Maybahay ng OFW
Wife of an Overseas Filipino Worker.
Vaccination
As we moved from Singapore to the Philippines, there are some vaccines that are required here that are optional in Singapore. And so, we needed to catch up with their vaccines here in the Philippines.
Why is it important to be vaccinated? Covid-19 is a deadly virus that (should I say) most of us are scared of. March 2020 was the time when the Philippines implemented a total lockdown. Everyone was scared because of what was exposed on some of the parts of the world, like China and Italy and also to the number of deaths that Philippines have. People were so cautious on their every encounter with other people. It was heartbreaking too in my part as this is the only time that I was separated with my husband for the longest time.
Vaccination here in the Philippines for Covid-19 has a very slow progress, to the point where I am not expecting too much already. I admire those countries where their government prioritizes their people on the vaccination.
I have just read that some of the countries that had the most number of people who were vaccinated experienced a hike on the Covid-19 cases. Why? I believe that people have faith on the vaccine that was given to them and so they enjoyed the freedom of being vaccinated. For me, this is one of the main reasons of the increase. However, will their sickness be critical or severe?
Here in the Philippines, why do some of the children who were given a chickenpox vaccine are still infected by chickenpox? Is the vaccine not effective?
Of course not! Vaccines are not given for us to be mutant but for us to fight on the virus that would come to our system. In this case, we will not be suffering severely because our body could withstand this virus.
The pediatrician discussed to me the effect of the vaccines that were given to my children this morning. She said that the vaccine also includes viruses that would fight the bad bacteria or viruses that would infect my children. They might experience some itchiness or fever within two weeks.
I mean, I am not a doctor or a medical person but I believe that these vaccines are studied and concluded by experts, hence we should believe in it.
WHY YOU SHOULD HAVE A CAT AT HOME
How was your weekend? I was busy last weekend, meeting my sister-in-law, bought a couch and some stuffs for our house. We also got our new kitten from my sister-in-law’s cousin. My kids were very excited when they knew that the kitten can already be released last Saturday.
When we were young, my father used to adopt a lot of cats and those became our toys. My father loves animals and he was the one who took care of them. I was not really hands on in terms of taking care of them. There are cats at home and so we have to live with it.
However, I became fascinated with cats, with good breeds, just last year. It was when my sister-in-law brought her new cat at home. The cat is so adorable and cuddly. Her cat is a mix breed of persian and munchkin. At that moment, my daughters fell in love with cats. I told it to my husband, and being a very generous father, he asked me to look for a cat for sale.
With a great surprise, cats here in the Philippines are very saleable and many people love to take care of cats. So, I searched carefully on where to buy our first cat with a different breed.
We ended up having a pure persian cat. We named him Blue because of his blue eyes. Oh my, when we first saw him, we were mesmerized. All the attention were with Blue. Haha.
Now, Blue is already a 6 month old cat and he always wants to go outside and be sociable with stray cats. I was scared before that he might get lost, but to my surprise he always comes back.
I just want to share with you my thoughts why you should have a cat a home. I mean being a stay-at-home mom, what could be the advantages of having a cat as a pet.
- Easy to take care – Cats are easy to take care. I mean, I could just give then cat foods, cook squash, chicken, fishes and they are okay with it. They know where to poop and pee. They have this litter box, where they will do that.
Though they said that cats are aquaphobia, they have good hygiene. Blue is very conscious on his cleanliness. Whenever, he will be cuddled for a long time, you could just see him, cleaning himself for a long time. We bath him occasionally, but usually I use wet wipes to clean him.
- House will not be smelly – Yes, because the litter sand sometimes has flavored smell. Even if they poop, it will not be smelly at home.
- They are very sweet – If you feel tired or overwhelmed with the loads of work at home. I mean, aside from cuddling your kids, you could also turn your attention to your cute little cats. They are very cuddly and sweet. Am not sure, but maybe they know if you are down and need cuddles.
- Good toddler-sitter – Our kids nowadays are all at home, together with us 24/7. And so, during those times when I am busy (like now), my daughter will play with our cats. Our new kitten is upstairs with my youngest daughter now, playing blocks with her.
During the time when there was a typhoon here in the Philippines, my cat was the one who somehow, pushed our anxieties away.
Blue is really close to my eldest daughter. They are the ones who are always together. Blue always sleeps beside her (during naps only). My eldest daughter is so protective of Blue and she is the one who bath him.
- Good Training for Kids to be responsible – Being able to take care another living thing is somehow a huge responsiblity. And so, I can see how my kids are becoming responsible on taking care of our pets. I think this could have a huge impact on how their lives.
I hope you could consider having cats too. We used to have a dog but being busy at home, I could not have time for our dog. Cat is a very option for a pet.
I will be updating you about our new kitten. She is also a persian cat. She is very playful at the moment. We needed to give her more time with Blue because Blue is somehow jealous of the attention we are giving her. By the way, our new kitten’s name is Pink.
See you on my blog.
online selling
I am quite busy today, not only because of my tasks at home but also with online selling. I started online selling, year 2010 but again needed to stop as I need to work overseas.
Since I am again here at home, though the tasks of homemaking are never ending, I still find time to do online selling. Early 2020, online selling here in the Philippines was really great. I had a blast with live selling and selling online. However, pandemic came and the struggle is real on selling stuffs.
January 2020 was when I started the facebook page for my business and it did great, I do live selling in another platform, not on facebook but on Shopee. However, since I am alone, it became very hard for me. I needed to pause a bit. I really wanted this but I cannot be that active since I am busy here at home.
I just finished my live selling today, as it is payday here in the Philippines. I am selling kids wear and there are only few who watched. I was tired already and so I just ended it. I am thinking of other ways to sell where I will not be that tired, like taking photos and post. I need to do a lot of boosting though.
I am still optimistic about it, I mean, I always have sales in a week. Though it is really minimal but at least I have something. I am seeing this as a stepping stone, as eventually everything will be back to normal and my business is already here just waiting. My dream is to have a store for kids, be it dresses, toys or anything that kids love and need. Still praying for things to be okay and my dreams to come true.
I had a screen shot of my facebook business page. Those are some stuffs that I am selling. Keeping my faith that everything will be back to normal and businesses will again prosper.
grocery day
I am living alone with my two daughters and here in the Philippines, it is prohibited for kids to go outside their houses. And so, I need to leave them home and buy groceries as fast as I can. During this time of the month, my husband is giving me the budget for our groceries. In order for me to not go out often, I need to buy the non wet goods that are good for a month.
I used to buy online for my groceries then pick up at the grocery store. However, I had some not so good experiences on buying online. There are some advantages though, but I think I will just stick on going to the store and buy personally.
I just want to share with you the things that I am buying that are good for a month’s consumption.
- Shampoo
- Soap
- Toothpaste
- Hair Conditioner
- Deodorant
- Sanitary Pads
- Bathroom Tissue
- Detergent Soap
- Fabric Conditioner
- Bar Soap
- Dishwashing Liquid
- Dishwashing Pad
- Cleansing Liquid for Toilets
- Liquid Detergent for Floor
- Air Freshner
- Lotion
- Cotton buds
- Cotton
- Wet Wipes
- Alcohol
- Kitchen naphkin
- Usual Condiments that I use: Soy Sauce, Fish Sauce, Vinegar, Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Sugar
- Cooking Oil
- Cheese
- Butter
Basically those are the list that I have, which I already memorized on buying on this time of the month. Some of the things that are buying are for weekly basis, the wet goods, biscuits, vegetables, fruits, cereals, chips, juice, milk, etc. I still need to go to grocery every week but the time that I spend is not that long anymore.
Sometimes, I need to buy some things that need to be replaced quarterly, like toothbrush or razor.
I do love spending time in the grocery store, seeing different people once in a while. How about you? How’s your grocery experience nowadays?
PLANT FERTILIZERS THAT ARE AVAILABLE AT HOME
As I have mentioned on my previous blog, I have been planting for almost three months now and I am still learning about this hobby. I agree with what other people say that having plants is really a stress reliever. When I am watering our plants, I feel like I am in another dimension, outside of our house having connections with the plants. They are like my pets, I sometimes communicate with them.
Aside from water, I would want to feed my plants some natural nourishments. I searched for fertilizers that are available here at home so that it would be easier for me to feed them. And here are the three plant fertilizers that I use that are available here at home.
- Egg Shells – When I was young, I noticed some of the orchids of my grandparents have eggshells on top of the soil. Of course, during those time, I really don’t mind it but it stuck in my mind and I searched why my grandparents put eggshells on their plants. And so I learned that plants need calcium and they can get it from eggshells. They said it can also keep some pests out. When you put crushed eggshells on the soil, slimy pests would not dare crawl there.
So, I washed these eggshells, dried it and crushed using a food processor. I put it in loam soil then used the soil when I repotted my plants. I will show you my indoor plants where I put the eggshells in my other posts.
- Rice water – So, rice is a staple food for us, Filipinos and I learnt that the water that is used to clean the rice is very nutritious for the plants. The starches from the water are helpful for the growth of the plants. I use this often to my indoor plants and some plants that I think are not blooming. I made a video on facebook on how I use the rice water as extra food for my plants.
- Vetsin – Monosodium Glutamate. My sister told me about my grandfather using vetsin in his plants. He has a very beautiful garden, flowers that are well taken cared of. And so again, I searched why he needs to use it. Then, I learnt that sodium is needed by plants to enhance growth.
I put 1 teaspoon of vetsin to a pale of water, then pour it in my vegetable plants and roses. I usually do this, twice a week for my plants. I can see how my plants grow and bloom.
I read that hydrogen peroxide is also good for plants. I haven’t used that yet as I am a little hesitant about it. Let me try it for a few times, then I will update you on improvements of my plants.
The day is about to end here in the Philippines. Good night everyone and see you on my next post.
Safety at home
I supposedly have a different topic to share with you today however something happened here at home that I feel the need to share. This has something to do with safety at home.
So, yesterday morning, I was in the mood to cook vegetables for my daughters. I turned on the stove and boil water. While I was doing that, I prepared the vegetables and began chopping the squash. Then suddently, I heard a loud boom, seemed like it was just inches away from me.
I asked my eldest daughter what it was, I thought the door was just banged by my youngest daughter but she said it was not the door. Then, I noticed the stove’s burners were lifted and the cabinet doors under the stove were opened.
Our Stove
Oh my, it then sinked into my mind that it is something serious. I immediately, unplugged the stove and closed the valve of the gas. I searched for the service technician’s number and immediately called them.
My daughter just cooked hotdogs before it happened. Thank God nothing happened to her.
And so the technician arrived this afternoon to take a look at what happened. He immediately noticed something that made the (should I say) explosion. There was leak on the pipe of the gas going to the stove. It was loosely connected. There was an accumulated gas inside the cabinet reason why it exploded. It was a little explosion though but could be bigger. The technician told me that yesterday, he went to a client whose legs where burnt (3rd degree burn) because of an explosion also. Apparently, the pipe was eaten by mice.
Our stove was not installed by the company’s technician. It was installed by our house contractor. The instructions of the installation is pretty easy and I myself could install it. However, the safeness or concern of the one who installed was not there. Reason why, it was just installed anyhow.
The stove’s technician saw a lot of loop holes in the installation. The regulator is a high pressure one. The gaskets are not properly installed. The connections are loose.
So, this is a lesson learnt on my part, to prioritize safety at home. Not to be complacent but to still check. There is no one but myself who could check loop holes here at home. I mean, though it is a simple installation but this is not like water connection, that would not entail huge danger.
I just want to share my lesson today about safety at home, especially housewives who are living alone with their children. My routine every night before going to bed are turning off the gas, unplugging the appliances, turning on lights outside and checking if windows and doors are closed.
our mini garden
I always wanted to plant. However, we usually live in flats and so there is literally no space for planting. When we come back here in the Philippines, 2019, it was really the first time after gazillion years that I did planting. My daughter had this project of planting tomatoes, and I was the one who’s very eager to do that. It really grew and we harvested a lot.
Now that we moved to our new house, there is a small space where I could plant some vegetables. I do love to cook vegetables and to give my children with healthy foods. So, let me show you some of the vegetables that I planted in our mini vegetable garden.
- Spinach – My mother-in-law told me that spinach can easily grow and so this is one of the first vegetables that I planted. It’s growing fast and amongst the plants in my garden, I harvested a lot of these already. I did cook Garlic Sauteed Spinach with Bacon and my daughters really love it. I added a link in the recipe that I mentioned, you may want to check it out.
- Basil – I love to make pesto and put in in pasta, salmon or chicken. When we were living in Singapore, basil leaves are quite expensive, that’s why I am so thrilled to plant this. I have four of these and this one in the photo is the biggest so far. I can’t wait to harvest the leaves and make some pesto for my kids.
- Onions – These plants are given by our neighbors who are Chinese. They moved to another house and so they gave us some of their plants. Maybe, they saw me, patiently watering the plants twice a day. I love the onion leaves too, I love to put it in steamed fish and some Filipino dishes.
- Papaya – I love papaya and the benefits it gives to people. I planted three papaya trees. The seedlings were given by my father. He knows how excited I am to plant especially papaya trees. I really like to eat this when riped, put in a chicken soup or make papaya shake.
- Calamansi – Some call this “golden lime”. It is a small lime that is so useful for cooking. I mean, I put a lot of these in marinades and in a lot of Filipino dishes. This is so rich in Vitamin C, we usually make calamansi juice whenever we feel sick. I really hope that this tree will give us more fruits.
- Malunggay – I googled the english of malunggay and it say, horseradish. Malunggay leaves are believed to be very nutritious. We are really fond of putting malunggay leaves on our soups. Bean soups, chicken soup and vegetable soups are not complete without malunggay leaves.
- Plant that I don’t know – Haha.. As mentioned earlier, our former Chinese neighbor gave us some plants and one of those is this plant. The Chinese girl cannot speak in English well, but she said this is delicious. Maybe you could help me know what plant is this and how this is cooked. Kindly help me by giving comments. Thank you.
These plants are still young, maybe a month old only. So, I would really love to give you updates on how they grow and how they helped me with my cooking. There are some vegetables that I planted but did not include here, ladyfinger, bell peppers and tomatoes. Hopefully, they will survive.. Haha.
happy mother’s day
I slept a little late last night because I always find myself not sleepy when my daughters are already asleep. I’m not sure if some of you are like this but I sneek out of the bedroom to eat some chips while watching movies or some Korean dramas.
This morning, I was awakened by some facebook messages from friends and families with Happy Mother’s day greetings.
I didn’t know that it is Mother’s day. This whole stay-at-home-forever thing makes me forget what day it is. However, this day is a gift for all the women who are blessed to become mothers.
I always celebrate motherhood. I remembered when I was pregnant with my first child, my father told me that I am so blessed because not all women can be a mother. I will be forever grateful to be receiving this gift of motherhood.
My children are planned and prayed for, hence, we, as parents, need to give our best for our children. It is embedded in our veins that we are responsible for them. They deserve good life. Good life does not mean, to be spoiled or to grant all their wishes but for them to be able to adapt in this life. This life that is so unpredictable, yet still needs to enjoy.
The day is about to end here in the Philippines, I saw a lot of social media posts about motherhood. My children and I just had a normal day at home. It’s Sunday today and we had some Bible study. I personally opted not to do a lot of things today. My kids, rode their bicycles around the village (with their masks on), while I was sitting near our garden drinking my favorite cappucino.
Let’s always celebrate motherhood. It is a gift from God that is so precious. The responsibility is so enormous and yet very rewarding.
If you are a mom like me, I wish you a Happy Mother’s day. Enjoy our gift!
Things that I don’t do…
Okay, okay, my blog post title is not yet complete. It really should be, “The Things that I don’t Do, When My Husband is with Me”. This post is somehow very personal as it might not be the same with the other housewives whose husbands are not with them. Anyway, I wanted to share this to you as you might be able to relate.
Because of this pandemic, my husband was not able to go back home for more than a year now. Though he is only in Singapore but there is a memorandum in is company that they should remain in there. It’s really hard but I just live each and every day with a faith that everything will be okay.
So, because I miss my husband so badly, I would like to share the things that I don’t do when he is around. My husband is very protective of me and he wanted me to rest at least once in a while as I am really always on-the-go.
- Washing the Dishes – I don’t ask my husband to wash the dishes, he always insist on doing that. I cook, he washes. I love cooking and my style of cooking requires a lot of pots and kitchen utensils to use and so after cooking I have loads of things to wash. After eating, we will have our tea then he will proceed to wash. I know this is a way of him thanking me for the good food that I cooked. hihi.
2. Bringing heavy stuffs – My husband is a true gentleman. He is like that since I met him, he did not change his attitude towards me. He is very consistent. He doesn’t want me to bring heavy stuffs. During groceries or shopping, he will just bring the bags for me. Again, I am not asking him to do that, he is just a true blooded gentleman.
We have 5 gallons of water that I need to replace almost every other day and I always think that I will not do that if my husband is here.
3. Clean the car – Though I love cleaning the car but because I am busy with our children, my husband is the one who do it. I know what he feels, I mean, the satisfaction of seeing your car clean is like you wearing a clean shirt. Nowadays, I clean our car, every other week as I don’t usually go out.
4. Drive the car – Since we lived in Singapore for almost 9 years and the transportation there is very convenient, a car is really not needed (Well, plus the fact that the cars there are 300% more expensive than here in the Philippines). And so, I did not drive for almost 9 years. Imagine, if you are my husband riding in the passenger seat with me as a driver. haha.. So, I am not at ease also of driving when he is here.
However, since I have been driving for almost a year now, I am very used to driving now and I could say, I am ready to drive when he is here.
5. Plumbing – This is one thing that I do also, however if my husband is around, he will be the one to do it. Recently, I need to replace the shower heads of our bathrooms and I just thought if my husband is here it will be easier because he is tall.
6. Fixing the computer – My husband is an IT specialist and he is really fond of doing computer stuffs. He bought a desktop for my eldest daughter and I need to do some stuffs to have it ready to use. Of course, I needed to do it with the help of my husband. I am really not into it, but what can I do, I just need to do it. haha.
7. Run Errands – It’s good that nowadays, we can pay our bills online and so I don’t need to get out of the house to pay my bills. However, there are some instances that I need to go out for errands. With my husband around, he is just on-the-go. He likes walking and he considers going out for errands as exercise.
Some of the things that we do at home, we do it together. For now, these are the things that I don’t usually do when he is around. Can you imagine now, the adjustment that I had? All in all, it is really rewarding to be seeing that I was able to do a lot of stuffs alone. However, it is a great joy to be having my husband around and helping me at home.
my first blog post
I started blogging when I had my first maternity leave on the year 2010. It was a great experience knowing that I am sharing my thoughts and learnings to other fellow first time moms. When I went back to work, I became very busy joggling my job and my family life. And so, I was not able to update my blog more often.
So, I am now again blogging and the excitement is really enormous. This is also the first time that I stayed at home, 24/7 with my kids. I had to quit my job due to stress in which I had problems with my health already. This is another topic that I wanted to share with you too.
The title of my blog is “Maybahay ng OFW”, housewife of an Overseas Filipino Worker. We were residing in Singapore for almost 9 years before I became a housewife. My husband and I felt the need of us (my children and I) to go back to the Philippines, for me to be relaxed and to keep my mind away from work. My husband need to stay there in Singapore to work. While we were staying there, we bought some properties here in case we wanted to live here in the Philippines permanently.
And so, my journey of being a housewife of an OFW started June of 2019. I had the impression that the transition would be easy breezy. However, having this I-need-to-fix-everything mentality, something that I acquired while working for almost 2 decades, I became stressed again. The work at home is never ending, the ideas that I have in my mind overflowed. I am speaking for myself, but I was overwhelmed. Well, this was during my first year of being a housewife.
And because this is the first time after graduating from university that I have to depend financially to someone, I became stressed again. I tried different businesses, selling stuffs so that I could at least contribute. Though my husband can provide everything we need, but the call of my contribution is for myself to be relieved. I am not sure if you could relate to this, but it was a difficult phase of the transition. I want to share with you how I am dealing with this and how I would want to cope with it.
Last February, we moved to our new house and I am so excited to start a new journey. I know how to manage my time now and so I saw myself searching on how to start a blog. haha.. I have loads of things to share with you, please bear with me as I am not an expert, but I want to share with you my parenting styles, home improvement, recipes, gardening and a lot more. I just need to be honest but those that I mentioned are somehow new to me. I would love to learn these things and share my learnings. Maybe you could also give me some tips or comments along the way.
I will be sharing a lot for the next couple of days. I felt like I am my four year old daughter excited to receive her toys from a delivery man. I mean, I am so thrilled to be starting this blog and communicate with you.
See you on my next post.
Maybahay ng OFW 