Our St. Nick

St. Nicholas of Bari is a popular saint often associated with asking for financial assistance, protection of children, and of course, Christmas gift-giving.

Because my husband and I have been praying to him to keep our finances sound and our kids and house safe for the longest time, we've always wanted to get a St. Nicholas statue for the house. It is also to replace/complement our already-dilapidated St. Nicholas novena prayer card that is posted on our cork board near the telephone in the living room. :-)

Happily last March, I was able to find a lovely wooden figure of him from Deinar. Fina of Deinar handed St. Nicholas to us with the reminder that we can truly pray to him to give us money, a lot of money, but just enough.

So, here he is.

The figure fits perfectly at the wall adjacent to our main door. And as we had the figure blessed and then hung on the wall, we pray that he continues to be one of the guardians of the kids, the house and our wallets. :-)

For more info and stories on this saint, click here.

Yellow Painting - The One

My hubby and I have been "forever" looking for a yellow painting or artwork to put in our living room to replace the old oil painting that we've had for years.

After quite a long wait, we finally found something that fits perfectly in our wall and best of all, it's swack on the budget. We got it (of all places) from Dapitan and we've satisfied with how it looked.

See here:

Now our living room looks so much brighter and happy!

Goodbye Red, Hello Green

Early this month, we bid goodbye to our loyal but storm-battered friend (red) Mica.

And immediately after said HELLO to a new and bigger friend Mica (now colored green).

Taken during the car's binyag :-)

The kids instantly fell in love with him! :-)


Thanks be to God for another blessing like this.

Great Finds at Dapitan

At long last, my hubby and I found time last week to go to the popular Dapitan Arcade. It's crazy how it took us so long to come and visit the place. It's a shopping haven for those who love bargain house items and it's perfect for those who want to be the next Martha Stewart. LOL.

First up, cutie ceramic containers, best for those on the side toyo-patis-suka during meals. Only 15 bucks each.

And then, this cake tray, which I thought was such a hard thing to find in the malls, was literally all over the place! It even came in different shapes and colors and only for around 150 pesos.

Our next great buy are these matching candle-holders and bowl which complements our brand new sala set. Love it!

Something now for the bathroom - a pink fish-shaped soap dish. I like the color a lot so we bought it. At 45 pesos, who can resist it?!

Last, but not the least, a stylish liquid soap dispenser (pang-hotel ang dating). I love the flowery detail at the center. It makes our bathroom look so "five star".

Actually, there is one more thing we bought there. It's not so cheap but it's definitely the best buy of them all. I'll post it here soon after we put it up.... :-)

Dapitan Arcade - we're definitely coming back for more!

On Grass and Lawnmowers

When I was young, our house had a beautiful lawn with Bermuda grass, some coconut-like trees and many flowery plants. I still remember those memories from my childhood when we would play hide and seek behind the bushes in our garden or play “luksong tinik” (I don’t know what’s the English translation of this) with our friends.

Among all those things, what was very memorable really for me is the grass that we had back then. It was lovely. If we still have it now, it would have been great especially with the kids around. I particularly love the smell of morning dew and freshly-cut grass. Well, who doesn’t? I still remember being asked to cut the grass manually using big garden scissors (I got calluses from that, oh dear). But you know, now there are great mountfield lawnmowers that can do the same job for half of the time. A mountfield mower looks efficient and easy to maneuver. If only I can recreate the garden we had back then somewhere in our new backyard, then I would be so tempted to buy a mountfield petrol lawnmower to do the grass-cutting for me.

Shopping for the Little Boy

I went again to the Bel-air store where they sell baby clothes some days before Holy Week.

Although the selection was pretty much the same since I was last there in August, I was able to get a lot of pieces that were just the right size (or even bigger) for my baby boy for almost half the price.

This made me really promise not to ever buy baby clothes again in the department store. Or at least for now. :-)

I Need to Have my Eyes Checked

I was telling my husband the other day that I seem to have enough reason to have my eyes checked and my eyeglasses replaced. I told him that first, ever since I gave birth to Luigi, even with my glasses on, my sight still seems blurred. Second, I told him that even if I have to replace my frames, I know that I can get the lowest price progressive glasses at Zenni Optical, the #1 online Rx glasses store.

He was sceptical at first, but of course, after reading Eric's Review of Zenni Optical, he's definitely willing to make me buy a new pair that looks like this:

Some of you may be interested...

SM City Taytay is having a 3-day sale starting March 26. Great discounts and free parking await those who are SM Advantage, SM Prestige and BDO Rewards members.

Plus, the mall hours are extended! Hoot, hoot!

Personally, I like going to SM Taytay because it's close to our house (meaning it's a doable distance for our Ondoy car) and there's less traffic going there compared to going to the other malls. Besides, Zoe likes to shop at their department store coz there's less people, less competition. :-)

Do you have a truck?

I just discovered this wonderful site selling good quality truck accessories. Now we can buy any truck accessory we like through this particular site. For example, there is a truck ladder rack and some car splash guards that does not only beautify the car but are also very functional and useful for truck-owners.

Here is a sample truck rack that can be found at Real Truck.

Having a truck rack is very handy for our family especially that my Dad often travels from the province to the city. With the rack, he can load lots of stuff on top of the truck. For example, there was a time that he brought us dozens of coconut (buko) from the province because it's way too cheaper to buy it from the province during the holidays compared to when you purchase it here in the city. The cost is almost double! Also, the rack is also perfect in bringing home our portion of milled rice coming from our land in the province. You see my maternal grandparents own a sizeable portion of land in the province and every so often, we are lucky enough to benefit from it by getting some rice for our personal consumption.

So if you own a truck, check out Real Truck and get the best deals on truck accessories.

New Plants

We visited my uncle in the nearby town last Sunday for lunch. They served us the usual food traditional in our hometown in Quezon and I found it so yummy.

Anyway, after eating lunch, my uncle told me that he will give me two plants for our house. He told me to buy new planters for it. It's actually a lovely little plant. It can be a good indoor plant because the leaves are wide and shiny. And I think it would add a bit more decorative quality to it if I put it on indoor planters, particularly the ceramic type with designs on it.

Thank you Tito Botch for the new plants!

Great for the Elderly

I’ve recently discovered a fantastic product for your bathroom that is seen to be safer and more elderly-friendly: walk in tubs!

Walk in tubs are something you can consider when you are contemplating on buying a tub for your family. It is presumed to be safer compared to those ordinary bath tubs wherein you always have to be extra careful when sliding down and going up from the tub. It is designed to assist the person better when entering the tub. Thus, it is good to use for all kinds of people and especially friendly to those who are a bit more elderly who usually require more support and balance in order to bathe properly.

Stainless Sinks

I have always admired the beautiful stainless sinks that I see whenever we check in a hotel. I always wondered where I could find those and how much it would cost to have one installed in my house.

Good thing, I recently found this online store which sells beautiful branded stainless steel kitchen sinks. Gone are the days when it is only in classy hotels and restaurants where you can see nice sinks, because now, you can have your own stainless steel kitchen sink at your very home with styles that can compete with the ones you would only probably see in expensive and classy places. What's better is that this store sells it for a low price and with an option for same-day shipping. It's really a great find!

Wonderful Window Treatments

As you may have read in my old posts, I have been forever looking for a chance to have our living room set re-upholstered. So last week, I finally found the cloth I wanted and was able to contract a woman who could sew the new sofa set cover. And since the living room will now be in yellow and white, I now need to also have a new set of curtains to match it.

Later did I realize that I just can’t buy ready-made drapes in the department store because our windows are larger and higher and the size of the curtains that are usually being sold in the department stores are a tad bit shorter for our windows. Therefore, I looked and looked and found this online shop the other day which sells compatible (and ready-made!) curtains which are perfect for our living room and dining room windows! And boy did I found myself just drooling over their lovely and classy styles! It was curtain heaven, if you ask me.

How I wish I can have these wonderful window treatments right in my very own house soon!

Coming Soon

I just got word from my cousin Nina that she already received my new point and shoot camera from Amazon.com and in just a few more days, I'll finally get it, courtesy of my relatives coming home from the US. It's a happy new year, indeed!

Thanks Nina for helping me save a whole lot on this purchase! Sa uulitin! Hehe.

Ceiling Fans Galore!

One of my favorite things about our house is that it has a very high ceiling. My dad designed it that way so that it looks grander, more elegant and has better good ventilation for the different rooms in the house such as the living, dining room and bedrooms compared to when the ceiling is just flat and simple. And so when the architect was building the house, instead of just having plain lighting panels on the ceiling, my Dad suggested that we also canvass for a ceiling fan so that there is an added touch to the design plus additional fans especially helpful during the summer months.

In the course of our search, we found various styles of ceiling fans. I stumbled upon the products available at Hansen Wholesale Ceiling Fans and saw so many delightful choices and brands such as Hunter ceiling fans and Minka Aire ceiling fans. Oh, I love how rustic and stylish these types of ceiling fans go!

Anyway, before we transferred to the new house, we were able to install not just one but three ceiling fans, that is, one in the living room and one in master’s bedroom and a simpler one at the guest room. Talk about love for ceiling fans!

Shopping Spree for Baby

Hi everyone! We were on leave yesterday for another ultrasound at Cardinal (got great news by the way --- that needs a separate post!). Anyway, after our check-up and lunch, we headed for the baby clothes store in Zodiac St. Bel-Air Village for some baby boy clothes shopping. It's funny because the place is just a stone's throw away from my office but I never really got the chance to go there until yesterday.

We were at the store for only about 45 mins. It was baby clothes heaven. Here are some of the pics of our loots! Super cheap and cuties!!!!

I never thought that clothes shopping for baby boy could be so much fun!

For your info, the shop is at the back of the house located at 48 Zodiac St., Bel-Air Village, Makati City. Telephone number is 896-4802 (look for Manang Vicky).

Bathing Suits Appropriate for Me

With me currently carrying an 8-month baby bump now, I sometimes (no, not sometimes but all the time!) feel so heavy, tired, and not to mention, big. But I don't really feel bad about it because I know and believe that in due time, I'll lose those extra pounds gained from this pregnancy. I know that could still go back to my pre-pregnancy clothes and even to my old bathing suits again. I only have to eat right and exercise regularly to do that.

Part of my exercise plan is to swim as much as I could after giving birth. I think that wouldn't be so hard, right? And in preparation for such, I have started looking for new swimwear which can fit me. Browsing through the web, I am actually so glad that there are still decent and beautiful swimsuits designed for my size. Wearing these in the pool or in the beach after I give birth would be just fine with me especially during the transition time when I move from preggy size to normal size. The designs are also in line with my taste because they are not so revealing (a factor that is hard to find in the stores these days!) plus, they are quite affordable too!

With this kind of appropriate swimwear, there's now no reason for me to avoid going to the pool or the beach to exercise as well as to have some fun in the sun with my family and friends. I can confidently swim in the pool wearing these and not have to worry about covering up my bulges. LOL.

I want this for baby boy

I saw this cute Jansport bag at The Container Store and I love it! I think it's perfect for lugging around the stuff of baby boy. You see, all the bags that we use for carrying Zoe's stuff are in the generic baby girl print and we currently do not have anything that's for baby boy's stuff. It's big but it's light plus with this design, I don't think my husband would mind carrying it around. :-)

Gingersnaps Sale

I think I mentioned before that we went to the Gingersnaps Warehouse Sale last Saturday and was able to score several preggy tops, a pair of slacks and a skirt for myself. I badly need preggy clothes that are fit to wear at the office. I find the prices of the stuff in the department stores and the other maternity shops exorbitant so I really made the effort to go to Pasig to see if I can find some decent clothes at discounted prices.

Apart from my own preggy clothes, we also got to buy some t-shirts and pants for Zoe. I only shelved around Php 1,300 for all that. Not bad, huh? The problem lang with this sale is that the place is sooooo hot! As in. I was sweating so much that I had to cut short our "paghahalukay". And well...there are no decent baby boy clothes. If not for those two things, I would still probably return next weekend to buy some more.

Perfect Fit

As I blogged here last week, Zoe received a new pair of Crocs Scutes from my tita and cousin from the States. Obviously she likes them so much that she managed to take a picture of it yesterday. I found this picture by accident as I was browsing through the pictures from my digital camera today.

Looking closer, I really wish all those bites and scars in her legs would disappear really soon. It's so hard for me to see her with these scars which are so, so itchy! I hope the Mederma for Kids work on her skin soon!