At Home With MrsC

Raising a family, making a home.

Everyday Life

Back To School + What’s Blogging This Week

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It’s my little boy’s first day at school today, and wow the house is very quiet. I’m sure I’ll be able to get more things done now that I have big blocks of time during the day again when I’m not busy being mommy. At the same time, I would really like to make the most out of my little boy’s time at home after class. So, I’ve decided to challenge myself to log off and pack away my computer before pickup time from school. By the time he gets back home, he and I can do homework, study, play, read and do other non-gadget related things, and basically enjoy each others’ company. This computer curfew thing will also help me sleep earlier, and I really need to do that, else I end up in Mombie Mode midweek.

First day, Instagrammed!
First day, Instagrammed!

Today and tomorrow, though, the kiddo will only be in school for half the day, and that means that I should maximize my mornings. I have a bunch of things to work on this week, including a few blog posts, which I’ve been promising to write for two weeks now, like

Here’s hoping for a super productive week. What’s on your to do list for the week?

Schedule Shift + What’s Blogging This Week

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I know that some schools in Manila officially opened school year 2014-2015 today. We officially begin classes next week. To make our transition from lazy summer mode to school mode easier on all of us, MrC and I decided that we would officially switch to an earlier schedule starting today. The early schedule actually started last night for the little guy, who was successfully asleep by 8:30PM. 

Zzzz
Zzzz

I, on the other hand, have been up since 5. I know that this isn’t early for a lot of you, but remember I am a 7-8 hours of sleep kind of girl, and last night I made the mistake of watching The Notebook after the boys went to bed, and of course I had to finish it. I also always end up bawling while watching that movie, and so I had to take a few extra minutes to console myself and blow my nose before I could finally sleep.

I have quite a few things on my to do list today, including a lot of writing. Summer has been great, but it’s time to pull myself out of vacation mode and start working on my backlog, for real. I’m carrying over a couple of posts that I originally wanted to publish last week, but never got around to writing. Also adding two more, including a recipe post and the return of the baon plan. Exciting? So, yeah, here’s what I promise hope to write about this week.

I am seriously fighting the urge to go back to sleep right now, so I think that another cup of coffee is in order. What’s on your to do list today?

Summer Crochet Roundup

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In the middle of summer in hot and humid Manila, I decided to crochet a scarf. Weird, yes. But someone wanted it, and so I finished the project. 

Fresh off the hook!

I actually started working on this piece because I read in one of the crochet groups on Facebook that Baguio yarn is good to use for scarves. I bought a whole lot of those yarns during my last trip up north, and I haven’t been able to make that many things with them, actually, so I was eager to try. I think this was a success. In case you wanna make something similar, I followed this pattern, with some slight modifications.

My happy customers, Jersey and Millie

Over the summer, I also joined a craft swap. This was the first time that I’ve actually made something to be given away to someone who isn’t a friend or a family member. The pressure was on, big time. It took me a while to decide what to make, and to decide which yarn and colors to use. Eventually, I started on it and completed the project in just a few days. I’m really happy with the end result.

It's a bag!
It’s a bag!

My craft swap partner lives on the beach so I decided to make her a bag she can use, well, on the beach. What do you guys think? I got the pattern from a Japanese book I bought on sale at National bookstore. It actually calls for a totally different yarn, hook and gauge, but I thought it would be nice to experiment. Thank goodness it turned out okay.

My crochet headband

Last but not least, I made something without a pattern for the first time, ever. Happy dance! It’s just a headband, nothing much, really, but I still feel pretty accomplished. Plus, lots of people who have seen photos of it online have said that it’s really nice, so yay for me. I made one as a sort of trial piece, and another a couple of hours later, my sister-in-law’s request.

I’m calling this one the Melissa

There you go. I should get started on a phone pouch that I owe another friend, soon. I feel like making more headbands also, and maybe a scarf and a bag for myself. So much to do, so much yarn, so little time! Do you crochet? What have you been working on?

Summer Is Ending + What’s Blogging This Week

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While we were having dinner earlier tonight, I heard the familiar croaks of Froggy Friend, the frog who lives in our garden and keeps us safe from Dengue-carrying mosquitoes. I am scared of frogs, in case you don’t remember, so I have tried to paint a friendly picture of Froggy Friend in my mind, for my own sanity and peace of mind.

Thing is, Froggy Friend has been silent all summer. His loud croaking tonight is a not-so-subtle reminder that summer is officially coming to a close. As is the super strong rain that’s falling outside as I write this. In exactly two weeks, we are all shifting back to school mode. Time to say goodbye to late nights and lazy mornings.

Soccer Mom-ing
Soccer Mom-ing

This has been a spectacular summer. I was chatting with my friend Martine on Facebook a few days ago, and I told her how I really enjoyed being a soccer mom and spending time with the little boy. I love that the boys and I got to spend two amazing days at Pico de Loro Cove. We’ve been watching more movies and TV shows, reading more books, and I’ve been crocheting more, too. I am loving the slowness of this summer, and on some days I actually feel like I, too, am on a 2-month break. It’s a really nice change from last year, when I had to overload on work.

05132014
Summer Family Fun

The downside is that there have really been a number of lazy, unproductive summer days for me, at least as far as writing and blogging is concerned. It’s nothing that I can’t make up for, though, so I suppose it isn’t THAT bad, right? So, for this week, here’s a peek at what I’ve got lined up:

A sweet treat at Sweet Bella
A sweet treat at Sweet Bella

I’m excited to share all of these stories with you. I am also looking forward to making the most out of thee last two weeks of summer vacation with the little boy. How about you guys, any last-minute plans for the summer?

Oh hey, don’t forget to join my ongoing giveaways if you haven’t yet. Win a pair of shoes here, and win a 3-month subscription to any Summit Media magazine of your choice on Buqo here.

Reset (Plus, the Winner of My Mind Museum Giveaway)

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After unknowingly (again!), and unintentionally overloading myself to the point of not functioning properly, I am officially declaring this first day after Easter my RESET day. I went on an unplanned vacation from blogging over holy week because my hosting provider has some Heartbleed issues, and the server was shut down for a bit. I also chose not to work from Good Friday onward, and instead hung out with the boys, crocheted a bit, did some fun Easter crafts and, basically, enjoyed myself. Sure, I now have a bit of catching up to do, but I also am more focused, organized and motivated to work. And that, my friends, is why taking a break and hitting the reset button is a must, every once in a while. 

We spent the no-work days at home, playing cards and board games

My friend, Martine, recently published a similar post, sharing about how she is learning to make time for nothing, over at Make It Blissful. It’s a really great read, and something that I actually learned a lot from. One of the changes that I am making after this reset, as I’ve learned from Martine’s post, is to incorporate blank spaces in my schedule. No more overloading my days. I am definitely gonna start making time for nothing. I need those blank hours so that I can do the things that I like. Generally, I work better when I’m happy, and so I need to figure out how to stay happy. Makes sense, right?

Me time = happiness. MrsC me time means reading, crochet and felt crafts!

Over my two years of WAHM-ing, I’ve started to realize my daily work limit, and I think that it’s time for me to apply this. I also need to remember to make time for chores and errands, not exactly my favorite things in the world to do, but important stuff nonetheless. And, most importantly, I need to solidify my daily time with the boys. With MrC, this is usually TV time in the evening, after the kiddo goes to bed. The kiddo and I, on the other hand, have the luxury of doing whatever we can and want to do together during the day, the absolute perks of being a WAHM!

This Easter banner was something that our whole family was able to work on together

So today, Reset Day 1, has been well-spent so far. I got a good night’s sleep, got to see MrC off to work this morning, prepared a nice big breakfast for myself and the little boy, and I’ve already submitted one of my two articles due today. This blog post is another thing I can cross off my list already, and it isn’t even noon yet. Oh, and I also allowed myself to watch The World’s Cutest Cats on TV with the little boy earlier. Yup, this is definitely a great day already. 

Easter Sunday was a great day, too, spent with the boys, my best WAHM friends and their families. Blogging about this soon!

I hope that you’re all having a great day, too. I wish I could help make today amazeballs for all of you, but right now I only have to power to do this for one – the winner of my Mind Museum giveaway. Congratulations Astra C. Alegre! Please send your full name, contact number and complete mailing address to mrspcuyugan at gmail dot com.

MM Winner

 

What, for you, makes a great day? A little gratitude goes a long way, and I’d also like to know what you’re thankful for today. 😀

Would You Like To Go Clubbing With Me?

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This year has me rekindling my love for books and reading. Kindle in hand, I am off to conquer my 2014 GoodReads challenge of reading 24 books this year. I’m off to a good start with four books down -Wicked in January, I Wish They Taught Money in Highschool and The Cuckoo’s Calling in February, and Fahreheit 451 in March. I’m also more than halfway done with The Lover’s Dictionary, and also with Losing It. The best part about reading, now, for me is my book club, as dorky as that may sound. It’s actually because of the book club that I’m getting to read all these different books. 

The SBC and our BOMs

Is it just me, or am I sounding dorkier by the minute? SBC or Secret Book Club is, well, what our book club is called. Some friends of mine from high school started the club with a few other batch mates of theirs, and when I saw them talking about it on Twitter, I kinda invited myself to join. See, not only do I love to read, I like discussing the books I’m reading with other people too. MrC and I, for instance, can talk for hours about George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books. We also talked about The Hunger Games Trilogy and The Millennium Trilogy during and after reading all of the books. I’m lucky to have married someone who is the same brand of dork as I am.

Then came SBC, and all of a sudden I was surrounded by other ladies who are the same brand of dork as I am, too. I absolutely love it. We chat endlessly on WhatsApp about our current reads and what books to check out next, we swoon over book lists and hard bound editions, and a couple of us have already declared that we want George RR Martin to be our lolo. Sorry, SBC girls for calling you dorks, but, well… 

Moving on. A BOM or Book of the Month is basically what the members of the club are required to read. For now, since we’re still a small group, we take turns suggesting new books. We’ve been assigning two books a month and we’ve been able to get by so far, which is perfect because that’s the same reading target I set for myself in GoodReads. I got to suggest a book for this April, and I’m a little ashamed to admit that I was the one who recommended Losing It. Haha! It was part of the reading list for the fiction writing class I joined earlier in the year, but I never got around to reading it. So I figured I’d suggest it as a BOM, and so far it’s gotten okay feedback from the others, so yay!

Happy hour book discussions (and gossip sessions)

We agreed to meet once a month in the Alabang area, since we are all from the south. Our first session happened earlier in March at Bugsy’s in Westgate. I actually didn’t plan on staying long, but believe it or not, Joei, Lar and I ended up hanging out until way past midnight. 

The SBC: (Top) Iza, Me, (Front) Lar, Joei, Russ and (Not in photo) Balot.
Photo belongs to Joei. Click on it to read her post about SBC.

Lar and I are both mommies, and I think we enjoyed being among adults and talking about random things that evening. Joei is a lawyer and an amazing blogger. Her blog, Joei and Me is actually on the list of my favorite blogs from one of my Sunday Sevens. Russ is a marketing master, and one of my favorite writing clients of the moment (hehe, thanks, Russ). Iza is a coach at Futbol Funatics, where Little MrC is enrolled for the summer. Go check them out! Balot, who wasn’t able to join is that evening, blogs over at I Am Corporate Junkie.

Over the last couple of weeks, our group has grown and now includes my friendly friends and mom-bloggers, Michelle, Janice, Mille and Toni. My cousin Reena has also recently joined, as well as Joei’s friend, Koryn, and Iza’s friend, Yam. and So yes, we are very open to accepting new members, and if any of you would like to join the fun, send me a message on Facebook or email me at mrspcuyugan@gmail.com. We meet in the south, though, and of course we’d love to have you guys from the north come and visit our nice little neighborhood. Would you like to go clubbing with me?

I’m going back to reading now! What are you reading today?