Everyone Has A Story, Here's One Of Mine

 

I've been thinking of writing an autobiography or memoir but it just never comes together for me but I figured if I write one story at a time and post it on my blog maybe once a month, I can do that. Maybe one day I'll pull all the stories together and put them in a book but for now I'll just share some stories with you about my childhood. Some of the stories will be happy, some sad and some horrific because that was my childhood. But they will all be real, things that actually happened. If it seems like something that people enjoy reading maybe I'll keep it going. These stories will not be in any kind of order, I'll just write them as they come to me.

Thanksgiving Dinner

When my younger brother was 9 years old and I was 11, right before my parents split and divorced, that Thanksgiving my parents who were alcoholics got so drunk they didn't make Thanksgiving dinner like they usually did. So my brother who was just 9 years old came up with the idea to take some money from my dad's wallet while he was passed out on the couch, walk down to the grocery store that was about a mile away, buy some Thanksgiving food, push the cart back and we would make dinner.

I swear my brother was fearless because the whole time he was gone, I was freaking out that they would wake up or my dad would realize that my brother had taken money from his wallet. We used to walk down to the grocery store with my mom all the time so he knew the way there and back. This was around 1981, no one thought anything of a kid going to the store and even buying cigarettes for their parents with a note. We did it all the time. So no one batted an eye that my brother bought all this stuff and was pushing the cart back home by himself.

So my brother brought a turkey, stuffing, pie, vegetables, dinner rolls, potatoes, some snacks for me and him like a little kid would and a 6 pack of Near Beer for my mom because he didn't want her to drink and it's non-alcoholic beer. There were other things my brother got but those are the ones I remember.

We put all the groceries away, my parents didn't wake up. I put the turkey in the oven and made the stuffing and put it in a baking dish like my mom would have. It was then that my mom woke up and came into the kitchen. She saw the turkey and stuffing in the oven and the vegetables on the counter and she thought that she had done all that. She had no idea at all that my brother went to the store or that I had started dinner. She took over and just acted like she had started it all like she would have. She had no clue at all until she looked in the refrigerator and saw the Near Beer. She took us outside so my dad wouldn't hear and asked us what was going on. So we told her what we did and how. She told us not to tell our dad anything because we all knew he would be mad. After dinner was done a while later, my dad woke up and we all ate. My dad never knew a thing about the money my brother took or the fact that he walked by himself to the store and did the shopping for Thanksgiving dinner that year. My mom never told him.

My grandson is 10 years old and I cannot imagine him doing anything like this by himself right now. It would never happen. It still surprises me when I think about it that my brother did that but he did. 

Links to past stories. 

January 2023

February 2023

March 2023

April 2023

May 2023

June 2023

July 2023

Ausust 2023

Happy Raturday!

 

"Mom said she played wiff a Lite Brite when she was a kid too."

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

Apartment Life #282

 

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 25 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 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

The police have been patrolling my street a lot this week for some reason. I didn't take a picture of them just driving down the street but I did get a picture of this police car parked across the street. No one was arrested that I saw but they were there for over an hour so I'm not sure what was going on. 

On Friday a storm moved through and we had some heavy down pours most of the day. 

We had some flash flooding and my courtyard flooded up to the walkway in some parts. 

My courtyard flooded on Friday and Saturday from all the rain. There were a lot of videos from around town that streets were flooded but luckily my street didn't flood it was just my courtyard that collected some water for a few hours. With all the rain, it stayed very quiet around here. Both days the temperature was in the 80's so at least it was cooler for a while.

___

I was out walking Falcor at 10pm last might and I saw several guys down the street and two guys were coming towards me walking down that way and one of the guys passing me pulled a gun out of his pocket or his waistband I'm not sure which,  cocked it and had it in his hand as he walked by me and the other guy said is that them down there. So I rushed back inside but I was looking out my bedroom window and saw the guy with the gun go back to his apartment so looks like gunshots are averted this time. I thought for sure there was going to be a gun fight. Totally glad I was wrong.

The high this week was 110F/43C

The low this week was 71F/23C

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

 

Disturbed- Bad Man

Anyone who has been a reader for a while probably knows that I've been a fan of Disturbed for many years. I pretty much like anything they put out and I can't say that about most other bands. I hope you enjoy. 

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 cashed out my points on YouGov Surveys for a $15 Amazon gift card. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Product Review: Accmor Ball Lights

 

Right before Hurricane Hilary came our way, I charged up all my flashlights, changed the batteries in others, got out the candles ect. But I also bought a pack of these ball lights because they looked interesting. So I wanted to share them with you in case you've never seen them before. 

They come 50 to a pack for $8.99

This is what they look like. All you do is pull the little plastic tabs and they light up. 

 

If you save the little plastic tabs, you can stick them back inside the slot and the light will turn off. I read some of the reviews for these and some people said they kept the lights on to see how long it would last and the lights lasted anywhere from 1-2 weeks before they finally turned off. The light is pretty bright, I turned one on in daylight near a window so you could see how bright it was. I just stuck the tab back inside the slot to turn it back off. 

I turned on 3 of the ball lights in total darkness and you can see how bright they were even with a camera that doesn't take good pictures in the dark. 

I read some of the reviews and they said they used them for balloon decorations and other crafts. If we lost power I was going to turn a handful on and pop them into a glass to act as a little lamp for the bathroom. They are bright enough for that. For now I'll just keep them in a drawer for the next time we lose power at night and I need a little light. I thought they were cool and wanted to share what I found. 

I found them on Amazon for $8.99 and there are 50 of the light balls in a pack. 

Book Review: Charley's Christmas Wolf by C.D. Gorri

 

Book Description

Rafe won’t let anything stand in the way of securing his position as pack Alpha. But when an ancient law requires him to mate, can Rafe convince Charley to submit to him before Christmas Eve? A sizzling series starter!

Charley gets more than she bargained for this Christmas…

When a rogue Wolf threatens his right to lead, Rafe has to convince Charley, a curvy normal, to be his mate before Christmas Eve.

Charley Palmieri works a dead-end job, living alone with her cat, Buttercup, until one fated night when her world is changed forever.

Instant attraction sparks between them. He is more than convenience, she is his fated mate.

But can Rafe convince Charley to be his before the meeting of Pack elders on Christmas Eve?

*Find out in this first installment of the Macconwood Pack Novel Series.

My Review

Charley is kidnapped and brought to Rafe by some of his pack. He has to find a mate soon in order to stay alpha of his pack. He knows soon after meeting Charley that she's his mate but she doesn't believe anything he's telling her about being a wolf shifter. She believes he's a bit touched in the head and everyone else there that believes this is too. But after he explains that he has to marry someone in order to stay the leader of his people, she agrees to marry him in order to help him. Now while I didn't necessarily like that she was kidnapped in the beginning of this story, I thought she took everything in stride and they made her feel welcome and it wasn't weird once she settled in around them. I'm not sure I would have been so accommodating even if Rafe is drop dead gorgeous to her. 

There were some parts of this book where you have to suspend rational thinking and remember that this is a PNR romance and some things aren't going to be believable. The entirety of the story was good, the romance between them was great and the characters were very likable. I just didn't like how we got there. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Book Review: Beyond The Veil

 

Book Description

A new slayer desperate to prove herself. A cursed vampire king waiting to be awakened. A kiss that would change everything.

I’m Delia Adams, daughter of the greatest slayer to have ever come out of Mallory Falls. I’ve been beaten down, broken, and told I wasn’t good enough while training to follow in my father's footsteps, but here I am, ready to set out on my first mission. The problem? I’ve been tasked with killing the vampire king of Velum Mortis. Yeah, it kind of feels like I’m being set up to fail.

Now, standing in front of the slumbering king, desperate to prove myself, I prepare to shove my sword right through his heart and claim my first victory. I’m a slayer. He’s a vampire. It’s my duty to kill him.

So then why is the urge to abandon my mission and kiss him so damn strong?

Beyond the Veil is an adult vampire romance novel that was loosely based on the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. It contains mature content, adult language, and violence. Though this is the first book in the Vampires of Velum Mortis series, it can be read as a standalone.

My Review

Delia was raised by the vampire hunters and taught to hate them, kill them and even got engaged to another vampire hunter who is her mentor. She is sent on her first mission to kill the sleeping vampire king, Liam. But when she gets there things go wrong in every way they can. She can't find it inside her self to kill him and instead she thinks he's the most beautiful man she's ever seen and decides to kiss him which breaks a curse that was put upon him by a witch. 

Delia finds out she's been lied to from the very start and if she's just been given all the information about herself, things might have gone differently. She finds out she's been betrayed over and over again by the people she thought she could trust. She has no where to turn but Liam and he's quite smitten with her and swears she's going to be his queen, his mate but she can't see that happening even though he's gorgeous and seems different from the vile, dangerous creatures that she's been trained to believe vampires are. 

Both Delia and Liam have a big fight on their hands not only from the vampire hunters but also from the other vampires who might not want Liam to come back and take over again. This book had romance, secrets, betrayal, great action scenes, and two main characters who were destined to find each other. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #281

 

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 25 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 25 years here in a weekly blog post. 

This week is all about Hurricane/Tropical Storm Hilary 

It was quiet around here probably because it was raining on and off for days. So I'll show you some of the sky pictures I took. 

Starting Friday the clouds and rain started coming through. This was at sunset.

Sunset Friday night again the clouds were dark and the rain had started a little bit. 

Saturday morning the clouds were crazy. They were all around. everywhere I looked and they were high even though they seemed to start really low to the ground. It was drizzling at this time too. But as you can see nothing was flooding in my neighborhood. Falcor wasn't crazy about the rain but he still wanted to go out for a walk. 

High clouds on top of the mountains. We were getting a little bit of rain too. It would rain really hard for a few minutes and then stop. The clouds were moving really fast too. It rained most of Saturday night.

Sunday afternoon you can see the sidewalk was wet. Again it was raining off and on all day. We had some winds but they didn't last long. 

Sunday afternoon dark clouds blew through bringing a lot more rain. It rained some of the night occasionally. And the winds picked up at times.

Monday morning the clouds looked like this all around, everywhere I looked. The clouds seemed to start really low and just be super high especially over the mountains. 

I took this picture Monday morning around 6am. That was a dark cloud and brought with it some rain and winds but these clouds were moving so fast that the wind and rain didn't last long thankfully. 

And then on Thursday we got a little more rain and clouds from Tropical Storm Harold. It rained off and on all day. At least this week was a little cooler at times.

The high this week was 100F/37C

The low this week was 72F/22C

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

 

Connor Price & Caleb Mitchell - Still Blue 

So this one is different from what I usually listen to but wait to hear the story...

Connor was standing outside and offered $1000 to anyone who could help him finish this song. Caleb stepped up and started singing and when I saw the video below, I got goose bumps when he started singing. He has a great voice. 

@connorprice__

Best $1,000 I ever spent

♬ Still Blue - Connor Price & Caleb Mitchell

Freebie Friday!

 

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

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

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

This week I received: 

A $5 Amazon gift card from Crowdtap

A sample of My Way perfume. 

I love the perfume, it smells so good.

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

We had a gorgeous sunset one day this week. Las Vegas Summer sunsets can be very colorful when the clouds roll in. 

Book Review: Clone Sweet Clone by Harlyn Moxie

 

Book Description

Cloning myself is crucial to my survival…

Because who else can I trust to distract the human commander while I’m mating his daughter?

Her work is hard, the days are long, and her father — the only family she has in this entire universe — spends his days avoiding her.

She says it’s fine.

He’s busy. His job is important. He has a responsibility to his men, and to the Alliance. His rank means he has to uphold a certain image — one her attention-seeking behaviors could easily tarnish if he’d even look her way to notice, but he never does — and his constant rejection makes the brightness in her eyes fade a little more each time.

I can’t take it.

All she wants is to feel loved.

And once I’ve made her mine...

That’s all she’ll ever feel. 

My Review

Eden is a doctor working in a medical ward during the war with alien species. Not all aliens are bad though even though humans aren't allowed to mate with aliens. If they do they get sent away to a camp with other aliens and humans who are mated. Eden meets Vin when he brings in wounded soldiers after a mission but something strange is going on because some of the soldiers look just like him. Twin brothers, triplets? 

Vin works with Eden's father, his commander so even though he starts falling for her right away and tells her his secret, they know they can't be together because of the rules and who her father is. Her father is aloof and though she loves him, he seems to keep his distance as well as keeping an emotional distance from her. I definitely didn't care for her father at times. 

Once Vin's secret is revealed, I wasn't sure how she or her father were going to take it especially once the two get together and become mates. The world building, and the prejudice against the aliens who are fighting with the humans to beat back the bad aliens was unjust at the very least. Our government seemed to think the aliens were good enough to fight along side us but not good enough to mate with our human people. It really gave the reader something to think about. 

I loved this book and will definitely be reading more. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Book Review: Shadow Dance by Christine Feehan

 

Book Description

Tensions and passions rise in the city that never sleeps in this propulsive novel in #1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan’s Shadow Riders series.

As the head of the New York City Shadow Riders and his branch of the Ferraro family, Geno bears the weight of dual responsibilities on his broad shoulders. There’s nothing more important to Geno than protecting his territory and his famiglia. So when his own parents become the latest victims in a string of vicious murders, Geno is ready to go scorched earth. He thinks he has the assassin in his sights, but he’s unprepared for the firestorm their connection ignites....

 

Amaranthe Aubert’s lithe dancer’s body conceals a spine of steel. Even held captive and faced with the threat of lethal interrogation, she’s not about to cave under pressure. She had nothing to do with the murders, no matter what the ruthless man in front of her believes. But before Amara knows what’s happening, Geno connects to her in the shadows, stripping her bare of all artifice. Now, she has no way to hide her true reason for being in New York—and nowhere to run from the man who’s very presence steals the very breath from her lungs....

My Review

Geno is the cousin to the notorious Ferraro family whom we have seen in the other books in this series. He as well as his Ferraro cousins are shadow riders, meaning they are able to move very quickly through the tubes of the shadows. Essentially they are able to turn into shadows and quickly move anywhere shadows are. The Ferraro family as well as their cousins gets justice for people who have been hurt by child predators and human traffickers. They are a crime family but they find and kill child predators and human traffickers which makes them the good guys in my book. 

When Amaranthe is picked up by Geno and his crew, he thinks she's there to assassinate him but she's hiding a huge secret and isn't sure who she can trust. Her cover is she's a ballet dancer and she can play the sweet, innocent small woman when she has to, but underneath all that facade is a strong women ready to pounce on her target. But is Geno her target? Geno feels something for her right away and because a Shadow Rider can feel their mate because their shadows are attracted to each other, he knows he isn't going to be able to hurt her in this interrogation which puts him in danger. So when he brings in some of his crew to interrogate her, she panics and does what she's been trained to do which almost kills her and Geno. 

After they both recover, she finally tells him the truth and they start working together to find out who is killing people close to his family. This was a great murder mystery, I had no idea who was doing the killing or why until the reason was revealed. I have been loving this series since the very first book and this was no exception. I liked that we got to see all the Ferraro siblings and their spouses from the past books and had a chance to watch Geno and Amaranthe slowly get more comfortable with each other. Both Amaranthe and Geno have had hard lives. Amaranthe was adopted by the council when her parents died when she was young, she wasn't shown love or affection but she was trained to be a very lethal shadow rider. Geno had to take over his family's business at a very young age when something bad happened to his parents. So these two really needed each other. 

There was so much action in this book and I love watching these lethal shadow riders do their thing. If they have you in their sights, there's no getting away from them. You can't hide from them, because as long as there's a shadow, they can get to you. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Disclosure: I was given an e-ARC of this book but all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #280

 

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 25 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 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

Last Sunday during the day I heard the police helicopter over my apartment complex and he was circling low so I was able to get a couple of shots from my bedroom window. But I didn't see any police cars on my street. 

On a side note, can I just say again how happy I am that I found a way to use my camera again. I would never have been able to get this shot with my tablet or phone. 

Since I didn't see any police cars from my bedroom window, I decided to take Falcor for a walk out front and see if something was happening down at the end of the street. And that's when I noticed a police car at the end of the street. The Amazon delivery van was in the way to get a good picture so I had to wait until it left.

Then I noticed the guy in white being arrested. He's a known methhead in the area and a real piece of work since he's known to beat the crap out of his girlfriend. So I was happy to see him being arrested and taken away. The Amazon delivery van was there the whole time. I think he was sitting there watching it all unfold since he was so close. lol  Antwon ( the man arrested) was out and back around here 2 days later. 

Hurricane Hilary Update: 

We are in the path of the Tropical Storm once it travels by California. We started getting a little rain on Friday, had a little more on Saturday. The winds picked up to 50pmh for a while and them things died down. It seems to come in waves, a little rain, winds, overcast skies and then nothing for a few hours. I updated this Saturday night and just wanted you all to know that so far I'm fine where I'm at in Las Vegas. Other parts of Vegas are getting a lot more rain and the mountains are getting heavy rain but it's been pretty calm where I'm at for now. I don't know what today and tomorrow will bring but I will update you with pictures next Sunday. I hope all my readers in California are safe. 

The high this week was 107F/41C

The low this week was 80F/26C

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

 

ShallowSky - Delete Me

I found this song as I was scrolling through Youtube like I do a lot of times for songs and really liked this one. The video is a bit weird but I'm not watching the video while reading blog posts so it was fine. I hope you enjoy 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: 

This pack of two Christmas snack bowls from Walmart Spark Reviewer. 

I really like them and they will be great for Christmas. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Broken Mate by Jen L. Grey

Book Description

I'm the last surviving member of my pack, and I'm running for my life. As the future pack leader of the Silver Wolves, my life was carefully planned: stay hidden, and learn to fight. In an instant, everything changes. My pack was slaughtered by an unknown enemy. Alone and unsure who to trust, I search for safety.

Now, there's a pack leader who offers me something that no one else can--protection. He’s sexy, an absolute jerk, and my fated mate. The more I try to fight our bond, the more fate pushes us together. But the price may be too much for both of us.

I’m being hunted, and the choices I'm forced to make could destroy me.

*Please Note*

Welcome to Shadow City, where each trilogy focuses on a different pair of fated mates. By the end of every trilogy, each couple will have their happy ever after.

However, not every mystery will be solved. Some secrets will span additional trilogies, but will in no way take away from the individual stories.

My Review

Sterlyn gets told to run to Shadow City as her father, the alpha of her pack is dying. The rest of her pack had been slaughtered by others who wanted to kidnap her and make her a slave to them so she would have babies because of the kind of wolf shifter she was. So she ran and as she gets to Shadow City she runs into Killian who helps her stay safe. But things aren't as safe there as she thought because those others are still after her. 

While hiding and trying to stay safe, she meets Killian's best friend, Griffin and feels a pull towards him. But Killian lets her know that Griffin is a player and will never be serious about any relationship he has. But Griffin knows this is different since he knows that Sterlyn is his fated mate, if he can only get her to trust him. 

Just when things seem to be calming down the bad guys show up and are ready to kill anyone who gets in their way so they can kidnap her. But things don't exactly go their way. 

Because of that last paragraph under the description of the book, I knew that there would be a kind of cliffhanger for the ending of this book and some things would be left open. I don't like cliffhangers but since I knew about it going in, I was fine with reading this. As long as I knew beforehand and can make up my own mind if I want to take the time to read a book that might end like this, it's on me if I read it. But I liked the way this ended so that was good.

I liked the storyline, the characters and how it all played out. I'm looking forward to reading the next book now. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon