Lakwatsera Fridays: Grocery Run

We haven't gone out the whole month except for errands. I just ordered online whatever we needed for groceries. I asked Sweetie if we could buy some milk at Lander's. We all needed a break and I thought some cardio in a store would help.

Promptly got stuck in traffic when we went out. We coped by spinning Pokestops and catching Pokemon. It was a good 30 minutes when we finally got out of Bicutan. It just took a few more minutes to reach Lander's.

The sky was really pretty when we arrived. We chose a good time because foot traffic was low. We just basically "window" shopped and just picked up a few things we needed. Too bad we were a day early for the Piso sale.

Capped off the outing by trying out the food. The pasta was quite good and Miggy liked the chicken roll he ordered. I have to remember though to keep away from their coffee drinks. Seems I'm allergic to the milk they use. It was a good family day :)

#BeKind #StaySafe 

Throwback Thursday: One Second Everyday, May 2023

It's been a month since my beautiful Mom went to heaven. Spent the rest of May in quiet introspection and recovery. To be honest, I have not gone back to MMP since we brought her there on May 1. I'm still in denial and I can't even bear to go inside her home even though we've passed by several times. I'm just not yet brave enough to grasp that she's gone. 

I survived the month with the support of family and friends. Maybe I'll finally pull myself out of the cave this month and venture out. We'll celebrate Mom's 40th day with hopefully a private mass. After that I'll look into getting her home cleaned and de-cluttered. That task will be very difficult so my plan is to get help. We're also still planning what to do with the house. 

I spent most of the month of May in recovery. The good days were spent decluttering and working on my sewing projects. I only finished the cover for my KitchenAid stand mixer. Hope to finish the others in the next few weeks.

Here's a vid of one second everyday (thereabouts) for May -

#BeKind #StaySafe

Wellness Wednesdays: Breathe Power

I've been feeling antsy all day and writing something about wellness didn't come easily to me. Went to my craft room and found the box of "Stress Less Cards" I bought in Bacolod. I found it in the toy shop across our hotel. I haven't really used it since we got home and thought I'd try to see if it could help make me less anxious. 

Pulled out the deck and randomly picked one card. It said, "Breathe Power". This was the instruction -

"Close your eyes and breathe normally.. Whenever breathing in, imagine breathing in power and good feeling. You can imagine the power you're breathing in with a color or a light. Breathe this way for 5-10 minutes."

Kuya told me once that we sometimes forget to breathe. Like really breathe. My respiratory doctor had to correct the way I breathed after he discovered I had a huge clot in my lungs. He said I tended to mouth breathe and that's bad because you can easily inhale germs and viruses. It's also bad to mouth breathe when you're asleep because it means you're not getting enough air in. It took awhile, but Dr. Chan eventually got me to breathe properly. 

My physiotherapist also had a hand in helping me breathe properly. Inhale 4 counts, hold 7 counts, exhale 4 counts. Dr. Joe Dispenza further leveled this up and said you should gather your inner power and breathe it out by imagining light that goes through your body to heal you. I sometimes imagine it as white light or gold light and think of it as God's healing love. 

Yeah, so I digressed, but breathing made me feel stable and the anxiety soon went away. 

Breathe my friend, breathe. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Creative Happy Tuesdays: Trying to Quilt a Cat with a Tail

My goal is to learn something new everytime I create something. I came across this cat with tail design on Pinterest and thought it would be interesting to make. Instead of making a placemat I used the design to cover a kitchen appliance. I'm still working on it, but the base was pretty easy to assemble once I figured out the template. 

Here's how I made it -

I'm halfway done with the project and just need to figure out the eyes and bowtie. I also need to figure out how to add the tail between the quilt and the binding. I expect I'll be doing a lot of unstitching (tastas) when I come to this part. Mom did saw, if it's ugly, tastas!

Hope to finish all my kitchen covers before the month ends! We'll soon clear our living room, that means I can finally make some throw pillow covers. I think I've made enough cat quilts for the time being, so I might work on a new theme next.

More details about the project on my sewing blog: https://www.needleadventures.com/2023/05/a-cat-with-tail-quilt.html

#BeKind #StaySaffe

Home on Mondays: Why Home Fire Insurance is Important

We learned a lot in the past year about home management. We also experienced a lot in the year and a half since we moved to our new home. Last year, Kuya got fire insurance for our ancestral home. We also got for our new home since you never know what may happen.

True enough a fire broke out behind our house two months after we got fire insurance. We got very nervous because the fire was right behind the firewall. The guard told us the fire got 40% of the structure before firefighters arrived. We got lucky because the structure's walls were very thick. The firefighter said our firewall was pretty warm. 

We immediately had the firewall inspected. There were bulges in it. Good thing our agent was very accommodating. He helped us get it further inspected and saw through the claim. Inspection showed that the firewall needed some repair only. 

It took seven months for the claim and the firewall to be repaired. Architect Wansi's team took care of the repairs. They reassured us that the firewall is now safe. They're also working on finally adding a sampayan for us. Yay!

When you get fire insurance, they will only insure the cost of your house. So let's say you have a 100 sqm house, built at 35k per sqm, then your house is insured for PhP3,500,000. I don't remember, but I think we were also asked to list our appliances so it can be included in the computation. After the computations, we received several quotations from several companies. Our agent explained each one and then we selected what we thought was best for us. 

We also saw several fires break around our area. Some were really huge. We learned how to manage our anxiety over them by monitoring it closely. We follow TXTFire Philippines on Facebook. They usually provide updates about cases and that helps reassure us whenever we hear a firetruck pass by (we're parallel to a main street so we always hear whenever they pass by). PTSD is real, just make sure you're well informed so it doesn't get triggered. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

 

Miracle Sundays: Missing Mom

Dear Mom, it's been four weeks since you joined Daddy in heaven. Most days I just think you're at home and busy with your garden. The most difficult is not being able to call you up and tell you stories. I dream of you often and as usual you just say you're okay and happy with Dad. 

My heart is heavy today Ma. I couldn't even  bring myself to wear the shirt I wore when we  brought you to MMP. The only thing that calms me is sewing and when I get to go out to tend to my plants. We've been thinking about how to preserve your garden. I told Kuya that we have to protect it at all costs because we won't be able to replicate it. 

I've been keeping myself from crying because I know it's not good for my heart. I remember you said the same thing when Mama Lola passed away. I don't know why, but today's different and the tears just keep falling. I'm just thinking my body needs to release more fluid (hehe). 

The past few weeks have been quiet. I got to see Ate and Kuya together after so many years. We celebrated Daddy's birthday with a Lucban feast. I followed your skilled cooking technique, ordered food (haha). The AQI has been really bad so I haven't been able to do much. Hopefully I'll be able to do the required paperwork this week. I just couldn't bring myself to do it because it seems so final. 

We're busying ourselves to clear out our living room in time for your 40th day. Kuya and I decided to do it in my home to protect me from the heat. We'll just have a private mass and then hopefully stream it so everyone can join. 

Miss you Ma. Kisses and hugs.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Plantita Saturdays: Berries in Our Garden!

The other day, Sweetie surprised me with news that the bushes in our pocket garden bore fruit! We recently had our pocket garden cleaned up. After the plant boxes were added, soil was added. Miggy also added some coffee grounds and a week later we were surprised with berries. 

We're not really sure what kind of berries grew. Google Lens said it's black chokeberry or California privet. The berries are quite small though, so we're just having birds eat it (we're also not sure if it's edible hehe). I found out after some research that berries like slightly acidic soil. Adding coffee grounds probably helped provide better nutrition for the bushes. 

It was a pleasant surprise since the bushes were already there when we moved in. We're just going to leave the berries for the birds. No wonder Mr. Bulbul has been doing his afternoon concerts again :)

Do let us know if you're familiar with this berry :)

#BeKind #StaySafe