Rainbow Bridge

ILY Brandon to the moon and back. I will miss you...

Hello. Let me greet everyone first a belated Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year. One more day to go before we bid 2015 adieu. 

It would have been a merry christmas for me though hadn’t for Brandon, our family dog's untimely demise. I somehow saw it coming although at the back of my mind there was at least a little glimmer of hope that he’ll last for at least few more years.

I wrote about Brandon’s ordeal on my previous blogs such as how he survived liver and kidney failure. It’s only been a couple of months since we moved to our new house and it’s such a sad, sad thing that he only lived here for that long. He was ok a week after he finished taking all his meds and all. He was walking although his legs were not as strong anymore due to his old age perhaps, he’s 10 years old. The vet advised to have his vaccines updated, to have him dewormed etc. I was apprehensive and the first to object because he’s ten and that he just got his strength back. My siblings decided to go ahead probably thinking that would help. I understand their point although my doubt remained. We all want what's best for him.

He was ok after his 5in1 shot with anti-rabies for a week. After five days, as per the vets advise, we had him dewormed and that’s when the dilemma started. We noticed his lack of appetite again and in just few days he was back to the way he was so we rushed him to a different veterinary clinic because we totally lost our trust to the previous vet clinic who treated him initially. When we took him to the new vet he wasn’t feeding anymore, unable to stand and all. He seemed to have lost all his strength. We were disheartened with what we saw because the symptoms points to kidney and liver failure all over.

The new vet clinic we took him to said that tests should’ve been done first prior to the shot/vaccine to make sure he’s all well. That, the dog’s good appetite is not an indication that he’s well as there might be underlying problems since he  just got back from treatment. We were so aghast that we trusted an expert not knowing that would cause Brandon’s life. We kept him at the vet a day before Christmas hoping that he’ll still make it no matter how our hearts were bleeding to see him in such poor state. We kept asking for updates from the vet the whole time he was confined yet the most daunting news came three days ago, he passed away Sunday morning around 8 a.m. We were all devastated to hear the news. We lost him a couple of days after Christmas. I remember one time my sisters and I asked our Mom in heaven to at least let Brandon live until Christmas if not longer. She did grant our wish but eventually that’s all God could possibly spare, only until Christmas. We thanked our Mom and of course the Almighty for those wonderful ten years we spent with Brandon. His service was truly honorary, his loyalty and all out protection we will never forget. My sister said Brandon will now head off to his destination, the Rainbow Bridge, this is what they call animal’s version of ‘heaven.’ 

I thought (to console myself), Brandon’s mission might’ve been finished. He might’ve thought that we’re better now and that he can finally rest. But then, I will miss him badly. He’s got the loudest and deepest bark in the neighbourhood. The neighbours even stare at him in awe because he’s the biggest one round here. This is also the reason why I prefer smaller animals, ‘cuz you feel the loss big time the bigger they are. I don’t wanna be sad but I am, I can’t help it. I just think that animals entrust their lives to humans, they can’t complain, they can’t talk, they only wail if they are in pain. I just hope that those people you call ‘experts’ when it comes to animal care should be far more careful with their what they say because it may cause an animals life as in the case or Brandon. An obvious malpractice.

I think my Mom finally walked him down the rainbow bridge. To a world where he's now free from suffering and his weary body finally came to rest if such realm ever exist. This gives me a reason to believe that somewhere out there, there's a place for them.

Nevertheless, I am wishing you guys a Happy New Year. Be safe and keep your pets somewhere safe as well, away from the noise for as much as possible because they get totally stressed out during NYE due to the thundering sound made by fireworks. Our dogs do and so as our cat. The noise is like world war for them. 

I’ve seen a lot of pets being rushed to vet clinics by the way due to digestive problems over the holidays. Please, let’s be careful with what we feed them. Like I said, they can’t talk when they're in pain so let’s not subject them to health constraints amidst all the merriment ok?

It’s the year of the Monkey this coming 2016, my birth year. I hope the new year will be good to me and my kins, to everyone, to the world. 

related posts:

http://musingsofabatgirl.blogspot.com/2015/11/keep-going.html

http://musingsofabatgirl.blogspot.com/2015/11/go-brandon.html

Etsy Bitsy

my master pieces...

My jute twines been keeping me busy. I made tons of things made with jute twines already and I want to make some more because it's such an enjoyable pass time. I realised that a 100 meter roll of twine could go a long way that I already made crafty projects from pen holders, vanity kit, ribbons for labels etcetera etcetera. Pinterest is just so effin useful when it comes to DIY ideas that I haven't even consumed the entire roll yet.

I just wanna share what I have done so far so y'all folks could make use of your time productively Oh by the way also enjoyed making labels for just about everything. You could just google 'spice labels' and you'll see a lot of downloadable and editable templates from the web to choose from which you could just simply cut out and you'll have automatic labels for just about every thing. Isn't jute twines and spice labels look good together ? Teehee.

Anything for Mom

i think she's done finally...

I recast my message board and totally made a new one from scratch because I finally found this etsy shop close to where I live that sells handmade crafts ranging from colourful feathers, jute twines, burlaps, papier-mâché boxes to scrap book decors and many more. It felt like finding treasure at the end of the rainbow. I’m saying this ‘cuz I shop online because of limited access to stuff like those and finding one that sells them is just happiness. 

my bedroom photo wall made from 
recycled message board materials.
I'm trying to channel Boho lol.

So, I bought this chalk board paper, some colourful dyed feathers, pieces of cute colourful sunflowers made from (I think) dried coconut husk’s skin, and last but not least, buttons with pretty intricate designs. I still retained the original materials such as the braided jute twines and sea shells. I’m finally happy with the outcome and I think I could finally leave it for now and move on to my new project, to decorate my Mom’s columbary.

I kind of noticed every time I visit the columbarium that more and more families  are already decorating their loved one’s columbary. Some adorn them with paper made flowers and I thought what a good way to beautify them since we cannot repaint them unlike catacombs in cemeteries. I measured the length and width so I could start my project at home then bring them in once finished. I thought, the place where our dearly departed ones lie maybe sacred and solemn but that does not mean they should look melancholic as well. I think my mom would be happy to see me decorating her urns home because she’s a lover of aesthetics like I do. Anything for Mom.

Santa Claus is Coming To Town

Finally done with my online shopping marathon. I purposely ordered stuff ahead of Christmas time to avoid delivery traffic and all. I got my macbook air case this afternoon and alas I can breath. I don’t know what’s with this week that all my orders came in not that I’m complaining. Ok, so my macbook is not gonna get cold this Christmas anymore because she’s now all dressed up yay! Pretty in purp, my fave.

I ordered my macbook air case from another online shop on Instagram. Yes, I am more of an IG, Pinterest and Twitter person and not so much on Facebook. Going back, the case came with free keyboard and dust plugs (my choice of colors) plus shipping is free. What a good deal right? Other shops charge extra for the Keyboard protector and other add ons other than the case so it cost more. With the shop I bought mine from it’s already a package for P880 all in. I love it! I’ll just collect some more macbook cases after Christmas because people clamour this time of the year regardless if your shopping online or not. I’ll just let the Christmas rush subside first. 

Busy December

my eco friendly message board ...

I’m 80% finished with my DIY plywood message board! I gathered some sea shells we have at home and created my own paper made purple sun flowers to decorate the edges and camouflage the tacks. I was even able to use my washi tapes for this project. It may not be as pretty but it’s hand crafted with love. I’m still gathering few more recyclable materials and sooner or later it may be done in no time (I hope). I’m proud about my work because I only consumed few of earth’s resources and was even able to recycle an old picture which used to hang in the wall but now kept in our storage room. 

I love recycling things. One Christmas many years back, I asked my exchange gift partner one thing, tons of Papelmeroti notebooks because they’re made from recycled materials. it’s my way to support re-use and recycle, an advocacy I truly believe in since childhood. Our mom taught us to make use of recycled water (the ones we drain from washing machines after laundry) instead of using the toilet bowl’s flush. This way you already hit two birds in one stone, help mother earth through conserving water in general and lower your water consumption/bill at the same time. My family and I may not adhere to this habit like we used to but surely we still do whenever we can. 

Moving on, I just received the package I ordered from LAZADA last November 21st this afternoon. A couple of Plantronics headset I’d be using for Skype. My mistake whilst ordering was I accidentally placed two separate orders instead of just one which made my life complex because I had two separate tracking numbers. Anyways, Ordering from LAZADA was a breeze because you will be notified online right away once your order was placed including the estimated time of arrival, item type etc. which is similar with eBay. My only concern was, LAZADA is not for rush orders because it took almost 3 weeks before my orders reached my doorstep. The advantage was it’s CASH ON DELIVERY basis (only on selected items though) so you feel at ease that you have not shell out any money for it yet as opposed to eBay or other online shopping sites. Shipping is also free if you order items P1000 and up. 

cat cord winder not included 

The only hassle part in my experience was when my order was already in the hands of LBC express (local courier). My items weren’t delivered on time as per their online tracking tool because according to them it wasn’t accommodated due to high delivery volume for the day. I was of annoyed with LBC since I wasted time waiting for my items. I wished they could’ve notified me at least that the delivery would be put off at a later schedule. I wrote a letter of complaint so it was escalated and was eventually delivered today after a couple of failed deliveries. I hope they have better communication channels and let me just state that their Twitter account isn’t very helpful this time. The ones responding on Twitter are like robots copying and pasting automated responses sorry to say. I called LBC’s customer service hotline, sent a letter of complaint, sent messages via Twitter. Yes I was that concerned that my package would be returned back to LAZADA because that would be a total inconvenience.

Nevertheless, I am happy with my orders although I still prefer ordering from online shops found on Instagram etc. because it only take less than a week for you to get your items. It’s still best to order directly from the seller and not have people liaise between the seller and the customer like what LAZADA does. I think I might order from them again if I have no choice since there are items found in LAZADA that are not found in other shops locally.

diy from scraps

I Finally got the jute twine rolls and chalk pen I ordered last week from this shop on Instagram that sells mason jars, jute twines, label stickers etc.  I was so excited that I started decorating my spice canisters right away. I'm thinking of ordering some burlaps as well because I saw a lot of really cool ideas from Pinterest and who knows I might even think of selling them one day.

my diy message board, still
halfway through...

Today, I made a small message board from an old hang-in-the-wall decor. I used the back of it, braided few string of jute twines, thumb tacks, label stickers, my chalk pen and it's partly done. I'm thinking of few more addition to it but I'm still collecting some more materials. I'm not happy wit it yet because it feels empty to me.

posted from Bloggeroid

Ice Ice Baby

my new workspace at home..

I got my new baby yesterday, my Macbook Air 11. I love that it is so lightweight, perfect for travellers like me. I remember my sister and I's trip to Hong Kong months ago, we carried our laptop so we could upload photos directly online and blog at the same time. It was kinda heavy though that we have to take turns in carrying it. We usually have heavy carry on bags because of our gadgets and of course our make up kits. I am a Windows user but I am good at understanding apple products because I used to have an iPhone which I traded for Samsung because of wifi access issue but that's a whole different story which you can scour my blog for if you want to know why. 

Going back, this is the first time I will be using a Macbook in my lifetime although it's not new to me since all apple products are pretty much the same interface wise. I can say that it's also pretty straightforward as well, not as difficult to navigate compared to Windows 8 or 10. Apple is so excellent packaging wise as usual. I love the box, free stickers as usual and the two different types of charger, one 3 pin and one regular 2 pin. Macbook Air 11 is also very basic, yet absolutely sleek--no memory card reader and couple of USB ports but what the heck I will just be using it for work anyways. I'm also glad that my six year old Canon Pixma 1800 series worked with my Macbook after I downloaded the installer/driver from Apple's website which I never thought still would since I had a hard time finding a cartridge for it after my printer ran out of ink. I thought Canon is already trying to phase out my printer's model because there's tons of them already out. Some of them already have scanner and photocopier capability. I was only able to purchase one from Canon of course. I was so excited for my new baby that I already purchased a purple case for it with free keyboard and dust plugs. I bought one from an online seller I follow on Instagram. That's what I love about Macbook, they have rubber keyboards which you can just place on top of the original ones to prevent them from smearing due to frequent use whilst other laptops don't.

Moving on, took Brandon the german shepherd to the vet today to have his vaccines updated. We thought, right now is the perfect time since he's already fully recovered from his liver and kidney infection. We asked for the 5in1 shot with anti-rabies and deworming tablets (3 tablets for him because the number of tablets vary depending on the dog's weight). He's not allowed to take a bath for a week and we can only administer his deworming tabs after five days. Brandon's next visit to the vet would be in a couple of weeks time for his anti-pneumonia booster. Better safe than sorry, we promised to take extra good care of him because he's old and we love him.

Holiday

Every time I think of Christmas this romantic comedy flick called The Holiday crosses my mind. I've seen this movie so many times but it just never get old and as a matter of fact I watched it again just recently. I love to travel so the thought of travelling last minute excites me. So, here goes my own synopsis.

The Holiday (2006)

Cast:

• Amanda Woods (Cameron Diaz) – rich movie trailer producer
• Iris Simpkin (Kate Winslet) – society column editor from London
• Graham (Jude Law) -Iris' brother
• Miles (Jack Black) – does musical scores for movies
• Arthur Abbott (Eli Wallach)– renowned scriptwriter during Hollywood's golden age.

Plot:

Amanda Woods kicked her lived in partner Ethan out of her L.A home because he slept with his young Secretary. Amanda lives in a humongous house in L.A, a workaholic and a movie trailer producer thus she makes a lot of money but less time for Ethan.

On the other side of the world, Iris Simpkin, a column editor from London, is busy with her column (amidst the company Christmas party) happened to be still madly in love with her ex-boyfriend/co-worker Jasper Bloom. Iris caught Jasper cheating but remained friends with the bloke and as a matter of fact gifted him this first edition book he's so yearning to have for Christmas. On that same fateful night Jasper's engagement was announced (with a girl from the circulation department) leaving Iris an emotional wreck.

Amanda asked for a break from work to get over her heartbreak over Ethan whilst Iris thought of going somewhere to mend her broken heart. Amanda saw an ad posted online about 'house exchange' and eventually picked Cotswold, 40mins. from London. Iris posted the ad online a long time ago and the two over chat eventually agreed to do the 'house exchange' ASAP. With Iris, she aimed to go somewhere far to fall out of love from Jasper which she pathetically told him via email.

Iris live at an old country house faraway from the city, it was winter which was different from where Amanda hailed from, windy but no snow. Iris was flabergasted as soon as she set foot at Amanda's house because it was humongous which is quite the opposite with Amanda's reaction once she reached Iris' little country home. It was a small country house with fire place and a dog. Amanda thought of heading home the next day thinking she never felt more alone until a sot Graham knocked the door, Iris' big brother. Graham just would like to sleep for a night to get over his hang over from drunkeness and was surprised to see Amanda, a stranger inside his sister's crib. Amanda thought Graham was gorgeous and t'was mutual. The two made out although told each other not to make a big deal out of what happened. Graham told Amanda in case she changes her mind to drop by at the Pub. Amanda did and the rest was 'it's complicated.'

Going back to Iris in L.A, she met Miles, he was supposed to pick up Ethan's stuff from Amanda's house. Miles introduced Maggie to Iris, his girlfriend. Iris still head over heels with Jasper received a phone call from the later about something his writing about. Jasper asked for Iris' addy to 'send' her the manuscripts yadda yadda which is perhaps just an excuse for him to know Iris' whereabouts and probably hoping they could patch things up despite Jasper's being engaged already. Iris met this old neighbor Athur Abbott, lost in the neighborhood, offered to drive him back to his house. The two became friends and Arthur learned that Iris is in L.A getting over a guy.

Back to UK, Amanda visited Graham's house and found that he already have two lovely daughters and thought at first he's married. Graham confessed his a widower and his two daughters loved Amanda since there hasn't been any female in the house other than their Aunt Iris since their mom passed away.

Iris on the other hand confessed to Miles (after Miles got heartbroken and saw Maggie with another guy whilst him and Iris were at the video store) that she's in L.A to get over Jasper. Miles realized he's luckier compared to Iris so he made her pasta, wrote a musical score for both Iris and Arthur. Arthur was invited btw to an event to honor his contribution to the hollywood movie world. Iris helped him to be fit for the event and discard his cane.

Amanda and Graham went out on a date. She told Graham she hasn't shed a tear since her parents broke up. Graham found it really peculiar but nevertheless accepted Amanda as she is. Miles little by little fell in love with Iris after seing how lovely she is as a person.

Fast forward, Arthur successfully attended the event in his honor, Amanda and Graham agreed to make things work despite the distance. Amanda finally cried a river the day she was supposed to go back home to L.A. Miles asked Iris if he could spend New Year's eve at Iris' place in the UK and it was a happy ending.

FIN

I love this movie because it didn't just focus on one story. There's Amanda's story, Iris, Miles and Arthur. Plus, I love the setting especially Iris' old country home. It's like the best of both worlds. This is a movie that will never bore you because there's a lot of things going on.

Foodie...

Ok, 'nuff of the movie stuff i'm engrossed about, let me just share this chocolate cake recipe I'm raving about. This is the only steamed cake that I made which never failed me measurements wise haha! So let me share it with you guys. I'm looking to make a special chocolate cake this coming Christmas.

my home made chocolate cake, steamed
for roughly 30 mins.

Chocolate Cake

½ cup unsweetened cocoa

12 Tbsp. All purpose flour

½ tsp. Baking soda

¾ tsp. Baking powder (0.05 oz.)

¼ tsp. Salt

2 large eggs (room temperature)

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil/coconut oil

2 tsp. Vanilla extract

½ cup buttermilk (room temperature)

2016 AlDub calendar...

In the absence of buttermilk, I use evaporated milk with white vinegar as substitute. It always come out just fine.

Etc.

Before I end this bloggie, my sissies bought a couple of AlDub calendars which came free if you order McDonald's chicken meals. We made sure we get ours as souvenirs for this years phenomenal love team. Hey they set the twitter world on fire and made tons of TV commercials. What's not to love about them right?

Here Comes December

Oh hello December. It's 24 days to go indeed before Christmas and time flew by so fast. Finally done with our black and white photo wall project. My stiff neck already healed after four weeks thanks to my ortho prescribed Arcoxia. I was back to drilling after three days of taking it but I made sure not to push my muscles to the limit anymore otherwise I'm gonna be a walking robot, muscle spasms everywhere.

Now that I'm back to normal, I busied myself with more diy projects. I chose to innovate my spice jars and replace them with little plastic containers. I use glass jars before but rust corroded the lids so no other solution but use plastic ones to avoid 'em from getting all rusty. I thought of handwriting the labels myself but I figured it's a whole lot easier to use downloadable ones instead so the font is similar for all my jars.

spice spice baby

For a start I googled everything and found tons of really pretty label templates. These are blank labels with text boxes and its very own font. I used an A4 paper, printed them all and there you go. I also used this big scotch tape to coat my labels to prevent them from smudging since I used an inkjet printer, a double sided tape, then cut them all out and it's an automatic label sticker. I just didn't like the 11 character limit on the template's text box that I have to cut the words short to fit the label gadh. Anyways, I only spent P66 for the tiny spice containers from Japan Home whilst the rest of the materials came handy at home.

Ok, I pretty much put labels on everything so what to do next? I say a lot when you're bored. 

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