House Blessing

On 5 November 2011 marks the spiritual cleansing of our new home.  It's a custom tradition for Catholic Filipinos.  And, it's our way of thanking God for giving us this blessing.  So, we decided to invite a priest.

Father Joey Echano, a Filipino priest, has come all the way from Kew, Victoria.  He is a member of the Redemptorists who live in the community for the sake of preaching the Gospel of Jesus.  He was the parish priest of the very famous National Shrine of our Mother of Perpetual Help in Baclaran.  I am very pleased to have him in our house.

As soon as he arrived, we lit up the candles then he read us the prayer of Gospel.  He walked throughout the whole house starting from the entry door and blessed each room, including our backyard.

             

It was a mostly sunny day, 29 to 30 degrees Celsius.  Everyone thought it would be one of those finest days.  Yes, it was in the morning but the minute the people were arriving, the heat was coming as well.  For the record, we had a total of whopping 70 guests.  Out of which were three babies getting irritated with the humidity.  It was a Philippines-weather-like experience...hehehe  Well, at least a perfect house WARMING!


A Filipino House Blessing is not complete without a ton of food!  I have to give lots of credits to my mum!  She's done most of it all in just 1 1/2 days.  What she did was an absolute ACE!

I'd also like to thank a few friends who brought their specialty dishes to the table for everybody to share!  They were all yummy!

Here are the photos:

    

We also had a simple celebration for my daughter's 4th birthday after the blessing.  I bought a maxi bitesize cupcake from The Cupcake Bakery and mini ice cream from Bravo Gelato for kids and kids at heart to enjoy.  Thanks to Medina-Coates for the tiara and accessories, she's been like no other than a Princess!  And by the way, those high heeled shoes these little kids wore until late! They sounded like a herd of Shetland ponies as they clip clopped over the wooden floor.  My ears bled!

 

This will be the last blog topic I am writing before I send this to USA for printing, but will still be blogging when i get a chance.  I just can't wait to see my first created coffee table book up close! =)

P.S.  Thanks to Romeo Pulido Jr. who has helped us out all the way to make this house blessing possible.  A million thanks to you friend!  And, to JP Cabalce for the photos at sure na ikaw na talaga! =)

In my Crib

I AM BACK!

After seven weeks of adjustment in traffic and working hours, I finally have some photos to share with.  We're so happy with the outcome of haggling back and forth which I give credit the most to the hubby; he's been able to use his knowledge of purchase power..wink, wink, wink ;-)

While some of the areas are still in progress like the study nook and backyard, we don't want to hurry coz we still have our dining table yet!  I am already itching to complete this missing piece in our house puzzle.  By next week, hopefully, we get a call from the furniture shop and give us some bloody good news coz I am so sick of waiting!

OK, let's cut this whinging short anyway and go back with the photos that I am very proud of and is the purpose of this blog.  They are looking the way we wanted them to be and, without any bias at all I think they look really good in these photos (nice job done editing)...hehehe  The beauty is in the eyes of the beholder anyway so let's hear from the critics and get to the business:



    Our lounge area:

The kitchen:

                                                                           

                                       This is my favorite area so far - our alfresco:

P.S.

We have not attempted to hang picture frames as such our walls would still remain empty for the meantime..So, that's another mini project on the way.  I'll post photos once they are ready to be shown...:-)

Settling in

Who would have thought we'd be able to move in three days after the PCI**. Hehehe It was a whirlwind decision, though a few things still need to be fixed; we're hoping they're going to do them sooner than later.

My husband and a few chosen friends did all the hard work and helped us get through this bloody way of moving house, BIG TIME! How they've done it?  I have no idea!  Undoubtedly, they did a very good job I was so impressed they worked like pros. Well done to the hubby who drove the truck just as easy and smoothly in the freeway while he maintained the inside unshaken.  Spotless!  It took them 4 hours to load the things but it only took them one hour to unload. Far Out! This is not possible without the help of our Filo friendships!

Our deepest thanks to Romy, Paul, Rico, Fhedz, Molly, Jeff, Ryan, and Lorie for the borrowed time. We owe you guys so much!

This is the picture of our first night in our dream house. We're sooo tired that right after this shot, we were knocked out!

So much things still need to be done. Hoping by the time I report for work next week, all is settled....til next time, thanks for reading my blog....

**29 June - PCI (my 3rd year in OZ)
  30 June - Settlement
  02 July - Move-in

Hello...Henley??

We have no inspection done in the past, so we're going to bring our own inspector for the first and last time...The anxious hubby called Henley today becoz we need to have a D-A-T-E!  Regardless how many times he'd been transferred, he was able to book in the New Home Presentation/PCI date on Wednesday!  Woohoo! I know it's a bit odd calling  them, but we're just making sure this house is worth paying for before they hand it to us.

Still in panic mode, our SS has no choice but to "eat" his previous words...house is still not finished; settlement is not gonna happen one day after PCI.

We're hoping to get exactly what we expect, although we already missed the more important things to check at least all visible aspects of the home are met.  So, before we jump for joy I'm crossing my fingers and toes hoping for no major issues at all...goodluck to us!

Closed Doors

We decided to drop by yesterday and found out that all the doors are locked....for the first time!

We still had the chance to check out the latest inside by peeking through the sliding doors of our alfresco.  They are still working on our floorboards.  Dust is all over the floor, some skirting are in progress, and the carpets have not arrived yet!  I saw a lot of red dots around the house, which they are going to fix before our Practical Completion Inspection (PCI).  How are they going to finish these by 16 June???

We were pumped to see our french front door out standing and unstained.  T'was really nice to see it from afar and in between there's water dripping towards the foot path because somebody has just watered our plants!  Whoah! We're almost there....

Panic Attack!

Got a call from Henley today and they finally gave us the move-in date.  Guess it when?

E O F Y !

How about that?? It's already June!!!!!  I think we're the only new owners not excited with the move or should I say we're just terrified of the reality that we're about to face...hehehe Tomorrow we'll ring the real estate agent advising them of our intention to leave their property, start boxing our stuff, contact a removalist, ring electricity/gas/internet/phone providers, and contact God to help us with these things!!!  OMG, this is now getting serious don't know where to start....=(

Also, we met the super young good looking SS today and we were told that our French door was stolen last week!  What the!  Oh well, if it they have not left it lying for two weeks inside, no one had been interested..

I'm still in awe while writing this blog that it won't be long and we'll be living our dream house for the next 30 years of our lives...will miss the St. Peter's church here in Bentleigh and the rest of the community...♥♥♥  

No Entry!

Our wooden fences are now around the house so, yeah, no trespassers please! =)  Yay, are we nearing the end over err handover of the keys??? Yehey! I think we need to start packing...and throw our things to the three boxes we just pinched from our friend over the weekend...hehehe

This is the latest photo of our backyard with the fence.  No complain at all, just enough play field for my daughter...:)

I just don't understand why until now our main front door is not installed???? Hmmm...can't find the door we saw last weekend inside the house.  Did they end up sending the wrong one to the supplier???  Tomorrow for the first time we will have the chance to meet the SS, so hopefully he's got satisfying answer for us...


Other stuff that we spotted when we sneaked in while the cats are gone - STACKED STONE!  Woohoo! They look terribly fat and good!  How good things are when you get them for FREE!  Can't ask for more...

Electrical outlets, downlights are now in place.  Oh we've got our powder room already set up as well...hmmm...hopefully it has not been used now the portalet is gone...=)

Look! we've got stainless steel sink drain...=)

Last but not the least, our rangehood is now in with the kitchen sink.  Not the fanciest hood but they are lovely to my eyes!  I feel like a masterchef contestant...hihi

We also organized someone to measure the windows and doors for the blinds tomorrow.  Haven't clearly organized our thoughts which one to choose from the five options my hubby listed.  I'll put these five in my next blog when we finally decided...=)

Til then!

Garage Sale

One thing I noticed when we visited our soon to be home today - no more fences! Yeah, they are starting to unpack their things one by one...and, our excitement is getting closer day by day...whew!

Well here goes the update:

• timber windows awning are now stained
• our front door and stacked stones are delivered
• architraves all installed satisfactory plus house fully painted
• bathroom tiles in progress
• GARAGE and DRIVEWAY done!

Bet you'd like some pictures to feed your imagination, so here they are folks!

In the coming two to three weeks, the SS would be able to tell us our move in date which hopefully by end of July.  So, please hang in there til our most awaited journey begins!

Check-In

At long last, NearMap (nearmap.com) has finally taken time to get an aerial view of our suburb!  It's been six months and some of our future neighbors have finally settled in with their new houses and some are still on the deck to handover of the house keys....

In the meantime, here's a better view of our block of land with roof tiles all mounted as of 7 Apr 2011!

The Ministry

I was told that fixing stage is finishing this week so painter and tiler could start really really soon.  The cornices have been fit and installed, however, some of the architraves have not been done so most probably this stage will go for another week.  I know they've been very slow but that's alright we are not bothered because the build contract is until August.

The most anticipated of them all is now standing before our very eyes!  The kitchen cabinets!  Here are some of the favorite angles of our kitchen.  I don't really cook, but with this huge and beautiful kitchen I am definitely would be hanging out here more while the hubby is cooking...=)

Look how wide our benchtop is, we might not need a dining table for a while...=)

I did have second thoughts when we chose the color and design of the cupboards but everything is looking great, especially the glossy look above!  I thought the color will complement with dark floorboards and off white walls to achieve the modern contemporary feel of the house.  My husband and I are so delighted with the result.

To feed your eyes more, below are some of the pics of the progress:

laundry

common bathroom

common shower

master's ensuite

my little girl hiding inside the built in wardrobe of her room

view from the theatre room

view from the butler's pantry

window siding in the theatre room but not sure what does this mean...

Nothing much has happened outside the house except the rendered pillar is now colored light brown haze.  The other pillar is still bricked which is good because that means they have not forgotten that they will put feature stones as agreed and signed. ^_^


Til next time friends!