Family Haircut Day

Sweetie said he wanted to get a haircut before his birthday, so I declared a family haircut day. The last haircut I had a few months ago reminded me why I never went back to that salon (LOL). I grew my hair a bit longer so I could have it properly cut. 

Anyway, after trying out a relatively new place near us, we headed to the salon I used to frequent. It's a different branch, but I figured they probably cut the same way. I'm glad I took the chance with this branch since it's nearby. I hope it will be our go-to salon from now on since I've been orphaned for a couple of years now.

I just had my hair trimmed. I don't need anything fancy since I don't go out often anyway, plus I don't want to shock my cats with a new look (haha). I also skipped having bangs. It just annoys me to no end. Good ol' haircut for now. 

It was Miggy who had the biggest change. I think the hair stylist cut at least 20 inches of his hair. That amount of hair can help clean up oil from the sea! I was also asked whether I wanted to keep my hair. The hair stylist said it can be made into bangs! Maybe next time! Haha. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

The Heat is On

And just like that the cool wind that usually comes during Christmas `til Valentine's has left. The heat is back and I have to be very mindful once again about stepping out in this weather. I spent most of the day yesterday on the couch because I was dizzy. I missed our high school class lunch reunion. It would have been fun to go. Oh well, such is my life. Stable today, unstable tomorrow. 

Well, I was lucky today. I got a "free pass" to go out to buy something. It felt like our regular Sunday family day where we'd head to the mall after hearing mass. We got to try the new Japanese resto in ATC, Kiwami. Then we went to True Value to buy something. I also squeezed in some time to buy a new shirt. It's been awhile since I got something new to wear. 

It's also been awhile since we've been able to have a vacation. Our last trip was when we went to Bohol last June. We'll need to figure out what to do with the cats if we ever decide to leave for a few days. Last time I just had to figure out how to keep the plants hydrated. That was easy. I just stuck a bottle with water in the soil. It also luckily rained the week we were away. The only other time we were away from home was when I was in the hospital. The boys though would go home in the evenings to leave food and water for the cats. So we'll see how we'll be able to go on a getaway. 

Stay hydrated and protect yourself from the blazing heat!

Happy Sunday everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Mid-year Bucket List Check!

So... I got distracted last week while doing my mid-year review. I forgot about Friday and Saturday! Took a look at the list I made last January to see if I have made a dent on my bucket list. To be honest we're still very cautious about going out. We only do whenever there's a check-up and for very important errands that can't be done online. Well, let's take a look if I made any progress on my bucket list -

1. Monthly grocery run (or every 3 weeks is fine). 

More like every 6 weeks which is fine since I'm only able to cook once a week if I have good days. 

2. Brunch date with my boys. 

Yes, especially when we have check-ups, haha. We also do this the rare times we really go out to do groceries.

3. Get to dine at my favorite YouTube chefs restaurant (i.e. Chef Tatung, Chef RV etc.) and try out other interesting food places. 

We planned to visit Chef RV's resto in Binan, but apparently they only do take-away. The other one might happen soon. We so far got to explore some places in the south and BGC.  

4. A domestic destination that requires a flight (we still need to use Sweetie's travel fund!). 

We were able to squeeze in 2.5 destinations with Sweetie's travel fund! We were able to visit Bacolod and Bohol (2x). Not bad huh. 

5. The beach, maybe Batangas or Subic 

Well, we went to the beach in Bacolod and Bohol. This item though refers to a road trip. 

6. Baguio!

Probably need to set this to somewhere nearer. I still want to go to Baguio, but will have to get clearance for long car ride from my doctors. 

7. Celebrate special occasions somewhere nice. 

We were able to celebrate the birthdays of the boys in Bohol. Up next will be my birthday. Will probably stay put since the weather has been unpredictable.

8. Visit my fave malls! Glorietta, SM and Landmark (haha, yes, I've been home since 2021 but have not visited even the nearest SM to me!). 

We've been able to visit Glorietta very briefly, but not Landmark, SM Makati and the nearest SM to us. Funny thing is we've been able to visit their counterparts in the south, haha. 

9. Explore my home city more. 

Hasn't happened. Traffic is terrible so we've been exploring the south more. 

10. Of course, visit nearby churches.

Just so far our parish church. 

Score: 6/10

Have to do better about doing outdoor activities since I'm vitamin D insufficient, haha. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Postponed Birthday Plans

We were supposed to go on our first family vacay next week. We wanted to celebrate Sweetie and Miggy's birthday out of town. The boys are much better now except for a cough. We decided to postpone the trip since the doctor advised it's better to isolate until they finish their medication. It's just the regular flu, but we're treating it like a contagious illness since we're still in the middle of a pandemic. They both don't want me to pick it up. 

Birthday lunch at Marche 2019

I hope they'll be out by their birthdays. It would be a bummer if I couldn't even hug them! I wanted to at least have a nice dinner at home with our parents, but for safety we'll just do it later on. What's more important is for everyone to get better first so we could enjoy our vacation. I'm grateful that the resort allowed us to re-book without charges. 

I just remembered, the last time we celebrated their birthdays together was in 2019! We were still in Singapore then and celebrated by dining at our favorite restos, Nana's Green Tea and Marche. This year we'll just order some yummy food and stay home. What's important is we get to be together again for our birthdays! Yay!

#BeKind #StaySafe

What Grocery List?

I've been ordering our supplies online since we got home. It's hard since not everything is available online and oftentimes there are things that become unavailable. Some items I had to purchase from the shops of brands on Lazada/Shopee. The delivery cost piled up. 

Yesterday, we finally went to a supermarket! We had a grocery list and Sweetie said we shouldn't stay long. It was still relatively early so foot traffic was light. Doing groceries in person is much more fun. Well, we ended up getting more than what was on the list! We really missed our grocery runs. 

After doing groceries we just got takeaway and went home. We're still wary about dining out. Still need to take care since the virus is still out there. The government has also been warning about a new surge if we don't take care. Well, it was a good experience for us. We'll probably resume our outdoor exercises if it isn't too hot. 

One of the things I learnt from the pandemic is to celebrate simple joys. Grocery shopping in person achieved! <3 <3 <3

#BeKind #StaySafe #VoteWisely

A Brief Respite: First Staycation in a Long Time

Went on a one-night staycation last night with the boys. We were honestly avoiding a possible brownout which the utility company said may or may not happen. We haven't been out as a family since December 2019, so we thought it was a good time to try. 

We just went to the city next to us. I had second thoughts about it tbh, since it's such a hassle to pack an overnight bag. Anyway, after some delay, we finally checked-in around five in the afternoon. Waited for the sun to set and then we decided to walk around to get some take out. We ended up at Angrydobo. I convinced the boys to try it since I got to try it back in 2019. The food was certainly tasty and it made the boys happy.

There was an always open McDonald's across the hotel. When we were in Singapore, we used to have midnight snacks at McDonald's. I told the boys we should go get some ice cream at midnight like we used to. We were all in pajamas by 11, so that did not happen hahaha. Maybe we'll do it next time. We were just so full from dinner and Sweetie got some cake also from Conti's. BR.

We're back home now. It was just a quick getaway. I realized it was a much needed break from our daily routine. It was my first time to reach my daily step count goal. I definitely needed the push so I could regain my strength. The staycation also did wonders for my mental health. I've been unwell the past few weeks (post-booster) and it wasn't boding well for my mental health. The brief respite broke the downward spiral of my spirits. My mind has to be well so the rest of my body can get better. 

If you need a break, just go and do it. It doesn't have to be far away. You can break the monotony in many ways. Just make sure to follow proper health protocols, remember the virus is still out there spreading. 

And now I go water the plants. 

Have a great day everyone!

*BR - baboy reflex. Learned this term from my niece. 

Busy Bee

Busy day today taking care of things for our homes. Really need to work on our to-do list. I hope our home can be organized properly by my birthday. It may be a tall order, but I hope we can finally remove all the boxes by then. We're also working on getting our old home cleaned up so it can be useful. We have a lot of Marie Kondo-ing to do! 

Well, to be honest, my day didn't start well. I was already stressed within 30 minutes of waking up. The shipping company that brought our stuff from Singapore just dropped a huge tax bill on our lap five months after they delivered our items. We had asked about the dues after our items were delivered, but they said there wasn't any bill anymore. We also didn't hear back from them after completing the delivery in late November, so it was a huge surprise to receive a huge bill (more than 2x of what they originally quoted). Gaaah, Sweetie's taking care of this for me. Just super disappointed in the shipping company. 

The beautiful trees we passed on our way to our other home helped calm me down. There's really something with nature that makes you feel everything will be alright. As my friend, Ms. Myna, posted the other day, "There isn't enough room in your mind for both worry and faith. You must decide which one would live there." I choose faith. 

I was happy though to hear that friends found yesterday's blog post on what I did to my GSuite Legacy accounts. I shared it because I felt other users like me were procrastinating about it (haha!). I fixed my accounts the other night on a whim so I could tick it off my to-do list. I was glad to find out it didn't require me to do any cash out. Yay for small wins! 

Well, must chill and rest for now. Tomorrow will be another day. 

#BeKind #StaySafe #VoteWisely

Starting My "Bahay Kubo"

We had just moved to a new apartment when the first lockdown in SG started. We got lucky then because the day after we moved everything was restricted. One of the difficulties we experienced was getting groceries. Getting a delivery schedule was really hard since that was the time a lot of people shifted to buying supplies online. 

I realized we had to be more resilient and that's why I started to plant veggies in our balcony. I'm starting to do the same now in our new home. Getting groceries is easier now, but I noticed there are some veggies that are hard to get, i.e. lettuce. My Mom had  a lot of it when Kuya set up a hydroponic garden, but it's been replaced with ornamental plants now, haha. I've been trying to read on setting up a small hydroponic garden for green leafy veggies. This way we can have the needed ingredients to prepare salads. 

What's easy to grow: mustasa, spring onions and leek. For spring onions and leek, just use what you buy from the store. After a day of soaking the stem in water with a drop of honey, I just planted it in soil. Now I get it anytime I need it (nice to top sinangag!). Mustasa was the first veggie I was able to grow successfully. If I was going to have a farm, I'll probably have a mustasa farm hahaha. 

What takes time but fulfilling to grow: tomatoes and bell pepper. I prefer to grow stuff from seed. I had a good run of growing tomatoes and bell peppers in SG. I hope I can do better here since the soil is richer. Ahh, will have good use for our rice wash again. 

What I'm wary to grow: calamansi. I used to have calamansi in one of our previous homes, but it attracted caterpillars and I had a hard time controlling it. We had to transfer it to my Mom because it got crazy. It is very useful though to have one or two calamansi plants, so will think about it. 

What I want to grow: onions, lettuce, eggplant, cucumber and maybe carrots and kangkong. I thought about growing garlic, but apparently it takes a long time before you can harvest (six months). I already planted two red onions, but I made a mistake and will have to pull it out to fix the error. 

We don't really need a lot, so I hope planting veggies can help us have access to what we just need. Also this will help us prevent wasting supplies. I haven't thought about what herbs to plant. It's Sweetie who has been interested in planting herbs. I hope he'll plant basil, rosemary and oregano since I use those for pasta hehe. 

My Mom has been upset that I don't have any flowers in my garden. She's already started to give me plants. I don't want to have too many plants because I want to make sure we're able to take care of them. Watering our current garden already takes up an hour to finish. Good thing Miggy's been able to help me since there are days when my energy is MIA. I have to think of a way to keep Mom's garden from overflowing into mine, hahaha. 

I'm also grateful that I'm able to do some gardening now. I had to give it up when things got hairy health-wise. So need to make sure it's manageable for all of us. 

#BeKind #StayHome

Fixing my Childhood Home

Just came from my childhood home. I lived there for more than 30 years. I only moved out when Sweetie and I got married. We lived in seven different homes since I moved out. I must admit, there was always one thing I couldn't get in the other homes we lived in -- space! 

My parents built a spacious home. It ended up that way because the architect, Tito Bert, made it bigger than originally planned. It took my parents 15 years to complete the loan they made for the house. I remember that's one of the things that was celebrated on my parents 25th wedding anniversary. 

The day the house was completed is etched on one of the walls - January 30, 1970. Our home is turning 52 years old already. It has seen better days, but the structure is very much intact. I had an architect check it just before the pandemic and he affirmed that it just needs a little sprucing up. 

Everytime I visit my Mom I make notes on what needs to be fixed. The ceiling was leaking when it rained last month and I've been trying to find a reliable roof service provider. I tried an app, but the provided was overcharging us. Geez, it's really hard to find trustworthy help. I found a roof service provider that's been around for 29 years. Let's hope they give a better quotation. 

The one thing that's stayed beautiful as ever is my Mom's garden. It's always stayed so lush. It takes at least an hour in the morning and another hour in the afternoon to water her garden. I know because I covered for my Mom whenever she traveled. I spent a lot of afternoons playing on a banig in her garden when I was a child. It's where my Mom taught me how to sew and do other crafts. I hope I inherited at least half of my Mom's green thumb, haha. 

Anyway, looking at my childhood home I realized my dream home is almost a replica of it, just a much smaller version. We looked at many houses in the last few years. I was drawn to our current home mainly because it looked a lot like my childhood home. At least now I can no longer complain about having enough space, haha. 

#BeKind #StayHome

*Tito Bert is probably turning 100 years old this year. 

Our Grown-up Dining Table

Our dining table finally got delivered yesterday. We've been using a folding table the past three weeks. It took five people to carry and set it up. Yup, it's a huge table. We've always had smaller 4-seater dining tables. It always got messy because we used it as our tambayan also. After meals we'd hang out as a family, do our work/hobbies also on the dining table. So when we moved to our new home we wanted a bigger table. 

All our previous tables were also made of wood. Our childhood homes had the traditional round table with a lazy susan. The table was huge and served as a food table whenever we had parties/reunions at home. Eventually, my Mom had a rectangular stone-inlaid table made. It was placed in the lanai which became a favorite dining area. We only got to experience other types of dining tables in our rented homes in SG. 

TBH I struggle when it comes to design. I'm more into function than aesthetics, so when I was looking for a dining table I ended up just browsing and browsing. I asked helped from Marja, our contractor/neighbor who's an interior designer. She sent me a couple of photos and I liked one. We immediately had a family meeting. We decided to try something different and ordered a glass and metal dining table. 

After the table was set-up, the three of us stood at the kitchen and just stared. The table is more than double the size of our usual dining table. It was a proper dining table that would make our parents proud. We approached the table carefully, scared that we might cause the glass to drop, LOL. 

Our first dinner on the dining table was prepared by Miggy. We sat across each other and it felt weird to be far from each other. We'll probably move around the table for now to find the best place to sit. We're excited to have Christmas lunch with our parents on Saturday. Glad we were able to make the dining area decent in time for Christmas. Yay! 

#Home50 #NewG196 #Xmas2 #StayHome #BeKind  

Bottomless

The key to unlocking the new door for me was my family. I realized I don't need to look far for my purpose. It's just within reach. It's my family. So the past few days I've been working hard to organize our home. The contractor finally finished the kitchen and I'm finally able to tidy up. It's taking awhile though since I can only do so much in a day. Well, slowly but surely. 

What I'm enjoying now is the company of the boys and random visits by friends. We feel so loved this weekend because we received goodies! Kuya and Ate Joy sent some pastries. My seatmate, Rica, sent baked taco (mmm they were super delicious!). Got some puto Binan from Leejay and Ate Rose surprised us with kakanin. I just checked my weight the other day and I have so far kept stable since I left Singapore. Whew!

Bottomless... you can get bottomless amounts of love as long as you allow yourself to receive it. That's what I learned this weekend. When I got sick I did not want to bother anyone about what I was going through. Many reached out to ask if there was anything they could help with, but I always said we could manage. I guess because my love language is "act of service" I didn't feel I could reciprocate. So I mostly kept to myself and expressed love by making quilts for friends. 

I'm honestly empty handed this Christmas. I'm still unable to reciprocate since I'm using my energy to fix our nest. I'm focusing first with my immediate family because I feel I have to make up for the many years I was busy at work. So sorry to everyone, cards and gifts will be super delayed as we haven't found them in the boxes. 

And, of course, always remember Papa Jesus provides bottomless love. He is our forever <3

#Home46 #NewG200 #Xmas6 #StayHome #BeKind