Do Things That Make You Happy

I love going to trade fairs, so when a friend told me there's a Negros Trade Fair at SM Aura this week I told the boys I want to go. We had other errands to do at SM Aura, so we went yesterday. 

My friend warned there would be a lot of people since it's the first day, but that's just how trade fairs work. The more people the better! We braved the crowd and slowly made our way around the venue. It was a bit hard going around in a wheelchair. The huge outlet humps didn't make it easy to go around, so I tried walking while holding on to the wheelchair. 

It got hairy since there were a lot of people, but I was distracted enough to go around. I love seeing local products. There were a lot of decors, home items, clothes, bags, and jewelry. We focused on finding favorite food we love from Negros and said hello to the staff of our favorite resort, Manami (watch my video here!).

We went crazy and got a lot of goodies from El Ideal, cheese roll from Felicia's and silvanas from Sans Rival. Just having their food within reach gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling!

The trade fair is ongoing for a few more days at SM Aura. Just go and have fun!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Tried the Bostik Fabric Glue

I have a favorite Uniqlo shirt which I've had for a couple of years now. I wear it often and the fabric has no issues except the neck area started unraveling. I never noticed that the seams were just glued on with what looked like thermal double sided adhesive. 

Anyway, I'm not ready to give up the shirt since the fabric has no issues. I decided to order the Bostik fabric glue and the double sided adhesive. The fabric glue arrived first so I went to work to see if it would work. 

After reading the instructions I immediately tried the fabric glue. Oh boy, I didn't expect it to be super sticky. It was a bit hard to control unlike your usual Elmer's glue. I left the shirt to dry for a few days and ironed it. It's now being laundered and I hope it'll stick. I'm also hoping the excess glue won't stain the shirt (it was really hard to control the output). 

If it stains, I'll just use it at home. It could probably give me 5 more years, haha. Oh, BTW, the fabric glue was really hard to wash off. Make sure you wash your hands immediately after use. I lost count how many times I soaped and washed my hands to get it off!

#BeKind #StaySafe

 

Found the Original Plans for My Childhood Home

While clearing my childhood home, I found the original location plan and house plan. Being over 50 years old, the plans were brittle already. I carefully scanned them and have been trying to stitch the huge paper together. 

It's an amazing find since I wasn't even born yet when the house was built. My Mom told me they originally did not plan to have a basement. It only happened because the architect, my Dad's brother - Tito Bert, told them that it would be very expensive to buy panambak to cover the area. It was cheaper to add windows and doors. That fact is still true until today*.

The plans were hand drawn. Nowadays, they are made with a computer application and printed. I've seen architects still hand draw initial plans and they just re-draw them when it's finalized and submitted to the building official. 

The colored adobe veneer

 I also found an old photo of the house when it was being built. It's the back side though. 

And here's a photo from the 90s. The newer ones I have doesn't really show the house because of the huge bougainvillea my Mom planted in front.

I'll probably find some older photos eventually. It's just fun to see the original plans of the house. One thing you should keep on hand also are the electrical and plumbing plans. 

*It will be almost x3 the cost to just add doors and windows to cover the basement.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Happy Sunday

Have a restful Sunday everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

It Became a Jungle

Miggy has been managing the pocket garden the past few months. I just go there to give the plants some fertilizer monthly. The rain though made the plants grow faster and Miggy said he was having a hard time getting around.

Luckily, it didn't rain last Wednesday afternoon, so Sweetie and I went to work on the pocket garden. It was a huge mess. I trimmed plants by section and terminated some that drowned from the rain. Sadly, our bell pepper plants needed a lot of trimming. They seem to have been infected by something. If they don't recover in two weeks I'll just uproot and start over.

The tomato plants needed a lot of trimming too, but without full sunlight it will be hard to get them to produce blooms. I gave them a bit of fertilizer, so we'll see.

The biggest surprise for me are the cacti and succulents I re-potted. They grew a lot and I noticed most of them are flowering despite being ignored. They don't really get wet, but I guess the moisture from the rain help keep them hydrated. I'll have to clean them up again and possibly move them to bigger pots.

Grogu spent the afternoon with us. He made sure we took breaks in between the clean up. Of course, he got a lot of treats for keeping us company. The next day he also did a full inspection of our work, haha.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Made Porchetta Wrap from Leftovers

My birthday celebration left us with some leftover porchetta, so I researched to see how best we could eat it at home with just a few pieces left. I thought about making some paksiw, but the boys are not fond of eating paksiw. It can also be made into a sandwich, pasta, taco, ramen topping or fried rice. 

I decided to use it for a wrap. I first made a small jar of pickled red onion and got the other ingredients. We decided to buy wraps instead of taco shells, sour cream, salsa, lettuce and cheese. Here's how I prepared it:

It's been weeks since we had it and I'm now craving to have some again.

Full recipe: https://recipesformyson.blogspot.com/2026/09/recipes-for-my-son-porchetta-wrap-from.html 

Happy Friday!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Mount Isarog View

When I was a young child, when we'd visit the ancestral house in Naga City (where my Dad grew up), he would bring me to the room which had access to the roof. That would usually be early in the morning when you can see Mt. Isarog and sometimes the Mayon Volcano (on clear days). 

I remember my Dad would also sing the Ateneo marching song (Regnum Dei). Mount Isarog is part of the song and I guess it was my Dad's way to teach me about Naga City. It was effective since I still remember it to this day. 

I brought this up because my "cousin" (he's actually technically my nephew but we're almost the same age), recently posted a photo of the area. It apparently eventually became his room. I remembered it and also scanned the photo again a few weeks ago. (My brain likes connecting pieces of information). 

Miss you Dad!

#BeKind #StaySafe