Eating milestones

So tonight, I made fried shrimp and Swe-cha paid me the ultimate compliment.

First, as I was cutting up his shrimp and scooping rice / shrimp onto the spoon for him (note: he only started eating rice recently so he's still not used to eating by himself), he points me to my chair and says, "Mom, sit there, I will eat by myself".  

I watched him finish the food on his plate all by himself. Afterwards, he asked, "can I have more rice and shrimp please ?" Both daddy and I had to eat less shrimp,... but it's okay :) Buti na rin, nagsaing ako. We still had leftover rice from earlier and my initial plan was pagkasyahin na lang, thankfully I had second thoughts.

It took us a little bit longer but we're getting there. 

The Stepdaughters

 

I picked up this pinoy-drama recently and I'm almost at the end (ep 177 out of 178). 

It started out interesting and I wanted to watch it to see how the story would develop. I probably enjoyed till episode 50 and then after that, the next 100+ episodes are just different variations of the bad guys making up scheme after scheme while the good guys fall for it over and over again. 

I watched most of the episodes at 1.5x = 1.75x speed because I just wanted to get it over with. This was just too long. 

If they had kept this at 70 episodes, I would've been happy but as it is, I just feel tired... and thankful that it's all over. 

Ang galing ko rin na tyinaga ko. 

House Plants

Here's an update of how my houseplants are doing...

These are my spider plants - I had purchased 9 baby plants off ebay and received 3 different colors (green, variegated with the white stripe in the middle and variegated with the green stripe in the middle). 2 out of the 9 survived but there are plenty of babies. 

I've actually gifted spider plants to friends and neighbors and most of them are thriving. 

Red Prayer Plant (Maranta) is 1 of 2 that I purchased off of Amazon last October 2020, these have grown bigger from the 3" pots and has had a few new shoots grow since receiving them. 

Top shelf left are Wandering Jews cuttings that I received a few days ago. They're still being rooted in water, I hope they do root and survive.

2nd shelf left is a plant from office friend T, a gift she gave me last year and to the left is a lone Snake Plant  survivor from an eBay purchase last August 2020. Interestingly enough, Snake Plants are described by Google as "hard to kill", I've successfully decimated several without really trying.

3rd shelf (lower) is the 2nd of out the 2 Red Prayer plants from Amazon and in the blue pot are 3 aloe plants from eBay, August 2020. Another aloe plant from the same batch is in a separate pot (bottom shelf).

4th shelf (2nd from the bottom) has a Batik plant and a Hypoestes 3" pots purchased from Home depot March 2020. 

Yellow pot has a Fittonia (nerve plant), also a 3" pot Home Depot purchase from October 2020. This one has grown a bit bigger

Bottom shelf has a succulent from officemate T, this isn't looking too good. The bigger white pot is a 4th aloe from the same batch as the ones in the blue pot. This is bigger. 

This plant in the yellow pot is a Lotus Fortune Plant which seemed to have lost its shape. When I got it some 5+ years ago, all the leaves were at the top and formed the shape of a lotus similar to this photo (black background, this photo is taken from the internet). 

Toilet Parts

I was today years old when I learned that the inside of a toilet tank lid has a list of the replacement parts and part numbers for your toilet.

So for a few weeks, if not months, one toilet in the bathroom has been leaking water into the bowl and this causes it to flush a few more times every day when not in use. 

I tried looking at the parts inside and knew that the flapper needed to be replaced but couldn't figure out what part to buy. I've replaced flappers in my old condo before and I've always just bought universal replacements but the one in my tank doesn't look "universal" at all. It wasn't until recently that I got annoyed enough at all the waste that I actually sat down to do research. 

Leaking toilet is the common bathroom, these photos are from the master bath which I also replaced because the flapper also looked like it was melting.
 

President's Day

I'm sitting in my home office and happened to overhear my son in his virtual class. They're talking about President's day and this reminds me of the time, long ago, when Swe-cha first learned about George, the first president. 

Swe-cha: The first President of the United States is George.

Me: George what ?

Swe-cha: George!

Me: George Washing...  (giving him a hint...)

Swe-cha: ... the dishes ? 

Resolution

Organized our groceries  (food pantry) in our basement yesterday and had to throw out a lot of expired goods. Boxes and boxes of expired snacks and goods.  Sayang, if I had kept better track of them, I could've given them away before they expired. 

I should have a better way of keeping track of supplies AND not buy too much. I'm not one to make new year's resolutions (or not much anyway)... but if I have to make one, I will make it a goal to have less, if not 0, waste from now on. 

Super sayang talaga. 

Winter Storm Gail Preps

We're expecting Winter Storm Gail tomorrow and into Thursday. Around 12-18" of snow is expected. 

So, we've prepped the gas for the snow blower.

The husband has yet to start up the snow blower. Sigh. I do not know why he keeps putting it off,... in  any case, it'll be more of his problem if it doesn't start up tomorrow. 

Separately, I picked up a portable heater and a four-pack of propane cylinders. I've actually been itching to get my hands on a portable inverter generator from harbor freight but this was an easier decision (cheaper too!).  

We may still get the generator at some point but that's a whole different conversation.

Meanwhile, I've got to make sure that our rechargeable batteries are charged and that our camp lamps are ready. 

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Edit: The husband found the snow blower manual and we got the snow blower up and running and by "we", I really mean him =) 

It works. 

The engine sounds loud. Hope it also means it is powerful.

and yes, the plastic wrap is still there, we haven't used it yet. Hopefully, we'll actually get to use it tomorrow. Whohooo!