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. 

Beading Kits

A friend of mine and I got to talking the other day about how I make my own earrings and she asked how I know what beads go with what wires and how to hook everything together. So I told her that I started out with ready made 'kits' that you can buy from most craft stores and now I know what I need to make the jewelry and other things I make. I figured most people knew there were these types of kits that have everything in them to make a necklace, earrings,watches, dolls ect... But apparently I was wrong. So I thought I would show you some of the kits that I have right now.

These are all different kits that include everything you need to make what is pictured on the front of the package. *The only thing you need are the tools and maybe glue. ie pliers, needle nose pliers or sewing needles*

This is a watch kit. I've made several of them and they are great. They look just like the watches you'd buy at places like Kmart and Sears and cost less. This kit was only $10 when I bought it. 

Necklace kit using tiny seed beads.

There are even doll kits.

and everything you need to make the doll comes with it.

Kits to make your table look festive.

The kit comes with all the beads and wire you need to make everything shown in the picture. 

This kit is for a necklace using a tiny seed beads. These take a while to make and you have to have a little patience because the beads are so small.

But the kit comes with everything you need. 

I've made family members necklaces and earrings as well as bracelets and they are like them. If you're looking for a fun hobby this is a great one. Starting off with a kit makes it easy to finish a piece of jewelry and the more kits you finish the more pieces of jewelry accessories you will use and find out what they are used for. Once you've gotten comfortable making some jewelry you can go to a craft store and pick out some loose beads and jewelry making accessories and make something of your choosing.

Weekly Rat Facts: Losing A Pet

As you probably know by now, Bandit the little guy pictured above died earlier this month. He was almost 4 years old and that's pretty old for a rat. The average life span for a rat is 2-3 years. So we knew that his time was probably nearing but it doesn't make it any easier. 

No matter what type of pet you have, you have to think about what your going to do after a pet dies. What will you do with the body? Ect..

I have a credit card that I keep just for pet emergencies and thankfully, have only had to use it one time when I had to take my pet hamster in to be euthanized. Most of my animals have passed away at home but if you have a pet euthanized at a vet's office you can either have them cremated and have their ashes put in a small box or urn or you can bring them home and bury them yourself. That's what we usually do. I have rats and hamsters buried up in the mountains, at parks, in my apartment complex's yard and one little dwarf hamster is buried right in front of my apartment door.

When my mom's dog passed away a few years ago, I found a mobile pet service that came out the same day and picked her dog up, cremated him and brought him back in a little box. When my mom passed away I put the box in the coffin with her because I thought she would have wanted him with her.

When one of my rats passes away and they have cage mates, I let the cage mate sniff the body because I think rats are very smart animals and know when one of their cage mates is sick or is gone so I let them say goodbye. 

If you want to keep a little bit of your pet with you, there are lockets and jewelry that you can buy that hold little bits of ashes or hair from your pet that you can wear as a necklace or bracelet. I haven't personally done this but I can see how that would help keep your pets memories alive and feel closer to them.

I realize this isn't something you want to think about, but it is something that pet owner's should know.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a 'Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

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

This week I received a mug and bookmark I won from a blog contest and a nice size sample bag of Hills Science Diet Dog Treats. *My rats like dog treats so they get a little treat*

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

This month I also cashed out some points after doing surveys and I thought I would share that with you. As you can see in the picture above I cashed out $100 worth of Amazon gift cards this month alone from My Survey. 

I also cashed out $30 from Swagbucks this month and turned that into Amazon gift cards. 

That's practically free money right there just for taking surveys and using Swagbucks to search the internet from. As you can see on my account I have a little more than 1000 Swagbucks still in my account and that's enough for another $10 Amazon gift card and I will be cashing that out soon as well. 

So did you get any freebies, wins or money from surveys this week?

Book Reviews

I'm a guest reviewer over at I Smell Sheep and reviewed this book, Wicked Waves by Sharon Kay. 

And in case you missed it, I also reviewed the first book in the series, Wicked Wind by Sharon Kay.

I also reviewed Dark Wolf by Christine Feehan. This happens to be my favorite series of all time and this is book 25 in the series. 

The Deep Dark Web or Invisible Web

Did you even know something like that existed? I didn't. 

I went searching the Internet to see if there were other ways to...search the Internet. I know, I end up searching the strangest things online. But I was right, there are other ways to search and to narrow down your search so that you get the results you want. I didn't know this, but this is what I found out...

I found out that you can narrow your searches down by writing them like this: Blue+Birds+Nevada this will make sure that all those words are used in the searching and if you want a particular word left out you would write this... Birds+Nevada-Yellow which would eliminate all yellow birds in Nevada from your search results. I actually didn't know to do this. 

Now for the 'other' thing I found...

The Deep, Dark Web or The Invisible Web

Now there are two different things here. There is the Invisible web which you can access by going to certain websites like Searchable Databases. When you search in a library catalog, article database, statistical database, etc., the results are generated "on the fly" in answer to your search. Because the crawler programs cannot type or think, they cannot enter passwords on a login screen or keywords in a search box. Thus, these databases must be searched separately. One such Searchable Database would be Complete Planet which is a directory of over 70,000+ searchable databases and specialty search engines.

There is also the Dark Web or what others call The Darknet that for the most part in order to even search on, you need to download an anonymous browser called TOR (The Onion Router). After reading other articles, I found that there are many things, illegal things that people use The Dark Web for. Things like buying illegal drugs, underage porn, buying guns, hiring hitmen, and probably one of the most disturbing things I found was a site that said they kidnapped homeless people, experimented on them, posting pictures anyone visiting their site can see. The site was called, The Human Experiment. 

I have to say, when I went exploring that night looking for better ways to use search engines, I never in my wildest imagination thought that I would be writing about this.

I also found an explanation for Internet currency know as Bitcoins. According to the articles I read $1 in Bitcoins will cost you $9 US money and when using your Bitcoin currency it's completely anonymous, it can't be traced back to you like using a credit card. Which is why pedophiles and people who are going to buy something illegal on the Internet through The Darknet use Bitcoins so their illegal activities can't be traced back to them. 

So have you heard of the Dark Web, The Invisible Web or The Darknet?

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 them. *

Food I Won't Eat

*Lucky sharing Cream of Wheat with me* 

I would rather eat Cream of Wheat several times a day for the next month than eat some of the foods my parents tried to shove down my and my younger brother's throats when we were younger.

When I was growing up there were some foods that my mom made that I hated, there aren't a lot of them but let me know what you think and if you've eaten them. 

Spaghetti Squash

Probably my #1 most hated food of all time is spaghetti squash. My mom used to boil the hell out of it, scrape it into a bowl and serve it to us. Yum..not! My brother and I hated it and one day we didn't want to eat it so my mom got mad and pushed my brothers face down into the bowl of squash.  Probably why I hate it to this day.

Liver

Great googly moogly this stuff is rancid smelling and it tastes like ass. My hubby loves liver so when he gets some to make for himself *because I'm sure as hell not making it for him, eww* I usually make myself some potato salad and stuffed mushrooms.

Elbow Macaroni and Canned Whole Tomatoes

Now I don't know why my mom started making this because none of us liked it. She would boil a whole package of elbow macaroni and when it was done, she would drain it and add 3 cans of whole peeled tomatoes to the pot and she would then use her hands to pop the tomatoes and tear them apart. And that was all there was to this dish...yummy, right? No, not so much. lol

So what's your list of yucky foods.

Weekly Rat Facts: They Never Do What You Expect Them Too

You may buy certain cage accessories thinking that they will use them a certain way but when you add them to the cage, they don't use them the way you thought they would. Take for instance this nice, new fluffy bed I bought for my older boys. You would think they would use it to lay inside it...nope, Bandit used it like a pillow. He laid next to it, rolled it over and laid on the edge of it. Marbles on the other hand...uses it as a toilet. lol

Bandit liked his new pillow though.

I bought one of these Lava Ledges for Lucky's cage thinking he would use it to hop from it to the other levels in his cage the way the boys in the other cage did. Nope, he decided it was better to just chew the holy crud out of it until there was nothing left of it. You'd have thought the blue ledge was possessed by a demon and Lucky was trying to rid it from his cage the way he attacked this thing. 

I've bought expensive fleece cubes for them to use as beds that they tore to shreds in a matter of days but put a cardboard box in there that cost me nothing and they don't chew it at all. Go figure. 

Rats rarely do what you expect them to do but it's always fun to see what they come up with.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a 'Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

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

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

This week I received...

Clorox Wipes

Glad Trash Bag

7 Poise Pads

Scotch Expressions Tape

3 Atkins Diet bars

Secret Clinical Strength Deodorant

Olay Body Wash

Coupon book with a coupon for another free Secret Clinical strength deodorant

*I paid $4.95 shipping and handling for the Secret deodorant and Olay body wash but received 500 Swagbucks for ordering this. A $5 Amazon gift card costs 450 Swagbucks so this was still free.*

So did you receive any freebies this week?

Gain Fling & Fireworks, Influenster and What's a Voxbox?

Recently I saw someone post on Twitter that they got a Voxbox from Influenster and they loved their free products. Now if you've been reading my blog for very long you know I'm always on the lookout for websites and companies that let you test products at home in exchange for a review or sharing samples and coupons with your friends. So I decided to find out what this Influenster was all about. 

I went to the Influenster website, read through what the site was about and signed up for an account. I completed a few reviews for products on their site that I had already used and completed a few lifestage Badge reviews and surveys. Within a couple of days I was sent an email telling me that I had been selected to receive a Gain Voxbox. 

A Voxbox is a box from Influenster that has a product or products in it for you to try at home and then complete a few tasks on the Influenster site such as a review, share on Twitter or a blog post such as this one. 

As you can see from the picture above my Gain Voxbox contained a bag with 5 Gain Flings pods, a sample size of Gain Fireworks scent booster and a $10 iTunes gift card. 

Just in time for Laundry day!

I received my Gain Voxbox yesterday and did a load of laundry this morning. I did a small load of my shirts I was planning on throwing away because I had gotten grease splatters on them while cooking and I thought the grease spots would never come out. So I washed 7 shirts and was pleasantly surprised when 5 of the shirts that had just a few grease splatters came out completely clean, the other two still had a couple of visible grease splatters but they were much less visible and I decided to just wash them again with a larger load of laundry and one came out completely clean while the other that had the biggest grease stain just wasn't going to come clean so I just tossed that shirt. *I really need to buy an apron to wear when I'm cooking*

I did a load of cotton baby blankets and fleece throws that I use in my rat cages and used the Gain Fireworks scent booster with the Gain Flings to see if it would help with the urine smell that can get on the blankets and throws and was pleasantly surprised to find that it really did. I cleaned both cages and changed the bedding in them this morning and I can still smell the Gain Fireworks scent coming from the blankets, it's subtle but nice. 

My old man rat, Marbles is comfy and sleeping in his upper box in freshly washed blankets. 

Lucky is hiding inside his pink igloo with his freshly washed cotton baby blanket. 

So my thoughts on Influenster and the Voxbox are as follows:

This is a great program for people like myself who like to do surveys, tasts and blog posts in exchange for free products and product samples. The tasks are really easy like posting tweet, fb post or blog post about what you received from Influenster and in exchange you get to keep and use free products. 

If you'd like to give Influenster a try just sign up for an account at this link. 

Disclaimer:

I received a free sample in exchange for my honest opinion. All opinions expressed are my own.

Kids Getting Sick After Eating Foods Laced With Marijuana

So by now you all know my stance on Marijuana, "Medical" or otherwise. Last month on an episode of The Doctors they had Orange County Sheriff, Clay Cranford on their show telling parents to watch out for candy bars laced with marijuana. The kids don't feel the effects of the marijuana right away because it has to travel through their digestive tract so they eat another candy bar and then another. Pretty soon the kids are having seizures and vomiting from a marijuana overdose. 

Now most marijuana users will tell you that you can't overdose on marijuana. But what they really mean is having too much marijuana in your system won't kill you. Or no one has ever died from a marijuana over dose. But what about kids who are now having seizures which can lead to brain injury, lack of oxygen and even brain damage?

According to EurekaAlert, "A total of 1,378 patients under age 12 were evaluated for unintentional ingestions – 790 before Sept. 30, 2009 and 588 after Oct. 1, 2009. The number of children treated for exposure to marijuana before Sept. 30 was zero. The number from Oct. 1 on was 14 with eight of those coming directly from consuming marijuana food products."

Loose leaf marijuana and edibles commercially made for "medical" purposes have a higher THC amount in them, making them a higher threat to young children if they ingest it. 

At another school, a child was hospitalized after eating a small piece of a chocolate bar laced with hash oil and a teacher fell ill as well after eating a small piece. And according to NBC Los Angeles, "The Ventura County Office of Education sent a memo to parents Wednesday warning them about chocolate marijuana bars that contain hash oil. One student reportedly collapsed and was hospitalized after eating 1/12 of a Hubby's Edible Bar, which comes in several favors, each in six breakable squares."

So while the pot heads can say no one has overdosed and died from marijuana, some kids have over dosed to the point of having seizures and having to be hospitalized after eating the edibles. 

Maybe parents, grandparents and those who have the marijuana and marijuana edibles in their home should take care to make sure kids can't get a hold of it. But if they keep the pot out where a kid can get it and a kid ingests it, they should be prosecuted, jailed and maybe have their kids taken away from the unsafe home.

Sources: 

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/uocd-sic052413.php

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Chocolate-Marijuana-Bar-119027014.html

My Favorite Blogs

Today I thought I would do something a little different. I follow a lot of blogs but there are a few that I visit almost everyday because I really like them. I thought I would share some of my favorite blogs with you.

Adventure Into Romance with Shelley Munro
I think Shelley and I have been friends the longest of all my blogging buddies. We have been visiting each others blogs for years and I really love the books she writes as well as her blog posts. Her books are so hot and funny. I love reading a book that can make me laugh as well as make me turn on the air conditioning. She's also one of the nicest ladies you'll ever meet.

SOS Aloha
Kim is the owner of this blog and she writes great posts and has some of the best giveaways ever! Kim also helps to send out Christmas cards to the troops and gets her readers to help out when they can. I participated in sending out Christmas cards to the troops through her blog and a couple of others and got great letters back from the men and women who received my cards.

Fangs Wands & Fairy Dust
Stephanie writes great book reviews as well as reviews for shows like True Blood. I really liked that she's honest in her reviews. She's very personable and a really nice person. We've emailed back and forth for some time now. Stephanie even asked me to be a guest reviewer on her blog, which I loved.

Heidi Betts
Heidi Betts is a writer of romance books and even though most of my genre choices as of late have been towards the paranormal side of things, I really enjoy reading her books when I'm in the mood for a fun romantic read. I'm also a member of her street team so if you win a giveaway from me, you'll usually get a Heidi Betts bookmark, door hanger or whatever other goodies I have to give away from her.

The Reading Addict
Elf and I met when I saw her commenting at SOS Aloha blog and I clicked her name to see if she had a blog. I've actually found a lot of blogs that way. Elf writes great book reviews and she also adds a little of what's going on in her life and her thoughts, which I really like. I like visiting blogs that have some personal posts thrown in there as well.

Herding Cats & Burning Soup
I don't remember how I came to visit this blog, I just remember seeing the name and knew I had to find out more. Anna is funny and incredibly nice. I love her posts because it's not the same thing everyday. There's a little bit of everything including book reviews, cat pictures, recipes, Hilariously funny quotes, and man candy...we can't forget the hotness of the man candy pictures she uses with her reviews.

It's Rhyme Time
Pat and his cat Orlin rhyme their little asses off on this blog. Some of the rhymes are funny, some are snarky and some are naughty but they are always fun.

Musings of an Unapologetic Dreamer
Keith's blog is always so uplifting, happy and makes you think about the question he poses in his posts. We're also friends on fb and he's always smiling and so chipper in his pictures and posts. You know what they say, "It's hard to stay in a bad mood when the people around you are smiling and happy" Well, it's true. I always know I'm gonna find something to smile about when I visit his blog.

I Smell Sheep
I've been a follower of the I smell Sheep blog for a long time and I think I found them from a blog hop I participated in years ago. I followed their blog because the name was so much fun and when I won a prize and was sent a pack of kool-aid and a moonpie along with my prize...I knew this was the unique kind of blog that I was going to like and I was right! Who knew that years later I would be writing Guest Reviews for them!

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*

Review: Pumped by Willow James

Skylar Sole is focused on work, getting her degree, and dreams of the future. Men and relationships have never been at the top of her priority list. Besides, if a girl's got a good vibrator, then why risk a broken heart? The closest thing she has to a relationship is ogling the hottie from the office park who saunters by Stilettos lingerie shop every day on his way to the deli next door. Getting a glimpse of Mr. Wall Street had become the highlight of her work days and he had become the star of her fantasies. However, one Sunday afternoon, fantasy becomes reality when Mr. Wall Street shows up at Stilettos with that sexy, lopsided grin and a tantalizing proposition.

My Review

Skylar is too busy with her work and dreams of owning her own jewelry shop one day to even think about having a relationship. That is until the man she's been ogling walks into her place of work and over hears part of an embarrassing conversation.

Never having had a real family or home because he was bounced around from one foster home to another, Griffin doesn't know what love, family and home is...but he craves it.

It was supposed to be no strings sex, an indecent proposal that they both agreed on. Things start out hot with sex in public and a little bondage, things are going as planned until Skylar gets hurt and their feelings get in the way. She has second thoughts about the whole arrangement and he doesn't have a clue what she's thinking because let's face it, men can be so clueless sometimes.

I've never met two people more terrified of love, of being hurt than these two. It was heart wrenching to read the turmoil they were putting themselves through in their own minds until they finally let their feelings be known.

If you're looking for a quick, hot read. This novella is the perfect fit.

I give this book 5 stars

Weekly Rat Facts: Human Foods

Rats need not only their own bagged rat food but they also need some fresh foods and cooked foods. This is steamed white rice mixed with 2 tablespoons of canned corned beef hash. The boys loved this for dinner. Don't let the size fool you, this is a very small plate and it's feeding several rats. 

Lucky knows when I'm cooking dinner that he'll be getting a little something as well and he sits at the front of the cage giving me this look. *food?*

As well as steamed white rice, I give my rats fresh fruits and vegetables, cooked noodle, boiled eggs, and little bits of other things that I make for dinner. 

In order for a rat to have a balanced diet they need the additional fresh fruits, vegetables and other foods. Plus, wouldn't you get bored eating the same thing day after day? They do too. 

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a 'Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

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

This week I received book swag from the two authors, Heidi Betts and Sara Humphreys. I'm a member of their street teams and occasionally they send out bookmarks, prizes that may have been won in blog contests, stickers, door hangers ect.. Sara Humphreys also sent me an autographed copy of her book, Unclaimed. 

If you win a blog contest from me, I usually include some book swag like the things seen here.