Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Halloween 2012

I AM NOT WEARING A DRESS, Mommy!
- Swe-cha










I'm my Mummy's boy - Swe-cha

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Hurricane Sandy

So we're prepping for Hurricane Sandy, we're expecting landfall early Tuesday. I've heard phrases such as these floating around:
- storm of the century
- catastrophic
- Frankenstorm

I didn't really have much to prepare since we almost always are well-stocked, just bought some fresh bread this morning and we should be set though I do realize that we may not have enough for Swe-cha (will have to rethink his menu).

The only preparation that I did was to purchase a lantern. We have flashlights and candles, but I realize that candles aren't really the best things to have around when you have a toddler plus they hardly give any light. Friend E recommended this and I ordered last Friday. I figure, even if this arrives after Hurricane Sandy, we'll be prepped for the next one.

Thankfully, fortune must have been smiling down on us (Thank you, Lord!) when I put in my order online yesterday because guess what I found in today's mail? Yep, it's here. We've tested it and it gives off a very bright light (240 lumens on high mode).

Checked to make sure that we still have butane for the portable stove (we have an electric stove) so we should be set.

Please pray for us and hope that everybody stays safe.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Itchy foot

I was in the checkout lane in the store earlier, checking out my items when the cashier suddenly bends down, pulls off her shoe, pulls down her sock and starts scratching her foot like mad.

Uh.

10 seconds later, she straightens up and says "sorry, that was really bothering me".

All I could say was "are you all right ?" but I kept thinking.. "don't touch me, don't touch me..."

eek.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Relief

Whew! Thank you, poging UPS guy. Yes, he really is cute and nice - he brings our stuff to our door while other delivery guys just leave them in the lobby.)

This greeted me when I got home this afternoon, it was such a welcome sight. We were running out of diapers and our regular diaper subscription decided to take its time getting to us.

Last night, in an effort to look for diapers, I was reduced to scrounging around in the different bags we've used as diaper/baby bags, that pocket in the stroller, and the areas behind the bed and between the mattress & the bedrails. I even got to the point where I contemplated using swim diapers instead of regular ones. Expensive kasi if we'll buy from the grocery.

It didn't help that just when we were running out and needed to hold out till we get the new delivery, Swe-cha chooses yesterday to go on another of his pooping sprees (he wants to challenge Mommy) - 4 poopy-diapers in 1 day. Imagine that!

Anyway, I'll order an extra box as a precaution, I don't want to run out of diapers again.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

anesthesia

Background information: I saw hubby watching the first episode of Star Trek Enterprise Season 1 a few nights go and got hooked and I've been squeezing in or 'trying to squeeze in', rather, some viewing time since then.

This morning, after church, while on our way to the happiest place in NJ (Mitsuwa), our conversation went like this:

hubby: what episode are you in Star trek Enterprise ?

me: yung "Civilization", ano yun ? 5 ? 6  yata (it was episode 8, as it turns out).

hubby: naaliw ka na no! Addict!

me: oo nga eh *sheepish grin* it's nice. I never thought I'd watch it ever, I never got interested until now... but then again, basta hindi [Captain] Janeway, okay lang. i don't like the Star trek w/ Janeway.

hubby: ha ? baket ?

me: basta ayaw ko. I know medyo unfair, kasi I've never watched a Janeway episode ever... pero basta ayoko. hate ko siya.

hubby: are you sure /

me: oo, ayaw ko si janeway. i like kirk. i like picard and now, i like archer. basta wag si Janeway. pero note ah, I just like kirk pero ayoko manood ng episode nila, ang corny na ng effects eh, sobrang luma. yung parang may mini godzilla aliens na parang malalaglag yung mask anytime ?

hubby: naalala mo si Tuvoc ? Neelix ? chaka si 7 of 9 ?

me: oo! I like that.

At this point, I was remembering those episodes fondly, ...

me: remember that episode ? si Tuvix ? yung na merge si Tuvoc and Neelix ? I like that.

hubby: that's Janeway.

me: ano ?

hubby: Janeway na Star Trek yun.

me: Ha ? Ang gulo mo kausap.

hubby: hindi, haha! [and then he started relating other episodes which I really enjoyed watching and characters which I liked]  Naalala mo yung Maqui diba ? sila Chacote ? si torres ?

me: oh.

I blame the anesthesia (C-section) for the forgetfulness. ;)
Kawawa naman si Captain Janeway.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Washing machine

Our washing machine died 2 weeks ago. It was technically still working and alive, but the last of the remaining supports at the bottom which held the tub up gave up and broke. We ran 2 more loads of wash after the last support broke and the machine kept making these awful noises that really scared us. I began to see visions of burst hoses and cleaning up flooding messes so we decided to let our washer move on.

The thing is, we reside in a small two-bedroom condo and our washer resides in one of our upstairs hall closets - not a lot of space. Given the situation, we're limited to compact portable washers and they're not exactly cheap.

Another factor to consider is that God-willing, we don't plan on staying here any longer than we have to (translation: real house!) and when we do move out, we want a full-sized, heavy-duty washer in the new place. In short, the washer is staying.

What i'm trying to say is that at this point, we're looking for something:
- small, should fit in the closet
- usable, of course!
- cheap, preferably below the $500 mark (cost of the new washing machine + cost to get rid of the old one)


And our search has brought up to this point, we found a nice portable washer from Walmart.com and it had good reviews.

To save on shipping costs, we availed of their site-to-store service (free) and picked the washer up from the nearest location. Hubby and I carried, pulled, pushed, rolled (we had a trolley) this all the way from the car to our 2nd floor condo entrance and then up another flight of stairs to our 2nd floor closet (3rd floor relative to the bldg).

It was a BIG 90 lb package. the weight wasn't really an issue, it's just that it was so big and well, hallways, doorways and stairways are tight around here.

As for the old washer, we had paid our fave handyman & his son $80 to haul it out ($40 goes to the town dump for recycling fees).
Next came the unboxing. I will not bore you with the tons of pictures I took - excited kasi - and let's jump to the part where we already have it installed in its place.

It fits just right, no ?

There's 27 inches from the back wall to the sliding door. The new washer's depth is 22 inches, add a few more inches for the hoses & water connections at the back and that is it. Looking at this makes me really relieved that we did not go for the heavy-duty full-sized washer that wasn't a lot more expensive than this (and is a good and known brand), it was 25 inches deep and we were thinking that it might fit.

Hindi pala. now, I realize why my neighbor had to take the doors off her laundry closet - she had a full sized washer installed.

here is a top view of the new machine.

Yes, it's a Magic Chef. We've run a few loads and it does clean nicely, it's also more spacious than the old one because there is no agitator in the center of the tub.

I also like that we can program a delay so you can load up the washer at night and delay the actual run till the next day. You can also program the load size (6 settings), water temperature (hot, warm, cold), wash types (cotton, permanent press, delicates, etc) and cycles (wash, rinse and spin). It's so useful for us because hubby always likes to run an extra rinse cycle after everything is done - oo, magastos sa tubig. My only complaint is that there's no way to change/program the default settings so we have to go through the entire selection process each time we use it.

Sound levels are also amazing. I barely hear a swishing or humming sound, depending on what type of cycle it is on, and only when I listen intently.


Our total costs came to a little less than $400 + some hard work in bringing the new one home and setting it up. Overall, I'm happy and the past 1.5 weeks that we've had to live with using our bldg laundry room for washing our clothes has not been easy - it's so very inconvenient - because we have to walk back/forth and remember to move the clothes from the washer to the dryer and then pick it up afterwards.

Eto pang si bulilit, kung kelan nagtitipid sa clean clothes, saka pa gumagamit ng up to 3 sets of clothes sa daycare and anther 3 sets of sleeping clothes at night (leaks).