My cousin Jessica & I went to see The Nutcracker at the Philadelphia Academy of Music today!

We woke up quite early and hit Starbuck's before our train downtown. Finally tried the Gingerbread Latte. (Still love the Peppermint Mocha though!) Our train stopped at Suburban Station.

We had an idea of how to get to the Academy and there was a "map" on our printable tickets so we set off down 16th street. After we walked about 2 blocks we thought it might be better to stop in a nearby hotel and make sure we were going the right way. The security guard pointed us in the direction we wanted to go. After a little while we were still a bit confused we weren't running into the street we needed. We stopped in the The Art Institute of Philadelphia to ask at the front desk. The lady there gave us much better directions! We were only about 3 blocks away from Broad street! It was freezing out today too! Only around 36F! (2.22C).

The ballet was great! It was 2 hours long with an intermission. Everything was beautiful- photography wasn't allowed during the show but I got some pictures of the theater during intermission. The chandelier was gorgeous! It would actually raise up into the ceiling during the show and lower during intermission.

Philadelphia Academy of Music:






After the show we headed back to Suburban Station to catch the 1:35pm train because my other cousin Chrissy, Jessica's sister was visiting from Georgia with her husband and we wanted to meet them for an early dinner.

On the way back- City Hall in the distance:


Oooh we saw Tiffany & Co. on Walnut Street, but we didn't have time to go in and browse. I sooo want something from Tiffany's someday from their $100 & under section online, hehe.



We also saw Love Park across from Suburban Station but didn't get to visit this time around.


After we got back on the train we headed up to see my cousin & her husband. We went out to Chili's for dinner. Had a really long but nice day! And fun getting to play tourist in my own city again, lol!

Our work campus finally made the big downtown move. We are near 30th Street Station now. (Patty- all your NYC tourist stories- I have one! We were walking along & some guy was telling his wife or female friend, "Yeah they got rid of 30th Street Station years ago!" What the?! Obviously he hasn't been to Philadelphia in years because I've been through there every day this week for work!)

I am not liking commuting so far but I don't really have a choice. Driving home in Center City Philadelphia traffic would probably take longer than the hour I'm on the train. My biggest peeve is the train being late to or from work. Or switching tracks at the last minute. I guess eventually I'll get used to it. It's just I've been spoiled. I've been driving since I was 16, I've never really taken public transportation. My commute to work for the past 8 years was only a 10-15min drive! So having to commute an hour each way every day is something that's going to take awhile to get used to.

In other news- my back is so much better! The 1 week of bed rest and steroid's made everything heal up quickly. I'm still a bit stiff in the mornings and at night but I'm pretty back to my old self. And all the walking with commuting now has definitely healed & strengthened my back. I'm just happy to not be in pain anymore. I'm stubborn about going to doctors and I usually wait much longer than I should before I will go.

And because it's my 1 year anniversary tomorrow and Christmas is next week! I wanted to do a Holiday Giveaway for all my blog readers!

I will be giving away 2 Bath & Body Works products. Twisted Peppermint Handibac lotion and Winter Candy Apple Pocketbac Gel, 1 sample sized package of Starbuck's ground Christmas Blend coffee (I am in LOVE with this coffee people, it is so bold & rich!) and also a cute Christmasy pen!


This giveaway is open internationally & also to family & friends. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment telling me:

What is your favorite Christmas food, candy or drink?

For extra entries:

-Follow my blog on Google Friend Connect. (You can find the 'Followers' link under 'Contents' on the right hand sidebar. If you follow already you automatically get an extra entry if you answer the mandatory question). 

-Follow me on Twitter: @tunaynamahal82 (Include your user name in the comments. If you follow me already you automatically get an extra entry if you answer the mandatory question).

-Tweet about this giveaway (Include your link in the comments).

Giveaway Ends: December 31st, 2010.12AM EST.

And yes, I am pushing the Twitter thing. Why? Because if it helped me win a giveaway it might help you too. ;-)

I love all domesticated rat colors and believe me there are dozens of colors and varities to choose from. But my favorite color would have to be the blue rat. It's a shade that can look like a slate gray to a powder blue or even a deep russian blue. It's a beautiful color. I've been lucky enough to own 6 blue rats.

Basil:

Basil with Sage: (Sage passed away 1 month after I got both boys.)


 Sage:


Ginger: (I had Ginger for about 1 1/2 years)


 Jasmine:

Jasmine is on the right. Iris is on the left.

Iris & Daisy:

Iris

Daisy

Ginger, Basil, Sage & Jasmine. Have all been blue hooded rats. Iris is a blue berkshire. And Daisy is a blue rex berkshire.

Jasmine was fine yesterday today I wake up to find her alone in the igloo with the right side of her face all swollen & lumpy with a big red scabby gash. I remember some of the girls were fighting last night I think someone might have bit her and it got swollen & infected. (It could have even happened earlier this week since Honey & Hazelnut like to pester the girls & fight occasionally.) But today is when I noticed her neck is all puffed up and swollen. :(

I looked EVERYWHERE and cannot find the half full bottle of SMZ-TMP the vet gave me for Pepper. All I have is some Amoxicillan (fishmox) and oral Prednisolone also from Pepper in the house. I gave Jasmine some of the steroids maybe it will help to lower the swelling.

I called the vet but I can't go in until Tuesday they had nothing on Monday after my Doctor's visit at 2pm. They could have seen me tomorrow but I'm on bed rest until Monday. Want to cry. I don't think it's an abscess but it could certainly turn into one if it gets infected badly. Cleaning her wound with Betadine & Peroxide. They can't see her until Tuesday @ 5:30pm because I won't get back on the train from work until a little after 4pm. Sigh...

Edited to add: Change of plans- I talked to my Mom she is going to run Jasmine over tomorrow at 12pm to the vet for me instead since I'm still on bedrest until Monday.

UPDATED 12/11/10:

The swelling on her neck was down a lot this morning. My Mom & brother just ran her over and it only took about 20 minutes. (Mom took my note of what I think happened.) The vet thinks it's just a bite that got infected and doesn't think it's an abscess at this point. (I don't either.) He gave her a Baytril injection. (Will have to keep an eye out for Baytril burn on her little behind.) And SMZ-TMP antibiotic 0.3ml for 2 weeks. ($115.50 Ouch!) Hoping she will be doing much better by next week! Jasmine is approx 4 months old.

I've been doing most of my Christmas shopping online on Amazon.com, Ebay, Bath & Bodyworks, Old Navy, Cafe Press. There's only very few gifts I need to get from the actual store. (Mostly food/candy items to go along with gifts).

I was teasing F.B. the other day that I was going to get him this fabulous sweater from Old Navy for Christmas. I was saying when he finally arrives in the USA then I could easily spot him at the airport, hahaha! He did not agree. :-p
(Sadly I can't even link you to that awesome sweater because people actually bought it!)

I did tell him I was going to get him 2 warm clothes items for Christmas for when he really does arrive. (No new immigration updates, I emailed our lawyer but haven't heard back- he may be away on holiday.) F.B. already knows he is getting these items so I thought I would share.

Men's Logo Thermal Tees

Men's Bonded Performance Fleece Hoodies

 (Navy isn't available in regular sizes anymore- I think I got the last one. :-p )

And I got myself two items as well- (Hey! had to get free shipping!) Do you guys know that if you sign up for Old Navy emails on their front page under 'Sign up & Save' they will send you a coupon code for $10 off that you can use online or print out & take to the store? I didn't, I found it by looking for promo codes online. So I ended up getting free shipping & $10 off!

My items:

Women's Logo Zip Hoodies

(They didn't have the cute dark gray with purple logo one anymore that I originally wanted.)

Women's Performance Fleece Scarves

I'm going to be a darn train commuter starting Tuesday! Ugh! So I figured I might need a scarf to go along with my gloves & hat and winter jacket. Since the weather is supposed to be below freezing next week!

And two very unnecessary items for myself:

Silver Canvas Sequin Tennis Sneakers

I really wanted the neato sequin Converse sneakers they had out a few months ago. But it happened to be just at the time I ordered my $62.00 custom Converse, so I didn't get the black or pink sequin sneakers. Now you can't find them online. Or if you do people are selling them for $80+ on Ebay, etc. *Sad Face*. So I did a little searching and came across these cute $9.99 no name brand silver sequin sneakers that look like Converse. They will be cute for the holidays!

My other cute unnecessary item! It's a mouse/rat ring that wraps around your finger. It's too cute!

Mouse/Rat Wrap Ring

I got this on Ebay as well from a seller in Hong Kong. I've had no problem ordering items less than $8 on Ebay from Hong Kong, I've always gotten them. (And usually free shipping!) It does sometimes take a month for shipping though. I got 2 cute Opal or "Opal" (Not really sure.) rings on Ebay shipped from Hong Kong during the summer. Now the seller I bought this ring from doesn't have anymore available but you can do some sleuthing here- I see other sellers selling the same sort of ring in silver or bronze.

Hoping Old Navy ships fast because I've got to get F.B.'s Christmas/Anniversary gifts in the mail by December 20th at least. He still might not get them right on time even with express mail to the Philippines but at least they will be on their way. 

As for health updates, the steroids are definitely starting to relieve my back. It is not as painful and debilitating as it was before. But... now I have an awful pain from my butt down to above my right knee. I'm thinking it's the sciatica nerve. Not sure if this is due to the fall I took the other night (even though I was told I landed on my left side.) or from the doctor messing with my legs this past Monday to check & make sure it WASN'T the sciatica nerve. Or just because my back hurt so darn bad I didn't feel my leg hurting. Anyhow now that it hurting worse than my back. :( Hopefully I won't need an Xray or MRI though and I still have quite a few doses of steroids to take (ends Wed.) And a doctor appointment on Monday at 2pm. Maybe he can just presribe a pain reliever that doesn't make me pass out!

I've just been resting in bed only getting up for meals or snacks before I take my pills (about 3 times a day). and also bathroom or shower. I've mostly been on the laptop, reading or painting my nails, lol. I've got a new obsession with nail polish blogs! (You can see some listed under Food & Fun blogs on my right side bar).

I have to go back to work on Tuesday (I'll have drained my paid leave, blah). We'll be downtown. I spoke to my manager today and she said it was a good thing I wasn't at work with my back because it's chaos with the move happening. Their last day at our NE Philadelphia campus is Friday. I had to have my coworkers pack up my work supplies for me.

Upcoming Events: 

December 18th: seeing the Nutcracker with my cousin Jessica!

December 19th: 1 year wedding anniversary with F.B.! ♥♥♥

This is not good, please keep me in your prayers. I just blacked out about a half hour ago. I was getting up to use the bathroom was still in a lot of pain, got to my doorway & started feeling dizzy & called to my Mom downstairs and next thing I knew both my parents were up in the hall standing over me, I blacked out and fell onto our wooden floor in my doorway.

My Mom emergency called my doctor and he told me to stop the Tylenol w/ codeine right away because I am allergic to it and had a bad reaction. (It is listed under serious side effects on my print out sheet). He said I need to just take ibuprofen & the steroids. He also said if I feel any other pain or worse pain in the morning to go straight to the ER to get an x-ray.

So I hurt my back 4 weeks ago today... I gave it two weeks thinking it just needed to heal up. By the 3rd week the pain was getting worse. I had to take a trip to the Emergency Room on Thursday morning. They doped me up on Valium, Percocet, a muscle relaxer... in the butt... (TMI sorry, lol). My Mom drove for me we were there about 3 hours. I left feeling very good though. They also gave me a weeks prescription for Valium & Ibuprofen. They wanted me to see my doctor as soon as I could.

Unfortunately my Doctor is cutting back his hours because he will be retiring soon and is only in Monday's and every other Tuesday. I called had to call back today around 9am and they were able to fit me in at 3:15pm. Good thing too because the pain was so bad this morning I could barely dress myself. I had to go work and could only take half a valium because of driving, etc.

Soo... now. My doctor wants me on bed rest... the whole week. I'll be on the steroid Prednisone. I have to take 10 pills starting tomorrow spread throughout the day, less every day and ending with about 4 pills by next Monday. Also have Tylenol with Codeine. I have another appointment with my Doctor Monday at 2pm. If the steroids & bed rest haven't brought down the inflammation and I'm still in pain then I will have to get an X-ray first and then maybe an MRI. Hopefully I will start to feel better soon, I'm so tired of being in pain when I sit, stand, walk, lay down. :(

Bad news... using up all my paid leave at work. I think I only had about 12 annual and 30 some in sick leave. I have to call my manager tomorrow morning to talk to her. This is also our last week at the NE Philadelphia campus. Starting Monday we start down town in Center City.

In other news. I got Fennel & Barley a new cage. The one that caused my back injury in the first place; You would have to lift the 2 story cage up to get to the pan underneath to clean it. Which wasn't very good. It was also a very narrow cage for them even though it was 30 inches in length.

I was doing some hunting on Ebay because I've been wanting a Ferret Nation 141 for the boys for awhile, but it retails for $150. (The girls have a Ferret Nation 142). I was able to find one on Ebay for $75 or best offer. It was pick up only in Delaware. I asked my Dad if he would be willing to drive down if I put an offer on the cage and he said he would. (It was about 2 hours away. I gave him gas & toll money.) I submitted an offer of $65. And it was accepted! My parents drove down on Sunday and picked the cage it. It was brand new and already put together, with the booklets and everything. Can't beat that!

So Fennel & Barley have a huge new cage to run around in! And it will be MUCH easier for me to clean without hurting myself.


Also I got a great deal at Walgreens.com on some prints & a photo travel mug. I got my Basil art picture on my mug. It was only $11 after coupon codes, I love it! I am also getting more sketches done by Ciara of all my current rats. We will be doing 4 sketches of my remaining 13 rats. :)

I'm tired of these pointless viral Facebook posts. SPAM statuses, or like this week's viral posting. Have a lot of your friends changed their profile pictures to cartoons? Are you seeing this status re-posted:

Change your FB profile picture to a cartoon from your childhood. The goal? To not see a human face on FB until Monday, December 6th. Join the fight against child abuse, copy & paste to your status and invite your friends to do the same.

What is the point of this? It doesn't help anyone? Sure it might be fun but does it really make a difference in a child's life?

We post these statuses to support the military, cancer awareness, child abuse, etc. Why are we not posting links to charities to help these types of causes instead? If you're going to show your support- do so to make a difference!

Tonight I posted a status that read:

It makes more sense to donate to a Charity that benefits a child then to change your profile picture to a cartoon. Check out this list of Children's Charities for ways you can actually make a difference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Children%27s_charities 
Now go do something good!

Afterwards I checked the list myself and chose a charity that I wanted to make a donation too. I chose to make a small donation to the Make A Wish Foundation.

If you're going to participate in this viral Facebook campaign then please copy and share the status I made with your friends and donate to a charity to truly make a difference in a child's life!

One of our Rat Chatter forum members is selling personalized sketches of pet rats. They are amazing! She is really talented! I ordered one of my Basil boy and I love it! They are $9 each. Please click here for more info on how to order a drawing. I definitely think I'll get another one, I have to look through all my photos and see who else I want... so many ratties to choose from, hahaha!

Here's the photo I submitted of Basil, it's one of my favorite's because he looks so happy and has a twinkle in his eyes. And below is the finished artwork! Love it!

I don't usually paint my fingernails too often. I do like doing french manicures occasionally, but I rarely ever do full colors; but I'm really liking all the grey based nail colors this winter. I wanted to share my 3 newest favorites! (My nails are painted Smokin' Hot right now).

I've been getting my nail colors on Ebay. (Usually for half the price- including shipping.) I've been buying a lot  from BlueBeautySupply.

(These pictures are not my own. They are linked to the owners.)

1. Rimmel Grey Matter

Nikki's Nails

2. Essie Smokin' Hot

MBeauty Lounge

3. Essie Sew Psyched

MBeauty Lounge

What are some of your favorite nail colors?

So my cold is back for round two. I had a head cold 2 weeks ago and now it's spreading through my family. I woke up yesterday with clogged ears, stuffed up nose and very dry throat. At least my throat isn't swollen like it was 2 weeks ago though. So I went to Walmart this evening to pick up chewable vitamin c, cold medicine, tums. (The tums are because I'm an old lady of 28 who gets indigestion, lol!)

And I kinda may have... picked up 2 ratties from Petco during my outing... er... GGMR...

Iris & Daisy. Iris is a Blue Berkshire, and I'm 98% sure she is from the same litter Jasmine was from. (Got Jasmine from the same Petco.) They are both the same size and they are both around 4 months old. Their faces are identical in bone structure- even the same ears. If they aren't from the same litter they definitely had the same parents from the same breeder. 

Daisy is a little Russian Blue Rex Berkshire. She has curly rex fur & whiskers. She's much smaller and younger than Iris. I would say she is around 2 months old.They had her marked as a dumbo eared rex... but she is definitely top eared!

Iris & Daisy

Iris

 

Jasmine left- Iris right.

They even make the same face, lol. Iris left, Jasmine right.

The new girls are going to live with Basil, Ivy, Pepper & Poppy when I get them all settled.