Apartment Life #329

 

This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that have gone on in and around my apartment complex and in my neighborhood in the past 25 years that I've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

The police helicopter was flying right over my head for a few minutes while I was out walking with Falcor. No police cars showed up though.

I spotted these pretty purple flowers near someone's door across the street and just had to get a picture of them. I love purple flowers. Purple is my favorite color.

I spotted the Blimp close to my neighborhood this week. I hardly ever see it flying around anymore. I remember when I was a kid in the 70's it would fly around at night and had blinking lights on it that would turn into Pac Mac type characters that would chase each other. I wonder if anyone else remembers that?

We had some wind this week and some of the branches on the tree across the street broke and were on the ground. 

You know that PODS container that I've talked about? People keep spray painting graffiti on it. 

On Wednesday when my daughter was heading back from the store she found this bullet standing on the block wall. I don't know why someone left a single bullet on the wall. Maybe as a warning to someone? Or maybe they were loading their gun and just forgot it there? Who knows.

It says it's a .38 special. I know there's plenty of people around here who have guns, it could have been anyone. But with the price of ammunition these days according to my brother, I'm wondering why someone would leave a bullet out like this.

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I got a video of the guy I was talking about a while back that keeps trying people's doorknobs to see if they are unlocked. For two hours on Wednesday he stood over here walking back and forth talking and yelling to himself and a few times he stood in front of that window staring into it. He's homeless, schizophrenic and I'm guessing is on drugs which makes the mental problems worse. The police won't do a thing about him trying doorknobs or looking into windows, they've been called but I now have this and other videos of him just in case things escalate.  

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I also wanted to let you know that my daughter has been posting on her blog, Gloomy Gardens again if you want to visit. It's funny because we sometimes post about the same things. lol She laughs because I use her some of her food pictures from Instagram that she takes because they come out better than mine. 

The high this week was 108F/42C

The low this week was 78F/25C

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

Favorite Pictures of the Week

Last week the smoke from the wildfires in California gave us here in Las Vegas some great sunrises and sunsets. Here are some of the pictures I took last week.

Some of the pictures aren't great because I had to resort to taking pictures with my tablet since my camera stopped working. 

But the colors were so pretty.

The clouds on some of these days really helped make the sunsets nice and bright.

This is both from the smoke and the clouds. 

Sunset when it wasn't as smoky but still a little cloudy. 

Have a nice weekend.

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: 

I cashed out another $100 Amazon gift card from Inbox dollars for playing games. 

I also received a $25 Amazon gift card from World Winner games. I just cashed out my points on each website. 

And Falcor received a small can of wet dog food from Fur Buddies last week. He liked the food too. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

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.

My Mom's Boyfriend, Fuzzy

My mom had several boyfriends after she and my dad divorced and when I was 14 her boyfriend's name was Fuzzy, he didn't last very long but he was always at the house. Fuzzy liked to get into my room and take the food that I bought for myself. I was working babysitting and cleaning houses for two ladies on my street. My mom didn't buy a lot of food so I was buying some stuff for myself, not a lot just a few things like a couple of cans of corned beef hash and some beef jerky. Fuzzy would get into my room and go through my things and find my food and eat it. 

So I went to a veterinarian's office bought two cans of the high priced wet dog food that looked like it could substitute for corned beef hash because it had the little chunks of potato in it. And I replaced the label from my corned beef hash with the label from the dog food. And then I hid them in the same place in my room. I also bought some dog jerky it was like begging strips or something like that and put it in the bag of my jerky. He found both of those and was eating a bowl of corned hash when I got home from babysitting one night, and he kept making a weird face while he was eating it and I just looked at him and said are you okay. And he said the corned beef hash doesn't taste right. I think it might have gone bad. And I was like oh okay, but he kept eating it. And then he found the other can and he did the same thing a couple of days later and after he was all done with the bowl of corned beef hash, I looked at him and said I hope you liked the dog food. 

He didn't pay any attention to me at all. And he ate a couple of strips of the supposed beef jerky and said that it wasn't good that whatever I had gotten he didn't think it was good anymore and that's when I told him that he should stay out of my stuff maybe, go buy your own stuff and he just laughed at me. And of course my mom said nothing she just didn't care. 

So I bought another can of the good dog food and hid it in my room and this guy was so dumb that he didn't look at the label he just picked up the can, opened it and started eating it. So I picked the the can up out of the trash and set it on the counter when he was just about done with the bowl of "corned beef hash" and said did you even read this? And he just looked at me and smiled because he thought he was you know, eating my corned beef hash and I started reading what was on the label and it said something to the effect of wet dog food, veterinary recommended. 

And he stopped and he jumped up and he grabbed the can off the counter and he started reading it himself and it finally dawned on him what I had done. And he started laughing about it but not the usual belly laugh that he had when he was eating my stuff. It was more of a oh yeah you got me, I'm going to get you back for that one. And he just kept looking at me and giving me dirty looks all day but I stopped buying anything and hiding it in my room. 

If I wanted to use my money for a snack or something I would just go to Wendy's that wasn't too far away and buy myself a hamburger and eat it before I got home because I knew nothing in my room was safe from my mom or any of her boyfriend's. They didn't last long after that and I was really glad to see him go.

Links to past stories

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2024

January 2024

February 2024

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April 2024

May 2024

June 2024

July 2024

Recipe: Crunchy Air Fried Chickpeas

 

I've been looking for things I can make in the air fryer that are either low carb, low calorie or both. I came across a recipe for air fried chickpeas (Garbanzo beans) and thought why not. I've used chickpeas in my salad as an add on so I already had a can of them. 

You will need: 

1 can of chickpeas (Drained, rinsed and dried)

Spices of your choice. 

Paper towels to dry the chickpeas.

No calorie cooking spray.

What to do: 

Drain the can of chickpeas and rinse them well. Lay out a few paper towels and place the rinsed chickpeas on them. Let the chickpeas air dry for about an hour. You want them completely dry or they won't crisp up really good. You can change and replace the bottom paper towels if they are too wet and the chickpeas aren't getting dry. Use another paper towel to pat them on top and move them around on the paper towel over the hour so the entire surface gets dry. 

Once dry, place the chickpeas into the air fryer. Do not add any oil or spices at this time. The spices will just burn if you do. Take the basket out and shake the chickpeas every 5-10 minutes while they are cooking so they don't burn on any one side. Cook for about 15 minutes on 375. Check them often so they don't burn though. If they aren't crispiness after 15 minutes, cook for a few more minutes. 

Add the cooked chickpeas to a large bowl and add whatever spices you like to them. Spray them with just a little no calorie cooking spray before adding the spices to the bowl so the spices stick better to them. I added smoked paprika, salt, roasted garlic and herb seasoning and steak seasoning. Mix well while they are still hot and let sit in the bowl for 10 minutes before using. 

For each 1/2 cup (Before they're roasted) there's about 120 calories. 

7 Grams of protein. 

3 Grams of fat. 

24 Grams of carbs. 

They shrink up quite a bit after they're roasted so I use a little less than 1/2 a cup for a serving in my salad.

These crunchy chickpeas are great on salad. You can also just snack on them if you aren't counting calories or carbs. Store them in an open bowl or put a loose lid on a jar. If you seal them up they tend to lose their crispiness. They stay good for a couple of days but they don't last long here since I use them in my salads. They start to taste stale after 3 days to me. I leave mine in an open bowl on the counter. 

Book Review: Princess broken by Mara Leigh

 

Book Description

Are the four sworn to protect me the real danger?

Born Anastasia Romanov, I was turned by a vampire king when my family was massacred. As a newly turned vampire, I remained a virgin, secluded in the vampiric palace for over a hundred years.

Finally out in the world, I long to see everything, to do everything, to feel everything I've long-suppressed, but someone, or something is hunting me. And when a diplomatic meeting goes horribly wrong, I’m taken by four massive vampires, ruthless killers with a strict code, who claim they're duty bound to protect me—forever.

My captors are undoubtedly handsome, but also huge and scary and obsessively protective. Captive in their luxurious lair, I'm tempted by newly awakened passions and long dormant needs. Deeper feelings develop, but forming connections—physical or emotional—goes against my bodyguards' strict code. And my royal duties are far more important than my personal desires—or the possibility of love.

**Princess Broken is Book 1 in Her Psycho Vampire Bodyguards, a steamy, vampire romance series where the heroine has four devoted love interests who together fulfill her deepest desires.**

My Review

Anastasia (Ana) is set to met with a crime boss but when she's almost kidnapped and her blood donor is killed, 4 vampire bodyguards save her and take her. She's been hold up in the vampire castle since she was turned into a vampire about a century ago after her entire human family was murdered. She's been very sheltered and now with her freedom, she's wanting to live a little so to speak. Her vampire bodyguards are willing to do whatever she wants even though she's supposed to be hands off for them. They end up falling for her and she falls for them. 

When the vampire bodyguards think that her blood donor is actually alive, they have no choice but to bring her back to him because they think he's Ana's mate even though he was just her blood donor. He had feelings for her but she never loved him. 

There was a lot going on in this book. There was a lot of danger for Ana and the twists just kept coming. I never knew where this story was going to end up. The storyline was good for the most part but it was rather wordy and lagged a bit in parts.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #328

 

This is a weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that have gone on in and around my apartment complex and in my neighborhood in the past 25 years that I've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

The maintenance guy was in my apartment "fixing" my stove. One burner didn't work at all and one burner gets red hot *too hot* even on low. There's just one temperature for that burner and it seems to be stuck on "my coils can melt lava" and I tried telling the maintenance guy this. But he doesn't speak much English and chose to ignore what I said when he turned that burner on and it "Worked". 

I'm tempted to take a hammer to the damn thing so it doesn't work at all and call him back out to "fix" it again. I hate calling maintenance out to my apartment.

A couple of weeks ago I took a walk with Falcor down to the end of the street one of the days where it was overcast and cloudy and a bit cooler out because of it. I spotted these flowers in the grass and caught a picture of them. No idea what they are. 

On Friday morning my daughter noticed that water was dripping from my AC unit on the inside of my apartment and right onto the electrical outlet. She put some paper towels up there to catch the water because that could cause a fire. So I had to put in another maintenance request and he came out right away. Then this dumb a$$ proceeds to tell me that I need to turn the AC off for 2 hours because the condenser is frozen and it needs to thaw and dry out and that's where all the water is coming from. 

It is 110F/43C and NO I will not be turning the AC off for two hours. My husband was an AC technician so I know that if the condenser was frozen the coils would have white frost on them and would be frozen and it wouldn't be blowing cool air. I'm not an idiot. Do your damn job and fix it. So I said no, to get some tape and seal where it's leaking on the inside, right on top of the electrical outlet so it drips through the hole on the outside of the unit like it's supposed to. But he wanted to argue with me until I got a little loud and then he just stopped and said, "Ok, I'll go get tape." LOL 

He went and got some tape, taped it up, and I was hoping that would be the end of it...

Whenever he's done with a maintenance job he has to take a picture of it and send it to the office. He did nothing to take a picture of!

The very next day on Saturday I had to call maintenance out again for the dripping A/C. When I went out early in the morning I saw a different maintenance guy on property so I told him that I put in a maintenance request and what for. He said they hadn't sent it to him yet but he would be right over. I was hoping this guy would come and not Juan from the day before. So it was a different guy this time who seemed to know what he was doing. 

He took a wet vac and sucked the water out, cleaned the coils, blew out the pan the water drips on, in case there there was sludge blocking the hole to the outside where it's supposed to drip out. Then he used a different tape to tape it back up. Hopefully this finally helps.

Oh and he had to use my step ladder because he said someone (most likely the homeless people) broke into the maintenance shop and stole all the ladders.

The high this week was 110F/43C

The low this week was 89F/31C

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

 

Windwaker- Infinity

I just heard this song from this band and even though there's no video for it, I had to shre the song because I liked it so much. I hope you enjoy it. 

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 bottle of Pumpkin Spice cold brew coffee from Nestle Good Nes (Starbucks Coffee at Home)

Peace Out acne dots

Facial cleanser

NYX Marsh Mellow Primer

Skinceuticals moisturizer

An assortment of men's cologne from Macy's

I liked the pumpkin spice cold brew coffee concentrate. I thought it was good. The men's cologne fragrance's smelled good for the most part. The NYX Marsh Mellow primer is great. Works well under face makeup. I've used a few Skinceuticals products and liked most of them. I haven't used the acne dots yet so we'll see if they help with a break out or not. The facial cleanser worked well. 

It was a good week for freebies. 

Did you receive any freebies or free samples this week?

Book Review: Fated To The Beast by Kenzie Skye

 

Book Description

Broderick

Being half bear/half wolf shifter, I’ve been shunned my entire life. Now I spend my time in exile, watching over the village below my castle grounds—until one day when a fair maiden stumbles onto my land. I want her the moment I lay eyes on her. Since everyone already believes I’m a monster, I grab her and bring her back to my castle. I know it’s wrong, but I crave Fiona in ways even I don’t understand. Both my inner beasts rage at me to claim her as my mate. I can bear the scorn and hatred of others, but there is one thing I can’t endure: knowing she can’t possibly return my affections. Before I lose all control and become the monster people accuse me of being, I set Fiona free.

Fiona

I never imagined forming an attachment, let alone romantic feelings for the beast of a man who has been holding me captive. Broderick has been ostracized his entire life and I can’t help but be drawn to the wounds he hides inside. Who am I to think I can offer him any solace? Yet, in my presence, he does seem more settled, more at ease. If I’m honest with myself, the inner restlessness I’ve struggled with my entire life also calms. Together we soothe each other. But then he lets me go and I’m left to wonder if we’re meant to be after all.

My Review

In this Beauty and the Beast retelling we have Fiona who is out picking berries when she accidentally travels into the Broderick's private property. He's known as The Beast of Boding because he's a shifter who when he gets upset, changes into his beast. When Fiona stands there and talks to him instead of fleeing in fear because of who he is, Broderick decides to take her back to his castle and keep her. He knows what he's doing is wrong but the pull to her is too much for him to stop himself. 

Fiona is worried about her father so Broderick agrees to send a letter to him to let him know she's fine. While Broderick might have kidnapped her, he's a complete gentleman towards her until she tries to escape and then he makes her sleep in his bed where he can keep an eye on her but he's still a gentleman. 

I loved Broderick. He was a beast but he's also such a great hero and once Fiona agrees to stop trying to escape, they come to an understanding. Watching them get to know one another better and fall for each other was so much fun. Broderick is such a nice guy and even though Fiona had rejected all the men who came calling while she was at home, she finds herself falling for Broderick. 

When Broderick comes to his senses and realizes he can't keep her captive anymore, he lets her go but the pull between them cannot keep them apart for long. I loved everything about this story. Fiona was so sweet with him and even though she wasn't sure about her feelings at first, his tenderness and caring made her see him for the great guy he was. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Recipe: Cabbage Rolls

 

You will need: 

1 Head of cabbage (Leaves cut into 4X4 inch squares)

1 Can of diced tomatoes 

2 TBSP tomato paste 

1 Bell Pepper (diced)

1 Onion (diced)

1LB ground chicken

1tsp. McCormick Montreal Chicken seasoning

1tsp. McCormick Roasted Garlic and Herb seasoning
Salt and Pepper to taste

0 Calorie cooking spray

Preheat an oven to 350F

What To Do

Add some of the cooking spray to a pan, add diced bell pepper and onion. Cook on medium heat stirring as needed until the vegetables start to become soft. Add ground chicken, 1/2 the spices and salt & pepper. 

Cut the cabbage into 4x4 squares. You will need about 20 of them. 

Add diced tomatoes and tomato paste and other half of spices and salt & pepper to a sauce pan and heat up over low heat.

Boil the cabbage leaves for about 5-7 minutes or until they become floppy and rollable. Add a little of the meat mixture to each leaf and roll carefully. They might tear, this didn't bother me, just add to a pan after rolling. 

This is what they looked like after they were rolled and in the pan.

Next, take your tomato mixture and pour over the cabbage rolls. Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Serve with salad or your choice of side.

I had mine with some salad. 

Calories for 5 cabbage rolls- 250

Carbs per 5 cabbage rolls- 8

This recipe made 20 cabbage rolls for me. 

Would you eat this?

Book Review: Primal Instinct by Sydney Somers

 

Book Description

She was only supposed to be the bait…

Corrine Lawson is living next door to a werewolf.

Okay, probably not, but teasing her secretive neighbor, Ryker, about howling at the moon is far more entertaining than worrying about how she'll pay her bills after getting fired—again.

At least it’s entertaining right up until Ryker abducts Cori, exposing her to a dangerous world where magic and gargoyles are real, and the search for Excalibur can get you killed. A mythical world Cori belongs to more than she realizes.

Both man and wolf, Ryker McKinnon has spent nearly a century tormented by the past, hungering only for vengeance against the shifter who slaughtered his family. When a promising lead exposes his enemy’s one weakness—a human daughter clueless about the immortal world—Ryker knows she’s the perfect bait to lure his enemy out of hiding.

Only nothing prepares Ryker for the staggering emotion Cori’s touch unleashes or the wolf’s brutal need to claim her for his own.

Once the wheels are set in motion and Cori is plunged into the middle of a centuries-old feud, will Ryker’s secrets destroy their fragile bond, or finally awaken the fierceness inside her?

My Review

Ryker lives next door to Cori but at first they don't see each other over the fence, they just talk through the fence and get to know each other. I thought this was going to be one of those "The hero falls for the girl next door" type romances because I didn't re-read the description after adding it to my Kindle. I just clicked on the book and started reading. Ryker slowly unveils his plans to use Cori as bait to get to her father but as he's gotten to know her, he's started to have feelings for her so things are working out a little different than he had first thought they would. Cori also isn't real close with her absentee father and she knows nothing about what he actually is. But when danger shows up at her door, literally and she's thrown into the fire sooner than Ryker can plan for, he saves her so he can use her to contact her father and because he feels protective of her. 

When Cori learns the whole truth about what's going on and that her father is a shifter who is responsible for Ryker's family being murdered, she's not sure what to do. She likes Ryker, a lot but isn't sure she should trust him after finding out that he only got to know her to get close to her father. 

I found this storyline to be a little confusing though because the shifters are called Gargoyles which I thought meant there would be actual gargoyles and there wasn't. The gargoyles are actually shifters like panthers, wolves and dragons but they are from King Arthur's Court ie, Avalon. They are only gargoyles in the sense that they are cursed and until they find their mates, they turn to stone at certain times. It was an interesting idea but also a little confusing. 

There's a lot of action and drama because of the danger Cori's father puts them all in. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"I know you ate my donut, I can smell it on your breath!"

"Want to join me for some tea and a pastry?"

"I'm not sharing my pastries." 

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

Apartment Life #327

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 have a lot to catch up on this week. I took a lot of pictures the 10 days that I was without internet. 

The man in the grocery cart was back a few times. I don't know why he chose to sleep in the cart, it can't be comfortable.

I wasn't going to share this homeless woman's picture while she was washing her clothes and hanging them on the fence line but then she started hitting the crack pipe while she was standing there. That's what she's bent over doing. She was getting the crack pipe ready and then hit it over by the wall. Unbelievable.

One night at 11PM the police showed up with sirens and lights. 

There were about 5 cop cars that showed up, they got out of their cars with their guns drawn, and ran to the right down the walking path. Then they ran back to their cars and sped off down the walking path. I have no idea what was going on down there.

The police showed up one day and were checking out some of the homeless people on my street. I've noticed at least 12 homeless people on my street this past week. The police stop them and search them all the time.

Falcor in his new hot weather booties that he hates.

I spotted this flowering bush across the street. It has orange flowers on it. I wanted to show something nice amongst all the bad.

Not sure what kind of flowers these are but they're pretty.

A few years ago this man (Jeff) had a fire in his apartment right across the courtyard from me. He was moved to another apartment. A couple of months ago his wife passed away and he was evicted soon after and is now one of the homeless people that hang out around here. I used to refer to him as married guy. He and his girlfriend that he has now hang out and hit the meth pipe and shoot heroin in plain view, I've seen them do it. Well the police stopped him last week, searched his bags and must have found something because he was arrested. 

I heard what sounded like gunshots one night. Wasn't sure what or where it was coming from. The next day I saw paintball marks on the sound wall in several places.

All those little white marks are where paintballs hit the wall. 

This is at least the third time that I've seen paintball marks on the walls around here. I worry when I see that because I don't want someone to drive by and hit me or others with the paintballs if we happen to be out at that time. 

The high this week was 109F/42C

The low this week was 85F/29C

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

 

NOTHING MORE ft David Draiman - ANGEL SONG

I love David Draiman's voice so whenever he is featured in another band's songs I like to listen to it to see if I like it and I liked this one. I love Disturbed because of Draiman's voice so hearing him in this song made it great for me. I hope you enjoy it too.