Taking Off

I can't believe that the day will come that I will have to leave this country to be with my family. Real family. I used to look into the sky whenever I see an airplane pass by, envying the people that are leaving. Now, it's almost my turn. I can feel it.

Am I ready to take-off? I don't know. I do know that I look forward to the new opportunities that I am going to encounter. I also know that I am afraid, but I have to take risks. That feeling fear is normal because I am going to move away from my somewhat comfort zone.

There will be many memories that I have to bring along with me. There are plenty of sad stories and bad memories to let go, and too many good ones to cherish.

I hope that when the time comes that I will have to leave, aboard that plane I will cast away everything that worries me, leave anything that hurt me, and forgive the things that stagnates me.

When I arrive to my destination, I want it to be a clean slate. A fresh start, a new chance, and a positive vibe. Hard as it may seem, but I am looking forward to that.

Our Lady of Guadalupe - Counted Cross-Stitch *updated

When I was pregnant, I started this cross-stitch of the Our Lady of Guadalupe but I didn't get to finish it until now. I wanted to finish what I have started and I am proud to say I am almost there halfway!

In a way, I did it to protect myself and my baby for whatever is out there that can harm us. 

Anyway, I think I can finish this off in two months provided that I won't stop.

I will share the pattern of this one in the next few days.

Here's my progress sometime in March;

Our Lady of Guadalupe

                                                                            This is going to be the end result. Beautiful isn't it?


Well, well, now I am back with the Our Lady of Guadalupe cross-stitch patterns. They're FREE so feel free as well to download them. But do understand that some of those patterns were already highlighted but you can still view them if you zoom out the pictures.

I DO NOT own them, nor made them but rather bought them and now I am sharing it.

Click HERE for the pattern.



Come back from time to time to get some FREE CROSS-STITCH PATTERNS. Have fun stitching!

For questions or clarifications regarding the OUR LADY OF GUADALUPE PATTERN, please email or message me.

Tickle Your Taste Buds - Pork Nilaga

Photo Credits here

One of easiest recipes I learned to cook was the Pork Nilaga (Boiled Pork). It is one of the good food being cooked anywhere in the Philippines.

Yesterday had me craving for it so I cooked it for my partner and kid. I am glad my baby liked it, although I only fed him a piece of the potato and soup.

I am in the mood of sharing my favorite food so I will let you in my 'secret' recipe(smile).

Pork Nilaga Recipe

Serves 4-6 persons and takes 45 minutes -1 hour to prepare.

Ingredients:

1 kg Pork Bones (Or any bony part of meat of your choice) cut into serving pieces
1 medium onion, sliced
2 pcs. tomatoes, sliced
1 inch ginger, sliced lengthwise
2 Liters of water
2 Large potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 Chinese Pechay/Wombok, cut accordingly
Lemon Grass 
Salt to taste

This serves 4-6 persons.


Cooking Instructions

Boil water in a casserole and place the pork meat or bones and bring it to boil. Remove water, drain the meat and clean the meat residue in the casserole.  (I do this to remove some of the oily parts of the meat)

Place pork with 2 liters of water and boil. Once boiling, put in the onions, ginger, tomatoes, and leave it for 30 minutes until the meat is tender.

Add the lemon grass, and potatoes. Add salt to taste.

Add Chinese pechay and cook it for about 3 minutes.

Serve hot.

Good to eat when the weather is cold. Heaven.

Tickle your taste buds - Kare-Kare

Photo Credits from Kamayan

Living in Pampanga for the past two years has had a great effect on my diet. This is because a lot of them are such good cooks that you just can't resist to try something new to you.

Coming from Mindanao and a fan of veggies, certainly coming here was drastic since the place I live in doesn't really favor eating leafy greens. But I can't complain.

My partner's father cooks the most delectable Kare-Kare for my palate.

He cooks this pork hind/front legs into this tenderness that it almost melts in your mouth, it has peanut sauce, vegetables, and shrimp paste. Mouth-watering. Just Yum!

Spoiler: It's not advisable to eat it all you can.

Respect Life In All Forms

I have seen pictures like this and it never fails to make me feel sad.

I am an animal lover through and through, and seeing this again brings back those sad memories about cats I find then and now in some nook and cranny areas, trash cans and other dumps.

You see, in my country, animals are not fairly treated much like America.

 Here, though not all, they are treated like things that they can discard as easy as a crumpled paper.

I have seen my share of cats and kittens in garbage dumps, sometimes well enough, more often, they are in worst shape that I can only take them home with me to die with a little dignity. I try my best to treat them with what I have, taking them to a local vet for advice and some medication to administer.

This image makes me empathize for this feline, it needs comfort, and companionship. It needs a home.

I hope that more people will teach their children to respect animals no matter how small or big or what they are. These children when taught earlier, will grow to also teach their children. Respect is just a relative word. It doesn't really matter who it is you are giving it to. 

Countless times my life has been saved from being ruined all because of these furry creatures. If only people would understand how it feels like to have someone to love and care for.



In memory of all my furry friends.

Ador. Both eyes are blind from glaucoma.

Monet and me

Amiga and her kitten

Bogart

Heybie and pitpit

From Left to Right: Jaguar, Pitpit, Kaging, Papots, Heybie, Seydie

Papots on my exam day

Monet and Papots

Sam's First Steps

Today is the day that Sam officially walked on his own. Yay! I couldn't resist taking a video of his first steps.

 

Here's my little man, all too eager to walk it off.

Even if he appears to be sleepy and tired, this did not stop him from trying over and over.

Sam starts here with Ate Rissa.

Sam follows Rissa around.

Circling around the garage.

one, two, three march!

Taking a rest

When he gets tired, he reverts back to crawling.

Taking a rest again...

After an hour or so of walking, it only took him less than 5 minutes to doze off. Bless his heart.

Room in Ruins

I think my child is out to get me. He drives me crazy as much as I love him to bits! My partner is the same, they must have talked about this stuff when I am out.

No matter how much time and effort I put in organizing our room, it ends up to its DISORGANIZED state EVERY DAY!

They must have a mind of their own.

Our closet

1. I take the time to arrange this on a daily basis, but my partner just pull whatever it is that he needs and he DOESN'T arrange them back! UGHHHHHHH!

What do you say about this?

2. Courtesy of my partner, he only needs to get the deodorant, so tell me, how did he do it to make it look this way? Tell me?

The other culprit

3. Now this one here is another story, since he is a little child, can't express himself in a way that is comprehensible to me, he in return will throw away things on the floor or whatever that takes his fancy.

I am filled with a day full of pick-me-ups, pick-this-up and pick-that-up things, toys and whatevers. 

The toy drop

Carrying my tool box with my DMC threads

Walking along

Deciding to stay in one corner

 

There goes my DMC threads..sigh

Okay, I'm gonna leave you guys for a moment. I have a room to clean after.