Then it’s time to change the look of your old surroundings, why not do some home makeover? It would be great if Ty here could do it for you but hmmm I guess we need to do alot of wishing upon a sar for that .

First check if there are some repairs or renovation needed before you indulge with your decorating plan. If you haven’t had any idea how to redecorate your home, you can ask friends or visit show rooms or surf the internet.

It’s simple and fun, and you can even do it yourself. It does not have to be costly, you can change the color of your rooms by repainting the wall and the ceilings, do some redecorating by putting additional accessories in your living room, in your kitchen, bedroom and even garden. Accessorizing need not be expensive too, you can add new throw pillows on your sofa, put new curtains in your windows, put decorative candles on your top of your coffee table or fresh flowers in the vase from your garden, what’s more important is adding your personal touch to your home.

Rearranging furniture can make a big difference, even if using the same furniture it can show your creativity and good taste. It maybe a trial and error at first, but you will be amazed with what you have created later.

It’s nice to see new furniture to go with the new look of your living room, but you don’t have to buy a new one like the sofa, you can still make them look new by doing some minor repair if it is broken, re-upholstering or putting new covers.
By recycling your old sofa, you only not saved money but also help save the environment by not adding additional garbage to the already over flowing dumpsites.

But in case you really want to buy a new one, and don’t know where to put your old one, you can have your sofa disposed by reselling it if still in good condition, or give it away to other people who may want or need it. Another option is you can give it to charity, you have properly got rid of your unwanted things and at the same time have helped others. If the furniture is broken and beyond repair, you can break it down into pieces and can make other used of it.

My gosh I cannot believe it has been two years and a half already since we have moved here in Singapore. I can still remember when I first heard from my husband that he was offered a position here in Asia. ( I was already screaming Yehey!!! in my head)

He asked me if I wanted to move and of course I said YES! It happened pretty quickly actually. I knew about it in December and then we moved in March. Moving away was sort of bittersweet, leaving our family, my friends, and places I have grown to love but we were also so ready for a new adventure and a new environment.

Good thing all the immigration papers and moving  were all handled by his work. We practically only needed sell our house and pack our clothes. That was the easy part for us.

Our first two months here, we stayed at a service apartment and all our expenses were shouldered by the company while we were looking for a house ( I miss that !). Looking for a house was really exciting, seeing different types of houses and of course by visiting houses, you also see how people lives. If you wanna find a house here, you better get an agent and tell him/her what you need and she will find houses that would suit your needs. We chose a landed house because we expected lots of family to visit us when we are here. We rented a 5 bedroom house. Way too big really for two people but it did serve its purpose. Lots of relatives were able to come and stay with us.

After two years, we have moved from a landed house to a condo. It seems like we do like to CHANGE a lot, don’t we? Well I wanted to move because it’s so darn boring in our neighborhood and even if it’s a very nice neighborhood, I do get scared when I am all alone in the big house. Now that we moved to a condo, I feel safer as I can scream for help if ( knock on wood) something happens. I can go for a swim when I want to and I can easily hop on a  bus if I want to go to the mall.

I told myself that we should explore Asia whenever we can and we do try our best. We started of course in Singapore. We visited all the touristy stuff here like Little India, Chinatown, Singapore Science Center and the gardens of course. They are all very impressive and worth your while. We also started exploring neighboring countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. Last year we visited Batam, Indonesia, Malacca, Malaysia and this year we went to a farm in Desaru Malaysia. We will also go to Hong Kong this month.

Expat life is really fun…well actually it does depend on you if you will make your life fun.

I still like living here in Singapore but hey I am very open to new adventures and next year we might be going into a new one! I am not gonna say yet what and where because I don’t wanna jinx it.

Last weekend, hubby and I went out to search for the best faucet for our home that we will be building very soon. We hard a hard time finding one that really suit our needs. I wanted one that has a pull out spray, and also one that would last long and has a stylish look as well like this Hansgrohe faucet I saw online.

I will spend some more time looking for faucets locally… I know I will find it somehow.

As I told you in my previous posts, our dream home is on the way to being built in our farms in Palawan. I am sure when the house is almost finish, I will be very very busy shopping for the fixtures. I am sure it would be fun but I know that it can be stressful too trying to find a lighting for our home.

But let me tell you a small secret: I actually already started my search for lamps as I am afraid I won’t find right lightning for our home when the time comes that it’s already needed.

I am already actually eyeing several lamps brands, one is the fine art lamps and the other is george kovacs lamps.

I know, I know it’s still far away but I like planning ahead (and dream ;P).

The building of our Dream Home is coming nearer and nearer. The building papers are being processed. (God knows how long it would take with the red tape and all! ) But other things like the road to the building site is already being built. I am really excited to see all the changes that have taken place since we last visited our farms.

The picture below displays the house we plan to build on top of a hill on our property, from there we can see all our farms. We can even see the sea at about 10 kms. The design of our home is a fruit of our imagination and was also inspired by my step daughter’s visit to Indonesia last year. The roof is modeled after the Batak Houses in Indonesia and we will be also using concrete to avoid termite problems. We are so happy that our architect was able to interpret our wishes.

There are many plans for the nearby future and I do hope things start falling into places. The one thing is holding us back is the sale of our house in Holland. We can only move on when it’s finally sold and the global economic crisis is not very helpful in this matter. We cannot manage a house in Holland from afar and we definitely won’t be living in Europe in the future because of the high taxes we need to pay, that’s why it is necessary that we sell it soon.

The global crisis is not all bad news though. If you are looking for a house to buy for your own use or for investment, this might just be the best time to do it. If we were in the USA we would have considered visiting this beautiful Phoenix New Homes at Cachet Homes. If you’re in USA and considering buying a new home, do check out http://www.cachethomes.net/, this site might just help you finding that perfect place.

Anyway, I do have so many things in my mind right now and things to do,so I am gonna go log off now and try to sort it out.

Happy house hunting and I hope you find what you are looking for.

Oh and please check out other WW entries at WWHQ and 5 minutes for MOM

The Hubby went to China today for a business trip and he texted me when the plane landed in Shanghai.

It’s taking awhile before they let them out of the plane because all the passengers need to be checked out first if anybody has the fever for fear of the Swine Flue virus or H1N1 Virus .

Several men in white entered the plane to check the passengers’ temperatures…there are some commotions going on at the back of the plane. One passenger has a very high temperature.

As the Hubby look at the back, he saw a few passengers already wearing masks. I asked if he was given one already and he replied to me No. I knew I should have let him bring some of the cute mask that the kind Mommy Jac have sent me! Oh well I don’t think he would wear a Hello Kitty mask anyway…

How come that his passenger was allowed to even leave Singapore?

After a few minutes, they were allowed to leave the plane.

I know that the Hubby is pretty healthy but I am still worried. I do hope that he doesn’t get sick.

I saw this at BEP video on my friend’s blog – Sandra and really loved it so I thought of sharing it here with you guys too. I have only seen the first video but this Generation 2 of Bebot is funny and just really cool.

And Fergie is just so sexy! I am sure she works out a lot with a body like that. Unlike me I don’t think Fergie would ever need any appetite suppressant because when I see her – she looks very well disciplined;).

My favorite part in this video: When the mom tries to pull up Fergie’s pants, it’s so typical of a Filipino mom!

If you are wondering what Bebot actually means – it means Hot Chick.

I hope you enjoyed the video and I wish you guys a great week ahead!

We didn’t know that it was a holiday yesterday…. did you? Apparently it was Vesak Day last Saturday and to compensate for the holiday landing on a weekend, they made Monday a holiday too.

The Supporting Spouse just found out when he went to work just to see that nobody was there. I was on the way to the city when he called me …good that he was in time to call me. We then decided to just go together to the city and do some strolling. We then decided to check out a Lasik Clinic. He’s been planning to get his eyes done for awhile but he is so busy going to business trips here and there.

Anyway, we didn’t really have the address of the clinic with us since the trip was not planned, I had in my mind that it is at the building where Borders bookstore is housed, so we just tried our luck and we found it!

It’s a pretty nice place. The cost of lasik surgery for 2 eyes is about SG $2600 … not bad and I think this clinic has a pretty good reputation. But I still want to read more feedback before he commits to this ….

Oh speaking of research, my niece asked me to research about nuphedra … like I don’t have enough to do. Okay okay I will when I find extra time…

Have I told you that I have a brother who is a registered nurse and yet he prefers working in a call center rather than to work in health care jobs … I don’t really understand his reasoning sometimes.

I wonder is the salary for health care jobs in the Philippines so bad? It’s actually not just him but I do know many others who work in a totally different field that they have studied.

Bro if you read this, don’t get mad I love you and I am not criticizing you. I just want to understand you …what are your plans and all?

Ate

I realized that there has been some confusion on where I am from and where in the world I am right now so let me give you the real deal my friends.

I am Jade – born and raised in the Philippines, Asia. My parents are both full blooded Filipinos as well. I grew up in Quezon city in the island of Luzon. On my mother’s side – we do have some Spanish blood and on my father’s side some Chinese blood.

I am married to a dutch man who we are now going to call “Supportive Spouse”.

The Supportive Spouse is a dutch man but it’s not that simple my friends. He was born in South America, in a country called Suriname. His parents both Dutch – mom is born in Indonesia and has some Polish and Dutch blood in her and his dad has some French, African, Dutch and Indian blood in him.

We have lived in 3 countries since we are married. First country is the USA where my husband used to work. We then moved back to his home country The Netherlands for me to meet and be near with his family and now we are currently living in Singapore.

In the Netherlands I got to know his family well and also have met wonderful friends. I love Holland for it’s beautiful architectures, tulips and haring! But the only thing we don’t like there is the weather and high taxes.
My Girlfriends in The Netherlands

So when Supportive Spousee got an offer from his boss to move to Singapore – we immediately grab that opportunity. We have been here once and liked it so it is a new adventure for us and the fact that it is close to my mother land The Philippines was also a plus.

So our future kids will be a mixture of several nationalities in other words a Halo Halo!