Goodbye 2020! Hello 2021!

2020 was not a good year for everyone! With the Covid19 virus and the pandemic effect all around the world plus a lot of local calamities, I believe it was not a good one for generally all. Well, it was a terrible one for our little family... my husband Dodo left us on October 1, due to a fatal heart attack. And everything changed...

The Philippines had its share of hardships early 2020. In January, the famous and beautiful Taal Volcano exploded leaving a lot of damages in its nearby towns, it even reached Los Banos, Laguna. There were earthquakes in the southern part of the country. And in November, a number of typhoons overlapped to hit the whole island.  

My Lorenzo

On the lighter side of life... Chuy continued to grow to be our little man. He had his promenade in February at the Monochrome Events Place, Sta. Rosa City and got himself a big blue suit. He finished his Grade 9 before the lockdown and now struggles and enjoys his online classes in Grade 10. We celebrated his 16th birthday on March 1 with a korean-samgyup lunch as he requested. This was our last family celebration before the lockdown and eventually, our last too as a complete family.

My Luigi

My eldest Luigi, became more responsible this year, specially now that his Daddy is gone. He takes care of all us in the house, specially our dogs. Dodo left us with 4 guard dogs and Diego our indoor pet. He turned 27 in September, a week before his Daddy passed away. From then on, he became more passionate, considerate and more helpful to the family.

My Job

I had a roller coaster ride on my job! March 16 was my last day at work and the start of the lockdown. I did not report for work physically for 5 months, but we had continuous trainings, meetings and communications. STI College made sure that our electronic learning management system is maximized and teachers are equipped in this kind of challenges and change.  I am grateful that my co-Heads are very understanding and considerate about what I have been going thru this past few months. I am also proud of our teachers who are there with us during this struggle, they showed their support and love to our students in spite of their own struggles. 

My Craft

This pandemic gave me a lot of time to go back to my crafting. This helped me keep up with my anxiety and worries of everyday life. I went back to sewing and stitching, finished my backlogs on scrapbooking and my project life, and lastly, had so much time with my plants. I had the longest time also in cleaning up the entire house, even my Mom's house. 

Life without Dodo...

We are still coping up with our lost. Unconsciously, my body was hocked up on this stress and pain. But I, together with with my boys, are moving forward to face life again. I know my husband is in a better place now with the Lord, this thought kept me going and made be feel somehow at peace, too. We will never forget how he bind us as a family, how we both dream to make a home and how much he loves our two boys... those good memories will be our treasure from now on.

Life must go on...

Luigi, Lorenzo and I are still grateful with life. We gained another angel in heaven, this time our little girl Maxine is now being taken cared of his Daddy Dodo in heaven. Its Christmas time once again, it may be sad, but I am still happy to celebrate Lord Jesus Christ's birthday. Prayers and sharing to others made me feel better. I pray for a better new year... healthy body and mind for me and my boys, my brothers and their families, and our Mom; productive and more output in my job; more time with my boys and most of all, may this struggle of Covid19 end soon.

Merry Christmas and a full of Hope 2021!

God bless us all...

Haworthia passion!

Hello everyone... Laguna, Philippines is still on community quarantine and it has been 4 and half months since then. So much has been done and cleaned around the house, while watching the phases of the pandemic. I am done with my backlogs in scrapbooking and Project Life, sewing, tidying up my little kitchen, scraproom, closets and cabinets, cooking and now, gardening.

People now a days are hocked on gardening-- vegetables, herbs, cacti and succulents, orchids and ornamental. As they say, we are going back to basics?! I have been a weekend gardener for almost 3 years now. I started with a few cacti and succulents, and a lot of cups and bowls to repot and repot them. I started to replant their babies, until I fell in love with Haworthia. Haworthia came from land of South Africa. They are closely related to the Aloe and Gasteria families. Haworthia, Aloe and Gasteria are all members of the Asphodelaceae family. But according to the world of succulents.com, Haworthia is a genus of small succulent plant within the family of Xanthorrhoeaceae. 

Here are a few of my kept Haworthia... I just love them!

The most common here in the Philippines is the Haworthia glabrata or the Tiger Haworthia. I see this plant to be strong and has firm leaves. I remember during my 50th birthday, my cousins Janice and Maan gifted me with this on white cups as my party giveaways. I wish to find some more varieties right after the lockdown. For now, I am enjoying my rares Haworthia coarctata and reinwardtii. 

The world is now battling over economics and health safety. One thing that this pandemic taught me is to HOPE for change. The world made its natural course of cleaning, detoxifying and healing. We, people must continue to change our ways in order to make this place a better place for the next generation. Its great to know that we are all planting! I am in wonderment to see them all in the social media. My only regret is the price... they are getting soo expensive. I just have a mind set that a few is enough to please my soul. And so, when I got my metal shelves last Tuesday, and my two loves were showcased -- my owls and Haworthia had a better place in my little home.

Thanks for looking... Got a few more plants to repot!

I Love ARROW!

I've been doing the Scrappin' Moms' challenge eversince week 1, but this week's challenge is one of the best... the power of arrows! Its week 16 and I made 2 layouts for my boys. Still catching up with their pages and here goes...

Chuy's Braces Experience... His braces was out since February this year. I'm glad we no longer have the monthly checkups in the middle of this pandemic. Inside the plastic pocket on stripes are his actual brackets given to me by his dentist, Dra, Chochay Ilagan-Bautista. I used We R Memory Keeper pps, cardstock, a journaling card, DMC threads, chipboard, foam and cork arrows, and some white paint. I enjoyed doing this page because of the arrows, it gives directions to the page and makes a great boy layout.

Luigi's NYC Experience... this is one experience of a lifetime, the feel of New York City. I'm glad my kids saw this before the pandemic, because I do not know when we can be back to NYC. I used here a white cardstock, assorted pps scraps, washi tapes, Memories Mist yellow ink, Kaisercraft paints, Ranger distress inks, Fancy Pants transparent letters, buttons, chipboard, foam and cork arrows, and DMC threads. Even my journals are arrows too!

It's my first weekend without work... At first I enjoyed the "stay at home" idea of ECQ, GCQ and MECQ. I get to do home chores and house projects, cook, pray and deal with my anxiety. After 2 months, I was on a "work from home" mode, where I finished all my tasks as a teacher and a program head. Now, I don't have official functions for the coming 45 days. I wanted to rest, relax and recharge! So this is keeping me up... and I'm loving it pa rin!

TFL! Let us cherish our memory making moments...

2019 Project Life!

Hello Everyone!

Yes, I am still on quarantine! I don't know if I will be happy or what, but I don't have work for the coming 45 days. It's day 108 since the lockdown here in the Philippines and I am just at home doing absolutely anything. I have some home projects done with my husband... general cleaning of my closet, kitchen, dirty kitchen, bedroom 2 and my scraproom, termite treatment and inspection, album cabinet covered, scrapbook pages and albums repaired, gardening a bit and a lot of catching up on my 12x12 pages. I feel so accomplished!

Now, I am finally done too with my 2019 Project Life. 2019 was full of happy memories for our family. It took me awhile to document it because I could not go out to have my pictures and journals printed. And so here it goes...

I used a lot of scraps... from papers, cardstocks, buttons, ribbons, washi tapes, stickers, chipbord embelishments, inks, journaling cards, and of course, simple stories kits and memorabilias. I enjoy browsing on my pages and go back to our memories! So I have more days to relax and stay in my scraproom, no more Work from Home for now.

Can't wait to do my Covid19 Pandemic experience... hmmm!

TFL! Happy memory making peeps!

Luis and Hayk...

Hello there...

It's Day 54 of ECQ in the Philippines! We are still locked up in our homes and I'm still doing a lot of cleaning and organizing. I went through with all my scrapbook albums lately-- changed damaged page protectors, adhered buttons and other embellishments, and dated a few pages. And then, I came up with my brother's wedding album. My Auntie Linda sent me a pack of white cardstock papers and an elegant yellow-gray paper pad from DCWV. Here are my pages...

Luis and Hayk's Wedding in April 21, 2012 at Subic, Zambales. I used here DCWV patterned papers, AC white cardstocks, Prima and Webster's Pages patterned papers, ribbons, flowers, buttons, corrugated boards, blings, Ranger inks and Memory Mists sprays.

I, myself is amazed on these pages, makes me want to create more... soon!

Thanks for looking! Take care everyone.