Favorite Picture of the Week

 

First thing in the morning on our first walk of the day, I spotted a bunch of clouds over the mountains. As the day went on the clouds cleared out and we had bright blue skies. 

Tuesday morning we had a few clouds in the area. 

Tuesday evening as the sun was setting. I liked how the mountains in the background were backlit which made them look black against the setting sun and blue sky. I liked the way it looked. 

Book Review: His Twisted Tail by Melanie James

 

Book Description

Calder Lorenson inherits one hell of a mess when he’s thrust into the limelight to fill the role of Alpha at Twisted Tail Pack. With treachery in the ranks, Calder quickly finds himself in over his head. If that wasn’t enough to deal with, Pack Law decrees that he must be mated.

With no time to spare, Calder does the only thing he can think of—asks for a little help from a famous matchmaker, Willow K. Sprout. Will Willow be able to locate his mate before the looming deadline? Or will Calder have to face the consequences set by pack law?

My Review

Daisy is new in town and bumps into Willow, literally. Willow is a supernatural matchmaker and after they have coffee together Willow gives Daisy her number and says to call her if she's interested in dating a shifter and finding her mate. Only problem is, Daisy is a human and hasn't ever been around shifters but having a shifter mate sounds wonderful to her when Willow explains that once a shifter finds their mate, they will do whatever it takes to make them happy. So of course Daisy calls her and Willow sets her off on a date. Only, there's a bit of a miscommunication or a bit of matchmaking going on thanks to Willow. So Calder and Daisy meet under comical circumstances. 

Calder is the new Alpha of Twisted Tail Pack and not everyone in the pack is happy to have him there so there's a little drama there. Those trying to force him out have found an obscure pack law that decrees that he must be mated soon or lose the pack. So after talking with his friend, he calls Willow the matchmaker to help him find a mate. 

After the initial meeting, these two get to know one another and Calder knows that she's his mate. Daisy has no problem giving Calder a chance since he's gorgeous and seems really nice and funny. There's a little drama from some of the pack members but it's sorted out pretty easily. 

This was a fun, quick read. I really liked these two together. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"We hope everyone had a nice Easter"

"Of course I was in the kitchen making cake for Easter."

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

Apartment Life #366

 

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. 

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My daughter works in a large store that sells farming equipment and supplies as well as firearms. Jonathan (The guy who was firing his BB gun in my courtyard a few weeks ago.) bought his BB gun at the store my daughter works at. A while back she found out from the guy who works at the gun counter that Jonathan has been coming in to the store at least once a week trying to buy a gun. A real gun not a BB gun. But his background check was denied and his application was flagged by the store because he kept asking for help filling out the background check application to buy a gun a while back and I don't know if it's a store policy or federal regulation you cannot ask for any help, look on your phone or have anyone there with you helping you fill out the paperwork. It will get your paperwork flagged and/or denied. 

Well I guess not only did the guy working the gun counter tell my daughter that he flagged his application because Jonathan kept asking for help filling out the paperwork but when his application came back it was flat out denied. They don't tell the store the reason only that he is not eligible to buy a gun. But Jonathan keeps coming back into the store every week trying to buy a gun. And they keep telling him the background check came back and he cannot buy a gun. 

So at least there's that. I am happy to know that at least we don't have to worry about him having an actual gun unless he buys one illegally off of someone idiot around here. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. 

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My daughter's friend and her girlfriend got the apartment in my courtyard and they moved in this week. Yay. At least there's one more normal neighbor in my courtyard now. 

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The high this week was 87F/30C

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

 

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. 

1 Ingredient Tangerine Sorbet

You might have already seen this recipe floating around the internet but if you haven't I thought I would show you that it actually works! All you need is tangerines and a food processor. 

You will need: 

8 Tangerines

1 Cookie Sheet

Food Processor

What to do:

Freeze Tangerine segments on a cookie sheet for 3 hours. Or until completely frozen.

Blend the tangerine segments in a food processor using the pulse feature, adding a handful of the segments at a time until the mixture looks very crumbly and you can scoop it together using an ice cream scoop. This only took about 5 minutes. 

8 Tangerines made a nice size bowl full that ended up being 4 servings. This is a great Summertime dessert. You can add anything you like or serve with toppings. We ate is as is. 

Each serving is 100 calories and 24 carbs. 

A Few Pictures I Forgot To Post This Month

 

One of the sunsets this month. There were a lot of clouds. 

A sunrise with some strange clouds in the sky. 

A woodpecker showed up in my courtyard. He was pretty high up in the tree so we didn't get a great picture of him but that was neat. I've never seen a woodpecker around here before. 

The sky was so bright this morning. 

Book Review: Growling For My Mate by Luna Wilder

 

Book Description

Grier Taylor is just a lost girl. Abandoned by her parents when she was young, she was raised by the group of shifters who took her in. Now that she’s grown, she can’t help but notice all of the ways that she doesn’t truly belong. On her eighteenth birthday, Grier decides to leave Ash Mountain and the pack. That is until the Alpha comes for her.

Slate has been Alpha of his pack ever since his parents were killed by hunters. Lonely and overworked, he wonders if he’ll ever find his fated mate. That’s when he catches her scent.

Will this Alpha shifter be able to convince his mate that they’re meant to be and that there’s nowhere that she belongs more than with him and his pack?

*Warning: Growling for His Mate is an instalove romance with plenty of heat and over the top alpha love. This shifter book is safe, with no cheating and a HEA that will have you growling for more!

My Review

Grier was abandoned by her parents at a young age, the pack found her and adopted her so she's known about shifters since she was a kid. But she's never felt like she belonged with them because they didn't include her in the things they were doing and she couldn't keep up with them even if she did go. 

On her 18th birthday she's ready to leave the pack and venture out into the human world alone but the alpha of the pack who's always been nice to her catches her scent change when she turns 18 and becomes an adult and he knows that she's his fated mate. While she likes him and is attracted to him, she knows the only real reason he's asking her to stay now is because of the mate bond he feels for her now. If it wasn't for that, he wouldn't have looked at her twice. 

Shifters only have one mate so if she leaves or rejects him, he'll be devastated. Now all he has to do is show her that he'll be good to her and they can make this work if only she'll give him a chance. 

She has some very relatable questions and insecurities about how the pack is going to accept her as the alpha's mate. This was a quick, cute read. 

I give this 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

*Click pictures to enlarge them*

I took this picture in February of this year, in the middle of our Winter. I thought it would be interesting to see the subtle differences between the Winter and Summer on the street. It was about 39F/4C on this day. Notice how some of the tree's on the right hand side of the street have no leaves on them. 

This picture was taken in the middle of Summer of last year (2024) around July when it was 120F/48C but it doesn't look that hot does it? lol But as you can see those tree's on the right side of the street now have leaves all over them. 

This picture was taken in March of this year. This was after the palm trees and the trees on the other side of the street had been trimmed. 

So I guess we do have some changes from one season to the next but nothing like some places where all the leaves turn pretty colors. 

Book Review: Arkon by Ava Benton

 

Book Description

Demons aren’t real. Are they?

One sexy demon. One human female. One lethal magic dagger.

She’s broken. He’s on a mission. How did her brokenness derail his mission? Join this sexy demon and the woman who can’t deny the attraction to him on a journey for healing, revenge, and sexy times.

Jasmine’s life flipped upside down a little more than a decade ago since the fateful day she intervened in a scuffle between two men with horns. Horns! Since that day her family’s thought she’s bonkers. In more institutions than she cares to remember, on more prescriptions than a junkie, she’s finally settled into a semblance of normal in the middle of nowhere, running an antique store. Normal. Totally. Until…

Arkon’s been haunted by the memory of the girl who saved his life ages ago, but he’s had more important things on his mind. Staying alive. He and his brothers are being persecuted by bounty hunters sent by the princes of hell. He’s doing everything he can not to be killed. While at the same time, trying to find a way through the veil so he can avenge his parents’ murders. Until…

My Review

Years ago Jasmine was attacked by a demon but another demon, Arkon saved her and left her memories intact. Ever since then she's been in and out of mental hospitals and had debilitating panic attacks. No one believed her when she said Demons were real and she started to think she might really be crazy until one day Arkon shows up again because he feels the magic pouring off a magical dagger that Jasmine just happens to get for her antique store. 

Arkon wants to find a way through the veil so he can get back to Hell and avenge his parents murder. The magical dagger that he feels a pull to would be just what he needed if the human female hadn't touched it, now all matter of demons are after her to get the dagger and he can't leave her in danger. 

With the help of a witch and Arkon's brothers, they will try to keep Jasmine safe but the danger seems to be coming from all over so she's not as safe as they think she is. 

I really liked Arkon, he's a demon but he falls hard for Jasmine and she in turn falls for him. Their relationship changes him for the better and he helps her realize that she's not crazy. These two were so good for each other and it was fun to watch them fall for each other. I'm looking forward to reading the next book and seeing his brothers find their mates and hopefully seeing more of the witch because she was interesting. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Apartment Life #365

 

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.  

For a couple of days in a row the Goodyear Blimp was flying over Las Vegas. I haven't seen the blimp in a long time. I used to see it all the time when I was a kid. 

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On Wednesday night when I took Falcor out for his last walk I spotted one of the homeless ladies dog out by himself. So when he came over to see Falcor I grabbed him, took Falcor home and walked Nibbles around the neighborhood looking for his owner. 

Then Jonathan came outside and since I know he knows the owner I asked him if he knows where she hangs out. He said she was probably at the laundry mat, so he took the dog over to her. He told me when he got back that she was there and got her dog back. Oh and it looks like Jonathan isn't moving after all, he's decided to stay here so I figure it's better to make nice with him while he's here. 

--

On Wednesday I heard a bunch of sirens in the area and found out that police and Swat were just around the corner from my  neighborhood. So this technically didn't happen in my immediate neighborhood but it as close enough for me to hear all the sirens. 

But when I looked on my news pages on FB this was all I could find out about it. There wasn't any updates so who knows what happened. 

The high this week was 87F/30C

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

 

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

Ham, Vegetable and Noodle Casserole

You will need:

1/2 Cup Uncooked Shell Noodles

1/4 Cup grated Pepper Jack cheese

8 ounces of ham- cut into cubes

1 lb Asparagus

1/4 Cup shredded purple cabbage

10 Cherry tomatoes

1 Cup Salsa ( I used homemade you can use jarred if you prefer)

1/2 Bell Pepper- diced

1/2 Onion - diced

1/4 Cup Cilantro- diced

2 TBSP Sweet Chili Sauce

No Calorie Cooking Spray

1 Green Onion- diced

What To Do:

Boil Noodles until done. Drain and set aside.

In a pan saute asparagus, onion, bell pepper, cherry tomatoes and cabbage until fork tender or desired tenderness. Add cubed ham and heat through.  I used smoked ham so it didn't need to be cooked, just heated. Add sweet chili sauce and salsa. Stir until combined and add the noodles. Top with cheese, cilantro and green onion. 

This made 4 servings. Each serving is 300 Calories and 20 carbs. 

Would you eat this?

Falcor Pictures

 

The Mulberry trees' drop these catkins on the ground this time of year. I'm allergic to Mulberry trees so this has my nose working overtime.

There are so many of them. But Falcor decided to roll in the ones that were in the grass. 

And there were a lot of them.

He ended up with one attached to his chin. lol

Book Review: His Rescued Mate by Delta James

 

Book Description

Max had never questioned his need to live alone until she arrived.

Max had always been an enigma on Kodiak Island, his solitary life and mysterious past shrouded in secrecy. But when his friend breaks a leg, Max reluctantly offers to host the guest booked at Joe's loft. When Alexa, a fearless journalist with a passion for adventure, steps off the plane and meets Max, he knows she is his fated mate.

Alexa soon realizes she’s staying with Max Renner, the well-known and reclusive artist who has consistently refused all interview requests. Determined to get his story, she plunges into his guarded world. Little does she know, she’s about to be swept into a web of secrets and deceit.

As they delve deeper into Max’s hidden past, their mutual attraction blazes into an undeniable passion. In a moment of excitement, Max marks her without her consent. The unveiling of his family’s dark secrets and the revelation of his true identity collide.

Can Alexa accept Max’s shadowy past and embrace the extraordinary future he offers her.

My Review

Max is a solitary artist who lives on Kodiak island. He has to host a journalist named Alexa when his friend who was supposed to be hosting her broke his leg. So Max has Alexa at his cabin and they start to talk and get to know one another but Alex doesn't know that Max is a wolf shifter and he knows she is his fated mate. So Max is doing everything he can to be polite, welcoming and show her a good time while she's there. 

Once while they are out hiking his land they come across a secret that's been buried for many years. A secret about his family which brings these two even closer together as they try and find out what happened to these people and why. 

As Max and Alexa get closer and act on their mutual attraction, Max does something that will change the course of their relationship forever. But Alexa has fallen hard for Max so she's not quite as mad as he thinks she'll be and that's a good thing. 

This is a novella length book so it was a quick read but the storyline kept me very engaged while reading. I loved the secrets that came out during the story because that just added to the suspenseful feel of the story. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

A sunrise this week. It's getting warmer and there aren't a lot of clouds in the sky anymore. But this morning there were a few. Yes, I get up early because Falcor always wants to go out first thing in the morning. At least I'm able to see some nice sunrises because of him. 

Book Review: Her Dragon To Slay by Julia Mills

 

Book Description

Badass of the Golden Fire Clan. Strong. Ancient. And looking for love. He can defeat the enemy with a single look, but can he slay the heart of the one made for him before time runs out?

Sassy and stubborn have gotten Kyndel through everything life had to throw at her. Will her moxie help when destiny falls at her feet? Hundreds of years of loyalty to Dragon Guard have made Rayne a fearless leader. When the long foretold pull of his mate rocks the Commander’s world to its core will he be able to save her from his enemies in time?

The chemistry between this strong-willed curvy girl and fierce warrior makes all the difference in the world where nothing is as it seems. The existence of an ancient race of honor-clad, tradition-bound protectors might be hard to accept but now the dead are coming back to life and holding a knife to her neck.

Can these fated mates defeat their greatest enemies and get their happily ever after? Fate Will Not Be Denied!!

The books in this epic saga can be read as stand-alone stories, or you can experience all the love, thrills, and exploits of the whole series from beginning to end. It's up to you. ENJOY! XOXO Julia

My Review

While Rayne is flying over the city in his dragon form, he feels a pull and has to land. That's when he spots Kyndel, his mate. She's human and has no idea about his kind so he's going to have to be careful and slowly get to know her before he tells her about his dragon half. He would have done that if some a man with evil intent wasn't stalking her and Rayne has to stop him before he poses any danger to her. So when Rayne gets hurt in the fight and asks Kyndel not to take him to the hospital, she does the only thing she can think to do, she brings him back to her place. I don't know about you all, but I'm not bringing some stranger back to my place. 

But once Rayne has slept and healed, he has to tell Kyndel the truth a bit sooner than he would have liked because bad guys who want to kill his kind are after him and his friends. The hunters know about Kyndel now too and would stop at nothing to kill her as well since she is his fated mate. 

So off they go trying to get to safety while the hunters are chasing them, trying to kill all of them. There's a great twist near the end of this book that I thought really sets up the next book for some drama and I am excited to read more now to see what happens. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"It's good to be King"

"I wanted a donut but had salad instead to be healthy..ugh"

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

Apartment Life #364

 

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.  

I heard the police helicopter up flying right over my apartment complex so I had to go outside and see what was up. 

The police were all over the street.

Some right across the street and another one farther down the street. 

The police had a homeless woman in the pool courtyard of my complex and were going through her bags and had her handcuffed. But later on I saw her outside so she wasn't arrested. I have no idea why there were so many cops and the police helicopter for just that or if they were looking for someone else too. I didn't see them bother anyone else. 

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A couple of weeks ago this older woman was walking these two large dogs (a pitbull and an Australian Shepherd) They saw Falcor and me come around the corner and they pulled her off her feet. She landed in the street and let go of one of the leashes. The Australian Shepherd came running over and I was able to pick Falcor up before he did anything. She still had a hold of the pitbull but the dog was trying to get to us, barking and growling. I pulled out my tazer just in case. But I didn't have to use it. I told her she shouldn't be walking both dogs at the same time if she can't control them. But the very next day here she is walking both dogs again. You can't fix stupid, I guess. And that very same day I saw her dogs go after another little dog and she was pulled into the street again and almost fell down...again. 

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You might remember Jessica, the Mayor of tunnel town in my neighborhood. Well her reign might be over. I saw a homeless man putting these signs up all over and snagged one before the homeless people took them all down. It says, "Jessica you can come clean and pay up or I'll knock on Alta's door."

Looks like there's some drama brewing down in them tunnels. LoL

Will Jessica pay up? 

Will he have to knock on Alta's door? 

Will Jessica keep her job as Mayor of tunnel town?

Will there be more signs put up? 

Get answers to these burning questions and more on the next episode of, As The Apartment Burns. 

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Yesterday's sunrise. 

The high this week was 93F/33C

The low this week was 61F/16C

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. 

Homemade Vegetable Broth

Since I started eating low carb I've been using a lot of vegetables. So I thought I would save all the cuttings, ends and pieces that would usually get thrown away and make some homemade vegetable broth. I saved it all in freezer bags and and just added to the bags as I used the vegetables. After 2 months I had enough to make a large pot of vegetable broth. 

I didn't add any salt or spices to this that way I can spice it up any way I want when I use it. The vegetable pieces that I had were carrots, onion, tomato, zucchini, asparagus, bell pepper, cilantro, broccoli, cauliflower and celery.

I added all the ends, pieces and peels from the vegetables I had saved to a pot and covered it with water. Bring it to a boil, put a cover on it and let it simmer on medium for 6 hours or until all of the vegetable ends and pieces have gotten mushy. Strain the vegetables from the broth and fill ice cube trays with the broth. 

I got 24 vegetable broth cubes from this big pot of vegie pieces. 

I put the vegie broth cubes in ziplock freezer bags and am storing it in the freezer. When I need some vegetable broth for a recipe I can just pop a few vegie cubes out of the bag and use it. 

Would you make your own vegetable broth?

Weird Things Around My Apartment

 

*Click pictures to enlarge them*

So if you were to walk around my apartment there might be a few things that stand out as strange, nothing I'd classify as outlandish but maybe a bit weird. I never said I was normal...let's just get that out there, okay?

I bought this gnome wand made from clay about 15 years ago. I just thought it was so unique. It sits on my bookcase. I saw some Sculpey Clay and thought, I can do that! lol 

And I made my own wand with some blue beads. 

It was a lot harder to make something than I thought it would be.  

I have a Dime Rat. It's called a Dime Rat because it's the size of a Dime. It was hard to get a good picture of her because she's so little. I won her in a FB contest years ago at Sculptures By Eve. 

My daughter went to a store that had some interesting things and bought this. It's heavy, made of ceramic and made to look like that paper game we used to play when we were kids. 

I thought it looked very interesting. 

At that store my daughter also bought a Beaver's paw and a small alligator paw to add to her shelf. Not sure if it's the formaldehyde or whatever they used to preserve the paws, but they smell really bad if you get up close to them.

A friend of mine gave me some Monster Dollars years ago. I think they're cool. 

I have two small comic books. This one Grimm's Ghost Stories is a fun one.

It has a copyright date of 1977. I've had it a long time.

I like to keep small things that are interesting.

I also have a small Twilight Zone comic book. 

This also has a copyright date of 1977. 

I used to watch the show all the time.

These Screaming Traders trading cards are from some horror movies. My favorite being Pet Sematary.

A couple of weeks ago my daughter went to a store called Cemetery Pulp and bought a couple more things. This is a banana spider in a vial of formaldehyde. That spider is big.

And this is a leach in a vial of formaldehyde. 

So there ya go. There's some of the weird things you might find around my apartment. 

Do you have anything in your home that would surprise someone?

If you want to see the other posts I've done about Weird Things Around My Apartment, I will link them below. 

Weird Things Around My Apartment- 2017

Things Around My House- Inherited and Gifts- 2018

Weird Things Around My Apartment- 2024