Life | Sloths On Sundays

The weekend was coming with full of hope to get out of the house and enjoy the outdoors after two weeks of "stay-home" coup.

On Friday last week, I had already planned to go see the Asian Aerospace Exhibition at Changi International Exhibition with the whole family, but had to ditch it and make the best of the 2 days instead.

Went out Saturday afternoon once our son had his rescheduled home-tuition done in the morning.

We went to Peninsular Plaza to assess the possibility of our retail shop there. Then married that with our relaxed pace outing. Strolling at The Esplanade and Marina Bay after dinner, and had supper at Makan Sutra.

Sunday was a promised "stay-home" day just relaxing around the house to clear his mind for his Monday CA or Continual Assessment exam - a quarterly mini-exam with percent of it taken into his finals.

Had in the morning, chores like cleaning-up around and gardening for me.

My wife Azi was to cook Fried Rice for us, and my son Danish had his hands full with washing and white-wash his school shoes, check all his wirting materials ready for the exam and cleaning-up Puffy's cage.

The highlight of the day was definitely of cleaning Puffy's cage which he did outside in the corridor.

Puffy was placed in a spare plastic cage handed-down from his classmate. She was as if looking at him cleaning the cage, stood on her hind legs.

Well... that was how it looked like, though hamsters can only see a few inches away.

She probably saw the movements more than observing him, but then again, she might know it was Danish from his scent.

Maybe... but it was sure fun to look at her antics. And a photo opportunity too.

Once all cleaned, it was time Puffy was let into her cage. But before that, Danish asked me to observe her primal routine whenever she is let in after a clean-up.

She would go to every inch of the cage to leave her own scent that was lost from the change to new bedding and sand bath, the wiped-clean yellow-house and wheels and whater spout, etc.

On queue, when Danish released her near the outside of her cage, she dashed to it, climbed in and started to go to every little inch of the cage, scouting, scenting, well every corner!

It was fun and so cute. She did not waste any time.

Once "done", she stayed inside her yellow house making herself comfortable as she made her nesting.

Slit a piece of crumpled tissue paper at her door, she pulled it in and covered herself with it inside. Then, all was still.

She was home. Rested.

What a relief and joy to see her happy. Very adorable! Can only love her!

Had lunch and it was movie time.

We watched The Fog on DVD. The movie was alright for me. Nothing spectacular even with its CGI of the fog and burnt Grandma. Nothing we never say done before in other movies.

It was sure tough to watch something with a full stomach. Right after the movie, eveyone was slowly dozzing off. Azi on one couch, Danish on the other.

Even Puffy was asleep!

She slept on the couch with Danish. Had to snap a photo. She was like a cat more than a hamster. She seemed comfortable with and trusting of Danish.

I finally get to see her sleeping outside her yellow house. It was incredibly endearing!

A wonderful "sloth-like" family Sunday for us today.

Come to think of it, the gigantic flying machines would have been awesome, but this tiny being in our lives is divine!

Will not trade this day for anything else.

Leisure | Marina's Makan Sutra

We have actively been looking out for an affordable retail shop space these past month. After scouting for an advertised shop space at Peninsular Plaza, the walking got us all so hungry.

We had dinner at Funan IT Centre Food Court. The Nasi Padang stall has great tasting Lontong.

The Fried Rice was alright, nothing memorable except its Sambal Belacan, very nice.

Wifey bought some sweet and sour snacks and off we went to the Padang, then like a magnet, the Esplanade.

Soaked up the fresh air, the open space bay area with the backdrop of a beautiful The Esplanade - Theater By The Bay.

Sat a while and listened to some free live performances at the open amphitheater.

Surrounded mostly by teenagers and youngsters, their hands in the air, clapping and gyrating to the rhythm of the music. They were having a very good time.

It was catered more for the youngsters. My son "dig" the music too. I felt so old, ancient even. It was out of my century. You can only listen to so much hip-hop and rap at one sitting.

We headed to the outdoor eating place there for supper. It is called The Makan Sutra - Glutton Bar. A self-serve, open-air eating place.

It is strategically situated in front of Marina Square Shopping Centre and The Oriental Hotel.

An alley to access the Esplanade and the Marina Bay.

You would have to help yourselves to go buy your own food and drink after getting a table first.

With about 12 stalls selling mostly local Chinese delights, we found a Malay stall Alhambra Padang that sold Satay - a Malay barbecued meat skewered on a bamboo stick.

We noticed that the stall was so popular especially with the western tourists, that there were a long line.

I ordered Set A Satay on the menu. Consisting of 10 sticks of chicken, beef, mutton and prawn combination.

Very nice combination. The peanut sauce was indeed delicious.

Wifey gave the thumbs up for portion and taste. No wonder the queue was long.

The tourists from Oriental Hotel seemed to know this the best place to eat like the locals with the cheaper price than restaurant food, at a nice, breezy open-air place overlooking the bay.

I know I enjoyed sampling the local food sold nearby our hotel on our vacations.

As long as we are comfortable with the level of hygiene we are accustomed to, we will not give it a miss.

Glutton I was indeed, because I was filled to the brim and could hardly breathe. We took a cab home. The taxi stand was right in front of the entrance.

How cool was our outing? Very nice, very relaxed!

Now, I have to do extra workouts to burn these calories.

Family | Son's Poster Girl

Another update on our family's significant other.

Puffy, our Dwarf White Winter Russian Hamster.

She is making good progress living with us. We get to know more about taking care of hamsters and she has now recognised us.

It was interesting to know this when my son had to bring her to class Wednesdays and Thursdays for Pet Day.

She was let loose on the Recreation Table with the whole class surrounding the large table. She kept returning to Danish's palms amongst all the open palms layed on the table.

The class acknowledged that she now attaches herself to a familiar scent, that is Danish's. He was so proud and very glad that Puffy has accepted us.

She has now wanting to eat something different and varied than her standard Hamster Food of seeds and tiny biscuits. Her favourite is definitely cheese. Will never turn down one.

Other treats include apples and orange saps which she will eat straight away instead of storing it in her pouch at the back of her mouth.

This cute creature has no choice but to endure more photo sessions from me and my son.

Cell-phones cameras, digital cameras and camcoders. All on standby, ready to snap whenever she does something new or just cute.

Facinating little "fur-ball". Cannot help but love her.

Life | Home-Based Certification

Well, it is Sunday night again.

In retrospect, I think I did much better today than I did last weekend with Life What A Chore!

Nope, no chance to be lazy today. A second weekend that I become a "houseband", no longer a "Desperate Houseband" as I got the hang of really doing house chores.

Start from morning, after my wife left for her booth, I got to read my Sunday newspaper. I got started on my house chores.

Cleaned the bathroom a bit, then proceeded to trim the Durantas. Yes, the flowers that bloomed so abundantly on the ends of the branches have wilted off but left beautiful little bright-yellow fruits.

I had to trim the wild growth out anyway, but too late to realize that some birds were feeding off the fruits.

As I was clearing, our "corridor garden" I was visited by butterflies and a few birds. The few birds were looking for these bright fruits but no longer there. The birds were startled when they saw me. I felt terrible to cut off the branches.

Rearranged the pots to give turns to other plants its turn to get sunshine and cleared dead leaves off the plants. The garden looked refreshed. I am pleased.

Had lunch with my son and helped with his leftover homework. Watched "The Cave" movie on DVD with him then I dozed off. What!

I woke up near the end while Danish was engorssed watching till the end. I am getting old.

When it ended, we split to doing our own stuff on our PCs. He was in his room learning and practising on his Java and HTML scripts with a couple of ".... for Dummies" website building books that he borrowed from the library, while I, well, blog-surfed! Yeah!

Came dinner and I warmed up the food while he set the table. Roasted Chicken Rice was good. We discussed about some methods he read on "pull-down menu" scripts, etc...

Then he got back to his room to practise more on building his website, while I started my ironing. The toughest part of the day for me.

This time around, I was able to set the ironing board swiftly like a Pro. I was able to do ironing of my son's uniform shorts and shirts without breaking a sweat.

Well actually I sweat like a pig.

What I meant was, I became good at it that I was pleased with the no-leftover-creases and finished it in record time.

I did my clothes and pants and well, no double lines on the pants either.

I finally have graduated from ironing school. Maybe may try on extreme ironing sport. Nah! Cannot understand why there is such a sport.

Ironing with the sharks, ironing while jumping off a plane, a cliff, what is that all about?

Anyway, ironing all those clothes was not all that bad or tough anymore for me the second time around. Still not my favourite "past-time", but I have to contribute to the household chores too, or I will not feel right.

Nonetheless, these mundane but important chores still need to be done. We have discussed and are up to hiring a part-time maid to do them. Maybe come twice a week while one of us are at home to oversee things.

This way I can have my weekend with family that I crave so much every single weekday, my wife can have more rest times while she still tends to her business, and the lucky maid will earn some money too. A win-win... -win situation.

Oh, I will leave the cooking to wifey, definitely. Cooking with love is the best tasting meal you will ever get. Else it will be take-outs.

It is late and I just got a call from her that she will be reaching soon. She has just got off the bus and coming up any minute now. Time to open the door for her and set supper for her. Signing off.

Life | What A Chore!

Today has been a slow weekend for me.

A Sunday that I should be out doing stuff with the family, in the sun.. something. Instead I was left to do house chores. Sigh...

My wife was out at Shaw House at Orchard Road tending to her booth in a Wedding Fair event. She was out of the house before 10:00am today.

My son Danish had his friend's birthday party to attend at her home. We went to Isetan Orchard at Shaw House yesterday and bought her a pink heart-shaped pillow with a bear on it.

Hope she likes it, because I had no idea what girls that age liked.

He left home at 1:30pm to meet his friends at Kembangan MRT Station. Oh, great! He left his gift at home. Well, he just have to bring it to school tomorrow to give her.

I was left home alone! Yeah, the thought of lazying around was all too attractive for me, but I have some gardening and ironing to do before I can do that. The list from wifey.

Did some blogging in the morning. Heated up lunch for both my son and I. Once he left, I gave myself time to watch a movie - The 40 Year-Old Virgin.

Steve Carell was alright, but his friends were hilarious. All the guys appeared together and macho on the outside, but somehow insecure inside which they tried very hard to not show. Man, I am so blessed to have met my wife and have a family.

Well this movie is not a tamed one. It is quite... "graphic?"

My wife will flip if she sees this type of movie. It's too adult and the too-open-minded mannerism is not yet suitable for conservative Asians like us.

Now the chores. First. Trim the plants.

I hated to trim the wildly grown branches of our Durantas because at the tip of the branches are purple flowers blooming. I just do not have the heart to cut away the cheerful sight the plants have to offer.

There is this nice feeling to see flowers swaying in the sunshine. Just love it. Just watered the plants and cleared the fallen leaves off my corridor instead.

Then started my ironing. Wow! I have not ironed a piece since I got married some 12 years ago. Man, I have taken her doing the chores for granted. It was tiring and my god, so boring!

Took in the dried clothes from the service balcony, folded some clothes and continued ironing my son's school uniforms and my clothes for work till I completed every last one.

Rested a bit and watched a little of City of Angels starring Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage over Cinemax until the end. Never got to watch it before, but only to see Meg died in the end. No!

My favourite romantic lady dies in a movie? Never! This movie sucked!

Well, not exactly. I liked it, but still I do not like to see Meg dies in a movie in any manner whatsoever.

Anyway, Danish came back at 6:30pm and went straight to helping a little with his left-over Malay composition homework.

Took a shower and headed to the S11 Coffee Shop and bought us dinner. Stopped by the newly expanded sundries shop and got some snacks and a correction pen for Danish.

Today, I become quite a domesticated dude today. Well, I have to do this for 2 weeks, until wifey completes her rent for the booth this 23rd February 2006. Until then, I am a Desperate Houseband.

Man... I have to work tomorrow. Sigh...

Family | High-Tech Rodent?

With the rain outside, we are all being kept inside. Sigh.

As I was blog-surfing, I can hear my son talking to Puffy, our Dwarf White Winter Russian hamster. She has been sleeping all day and become active at night. Guess she is awake today and restless too.

She has been climbing the grill of her cage that normally signifies that she wants to go out for a while. That is her signal to us that she wants out, but exactly what she wants after that is anybody's guess.

Danish finally figured out what she wanted. Treats. Her favourite is definitely cheese. So while he went off to the kitchen to get the cheese, Puffy was left on my desk.

"Hey look! Puffy's friend!" my son quipped. Oh yeah...

Rodent family. My Microsoft Wireless Mouse and my son's buddy, Puffy.

Good photo opportunity when Puffy was enjoying her treat beside her electronic twin.

Puffy can remain cute, but the MS Mouse must do work for me. After she had her fill, she took a nap in my son's clasped palms.

And soon Danish himself fell asleep on the sofa with the song of the raindrops outside. Cozy...

This is lame! We cannot be kept indoor for long, we will go insane. We are sunshine people.

Rain, please give it a rest.

Family | Good Afternoon Mom

Promised to fetch her and Dad at 1:00pm. I was fortunately I was on time.

We reached SGH's SNEC or Singapore National Eye Centre half-an-hour early as the appointment time was at 1:4pm.

At Subsidised Clinic 1, our queue number was 0308. The last number displayed was 0288. Within 10 minutes, we got her name registered and then the trail of wheeling in and out of Mom from room to the next started with a new queue number 1682 ...

Stop#1 Room 16 Eye Screening.

• Directed to the waiting area and waited for about 5 minutes.
• Both her eyes were checked and tested by a nurse about 10 minutes.

Stop#2 Room 18 Eye Specialist.

• Directed to wait at the same waiting area for next routine.
• The attending Staff Nurse dropped a dilating eye drops to both her eyes.
• She had to wait for 10 minutes to let the eyes get dilated before the doctor saw her.
• Once in, a series of medical history and allergies were asked by the doctor.
• 10 minutes and a further eye examination by the doctor, she was asked to go for a thorough eye scan with an Eye-Scan Specialist.

Stop#3 Room 20 Eye Scanning.

• While waiting, the another round of drops were administered by the Staff Nurse.
• A green "BE" round sticker was pasted on Mom's blouse for monitoring before she entered.
• 10 minutes again to wait for the eyes to get dilated while the Staff Nurse kept checking her eyes prediodically.
• She then felt really glaring and had to wear dark glasses she brought from home.
• Finally wheelled her into the room where the Eye-Scan Specialist then asked a few more questions on her medications, etc.
• I get to witness a technological advancement when the doctor used an E-Z Scan AB5500 for the whole of the session.
• An eye drop on both eyes again and then an Infrared pen on the left of the equipment was used to point, touching her eyeballs while he took numerous readings of the back of the eye from all angles of the cornea. The results printed on a series of thermal printouts.
• Then he did an ultra-sound of the eyeball using another blunt pen on the right, from the top of the eye socket, with her eyes closed. Another series of printouts. The whole procedure was over after less then 15 minutes.
• Must have been a wonderful tool to a doctor.

Stop#4 Room 18 Eye Specialist.

• This time the attending Staff Nurse did another drop on her right eye which actually had a burning sensation.
• She had to wear her dark glasses to keep off the glare.
• We had to wait almost 20 minutes before we get to see the Eye Specialist again for follow-up with the scanning results.
• She is confirmed suitable for Cataract surgery.

Step#5 Room 19 Eye Surgent

• In less than 5 minutes, she was in with the Lady Eye Surgent.
• With her advanced cataracts, she had to have the surgery done latest by this week.
• Else there may be complications if the lens were to burst.
• She had to be put as an urgent case.

Stop#6 Room 29 Surgery Administration

• A 10 minutes wait in from of the planning room to get the day surgery date fixed and surgery payment papers settled.
• Unformtunately the latest slot available was only in mid March.
• I highlighted the urgency mentioned and we had to see another Eye Surgent to confirm and perform it as he was available this Friday.

Stop#7 Room 21 Eye Surgent

• Less than a minute, Mom was checked by a young Dr. Markus Lim.
• It took him less than a minute to confirm that Mom needs urgent surgery and he was going to do it.

Stop#8 Room 29 Surgery Administration

• Back to the admin officer and she scheduled us for Friday, 10 February 2006 at 12:30pm
• Signed a few Medishield papers as Dad was going to pay for Mom's surgery through his medishield account. I being the witness.
• It is costing S$888.00 deductable all from Dad's Medishield account. No cash required.

Stop#9 Room 23 Health Screening

• And with that... off we went to have Mom's urine and blood sampled and her blood pressure checked.
• Her blood pressure was unfortunately high, she must have been very nervous.
• Another nurse had to recheck to confirm.
• Yes, it was over 200!
• Another Doctor had to come to give a final confirmation of her condition.
• She was asked to get her Woodlands Polyclinic doctor tomorrow afternoon to reassess her blood pressure medicine dosage to be able to be within control it before she can have the operation.

Stop#10 Counter 5

• Finally, we get to leave the place once we made payments.
• It cost S$92.00 for all the checks and specialist.
• Thank goodness its affordable. Kudos to the government for taking care of the people.

Stop#11 Pharmacy

• Last stop, was to the pharmacy to collect her eye drop medication for the operation.
• 10 minutes wait and we got her eye drop and instruction to follow a day before and the morning before the surgery.
• The drops costed S$6.80 paid in cash.

DONE! Now early dinner before I sent them back to their home.

We headed to SGH Food Court to have my Mee Baksoh while Mom and Dad had Nasi Padang. All dishes of Indonesian origin.

Wow! What a full day, but all worth the time off work.

Do not worry Mom, everything is going to be alright. Sincerely.

Family | Good Morning Wify

What a scheduled-filled day I had today!

Took leave of work to accompany my Mom to Singapore General Hospital or SGH Eye Centre to have her right eyes checked for a proposed day surgery.

But in the morning, my wife had the opportunity to look at a small shop for a take-over lease by SBS Transit at Punggol MRT Station.

The monthly rent from SBS Transit was very reasonable, almost too good to be true, but we had to check it anyway of we will be left wondering if we did not.

We need to see the location and human traffic there for ourselves.

So, off we went at 10:30am to site the place. Good and bad.

Good thing was that the place is totally new.

Bad, unfortunately was that the human traffic was very limited to only the residents there and out of the way where the human traffic paths.

A definitely no-no. Not until the place has more developed with more residential area. We had to turn it down.

Would have been great to own a shop and do the things you like to do, but we have to be patient and cautious as investment is quite high and we would only take calculated risk with our hard-earned money.

Got back home at midday.

Had our lunch and then off I rushed by cab to my Mom's place in Woodlands for my next appointment...

Life | It's Something Wonderful!

The long awaited "verdict" has been announced! We are finally a family of 4!

No, my wife has not given birth to our second child. No, we have not adopted a child either.

It is Puffy, our "part time" adopted pet hamster. She is finally family. Great new to all of us personally!

My son came back from school all excited, quickly told me wife at the door, before he even got into the house.

Danish went to school yesterday and told his teacher that Puffy was found and that his parents were nursing her back to health.

His teacher has decided and class agreed that it was too much of aa distraction when it is in class, and too much of attention and maintenance to care for one in class.

An aquarium full of tropical fish might have been a better choice, but definitely not hamsters.

Danish was voted the best person to care for her. Danish accepted the honour with glee and a promise to bring her to class once in a while for everyone to say hello and she how she is doing.

His teacher probably thought that Puffy would be in better hands with us caring so much for her. We got so attached to her in a very short space of time.

We have been responsible for her well-being when she stepped-in, well... came carried-in into our home. We asked how she was doing when she was with another child's care.

A Fish Called Merah

My wife just lighted-up on hering the good news.

Understandably, she never had a pet before in her life. The closest thing to a pet she had for the first time was a Red Parrot Cichlid.

It was named Merah or Red. Yes, a fish!

That was the only fish that interacted with people. We have two aquarium tanks one on top of another on a rack. On top is the Tetras and tropical Rainbow fish.

You may want to see it at + Interior Son's Aquarium if you really have the time.

Below it was Merah's tank. A loner.

This type of breed can only stay in a group of 5 or more in one tank, fewer than that, it will start fighting with each other until only one survives. Fighting for territory or dominance, whatever.

Merah behaved very intriguingly whenever we were around.

It showed interest and reacted with you whenever you are near with its antics. Flipping over, swaying left and right, just wanted your attention.

It unfortunately died the 2nd week we were away in Ohio USA. It was in my sister's care coming over to our place every other day when it died. It made my sister felt awful about it, but it was none of her fault as we believe Merah was lonely at home.

Anyway, this part of our lives will be documented soon.

Life is Good!

Coming back to our Puffy. My wife and son went straight to Tampines Regional Library to borrow books on how to care for hamsters.

We now know that Puffy is a Dwarf White Winter Russian hamster. It's livespan is about 1.5 to 2 years. It can grow between 8 to 10 cm in length and are rugged enough and suitable for first-timer pet owners. Thank God!

Now we are not sure how old Puffy is, but maybe we can find out from the Pet Safari shop where she was purchased.

Equiped with more information on how to care for Puffy and our unconditional love for her, she is going to be just like one of the family in Imran's home.

Life is good!

Life | It's Something Great!

"Puffy!" I yelled and called my wife. Our "part-time" adopted hamster was found!

Guess you would want to read + Life Something Good first before you continue reading an extended version of my insignificant entry.

Puffy came out from behind my dry cabinet where I store my electronic stuff in my GymRoom. Came out to me and looked (or was it smelled me?), before I frigthened her with my ecstatic yell to her.

The Triage

I picked her up before she went behind the treadmill.

Her body was shaking in the plam of my hand. Not sure if it was dehydration or hunger, or was frightened by me, or all of it combined.

She looked alright though, whiskers not broken and she managed to keep herself clean, apart from her leaner body that was not as "puffy" as she used to be.

Is she alright? I asked myself. My wife and son repeated the same question out loud. She is the baby of the house, the one who needs the most attention, the most fragile.

We brought her to the living room and gave her water. Fed her with white bread, apple and a whole lot more. It was like a little hamster buffet spread. She was spoiled for choice.

She eat and drank, so we believe she is alright.

I then looked at my son and my wife, they looked ecstatic. Full concentration on the little joy in my son's palm. They are alright too. I am good.

We were overjoyed to have her back. Just glad that we did not cause her unintentional harm. Before she was found, everybody seemed moody whenever her name was mentioned or looking at the empty cage.

This, a creature from the class project can have such an affect on us personally. Wow! So small, yet so much impact!

Home Sweet Home

When we place her cage on the floor, she hurriedly approached it and climbed onto the cage and into her "home." Boy did she missed her home or what?

What a smart creature! We should have place the cage on the floor all along for her to find her way back home. Duh...

Those 3 days, she was all over the place inside our home all along, but smart enough as I would think its instint that she did not leave any traces or poop or anything out in the open or along the walls. We thought she had gone out from our front door as it was open when she went missing.

After she settled in, she went out for more food and water. Got onto the wheel did her "workout". Scurry here and there inside her cage, she finally slept in the wheel. She must have missed her cage so much.

Family Now?

Now my son is tasked to tell his teacher and the class that Puffy is home today. We will get to keep him for the weekend, but must return him back to his class for the next student's turn to bring back home to care for her.

There is a likelyhood that the teacher may wish for the program to stop, as their pet is somewhat distracting her class. She told this to the class when Danish broke the new of Puffy gone missing.

His teacher was not too keen to get it replaced, even when we offered it since it was in our care. So there is a chance that we can just compensate the money to the class and keep Puffy to ourselves.

We can only know the "verdict" when Danish comes back from school.

If all works out well, Puffy will no longer be our "part-time" adopted pet, she will finally be family.

Life | It's Something Good!

Something was telling me today would be great day. A great day indeed! To start off, I got a cab in less time than it took me to wear my shoes.

No 1: Honeymoon Revisited

I enjoyed the most relaxing ride to work I had not felt for a long while.

Simply listening to a Sundanese ethnic music playing over his CD player. No chating, just soothing bamboo flute music from the Indonesian Islands.

It evoked a wonderful memory of our first honeymoon in Padang, Indonesia in the West Sumatran islands.

The place was heavenly. Crime is the lowest as the people there are practising Muslims.

The foreign sights and sounds, thier proud traditions and culture, the modest lifestyle and contentment for the gifts they are given, however modest.

All intriguing, interesting and an eye opener for me as that place was my first ever "tour" in my adult life.

It was my first aeroplane flight, so the whole experience was magical and us being newly weds, fantastic! More stories of this place the next time.

Yes, just the place, not the newly weds thing. This blog is still rated "G."

Before this trip, the farthest I have been was our neighbouring country, Malaysia.

No 2: I Did My Best Today

Secondly, with the reshuffling going on, I managed to convince the management with my proposal to save some people under my charge from being transferred and left without a job at worst.

Engineers under my charge could not be more happier with the outcome. Should not have entered this, but it is my little achievement against the odds. It is for my own sanity. There! I said it.

No 3: Puffy Decided To Come Home Part 1

Thirdly, our "part-time" adopted hamster, Puffy has finally returned home. Well... return to his cage that is.

She has been missing for the last 3 days. My son forgot to close the cage door tight before he went off to take his morning shower. Puffy was able to get out unnoticed. She made a run for it.

You may wan to read + Son | Our Hamsters first before you waste your time reading this insignificant entry.

My wife suffered the most heartache for our loss as she became the most attached to the little creature than my son, as I found out the few day.

She was very sad and sent us searching for it outside as out front door was open the time when Puffy got out. And we searched the whole house for those days she was missing.

I was the vigilante for 2 nights and slept on a mat on the floor in the living room to see if I could detect her lurking around the room, with my superlight sleep and keen hearing.

Nada... no hamster, just backaches when I woke up in the morning.

Then again, I probably slept through the whole night while Puffy danced around on my belly! No, do not tell my wife that.

Yet, today, Puffy suddenly appeared before me in my GymRoom while I was blog-surfing.

"Puffy!!!" I yelled with joy. I thought I would never see her again!

She was shaking when I picked her up. 3 days without food or water. Is she alright...?