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Archive for the ‘hobbies’ Category

If you are thinking about giving presents to your kids or friends, you might consider giving ernie ball super slinky from musicians friend. It will be a perfect gift especially if they are playing musical instruments or have guitars. They will be delighted to know that you support their hobbies (especially your kids) and that you were so thoughtful by giving them unique and usable gifts.

Summer time is here. However, I am not sure if I’ll be loving this season when I have three kids to attend to 24/7. Kids who are always hungry which leaves me staying more in the kitchen as ever. Kids who tends to make clutter faster than I can clean them up. I guess, I am more busier when school is off. Whereas, when all the kids are in school and the husband is working, I can have spare time to do what I like best to do -cleaning the house, rearranging furniture, decorating.

I have this notoriety in changing the decors more often. I don’t know. Maybe, it’s one of those SAHM-thing. When all the chores are done, I’ve got nothing else to do.

Move things. Here, there, back here, again

When I purchased these clay potteries in December, I placed them in the living room. Then, in January I moved them outside near the entrance door. But the blustery winds of the Amihan endangers one piece which makes me find a new home for them, again.

Here they are now. In a wall where in November, a table with my angel figurines sit here. Angels are relocated^^ to give these earthenware pieces a new place. Above them is a framed clock with my cross stitch-giraffe-design.

So there. The trio potteries find its way in our so-called entertainment/family room. I personally thought, they fit better there as the color of the wall is a cool green and the flooring tiles are a combination of olive green/grey/yellow. I thought the yellow pieces complement the colors in the area. Did they?

I don’t know how long will they stay there.

BTW, the three potteries cost only 1500 pesos. They’re made of clay and spray painted the designs. A friend referred the seller to me in December who hails from Ilocos.

It’s Palm Sunday today. I wished everyone a blessed day and I wish that this Holy Week be a way for each family to renew their relationship. A home is not complete without a family living in there. Just as a family would sustain life and love as long as God is the center of their relationship.

There are many activities that a family can enjoy doing even at the comforts of their homes. Engage your kids in reading or if they find reading as too boring, engage them in playing board games, or merely playing in the yard. My kids have always been busy doing many activities even here at home. We provided them space for them to play on, even purchase  musical accessories like shure sm7b mf for them to play on.

With these activities and stuff, it can help them discover their interest and hone their skills.

I dunno but nobody yet discovered that these two light fixture that are in our living room were actually outdoor lights used mostly as street lamps or in perimeter posts in some homes.

Yes.

When I had won over the husband (RE: home improvement), and had our living area renovated (along with our bedroom and the kitchen) last November 2012, he had to remove the two old chandeliers (he was the one who purchased the lights back then)  hanging in that same area as in the photos.  He cleaned the chandeliers so that it will look new when he installed it again. Whereas in the back of my mind, I vowed never to let those lights come inside the house again. Oh! They were quite okay. However with my mind racing to updated ceiling designs back then, I thought that those old chandeliers wouldn’t jibe into the overall concept of the ceiling plan.

And, my plan worked again. It was the husband who even suggested we better get newer light fixture into the areas -the living room, the kitchen, our room.

I went alone one day in home depots merely browsing around for designs. I got overwhelmed by too many pretty light pieces -chandeliers, pendant lights, and more. I I don’t know which one to pick. Besides, the prices of the ones I did fancy were quite high.  I am one frugal buyer.

But, I went home with pretty nifty ideas that could save me thousands.

First off, I plan to do a DIY on a lamp light I found for 895 pesos. When I asked the good hubby if my project would be possible, his major concern was our ceiling height. Too low. So, I quit on my first idea. Then, my second idea…this was it…

As I said, those lights were mostly used outdoors. It comes in three different diameter sizes. These one’s the biggest size. It also comes with covers, separately sold. Steel covers are use for protection and for aesthetic appeal. But since I am not keen on using it outdoors, I politely tell the store staff that we will be getting just the lights sans the covers. The staff are shocked when I told them I’d be putting the lights indoor and in our living room.

Yes. I did. And it saved me a lot. Each one cost 1295 pesos only. And, each one needs only 26 0r 32-watt circular electronic fluorescent light. Very energy efficient as compared to chandeliers which needed 5 single separate bulb lights. That’s over a 100-watts power usage. I am always on the lookout on how I can decrease my electricity consumption.

These units are very easy to install, too. Only, it was installed wrong side up ^_^

Hope I do not sound like bragging here, but I guess, the light fixture, even in its simple circular form, did fit into the design of the ceiling. The ceiling architecture should steal the show here, the light added should enhance its features. That’s my main goal here. Hence, no need for too much elegant chandeliers.

I always tell my friends who came to visit, I do not have the money to splurge on expensive fixture, I just look for inspiration on the net. And let some imagination and DIY magic do the works.

It helped me to save a lot.

PS: If you have time, please do check my post on a budget pendant light design and more lighting fixture which we installed in our kitchen.

Many thanks.

“Why do you keep cleaning your house when you rarely get visitors?”

Those were the words that a “very close relative” threw at me.

I was not affected in any way. She’s telling the truth. We do not get to have visitors that often. Yet I clean the house almost daily. As I said, call me obsessive compulsive, but, it is what I am used to doing.

Number 1: I like to keep the house clean and tidy. At all times. No matter what the weather is.

Number 2: I like to keep the house clean and tidy. Not to impress visitors or anybody else. But, TO IMPRESS MYSELF!

That simple. In the same way as I love decorating the house even in the most thriftiest manner. I wouldn’t care less if others would not find them interesting or they would find it queer. I like seeing the things that I did myself. Best of all, I like to decorate according to what style I wanted it to be.

I am most happy doing the things I do.

A visitor/relative told me when she came to the house one day: You have so many stuff in your house. Why not let go of others? Also, why do you keep rearranging your furniture so often. Every time I came to your house, it seems like a different place.”

Must I always explain: I collect different stuff for the house. Be it vases, scented candles, candle holders, decorative plates, teapots -those were my favorites. It’s everywhere in the house. I had a hutch which holds the rest of the lot. It delights my spirit seeing the things I collected. Be it bargain buy or vintage finds. I do not measure the things I fancy with its price tag.

More importantly, I try to decorate our house according to what I believe would suit my taste and style. I never try to decorate to please others (although it is presumed). The reason why I kept rearranging our furniture or my stuff is because as I do have lots of knickknacks, I wanted those stuff to shine (even if for a limited season only), and at the same time freeing some space into the house for some other stuff. I call it “decoration cycle”.

So, one idle weekend, I pulled out the blue rug out of this section of our house, I moved out the seats onto their new places, and when there was nothing left left except for the huge frame, I decided that this table will make a good company on that end section of our living room.

 There’s nothing new on that table. Just few of my old collected stuff…bargain finds, actually.

 But, they truly were my favorites. Especially these trio…

Rooster on a plate, and tiger prints on the edges of a dessert plate were very cheap finds but the happiness it gives on me were beyond precious.

What of this colorful elephant in a dessert plate?

Perhaps, I can not please people coming or visiting my humble home. They may find the decors intimidating or uninteresting. No worries on me.Fact is, we have different taste and style ideas. And, so long as I am happy with what I am seeing – I am keeping my stuff. I will keep on rearranging my stuff in the house

Had been busy overseeing the construction of our storage cum garage area. Most of our stuff there had been in chaos. I had been starting to sort few things needed for thrashing. Today, I had spent most of my afternoon there. The reason why I barely had time for updating my other sites. In addition, when I did check out my email earlier, I had two clients assigning me few writing opportunities. I guess, those were great reasons to stopped decluttering in the meantime and had to attend to clients for now.

As I am working on the write-up, suddenly ideas gone vague, can not focused on my writing when all that was in my thoughts were the unfinished work load at the storage area.

Good thing though, I can easily search and look Custom-Writing.org for particular topic which few of my clients had assigned to me. They have such great articles for me to prep up my thoughts on how to write an an analytical essay and how to write an introduction for a narrative essay. It is always helpful when there’s internet around. Where writing essays can be too daunting and intimidating before, it’s different now. There are tools and guides which can helped one to come up with great and informative articles. Essay writing is a breeze now.

I sure hoped to finished the articles on schedule (tonight), in order for me to attend to get back to my unfinished business in the storage.

I recently took a second shot in baking, basic baking, that is. I wanna learn how to make cookies, tarts, cupcakes. My kids loved them. I am keen on starting my baking journey in making those simple pastries. Plus, I have to get started too with the right tools as required when you want to achieved an edible and not burnt bakery foodies. That means, I have to stray away from my usual habit of making “estimates” or using kitchen items such as cups in measuring ingredients. For all we care, there must have been a dozen different cup sizes in our kitchen counter. So, in the end, baking always end up in disaster.

To start with, I bought few kitchen tools that will guide me to make accurate measurements on the ingredients used.

Here they are:

Kitchen scale. This tool will be extra useful when measuring dry ingredients. Baking entails precise measurements, hence, exact weights are needed to ensure successful results in baking.

Liquid measuring cups. This is intended for measuring liquids like milk, oil, water or juice. They come in either plastic or glass. Measurements are clearly indicated on the side of the cup. They have a pouring spout for easy for easy management of the liquids. Their main purpose is to try to give out exact liquid proportions as needed for in a recipe.

Measuring cups. Set of measuring cups come in 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 and 1 cup. They come in either plastics or stainless steel. They have flat surfaces for easy leveling. Hence, one will get the exact ingredients as called for by the recipe. No more estimates using different cup sizes. These cups are usually use for measuring dry ingredients such as flour, sugar, butter, syrup, and more.

Measuring spoons. Same as in the measuring cups, measuring spoons come in either plastic or stainless steel.  A set of these spoons have measurements for 1/4 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, 1 teaspoon, and, 1 tablespoon. These spoons are intended to measure small amounts of ingredients such as baking soda or baking powder, salt, vanilla extracts, and other spices. Because measuring spoons are used both with dry and liquid ingredients, it is preferable to have two sets of measuring spoons .

Yes. I have started my baking journey with those small kitchen tools. As I promised to add more and more tools as I go on with my renewed passion in baking.

As I scroll down the web looking for necessities in basic baking, I find a site where you can find a complete list of items necessary to make every baking adventure a success. Check out thebakingpan.com. Now, I know what should I be needing for my first try out in baking cakes.

Crossing fingers

Rainy Sunday was rife with house cleaning. So, as I do dusting, sweeping and mopping the living area, I bid in time to “redocorate”. Er, only the pieces on the center table. I got fed up with the blue pottery displayed on them. Time for glasses and yes, “candles”…I sooo love candles

Remember the oval glass (my daughter thought we would use it a small aquarium^_^) I bought on a thrifting spree three two weeks ago? It has found it’s purpose here as a candle holder. Added some old marbles, too…

Found me some small seashells (I just love them, too^_^)…and two crystal candle holders to go with it.

 And, to complete the look of the center table, I added in the two towering pink candles which I had find in a rundown shop last year…

 There’s the glasses on the tinted glass top table…

 Oh, there’s not much change in the living room. I just wanted to capture its cleanliness before the kids can make it all messed up again

Cleaning the house is too exhausting but seeing it spotless clean and oh sooo smelling fresh, nakakawala ng pagod

How was everybody’s weekend? Have you done some house cleaning, too?

Got these assorted stuff when I happen to accidentally drop by at a shop selling rundown home items.

1 glass storage jar for 85 pesos

-Was planning to use this as candle holder.

2 decorative dessert plates for 15 pesos each

-Found the two blue adorned plates stacked underneath  dozens of dinnerware.

5 pieces uber cute tea cups 30 pesos. All 5 of them.

-More teacups for me, even without the pairs of saucers, I’d buy them. I love them. My weakness. They’ll be great addition to the green hutch.

3 super fragile shot glasses for 10 pesos. All three of them.

-There are many shot glasses of various designs in the shop. I don’t know why. I felt they’re different. Judging from the type of the glass, I can sense it’s different from the others of its kind Besides, I did get them because I had a friend who collects vintage shot glasses. I got curious. It might be the start of a new hobby?

Been a long time since my last thrift hunting. Odd and cheap, as I describe the pieces. But, surely, I can find them useful. Whether sitting on the hutch or accessory to other of my stuff around here.