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Lifestyle

Let’s Talk About Health Care

I didn’t report to work last Wednesday because I needed to see the doctor for my eyes. You see, I’ve had eye allergies for almost a month now and regular allergy meds are not doing the job.

This little boy came along

Well, if you know me, you would know that I rarely see doctors. I know it’s inadvisable, but I often resort to self-medication and/or natural remedies. However, as I age, I realise they’re no longer working. I also noticed that I’ve had more trips to the hospital this year than in the last 10 years of my life.

(Not including maternity checkups, of course. Those were not for a sickness.)

12 Comments

July 24, 2015 by Maan

Baguio-Ilocos-Tagaytay Trip on a Budget

(Click on gallery above to view pictures.)

AKA How we toured (almost) half of Luzon for only around P3,500 per person

Last March, I took a week off from work (on second thought, I did not really work during February and March) and went to far places. Nope, we did not go outside the country, but we did have a grand time touring a far island: Luzon. Well, half of it. Almost.

In a week, we were able to go to Baguio, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte, and Cavite (Kawit and Tagaytay) — and little bits of Manila in between. Guess how much we spent for the trip? Roughly just about P3,500 per head. Add airfare and some pocket money, and the trip still won’t burn a hole in your pocket.

If you’re planning to embark on a similar trip, read on!

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July 22, 2015 by Maan

Lifestyle Summer Destinations WAHM Diaries

Over the Weekend

Hi everyone!

How was your weekend?

Mine was uneventful. A little tiring but I’m still thankful it was uneventful.

You see, it was my maternal cousin’s birthday last Friday and they celebrated it at a quite popular resort here in Davao (Pearl Farm). We were all invited to come but my dad could barely get out of bed due to heavy medications and I had to work (no holiday for remote workers hehe).

I pray I can go to the beach, too…

My mum was going to turn down the invitation but my dad insisted we go. I told him I’d stay behind (and, by extension, Yuri) with him to be his nurse. And the rest was history. I was working on a holiday with a restless preschooler, and for the entire weekend, ran the household and tried not to get confused with what medicines my father needed to take at a specific time.

I couldn’t stand blood but sometimes I wish I took up nursing! Haha just kidding.

I also ended up filling up every possible container at home with water because there was an advisory of water interruption for 3 days. I guess I had an adrenaline rush (read: panic) because I easily filled up around 15 large Tupprrwares and Rubbermaids, 3 empty gallons of water, and a huge Orocan drum.

Guess what. We never lost our water. Oh well!

35 Comments

July 19, 2015 by Maan

Health and Fitness Lifestyle Personal

10 Reasons Why I Need to Lose Weight

I’m sad.

Last year, in my old blog, I talked about slowly gaining weight as I was weaning Yuri off the breast. He was just 2 years old then and was still nursing, but it wasn’t as often as his sessions when he was a newborn (of course), which made me lose a lot of weight. As in 20-25 kilograms.

I was gaining weight last year but it wasn’t so drastic since I still nursed, ate a good diet, and occasionally worked out.

Now, I’m yaya-less (read: no time for workouts), still a voracious eater, and completely stopped breastfeeding.

In other words, I’m fat. Huhu.

To motivate myself to start dieting and find time to work out today, I wrote this list of reasons why I need to lose weight.

TEN

Before, I used to be done dressing up in 5 minutes tops. I just pick out a pretty dress from my closet and it almost always fits me well.

Now, those 5 minutes easily extend to 30 (or more) because only so few of my clothes still fit me. If they do, I have to check in the mirror if I actually look decent in it.

NINE

Still on the issue of clothes, before, I’ll just order whatever dress or piece of clothing online and, when they arrive, they always fit.

Today, I have a bag of newly purchased but never worn clothes which I should either bring to the seamstress or re-sell.

EIGHT

I need to lose weight for possible future reunions and get-togethers.

SEVEN

I need to lose weight because I love how it felt when I was 10 kilograms lighter. Everything felt easy to do – even going up and down our stairs.

Now I just feel heavy and bulky and out of breath.

SIX

I can no longer take OOTDs. I tried but got horrified at the pictures. Okay, I’m exaggerating, sorry. Honestly though, I no longer feel as confident to have my picture taken as before.

FIVE

I need to lose weight because I don’t want to be bigger than Job – which makes it even more challenging because he’s fit. Haha. Huhu.

FOUR

I need to lose weight because I noticed I easily tire nowadays. I can’t even play with Yuri for a long time – which makes homeschooling difficult.

THREE

I need to lose weight because I need to go back to eating a healthy diet. We’ve started eating white rice again this year because a close family friend also recently started harvesting from his farm. But this month, I insisted we go back to eating brown rice.

TWO

I need to lose weight as a motivation to keep moving and minimise my own screen time. One of the woes of being a WAHM is the lack of choice when it comes to movement and screen time. You have to be seated for a good portion of the day in front of a computer.

I need to make sure I’m not a complete slob sedentary person!

ONE

And finally, I need to lose weight because my father’s been seeing doctors (with an s) since last weekend. Aside from high blood pressure (he had a stroke back in 2006) and gout, we found out he has high creatinine, which can lead to kidney ailments.

For the sake of everyone I love, I want to grow old healthy and without ailments. And, given my father’s medical history, I really need to exert more effort into living a healthy lifestyle.

Thus, losing weight is only a side effect.