Home sweet home... soon.

It has been a long time since hubby and I talked about our home. Not this house we're living at now, but the home we're planning to build soon, on our own lot. We've had the design for years but we never really got to part to start on it.

I remember that day we got the blueprints. We were so giddy with excitement that as soon as we left the Architect's and Engineer's office, we window shopped for everything we were to use in the house. We chose our dream "things" - bathtub, sofas, dining sets, kitchen counters and tops, everything.

We were newly married then and we had a discussion about everything except for the leather sofa. We both wanted at least one sleek, black, 3-seater leather sofa in the living or reception area. We originally both wanted a corner unit leather sofa but then decided on a single sofa and a lazy boy right beside it. The picture below is basically what we had in mind. (Image from direct.tesco.com)


I think that idea of the leather basically started us setting themes for the different areas in our soon-to-be home. The living room would be sleek in leather, the kitchen would be stark in steel, and the family room to be well... kid-friendly with lots of bean bags and other little stuff for children to enjoy. Other areas of the house had themes too but we left them open for discussion until the time that we actually build the house already.

Having a child now definitely changes my perspective in things. The themes may still be somewhat the same but our dream "things" may change a bit, except the leather sofa. That we still have to have.

Like this post?
Subscribe to this blog by email HERE
Get updates via Facebook HERE
Follow me on twitter HERE

Read more here

Decorating with etageres

We are starting to plan for our house next year, yay! The lot is almost paid for and I’m thinking it’s just about time too so that our little Missy can start cherishing her most memorable moments from our home, not in a rented place.

For the design and all, Daddy gets to think about that. I have no talent in maximizing spaces or imagining planes and axes so that I’ll leave up to him. My share in all this is the type of accents, furnitures and fixtures.

Learning from our recent place, one thing I will never have too much of are bathroom etageres. Of course this is keeping in mind that we have quite a spacious bathroom. Having etageres in the bathroom can give it a more “homey” feel. I’m thinking of showing off some figurines (from birthday/wedding souvenirs), fresh flowers and scented candles in the bathroom. Why? The bathroom is one place in the house that we spend most of our time in so I want to make it more inviting and relaxing.

Photo courtesy of etagerestore.com
Luckily I found a great Etagere store online and maybe I buy some pieces from them when the house is almost complete. For now, I’m showing off their great pieces to Daddy so he gets a feel of the theme I want for our humble abode.

Are you a fan of etageres too? Don't you think they add a bit more character to a home?

Like this post?
Subscribe to this blog by email HERE
Get updates via Facebook HERE
Follow me on twitter HERE

Read more here

This is our earth

Ever noticed how people take much interest nowadays in everything being eco-friendly? I, for one, never knew that dams can lose so much water and render lots of people waterless. I thought those dams never, ever get to that critical level. So when I blogged about us getting some rain yesterday, getting more water in our dams was one of the few things I was praying for.

I just read the news this morning and my wish came true, well partly true. But it's such good news to everyone. The Angat Dam water level has risen by 70cm which can provide an additional 158 million liters per day to water consumers. Since it's still predicted to rain or drizzle in the coming days, this will surely help more people. I just wish though that more people try not to waste it.

Also, in almost all the supermarkets or groceries I go to, they seem to be selling these eco-friendly bags. Some even have extra freebies if you use them like extra points towards a card membership, etc. I think it's great that we're moving away from using too much plastics. There are times when we really need to use them, but at least there will be less of those that clog up most drainage in the streets.

Another way I can think to help our Earth is to buy wooden toys instead of plastic ones. They're much more kid-friendly (with all the lead and other chemicals reportedly going around) and I love the idea that when the kids grow older, they seem "vintage". I saw some wooden blocks for sale the other day and told hubby about it. He said he had those when he was a kid too. Sad thing is, he doesn't know where they are now. Imagine if they were able to keep it, it would've been an "heirloom" he could pass on to our daughter from 30 years ago.

Thanks for reading. Happy Friday!

Read more here

In the line of fire

In the line of fire, literally. We will be having our family get-together tomorrow since it's a long holiday. I'm so glad that almost everyone can make it, especially my uncle who wanted this reunion. He works for the city Fire Rescue and Response team (or something like that) so he is always on call and yes, always in the line of fire (if you get what I mean).

When he was still living in the south (where we are), he also did the same thing for another city, although he wasn't really a fireman. They were just in charge of Rescue when there were heavy floods, rappelling buildings, etc. Now he's with the Fire and Rescue team.

This summer has been particularly tough for him and his team since there are lots of fire breakouts within the metro. He says it is normal because every year our summer seems to get hotter and hotter. I did ask for advice though regarding the fire extinguishers that I found and even asked him about getting CO2 fire extinguishers. He confirmed that it can indeed be handy for us since we have a lot of electrical equipments in the house. It can certainly minimize damage and save a lot of our gadgets.

Anyway, he does seem to love what he's doing. Ever since I can remember, he has always loved those types of work, those that involve rescuing and being on-call. I believe the first job he had for the city government was as a sort of paramedic in an ambulance. I can't forget that one time, he got home so late and we were all worried. When we got home, he told us the story of how he had to deliver a baby in the ambulance. He ended up being the child's godfather.

Once he was even on the news for rescuing a boy who accidentally fell off a bridge. When he got home, he was telling us how murky and dirty the water was and that he had to give CPR to the poor boy. He was glad he was able to save him. He said at that time that he didn't even notice how dirty or how bad the water smelled.

We're glad he is able to follow his passion. We are so very proud of him. Even though there's a big risk involved, knowing others are safe makes it worth it.

Read more here

My New Discovery - Fire extinguishers

Still about my discoveries in my own house, care to guess what I found tucked at the very back of one of my kitchen cabinets? Fire extinguishers! Not 1 but 4 of them.

Since our country lies near the equator, our temperature is about 32C (89.6F) on a normal non-summer-peak day. Last Wednesday, I just heard on the news that Manila sizzled at 37.5C (99.5F), it's hottest for the year and is expected to breach the 38C (100.4F) mark. Statistics show year on year that fire breakouts increase every summer. They are caused mostly by appliances left unattended and short-circuiting due to extreme heat.

Upon seeing those fire extinguishers, I was both dismayed and relieved. Dismayed that my ex-helper never thought to ask where to put them. Of course, I would have scattered them all over the house in strategic places so we can get to them fast in an emergency. But I was relieved just knowing I had them available.

I've heard oftentimes that people would rather be robbed and lose some things rather than lose everything due to fire. So upon seeing my new discoveries, I check on their expiration date. There was none. I immediately googled to know more about it and found out that if it hasn't been used, it's good for 6 years AND should be tested once a year. The thing is, these were given to us almost 2 years ago. I don't know exactly when it was bought or if it was even tested. I guess I'll have to bring it somewhere to have it checked and refilled if needed.

Another thing I found out from Google was that there were different types of extinguishers for different classes of fires. Since we had lots of electrical equipments in the house (PCs, laptops, servers, switches and a big bulky multi-function copier), it would be best if we have a couple of CO2 fire extinguishers as well. It can tackle electrical fires and is safe for sensitive electrical equipments. If it's true, then I can rest assured that most of our equipments can still be used in the event that we use the CO2 fire extinguisher instead of the conventional foam extinguisher. Imagine the saved investment in that! I do hope though that the time to use it never comes.

How about you? Any new discoveries in your own house?

Read more here

General Cleaning

So she left, right??

OMG, I can't even begin to describe how messy and yucky my house is, well... was. No matter how you ask, I won't even tell you because it's just too embarrassing, really. I have never seen that many critters anywhere.

I so thank my entire family who spent the day with me cleaning the whole house. Now I can say it's a house. It will take another day or two, maybe even a week to make it spotless but dang, that's mighty fine for a 3-year worth of mess that she left. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, click here for my previous post.

Thanks to all your words of encouragement. I really needed it since I felt so helpless. I'm still in shock but with my family's help, I'll be fine before I even know it. Who would have known that something like a person's departure could be so traumatic!

Thanks for reading and happy hump day!

Read more here