Sprouting

What brings a smile to my face the past few days is seeing the bell pepper seeds Miggy and I planted before Christmas sprout. They started germinating on new year's day. From four sprouts there are 20 tiny stems today. Wow! It's going to be challenging to re-pot them when the time comes! I need to find the mustasa seeds I harvested in SG. Must be in one of the boxes. 

Seeing the bell peppers start growing gives me hope. There's been so much bad news lately, the typhoon, the Omicron variant spreading fast, etc. It was disheartening to see friends suffer from the effects of the typhoon, moreso because it's Christmas. It is hard to celebrate when you know people are suffering. 

I had to remind myself about the time when we also went through a disaster. Our house was flooded and everything I owned went underwater. When I started to cry, Daddy told me those were just things and it can be replaced. I immediately stopped the tears and focused on recovering from the incident. Much as I worry for my friends, I can just pray they will have the strength to pull through just as we did. What's really more important is your life and family. Just help where you can :)

We finally unboxed the last kitchen box! Woohoo! My baking pans are still MIA though. Not sure if it was packed in a different box. We probably have about 20 more boxes to open. Organizing has been going very slow because we don't have cabinets yet to store them. My Mom told me it really takes time. 

Well, I just realized that we'll need to change our curtains soon. I told myself I'll make the curtains instead of buying since they can get very expensive. I already made one. It's 3.5 yards long! It cost less than a cup of Starbucks coffee. I'm learning more about fabric also with my curtain project. Making more curtains will allow me to experiment with different types of fabric. I'm glad getting fabric from Divisoria is accessible through Lazada and Shopee! Yay! 

Please stay home as much as you can. In Paranaque City, there were only 13 active cases on December 24, and as of yesterday there were 266 active cases with 79 new ones (Source: Paranaque PIO). 

#BeKind #StayHome

Useful Home Budols

I'm not exactly sure where the term "budol" came from. As far as I remember it was a term used for a crime, mainly scamming. The first time I heard this term was in the 80s when the budol budol criminals were striking. When online purchasing became a norm during the pandemic, it became a term used for impulse buying. It progressed more because of the double digit date promos made by Lazada and Shopee. 

Since we're taking a lot of precaution by not going out, the things I need to purchase have been done online. It's not only SM that's "got it all for you", but you can practically buy anything online, even a house! To be honest, I was really wary about buying stuff online. I was forced into it when we had to purchase groceries during the circuit breaker in SG. 

Anyway, I've babbled long enough. Here are some of the budols from the past few weeks:

Walis tingting with bamboo holder

Magic hose and a hose organizer

Fabric to make a window curtain

Mail box, my neighbor said they'll stick it to the gate anyway.

Cordless vacuum, best buy ever.

Proper doorknobs, really hate those that nip you.

Birthday decor for Mom's birthday.

The air fryer (Sweetie's budol)

A nice faucet for the washing machine

Air freshener auto spray

Faucet extender

The cheese door stopper which was an indulgence

Sweetie was so surprised I only bought fabric to make a curtain. Told him I have a lot of fabric. Just need to unbox them. It's surprisingly hard to buy some home items like tabo and dustpan. I don't know why the shipping fees for basic home items are so expensive! I'm still hunting for a shop that doesn't charge so much to ship those. Or maybe it might be better for me to order through SM when I do my groceries. 

I'm still learning a lot about buying home & living items online. Any tips/recos will be welcome. 

#Home43 #NewG203 #Xmas9 #StayHome #BeKind  

Bliss + New Nimbus 2000

Moving to a new home is hard. We're lucky we didn't have to go through 99% of the construction process and we're just working on finishing touches and some tweaks. I honestly haven't moved as much in the past few months because I have to contend with SOB* and other medical issues. I feel though I could push myself a bit more and I try to do what I can. 

To help us manage a bigger home, we've been investing in a few tools. Miggy unboxed the cordless vacuum cleaner yesterday. It was a joy to watch him be so happy about it. He tried out all the accessories and imagined them to be space weapons, haha. I felt so contented watching him play around with the vacuum. I guess that's what being blissful means. Your heart is so full, it feels like it might burst. 

I realized I should have gotten the cordless vacuum earlier. It would have helped us keep our home cleaner and dust free. I have very bad allergies, so it would really have helped. And good thing I let my budol friend, Anne, talk me into getting a better brand. I was really hesitant at first since I feel other options would be okay. Well, thanks to the huge 12.12 discounts, I got it for the same price as the other brand I was planning to get. 

Of course, there are things you need to do using traditional tools. I got a shiny new walis tingting (broomstick). I got one with a stick which I aptly named my Nimbus 2000. I brought it out for a spin today and tidied up the garage. I'm properly well-exercised now and would make my physiotherapist proud. The stick made a huge difference since the regular walis tingting gives me backaches, plus I can't really bend that much. I'll probably use the Nimbus 2000 twice a week as part of my exercise regime, haha! 

Sweetie brought me out for a joyride since I haven't been outside for over a week now. We also had to leave the premises for awhile because manong is varnishing the floors. I now feel what kids experience when their parents bring them out for a joyride. We're still really taking a lot of precautions even though our barangay listed zero cases yesterday. 

Typhoon Odette is now in the Visayas region. It's been gloomy all day. Please take care wherever you are.

And thank you Nina (of Therapy ni Tita) for the amazing mint chocolate cookies! It was a good reward after zipping around the garage in my Nimbus 2000! You can order these yummy cookies via her IG page.

#Home42 #NewG204 #Xmas10 #StayHome #BeKind  

*SOB - shortness of breath

Becoming a Homemaker + Made Pinangat Pasta

I'm terribly slow when it comes to fixing stuff. It was the one thing that Mommy always scolded me on. I usually know where everything is, call it organized chaos. Well, they say mess creates stress. I remember in high school I would spend a lot of time fixing my room first before studying for final exams. I carried that on at work and when I do home projects. Doing that isn't really effective, so I've been correcting the habit by fixing as I go. I now try to integrate chores in my routine, i.e. putting away newly washed flatware while waiting for the water to boil. 

I'm not a natural homemaker like my Mom. I learned on the job when Sweetie, Miggy and I moved to our first home. It was a good thing we had home eco class back in high school, so I learned some basic stuff. The other skills I learned by watching videos on YouTube and doing research. I think the best way for me to tackle this is to look at it as home management rather than home making. That way it won't be as overwhelming. 

My Kuya will probably laugh at what I'm trying to do. I told him a few years ago that it was my dream job to be a housewife. He said, "You're not going to last. You'll probably want to work again after a few months." Well... my doctors recommended for me not to work because I shouldn't get stressed. My body also reminds me about my limitations everyday. So I have to be realistic with my expectations. 

Here's my plan:

1. Tackle things by parts.

2. Get help where you can. (Asked friends for suggestions on how to fix our pantry aka sari-sari store).

3. Fix as you go so chores don't pile up. 

Overworked yesterday and had to lie down after dinner. I was finally able to get to know my new induction stove. It was mind boggling how it could have 10 temperature levels! My simple one-burner induction stove only had 5 levels. Well, it was fun swiping left and right to find the correct temp, haha. Made some pinangat pasta with ready-made pinangat. Here's how my cousin, Ate Odette, taught me how to make it --

Still hoping things will be a bit more organized by Christmas!

#Home40 #NewG206 #Xmas12 #StayHome #BeKind