What To Do During Brownout

First, let me tell you what you should do BEFORE blackout/brownout. First, check your candles. Two, check your batteries. Three, charge your gadgets. Fourth, do something really nice for your husband so he will be more forgiving if you forget the first three. I learned all these during Typhoon Glenda. My super sweet husband did not fail to grab every opportunity  to remind me that it’s my fault that all we had were our unity candle from our wedding, 3 battery-less flashlights, a copy of seasons 1-4 of Game of Thrones and a low-batt laptop.  I hate it when he is right……

What did you do during the brownout? Aside from reading, here is what we did

Question of the Day

 

Last week, while we were reading, I told Aki that the letter E when placed at the end of the word is usually a silent letter. We continued on and identified words with silent letter E’s at the end. Move. Come. Have. Make. There. Etc.

This morning, on our way home from church, out of nowhere he asked

 

“Mummy, bakit hindi silent ang letter E sa TAE?

 

St. Rita Orphanage Visit

It is been more than a month but I am still on a high. Our visit to Saint Rita Orphanage is definitely one of the highlights of the first half of 2014. It all started when I was sorting the items for our garage sale. There were items like a well-loved baby bolster pillow and 3rd-degree hand-me-down baby blanket that I did not have use for but it did not feel right to sell them. I was not comfortable giving them to preggy first-time-mom friends because these items, although still useful are not as cute as they used to. What to do? What to do? And then a lightbulb moment. Why not donate? Soon, almost half of the baby and toddler items that were supposed to be for sale, were transferred to the “donations” box. I mentioned in one of my blog post of my plans of visiting an orphange. Leslie contacted me thru FB and said she wanted to join.  We asked our online group, Newlyweds@Work, if anyone wanted to donate. Last June 22, a total of 10 families went to orphanage with us.

Happiness for Me. Slow Death for Hubby

My newest addiction: lipstick shopping . This is not so me but I am surely enjoying every moment I spend in the beauty section of department stores.

Favorite Finds @ Uniwide Sucat

To everyone who panicked because I said last year that Uniwide was about to close its doors forever, I AM SORRY. I am happy to report that Uniwide is still operational. I don’t know whatever happened to that SEC order. I am just glad that all of us bargain hunters will still get to experience that joy of finding really cute items at  unbelievably low prices.

 

Last weekend, we were back in my happy place. We have not been to Uniwide Coastal in a long while because the Sucat branch is a mere 20 minute drive from our house. Here are my favorite finds.

 

Looking for gifts for kids? Look no more.  Here are cute tents. If I remember correctly, the Star Wars tent used to cost only 199 bucks. Now it is being sold at PhP399. Still not bad, right?  If you have the space, get this 7-piece tent set. For only 799, this would definitely encourage exercise and imagination in young children.

Aki’s Library and Study Area

Now that Aki is in the big school, one of my top priorities is instilling good study habits. He has assignments almost everyday. He has quizzes at least 2 times a week. He needs to learn to set aside time for studying. This is easier said than done if you live in a house full of distractions. So, starting June, I slowly transformed his play area into a study area. If I were a kid, it would take more than will power to write my name 8x if my study table is surrounded with toys.  I moved all the play things near our sofa, semi hidden by the main door. Now, the corner under the stairs look like this

A Letter from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society

Oh me! Oh my! I am so so happy!

Remember the letter and drawing that we sent to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society back in May? We received a reply!

Grilled Chicken in 7-Up Marinade

Yup! 7-up is the secret ingredient to this easy peasy recipe. Last Saturday, we woke up to a sweet smell coming from the kitchen. I thought Ate cooked tocino. I went down to tell her to make tocino sinangag. To my surprise, she was grilling chicken quarters for the boys. I asked her where she got her recipe and she said she’s just experimenting. The night before, she soaked the chicken  and some pork tapa slices for me in a marinade of 7-up ( the smallest bottle) and 2 syanse-ful (maybe around 1/4 cup) oyster sauce.  After almost 12 hours of marinating, she grilled the chicken. The meat came out very flavorful and surprisingly very very tender. This will recipe will definitely be part of  our regular menu.

Mid-Year Reflections

 

 

PART I

One word to describe the first 6 months of 2014

BLESSED

Compared to last year, is the first half better or worse?

Better definitely!

What is your biggest achievement so far? 

I can’t pick one so I am listing them all down

Fully paid our housing loan and Aki’s tuition fee

Read all three Power of Praying books and attended my first Power of the Praying Wife prayer meeting

Opened Aki’s Ice Candy Store and taught my son the value of saving

Flew a kite and made giant bubbles

Had a physical and online garage sale. I earned almost 7K!

Got rid of the stubborn ring in our toilet.

One of the teams that I am managing is performing  4X better compared to last year.

Bought new make-up and started wearing make-up everyday at work.

Organized an outreach to the Sta Rita Orphanage. With the help of the N@W community, we raised almost 7K and donated boxes of milk, diapers, medicine (Thank you Unilab!), noodles (Thank you URC!), clothes and toys.

What’s the biggest surprise that 2014 brought you?

Sad surprise – My miscarriage. It was so unexpected as no one in the last 20 years in my family lost a baby.   I have always took pride that I was healthy. Until  I gave birth to Aki, I was never hospitalized. No stitches. No broken bones. No allergies. My miscarriage was the first time for my body to fail me. 😦

Happy surprise – My team got relocated to Makati which is closer to home.  Unlike before when one way commute with 2-3 transfers took 1-2 hours, now I ride with hubby and travel time is only 15-20 minutes.

What’s the biggest struggle for you?

Miscarriage, cancer-scare and h-mole. When the doctors confirmed that there was no heartbeat, they also detected abnormal proliferation in the placenta. Thank God, it’s not cancer. After a series of expensive blood tests, my blood levels are now back to normal. 🙂

What’s the best thing that you have done for yourself?

 Became more prayerful.

PART II

 

Best book the you have read?

 Power of the Praying Woman

Best movie that you have watch?

 Maleficent

Any new person (new boss, new kid, new doctor, new friend, new neighbor etc)  in your life that made the last 6 months more interesting (either positive or negative)?

God. Until late last year, I did not care about my spiritual side. I hardly prayed and when I did, it was all about asking for something. I was worried ALL the time.  Now, I surrender my concerns and desires to God. I sleep better at night knowing that He will take care of me.

Is there a new place that you visited for the first time?

 Edsa Shangrila but it was so-so compared to our favorite Manila Hotel

Any new hobbies that you took up?

 Instagram. Hahaha. Such a time waster but I love it.

PART III

Did you set any new year’s resolutions for 2014? Have you achieved them?

 Yup. I told myself that I will exert effort to be more prayerful.

Which of the following aspects do you want to see improvements on by the end of the year

Love Life/ Social Life/Family/Career/Financial/Beauty/Emotional/Spiritual/Health

Health. I want to be more conscious of what I eat. I also want to start running again.

Has 2014 been kind to you too? 🙂

Makati Cinema Square: What To Do and Where to Eat

Good morning!

Makati Cinema Square or MCS is our thrifty family’s official weekend tambayan. Aside from the numerous dibidi stores, there are other attractions worth checking.

Booksale. This is on top of my list. The Booksale branch in MCS is the biggest of all branches that I visited. We love this branch so much we had a photoshoot there last year.

Kodanda, Archery Range. Read more about it here.

Bowling!

It takes me more than an hour to scour through the children’s books and home magazines in Booksale. Franco on the other hand, needs only 15 minutes to check out the martial arts magazines and the Marvel comic books. Instead of waiting for me, the boys go to the 3rd floor and people-watch at the Makati Cinema Arena