Throwback Thursday: Mom and Dad's Journey

I stumbled on old family photos when I was looking for a nice photo of Mom. I found an album where I gathered scanned photos of their wedding and anniversaries. My parents spent 51 years together. Their love story spanned so many decades. They spent a very long, fruitful life. 

25th

35th

45th

50th

Aside from growing a family, my parents spent a lot of their time for social and religious causes. They were heavily involved in the building of our parish church. Daddy also used his skills to ensure our community was protected and had proper utilities (ie water). They were active members of the Knights of Columbus and CWL. I learned a lot from their activities and I guess that's also why I enjoyed doing projects that was going to benefit communities. 

I dreamt of my parents last week. We were on an outing abroad. They were so happy together and wore matching yellow outfits. This was how they looked (photo taken months before I was born). 

It's strange I dreamt of them months before I was born. I knew it was before I was born because there was another photo together with my cousin, Tina, when she was a baby (taken the same day). Oh! I just realized that I was probably growing in my Mom's tummy when the photo was taken. She said I was probably made on Holy Innocents Day (hehe). I guess they were sending their love from heaven and telling me everything will be okay. 

Love you Mom and Dad. Please watch over us from up there. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Throwback Thursday: The Day After the Wedding

Sweetie and I went home the day after the wedding. It was just after Christmas and hotel fees were expensive. My Mom helped us get a place to rent. It was, of course, just five minutes away from her by car. That was important for us because we didn't have a car at that time (Sweetie's car was damaged by typhoon Ondoy).

Sweetie's parents picked us up at the hotel and brought us home. We had so much stuff! My parents took care of transporting the gifts, so we were surprised it was already in the apartment when we got home. The first thing we had to do was figure out dinner. Our cooking area wasn't set-up yet. I think we were saved that night because we ate dinner at my parents house, haha. 

The next day we worked on opening gifts. We found plates, some serving dishes, knives, a rice cooker and key items we could use to eat. Sweetie's Dad lent us their car and I remember we went to the supermarket to buy provisions and a can opener*. For that day we got some Binalot and maki. 

We didn't have to worry about food for a month since there were a lot of parties. Our parents also always sent food. Miggy soon moved in with us when we had things under control. Our first cooking attempt happened a week later. It was a failed attempt, haha. The first laundry attempt also ended up in disaster. It was followed by a smokin' sink.

I'm glad we were able to write about our first year. It was a roller coaster ride for us. I just thought to look back since we're finally getting some proper cabinets for our new home. Yay!

*Recently found the can opener and it still works! 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Breakfast Date with Sweetie

Sweetie surprised me the other day when he told me were going to go grocery shopping in person. I was shookt! I've been ordering groceries online since April 2020 and found his request unusual. I guess I've been moping around since Monday last week he probably thought I needed a change of environment. I was even more shookt when he told me we'll have breakfast out. OMG! This was all new to me. 

We attempted to go out yesterday, but I woke up with a headache so it was postponed. I barely had any sleep last night (#anxiety), but I pushed myself to get out of bed. I looked forward to eating something other than oatmeal (my cardio's mandate is to eat oatmeal for breakfast). Ahhh, it was such a joy to eat at Cafe Breton. The last time we ate at Cafe Breton was many years ago when Sweetie kidnapped me for a quick date. 

I got the excalibur and Sweetie got the dracula. The crepe was delicious as usual. It was my first time to try the excalibur and the combination of ham, emmental cheese, fresh cream and asparagus sauteed with onions and mushrooms was really tasty. I paired the meal with a cup of cappuccino. It was absolutely fulfilling since we waited years to eat there again. 

After breakfast we ran some errands. I was almost wiped out by noon, so rested at Krispy Kreme. They have a nice bundle for 2 at only PhP225. It includes 2 iced coffees and 2 original glazed doughnuts. It was a great refreshment and it's always a good idea to be full before doing groceries! Hahaha. Of course, we brought home food from Makati Supermart Coffee Shop for our late lunch with Miggy. 

It was a great day to go out. Still taking a lot of precautions and socially distancing ourselves to be safe. I was able to make 3k steps and it felt good, but I was pretty wiped out halfway through our grocery list. Probably need a check-up soon just to be on the safe side. 

Have a happy day everyone! Let your light continue to shine. 

#StaySafe #BeKind

Newlywed Feels

We've been crazy busy organizing our home and planning our next steps. It feels like Sweetie and I are newlyweds again, haha. I remember that time we moved to our first home. Most of our things were borrowed from our parents' house, i.e. the sofa and our dining table. We had our beds made by my Mom's carpenter. We didn't need to buy a lot of things since we were able to use all the practical wedding gifts we received. 

It's almost 12 years now since we tied the knot. We've lived in about 8 different places in 2 countries. Living that way was hard. We had to manage two households for the past ten years. It was fun while it last, but as you grow older you yearn for permanency. We never planned to live that way, it just happened because of the work opportunity I was presented ten years ago. 

And now that we're back home we're working on re-connecting where we left off ten years ago. It feels like we're newlyweds again planning for our future. We've been living off our suitcase the past two weeks and have just started to explore our untouched closets. We giggle as we find clothes that don't fit us anymore. We're also going through what we left at our Manila home in January 2020. 

It will probably take a month or two more before we can have some normalcy at home. I hope we can finish in time for Christmas. Gotta get moving also so I can start quilting again (sewing machine and stuff is still in the box). We've been so distracted with... eating. Hahaha. 

Sweetie went out to have his car battery checked. Viola got a good washing too. Our neighbors and the building cat can't leave marks on it anymore hrhrhr. Sweetie got us yummy lunch -- Binalot! Yay! We've been craving for this for a long time now. Sarap-sarap!

And we'll have yummy puto Binan and sapin-sapin for merienda later. 

Gotta go now for other online errands (pay bills) and work on the kitchen again. 

Happy Monday everyone!

#Home12 #NewG232 #Xmas40 #StayHome #BeKind  

14 Years!

Today Sweetie and I are celebrating our 14th year together as a couple! We just usually recognize it as a special day and don't do anything. We decided to just celebrate our wedding anniversary when we tied the knot. We'll probably have leftover adobo for dinner tonight haha. 

Circa 2007 in Baguio

Everyday is still special with Sweetie. We resumed filling up the 3-year couple journal. Our last entry was 5 years ago and then the journal got lost when we moved. I found it recently while sorting out stuff. It's been fun to read previous entries. I'm kept on my toes when answering because Sweetie always finds a way to be witty. 

Sweetie's my rock. He is "subok na matibay, subok na matatag"! We've been through a lot especially "in sickness and health". We have surgeries and hospitalizations in our arsenal now and we know we can weather anything together. 

Let's look back at our milestones -

The proposal

The wedding

Need to find time to re-upload our wedding vid hehe.

The first day at home

And we have random videos of our life together on my YouTube channel. I originally wanted to post more vlogs, but I got busy. Tried posting  more last year, but I'm shy and I have an ongoing debate with myself about privacy haha. 

We're soon transitioning to a new phase in our lives. We're both really excited about it and look forward to be reunited with Miggy. I think we didn't do so well being empty nesters. We were just not ready yet. We probably need 20 more years with Miggy around haha. Every night I pray for us to have a happy and loving home where we could create more joyful memories together. 

Thank you Papa God for finding the right one for me and for continuing to write the best love story a girl could have <3

CB////*Yr2/171 #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/194 #NewG276 #Home35 #Xmas87 #StayHome #BeKind

Sweetie's Home!

He's home! Sweetie's home! Yay! I'm so happy Sweetie was discharged today. I'm so thankful that it didn't escalate to anything serious. He's okay now and will just be taking some more rest. Thanks to everyone who prayed for us. <3

CB///Yr2/3  #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/30 #StayHome #BeKind 

Sunday with Sweetie

Spent the day with Sweetie at the hospital. He's now free from the wires and can walk around the room. We spent the afternoon on the couch watching videos. He'll be coming home soon :)

CB///Yr2/1  #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/28 #StayHome #BeKind 

Courage

I'm not used to being alone at home. I'm used to traveling and being away, but I'm never really left alone at home. Sweetie is still at the hospital. I hope they'll discharge him tomorrow. 

I couldn't help but be teary eyed when I left him at the hospital. He looked so forlorn because he's not used to being the patient. I'm usually the patient. He was so rattled yesterday I had to keep telling him that everything will be okay. I must admit I was a bit scared also, but I had to be courageous for both of us. 

I gave Sweetie tips on how to survive his stay at the ICU. Luckily the nurses taking care of him were the same nurses who took care of me -- mostly Filipino! I also told him that it's a good sign when the doctor does not see you right after a test is done. Usually if they do a test on you and it's followed by a visit from the doctor or instructions for more medication, it may mean you're not stable. 

So luckily Sweetie was moved to the ward today. We're just waiting for the doctor to explain why his BP shot up. Hopefully it will just require some meds and a lifestyle adjustment (okay, no more grilled liempo!). 

Can't wait for Sweetie to be back home! I shall use his pillows for now hrhrhr. 

CB///365  #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/28 #StayHome #BeKind 

The Unknown

My day started with a call from my doctor's secretary to let me know that they were in process of reviewing my scans. After that I went on my usual routine. Breakfast, drink my medications and I usually read after breakfast. I skipped reading to take care of some documents for my doctor. 

Things drastically changed by noon. I had an emergency to attend to. Good thing it's a good day for me and I was able to provide the support Sweetie needed. I'm back home now and just resting. We were not expecting what happened today. It made me realize that you can never predict what could happen in a day. 

The unknown can be a scary thing. It can make you panic. Good thing my Mom taught me how not to panic during stressful situations. My Mom's secret? Praying and trusting God. That's what I held onto throughout the ordeal I've gone through in the last few months. It's what I'm clinging to now that we're going through another bump in the road. 

CB///364  #StuckAtHomeDay/Yr2/27 #StayHome #BeKind

11 Years of Sweeties

A few weeks ago a friend's friend who we met for the first time thought that Sweetie and I were just a couple. We laughed out loud when he said he thought we were not married yet. We were both so kilig because that meant we looked young! Hahaha. 

Eleven years ago, Sweetie and I tied the knot on boxing day. It seems just like yesterday to me when I walked down the aisle to be wed to my one true love. As many married couples would share, it's a roller coaster ride as you journey through life together. 

In the last eleven years, it's only been this year that we've been together constantly. We were LDR for 5 years before Sweetie moved to Singapore too and in-between that I traveled a lot for work. This year has been exceptional since we had to be together 24 hours a day for many months. I must say, Sweetie has been the best person to be stuck with at home. He's been my rock.

To be honest we haven't really planned how we'd live our life. We had no idea that we'd eventually live in Singapore. What's been important for us is to keep the family together. It was really hard for both of us when Miggy moved back home because he's always been there. We haven't seen him for more than ten months now, but we constantly communicate everyday. 

I think the reason why my friend's friend thought we're still an unmarried couple is because we're still very sweet to each other. We've been like that since we got together. We still surprise each other, I troll him a lot, and we show our affection a lot to each other. We laugh a lot and just know when we need each other more. I guess it boils down to what my Mom advised when I was single, "Aside from love, marry someone who has the same values as you". 

Happy anniversary Sweetie. Cheers to more fun and loving years together! I love you <3

CB//261 #StuckAtHomeDay/291 #StayHome #BeKind

Hubby and My Cooking

Back in 2012 I got Sweetie a birthday card from Changi Airport while I was on my way to Morocco. I got the card because of the introductory line...

We've surely come a long way from the first time I attempted to cook. The first dish I cooked for Sweetie was pork adobo and it has become one of his all-time favorites (except now he doesn't eat rice with it!). I cannot say that I'm a real cook because I treat each dish I cook like a science experiment. I follow recipes like how I used to do my chemistry lab assignments back in high school. I hated the bunsen burner and I'm allergic to LPG, so the greatest invention for me is the electric stove (haha!).

It's been four years since Sweetie had to live on my cooking. I've managed to perfect a few dishes that he likes, but since he's trying to lose weight I'm now trying to learn to cook healthy dishes. Well, whatever happens to my new experiments, because he loves me (and is usually hungry), he'll probably eat it, haha.

Easy recipes and our married life adventure is over at Mabuhay ang Bagong Kasal. 

The Proposal: Four Years After

Four years ago today Sweetie sprung the biggest surprise of my life. We were in Davao for the first DFAT (Davao Food Appreciation Tour) and I had no idea that he had planned the culmination of all the clues he's been giving for me for so many months. His co-conspirators were our good friends Andrew and Blogie. Here's what happened:

(Skip to 4:22)

Time flies so fast and Sweetie and I have since tied the knot, bought our own cars, moved homes thrice, got our very own place (no more renting!) and have a son in university. Sweetie has endured a number of home disasters - my cooking, a dancing washing machine, me getting poisoned several times, cycle of dying plants, abusive real estate agents etc. - all captured in our marriage blog. We can't say that things have settled down because there's always something new everyday.

True to his promise Sweetie continues to court me every single day. When I'm home in Manila he writes me short notes everyday (to replace all his love letters which perished during Typhoon Ondoy). And after all that we've been through I just thank God everyday for writing my love story.

Achievement Unlocked: New Home!

Three years ago just before Sweetie I got married we tried to look for a place could afford to buy. We didn't so we ended up renting a place in the same village where I was born. It was really convenient since we were close to my parents. We attempted to buy a house a few months later but it was just not meant to be at that time. We then told ourselves that we'd take it slow but target to move to an owned-residence by our third year of marriage. We moved nearer to my old home a month after that fiasco so I could be nearer to my parents and because the house we were renting just had so many problems.

When I moved to Singapore last year my seatmate, Ishi, gave me some really good advise. He said I shouldn't rent a place just for myself in Singapore if my family wasn't moving with me. He said I should just stay with a friend and use the money to buy a condominium unit in Manila. Luckily my childhood friend who's  lived in Singapore for 3 years already was looking for a housemate for her new apartment. I grabbed the chance to get one of her rooms so I could save for our planned home.

It was just after New Year when I realized I should get things going to find and buy a home so we could reach our goal. I remembered a proposal I got back in November 2010 about a place that was being built near our village. I immediately brought up the idea again with Sweetie and after careful review of a number of places we decided to buy the unit near where my Mom lives. Things started rolling in late February and we scrimped and saved (would you believe my weekly allowance when I'm in Singapore is just SGD50 a week?) so we could end our lease by the time it expired.

We ended up extending our lease for another quarter though because the unit wasn't ready yet, but TODAY,  12/12/12 we finally got it!

Thank you Lord! =)

Happy 51st Wedding Anniversary to my Mom and Dad!

Time flies, it was just a year ago that we celebrated my Mom and Dad's golden wedding anniversary. It was a simple celebration. We married them off again and then had the reception at Mom's garden together with family and their close friends.

Fifty one years is looooong! And I can just dream about celebrating that number with Jay, fifty years from now. If we do reach that age Miguel will probably have to wheelchair me to the altar or I'll be walking with a cane by then (that is if my heart's still beating by then). Anyway, my parents have definitely played out beautifully throughout the years their wedding vow -

To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.

I never sensed any trouble or misunderstanding between my parents, although my Mom claims that they do fight. The one and only time I saw them give each other the silent treatment was a month before I got married. It lasted about three days and I had to do an SOS to my sister. She called and my parents talked and then said that they had forgotten what their tampuhan was about!

Here's my parents' formula to a successful marriage:

1. Put God at the center of your marriage. Pray always.
2. Love each other everyday. Do all things with love.
3. Be patient.
4. Always settle any trouble before sleeping.
5. Live simply.

Happy anniversary Mom and Dad!

My First 100 Days as a Wife (Part 2)

Part 1 of this post can be found at this link.

So off we went to our honeymoon. My colleagues said that we should not consider it as our honeymoon because I was in Singapore for work. Sweetie saw more sights in Singapore than I have in the past 9 years that I have been going back and forth there. The only decent photos we had in Singapore were taken in Sentosa (because Jajah showed us around) and at the office (because my colleagues insisted on taking our photo).

Nothing much to say about Singapore since we spent our first two days just sleeping (we were that tired!). (Most of my posts about Singapore are at Lakwatsera Ako.)

We were both very busy on our first monthsary. We were off early in the morning since I had a number of meetings in the Metro and Sweetie also had to go to Marikina. He surprised me though in the evening with some white roses.

I am terrible with keys so Sweetie left me this reminder on the door.

I actually did forget to put it in my bag. 

"Naparami ata kain ng Mister ko ah." I said to Sweetie earlier. He replied by saying, "Masarap luto ng misis ko eh!" We simultaneously cringed right after and burst out laughing. "Ang jologs!" I said. "Let's not do that again" Sweetie replied, still cringing. LOLz!

I realized after we finished giggling over our exchange that gears changed when we came home from Singapore. It was the time that we had to face our new found household chores full throttle.  It was a good thing that Samsung managed to repair our new washing machine, but we honestly started washing our clothes only after my Mom's helper laundered the 2 maletas worth of trip clothes (hehehe). I had to learn how to iron and poor Miguel's uniform became my practice ground. I can attribute my ironing skills to how-tos from Youtube (thanks Youtube!).

The leftovers were long gone and I had to learn how to cook. Good thing my high school, St. Scholastica's College, taught us how to cook and bake so I kinda knew stuff in theory. And thanks to Google and Youtube and Plurk/blogger friends (and my Ate!) I didn't have a hard time putting theory intro practice. I learned how to slice the hard way though and ended up having a couple of cuts on my fingers (OUCH!). Here are some of the dishes I've learned how to cook:

This was at the Dona Cuisinera Club cooking demo. We were

chosen to help out the chef because were were newlyweds. Our photo

has been featured in a couple of newspapers. (Thanks to Dona Elena

for the olive oil and other food stuff!!!)

My regular dishes include: adobo, cheese & ham stuffed pork roll,

fish fillet, beef bulgogi, beef/pork steak, afritada, spaghetti, arroz

ala cubana, sinangag, potato salad, coleslaw and the Dona Elena 

arugula salad. I'm still struggling with the Mee-goreng! 

I miss baking though and I hope I'd save enough money by month end so I can get myself a convection oven. One good advise we got before our wedding was from my high school friend, Ottie. She said that when she got married they didn't prepare their new home before they moved in. They got married on the 30th of December and went home on New Year's Day. They didn't have a refrigerator and it took 2 weeks for the appliance store to deliver because of the holidays. We heeded this advise and bought a refrigerator and washing machine a week before the wedding. It was really sound advise since we really needed the ref when we moved in. My Mom's long-time carpenters also helped us a lot in prepping up our new home.

Sweetie during our gardening session with my Mom.

When we got engaged we had to sacrifice the time we spent attending events. We didn't attend any for about 6 months since planning our wedding took up all of our free time. Eventually we realized that we had time to attend some events again and see our friends and do roadtrips on weekends.

Since Sweetie moved 25 kilometers from where he used to live (Marikina) and I just moved about 7 streets away, I had the pleasure of introducing Sweetie to Paranaque and my hommies (err my childhood friends) and my Parish. He probably didn't see it coming, but he is now part of our Parish choir (hahaha).

We had quite a number of challenges too in our first 100 days. We had to get rid of pests. Figure out how to keep the basura (trash) safe from being scavenged by cats/dogs/humans. Find ways how to fix up our tiny place and cope with stuff we didn't have yet. Prepare for parties (we've had two so far). Entertain unannounced visitors. Smokin'sinks. Septic tanks (euwwww). And there were bumps along the way that we faced together.

So it's been a 100 days and it's been an eye-opener about what marriage is all about. I honestly didn't realize though that chores are bottomless. I am thankful that Sweetie has been really supportive and patient the past few months that I've been learning how to cook, iron, do the laundry, clean the house etc. etc. (I'm an expert at washing dishes haha). I remember asking him one night a few weeks ago if he could still imagine himself sleeping alone in his old room (because I didn't). He said that he'd gotten so used to having me beside him (even though I sometimes accidentally kick him), he couldn't imagine himself being alone.

And that's what I learned the first 100 days as a wife. I am not alone anymore.

Three Months

Our third month started without much fanfare. Things seemed to settle down nicely and my asthma attacks rapidly reduced when my parents cut their vacation short. The attacks were caused by stress of having to manage two households. We finally managed to get our groove back and started managing our home better. (The secret is Mom's cleaning lady who comes in half a day once a week).

No more mishaps! Or so we thought.

By mid-month we were faced with the most disgusting home problem, a septic tank that was probably ready to blow up. The drain at our first floor bathroom was bubbling up the grossest debris imaginable. Thanks to Maynilad and our land lady, the problem was fixed within a few days.

We enjoyed the rest of the month though. The boys ran their first marathon during the Unilab Wellness Run and the rest of the month was spent preparing version 2 of dishes, puttering around the garden with Mom, squeezed in some time to go to Tagaytay, and playing Plants vs. Zombies as a family! Whew! The septic tank problem was as nerve wracking as the washing machine and smokin' sink issues, but I'd say these are just tiny things that make married life more exciting.

Tenant Be Good, Tenant Be Bad

My frustration level rose up several notches last Monday when my Network Magic detected an intruder in our wifi network. I promptly blocked off the intruder and realized that I needed to protect our home wifi network from being leeched. We keep it open because we use different types of devices with different OS' so we've been using Network Magic to keep the buggers out.

Tuesday came and I was still quite annoyed at the intruder, so I spent some time cleaning up the network map and securing our network. My attention was soon taken by our first floor bathroom. For some strange reason septic tank debris was coming in through the shower area drain. It was really disgusting to clean up. Several hours passed and it happened again. Cleaned it up immediately since my Mom was visiting to help us out with re-potting the plants. Soon after she used the toilet almost 2 inches worth of debris bubbled up from the drain. I felt like I was in Dante's Inferno (the third circle). Good thing that the water subsided after dinner so it was easier to clean up the shower floor (thank God for long brush brooms!).

I could not help but feel bad for my 80-year old landlady. She's my Mom's friend and her daughter went to school with my Ate. She is such a sweet Tita and has been a caring landlady. Sweetie and I decided to start renting the place before the wedding because we wanted to start moving stuff. Our landlady tried to have everything fixed before we moved, but she had difficulty because she can't move around that much, so essentially we had to take the initiative to have things repaired.

It was quite unbelievable how much stuff we had to have repaired. All the window screens had to be replaced, the doors and cabinets had scratches, the bathroom sinks were falling off and leaking, the toilet innards had to be replaced, the stairway banister wasn't attached to the wall anymore (still have to have it fixed), a broken window glass panel and the house was full of roaches (to name a few repairs). It was heartbreaking to recount all the repairs that had to be done to my Tita.

I was honestly shocked with how the previous tenant used the house. It was my first time to move in my entire life and my Mom saw to it that whatever was broken at home was fixed immediately. My Mom explained to me that such people exist. They just don't care about other people's property because they feel that since they are paying rent they can do whatever they want. I feel really frustrated because I feel that the last tenant deliberately left the place in disarray. And I failed to mention that the last tenant left unpaid PLDT bills. Kainis diba?

I'm glad to report though that we had repaired most of the stuff save for the stairway banister and the shower floor needs grout. Hopefully the drain will be fixed tomorrow and that Maynilad will show up to clean out the septic tank. Unfortunately though the cause of this inferno is just around the corner.

Lesson learned: Aside from taking care of property that isn't yours, be wary about leaving a place in disarray because who knows the next tenant might know that you are someone popular.

---------------------
Update: The septic tank revealed some gory secret. Kwento is here.

Domesticated Goddess

I wonder what March has in store for me. January and February passed in a blur since it was filled with activities and new adventures! I don't know how I managed to fit in a trip to Singapore, Tagaytay and Davao in those two months. I also remember smoking up three things at home: Sweetie's vacuum cleaner (only because it was in storage for the longest time), our electric stove (first time to turn it on!) and our sink. I hope that since it's the last month of the quarter I don't smoke up anything else.

The past 2 months flew by because of all the changes since I got married. I didn't really notice New Year (because I was sulking over my "lost passport") and Valentine's, I guess because I have been on cloud nine. What has drastically changed though is the fact that my lifestyle has totally changed. Sweetie pointed this out to me yesterday. He said, "Isn't it before we married you usually go out for lunch and then take naps on Sunday afternoons?" Yup, those were the happy days when I lived with my parents. 

One of the things I dreaded about getting married is chores. I always wondered how my Mom managed to cope in the past 50 years she's been married. She did things without any effort (well except cooking) and didn't have to consult my Dad on a lot of things. While I usually consult the hubby and if doesn't know anything about it I ask friends or turn to Google and Youtube for tips and tricks. Thank God for the internet!

It's funny really how we started our new home with boxes all over the place. We slept on the floor for a few nights until we realized we had a bed frame and just need to buy a mattress! Then we fed on canned goods and leftovers for a few weeks. Experienced a dancing washing machine. Eliminated 98% of cockroaches. Had a pesky domestic problem. Cat problems. And the list goes on, but I can proudly say I am on my way to becoming a domesticated goddess. Something that my best friends, Darwin, Anne and Tappy, never imagined would happen. They will probably do cartwheels when they see this post. 

People change and it really depends on one's priorities. 

Two Months

The past two months have been a blur and have been filled with challenges. What is remarkable though is the fact that I have acquired new skills!

I learned how to cook on my own! (I was always assisted by a helper before).

My first cooking attempt literally went up in smoke. I was supposed to cook some sinangag but the electric stove blew out white smoke so we immediately unplugged it and put it outside. We didn't know that was normal so it took a week before we tried again. A week after I tried my hand on frying Maling. Easy huh? But it was a nerve wracking experience for me and I had Sweetie supervise me in case I panicked. This went on a couple of times until I was comfortable enough to cook on my own.

Eventually we leveled-up and joined the Cuisinera Club cooking class! Since the dishes that were being prepared were for Valentine's the chef chose us to help her out because we were newlyweds! I accidentally cut my finger the night before (second time that week), so Sweetie took over the slicing chores and I sauteed the salad dressing. It was fun and gave me the confidence to try out more dishes. (And special thanks to Dona Elena  for the olive oil, black and green olives and sardines care package!). We're also cooking everything using olive oil (more healthy yay!).

We've also conquered our washing machine after it was repaired by Samsung (thanks for being efficient!). Apparently the travel guard was supposed to be taken out by Abenson when it was delivered. The non-removal caused the loud vibrations and disco-grooving that our washing machine did when we used it. Took a few weeks though before we started using it since we were gone for almost 2 weeks. Doing the laundry now is a breeze! And Sweetie has color coordinated my sampayan!   

And another milestone I am happy to note is the fact that I have somehow learned how to iron! I've been doing it instinctively though, but I think I've improved a bit. I will likely try to hone my skills better by watching some Youtube videos. I just keep forgetting to do so.

Oh yes I am so far happy doing all these house chores. I hate cleaning up though because it usually triggers my asthma. Good thing Sweetie loves doing this so he does it most of the time.

One Month

What can I say, Sweetie and I have been married for more than a month now. When we realized this a week ago (last January 26), Sweetie said, "Wow! We survived!" I agreed because:


(1) I travel a lot but I have lived in the same home since birth. 
(2) I don't cook and I don't really know how to cook (I'm just all-theory!).
(3) I never really had any household chores save for washing dishes once in awhile. 


So you can just imagine how apprehensive I was about moving. Caring for my own family. And living with someone who is 100x more O-C than me. My Mom was apprehensive about the last point since she likes everything neat too. She tried to mold me properly, but she just eventually gave up when she realized that I have my own way of organizing things.


We "cheated" a lot in the first few weeks. We ate loads of leftovers (good thing we had lots of family get-togethers). We had our laundry done at my Mom's when our washing machine went wild (perfect excuse that it had to be repaired). Ironing was also done by my Mom's helper. Miguel stayed over with my Mom until his cousins all went back to the States and Jakarta. So Sweetie and I just basically had to worry about fixing the house and things just fell into place when we had our tiny home blessed.


So it's just me, Sweetie and Miguel now. My parents left yesterday for a long vacation. The leftovers have been long gone and I have been trying my hand at cooking. Started with adobo, then afritada and a lot of fried and sauteed stuff (prepared dishes and canned goods).  I have 2 knife cuts though from slicing veggies, but it's okay, I think it's part of the learning process. We have also managed to tame our washing machine with help from Samsung (great customer service!). Ironed Miguel's uniform last weekend (I should watch more YT vids about it).


Misis na misis ba?