Old Photos

 

I was going through some old photo albums and thought it would be fun to share some old pictures. This is my mom and her dad when she was a little kid at Christmas time.

My grandpa holding my mom when she was a baby. The little boy is my uncle Jack.

This is my grandpa and his mother, so my great grandma. 

This is my great grandparents. The same lady as the above picture. They were my maternal grandpa's parents. This man, my great grandpa, Lewis Casper Sherman was a Baptist Minister. His obituary is below.

I found my great grandfathers obituary in one of the photo albums. It says, 
Rev. Sherman, 69 Dies Following Sudden Illness. 

The Rev. Lewis Casper Sherman, 69 of Rush died at 4:45Pm of a sudden illness. 

The Rev. Mr Sherman, was born December 25th, 1896 in Morgan county, a son of Paris Sherman of Portsmouth o..and the late Julie Hamilton Sherman. He was a minister and a farmer and a member of the Enterprise Baptist church. 

And then it goes on to list his family. 

I thought it was very neat that even through I never met him, I have all of these pictures of him and his newspaper obituary that I'm sure my grandfather put in this photo album to remember his father. I inherited all of my moms photo albums when she passed away in 2011. 

This is my grandpa and his mother (Same lady from the other pictures). They are holding my mom when she was a baby. 

I love looking back at all the old black and white old pictures I have of family members. 

I've always been the keeper of the pictures in my family. I have a lot of old photo albums. Now pretty much everything is digital but I still get some pictures printed out so keep in the photo albums that my daughter gets to have when I'm gone. 

Do you have old photo albums?

Book Review: Wulf's Pack by Jackie May

 

Book Description

True lone wolves are rare, but I’ve been happily on my own for decades. I’m too dominant to be anything except a pack alpha, and the thought of leading gives me hives. The only thing that scares me more than pack life is mate-hungry she-wolves. The old ball and chain lifestyle isn’t for me.

Then she walks into my club and changes everything.

In the span of a heartbeat, my single status is revoked. True mates are supposed to be myths, but there’s no denying what the beautiful, waifish woman who just stumbled into the club is to me.

I never thought I’d have a mate. Nor did my wolf. Neither of us were prepared for it. When the mate bond snaps into place, I'm shocked, but my wolf loses his damn mind. The bruises mottled all over our mate’s skin and the fear that clings to her like a bad stench has my wolf nearly feral with the need to protect her and get revenge on the person that hurt her. I want that too, but to my wolf, protecting our mate means having a strong pack.

When it's revealed that Skylar is a rare, coveted type of shifter on the run from a very dangerous pack, my wolf takes over and starts claiming shifters left and right. Now I’ve got a mate, a pack, a psychotic new enemy, and I keep losing control of my wolf. I’m in over my head, but I have to find a way to step up and become the alpha I was always meant to be—before everything and everyone I love is destroyed.

My Review

I have not read either of the series that this book is part of but that didn't hurt my absolute love for this book. This can be read as a stand alone as I did. 

This book starts off on a bang right away. Skylar has been held captive by an abusive wolf shifter who uses her gifts for himself. She's been beaten and abused but when she sees a way to escape, she takes it. Wulf spots her when she comes into the bar and is looking for the alpha of the territory because she needs help. Wulf, a long wolf shifter feels an immediate pull to help her and that's strange for him because he's a lone wolf. But once his clan helps her and gets the magical collar off her that was suppressing her wolf, it because apparent to Wulf and his wolf that she is his true mate. Which is a shock to him and others since true mates are supposed to be a myth. 

What comes next is Skylar and Wulf navigating their new relationship while Wulf tries to control his wolf who is adamant that they make a pack. But Wulf has always been a long wolf and he doesn't understand why his wolf wants to keep making new pack members. 

Skylar is different and special so Wulf has to be careful a nd deal with more drama once others know about her. Shifters start coming to ask for help from her and that brings all kinds of new twists to the story. Skylar and Wulf have to ask for help from some people that they really don't want to but they are able to help a few more people when they do. 

This was such a good book. New people and situations kept getting thrown at Wulf and Skylar but as long as they worked together and helped each other through the situations, they got through them. I'm definitely going to have to go back and read the other series and books in this universe because some of these other characters like Illren, the Fae who happens to be an assassin is so intriguing and I want to get to know him more. 

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

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"Just taking out the trash."

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

Apartment Life #363

 

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 26 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.  

Falcor stared down a new dog in the neighborhood. They stared at each other while us humans laughed. Later that day he met the dog and they got along fine. The other dog is a little black and white Chihuahua. Another old man like Falcor. 

The police were back across the street for that same apartment upstairs as last week. I don't know what's happening since no one was arrested. The police didn't even stay that long. 

A little while later the Fire Department ambulance showed up down the street and took an elderly man to the ER. Hopefully he's better from whatever sent him to the hospital soon. 

This is our apartment security. Early in the morning they showed up because there were a bunch of homeless people camped out in front of the office. There's an electrical outlet right next to the office door that people use to charge their phones. So there's people sleeping there at night quite often.

---

On Wednesday the apartment manager was knocking on everyone's door telling us all that they were having inspections from the owner and we all had to put our chairs and tables inside. Anyone who didn't answer their door right then she had the maintenance guy wheeling a big trash can around with him put anything sitting outside into the trash. I watched as the guy across from me had his bbq thrown in the trash. Others had their folding chairs tossed in the trash. The manager told me it was just for today and she's hoping that if nothing is out that the owner won't tell her to put out notices saying we aren't allowed to have anything outside our doors. Technically we aren't allowed to have bbq's here at all, it's in the lease agreement. 

The owner hasn't been around since he bought this place 7 years ago so this doesn't happen often.

One of the homeless ladies living with Johnathan (BB Gun dude) came outside in her underwear and took their bbq and chair inside his apartment. I am hoping we don't have a problem with her trying to stay there when he moves out on the 20th. I might have to call the office and let them know. They have been having loud parties almost every night.

----

I went outside when I heard the police helicopter up flying around my street and spotted this police car parked near the alley. There were other police cars driving up and down my street and some police officers running up and down the street on the sidewalk. They were looking for someone but they all took off really fast so I think whoever it was went somewhere else while they were looking here. They all left fast so I have no idea if they found who they were looking for. 

 

The high this week was 76F/24C

The low this week was 51F/10C

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

Cauliflower Rice, Mushrooms and Spinach

I made this as a side dish and it came out really good. 

What you need: 

1 Cup of shredded cauliflower

1 Cup Sliced mushrooms

2 Cups Fresh Spinach

1 TBSP Butter

1/2 tsp. Garlic powder

1/2 tsp. Onion powder

1/2 tsp. Chicken bullion powder

No calorie cooking spray

2 TBSP water

Salt and Pepper to taste

What to do: 

Rinse the spinach under cold water. A lot of times fresh spinach will have dirt on it and it will make your recipe gritty if you don't wash it off. After washing, put in a colander and let drain off excess water. 

Shred the cauliflower using a cheese grater. You can use a food processor but since I was only needing a cup of it, I just grated it myself. Set aside. 

In a non-stick skillet, spray the pan generously with no calorie cooking spray and add in the sliced mushrooms. Cook over medium heat under cooked to desired doneness. Remove mushrooms and set aside. 

Using the same non-stick skillet, add the butter to the pan. Once melted add all the spices and cauliflower. Let cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the mushrooms back in and the water. Stir well and add the spinach. Cook until the spinach is wilted. Do not overcook or add too much water or the cauliflower will get mushy. 

This entire pan has only 160 calories and about 10 carbs. 

I used this as a side dish. 

Would you eat this?

Garden Flowers

 

Some of you asked what flowers were in my daughters garden. She used a pack of seeds that said wild flower seed mix. So I have no idea what any of these are. lol I took pictures as they started blooming.

There was one orange flower among all the pink and purple ones. 

Only a couple bloomed for a few weeks.

I like the pink and purple ones.

It's nice to see some flowers in the courtyard. At first there were just a few flowers.

Then these two flowers popped up. These are my favorite. What a pretty color. 

And then boom! Flowers. 

Soon after I took this picture we had several days of high winds and most of the flower stems broke or fell over. It was nice while it lasted. 

Book Review: Bonded To The Stryxian by Ella Blake

 

Book Description

Humans made a deal with the Stryxian males: Help us defend Earth, and when the war is over, we’ll send you women to help rebuild your dying species. Now, the war appears to be over and Trinity Bentzer’s number has been called in the lottery. Only, instead of winning a boatload of money, she’s getting some badass winged alien she’s never met. Trin’s not thrilled to be shipped off and matched up, until she meets Raig. 
Maybe she hit the jackpot, after all.


Commander Raig Thanor’s job is to supervise the females’ move to their holding chambers until they are sent to their final matches, but the moment he meets Trinity, he knows she’s his. If only claiming her didn’t risk sparking a war within his own people.


This is book one of the Stryxian Alien Warrior series but can be read alone with no cliffhangers and no cheating. I write what I love to read, so there is always consent and always a happy ending.

My Review

When an alien race called the Morr-ta show up and attack Earth, the Stryxian's come to our aid. All they ask in return is that Earth sends some females to their planet as mates to help rebuild their population. So when a cease fire is made, it's time to pay up. The women chosen have signed up voluntarily and now Trinity's number is called after she retires from the military. Trinity has worked alongside the Stryxian's so she's not as nervous about this as some of the other women are. They are to be transported to a settlement where they will get to pick their mates from the males there. 

From everything they know the Stryxian males have a code that prevents them from ever treating the females badly so that's one good thing. Raig is the commander in charge and has been sent to make sure the human females are sent to the settlements where they will be able to choose their mates and hopefully start producing offspring. 

But as soon as Raig meets Trinity he knows she is his true mate and has no plans on letting her go to any settlement, which make his superiors upset. Because there's a power struggle going on behind the scenes between the Stryxian's and the Vanyi who are actually in charge. One Vanyi known as Sleer is very power hungry and makes a lot of problems for Trinity and Raig. 

I really liked the ending and can only hope we get to see how Raig and Trinity are getting along in their new relationship in subsequent books. I plan on reading more of this series in the future for sure. 

I give this book 5 out 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

*Click on pictures to enlarge them*

One evening this week I took a walk with Falcor as the sun was setting. There were some clouds so I had a feeling it was going to be pretty. It started with just a little red and pink in the sky. 

The longer I stood there, the redder the sky got. 

After a few minutes it was bright red and pink. It was so pretty. 

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.

Why I don't like any drama around meal times

When I was a kid my mom cooked and had dinner ready by the time time my dad got home from work. That was just how my dad liked things so my mom would do that. On the weekends though my parents would drink heavily all day so by dinner time my brother and I knew to eat fast because the likelihood of our parents getting into a screaming match was pretty much 100%. 

But my dad would do more than just yell. Oh it would start out yelling for whatever reason. They would get into arguments for the dumbest reasons and then it would escalate. Most nights on the weekends we would sit down to dinner, my mom and dad being in the living room on the couch and me and my brother at the kitchen table. Once my dad got really mad, he would throw his plate of food against the wall, take my mom's plate and throw it against the wall and start hitting her. 

At that point my brother and I would get the dog, Poochie and run to the backyard. Because if Poochie started growling or barking at my dad while he was hitting my mom, my dad would beat the dog as well. So we stayed in the backyard until my mom would either come get us or we saw her sitting on the back steps. At that point we would go back in the house, get our plates of food and bring them out to the back steps and share our food with our mom so she had something to eat. I would go get seconds sometimes so she could eat more. We would all stay outside until my dad passed out on the couch or in their bedroom. 

My brother and I learned to eat our food fast if we wanted something to eat especially on the weekends because we knew that the plates of food might get tossed against the wall if we said something out of line. We still eat fast, my brother faster than me because he got more abuse than I did from our dad. 

My dad hit us kids as well. One time my dad beat me with a belt so severely on the back of my legs, butt and back that I had bruises, welt marks and could hardly walk for a few days. So my mom put a note on the door for her parents to see that said we were quarantined inside the house because I had Scarlet Fever. I never had scarlet fever but my mom didn't want her parents seeing me all bruised up. I missed a few days of school because of it too. My mom's mother, my grandma would leave bags of food on the front porch while my dad was driving a truck for Adohr Farms and was away for a few days making deliveries. My dad never even asked how I was when he got back. I learned early on to either stay in my room, outside or just keep my mouth shut around my dad. 

My brother got hit and smacked all the time by my dad for dumb things like not being able to catch the football my dad would throw to him. I was 12 and my brother was 10 when my parents got divorced.

Links to past stories

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January 2023

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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

2025

January 2025

February 2025

March 2025

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #362

 

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 26 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.

  

The house that had the fire a few months ago in this post had the police at it this week. The homeless people are still breaking into this house and squatting there. The police show up (Probably when the neighbors call) and they make them leave. They should be arrested but aren't. Then the homeless break back in later. 

One of the pipes around my complex overflowed again this week. Raw sewage was leaking all over the ground until maintenance came and snaked the drain to clear it. But they left the mess on the ground to dry up like they always do. The health department has been called several times before and they have gotten a fine before. They pay the fine. They don't care.

---

On Tuesday the police showed up twice. This was the second time. The officer went across the street both times to an apartment upstairs. 

The police helicopter was up for a few minutes and there were police in the back alley behind this complex. They were walking around all over the place and I think they were looking for someone but they left without arresting anyone. 

---

The tree trimmers were on my street this week. These two trees had been big and full and they demolished them! 

They trimmed the palm tree's on my side of the street too.

But when they were done with the two trees across the street, they were bare. They had been so full of leaves and branches and now nothing. They usually trim these trees each year but this year they decided to wreck them! It looks terrible. 

---

BB Gun dude ( Johnathan) is moving out next month but in the meantime he's been having loud parties. 

 Wednesday night was loud until after midnight. At one point I thought they were going to burn the place down with their bbq. The fireball was twice as big as this picture that I caught right after it happened. Did they throw gasoline on the bbq? lol

Everything is so dry in my courtyard, a fire could have happened so easily.

The high this week was 90F/32C

The low this week was 52F/11C

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

Saturday Vittles

 

Refried Beans, Avocado and Pico on a Low Carb Tortilla

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

When the price of eggs was crazy high a while back I decided to try and find other things to eat for breakfast and this was one of the things I tried that I really liked. 

You will need: 

Carb Counter Tortillas

Fat Free Refried Beans

Queso Fresco Cheese

Homemade Pico De Gallo

Avocado

Heat up 1/4 cup of refried beans. Spread that on 2 of the Carb Counter flour tortillas and top with 3 slices of avocado on each tortilla. Add a little homemade Pico De Gallo and lastly cut a 1" cube of the Queso Fresco cheese and crumble that on top of each tortilla. 

 Pico De Gallo Recipe

6 Large tomatoes- diced small

1 Yellow onion- diced small

One bunch of cilantro diced small (about 1 cup)

Juice from 2 lemons

Salt to taste

 Mix all ingredients together and let sit overnight in container in the fridge. You can eat it right after it's been made but for more flavorful Pico, make 2 days ahead of time and let it sit in an air tight container in the refrigerator.

For two of these it is 270 calories and 26 carbs. 

A Few Family Pictures

 

My nephew, his girlfriend and their 3 kids came over while my brother was in town. I hadn't seen my nephew for 20 years (it's complicated) and I met my great nieces and newborn great nephew for the first time.

This is my brother and I. And if you noticed I lost some weight since the last time I posted a picture of myself...yes, I've lost 80 lbs so far. I still have a ways to go though. 

Me and my sister in law. She's holding my great nephew. 

My nephew and grandson talking video games.

My brother came with me and Falcor for a walk so he could shine his flashlight down one of the manhole covers down to the tunnels. He said it's about 25 feet down to the bottom and the metal ladder that's there looks small. lol He said he wanted to go down in the tunnels to look around but thought better of it. 

I was up early most days and got a few nice sunrise pictures.

At least we had really nice cool weather this week.

Lots of cloud cover too. 

Book Review: Hell Of A Game by Elise H. Ford

 

Book Description

All I wanted was to have a fun girl's night at the traveling carnival that stopped in town for the weekend. Is that too much to ask??

After a recent breakup, I absolutely needed a night out with my roommates. I didn't expect to have so much fun or to meet a group of four sexy guys that worked at the carnival. I also didn't expect the four guys to be demons from Hell either…

Succeeding a crazy night that couldn’t have been real, I woke up in my bed like nothing had happened. I thought it all must have been a dream... That is until I keep seeing the demons everywhere…

Soon, they come to me and tell me what I really am... And it's not entirely human…

Being a busy holiday weekend, I haven't seen my roommates since we went to the carnival together. That's when I found the real purpose of the carnival and how it’s all just a front for soul trafficking. Both of my friends ended up being sucked up into the game… And I'll fight through Hell itself if I have to, to save them…

A Why Choose Demon Romance intended only for readers 18+.

My Review

Vera is just getting over a bad breakup so she and her roomates decide to go to a carnival. But while there things go wrong and she meets 4 guys who turn out to be demons. The carnival in just a place to snatch up souls and she finds out later that her roommates have been taken to hell. 

Vera and the guys have an insta-love connection but their romance never felt real to me. I didn't like the guys all that much but they are demons. I didn't like the different drugs they kept smoking and kept giving her, it felt wrong. It seemed like they had her smoke stuff and didn't tell her that it was going to have a big effect on her beforehand. They wanted her pliable so they could seduce her and it worked. 

The guys are demons but after they find her and let her in on who they really are and how they feel about her, they seemed to really change and want nothing but the best for her and I liked that.

I did like the adventure of having to go to hell and save her roommates from their fate after being kidnapped and sent there. Plus the big twist close to the end of this book was great, I really liked how the book ended. 

So while I did have a few small things about this book that bothered me, all in all it was a good read. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon