The Okras, Tomatoes, Green Beans and a Potted Parsley

The past few posts have been about travel. I've been avoiding talking about home as my bout with Aplastic Anemia is not getting easier; it's still an unpredictable roller coaster ride. It is easier for me to reminisce about faraway places than deal with the battles I wage at the health front. I thank God for my family and their unyielding support. Home is still a wonderful place, it's just connected to something I don't like.

In my effort to recognize home as a great place. Today, I'll talk about home. Well, about my backyard garden. Every time spring arrives, starting the vegetable plot is something that I look forward to. Every weekend, I'd ask Kepi if the ground is safe from frost or is it okay to start the vegetable garden yet. For me, having my hands dirty and planting seeds that will soon sprout into plants keeps me close to reality. That from smalls seeds, these lovely life-giving plants would grow. It also makes me realize that all I need is one small seed of hope in order to survive the unbearable heat and the turbulent storms of the future.

The backyard garden is thriving, and it looks like it's a world of its own. I can't wait when it's time to harvest and share them with friends, neighbors and coworkers.

  The Okras are really thriving this year. In fact, my small vegetable garden is thriving.

On the herb side, I have a potted Parsley, and I intend to plant more potted herbs and bring them inside the house during the winter.

Baby tomatoes.

I'm hoping these should be ready for harvest in a couple of weeks.

Here's my small vegetable garden L to R: Tomatoes, Green Beans (front row), Yellow Peppers and Eggplants (Back Row) and Okras.

A baby Okra.

Not a lot for the first picking but I wanted to get these before they get too hard and inedible. I also got one Eggplant the other day which we've drizzled with Olive oil, a little salt and baked in the oven.

HOME is truly a BEAUTIFUL PLACE.

A Christmas Morning

I woke up real early on Christmas Day and tiptoed to the kitchen to make myself a warm cup of cocoa.

Everyone was still asleep as we had a late night on Christmas Eve.  After the Midnight Festive Mass, we came home at around 1 AM and proceeded to open our presents; it was Christmas morning after all. It was a wonderful, warm feeling to see family light up with smiles as they each opened their wrapped presents. Pieces of wrappers and ribbons fell down like rain, as Dizzy, the house cat, pawed and playfully chewed the ribbons and perched on every discarded wrapper. At this time of year, it is about family, home and of course - the cat.

It's not about the presents at all. Christmas morning was made beautiful with thoughts that: a Savior's birth is celebrated; my family is tucked safely at home sleeping; thankful that my health is improving; my job is going well; love abounds at home; and blessings never stop pouring.

After the presents have been unwrapped and the shouts of excitement dissipated, it was nice to wake up to a quiet, peaceful morning. A Christmas morning made special with a cup of cocoa and the warm company of a cat.

Christmas Tree And Black Friday

After spending a wonderful Thanksgiving with Mom and Kepi, it was time to put up the tree and light up the house with the Christmas spirit. This tree is so beautiful to look at especially when it's all lit up at night.

 Every year, we buy an ornament that represents what our year was like. This year, we added a faberge egg ornament we got in St. Petersburg, Russia.

I already feel Christmas in my heart.

Of course, we hit the stores on Black Friday and here's our loot. I think we did well on the shopping this year especially that we got DVD and Blu Ray movies as cheap as $1.99 to $3.99. Majority of our purchases were 50% off. We also got free Tin Tin ornaments and movie tickets this year. The lines weren't bad, and I think that's because some stores were open at 9 pm and 12 am Thanksgiving Day.

Just wondering, anyone want to do an exchange gift with me? Nothing fancy or expensive but just something to look forward to on the mail. Let me know.

Farmer Cat Ready For Hibernation

Look who I found snoozing on my flower garden today. It's farmer cat. I guess after the busy spring gardening (see her at work here) and the fall harvest, she's taking her time napping and hiding at my flower garden. Well, I'm quite happy to see her all comfy and warm, as the weather has been cooling rather fast.

I think I need to talk her into putting some Halloween costume for the kids. I think she'll make a wonderful Halloween cat or she can watch the sweets for me.

A meowy Saturday to all!

A Peek: Home Office

Finally, my home office is ready to face the world. The project to renovate this room started about a couple of weeks ago, but due to the heat wave, we had to postpone working on the second floor due to the unbearable heat. Anyway, thank you to PW for spending the whole Saturday adding all the finishing touches, while I went out with R for some shopping and eating. Here are the before and after photos.

BEFORE:

I didn't like the brown wall and the thick, heavy curtain so we took those off. I think this was formerly a kid's room due to the stickers on the wall.

The brown wall and curtain really made the room dark.

When the brown covering came off, this is what we have to deal with - ugly. This wall required so much spackling and sanding.

AFTER:

With newly painted walls...

All new - bookcase, curtain added.

I thought the paint and the softer curtain brightened the room.

Welcome to my home office :)

Farmer Cat Redeems Self; Or Does She?

Last weekend, I woke up finding my furry farmer already busy at work.  I was impressed at the sight of Angel watching over my vegetable corner, so I grabbed my camera and took a couple of photos.  I think she's trying to redeem herself from that controversial tabloid posting, Farmer Cat Sleeping On The Job, a week ago. I have a feeling she was called for a disciplinary hearing at the Feline Regulatory Commission (FRC), and was told to get her act together for the sake of hardworking cats all over the world.  The news is, Puss-In-Boots is Chairman of the Commission

From a hardworking furry friend and a blogger who has an over active imagination, we are happy to report that all vegetables are growing beautifully.  Absolutely grateful for the rain that we've been getting, and I smile every time I see flowers sprouting from my tomatoes and peppers.  Flowers mean one thing - fruits are expected soon.

Looks like furry farmer is hard at work.

Wait...

Is she really on-watch or busy napping?

Headline:  "Farmer Cat Redeems Self; Or Does She?

A great Wednesday to all!

My Books Are Home

My house is still a work in progress and will always be.  With so many projects on the line, I don't know which one to tackle first. I think overwhelmed is the best word to describe how I feel these days; it's not easy owning a house when you're single.  My house is lacking with a lot of things - furniture, some light fixtures and more.  I think it will take time before I get to that level of complacency with regards to how I feel about my house.  For me, the most important thing right now, is that I feel absolutely at home.

Recently, I bought this bookcase.  I was getting tired of seeing my books scattered everywhere and thought it's about time my futon could use some new company in the living room.  Special thanks to Bear for helping me build this bookcase. I found something for my house with Target promo codes and thought it had that special touch.

I like the black color.

Finally, my books are home.

Farmer Cat Sleeping On The Job

Last weekend, this was the early morning sight that greeted me from my bedroom window (photo below). It was unnerving to see a black animal lying lifeless (that's how it looked like from afar) on my corner vegetable patch. I immediately ran to the living room to get a clearer/closer view. I recognized that, that's actually my neighbor's cat, Angel, but I wasn't sure if she's breathing or not. I thought she fell from the fence and injured herself. I zoomed the camera lens to see if she's breathing, and yes, she was. Phew!

I'm amazed how she carefully positioned herself that she didn't sleep on any of my plants. I guess she's a farmer at heart.

The plant on her rear is a butternut squash, on her front is a cucumber. Later that day, I checked on my plants and found out that one of the strawberries was eaten. Mystery? I suspect a rabbit or a squirrel sneaked in and munched on the strawberry while Angel was fast asleep. Or, did she, Angel, ate the Strawberry? I really should have checked if her whiskers were tinged with red.

Anyway, if I were to put a headline on this photo, it would be - "Farmer Cat Sleeping On The Job."

Any other headline suggestions?

Happy Thursday!

Meet Pinky

I wanted to write a much longer post, but I think that this photo and a little narrative would sufficiently explain my successful project. I have to say that the experience and the process was quite challenging and very stressful,  but in the end, absolutely rewarding. More than a year after I wrote my bucket list, I actually made part of number four into a reality. Until today, I still couldn't believe I'm finally the owner of a house I referred to as 'pinky.'

I met 'pinky' about three months ago, and it caught my eye because of it's workable size and the beautiful view from the living room, which I'll take a photo of at a later time. I referred to this house 'pinky' because there's a part of the house that's painted pink. Also, at that time, I was visiting so many houses and this house really stood out in my mind because of that striking pink color. From then on, I fought and stressed to make 'pinky' my home. So when I stated that I won't be home for Christmas, it was a misstatement because I will be in my own home for the holidays. Although I will stress that I will miss Hawaii this year.

Next month, I will be moving to my house, and since I have started to pack my belongings, I can't help but think how I'll miss my apartment (photos below) which has been my home for the passed two years. This apartment has seen one of the worse experiences in my life, the break-up, but it also laid witness to how I stood up, moved on, and succeeded. I will definitely miss this apartment.

Lastly, dreams absolutely do come true no matter what!