It's my 3 day Memorial Day weekend! F.B. & I headed down to Center City Philadelphia today so we could visit the Mutter Museum and the Academy of Natural Sciences! We got off at 30th Street Station and walked to the Mutter Museum first, we went early because it's such a hot weekend. It was around 84 degrees (It will be in the upper 90's on Memorial Day, yuck!) I had to put sunscreen on because it was so sunny and hot today.

30th Street Station

After the Mutter we walked down Market Street to 19th Street and headed straight down to the Academy of Natural Sciences. We got to see Logan Square and the big fountain they have there. There's also a great view of the Philadelphia Museum of Art from the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. I've never actually gotten to stop here, so it was nice to be a tourist in my own city and take pictures!






Afterwards we went to the Academy of Natural Sciences, which I've been too many many times on class trips and family trips. It's one of my favorite museums.

F.B. with a dinosaur skull!

We were planning on going to The Gallery and Reading Terminal Market but because it was so hot and I had a bad headache we decided to make that another day trip sometime soon. We took the train back home and headed to Friendly's for lunch. We shared a Reece's Pieces sundae for dessert.

Heading home on the train

I also won this psychedelic shark from the crane machine at Friendly's on the first try! Whoo hoo! My Dad has always been really good at winning stuffed animals from those machines and I've won quite a few times as well, though it's been awhile since I last played!

My Mom & I usually go out for Mother's Day the day before so there are less crowds. This year we took the train downtown Saturday to 30th Street Station in Philadelphia to visit the Mutter Museum. I've been there before but my Mom had never been. It is a medical oddity museum.

30th Street Station:

Mutter Museum: (Sorry no pictures allowed inside!)

The train was actually pretty crowded because there must have been a Phillie's Game that day, (dozens of people on the train were wearing Phillie's Jerseys.) it was "train day" at 30th Street Station and there was some regatta on the Schuylkill River.

After the the museum and the train ride back we went to 'On The Border' for Mexican Food. I had beef empanadas and a soft chicken taco. Picture of our yummy sampler appetizer:

We also picked up a box of Cinnabon to take home after 'On The Border'. Mom had never tried a Cinnabon!

Friday afternoon Basil had a trip to the vet. I took him to find out about getting neutered. Basil has been really aggressive with Barley & Fennel. He always wants to attack them, even when I introduce them in a neutral area. A few weeks ago when I had them on the bed trying to introduce them Basil went after Barley and I mistakenly put my hand in the middle. Basil ended up biting me rather badly by accident. (You can click here to read about it.) I won't post a picture on my blog, (there is a picture in that link) but I now have a 1 inch scar on my left palm. Also if you don't wash your hands after handling the little boys, Basil will try to bite you. Basil has never bitten anyone otherwise.

Buttt... since my accident and because he doesn't seem to want to get along with his brothers I took him to find out about getting neutered. If he can't live with his brothers, at least he will be able to live with the girls. I'm hoping he will be able to live with my girls since he will be less territorial and every time I've held Basil in my lap all the girls have come up and sniffed at him and given him love bites. (Never let him play with them though! Not until he's neutered! ). He's my ladies man. He loves to watch the girls run around in the cage! Basil will be getting neutered on May 20th. I took off work for a few vacation days that Thurs, Fri and Monday so I'll be able to be with him after his surgery on the 20th.

Unfortunately.... it's $300.00. I called just about every small animal vet in the area and most did not neuter rats. Only my vet and another more expensive vet did them. But I'm hoping it will help his aggressiveness and that he will be able to live with other rats once it's done and over with! (Though he can't live with the girls until 4 weeks after he's neutered!)

Basil says this to being neutered, lol!

Oh... and I picked up a cute light up Philadelphia key chain while at 30th Street Station on Saturday! Stay tuned to my blog because I'm planning on having another giveaway either in May or June and I'll be giving away the key chain with some other prizes!

I haven't posted in a few weeks. July 3rd, I was finally able to visit the Mütter Museum after wanting to go for years. I went with my cousins. We took the train down to 30th Street and walked about 3 blocks or so down to 22nd Street where the Museum is located. Definitely better than driving in downtown Philadelphia traffic or looking for parking! I wish I had pictures, but photography is not allowed inside the museum. It is a medical oddities museum. They had Siamese twin skeletons, babies with birth defects in jars from the 1800 & 1900's. A full wall of skulls from people that passed from different diseases. They had animal brains in jars, rats, ferrets, cats, dogs, etc. Any organ you can imagine. The world's tallest man skeleton, a dwarf skeleton. Human leather... some of the stuff makes you go "Ew!" or "Wow!" but it's a really interesting museum. My mom & brother want to go some time so I will definitely be going back!

About 4 more months until I am off to the Philippines. I can't believe it's already July! In September I have to apply for my visitor's visa from the Philippine Consulate in New York. I am still making copies of everything for our immigration process next year. It's slow but I'm getting there!

Sugar's two tumors are growing very large. She has one under her right armpit and another near her right back leg on her tummy. She is still able to get around but I've had to learn to pick her up differently now by supporting her bottom in my hand when holding her instead of picking her up around her waist. A few years ago I bought a carrot shaped calcium chew for the rats but no one would touch it. Then Spice developed a mammary tumor and she would chew and chew on the calcium chew. After Spice passed no one touched it again. Until Sugar developed her tumors... I am thinking with the tumors sucking nutrients from her body she needs the extra calcium and vitamins. I've been buying her calcium chews at the pet store. (Never salt chews! Salt is bad for rats as it can dehydrate them quickly.) She really loves these ice cream shaped ones.

I discovered Pet Discounters through a Yahoo Search. Their prices are unbelievable! I pay $5.99 at Petco for Sugar's calcium chews. For some of my girls other treats I pay $3.99-$4.99 each. I bought 9 items at Pet Discounters and only paid $30 including shipping! I would have spent $50+ for the those same items at the regular pet store. Fast shipping too! Everything arrived this morning and I ordered on Monday!

What else have I been up too? I finally caved and purchased The Sims 3 during my mini vacation from work. (Love The Sims!) Thought it might be a bit much for my 3 year old PC. But it runs really well actually on my 2.0GHz Duel Core Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, 256MB video card PC. (Even with the graphics set to medium & high on some options!) The biggest issue I have with my laptop is space. I only have a 87GB or so hard drive. (Originally 100GB but system hardware & Windows XP take up some of that space.) I have about 23GB left. I uninstalled some other programs, but I do still have The Sims 2 and all it's expansions, plus 2 stuff packs installed. I want to get an external hard drive at some point.

Actually, at some point down the road I want a whole new laptop from Dell. I asked F.B. when we're married if we get a new laptop can I have it and I'll give him this one, haha! He said since he likes older games my laptop would run his games perfectly with my specs so he would love mine. I really want a higher 2.0GHz processor. Probably Core Duo 2. (It's the fastest processor for a laptop.) Windows 7, 4GB of RAM would be nice and a 512MB video card! A bigger hard drive too. Anything from 200 to 500GB. Sigh.... Haha!