Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a "Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to great samples at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received:

A sample of Garnier Whole Blends Shampoo and Conditioner.
I won a book from a blog contest.
I also received an email letting me know I won a free candy bar.

Did you receive any freebies this week?

My Experience Buying a Makeup Grab Bag On Ebay

I'm sure that most of you have heard of the Mystery Boxes and Grab Bags that are being sold on eBay. I've watched a ton of unboxing videos on Youtube and for the most part, people who buy them get ripped off. But there are a few sellers that actually send out stuff that's not complete junk. So I decided to see what a relatively inexpensive makeup grab bag would be like and what I would get. 

The seller I bought from let you pick the number of pieces that you wanted and based on the number they icreased the price but it was still very reasonable so I picked 15 pieces. Everything that came is in the above picture. As you can see there are more than 15 pieces. She added a few freebies to my order which was surprising and awesome. 

I ordered a 15 piece makeup grab bag for $11.99 from this seller on eBay. I was sent a black nail polish, a clear top coat polish, lip liners, eye liners, lipsticks, lip gloss, eye shadow crayons, body glitter, a makeup bag, a pencil sharpener and samples of foundation and perfume. 

If you've bought makeup, you know this stuff isn't cheap. I looked up a couple of the eye liners and lip liners and they are $5 a piece, so I think this was actually a really good deal. I'm quite happy with my purchase and it was exciting to see what I was going to be sent since I didn't get to pick out any of it before hand. I can see the appeal of the mystery boxes and grab bags now. 

Have you ever bought a mystery box or grab bag?

I'm a Guest Reviewer at I Smell Sheep!

Book Blurb

Treason, torture and temptation haunt the GhostWalkers in their most dangerous adventure yet, as Christine Feehan's #1 New York Times bestselling series hits an explosive new high.

Rescuing an industrial spy from the hands of a criminal mastermind is a suicide mission for the GhostWalkers. And there's no one more up to the task than Gino Mazza. He's the perfect killing machine--a man driven by demons so dark and destructive that his blighted soul has given up trying to find solace. But his laser-sharp focus on his target has transformed into something nearing desire.

A treasonous senator dangled top secret GhostWalker data in front of a Chinese crime lord, and he bit. Zara Hightower, one of the world's leading experts on artificial intelligence, was sent in to psychically wipe the crime lord's computer network. She succeeded, but at a huge cost. Now she's the captive of a man who has descended into paranoid madness. Torture and death await her... 

But GhostWalkers never leave one of their own in enemy territory. And it's up to Gino to save Zara, or kill her if it turns out she's led them into a trap. Either way, heaven or hell won't stop him...

Hey guys, I'm a guest reviewer over at I Smell sheep. I'd love for you to check out my review for this book. I'll give you a little heads up, I loved this book! If you'd like to read my review, you can read it at I Smell Sheep. 

Favorite Picture of the Week

My daughter took my grandson to the Seaquest Aquarium last month where he got to see a bunch of aquariums like this one. But they also had a place where you could feed bird, pet stingrays, a really big turtle was walking around to interact with and there were a bunch of animals to see. He had a good time.

Recipe: Baked Cinnamon Sugar Apples with a Crumb Topping

So Ken wanted some sort of baked apples for dessert one night but neither of us like regular baked apples so I threw this together. I wasn't sure what to call this one but it was good. 

You'll Need:

5 small apples, sliced

1/2 cup sugar

1 TBSP. flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 TBSP butter

1/2 cup. water

Crumb Topping

In a small bowl, mix together 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Cut in 1 tablespoon cold butter until mixture is very lumpy. 

What to do: 

Add sliced apples to a pan.

Add water, cinnamon, flour, sugar, and butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until apples start to get soft...about 7 minutes. 

Add apple mixture to a baking pan and top with crumb topping. Bake for 30 minutes at 350F. 

Do you like baked apples? 

Have you ever just started throwing ingredients together not really knowing what the end result is gonna be? lol I do that all the time. This one turned out good. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"Let me lean on your head. I almost got it."

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"Hey, this spaghetti needs some sauce...and a few meatballs."

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"This petting stuff is alright."

Apartment Life #19

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

Back in 2016 the police came for a brother/sister problem. They had been living together and he stole his sisters wallet and her $200 so she kicked him out and wouldn't let him have any of his stuff. So he called the police and they made her let him get his stuff. She was not happy about it either. She was yelling at the cops the entire time they were there.

But he loaded up a shopping cart with his stuff and took it out to his truck. His sister stood there yelling the entire time. Both of these people were in their late 60's so I wasn't expecting that from them. 

A couple of months later the sister knocked on my door and asked Ken to come over to her apartment because there was a man in her bedroom that wouldn't leave. It turned out to be a pile of dirty clothes and she was hallucinating. I called Adult services for help about her but they never got back to me so the next day when she came back over to my apartment about men living in her closet, Ken checked it out and again...nothing. I called the non emergency 911 number and asked them to do a welfare check on her. The ambulance came and took her to the hospital and her brother told us that a case manager at the hospital said she could no longer care for herself so she was put in a care facility and her brother came and cleaned out her apartment.

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

Favorite Video of the Week

If you haven't seen Lucas the Spider then you're in for a treat. Cutest spider ever.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a "Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to great samples at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received

 A $5 Amazon gift card from Crowdtap.
A full size bottle of Pantene Shampoo. I signed up for this on their FB page about 2 months ago.

Did you receive any freebies this week. 

Review: Kindred (Book 1) by Nicola Claire

Book Description

From Amazon Romantic Suspense, Mystery Romance and Fantasy Bestselling Author Nicola Claire comes a seductive and thrilling tale of vampires and vampire hunters, in a world where love and trust are as dangerous and addictive as a Nosferatu's bite.

“You may not be aware, ma douce, but not all vampyre have a kindred, some will live out their existence without such beauty in their lives. I have waited five hundred years for you." 

Vampires, shapeshifters, ghouls and magic-users abound in a world where the Norms, (those humans without paranormal abilities), are ignorant of the creatures of the night and the supernatural species that live alongside them.

Lucinda Monk is a bank teller by day and a vampire hunter by night, but she wasn’t always a part of this world. Thrown into a heady mix of powerful people and sensual beings, she’s had to find her way practically blindfolded in amongst the creatures of the night. 

Lucinda, though, is a capable and realistic kind of girl. Her motto: Never Show Fear. 

But there's something different about Luce. Something those creatures she hunts want. So, in order to stay one step ahead of the enemy, she has to let the enemy in. In all his compelling, seductive and delicious ways. 

Sleeping with the enemy has never meant so much before. But can she trust him?

From the urban streets of the city to the dark alleys and sinful bars that promise a wickedness a girl from the farm has never before been exposed to, Lucinda gets drawn irreversibly into the dark side of life.

And if the Master of the City has his way, she will always be his. For eternity.

My Review

Lucinda is a vampire hunter at night, her day job is that of a bank teller. She's a really good vampire hunter and because of that the Master of Auckland asks to see her. Michel is a 500 year old vampire who asks for her help is getting rid of the evil vampires that seem to be sprouting up everywhere.  

Michel makes no apologies when it comes to his attraction to Lucinda. He's attracted and lets her know it. The more they work together and are around each other the more they seem to be attracted to each other. Once they start falling for each other the seduction and sex scenes between these two were quite steamy which just added to the greatness of this story. I really liked Michel most of the time but he can be a surly ass at times when he just goes all alpha vampire and would take control away from Lucinda because he thinks he needed to or because he didn't like who her friends were. I didn't like that about him at all. 

I really like Lucinda and Michel together. I like that Michel is putting vampires in a new light for Lucinda and she see's that they aren't all evil or bad. The story gets really good when it's revealed that Lucinda has a family secret she knew nothing about but it makes everything about her fall into place. That was a nice twist and I do love a good twist. 

There were a lot of great secondary characters. Some of which I didn't care for in the beginning but they grew on me over the course of the story. Then there was Nero and he was bad-ass right from the start. I loved him and hope to see more of him in this series. 

This was a unique telling of vampires and hunters and I really liked that. Reading a new twist on an old classic is fun and I'm looking forward to reading more of this series. Get ready for action, romance, seduction and plenty of fight scenes if you read this. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Things Around My House- Inherited and Gifts

A while back my friend Anna, from Herding Cats & Burning Soup did a post about things around her house. I liked the idea so much I did my own post a while back. Then one of my blogger buddies Bytes From The 'Burbs, did her own post. I love these posts and you all seemed to like it as well so I thought I would do another one. This time for things I've inherited or been given as gifts. 

My paternal grandfather was a rock hound. He went out digging for rocks, for years. He found quite a few really nice ones. This is a fire Opal. It's about 3 inches long. My grandfather found this, cut it into the shape it's in now and polished it up. Then he gave it to my mom when I was a toddler. I inherited it when my mom passed away. It's a beautiful stone. 

My paternal grandfather also found this geode. He cut it, polished it and gave it to my dad. A few years ago my dad gave it to me as a gift because he knew how much I liked it. 

I don't even know what kind of stone is in this geode but it's so pretty. 

I inherited this glass music box from my mom when she passed away 7 years ago. It's one of my favorite knick knacks of hers that I now have.

I inherited this piece of petrified wood from my mom. It's a good size piece but I have no idea where or when she got it. All I know is that she had it for at least 40 years because I remember seeing it on the shelf when I was a little kid. 

I asked my dad if his dad gave it to mom but he said he didn't remember. 

I love fake plants and terrariums so my daughter bought me this little terrarium for my birthday. 

This is what I call a Uniblob. I had to enlarge this picture because this thing is tiny. It fits on the tip of my finger, that's how small it is. I collected unicorns for a long time and Ken bought me this about 20 years ago. It's a tiny glass unicorn on a slice of a geode. It looks like a tiny blob of glass but it's actually in the shape of a unicorn. Therefore Uniblob. lol 

It was fun showing you some of the things around my house, I hope you enjoyed it too.

Review: Walmart Beauty Box- February

The Walmart Beauty box is a subscription box that comes out 4 times a year. You sign up for it and it comes automatically every 3 months. These boxes are jut $5 each and shipping is free. 

What was in this box...

Donkey Milk Sleeping mask. 

Tresemme Dry Shampoo. 

P2 Volume Gloss nail polish- share 095- Maid of Honor.

Gold Bond Radiance Renewal Ultimate Hydrating Cream. 

Plackers flossers- 12. 

The dry shampoo surprised me because it says it doesn't leave a white residue and it didn't.  I was almost out of hand lotion and I have dry skin because of Diabetes so this was a welcome sight. I love the Gold Bond lotions. I'm trying to let my nails grow out so I can paint them because I like this color but I have a nail biting habit so it's not easy. lol 

I actually just ran out of these types of tooth flossers so I was happy to see them in this box, they work great. 

The only thing I was on the side lines about was the Donkey Milk sleeping mask. First off it was oily and I'm not about to get that all over my pillow. But if I used a little of it 20 minutes before my shower, it left my face feeling soft. So it was nice, I just didn't use it as directed. 

So for $5 I liked this box. It's all stuff that I will actually use and the box was sent out on time *for the most part* this quarter. 

Have you signed up for the Walmart Beauty Box?

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of Cindy Rogers*

"You woke me up for that?"

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"I look as fluffy as the towel I'm in."

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #18

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

In January of 2016, 3 police cars showed up after the couple who have had the police called on them 7 times since that past Thanksgiving were fighting, and the guy was taken to jail this time. 2 months earlier on Thanksgiving day I had my family over at my apartment when all of the sudden these two people who lived 5 doors down from me started screaming at each other. The female of the couple smashed her hand through their living room window and walked down the walkway in front of everyone's apartment dripping blood all over the walk way because she cut her arm. I called the police and ambulance that day because she was bleeding really badly. The manager finally evicted them a few months later when she had to replace two front doors after the male who lived there kicked them both in, breaking them. 

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

Favorite Video of the Week

I've said before that I have a wide range of musical taste and this definitely fits into my wide range since I don't listen to rap but I love this band especially when Danny starts singing the chorus. He sounds a lot like Chester Bennington from Linkin Park, at least to me and it's a little bitter sweet to hear it now when he reminds me of him.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a "Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to great samples at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This was a great freebie week. I won a beautiful pendant from Gail Koger on a blog contest and received a PinchMe box.

In the Pinchme Box was...

A sample of Dove exfoliating body polish.
A coupon for a free bottle of Nice N Easy Hair Color.
A sample of Whole Blends shampoo and Conditioner.
A Berry Blast RX Bar.

I was so excited to see that Dove exfoliating body polish because I had already received one before in a different box and I love it! I smells so good and leaves my arms feeling so soft. My daughter will be getting another coupon for a free box of hair color. They are giving these out in so many boxes and on their site they had a bunch they were giving away, so my daughter is very happy.

Ken loves those RX bars or any of the protein bars and since I don't care for them, it works out well for him. The shampoo and conditioner samples were great. I loved how soft my hair is and it had a great scent.

The pendant is so darn pretty. I was so excited when I saw what I had won.

Did you receive any samples this week?

Review: Beautifully Wounded by Susan Griscom

Book Description

Sometimes the only way to salvation... is to take a leap of faith.

Jackson Beaumont prides himself on being a nature-loving, guitar-strumming, carefree sort of guy. When the mysterious Lena Benton walks into his bar looking scared and defeated, it's not something he can ignore. He's immediately consumed by concern for her and driven by his desire to help. She's just so beautiful. So wounded.

After being shuffled from one foster home to another growing up, Lena Benton dreamt of finding her prince charming. When the captivating Troy Harington sweeps her off her feet shortly after high school graduation, she's certain she's found her happiness. Unfortunately, Troy's true colors surface shortly after their marriage and things turn ugly. Lena only has one choice. She has to leave him. She has to run... 

Lena's escape has brought her to Jackson, and he clearly wants to be there for her, but can she trust anyone again after what she's gone through? And will Jackson be able to help her heal without losing his heart? 

My Review

Wow, this story starts with a bang right from the very beginning. Lena is in a really abusive relationship and after a beating that she feared might be the last because he might just kill her this time, she makes a run for it. She's been saving money to try and get away from him but she isn't sure it'll be enough. She finds herself in another town but still scared. She ends up in a bar and the guy instantly realizes that something is not right with the woman at his door. 

Jackson owns the bar that Lena walks into and he and his brother also play in a band at the bar. Jackson is known to his friends and family for taking in strays and hurt animals, fixing them and letting them go. So it's really no big surprise to anyone that he wants to help the broken and battered women that walks into his bar. He gives her a safe place to stay for a few days and even tells her she can pay him back by playing his guitar after she played a little when she saw the guitar sitting alone on stage. 

Lena rely's on Jackson while she's recovering and deciding what to do next. She starts to trust him a little more and tells him the truth about what happened to her and he seems to know all sorts of people that might be able to help her because of his past schooling and job experience. Lena has to figure out how to secretly and safely get completely away from her husband and Jackson is right there to help her through it.

I have to warn you that this story starts out with a very graphic domestic abuse scene and the rest of the book is how she gets away from said abusive husband and deals with the aftermath of being an abuse victim. At times this book was really hard to read because of my own past with domestic abuse as a child watching it happen and as an adult being the person who was abused. These types of stories can bring up memories better left in the past but it's nice when you get to the end of a book like this and find a happily ever after. 

I really liked Jackson, his brother and their friends. This was an emotional story but I'm really glad I read it because I ended up really liking it. Lena is stronger than she knows and I was thrilled that she found a nice guy like Jackson after all she'd been through. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Favorite Picture of the Week!

On January 31st my grandson turned 5 years old. He had a great time opening his birthday presents but as always when something is going on at my place, Falcor is always curious about what people are getting. I can't believe he's already 5 years old. 

As soon as Logan opened this blue plush dog, Falcor wanted it. He goes nuts for the plush toys but he tears them apart within minutes. 

Review: Her Perfect Mate by Paige Tyler

Book Description

"Absolutely perfect. One of the best books I've read in years. I definitely want more of Paige Tyler's shifters."-Kate Douglas, bestselling author of the Wolf Tales series.

He's a High-Octane Special Ops Pro

When Special Forces Captain Landon Donovan is pulled from an op in Afghanistan, he is surprised to discover he's been hand-picked for a special assignment with the Department of Covert Operations (DCO), a secret division he's never heard of. Terrorists are kidnapping biologists and he and his partner have to stop them. But his new partner is a beautiful, sexy woman who looks like she couldn't hurt a fly-never mind take down a terrorist.

She's Not Your Average Covert Operative

Ivy Halliwell is no kitten. She's a feline shifter, and more dangerous than she looks. She's worked with a string of hotheaded military guys who've underestimated her special skills in the past. But when she's partnered with special agent Donovan, a man sexy enough to make any girl purr, things begin to heat up...

My Review

The action starts off right away in this book. We find Ivy on an OP where her partner, Dave is killed because he had a problem working with her because she was a shifter. He got what he deserved in my opinion. He should have listened to her and if he had, he'd probably still be alive. She's had a couple of bad partners so she's a little gun shy.

A couple of months later we meet Landon in the middle of a mission and out of the blue he's transferred and he's not happy about it. That's when he meets his new partner, Ivy. After their training they are sent on a mission and it goes well so they are sent to try and find out who is kidnapping biologists and stop them. 

The story was full of intrigue, action, fight scenes and a few really kick ass men and women who know how to get the job done when asked. When we finally find out why the biologists are being kidnapped, it was an interesting twist to this story. I really like all the military type scenes going on in a paranormal type story. Landon and Ivy try to fight their attraction for each other but there's no getting around that when you're working so closely together and when they do finally come together, it's smoking hot! Whew, these two tear up the sheets, quite literally and they are great together. 

The only problem I had with this story was the fact that when Landon finds out that she's a shifter it doesn't seem to faze him at all. I found that hard to believe. I think most anyone would be a little shocked at first. But this is a great beginning to a series and I'm looking forward to reading more of this series in the future.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"If my name is Bean, does that make me a Bean Burrito?"

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"The face you make right before you sneeze..."

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"Well hello, yes I would like a yogie."