I wanted to share a list of my favorite books. I love reading, I read almost every day. Usually before I go to sleep, to relax and unwind from the day. I also read the same books over and over if I really love them. I especially love to read Tudor history or Tudor fiction. I am obsessed with the Tudor Dynasty! You can view my complete book list here.

I've updated my list and I had to move my book catalog to a new website since the old website shut down. You can also browse my books below in the widget. It will show random covers every 10 seconds. You can click on the book covers for information about each book.

I haven't posted in a few weeks. July 3rd, I was finally able to visit the Mütter Museum after wanting to go for years. I went with my cousins. We took the train down to 30th Street and walked about 3 blocks or so down to 22nd Street where the Museum is located. Definitely better than driving in downtown Philadelphia traffic or looking for parking! I wish I had pictures, but photography is not allowed inside the museum. It is a medical oddities museum. They had Siamese twin skeletons, babies with birth defects in jars from the 1800 & 1900's. A full wall of skulls from people that passed from different diseases. They had animal brains in jars, rats, ferrets, cats, dogs, etc. Any organ you can imagine. The world's tallest man skeleton, a dwarf skeleton. Human leather... some of the stuff makes you go "Ew!" or "Wow!" but it's a really interesting museum. My mom & brother want to go some time so I will definitely be going back!

About 4 more months until I am off to the Philippines. I can't believe it's already July! In September I have to apply for my visitor's visa from the Philippine Consulate in New York. I am still making copies of everything for our immigration process next year. It's slow but I'm getting there!

Sugar's two tumors are growing very large. She has one under her right armpit and another near her right back leg on her tummy. She is still able to get around but I've had to learn to pick her up differently now by supporting her bottom in my hand when holding her instead of picking her up around her waist. A few years ago I bought a carrot shaped calcium chew for the rats but no one would touch it. Then Spice developed a mammary tumor and she would chew and chew on the calcium chew. After Spice passed no one touched it again. Until Sugar developed her tumors... I am thinking with the tumors sucking nutrients from her body she needs the extra calcium and vitamins. I've been buying her calcium chews at the pet store. (Never salt chews! Salt is bad for rats as it can dehydrate them quickly.) She really loves these ice cream shaped ones.

I discovered Pet Discounters through a Yahoo Search. Their prices are unbelievable! I pay $5.99 at Petco for Sugar's calcium chews. For some of my girls other treats I pay $3.99-$4.99 each. I bought 9 items at Pet Discounters and only paid $30 including shipping! I would have spent $50+ for the those same items at the regular pet store. Fast shipping too! Everything arrived this morning and I ordered on Monday!

What else have I been up too? I finally caved and purchased The Sims 3 during my mini vacation from work. (Love The Sims!) Thought it might be a bit much for my 3 year old PC. But it runs really well actually on my 2.0GHz Duel Core Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, 256MB video card PC. (Even with the graphics set to medium & high on some options!) The biggest issue I have with my laptop is space. I only have a 87GB or so hard drive. (Originally 100GB but system hardware & Windows XP take up some of that space.) I have about 23GB left. I uninstalled some other programs, but I do still have The Sims 2 and all it's expansions, plus 2 stuff packs installed. I want to get an external hard drive at some point.

Actually, at some point down the road I want a whole new laptop from Dell. I asked F.B. when we're married if we get a new laptop can I have it and I'll give him this one, haha! He said since he likes older games my laptop would run his games perfectly with my specs so he would love mine. I really want a higher 2.0GHz processor. Probably Core Duo 2. (It's the fastest processor for a laptop.) Windows 7, 4GB of RAM would be nice and a 512MB video card! A bigger hard drive too. Anything from 200 to 500GB. Sigh.... Haha!

The Metro Newspaper started a 'pet of the week' article. I sent in Sugar's picture and it was published in today's newspaper.

Of course I was late to work today because I had to take Sugar to the vet. (How Ironic!) When I got to work everyone was like, "Hey! You're in the newspaper, you're famous!" Hahaha! I scanned the article to share:

Here are the original photos:


Sugar had her appointment at the vet. And we are going to use the same treatment we did last time that helped clear up her abscesses. He gave her a Baytril injection and more Clindrops for 2 weeks. While she was there she somehow managed to get her scab open and was bleeding so he had to take her in the back to cauterize her wounds. Poor Girl. He also said because of her age it could be risky to have her 2 mammary tumors removed and as long as she is eating & getting around she should be okay.

Wednesday starts my mini vacation. I have Thursday off. And Friday is our holiday at work since July 4th falls on a Saturday this year. And I'm also taking Monday off. So at least I won't have to go back to work until July 7th! Yay for vacations from work even if it's only a few days!

Monday I will be going into work late as well. Sugar had a vet appointment at 9:20am to deal with her recurring abscesses in her arm and also this blood blister thing. Poor Girl. Sugar now has 2 tumors. One on her belly near her right back leg which is growing very rapidly. And another under her right front arm. Sugar is too old to get them removed and I don't want to put her through the surgery. (She will be 2 years in October.) I just hope they don't grow anymore. At the moment she can still get around and comes running for treats.

I have a list of places I want to go to this year or next year. If I ever have the time or money to get around to everything. I know when F.B. moves to the USA we will be going to lot's of tourist places, there's definitely not a lack of that in Philadelphia!

Here is my list:

Mutter Museum

Academy of Natural Sciences

Bryn Athyn Cathedral

Glen Cairn Museum (Same grounds at Byrn Athyn)

Ryerss Museum

Philadelphia Zoo

Dorney Park

I would love to be able to go to the Mutter Museum sometime on my vacation. I've been wanting to go there for years. It's just a few blocks from 30th Street Station so I could take the train there and walk. Philadelphia Zoo & Dorney Park are way down on my list because of the admission costs. Though Dorney does have discounted days in September so maybe I will go then.

So last year when I found & talked to our immigration lawyer. He said immigration would need proof of our relationship. He said making copies of my plane tickets, our letters, etc would help to establish proof of our relationship.

I bought a all in one printer last weekend from Walmart. Surprisingly they had an HP Deskjet for $34! And it doesn't seem to be a sale price. It does seem to be an online only purchase though. I couldn't believe the price when I ordered it!

It arrived this week and I set it up and started making some copies. I've kept every boarding pass, every email from Orbitz.com. I have receipts, movie stubs, play tickets, basketball game ticket stubs from the times I've been in the Philippines. I'm planning to make copies of these. Maybe not every receipt, but I'm sure ones from the hotels we've stayed at, etc may be helpful. Since F.B. & I have sent tons of letters in the past 5 years my lawyer agreed making a copy of the 1st page of the letter and the front of the envelope with postmark should be sufficient.

F.B. has also kept trip journals each time I've been in the Philippines. He wrote down what we did on each day of my stay. I'm going to make copies of those too. F.B. will be making copies of my letters. These are all to provide immigration with proof of our relationship. We will need other documentation and even statements from relatives to prove our relationship to immigration. The more proof we have the better! It's going to take awhile to make copies and records of everything but that is why I am beginning now so we are prepared when we start working with our immigration lawyer in early 2010.

I've also been bidding on eBay again like crazy. When am I not?! Whenever I want something, I always check eBay first for a great deal. I am always saving money that way. I've gotten books recently and clothes and I've been wanting Bose in ear headphones for awhile now. They are so expensive. They retail for $99! I can't stand my tin can sounding ipod buds anymore. Not since I started listening to my music through my new car stereo! I have sony in ear headphones for the plane but they are uncomfortable so I was looking for something that sounds great and is comfortable too.

I was bidding on Bose headphones for the longest time and always getting outbid until a week ago or so. I was outbid on an auction but a few days later I received a 2nd chance offer because the winner the auction failed to pay. I got brand new in the box Bose headphones for $40! My highest bid. They are amazing too! They don't go in your ear all the way so they are comfortable and I barely have to turn the volume up on my video ipod at all it's so clear & loud! With the ipod buds I had to turn up the volume almost all the way and it still didn't sound so great. I'm very happy with them!

So it's been extremely rainy in Philadelphia for a week straight now! It was supposed to overcast for the weekend and then it changed to scattered thunderstorms. I've been wanting to take my new rattie girls (Ginger, Nutmeg & Saffy) to the park to get some nice outdoor shots of them like my older girls. Well I woke up by chance this morning around 8:30am and the sun was shining in my window so up I got. I was definitely heading to the park! My brother & I stopped for breakfast sandwiches and redbull at Wawa and then took the girls to the park where I got some lovely shots of them outside.

They were very curious sniffing and looking around at the park. And of course people had to stop us and say, "Is that a rat!?" "Are they good pets?" "What do they eat!?" And others just pointed. Yes, I'm the crazy rat lady at the park, haha! It was really humid out though. And it did start raining just as we were leaving and heading to the parking lot but we had a really nice morning.

Here are some pictures from today:

You can view the rest of the pictures at my photobucket album here!

December, F.B. & I will be getting married. We've been together 5 years now and have been engaged for 2 years. We never wanted a big wedding. We never really wanted a wedding party at all. That's just us, haha. We aren't big party people and we just like to spend time with close friends or family. We always decided if we got married it would be small and we would just have a dinner afterwards with a few friends & family.

Since we are getting married this December alot of people like to ask me, "How are your wedding plans going?", "Did you get a dress yet?", "Where are you going for your honeymoon?", "What day are you getting married?"

My favorite question is the last. Because... we have no idea what day we will be getting married! I asked F.B. recently, "Isn't it weird not knowing what day we will be married?" He said, "Not really, maybe a little." People always give me a look when I answer that I don't know what day I'm getting married and then I have to explain.

Why? Because after I arrive in the Philippines at the end of November F.B. & I will be going to the United States Embassy where I will have to get a Certificate of Legal Capacity to Contract Marriage. After we have gotten that paper we will file for our marriage license. There's a 10 day waiting period and we will have to attend pre-marital classes. Then either during or after our 10 day waiting period we will make an appointment with a judge in Cainta, Rizal Philippines to be married. We are planning on getting married in December. Since it's around the holidays it would be nice if it will be before Christmas, but it depends on how fast we get our paperwork & marriage licence.

I'm actually planning on having a blog contest before I leave for the Philippines this year. I want to ask you all to guess what day you think F.B. & I will be married and I'm planning on awarding the winner a souvenir from the Philippines! But that won't be until November. *wink*

I get asked alot about how my wedding plans are going. This is the other question that bothers me. Or my answer seems to bother other people? Like I said before, F.B. & I never wanted a wedding party. That is the main reason we are having a civil ceremony. We just want a few relatives with us when we get married. We would like to have a dinner with family & friends afterwards but I know F.B.'s family might be planning us a "reception" anyhow. They were thinking about it. F.B. has alot of relatives and they always have reunions and dinners together so if his parents want to plan a "reception" for us we don't really mind. I know all of his relatives would like to greet us after we're married.

Another question that annoys me, "Have you gotten your wedding gown yet?" No. I'm not planning on wearing a wedding gown. I'm not a dressy girl. I can tell you right now, I only own 1 skirt in my entire closet that I wore to my cousins wedding 2 years ago! I'm a t-shirt & jeans girl, a converse sneakers girl. I'm very casual. I don't really do dresses or skirts. I don't feel comfortable in them.

But, I do plan on wearing a skirt & dressy top for my wedding. And yes, it's that skirt that's in my closet... but I love that skirt. It's a pretty flowy black skirt just below the knee. It's the only skirt I've actually felt sexy in and fits perfectly. I plan on wearing it with a lacy tank top with an empire waist from... American Eagle. Yes. Haha. They always have gorgeous lace tank tops with empire waist's that makes it look very pretty & dressy. I haven't figured out what color I want yet though.

I have very pretty dressy silver sandals to wear with my outfit:


And I'm going to be wearing a white pearl drop necklace on a silver chain. And white pearl drop earrings I bought in the Philippines, along with a white pearl bracelet.



And of course we already have our wedding rings! Mine & His!

As for the last question, where are we going for our honeymoon? That's another thing that's still up in the air. It's hard to plan a honeymoon when you don't even know what day you're getting married! We haven't really decided where we want to go for a honeymoon. We'd be content with staying in Makati City for the week going to all our favorite places and maybe planning on a day trip or weekend trip to the beach. We will figure everything out when we have an idea of what day we will be married.

After we get married I will be coming home to the USA in late January 2010 so we can being the immigration process with our lawyer. F.B. will be staying in the Philippines while we go through our process. It will take 16-18 months before he will be able to come to the USA as a permanent resident but we are okay with that. It gives us time to get more settled and save more money for when we will be together. When F.B. does come to the USA we will be having a renewal wedding ceremony. This way both of our families will get a "wedding". And that way all of my family & relatives can meet F.B.

NOTE: Our lawyers Peter J. Gonzales & Shanna Stanton have changed firms. They are no longer with Kahiga Tiagha. They are now with Green and Spiegel LLC, but still located in Philadelphia.

Just some things I wanted to explain and get out of my system because I get asked so many questions all the time about our wedding. We have an idea of how we want things to be and a big wedding was never important to us. What's important to us is getting to be together on that day and getting married and working towards being together forever. After all, we've been doing this long distance thing for 5 years now! I can't wait until December!

NOTE: If you are getting married in the Philippines and you are a US citizen these requirements from the US Embassy in Manila Philippines, will be helpful: Getting Married in The Philippines.

Saturday I went with my brother & cousins to Peddler's Village for the day. Peddler's Village looks like an 18th century village. They have a lot of unique little shops & an old fashioned candy shop. I got black licorice, homemade dark chocolate covered pretzels & dark chocolate nonpareils & old fashioned candy sticks in flavors: licorice, rootbeer, lemon, butterscotch, cinnamon & cherry cola to take home.

It was sunny and warm on Saturday and there were a ton of flowers blooming up at Peddler's Village. I got alot of great pictures. We had lunch at the Peddler's Pub. They had amazing homemade chicken noodle soup & I also had a chicken ceaser salad.









I picked up this cute little little rubber/plastic rat figurine at one of the little shops there.


They had a set of Henry VIII & his wives at the toy shop. Wish I could have gotten it, but it was $134! They were hand painted supposedly, oh well I got a picture!


We also had a great time playing at the arcade. They had funhouse mirrors, we played skeeball, pinball, etc. Also took pictures of the carousel. We go to Peddler's Village at least once a year in the spring or summer and always have a great time.

After Peddler's Village on the drive home we stopped at Rita's Water Ice. They are the best! Though they are only open during the spring/summer months. I had vanilla chocolate swirled custard with chocolate sprinkles. So Yummy!

We stopped at a park near my cousins house later in the evening. They had swans & ducks with their little babies. I really had a nice day.



All of the pictures from our day:

I've been thinking about getting another white rat for a few weeks, so Wednesday after work I stopped at a few pet stores to see if they had any rats. 2 of the stores I went to only had males and the Petco where I adopted Tansy had 3 white females, so I didn't feel too bad since I was only buying 1 of them.

Please meet Saffron! "Saffy" for short!




She is very tiny and she isn't quite used to being handled by people just yet. When you hold her she cries and squeaks a bit until she settles down. She's very sweet & curious and so small compared to my other girls! The sales associate at the pet store had a heck of a time trying to get her out of the cage. She kept running away from him and she squealed up a storm when he finally caught her! I'm thinking about introducing her to my other girls this weekend so we will see how things go. If all goes well she will be living with Ginger & Nutmeg. Sugar is still very territorial, so she & Cinnamon live in the upper part of the Ferret Nation cage.

Now for some updates on my other 4 girls!


Sugar is around 1 year 7 months old now. She's been suffering from abscesses on her left front paw since January. I took her to a new vet last month and he gave her a shot of baytril & started her on a new antibiotic. She has not had anymore abscesses since then, but she did develop a blood blister in the same spot she had her last abscess and it's healing very slowly. Sugar also seems to be developing a mammary tumor on her belly near her left back leg. Since she is getting older now and has alot of other health issues I'm not going to put her through surgery to have it removed. Right now it is growing very slowly.

Cinnamon is around 1 year 3 months old now and doing just fine. She's my chunky monkey. She is the biggest of all my girls. And she loves to be cuddled. She'll hang out on the bed with me if I'm reading or on the laptop.


Ginger & Nutmeg are both around 5 months old now. Nutmeg never sits still. She loves to run all around my bedroom when I give her free time. She will climb up the curtains just to get into the window to look out.

Ginger started bleeding a few weeks ago and it was very similar to Cinnamon's issue over a year ago. I was very hesitant to have another rat spayed so I started her on antibiotics hoping it was just an infection. After a week on the antibiotics the bleeding went away and hasn't been back. Which makes me wonder if Cinnamon ever really needed to be spayed and if my old vet should have tried her on a different antibiotic.

In other news; I ordered some new books on Amazon.com last week and just started reading them. I ordered: Secrets of the Tudor Court: The Pleasure Palace, Anne Frank: Beyond the Diary - A Photographic Remembrance & Designs of the Heart: The Pattern/The Pledge/The Promise. The last book I read the 1st book- but I wanted to read the 2nd & 3rd so I ordered a volume with all 3 books.

For Mother's Day I made my mom chocolate covered strawberries. White chocolate and milk chocolate with different colored sprinkles. Yummy!



I also made her chocolate covered cherries with maraschino sundae cherries. They taste soooo good, but they don't look as nice because the cherries were bigger than my candy molds, so no pictures of those!

Tomorrow for lunch I'm taking both of my parents out to Red Lobster. We're doing a Mother's Day early Father's Day lunch. Then we'll stop at the mall to go to Bath & Bodyworks so my Mom can pick out her favorite anti bacterial products.

I upgraded to Internet Explorer 8 from Internet Explorer 6. Once I upgraded, I had to edit my blog layout a bit because it was not appearing correctly for me. If you are having any issues with the pictures on my blog not being aligned correctly you may need to upgrade to IE8. The resolution on my computer is also 1280 x 800, so if any of you reading are having issues with the alignment of my pictures please let me know & I'll try to see what I can adjust.