Bank Holiday Discount codes

Reminder to self to use discount codes when possible! It counts as saving money, honest!

15% off ASOS Collection, until midnight Tuesday 31st August.

Code: AWSTYLE15

12% off all gifts this bank holiday weekend.

Code: LBHTWELVE

 

30% off all online purchases this bank holiday weekend.

Code: AUG30 

Free £5 Argos voucher when you spend £20 or more on a single jewellery or watch item.

Happy shopping!

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Explorer Pics

Ok, I still don't think the picture does this cage any justice, it is huuuge! This is when I had just built it so ignore the inside I just chucked a few things in.

Here are the Babies (Logan hiding in the coke box and Flash trying to get behind it). After this picture I added another hammock and a tube (and water bottle is in the door which is why you can't see it). I still have more to add but the new cage is enough to keep them excited for now. I have also found that the Babies are not hammock dwellers. Maybe as they get older and lazier that will change, but for now they prefer the corner behind the log thing.

And here are the Big Boys. Elvis loves hammocks. Jules doesn't have a preference. Sometimes he likes to share the hammock, sometimes in the house, sometimes ON the house, and (as in this picture) he likes the box too.

In order to have this cage split in two, I used the bottom shelf that is complete for the top shelf, and at the moment is just a sheet of cardboard as there is of course a whole in the wire too, and used cardboard to cover the whole on the bottom shelf, and then one of their wooden ledges is the perfect size to sit on top of the cardboard. Their water is on the door so that the wooden shelf is the perfect spot to drink from.

Haha this picture makes me laugh. Elvis looks like he's screaming and Jules looks like he's cowering away. It was actually taken whilst Elvis was mid-yawn, and Jules was mid-wash. Bless.

And here's little darling Flash. Why is it that water off my finger is so much more tasty than from the bottle..?

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Things I love right now..

I am in love with Urban Outfitters. I find it hard to look on their website and not want to spend hundreds of pounds, but luckily I do have a little self-restraint. Here are some of their products I love right now..

This Boudoir Bird Box is so pretty, perfect for little bits and bobs I have lying around.

I want this Hello Cupcake book so I can make beautiful little cake for friends and family (and myself!)

This Shower Curtain looks funky, although I think unless your bathroom looked like the one in the picture it may look a bit odd, but it's great for adding a bit of colour and fun!

This Owl Cushion is so cute I am tempted to re-do my room just so that it will go..

I am probably going to buy myself a Wreck This Journal as I think it's a great way to show your creative side (that you may not even know you have), so watch this space as I will scan in my entries once I have made a start on it!

Ratty update

Amongst everything else that's been going on, I also tried ratty introductions. Long story short, they didn't go well. So now I am stuck with 2 pairs of rats in 2 cages, in my bedroom. It can't stay like this. So.. I have ordered a new cage, the Liberta Explorer. It is preeeetty big. According to the rat cage calculators it could house 13 rats, so my 4 are in for a treat. I am hoping to keep the small boys cage in the loft, just in case I ever need it. The cage that we made for the big boys though, we will have to break and dump :( after all that effort. It is a shame, but it's for the best.
The new cage is expected to arrive tomorrow, so I'm hoping I can get it up and together in the evening, and move the ratties in at the weekend. I'm so excited, I love getting new things for my rats as I know they love checking out new things. Plus it will give my my room back, and it should be a lot easier for cleaning and getting toys in and out, since the whole side opens up via the doors.

Long time, no blog

Eugh, it's been suuuch a busy time for me lately, I just haven't had a spare moment to update my blog. So, my last post was back at the beginning of July, just before my besties birthday weekend. What a fab time we had! One of the lovely ladies took her camcorder and is going to make us each a DVD of the weekend, can't wait to see it. Got lucky with the weather too. Can't wait to visit Bournemouth (aka Babyface) again. Baby... as in they're born... face... where your mouth is... no..? Ok.

The next weekend we celebrated another good friends 21st. He had a traditional house party on the Saturday, followed by a pool and bouncy castle party at his ladies on the Sunday. Such great fun.

Then the next weekend it was my fantastic BFs 21st. We hit the town on Friday night, had a few drinkies with our good friends, and had a jolly old time. On Saturday it was our five year anniversary. Five years, woo! And then on Sunday we had a BBQ at mine to celebrate BFs birthday again. We also hired some sumo suits. Sooo funny.

Oh and I had my hair blondified again. Woop-woop

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Big weekend...

It's one of my best friends 21st birthday next week, so we are partying in style this weekend, going to Bournemouth for shopping, sight-seeing and then of course clubbing. I'm really loving Taylor Momsen at the moment, so I'm going for rocker chic style steal. Hopefully I don't look like an Emo...

Love this top

Too Cute

Beautiful little squishies

I picked up my new rattlets on Saturday, and my god I love them! As soon as I was holding them they were licking me, and in the carrier on the way home they were being adorable, not at all scared, just curious. After exploring their new cage for a bit they were ready to come back out and play, but eventually wore themselves out and fell asleep bless them.The next day after a bit of play time, I started introducing them to my big boys. I put them all into a hamster cage so they were together but not all ontop of each other, and took them outside so they were all distracted by the new smells and not so scared of each other. It went, great, there was a fair bit of sniffing but that was about it. Elvis and Jules really didn't seem that fussed, and the babies just wanted to explore. I am so pleased it went as well as it did, since this is the first time I have ever introduced rats.

(The cage wasn't on it's side, I just can't rotate this picture for some reason!)

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Two of these little beauties are mine!!!

That's right, these are the four bucks born to Coastboat's latest litter, and tomorrow I'll be taking two home with me!!! I'm not sure which two, and I don't have a preference, but I wish I could take them all the little cuties! Will post pictures of them tomorrow if I can tear myself away from them to my laptop!
[UPDATE] The top right and the bottom right are my lil darlings!

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I need me a mini teddy..

..although I think whoever took these had the right idea, that teddy wouldn't last 5 seconds if my boys were awake to see it...

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Cage update - pics

Cage update

We did some more work on the rat cage this weekend. I got them a wheel which fits nicely. They haven't used it yet but maybe they will. I also got a cool fish tank decoration that I've put in with them, it's a fallen log with some plants growing off it and a hole going through. I think they are a bit pudgy to get all the way through, but maybe when I get the new kitts they will stash things in it. I've also added in a hanging plant pot, and a new ladder. I'll upload some pictures soon!

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What are YOU doing tonight?

I'll be watching the final housemates entering Big Brother! Loser? Maybe, but I don't care. I don't watch every single day, I just like to see who goes in so that if I do happen to watch any episodes I at least know a bit about them. But as this is the last BB, I am going to watch what I can. I didn't watch the last one and regret it, as I hear there was an hilarious talking tree?! I hope tree makes an appearance this time. And of course I will miss Marcus, or "voice over guy",  I heart him :)

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Overdue update!

Wow, only taken a month to do a new post, guess it's a good thing no one is following me yet..

I am sooo excited, I am getting two little kittens from Coastboat Rattery and they are nearly ready to come home =D
I cannot wait! And once they are nicely settled I can start on introducing them to E&J and have a big happy ratty family!

In other news, I just had my hair lightened, like really lightened. I'm going for blonde, and it kind of is a sort of honey blonde now, but I will go back and have it lightened again until it's the perfect shade I'm looking for. I keep forgetting and then catching a glimpse in a mirror and freaking out haha.

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Pics of the new cage

There is still more to add but I think it is enough for now as they are loving exploring. Unfortunately the hanging nest is a bit small, I havent seen Jules try it at all, and Elvis has been in once and got straight back out, but has continued to poke his nose in (I think he hopes something yummy might appear there..)

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Finished!

We rearranged my bedroom on Sunday to compensate the new cage, and moved the boys in yesterday afternoon. It took them a while to work out the levels, but with the help of yummy bribes they figured it out. They didn't take long to decide on favourite sleeping places. Jules likes the fleece hammock I made them on the top shelf, and Elvis has decided the digging box full of rags of clothes on the middle shelf is actually a cosy nest! They were there when I went to bed and in the same places when I woke up! I guess they wore themselves out exploring!

Pics to come soon

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DIY Rat Cage - 3

We used part of one of the shelves from the bar to make an additional shelf to give that little bit extra floor space. Also, since both shelves didn't go all the way to the back, I was slightly concerned that if a silly ratty jumped at the top, he would fall all the way down two levels...

We cut the vinyl flooring to size and used it to line all the shelves. Then we used the electrical tape to cover all edges to try and prevent urine and cleaning products to get into the corners and cause the wood to swell.

 I ordered myself some antipill polar fleece from ebay and Mum had some self-adhesive hook & loop (velcro) so I cut out 2 pieces of fleece for each shelf. I will most likely make a 3rd, but I am waiting for more fleece to arrive as I ran out. This means When one is being washed I have a spare.

So, all that is really left to do is re-attach the doors, and decide where everything is going to go and put in place the hooks.. how exciting!

And here is a cutie pic of the boys snuggling in their newest toy:

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So Proud!

Last night when I cleaned the boys cage (they're still in the old cage as the new DIY unit isn't quite finished) I decided to try out the litter tray. They have always had Biocatolet filling the whole bottom section, and although they tended to stick to one corner, they did sometimes stray.

I bought them a litter tray for when they move into the new hideout. The picture above isn't the exact one I got them. This time instead of filling the whole plastic area, I used some of the leftover polar fleece (used to line the shelves in the new house) to line the plastic base of the cage, and just put fresh Biocatolet in the litter tray, with a small handful of the soiled litter.

I have also now moved the cage into my bedroom as that is where the new unit is most likely to go, so I thought they could get used to living in my bedroom in the current cage before moving into the new hideout. However, the corner the used to use as "poo corner" is the corner nearest my bed! So I put the litter tray in the furthest corner and hoped they would smell the litter and not just go in the corner they normally do.

Well, I woke up this morning (minimal disturbances from them in the night) and there were no messes to clean up from the fleece. I was worried that they may have just held it in rather than go somewhere new, but then Elvis got up to see me for some cuddles, and when he was back in the cage he went straight over and used the tray!!

I am so proud of them, I expected that it would take some training and keen eyes on my part before they learned, especially with it being in a different corner, but my babies are so clever!

Let's hope it lasts and they don't get bored of being good ;-)

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DIY rat cage - 2

The bar was obviously a home-made job, we got it appart mostly by pulling out pins! We saved the front section to use to back the display cabinet, and also kept the shelves from inside the bar as they were good sizes that might be used later on. The rest of the bar got  chopped up and taken to the tip, along with the glass from inside the doors...

Next, we measured up the backing against the unit, and BF cut it out for me. We removed the lights from the unit, and pinned the new backing on.

I bought two sheets of mdf for under £10 each from B&Q, as well as some electrical tape, hooks, cable clips and some vinyl floor tiles. BF found a 3 for 2 bargain at tescos for some cake cooling trays that looked a good size to use as bars in the doors. We worked out we'd need 4 trays for each door, and only need to cut the top trays.

We taped over the inside of the doors just in case there were any bits of glass dust inside. We then used the cable clips to attach the cake cooling trays to the door frames. We marked where the top trays needed cutting and my Dad used an angle grinder to cut them to size.

DIY rat cage - 1

Finally, we've started on the new "grotto" style cage for my ratties. I've spent ages trying to plan, deciding whether to buy a display cabinet or start completely from scratch and just buy bits of wood. Well, I got pretty lucky. I was browsing the Friday Ads website and came across a display cabinet that was only two minutes away from me, for £15!

The unit was pretty much perfect! And for only £15! I was expecting to have to buy a new unit or wood and spend around £50. Mum is happy too, because at the moment the rats cage is on top of the bar (it was already here when we moved into the house) which mum hates. So with the rats moving home, we can get rid of the bar, which also means if there's anything handy making it up, I can use it for the new cage.

So, now I have my basic unit. It comes in two parts, the bottom part I will use for storing all my ratty things, and the top part will be their new home. I need to remove the glass from the doors and replace with some suitable material. There are two shelves already fixed into the top unit. There are also display lights at the back of the shelves which will obviously need to come out, but this means the shelves don't go all the way to the back of the unit, so I don't need to cut into the shelves, bonus!

I don't think the unit is a particularly nice colour, but beggars can't be choosers! Also, the back of the unit isn't very strong, so I will need something to support it. Whilst deciding how to destroy the bar, a thought hit us, the stony effect on the front of the bar could look quite nice to back the unit and lighten it up a bit. Waste not want not!

So, next step...destroy the bar!

More pics of my rats (recent)

Well I added pictures of Elvis and Jules when I first got them, end of 2008. Here are some of them a year and a half on.

Elvis:

"I pose for yooou"

Just Chillin'

 

And Jules:

Look at that cute little tongue 

"Ah, human germs, must clean"

Aren't they adorable. I can't wait to get their new home finished. Pics to come soon...

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Meet my boys

Here is a photo of when I first got my darling boys, in November 2008. Jules (left)is a cinnamon, and Elvis is cinnamon/pearl.
I am still finding it hard to believe they were really this small! They have grown so much. I need to upload some more recent photos, they don't look like the same rats at all!




Ah, scary camera, hide!

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