Did I Meet My Wellness Goals Last Year?

My main goal last year was to recover and gain more stamina. I did slip and broke my streak. I was confined in the hospital for 3 weeks! Ugh! It started as a simple sore throat and progressed to strep throat. Luckily, the pneumonia was nipped at the bud and I did not have sepsis. Whew! It's really important to know when you should go to the hospital. It was the boys who insisted I should be brought to the ER. 

Lesson learned, I should included not being hospitalized as part of my annual goals. I was doing quite well with my pulmo rehab just before I was hospitalized. I have to re-start it again next week. These were my supporting goals last year:

1. Pray - everyday

2. Be grateful and be grateful for others - everyday

3. Eat well and eat more nutritious food - yes, going back to meal plans next week

4. Lose more weight - my weight finally moved down! I shed off 4-5 kilos last year

5. Complete daily exercises and increase exercise capacity (and try to go out more) - still not everyday

6. Follow doctors orders and do the tests - yes, was a good girl last year

7. Drink meds on time - yes, I feel the effect when I don't, so keeping this religiously

8. Re-start meditation - this is where I failed last year

9. Solidify coping mechanims  - yes! I reached rock bottom when I lost my Mom, so really had to work on this

10. Less social media -  yes, have become so lazy at posting

If I were to give myself a score, I think it would be 8/10. I improved a lot towards the end of the year. Just really need to be mindful and take more precaution at the rare instances I go out. I will use this as I craft my wellness goals for the year :)

What about you? How did things go for your wellness?

#BeKind #StaySafe

Best of My 2023 Quilt Projects

Consistently working on my quilt projects proved to be challenging last year. I had to evacuate my maker room a couple of times. After storing my supplies, I eventually set-up a "satellite" sewing table in the family room. I spend more time there with Sweetie so we could save up on electricity. 

To warm up, I made new curtains for the kitchen. I love using swiss dot fabric! I originally wanted to have proper curtains made for our living room, but the cost is so steep! I can make 30 sets of curtains from the price I was quoted, so I'll just continue to make our own to save and have fun. Anyway, I made another set for the kitchen last October. Still used swiss dot fabric, but I used corn blue this time. 

By April, I started on my cat quilt projects. I needed new covers for my kitchen appliances. I also wanted to learn to make new patterns. Went to Pinterest for inspiration and from that I managed to make covers for my KitchenAide stand mixer, blender and food processor. 

After the cat themed quilt project. I rested for two months. My arm hurt and I realized I shouldn't sew by hand too much. When my arm healed, I resumed by making a special Sanrio themed project. I made a customized laptop sleeve and pouch for a friend. I was so relieved when she told me her laptop fit perfectly!

The second theme for the year was making useful items from the scrap fabric I've collected for a couple of years now. I was able to make a lot of projects out of it: potholder, small wallet, essential oil pouch, coffee pot rug, coaster, notebook cover, pincushion and tablet case. I could've gone on and on, but I knew it was time to work on my Christmas theme projects. 

Just before I started work on my holiday projects, I made a special baby pinwheel quilt for my nephew's daughter. I finally busted out the special fabric I bought in Japan a few years ago. I knew I wanted to use the fabric for a baby quilt. I wanted the colors to be something my Mom would have used. I paired the special fabric with apricot fabric from Singapore and wadding from Australia. 

I ended up just making two holiday quilted items. I got sick so I was useless for six weeks! I still managed to make a holiday pinwheel potholder and Santa potholder. Will just make more for Christmas this year and will probably start earlier!

You can watch tutorials on how I made these projects on this playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOKtaK29-LI6EWUsXEE6LReY2UDY_RsME&si=JKS97LeC515X1uhr

I'm happy I was able to do a number of projects last year. It kept my hands and mind busy. I look forward to seeing what I'll come up with this year!

#BeKind #StaySafe

2024, New Year in Manila

Happy New Year! 

Celebrated the new year at home contained in our family room. Had to do this to avoid the bad air quality. Didn't want to welcome the new year with asthma, haha. We also just prepared the ready to cook food Kuya and Ate Joy sent. I'll cook pink pasta today so we could have noodles.

I was so surprised so many neighbors had fireworks! There wasn't as many last year when we welcomed 2023. By 11:20 pm it was super noisy in our neighborhood. It wasn't the same though as the 80s/90s when it was non-stop. There were moments of silence in between. Of course, the loudest bangs came five minutes before midnight. 

I feel 2024 is going to be very different! I haven't crafted any goals yet, but I have some ideas in my head. I'll let it simmer for now and will write it out in the next few days.

Here's how my 2023 went as a one second everyday vlog!

Have a blessed year everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Grateful 2023

Thank you Lord for the gift of life, the blessings and the time with family and friends. I am grateful for everything and understand that trials come along the way to make one stronger. It's also a way to appreciate and be thankful for what you have. 

2023 was another difficult year. Losing Mom meant I really need to find my footing and be completely independent. I started to learn this when we lost Dad back in 2011. I remember Mom would always say, "What will you do when I'm gone" when I was just a child. She wanted me to learn to be independent at a young age. 

Now that I am an orphan, I'm grateful I had my parents growing up. They left me when I was good and ready. They were very strict when I was growing up. I would probably not have the discipline to have done well if not for that. So I am truly appreciative of the time I had with them. 

The new year will be a transition. We will be working on my childhood home. I haven't even made a dent in sorting the boxes. Mom left a lot of stuff. It took me the whole month of December just to sort through her bead collection. She had taught kids how to make rosaries, so she had a lot of supplies. I haven't even started with her sewing supplies. It will probably take me half a year to finish going through everything. 

And, I have completed the challenge to complete one second video everyday! Here's a summary of my December 2023!

Let's all have fun in 2024!

#BeKind #StaySafe

The Highs and Lows of 2023

The year has been one of the most devastating years of my life. I lost my Mom and I just had to cope with my grief through the rest of the year. The state of my health has also been challenging. Worse off, I was hospitalized for 3 weeks last month. 

Some of my friends said it hasn't been a good year for them too. I always remind myself that God only gives us trials that we can bear. The day before He took Mom home with Him, I had prayed in earnest for something I have been praying for over a decade now. God finally answered the prayer the day before my Dad's birthday. It helped ease the pain of losing my Mom. 

I wouldn't put 2023 as a bad year. We all go through highs and lows each year. I put goals for different aspects of my life so I could feel more productive and useful. Adjusting to retired but disabled life has been difficult for me, so having goals helped make me feel useful and needed. Here's how I broke it down:

Make Our Home Beautiful (https://aileenapolo.blogspot.com/2023/01/home-on-mondays-make-our-home-beautiful.html)

We made a lot of progress with fixing and organizing our home. We had the electrical and plumbing issues fixed. Kitchen was overhauled. Garden is not muddy anymore and plumbing has been improved. We're down to a handful of boxes which I'll finish sorting today. We've sent more than 50 boxes of items for donation. Also hope to clear the sala before 2024 comes knocking in 24 hours (haha)

Craft the Year Away (https://aileenapolo.blogspot.com/2023/01/creative-happy-tuesdays-craft-year-away.html)

I probably finished half of the projects I wanted to do. I take time whenever I work on my projects since I want to enjoy every stitch I make. I enjoyed making the cat series the most. I also enjoyed the challenge of turning scrap fabric into something useful. Will prioritize those I wasn't able to make next year. If you want to take a look, I documented what I created on my YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@aileenapolo/videos). 

Wellness, Stability and Stamina (https://aileenapolo.blogspot.com/2023/01/wellness-wednesdays-my-wellness-goals.html)

I set wellness goals for the year to ensure I took care of myself better. The most important thing I did was to change doctors and hospital. I felt I needed a change because they were forcing me to have surgery. My doctors in Singapore warned that it would be very risky for me to do any procedure. I knew I really needed to change when the medtech staff doing my CT scan freaked out over my results. Changing doctors helped a lot and despite being confined for 3 weeks I feel I'm becoming more stable and my stamina is increasing. Ahh, and I finally got my PWD card (hooray!).

Bucket List (https://aileenapolo.blogspot.com/2023/01/2023-bucket-list.html)

I made my 2023 bucket list attainable. I was able to do 70% of it, the others have to wait (more like pass the approval of my boys). We were able to enjoy traveling twice without any incident and I hope we can do that next year again. Just need to avoid the flu season and ensure I'm strong and stable when we get to travel again. I hope to resume though in-person grocery and dine at interesting food places. 

Ambitious Gardening Goals (https://aileenapolo.blogspot.com/2023/01/plantita-saturdays-my-ambitious.html)

I'm still not successful with my veggie garden. It's hard! It's been really challenging since one really needs to be consistent with it. Plus it didn't help when I got hospitalized since the watering and care had to be delegated to the boys. I've been more successful with ornamental plants. I bravely re-potted the plants Mom gave me and they're all thriving. I hope to do better with gardening next year. 

I'm still thinking about what I'll do next year. I haven't really thought about making goals yet since I'm a month behind everything (haha). I'll probably continue blogging everyday since it's part of my therapy, plus it helps me to keep active and productive. 

Let's all hope and pray for a better year next year!

#BeKind #StaySafe

My Secret Spaghetti Sauce (Beef and Mushroom with Black Olives)

I was looking through "Recipes for My Son" and realized I never shared how I cook my beef and mushroom with black olives spaghetti recipe. I never had the chance to film it because I've been cooking more pink pasta. I also shifted to cooking tuna pasta (using the same recipe) than beef since it's just Sweetie and I who usually eats red pasta. 

Anyway, since it was Christmas I thought it would be nice to make my first spaghetti recipe. It was my seatmate, Maica, who taught me how to make it. I had to wing the measurements since she didn't give me any. I'm not ouido when it comes to cooking (that's Daddy), so it was hard at first. I eventually found the right mixture and don't really measure anymore when I cook this recipe. 

Well, those who have tried it said it's really good, so I thought it would be useful to share the recipe. It's not sweet pasta and I honestly don't know how to cook Filipino spaghetti (that's Kuya's expertise). Anyway, here's how I make my spaghetti -

For ingredients and more info, visit:  https://recipesformyson.blogspot.com/2023/12/recipes-for-my-son-moms-special-beef.html

I really like having more sauce than noodles whenever I make spaghetti :)

The Month of November 2023

Before the year-ends, thought I'd look back at the month of November since I'm still seriously a month behind everything. Nothing much happened in November since I was hospitalized for 3 weeks! I still managed to take photos while stuck in the hospital. The boys also took photos of the kittens and my flowers. 

The misadventure reminded me that God only gives you trials that you can bear. You should also respond to challenges as soon as you can. My doctor said that I was brought to the hospital just in time. If I waited a little more my risk for sepsis would have been higher. And after facing the challenge, rest and pick up the pieces after. 

To be honest, we were all derailed from what happened in November. It delayed all our plans and preparations for Christmas. My energy partially came back just in time for Christmas. I wasn't able to prepare any gifts though. We were also not able to send any Christmas cards. Priority for now is to get better and be stable in time for New Year. 

Well, here's my one second everyday video for the month of November. Just a few more days and I'll be able to complete it for 2023!

#BeKind #StaySafe