Sunday, December 07, 2025

Apartment Life #398

 
This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that have gone on in and around my apartment complex and in my neighborhood in the past 27 years that I've lived here, and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 27 years here in a weekly blog post.

Last year in this post, I told you how my apartment complex installed Electric Vehicle charging stations. And then just a little while later in this post I told you how the hose on one of them had been cut off. Well, new management took them out completely. Just the cement block one of them was sitting on is there now. 

That pipe by the fence is usually in that hole in the middle right there. But someone pulled it out. The city workers came by and replaced the pipe a few days later. I bet someone was trying to get their car on this path and wouldn't fit with the pole there so they took it out. 

I noticed these pretty flowers next door so stopped to get a picture of them.

This guy has a bakery van! He comes through the neighborhood every so often selling Mexican sweet breads and other Mexican bakery items. I watched this guy buy a huge bag of Mexican sweet breads. You can tell he's coming because he plays music from his van really loudly like an Ice Cream Truck would. And no, I haven't bought anything...yet. 
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Monday night 2 hours before my daughter and I took Falcor for a walk and took this picture, there was a homeless person inside this box and they were chucking rocks at people and cars going by close enough for them to hit. So my daughter went with me on our walk in case they were still winging rocks at people. Nope, instead the box was filled with a bunch of junk. 

Beside the box there was more junk. No idea who put this here or where it came from but Falcor was interested in the kiddie pool filled with tiny Styrofoam balls. My daughter felt down inside the pool to make sure that was all that was in there before we let Falcor sniff them. 

He was interested in them and curious why the tiny Styrofoam balls kept sticking to his nose. lol

Later the wind picked up and blew the tiny balls all over the street and neighborhood. They are absolutely everywhere now. 
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After almost 2 weeks of the homeless people breaking into Xavier's (Missing man) apartment, 5 calls to the security, 1 call to the police, several emails to the manager and 1 call to the apartment manager's office number...maintenance finally came out and boarded up that apartment's door and living room window. The bedroom window was already boarded up. I emailed the office, then called the office when they didn't respond. That got them all down here with the security company and maintenance and now the apartment is finally secured. It should never have taken this long and so many times me emailing and calling. You're the manager, do your damn job. 

And just when you think the Xavier (missing man's) apartment saga is over...it's not!

Thursday morning at 7:30 am I was walking Falcor and noticed the homeless people had once again broken into his apartment. Took the board right off the window and broke the window in order to get in. I emailed the office once more and at 8:30am maintenance was out boarding up the window again but this time used a bunch of screws instead of nails. Hopefully this will be the last of the drama. I still have no idea what happened to Xavier but I think at this point it's pretty obvious that he probably passed away, which is very sad. 

Anyone want to take a guess as to what happened Thursday night into Friday morning? 

If you guessed that Xavier's apartment was broken into again, you are correct!
11pm Thursday night I took Falcor out and watched as a pair of legs crawled into the apartment window behind the board they had pulled away from the wall enough to get in. So I called security. They didn't come though. Big surprise, right?

The board that had been on the window was leaning on the wall next to the bushes. 

At midnight, a neighbor texted my daughter and said that they just got home and saw homeless people going in and out of the window so they called security. At 1am security finally shows up and starts banging on the boarded up door telling them to come out. They go to the bedroom window, and they have a German Sheppard with them who is barking his head off at 1:30am. So me and Falcor are now up. I'm watching through my window camera but my AC sticking out the window blocks me from seeing much but I can sure hear them. They get the board off the window and make them come out. I hear them saying to get up against the wall and then security calls the police. The homeless people were arrested early Friday morning. But I bet they won't be in jail for long, they never are. 


This was the window Friday morning.

The person who was arrested was Jeff and his girlfriend. Long time readers might remember the apartment fire directly across from me 3 years ago? Jeff used to be my neighbor and his apartment caught fire after something he had attached to a battery blew up, at least that's what he said. You can click on the link and read about that fire if you want to see what happened back then. 



Friday morning I went down to the office and talked to Virginia, one of the apartment managers. Boy did she give me an ear full. 

First she thanked me for calling security and said maintenance was boarding up the windows from the inside with wood and screws. 

I said I saw the homeless people get arrested last night and she said yes, they did but they got out early this morning and were right back here at 7AM! Someone called security again and they made them leave. But the cops weren't called since they spend less than 4 hours in jail. I told her that Jeff the guy who keeps breaking in used to live here and told her about the fire in his apartment. She had no idea. 


Then I asked if anyone knew what happened to Xavier. She said the detectives have no idea where he is. His family keeps calling the office asking if he's turned up and his family have called all the hospitals, jails ect. No one has any idea where the man is. He's a missing person and Detectives still have his case open.

Then she told me that the first time his family called in a welfare check and the police came she looked in the apartment and all of Xavier's electronics, keys to his car, laptop, tablet ect were still in the apartment. 

When the homeless people (Jeff) started breaking in, his car keys, and all his electronics disappeared. She thinks Jeff and his girlfriend found his car keys, stole his car and sold or pawned all his electronics. Xavier's family has no plans to come and get any of his belongings. 
I wonder what the heck happened to Xavier?


The high this week was 63F/17C
The low this week was 40F/4C

So that's it for this week's Apartment Hell  Life! Be sure to come back next week for more.

Saturday, December 06, 2025

Saturday Vittles: Christmas Sweets

 
Last month I made this Cinnamon cake. It has a cinnamon streusel topping. 

My grandson loved the cinnamon cake. It has a center of cinnamon sugar as well as the streusel topping. 

To Make Cinnamon Cake: 

INGREDIENTS
CAKE
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 cups flour-sifted
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup milk
1tsp. cinnamon
1tsp. pumpkin pie spice

FILLING
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. nutmeg

TOPPING
5 tablespoon butter, softened
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350F.

In the bowl cream together the butter and sugar, scraping down the sides occasionally. Add the vanilla, egg, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon, mix in.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add one half of it to the mixer, and when mostly combined, add the milk. Once the milk is mostly incorporated, add the rest of the flour.

To make filling: in a small bowl, pinch together all of the ingredients until soft crumbs form.

To make topping: add the butter, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon to a food processor and pulse until coarse crumbs form or you can mix it by hand which is what I did.

Grease a 8x8 baking pan. Pour in ½ of cake batter, spread to all four corners. Sprinkle the filling over top, then pour in remaining cake batter, and spread carefully across the top, disturbing the filling layer as little as possible.

Sprinkle the topping over the top. If you want less of the topping, just use less of it. I love cinnamon so I used it all.

Bake in preheated oven for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 
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This month I made Chocolate Chip Cookies

You will need: 

 Chocolate Chip Cookies
 1/2 cup (room temperature) butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups (1 bag) Dark Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix wet ingredients together in a medium bowl. Sift dry ingredients together, then add to wet ingredients and mix thoroughly. Fold in chocolate chips. Put mixture in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.  Drop by rounded spoon full onto greased cookie sheets. 

 Bake in 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.

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I also made some pumpkin Bread. This is Libbys Pumpkin Bread recipe. My mom used to use this recipe to make all of us pumpkin bread each year and I loved it. 

Ingredients

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon Nutmeg
2 Eggs
16 ounces Libby's Pure Pumpkin
14 ounces Evaporated Milk
¾ cup Brown Sugar -packed
4 cups Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 cup Oil

What to do:

 Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and all the spices. Add in sugar and mix until well combined.

 Mix the dry mixture with the oil and pumpkin. Stir until well incorporated.

 Add eggs one at a time, blending thoroughly until you achieve a thick batter.

Grease or align a parchment paper on a 9 ½ inch baking pan and pour in your bread mixture.

Bake at 350F on a preheated oven for about 1 hour. Insert a toothpick at the center and if it comes out clean the bread is ready.
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Are you doing any Christmas baking this month?

Friday, December 05, 2025

Christmas Decorations

 
The Christmas tree is up.

The corner shelf is decorated.

My daughter even put some lights and garland on my fake plant. lol 

Another shelf.

Some stockings.

I made a bunch of these snowmen years ago. 

Stockings.

Snowmen

I painted this Christmas tree on this candy jar a few years ago. 

Some things on the living room shelf.

The living room shelf is packed

Santa and an Angel are on the cabinet

A small Christmas village on my computer shelf.

The living room.

Living room

Some garland over the hallway.

I made these Christmas trees out of terracotta pots, pinecones and painted them. Glued some beads on them. 

Tope shelf of corner shelf.





Puppies in baskets.

My daughter and I made these angels years ago. 


Salt and Pepper shakers.

My daughter made this wreath for the door.

The window.

Close up of some of the things in the window.

Living room table.

Thursday, December 04, 2025

Book Review: Psy by Cara Bristol

 

Book Description

Can an alien mind reader free her from a prison of silence?
Cassie Steward has not spoken a word. Ever. A congenital defect robbed her of the ability to speak. Craving independence from her overprotective, well-meaning mother, she gets a job at the antique store in their small town. Then she meets Psy, an alien with telepathic abilities. From the moment his mind touches hers, the universe seems within her grasp, and she envisions fulfilling all her dreams with Psy at her side.

Soon after encountering the beautiful, shy Cassie, Psy realizes she’s his genmate. It doesn’t matter she can’t talk—he loves her as she is. But as their telepathic connection deepens, he begins to suspect her inability to speak is more than a congenital happenstance. Something far more sinister appears to be keeping her a virtual prisoner.

He’s certain his psychic powers can unlock the secrets in Cassie’s mind.

But will revealing the truth liberate her…or destroy their love?


My Review

Cassie works in an antique store, she loves her boss who is so understanding about her disability. Cassie can't speak. Her mother is incredibly over protective, and has guardianship of her so she really has no free will to get on with her own life. 

Psy and his other alien friends landed on Earth when their space ship crash landed on Earth after their world was destroyed by bad aliens. They try to blend in so that the bad aliens never find out they survived, because they would come after them and kill them if they knew. Psy has telepathic abilities so he can speak to Cassie and she has telepathically speak to him. Soon enough Psy realizes that Cassie is his genmate, meaning she is his perfect match and mate. 

While they are getting to know one another, Psy and his friends do some digging into Cassie's life and realize that there are things about her and her mother that she doesn't know. This throws some drama into the story but it was interesting to see Cassie get some of the answers that she didn't know she needed. 

I thought I knew where this story was headed but I was wrong. There are a couple of great twists that kept me guessing along the way. The ending brought tears to my eyes, it was so sweet. I'm so glad that Cassie got the answers she needed and a happy ending. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 


Wednesday, December 03, 2025

Favorite Picture of the Week

 
It's been so cloudy and sometimes rainy here lately. I love this type of weather. 

When I walked next door to get a few groceries this week it hadn't rained yet that day. But it looked like it might, you just never know. And that's not the sound wall, that's the off ramp to the freeway you see there. 

It did rain a little while after I got home.

And then it got dark.

The rain came down pretty good for a while when these clouds got to us. I was in the grocery store parking lot when I took this one. 

No rain this day but lots of clouds.

It's neat to see the bright blue sky behind the dark clouds.


You'd think we would get rain from these but nope.

Just lots of dark clouds, no rain.

I would love it if it stayed dark, cloudy and cooler like this most of the time.

Some low clouds.