Saturday Vittles

 

Lemon Butter Noodles and Scallops

You will need:

6 scallops

2 TBSP Butter

Juice from 1/2 lemon

1/4 cup diced parsley

1 TBSP. oil

1 cup cooked spaghetti noodles

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning

What to do:

Cook your spaghetti noodles in water to the doneness you desire. 

Season the scallops with Old Bay, salt, pepper and a little garlic powder. In a frying pan add oil, when hot add scallops. Cook 4 minutes on each side.  In a sauce pan add butter, lemon juice, parsley and garlic powder. Stir over medium heat until butter is melted. Toss the spaghetti noodles into the sauce and then arrange on the plate. Add remaining sauce on top of the scallops.

Each serving is 3 scallops and 1/2 cup of cooked spaghetti noodles.

This meal has 350 calories and 80 carbs. 

Freebie Friday!

 

Welcome to another weekly Freebie Friday post, where I tell you what free samples and full-sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a "Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things.  I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to great samples at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I cashed out my points from e-Rewards Surveys for a $50 Vitamin Shoppe gift card. 

I needed to stock up on my Vitamin D and Folic Acid and I also bought some Vitamin C gummies with Biotin in them. 

So it was nice to be able to get all that for free since I was going to buy it anyway. 

I also received a free, Healthy Snack Box from their FB page. They give away boxes all the time.

Inside the box was...

Skinny POP Popcorn, Nutri grain bar, Organic gummi bears, white cheddar popcorn, Belvita crunchy breakfast bar, Jungle Crackers, Emerald Almonds snack pack, Nature Valley Fruit n Nut bar. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Montana Sanctuary by Josie Jade and Janie Crouch

 

Book Description

Sometimes the worst wounds can’t be seen.

Lucas Everett knows that firsthand. It's why he and his former Navy SEAL brothers created the Resting Warrior Ranch.

They aren’t doctors, but they can offer the healing freedom of their Montana range. And they specialize in training service and emotional support animals to help sooth even the worst emotional scars.

Usually, soldiers show up at their door. But this time it's Evelyn Taylor—a soldier in a very different kind of war.

She's as skittish as one of the horses Lucas gentles. But he’s learned how to be patient with animals, and he’s more than happy to be patient with this quiet beauty too.

When Evelyn’s past nightmares show up in Montana, she thinks she has to run again, but Lucas isn’t going to let that happen. He’s protected his country against the worst types of threats, and he’ll protect her too.

She’s met the rancher, but now she’s about to meet the SEAL.

My Review

Trigger warning: I'm going to start off by saying that if very descriptive scenes of domestic abuse and torture bother you, this is not the book for you. 

Evelyn has lived a nightmare with her abusive ex- Nathan. He and his father are millionaires so he's been able to to track her after she escaped him and keep taunting her. Everytime she reaches out to the police or doctors, he pays them off to look the other way. She's been on her own and on the run for years until she runs into Lucas, an ex Navy Seal. Evelyn shows up at the Resting Warrior Ranch in need of help especially when her ex finds her again and she finally tells Lucas what's going on. Her ex, Nathan has abused and tortured her so many times and she has the scars to prove it but she doesn't trust the police or anyone else because Nathan just pays them to look the other way. 

Lucas and his Ex Navy Seal brothers who own and run the ranch get together with their contacts that they trust to help them. So when Nathan makes his move they thought they were ready to stop him but they were wrong and it puts Evelyn and others in even more danger. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see who would come out on top, who would win this fight. 

The subject matter was hard to read, the abuse scenes were terrifying and will probably give me nightmares because what he did to her was so horrific. But Lucas and his brothers are great and the romance that came about between Lucas and Evelyn is exactly what both of them needed. The ending was great.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

While out walking with Falcor yesterday I noticed that the gate to the Freeway was unlocked and wide open. 

The lock on the fence was gone. When I've said before that the freeway is literally right on the other side of the sound wall, I mean that quite literally. Yes, there's always a lot of trash around here.

There's the freeway. 

I could  have walked right up to the freeway if I wanted to. 

Book Review: The Naga Outcast's Unwanted Mate by Robin O'connor

 

Book Description

I thought I was dead, but my pulse is racing when I see the beautiful, terrifying creature that woke me.

Vera

My family maneuvered me like a worthless pawn, then cast me away. I was supposed to be executed but even that didn’t go right. When I wake up, my whole world is tilted on its axis when I lock eyes with a monster.

He’s half snake, half man and somehow he’s the most alluring thing I’ve ever seen. When he touches me I can understand him and he says I’m his mate. But how’s that possible? I’ve never belonged anywhere.

When more of his kind chase us, cast us out, and try to do everything they can to keep us apart. I must fight for what I want, fight to keep the one place where I’m wanted. In the arms of my mate.

Zathar

Cast out by my own Clan, by my very mother the Queen. I am left adrift until a skyship falls from the heavens, carrying with it my mate.

She is curvy and soft, everything I never knew I wanted. She’s perfect, and I will give up anything, climb any mountain, even crawl through the haunted ancestral caves if it means I can keep her. If only she’ll believe me when I swear she’s my heart.

This is a standalone novel, and book one in the Serpents of Serant Series. This steamy sci-fi monster romance features one barbaric outcast Naga Prince, a human woman unwanted by her own kin, and a steamy HEA.

My Review

After being set up, found guilty and sentenced to death on Earth, Vera's last thought on Earth was that she through she was about to die as everything went dark. 

Vera wakes up in a stasis pod on an alien planet and comes face to face with a big, blue snake-man alien. I don't know about you, but I would be freaking out, and she did at first. Once vera takes in her surroundings she realizes that the stasis pod she was in was on a ship and there were other humans on the ship with her. Once she was able to speak to and understand the alien male, she told him that they had to free the other people on the ship before they left. 

Once safely off the ship and with Zathar and his friends, Vera and the other humans make their way back to the place where Zathar and his friends have been staying. All is well for a little while until Zathar's mother- The Queen comes for a visit. 

Zathar is an outcast and all he wants is for Vera to believe him when he tells her that she is his mate and he will take care of her for always. She's not buying it, at least not right away. He's going to have to be convincing to get her heart. But when Vera and the other humans are put in danger from the Queen, Zathar has to find a way to make things right. 

This book was definitely a fun read. I liked the world building and getting to know the snake-aliens a little more. 

I read another of this authors books last week and I liked it so much that I decided to read another one. I'm so glad I did because this was so much fun to read. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

*All pictures this week are courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #394

 

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.

On Sunday afternoon, police showed up *Police car circled in blue* to do a welfare check on my neighbor who lives 2 doors away from me. I heard them knocking on his door so I opened my door and they asked me if I had seen him recently. I said I hadn't seen him for at least 2 weeks. I said he has a parking ticket on his car out front. So this police officer went and ran his plates. 

She looked at the parking ticket he had. 

Checked the inside of the car. Then asked me if I had the new apartment manager's phone number. So, I gave it to them. It was Sunday and maintenance would not come out but the manager sent a locksmith out to open his door. 

The locksmith got the lock opened fast. They went inside and checked to make sure he wasn't hurt or deceased inside. I asked the officer if he was inside and he told me no one was home. Not sure who called a welfare check on the guy or where he is but at least we know he didn't die inside his apartment.

On the 4th the manager put the first notice on his door for overdue rent. I'm starting to think this guy (Xavier)  might have died and he has no family or he's incapacitated in the hospital.  Why else would his car still be here and he has not paid rent? I've talked to him a few times in the past and know he works from home. If his rent doesn't get paid in the next couple of weeks, they'll be putting an eviction notice on his door and then trash all his belongings. I'll keep you updated as things unfold.

----

On Monday there was a police officer making a homeless man move his belongings away from the electrical boxes to the right of the police truck. The belongings were mostly a bunch of large cardboard boxes that are hidden behind the power boxes. 

---

Tuesday really early in the morning these two police cars were outside when I took Falcor for a walk. There was a lady yelling that someone hit her but that she didn't do anything. She was arrested, no idea why. The guy started walking down the street away from everyone. He was holding an ice pack to his face. I'm assuming she hit him and that's why she was arrested.

A little while later after the man returned from walking wherever he went, the ambulance arrived and he was taken to the ER. 

---

These Chinook military helicopters have been flying around overhead quite a bit in the last couple of weeks. 

---

The police were back on Friday with detectives and my new apartment manager for my missing neighbor (Xavier) that I told you about above. The manager let them into his apartment and the two detectives, and the police were here for a while searching his apartment. I still have no idea what's going on with the neighbor though. The police wouldn't say anything when they saw me outside, they asked me some questions but they wouldn't say what they were investigating. I just told them that I haven't seen him in 2 weeks but his car is still parked outside and I showed them his car. 

---

Friday morning I spotted syringes in my courtyard. 

And right across from the first 3 I spotted, there was 1 more syringe. They look like the same kind I used to use to give myself insulin injections back when I had to do that. Now I can just take a pill. Maintenance picked them up and threw them away later that day. 

Ya'll it was a full week of drama over here. 

The high this week was 83F/28C

The low this week was 55F/12C

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

Deviled Eggs

 

My Daughter and I are trying to eat healthier so I thought I would share some pictures on Saturdays of what we've made.

Deviled Eggs with Green Olives

What you'll need: 

1 Sandwich baggie

Toothpicks

4 eggs- boiled

1 TBSP Mayonnaise

1 Jar of Green Olives

1 TBSP Olive Juice

Dash of Salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and paprika. 

What to do: 

Boil eggs for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and place in cold water to cool them. Once cooled, remove shells, cut in half and remove the egg yolk. 

In a bowl place egg yolks, olive juice, mayo and spices. Mix well. Place mixture into sandwich baggie. Cut off a small piece of one corner of the baggie. Use baggie to pipe the egg yolk mixture into the egg white halves. Top with paprika and an olive. 

2 deviled eggs have 110 calories and 0 carbs. 

We used them as a side dish one night.

Freebie Friday!

 

Welcome to another weekly Freebie Friday post, where I tell you what free samples and full-sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a "Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things.  I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to great samples at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I cashed out my points on Fetch for a $50 Amazon gift card. 

I found a brand new purse with the tag still on it!

I also received a few Macy's perfume samples.

I found the purse out in the rocks in front of my apartment complex. 🤣🤣🤣 I have a feeling one of the homeless people stole it, couldn't sell it to anyone and just threw it away on the ground. Lucky find for me. 

The perfume samples smell good.

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: The Naga Hunters Lost Mate by Robin O'connor

 

Book Description

I am caught by a beast but the longer he has me, the more I lose the desire to escape.

Charlie

Everything is terrifying and strange on this alien planet I’ve crashlanded on. Especially the purple-scaled snakeman that ‘rescued’ me. When I run, he just follows me and I realize that maybe I don’t want to escape. How crazy is that?

When his Clan threatens me, we’re hunted, and there’s only one option. We run and surrender to the sizzling desire between us.

Mox

The scaleless female ignites my mating sigils. I catch her, never to let her go. She is curvy and tempting and when danger lurks I will do anything to keep her safe. Even if it means giving up all that I knew, even if it means abandoning my Clan.

For a chance at happiness in her arms? I would risk it all.

This is a standalone novella, prequel to the Serpents of Serant Series. This steamy sci-fi monster romance features one barbaric Naga, a savvy human woman, and a steamy HEA.

My Review

When Charlie wakes up on an alien planet. She has no idea how she got there. When she spots a stasis pod near her, she knows that it crash landed on this alien planet, and that's the only thing that saved her from dying when they crashed.

Mox was out hunting. When he came across Charlie, who was just trying to find a safe place. But Charlie came across another predator called a rakeworm and the rakeworm was about to eat her for dinner, So Mox did the only thing he could and saved her from it.

Mox saves her twice and at first they could not understand each other and then as long as they were touching each other they were able to understand each other and speak. Mox was some sort of alien human hybrid as he had a human torso but a snake body. Mox knew that Charlie was his mate because he was having mating signs in his body but Charlie wasn't understanding what he was talking about at first.

Mox wanted to keep Charlie safe and brought her back to his village. But then things go badly, and they ended up having to leave his village and try to live either with other outcasts or by themselves, either way was fine with them.

This was a quick read as it was only 80 pages long but it was a nice prequel to this series and I'll definitely be reading more of it.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon