Pictures of the new rats

Bandit and Fang wondering where the yogi's are. 

Fang eating a bit of rice.

Marbles getting up close and personal with the camera.

Marbles cleaning his face.

Patches playing tug of war with my camera strap. 

Bandit eating some rice. 

Freebie Friday

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too.

This week's freebies are all brought to you from Swagbucks. I turned in some of my Swagbucks for Amazon gift cards and bought these books with it.

So this week I got Hard Mated and Mate Claimed by Jennifer Ashley and Heart of Atlantis by Alyssa Day. 

I've been reading both of these series since the first books and if you aren't reading them you are missing out...seriously missing out because these series are awesome!

Pregnancy Complications

*A picture of my daughter the day she was born*

WARNING!
This post is very graphic and contains information of a surgical procedure and medical aftercare. If this type of information makes you queasy, you might not want to read this post. 

After Kate Middleton made headline news because of her pregnancy complications, the site I write for Yahoo Contributor Network, asked some mom's to write about their pregnancy complications...so I did. 

My Personal Pregnancy Complication Story

In my article I had to cut a lot of things out because of the word count requirements for this article, things like me having morning noon and night sickness for a full 9 months and not being able to stand for more than 5 minutes the entire 9 months without either fainting or vomiting and being 2 weeks over due and given a Pitocin IV to make me go into labor, which didn't work for me and they sent me home. They talked about scheduling a C-section if I didn't go into labor within the next few days but the next day I did go into labor. 

For 12 hours I had contractions on and off every 30 minutes and then every hour and finally every 10 minutes. When my husband go off of work we took our bag and headed for the hospital but made a detour on the way and stopped at 7-11 so he could get a pack of cigarettes *yeah I never let him live that down* and that's when the really hard contractions hit me and started coming every 5 minutes apart. 

When we got to the hospital I could barely make it up to Labor and Delivery because every couple of minutes I was bent over in pain and when a hard contraction hits you, you can hardly breathe, let alone walk. 

Once I got up to my room and was set up in bed, they had to break my water because it hadn't broken and that's when things went from bad to worst. The fluid when your water breaks it supposed to be clear...mine wasn't it was dark brown because of the Meconium. 

Meconium is the earliest stools of a mammalian infant. Unlike later feces, meconium is composed of materials ingested during the time the infant spends in the uterus and is the first thing to end up in their diapers after they are born. My daughter's first Meconium ended up in the placenta with her and she aspirated it, which sent the bells and whistles off on the machines as her oxygen dropped dramatically and I was told I needed to have a Cesarean. 

I was prepped for the surgery and was given a Spinal shot of anesthetic instead of the usual Epidural. With an epidural the tube is left in your back much like an IV and they slowly give you the medicine, but they wanted me numb right away so I was give a Spinal anesthetic where nothing is left in your back, that took effect right away and lasted for hours. I think the anesthetic they gave me to numb the area before the Spinal hurt way more than the Spinal itself. Lidocaine burns as it goes in and that's what they inject you with most time for stitches or if you're having a biopsy. 

The one thing I didn't like was when I was laid down on the table, they strapped my hands out on the bars of the table. They said so I didn't move or try to pull anything during the surgery, but it was still scary. 

After they got my daughter out, she had two seizures because of lack of oxygen due to aspirating meconium, but after several tests they told me she was fine..and she was. 

But because of the meconium, my cesarean incision became infected and my husband had to learn how to pack it with gauze and rip it out three times a day until it healed...which took a month. The procedure is to wet several pieces of gauze, enough to fully pack the incision *mine was deep enough for Ken to put his entire hand down into* dip the gauze into sterile water and pack the incision then put a large piece of gauze over the opening and secure it with surgical tape. Then three times a day after the gauze has dried on the infected areas, you slowly rip it off the exposed flesh, the infected flesh gets ripped off with the gauze. 

This hurts like you can't even imagine. 

Imagine you have a deep cut and you have to let a piece of gauze dry to the red, fleshy, exposed flesh under the skin and rip it out several times a day until it heals. Yeah, not fun. 

I wasn't sure if I would have as hard a time with another pregnancy and I didn't want to chance it, so I only had the one child and once the terrible two's started..I knew I had made the right choice. LOL 

Now my daughter is pregnant and her pregnancy was the total opposite of mine, she didn't hardly even have any morning sickness. Glad she's having such an easy pregnancy. 

My Christmas Tree

We finally put the Christmas Tree up the other day. Yes, I have a fake white tree. I like it though. 

It's been years since we had a real tree, but I've always wanted a white tree and now we have one. If I want that real tree smell...I'll get a candle. lol 

My Santa, he's 2 ft' tall. 

My little snowman candles. 

So do you have a real or fake tree? How do you get that real tree smell if you have a fake one? I love some of the candles that smell like real tree's, there's also the air freshener. 

Pressure Cooker

Pressure Cooker lid. It has a safety valve and emergency release valve. 

I bought a large pressure cooker so I can cook even really big roasts. 

I bought a pressure cooker a while back because I watch Iron Chef America and see them using pressure cookers on that show all the time. I figured I could buy those tough, cheap, hard to cook and get done and still be able to chew it roasts-done and able to eat. I was right. I bought a couple of those cheap as hell and tough to chew when cooked chuck roasts and put those suckers in the pressure cooker for 45 minutes.

To the pressure cooker pot I added:
1 cup of chunky salsa
salt and pepper
4 carrots, cut in half
1/2 yellow onion cut into large pieces
1 tsp liquid smoke
3 cups water

Cook on med/high for 45 minutes so that the pressure cooker steam valve is making a little noise and slightly swaying back and forth. Take off of burner and let sit for 15 minutes until safety valve releases and you can open the lid. I served mine over steamed rice.

I know some people are still scared to buy a pressure cooker because of the horror stories they've heard from their mothers and grandmothers. But these new pressure cookers are not going to blow up on you. They have several safety features built in and an emergency release valve. I love mine.

Photobomb!

I was snapping pictures of my new boys and while I was trying to take one of Patches in the background...Fang stuck his head in front there. Too funny not to make a poster from the picture. 

Why I don't Go To The Theatre

I know there are some good movies out right now and I do want to see the latest Twilight movie but I will be waiting until it comes out On Demand so I can watch it in the comfort of my own living room.

Why?

Because I don't like sitting in a theater with a bunch of rude people and that's what usually ends up happening. Some teenager or kid will be kicking the back of my chair, while others are crunching and munching open mouth style on their popcorn and nachos. And there will invariable be a few people who have their cell phones on and the lights will be visible throughout the theater.

Yeah, so I'll wait until it comes out On Demand and I can order it for $5.99 and not have to pay another $8.00 for a popcorn and $4.00 for a small coke. I'll have some coffee and a donut and watch my sparkly vampires and anyone who doesn't like the movie can bite me. lol

Freebie Friday

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. 

This week I did pretty well. 

I won a book from a blog contest. I won Untamed By Sara Humphreys from a blog contest at The Qwillery. 

I received a sample of BB cream and Pantene mousse for hair and I found the link for these free samples at Hey it's Free. 

I received a full sized box of Advil Congestion Relief from Smiley360. All you have to do to get free samples like this is sign up for an account.

I received a full sized bottle of Afrin from BzzAgent. If you sign up for an account you may be able to get free products too. 

Rats Form Bonds

These are two of my new boys, this is Patches and Fang and they are bonded to one another. Where you find one, the other is always very close. They always sleep together and are almost always lying on top or right next to one another. If one jumps down to get something to eat, the other follows. They groom each other, share food from the same area and keep each other company. If you ever wondered if rats feel love or affection...now you know they do. They feel affection for each other and can show their human that they care when they groom you, lick you and cuddle with you. 

These are just some of the reasons I feel rats make great pets. 

Great Christmas Gifts For Rat Lovers

Ever since getting that $25 gift card to Zazzle.com and picking out the little rat mug pictured above, I've been thinking about what would make great Christmas gifts for people who like rats. There are many cute and thoughtful gifts that have a ratty theme to them but people who don't often look for such things might have a hard time finding them, so I wrote an article that you can find here to help you with your shopping this year. 

I will tell you that I got one of the ideas from a fellow blogger, Confession of The Hockman Girl and her blog post, Making a Memory Ornament. 

I think making a memory ornament of your pets paw print is a wonderful idea and the kits available to do this are inexpensive, and easy to make. So thank you for the great idea :)

The Funny Things That Rats Do

One of my new boys, Fang...likes to hang on the bars of his cage...by his teeth. I didn't know what he was doing actually until I stopped to watch him and saw him hook his top front teeth over a bar, relax his body and go to sleep. That's right, Fang fell asleep hanging from the bar of the cage from his teeth. And he does this all the time. 

He doesn't bite the bars, it's more like he moves his mouth a little bit on the bars until he finds the right spot, then he stops and his little body relaxes and he hangs there...sleeping. Now this is something new to me, I've never seen a rat so this before so I looked at his teeth wondering if something was wrong with them and they were bothering him. Nope, they look fine...nice and yellow, strong and long. 

His eyes are almost closed in this picture and he's just resting his teeth on the bars. I'm finding this fascinating. 

It must be relaxing and comfortable for him to do this, I can't think of another reason why he would do it. He sure is cute though. 

Book Review: Untamed by Sara Humphreys

*I received this book as part of a blog hop contest win*

This third book in The Amoveo Legend series by Sara Humphreys is set in a small town, where everyone knows everyone else and everything that's going go with everyone. Layla knows what she is but is determined not to end up like her mother. Layla isn't going to drop her life and become everything she fears just because her mate has found her and may want her too.

William has found his mate and has tried to connect with her in the dream realm but she isn't cooperating. William, also know as The Ice Man or Mr. Freeze by some of his friends doesn't show his emotions all that often but this petite redhead is going to make him do things he never thought he would do...and like it.

This story proves that opposites really do attract but she's not ready for the emotions and feelings he brings out in her. But when someone hurts Rosie, the woman that has raised Layla and she ends up in the hospital, all bets are off and William calls in his friends for help. Layla meets two other hybrids and sees how much in love they are with their husbands and that seems to make her feel a little bit better about the whole William situation...for a while at least. The twists and turns in this book really had my heart thumping and made it extremely hard to put the book down until the end.

If you're looking for a book with action, backstabbing, shifters of all kinds, twists and turns and a love story you won't soon forget, then this is the book you've been looking for.

I love the whole series and can only hope that there are more books to come. This book can be read as a stand alone but with all the different characters showing up in the different books it's best to read this series from the beginning.

eBook Curmudgeon

Yes, I was just called an eBook curmudgeon by a fan of my blog, in a personal email to me. Now while I might even agree with this, I had to reply and tell her why I am an eBook curmudgeon.

When it comes to books, ebooks, kindles, nooks whatever...I am not very forward thinking. I'm just not, I know it's a personality flaw and I'm ok with that.

Ereaders don't have that new book smell, nor will they ever have that old book smell. You know what I'm talking about. I paperback book that's been sitting on your shelf for 20 years, and yes, I do have books sitting on my shelf that are that old, have a certain old book smell to them. You aren't going to get that with an ebook.

But some of you are probably thinking that's a good thing. Ok, let me ask you something else. What about first edition, signed books that I have? I would much rather have a hard Cover first edition and signed book than a ebook edition that while it can be signed I hear...on Kindles I think...what happens if your Kindle breaks...all your books are lost, no?

I am 42 years old, while I'm not a senior I do think I fall into that 'older generation' slot that isn't adjusting to the new technology. I know it happens because my dad is amazed by the things I can do on my laptop. he has no concept of what a computer is or can do even though I've tried to show him when he comes over. But he's 80 years old and says he's too old to learn something like this. So am I falling into that sorta of mind set? Maybe I am, but I'm sure that when my grandkids are my age their children will have the newest technology craze and it will driving my daughter nuts and she might even be complaining about it like I seem to be doing about ereaders all the time. But who knows.

Times, they are a changing, I'm just not changing with them. Printed books will always have a place in our culture long after the new car smell of those Kindles have worn off. Does an ebook give you the same olfactory and tactile experience that a 20 year old first edition, signed Hard Cover limited edition book will, I don't think so.

Freebie Friday

People have asked me how I get all the free samples and free full sized products that I get. So each week I post a picture of all the free stuff I got that week with links to where I got them. This week I received a big haul as you can see from the picture. Here's what I got: 

This week I received three packets of tea in the mail. I found the link for this freebie at Hey It's Free.

And I got a free "Proudly Owned By Rats" mug from Zazzle.com for posting a blog post about them. 

Christmas Shopping

*My hamster eating a bit of pumpkin pie*

So I'm just about done with my Christmas shopping. Yes, I am one of those people. The people that have most of their Christmas shopping done in September. I start buying stuff for next year right after this year has ended. We're on a tight budget so when I see a good bargain, I snap it up. 

I do almost all of my shopping online, it makes finding things so much easier. All I have to do is look on Amazon for whatever it is I'm looking for. Oh and I also found a great deal on Ebay this past week. I bought something *Which I can't say because my daughter might be reading..lol* but I got a brand new one for half the price they are going everywhere else. woohoo!

Do you have your Christmas shopping done yet? When do you start?

Fictionwise To Close Its Doors

I know a lot of you read ebooks, download ebooks, buy ebooks and probably have heard of Fictionwise.com. So if you have an account there I thought you should know they are closing up shop.

From Fictionwise.com "Fictionwise.com is in the process of winding down its operations, and Fictionwise.com will end sales on December 4, 2012. Once customers opt in to have their titles transfer to BN.com, the transfer begins and the process will be on-going in the coming weeks. Customers will not be able to access Fictionwise Bookshelves through the site after December 21, 2012. A separate communication was distributed regarding Fictionwise accounts. Please visit the FAQ [http://www.fictionwise.com/BN-Transition-FAQ.htm] to learn how to back up your eBook files and for more information about your Micropay dollar refunds, and support details."

The Generation Gap

When my daughter was little I thought I made sure to expose her to some of the great classic movies of my youth, you know...so we would have something to talk about when she got older...lol

But I realize I didn't do a good job because she told me that her boyfriends father asked her a couple of questions about Star Trek and she didn't know the answer to them. So I asked her what the questions were and she told me her asked her who Luke's father was? O.o

I asked her if she meant Star Wars? She looked at me and said, "Yeah whatever, they're practically the same thing."

Gasp!

What?

Did I just hear that right?

Say it ain't so....

I am a Trekkie, so this is an offense to me. I watched Star Trek all the time when my daughter was a kid, but she said she didn't like the show. Omg, was she switched at birth?

I've tried having her sit and watch some of the older 80's horror movies with me...but she laughs at them. She thinks they are cheesy... Now that's the real Horror.

My Wonder Bread Whoa's

So as many of you now know...the Twinkie has gone the way of the Dinosaur. While I don't mind that so much I do mind my Wonder bread being gone as well. As you can see, I still have one lonely loaf of white Wonder Bread left in my freezer. 

After seeing some of the prices for things like Twinkies, Hostess cakes and Wonder Bread on eBay, I'm wondering if I would keep my loaf of Wonder Bread in the freezer and sell it for $500 in about 4 months?

Of course I would think that was a joke if people weren't spending $30 for 6 Twinkies on eBay right now. 

Looks like I'll have to start eating a different brand of white bread for my Bologna sandwiches but I'll tell you one thing, it will never be the same as it was when I was a kid. My mom would buy Wonder Bread and cheap bologna and Lays potato chips. My brother and I would make a bologna sandwich with just a little Mayonnaise and then add a few Lays potato chips right in the sandwich. Squish down that Wonder bread and eat it. 

I still do this sometimes, but my Wonder Bread is now gone...whatever will I do...

I Made Cookies

I used the recipe from the package of Butter flavor Crisco and they came out really good. Yes, I made monster cookies instead of the smaller cookies most are familiar with. I made three dozen but this was all that was left before I was able to get a picture of them. lol They must have been good to go so fast. 

Private Selection Helped My Thanksgiving Dinner

As I mentioned in my last blog post I received some great full sized Private Selection products from BzzAgent.com  The coffee was a big hit with my guests and myself since I love coffee. The citrus stuffed olives were better than any of us thought they would be. We all tried something new today. We started the day off with Buffalo Monterey Jack cheese and crackers along with the olives and a some black olives. 

While I didn't use the pasta sauce today I will be using it with a spaghetti dish I'm making tomorrow with left over turkey. 

As you can see from my picture I was sent quite a few full sized Private Selection products and so far all of them were a big hit. 

Disclosure: I received points for this blog post as well as free samples but all thoughts, ideas and remarks remain my own.