Swollen paw

My hamster, Dale, has a red swollen paw since April. She has been to the vet twice, but the antibiotics are not working for her. There is no broken bone, and all her toes are intact. No pus too.

I think it all started with a laceration she had gotten when she was running on her exercise wheel.

In Dale's last visit, the vet used a needle to make a hole in the paw in an attempt to drain out the clogged blood. Since the vet has mentioned it looked like she kept knocking/bruising that paw (which has turned into a red, blue-black mess), I am going to remove her wheel (no exercise = gain weight).

I am now massaging the paw every night to see if it gets better.

Superb long weekend

I was so busy the entire week that I have no time at all to blog. Here’s a quick update:

Happy Hyper + Active birthday! – 04-Dec-2008

Hyper + Active are the first pair of hamsters I own and I love them to bits. This week is officially their 1 year old birth week! They were given to me on 20th Dec 07 when they’re about 2 weeks old. So this is a rough estimate of their actual birthday.

I first got them to check if my maternal instincts are really what they are – instincts – hidden and dormant (since I’d always talked about kids like they’re little devils). Surprise surprise, maternal instincts abound in me and my sis actually asked who am I throughout the whole year.

TCW asked if I’m getting some cupcakes and party poppers for a celebration. I replied yes, but never got to it.

Next week, perhaps.

Cell group meeting – 05-Dec-2008, Friday

It’s been more than 2 weeks since our last meeting and I was glad to see everyone again. Especially when EK shared her testimony about how God has blessed her with a fully paid MBA scholarship! I’m really happy for her. She’s a role model whom I really look up to – a CGL, a career woman, a wife, a mom, now a student. All simultaneously!

A real life proof that you can never out give God.

KT and MiT’s wedding – 06-Dec-2008, Saturday

My relative KT (he’s only 29, but he’s ranked as my uncle in the family tree) and his long-time gf MiT finally tied the knot!

They had a church ceremony + wedding banquet all in one day. I had to wake up at 7 AM and only hit the sack at 1 AM. But it was all fun and joy throughout the whole day, so I’m not complaining.

They are very thoughtful and placed emphasis to every detail (from the invites, to the pocket-sized calendar, to the “Ang Bao” box). Each reflects the couple’s unbridled happiness to this long awaited day when they will finally live their lives joined as one in Christ.

I absolutely can’t stand church weddings, simply because I cry too much from the thanks and love I’m witnessing. Thank you God. Thank you mom + dad. Thank you dear friends. Thank you one and only love. It’s all a condensed soap opera in 1 hour (in the good sense).

If anyone ever invites me to a church wedding please give me a corner seat and packets of tissue.

Super tired + painful – 07-Dec-2008, Sunday

I didn’t sleep well at all due to acute gastric pain. I’d been living with gastric pain for almost 8 years. It’s always due to stress+lethargy+various stuffs all at once. The pain came at night, and only subsides in the morning. I couldn’t go for Rev. John Avanzini’s service and had to catch the online telecast. I napped through dinner time (couldn’t eat much).

Maybe it’s time to go for a serious check-up at TTSH. I wonder where I’d put my doc’s letter?

Double happiness – 08-Dec-2008, Monday

I felt better today and went to NL’s house to see her new born twins. They’re so adorable! The elder bro is the more restless one. The younger bro slept soundly throughout our visit despite the din. I brought along the Nikon D70 and took a lot of photos.

DT tested the camera too and together, we agreed that my skill sucks. I am now seriously lusting over the Canon IXUS 980 IS instead.

The weather was rainy and cold, just nice for a steamy hotpot dinner buffet. DT, MT and I went to Paradiz Centre (is this how you spell it?) for a much needed gastronomical delight.

A superb long weekend indeed. And the week begins once more.

Giving responsibly

Christmas is coming again! Time flies when you’re having fun and enjoying the time of your life.

Are you planning to give someone a pet? Or wish you will have one by Christmas? If you are, please remember that every life is precious in the Lord’s eye. Don’t buy/ask on impulse! You are responsible for the rest of ITS life!

You can always visit the SPCA to adopt. Or approach me for one of my lovely hamsters (remember I have five).

This is the season of giving! Give these animals a home!

Borrowed toy!

A sudden whirlwind of events/meetings/activities going on this week. I’m so tired that I wish for a 24 hours uninterrupted beauty sleep. My dark eye circles just keep getting darker. People probably take one look at me and think pandas have started walking amongst them.

Been so busy that I forgot to blog about this: I met up with IT and her friend JL for dinner on Tues. JL has kindly lend me his Nikon D70 so I can get a feel of how a DSLR works before making the BIG decision to buy.

It’s so exciting! My first study is of course my hamsters. I always think having a better camera will finally get me some excellent pictures like this one. I realized with huge disappointment it’s all about skills. The pictures are still blurry. The weight of the camera is another concern. You carry the camera with the right hand, leaving your left hand free to do the zoom or focus. So I’m probably going to develop a bigger right arm in a few months?

JL’s advice is to play around with the ISO and aperture combination. If I can master these two, I probably do have a certain degree of aptitude for photography. Maybe HL would like to be my next study? We can walk along Singapore River and take some nice portraits.

Houdini has done it again

I was walking to the bus-stop this morning when my mum called.

Puzzled, I picked up the call, wondering what was so important that she had to call me 3 minutes after I left the house.

ME: Hello?

MOM : 小慧！你的老鼠跑出来了！(Girl! Your hamster has come out!)

ME: Huh?!

MOM: 你忘记把老鼠笼的门关起来！(You forgot to close the hamsters' cage door!)

I have 5 hamsters at home, and they live in 3 cages (1 double storey) in the kitchen. 3 girls and 2 boys. All the girls are separated; as they fight (females are indeed more vicious). The boys are more tolerant of each other.

Mom described the escapee as “darker”. Hyper is darker than Chip the roommate. Like Houdini, Hyper has a passion for escape acts. He has been doing it since he was 2 months old.

This time, I was the assistant. I left the cage door open after feeding them. My mom doesn’t have the same fervor with the hamsters as the rest of the family. So I can only imagine the reaction on her face when confronted with an open cage door with only 1 hamster inside.

But it wasn’t the open cage door that caught her attention. She was bending down to pick up a pile of dirty laundry next to the cages, when she saw a black furry figure moving on top. Her immediate reaction was to drop everything and bolt.

Later, she realized the serious consequence if Hyper was not returned to the cage (he may try to jump down the pipe again; that’s another story). So very unwillingly, she grabbed the dirty towel with him inside, and threw him back into the cage.

My mom is pretty cool with the whole episode. She was so proud of herself as she reenacts the scene.

I guess all moms are the same. They claimed they don’t like your pet, but in the end, they worry about your pet more than you do.

I love my mom.