Organizing

I was too tired yesterday to do anything. I just watched the impeachment trial the whole afternoon and watered the plants. I planned to organize some of my stuff since the clutter has been terrible. I usually get that urge to clean up when I'm in between projects.

I woke up rested today and after a hefty lunch, I puttered around while watching (again) the impeachment trial. After boxing some stuff, I started sorting documents from envelopes I put them in. These included bills, receipts, medical reports. 

My main goal this week is to reduce the clutter around me. When it hits a certain level I'm not able to do anything else because I get overwhelmed. I found it useful to target specific areas and then do another area if I still have time. 

Since I finished two "areas" today, I can move on to the "fun projects". It feels like I cleared the "cache" and can pile things up again, hahaha. 

#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

Firewalls have Ears and What You Can Teach Your House Staff

Anakin and Bailey probably felt I was getting anxious over the screamfest happening across our firewall. They had me go towards a "safer" area and calmed me down. Meredith also moved to a quieter area.

I was minding my own business and was watering my plants when the neighbors (helpers probably) started having a screamfest over sinampay. I guess it rained earlier when we were out and some of their newly laundered clothes got wet. I wasn't given a choice and had the misfortune of hearing the huge row that ensured. They threw hurtful words against each other. Words that I only usually hear from Batang Quiapo when the masters berate their assistants/helpers.

Oh boy, it felt like I was brought back to my childhood home. Our neighbor there had frequent screamfests too. We don't have helpers, but I grew up in a household that had a harmonious relationship with our angels.

Here's a few things I learned from my Mom about managing people. I also used this when I managed the team across the region.

1. Set responsibilities and expectations upfront. Define key results expected and how their work will be assessed.

2. Escalate issues as they come. Don't let it fester.

3. To resolve issues take a coaching approach so they realize where they can address the problem before it gets big.

4. Never use curse words or downgrade people.

5. Gambling is a big no-no.

6. Live within your means. Utang destroys relationships.

7. No gossiping.

8. Pray.

Good thing our other neighbor always brings good vibes. They have a baby so the mood is always happy. I transferred to that side to water my other plants. Grogu and Anakin followed and played with us. I'm so glad I have fur babies. They really help bring peace.

#BeKind #StaySafe

The Drawer of Shame (Managing Clutter)

A few years ago, my neighbor gave me advise on how she deals with clutter. She places new packages or a random item that needs to be stored in a basket. Then she deals with them when she has time. 

I followed the advise and thought I'd extend it to bills, receipts and other papers that pile up monthly. The "drawer of shame" was then born. I assigned one of our drawers and stuffed in everything in it.

One bit of advise though, clear the drawer monthly or quarterly. I was so busy and left papers to pile up for almost a year (heh). It took me half a day to sort and organize all the bills, receipts and other papers in the drawer.

Here are the general categories I follow when I organize the drawer of shame:

- Utility bills: electricity, water, phone

- House related expenses: repairs, homeowners fees, pest control

- Receipts

- Manuals

- Other documents 

I have to set a reminder to sort the drawer of shame monthly so it doesn't pile up 😅

#BeKind #StaySafe

Summer Home Management To-Dos

In the past three years since we moved to our home, we've always had to do repairs and tweaks to our house. The first two years was focused on doing a lot of repairs, but this year was different. Our summer to-do list for our home were probably the regular stuff to do to keep your home ready for the rainy season.

Here's a list of what we have accomplished for our home:

Roof Restoration/Lowered the Heat

We've been searching for the most unobtrusive way to keep our home cool in the past few years. This year we got a roof expert to check our roof. It was good we had our roof restored this year since it started to rust already. They also added a wire mesh to keep debris out of the downspout. After the restoration, our roof got a fresh coating of insulation paint. Ahh, summer has become bearable (finally!) and we won't have to worry about leaks for the coming rainy season.

Aircon Cleaning

We've been consistent with having our Aircon units cleaned. The cleaners are an authorized center of the Aircon manufacturer. Their prices are the same as others, but it gives us peace of mind that experts are taking care of our Aircon units. This year though we had to have one of our units deep cleaned. The technician explained that deep cleaning is required every five years. Our unit probably got a beating from the two houses constructed beside us since we moved. Got it fixed and it's good to go again for five years. Hopefully, the others won't need deep cleaning yet. 

Pest Control

We changed service providers last year and this one doesn't require quarterly spraying. They pinged last week and I reported some bukbok on our garage door. They said they'll drop by to check since they have a guarantee. No termites anywhere in the house and the insect that was eating our door is a wood beetle. They explained it's hard to kill, but there's nothing to worry about because they work very slow compared to termites. For good measure, they sprayed the whole house and the perimeter at no extra cost. They even left some chemicals in case we needed it. 

Summer Painting

We've had our front gate painted almost every year. I think Mom used to do that too. This year though we'll DIY it. We'll use anti-rust paint and then spray it with auto paint. We already tried this with my Mom's wrought iron plant stands and they're good as new! 

Water Tank Cleaning/Plumbing

We didn't know that you need to empty your water tank once a quarter. Rod told us we just needed to clean/change the filter monthly. We had been a bit delinquent on that and the tank had a strange sound one night. Since we needed to have a few faucets repaired we had the tank cleaned too. They told us we can just empty it quarterly and use a high powered hose to clean the inside. We'll do that next time to save. We also had our drainage checked. Unfortunately, the newly constructed house blocked the underground sewage and this has caused floodwater to backflow to our garden. 

Other DIY Stuff

We learned a couple of things that we can DIY, like putting putty on a wall the cats have been scratching. We have also kept a few supplies like teflon in case of leaks, anti-rust paint, sealant in case it's needed. These things you accumulate as you live longer in your home. Now I understand why my Mom had a gazillion things in her house! 

Things I'd like to work on in the future include changing our front windows into awning windows. This will help cool down the house better. Have our screendoors fixed since the cats sometimes scratch it (it has holes now). I also want to have the kitchen floor deep cleaned and maybe repaint the outdoor walls next year. Being a homeowner is hardwork! I never really thought about it before since Mom was always there to help. We've been on our own in the past two years, so we had to learn a lot. 

#BeKind #StaySafe 

Staycation...

We were forced to go on a staycation ... A literal one once it's just down our hallway 😄 

We were getting settled for bedtime the other night when the airconditioner started leaking! Ackkk! The water that dripped out was like a slightly open faucet.

I got nervous since it was really a lot, so Sweetie turned off the a/c. We tried to sleep with just the fan.  I barely slept and actually considered crashing in Miggy's room. 

The next night we decided to move to the guest room. We had to clear it first since we had a lot of linens on top of the bed. Finally had better sleep, but my mistake was not bringing my CPAP machine. I didn't feel up to par the next day. 

To cope with my medical conditions I have to stay in cooler places. I'm prone to heat exhaustion and I can become an immediately unstable, so I really have to be careful.

The "staycation" was still good nonetheless since we were able to clean up the other room, haha! We'll keep the bed available in case we need it again. 

And oh, the a/c was fixed and the technician found some debris they were not able to get when they cleaned the unit last January. I'm just grateful it was just dirt.

Saturday Around the House

I dedicated the day to small bits of housework. I watered the plants, played with the cats, did some cooking and chatted with a friend who likes cooking. It was pretty humid, so I retired back to my sewing table to write this post and watch some TV. I wanted to hang out outside more, but it was too humid, plus the air quality was bad (construction beside us did some welding). 

I'm journaling my daily activities to push myself to move around more. I checked the plants I re-potted and was happy to see the Heart of Jesus (caladium) improve a lot. Check out how much it has improved in 5 days. I transplanted it in a cactus mix soil and put it in an area with indirect sunlight. I think it grew a bit, noh?

I transferred the tiny leaves to a small pot

I'm also propagating some of my gumamela. The four pots I bought a year ago are still alive, but they've outgrown their pot. It will be hard to transplant them. I plan to trim them to make them healthier. I cut some stems and popped them in soil with perlite. I forgot to cover them to create humidity, so that's what I did today. Let's see if they grow some stems. What I hope to do in the future is graft the different colors to have a gumamela plant with different colors. (I've honestly never done any grafting. My Mom was good at it though). 

The bromeliad didn't look good, so I decided to remove the dead and yellowing leaves to give it a better chance to live.

The kittens were naughty today. It was drizzling just before I went out. It looks like they played in the rain. When they came to me they kept rubbing my leg and they were all wet! Haha. Naughty kittens! We're also trying to regulate their food because a lot of stray cats have been coming in since Grey disappeared. The strays probably caused the kittens to have cat flu! Sigh. 

I was going to do some ironing, but I've hit my limit. I know when not to push too hard. I don't want to get sick. I delegated the rest of the cooking duties to Miggy. All he needs to do anyway is let the marinade simmer and Sweetie will do the plating. I can iron tomorrow. Worse off, I'll squeeze myself in another pair of pants next week (haha). 

Happy weekend everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

New Pest Control Provider

We decided to change our pest control provider. The last one did well for five years, but they've been having internal issues which caused us a lot of stress. We did finish our contract with them, but we no longer renewed.

We didn't want to go rogue and do DIY since we had an infestation two years ago. We want to make sure it doesn't happen again especially since there's construction ongoing beside us. We don't want their pests moving to our home!

We reached out the several providers. Got wind that one had the staff of the former company. We selected the one that's been around for 20 years. They have very good reviews and is half the price of how much we used to pay the other company.

The company is really well-established. They sent six personnel to do the treatment. That alone surprised us! And since they didn't finish the alloted mixture for us, they left about 3 liters for our future use. What we just don't want to happen again is have another infestation. 

Whew! Done with the adulting stuff for the week. We just need to schedule our next appointments. Now I can happily do my sewing and sorting. Our cats would be happy to get undivided attention again.

Happy Thursday everyone!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Why It's Important to Fix Roof Leaks

The fire that happened behind our home really put us on the edge. The fire started because water leaked in the room and an outlet got wet. It was the firewall that saved our home. Soon after, the ceiling in our kitchen started leaking. The water poured out from the kitchen lights. 

It was scary. The lights were on and water just suddenly started pouring out from it. We immediately turned off the lights and called for help from an electrician. He advised not to turn on any of the lights and turn off the circuit breaker switch for the area.

The incident was a blessing in disguise. We were told by the people who we bought the house from that the house electrical system was new. They couldn't give us an electrical plan, so an electrical audit was made. The result was five pages of required fixes. To make a long story short, we had everything re-wired and a new circuit breaker panel was customized for our home. 

The same issue recently happened to my childhood home. The house has been overdue for renovation since it's already over 50 years old. Our helper reported the incident and said that the area where water came in smelled like "electricity". We advised her not to turn on any lights in the area or use any of the outlets. 

Water in the bulb

Since we're planning to do something with the property, we decided to terminate the electricity that was attached to the roof. We originally planned to have the electrician just turn off the switch to the floor. He advised that it wasn't possible since the switch was also connected to the ground floor. He and his assistant ended up terminating the lights individually. They also checked the rest of the house to ensure nothing untoward happens while we're still planning what to do. 

54-year old cables

Electricity + water = disaster. Our electrician explained to us that it's important to make sure your electrical system is healthy. It's important to have a proper circuit breaker panel for your home. He said most fires happen in developing areas because they don't have proper circuit breakers. Usually if an appliance catches fire, the circuit breaker will shut down and prevent the fire from traveling through the wires. 

So, check for leaks in your home. It may come from your ceiling or windows or from flooding. I am amazed how my childhood home withstood so many typhoons and floods. My Tito Bert built us a really sturdy and safe home. Make your home safe too. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

New Gate with Paw Prints

We finally got rid of the polycarbonate we've been using to divide the cat family areas. We had a gate installed last weekend. We chose to have the bottom part to be transparent to socialize the Brimsley family with Meredith. The kittens have grown and have been itching to explore the rest of the house. They have to be friends with Meredith so they could pass through to the other side. 

The work finished a bit late last Saturday. We were told that the paint was still wet. We inspected the gate just before we went to bed and funnily saw some paw prints on it already. Haha! It's probably Grogu's paw prints since he's the most adventurous one. Either his or Grey's since we saw him visit the kittens. 

Now that there is a gate, it would be easier for us to access the side garden. We'd be able to water the plants easily. I hope they're still okay since I haven't been able to go to the area because of the work being done. 

The heat today was terrible. Heat index was at 42'C. I think that's the first time it reached that number in our area. I could still feel the heat from the window even though I was in an air conditioned room all day. Whew! I hope we get some respite from the heat. Stay hydrated! 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Summer Spruce Up

Our house used to be the newest on our street. Not anymore since our neighbors had their homes renovated after we moved in. The construction, the dust and the noise that comes with it have been challenging for us. Good thing our homeowners association has been very efficient and kind. They came to our rescue a couple of times already. 

It's been almost 2.5 years since we moved to our current home. Since we're having the flooring fixed in our family room, I thought it would be a good idea to do some improvements outdoors. Took the opportunity to have some things re-painted. I think it's been five years since the house was renovated, so it's about time to re-paint.  

We recently changed some outdoor lighting fixtures. It's smaller than the old one, so the gate post needed to be fixed. I found an old photo of my childhood home and the post lamp looks a lot like what we have just installed. Sweet! We like the new lamp better than the old box one. We kept the old one for future use (maybe for Mom's garden?). 

The cats had also scratched out part of our front wall, so we had that repaired too. What needs to be fixed though is our front lawn. The Bermuda grass is almost dead. Annoying weeds that have been hard to remove have taken over. The bamboo though is still very healthy, but hard to manage. I'll probably work on that later this year when it's cooler.

Since there's a heat wave, any outdoor work is only done early in the morning. Gary and Marvin move to indoor work by mid-morning to make sure they don't get heat exhaustion. We also remind them also to stay hydrated. My target is for them to gain 5 pounds by the time they finish the work (hehe).

#BeKind #StaySafe 

Useful Online Buys

We go out once in awhile to do errands and buy stuff we need, nothing beats the convenience though of buying things online. Of course, before buying anything one must do some research. I always read comments before making a purchase to establish whether the seller is reputable. Sometimes though there are things you end up buying out of budol, I try to just get things because we need them.

Here's a list of some of the most useful items I bought online:

Flashlight

We like this flashlight since you can charge its battery through solar. You can also switch the size of the light based on your needs.

Stackable bins

I got bins originally to organize my fat quarters (fabric). I ended up getting another set to organize my meds. So useful!

Container with Pour Lids

I originally got one from the supermarket, bu a friend told me it's cheaper to buy online! So I got more for other items we usually pour (i.e. cat food, detergent). 

Cord organizer

We like to keep cords organized. One thing annoying are kitchen appliance cords. Recently got this organizer and it's so useful. Just change the adhesive though, it doesn't last.

Mini blender/food processor

I got this originally to chop boiled eggshells for my garden. It's only about PhP200+. I used to slice onions and carrots by hand whenever I make macaroni salad, but I've been using this small gadget to mince veggies. It cuts down a lot of time and it's easier to clean than a full sized food processor or blender.

There are good budols and bad ones, just make sure to get items that will be useful. Also make an effort to see if the shops you're buying from are legitimate. I have an order of inexpensive items I made because I wanted to try Lazada Choice, it's been six weeks since I made the order and despite follow-ups it hasn't arrived. I have not been successful canceling the order too. 

Here's a previous list I made of online buys (mas marupok ako noon): https://aileenapolo.blogspot.com/2021/10/best-budol-buys.html

#BeKind #StaySafe

Got Some Wall and Post Lamps

The lamp on our front window hasn't been working for awhile now. I also noticed it deteriorated a lot over the past year. We had an electrician check it and he said it was substandard. No wonder it looks like it's ready to fall off. I'm also not fond of the lighting fixture on the gate posts. I think the bulb will go out soon so I told Sweetie we should look for nicer fixtures. 

We were planning to go to a home depot. It's been so hot lately and it won't be a good idea for me to go to one. I don't want to have a heat stroke like that time we went during summer. Uh-uh. We went out for errands the other day and ended up at Alabang Town Center. We were trying to avoid crowded areas and ended up passing by a section of lighting fixture stores. 

I saw Robles Heritage had a good selection of wall and post lamps. Marvin, the store manager, helped me look through their items. He also explained the material and some history of Robles Heritage. I'm familiar with the store and know it's been around for a long time. I used to visit it way back when I would imagine having my own house. 

We found something we liked, but told Marvin we'll check first with the architect if it's fit for our wall and post. We just came back for it after having lunch. The good news is Marvin gave us a nice discount. He also gave his number in case the electrician would have questions. We decided to get lighting fixtures from a reputable company since sometimes when you just buy stuff online you don't really know about the quality of the item. 

We're happy with our purchase. The aluminum material of the lamp is quite thick and I expect it would last a long time. We're making it a point to be more proactive with choosing materials for the house now to make sure we get good quality materials that will last long. We just need to have it installed. Hopefully soon!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Discovered a Leak :(

Last Friday, I was suddenly inspired to re-organize my Yoda collection. Miggy had fixed it a few months ago, but there were still some unboxed items. So, I set aside my plans to sew and worked on re-organizing my Yoda collection. I happily took photos of the Funko Pops and while I was at it I decided to switch where they were on the shelves. 

I was surprised to see some odd spots at the back of the glass cabinet. I didn't think much about it, but I saw bigger spots when I removed the stuffed toys on the bottom. I noticed some droplets, so I got a flashlight to see it better. There was quite a lot of droplets and Sweetie said that spot had a water pipe because it was originally supposed to be a spot for a sink.

Uh-oh. :(

Only way to get it fixed is to remove the glass cabinets. We'd have to get the supplier of the glass cabinets to remove the cabinets. Also means I'll have to remove my whole collection. Sigh. Well, I guess it's also a blessing in disguise since we wouldn't have found out about the leak. 

I'm taking it as a sign to finally get our family room flooring fixed. The tiles have been cracking like crazy (since we moved in! Very bad workmanship!!!). It's just going to be a huge hassle to remove everything again. To think we're still decluttering. Oh well, new home project coming up!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Doing Some Decorating

We took down most of our Christmas decors last week. The only one left standing is our ginormous Christmas tree. I originally wanted to remove it in February, but I told Sweetie I'm fine to take it down earlier. I have a bit more energy now and I want our home to look a bit more presentable. 

I spent a few hours last Thursday working on my succulents. Last time I cleaned them up was in August when Ate Rose gave me a couple of plants. Most of them survived and some had babies (pups). I guess I used the right soil mixture because I haven't had to do anything except water them every 7 to 10 days (depends on the weather). 

I've been wanting to add plants indoors, so that's what I've been working on in the garden. I started with the philodendron and I'm letting the cuttings adjust to it's new home. I'll soon bring it inside after we take down the Christmas tree. I re-potted some of the succulent pups into tiny pots so I could put them around the house (I'm still experimenting to see if they'll survive indoors). 

I completed the set of cute vases I had my eye on for awhile. The tiny pots fit the head perfectly. I wish though I had white tiny pots, but I'll do that next time if this batch survives and grows. I chose really small pups to give them room to grow in the tiny pot.

Placed them on the piano for now. They'll get some sun from there and I will hopefully remember to water them every so often (succulents are best left alone). I put the square vases on the piano too. I get the vases for PhP8 in Daiso and thought they'd be perfect for small succulents. I hope the succulents also grow. I'll move them eventually when I have a proper table for the sala. 

My aim for our home is to decorate sparingly. I just want to have carefully curated pieces that are important to us or something we like. I started with the succulents since they're a gift. I will take awhile before I reach what I have in mind for our home. It's going to be epic!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Goals for Our Home this Year

We missed meeting our goal to have our home ready for visitors by a small margin. We would have met it if we didn't lose a month and a half to a medical emergency. Well, that's on me. Anyway, we tried and managed to clear up the boxes in the living room. I also managed to clear the boxes I got from my childhood home. It's not so bad now, but we still need to clear up some stuff to make our home more presentable. 

We had major works done on our home last year. There's still a few things to do, but nothing major. Now that my stamina is slowly coming back, I've been able to make rounds at home to see what needs to be done. And yes, improvements never end when you are a homeowner. 

I took a look at my 2023 home goals and it looks like we completed everything I listed. Yaaas! This year I think we'll focus more on maintenance and work on our frontage. Here's our goals for our home for 2024: 

1. Finish all electrical related tasks: complete capacity upgrade and complete solar net metering application. Fix service kitchen lights and some plugs. Add more outdoor lights.

2. Make sure the water filter is changed on time. 

3. Organize our living room to make it presentable. 

4. Organize the collection cabinet.

5. Make sure canopies for the sliding doors are installed before the rainy season. 

6. Cat proof the garden. 

7. Fix our frontage (make sure it doesn't look like a jungle). 

8. Organize our family room to have proper spaces for everyone, but have the flooring changed first.

9. Declutter more. Keep only what we need and will use. 

10. Be on point with home requirements (RPT, insurance, regular cleaning, a/c cleaning, car maintenance etc.). 

We will have to step up work on my childhood home. We will be busy sorting through all the items. It will be better to donate/sell items that we don't need. I don't want the things just to rot away, it's better used elsewhere. I'm glad we got the major works done last year. This year will be about maintenance so we could focus on creating more happy memories and wellness. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Stories from Old Treasures

We finally started to clear my childhood home. It took me months before I could start working on it. To be honest, it did not feel right to open Mom's cabinets and drawers. She had kept the things in our home organized and she always told me not to touch things that aren't yours. I knew though I had to get things going since the items stored in my childhood home are better re-homed. I'd rather give stuff away so it would be useful. 

The process is hard, even more since I can't really do the sorting in person. I got help from Ally Canita. She's the decluttering coach who helped us last year go through and organize our home. I couldn't bring myself to open the cabinets and drawers I know Mom organized. Ally and her team went through each of the rooms for several weeks. I'm now doing the painful process of going through each and every item. 

It's quite therapeutic TBH. I've been coming across toys and items I used to cherish when I still lived in my childhood home. Miggy also found some of his favorite childhood toys. I realized Mom kept our things she thought was important for us. I had thought most of those items are long gone. I even found giveaways from my previous jobs, lol. 

So I thought on Thursdays, I would write stories about my old toys and things. It's been interesting to read up on some of my old toys (now vintage!) and Miggy's toys. Sweetie said some of them have value. Quick look on eBay confirms there's a lot of vintage stuff being sold online. It's just fun for me though to go through the items and reminisce. 

I started this last month on Mom's birthday. I sorted through some of her craft supplies and found 26 pairs of scissors! I'm not surprised she has so many because I'm the same. She believes it's important to have several pairs of scissors in each room of the house since you'll always need one. It's true! In our kitchen we probably have at least 2 used for food and a couple more for opening packages. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

An Extraordinary Week

We've been puttering around our house a lot more lately. I got to spend a lot more time gardening and cooking last week. My endurance seems to be improving a bit because of pulmo rehab. I think I'm finally starting to enjoy retirement. There were days though that were not good and I missed my second pulmo rehab session. My Fitbit says though I moved much more this week than last week. 

Achievement unlocked!

Cooked four times in the last 7 days. I don't remember the last time I cooked more than once a week. I told my therapist that I'm usually only able to do one major activity a day. I'm usually too tired after and can't do anything else. If it's a major activity, the next day is normally set for rest. Well, I'm happy with the progress I've made. I really want to be able to prepare our meals, so I'm also studying new recipes. 

Gardening

I got to spend three days gardening last week. Spent two days working on reviving the orchids. Then another day organizing my plants. The kittens have been exploring the garden a lot more, so I had to move the veggies to the pocket garden. Sweetie and Miggy helped me since I had a lot of pots to move. 

Kaley Boo gave Birth!

Kaley grew a lot in the past two weeks. We knew she was due already last week since she had become more lethargic, hungrier and selosa. I posted a short video of her sleeping. She seemed really anxious though, so I felt she was about to give birth. I was right because she went MIA the next day and only came back 3 days after. We have no idea where her kittens are since she only visits us during the day. We think Kaley and the other two calico cats (Cheyenne and Sandra) live two houses away. Hopefully the kittens are okay.

Brimsley was pretty stressed out this week. We came home late twice and she didn't like it since her routine was disrupted. Ahh, the cat has been spoilt, haha. We're usually just around and rarely go out. She was so cross she refused to go to the vet! Only the kittens were able to go and get vaccinated. We'll stay home this week to make it up to her (haha). 

Hopefully things get much better! Just believe and pray!

#BeKind #StaySafe

The Path to Our Current Home

After our wedding, my sister gave me very sound advice. She said, "Your first home doesn't have to be your forever home." She said that circumstances change and sometimes you have to move. I guess she gave me that advise because it was my first time to move out since birth. 

Sweetie, Miggy and me moved to an apartment a few streets away from my parents. We decided to live near my parents because it was close to Miggy's school. We tried to look for a home closer to his school, but rent in the area was more expensive. TBH, we got so busy with wedding planning we forgot to plan for our first home. 

December 2009

We stayed there for almost a year and decided to end our contract earlier because of plumbing issues. Luckily, our landlady was my Mom's friend so we did not get penalized. Mom heard about a duplex that was being rented out a hundred meters away from her. The place a bit bigger and it was easier to manage since if we were still at work we could just pick up Miggy from his grandparents. 

December 2010

We stayed there for more than two years. It was a nice home since it had a lot of space. That was when we learned it's really hard to move homes. We made the mistake of hiring a small vehicle to help transfer our things. It took a lot of trips.

During our stay at home #2 I suddenly got an offer to move to Singapore. After a few months after reviewing our finances, we decided to invest and buy a condo unit. Since turnover kept moving, we ended up extending the rent of our second home. Luckily, our second landlord was also very kind. I moved all our stuff by my lonesome self with help from a professional moving company. 

Early 2013

Moving to the condo was much easier for the boys. The timing though was very hard. It was Christmas, so we were not able to furnish our new home properly. Our old furniture were too big, so that went to Mom's house. I also had heart surgery in Singapore a few weeks after we moved. Well, at least we weren't paying rent anymore.  Our furniture was finally complete just before I was allowed to go home to recuperate. 

We lived in a couple of other homes in Singapore. All of those were rented. As a family we always talked about eventually having our own house. The condo eventually became too small for us. It was during the pandemic when I was convinced by my doctors to retire when we started to watch house and lot videos. One house caught our eye and I found out a friend was the agent for it. 

Will it be our forever home? Probably not. As my sister said, circumstances change and sometimes you just have to move :)

#BeKind #StaySafe

Collecting Rain Water

My plants prefer rain water over rested* Maynilad water. We collect rain water for the plants and switch to regular water during dry months. We used to just place 2 drums where water would drip from the garage roof. It took awhile to collect water. When master plumber Rod saw our set-up he suggested a way to collect water better. 

Rod fixed the roof gutter and the downspout. Some of them were not draining properly. Since we don't really have space for another water tank, he suggested to collect water from the downspout. We originally planned to collect from the garage roof, but the downspout that was installed was not the round one. Rod said it'll be better to collect from the main roof! 

He added a tube to one of the downspouts. We can easily open it if we need to collect water and close it when the drum is full. We have two drums and Sweetie just moves the water when the extra drum is empty. My plants have been so far happy and we sometimes use it for cleaning. Actually, I noticed that the feral cats prefer to drink rainwater than faucet water. They know it's fresh water :)

Of course, we always cover the drums to make sure that mosquitoes don't lay their eggs in it. We also wash the drum every so often. We usually wait for awhile before we open the pipe to let the rain wash out roof debris. Sometimes there's some silt at the bottom of the drum. We empty the drum and wash it with Domex before we fill it up again. 

For our future home we plan to have a dedicated rainwater tank. It'll be used mainly for plants and outdoor cleaning. Rod said it can be switched to collect Maynilad water during dry months. It's useful since we've been able to keep our water bill low. :)

*Water left in a pail overnight before you use it for watering plants