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: 

2 samples of Gisada perfume, one for men and one for women. I started wearing the woman's perfume right away because it smelled so good. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Alien's Captive by Tina Moss

 

Book Description

All I’ve wanted since my abduction from Earth’s first long-range space flight is freedom from my alien captives. But when I’m sold off to a Rhonar warrior, I learn I'm not the only one enslaved on this hellish planet, and survival comes at a cost.

The commanding alien they call Xelan may be in charge, but his fair dealings—and devilishly sexy charms—give me hope for the future.

If I can strike an agreement with the battle-scarred warrior, perhaps together we can change the destiny of those bound in chains.

And if I can’t—well, I haven’t backed down from a fight yet.

However, as enemies line up to destroy the alien warriors and subjugate the galaxy, I discover that the universe has a sense of humor.

Fated mates are real. And Xelan declares me his.

How can I attain my freedom if I’m tied to another being? Even if his possessive growls and single-minded attention ignite my desires in ways I’ve only dreamed, I cannot be his.

But how long can I fight the pull of a mating bond before I lose my head—and my heart—to the heat burning between us?

Only the stars know.

My Review

Xelan is trying to find a way to stop the slave trade and help the slaves find their freedom but there's a lot to do. On his mission he comes across a small human female who's sad eyes call to him. He sets out to free her by buying her and lets the slaver know this. But by the time he comes back for her, the slaver has tortured her and she's in bad shape. Xelan wants to take his anger out on the slaver but if he does his mission would be compromised so he has to wait to get his revenge for her. 

After rescuing her and she finds out that he really is one of the good guys, she starts to trust him more and he realizes that she's his mate which is startling but gives him and his people hope for the future since the females from him planet have all been wiped out. 

I liked that along the way they found others who are trying to stop the slavers as well and I hope to see more of them in the future. Some of the aliens they encounter in this story are big and scary but some are small and cute and I loved all the different descriptions of the different aliens.

These two really are completely different but they made it work over time.

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

Pink Sunrise in Las Vegas. The sky was so pink! It shows a bit in this picture but it looked so much pinker in person. It's still a nice picture though. 

Book Review: Dark Hope by Christine Feehan

 

Book Description

Immortal passions rage as evil grows in this gripping novel in Christine Feehan’s #1 New York Times bestselling Carpathian series.

Silke Vriese Reinders knows a war is coming. The demon slayer has seen it over and over again in the cards—and the battle won’t just be for the survival of her remote village, but for all mankind. Silke knows the only way to win will be with the help of the Carpathians. A fact that fills her with trepidation, as she is fated to be the lifemate to one of the ancient supernatural warriors—bound to a complete stranger and responsible for his soul.

One of the oldest, most dangerous Carpathians, Benedek Kovak is more beast than man. Locked away for centuries, the only thing that has stopped him from becoming one of the monsters he’s sworn to defeat is the thought of his lifemate. When Benedek senses the impending danger, he sets out to find her before it’s too late. But their enemy has laid a trap that pushes him closer to turning than ever before.

For so long Benedek has felt nothing. Now, some dark art is compelling him to indulge in cravings he thought long buried. He has no hope that anyone can restore what’s left of his tainted soul, but Silke is nothing like he imagined. Perhaps she’s strong enough to fight back the darkness. Perhaps together they can defeat an adversary hell bent on destroying them all....

My Review

Silke knows a war with Lilith is coming. She's been training her entire life for this battle. She also knows that she is destined to be the lifemate of a very old, very dangerous Carpathian warrior. She knows the only way to defeat her enemies is with the help of the Carpathians but she didn't know her soon to be lifemate was on the way to her village to aid them in battle. 

Benedek and four other ancient warriors show up in Silke's village, not only to meet his lifemate but to help her defeat Lilith and the demons she's sending. Silke and Benedek feel an attraction right away because of the lifemate bond but they are both distrustful and Silke isn't sure she wants such a powerful, dangerous supernatural as a husband. So when Benedek makes it clear to her that she has no choice in the matter and he's has no plans on giving her up, they sit down and come to some compromises like adults would. This gives them some time to get to know each other while also bonding them together so he doesn't turn into a vampire. 

In the past few books the overall arc of the stories was about the ancients from the monastery in search of their lifemates before the darkness claims them and they turn vampire. Most of the lifemates have been human females who are tarot card readers. While Silke is also a tarot card reader, she is also a demon slayer and she doesn't use her tarot cards very much in this book. When she did  use them it felt like an afterthought just to throw that in there. She really doesn't gleem too much info from her tarot card reading to give to the Carpathians that she gave readings to. Her friend Tora, who is a Carpathian has been with her for years and has trained her and told her about the Carpathians since she is to be one after she mates. Tora is one of the women who guard the gate so a fearsome ancient named Justice doesn't escape. But there's a huge twist in that story at the end of this book. 

There was a lot of fighting in this book, a lot of action, so much so that Silke and Benedek didn't feel like they had time to really get to know one another much. 

While I liked this book it wasn't as good as some of the others and I miss the stories of some of the previous Carpathians that used to show up in books. We would get a look at some previous characters lives and we haven't had that in a while. I hope this series gets back to the Carpathian families and the Prince who made me love this series in the first place. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

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

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

Happy New Year.

Happy New Year. Hope it's a good one for everybody.

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

Apartment Life #350

 

*Click on any pictures to enlarge them*

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.

Every time I take Falcor out I've been seeing a lot of homeless people go down into the tunnels via the manholes. This is the one that one homeless man fell down and broke his leg a few weeks ago. The cover is always off because they take it off so they can go down there. 

A little ways away from the first one is this one. It's also uncovered. 

This is another entry point into the tunnels. It's just past my apartment complex. 

The homeless people removed the steel grate that had been covering it and now it's missing so this huge hole is just open all the time now. 

Now if you want to see what some of the larger tunnels/washes look like you can see those pictures in this post. My grandson and his father took a walk into the tunnels and few years ago (Like a lot of people do) and took some pictures. My late husband and daughter went exploring the tunnels years ago too. 

All of the entry points into the tunnels that I took pictures of are along the left side of this sidewalk in the rocks. I tell you, if someone wanted to hide from the police or anyone else, all they would have to do is hide in the Las Vegas tunnels. They go on for miles and entry points for them are all over this city.

If you want to read an article about the tunnels this one was very informative.  

---

I saw another Pods get delivered last week. I thought for sure it was going to sit there for a year like the last one. But the truck in front of it that delivered it sat there for a few hours while the people unpacked the Pods and then I saw how the truck that has a built in fork like picked up the Pods and was able to put it back on the truck and take it away. It was kinda cool to see how they are delivered and picked up. 

---

It was quiet for the most part but on New Year's Eve night a truck hot 2 parked cars on my street and fled the scene. 

The high this week was 61F/16C

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.

Saturday Vittles

 

My Daughter and I are trying to eat more healthy so I thought I would share some pictures on Saturday's of what we've made. Most pictures are from my daughter since she takes good food pics. lol

For the Chicken salad, I mixed together 1 cup of shredded chicken breast with 1 TBSP mayonnaise,  1 stalk of diced celery, and some salt and pepper. This was enough for 4 wraps. 

We made Chicken Salad and added it to a low carb tortillas with some lettuce and tomato. This was really good. 

The Carb Counter tortillas are just 60 calories for 2 of them and 14 grams of carbs. 

For two chicken salad wraps it was 260 calories and 14 carbs. 

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: 

3 Samples of Gold Bond Healing Sensitive lotion from SheSpeaks. 

I like the lotion and it seems to work well. 

Book Review: Alien Crashes The Wedding by Becca Brayden

 

Book Description

Art dealer Sasha Montgomery is both nervous and thrilled to be invited to the Caldorian Earth Base for her best friend’s wedding to an alien warrior. One, she’s never seen an alien up close, and two, she made a promise to be there, no matter how much the idea of being surrounded by hundreds of huge alien warriors frightens her.

Sasha thinks she’s got it all under control, until Dagan, the groom’s best friend, crashes the wedding. He’s smoking hot—way too hot to be an alien—and determined to seduce her.

Sasha gives in to passion with unexpected consequences. Ancient power rises in response to their new-found bond, and the once innocent Sasha discovers that Dagan has been keeping secrets. He’s not just another warrior, he’s a king, and the power rising between them hasn’t been seen in a millennium. Sasha must learn to control the force clawing its way through her body…or destroy them all.

My Review

Sasha is on her way to her best friend's wedding when she encounters one of the aliens that are on Earth keeping us safe. She finds these aliens a bit frightening since they are so large, so she runs away. Sasha is shy and just wants to get this visit over with for her friend. So what are the chances that the alien she ran away from will be at her friend's wedding? Pretty good and that is where the fun begins. 

Dagen was surprised and a little intrigued when he spots Sasha and she ran away but he spots her again at the wedding and he's even more enamored with her. When Sasha's friend witnesses the flirting going on with these two, she pushes them together gently and they start to get to know one another. But Dagen is an alien and he has his own customs that Sasha knows very little about. So when Dagen pursues her and she agrees to what she thinks is dating him for a week, he thinks she understands his customs and there's some miscommunication because of this. 

I thought Dagen was a great hero and he treated Sasha really well. When something starts to happen to Sasha things really change and there's a huge thing that happens to her and him because of it. I think this might be the beginning of things changing for his people which makes me want to read more of this series now. I really like the direction this book went. I had a lot of fun reading this book and can't wait to read more now. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

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.

Babysitting in the 80's

My younger brother and I were both latchkey kids when we were young. If you don't know that term it means, I had a key to the house on a lanyard around my neck and I let myself and my brother into our house after school. I made us a snack, did the dishes and watched my brother. I was 10 years old and my brother was 8 when I started doing this. So I had a lot of experience taking care of a kid by the time I was 14 years old. The next door neighbor asked if I could watch her two kids at night mostly on the weekends because she was going to night school to become a realtor. My mom was fine with it and I just spent the night on her couch in case the kids woke up during the night. I made $2 an hour. 

When I was 15 years old the lady across the street asked if I would clean her house and take care of her two year old on the weekends. Again I did this for $2 an hour. Any extra money I made went to buying my own clothes and extra food since my mom was spending her money on drugs. 

When I was 17 I dropped out of high school because I was being bullied. (I got my GED when I was 23). But I started babysitting 4 different kids at that time. One girl was overnight during the week. Two others were during the day weekdays while their parents were at work and another little girl was on the weekends during the day while her mom was at work. All were $2 an hour. But I was babysitting pretty much all the time and just slept on the couches in their houses while the kids slept. 

One of the kid's fathers was a single guy and he asked me out. But he was 55 and I was 17. The little girls mother was 21 years old and she up and left after having the kid. He was a nice guy and I did go out with him a few times. But he ended up moving to Montana and we broke it off after he got mad that I wouldn't move with him there. 

Back then I was living in a little trailer that my mom owned and she let me live there for free. I just had to pay the $135 space rent and the propane for the stove which was $40 a month. I bought my own food and did all this on the money I made babysitting. Things sure were a lot cheaper back then. My mom and her boyfriend lived in another trailer in the same trailer park. 

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

March 2024

April 2024

May 2024

June 2024

July 2024

August 2024

September 2024

October 2024

November 2024

December 2024

Happy Raturday!

 

"Right before Christmas, the elves were hard at work."

"Some made lots of candy canes."

"Of course Santa and Mrs. Claus watched over everything and checked their list twice."

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

Apartment Life #349

 

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.  

Thursday night around 10PM my neighborhood filled with smoke from a fire. I looked on Pulse Point the next morning and saw two different incidents of the fire dept. investigating smoke. The one outside fire was not near here so it wasn't the cause. I didn't see fire so I went back to sleep. lol 

In the morning I looked on the Las Vegas FB incidents group I'm in and found the source of the fire had been found at 10:30PM. It must have been a big fire for it to bring smoke a few blocks away over to my neighborhood. 

Crazy enough that was the only thing that happened all week. It's been so quiet around here. 

The high this week was 62F/16C

The low this week was 44F/6C

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

How I Didn't Win A Charmin Sweepstakes Even Though I got A Winning Email Notification

 

On December 16th I received this email notification that I had won a year's supply of Charmin. I was so excited and posted it all over the place. Soon though people saw my posts and started commenting on them that they got the same emails and a few hours later they got another email saying they actually didn't win anything. I hadn't received that email...yet.

But the next day I did. Oh, I was mad. So I called the company and complained and told them that they should have to honor the winning email that was sent out. The customer service rep was rude to me, kept sighing and said because I didn't actually win anything and the email notifications were sent out on accident, all she could offer me was a $6 off coupon. Then she asked me if I had any feedback for her team, oh yes I sure did. I gave her an ear full. 

The next day on the 18th I got this email. So I filled out the form and I should get these coupons in 6-8 weeks. We'll see. I guess calling them and complaining got their attention a little bit. I still think they should have honored those winning emails they sent out. They're a big enough company that they could have eaten the cost. This will have to do I guess.

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

It was cloudy most of the week here. No rain but it sure looked like it might. 

It's been nice and cool though. 

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*