Easy DIY Washi Tape Organizer

I looove washi tapes! Cute patterns, lovely colors and more. You can use it in so many things like labels, wrappers, accents and more. It's also perfect in keeping a little tot busy even for just a few minutes.

This was posted over a year ago when I finally installed that wooden shelf I got from Papemelroti. If only my main purpose was to display these tapes, then this shelf is perfect as it is. But since I am actually using all these, this shelf turned out to be a bit of a hassle. Since the tapes were stacked, I need to take them the ones on top, even the stack beside, just to get the tape at the bottom. It became a bit of a hassle. So I searched for a washi tape holder/organizer only to find out that the one that I liked will cost me around 2,000Php. Ugh.

If I had the budget, I would've gotten me one of these from Scrappy Manila

Time for some DIY! :)

How Breastfeeding Helped Us Jumpstart Our Family

"Welcome to the Milk Mama Diaries Carnival (August). For this month, we write about the World Breastfeeding Week 2014 - Breastfeeding: A Winning Goal for Life and share how breastfeeding can help the Philippines achieve the 8 Millennium Development Goals developed by the government and the United Nations. Participants will share their thoughts, experiences, hopes and suggestions on the topic.

Please scroll down to the end of the post to see the list of carnival entries."

I am always excited every time I get to blog or post about breastfeeding. What's even more exciting is that I get to participate in this year's Milk Mama Diaries blog carnival to share my personal thoughts and our experiences in breastfeeding with high hopes of inspiring others to pursue their very own journey as well.

Breastfeeding Aids Poverty 

Like all newlyweds, we were on our way to building up our own family, and that also meant building up our finances. While we've already planned to have a baby on our first year of marriage, we were still caught in a bit of surprise at how costly it was to have a baby. The monthly check-ups, vitamins, medicines, laboratory tests and in my case some special tests to make sure that Ava was perfectly fine inside my womb. And then there were those cravings, the clothes that did not fit and the days/months when I had to take a leave from work. Then it was time for Ava's birth. While it was one of the best days of our lives, we still had hospital bills, doctor's fees, more medicines and other stuff. It was a bit overwhelming but we are grateful for our families for giving us the emotional and financial help that we needed that time.

No-Bake Chewy Oreo Squares

This very easy recipe was adapted from Picky-Palate's No-Bake Chewy Cookies and Cream Bars. I was really aiming for exactly the same results, but unfortunately mine went on a different path. Lol.

Ingredients:

32 pcs. Oreo Cookies (approximately)

3 cups Large White Marshmallows

4 tbsp. Butter

How to Make:

1. Place Oreos in food processor and pulse until ground. Melt marshmallows and butter in microwave until puffed, about 1 1/2- 2 minutes. Remove and pour in ground Oreo Cookies. Stir to combine then transfer to a foil lined 8×8 inch baking pan. Let set up for 10 minutes. Remove bars out of pan with edges of foil and cut into squares.

It's that easy, but how come mine didn't turn out the same? I didn't follow the quantities indicated in the recipe because I didn't have it with me while I was doing it. Yes, I know, how smart. :D

Because I must have blended my Oreo cookies a bit too much, instead of small granules, I ended up with finely grounded Oreos. My marshmallows were a bit smaller in proportion also that's why I didn't have that cookies and cream look. 

BUT, it didn't turn out bad. It was still chewy and yummy. Mr. T and Ava approved. 

The Yaya Chronicles

It's inevitable for a Mama's blog to have a post or two about her Yaya encounters. Here's mine.

While I did not constantly have a Yaya/Househelp when I was growing up, I still pretty much experienced a lot of dealing with them, mostly when I was all grown up because of my sisters and their babies and a lot of stories from friends and online communities.

And when Ava finally came, I finally had my very own share of Yaya stories.

The first one who came in was when Ava was just around three months old. Yaya #1 agreed to do the job but she eventually confessed that she was pregnant and she just had to get away so her family won't know. Of course we had to let her go and told her that she needs to let her family know about her situation. Yaya #2 was too young and because of the lack of goal and maturity, she got bored and opted to go back home after two months of stay. Yaya #3, we had to let go after a week because she was totally not fit to take care of a baby. That was also the first time I fired a person. Yaya #4 was a familiar face to us. She was my first niece's previous Yaya and she also became our help at home before Mr. T and I got married. She left because of personal issues and later on we heard news that she eventually had a baby on her own. Conveniently for us, while we were looking, and for the third time, she went back to us and became our Yaya from Ava's fifth month until her eighteenth. She left once again because this time, she needed to take care of her own kid.

The one that followed, Yaya #5 lasted for a little more than two months. She took a weekend off and while she was away, we found out that she's been doing some things that are unacceptable, nothing that involved Ava, thankfully. We understand that it comes with being young and all but I really can't tolerate some things. We told her not to come back anymore.

Small Closet Organization Ideas

I grew up sharing a room with my siblings, and we didn't have a walk-in closet, just a linear set of typical cabinets and drawers. I was initially allotted just a set of drawers since I didn't need a big closet space back when I was just in grade school. Uniforms, a few pieces of panglakad, and house clothes are just what I had back then. When I moved to Manila for high school studies, since we live in a very small apartment, I once again had just a set of cabinet to keep my clothes. Fast-forward to married life, I now share a closet with Mr. T.

When I was studying Architecture in college, I was introduced through drawings to the design ideas of walk-in-closets. It didn't matter much to me then until I actually started working and got to design residential houses with huuuge closet spaces. I really don't want a big walk-in-closet but I got interested with how organized a closet can be. Lol. I always had trouble keeping my closet tidy because they are always piled up, never hanged, because I get annoyed at seeing hangers in different shapes and sizes. So my shallow dream was to have my clothes organized on typical hangers.

That dream finally came true. :)))

Most organized our closet has been! :)))

Pottery Barn Kids Manila

Last weekend, we were finally able to check out the newly opened Pottery Barn Kids at BHS Central in BGC. I will be sharing to you a few of the things you'll see but as much as I would like to recommend what to get, I was not able to buy anything because they are expensive! Lol.

On a serious note though, we are lucky enough to have a few pieces of from Pottery Barn Kids all thanks to my in-laws who lovingly sent them over for their grand daughter. :) We got the Kendall crib as well as some crib sheets. We really really love because Ava's crib mattress (from the Baby Company) was the 6" thick type and since the typical thickness of crib mattresses here are just 4", sheets for the 6" thick are a bit hard to find.

Darling Daughter loves her crib so much she even tried to eat it. Lol. Pink Elephant sheet from Pottery Barn.

Japan Home Wholesale Centre

I chanced upon this Japan Home's Wholesale Centre when we picked up a parcel somewhere along Panay Avenue months before. I told Mr. T that we should check it out and it was only yesterday that we finally did.

Japan Home Wholesale Centre along Panay Ave.

The place was huge - two floors of 88Php madness. I am such a cheapskate and there are some stuff that I've been looking for for the longest time and finally found them here! :) I think my finds should be on a separate blog since we are still planning to go back and get more stuff.