I mentioned in my previous life update that one of the things I got busy with the last 3 months was our transfer to a new home. It was last July, when out of the blue, we just suddenly decided to move to a house and leave our tiny pad behind where we lived for three years in Cagayan de Oro City.

If this is your first visit here or you don’t know yet what it was like for us to live in a tiny space, you can read my Tiny Pad blog posts here:

REAL TALK: TINY PAD TOUR AND BUSINESS UPDATE IN THIS TIME OF PANDEMIC

TINY PAD – LIVING SMALL IN A BIG CITY AND THE REASONS WE DO IT

I honestly wasn’t expecting to do it, especially during this difficult time of the pandemic. Though I’d frequent the Facebook market place just to see what are the available houses we could transfer into sometime in the future, and we used to do house hunting prior to the pandemic, nothing concrete really came out of it. Though our pad was tiny, we were actually content living there for the most part since half the time we were at the farm up in the mountains or traveling to Cebu and anywhere local we’d fancy anyway (like Siargao, Boracay, Iloilo, Bacolod, and other local beach destinations). But then this pandemic started getting into my nerves… I never once went out from the time the pandemic was announced last March until we checked out houses we could transfer into last July and it was starting to suffocate me.

Our original plan was to settle in Cebu last June which was why we set up the mushroom farm at Oslob New Village Lodge last January but all that changed due to the pandemic. Our pad was tiny after all and not being able to travel half the time, it was becoming too crowded for us three. We did have the Tuscany Highlands office at next door, but it wasn’t enough. I wanted to have a bigger space to breathe, to work, to take care of Tuz, and just be. The tiny pad was starting to feel like a prison and with so much stuff we had inside the little space, we were literally bumping our knees and elbows against our stuff and against each other! Lol! But the real clincher was when our landlady in the tiny pad texted all tenants to refrain from using the washing machine because of low water pressure at that time. We only do our laundry once a month because of our busy schedules plus we have too many clothes anyway that we can use so that text message should not have been any concern for us but for some reason, it kind of irked us. Maybe it was really the pandemic getting into our nerves and shortening our fuses. Right after I read the text message out loud to Mahal, he immediately said “Let’s start looking for a house to transfer to.” I felt the urgency in his voice. Or maybe because I felt compelled as well. We are the types of folks I guess who don’t want to be dictated, especially concerning using or not using our own appliances, lol. 

So, I started looking online, inquired at all the houses I saw, narrowed down our choices and visited those that we liked. And because we are living at this unprecedented times, so many paper work had to be done, the most hassle of which was getting a health declaration that we are healthy and Covid-free either from the Municipal Health Office or your doctor. Thank God they didn’t ask us to get a rapid test. The exclusive subdivision we were trasferring into is very strict in terms of letting non-residents in. Even us, prior to becoming residents, waited for a long time outside of the subdivision entrance before we were allowed inside.  And the rest, as they say is history. 

Suffice it to say that the house we found had the same vibe as my house in Alabang used to have. It has many nooks and crannies to the point that Tuz calls it a maze, haha! It was a cuter version of my Alabang house though and I just fell in love with the layout and I really thought it would be a good space to live in during this time of the pandemic. I will have the space I need to work, to take care of Tuz, and to just be. And best of all, the energy and ambiance of the property felt like we were home… good energy to have while waiting for this pandemic to be over so we can finally go home to Oslob, Cebu, where we plan to settle for good. That’s another exciting thought that I am really looking forward to. I miss living near the beach, doing our morning and afternoon beach walks,  visiting Oslob’s tourist spots, and really developing the mushroom farm we have set up there with Mahal’s elder brother last January. But for now, we are happy in our pandemic home. 

Here’s my vlog about it. Pardon me for the long introduction. If you’ve watched my Tiny Pad Vlog, you will know na madaldal talaga ako (I am really a talkative kind of person to my surprise, lol!) Enjoy!