The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Hi Friends! This week Hubs baked us homemade bread and homemade gummy candies! I really don’t like baking but with the price of bread now a days, I told hubs I wanted to learn from him how to bake bread. I mostly observed him and next time I will do most of the baking (he will assist!) We normally consume 2 loafs a week because the family likes to eat sandwiches and toasts:) I need to step up my homemaking skills when it comes to baking!HA

Mia and I had a nice walk yesterday and enjoyed the sunshine. We are excited that winter is almost over because we have plans to do more walks and hikes in the coming spring and summer time. We are thankful that our neighborhood has a great view!

Have a great Thursday evening friends! Take Care:)

Hi Friends, how are you doing? We are spending a lot of time at home and taking it easy. We try to go out for a walk when it’s nice outside. We got to see our friends last weekend too, and they prepared a Chinese food feast for us. It was nice to be with friends during grieving times. It was a great distraction.

I asked Hubs to help me make candles. My SIL got me a candle making kit last Christmas and we finally used it. It was easy but took a little longer than I expected because the container used to melt the wax was small. I like having candles around and light a couple everyday but I know that some of the ingredients are not very good for us. We made unscented and soy wax candles this time.

The feast we had this past weekend. One of Mia’s friends from preschool invited us (together with other families) for dinner! YUM!

We got Riley’s ashes this week. For now we have it on the mantel together with his picture and paw print. It’s been a week and half since his passing and the house feels so empty without his presence. We miss him so much.

I finished a book I borrowed from the library, it continue to motivate me to declutter and simplify our home. It’s a quick and direct to the point kind of book! Highly recommend if you need a motivation to declutter/own less.

I hope you’re having a great day friends! It’s almost the weekend:) Take care!

Hi Friends! I have some sad news to share today. Riley our dog passed away last Tuesday, (Feb 28). He was almost 13 years old (his 13th bday would have been this June). We were still on vacation when he died. Unfortunately, we booked the soonest flight we could get back home, but couldn’t get here fast enough. My DIL was taking care of him, was with him in his last moments. He brought him to the vet Tuesday afternoon when he noticed some labored breathing and an x-ray showed that cancer was spread everywhere and there’s nothing they can do about it and suggested we put him down. We were hoping that we could still make it back, but he declined so rapidly. This is what saddens me and my hubs the most, that we couldn’t be with him during his last moments. At least he was with my DIL who he loves and he was in our house where he felt comfortable and safe. He lived a great life and knows we all loved him. He was such a fun and loyal dog! We will miss him terribly and it will take a long time for this emptiness we are feeling right now to go away.

Mia and her drawings of Riley!

Thank You God for almost 13 years of unconditional love from Riley! You’ll always be in our hearts Puss:)

Hi Friends! Did you do something fun yesterday? We stayed at home and had a nice dinner:) Hubs and I prepared Crabs Benedict ( Dungeness crabs are very cheap right now at our Costco) it was great! I did a little shopping at our local trader joes and got ingredients and flowers too! The kids requested chic-fil-a, so we had that for lunch! Everybody in the family was happy!HA We normally don’t give Vday gifts anymore. Hubs got us Starbucks coffee and velvet cake for me, and cake pop for the kids on Vday morning. No big gifts for us, as I’m still in my low spend year and I don’t need anything right now. For Hubs,the nice dinner was enough!

With all the valentines treats, we decided to play at the park in the afternoon!

I saw this on IG and I totally agree! Thank You God for the greatest love of all, your son Jesus:)

Have a great Wednesday friends (it’s been a long day here!) Take care:)

Hi friends! I hope you’re having a great Monday:) Mondays are kinda busy for us because we are out of the house half of the day (Co-op Day/homeschool with other families). Anyways, we had a little family hike this weekend, it was a short one. We wanted to get out of the house and get a little exercise for the family, because it’s been so cold lately (it snowed this evening!UGH). So we are mostly staying home for the past few weekends. We really want to explore our state once the weather cooperates!HA

We wanted some treats after the hike! We got some donuts:) I paired mine with my delicious foamy coffee.

Have a great night friends! I’m off to bed now:) Take Care and stay safe!

Hello Friends! How’s it’s going?! It’s been a rainy week in our area, so we’ve been mostly at home. I do my best to add little things here so we can have a cozy time. I’ve been doing a lot of cooking and using my Instant Pot lately. I’m more inclined to make soups, braised meat and hearty dishes this time of year. It helps that I try to meal plan so I get to prepare ingredients ahead of time. I really want to be consistent in regards to this area of my homemaking life.

I continue to declutter our house and I’m still on my low spend challenge. It really helps that I watch videos and read books about minimalism and simplifying. I get so motivated when I get to see other people doing the same thing, I’m so encouraged! I still have a long way to go, but I can see a big difference already in our space.

I have to get going here, Have a great night and take care!

Hi Friends! How’s it going? We’ve been a little busy with family activities since my last post here. Nothing grand but lots of family fun with the kids. We visited Point Defiance Zoo last week, I think it was Matthew’s first visit. We had fun, but some of the attractions were closed for winter and will be back in the summer! We will be going back for sure in the future.

Couple of days ago we went to the Apple store at the mall and I got a new phone! I wasn’t planning to get a new phone but Hubs convinced me because he’s tired of my phone always running out of storage!HA! I’ve been liking and enjoying my new phone this week. It’s the iPhone 14 Pro max:) The kids behaved at the store so we treated them to their favorite waffle! Happy Lemon!

This week we visited our local library and got the whole family library cards! They have updated their system so we needed to renew ours and Mia got her card for the first time, she was excited. We haven’t been to the library since covid, so she was looking forward to borrowing books. I borrowed some cook books and the kids borrowed some Berenstain Bears book. We had lunch at a new burger place in our neighborhood after the library visit.

We visited Sis in Law last week and Mia had a little tea party with her American dolls and SILs doll. It was so cute!

My sis finally went back to the East coast a couple of weeks ago. We had a yummy sushi and steak dinner for her. We miss her but we’ll see her soon.

It’s been a cold week for us here, but we try to get the kids outside and enjoy the park. So it’s been a little busy January for us with lots of family time. Thank You God for a slow and safe January:)

I hope you’re having a great weekend friends. Hubs and I are about to watch Kdrama(Interest of Love on Netflix) and relax. Take care!

Hi friends! Last week, we had a little road trip going to Bellingham,WA! It’s just an hour and half drive from our place (so it’s a quick one). I’ve never been there, so it was nice to see a different city. This year I really want to explore more and see other parts of WA. Another reason for the trip was to “test drive” our new car! Hubs and I got a new car for Christmas (it’s a HYUNDAI Tucson #kdramainlfuenced) HA! I cannot count the numbers of korean drama/shows I’ve watched and a lot of them drive hyundai cars. I’ve seen a lot of Hyundai cars around our neighborhood too! My DIL drives one too and he has lots of positive things to say about his car. It’s been great so far ( we’ve only had it for 2 weeks).

We enjoyed lunch at Keenan’s at the pier! Food was great and worth the travel alone:) Lovely view from the restaurant too.

Pic of the new car! My hubs just had to get a bow from amazon.

Thank God for a safe and fun road trip! Have a great night friends:) Take care!

Happy New Year Friends! I pray that we will have a blessed, healthy, and peaceful 2023. We had a quite a celebration at home with my In laws. We played card games like Uno and Go fish, watched the Times Square Ball drop celebrations and went to bed at 11 pm. Nothing grand but there’s no other way I want to celebrate NY Eve but at home with my family and safe from the craziness of the night!

We had a yummy dinner though! King Crab legs, steaks from Snake River farm (expensive but so good!). We had sparkling cider and wine. Hubs made cheese fondue for our appetizers. Dinner was great!

We had left overs for lunch today! It was a relaxing day hanging out and we decided to go out to enjoy the sun. We ended up going to Alki Beach (West Seattle). It was a little cold, but it was nice to get out and enjoy the lack of rain with a nice view.

I’m excited for the new year friends! I don’t do resolutions but I do have goals I want to achieve. My sis got me a new planner so I plan to use that a lot! Personally,it helps that I write my goals/to do lists/ideas on paper so I focus on what I want to happen. Anyways, hope your new year is full of amazing things and God will grant your hearts desires! Stay safe friends and take care:)

Hello friends! I hope you had a great Christmas time with your family and friends! My family had a wonderful time celebrating Jesus’s birthday (a little stressful here and there too!HA) but all in all it was fun. We attended our church’s candle light/christmas eve service and Hubs baked a swiss roll cake (two of my must haves for Christmas) so I’m thankful we got to do that. Although there are things we didn’t get to do like watch the Christmas parade at Bellevue and see Santa (due to the weather and we don’t want to risk the kids getting sick (we are still recovering from colds).

Christmas Eve, we went to church, and ordered Chinese food. I also made Roast pork belly and Pork Humba, my sis made Filipino style spaghetti and fruit salad. We ended the night reading about Jesus’s Birth and The night before Christmas.

Christmas Day! Thank You to our families for all the gifts the kids received this year. Hubs and I decided to go minimal when it comes to gifts this year because we are going to go somewhere this year (with my sisters), I also will get a new dining set) nothing grand, from Amazon!HA

After breakfast, we opened gifts and lounged most of the day. I made another pork belly roast for dinner. My Dad In law made lasagna (it was very tasty),we had crabs ( I cracked the day before),salads,garlic bread. Hubs Auntie and uncle stopped by to deliver more presents!

We watched Jack Ryan on Prime and some Kdrama (Reborn Rich) and relaxed the rest of the night.

Talk later friends! Have a restful week (Hubs is off this week). We are going to tackle our garage (it’s a mess) so YAY for us! Take care:)