Happy Halloween

Do You Keep Old Halloween Costumes?

This past week was strange for me because I gave my daughter the 3 boxes that I had been saving for her, they were filled with her baby stuff. Things like her first blanket, toothbrush, brush, onesie, all the things that she came home from the hospital with including the outfit she came home in and her first halloween costumes.

My daughter is 21 years old and 6 months pregnant with her first child. So I thought it would be a good time to give her these boxes I had saved for her for the past 20 years. I had forgotten about some of the things I had put in these boxes. Things like the tiny Tiger costume and tiny cowgirl costume I bought for her. she is having a boy so I don't think she'll be using the cowgirl costume but the Tiger costume could be for a boy. I thought it was funny the different things I put in this box and I put a letter detailing each of the things in the box, who bought them for her and when and a little letter to her. I was so sappy back then. lol

I remember when I was a kid about 7 years old, my mom bought me one of those plastic costumes that smelled like plastic and had a mask that was held on your head by a rubber band. It was too big  so it fit me for a few years. I wore the heck out of that costume each year. It's the only costume I ever remember having as a kid. I kinda wish I had it...

I Have A New Article Published

Have you ever wondered why rats sleep in some of the positions they do. Take for instance the picture of Hades in the above picture. He sleeps on his side or on his back because he feels safe and comfortable. 

If you'd like to read my article about why rats sleep in different positions, you can read it here. 

Make Your Own Rats Toys

When I first adopted my 4 rats three years ago I bought some fleece houses, hammocks, and beds. They didn't chew the hammocks but the 2 houses I bought had some stuffing in them and as you can see from the picture above they completely shredded it. 

I paid $20 for this fleece house so I wasn't all that thrilled that they tore it to shreds. But they seemed to have fun doing it and I left it in the cage for a while, even after the entire bottom half was gone because they shredded it the way they wanted and slept in it. Crazy rats. 

But this brings up a really good question. What should you buy for your rat cage and what can you just make yourself. 

I found that when I bought cases of soda and put the empty cardboard boxes in their cage with a few holes cut in the sides so they could get in and out, they loved it! They slept in it, played in it and jumped on it until it was flat and I had to take it out. When they were babies I could put cereal boxes in their cage and they still fit in them, they are too big for that now but now all rats get as big as mine have gotten. I have 3lb rats. lol 

As you can also see from the picture above I had cheap hard plastic food bowls to put their seed mix in. They love to spread that seed mix all over the cage but you can save money by putting in just enough of the seed mix each day that they will eat. 

Also instead of buying chew toys, just boil beef bones and give to your rats. They will love the little bits of meat left on it and the bones themselves with be great for chewing on. Do not give chicken or pork bones...just beef bones.

If you would like to read about other ways to stretch your rat budget, read my article. 

Have You Been Ghosted?

I recently heard of getting Ghosted and had no idea what it was. So I looked it up and found this info. When you get Ghosted or you want to Ghost someone else all you do is get two paper lunch sacks, fill them with halloween goodies like candy, window clings, a card, toys...pretty much anything for Halloween and add either the poem and picture above or the picture and poem below. 

Then they are supposed to do the same thing to two of their neighbors and pretty soon the entire neighborhood has been ghosted! How cool is that?

If you can't read what this picture says, just click on it for a larger image. 

Small Rants and Starbucks Gift Card Giveaway!

This contest is now closed. The winner has been contacted and responded. 

So here's the giveaway. I am giving away a $25 Starbucks gift card to one lucky commenter. All you have to do to be entered is comment on this post and leave your email address. On November 13th, I will draw a name and contact them through the email address they leave. You will have 24 hours to respond to my email or I will draw another name. 

Now for my little rant. 

3 months ago I was asked to be a guest blogger on a blog and I agreed to do it. I wrote a lengthy blog post, linked to some books and sent it to her. After several days of not hearing anything from her I emailed her to make sure she got my email...2 more days and she finally responds to tell me yes she did that it will be up soon. 

So I wait for a month and nothing... It was supposed to go up sometime that month, it never did. I emailed her again and asked when it would be up, because I had already bought the gift card that I was going to be giving away in my guest post. She said she had things going on and she was busy and didn't know when it would go up...all the while other people's posts are going up on her blog, she's posting all over twitter and playing on fb all the time. She was not too busy to do all that. 

So I waited another 2 weeks and emailed her again...and again...to ask about my post...she never responded to me. So by now it's been 3 damn months since it was supposed to go up and I have had it. If she decides to post it now, I will not respond to her and not honor our agreement to give away this gift card. I think I gave her more than enough time and sent more than enough emails. 

So now you all get a shot at winning this gift card. 

Freebie Friday

Each week I share with you the free samples and products I've received and tell you where you can sign up to get free samples too. This week I received two free samples. 

Dove Deodorant sample.

John Freida Root Awakening Sample.

I found the link for the free Dove deodorant at Target Sample Spot.

I found the link for the free John Freida Root Awakening sample at Hey It's Free.

Squirrels and Pumpkins

You have to watch this...it's the cutest thing ever.

Bullying

The other day my mom's friend told me that her granddaughter's best friend committed suicide because she had been bullied for a long time. It was then that I thought about making a post about my own experiences as a teen and being bullied, but it took me a few days to think of what to say. I mean did I really want to relive that time in my life?

In that picture above I am with my younger brother, I was 16 and he was 14. I picked this picture and this age because by the time I reached 16, I had had enough of being bullied, being made fun of, being picked on and put down that I started standing up for myself. I pretty much woke up one day and said enough, I'm not living like this anymore. 

In Elementary school I was chubby, shy and awkward. I was made fun of because I was shy, was chubby and had long hair. I was called tubby, fatty, rapunzel, and geek. 

I spent most of my free time in the girls bathroom, crying...during recess and lunch time. I didn't have a lot of friends and the friends I did have were also picked on for being chubby and awkward. 

By the time I got to high school I was used to being picked on, but Freshman year instead of taking a regular PE class I opted for ROTC and Weight Lifting class. I dropped a few pounds, had a sense of confidence I hadn't had before and when I realized I was able to press 200lbs with my legs...I became more confident and less awkward. 

After that first year of high school, things changed a little for me. I was no longer the short fat, gawky kid I had been and I wasn't going to let anyone push me around anymore. I stood up for myself and for the most part..that's all I had to do. Bully's don't like to be make fun of someone who will fight back. They are weak in that way. They pick on the weak, awkward and those who won't fight back. Once you start standing up for yourself, bully's are less likely to make you their target. 

Then one day, I was walking around in the courtyard during Lunch break and one of the girls who used to mercilessly pick on me in Middle school saw me and came over to me with her friends. She started calling me all the names she used to and even went to far as to put her hands on me and push me when I got up to walk away. She was at least 4 inches taller than I was. I'm still only 5'6" but I knew if I didn't stop her from thinking she could push me around..it was just going to start up again. 

So I threw down my backpack and pushed her back. Now don't get me wrong, I don't advocate violence..but sometimes you have to stand up for yourself. 

Her friends egged her on and she came at me again. She was mad because I made her look bad in front of her girls. She hit me right in the face. I wasn't expecting that really, but I figured if she was going to go that route..so was I. I punched her, broke her nose, gave her a black eye and she lashed out..grabbed my dangling earrings and pulled. Ripping out the second piercing in each ear. The teachers came and broke us up right then. We both went to the hospital. She had a broken nose and a big black eye and I got a few stitches in each ear to close the wounds left by her pulling out my earrings. I ended up with a black eye as well from her punching me. 

We both got 2 weeks suspension for fighting,,,but when I got back to school...funny thing happened..I was never picked on again. I think it was because the bully's knew I would fight back. 

When I had a daughter and she started getting picked on in Middle school, I told her to stand up for herself. When that didn't work with one girl, I stopped her outside and told her to leave my daughter alone or I would pay her another visit and next time wouldn't be as pleasant. Yeah, probably not the smartest thing to do but she didn't bully my daughter again. 

Kids have always bullied, they probably always will. That saying about how things get better...it does. If it's not looking like it will anytime soon, find a way to make sure it does. Take a karate class, go to the gym and learn to defend yourself. Don't take the bullying lying down. I know this is not what most people would tell those being bullied to do, but I know from first hand experience that bully's don't pick on people who defend themselves. They pick on the weak, the shy and those who sit and take it. 

This bully situation needs to be dealt with. if you see someone being bullied, stop it. Don't let someone being pushed into a corner and do nothing about it just because you don't know the kid. The more bully's are pushed back and stopped the more there will be less bully's. 

Too many kids are committing suicide because they don't see any other way of getting away from the bully's...try this method and see if it works. Stand up to the bully's.

Horror Movies

Recently someone asked me if I had seen a particular movie, it was a comedy and when I said I really don't care for comedies, he looked at me like I was crazy. But the fact is, if I'm going to watch a movie it's going to be something I like...which most times would be a Horror movie. This..the original Fright Night is my favorite movie of all time.

There are other movies that I like and for the most part they are either psychological thrillers, horror or slasher type movies. There are certain movies that I like and ones that I don't like. I don't like comedies because I don't find them funny, for the most part I find them ridiculous.

I like a lot of the old or older Horror movies and some of the newer ones as well. Movies like ...

Carrie
Nightmare On Elm Street
Halloween
Dracula
The Fly
Poltergeist
Candyman
Gingersnaps
Saw
Queen of the Damned
Near dark
Dracula 2000
Alien
Silence Of The Lambs


Those are just a few off the top of my head. So the month of October has to be my favorite because Horror movies are shown all month on so many channels. My DVr has been working over time this month.

Caring For Our Older Furbabies

These are three of my furbabies. The black and white one is Hades and peeking out right under him is Ares and on the left was Jasper. I lost Jasper earlier this year and I still miss him. I have two old rats right now, Hades and Ares are both 3 years old and the average life span of a rat is between 3-4 years, so my boys are old men. 

I wrote an article on caring for older rats that you can find here. So many of my friends who have rats have lost their pets to old age here recently and it makes me sad to realize that my boys are getting older and probably won't be around to many more years. Both Hades and Ares are in good health and are spoiled rotten. Healthy rats are always good when they start getting older. 

Of course they have slowed down quite a bit, but that's to be expected in older male rats because male rats are known to be much lazier than female rats. Male rats are known as lap rats or cuddle rats because they usually love cuddles and just laying around on you, in your lap or next to you on the couch. 

Hades likes to come out and sit with us but Ares has always been a bit more stand offish. Ares would rather you give him a little pet while he's inside his cage, then give him a treat and be on your way. lol 

Taking care of an older rat or any animal is pretty much the same. You make sure they are comfortable, healthy as possible, not in pain, and that they can get to their beds, food, water with ease. 

My boys cage is a two story and they have to walk up a ramp in order to get to the second story and while they do it more slowly than they did when they were younger, they can still make it up the ramp when they want to, so for now It'll stay in the cage. If at anytime they become wobbly while walking, I will take the ramp out and make sure everything is on the bottom. Right now I have two water bottles in the cage so they can get a drink whether they are on the top or the bottom and a soft bed on both floors. 

As pet parents it's our job to make sure our fur babies are comfortable when they get older.

Sharing Rat Pictures

I was looking through some old pictures of my boys and decided even though I know I shared some of these pictures with you all before, I wanted to share them again. 

This is Hades, this boy sleeps really easily and soundly and so my daughter took a couple of pictures of him while he was holding a little toy duck. 

This was Brodie. The face he is making is this picture just makes me smile. This guy was such a character. 

Hades has his foot on Jaspers face. Jasper could not have cared less, he just layed there like that. 

Jasper and hades always slept together before Jasper passed away. They curled up with each other like this all the time. 

hades fell asleep like this in my daughter's hand. As long as you pet him, he's a happy boy. 

Jasper and Ares. Jasper is on the right, he was the biggest rat I've ever had. 

And Jasper posing with bunny ears for Easter. I gave him a little treat and he happily sat there eating it. 

Hades with bunny ears. They didn't even care as long as they were getting a treat or being petted. 

My daughter made those bunny ears and he sat there looking at her like, "Ok, I posed, where's my treat." 

This was one of my first rats, Oreo. This was his favorite place to sleep. 

Hades and Jasper. I swear Hades can sleep anywhere. 

Freebie Friday

This week and Freebies were light, but I received Downy Unstopables sample and Kneipp Herbal Bath sample. Both smell really good. 

I find most of the freebies I receive from Hey It's Free. They have a great site for free samples and the guy that runs the site is quite funny. 

How To Give A Rat Baytril Antiobiotics

When you have a pet rat there are certain medications that you should have on hand in case your pet needs them in an emergency. I'm going to tell you about some of those medicines. The first one is Amoxicillin. This medicine you have to get from your vet and you should know that some vets won't give you Amoxicillin because they learn in veterinarian school that it can kill guinea pigs and hamsters and will generalize this to all rodents, but it works well for rats. 

Your vet will tell you the right dosage but you should either get the liquid or capsules so that you can easily mix the right dosage with some soy milk, baby formula or something sweet so your rat will eat it. 

The second most important thing I will tell you to have on hand is Baytril, the generic name is Enrofloxacin. I have had several people ask me recently how to get this and other medications by mail without a veterinarians prescription and vet bill.  It's available here. If you can't find it just do a Google search for Enrofloxacin liquid, you'll most likely find it cheapest at Bird Supply websites. 

Because most places don't make medications specifically for rats we have to take the same medications labeled made for other animals like pigeons, horses and ferrets and adjust the dosage to work with rats. 

To use Baytril (Enrofloxacin) liquid with rats you will need to buy the liquid and mix it with something sweet to eat or drink. The dose for 10% liquid is 0.1 ml/lb BID

I figured that out to be two drops of the Baytril twice a day for my 2 lb rats. 

This works well for rats who have mycoplasma. So if your rat is sneezing, wheezing or having a hard time breathing you should start them on Amoxicillin first and then Baytril. But if you can't get to a veterinarian's office and have Baytril on hand start giving it to them. Give them this for 6-8 weeks. My little guy Brodie got a little better after giving him Baytril but his lungs were weak and so I gave him the Baytril for a year, which helped him quit a bit. Sometimes they will get scar tissue in their lungs from an upper respiratory infection and their lungs will never be the same. All you can do in this case is make them as comfortable as possible while they are with you.  

Of course if you feel better taking your rat to the vet's office please feel free to do so. This is just general help and information that I've found out from my own vet and other rat parents that have helped me out when I needed it. 

Another thing to have on hand is Ivermectin paste. This tube of paste is made as a horse wormer but it can be easily used to treat rat lice and mites and you can find it in most pet stores. I found it in Petsmart. When I saw that two of my rats had rat lice, I bought this paste and gave it to them and it got rid of the rat lice. It does not kill the mite eggs though so you do have to give them one dose each week until the mites are gone. 

Dosage instructions for Ivermectin paste: Mix a small amount the size of a grain of uncooked white rice of the Ivermectin paste with something sweet and let your rat lick it off a spoon, once a week for 3 weeks.

Important: Only give what would be the size of a grain of uncooked rice. More could make your rat very sick or even kill them. 

I ordered this from Amazon at this link.

My Week In Review

So this past week we had some excitement in my neighborhood and here you can kinda see the police helicopter up over my apartment complex. They were there because there were out searching for 2 guys that held up my next door neighbors at gunpoint. These two guys live right next door to me and after they had all their computers and phones taken, they came over to my apartment and asked to use my phone to call the police because they had just been held up at gunpoint. 

I don't know if the bad guys were caught. 

Last week we also had 3 days of thunderstorms and one night we even had hail. 

We had pea sized hail that covered the ground for about 30 minutes. The thunder and lightning were crazy and loud but of course my hubby Ken was right out there watching the lightning. We hardly ever get thunderstorms of this magnitude and he loves the lightning. 

So that was my excitement for the week.

Halloween At My House

I thought I would share some of the spooky decorations we put up this year. My daughter did most of the decorating this year because she wanted to. She loves Halloween just as much as I do. 

This is my Friday the 13th cabin and Jason Vorhees figurines. 

And something cute. 

Scary Rat

I made this pumpkin tree a few years ago. 

Do you decorate for Halloween?

What DId We Do Before Blogging?

Back before the computer, *sigh* I know some of you can't even remember back that far because that was before you were born, but for us older folks we can remember what it was like.

If I wanted to talk with someone in another state I had to call them and run up my phone bill or send them a letter, *you remember those things hand written on paper with a pen, right?* and wait a few days for a response. While I lived in West Virginia and my mom lived here in Nevada, it would take 5 days for a letter to get to her, a couple of days for her to write me back and another 5 days to send a response back to me. That's 12 days all together just to get a response to a letter... I don't think kids understand that these days.

Now I can write a blog post and reach thousands of people all over the world each day. I wrote this today because I looked at my stats counter and I just passed 200,000 page views here on my blog and that amazes me because while I don't get a lot of comments, I can see that people are reading what I write everyday. Without that stat counter I would be asking, "Is anyone reading these darn posts?"

Before blogging I hardly interacted with other people, I'm actually very introverted and even as a teenager I didn't have much to say. *I know! What teenager do you know that doesn't talk non-stop all the time?* But online I am either writing blog posts, talking with people on fb, being interviewed for other blogs...which frankly I think is awesome! Or I am leaving comments on other blogs and making friends with people I never would have met otherwise.

I'm a freelance writer and having a blog and an internet presence is considered a marketing tool for many writers. I happen to like that end of things, I can bring my articles to people who may not have seen them or even know that I write them.

So I wanted to say a big thank you to all of you who read my blog, even if you don't comment I can see that you come here and read what I have to say as my stat counter gets higher. And to those of you that do comment, thank you so much I really like reading the comments you leave me.

Christmas Card Exchange

I just signed up for the Christmas Card Exchange over at Close Encounters with the Night Kind. Would you like to exchange Christmas cards with new people? Just heard over to their site, sign up for 1 or more cards to exchange and they will email you with the addresses of the people to send cards to. Sounds like fun!

10 Things That Made Me Smile This Month

I've had a pretty good month so far and for me that saying something. So I thought I would share with you the top ten things that made me smile this month.


#10
It has finally cooled off enough that I can put away my shorter sleeve shirts and pull out a few long sleeve shirts. I won't be wearing them until next month but I can pull them out of the closet.

#9
It's cooler in the evenings so not only will our power bill be lower but we can take the window air conditioner out of the bedroom and leave the window open.

#8
My daughter went to the doctor and everything looks good with her pregnancy. I'm excited to see my grandson in a few months.

#7

Finally!

I preordered this book like 6 months ago, back before it even had a cover image. I love this series and will keep reading it as long as she keeps writing books for it. 

#6

New fall shows. Can you say Vampire Diaries and Supernatural? Oh yes, 

#5

Halloween decorations. My daughter pulled out the boxes and decorated our apartment on the 1st. 

#4

Halloween Candy. Oh now come on, you know you are eating some too. lol 

#3

Horror Movies all month long. I think this is probably my favorite month of the year because there are always some sort of scary movie on at night and I love that, I've been watching them all month long and my daughter has been watching some of the older ones right along with me. 

#2

The smells of Autumn. The candles smell like pumpkin spice or licorice and there are any number of sprays that smell like cinnamon spice, nutmeg, pumpkin pie ect. 

#1

My daughter holding Ares while he eats a piece of a cookie. My two ratty boys always make me smile and they have ever since I brought them home. My daughter loves them both so much and they love her as you can tell. He's a happy camper right there.

Freebie Friday

So this past week I entered a blog contest at Like A Bump On A Blog and was a winner of these two full size bottles of Lice Shield Shampoo and Leave in spray. 

Now I was kinda excited because my grandson will be going to school in like 6 years...lol But as we all know kids love to bring home things like colds, lice, germs, chickenpox ect from school. So when I heard that this company makes a shampoo that actually repels lice, I was kinda excited about that. 

It's a fact...when I was in 2nd grade my entire class got lice from one of the kids in the class. I remember the hell I went through having my long hair combed and the smell of that medicated shampoo was god awful. So if there's something on the market that can prevent lice from coming home with a kid, I'm all for it. 

Manscaping

I didn't even know what this word, "Manscaping" meant until I watched an episode of Big brother and watched some of the girls Nair off Ian's arm pit hair. The girls thought the au natural look was gross and that he needed a shave under there.

Since when do men shave their underarms?

Then the other day I was watching an episode of Jersey shore with my daughter. Now before you ask, no I do not under any circumstances watch that show myself..*shivers* My daughter wanted to watch it and I just happened to be in the same room. lol

But the thing is one of the guys on the show was shaving his chest. Now when did it become a big no no to have chest hair?

Do men shave their legs too?

When did that start?

I remember a few years ago when the term, "metrosexual" was being used for men who waxed their eyebrows so they wouldn't have that unsightly unibrow. Or the men would go and get a manicure. I think we all like clean nails. But when did it go from having clean clothes and clean nails to, "Oh I think I'll wax all the hair off my testicles today."

O.o

I mean seriously, who decided that men and some women should be as hairless as a newborn baby? I can understand the porn stars shaving because really, no one wants to see the 70's style overgrown jungle bush's that people used to sport back then. I little trim is one thing, but to be completely bare?

Were too many people getting pubic hairs stuck between their teeth and becoming embarrassed when someone pointed it out like a little spinach between the teeth?

I happen to like a furry man. I knew a guy who had a thick pelt covering pretty much everything from the neck down and he didn't shave a thing. He did trim his nether regions but just trim. His body hair was so soft, it was like petting a cat. lol

I like seeing a little bit of chest hair on a guy, I think it's sexy. I don't know why some guys are shaving, plucking and waxing areas that men never used to shave, plunk and wax. What's up with that?

I Have A New Articfle Published

Rats: Debunking Common Misconceptions

I'm sure everyone has heard that rats carry the plaque, are vermin, are dirty and freak a lot of people out. But the fact is rats did not carry the plague, the fleas that were on the rats did. The fancy rats that we keep as pets are not vermin, but their cousins: the wild rats that can be found in New York City subways could be considered vermin. Rats are not dirty, they spend much time cleaning and taking care of themselves, much like a cat does.

While rats do freak some people out, they are also growing as a popular pet in many circles. There are rat rescues, rat shows, rat groups, rat forums, rat havens and people who spend their time breeding healthy rats and making sure they are given to responsible rat owners in the hopes that healthy lines of rats will live longer and not be so prone to tumors and lung problems that come from 'accidental' or bred rats from the same families.

If you'd like to read more misconceptions about rats, please click on the link at the top of this page.

Why Do Car Seats Expire

Finding out that I'm going to be a grandma has made me take a look at things I thought I knew about. Turns out that things have changed in the last 21 years since I was a new mother. One of the biggest changes I've noticed is that car seats now have an expiration date on them. I don't remember anything about that back when I bought my first car seat.

So I looked into it and found that there are good reasons for car seats having expiration dates.

Materials Wear Down- Have you ever left a plastic toy out in the heat of the sun over the summer and go to pick it up after 3 months only to find the plastic part is now brittle and cracked from the sun damage? Well that's the same sort of thing that happens to a plastic car seat after having been left in the car for years. The extreme hot and cold temperature changes will change the composition of the plastic, making it brittle and putting tiny micro cracks into the seat. so if you have a car crash the car seat could completely crumble, or crack apart leaving your baby vulnerable and possibly hurt.

Technology Gets Better-  Like I said, back in 1990 things were different and a lot of the new latches, restraints and materials were not available back then, things change and get better. That's another reason for the expiration dates on car seats, as technology improves the car seat safety also improves. I would rather get rid of an old car seat and buy a newer safer one that take the chance my grandson could be hurt with the older one.

How Long Are Car Seats Good For- From what I have read most car seats expire 6 years from the manufacture date. Now this is important because some people will wait a year and buy last years model hoping to get it for cheaper. But it will expire sooner also and you should keep that in mind. Some models don't expire for 10 years but that's rare and you have to read what the owners manual says about that. The expirations date will be on the manufacturers label on the bottom or sides of the car seat.

For those of you that didn't know about this I hope this information helps.

Halloween Candy

This is my daughter back when she was younger and went trick or treating. She was a Southern bell that year and I have to say I think this was probably one of my favorite costumes that she picked out. She was so cute! 

Now take a look at that pumpkin that held the candy. We would spend at least 2-3 hours trick or treating and some years we had to come back home, grab a snack, get a drink, dump out the candy she already had because the pumpkin head was full and head back out for more. Now I could only last out there for a maximum of 3 hours and she knew that so she went to as many doors as possible in 3 hours and many time we filled that pumpkin head up two times. That's a lot of candy let me tell you. 

Her father and I would raid the candy bowl after she went to sleep and she was none the wiser. lol And then she got older and wised up to what we did. 

When she was 11 years old she brought out the big candy bowl that we usually put all the candy in after we checked it and then she also brought out a grocery sack and told us that we could have any of the candy in the bowl but the stuff in the sack she wanted for herself. LOL

Now you might think we got mad, we didn't. It took a set of balls  courage to tell us that and we thought it was kinda funny actually after raiding her candy bowl for years. 

And now with my daughter being pregnant I get to watch her over the next few years stealing her own kids candy and one day looking at her and telling her that he's keeping the good stuff for himself. lol 

Ah, the circle of life.

Making Pewter Statues

I have tried all sorts of crafts over the years and when I received a packet in the mail one day about making my own pewter figurines, I sent in my check and received everything needed to make these figurines. 

Now, this was 15 years ago that I made these and I've looked for that particular company that sent this kit to me and I can't find them, so they must not exist anymore. But there are tons of pewter making kits available out there. In the kit I bought for $40 I received enough pewter to make 4 statues, the rubber molds, clamps,  the little pot and stove to melt the pewter in, the crystals and a bottle of chemicals I used on the darker wizard on top to make the pewter darker and look aged. 

I had fun using the kit and might even look into buying another one in the future. 

How To Pop Popcorn In A Paper Bag

You will need:

                                   Tape, 1 paper bag and 2 handfuls of loose popcorn.

Take 2 handfuls of the popping corn and add it to the paper bag. 

You don't need a lot. A little goes a long way. 

Next, take a piece of tape and fold over the top of the bag and secure it with a piece of tape. 

So that it looks like this. 

Put the bag in the microwave and let it go for about 3-5 minutes. 

Just like the bagged pop corn you buy. It's ready when the popping is 1-2 seconds apart. 

Carefully remove the bag from the microwave and open. 

Those 2 handfuls of popping corn made all this popcorn. 

Of course I also had to show you what is on my refrigerator door. 

Rat chow sticker. 

5 small magnetic rats.

I have three different colors. 

Cute, eh?