So I am now officially on holiday. To kick it off, we started yesterday with fixing the girls’ Secret Room a.k.a. Reading Room or just giant closet with no function.
Glorified store room and book closet. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
My daughter, Twin I, asked if we can have a new wall paper and fairy lights. I did buy a big roll of wall paper but no battery-operated fairy lights. I think that can only be had during Christmas.
I ran out of wall paper. I underestimated the size of the walls. Photo by CallMeCreation.comFor the meantime, this will do until I get a chance to go to Ace Hardware and buy more wallpaper. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Et voila! It turned out nice.
Installing peel-and-stick wallpaper is a pain. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Meanwhile, I had to transform that dingy steel drawer so I can use it as a side table.
Two cans of lemon yellow spray paint. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I had a lot of errors but it will do. I’ll just buy another can of spray paint to cover up the errors.
I think it’s cute. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I just need to mount the painting my sister loaned me. But my wall is huge so I need to have another one to balance it. I saw one huge painting in Tiendesitas being sold for a couple of thousands to complement one of the paintings loaned to me.
I just finished packing because we’re going to my hometown and tomorrow we’ll try to go to Caliraya to bike and camp.
My girl, I, asked for bento for breakfast because she missed my cooking. While she enjoyed staying with grandma, she asked to go home a week earlier than expected because she missed me, the cats, and my cooking. So of course I obliged.
My girls are also bored out of their skulls so one of the casualties of their boredom is their hair. They cut their hair by themselves! Of course the results were horrible. So I brought them to the salon rectify their attempt at creativity this evening.
Haircut. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
We shopped for fruits and veggies after and then proceeded to a Korean mart because I wanted to replenish my side dishes and some mixes like curry and furikake.
I was too lazy to cook so just made yakisoba with pickled seaweed and spicy fish cake and some fern salad for dinner. One of my daughters liked the fern salad with my home-made dressing, which is almost similar to a vinaigrette.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I wanted to order Korean fried chicken because I was craving for something with a hint of spice but my housemates were not into it today. Maybe I’ll make kimchi stew tomorrow. I need to finish off some kimchi in the fridge and some tofu.
When I find the time, I will try some of Imamu’s recipes. I enjoy watching her YouTube channel that gives me new menu ideas.
I finally got rid of my old rickety bed frame that is at least 12 years old. But before I assembled the new one, I freshened up the wall paint because I was going to switch the placement of my worktable and other appliances.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
This is where J’s table used to be. I guess the dark stain there was caused by his feet when he stretched. Just like my girls when they’re in their bunk beds.
Excuse the vacuum cleaner’s nozzle. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
So now back to having very white walls again. My room now looks more spacious than when I had my tables pushed against the windows. The shelf there looks odd right now as I had it installed for J’s Gundams. His desk used to be underneath it. Now it looks out of place. Maybe I should move it to the other side where my desk is now placed.
My daughter invading my room. Her twin is still with grandma. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Photo by CallMeCreation.com
That bundle of fabric over there? That’s one curtain panel I have yet to finish. I should be inspired to work there tomorrow as a little change in the workspace could trick my brain.
I want to hang a huge painting on the wall above my bed. So when I do video calls, the focal point at the back wouldn’t be my bed but the painting. I want to scout for the perfect painting online or even in person.
As for the wall opposite it, above my computer screens, I want it to remain blank as I had been planning to buy a projector so I can watch movies on a huge screen while in bed. I also plan to upgrade my bluetooth speaker for calls and for video watching.
Movie theater in bed, why not? Photo by CallMeCreation.com
There. That entire blank wall is ideal for Netflix nights.
This morning I had the white chrysanthemum tea I ordered from Lazada and it tasted like the essence of those old stuffy rebultos (statue) of saints that my grandma had in her altar.
White chrysanthemum tea. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I went to my dentist right after lunch because one of my crowns got loose (the curse of being a clencher and grinder). I parked in front of the old house because that’s the only legal place I can park my big car. I saw the forlorn state of the garage and how dusty everything was. Then one of the old lady neighbors saw me and asked where the girls’ dad was, how are the twins, and are we living now in the province. I really felt uncomfortable with her quizzing.
After that I went to SM to buy the girls underwear, pants, shorts, and T-shirts. They’re no longer little girls.
Pre-teen. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
When J left in December, they were still “whiny little kids.” Now that they’re finished with fourth grade, they’re now transformed into little ladies–I needed to buy them sando-bras now (not pictured). It was so fast.
It’s true what they say: the nights are long but the years are short. When I was sleepless when they were infants until toddler years, I thought the hardships would never end. I barely had time for myself to comb my hair. Now their aesthetics are almost like that of a teenager. Their thought process especially daughter I, is no longer childlike. They know what J and I were. They understood what happened and what I went/am going through. They’re smarter and more understanding than I gave them credit for.
They grow up so fast that soon I may no longer be able to catch up.
I’m growing old too and have yet to find my place in this world.
If you’re a solo parent, weekends are made for chores and the thousand and one things that you should have done during the week but you were too busy to even have lunch on time.
Hotpot. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
So I finally got a few moments to cook and was able to do hotpot with beef strips, fish cake, fish tofu, and the last of the veggies in my fridge. It was so good; I missed having hotpot on weekends.
I went back to my old way of shopping for groceries. When we were in the old house, I used to do a fortnightly big shop at Hi-Top because it takes me at least an hour to finish shopping and it’s so tedious to keep doing this every weekend. Then I just top up in between by shopping for fresh produce at the wet market nearby so I just took the tricycle.
But since we moved to this apartment, I did my shopping weekly because two supermarkets are just walking distance from me. Plus I was feeding an army. Now that J is no longer here, I don’t need to shop for 10 boxes of milk, at least 2 dozens of eggs, etc every week. So now I just started doing one big shop every two weeks and just supplement it by buying fresh veggies from the vendors near UP every week. I want to have a chest freezer so I can stock up on a lot of meat and fish and cut down my trip to the supermarket or meat shop. The small size of my freezer is the reason why I always need to shop frequently. However, my apartment is small and I don’t know where I could fit a 4 cu ft of chest freezer or even a 3 cu ft one.
I realized that my grocery bill is cheaper at Puregold compared to Save More and Robinsons for the same amount of stuff I buy in all three supermarkets. They also carry more brands. The parking area, however, is very limited that I have to go shopping during odd hours.
After shopping tonight, I had the bike of one of my girls fixed because daughter A had her wheel punctured by a nail when they were biking at grandma’s.
At the vulcanizing shop. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Since it’s already GCQ, I think I can bring the girls (this time only one girl since the twin is still at grandma’s) to bike around. We need more exercise and time away from screens.
My other children are back to their obnoxious selves. Their square shaved parts (where they had their surgery) are still hairless, though.
The vaccination process this time is much quicker (under 30 mins) and I don’t have a headache yet. I’m itchy but I’m not sure if it’s going to be as bad as after I had the first shot. I’m developing a rash now and I have body pain. Let’s see if I would be feverish later this evening or tomorrow.
This morning, I received a gift that made my girl (who’s with me now) happy. She has a sweet tooth.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
This went well with tea.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
They say I took after my mother. I owe my mother everything: the best of me and the worst of me. That’s why whenever I go home to her, I bring her flowers from the flower shop in my hometown and a box or two of Korean Solomon’s seal tea that she liked because every homecoming for me is Mother’s Day.
I think I’m going to sleep early tonight. My body is fighting off the inactive coronavirus and it is getting heavier by the hour.
