Meet my Hamsters!

I've never considered having a hamster for a pet. It just so happens, when Inay visited her sister, she saw a beautiful hamster cage with two hamsters inside. My aunt asked Inay if I would be interested to pet a hamster since her neighbor sells hamsters. A mom hamster just gave birth to 13 pups!

Inay told me all about the cute little hamsters and their cage with a wheel and a cute little house. I said, what the heck, let's have a pet hamster. We reserved 2 pairs of hamsters (I would give one pair to my godchild).

Ilog Maria Honeybee Farm

My friend since high school came to the country from Abu Dhabi for her 3-week vacation. We spent one weekend in Tagaytay and one of the places we visited was the Ilog Maria Honeybee Farm in Silang, Cavite. It was a few kilometers away from Tagaytay City.

There was a rough road going to the bee farm. Good thing my other friend brought her car. It was a one way road; we hoped we wouldn't come across another vehicle since it would be difficult to drive on reverse and find a spot to let the other vehicle pass. When we reached Ilog Maria, there were already several vehicles parked. 

A Visit to Pandin Lake

Oh summer! Every summer, our family goes out to have fun and bond. This year, we decided to go to Pandin Lake in San Pablo City, Laguna. Since our home is near Pandin Lake (1 jeepney ride only), it would be a shame if we wouldn't be able to see the lake's beauty. We were able to go out of town and sometimes, the tourist spots near us were the ones always left behind when it comes to trips and vacations.

Although reservations are not required, my sister still made reservations to assure us that we would have a raft when we get to Pandin Lake. The fee is P180/person, this includes a freshly picked young coconut. If you want to have them prepare lunch for you, the cost is an additional P180/person. From what I heard, the lunch consists of rice, fried tilapia, fern salad with red egg, and small shrimps called "palakpakin". We decided to bring our own food instead.

A small souvenir kiosk

Pandin Lake is about 7 kilometers from San Pablo City proper. The drive was about 7-10 minutes and there's a parking area for visitors of Pandin Lake. If commuting, ride a jeep with the sign "Ilog" in San Pablo City. The jeepney terminal is beside a 7-11 store, you won't miss it. Once we unloaded our bags and food from the car, we walked for 15 minutes going to the lake. It was nearing noon so the sun was high and hot and the rough terrain was dusty. But, reaching Pandin Lake was worth the trouble of walking under the sun.

We immediately took in the sights, inhaling the fresh air and marveling at the beauty of the lake. Coconut trees lined the lake shore and we saw several rafts with huts "parked" on the lake. Friendly women greeted us and escorted us to our raft. We ordered summer's official Pinoy dessert, Halo-halo, for P25 each plastic cup. As we settled on our raft and waited for our Halo-halo, we went to the comfort room to freshen up. Water conservation is strictly observed in Pandin Lake since the men and women only fetch the water for consumption.

Wives of fishermen living near Pandin Lake decided to make a living by renting rafts to tourists. Since the women were left at home when the men go to fish, they thought of earning extra income by making Pandin Lake a tourist spot. You'll see them all over the shore, selling snacks and souvenirs but not to the point of irritating tourists with their selling spiels. 

A series of ropes were installed across the lake. This is what the boatmen used to tour us around the lake. In our raft, a man and woman pulled the rope while a guy at the back of the raft paddled to move our raft. It was no small feat but they said they're used to it. 

Uphill climb to see Yambo Lake

Yambo Lake

When we reached the other end of Pandin Lake, we climbed a steep terrain to see Yambo Lake. Pandin and Yambo Lakes are twin lakes separated by a thin strip of land. We girls only looked at Yambo Lake since we were terrified of going down to reach it but my brothers bravely went and took pictures.

We went back to our raft and then we went to a man-made grotto. Here, our boatman picked a container filled with water which came from the roots of the trees above. Amazing! We said our prayers, lighted a candle and then went back to the raft to eat lunch.

Since there were not much tourists that day, we stayed in our raft to finish our lunch and to relax a bit.


Pandin Lake
San Pablo City, Laguna
For reservations, Aling Siony: 09299789565

Planting My Basil

Two years ago, I bought a basil plant from a garden show. I took it home and forgot about it. Since the plant was growing more and more stems and leaves, Inay transplanted it from its plastic planter to our backyard. And forgot about it, too.

Fast forward to 2014. I noticed that my basil has grown bushy, overgrown, and woody at the bottom. The tops were flowering which I thought was a good sign...it's not. Turns out, you need to cut or pinch off the basil flowers. When a basil is flowering, it means that it is in reproduction stage which also means it's not developing more leaves. And if you're a cook, or a pesto maker, you need tons of leaves, not flowers. 

Since I'm starting gardening this year, I decided to cultivate this herb. I Googled and learned much on how to take care of basil. Basil can be propagated via seeds or cuttings. I chose the latter since it's free, obviously. I cut basil stems (2 inches or so), removed the leaves at the bottom of the stems and placed them in a clear jar with clean water. I placed the jar on our kitchen sill where there is moderate sunlight.

After nine days, the cuttings grew their first roots. I was excited! After checking out the jar every day, here's the promise of new basil plants. I thought I would fail in my first attempt in planting.

I let them grow more roots before transplanting them. After four more days since the first roots, here's a picture of those basil cuttings.

I used the empty cups of instant noodles and milk cans as the basil's first home in soil.

Within two weeks, I have small basil plants ready to grow. Come to think of it, if you're on your two-week wait, this can be a good activity for you to try to take your mind off your TTC journey.

The Book Jar

If you're like me who loves to read and hoard books at home, chances are, you have tons of books on your shelves still left untouched. Maybe you've forgotten what titles you own. Books purchased months ago, or even years ago, are left behind the shelf or under the bed, collecting dust.

Before the start of the year, I list the titles of books I would like to read for the new year. I have my list for 2014 until I saw a wonderful inspiration on how to pick the books to read -- by having a Book Jar.

On each piece of scratch paper, I wrote the unread books I have on the bookshelf. Much to my surprise, I had lots of books that are awaiting for me to read them. So far, I have 40 titles on my Book Jar. I feel sorry for these books since I haven't had the chance to open their pages after I bought them.

Now, instead of my annual book list, I will pick one whenever I've finished reading one book. This brings excitement to my book reading addiction.

And today, I picked: White Fang by Jack London. I wrote down the date so I know when I started reading this book. I'm pretty happy with my pick.

DIY Compost Bin

Hubby and I envisioned a home where plants abound every nook and cranny. Since only the first floor of our two-storey dream house would be constructed first, we decided to make a sort of rooftop garden on the first floor.

After Hubby left to start a new contract abroad, I was filled with ideas on starting our own garden. I wanted to have an all-natural, organic garden -- flowers, fruits, vegetables, and herbs. I'm not sure if I have a green thumb like my late maternal grandfather but I could try.

First, I made a compost bin. It was a doable project since I only needed a handful of materials at home. I searched the Internet and saw several instructional guides such as this one from Organic Gardening.

I collected the following for my compost bin:

• brown materials: saw dust, dried vines and leaves, soil
• green materials: fruit and vegetable peelings, egg shells

I saw a cracked plastic container where I layered the compost materials: soil, dried plants, and then the green materials. I created two layers and add other materials in the future. I covered my compost bin to discourage animals from scavenging my bin. Hopefully, it would develop as a good compost in a few months.

100 Happy Days

I've signed up for the 100 Happy Days Challenge. For 100 days, I will post a photo of something or someone which/who made me happy that day. I can use any social media platform to post the photos. I chose Facebook since that is my personal social media page.

Why challenge myself to be happy?

Lately, I've realized that I've changed. I've become a person who was always sad, irritable, and negative to myself and other people. I've often snap at people, and my dialogues reflect a disgruntled woman. Even my photos look unhappy even if I'm smiling at the camera.

A few days ago, I consulted an EENT doctor to check my sore tongue. She's a relative so we've got to talking about our lives after my consultation. She asked me about my TTC journey and what medicine I took. I said, "Clomid." She beamed at me and said that women taking Clomid have a higher chance of having multiple babies. She asked if my OB told me that. My reply in a sarcastic tone: Yeah, but here I am, nothing happened. As I recall my conversation with her, I realized that my statements were said in a way where there's a slight hint of an angry tone. Years ago, I would have given a positive response to questions like that, like, "Yeah, I hope we will be successful this time," or "Yes, even one child and we'll be grateful." But, I've changed.

Hubby also noticed that I've become grumpy, even the littlest things will tick me off. When it comes to talks about infertility treatments, I've become distant and indifferent. I guess years of treatments took its toll on my positivity and hopefulness. In my mind, we've done all there is to done medically to help me conceive but nada. I've even done acupuncture, healthy living, novenas, etc. ZIlch. Kaput.

That's why I took the challenge. That's why I'm consciously looking for something to be happy about on a daily basis. I want to change my perspective and become a more cheery and hopeful person. I hope I'll have a more positive outlook in life after this challenge. 

2014 is a new year and I hope to be a better person this year.

#100happydays