Garden Flowers

 

Some of you asked what flowers were in my daughters garden. She used a pack of seeds that said wild flower seed mix. So I have no idea what any of these are. lol I took pictures as they started blooming.

There was one orange flower among all the pink and purple ones. 

Only a couple bloomed for a few weeks.

I like the pink and purple ones.

It's nice to see some flowers in the courtyard. At first there were just a few flowers.

Then these two flowers popped up. These are my favorite. What a pretty color. 

And then boom! Flowers. 

Soon after I took this picture we had several days of high winds and most of the flower stems broke or fell over. It was nice while it lasted. 

Book Review: Bonded To The Stryxian by Ella Blake

 

Book Description

Humans made a deal with the Stryxian males: Help us defend Earth, and when the war is over, we’ll send you women to help rebuild your dying species. Now, the war appears to be over and Trinity Bentzer’s number has been called in the lottery. Only, instead of winning a boatload of money, she’s getting some badass winged alien she’s never met. Trin’s not thrilled to be shipped off and matched up, until she meets Raig. 
Maybe she hit the jackpot, after all.


Commander Raig Thanor’s job is to supervise the females’ move to their holding chambers until they are sent to their final matches, but the moment he meets Trinity, he knows she’s his. If only claiming her didn’t risk sparking a war within his own people.


This is book one of the Stryxian Alien Warrior series but can be read alone with no cliffhangers and no cheating. I write what I love to read, so there is always consent and always a happy ending.

My Review

When an alien race called the Morr-ta show up and attack Earth, the Stryxian's come to our aid. All they ask in return is that Earth sends some females to their planet as mates to help rebuild their population. So when a cease fire is made, it's time to pay up. The women chosen have signed up voluntarily and now Trinity's number is called after she retires from the military. Trinity has worked alongside the Stryxian's so she's not as nervous about this as some of the other women are. They are to be transported to a settlement where they will get to pick their mates from the males there. 

From everything they know the Stryxian males have a code that prevents them from ever treating the females badly so that's one good thing. Raig is the commander in charge and has been sent to make sure the human females are sent to the settlements where they will be able to choose their mates and hopefully start producing offspring. 

But as soon as Raig meets Trinity he knows she is his true mate and has no plans on letting her go to any settlement, which make his superiors upset. Because there's a power struggle going on behind the scenes between the Stryxian's and the Vanyi who are actually in charge. One Vanyi known as Sleer is very power hungry and makes a lot of problems for Trinity and Raig. 

I really liked the ending and can only hope we get to see how Raig and Trinity are getting along in their new relationship in subsequent books. I plan on reading more of this series in the future for sure. 

I give this book 5 out 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

*Click on pictures to enlarge them*

One evening this week I took a walk with Falcor as the sun was setting. There were some clouds so I had a feeling it was going to be pretty. It started with just a little red and pink in the sky. 

The longer I stood there, the redder the sky got. 

After a few minutes it was bright red and pink. It was so pretty. 

Everyone Has A Story, Here's One of Mine

 

I've been thinking of writing an autobiography or memoir but it just never comes together for me but I figured if I write one story at a time and post it on my blog maybe once a month, I can do that. Maybe one day I'll pull all the stories together and put them in a book but for now I'll just share some stories with you about my childhood. Some of the stories will be happy, some sad and some horrific because that was my childhood. But they will all be real, things that actually happened. If it seems like something that people enjoy reading maybe I'll keep it going. These stories will not be in any kind of order, I'll just write them as they come to me.

Why I don't like any drama around meal times

When I was a kid my mom cooked and had dinner ready by the time time my dad got home from work. That was just how my dad liked things so my mom would do that. On the weekends though my parents would drink heavily all day so by dinner time my brother and I knew to eat fast because the likelihood of our parents getting into a screaming match was pretty much 100%. 

But my dad would do more than just yell. Oh it would start out yelling for whatever reason. They would get into arguments for the dumbest reasons and then it would escalate. Most nights on the weekends we would sit down to dinner, my mom and dad being in the living room on the couch and me and my brother at the kitchen table. Once my dad got really mad, he would throw his plate of food against the wall, take my mom's plate and throw it against the wall and start hitting her. 

At that point my brother and I would get the dog, Poochie and run to the backyard. Because if Poochie started growling or barking at my dad while he was hitting my mom, my dad would beat the dog as well. So we stayed in the backyard until my mom would either come get us or we saw her sitting on the back steps. At that point we would go back in the house, get our plates of food and bring them out to the back steps and share our food with our mom so she had something to eat. I would go get seconds sometimes so she could eat more. We would all stay outside until my dad passed out on the couch or in their bedroom. 

My brother and I learned to eat our food fast if we wanted something to eat especially on the weekends because we knew that the plates of food might get tossed against the wall if we said something out of line. We still eat fast, my brother faster than me because he got more abuse than I did from our dad. 

My dad hit us kids as well. One time my dad beat me with a belt so severely on the back of my legs, butt and back that I had bruises, welt marks and could hardly walk for a few days. So my mom put a note on the door for her parents to see that said we were quarantined inside the house because I had Scarlet Fever. I never had scarlet fever but my mom didn't want her parents seeing me all bruised up. I missed a few days of school because of it too. My mom's mother, my grandma would leave bags of food on the front porch while my dad was driving a truck for Adohr Farms and was away for a few days making deliveries. My dad never even asked how I was when he got back. I learned early on to either stay in my room, outside or just keep my mouth shut around my dad. 

My brother got hit and smacked all the time by my dad for dumb things like not being able to catch the football my dad would throw to him. I was 12 and my brother was 10 when my parents got divorced.

Links to past stories

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Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #362

 

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 26 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 26 years here in a weekly blog post.

  

The house that had the fire a few months ago in this post had the police at it this week. The homeless people are still breaking into this house and squatting there. The police show up (Probably when the neighbors call) and they make them leave. They should be arrested but aren't. Then the homeless break back in later. 

One of the pipes around my complex overflowed again this week. Raw sewage was leaking all over the ground until maintenance came and snaked the drain to clear it. But they left the mess on the ground to dry up like they always do. The health department has been called several times before and they have gotten a fine before. They pay the fine. They don't care.

---

On Tuesday the police showed up twice. This was the second time. The officer went across the street both times to an apartment upstairs. 

The police helicopter was up for a few minutes and there were police in the back alley behind this complex. They were walking around all over the place and I think they were looking for someone but they left without arresting anyone. 

---

The tree trimmers were on my street this week. These two trees had been big and full and they demolished them! 

They trimmed the palm tree's on my side of the street too.

But when they were done with the two trees across the street, they were bare. They had been so full of leaves and branches and now nothing. They usually trim these trees each year but this year they decided to wreck them! It looks terrible. 

---

BB Gun dude ( Johnathan) is moving out next month but in the meantime he's been having loud parties. 

 Wednesday night was loud until after midnight. At one point I thought they were going to burn the place down with their bbq. The fireball was twice as big as this picture that I caught right after it happened. Did they throw gasoline on the bbq? lol

Everything is so dry in my courtyard, a fire could have happened so easily.

The high this week was 90F/32C

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.

Saturday Vittles

 

Refried Beans, Avocado and Pico on a Low Carb Tortilla

My Daughter and I are trying to eat more healthy so I thought I would share some pictures on Saturday's of what we've made. Most pictures are from my daughter since she takes good food pics. lol

When the price of eggs was crazy high a while back I decided to try and find other things to eat for breakfast and this was one of the things I tried that I really liked. 

You will need: 

Carb Counter Tortillas

Fat Free Refried Beans

Queso Fresco Cheese

Homemade Pico De Gallo

Avocado

Heat up 1/4 cup of refried beans. Spread that on 2 of the Carb Counter flour tortillas and top with 3 slices of avocado on each tortilla. Add a little homemade Pico De Gallo and lastly cut a 1" cube of the Queso Fresco cheese and crumble that on top of each tortilla. 

 Pico De Gallo Recipe

6 Large tomatoes- diced small

1 Yellow onion- diced small

One bunch of cilantro diced small (about 1 cup)

Juice from 2 lemons

Salt to taste

 Mix all ingredients together and let sit overnight in container in the fridge. You can eat it right after it's been made but for more flavorful Pico, make 2 days ahead of time and let it sit in an air tight container in the refrigerator.

For two of these it is 270 calories and 26 carbs. 

A Few Family Pictures

 

My nephew, his girlfriend and their 3 kids came over while my brother was in town. I hadn't seen my nephew for 20 years (it's complicated) and I met my great nieces and newborn great nephew for the first time.

This is my brother and I. And if you noticed I lost some weight since the last time I posted a picture of myself...yes, I've lost 80 lbs so far. I still have a ways to go though. 

Me and my sister in law. She's holding my great nephew. 

My nephew and grandson talking video games.

My brother came with me and Falcor for a walk so he could shine his flashlight down one of the manhole covers down to the tunnels. He said it's about 25 feet down to the bottom and the metal ladder that's there looks small. lol He said he wanted to go down in the tunnels to look around but thought better of it. 

I was up early most days and got a few nice sunrise pictures.

At least we had really nice cool weather this week.

Lots of cloud cover too. 

Book Review: Hell Of A Game by Elise H. Ford

 

Book Description

All I wanted was to have a fun girl's night at the traveling carnival that stopped in town for the weekend. Is that too much to ask??

After a recent breakup, I absolutely needed a night out with my roommates. I didn't expect to have so much fun or to meet a group of four sexy guys that worked at the carnival. I also didn't expect the four guys to be demons from Hell either…

Succeeding a crazy night that couldn’t have been real, I woke up in my bed like nothing had happened. I thought it all must have been a dream... That is until I keep seeing the demons everywhere…

Soon, they come to me and tell me what I really am... And it's not entirely human…

Being a busy holiday weekend, I haven't seen my roommates since we went to the carnival together. That's when I found the real purpose of the carnival and how it’s all just a front for soul trafficking. Both of my friends ended up being sucked up into the game… And I'll fight through Hell itself if I have to, to save them…

A Why Choose Demon Romance intended only for readers 18+.

My Review

Vera is just getting over a bad breakup so she and her roomates decide to go to a carnival. But while there things go wrong and she meets 4 guys who turn out to be demons. The carnival in just a place to snatch up souls and she finds out later that her roommates have been taken to hell. 

Vera and the guys have an insta-love connection but their romance never felt real to me. I didn't like the guys all that much but they are demons. I didn't like the different drugs they kept smoking and kept giving her, it felt wrong. It seemed like they had her smoke stuff and didn't tell her that it was going to have a big effect on her beforehand. They wanted her pliable so they could seduce her and it worked. 

The guys are demons but after they find her and let her in on who they really are and how they feel about her, they seemed to really change and want nothing but the best for her and I liked that.

I did like the adventure of having to go to hell and save her roommates from their fate after being kidnapped and sent there. Plus the big twist close to the end of this book was great, I really liked how the book ended. 

So while I did have a few small things about this book that bothered me, all in all it was a good read. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

*Click on pictures to enlarge them*

There were some clouds over the mountains and they moved pretty quickly over us and disappeared. 

The clouds looked cool while they were around though. 

Book Review: Hearts On Fire by Sabrina Wagner

 

Book Description

Hearts on Fire is the first book in the Hearts Trilogy, a steamy romance about first love, betrayal, and finding forgiveness. It is not a standalone.

First love is like fire…

I was a hopeless romantic.

Butterflies in your stomach, stars in your eyes… yeah, that kind of romantic.

When I met Tyler, it was love at first sight.

It flickered in the beginning, then blazed to life. We were an inferno and it consumed us.

As our worlds turn in different directions and we head to different colleges, I worry we won’t withstand the uncertainty of our futures.

They say distance makes the heart grow fonder.

I just hope he remembers he’s taking mine with him.

♥♥♥

Football was my life.

I’d been training for the pros ever since I could remember.

Nothing was going to get in my way. Not even changing schools my senior year of high school.

Then I met Kyla and my whole world flipped upside down. The beautiful blond stole my heart from the moment we met.

It was love at first sight.

Going to different colleges will be difficult, but nothing can tear me away from my favorite cheerleader.

Being an all-star quarterback won’t change me a bit.

She’ll always be my favorite end zone.

Kyla and Tyler’s story continues in Shattered Hearts the second book in the Hearts Trilogy.

My Review

Kyla and Tyler meet in high school and fall hard for each other. Things go well until they go off to college, two different colleges and more than an hour apart. Tyler is a quarterback on the football team so he's pretty busy. But they make things work. Then Tyler gets drunk and makes a huge mistake. I knew beforehand after reading the blurb that this is not a standalone book and would probably end on a cliffhanger but I read it anyway to see how it was. I have to say I was intrigued by these two but after they started being intimate with each other that ended up being 90% of what this book was. Even so, I kept reading since I felt like I wanted to see what was going to happen. 

This book ends abruptly and I kinda knew it was coming and I figure the next book will be all about them trying to work things out at some point but I don't think I can read anymore of these two since they just seem to act too childish for me to relate to them. But if you like first time love and coming of age type romance you might like this one more than I did. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #361

 

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 26 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 26 years here in a weekly blog post.  

It's been a full week. On Sunday evening the police showed up across the street for a domestic disturbance. Two people were arguing but neither of them went to jail or the ER so that's good I guess. 

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Sunday night into Monday morning between 12:30AM and 1AM, the police were across the street in the alley behind the apartments across the street on their loud speaker telling someone who had shot their gun off, that they had all four corners of the building surrounded and he needed to come out with his hands up. I heard the police on the loud speaker for about 30 minutes. The police helicopter was flying overhead the entire time too. I went back to sleep so I don't know if he was arrested but I'm guessing he was. The neighbors across the street that I talked to the next morning said they weren't sure if anyone was arrested. 

I didn't get any pictures of this because it was late at night, and behind the apartments where I couldn't see them and I didn't want to go outside while all the police were telling a man to come out of his apartment on a loud speaker. 

---

Monday morning the police pulled up across the street while I was out there with Falcor. They ran into the apartment courtyard right to the right of where they parked. Right after that I saw one of the homeless men who hang out there, run out and down the street all the while holding on to a broom. The police didn't see him run away and I have no idea why he was running. 2 of the other homeless guys were arrested because they were fighting and one of them was a bloody mess. He was handcuffed and put in the back of an ambulance while the other guy was taken away in a police car. 

I got a picture of the ambulance when it showed up and one of the homeless guys was handcuffed and put in the back of it on a stretcher. The two men had been in a fist fight and someone called the police on them. 

---

On Tuesday my brother and his girlfriend were here at my place and the guy across from me that I talked about in this blog post last week was shooting off his BB gun in the courtyard again. My nephew, his girlfriend and their 3 kids were also at my place at this time. So my brother called the police and told them what he was doing. The police showed up pretty fast.

The police came and they lined up by the side of his door and made him come outside. 

Then they frisked him. They asked to see the BB gun and then they confiscated it. He was informed that shooting a BB Gun or any type of gun anywhere other than a gun range with the exception of in the case of protecting yourself, is a misdemeanor and he would be getting a fine for firing the weapon in the courtyard. 

My brother sat outside and stared Johnathan down while Johnathan was questioned and his name was ran for warrants. Then my brother filled out a voluntary statement and signed the ticket as a witness. 

Johnathan was not happy about the ticket and the court date that he's going to have to show up to next month. He slammed his door a whole lot after the police left. But I had a houseful of kids and any of those metal BB's could have ricocheted off something and come through my window and hit these kids that were here including a newborn baby. So that's what he gets for being irresponsible with his BB gun. I found out he'll be moving out at the end of April. So good riddance. 

The high this week was 73F/22C

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.