Parrot on a PorchA Journey Toward the Little Mansion Dream

For busy homemakers like me, I’m sure we all have our whims that we also wish to satisfy for ourselves.  But we prioritize the needs of our families and we’d rather sacrifice even if it means giving up the things that can make us personally happy.  For example, we’re all set to buy gold online to add to our jewelries and other vanity accessories.  But suddenly, an urgent need comes up by the family leading us to momentarily bid bye-bye to things we’ve been wishing to buy.  Well, it’s our selfless nature kicking in.

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Speaking of jewelries and vanity accessories, how would you want to win a Fossil watch or a Kate Spade Vanity Bag?

Faye of Quicker8.com is holding a contest on her blog as a thanksgiving and celebration of her birthday last month.  Here are the prizes up for grabs:

1st prize – Ladies Chronograph (big face) watch
2nd prize – Kate Spade kikay kit (orange)
3rd prize – Kate Spade kikay kit (floral)

For more information about her blog contest going on until September 7, check out the mechanics here.

I can’t recall if I’ve already shared this picture before. This is my son’s mini-library which we specially allotted a space for in our bedroom. Ever since he was just a few months old, we’ve started exposing him to board books and other books apt for his age. Even though he just gnawed them and did not necessarily looked at each page then, they say that doing such will inculcate in him to love books early on aside from the fact that mental milestones will be greatly and rapidly developed. And so, at 2 years of age, this is his collection of books and I’m just appeased that he, indeed, has become a book lover. However, since he has read all of his books already, he’s yearning for newer books. While we can easily buy tons of new ones, I’m also controlling the urge since we just have a small home and could not allocate a space for a huge library of books. That’s why we’re exploring other means to satisfy his yearning without necessarily spending much and cramping our little abode.

I find the services of Booksfree.com interesting. Basically, it’s a Book rental site in which a member can enjoy unlimited paperbacks and Rent books for all ages. Yes, including Children’s books! It works the same as Netflix only, instead of films, books and Audio books on cd are being rented for just a cheap membership fee and shipped for free. With a setup like this, I don’t have to worry about storage anymore. After all, what’s important is that he’d have books to read regardless how it was obtained.

Running a household and working from home can be taxing at times. My husband understands this that is why he allows me to have some time for myself every now and then. Recently, he surprised me with a gift certificate at my favorite spa. How considerate and sensitive, right? I am grateful and blessed that he is aware of and sensitive to my needs and preferences. I will definitely find time to use his gift and treat myself with my much-deserved pampering. I like going to that spa because the place is very cozy, well-ventilated and clean. Aside from that, their equipment and machines are well-maintained. From what I heard, some new hot tub covers were being installed last week. They were ordered from Spa-Mart.com – the same shop where they order spa chemicals and hot tub filter. Soon, they will ordering Spascene Spa murals to further enhance the look of the spa, more maintenance products and spa cover lift. They trust Spa-Mart.com because the varied collection of specialty spa covers and other spa maintenance products are of high quality and not to mention affordable. They even offer some great deals to shoppers like free ground shipping for orders that cost $100 or more. Aside from that, McAfee keeps their website safe so online shoppers need not worry.

Before I read about acne scar removal here in response to a problematic friend’s request, I’m sharing this photo of the little one with his pets Agua and Bendita (oranda goldfishes).  I love that he’s so fascinated and overly protective of these two.  Whenever he passes by them, he never fails to wave them hello.  He says “Hi, adwa..hi ben-di-tah!”.  He insists that he’d be the one to feed them with flakes every morning and evening.  Even though cleaning the tank can be laborious (and I’m the one who’s forced to do that), I’m glad to have bought them for Asher.  This early, he’s taught to be caring even to pets.

Big thanks to the carpenter who’s doing the neighboring duplex for he was the one who made the side table for free.  It’s yet to be applied with varnish though but nevertheless, I love how he artistically and swiftly constructed it with a design.  We were supposed to buy a ready made one and we’re so glad that we’ve saved huge bucks on this.

And just like that..I can’t believe that it’s been three weeks since Little Mansion officially opened its doors for us.  So far, so good.  We’re all adjusting very well and have been quite accustomed to every walls and corners of the house.  We’ve also adapted to our daily routines which includes cooking for me.  So that’s one of the major adjustments I have to face and squeeze into my daily schedule in between online works and mommy tasks.  Don’t ask if they were all good because definitely, most of them were just so-so…[pwede na].  I haven’t heard “yet” the husband praise any of my dishes so I just know that there’s still a big room for improvement.  Practice makes perfect.  And I’ll just keep on doing my thing until my cooking will be impressive enough to call for colonix and the best slimming regimen there is.

My toddler son is now at the stage when he’s constantly looking for a thing or an activity to engage himself with. He easily gets bored so when he has nothing to do, he approaches me in the middle of my work and insist that I play or join him in whatever he’s doing. This is the reason why I initiated lately to look for some art and crafty things that he can put his full concentration upon for a longer period. I think this is the perfect time to bring out the play doh set that he was gifted last Christmas. I had to set it aside momentarily because he was too young for that last year. This is also a nice activity to develop his artistic and creative mind at such an early age. I do not expect him to create museum portfolio like masterpieces but even a simple imaginary clay figure will do. Who knows this will be his stepping stone towards pottery and he’ll become expert with wheel throwing and other techniques to make artistic ceramic pots and ornaments someday.

Speaking of pottery, I think I have to scour more often the website of Amaco to learn more about this skill as well as research ideas about craft activities I can teach my son. It is not only a one stop shop of pottery making and ceramic clay supplies and tools like a ware cart and slab rollers. But also, it houses good tutorials and reads about kiddie and DIY crafts.

Hello world! Unfortunately, I’m still not blogging from our dear Little Mansion. We haven’t moved in yet and we’re still transients driving to and from my parents’ house in Makati and my in-laws’ abode in Frisco. The water line hasn’t been installed yet and we’ve got no news when will it be completed. It seems that the husband won’t celebrate the Father’s Day there with the rate things are going. I guess, I have to psyche myself to plan something else. Speaking of Father’s Day, my eyes fancy these Rolex watches I’ve seen on the web while scouring gift ideas for the most loving, hardworking and responsible Daddy I’ve ever known (aside from my Dad). Watches are among his interests and in fact, he has a collection of such. He fancies luxurious and designer watches but as he’s one selfless and doting Daddy as I’ve mentioned, he’d rather spend the money on the needs of his unico hijo. It’s his big time wish though to own any of the Rolex President Day-Date White Gold Styles or those Rolex Air-King New Heavy Band Models.

The details are just amazing especially the eye catching black arabic face of the Air-King style. The husband will lust over these pictures, I am certain. How I wish I have the extra moolah now to splurge on these two. It would be the happiest Father’s Day for him, I bet.

The husband and I can’t still believe that our long time goal of acquiring a house is already unfolding right before our eyes exactly just as how we planned and wished for.  We’re deeply amazed how every instance is working to our advantage that makes the undertaking a lot easier for us to bear: the husband’s promotion earlier this year, salary increase, abounding online works and earning opportunities for me, “flexible” housing package, very kind hearted and considerate developer.  What more can we ask for?  We’re really grateful for all these wonderful blessings.  Although it may be a little hurting to our pockets, we’re coping.  We can breathe a little loosely now as we’ve got almost everything covered.  I think I can even start planning other long term goals now like save up for the little one’s schooling and research college degrees that he may consider in the future.  I know that’s a little exaggeration on my part already but I think it’s never too early to start planning my child’s future.

Good thing I chanced upon the calendar earlier, it came back to my senses that today’s a Thursday, and not Saturday.  I really feel like it’s weekend already.  The husband’s five day vacation starts now and his presence on a weekday kind of misaligned my body calendar.  Another thing is that I’m feeling so exhausted with the hefty work load I have all week long and that my body’s so yearning for a good (even just a brief) break from work.

Anyway, instead of me yakking about how I’ve been feeling stressed and dragging these past few days, let me just share how our Thursday went.  Since Little Mansion’s water line hasn’t been installed still (thus, we can’t move in yet) and to not put the husband’s leave to waste, we decided to just go to Tutuban primarily to buy curtains and draperies.  I just love how the mall was so crowd-less, a good decision indeed to go on a Thursday.  It made our shopping a lot relaxed, easier and faster.  We were able to buy 1 set of ready-made lovely draperies for the sala and 2 differently colored textiles for the curtains in the bedrooms which will be specially tailored by a sewer family friend.  A trip to Tutuban (or Divisoria) won’t be complete without shopping for some other personal stuffs.  I was able to buy 2 tops; a leather case, purple jelly case and a screen protector for my iTouch; “pambahay” shirts and a Buzz Lightyear walking robot for the little one which we bought for Php200; and 2 kikay headbands for our niece.  I saw a kiddie martial arts outfit that looks so cute for the little one but I restrained myself from buying.  It may look good on him but I don’t see the need nor an occasion to wear it for.  When he gets older, perhaps I can buy him one should he wish to enroll in a self defense class like taekwondo.  We may just bought a few but I feel so tired and my legs are sore now.  Perhaps, I’m not so used to shopping in malls anymore.

I grew up in a smoke-free home. My Dad never smoked and no one among my siblings have ever tried to puff cigars, too. Even though my circle of friends in college were smokers, and in fact, encouraged me to try, I didn’t oblige. I just hate the smell of the smoke. The husband also grew up in a no smoking zone so all throughout, our homes have been and our future home (LM) will always be cigar and smoke free. Especially that my toddler has acquired asthma, never will I expose him to such.

Since I was never familiar with such, I know little or should I say I know nothing actually about cigars. That’s why when I first heard about the term “cigar humidor”, I had to google it first before I understood what it’s all about. Thanks to Mr. Google for leading me to Cigar Place, because it’s there that I also encountered the terms Acid cigars and CAO cigars. They’re actually brands, each having different distinct flavors and materials. Cigar Place, as they say it on their site is “the best place to buy cigars” perhaps with the wide array of cigar international brands and accessories they offer. I may not be a smoker nor plan to puff cigars but I find browsing the site interesting. I didn’t know that there are so many brands and types of cigars out there having different sizes, strength and even wrappers! Anyhow, at least, I’ve got a new learning.