Shopping Alternative

We were gifted with this colorful picture frame a couple of years ago and it's only now that I was able to take it out from its "hiding place" and be able to put the kids' pictures inside.

How lovely it turned out to be! This one now sits on the glass table in the living room. :-)

Now I realize how we can easily forget gifts received through the years. When Christmas or birthdays pass, we sometimes forget to immediately put the gifts to use. In some instances even, we forget them altogether and they rust away or get spoilt, making them useless stuff.

I know that I have a lot more "good stuff" which I have on storage and not used. I still have a ton of bags, lotions, perfumes, etc. etc. in the cabinet!!! Don't you think this is enough reason for me to skip going around the mall for now and stop buying stuff here and there? As an alternative, what I just gotta do is really bring out those gifts in storage and make use of them. It's like buying new stuff without spending a single cent.

How cool is that?

Packing 101 - The Delivery Day

With my delivery coming up, I have been trying to complete packing the hospital bag for myself, my baby and my husband for the 3-4 days stay in Cardinal.

I gathered some tips online and I would like to make an online check of how I am faring in the list.

For Mommy / Daddy:

1) List of phone numbers or a phone tree of people to call and share the good news - ok
2) Your own comfortable nursing gown if you plan on breastfeeding - none yet
3) Lip balm - you'll be glad you have this - ok
4) Your own maxi pads - the hospital will provide these, but your own may be more comfortable - ok
5) A camera and/or video camera - just a camera for now
6) Baby book for the hand and foot prints - ok
7) Toiletries - ok
8) Hair accessories - ok
9) Makeup - ok
10) An extra change of comfortable clothes for you - none yet
11) Change of clothes for your partner - none yet
12) Breast pump - need to check my old pump if it's still ok to use

For Baby

1) Warm hat and booties - ok
2) Your favorite baby blanket - ok
3) Outfit for hospital pictures, if you choose to have them done - ok
4) Going home outfit - ok
5) Approved car seat (you won't be able to leave without one) - none yet
6) Diapers for the ride home - ok

So I guess I'm almost ready!

Anyway, in addition, here's a video clip I found in Youtube.



Wish me luck!!!

Making your weekly menu work

For the past couple of weeks, we have been trying to really follow our weekly menu plan for the family and although so far, so good, we've also come across some bumps along the way.

After analyzing it, here are the points that need improvement:

1. If part of your aim is to save some bucks by doing this exercise, you need to make a meal plan that avoids buying expensive ingredients such as meat, out-of-season vegetables and the like. Rather, it's better to make use of the "kitchenomics" method wherein you can benefit from cheap but nutritious ingredients such as vegetables and other helpful extenders and not necessarily having an all-meat dish or something like that.

2. You have to make clear with the cook (or the helper) on how you want the meal done especially if the dish is new to her. Having experienced some communication problems with our helper, I always have to make it a point to show her or tell her clearly how things are done. Sometimes kasi, what you think as common sense may not be so common after all.

3. If you are doing the grocery only once a week, make sure that you prioritize cooking the more perishable goods ahead of the other foods. For example, I've seen the helper throw out some vegetables in the trash because it already wilted even before it's scheduled to be cooked. In addition, maybe you can also emphasize the need to be flexible, i.e. she should take the initiative too to cook a vegetable or meat or fish already to avoid it from becoming "non-edible" in time.

Decluttering Targets

I read this from my regular Messies email ~

Two of the junkiest places in our lives - and the hardest to declutter - are:

• Useless papers in file drawers
• Excess emails (old and new, read and unread)

Raising my hand on those points!!!

I sure am guilty as charged. No excuses!

But I'm starting over and over again...for the better.

Peace, Simplicity, Time

I love, love Beth Dargis' weekly simplicity tips this week. There seems to be something in my life right now that doesn't seem to be functioning well. My heart is somewhat feeling all gumbled up and I have been aching to have more time for some peace and quiet to be able to settle my issues with God but can't seem to have the time!!!

Lord, please give me peace, simplicity, time. :-)

Sharing with you the tips here:

1. Don't take over what is someone else's responsibility.
2. Forgive yourself for a recent mistake.
3. Remember - things CAN be different.
4. Cook simpler meals.
5. Watch your reaction to every day obstacles. Are they out of proportion to the problem?
6. Hone your morning routine - what isn't working?
7. Connect with someone today.

Small Things

I received this tip/message from the email today...

Take a little extra effort to work on doing
little things that keep things moving forward.
Fill up the ice tray immediately, change the
toilet paper roll as soon as it is empty, wash
or put pots and pans in dishwasher as you cook.

Solomon says it is the little foxes that spoil
the vine. Keep up with the small things.


...so, so TRUE!

Saving Money

As I was doing my weekly grocery list this week and cringing on our current electric bill, I found myself looking for ideas to save money and I saw this very helpful list.

Check out this page.

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/02/06/little-steps-100-great-tips-for-saving-money-for-those-just-getting-started/

Weekly Menu

For lack of ideas on what to prepare in the kitchen and because I promised my husband that I shall resume creating our weekly menu (for health and budget purposes), I enamored myself with great ideas by visiting several menu websites.

One of the interesting sites I got to hop on is Menu4moms.com. It has refreshing ideas on what to serve the family weekly. It also offers tips on how to stock your pantry and how to save on time and energy while preparing meals. I also love that they have a menu planner form with space to write your grocery list on. With these tools, there will be no more random grocery shopping for us plus, we get to save some money. For that alone, I think it's really worth the effort. :-)

Real Estate Advice

My friend in the US is planning to buy a property of her own and was asking me for a guide on how to find a good real estate investment. She thinks that real estate investing is such a complex issue. There are a lot of information circulating in the news, on TV, in the internet about real estate and some people do not know where to start looking. Given that there is a huge amount of wealth and investment involved in real estate, one simply cannot go wrong. Thus, my first advice to my friend is to find a good real estate broker who can guide you to find the best properties at a fair price. I told her that in order to be successful in real estate investing, you need to proper guidance and expert advice from an experienced real estate agent.

For example, in North Carolina, there is a Wilmington NC Real Estate broker/agent who can help you in all your real estate needs. Then you will know the story behind capitalizing on opportunities such as foreclosures, secure financing and good mortgage agreements, handle contracts, inspections, and other real estate issues. You may even be linked along the way with an organization that helps homeless animals find shelter and find yourself helping a good cause.

How to Keep Your Married Life Alive

Like any other vocation, the marriage path requires constant commitment. After a few years of marriage, when the honeymoon is over, people tend to slack and lose interest in each other's partner. Many other things come around: kids, work, friends, individual interests, etc., etc. At any rate, each person's commitment to each other should still be the priority for any married person, regardless of the other factors that are involved. It is a vow, after all.

Being married for some years now, I could say that it really takes a lot of grace to be married and stay married. Daily prayer is very important. Open communication and a physical connection are also needed to keep the marriage alive. One also needs to know how to forget one self, put that pride on the side and really learn how to accept the person as he or she is and be forgiving for any faults that may be commitment. You have to remember that you married that person because you love him or her and are willing to spend the rest of your life with him or her.

Only this week, I was able to discover this site offering Married Chat. This is a website where married people such as my husband and myself can talk and chat with other married people like us. I think this is a great way of getting fresh ideas from other people in a similar state. You can probably try joining this chatroom and learn from other people who has had the same concerns as you are having.

Regular To Do's in Cleaning the Kitchen

I was browsing through my Good Housekeeping Maid Manual and found this valuable piece of info:

Cheat Sheet for the Kitchen:

DAILY
1. Sweep kitchen floor.
2. Mop floor.
3. Wipe all regularly used/visible surfaces.
4. Take out trash.

WEEKLY
1. Wipe all surfaces - ventilation hood / appliances / inside of oven.
2. Pour boiling water down the drain to disinfect.
3. Wipe inside / outside of cabinets and cupboards.
4. Vacuum relevant places.
5. Wash and completely dry knife blocks.
6. Dust light fixtures.
7. Compile grocery list and make menu for the week.
8. Do grocery.
9. Do wet market.
10. Wide down doors / baseboards.

MONTHLY
1. Wash hood filters.
2. Check freezer fro expired items.
3. Clean kitchen ceiling.
4. Schedule days off for all staff members.
5. Defrost - 2x a month or when ice reaches 1/4 inch thick.

SEASONAL
1. Replace baking soda in freezer - every three months.
2. Clean ovens - all appliances.
3. General cleaning - every six months.
4. Refrigerator cleaning - 2x a month.
5. Check staff uniforms.
6. Check condition of staff uniforms and footwear.

Duclutter as an Example to Family and Friends

One of the simplicity tips written by Beth Dargis this week is ~~ "Declutter as a good example to your children and friends."

I think this tip is so simple yet so true. Sometimes, we sort of give a bad example to the people around us with our disorganized way of living. Collecting clutter somehow reflects our lack of discipline and our attachment to things ( this is "my stuff" mentality). It also shows a lack of a very important virtue ~ simplicity.

My prayer --- "Lord, may I never be attached to anything. May I always serve a good example to my family and friends through my action and words. Let me be your good servant who is always there ready to forget oneself and just think of You and the others."

To Clean: Windows

I just realized now that since our house was constructed, we never bothered to clean our front windows. And so I looked for the best way to clean them and found my answer here.

The best way to clean windows, or any large expanse of glass, is with a squeegee. It does a faster and better job.

You need a professional-quality squeegee and a window wand. If you'll be cleaning high windows, you also will need an extension pole. The basic process is simple - apply the cleaning solution with the window wand and pull the dirt and water off with the squeegee.

In detail.

1. Mix a capful of ammonia or five drops of liquid dish detergent in two gallons of water. Resist the urge to use too much detergent; that causes streaking.

2. Dip your window scrubbing wand or a sponge 3/4 of an inch into the solution, picking up just enough water to wet the window without flooding it. Wet the entire window then go back over it once to loosen any stubborn soil. Last, run the scrubber against the frame on all sides of the window to pick up any dirt you've pushed against the frame.

3. Dampen the squeegee blade before you start and wipe it with a damp cloth between strokes. A dry blade will skip and jump on the window instead of gliding smoothly.

4. Tilt the squeegee at an angle so that only about an inch of the rubber blade presses lightly against the top of the window glass. Then pull the squeegee across the window horizontally. This will leave a 1-inch dry strip across the top of the window. By squeegeeing across the top first, you eliminate drips running down.

5. Place the squeegee close to the frame in the dry area near the top and pull down to about three inches from the bottom of the glass. Continue this way across the window, overlapping into the clean, dry area with each stroke, and wiping the blade with a damp cloth after each stroke.

6. Finish with a horizontal stroke across the bottom and wipe any water off the sill with a damp cloth.

On some windows, it's easier to cut the water off the frame side as well as the top, and then squeegee the entire pane using horizontal strokes. Large (picture) windows should be wet and squeegeed half at a time, the top half first. Finally, if you're cleaning both the inside and outside of the window, squeegee horizontally on one side and vertically on the other, so you can tell whether any streaks are inside or out.

Large (picture) windows should be wet and squeegeed half at a time, the top half first.

Finally, if you're doing both the inside and outside the window, you may want to squeegee horizontally on one side and vertically on the other, so you can tell whether any streaks are inside or out.

Washing the Dishes

Do you find the chore of washing the dishes such a bore? Well, when I was growing up, my mother would give us house assignments which include washing the dishes on weekends. She didn't assign this task on weekdays. Weekdays were for studying and doing homework. But come Saturday and Sunday, we would alternate in washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen sinks even if we had a helper to actually to do the job.

She demonstrated to me the proper way of washing the dishes that made me feel as if it wasn't a chore at all (I honestly still enjoy it up to now). She explained to me the logic of pre-preparation before doing the task itself. This means the before tackling the dishes, you need to ask "pre-prepare" the dishes by rinsing them very well. The dishes have to be more or less look clean enough to use again. This makes washing and soaping the dishes much easier. You also need to group together all those needed to be washed, glasses first, then cutlery next, plates follow, and so on and so forth. The order that you put in washing the dishes will cut the time in doing the dishes significantly. After washing and rinsing the dishes, never forget that part of the chore is rinsing the sink and thoroughly cleaning the strainer or drain. After all that, you dry the dishes and store them (by groups again) where they all belong.

Whew! It seems like a long process but if you have a positive attitude, the job is finished in no time.

Some Relief

Since I've been on the edge because of my present condition, I looked for some natural remedies for my VOMITING AND NAUSEA:

• Sucking a piece of ice controls vomiting.
• Eat 1/2 tsp. ground cumin seeds.
• Cinnamon and sliced ginger work by interrupting nausea signals sent from the stomach to the brain. If you are an herbal tea drinker, simply sprinkle cinnamon on the tea and drink. To make ginger tea, simmer a few slices of ginger in hot tea water.

Ai also gave me some helpful tips regarding this. Thanks Ai!

I hope it works!

Wisdom in Reading

As they say in health and fitness, "you are what you eat". Or in that case, you are what you eat, you drink, and what you breathe. For those who are firm believers of the mind-body connection, this is worthwhile pondering about. It's like the concept of GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out) in the software industry. It is the simplest concept but is often ignored. Many people go around exposing themselves to many kinds of garbage and act as if it's nothing.

In a similar sense, I would like to apply it in reading. You are what you read. One may be a voracious reader but not a critical reader. If you allow yourself to be exposed to crap and rubbish material, you end up being like one. Thus, it makes sense to be informed of the effect of reading such and such book or magazine before indulging in it. It would be good to be wise and evaluate first (or get a good critique or maybe an Ebooks Review) before drowning yourself in a book. Believe me, this is the rule of the wise.

Cut Yourself from Time Slack

So busy at work right now that it hurts (my head aches, my back aches, my eyes ache, my feet ache, hahaha). Do you feel that way sometimes?

Here are some time-saving tips to cut yourself from some time slack:

1. Live close to places you go regularly such as your work, church, dentist, doctor, school, hairdresser, and the like.

>>>A major issue now for me is the "work" part - my daily 2-hour travel back and forth has become so stressful since unlike when I was still single, I now have mommy duties round the clock.

2. Use technology to save on time falling in line in stores and banks.

>>>I've been so blessed to discover the good things about online banking - I don't have to fall in line ever to pay for my bills.

3. Make early appointments and start on errands early.

>>>>For the past weeks, we have been going to the supermarket exactly at 9am, just as the store opens. There are less people, no lines and fresher produce (more picks for me).

4. Group errands to accomplish more things in one trip.

>>>My officemates and I always try to book a service to bring us to Glorietta or Landmark so that we can do our knick-knack shopping during the lunch break.

5. Take advantage of personalized services and restaurant deliveries.

>>>Whenever I need to bring home a cake or some pastries, I just call Red Ribbon or Goldilocks to deliver me the cake at the office. Easy as 1-2-3.

Bathroom Happy

Are you happy with the way your bathroom looks? Or is going inside the bathroom in your house make you feel down?

Our house is a made up of two buildings, if you can call it that. We have the main house, a 3-bedroom home, where my family stays. Each bedroom has an adjacent bathroom. We also have a smaller house at the back, an annex of sorts, which is actually a house in itself. It has 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. It is where our helper, her son and the nanny stay. So all in all (let me count), we have a total of 4 bathrooms in the house and I think that's a lot!

When we had these bathrooms installed, we had to go to various home depot shops to canvass for the best bathroom furnishings available. Since those furniture and fixtures were not part of the contractor's price, we opted to delay buying those vanity products until towards the end of the house construction because we wanted to buy those with the highest quality, of course, can be for a higher price. Since I was not such an internet-addict at the time (am a self-confessed internet addict now?), I literally had to drag my Mom to the stores so that we can look for the best buys in town. It was a great bonding moment for us. Besides, it was so much fun choosing the colors and designs that we will have for these bathrooms. Compared to our bedroom furniture hunt, this was more exciting for me. And if you're like me who can stay in the bathroom for hours (although my schedule almost does not permit this), the bathroom for me has to be a place of comfort and relaxation too.

It really helped that there are available choices for single bathroom vanities online now. There you can choose the color, size and model you like. In our case, we had to look for furniture which should match the bathroom floors and wall tiles. The bathroom tile color combinations we came up with were: mocha and celadon green for Francis, blue and white for my husband and I, red and white for my parents and brown (almost the color of brick) and cream for the helpers. With these combinations in mind, we purchased the matching wooden vanities. It all looked great!

So, if you ask me now how I feel about our bathrooms at home, well, I am definitely bathroom-happy!

P.S. Well, of course, being able to clean all four bathrooms is another story. Hahaha!

Weekly Simplicity Tips

I must say I'm a huge fan of Beth Dargis of My Simpler Life. Here's this week's simplicity tips she sent though email:

1. What part of your work do you enjoy? Can you concentrate on enjoying your work rather than everything you need to do?
2. Don't do any work one day this week.
3. Create email templates with responses to frequent emails you receive either through your email client or by keeping a folder of replies in text form.
4. Commit to a time to stop for lunch.
5. Schedule 20 minutes to read sometime this week.
6. What do you need to tell yourself the truth about?
7. Look in the newspaper for a craft fair to attend.

Whaa! I need a simpler life, definitely!

More on Time Management

To save on time, it is best to return all phone calls during a specific time period instead of on responding to each one erratically. If you miss out on some phone calls from unknown callers, allot a particular time to Find Out Who Called You. You may take advantage of the National No Call Registry to help you.

This post sponsored by Find Out Who's Calling.