Favorite Picture of the Week

So a funny thing happened earlier this month. I ordered some paper products online from Walmart and when the box came it was beat up pretty badly. But imagine my surprise when I opened it and didn't find paper products. 

Inside the box was 6, gallon size bottles of All laundry detergent. 

So I called Walmart's customer service and told them I was sent the wrong items. They resent all the items I had originally ordered and told me I could keep the laundry detergent. Now I have enough laundry detergent for a long time (the rest of my life) lol. 

I have to say that any time I've called Walmart's customer service with an order problem, they get it fixed really fast so at least that's a good thing. But imagine my surprise when I opened that box. lol 

Review: January in Atlantis by Alyssa Day

Book Description

She could see only him.

There was no bar, no Noel, no Dark Angels. No Scott, no troubles, no worries.

There was only a searing flash of heat from the raw, primal desire she saw in this man’s eyes when he looked at her.

It was too much—too intense. Suddenly she felt fragile, as if her bones had been hollowed out and replaced with air and light. As if she might float away if this man didn’t stop looking at her.

As if she might collapse in despair if he did.

* * *

A warrior returned

When black sheep Flynn returns to Atlantis after more than a decade away, he discovers that his brothers thought he was dead and moved on with their lives. But before he can wrap his brain around that problem, Poseidon himself taps Flynn to be one of a new generation of elite warriors. Now he only has to: learn how to be part of a team, rescue a group of kidnapped girls from the Hell’s Dark Angels motorcycle gang, and try to understand why a certain redhaired bartender with an affinity for animals is driving him mad…

A woman reborn

Eva Calandar needs to run. Again. Her ex-boyfriend, a black magic practitioner, has tracked her down. Again. But she might be the key to rescuing a group of girls from becoming human sacrifices, and there’s a certain astonishingly hot Atlantean warrior with a fierce protective instinct who is making her think longing thoughts of finally making a stand. Together, they’re so much stronger than they were apart, but the heat between them may be enough to burn down the world.

No matter what the temperature is in January . . . in Atlantis.

My Review

Flynn left Atlantis a long time ago but decided to return just as Denal was out to find warriors for his newly formed team. He's sent out on his first mission and can't understand why he's so attracted to Eva. 

Eva is on the run from her biker gang member ex-boyfriend. He's abusive and doesn't care about her but just won't let her go. She's just about to run again when she meets Flynn and he asks for her help in rescuing some girls that the biker gang has kidnapped.

The biker gang is no usual biker gang and that realization along with what is about to become of the kidnapped girls is what sparks Eva into action to help even though she thinks it might cost her, her life. There was quite a bit of action and I thought the whole story line abut the biker gang, the kidnapped girls and Eva was a lot of fun to read.

Eva and Flynn make such a great couple, they were so good together. She's a lot stronger than she thinks she is and he has a big heart. 

There's more to Eva than just having a gift with animals and that twist comes towards the end of the book. I felt bad for everything Eva had given up while she was on the run, especially since there was a sweet dog she had become attached to but didn't think she could give Daisy a home. It was so sweet to see them together. I really liked Flynn together and getting to know some of the other people of Atlantis. Some of the secondary characters are great and I look forward to seeing them again.

I've been reading this authors books for a long time and I've always liked them. I love the whole Atlantis theme in these books and the male characters always seem to be so alpha, and if you've read any of them you know what I mean.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of Ratzfurever*

Apartment Life #64

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we'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 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

Back on May 21st, 2016

 I heard a couple of people running through the rocks in my courtyard. I get up to look and the cops are chasing a guy down the middle of my courtyard and so I go tell Ken. He gets to the door and the cops chase another guy right past our door and quickly get him down on the ground at gunpoint. Then the police helicopter starts flying around shining the light on our apartment complex. All of the sudden there are 20 cops and half a dozen cop cars on the street. The police were in our courtyard, the courtyard across the street, in the alley...they were everywhere.

I only got a couple of pictures before the police were yelling at everyone to get back inside. I didn't want to get arrested so I took my happy ass back inside. lol 

Turns out they were down the street for a burglary call and the first guy they chased was seen at the burglary according to his sister the next day. The second guy they chased wasn't involved at all but it's a felony to run from the police when they tell you to stop so he was arrested also and they impounded his car. The first guys sister wouldn't let the cops search her apartment so the police made her handcuffed brother sit in front of their door for almost 4 hours until they could get a search warrant. In all, 3 people went to jail. The sister lived in my courtyard which is why he ran through here.

Ken went out walking the dog a couple of times while all this was going on and saw our apartment manager who was drunk and mouthing off about how the second guy that ran (she was dating him even though she's married to a guy in prison) didn't do anything wrong because he had been at home with her. But Ken told her that he saw his dumb ass run from the police which is a felony. She was too drunk to get it. 

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

Favorite Video of the Week

Here's the latest Lucas the Spider video. These are so cute.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, 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. So 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 received:

Samples of Seventh Generation Baby Wipes and Cleaning Wipes from Generation Good.
I also won a Jimmy Dean ornament from their promotion.

I like the cleaning wipes. They work really good on the surfaces in my kitchen.

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Review: Claimed By Her Her Cougar by Felicity Heaton

Book Description

Rath is one alpha shifter not looking for a mate... until Ivy strays into his territory.

Having lost his parents and mate in a brutal attack on his cougar shifter pride by a hunter organisation, Rath burns with a need to keep humans off his land and out of his life. He’ll do whatever it takes to protect his pride from them, but when a lone female wanders into his territory, it isn’t a burning need to drive her away he’s feeling and it isn’t his pride that needs protecting—it’s his heart.

Down on her luck, Ivy follows a lead to a spot where she hopes to photograph black bears, but what she discovers there is a mountain of a man who lacks manners and seems determined to drive her off his property—a man who stirs unbidden fire in her veins and a strange sense of home.

With a pride gathering on the verge of happening at Cougar Creek and the air charged with a mating heat, the last thing Rath needs is a human on his land, especially one as beautiful and alluring as Ivy, one who rouses a fierce need to fight for her, but he can’t convince himself to let her go… and that proves dangerous for them both.

My Review

This is the first book in the Cougar Creek Mates series and since it's about shifters, I decided to give it a go. 

Rath is busy repairing the cabins on his land for a pride gathering he knows is about to happen. Cougars being solitary animals, it's dangerous to have so many males in one place looking for females to mate with. So the last thing he wants is a human female wandering onto his property trying to take pictures of bears. But he's attracted to Ivy even though he doesn't want to be. Rath is curt, rude and gorgeous so even though Ivy knows he doesn't want her there she is attracted to him and sticks around when he offers to let her stay for the night. 

I love a gruff, growly alpha male who ends up being a big teddy bear or in this case kitty cat. Not that I would be saying, "Here kitty, kitty." to a cougar if I saw one but in this case it fits. 

Danger comes when someone unexpected shows up and Ivy finds out exactly who and what Rath really is. I'm not sure I would have taken that as well as she did. We find out more about his past and Ivy has a big decision to make. I like the appearance of Rath's brother and how it looks like he'll probably be a big part of the next book in this series. 

It was fun watching Rath and Ivy get to know one another and try to fight their attraction in the beginning. He was rough around the edges but we soon see he's not as rude and gruff as he appears to be. It was a good beginning to the series. 

I give this 4 out of 5 stars. 

Baytril Coupon Code thanks to All Bird Products

Hey you guys, I've talked about where my rat friends and the rat community can buy Baytril at a great price. If you have a rat, it's always a good idea to keep Baytril around in case your rat gets an upper respiratory infection because they can be prone to them and rats can get sick really fast so you want that on hand so you can start treating them immediately. Of course you can take your rat to a veterinarian first but veteran rat keepers usually know the signs and how to give this medicine.

So my friends at All Bird Products sent me a coupon code to share with you all. If you want to buy a bottle of Baytril 10% 25ml, this code will give you $5 off your order, just use code SCARYMARY to get the discount. 

The regular price is $24.95 but with my code it will only be $19.95 and that's a good price. 

Lots of thanks to All Bird Products for contacting me and giving me the code for my readers. 

More of My Makeup Favorites

Any woman who wears makeup has probably tried out a lot of different mascara's. I know I've tried at least 10 different kinds before I finally found Loreal Voluminous mascara and mascara base/primer. This is the best mascara I've ever tried. It makes my lashes longer and fuller and if you use the Loreal Mascara Base first and then apply the mascara, your lashes will look even longer and fuller. And they are really affordable. 

The other product I wanted to share with you was the Lamora Nudes Eye Shadow Palette. It's also really affordable, only $14.99 on Amazon and once I got it, it's been my go to eye shadow ever since.

As you can see I've really been using this one a lot. I love the colors in this palette and I don't have to keep re-applying it during the day. The colors are so pretty and since I like light browns, this really works for me. 

I don't usually post a lot of pictures of myself because of the large nodules I have on my neck from the Hashimoto's Thyroiditis condition I have but I wanted to show you that I really do use these products and how they look. This is my everyday makeup look and I don't wear false eyelashes since I think the mascara I use works great. 

So there you have more of my favorite makeup products. I'd love to know if you use any of these products. 

Review: Stygian by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Book Description

Born before man recorded time, I lived for thousands of years believing myself to be something I’m not.

Someone I’m not.

Lied to and betrayed by gods, Daimons and Dark-Hunters, I’ve struggled to find my way in a world where I’ve been cursed since the moment I was prematurely ripped from my mother and planted into the womb of an innocent woman who thought me her son.

Trained as a slayer and predator, I learned to fit in and stay low. To become a tool for evil. Until I was sent to kill the one woman I couldn’t. My hesitation cost her her life.

Or so I thought. In an act of betrayal that makes all the others pale in comparison, I’ve learned that this world is an illusion and that my Phoebe still lives.

Now I will have to travel into the very pits of Hades to try and save her, even as everyone around me attempts to steal what little soul I have left. There’s only one person at my back and I’m not sure I can trust her either, for she was born of an enemy race. Yet sometimes the road to redemption is one that singes us to our very core. And if I fail to find the answers I need to save Phoebe, more than just my wife will die.

We will lose the world. Both human and Daimon.

My Review

This series is really good but some books are better than others and this is one of those books. 

Urian had a really hard life. He looked different than others of his race and because of that he was picked on. But he had no idea that Apollymi had ripped his from his real mother's womb and implanted him into another before he was born. Apollymi was crazy grief stricken when she killed many of the gods because she thought her son to be dead. It was interesting to see things from her side of things as well as from Stryker's side of the story and why the Apollites lived the way they did. 

I liked how this book touched upon how all the different factions were made and why and how the gods were messing with them for their own pleasure and means. It's no wonder that all these different people were angry at the gods for how they messed with their lives, they had every right to be angry. 

For most of the first part of the book we see Urian growing up, falling in love, having great losses and being lied to. When he finally realizes how many times he's been lied to, all hell breaks loose and I think he has every right to be angry. 

If you've read Acheron and Styxx, this books goes over some of the same things that happened in those two books but just in smaller detail. And if you've read those two books, you'll want to read this one as well. While this book didn't gut me emotionally the way Acheron and Styxx did, it was told in the same way as those books were since we get to read everything that happened to Urian from before he was born to present time, which is more than 11,000 worth of story. 

I liked that we see some of the great characters like Acheron, Styxx and Kat but make no mistake this is a book all about Urian and seeing things from his point of view and what happened in his life.

I really liked the twists and turns this story took and who he finally did find love with at the end of the book and it actually made sense who he ended up with. While Styxx is still my favorite book in this series, this was incredibly good too and if you're a fan of the series I recommend reading this book but I would seriously read this series in order if you want it to make sense because there are so many characters it's hard to keep up with them all. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday

*Picture courtesy of Jin Wicked*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

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