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.

Homemade Beef Stew Recipe

I like to make beef stew in the winter time because it's easy and it's nice to eat something warm like this on a cold winter day. Ken loves this and it is usually gone in a couple of days. Leftovers are great and so easy to heat up. 

So here's what you'll need:

2lbs of stew meat

1/3 cup of flour

2 tablespoons of oil

4 carrots

4 celery stalks

4 potatoes

1 yellow onion

1 package of beef stew seasoning

5 cups of water

salt and pepper to taste

Start off cutting the stew meat into bite sized chunks add oil to the pan and brown beef. Add the flour a little at a time and cook over med. heat for 3-5 minutes until all the flour is incorporated. Add the water and stew seasoning and simmer over med. heat for 30 minutes. 

Cut your vegetables into bite sized pieces and add to beef stew. Let simmer over medium heat for 2-3 hours or until the meat is very tender. 

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'll be showing you the great blog contest goodies I won.

I won a blog contest giveaway at Love Is A Many Flavored Thing.

I won a the coffee lovers gift box. In it there was a really nice coffee mug, coffee, magnetic buttons, coffee stirrers, coasters, pens, luggage tag, note pad, key chains, and the metal placard that Says I like my coffee like I like my men..strong & rich...love that. 

Thank you Danny, for the wonderful prize. Don't forget to check out his blog. 

My Grandson, Logan

Here are the first pictures of my grandson, Logan. He was born 1-31-2013 9lbs and 21 inches long.

I'm Gonna Be A Grandma Soon

My daughter went to the hospital yesterday and has been in labor for just over 24 hours now. They gave her Pitocin because her contractions weren't strong and after a few hours her labor wasn't progressing. After 24 hours in labor she is still only dialated 5cm and it looks liked she is stalled there. They broke her water and labor still isn't progressing. So they said if nothing more happens with her labor in the next 4 hours...they are scheduling her for a C-section.

I should be sharing pictures of Baby Logan very soon.

Introducing Lucky To The Other Rats

When I first got Lucky he was really tiny, about the size of an adult mouse, so we put him in a temporary aquarium. I had to use an aquarium because he was so small he could fit right between the bars of all the wire cages I had. I eventually wanted to put him in the big cage with my 4 other rats so he wasn't alone. 

Lucky is getting bigger and is more trusting and loves to come out and play now. When I first got him, he ran from my hand..now I put my hand in his cage and he jumps on waiting to be picked up. 

We introduced Lucky to Bandit while they were on the couch together and the introductions went quite well. They smelled each other, licked each other and chased each other around. Lucky is still too small to go in the big cage but I figure it will be very soon that he can join his cousins. 

We'll be making more introductions with the other three boys slowly as he gets bigger, but the first one went quite well. I'm very happy.

Family Photos

I was going through some of my photo albums and started scanning some of the pictures into the computer. This is my daughter back in 2005. It's one of my favorite pictures of her. 

My great aunt Marie got to meet Ricky Skaggs. 

This is Ken and I just a couple of weeks after our daughter was born. Ken used to let his hair grow wild. lol 

My younger brother, Billy. 

Me (on the left) and my daughter (on the right) both at age 16. I think we kinda look alike. 

Hubby when he was in the Army.

Now to the funny family photos. From left to right...My brother Billy, my dad, my mom and step dad. of course my dad is making a face..lol That's kinda his thing...he still makes faces. My mom was going through radiation and on steroids because she had cancer. The steroids make you gain weight and puff you up. She made a full recovery a while after this picture was taken though.

From left to right... My step dad, step mom, dad and mom. My mom is sitting on my dad's lap and she is making a face at him while my dad shows off his false teeth..Omg..and they were all snockered. My family get togethers are never boring..lol 

One of the funniest photos I have is this one. From left to right..Ken, our daughter and my brother holding his son who is trying to rip off his nose. lol 

Me, my mom and uncle popeye. My mom decided to strike a pose right before we took the picture. lol 

Las Vegas Zoo

Bet ya didn't know we had a zoo, did ya? it's not a big zoo and I'm only posting a couple of pictures but yeah, we have a zoo. Inside the zoo there's a petting zoo where you can pet and feed the goats. They totally ignored us and kept sleeping until I bought 2 cups of food.

Then they woke up and started chasing us around, banging their heads into my legs. One almost knocked my daughter over and she threw her cup of food up in the air and ran for me. I picked her up and still had a cup of food for them and was getting beat all to hell by them ramming their heads into my legs. So I emptied my cup on the ground and calmly walked out of the petting zoo pen. The next day I was completely black and blue and in so much pain I could hardly walk. lol 

The funniest thing were the ostrich's. They had been sitting on the ground until my daughter walked over and then this one got up and spread its wings...scaring my daughter. her face pretty much shows how she feels..lol Poor kid...

A Hypothetical Question...

I have a question for you my friends. I don't know exactly what to think of this so I figured I would get some input from others. Here's my question...

A woman lets a man her boyfriend knows and is friends with move in with her because he has no other place to stay. She gives him his own room and they are nothing but friends.

Then one night, they start drinking together and both of them get drunk and have consensual sex that night, but in the morning when she wakes up she calls her boyfriend and tells him that his friend got her drunk and essentially took advantage of her...she actually uses the word "rape" to explain the situation to her boyfriend.

Now she acknowledges that she never said, "No" and at the time it was consensual...but she states that she thinks it is 'rape' because he got her drunk and took advantage of her.

My problem with this is, they were both drunk and she never said 'No'. She only regretted what she did the next day when she sobered up and realized she would have to explain how she ended up in bed with her boyfriends friend.

So now she is claiming she was "raped" by the guy and it's not ringing true to me. If she truly thought she was raped wouldn't she have called the police instead of just kicking the guy out?

What do you think?

Some of Our Other Animals

My daughter with our very first rat, Romi. 

One of our hamsters had 5 babies and we had a lot of fun playing with them. lol 

Baby the dwarf hamster lived to be 4 years old, which is really old for a dwarf hamster. For the last few months of her life she would only eat soft human foods and even though I put a little portion for her on the table where I was sitting...she wanted to sit in my bowl and eat. You should have seen the look on my mom's face..LOL 

Romi, my first rat. She lived to be 4 years old and for the last few months could not bite through anything hard so I gave her soft human food and canned dog food. She loved her dog food.

Chance, the dwarf hamster. 

Onyx, the dwarf hamster. yes, he's sitting on my plate with a slice of my mom's pumpkin bread. LOL My mom got used to me letting the animals eat off my plates. 

Baby just a few days before she passed away, still enjoying her mashed potatoes. They were all very happy and completely spoiled little fuzzbutts.