Mama Miah!

The Year 2022 is fast approaching, in just a few days it will be the year of the Tiger. As the New Year comes, I've thought about the things that I should've done, but haven't got the chance to do. So, I'm setting up healthy goals for the coming year, and here are some of them.

Watch What I Eat and Drink

I eat healthy foods most of the time, but I found myself eating more processed foods and drinking soft drinks late this year. So, that's what I'm about to limit or try to avoid if I can next year. 

LIMIT or STOP Ordering Foods Online

I admit this is quite challenging. I haven't used any food delivery apps not until the middle of this year where we stayed downtown for months. The restaurants and malls are very much accessible here, unlike in Tacunan where there are very limited food deliveries and our favorites are in downtown. So, there... Goodbye food delivery apps na ba? So, instead of ordering foods online, we'll try to make healthy home cooked meals.

Exercise and Be Fit

I've been slacking off and haven't done any exercises for a while except for walking while catching Pokemon. LOL! I actually missed doing jump ropes already. I guess I don't have to wait for the Year 2022 to start doing this again and practice Yoga with Miel. 

I guess this workout calculator will be handy in keeping my fitness journey on track. It can quickly estimate your total caloric burn rate for a combination of up to 20 different exercises.

Practice Baking Again

I was thinking about this last year, but I still haven't done it. I'll make sure to try the recipes I had in mind and make it into a reality *crossing my fingers*. Actually, I didn't go into a culinary school or had any formal training in baking, but I have attended a basic baking workshop a few years ago. Then, I started baking cookies at first before I tried cakes, cupcakes, and cake pops. It was fun and I'm excited to do it again soon. :)

Have a Positive Mindset

I am a worrier. I worry about a lot of things, even things that didn't happen yet, and then anxiety would eat me up and I'd have panic attacks. Life's challenges can be a bit overwhelming sometimes, but hopefully, I'd be able to manage how I feel and set a positive mindset. 

Manage My Time

2021 is quite a busy year for me, I am so overwhelmed by the online opportunities given and offered to me. I became busy online and haven't got the chance to unplug until late this year. It felt good to be away from social media for a while, to not think about re-shoots and deadlines, but I actually missed it afterward. *lol* I'll try to balance and manage my time now, so I won't get burned out.

Set a Time for Games

I got hooked into playing online games lately, most especially this play-to-earn game that keeps me up even at midnight. *lol* I love strategy games and this game challenges me. I like the fact that I can earn from a game I enjoyed playing, so no time is wasted. ;)

My daughter also loves playing games, I let her play once in a while, especially if she's done with her assignments and during weekends. Recently, she's been playing kids games related to cooking or food. 

Tap Supermarket is quite fun by the way, I watch her play this game where she manages a grocery store which includes restocking of supplies, expanding the line of goods sold, and checking out customers. 

Find Pair is the other game that she finds cute, but challenging at the same time because it has a timer. Like me, she also loves puzzle games, and she enjoyed playing this memory card matching game. What I like about this game is it helps her develop pattern recognition skills and helps her identify similar items, where the view is partially obstructed or the item is spun around at a different angle.

Kids learn from playing games too, both online and offline, but as parents, we have to set rules so they won't get addicted to it and won't affect their studies. So, I have to set a time now for both of us to play games. 

Setting up our goals is very easy, what's hard is actually having the desire and motivation to maintain doing it. For sure there will be temptations and challenges, but I hope that I'd be able to achieve these goals. :) 

How about you, do you have any goals for next year? 

Are you afraid to get vaccinated? Me too! I also have doubts but I keep on praying for signs and He gave me a lot. I keep on praying before and during the day of my vaccination... And He calmed my anxious mind and I wasn't nervous anymore when it's time to get my first jab... 

They checked our temperature and Blood Pressure before we get vaccinated. Usually, my BP goes up every time I had it checked because I'd get really nervous. But I was surprised because this is the first time that I get a normal BP result on the first try. Prayer works! :) 

Everything goes smoothly after I got vaccinated with Coronavac (Sinovac), with no other side effects aside from the pain at the site of injection. It's been 3 days since I got vaccinated and so far I feel good with just a little muscle pain on my upper arm and sometimes feeling tired and sleepy.

Not all people who got vaccinated experience the same side effects, but these side effects are normal because this is a sign that our body is building immune protection.

Other people will experience common side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine such as:

• Some pain, swelling on the arm where you received the vaccine
• Chills, or mild fever
• Tiredness
• Headaches
• Joint pain or muscle aches

I am glad I decided to get vaccinated, I'm looking forward to my 2nd dose before the month ends. Hopefully, it will go smoothly too with no complications. 

By the way, the day I got vaccinated was also the day that I became officially part of theAsianParent's #TeamBakuNanay. I am proud and happy to be a part of this wonderful community that conducts informative and meaningful campaigns which aim to educate everyone about the effectiveness of vaccines in protecting our family's health.

Hopefully, more people will be encouraged to get vaccinated, too. As for me, I choose to get vaccinated to protect myself, my loved ones, and the vulnerable people around me. 

Thank you, City Government of Davao! The vaccination site was well organized and the process goes smoothly and orderly. 

Praying for everyone's safety. Stay safe everyone and ALWAYS follow the protocol when going out even when you're already done with the 1st and 2nd doses of the Covid-19 vaccine! :) 

Two weeks from now, and it will be our 5th Home Anniversary! Wow! Time goes by very quickly! I can't believe it's almost five years already; it feels like just a year or two has passed. I can still remember the day we visited our place, it was still bare, but now it has many plants and fruit-bearing trees. We love gardening, and if you've been reading my blog, you have already seen some of my gardening posts. 

A lot has changed over the years; it's been a roller coaster ride with the good, and not-so-good memories of the pandemic happening. My husband lost his job for a few months; we're struggling with our finances, especially the bills and our house mortgage. Luckily, he got hired on his new job, and since then we have been strict on budgeting and established our savings goals with the help of tools we found online. We still have more years to pay for our home, and having tools like online calculators helps us figure out our budget, saving, and mortgage payments. 

Five years have passed, and there's still a lot of development needed. We don't have a proper fence and gate yet, but we're working out on that. Hopefully, we'll be able to achieve our goals one by one in God's time. :) 

Here's a photo of me when we visited our humble place. It's been our wish to have our own house, and having this photo will keep us reminded that dreams do come true if we work hard to make them happen. "God designed us to work and trust - not just trust." This is one of the lines in the book that I read entitled 8 Secrets of the Truly Rich by Bo Sanchez, which really inspired and motivated me to work on our goals.

Out of the blue, I decided to cut my hair. My hair has grown long already and the last time I cut it was last summer, so I grab a scissor and started cutting my hair in front of the mirror in the bathroom (lol). 

Here is the output of my DIY Haircut. I also decided to dress up so when my daughter saw me with my new hairdo and outgoing clothes, she asked me: "Saan ka punta, Ma?" She's used to seeing me na nakapang-bahay lang since ECQ kaya nagulat at napatanong talaga siya.

I've been cutting my own hair ever since I was single and I still do it now that I am already a mother. I also cut my daughter's hair and my hubby's too with the help of a razor that we borrowed from my sister-in-law. By doing this, we can save money (tipid talaga) and since we are still in quarantine, it's best to just stay at home and do it yourself (DIY). 

It was hard the first time I did this, looking at the mirror while cutting your hair isn't that easy, especially when you can't see the back part of your hair. But, there's a trick to this DIY Haircut at Home and I'll share it with you. 

1. The first thing you'll do is brush your hair and bring it all to the front then tie it with any hair ties or scrunchies you have. 
2. Then, tie your hair again to the part where you want it to be cut, it's up to you on how short do you want it to be. 
3. Then, you can start cutting your hair to that part and you're done! Easy, right? 

As for me, I cut it really short this time it's shoulder-length. I also like my hair to have that layered look, so what I do to get that look is I cut my hair vertically, just a few inches from the tip of my hair and that's it. My layered haircut is done! By the way, I just use a regular scissor. :)

And one last thing, be confident and trust yourself that you can do it! Good luck! ;) 

I hope this is DIY Haircut Tips and Hacks is helpful to you. I don't have a photo or video of myself doing this layered haircut though, but maybe next time I'll record it so it will be much easier to follow the steps. :)