Front Lawn Landscaping 3 Months After

Three months ago we had our jungle-like front lawn cleaned up and landscaped. I told the landscaper we wanted something easy to maintain and some flowers.

The end result was a simple frontage. I was worried that it was a bit thin? Manong Henry reassured me it would grow and need pruning.

The last time the plants were pruned was in early December. We got busy, so we havent had time to let Manong Henry come over. I've been giving the plants complete fertilizer every six weeks and I spray it with neem oil sometimes.

Sweetie waters the plants everyday (I take care of everything inside) and he told me a lot of new plants have been growing. I fed the plants some complete fertilizer yesterday and was surprised to see a lot of new birds of paradise. The bushes also grew double from the time they were planted. 

We've also been asked several times about the pink flowers. They just keep blooming. They're called Panama rose and have been very easy to maintain. The white one is called pinwheel flower or Tabernaemontana. The birds of paradise have gone crazy. We will try to remove the ones growing in between the bushes...

Happy weekend everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Our No Meat Fridays Meals List

It's Kent again and one of the things we follow is fasting and abstinence on Fridays. More abstinence for me since I'm technically exempt. I still skip meat on Fridays, but eat proper meals since I have maintenance meds I need to take.

We are trying cook more of our meals at home as prescribed by the dietician. I'm still working on my stamina, so one of my Lenten goals is to make sure we only have homecooked meals on Fridays.

Thought I'd make a list of what we can prepare at home. Here's a rundown:

Baked Salmon in Lemon, Butter and Honey 

Baked Salmon Garlic Cream Cheese 

Pink Pasta with Scallops

Pasta al Telefono

Tuna Alfredo

Tuna Spaghetti 

These are just a list of the more recent ones I've made. We also sometimes make cream dory fillets, Juned's baked Mahi-mahi, fried bangus. I'm scared of frying fish, so I rarely do that. 

What do you usually eat for Lenten Fridays?

#BeKind #StaySafe

Cooked Spaghetti to Celebrate Titay's Birthday

Titay is my Mom's older sister. She's my second Mom. My Mom and Titay looked so much a like, I remember getting confused between them when I was a child, haha.

It's Titay's birthday today. I bet they're having a party in heaven right now with Titay's delicious lengua dish. I wish I askes her to teach me, but she did get to teach Miggy how to make her leche flan.

I just cooked spaghetti to celebrate. Here's how I made it: https://youtu.be/pOk2sBNkEp8?si=XK2PdXiksOhjxNwv

Yummeeh!

#BeKind #StaySafe

It's Lent Again

For a few weeks now I've been reflecting on what to sacrifice for Lent. One of the easier things to do is fasting and abstinence. I'm technically exempt since I have chronic conditions, but I'll definitely abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and Fridays. 

Pope Leo mentioned you can do the traditional way of fasting or abstinence. He suggested also, “an unappreciated form of abstinence: that of refraining from words that offend and hurt our neighbor.” With everything that's happening, it's truly hard not to talk back.

Fr. Tito Caluag in his homily today mentioned about working towards conversion. What can you do to change and be a better person for others. 

Both messages talk about being kind. I'll work towards that and I've also set a couple of sacrifices that would lead me towards better chances for healing.

Have a blessed Ash Wednesday everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

New Cart for Sewing Activities

Sweetie surprised me last week with a new "toy". He originally planned it for Christmas, but the store went on a long break. It became a pre-Valentine gift.

A few months ago, I mentioned to him that I was thinking about getting a cart. I wanted one to make it easier for me to bring around gardening stuff.

Well... It's too pretty to get dirty! So I said I'll just use it to gather materials for my sewing projects. It piles up and sometimes I have to go back and forth to complete what need. I can also use it to keep the materials on standby since I only store the excess when I finish the project. 

Thank you Sweetie 🥰 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Electric Cable Finally Raised

The Meralco app works! I've reported issues a couple of times and more often than not it's resolved immediately. One issue though has plagued us since 2021. 

The cable that connects our home to the Meralco post has been too low. Trucks that pass by always hit it and it was once damaged by the garbage truck. Our neighbor said it's been that way since the 80s. 

Meralco contractor fixing the cables

Anyway, the rainy and windy weekend probably loosened our connection again. Our lights kept flickering and a surge tripped the post. Our basement lights just died late Saturday night. 

The CCTV caught the moment. The garage light flickered brightly and burst. Good thing we have a working circuit breaker and the switch for basement lights automatically shut. Everything else was working properly.

Manong Caloy replacing one of our old solar lights (Photo by Sweetie)

Sunday morning we contacted our electrician. He promised to send someone on Monday. It was late evening when I submitted a report to Meralco via their app. 

Meralco's contractor came first thing this morning. They tightened the cable. Sweetie also asked the neighbor if their electricity was fluctuating. They tag teamed to ask the contractor to raise the cable and they did! Hopefully, it's now more secure and won't be hit by trucks. Yay!

The electrician also arrived shortly after the Meralco contractor left. He did a thorough check, changed the garage light and fixed a few more pending things on our electrical "to fix" list. Sweetie led all the fixes. Yay! Thank you Sweetie 🥰 

#BeKind #StaySafe

The Fort Pilar Miracle

I chanced upon a post by Ambeth Ocampo last week. He featured the Fort Pilar Shrine in Zamboanga City. It's a Marian shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Pillar. Before I visited it back in 2010, I heard that prayers are granted when you request for it during your visit.

Back in 2008, I caught a very bad strain of pneumonia. It was one of the hardest illnesses I faced in my life. My doctors frequently had my blood checked and one tumor marker, CA 125, was almost 3x more than normal. I remember when I got the result from a hospital, the staff member who handed me the result told me he was very sorry about the result. 

I knew the result was very serious because it's an indicator for ovarian cancer. My doctors though said it may also be because my body was still recuperating from pneumonia. While we were monitoring the issue, I kept praying and took every opportunity to visit churches known for miracles. 

Prior to my trip to Zamboanga City, I visited Kamay ni Hesus in Lucban. We attended the healing session of Fr. Joey Faller. I surprisingly had an appetite after the session. The next time my doctor checked the tumor marker, it had gone down to 2x than normal. I prayed harder for healing and I made sure to visit Fort Pilar when I got the chance to visit Zamboanga City.

After Zamboanga, I got to visit Iloilo City where I pushed to visit the Jaro Cathedral. I remember it wasn't on our itinerary and we were discouraged from going because it was being renovated at that time. We made it and I prayed again. 

Everytime I would visit a miracle church, I would always feel something in my heart. It's hard to describe, but it felt like it would beat differently like it had a charge of electricity going through it. I also always felt very calm after. By December 2010, the tumor marker was midway of the normal range. I was healed and it has not recurred. 

Believe. Have Faith. Keep praying. 

#BeKind #StaySafe