Blue Sky.

It’s a Martha Stewart Wreath

Christmas is definitely in the air especially now that our Christmas tree is already up. It’s been a practice here in my in-laws house that as soon as the Halloween is over, it’s time to unearth and put up our Christmas decors. Basically, Filipinos really do start Christmas early and in fact, we celebrate the longest holiday in the world. As soon as the calendar hits the “ber” months (September), Christmas jingles can be heard on the airwaves and the countdown to Christmas begins. Being predominantly a Catholic country, we just love the season as it is the merriest time of the year with never ending parties, bountiful feasting, gift-giving, and of course, reflecting on the true meaning of the season.

Anyway, back to Christmas decors, we’re almost through putting them all up except for the wreath on the door. We retired the old one so we’re looking out for a replacement and in just a snap, I right away found the one we adore. This Martha Stewart Golden Cedar Wreath.

This fresh-cut cedar wreath measures 18 inches in diameter and is elegantly accentuated with golden glass ornament balls and a gold satin ribbon for hanging. This will be perfect for our front door as it festively greets and welcome our guests to our humble abode.

Getting Ready for Winter.

Those living in four-seasoned countries must have been starting to dust away their fireplaces and chimneys with the coming of the fall season and not long after, the winter. For some, they may start testing their old or scouting for a new wood stove. Check out the wide array of options at firesgalore.co.uk’s collection. They have the most reasonably priced yet unique designs and models that will surely enhanced a family’s cold winter season. Have you started cleaning up your fireplaces, too?

You Will Be Ours Soon.

If only I can fast forward time and can make the housing loan processing faster, I would have already done so to make our dream house come into reality soon. I really can’t wait until the day when a Moving Company will bring in our furniture and all other stuffs inside our Little Mansion. I’m so excited to design and beautify our own abode and most especially, I can’t wait until I get the entire household under my control. No pun intended here. I mean I’ll miss a lot of things we have now here in my in laws’ house that we won’t enjoy when we’ll be on our own but it’s just much different when you have the independence to yourselves. Besides, it’s every married couple’s dream to live on their own, right? We can’t depend on our parents all throughout our lives. It may surely be tough, but I know, in no time, we’ll be well adjusted and we will get the hang of living it through on our own.

For now though, there are still a lot of things and documentations to work on. So prayers and optimism will be our armor as we inch closer to our ultimate dream. So to our dream house…you’ll be ours soon.

So Unpredictable.

The weather has always been unpredictable but I think it has become more uncertain now more than ever. At one minute, Mr. Sun’s so unforgiving and within the next hour or so, here comes the heavy rains and consequently, we’re toiling a notorious humid noon until late evening. Our electricity bill has shoot up in the past few months and that’s courtesy mostly of a number of electric fans working for almost 24 hours a day. If not for Asher’s asthma (his respiratory system acts up in cold temperature), our bill could have been greater as our air conditioner would’ve been turned on every night. Speaking of the air con, I suddenly remember that its furnace filters are yet to be replaced. I think it’s been more than a month since we’ve changed it.

Meanwhile, here’s wishing for a cooler (even just a bit) night ahead.

The Need for Cozy Bathrooms.

I’ve read it somewhere that bathrooms are one of the parts of the house that must be relaxing and most cozy. It is there that we clean ourselves and doing it in a serene and calm place definitely make us feel cleaner, don’t you agree? When we unload our body wastes, don’t you feel more easy and comfortable if you are in a bright, uncluttered, squeaky and spotless toilets?

Huge and zen themed bathrooms are my fancies lately as I research and scour ideas for our future house. Although at some point, I am leaning towards contemporary bathrooms too because they are much easier to accessorize and “dress them up”. No need for expensive bathroom vanities or whatsoever.

Speaking of vanity, I wonder if Better Bathrooms will adopt a similar hi-tech faucet in the future.

Conceptualized and designed by Smith Newnam, this may look complex at first glance but controlling it is actually just easy. The electronically-secured metal ball on top of the faucet’s frosted glass surface is moved towards and outside of the center to control the water pressure. While moving it around the center controls the temperature. The surface glows red or blue to denote how cold or hot the water is.

Interior Planning.

The idea of realizing our ideal home soon is really thrilling. There surely is a long way to go but I just love the idea that I can now start thinking and planning how the interiors will be designed like. The husband and I each have our own preferences and we race in saying “hey, I like this kind of sofa set for the living room. This TV for the entertainment room. These kitchen faucets looks and functions great. I like our bedroom to have this…our bathrooms to have that” and all sort of those lines. A portion of my day to day online routine is spent on browsing home interior sites. So just imagine the tons of inspirational posts and images that I have bookmarked already.

Bathroom-to-Bedroom.

The husband now wakes up earlier for work since we transferred here in Frisco. Well, he can dress and ready up fast but apparently he’s allotting more time for his bath “rituals”. Nothing mysterious or vanity related stuffs actually but he has this habit of spending some extra time while doing his morning thing. He’s making the bathroom an extension of our bedroom..yes, he’s stealing time to sleep a little more while seated. This has prompted me to browse Allegro Medical’s shower chairs because I’m really planning to buy him one. I know these are for the elderly and disabled persons but the husband is a good exception right? I’ve seen several types and models at Allegro Medical, one of the largest and most technologically advanced independently owned online retailers of life enhancing products in the United States. I wonder if they also have a type that has a head rest or a reclining shower chair so the husband can really convert our bathroom to a bedroom. LOL.

First Visit.

I have been missing in action for almost a week already, on my blogs, for that matter. Not sure if I can blog about the details behind this but let’s just say that I’ve lost my drive to log in because of these issues I’m faced. Aside from that, a number of changes took place these past few days that got me so busy. One of which is the ocular visit we did yesterday at one newly built village nearby undergoing construction. As mentioned before, we’re currently looking for a place either just a lot as a startup or a reasonably priced house and lot. I love their model house and I was actually dreaming and imagining how our own house in the future would look like….from the living room to the kitchen, to the dining room, bedrooms and even the bathrooms. Since my son is a certified water baby, we’d definitely eye the possibility of having walk in tubs in the bathrooms. But knowing that lot prices nowadays have skyrocketed so much, I guess, we have to maximize the floor area by carefully planning the layout of the house. Speaking of rates and prices, nope, we’re not yet getting the one we visited yesterday. If I win the lotto jackpot tonight, then that’s the only chance it could be considered sold by tomorrow.

Grocery Shopping.

I’ve just been to the supermarket and I had no choice but let my card get a major damage for this month’s grocery expenses. I went home with just about 3 plastic bags in tow and yet looking at the total bill makes me yearn for the best wrinkle cream to get rid of the aging lines that instantly appeared as soon as the cashier hit the cash register’s total button. Prices of everything are skyrocketing! Geez, I wonder if life will still get better ahead.

House Hunt Project.

As I’ve mentioned last time, we have officially launched our so-called house hunting project. We set this as one of our long term goals before and we believe now is the perfect time to take the initial steps to it. I’ve been busily browsing online and asking for referrals from friends for townhouses or house-and-lots that we could consider. However, we’re keeping also our options open. If we won’t be able to find the perfect abode, we could also start with just a lot first then save more for the construction of the house. One advantage of this is that the design and style would be our own as oppose to a ready-made townhouse or a house and lot. According to some friends, this option may also come in cheaper.

Since I’m excited for this project, as early as now, I can’t help but scout online for home ideas and inspirations. Lately, I am addicted to collecting garden ideas. Yep, I want a one for the house. I’m not longing for a spacious one..in fact, a flower bed in elegant Window Box Planters would do. Here’s an inspiration I got from Sonya’s Garden.

Speaking of Outdoor Planters, I’m thinking of having some Indoor Planters, too. Flowers and plants definitely add a refreshing and relaxing feel inside the house and if I may add, they make lovely decorations, too.