Hi! My name is Issy… or omgz on swap-bot. These are my ‘5’ random cell phone photos for the e-swap. I have hundreds of photos on my cell phone, so it was hard to pick just a few. I did, however, and I’ll give you a short explanation why I picked that said photo! I’m very very guilty of taking pictures of everything for no reason. I even take pictures of dinner and send them to my brother saying “hurry up. Dinner is ready.” when he’s out at the gym.

Links: omgz / E-Swap: Share 5 Random Cell Phone Photos

Now… on to the photos!

1.
this is a photo of my little guy Marley eating his “goop”.. or dinner. (It’s a mix of meal replacement and calcium) . He’ll be 4 months old on December 24^th, 2009. He is a baby Giant Day Gecko. Have you ever seen the Geico Commercials with the gecko? Yeah, that’s Marley! Currently, [s]he is recovering (quite nicely actually) from a calcium deficiency. I was very lucky that I caught it as soon as I did, or there would have been a chance that Marley didn’t recover from it. What it does is take calcium from his bones to help run his body. It makes him swell, and can cause pain, weakness, and even death. The day I realized he wasn’t climbing, I scooped him up and took him to the guy I got him from to have him give me his opinion. He pointed out the slightly swollen jaw and feet and said I should up his calcium intake. Since then, he gets pure calcium with D3 (what their body uses to absorb calcium) every day, and then calcium mixed in with his food as well. Currently, he is hyper and climbing all over. Though, we’re not in the clear yet, but we can see the clear, and that is nice. He’s finally eating on his own as well… so I don’t have to stick a [needleless] syringe into his food and then squirt it on his snout so he licks it off.. He’s learned that, and wipes it all on my hand anyway. I come up looking messier then he does! Lol. He also eats crickets and a main staple of his diet is fruit and nectar, but he can’t eat crickets at the moment, and I need to go buy baby food for him (its replacement for the nectar.) The MRP [what he is eating] gives him everything he needs – fruit or otherwise – but I like to give him flavor often. I can’t imagine that stuff tastes any good.

2.

Meet Pig… He’s my brother. This was taken last night.. at about 6am. Lol. He just got home from a looong night of drinking out with his friends for someones birthday. He’s pretty funny when he’s drunk. He’s pretty funny either way, but it gets funnier when he’s drunk. If it was anyone else, I’d be really annoyed being woken up at 6am. . But, since it was him, and he cracked me up, I didn’t mind. I had to go pick him up. It was 32 degrees F outside, and he lost his jacket somewhere.. He was standing out in a parking lot freezing and trying to get home. I quickly grabbed my boyfriend warmest hoodie and hopped in the car to go pick him up. He wasn’t far, but he would have frozen to death walking home. What you see in the picture.. is what he had on when I picked him up. Poor guy. Also, I have no idea what he is doing. Lol.

3.
Hello Matylda… what are you doing? We have two Scottish terriers. Maggie, who is black, and Matylda, who is wheaten.. or dirty. Lol. Maggie normally sits there and looks out the window, but this time around, it’s Matylda, and she’s up to no good. Shortly after this picture – after I told her to “get down” once or twice… she jumped into the tree. Matlyda loves shiny things. Flash lights drive her NUTS. The garland is what she was after. The sun was catching it and making it flash, and she wanted some of it. Picture a cat with a laser pointer, then replace cat with weird dog, and that’s what happens.

4.
We got my mom into some Rock Band action. We were playing some classic rock song.. I think Allman Brothers maybe? She was there, so I told her to come sing it. She had no idea what she was doing, but she knew the words, so we took care of the rest. She did pretty good… I’m just shocked I got my mom to play a video game! Lol. [That is my brother on drums and my boyfriend Dave on gee-tar…Rock band.. in the smallest room ever. I don’t know why we didn’t just put it in the living room and play, but I think I didn’t want to lug everything into the living room because we store it all in the bedroom.]

5.
Shameze!! The Ghetto Shamwow! Hooker and bitten off tongue not included. I found this at my local dollar store. My friend bought them just to see if they work half as good as a shamwow… They do not.

6.

In the video game Left 4 Dead, each “safe room” has a ton of stuff written on the walls from other “survivors” that came before you. Things like “They only come out at night” followed by another person writing “ that’s vampires, moron.” [This game is about Zombies.] I miss the internet is small, and very unnoticeable, and it is by far, my favorite thing written on the wall. It would only be better if it said “I didn’t harvest my crops. I miss Farmville.” Lol. “I miss the internet” is something I see myself writing if the Zombie Apocalypse ever does happen.

7.

If it’s heels.. and it’s polka dots… It’s for me! I really like vintage looking pinup girl shoes.. These are my two favorite pairs. I don’t remember why I took this picture, though. Lol.

8.
Our tickets. We were the first two in line for the Colbert Report. We were so close to him it was crazy. Richard Dawkins was the special guest, and it was a blast. Steven did a meet and greet before the show, and hes so nice. Such a funny guy! We took the train to NYC (we live in NJ) and spent the day at the Colbert Report, eating dinner, walking around Times Square, and then finished the night by going to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs in IMAX 3-D! amazing! Lol.

9.

I just thought this was hilarious. Haha.

10.
Frozen custard. . . is amazing.. and yes, I am watching Suite Life on Deck. Lol.

Have a great day!!

Crock- Pot      e-swap

Hi! My name is Issy… or omgz on swap-bot. These are my recipes for some great food to make in your slow cooker. Enjoy!

Asian Style Country Ribs

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon Sriracha hot pepper sauce (i do not use – allergic to pepper)
• 12 boneless country-style pork ribs

Directions

1. Stir together the brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, olive oil, rice vinegar, lime juice, garlic, ginger, and Sriracha in the crock of a slow cooker. Add the ribs; cover and refrigerate. Allow ribs to marinate in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight.
2. Before cooking, drain marinade and discard. Cook on Low for 9 hours. Drain cooked meat and shred, using 2 forks.
3. Serve with rice and veggies. [stir fried is best.]

Pork Chops with Apples, Sweet Potatoes, and Sauerkraut

Ingredients

• 4 (1 inch thick) boneless pork chops
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/2 inch thick
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 2 apples – peeled, cored and sliced
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 (16 ounce) can sauerkraut, drained

Directions

1. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and coat with cooking spray. Quickly brown the pork chops on each side. Set aside.
2. Arrange sweet potato slices in the bottom of a 3 to 4 quart slow cooker. Cover with the onion slices, then the apple slices. Sprinkle brown sugar, nutmeg and salt over the apples, and grind a little pepper. Place the pork chops on top of the pile, and cover with sauerkraut. Cover, and cook on Low for about 5 hours. It can go an extra hour without drying out though.
3. Serve pork and vegetables with juice from the slow cooker spooned over them.

You can also sprinkle half a cup of white wine over it while it’s in the slow cooker, and add a dash of Thyme.
and, for the last one… this isn’t so much a main dish, but.. I tend to eat it as a main dish… because I love sweet potatoes! mm MM!
SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
You’ll need:
TWO  29 ounce cans of sweet potatoes drained and mashed.
1/3 cup butter  – melted
2 tablespoons of white sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon of orange juice
2 eggs – beaten
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup of chopped pecans (optional)
1/3 cup of brown sugar
2 table spoons all purpose flour
2 teaspoons butter – melted.
Lightly grease cooker.
In large bowl, blend potatoes, 1/3 cup of butter, white sugar, 2 table spoons of brown sugar. Beat in Orange Juice, eggs, & Milk.
Poor into cooker.
In small bowl pecans, 1/3 cup of brown sugar, flour and 2 table spoons of butter. Spread mix over potatoes.
Cover, cook on high for 3-4 hours.
( I have found though, to just sprinkle the brown sugar over, mix a little Cinnamon sugar if you like into the brown sugar mix. Do not spread. It caramelizes and sticks.  I have also spread brown sugar over the top, and then covered the top in mini marshmallows. It was very good! My whole family loves it.)
I have a cookbook called Fix – It and Foreget-It cookbook: Feasting with your slow cooker.  It is great. There are so many good recipes in there.
Here is one of my favorite non food recipes in that book.
HOT CIDER.
1 gallon cider.
1 qt. cranberry juice
5-6 cinnamon sticks ( i use 3-4, but do it to taste.)
2 tsp. whole cloves
1/2 tsp ginger
1 whole orange, sliced.
Combine cider and cranberry juice in slow cooker
Place cinnamon sticks and cloves in cheesecloth bag and add to slowcooker. Stir in ginger.
Heat on high 5-6 hours
Float orange slices on top before serving.
Great holiday treat!

I woke up .. around noon.. because it’s the weekend! lol Well, I woke up to this.. Matylda, the white one.. trying to ignore the oddness of her little sister, Maggie…  obviously the cutest idiot dog ever that is doing the ‘frog lay’ DOWN the back of the recliner… yup. Really strange dog, she is.

At around 1pm, I made my boyfriend and myself some lunch, which was peanut butter and toasted marshmallows on wheat. Spread a thin layer of peanut butter on the bread, then smoosh a handful of mini marshmallows onto it. Pop it in the toaster oven on toast (not a regular toaster, obviously. lol. ) till the marshmallows turn a nice golden brown on top. Take it out, spread more peanut butter on the other slide, and smoosh it together. Cut. Eat. Enjoy!  I like it so much better then the store bought fluff.

After lunch, Dave (my boyfriend) and I went out to pick up some Christmas Presents for my brother and father. We went to the mall, then to Wal*mart, which is south of the mall… Then I was like “well, we can get him computer games.. WalMart doesnt have many good ones.. How about Best Buy?” So we had to turn around, and go back up past the Mall. lol. We ended up finding some game thing that had 100,000 games on it or something. Woo!

At 4:00p, we went home because Dave had to go to work at 5p. So, I hopped on Swap-bot while he showered and got ready to check things over.

After he left for work,  I turned on my xbox360 and played a few boards of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 before I got really annoyed with it and turned it off. lol.

I then went to finish up a project I started as a letter for my Aunt..  I turned it into parchment looking paper and baked it for a crinkly feel to it.. giving it more of a real parchment feel.. I also stained it brown with coffee grinds and tea.

Then I started in on another project.. which is a paper jack (from Nightmare before Christmas). I wanted to make my boyfriend some other ones for Christmas, but I wanted to try my hand at it first, so I drew out jack, since hes pretty easy. This photo is of it partially drawn.. His suit is not colored in at all.

And that is Jack finished! He’s super cute. The one next to him is Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force on Adult Swim.  He’s super easy to make! I was really proud when I was finished and it came out pretty decent! lol.

After that, it was time to feed the little ones.. and by little ones, I mean.. My 4 month old baby Giant Day Gecko. He’s got a calcium deficiency, so I have to hand feed him by mixing up his food with extra calcium and getting him into my hand and rolling a qtip covered in food over his mouth. Try holding a 3 gram lizard.. who drank 10 redbulls, 15 coffees, and did an entire pound of speed.. lol. He’s quite hyper… and fast!  He’ll get to be a foot long… and hopefully less fragile feeling. lol.

Then, it was the ferrets turn. They all have colds, so I made them up some DUK soup to keep them full and warm. This is Koda, the biggest of the bunch.. and fattest… trying to get out of my hand and dive head first into that bowl. He loves Duk Soup. He will even eat it in his sleep if you put a spoon of it next to his face. Yup, eats without waking up.

Then 10pm rolled around, and Maggie and Matylda waited for Dave to come home in their new sweaters. ( they actually just went out, and I put the sweaters on because 1) I found maggie with her head stuck in the arm hole like she was trying to put on the sweater and 2) it stops them from smelling like wet dog . . . when its raining and snowing at the same time.)

Then when Dave came home… we were starving! So, we went to Sonic! The best thing to happen to anything in a 20 minute radius around me. lol.  The BLT Toaster and Orange Cream Slush…  ah-may-zinnnnng!

And, now we’re watching Garden State and finishing up the swap, and then going to bed. Have a great day!

- issy   [omgz]

Me by Me: Old Photo

Hiya! My name is Issy. My swap-bot name is omgz. This picture is from .. well, way more then 10 years ago! lol. I’m 26 now. I was about 2 or 3 in this picture, I think. It’s me and my dad. We’re fast asleep in our old popup camper. I spent one weekend a month in that camper with my parents and my older brother till I was about 8, then we got a bigger camper! haha. I loved camping. I still do! I like to try to go camping as much as I can, but that’s not often.  I got to go camping for my boyfriends 25th birthday this year. It was a flippin’ blast! I miss being a little kid, lol.  Where the worst thing you have to worry about is a skinned knee and your ice pop melting before you can finish it. Christmas and birthdays were the best things EVER.

Directions:Preheat oven to 325 ° F (165 ° C).
In a large bowl, combine the dry milk, egg, parsley, oil, honey, baby food, and broth. Gradually blend in the flours and cracked wheat. Add enough wheat flour to form a stiff dough.
Transfer to a floured surface and knead until smooth (about 3-5 minutes). Shape the dough into a ball, and roll to 1/2-inch (12 mm) thick. Using bone-shaped cookie cutters, make biscuits! Transfer to ungreased baking sheets, spacing them about 1/4 inch (6 mm) apart. Gather up the scraps, roll out again, and cut additional biscuits.
Bake for 30 minutes. Whisk together the egg and broth for the glaze. Brush biscuits with the glaze on both sides. Return to oven and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Let cool overnight.
Makes several dozen small bones that freeze well. Or 2 1/2 to 3 dozen large bones, depending on the size of cookie cutter you use.

PUMPKIN WAFERS DOG TREAT RECIPE

Ingredients:

I got this really cute postcard from Lynnie for 11-10-09 Postcard Swap–USA Only swap.	got this from Jess [ y_am_ihere00 ] from postcardcafe . I love it!!!
This adorable Pixar Postcard is from tobiejonzarelli for the LIAR LIAR POSTCARD #2 swap. It says “Even though I was briefly married to Donald Trump, it’s a good thing I won the 30 million in the lottery – I’m broke!” The object of this swap – and the one to the right – was to write a postcard with a blatent lie on it that will make the Mail carrier that sneaks a peek at your postcard go “What!” Great swap!	this card I got from amuhleisen for the LIAR LIAR POSTCARD swap. On the back it says “ Yes, it’s true. You were a adopted. We didn’t want to tell you, but I figured it was for the best. I’m sure this explains a lot! It is so obvious that you don’t look anything like the rest of of us. Anyway, have a nice day”. LOL. That’s great.  –
I got this super adorable postcard randomly from XxInternalchaos.	Got this postcard from Elizabeth4510 for Paranormal Postcards. She told me about when her car broke down and she and her husband saw a small boy ride his three wheeler by them, but when they went to look for him, he wasnt there! Spooky!
I got this ATC and all these goodies from wackystuff  for the Alice in Wonderland ATC swap.  I love the ATC , but it was supposed to be non-disney. She is wonderfully re-sending a non-disney Alice in Wonderland ATC and I can’t wait to see what I get from her for this!	I got this awesome ATC from Coco26 for the Alice and Marley Make Peace swap. It’s killer! I love the ATC’s I’ve been getting! She also sent me a bunch of Alice themed randoms. LOVE IT!
I got these awesome things from moxsapphir . She was in a swap I hosted, and her partner was giving her problems, and she sent me all these awesome goodies for taking care of all the drama and I also angel’d her. I love all this stuff. The hearts are simply adorable!	These are the inkblot ATCs I made for ATC EASY ink blot fold print #2. They are SUPER fun. I made a bunch because they were so fun. My BF Dave made one too. I see a turtle swimming in his. What do you see in mine? Be interested to know what people come up with!

All in all.. today.. my mailbox was happy!  lol. Thanks everyone!! I hope everyone got my swaps. I wish I took a picture or scanned my Frosty the Snowman ATC. It was super cute.. D’oh!

The King Vulture, Sarcoramphus papa, is a large bird found in Central and South America. It is a member of the New World vulture family Cathartidae. This vulture lives predominantly in tropical lowland forests stretching from southern Mexico to northern Argentina, though some believe that William Bartram’s Painted Vulture of Florida may be of this species. It is the only surviving member of the genus Sarcoramphus, though fossil members are known.

It is large and predominantly white, with gray to black ruff, flight, and tail feathers. Its head and neck are bald, with the skin color varying, including yellow, orange, blue, purple, and red. The King Vulture has a very noticeable yellow fleshy caruncle on its beak. This vulture is a scavenger and it often makes the initial cut into a fresh carcass. It also displaces smaller New World vulture species from a carcass. King Vultures have been known to live for up to 30 years in captivity.

King Vultures were popular figures in the Mayan codices as well as in local folklore and medicine. Though currently listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, they are decreasing in number, due primarily to habitat loss.

a
This was a GIANT pit. You walked across a wooden suspension bridge over the MIDDLE of the giant water area in the MIDDLE of the pit. You were surrounded by them. There were about 25 all laying together  right next to

he was SO still for so long. Just standing there looking at everything.

A mama and her adopted baby.

Roadrunner!

Happy Stingray <3

My brother loves the Hippo. haha.

So, I’ve gotten some swaps in the past few days, okay, so a few days ago.. I haven’t gotten anything in like… two days, and that makes my mailbox sad! haha.  But, yeah… so I got some swaps in, but….  I also got Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 at midnight on the 10th… So.. I’ve been playing almost nonstop.  So, I have not really sat down and gone through my swaps. I need to rate.. but this game is just so freakin’ awesome. omgz!! The spec ops mode is amazing, and online.. wow.  The maps are a little big, but with unlimited sprint, it’s really not that big a deal…  As long as you’re not stupid and get caught sprinting when you should be shooting!  And the nuke!! YOU GET A FREAKING NUKE!! Game ender right there. Wow.  The AC130 is by far my favorite thing in the game..   Taking a page out of COD4… KA-BOOM. That’s all I think about when I’m shooting that thing.. just.. “Ka-Boom”  all monotone and pilot like.  COD:Mw2, I love you!
The game was actually a present from my boyfriend…  Today is our 2 year anniversary. It came out on the 10th. We stood in line at midnight on the 10th to get it. Some random weird ass kid ate an ENTIRE Modern Warfare 2 poster to get a free game. He’s going to hate himself for at least a week. That can’t be good. A full poster. Seriously, kid.

Moral of that story… so in love with this game. So in love with my boyfriend.  I got him the game too.. So we could play together. Aw.

Now, On to the swaps! [click on image to see it full size]

Thank you to: clevergirl for this awesome ATC for the Creepy Legends ATC . The Jersey Devil is my favorite Creepy Legend! I even drew him for MY Creepy ATC to send to someone! It’s almost the same design. lol. Awesome!	Thank you to XxInternalchaos for this awesome ATC for the Zentangle Colors ATC Swap Series #1 Orange. I really really really loved all the extra goodies she sent me. Specially the card sleeves, as I have none, and these boarder in the edge of super awesome!

I have quite a few swaps I have to get posted on here, and I have to rate some others, but I need to work my pa-tooty off. This job isn’t the best anymore.. and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 comes out in 5 days. I need to put aside like 10 more bucks to buy it for my BF for our anniversary… Even though, he’s buying the same game for me. lol. This way, we can play together online – while in the same room? Holy gamer nerds, batman! But yes.. We tend to play things like Left 4 Dead and CoD4 together – a lot. My brother is in that mix.. and he lives with us as well. 3 xboxs.. one house. Damn gamer “kids”. But, I’m tired of getting lag on CoD4 with all the damn M16’rs that think they’re amazing because they pull the trigger one and shoot three times. I run around with a dang G3, for pete’s sake! But, I do admit, if everyone on the other team is M16’ing, I’ll take mine out. But.. I’m not very good with it..  Is that even possible to not be good with an m-16!?

But yes. super super excited about this. I don’t even like to watch the trailers because I don’t want to know a single thing. I want the entire package of “awesome” to be a total surprise for me. I haven’t been real excited about a game since Bioshock! (Which, coincidently, is the next game I’m super excited about. I’m all for Left 4 Dead 2, as well.. but I’m not OMGINEEDDDDZTHAT! with it. I know I’ll get it, but if I don’t get it the day it’s out, I won’t have a gamerfit. – COD:MW2, yes. Bioshock 2, yes. Also, Assassins Creed 2 looks pretty dopetastic as well. I know I’ll end up getting that down the line when I need a new game. Army of 2: 40th day, too.. Forgot about that one. I wish they had Kingdom Hearts series for the freakin’ xbox. :pout: I need to hook up my ps2 (first, I need to FIND my ps2) and re-play Kingdom Hearts. I know if I do that though, I’ll end up playing Dark Cloud as well, and that game will eat away at my LIFE. I need to invent a way to play old PS2 games on my xbox. haha. Also, Diner Dash is coming to the xbox? what? verses? really? co-op? seriously? I’ll so be getting it. I’m a sucker for a Diner Dash!

Heidi Montag, now Heidi Montag-Pratt did not show up at her older sister Holly’s 26th birthday party. “The Hills” reality tv star turned down an invite because she expected to be paid for her appearance. Okay, what ever happened to family ties? Oh, that’s right, it’s all about money nowadays.

It has been reported by a source that, “Holly was really wishing that her sister could just be a sister and stop by her birthday party…I mean, this is her sister and she wouldn’t even show up without a fee. That’s disgusting.”

From: http://www.rightcelebrity.com

How awful are you that you don’t show up to your sisters birthday because you expected to be paid to show your face at your sisters party? Some people just don’t have grace when they’re in the spotlight.