Just Passing Thru

Coca-Cola Launches Taste the Feeling Global Campaign

4:15 AM

Recycling House Parts and Furniture

7:32 PM

Have you ever considered recycling house parts? By that meaning, that you give exceptional or unique parts of your old home a new lease in life by salvaging it to be part of your new home. It doesn't even have to be your old home as there are many treasures worth salvaging that are being sold in house parts thrift stores.

Personal Memories

When my husband and his younger brother was still sharing a room in their old home, his brother and their cousin Cris, literally made use of their room walls as canvas. One of these artworks was this painting of "Superman" which my husband specifically wanted saved. We still had no idea where we will use it then but use it we did.

It proudly occupies the wall leading to the main bedroom with two spotlights to boot. You can also probably notice "Spiderman" at the upper part which is another artwork of my brother-in-law. I can safely say that we will never ever find another house with these two treasures as they are personal and truly unique.

An Eye for Vintage

My husband and I share the same preference for anything vintage. These window glass panels of their old home were specifically saved as well before the scheduled demolition to make way for the new structure. We both knew where they were going.

They have been put to good use in our sliding door in our provincial home. It is a home where almost everything came from houses we used to live in. Each part and furniture will have its own story to tell.

My Say

Recycling house parts and furniture probably comes with the territory of sentimentalism. For us, these are the very things that give character to our home. By bringing something from our past to the present, we are hoping that our own children will bring something from the present to the future.

That said, recycling house parts and furniture is not only good for the emotions, it is good as well for the environment. Why throw away something that can still be reused? After all, we can always sell those that we won't need to thrift stores and keep only those that will find its way as part of our new home.

care for siblings

Raising Kids Who Will Look Out For Each Other

2:44 AM

There is nothing more reassuring for parents than to see their kids actually looking out for each other. The world is filled with so many potential aggressors that having siblings as allies is very comforting. After all, parents will not always be present as they very seldom outlive their children in the natural course of life. When parents are gone, siblings are expected to look out for each other.

Setting the Stage for Sibling Roles

Parents have the important responsibility of setting the stage for the roles their children play in their siblings' lives. In the Filipino culture, older siblings called "Kuya" or "Ate" are taught to be good examples to the younger ones. They often have to give way as well to the preferences of the younger siblings to preserve domestic peace. However, the younger ones are taught as well to respect their older siblings.

As children grow and mature, they should learn that sibling relationships go both ways. One has to give and receive. Respect is given to every member regardless of age. Most importantly, there will always come a time that a family member will need to be "rescued" whether it be from physical harm or bad decisions. Kids who learn early on to look after their siblings usually know by instinct that something is wrong.

Sibling Dependency

Teaching children to look out for each other is different from sibling dependency. It does not bestow on one sibling alone the role of protector, caretaker, or the selfless martyr while another becomes the perpetual victim of circumstances who always have to be saved and allowed more leeway. It is all about inculcating reciprocal genuine concern for the well-being of each other.

Parents can do a lot in ensuring that their kids go the right way by doing away with favoritism to avoid ill-feelings of siblings against each other. It is never easy to understand that a "favorite" child did not necessarily set out to destroy the other by doing good in their parents' eye. Most siblings who grew in an environment of favoritism tend to take it out on each other as adults.

Maintaining Distance

As kids grow, they would need some privacy that would require siblings to maintain an unwritten degree of distance from each other. They would need to discover many things for themselves and will learn from their mistakes in the process. That is something that cannot be helped.

Caring siblings maintain a respectable distance but will never really go away. Sometimes they will wait for an actual request for assistance so the help they offer will not be interpreted as meddling. At other times when the situation calls for it, they will come rushing in uninvited, risking rebuff, but never really minding if doing so will mean saving the sibling in trouble.

My Say

Hearing my young children's frequent bickering and squabbling with each other sometimes makes me afraid that they may not look out for each other as adults. I would always recite to them my mantra that at the end of the day and in the darkest moments of their lives, they may only have each other to turn to so they must treasure each other. Those words will always be met by silence so I don't really know what they are thinking.

That said, I am hoping I have done enough. I have a feeling that I did, for during their unguarded moments, I usually catch them staunchly defending each other maybe even not realizing it. I pray for the grace to raise them well so that helping each other out is not even a question to be asked but a fact to be held on to by them.

declutter homes

Hoard Memories, Not Things

4:19 AM

We are a family of hoarders! Oh yes, we are. But before you get any ideas about some behavioral disorder that pushes people to acquire things in excessive quantities, ours is more of the unwillingness to part with the things we have. Admittedly though, both kinds of hoarding result to space impairment in the home-front, thus the need to address the behavior.

The Difficulty of Letting Go

The problem with hoarders like us is that we rarely see the distinction between what needs to be kept and what we can let go. We have three main reasons for keeping things: sentimental value, practicality, and innate frugality. It doesn't matter whether we are talking about an expensive item or a piece of paper. If it falls into any of our three categories, then it stays in the house.

We thought it was very heartless to give away gifts given to us or things that mattered at some point in our family. We thought it is always wise to keep old things just in case. We thought it is wasteful to throw things that can be reused. What we failed to consider however is the resulting accumulation through the years.

Clutter Everywhere

Before we realized what was happening, we were literally drowning in our accumulated humble earthly possessions. There was clutter everywhere. That was when we started giving away things and selling them in garage sales. We finally came to our senses that things we have not used for years are better off being used by someone else who actually need them. Still, a lot remained.

It turned out that the major reason that is causing all this hoarding is sentimentalism. Emotions usually manage to get the better of us so when we sort things, 80% remained because everything just seemed to have significance for our family. Every time we sorted our things, there was almost always something that would tug at our hearts not to let go. We know this simply wouldn't do.

Hoard Memories, Not Things

In an impromptu family meeting, we decided to think of ways to lessen our clutter in a way that is acceptable to all of us. These are what we decided on:

1. Segregate the things that absolutely needs to remain with us and those that can be disposed.

2. Determine among the things for disposal which have to be thrown out, donated, or sold.

3. Take photos of things to be disposed that have sentimental value so memories remain.

4. Make use of the photos taken in our blog posts to ensure perpetuity.

5. Decide on how newly acquired items are to be treated as soon as possible so as to prevent unmanageable accumulations again.

My Say

From hoarders of things, we are steadily on our way to becoming hoarders of memories, our memories. The feeling is a lot lighter, not to mention our house which has regained much space.

That said, starting this New Year, let us try to be hoarders of memories rather than material things. Have a clutter-free year ahead.