3 Months Back Home

We've been home for almost 3 months now! Woohoo! And I'm happy I managed to stay stable for three months and didn't need to see a doctor. It's an achievement for me since I saw a doctor weekly for a year. I could have probably avoided getting sick, so I need to be more vigilant. My mistake was I didn't wear a dust mask when I did some cleaning and I failed to use an air purifier during the day. I was feeling good, so I thought I didn't need those things anymore. At least I know what I need to do to safeguard my health.

 

We arrived on November 4. Completed quarantine, got reunited with family and moved to a new home. The first two months was really crazy! It's not a good idea to move weeks before Christmas! We were only able to decorate two days before Christmas. We managed to have a nice noche buena and Christmas lunch with Mom. By New Year though we were so tired from cleaning and organizing, we ended up having delivery on new year's eve. 

The post holiday surge though forced us to just stay home. All our "outdoor plans" were shelved. That gave us time to rest and organize our new home. It's still incomplete, but at least we now have a makeshift living room and craft area. Sweetie has started to organize the family room. We probably need to spend more time at the basement because of the warmer weather. 

One thing we've been busy with is gardening. We're trying to grow our own veggies. Growing veggies progressed better at our balcony in Singapore. We realized that the sprouts haven't been getting enough sunshine, so we're moving them to another location today. We hope that would help them improve and give us a good harvest in a few months. It's been fun taking care of new plants and getting supplies is much easier here. 

I hope to feel better in a few days. I had to find a GP since I couldn't locate my regular GP. My new GP was happy with the results of my blood test. She also said I'm so blessed to have survived two PEs and reminded me to keep praying. I told Sweetie I never got that kind of advise in SG hehe. I appreciated it though since it was a good reminder. She was yesterday's guardian angel. I'm back to being cheerful today. Yay! 

Stay amazing friends!

#BeKind #StayHome

Our Three Tree Christmas

Happy birthday Baby Jesus! And a Merry Christmas to everyone! 

Last night we had an intimate Noche Buena. Just me, Sweetie and Miggy. We wanted to have Mom stay with us, but she said "tomorrow na lang". She sleeps early and she knows we'd stay up late for Noche Buena. I had the boys dress up since I wanted us to have a proper family photo -- in each of our three trees. Yes, you read it right, we set-up three Christmas trees! 

I know it's crazy, but we wanted to make up for being apart last year. We set-up three trees to celebrate being together again and to symbolize the merger of our homes. For ten years we were celebrating either in the Philippines or Singapore. There was always someone who had to fly somewhere for work/studies. So this year, our family is together again. 

And we dedicate this togetherness to the celebrant Himself, Baby Jesus. We know this is what He wanted for us. I am grateful for His Grace because I'm able to be with my family. I really wanted for us to have a special Noche Buena. By some miracle I was able to prepare our traditional spread -- spaghetti, pineapple glazed ham, macaroni salad and I was able to make leche flan too! 

Looking back at my Dad's share-a-family project, I especially pray for the families who were affected by the recent typhoon. I hope and pray they are with their families and loved ones. 

Hugs to everyone!

#Home52 #NewG194 #XmasDay #StayHome #BeKind  

Beautiful Bonding on Our Second Day

Everything is still a mess, but we're settling in nicely in our new home. Sweetie and Miggy got our picnic folding table and that's our makeshift dining table for now. The good news is our beds were delivered and assembled by the very nice crew from Our Home. That was really great because the boys needed to rest well. They went through many boxes and hauled some of our things from our old home. 

With Ate Maya :) 

We had several surprises yesterday! Our contractor and new neighbor sent us freshly cooked pandesal from their bakery. Ate Maya dropped by and brought us some delicious pili. The biggest surprise was seeing my high school seatmate, Ottie. She pinged to ask for my address because she was distributing gifts and surprisingly showed up on our doorstep ten minutes later. It was a happy reunion since I haven't seen her for a few years now. 

Giving food I think is a universal Filipino language of love (if there's such a thing). Instead of asking "how are you" we more commonly ask, "Kumain ka na?" (have you eaten?). I have received a lot of goodies from friends since we arrived. The three of us bonded over the gifts. Reminiscing on our previous homes while planning how to organize the new one. 

We realized though that there's a lot more work to be done to care for our new home. There's a lot more plants to water. Bigger floor space to sweep and mop. We don't have enough curtains to cover all the windows. We also had to battle some ants and mosquitoes. Moving into a new home has it's pains. Tomorrow we're getting some help to do a post construction clean-up with my friend Gab's company, Squeaky PH.

Whew! Today we're just taking things slow. We'll hear mass online later and prepare for the clean-up tomorrow. 

Happy blessed Sunday everyone!

#Home32 #NewG214 #Xmas20 #StayHome #BeKind   

The Tiger has Arrived!

It has been a waiting game the past few weeks. We've been waiting for our boxes from Singapore to arrive and clear customs. The mover told us the ship arrived on November 11. Not bad since we arrived on November 4. It took long though to clear customs so we had to wait. 

Watching the movers work always fascinates me. They are really experts in what they do. What we packed for many weeks, just took them a few minutes. I first had the opportunity to have a mover when I moved to Singapore. At that time I just had them pack a box, a mattress and a folding table (they were very bored). 

A few months later I got help from them to pack and move our stuff from our rented place to our first owned home. They finished packing and moving everything in less than a day. They had a lot of time to unpack our things, but we chose not to have our stuff unpacked since we were still waiting for our cabinets to be delivered. That's how good they are. 

For our move home we got help from Asian Tigers. They packed our things last October and the ship sailed two days after. Today, the local team came and finished in less than two hours. I watched them from the second floor and they would look up and wave at me. They were a really friendly crew and I appreciate the help they have provided. 

Thank you Kuya Jessie and your amazing crew!

I'm glad we got help to move our things. We just also had them unpack a few things since we don't have our storage cabinets yet. It will probably take us a few months to finish unpacking and fixing everything, so now we have another messy home! Haha. 

Cheers to a very messy last month! I hope we can make things a bit more decent before Christmas! Now we have to rethink how to celebrate Mom's birthday! 

#Home29 #NewG217 #Xmas23 #StayHome #BeKind   

The Magic of Being Home

Daddy visited me in a dream the other night. He drove me and Mom to a huge, posh resort in our old Toyota Corolla. It was a long, scenic drive through the mountains and eventually we started to see parts of the beautiful blue green sea. When we reached the resort, we immediately sat down at the sandy beach and ordered lunch. I didn't get to see what food we ordered because I woke up. 

Yesterday, Sweetie and I were finally able to visit our home church. It was closed, but we were able to peek inside to say a prayer and to check for any changes. It was generally the same. I closed my eyes for awhile and imagined all the times it was full especially during Christmas and our Parish fiesta. Also remembered the many years I served as part of the choir. Visiting even for a short while, I felt more missing parts of myself come back. 

My roots run deep where I grew up and that's probably why I felt incomplete the past decade I lived in Singapore. Many would embrace the opportunity to experience living abroad, but I really struggled being away. It's probably because I knew my Dad wouldn't have approved. I moved to Singapore ten months after we lost him and that's why moving weighed heavily on me. Now that I'm home, Daddy welcomed me with a beach date with Mom. 

The situation is very different now. A lot of my friends have moved abroad, some in nearby cities, but most of my Ates and Kuyas are still around. A number of my Tito and Tita neighbors have passed away in the past two years. I remember my Mom told me when Daddy passed away that this is how life goes. She was very matter of fact about it, but I realized later on that was my Mom being her strong usual self. 

And now that I am where I really want to be, my immediate goal is to build a happy and loving home where we can create a lot of happy memories. Immediate target in the next two weeks is celebrate Mom's birthday. I've so far ordered some buntings and will plan our menu next. It's just going to be the four of us for now. So excited! 

#Home24 #NewG222 #Xmas28 #StayHome #BeKind   

Thankful

We giggled as we ate our "Thanksgiving" dinner last night. It's Thanksgiving in the US and Miggy mentioned it as we started to eat dinner. "While everyone's eating turkey, we're eating Indomie," Sweetie said and that was when we giggled. We did order spinach lasagna for Thanksgiving, but only realized after that it will only be available on Saturday. We seriously need to do better in planning our meals. 

We enjoyed our meal. What's more important for us is we're together as a family. We're able to share stories, memes, weird ideas and funny memories in person. Sometimes when we need quiet time we retire in our room to recharge or do our own thing. Being together again is what I'm most thankful for this year. 

I am also thankful to be alive. I had my second PE* last January and have had complications after. I'm grateful for all the love and care from my family and friends. I'm also grateful to all my doctors, nurses and health workers who have cared for me. I am alive because of them and I thank God for giving me this chance to live. 

My only wish for now is for all my family and friends to be safe, healthy, secure, blessed and happy. I've also been praying for our country to have a leader who would bring peace, progress and prosperity. And, of course, bottomless prayers for all frontliners. My impossible cause prayer to St. Jude is for me to be healed. 

Being thankful and grateful is what has helped me the past few months. It's what has kept my PTSD** at bay. I'm still adjusting to my new life and I'm slowly accepting that my body is very different now. My biggest mistake post-OHS*** was to live like I didn't have surgery. I was bent on proving I could do everything. For now I'll just be thankful and grateful I have this chance to create more happy memories with family and friends. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

#Home23 #NewG223 #Xmas29 #StayHome #BeKind   

PE - pulmonary embolism

PTSD - post traumatic stress disorder

OHS - open heart surgery

Joyride!

Sweetie made a proposal yesterday. He needed to warm up the car and asked if I wanted to go and chill with him. So down we went to the basement after hanging laundry. Got in the car and laughed at the absurdity of what we were doing. 

Then Sweetie decided to go around the property. He had to drive really slow. It was fun while it lasted and the cold car aircon was a welcome respite from the hot afternoon. At least we were able to go out and maybe that's what we can do sometime soon (i.e. go to Tagaytay and get drive-thru!). Still need to be cautious. 

We don't get bored just being home. There's a lot of things you can do at home. I've been a lot slower doing things, but at least I've been able to tick off important tasks like getting our real property tax paid (thank God for neighbors who do services for a small fee!). I've been wanting to sew, but home is a huge mess now. Maybe things will be better next week. 

Anyway, we got ourselves a "Welcome Home" cake from Red Ribbon. I've missed their mocha cake and will likely get it's equivalent from Goldilocks in a few weeks. Oh dear, my chubby cheeks are back. I really need to go back to home-cooked meals soon. I'll get Miggy to help make some adobo tomorrow.

Thirty days before Christmas! 

#Home22 #NewG224 #Xmas30 #StayHome #BeKind  

Rediscovering Old Haunts

It's been 20 days since we arrived . I've been out only thrice since November 4 - hotel to home and visited Mom twice. We continue to be cautious so we're just staying home. I miss going to my favorite places and I've been checking if they have extended their services online. We've been spending time at night browsing through the online pages of stores.

Here's what I've discovered so far (listing based on where I usually buy stuff pre-pandemic) -

Bookstores

Booksale - they have a page on Shopee, search for booksale.ph. So far they have over 2k books listed. I wish they would also add craft books and magazines to the list. You can also message them via their FB page if you're looking for a specific book. 

Fully Booked - available on Lazada and Shopee. Also no craft books, but you can buy materials for your crafts. May be better to order via their website since their listings is more complete there.

National Bookstore - you can search the entire store via their website, but if you're looking for popular items they should be available via their Lazada shop. 

Book publishers/bookstores like Feastbooks, Central Books, Chinkee Tan, Philippine Christian Bookstore, Merriam & Webster Bookstore and other bookstops are available on Lazada/Shopee. I got a couple of Didache 2022 already from the Feastbooks Lazada page. 

Groceries

S&R - so apparently you can already buy stuff from S&R without needing to be a member. Just order through their page on Lazada or Shopee. 

Landmark - Landmark has a page on Lazada and Shopee. They sell mostly dry goods, home living stuff and beauty products.

SM - I was actually surprised to find SM's pages on Lazada and Shopee. I first discovered their shop website before I went home. I ordered my first grocery through SM since I'm more familiar with what they sell than Robinson's, Walmart or Metromart. 

My friend Ederic advised me that it's cheaper to order directly from manufacturers via Shopee/Lazada. There's two things I need to do before I do this: (1) Make a list of our menu so I can create a proper grocery list, (2) Find out what brands I normally use, i.e. Del Monte, P&G, Dole etc. 

Appliances

Abenson - has a listing on Lazada, but has no products being sold yet. I ordered some items and there was a lot of back and forth via email to clear my card. They said they were going to inform me when they would deliver, but they just delivered anyway, haha. As with previous experience, there was no follow-up on who would install the appliances. 

Electroworld - also has a listing on Lazada, but no products available. There's a fake page on Shopee though hehe. I used to buy gadgets here. 

Shop SM vs. SM Appliance Center - SM has a list of appliances on Shop SM, but the more comprehensive list is still on SM Appliance Center. 

The nice thing about Lazada and Shopee is most manufacturers have their own pages and you can buy directly from them. Takes some figuring out though if you need help for installation. A new fave place to buy appliances for me is the Mi Store. I've acquired two rechargeable fans through the online store. 

Craft Stores

I normally get materials from Carolina's Lace Shoppe and Divisoria/Quiapo. I haven't really looked into this since I don't need to buy anything for now. I know you can order from Carolina's from their FB page and some shops from Divisoria have pages on Lazada/Shopee (and OMG the prices are exponentially cheaper!). Will explore this maybe after Christmas. :D

#Home21 #NewG223 #Xmas31 #StayHome #BeKind  

The Perils of Being Home

I know I've been eating too much the past two weeks, so I tried to cut down beginning yesterday. I haven't even weighed myself since I got home since our weighing scale is in a LBC box on a ship on it's way here. I feel a bit heavier and that's not good for my body. It's really hard to stop eating when all your favorite food is just within reach!

We haven't been able to cook because my stove conked out. It's taking awhile for the repair center to come back and replace the hot plates. I decided to get a single burner stove and it got delivered last night. This will help us prepare healthier dishes. I'm glad Miggy has taken a liking to cooking, so he can assist. 

The cost of living is really much cheaper here, which means it's taken a lot of willpower to resist shopping. I was really happy though that I was able to get good deals for some items we need during 11.11. It's not just Lazada or Shopee doing crazy offers, but also legacy stores like Abenson, Our Home, SM Appliance Center. I was able to buy three shower heaters for the price of two! Wow! It just takes a bit more research and digging through offers to get good deals. 

I'm not sure if it's pollen, dust or pollution, but the air quality the past few days has been very bad. I've been having asthma attacks everyday, ugh. I just had one while writing this post and thought I was going to keel over. Good thing I was able to calm myself and take deep breaths. I'm not really used to having severe attacks. They're generally mild and I can usually stop it in its tracks. I probably need to keep the windows and doors closed for now. 

I love being home and we're still adjusting to our new life. A bit of discipline is needed to make sure we don't run dry too soon, haha. I'm looking forward to spending Christmas with my boys and my Mom. Ahh, it means I have to sacrifice the calories for the next few weeks so I can indulge for Christmas. It's going to be hard though! 

It's a new week! What new experiences would it bring?

#Home19 #NewG225 #Xmas33 #StayHome #BeKind  

Our New Life

I'm trying to push myself to move around more. Our tiny place does not allow me to reach my 2k daily steps. It's also been hard to find a corner where I can do my daily exercises. I've started to feel lethargic and my body has been telling me to move more to burn everything I'm eating. 

Yummy lasagna by Drake's Lasagna! Order from my friend Adrian Cruz :)

So yesterday we went down to check out the bazaar in our community. Only residents were allowed and there has been no active cases the past few weeks. It was fun to see the activity organized by the property management office with residents. Red and blue tents lined up the main road and residents sold a lot of different goods. 

It was a good day to go out. The sun was hiding and it seemed like it was going to rain. It was the perfect day for a walk. I was hoping to buy some coffee, but we ended up with three cups of latte, puto bungbong, and kwekkwek, haha. Not the best combination, but the three of us enjoyed it for merienda. The funny thing is Sweetie ended up buying Transformers toys in mint condition. It was being sold for a really good price, so he snatched it up immediately. 

Loving this new experience since I never really got to live long enough in our tiny home. I rarely go out, but I realized I missed it when neighbors and the property staff would nod and say hello. Every morning, the birds who live in our a/c enclosure would keep chirping until I wake up. When I move to the dining table, I'd hear the chickens clucking. There are days when the neighbors from the next property would party with karaoke singing. And, of course, we could hear the sounds from the Skyway. 

It's very different from our very quiet life in Singapore. The energy is very different. I could feel a very strong, lively vibe around me. I'm honestly feeling a bit tired from all the activity. I guess I'm still adjusting to the fact that at least two people talk to me now (haha) and there's more activity to traffic at home. I think I'll have to sleep the day away today, haha. 

I'm happy to be home. Happy I have my family and friends within reach. I'm happy I can indulge them also with a little something like cake or lasagna. And I'm super happy that I can get anything I crave for! I think I have to work on increasing my step count, need to burn all these calories! 

Happy Sunday everyone :)

#Home18 #NewG226 #Xmas34 #StayHome #BeKind  

Newlywed Feels

We've been crazy busy organizing our home and planning our next steps. It feels like Sweetie and I are newlyweds again, haha. I remember that time we moved to our first home. Most of our things were borrowed from our parents' house, i.e. the sofa and our dining table. We had our beds made by my Mom's carpenter. We didn't need to buy a lot of things since we were able to use all the practical wedding gifts we received. 

It's almost 12 years now since we tied the knot. We've lived in about 8 different places in 2 countries. Living that way was hard. We had to manage two households for the past ten years. It was fun while it last, but as you grow older you yearn for permanency. We never planned to live that way, it just happened because of the work opportunity I was presented ten years ago. 

And now that we're back home we're working on re-connecting where we left off ten years ago. It feels like we're newlyweds again planning for our future. We've been living off our suitcase the past two weeks and have just started to explore our untouched closets. We giggle as we find clothes that don't fit us anymore. We're also going through what we left at our Manila home in January 2020. 

It will probably take a month or two more before we can have some normalcy at home. I hope we can finish in time for Christmas. Gotta get moving also so I can start quilting again (sewing machine and stuff is still in the box). We've been so distracted with... eating. Hahaha. 

Sweetie went out to have his car battery checked. Viola got a good washing too. Our neighbors and the building cat can't leave marks on it anymore hrhrhr. Sweetie got us yummy lunch -- Binalot! Yay! We've been craving for this for a long time now. Sarap-sarap!

And we'll have yummy puto Binan and sapin-sapin for merienda later. 

Gotta go now for other online errands (pay bills) and work on the kitchen again. 

Happy Monday everyone!

#Home12 #NewG232 #Xmas40 #StayHome #BeKind  

Freedom! The End of Our 10-Day Quarantine

We're finally "free" after serving six-days hotel quarantine and four-days home quarantine. Being in quarantine was not so bad. We were able to get some rest and re-organize our home. We were also able to attend a wedding of Gabby. We didn't have any issues re-adjusting to each other when we finally reunited with Miggy. All is good, just a lot of work needed to organize our home. 

Today we finally got to visit my Mom. We brought her to the park since there's a Christmas bazaar. Too bad her friends weren't around yet for the Christmas lights ceremony. We went to the bazaar to support our friends, Denz and Leejay, who were selling puto Binan. They gave Miggy some a month or two ago and we were so envious. We're going to have it for dessert tonight. Yay! 

We'll be focusing on fixing stuff this week -- my stove, Sweetie's car and possibly look for a replacement for our oven toaster. I'll also finish cleaning up the kitchen and will start the heavy task of clearing my closet. Freedom from quarantine doesn't mean we'll be going out for lakwatsa. We'll just go out as needed. 

Happy tummy delights we had today -

Tahoooooo, luckily got to order this from a neighbor! We always hear mamang taho pass by the warehouse beside us. Unfortunately, he doesn't come inside our place to sell. Saw a neighbor offering it yesterday and I immediately ordered three cups. Ahhhh, it was so good! I still want to be able to buy though from mamang taho. 

California maki, also from a neighbor (the one who made the kutsinta). In SG, they don't make California maki with mango so this was a good treat to get. We ate it for lunch with leftovers. 

Dinner is Jollibee which we got on the way home. I'm having my usual, Jolly spaghetti and Yumburger with cheese!

Puto Binan and sapin-sapin which we are having for dessert tonight. Yummm!

#Home11 #NewG233 #Xmas41 #StayHome #BeKind