CLOSER – A film review

It’s a long holiday weekend to celebrate the Feast of Saints and the Dead and what better day to stave off boredom than to have a movie marathon!!! But alas the DVD player inside the room won’t play almost all the DVDs I brought only the Julia Roberts collection played and since there wasn’t any remote I had no choice but to watch the first movie in the collection – a movie called Closer. It was topbilled by Julia Roberts but it felt more like Natalie Portman’s movie to me because she had more meaty parts in the film. But if there was one word I could use to describe the movie, it would be – weird! The storyline was a bit confusing since at first I thought I was watching a flashback but it turned out to be the ending of the film, now I’m really confused?!?

Let me start at the beginning, the movie starts with Jude Law and Natalie walking opposite each other across a busy London street. They gaze and smile until Natalie gets hit by a car. Jude Law (Dan) takes her to the hospital where they get to know each other. They ride on a bus where Dan reveals he is an obit writer and Natalie (Alice) says she is a stripper from New York who left to escape a bad relationship. They separate upon reaching Dan’s workplace.

Next scene shows them one year later – Dan and Alice are already a couple and Dan is shown having his picture taken by Julia Roberts (Anna) a photographer, for his recently published book’s dust jacket. Dan kisses her but tells her that he has a girlfriend. So Anna decides to stop whatever was ‘starting’ between them. Then, Dan’s girlfriend Alice arrives and she asks Anna to take her picture. Dan goes down to leave the two of them alone and Alice reveals that she heard what happened between them thru the intercom downstairs. Anna apologizes but Alice turns away with tears in her eyes.

Next, Dan is shown in his computer in a sex chat room, pretending to be a girl. He meets a man on the web named Larry (Clive Owen) He’s a dermatologist and also a sex addict and they began exchanging ‘hot messages’ with each other. They agree to meet the next day at the aquarium and Dan told Larry to look for Anna. Coincidentally, Anna is there at the aquarium, and they soon realize they have been played with but still they hit it off and begin to date.

Four months later, the two couples meet again during Anna’s photo exhibit. Alice and Larry meet for the first time and flirt mildly until Alice learns that Larry and Anna are dating. Larry and Anna reveal that they call Dan their cupid because it was through him that they met at the aquarium. Dan leaves Alice in a taxicab to go to his father’s funeral but in fact, returns to the exhibit to talk to Anna.

Next scene shows Dan and Alice one year later. Dan says he has been on a business trip but later on admits he had been seeing Anna since the art exhibit and that they have been having an affair. At about the same time, Larry comes home to Anna after a business trip (they are married now) and he confesses that he slept with a prostitute during his trip. She says it’s OK and admits her affair too with Dan.

Six months later, Larry walks into a strip club and sees Alice. He gets into a VIP room with her and she plays a part saying her name is Jane Jones. He admits his frustration with the divorce proceedings from Anna and tries to sleep with Alice but she won’t let him. Next scene shows Anna rushing to meet Dan at a concert. She was late because she met earlier with Larry to get him to sign the divorce papers. Dan guessed that she slept with Larry just to get his signature and she regretfully admitted doing so because it was his condition before signing. Dan becomes upset and they get into an argument.

A few more months later, Dan is seen storming into Larry’s clinic angry because Anna has left him to go back to Larry. Larry reveals to him that Anna is a depression junkie and never really filed the divorce papers. He felt pity for the poor guy however, so he reveals where Alice is but at the same time he tells her that he also slept with her. Dan goes to the strip club, sees Alice and they get back together again. Next, Alice and Dan are shown at a hotel room near Heathrow Airport. They are quite happy and are on their way to New York. Dan started to question her, however, if she slept with Larry and at first she said no. But Dan kept on insisting that she tell the truth and when she finally did admit it, she says that she has stopped loving him already. Dan admits he has known all along and has forgiven her already but Alice refused to re-consider. She’s fed up and tells him to leave.

Dan remains in London and passes by the park where he took Alice the first time they met. He notices that one of the names on the wall is Alice Ayres, the same name that Alice told him. Meanwhile, at Heathrow airport, Alice is going through immigration, when she hands in her passport it shown that her name is Jane Jones – the name she gave Larry. Alice/Jane is then seen walking out into the busy street, reminiscent of the opening scene, where she faces an uncertain future… alone.

So there, what do you make of it??? Kinda weird, huh? Because it never really reveals the truth - is her name really Alice? Or Jane? And what’s behind her hiding under different names. The story in a nutshell is about betrayal – how they use sex to hurt the other partner which makes their values quite disturbing. It’s an unconventional story that makes you hate the characters instead of love them. Besides, it’s really about Natalie and not Julia, right? Oh well, why bother, suffice it to say that I felt disturbed by the movie and wouldn’t want to watch something like it again.



[photo grabbed from IMDB]

THE KITCHEN CABINET IS FINISHED!

Here are just some updates on the hubby’s cabinet-making project. After three weeks of sawing and sandpapering and hammering the cabinet mostly at night after eating dinner and also during weekends, he was finally able to complete the cabinet construction including the plywood at the back and the cabinet doors which he had a bit of difficulty making. Then after another week he finished painting it and so here’s a picture of the cabinet and how it looks inside the kitchen. I thank God for my husband for being a true handyman around the house. In all we spent just something like 2K for the wood and the paints, such a cheap amount to spare to create something so beautiful and useful. If I were to buy something like this at a furniture store, I am sure it would cost so much more than that!

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 38 – Broiled Liempo

Since my sister-in-law, who usually cooks dinner for us each night, is still on an extended vacation, I decided to marinate some liempo last night that my son can cook using the turbo broiler for our dinner today. I got the recipe for this Turbo Liempo from Dennis’ Lutong Bahay blog and you may browse his site for the exact ingredients.

What I do remember is that I marinated the pork slices in a mixture of calamansi, patis, pepper, rosemary and garlic overnight. Then just pop them into the turbo broiler and brush some soy seasoning over the meat (to brown them a bit) about ten minutes before the liempo was cooked and voila! Delicious, fuss-free dinner!

DANGER SIGNALS

Shortness of breath when I walk a short flight of stairs or even just a few meters, tightening of my clothes, a sudden loathing to look at myself in the mirror. Yup I guess I’m beginning to experience it. I admit I have all the danger signals but still I refuse to admit it – I am indeed overweight! Well, actually I have been made aware of it for quite some time now,the hubby has called my attention many times already and even my daughter has joked about my widening frame but the sad thing is I can’t seem to do anything about it!

Not that I am not doing anything, of course not! I have tried everything – from a no-carb diet, to an after six diet, to jogging (occasionally!) But as it is nothing seems to work – not even an ounce or an inch is lost from my ever increasing weight and waist line – what am I to do now??? I think I have ran out of options or I guess it is my motivation that has ran out on me! I usually feel so tired to exercise and I find it too tedious to go and prepare a separate ‘diet’ food for myself so I end up just eating what’s on the table.

I think it was about ten years ago when I did the South Beach Diet. Back then I was quite enthusiastic in preparing my salads and other ‘carb and sugar-free foods’. I was even doing taebo then. But now, oh well, I guess that’s what I really need to do first - get the motivation, the urge, the desire – to go out and really LOSE WEIGHT!!! Maybe I need new rubber shoes or maybe a gym subscription or new gym equipment that I can use at home or even just a new gym partner??? Whatever it is, I hope I find out soon what kind of motivation I truly need. Otherwise, I would never be able to lose all these unwanted pounds in my body.

A NEW LCD TV!

It was exam day today for the kids so we just stayed at home – the hubby continued his cabinet project while I puttered about the house just cleaning a bit including the yard and the rabbit cages. Then, when the kids arrived after lunch we ate a late lunch then slept the afternoon off since it was a bit hot to do anything much. We decided to leave for SM Fairview at around 7pm and proceeded at once to the Appliance Center. We browsed first the Samsung units and saw that their picture quality is indeed very sharp as compared to the others. But their prices are just so steep! The Series 4 that we wanted costs 22K and didn’t have any freebie attached to it, not even a wall bracket! There was a slightly lesser version, their Series 3 but it doesn’t recognize USB playback of movies and so we opted to browse at other brands

Our next stop was LG (take note we didn’t anymore bother to look at Sony because we know they had a much higher price range ) and we saw a unit for only 18K, with a bit similar specs as the Samsung except that their screen resolution wasn’t as clear. And so we move on until we got to the last part of the showroom (we went past some unknown names like Changhong and Sanyo) until we got to Devant, it was also an unknown brand (well to me it is). The unit costs also about 20K but the good thing is that, it had a free HDMI player from NextBase (which costs about 3 to 4K), a free wall bracket, and a free appliance at the SM App Center that costs PhP500.00. We checked out the screen resolution and it was OK (still not as clear compared to the Samsung) but what the heck, there were lots of freebies and I guess it was enough. The TV itself can play movies thru the USB which only the higher (and pricier) Samsung units can do. Even the kids said we should buy it already. So we completed our purchases (bought an energy saving lamp for the PhP500 freebie), ate dinner at the foodcourt and went home so happy and excited as a family to finally have a brand new 32-inch LCD TV!!!

(P.S. Learned later on thru the net that Devant is actually a Singaporean brand and their products are being distributed here in the country by Techpoint, the same ones who distribute NextBase, a European brand…so I guess their reputation is solid.)

KITCHEN MISADVENTURE SERIES 37 – Chicken and potatoes in creamy cheese

The kids are at school for exams so it is just me and the hubby for lunch (the hubby’s sis-in-law went home to be with her family). The kids will be arriving a bit later so I cooked something a little extra special which they may eat as a snack when they get home. I picked a dish which I am sure they will love – it had cheese! And I guess that’s all that truly matters to my kids - they love anything with cheese! The recipe was borrowed from Connie’s over at the Casa Veneracion blog so you may just browse her website for it. Thank you Ms. Connie for another wonderful recipe which my kids truly enjoyed!!!








P.S. So sorry about the quality of the pics, I only use my phone camera.

EXAM DAY TODAY FOR MAAP!

Today, I got up super early because it’s D-DAY for my son and his two friends who will be taking the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific (MAAP) examinations scheduled at 6 am at the Rizal High School in Pasig City. By 3:30am, I was finished cooking breakfast so I woke up the boys so they could bathe one after the other and eat breakfast before we all left (with my daughter in tow) at around 4:15 am. We were early because there wasn’t much traffic (at such an ungodly hour that is to be expected!) But that’s OK since there were already many students milling around the school building where the test will be held and so after buying them bottled water, we left them with the hope that they all do good on the exam so that they would go to MAAP together.

Meanwhile, off we went to Papa’s condo in Makati to while away the time as we wait for my son to finish his exam. Expectedly, Papa was already out even at 6am since its golf day today! Good thing Ateng was already awake and so we raided their ref and she rustled up some breakfast for us to eat. After eating, Jun slept a bit while I just chatted with the others while waiting for my sisters to arrive. We left at around 9 am and by then I woke up the hubby so he could come with us to Resorts World.

We watched the preview for the play – Sound of Music and I was surprised that my daughter enjoyed it! While the other kids did not, in fact, she asked if we could watch the play in full, but I saw the prices were sky high so I guess we won’t be able to afford it. Unless of course we would be able to get free tickets! After the preview, we ate our lunch at McDonalds then had a quick tour of the mall and even the casino before going back to the condo by 1:30 pm. The other cousins soon arrived in a while and we had a fun time eating pizza and chips with delish dips. Then, when it seemed we had no plans of leaving yet, Papa ordered Savory chicken for our dinner. We finally left the condo at 9pm, dropped my sisters off at Project 4 and the kids at Maryland so that we were able to go home at 11 but still it was a fun weekend well spent.

NEW BUNNIES…FOR SALE!

It is exactly one month since our new bunnies were born and I’m very sad to say that one more died a week after they were born so we’re now down to just five bunnies. But thankfully all of them are quite healthy and are eating quite a lot already so I believe it’s high time we dispose of them once again. Just too bad for us because they’re all so cute and we have grown quite attached to them already. Anyway, we decided to sell them this time so that we’ll have some money to continue buying feeds for their parents – Whitey and Brownie. I just wish someone would buy them. I asked at a pet shop at Robinson’s recently and they say they’re selling bunnies for 450 a pair - what??? That much??? I guess we’d just be selling ours for only 300 a pair or even 200 – that’s a reasonable enough amount, don’t you think?

NEW CABINET PROJECT

Today, I was surprised when the hubby arrived after buying some wood and begin another cabinet project for the kitchen. Last year, he started to make a cabinet for my son (I think it was around July) but when he had a huge gash on his right hand that required more than ten stitches (while he was playing with the cutter), I guess the hubby had a bit of a trauma and had refused to do anything at all that was related to carpentry. Well, that’s just what I thought we never really talked about it though. He just stopped making anything wooden after that.

Well, that was until last week when I mentioned to him that the kitchen needed some redecorating, for instance, we need a new cabinet so that I would be able to fix some of the things that are just stocked underneath the sink – like the turbo broiler, the rice cooker, the blender and some pots and pans that are longing to be displayed. I wanted some new cabinets for under the sink too but I don’t think we already have the money to commission someone to do that for us. So I guess I’ll just have to wait until we have more money to spend. Meantime, I am thankful that the hubby has returned to carpentry once again and this has kept him busy puttering about in the garage with his tools and his paints. He keeps me awake in the afternoons with his banging and his electric grinder but I’m happy I would have a new cabinet soon.

Here’s a picture of the cabinet he made for my son last year. And the cabinet he has been doing for the last 2 days … I will post more pics once the kitchen cabinet is completed!

Oh No! No more Spiral!?!?

One of the places worst hit by Typhoon Pedring was Metro Manila, particularly those places near the Baywalk area or near the Manila Bay. At the time of Pedring’s wrath, we were ‘trapped’ in Tagaytay to facilitate a seminar-workshop for the office. So we were unaware of the havoc that Pedring was then wreaking across the country. It was only much later when we saw in the news what really happened. We saw Roxas Boulevard looking like a huge river so some famous establishments along it were expectedly also flooded – like the US Embassy and our favorite hotel – Sofitel! It’s like Manila Bay was trying to reclaim the sea that was originally part of it.

From the news feeds, we saw Sofitel’s pools totally flooded and what’s even worse – Spiral (its famous buffet resto) was totally destroyed. The people they interviewed claimed that huge waves crashed towards the hotel and so its glass walls just broke open and all their state-of-the-art kitchen equipment and wall-to-wall carpeting was just damaged by the sea water – oh no! Later on, when I was finally able to talk to my aunt she says even their entire offices (located in the basement) were affected. Good thing, though, that her car was saved when it was taken by the valet service to higher ground before the floods reached the parking lot. They said everything was just so unexpected and happened so fast so they didn’t have time to save much else. Their primary concern was the safety of their hotel guests so they immediately evacuated them since they had to cut the power off lest someone die of electrocution.

But I guess all of these would be rebuilt soon. My aunt says they’d be closing Spiral for good – and from its ashes a new restaurant shall be born. I just hope it would be as good or even surpass the old one! Go…go…go Sofitel! I hope you’ll be good as new the next time we go for a visit!

A VISIT TO PINK SISTERS

We have been to Tagaytay for countless times already and we have probably visited most of the popular sites there (although not all of it) but this time around I made it a point to go visit the Pink Sisters chapel. My visit there was actually not without a hidden agenda. You see my son is entering college next year and I was hoping and praying that he would pass the entrance test at the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific (MAAP) in Bataan. Hence, I decided to seek divine intervention from the Pink Sisters of Tagaytay. We left early to hear mass and it was such an eerie and awesome experience being there. The sisters were cloistered at the front pews and they were separated from the churchgoers with railings (almost like a prison) but I guess that just shows how protected they are from the outside world.

After the mass, the others went out to take a look at the pretty surroundings while I went to the prayer area to write down my special petition. I enclosed some money which I explained to be not meant as a bribe but rather a way to seek some kind of favor, a means for them to sustain their activities as they go about being an inspiration for others. I shed some tears as I wrote my special intention because I truly want so badly for my son to enter MAAP. I vowed to the Pink Sisters of Tagaytay to return whenever I can (each year if possible) to give them some sort of donation to show my appreciation. I have been praying long and hard for this, I just hope that my son also does his part and do his best on the entrance tests.

FIELDTRIP @ ENCHANTED KINGDOM

I got up early today at 3:15 am because it’s the day my daughter had been waiting for – it’s their fieldtrip to Enchanted Kingdom! After I finished fixing our baon (which I pre-cooked last night!), I woke her up and we took a bath. Then, by 4:30 I awakened the hubby so he could take us to school. Thirty minutes later, we were leaving the VMS campus and were on our way to our first stop, Kulturang Pilipino somewhere near the Luneta compound. The place is really a fun place for kids since they would get to know about Philippine dances, songs, history, artifacts and even values. It was a bit small though so the students had to come in by batches and wait for their turn at each of the rooms that showed them a bit about our culture.













Next stop was the Light and Sound museum at the Rizal park, the only problem though was that it was broad daylight so the students weren’t able to appreciate the real show. There was only a tour guide who narrated the final events of Jose Rizal’s life including the final gunshot that killed him. It was around 11 when we finally left for Nuvali where the kids (and parents) had lunch (most of us ate at the bus since it was cooler) and only went down to use the restroom, visit the tiangge and check out the rest of the place. There were many fishes which the kids had fun feeding. By 1pm, the buses rolled off to go to the main highlight of their fieldtrip – Enchanted Kingdom!







But alas! Despite all their excitement it seems these girls are not really so adventurous after all! Because they preferred to ride the more conventional rides and wouldn’t dare to take on the more exciting ones. But I did not pressure them since it’s their field trip after all and so it is their wishes that should be followed. The girls decided to go and watch RIALTO first, a 3D type of moviehouse that has moving chairs to enhance the experience that the viewers are actually not just watching the movie but in the movie itself, well, almost! The movie that was currently showing then was Happy Feet and it was truly a riveting and jolting experience but still short since it lasted all of twelve minutes and yet we waited almost an hour in line to get inside. But then, I guess we didn’t have much choice since all the other rides have the same kind of long lines. The next ride they decided on was the Up, Up and Away. Afterwards, they went on a carousel ride and then ate some snacks at the food court there. We wanted to ride the ferris wheel also but there was just no more time since we need to get back to the bus already.








I guess we wasted too much time trying to decide which ride to take; trying to find something they would all like – others want the bump car but the others don’t; some want to ride the Roller Skater – which is a mini roller coaster actually but the others don’t; even the Giant Ferris wheel and Anchor’s Away were shunned by the kids, they think it was boring! I guess the kids failed to take advantage of the ride all you can ticket that they bought. Besides, all the other rides were not allowed to them like the Rio Grande, Jungle Log Jam, Space Shuttle Max and the Extreme Tower Ride. Oh well, I guess I shouldn’t have lifted my hopes up. Maybe when my daughter is a bit older we could go back and enjoy all those other rides we failed to take. That is, if I am not yet too old to ride!

Kitchen misadventure series 36 – Mac and cheese for baon…why not?

Today, I decided to wake up earlier than usual because I wanted to cook something special for my kids’ baon – no there’s no special occasion, it’s not anybody’s birthday or anniversary - I just wanted to cook mac and cheese -that’s all! The recipe I used was a very basic one – I just boiled the pasta in water first. Then, while I was waiting I cooked the sauce – some basic red sauce recipe wherein I used some leftover ham and corned beef sautéed in garlic and onions before adding the spaghetti sauce. It took me a bit longer than usual though to finish cooking because there were just so many things I needed to do for the mac and cheese – like grate some cheese, chop onions and garlic, boil the pasta, etc. But I guess it would be well worth the effort knowing the happy surprise in my daughter’s face when she sees her baon!

MS UNIVERSE 2011 – Our bet made it to the top 5!

We spent the entire morning today just glued to the TV to watch Shamcey Supsup as she vies for the Miss Universe crown. Admittedly, the country is filled with citizens just waiting for the time when the Philippines will win another Miss Universe crown and I am one of those hoping against hope that Shamcey will be the one to finally break the lull. After all, she is beauty and brains rolled into one. But, despite being among the crowd favorites and despite her straight English and perfectly acceptable answer during the Q and A, she only got the 3rd runner-up crown - why oh why???

I think her answer was great! She stood by her beliefs and proudly pronounced that God comes first in her life. Well, the Philippines being a predominantly Catholic nation, that should be understandable to all, even the judges. But I guess they didn’t see it that way. The idea that Shamcey would impose her religion on the person she loved probably did not sit well with them. I guess they would have wanted her answer to be more on respecting the religion of the other and accepting the person you love for what they are, but hey that’s her belief! She should not have been judged on how she answered but rather on how she remained calm and collected while answering the very very difficult question they asked her. Oh well, but there’s nothing we can do about it now. What matters is that Shamcey once again made it to the Top 5! The Filipinos have shown (thru Shamcey’s victory) that we truly are indeed among the world’s most beautiful women! We’re so proud of you Shamcey!

Kitchen misadventure series 35 – Chicken curry

Here’s another favorite comfort food, which thankfully my son also shares. My daughter has not developed a taste for it yet since she says it’s a bit spicy but eventually I hope she’d like it. The hubby, however, doesn’t like it so I am only able to cook this dish for the kids baon (and mine of course!) The recipe is actually very basic – I just sautéed the chicken in ginger, onion and garlic then let it simmer until cooked. Then you add the curry and some patis for seasoning, milk or gata (whichever is available) and the carrots and potatoes. Let everything simmer for a bit longer until the vegetables are cooked and voila! Chicken curry!

MONA LISA SMILE – a film review

[photo/poster grabbed from IMDB]

Finally, here is one good movie about teachers – totally unlike Bad teacher, since this movie is about Kate Watson, an art teacher who had a very modern outlook and wished to imbue her passion not just for art but in life to her mostly conventional and traditional students of Wellesley College. Katherine soon learns that her students have memorized her entire syllabus through their textbooks so she decides to disregard her lesson plan and teach them in unconventional ways to let them start thinking for themselves. She gets into a conflict with some of her students and their parents not just for her teaching methods but for her beliefs that a girl should strive for more in life than just wait for the right man to marry.

The movie kinda reminded me of another film – Dead Poet’s society but this time the students are all girls including their teacher. But the similarity ends there since their storyline is totally different. Mona Lisa Smile was set in the 50s and it tackled the women’s need to gain more academic freedom and independence. And with a progressive teacher like Watson, they eventually manage to think out of the box, well, most of them. Betty (Kirsten Dunst) is highly conservative and failed to understand why Watson remains unmarried and is pushing her students to think beyond marriage and embark on ‘careers’ of their own. When her marriage fails near the end of the movie, she realizes that marriage isn’t everything and decided to pursue a law degree and enroll in Yale.

Joan (Julie Stiles), another student, is early on seen to have been influenced positively by Watson and inspires her to pursue a degree in Yale law school where she is eventually accepted. But in the end she elopes with her fiancée and instead asks Watson for understanding and to respect her choice. Watson is also shown here with an ex-boyfriend who flies in from California to propose marriage but she declines since she feels she doesn’t love him enough. Then, there’s another Italian teacher whom Watson starts dating but when she discovers that he continues to have affairs with his students and that he lied about being in the war, she breaks up with him.

In the end, the school realizes that Katherine’s course has become popular with students and asks her to return next year but imposes conditions for her to follow. So she decides to leave and explore Europe by herself. This is a good ending since it showed how she is unwilling to compromise her principles. Her students all cry upon seeing her leaving but she still dashes off, leaving them with her graceful Mona Lisa smile. Indeed, this is one movie that would make you smile and believe that there are still wonderful teachers out there like Katherine Watson. In the movie, however, the term Mona Lisa smile is made to refer to how the women in the 50s conspire to hide the lies and frustrations that they have in life - outwardly smiling even if deep inside they are hurting and totally unhappy with their lives.

NEW KITS FROM WHITEY (AGAIN!)

Since we bought the bunnies last year (around August), Whitey had given birth three times already - imagine that? Spaced three months apart, Whitey gave birth to five kits on her first pregnancy, then three on her second and you won’t believe this - eight kits this time around. I first heard her scratching wildly inside her cage at around 4:30 am so I went down and saw that she was once again already molting. I just made a makeshift nest for her using an old shoe box since her regular wooden box I found wet under the langka tree. I noticed a wide gash, though on Whitey’s left cheek, maybe she hurt herself while she was removing hair from her body to place inside the nest. I touched it a bit and saw it wasn’t bleeding and so I just let her be lest I agitate her further.

It was around 10am when Whitey started giving birth and at that time, Ace counted three kits all at the same time. I thought then that it would be the end but when we lifted her out of the box, it seems she was giving birth to one more, in fact, five more! But it was just too bad that two of them died quickly. I guess they were just too small when they came out – seemingly premature and unable to move so they can’t nurse properly. Or maybe mother rabbits have only six nipples??? I don’t really know, I never got around to checking but what really got me so excited was seeing Whitey give birth to eight new baby bunnies - hurrah for Whitey! Here are pics of her new babies.

P.S. Another one died a few more days later, so I guess it's now just down to five...

NEW LANGKA FOR 2011

It has been quite some time since we had seen any fruit from our langka tree. In fact, I don’t recall having any fruit at all this year. Imagine, it is only now that we are having another fruit after the langka gave us so many last year. I think it bore fruit twice last year and it had as much as 5 fruits each time so we didn’t know what to do with it! But thank God that the tree didn’t truly make ‘tampo’ because that’s what the oldies say when the trees stop bearing some fruits. Well, finally we have a new fruit from our tree, just one though for this particular tree and none yet from the other one. I just hope it gets ripe before Christmas so we would be able to use it for our sweets.

LINGGO NG WIKA @ VMS

Today I went on leave to watch my daughter’s presentation for their school’s Linggo ng Wika celebration. I gave her a bath, dressed her up and let her go with the schoolbus while I will just follow to bring her things since the program starts at 11 am. When I arrived at their school, she was anxiously waiting for me already at the gate and so I hurriedly dressed her up and made up her face before proceeding to their classroom. Then, I went down to the Grand Zenith to wait for the program to start. They performed ninth so I was unable to leave to go to the canteen and buy some food. Instead, I waited till they were finished performing before I fed her some lunch. She too can’t leave their place in line until their performance is over. I was unable to appreciate their performance this year because they used a folk dance from Bohol. In fact, even their music wasn’t something that everyone would recognize so it got a bit boring after a while. But I still stayed behind to watch all the presentations. Kaye and I left after the program ended and we went straight home, just bought ice cream at Palmera and some snacks. Here are some pictures of her and some classmates in their colorful costumes.

BRINGING BUNNY TO THE VET

It’s now Bunny’s turn at the vet and I do hope he gets cured soon. He’s been sick for so long. I would have wanted to have him injected since June but the budget and schedule does not allow it. During the rare times that we are at home, it seems we do not have any extra money to bring him to the vet and now finally, we had the time and the money to do so. I just hope he gets back to his old form soon enough.










P.S. Too bad that I was unable to get a pic of Bunny when he was finally cured of his mites. The last pic was taken Sept 9, about two weeks after he was vaccinated and he is healing here quite nicely. We brought him to BP when we went home last Sept 24 and our nephew, who resides in Tondo, asked for a rabbit and we decided to give Bunny to him since there were new kits that needed to be housed in Bunny’s old cage. Now I won’t be able to see him again… boohoo!