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If you're like me who loves to read and hoard books at home, chances are, you have tons of books on your shelves still left untouched. Maybe you've forgotten what titles you own. Books purchased months ago, or even years ago, are left behind the shelf or under the bed, collecting dust.
Before the start of the year, I list the titles of books I would like to read for the new year. I have my list for 2014 until I saw a wonderful inspiration on how to pick the books to read -- by having a Book Jar.
On each piece of scratch paper, I wrote the unread books I have on the bookshelf. Much to my surprise, I had lots of books that are awaiting for me to read them. So far, I have 40 titles on my Book Jar. I feel sorry for these books since I haven't had the chance to open their pages after I bought them.
Now, instead of my annual book list, I will pick one whenever I've finished reading one book. This brings excitement to my book reading addiction.
And today, I picked: White Fang by Jack London. I wrote down the date so I know when I started reading this book. I'm pretty happy with my pick.
Hubby and I envisioned a home where plants abound every nook and cranny. Since only the first floor of our two-storey dream house would be constructed first, we decided to make a sort of rooftop garden on the first floor.
After Hubby left to start a new contract abroad, I was filled with ideas on starting our own garden. I wanted to have an all-natural, organic garden -- flowers, fruits, vegetables, and herbs. I'm not sure if I have a green thumb like my late maternal grandfather but I could try.
First, I made a compost bin. It was a doable project since I only needed a handful of materials at home. I searched the Internet and saw several instructional guides such as this one from Organic Gardening.
I collected the following for my compost bin:
- brown materials: saw dust, dried vines and leaves, soil
- green materials: fruit and vegetable peelings, egg shells
I saw a cracked plastic container where I layered the compost materials: soil, dried plants, and then the green materials. I created two layers and add other materials in the future. I covered my compost bin to discourage animals from scavenging my bin. Hopefully, it would develop as a good compost in a few months.
I've signed up for the 100 Happy Days Challenge. For 100 days, I will post a photo of something or someone which/who made me happy that day. I can use any social media platform to post the photos. I chose Facebook since that is my personal social media page.
Why challenge myself to be happy?
Lately, I've realized that I've changed. I've become a person who was always sad, irritable, and negative to myself and other people. I've often snap at people, and my dialogues reflect a disgruntled woman. Even my photos look unhappy even if I'm smiling at the camera.
A few days ago, I consulted an EENT doctor to check my sore tongue. She's a relative so we've got to talking about our lives after my consultation. She asked me about my TTC journey and what medicine I took. I said, "Clomid." She beamed at me and said that women taking Clomid have a higher chance of having multiple babies. She asked if my OB told me that. My reply in a sarcastic tone: Yeah, but here I am, nothing happened. As I recall my conversation with her, I realized that my statements were said in a way where there's a slight hint of an angry tone. Years ago, I would have given a positive response to questions like that, like, "Yeah, I hope we will be successful this time," or "Yes, even one child and we'll be grateful." But, I've changed.
Hubby also noticed that I've become grumpy, even the littlest things will tick me off. When it comes to talks about infertility treatments, I've become distant and indifferent. I guess years of treatments took its toll on my positivity and hopefulness. In my mind, we've done all there is to done medically to help me conceive but nada. I've even done acupuncture, healthy living, novenas, etc. ZIlch. Kaput.
That's why I took the challenge. That's why I'm consciously looking for something to be happy about on a daily basis. I want to change my perspective and become a more cheery and hopeful person. I hope I'll have a more positive outlook in life after this challenge.
2014 is a new year and I hope to be a better person this year.
#100happydays
Hubby arrived home over a month ago and since then we were busy starting the construction of our house.
We got the house plan from an engineer. He already finished the plan last year. At that time, we asked him to create a house plan as we prepared the requirements for a housing loan in Pag-Ibig. We were supposed to get a loan at that time but didn't push through with it since we don't have yet the land title.
I told the engineer that the house has two storeys with one room on the first floor and three upstairs. When we got the house plan, it has a room on the 1/F and four on the 2/F. Too many rooms! But, the plan is done and paid for, so we might as well use it. We'll just tweak some features to fit our taste and style.
We hired the services of Hubby's uncle as contractor. With the budget we had, we would only be able to start with the construction of the first floor. (Our lot title is not yet done, don't know what's taking so long.)
After three weeks of construction, our house is starting to look like a house. We decided to leave the foundation of the first floor as is, with provisions for electricity and plumbing. We'll not be able to live in it now. By next year, hopefully, with God's graces, we would be able to bring in paint and tiles, etc. to make it a comfortable living space.
The feast of Our Lady of La Leche is celebrated every October 11. This year, the Our Lady of La Leche Movement will hold the special day by having a mass on October 12 (Saturday), 8:30 am, at the Chapel of St. Martha in Harrison Plaza. According to the Inquirer report, Fr. Nick Blanquisco will give a special blessing of pregnant and childless women. Learn more about this event here. To get to Harrison Plaza, I saw directions from this website.
I'm planning to attend that Mass. I believe the OLLL Movement displays various images of Our Lady during this day and I want to see them.
