Time and tide waits for no man and doggy

How did we get to May from February?

People do say that when you are happy... time flies. Or when you are older, time speeds up. Or... when you don't manage your time well... you don't get to blog.

We have been occupied and getting to know our brown girl. Her name's back to being Chachi. The name that her first owner gave her. *LOL* She seems to respond better to that name.

Dom is Dom. Dom is older and more dots. Slower on some days... we have some good days and not so good days. He had his bloodtest again to check on stuffs. He might haveta go in for the dentals and remove all his broken bad teeth soon. Once and for all and be a old toothless Dommy. His vet says she can do it and has done it on old and very old dogs. I am just worried he won't wake up.

Pipster's mom just wrote a book about him. We have ordered ours. Have you got yours? Can't wait to have it in our hands. Click on the badge below and get yours! 20% of total sales will be donated to rescued and sheltered dogs and cats.. and animals. I know it will be a wonderful book... and a something to remind us of dear Pip.

We can't keep up too much on blogging but we'll try. We are sorry we have been away. Everything is mobile. The internet is in your pocket. Most things move too fast.

Catch up with all of you again. Take care and maybe we'll try harder to blog :)

Da Bin

So... did anyone of you went out and bought the book or googled "why you should store your farts in a jar". It is becauseeeeeeeeeeeeeee... people believe that keeping farts in a jar could ward off the black death.

(Excerpt from the book Why You Should Store Your Farts in a Jar by David Haviland)
The Black Death was one of the deadliest plagues in human history. Between 1348 and 1350 it killed around 1.5million people in Britain...
....
........................................
Since it was believed that the plague was caused by deathly vapors, it therefore made sense that other foul smells might help to ward off the disease. Some doctors therefore recommended keeping dirty goats inside the home, to create a therapeutic stink. Others suggested using another source of foul odors: our own farts. However rather than waste the precious pungencies, people were instead advised to store their farts in jars, which could then be opened and inhaled the next time the deadly pestilence appeared in the neighbourhood.

If anyone can find out how to store farts in jars, do tell me. Eat lotta lotta beans and store them. It could be such a nasty gift to prank someone especially with a label.. "Summer Scents in a Jar".

This is a really interesting funny book to read. Dommy was last seen grinning to himself while reading this book. If you have not read it, go out and get a copy :) And no... i was not paid or given a free copy to review.


Tuesdays are the only days i am up before the sun comes up. Usually i am up before the alarm goes off. Dommy will be fidgetting in his bed with a i need to pee i need to pee look. We out to the porch at 6am and he does his business and sniff some tires to check out who's been in our garden at night.

Then i wait for my helper from the village. She comes to help me clean the house. My hands are not very good around soaps n too much washing. Even though i pay her, i treat her like an aunt. She potters around and we chat and i help her lift some stuffs. She does an honest 2 hours of cleaning. She is a blessing to me.

I am quite the bin when it concerns food. On somedays, when my dad goes out with his friends for lunch or dinner, i'll entertain myself by being da bin. Yesterday i had all the below because my dad went out for lunch and dinner.

• coffee
• 1 hard boiled egg
• 1 piece of egg toast
• coffee
• 1 piece of leftover chinese peanut pancake
• 3 slices of bread with sliced ham and jam + cheese
• yogurt
• milo
• ABC soup
• a piece very nice fried chicken
• 2 pieces of orange jaffa cake
• 1/2 of a tiny mooncake

I am keeping a record of what i ate yesterday because i seemed to eat a LOT thru the day but i was still hungry at 9pm. Strange.

Jaffa cakes reminds me of Wilf. Don't know when this box appeared in our fridge. But these were chocolate coated and really soft and nice. I could eat the whole box but i will feel sick after that. Dommy didn't get to eat any of this and he's not talking to me now.

That's all for today. Back to work. I will remain tranquilo regarding work :) Do not worry Georgia.

Here's our lovers at the shelter. They are always together. Snuggling... and so in love. My two friends Garfield (the boy) and Panther (the girl).

Farts in Jars and Things that Keep Me Going

Its going to be a month again since my last post. *LOL* How do you guys post every single day... and some of you even schedule your posts to come up at the same time every single day. I salute thee.

I dished out a long rectangular book from the cupboard just now. I got it from the booksale last December. Still smelling gorgeous. Fresh smelling new book. Sometimes i buy books because there's an animal on the cover. Especially when there's a cat or a darn cute dog on the cover. People always tell me not to judge a book by its cover. But its a darn cute dog. Who can resist.

Do any of you buy books because you like the cover? I bought this rectangular book because i like the shape of the book. Its a nice size to hold and it smells gorgeous. The title of the book is.. urmm.. should i share it here.. you might think that i am strange... urmm.. but you are all great people. And some of you are my good friends.. ok ok. The title of the book is...






Why You Should Store Your Farts In A Jar 
& Other Oddball Or Gross Maladies, Afflictions, Remedies, And "Cures"
by David Haviland


Don't ask me why you should store your farts in a jar because i don't know yet. I have not read it yet... but it should be fun. I'm just smelling my still new book. Hopefully they tell me why by the end of the book.

Anyhow... what have we been doing these past few fast weeks.

Work is at its peak..peaking.. crap.. we have a small lull this week and so many problems creep up.. *LOL* work is work. Don't ever let work consume you and make you cry. Work at solutions and stop throwing the blame is a start.

Anyhow... Dom is still curly and his curls are quite curly now. He's almost due for another grooming session with a papaya spa in a forthnight. Don't tell him that. He still do not like to be left at the grooming place.

The SPCA in my town held a huge adoption drive over the long weekend. Three days of an adoption drive which saw many many dogs/puppies/kittens/cats getting homes. Most of the dogs/cats came from shelters/welfares/independent rescues all over town. Its scary to see how easily people take home an animal/pet. Especially puppies. We could only wish that all of them have found great homes. But we know some of them won't. The SPCA is currently checking on all adopters one by one.

Three of our own rescued puppies were also at the adoption drive. They were from another batch of mommy and babies. They were taken off the street to a safe house for them to grow up a bit. Mommy brown dog is now living the good life with her adopter. Her name is Deborah. Such a nice nice name for a brown dog. She's very docile to us. Almost like she knew us all her life. So trusting.

 

Deborah

This white brownie puppy was a hit. Everybody was checking out his paw and everybody loved his face. I sure hope the adopter will love him a lot. We named him Sami Vänskä from the Finnish power metal band Nightwish. Isn't he adorable?

Sami Vänskä

And then there's Jukka. He was adopted the minute he arrived at the adoption drive. How can anyone resist this happy face.

Jukka

Bella was adopted out quite fast. But she was returned the next day as she didn't get along with the other dog at home. She was readopted to a single dog family. I sure hope the family will be most patient with her. She's small but fiesty. Full of energy and she's all fun like how a puppy would be.

Bella when she was much younger

Finally there Troy. He was already booked even when he was out on the streets. Some lady wanted him then but they begged her to take him when he's much bigger so that he can get the best nutrients from the mother's milk and his mom can teach him some social skills. Poor Troy was crying when i sent him to the adopter's house. He was extremely quiet in the car and he had tears streaming down. I've never seen such emotions from a puppy. It just broke my heart then. I wanted to turn back and head back to the shelter. But... i wish for them to have a home and a somebody to love them.

Troy

Everytime they move on to their forever homes, we give them him a hug and a kiss on their forehead and wish them a great home. We can only wish that they will get the best homes and it will be a forever home. We have to have faith in humanity and in people. 

This is the Bercham family when they were out in the streets taking shelter in some empty shophouse. They were a lucky bunch who were seen and lifted off the street. There are many many stray puppies born each day in my country. How do we save them all? Only thru TNRM can the problem be resolved slowly and thru time maybe we can have a solution to the stray animal issue in our country.

People still buy that cute lil puppy in the window. Breeders still breed in their backyard and in deplorable conditions. When there's demand, there will be supply. Very simple economics.

This is Chachi. She's about 1 year plus. She was one of our puppies that was adopted during one of our past adoption drive. She needs to be rehomed as her adopter is moving back to the Philippines and am unable to take her along. If anyone of you in Malaysia who would love to give her a home, please leave me a message. I have 1 month to find her a good kind home. Her owner is very sad to give her up as he love her a lot but sometimes conditions do not allow some choices to be made.

I think she's very beautiful. Her face reminds me of Sugar.

I've got to go find out why farts need to be stored in jars :D Goodnight my friends. Another story perhaps tomorrow if i am not too lazy. It gonna take me a while to write that one.

Thoughts 101 on a Friday

This is going to be an ongoing post for today :) It should be fun. Do come back later and see what happens at the end of the day. We don't know it too.

1. Fat bird sitting on a bamboo stick outside my window. Coo cooing away.
   "Excuse me fat bird.. Can you quit pooing on my car?"
2. Wonder of wonders... The fat bird heard me loud and clear. Coo Cooing stopped. 
3. Crap! Another bird came to poo. This one makes a chirpy sound. I am beginning to think that our home here has become an aviary. Or.. i am becoming a bird watcher :O
4. Grocery runs during lunchtime. The supermarkets are strangely very quiet on a Friday.
5. RM9.00 for a box of 4 kiwifruits. Used to be 6 fruits in a box. Expensive.
6. A bunch of bananas only costs RM2.00. We are better off being monkeys.
7. If i could move my lazy self and grow stuffs in the garden, fruits would costs nothing.
8. Papayas grow quite easily here. The last time i tried growing catnip from catnip seeds, papaya trees appear instead.
9. I learn a new word today. Maven. Never heard of it before. 
10. Such a beautiful day today. Blue skies with fluffy white clouds. A day quite wasted in front of a computer screen. 
11. Blue skies reminds me of a child who once asked me to wake him up when the skies are blue. He's 18 now.  
12. I like to spell things wrongly on chats. Purposely. Intentionally. Friends who are on my usual chat radar will understand what i am saying. Some others will keep on correcting my spellings. Learn to chill. Chats need not be grammatically correct.
13. Saw this poster in a restaurant when i was having dinner with dad. Cracked me up silly. Dad had a good laugh too.
    
14. The birds are back. The birds are back. Run for your lives. 
15. Mandarin song usually play on my computer when i am busy with work. They are soothing and somehow fits the mood. I don't understand about the lyrics because i do not know Mandarin. I love the melody though.
16. People here call people like me bananas. We are yellow skinned but white on the inside. 
17. Its wonderful to be able to work and have your dog beside you. Under very stressful deadlines, my breaks with Dom on the floor are the most rewarding part of the day. 
18. One of my wabi-sabi lovely friend. Abby. A tripod kitty. Would anyone really want an imperfect cat. She waits... and still waits with the other wabi-sabi cats at the shelter.
    
19. Love is lovely when its wabi-sabi.
20. Algae can be most useful for many things.
21. Google is not well today.
22. Are you sabotaging google... yoohooooooo? 
23. Sitting at the same table but many worlds apart. Dad asked me to look at an old lady with her daughter at the next table at the food court. They look like they were strangers sharing a table. The daughter is at one end of the table while the old lady is at the other end. Both quietly eating their own meals.
24. Sometimes it happens to me too. When i am at the food courts, the surrounding sounds drown out my father's many complaints. *LOL* Some older folks like to complain about everything under the sun... and moon. They were really just trying to make conversations.
25. I am only human. Sometimes i tune out when the sounds are too much. 
26. Purging out thoughts by writing them out are wonderful. When you come back to read about your thoughts, most of the time you will laugh at your own silliness.
27. God Never Blinks by Regina Brett. Bought this orange book when i was in Bangkok last year. I needed help to face what i needed to face in Bangkok. This one served its purpose and helped me a lot.
    
28. I am not a religious person. My dad however prays for all of us all the time. All his children and grandchildren and wife gets prayers everyday. But who prays for him? 
29. We sometimes think that older folks are nagging and unreasonable. We'll probably miss their nagging the most when they are no longer with us one day.
30. Most mothers are anchors in a family. When the mother is gone, the whole family goes topsy turvy.
31. Spending time with family is nice. Eldest sis can be a riot. We had a great time doing the stoopids last weekend. We went in two cars to help the kid move to his new dorm at the hospital. Just a kid still and he is walking the rounds at the hospital now. With that comes great responsibility.
32. He will falter and fall sometimes but i'll pray he'll find the strength to get up each time.
33. Watching your sister gag and curse at the same time while washing the boys dorm toilets can be most hilarious. It takes a lot of willpower to wash those toilets and to curse and gag at the same time.
34. PP and Dom. They get to spend some time together last weekend.
    
35. The teevee drew me into its clutches again. Is there life after teevee?

35 silly thoughts on a Friday. And with that, a very good night and a great weekend to all of you. We shall be back to bore you with another 100 thoughts if we feel we have to purge again next Friday. Babai!

Dog Days of Summer

Seriously.. i am beginning to think that time is on fast forward... it just went WHOoooooOOOOOshhhhHHHHHH today!
Or... we forgot we have a blog...
Or... maybe.. we got a wee bit lazy with blogging..
Or... we could have been choked by them smokey air.. to be productive.. lame excuse
Or.. SHE IS actually quite busy with lotta work... and testing some new things
Or.. probably.. SHE left her brain somewhere to be frosted.

Anyhow... we had rain on Saturday. Thank you all for praying for rain for us :) And thank you to those who did the raindance. Raindances DO work :)

Bumblebee kid taking Dom for a walk

This bumblebee really likes Dom. An animal lover i am sure he will be.

Dom is still not himself completely yet. Not his usual happy self. He still wants to be hand-fed on some meals. We give him a couple of meals a day because SHE is afraid that Dom will faint without the proper nutrients from his kibs.

Thank you to some of your suggestions to hide the pills in meat and cream cheese. He did have some pills wrapped in bacon. His favourite. My vet will be giving me an earful if he knows about this.

Not completely himself yet.

We might need to go to the vet again soon if he shows no interest in his normal food. He does show lotta interest in my food. I think he has seriously lost a bit of weight as his harness is a bit loose on some corners. It used it be so tight. He drinks a lot of water lately.. and pees quite a lot. Some accidents at home when i did not see his signal to go out. He feels bad when he makes a mess and he slinks into his corner under the table when he does that.

We go for two walks in a day. One in the morning and another in the late evening. He walks much slower but he seems happier when he's out for his walks.

I sure hope Dom is back to his own joyful self soon. Or maybe he had too much of the steam chicken to opt for bland kibs now.

If anyone of you would be so kind to do a raindance for us, we could use some rain tomorrow. The air is getting thick again with smoke.

My mind is actually not here or there. Hopefully we'll be back to the swing of things soon. We shall try to enjoy our dog days of summer.

Something to share with all of you from a book i am reading.

Your power of choice, use it wisely.

Choose to love... rather than hate.

Choose to laugh... rather than cry.

Choose to create... rather than destroy.

Choose to persevere... rather than quit.

Choose to praise... rather than gossip.

Choose to heal... rather than wound.

Choose to give... rather than steal.

Choose to act... rather than procastinate.

Choose to grow... rather than rot.

Choose to pray... rather than curse.

Choose to live... rather than die.

The above is from the book The Greatest Miracle in the World by Og Mandino :)

A very good read. We have to read it in the loo in between breaks... and it even fell into the bowl. *LOL* It still smells bookish... lalala.. good thing the "business" was not done yet. SHE was just sitting in them loo to steal some reading time.

We'll call it a night here now. Have a wonderful day ahead.

This Bird Has Flown

Happy New Year everyone :) Hope 2010's been good to you all so far. Here's me wishing all of you a wonderful and bountiful year ahead.



Norwegian Wood ~ The Beatles

Why this song to kickstart the year? I got my head burrowed in a few books at a time these few days.. *LOL* and this was one of it.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.

I kinda seek my moments at Borders for 2 whole days... *LOL* I love Borders.. especially the one at Curve. Most of the time, i am actually at the children's section. They have more colourful books and with lotta glitter and better pictures.

A lot kinda happened in the past 2 weeks or more while we were away. Some losses some gains.. some happy moments.. some tense.. mostly quite a tiring one. I came home more broken that ever. My head kinda feel detached from my body. Tired as a log but... i'm all slept out now :)

We should all just understand that we are all unique. Different. If everyone could understand that, it wouldn't be a tense holiday at some point. But.. with all the tense moments, we did have some happy ones too. Well.. holiday's all gone. Back to the daily grind.

Before i scoot off again, i would like to thank Nessa, Emila and Yoon See for their beautiful greeting cards :) Thanks again for the very cute stuffs! I will treasure them.

I'll continue with a long windy post tomorrow... mebbe.

The Witch of Portobello

Am currently reading The Witch of Portobello. If you are a fan of Paulo Coelho, you will love this one too. I am only a quarter way thru it. (heck i am a slow reader)

An excerpt from The Witch of Portobello...

"Like The Alchemist, The Witch of Portobello is the kind of story that will transform the way readers think about love, passion, joy and sacrifice."

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian author born in 1947 in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Before dedicating his life completely to literature, he worked as theatre director and actor, lyricist and journalist. More on his life and works here.

I started reading his first book, The Alchemist a long time ago. Took a even longer time to finish that as it was too deep for me. hehhehehee.. (my brain is too shallow and simple). Had a hard time understanding the message he was trying to send and had to keep on going back to re-read it. There's a pretty good lesson to learn from The Alchemist.

But i love his Like A Flowing River. Because it was a collection of thoughts and reflections. A compilation of short stories which was easier for me to stomach.

He is a brilliant writer and his messages are very deep but interesting enough to keep me going back for more.

Here i borrow a poem from the intro of Like A Flowing River...

Be like the flowing river,
Silent in the night.
Be not afraid of the dark.
If there are stars in the sky, reflect them back.
If there are clouds in the sky,
Remember, clouds, like the river, are water,
So gladly reflect them too,
In your own tranquil depths.
~ Manuel Bandeira

The Illustrated Life of...

One of my many indulgence are buying books. Music being second... and chocolate cake last. In that peculiar order. Over the years i collected many books in different phases of my life. Some are my treasures... some are left behind. Some are given away after i am done with it. I am an impulsive book buyer :) But i don't really judge a book by its cover ;)

The one treasure i found last weekend was this. An Illustrated Life by Danny Gregory.

I kinda waited and waited for this book for a whole 3 months. hahahaha.. I went looking for it last December when it was launched. I went to many bookstores.. i couldn't find it. (it was just launched in December... silly me!) Finally its in my hands.. I smell it.. flip it endlessly... Lie on my bed browsing it over and over again. This book thrills me. Its been a while since a book thrills me so much! I browse at it.. smiling to myself.. like an idiot... or like a kid with a new toy. It is inspirational.

It is not any kind of book. It is a compilation of sketchbooks and illustrated journals from all sorts of people who love to doodle. People like Emila.

One of my favourite blogs... Mattias Adolfsson is featured in this book. A great artist. I visit his blog every single day without fail and enjoy his drawings. His blog is like an art gallery. A virtual one. And his drawings never fail to break a smile on my silly face. He is that good.

Great artists... people who draw from their heart. This book is definitely unpretentious. These journals are the playground of these great people.

The last time i doodle... was a long time ago. I used to doodle a lot when i was a kid. I doodle on the edges of my textbooks when i should be studying.. hehehe. Even on the wall behind doors. Tiny ones.. so mum will not find them. Ha! I even doodle on the office walls.. tiny ones.. some people see and add on to it :D Our office is not hoity-toity. My old office in another part of town... we used to doodle on this big blank wall... and stick all sort of stuffs on it too. It was not hoity-toity too. It was my playground and a fun environment to work.

I bought a moleskin a while back. Haven't even started on it... soon... soon it will be filled :D

Remember When

One of my favourite books... The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks. Have you ever read it before? Ahhh.. they even made a movie outta it in 2004.

Its a timeless love story about Noah and Allie. I love these soapy love stories.

Watching these love stories over and over again still never bore me. hahaha.. I am hopeless and a romantic. Living a fairytale life in my head ONLY. hahaha..

Its only normal for people like me to have an active imagination. Kinda like China in my head. Or is it normal to imagine too much?

Me, myself and I in my own China in my head :D

There are some really beautiful soundtracks in this movie. One of it is an oldie by Alan Jackson. Remember When.

Its one of my Papa's favourite songs too. Sometimes i hear him singing it. When he is alone and remember mom... he sings this song.

I believe in love. And timeless love. Don't lose hope in love. Cos with love... everything becomes beautiful. The sky is blue even on a rainy day. You would even be grinning when you are stuck in a traffic jam coming back to your "love". Donuts taste EXTRA sweet. You would have a spring in your walk. And thats love. That's what love is all about.

Here's Alan Jackson for you. Enjoy. Don't forget to watch the movie.

How to Enjoy Your Life

Today is a good day for me. I was working but "hidden".. hehehe.. I was "invicible" on yahoo messenger the whole day. Irresponsible of me but i thought that i should not spoil my day today. Still... i was delivering and doing my work.

I work "off-site". I work for a company in another country.Yahoo messenger and emails are our mode of communication. Many businesses are running like this today.

I did prove a point today. Too many interruptions at work do make u tire more. Its not the work that is tiring us. Its the interruptions on your flow.

I have a total of 66 people on yahoo for work. Meaning 66 people could probably pop up at the same time asking me questions or prompting me on work. My desktop would probably be overwhelmed then. At a busy day, i probably have about 5 people talking to me at the same time on yahoo... for work.

Sometimes, my friends would think i am totally ignoring them on yahoo. hahaha... i try my best not to be rude. But sometimes.. when i do a 5 windows and friends popping up on yahoo.. its almost impossible not to ignore them for a while. My friends are very nice, they always understand.

Many times, my colleagues at work are very understanding when we are short of hands. They try not to interrupt unless needed.

It was a very tiring week last 2 weeks, we were short of hands/soldiers.

I even resort to reading a book by Dale Carnegie... How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Job. Its is because i forgot about living for a while and was just up to my neck in work. I forgot to smell the flowers and run in the garden with my doggies. I even forgot to talk to my dad sometimes... leaving him all alone to play on his computer.

Most of the time, Dom reminds me to be human again. He comes to me... put his paw on my legs.. and tells me to go out.. and run with him in the garden. And that is why i love him more each day. He seems to understand me most.

I only read while i am in the toilet (please excuse my bluntness).. i read snippets of things here and there. My toilet sometimes became my santuary to read.. even when i don't have a poo or a pee coming (excuse my extreme bluntness) hehehehee... i got magazines and books on top of a small shelf in the toilet... (and that's another story altogether).. yes.. i am crazy.

Its a good book. I did learn something from that particular book. When you are very stressed with work... do take a moment to read it. It will open up some new windows to breathe. I found mine.

"What's making you tired is the amount of work you do NOT do" ~ Dale Carnegie

p/s: i kinda bought this book 2nd hand for 3 bucks. Cheap! And worth every cent :) Thank you Dale Carnegie. May your soul rest in peace.