Favorite Song of the Week

 

Kim Hyun Joong - Unbreakable (Feat. Jay Park)

Since some of you said you don't listen to much KPOP I thought I would share a song I started listeing to this week. I hope you enjoy. 

Product Review: Chicken of the Sea Smoked Oysters

 

I realize today should have been freebie Friday but I received no freebies this week so how about a product review instead. I tried something new so I'll share with you what I tried. You may be aware of the smoked oysters that come in a tin can. They are usually with the sardines, clams, kipper snacks ect. I love smoked oysters and the ones that come in the can are usually around $3. So when my daughter found this pack of smoked oysters at Dollar Tree for $1.25 I was happy to try them. 

There is a lot of oil in the bag and it seemed to me like there were more smoked oysters in the bag than are usually in the can as well. Now if you've tried the smoked oysters that are in the can, you know what they taste like. These tasted just like the ones in the can and I do mean exactly like them. I will be getting these from now on. I know they don't look appetizing but these things are so good. 

Have you tried these?

Book Review: Hunted By The Alien Warlord by Kyra Snow

 

Book Description

He hunted me. He captured me. Now he vows to make me his bride.

For three years, I’ve been stuck on this alien planet.

Three years of protecting my sister from the brutal Xorian Warlords.

Three years, and I never considered what I’d do if one of them chose me.

Now I belong to the fearsome leader of the Orakas desert tribe, but I’m not just his prisoner.

I’m his Ezarri.

His queen.

And he says I will warm his bed each and every night.

Hunted by the Alien Warlord is a standalone sci-fi romance that contains no cheating, no cliffhanger, and a guaranteed happily ever after between a sexy alien hero and his fiery human mate. Each book in this series can be read as a standalone and features a different couple.

My Review

The aliens formed a treaty with Earth and some females came to this alien planet as part of the treaty. They learned that they are to be picked as mates to the aliens but they aren't treated very well while they are waiting to be picked. They aren't fed properly, their houses are run down and the guards are mostly not nice. I found it a bit unrealistic that the males who were going to be coming to find a mate wouldn't make sure that the females were being treated properly but Korzaak seemed to know nothing about the fact that the females aren't being treated right. He makes sure after the fact that they have a better life while waiting to be picked as a mate though. I just thought that since these women were potential mates that the warlords would make sure they were safe, healthy and treated good. 

Aurora has tried to keep her sister safe but once the warlords come and it looks like Aurora is going to be picked to be Korzaak's mate, her little sister tries to save her but she makes a horribly dangerous mistake. Aurora decides to offer herself willingly if Korzaak will spare her sister any punishment and he agrees. 

Aurora is malnourished and not strong and so Korzaak tries to get her to eat and drink more once they are back at his home. Aurora is frightened of him but because he is caring and gentle with her, she slowly starts to trust him more. He shows her more of his home and she gets to know his people. Things are starting to work out and then they are all put in danger. Aurora and Korzaak really realize how much they care for each other when they see each other in danger and each thinks they might lose the other. 

I really thought this was a good book and had a great ending. I'm looking forward to reading more of this series now.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

I was out walking Falcor and was watching these clouds roll in. 

Within 10 minutes as we were getting back home it was getting a lot darker. We did get a few rain drops out of it but nothing big. 

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.

Being in foster care when I was 16 years old

This picks up from last months story when my mom went to jail for 6 months and my brother and I ended up in foster care. So when the police came and raided my house, my uncle Jack let me and my brother spend the night at his place and we went to school the next day. The police came to our school's and took us out and back to the police station. They called social workers to come get us. My uncle Jack wouldn't answer his phone because he didn't want to be responsible for us. It never occurred to me to call my dad because we didn't see him often because he and my step mother Cathy were also doing drugs. Their drug of choice was speed. My dad was abusive and used to hit and beat us a lot and my step mother hated us. So when we all went to court the first time a couple of weeks later, I told my social worker I didn't want to live with my dad and he told the judge. My brother went to live with my dad and I went back with my foster family. I stayed in foster care for almost 4 months. My mom was out on bail for a little while until she went to court but we weren't allowed to live with her. 

My foster mother, Linda had one 8 year old biological daughter who had a mild case of Down Syndrome. Plus she had a foster daughter who was 17 that she and her husband had adopted. While I was there she had 2 other foster girls come to stay with her. One was 10 years old and the other was 6 years old. They had lost both of their parents in a car accident and the social worker was looking for other family for them. Linda was mad because I wouldn't call her mom and called her Linda instead and when the new kids got there they called her Linda as well instead of mom and that made her mad. Both of the kids were really upset all the time obviously because they just lost both of their parents. But if they cried too much, Linda would make them go into the bedroom and she would lock it from the outside. I would sometimes sit by the door and talk to the 10 year old and tell her she just needed to not cry around Linda and they wouldn't be locked in the room. Linda was mad that I talked to the 10 year old and mad me stay away from the door after that. 

Sometimes the 10 year old would act out and Linda would lock her little sister in the room by herself as a punishment. This was supposed to be one of the best foster families my social worker told me but if that was the case, I sure didn't see it. Linda's husband worked for the Orange County Sherriff's office, but I think he was a deputy. I didn't see him often since he usually got home after we all had to go to bed at 7PM. 

I wasn't allowed to go outside at all because Linda thought my mom or Jose would try to find me and kidnap me which was crazy. I was allowed to talk to my mom on the phone for 30 minutes each week while she was out waiting to go to court. But Linda would be on the other line listening and telling my mom not to talk about this or that, she was constantly interrupting our conversation. 

Linda used to take us all to this one restaurant where she knew the owner and he would come talk to her all the time. He would come sit at the booth with us all the time and hug me and the daughter they adopted all the time. I asked him to stop rubbing my leg one time and he laughed at me, I looked at Linda and she just shrugged her shoulders like she didn't care. So from then on, I tried to sit in between the other kids so I wasn't sitting on the end where this guy would sit next to me because he was very handsy. 

When I went back to court the second time my mom was in jail at this time but she was sitting in a chair in an orange jumpsuit, handcuffs and chains. The judge asked me, my mom and my social worker into her chambers and told me that Linda called the courthouse and told the judge that before I left that day I had set fire to her family bible she had on the table. I was shocked because I had done no such thing. So the judge told me I needed to go home with my dad that day and she wouldn't hear anything else. So I went with my dad where my brother was. He had been told that he could go to Linda's house and pick up my belongings so we did that. I went in to get my bags that she had packed and when I saw her family bible sitting on the living room table, I said, "Your bible looks pretty good for having been set on fire this morning." She just gave me a sarcastic look and snide smile and told me to take my bags and leave. That woman was a piece of work. 

My brother and I lived with my dad and step mother for a year. There was never any food in the apartment except for a large bag of potatoes that me and my brother would go and use the propane bbq outside to cook our potatoes on for dinner. For a while we had no electricity either and I called my social worker to tell him about the lack of food and power and he came out and wrote a few things down. But refused to take my calls after that. My dad didn't have a phone so I was using the phone booth at school. The system that was there to help us, failed me and my brother. 

Links to past stories

2023

January 2023

February 2023

March 2023

April 2023

May 2023

June 2023

July 2023

August 2023

September 2023

October 2023

November 2023

December

2024

January 2024

February 2024

Happy Raturday!

 

*All pictures are courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com and Anisah Grace Hanna*

Apartment Life #308

 

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.  

I saw this guy laying on the sidewalk, he's one of the regular homeless people around here. It's sad seeing them laying on the sidewalk and the homeless van does come around and ask them if they want to go to the shelter but they often refuse.

At first I thought it was just a pile of blankets until I spotted his shoes. But I watched a police car drive up near him, get on their loud speaker and ask him if he was alright. He gave a thumbs up but other than that didn't move and the police drove away. That's the first time I've seen that happen. A little while later some of his friends woke him up and they all walked away together.

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I think it was last year sometime I told you about a big white stray or outside cat cat that was real friendly and would follow people around. The cat came right up to Falcor and was sniffing him. They were nose to nose at one point and they just sniffed each other until the cat got bored and walked away. The cat is bigger than Falcor and I called him stalker cat because he would follow behind us and others and just follow us around. Well I saw the cat across the street the other day and watched him climb up in this tree and just watch people as they walked by. 

Reminded me of a tiger laying up in the tree waiting to pounce on someone. lol I think he is someone's cat across the street because he's well fed and when he sees this one particular lady, he'll follow her inside her apartment. He came running up to me and Falcor the next day and was nose to nose with Falcor. He's a very friendly cat. Falcor wanted to play, the cat not so much.

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2 new people moved into my courtyard this week. So far they are quiet. 

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On Saturday a storm blew in and we had 65 mph winds. I took Falcor for a walk, I couldn't walk the path by the stores because the small gravel, sand and tiny rocks over there were hitting my skin so furiously it was hurting. 

So I took him out front of my building but the dead palm fronds on one of the tall palm trees were flying off and being picked up by the wind and flying all over the place. I got hit in the side of the head and my leg by two of them. The street was blocked by them and more were coming off. I'm fine, hardly left a mark but all those big palm trees are scary being blown around by the wind.

Cars were being hit by flying debris for hours.

This palm tree right here was the culprit. 

1. Some of the palm frond remnants were still near the top. 

2. This smooth space is where the palm frond debris had come from. 

3. This is what was left towards the bottom of the tree and was flying off for hours.  

The high this week was 72F/22C

The low this week was 42F/5C

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

 

Shinedown- Black Soul

It's been a while since I've heard a new Shinedown song that I liked but I like this one. I hope you enjoy 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: 

A full size bag of Purina Dentalife digestive support treats from Fur Buddies. 

Falcor liked them and they didn't upset his stomach so that's a win for him. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Hungry Like A Wolf by Jessica Lynch

 

Book Description

He'll do anything to claim his mate—again...

In a world where paranormals live side by side with humans, everybody knows about Ordinance 7304: the Bond Laws. Or, as the Paras snidely whisper to each other, the Claws Clause—a long and detailed set of laws that bonded Para couples must obey if they want their union to be recognized.

Because it wasn’t already damn near impossible to find a fated mate in the first place. Now the government just has to get involved…

I remember—

Three years ago, Maddox Wolfe lost his mate.

Since there’s nothing more dangerous than a bonded shifter on his own, Ordinance 7304 gave him three choices: voluntary incarceration until he’s no longer a threat; a lobotomy-like procedure performed by government witches that would dissolve his bond; or a state-sanctioned execution so that he could be with his mate again. And while death held a certain appeal in the hazy days following the tragedy, Maddox had his family and his pack to live for. So, refusing to give up his memories of his sweet Evangeline, he chose to spend the rest of his days in the Cage.

That's when his brother drops the bomb on him: his Angie isn't dead. In fact, she's living in the nearby city of Grayson while Maddox is locked up in the magic-free prison. With the newfound knowledge that his mate is alive—alive and on her own—he earns an early release. Eager to get back to her, it never dawns on Maddox that there was a reason he spent three years without her.

And there is. A big one.

His beloved mate doesn't remember him, or their time together. Maddox is nothing but a stranger to her—and worse? When Maddox tracks her down, he discovers that she has a new male.

Can you blame the wild wolf shifter for what he does next?

My Review

Maddox and Angie are mates but instead of getting their mating license so the government would recognize their union, they got married first and were on their way to their honeymoon when their car crashed. Maddox was told that Angie died and he had no reason to think he'd been lied to. So he spent three years in prison because he wouldn't let the witches take away his memories of his mate. But then his brother spots Angie on the street and she acts like she doesn't recognize him. Angie was hurt really bad in the accident but she didn't die. She had some head trauma and amnesia, she lost an entire year of memories, the entire time she had been with Maddox. Her family wanted to keep her away from Maddox so they made sure he thought she was dead and they figured that would be the end of it. 

When Maddox is finally released from confinement, he goes searching for Angie to hopefully get her to remember him but it's a lot harder than he thought it would be. Angie's family and her new boyfriend will do anything to keep them apart but Maddox is determined. 

Angie and Maddox have a great love story and a tragic past being kept apart. The things they both endured to finally be brought back together broke my heart. But it has such a good ending. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

When Falcor goes for a walk he likes to stretch his leg out behind him and just stand like that for a second. I have no idea why but I caught it on camera this time. lol He was also smelling all the weeds that popped up because of the rain we had a couple of months ago. This is a picture from a couple of months ago when the leaves started falling.

We also had some rain this week and some really dark clouds.

After the rain cleared out we were left with some really big, fluffy clouds.

Book Review: Christmas At Last by Sydney St. James

 

Book Description

Christmas comes early this year for those who wait…

Franz, Sigurður, Adem, and Yiannis have been waiting decades to see if the urban legend about a matchmaker that specializes in monster matches will come through for them. They did the ritual. They trusted the process. And nothing has happened. They're almost out of hope when their number is up, and it's the worst timing for the best thing in their life to happen.

Mary used to love Christmas. That was before her ex dumped her due to her chronic illness not fitting his cookie cutter life plan. Now she has to live in his shadow, literally. She can look out her window and see the house they were supposed to grow a family in. It would be easier to pretend her heart hadn't been shattered if he'd leave her alone.

After the most hectic day, Mary trudges home with an ancient book to curl up with by the fire. Only she gets more than she bargained for when she opens the book and four hunky monsters appear. Has the opportunity for love come too late? Or will these five hearts find more than Christmas cheer this season?

Author Note: This book was previously published as Holiday Horrors. After listening to reader feedback, I've changed the name to better meet reader expectation. No one wants to be disappointed!

My Review

Mary is heartbroken that her ex broke up with her because of her medical condition. But things with him are not good because he's changed and is mean to her now. They both work at the same place and he's become down right antagonistic towards her for no reason. So when she brings an old book home to read and opens it, she gets the surprise of her life. 4 monsters pop out and she's not expecting what happens next with them. 

They have been waiting for their mate but didn't expect the matchmaker to mate them with a human, so they aren't sure this is going to work out. One of the men is Krampus and another is Yule Cat- a cat shifter. The others are different monsters but as they get to know her and they tell her who and what they are and how they came to her, she's starting to realize that maybe she might find her happily ever after if she can make things work with all of them and finally get rid of her ex. They can all shift between their monster side and human looking sides so that they don't scare the neighbors, just don't get them mad. 

When Mary Finds out that the guys have tried to enter a gingerbread baking competition back home at Christmasland and have always come in last because they really can't bake, she offers to help them because she loves to bake. This competition brings them all closer and shows them all what it would be like to be in each others lives. 

These guys are great. They might be monsters but they treat her better than she has ever been treated and they have loving hearts. At times this was super spicy as you can imagine with 4 guys but it was also super sweet. This was such a fun read. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

The rats name is Fish so this does make sense. lol 

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

Apartment Life #307

 

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.  

On Monday this woman was walking up and down the sidewalk screaming at herself. I can never understand what she's saying. It was 8am this time. I've showed you other videos with her in them but it's been a while. Sometimes she'll be screaming at 3am so at least it wasn't that early this time. She's a drug addict but she also has some mental problems. 

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On Thursday my daughter was walking in the grocery store parking lot right next door to where we live so she could catch the bus to work and she was hit by a car. She's fine, nothing broken. The car didn't hit her hard but hard enough to knock her over and then the car sped off. She didn't call the police because she didn't get the license plate so she didn't have any info to catch the guy.  At least it wasn't worst. 

The high this week was 69F/20C

The low this week was 48F/8C

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

 

New Kids On The Block- Remix

So if you are Gen X you'll probably recognize this group. I still like them and I love this song. This song came out 10 years ago but it's such a great song and the video is so much fun. 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 received: 

A sample of LaRoche Posay moisturizer. 

It works good but most of the products I've tried from this company work pretty good. 

Did you received any freebies this week?

Book Review: The Hitman's Weakness by Ivy Banks

 

Book Description

He was sent to kill her, but now he can’t escape her alluring grasp!

Lily would have gladly traded her billion-dollar inheritance for one more day with her beloved father. But someone else wants her fortune and will stop at nothing to get it—including sending a hitman to kill Lily.

As a vampire prince, Beckett is a natural killer, so he puts his skills to good use as a professional assassin, offing only the scummiest of the Earth. When he’s sent to kill Lily, everything changes. Something feels off. When he can’t bring himself to murder her, he must confront not only the way she makes him feel, but whether the hit put out on her was warranted.

Will she turn out to be the murderer he was lead to believe or his seductive soulmate?

If you like steamy, quick, and dirty vampire romance novellas, you will love Hitman’s Weakness!

WARNING: This novella is quick, sizzling hot, and ready to be devoured!

This is a stand-alone short and naughty story in the Royal Vampire Kingdom series. Each story in this series features an alpha vampire hero. No cliffhangers and no cheating, just good old fashioned hot, dirty fun! Intended for 18+ readers due to adult content.

My Review

Beckett is a vampire and a hitman but he only kills those really bad people. He's hired to kill Lily and is told she killed her father to inherit his company but that is far from the truth. Beckett doesn't kill Lily because he knows right away that she isn't a bad person and he's more than a little upset when he finds out that someone sent him to kill an innocent person. 

Beckett feels something for Lily and wants to keep her safe because someone obviously wants her dead. So they set out to find who wants her dead and why. I had a feeling who the bad guy was right away but it's sad to see Lily find out who betrayed her and her father. This was a quick read but I loved the romance and the mystery. Beckett is such a great guy for being a hitman. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

My daughter took this picture a couple of months ago when the leaves were falling off this tree. We had been taking pictures of Falcor across the street in the fallen leaves because it's such a nice background. 

The picture isn't from this week but I liked how they came out so I keep sharing the pictures we took. 

Book Review: Leopard's Hunt by Christine Feehan

 

Book Description

In this pulse-pounding novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Leopard series, animal instinct unites two elite shifters whose heads are at war with their hearts.

Gorya Amurov might be known as his family's peacekeeper, but the leopard inside him wants nothing more than to claw to the surface and unleash hell. A harsh life has shaped him into a vicious fighter with a calm exterior, but Gorya knows it's only a matter of time until he loses all control. Deep down, he truly believes he'd be better off dead, and that no woman will ever accept him as a mate....

Maya Averina has spent years hunting the criminals who destroyed her life, and she always takes down her prey. She keeps to herself, stays under the radar, and never loses focus. But with her body burning up and her mind distracted by her first heat, an ambush takes her by surprise. Now she's trapped, an unmated female shifter about to be sold off to the highest bidder. Maya is ready to fight her way out—until the most dangerous, powerful man she's ever encountered arrives to set her free....

My Review

Gorya is an elite Leopard shifter. He's taken over the criminal enterprise after killing everyone who used to run it. Now he's a better boss than his predecessor because he doesn't allow women and children to be abused and trafficked the way he was when he was a child. Gorya hires another couple to watch him closely because he thinks he might have to be put down because his Leopard is a cold blooded killer. 

Maya is also an elite Leopard and a killer. Her early life was very hard when people killed her family and kept her as a sex slave. When she and other escaped with the help of another, she grew up to be a killer that took out the men who made her life miserable. 

Now Gorya and Maya's leopard's have mated and their human sides are feeling things for each other but neither of them think they can truly be in a relationship with anyone because they are so broken emotionally. 

Maya meets the people that Gorya works with and his cousins and they all have to work together to bring down the bad people even though they don't trust her and she doesn't trust them much. When they find out that some of the people is Gorya's organization are still trying to traffic women and children, they have to work together to find out who, take care of them and save the women and children from a bad situation. 

Gorya is such a great character, he thought there was nothing redeemable about him and he was so wrong. When he and Maya start getting closer they bring out the best in each other and their leopards are helping them to heal. It was sad watching how broken they really are but great seeing how they tried to find a way though and make their relationship work. 

This book was a little wordy, a little slow at times which slowed down the pace for me but all in all it was a great story. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

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

Happy Raturday!

 

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