COME SIT AT THE BACK PORCH WITH ME

The rain has finally stopped and it's getting warmer everyday.  I don't know about you but this year it's unusually cooler to me, don't you think?  We haven't used our air conditioner that much and most nights we leave our windows open which makes for nice sleeping under covers.  This means lower electric bill for me, plus in the morning you awake to the chirping of the birds nearby - a big bonus for me.


Warmer weather means a lot of time spent in the yard and on the porch.  We have a covered back porch that Michael and I love.  Right now we have noisy baby birds all the time especially when it's feeding time.  There are three nests in our back porch rafters and one particularly sits right where our picnic table sits.  Most days I see twigs or dried grasses or soft feathers on the table.  Another built their nest right above the ceiling fan.

We love spending outside whenever we can so we worked on making our back porch a welcoming place.  Michael's sister gave us their teak patio table and chairs.  After a few days of stripping and staining we have an almost new patio set.  I bought some cushions from Big Lots for the chairs:

The hanging lamp over the round table is recycled from an old lamp shade, spray painted it in blue as that was what I had on hand.  I bought a 100 string light and wound it around the frame:

Most of the pots are bought from garage sales and spray painted as well.  I don't have any luck with my annuals this year.  They don't look healthy, except for the begonia and the mosquito repellent plant.

I have pineapple starters but for some reason our dog, Ike, always tries to play with them.  He succeeded uprooting one of them one day I was gone for a while.  When I came home, pineapple leaves were all over the yard and Ike knew once I turned my gaze toward him that he was in BIG trouble.

Maybe next year I will have a good array of flowering plants in the back.  Even the pansies and petunias that I planted on hanging baskets aren't doing well either.

Michael bought a portable 2-burner stove for use when he cans.  He had been making jams and jellies in the back porch which helps with our electric bill as he doesn't heat up the house when he work on a batch of jellies or jams.

When you get a chance, come by and we'll sit on the porch swing and visit while enjoying some crackers with home made jam or marmalade.  You might end up with a couple of jars to take home with you.

Thank you all for following and have a blessed day.  We love y'all!

Biyahe ni Drew: Heartwarming trip in Southern Leyte | Full Episode

We have been missing our place in Hinunangan, Southern Leyte.  Thanks to this YouTube episode of "Biyahe ni Drew" we are able to revisit the places we've enjoyed very much.  We've been to all but one of the places featured here.  Take a look and tell me why I miss the Philippines so much.  And if after watching you decide to go check it out yourself, we can arrange that.  Just shoot me a comment below.






Thanks for following.  We love you all.

JUNE IS HALFWAY GONE!!! WHERE'D TIME GO???

It's the middle of June already!  Half of 2019 is already gone - time flies so fast you wonder what have you done all those months?  At least that's how I felt.  So we've been in this house half a year already.  We have done little work here and there, have done un-tangling the poor rose bushes in the front from a lot of invasive choke weeds, uncovered some hostas from under that jungle.  I did a little landscaping in the front and with the rain constantly pouring on the poor annuals I planted, I didn't think I'd see the fruits of my labor but lo and behold, they survived.  I'm glad the sun finally is here to stay (crossing my fingers here).  Little by little we managed to add our personal touches to the front of the house making it feel like our home now.  I'm painting the window trim white and I hope I'll get it done this week.

The poor white rose bushes were under the choke weeds I am so happy to see them bloom.  The hostas are the same, I know they're glad to be rid of those nasty weeds all over them.  They, too, are starting to bloom.

Then we have a bedroom that needs furnishings.  We have the headboard and foot board that we used at the apartment as well as the bed frame.  I started scouting for a box spring and mattress once garage sale season started.  I found one that's almost new and although I only need the bed, I end up buying the whole ensemble: headboard/foot board, box spring and mattress, dresser with mirror and night stand.  Mike wanted to take the headboard and foot board that was already in the spare room to the curb for anyone who might need one, but I want sell it at our garage sale and maybe get a couple of bucks.  This was the one I bought through the Marketplace that we used at the apartment for our bed.

I took it outside to the back porch and one day while I was looking at it, I thought why not make it into a day bed for the back porch or even a swing.  And of course we have been wanting a swing in the back and had been scouting for one since the start of the garage sale season.  So I told Michael rather than selling the headboard/foot board at our garage sale, I'd like to make it into a nice comfy daybed with cushions and pillows.  And he went to work, cutting the foot board into two for the sides and he also cut the metal frame to size as the base for the wood slats.  He bore holes on the wood and the metal frame and assembled it using screws.

Here is our finished daybed/swing:

Michael used heavy duty chains to secure and hung it up.  For now it is a swing, if we get tired of it as a swing it can easily be converted into a daybed just by unhooking the chains.

I asked Michael not to chop the legs off so that it can also be converted into a patio daybed.  The "S" links on the sides are pretty easy to slip off in case we want to use it as a daybed

.

To reinforce the ceiling Michael added a 2x6 piece of wood on the rafters and attached the chain that hold the swing to spread the weight around:

Well, I'll park for now.  JJ is going to church camp today and I need to take him to church or he'll miss the bus :).  This will be his first being away from us for a longer time.

I hope this article gave you an inspiration for your front or back porch.  Maybe you have a headboard and foot board collecting dust in your storage, this will be a good project to do.  We used a full size headboard, by the way.   A twin size bed will be a smaller version and the queen/king will be a longer version.

Thank you all for following.  Love you all and God bless!

NEAR TOTAL LUMENAL WHAT????????

Mike and I haven't seen any primary care physician in a long time even before we moved to the Philippines.  By God's mercy and grace everyone in our household never had to see a doctor.  Except for regular dental cleanings and eye exams and very seldom trips to immediate care, we never really had a family physician.  The boys had their pediatrician while growing up but that was about it.  And we all do not like medications, any medication.  Both Josh and Zach don't know how to swallow even a Tylenol.  I have to crush the pill and put sugar on top of it and dilute it with a little water before they can take it.  And this was when they were in their teens already.  Maybe now that they are older they have learned to swallow a pill whole.

JJ, however, has to learn to swallow a pill at an early age.  In November, he had a new prescription drug that's as big as a Citracal pill and he has to learn how to swallow it whole as I am not supposed to crush it.  Now JJ is a pro at swallowing it.  Mike, on the other hand, reacts differently to medications.  He develops rashes and other allergic reactions etc.., and sometimes a medication will make him even sicker.  He found out that some coatings on these medications sometimes are the culprit. He also found out that any brand of sunblock lotion causes him skin discomfort and redness.  So he wears long sleeves even in the summer instead.  Me?  Well, I just don't like to take anything.  I seldom take something for headaches and body aches.

I had known I had ulcer while in the Philippines.  I had an endoscopy at Living Hope Hospital in Maasin, Southern Leyte and that's how I found out that I had doudenal ulcer and gastric ulcer.  I was prescribed Pantoprazole and was supposed to take it once a day and twice daily after two weeks.  The first week of taking the prescription I was miserable so I did one pill every other day and it seemed to work.  I watched what I eat.  My favorite fruits (pineapple, rambutan, lanzones) were eliminated from my diet.  My favorite merienda (snack) which is banana cue (ripe cooking banana fried and dipped in melted, gooey brown sugar) and turon (again, ripe cooking banana, sliced and smothered in brown sugar and cinnamon, wrapped in spring roll wrapper and deep friend until golden brown) were also eliminated.  Basically, I have to watch the acid contents of the food I eat.

When we came back to the States and found a primary care physician, I was ordered to have an endoscopy.  I cringed at the thought.  I told my doctor that I don't want another endoscopy and if he could just look at my Filipino doctor's report from the endoscopy I had back in the Philippines that I brought with me at the time.  I explained to him that on both my endoscopy at LHH I was not put under but was wide awake and watched on the screen as the doctor maneuvered the scope inside my tummy.  I told him how I was okay at the first EGD but when I had another EGD 3 months later I started to panic as soon as the doctor inserted the scope into my mouth.  It was a good thing I remembered my Lamaze breathing technique 25 years ago otherwise I would have yanked the tube out.  The doctor assured me that I will be asleep when the EGD is being performed so I consented to an EGD.

February 12, was my scheduled EGD.  The doctor came up to me and introduced himself.  He had a happy, pleasant smile and we talked for a little bit about the procedure.  I was wheeled into the EGD room and before I knew it I was awakened by the nurse's voice.  It was done and I was given a box of juice to sip.  When my doctor appeared behind the curtain, I can sense concern in his demeanor.  He found out that I have several bleeding ulcers in the gastric intestine.  And to top it off, there is a "near total lumenal" blockage in my doudenum (more ulcers).

 

There were 6 ulcers in the gastric intestine and two in the doudenum, no wonder I was in pain all the time.  Eventually the ulcers in the doudenum caused the blockage that made me feel icky sometimes.

I have been in pain for months now but I just didn't give it a lot of thought.  I have a high pain tolerance, I should say.  But I also noticed all those months that I have lost weight and try as I might I could not regain it back.  Now I know, after the doctor explained it to me, that because of the obstruction whatever I eat cannot be absorbed into my system.  He prescribed Pantoprazole again (twice a day).  This time I followed his direction but on the second day I stopped it without telling him.  I had very bad diarrhea ("explosive diarrhea" as some commercials mention in some medications' side effects) yikes.  I was so weak I told myself if I keep taking this medication I will be dead by the end of the week.

Desperate, I searched the internet for natural alternative for ulcer and stumbled on "Ancient Medicine" channel on YouTube.  Bone marrow soup was supposed to be rich in protein and amino acids that aids the stomach linings.  I also learned that the avocado seed can be made into a tea which is also a natural remedy for stomach ulcer.   I went to the store and bought beef bones and simmered it along with carrots and potatoes, beets and onions and ginger.  I put myself on a liquid diet for a week, eating only the beef broth with mashed carrots and potatoes, drinking only the avocado seed tea throughout the day.  Then for lunch I have mashed avocado with condensed milk (my avocado shake).  I continued doing the liquid diet since I feel it worked.

I talked to my sister in the Philippines and told her the situation.  She suggested we both fast and pray for healing simultaneously.  I was totally in as, in a way, I've already been doing the praying and I'm already on liquid diet anyway.  My strength came back little by little and I went back to the Y for my three days work-outs.  I added Ensure Plus to my liquid diet as I needed a lot of protein after my work-outs.

In April I had my follow-up EGD.  The doctor still didn't know I stopped the Pantoprazole in February.  He was happy to report that most of the ulcers in the gastric intestine are healed and the blockage in the doudenum has shrank and that he could probably use a pediatric scope to get into the doudenum if needed.  I know I am healing. little by little.  And whatever I'm doing with my diet is working.  Mike told the doctor that I stopped the meds a while back because of the side effects when he ordered me to continue taking Pantoprazole.  So he prescribed a different one - this time our insurance will not cover it.  $700 for 20 pills - are you kidding me?  No!  I'm sure I'll end up throwing it away so I did not get it.

As of now I am feeling a whole lot better and like I said I keep doing what I am doing - work-out, two days liquid diet, one day solid food, Ensure Plus and lots of water.  I seldom have pain in my tummy now.  I also became conscientious about constantly eating little portions throughout the day.  In May I gained 5 pounds, YES!!!  I'm hoping to gain 10 more and I should be back to where I was before. 


Through it all, I thank God, my Healer, for answering my petitions.  I thank Michael for encouraging me and being so understanding, my family and my church family were all behind me supporting me with their prayers and encouragements.  I thank God for you all and I love you all.

Thanks for following.  God bless!

Moving Into Our House Before Christmas

Hey all.  It's almost been half a year since I posted here so here I am - back into blogging.  It's been a while I know, and the reason being is that I kept thinking what would I be writing about?  No more tropical jaunts, no more walking to the beach, body slamming with the surf, fish harvesting, coconut harvesting or island hopping or swinging by the fish sanctuary for a quick swim.  I was thinking who would be interested to know what's going on with us now that we're back in the States?  I don't see why there would be a need to keep on blogging about what we're doing - back to the grind, the same old, same old.  Who cares if we went house hunting in the Fall - a lot of families do that.  Who cares if we moved in before Christmas into the ranch house we purchased - that's nothing new.

The hallway to the three bedrooms and bathroom:

We have a spare"'oom" (in reference to Narnia by C.S. Lewis, except it doesn't have the magic ward robe, hehehe) for anyone who wants to visit and stay a while:

The living room has a skylight overhead that lets in plenty of sunlight (even on dreary days like today) and the moonlight during the night.

The kitchen and dining combo has outdated features but Mike plans to remodel the kitchen sometimes.  The house has a full finished basement also.

And then I thought who cares if we celebrated Christmas 2018 as a family again - Mike and I watching the three boys tore on their presents Christmas morning.  It had seemed a long time ago, many Christmases ago, when we watched all three do that.

And on and on my "who cares" kept rolling.  But one day I thought to myself - why not?  I consider this another "new season" in our lives and surely something exciting is in store for us.  Why would the Lord take us back here if He hasn't a plan for us, right?

So, if you all are game about it, I'll keep blogging or vlogging about everyday life back in America.  I am, however, going to switch (although not totally) my platform somehow and I hope you'll like the change of pace.  Mike and I thank you all for following us on our adventures all the way to the Philippines and back and pray you'll stick around for another "season" in our lives.  I promise I'll make it fun and engaging for you all.

I pray you all stay dry from this "unusually wet" Spring.  Enjoy your summer y'all....and thanks for being patient with me.  God bless!

FURNISHINGS

So here we are back in the States.  We are renting a two-bedroom apartment while we figure out where we'll settle down.  It felt like we're newly married, having to start from scratch with furnishings.  Good thing it was the start of garage sale season.  We knew it would not be hard to find "stuff" at little to no cost.  Now the fun begins.  One Saturday morning we were driving around and turned, by mistake on MacVicar Ct., and lo and behold, we saw Matt and Karen Davis having a garage sale.  So we stopped and chatted for a while and before we knew it we were loading the truck with small kitchen necessities.  Matt Davis, bless his heart, told us we can have this and that and those as a housewarming gift from them.  We offered to pay him for all the stuff but he refused.  Then Karen gave me her old rice cooker and added a steamer and a blender and other stuff from the garage sale table saying they are hauling them anyway to God's Storehouse the next day so "you might as well take them" Karen told me so they don't have to haul a lot.  Well, that was a good start!

I budgeted under $1,000.00 for furnishings, let's see if it's doable.  

We moved into the apartment on a Thursday and the next day Pat texted me wanting to know if I would be interested to buy a small dining table with four chairs he saw at a garage sale. It was for $30.00 and it is now in our dining area. I also picked up a metal chair in the same garage sale where the small dining table and chairs came from.

We slept on the floor, padded with a two inch foam, for several nights while we waited for Amazon to deliver our memory foam mattresses.  JJ's mattress came first and then ours came four days later.  These mattresses come in a rectangular box, rolled and vacuum packed.  Once you unpack it it kind of "grow" before your eyes.  We paid $260 for both JJ's and ours.  I bought JJ's headboard from TRM for $7 while I found ours from the Marketplace for $30.00.  We're on the ball.

Unboxing the mattress:

Watch it grow before your eyes:

....and VOILA! we have a bed...

We have one occasional chair in our living room given to JJ by Mom and Dad which is a good start.  We bought a smaller flat screen TV at Best Buy for $240 and found a stand at the Marketplace for $25.  One day Pat messaged me about a couch at Goodwill Store for $50.00.  JJ and I went and looked at it and bought it.  That afternoon, we chanced upon a black six-drawer dresser by MacVicar street.  I got out of the car and asked the owner who happened to be puttering in his garage if I could have it.  Of course he said yes, so we got that and it is now in JJ's bedroom.  The only problem with it is the top drawer pull which is an easy fix.

The wall clock is a clearance from Hobby Lobby and I found the TV stand at The Marketplace:

Lynette, Michael's sister gave us back Grandma Hamme's lingerie chest so we have that in our bedroom plus a chest of drawers that I found, once again, at the Marketplace for $30.00.  It also came with one matching night stand which I am using as my printer stand, and the drawers are perfect for office supplies.  Michael and I found a microwave stand at a church garage sale for $10.00, table lamp for $3.00, and oscillating fan for $5.00.  I also found the oldest vacuum cleaner I've known for $1.00 which still works, heck if I can use this one until we find a house then why not?

Well, how old do you think this vacuum cleaner is?  I could probably sell this on eBay as a vintage, LOL!

On several garage sale haunts I snagged another lamp for Mike's bedside for $5, a small girly lamp for $3 for my side of the bed, a metal plant stand for $6, a torch lamp for $7.  We visited Owl's Nest Antique Store and I found a $30 end table that matches the microwave stand - the microwave was from Mom and Dad's RV which they gave to us.  At the TRM North I found a nice lamp with a very pretty shade that complements the end table. I paid $15 for it.

It looks like I'm finally done......but the walls are bare. I needed a couple of picture frames for our family portrait which I found at Gordman's on clearance.  I also picked up a rustic wall hanging that would go with the frames -  $48.00 total.  And here it is:

Michael bought a sound system for $50 at a garage sale which works great.  It's got surround sound which we can't really use yet since we are on the third floor and the people who live below our unit let us know that it is loud by banging on our floor - which would be their ceiling :).  One weekend we watched Star Wars and we were enjoying the musical scoring and that's when it happened.  Ooops!..sorry.  Sometimes you just forget that you live in a place where there are people living below you and beside you.

I found a mid-century bookshelf from Owl's Nest South for $68.00 and my biggest splurge so far is the Pulaski lighted curio cabinet that I found at Owl's Nest North which I thought I could only dream of having.  The curio was priced at $400.00.  Then one day I found out everything in that booth is 40%.  I needed a display cabinet to put some of my 30- year collections that went and came back with us from the Philippines.

I think I'm done with furnishing our apartment.  We got everything we need to make it feel like home and yes, it does feel like home now that we can see the things that we hold dear, instead of them being in boxes.

Michael misses his recliner and one day we found a perfect one for him at God's Storehouse.  And how he loves it!

So, you ask, did I stay within my $1,000.00 budget?  Well - no.  I went $226.00 over budget...hmmm maybe next time I'll do better.

As always, thank you for following.  I apologize it took me so long to get this blog done.  I learned when you try to work on a project on a budget you have to learn to wait and be patient and not be in a hurry to get the things you need.

Thank you all...God bless and we love all of you!

CAR SHOPPING MICHAEL'S WAY

When we lived in the Philippines, we only had one car and it was Mike who drove us everywhere.  It worked just fine for us.  If I need to go somewhere without using the car there are different ways to commute there.  There's always the tricycle, the jeepneys, buses and vans and habal-habal which is basically a motorcycle that you hire the owner/operator to take you where you need to go.

This one here is a tricycle.  It seats 7 people:

 This is a jeepney and I think it seats 25 or more if the operator places a bench in the middle:

This is the habal-habal which I am not so sure if I would ride:

I admit the first weeks when we got back here in the States I sort of miss the tricycle especially when I need to go somewhere.  We were borrowing my in-laws' truck to go places but when Mike is using it and I'm stuck in the house that's when I wish there were tricycles right around the corner just like in the Philippines.

Before we moved back Mike had been doing some research on vehicles.  He decided we needed a vehicle with all wheel drive or four wheel drive, but not a pickup.  He owned a pickup since the early 80's and can only remember a few times that it was actually used as it was intended, as a truck.    Also, the cost of operating a pickup is more than a small SUV or sedan.  Looking at our finances, he figured out the year and model that we can afford to get.  He made a mental list of what we want in the car like miles to a gallon, the car's mileage, it has to be an AWD and so on.  And, he was very specific in the car's color, yes ma'am, the color is a big thing for him.  According to him it has to be a "tactically neutral color" (thanks John O'Conner) - whatever that means.  Some car salesmen get it, others didn't 😏😁.  But what he really wants is a conservative color, no gaudy gold or purple or neon green, etc..

So off we went car shopping one day and, as expected, as soon as we walked into the car lot we were greeted by a very young gentleman who looks like he's about Zach's age.  He was extremely accommodating and very friendly and, Mike thought, must have just started in this field.  He "borrowed" somebody else's desk and we were seated.  Mike told him what we were looking for and what we needed.  He told him the price range we want and gave the poor salesman a warning: that if he tries to sell us a car that is more than the amount he stated, EVEN IF IT'S ONLY ONE CENT MORE, that we will walk out.  I thought "oh boy, the poor guy."

It turned out there was a 4D AWD Subaru Forester available in our price range.  We test drove it and between Mike, JJ and I we agree we all liked it.  Back at the dealership we made our offer along with the request that a hitch for a trailer be installed in the vehicle.  We agreed on the price without the trailer hitch.  It would add another $1,000 to the price of the car which is more than what we know the installed hitch would cost.  They would need to fix a rattle under the hood and detail the car before delivery, so two days after, we came back with a cashier's check for the amount and after further inspection we drove it home.  We also asked the salesman to keep an eye for us another Subaru in the next week or two in the same price range as we will be buying another one.

Mike's Subaru Forester ("tactically neutral color," according to him):

 

We then found another Subaru sedan which we bought for my use.  It was priced way below our budget so Michael went ahead and have a trailer hitch installed in the Forester.

The Subaru Imprezza rides nicely and smoothly and its a/c cools quickly.  I drove it to Wichita and it did well on I-70.  We also took it to Scranton on country road and did well too.

So far we are happy with our vehicles.  We plan to drive them until they quit on us hopefully for another ten years, hahaha.  By then we should have saved enough to pay cash on our next purchase.  Debt-free living is the way for us and we like it that way.

Thank you all for following our journey to and back from the Philippines.  We love you all and God bless.