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Archive for March, 2011

The other night my youngest Aussie brother phoned in and we talked for hours. It’s gonna be his birthday this April 1st, and I was thinking of a gift to buy for him. His favorite collection were baseball caps. I thought he might likeDallas Embroidery caps. And, so is Ashley, too. His little boy.

My sister-in-law’s aunt is on vacation here in the Philippines. Brother told me she would be back in Australia sometime in May. And, so, yesterday when we were in the city mall, we did look for kids backpacks to send my brother’s three kids. His two girls would love new bags. Last November, when brother went home to attend our father’s burial, I did send him Barbie bags for his girls and a Ben 10 bag for his little boy. The three loved them. Thanking me when I talked to them via Skype. Their mom asked me to look for new nap mat because little Ashley boy would be in school this September. He will need one for their school activities and when he would tire out from said activities. I planned to get him cute designs that little boys love, preferably ball designs or cars.

My own little kid had a blast yesterday at the mall’s arcade. It was a treat for her for doing great in her school. She really had a blast. Spending more on tokens than buying herself a sundae. While, I busied myself for catching still photos of her. Such huge joys these technological advancements have on children. Where, I almost ended up pocket empty!

Find the following posts in my other blog:
samsung plasma tv 43″
“LOVE” eau de parfum
edifier speaker
sony mp3
samsung galaxy y
red honda city
dakota fanning racy photo shoot
canon EOS 1100D
arcade fun
acer laptop
chloe handbag
samsung netbook
SM cinema
Kylie Minogue perfume
Human League
Dixie Chicks
Toshiba satellite
Nokia c5-03
Penshoppe

My bad, when I started  collecting things, I just can’t stopped. So, when there’s new items on the rack at the bargain shop where I frequented of late, I can’t resist the temptation, especially when prices are just mere cents.

My loot this week includes, of course, plates and more plates, again. I have been filling up, er, changing decors, in my old hutch, and I thought, plates are essential, along with some teapots. Oh, well, ain’t gonna show here the hutch, because it’s in it’s “chaotic” stage yet.

These were the “unmatched” dinner plates I found at the discount shop. I couldn’t resist the colors. Red is too tempting for me…

Fifty cents’ not bad for a plate, right? The smaller ones were a mere 25 cents!

I rummaged the shop’s boxes in searched for more of these lovelies in dainty flowers…hoping to find 6 pieces minimum. It’ll be a nice replacement for our everyday plates ^_^…too bad, found none more except these pair.

The plain red one in the right has plenty of stocks in the racks…should I get more of these instead?

And, the thing with dinnerwares? They’re china made even if it says “Made in USA”…guess,who’s economy is growing out of this.

A lot of people (mommies!) loved candle. Count me in. I do have few candles scattered all over the house, most of them, I wouldn’t want to use, especially when there’s short power failure which is not a rare occurrence here in our place.

I sooo love scented candles, especially those with vanilla, lavender and citronella scents. These candles costs more than ordinary unscented candles. And, for budget mom like me, I could not buy all the candles I wanted without our food budget suffering a bit.

WHAT DO I DO IF I WANTED MORE CANDLES? I RE-DO THEM!

Since I regularly buy unscented candles, I got this idea of melting unused candles, or even cake candles ^_^. I melted them in an unused pot, using low heat only, be careful, as the melted candles can caused serious skin burns. When the candles melted, add old and unused crayons of your desired colors. Get a mold, put a wick in the center, and pour over the melted candles. In this project, I used mugs and glasses as molds.

this is a zero-dollar project ^_^

i used this mug my daughter gave me few years ago as candle mold

then, these glasses i found in my storage...

this is a wedding souvenir..

this one, too...

they're now displayed here at the top of the water closet.

TIPS:

- Used low heat only when melting candles.

-Melt the candles along with the crayons.

-Refer to the color wheel to achieved the desired end colors.

-Add scented oils when the mixture is into its molds.

POSTED FOR

Junkin Finds Friday

Pink Saturday

It was a delight watching  HGTV’s Carter Can episodes on our local cable channel. I made time to watch the show’s episodes. Well, not only that Carter Oosterhouse is oozing with charm but I admire his expertise on carpentry jobs. He has been to the rescue of homeowners who found dilemmas on their home renovations or improvements.

If only I could invite Carter to our place. I would be glad if he could cast his magic and his power tools to do us a room make-over. I’d like the platform bed he did in one of the episodes. I am now dreaming of a raised bed with shelvings underneath and a headboard with either padded wooden squares or a wall tree art.

That would be lovely!

Finally, the winds have rested. The gods must have heard my plea!. I have many chores left undone. Saturday proved to be a very positive day to start my scheduled tasks. As I had finished the sliding glass door, cleaned it up with water/vinegar solution and old newspapers, it was now gleaming. Yey!

Then, while the kids had finished sweeping up the front yard. We took another time to pull out some weeds and decided to perk up that dry corner of our front lawn.

Summer to my family means more days and, perhaps, nightly hanging outside, barbecuing or just feeling cool breezes when summer heat began.

An additional space (open space) for hanging out beside our hut is a welcome idea for the kids.

These thick tree branches were cut off by husband few months ago and left there until it began to rot a little. Thought I could use it for hanging out plants and as yard decoration, too…

And, so, we started piling them out in the yard, and the kids hang little orchids in them (hope the kids wont forget to water them all throughout this summer, lest they all withered away).

Yes, it was hot that day, but the kids had fun helping me pull off the simple project…

The woods were lined up, a make-do table, a wrought-iron chair, and few cacti plants.

Found me this short thick slab of wood and make it as plant stand with a matching native basket on top, and few greens on the sides…thought the theme blended together…and, the colors, too…with brown elements from the woods and the basket with the green plants and red blooms…

Oh. Before I forgot, the round table was an electric cable’s coil stand, and, I thought it was too good to be junked. So, I forced hubby to find me a sturdy stand and he was quick to have found a piece of a tree trunk. An instant table. Perfect for that al fresco dining/barbecuing!

Good to go for the summer heat. We’ll have to wait for the rainy season so we could add more greens into the area…

What a great accomplishment for a not-so-windy Saturday!

TIPS FOR THE DAY:

-Don’t forget to water the plants everyday especially during summertime.

-Watering the plants at daytime will caused the water to evaporate too easily making the soil dried up too fast.

-I thought, it is best to water the plants at EARLY EVENING.

I don’t know what happen with my post last night but I had trouble editing it out. Would it be my connection which runs like a tad too slow?

I did post yesterday about this sewing machine which I lovingly adopted since mom died some 9 years ago. I bought pretty nice fabric the other day and meant to start sewing them into curtains. I said, I have learned Dressmaking in high school but I am no master sewer. I only sew simple things that has simple cuts.

Yesterday morning, I already cleaned and oiled my mom’s old Singer sewing machine. This machine was seldom used now. I guess, many other hobbies, DIY’s,chores and blogging ^_^ has always kept me busy.  Dust have build up on its casing , that is why oiling is important.

TIPS:

Never let your sewing machine un-oiled even when you are not using it. It is important to clean and drop some oil in its parts.

There are small holes in its base part where you can drop oil.

Never missed out on its foot pedal, too.

Oiling will keep your sewing machine running smoothly and be rust-free.

Do not forget also to clean out its bobbin house with a clean cloth from time to time. Doing this will make smooth stitching and threads running straight towards the fabric.

HAPPY SEWING!

This is me in 1986, I was in high school then when I had Dressmaking as a subject (Practical Arts). As a requirement for graduation, we were tasked to finished a dress (we need to choose from casual dress, evening dress or sports wear) and wear it on our school’s fashion show.

When the dressmaking subject started, I abhor it, besides the fact that I couldn’t make the sewing machine run, pattern making is one laborious task for me to do. But painstakingly, I did both, or else, our teacher would give me a failing mark on the said subject. Mom will be furious. She was looking forward for my high school graduation.

Sorry that I haven’t had photos for that fashion shoot. I sewed a pair of shorts and a blouse. I would love to do a gown, but satin fabrics were costly. I do have this shot of bridesmaid’s gown I sewed for my niece back in 1991. As you can see, it looks like it fits me, but, zipper’s at the back was unzipped. I just like to have it fitted on me for photo opps ^_^.

I was very thankful that I have learned how to sew. I have made quite few items for my kids, saving me more, because RTW’s cost much. When the kids grew up, and thus, prices for fabrics/textiles soared up, too. I have since stopped sewing things for them, except for PJ’s which I periodically made including some for nephews and nieces…

Here, in our house, I have done simple curtains, pillowcases, sheered bed covers. This is my latest project, again, a salvaged curtain. I have no budget for expensive fabrics. I would just buy whatever’s cheaper and something that I would mix and match for the window.

But, yesterday, me and my SIL went bargain hunting and luckily I did find some to my liking. This fabric was on sale for $3/yard. I instantly fell in love with the pattern and the contrasting colors of old rose, gold and gray. Can’t wait for my sewing machine up and running…

But, but…when shall it be? When blogging always gets in the way ^_^. More hands, please…or more time???

I am excited to start the curtains. Have already oiled my mom’s old sewing machine…have transferred this machine to my place since mom passed away…

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Since my grade schooler had already finished her final examination, I have already scheduled few tasks for me to do on the weekends. Changing sheets, carpet cleaning…I seemed to be A-okay with all those pre-planned activities…

But, while watering the plants this morning, I remember that this patio door’s cleaning schedule had already taken a backseat. It was supposed to be cleaned/washed on the first week of March! Blustery winds kept me from that schedule. So, I hoped this weekend, the northeast monsoon would rest awhile, so I can, wiped away the dirt on this door.

Somehow, of all the things I hate to do, is cleaning windows. Dust would accumulate on even the smallest corners. Plus the fact that glasses were always subjected to rain. And, when water does dry up into the glass, unlikely smear would build up, which is most likely the hardest to clean. Who wouldn’t want shiny window panes? Kiwi Glass Cleaner comes to the rescue, but with all the windows I have to clean, I might probably need half a dozen of it.

So, what I would be doing is to make my own cleaning solution:

-plain vinegar (ratio would be; 2 parts water: 1 part vinegar)

-water

-dry cloth

-old newspapers

That’s it. Economically wise for a budget mom like me ^_^. The acid in vinegar easily wipes away those stubborn dirt. No need for soaps. Just wipe away the water/vinegar solution on the glass. No need for rinsing. Then, wipe the excess water using old newspapers. The obvious question. Why, newspapers? Simply because, cloth attracts more water so when swiping it, the glass would make more smudges and there will be visible lints (little fiber from the cloth) which we wanted to avoid. Aside from window glasses, I used the solution and the newspaper thingy to clean mirrors, I bet you, mirrors would be perfectly clean and lint free after the simple treatment.

So, there. Happy window cleaning to me this weekend ^_^

Ciao.

I was about to throw this cookie jar away when suddenly an idea popped out into my head.

Bought this strawberry shaped cookie jar at a bargain shop for $0.50. It sits in the counter top for quite sometime filled with candies or what-nots. But, having kids around, you’ll have to imagine that life-span of such things in the house would suddenly be terminated!

The handle which seemed to be a strawberry stem was detached and broke into pieces. Creating a small hole in the top. Thought the jar would be bye-bye time…

I glued the lid permanently…

Then, came an idea to widen the hole a bit so i could put this bunch of faux blooms…

There…not a cookie or candy jar no more…but, i was glad, it was never traded as a junk ^_^ It now sits here in a weave basket I also bought on thrift!

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