Happy 21st Birthday To My Baby

This is Ken and I when I was 3 months pregnant with our daughter. It's hard to believe that was 22 years ago.

21 years ago tomorrow I was on my way to the hospital because the little alien inside me was trying to work her way out. This isn't about a horror movie or another of those crazy posts I've made about monsters, no this post is about my greatest achievement to date. My little girl. 

Most babies are cute, just look at Ken when he was a baby. Yep that's my hubby.

And take a look at me. Dang, but I was adorable. 

And then the alien who took up residence in my belly for 9 months and 2 weeks. (She was 2 weeks late..this kid started making me wait even before she was born)

And then after 2 days of labor and an emergency C-section my little angel was born on June 22nd. 

Poor kid had 2 seizures right after she was born and went through some tests to make sure she was alright. The tests were harder on Ken and I than they were on her. She slept right through the EEG and hardly cried at all the 9 days we spent in the hospital. 

I think she kinda looks like both of our baby pictures put together. 

Sure there were many sleepless nights, many trips to the doctors office when her fever would get really high. (First time parents are always neurotic about sick babies) But Elizabeth was a wonderful baby. She started sleeping through the night when she was 3 months old, wasn't a fussy eater and always laughed at the silly faces Ken made. Just look at her staring at Ken in the picture below. I wonder if she was trying to figure out why he was always making funny faces at her? It didn't matter to her how silly her daddy was, she always giggled at him. She still does on occasion. 

I remember her playing with dolls, writing on the walls with crayons, making her teachers crazy because she had so much energy and wanted to talk to her friends all the time. I remember the skinned knee's, the broken arms, (yes she broke both arms at different times) the playing in dirt and the imaginary friends. 

I sometimes wonder where my shy little girl went. The little girl who cried when she started first grade because the days were longer and she didn't want to be away from me that long. The little girl who believed in Santa, the tooth fairy and the Easter Bunny and ran around the apartment so full of excitement when she received a present from one of them. 

And then I look into her eyes, I see her smile or hear her laugh and know she's still in there. I see flashes of that little girl every once in a while in my adult daughter. She's no longer a baby and tomorrow she becomes an adult. 

Tomorrow my little girl is an adult. 

Happy 21st Birthday, Elizabeth.

Breeding Rats

People who don't have rats don't realize that there are arguments about people who breed rats. These breeders usually call what they have, rattery's. Like a nursery, but for rats.

Now this is actually a controversial subject for a lot of rat owners because there are so many unwanted rats out there in pet shops, shelters and people who need to give away their 'oops litters'. Oops litters happen when a person who has no rat eduction let's their male and female rat get together and make babies either on purpose or by accident. The Doe gets pregnant and then they need to find homes for the up to 14 babies.

I had an oops litter of hamsters a long time ago when I bought a dwarf hamster from a pet shop, brought her home and a few days later I had 5 tiny pink babies in the cage with her. I never once thought about giving those babies away. Once they were born in my care, they were my responsibility and I took care of all of them.

I understand that a lot of people want to make sure they are adopting rats that have been raised in a good environment and not abused, because sometimes abused rats will have health and social problems. Rats that have been left in shelters may be old, in bad health and you have no idea who the parents are of the rat you are adopting, you have no way of telling if the rat is a product of incest or what their pedigree is like. If you want to breed the rat you adopt and don't know if there are any genetic abnormalities in his line, you should not breed them, which is why a lot of people adopt their rats from rattery's because they keep records of the rats genetic line and you'll know what breed, colors, coats and abnormalities are in their genetic line.

The thing is, I don't support ratteries at all. There are too many rats in shelters and being given away so that even if you don't want to support pet shop and I don't..that you could adopt a rat or rats from people who have oops litters or shelter pets who are looking for a nice home.

So anyone looking to adopt a rat..think twice about adopting from breeders or ratteries and instead adopt from your local shelter or rescue group. There's a rat waiting for you that needs a good home.

Frizz-Ease® Sheer Solution™ Lightweight Frizz Control

I'm a Bzzagent and get free samples and samples to hand out to my friends to try new products. This time I received this Frizz-Ease product shown below in my pictures. I tried it and it works to well at controlling Frizz. My hair is long, down to my butt and I love a product that can tame the little frizzies and fly away hairs. And don't forget to visit this How To Video, to learn more about this product.



Here's a picture of the full size bottle and samples for my friends I received from Bzzagent.


Here's a close up picture of the full size bottle I get to keep. All you have to do is shake it to activate it and you can see the shiny particles floating around inside the bottle after shaking it. Not only did it work great are taming the frizz, but it smells really good too. It didn't leave my hair sticky or weighed down, my hair felt smooth and looked shiny and with Long black straight hair, I really like that.

Disclosure: I am a bzzagent and received free samples in exchange for a truthful review. All feedback and opinions remain my own.

Freebie Friday

I'm always talking about the freebies and free samples I get so I thought I would start a weekly Freebie Friday and show you all what I got each week for free and how I got it.



The Pink pouch filled with Tampons, pads and liners are from Vocalpoint on behalf of the Radiant collection

Biore cleanser, scrub and a nose strip.
Coupon for a one FREE Gillette Fusion Shave Gel with any purchase of the new Gillette Fusion ProGlide Styler. I was sent this coupon by Vocal Point.
Book : Taste Me by Tamara Hogan. I won by visiting Aloha On My Mind.

Happy Freebie Hunting.

Top Ten Things I hate To Do

There are some things that I just hate doing and though your list may be a little different than mine but I have a feeling there's at least one of these things most woman hate doing. 

1. The Annual Pap Smear- you know I had to put this at the top of my list..it's probably one of the most dreaded days a woman has..

2. Cleaning The Bathroom- Seriously if I could hire a cleaning crew...I would. 

3. Taking The Kids To The Doctor- Is there anything worst than taking the kids to a doctors office especially when they aren't sick? They just need their immunizations or a check up for school but you know as soon as you get there they are going to pick up some snot nosed brats super bug that's going to get them, you, and your entire family super sick for the next month. Not only that the kids at school are going to get sick and it's going to be all your fault. 

4. Cleaning Out the Closet- That closet you have put all the junk from the past 5 years in and now don't know why you kept it in the first place. 

5. Taking the Car To The Mechanic- if you are a woman and are alone when you take the car in..they look at you with a smirk like you don't have an idea in your damn head worth listening to. 

6. Taking A Pet To The Vet's Office- After taking a dog or cat to the vet's office the first time they know you are taking them and will fight you to the death before you get them back there. Ever try and get a 100lb dog in the back seat of a car to come out when he doesn't want to? My dad's dog is like that and will whine the entire time we are in the waiting room, after spending an hour getting him out of the car. 

7. Going On A Car Ride With Young Kids- I did it once...only once and will never do it again. Especially if the little one's have to be in car seats and don't like being strapped in. The crying, screaming, fighting if there are two of them and the throwing of food in the back seat. 

8. Vacuuming- I hate it. I have long hair so there always seems to be hair balls on my floor that get stuck in my vacuum...lol 

9. Laundry- nuff' said. 

10. Giving Birth- It hurts!

Posting Death on FB

In the past year I've seen several death's posted on fb, I have even posted about my own mother's passing last year. But it seems sometimes the death postings either are in bad taste at least to some people or friends are in such a rush to be the first one to offer a R.I.P. to someone that they forget that the person who passed away has a family and all of them may not have been notified as of yet. 

If you post a R.I.P. and get a comment back like, "What do you mean aunt Ethel died? What the hell happened to her?"

You may have posted your condolences too soon. 

There's one more thing I have wondered about after a person dies. Why does their family find it necessary to take down their fb page after all his fb friends have said their condolences on it? I had a friend who passed away and dozens of his friends and family said their condolences on his fb wall over the course of a year then all of the sudden one day his account was gone, deleted. His friends thought it was kinda rude of his family to take the page down without no notice whatsoever. 

I kept my mom's fb page up and our family and her friends still go and post messages on it, I don't see the need to take it down. 

Epi Ratty

The EpiRatty

Tired of shaving your legs? Fed up with razor nicks and rashes? Can't afford the expense of professional waxing?

Then this is the product for you! The EpiRatty(TM)!

The EpiRatty(TM) is a large cute agouti rat. No batteries required, just rub his butt and he will barber your skin, delicately ripping

out those unwanted hairs in seconds! He even has a built in lick mode that soothes the skin afterwards.

Phone 555 EPI RAT. Our operators are standing by.


Source:
http://www.dapper.com.au/humour.htm

Ratty Rights

Ratty Rights!

Just managed to nab your naughty escapee rat? Caught your bad rat chewing on the rug? Found your studly buck illegally liaising with the girls? When you take him into custody, remember to read him his rights:

"You have the right to squeak wildly.
You have the right to squirm and scratch and bite my hands.
You have the right to expel your bodily excretions all over my shirt.
Anything you do or say will be taken down and used against you when you're returned to your cage...
where you will plead innocent, we will crumble at your cuteness and you will be offered a yogurt drop."

Funny Tweets

I don't use Twitter as much as some of you but I noticed that some tweets are pretty funny when you don't know what's really going in a conversation or what the tweet is about. So I thought I would post a few tweets I've seen this week on Twitter. I've left off the links and the names in case they don't want me making fun of them...lol

RT New blog post! I'm Almost Naked! Please Don't Take My Picture!

Why am I watching Locked Up Abroad????

He killed without remorse. Hell, that's how he survived; a guy's got to eat right?

Blind Date? Check him out, baby!

how have my bulgy lovers been? i've been so busyyyy...i need stop being so active ;)

Ugh went to my room to freshen up before booksigning and just sprayed myself full in the face with hairspray. Eyes are stuck shut now

How (Not) to Be Awesome on Social Media

Don't lick the toast. No paws in the cereal. Don't drink the cream. Get away from the bacon. You people really know how to spoil breakfast.

I got told I'm a bitch and too much [on twitter...] but meeting me in person explains so much and makes it better? O.o

I would like to be a person who wakes up & says, "I think I'll go to Paris today." Instead of "I think I'll do the laundry today."

Baahahahahaha! RT  2pm: *Bible verse*...1am: *drunk status*

oh goodness...ya slap and spank one..ya gotta slap and spank them all...*slap* *spank* no go to sleep all you bitches ;)

I get a lot of email & tweets telling me I'm funny. I try not to mentally add "Looking" to this. Especially at deadline time . . .

Her mouth craned open in horror and something—maybe a tiny piece of bone—fell on her tongue.

I got outta bed this morning...why isn't that enough?!?!

heres the thing that I love about this book (besides the conversation about BDSM) it shows just how BIG the market can be.

Chihuahuas drive me crazy! Woooof!

lol so there you have just some of the funny Tweets I've seen recently. I might just make this a weekly thing since I found this so much fun.

We Repainted The Bathroom

A while back I posted pictures of my new pretty green bathroom walls after we repainted the bathroom. I bought a really cute frog shower curtain that matches my walls but I needed a few more green things to accentuate the new pretty green walls. So I made a few things. 

I bought this little wooden flower holder at Joannes and painted it green to go with my new walls. I also bought the pretty white flowers to use in it. I had the little white mouse and tiny teddy bear but the brown mouse on the far left, I made out of sculpy clay. It was my very first attempt at making something out of sculpy clay. lol 

I had some small sea shells and these little glasses. So I painted some of the sea shells yellow and some green and mixed them in the glasses and put them on this glass shelf. The rock in the middle is a rock my dad gave to me that his father, my grandfather found while he was rock hunting way back before I was born. It's a super pretty green geode of some sort of rock, but it's green and matched the walls, so it's in the bathroom now on the shelf. 

Here's a pictures of that flower pot. When I bought it, it was an unfinished, unpainted wooden box. That little thing on top is a tiny wooden lady bug I bought and glued up there. I thought it was cute. 

I even glued on a small animal pin I had to the bottom. I took the pin off the back of it and glued him right there in the corner. Not exactly sure what kind of animal he is, might be a gopher..lol But he's cute.

—A member of @NescafeUSA Tasters

Are You A Marsupial?

If the answer is no and you don't carry around a huge purse big enough to carry a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread in...you probably expect to get a plastic or paper bag when you buy those things. Right?

So then why do the cashier's or bag people ask the silly question, "Would you like a bag with that?" Like we're going to suddenly stop, take notice of our empty hands and say, "Why no, I think I'll try to carry the milk by the handle even though it's 45F outside and the milk is freezing cold and I might have frost bite by the time I get home, but please don't let that stop you from asking me if I want a bag with that." Not to mention the poor loaf of bread is going to be a squished mess by the time we get it home after having to juggle the freezing cold milk from one hand to another and try to make sure the bread doesn't get squashed in the process.

So cashiers and bag people, here's a little heads up for you.
1. If I don't have my own reusable bags with me.
2. I am not carrying a purse big enough to store the titanic in.
3. I don't look like a Kangaroo with a pouch to carry my groceries in.
4. My entire purchase consists of a pack of chewing gum or a pack of breath mints.

Please don't ask if I want a bag with that. Because of course I want a bag with that. That's how we carry our groceries home.

Is this not common sense?

Do you get charged for each bag you give away to a customer or something? Have you given the bags names and are sad to see them go? Have you had a bad bag experience and touching the plastic gives you PTSD type symptoms and you're afraid you'll lose your mind in front of me? No? Then what the heck is the problem..just bag up my groceries and let me walk out without asking me if I would like a bag..because of course I want a bag.

Now in the event you get one of these weirdo, "I'm not giving you a bag unless you beg me for one" type of cashiers...please do the following when they ask if you'd like a  bag with that.

Lean over very slowly into their space and whisper to them, "The bags come alive and smother you in your sleep, don't they? That's the only reason I can think of that you'd ask me if I want a bag for my groceries. I'm right aren't I?" Then look the person up and down and shake your head as he hands your bagged groceries to you. As you are walking away you should also turn around and hold up the bag for him to see and point at it and then at him and then just quietly walk out of the store like nothing has happened.

The next time you go in the store, go to the same checker...I can almost guarantee they won't ask you if you want a bag with that.

My Rats

For those who don't have rats as pets, you don't know how funny they can be. So here are a couple of pictures to show you their antics. 

Here's Hades on his back, just lazing around sleeping without a care in the world. Next to him is jasper who passed away recently. He was my big rat who loved to cuddle with me on the couch. They love the baby blankets to lay on so I always make sure they have a couple in the cage. 

Here's Ares winking at me. lol 

And just a minute later looking at me like, "Aren't you done taking pictures yet?" lol A second later he turned fully around and went to sleep. This was right after having a snack at dinner time and they always take a nap after dinner. So funny. It's such a hard life being a rat..

And here are all four of my boys on the couch eating a little dry cereal. In the back is ares and Brodie and the black and white one is Hades and right up front is my big boy Jasper. I miss Jasper's little face so much. I'm glad I have all these pictures to remember him by. 

My Week In Review

It's been a heck of a week. For some reason a family of rolie polies, their extended family and all their friends decided to make their way through my kitchen and bathroom. Now, I'm not scared of the little critters and if you don't know what I'm talking about, they are the little black beetle looking bugs that roll into a ball when they feel threatened. 

If you were anything like my brother, you played with them like marbles when you were younger. No? Yeah, me either. 

After a few days they seem to have come and gone. I don't know if it was the weather heating up and they decided that traveling through my kitchen and bathroom was the easiest way to get to where they were going or what, but they seem to be gone now. 

Oh summer time. The time of year when I can expect all sorts of bugs and little critters to venture into my apartment. I found a little *ken thought it was pretty big* spider in my apartment the other day. I let him crawl on my arm as I walked him outside and let him crawl into the bush outside my door. If all the spiders I've put in that bush over the years are still there...that's be a scary thought because there would have to be at least 150 of them, plus other bugs I've put out there. 

Just call me Mary, the saver of spiders and other creepy crawlies and cuddler of rats. 

*just keep the bee's away from me and everyone will be fine*

This week I found myself with quite the haul of free samples. 

Shout Color Catcher

                                                         Degreaser and no rinse floor cleaner

Laundry detergent

Body lotion

Mucinex

Tide Pods

Downy Unstoppables

Downy Dryer Sheet

That's just the ones that I haven't used yet. I also received a Honey Tea mix, Fiber One chocolate chip bar and a sample of a new cereal.

I was able to read one book this week. I barely had any time to myself so I had to read a few pages here and there and it was hard to do when I started reading this book, because it was so good I didn't want to put it down. 

I just want to say thank you to the publishers of this book for putting such a nice cover *With a full face and eyes* on this book. I love covers like this. The background is really nice, and the guy is super hot. Not to mention his eyes...look at his eyes. I've been ranting about the headless covers for so long my fingers are starting to bleed, so when I find myself reading a really good book with a cover I really like, I have to say so. 

If you haven't read this book yet...get to it. I loved it! If you like shifter books and very Alpha Males..this is the book for you. Seriously. I'm not good at writing book reviews, so I'm not going to try..I'm just going to tell you that this book rocks and leave it at that. Now go get it. 

I also got a little writing done this past week and published a few articles. 

How To Make A scrapbook For Your Pets.

How I Live With clinical Depression.

Ailments in Older Male Rats.

Well there you have it. My week in Review. How was your week?

Music Videos That "Do It" for Me

Are there some music videos that you watch and think..."Omg, that so hot." are there some music videos that have subtle sexual overtones that feed your fantasies? Of course there are, we're only human after all. This video always did it for me. I don't know if it's the guy in the mask, because guys in masks really do it for me...let me tell you. Or the fact that when he finally gets her in her bedroom he grabs her by the back of the hair and gently forces her down, while she looks up a little scared. Yeah, it's probably all of that and more..but in any case, this video does it for me. This is one of those videos that have a really good looking guy...and omg he is good looking, those eyes! *falls out of chair* Not to mention all the sexual innuendo going on in this video..Oh goodness. Watching guys dance is another thing that does it for me. Especially when they are dancing sexy like the guys do in this video. I liked this song before I ever saw the video and when I watched the video, I was like...omg wow. I replayed the parts with the group of guys dancing together just so I could watch them bump and grind..whew. Now this is a good one. it's dark, kinda scary and the lead singer David Draiman is sex personified. He has a lot of time right up close in front of the camera so you see he looks a little scary at times, he's hot, and he seems like a bad bad. And who doesn't like a bad boy? Am I right? So there you have it. My top picks for music videos that 'do it' for me. :)

How To Give A Rat Medicine

I know I've talked before about how my little guy, Brodie had an upper respiratory infection and now have him on antibiotics. Sometimes the upper respiratory infection does permanent damage to their little lungs and they will need to stay on antibiotics for the rest of their lives. I know a lot of people will put the liquid antibiotics right into the water bottles but doing that lets all the rats in the cage take the antibiotics, so what I have done is put the drops into a small spoonful of pudding or yogurt for Brodie and he has no problem eating it. 

My daughter put Bunny ears on Brodie and all the other rats in the cage on Easter and took pictures of them. None of them cared at all. Brodie just started cleaning his face and didn't even try to get the ears off. They are such laid back little guys. This picture was taken while he was cleaning his face. It looks like he's putting his hands on his face, telling my daughter..no, no more pictures. lol 

Brodie loves his hammock. 

Look at that little face. So sweet. 

I have also had to give the boys mite medicine a few times. I tried putting that stuff in so many different foods and so many times they just weren't having it. It must taste really bad. But I added it to a small spoonful of chocolate pudding and they ate it up no problem. 

So that's my tip to all you rat mommy and daddy's out there. Add the medicine to something sweet like yogurt, pudding, ice cream, cake or frosting. It works every time. 

Photo Album Memories

I realize that with the digital age most people aren't buying actual photo albums anymore, but I have so many old pictures that have to be put away that I needed a few more photo albums. This pretty black one is the latest one I've bought. I still have several hundred of my mom's old photos to put away in either photo albums or in scrapbooks. I also have post cards from my grandmas trip to Germany back in the 80's. 

I like my digital camera but nothing beats a picture that you can hold and put into an album. Yes, I'm old school. 

This is my mom and step dad. 

My brother went to california and took pictures of our grandfathers grave. This is my mothers father. I know you can't really see what it says but it says..

Charles C. Sherman
US Army
World War II
1923-  Feb 19 1984

Here's my mom with her dog Cupcake. I'm really glad I have all these pictures. I'm known in my family as the picture keeper. I have over 20 large photo albums and many more digital pictures saved on disks, photo bucket and in my email but I still like the printed pictures the best. I like photo albums that I can take out and share the pictures with others. My daughters likes them too and she told me when she gets older she wants to inherit all my pictures, which is fine with me. I'm glad to hear someone else wants to carry on what I've been doing. 

—A member of @NescafeUSA Tasters

A New Scrapbook Page- Hamsters

I have so many loose pictures laying around, especially since my mother passed away and I inherited all her pictures. I've been putting some in scrapbooks and some in albums and I've got about 400 pictures put away at this point. 

But while I was doing all that I cam across a few pictures of the hamsters we've had as pets and knew I had some fun scrapbook pages, cardstock, cut outs ect.. in my bag. so I put this page together the other day and wanted to share it with you. 

This was Sniffy, he was such a character. he was the most lovable little hamster. 

I thought the 'fleas' thought bubble went really well with the look on his little face. 

This is what the whole page looks like.

As you can see, we've had quite a few hamsters. 

I found a tiny picture of Buster, our big hamster and put a small cupcake sticker in his paws. You can't really see if from this fuzzy picture, but it's adorable. 

This is Cuddles peeking out from atop a hamster cage. She loved the space on top and always made it her bed. I bought her from a pet store in the mall, even though I don't usually buy from pet stores. But the store was going out of business and she was going to be going to the shelter the next day. The thing is a few days after I brought her home...she gave birth to 5 healthy little babies. I didn't even know there were babies in the cage until I heard the squeaking. I kept all the babies their entire lives. 

We ended up with three boys and two girls. It was so much fun raising babies to adulthood. Cuddles was a great mama. 

—A member of @NescafeUSA Tasters

Memories of My Mother

I talk about my family all the time and since my mom will have been gone for a year next month I thought what better way to keep her memory alive than to share some of my memories of her throughout the month. 

The picture below is from quite a while ago, my daughter was only about 7 years old in this photo. That's me in red, my mom beside me in black, my step dad in front of me and my daughter. 

It was Christmas time and my mom wanted pictures taken, so we went and had some pictures taken. 

My mom and step dad didn't realize the photographer was going to take so many different pictures and she had only planned on buying 2 or 3 of the big 8x10's. But when she saw all the pictures he had made for us to look at, she couldn't make up her mind and didn't have the money to buy all of them, so I told her to pick out the one's she wanted to buy and I would buy the rest and give her the ones she wanted. 

I made her day that day. They really were nice pictures. 

Ocean Beauty- Danger of Leaving Seller Feedback On Amazon

I buy from Amazon all the time and have to tell you this is only the second time in many years that I've had a problem with a seller and this time it was  Ocean Beauty, on the site. I want to say right up front that this is in no way a reflection on Amazon, but on the private seller that I did business with on amazon.com. 

Click on pictures to enlarge.

I ordered this product on April 11th and was sent an email that it had been sent and I could expect it between April 17-20. I underlined how it says the package is 'In Transit" There was a tracking number and everything. Tracking Id 9400111201080442723186 as you can see.

This page has stayed like this since then and it is now May 18th and my order has since been canceled and refunded. I clicked on 'track package' and there were no details available. I gave them the benefit of the doubt and waited for a few extra days after the estimated delivery date and when I didn't get my package I sent them an email using amazon's 'contact seller' feature. 

As you can see in this picture I waited until May 3rd to send them an email because I was hoping they would send me an email if there was a problem or the package was mis-delivered. I was giving them the benefit of the doubt that there was just a hiccup somewhere and the package would get delivered since I had that email that said it had been mailed and was in transit. 

After contacting them because they didn't bother to contact me and I don't believe they ever would have, I got this email back from them. At first I thought it was a joke. If you don't know what I'm talking about, click on the image to enlarge it. Read the yellow underlined message they sent to me. It looks like a 9 year old wrote that. Completely unprofessional. 

But as you can see, it does say that they tried to call me (no they didn't) and that my package was lost in the mail. Meaning it had been mailed, right? Wrong! I called them and talked to Raquel and she told me that my package had never been mailed at all because they ran out of stock and didn't have what I ordered and they would like to refund my money.

I was fine with that. It took about 5 days and my credit card was refunded. I thought that was the end of it. I was wrong.

You can plainly see others have been leaving bad feedback for them, I'm not the only one. My feedback is the one on the bottom by Mary K. 

Here's a better look at my feedback. You can also see I left really good feedback for a company that gave me really good service, even when there was a little mix up with the order. 

You would think that would be the end of it, right? You can see I left my feedback on May 14th...not 5 minutes after I left that feedback...they called me. That's right, the company I left bad feedback for, called me and asked me to take down my bad feedback and if I agreed to remove it, they would send me a free bottle of what I ordered...when they found one. The man I talked to, hardly spoke English and it was hard to understand what he was saying, but I did understand he told me that they were moving to a new warehouse and he knew they had another bottle of the product I ordered 'somewhere in their warehouse' and when they found it they would send it to me for free. I said ok and thank you. I thought that was the end of it. It wasn't. 

On the 16th, I received another call from Raquel. The same woman I had talked to the first time on the phone. She asked me to take down my bad feedback and if I did they would send me a free bottle of another product since they don't have the one I wanted. But could I please take the bad feedback down now. 

I told her no. That if I actually was sent the free product, I would take my bad feedback down. That was not good enough for her. She said she would send me a tracking number so I knew I was really getting it and if I got the tracking number, would I please take down the bad feedback. I said no, not until I received the product in the mail. 

So I was sent an email with a tracking number and the day after it was sent I saw a package was really sent to me. I waited for the package knowing I wasn't going to get what I had originally ordered but something was better than nothing and they were trying to make up for their mistakes. 

I received a package a few days later with something similar to what I had originally ordered and so I took my bad feedback down as I had agreed to. So after 40 days, 2 emails, and 3 phone calls I finally received a product from the company I ordered from, it wasn't the product I had wanted but it was something and it ended up being free. Well, free except for my time, my energy and the stress of having to put up with a company calling me and badgering me to take down my feedback of their company and the lousy customer service I received. 

When my package came I noted the return address. You can clearly see the return address and the replacement free product they sent to me. I blacked out my own address but not my name.

                                  It says Deals Trading, 15 Fred Eller dr. Monsey, ny 10952-3902

So I looked it up online and found this website about it and a map. Now if I click on the map....it sure looks like a house, not a big company building. It says on the website that they have 1-5 employees. That tells me something, this whole incident tells me something and I don't think  have to spell it out for you.

I made this blog post because it is my opinion that had I not contacted them that first time, they would have kept my money and sent me nothing. No product, no email saying they were sorry, no refund and no free product. After talking with Raquel on the phone that first time and her offering a refund, there was no mention of getting a replacement product for free or asking if there was some way they could make up their mistake to me. 

No, it was only after I left bad feedback for their company that they started calling me asking if they could send me a free product and only if I took down my bad feedback. I feel I was bribed. But I agreed to take down the feedback if they sent me the product they offered to, in hindsight I would not make that mistake again, but neither will I go back on my word once I gave it. 

In Conclusion:

I made this blog post because I want anyone to know who is going to be doing business with Ocean Beauty on amazon.com to beware. They are unprofessional, unreliable, and you might not get the product you ordered. If you leave them bad feedback you could also get harassed like I was. So make sure to look at the seller's feedback from other's who have bought from the sellers before doing business with them.

A New Dish

Chili Noodle Casserole

I had decided to try out a few new recipes and this was one of the first. It consisted of boiled shells, browned hamburger meat, 2 cans of no bean chili, a can on stewed tomatoes and a cup of mozzarella cheese. Then I baked it for 20 minutes until the cheese was melted. It was a big hit with the family. 

—A member of @NescafeUSA Tasters

RIP Jasper

My beautiful Jasper passed away yesterday.

Jasper was my laid back, cuddly boy who loved to be cuddled and kissed on the face. Jasper loved to sit next to us on the couch where he would lay on us and eye boggle and give kisses. He would just stay close, clean himself or brux and boggle, or look around. Because he was so laid back and gentle, I would usually take him out to show to new people and he loved the attention. It didn't take much behind the ear petting to get him boggling. A few days ago, Jasper started slowing down for no apparent reason.

On his last day he was snuggling with his brothers, because that's where he seemed most comfortable and happy. As I was watching him in the cage he started to seem restless and his breathing became more labored. All of a sudden, Jasper ran down the ladder and to the cage door, making a line straight for me. I saw the urgency in him and picked him up and sat down. I was sitting there with him, just petting him gently and talking to him. I found "the spot" behind his little ear and I got a short, sweet boggle out of my boy... our last one together. I feel so fortunate that I was able to be home with him when he passed and it's obvious to me that he knew how much he was loved since he wanted to be held.

I had him on antibiotics for the past week, but the upper respiratory infection it seems got the better of him.

Jasper was my big boy, the biggest rat I've ever had or seen. He was always ready to come out for a snuggle and I am really going to miss our snuggle time together. 

Jasper being Jasper. He was so lovable and so laid back. 

Jasper laying on the food bowl. Or at least trying too. I don't think he knew he didn't fit. lol He scooped all the food out of the bowl first too. Silly boy. 

What ya doing mama.

My beautiful boy posing for the camera. 

He was so laid back, he even let me dress him for Easter with some bunny ears. 

He was such a sweet little guy, my heart is broken right now and I'll be taking some time off the computer for a few days. I'll be back in a few days.

Memories of My Mom

Happy Mother's Day

Because it's Mother's Day I wanted to share a memory of my mom today.

My mom passed away last June and it seems like it just happened. It doesn't seem like it's almost been a year. I have a lot of great memories of my mom and wanted to share some of them, so several times over the next month I am going to share a great memory I have of my mother. One of the best was one time my mom and dad, Uncle Jack and his wife took me and my little brother to Big Bear Lake in California and my mom saw a stray dog wandering around near our cabin. So she started leaving the left over dinner for him and after a day or so he got comfortable with her and she would be outside petting him after dinner.

We really didn't think much of it or pay attention to the dog for the first couple of nights. My uncle Jack was too busy sending my brother and I on snipe hunts.  They both got me good one night by taking me out in a field late one night with a plastic bag and spoon and telling me to take the spoon and try to catch the snipes in the bag. I bent down to do that and they turned the flashlights off and stood out there giggling at me freaking out.

When we got back to the cabin, my mom was outside feeding the dog again and I went inside the cabin for a minute.

My mom called me outside and was petting the dog and it came and sat down next to us on the stairs. My dad and uncle came out and stopped really suddenly and told my mom and I to get back in the cabin. My mom looked at them like they were crazy until my uncle said, Peggy...that's a wolf.

My mom and I were sitting on the stairs petting a wolf, or at the very least a wolf/dog mix. He was friendly though. We got up and walked back in the cabin where my dad and uncle freaked out. But my mom was laughing and fed the wolf/dog every night while we were there. We just didn't sit with him on the stairs again.

This is my mom and my hubby Ken, outside our apartment complex from just a couple of years ago.

Happy Mother's Day Mom

Watch the entire video

Make sure to watch the whole thing.

Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered my $10 Starbucks Gift Card Giveaway. 

Amber! Who's email begins with awal....

I'll be contacting you soon for your mailing address. 

Thanks again to everyone who entered. 

I'm A Very Happy Girl Today

I went to check out my Yahoo Contributor Profile and see how my articles are doing. Imagine my surprise to find a shiny new Badge on my profile, a Hot 500 Badge! There are thousands of contributors (writers) on the site, so to be one of the top 500 for last month and get the badge is a real high point for me.

I've been a member of the Yahoo Contributor Network (Formerly known as Associated Content) since 2006 and this is the first time I've received this badge, so you can imagine my surprise, shock and excitement. And yes, I took a screen shot of it on my profile page. lol The badges are given out each month so I might not have it next month, but I have it right now! Look at my pretty red badge.

I mostly write articles about small exotic animals such as gerbils, hamsters, rats and mice but have other articles about rabbits, dogs, whales and pigs. I have also written an informative article about what Wicca is and my thoughts on ebooks vs Traditional books. I was also interviewed a while back on SOS Aloha about my articles. 

If you read my articles, let me know what you think and if you have any questions about small animals and their care just ask. I'll do my best to answer your questions.

New Necklace I made

I decided to make some new jewelry with some of the loose stones I had in my beading kit. I used semi precious stones and small gold tone beads as spacers. It's been a while since I sat down and made a new necklace but I have so much beading material I may as well use it.

—A member of @NescafeUSA Tasters

Giveaway: $10 Starbucks Gift Card!

Win A $10 Starbucks Gift Card!

I love entering giveaways and have won a few recently so I thought I would hold one and give a little something to my wonderful readers. All you have to do to enter this giveaway is leave a comment with your email address (So I can email you if you win). 

That's it!

I will pick a winner on 5/7/12 and send them an email. I will also announce the winner here on my blog. I will need the winner to respond to my email and send me their mailing address within 24 hours or I will pick another winner. 

Disclaimer: This post was not sponsored by anyone but me. The giveaway is for my readers because I love them! This is only open to people in the U.S. Must be 18 years or older to win.

Update: This giveaway is now closed. 

This Seems Legit

I receive emails that I have determined to be scams all of the time. Some are easy to tell they are scams while others, like the one below are harder to tell they are scams. I mean, who wouldn't believe I just won Five Million Dollars? This totally seems legit to me *insert sarcastic tone of voice here*. I will however tell these scammers something that may help them in the future. If you are going to write to people who most likely have half a brain, you may want to learn better English so you don't sound like such an idiot.."brain cage" really? I feel sympathy for those who don't see emails like this one for the scams they are and end up losing money to these idiots. Here's the email I received today. I had to share it with you because I found it so ridiculous.


"hello I call CHRISTELLE VALBERG married born April 24, 1968 and I am a French national. You can contact him because I want to do something very important. This will seem a little suspect it true that you do not know me and you do not know. I have a cancer that is terminally ill, my doctor is telling me that my days are numbered because of my range of health. From what the Dr. I was justified, a bullet is currently installed in my brain cage, I have this disease for over 4 years. I made you to accept my award. I have the sum of $ 5,000,000 as a grant. Please accept this sum as it may well be very useful and it asks nothing in return. It is necessary to accept my offer if you directly answer my email: christellevalberg@yahoo.fr I feel very bad and I'm afraid, almost did not sleep at night and day. I can not die without having done all this grant money if I do not think it would be a copy gasto.Quiere my email address to write to my lame: God remains with you."


Oh yeah, that seems legit...

Do You Tip?

I was watching a show on tv a while back and it showed this server in a restaurant ranting about not getting an 18% tip on all the people who ate at the place she works. Now while I do understand that servers/wait staff don't make big bucks, they know what they are going to be making when they apply for or take the job, no one forces them to be a server and a tip is not mandatory of customers.

This lady said if you expect to get good service that they expect to get a good tip of at least 18% but in my opinion she is wrong. Good service is what they are paid to do, it's not mandatory for customers to give them a tip for a service that's already being paid for. That's their job!

Expecting a tip from everyone or bitching about a small tip is rude and ridiculous. If someone thinks their waitperson was nice/helpful enough to leave them any sort of tip, even a couple of bucks change, then that person should remember they didn't have to and be thankful for it.

Tips are for good service rendered. Not just because you brought out the food and never came back and did your job of asking if anyone needed a refill, something else or if I have to hound the other servers to get my check because you never come back to my table after bringing the food.

You pay for your food and anything extra should not be 'expected and bitched about if you don't get it'. If I felt like giving a tip, I will. If the service was bad and the server had a bad attitude, I'm not leaving a tip. You took that job knowing full well that you would be having to wait on customers and be friendly. I worked in a bakery/deli and never got a tip and I made sandwiches, donuts, sliced people's cold cuts and cheese and made party platters all day, but I did it with a smile because that's what I got paid to do.

Not everyone who works with the public gets a tip. The people in the bakery/deli who slice your cold cuts and cheese don't get tips, doctors who make sure you are alright don't get tips, the cashier at the grocery store doesn't get a tip.

And don't even get me started on those places that put out a tip jar right by the cash register and expect a tip like Starbucks, port of subs, subway and other fast food places that seem to be doing it. They get paid for doing their job and I expect to pay the price on the wall, next to what I am getting. I don't tip at those places.

The one thing I will say is if I order food and have it delivered, I usually tip the person who brings it to me. I do tip when going out to eat, although I really don't go out to eat all that often anymore. I just don't think the servers should be getting all ranty and indignant if they don't get the 18% tip they are looking for. If I throw a couple of bucks on the table after a meal, smile and be happy you got anything at all, because believe me if I hear a snarky remark about a small tip...you'll never get another tip from me.

I was being nice one time when I went to Port of subs and left $2 in the tip jar after the ladies made our two sandwiches. They had been nice and I was feeling generous and so when she gave me my change, I put it in the tip jar and on my way out I heard her say to the other lady, "Two bucks? Can you believe this shit?"

There was no one else in the store at the time and she didn't even have the common courtesy to wait until we were completely out the door before she took the money out and said that. so whenever we wanted sandwiches again from port of subs, I made sure to go on days I knew they were working and got them then. I never gave another tip. Oh and yeah, I called the 1-800 number and complained about them too. It pissed me off just that much. I wasn't worried about retribution since you watch them through the glass making the sandwiches..they couldn't spit in my food in the back like I'm sure they would have given the chance.

Yeah I'm pessimistic/negative and irritated with the whole tip thing. It's probably a good thing I don't go out much..because I'm not a good tipper.

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger...

I would love to know who thought that up. What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. Is that really true for all of us? I'm not so sure. Sometimes the things we go through when we were younger shape they way we are later on in life, for the good or the worst. But sometimes the things that happen in life don't make you stronger, they just leave you feeling exhausted, frail and broken. 

A good friend of mine passed away last week and it's left me shaken. He was only 55 years old and so I never thought anything would happen to him, not for a long time anyway. This coming June 23rd will have been one year since my mom passed away. You just never know what little gem life is going to throw at you next and while I used to just take each day as it came, right now I seem to be in "Oh no" mode. That is, I'm thinking, "Oh No"..what's going to happen next. Oh no, why is my phone ringing, is it going to be bad news? Oh no, who's at my door...ect.

I really need to get out of this frame of mind, but I'm not sure how to right now. But I guess that's what life is..cycles of time where the water is calm and everything is moving smoothly with the occasional wave, storm or shark floating along the surface ready to bite you in the ass if you get too close.