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.

Had a great Thanksgiving everything turned out really great! I LOVED the Tofurky! I actually didn't even have any regular turkey because the Tofurky was too good! It's very firm & meat like & the stuffing in the middle is yummy! I just finished up the last two leftover slices for lunch today. :)

Tofurky!

 The au gratin potatoes turned out yummy too! They were cheesy creamy and garlicky!

The Pioneer Woman's Potatoes au Gratin

And all the ratties enjoyed Thanksgiving too. All of them (3 groups) shared a little plate with everything. (There are more pictures & video's here of the ratties)

Group 1: Basil, Ivy, Pepper, Poppy, Lily & Jasmine.

Pepper girl.

Basil stealing pumpkin pie!

Even Dad's dog Homer enjoyed some leftovers.

Edited to add: Look what just arrived today! My Starbuck's Holiday items! :)

So today I picked up a Tofurky from Bunn's Natural Food's store. I've been wanting to try one. I'm not vegetarian, but when I'm cooking for myself, I usually don't make too many meat based dinners. I love tofu & I love trying health foods. I'm just not a big turkey eater. I like turkey lunch meat, but I'm not big on regular turkey so we'll see how the Tofurky tastes. I also picked up some ground flax seed to add into my smoothies for fiber & protein. And I got this amazing rosemary & mint soap!

I'm also going to be making The Pioneer Woman's 'Potatoes au Gratin' for Thanksgiving. They look amazing!

Credit: Pioneer Woman

Oooh I just made an amazing smoothie today for lunch! I got the recipe from the blog EatMoveWrite.

What I put in my smoothie: (I added a few extra things)

1/2 cup of vanilla almond milk
1 tablespoon plain yogurt
2 tablespoons ground Flax seed
2 spoonfuls of Peanut Butter
1 half Banana
Big handful of fresh Spinach
Little handful of Kale.
4 ice cubes.
Sweetener (to taste).

It was sooo yummy! All you could taste was the banana and peanut butter. So good!

I have Wednesday & Thursday off and the following Monday. They denied me the day after Thanksgiving off on my vacation schedule... oh well at least I have a few days off from work!

I was so excited when one of our Rat Chatter Forum members posted about Starbuck's selling a stuffed mouse for Christmas! They also have a mouse mug! They are so cute and not too expensive either! I ordered both for $2.99 shipping!

Huxley Writer Mouse: ($7.95)












Writer Mouse Mug: ($6.95)













In other news, I got called back to work and started on Monday. That has to be the shortest furlough ever! (Only 6 weeks- usually we are furloughed for at least 3 months.) The good news is, our move to the new down town campus has been pushed back to December 13th! So no one hour commutes on the train for awhile! It's so eerily empty at our current campus because so many departments are already at the new building down town.

In bad news... I pulled my lower back cleaning the rat cages last Monday. I went to lift the boys cage to clean the pan underneath and forgot to bend my knees when I sat the cage down on the floor. I pulled it good too. It was extremely painful last week. This week it is slowly getting better but as the day progresses it starts to hurt more. I've been taking a memory foam travel pillow to work to put behind my back because our office chairs are awful. I also got a memory foam topper for $30 from Big Lot's which this morning when I woke up I wasn't in too much pain at all. I also slept more soundly, I noticed I wasn't tossing and turning like usual. I guess the memory foam relieves pressure.

F.B. & I have been married for 11 months today. ♥

Why yes... I am a speed reader! It only took me about a week to finish the last 5 books I took out from our library!

Here is what I currently have checked out:

1. The rose of Sebastopol- Katharine  McMahon (Had a hard time with this because it skipped years in almost every chapter.)

2. Primrose past : the 1848 journal of young Lady Primrose Hunt- Caroline Rose. (Kinda boring).

3. Your name is Renee : Ruth Kapp Hartz's story as a hidden child in Nazi-occupied France- Stacy Cretzmeyer (I enjoyed this. It's interesting reading about the Holocaust from France's perspective).

4. Alice I have been : a novel- Melanie Benjamin (This one was pretty interesting- fiction about the real "Alice" in wonderland and her friendship with Lewis Carroll.)

5. In Dublin's fair city- Rhys Bowen (Good read.)

6. Tell me, pretty maiden- Rhys Bowen (I like these Molly Murphy mysteries.)

7. Sarah Morgan : the Civil War diary of a southern woman- Sarah Morgan- Edited by Charles East (I think if I owned this I wouldn't have skipped around so much- but being an actual diary it's very long winded. I still might look for a copy online for myself.)

8. The wet nurse's tale- Erica Eisdorfer (I liked this one)

(I will edit this post with a description of how I liked each book as I finish them.)