Six Years Ago We Moved

Six years ago we moved to our last home in Singapore. Things were getting stricter back then and we got lucky because the lockdown happened right after we moved. 

I didn't know then that it would be our last stop in Singapore. It was a different experience since from our second floor apartment, we moved 20 floors up! 

It certainly helped to have a balcony. We got fresh air and managed to get some sun when we stepped out to hang laundry. It was a smaller space, but it was good to experience living on a higher floor. I don't think I'll experience it again.

The move was hard to do, but we managed to pull it off. We had to since our old apartment seriously needed attention and I felt I was getting sick in the place already. I would probably have gone crazy if we got stuck in the old apartment during the pandemic. 

Just a good memory to remember. There's always something exciting when you move to a new place.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Thinking About My Future Home

I've lost count on the number of times we moved homes in the last ten years. Our first home was an apartment a few streets away from my parents home. It had 3 bedrooms and we used one as our computer room (desktops were still the norm at that time). We had so much fun in that home and we'd stay up playing Plants vs. Zombies. We moved out because there were issues with the bathroom and we wanted to be closer to my parents.

This was when we moved in to our first home. 

Our second home was just a hundred meters away from my parents home. It was a duplex and much more spacious than our first apartment. It had 4 bedrooms and a huge helper's room. I also had a craft room which I think was designed to be a walk-in closet, but I filled it up with craft materials. The house was too big for us and hard to manage. We eventually decided to invest in our first home. 

Christmas in our second home.

My Ate gave me valuable advise when I got married. She said that our first home need not be our home forever. She said that things will change and you can certainly buy and sell later on and move to another place. That advise was valuable to me because I lived in the same home since birth. 

I've learned a lot about moving and the most valuable advise I can give you is to hire professional movers to help you move homes. It is the best thing you can do for yourself. In Manila I always use Carepak Movers and in Singapore I always use Soon Seng Transport. I've moved four times in Singapore and cannot imagine moving without help. 

Home #9.

I have a new hobby now -- watching home tours. I've been thinking a lot about our future home. I finally learned how to properly take care of plants, so I want my future home to have some space for a proper garden. I want to have home that's just appropriately sized. Just maybe a bungalow with enough space for my craft materials, toys, kitchen stuff. I don't want a huge house because it'll be hard to clean. I'm actually glad I got to live in a smaller home because now I learned to limit my stuff. 

What about you? 

CB//185 #StuckAtHomeDay/215 #WFH127 #StayHome #BeKind

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Yesterday I moved to a new flat. A colleague of mine advised me that I should just get a room instead of renting an apartment for myself. During that time I was still unsure about moving and prayed that if I was really going to move that I would be able to stay with one of my friends. My prayer was answered because two of my close friends offered me a place to stay! All I needed to do was to choose. So I took that as a sign that I was heading the right direction. 

Today I celebrate my third month of being far away from home. Three months ago I packed a bag and asked Sweetie to help me move to Singapore. I'm lucky because I've managed to come home monthly, but being far away from home is one of the hardest challenges I've faced in my life. We cope by keeping in touch all day through Gtalk and through Google Hangouts in the evenings (and it's free!!!). What I miss most though is the daily hugs I get from my boys.

Tomorrow I go back to work with renewed vigor and I'm pretty excited about what I will be doing in the next few months. I'm going home to Manila in a few days for some work and for my Dad's one year death anniversary. It seems just like yesterday that he had gone to heaven, but I know he's just always there for me (walang kilitian Dad ha!).

And, of course, be a star!

Moved!

This is the reason why I have been amiss with blogging.

We have just moved to a new home. After our house hunting mishap an opportunity to move back to the street where I grew up presented itself (just 7 houses away!).

We wanted to move for 2 reasons: (1) to be nearer to my parents (my Dad's 78 and Mom's turning 75); and (2) the house we were living at was showing signs of old age. We originally targetted moving my summer of 2011, but reason number one needed to be immediately answered.

It was a Monday when we saw the “house for rent” sign. Mom called up the number to check who owned the house and to ask if we could check it out. Two days later we checked out the house and immediately liked it. It had enough space to accommodate my work stuff and a nice little garden. Honestly though the magic feature was “walk-in closet”. Haha. The landlord sweetened up to the idea of having us as tenants because he knew that I was born and bred in our village. Thirty six hours later we signified out commitment.

What was tricky though was breaking our commitment with our very nice 80-year old landly. Good thing though she's my Mom's friend, so my Mom took care of breaking the news to her. She understood that I needed to be near my Dad at this time and knew that we have fixed her house to the best of our ability (see what happened here).

We could've moved in immediately, but I had to go out of town for work. We scheduled our move on Wordcamp day, so we were left just a few days to pack. We only managed to pack in the evenings since Sweetie and I both had work. One thing to remember: HAVE BOXES MORE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE (or count). We didn't have enough and ended up placing some of our stuff in trash bags (unlabelled).

We finished moving in one day. I had to take a half-day because I had a commitment for Wordcamp, but I'm proud to say my boys managed the move perfectly. So Jay, Miguel, me, Pork, And, Beans, together with my lovely plants are in a new home. It's all still very messy and I'm just working on SmartBro for now, but in a couple of weeks I'm sure things will be fall in proper order.

Special thanks to our parents (Mom and Dad, Mom and Dad), Titay for the help and boxes; and Duty Free Philippines for the free boxes (it helped A LOT); and our moving team, Lito, Rommel and nephew, Manong Junior and Joshua; and thank you Google and Derek Callow for the Maria Makiling Google Chrome theme on canvass. It's now installed near my workstation and it's providing really great inspiration.

Whew! Another day in the de Jesus household.