RIP Fang

I adopted Fang and his 3 brother's from a family friend a few months ago. When I first brought him home he would hang on the bars on his cage, not chew them just hang on the bars and sleep. What a silly boy. The first time my husband Ken went to pet him before we brought them home, Fang bite him on the finger. Fang ended up biting him several more times until they finally made friends and then Ken would hold him all the time.

Fang's best friend in the cage was Patches. They were inseparable. They were always hanging out, eating and sleeping together. 

Fang had some very strange sleeping positions...this one he would do when he was on top of the hammock...he also slept with his eyes open all the time. It made for really cute pictures though. 

For a couple of weeks while they were in this cage, Fang would hang on the bars and sleep. I don't know why he did it, but we warned everyone who visited us not to try and pet him through the bars of the cage because he would bite them. He bite several people...including Ken. I was able to put my fingers through the bars of the cage and pet him right away and never got bit, and after a while he did chill out with the biting. 

He even photo bombed me one time. I was trying to take a picture of Patches in the back while he was inside the cube and right as I took the picture...his little face appeared. Photo bomb!

This is where you would usually find Fang each day for several hours. In my arms or in Ken's arms, just being held. This was taken just yesterday as he cuddled in my arms. He was alert and happy, chattering often. 

This was taken right around Christmas Time. Always being held by someone because that's where he always wanted to be. He would just lay there for hours, sleeping, cleaning or eating bits of whatever I was eating. What a life. 

My pretty boy trying to climb into my hand to be held for a while. As soon as I opened the cage doors he would climb on me or just jump on me and want to stay there. He was such a sweet little rat. 

This morning though, as I was holding him his breathing just started getting slower and slower. I knew from experience that something was happening with him and it took less than 5 minutes for him to take his last breath and pass away in my arms. Fang was about 2 1/2 years old and that's an old man in rat years. 

RIP my little cuddle boy. 

What Is Foie Gras?

My daughter and Husband feeding the ducks and geese at Lorenzi Park.

Foie Gras is made from overly fattened geese or duck liver. 

If you want to see for yourself how these birds are fed just look it up on youtube, there are many videos of ducks and geese being force fed fatty grains and fat in order to get as much weight put on them as possible in the shortest amount of time.

*Warning: What I am about to describe is graphic. If you don't want to know how these animals are treated, don't read any further*

A while back I was watching an episode of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri and saw them eating Foie Gras and I wasn't exactly sure what it was so I went searching and what I found turned my stomach. I refuse to watch that show anymore because of this. Any show that condones a food so grotesque and abusive to animals is not something I want to keep watching. 

How is Foie Gras made? Foie Gras is a dish made from the liver of goose and ducks, these birds that raised  for Foie gras are stuck in dimly lit wire cages where they can barely move and force fed several times a day a mixture of grain and fat. 

A tube is forced down their throats and the food is pushed down the tubes right into their stomachs. A process which oftentimes injures their necks. Being force fed so much food also puts massive strain on their internal organs because these birds gets grotesquely obese in a very short amount of time so that their livers can increase in size sometimes ten times the size of a normal goose or duck liver. 

I wrote an article on this subject and hope you will read it, share it and by passing this information along we can stop Foie Gras from being sold anywhere.

Why is Foie Gras So Controversial?

Product Review: Maxwell House Latte Chai

Last year I found out that this product was no longer being made, I also found out that a lot of people were very upset about that. All I had to do was read the comments on Amazon.com to see that. So the makers of my favorite Chai Latte went back to the drawing board and made a new formula for this product. We the drinkers of it...didn't like it and told them about it. 

A few months later I found out that they reformulated the recipe and now have this new product on the market and as I read the reviews I found that people said that this new reformulation is as good as the original. So I took a chance and ordered a couple of canisters from Amazon and was pleasantly surprised when I tried it. 

I ordered it from Amazon because I can't find it in the stores anywhere around where I live. I was reading the comments on amazon.com and the people were saying they couldn't find it where they lived either. I don't know why it isn't on more store shelves but I did find it on Amazon.com.

Just like it says on the canister, it has the same great taste. I was so happy about that, I missed that. I am glad the makers of this product listened to the people who wanted to buy it and changed the second formula they were using because we didn't like it. 

If you liked the original Chai Latte...and thought you'd never see it again..I have great news for you...

It's Back!

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 my mail box had a freebie for me each day. It's kinda like Christmas each day around here, always a new present to open. Now what did I get?

A Venus Disposable razor, Sample bag of Purina One dog food, Zarbee's cough syrup, Poise Towlettes and feminine wash, Tide Pod's, Elmer's Glue Pro Bond, and Centrum Flavor Burst. 

I found the link for all of these freebies at Freebie Shark. Go check out that great site and sign up for some freebies for yourself. 

This week I also received a package from Smiley360 and in it was a full size can of Campbell's Chicken and White Bean soup and a pair of Comfy Socks. They also sent me several $2.00 off coupons for the Campbell's soups. If you'd like to receive free products in the mail from Smiley360 just click on the link and sign up for an account. 

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