Iris was rough housing with her sisters about a week ago and she got a wound on her tail and on one of her fingers. There's still a scab on her tail. Her tail started getting a splotchy look to it, almost like dried blood- but the color keeps spreading and won't wash off. Last night we noticed she is not using her tail- (Rats use their tails to climb and balance. They can even wrap their tail around your wrist). Her tail was very limp and she doesn't seem to have any feeling in it when you press on it.

I called the vet this morning and we took Iris for her 10:45am appointment. Besides an infection in her tail from the bite wound she also has a lower back injury which was very painful when the vet pressed in the area of her lower back. The back injury is what is causing the paralysis in her tail, because it's all inflamed.

He gave her metacam and antibiotics. We are hoping the tail infection heals, because then he could give her steroids for her back injury. If the infection spreads or gets worse in her tail she could have to have it amputated... Hoping her back injury heals too. I'm not sure if she will get use of her tail again or not though.

Iris: (Her nickname is Ratatouille). ♥

I thought I'd jump on board with Wordless Wednesday. ;-)

Birthday gift from my cousin.

The very first birthday I ever spent with F.B. was on his 29th birthday back in 2008, in the Philippines.

This year was the first year F.B. was able to celebrate my birthday with me... my 29th birthday.

Strange coincidence that the 1st birthday's we ever celebrated with each other were both our 29th birthdays! ♥♥♥

Hesh's Chocolate Chip Cake!

P.S. Remember my blog giveaway ends 9/16!

Note: The Duck Boat Tours in Philadelphia, no longer operate.

On Wednesday we had our overnight trip in historical downtown Philadelphia, for my birthday weekend! (My birthday is Sept 4th). We had a really nice time and we got to see a bunch of places!

We took the train downtown and the weather was sunny and around 86 degrees both days we were down there which was good, because we walked everywhere! Our hotel was down the street from Independence Hall and right in the middle of all the historical spots, so it was ideal for walking. We didn't need to take any transportation, aside from the train to get us downtown and back home.

Here's a few from our trip! Wednesday before we checked into the hotel, we got to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall!

Liberty Bell

Independence Hall- they were renovating.

Chestnut Street

Best Western Independence Park Hotel

Our Hotel is a historic building.

We took the Duck Boat Tour Wednesday evening. When we got there to check in, they refunded us $12 on our tickets, because they said they weren't going to be going out on the water that evening because of the aftermath from Irene. I don't know what changed but midway through the tour- we did go out on the water after all, lol!

There was a lot of debris floating in the Delaware River but we kept to the side.There wasn't room service at our hotel, so for dinner we walked down to a Wawa on Walnut street and picked up a salad and wraps for dinner Wednesday night.

Benjamin Franklin Bridge

First Congress

Where Ben Franklin had his society for intelligent gentlemen.

Betsy Ross House

First Post Office in the United States.

First Stock Exchange in the United States.

 Video of our Duck Boat going into the Delaware River:



Thursday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and checked out around 12pm.Then we visited the Independence Visitors Center and Christ Church Cemetery. After that we went to Reading Terminal Market and finished up at The Gallery before taking the train home!

Constitution Center- we didn't get to visit.

Christ Church Cemetery- Benjamin Franklin is buried here. There are so many old tombstones, some of which the writing is no longer legible.

Benjamin Franklin's Grave- they throw pennies on his grave. A penny saved, is a penny earned. Sad... Eleanor, aged 5 months, 2 weeks, 3 days. This little girl was only 9 years old. She passed in 1791.

Entrance to China Town. We didn't get to visit, so we'll go back some time.


Reading Terminal Market was crowded! I saw these Chocolate Rats and wanted to get some, but they probably would have melted on the train ride home, lol! Afterwards we headed to The Gallery. We picked up Popeye's Chicken and Cinnabon to take home for dinner/dessert, hehe.




What is your favorite thing about your hometown? (Place, Food, Etc.)
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Giveaway Ends: September 16th, 2011.12AM EST.

Tonight Irene passes over Philadelphia. Philadelphia is under a hurricane warning. They say it will be the worst storm in 50 years. Lot's of flooding.

SEPTA is suspending all service for the first time ever. Where we are just outside Philadelphia, we are under a tropical storm warning. But there are still flooding threats and we could lose power... hoping we don't though.

(Photo Credit.)

And just this week we had an earthquake too! (Though I was napping and didn't feel it. I thought my husband was teasing me when I woke up!) What in the world is going on?! All of the things I told my husband we don't get, we're getting! I told him he must have brought this extreme weather with him from the Philippines, lol! :-p

I hope things are okay weather wise later this week for our overnight vacation in down town Philadelphia for my birthday. I hope the trains are running by then and that we'll still be able to take the Duck Boat tour that we prepaid for.

I got a new cell phone on eBay for my birthday! I was able to get a T-mobile Sidekick 4G for $300.00 less then T-mobile is selling it for. (I'm on a special $49.99 unlimited plan- but the catch was I have to pay full price for a new phone).

The phone I won was in pristine condition. It still has the factory protector stickers on it. The guy who was selling it had switched to another carrier. I can actually watch my Netflix on my phone now with the Netflix App! So cool! And the battery lasts way longer than my Motorola Charm battery did. I had to switch batteries mid day with that phone. The Sidekick also has a touch screen and a keyboard, which I need, I can't do those touch screen keyboards! :-p


Please stop by and give your congratulations to my Sister in Law on her blog! She & her husband had their baby girl, Zia on 08/21/11. So now F.B. is an Uncle and I'm an Aunt. :-p

(Photo Credit: Zei & Rich).

And, just some cute pictures of the ratties to finish off with! ♥♥♥

Baby Violet

Mister Curry Wigglesworth, lol. (Picnik)

As you've noticed, I've also changed my blog layout. I think the blue matches my header banner better!

F.B. and I ordered a ton of Filipino food and snacks from Phil-Am Foods. It was my first time ordering from them. They pretty much had all our favorites and really cheap prices too! I've ordered Choc-nut from other Philippine markets online and had it cost $3.00 a pack! Phil-Am is selling Choc-nut for $1.69 a pack! Whoo! The shipping was pretty affordable too! Only $12.00 to ship from New Jersey to Pennsylvania! 


I'm a fan of Phil-Am Foods on Facebook. And they had posted that if any of their customers posted a picture of their order, they would send a free gift!


We were really happy with how fast our order arrived, (within 2 days!) so we posted a picture on their Facebook page and they said they would send us a gift! To our surprise a huge box arrived in the mail today from Phil-Am Foods! We definitely didn't expect all of this! Wow! Thank you so much Phil-Am Foods!!! So exciting! :-D

Our Free Gifts from Phil-Am Foods!

Philippine Snack Foods

Foreign Food Cravings

Taste Testing (Asian Aisle)