How Much Reading Do You Do?

This time of year is usually crazy for most people and the last thing on their minds is picking up a book and reading it...well for some but not for me. I was able to get in several books this month and the rest of the year and I plan on buying and winning even more books this year...which means more bookshelves..lol

My husband was at his sister’s dog/house sitting for a whole week this month. So I was able to get things done and at the end of the day read a book before bed. I should say I’m a really fast reader and can read a 200 page book in about 2 hours. The one reason I don’t get a lot of reading done is because he is always talking to me, asking me things, pointing things out on the tv, blah blah blah all night long. LOL I usually read early in the morning while he’s still asleep or just tell him to leave me be for a couple of hours..which seems like pulling teeth. Good grief you would think he’d be happy I was quiet for an hour…but nooooo. He talks more than a giddy teen aged girl…and that’s saying something.

Some of my favorite books this year were…Deep Kiss of Winter by Kresley Cole and Gena Showalter, Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole, The Vampire and the Virgin by Kerrelyn Sparks, Hunger Untamed by Pamela Palmer, The Darkest Secret by Gena Showalter, Primal Bonds by Jennifer Ashley, Hit List by Laurel K Hamilton, Ecstasy Untamed by Pamela Palmer, Dark Predator by Christine Feehan, and Inferno’s Kiss by Monica Burns.

I know there were more but those are the ones I can see on my bookshelf from this year that I read and are keeping. But then I keep all my books so I am going to need to buy more wall hanging corner bookshelves soon to make room for next years books. lol Hubby said he might have to move out if I keep getting books just so I’ll have room…I told him he didn’t but I would need his dresser drawers soon…LOL

Happy After Christmas!

I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas and are happily playing with all the goodies they got. My funny story for the year is I got up Christmas morning and went to go on the computer for a few minutes before things got hectic and all these po ups started popping up on my screen and then I get this message on the bottom that said your computer is infected with a virus and you need to click here to get rid of it. Well, thankfully I am a bit more savvy about these computer viruses these days and was able to figure out that a virus was in my computer. One that Mcafee didn't catch and you know those anti-virus programs don't catch everything. So I ran Malwarebytes...*Thanks goddess for that program* and was able to get rid of the "Win 7 security home* blah blah virus. Buh bye virus..

But while the virus was on my computer it ate some files...yes I am saying it ate some files.., because once I was able to get back online some of my pictures were gone, Paint, adobe, notepad, word pad and other programs weren't even there anymore.

So thankfully we have user accounts set up on this computer and it affected only my user account and I had to send myself an email with all my favorites, send all my pictures I had left to Photobucket and delete my user account and make a new one. What a total pain in the back side.

But thankfully it worked and my computer is now working again. All I can say is always store your photos on an external site. I found that out the hard way a few years ago when I lost a whole computer full of photos when my computer stopped working and I wasn't able to get to the pictures on it. I always store a copy of every picture I take on photobucket now.

I had a good Christmas. I got 3 gift cards and went to shopping on Amazon right away. My goodies should be here in the next few days.

So what about you all? What goodies did you get?

It's been 6 months

It's been 6 months since my mom passed away and I'm still not completely over her passing. It's still hard to believe that I can't just pick up the phone and call her. But instead of being down, depressed and crying about today...I would much rather remember my mom like in these pictures...happy and with family. She came over for my daughter's birthday 6 months ago just 2 days before she passed away. And my brother took her to the Redondo Beach Pier so she could see the ocean again, which she really had been wanting to do.

So here's to my mom. May her memory live on through all who knew her.

Not You're Grandma's Christmas Movie

I thought I would talk about a movie that most people don't watch around this time of year, and if you do watch it...you are probably as weird as I am....LOL

The movie being Santa’s Slay (2005)- Santa Claus is actually a demon *The devils son* who lost a bet with an Angel and was forced to play the fun loving, gift giving, belly laughing Santa for 1000 years. And Now that the bet is off, he's not a happy camper and takes it out on the innocent Christmas loving families. With the terms of his bet off, Santa begins a murderous rampage, killing a cast of surprisingly recognizable names in increasingly festive, Christmas-related ways (such as drowning by eggnog). His victims include the likes of James Caan, Fran Drescher, Saul Rubinek and Robert Culp. Merry Christmas indeed.

Pejazzling

This is not for the faint of heart. It's also kinda x rated...lol
Pejazzled penis Don't click on the link if you are offended by blinged out male genetalia. lol

"Now you can treat your penis like it’s the diamond encrusted totem pole you’ve always known it to be, and don’t even get me started on those disco balls of yours."

I found this entirely too funny.

My Amazon.com Wish List

Did you know that you can share you amazon wish list if you make it public so others can find you? If you do this people who might want to can then pick things off your wish list to send to you either anonymously or with a note. I've sent gifts this way to my sister for her birthday and to a few friends around their birthdays as well as the other day for christmas. I think it's a great way to make sur ethe person you are getting a gift for actually gets something they wanted and it's a great way to do something nice for someone when they don't know they will be getting it.

So I thought I would also share my Amazon.com wish list in case someone wants to do the same for me and send me a gift. lol Hey, it's almost christmas and who doesn't love gifts, right? lol

My Amazon.com Wish List.

if you have one you should share it on your blog and see what hapenns as well.

My Weekly Wrap up

This week has been a stressful one for me but also full of good news as well. Yes, for once I have good news as well as the bad to share.

My younger brother has been having some bad stomach pains for the past month so when he went to the doctor they scheduled some tests and today when he got some of the results he was told he had several ulcers as well as a stomache nodule that they are going to do a biopsy on. But the doctor doesn't think it's anything to worry about, which is good news.

I got a letter in the mail from the state telling me that I owed them $1700.00 from my deceased mother's estate.

I looked at it and read it several times before getting incredibly pissed off.

What it was: My mother was on disability and she got medicaid which paid for her doctor visits and medications. Well they wanted to try and recoup as much of the money that had been pain by medicaid from any money, property ect left in my mothers estate after she passed away.

There was $1700.00 in my mothers bank account when she passed away and they wanted it back. Now granted half of that was spent to get family here on a plane for the funeral, the funeral itself and the rest was halved between me and my brothers.

I was freaking out thinking I was going to have to make some sort of payment arrangements to pay this money to the state but the good news is, after calling the woman and answering a few questions...she told me that I wasn't going to be liable for the money being paid back and I just had to send her a few completed forms filled out and that would be done with.

I still don't understand how they are going to come after the family 6 months after someone has passed away and the money is gone, it's crazy.

Other good news for me this week is...I won 10 books this week. Count them 10! I just received 4 of them and am waiting for the others. It's been a good book week for me. lol

I have 2 other books coming that i pre ordered a few months ago with an amazon gift card that I won...so that's 2 more free books to dd to the count for this week...and I also won a $10.00 Amazon gift card from a blog contest as well as cashed in my swagbucks points for some Amazon gift cards...With all those gift cards I bought myself a pretty sterling silver and black onyx ring and bought a friend of mine a dvd from her Amazon wish list and sent it to her since she has her wish list set to public and people can see it and send her things off it. I love that feature..she doesn't even know anything is coming until it gets there. I figure I had a good week, may as well make someone else happy too.

Merry soon to be Christmas

White Coca Cola Cans Too Confusing For Some Folks?

If you've watched the news, read a newspaper, seen the front page of yahoo news or been online at all...then you've probably heard the news that some drinkers of coca cola didn't like the new white cans because they said 1) it was too confusing to try and figure out if it was diet or not, even though the silver diet cans have not changed they are still silver and these Christmas one's were white..

2) Coca cola drinkers said they were sure the coke in the white cans tasted differently than what they are used to drinking. Yeah they actually said because it was in white cans...it tasted different.

Good grief! Are people really this ridiculous? Too much of an idiot to tell the difference between a silver can and a while can with the Christmas Polar Bears on it? Really? So the coca Cola company gave in are are not going to manufacture anymore white cans because of all the idiots out there that maybe should go back to school and learn white from silver so they can decipher the different cans from one another.

Some Giveaways are Becoming Too Complicated to Enter

I have stopped following a whole bunch of blogs because they are making their required entries just a bit too ridiculous. I don't require anyone to follow my blog, if you want to fine, if not that's fine too. When I first started entering blog contests and giveaways the entry was easy..just make a comment on the post.

Then it was follow their blog through gfc, make a blog comment, then rafflecopter and the amount of different things they want you do to on those forms is sometimes ridiculous. I've seen rafflecopter forms with 20 different blogs on them and they want you to follow all of them on fb, twitter and gfc. I won't do it unless I actually like what's on your blog and want to get updates but more likely than not, I don't.

Now because GFC is going away for those not on blogger...blogs are wanting you to follow them through Google+. I don't have Google plus and If I see that's going to be a required entry for giveaways...I deleted them from the blogs I follow and won't be going back.

I liked it a lot better when all we had to do was make a blog comment. All these other forms have gotten out of hand.

My ratty boys

My daughter snapped this picture after the boys had their turkey dinner on thanksgiving. That's right, they had a little turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing right along with us. Looks like the Tryptophan got to them as much as it gets to all of us. lol I finally have a picture with all 4 of my little cuddlers in it.

What to Get..what to get..

I do a lot of surveys for points that I can turn into Amazon gift cards and just cashed in a few and now have $50.00 to spend on Amazon.com...but what to get?

My wish list is over run with books, I put books in my wish list all the time. I have pages upon pages of books to buy and since these gift cards are pretty much free just for answering some questions I feel like I am getting books for free most of the time. But I just got an email that I will be getting another gift card for $25 for being picked to test a product for the next 6 weeks. I'm not allowed to say what the product is but it's something most people use everyday. :)So I am thinking I should save that money and wait until I have all my gift cards and then make a large purchase. Hmmm, what to get.

The last purchase I made with my gift cards was for more toys for the rat cage and some chew sticks for them, some of which they liked and some of which they ignored. I ended up giving the small rawhide bones I bought for th rats to my dad for his dog. lol I'm better off just putting a cardboard box in their cage and letting them tear that up instead of spending money on chew toys they won't even sniff.

My Hope For Next Year

I can only hope next year is better than this year was. This year really sucked for me. I don't know why I always think because of all the bad things that have happened to me in my life that nothing else bad can happen to me, I've had my fair share, I've lived through hell and come out on the other side singed but otherwise ok and things have to be better form now on, right? But it just doesn't end up that way.

My Year In Review.
Starting in January I had a horrible case of Hives. I have agoraphobia and every time I had to go outside I broke out in hives. It was just ridiculous. I dealt with a bout of depression so bad I didn't think I was going to make it through...I really didn't.

I've had several packages stolen or never delivered because my mail person is too stupid/lazy/ignorant to care that leaving the box or envelope in front of my apartment door without knocking to let me know it is there is an invitation to other people to take it/steal it. Even after I told them, they don't care.

My mother in law passed away in March.

My mom passed away in June. I still can't believe it.

I ended up having to call an ambulance in April because I was having chest pains and a weird heartbeat. I was afraid I was having a heart attack. After 2 days in the hospital I found out that my heart is fine but I now have an abnormal heartbeat. Most people who have this don't feel it and so it doesn't bother them...I can feel mine when it skips beats so it freaked me out. It's something I'll just have to live with now, there's nothing they can do about it and it won't hurt me but it is really weird.

Ken hopped over a fence and didn't realize that the other side was a long way down and when he fell...he broke his arm in several places and had to have surgery. Thankfully it all went fine and he's all healed now.

My older brother was arrested but after a week in jail the charges were dropped. It's hard watching a family member self destruct and using really lame excuses for the things they do. After my mom died my older brother said he wanted her dog, even though my younger brother had already said he wanted to take her home with him. Younger brother relented and older brother took her home...then he gave her away to someone else because she supposedly wasn't getting along with his other dog..even though he knew younger brother wanted to come and get her. He did this without discussing it with us and I'm still so pissed I can't even see straight. Why he didn't give away his other dog and keep his mother's dog is beyond me. Once again lame excuses for the things people do...

My younger brother got Pneumonia and Bronchitis and ended up in the hospital for a week. My daughter got the flu and was sick for almost 2 weeks. And hubby has been feeling down right bad all year, dealing with an ongoing health problem.

I don't mean to sound whiney but some days I just shake my head and hope the next day is better. Let s hope next year is better for all of us.

The flu

The flu feels like you get kicked in the head, the stomach and the back.

I had the flu 2 years ago and it was bad but my doctor said next time I get sick to stay home take over the counter meds and drink plenty of fluids. Only come int to see him if it lasts for more than 10 days because there's nothing they will give you or can do for it.

So my daughter has had the flu for the past week and she was really sick. hasn't been able to eat more than applesauce for a week and now that the getting sick and fever is gone, her throat is raw and she is having a hard time eating. Poor thing, at least it is going away.

I'm so glad I didn't get it this time, I hate being sick.

Snuggle Exhilarations® White Lilac and Spring Flowers

I received my free full bottle sample of snuggle fabric softener from this survey site. It's a legitimate site and they really send you samples of products to try out as long as you follow through and let your friends know about it.

Snuggle Exhilarations® White Lilac and Spring Flowers: Thx Snuggle 4 my free Exhilarations White Lilac and Spring Flowers sample! Like 4 ur chance to win! http://on.fb.me/SnuggleSweeps *Please remember the FTC requires you to mention that you received a free sample courtesy of Smiley360 when sharing.

smiley360.com—Be Heard. Be Happy.

smiley360.com—Be Heard. Be Happy.

Nellis Air Force Base Air Show

My hubby (red head), my brother and his wife all went to the air show yesterday at Nellis Air Force base. Here's a few of the pictures.












My hubby and sister in law at the air show.

My brother standing in front of a plane.





My brother and sister in law at the air show.

My Morning

I thought I would share with you what happened during my morning today...such as it is. I knew as soon as I got up and came into the living room where my rats cage is that they needed a cleaning. They tore up their new bed...little bits of stuffing looked like it exploded all over the cage and they tore the top blanket off and pee'd everywhere up there. ewww stinky.

So I moved the cage over *It's on wheels Wheeee* and that's when I saw it...they had also dumped the food bowl out on the side of the cage and little bits of this and that rat food was spread all over the floor. Good grief they are messy little brats.

So I took out the rats *except for Ares and brodie who choose to cower in their beds on the top shelf* they only like coming out for a few seconds at a time and being able to jump right back in their cage. Jasper and Hades love being out.

I took all the baby blankets an fleece from the cage and put it in bags to wash later and wiped the whole cage down. Now I think my largest rat, Jasper has taken up stalking me when I'm not looking. Because I turn around to make sure they are fine on the couch and he is hanging on to the side of the cage and trying to climb on top on the cage to come over and stare at me while I clean. Being the good rat momma I am and not wanting him to go splat on the floor, I pick him up put him back on the couch and move the cage over so he can't get back on it. But he comes over to the side of the couch and looks anyway. Then gives me the "Well that wasn't nice" look.

Anyway I finally get all the clean fleece in the cage, put the baby blankets on the cage and fill the food bowl up and I see that Ares is inside the new bed and shredding the fluff stuffing. lol Well, I guess it won't be long before that's in the garbage, but for now it's holding together and since they like to sleep in it I'll leave it in there. Good thing I kept the big plastic igloo...I have a feeling I'll be putting that back in there pretty soon.

Chance for a $25.00 gift card

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Old Pictures

My older sister found a picture of our grandparents holding my dad and my aunt when they were really young.


I love finding old pictures of family members that I haven't seen before. But when I showed this to my dad he was completely surprised by it because he'd never seen it either. My sister found it in her things and when my mom passed away this past June, I inherited her photos and have been going through them all.

Ever since I was 12 years old, I have been collecting the family's photo albums. It started with just one...and then there were 2 and 3 and 10. When I had my daughter we took countless pictures of her and us and I ended up with more than 20 full size photo albums full of pictures. Now that my mom passed away and I now have all of her pictures, I had to buy 2 more huge photo albums and I still need at least two more to be able to fit all the pictures into them.

But as I was going through the pictures I noticed I didn't know who some of the people in the pictures were. There are a lot of black and white pictures of people I don't recognize. So because my daughter wants to inherit all these photo albums when I pass on, I started writing the names of every one in the pictures on the back of all the photos who I know they are. That way my daughter will know who they are and how they are related to her.

How I Get Free Stuff...

*I thought I would share this post again for those of you that didn't see it the last time I posted it.*

I tell my friends and family all the time how I get free things coming to me and some of them have tried it and they don't have the same results that I have. So I am going to tell you the websites that I belong to in order to get free stuff and maybe you'll be able to get free stuff too.

Swagbucks Sign up here and search like you would on Google or yahoo to earn swagbucks periodically. Turn in those swagbucks for Amazon.com gift cards or other merchadise.

Inbox dollars sign up with Inbox Dollars and click on the emails they send you and shop with them for points that you can turn into real money. This one takes more time to do but in the past 2 years I have gotten $120.00 from them.

The Tasters This is from Nescafe tasters choice coffee. Sign up and if they pick you to be a taster, you will get free samples of coffee to host Coffee parties with. Take pictures of your party and submit them for points that you can then use to buy gifts cards like Amazon.com. They also have a bunch of other surveys and activities for you to do that will also give you points that you can turn in for Gift cards.

Free Grabber This is where you will find a bunch of free samples to sign up for.

Free Silver Jewelry On this page they show you a few pieces of pretty silver jewelry that you can get for free...All you have to do is pay $6.99 for shipping and handling. I have bought earrings, rings and pendants from them and they are really pretty and good quality for the price. I'm wearing one of the rings right now.

Vocal Point Sign up with them, comment on the message board and other topics on teh site and periodically they will send you free samples and coupons for full size free products as well as coupons that you can share with your friends and family. But you have to comment a few times a week on the boards and topics in order to keep the samples coming, but it is well worth the effort. I get samples and coupons all the time.

Actual free Samples A site full of free samples to sign up for.

Hey Its Free A site for great free samples. The guy that writes about the free samples is totally funny too.

Samples FromTarget Target gives out samples periodically. But they go quickly.

My View This is a survey taking website. You sign up, take the surveys they send you and get points for the ones you qualify for. Then turn them into cash or prizes.

My Survey This is another survey website that you take survey to get points which you can turn into prizes and gift cards.

Harris Poll Another survey website to take survey and earn points that can be cashed in for prizes and gift cards.

Zoompanel Another website that has you take surveys and gives you points for them that you can cash in for prizes or gift cards.

American Consumer Opinion Sign up with them and when they send you surveys that you qualify for, you get money that you can cash out after you have accumulated $5.00

Just Some of the things I have gotten so far this year for free.
Cheryl Dragon T- shirt
1 Pair of EZ Sox
Sample of Purina Smart Blend
4 free business cards from StarBucks
Button- I'm Human
Charisma Carpenter T-shirt
Beneful Dog food sample
Cybdi bands hair tie sample
Crest white strips sample
seattles Best coffee sample
Herbal Essences shampoo sample
Tylenol stress kit
Prilosec OTC sample
Sample of valspar paint and mini roller
Kirkland Brand Antibacterial wipes sample
Tide Stain release 10ct. sample
Sample of Tide Detergent


Coupons for full size freebiesBreve Creme
Nestle Pure life Multi Pack
2 Buitoni Meal packs
2 Hot pocket boxes
2 Boxes of Lean pockets
1 package of Nestle toll house refrigerated cookie dough
2 Bottles of Nestle Juicy juice
1 Stouffer's party size meal
1 Canister of Nestle Tasters Choice coffee

Books I have gotten for free.
I have received over 50 books for free from entering blog contests and giveaways.
Amazon.com gift cards
I have received $90.00 in Amazon.com gift cards from giveaways and contests on blogs and over $500.00 from cashing in the points I had on the different surveys.

Some free samples require you to sign up for them on Facebook and for that reason I have another FB account solely for freebies.

This is not a complete list of the things I have won because I forgot to write some of the things down when they came. But you get the idea. All of these freebies are just in the last 6 months.

Rant: Headless Romance Book Covers

Let me begin this post in saying my rant of these book covers is in no way against the author of any of these books, I know from having talked with some authors that they have very little if anything to do with the design of their book covers. This is just my opinion/rant of a trend I keep seeing that is driving me nuts.

So here we have a sample of the type of covers I am going to be talking/ranting about. Can you see what I am talking about? They are all headless. There is a torso, but the face and or head is gone. I like the faces to be attached to the torso's I am looking at and therefore this new trend is driving me batshit crazy.







I think this new trend is fairly hard to miss...am I right? Do they have a valid reason for not adding the heads and faces to the torso's? I don't think so, not in my opinion they don't. I am an eye person and a lip person not to mention an arm person. lol I like looking at a man's eyes and lips. So not having a head on the torso of a cover makes it hard for me not to think of said torso being a headless corpse.

I believe that we've come a long way from the creamy bosoms, men's long hair blowing in the wind and floral colors on the front of romance books, but this new trend is irritating me to no end. I want to see a face! For an author to say that she wants us to envision what our hero would look like instead of giving us a face, is a cop out. Why make us imagine what he would look like, pick a cover model and tell us what he looks like. it's much better for me than seeing what looks like a headless corpse on the front of my romance book. I really don't want to be reminded of the headless horseman. Headless torso cover's make me think that someone came along and lopped off the heroes head with a sword...people this isn't a Highlander movie!

I blame the publishers so I hope I have gotten their attention.

My Babies

Here are some pictures of my 4 rats. All Males and they are about a year old now. Yes, they are large rats. lol All except for Brodie who is the smallest of the guys.


Here you have Hades, Brodie, Jasper and Ares in the background.


Jasper squinting and Brodie up close.


Ares is sniffing the camera. lol


Hades on his back sleeping. His little feet up in the air. Jasper and Ares are in the bed with him.


Hades sleeping on his bed/pillow.

swagbucks swidget

My Published Articles

Hi to all my new followers. :) I love having new followers and to all of those who are reading my blog and not a follower...thank you for visiting me. :)Hopefully I've made you laugh, think or just shake you head at my strange posting and weird pictures. lol I love finding pictures that are a little out there and posting them.

I also wanted to share something about myself that you might not know. I am a Freelance Writer and write article about small animal care for The Yahoo Contributor Network.

You can find my profile here and just scroll down to see what articles I've written. I have more than 200 articles published right now and am always adding more.

If you read any of my articles, I would love to know what you think about them. :)

Our Pumpkin

Sharing smiley 360 Mission

Sharing Smiley360 Mission: I signed up for Smiley360! http://smiley360.com *Please remember the FTC requires you to mention that you received a free sample courtesy of Smiley360 when sharing.

My brother in law is going home today!

Read the full story here.

Here's a little bit of the article...

After four years in the hospital, Mike Stanzione is going home.

A rare disease left him dependent on a ventilator, barely able to walk and in need of constant medical care. He was told over and over again he had no chance of leaving Bergen Regional Medical Center and getting home to his wife and young son.

Yet the 53-year-old refused to give up.

Armed with his cellphone and laptop, he found a doctor willing to try a groundbreaking surgery. It required a harrowing ride to Florida and back and a painful recovery and rehab.

And today, he'll finally rejoin his family at his Saddle Brook home, where friends and neighbors are expected to be on hand to welcome him back.

"I'm happy I didn't give up," Stanzione said. "I just wasn't going to accept being on a vent and in the hospital for the rest of my life — I heard about the diaphragm pacemaker and went after it."

Stanzione has Pompe disease, an often fatal genetic illness that causes degeneration of muscles, including those that control the diaphragm for breathing. He is the first Pompe patient to get a diaphragm pacemaker, which stimulates the muscles and nerves in his chest so he can breathe periodically — sometimes for hours — without a ventilator.

It was the ventilator that shackled him for years to a hospital room at Bergen Regional in Paramus. The machine requires a medical professional be on hand around the clock in the event it malfunctions or the patient needs assistance.

Stanzione's insurance company, Aetna, and Medicaid and Medicare refused to cover home health care costs. It appeared the former computer programmer would have to spend the rest of his life in a long-term-care facility.

Birthdays, holidays and seasons came and went. His son, Brian, who was 4 when Stanzione was first hospitalized, is now 8. They used Skype daily and tossed a ball on weekend visits at the hospital, but it didn't come close to watching his son grow and change every day.

"The hardest part has been being away from Brian," Stanzione said. "I missed so much. I just want to be home with him — I used to read to him every night, now he can read to me."

His wife, Debbie, admitted she and Brian had resigned themselves to the idea that her husband would spend the rest of his life in a hospital room.

"I never admitted it to him, but after a while we really didn't think he'd ever be able to come home," Debbie Stanzione said. "It was hardest on Brian — he's had his hopes dashed so many times."

But Mike Stanzione refused to accept that this would be his life. He had once been an active husband who played ball on weekends with his friends. He searched for a way home.

Review: Companion Caterers Lixit Space Pod 2 Large

When I first brought my 4 boys home I thought I had all the accessories I would need for them. I bought an igloo that they refused to use for sleeping, they used it for food storage so we dubbed it "The refrigerator". I also bought them a stuffed Alligator which was supposed to be a hidie place to snuggle into the middle of, but they tore it to shreds in less than a day.

Then I bought a Lixit Critter Space Pod 2 Large and they fought over who was going to get to be inside it. I hung it from the top of the cage as it states you can and at first I was really scared it would come crashing down but it didn't, it stayed put. My 4 male rats were always trying to squeeze themselves into the Space Pod so I decided to buy another one for them and I bought it from Companion Caterers on Amazon. They have a wide selection of toys, food, treats and other accessories for your pets and they shipped my box out to me really fast, which I really liked.

Companion Caterers prices are comparable with others who sell some of the same things on amazon but knowing I can get fast shipping and nice customer service if I need it, has made me a customer when I am looking for things for my 4 boys.

I've Got Great News!

My brother in law who has been in the hospital for 4 1/2 years..is getting to go home this month...for good! Last month he had a pacemaker like machine implanted into his chest that shocks his chest muscles and makes him take a breath. He got this so he could be weaned off the ventilator and hopefully go home. It's called a Breathing Pacemaker.

Diaphragm (Breathing) Pacemakers

A breathing pacemaker consists of surgically implanted receivers and electrodes and an external transmitter with antennas worn directly over the implanted receivers.

The external transmitter and antennas send radiofrequency energy to the implanted receivers just under the skin. The receivers then convert the radio waves into stimulating pulses.

These pulses are then sent down the electrodes to the phrenic nerves, causing the diaphragms to contract. This contraction causes inhalation of air. When the pulses stop, the diaphragms relax and exhalation occurs. Repetition of this series of pulses produces a normal breathing pattern.

A breathing pacemaker can provide ventilatory support for patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency whose diaphragm, lungs, and phrenic nerves have residual function. Typically, these patients have high spinal cord injuries, central sleep apnea or other central neurological disorders, or a paralyzed diaphragm.

My brother in law has Pompe Disease and I did an interview with him for Yahoo Contributor Network, last year.

Read article here.

I'm happy for him, my sister in law and their 8 year old son. I know they must be beyond happy right now.

Book Review: Inferno's Kiss by Monica Burns

Title: Inferno’s Kiss
Series: Order of the Sicari #3
Author: Monica Burns
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Berkley Trade; (October 4, 2011)
ISBN-10: 0425243141
ISBN-13: 978-0425243145



The laws of desire...
Dante Condellaire, heir apparent to the Sicari Lords, knows that being a true leader means sacrifice. For Dante it was relinquishing all erotic pleasures. But he never expected his willpower to be tested so fiercely by Cleopatra Vorenus, expert assassin of the Order, and daughter of the man he is positioned to succeed.

The rules of battle...
Cleo prefers working alone--until she meets Dante who shares her goal: to destroy a Praetorian stronghold where Sicari women are imprisoned for devious purposes. Bringing the mission off without a hitch pumps up more than their resolve. It sets off a sexual spark too combustible to ignore.

Are all made to be broken.

As their attraction flares like an inferno, the stakes are raised. So are the risks. Before the mission is over, Dante and Cleo will be plunged into a dangerous conspiracy where a traitor threatens the very foundation of the Order, as well as the fiery bond between Dante and Cleo--warriors and lovers now torn between duty and desire.

My Review:
Inferno's Kiss is the 3rd book in the Order of the Sicari series and brought all the questions left unanswered from the first two books to a close. To see what happens with Atia and Marcus, characters from the first two books was really exciting and something I had really been looking forward to. I loved their characters and their relationship was so heartbreaking because of the things they've had to endure.

Then there's Cleo and Dante, who bring a whole new meaning to the term "Virginal". Cleo meets a man who is one step away from being the newly appointed Sicari Lord and who has taken an oath of abstinence. That's right, he's a powerful, intimidating, intense...and a virgin! How could it get any better? Well, there's also family secrets, long lost family members who meet for the first time, reincarnation, magical scrolls that need to be deciphered and an adventure that spans several life times.

Inferno's Kiss was a thrill ride well worth waiting for. Dante feels things for Cleo he never knew he could feel and Cleo can't help but to fantasize about the things she would love to do with him if she can ever get him to stop running away from her.

Marcus and Atia have a lot to over come because of all the lies and betrayal they each feel, but when they come together and see how good it can be again and the fact that their blood bond has never really been broken, makes you believe in true love.

Cleo is probably my favorite character in this whole series, I used to think it was Lysander but after reading the heartache Cleo went through after losing her unborn child and feeling like an outcast because she doesn't posses powers like other Sicari and that fact is even more pronounced after finding out who her parents are. If anyone should have strong sicari powers it's a child of Atia and Marcus. But Cleo more than makes up for not having powers by being a total bad ass who can kick the bad guys ass all by herself. Cleo is not only strong, but a sympathetic character and a survivor who's had to endure the worst pain imaginable. She is without a doubt my favorite character out of all three books.

If you want action packed scenes that actually make sense and don't just have swords blows and blood spurting scenes that go on forever that leave you lost as to what just happened, then this is the series for you. The action scenes are clean and Monica Burns made the action clear as to what is happening and it happens for a reason, just just action for the sake of action.

I didn't think Monica Burns could write another book as good as Assassin's Heart, but I was wrong, this book the 3rd in the series was just as good as the first two books and a great ending to the series.

I give it 5 stars.

Winner of The Puppy Diaries by Jill abramson

                                                                           Congratulations!

Bill...I'll send you an email please respond with your mailing addy withing 24 hours or I will pick an alternate winner.

Spiders...

I'm not afraid of spider's anymore. Not like I was when I was a teenager, but if I saw this big guy...even I might back away slowly. Some spider's can get seriously big. I had a horrible fear of bugs when I was younger. I knew I had to try and get over my fear so I looked up how to do that and I read the only real way to get rid of a fear was to face it head on...face your fear. Which meant...I had to go find a bug and hold it, look at it..ect..

So, me being the big bad ass that I am, I went out and saw a Black widow spider on the outside of my apartment wall. *Yeah, don't try this at home kids*

I got a glass and a piece of paper and put the glass over the Black Widow and slowly, gently pushed the paper under the spider until I had her safely inside the glass. Then I walked home with her. I also read that if you put a spider in the freezer for just a minute they will slow down and won't be able to move for a few seconds. Just long enough for me to take a look at her and get over my fear.

So I put her, glass and all in the freezer for a minute and sure enough she wasn't moving. I took her out and got out my small microscope and looked at her under the microscope...and then she woke up. You've never seen me move so fast in my life. The thing was, I could have gotten miss spider back into the glass...if it hadn't been for her web. Yes, when she woke up she started spilling her web all over everything she walked across and it was sticky..I mean really sticky and I kept getting stuck in it. Once I touched the web and I saw her climbing on it...right towards me. I got her in the glass and took her back outside real fast. Buh Bye miss spider.

I later found out that a Black Widow spider most times requires a trip to the E.R. for Anti-Venom. I had no idea about that at the time. But I got over my fear of spiders and can now pick any spider I find in my apartment up in my hands and take them outside and put them in the bush outside my door.

Giveaway! Monica Burns Bookmarks and More...

Monica Burns Books Marks and More giveaway! Monica was nice enough to send me some goodies to give to all of you, so if you would like some free bookmarks and some surprises, just send me an email at miztik_rose@yahoo.com and let me know you want the Monica Burns Bookmarks.

If you haven't read any of Monica Burns books. I really do recommend them highly.





You can read my review of Please Me, Here.


You can read my review of Assassin's Honor, Here.

You can read my review of Assassin's Heart, Here.

Inferno's Kiss is due out soon and you can be sure I'll be reading this one as soon as I can get my hands on it.

Giveaway! Heidi Betts Bookmarks

Today's Giveaway is for 2 Booksmarks from Heidi Betts new book Must Love Vampires.

Giveaway Today! Heidi Betts was nice enough to give me some bookmarks to give away to you. If you haven't read her books you really should, they are great reads. I highly recommend them and anything else by this author. You can also come and visit Heidi Betts at her blog here. She is crazy funny and has contests where she gives away books all the time.

Today I am giving away 2 bookmarks and maybe a couple of goodies from my own bookmark stash to 5 people!

All you have to do is send me an email with your name and address to miztik_rose@yahoo.com and let me know you want the Heidi Betts bookmarks. I will give them away until my supply is gone.

One Of My Biggest Pet Peeves

I love entering contests on blogs but there are some that I skip because of all you have to do in order to get an entry. Here's just a bit of the things I've found out there in blog-dom that people make you do in order to win a book/swag/ect...

Complete the form *or at least try to figure out how to complete it.
Follow Me
Leave a comment about this interview, the cover, the author, the authors town, the year the author was born..ok not really but you get my point.

And then there are the "Extra entries"
+1 Follow me on Twitter
+1 Like me on Facebook
+1 Like "So and So" on Facebook
+1 Be my friend on Goodreads
Like my review on Amazon or give me a thumbs up to show I done good.
+1 for social networking this giveaway and leave me a link
+1 Leave a comment
+1 Fan on GoodReads
+1 Follow the blog
+1 Follow on Twitter
+1 Friend on Facebook

BONUS QUESTION: Answer another question that can be found on the site, in the book, on twitter or somewhere out in the nethers...

And my #1 pet peeve is the blog owner not listing that the book we are commenting /entering for is an ebook. You see I don't buy ebooks, I don't usually read ebooks, I don't have an ebook reader, and I don't plan on buying one. I like traditional books. Yes, I am not a fan of ebooks at all. So when I find out that I have just won an ebook and the fact that the give away wasn't specific about it being an ebook up for a giveaway..it makes me a little irritated because I don't usually enter for ebooks. I'll leave them for those of you that like to read them, that have ereaders or like to spend countless hours in front of your computer reading *which I will not do*

As for the why? I've won a few ebooks and I will read a few by authors that I already like and have established that they can write. But I have also won a few or been given a couple to review that read like a 3rd grader wrote them. I will not be specific here sorry. I don't like to write negative reviews, it messes with my good mood. So I usually say thank you, shake my head and say nothing. I mean someone somewhere must have liked it for it to have been published, right? Who am I to say it's really not good, that I think they write ebooks only because they aren't good enough to write traditional books. I may think it, but I won't say it.

Giveaway! Win 2 Bookmarks from Joyce DiPastena

Bookmark Giveaway!

Giveaway Today! Joyce DiPastena was nice enough to give me some bookmarks from these two books to give away to you. If you haven't read these books you really should, they are great reads. I highly recommend them and anything else by this author.

Today I am giving away 2 bookmarks and maybe a couple of goodies from my own bookmark stash to 5 people!

All you have to do is send me an email with your name and address to miztik_rose@yahoo.com and let me know you want the Joyce DiPastena bookmarks. I will give them away until my supply is gone.

Giveaway! Sherrilyn Kenyon's Special Collectors Edition Coffin Box Set (Audio Book)

Giveaway! Sherrilyn Kenyon's Special Collector's Edition Coffin Box Set (Audio Book)



Win Sherrilyn Kenyon's Special Collectors Edition Audio Book!

It’s time for another giveaway! Hurray! Today’s giveaway features my all-time favorite author Sherrilyn Kenyon here at Dark Thoughts and I'll be hooking up one lucky winner with a free copy of the audiobook! See below on how to enter.

This audio book includes:
This Special Collector’s Edition Box Set includes audio CDs for the first three books in the Dark-Hunter Series. The set also includes an AUTOGRAPHED keepsake suitable for framing!

NIGHT PLEASURES
He is solitude. He is darkness. He is the ruler of the night. Yet Kyrian of Thrace has just woken up handcuffed to his worst nightmare: An accountant. Worse, she's being hunted by one of the most lethal vampires out there. And if Amanda Devereaux goes down, then he does too. But it's not just their lives that are hanging in the balance. With the fate of the world in their hands, Kyrian and Amanda are all that stands between humanity and oblivion. Let's hope they win.

NIGHT EMBRACE

Talon was an ancient Celtic warrior who made a big mistake—he killed the son of a Celtic god Camulus. Camulus swore vengeance, claiming that no one Talon loved would be safe—they all would die horrible deaths in front of his eyes. When, after everyone else he loves has dies, Talon’s sister is murdered in front of his eyes, he barters his soul to Artemis for the chance to protect strangers from the vampires that stalk the night. Two thousand years later in modern-day New Orleans, he meets Sunshine—a woman who, against his will, makes him love again. Of course, it’s Mardi Gras, and New Orleans is filled with vampires, Dionysius in the middle of a complex plot, and Camulus as his confederate. Now Talon and Sunshine have to block the gods, and somehow figure out how to break the curse. Or Sunshine will be the next to die…

DANCE WITH THE DEVIL

They say even the most damned man can be forgiven. Zarek, a man who endured a lifetime as a Roman slave, and 900 years as an exiled Dark-Hunter, never believed that until the night Astrid opened her door to him and made that feral beast want to be human again. Made him want to love and be loved. But how can an ex-slave whose soul is owned by a Greek goddess ever dream of touching, let alone holding, a fiery star?

Sherrilyn Kenyon is the brilliant author of this series. The 20th book in this series just came out not too long ago and I reviewed it here.

So it goes without saying that if you haven’t checked out the Dark Hunter series, you totally should.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS
To enter into the giveaway all you have to do is leave a comment here with your email, so I can get in touch with you if you win and you are entered for this giveaway! How easy is that! US residents only. I will pick the winner on September 25th!

Added note: the winner has 48 hours to respond, if they don’t within that time then the book goes to someone else, so make sure to check your email on the 25th of September!

Disclosure: This free audio book is being provided by Macmillan Audio.

How I get Freebies

I wrote a post a while back on how I get freebies and since then have gotten a few new friends here on my blog. So if you haven't read further back...*and you totally should because my blog is awesome* LOL here is my post that tells you how to get some of the free things that I get all the time. Have fun!

You can find the post here.

Review: Retribution By Sherrilyn Kenyon (Audio Book)

Book Review: Retribution Audio Book By Sherrilyn Kenyon
Title: Retribution
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Narrator: Holter Graham
Series: Dark-Hunter
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: August 2, 2011
7 CD Audio Book


I received a free copy of the audio format of the this title for review from Macmillan Audio.

Harm no human...

A hired gunslinger, William Jessup Brady lived his life with one foot in the grave. He believed that every life had a price. Until the day when he finally found a reason to live. In one single act of brutal betrayal, he lost everything, including his life. Brought back by a Greek goddess to be one of her Dark-Hunters, he gave his immortal soul for vengeance and swore he'd spend eternity protecting the humans he'd once considered prey.

Orphaned as a toddler, Abigail Yager was taken in by a family of vampires and raised on one belief - Dark-Hunters are the evil who prey on both their people and mankind, and they must all be destroyed. While protecting her adoptive race, she has spent her life eliminating the Dark-Hunters and training for the day when she meeting the man who killed her family: Jess Brady.

A gun in the hand is worth two in the holster....

Jess has been charged with finding and terminating the creature who's assassinating Dark-Hunters. The last thing he expects to find is a human face behind the killings, but when that face bears a striking resemblance to the one who murdered him centuries ago, he knows something evil is going on. He also knows he's not the one who killed her parents. But Abigail refuses to believe the truth and is determined to see him dead once and for all.

Brought together by an angry god and chased by ancient enemies out to kill them both, they must find a way to overcome their mutual hatred or watch as one of the darkest of powers rises and kills both the races they've sworn to protect.

My Review:
I reviewed a hard cover copy of this book and you can read my review here.
Now before I start I should tell you that this was my first audio book. I would like to thank Macmillan audio for sending me a free copy of this for review. It was an interesting experience not having to actually read but being read to. I can honestly say that while it was an interesting experience I like the feel of holding a book in my hands and reading. If I had a car and was driving it would probably be much more fun to listen to the audio book in that circumstance, but I don't so I was listening to the audio book while on the computer playing games. I like sitting down with a book in my hands and reading the story, having it read to me wasn't as good because while reading I can visualize what each of the characters sounds like when they speak in the book. While I'm sure Holter Graham is a great narrator his voice is not what I would have pictured for the character of Jess Brady. It was hard for me to get into this book just listening to it. While I loved the story I think I've come to the conclusion that audio books are just not for me.

Jess Brady is set to find the person who is hunting Dark Hunters and stop who ever it is, but he never expected to find Abigail was the one who he would need to stop. Jess Brady thought that Abigail had been dead for a very long time and now not only is she killing Dark Hunters she is connected to the Apollites.

Now they must find a way to work together and set their differences aside for a while if they want to stay alive. Jess Brady has endured so much heartache I found it endearing that he could care for someone again. But the fact that Ms. Kenyon wrote their attraction in such a way that even though Abigail hates him and thinks he murdered her parents they are overwhelmed by their attraction for each other and that makes their story a bit much for this reader to swallow.

There was a different feel to this book than many of the other books in this series and that's alright as long as Sherrilyn Kenyon gets back to integrating more of the characters in each of the books like she's done in past books. I would have been really disappointed with this book if we hadn't gotten a glimpse into some of the other characters at the end. I am a huge Sherrilyn Kenyon fan, her books have always been an auto-buy for me and for now will continue to stay that way. But I can only hope she gets back to the characters and Mythology storyline that we as readers have loved and started reading this series for, to begin with.

America's Got Talent

Congrats to Landau Eugene Murphy Jr., Silhouettes, Team iLuminate, and PopLyfe. You all rocked. I do have to state the obvious though..I really was shocked when the winner was announced..I really think Silhouettes should have won. I am surprised at America's choice but it was America's choice.

I seriously doubt that either Silhouettes or iLuminate will have a hard time making it. They will be picked up and we will be seeing them again soo, of that I have no doubt.

Showing off My Babies

I have 4 male rats right now and here are a few pictures of a couple of them that were taken recently.


This is Jasper inside a soda box. They just loved playing inside the soda box. I have another just waiting for them when they tear up the old one.

This is Hades.

Hades again. He's a big boy and so loveable.

Hades laying in the cage waiting for a treat. lol