the big move: ten months after

If there’s such a thing as the equivalent of postpartum depression after moving out of your birth nest, I can safely say that we have passed that stage with flying colors.

So it’s actually been ten months since we’ve moved to our new home in Los Banos. It’s also been a couple of months since I last checked on my blog, and even longer since I posted anything in here. Finally, I got around to writing here again. I have a lot of news, lots of stuff going on with me, and our new life in our new home, the farm, and the kids. But the most important stuff I really want to share right now are the things we already thought we knew, but are learning over and over, especially since we went on our own.

when green gets greener

And so we live a stone’s throw from a forest reserve. We are forever in awe each time we roll down our car windows and see through the tall trees outside and breathe the fresh forest-y air. And all these happen each time we try to avoid traffic and take the PCARRD shortcut. We may have the worst traffic this side of Laguna, but, we have the best shortcut in the world.

UPLB sits at the foothills of the Mt. Makiling Forest Reserves. It is a science community that is up in arms when conservation and preservation is concerned. The environmental consciousness of the UPLB community is one of the many things that has been very exciting for me.

this provincial life

We have not stepped into a shopping mall in two months. Riding a jeepney has become such a luxury. And remembering to bring an umbrella is a blessing in disguise under the sizzling Los Banos sun.

We have moved into our new home and realized that the process of  “settling down” is indeed very long and tedious. We spent our first weeks painting floors and shelves, buying furniture, installing appliances and finding a new home for all of our stuff… clothes, books, toys. We had to get used to so many things in such a short time–Ari starting school, Uri having a new yaya, the longer trip to the office.

The kids suffered the bad end of this entire adjustment phase. They started getting sick, losing weight. Ari slept through his classes for an entire week before he kicked out the afternoon nap altogether. Uri had a recurrence of separation anxiety because he was never used to not having Kuya around. He suddenly felt really lonesome especially with a new yaya that he barely knew and he would cry his heart out every time anybody stepped out the front door.

a first look into our first home

This is going to be our last week in the city. And I’m getting some moving day jitters. Are we really ready to leave the comforts of old home behind?

It’s the last weekend before the big move on Saturday. We’re supposed to be moving some of the big stuff today but the moving party (Father & his truck, Buzz lightyear) called in sick. So it was just Turo and I and our trusty Mojito (we just have this thing about naming our cars) and all the moving boxes that we could fit in.

A beautiful Sunday morning drive led us to Los Banos before 10 am. I had to eat otherwise I’d get all cranky, so some Papu’s siomai and bottomless buko juice from Manong Buko powered us up. His buko juice had the same exact taste from 6 or 7 years ago, so much like everything else. LB we are so home!

belittling interiors

Yaya is losing space in the guestroom. We have moving boxes, appliance boxes, toy boxes all stacked up. Two more months of home stuff collecting then we’re outta here.

We have found our house! It’s the second of a two-unit apartment, inside a secure family compound owned by Turo’s relatives. A small, two-bedroom, two-storey unit, with a narrow covered porch and huge open area outside for gardening and play space, walking distance to UPLB. We so love it.

We haven’t really had the chance to sit down with the owners of the unit for the terms. We’d like to propose some renovations, both inside and outside, so that our new home can conveniently match our current lifestyle, and the fact that we don’t really have a lot of big-time home stuff to begin with. Fingers crossed.

We’ve visited the apartment very briefly just once and since then I’ve been re-creating all corners of that place in my mind, trying to figure out how to make the most of every inch.

The dilemma: It’s a small apartment. It’s freakishly small compared to the space we subsist in now. The ground floor area is probably equivalent to that of our current room. How the hell can we fit the kitchen, dining, living and play space, home office into the same amount of space that currently holds only our beds?

We want this apartment. It may be small but it’s perfect for our needs. Good location. Relatives around the corner. Restaurants a few steps away. Lots of play space. Barbecue grill. It’s really perfect. And by all means, I will make it the most perfect first home we’d ever set our family feet on.

Back to the dilemma. A few months ago, we bought a collapsible modern-ish white oval dining table. I found it on sale in Shangri-la and dragged Turo to go buy it the following week. But, when we visited the apartment, we realized there was no way it could conveniently fit in the space that’s supposed to be the dining area.

And then, “Light bulb!” (in true Gru fashion). I thought we could integrate the dining space into the living space by using the sofa as a banquette for the dining table. The photos below serve as my inspiration for this idea.

By putting the dining and living areas together in one space, what was supposed to be the dining space can be devoted fully to the kitchen. What cook does not want a full kitchen? Plus, we can save a bit because we don’t need to buy as much dining chairs as we originally planned. And we don’t even need to buy furniture for the living area because…

a) Mother offered to split up the sectional sofa at home and lend me a couple of pieces. I just need to have them re-upholstered so the seating height would be proportional to the height of the dining table; and

b) I intend to use the kiddie bed as another sofa. Aside from providing additional seating, the kids can take their afternoon naps here so they can be seen from downstairs. The rooms upstairs are also pretty small and it’s not very comfortable to have two bed stands fit into a small room. I’m thinking of just having a pull-out constructed from below our bed so the kids sleep there, or just buy a mattress as a temp bed. At least while they still sleep with us. Some photos of a bed-turned-sofa are found below.

To complete the living space, I plan to put up the toy cabinet-slash-TV rack against the staircase, as in the layout below. I originally planned to position this against the wall, but I guess there would be more moving space this way and the kids will be farther from the TV.

If the owners would allow us, we’d have some cabinets made so we can fully utilize the remaining space under the stairs adjacent to the sink area as additional kitchen space.

That pretty much covers the ground floor interiors. Except for a little repainting, electrical checks, and the installation of a few shelves, not much work need to be done here. I’ll have the porch area and the upstairs to worry about in the coming weeks.  Meanwhile, below is my planned layout of the ground floor area of our soon-to-be apartment.

When we go back to visit the apartment and have “the talk” with the owners, we need to take measurements to make sure stuff will fit as planned. I hope. I hope.

serving and shelving

I went out earlier today for some bank transactions, to get a chest x-ray and find a notary public. A few hours later, I walked home with four huge bags from home and decor stores, a refrigerator catalog and an appliances pricelist. Plus the notarized documents. But no x-ray.

It is a mistake to step inside of a shopping mall after getting some money from the bank. I was only supposed to purchase a gift for my secret santa in an upcoming (but very much delayed) christmas party. But I had to pass through the lane of home stores, alone, and with some money. And I was just too weak.

I’ve long been wanting to get some baskets to make sorting and storing the boys’ toys easier. I keep saying I’ll get some woven baskets in Samar but those I found look too native and doesn’t seem appropriate to store kids’ toys. An ideal toy cabinet for me should have large, open baskets in bright, cheery colors.

At home, we have this huge open cabinet with large square-ish shelves that serves as the TV and DVD rack and toy cabinet at the same time. My mother once mentioned she would be handing this down to me when we move out. When it’s officially mine, I’ll be painting it white so the colors of the newly-purchased toy baskets will be brighter.

Another noteworthy purchase from today’s unplanned shopping spree is inspired by decorative metal trays–perfect servingware for small parties or a great accent to a breakfast table.

I am so very lucky to find something so much like these from Papemelroti, very cheap too. And there were two pieces left I had to buy both. I can imagine this as our bread basket, lined with handwoven cloth, beside a bottle of jam or honey and a tub of butter or cheese!

 

first home hunting

Yesterday was a day of semi-successes. Turo and I drove to LB to look for possible housing options for our big move next year. At the end of the day we had a handful of contact numbers and addresses of our “first home” candidates, a clearer picture of rental pricing for our budget projections and more insights on how our future life will be like after we’ve moved.

The trip to Laguna and back has been relatively predictable. No intense traffic congestion, just a laid back relaxing drive, albeit inefficient toll fee collection. I’m positive that traffic conditions will be better by next year and we’ll have enjoyable road trips whenever we would need to go to Manila.

deciding family

I had been putting off writing another entry for more than a month now. I wasn’t really busy. I was occupied. With my favorite activity in the world. Planning. This time for something major and life-changing.

Just about the right enough number of doors opened and closed for us that led to what probably is the boldest decision we ever yet made for our family. We decided to let go of the ultimate comforts of our present home–free dwelling in my parent’s beautiful and well-ventilated house, a huge refrigerator and a full kitchen, free use of the family car, quiet suburban living minutes away from Manila.

After nearly four years, we are going to be on our own, away from stressful Manila, and closer to the foothills of beautiful Mt. Makiling. Because early next year, we are going to be residents of Los Banos. I could not be any more excited.

operation: declutter

Our new yaya does a great job of getting the house clean with minimal supervision. But a clean house is only the next best thing to an organized house. When I thought I had a few hours to spare the other day, I raided the closet where I keep some of the boys’ old toys. Yes it was time for operation declutter. At least for that corner of the house.

We’re lucky because we always had some place to junk our junk. I keep old clothes inside old bags so when fire victims come knocking we have something to donate. Yaya sorts used cans and plastic containers and sells them to bakal-bote boys. She says she sells enough for her to buy cellphone load from time to time. Not bad. And we never run out of babies in the family who can use the boys’ outgrown clothes.

unique ceramic designs from dwell

Dwell is my new home store discovery. (I still have no idea how it’s connected to Dwell the magazine, which by the way is my favorite architectural mag.) It’s in this store that I found some relatively affordable retro-inspired vinyl chairs, which I thought I’d only see in magazines. Dwell carries the usual brands that can be found in most specialty stores and a number of department stores. But what I found unique in Dwell is their line of ceramic and porcelain wares.