Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #102

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 we heard the fire truck drive by our window early in the morning and I got my camera and took a picture of it parked around the corner. We heard a lot of yelling coming from over there a little while later but no idea why the fire truck was there.

*****

On Wednesday a woman went to my neighbors door and started kicking the screen door in and smashed in the window all because the woman's brother was put in jail last week by the wife who lives here and the wife wouldn't help the sister get in touch with her brother or help her find out where her brother was. The sister then went out to the alley and busted out the windshield of the wife's car and later that night the sister came back and busted out the side window of the wife's friends car because she told the police when they showed up that she was a witness to her smashing the window and screen. I heard what the fight was about because they stood outside screaming at each other about it. 

The window was broken as well as the screen door but I didn't get a picture of the screen door. 

*****

This week another one of my neighbors was evicted. Evictions take a little while, they are given a 30 day notice, then a 5 day notice and then a 24 hour notice. When they are given a 24 hour notice, the Constable comes when the 24 hours are up and has the maintenance guy change the locks and they make the residents leave. Then the Constable puts a yellow sticker on the door that says no entry. That way if the residents are caught breaking back into the apartment, they can be arrested. The manager usually gives people who have been evicted 7 days to make arrangements to come back and get the rest of their belongings if they left anything in the apartment. After 7 days everything left in the apartment gets thrown in the trash or sometimes the manager will let other residents go in the apartment to see if there's anything they want. 

Oh and the manager got fired. The new manager came by on Friday while she was handing out a paper to everyone to fill out and bring to the office. Just regular info that should be on all our leases like name, apartment number, vehicle registration and license numbers, how many people n the apartment and emergency contact numbers. All of that info should already be on file so I'm confused as to why they want it again.

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

Review: Daily Goodie Box- October

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?

Rise Brewing Co - Nitro Cold Brew Coffee Classic Latte-  I like iced coffee so I tried this and it has a nice strong taste to it. I don't drink a lot of coffee but I do like cold coffee and this was pretty good. 

Heat Holders - Thermal Socks- My feet get cold in the Winter and I usually wear socks to bed as well because my feet are always cold. These are so comfortable, so soft and so warm. I love these and know they will come in handy this Winter. 

RawRev - Glo Birthday Cake- I don't like any kind of protein bars but Ken does so he got this one and said it was pretty good for a bar. 

Greenshield Organic - Lavender Organic Laundry Detergent- I used this to wash a load of laundry and think it works as good as what I usually use and it does smell good. It works and it smells good so it's a win for me. 

Green Goo - All Natural Deodorant- I wasn't sure that apricot and lemongrass would smell good together but it does and it's a good deodorant. I've used it for the last 4 days and have nothing bad to say about it. 

The Original MakeUp Eraser - Sample Pack- I've actually tried this product before. I received a sample from them a few months ago and loved it. It's a big enough sample to really try it out and it's amazing how well it works. I can take all my makeup off using nothing but this cloth and water. Simply amazing.

Essence of Vali - Sleep Mini Vials- To me this smells like lavender so if you already like that scent then you might like this. I put one drop on my corner of my pillow like it said to and it gave off a slight lavender scent which was nice to drift off to sleep to. 

Real Chemistry - Environmental Rescue Essential Day Cream- This is a great moisturizing cream for this time of year. My skin dries out so easily this time of year and this cream really helped. I'm sure I'll be using this cream up before Winter is over. 

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.

What did I get this week?

A coupon for a free StarKist tuna product.
2 samples of Heinz ketchup.

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Review: Ipsy Glam Bag - September

Ipsy is a monthly subscription box that sends you 5 sample size makeup or beauty products. You can customize what they send you by filling out the personal surveys. I love the bright pink package they send it in. There's no mistaking who that's from when you see it in your mailbox. These bags are $10 each. I used my points from writing reviews on their site for the products I've received that I turned in for a 6th product. 

What did I get?

Benefit Cosmetics Gimme Brow+ Voluming Eyebrow Gel- Neutral Deep Brown. 

F.A.R.A.H Brushes Contour brush.

IBOM Lemon Verbena Clay Mask. 

OFRA Cosmetics OFRA X Madison Smiley For Ryleigh Lip Gloss. 

TOO Faced Damn Girl Cream Mousse Mascara. 

A makeup bag.

You might have noticed that I'm a bit late getting this review done. But I was busy for a few days last month and it threw everything off for me. So this is the Ipsy bag I received last month. 

I don't contour but it's a good brush for blush. The lip gloss has way too much glitter in it. I might save that for special occasions or something because it's just too much for everyday. I love the mascara. It really does make my lashes longer. It's a great mascara. 

A clay mask. That's different. LOL All these beauty boxes do love to send out masks in all their forms. 

My favorite thing in the box was the Benefit Cosmetics Gimme Brow gel. It has a tiny spoolie on it that easily brushes through my eyebrow hairs without getting on the skin under them. If you've been here a while you have probably heard me say that I don't fill in my eyebrows but I brushed this through my eyebrow hairs and it made them darker, thicker and nicer looking. I will actually use this because I like it and it works. 

Did you get this box?

Favorite Picture of the Week

So I've showed you this sound wall. It was put there because the freeway is right on the other side of that wall and it's supposed to cut down on some of the noise of the freeway. 

My apartment complex is straight ahead and I walk the dog right here on this sidewalk next to the sound wall. It's a really tall wall but what I've never showed you is the other side of the wall. 

Someone took this picture when a truck overheated and the engine caught fire, everyone got out of the tuck fine though. But in this picture you can see the other side of the sound wall and how it's painted. Like I said, the freeway is directly on the other side of the wall.

Review: Rescued By Bears by Skye MacKinnon

Book Description

Can she tame her bear shifters or will she be their dinner?

Alone, frozen, and far from home, Isla finds herself in the care of four frustratingly sexy bear shifters. They soon end up on a Scottish island, trying to survive the disasters of a failing world.

With new relationships unfolding, Isla has to make the decision between her humanity and the bears protecting her.

Will winter drive them apart or can Isla claim her bears?

Rescued by Bears is a full-length reverse harem novel featuring one sassy heroine and four sexy bear shifters (including a polar bear!). Prepare for strong alpha males with a trace of vulnerability, an epic quest, Viking beards, very steamy scenes, Scottish landscapes, Celtic mythology and a post-apocalyptic setting.

My Review

Isla lives with her uncle whom she isn't close to at all. After her parents died she became his responsibility and in the society they live in after the flooding that happened and wiped out a lot of the land in this world, men hold all the power in her village. She was studying to be the healer of her village but her uncle has other plans and tells her she is to marry a man she despises because he was abusive to another woman who escaped. She's locked in a room until the marriage can take place but she escapes and gets off the island she's been on her whole life. 

She doesn't know where she's going and there's ice and snow covering the ground, she gets too tired to go on and almost dies out in the elements. She's found by one of the bear shifters and brought back to their cabin where they warm her up. She finds out about the 4 of them when she overhears them talking and confronts them pretty early on about being bear shifters. She's kinda naive, and does something dumb which is when she gets hurt but the guys bring her back and she gets to know them. She finds herself attracted to the alpha, their leader the most at first but by the end of the story she's the mate to all of them. This is a reverse harem story, so because of that I already knew that she was going to end up with more than one mate. 

I really didn't like how idiotic Isla acts at times. I know she's been sheltered and is naive but she does stupid things and acts dumb at times. Isla has been bullied by her uncle, pushed around, told what to do and then she has to deal with Alis who pretty much does the same thing to her. I hated Alis's character and if you read this you'll see why and who she is, I'm not giving that away. The guys were pretty interesting characters, I hope that we get to know them all a little better in the series though because I didn't really feel like I knew them too well. 

I enjoyed this book but I think the characters need to be developed a bit more and we need a little more information on how the flood happened, what caused it ect. I would also like more info on the shifter mythology because the rules for these guys were a little different from other shifter books I've read. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of me*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #101

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 fire department showed up for someone across the street. The fire truck was out on the street for about an hour but no one was taken out on a stretcher and no ambulance showed up so I have no idea what they were there for. 

****

10pm on Sunday night some woman was banging on my neighbors door so loud I thought she was going to break it in. The man who I found out later is her brother came to the door and she started smacking the hell out of him. Screaming at him to give her back her money. She said she paid their rent and he needs to give her back her bread. The screaming went on for 30 minutes before they left to find the wife who I saw pack a few bags and leave earlier that day. Monday morning I noticed part of his screen door was smashed in. That lady told another neighbor that when her husband found her, she called the police on him because he was driving drunk...he was arrested for DUI which broke his probation so he's in jail for a while.

Monday morning that same lady who's husband is now in jail...the lady who likes to stand outside naked was just walking around and standing outside in her underwear and a shirt so see through that it left NOTHING to the imagination. LOL

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

Recipe: Vegetarian Pulled Pork Sandwiches using Jackfruit

 I first heard of jackfruit in a blog post over at Herding Cats & Burning Soup blog, and ever since seeing that recipe, I've been wanting to try it. Yeah, it took me a while to get around to it and to talk Ken into trying it but I finally did. The recipe is pretty easy but I changed a couple of things mostly because I don't like garlic or ginger so I didn't use either of those things. But I did use some garlic powder since I can handle the taste of that and don't find it over powering. 

I watched a couple of Youtube videos about preparing jackfruit so I rinsed the jackfruit, squeezed out the seeds and cut off the core ( hard part of jackfruit) and then shredded the rest of it with my fingers. It shreds really easily. 

Then I added the onion to the pan and sauteed it until the onions were sufficiently cooked, about 10 minutes. 

Then I added the bbq seasoning, garlic powder and bbq sauce. Turned the heat down to low and let it simmer for 5 minutes. 

I made coleslaw with it and added a little to my sandwich along with the bbq,  jackfruit mixture. Ken and our daughter ate this for dinner as well and it was good.  I'm surprised I got them both to try it but they both liked it. 

Recipe

You will need:

2- 14 oz cans young green jackfruit

1/2 medium sweet yellow onion- diced

2 tbsp bbq seasoning

3/4 cup bbq sauce

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Directions

Drain and rinse the jackfruit. Cut off hard core part and remove any seeds you find.

Shred the jackfruit with your fingers.

Add jackfruit and diced onion to pan and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes or until onions are cooked through.

Add bbq sauce, garlic powder and bbq seasoning mix. Simmer over low heat for another 5 minutes and serve on a bun.