This has been the most difficult week... I've had four losses... Hazelnut due to old age & a tumor on 2/12. Rosie who passed during a spay for a prolapsed uterus on 2/13. And now Fern (2/22) and Clover both to pneumonia... this sucks...

Clover was adopted from Star's Rat Rescue in South Dakota in August 2010. She always loved running around on the floor and exploring. She never liked to sit still, she was always too curious.

I really hoped Clover would get better... she drank some water on her own earlier today, but she had stopped eating. I tried giving her antibiotics in baby food, ensure, etc in an oral syringe, but she did just not want it. When I came from work today, she was doing very poorly, she did not even want to move much. I wrapped her in a baby blanket, and cuddled her and pet her head until she passed away...

It has not been a good month for me. I already lost my Hazelnut to age & a tumor and my Rosie during an emergency spay for a prolapsed uterus just last week. Fern contracted pneumonia. She's been having respiratory issues since she's getting a little older. Fern was somewhere around 1.5 years maybe 2? I'm not really sure.... she had been doing very poorly the past few days, not taking her medicine in baby food, so I would have to try and get it in her mouth with the oral syringe. She stopped eating... I knew it did not look good. Fern passed away yesterday evening around 5pm...

My spunky girl, I adopted her last April from SRR, along with her sister Olive (RIP). Fern was shy, but she was spunky and territorial in her own cage. She lived with her other SRR sisters. She was my short little pudgy girl.

The sad thing is... Clover, who is already 2 years old, has been getting frail also and I'm pretty sure, contracted pneumonia from Fern. They were both ill, so I had them set up in a hospital cage together and have been giving them their antibiotics in baby food and Ensure, etc. Clover is stronger, but she's barely eating at all during the past 24 hours... which is not good....so please keep Clover in your thoughts, it has been a tough month...

Teddy, Aspen, Templeton & Curry

Aspen, Templeton & Curry

I finally got down to Ikea in South Philadelphia, I've never been there before. It was pretty busy down there and bit picked over, but we picked up some decor for our apartment. :-)

(The Loot!) Almagrundet bathmat, turquoise $6.99 (Not online)

GODTA Bowls 7", turquoise $2.99

GODTA Bowl 10", turquoise $3.99

SOMRIG Vase, assorted colors $2.99 & Artificial Rose, $2.99, Assorted plants $1.99

Closer Look. :)

Artificial potted plant, House bamboo $3.99 & Plant pot, galvanized $0.79

Gestalta Artist $4.99 (No longer online)

5-piece cookware set, stainless steel $9.99 & STEKA Frying pan, dark blue $2.99

P.S. Bring a reusable bag with you! I didn't know so we had to pay $0.59 cents for a large Ikea bag during check out. 

Meet Pretty Boy! My 1st Betta fish. We brought him home February 11th.  :-)

I have a theme when it comes to our apartment. Black/White & Aqua colors. Our Sofa is black. Our end tables & coffee tables are black. And my 2 favorite armchairs are black & white floral. There are small bursts of aqua around in the throw pillows, baskets on my coffee table, etc. I recently bought black & white damask dishes to keep on with my theme.

Now I finally found the perfect place mats for our dining room table. And finally found the perfect coasters in an aqua floral color for our living room. For some reason, it's REALLY tough to find coasters at the store! Plus it was a great price for both! 

Turquoise Flower Leaf Tile Coasters $6 -Etsy

Torre & Tagus Floral Print Placemat Set of 8 $9.99 -Target

I really would like to check out Ikea during my long weekend. (No work on Presidents Day yay!) I've never been to our Ikea. It's downtown in Philadelphia.

I really want to get a few of these realistic plants for our apartment:

Artificial potted plant, grass $3.99 -Ikea

Artificial potted plant, House bamboo $3.99 -Ikea

So... I have 2 new men in my life... lol. Teddy & Templeton. It was time for a change after losing 2 female ratties. Curry & Aspen now have 2 little brothers. ♥

Teddy is a cocoa Berkshire. But he also has some sort of mask on his face that makes him look slightly like a raccoon. And Templeton is beige variegated & I think he may have a blaze.



Yes... I am the crazy rat lady with a dozen ratties. :-p

Roses from Hubby

The gift I got my husband!

From hubby :)

It's not been such a great 24 hours... very early Sunday morning (1am or so) we discovered Rosie had a prolapsed uterus. (It looked a lot like this picture). Unfortunately the vet wasn't open until Monday.... so I had to wait until then to call & make Rosie an appointment.

Also this past weekend Hazelnut wasn't doing so well either. Her tumor had been getting larger and she wasn't as energetic anymore. I had a feeling she would be passing soon and Sunday evening Hazelnut passed away. She was one of my Star's Rat Rescue girls and she traveled 1,500 miles back in August of 2010. Hazelnut was already around 2 years old. She was a very curious girl who always loved getting off the bed to run around and explore. And she loved sleeping in any kind of cardboard box or oatmeal tube that we put in her cage. ♥


Rosie had her appointment at the vet this afternoon. We decided she would go in for an emergency spay. I was pretty nervous already to put her through the surgery considering she would have been 2 years old around June/July. But the only other alternative was having her put to sleep, because her uterus was coming out and the tip of it was already badly infected. So we left Rosie at the vet to be spayed. (I had a female rat, Cinnamon spayed years ago but she was only around 6 months old). Unfortunately, I got a call directly from the vet himself a little later in the afternoon.... Rosie passed away during her surgery. The vet said her uterus was in really bad condition. Sadly we had to go pick up Rosie from the vet. We dropped her off at my parents house to be buried with Hazelnut...

Rosie was so laid back and special. She was my nap rat. She loved taking naps with me. She loved laying near your feet. She was cuddly and would give kisses occasionally. She was such a friendly little rattie and I'm so sad to have lost her so suddenly...  ♥

My Dad gave me a live in person tutorial on how to make homemade pizza crust a few weeks ago. I never had much luck with getting any dough to rise, lol. But I followed his instructions and we enjoyed fresh homemade pizza the other night. I thought I would share his tutorial with all of you. (Pictures included!). You can double this recipe. I've underlined the ingredients you will need below.

1st step: Combine 1 cup of hot water (the hottest you can get out of your sink tap), 1 teaspoon of sugar & 1 packet of dry active yeast in a bowl. Use a rubber spatula to give it a few quick stirs then let it sit for 15 minutes uncovered.

Hot water, sugar & dry active yeast

When you come back your bowl of yeast should look like it has beer foam on the top of it. (Which is how my Dad explained it to me, haha!) That's how you know your yeast is working.

See: "Beer Foam" lol!

Step two: Pour 2 1/2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt into your bowl with the dry yeast mixture. Use a rubber spatula again to fold the flour into the mixture using a circular motion, sometimes pressing the spatula into the dough like kneading. Once your dough begins to stick to your spatula add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and continue to work the dough in a circular & kneading motion with the rubber spatula. You will not need to touch the dough with your hands.

Dough ball!

Step three: Once your dough is in a neat little ball. Grab a dish rag or washcloth and run it under the hottest water you can. Wring it out a bit, then drape the rag over your bowl. You want a nice warm place for your dough to rise, so I always pop my rag covered bowl into the microwave and let it sit for one hour. (I keep my microwave unplugged when not using it). You won't be using the microwave- just storing your bowl of dough there for 1 hour.

Damp rag with hot water- let dough sit for 1 hour.

Step four: Take the damp rag off of your bowl of dough. It should have increased in size by now. You can give it a few more kneads with your rubber spatula, but then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in your fridge for one whole day. Letting it sit for a day makes it easier to roll and work with the next day. And as my Dad said, he thinks it tastes better when you let it sit a day before using it. (Your dough can be stored for up to 5 days in the fridge).

After sitting for 1 hour- the dough has risen.

Step Five: Enjoy making homemade pizza with your homemade pizza dough! I know I did! Roll out your dough to fit your tray (don't forget to sprinkle a little flour before rolling), add sauce cheese & toppings. To cook your pizza, heat your oven 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

This is supposed to be pepperoni & onion- next time... cheese first- then toppings, lol! Our 2nd homemade pizza! Hawaiian! Mmmm!