Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #343

 

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 go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 25 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 25 years here in a weekly blog post.

Just down the street there was a bad car crash and they had the street blocked off and had police and emergency vehicles out there. I couldn't find a news article about it so I have no idea if anyone was badly hurt. 

---

I heard another rumor that drug dealer has to be out by the 10th. But I have no idea if it's true or not. He doesn't seem to be packing anything up so I have a feeling the rumor is false. 

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Thursday night right after 10pm my daughter and I heard a loud explosion and my daughter looked on her security camera and the apartment directly across from me was on fire. So I called 911 real fast and my daughter went outside. They got here in just a couple of minutes. They got one dog out right away, my daughter chased him down the street and we brought him inside. 

Several people saw the woman who lives there jump out of the bedroom window and she was taken to the hospital. The firemen got the other dog out and they were both fine. The guy who lives there was not home but he was outside a little while later. The previous owner of the dog we had in our apartment came looking to see if he was ok and we gave him to the guy. Later on we saw the guy that lives there with both of his dogs. 

The apartment was a hoarding situation so they brought out a bunch of stuff while fighting the fire. The couch was a total loss. 

They got the fire out really fast and it didn't spread to other apartments, the dogs are fine, the guy that lives there is fine and the woman got taken to the hospital, but I saw her the next day and she is fine. They evacuated that entire building, but they didn't make my building evacuate. 

The police were here until almost 2am bagging evidence and taking pictures of stuff in the apartment. We heard them say there were 2 unregistered, loaded hand guns and a loaded shotgun that we saw sitting outside the door.  They also said they found drug paraphernalia. They also had a large propane tank inside their apartment so I'm glad that didn't explode or catch fire.

The next day the the couple came back and had maintenance open the apartment for them. The Red Cross was here in case they needed a place to stay but the manager moved them into another apartment building, 2 buildings away from mine. I asked the guy what exploded and he said he had a drone battery charging and that's what exploded. I had thought it was maybe a meth lab but since the police didn't tape off his apartment and tell him he couldn't go back inside, I'm thinking that wasn't what the explosion was. 

We heard him saying that the police told him he was going to get fined for the unregistered guns. I don't know about the supposed drug paraphernalia they found. 

There was so much stuff inside that apartment they pulled the door completely off and was bringing stuff outside just so they could get inside the apartment.

My entire street was filled with emergency vehicles for hours. I've never seen that many emergency vehicles at once.

This is what it looked like the next morning. At least they were all fine and so were the dogs and the fire didn't spread. That was a really scary situation though. Having an apartment fire is one of my biggest fears. 

The high this week was 65F/18C

The low this week was 32F/0C

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

Favorite Song of the Week

 

I've posted Disturbed a few times because I love them. David Draiman has such a great voice and even when he was signing with the band Device, I listened to them because of his voice. I hope you like this too.

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: 

Beneful canned dog food infused with fish oil. From Fur Buddies.

Jo Malone perfume sample. 

Falcor loved getting some new food. He ate it and it didn't upset his stomach so that's a good thing. And the Jo Malone perfume samples smells really nice. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Favorite Picture of the Week/Skywatch

While outside with Falcor one day last month I saw this, I don't even know what to call it...wall of cloud. My picture doesn't even show how long it was. It went so far to the left that only the mountain range that way obscured it. 

The thing is, this is a more accurate picture of what I saw. These clouds were gigantic! They went from the ground behind the mountains there to where they stopped higher up. I just found it creepy cool. 

A few days later we had some rainy days and the clouds were dark. 

I love these cold, dark, overcast days. 

Low Carb Recipe: Egg Foo Young

 

You will need: 

5 eggs

1 TBSP Soy Sauce

2 TBSP Vegetable Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 Green Onions

2 TBSP Diced Yellow Onion

1/2 Diced Green Bell Pepper

3 Diced White Mushrooms

1/4 tsp. McCormick Chipotle and Roasted Garlic seasoning

What To Do: 

Whisk eggs in a bowl.

Add all ingredients and mix through.

Heat 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil in a non stick skillet over medium heat. 

Pour in 1/2 cup of batter. Jiggle pan a little to form a round(ish) shape.

Cook until the underside is light golden (about 1 1/2 minutes) then flip and cook the other side for 1 minute. Repeat with remaining egg to make 4 omelettes.

Slide omelette onto plate.

You can mix in some diced meat like sautéed shrimp, pork or whatever you like. You can use other vegetables as well. I made this with mushrooms and spinach and it was so good. 

Would you try this?

Book Review: Leopard's Scar by Christine Feehan

 

Book Description

Animal attraction takes over in this exhilarating Leopard novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan.

The moment Meiling sees Gedeon she knows he’s a leopard shifter—just as she knows she can’t trust him. Meiling doesn’t take chances, life has taught her better than that. So why does she find herself rescuing this deadly, gorgeous man, when she knows she’d be better off leaving him to die?

Gedeon is used to women throwing themselves at him, not throwing his injured body over their beautiful, deceptively strong shoulders and carrying him to safety. He might be embarrassed, if he wasn’t so aroused by the very thought of this feisty lotus blossom.

As they strike up a working relationship that suits them both, Gedeon starts to rely on Meiling for just about everything. But when her hidden nature rises to the surface, the connection that links them shifts into an all-consuming desire. And neither will escape unmarked. 

My Review

Meiling and Gedeon are both in the woods trying to save some kidnapped women and girls but they were too late. When a bomb goes off and Gedeon gets hurt, Meiling was the one saved him and that helped him recover from his injuries. She did this knowing that Gedeon might kill her after he recovered which just made Gedeon more interested in her. The fact that Gedeon's leopard doesn't want to tear her apart like he does most others he's around, just proves to be another thing that attracts her to him. Her personality and fierceness and the fact that she doesn't seem scared of him and actually makes him laugh is something he never expected. 

She was surprised when he offers her a job as his partner. Even knowing that he was a killer and a very dangerous man she decided to take the job on a trial basis to see of they could work together. Gedeon having feelings for her, wanted to keep her close because he felt that she might be his mate but he didn't act on it because she didn't seem like she felt the same way about him. They work as investigators trying to find people who are missing and they work really well together.

Meiling and Gedeon are both leopard shifters and while Gedeon's leopard is a killer and he has to fight all the time to keep the animal caged inside himself, Meiling's leopard hasn't emerged yet. She's not sure it ever will. But after a while Meiling can start to feel her leopard beginning to emerge for the very first time and her leopard needs to find a mate. The urge to mate is overwhelming, she would go to Gedeon but he and his leopard are dangerous and she doesn't think that he would ever be faithful to her because he's been with so many women. But she doesn't know that Gedeon has feelings for her and would actually never cheat on her so she doesn't tell him when her leopard starts to emerge. But Gedeon's leopard who is a little crazy and is always wanting to kill people even the women he's with, starts acting even crazier not letting Gedeon sleep, putting him in a really bad situation to where Gedeon thinks he might need to put himself and his animal down just to save the people around him. He doesn't realize that his leopard is probably reacting to the fact that Meiling's leopard is emerging.

Once Meiling can't stop the overwhelming urge to mate and goes to find someone, Gedeon's friends let him know what she's up to and he comes to her rescue. He doesn't want to her mate with anyone but him but he'll have to be very careful in the way he lets her know this. She doesn't realize he has feelings for her and he isn't sure she'll trust him so it takes a little while before they actually get together. 

Gedeon and Meiling are both leopard shifters but people have been after both of them for a long time trying to kill them because they're special kinds of leopard shifters. The people after them want these kinds of shifters to all be exterminated. Both of them lost their families to the people who are after them now, so that's something they have in common. They are both really strong, smart and cunning so once they go after the bad guys, I almost felt bad for them...almost.

I enjoyed this book because there was so much story, action and a fun romance. But I found myself a little bored at times which is the only reason this isn't getting 5 stars. 

I give this book 4 stars.

Amazon

Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book via NetGalley but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #342/ Life Update

 

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 go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 25 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 25 years here in a weekly blog post.

On Sunday night around midnight two people that live at the end of the building across from me were fighting really bad. They were screaming at each other, slamming the door and it went on for a while. The next morning around 10am, I saw these two police cars out front of my building and when I went back in my courtyard, I watched 4 police officers come out of the apartment that had been fighting the night before. I'm actually surprised the people that live next door to them didn't call the police that night. There are two police cars in this picture. One was actually parked the right way by the sidewalk and you can barely see it. One just parked in the street.

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I got my A1C results back this week. 3 months ago it was 10.1 and now it's 8.5. My doctor is so pleased that I am really trying this low carb diet and my blood sugar numbers are better too. My blood sugar used to be 350-400 and now it's around 160-180. So I was happy to hear that. 

My blood pressure is still really high though. It's usually around 197/98 and she's already doubled the blood pressure medication I'm on and this week started me on a Beta Blocker. Hopefully that will help. I had to buy a blood pressure cuff so I can keep track of it because she's worried it's so high. 

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Falcor is back to his old self and I'm still trying to keep him from bouncing all over the place. But at least he's feeling better. 

The high this week was 68F/20C

The low this week was 38F/3C

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

Favorite Song of the Week

 

I heard this song last week and loved it. But the violin really cinched this song for me. This song by Imminence is the first song from this band that I've heard but I really like it. I hope you enjoy it. 

Freebie Friday/Christmas Tree

 

Since I didn't receive any freebies this week, I figured I would show you a picture of my Christmas tree. I put it up this week, because why not. I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.

Favorite Picture of the Week/ Skywatch

 

We've had some great cloud cover over the past two weeks. Here are a few of the sky pictures that I've taken in that time.

I love it when there's a bunch of clouds in the sky during the day.

I was walking along the sound wall with Falcor one morning until the wall gets smaller and you can see the freeway. I spotted all those clouds and snapped a picture. 

A beautiful blue sky and lots of big puffy clouds sure made the cooler days nice. 

Low Carb Recipe: Chicken Zucchini Patties

 

This is a repost from 2016 but I've made this many times because I love this. And it's low carb which is great. 

 

You will need

1 lb ground chicken

3 TBSP diced Cilantro

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

2 cups grated zucchini

2 diced green onions

1/4 tsp Chili Powder

1/4 tsp Smoked Paprika

salt and pepper to taste

olive oil 2 teaspoons

Add the shredded zucchini to a cheese cloth or clean kitchen towel and twist it to remove most of the moisture from the zucchini. 

Mix together all ingredients and drop by small spoonful's and flatten out into patties, into hot olive oil on pan. Fry on each side for 5 minutes. Serve with guacamole dipping sauce. 

Recipe for Guacamole

2 ripe avocados

1TBSP lemon juice

1 tsp mayonnaise

salt to taste

Peel the avocados and mash them. Add lemon juice, mayo and salt. Mix well. 

I love making these ahead of time and having them as a snack or lunch.

Would you eat this?

Book Review: Fanged and Fabulous by Gemma Cates

 

Book Description

I Wanna Suck Your...

Blood. I'm a vampire. Come on. Then I met Simon and couldn't help thinking: maybe I'm after more than a little nutrition.

He's a runner on a strict diet.

I eat chips and queso as a main course.

He's punctual.

I think five minutes late is on time.

He's an engineer.

I tell stories for a living.

He's human.

I'm not.

One misanthropic vamp (me) meets one commitment-shy human (him) and sparks fly. But humans and vamps don't do relationships...right?

Note from the author: This book contains steamy vampire-human shenanigans, enough naughty words to make someone (not me) blush, and a vampire who secretly (deep, deep, deep down) longs to be loved.

My Review

Becca doesn't like being around people. Most everyone irritates her and oh yeah, she's a vampire. But her friend talks her into coming to a party where she meets Simon. But Simon isn't looking for a relationship since he just got out of one where he wasn't treated well. But they like each other and he doesn't irritate her, so much so that she doesn't mind being around him. 

They end up getting together and she tells him she's a vampire to get his permission to bite him, thinking that she can just wipe his memory of the bite afterwards but that doesn't go as planned and she doesn't know why. 

They end up having a lot in common and she finds herself falling for him but she doesn't think he wants her back the way she wants him. Of course there has to be a little miscommunication in order for them to finally talk and things to work out. 

I liked this. It was a quick, sweet read. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

*All pictures today are courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #341

 

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 go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 25 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 25 years here in a weekly blog post.

On Monday morning Falcor had hurt his back by jumping off the couch or my bed. He was in obvious pain and I didn't know if he had a broken rib or something so we took him into the Veterinarian's office right away. He's fine, he just pulled a muscle in his shoulder and back by leaping off the bed or the couch. He's 8 years old and even though he still has lot's of energy, his old bones and muscles aren't up to all that jumping and leaping he does. So they gave me some pain meds, told us to keep him calm and don't let him jump on anything for a week. We went to VCA Animal Hospital, they were so good with him. The vet even called me the next day to ask how he was doing.

The pain meds really helped and he was so much better the next morning. But I had to keep him off all the furniture all week so he wasn't doing any jumping up or down and that was a full time job.  A couple of times he jumped up on the couch and I would pick his bed up and sit it next to him, he would crawl into it and I would pick the bed up with him in it and set him on the floor. He had his own elevator service a few times. I didn't want to pick him up and hurt him so I did it like that. But he quickly learned not to jump on anything for the most part even though he was feeling better. I kept a bed in the living room during the day for him to sleep on when the pain meds kicked in and he got sleepy and then took the bed back in the bedroom for him to sleep in at night. He's used to laying on the couch or the chair and I didn't want him jumping up on anything. It was hard. Poor baby.

That's also the reason I didn't get around to leaving many comments on other blogs this week. I need to catch up on that now.

But he's much better now as you can see here. One of the dogs that run around off leash all the time came running up to him and they started playing a couple of days ago. 

Update: I got a call from the vet yesterday and she told me that based on the radiology reports he had a slipped disc in his neck that was causing the pain. She said he also has IVDD, or Intervertebral Disc Disease and so I need to keep him from doing too much jumping and call her right away if he seems in pain or has trouble walking. But hopefully he'll be fine for a long time and won't have anymore pain as long as he doesn't slip a disc again. Something I'll have to watch for from now on.

Some of you might remember that I've said I have Agoraphobia and Social Anxiety. So getting in a car and going to the vets office was a bit difficult for me and my daughter actually went with me because this was only the second time I've been in a car away from my apartment complex in the past 10 years or more. But I went and got through it for Falcor. 

That car furthest away at the top of the picture is a cop car. The police were around my complex and across the street again this week. I saw 2 more police cars go into the alley behind the apartment complex directly across from me and this police car was out by the street. They were there for a long time. I also saw a police car parked in front of my building that night but because it was night time I didn't get a picture with my phone. 

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On Wednesday night drug dealer started making weird remarks to my daughter about how they should get a room together, they should go out ect. This man is 50 years old and my daughter is 31. Later that night he had the balls to come to my door and ask her if she wanted him to tuck her in. 

So the next morning I saw him outside and this was the conversation.

Me: Hey, do me a favor and stay away from my daughter. 
Drug Dealer: Your daughter? What did I do to your daughter?

Me: She's not interested. 

Drug Dealer; Interested in what?

Me: She's not interested in you. You're too old. You're old enough to be her father. 

Drug Dealer: *Stares blankly at me because he's high as hell* I don't know...

Me: Look, I know what went on last night. Stay the #uck away from my daughter and my door!

Then I turned around and walked away and he stumbled back to his door. 

I'm not gonna put up with this nasty old man making snide comments to my kid. I still have no idea if he's actually getting evicted or not. 

The high this week was 64F/17C

The low this week was 36F/2C

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

Favorite Song of the Week

 

I've been a fan of Coheed and Cambria for many years. The lead singer has a unique voice but I had to share this song since I love it so much. I hope you like it too.

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:

I won a $25 Ulta gift card from Batiste Nation. 

I bought two bottles of body wash that smell so good. Ulta has some really good products. 

Did you receive any freebies or wins this week?

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

This time of year brings a lot of dark clouds and overcast days. Not that I'm complaining at all. I love  days like this. We didn't get any rain from any of these clouds.

That cloud formation was a lot bigger than it looks.

This was taken at noon and it was so dark. 

Low Carb Recipe: Cauliflower Toast

 

This is a repost from 2017 but I've changed it a little so I thought I would share it again since I've been eating this to stay low carb.

So this recipe was pretty simple but like with most recipes, I changed it to suit my taste. 

What you'll need:

2 cauliflower florets

2 eggs, divided

1/2 an avocado 

1 tsp. lemon juice

pepper to taste

McCormick Grill Mates Chipotle and Garlic seasoning

McCormick Roasted Garlic and Herb seasoning

2 TBSP oil

1 Tsp. butter

pinch of season salt

Pinch of salt for guacamole

1 tsp. mayonnaise

What to do: 

Grate the cauliflower add one egg, a pinch of salt, other seasonings, and pepper. Stir until mixed well. 

Heat oil and butter in a pan and add cauliflower mixture to hot pan. Shape into thin patty. Fry on first side for about 4 minutes or until golden brown. Flip and fry for 4 more minutes. 

In a small bowl add avocado, lemon juice, pinch of salt and mayo. Mash avocado and mix well. 

When cauliflower is done, fry 1 egg in the hot pan. 

Add avocado mixture on top of cauliflower patty and fried egg on top of avocado. 

It was an interesting idea but you have to make sure to season that cauliflower really good other wise it's pretty bland. That's why I added a couple of seasonings from the first time I posted this recipe a few years ago. I've made it a few times and it's not bad.

Would you try this?