Recipe: Home Made White Bread

 

Recipe

1 Cup cold water

1/4 Cup milk

2 TBSP sugar

1 1/2 tsp. salt

2 1/2 tsp yeast

1/4 Cup butter- melted

3 1/2 Cups flour

Instructions

Heat water and milk in a microwave safe cup for 1 minute. Add yeast and let sit for 2 minutes. Then add sugar, salt and butter. 

Slowly add flour to liquid and mix well. You will need to mix this with your hands. Using a mixer is not necessary. Kneed dough for 10 minutes, form into ball and spread a tiny amount of vegetable oil over the top of the dough. Put dough in a large bowl, cover and let rise at room temperature for 2 hours. 

Punch the dough down and kneed for about a minute. Shape into loaf and add to a greased loaf pan. Add bread pan to oven but don't turn oven on. Add a boiling pan of water to the oven and let bread rise for 30 minutes or until bread has risen to just above the rim of the loaf pan. Take pan of water out, and turn oven on 350F while bread is in the oven. Let bake for 30-40 minutes or until bread is done. 

There is no need to preheat the oven when making this bread. 

This was the dough after the first rise. It doubled in size while rising. It made a really good loaf of bread. And it's easy to make. I didn't even use a mixer or anything. You can totally mix this by hand. 

Have you made homemade bread before?

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

A while back I received a free bag of dog food for Falcor. When I went through the pictures to pick which ones I wanted to use for my post, I picked a couple and discarded the rest. But when I went to look back on them, I found these two that made me laugh because Falcor was in the back photobombing me. 

You can barely see him but he's back there... just staring me down. At least he liked the food. 

Book Review: Immortal Born by Lynsay Sands

 

Book Description

A simple promise to protect her friend’s infant son has turned Allie Chambers’ existence upside down. Caring for—and feeding—an orphaned vampire baby has been tricky enough. But as little Liam grows, so does his appetite. He needs more blood than she can personally supply. And when her attempts to steal from a blood bank go awry, Allie wakes up surrounded by doctors, cops…and the gorgeous, mesmerizing Magnus, who she can neither trust nor resist.

Magnus never expected to find his life mate breaking into a blood bank. Clearly, Allie is already entwined with his world—in deeper, more dangerous ways than she realizes. A band of vicious rogue immortals is in pursuit, and Magnus’ first task is to keep her safe. His second: to awaken her to mind-blowing pleasure, and hope she’ll accept the life, and the passion, that only he can offer.

My Review

Allie made a promise to her immortal neighbor that she would take care of her son if the people who were after her showed up, so when they did and the neighbor's house exploded after she was given the baby to take care of, she believed the mother to be dead. Now she had to take care of a vampire baby with no help. 

Magnus is an immortal (Think vampire but they call themselves immortal's) and he thinks Allie might be his mate, so when she's arrested for breaking into a blood bank, he checks it out. 

Allie hit her head during the robbery to get blood for little Liam so the officers wanted her to spend the night in the hospital but she escaped to go home, get Liam and move to a new location where the vampires couldn't find them. But the bad vampires (rogues) are waiting at her house and try to kidnap her until Magnus and his friend save her and Liam. While it's not how he wanted to introduce himself to her at least she knows he's one of the good guys. 

Allie isn't sure what to make of Magnus and his friends. She isn't sure she can trust them at first and some of them do come on too strong and make her uncomfortable with their questions about Liam and how she got him but the women were there to make it easier for her and explain things better than the men were doing. Magnus and the others realize that Allie and Liam are in danger once she tells them the name of the rogue that Liam's mother had told her had been keeping her and Liam's father captive when she escaped. It's then that Allie realizes how much danger she and Liam have been in but Magnus and the others assure her that she's safe now as long as she stays with them. I'm not sure I would have believed everything and felt safe with them at first either but they all did a good job of making her trust them. 

When the bad guy does finally come after her like I knew he would, Magnus and the others go out looking for her and to find the bad guy to get rid of him once and for all, since they knew about him and have been looking for this person for a while. 

I've been reading this series for some time so I really liked that we get to see some of the other characters that have been in the series. It's nice to get a look at how some previous characters are doing while reading a long series. 

I really enjoyed this book and liked that there was action right from the near beginning of the book. The pace was good and kept me reading, wondering what would happen next. I really liked Magnus and Allie together and liked the fact that they didn't fall for each other really fast, that it took a little time for her to fall for him.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday! Meme's I made of My Rats

 

This week I thought I would share some of the meme's that I made of my own rat pictures. I sometimes see a few of them floating around FB and Twitter on rat sites and groups and it always makes me smile.

Apartment Life: #276

 

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 go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 24 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 24 years here in a weekly blog post. 

I heard the police helicopter flying low around my apartment complex and looked outside and sure enough the police were on my block. The police had someone in handcuffs down the street who was arrested but I saw her back around here the next day. 

She had her boyfriend arrested for hitting her a couple of weeks ago and he was in jail for a week before getting back out. These two are always arguing and fighting around here. She would be better off leaving him but I don't see that happening any time soon. 

I did happen to get a blurry picture of the police helicopter that was flying around my apartment complex at the same time.

The high this week was 80F/26C

The low this week was 52F/11C

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

Review: Dove Body Polish

 

Every once in a while I come across a product that I like so much, I want to share it with you. This is not a paid ad, and I did not get this product for free. I paid for it myself. 

I have diabetes which causes my skin to be dry especially in the Winter time so I went looking for products that would keep my skin smooth and not dry. I use a lot of lotion but that only helps so much. I was reading that an exfoliating cream or cleanser might help, so I went looking for one and found this on Amazon. 

It's an exfoliating scrub you use in the shower. I just want to say how good this one smells. No, seriously. Dove needs to make an entire bath line with this scent. I'm not even kidding. Plus this really does make my skin feel smoother and softer after a shower.  I got the Crushed Macadamia & Rice Milk scent and it's so nice. 

This is what it looks like. It's so soft and feels so good on my skin. So if you're looking for a skin exfoliating cleanser, try this one and see if you like it. I'm actually surprised I loved the first one I tried. They also have other scents if this one isn't to your liking. 

Pomegranate Seeds & Shea Butter

Crushed Almond & Mango Butter

Colliodal Oatmeal and Calendula Oil

Brown Sugar & Coconut Butter

Have you tried this product? 

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. 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 4 perfume samples from Macy. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Razr: A Demonica Underworld Novella by Larissa Ione

 

Book Description

A fallen angel with a secret.

An otherworldly elf with an insatiable hunger she doesn't understand.

An enchanted gem.

Meet mortal enemies Razr and Jedda...and the priceless diamond that threatens to destroy them both even as it bonds them together with sizzling passion.

Welcome back to the Demonica Underworld, where enemies find love...if they're strong enough to survive.

My Review

Razr is an angel who was cast from heaven to work for Azagoth in hell until he can find at least one of the gemstones that he lost when his charge was killed. And while he's looking for the gemstone he also gets *punished* every so often with 6 lashes from someone in hell who does not hold back. The harsher the punishment, the longer he can go without getting another one. 

Jedda is an Elf and has an affinity for gemstones and can find just about any of them. But she has a huge secret. So when Razr tracks her down and wants her to find at least one of the gemstones he's looking for that will get him back into heaven, she knows she can't give them to him but it takes a while for the *why* to come out. 

Watching Razr go through these punishments all the time because the effects don't last very long, was really rough. It's probably my least favorite part of this book because it was brutal. He passes out so many times from the pain but because he's an angel he heals incredibly fast. 

When Razr explains what the gemstones are and how he lost them, it was shocking to find out how Jedda was connected to the entire scenario. I wasn't sure how they were going to get through that but the fact that Razr was willing to just go about life as he had been to make sure she was safe melted my heart a bit. So I was happy to see how this book ended because it was great. If you've been reading this series you will want to read this novella as well. It was a great addition to the series. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

Last week we had a couple of days with some huge clouds. It was nice to have so much cloud cover and it even got dark for a while but we didn't get any rain. 

Book Review: The Cursed King by Abigail Owen

 

Book Description

Airk Azdajah, the rightful King of the White Clan of dragon shifters, spent half a millennium being tortured by the false High King Pytheios. The only reason he’s alive is a curse— the man to kill Airk will be consumed in his own fire. Which is why Pytheios kept Airk alive, barely, unable to shift in his prison cage, driving the creature half of him into madness. Airk escaped, but he'll never be truly free. What good is a king who can never let his feral dragon loose, never fly, and never lead his people? He's better off dead.

Angelika Amon is the last unmated phoenix. The problem? She has no powers. Zip. Zilch. Angelika hates being dormant, especially now that her three sisters are blissfully mated to powerful dragon shifter kings and are very much part of the fight to take down the rotting king Pytheios, their parents' killer. What good is a useless runt of a phoenix in a battle to save the dragon kingdom?

Desperate to find some way to help, she offers herself to Airk as a mate — just for political leverage. But a dormant phoenix is no damn use to him just like a dragon who can't shift is no use to her. Until Pytheios sets his sights on Angelika for himself...

My Review

Airk spent 500 years locked in a dungeon being tortured and wasn't able to shift into his dragon. But now that he's been rescued and is a prisoner no more, his dragon is feral and dangerous so he can't shift and let the monster out even now. Airk is the rightful king of the white dragon clan but most people are either scared of him, don't believe he is who he says he is or won't go against Pytheios. 

Angelika is a phoenix shifter like her sisters but she isn't able to shift and has no powers so she offers to mate Airk out of a sense of duty so Airk would have some leverage to get people to follow him. Airk says no though and even though Angelika has feelings for him, she doesn't let that stop her from trying to change his mind.

Because Airk feels like he's dangerous and can't shift, he doesn't plan to take on a mate but Angelika is persistent and they both have feelings for each other. Because she doesn't give up trying to help him and wanting to show others that she can be of use as well, they are thrown together on many occasions, getting to know each other better. Airk has feelings for her but is afraid his dragon will take over and hurt or kill her even though his dragon feels protective and content around her. 

Airk was frustrating at times though because he said no to her so many times so I was happy that she didn't give up and kept going after what she wanted. So Airk tries to talk some of the white clan into turning their support away from Pytheios and Angelika helps him. It was nice to watch them get closer and it was wonderful to see the characters from the other books make an appearance in this one as well. 

This is the 4th book in the Inferno Rising series and I would definitely suggest you read this series in order for it to make more sense. This book also wraps up this series in such a magnificent way even though I was sad to see it come to an end.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

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

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #275

 

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 go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 24 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 24 years here in a weekly blog post. 

I saw an ambulance come for one of my neighbors across from me. She has congestive heart failure and was feeling bad and just wanted the paramedics to come and evaluate her. She didn't end up going to the hospital that day, even though they were trying to talk her into going.

---

Police were blocking off my street on Friday at almost 9PM. I only saw one cop car when I took the dog out so I thought it was kinda safe to go out since there weren't that many police outside. But after I got out there more cops showed up and as I'm walking back to my apartment one of the cops comes across the street and chased me back inside because they said there was an active shooter in the area. The police helicopter was flying circles over my apartment building for a while and I got a very short video since the pictures wouldn't come out very well. 

A few minutes after I took this, I watched 6 police cars speed down my street lights and sirens going and the police helicopter went about a block away and started circling overhead there as well. 

My daughter sent me this video when she was walking home from work that night about an hour after the police left my street. They were 1 street over from me and had most of the street blocked off.  I am guessing that they caught whoever they were looking for.

The high this week was 80F/26C

The Low this week was 58F/14C

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

Book Review: Who Could Have Imagined . . . Change Your Perspective, Transform Your Destiny by Aliette St. Hilaire

 

Book Review

It’s Not How You Start…

It’s How You Finish

Before moving to the States, Aliette enjoyed an idyllic childhood in the Bahamas. But life changed abruptly when she became pregnant at twelve and married at thirteen. Written off as a teenage mom and high school dropout, Aliette made a discovery that would change her life again: faith.

With God—along with the power of prayer—Aliette surmounted obstacles that would have imprisoned her in poverty and ignorance. She worked hard for an education, ultimately building a successful career in medicine. She worked hard on her marriage, today celebrating over thirty years together while raising three terrific sons. And she continues to work hard, every day, for the betterment of the world around her.

For Aliette, a change in perspective transformed her destiny through faith in God and oneself.

My Review

Let me start by saying that I'm not religious at all so while I don't agree with everything she said, it's her memoir and her thoughts and it was written really well so I enjoyed reading this quite a lot. I was unprepared for the beauty in this book as well as the heartache she went through because of the loss of her innocence and childhood. It's a sad story, but also offers a look at the joys that come with parenthood and fighting for a better life. While this isn't my usual type of read, I found myself unable to put this book down as I was reading because her life was just so heartbreaking.

This book made me feel so many things, including not really understanding why she stayed with her husband after he got her pregnant at such a young age and how she explained how he acted on several occasions. But also understanding that she was young and even though he was twice her age, he was also very immature and they seemed to grow a lot as they got older.

This book took me on an emotional roller coaster. It's written eloquently in a simple and direct way that ends up pulling you right into the story. It's a very plainly spoken account of her life as a child getting pregnant, and then married to a man who I'm not sure I would have had the strength to stay with. Her life was a difficult one but she managed to get through it and find the will not only to come out the other side intact but find a faith that helped her better herself and become a nurse. This author has a talent for describing the things that happened in a very relatable way, so that you can really connect with them. There's a lot of pain in this book, but there's also love, hope, faith and the fight to be better.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for inspiration for a change inside themselves.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

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. 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:

A bathroom shower curtain and rug set courtesy of Walmart Spark Reviewer.

Oribe perfume samples. 

Estee Lauder Foundation samples. 

Vichy face serum. 

Mylanta Gas relief samples. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?