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.

Now this is where I usually tell you how many free samples I received and where I got them from, but this week was a slow week and I didn't receive any free samples. *insert sad face here*

But

I do have a funny story to tell you. 

My brother sent Ken and I a 1lb box of See's candy for Christmas. When the box arrived I called him and thanked him, but he said I was supposed to have gotten a 2lb box, but only a 1lb box arrived. So he called See's candy and let them know he was charged for a 2lb box but they only sent out a 1lb box. They said they would fix the order right away and 2 days later I received another box. 

I knew something was different as soon as I opened the box..it was heavier than the first box was. Instead of sending another 1lb box of candy...they sent the original 2lb box they were supposed to have originally sent. So essentially I got a 1lb box of See's candy...for FREE!

*actually my brother got it for free since he paid for it...but it came to me, so it counts as my freebie this week..lol I would have taken a picture of the 1lb box too, but by the time the second box came...the first box was already gone.LOL*

More Ratty Pictures

Fang

Fang came out and wanted some cuddles.

He loves to crawl out onto my arm and lay there getting petted whenever I open the cage door. He's very cuddly for me. I've tried getting him and Ken to be friends but Fang turns away from Ken when he tries to pet him and he bit Ken on the nose a few days ago. 

A friend of mine said that Fang probably sees ken as competition for my affection and that's why he's being aggressive. Makes sense. 

Once he's had enough cuddles, he let me know he wants to get down by reaching for him cage. Smart ratty. 

But for the most part, Fang sits in my arms and cuddles with me. I may need to get a shirt with a large pocket so I can wear him when he wants cuddles. 

Bandit

Bandit is my little goofball. I'm surprised he sat still long enough for me to get even one picture. 

But just look at that little face! He's so full of energy. 

It looks like he's cuddling with me but he's actually digging under my arm, trying to get down. lol 

Ok mom, I sat still and let you take my picture..where's my treat?

Let's go look at the christmas Tree. 

An Open Letter To My Stalker

Dear Sociopath,

I really never wanted this drama, not in a million years did I think it would come to this...but it has. About 6 months ago I stopped communicating with you. I cut you off completely.

I deleted you from my Twitter friends
I deleted you from my Face Book Friends
I deleted you from LinkedIn friends
I did not respond to emails from you
I did not respond to the threatening emails from your uncle
I even deleted anyone associating with you on FB from my friends list

As recent as last month you sent me yet another email that I did not respond to and so did your uncle. Then you added me to your circles on Google+ and I blocked you. Now you are leaving comments on my blog.

Be a man and stop lurking in shadows like some twisted jealous psycho. Only a Jealous, psychotic, malicious narcissist would behave this way.

I can't figure out why you don't get the hint and leave me and my family alone. Why are you bothering me? Are you so unhappy with your own life that you have to try and make everyone around you just as unhappy? Or are you just jealous that I have moved on with my life and you can't seem to do the same? What a sad, sad person you are.

You have been trying to get my attention by email and by spreading half truths to your family in an attempt to get them to send me nasty emails and your uncle has done this. I have not engaged in direct contact with you what so ever. I have not responded to emails and this passive aggressive comment and delete system you have of writing things is ridiculous. But ignoring you isn't working obviously, so let me make it crystal clear for you. Leave me and my family alone. Forget we ever met..I already have. It's been 6 months since I have acknowledged your existence and you are still trying to cause drama with me. It's getting pathological. You need help.

Let me make this very publicly clear to you, since I know you obsessively check my blog...

- do not contact me.
- do not respond to this post to try and defend yourself; no point.
- do not email me
- do not email my family
- do not follow me around and try to see what I am posting online

This blog is public, as is my twitter account… I can’t stop you from reading them. But, I challenge you to look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, Why are you here reading this now?

 Cyber stalking is a crime. You might not consider your behavior as “stalking”, but I do. For your sake, I hope you get some professional help.

Merry Christmas!

Fang and I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. 

*He's the only one who would sit still long enough to get a picture with* lol 

Christmas Gifts For Hamster Lovers

*An ornament I bought a few years ago for my Christmas Tree*

Years ago I used to have hamsters as pets instead of rats and wanted to decorate my tree with something to show how much I loved the little guys, so I bought the ornament shown and hung it on my tree each year, I still do. 

Knowing someone that likes hamsters and wanting to get them a gift that shows you understand the love they share for their little pets might seem easy but actually finding a suitable gift can sometimes be hard. So I came up with a few gifts that you can get the hamster owner in your life. 

Christmas Gifts For The Hamster Lover In Your Life

A Funny For You

What Is A Hero

Let me start off by saying I am really sick of all the PC BS (politically correct bull sh*t). I don't rant very often but this has been bothering me so if you aren't ready for a rant that's going to piss a few people off...don't read beyond this point.

I heard the other day on tv that a woman lost her brother and because he was a cop..he was a hero. I felt bad that she lost her brother, I really do but just because he was a cop..he was a hero? really? I don't think so.

I hear it all the time.
Cops are heroes.
Firefighters are heroes.
Soldiers are heroes.

I don't think so. First of all these people volunteer to do these jobs, they sign up, they get trained and they get paid...to do a job. Yes, it might be a more dangerous job but it's a job.

To me a real hero is someone who has no training, doesn't get paid to do it and it isn't there job but they put their own lives on the line to do something for someone else. Like the lady who knows there's a family in the apartment across the street and she goes in the apartment and pulls out an unconscious person from the burning building. She is a hero. She didn't have safety gear on, she wasn't trained to do this, she wasn't getting paid to do her job, she didn't volunteer to take care of situations like this..she did it because she knew if she didn't no one else was going to be able to do it in time to save that person.

So think about that the next time someone calls another person a hero. Were they really a hero...or were they just getting paid to do a job they were trained for and new was dangerous.

Rat Redecorating

So the big cube I bought for the boys has been...redecorated. 

More like shredded. lol 

As you can see the boys have decided they didn't like it the way it was. 

So they made changes to it. This is the bottom back of the cube. There's now a huge hole in it. 

And another hole on the side bottom. I guess they wanted more doors. 

And they have chewed around all four corners. 

It's barely hanging together. Good thing I have several more hammocks to put up when this finally falls apart. 

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.

This week's freebies are all brought to you from Hey It's Free. They had links to these freebies on their site.

This week I received a sample of Aveeno shampoo and Conditioner and a 4 pack sample of Cepacol Sore Throat Relief. 

While these free samples are probably not available any longer because the free samples go fast and they take anywhere from 6-8 weeks to get them after filling out the request form, there are other free samples still available. 

We're Still Here

Well looks like the Mayan calendar was wrong. Maybe now people will stop freaking the hell out and shut up about the mayan calendar of doom. The aliens coming back to earth to reclaim us, the zombie apocalypse, the comets hitting us , the world tilting on its axis, the meteor shower that the government isn't telling us about, the super volcano sending us into a new ice age. I'm just sick of hearing about all this doom and gloom. Just wait, they'll be another 'end of the world' day soon enough and everyone can freak out over nothing once again.

Grandma Got Molested At The Airport

Would be funnier if it wasn't so true....

I have a new Hot 500 badge on my Yahoo Contributor profile

    
I just got a notification that I have a Hot 500 badge on my Contributor profile again. There are over 20,000 Freelance Writers on this site so to be in the top 500 is pretty awesome. The Hot 500 and Hot 100 badges are based upon the page views you receive on your articles for that month.

Please visit my profile page to read my articles and see my new Hot 500 badge. isn't it pretty?

Santa Is A UPS Man

I found this youtube video while playing around and thought it was too funny not to share. My UPS guy knows me by name and always knocks and waits for me me to answer the door to give me my package. He's such a nice guy.

Gun Control, Crazies and Mental Illness

Two posts in one day, ridiculous right? I could have saved this post for another day but this has been on my mind for a few days, ever since that psycho went on a shooting spree and people starting raising their voices about harsher gun control.

Yes, this does happen every single time there's a tragedy like this one. But is gun control or harsher gun laws really a bad idea? I don't think so.

Those countries that have gun control laws, less guns available to their citizens have seen less killings by guns. It's a simple fact. Just look up the statistics, they are right there for anyone to see. They exist and are fact, not something someone is making up.

Do I think that it should be darn hard to get a gun? Yes, I do. The 2nd amendment needs to be changed because not everyone should be able to have a gun.

If you have a mental illness...you should not have a gun.
If you have someone in your home who has a mental illness...you should not have a gun.
If you have ever threatened someone with a gun...you should not be able to have a gun.
If you drink alcohol...you should not be able to have a gun.
If you smoke pot, I don't care if it's medical pot...you should not be able to have a gun.
If you have kids in your home under the age of 18, you should not be able to have a gun.
If you have EVER threatened suicide or homicide...you don't get a gun even if you aren't under a psychiatrists care.

It does not matter to me if you are a Veteran and want a gun. If you have any mental problems at all, you should not have one.

In order to have a gun you should have to pass a psychological test. If you are found to have weird thoughts and can't pass it..you don't get to take the test again, you don't pass go, you don't collect $200, you don't ever get a gun.

You should have to take a class on gun safety and pass the test. If you can't pass the test...you don't get a gun.

You should have to have gun locks, a gun safe and there should be random inspections where the police come to inspect how you are storing your guns. If you are found to have them out where someone else can get at them, they aren't locked up or are accessible to children...you should lose your guns for good.

 The federal government could close the gun-show loophole, which allows unlicensed dealers to sell used guns without conducting background checks on buyers. It could enhance the background-check system to search more thoroughly for evidence of mental illness. It could ban assault weapons, or weapons with large magazines that are only useful if one intends to kill a lot of human beings very quickly.

You should have to have a reason to have a gun...work for instance. They should not be given out to just anyone.

Yes, I realize that guns don't kill people...people kill people but some of those people were holding guns to do it. Why not make it harder for the bad guys. Get rid of the guns. Change the 2nd amendment.

I also want to say that not all people with mental illness are going to go off the deep end and go off on a killing spree. It's not fair to lump everyone who has any kind of mental illness in with people like that guy who killed all those kids. It takes a special kind of scumbag to be able to do something like that.

I have my own reasons for feeling the way I do. One reason is when I was 12 years old my mom's boyfriend shot himself in the head, right in front of me. But not before I thought he was going to kill me and he told me that it was all my fault. I was told by my grandparents not to tell anyone what I had seen, so I lived with that until I was 18 and finally had a mental breakdown.

About a year later my mom took the same gun that her boyfriend had killed himself with, got drunk and shot a bullet into the adjoining wall between our bedrooms. The bullet landed 6 inches above my head in the wall I was leaning on in my bedroom. The gun was taken away from her when I called the police but no charges were filed against her.

I have a mentally ill, pot smoking, alcoholic family member that last year got drunk and high and went on a bit of a rampage. He pistol whipped a person in a store, threatened another person at a bar and then turned the gun on his own wife and shot the wall near her. He's out of jail and awaiting trial.

There's the argument that if guns aren't available the bad guys will find something else to use. Fine, let them find something else. More people are afraid of guns, but if they see someone trying to stab others with a knife, someone might stop the person and not as many people might die.

I've also heard the argument that if gun laws are made more stricter that only the bad guys will have the guns. I don't believe that to be true. Once the gun laws are there, anyone found to be in possession of a gun who doesn't have a permit to have one, should have it taken away. A lot of the guns will eventually get off the streets.

But this is just my opinion....

It's a Christmas Tree...not a Holiday Tree

I think the politically correct BS has got to stop. Our tree's were called Christmas Tree's for a very long time and even people who didn't celebrate the holiday let their kids be in the school productions and sing Christmas songs, have Christmas parties, decorate their classrooms for Christmas and do Christmas crafts...because it was fun for the kids. 

Now because of a few and I do mean few people none of those things happen for kids anymore in most school's and that's damn sad. 

The funny thing is I'm not even Christian. For a very long time I considered myself to be Wiccan but after my mom passed away, things just didn't make sense anymore and I lost what little bit of faith I had for anything and now consider myself Agnostic and have for the past year. 

But I don't think it matters what faith you are when it comes to this type of thing. Right is right and wrong is wrong. Just because a few people have a problem with what some of the religious holidays stand for, especially Christmas..they have made it their mission to make sure the rest of us have a hard time celebrating in the way we always have. 

I even know a few Athiests and other Agnostics that celebrate Christmas because their kids want to. Their kids would feel bad if their family didn't have a tree like everyone else did and they didn't hand out presents like their friends did, so their parents have the Christmas tree, the decorations and presents because it makes their kids happy. 

So what's wrong with that? Nothing...that's what.

I'm not changing the way I celebrate Christmas or say Merry Christmas to people just because a few idiots have it in their minds to make everyone feel bad because they do so. You know you can't go into some stores and wish the employee's a Merry Christmas because if they say it back to you they can get fired. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. 

No matter what your religion/faith is...if it's a holiday just wish everyone a merry day. 

If it's Christmas, wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

If it's Kwanzaa, just wish everyone a Happy Kwanzaa. 

If it's Hanukkah, wish everyone a Happy Hanukkah.

If it's Yule, wish everyone a Happy Yule. 

If it's the Winter Solstice, just wish everyone a Happy Winter Solstice. 

How hard is that? 

Yahoo Contributor Network

*My rat Ares*

Most of you already know I'm a Freelance writer and write for the Yahoo Contributor Network. I mainly write about small animal care, but did you know that you could write for them too?

My profile.

I don't have any specialized training or anything like that, I just have a passion for the subjects that I write about. If you are like me and also have a passion for a certain subject and wanted to write articles about it, all you have to do is sign up for an account and start writing. Of course not everyone is going to be accepted and there are guidelines, rules ect. But once you learn what they are looking for, you might be able to get paid for writing about subjects you like. 

Want to check it out? 

Yahoo Contributor Network 

And here's the FAQ's page. 

Do Hamsters Hibernate?

*My hamster Chance eating some pumpkin pie.*

I was thinking back on all the animals I've had over the years because I was trying to come up with an idea for an article and nothing was coming to me. So I started looking through old pictures and remembered that back when I was a teenager I had hamsters that I didn't have photos of and one particular hamster gave me the scare of my life. 

I had a Syrian hamster named Crystal when I was 14 years old. We lived in California and when the fog rolled in, it could get quite cool in the mornings. Well, I didn't know that if a hamster gets cold sometimes they will go into hibernation mode and Crystal did. So I thought I would share what happened with Crystal.

Why Do Some Hamster Hibernate

I was 14 years old and my brother and I had 2 Syrian hamsters. My very first hamsters. I named mine Crystal and found out much later that Crystal was actually a boy...but I kept his name Crystal because I was 14 and it didn't make any sense to me to change his name. We got the hamsters from a neighbor who no longer wanted them and after a while I was the one to take care of both hamsters because my brother lost interest, but I didn't. 

One cold morning, I went over to Crystals cage and he wasn't moving, I tried to share my cereal with him like I did most mornings, but he had passed away...at least I thought he had. Imagine my surprise while I was sitting there holding his limp body in my hands, crying my eyes out...he moved!

It was really slowly at first and I had no idea what was going on and neither did my mom. So I wrapped him in a little dish towel and warmed him up because that's the only thing I could think to do and after about an hour, he was up walking around again. He was slowly walking around but he was walking. I put him back in his cage with the dish towel and he slept for a while and when I got home from school and went to his cage I saw he was breathing and sleeping so I waited until that night when he usually woke up to see if he would come out to play, which he did and he seemed fine. 

I didn't find out until recently that hamsters will sometimes go into a hibernation mode if the the temperatures drop suddenly and that's what must have happened with him. 

Pictures of the new rats

Bandit and Fang wondering where the yogi's are. 

Fang eating a bit of rice.

Marbles getting up close and personal with the camera.

Marbles cleaning his face.

Patches playing tug of war with my camera strap. 

Bandit eating some rice. 

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.

This week's freebies are all brought to you from Swagbucks. I turned in some of my Swagbucks for Amazon gift cards and bought these books with it.

So this week I got Hard Mated and Mate Claimed by Jennifer Ashley and Heart of Atlantis by Alyssa Day. 

I've been reading both of these series since the first books and if you aren't reading them you are missing out...seriously missing out because these series are awesome!

Pregnancy Complications

*A picture of my daughter the day she was born*

WARNING!
This post is very graphic and contains information of a surgical procedure and medical aftercare. If this type of information makes you queasy, you might not want to read this post. 

After Kate Middleton made headline news because of her pregnancy complications, the site I write for Yahoo Contributor Network, asked some mom's to write about their pregnancy complications...so I did. 

My Personal Pregnancy Complication Story

In my article I had to cut a lot of things out because of the word count requirements for this article, things like me having morning noon and night sickness for a full 9 months and not being able to stand for more than 5 minutes the entire 9 months without either fainting or vomiting and being 2 weeks over due and given a Pitocin IV to make me go into labor, which didn't work for me and they sent me home. They talked about scheduling a C-section if I didn't go into labor within the next few days but the next day I did go into labor. 

For 12 hours I had contractions on and off every 30 minutes and then every hour and finally every 10 minutes. When my husband go off of work we took our bag and headed for the hospital but made a detour on the way and stopped at 7-11 so he could get a pack of cigarettes *yeah I never let him live that down* and that's when the really hard contractions hit me and started coming every 5 minutes apart. 

When we got to the hospital I could barely make it up to Labor and Delivery because every couple of minutes I was bent over in pain and when a hard contraction hits you, you can hardly breathe, let alone walk. 

Once I got up to my room and was set up in bed, they had to break my water because it hadn't broken and that's when things went from bad to worst. The fluid when your water breaks it supposed to be clear...mine wasn't it was dark brown because of the Meconium. 

Meconium is the earliest stools of a mammalian infant. Unlike later feces, meconium is composed of materials ingested during the time the infant spends in the uterus and is the first thing to end up in their diapers after they are born. My daughter's first Meconium ended up in the placenta with her and she aspirated it, which sent the bells and whistles off on the machines as her oxygen dropped dramatically and I was told I needed to have a Cesarean. 

I was prepped for the surgery and was given a Spinal shot of anesthetic instead of the usual Epidural. With an epidural the tube is left in your back much like an IV and they slowly give you the medicine, but they wanted me numb right away so I was give a Spinal anesthetic where nothing is left in your back, that took effect right away and lasted for hours. I think the anesthetic they gave me to numb the area before the Spinal hurt way more than the Spinal itself. Lidocaine burns as it goes in and that's what they inject you with most time for stitches or if you're having a biopsy. 

The one thing I didn't like was when I was laid down on the table, they strapped my hands out on the bars of the table. They said so I didn't move or try to pull anything during the surgery, but it was still scary. 

After they got my daughter out, she had two seizures because of lack of oxygen due to aspirating meconium, but after several tests they told me she was fine..and she was. 

But because of the meconium, my cesarean incision became infected and my husband had to learn how to pack it with gauze and rip it out three times a day until it healed...which took a month. The procedure is to wet several pieces of gauze, enough to fully pack the incision *mine was deep enough for Ken to put his entire hand down into* dip the gauze into sterile water and pack the incision then put a large piece of gauze over the opening and secure it with surgical tape. Then three times a day after the gauze has dried on the infected areas, you slowly rip it off the exposed flesh, the infected flesh gets ripped off with the gauze. 

This hurts like you can't even imagine. 

Imagine you have a deep cut and you have to let a piece of gauze dry to the red, fleshy, exposed flesh under the skin and rip it out several times a day until it heals. Yeah, not fun. 

I wasn't sure if I would have as hard a time with another pregnancy and I didn't want to chance it, so I only had the one child and once the terrible two's started..I knew I had made the right choice. LOL 

Now my daughter is pregnant and her pregnancy was the total opposite of mine, she didn't hardly even have any morning sickness. Glad she's having such an easy pregnancy.