The Big Transition Month, It's Not Over Yet

Can you believe that it's December already? The year is ending soon and we just survived the biggest transition in our lives. We began November by getting haircuts! I had my long hair chopped off and it felt so good! 

Here's a one second everyday video of how my November went :D

Moving countries is hard! It's not as easy as moving homes. The week before we flew home was hectic. Movers came to pack and box our things. After they took everything, we started packing our things. We soon realized we had more than what we could bring. We had to send a box through LBC (it hasn't arrived yet). It felt like Lucky Plaza magnetized us to come over for one last time, haha. It will be fun to unbox a balikbayan box when it arrives! 

The travel processes went smoothly. We had to follow closely new announcements since it was changing almost everyday. I have friends who have been asking me how we prepared to go home. Since the policies change often I suggest to read through my post here and visit the links I provided. We did not encounter any problems and we were able to stay together during our quarantine*.

After finishing our six-day quarantine, we finally went home and was reunited with Miggy. We stayed home for another four days before we were able to visit my Mom. The rest of the month was spent mostly re-organizing our messy home and preparing for another transition. Yes! It's not yet over! That's what I meant when I said, "Rad changes coming up!"

November was a good month. I'm so happy to be home with family and be in close proximity to friends. The frenzy of eating everything we missed is done! We have switched back to eating healthy meals. My doctor and my seatmate would be happy to know this, haha. 

Now we prepare for two important birthday! My Mom's and Papa Jesus' birthday. Yay! 

*The BOQ has a single person per room policy. More links on this post.

The Magic of Being Home

Daddy visited me in a dream the other night. He drove me and Mom to a huge, posh resort in our old Toyota Corolla. It was a long, scenic drive through the mountains and eventually we started to see parts of the beautiful blue green sea. When we reached the resort, we immediately sat down at the sandy beach and ordered lunch. I didn't get to see what food we ordered because I woke up. 

Yesterday, Sweetie and I were finally able to visit our home church. It was closed, but we were able to peek inside to say a prayer and to check for any changes. It was generally the same. I closed my eyes for awhile and imagined all the times it was full especially during Christmas and our Parish fiesta. Also remembered the many years I served as part of the choir. Visiting even for a short while, I felt more missing parts of myself come back. 

My roots run deep where I grew up and that's probably why I felt incomplete the past decade I lived in Singapore. Many would embrace the opportunity to experience living abroad, but I really struggled being away. It's probably because I knew my Dad wouldn't have approved. I moved to Singapore ten months after we lost him and that's why moving weighed heavily on me. Now that I'm home, Daddy welcomed me with a beach date with Mom. 

The situation is very different now. A lot of my friends have moved abroad, some in nearby cities, but most of my Ates and Kuyas are still around. A number of my Tito and Tita neighbors have passed away in the past two years. I remember my Mom told me when Daddy passed away that this is how life goes. She was very matter of fact about it, but I realized later on that was my Mom being her strong usual self. 

And now that I am where I really want to be, my immediate goal is to build a happy and loving home where we can create a lot of happy memories. Immediate target in the next two weeks is celebrate Mom's birthday. I've so far ordered some buntings and will plan our menu next. It's just going to be the four of us for now. So excited! 

#Home24 #NewG222 #Xmas28 #StayHome #BeKind   

Thankful

We giggled as we ate our "Thanksgiving" dinner last night. It's Thanksgiving in the US and Miggy mentioned it as we started to eat dinner. "While everyone's eating turkey, we're eating Indomie," Sweetie said and that was when we giggled. We did order spinach lasagna for Thanksgiving, but only realized after that it will only be available on Saturday. We seriously need to do better in planning our meals. 

We enjoyed our meal. What's more important for us is we're together as a family. We're able to share stories, memes, weird ideas and funny memories in person. Sometimes when we need quiet time we retire in our room to recharge or do our own thing. Being together again is what I'm most thankful for this year. 

I am also thankful to be alive. I had my second PE* last January and have had complications after. I'm grateful for all the love and care from my family and friends. I'm also grateful to all my doctors, nurses and health workers who have cared for me. I am alive because of them and I thank God for giving me this chance to live. 

My only wish for now is for all my family and friends to be safe, healthy, secure, blessed and happy. I've also been praying for our country to have a leader who would bring peace, progress and prosperity. And, of course, bottomless prayers for all frontliners. My impossible cause prayer to St. Jude is for me to be healed. 

Being thankful and grateful is what has helped me the past few months. It's what has kept my PTSD** at bay. I'm still adjusting to my new life and I'm slowly accepting that my body is very different now. My biggest mistake post-OHS*** was to live like I didn't have surgery. I was bent on proving I could do everything. For now I'll just be thankful and grateful I have this chance to create more happy memories with family and friends. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

#Home23 #NewG223 #Xmas29 #StayHome #BeKind   

PE - pulmonary embolism

PTSD - post traumatic stress disorder

OHS - open heart surgery

Rediscovering Old Haunts

It's been 20 days since we arrived . I've been out only thrice since November 4 - hotel to home and visited Mom twice. We continue to be cautious so we're just staying home. I miss going to my favorite places and I've been checking if they have extended their services online. We've been spending time at night browsing through the online pages of stores.

Here's what I've discovered so far (listing based on where I usually buy stuff pre-pandemic) -

Bookstores

Booksale - they have a page on Shopee, search for booksale.ph. So far they have over 2k books listed. I wish they would also add craft books and magazines to the list. You can also message them via their FB page if you're looking for a specific book. 

Fully Booked - available on Lazada and Shopee. Also no craft books, but you can buy materials for your crafts. May be better to order via their website since their listings is more complete there.

National Bookstore - you can search the entire store via their website, but if you're looking for popular items they should be available via their Lazada shop. 

Book publishers/bookstores like Feastbooks, Central Books, Chinkee Tan, Philippine Christian Bookstore, Merriam & Webster Bookstore and other bookstops are available on Lazada/Shopee. I got a couple of Didache 2022 already from the Feastbooks Lazada page. 

Groceries

S&R - so apparently you can already buy stuff from S&R without needing to be a member. Just order through their page on Lazada or Shopee. 

Landmark - Landmark has a page on Lazada and Shopee. They sell mostly dry goods, home living stuff and beauty products.

SM - I was actually surprised to find SM's pages on Lazada and Shopee. I first discovered their shop website before I went home. I ordered my first grocery through SM since I'm more familiar with what they sell than Robinson's, Walmart or Metromart. 

My friend Ederic advised me that it's cheaper to order directly from manufacturers via Shopee/Lazada. There's two things I need to do before I do this: (1) Make a list of our menu so I can create a proper grocery list, (2) Find out what brands I normally use, i.e. Del Monte, P&G, Dole etc. 

Appliances

Abenson - has a listing on Lazada, but has no products being sold yet. I ordered some items and there was a lot of back and forth via email to clear my card. They said they were going to inform me when they would deliver, but they just delivered anyway, haha. As with previous experience, there was no follow-up on who would install the appliances. 

Electroworld - also has a listing on Lazada, but no products available. There's a fake page on Shopee though hehe. I used to buy gadgets here. 

Shop SM vs. SM Appliance Center - SM has a list of appliances on Shop SM, but the more comprehensive list is still on SM Appliance Center. 

The nice thing about Lazada and Shopee is most manufacturers have their own pages and you can buy directly from them. Takes some figuring out though if you need help for installation. A new fave place to buy appliances for me is the Mi Store. I've acquired two rechargeable fans through the online store. 

Craft Stores

I normally get materials from Carolina's Lace Shoppe and Divisoria/Quiapo. I haven't really looked into this since I don't need to buy anything for now. I know you can order from Carolina's from their FB page and some shops from Divisoria have pages on Lazada/Shopee (and OMG the prices are exponentially cheaper!). Will explore this maybe after Christmas. :D

#Home21 #NewG223 #Xmas31 #StayHome #BeKind  

The Perils of Being Home

I know I've been eating too much the past two weeks, so I tried to cut down beginning yesterday. I haven't even weighed myself since I got home since our weighing scale is in a LBC box on a ship on it's way here. I feel a bit heavier and that's not good for my body. It's really hard to stop eating when all your favorite food is just within reach!

We haven't been able to cook because my stove conked out. It's taking awhile for the repair center to come back and replace the hot plates. I decided to get a single burner stove and it got delivered last night. This will help us prepare healthier dishes. I'm glad Miggy has taken a liking to cooking, so he can assist. 

The cost of living is really much cheaper here, which means it's taken a lot of willpower to resist shopping. I was really happy though that I was able to get good deals for some items we need during 11.11. It's not just Lazada or Shopee doing crazy offers, but also legacy stores like Abenson, Our Home, SM Appliance Center. I was able to buy three shower heaters for the price of two! Wow! It just takes a bit more research and digging through offers to get good deals. 

I'm not sure if it's pollen, dust or pollution, but the air quality the past few days has been very bad. I've been having asthma attacks everyday, ugh. I just had one while writing this post and thought I was going to keel over. Good thing I was able to calm myself and take deep breaths. I'm not really used to having severe attacks. They're generally mild and I can usually stop it in its tracks. I probably need to keep the windows and doors closed for now. 

I love being home and we're still adjusting to our new life. A bit of discipline is needed to make sure we don't run dry too soon, haha. I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with my boys and my Mom. Ahh, it means I have to sacrifice the calories for the next few weeks so I can indulge for Christmas. It's going to be hard though! 

It's a new week! What new experiences would it bring?

#Home19 #NewG225 #Xmas33 #StayHome #BeKind  

Our New Life

I'm trying to push myself to move around more. Our tiny place does not allow me to reach my 2k daily steps. It's also been hard to find a corner where I can do my daily exercises. I've started to feel lethargic and my body has been telling me to move more to burn everything I'm eating. 

Yummy lasagna by Drake's Lasagna! Order from my friend Adrian Cruz :)

So yesterday we went down to check out the bazaar in our community. Only residents were allowed and there has been no active cases the past few weeks. It was fun to see the activity organized by the property management office with residents. Red and blue tents lined up the main road and residents sold a lot of different goods. 

It was a good day to go out. The sun was hiding and it seemed like it was going to rain. It was the perfect day for a walk. I was hoping to buy some coffee, but we ended up with three cups of latte, puto bungbong, and kwekkwek, haha. Not the best combination, but the three of us enjoyed it for merienda. The funny thing is Sweetie ended up buying Transformers toys in mint condition. It was being sold for a really good price, so he snatched it up immediately. 

Loving this new experience since I never really got to live long enough in our tiny home. I rarely go out, but I realized I missed it when neighbors and the property staff would nod and say hello. Every morning, the birds who live in our a/c enclosure would keep chirping until I wake up. When I move to the dining table, I'd hear the chickens clucking. There are days when the neighbors from the next property would party with karaoke singing. And, of course, we could hear the sounds from the Skyway. 

It's very different from our very quiet life in Singapore. The energy is very different. I could feel a very strong, lively vibe around me. I'm honestly feeling a bit tired from all the activity. I guess I'm still adjusting to the fact that at least two people talk to me now (haha) and there's more activity to traffic at home. I think I'll have to sleep the day away today, haha. 

I'm happy to be home. Happy I have my family and friends within reach. I'm happy I can indulge them also with a little something like cake or lasagna. And I'm super happy that I can get anything I crave for! I think I have to work on increasing my step count, need to burn all these calories! 

Happy Sunday everyone :)

#Home18 #NewG226 #Xmas34 #StayHome #BeKind  

New Leaves!

I put the pothos and baby rubber plant I'm propagating by my bedside. I check them when I wake up and before I go to sleep since i wasn't really sure if they'd survive. They were pretty stressed from trip and probably had to acclimate. I cut them from our plants that were indoors and they were used to the aircon and all-day air filter. They  got traumatized when I brought them here. 

I knew they were stressed because the leaves started browning. I changed the honey I mixed with the water to the honey from Bohol. Left them mostly alone and just made sure the water was refilled when needed. I noticed the pothos started rooting rapidly when I changed the honey. I was still concerned though for the second stalk because the leaves looked sad. The leaves from the baby rubber plant wasn't really propagating. 

A lot of progress happened the past few days. The leaves of the pothos are growing bigger and they've been producing new leaves too. The baby rubber plant has also started to produce roots! I'll probably keep the pothos in water, but have to research if I should move the baby rubber plant leaves to a pot with soil. 

You're probably wondering why I brought plant cuttings with me when I could just get them easily here. My Mom also has a huge garden and she'll give me whatever I need. I went through all the trouble of bringing them (a friend told me as long as it doesn't have soil it should be okay). The pothos cuttings are from the plant our landlord gave us 5 years ago and Tappy's pothos which I took care of for a year. The baby rubber plant I bought on a whim last year. It's grown a lot and I wasn't ready to part with it.

They are remnants of my life in Singapore and gardening made me happy. Our Westies neighbors are now taking care of the plants we left. I wanted a souvenir to remind  me of the happy memories I had gardening in Singapore. We haven't resumed blogging on The Balcony Farmer since our circumstances have changed. For now I'll just focus my time on propagating my two plants and will see where it goes. 

I'm just happy that my plants have started to flourish. The new leaves and new roots give me a lot of hope :)

#Home17 #NewG227 #Xmas35 #StayHome #BeKind  

Finally Slowing Down

Chatting with my work seatmate, I told him what I've been up to lately. We've been busy with re-organizing our home, but things are going super slow. He reminded me that's how it's supposed to be now that I'm "retired". That was a good reminder for me to just chill, relax and work on recovery. 

Seatmate spelled it out for me, "You're now completely free. You were probably anxious all those months you were on medical leave that you could still be asked to come back." What he said is true. I slept for three days at the hotel. It felt really strange because I would just conk out at a snap of a finger. And now that I'm home I also fall asleep faster. 

Now I understand why my doctors recommended me to leave my job. It was really for my own good and I'm happy they let me go through the process of letting go. It was like a break-up because I loved what I do. Through the process I learned to forgive myself, let go and move on. I catch myself smiling at odd times of the day, haha. This is really the first time I hit the brakes so hard and I'm just enjoying sitting still. 

We've been home for 9 days now and so far -

1. We finished one Survivor series (Caramoan). 

2. Got some things fixed at home, i.e. sliding door, stove is in progress. 

3. The pothos and baby rubber plant I brought home has grown roots. The pothos grew new leaves too. 

4. My kitchen's working now, well except for the stove. I ordered a one-burner stove since it looks like it will take time for La Germania to finish fixing it. I already want to cook the goodies a friend sent me (plus I received a gazillion eggs from Elvin and Lynette!). 

5. Ate amazing food. Period. 

I have a friend who's betting I will only do this for 3-4 months, hahaha. He said I'll probably yearn for the challenges I used to face. Well, we'll see, for now I just want to rest and focus on family and catch up with friends. 

P.S. It's really interesting how much people are using gadgets to prevent the spread of the virus. I see vloggers walking around with alcohol misters. Some use nano spray guns to disinfect deliveries. We never used those in SG and I wonder if everyone uses these things here? 

#Home15 #NewG229 #Xmas37 #StayHome #BeKind  

First Week: How I Know I'm Truly Home

It's been a week since we got home from hotel quarantine. It took me a few days to wrap my head around the fact that I'm truly home. I'd wake up confused when we were still at the hotel. I guess that's what happens when you get stuck in one place for a long time. Things got better when we got home and I adjusted faster. Here's how I really knew I was home:

Big hair don't care. Hello humidity! Hahaha.

1. Bottomless hugs from Miggy - this is what I missed most when we were apart. 

2. I could breathe better here! Surviving without a/c the whole day! There are days though when the AQI gets a bit bad. We also just use the air filter at night. 

3. The FOOD! I wrote that in big bold letters. Since my stove needs repairing we have an excuse to order all our favorites for now. 

4. Friends sending more FOOD! We've been receiving care packages from friends! Yay! It's been a mix of my favorite food and new food to try (like the Lola Nena's donuts!). I'm so grateful since we've been receiving food from out of town too!

5. Rows and rows of Pinoy tsitsirya in stores! I saw this today at the convenience store at our place. 

6. Kakanin everywhere! I should have seriously ordered two boxes of the puto Binan!

7. It's also much easier to get help here. When we arrived from the hotel we immediately got help from the maintenance folks to haul up our stuff. And at the airport, Sweetie was able to rest because the manongs took over everything. 

Neighbor's carpenter fixing our sliding door. 

8. I was deliriously happy when I was finally able to switch my Google Play country to the Philippines! I immediately changed all my subscriptions because they're just a third of the price compared to Singapore (well except internet!). And the prices of fabric on Shopee and Lazada, O-M-G! It's really going to reduce the cost of my projects.

9. Humor online. We all know how Pinoys can be funny at any kind of situation. Check out this posting for garter I saw the other day. LOL. 

10. And the daily politics teleserye. However funny it may seem, it's really a huge concern how things are turning out. We all need to take action and pray hard we don't go further down in the dump. Sigh. 

Of course, internet is spotty. I ended up writing this post across an hour because connection kept going up and down. Welcome to the Philippines! :D

#Home13 #NewG231 #Xmas39 #StayHome #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  

Freedom! The End of Our 10-Day Quarantine

We're finally "free" after serving six-days hotel quarantine and four-days home quarantine. Being in quarantine was not so bad. We were able to get some rest and re-organize our home. We were also able to attend a wedding of Gabby. We didn't have any issues re-adjusting to each other when we finally reunited with Miggy. All is good, just a lot of work needed to organize our home. 

Today we finally got to visit my Mom. We brought her to the park since there's a Christmas bazaar. Too bad her friends weren't around yet for the Christmas lights ceremony. We went to the bazaar to support our friends, Denz and Leejay, who were selling puto Binan. They gave Miggy some a month or two ago and we were so envious. We're going to have it for dessert tonight. Yay! 

We'll be focusing on fixing stuff this week -- my stove, Sweetie's car and possibly look for a replacement for our oven toaster. I'll also finish cleaning up the kitchen and will start the heavy task of clearing my closet. Freedom from quarantine doesn't mean we'll be going out for lakwatsa. We'll just go out as needed. 

Happy tummy delights we had today -

Tahoooooo, luckily got to order this from a neighbor! We always hear mamang taho pass by the warehouse beside us. Unfortunately, he doesn't come inside our place to sell. Saw a neighbor offering it yesterday and I immediately ordered three cups. Ahhhh, it was so good! I still want to be able to buy though from mamang taho. 

California maki, also from a neighbor (the one who made the kutsinta). In SG, they don't make California maki with mango so this was a good treat to get. We ate it for lunch with leftovers. 

Dinner is Jollibee which we got on the way home. I'm having my usual, Jolly spaghetti and Yumburger with cheese!

Puto Binan and sapin-sapin which we are having for dessert tonight. Yummm!

#Home11 #NewG233 #Xmas41 #StayHome #BeKind  

Nesting

We became empty nesters in late 2019 when Miggy decided to go back home after graduating. We felt lost for a long time. I remember Sweetie and I would stay out as late as we could to avoid going back to an empty home. It was hard and was probably one of the reasons why I had to take a break back then. 

We tried to extend Miggy's visa when he brought me back to Singapore in 2020. The government became stricter though and he ended up going home in late February. He went home just before the lockdown started. Thus started the 22 month time apart. It literally broke me. 

For almost two years we subsisted with daily check-ins via chat. We tried to make it fun by outdoing each other with good night memes. What we missed most were the hugs and Miggy would tuck us in at night and turn off our lights. We had a lot of mundane family rituals which was important to all of us. 

Watch our emotional reunion at the end.

Now that we're back home we just automatically started doing our daily rituals. We were definitely not ready when Miggy left the nest in 2019 and being apart because of the pandemic made things worse. Now I'm thinking, maybe the extreme stress from work and being apart is what made me sick. My doctors warned me that going home does not mean I'm going to get well instantly. I know that. I think half the battle is making my family complete again. 

Good thing Miggy missed us too! Haha. Things are settling nicely at home. I have made progress with cleaning up the kitchen. I can start cooking again soon. I hope the La Germania service crew can fix my stove. Also need to have our sliding door locks fixed since the heat broke it again. We got our tiny place 8 years ago and this is the first time we're living in it permanently. There's a lot of things here and there that needs fixing. 

Some things I learned through the years on maintaining a home:

1. Get professional cleaners to help every so often. We also get the mattresses and couch cleaned. 

2. When appliances break down, it's best to course the service request through the brand service center. It's been so far easy to get help by booking for help online, i.e. La Germania, Carrier. 

3. If you live in a condo, it helps to be nice to the staff. We had a gazillion luggages when we arrived and we bumped into the maintenance crew. They willingly helped us bring everything up. They've also been helpful to Miggy the whole time we were away. If you have a good relationship with the maintenance crew they can also help with disposing pre-loved items. 

And on the food front, here's what I had yesterday -

Quickmelt cheese and Lady's Choice mayonnaise combo sandwich - I initially freaked out when I learned about this from my busmate. I fell in love with it when I tried it. Super missed it since Quickmelt is hard to find in SG. 

McDonald's spaghetti! 

Army Navy hungarian sausage. We're still doing the rounds of ordering food we've missed. Will start cooking next week hehe. 

The best merienda though was the kutsinta we bought from our neighbor. For the first time we didn't have an kakanin leftovers! Haha. 

Annnddd my first Shopee purchase was Serioso Chili Garlic! Heehee. Try it gais!

#Home10 #NewG234 #Xmas42 #StayHome #BeKind  

My Kitchen is Almost Open

We've now spent 72 hours at home and we're slowly making progress in re-organizing. We each have our own assignments. I've been working on the kitchen while Sweetie has been clearing out the balikbayan boxes we've sent in the last year. It's part two of the sorting and clearing operations we did in Singapore. Our goal is to reduce our things since we're merging two homes. 

I have been prioritizing our kitchen. It will be very unhealthy to keep ordering food. I haven't used my kitchen for two years so I have been washing everything. It's a good thing to do especially in the afternoons when it gets so hot. Finished everything on the counter yesterday and I'll start working on the cabinets today. It's also a good chance for me to sort and reduce our things. 

I did notice that Corelle plates used to be much thicker! The ones we had in Singapore were much thinner and lighter. I like the sturdiness of the older plates. Most of our kitchen items were wedding gifts. I've only replaced one frying pan so far, everything else still functions well. I need to have our electric range checked though. It takes so long for it to heat up and I'm not sure if the oven still works. Good thing it's quite easy to book service from La Germania. I hope it will still work for a few more years. I need it to work properly so I can finally cook some adobo. 

Last night we ordered Pancake House! Woohoo! My favorite arroz ala cubana wasn't available so I got the house special instead. It was amazing to eat it again. Aside from the good food, we have so many happy memories associated with Pancake House through the years. I'll probably order McDo tomorrow because I've missed their spaghetti haha. I wish though we could order some Makati Supermart spaghetti. That would make me so happy. 

Just another day at home. I love how we all converge to hang out on the dining table all day. Happy :)

#Home9 #NewG235 #Xmas43 #StayHome #BeKind