Gerber Graduates For Rats

Did you guys know I feed my rats these toddler foods? I do. I even wrote an article about it last year that you can find here. 

My guys love those banana cookies and because they are made with real bananas, they are a good treat for my boys. 

Back when Brodie was being a finicky eater I had started buying the Gerber baby foods when I couldn't find anything he would eat, and wouldn't you know it...he ate those really well. He loved those dinners and I knew they were good for him. 

Here's Ares just looking for a Gerber Graduates banana cookie. Now that my daughter is pregnant I have a feeling that my grandson will be sharing his foods and treats with our rats. 

Who knew that toddler foods would be such a great treat for rats!

Let's Talk Books

When I was 16 years old I read Cujo, which was the very first book I read for my enjoyment and not because some teacher told me I had to for a class project. After that I was hooked on the Horror genre and read everything I could get my hands on, but my favorites were always vampires and werewolf stories. I read everything Stephen King, John Saul and Clive Barker had to offer and wanted more. Then when I was in my early 20's my mom started giving me her books and she only read romance so I reluctantly picked one up and read it...it was Once in Paris by Diana Palmer and I loved it.

When I first started reading romance I read mainly books by Diana Palmer and Nora Roberts because that's what my mom had stacks and stacks of. Later on I realized that there were whole sub genre's of romance books, called paranormals that I had yet to read and so I pounced on them with the tenacity of a wild bear.

The paranormal books gave me a nice balance of the romance and vampires as well as other monsters I had come to love reading about. Now years later there's so many sub genre's it's sometimes hard to keep them straight and really know what you're picking up based on what people are calling it. Is it a paranormal, fantasy, urban fantasy or even a paranormal thriller? How can I tell the difference between all these different types of genres or is there a difference. I actually think there is a bit of a difference and you can tell me if you agree with me.

To me a Paranormal Romance would be set in the normal world and just having paranormal aspects added to the story. Things like ghosts, werewolves, shifters, vampires ect. Twilight would be a good example of a paranormal romance.

Fantasy is set in an alternative dimension, other world and has magic or mythological creatures in the story. Harry Potter would be a good example of a Fantasy.

Urban Fantasy would have elements of crime, mystery or a thriller type feel to it. A good example of Urban Fantasy might be, The Dark Swan series by Richelle Mead.

Paranormal Thriller would be a paranormal story that has a Horror type feel to it or is scary rather than romantic. I'm kinda guessing at this last one because I can't think of any books that fit this description.

I have no idea if I'm right or not, but after reading so many books from the library and having the little stickers on the sides of the books telling me the book is either Paranormal, Thriller, Fantasy or some other type of genre I think I've gotten pretty good at telling some of them apart. I've been reading paranormals now for about 10 years and each year more and more great books are published so I am never going to be able to read all of the great paranormal books out there, but I can try!

Have I left anything out?

Captcha Tip

I'm sure by now you all have seen the new Captcha's with the numbers when trying to post on blogs and and websites. Well I just figured something out and decided to pass along my little tip to you. Did you know that you don't have to type in the number along with the letters?

That's right. I accidentally just typed the letters the other day and clicked on 'submit' and it went through. So to make sure it wasn't a fluke..I did it a few more times on other blogs and sure enough..it worked. So there's my tip to you. Ignore the numbers and just type the letters in the captcha. 

The House I Grew Up In

This is what the house I grew up in looks like now. 

When I was a kid there was a chain link fence around the front yard and an apple tree in the front yard. It's a duplex and we lived in the front house as well as the back house. The back yard is huge and has a big avocado tree in it. Billy and I had a tire swing on that avocado tree and we taught our dog poochie how to climb the tree. 

It looks a little different but the same. 

Freebie Friday

So Freebie Friday is a day late because of my brother's birthday post yesterday. But look what I got! This is only about half of the Colgate Toothbrushes and Colgate sample size toothpastes I received in the mail. I couldn't fit all of them into the picture without it looking really jumbled. 

So how did I get this? I signed up for a freebie on colgate.com about 4 years ago and each year I get a box of freebies filled with these samples. This is my third one. Regrettably this freebie is no longer being offered to new sign ups, but everyone who signed up for it 4 years ago is still getting it. Don't know how long they will keep doing this but it's pretty cool.  

Happy 40th Birthday To My Brother

Today is my Brother's 40th birthday and most likely we are having a birthday party for him at my place right now. I am writing this blog post a little early because I knew I would be busy today. Here is my hubby *The red head* and my brother *The one not flipping me off* lol 

This is me and my brother at his birthday party when we were kids. 

Here's my brother and my daughter who is making faces. lol 

And this is me and my brother when I was 16 and he was 14. 

Happy Birthday Billy. 

It's A Boy!

We found out today that my daughter is having a boy. She is 13 weeks pregnant and the baby was moving all over the place while she had her ultrasound. 

I'm gonna have a grandson. 

A Hamster Story

This was Bambi, a hamster we had a few years ago. I thought I would share a funny story with you about my very first hamster.

The first time I had a hamster my grandma bought the little guy for me after my mouse died, I called the pet shop because I thought he was choking on his food when he stuffed his pouches so full. I was so upset and the guy couldn't stop from laughing and trying to calm me down and tell me he was ok. Then I saw him empty his pouches and thought he was vomiting..lol My grandma almost lost it after that she and the guy on the phone were laughing so much. 

After sitting next to the cage for about an hour and watching this crazy animal stuff his pouches several times and deposit the stash in spots all over the cage, I calmed down and didn't think he was choking anymore but my grandma called my mom and grandpa and anyone else she could think of to tell them how I freaked out and thought he was choking and called the pet shop and how the poor pet shop guy couldn't stop laughing. 

I see how it would be funny to have a 12 year old on the phone trying to explain that the hamster isn't choking and is only stuffing his pouches, but he probably could have stopped laughing for a few minutes..lol 

Neighborhood Wildlife

This little lizard was sitting just outside my door the other night. We see lizards every once in a while around here but they usually skitter off before we can snap a picture. 

But as you can see, this little guy even looked over at us and smiled for the camera before running off. 

Ducks!

When my daughter went to California with my brother and his wife they stopped at places like Big Bear Lake and took pictures. Here are some pictures of the ducks they saw in the Lake when while they were there. 

My daughter's favorite animal has always been ducks. Of course Rats come in a very close second. So when she saw the ducks, I'm sure she wished she could bring one home. 

When I was little I had a pet duck. I only had him for a few months because one day when we went to the store and left the little guy in the front yard..someone stole him by the time we came back. I was heartbroken. 

I found it funny that my mom had a pet duck when she was a kid too. Ducks must run in our blood...

We have ducks closer than where these pictures were taken. The ducks and geese are at Lorenzi Park and we've gone there several times. Mostly when my daughter was younger, to feed the ducks and geese. 

My Hubby's Art

This is done with water color. Ken loves to draw and then paint the things he draws. 

Believe it or not this started out as a doodle on a piece of paper. I call it Mushroom Planet and it only took ken 15 years to finish drawing it and then paint it. lol But it was well worth the wait. He used water color paints to paint this also. 

Our daughter has some drawing talent as well and she gets it from Ken because I can't draw a stick figure. lol 

Is It Worth the Jump?

Sometimes I want to jump into a new project, a new thing to do. I get the energy to do something new and then boom! it's all gone. The energy to do it, the will to want to do it and the emotion needed to want to do it. 

Sometimes it seems that it's just not worth the the time and energy it would take to make the jump into trying something new or trying to do it again. I don't like being let down and I really don't do well when plans fall through or when things don't go the way I expect them to. 

Sometimes it's better to think about it, before jumping into something you know you just won't be able to finish. Sometimes the jump is just too big and no matter how many times you try to make it..the space between you and the place where you'll land is just too big to make it all the way across. 

Sometimes it's better not to try. 

Feebie Friday

This week I received one free sample in the mail it's a pouch of Chicken of the Sea Light Tuna. 

How did I score this cool freebie? 

I joined the Chicken of the Sea Mermaid Club a few months ago and they send out free samples and coupons ever once in a while. How cool is that? If you'd like to sign up too, just click here. 

Are You Dehydrated?

This is my daughter's hand after being sick with a flu like sickness for 2 weeks last year. She was unable to keep anything down for days at a time and after she started feeling better her hands and feet started peeling. I found out that this can happen after being very dehydrated. 

This is my daughter's sick sense of humor *She must get it from me* as she used her dried skin as a pocket to hold her ring. Totally grossed out my brother. 

We had no idea that the feet and hands would peel like this after being really dehydrated. Getting a stomach bug and not being able to keep anything down will seriously do that to you. 

I wrote an article several years ago explaining the signs and symptoms of dehydration and it's had a lot of traffic so I'm guessing that people are curious as to what the symptoms are. You can read my article at the  following link...Are You Dehydrated?

Knorr® Homestyle Stock Friends Mission

Knorr® Homestyle Stock Friends Mission: Enter 4 a chance 2 win a $200 gift card by taking this short survey from Smiley360! Take the survey at http://smiley360.com/774271.cfm

If you click on the link and take the survey you could win a $200 gift certificate from Smiley360 and if you win..I win one too!

Disclosure: I received points and a free sample of Knorr Homestyle Stock from Smiley360.

The Little Red LadyBug: Review

2 years ago I bought this cage with the Amazon gift cards I had racked up from the survey places I take surveys for. Thus getting the cage for free. I wanted a cage set with hammocks and tunnels and things that all matched and when I went into places like Petsmart, I didn't see anything like what I wanted. So I looked online and found a place that sold the whole cage sets, all in the same patterns for a really good price. They are called The Little Red LadyBug. So I bought my first cage set, the green and white one you see in the above picture and set up my rat cage before bringing my babies home. 

The lady sews all of these hammocks and tubes and things for the cage and is super nice and does a great job. I loved everything I got from her site, The Little Red LadyBug.

After bringing my 4 boys home I put the tube and pouch inside the bottom of the cage for my boys to sleep in and they loved it. It was a nice cozy place for them to cuddle up and hide until they got more used to us. Here you can see Ares peeking out from behind the wicker house on the left hand side. 

Of course I have changed a few things in the cage since this photo was taken 2 years ago, like putting one large fleece blanket down on the bottom as the liner instead of using several cotton baby blankets. But the one thing that hasn't changed is the hammocks and tubes and blankies are still being used in my cage that I bought two years ago from The Little Red LadyBug. 

As you can see, my boys love the large hammock and use the smaller hammock when they want to sleep alone. My little Brodie used to spend a lot of his time in the smaller hammock, and it's stood up to many, many washings and many days of my big boys playing and sleeping in it. 

Aimee, at The Little red LadyBug also has dehydrated fruit, cat toys and one of the cutest things I've seen in a while. A T-shirt with a zippered pouch so your rat can snuggle with you. 

So if you're looking for cage accessories for your rat cage, I highly recommend TheLittleRedLadyBug.com. 

Some of Our Other Animals

If you've been reading here long enough you already know I have rats. This picture was taken back in 2008 and that's me with Oreo, one of the first rats we had. That was his favorite place to sleep and cuddle with me. 

Our little Dwarf Hamster, Chance. 

Our gerbils, Honey and Spirit. 

Our very first rat, Romi. 

That's me and the gerbils. 

And this is the Dwarf bunny that hopped up to Ken while he was standing in the alley in front of our apartment building. We found him a good home with people who already had bunnies and a large back yard. 

He was such a cuddler, he would jump right up in your lap and thump you with his back feet until you pet him..lol 

Hamster named Onyx. 

Hamster named Sniffy. 

Hamster named Bubbles. 

Fishing Makes you Crazy

Or at the very least it makes you look like a complete psychotic...LOL 

This is my younger brother showing off his catch after he went fishing. 

Not only did he nail the fish to a board (He said it makes them easier to gut) but he's holding the knife in his right hand in the picture he plans on gutting them with. 

*He's gonna kill me when he see's this..but it'll be totally worth it..LOL*

Funny Misspellings

I bought this box of dog biscuits for my rats because they were tiny and just the right size for rats. 

But when I read the side of the box...this is what I saw. "Keep Your Pet Healty" Not healthy...but healty...LOL

Yeah, I would if I knew what 'healty' was...

Freebie Friday

So this week I did receive a few free samples. 

Biore Pore Unclogging Scrub and Balancing Cleanser

Biore Nose Strip

2 Eucerin Daily Protection Lotion Samples

Lanacane Anti Chafing Gel

I found links to where to get all of these great freebies at Hey it's Free.