Insect Photography

Thought I would share the interesting photos I got yesterday of a lady bug & wasp:

I keep the macro setting on when taking close up shots. The camera I use is a: Sony Cybershot DSC-W55

Goodbye Pusa...

F.B.'s cat Pusa passed away today. I got F.B.'s text message about him this morning when I woke up. (Pusa means cat in Tagalog.) Pusa was a stray cat that hung around my fiance's house. He started coming by about a year and a half ago and became F.B.'s cat. I got to meet Pusa in January. He had a funny meow. He would always meow when we were eating meals, come into the dining room walk under the table and rub up against our feet or hands. He was a boy's cat. He just loved when F.B. would play "rough" with him, by "mopping" him on the floor with his hand or foot. Pusa would get right back up and love up against F.B. It cracked us up. Pusa just loved F.B.

I remember the one night when we were taking Coco his dog out back to put him in the yard. We walked all the way behind the house to put Coco away. Coco started barking up a storm. Pusa decided to stroll on out and steps around the back corner of the house, looks at us and goes, "MEOW?" Like, 'What is all the racket? What are you guys doing?" He was such a silly cat. I also remember F.B. told me one time Pusa snuck in the house and made himself comfortable on his sister's bed. hehe.

He was a stray cat, but F.B. would bathe him sometimes (though he's pretty dirty in the pictures below.) He would always get into fights with the other neighborhood strays. He always ate all the leftover food and he even liked Pringles chips.

I didn't get to say goodbye to Pusa when I left in January, he wasn't around that morning... so I'll really miss him when I go back in October... he was such a friendly kitty. Goodbye Pusa....

F.B.'s email: Got up early to drive today. I saw Pusa just laying around and he really didn't seem like he had much energy. I haven't seen him eat in about 2 days or so too. I just patted him a bit and I actually said "goodbye" to him, cuz somehow I felt that he'd be going soon. Got the news about Pusa through text from Ate Malou after lunch. That feeling I had was correct, unfortunately. And it is sad. I know I've only had Pusa for about a year or so, but I love that cat. haha. I'm gonna miss him. Even though he was filthy and not so pretty, and he had a weird "meow" too. There was just something special about him. hehe. I don't quite recall when Pusa came around here. He was just some street cat looking for food, then he'd hang around more and we'd use him to take care of the mice in the house. haha. Eventually, he became a pet and I got share my food with him and also gave him a few baths lately. haha. I know it's sad that he's gone. But I'm also glad in a way that I got to take care of him cuz no one seemed to care about him before.

Snack Time!

I thought I would share some pictures of the girls enjoying corn on the cob and yogurt peanuts. Hehe. They just love corn on the cob occasionally. Spice especially LOVES it as you can see from the pictures, hehe! (They clean the cob better than a human!) They love yogurt peanuts for a treat too. Though they all have different ways of eating them. Cinnamon will eat the yogurt off and leave the peanut. Spice will eat the yogurt, take the skin off the peanut & then eat the peanut. And Sugar eats the whole thing! Cinnamon is my chunky monkey. Ever since she had her emergency spay she's really chunked up. She weighs 1 pound 2 ounces, while Sugar & Spice weigh 15 ounces each.

Spice:

Cinnamon:

Sugar:

I also ordered a rattie charm off of ebay and put it on a necklace. It's really tiny, but adorable!












And for an early birthday gift to myself I ordered a silver charm bracelet from Esquivel and Fees. I am getting my name 'Sarah' engraved on the charm in script. They make really nice handcrafted jewelry. They said it should ship in 2 weeks. I can't wait to receive it!












Only about 8 more weeks until my trip to the Philippines! I'm so excited! I have to start getting stuff I need to take with me. Also I'm still not furloughed from work... we've always been furloughed in August/September. This year we are getting in a ton of paperwork and they said that there was no talk of being furloughed. I talked to both my managers and they said I may be able to use what vacation time I have saved up and perhaps take leave without pay since I'll be in the Philippines for 2 months. They said they would discuss it with our department head. I always plan my trips for later in the year when I know I won't be working and it figures the one year I decide to stay 2 months I'm still working! I'm crossing my fingers that we'll be let go before my trip. The latest I can leave work is Friday October 3rd, since I'm leaving October 6th!

We want to stay in Makati City again for a few days. I really love it there. And last year I got to meet up with my friend Gayle. I think we might stay 3 days 2 nights. And I also want to visit a beach so, F.B. is going to talk to his Mom and see what's close by that we could drive to. Then we could stay a few days at the beach or a beach resort. I want beach pictures!

We'll also be celebrating our birthday's together this year, since F.B.'s birthday is October 9th. I think we'll be going to Saisaki Buffet for his bday. I already got him two gifts. hehe. I just ordered the 2nd today. I asked F.B. if he would get me Cueshe's new album. It came out in April and it's really tough to get Filipino bands here. I have their first 2 albums and I really want the new one!

F.B. and I have been talking about next year. And we've decided we'd like to get married in December, since that was the month we first met each other, first kiss, etc. It would be nice to get married in that month. No date set on that yet though, because it depends on how soon our paperwork gets done when I arrive next year. I have to get a paper from the US Embassy there that says I can marry and then we'd have to apply for a marriage license, then there's a 10 day waiting period & then make an appointment for a civil ceremony by a judge. So I'm thinking I'll arrive November next year and stay until January sometime. Then we want to take a honeymoon to Boracay!

Hmmm....

Okay so I got in touch with the Philippine Consulate this morning and this is what they said....

They said even though the expiration date on my visa is October 24th, because I'm arriving before that date on October 6th the visa will still be valid when I enter the Philippines. My 59 days for the visa start counting on the day I enter the country. If I was to arrive after the 24th the visa would not be valid anymore. It sounds sooo confusing. But she explained it like 6 times to me because I didn't get it. And my visa does say the 59 days thing on it... so I hope I will be okay. I'm still going to contact the USA Embassy in Manila Philippines to ask them about it... but I guess the Philippine Consulate knows what they are talking about since they issues visas all the time...

Oh no no no!!!

I'm sure most of you have read about my visa issue: Here.

Back in March I mailed my visa application in prematurely. But a lady from the Philippine New York Consulate called me and said they would hold my passport for me and issue the visa in September- so it would expire around the end of December. I was going to call the Philippine Consulate in New York on Friday to check in with them and make sure it was being mailed in September.

Well today when I arrived home I found my passport/visa waiting for me... and they issued my visa wrong!!!

The issue date is: July 25th, 2008.

Expiration date: October 24th, 2008.

My trip dates on my visa application are:
October 6th-December 4th, 2008!!!

Ohhhh they issued my visa wrong and I only have 2 months to get this straightened out! I called their office and no one was there so I had to leave a detailed message and I also just emailed them. I'm going to call them again in the morning. This needs to be fixed.

I had to send them my passport, notarized visa application, passport photo, bank statement, income tax copy, flight itinerary, copy of my plane ticket & a money order for the visa. So they had all of my information to issue the visa. I really hope they can get this straightened out. I'm hoping they let me express mail my passport back to them and they can fix my visa. I have the receipt they sent me. Someone really messed up and I want to cry!

Flash Back!

Thought I would do a flash back today. Here are some baby/kid pictures of F.B. & I! (Click on the photos to enlarge.)

Me















F.B.

F.B. & I

Car Trouble.

Wednesday afternoon driving home from work my battery light came home. My Dad has been a mechanic and done auto body for years. So he checked out the car. It wasn't the battery he thought it might be the alternator. (I own a 1993 Chevrolet Geo Prizm.) So Thursday morning when I woke up for work the car was completely dead. I own a jump box, so I jumped the car & got it started. Stopped at Wawa for coffee. Had to jump the car again... and it was raining out.

When I left work my co-worker Ike came out with me to make sure my car would start. I had to jump it again to get it started. Then as I was saying goodbye to him the car idled out again and died. So I called my Dad and he said if I could put the jump box on the battery and somehow bungee cord the front hood down I could drive home that way. Didn't have any bungee cords in my trunk so Ike tied my hood down tight with a plastic bag. Then he followed me home from work to make sure I made it. When I was right near my house the battery finally completely died. No flashers, no turn signal lights. I was driving solely on the power of the jump box. It was pretty scary. Finally got the car up the driveway and made it home. And waved to Ike to thank him for following me home.

So Dad went with me to the auto store because he was pretty sure it was the alternator. That cost a nice price of $160. Took off work on Friday so my Dad could work on the car. Now it's running perfect again. Infact... it runs quieter now! Last week my air conditioning went and I needed Freon. This week the alternator went. Sheesh. Though I do love my car, it is extremely good on gas! A full tank lasts me 2 weeks! And with the way gas prices are right now I wouldn't trade my car for anything!

BTW: Everyone that drives should own a jump start box. It is great for emergencies! I always keep mine in the trunk. This is the jump start box I own. Inexpensive & very easy to operate. Also it's much safer then asking strangers for a jump when your car battery is dead.

Sorry For The Mess. *Updated*

As you can see I'm trying to mess around with a new layout for my blog my playing around with the coding. Still working on things but should have everything to normal in a few days!

*UPDATE* Yay! Finally got everything in order now. The only thing I'm having issues with is editing my coding to show the email button & edit buttons near the bottom of my posts... they are hidden somehow. I have to play with the coding some more. But for now my new layout is complete! Hope everyone likes it!