Apartment Life #54

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

Yesterday I noticed these two police cars at the end of my street. That's where I usually take Falcor for a walk. The police were yelling at everyone to go back inside. Then I noticed that the other end of my street was also blocked off and the police helicopter was flying over head. 

So down towards the other end of my street I noticed several police officers behind a shield, pointing their guns into the courtyard across the street. This is what it looked like from where I was standing at my apartment building without zooming in on my camera. 

These next pictures I zoomed in with my camera so I could see what they were doing. A lady across the street said that she heard gunshots earlier and called the police. When the police got here they chased the armed man into one of the apartments across the street. 

They blocked off both ends of the street.

The police stayed on my street for 5 hours. Another officer was in the courtyard across the street with a bullhorn and was trying to get the armed guy to come out of his apartment.

At one point the officers lined up and slowly made their way to one of the cars to clear it. No one was inside the car so they came back to where they had been standing. 

When I zoomed in I saw that they all had their guns drawn and were walking behind the guy holding the shield.

They were yelling at anyone who came out to look to go back into their apartments. I was far enough away that they didn't say anything to me at first but then people including myself started taking pictures and they didn't like that so they told everyone to go back inside. Ken kept going back out and kept being chased back in. One time the cop actually ran across the street and Ken came running back in the apartment.

At one point that entire building was evacuated except for one lady who was directly below the apartment he was in. 8 police officers with shields went to the downstairs apartment and safely got the woman out of her apartment. Then they evacuated the building on my side of the street directly across from them where all the people kept coming out to watch them. And the police chased everyone including myself back into our apartments. So all of these next pictures were taken from inside my bedroom window. 

More police showed up and blocked the street. Swat showed up and parked somewhere on another street that I couldn't see. Ken said he saw 2 Swat snipers on our apartment managers roof, pointing their rifles across the street.

They really didn't like that I kept taking pictures out of my bedroom window. They didn't seem to want anyone taking pictures. 

While the 2 cops were chasing people back in their apartments across the street. The cop that you can only see a shadow of on the left here was waving at me to get out of my bedroom window. Yeah, like that's gonna happen. Dude, I'm half way down the street, 3 courtyards away from where it's going on. You can't chase my ass out of my own window. I'm inside my apartment so you can kiss my ass. I just stayed there taking pictures and he walked away.

You can barely see see the police right next to the car there up against the wall but that's where they stayed for over an hour.

I went outside real fast when the SWAT truck pulled up on my street so I could get a picture of the truck. Then hightailed it back into my apartment before the cops saw me outside again because they started threatening to handcuff people if they didn't stay inside. I'm half a block away and they still kept telling all of us to get back in our apartments. It's not like the guy could shoot at us because there was another building between us and him. So the police just didn't want us out there watching and taking pictures. 

They stood around outside for hours before the armed man finally came out of his apartment and was arrested. He came out after Swat used a really loud flash bang that made a loud boom. Then half of the police left and the other half stayed around for another hour before everyone left.

Quite the exciting day we had yesterday. 

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

Favorite Video of the Week

If you've never heard Pentatonix I think this is a good song to start with. I like quite a bit of their songs and think it's even more awesome because they do it all a capella.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, 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 free 2019 wall calendar.
I won a book in a blog contest.
I received a free full size bottle of Kaboom bathroom cleaner from Smiley360.
I received a free Arm & Hammer baking soda shaker from Simple Solutions.

The Kaboom actually works pretty good as long as you don't have any really bad stains that need bleaching.

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Review: Defying Pack Law by Eve Langlais

Book Description

Pack Law states she must have more than one mate.

Like Hell.

Rather than be forced into a mating with more than one man, Dana flees the pack. Flees everything she knows, everyone she loves. She lives on the run and can't seem to find happiness.

All that changes the day her first love, Nathan, finds her and brings her back home. He's not letting her go, not again. As alpha, he now makes the rules and he's decided to hell with the laws, he wants Dana.

Except Dana's changed since she left. Maybe the pack ways aren't so bad after all and when she decides to accept fate... she finds love times three.

My Review

I love this authors books so when I saw that this one was free on Amazon, I scooped it up. 

Dana grew up in a pack where women are not treated right and are usually shared by more than one male in the pack. She saw her mother treated badly and never waned to live this lifestyle. But she grew to love Nathan and even got engaged to him. He turns out to be just as bad as the other males and tells her that after they're mated she will be shared by other males. She isn't having any of that and feels completely betrayed by Nathan so she leaves. She knows that she has to keep moving or else her pack might find her. She is on the run for years and then one day Nathan finds her and drags her back to the pack. 

It's at this point that I stopped enjoying this book. She's held against her will but somehow she's not so against having several male partners after reconsidering how her life has been these last few years. Dana is very annoying and Nathan is just a jerk. I didn't like him at all. I realize that they aren't human, they were wolf shifters and if humans were doing this I would have called it abusive. But I had to keep telling myself that they are wolf shifters in a pack and the same rules don't apply to them. But it was hard to like Nathan and Dana. I didn't like the whole dynamic between them or how hot headed he seemed to be. Now when the other males are brought into the picture, I really liked them. They brought the parts that were missing. The gentleness, the tenderness, the romance and love. 

It's not until the last half of this book that we find out what really happened and why Nathan changed his mind about sharing her back before she left. It started to make more sense and I could see that Nathan was put in a hard spot because it wasn't really his choice. And then there's a huge twist at the end of the book that I did like. It was wild to like the beginning of the book, get mad at Nathan and hate him and then almost feel bad for him towards the end. So while I didn't love this story, I did like parts of it and think it's worth the read. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Favorite Picture of the Week

If you know what this is, you're probably as old as dirt or at least as old as I am. Or maybe you've seen them somewhere. These are old 8mm films. When I was young, my parents video taped us and played these tapes back on a projector. There's no sound to them and so many of them are so old that there's not much left on the tapes. Years ago my mom had a lot of it transferred over to a VHS tape and I still have that. But I was going through some old boxes and found these and thought it would be fun to share. 

This is what the films look like up close. I don't have the projector anymore. That is long gone but I still have the tapes sitting in a box. I just couldn't throw them away when I found them in my mom's closet when she passed away 7 years ago. These films are 40 years old and even though I can't play them and the films might be all messed up from time, I still keep them for sentimental reasons. 

I'm guessing everyone has some old something that they don't use but still keeps in a box somewhere. 

One more thing. 

Yesterday I was a guest reviewer over at I Smell Sheep. I reviewed Leopard's Run by Christine Feehan. Damn, you guys, I had such a good time with this one. 

Book Description

Timur Amurov has one purpose in life: protect his family at all costs. With lethal skills honed from a violent upbringing, Timur is a leopard shifter who sees any newcomers as possible threats--and the petite blond barista who his sister-in-law, Evangeline, has hired to work in her bakery is definitely hiding something. While Timur still needs to determine if Ashe is an enemy, he does know that she is the only woman whose presence has ever truly calmed the beast roaring inside of him. 

Ashe Bronte is well aware she has a type: sexy, gorgeous and dangerous as hell. Despite the fact that Timur is all those things and more, Ashe is in San Antonio for reasons that do not involve getting wild with a ruthless leopard--and she cannot afford to make any mistakes. But Timur has ignited something deep within her, and even though she knows she should keep her distance, every move he makes has her craving a taste... 

You can read my review over at I Smell Sheep. 

Review: Gone Hunting by Cecy Robson

Book Description

The rest of the werewolf pack might consider Aric Connor to be omniscient and destined to save the world when evil returns to claim it. But for the most part, fifteen-year-old Aric ignores the confirmations of his powers, taking everything in stride until he meets her. 

Celia Wird wasn't supposed to awaken naked in the mountains of Colorado, not when she was just stalking her prey in a filthy alley several states away. She especially wasn't supposed to meet Aric, the handsome werewolf who comes to her aid.

As a supernatural tasked with protecting the earth, Aric sympathizes with Celia's dangerous situation. He's also struck by her beauty and kindness. Yet, as much as Aric welcomes Celia, her arrival isn't a peaceful one.

Dark forces stir in Celia's presence, resolute on killing her. Aric and his inner beast are adamant about keeping Celia safe and with them. But there's a time and a place for love, and Aric and Celia might not survive long enough to find it. 

My Review

I won this book in an Amazon giveaway and I haven't read many of this authors books but I'd heard good things so I gave it a try.

Aric is the son of the Weres leader, they live in Colorado and while out hunting Aric finds Celia in the woods. He can tell she's different but doesn't know what she is at first. Celia is scared of him and his friends at first but that doesn't last long before she is feeling safer around them. But before they can really get to know one another something dangerous comes for them and almost kills a couple of them. Celia helps a couple of Aric's friends and that seems to help his friends trust her a bit more than they had when they first met. 

Danger comes at all of them including Aric's family. They do what they can to try and stop it but even a powerful witch they know has a hard time fighting against the evil that is out to kill them and Celia. I loved how Celia and Aric get close to one another amid the danger because they are meant to be together. 

Then out of nowhere a huge twist is thrown in and everything changes. I haven't read this series but I realized after reading this that Gone Hunting is a prequel in the Weird Girls series. So even if you haven't already been reading this series, this is a good place to start since we get to see this series unfold from the beginning. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

"Is it too early for a Christmas Elf?"

*Picture courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

"I'm still eating Halloween candy."

*Picture courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

"I don't think we're supposed to be looking at that site."

"I know, but the candy looks so good!"

Apartment Life #53

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

Back in June of 2016 we had several apartments that were dealing drugs from their apartment. 3 of the bad drug dealing apartments in my complex got served with eviction notices (30 day notice). After the 30 days were up they were served with 3 day notices by the Constable and were told the constable would be back in 3 days to put lock out locks on their apartment door. 

They had until Monday afternoon to pack up and leave because the Constable will be back on Monday to put lock out locks on the doors and make them leave. As soon as they got their notices fights broke out among the different residences and another fight broke out with a couple who always argue. One guy went after a guy who let his cat outside, he had a knife and almost stabbed the guy who let the cat out. We had the door open and saw a tall guy in just his underwear and slippers running across the rocks with a huge knife, going after one of the other guys that lived in the same apartment. Everyone was screaming that he had a knife and was gonna kill the other guy. But the other guy ran to another apartment and called the cops. 

The police and ambulance came but he wasn't hurt so the ambulance left. 

The police were called and no one went to jail. I'm really surprised no one went to jail for that. But since it was the weekend they decided to play their music really loud all weekend before they got evicted. Other than the loud music there were no more fights before they were evicted that Monday.

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

Favorite Video of the Week

I don't know you you've ever watched any of the Public Freakout videos on Youtube, but some of these people are down right crazy. Even if you only watch a few minutes of this, you'll see what I mean. Cameras are everywhere. People record pretty much everything and still, people act nuts out in public.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, 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 free ebook in the Amazon giveaways. 

Review: Wolf Rising by Paige Tyler

Book Description

Just when he's found The One...he might lose her.

SWAT Officer Jayden Brooks doesn't believe there's a soul mate out there for him—The One. But when he saves high school teacher Selena Rosa from a hostage situation, he knows he's in big trouble. Her scent is irresistible.

Selena finds the big cop irresistible, too. In fact, the buttoned-up teacher gets a little carried away—during a steamy make-out session, she bites him. Turns out, the traumatizing events at the school triggered her werewolf gene. Fangs and claws are appearing and her aggression is out of control. The change is happening, and Selena doesn't understand.

It's going to take everything Brooks has to pull her back from the edge...and ultimately win her heart.

My Review

This is the 8th book in the series and while I've only read a couple of the books, it really didn't detract from the story. I would recommend reading in order if you want to have all of the info available but it isn't impossible to read these books out of order and still enjoy them. 

Jayden is trying to deal with the gangs when he comes across Selena who is also trying to deal with the gangs in her area. He's a SWAT officer and has seen a lot of action and been hurt his fair share of times. He would like to find his soul mate and he thinks he's found her when he meets Selena. 

Selena is a high school teacher who gets herself in trouble with the gangs because she can see things going on that shouldn't be going on and she wants to try and help stop it. Her meddling puts her in danger and almost gets her killed. In steps Jayden who helps her. Selena can't understand why she's getting so angry all the time but Jayden knows why and intends to help her understand what's going on. 

Not only is Jayden trying to gently tell Selena that she's turning into a werewolf but he and his team are also trying to keep themselves and her safe from the werewolf hunters who see them as nothing more as animals that need to be killed. They find out that there's a mole somewhere in the police department and they are helping the werewolf hunters. They're trying to figure out who this person is as well as keep themselves safe. It's hard to imagine that you can't even trust the people you might be working with.

They also have to deal with a gang leader putting a new drug out there in drinks which has really bad consequences. This gang leader was a mystery for most of the book but I had a feeling of who he was and I was right. The twist in the story that this led to was just sad and I felt really bad for Selena when she had some things she thought she knew, go belly up and turn out to be lies.

If you've been reading my reviews for a while you already know how much I love PNR and wolves or shifters tend to be one of my favorite pnr elements. This has that as well as all the action, suspense, drama and romance you could want. I really enjoyed Jayden and Selena and loved watching them get to know one another. At times this book made me laugh because Selena was funny and I loved how she freaked out the first time she realized she was biting Jayden. But these two are hot when they get together. The lust they felt for each other right away was so much fun to watch and see how they tried to fight it for a little while with little success. 

I highly recommend this series. I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Disclosure: I was sent this ebook free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review but all opinions are my own. 

Review: Wyoming Legend by Diana Palmer

Book Description

Micah Torrance could use a helping hand. Between managing his expansive Wyoming ranch and caring for his willful little girl, Janey, Micah’s plate is more than full. Usually, it’s not in this cowboy’s nature to ask, but when beautiful Karina Carter offers her help, Micah can’t resist. With her sweet smile and her easy way with Janey, Micah wants to trust her. But he knows better than anyone that love only leads to heartbreak.

Champion ice-skater Karina Carter needs a fresh start while her body heals. Caring for little Janey is just temporary until she can get back on the ice—or so she keeps telling herself. But the longer she spends with this gorgeous single dad, the more drawn she is to him and the family they could share. Now if only she can convince him that she’s here to stay, this new life with him could be beyond her wildest dreams.

My Review

After a bad accident and break, Karina had to think of another career since she could no longer skate. In the mean time she was running low on funds so she takes an in-home babysitting job at a ranch for a 9 year old girl. Janey seemed much older than 9 years old and she just happens to love ice skating. Her soon to be step mother has been teacher her but she's been teaching her some wrong things and she has no patience for the child. So Karina starts taking her to the ice rink and giving her pointers. 

Karina almost leaves at one point because Micah is a big, grumpy man who tends to yell when he's mad. Karina doesn't like getting yelled at so it's a good thing he apologized before she quit. Things seemed to get better between them after that, but he's still dealing with a soon to be wife that likes to boss him around, which isn't sitting well with him. 

I really liked this story but the employer/employee relationship started right off with a lie and a big one. Karina never told Micah that she was a figure skater and that's how she broke her ankle. But he was more than just grumpy, he was at times a real jerk. I would have told him where to go a few times. I know I would have quit that job instead of staying there taking this guys BS. There's just no reason to talk to someone the way he talked to her a few times. Plus, he saw how his fiance was treating his daughter and how it hurt her and he did nothing. I actually didn't like either of these characters until about 75% into the book and then things seemed to change a bit. But it's hard to change my opinion of these two when I've seen the dark side of their personalities. 

Things do get better between these two and they fall for each other. It was nice seeing him change from a grumpy jerk into a romantic nice guy. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Disclosure: I was given a copy of this book for free via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review but all opinions are my own. 

Happy Gotcha Day, Falcor

On this day in 2014 we got Falcor from our apartment manager who was moving and didn't want her 5 month old puppy anymore. Ken already loved the dog and had been asking the manager if he could have the dog for a while because she and her husband weren't treating him well. 

This is the dog pen that Falcor spent his first 5 months in. The manager said he was too hyper to let out so she had him in this all the time. Every time Ken or anyone went into her office, the dog was always in this so when she gave him to us she also gave this dog pen to us and we just used it at night until he was potty trained. He wasn't house trained and had never walked on a leash before we got him. He was scared of everything and we suspect that he was abused since he always acted so scared and would start screaming when he saw a belt, broom or shoe. 

He's a happy dog now and doesn't act the way he did when we first got him. He isn't scared of us anymore and loves going for walks, rides and getting spoiled. He even let me put this bandanna on him...for a minute. 

The looks he gives me are funny. He will just sit and let me takes pictures when he hears the camera come on. As long as he's getting some attention, he's happy.

My daughter took this picture of him. Cracks me up. He likes having his picture taken.

Now he has a bed, blanket, toys and loves to go for walks.

He doesn't even mind wearing his t-shirt. 

Again with the weird looks.

Oh and he had a potato fetish. We have to keep them up away from him or he'll toss them all over the living room. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of www.martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #51

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

I got up early last week to walk Falcor and saw a police car on my street. I found out later that they were there for a reported robbery and break in to some guys apartment in the next courtyard. 

The guy later told everyone who would listen to him that he started selling marijuana out of his apartment last month *he didn't tell the police this* and everyone around here knows he works nights. So while he was at work that night someone broke into his apartment and stole all his marijuana, his tv, stereo, game system and all his prescription medicine. He's so pissed off, omg. He said he's not selling marijuana anymore because the coughassholescough around here can't be trusted. lol 

One more thing. 

9pm last night I heard a bunch of yelling. My neighbors had about 8 people at his apartment and they were fighting. Someone broke the living room window, someone was kicking the door and the woman who was involved yelled at everyone that she called the cops so they better leave. So of course everyone left except for the 2 people that live there. The police show up in about 5 minutes. The woman who lives there was outside telling the police that the guy who broke the window had a sledge hammer and broke a bunch of stuff in her apartment. She stood out there writing out a statement. Hopefully the little idiot gets arrested. 

UPDATE:

I snapped a picture of their broken window this morning. All is quiet over there now and I didn't see anyone get arrested last night. Hopefully the drama from that apartment will be gone for a while now. 

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