Cleaning with Domex

Merry, mad, murky; it's a bit weird to put these three words together but you know, these best describe our home the past pre-holidays as a servantless family. While it's true that celebrating the birth of Jesus made us all nice and sweet to each other (I tried my best, haha), we can't deny that the stress it brought us was maddening. I have matured, though. I chose to prioritize the things that make me mad. I focused on what's purposeful. To be honest, cleaning one of the most important parts of the house wasn't in my list. My kitchen's my top priority, for obvious reasons.

Well, it's the bathroom. There were days when I just come and go in that little cold place of ours. The only fortunate thing about it is it's not a common ground for everyone (the word everyone pertains to the three of us plus my kitchen assistant, fyi). My only child, Sophia, has her own bathroom in her playroom slash dressing room. She cheerfully shares it with anyone who'd ask where they can do their thing. So I regularly clean it for her health. We used to have a wash room for guests beside the laundry area but I converted it into the new laundry area 'cause of the midyear storms. Gosh, so many banyo stories, hehe. Anyway - 

War Against the House Enemies & A Giveaway From Pest Off

You know what they say about raising happy kids and messy homes; that it won't come together all the time as you wish? Well, there is truth to it especially if your family's like us, who do not have anyone to manage the house but us. Now that I have online work, a small biz and this blog to maintain - I hardly have time to fully clean the house! After my shenanigans for my well-received #baonserye episode on my Facebook page, the kitchen area usually looks like a warzone. Seriously. And we all know that those traces of war attract *enemies*, right? By that I mean - house pests that scare the hell out of me. So how do I keep them away without being rushed to the hospital?

1. Making sure that if I choose not to wash the dishes, the edibles or "ngatngat-worthy" are all in the trash bin. It has to be somewhere far from me or I'll freak out to death once I see a fiend crawling on top of the sink. *goosebumps* lol 

2. I have a cat. Have you noticed (in the movies, Instagram, blogs or maybe someone you know) that those who love to cook are those who love the feline family, too? I have no scientific idea about it but it does apply to me. I just feel like keeping my furry baby but I'm also glad that she helps me drive away the unwanted guests at home. 

3. If my cat fails to fulfill her duty, I use products to halt a budding scary pest domination. I have insect repellent sprays for mosquitoes, flies and roaches. We also draw on wall crevices using insecticide chalk to neutralize creepy crawlies. As for Mickey Mouse and his friends, we are armed! Pest Off sent us their best mouse and rat warriors last week and really, it's the best! 

Free Printable Finds

With all the many hats that a mom has to wear, she must always organize and plan things ahead in order to accomplish the tasks as she wanted it to be. It can be planned at least a day ahead, sometimes a week before; months even if necessary. I know some moms who can peacefully manage her household without a journal or to-do list, at least; I am an exemption. I need a handful of post-its and a decent pinboard beside my office desk so I will be reminded of what I need to do. But post-its can be a bit boring albeit its loud colors - my penmanship makes it as such, perhaps.

I'm glad that there are creative bloggers who are so generous to share their digital art skills with us here in the cyberworld! Planning my #baonserye is now easier with Living Locurto's Lunch Box Planner. I write what I can prepare for Sophia there then I list down the items needed to make it in Hello Cuteness' Grocery List. Here are the other free printables that can help you organize your tasks (and maybe your life, as well, haha).

Lysol To Go: Perfect for Moms on the Go!

Long before motherhood happened to me, I have already been used to packing a lot of things whenever I leave the house. I don't want the feeling of needing something and not having it on my bag. Like what I said in this post, my husband thought I was insinuating to run away with him when I packed a week's worth bag for our 3-day trip to Baguio, haha! It was crazy, I know, but I'm glad I didn't end up buying clothes or anything that I forgot to bring. 

And now that I'm now a mom to an amazing girly girl with an energy of four rowdy boys, I can't always bring a big bag of my regular everything because #backache. In almost 7 years of learning the ropes of child-rearing, I have realized that I only need to make my little miss healthy and happy. Everything else will surely follow.

Project House

When Papa was still alive, he used to drive us around Xavierville Avenue going home. During the early 90s, the houses on that road were one of the bests, at least for us siblings. We would be pointing to houses we liked most. “That’s mine”, “oh, yan naman sa akin ha”, “ang gandaaaaa” — these were the usual dialogues of the day-dreaming Redrico kids. Fast forward to now — Papa’s in heaven, we’re all grown up, three of us have our own families and still, we haven’t built those houses like that of Xavierville’s.

But we didn’t stop dreaming.

Our Royal Dwelling

Welcome to my house! I know how weird it is to see a dusty electric fan, unorganized shelf and the word royal all in one post. Allow me to explain.

Whenever I use royal on my blog or social media accounts, please don't think of crowns, castle and Kate Middleton. Remember that I always pair it with domesticity, home or kitchen? You see, if not all, most people see housewives as unglamorous or plain. Yup, we can be that and more. What, with all the house chores and messy kids that we have to mind and only 24 hours in a day, who has time to apply lipstick at least? That's why I use that word whenever I post everything about my life at home as a wife and mom. It's my way of making my ordinary life extraordinary. 

Wait, though.

Bebeng's Kitchen Warriors

Any kingdom's queen has to have her royal crew. This domestic queen has a few. Say —  a menopausal washing machine, a dirty old man refrigerator, four bragging bachelor electric fans, a geeky mop and a battalion of hardworking kitchen warriors. The thought of giving them character and name and profile started when I bought a stand mixer last weekend. I don't know with you but I'm someone who can fall in-love with a KitchenAid Artisan mixer. I want to sleep with her. LOL. I asked y'all to vote for what you think is the best color to buy among the choices I gave, and I was overwhelmed by your giggly responses. I really felt that you guys are so happy for me! Can't wait to show you what I've got. Sad though, that my old kitchen loyalists do not have names. But yeah, if you'd ask me who they are in my story, I can give you an impromptu brief about its character. And maybe come up with a name right then and there. Just please don't ask me to name each spoon and fork in my kitchen drawer. 

Is this making you think that my long list of to-dos have made me gone haywire? 

I have a problem!

Daz me right durr. [source]

A good problem. A problem I can't solve yet but I'm happy to think about. 

I told my husband that I really want to take Bebeng's Kitchen seriously, not that I'm just playing since I started it on July. As in, I was dreaming of its expansion for weeks already. You see, I can't bake a lot, can't try other breads and cakes aside from the regulars I made because I only own a few kitchen tools. 

1) My table top oven's still in the appliance hospital so I borrowed my mom's. It's rusty and old. Surprisingly, it delivers but in a slightly different way. The muffins were a little denser and brownies were softer. It's okay but not the best. Ask those who know me well, I always want the best in everything I do. I then asked my fellow baking mommas on FB on what oven I should get — electric or gas, Elba or La Germania. Gas and La Germania won for the best practical reasons. So I'll be hugging my own La Germania real soon! I can't wait to share with y'all how my new kitchen buddy would look like. One thing's for sure, he's kinda big. He's German. Teehee.

2) I don't have a mixer. I do all the stirring, mixing, whisking manually. Hello, macho arms! Not. I super get tired just to get the right consistency of whatever I have to mix. Sometimes, I don't quite get it. So to further inspire me to become the next big thing in the food commerce (claiming it makes it true I believe), I am buying myself a KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer. Did I hear you mumble a "woot"? Or was it a "yay"? Hahaha! Isn't this a big deal in any domestic queen's life? This is the Rolls Royce of all mixers, right? Before anything else, I'd like to let you know that I'm getting the most affordable model, not that one that costs twice as much as my daughter's tuition. I'm still sane and sober. And financially-challenged. 

But like what the title suggests, I have a problem.