Ahh Spring cleaning in my mind. A clutter-free existence is something I always look forward to all the time. This time I have the perfect reason to nag family members to get their butt moving because we’re transferring to our new home by the second week of March. Whatever junk they choose to pack will be carried over to their new rooms. It’s their problem. The Lady cat in our home is flustered as she sees stressed-out-old me clearing up the junk and what not. It’s difficult for me to let go of memories as I held the girl’s ballerina tutus in front of me. I decide “This goes to the “For Keeps” corner”. Lady , the cat lies down on the tutu and observes my “Goodbye Gulo” activity. Even if you’re not moving homes, it’s best for everyone to have some semblance of a clutter-free existence. Clutter causes stress, the feeling of not being in control or the absence of peace of mind due to panic searching for needed items. What about dust that settles on useless items.

So what have I tossed out?

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Technorati Tags: Spring cleaning

Send Flowers this Valentine’s Day

Edit: Visit this flower vendor from the Dangwa Flower Market

If there is one business my husband wants to get into, it’s a flower shop. For the past 6 years, all we could do for our beloved son is buy flowers and bring them over to his resting place. We have probably made our flower “suki” quite rich. Butch either buys mums or roses in bulk and arranges them in our disposable vases. He leaves a few flowers to add color on our dinner table.

Last Sunday’s stroll at the Dangwa Flower Market in Sampaloc, Manila was different. Butch felt romantic . Hehe. I’ve never been there but I’ve heard that Flower vendors from Trinidad , Benguet sell their produce in here. Prices are quite affordable too. A bouquet of various flowers can fetch a price of 200 to 250 pesos (around $5.00). I bet it’ll be three times as much as Valentine’s Day approach. As I took photos of all the various flowers (See here), I can just imagine the profit margins of the Florists. Of course, there’s the problem of rotten flowers that don’t sell so perhaps they consider the wastage as part of their carrying costs.

As I gushed over the Daisies, Roses, Zinnias ,Marigolds, chrysanthemums, in vivid colors, the Carnations caught my attention. I love Carnations.I love the colors.. Butch took the hint and bought a bundle of 9 Imported green carnations for 180 pesos. Not bad. Usually I get 3 pieces for 80 pesos at the Rustan’s flower shop. He didn’t haggle anymore as he knows that the vendor was not overpricing.

Butch and I may not celebrate Valentine’s day but random displays of affection truly warms my heart. For once, the flowers were not for my son.

I bought some Asters and lovingly arranged them in our vase.

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Technorati Tags: flower shop, flowers, Dangwa Flower Market, Florists, Valentine’s day

I was so utterly busy so forgive me for the delay on the Blog Parteeh Aftermath (blogparteeh07). Thanks to the Steering Committee. It was well organized considering we had barely two weeks to put it all together. This means we can really pull a party together in few weeks notice. I heard the next party is on June since there is an Iblog Summit 3 on April 13 and 14.

The highlights according to me:

1. I won a Google T-shirt thru the kindess of Aileen Apollo, Google Philippines Country Consultant, which I in turn gave to my husband.

2. My daughter, Lauren finally joined the party but she was sooooo fashionably late. Thanks to her dad. I think she enjoyed
herself much as she thinks that she got stressed out.

3. I had fun even if I was the oldest among the bloggers. Haha! I felt like a Mother Hen making sure the tables, chairs, decors and food were all in place.

4. Abe treated the Steering Committee to coffee after the party.

5. Bo Sanchez interviewed me via a video podcast. Wow!

6. Even with less than two weeks preparation time, the event was quite organized. Kudos to Carlo, the logistics guy in charge. And the Steering Committee:

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M and I visited the kennel yesterday to reserve the boxer pup that M discovered through the Dog Tracker forums . There were 4 cute pups to choose from. On the photo above, the female pup is to the leftmost while the rest were male boxer pups. They were only 2 weeks old but they have grown so much. It’s a comforting fact to know that the kennel owner’s Persian cat and his boxer live in peace. We believe the boxer is right dog breed for our family and two felines. We were able to haggle the price a bit lower because I offered more than 50% downpayment. This boxer pup will be a family dog and not a show dog but it’s nice to know that the pups have good genes as they were sired by Philippine Boxer Champion, Solo.

And from among the 4 adorable pups, we chose….

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Technorati Tags: boxer, right dog breed

It is belived that with the proper orientation of one’s house or business premises, one is able to harmonize with nature and relate to the physical surrounding favorably to attract desirable cosmological influences. That is what I learned as a licensed real estate broker in the nineties. As part of the tools of trade, I underwent a basic orientation of Feng-Shui under a Japanese Geomancer. A few Filipinos believe in the art of geomancy and it helps if I had a little knowledge on the matter. I’ve forgotten all about Feng-shui since I stopped my real estate career (I will talk about this in another entry). Besides, I’m not Chinese and feng-shui shouldn’t rule my life or dictate my dream home.

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Technorati Tags: Feng-Shui, geomancy

The last time we had a pure bred dog was over seven years ago. The children grew up with frisky dalmatians. My two girls screamed with joy when their Uncle Raul gave them Sindy, the female dal who in turn gave birth to adorable puppies. This was at the height of Disney’s 101 Dalmatians in the early nineties. Can you imagine their delight when 6 puppies scampered about our living room? My maternal instinct yearned for another baby as I helped them take care of the dalmatians. Little did I know that Luijoe was already growing in my womb. Many years later, when we moved to Makati, the village security guards kept giving us a fine of 1,000 pesos ($20) everytime one of the dalmatians broke out of the gate and caused a nuisance to the neighbors. Exasperated, we brought them over to Baguio where they would be free to romp around to their heart’s delight.

Moving to our new home has its risks. Security in the village is not as tight as it is in here. Outsiders are just free to enter in and out of the gate. So my husband thought it’d be best to get a dog for added security measures. I remember how the utility people freaked out whenever our dals came barking at them by the gate. But we didn’t want dalamatians anymore. We didn’t want a guard dog breed like the Doberman because they could be mean. We just wanted a dog that could be a family pet, yet intimidating to strangers and hopefully an intelligent watchdog. Another criteria involved the two precocious kitties who are part of the family. How we love our cats! We don’t want our dog to harm them . They don’t have to be buddies but the cats and the dog need to be civil towards each other.

M took upon the task of researching for the right dog breed for the family. Her first choice was the Siberian Husky

We found out the Siberain Husky is not quite friendly to small animals. Instinctively they ran after them. The next choice was the Akita

Then again, M discovered that Akita’s were like the Huskies who ran after small animals. No, that won’t do. M thought that herding dogs or non-sporting dogs would be the better breed. She suggested the Collie but I thought long haired dogs might be difficult to take care in our tropical weather.

I asked “what about the Belgian Malinois?

The Belgian Malinois , a herding dog closely resembles “the German Shepherd Dog, but upon closer inspection, many differences may be seen including size, bone structure, color, and head and ear shape.” He looks intimidating yet probably kind to cats since the breed is a herding dog. Everyone agreed and the search for the Belgian Malinois began…

Then M showed me an adorable photo of this cat cuddled up with a dog….

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