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 sample of Erborian Eye cream. 

A sample of Chanel perfume. 

A 4.5lb bag of Edgard Cooper dog food from Ripple Street. 

The perfume smells really good. The eye cream didn't do anything for me that I could tell. 

Falcor made out well again this week with more free dog food that he liked. It didn't upset his stomach either so that was a plus for me. 

Did you receive any samples this week?

Book Review: Malsum Pass by Kimberly Forrest

 

Book Description

The quaint town of Malsum Pass has secrets, but perhaps it also holds the key to her heart…

Eager to connect with family she never knew she had, Tara Mason journeys to the small town of Malsum Pass. The town seems idyllic despite the townspeople’s odd habit of staring and… sniffing? And while Tara’s new neighbor, Riley Cooper looks like he could have been conjured from one of her fantasies, there is definitely more going on here than meets the eye. Tara is determined to uncover the secrets of Malsum Pass, but along the way, she also discovers things she never knew about herself.

Riley Cooper is a wolf shifter, just like everyone else in Malsum Pass, including his attractive new neighbor. The weird thing is, she doesn’t seem to know it. How that was possible, he had no idea, but he was certainly looking forward to unraveling all of this she-wolf’s mysteries.

My Review

Before Tara was born her mother fled Malsum Pass- the town she grew up in and never looked back. Her mother was pregnant with her but the father had no clue since the father's dad was the one who made her leave and never come back. Her mother's father was the only one who knew about Tara but her mother never saw her father again before she tragically died and left a lot of questions for Tara. So once Tara finds out about her grandfather she makes the decision to visit him and let him know that her mother passed away. 

Once in the town though, the rumor mill picks up fast when Tara comes to town. The townspeople all know each other because they are all wolf shifters but Tara doesn't know anything about that. Her mother kept that secret to herself as well as a few others. 

Tara is quickly loved by her grandfather and his wife as well as some of the other townspeople. Almost everyone is very nice to her except for Riley, the gorgeous Sheriff that is rude and nosy at the same time. She's not sure what to make of Riley but when the secrets of her past and future come to light, she looks to Riley to help her through it all. 

Finding out your mother lied to you your whole life and that you're actually a wolf shifter would be hard enough. But to also find out that your father never knew about you and would have loved you would make me really mad. I can understand why her mother left the town and never looked back when it comes to light how bad she was treated by some of the people in this town but it was still wrong. 

I really liked Tara's grandfather and his wife as well as most of the other townspeople. It was fun watching Riley and Tara gravitate towards one another and fall for each other over time. This was a fun read. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

Tuesday and Wednesday this week we had a little bit of rain and dark clouds. It cooled things off a bit but the humidity increased to 30%. I don't like the humidity. lol 

Not a great shot but you can see we still had some really dark clouds around sunset. The sun was trying to peek through those dark clouds but it was a losing battle. 

More dark clouds. We also had some really strong winds and a dust storm this past week. The winds got so bad and strong that it cause more than 50 power poles to fall over all over Las Vegas, knocking power out all over the city. Thankfully my power stayed on but we did have a few brown outs where everything blinked like we were going to lose power. If you would like to see the news footage of the downed power poles you can find that here. 

The yellow flowers across the street were in full bloom.

My daughter was packing her suitcase for a small trip with her friend who came to town for her birthday a couple of weeks ago. Falcor jumped in the suitcase and tried making his bed there. "Where do you think you're going?" lol 

While my daughter was gone I made some chocolate chip cookies. Every once in a while I have to ignore the diet and have a treat. Cookies!

Book Review: Maid For Her Snow Beast by Eva Priest

 

Book Description

WELCOME TO AVALON VALE!

The newest monster-controlled city is open to new residents and visitors alike!

Whether you want to take a walk on the wild side for a night or find your happily ever after, we have what you need right here!

◆◆◆

Another monster-controlled city has opened their portals for new residents, and Valiana Seitta sees it as an opportunity for a fresh start. Fueled by business plans and vision boards, she moves away from a crummy relationship and endless string of dead end jobs to the sparkling possibility of Avalon Vale.

New year, new city, and new look—Val is ready to leave her old life behind. Unfortunately, she has nowhere to live. So when she’s offered an opportunity to clean out an abandoned mansion, Val takes it.

As she jumps into her new job, she realizes that the mansion may not be completely abandoned after all.

◆◆◆

Maid for Her Snow Beast is a sweet yet spicy small town fated mates monster romance set outside of the monster-controlled city of Avalon Vale. It’s a stand alone story with high heat, low stakes, grumpy/sunshine vibes.

My Review

Val takes a job to clean out an abandoned mansion but when she gets there she realizes that the mansion is not at all what she expected. The house is sentient and while it might not like Torben or be as friendly to some other occupants, the mansion is very friendly to Val and gives her exactly what she wants and needs. 

Torben is a snow beast but doesn't look human when he's not in his bigger beast form. He looks different with fur and amber eyes but is bigger when he transforms into his beast form. He can transform into the bigger beast form when he wants to or needs to like if he's saving Val which he needed to do a couple of times because Val had a stalker that puts her in danger. But Val is Torben's mate so he does what he has to in order to save her. 

Humans know about the supernatural monsters that are called otherkin. Humans and monsters try to live in peace together but there are some that don't like it and make trouble. 

I really liked Val, she is just a nice person and she was exactly what Torben needed. These two were so sweet together. I really liked watching them get to know one another and fall for each other. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"Wanna play ball?"

I hope everyone had a nice 4th.

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

Apartment Life #377

 

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.

Last Saturday this woman knocked on my door and asked me if I had seen this man she had on her phone. It looked like a Ring Doorbell camera photo. I hadn't seen him but asked her if I did see him if she wanted to leave a phone number so I could tell her in case he was missing or something. She just shook her head no and said, "It doesn't matter." 

In my head I was thinking, if it doesn't matter then why did you just knock on my door? She knocked on two other doors in my courtyard out of the 16 doors and left. The next day I see her and this guy standing in the street looking at my bedroom window, staring right at the camera. Sketchy. 

She kept looking right at my camera and pointing at my window. I made sure the locks were on my window. It might be nothing but it sure seemed sketchy. 

My daughter's best friends moved into my courtyard with her girlfriend last month and she sent my daughter this picture of one of the homeless guys, (Dreads) getting arrested in our alley. Now I have neighbors sending me pictures for the blog. lol 

My daughter took this picture of a homeless man laying on a beanbag chair/bed with his pants down around his ankles. He's in the parking lot next door. At least he had on some underwear.

Thursday night right before sunset I was across the street and the Tactical police truck pulled up and went into a building in my apartment complex. They came out a while later and a lady was writing something on a clipboard. It looked liked she was writing out a statement for the police but I'm not sure. 

---

Friday night around midnight I was walking Falcor across the street because when you gotta go, you gotta go. lol As I came back to my side of the street I saw a lady coming back from checking her mail in the pool courtyard and she was darn near falling down drunk. She was stumbling and even grabbed one of the flag poles for stability at one point. As she passed by me I noticed she had a small handgun in a holster clipped to her shorts. Now I have no qualms about anyone carrying a gun. My state is an open carry state, meaning you can openly carry a gun pretty much anywhere here unless otherwise posted at the entrance of a store or building. But alcohol and guns do not mix. I'm glad she got back home safely though. 

The high this week was 109F/42C

The low this week was 81F/27C

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

Saturday Vittles

 

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.

Asian Style Ground Chicken and Vegetables

You will need: 

1 lb ground chicken

2 carrots sliced small- I used the vegetable peeler to get thin slices

2 cups shredded purple cabbage

1 cup sliced celery- the vegetable peeler worked for this too

1 cup sliced mushrooms

3 TBSP Sweet Chili Sauce

1 tsp. sesame oil

2 TBSP Soy sauce

1 TBSP Oyster sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

2 TBSP chicken broth

What to do: 

Mix the sesame oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sweet chili sauce and salt and pepper into a bowl. Set aside. 

Cook ground chicken over medium heat, add half of the sauce mixture from bowl, cook until done, breaking it apart as it cooks. Remove meat from pan, add chicken broth, and add vegetables to pan. Cook vegetables over medium heat, add the rest of the sauce mixture from bowl and cook until the doneness you desire. Add the cooked chicken back to the pan and mix well. 

I made a large bowl of this so I could have it for lunches too. 

Each 1 cup serving is 150 calories and 20 carbs. 

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 sample of Pedigree Choice Cuts in Gravy dog food and a coupon for buy one get two free. -From SheSpeaks.

Falcor loved the dog food. I feed him Pedigree anyway so I already knew he would like this. 

Did you receive any freebies or samples this week?

Book Review: The Lycan's Bride by Jenny D

 

Book Description

Damien, a Lycan of regal lineage, has wandered through centuries in relentless pursuit of his fated mate. The moment he discovers her in the vibrant and spirited Adra, destiny weaves its intricate tapestry, only to unravel in the face of unforeseen mysteries.

Newly revised and edited! Content added and a better ending included! 5/18/2024

"In a world where destiny's threads can unravel in an instant, Damien, a regal Lycan, finally finds his fated mate in the spirited Adra—only to face the mysteries that threaten to tear them apart. As Adra confronts her first shift and the enigmatic interest of the Alpha's son, will their destined love endure the cosmic twists of fate?"

Adra, a werewolf on the brink of her inaugural shift, yearns for the revelation of her fated mate during this pivotal moment. Yet, the cosmic design takes an unexpected turn when she is swept away under mysterious circumstances. As she grapples with the enigma surrounding her, the sudden and disconcerting interest of the Alpha's son casts a shadow over her path.

Will Damien and Adra's connection withstand the twists of fate, or will the allure of the alpha's son threaten the delicate balance of their destined love?

My Review

Damien has been searching for his mate for decades so he's shocked when he spots her when he's out for a run. He's not sure what pack she belongs to so he enlists the help of his father the pack alpha to make arrangements to visit the neighboring packs so see if she's in either of them. Damien and his pack are lycan's. Still wolf shifters but much bigger and strong than normal wolf shifters.  

Adra is turning 18 years old in a few days and when she does, her wolf will emerge and she will be able to find her mate if he's around anywhere near. But when She meets Damien, she knows right away that he's her mate even without having her wolf yet. 

They start to get acquainted but someone wants to come between them. When the answers about who and why come to light, it's kinda sad to know that they lost their freedom because of greed, jealousy and other other crazy reasons. Adra's pack and Damien's pack come together to stop the threat and all the while Adra and Damien get much closer and their bond gets much stronger. 

I loved that we see Adra's best friend find her mate as well. That was fun. 

This was a fun read that kept me entertained throughout the book. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

This huge cloud all lit up from the sun setting looked like it was on fire.

We got some rain from it as it passed over. 

On the 4th of July, I stayed inside our apartment with Falcor and watched from my bedroom window. This picture made me laugh because my daughter turned around and took a picture of me in the window watching and the fireworks she set off in the street just look like a huge bonfire with the camera I have in the window. LOL 

Huge bonfire. LOL 

Book Review: Lucifer's Daughter by Kel Carpenter

 

Book Description

We’ve all heard the story of the Four Horsemen. Harbingers of the apocalypse. Destruction given form. Four of the sexiest—wait no—forget that. You get my point.

So imagine my surprise when I find out everything I’ve ever been told, is a lie.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here.

Let’s start from the beginning. My name is Ruby Morningstar. I run a tattoo parlor in Portland with my banshee bestfriend, have a pet raccoon, a crazy ex that stalks me, not to mention this one little thing… I’m a demon. Half-succubus, to be exact.

For the last twenty-three years of my life, that’s the story I believed, but on the day a handsome stranger bails me out of jail my world is turned upside down, and suddenly I don’t know who I am anymore.

Because the Four Horsemen aren’t the bringers of the apocalypse.

I am.

Talk about never catching a break.

My Review

Ruby believes she's a half succubus demon until she goes to jail for destroying her nemesis's car and a stranger bails her out. Now she's told the truth about who and what she actually is and it's a big deal. The Four Horsemen come to claim her so they can all stop demons from being able to take over the world. 

The horsemen are giving her time to get to know them and trying to talk her into going back to Hell with them. But since this is a slow burn romance, there's very little intimate times with the guys. This is a reverse harem, meaning she's with all four guys or at least they want her to be theirs. 

Bandit the pet racoon is hilarious. I really liked him. He brought so much fun to this story. 

This book does end on a cliffhanger which I didn't like. I would rather get a whole book rather than 3 books even if the book ends up being a long one. Even with a trilogy I think each book can be a complete book that doesn't end on a cliffhanger the way this one did. Not sure I will keep reading this series since the storyline was slow and it didn't really keep my interest as much as I would have liked. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

All pictures this week are courtesy of Anisah Hann/Ratz Furever. Ratz Furever has a hilarious Instagram page where she posts videos of her rats. She gets some drama because some people don't think these are funny. I find them hilarious and you can tell from her other social media that she takes great care of her rats. Go check her out. I took screen shots from some of her videos to get these pictures because I love her rats. 

Apartment Life #376

 

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.

My camera doesn't take great pictures at night but the ambulance showed up at 10PM on Monday night and they had someone on the stretcher that went to the ER. 

The police were seen on my street on Tuesday afternoon. They're been driving by a lot recently, this time they stopped and talked to someone across the street in the apartments there. 

The next morning around 6AM on Wednesday, I saw caution tape going across the street. I didn't hear or see any police or anything but the older couple across the street said he said the police at 2AM with their flashlights looking in the rocks. Usually when they do theta they're looking for blood or bullet casings. But another neighbor said she went to work at 5AM and the caution tape wasn't there at that time. Did someone put it up, take it down and then put it back up again?

I'm confused as to who did it now. Was it police or someone around here pulling a prank?

I read on Twitter sometime back that people in other countries don't believe that the school buses here in the US are actually yellow. So I thought I would snap a picture of one to show anyone who didn't know that they are indeed yellow.

----

Some fireworks from the 4th.

 

The high this week was 104F/40C

The low this week was 77F/25C

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

Saturday Vittles

 

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.

I'm calling this a comfort food casserole. 

Cornbread Chili Casserole

You will need: 

2 cans of Hormel Chili with beans

2 boxes of Jiffy Cornbread mix

1/2 cup of corn- fresh or canned is fine

1 tomato- diced

2 TBSP Diced Green Chilis - I used canned

No calorie cooking spray

2 eggs

2/3 cup milk

1 1/2 lbs ground beef- cooked

What to do: 

Cook the ground beef in a pan until no longer pink, drain off any oil, add both cans of chili to the ground beef and stir to mix. Set aside. 

Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with no calorie cooking spray. Preheat over to 400F.

Mix the Jiffy cornbread mix according to package directions using the eggs, milk and water. Stir the diced green chilis, tomato and corn into the cornbread mixture and pour into your greased baking pan. Spoon the hamburger mixture on top of the cornbread mixture and stir just a little to get the hamburger down into the cornbread. Do not mix too much, you want the hamburger to still be mostly on top. 

Bake for 45 minutes in a 400F oven or until the cornbread is done. 

This made a huge casserole dish full and made 8 servings. Each serving is 375 calories and 20 carbs.

Would you eat this?

I made a big dish of this and ate is for lunch for a few days. It easily heated back up in the microwave and was great for lunch.  

Makeup Haul and a Maybelline Foundation Rant

 

Small Makeup haul. The Sugar brand black eyeliner is my favorite. I've used it for years and love how smoothly is goes on. But I really love how it dries down like a liquid eyeliner and doesn't smudge. I love that. Then I also got a Burts Bees Shimmer lip balm in color Peony. It's the only lipstick/lip balm that I wear when I want some color.

Benefit Fan Fest Mascara- It's a volumizing mascara that works really well for me since I have small eyelashes. It builds on itself and makes my eyelashes look long. 

And then 4 different shades of Maybelline Fit Me foundation. 3 of them are too light but at least I won't have to buy any concealer for a long time since I can use these for that. lol 

I also tried a Wet n Wild Photo Focus Dewy foundation shade Rose Ivory. It was much too light. Almost straight up white. Too light to even use as a concealer for me. 

I also tried a Revlon Illuminance Skin-Caring Liquid Foundation, Nourishing Formula with Medium Coverage, in the shade 209 Buff Beige. Now while this is the right shade to be a good concealer, the scent is awful. To me, it smells like what an old dish sponge that is moldy/mildewy smells like. I can't have that scent on my face. I gave it to my daughter to see if she could use it. 

So you might be wondering why I bought so many different foundations? Let me tell you... I've been using Maybelline foundation for many years. First it was this one, Dream Satin Liquid Shade 30. Then they discontinued making this.

I started using this, Maybelline Dream Radiant Liquid, Shade Ivory beige. It has a pink undertone which I really like since my skin is fair but pinkish. Each time they rebrand and discontinue making the one I'm using, I can usually find the right shade by reading the comments on their website. But when I went to order more of the Dream Radiant Liquid, I saw that it was also being discontinued and my shade was no longer available. So I went to their website and looked at the comments to see if anyone had figured out the right shade for what I used. 

Instead of just telling people what the right shade would be to replace what they had been using, Maybelline gave them this very unhelpful response to try the Fit Me Dewy foundation but they don't tell you what the new shade number is for what you used to wear, so they pretty much are saying, figure it out yourself. Very helpful. Not!

While I probably should have just tried a different brand all together and left Maybelline in the dust, I didn't and since I have no idea what the new name of my old shade is, so I bought shade 105 and 110 hoping that at least one of them would be close to the right shade. They are both close but both are a little too light. 

Maybelline could have been helpful and left the shade names or numbers the same on the new bottles so people could find what they're looking for but no, that would be too easy and helpful. Or at the very least have a chart telling you if you used this shade, this new shade would work for you. But no. That would be too helpful too I guess. I even made a post asking for help finding a dupe for the shade they discontinued. I posted on Twitter/X and on Instagram and tagged Maybelline in both and got nothing from them. 

So I bought shades 122 and 124 as well as a Revlon and Wet n Wild foundation. You read above how the Revlon and Wet n Wild foundations turned out. The Maybelline Fit Me Dewy shade 122 was just a little lighter than I liked but works fine for a concealer color. 

Finally though when I tried the Maybelline Fit Me Dewy shade 124, that was almost the same shade as the Maybelline Dream Radiant Liquid shade Ivory beige that I loved and wanted to replace since it was discontinued. It works but isn't as pink as I would have liked.

I decided to do like the beauty enthusiasts do on Instagram and swatch a couple of shades on my arm so you can see the difference. 

The top shade is the one I like. It's the Maybelline Dream Radiant Liquid in shade Ivory beige. 

The next one down is the Maybelline Fit Me Dewy shade 124. 

And the one at the bottom is Maybelline Fit Me Dewy shade 122. 

You can see that 124 and the top one are very close in color while the bottom shade is too light. So I will continue to use 124 for now.

Maybelline obviously stopped making the shade that I liked with the pink undertone because while shade 124 was very close, it has a tan undertone. The next darker shade available would be too dark and again doesn't have a pink undertone. But since I use Coty Airspun Loose Face Powder in the Rosey Beige shade, I still get that pink tint to my face makeup that I like. I'm going to keep looking for a foundation shade that is right and has a pink undertone to it but for now, I have several bottles of foundation that I need to use. lol

If you've ever had a favorite makeup product be discontinued and you had a hard time finding a duplicate for it, you already know how frustrating that can be.  

Book Review: Lost by Ava Benton

 

Book Description

Tyson and some of his pack are acting as emissaries to other packs in the state when they suddenly spot something on the side of the road and he picks up the scent of blood. It’s a girl, lying in the road. She’s beaten and bloody.

Alicia wakes up, can’t remember much other than her name and age. She’s hurt. Someone seems to have beat the daylights out of her. And she’s in someone else’s—a male’s—clothing.

Then a rugged hot guy walks in. Now she realizes how lost she is.

My Review

Tyson and a few members of his pack are on their way back home, driving through a rival pack's territory when they pick up the scent of blood on the side of the road. They think it might be a setup but they stop anyway. They find Alicia who has been stabbed. They pick her up and load her into their vehicle and bring her back to their pack where their doctor can ptch her up. Tyson and his pack are wolf shifters so now with a human in their house, they have to be careful and not scare her by wolfing out. 

Once Alicia wakes up, she can't remember what happens. But she knows she feels safe with Tyson for some reason. Tyson doesn't want to admit it right away but Alicia is his mate. Something really bad happened to her and she keeps getting small flashes of what happened but she knows that there's something really important that she can't remember. 

Tyson is so patient with her while she recovers and tries to remember what happened to her and who would want to stab her and why. They can't keep their hands off each other because of the pull of the mate bond but that's ok because they really needed each other. Tyson wondered why he hadn't met his mate before now so he's happy to finally find her. Alicia really needed someone in her corner to be there for her. 

I liked the mystery of who tried to kill Alicia and why. The ending was great. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Don't Fall For These Scams

 

Recently I've been getting more and more scam emails. These two in particular though were new to me and made me read the emails twice. I even opened a new browser window and checked my Paypal account just to make sure this wasn't true. It wasn't but if I had been an older person who didn't know better like my mother, she would have clicked on the link in the email for sure back when she was alive and got her first laptop. 

This almost looks real, doesn't it? But if some unsuspecting person clicks on the "Review document" link at the top, I'm sure this is a Phishing scam where they ask you to tell them personal identifying information that they can then use to open new accounts in your name or when you click on the link they are able to infect your device with spyware or malware. Don't ever click on links that you don't trust. 

--

This scam email made it look like I was going to have $541.00 taken out of my account through 'auto debit' for this. There was a pdf to download at the bottom. Don't click on that! malware, spyware, and who knows what else could infect your device if you click on any links or download anything like a pdf from these types of emails. Don't fall for these scams. 

I'm sure we all get scam emails but these two were new ones I hadn't seen before so I thought I would share them so you now know they are scams and just delete them. 

If you ever think something is going on with a bank account, Paypal account ect. Just log into your account the way you normally would and check. I'm sure most of you already know not to click on links like these but older people, like my parents would have probably fallen for this. It's always good to get this information out there for those that don't know.