Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"I bringed by teddy wiff me to eat a hamburger" 

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"It's a tasty hamburger"

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"A rat sized hamburger is just the right size"

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"I think teddy wants a bite too"

Apartment Life #116

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.

You might remember I told you guys about the homeless tent that was set up right outside my courtyard a few of weeks ago. Well they did finally move down the street. They set up their "tent" about a block down the street in between some power boxes. They had 5 people sleeping there for about a week. The police got called out a couple of times but all they did was make them pack their stuff up and move on. They were back that night. 

Then the other day a few of the homeless moved about a half a block further down the street and one day while I was out walking Falcor I saw 2 motorcycle cops that were on motor bikes talking to one of the homeless guys that had a sleeping bag out in the rocks. I took the picture from a block and a half away that's why the picture is so small. If you click on the picture it will enlarge it a little. The police drove away after a few minutes and the homeless people are still setting up their tent way down the street. So at least I can walk Falcor without being harassed for a while. A lot of them still come to the drug apartment in my courtyard. I think if the manager evicted them, the homeless would move on somewhere else. I feel bad for them and just found out that my city is building new housing for the homeless which will house around 800 people. They are also getting more help that they can sign up for but I think the ones that are addicted to drugs like some of the ones around here don't usually partake of any of those services so the only thing we can do is get rid of the drug dealers here and hope they move on somewhere else.

***

The other morning around 5am we got woke up to someone screaming outside. We got up and heard yelling coming from my courtyard in one of the apartments. A door slammed and it sounded like people were arguing. So I got up, got dressed to take Falcor out. Ken calls me in the bedroom because the ambulance pulls up outside on the street. Of course my camera won't take pictures at night without being 100% blurry so all you get to see are bright lights. But it's an ambulance with its lights on. They stayed for a few minutes and left. No one went to the hospital. I didn't hear any more arguing.

One of these days I'll figure out how to take pictures at night without it being blurry. lol 

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

Review: Daily Goodie Box- January

The Daily Goodie Box has been around since about July of 2016. I signed up for an account right after I heard about them. They are 100% free, you don't even have to pay for shipping. And for a free box it's a nice sampler box of products.

What did I get in this box?

Coco Luxe - Hydration- I was sent two of these and if you like the water that's inside a coconut then this will make you happy because that's what this is. I love it, it's delicious.

Hydralyte - Effervescent Electrolyte Tablets- These tablets can be used after you had the flu, had a night of too much drinking, if you've been sick with vomiting and need to replenish your electrolytes. I didn't use this yet but I'll be keeping it just in case I do need it. 

Mary’s Gone Crackers - Original- The name made me laugh. I showed ken and since my name is Mary he wants to know if they have one called, "Mary's Gone Nuts" lol The crackers aren't bad but all I taste from them is sesame seeds. 

Eco Lips - MONGO KISS™ Lip Balm- I can always use another lip balm. I like this one, it goes on smoothly and smells really good. Having good lip balm here in the desert of Las Vegas is a must so I have several of them.

RXBAR - Protein Bars- I'm not a fan of these but Ken loves them and said this one was good. 

North Coast - Organic Apple Sauce- I was sent three pouches of applesauce. I like applesauce and these taste pretty good so I was happy to get them.

Michael's® Naturopathic Programs - Sleep Factors™- I've tried Melatonin in the past and it never did anything for me for sleeping. But I had a bad cold when I got this and was having trouble sleeping so I decided to try it again and after using it for three nights I think it might have made me a little sleepy in the beginning but not enough that I would use it again for myself. I know others who say products like this work well for them but I find it doesn't work for me.

Tosi - Super Bites- These were crunchy bites of deliciousness. That's the best way to describe them because it was really good. I would definitely buy this again. Tasty little snacks.

All they ask you to do is try the products and leave reviews for the products you got in order to be eligible for more Free Goodie Boxes. As you guys already know, I'm a fan of all these types of boxes. I love all the different subscription boxes and it's really nice to be able to try new to me products for free. This is a great box to try for.

Oh and one more thing, if you visit their FB Page, they give away Goodie Boxes to people who interact with their posts. So if you've tried before and weren't able to get a Goodie Box, there's even more ways to get one now.

Daily Goodie Box. It's more than just Free Samples!

Have you signed up? Have you received one of these boxes?

I'm a fan of subscription boxes and love trying new products for free so this was a huge hit with me. New products+free box = Fabulous!

Disclosure: I was given and free box in exchange for a review but all opinions are my own.

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:

Sephora Collection Liquid Lipstick.
10 free prints from Snapfish.
I won a book.
Dolce and Cabana perfume sample.

I also received a full size box of Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats from Kellogg's Rewards.

I actually received the book last week but forgot to add it to the post. The perfume sample is a small one but it does smell good. The lipstick color is nice.

I have a stack of prints that I've been meaning to put into a scrapbooking project. I have a lot of scrapbooking supplies but haven't had the patience to make more pages in my album for a while. One of these days I'll have to pull it all out and finish the album I have.

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Take A Walk With Me...

I've shown you guys where I usually walk the dog. I've shown you lots of pictures of the rocks, the wall that separates us from the freeway on the other side and the path I usually walk Falcor. This pictures shows where I usually walk. If you want to see more of what it looks like down this path check out this post. Some of my newer readers might not know that I have Agoraphobia and so it's hard for me to get out and go far from my apartment or take a different route. But I've been trying. So I thought I would show you what's down the other way, if I turn right instead of left when I leave my apartment complex. 

There's a hole in the fence behind the trash can so everyone goes out this way when we want to walk towards the stores. I mostly use the hole in the fence so I don't have to go up and down the steps which hurts my knee's because I have Osteoarthritis. The trash is all over the ground because over the weekends the homeless come through and throw it all over the ground looking through the trash and the porter hasn't been through o Monday to clean it up yet. Take notice of that block wall right behind the trash can...

This is what's right behind that block wall. The homeless people in my neighborhood use this bed that they dug out of the trash to make camp at night. I've talked about it before but we have a homeless problem in my area because the drug dealers keep them around to run drugs and I'm guess pay them in drugs for running the drugs out to the cars that stop in the street. 

I'm going to show you what I see from the path along the wall when I walk Falcor. About 10 feel from that old bed is this fenced in area for Cal Ranch. They keep a lot of their bigger products out here. 

Directly behind the fenced in area across the parking lot is the first store front, it's a dog daycare, dog training place. 

Right next to the dog daycare is Cal Ranch. It's a ranch store where you can get ranch supplies, snacks, clothing, pet products and other stuff. There's usually a lot of cars in the parking lot but I took the pictures really early in the morning.

Next to that are smaller shops. There's a sub shop, hair cuts, party supply place, smoke shop, liquor store and ice cream shop. 

Further down is Mariana's Mexican Market. We do most of our grocery shopping here now because it's so close and they have really good prices. Next to Mariana's is an Income Tax place and around the corner is 4 Kegs bar and a laundromat.

I turned around so you can see the path I have been walking. This is the walking path that I've been walking as I'm taking the pictures of what's to the left of this path. I'm walking along the sound wall and right on the other side of the wall is the freeway which I'll show you down the path a little.

Now as we keep walking down the path this way there's a McDonald's right there next to the path. 

And across from the McDonald's to the right is a Del Taco. 

There's still a path that I'm walking on, and I can now start to see the cars on the other side of the fence coming off the freeway off ramp. 

Falcor likes walking down this way because he likes to sniff around in the rocks ahead on the McDonald's property. 

As I get closer to the McDonald's the wall to the left gets lower and I can see the freeway.

A little further and now you can see the cars on the freeway on the other side of the fence. That's how close I am walking to the freeway.

At this point if I turn towards the way I just came, I can see up the freeway off ramp. The sound wall nearly disappears here and starts up again down the street where an on ramp to the freeway is. 

Now you know what I see everyday when I take Falcor for a walk. Thanks for taking a walk with me.

Review: Wolf Gone Wild by Juliette Cross

Book Description

What's the worst thing that can happen to a werewolf? Unable to shift for three months, Mateo Cruz knows all too well. His wolf has taken up residence in his head, taunting him night and day with vividly violent and carnal thoughts. Convinced he's cursed, he needs the help of a powerful witch before he literally goes insane. ​

Evie Savoie has always obeyed the house rules of her coven--no werewolves. They're known for being moody and volatile. So, when a distempered, dangerous werewolf strolls into the bar and almost strangles one of her late-night customers, she's ready to bounce him through the door. But the desperation in his eyes when he begs her to help him softens her heart and convinces her to bend the rules. ​

What Evie doesn't know is that Mateo's wolf has a mind of his own. And now that she's in his sights, he wants only one thing. Her.

My Review

Mateo thinks he's been cursed with a hex so he's not able to shift into his wolf form and his inner wolf is in his head all the time. Mateo's inner wolf, Alpha is a mean, viscous animal who wants to fight all the time. He's constantly pushing Mateo to hit people and it's driving Mateo crazy so he asks a witch for help. 

Evie and her sisters are witches but they usually don't help werewolves because they are dangerous predators. But it turns out that Mateo is more dangerous if they don't try and help him because his inner animal is unpredictable. 

Evie and her sisters research a way to help Mateo but it's taking some time and Mateo realizes that his wolf, Alpha is calmer when Evie is around so he asks to spend a few hours a day with her and she agree's. The only problem with that is Mateo and Evie both start lusting after each other which makes things a little awkward. 

Evie and her sisters try to remove the hex but it turns out to be more powerful than anything they've ever come up against. So while the sisters do more research, Evie and Mateo spend more time together and finally give in to their mutual attraction. Mateo and Alpha are sexy as hell and even though Evie knows she should be afraid of Alpha, she finds him to be sexy with his dominance and gruff nature. The fact that Alpha can actually speak through Mateo when he comes to the surface is different and I really liked it. 

I did not know who the villain was in this story until right before we see for ourselves. I actually thought it was someone else and for other reasons and I was wrong which was fun. I like being surprised. This was such a fun book to read and I loved the characters. I love all the sisters and am really looking forward to reading more of this series now. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Disclosure: I was given an ARC of this book via NetGalley but all opinions and thoughts are my own. 

Review: Gilded Cage *complete series box set* by Fawn Bailey

Book Description

From bestselling dark romance author Fawn Bailey comes the complete Gilded Cage dark romance mafia trilogy.

On her eighteenth birthday, Ophelia Sokolov, a Russian mafia princess, is taken.

Kidnapped by a ruthless young hitman, she lives in captivity for years. The thing she fears most is her captor himself. Yet, she finds herself falling for the monster her family created.

Years later, she must decide between the three men in her life. The one she was destined to marry, his rival twin brother, and...

The man of her nightmares, her captor himself.

Who will own Ophelia in the end?

This is Ophelia Sokolov and Kain's complete story of over 500 pages. Available for a limited time. Gilded Cage is a dark romance trilogy.

My Review

Ophelia is kidnapped and help against her will by Kain, who rapes, beats and tortures her. But with each new thing he does to her she falls a little more for him until she learns to like the things he does to her and she completely transforms into his *dolly*. 

Kain is a sadistic bastard. He pissed me off on more than one occasion. I found it harder and harder to find any redeeming qualities about him. That is until we get a glimpse into what happened to him to make him the man he is today. 

This is all about mobsters, their families and how they make connections with other families. Ophelia's family life growing up wasn't good and her father was a complete psycho who used his kids to make connections with other families by marrying them off to men they didn't love. Ophelia was supposed to marry Max but she was in love with his twin brother Ryker. But she is kidnapped and held by Kain who brainwashes her into feeling something for him and only him. So when she is rescued and given to Max years later and they are to be married, she finds that Max has changed and is even worst than Kain was. 

Kain wasn't about to let Ophelia stay with Max and when he goes to her, she actually wants to go back with him because she loves him. Kain realizes that he loves her too so these two psychos actually become quite the couple. I thought that things would be better for her once Kain gets her back but there's a twist that really throws everyone for a loop. The mafia leaders in this story are cruel men even to their own children and when all that's been done to the kids comes out, it was one heck of a reveal. But with that reveal comes shocking revelations that they are all going to have to live with. 

Kain and his *Dolly* finally seem to be happy but Kain really messes up and has to turn to Ryker for help to somehow reach Ophelia when she has a breakdown and completely shuts down. The only problem is that Ryker loves her, even the person she's become under Kain's special kind of brutality. 

I won't tell you who she chooses to stay with in the end, Max, Ryker or Kain because that would give a lot away but I will say that given all the brutality these characters go through in this series, it does end with an HEA. The ending is a good one and even if I did have my doubts about this story, several times, I am glad that I read it because it ended up being a really good trilogy is a completely crazy way. 

I was in the mood for something different and this seemed to fit the bill. When I saw that the trilogy box set was free on Amazon for a limited time I got it. This is a very dark romance, very dark. This trilogy was filled with mobsters, danger, kidnapping, brutal torture scenes, rape, beatings and graphic violence. If these things bother you, don't pick up this box set. 

I give this book set trilogy 4 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of Anisah Grace Hanna*

"We partied a little too hard"

*Picture courtesy of Anisah Grace Hanna*

Have a Happy New year"

*Picture courtesy of Anisah Grace Hanna*

"They're hogging the whole bed"

*Picture courtesy of Anisah Grace Hanna*

Apartment Life #115

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.

This week the police were at the other end of my street at 6am. I was walking Falcor and spotted the police down the street. I don't know what went on down there but they had that whole end of the street blocked off for 2 hours.

If you follow me on FB or Twitter you might have seen this picture I posted on Wednesday. This girl was walking in my courtyard and finally went to someone's apartment. It's 57F here, not at all the weather for booty shorts and whatever else she was wearing. But quite a few men came outside to look while she was walking around. That's some getup though. 

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

Review: I Would Love A Few Toy Soldiers by Trinity Blacio

Book Description

In this Christmas short story, best selling paranormal author Trinity Blacio gives us a look into a very different take on the classic toy workshop!

Turtle Kreps restored old toys, selling them on the Internet. She hid her scared face most of the time because people were crueler than she would like to admit. But she wasn’t expecting her silly little Christmas wish to come true.

What the hell would she do with four alpha soldiers?

My Review

Turtle had a rough life but she set up a toy shop and refurbished and donated a lot of the toys she rehabbed to children's hospitals. She sold some to make money but this was her way of doing something meaningful. Turtle met a little boy in the cancer ward of one of the hospitals and applied to adopt him when she found out he was all alone. When she found out she had been approved for the adoption she was thrilled. But then his uncle's came around to check her out and make sure their nephew would have a good home. 

Dirk and his brothers check Turtle out to make sure she's a good person and can take care of their nephew. At first I didn't understand why they didn't just take their nephew but they're soldiers and still have some time to serve so they wouldn't be home to take care of him. 

Once they meet Turtle, they seemed to know right away that things are going to change for them and for her. They make it clear pretty much the same day that they meet her that they are attracted to her and want to stay with her and their nephew. This was a novella so the romance or lust is fast, too fast for me to actually enjoy it. Dirk especially is very domineering and once he and his brothers find that they want her and want to make a life with her, they let her know and she just fell into their laps. While it wasn't very believable, it was romantic and Turtle seemed happy so it was a fun read in the end. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Disclosure: I was given an ARC via NetGalley but all opinions and thoughts are my own.