of the planet you're from) y'all!

Did You Know Your DSLR Has a Shutter Count Limit?

I was chatting with a couple of friends on Facebook this morning when one of them shared with us that she wasn't able to take plenty of pictures during her getaway because her camera was acting funny. And while she was on the topic of dirty and broken cameras, she also shared with us that she found out that DSLRs have a maximum shutter actuation or in layman's term, maximum number of times you can press the shutter.

I was shocked to find out about it because I thought digital cameras can take unlimited shots but yeah, if I really think about it now, it also makes sense that an electronic gadget (no matter what it may be) has an average lifespan so it's just up to the owner/user how he'll maximize his baby and at the same time prolong its lifespan.

 

I assume your question now is "So what is the maximum number of shots that I can take with my DSLR?" The answer to that is it actually depends on the brand and the model of your camera. You can google more about this but based on the stuff I've read online, a Nikon D5100 has 100,000 for its maximum shutter actuation. Babs' DSLR is a Nikon D5100. Actually, I think most "beginners type" of Nikon DSLRs are under the 100k mark which is quite plenty already if you ask me unless you take about 1,000 pictures everyday.

So how do you find out what is your DSLR's current shutter count? If you are using a Nikon camera, I can help you with that. I went to a website called Nikon Shutter Count and uploaded the latest photo that was taken from the D5100 and the result it provided was something really close to my estimate. Our DSLR has taken 9,346 shots as of date and Babs bought it last Feburary 2012. Not bad I say. Not bad.

For those who are using non-Nikon DSLRs, there are websites and software/apps that can help you determine your gadget's current shutter count. You can google them without a sweat. I just do not want to suggest them directly here because I have not tried them myself.

Now, your follow up question might be something like "so what if I reach the limit, what will happen to my camera?" Based on my research (this means consulting Google), people have several answers but more often than not, their responses were similar with each other. First of all, the maximum shutter actuation was the estimated average lifespan of a DSLR set by the manufacturer. This means that your camera may or may not reach its limit. There were people saying that they have exceeded their maximum shutter count and their cameras are still firing away awesome photos. There were also those who did not even make it to the limit and their units have gone kaput. So basically, it all boils down on how you use your camera, how well you take good care/maintain it and yes, plenty of good luck.

Go ahead! Continue taking plenty of pictures because your camera may die any time but the memories it captures will live forever!

My First Ever Butter Naan!

If you have been reading my posts for some time now, you have probably read about my monthly goals for self improvement. For this month, one of my goals is to learn how to cook at least 2 Indian dishes. And as of this moment, I am happy to say that I have already accomplished that goal.

One of the dishes I was able to cook to meet my goal was butter naan. I personally like it better than roti. In fact, I like butter naan so much better that I can eat it on its own. So without further ado, let me share with you guys my first ever butter naan!

Puffing is a good sign of cooking your naan (or even roti) right.

Typically, yeast is one of the ingredients when making naan. I did not have that handy so I googled the web for a recipe that does not call for yeast. I tweaked the recipe a bit so continue scrolling below to know more about it.

Butter Naan Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup warm/room temperature milk
• 1/2 cup sweet yogurt/curd
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• a pinch of baking soda
• 2 tbsp butter

Procedure

1. Sift all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a container.
2. Create a well at the center of the sifted ingredients and pour in the milk and sweet yogurt in the "well".
3. Slowly fold in the dry ingredients to the wet (milk and yogurt) until a soft dough has formed.
4. Let the soft dough sit for two hours.
5. After two hours, knead the dough for about three minutes then start pinching a good portion of the dough, about the size of a golf ball then roll it on a dusted flat surface.
6. After rolling, wet one side of the dough using your hand and put it on an iron pan under medium heat (Indians call it "tawa") wet side down and then cover it with a lid.
7. After about two to three minutes, remove the naan from the iron pan and cook the other side straight to the flame using a hand held griller for about thirty seconds under low heat.
8. Once done, put the naan on a plate and brush it with butter.

My first ever butter naan!

As you can see on the photo above, my first ever butter naan kind of failed because while it was on its final stage of cooking (the hand held grill part), it took some time for me to capture the image so you can see some burnt portions. Nevertheless, it tasted fine. Not really the way I imagined it to be, maybe because I didn't use yeast, so it was not as light and airy as the ones I had from the hotel where Babs and I stayed before moving in to our new apartment. But overall, for a first timer, I think I did fine and Babs actually gave me an 8/10 rating and he is not the type to lie about my cooking just to make me feel good. Hihihi!

Yay! Cooked the rest of them perfectly. I guess. Haha!

So what dish did I cook to match my butter naan with? Find out tomorrow! It's also an Indian dish and a favorite in our household!

Enjoy the rest of your day guys wherever part of the globe you may be!

My DIY Bookshelf Project

I am a fan of DIY projects and that is why I love Pinterest so much. I think almost any kind of project you are looking for, may it be a DIY drawer or how to decorate a dull wall on your own, you will find inspiration in Pinterest.

Last December, we (Babs and I) moved out from New Delhi and transferred to Jarkhand, another state in India. We really didn't plan on bringing with us our book collection since they are a lot and well, we didn't wanna include buying a bookshelf in our to-buy list.

However, when our stuff from New Delhi finally arrived at our new location, we found out that my father-in-law actually also let the packer and mover company ship our book collection! Hahaha!

And since buying a new bookshelf will be very impractical because we don't really plan on staying in this place for a long time, I've decided to consult Pinterest for some suggestions on DIY bookshelf. I was so thrilled when I saw how creative people recycled some old stuff or even junk from their own homes and made those stuff into one of a kind awesome bookshelves!

Photo Credits: www.pinterest.com

I immediately surveyed all the stuff that we have and my eyes darted at the pallet that the packer and mover company used for our flat screen tv. I knew that was what I needed! I checked the entire pallet and removed just a couple of planks that were nailed diagonally on both sides of the pallet (I assumed it was for extra protection) and removed a few splinter prone / husk like stuff that were sticking out from the edges of the planks and that was it!

This is my main peg for my very own DIY bookshelf. Photo Credits: www.pinterest.com

Check out the finished product below. Oh by the way, the picture was taken during the holidays hence our Christmas tree in the background. Haha!

Presenting my very own DIY bookshelf! Mission accomplished!

So wachuthink about my DIY bookshelf project? I didn't bother painting the pallet because I want it to look as raw and as rustic as it could be. I think it makes it look more awesome and natural. I tossed a festive stole on top of it and put a picture of Babs and I on it and thought it looked great!

What about you, any DIY project you might wanna share with us?

Green Smoothie for a Healthy Me!

I have a confession to make. I only started eating fruits and vegetables when I met Babs. Well, it's not that I don't eat any veggie or any fruit at all. It's just that I can count on one hand the number of fruits I eat and two hands for the veggies.

I really don't know why I disliked vegetables (especially the green leafy ones) and fruits when I was growing up. Both my parents eat all kinds of greens and fruits but somehow, I never learned how to enjoy eating those nutritious food.

Anyways, fast forward to the present time, I am proud to say that my veggies and fruits intake have improved and not only that! I also enjoy eating them which is so unlikely if you meet me in the past.

And because I have been exploring all kinds of healthy food, I've decided to try concocting our very own green smoothie. Actually, this move was also inspired by a friend who is trying to live a healthier lifestyle by juicing. We don't have a juicer but we have a blender so healthy smoothie is what I want to focus on.

So guys, let me share with you Ankamil's Green Smoothie.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of baby spinach
2 medium size bananas (frozen)
1 medium size cucumber (frozen)
1 cup 150ml sweetened yogurt
water (accdg. to the consistency you prefer)

Serving: 3 glasses

How about you? Do you have a healthy smoothie recipe that you can share with us? Please do tell!

Cheers everybody!

Holi Hai!

Holi Hai! Holi Hai! Holi Hai! (It's Holi! It's Holi! It's Holi!)

Today, India celebrated one of its major festivals that are being celebrated every year called Holi. It was my first time to actually experience it so I was really excited about it and was really looking forward to it.

Holi is famously known as the festival of colors because friends and families apply colored powder on each other's faces. Children will even go as wild as using water guns and water bombs filled with the colored solution when playing with each other.

Holi also marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

As much as I would like to experience Holi with a big bunch of people, we just don't have nearby friends or family to celebrate it with. Nevertheless, celebrating it with Babs was all I needed and I sure had a blast applying m̶a̶k̶e̶-̶u̶p̶ colored powder on Babs face. Ha!

How about you guys, did you celebrate Holi too?

Again, Happy Holi to everybody!

To Have a Cooking Blog or Not

Hi guys!

Been under the weather the past couple of days hence my lack of posts during those times. Anyway, I'm feeling better now so I thought I should drop by and share with you what I have been thinking about for quite some time now.

You see, for the longest time, hmmm... probably about almost three years now, I've been thinking of creating a new blog where I can document each dish that I cook. I thought that in doing so, one, I can keep track of the dishes that I have successfully cooked and two, hopefully give inspiration to struggling cooks or kitchen newbies like me.

I have been married for three years now but my cooking experience is still very limited because of several reasons such as my lack of interest to learn and poor motivation to name a few.

But now, I think I'm almost ready to take up this new challenge. I just need to fix and straighten up a number of stuff and then I'm ready to launch my very own cooking show! Erm, I mean blog. Cooking Blog. Teehee!

Anywho, let me leave you guys with a few snaps of some of the dishes that I made.

South Korea's Bibimbap

India's Bhutta

Philippines' Pork Sinigang

Spreading good vibes to everybody!

Our Foodie Experience in Palawan

Babs and I are never really adventurous eaters. I mean, we like to try new food but if it's exotic food, uhm, that's a different story.

Anyway, before flying to Palawan, I know that "tamiloc" is the must try food in the province. It is a mangrove worm that locals eat raw. All you gotta do is dip it in vinegar and then put it straight into your mouth! I remember in one of the episodes of Amazing Race way back, the contestants were ask to eat tamiloc and the look on their faces said it all. We didn't have the guts to try this local exotic food so yeah, we ordered room service for our meals most of the time (if we are not out gallivanting) and ate at one of the most famous restaurants in town.

Babs liked Dangkalan Resort's chicken afritada so we ordered it for lunch one time and another time during dinner.

Chicken Afritada and Garlic Rice

Aside from Chicken Afritada, we also ordered Pork Sisig for dinner one night.

Why so serious me? Us enjoying our brekkie of rice, sunny side up egg and fish (for moi) and beef tapa (for Babs).

Dangkalan Resort Menu as of March 2011

What we enjoyed in Microtel Palawan was their breakfast buffet. They had everything that we were looking for in a breakfast and if only we can borrow an extra stomach for breakfast, we would have eaten more.

The drinks area during the breakfast buffet. They serve coffee, juice and hot choco. I couldn't remember if they have tea too.

Dining area and you can see the buffet spread behind.

Yours truly munching on my favorite brekkie bread PANDESAL!

 During our island hopping adventure, we ate our seafood lunch at one of the islands we visited. The food was included in our tour package.

Grilled Seafood is LOVE

Another meal that was included in our tour package was the lunch we had during our underground river adventure.

Chicken Adobo and Sauteed Water Spinach with a chilled bottle of Coke served by the beach!

There are two famous restaurants in Puerto Princesa that tourists and locals alike rave about. We tried to book both several times but we only succeeded on one and that is at Kinabuchs. It is a sports bar/restaurant. I remember us enjoying all the food that we ordered but I already forgot how much the total damage (yes, I'm talking about the price of course! hehehe!) was. It was a nice restaurant with good food. Oh! I think they were serving "tamiloc" dishes but of course, we didn't order that.

Someone's busy stuffing her face! LOL

NOM NOM NOM

I am ALWAYS ready for a GOOD cheesecake!

Though we did not go to Palawan for a foodie adventure, we are still thankful that the province did not only fill our hearts and minds with fun memories but the place also filled our bellies with good food.

Are you hungry yet? Hihihi!

Happy Friday guys!

Til next time!