Manila and surrounding provinces in the Philippines had a bad monsoon on 8-7-12. It flooded so bad they had to open the dams, which cause more flooding. It was almost as bad the flood back in 2009. Sadly my in-laws house was flooded again though we don't know how badly. :-(

My Father in-law works as ship captain and is back out at sea. (He helps transport cars, fruits, etc to different countries). My mother in-law had to stay with my Sister in-law & family at her 2 story house. The flooding at my SIL's house reached the garage but from last reports hadn't gotten into the house. And we pray that's still true. Their power was out for 3 days and they were conserving their cell phones so we didn't hear much from them. We still don't really have any definite detailed updates at the moment.

Everyone is okay from texts, facebook, etc (Friends & Family). Which we are very thankful for! (Thank you for all the prayers!) It really sucks that my in-laws house got flooded again. My husband remembers being there for the 2009 flood. He knows how hard it was and how hard the clean up was.


I was checking Twitter every hour looking up keywords for Cainta Rizal and their villages name (gated community), to find current updates. The flood waters were reported waist high at my in-laws village. Though the flood waters are subsiding. My husband said they shut off the power automatically when flood waters reach a certain level. It's also rainy season over there right now, which doesn't help matters.

We are just thankful everyone is okay. Including our niece who will be 1 years old on August 21st. She had a little cold, but from last reports is doing better.

Our Niece Zia!

If you want to donate to the Philippine Red Cross to help with relief efforts (Over 2 million people were effected by this storm), there are ways to donate on their website (Including Paypal).


Article on the storm on CNN

Yahoo Philippines Article

6ABC Article

 

Summer... has been oppressive and I'm sooo ready for fall and colder weather... and pumpkin spice lattes! We really haven't been up to much lately, just staying at home... in the air, lol. And I've been busy with work and exhausted in the evenings, so I haven't been updating my blog as regularly. But, if you want more up to the minute updates about what I'm up to you can find me at the following places:

• Facebook (My page is private, if you request me as a friend please include a short message so I know who you are).
  
• Pinterest
• Twitter  (My Twitter is private, leave your Twitter name in the comments below so I know who I am approving).
• Instagram: tunaynamahal82
  

 

My girls finally came home last night! I adopted two black self dumbo eared girls from Star's Rat Rescue in South Dakota. I've adopted from SRR two times before.

The 1st time I adopted 3 girls, the 2nd time I adopted 2 girls & 2 boys. Though my boys are the only ones still living and they are now 2 1/2 years old.

This rat train had 2 phases to get the girls all they way to Philadelphia. (1,500 miles from South Dakota!) The 1st part of the train was on July 28th. When my girls and some of the other rats being adopted traveled to Chicago IL. The 2nd part of the train was tentatively scheduled for August 4th. My girls had to be fostered for about a week in Chicago until we filled some of the other driving legs to get them to Philadelphia.

Then, Thursday morning- Brittney; my friend & owner of Star's Rat Rescue, texted me that she was in the hospital. (She is still there as of today, the hospital was running tests to determine is she needed surgery, she was in a lot of pain. I don't have any other details. Please keep her in your thoughts & prayers. She is trying to keep me updated best she can. I am posting any new information I get on the SRR Facebook Page, for Brittney).

(ETA: Brittney is now home from the hospital).

We were still lacking a driver for the very last part of the trip, so it was uncertain if the girls would be coming home Saturday. Luckily, I was able to get a hold of our friend Adam. Who helped with SRR drives before. He agreed to drive out to Somerset PA (About 4 1/2 hours from Philly), to meet one of the other drivers and get my girls! 

With Brittney still in hospital she was unable to contact the drivers and send out the email itinerary as usual. So late Thursday evening she texted me everyone's information (4 drivers) so that I could call and email everyone to confirm Saturday's plans. I had to make sure everyone had talked to each other before leaving Saturday morning.

Saturday morning things went off just as planned. Each of the drivers checked in with me when they passed the rats off to the next driver, and I kept Brittney up to date. At 9:45pm we met up with Adam outside a Petsmart near us so we could finally pick up my two girls and bring them home! It was definitely an adventure for them!

(Thank you to all the drivers and adopters, because we couldn't do these Rat Trains without you all!) 
The girls were born on Christmas Day, 2011. So they are about 7 1/2 months old. I renamed them Cherry & Bluebelle (Belle for short). Cherry has white front paws, she's also a bit bigger and her dumbo ears are set farther back. Belle is smaller, and she has more rounded full dumbo ears. They are both Black self.

Cherry in the hammock, Belle below.

Cherry

Bluebelle "Belle"

 

Lily passed away this weekend... she was a few months past 2 years old. We brought her home in July 2010. She never really had any major health issues or tumors in her life. I hate that we only have a maximum of 2-3 years with rats. It's truly not fair. They have so much personality. Lily was my ♥ rat. She was so spoiled in her old age. She loved to lay back in my hands and stay that way for the longest time on her back.

♥ When she got older and more frail, every morning I would take her out on the bed and get her some Vanilla or Strawberry Ensure. (She would have it at least twice a day). When you tapped the bowl, she would come running. She loved hanging out on our bed, she would stretch out or curl up in my comforter.

♥ When my husband came to the USA in March 2011, she would always sit on his leg and let him pet her if he was sitting on the bed. He used to tease me and say Lily was his rat now. Her nickname was 'Bean'. (When she was younger she was a little roley poley thing so I nicknamed her Lil-La-Bean, like a jelly bean). She had her feisty moments when she was younger, but for the most part she was a very laid back rat. ♥


Video of Lily with her Lolli-pop:



I love all of my pet rats, but there are a few special heart rats that you have. So I'm taking Lily's loss a bit hard. ♥

 

I've been coveting Layla Hologram polish for awhile. I finally ordered some on Ebay. And then I liked it so much I went and order another bottle. You can find them at Ebay, Ulta Beauty or Zappos.com. They range from $14-16, but they are so worth it.

The formula dries super quick. I tried a topcoat, but it dulls the hologram effect. It does chip on your fingertips a bit. I noticed if I do 1 layer of hologram, then a clear coat, then 1-2 more coats of hologram on top it lasts much much longer. It looks frosty going on, but once it dries then the hologram effect shows! You can still see the hologram effect in low light and they sparkle in sunlight! Love them!

Color: Mermaid Spell

Color: Flash Black

My cousins & I also saw the Katy Perry: Part of Me movie in 3D last Friday. I loved it! I like that it's more of a documentary then just a concert movie. It shows a lot of behind the scenes stuff. Plus I like that she writes her own music, plays guitar and doesn't lip sync at her live shows. If anything I thought she sounded even better at her live shows. Her Grandma cracked us up in the movie, she reminded us of our Nana. It's definitely worth going to see!

I really want to see it again, so I think I might be dragging hubby along this time! That's okay though, we're definitely seeing The Dark Knight Rises this month too. ;-)

You can view a lot of clips from the movie here.

My Honey girl passed away this morning. She was 2 1/2 years old. Honey had 2 tumors, one of which was quite large and had begun to get scabs, etc on it. This coming week I was planning on taking her to the vet to be put to sleep, but Honey passed away this morning. :(


Honey traveled 1,500 miles 2 years ago. I adopted her from Star's Rat Rescue, along with her 2 other sisters (RIP). She was a very feisty girl. I called her 'Firecracker', her other nickname was 'Cheez-it'. Honey was a silver fawn. She had a gorgeous golden orange coat.

Honey Girl:

Meet Pumpkin! We brought her home June 29th, 2012. She is a beige berkshire. She fits right in my hand at the moment, she's so tiny. She's extremely brave and playful for a baby rat. She met some of her sisters on the bed, (they are all 3x's her size at the moment, lol) and she was chasing them all around the bed. :-)


 

We had an awful heat wave for a few days this week. The temps were in the upper 90's but it felt even hotter than that (104, 110!) Not fun.


I haven't been up to much besides working, etc. Tomorrow we are taking my Dad out for a belated Father's Day Lunch to Longhorn Steak House.

I'm still using Sally Hansen Salon Effects. I love them. They always last about 2 weeks with a clear coat on top of them. They start to grow out and chip by the 3rd week. There were a few from the new Avril Lavigne collection I really wanted, but had a hard time tracking down. I ended up getting them on eBay.

My favorites from that collection: 'You're A Star',


And 'Crowd Surfer', which is what I have on my nails right now!

My Mom makes a version of this with broccoli, carrots and sometimes cheese tortellini. You can pretty much add whatever ingredients you want. It's a great dish for a hot summer day. It tastes even better once it sits overnight.

Easy Summer Pasta:

• 1 box Tri-color pasta, cooked and drained.
• 1 small package of inexpensive ham lunch meat, sliced into cubes. 
• 1-2 cups cubed cheese. I used colby & extra sharp white. (I bought the bricks & cubed the cheese myself).
• 1 container of baby tomatoes. (I always halve my baby tomatoes).
• 1 small onion, diced.
• 1 can of mushrooms, drained.
• 1 small bottle of Italian Dressing.
• Parmesan cheese in a jar. 
• Salt & Pepper to taste.

Directions:

After combining all of your ingredients in a large bowl, coat pasta salad with a small bottle of Italian dressing. (As much or as little as you like. If it sits in the fridge overnight the pasta absorbs the dressing, so you may need more dressing before serving). Shake a good amount of Parmesan cheese on top of the salad and a few dashes of salt & pepper. Stir until everything is coated. Serve cold. Makes enough for leftovers.

I hate the original Croc's. I think they are so ugly! My Dad bought a pair of knock off Croc's and he wears them in public, lol. In the Philippines when my husband and I would walk past the Croc's store I would cringe.

But.... lately, I've been having some foot issues. My left heel has been bothering me for awhile. I have really high arches and I think it may be plantar fasciitis. I also get a lot of charley horse cramps in my calves. I do a lot of walking with commuting to work and this year with these new aches & pains my Havaiana's flip flops just aren't doing it. And I cannot wear sneakers or shoes in warm weather, I just can't!

So I looked online and did a little research and discovered... Croc's has some really cute style's now. They even sell high heels! All of the reviews say their shoes are really comfortable. So I gave in and went to the Croc's side. I ordered the Adrina Flip Flop. In Aqua/Celery. I got them on Zappos.com.


I've been wearing them for almost a month and they are so comfortable. Plus I love the tread on the bottom of them, it's more like sneaker tread. I've noticed the pain in my left heel has decreased significantly even though it hasn't disappeared.


I just ordered another pair of the Adrina Flip flops on Amazon.com today. I got the Magenta/Purple ones. Can't wait to get them, I really do love them!


(I do use Amazon Associates, but not because I've made any money- because I haven't! lol! But I like that I can show a picture/link with a product when I'm blogging. Plus I do recommend Amazon.com for their low prices. That or Ebay!)  


 

My brother has reviewed a few Philippine food products I've given him on YouTube! :-)

Chocnut:


Salted Duck Eggs:




Phil-Am Foods

Philippine Snack Foods

Foreign Food Cravings

Taste Testing (Asian Aisle)