A to Z Blogging Challenge: F is For Fridge.

What's on your fridge?

On mine, of course I have rats. They are cute little magnets that come in several different colors.

*click pictures to enlarge*

Here are two more of the rat magnets and a rat sticker. I have about 15 of these rat magnets all over my refrigerator.

I also have some pictures in magnet frames. Mostly of my daughter, me and Ken. 

So what's on Your fridge?

A to Z Blogging Challenge: E is For Exciting Freebies!

if you're a long time follower of my blog, you know that each Friday I post a picture of all the free samples and full size products that I've gotten that week. So I had to write this into one of my A-Z posts and here it is.  

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  received: 

A package from Smiley360

In my box was a canister of Nature's Bounty Hair, Skin and Nails Gummies. 

Samples of the gummies to give away. 

A nail file. 

A compact mirror. 

2 keychain ribbons. 

I was pleasantly surprised by these gummies because I don't usually like 'healthy' vitamins or gummies but these taste good. 

Did you get any freebies this week?

World Rat Day!

What is World Rat Day?
It's the day that rat owners get together either in person or on social media to raise awareness of rats as pets. April 4th is the day of the year that rat owners around the world spread the joy of rats, trying to teach people that rats make great pets and raise awareness that they are much more than pests or vermin as some see them.

Some rat lovers meet up and give each other gifts or cards but mostly rat owners give their rats treats on this day and share pictures of their rats. So if you know someone with a rat, April 4th is a great day to send them an email or letter and say, Happy World Rat Day. <: p="">

Lucky

Marbles

Flower

Scribbles

A to Z Blogging Challenge: D is For Drink *What's Your Favorite Drink?*

I don't drink alcohol at all and no, I am not a recovering alcoholic. lol I just think the stuff tastes like medicine. Ack!

My two favorite drinks are Maxwell House International Chai Latte and Hills Bros Double Mocha Cappuccino. 

This stuff is like crack for me...seriously. I could drink it all the time. But I don't. The thing is, the only place I can find the Chai Latte is on Amazon. A while back they changed their formula, people didn't like it so they changed it back and now none of the stores near me sell it. Grrr

But that's ok because I can order pretty much anything on Amazon and I do. 

So what's your favorite non alcoholic drink?

A to Z Blogging Challenge: C is For Cake

With easter right around the corner I wanted to show you the Easter Basket cake I made a few years ago. It was actually pretty easy. Just make a standard size round cake and scoop out a small depression in the center. Frost it, add jelly beans or other Easter candy eggs and some coconut I colored with green food dye. I just wrapped a wire with some ribbon and inserted it in the cake as the handle. 

*we have since gotten rid of that stove that would never come clean* lol 

A to Z Blogging Challenge: B is For Bouncing Baby Ratties

My new girl, Flower bounces all over her cage. She's a hairless rat and about 6 months old and has so much energy. Her favorite past time....climbing all over everything. She climbs on me, the couch, on me, held on to my hair and climbed down my back and after being out of her cage for a while she goes back home to climb the bars of her cage. That's her straight in the back there.

She loves to climb the bars of her cage and bounce around where ever she is.

She was even hanging from the very top a few minutes after this picture was taken. 

She climbed right up on top of the water bottle after I snapped this picture. But my camera doesn't take pictures fast enough for me to get pictures of everything she was climbing on because she's so fast. 

But rats, especially young rats with boundless energy can and will climb on everything and love doing it.

A To Z Blogging Challenge: A is For Animosity by James Newman

My Review:

Andrew Holland is a writer who's wife left him but he gets along with her because they have a daughter together. He lives in a nice house in a nice neighborhood and things seem to be going well for him until a body is found near his home, his once friendly neighbors turn on him even though he's been cleared of any wrong doing. Just when he thinks things can't get any worst, another body is found and this time his neighbor's go on an all out attack against him. 

This is not your normal horror novel. There are no boogey men, no shadowy figures or monsters unless you count the monsters that are in each one of us. In the darkest depths of our imaginations we know that gossip, telling tales, spreading rumors and gang mentality are more damaging than any Frankenstein or Dracula. 

This books takes you on a dark journey into what can happen when people act before they think or have all the facts. When people follow trouble makers hell bent on destruction and mayhem because they don't know what else to do about a perceived injustice. 

Getting an insight into the darkness that could be our neighbors or friends and how people can so quickly turn on one another with little provocation is just as scary as watching a serial killer documentary because both are real and could easily happen right next door to us. 

Not all people are inherently evil, it just depends on the individual and who they consider to be the right people to follow around blindly. Better hope it's not someone like one of Andrew's neighbors. 

If you like horror, a dark look into the mind of people and a well told tale then this is the book for you. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

If you'd like to grab a copy of this book you can find it on Amazon. 

James Newman on FB

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. 

Computer Problems

Just want to let everyone know that I may not be online anymore very soon. I've found that I have a problem with my computer called a DNS server problem that prevents me from connection to some websites. At first it was just one and now I can't connect to 4 different websites. I've Googled the problem and done everything they said to do and nothing has fixed the problem so I don't know how much longer I'll be able to get online. So if I up and disappear one day, it's because of computer problems and I'll be back when I can get a new laptop. Could be a few months.

I'm going to continue to stay online for as long as I can, or as long as this laptop will allow me to access the websites I go to..lol But who knows what will happen the next time I try to get online.

I have almost all of my posts for the A to Z challenge already written and scheduled to post, so I hope that this laptop lasts for a while.

If anyone is tech saavy and knows how to fix a DNS server problem..let me know. I've already Googled it and tried all the things they said to do like flushing the DNS cache, running a virus scan, Renewing my IP address and rebooting the modem and computer.

I'm participating in the A to Z Challenge!

I can't believe I'm going to do it again. I had so much fun last year and met a few new friends, I thought I would give it a shot again this year. So starting April 1st, I'll be participating in the A to Z blogging Challenge. Each day we make a post corresponding to that days letter of the alphabet *except on Sundays*.

So for the next month the weekly posts like, Twitter Wednesday, Freebie Friday and Happy Raturday will not be posted unless I can fit them into that days post *and you know I will at least once lol*

I hope you all enjoy my posts this year as much as you did last year. This should be fun. My posts won't have a theme per say..I'm a bit random as usual.

You can participate by signing up for the A to Z Challenge.

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*

Yes, I realize this is supposed to be a Monday post but I've been so busy that I accidentally posted this today by accident. lol So I'll just leave it because it's cute.

Review: Kissing With Fangs by Ashlyn Chase

There's Something He's Never Told Her...

When her workplace burned down, Claudia should've taken it as a sign to move on—and not just professionally. She's been secretly lusting after her mysterious boss, Anthony Cross, for years. There's no way she should agree to help him rebuild if she wants to keep her heart intact, and yet it's impossible to stay away...


The flames that destroyed Anthony Cross's beloved bar are nothing compared to the heat he feels every time he lays eyes on Claudia. But he can't have her—it's against paranormal law for a vampire to date a human. Besides, he has some dangerous enemies, and one in particular already has her sights on Claudia. He owes her the truth—both about his feelings and his vampire nature—which means their lives are about to get hotter than ever...

My review:

Anthony plans on rebuilding his bar that burned down so the paranormals in the area have a safe meeting place and he's hoping he can talk Claudia into coming to work for him again because although he's not supposed to, he's got it bad for her.

Claudia isn't sure she can work at the bar again when she finds out that her boss is going to rebuild because she's been keeping a secret. Well, if the truth be told, she's been keeping two secrets and one of them is that she's been lusting after her boss for a long time. 

Vampire's, shifters and wizards, oh my!

I am a sucker for a good vampire romance but when you throw in some other paranormals, it's all that much better. The more the merrier I say. I've slowly been making my way through this series and have been loving every single book I've read. But I've been a fan of Ashlyn's books for a very long time. 

Anthony and Claudia make a great couple and they battled a couple of very hard topics, alcoholism and a crazy ex-girlfriend. Some might not think that the crazy, stalker ex girlfriend would be as big a deal as being an alcoholic but anyone who's had to deal with a stalker will tell you otherwise. I really thought both topics were dealt with in a good way and I like that we see people who have real, everyday problems because that always makes a character easier to relate with. It also makes the book more realistic even when you're reading about vampires. 

Speaking of great characters, let's talk Gaia for a moment. I love her character and love how she pops up in so many books. At first I thought she was kind of a hard ass but I've grown to love her and can see she does care for those she interacts with. 

Along with rebuilding his bar, trying to start a relationship with a human and keeping his crazy ex girlfriend away, he is also trying to find out who is kidnapping paranormals. There's so much going on in this book that it was never boring. Something new and exciting is always happening, which made it a real page turner. 

If you've been reading this series and were hoping to find out more about Anthony, this is the book you've been waiting for. We get to know him a lot more and find out he's been dealing with a lot of secrets, the biggest one is keeping humans from finding out he's a vampire or that other paranormals come to his bar to meet. 

If you're looking for a great vampire romance, a mystery to solve or a great love story then this is the book you want to read because it has all of that and more. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Common Core Math

The "Old fashioned" way.

  32
-12
----
20

The new "Common Core Math"

32-12= ____

12+3=15
15+5+20
20+10+30
30+2+32

 Now you add the second number in each row to get the answer...3+5+10+2= 20

Here's an explanation someone told me on FB...

"Here's what they're doing: Take the second number (12) and add up to the next multiple of 5/10 (+3). Then take that answer and add up to the next multiple of 10. Do that till you get to 30 and then add up to the first number (32). Then add that column of numbers you used to add up to those multiples, and that's your answer. ...

What stuns me is that anyone thinks this is better or easier. The ONLY thing I can think of is that this way involves all adding and no actual subtracting. So, you're never really teaching subtraction at all here -- just using adding to get around it. HOW is that a better skill?

Does this make sense to anyone? They have over complicated what used to be a simple process and kids don't even get it. Oh and if they need help at home, well they are kinda shit outta luck because most parents don't have a clue as to how to figure this out.

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 on pictures to enlarge*

Fun Rat Items on Amazon

This funny Rat Fink Wobbler Bobblehead can be found on Amazon for just $10.99. Not sure hubby would understand why I bought this strange piece, if I did though. lol 

This cute Rat Mouse Statue Trinket Jewelry Box can be found on Amazon for $21.99. But wait, is it a rat or a mouse? They seem to think it's a rat mouse...Guess they couldn't make up their minds. Cute though.

A Gothic Stonelike Duelling Rat Gargoyle Growling Statue 6.5" Faux Stone for just $20.99 on Amazon. That's a first for me..a rat gargoyle. I think this would make an interesting book shelf addition. 

Sterling Silver Chinese Zodiac Rat Charm Necklace for only $32.00 on Amazon. This reminds me that I've been looking for a rat necklace. This one is cute.

It's funny but for all the rats I've had in my life, I haven't bought a lot statues, pictures ect..of rats. I have a few friends that buy anything rat like that they can find but I guess I'd rather spend my money on things for the real rats that I have. 

Weekly Rat Facts: Using Fleece As Bedding

I use mostly fleece material for everything in my cages. The liner for the bottom is fleece and the covering for the second level is a cotton baby blanket. The hammocks are also fleece. 

I also use fleece beds inside the igloo's so they have something soft to lay in and I put a cotton baby blanket inside the bed so they have something to burrow into and cuddle with. 

This is what one of the fleece beds looks like. 

Lucky's cage also has fleece lining the bottom, a baby blanket clipped onto the shelves so it's softer on his feet and a fleece hammock.

This picture shows what the binder clips are and how they are used to hold the fleece material or baby blankets to the shelf.

Marbles loves to burrow into his baby blankets. 

My boys have always loved the fleece cubes. Of course they chewed the heck out of them, but the love sleeping in them.

You can find fleece cubes, hammocks and 3 tiered hammocks like the green one in this cage.

I like using fleece because it's soft, easy for them to walk on and easy to clean. When it gets too chewed to keep, I just replace it and since it's pretty cheap, it's cheaper than buying the good bedding like Carefresh and less messy.

This red spider hammock has been around for years. I'm surprised that none of the boys who have called it theirs, have chewed it up. This was Brodie. 

Lucky in the same red spider hammock. They just love this thing.

I don't sew so I buy all of my fleece cubes, hammocks and cage sets from The Little Red Ladybug

This cage set pictured above and the one below are just 2 of the many she has made and as you can see you can pick from many different colors and patterns and get all matching if you want. 

I started out with a cage set just like one of these and have just replaced the things that my rats have chewed up, mostly I just buy new hammocks and cubes *cubes not pictured here*.