Adjusting to Rural Living – Rants of a City Girl Turned Farm Girl at 11 in the Evening

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It’s been raining hard the past couple of days… good for our crops… kinda bad for me. We can’t go back (yet) to the city.

The original plan was for me and Tuz to stay in our tiny city pad with all the conveniences of modern living. I have strong wifi there, Tuz and I can watch movies on the big screen, we can have food delivered or even go out late at night to eat at my favorite food place in the city, there’s a fridge at home, a microwave, a washing machine and of course an air conditioner (although the temperature here at the farm is way cooler). Then that day after Mahal made LBC deliveries for Mushroom Chili Paste and Mushroom Langka Jam orders and came home, he waited for me to wake up. I was actually expecting him to be gone already by the time I wake up so it’d be easier for me to not miss him. But he couldn’t leave yet. He said he was already missing us so much. So we spent time just talking… and hugging… and kissing… an hour passed… two… three… I was on the brink of tears knowing that he needed to go back to the farm soon since the plants have been all alone with no one to take care of them for 5 whole days already at that time.

Then Mahal said: “Sama ka na!” (Come with me!)

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How to Rise Above a Negative Mental State – Here are 6 Steps Based on My Own Experience as of Late

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I don’t want to make any excuses for not being able to post here when I said I would. But what I will do instead is to tell you the truth.

I’ve been feeling OVERWHELMED… and BURNT OUT as of late… I was aware of this state I was in but I didn’t want to further magnify it by telling people how I just found myself crying out of the blue, how I suddenly just felt so depressed and ungrateful, how I’ve thought of leaving Mahal and Tuz… I didn’t mention anything about it on social media or as it was happening. But now that THAT PHASE is over, now that I think I have overcome those negative thoughts and feelings for the most part, perhaps it would be helpful for others in the same boat to let them know that they’re not alone and that no matter how bad those feelings can get, there is always a way (or ways) to overcome it and come out better than ever. Continue reading →

Farm Life Update – Growing Fruits and Vegetables from Seeds, New Business Partners and Non-Stop Road Trips

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Hey, hey, hey! How’s everyone doing? I’ve been away from this blog for exactly two months and it’s all for good reasons. How I wished I was sleeping and resting the whole time but it was actually the opposite! After I did that 30-day blog post challenge, my life has been on hyperdrive  — I got busier than ever which I never thought could be possible with the hectic life I’ve always lived! I wasn’t just checking things off my to-do list… I was actually busy “being” the person I always wanted to be — a mother, a traveler, an entrepreneur. And it’s all great! Let me itemize what I mean. I am OC that way… lol!

 

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blogging

Lessons I Learned from Doing a 30-Day Challenge

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Wow, I’m now on the 30th day of my very own self-imposed 30-day blog post challenge which also propelled me to restart doing other things I love and one of them is, obviously, blogging —Blogging about anything and everything that I feel like sharing to the world!

It all started with this post, HOW TO DO WHAT YOU LOVE EACH DAY, because it was already May and I felt that I haven’t yet done the things that I told myself I will do. I don’t want 2018 to pass me by and just resign to the fact that once again my New Year’s resolutions were just that — resolutions that never came to fruition.

So I look back at the past 29 days and I feel proud about the lessons I learned so far: Continue reading →

Agutayan Island

AGUTAYAN ISLAND: MISAMIS ORIENTAL BUDGET WEEKEND GETAWAY

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Agutayan Island is one of those places I’ve always wanted to explore here in Misamis Oriental. They say it is pretty much like Camiguin’s white island, only smaller, and nearer if you’re coming from Cagayan de Oro City. So after being so cold at the farm (our farm is on top of a mountain where fog reigns in the afternoon and the cold air is much much colder than our air conditioner at home — I wear 3 layers of clothes when I’m there), it is expected that I will be missing the beach soon and craving for the heat of the scorching sun. And the perfect place to get that? Agutayan Island!

But before that, let me tell you that I’m now on the 29th day of my very own self-imposed 30-day blog post challenge which also propelled me to restart doing other things I love and one of them is blogging about my travels! It’s actually the primary reason why I started blogging in 2000 in Geocities so I could document all of the travels I was doing. Then eventually, most of my travel posts went to my Sexy Nomad blog. And now, little by little, here in Momtraneur.

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how to decide what you want

HOW TO DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT

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I’m now on the 28th day of my very own self-imposed 30-day blog post challenge which also propelled me to restart doing other things I love and one of those things is reading my books, particularly Jack Canfield’s The Success Principles.

I already mentioned before that I bought this book in 2009. I started reading it and finished a few chapters, then life happened and before I know it, years have passed and I haven’t continued reading the book. So I started reading it again from Chapter 1. And now, I’m already on Chapter 31. Yey!

Below are my blog posts about Jack Canfield’s Success Principles so far:

Today’s blog post will be about Jack Canfield’s 3rd success principle: HOW TO DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT.

You can read all my SUCCESS PRINCIPLES blog posts here: https://momtraneur.com/tag/success-principles/

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Mushroom Chili Paste

Tuscany Highlands Organic Farm Mushroom Chili Paste Customer Reviews (Updated Aug. 6, 2018)

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I’m now on the 27th day of my very own self-imposed 30-day blog post challenge which also propelled me to restart doing other things I love and one of them is just basically sharing with you through my blog whatever I feel like sharing and today’s it’s going to be about our Mushroom Chili Paste and what our customers say about it!

If you’ve been reading my blog, you’d know that last week, Mahal and I joined a Back-to-School Bazaar here at LimKetKai Mall, Cagayan de Oro City. It was our very first time to publicly display our very first farm product like that — Tuscany Highlands Organic Farm Mushroom Chili Paste. The goal of that endeavor was not really to make high sales (although it would be a bonus if we profit from it) but to introduce it to the public. We will be joining other future bazaars as our budget sees fit so watch out for that.

Prior to that, we had a soft launching of our Mushroom Chili Paste online, among my Facebook friends. And I’m happy to say that we’ve been getting some positive reviews about our first set of customers so far…

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How to Grow Water Spinach (Kangkong) and Chinese Kale (Kailan) the Easy Way

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Growing Water Spinach (Kangkong) and Chinese Kale (Kailan)  from seeds use pretty much the same method as growing tomatoes. I actually planted my kangkong and kailan the same time I planted my okra seeds, eggplants seeds, pepper seeds and tomato seeds.

Refer to this post to know what you should do to prepare your mini vegetable garden:  How to Make a Mini Vegetable Garden

By the way, I’m actually on the 26th day of my very own self-imposed 30-day blog post challenge which also propelled me to restart doing other things I love and one of them is planting vegetables (obviously!)

First of all, let me tell you that unlike how I grew tomato, eggplant,  okra, and pepper seeds, I didn’t study at all how to plant water spinach (kangkong) and Chinese kale (kailan) seeds. I bought several different seeds and one day I just thought to plant two more kinds and see if they will grow.  After almost a month, I can say that my water spinanch and Chinese kale vegetable seeds have grown so much since then. I’ve even re-potted them which I will discuss on a separate post. For now, let me tell you how I managed to grow Kangkong and Kailan vegetables from seeds.

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Pareto Principle

80-20 Rule or Pareto Principle and The Seven Habits

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I’m now on the 25th day of my very own self-imposed 30-day blog post challenge which also propelled me to restart doing other things I love and one of them is reading books,  as I’ve mentioned in my previous blog post, but most importantly, reading self-help ones and applying what I learned in my own life.

I came across the Pareto principle years ago while at work. It is more popularly known as the 80-20 rule such that 20% of the causes bring about 80% of the results. Though there are a variety of permutations that explains this principle, it just struck me hard enough to write a post about how I see it.

There was a time when I once again fell into my old pattern of focusing too much on the 80% of the stuff that only brings in 20% of the desired results I want. It should have been the other way around. I should have been able to focus my attention on the 20% of tasks that contribute to the 80% of my income. This meant, more quality time at work, more quality time in my personal life, more quality time in every aspect of my life if possible, and less time doing the less important stuff. This way, I could have balanced my time more, done the other fulfilling things I wanted, while still earning my desired income. Thanks to the Pareto principle, it became my wake up call.

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Something Borrowed (The First Time I Fell In Love With Emily Giffin’s Work)

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I’m now on the 24th day of my very own self-imposed 30-day blog post challenge which also propelled me to restart doing other things I love and one of them is reading books as I’ve mentioned in my previous blog post. But it’s not just reading books I love per se, but blogging about what I’ve read as well.

Something Borrowed is the first book of Emily Giffin I’ve ever read. And because I loved it so much, I ended up eventually buying all of her books!  I remember dropping by one afternoon in Powerbooks at Festival Mall because there was a sale. As usual, I looked at the section of my favorite authors (Nicholas Sparks, Sophie Kinsella, Danielle Steel to name a few) just to see if there’s anything new. Then there was this movie trailer being shown on their wall TV. The title of the movie is Something Borrowed. I didn’t give it much attention at first until I got a bit intrigued. The movie, as it turned out, is based on a book so I immediately looked for it (it was just right there on the bestseller stand) and purchased a copy. (Much, much later, I watched the film and it was awesome as well!)

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How to Grow Peppers the Easy Way

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Growing peppers (sili) from seeds use pretty much the same method as growing tomatoes. I actually planted my hot pepper seeds the same time I planted my okra seeds, eggplants seeds, and tomato seeds.

Refer to this post to know what you should do to prepare your mini vegetable garden:  How to Make a Mini Vegetable Garden

By the way, I’m actually on the 23rd day of my very own self-imposed 30-day blog post challenge which also propelled me to restart doing other things I love and one of them is planting vegetables (obviously!)

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