Daydreamin'

I have always been a traditionalist when it comes to home design and interior decorating. Maybe it’s because I had not much choice because the house I live in was built and designed (and owned!) by my parents.

At any rate, if I had the budget and the liberty to build our own family home, I would consider making it a functional house with a modernist look. By modern, I mean that you incorporate all those contemporary furniture plus add in the latest appliances and gadgets that make life easier. I would purchase a high tech stove and convection oven, a stainless steel mailbox (buying blomus stainless steel mailboxes online would be on the top of my list!). My bathroom would be a fabulous place with the best jacuzzi and a modern shower room. I would also add a powerful little laptop and put it on top of a dashing office desk with a sleek design. I would also shop for blomus stainless steel fireplace accessories for my German-engineered portable fireplace and put all of it in a room where my husband, kids and I could snuggle up in the warmth of the fire. Lovely, right?

Well, it’s not so bad to aim high. Dream and you dreams will fall short.

I Wonder Where We'll Go Today

Kindermusik is beginning to be more and more challenging by the week.

The other time, we had to bring a boat.

And then after that, it was binoculars.

This week, Zoe has another assignment for her Kindermusik.


Bring next week: Train Map

Note to self: Google "train map". Hahaha.

HELP!

All About Mailboxes

Have you heard the thing about mailboxes being federal property? Well, whether these are federal property or not, a mailbox is definitely more than just a piece of property needed so that your daily mail does not get rained on or lost. It can also very well be a decoration that can beautify the outside of your home.

If you are planning on buying one, make sure that you know what works for you. Know what type to get, what design and colors among the many mail boxes there are you would like to buy and lastly, where you want to buy.

These days, you can actually buy residential and commercial mailboxes online. There you can also see whether you like the free-standing type or a wall mount mailbox.

Whatever you like, I am sure there is a mailbox that is just right for you.

Never Getting Tired...

...of making the V-sign (aka japan-japan).

Do you or your kids pose the same way too? So many folks are doing it for the camera, it's addicting sometimes.

I honestly think it's OSMOSIS!!!

Wii Take Turns.

To maintain peace in the family, we take turns in playing our brand-new Wii.

:-)

He plays mornings...


I play evenings...

As for Zoe and Luigi, meantime, they can watch. Hihihihi. Sorry kids.

Instant House

I was watching a TV show one time and it was about a home makeover project. In that episode, they featured a humble family which they would like to give appreciation to for a generous deed done and they wanted to do it by giving them the gift of a new home. Based on the initial shots, the family’s home was literally falling apart. It was old, rickety and very unsafe. Thus, it was very apt that this family be given a new house. The catch was, the TV crew only had one week to build the house from scratch. They first needed to destroy the old house and build a new one from the ground. If they were just to repair the house, it would be too easy. They knew that this family deserved not just a newly-renovated house but a totally new house.

The first thing they did was to outsource the building of the house by contacting a supplier of Manufactured Homes in Oregon in order to send them a factory-made house that can be put up within the number of days that they had.

In the United States, there are getting to be more and more options for people who are interested in buying their own house. Now there are high quality Manufactured Homes Oregon which are available in the market. These kinds of houses have a modern and functional design. When you order one of these Mobile Homes Oregon, the “parts of the house” are transported to your location and the house is assembled right there. These kinds of houses are relatively cheap and are manufactured according the safety guidelines and laws provided for houses of this kind. Anyway, going back to the TV show, the house that they ordered was beautiful. It was put up fast and its interior was decorated with style and with the nicest furniture around. And even with the pressure and time-constraint that was there in building any structure, it was evident that it was built with a lot of love – truly a wonderful gift that any family could receive.

Dinner at Cyma

This is yet another back post.

As I mentioned in one of my old posts, we had a late dinner one time at Cyma Eastwood Mall with some childhood friends.

I think I mentioned there that the food at Cyma deserves a separate post. But then now, looking at the pictures, I have totally forgotten the names of the food which we ordered.

All I can remember is that they were all yummy and heavy...and that salad had a side effect on Luigi (...it caused him a lot of gas since I still breastfed him when I came home). Bad mommy!

Uses of Lockers

Lockers are very convenient to use in big facilities which have a lot of people going to and fro. It’s the best for schools, gyms, offices, dormitories, etc. etc.

For example, school lockers are quite useful because it allows students to leave their books and stuff as they go about their daily class schedules. Just like in my own personal experience as a student, the wood locker that I had and rented in college was simply heaven-sent. Because of this, I would be free from lugging around from building to building all those thick Economics books, heavy gym uniforms and rubber shoes. For only a minimum fee per semester, I had less worries and was able to secure my stuff for school. The problem then was, the lockers were so old already. I don’t know now if the student council was finally able to replace it with better looking ones. There are many lockers for sale online now and from there they might be able to choose good quality but affordable lockers.

Our Gwapito

Here's the latest picture of our cute li'l charmer.

...okay, I'm the mother so I'm biased. But he really does look like a real gwapito if you ask me.

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.

In our family...

"In our family, we put what we need the next day by the front door the night before."

"In our family, we don't drop our things when we come in the door. We take them and put themwhere they belong."

--taken from the Family Reminder for the Day from Messies

My Wish

I was just talking to a good friend over the phone earlier and we were talking about our many expenses. She told me that from her side line business, she is able to earn more for her family. Sometimes, she earns even bigger from this business than from her monthly salary. As a result, she doesn’t have any huge debts on her credit cards and when she does use her small business credit card, she always pays it in full and on time.

That really got me into thinking on when I’ll finally be debt-free. With the hard times we’re experiencing, I want to be free from high interest rates and be able to pay off all that we’ve spent using the best credit cards.

Hopefully when my “secret” plan pushes through, that wish would soon be a reality and we will be debt-free at long last!

Zoe's Current Bedtime Reads

Zoe's becoming a book addict lately.

Here are Zoe's current bedtime books. Take note that we read every single book every single night.

Another reason why we don't get to sleep early and I have eye bags to the max! :-)

It's hard.

It's hard not having a car.

As you may have read in my blogs, we were Ondoy typhoon victims last September. And although we were saved from any severe damage in our home, our car was not spared from the disaster. Many of the parts of the car needed to be replaced and so far, we already have spent loads of money trying to bring it back to a good working condition again. So far, we already are status quo in the repairs because the major work that still needs to be done (the transmission and electrical) would require us to shell out a huge amount of money.

Without an efficient car, I have to commute to go to work everyday now. This means I have to wake up very early so that I don’t encounter the long lines waiting for a service to bring me to Makati. Sometimes, when I don’t get to wake up as early (mea culpa), I have to wait for an hour or so falling in line, risking being late for work. After work, it’s the same story. I also again need to line up to get a ride home. I’m trying to get used to it because I have no choice. I just need to learn to offer it up.

Anyway, last month, we were a bit lucky to temporarily use my Dad’s pick-up truck for more than a week. You see, my Dad was driving for our relatives to go to the province when he discovered that he was driving without a license. As a result, he decided to leave his truck at our home and just take the bus going back to Batangas instead of risking being apprehended by the traffic authorities.

With the truck, our social life became alive again. We were able to attend parties, drive our relatives to places they would like to go, reach longer distances and bring the kids wherever we liked without us having to commute. (Our damaged car could only travel short distance otherwise it would overheat.). But then just when we thought our happy days were to last for at least month, my Dad had to take back the truck because he needed it to go to the province again.

So good bye for now to the truck, its husky liners and ladder rack. We also temporarily bid adieu to the truck’s tonneau cover and its big wheels.

I guess we just have to wait until our car comes back to life again and until happy days are here again.

Sorry.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been uber busy at work because it's OPB time once again. (I think I've mentioned this so many times already!) Anyway, apart from that, there are also some developments in the home-front and in the career-front.

We just got a Nintendo Wii last weekend and we all woke up Monday morning feeling so sored from all the tennis and bowling and baseball that we played. It's a great feeling! Plus, I realized that I never gotten the chance to play bowling or tennis with my hubby until now. It's a wonderful bonding (and competitive) moment for us. :-) I would love to do it again and again (or until I win!!!). Hehehe.

At work, there's the annual individual performance review going on now. Many feel uneasy when rating time comes along. It can be exciting, crazy and sometimes humbling (plus frustrating). At any rate, I find it LIBERATING! ^"^

Will keep all posted!

Breastfeeding Issues

I have issues, yes.

I have been feeling a bit frustrated with my b'feeding lately. You see, I feel that I am almost out of milk and don't have enough supply even to feed my baby boy even at night and early mornings.

Like early this morning, he cried and cried and just won't take my breast after 1 or 2 minutes of feeding. I knew that my breasts were practically empty. So for the very first time, I was the one who prepared and gave Luigi the bottle of formula. Well, some would say, it's no big deal since Luigi has been mixed-fed (around 80% breastmilk, 20% formula) since he was about 3 months old. That was time that I had to go back to work. But you know, as far as I was concerned, I wanted to direct feed him whenever I am around. That means every night and early mornings AND weekends.

But as for this morning, he cried to me as if begging for more milk and I couldn't give it to him. There were even tears in his eyes!!! So when I finally gave the formula, he happily drank it and even smiled and smiled after finishing it. Honestly, I felt bad.

Anyway, I've given my very best. Maybe I'm just tired so the milk wouldn't come. At any rate, life must go on.

All I know is, I love my kids so much.

Is It Summer Already?

We just finished celebrating Valentines over the weekend and now we’re already at the start of the Lenten season with the coming of Ash Wednesday.

I don’t know about you but for me, I’ve noticed that the weather is getting to be hotter than usual these days. Maybe summer is arriving a little earlier than before, I’m not so sure. Anyway, whenever I travel these days, I have made it a point to bring my summer necessities: a bottle of water, my foldable fan and umbrella. You know that I don’t want to be looking harassed and smelling like sweat when I get to the office.

Actually, if I were to choose between summer days and rainy days, I’d pick rainy days. Except for the huge typhoons that come with the rainy season (God forbid that another Ondoy storm happens again), I love waking up to cold misty mornings. And I think it doesn’t hurt to be walking in the rain, especially when you’re snuggled tightly to your husband and you only have one umbrella to share. ♥

I also love the practically of having available rain water. With rain barrels you can carefully save up some rain water for household use. Apart from that rain harvesting is a good practice that can save you money on your monthly water bill. And what many do not realize is that rain water barrels have a decorative effect to your house or garden. It brings a bit of glamour to your mediocre landscape or your boring backyard. Hey, I know where there are rain barrels for sale so just shoot me a comment or a private email so I can tell you more about it. ☻

Comics Muna

Some comics that I hope you'll enjoy:

For Valentine's:

If you're feeling lousy or fat:

For the pessimistic:

For homemakers:

No "Me Time"

Howdy? How have you been?

As for me, it’s been a pretty busy, I should say. My US-based guests already flew back last Tuesday and we seem to be back to normal now (if there is such a condition). Our relatives were with us for a whole month and it’s been fun having them, to say the least. I think it’s enjoyable to have them around the house. My uncle loves to talk and tell stories during meal time and it gives us a chance to stop and enjoy some family time and not rush to do the next thing. They also happily gave us a hand in taking care of my kids. Oh, do they adore Zoe and Luigi! And maybe because of our fondness for them, Zoe woke up on Tuesday morning crying because her Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Tita are no longer at home. It’s actually the first time that that happened. We always had relatives stay with us but Zoe doesn’t really look for them when they are gone. Well, good thing is, they will both be back in Manila in three months because one of my cousin’s getting married on May 22.

Anyway, with our relatives gone and just when I thought I could “snatch” some moments for “me” time, like finding the chance to soak on a hot tub at home, there comes a very tedious assignment at work. It’s profit sharing time once again in the office and my table is practically being flooded of loads of lists and proposals…in other words, TONS of WORK. And like any other officer in my company who likes the possibility of variable earnings, I am also wishing and hoping that this bonus will send us a windfall. If that happens, never mind the overtime and effort spent at the office. And I guess the hot tubs can wait. Wish me luck!

How was Your Valentine's?

Belated happy valentine's day to all!

How was it? Well, for me, it went by without me noticing it.

It was spent with family and relatives ~ very well-spent if you ask me. No, there were no fancy dinners, expensive gifts or bouquets of flowers (and no feeling of envy)!

It was enough to know that I had a Valentine who is happy to be stuck with me...for life. In turn, I am very happy to stuck with him just as well.

:-)

...Oh, we did watch a wonderful Valentine benefit concert featuring The Philippine Madrigal Singers the night before Valentine's. It was very good and it was for free (my relatives from the States gifted us with front-seat tickets)!!! More about this in another entry!