Favorite Picture of the Week

 

This was around 2PM and it was this dark.  The sun was trying to come out from behind those clouds but it wasn't going to happen. We didn't get any rain but it sure was nice and cool. 

Book Review: Dragons Are Forever by Sophie Stern

 

Book Description

Anything can happen on Dragon Isle...

One feisty dragon + one desperate human = one fake marriage.

Jax needs a wife in a bad way. He stands to inherit an incredible fortune, but there's one caveat: he has to get married, like, yesterday. He can't touch the money until he's claimed a mate. He's got to stay married for an entire year, and then if they go their separate ways, it's no big deal. One year of marriage? He could do that. Only, all of the ladies on Dragon Isle are girls he grew up with. Nobody is going to take a chance on this. Nobody would buy it.

Then one drunken stranger changes everything...

Melissa has absolutely nothing going for her. When her husband caught her by surprise last year and filed for divorce, she was stuck with half of his debt and...nothing. She had nothing. They lost the house, the cars, and their savings accounts because apparently, Kyle had a secret gambling problem she knew nothing about. When a handsome stranger approaches her in a random bar with a strange offer, she's intrigued enough to say yes.

One year being married to a rich guy?

One year without sex or love or romance attached?

One year as long as she doesn't ask too many questions?

Melissa can't sign up fast enough.

Soon she discovers that Dragon Isle isn't a normal island, though. It's full of secrets, and she finds herself determined to figure out what Jax is hiding from her.

***DRAGONS ARE FOREVER is the first book in RETURN TO DRAGON ISLE. This is a spinoff of the DRAGON ISLE series by Sophie Stern. Reading the Dragon Isle books is highly encouraged, although not required in order to enjoy this story. Dragon Isle begins with STEPDRAGON, which is a quick read introducing the island, and is followed by MY LORD AND DRAGON.***

My Review

In order for Jax for inherit a fortune and a home on Dragon Isle, he needs to be married and soon. But he runs into Melissa at a bar and jokingly makes a marriage proposal, a fake marriage proposal that she would get paid for if she can fake things for a year. What's not to love about that? So they work out the incidentals and get married. The lawyer isn't thrilled and doesn't buy that these two are really in love. But Jax has fulfilled his part of the will so there shouldn't be any problems getting the house and fortune, right? 

Wrong! Someone is out to get him and puts both he and Melissa in harms way. This relationship starts out fake but after spending time with each other they start to have real feelings for each other. But Jax has a big secret and Melissa is about to find out what it is. Watching these two fall for each other while trying to figure out who is out to get them was fun. Jax is such a nice guy and Melissa was great and just what he needed. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

*All pictures today are courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #344

 

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 25 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 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

The police stopped at the end of my street on Monday and they were using their flashlights to search the rocks and ground on the other side of the cop car. I have no idea what they were looking for. I did hear gunshots at 1AM the night before though so maybe that was why?

About 2 hours later on Monday the police were here again. This time they were at the apartment complex across the street. There were several more police cars in the alley behind this complex. I saw they had someone in handcuffs in the alley when I took Falcor for a walk. Maybe it was the guy that had been shooting the gun the night before? Not sure. The police had paper bags and were putting evidence into the bags as well. 

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On Wednesday around noon I heard the first fire truck pull up on my street. I looked outside and the firemen were pulling the hose down to the fire hydrant so I knew there was a fire in the apartment complex across the street. 

My daughter and I both went out there and saw the fire in the upstairs apartment. The smoke was bad for a while but the fire department got it out fast. 

The paramedics were standing outside with a gurney just in case someone was hurt inside but we heard from others on the street that the homeless started this fire and they got out before the fire department got there.  So no one was hurt. 

I counted 9 fire engines show up after about 20 minutes. My entire street was filled with fire trucks, ambulances, fire chief trucks and police. 

But the firemen were able to get the fire out fast.

It was right across the street from me and during the day so I was able to get quite a few pictures this time. 

This was actually the first truck I saw pull up right in front of my window before all the others got here. 

The owner of the apartment building was out there and he was mad as hell. He was yelling and screaming about the homeless setting fires. But he should have done more to make sure they weren't squatting in the vacant apartment. 

Hopefully the owners around here do more to keep the homeless from squatting in the vacant apartments and houses around here and starting fires in them. This is the second fire from the homeless in a week. I heard from some of the homeless people around here that both people who were pulled from last weeks house fire have lost their lives. They need to go to the shelters instead of staying around here where the drug dealers are and breaking into vacant places to stay. 

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Friday night around 6PM my daughter was out walking Falcor when she saw 4 people in a car parked next to the curb. They were wiping shattered glass from the back seat and being really loud. When she was on her way home, they all got in the car and were yelling "West Side Crips" and one woman in the back seat pointed a gun at my daughter. 

So she called the police and they came out pretty fast. They came and took a report and got a description of the 4 occupants. A few minutes later the cop came back by and told us that they found the car and it was stolen. He said they had police watching the car to see if the occupants came back but if not they were going to impound the car. I'm sure they got a lot of fingerprints from the car and if they find people who are breaking into cars and stealing them, they can compare fingerprints. My daughter is fine though. 

It was a full week. 

The high this week was 65F/18C

The low this week was 42F/5C

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

Fall/Autumn Pictures

 

I've enjoyed sharing pictures I've found on Pixabay that fits the month so I'm going to continue doing that. Today I give you Fall/Autumn pictures that I liked. Enjoy. 

Low Carb Recipe: Strawberry Semifreddo

 

I saw this recipe on The Low Carb Diabetic Blog and thought it sounded really good so I tried it. 

You will need:

1 pint strawberries

1/4 cup Equal sugar substitute, divided into thirds

3 egg whites

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 cup heavy cream- cold

What to do: 

Strawberry Mixture

Add the fruit and 2 TBSP of Equal to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cover and cook about 3 minutes until the berries begin to release their juices, about 3 minutes. Remove the lid and cook another 4-5 minutes until they are very soft. I used a potato masher and mashed the strawberries a bit. Let the fruit mixture cool. 

Prepare Pan

Lightly spray a 9-by-2-inch cake/loaf pan with cooking spray, then line it with plastic wrap, pressing into the corners. (you want enough wrap to overhang to aid in removing the semifreddo from the pan after it’s frozen).

Whipped Cream

Whip 1 cup of cold heavy cream in a mixer bowl or medium-sized bowl. When the whipped cream begins to get stiff, add 2 TBSP of Equal and vanilla. Whip to stiff peaks. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate. Clean mixer bowl and whisk attachment.

Meringue

Add the 3 egg whites to the clean mixer bowl, when the egg whites turn white and begin to get stiff, add 2 TBSP of Equal and whip to stiff peaks.

Semifreddo

Fold the whipped cream into the meringue ⅓ at a time until incorporated.

Gently fold in all of the fruit mixture. Don't over mix. You want it to be marbled with the strawberry mixture.

Transfer to the prepared pan, smooth and cover with plastic wrap. Freeze 6 hours or overnight. Slice and serve as is, or with reserved fruit.

Things I changed from the original recipe. I used a different sugar substitute because I like Equal and I didn't have to use as much of it. I used strawberries instead of mixed berries and I added all of the strawberry mixture to the semifreddo instead of saving some to add on top. I've never made this before but it was so good. This does not completely freeze, it semi freezes which was fine with me. 

If you cut this into 8 equal pieces when it is semi frozen these are the carb and calories counts for each piece. 

Carbs for 1 portion of semifreddo- 2

Calories for 1 portion of semifreddo- 100

Mine didn't come out as high as the pan, maybe I used too big a pan? Maybe I'll double the recipe next time but it sure was good. 

Have you eaten this before?

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

Falcor and I were up early to catch this sunrise.

A few minutes later.

Later that same day. We got a few dark clouds and cooler temps but no rain. That dark cloud sure looked like we would get some rain from it but nothing. 

Book Review: The Four by Katelyn Young

 

Book Description

Princess Kiera knows that one day she will be auctioned away in an arranged marriage, but she never imagined that her fiancés would be vampires.

When people from the Kingdom of Zayn go missing, Kiera’s father, King Zachariah, arranges for Kiera to marry one of The Four rulers of Vampira. This marriage will end the kidnappings and unite the two kingdoms. As per the rules of the engagement, Princess Kiera is given one month to decide which of The Four she will marry. Kiera wants to be a righteous ruler. She also wants to marry for love. Each of her four suitors has something unique to offer her. Kiera must figure out whose intentions are pure and whose are for show. What Kiera doesn’t realize is that this decision will last for all of eternity.

My Review

In order to stop the kidnapping of her people and bring an alliance between her people and the vampires, Princess Kiera agrees to marry one of The Four royals/rulers from Vampira. She and her father go to Vampira where they meet The Four. Kiera has 30 days to choose to marry either King Niles, King Derrick, King Viktor, or Queen Anya. 

Derrick didn't seem interested at all and Anya was more a friend than anything else. She really only had to choose between Derrick and Viktor and I liked watching them vie for her attention. I liked who she ended up picking and how the book ended. I thought it was quite fun and romantic. 

But getting to know them and this new vampire culture was quite a shock to Kiera since she was a human. There were a few customs that did seem a bit over the top and I can understand why she was having second thoughts there for a while. I really felt bad that as a princess, Kiera really had no say in her own life. She was only there to make deals with other factions and marry someone to form an alliance. I'm just glad that in this case she has a choice to choose someone that was nice and ended up being a great guy. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"Just taking a little hamburger break."

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

Apartment Life #343

 

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 25 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 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

A while back I posted about this guy who is mentally ill (most likely schizophrenic) and homeless. He walks around trying to open apartment doors and car doors all the time. He stands by people's bedroom windows and talks to himself. I posted a short video of him at the end of this post. In case you don't know who I'm talking about. Well this week he was arrested. I'm guessing he tried to open the wrong door. I wonder how long they'll keep him. Most people are back on the street and back in our neighborhood pretty fast. I'll keep you all informed. 

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Around 11PM Thursday night I heard some ambulance and fire truck sirens going down my street. I looked out my bedroom window and saw smoke across the street so I told my daughter there was a fire across the street. When she walked across the street and into their alley, she realized the house fire was on the other side of their alley right around the corner so she walked over there. She took some videos and I tried to upload her videos here but they wouldn't play, so I took some screenshots from the videos. 

The police, ambulances, and fire trucks got there really fast.

The entire street was filled with emergency vehicles.

I counted no less than 6 fire trucks and 3 ambulances drive past my apartment. 

The street was filled with smoke so the pictures are a bit blurry plus my screenshot taking capabilities leave something to be desired. 

This fire truck had the hook and ladder on it to reach the second story of the house that was on fire.

There was a lot of smoke. The second floor of the house had the most smoke and flames. The firemen brought out two people and were performing cpr on them. They were taken away in ambulances.

The people who were out there told my daughter that the house was vacant and there were homeless people squatting in the house. They set the fire and neighbors called 911 when they saw the smoke and fire coming from the second floor of the house. So they go there fast and were able to get the fire out fast.

The fire department and ambulances were there for hours after they got the fire out. 

I walked by the house the next morning. You can barely tell that the second floor was on fire. But you can see that second floor window is busted out and the framing is all black. The eave of the roof on the right side is all black where the other side is light blue. The fire department got the fire out fast.

The news release I found said that one person died and one person is in critical condition. The news release got the name of the street wrong, it's Catalini not Catalina. My daughter was talking to a lady who used to be homeless around here and is friends with the homeless people in the neighborhood and told my daughter who it was that passed away. I'd seen the guy around here for years. She said they started the fire on purpose to try and keep warm but the fire got out of control and they couldn't get out. It's sad that someone lost their life. 

I found the house fire on PulsePoint app. The third thing down from the top that says structure fire is this house fire that happened. 

The high this week was 68F/20C

The low this week was 43F/6C

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