ZooBooks, Zootles, and Zoobies Buy One Get One Free + 25% off

My boys love Zoobooks!
Recently we added Zootles for the youngest. 
Every year I hold out to renew until the Buy One Get One Free sale is here. 
This time the email contained a coupon code for 25% off.  Not sure if it would apply, I typed it in the coupon code box.  It worked! 
Happy Dance!!!  Love, love, love unexpected deals and savings.

For the sale click here.  The coupon code is: 25OFF

I don't play possum !!

I catch frogs.  I catch toads.  I catch snakes.  I will even hold a boa constrictor.  I dissect creatures for science classes.  I put worms on fish hooks.  I take fish off of fish hooks.  I don't do possum. 
I "caught" a possum eating Gus' dog food last night. 
Scared it off.  Except it went under the house.  **sigh**
Now we know why Gus keeps having the HUGE barking fits.  Why he runs like a crazed animal we don't recognize.  He runs in circles from one of the yard to the other, back and forth, back and forth for what seems like forever.  Barking and freaking out. 
So I started making calls this morning.  Animal control won't do anything.  Told us to talk to Animal Services.  They don't do anything.  They told us to call  the Department of Wildlife.  They don't do anything. 
Somewhere along the line someone thought it was helpful to tell me we probably had a nest under my house. 
A NEST ! * ** * * *  A NEST !  * * * **
And noone can be of help.  They offer suggestions on how to trap them.  Tell you how to release them. 
And then they all feel the need to tell me the good news...they don't carry rabies.
And then they tell me, they have ugly smiles and yucky mouths.  Their mouths are incredibly dirty and full of bacteria.  BUT they don't bite unless provoked.  They are possums.  Don't bite unless provoked.  I kinda forget some of the other things they said it was rare for possums to do... Cause all I can think is I have 3 boys.  Setting a trap to catch a possum would be cool.  As for bites and how rare that is, I am having flash backs to a collison with a bowl of ice cream and the need for stitches....and the many other strange and rare events my family has had the joy of experiencing.  Somewhere along the line, something was said about kids and traps and not a good idea and I start hyperventilating..
Big O Daddy O looks at me.  I am hyperventilating.  Pretty much freaking out.  My kids jaws are on the floor.  I don't do possum.  Giant, filthy, bacteria infested, foaming from the mouth, overgrown, wiry, hairy, ugly RATS!  I break down sobbing, big sobbing.  Big O Daddy O just looks at me.  I sobbed, I don't know why I can't do this, I just can't.  I do all the other things, just not possum.  PLEASE, GET THEM OUT OF HERE! ! ! !  It doesn't help not knowing if there is a "nest".  I am certainly not getting down on the ground to look under my house.  This is not the kind of zoo I live in/with.  This could take days, weeks....  Can I go somewhere else, please????

Geminid Meteor Shower

Ever so slowly I am reading through our astronomy book by Jeannie Fulbright. Last night at the hockey rink while Daddy's Buddy was going through drills, Little Princess, Hockey Player and I read about comets, meteors, and asteroids. At the end of the chapter is a chart giving approximate dates for meteor showers throughout the year. Instructions to go to a website were also included. Thanks to technology, I did a quick internet search and discovered that very night there was to be a meteor shower. Now it will continue for a few more days...till the 16th, if I remember correctly. But God's timing is perfect, because we didn't have to be up at a certain time this morning. With excited kids who asked if they could sleep in, we made our plans.
If you get a chance to head out in the cold, cold night this week, do so!
Hockey Player, Little Princess, Fun Mom and I headed out just after midnight to escape the city lights. It took us a while to position ourselves in the right direction. Hockey Player wasn't able to keep his eyes open long enough. One of the disadvantages of having had a game earlier in the evening, and a tournament the past weekend. He was pooped. The girls and I weren't disappointed. Beautiful !
We opted to head home before the shower peaked, but sleep was calling. We were blessed with the opportunity to watch the shower as we headed home.

It appeared to me the shower was coming from the south. Though one of the employees at the observatory said to keep our eyes towards the northeast. ?? ?? But the best vantage point was just looking straight up! If only it wasn't so cold, I would have reclined on the ground, instead of hovering in the suburban with my face pressed to the glass. I did eventually roll the windows down and stick my head out the window while the motor and heat were running. When the clouds thinned, we could see the meteors traveling through the sky, with one or two suddenly falling towards the earth as a shooting star! It was breath taking.

Unless Hockey Player begs to try again this week, we won't head out again. Sleep is crucial for this momma to function. But definitely worth the loss of sleep last night.