Inheritance

I got the rest of my "inheritance" today.

Mom's plants and old pots.

My parents told me when I was growing up that the only inheritance they could give us is our education. All of us finished our studies and we all managed on our own to go to grad school too. 

We weren't Nepo baby rich. We got by through Dad and Mom's hardwork. Mom retired when I was born, but she helped manage Dad's law office and did some trading (buy and sell of office supplies). We had a comfortable life and that's enough when you live simply.

Dad didn't keep a lot of earthly items. I only found his neckties and a couple of tie clips. His clothes and shoes were gone when I cleared the childhood home. His treasure? His law books and documents. I sent useful law books to his Alma Mater and just kept a few key ones. Old law documents have been shredded. I asked a lawyer what I should do with it and he said we can just shred it since the courts and notarized docs are also kept by the justice system.

Mom's treasure. Her garden and craft materials. I finished sorting the craft materials last October and have been working to rescue her plants for two years now. It's a lot of work, but I know Mom loved her garden (sometimes more than me, haha). She had been passing potter plants to me since we got home and I know she wanted me to continue her work. 

I know Mom has been watching me. I've only so far been unsuccessful with all her orchids, but most of her ornamental plants have recovered from neglect. The boys got some more plants and empty pots today and I'm happy I have more gardening work to do. I'll do my best to save the plants Mom left. The huge, huge flowering tree beside my childhood home is definitely one remembrance of Mom's epic green thumb.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Throwback Thursday: Mom's Last Birthday with Dad

We celebrated Mom's birthday the other day. We did her favorite things to do: go to the bank, eat comfort food and did groceries. I took a look back at how she celebrated it 15 years ago. I realized it was the last time she celebrated when Dad was still around. Little did we know, we'd lose him a month after. 

Mom always loved having friends around. She had a gazillion friends from our neighborhood. I was looking at our photos and realized we also lost some of her friends the past few years. It's sad to also lose the extended titos and titas you grew up with. 

It was also the last Christmas we were complete. Both Ate and Kuya came home to celebrate Christmas together. We were never complete after that and had fragmented Christmas celebrations. Kuya and I would even have Mom celebrate Christmas with me in Singapore and she'd do New Year in Jakarta. Mom always complained she didn't want to leave her plants alone, haha. 

Mom wouldn't want us to mope around especially for celebrations, so we made it a point to celebrate. Aside from eating a good meal, we also did her favorite things. We went to the bank and did groceries. Mom took care of the plants for the day and it rained enough to hydrate the plants properly. Ahh, she would have been pleased. 

Happy birthday Mom! We miss you! Today we'll also celebrate Sweetie's Mom's birthday! We have another excuse to celebrate!

#BeKind #StaySafe

My Beautiful Mom in Her Younger Years

I've been slowly scanning old photos from my childhood home. It's truly a slow process since I've been busy with other stuff plus recovery. I collected a lot of albums and loose photos across the house. I have them in boxes now and I'm chipping away at it.

Found some of Mom's photos from her teenage years and probably early 20s. I didn't see all of these when I was growing up except for this one where she's seated on the ground. She said she was 16 when this was taken. She liked fixing my hair this way. Her hair though is nicer. Mine is just boringly straight.

Here's one where she looks a bit younger. My first time to see it while sorting her stuff:

And this one I think from her college years in Philippine Women's University. She was quite active in school and participated in painting exhibits. She mentioned she was also active in a theater group. Not sure if it was when she was in Naga City or PWU. 

And a photo with Papa Lolo's jeep (probably). She said they used to steal it and that's how she learned how to drive at a young age. She drove faster than my Dad! If I remember correctly, it was Tito Ben who taught her how to drive, hrhrhr. 

Of course, she was a plantita all her life :)

Miss you Mom.

#BeKind #StaySaffe

Fourth Grade Embroidery Project

I found a couple of school projects I did when I was just 10 years old. Back when I was elementary school, we were taught different crafts, embroidery, crochet, building crafts using bamboo. This craft classes culminated with sewing machine classes in high school. (Also, pertinent to mention we had carpentry class which they discontinued after our batch because we kept blowing up the electrical system).

Anyway, I recently found some embroidery projects. Here's a small potholder I made -

I know I have a bigger project with the same design. Maybe I'll find it as I go through Mom's stuff. And here's the sampler I submitted. I got a good grade from it.

I still use some of the stitches and use them for current projects. I love it when I get to include embroidery in my projects. Mom and Titay also used to do embroidery and I found a few projects they did. Here's one, I'm not sure though if Mom, Titay or Ate made it (or maybe Mama Lola?).

The projects I found made me happy. It also reminded me of my Mama Lola. She helped me finish my last project. It was a pillow case with an embroidery of a duck which I traced from a coloring book.  watched her while she worked on closing the pillowcase on her sewing machine. 

I'm glad we were taught all these crafts in school. Mom also taught me other stuff whenever school was out. I've been quilting a lot, but sometimes I take breaks and do other things too. Crafting has been my therapy. It's been a great way to cope with all my medical conditions :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

Two Years Without Mom

It's been two years now since we lost our Mom. I got very sick when we lost her and I was practically immobilized from being productive for a year. I knew I needed to get going especially sunsetting our childhood home. I got help and had everything boxed. It was only after Mom's first year death anniversary, that I finally got moving and started sorting her things. 

One year later and I'm not done yet. I only realized that she had kept a lot of stuff in every nook and cranny of our home. Sorting her things is what helped me through the grief journey. I found a lot of mementos from my childhood, Miggy's childhood and my siblings (although not as many). I stayed the longest in our home (from birth) and it was really a surprise to find a lot of things that brought me joy as a child. 

We have since donated a lot of pre-loved home items and books to charities. Old outdated appliances were sold to the mambabakal and we used the proceeds to get help again to clear the back area of the house. I've only kept Mom's albums. There are more than 10 boxes! It will probably take time to scan the photos. Some of the albums are irreparable already, so I just removed the photos and placed them in safe storage boxes. 

My grief journey started in 2019 when Dr. Koo said Mom's heart was deteriorating. He advised against surgery and told us to just let her enjoy. Mom did and was gardening until the day before she passed. She left a beautiful garden and what she considered her treasures (essentially our childhood stuff and a gazillion photos!).

I hope to finish clearing our home before the end of the month, so I can focus on saving her plants and propagating what she left in her garden. I'm figuring out how to get the huge cacti that's still growing! We have since restored her plant stands and I've been busy re-potting her plants. I'm in awe that they're still alive! I feel closest to my Mom when I'm working on her plants :)

Love you Mom! Enjoy your bottomless Coca-Cola up there! Kisses to Dad, Mama Lola, Papa Lolo, Titay, Tito Ben, Tita Ming, Tito Tony and Tito Mom! 

#BeKind #StaySafe 

The Ceramics Slowdown

I have honestly been procrastinating the past week. I've come to the point where I have to sort Mom's collection of ceramic decor. She has a lot and I know how much she valued her collection.

*Tip of the iceberg

It's not that I don't want to finish the task. It's just hard to decide what to keep and what to let go. I still remember when Mom unboxed her collection. She really loved each one that's why it's hard for me to let go of her things.

I know I cannot possibly keep everything and the only ceramics I have are either Yoda, Hello Kitty or my piggy bank collection. So, sorry Mom I'll just probably keep a few and let others appreciate your collection. Your angels will go to your grandchildren. I just need to figure out how to send them across the world.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Mom's Favorite Plants

I'm working on saving Mom's plants and transferred those that were in front of the house to our home. 

When Sweetie pulled the plants out he said most had spikes and I should be careful. I placed the plants on quarantine first to make sure they didn't have pests. I started re-potting them over the weekend.

I was really surprised that Mom was fascinated with bromeliads. I know she liked flowers and had a lot of orchids. I don't know when she started collecting bromeliads. 

I was only able to transfer a few plants because I ran out of pots. Mom liked pairing plants, so each pot had a number of plants. The bromeliads also grew a lot of pups, so I separated them so I can give some away.

Luckily, most of the plants don't like direct sunlight. I don't get good sunlight in our home, so I shouldn't have a problem making sure they live. Now I just need to get more pots so I can continue re-potting the plants. It's immensely therapeutic :)

Mom's Treasures

Took a break last weekend since I wasn't feeling well. Resumed sorting Mom's things yesterday and spent a good amount of time today sorting a box of cards and letters.

Mom wasn't into expensive things. What was more important for her were her loved ones. She kept all the cards, invitations and letters that were sent to her through the years. I found all the cards I gave her since I was a child. She also kept cards from relatives, friends and her priest friends like Fr. Harry, Fr. Edward, Fr. Emil, and Fr. Bernard. Of course, I found an envelope of stamps too.

Here's a card from my niece, Patricia -

And a card from Fr. Harry bearing tickets for the big fund raising activity for our church -

And a rare random recipe of Mom's chicken galantina -

To be honest, I stalled on going through Mom's things for over a year. I had it boxed a few months after she passed away, but I couldn't work on it. It took me awhile to come to terms with her passing. It's been more than 18 months now and it's time to finish the task. 

It's been easy to know what to let go and what to keep. Mom prepared me for it since I was a child. She'd always tell me, "I won't be around forever." She'd also point out which were valuable and which were not. It's just been taking a lot of time to finish since it's a lot of stuff. We already have about 41 boxes ready for donation. 

Just keep on going.

#BeKind #StaySafe

I Think I Figured It Out

I think I went through 8 more boxes today. No easy feat considering I was dizzy when I woke up. It was solved with some rest and an egg sandwich. I really need to make sure I'm full when I drink my meds.

Anyway, I think I understand better what Mom was trying to do. She left a lot of fabric ready for piecing and unfinished quilt projects. She also left a couple of non-quilting projects to finish. I also found a number of her earlier projects.

Here's what I think Mom left as an assignment:

1. Fabric for piecing - a lot are square and triangle pieces which I think is meant to be a blanket. Some of the cut fabric are meant for her favorite fan block quilt to make throw pillow covers.

2. Make clothes for Sto. Niño - there's a few unfinished clothes for Sto. Niño and fabric that's meant for Him too. Good thing she left a pattern on how to make the clothes. 

3. Maong pieces - it looks like she cut quite a number of jeans! I found a bag of unfinished coin purses, so maybe she meant to make a lot to give away, sell, or use for the rosaries she was making.

4. Beads, beads, beads - Mom left a lot to make more rosaries.

5. Unfinished quilted throw pillow projects - I found a number sandwiched already in wadding. I have had to be careful with it si ce it had pins all over. These will be the easiest to finish.

Very tall order! 😅

#BeKind #StaySafe 

One of My Best Finds from Sorting Mom's Things

I'm still in the thick of going through my Mom's things. I had everything in my childhood home sorted by my decluttering coach, Ally Cainta. It took 8 days to sweep through the house and categorize the items into boxes.

I've been going through each item in all the boxes and I've lost count how many I've gone through. The hardest to go through are the documents and Mom's bead collection. I always find something that's mine in her things. It's not surprising since I lived the longest in the house and I had left a lot of stuff there.

I had a collection of pins from the EDSA Revolution and I always wondered where they were. I found one today - I ♥️ Ninoy pin. I hope I find the others since it's memorable for me. I was 10 when the event unfolded.

I think I've gone through 60% of Mom's things. Majority of her things are craft materials. I'm organizing them by category and I realize now why she didn't really want to shop a lot at Spotlight - it's because her stash is 100x bigger than mine. Haha.

Part of her zippers -

Part of her thread collection (she barely used the ones I bought for her) -

I'll put everything together first and then figure out what to do with everything. I've only decided so far, to divide her angel collection across her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Let's see where it goes :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

Sunday Busy Day

My mind is currently in busy mode. We have to work on sorting the boxes faster. Sweetie takes care of getting them. I take care of sorting. 

Keep. Donate. Throw. We keep three boxes nearby as I work on sorting. We switched gears and started working on my Mom's room. Most of the boxes were sewing materials, some bags and shoes. I was surprised there was not many clothes. It might be in another room.

Bailey inspecting a cabinet from my childhood home

After doing some ironing, I continued sorting. Mom really had a lot of knick knacks and it takes a lot of time to sort it. I was able to put together a box of shoes and belts for donation. I hope it would still be useful.

I think I'll be doing the same thing for a few more weeks, but hope to finish soon.

Happy Sunday everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe