Cat days

Posted on March 1, 2021 by admin

I made a cat tower by stacking up two sets of plastic shoe racks that I spray-painted gold. I hot glued abaca twine on the posts so my cats can climb. Cat towers in Tiendesitas cost PhP 8,000 and I simply refuse to spend that much on something as frivolous as a cat tower. The reason why I needed a cat tower is because my cat, Kimchi, keeps on clawing her way up on my curtains, destroying a number of them.

However, my DIY cat tower was a failure since they’re not that enticed to climb on it. Probably it was too high or it was unstable. So I demoted it into what it really was, a shoe rack.

Now they’re more willing to use this when it’s propped up against the sofa that they use as a launch pad when sunning themselves on this shoe rach/cat tower failure.

I removed two levels to use as another sleeping loft for them by the stairs as they got too big for their carrying crate that I initially used as their hiding/sleeping cave.

Now I’m darning all the curtains that Kimchi has ruined. I don’t want to throw them away just because of a tear. They’ll just end up in a landfill. I’m an ok seamstress anyway and my darning stitches are decent enough that they could disappear into the folds of the curtains.

Cats have this habit of lying on the things you’re working on like sewing projects or computer keyboards. They’re like petulant children constantly wanting your attention. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

My cats’ claws are destructive, alright. I got scratched a number of times when I gave them a bath last week. I gave it a rest this week but sometime this week I will have another round with them.

Oh my children, the four-legged and the two-legged ones, have been keeping me occupied. The two-legged species have been pestering me about bicycling now that they learned how to. I have to make time for that since I can’t just leave then cycling around the village by themselves with cars all over.

*Bought another second-hand folding bike so my other daughter won’t have to hostage mine when we go out. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

So now we have four bikes at home, which includes my purple Japanese-style commuter single speed bike that I would bring to my mom to give to her househelp.

So yesterday we cycled around the village along the streets with less cars. Cycled for at least an hour. It was good exercise and that took my other daughter away from the computer screen. Now that her twin has her own bike, we three may have another go tomorrow if I finish work early.

Clingy

Posted on February 10, 2021 by admin

*Kimchi and Sushi munching on catnip before testing their new scratchpad. Photo by CallMeCreation.com*

My cats are clingy for cats. They’re not normal. They always–as in always–want to be near me. When I work, they insist that they should be with me in my room. At night they wouldn’t want to leave me; they wait at my door and grab the chance to sneak in when it cracks open. And when I get up from my chair, they will follow me to the door assuming that I would be getting out of the room.

Sushi demands to be petted. If she couldn’t get it from me, she goes down to the girls and asks for it. Kimchi, on the other hand, becomes a spidercat and climbs the window screens just because she can.

They make a lot of mess. They require work and money (vet visits!). They’re my fur babies. And because they’re clingy, I could not go anywhere this Chinese New Year weekend since I cannot leave them without human supervision or else they would tear this house apart. That’s what pets do when they feel like they’re abandoned by their humans. I planned to go to Caliraya Lake in Cavinti, Laguna to bike and have new views but the scheduling might be tricky with my maids going off on Saturday.

*Lake Caliraya. Photo by Carl James from Flickr. Found in www.vigattintourism.com*

The alternative is to go to East Ridge in Binangonan and bike around there so I will be back by evening.

Until my cats complete their vaccines, I don’t want to risk bringing them out on walks with a leash or bringing them out on trips. Plus cats aren’t really fond of trips like dogs–at least the cats that we’ve had since I was a kid aren’t that adventurous.

I want to get away. So I can forget.

Amnesia

I drove by all the places we used to hang out getting wasted
I thought about our last kiss
How it felt, the way tasted
And even though your friends tell me your doin’ fine.

Are you somewhere feeling lonely even though he’s right beside you
When he says those words that hurt
You, do you read the ones I wrote you?
Sometimes I start to wonder
Was it just a lie?
If what we had was real
How could you be fine?
‘Cause I’m not fine at all

I remember the day you told me you were leaving
I remember the makeup runnin’ down your face
And the dreams you left behind you didn’t need them
Like every single wish we ever made.

I wish that I could wake up with amnesia
And forget about the stupid little things
Like the way it felt to fall asleep next to you
And the memories I never can escape
‘Cause I’m not fine at all

The pictures that you sent me
They’re still livin’ in my phone
I admit I like to see them
I’ll admit I feel alone
And all my friend keep asking why you’re not around.

It hurts to know your happy,
Yeah it hurts that you’ve moved on
It’s hard to hear your name when I haven’t seen you in so long
It’s like we never happened,
What is just a lie?
If what we had was real,
Gow could you be fine?
‘Cause I’m not fine at all

I remember the day you told me you were leaving
I remember the makeup runnin’ down your face
And the dreams you left behind,
You didn’t need them,
Like every-single wish we ever made

I wish that I could wake up with amnesia
And forget about the stupid little things
Like the way it felt to fall asleep next to you
And the memories I never can escape

If today I woke up with you right beside me
Like all of this was just some twisted dream
I’d hold you closer than I ever did before
And you’d never slip away
You’d never hear me say

I remember the day you told me you were leaving
I remember the makeup runnin’ down your face
And the dreams you left behind, you didn’t need them
Like every-single wish we ever made

I wish that I could wake up with amnesia
And forget about the stupid little things
Like the way if felt to fall asleep next to you
And the memories I never can escape
‘Cause I’m not fine at all

I’m really not fine at all

Tell me this is just a dream
I’m really not fine at all

My children

Posted on January 2, 2021 by admin

*I only allow them on my bed when I’m already about to change sheets.*

I have four children to date: the first set of twins are two-legged and the second set of twins are the four/fur-legged kind. The latter ones were rescued from a storm drain in UP during lockdown earlier this year when J had our daily walks there.

We were at the back of IC when we heard frantic meowing from down below. It was from a storm drain. There were several kittens but only one was brave enough to interact with us. However, our arms were too short to reach the kitties so we looked for a stick and then a sack where they can ride/latch on. The smart kitty knew that it was her only chance of survival so she clung for dear life on that sack. We cleaned her up and took her home. I think they haven’t been weaned yet but were old enough for solid food. We offered her kibbles and she pounced on it hungrily.

We named her Kimchi, the one with a black mark on her face.

However, we couldn’t rest easy and J wanted to take the other kittens home. We came back for them the next day but only one was meowing. The others must have died already. So we did the same rescue method and successfully extricated this last survivor and brought her home.

We called her Sushi. Kimchi was so happy to see her when we brought her home.

Life was never the same. Our small family became bigger and messier. But it was fun. They both fell really ill at some point; and because they came from the wild, they have parasites and viruses that they had to fight off. We almost lost Kimchi. Good thing I was already experienced in nursing sick pets, which I had done since I was a kid, so she pulled through. Plus the same vigil and care I devoted to my first set of (human) twins when they were in the ICU for a month after they were born helped me to be patient and strong, ergo, I was already trained to nurse the very sick.

A few months after, it was Sushi who fell really ill. Same nursing I did saved her from death by vomitting and diarrhea.

Hopefully, no more illnesses like that. I should have more time these days to bring them to the vet for their regular shots and deworming.

*Ah these spoilt cats. They’re well loved. When the kitties were still small, they loved sleeping on the back of the couch.*

So now it’s just us. A single mom with four children. If this is a pattern in my life, I should just skip the acquisition of a dad and just go straight to the adoption of fur babies. Saves me the heartache.

Maybe when I have my own house or I am able to rent a bigger townhouse I would adopt a dog. But for now, I’m a cat lady. Most cat ladies I know stay single for a long, long time. Or forever.

Fine by me. 🐈🐈🐈🐈

Shopping in the time of COVID-19

Posted on June 6, 2020 by admin

*Because of social distancing*, *there is a long queue before you can even get inside the supermarket*. Photo taken from outside Save More. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

Grocery shopping for me is an undesirable chore. Moreso with this pandemic. It’s torture. As much as possible I try to minimize the time spent grocery shopping. Pre-COVID-19, I allot an hour for grocery shopping. But now…🤷🏻‍♀️ I’ll be lucky if I only stay in line to enter the supermarket for 30 mins, an hour to get what my household needs, and another 30 mins to queue up for the cashier.

*The long line to the supermarket that I must endure every week. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com*

I used to shop at Hi-Top Aurora Blvd in Project 4 because 1) there are so many choices there; 2) they have items on sale every week; 3) they have Monterey meat section; and 4) grocery items are cheaper compared to bigger chains. But because of the pandemic, the lines are now unbearably long there. I am forced to stick to the big chains like Save More which do not give me choices that much and grocery items are more expensive.

This is what my grocery cart looked like in Hi-Top:

This can last us for two weeks and I only had to do a top-up shop the following week for perishables like vegetables and eggs. This was taken before the lockdown at Hi-Top. This photo is owned by callmecreation.com

But because my grocery shopping has gotten more expensive as I now do shopping closer to home, my cart now looks like this:

Let’s not forget the uncomfortable masks. Good thing that the masks I made are breathable and snug but my other masks that were bought from tiangges and street vendors are so thick that I may end up with carbon dioxide poisoning.

Now that the Monterey Community Market is open in my village, I can do now my weekly shopping for food in the nearby mini mart, vegetables at the vegetable stand infront of it if I’m not able to go to UPD (the fruit and vegetable stand in the old tennis court) then meat at Monterey. This way I can avoid the long lines at the bigger supermarket chains.

Grocery shopping these days requires more strategizing. Tedious. I want my weekends back.

Little free diving secret tucked in the middle of the metro

Posted on September 24, 2019 by admin

This photo is owned by callmecreation.com and can be found on Instagram

My kids had been bugging me about swimming or going to Anilao in the middle of the monsoon season. Harassed mommy went searching online for swimming pools other than in somebody else’s condo or Ace Water Spa (I don’t wanna deal with weekend crowd). It would be perfect if there are diving pools here in the city that are open to the public.

I thank thee, whoever put up Plunge Dive Club in Pasig. We now have a substitute for Anilao (albeit a very poor substitute). We have something to do on a weekend other than going to the mall. For P500 per head, my kids can swim and dive to their hearts’ content all day. And we can bring food too!

This photo is owned by callmecreation.com and can be found on Instagram

Bring your own gear (fins and snorkel set) or you can rent from the club. P300 for the snorkel set and fins.

It can be a bit crowded on weekends since survival and dive classes are held there. We just go there during off hours (which I won’t tell you 😏) so that we can enjoy our free diving sessions.

The pool is 4 ft to 16 ft deep. My girls can dive effortlessly up to 8 ft to retrieve the weights I throw at them to practice their free diving skills. I’m still training them to breathe better and equalize ear pressure when they go deep.

And it seems like it’s rare to see 8-year-old children free diving there. People were often gawking at my kids because they beat older swimmers. The lifeguard is entertained by them as well.

I like the place because they let you do your own stuff and not prissy about it. The bathrooms are clean but they are small. They provide lockers with no locks; you have to bring your own padlocks.

Free drinking water is provided via the water cooler that is accessible to everyone. They have tables and monobloc chairs for divers/swimmers where they can eat and rest.

It can dent my weekly budget but going there is better than hanging out in the mall or being glued to iPads on weekends. (Besides, I hate malls). It also burns calories. I just hate driving on a weekend though 😐

Plunge Dive Club is located at The Upper Deck, G/F Ortigas Technopoint Parking Building #1, Doña Julia Vargas Ave, Pasig, Metro Manila

Back from the dead again

Posted on July 2, 2019 by admin

Maricaban, Batangas, Philippines. This photo is a property of callmecreation.com and is on @callmecreation on Instagram

A colleague and I were talking about making our own side hustles to 1) earn extra bucks and/or 2) break from the soul-sucking work that we have. Editing always reduced me to tears but it seems like I am destined to do this job. I have been doing this since 2008. I need some kind of release.

And also some way to earn some extra dough. Some years ago, a friend offered me a writing gig, which is a weekly column for one of the local business dailies here. I wasn’t sure about it since I may run out of things to write about.

I am going to rectify this by practicing on this blog. When I’m confident and brave enough (as I will be a target of criticisms and whatnot) I will take that offer.

Getting it together

It has almost been a year since that tumultuous event that rocked my world 💔. I don’t know how I was able to get through it all but I did. Thanks to the special people 💕 in my life that kept me afloat.

The last few months were better; I was able to pull myself together and had fallen into a steady rhythm. My household is coming together as well.

I love coming home to my home. I don’t own it but it’s mine. My girls have settled down as well.

Money may be tight but we’re getting by.

God has not forsaken me, inspite of it all. ❤️

Stories from the sidelines

A journalist has a life other than news

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