Correcting Issues from the Childhood Home

Ondoy, 2009

While planning our future home, we made several lists:

• List of basic needs and must-haves
• Wish list
• Property red flags

The list discussion lasted a couple of years. It started as a rough draft and evolved to a final list when we also chose our architect. It was important to give our architect a list of issues we experienced while living in my childhood home.

• Flooding Issues
• Basement flooding - the water would come from the road at the back. It's lower than our frontage, plus the basement was lower than the road and there was no firewall between our house and the property at the back. Also, there would be times flood water would come in from the bathroom drain.
• The neighbor doesn't have a drain and their basement area gets flooded. They used to throw water over to the property behind them.
• Our ground floor never flooded, but when the creek overflows, the street gets flooded up to 2 feet. This only happened during Typhoon Ondoy and Yolanda. Mom's garden also only got flooded once during typhoon Ondoy.
• 
  Termites and other pests
• Our whole village gets infested with termites. I had my childhood home treated by pest control in the last decade. 
• There was a time we had a rat and roach infestation.
• And, snakes. 
• Burglary
• We had experienced burglary in the past. We've lost a couple of bicycles and some tools since they were not placed inside the house. Our neighbors have also reported some random burglaries happening in the past few years. 
• Heat
• The overall temperature of our home was tolerable when I was a child. It got very hot eventually when my parents made adjustments to the house.
• Also, back when the house was built, installing insulation wasn't really a thing. Mom had insulation added, but with the cross-ventilation affected, it was still very hot in the house. 

All of the past issues would be addressed. I think the biggest change we're doing is to raise the whole house by at least a meter. It's in consideration of climate change. We'll also be able to avoid getting the basement flooded as well with proper firewalls on all sides. It's been raining for more than 3 weeks now and the street in front of our future home hasn't flooded. I think our barangay has been working hard to clear all waterways. 

Stay safe and dry everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

An Important Lesson

It was Fr. Rene* who taught me a very important lesson from Pope John Paul II -

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Alocasia Update

Last March, I decided to re-pot a plant that grew out of a pot we got from Mom's garden. The leaves looked nice, so I didn't remove it. It grew and I eventually looked up what it was.

Alocasia.

Oh! I remember the plant became popular during the pandemic. I was happy for the free plant. 

It's been 5 months and I have two pots of alocasia now. Three weeks of rain has encouraged it to grow bigger! 

I have to check soon if it needs to be re-potted again :)

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Brunch at Conti's

We had the chance to try Conti's all day breakfast. I usually order the baked salmon and tbh I wanted to order it again, haha.

I told myself to try somewhere new, so I ordered their pork tocino. It's interesting to try this staple sulit across restos. I was surprised since Conti's tocino wasn't red! I even thought it was tapa. It was definitely tocino made even better when you eat it with vinegar and atsara.

Sweetie got boneless bangus.

And Miggy his usual chicken since it's been awhile since we dined at Conti's.

Our unforgettable moment was when the extreme weather alert hit everyone's phone in the restaurant. It was surreal.  

Of course, we got some goodies before we left :)

P.S. I've been tracking rainy days in my planner and we're now on week 3 of rain pouring everyday. Forecast shows we'll have more rain next week! Take care!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Some Forgotten Moments

It's throwback Thursday again. I made time to scan some old photos. I want to finish the album I've been scanning since last month! I think I scanned 60 photos in 2 hours. I have an old printer, so it really takes time.

It was satisfying to scan this batch from the album because it reminded me of that time we were complete (as a family) for Miggy's birthday. Good thing I took photos of the cake because it's the biggest clue on what year the photos were taken. 2002!

We also went to a number of outings. It was one of the last few times we got to visit Pasacao. Life got busy after that and my parents eventually sold the property. My parents loved going there since it's where my Mom grew up. I still remember the scar on her leg which was caused when she fell while playing with her siblings. It was one of the reasons why she was so strict with me!

Fun times from 24 years ago!

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My 80-year Old Heart

A decade and a half ago, my cardiologist said I have a 70-year old's heart. He said after surgery everything will improve. I had mitral valve repair 13 years ago and I enjoyed it until late 2018 when I had a pulmonary embolism. Things went downhill from there since my lungs were affected. 

And now I'm (over)due for mitral valve replacement. The surgery has been postponed several times and now we have to do it in Singapore since my case is very complicated. 

And I feel I now have an 80 year old's heart. All my activities have to be "calculated" and I cannot overdo things. When I miscalculate, I'm definitely unavailable and unstable the next day. I used to feel bad about it before, but now I just shrug my shoulders and rest as needed. Whatever I had planned, just gets delayed. 

Sometimes it saddens me when I can't do anything especially when I can't be more supportive for my friends. That's the sad reality of having a dysfunctional body. I know not many people understand what it's like to have chronic conditions. On the outside, I look healthy. My insides are like a new car with an ancient engine. 

Life. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Made a Sewing Machine Cover (with a Cat!)

Making a new sewing machine cover has been on my to-do list for 3 years now. We were still in Singapore the last time I made one and I made it by hand. I've learned a few tricks since then and made this one mostly by machine. I embroidered some parts which is why it took longer than I expected. 

Anyway, I did the cat first and made the base really simple. Just huge strips of denim-like fabric. I think I went for monochromatic tone since the sky has been pouring rain for at least two weeks now.  

I think it turned out cute and it matches the covers I made for my kitchen appliances. Here's how it turned out:

And how I made it:

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