Caroleen’s Treasures

It’s freezing cold up here. The lowest is 23° C (73.4° F) and it has been pouring since morning. For a warm blooded like me, that number could send me under my blanket and hibernate but I can’t do that now. I need to get my hands on the sewing machine for my orders and work on my new website.

We had a heavier rain yesterday and so the frogs went out to play.

They are like frogs. They love the rain. They jump and play. This is their favorite bonding moment.

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Looks like I was more tired after my afternoon nap. We’re still here at my sister’s apartment. Maybe it’s because I am not used to having afternoon naps? Or was it because of long hours infront of the sewing machine? Some old friends came to worship with us. We are happy to see Ate Lourdes too! She’s from Trento but is staying here in Davao as of the moment while her children attend college. We seldom meet but we will be visiting them at their home next week when Kuya Roger (her husband) arrives from Luzon. Got to talk a lot of stuffs about the church in Trento. We went home with my sister and BIL in a taxi while Donald dropped by at the mall to ship the order (6 one-size-fits-all cloth diapers, 4 extra inserts and baby sling) of a teacher in UP Diliman. I think we are staying until after dinner. My sister’s PIL (who are our wedding godparents too) are coming over for dinner and we love to stay! hehehehehe….. Of course we want to spend some time with them too because we missed them last Christmas.
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Hi all! I am blogging from my sister and BIL’s apartment. We will be spending the night here so we can go to church tomorrow without much sweat. I meant that literally. hehehehe. We usually leave at half past 8 in the morning and if not drizzling, it scorching hot. My back is aching from sewing (my own way of making money from home and hopefully provide employment to other moms) and from riding two wheels. Eman is not very cooperative this time because he was awake half of the trip. He loves sticking his head out of the sling, looking at the lights of cars and other motorcycles. We stopped at Ram’s roasted chicken and liempo stand to buy one roasted chicken. The guy at the stand noticed Eman on the sling and told me “Te, napilo ang iyang till.” Pointing at Eman’s feet. I was carrying him in kangaroo carry and people give me a strange look when I do that.ad I smiled and told him it’s suppose to be like that. I have no time to explain but I told him it doesn’t hurt the baby and is very comfortable. How I wish I could explain further to introduce babywearing to Filipino’s. Well, we are familiar with this but people are familiar with it from the way the native people carry their babies. This is a stylish and chic version of the traditional baby sling. Like yesterday, the two ladies at the mall were curious and I was able to show them how it works and how to use it safely and comfortably while I was waiting for Donald and Ella. But this time we are in a hurry so as I walked away, I heard the guy say to the lady at the next stall, “Tana-awa ang bata gisulod sa bag!” (Look they put the baby in the bag!) LOL

Many times I see people looking at us like we are aliens. I guess I should go back there one time to tell him it’s not a bag. It’s a SLING.

I am so full. We had shrimps, crabs and lechon (roasted pig) for dinner. The neighbor invited us to her son’s birthday and she saw me sewing surrounded with a huge mess. So she said she will just bring food for us but wanting Ella to go there for some games. In just a few moments food was delivered by their househelp and Donald’s eyes are sparkling. hehehehehe. Thankies neighbor! Forgot her name because I seldom go out of the house.

I am working on an order from a doctor based in Mandaluyong and it’s feeding time again for the little guy. I decided to blog a bit so I wouldn’t be catching up about many things going on here. I do not know if Eman is cutting his second tooth but I guess he is. He was very fussy yesterday. He is down with colds and have some episodes of slight fever. We went out yesterday to do some delivery and that helped a lot in easing his pain. Read more… »

I have so much to blog about that I didn’t know where to start. There are so many good things happened that I don’t know if I am just dreaming. First, orders kept coming in the way I didn’t expect but really really wanted. After delivering the orders last Sunday, I was praying nobody will call me about wanting cloth diapers or baby slings because laundry piled up in the other room and if you’ve been following my blog…you know I don’t want to do it one batch at a time. So God heard it and he really didn’t send anyone my way for orders. Someone did asked for a quote for diapers and a sling while on our way home that night and I was happy she still need a little time since she can’t access my multiply site for the fabric and sizing. So yesterday I spent more than 12 hours doing the laundry. Imagine that!
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If we have little gate crasher some years ago, we discovered we do have a little gossip king. I like it better than “gossip prince”.

We went out yesterday to meet three clients and boy was it so hard to get them all in one place. One couldn’t leave her booth at the Christmas Bazaar held in Davao Convention and Trade Center so I decided to meet her there. I am just glad that the second client was very understanding and flexible. She and her husband met us there too. All the while we were there, I walk like I see none of those oh so tempting stuffs on display. I wish I had money to get some Sunday dress for the four of us and some toys for the little guy. Ella was very good and didn’t give us headache. After handing the items to them and had some chit chat, we headed to SM to meet the young mom who ordered a baby sling. It was already half past 6 in the evening so we went to eat at the foodcourt. What I like there is the wide variety of food from the food stalls and Eman can have some soup too. Donald was giving me a hint that he doesn’t like there because we didn’t see any high chair there. But we are wrong for I found one and it looked much more cleaner that other fastfoods at the grounds level. Even if it’s new and looked clean, I still sprayed and wiped it clean.

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At last I am done with the diapers! Ummm….not yet actually but close to getting it all done.  I thought I can’t finish it because the sewing machine is acting up again. I have yet to sew the soakers and the free canvas bag since the woman ordered one dozen. I was contemplating if I still throw in a freebie since she asked for a discount already. I think I have to be firm next time because hey it is no joke to be sewing cloth diapers if you are choleric. LOL

And there is also the baby sling that I still have to make…..and then I read my sister’s comment in the previous post about a fellow blogger who wanted a couple cloth diapers…..and some other text messages asking for a quotes. While I was sewing earlier, I was feeling so overwhelmed. I am not sure if I can meet the demands if there will be and I started telling Donald that maybe I can give jobs to other moms out here. I am now open to the idea of hiring some help  but they should pass the personality test. I wanted a choleric too. LOL I am just glad that two of my customers are sanguine and they just leave it to me to choose the color. I am not saying that other personalities are hard to work with but I just feel like they are the best clients because they simply don’t care. LOL

So am off to do some more sewing. Just had a break to feed the little guy. Have a blessed day ahead!

Only a few days had pass since I posted an ad in Davaosale and I am tremendously happy that I am getting good response. Well for me it is good since I am not expecting that people will find my ad or look for something like I sell. Cloth diapers and baby slings are pretty new here in the Philippines and the fact that only small portion of the population uses the internet, I have to have patience and the will to continue what I have started. I am actually close to giving up because of money issues. I need to have a good inventory because we are far from where I am getting the materials and this is preventing me from getting this little business in full swing. Also transportation is a problem but hey who told you these things will stop me? Who knows this will make us rich then I would ask Donald to check on the used rv for sale on one of the sites I have visited so we can do the shopping and deliveries much easier. He will really love that!
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Guess what I found? A great site that makes business cards online! I am excited to have mine printed for my little business. I actually made a sample of what it looks like and was trying to post it here but it says Windows does not recognize the file. It is a simple card with a thread and needle on the left side and all my information on the right. Can’t believe they charge only minimal amount which I find a great deal compare to the business card I ordered two years ago. But before I can make my business card printed out, I should get a business name first so I am now thinking of a name that would make a great impact and will register well in one’s mind. I was thinking about naming it Needles and Threads but Donald suggested I’d name it after the kids. Any suggestions from you guys are very much welcome.