Kilig Heaven

It's quite hard to translate the Filipino word kilig to English. Even Google Translate gives an inaccurate translation "hoity-toity". But I think it's more appropriate to say that kilig means the lovey-dovey warm, fuzzy feeling. Or something like that. There are just some Filipino words that are impossible to translate.

I've been watching "Please Be Careful with My Heart" the last few weeks since I' stuck at home recuperating. I must admit I wasn't really interested to watch the show but I had a change of heart when I got the chance to watch. ABS-CBN really took a risk when they paired up Jodi Sta. Maria and Richard Yap. The gamble paid off though because it's one of the most watched shows locally. I can say my Mom's friends cannot be bothered to meet up before lunch because of the show.

Today's episode was one of those times that I felt really kilig. I kept making kilig sounds while watching and the bagets was looking at me strangely. I told him, "I'm in kilig heaven!" He just shook his head and went back to reading. After watching the show I thought I'd reminisce about the time I met Sweetie and the many kilig moments we've had. One thing I really appreciate is the fact that Sweetie continues to write me notes every single day. In paper when I'm at home and virtually through email when we're apart. He's kept his promise to do this every single day because all the love letters he wrote for me before we married perished during Typhoon Ondoy.

Kilig!

Two Years and a Quarter

For the first time in 6 months I'm bored. I've been so busy I haven't had the time to blog!

My newly married friend, Jayvee, pinged me earlier and he said they've just moved to their new home. I asked if they burned anything yet. He said so far none. I remember my first few months with Sweetie. It was one disaster after another. I had zero domestic skills when we got married so I learned on the job. Thank God though there's YouTube where you can learn almost anything. I can attribute my cooking, laundry and ironing skills to YouTube. You can learn a gazillion things on that thing, haha.

It's been 2 years and a quarter since Jay and I married and just as we were settling on a routine I moved to Singapore 6 months ago. I'm lucky I get to come home every month, but it doesn't make parting any less harder every time. I've been hopping from one place to another but we stay in touch by having a Google Hangout almost every day. One thing I learned though is I start to go crazy after two weeks of being away.

Early this year we sat down and re-thought our living arrangements since our place in Manila is now too big for two boys. And it's just hard for them to manage the house (90% of my plants are dead!) on their own. So after doing some math we decided to invest in a smaller, more manageable place. Now we're trying to figure out what we need to get rid of so we can fit in our stuff. A garage sale is imminent in the coming months. One thing I learned about living in another country is you don't really need a lot of stuff. I just brought one suitcase when I moved and I survived. Just keep the essentials.

So this is my year 2 check-in, which reminds me I should find time to put together our year 2 photo book.

Cheerios!

547 Clicks (Days)

Yesterday, Sweetie and I celebrated our one year and a half anniversary. It's just amazing how Sweetie manages to remember important dates (more than me!)! We didn't make any grand plans to celebrate and just heard mass and ate lunch at my Mom's. We spent the rest of the afternoon at home doing chores! Haha.

We've been through a lot in the past 547 days. After getting over our frequent household chore mishaps we got busy with Miguel's college application and exams, moved to a new home, went through graduation ball and graduation and then prepared Miguel for college.

And here are ten things I learned in the past 547 days:

1. Chores are bottomless. Instead of hating it you just have to embrace it and find joy in doing it. I've found joy in letting our laundry bin roll down the stairs and I have discovered the secret to distributing laundry load is in how you sort them.

2. Things can get pretty routine and you just have to spice things up every once in awhile. We try to head out of town every once in awhile when time and budget permits. (Buying stuff on group buying sites helps!).

3. Delegate responsibilities. I'm glad that Sweetie and I filled-out the "100 Questions" book before we got married because we got the chance to discuss important matters like finances, household chores etc. The book got wiped out during Typhoon Ondoy, good thing we spent time discussing several chapters every week before we tied the knot.

4. It helps to draw up a budget sheet. This is where we put in all our bills and monthly obligations. Being transparent with your finances is important.

5. Be frugal and just spend as needed. Inasmuch as I'd love to travel every so often our budget sheet keeps me on ground. Unlike before we just go out now at least once on weekends so we can save.

6. Don't let your expectations rule your marriage. Leave that baggage even before you walk down the aisle because if you don't you'll just set yourself up for disappointment. It is always better to give than to receive. Wow-ing your spouse with little surprises every so often keeps the fire burning.

7. Write love letters or love notes. Sweetie does this for me every day (except weekends) because all of his love letters perished during Typhoon Ondoy. He also files it for me! And surprised me once by putting those notes in an album.

8. One of you will get sick every so often. Be supportive by being attentive to his/her needs. I'm glad that Sweetie runs to my side whenever I SMS him about an ailment. Miguel's also been great at taking care of me when I'm sick because he can already cook!

9. Sweetie has been travelling often too, so we try to space our travels so we can be together. I've been grounded for the rest of the month because I traveled a lot in May haha.

10.  Don't forget the good night kiss! And always have fun!

Now That I have You

I missed making a post to celebrate our first year anniversary last December 26, 2010. We didn't have any plans for that day, but ended up just spending the day with family. We heard mass in the morning and then trooped to have lunch at Max's Restaurant with my siblings and my nephews and nieces. It was truly a fun day and I realize now that's what marriage is all about -- having your own little family.

So much has changed since Sweetie and I tied the knot more than a year ago. I learned a lot of new things and acquired new skills in a short amount of time -- those skills include cooking, doing the laundry, ironing and, managing a household and gardening!

Well, chores aside, our first year has been filled with many beautiful memories - both happy and sad. We managed to have two out of town family trips (Bohol and Iloilo) and countless pig-out foodcourt sessions, movies, grocery days, family lunches with our parents, hang-out times with friends, school activities, college entrance exams etc. Our first few months was spent nesting, spending time at home and catching up with family and friends who we kinda ignored when we were preparing for our wedding.

There were trying times too. A handful of tampuhans which were just really mababaw. The hardest was when I found out my Dad was sick, but I'm glad that Sweetie has been so supportive and has been my rock through the hard times. He's also been taking good care of me which led my doctor to say, "I cannot clinically explain how you got well".

Well, God continues to write our love story and thank you guys for all your support too. Hope to be able to update this blog more often now =)

Ten Months!

We're celebrating our tenth monthsary today! Okay, before you get any ideas, we don't really celebrate our monthsary but we usually greet each other (when we remember!), but this month is different since we just moved to a new home.

We've been crazy busy the past ten months and here's some of the fun stuff:

January - this was the month a wanna-be domestic goddess was born. We tried to survive on left-overs and fast-food, but we longed for home-cooked meals. We thought we'd burn down the house with our first cooking attempt. The smokin' stove though was overshadowed by our rocker-washing-machine. We took some time off though by going to Singapore for our honeymoon.

February - our second month was a barrel of laughs when I our sink started spewing out smoke. This was the month that I took my ambition to be a domestic goddess into the next level. Conquered the stove and washing machine!

March - we finally got our groove at home and took our first out of town trip with Miguel and friends. Things were going on smoothly and we had a gardening 101 session with Mom. This was the month that our septic tank gave us nightmares.

April - the summer heat was so bad we dreaded our Meralco bill. With the septic tank problem solved we managed to have some summer fun by attending events here and there. We were plagued though with ants! They were everywhere and attacked our gadgets. Thank God for ant chalk, they soon dreaded setting foot in our house.

May - this is the month we had our first family vacation. Went to Cebu and Bohol. We got so busy that month we weren't able to make any blog posts. This was the month that SM Supermarket included me as one of their 25 Food Council members.

June - the start of school proved to be difficult since Miguel got sick. We were relieved though that the multiple sickness that plagued him was resolved with meds. Our sixth month though was no less happy.

July - this was the month I started to get pats on my back for learning domestic chores really fast -- especially cooking and doing the laundry. I also learned to cook more dishes with the help of the internet and online cooking mentors. We were also quite busy working on Miguel's college entrance applications. Jay also started working for an embassy and so I had to get used to being home alone all day.

August - during this month we started to discuss moving to a new home. It was reinforced by the fact that our neighbors weren't friendly and the bathroom started bubbling up waste again. We began house hunting. Miguel also took his UPCAT and Mapua entrance exam.

September - there's just something about that sink. I was found unconscious by Miguel when he got home. Our all-around helper, Mang Jose, sprayed a little insecticide under the sink because we suspected it to be infested with termites. It took three days before we could eat at the dining table again. We almost bought a house, but eventually decided to move closer to my parents.

October - moved! We love our new home and hope to build more happy memories here sans house problems. Our wedding feature on Kasal.com is also now available!

How time flies! We've had a lot of fun and have learned a lot of stuff in the past ten months we've been together. Hopefully with our new groove in our new home we'd be able to do other stuff and be of service in our community.

Woohoo!

The House Hunting Mishap: a PhP10,000 Lesson

We went house hunting in the past two months thinking that we could already afford it. Haha. We were in for a suprise since we didn't know that you need to pay up at least 20% cash for equity before you could get a bank loan. Realizing that we found a nice little house with affordable downpayment and monthly amortization. We immediately latched on the idea of getting the house, but wanted more time to think about it. We unfortunately fell for the real estate agent's spiel that we should immediately pay for the reservation fee. So we did.

After paying for the reservation fee I started having doubts. Big doubts that I was unable to sleep for a few nights. I always take time to make big purchases. It takes me about a year before I actually purchase a PC. So you can just imagine my anxiety at purchasing a house. Sweetie and I talked about it and did additional computations and research. We then decided to forgo buying a house so we could save up for more equity.

The next day I went to see the property developer to tell them that we were letting the house go. She said that she could only return 80% of our reservation fee because the real estate agent already got her agent's fee. The property developer explained that this was common practice for them and even showed me the signed voucher. I was surprised that they released the fee even though the sale was unconsumated.

So it was a badly rushed decision for us. What was painful though was how the real estate agent rushed us to put in some money even though I said that I wanted to forego it for more thinking time. I had thought that I could trust the real estate agent to put our needs foremost before anything else since I had known her since I was a kid. We had heard a lot of complaints about her prior to engaging her services, but we let it go as hearsay since we had known her for decades.

We did not try to get the money anymore and just let it be a hard earned lesson about saying no.

Opposites Attract

Sweetie and I have been married for almost 8 months now and things have changed quite a bit in the past month since he started working full time. The time spent together has drastically been reduced since we used to both work at home.

Before Sweetie and I got married I knew that we were opposite in so many ways. Juris' song "Opposites Attract" describe us a bit.



And things aren't only about who the morning person is. Who's more detailed. Who's more spic and span. But we also usually choose opposing brands! I like Colgate. He prefers Pepsodent. I use a Nokia phone. He uses a Sony Ericsson phone. He likes imported corned beef. I'm fine with Purefoods. I love ketchup. He wrinkles his nose when I request for more.  I hate folding newly laundered clothes. He does it like a pro. He doesn't eat fat. I do.

It's crazy but being opposites have helped us both grow. I guess we're just both relieved that we like different things (especially in household chores!) because we complement each other in a lot of ways and "Look Ma! The laundry bin is always empty haha!"

Six Months After

It's really unbelievable how time flies in breakneck speed especially when you get so swamped with work. We've been unable to update this blog in the past couple of months. It's not really because of work, but chores! Yup, chores.

Anyway, we've been having a blast the past few months. We only realized that we've been married for six months already late in the evening of June 29th. When we remembered Sweetie and I just gave each other a hug and promptly fell asleep (haha!).

The past few months have been a flurry of activity. The boys helped me a lot in some of my major projects and we had our first family vacation in Bohol and another out of town trip with my high school buddies. Things have been working smoothly but I think our marriage won't be as happy without the mishaps that befall us every once in a while.

Here are ten things that we learned in the past three months:

1. Be OC about your travel plans. Our ferry to Bohol bogged down somewhere between Bohol and Cebu so we had to take another ferry. Instead of arriving in Tagbilaran by 2, we only managed to check-in the resort by six in the evening! It was a good thing though that we decided to get a packaged tour with accommodation. We would've been in big trouble if we just winged it because all the resorts were already fully booked!

2. Vulcaseal. Always have a can of Vulcaseal on hand. I was pee-ing when water from the ceiling started dripping on my head and the water was dripping from the ceiling light! Scary!

3. Sinampay and the Rain. If the sky is dark always assume that it will rain. We were less than a kilometer away from home when the skies opened and rained. It was a mistake that we definitely learned from. It took two days for the clothes to dry out completely.

4. Extra Curtains. So we're still trying to figure out what set of curtains we're going to use since we don't want to use the curtains with metal rings in it. I guess we'll have to buy.

5. Pests. Deal with them immediately. Ants started showing up when summer came around and they were looking for places to stay. We had to replace our phone handset and Sweetie's keyboard because they decided to make it their home.

6. Plants and Zombies. There is definitely a connection between plants and zombies. Don't be a zombie, always water your plant. R.I.P. Basil the basil plant from Tagaytay.

7. There's hope in cherry tomatoes. A week after Basil the basil plant died we decided to try out planting something so we got a packet of cherry tomato seeds at the supermarket. Tip: don't dump all the seeds in one pot! I had to ask my Mom to re-pot them.

8. Always update Mang Jose's number. For some strange reason my Mom's all around carpenter/electrician/gardener/painter/plumber keeps changing his number. We've been calling him monthly for emergencies. Good thing my Mom is always in touch with him.

9. Call your parents daily. We're just about 7 streets away from my parents, but I don't get to visit them as often as I want to so I try to call my Mom every day. A five minute chat daily goes a long way.

10. Spend time making uzi kitchen gadgets at the department store. You just might find something that would save at least 5 minutes of your time. Our newest gadget adds: vegetable mincer (no more tears from onions!) and a kettle (it's such a pain heating water using a pot, we should seriously have our heater installed!). But check your wedding gifts before buying anything. We stored some of our gifts since we didn't need them yet, but we checked them out again and found a couple of things to use.

Top Ten Things We Learned in Our First 100 Days

We celebrated our first 100 days by going to Enchanted Kingdom as a family. It was a good day to take a break. And here are top ten things we learned in our first 100 days together:

1. Chores are BOTTOMLESS.

2. Cooking can be learned, so do not fear!

3. The best way to kill pests and insects is to kill the source by sending back infected (with insecticide) insects.

4. Always have canned goods and food delivery flyers on hand. (For the days you are too lazy to cook and have no leftovers).

5. You will discover a lot of things about the previous tenant, so be a good one!

6. Before moving in a new home check every nook and cranny. The repairs we had to do cost about PhP15K. Good thing our landlady reimbursed everything. It was hard to know about the status of the septic tank though.

7. You don't need to have everything all at once. You can always just borrow a mattress first and sleep on the floor.

8. Staying home for 3 straight days might drive you crazy. Take a walk. There's always a Mini-Stop or 7-Eleven around the corner.

9. When in doubt, call Mom. (Or we ask via Plurk). This is in reference to our first cooking attempt and our dancing washing machine.

10. At the end of the day, don't worry you are married and that means you have a partner for life!

More about our 100 days on An Apple a Day (part 1 and part 2).

Our Third Month Top Ten

So we thought by the third month things would've settled. We weren't going to smoke up anything and we were going to live happily ever after.

We were wrong. Here are ten things we learned during our first 90 days.

1. Kill those roaches! We used up 3-4 tall bottles of Baygon to kill roaches in just 6 weeks. I'm allergic to it and even tiny roaches give me an asthma attack so we had get rid of them fast. Baygon's roach bait nailed them all. We barely see any anymore. It's a bit expensive though at PhP250 for a pack of 6, but it's very effective.

2. Oregano overgrowth! For some strange reason the tiny oregano plant my Mom planted in our small plant box grew by leaps and bounds (can I say mutated?). We thought they were just going to stay small. Mom had to come over and fix up our plants. Trimming your plants isn't a bad thing and you can always re-plant the cuttings. This also holds true for dying bougainvillas.

3. Your septic tank. Dun-dun-dun. We thought we were doing the intelligent thing by not throwing any trash in the toilet. Unfortunately the previous tenant un-intelligently flushed down non-biodegradable stuff in the toilet. The result? Too traumatic to recount here. Read our previous post. When in doubt, call your landlady.

4. Trash. There was a week when the basura boys didn't get our trash. Now we have to make sure that at least one of us is home on Wednesdays to make sure they pick it up.

5. Curtains. It's hard to wash curtains that have steel rings. Instructions said to wash it by hand so we were hesitant to throw it in the washing machine. Good thing my Mom's cleaning lady washed it one Monday morning.

6. Grocery shopping. Always make a list. Always.

7. Veggies. We always end up with rotten vegetables. Not because we buy too many, but we oftentimes end up with a lot because either of our parents would surprise us with stock. Will take time probably. One veggie saver we discovered especially when you have cabbage and carrots? Coleslaw. Shred the veggies, add mayo, a dash of vinegar plus sugar and you have instant salad!

8. Always keep lids tightly closed. Loose lids = ant invasion invitation.

9. Take a break. Go on a roadtrip once in awhile, you both deserve a break from doing so many household chores! The three of us also got addicted to Plants vs. Zombies and it's been a great bonding experience!

10. Always close the curtains at night. Our neighbor's maid always water their plants at around 9:30 p.m. everyday and she never fails to watch us like a hawk. Uzi!!!

More about our third month here.

Cheese Stuffed Pork Roll

The first few weeks I was learning how to cook I asked Miguel to choose a dish he wanted me to cook. I told myself that I should just go ahead and try cooking different dishes to build confidence. My brother-in-law's comment in Facebook definitely gave me the boost I needed. He said, "You're an Apolo, I am confident that you have it in you too."

So Miguel chose "Cheese Stuffed Pork Roll". We were already in the supermarket when I had him choose a recipe so we managed to get most of the ingredients right. (Pork chops aren't the best type of meat to use for this recipe).

So here's how I cooked it -

Place a slice of cheese in the middle of the pork slice. Roll it and secure with a toothpick.

Dredge in flour mixture (flour and thyme).

Dip in egg and then coat with bread crumbs.

Deep fry.

Here's the finished product.

As an alternative you can also use ready made pork or chicken tonkatsu (available at SM Hypermarket), the flour mixture though is more yummy, but this is a great shortcut and will save you a lot of time. You can also add sweet ham in the roll.

Pair this up with sinangag and a salad and you got yourself a fabulous lunch or dinner.

Our Two-Month Top Ten

Last week we celebrated our second month of marriage by having dinner somewhere in Alabang. We were supposed to watch a movie but the show was SRO so we decided to hang out at Bona Coffee Westgate.

The past two months have been fun-filled and filled with adventures and learnings. Here's ten things we won't forget about our first two months:

1. A brand new electric stove will emit smoke the first time you plug it in, so don't panic.

2. Sinangag cooked via microwave is fake sinangag.

3. Ask the delivery guy to remove the travel locks of your brand new washing machine. When in doubt call tech support.

4. Basil plants are quite sensitive to the sun. It prefers afternoon sun too. Oregano, on the other hand, loves the sun and would grow by leaps and bounds when it is happy. Do not touch it since the smell would stick for several hours.

5. It is not a good idea to watch over someone else's kid. And even though you don't have a choice, choose not to do it.

6. When water is scarce use paper plates, plastic spoon and forks and plastic cups. Also gives you the excuse to dine out.

7. Leftovers put together can be a full meal too.

8. Sharp knives are safer than dull ones.

9. Always have the following on hand: onion, garlic, calamansi, tomato since it's the basic ingredient/s of most dishes.

10. The smokin' sink. Bow.

More about our two months here.

The First Month

You must be wondering what happened to the new mister and missus after our last post. We left for Singapore our mini-honeymoon (just a mini one since I spent half of the time at work). That one week was a welcome respite from the daily misadventures (a.k.a. chores) we had been experiencing.

After we came back we had to deal with all the chores that we left undone and work on my Mom's bilins since she and my Dad were leaving for a very long vacation. So we're currently managing TWO households. Yikes.

We'll be posting our other (mis) adventures and achievements as we go along. The first month wasn't so bad since we kinda cheated a lot - had lots of leftovers from family gatherings and the laundry and ironing was done by my Mom's helper at her house since the washing machine had to be repaired (great excuse huh).

And I dedicate this song for our first month together:

We Have Tied the Knot!

After so many months of preparation and the perfect proposal Jay and I tied the knot last December 26, 2009, at Mary the Queen Parish. A simple and fun reception followed at the North Greenhills Clubhouse.

We planned this blog months ago and was supposed to launch it last Saturday but we, uh, got busy. Hey, we're newlyweds so we're doing what newlyweds are supposed to do! We hope that we'll be able to chronicle how we're setting everything up so we can help other newlyweds and engaged couples too.

Here's our fabulous wedding video done by famous wedding videographer, Buddy Gancenia.