Music Videos That "Do It" for Me

Are there some music videos that you watch and think..."Omg, that so hot." are there some music videos that have subtle sexual overtones that feed your fantasies? Of course there are, we're only human after all. This video always did it for me. I don't know if it's the guy in the mask, because guys in masks really do it for me...let me tell you. Or the fact that when he finally gets her in her bedroom he grabs her by the back of the hair and gently forces her down, while she looks up a little scared. Yeah, it's probably all of that and more..but in any case, this video does it for me. This is one of those videos that have a really good looking guy...and omg he is good looking, those eyes! *falls out of chair* Not to mention all the sexual innuendo going on in this video..Oh goodness. Watching guys dance is another thing that does it for me. Especially when they are dancing sexy like the guys do in this video. I liked this song before I ever saw the video and when I watched the video, I was like...omg wow. I replayed the parts with the group of guys dancing together just so I could watch them bump and grind..whew. Now this is a good one. it's dark, kinda scary and the lead singer David Draiman is sex personified. He has a lot of time right up close in front of the camera so you see he looks a little scary at times, he's hot, and he seems like a bad bad. And who doesn't like a bad boy? Am I right? So there you have it. My top picks for music videos that 'do it' for me. :)

How To Give A Rat Medicine

I know I've talked before about how my little guy, Brodie had an upper respiratory infection and now have him on antibiotics. Sometimes the upper respiratory infection does permanent damage to their little lungs and they will need to stay on antibiotics for the rest of their lives. I know a lot of people will put the liquid antibiotics right into the water bottles but doing that lets all the rats in the cage take the antibiotics, so what I have done is put the drops into a small spoonful of pudding or yogurt for Brodie and he has no problem eating it. 

My daughter put Bunny ears on Brodie and all the other rats in the cage on Easter and took pictures of them. None of them cared at all. Brodie just started cleaning his face and didn't even try to get the ears off. They are such laid back little guys. This picture was taken while he was cleaning his face. It looks like he's putting his hands on his face, telling my daughter..no, no more pictures. lol 

Brodie loves his hammock. 

Look at that little face. So sweet. 

I have also had to give the boys mite medicine a few times. I tried putting that stuff in so many different foods and so many times they just weren't having it. It must taste really bad. But I added it to a small spoonful of chocolate pudding and they ate it up no problem. 

So that's my tip to all you rat mommy and daddy's out there. Add the medicine to something sweet like yogurt, pudding, ice cream, cake or frosting. It works every time. 

Photo Album Memories

I realize that with the digital age most people aren't buying actual photo albums anymore, but I have so many old pictures that have to be put away that I needed a few more photo albums. This pretty black one is the latest one I've bought. I still have several hundred of my mom's old photos to put away in either photo albums or in scrapbooks. I also have post cards from my grandmas trip to Germany back in the 80's. 

I like my digital camera but nothing beats a picture that you can hold and put into an album. Yes, I'm old school. 

This is my mom and step dad. 

My brother went to california and took pictures of our grandfathers grave. This is my mothers father. I know you can't really see what it says but it says..

Charles C. Sherman
US Army
World War II
1923-  Feb 19 1984

Here's my mom with her dog Cupcake. I'm really glad I have all these pictures. I'm known in my family as the picture keeper. I have over 20 large photo albums and many more digital pictures saved on disks, photo bucket and in my email but I still like the printed pictures the best. I like photo albums that I can take out and share the pictures with others. My daughters likes them too and she told me when she gets older she wants to inherit all my pictures, which is fine with me. I'm glad to hear someone else wants to carry on what I've been doing. 

—A member of @NescafeUSA Tasters

A New Scrapbook Page- Hamsters

I have so many loose pictures laying around, especially since my mother passed away and I inherited all her pictures. I've been putting some in scrapbooks and some in albums and I've got about 400 pictures put away at this point. 

But while I was doing all that I cam across a few pictures of the hamsters we've had as pets and knew I had some fun scrapbook pages, cardstock, cut outs ect.. in my bag. so I put this page together the other day and wanted to share it with you. 

This was Sniffy, he was such a character. he was the most lovable little hamster. 

I thought the 'fleas' thought bubble went really well with the look on his little face. 

This is what the whole page looks like.

As you can see, we've had quite a few hamsters. 

I found a tiny picture of Buster, our big hamster and put a small cupcake sticker in his paws. You can't really see if from this fuzzy picture, but it's adorable. 

This is Cuddles peeking out from atop a hamster cage. She loved the space on top and always made it her bed. I bought her from a pet store in the mall, even though I don't usually buy from pet stores. But the store was going out of business and she was going to be going to the shelter the next day. The thing is a few days after I brought her home...she gave birth to 5 healthy little babies. I didn't even know there were babies in the cage until I heard the squeaking. I kept all the babies their entire lives. 

We ended up with three boys and two girls. It was so much fun raising babies to adulthood. Cuddles was a great mama. 

—A member of @NescafeUSA Tasters

Memories of My Mother

I talk about my family all the time and since my mom will have been gone for a year next month I thought what better way to keep her memory alive than to share some of my memories of her throughout the month. 

The picture below is from quite a while ago, my daughter was only about 7 years old in this photo. That's me in red, my mom beside me in black, my step dad in front of me and my daughter. 

It was Christmas time and my mom wanted pictures taken, so we went and had some pictures taken. 

My mom and step dad didn't realize the photographer was going to take so many different pictures and she had only planned on buying 2 or 3 of the big 8x10's. But when she saw all the pictures he had made for us to look at, she couldn't make up her mind and didn't have the money to buy all of them, so I told her to pick out the one's she wanted to buy and I would buy the rest and give her the ones she wanted. 

I made her day that day. They really were nice pictures. 

Ocean Beauty- Danger of Leaving Seller Feedback On Amazon

I buy from Amazon all the time and have to tell you this is only the second time in many years that I've had a problem with a seller and this time it was  Ocean Beauty, on the site. I want to say right up front that this is in no way a reflection on Amazon, but on the private seller that I did business with on amazon.com. 

Click on pictures to enlarge.

I ordered this product on April 11th and was sent an email that it had been sent and I could expect it between April 17-20. I underlined how it says the package is 'In Transit" There was a tracking number and everything. Tracking Id 9400111201080442723186 as you can see.

This page has stayed like this since then and it is now May 18th and my order has since been canceled and refunded. I clicked on 'track package' and there were no details available. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and waited for a few extra days after the estimated delivery date and when I didn't get my package I sent them an email using amazon's 'contact seller' feature. 

As you can see in this picture I waited until May 3rd to send them an email because I was hoping they would send me an email if there was a problem or the package was mis-delivered. I was giving them the benefit of the doubt that there was just a hiccup somewhere and the package would get delivered since I had that email that said it had been mailed and was in transit. 

After contacting them because they didn't bother to contact me and I don't believe they ever would have, I got this email back from them. At first I thought it was a joke. If you don't know what I'm talking about, click on the image to enlarge it. Read the yellow underlined message they sent to me. It looks like a 9 year old wrote that. Completely unprofessional. 

But as you can see, it does say that they tried to call me (no they didn't) and that my package was lost in the mail. Meaning it had been mailed, right? Wrong! I called them and talked to Raquel and she told me that my package had never been mailed at all because they ran out of stock and didn't have what I ordered and they would like to refund my money.

I was fine with that. It took about 5 days and my credit card was refunded. I thought that was the end of it. I was wrong.

You can plainly see others have been leaving bad feedback for them, I'm not the only one. My feedback is the one on the bottom by Mary K. 

Here's a better look at my feedback. You can also see I left really good feedback for a company that gave me really good service, even when there was a little mix up with the order. 

You would think that would be the end of it, right? You can see I left my feedback on May 14th...not 5 minutes after I left that feedback...they called me. That's right, the company I left bad feedback for, called me and asked me to take down my bad feedback and if I agreed to remove it, they would send me a free bottle of what I ordered...when they found one. The man I talked to, hardly spoke English and it was hard to understand what he was saying, but I did understand he told me that they were moving to a new warehouse and he knew they had another bottle of the product I ordered 'somewhere in their warehouse' and when they found it they would send it to me for free. I said ok and thank you. I thought that was the end of it. It wasn't. 

On the 16th, I received another call from Raquel. The same woman I had talked to the first time on the phone. She asked me to take down my bad feedback and if I did they would send me a free bottle of another product since they don't have the one I wanted. But could I please take the bad feedback down now. 

I told her no. That if I actually was sent the free product, I would take my bad feedback down. That was not good enough for her. She said she would send me a tracking number so I knew I was really getting it and if I got the tracking number, would I please take down the bad feedback. I said no, not until I received the product in the mail. 

So I was sent an email with a tracking number and the day after it was sent I saw a package was really sent to me. I waited for the package knowing I wasn't going to get what I had originally ordered but something was better than nothing and they were trying to make up for their mistakes. 

I received a package a few days later with something similar to what I had originally ordered and so I took my bad feedback down as I had agreed to. So after 40 days, 2 emails, and 3 phone calls I finally received a product from the company I ordered from, it wasn't the product I had wanted but it was something and it ended up being free. Well, free except for my time, my energy and the stress of having to put up with a company calling me and badgering me to take down my feedback of their company and the lousy customer service I received. 

When my package came I noted the return address. You can clearly see the return address and the replacement free product they sent to me. I blacked out my own address but not my name.

                                  It says Deals Trading, 15 Fred Eller dr. Monsey, ny 10952-3902

So I looked it up online and found this website about it and a map. Now if I click on the map....it sure looks like a house, not a big company building. It says on the website that they have 1-5 employees. That tells me something, this whole incident tells me something and I don't think  have to spell it out for you.

I made this blog post because it is my opinion that had I not contacted them that first time, they would have kept my money and sent me nothing. No product, no email saying they were sorry, no refund and no free product. After talking with Raquel on the phone that first time and her offering a refund, there was no mention of getting a replacement product for free or asking if there was some way they could make up their mistake to me. 

No, it was only after I left bad feedback for their company that they started calling me asking if they could send me a free product and only if I took down my bad feedback. I feel I was bribed. But I agreed to take down the feedback if they sent me the product they offered to, in hindsight I would not make that mistake again, but neither will I go back on my word once I gave it. 

In Conclusion:

I made this blog post because I want anyone to know who is going to be doing business with Ocean Beauty on amazon.com to beware. They are unprofessional, unreliable, and you might not get the product you ordered. If you leave them bad feedback you could also get harassed like I was. So make sure to look at the seller's feedback from other's who have bought from the sellers before doing business with them.

A New Dish

Chili Noodle Casserole

I had decided to try out a few new recipes and this was one of the first. It consisted of boiled shells, browned hamburger meat, 2 cans of no bean chili, a can on stewed tomatoes and a cup of mozzarella cheese. Then I baked it for 20 minutes until the cheese was melted. It was a big hit with the family. 

—A member of @NescafeUSA Tasters

RIP Jasper

My beautiful Jasper passed away yesterday.

Jasper was my laid back, cuddly boy who loved to be cuddled and kissed on the face. Jasper loved to sit next to us on the couch where he would lay on us and eye boggle and give kisses. He would just stay close, clean himself or brux and boggle, or look around. Because he was so laid back and gentle, I would usually take him out to show to new people and he loved the attention. It didn't take much behind the ear petting to get him boggling. A few days ago, Jasper started slowing down for no apparent reason.

On his last day he was snuggling with his brothers, because that's where he seemed most comfortable and happy. As I was watching him in the cage he started to seem restless and his breathing became more labored. All of a sudden, Jasper ran down the ladder and to the cage door, making a line straight for me. I saw the urgency in him and picked him up and sat down. I was sitting there with him, just petting him gently and talking to him. I found "the spot" behind his little ear and I got a short, sweet boggle out of my boy... our last one together. I feel so fortunate that I was able to be home with him when he passed and it's obvious to me that he knew how much he was loved since he wanted to be held.

I had him on antibiotics for the past week, but the upper respiratory infection it seems got the better of him.

Jasper was my big boy, the biggest rat I've ever had or seen. He was always ready to come out for a snuggle and I am really going to miss our snuggle time together. 

Jasper being Jasper. He was so lovable and so laid back. 

Jasper laying on the food bowl. Or at least trying too. I don't think he knew he didn't fit. lol He scooped all the food out of the bowl first too. Silly boy. 

What ya doing mama.

My beautiful boy posing for the camera. 

He was so laid back, he even let me dress him for Easter with some bunny ears. 

He was such a sweet little guy, my heart is broken right now and I'll be taking some time off the computer for a few days. I'll be back in a few days.

Memories of My Mom

Happy Mother's Day

Because it's Mother's Day I wanted to share a memory of my mom today.

My mom passed away last June and it seems like it just happened. It doesn't seem like it's almost been a year. I have a lot of great memories of my mom and wanted to share some of them, so several times over the next month I am going to share a great memory I have of my mother. One of the best was one time my mom and dad, Uncle Jack and his wife took me and my little brother to Big Bear Lake in California and my mom saw a stray dog wandering around near our cabin. So she started leaving the left over dinner for him and after a day or so he got comfortable with her and she would be outside petting him after dinner.

We really didn't think much of it or pay attention to the dog for the first couple of nights. My uncle Jack was too busy sending my brother and I on snipe hunts.  They both got me good one night by taking me out in a field late one night with a plastic bag and spoon and telling me to take the spoon and try to catch the snipes in the bag. I bent down to do that and they turned the flashlights off and stood out there giggling at me freaking out.

When we got back to the cabin, my mom was outside feeding the dog again and I went inside the cabin for a minute.

My mom called me outside and was petting the dog and it came and sat down next to us on the stairs. My dad and uncle came out and stopped really suddenly and told my mom and I to get back in the cabin. My mom looked at them like they were crazy until my uncle said, Peggy...that's a wolf.

My mom and I were sitting on the stairs petting a wolf, or at the very least a wolf/dog mix. He was friendly though. We got up and walked back in the cabin where my dad and uncle freaked out. But my mom was laughing and fed the wolf/dog every night while we were there. We just didn't sit with him on the stairs again.

This is my mom and my hubby Ken, outside our apartment complex from just a couple of years ago.

Happy Mother's Day Mom

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Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered my $10 Starbucks Gift Card Giveaway. 

Amber! Who's email begins with awal....

I'll be contacting you soon for your mailing address. 

Thanks again to everyone who entered. 

I'm A Very Happy Girl Today

I went to check out my Yahoo Contributor Profile and see how my articles are doing. Imagine my surprise to find a shiny new Badge on my profile, a Hot 500 Badge! There are thousands of contributors (writers) on the site, so to be one of the top 500 for last month and get the badge is a real high point for me.

I've been a member of the Yahoo Contributor Network (Formerly known as Associated Content) since 2006 and this is the first time I've received this badge, so you can imagine my surprise, shock and excitement. And yes, I took a screen shot of it on my profile page. lol The badges are given out each month so I might not have it next month, but I have it right now! Look at my pretty red badge.

I mostly write articles about small exotic animals such as gerbils, hamsters, rats and mice but have other articles about rabbits, dogs, whales and pigs. I have also written an informative article about what Wicca is and my thoughts on ebooks vs Traditional books. I was also interviewed a while back on SOS Aloha about my articles. 

If you read my articles, let me know what you think and if you have any questions about small animals and their care just ask. I'll do my best to answer your questions.

New Necklace I made

I decided to make some new jewelry with some of the loose stones I had in my beading kit. I used semi precious stones and small gold tone beads as spacers. It's been a while since I sat down and made a new necklace but I have so much beading material I may as well use it.

—A member of @NescafeUSA Tasters