Beautiful baby shower

On Sun after the tea session @ Food for Thought cafe, Lingcat and I attended our friend, Jo's baby shower. It was our first time attending such an occasion and Jo and her girlfriends made us feel welcomed.

I took some photos as usual :)

The radiant mother-to-be


Mini bottle of flowers


The other decorations


The favours prepared by Jo


The presents for Baby Liana


The bibs drawn by Lingcat (left) and me (right)


It was interesting and fun for all of us as we can be creative!


We played some interesting games and I won myself an angel as Jo the judge likes the cartoon I drew.

All of us were supposed to put a paper plate on top of our head and draw what we think Baby Liana will look like. It was not easy. I just visualised and drew something like this:

Haha :)

The favours that Jo gave us are pretty bangles.


The catered food looked like homecooked food to me. It was Mexican food. Wraps. Salsa salad of cooked green pepper, red peppers - 3 different versions - chicken, beef and vegetarian. Humus (chickpea) dip and chips. Rice with corn kernels. I was busy eating and forgot all about taking photos for you all to see. Hee.

Thank you Tea for CWS' Spay Volunteers

We had a lovely tea session to thank our Spay Day volunteers last Sun afternoon @ Food for Thought. One of the staff, David was very nice to come back on his day of rest to open up the cafe and prepare nice finger food and drinks for us.

Dawn was helping David behind the counter at times.

We had yummy cinnamon raisin loaf, pandan cake and chocolate cupcake


I had a nice cup of soothing Chinese herbal tea.


I think the caregivers enjoyed themselves in sharing their experiences with one another in such a cosy environment.

Beautiful community cats

White Cat

Bush

Shadow

Jasper

Noisy

The gardener who doesn't like our community cats

This is what he did to the stone covers - he used wires and string to reduce the holes to the drain - doorway to hiding place for Shadow and Bush at times.



Bush still likes to hover around the drain hole with the blue string, so that he can just squeeze through it if any stranger walks past.


This gardener is an old man. He has confronted my mom before about why we are feeding cats, who gave us permission. He would use the big shears to make noises to invoke fear in cats. We are not sure if he has done anything to scare the cats. I have feedback to the town council whether they have instructed the gardener to cut off the flowers and overtrim the bushes. It seems like they have engaged the garden to come regularly.

I took these photos of the wire and string as evidence in case I need to use them in future. Maybe the TC would tell me that it's the job of the gardener to mend the holes of the drain covers too.

I just don't understand why the old man can't stand the cats. They don't disturb him. Instead they will flee at the sight of him. He has complained about cat shit but it must the dog poo left by irresponsible dog owners as the cats bury their poo. At his old age (about 60ish or 70ish), why hasn't he reached enlightenment and practised compassion towards animals?

Angel under the wrapper

Angel was hiding under the paper (used to wrap the clothes I bought on Fri) on my bed. I think that was his tongue sticking out a bit :)

Catching up with my girlfriends

I took afternoon leave to hang out with my good friend, Huijuan back in university days. We had lunch at Food Republic @ Wisma Atria before I accompanied to shop for some gift in Takashimaya.

I then brought her to my favorite clothes boutique @ International Plaza @ Tanjong Pagar since she needs to get a dress for her sister's wedding in Dec. In the end, I was the one who ended up buying 2 dresses and 2 tops as I like them and the owner, Julia kind of knew my style and preferences after I shopped there a number of times since last year.

About $200 lighter (for me), we headed to Tanjong Pagar Plaza to get some muffins from Choc N Spice. I decided to pop by Professional Hair Studio (located there) to ask my hairstylist whether she could trim my hair and I could still be in time to meet another friend, Esther in Orchard Road. She said yes!

With a lighter head, I met Esther @ Kinokuniya @ Ngee Ann City and we each had a curry puff before we took a bus to her place to meet her husband. We drove to Commonwealth Ave to have fried bee hoon, stir fried cabbage, otak, luncheon meat and the popular fried chicken wings. Then we drove through King Albert's Park McDonald to have vanilla ice cream cones. Even though Esther and Dixon both were tired from a day's or rather a week's hard work, they had the energy to entertain me and also go down to Mustafa Centre to look at the computer speakers that Dixon was eyeing. They gave me a lift home and today both are still working.

I'm glad to have caught up with Huijuan and Esther. All of us are leading different lives but we do try to keep in touch. It doesn't matter that we had not seen each other for a few months or more before yesterday.

I think one of the best things in life are our friends - those at work, those who share common interests, those who understand you and are there for you, those who are just nice! :)

Companion to my magnetic cat and Charcoal Monkee

My friend, Lorraine is so sweet to get me a cat with magnetic paws last Sat evening to accompany for the rest of the day.

Now my black cat has a friend :)


Looking at this black cat toy, it reminds me of Charcoal who is still waiting for someone to adopt him. I'm getting worried as so far 1 person has indicated interested in him. I hope after the ad of him appears in this weekend's ST Classified, I will receive a few other responses.

Volunteers at the AVA roadshow

These were some of the volunteers who helped me to man the booth for Cat Welfare Society the the roadshow last weekend.

Michelle came on Sat morning to receive the token of appreciation from the GOH, Dr Maliki, Parliamentary Secretary (National Development). Dawn also came down to relieve me while my friend, Lorraine and I had lunch. Lorraine volunteered and also bought a few stuff from CWS.

Our friend, Fion also came down to support us and the animal welfare groups. The volunteer for the afternoon, Praveena accompanied me in the afternoon until a regular volunteer, Colin helped till we packed up at 9pm.

On Sun morning, a new volunteer Maggie came to help and the poor girl is allergic to cat fur and had hives on her face but she loves cats. Another regular Zhenyuan and a new volunteer, Wei Ling also joined us. Wei Ling was actually helping House Rabbit Society of Singapore the day before.

For the afternoon, another new volunteer, Danny came and followed by 2 regular volunteers, Caron and Nurul. As it was quiet at CWS booth at times, we shared our experiences with our community cats and pet cats. It was very different from the usual conversation with my colleagues and friends who are not caregivers. The volunteers and I are talking about our cats like how some people talk about their children :)

Thanks to the volunteers/friends who helped and friends who visited and supporters of CWS, we have raised some funds for CWS.

More stuff from Simply Peaceable

Last Thurs, I received some of the stuff I have ordered from Simple Peaceable - Calm Balm, body powder, body oil, body balm and baby botty balm. The last one is a gift for a friend's baby shower - the balm is to prevent nappy rash.

I have tried the others and I like the calm balm which can be a light perfume. When I put it on my wrist, I can't help sniffing my wrists. Hee. I'm using the aromatic nut oil body balm (marigold) as a hand moisturiser.

I'm getting hooked on soaps and got myself 2 soaps - Island flowers and Marigold. I'm using Marigold soap at the moment and it smells refreshing and really perks me up :)

I store the Island flowers soap in the fridge using my old lunchbox, I think back in primary school! :)

AVA Roadshow this weekend

If you will be hanging around Ngee Ann City Civics Plaza this weekend, do visit the AVA roadshow, learn more about responsible pet ownership and support the participating animal welfare groups like Cat Welfare Society, Action for Singapore Dogs and SPCA. See you!

Charcoal Monkee on CWS' adoption board

Charcoal Monkee has been posted on CWS' online adoption board yesterday.

I hope to receive enquiries from potential adopters who are responsible pet owners.

Mum's yummy porridge

Mom cooked this for lunch last Fri. She added the cornflakes while Dad put in the cashew nuts. Nice and crunchy.

AVA Responsible Pet Ownership Roadshow this weekend

AVA will be organising their annual Responsible Pet Ownership Roadshow at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza next weekend, 17-18 Nov 2007. Animal welfare groups such as ACRES, SPCA, Action for Singapore Dogs, House Rabbit Society of Singapore, etc will have their individual booths to sell their merchandise and promote their cause. The theme of the roadshow is "Don't abandon your pets".

Some good reasons for you to visit the Roadshow:

• get to know about the animal welfare groups in Singapore and see how you can help
  
• get nice merchandise (calendars, Tees, notepads, umbrellas, car decal, etc) for yourself, family and friends
  
• bring your friends/family there to be educated or do their shopping
  
• I'll be helping Cat Welfare Society to man their booth, so you can visit to say hi :)

You can also check out AVA's e-flyer at the bottom of this AVA webpage for more details: http://www.ava.gov.sg/AnimalsPetSector/ResponsiblePetOwnership/index.htm

Putting Charcoal Monkee up for adoption

We have put Charcoal Monkee at my friend's place. It is a tough decision for me but I have made it. Sis and I are only home in the evenings on weekdays and Mom already has her hands full taking care of the community cats, Angel, the house and us. Charcoal Monkee has also been wailing more loudly for our attention and I'm worried that our neighbour upstairs (who's working in HDB) will not be happy and would complain.

This morning I stayed in the balcony with Monkee, playing with him and spraying water at him when he nipped my hands and legs. We also brought him to the vet for his 1st vaccination. I cried a little on the way home when we left Monkee at my friend's house. My friend said she would be putting Monkee with 2 other kittens of same age, so that they can play together while waiting for nice people to adopt them.

If any of you are interested or know of any friends who can give Charcoal Monkee a good home, please let me know by emailing me at coboypb@care2.com. Thanks. I will also be using Cat Welfare Society's online adoption board to find an adopter for him.

Goodbye, Pip

Pip left us on Thurs (Deepavali) afternoon. He is more than 2 years old and has been very active even before the day of his death.

I held him in my palm that morning when Mom and I realised he might leave us anytime soon.

cats and housework

I feel rather tired now. Since we brought home Monkee (aka Charcoal),
we have to clean up the cage twice a day, feed him wet food a few times a day, play with him (or rather he loves to nip our hands and feet) and feed him antibiotic every night (prescribed by the vet to build up his immunity). Monkee is quite an attention seeker (crying to be out of the cage, for wet food and for our attention) and makes a mess of his cage. He also makes us laugh with his antics - chasing our feet relentlessly, cocking his head to one side and staring at us, foaming at his mouth after we feed him the antibiotic (the vet assured us that it is normal).

Angel still doesn't seem to like Monkee. He would hiss or spar with Monkee when Monkee climbs up the cage and meowed. I also try to give Angel my attention so that he won't feel neglected with the new kitten around. He has been going to my bedroom more frequently as Mom has moved his carpet and toys into my room and for the past few months, he has been sleeping with my head on my pillow briefly a few times a night. I think he feels comfortable that when the lights are out, my door is always open for him. My parents and Sis close their bedroom doors when they sleep. I always leave my door open, so that I can wake up immediately if I hear any loud noise in the house.

I'm very happy to see Tree (the latest sterilised community cat) the past nights after I released him on Sat night. Mom also saw him in the mornings when she feeds the community cats. Shadow has already been eating and drinking :)

I'm on leave today and stay at home to help Mom with the housework. I cleaned the shower area in the kitchen using Seventh Generation shower cleaner. I must say I couldn't stand the smell (a bit citrusy) after a while, so I had to breathe through a hanky. Mom mops and cleans up areas like the toilets once a week, so we have been very fortunate to live in a clean house. I also cleaned up the computer table - so much dust! Then I dusted the top of my cabinets in my bedroom, tidied up my clothes compartment and remove old articles and papers I won't be reading to the recycling bag.

My hands now feel drier but I feel satisfied I have helped mom to keep the house clean today. I will just put more moisturiser on my hands tonight :)

Another abandoned kitten

Sigh. We have a little kitten at home with us. Sis called me after she left the house as she found a kitten at the letterbox area of our void deck. I went down with mom with some kitten wet food and kitty wipes. He's friendly and tackled my sis' foot and birkies by climbing and chewing. He quickly gobbled up the wet food I gave him. I held him and his very bloated stomach in my palm and cleaned him with the wipes. We didn't plan on bringing him home but when I saw how small he is, I don't think he can survive on his own, unless someone brings him home. I guess I have to be that someone.

We don't think this kitten is abandoned by a mother cat as there is only Noisy at the carpet and she's sterilised. We have not seen any roaming pregnant cat around too, so the logical deduction is someone abandoned the kitten. He's so small and scrawny and so loveable.

When we reached home, Mom and I gave him a quick bath as we are not sure if he has any fleas (like when we brought back little Angel). After shower, he's cleaner but still stinks a bit. We have to use Angel's big cage to house him and quarantine him temporarily, instead of letting him running around the house. His temporary name is Charcoal unless Sis or we can think of a better name.


Charcoal seems happy with the few toys we put in the cage. I could feel his tiny teeth when he tried to bite me. His teeth are still not sharp enough to break my skin. He could also eat the kitten dry food.


Angel was hissing at Charcoal just now. I hope he can accept this little boy or it may mean we have to put Charcoal up for adoption.

Angel looks so grown up as compared to Charcoal. I have also made an appointment with the vet for sis and dad to bring Charcoal for a check-up tomorrow. I have to pack some merchandise for Cat Welfare Society for the coming AVA Responsible Pet Ownership Roadshow, so I will attend to that first and be home in the evening to feed the community cats, check on sterilised Tree and the 2 kittens at home.

House with a little kid?

With Angel around, our floor is alway "littered" with toys during the day. Strangers may think we have a little kid in the house. Haha.