I started writing when I was 8. My mom got me a journal where I could rant (prob so I won't be an annoying brat). I stopped writing for 8 years until the pen and then later on the keyboard called on me again. I blog because I like writing and that's just about it. Hope you get inspired though... Bite the apple!
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
Signs of Old Age
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
What's Unique at Ikea Philippines Restaurant
Monday, October 21, 2024
My Coping Mechanisms to Keep My Heart and Mind Healthy
I always thought I had a very strong will and mind. I was unfazed when I had open heart surgery. Things started crumbling when I had pulmonary embolism. A year before I was diagnosed I was in and out of the ER and my respiratory doctor back then just kept upping my asthma meds. I only discovered what was ailing me when I went for a second opinion.
The struggle affected my mental health. It came to a point when I had a second pulmonary embolism, I couldn't push myself anymore. I almost gave up, but I reached out for help and my doctor counselled me to work on my coping mechanisms.
I recently saw a friend post how to deal with things. It said rest when you're tired. Read or do something creative when you're uninspired. Exercise when you feel depressed.. etc. For the life of me I couldn't find the post anymore. It was a re-shared post, so it's harder to find. Anyway, in my mind I do everything it suggested, so thought I'd make my own list.
Here's what I do when I feel blah -- Tired/weak - I sleep or I go to our cats
- Antsy - I do some gardening
- Angry - I do the dishes or clean or take a long shower
- Uninspired - I read
- Bored - I watch videos (YouTube/movies/TV)
- Unbalanced - I sew
- Depressed - I pray + do something that makes me happy (any of the activities mentioned above)
- Sad - be grateful (make a list of things to be grateful about/be grateful for someone's success)
- Procrastinating? Prioritize the task and follow-up with a happy activity
- Need a boost of happiness? Play with cats.
Sunday, October 20, 2024
Dry Run for the Holidays
I was planning to bake salmon with cream cheese last night. I was pulling out the salmon from the freezer when a ball of ham started to roll down towards my foot! Good thing I caught it! I would have been injured if I didn't. Haha. The fiesta ham reminded me that we had planned to cook it before the salmon.
I don't get to cook as often as I want since the effort largely depends on my energy. There are days I have lots of energy and there are days when I just feel depleted. That's the life of someone who has a bunch of medical conditions. Anyway, preparing the ham was easier than baking the salmon.
The fiesta ham has been in the freezer since early this year. It was still surprisingly available last January and we planned to cook it for CNY. Of course, we forgot about it and just got around to cooking it now. I paired it with (unmeat) chicken macaroni salad. We found a can of veggie chicken at the grocery and thought we'd try it out. Let's just say I had to add more cheese to make my usual macaroni salad tastier (LOL).
We'll have lots of leftovers, so what I cooked is good until today. Yay! I'm happy I was able to cook thrice this week. I made salted egg chicken. I set aside some of the chicken and tried making buffalo wings sauce for it. I'm now stuck with a huge bottle of Tabasco sauce. This means I have to make buffalo wings often (hahaha). Next time I'll probably prepare a kilo of chicken and halve it into salted egg and buffalo wings sauce (I prefer strips over wings though). I have to research what else I could cook with Tabasco sauce.
Have a blessed Sunday everyone :)
#BeKind #StaySafe
Saturday, October 19, 2024
Saturday Around the House
I dedicated the day to small bits of housework. I watered the plants, played with the cats, did some cooking and chatted with a friend who likes cooking. It was pretty humid, so I retired back to my sewing table to write this post and watch some TV. I wanted to hang out outside more, but it was too humid, plus the air quality was bad (construction beside us did some welding).
I'm journaling my daily activities to push myself to move around more. I checked the plants I re-potted and was happy to see the Heart of Jesus (caladium) improve a lot. Check out how much it has improved in 5 days. I transplanted it in a cactus mix soil and put it in an area with indirect sunlight. I think it grew a bit, noh?
I transferred the tiny leaves to a small pot |
I'm also propagating some of my gumamela. The four pots I bought a year ago are still alive, but they've outgrown their pot. It will be hard to transplant them. I plan to trim them to make them healthier. I cut some stems and popped them in soil with perlite. I forgot to cover them to create humidity, so that's what I did today. Let's see if they grow some stems. What I hope to do in the future is graft the different colors to have a gumamela plant with different colors. (I've honestly never done any grafting. My Mom was good at it though).
The bromeliad didn't look good, so I decided to remove the dead and yellowing leaves to give it a better chance to live. |
The kittens were naughty today. It was drizzling just before I went out. It looks like they played in the rain. When they came to me they kept rubbing my leg and they were all wet! Haha. Naughty kittens! We're also trying to regulate their food because a lot of stray cats have been coming in since Grey disappeared. The strays probably caused the kittens to have cat flu! Sigh.
I was going to do some ironing, but I've hit my limit. I know when not to push too hard. I don't want to get sick. I delegated the rest of the cooking duties to Miggy. All he needs to do anyway is let the marinade simmer and Sweetie will do the plating. I can iron tomorrow. Worse off, I'll squeeze myself in another pair of pants next week (haha).
Happy weekend everyone!
#BeKind #StaySafe