It's all about the meow.

Merry Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 07:47:00 +0000

Wishing everybody a very Merry Christmas :) Here are a few pics and a short video of the wonderful Giant (each is about 20 ft high!) Lanterns in Pampanga. I'm very thankful that I was able to see them live this year. I'll be writing about the experience more in the next posts but here are the pics in the meantime. Merry Christmas again to all!

Love, Kate and Nugget :)

Each lantern looks like a giant kaleidoscope!A collage of the lanterns :)

Merry Christmas to the cats at PAWS

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:43:00 +0000

We dropped by the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) the other day to share Christmas treats for the shelter cats.Please take me!I knew there were a lot of cats but I guess I did not expect this many! I really wish that I had more food to give.The cat enclosure is pretty cool. There is a bridge connecting the 2 big cages! Some of the cats like lounging on the bridge :)All warm and cozy!I wish I can take you home!Please adopt a pet :) Btw, Paws accepts both cash and in kind donations.

Paws is at Aurora Blvd., Katipunan Valley,
Loyola Heights Q.C.
Telefax: 4751688

10AM to 5PM / Mon. to Sat.
Closed on Sundays & Holidays

Let's exchange gifts!

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 07:23:00 +0000

My friend said I was suicidal when I told her that I was going to Divisoria today. She explained that with only 9 days to go before Christmas the place will surely be packed! I also read recently that an estimated 1 million people flock to Divisoria everyday during December. But despite knowing all of these facts I still decided to go so I could buy my little sister's presents for her classmates. Surprisingly, our shopping experience was really pleasant! We were able to find a good parking spot and it was not as crowded as we expected. Anyway, here are a few of the things that we were able to buy :)

lots of cute food shaped erasers at p20 ($0.43) each! I think I saw this at the mall and it is selling at p88 ($1.90)!look at that super cute biscuit!the steak comes with beans, carrots and corn!cute soft toys for your cellphone P30 ($ 0.65) and Doraemon nail cutters P35 ($0.76)
and lastly, the best thing that I bought today is this solar Maniki Neko at P200 ($4.33)
this is for me though and not for Jamila's classmates :D
look at those bobbing heads :D so adorable! I hope they bring me more good luck this coming 2010!

Tiki Cat Wild Salmon

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:15:00 +0000

Thanks to our dear friend Oreo for sending over a yummy can of wild salmon for my "birthday". I've never had Tiki cat before so I was really excited when I saw Kate holding the can instead of the kibble box before feeding me :)

sniff! I want to eat it now!Meow!!!

"Tiki Cat Hanalei Luau Wild Salmon In Salmon Consomme Canned Cat Food is manufactured in a human-grade factory and are truly human-grade quality. All products are made with whole meat from preferred, premium portions of seafood that are left whole and intact verses traditional meatloaf or other mystery meat pates. All meat ingredients are called out in the primary flavor names without mystery or unnamed "ocean fish", chicken and other inferior filler meat sources." - product info taken from animal world network site

Let's share our blessings with the animals at PAWS

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:03:00 +0000

Reposting this message I got from my e-mail :) Let's all make those lovable kitties and doggies happy this Christmas! btw, photo of orange kitten on the side was taken by me in Divisoria :( I really hope that more homeless cats and dogs get adopted into loving homes this coming year.

* * *
Dear friends,

Our shelter cats are in need of old newspapers and cat food - both canned and dry. Please do donate in kind to the PAWS Animal Rehabilitation Center (www.paws.org.ph)

Daisy, our three-legged cat is still at PARC, waiting to be adopted. She is joined by three other cats in need of special care.

1. Snowy - a completely blind cat brought in by a student from Ateneo
2. Dolores- a tri-colored cat who was hacked by a knife or bolo and was found in UP.
3. Matthew - who was brought into our shelter with an infected eye and broken jaw. He can only eat soft /wet cat food.

Please do take time to visit to drop off whatever cat food you can spare and give our shelter cats some badly needed Christmas cheer. They promise to reward you with generous purrs.

Thank you.

-PAWS

Weekend Lunch

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:34:00 +0000

I love the weekends because during the weekends we have family time. And family time means food! We usually eat out or take time to prepare a nice meal at home. I prefer the latter because nothing beats a nice home cooked meal :) Sadly, we have been either eating out or having food delivered for almost 2 weeks now since our kitchen is being renovated. Hopefully things will be okay soon especially that Christmas is just around the corner. I can't wait so we can cook these again!

Veggie kare-kare, chicken adobo, lumpiang shanghai and green mango saladpork bbq and yummy crabs!cheesy spaghetti and mutigrain loaf. I did not bake this loaf, but hopefully I can bake something like this soon :)

Old buildings in Divisoria

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 17:55:00 +0000

I love looking at this old building in Divisoria. I wonder what it was and when it was built.It must have been really nice when it was built. The details are amazing. I hope I can find more information on this building. I also hope that they don't tear it down completely :(

The Remnants Center is also as interesting. I am actually amazed that it is still occupied! There are a lot of stores on the ground floor and I think people live on the second and third floors.The name suits the building well now but I wonder why it was named "The Remnants Center" to begin with.

Early Christmas at Malaban East Elementary

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:26:00 +0000

We were initially worried when we received another urgent plea for help right after our relief operation at Malaban Elementary School. We were not sure if we had enough resources for 722 kids! Amazingly though, we were able to raise enough. Thank you once more to all who contributed to this project and helped make a lot of kids happy :)

boxes and boxes of goodies!

excited kids waiting by the door

yummy cookies

Cookie Team!

Anamaine and Marco from Perth-Manila Book Project and some of the school staff helping repack all those yummy cookies for easy distribution

Pencils, pens and sharpeners

and erasers! I had no idea that Kangaroos look like dinosaurs :P hehe Each kid got an eco bag containing the following items: 3 notebooks, 1 pad paper
1 pencil case, 2 pencils, 1 ballpen, 1 eraser, 1 sharpener, 1 bath soap, 1 toothbrush
3 sachets of toothpaste, 1 banana, 1 bag of cookies and a choco drink!

Aside from the school supplies, each kid was able to pick 1 item from our assorted goods room!Aside from canned goods and personal hygiene products we also had a lot of cool toys and booksZOMG! someone even donated the whole 30 years of kitty collection!!!cute cat coin purse

What do i pick? Must have been hard to choose from so many nice things :)I want that!yay!books for the library!
volunteer Fer and Principal Rowena Ramos pose for a picture

The days are just orange!

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 02:58:00 +0000

Why hello there, orange cat!

Nugget + Kiat Kiat (mini mandarin oranges?)
These smell good, but I don't think I can eat them...

I'll just have my picture taken hereNugget! Are you a Kiat kiat too?

My Nugget

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 09:35:00 +0000

I love my cat. Yes, I know I've said it a million times but what can I do? I am a cat freak :)When I am working, he sleeps near my feet.I have over 10,000 photos of him but I still continue to take pics almost everyday. hehe!I wish I could take him with me on trips. It would be really cool if I could :)

I Enjoyed My Century Bangus Fillet at Home (and everywhere else!)

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:50:00 +0000

I love to cook but there are days when cooking seems more like a chore than being a fun activity... That is why I was really pleased to have discovered Century's Gourmet Bangus! The Bangus comes in two flavors - Spanish Style and with Tausi. Who said that a yummy and healthy meal takes hours to prepare? My family and I loved the bangus so much that we made sure that we had enough stock just incase we have those lazy to cook moments again :)

The canned Bangus comes in an easy open can - which is perfect especially when you plan to eat it somewhere else aside from home where a can opener is not always accessible. Between the two flavors, my personal favorite is the Spanish Style. The Bangus and the spicy sauce is perfect for me! In fact, I like it so much that I have been taking a few cans with me as baon when I travel. haha! I really love that it's so convenient for you to enjoy it anywhere!Here is my cat next to my luggage. I think he knows that there are 10 cans of yummy Century Bangus inside! You can enjoy it in the province as well as in the city :)and of course, at the beach!

Sad Kitten News

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 07:59:00 +0000

I received the news about the Joseph Candare case in my e-mail today. Sad :(

* * *
UP TRIBUNAL DECISION: STOMPING A KITTEN TO DEATH IN UP IS
NOT “MISCONDUCT”

To the great disappointment and shock of animal welfare
advocates, the UP Student Disciplinary Tribunal in its
two-page decision dated November 5, 2009 dismissed the case
filed against Joseph Carlo Candare, a BS Physics major
of the UP College of Science for allegedly deliberately
stomping a kitten to death last April 13, 2009.

Candare earned the ire of many animal lovers, and
consequently, many animal rights groups for bragging about
the incident on his personal log on the world wide web (web
log or “blog”).

Excerpts from the infamous blog are as follows:
“I pulled it on its tail and threw it. Then like some pro
wrestler I jumped on it and my feet landed on it's torso.
Slam! Felt good!”

“This isn't the first time I've killed a cat but this
time it's different. It didn't occur to me back then that
the cat had a leash. So I think somebody owns it. Well it's
very well loved in NIP from what I heard and I just ended
it's life. So there you go I'm sorry. And I wont be striking
another one for maybe about a month.”

Questions about Candare’s state of mind cropped up when
blog-readers came across these statements from the 19-year
old student:
“It feels good when your (sic) beating it(a cat) up but you
suddenly feel something strange when it turns off
permanently. That's how I feel right now. And maybe for the
next days. Dang, am I a cat serial killer?”

“It is alarming when a prestigious university declares that there is
“no misconduct” in killing a helpless kitten in plain
view of fellow students right within the school premises,”
said Nancy Cu-unjieng, President of Compassion and
Responsibility for Animals or CARA, the animal welfare
organization that filed the instant complaint before the UP
Tribunal.

Anna Cabrera, Program Director of The Philippine Animal
Welfare Society (PAWS), agreed that the dismissal was “a
dangerous precedent for a university to make”.

In a statement to the press, PAWS said: “The violence and
deliberateness of the act which should have evoked outrage
from school officials and a call for immediate disciplinary
action was instead met with a shrug of the shoulders and a
pronouncement that ‘killing animals – though it is a
national crime – is, as ‘not even classified as an
actionable misconduct under the university’s Rules.’”

“What message is the Tribunal sending out? Basically, it
is implied that students can openly hurt animals and not
face any consequences for their actions. We think that it is
deplorable and shameful for an institution not to strongly
condemn acts of animal cruelty,” commented Cabrera.

The three-member UP Tribunal composed of Ma. Crisanta
Flores, Ma. Theresa Payongayong and Chairman Jonathan P.
Sale stated in its Resolution that: While “it is
true that Section 1 of the (Rules and Regulations on Student
Conduct and Discipline) RRSCD states that, as the basis of
discipline, ‘ a student shall at all times observe the
laws of the land..’ and that part of the law of the land
is Republic Act No. 8485 (the Animal Welfare Act), Section 6
of which makes it unlawful for anyone to torture or maltreat
animals; and that Mr. Candare did to the kitten clearly
constitutes maltreatment , if not outright torture... not
all violations of laws are actionable misconducts.”

“Candare’s actions – deplorable though they may seem
to some, if not most, people, do not constitute any
misconduct actionable under University rules.”

“Consequently, it is thus respectfully recommended that
the Tribunal DISMISS the instant complaint”

Violation of the Animal Welfare Act is considered a
criminal act punishable with six months up to two
years imprisonment or a fine ranging from P1000 to P5000.

While recorded prosecutions under this special law have
been few since its approval in 1998, PAWS, who spearheaded
the lobbying of the said law, is slowly making headway by
helping an increasing number of ordinary citizens file cases
against animal offenders in Court.

PAWS filed a criminal case against Candare before the QC
Hall of Justice where the case is for resolution at the QC
Prosecutor’s Office.

Malaban East Elementary needs your help!

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:54:00 +0000

A few days after KaEskwela decided to wrap up its relief operations for the year, we got another urgent plea for help from Binan, Laguna. This time, the request came from Malaban East Elementary School, a smaller school situated near our previous beneficiary, Malaban Elementary School.

Here is an excerpt from their letter to us (translated from Filipino):photos by Principal Rowena Ramos

============ ========= ========= =========

Due to floods brought about by the typhoon, the residents of Dulong Ilaya in Malaban had to leave their homes and temporarily take shelter at the Malaban East Elementary School.

This forced us to find a place where we can hold classes. By the grace of God, the Lakeview Baptist Church opened their doors to our students.

We started holding classes there on Oct. 12.

Even though the place is too crowded and hot, the children continue to attend school. They come, even though most of them have to go barefoot and have no schoolbags, pencils or paper. Most have few clothes left to wear, and are in dire need of hygiene items such as toothbrushes, face towels, soaps and other necessities.

Since their parents cannot provide them with school supplies, most of our students scavenge in garbage dumps for things they can sell, or carry heavy goods in the local market. They also use the small amount they earn to buy additional food every day. These working children frequently miss their classes.

Most of the parents of our students are tricycle drivers. Their livelihood is on hold as the streets are still flooded. Even small fishpens were destroyed by strong winds.

We are just starting to rebuild our lives. We hope to find people with kind hearts who can help address our students' needs.

============ ==

KaEskwela and Malaban East Elementary School need your help. Donations in cash or in kind will go a long way for these people who have lost almost everything they have.

If you wish to help, please email kaeskwelavolunteers @yahoo.com or text 0917-5363224. We hope to be able to bring donations to these children by Dec. 6.

Please feel free to forward this to your friends, or repost in your blogs or FaceBook/ Multiply accounts.

Let's Vote for Efren!

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:19:00 +0000

There are only a few days left before the poll closes on November 19! Let's all vote to show our support for our hero, Efren Peñaflorida :)

"Efren Peñaflorida, 28, was bullied by gangs in high school. Today, he offers Filipino youth an alternative to gang membership through education. Vote now for the CNN Hero of the Year"

-CNN website

Two Weekends in Tagaytay (part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:35:00 +0000

I accompanied my mom on a client call to Tagaytay a couple of months ago. We were there to deliver and install paintings. It's really amazing how artworks can change the look of your home :)

We headed to the T House right after for more installations and of course lunch! It was my first time to visit this lovely bed and breakfast and I was not disappointed. The place looks really nice and peaceful. Just perfect if you need to relax and recharge! Lunch was great too. We had the tuna citrus salad, clam & anchovy pasta and vegetable lasagna. Yum :)

Support Dementia and win $15

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:17:00 +0000

Let's all support Dementia by joining her birthday contest :) The rules are very simple - all you have to do is blog/tweet/follow! More details at her blog. Yay! Join na :)

Orange Chair

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:03:00 +0000

"There are approximately 60,000 hairs per square inch on the back of a cat and about 120,000 per square inch on its underside." - taken from The Cat's Meow

I am really thankful that I have no Asthma or allergy to fur because our chair has been officially "Nuggefied!" I was a bit surprised to see this much fur... I mean, the seat is almost orange! I had to peel the lint roller 8 times to remove all the fur :)

look at that fur! I didn't notice it until I pulled "nugget's chair" out. They are usually tucked under the dining table.It was me!please don't clean my chair yetand I'm out of here.

Meow is tired.

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:42:00 +0000

This has got to be the longest and most tiring week of the year for me. Aside from juggling 4 online jobs that have rush projects (but I am very thankful!), I am also busy helping the KaEskwela team prepare for our mission to Malaban Elementary school tomorrow. Actually, I don't think I will be sleeping tonight because meet up is at 6am and I still have a lot of work to finish. I'm not complaining though. I mean, physically I am very tired right now but I am too happy thinking about all the wonderful acts of kindness that we have been receiving to concentrate on that. I just hope that things go well tomorrow! *fingers crossed*

Happy Halloween!

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 07:37:00 +0000

No candies and costumes this year for us but here is a Halloween photo of Nugget (he was still thin here!) taken 3 years ago. We decided that he was going to be our pumpkin so we stuck black felt paper on his back. He wasn't too pleased with the idea so the whole pumpkin look only lasted for a few minutes :) haha!

YES 2009

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:05:00 +0000

"SEACHANGE is an ongoing movement connecting Southeast Asian Youths to projects, organizations, businesses, and leaders who can help them with the change they want to see!"

This year Seachange is holding the Youth Engagement Summit 2009 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The event will feature a lot of interesting people such as chess wizard- Garry Kasparov, twitter co founder- Biz Stone, facebook director of market and development - Randi Zuckerberg and many more to inspire and share their knowledge with us. Sounds really cool, right? And the best part is that they are giving free invites to the event :) All you have to do is sign up here! Let's all sign up and go :)

Big orange ball

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:34:00 +0000

There is a big orange ball in my living room right now and his name is Nugget.

This is the view from the back :) look at that tummy bump. another view. he looks like a cat now with the ear and legs more visible :)top view. i can watch him for hours!one of these days i'll take a video. he moves, meows softly and wiggles while he is sleeping!i love you orange cat!

Trip to Malaban Elementary School

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:27:00 +0000

"BIÑAN, LAGUNA—With classrooms crowded with evacuees and the school grounds still flooded, where could the students go?

A report from the Department of Education in Laguna province on Friday said 51 elementary and high schools were still being used as evacuation centers for typhoon-stricken families, but said all had already resumed classes.

In Biñan town, teachers found a solution to the deluge that was seen to last three to four more months. They volunteered to open their own homes to accommodate the students and resume classes on Oct. 12, two weeks after Tropical Storm “Ondoy” left the town and several others flooded."

Taken from Teachers convert homes to schools
Maricar Cinco
Inquirer Southern Luzon

After reading this article, we decided that Malaban Elementary School would be our next beneficiary. I am really amazed at the teachers' initiative to offer their homes as temporary classrooms :) I can't imagine how it must be to have about 500 kids in your house everyday. Anyway, we headed to Biñan today to assess the situation of the school and to get a more concrete idea of what the students need the most.

some parts of the school are still flooded until now. The classrooms behind have been turned into evacuation centers... note the laundry hanging on the railing dirty stagnant water infront of the rooms. The smell is horrible!a makeshift kitchen with damaged books and notebooks in the background. I'm not sure if they have started using these items for fire... I was very surprised to see a sari sari store in the school! some evacuees are still enterprising!the hallway filled with sludgeclassroom turned into a home for a few familiestemporary classroom for 500 kids

garage turned classroom. look at the jeep parked inside!

we'll be back :)

Mac and Cheese by Lucky Me!

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:30:00 +0000

I am a big fan of instant food hence my full rubenesque figure :) But don't get me wrong because I also like taking time out to prepare meals but sometimes instant is the way to go... especially if you have to eat while working! Anyway, I was really pleased to have found out about Lucky Me's newest offering - Mac and Cheese! Yay! I really love mac and cheese and the best part is each pack only costs p14! There are 2 variants: baked mac (red pack) and mac & cheeze (blue). Personally, I prefer the blue pack better since the red one was a bit too sweet for my liking. My kidneys are thanking me for this yummy sodium packed snack. haha!a yummy bowl of mac and cheese :) The serving is quite small so there are actually 2 packs in this bowl. haha!

Feeding 120 Families

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:44:00 +0000

We usually have school related projects but because of Ondoy (Ketsana Typhoon) we had to shift our focus from collecting school supplies and funds for our library project to gathering food, clothes and raising money for relief goods. One of our recipient schools in Montalban, Wawa National High School was badly hit during the flood so we decided to organize a relief program for them. I am still pretty amazed at the fact that in 2 weeks we were able to raise around P52,000 (US$1,100+) and collect several boxes of goods. Thank you so much to all our friends and family from all over - Philippines, USA, Australia, UK and Singapore :) Without your generous donations, this relief operation would not be possible.

Anyway, we headed over to Divisoria today to buy pails and towels for the 120 families that we are donating to this Sunday. I was amazed that we were able to get the pails for only P38 each! We had to haggle a bit but it was all worth it. We actually had an initial budget of P70 and since we got the pails at a low price we were now able to buy enough towels for all the kits :) Yay! Right after Divisoria we went to SM Supermarket to get the good to be placed inside the pails. We wanted to save and go to a cheaper supermarket but since we received a few SM gift cheques we figured that it would be best to do all the shopping there. I can't believe how excited I am... Just look at all the things we were able to buy for them!We got a lot of pails instead of plastic bags to hold all the goods :) The pails are pretty cool since they all have a mini basin as a cover!towels that can be used as blankets120 Tide "taba" bars!120 bags of brown sugarmilk and chocolate drink for the kids120 cans of meatloafat the checkout counter with fellow volunteers Roselyn and Grace :) i'm not in the pic. heheEach pail will have the following items: 4 boiled eggs, 4 boiled bananas, 5 packs of sardines, instant noodles, 1 cupcake, 5 biscuits, 1 box of milk, 6 sachets of Chocquik, 1 can corned beef, 1 can meatloaf, 2 kgs rice, 1 kg sugar, 1 Tide bar, 1 bath soap, 1 towel, 1 pack of Sanitary pads, 1 toothbrush, 1 tube toothpaste, shampoo and 1 gallon mineral water! Yay! so exciting :)

Hello!

noreply@blogger.com (meow.) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 15:51:00 +0000

I'm here!