Foster Care

 I've heard a lot recently about the foster care system and how some kids are better off being taken away from their parents if the parents are doing drugs, can't care for them ect. But I can tell you from experience that that's not always the case.

When I was 17 years old my mom ended up serving time in prison for child endangerment, child abuse and possession of cocaine. My brother and I ended up in foster care. He was only in foster care for about a month before he went to live with our dad. I knew my dad and step mother were using drugs and drinking and that he was very abusive so I told the judge I didn't want to go with him so I lived in a foster home for 6 months when I was 17 years old. My foster mother didn't like having someone as old as me and she let me know it every chance she got. My foster mother locked all of us in our rooms at night at 8pm and didn't let us out until 8am the next morning. We had a bucket in the room that we used for a bathroom and we had to empty it in the morning. She said she locked us in because some of us weren't allowed to go outside or have unsupervised phone conversations. I told my social worker and she said it was fine for her to do.

Before we were allowed to eat oatmeal in the morning we had to finish our chores which usually took an hour. The other 6 girls in the foster home with me were all really young, all under the age of 11. There were two sisters that got there the same time I did, one was 11 and one was 5 years old. Their parents had died in a car crash and their social worker was looking for another other family members to come take them. But they were there the entire 6 months I was.

The 5 year old would cry for her parents all the time and "linda" my foster mother would lock this poor girl in the bedroom until she stopped crying. Again, I told my social worker and she said it was fine. The last time I went to court, I was taken into the judges chambers and told that I couldn't go back to my foster parents home because my foster mother called the court and told them that I had set fire to her family bible that had been sitting on the living room table right before I left.

Now I will tell you right now that I did no such thing. She was just sick of me being there and questioning her methods and reporting her to my social worker. So I ended up going home with my dad. My dad and step mother spent all of their money on drugs so all we had to eat for over a month were potatoes but because they didn't pay the power bill we couldn't cook them on the electric stove, my brother and I had to take our potatoes out to the gas grill in the pool courtyard of our apartment complex and bbq them. We did this everyday for over a month. When my mom got out of prison we went to live with her. Thankfully she was no longer doing drugs at that point.

My dad and step mother no longer drink or do drugs and they don't even remember most of the things they did when they were high.

So I have a slanted view on foster care and foster homes.

Big Brother

Have you heard of this reality tv show? I actually don't want much reality tv, it just seems so fake and scripted but I have a confession to make. I watch Big Brother and I love it.

Hangs head in shame...

And the totally hilarious thing is that I've now got ken watching it even though he won't admit it. Ken will sit at the computer and act like he isn't listening but then he'll ask me, "What just happened? Who is HOH? Who got voted out?" lol

He'll sit on the couch with me acting like he isn't interested but one time when I didn't pause it when he went to the kitchen he was mad. LOL

Yep, I got hubby hooked as well.

My Grandson Turns 18 Months Old

In a couple of days this little guy will be 18 months old. Time fly's let me tell you. He looks like someone spiked his milk. lol 

Such a happy kid.

When he saw I was getting the camera while I was babysitting him, he ran over to the couch and smiled like this. lol 

"Yeah milk" lol 

Happy Raturday!

Welcome to a new weekly blog post I'm calling, Raturday! I've seen Caturday and while that's really cute, I think the rats needs some photo time so everyone can see how cute these little animals are. I've gotten permission from Rat Logic's fb page to share their pictures on my blog. So get ready to smile because these are cute. 

*click pictures to enlarge*

Bugs

For some reason these tiny beetles come out in the summer time and love to make their way into my kitchen. I've caulked, sprayed, put a door stopper down, put a towel in front of the front door and taped up the windows and still...they get in. 

But since i'm now some sort of bug savior..I pick them up and take them outside. The other day a saw a spider on my foot, I just wiggled my foot until he got off and Ken heard me say, "Go eat some other bugs, spidey." And I let him scurry away. 

Yeah, I've gone completely insane.

Birthday Party for a Pet

Before I had rats, I had hamsters. That's why the name of my blog address is... scary mary the hamster lady. lol Back when I made this blog I had 12 hamsters. All together I've had 19 hamsters in my life time. I like hamsters, they are really cute but they aren't as social, loving or friendly as rats are. So now I have rats. But I still love hamsters which is why I found this video to be so incredibly cute.

Good to know I'm not the only one who throws their pet a birthday party....

You may remember the party I had for Lucky's 1st birthday. I even baked him *me* a cake. LOL

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. Someone asked me why I do a 'Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to samples like these at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received: 

A sample of Meow Mix cat food. *I put this out for the stray cats in my neighborhood.*

A sample of Nexxus Color Assure

A sample bottle of Olay Body Wash

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Funny Liquid Plumr Commercial

I wonder what people 30 years ago would think of some of the commercials that are on tv now a days.

Rat Update

Scribbles had been battling an eye allergy but as you can see is all better now. He was so good about letting me wash his face off several times a day. He's become my little social man. When I first rescued him from a woman who didn't want him, he wouldn't even let me pet him. Now he jumps up and down when he sees me because he's happy to see me and wants to come out to play. 

Flower was recently checking out the pink *not purple* dinosaur. For those of you that read romance books and get swag, yes that's a Cheryl Dragon *dragon* . I got it in a box of swag *pens, bookmarks ect* Flower is still hyper as heck and still dive bombs my shirt but loves to come out and play now. When I got her from the same woman I rescued Scribbles from, she wasn't socialized at all and wouldn't let us get close to her with our hands. She is very social and loving now. 

As you may know from previous posts, Lucky had his first bath recently. He didn't freak out like some rats do and loved being held and cuddled in a blanket afterwards. He's cleaning his face in this picture even though it looks like he's praying to the treat gods for a yogi. lol 

I found this funny and true

*click on picture to enlarge.*

Happy Raturday!

Welcome to a new weekly blog post I'm calling, Raturday! I've seen Caturday and while that's really cute, I think the rats needs some photo time so everyone can see how cute these little animals are. I've gotten permission from Rat Logic's fb page to share their pictures on my blog. So get ready to smile because these are cute. 

*click pictures to enlarge*

10 Animals You Might Not Know About

I watched this video and only knew about 2 of these animals before seeing this. How many of then did you know of. A couple of them are cute as heck.

Weekly Rat Facts: Buck Grease and Baths

Sometimes male rats will get what is called Buck Grease on their skin. It will look orangish brown and make their skin and fur greasy. It usually happens when they are going into puberty but can actually happen at any age. My Lucky is 18 months old and I started to notice he has a patch of greasy fur on his back.

So I gave him his first bath. Some rats like water and some do not. Lucky, I wasn't too sure about since he will fish frozen corn and peas out of a tub of water with no problem but he has never jumped in the water so I wasn't sure how he was going to react. 

I put a towel in the bottom of the sink so he would have something to keep from slipping on and filled the sink with about 2 inches of warm water and then took Lucky over to the sink. I put his hind legs in the water and kept one hand under his front paws and head so that I was holding him up. He only has one front paw and I didn't want him to try and walk around and dunk his head in the water. I started rubbing water on his back and he laid his head in my hand and just let me do it. He must have thought it was a wet rattie massage or something.

Most rats will try to jump out of the water, will fear poop in the water or scratch up your hands and arms trying to get out of the water if they don't want to be in it. Lucky didn't do any of those things. He did jump one time in the very beginning until I started rubbing water and soap on him and then he just laid in my hand. I took him out and wrapped him in a baby blanket and rubbed him until most of the water was gone and then let him start cleaning himself. 

What really made me laugh was after I got him all clean, rinsed him off and when I went to pick him up he jumped right on my shirt, getting me all wet. 

That's me in my wet shirt with him wiggling out of his blanket. 

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. Someone asked me why I do a 'Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to samples like these at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received:

Frizz Ease Finish Polishing Serum and Touch Up Cream.
Cottonelle Flushable Cleansing cloths
Aquaphor Lip Repair
Tenacious Tape Samples 

Why Dogs and Cats Should Always Have A Collar

If we're friends on fb you might have already seen this on my wall the other day but for those that didn't....

So here's my happy little story for today. Ken walked outside to go to the store and saw this little Chihuahua sitting in the rocks right in front of our door. It's around 105F outside so we brought her inside and thankfully she had a collar on with a phone number so I called it and told the lady we had her dog and our address. Well about 30 minutes went by and I get a call from a guy who says his ex wife called and said I had his dog and he wanted my address. Guess he needs to change the number on the collar. lol Turns out he lives about a block from me and he came and got her. He was so happy to have his dog back. Her name is Tiffy. She was so friendly, just laid with us on the couch wanting to be petted while we waited for her owner to come get her.

Look at that little face. 

And this is why I think that dogs as well as cats should always wear a collar with their phone number on it. I cannot tell you how many animals we have found, brought home only so find they didn't have a collar so we'd have to call animal control to come pick them up and hope that they have a microchip. I know some people only put their pets collars on them when they take them for a walk and that's a bad idea. What if like this little girl, someone opens the door and your dog or cat runs outside? 

What if someone breaks into your home and the animals get out? What about an earthquake scaring your animals and they get out through an open door or window? Things happen and I hate finding animals outside and having no recourse but to call animal control. 

I know some people have told me that I should let the animals back outside and maybe they'll know their way home. Maybe they are outside cats that roam during the day and go home at night. Sorry, I'm not taking the chance that this animal has no place to be and will die on the streets when it has a chance to find his owners or a new home by going to the shelter. 

Don't want your outside cat to get picked up by someone like me and sent to a shelter? Then don't let them outside or at the very least put a collar with a tag and a phone number on them.

Hairless Rat Reactions...

I had a lady come in my apartment the other day because she was asking hubby if she could borrow one of his tools. Flower popped her head up and the lady looked over at her and almost screamed. She said, "Omg, what is that? What's wrong with it?"

We explained that she was a hairless rat and the lady kept asking, "But why doesn't she have any hair?" I tried to explain that just like a hairless cat, she was born hairless but was still a rat just like my other ones. 

I find it funny some of the reactions I will get when they see her. 

Most times they go over to her cage and have their face right up to the bars looking around for the cute furry animal that's in there and out pops Flower in all her naked glory. 

The I take her out and let them see her and how friendly she is and they usually will see the cute side of her. Then she'll dive bomb my shirt and most times people will shudder, thinking about a hairless rat running around under their clothes. LOL 

She loves to burrow in my shirt and come running out to play. I think it's funny that the fact she is in my shirt freaks them out more than the fact that she has no fur. 

The Talking Kitty

Have you ever seen the Talking Kitty Videos? If you have this is video # 32 and it was just posted about a week ago. But for those who have no idea who Sylvester the talking kitty is, you should start with the first video....

Happy Raturday!

Welcome to a new weekly blog post I'm calling, Raturday! I've seen Caturday and while that's really cute, I think the rats needs some photo time so everyone can see how cute these little animals are. I've gotten permission from Rat Logic's fb page to share their pictures on my blog. So get ready to smile because these are cute. 

*click pictures to enlarge*

Review: Rajmund by D.B. Reynolds

Buffalo, New York-Thundering waterfalls, great sports teams . . . and a treacherous vampire lord who is slowly losing his mind.

New York City vampire Rajmund Gregor is the undisputed master of The Big Apple. He bows to no one but his Sire, the Vampire Lord Krystof, who has ruled the Northeast for hundreds of years. But when Krystof summons Rajmund to his headquarters in Buffalo, Raj finds his master slowly descending into madness and his territory crumbling around him. 

Raj is the only one of Krystof's children strong enough to seize power, but he'll have to save his master before he can destroy him. 

Several women have gone missing, and the local police are convinced a vampire is behind it. Is Krystof so lost to reality that he's capturing and murdering human women? Is a rogue vampire moving into Krystof's territory for the kill? Or is it something far more insidious, something that could threaten the existence of vampires everywhere? 

Sarah Stratton is living a lie. Her past holds a secret she shares with no one-not even her good friend Cynthia Leighton, the West Coast vampire lord's mate. It's a secret that could destroy her carefully constructed life as a professor at a Buffalo university. It's also a secret that could save the lives of the missing women. To save them, however, she must enter Buffalo's vampire community and put herself into the care of Rajmund Gregor. 

But can she trust Raj, the dangerously seductive vampire who wants to lay claim to far more than her secrets?

My review: 

Rajmund is about to take control from his sire because he thinks the old vampire is losing his mind. He's called to help find out what's happening to missing women and if it has anything to do with the vampires. 

Sarah has terrible, horrible dreams of women who have been kidnapped and she wakes up at night scared witless and sick to her stomach most times. She isn't telling anyone about the dreams even though if someone believes her it might save their lives. 

I've now read two of the books in this series and while I liked Aden, I found both that book and this one to be filled with a lot of blood, grittiness and darkness. So much so that this book felt less like a romance and more like I was reading a Horror novel. 

I wanted to like this book, I really did. I love vampire books and throw a little romance in there and I'm all over it but this book was hard to finish. Sarah was such an unlikable character, there were moments in the book that I just wanted to smack her upside the head in the hopes it would make her see just how ridiculous she was acting. Like waiting so long before telling anyone about her secret. Seriously? Could that have gone any worst than it did? I seriously doubt it. 

Rajmund so much as said when he sees Sarah for the second time that he's a predator and planned to unwrap her and that he knew she was hiding something and he could have easily taken it from her mind, but he didn't. So why did he wait so long to take her secret from her mind when he knew she was hiding something from him. These things just don't make sense and it made reading this book really hard and finishing it even harder because I wanted to put it down and just say forget it. But I always finish the books I start, even the bad ones because I hope that they will get better as time goes on...unfortunately that just didn't happen here. 

If you're looking for plenty of hot sex scenes, you just aren't going to find them here. The sex doesn't even start until close to the end of the book and even then I found it luke warm at best. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

Weekly Rat Facts: Free Time

I bought a new toy for my rats to play with during their free time out of their cages. Flower just wanted to bite, tear it to shreds. 

Rats should have a minimum of 1 hour a day out of their cages to play and run around. I let mine run around on my bed, couch and chair. 

Scribbles just likes to sniff everything.

And find out why that bottom piece isn't attached and burrow underneath it.

Lucky laid in it, made himself comfy.

Gave me that look I know so well...

And then pushed the liner right out of the toy he was laying in. lol All the while giving me that..."What, I didn't do nothing." look.

Rats need human interaction in order to bond and form a close relationship with their humans. Taking them out for free time or play time each day will definitely help form that bond.