Weekly Rat Facts: Begging

Rats have the art of begging down to a science. First there's the sniffing, then the staring, then the biting on the bars to get your attention and then the hopping up and down when more staring doesn't work.

When I made myself a sandwich for lunch, Lucky smelled it and first he stared at me, then he started hopping up and down.

Sniffing..

and then he resorted to biting on the bars to get my attention.

Then it was back to staring at me. I was sitting at the computer table and he is on the table right next to me. I gave in a let him have a piece and he knew I would because I share my food with the boys. I had already cut a tiny piece off for him, I just wanted to get the pictures first. *bad mommy* lol He was a happy boy about 1 minute after I sat down so he didn't have to wait very long but these pictures do show that they beg worst than dogs do. At least they don't drool and slobber all over themselves while watching you like some dogs do. LOL 

Freebie Friday!

I didn't get any free samples this week so I thought I would do a post about all those free samples you might already have and don't know what to do with. 

So you took my advice and have sent away for some free samples or entered and won a few blog contests but now you have a whole drawer full of trial size products you either don't or can't use. So what do you do with them? This has actually happened to me. I have a small box filled with dog/cat food samples that I know my rats won't eat. So I set most of those out for the stray cats in the neighborhood. The baby samples I gave to my daughter for my grandson. But there are other great ideas for using all those samples and prizes you have that you just won't or can't use.

Gift Bags

I set different items I get into different boxes that way if I need a fast gift bag for a, Baby Shower, Thank you gift, ect..I have items ready to be put in a cute gift bag for whatever occasion. In one box I labeled "female" I have things like earring, sunglasses, scarves, lip balm, broaches, make up, wallets and pocket mirrors. All things I either won from blog contests, giveaways or some of it came free with orders from companies. For example I bought a bottle of Baytril antibiotics for my rats from a mail order place and they sent me a sample size bag of bird food with my order for free. I don't have a bird and I don't know anyone who does so I put it outside for the birds around here and they went crazy for it.

Goodie Bags

I get selected for things where the company will send you enough samples to share with 10-15 friends and you are supposed to invite them over and talk about the products. House Party is one of those sites that does this and they send you enough samples to share with who ever you invite over. But sometimes a person might not show up and I have a couple of extra samples left over. So I just add them to Goodie Bags that I have available to family and close friends who I think might enjoy a bag of free samples and sometimes full size products.

Gift Baskets

I usually have a lot of cold/flu/allergy type samples. My daughter had a cold last month and asked me if I had anything she could use. I had samples of cough drops, lozenges, sinus spray, Tylenol, Advil, and even some sleep aids. So if a neighbor or family member has a cold and you have a bunch of these types of samples, you could make up a little basket with a couple of cans of Chicken Soup.

Another idea if for a Baby themed gift basket. If you have a bunch of baby product samples, you could make a basket up for someone who has a baby or who is about to have a baby.

Goodie Boxes To Military Personnel

Our service men and women love getting care packages from us so if you know someone in the military you could sent them a care package with any samples you have that you think they could use or want. Food, personal items, wet wipes, tissues are just a few things you might have to send.

After you start regularly signing up for and receiving these free samples they are going to be piling up, I know this from experience. Some things I use and some things I give away but they all get used eventually. Some may ask why I send away for things I know I can't use like dog and cat food, well that's easy. There are a ton of stray cats in my neighborhood that will eat both dog and cat food but you might have a neighbor that could use the free pet food. If I don't use something, I usually know someone who will.

Are You Crafty?

I don't think I've posted many of my crafts here on my blog or at least not for a while. So I thought I would share some of the crafts I've done and give you instructions on how you can do them too. 

I love making Dream Catchers and did you know you can make them to fit any holiday? I made the the one above for Halloween and it was easy. I just used black and white feathers, black suede and a small skull and RIP button easily found at any crafts store. You can find the full instructions on how to make your own Dream Catcher in my article here. 

A while back I showed you some of the jewelry beading kits to get you started  making your own jewelry. So after doing a few of those I bought some semi precious stones and other things I needed to make a necklace and made this one. 

Using ribbon to make a pretty necklace is just as easy. I have the full instructions on how to make this necklace in this article I wrote here. 

I made these earrings back in 2010 and still have them and love them. I made them using Japanese beads and sterling silver ear threads and sterling silver spacer. They were incredibly easy to make. I bought the ear thread chain separately and just attached spacer beads and a head pin to the Japanese bead and attached it to the ear thread. 

Have you done any crafts lately?

3 New Book Reviews!

I've written three books reviews for I Smell Sheep! The first is for Save My Soul by K.S. Haigwood. I just read the second book in this series and now I'm reading the third and they got better and better. You can find my review for this book here. 

I've been reading this author's books for ages and love them. This book is no exception. If you like this author then this is a must read. It's book #1 in a great series. You can find my review of this book here. 

If you're looking for a short quick read, I've got one for you. You can read my review of this book here. 

Thanks for reading my book reviews, let me know if you pick up any of the books I've reviewed. What are you reading this week?

Valentine's Day Crafts: Half Heart Mice

Here's another Valentine's Day craft that you can easily do with kids or by yourself if you just want some homemade Valentine's decorations. You will need colored construction paper, black pen, glue and scissors. Start by drawing and cutting out a medium size heart in a sheet of colored construction paper. Then cut that heart in half right down the center of the heart. The flat part of the heart will be the bottom of your mouse. 

Cut a small white circle and glue it on for the nose, draw on a black eye cut and glue a small half circle for an ear. Cut out a wiggly line for a tail and glue it on the back and you have a little mouse. 

This is an easy craft to do with small kids because they aren't a lot of steps involved, it's a really easy craft to make. 

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. 

Book Review: Rogue Rider by Larissa Ione

Rogue Rider by Larissa Ione

Jillian Cardiff came to this remote mountain town to forget the demon attack that almost killed her. Instead, she rescues-and falls for-a gorgeous stranger who has no memory of anything other than his name. Handsome, charming, and protective, Reseph seems like the kind of man whom Jillian can trust. But with hints of a troubling history of his own, he's also the kind of man who can be very dangerous . . .

Reseph may not know why he mysteriously appeared in Jillian's life, but he knows he wants to stay. Yet when Jillian's neighbors are killed, and demon hunters arrive on the scene, Reseph fears that he's putting Jillian in danger. And once it's revealed that Reseph is also Pestilence, the Horseman responsible for ravaging the world, he and Jillian must face the greatest challenge of all: Can they forget the horrors of a chilling past to save the future they both desire?

My Review

Reseph doesn't remember that he was Pestilence, he doesn't remember much other than his name. His memories were taken from him and he was put back on earth in the hopes that he would heal. His mind just can't cope with what he did after Pestilence took over, so his memories were taken away.

Jillian lives alone and isn't expecting to find a naked, unconscious man in the snow but that's exactly what she finds. After getting him home and in her bed, all she can do is keep him warm and wait for him to wake up. Jillian is wary that she might have brought a bad man home with her. After being attacked by demons, she's had her guard up but she couldn't just let this stranger die in the snow. 

I've been reading and loving the Lords of Deliverance books. Also known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, they aren't all evil but they have demons riding with them and if their seals are broken they pretty much become the demon they are harboring. Reseph's seal broke and Pestilence was set free to wreak havok, killing many many people in the process. But Reseph is back and Pestilence is back in the cage so to speak. Pestilence did so much damage and Reseph's family is afraid that he won't be able to contain him so they aren't as welcoming as they could have been when they find out he's not in hell. 

This series is a favorite of mine, there were times in this book that I actually had to put it down and say outloud, "What are you thinking! Don't do that!" But it worked out in a way that I didn't think it would or even could. 

The chemistry between Reseph and Jillian is apparent right away. Reseph has a lethal, predatory quality to him even though he doesn't remember who he is and he's very protective of Jillian. I liked this couple very much and am glad that Reseph gets a second chance after all he did as Pestilence. 

If you've been reading The Lords Of Deliverance series, this is a book you just can't miss. If you haven't read this series, I would suggest you start it from the beginning otherwise you'll miss too much of the back story. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Weekly Rat Facts: How To Clean A Dirty Rat Tail

Lucky's tail is cleaner towards the bottom because he cleans that part himself pretty well. He doesn't like me trying to clean his tail so as long as he does a decent job, I only use a damp cloth.

Marbles in the back let me clean his tail so it's pretty clean. Bandit, towards the front would let me use the damp cloth but he didn't care for me to mess with his tail too often. His tail wasn't too dirty though. 

While rats are clean and clean themselves a lot, much like cats...their tails can often become dirty. A clean tail will look pink or flesh colored and have very fine hairs on it.

A dirty tail on the other hand may be a darker color, look like it has darker scales on it or brown spots.

To clean a rat tail, use a damp cloth, soft toothbrush and warm water. I usually use a damp cloth and start at the base of the tail closest to the body and in one smooth gentle movement, move the cloth down the tail. My rats will usually let me do this a few times before they get annoyed with me. I just come back the next day and do it again. If your rat is letting you, you can use the soft toothbrush to gently clean the tail with a little warm water. Mine don't really like that though.

 The brown crust and spots seen on most dirty rat tails is caused by shedding skin, feces, urine, dirt and food particles. Dead skin, urine and other particulates can build up quickly on your rat's tail so wiping it down every day is a good idea.

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 a book that I won in a blog contest and several packets of Emergen-C as well as a coupon of it from Smiley360. 

Did you get any freebies this week?

Valentine's Day Crafts: Heart Mouse

There are some crafts that I'm good at and some that I'm not but this little mouse made out of hearts is really easy and fun for kids. You will need a few sheets of colored construction paper, glue, scissors and a black pen. Start by drawing a medium size heart on a piece of paper and use it as a template to cut out a bunch of the same sized heart in the construction paper. 

As you can see the top heart is right side up and the other two are upside down. Glue them together and cut out a small heart for the mouth. Cut out two small ovals for ears and a small tail. Then just draw on eyes, whiskers and three little lines for the paws. 

iTunes Gift Card Giveaway!

My birthday is this month and I like to get as well as receive, so I am giving away a $10 iTunes gift card to one lucky commenter. All you have to do to enter to win this is leave a comment with your email address. I'll pick a winner on February 10th and send it to them. US only please.

The winner is CaroleDee! Congrats. 

This contest is now closed. 

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 the pictures to enlarge them*

How *Not* To BBQ

So while my brother was in town we decided to BBQ some steaks. When there are two males trying to do it, this is how it goes...

Add a little bit of charcoal. Start fire. 

Fire isn't big enough, add more coals. Make big fire!

Still not enough, add enough charcoal to make a forest fire!

Accidentally drop some charcoal on the ground and around the bbq.

Pick up lost charcoal and add to fire.

Whoa, I made fire!

Find more dropped charcoal and add to fire.

Oh hell, it's hot. Must be careful.

Man make fire!

My brother thinks my husband didn't add enough coals and the fire isn't big enough. 

Oh hey, you dropped some charcoal. 

I'll just add it to the fire.

Oops here's a few more dropped charcoals...men make fire bigger!

Now men stand around and talk about the fire they made and stare into said fire.

And finally start cooking the damn steaks. 

Looks at us, we're cooking! Yes, yes they deserve a medal for bbqing the steaks. *eye roll*

I even took a little video of my brother and Ken starting the bbq. My brother is the "fire, fire fire" guy. LOL