Summer... has been oppressive and I'm sooo ready for fall and colder weather... and pumpkin spice lattes! We really haven't been up to much lately, just staying at home... in the air, lol. And I've been busy with work and exhausted in the evenings, so I haven't been updating my blog as regularly. But, if you want more up to the minute updates about what I'm up to you can find me at the following places:

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My girls finally came home last night! I adopted two black self dumbo eared girls from Star's Rat Rescue in South Dakota. I've adopted from SRR two times before.

The 1st time I adopted 3 girls, the 2nd time I adopted 2 girls & 2 boys. Though my boys are the only ones still living and they are now 2 1/2 years old.

This rat train had 2 phases to get the girls all they way to Philadelphia. (1,500 miles from South Dakota!) The 1st part of the train was on July 28th. When my girls and some of the other rats being adopted traveled to Chicago IL. The 2nd part of the train was tentatively scheduled for August 4th. My girls had to be fostered for about a week in Chicago until we filled some of the other driving legs to get them to Philadelphia.

Then, Thursday morning- Brittney; my friend & owner of Star's Rat Rescue, texted me that she was in the hospital. (She is still there as of today, the hospital was running tests to determine is she needed surgery, she was in a lot of pain. I don't have any other details. Please keep her in your thoughts & prayers. She is trying to keep me updated best she can. I am posting any new information I get on the SRR Facebook Page, for Brittney).

(ETA: Brittney is now home from the hospital).

We were still lacking a driver for the very last part of the trip, so it was uncertain if the girls would be coming home Saturday. Luckily, I was able to get a hold of our friend Adam. Who helped with SRR drives before. He agreed to drive out to Somerset PA (About 4 1/2 hours from Philly), to meet one of the other drivers and get my girls! 

With Brittney still in hospital she was unable to contact the drivers and send out the email itinerary as usual. So late Thursday evening she texted me everyone's information (4 drivers) so that I could call and email everyone to confirm Saturday's plans. I had to make sure everyone had talked to each other before leaving Saturday morning.

Saturday morning things went off just as planned. Each of the drivers checked in with me when they passed the rats off to the next driver, and I kept Brittney up to date. At 9:45pm we met up with Adam outside a Petsmart near us so we could finally pick up my two girls and bring them home! It was definitely an adventure for them!

(Thank you to all the drivers and adopters, because we couldn't do these Rat Trains without you all!) 
The girls were born on Christmas Day, 2011. So they are about 7 1/2 months old. I renamed them Cherry & Bluebelle (Belle for short). Cherry has white front paws, she's also a bit bigger and her dumbo ears are set farther back. Belle is smaller, and she has more rounded full dumbo ears. They are both Black self.

Cherry in the hammock, Belle below.

Cherry

Bluebelle "Belle"

 

Lily passed away this weekend... she was a few months past 2 years old. We brought her home in July 2010. She never really had any major health issues or tumors in her life. I hate that we only have a maximum of 2-3 years with rats. It's truly not fair. They have so much personality. Lily was my ♥ rat. She was so spoiled in her old age. She loved to lay back in my hands and stay that way for the longest time on her back.

♥ When she got older and more frail, every morning I would take her out on the bed and get her some Vanilla or Strawberry Ensure. (She would have it at least twice a day). When you tapped the bowl, she would come running. She loved hanging out on our bed, she would stretch out or curl up in my comforter.

♥ When my husband came to the USA in March 2011, she would always sit on his leg and let him pet her if he was sitting on the bed. He used to tease me and say Lily was his rat now. Her nickname was 'Bean'. (When she was younger she was a little roley poley thing so I nicknamed her Lil-La-Bean, like a jelly bean). She had her feisty moments when she was younger, but for the most part she was a very laid back rat. ♥


Video of Lily with her Lolli-pop:



I love all of my pet rats, but there are a few special heart rats that you have. So I'm taking Lily's loss a bit hard. ♥

 

I've been coveting Layla Hologram polish for awhile. I finally ordered some on Ebay. And then I liked it so much I went and order another bottle. You can find them at Ebay, Ulta Beauty or Zappos.com. They range from $14-16, but they are so worth it.

The formula dries super quick. I tried a topcoat, but it dulls the hologram effect. It does chip on your fingertips a bit. I noticed if I do 1 layer of hologram, then a clear coat, then 1-2 more coats of hologram on top it lasts much much longer. It looks frosty going on, but once it dries then the hologram effect shows! You can still see the hologram effect in low light and they sparkle in sunlight! Love them!

Color: Mermaid Spell

Color: Flash Black

My cousins & I also saw the Katy Perry: Part of Me movie in 3D last Friday. I loved it! I like that it's more of a documentary then just a concert movie. It shows a lot of behind the scenes stuff. Plus I like that she writes her own music, plays guitar and doesn't lip sync at her live shows. If anything I thought she sounded even better at her live shows. Her Grandma cracked us up in the movie, she reminded us of our Nana. It's definitely worth going to see!

I really want to see it again, so I think I might be dragging hubby along this time! That's okay though, we're definitely seeing The Dark Knight Rises this month too. ;-)

You can view a lot of clips from the movie here.

My Honey girl passed away this morning. She was 2 1/2 years old. Honey had 2 tumors, one of which was quite large and had begun to get scabs, etc on it. This coming week I was planning on taking her to the vet to be put to sleep, but Honey passed away this morning. :(


Honey traveled 1,500 miles 2 years ago. I adopted her from Star's Rat Rescue, along with her 2 other sisters (RIP). She was a very feisty girl. I called her 'Firecracker', her other nickname was 'Cheez-it'. Honey was a silver fawn. She had a gorgeous golden orange coat.

Honey Girl: