Some of My Favorite Things

There are plenty of things that I love. Little things, big things and weird things.

Rats! Gotta love those little faces. 

My grandson and all of my family. 

Books! Can never have enough books. 

My husbands art work. He drew this free hand.

Arts and crafts. I made this dream catcher for Halloween. It has a little skull and grave stone on it. 

More of my husbands art work. He doesn't do a lot of this anymore so I really love the ones that he has finished. 

My crazy brother. lol 

  A few of my other favorite things would be chocolate truffles, good mexican food, a cool breeze, the smell of cotton candy and time to read without interruption.

27 days old

My grandson, Logan is 27 days old. 

I just love sharing his pictures. He's such a good baby too. He hardly ever cries and sleeps right after he eats. Such a cutie. 

Trying To Win Money For Dog Town

I entered Lucky into The Luckiest Pet Contest. 

If he wins a charity of my choice will also win $5000.00. I picked Down Town Canine Rescue because I've seen on tv the good that rescue place does. If the link doesn't take you to this picture of Lucky on the site please just search 'Lucky' in their search bar and click on his picture. The contest starts today at noon.

Please go and vote for lucky and leave comments, tell your friends and ask them to vote when the voting begins. It's for a great cause. If Lucky wins I will win a $500.00 Petco gift card, but I would really love to see Dog Town get this win, they really deserve it. They took in a lot of the Michael Vick fighting dogs and some of the dogs that can never be adopted out will have a home with them for the rest of their lives because they are a No Kill Rescue.

Update: The voting period will start on February 21 and visitors can vote once a day for animals throughout the contest, with the voting period ending March 18, 2013.

Voting is now LIVE! Please go and vote for Lucky. Thank you!

Dog Bites and Training

This is Cody, my dad's very large, very neurotic German Shepard. 

While we were all at my dad's house to celebrate his and my birthday's...a couple of family members went out in the yard with my dad and saw Cody. Cody didn't like it I guess and he bit someone. Not a really bad bite, but hard enough to break the skin and leave a puncture mark.

After he got used to people being in the yard, he was fine. He played with everyone, played catch and ran around. 

My dad with Cody the dog. 

He's a big dog and this is the second time he's bitten someone. The first time it was a plumber and thankfully when the guy sued him for getting bit on the butt...the home owners insurance paid the claim. 

My dad has to keep people away from the dog because he's never trained the dog and he's already proven twice now that he'll bite for no reason.He's a great guard dog for my dad and step mother but he needs to be trained and even though I've told him about training places at Petsmart and other places, my dad is 80 years old and just doesn't have it in him to do. 

My dad loves Cody and my husband even told my dad he would take him to be trained but he said he'll just make sure he keeps him away from people so no one gets bit. O.o I'm afraid since Cody is only 6 years old that he's gonna end up biting someone else and he'll get taken away because of it. 

My dad cleaning up after his dog left him a present. If I have any advice to someone who has a dog...it's make sure you train them if they have bad habits. Find a book, take a course, call a vet..do something. Don't just let your animal keep doing the bad behaviors they are doing or you could get sued or worst...the animal could really hurt someone and they could get taken from you. 

Happy 80th Birthday To My Dad

My dad and step mother. I took this picture 2 weeks ago. He looks pretty good for 80 years old, huh?

My dad and step mom sitting on the couch when they came over this month. My dad is 80 and gets around really well, he still drives himself around, does his own shopping and is in pretty good health. 

My dad seeing his Great-grandson for the first time. Logan was only a couple of days old  and my dad was afraid to hold him. lol awww But he sure liked seeing him.

Happy 80th Dad

Neighbors

If we are friends on Face Book you already know I've been having nothing but problems with my neighbors. I complain about them all the time. Well this week has been something else, let me tell you. New people have moved into the courtyard and right next door to me a couple moved in with their 3 small kids. Now don't forget these are 1 bedroom apartments. So that's a family of five living in a 1 bedroom apartment.

They bang on the walls, turn their music up really loud, slam their door, and...and..someone called the police on them the other day and when the police knocked on their door and said, "Knock knock Metro Police, Please open the door."

Silence.....

The police knocked again and announced who they were and again...silence..They would not answer the door. So the police left. You know why? Because unless they have a warrant, or a reason to think someone is hurt or they are investigating a crime..they can't make you open your door. I've seen this several times around here. *yeah I live in a great neighborhood*

A few minutes after the police left a friend of theirs knocked on their door and they opened it for him.

Ken had to go the other day and ask if they would turn down their music, the lady says that she was under the impression that during the day she could make as much noise as she wanted. Ken told her not if it's bothering your neighbors. I can just ell we are going to have all kinds of problems with these people.

They let their 8, 6, and 2 year old play unsupervised in the courtyard and on several occassions Ken and I have had to tell the kids not to throw rocks..we don't want our window broken.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too.

This week I received a couple of birthday freebies. One was a metal money clip from Copenhagen snuff. I signed up for an account with them back when Ken was smoking and they still send coupons and things like this on my birthday.

I also got a coupon for a free shake for my birthday from Del Taco.

There was a sample size tube of Arm & Hammer toothpaste and a sample of Loreal shapoo and conditioner. I found links for both of these samples at Freebie Shark.

My Latest Published Article

This is Ares and he's 3 1/2 years old. He also suffers from Hind Leg Degeneration, which means that his back legs don't work real well any more. Sometimes when a rat gets this they won't be able to move their back legs at all, Ares can still scoot his back legs a little but he drags himself around now, instead of walking. 

I wanted to help out other rat parents who might be dealing with this so I wrote an article. If you'd like to read it, just click on the link.

How To Help A Rat Who Has Hind Leg Degeneration. 

I hope it helps any pet parent out there who is dealing with this. Any animal can get Hind Leg Degeneration and it's good to know how to care for them when they can no longer care for themselves. 

Kroger Simple Truth Organic Products

A few days ago I told you about the free products and coupons I received from BzzAgent. Well, I'm back again to let you know what I thought of some of the other products I tried after getting them with the free coupons at my local grocery store. 

I had free coupons for Vanilla Almond Milk, Mixed Berries and Natural Vegetable Sticks. I wasn't sure about the taste of these products before trying them because they are organic and like so many others I sometimes associate organic with less taste or bad taste, but I was proven wrong.

I really like the Vanilla Almond milk, it's great over cereal and in my morning coffee. It's already sweet so there's no need to add extra sugar to my cereal or coffee. 

The package of frozen mixed berries are so good. I just took a handful out, ran them under warm water, dried them off and ate them as a snack. There's really nothing like fresh berries and these taste really fresh and good. 

I think my favorite product is the Natural Vegetable Sticks, they have a very crispy texture and remind me of a chip called Munchos. Munchos are one of my husbands favorite chips so when he tasted these Natural Vegetable Sticks he really liked them because they were so good. 

A To Z Blogging Challenge 2013

I signed up for the A To Z Blogging Challenge this year. I am #661 and am looking forward to participating for the first time. The A to Z Challenges is to post the letter of the alphabet every day during the month of April, with Sundays off for good behavior. Starting with A on Monday April 1st.

Whether you go with a theme or freestyle, your post must match the letter of the alphabet for that day. I heard about this for the first time last year when a few of my blogging friends were doing it and so when I saw that the sign ups were open I decided to try it to. If you would like to sign up and join me in this blogging challenge just go and sign up here.

It's My Birthday!

"Happy Birthday, Mommy. You can have my Duckie."

Yes, today I am 43 years old young. Some days though I feel much much older than what I am. I'm a grandma now, so that kinda makes me feel older..just having the moniker 'grandma' feels like it should belong to an older woman. lol 

So today I thought I would share with you 43 things I have learned from my time on this earth. 43 years is a long time and I think I can part with some knowledge from my time here. If you have anything to add, please do. 

1. Don't take life too seriously. We don't get out alive.

2. Breathe, you'll live longer. 

3. Try new things and if they're kinky, try them again. 

4. Get rid of the drama whores. 

5. Get rid of the psychic vampires. Those people who suck the life right out of you through guilt. 

6. Sing when you feel like it. Dance when you want others to notice how good your ass looks in those new jeans. 

7. Take responsibility for your actions and let others do the same. 

8. Kiss and be kissed often. 

9. Don't smoke. You don't want to end up sounding like you always have a bad case of bronchitis. 

10. Don't be afraid to say, No. 

11. Don't be stingy with the butter. 

12. use as much toilet paper as you need to. 

13. Don't act like you like football just to impress a guy. 

14. Smell the flowers. 

15. Don't be creepy. 

16. Don't 'dumb it down' if they can't keep up, leave them behind. 

17. Eat that chocolate when you want to. You might not be here tomorrow to enjoy it. 

18. If a man says to you, "I'll be quick." "You could try it just once." Oops, sorry for the slip." or "I'll just put the tip in." Leave him and find another. 

19. If the man you're dating has a nick name for his penis and he's not 12...find someone else. 

20. Sexual History...don't ask, don't tell. 

21. You should never say anything to a woman to make her think you think she is pregnant, unless you can see the baby emerging from her body. 

22. You will never kill all the cockroaches. In 20 million years and the earth is hurdling towards the sun at maximum speed, the roaches will be throwing a "we're going to live on the sun." party. 

23. There is a very fine line between a 'hobby' and hoarding. 

24. Animals love you unconditionally, which is probably why I love my animals so much. 

25. The more a person feel guilty, the more they will blame others for their failings. 

26. Sometimes you just need to let go of those around you who are brining you down. 

27. When everyone is telling you that you've done wrong or are about to do the wrong thing...listen to them, they are probably right. 

28. Sometimes no matter how much you want someone to be nice, mean people are assholes. 

29. People will kick you when you're down and those are the ones you need to kick back when you get up. 

30. After 43 years I finally have my head together and now my body is falling apart. 

31. Dad's will tell you the same story over and over again and expect you to laugh each time like you just heard it. 

32. The phone will always ring, while you're in the bathroom. 

33. Toddlers will find a way to get your attention. 

34. Don't stand up into a turning ceiling fan just to see if it hurts. It does. 

35. When you hear the toilet flush and hear a kid say, "Uh oh,." It's already too late. 

36. 5 year olds can make a stain out of crayons and glue that you will never get out of the carpet. 

37. Don't judge people by their relatives. My relatives are all crazy. 

38. Accept everyone. Never discriminate. 

39. When given a secret, keep it a secret. 

40. Things can always get worst. 

41. Life is so much simpler when you tell the truth. 

42. Play with your kids, the housework can wait. 

43. Be unique. 

Waxing

I got a flyer left on my door the other day that said one of the little salons in the area are having a special on waxing, bikini as well as eyebrows.

Now I've tried plucking my eyebrows a few times and it hurt! Seriously. So Now they are au natural as is the rest of me. *giggle*

I looked online about bikini waxing and most of the sites said the first few times would hurt and afterwards it wouldn't hurt as much. I don't see how that's possible. Plus you have to lay down on a table with all your lil bits just out there for someone to see and apply hot wax to.

Now I'm not into pain and if it really hurts and I start screaming...I wonder if they have a large muscled man in the back that will come out and knock you out...*I don't need a black eye along with my hurt patootie*...or if she would just tell you to suck it up and keep pulling wax from you...

In the end I decided to just throw the flyer away and stay away from any hot wax.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too.

This week I received a new Bzz Kit from BzzAgent. I received a free protein bar, Cucumber Melon soda, 3 coupons for free products and 20% off coupons.

You can sign up for BzzAgent and get Bzz kits too.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone. 


Hope you all get all the chocolate, hearts and other candy goodies you wanted. 

Romance Books

Well here we go again. I have something to rant about. Surprise surprise..that it was started by a guy online telling me that I shouldn't be doing something, namely reading that brain trash. Well, maybe I should just get down on my knee's right now and kiss his hairy feet for straightening me out. Yeah right! I'll get right on that. Sometime in my next life.

 It wouldn't be a "Mary" rant if there wasn't several extra layers of weirdness - in this case, the allegation that the reading of romance novels rots the female brain from the inside out...

Well here we are crawling through the algae ridden waters of the me me me pool cause someone pissed me off.....again. Yeah but too bad it's my blog. lol

All I can say to the men out there and some women too, is if you don't like what I'm reading too bad....You can sit on your ass and watch T.V. and let your brain rot for all I care... and do I care.? Not a chance.

 Do I care that you think what I'm reading is porn for women? Are you kidding me, I've come to love my porn.  I've been told that I should put more time into doing "other" things.

Well, that would put a damper on my porn reading, heavy breathing, hours and hours of peace and quiet since the only time I get anytime to myself is when I put the earphones on and pick up a book and tone everyone else out, which is not to say that if the room were on fire that I wouldn't get myself out. Everyone for his or herself right?

 My friend believes I should leave the romance books alone so more important goals can be achieved. Oh really? Like what? Should I be ironing and making sure supper is on the table like a good little wife? Don't make me slap you.

I'm sick to death of people talking about things they no nothing about. I hate it when some guy says to me" Oh, you read that crap?" Why yes I do. Have you ever read one? No? Then how do you know it's crap. Go away moron.

I don't think I'm completely right all the time, but this time about this I am. I don't make fun of people who like grizzly true crime novels. I myself like them. Just because you don't like or don't think you like something doesn't give your ignorant knuckle dragging self the right to make fun of it.

 Romance novel reading is one of my guilty pleasures. Don't try and tell me you don't have a guilty pleasure. I know you do. I read romance to escape, to get away from real life for a while. But Some men and women (can't leave them out and get the men all pissy) want the authors of romance novels to get more contemporary and have us "too stupid to read anything decent" women read more up to date books with a purpose. Frankly, I don't want to read about a man who gets Ebola but in the few hours he lives, falls in love with his nurse, only to give it to her too.

What would be the purpose to that you may ask.? Why thank you please do. The purpose would be to show how even a well educated woman (the nurse) when in love and in a romance novel, gets stupid and lets herself get Ebola. Yeah, As I've just proved my point this is why we aren't letting too many men write our romance novels.

 Oh and let's not forget those people who think All Werewolves, Were-Creature, Vampires and Zombies belong in horror novels. There is nothing wrong with a Vampire Romance or a Werewolf Romance novel. Frankly I like those the best.

Slayer: I Hate You

Here's a song out there for all those people you just can't stand...

Lyrics...

You were just a waste of sperm
They way you look
Makes my stomach turn
The way you think
Is no way at all

God you really think you have balls

I hate you Ain't it true
I hate you And everything you do

You walk around like a fucking dick
And every time you're near
You know I get real sick

You're so stupid
There's nothing in your head
God how I wish that you were dead

I hate you
Ain't it true
I hate you
And everything you do

What Irritates Me...

There are always things that irritate me...I get irritated on a daily basis and most times later that day I can laugh about it. But let's give this some thought...What really irritates you? Do noisy neighbors irritate you, they do me. I mean how rude can someone be, right?

What about kids at the movie theatre? Babies at the movies? Who in the 9th gate of hell takes their young baby to a movie where the speakers are going to be blasting only to get their kid crying and make everyone else in the theatre pissed off. Believe me, it's happened. Which is why I no longer got to the movies. I would rather pay $6 for On Demand and be able to eat what the hell I want and not have to listen to crying babies or have kids kicking the back of my chair.

But, there are people who bring little kids to loud, violent rated "R" films and then spend half the movie trying to calm down the terrified kid. Do they think this is a friggin playground? I would imagine that the very last person you want to piss off is someone watching a slasher movie and that, my stupid, breeding friends, is me! Take the kid outside - he obviously doesn't want to be here!

Now let's switch gears and talk about going to the store...People who get all dressed up to do a little grocery shopping and bring their kids with their crusty noses, dirt rings around their necks, faded dirty clothes with jello spots the size of a boulder right on the front, and bare dirt crusted feet. I consider this a form of child abuse. These parents should be horsewhipped.

Now I was watching Judge Judy the other day and my husband gets so mad at her when a defendant is trying to explain something and says, "Um." Then Judge Judy will says, "Um is not an answer". LOL

Hey the English language has taken a real beating in recent years with the advent of "liketalk"... I don't know what else to call it. What I thought was a passing fad - the typical American teenager's faddish interjection of the word "like" into every single sentence has become so rampant it is a disease. Even thirty year olds and business executives talk this way! "Like" is used not only as "um" is used, a chronic and useless interrupter - it actually takes the place of adjectives, nouns, imagination, intelligence, etc. etc. etc.

For instance, you no longer have to say,"She was furious at me.."You just say, "She was like "aaaaaghh! "No need for such tedious sentences as "He said, I'll take care of it." Now it's "He was LIKE I'll take care of it" So you see there's no past tense any more, there's just the pea-brained characterization of any event, any shade of meaning, past, present or future, relevant or irrelevant, as "LIKE" Now when you combine that with the word "ALL" and the incomprehensibly ever rising popularity of the word "shit", you have something approaching the deterioration of our daily discourse to the most atrocious and stupid sounding toilet talk:

Here goes!: Instead of: "Maggie told me last week how much he enjoyed the Music artist Aerosmith" She said he could listen to it all day and not get tired of it..." We now can say, "Aerosmith?" "Maggie was all like, 'That's the shit!" WHAT HAS HAPPENED?

I think some people need to go back to school and take second grade English all over again, because they have obviously forgotten what they learned.

An Indian Prayer

An Indian Prayer

O' GREAT SPIRIT,
Whose voice I hear in the winds,
And whose breath gives life to all the world,
hear me! I am small and weak, I need your
strength and wisdom.

Let Me Walk In Beauty, and make my eyes
ever behold the red and purple sunset.

Make My Hands Respect the things you have
made and my ears sharp to hear your voice.

Make Me Wise so that I may understand the
things you have taught my people.

Let Me Learn the lessons you have hidden
in every leaf and rock.

I Seek Strength, not to be greater than my
brother, but to fight my greatest
enemy...myself.

Make Me Always Ready to come to you with
clean hands and straight eyes.

So When Life Fades, as the fading sunset,
my spirit may come to you
without shame.

(translated by Lakota Sioux Chief Yellow Lark in 1887)
published in Native American Prayers - by the Episcopal Church

The twelve Principals of Native American Philosophy

1) WHOLENESS

All things are interrelated.Everything in the Universe is part of a single whole. Everything is connected in some way to everything else. It is only possible to understand something if we understand how it is connected to everything else.

2) CHANGE

Everything is in a state of constant change. One season falls upon the other. people are born, and die. All things change. There are two kinds of change. The coming together of things and the coming apart of things. Both kinds of change are necessary and are always connected to each other.

3) CHANGE OCCURS IN CYCLES OR PATTERNS

 They are not random or accidental. If we cannot see how a particular change is connected, it usually means that our standpoint is affecting our perfection.

4) THE PHYSICAL WORLD IS REAL - THE SPIRITUAL WORLD IS REAL

 They are two aspects of one reality. There are separate laws which govern each. Breaking of a spiritual principle will affect the physical world and visa versa. A balanced life is one that honors both.

5) PEOPLE ARE PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL BEINGS

6) PEOPLE CAN ACQUIRE NEW gifts,BUT THEY MUST STRUGGLE TO DO SO

The process of developing new personal qualities may be called "true learning".

7) THERE ARE FOUR DIMENSIONS OF TRUE LEARNING

A person learns in a whole and balanced manner when the mental, spiritual, physical, and emotional dimensions are involved in the process.

8) THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HAS FOUR RELATED CAPACITIES:

*the capacity to have and to respond to dreams, visions, ideals, spiritual teachings, goals and theories.

*the capacity to accept these as a reflection of our unknown or unrealized potential.

*the capacity to express these using symbols in speech, art or mathematics.

*the capacity to use this symbolic expression towards action directed at marking the possible a reality.

9) PEOPLE MUST ACTIVELY PARTICIPATE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THEIR OWN POTENTIAL

10) A PERSON MUST DECIDE TO DEVELOP THEIR OWN POTENTIAL

The path will always be there for those who decide to travel it.

11) ANY PERSON WHO SETS OUT ON A JOURNEY OF SELF-DEVELOPMENT WILL BE AIDED

Guides, teachers, and protectors will assist the traveler.

12) THE ONLY SOURCE OF FAILURE IS A PERSON'S OWN FAILURE TO FOLLOW THE TEACHINGS

Top of Form

Native American Family Practices, Beliefs and Traditions The family structure varies from tribe to tribe including gender roles, from the matriarchal structure seen in the Navajo to patriarchal structures.  For example, among the Haudenosaunee people, women are regarded as powerful physical beings in their matriarchal family structure (George-Kanentiio, 2000).  Family practices within the Native American culture are as diverse as among the different Asian groups' family practices and traditions. Yet, despite this enormous diversity, there seems to be common core values and beliefs that characterize traditional Native American culture across tribal groups and geographic regions.  Most Native American families are extended and often include mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It is not uncommon to have adopted relatives in the household and all living in very close proximity to one another (Allison & Vining, 1999).  Native Americans tend to have a high fertility rate, a large percentage of out-of-wedlock births, strong roles for women and families headed by a single mother or another family female adult (Sue & Sue, 2003). Native Americans highly value traditional beliefs concerning relation, harmony, balance, spirituality, and wellness; as part of valuing "relation" all these beliefs are interrelated.  Relation. Central to Native American spiritual traditions is the importance of "relation" as a way of existing in the world. The power of relation is symbolized by the Circle of Life, represented throughout the traditions, customs and art forms of Native people (Dufrene, 1990). This Circle of Life is believed, in many tribal traditions, to consist of the basic elements of life: fire, earth, water and wind. These four points also denote, as for example in Cherokee tradition, spirit, nature, body and mind, referred to as the Four Winds (Dufrene, 1990). Brent Toadlena explained that the life of a person is a circle from childhood to childhood, and that there are important ceremonies that depict this (personal communication). Also life, from a traditional Native American perspective, is viewed as a series of concentric circles. The first circle is the inner circle, representing our spirit. The next circle is family/clan. The third circle is the natural environment and all our relations. And the fourth circle consists of the spirit world. Considering the power of relation, all life exists in an involved system of interdependence in a dynamic state of harmony and balance (Garrett & Carroll, 2000). Harmony and balance. Among the many aspects of Native American culture is the emphasis on unity through seeking harmony and balance both inwardly and outwardly. Generally, Native American traditional values reflect the importance placed upon community contribution, sharing, cooperation, being, noninterference, community and extended family, harmony with nature, a time orientation toward living in the present, preference for explanation of natural phenomena according to the spiritual, and a deep respect for elders (Garret, 1999). While visiting the Barona Mission Museum, many displays reflected the general practices of this beliefs and values of the Kumeyaay people. Displays illustrated their thoughts about the earth and the family's responsibility to value one another as well as their environment. For example, one display presented the use of the land and protecting it as well as utilizing its resources and the strength of oral traditions to perpetuate these practices.  Wellness. Traditional Native American views of healing and wellness emphasize seeking harmony within oneself, with others and with one's surroundings (Garrett & Carroll, 2000). In the traditional Native American way, medicine can consist of physical remedies, but medicine is also much more than a pill you take to cure illness or correct a physiological malfunction. Medicine is everywhere; it is the essence of their inner being that gives inner power (Garrett, 1999).  The Native American elders often hold healing positions such as medicine men and other authoritative positions in the community due to their highly valued wisdom and experience. Spirituality. Unlike Western spirituality, religion is a way of life (Atwood, 1991).  In many Native American languages, there is no word for "religion" because spiritual practices are an integral part of every aspect of daily life; spirituality is necessary for the harmony and balance, or wellness, of the individual, family, clan and community (Locust, 1988).   If a person believes in the Native American spiritual path they act accordingly which mens they do not threaten another person, beat-up another person, etc. then use their mental and physical illnesses as an excuse to do either physical or verbal harm to others. Verbal harm is lying about others to save face or to get even which causes harm to others. Walking in balance is just that in balance means dealing with all aspects of ones life in a way that causes no harm to another living thing. Harming others is not in balance! Do not say you walk a spiritual path is you are not in balance with life!

What Makes A Person Native American

I was wondering the other day, What makes a person a Native American? Is there some sort of criteria? Can anyone just call themselves a Native American because they "think' they are or because they 'want' to be because they think that label makes them 'different' or 'special'?

So I went looking and found out...

Information pulled on 2/10/2013 from Ewebtribe.com 

"Who Is An Indian"
by Barbara Shining Woman Warren

"No single definition of "Indian" exists - socially, administratively, legislatively or judicially. Currently in the United States 10 to 20 million people may have Indian ancestry, but only a small percentage identify themselves as being primarily Indian. The Bureau of the Census counts anyone an Indian who declares himself or herself to be an Indian. In 1990 the Census figures showed there were 1,959,234 American Indians and Alaska Natives living in the United States (1,878,285 American Indians, 57,152 Eskimos, and 23,797 Aleuts). This is a 37.9 percent increase over the 1980 recorded total of 1,420,000. The increase is attributed to improved census taking and more self-identification during the 1990 count."

"According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, no single Federal or tribal criterion establishes a person's identity as an Indian. Government agencies use differing criteria to determine who is an Indian eligible to participate in their programs. Tribes also have varying eligibility criteria for membership. To determine what the criteria might be for agencies or Tribes, one must contact them directly."

"To be eligible for Bureau of Indian Affairs services, an Indian must (1) be a member of a Tribe recognized by the Federal Government, (2) one-half or more Indian blood of tribes indigenous to the United States (25 USC 479) ; or (3) must, for some purposes, be of one-fourth or more Indian ancestry. By legislative and administrative decision, the Aleuts, Eskimos and Indians of Alaska are eligible for BIA services. Most of the BIA's services and programs, however, are limited to Indians living on or near Indian reservations."

"There is no universally accepted definition of the term 'Indian.'........ Although there is one ethnological definition of Indian, there are many legal definitions....... Many federal laws use the word 'Indian' without defining it. This allows federal agencies to decide who is an Indian under those laws. Some agencies have been accused of defining Indian too narrowly, thereby depriving people of benefits that Congress intended them to receive. When Congress has not defined the term, courts have used a two-part test to determine who is an Indian. First, the person must have some Indian blood, that is, some identifiable Indian ancestry. Second, the Indian community must recognize this person as an Indian..........The Census Bureau takes a simple approach to these problems. The bureau lists every person as an Indian who claims to be one."

So after reading this what I take from it is that anyone can call themselves Native American even if they aren't one? Does that sounds fair to those who actually are Native American? It doesn't to me. But for a person to be eligible for Bureau of Indian Affairs services a person must be a member of a tribe that is recognized by the Federal Government And also be one half or more Indian blood of a tribe indigenous to the US or be one fourth or more Indian ancestry.

So those people who have been given an 'honorary' membership into a tribe because they are liked by the people are NOT eligible for BIA services because they are not REAL Native Americans. It's like a celebrity given an "honorary" Doctorate after giving a speech for University. It's nice, but it's just a piece of paper that means nothing, it's not like you can use it on your resume because it's not real...you didn't earn it.

I am guessing you have to be able to prove you are at least one fourth Native American and if you are one fourth that means that you have to have a grandparent who was a full blooded Native American *if I am doing my math right*

If your grandparent was a 100% Native American then one of your parents would be one half Native American and you would be one fourth Native American. So if I don't have a grandparent that was 100% Native American then I can't call myself one fourth Native American and am not eligible for BIA benefits. I find this information very interesting.

People ask others all the time what nationality or race they are and when someone says they are Native American next time maybe you'll have a better understanding of what that really means.

Puppy Bowl Hamster Blimp

I heard about the Syrian hamsters in the blimp on the Puppy bowl this year. So while others were watching the super Bowl I turned my attention to the Animal Planet channel and saw a couple of clips of the Syrian hamsters in the blimp.

Now while most people probably thought this was really cute, all I could think of was these Syrian hamsters looked to be pretty much fully grown, they kept mounting each other and looked like they were going to scuffle right before the camera was turned off them and on to a different animal.

The reason this bothered me was because Syrian hamsters are solitary creatures and so not get a long with each other. They will actually fight to the death in some instances. So I found it a bit disheartening to see a channel that is for animal safety and boasts itself for its animal love would put some Syrian hamsters together in this way and cut to other shots of other animals when they looked like they were scuffling.

I wrote an article about my thoughts on the hamsters in the blimp that you can read here.

Gun Control

If you watch the news, any news one of the things they are talking about right now is Gun Control. What gun control should be in place, what new laws should be passed, what should be done to keep the guns out of the hands of people who shouldn't have them...ect.

I actually don't have a problem with any of the new laws they want to pass. I know that a lot of people do, but I'm not one of them. I don't have a problem limiting the amount of bullets a magazine can carry. Is there really any reason for a person to have such large magazines?

I don't have a problem requiring doctors to let police officials know if one of their patients is making a threat against himself or others, if they think they might use a gun to hurt someone. I'm actually surprised that isn't already something doctors aren't required to do. I mean if I go see my doctor and tell them I am thinking of shooting my entire family..I probably won't do it but I have a gun or have access to a gun and could do it.....I think that doctor has an obligation to tell the police so if something does happen they have some information about the person. I don't see this as a bad thing.

But then all the conspiracy theorists are going to jump all over any new gun laws being passed and saw that our rights are being taken away. it's just not true...we will still have the right to bear arms and still have hand guns to take care of any nuts that break into our homes. But we don't want the nuts having the guns...that has to be stopped.

Using PTSD As An Excuse For Psychotic Behavior

In order for my readers to get a sense of what is going on, please click on the link, read the article, look at the mug shot at the bottom of the article and then continue reading this blog post. Thank you.

John Radell Claims PTSD caused Crime Spree Using Gun

That my friends... is one of my brothers.

After he did this my younger brother and I decided to stop talking to him but he just won't let it go. I went 6 months and did not speak to him and even wrote a blog post you might remember entitled, An Open Letter To My Stalker. It was for him because he was stalking me around the internet and sending me friend requests at different places like Google+ and later Huffington Post. I deleted some of my accounts just so I didn't have to deal with him and I warned him if he didn't leave my younger brother and I alone, I would make all of this public and let everyone know what he did.

It's all public record, all you have to do is Google his name and all the articles pop up. He is facing serious prison time for all of that and rightly so.

So I want to set the record straight because he has started harassing my younger brother once again when he heard he was accused of sending an email to someone.

This is what happened...

I received an email the other day with the subject "Mary Mary quite contrary
The body of the email said... How does your garden grow...BITCH!"

Now I didn't recognize the email address, it wasn't someone that I knew. But they knew my name and they called me a name so I replied to the email thinking I might find out who sent it. But it bounced back as undeliverable. So I am assuming it was a disposable email address and once the person used it they discarded it so it can't be traced back to them. I told my younger brother that it sounded like something our older brother would do, but I didn't know for sure and that's when my younger brother posted something on his own fb wall about how he is sick of his brother causing trouble.

So our older brother sends him an email telling him he doesn't like his status update and to take it down. Well of course that didn't sit well with my younger brother and he told him he'll post whatever he wants on his own wall and there's nothing he can do about it and has no say.

My problem with this is Older brother was warned to leave us all alone. So what that younger brother posted something on his own wall...it's his right. Older brother seems to have just been waiting around for him to do something so he could cause more drama. Just one more reason I have nothing to do with him.

But, can't say I didn't warn him I would make what he did public if he messed with my family again.

The real tragedy is that about 10 years ago I went out of my way to find my older brother who had been given up for adoption before I was born. I found him, let him into my life for 8 years only to slowly find out that he is a lying, alcoholic, pot smoking, narcissistic psycho. I learned the hard way to be careful who I let in my life. Learn a lesson from me...you do not have to allow psychotic people into your life just because they claim to be family. Real family members don't treat each other the way he has treated us.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too.

This week I received quite a bit of stuff. I got a can of Beneful dog food and a sample size tube of StriVectin face cream. I found links to both of those samples of Freebie Shark.

I also won two prizes from Joya Fields. One was from a blog contest and another was from a Twitter party. It was my very first Twitter party and I won a Beneath The Surface apron at the Twitter party and a pretty charm bracelet, note pad, pen and other swag in her portion of a blog contest.

I also received some samples of Avon products from Cynthia Netherton because I ordered some Avon products from her Avon store which you can find here.

So what did you get this week?

Rats!

I wanted to share some more pictures of my boys with you all. They are getting bigger and they live for such short times, I take many, many pictures so I have a lot to remember them by. This is Bandit, my little food thief. He likes to go around and take everyone's treats. So I make sure that everyone has a treat and then I keep him occupied so they can eat theirs. He's getting better now though. If I put all the treats like carrots on a plate and all the rats are eating, he usually will sit there with them now and eat. When I first got him, he would stash all the carrots in the house and actually take any carrots right from his brother's mouths. 

Fang. That face...he is such a sweetheart. Just wants to be held all the time. I pick him up, sit on the couch and he falls asleep in my arms. He just sits on me all the time. He's not interested in playing or running around, he just wants to cuddle. I've never had a rat before that wanted so much affection and I hope I am giving him enough that he is happy. He seems to be.

Fang, Bandit and Patches. Fang and Patches sleep together all the time. They never fight, they clean each other and when one jumps down to get food, the other comes too. When I take Fang out for cuddles, patches does not like to be held at all so I give him a couple of treats and he seems happy. 

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Marbles. My half hairless boy. One of his parents was a hairless rat so he's half hairless and has patches of fur missing. But his fur is super soft and his whiskers are curly. He's still a little shy but super sweet.

Patches. he doesn't mind being petted as long as he's in the cage while you do it. He will not tolerate being picked up and held though, so I pet him in the cage and he is much happier than if I try to pick him up. 

Lucky is getting bigger and I am hoping to introduce him to the big cage with the other 4 boys soon. He's my 3 legged rat that I saved from euthanasia. The pet store was going to put him down because he only has three legs. He is super active, plays with us all the time. Won't sit still most of the time when we have him out.

I finally got a good picture of Lucky's face. His markings are adorable. His missing front leg doesn't slow him down at all. He's got more energy than any rat I've ever had. he's so much fun to play with because he will chase our hands and want us to chase him back. 

Smart Meters

Last year Nevada Power changed all the power meters to the Smart Meters but some residents are not at all happy about this change. Some are afraid that these meters are going to make them sick and some are afraid because they transmit your power usage data through a radio signal every 15 minutes back to Nevada Power. So your privacy is essentially gone. They can tell when you are using more power, when you turn the electric oven on, the vacuum and when things are off and you might not be home because power usage is so low. This information gets transferred back to Nevada power every 15 minutes, every single day. Nevada Power says they signals are sent 48 times per day, so that might be every 30 minutes according to them. But still....48 times per day.

Here are just a few of the stories in the local news about the new smart meters.

Las Vegas Sun

13 Action News

Fox 5 News

I heard that people say they are getting sick from having just one of the smart meters on the back of their homes. If there is any merit to these claims at all, I want to know what about apartment buildings like mine where all 8 smart meters are on the back bedroom wall of ONE apartment.

If people are saying they are getting sick from the radio signals of just one smart meter, then how sick is the person who has the unlucky misfortune of being in the apartment that has 8 of the smart meters on the outside of his bedroom wall. That's the way it is here in my apartment complex.

We were forced to accept these new smart meters, we were not given a real choice. Some of the people who threw fits and were finally given an option and opted not to get them were going to be charged a $100 fee not to get them followed by $14.86 every month. *I actually don't know for sure if people were charged or are charged this fee right now since I have the smart meter*

I don't think enough monitoring was done on these smart meters, I don't think enough is know about the safety of them and I also think that we will find out sometime in the future that all the people who complained about their safety problems were probably right to do so.

People have gone so far as to take their own radiation readings with their own equipment and find that they are much higher than what Nevada Power is saying they are or supposed to be but all this data is being ignored and pushed under the rug.

Chickens

My brother had chickens at one point when he lived out in Pahrump, Nevada. This is one of the chickens he had and the coop is right next to him. 

it's funny, I had chickens when i lived in West Virginia and we had fresh eggs every day, but I'll never forget one day cracking an egg in the pan and seeing red streaks in the egg...guess it got sat on for too long..really icked me out. 

I made sure I was out there bright and early from now on after that to get those eggs each morning. lol 

My Taco Recipe

Use a Large frying pan at least three inches deep, filled with at least 2 inches of vegetable oil. Turn on medium and let get hot. 

 Take a hand full (small hand full) of hamburger and smash it on one half of the corn tortilla. (read directions for hamburger preparation on the bottom of this page)

I use both white corn and yellow corn tortillas. It really doesn't matter which ones you use. 

You will need a plate with a paper towel to put the tacos on after they are done frying. 

 Set the tortilla with the hamburger on it gently down in the hot oil. When the tortilla starts getting soft, (About 10 seconds) gently take a spatula and flip the half of the tortilla that's bare over the hamburger, so you now have a taco shell with the hamburger inside. 

Deep fry each side for approx. 3 minutes or until each side is crispy and hamburger is done. I usually fry three at a time in the pan, but don't overcrowd the tacos.

Before taking the tacos out, turn upside down with your spatula and let any oil drip out for a few seconds before putting onto your paper plate. 

For inside the taco I like... Diced Tomatoes and shredded lettuce. 

Homemade guacamole and shredded cheddar cheese. You can also add  homemade salsa (recipe at the bottom of this page) sour cream, and black olives. 

Tacos will be hot, let sit for at least a minute before trying to handle. This will also let some of the oil drip onto the paper towel. 

Directions for preparing the hamburger...

 2lbs of hamburger. Do Not get the leanest hamburger you can find, it won't have the right taste, get hamburger with at least 20% fat. Take hamburger out of the package and mix with some salt, pepper and onion powder.



Homemade Salsa Recipe:

4 large tomatoes diced small
1 1/2 large white onions diced small
One bunch of cilantro diced small (about 1 cup)
Juice from 2 lemons
Salt to taste

 Mix all ingredients together and let sit overnight in container in the fridge. You can eat it right after it's been made but for more flavorful Salsa, make 2 days ahead of time and let it sit in an air tight container in the refrigerator.