Best Moments of 2024

 

In January the leaves fell off of the tree across the street and we got some cute pictures of Falcor. 

In February my daughter put up a few decorations for Valentine's Day. The Valentine tree was cute.

In March my daughter put out some Easter decorations. The wreath is so colorful. 

These little Easter tree's are too cute. 

We had some gorgeous sunsets in April because of all the storm clouds we had that month.

My daughter planted some radishes in the garden and these pretty purple flowers popped up in May.

This bush with the pretty purple flowers that I spotted in June. 

In July we had a few days of cloudiness but no rain. But it did make for some nice sunset pictures. 

In August I made my first AI pictures and it made me laugh because the little rat/dogs came out looking like Falcor. 

In September I bought a new camera after my old one stopped working. I'm pretty happy with it. 

We had a once in a lifetime glance at Comet A3 in October as it was passing by. That little faint while line is the comet. 

In November my daughter and grandson took this picture and it just made me laugh. The looks they are giving each other is so funny. 

The Christmas tree for December.

My daughter and I also walked around the neighborhood and looked at Christmas lights in December. 

Merry Christmas!

Books Read In 2024

 

This year I made my goal to read 50 books by the end of the year. Last year my goal was 100 and I didn't quite make it. So I figured I wouldn't push myself to read more than I could this year and if I went over my goal that was fine. I ended up reading 82 books this year, not too bad. Here's a list of books I read. 

1. Guarded By The Grizzly by Bella Drake

2. Primal Possession by Katie Reus

3. Grave Stakes by Grave Grahme

4. Leopard's Hunt by Christine Feehan

 5. Mating Instinct by Katie Reus

6. Hedging Her Bets by Erzabet Bishop

7. Her Captive Wolf by Kristen Strassel

8. Her Fated Vampire by Gina Kincade

9. Her Filthy Enemy by Adele Knight

10. Her Protector by V. Vaughn

 11. His Virgin Mate by Grace Goodwin

12. The Hitman's Weakness by Ivy Banks

13. Christmas At Last by Sydney St James

14. Protecting The Gray Wolf by NJ Walters

15. Hungry Like a Wolf by Jessica Lynch

 16. Hunted By The Alien Warlord by Kyra Snow

17. Hunters Claim by S.E. Smith 

18. Jagger: The Temptation by Charmaine Louise Shelton

19. The King of Fire by Brittany White

20. Kingdom of Wolves by Amelia Shaw

21.Kings of Eden by Mila Young and Harper A. Brooks

22. Kiss of A Dragon by Alisa Woods

23. Layla by Summer Stanton

24. Legion by Tia Didmon

25. Long Distance Wolf by Rose Bak

26. Malachite by Starla Night

27. Seduced By The Sea Lord by Starla Night

28. Love Spell by Kristen Strassel

29. Lucky Charms by Louisa Bacio

30. The Alpha's Inferno by Reece Barden

31. A Mate's Denial by P. Jameson

32. Knights of Stone: Mason by Lisa Carlisle

33. Just One Night by Carly Phillips

34. Alpha Heat by Deva Long

35. Dietrich by Becca Fanning

 36. Dragon Blooded by Emma Alisyn

37. Mating of Convenience by Lori Whyte

38. Moon Kissed by Donna Grant

39. Moonshade by SJ West

40. Rancher's Law by Diana Palmer

41. How To Help A Hungry Werewolf by Charlotte Stein

42. The Night They Stole My Baby by Darren O'Sullivan

43. Heal Me: Club Surrender by A.C. Nixon

44. Mortal Curse by Tia Didmon

45. The Mountains Mate by Sara Ivy Hill

46. Paax by Nancey Cummings and Starr Huntress

47. Pact With the Pack by AJ Mullican

48. Planet Mail by Kate Pearce

49. The Alpha's Saviour by Reece Barden

50. Big Burly Foreman by Cassi Hart

51. The Alpha's Catch by Reece Barden

52. Moon Kissed by Jen L. Grey

53. The Polar Bear's Fake Mate by Sophie Stern

54. Primal Instinct by Sydney Somers

55. Fated To The Beast by Kenzie Skye

56. Princess Broken by Mara Leigh

57. Protection of a Bear by Jennifer Snyder

58. Claimed By Cthulhu by Wendi Gogh

59. Primal Mirror by Nalini Singh

60. Betrayal Road by Christine Feehan

61. Alpha's Choice by Julie Ranseth

62. Big Girls Bite Back by Lissa Lynn Thomas

63. Demon Mine by Marina Simcoe

64. Fated To The Alien Warrior by Erin Hale

 65. Feral Instincts by Stephanie Storm

66. Alpha Exposed by Anya Breton

67. Bren's Blessing by Pearl Tate

68. Alien Claimed by Julie K. Cohen

69. The Alpha King's Mark by Anne T. Thyssen

70. The Beta's Challenge by Alexa Phoenix

71. C791 (Cyborgs: More Than Machines) by Eve Langlais

72. Caught By The Dark by Alexa Michaels

73. The Changeling With The Silver Hair by Anna Hammar

74. Bloodstone by H.R. Sinclair

75. Fallen King by Kenzie Skye

76. For The Love of Hades by Frieda Kilmari

77. The Four by Katelyn Young

78. Dragons Are Forever by Sophie Stern

79. Lawbreaker by Diana Palmer

80. His Human Neighbor by Michele Mills 

81. Tempting The Black Wolf by N.J. Walters

82. Rogue Games by Reece Barden

How many books did you read this year?

Happy Raturday!

 

"I helped the Elf wrap some presents."

"I decided to make some Christmas cookies"

"The powdered sugar got everywhere."

"I didn't mind though."

"Because the cookies came out great." 

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

Apartment Life #348

 

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 26 years here in a weekly blog post.

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The apartment manager replied to my complaint email and said she would give the new neighbor a noise warning. She's been quiet since then. 

That's it. It's been quiet around here all week. Shocking, I know. lol 

The high this week was 67F/19C

The low this week was 40F/4C

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

Spotted In Las Vegas

 

My Daughter and out and about here in Las Vegas and spotted a few interesting things. Not sure where in Vegas this was but she spotted these statues of a Transformer and a Ram.

The statues are huge and they are both made out of car parts.

The Transformer statue is really big too.

Some artist is talented for making them out of car parts.

Then somewhere else she spotted this dragon statue.

Also made from car parts. A few interesting finds here in Las Vegas.

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 $25 gift card for Amazon from World Winner Games. 

A $20 Amazon gift card from an author giveaway. 

I racked up some points playing free games on World Winner and cashed out my points. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

I Spotted some birds all over the grass across the street when walking Falcor and snapped a picture of them. They had been sitting in the tree behind them. Everytime I see a bunch of birds in a tree I think of that movie, The Birds! lol 

Christmas Lights Around My Neighborhood

Some of you may remember that I have Agoraphobia and anxiety. I don't go out much at all. But I'm trying to do more and walk a little more. So when my daughter suggested we walk around the neighborhood to see the Christmas lights I decided to go with her. So here are some pictures from my surrounding neighborhood. 

Both of these houses had great lights. 

I love the blue snowflakes.

Love all the inflatables.

I hope you enjoyed the lights as much as I did. 

Book Review: Lawbreaker by Diana Palmer

Book Description

Tony Garza has been Odalie Everett's nemesis since the day they met. Once a New Jersey crime boss, Tony now owns an art gallery in New York, where he spends most of his time delegating his shadier business to subordinates. Odalie is a professional singer whose lifelong dream is to perform at the Met. She never expected to run into the heartbreaker from her past when she rents a small house near Tony's Manhattan apartment while taking voice lessons. But when they reconnect, they can't help but give in to unforgettable passion.

As their relationship blossoms, deadly figures from Tony's past come back to exact revenge, and he'll do anything to protect Odalie…even bring her back home to her family ranch in Texas. But as Odalie struggles with the idea of leaving behind her dreams in the city to have true love in Texas, she finds herself caught in the ultimate trap—and Tony's past won't let them go.

My Review

Odalie has a future singing in Opera in front of thousands of people because her voice is just that good. But she has a secret that not many people know, she has horrible stage fright so this might be harder than she thought. She's had a crush on Tony for a while but he's not interested. 

Tony has a troubled past and there are people who are out to get him so for that reason and others, he keeps Odalie at arms length away from him even though he can see she is enamored with him whenever they are around each other. The more he finds out about her though, the more she surprises him and the more he has a hard time staying away from her. 

Odalie has never had a boyfriend and Tony is older than she is but his questionable past is what really bothers him and why he wants to keep her away from him. He wants her to have a normal future and go on to be the opera singer she wants to be without mobsters coming out of the woodwork coming after her because they found out that he cares for her. 

But they can only stay away from each other for so long before they give in to the passion they feel for one another. They are happy for a while but Tony's past creeps up and puts Odalie in danger. I knew Tony would be a totally alpha hero though and he was. He knows how to handle business. I'm surprised anyone was dumb enough to come after anyone he cares about really. This has such a good ending too. I'm such a fan of Diana Palmer's books, she never fails to give us a great story. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

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

Happy Raturday!

 

"Time to drive around and look for Christmas lights."

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

Apartment Life #347

 

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 26 years here in a weekly blog post.  

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I have new neighbors on one side of my apartment. On day one they have been playing their music really loudly, having loud screaming matches at 1AM with their door open. They have been pounding on something in the bedroom which I can hear all night long because our bedrooms are just separated by a thin wall. I've had to wear foam earplugs at night just to get some sleep. 

So a few of us neighbors got together and wrote emails to the apartment office complaining about the new neighbors. Hopefully they will get a warning or something because this is ridiculous. Anymore loud fights and I'll be calling the police. 

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A couple of weeks ago a large pitbull came out of the courtyard in the last building of my apartment complex. He was off leash and came right at Falcor. Thankfully he wasn't aggressive but Falcor is not friendly to large dogs and that can set off another dog to be aggressive. It was 5AM and I was standing near the entrance of that courtyard screaming "Who's f*cking off leash dog is that" At the top of my lungs after I picked Falcor up to keep him away from the other dog. No one came outside. But I was pretty sure the dog belonged to the guy upstairs. The dog ran off so I left. 

A few days later the same thing happened and the dog ran upstairs and right into that upstairs apartment that I thought he belonged to. Then this week at 10PM I see Animal Control going to that upstairs apartment. I was across the street and watched as the Animal Control lady was taking pictures of a metal dog crate right next to the guys door. The dog was in it and barking his head off. There were two neighbors standing outside and they told me they called because the dog has been in the metal crate outside barking for a couple of days. It's been cold here so why is he keeping the dog outside in a cage?

The Animal Control lady ended up getting yelled at by the guy and he kept slamming his door on her. I didn't see what happened as I had to get Falcor back inside because it was cold out. But I haven't heard the dog barking at all or seen him so I think Animal Control took the dog. He sure wasn't taking care of it. 

The high this week was 61F/16C

The low this week was 35F/1C

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