domesticdom

wanted: new mop

2012-01-22T23:42:00.001-08:00

I went to Ace Hardware today to look for a new mop since my old 3M mop stick's top is already in bad shape. I didn't get to purchase anything though as there were a lot of different choices: microfibre, mr. clean, etc. Some brands promising to have 'no himulmul'. What's the best mop for home use?

finishing products

2011-04-26T05:13:00.000-07:00

I used to have a lot of opened products specifically lotions, perfume, facial wash and shampoos. Now, I try to finish one bottle completely before opening another one. And it feels good to throw away an empty bottle. I have 3 more bottles of lotions... That's good to last me for the entire year.

Recently, hubby and I have been attending golf tournaments and we get a lot of toothpaste in the goody bags. My new favorite toothpaste now is Lacalut. I think we have about 3 tubes. haha. And a lot of mouthwash. Keep em coming. =)

packrat's rationalizations: reuse items

2011-03-25T06:05:00.000-07:00

As I declutter and try to clear space and try to let go of things, I ask myself why I have kept all these stuff for the past years. For the empty plastic bottles, I believe it's because these are still quite useful. I have kept these things in case I would be going out of town and I'd be needing smaller containers for shampoo, liquid soap and conditioner. And I have used an old spray atomizer for alcohol and old sample bottles for my other kikay stuff.

In my head, I was being environmentally friendly: my operative word was RE-USE. However, I had so much of these empty bottles, I no longer had any opportunity to re-use. In fact, I think I have two sets of toiletries already. One in the office and one for an over night bag.

Even if these items are still useful, if you won't be using it anytime then there is really no need to keep them as it just takes so much space.

why do i hoard thee?

2011-01-05T18:43:00.000-08:00

Let me count the ways.

I hoard because I use these for reference. Brochures, Souvenirs, Flyers. I collect mementos thinking that I will write the ultimate autobiography when I am 75 and I need those material, again as reference.

I collect empty plastic bottles especially the small ones so I can use them again when I do my little out of town trips. Now, I do have a lot of these empty bottles. Maybe, a little bit too much. I have some atomizers too.

I keep old bridesmaids gowns. Some gowns have been reworn for other formal occasions, others are just sitting there. Here is my inventory: 1 Maid of Honor gown 4 Secondary Sponsors gown 4 Bridesmaids' gown. If you wish to borrow some gowns, you may want to check out my collection.

I keep old receipts. I am getting better at throwing these out and just keeping the important receipts. Again, refer to my entry on using these as reference for my autobiography.

Recently, I have been keeping my race bibs. Proof that I ran those distances. I also kept the lap strings used when I finished my first 10k race.

My most valued collection is probably the paintings that I have accumulated in the past years. Thanks to having a best friend who is an artist. I have a collection of her paintings and her friend's paintings. One day, I will have an exhibit, somewhat like Saatchi and Saatchi's collection.

I need to declutter now to make space for new things. Last night, I decluttered our condiment caddy.

pause

2010-10-19T01:12:00.000-07:00

i want to pause. According to Merriam and Webster online.
1
: a temporary stop
2
a : a break in a verse b : a brief suspension of the voice to indicate the limits and relations of sentences and their parts
3
: temporary inaction especially as caused by uncertainty : hesitation
4
a : the sign denoting a fermata b : a mark (as a period or comma) used in writing or printing to indicate or correspond to a pause of voice
5
: a reason or cause for pausing (as to reconsider) a thought that should give one pause
6
: a function of an electronic device that pauses a recording

what i know is i don't want to quit nor stop. or maybe it's this ingrained thinking in me that to quit or to stop is a sign of failure. and i dislike failing.

so there. i put it out there. this is my first true emo blog.

muji in the philippines

2010-10-18T04:48:00.000-07:00

I have hoarded those brown notebooks in Hongkong and Tokyo. Now, I don't need to hoard as we can all experience Muji in the Philippines. It's at the Bonifacio High Street in Taguig, across Fully Booked. My hubby and I went on the opening weekend and it was a box office hit at the counters.

I have mixed feeling of having this cool no brand brand in the Philippines. No more thrills now of waiting to go on a next trip to feel the Muji high. Nothing beats the Tokyo store though: 3 floors of Muji.

Some Bonifacio High Street tip: Go later in the afternoon. Like 5.30 pm. Otherwise, it's too hot to walk on the pavement.

Haagen Dazs Caramel Biscuit and Cream Night

2010-09-25T05:46:00.000-07:00

It was another frantic day at the office as deadlines for projects were approaching. As soon as I ticked off my last to do item for the day, I had to review my next list, the grocery shopping list. Production diva by day, Domestic diva by night.

And so I went to the grocery, eggs, check, bread, check. That night though was extra special as my hubby and I celebrated our nth monthsary. While chef hubby usually cooks, I decided to surprise him and cook. So I got the ingredients for my garlic chicken. And then the choice for dessert, As I passed by the aisles, there it was, calling me. Haagen Dazs’ Caramel Biscuit and Cream. Not only that, there’s also a special Haagen Dazs golden spoon that you can have. Oh what a treat!

As soon as I got home, I sent an SMS to my hubby and said, “Do not disturb, slow melting in progress. Wink. ” My hubby replied with a Wink ?

I sautéed garlic with butter then cooked the chicken. My husband arrives and asked me what’s slowly meting in progress. I said, wait, I have a surprise. We had our sumptuous dinner then it was time for our ice cream event.

I got my golden spoon and took out the Haagen Dazs Caramel Biscuit and Cream ice cream from the freezer. At that point, my hubby was so elated.

I wished the ice cream would melt a little bit faster as my hubby and I raced spooning out the ice cream and outdo each other, trying to get the biscuit bits. And then we paused, and just experienced pure bliss.

That’s when it hit us and we got into this relax zone, ooh lala. We then slowed down and savored every golden spoonful of ice cream. And I realized, I don’t mind having my busy days as long as I get to enjoy my Haagen Dazs Caramel Biscuit and Cream with my hubby.

important numbers

2010-06-15T06:33:00.000-07:00

After having a conversation with a friend regarding how we act on emergencies, I realized I don't have important numbers on my phone. I hope all these numbers are correct.

MAKATI MEDICAL CENTER: EMERGENCY
8888 910

PHILIPPINE NATIONAL RED CROSS
143
527 0000

MAKATI RESCUE
895 8243

POLICE
168
887 4626

FIRE
818 5150
844 8663
816 2553
806 0625

POISION CONTROL
524 1078
521 8450 ext 2311

MAKATI SWAT BOMB DISPOSAL TEAM
168
8967468

MAKATI CITY HALL HOTLINE
870 1000

Related Links:
www.makati.gov.ph
http://expatallsorts.com/philippines/tiki-index.php?page=Makati+Emergency+numbers
http://www.makatimed.net.ph/default/our-services/medical-services/emergency-medicine
http://www.globalpinoy.com/travel/directories/enum.php?prov=makati

notes on iron chef

2010-05-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

While I love watching “Iron Chef” I am always left with this question. How do the chefs plan the menu to be cooked when they all don't know what the secret ingredient is? I wish the producers would include this clip wherein they plan the menu and indicate why the secret ingredient would work on the dishes that they need to prepare.

There's just this TV time gap. The chairman presents secret ingredient then suddenly all the chefs are already preparing the dishes and knowing what to cook. Just like magic. There is no huddle. No menu planning, no plating brainstorming. How did each team know exactly what they will be cooking and how they will go about it? I'd like to see that part.

imaginary yaya

2010-05-23T02:37:00.000-07:00

Hubby and I have adjusted to domestic living. Since we live in a studio apartment. Keeping the house is really quite simple. We must simply adhere to claygo all the time. It's easy to fix the place but it's also just as easy to mess it up.

I like cooking breakfast. Kenneth usually makes dinner and in between we either eat out, eat at DonKen or order.

Recently though, we have found ourselves rather busy with work and wished that we had a yaya or helper in our household... or apartmenthold. We found ourselves talking to our imaginary yaya. One morning after breakfast. D: Yaya, tapos na kami kumain, paki ligpit na yung mga plato. (but it would just me who would wash the dishes) K: Inday, paki lagay na sa cabinet ang mga damit..... (Hubby always puts our clothes in our closet)

The other day, I bumped into some friends of ours who recently got married and told them about our domestic tales and wishes. I thought that our imaginary yaya was limited to our own imagination. LIttle did I know that they have even named their imaginary yaya. They eventually employed helpers as they welcomed an addition to their family.

D: Yaya, may pasalubong kaming pizza. Paki init na lang. (D: eats the pizza)

anylock

2010-04-13T23:17:00.000-07:00

Last Christmas my mom gave her friends and family the ANYLOCK. She found these items in Rustan's and curiously bought it. I got my gift and saw these sticks. These are supposed to help re-seal your plastic bags. Instead of transferring contents into a ziploc or plastic container, there are items that you can keep in the original packaging with the use of the ANYLOCK.

Now, our rice is sealed with the biggest cool sticks.

defending the caveman

2010-02-04T20:33:00.000-08:00

My hubby and I were invited to be a 'test audience' of this play, "Defending the Caveman" directed by Michael Williams and Cathy Azanza-Dy. It's a one-man play wherein the star of the show played by Joel Trinidad defends his species.. the caveman... vs... the cavewoman.... How are men and women different? The answer takes us to how we lived during the pre-historic times. Men were hunters while women were gatherers.

Joel does a great job sustaining everyones attention getting support only from Flintstones-era set and laughing cues from the audience.

It's a great play for husbands and wives, boys and girls, married or single. Gives us insights why 'Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus.'

If you are thinking of an activity on Feb 13 and 14, you can catch 'Defending the Caveman at the Insular Life, Alabang.

sunday spaghetti

2010-01-31T19:13:00.001-08:00

Hubby and I had a fantastic Sunday Spaghetti Bolognese.

Me,feeling like a domestic goddess, bought the ingredients at a nearby grocery in the mall. Onions, ground beef, tomato paste, fresh basil, oregano, thyme, olive oil,mushrooms, parmesan cheese were on the list. We still had spaghetti noodles and garlic at home so no need to buy those.

After, I did the mincing of the garlic, chopping of the onions, slicing of the mushrooms and the fresh basil.

Hubby cooked. What a nice, simple Sunday dinner. What's great is there were some more left so I'm having them for lunch today.

how do people choose their supermarkets?

2010-01-13T01:44:00.000-08:00

I go to a nearby grocery regularly and although the stocks are kind of limited,I would frequent the place since it's very near our apartment. If I have to buy something that's not available then I go elsewhere.

How do you choose your supermarket/ grocery?

Is it by:
a. location
b. selection of goods
c. prices of goods
d. ambiance
e. other features

wisdom of an 89 year old

2010-01-02T05:00:00.000-08:00

wisdom of an 89 year old

pure tableya hot chocolate

2009-12-27T23:30:00.000-08:00

When hubby and I went to Bohol for our anniversary, we went to a souvenir store and I bought a container of Felisa's Food Products Pure Tableya.

I'd mix about 5 tablets with fresh milk in a pot until all the chocolate is dissolved, add a spoonful of sugar and I have my yummy tsokolate. If I want my hot chocolate thicker for the day, I just let the mixture simmer longer. yum.

Anyone going to Bohol?

how to organize a spa bridal shower

2009-12-23T19:19:00.000-08:00

Organizing a spa bridal shower can be easy and fun.

Here are some of the things I did recently for my cousin, Kats, who will be getting married next year to Geoff.

1. Determine the following details first:
a. Date and Time (One month to a week before the wedding)
b. Guest Size
c. Venue
- You can choose to surprise the bride to be. Usually, the host would invite the bride for coffee or shopping then surprise her. I chose to tell the bride.
- Ask the bride to be when is her best time for a party.
- Our party was an exclusive cousins event. We had a spa party, recommended size is from 5 to 15, if you want it to be an intimate event.

2. Then you can fill in the other party details such as:

a. Invitations
-You can send out hard copy invites or Evites. Me, since I was pressed for time, I used Facebook and text messaging.

- Inform your guests, that this will be a spa party and that they come in comfortable clothes and flip flops. You can also present the spa services that they can avail.
- For presents for the bride, I asked her favorite spa and bath products and shared this info with the guests, as guide for our spa and bath theme.

b. Spa Service
Nowadays, there are a lot of choices in spa services, you can choose to
Go to a spa such as The Spa, Cans or Tips and Toes or have the spa come to you.
-Thank God for listings, I got lucky and found Celebrity Nails. They provide service in Makati.

I tried the Celebirty Nails Spa Party Package. Our condo was transformed into a nail spa, complete with therapists, foot spa, towels, chairs, aromatherapy burners and a photographer too to take your spa party photos.

They even have giveaways for your guests, hand sanitizers.

c. Food & Drinks
I asked my hubby to prepare spicy tuna pasta and breaded mozzarella. For dessert, I made fruit salad. We had iced tea and apple juice for drinks.

My sister simply picked up the food at the resto where hubby prepared the food.

d. Music
I got my soothing world/ yoga music as soundtrack to our spa ambiance.
Since it was a small party, I just used my mac.

e. Program
Simple.
1. Nail Spa, choice of manicure and foot spa and pedicure and reflex massage.
2. Dinner
3. Quick Notes/ Message/ Scrap Booking/Frame
4. Gift giving
5. Catching up and sharing stories
6. Bye byes

f. Décor
If you’re really going to make it a grand production, decorating would be great. Me, I simple put a vase of bouquet which the bride shall receive later and made sure that the place was clean.

You can also choose to add more dramatic lights. But for purposes of having your nails done, it’s also just right to have brighter lights so your nail technicians can see your nails.

g. Clean Up
After the nail spa and massage, You wouldn’t want your nails messed up.

If you don’t have a housekeeper during your party, it’s best to use disposable plates and utensils, that way, you can simple put them in a garbage bag and voila, all cleaned up.

home organization

2009-12-12T20:04:00.000-08:00

What I liked about growing up in our home was that we were never compelled to fix our room. And we didn't really have to since our helpers would usually tidy our place a little bit and make sure our place was always clean.

Nobody would really want someone else to go through your stuff and fix it without you. One time, we had an over eager helper fix our rooms and the final result..... yeah the room was spic and span and tidy but we couldn't find our stuff and I felt violated.

Nowadays, there's a lot of dial a cleaning service business especially for apartment buildings. I'm too paranoid to try it. Maybe if someone I trusted would recommend one then I'd probably try that too.

I don't know of a Filipino counterpart of Julie Morgenstern.

Some housekeeping magazines such as realsimple provide tips in organizing.
I like this site called simplemom

In the U.S, there's even a professional organization for professional organizers. Not just for your home but for your office.

I like these 2 organizing sites . These look pretty:
dclutterfly.com

and organizeme.info

In the office, we are supposed to follow the 5S

I don't think I can be able to totally remove all my clutter immediately. Plus all the accumulated stuff acquired through the years. Yes, they are all still at home. And thanks to our family business, the rest are in a storage warehouse.

So, For the next 52 weeks. I will attempt to reduce all of those unwanted stuff that need to go.
For this year, I've already let go of:
1. Clothes
2. Comforter, Blankets
3. Bags
4. Stuffed Toys

The great thing about is I got to help other people along the way since the clothes and blankets went to the flood survivors and the other clothes and bags went to a garage sale.. Proceeds will go to a community in Cainta.

Also, hubby grew up in such a neat home, he gets stressed with the mess. So I try my best. He still fixes my closet. I've learned how to lift my clothes rather than pulling them out when I'm getting a shirt in the middle of a pile. We don't have Irona at home so that leaves me and my hubby ensuring that are urban home is neat and clean.

my sunday

2009-12-06T01:50:00.000-08:00

Today, my hubby and I woke up early. We went to Trece Martires, Cavite to participate in our company's tree planting activity.
It's already cool since it's already December.

We planted an Ylang-Ylang tree. I hope it grows to be a big and productive tree with lots of fragrant flowers.

I hope we get to continue with this project. I'm quite glad that this initial project was a success. The last time I planted a tree was in high school.

The rest of the day was just devoted to rest and I did some cleaning of our 'veranda.' I scrubbed the walls and the floors.

Now, time for some errands. I like living in the city. I think i'll also like living outside of the city.

unloading

2009-12-05T00:29:00.002-08:00

The start of the end of the year makes me evaluate year 2009 and prepare of 2010.

For today, I unloaded some old bags and clothes that I can afford to let go of since I haven't been using them for the past years.

What's great is that the stuff were sold at a garage sale. Sales will benefit a community in Cainta.

I've accumulated so much stuff that I will need more than a day to sort and unload all of my stuff that I've accumulated.

Hopefully, I can manage to slowly unload, declutter and clear my room in my parent's house. I should have done this prior to getting married but for some reason I was not able to do. Plus all our wedding presents are still there. Can't fit in our current nest.

Philippine Holidays 2010

2009-11-24T23:30:00.001-08:00

Yey! I put all the 'announced/ planned holidays' for 2010. Let's see if there will be more holidays for 2010.

Hope this will be helpful in planning your year!

FAIR TO SATURDAY AND SUNDAY Or how to choose your planner/diary for 2010

2009-11-12T03:29:00.000-08:00

Since I’ve been proofreading our annual group calendar that we shall be giving away to our clients’ and friends, the search for the best planner now comes to mind. I shouldn’t even say search since I had already stocked up on 2 years worth of planners. I bought my planner last year in Korea. I had bought 2 more but gave them away. That’s the thing with planners, you get so many but essentially, you only need one.

What makes a good planner/ diary?

You’ll have to ask yourself first if you need a digital planner or an old school planner. I want to talk about old school planners.

My sister, Bertha has one major consideration:
It has to be fair to Saturdays and Sundays. Meaning, there has to be the same amount of space for the weekends. She has a point. Most planners do not allot enough space for the weekends. Don’t people plan their weekends as well?

I like having an annual view. That way I can see major events and milestone in one or two pages. I don’t have to search through my whole planner.

For my 2009 planner, I chose based on design. I liked the colors of the Paulo Coelho planner as well as the quotes from his book. It also helped that the planner had an annual view and the days were fair to Saturdays and Sundays.

I tried migrating to a digital planner way back in 2002 when digital PDAs were supposed to be the cool thing. At that time, The memory of My Sony Clie though would get completely wiped out when the battery would get depleted. You’d have to sync everything to a computer…. So that was the end of that era. Back to pen and paper for me.

Maybe it’s because since grade school in Colegio San Agustin, we always had a diary where we would write our assignments, hence an attachments to diaries/ planners.

For my 2010 planner, I’m using this fill in the blanks planner from O-Check Design, Korea. It only has a month view and daily view though… So I’m still contemplating if I’m going to use this.

So here are a few things to consider in choosing a planner.

1. DESIGN
Your planner has to look good for the next 365 days that you will be using it. Surely, you don’t want to be carrying an ugly planner.
a. Color: You can choose to go bold or go basic with black, blue or brown.
b. Artwork: There are nice planners from taschen. These feature great artists from Klimt to Van Gogh.

2. SIZE and WEIGHT
Would you want your planner small enough to put in your hand bag everyday? If you choose a small planner though, you have to make sure that you can write smaller letters as you will have smaller pages.

How light would you want your planner to be?

3. PAPER QUALITY
What kind of paper would you like to write on? What kind of pen do you usually use? Some nice papers are glossy and it can be difficult to write on them.

4. PLANNER FEATURES
LAYOUTS
a. annual view: I like this!
b. daily page view
c. weekly page view: I like this too!! I like seeing how my whole week looks like.
d. monthly page view

OTHER ELEMENTS
a. holidays
b. full moon/ new moon

OTHER COOLER PLANNERS have added features. I will look for more.

ADDRESSBOOK
NOTES
IDENTIFICATION PAGE

5. PRICE
Duh… unless someone’s gonna give it to you as a gift or you’re willing to spend around Php2000 of coffee for a Starbucks planner for free, you’d have to think of your budget for your planner.

6. DURABILITY
Your planner’s cover and sheets have to be durable enough to withstand daily flipping of pages.

A lot of corporations also take time and effort to make beautiful planners. I like Insular Life’s 2009 planner. I’ll post the photos in another post.

GUIDE IN CHOOSING PLANNERS:

1. http://blog.ataglance.com/bid/23405/Guide-for-Choosing-Your-2010-Paper-Planner

2. http://www.neatandsimple.com/press-articles/choosing_a_planner.html

ONLINE STORES FOR PLANNERS:
1. FRANKLIN COVEY ** http://shopping.franklinplanner.com/shopping/catalog/category.jsp?id=cat2220012

MOLESKIN ** (available in local bookstores
http://www.moleskineus.com/moleskine-2010-planners.html

O-CHECK DESIGN*- where I bought my Korean planner, they have blank planners
http://www.o-check.net/
http://www.and-spring.com/
MUJI-
http://www.muji.us/store/chronotebook-am-pm-scheduler.html
http://www.muji.us/store/stationery/note/vinyl-chloride-cover-r-paper-monthly-weekly-note-b5.html
http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2008/04/muji_chronotebo.php

*FAIR TO SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
**NOT FAIR TO SATURDAY AND SUNDAY

our kitchen

2009-09-01T19:19:00.000-07:00

My hubby was doing some test shots with the camera and decided to take a photo of me in the kitchen. This was after he cooked Tuyo Pasta, also served at DonKen, www.donkenrestobar.com and seared some Tuna. We are eating healthy this week.

my favorite fabric softener

2009-08-24T21:40:00.000-07:00

There are certain brands that my family has continually used for the past 15 years. Downy or Ultra Downy April Fresh US version is one of those brands that my family has been using.

One of my best friends upon seeing me would always 'smell me' as I would smell like fresh laundry. Hmmm, now that I've joined a basic mountaineering course, I don't smell as fresh as fresh laundry after trekking and camping overnight.

In the recent years, the local version of Downy was introduced but I find it too fragrant.

April Fresh Downy's scent is subtle. There are other nice scents too but I'm too loyal to April Fresh.

I've been reading a lot on washing instructions and use of softeners and you are not supposed to use it on those synthetic fabrics. Oh no, no wonder some of my dri fit clothes aren't as dri fit. At least they smell good.

A month ago, on a trip to Clark I was so happy that the US version is available at Pure Gold. I hoarded 2 big bottles. And during the holiday- August 21, my hubby and I went to S & R at the Fort. (Can you believe I think it was my first time at S& R Fort) And there I found that April Fresh Downy is there too. Yey! What a delight!

Now, I don't have to worry about great smelling, soft clothes. Rustan's sometimes does not carry the US version. Now I know where to go when I need to buy my favorite fabric softener.

my housekeeping strengths

2009-07-13T07:07:00.000-07:00

According to Strengthfinder 2.0, my top 5 strengths are:

Ideation
Activator
Adaptability
Learner
Individualization

Check out www.strengthsfinder.com

How will these strengths help me in keeping our house, I mean
apartment?

According to me,
My top housekeeping strengths are:

1. mopping
2. tile cleaning & scrubbing
3. sweeping
4. grocery shopping
5. air con cleaning

hubby's strengths are:
1. cooking
2. closet organizing
3. laundry pick-up and delivery
4. mopping
5. decluttering

Mopping 101

2009-05-20T02:03:00.002-07:00

Usually my hubby does the mopping of the floor and I do the bathroom cleaning. Since he sprained his ankle, I have monopolized the domestic duties and have become a domestic diva in our domesticdom.

The cool thing about living in a small space is there is also a small area to clean. Yey! Now, I am OC about mopping the floor every night. That way, we can walk on our floor with bare feet.

Here is mopping step by step. eHow also has their step by step, how to mop. I mean how difficult can this be right? Here's how I make it fun.

A. Pre-Mopping Activities:
1. Make sure you have all the gear/tools that you need.
-Broom? otherwise known as walis tambo. you can buy in Baguio. Hehe.
or if you are hi-tech. Roomba vacuum cleaner. I've tried both and have gone old
school with the walis.
-Dust Pan
-Mop (I use this 3M with yellow head kind)
-Pail
-Floor Cleaner (I use Mr. Muscle Floor Cleaner) If you don't like harsh
chemicals, try organic alternatives.
-Water

2. Sweep Floor First.

B. Mopping Step by Step
1. Wet your mop head in your pailful of Mr. Muscle Cleaner and Water
2. Wring excess water out.
3. Mop the floor happily. (While mopping you can imagine that you are Cinderella or Snow White)
4. Rinse the mop head. If you are OC like me, you can repeat the process.
5. Let the floor dry before stepping on the floor. I just turn on the fan.

**Make sure you clean your mop head immediately after by rinsing well and air drying the mop.

Yay! The floor is clean.

Donna's Earth Saving Contribution for 2009

2009-04-20T22:01:00.001-07:00

In honor of Earth day tomorrow,April 22, here is my contribution.

Sport a shorter hair cut.
shorter hair cut means less water used when washing your hair, less shampoo and conditioner used as well. Less time to be in the bathroom, less use of lights.
Also, less use of blow dryer. If you can, eliminate use of blow dryer altogether.

himulmul

2009-04-14T06:51:00.000-07:00

I appreciate the quick and convenient laundry service that we have wherein I or Kenneth would just call the laundry service and the laundry girl would pick up our laundry. There are some setbacks though.

Setback Number 1:
The Price of Laundry

I never realized the cost of doing laundry until I started having to be responsible for that. Before, clean clothes appeared in my closet just like magic. It was already pressed and returned to my closet.

I don't mind the added cost if that means I get my laundry how I expect it to be.

Setback Number 2:
Himulmul. Ok, what is himulmul in English?

Maybe since I have fewer clothes in my closet then there is faster rotation of clothes. Hence, the clothes are washed more frequently. My clothes are not as 'vibrant' as before. And the cottons have so much himulmul.

Solution:
My hubby already suggested bringing our clothes to his place or maybe back to my house. Out of sheer pride, I refuse to do this. But now, I'm raising the white flag and surrendering to this idea. I want my clothes to last longer. Besides, we also have a new washing machine, thanks to Tito Vergel's wedding gift.

My laundry musts; Tide and Downey from US version.

Thanks Ceia for suggesting to list down our laundry in a notebook with carbon paper. Maybe, I'll try that.

donna's toiletries packing list

2009-04-13T00:25:00.000-07:00

I decided to make a checklist for the things I should bring when I travel.
At the very least, I need my dental floss. If you forget, there's always the
convenience store.

It's quite fun to make this list.

A. ORAL HYGIENE
1. Tooth Brush
2. Tooth Paste
3. Dental Floss
4. Mouth Wash

B. FACIAL CARE
5. Facial Wash
6. Moisturizer
7. Night Cream
8. Sun Block
9. Zit Medicine

C. HAIR CARE
10. Shampoo
11. Conditioner
12. Hair Brush
13. Blow Dryer with Adapter

D. BODY CARE
14. Body Wash/ Soap
15. Feminine Wash
16. Deodorant
17. Lotion
18. Perfume

Tissue
Cotton Buds
Wet Tissue

E. TOOLS
19. Tweezers
20. Scissors
21. Nail Clipper
22. Razor

F. FIRST AID
23. Alcohol
24. Alcogel
25. Mosquito Repellant
26. Vitamins
27. Cold Tablet
28. Band Aid

G. MAKE UP
29. Foundation
30. Concealer
31. Powder
32. Blush
33. Mascara
34. Eyelash Curler
35. Eyeliner
36. Lipstick
37. Lip Balm
38. Make Up Brush
39. Make Up Remover

clean as you go

2009-04-01T21:59:00.000-07:00

I grew up in a household where activities, events, school, parties, work, projects, vacations, lunches were always more important than housekeeping and organizing the house.

We would always have Pinky, Weng, Fina or Yaya Flor to make sure that the house was spic and span. Our things were our responsibility and that was that. If you keep your things in order, good for you. If not, then that's fine too.

Mom also didn't want a house that looked like a museum (except for our huge collection of photos and other stuff) or a stiff place where you can't touch anything. Our house was our home and a depository of the mementos that we would acquire through years of travel and shopping. We love to shop and travel.

I remember being organized and prior to 2nd year high school but everything changed after that. For some reason, after an acting workshop, I realized that there are better things to do than tidying up. And for the past 12 years or so, I've been living in a very packratting, collecty, let's tidy up when we have time mode.

I'd occasionally misplace, or I should say often misplace things that I needed. In our house, we sometimes blamed it on maybe other elements that moved our things. hehe.
And sometimes it would be better to just buy new stuff for missing items.

Things started changing of course when I married Kenneth who grew up in a very neat house. With culinary training in his sleeve, he also subscribes to "CLEAN AS YOU GO"
It's almost like breathing to him. His stuff is so neat. Even my closet is now neat as well since he is the one who fixes it. When he cooks, our small kitchen looks like he never cooked there in the first place.

The good thing about this "Clean as You Go" system is that you don't have to schedule the cleaning time since it is integrated with you already. I'm trying my best to clean as you go. My hubby loves it. And I'm feeling better by doing it.

sundays at the legaspi market

2009-03-21T21:54:00.001-07:00

Hubby and I enjoyed breakfast at the market today.

Had shots of wheatgrass.

Ate some monster burgers.

And bought a plant.

bro, armando, david & jr

2009-02-24T21:00:00.000-08:00

Now that my hubby and I spend a lot more time at home. I've found myself watching a
lot of soaps. Honestly, the last time that I seriously watched was in college as a requirement for a mass comm subject.

I look forward to my evenings having dinner with Kenneth and then watching 'May Bukas Pa' where Santino talks to Bro. Armando's obsession with Betty on Betty la Fea. And the half brothers' story of David and J.R. on Tayong Dalawa.

For some reason, maybe it's the overall theme of these soaps, I try to follow these shows as much as I can.

When I miss it though, I'm quite happy that there is always a good recap about what transpired in the last episode. So I'm always still on the same page....

my favorite domestic activities

2009-02-24T01:12:00.000-08:00

1. I like cleaning bathrooms.

Thanks to a friend's recommendation, I use Mr. Muscle Bathroom cleaner. I like how it cleans the grime on tiles as well as the chloroxy smell that it leaves. It makes the bathroom feel really clean.

Just be careful with your hands. Either you wear gloves or you make sure that you don't touch the chemicals.

I like cleaning the toilet bowl too with Toilet Duck.

2. I also like throwing the trash down the garbage chute.

I wish I could segregate better but due to limited space, I can't wait until I've collected all the cans and plastics or other kinds of trash until I throw them. For the glass bottles, I make sure that I bring them downstairs.

My least favorite is fixing the clothes in my closet.... I let my hubby do that. hehe.

definitions: domestic & -dom

2008-12-16T23:34:00.000-08:00

do⋅mes⋅tic /dəˈmɛstɪk/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [duh-mes-tik]

–adjective
1. of or pertaining to the home, the household, household affairs, or the family: domestic pleasures.
2. devoted to home life or household affairs.
3. tame; domesticated.
4. of or pertaining to one's own or a particular country as apart from other countries: domestic trade.
5. indigenous to or produced or made within one's own country; not foreign; native: domestic goods.
–noun
6. a hired household servant.
7. something produced or manufactured in one's own country.
8. domestics, household items made of cloth, as sheets, towels, and tablecloths.
Origin:
1515–25; < L domesticus, deriv. of domus house (see dome ); r. domestique < MF

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

-dom

A suffix denoting: (a) Jurisdiction or property and jurisdiction, dominion, as in kingdom earldom. (b) State, condition, or quality of being, as in wisdom, freedom. Note: It is from the same root as doom meaning authority and judgment.

http://www.answers.com/topic/dom-2

DOM
aka Donna May. Shortened version of Doma nay, what young siblings called her.

ate dom to younger siblings
chum dom to niece

steam brushing our clothes

2008-12-15T20:26:00.000-08:00

In our little home at the most urban place in the Philippines, one of our domestic concerns is that our officey clothes such as long sleeves and blouses are wrinkled. Hence, I've been on mostly casual wear. I make it an excuse that I am in production. hehe.

Most of our clothes need not be ironed. That is such a relief.

A friend of mine said that there is a handheld steam brush at Ace or True Value. Over the weekend, I was entertained by the guys demonstrating the Edmark Steam brush and yup, I bought one for only Php 999.00 at Ace.

I needed to know how to do this simple steam brushing motion. It is quite easy. So the guy, did a demo.. Jeans, Barong, Polo. Wow. No need to iron. The steam brush gets hot though so don't touch the hot stuff just like the iron.

Will post photos of steam brushed clothes soon. Meanwhile, I grabbed this photo from a site.

FAQs on Mrs. Donna May Flavier

2008-12-08T04:10:00.000-08:00

Since getting married last September, instead of the usual ‘how are you’ I get the following questions.

1. How’s married life?
I haven’t reached the first 100 days of marriage. Of course, it’s fun. It’s like having sleepovers with your boyfriend every day.

2. Any major adjustments in your married life?
The laundry. We have the laundry service, Let’s Talk Dirty, pick up and deliver. I however have to wash my intimate apparel.

3. What have you discovered in your husband now that you are already married?
That he is really a neat freak. He likes things in order, like the clothes and the cabinet. He doesn’t like things lying around.

4. Are you planning to have kids soon?
Hopefully yes.

5. Oy, blooming ka…. Buntis ka na?
Aba… hindi pa.. but let me check.

6. O ano na… Meron na?
Meron ng ano?

new cabinet: delivered

2008-11-17T18:14:00.000-08:00

yey. I was able to find the same exact cabinet as the ones in the apartment. Bought it at Coby's at Shangri-La Mall. So now, my hubby and I have his and hers cabinets.

And a new bookshelf with wheels.

Our home is part studio/ part bodega/stockroom.

ok. reduce, reduce reduce clutter... ommmmm.

new closet needed...among others

2008-11-01T06:06:00.000-07:00

We are back from our Istanbul honeymoon. Photos to be posted later.

In the short span of time that we were away, the second wing of greenbelt 5 which connects to greenbelt 1 opens. We eat out and check out our next door neighbor.

GB5 still has to open its stores. Meanwhile, our small nest needs a new closet.
Since we are right at Makati's CBD, we share a small studio. We will migrate in the South sometime in 2011-2012.

I have a closet right now, and need to add another one. So the apartment style is really eclectic and utilitarian.

Tonight, I browse these cool sites. The most popular being. Ikea/ . I check out the local site that resell the items.

My friends will check them out soon. there's ikeaph.multiply.com and rooms101.multiply.com

There is also Abea. And my resource in finding other local stuff... Real Living.

My back copies, I have to sell at a garage sale as I don't have space.

I am forced to be a minimalist.

Anyway, I day dream of fixing our space with the help of these sites: www.francfranc.com
Thank you to my friend in Hongkong for introducing me to this store.

There's also Muji, Crate and Barrel, G.O.D.. I'll add on to this later.
I'm going to go visit these sites.

laundry

2008-09-30T02:04:00.000-07:00

One of the adjustments in my new domestic role is how our laundry system will work. Prior to getting married, I had a pseudo-independent lifestyle. Now, my hubby and I are enjoying martial bliss and transitioning to domestic life.

Laundry is one of the things that has to be done. And we are outsourcing this to a laundry service. This is a big adjustment for me. I'm used to having my laundry done at home with the comforting scent of DOWNY US version, April Fresh.

So far, so good with the laundry service nearby. They deliver. I'm not so sure if we are getting all our laundry since I don't even count the clothes. I should.

They charge by the kilo. Php 40 for ordinary laundry and Php 55 for comforters. I think it's 50 for towels.

I've never thought of the laundry budget and now I do.

One of our uncles gave us a washing machine. I'm still trying to figure that out.