Saturday, Sept 2, 2006

We're into the first month ending in 'BER'. I'm expecting to hear Christmas Carols on the radio anytime soon!! Actually I've been telling Donna, when I wake up I usually go out of the house to do my morning shoulder exercises. The breeze does feel a little cooler. AMYAM is the Kapampangan term that comes to mind.

Anyway.. a lot has been done this week. The nipa hut gazebo is about 95% complete among others.

When it rains, our top soil gets eroded by the water- not to mention all the mud that everyone tracks in and out of the house. So I suggested for Kong Naring to start the landscaping earlier than scheduled and order the sod so we can at least have some grass covering for the dirt. I must have been persuasive because Armin and Mer went to Bulacan yesterday and got some blue grass and today Kong Naring pulled everyone from their usual duties (except Joven and his painters) to plant the grass around the house.

Our windows are about 85% done. The installers are coming back mid September to install the screens and the three arc windows for the garage and the porch. Rommel continues to install the lighting and electricals as well as the plumbing. He's waiting for us to sub-contract the granite counter top so he can complete all his plumbing hook ups. He's installed all the sinks, garbage grinders and water filter system. The kitchen and bathroom cabinets have all been installed and finished, all they need now is the counter top.

The utility room has been completed also and Donna and I have to get the LPG tank this coming week.

We've put up the little altar at the end of the hallway with an image of the Holy Spirit above it.

I've contacted someone to hook up our home theater system. He's going to find a longer cable for our DVD player to be hooked up to the projector and I'm going to get the speaker mounts and have them installed this coming week as well as the projector. Sunday after tomorrow he's coming to hook everything up and hopefully we'll be able to test the system at that time.

Our Sept 15 target date to move in is still a go.

August 31, 2006

August 29, 2006

Today we positioned our old kitchen table into the middle of our kitchen so Rommel can determine where to install the droplights. Then we dragged the kitchen cabinet between the kitchen and dining room as well as the dining table. It definitely is looking like a house.

We got a visit from Bert and Merlyn who're in town planning on having a house built on their property at Lakeshore. They promised to meet us for dinner before they leave for the States next week.

August 31, 2006

They’ve started installing the nipa roofing for our bahay kubo gazebo for the Jacuzzi. It’s looking really cool. The little structure on the side of the garage is being put up as well.

They delivered some more of the windows and they’ll be installed tomorrow. The three arcs for the porch and garage however won’t get installed till the 15th of September which incidentally is our target date to move in!

I thought I'd post a cool picture of Mt. Arayat as a reminder to all how gorgeous this lone mountain in Pampanga looks!

Don't forget to click on that little x inside the square for an extra picture. Have no idea why I don't see it but just click on it and you should be able to view it.

I dearly welcome comments. It gets pretty lonely up here in blog land!

August 28, 2006

I guess we haven’t really lived here for a long time that’s why I’m kind of not used to how much rainfall the place gets during the rainy season. Now I can imagine how people from the Seattle area feels! It can get a little depressing at times. I actually miss the heat of the sun.

The season brings with it a lot of unpleasant things like mosquitoes and a slew of other insects not to mention the floodings! Speaking of insects, Donna seems to be a magnet with insects. Poor thing gets miserable at times with insect bites. Somehow she gets bitten a lot and I don’t, go figure.

By the way Ned Canlas sent me a text message early this week announcing the death of the child of high school classmate Medina Lopez Tanedo. I don’t really know her but Donna seems to remember who she is.

We’ve had another incident here with our windows. About half of them have been delayed now for almost a month and I sort of complained to the company about it but Donna suggested for them to be taken out and we’ll just get a refund because they said we won’t get the complete delivery till Sept 15. I called them and told them so but added that their other choice is to reimburse us with our expenses and I’ll have them talk to our lawyer Atty Nasty Marcelo for details. They wanted to meet without the lawyer saying they’ll try to settle the problem. But the day we were going to meet, they were late so I told Kong Naring and Armin to talk with them and if need be, to pull the ‘spandrel-good-cop-bad-cop’ thing on them again. They did! Kong Naring told them we’re charging them P1000 per day everyday they’re delayed. So they called and told me Wednesday next week is when they’re going to deliver!

A couple of days ago we got a visit from Mareng Tess and Pareng Romy. They brought the almonds and gum their daughter Daisy May brought from California. Not sure when we’ll be able to cook the almonds since our oven is not quite hooked up yet, hopefully next month sometime.

August 25, 2006

Today they started installing our cabinets. They should be finished by tomorrow. Joven and his painters will be ready to put the varnish finishing touches on them. Kong Naring and the carpenters have also started on the structure of the nipa hut gazebo.

Donna and I are planning on officially moving in on September 15. Hope we can do it!

August 28, 2006

Yesterday morning we took everyone to Leda’s place in Muntinglupa to join in Lera’s 12th birthday celebration. Ems and Berna’s daughter JD and son Nico spent almost all day swimming in the pool. While I was doing Karaoke, Donna, Leda, Sister Gay and Kuya Francis played kwaho.

On the way, we missed a turn on EDSA and ended up on the way to the airport. We had to go up and make a U turn. It delayed us a few minutes but other than that, the trip was pretty uneventful. Come to think of it, however, that was my first ever driving experience up and back to and from Manila.

Today, Myrna made a date to meet us at the site to do some DVD swapping with Donna.