Happy 20th Blogoversary To Me and a Giveaway

 

It's my Blogoversary!

It's still hard for me to believe that 20 years ago I started this blog and people enjoy reading what I post. Back then I had no idea what I was going to post and didn't think anyone would be reading it. 

A lot of things have changed in the last 20 years. My daughter is all grown up and now I have a 12 year old grandson. I used to have hamsters, rats and gerbils and now have a very energetic Jack Russell Terrier/Chihuahua named Falcor who turned 11 years old this month.

My blog has changed as I've changed over the years. I've met a lot of really wonderful people and made quite a few friends along the way.  I've ranted, reviewed, shared my thoughts and advice. I don't think I ever really thought that I would still be blogging 20 years later or that anyone would read what I had to say, but many of you do and I thank you for sticking with me through so many years.

I have quite a few new readers so let me tell you all a few things about me that you might not know. 

My husband of 30 years passed away in 2020 and I miss him dearly. 

I turned 55 years old this year and have seen quite a few gray hairs popping out. lol 

I have a 33 year old daughter.  

I suffer from depression, anxiety, Agoraphobia, Schizotypal Personality Disorder and SchizoAffective Disorder. I hear voices, have hallucinations and take antipsychotic medication. But I'm holding it together. Some days are better than others. 

I love to read and take pictures of the sky and clouds.

I love cooking and trying new recipes. 

So for all of you followers that have been here a long time and for those of you that are fairly new I just want to say thank you for visiting, commenting and enjoying what I've been posting over the years. I hope we'll all be around and blogging for many years to come.

---

I thought I would do a small giveaway today in celebration of blogging for 20 years. Since I live in Las Vegas I'm giving away 5 Las Vegas postcards and 2 Las Vegas stickers to one lucky winner. Open to US only. 

If you're interested in winning the postcards and stickers (US only, sorry) just leave your email with your comment and I'll pick a random winner in 2 days. You'll have 24 hours to respond to my email or I'll pick another winner. Good luck. 

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.

I went from not getting any freebies to getting a bunch this week. 

This week I received: 

A sample box of cat food and treats from LittleKin. 

Iams sent me a 5 lb bag of puppy food. 

Cesar sent me a free Warm Bowls and a coupon. 

And Macy's sent me some perfume samples and I received a free pair of foam ear plugs. 

I gave the cat treats to a neighbor who has a cat. 

Falcor liked the Warm Bowls. And I add a handful of the puppy food to his food each day to give him a little something extra. He doesn't seem to mind. 

The perfume smells nice. And Sometimes I use foam ear plugs at night when people are making noise outside, especially in the Winter time if I have my window cracked open. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Savage Games by Reece Barden

 

Book Description

A rogue with nowhere else to go, Wyatt's made it through to the next round of the notorious Alpha Games, a brutal competition where the fiercest wolf shifters compete to win a pack of their own. Not here to make friends, Wyatt has his eyes firmly on the prize, despite nobody wanting to see a rogue like him win.

Naomi's got plans. Win a pack. Save her sister from an alpha who wants to make her pay for the death of his brother.

None of those plans involve finding her fated mate, and they definitely don't include him turning out to be a dark and brooding rogue on a mission to get himself a place to call home.

She shouldn't get distracted. Her sister's life is on the line. She needs to do whatever it takes to make sure she takes top spot.

And yet... try as she might, she can't stay away.

This book in a MF wolf shifter romance with a cinnamon roll gentle giant alpha, a born protector, and a man you don't want to mess with, who'll soon become your new favourite wolfish book boyfriend. 

My Review

This is the second book in the Alpha Games trilogy. You can find my review of the first book, Rogue Games, here. 

Wyatt is Jamie's brother from the first book. He is competing in the alpha games to try and win and get his own pack. As a rogue wolf shifter, there are a lot of members there that don't want to see him win. Rogue wolves are looked down on. But the only reason he was a rogue was because he was such a big, alpha shifter and no other pack alpha's wanted him in their pack because they were afraid he would challenge them for the alpha role and win. So because no one would let him in their pack, he had no choice but to be a rogue wolf. 

He and his sister Jamie had a rough life but in the first book his sister found her mate and she's safe and happy now. Wyatt just wanted to win these games until he meets Naomi, a female wolf shifter competing in the alpha games in order to win her own pack and keep her sister safe. But as soon as Naomi and Wyatt meet, they know they are mates. They can't let others know right away though because they don't want to be used against each other if some of the others want to cheat and put them in danger. 

There's a lot going on with Naomi though and she doesn't want to put all of her problems on Wyatt and make things harder for him. But he finds out what's going on with her and asks his sister and her mate for help which they do. 

Wyatt is a great guy. Strong, caring and exactly who Naomi needed. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book via BookFunnel but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

Here are some pictures I took this week. I was surprised that we had that many dark clouds this week. It's the time of year when things are usually really sunny. No rain but lots of cloud cover.

More great cloud cover on another day.

And then a nice sunset.

This was sunrise one morning. The entire week was nice. 

This sunset had the clouds looking almost a blue purple. 

And then this fiery sunset one night. 

Same night taken a few minutes after the last one. The clouds sure lit up nice for a picture. 

Book Review: Jacked Up: A Bloodthirsty Dark Paranormal Romance by Latrexa Nova

 

Book Description

Some people kill for fame and fortune. I'm killing for the chance to bang my Jack-in-the-box.

Yes, I mean that literally—but hear me out:

My life blows worse than my ex. The only family member I like just died, my Mom's married to a POS perv, and if you look up 'slum lord' in the dictionary, there's a picture of my property managers.

Three steps away from needing a short vacation in a grippy-sock house, I find the antique Jack-in-the-box that used to terrify me as a kid. Sure, it scared me back then, but now… It’s always there for me. I start talking to it like it's actually alive—

—And then he invades my dreams.

There, he's real—a surprisingly sexy, lanky, sad little clown man called Claus with a spring where his legs should be. But that doesn’t stop him from using that painted smile of his to bring me more pleasure than I’ve ever known.

Then he tells me he can join me in the real world—just one catch: he needs a human sacrifice.

…I'm seriously considering it, if it means I can bounce on more than just his coil.

This is a sentient object dark romance featuring a possessed Jack in the box, an incredibly unlucky FMC, bucket of violence, extremely jacked up sex scenes, manipulation, and a content warning list long enough you oughta check it out just in case.

My Review

Melody is having a very bad time. Her luck is bad, everything in her life is bad and then her grandma leaves her a creepy Jack In The Box that she hated as a kid. But then Claus invades her dreams and she realizes that Claus is the clown inside the Jack In The Box. He tells Melody that he's been trapped inside the box for many years and the curse can only be broken with a human sacrifice. But she has no plans to kill anyone until someone does something to her and she does. Once Claus is out of the box and has a 'mostly' human body, things take a very strange turn. 

Claus is not what he seems and Melody is 10 kinds of crazy. It was not the kind of dark romance that I was expecting nor was it the kind of paranormal romance that I usually read but it made me laugh at times and the insane craziness of the story kept me interested enough to keep reading. But bewarned, this story does have murder, violence, manipulating demons and graphic sex scenes. 

Sometimes reading something that turns out unexpected can be fun. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"Just making a quick run to the pharmacy."

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

Apartment Life #370

 

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.  

Some of the homeless people broke out this window in a vacant apartment and were squatting in it over the weekend. They were kicked out by maintenance on Monday and the window was replaced. 

We had strong winds over the weekend and a couple more limbs broke and were hanging down off one of the trees across the street. Hopefully they cut them down before this breaks off and hits someone in the head. 

The police were at the end of my street on Monday morning. They had a guy standing at the front of one of the police cars and later arrested him. For what, I have no idea. 

I didn't post this last week because I wasn't sure if anything else was going to happen with it. But the guy that was squatting in front of my door last week and had been arrested a couple of times the week before was wheeling this wheelchair around and left it in front of my door. I pushed it out into the rocks. I'm pretty sure he stole it from one of the homeless people and I think they took it back later that night.

It's hard to see the police car in the middle of the picture but he's there. He has his headlights on and is parked between the yellow and red car, but across the street. Monday night around 9PM we heard about 8 gunshots. A few minutes later the police helicopter was flying overhead and then police were all over the place. They arrested one guy. Not sure if this is the same guy who keeps firing shots in the air at night or not. 

 

This week I will leave you with a picture of Falcor stretching out his back leg. He still makes me laugh when he stands like this. He'll stand there with his leg stretched out for a few seconds before going about his business. 

The high this week was 98F/36C

The low this week was 66F/18C

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.

Sausage Breakfast Bowl

We layered 2 small scrambled eggs. 1 TBSP grated cheddar, 3 breakfast sausages, 1 TBSP Homemade Pico De Gallo and 3 slices of avocado into a bowl. We've had this for breakfast several times. It's really good. 

Calories for this- 360 and Carbs 10

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.

The Funeral Box

 

A while back a blogger friend at Far Side of Fifty blog made a post about a Funeral Book and I was surprised to learn that some commenters didn't know what that was. I assumed that was a normal thing that the family got when they planned a funeral. But I guess it's not. So not only am I sharing a funeral book but also my funeral box. But first the Funeral Book. 

A Funeral Book for those that don't know is a book that the funeral home gives you with the name and information of the family member you are having the funeral for. The book is left out so that guests can sign their name also. 

This is my mom's Funeral Book. This page is the Pallbearers- the people who carrier her casket at her funeral.

A list of her family on this page.

People at the funeral who signed the book.

There are poems that we the family picked out throughout the book. 

Her information like her birthdate and where she was born is also in the book. It's a nice memento to keep. 

I mentioned I have a funeral box. I just call it that because it's filled with mementos of family members who have passed on. I kept their birth certificates, death certificates, funeral book if I have it, floral cards and wallets-just how they left them at the time of their deaths. 

These are my mom's floral cards. They are the cards that were attached to any flowers that were sent from family and friends to the funeral. 

These are my grandfathers floral cards. 

I also have the wallets of my mom, grandfather and my late husband. My step father didn't have a wallet but I have the ID cards he had in his pocket. My daughter told me I should make up a wallet of my own to put in the box of some old ID's and such in case something happens to the wallet I have on me at the time of my death. It might sound creepy to others but I have started putting together a wallet to add to this box. My daughter likes the idea of that type of momento too. 

Do you keep these types of mementos?

Book Review: Into The Dark by Reece Barden

 

Book Description

If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise...

Finding love was not part of my plan.

Move to Sutton.

Figure out what happened to my father.

Go back to my boring life.

Never did I think I'd be investigating a serial unaliver, caught between two alpha males, their decade long rivalry putting me squarely in the middle, or that I'd need protection from the mysterious animal stalking my cabin in the dead of night. This town has plenty of secrets, and the more I dig, the more the realise that maybe the person responsible for the missing women isn't the only monster I need to be worried about.

This enemies-to-lovers shifter romance is packed with scorching hot tension, a st@lker who just won't quit, and secrets that don't want to stay buried.

Perfect for readers who love their alphas brooding, their heroines with some backbone, and their romance red hot.

Contains explicit scenes, mature language, and a guaranteed HEA that'll make your kindle blush.

My Review

Evan and Holly meet when Holly comes to town to find out more about her missing father she never knew about. Evan is grumpy and not all that helpful at first and that puts Holly at odds with him because why is he so rude to her for no reason. It doesn't help that her missing father, John helped to raise Evan and his brother. 

Not only does Holly have to deal with Evan being openly hostile towards her when he spots her with his nemesis but there's also missing women as well as her father. When it becomes apparent that Holly might be next on the stalkers list to disappear, Evan steps in to keep her safe. But he feels more than he's letting on for Holly and her going out with another guy really gets under his skin. 

The mystery surrounding her father going missing and the women who have gone missing starts to get opened up when a body is found. The wrongdoer is found out and it did come as a surprise to me as to who and why. Evan and some of the other townspeople are shifters and Evan suspects that the killer is also. So when Holly suspects that those close to her are keeping secrets, she keeps after Evan until he finally tells her what he is. But he's bracing for her to reject him like his last girlfriend did. 

I loved the mystery as well as the romance in this book. But I would have liked some closure about what happened to Holly's father, John. Hopefully there will be more answers in the next book. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.  

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

Sunrise in Las Vegas one day this week. The clouds looked almost purple.

And then sunset the same day.

The next day at sunset was really nice too. 

Just Falcor staring down a dog coming down the pathway we were going down. 

Book Review: Embers Ignite by Alana Khan and Aria Vale

 

Book Description

Bound by passion, shattered by deceit.

Marissa

The Others have been on Earth for 25 years, but I’d never met one until the huge orc Fire Chief landed in the ICU as my patient. He’s rude, snarly, and covered in tattoos. A girl would have to be out of her mind to want someone like him, right? I guess I’m out of my mind.

Actually, I’m obsessed.

It’s hard to see past his snarls to find the squishy guy he hides inside, but I do. One kiss leads to another, and before I know it, well, I discover he’s not snarly all the time.

Until he learns my secret. I never meant to hurt him, but now he won't have a thing to do with me.

Brokka

Being dragged through the Rift and spit out onto this planet with nothing more than the clothes on my back wasn’t the worst thing in my life. Losing everyone and everything I’d ever cared about was far more crushing.

Tender Marissa with her courage, caring, and delicious curves is the perfect reason for me to let go of my past. Until I discover our relationship is built on a lie. How can I love a woman I will never be able to trust?

Enjoy this age-gap, second-chance romance as Brokka and Marissa battle people in both their worlds, risking everything they hold dear to be together.

Written by USA TODAY Bestselling author Alana Khan.

No cheating or cliffhangers in this steamy, enemies to lovers romance. There’s phone s*x and much more for Marissa, who, it turns out, is a very good girl. Guaranteed love and happiness ever after.

For Readers 18+.

My Review

Marissa is a nurse and Brokka comes to her hospital after he's hurt in a fire. He's an "other", an alien that came to Earth 25 years ago. The government hasn't exactly made them feel welcome in that time either and so Brokka is the first "Other" that Mariss has met. Most of the time the Others stay in their zone and aren't seen out where the humans are and they are taken to their own hospital inside the zone. But little by little the Others are being given more rights and are being seen outside the zone. 

Brokka is used to humans being rude to him or being interested but cautious so after he's released and Marissa seeks him out at the Others fire department where he works, things don't go well and he knows he messed up. So he does the only thing he can think of, he goes to her and tries to apologize. After a while they start spending more time together and find that they really like each other. 

When I saw the cover for this book, I thought, "Now that's an alien!" I love it when the aliens in these romance books actually look like aliens. But Brokka turns out to be quite a nice guy even though there's a huge misunderstanding between them right when things were going so good between them. But something else happens to bring their relationship back to life and I was really happy about that. These two are so different but are so made for each other. They made such a great couple and I loved the secondary characters as well. I really hope that more of the Others from the Fire Department get their books as well because I can't wait to read more of this series now. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

*Pictures today are courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #369

 

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 sirens pretty close on Monday morning so I pulled up the PulsePoint app and saw that something was happening at the end of my street. So I walked out there with Falcor to get some pictures. The police drove by while I was getting out there the police drove by really fast, too fast for me to pull my camera out and get a picture.

The fire truck was parked at the end of the street.

And as I was standing there, the first ambulance pulled up. 

And then the fire department's ambulance also pulled up. There was a lot going on down there and they were there for over an hour. Something happened but I'm not sure what. 

---

This made me laugh because when I Googled the words, I realized it was the name of a band. So, me being intrigued, I clicked on their Instagram and was surprised to see my neighbor!  It's the name of my neighbors band! And he must have spray painted their name on this power box that is right next door. That was really smart. Smh Good way to let everyone in the neighborhood know who spray painted on the power boxes. LOL Not very bright. Free promotion?

----

Someone spread a pile of shredded foam right in front of the manhole where the homeless people make their way down into the tunnels underground. Not sure what the purpose of this was. 

---

"Screamer lady' screaming in my courtyard right after 8AM on Wednesday morning. I've talked about her before. She is not homeless but does drugs and has mental illness. She routinely walks up and down the sidewalk just screaming nonsense. She's been doing this for years. 

On Tuesday the guy who was arrested twice last week was once again back. The jail/ ER didn't keep him more than a over night. I could only upload a short clip from my tablet since the videos I took with my phone won't upload to Blogger for some reason. This guy was in my courtyard and in front of my door for over an hour. His friends a few doors away told him to leave, then they shut their door and refused to open it again when he kept knocking. I didn't call the police because, why bother. They don't keep him more than a few hours and he's back again, even after throwing a chair through his friends window last week. He was back the next day for a while and then he's been gone since then. 

The high this week was 90F/32C

The low this week was 62F/16C

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