Weekly Rat Facts: Clothes, Hats and Props

Someone recently asked me how I get Lucky and some of my other rats to wear hats or sit with props and not eat them. The easy answer is: A lot of time and patience. Above, Lucky is wearing a little black and gold hat and I got him to sit still by giving him small pieces of treats that he likes. Then I just started snapping pictures. For every good picture I get, there are about 20 that I can't use because he has moved, taken the hat off, or they come out blurry. So expect this to take some time and patience.

When I took the pictures on Lucky's birthday I made the hat, the cake and bought the props, ie... the plates and napkins. I put a cream colored fleece blanket on my EZ boy chair for the back ground and set up the piece of cake and napkins on the chair. Then I got lucky and let him see the cake and as soon as he started licking the cake I gently put the hat on his head and started snapping pictures. The hat kept falling off so I would have to put it back on and snap more pictures. I was able to get about 50 pictures in 5 minutes and he only ate a tiny bit of cake and icing because he wanted to tear up the napkins, plate and clean his paws. I got maybe 6 good pictures out of the 50 that I took. 

This was Oreo and he was one of a kind. He was so laid back and would fall asleep in my daughter's hand all the time. She had been petting him and when he fell asleep on his side, she put this little rubber duckie next to him and took the picture. Pictures like these that let us remember how sweet our pets who are no longer with us, were while they were here. 

When Lucky was younger I started getting him used to being around small props like shells and glass beads and taking pictures of him. If you don't start out slow and young with them they might be afraid of new things you sit them down next to. Lucky loves sniffing out new things and isn't afraid of anything now. 

Even my Bandit let me put a hat on him and take a picture this past Christmas as long as he had a treat to eat while I was doing it. 

Lucky didn't mind wearing the santa hat either as long as he had a treat to keep him occupied. I have more pictures of that hat falling off then I do with him wearing it. lol 

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a 'Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

You can find links to samples like these at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received: 

A coupon for a free bottle of Aquafina Flavorsplash

Sample of Pedia Care fever reducer

For my birthday Chicken of the Sea sent me a $1 off coupon for any of their products

Sample of Prilosec

Sample of Cozy Chamomile Tea

And then a couple of days ago Del Taco sent me an email with a coupon to print for a free Shake for my birthday. 

Not too bad this week. So did you get anything free?

Review: Good Side of Sin by KS Haigwood

My review of Good Side of Sin is up over at I Smell Sheep. 

Blurb:

Josselyn has just spent the last three months in intense Line of Defense training so she could join Malcolm’s search party. Little did she know the archangels had no intention of letting her bring back into Heaven an angel who had opened a portal between Heaven and Hell, at least not before saving God's creations from the tight grasp of Lucifer first.

Three months have passed since the angel Rhyan released nine repented demons from Hell, and now innocent people are dying, but their souls are not going to Heaven. Josselyn's mission is to find the demon responsible for stealing the souls and bring it to justice before Lucifer gains enough power to rise and claim Heaven and earth as his own.

Her whole world is shaken when she discovers what tool Lucifer is using to track down the one key to the release of his eternal damnation. Thoros is one half-souled immortal she prayed she would never see again. The ex-Prince of Lust had stolen her heart and crushed it with a cheeky smile. Now, not only is she being forced to put her damaged ego aside and face the only man that has ever hurt her, but she has to work with him in order to complete her assignment.

Is she strong enough to keep from falling in love with him again? Or is their love the only thing that can keep Lucifer from getting the one thing he wants most.

Captcha Fun

So a friend of mine put together a post about funny captchas he found, last month. I thought it sounded like a good idea and decided to do it too. But you wouldn't believe how hard it is to actually find a funny captcha. lol 

In this one above, I think they might have leaked someone's phone number. Maybe we should give it a call and see who answers?

Goods I Fixin

Well if it's goods ye be fixin I've probably got something broken around here. 

And Ugout *Yogurt* Yes, that looks like it sounds like yogurt. Stay with me here, I don't have much to work with. 

Ways Off Disc

So would that mean, off DVD? Off CD? Who knows. 

From Lick Doo

Nope, not doing it. That's just nasty. 

Caravan Car Newb

I got nothing..but caravan and car kinda went together in some strange way so it's here. 

Adwer *blur*

What is that second word? It's all burry to me, are we supposed to assume that's 'are'?

So while I didn't get any dirty ones...or even any funny ones, really. I did show you that sometimes you can't make out what it says at all. 

Cannabis Oil aka Toxic Sludge

Here's another myth, fairy tale or urban legend from the land of weed...Cannabis oil cures cancer, seizures, PTSD, Crohns disease, diabetes and other real diseases. 

Really?

If that were the case I'm sure doctors everywhere would be coming out of the woodwork to say they cured these diseases using cannabis oil and I don't know about you, but I'm not seeing that happening. 

So what is this cannabis oil that some pot heads are using to try and self treat their very real diseases? I'll tell you. 

First you get a marijuana plant and dry the leaves...

Next you have to use about 2 gallons of solvent to extract the THC from the plants..yes, you read that right..solvent like paint thinner or alcohol and they tell you that if you don't do this right, *wait, there's a right way to use solvent in this way?* that it could be toxic! Well, no kidding!

Solvents used can be pure alcohol, Naptha, benzine or ether.

Add marijuana leaves to large bowl or deep pan and add solvent, just enough to cover plants and swish around with stick. *yes this is the real directions I found on the web, you can look them up yourself they are easy to find*

Use a very well ventilated room because the vapors are toxic. *more toxicity*

Pour out the solvent into another bucket/pan..leaving the marijuana leaves behind in the first bucket. 

Add a little more solvent to the marijuana leaves in the first bucket and after swishing about with a stick for a few minutes pour off sludge looking solvent into second bucket. 

By now the solvent has taken on a tar like or black looking color. 

You can now throw away the solvent laden marijuana leaves, they are no longer useful. But they are toxic because of the toxic solvent used so discard them in a hazardous bag. 

Next you'll have to strain the solvent mixture you have through coffee filters and a strainer to get any foreign substances out of it. 

Now you are ready to 'cook' off the solvent. Add solvent to a large pan and cook on high until all the solvent has boiled away leaving only a black, tar like substance behind. Use a cooking thermometer to make sure the heat doesn't get above 290 degrees Fahrenheit. 

When there's just a tiny bit of non black solvent left in the pan with the black sludge, you'll need to add a little water to help boil off the remaining solvent. 

Now the reason I wrote out the instructions as I found them on the internet is to show you why I am calling this stuff a toxic sludge. This so called cannabis oil is supposed to be ingested orally. Yes, you are supposed to EAT this! 

I don't know about you but I'd rather not boil a pan of toxic solvent and marijuana leaves for dinner. Who in their right mind is going to ingest this stuff? There are a whole lot of brain washed, pot smoking, cannabis oil eating wackos out there and if they want to make this toxic sludge and kill themselves with it, be my guest. 

But what gets me mad is telling people who have real diseases like cancer, leukemia, diabetes and seizures that they can eat this toxic mess and it will cure them. That's a really rotten thing to do.

Review: Hell's Gift by K.S. Haigwood

This is book two in this awesome series and you can find my review of this book over at I Smell Sheep. 

I'm really loving this series and my review of the next book in the "Save My Soul" series will be available at I Smell Sheep on the 19th. Hope to see you there. 

Happy Raturday!

Welcome to a new weekly blog post I'm calling, Raturday! I've seen Caturday and while that's really cute, I think the rats needs some photo time so everyone can see how cute these little animals are. I've gotten permission from Rat Logic's fb page to share their pictures on my blog. So get ready to smile because these are cute. 

Today is also my birthday and my sister in law sent this rattie card to me. How appropriate for raturday. 

My sister in law also made me this tile with 4 of my rats who are no longer with us. I have this picture as my cover picture on fb. This is Ares, Hades, Brodie and my heart rat, Jasper. How awesome is that?

What is Hashimoto's Thyroiditis?

I've talked about this a little bit in the past but the more info that's out there the better in my opinion. A couple of my friends have recently been diagnosed with thyroid problems and my husband has also. Back when I was in my teens and trying to figure out what in the heck was wrong with me, I had never even heard of the Thyroid or Hypothyroidism. But I had it and with all the symptoms I told my doctors about, they never once checked my Thyroid levels or connected the dots to figure out that I had Hypothyroidism until I was well into my 20's. 

Of course this article was written a few years ago and some things have changed. Some of the smaller nodules I had have disappeared but the one larger nodule I have has stayed the same size and I'm told won't go away without surgery. *which I'm not doing* I tell my husband it's a good thing I'm over weight and have a bit of an extra chin because if I didn't this nodule would be really prominent on my neck. You can only really see it if I tilt my head back, but it's about the size of golf ball. 

Have you ever had your thyroid levels checked? It's just a simple blood test. Do you know if you have any symptoms of hypothyroidism? Here is a list of some of the most common symptoms..

The most common symptoms are:

• Fatigue

• Depression

• Weight gain

• Dry skin

• Forgetfulness

• Muscle weakness

• Puffy face

• Dizziness

• Constipation

• Muscle cramps

• Dry skin

• Increased menstrual flow or in my case no period for 6 months
• Feeling cold
• Brittle nails
• Thinning hair

If you have nodules like I do, the doctor will most likely send you to a radiologists office to have a biopsy of the nodule. I've had 4 of them and they've all been negative for cancer.

I will say that when I went to radiologists office they have several radiologists there and I never saw the same one twice and each of them have their own way of doing things. The first biopsy I had was painless. But the other three were not. The radiologists told me that either my nodules were very deep and the medicine was cycling out of my thyroid very fast and he couldn't keep it numbed up or that it wouldn't hurt much and all he ever numbed up was the skin. Those were painful and I decided after the 4th one coming back negative that I was done having biopsies.

Now if you're wondering what a nodule when it gets bigger like mine would look like, I decided to show you. I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to post this but this is what it can turn into.

It's been there for years and I'm used to it now. It's really only visible when I have my head tilted back like this. I could have it surgically removed but I don't do well after anesthesia at all. Plus I really don't want to have a surgery unless I really have to. I'm just not at that point yet.

After finding out that I had Hypothyroidism and nodules I then found out that I had something called Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, which is an autoimmune disease. What it means that the immune system attacks the thyroid gland as if it were a foreign substance that shouldn't be there, resulting in inflammation and hypothyroidism (under-active thyroid).

Most symptoms get better after getting on the right amount of thyroid medication but the medication doesn't always work for every patient. I'm one of those patients that it really didn't help. I still have muscle cramps like crazy and weight gain that is really hard to control. 

My husband was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism a few year ago as well and it got me thinking what could be causing ours and other cases of this disease to be popping up all over the place.

Weekly Rat Facts: Begging

Rats have the art of begging down to a science. First there's the sniffing, then the staring, then the biting on the bars to get your attention and then the hopping up and down when more staring doesn't work.

When I made myself a sandwich for lunch, Lucky smelled it and first he stared at me, then he started hopping up and down.

Sniffing..

and then he resorted to biting on the bars to get my attention.

Then it was back to staring at me. I was sitting at the computer table and he is on the table right next to me. I gave in a let him have a piece and he knew I would because I share my food with the boys. I had already cut a tiny piece off for him, I just wanted to get the pictures first. *bad mommy* lol He was a happy boy about 1 minute after I sat down so he didn't have to wait very long but these pictures do show that they beg worst than dogs do. At least they don't drool and slobber all over themselves while watching you like some dogs do. LOL 

Freebie Friday!

I didn't get any free samples this week so I thought I would do a post about all those free samples you might already have and don't know what to do with. 

So you took my advice and have sent away for some free samples or entered and won a few blog contests but now you have a whole drawer full of trial size products you either don't or can't use. So what do you do with them? This has actually happened to me. I have a small box filled with dog/cat food samples that I know my rats won't eat. So I set most of those out for the stray cats in the neighborhood. The baby samples I gave to my daughter for my grandson. But there are other great ideas for using all those samples and prizes you have that you just won't or can't use.

Gift Bags

I set different items I get into different boxes that way if I need a fast gift bag for a, Baby Shower, Thank you gift, ect..I have items ready to be put in a cute gift bag for whatever occasion. In one box I labeled "female" I have things like earring, sunglasses, scarves, lip balm, broaches, make up, wallets and pocket mirrors. All things I either won from blog contests, giveaways or some of it came free with orders from companies. For example I bought a bottle of Baytril antibiotics for my rats from a mail order place and they sent me a sample size bag of bird food with my order for free. I don't have a bird and I don't know anyone who does so I put it outside for the birds around here and they went crazy for it.

Goodie Bags

I get selected for things where the company will send you enough samples to share with 10-15 friends and you are supposed to invite them over and talk about the products. House Party is one of those sites that does this and they send you enough samples to share with who ever you invite over. But sometimes a person might not show up and I have a couple of extra samples left over. So I just add them to Goodie Bags that I have available to family and close friends who I think might enjoy a bag of free samples and sometimes full size products.

Gift Baskets

I usually have a lot of cold/flu/allergy type samples. My daughter had a cold last month and asked me if I had anything she could use. I had samples of cough drops, lozenges, sinus spray, Tylenol, Advil, and even some sleep aids. So if a neighbor or family member has a cold and you have a bunch of these types of samples, you could make up a little basket with a couple of cans of Chicken Soup.

Another idea if for a Baby themed gift basket. If you have a bunch of baby product samples, you could make a basket up for someone who has a baby or who is about to have a baby.

Goodie Boxes To Military Personnel

Our service men and women love getting care packages from us so if you know someone in the military you could sent them a care package with any samples you have that you think they could use or want. Food, personal items, wet wipes, tissues are just a few things you might have to send.

After you start regularly signing up for and receiving these free samples they are going to be piling up, I know this from experience. Some things I use and some things I give away but they all get used eventually. Some may ask why I send away for things I know I can't use like dog and cat food, well that's easy. There are a ton of stray cats in my neighborhood that will eat both dog and cat food but you might have a neighbor that could use the free pet food. If I don't use something, I usually know someone who will.

Are You Crafty?

I don't think I've posted many of my crafts here on my blog or at least not for a while. So I thought I would share some of the crafts I've done and give you instructions on how you can do them too. 

I love making Dream Catchers and did you know you can make them to fit any holiday? I made the the one above for Halloween and it was easy. I just used black and white feathers, black suede and a small skull and RIP button easily found at any crafts store. You can find the full instructions on how to make your own Dream Catcher in my article here. 

A while back I showed you some of the jewelry beading kits to get you started  making your own jewelry. So after doing a few of those I bought some semi precious stones and other things I needed to make a necklace and made this one. 

Using ribbon to make a pretty necklace is just as easy. I have the full instructions on how to make this necklace in this article I wrote here. 

I made these earrings back in 2010 and still have them and love them. I made them using Japanese beads and sterling silver ear threads and sterling silver spacer. They were incredibly easy to make. I bought the ear thread chain separately and just attached spacer beads and a head pin to the Japanese bead and attached it to the ear thread. 

Have you done any crafts lately?

3 New Book Reviews!

I've written three books reviews for I Smell Sheep! The first is for Save My Soul by K.S. Haigwood. I just read the second book in this series and now I'm reading the third and they got better and better. You can find my review for this book here. 

I've been reading this author's books for ages and love them. This book is no exception. If you like this author then this is a must read. It's book #1 in a great series. You can find my review of this book here. 

If you're looking for a short quick read, I've got one for you. You can read my review of this book here. 

Thanks for reading my book reviews, let me know if you pick up any of the books I've reviewed. What are you reading this week?

Valentine's Day Crafts: Half Heart Mice

Here's another Valentine's Day craft that you can easily do with kids or by yourself if you just want some homemade Valentine's decorations. You will need colored construction paper, black pen, glue and scissors. Start by drawing and cutting out a medium size heart in a sheet of colored construction paper. Then cut that heart in half right down the center of the heart. The flat part of the heart will be the bottom of your mouse. 

Cut a small white circle and glue it on for the nose, draw on a black eye cut and glue a small half circle for an ear. Cut out a wiggly line for a tail and glue it on the back and you have a little mouse. 

This is an easy craft to do with small kids because they aren't a lot of steps involved, it's a really easy craft to make. 

Happy Raturday!

Welcome to a new weekly blog post I'm calling, Raturday! I've seen Caturday and while that's really cute, I think the rats needs some photo time so everyone can see how cute these little animals are. I've gotten permission from Rat Logic's fb page to share their pictures on my blog. So get ready to smile because these are cute. 

Book Review: Rogue Rider by Larissa Ione

Rogue Rider by Larissa Ione

Jillian Cardiff came to this remote mountain town to forget the demon attack that almost killed her. Instead, she rescues-and falls for-a gorgeous stranger who has no memory of anything other than his name. Handsome, charming, and protective, Reseph seems like the kind of man whom Jillian can trust. But with hints of a troubling history of his own, he's also the kind of man who can be very dangerous . . .

Reseph may not know why he mysteriously appeared in Jillian's life, but he knows he wants to stay. Yet when Jillian's neighbors are killed, and demon hunters arrive on the scene, Reseph fears that he's putting Jillian in danger. And once it's revealed that Reseph is also Pestilence, the Horseman responsible for ravaging the world, he and Jillian must face the greatest challenge of all: Can they forget the horrors of a chilling past to save the future they both desire?

My Review

Reseph doesn't remember that he was Pestilence, he doesn't remember much other than his name. His memories were taken from him and he was put back on earth in the hopes that he would heal. His mind just can't cope with what he did after Pestilence took over, so his memories were taken away.

Jillian lives alone and isn't expecting to find a naked, unconscious man in the snow but that's exactly what she finds. After getting him home and in her bed, all she can do is keep him warm and wait for him to wake up. Jillian is wary that she might have brought a bad man home with her. After being attacked by demons, she's had her guard up but she couldn't just let this stranger die in the snow. 

I've been reading and loving the Lords of Deliverance books. Also known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, they aren't all evil but they have demons riding with them and if their seals are broken they pretty much become the demon they are harboring. Reseph's seal broke and Pestilence was set free to wreak havok, killing many many people in the process. But Reseph is back and Pestilence is back in the cage so to speak. Pestilence did so much damage and Reseph's family is afraid that he won't be able to contain him so they aren't as welcoming as they could have been when they find out he's not in hell. 

This series is a favorite of mine, there were times in this book that I actually had to put it down and say outloud, "What are you thinking! Don't do that!" But it worked out in a way that I didn't think it would or even could. 

The chemistry between Reseph and Jillian is apparent right away. Reseph has a lethal, predatory quality to him even though he doesn't remember who he is and he's very protective of Jillian. I liked this couple very much and am glad that Reseph gets a second chance after all he did as Pestilence. 

If you've been reading The Lords Of Deliverance series, this is a book you just can't miss. If you haven't read this series, I would suggest you start it from the beginning otherwise you'll miss too much of the back story. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Weekly Rat Facts: How To Clean A Dirty Rat Tail

Lucky's tail is cleaner towards the bottom because he cleans that part himself pretty well. He doesn't like me trying to clean his tail so as long as he does a decent job, I only use a damp cloth.

Marbles in the back let me clean his tail so it's pretty clean. Bandit, towards the front would let me use the damp cloth but he didn't care for me to mess with his tail too often. His tail wasn't too dirty though. 

While rats are clean and clean themselves a lot, much like cats...their tails can often become dirty. A clean tail will look pink or flesh colored and have very fine hairs on it.

A dirty tail on the other hand may be a darker color, look like it has darker scales on it or brown spots.

To clean a rat tail, use a damp cloth, soft toothbrush and warm water. I usually use a damp cloth and start at the base of the tail closest to the body and in one smooth gentle movement, move the cloth down the tail. My rats will usually let me do this a few times before they get annoyed with me. I just come back the next day and do it again. If your rat is letting you, you can use the soft toothbrush to gently clean the tail with a little warm water. Mine don't really like that though.

 The brown crust and spots seen on most dirty rat tails is caused by shedding skin, feces, urine, dirt and food particles. Dead skin, urine and other particulates can build up quickly on your rat's tail so wiping it down every day is a good idea.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a 'Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you. 

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

You can find links to samples like these at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received a book that I won in a blog contest and several packets of Emergen-C as well as a coupon of it from Smiley360. 

Did you get any freebies this week?