Mauie Flores

I'm a Bicolana's daughter. My husband is Bicolano, too. And when we say Bicol, we all know that they love chilies to the bone. My mom can even eat rice with nothing but chilies and salt. That's how much she loves chilies.


But don't you know that chilies can burn skin? I learned it the first time I tried chopping chilies when I made chili flakes. Washing with soap and water did not even help remove the capsaicin, the substance that comes from chilies.

Here are some of the ways I discovered in relieving chili burns:

• Washing with lemon juice or vinegar. The acid content of lemon juice and vinegar counteracts the effects of capsaicin. Tomato juice works as well.
• Rubbing with oil and washing with soap and water after. Capsaicin is oil-soluble so it's easier to remove with soap and water once it's already mixed in oil.

Of course, prevention is better than cure. So the next time I cut chilies, I knew better. I did not forget to wear plastic gloves!

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Just this morning, the street where my husband's office building is found was partially closed because one of the buildings conducted a fire drill. Apparently, the local government has been helping the buildings in the business district hold fire drills for their tenants which is good. It's never good to be trapped in a burning building.

Source:http://www.sxc.hu/photo/521402

What I witnessed reminded me that the last fire drill I participated in was way back in college! Since I work at home, I thought of planning a fire drill for our home. So I searched for home fire drill essentials and I'm sharing them here with you.

1. Make an escape plan. Every part of the house should be part of the layout. Better start with the bedrooms.
2. Make 2 escape routes from each room. As with everything, there should always be a Plan B should Plan A go wrong.
3. Agree on a meeting place outside the house. Be sure that it's within a safe distance from your home and that everyone in the family is familiar with that meeting place.
4. Assign roles for everyone to play. Who's going to be in charge with the baby? Who's going to help Lolo and Lola go out of the burning house? Who's going to grab the fire extinguisher?
5. Post your escape plan in a place where everyone can view it. Inform the househelpers and your overnight guests, if any.
6. Have a list of emergency numbers ready. You can also post the list alongside your escape plan. Be sure to have the numbers of the nearest fire stations and emergency medical assistance services.

Hope you also find this handy!

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Last Friday, March 11, 2011, I spent the afternoon until late evening sitting on the couch and watching the news about the earthquake and tsunami that happened in Japan. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw images of homes and other structures being swallowed by the enormous amount of seawater that came inland because of the tsunami. My eyes were also on my computer screen as a chatted with an aunt who is in Japan. Thankfully, although a bit shaken and emotional, she's safe as well as my other aunts who are working over there.

Image source here.

Adding to my state of shock were the news advisories telling the public to get ready for the tsunami that will hit the eastern part of the Philippines. Thank goodness, it did not do much damage to any of the 19 provinces that were supposed to be hit by the waves from the Pacific Ocean. After having experienced Ondoy, who can blame me for being so paranoid? I immediately thought about preparing for the waves of water that was supposed to come.

The American Red Cross advises the general public to prepare these 6 disaster must-haves:

• Water - 1 gal./person/day.
• Food - Non-perishable; should also include pet food if you have pets.
• First-aid kit - Always keep one in your home and another one in your car.
• Clothing and beddings - Complete change of clothing per person. Should also include rain gear and protection from the sun.
• Tools and emergency supplies
• Special items - Essentials for infants or the senior members of the family. These will also include toys or games for kids.

All of these items should last for at least three days. They should also be kept in sturdy, water-proof containers.

Experts also suggest having a disaster plan for the family. Honestly, I still haven't devised one. All this step entails is having 2 meeting places just in case we get separated at the height of a disaster. These 2 places should either be:

1. A safe distance away from home; or,
2. A safe place outside the neighborhood just in case a family member can't get home.

I hope you also find this post helpful. We will never know when a disaster will strike so it's best to be always prepared.


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Over the weekend, I met up with blogger friends for a writers' meeting. We just signed a 5-month contract as contributing writers for a local website! Actually, it's my second contract for the same local client and that is why I am so happy. At least, I am sure to have a steady stream of writing assignments until July. I am still praying for more writing gigs until my youngest brother graduates in 2011.

Compared to what I earn from my oDesk writing projects, my local client pays more. Besides, I find it better to coordinate with fellow Filipinos than foreign bosses. Not that I'm complaining as I have had the best foreign bosses in oDesk, too!

Tomorrow will also mark the start of our major home renovation project. We were blessed with extra savings this time that we could finally afford to build my dream kitchen and dining area. It would be built as an extension at the right side of our home. That will give our main home more space as we can already transfer the dining table to the extension. We have found a reliable contractor in the person Mang Bobot, a neighbor's relative. We have already seen his past construction projects within our village and he's earned our approval. He's taking care of everything including the coordination of tasks among his pool of workers. At least, we won't need to conduct an employee screening of construction boys anymore. After everything's built, all we would need to do is to buy a new oven and hood. By the way, Mang Bobot's going to build me a kitchen counter that's going to look like a mini-bar.

Oh, I forgot to write about the new 2-seater couch and coffee table set that we ordered last week. It's made to order and will be delivered by March 17. Happy happy, joy joy! Am I excited or what?

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I have just finished cleaning up and reorganizing most of the furniture in our house after our major summer renovation project. My desktop computer was finally relocated to my Big Boy's desk while my laptop now sits comfortably on a smaller work desk. Our bedroom looks bigger now with the cluttered computer table gone.

After the task, I just realized how most of our gadgets have become wireless since we moved in our new home. We still do not have a telephone line available so we resorted to subscribing to a wireless land line service. Since there is no telephone line, we had to give up our DSL account and sign up for wireless broadband internet. I hooked this up to a wireless router so our entire home is now a WiFi zone. We do not have cable TV lines available yet so we had to avail of a satellite cable service. So far, everything's working out fine for us.

The availability of wireless gadgets indeed made the lives of people like us more comfortable. Without these wireless gadgets, I would probably blogging in an internet cafe by now. I would also be spending a lot of airtime in placing calls through my cellular phone subscription.

Even business benefit a lot from these wireless gadgets. Fastfood delivery services can now offer credit card transactions with the use of a portable credit card machine. Even hotels in areas not having telephone lines rely on machines like this.

Technology is constantly developing more gadgets that make life easier. However, let us not forget that our personal relationship with others cannot be left to these wireless innovations.

Do you own wireless gadgets, too? How has it improved your life so far?

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