Apartment Life #370

 

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.  

Some of the homeless people broke out this window in a vacant apartment and were squatting in it over the weekend. They were kicked out by maintenance on Monday and the window was replaced. 

We had strong winds over the weekend and a couple more limbs broke and were hanging down off one of the trees across the street. Hopefully they cut them down before this breaks off and hits someone in the head. 

The police were at the end of my street on Monday morning. They had a guy standing at the front of one of the police cars and later arrested him. For what, I have no idea. 

I didn't post this last week because I wasn't sure if anything else was going to happen with it. But the guy that was squatting in front of my door last week and had been arrested a couple of times the week before was wheeling this wheelchair around and left it in front of my door. I pushed it out into the rocks. I'm pretty sure he stole it from one of the homeless people and I think they took it back later that night.

It's hard to see the police car in the middle of the picture but he's there. He has his headlights on and is parked between the yellow and red car, but across the street. Monday night around 9PM we heard about 8 gunshots. A few minutes later the police helicopter was flying overhead and then police were all over the place. They arrested one guy. Not sure if this is the same guy who keeps firing shots in the air at night or not. 

 

This week I will leave you with a picture of Falcor stretching out his back leg. He still makes me laugh when he stands like this. He'll stand there with his leg stretched out for a few seconds before going about his business. 

The high this week was 98F/36C

The low this week was 66F/18C

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.

Sausage Breakfast Bowl

We layered 2 small scrambled eggs. 1 TBSP grated cheddar, 3 breakfast sausages, 1 TBSP Homemade Pico De Gallo and 3 slices of avocado into a bowl. We've had this for breakfast several times. It's really good. 

Calories for this- 360 and Carbs 10

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.

The Funeral Box

 

A while back a blogger friend at Far Side of Fifty blog made a post about a Funeral Book and I was surprised to learn that some commenters didn't know what that was. I assumed that was a normal thing that the family got when they planned a funeral. But I guess it's not. So not only am I sharing a funeral book but also my funeral box. But first the Funeral Book. 

A Funeral Book for those that don't know is a book that the funeral home gives you with the name and information of the family member you are having the funeral for. The book is left out so that guests can sign their name also. 

This is my mom's Funeral Book. This page is the Pallbearers- the people who carrier her casket at her funeral.

A list of her family on this page.

People at the funeral who signed the book.

There are poems that we the family picked out throughout the book. 

Her information like her birthdate and where she was born is also in the book. It's a nice memento to keep. 

I mentioned I have a funeral box. I just call it that because it's filled with mementos of family members who have passed on. I kept their birth certificates, death certificates, funeral book if I have it, floral cards and wallets-just how they left them at the time of their deaths. 

These are my mom's floral cards. They are the cards that were attached to any flowers that were sent from family and friends to the funeral. 

These are my grandfathers floral cards. 

I also have the wallets of my mom, grandfather and my late husband. My step father didn't have a wallet but I have the ID cards he had in his pocket. My daughter told me I should make up a wallet of my own to put in the box of some old ID's and such in case something happens to the wallet I have on me at the time of my death. It might sound creepy to others but I have started putting together a wallet to add to this box. My daughter likes the idea of that type of momento too. 

Do you keep these types of mementos?

Book Review: Into The Dark by Reece Barden

 

Book Description

If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise...

Finding love was not part of my plan.

Move to Sutton.

Figure out what happened to my father.

Go back to my boring life.

Never did I think I'd be investigating a serial unaliver, caught between two alpha males, their decade long rivalry putting me squarely in the middle, or that I'd need protection from the mysterious animal stalking my cabin in the dead of night. This town has plenty of secrets, and the more I dig, the more the realise that maybe the person responsible for the missing women isn't the only monster I need to be worried about.

This enemies-to-lovers shifter romance is packed with scorching hot tension, a st@lker who just won't quit, and secrets that don't want to stay buried.

Perfect for readers who love their alphas brooding, their heroines with some backbone, and their romance red hot.

Contains explicit scenes, mature language, and a guaranteed HEA that'll make your kindle blush.

My Review

Evan and Holly meet when Holly comes to town to find out more about her missing father she never knew about. Evan is grumpy and not all that helpful at first and that puts Holly at odds with him because why is he so rude to her for no reason. It doesn't help that her missing father, John helped to raise Evan and his brother. 

Not only does Holly have to deal with Evan being openly hostile towards her when he spots her with his nemesis but there's also missing women as well as her father. When it becomes apparent that Holly might be next on the stalkers list to disappear, Evan steps in to keep her safe. But he feels more than he's letting on for Holly and her going out with another guy really gets under his skin. 

The mystery surrounding her father going missing and the women who have gone missing starts to get opened up when a body is found. The wrongdoer is found out and it did come as a surprise to me as to who and why. Evan and some of the other townspeople are shifters and Evan suspects that the killer is also. So when Holly suspects that those close to her are keeping secrets, she keeps after Evan until he finally tells her what he is. But he's bracing for her to reject him like his last girlfriend did. 

I loved the mystery as well as the romance in this book. But I would have liked some closure about what happened to Holly's father, John. Hopefully there will be more answers in the next book. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.  

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

Sunrise in Las Vegas one day this week. The clouds looked almost purple.

And then sunset the same day.

The next day at sunset was really nice too. 

Just Falcor staring down a dog coming down the pathway we were going down. 

Book Review: Embers Ignite by Alana Khan and Aria Vale

 

Book Description

Bound by passion, shattered by deceit.

Marissa

The Others have been on Earth for 25 years, but I’d never met one until the huge orc Fire Chief landed in the ICU as my patient. He’s rude, snarly, and covered in tattoos. A girl would have to be out of her mind to want someone like him, right? I guess I’m out of my mind.

Actually, I’m obsessed.

It’s hard to see past his snarls to find the squishy guy he hides inside, but I do. One kiss leads to another, and before I know it, well, I discover he’s not snarly all the time.

Until he learns my secret. I never meant to hurt him, but now he won't have a thing to do with me.

Brokka

Being dragged through the Rift and spit out onto this planet with nothing more than the clothes on my back wasn’t the worst thing in my life. Losing everyone and everything I’d ever cared about was far more crushing.

Tender Marissa with her courage, caring, and delicious curves is the perfect reason for me to let go of my past. Until I discover our relationship is built on a lie. How can I love a woman I will never be able to trust?

Enjoy this age-gap, second-chance romance as Brokka and Marissa battle people in both their worlds, risking everything they hold dear to be together.

Written by USA TODAY Bestselling author Alana Khan.

No cheating or cliffhangers in this steamy, enemies to lovers romance. There’s phone s*x and much more for Marissa, who, it turns out, is a very good girl. Guaranteed love and happiness ever after.

For Readers 18+.

My Review

Marissa is a nurse and Brokka comes to her hospital after he's hurt in a fire. He's an "other", an alien that came to Earth 25 years ago. The government hasn't exactly made them feel welcome in that time either and so Brokka is the first "Other" that Mariss has met. Most of the time the Others stay in their zone and aren't seen out where the humans are and they are taken to their own hospital inside the zone. But little by little the Others are being given more rights and are being seen outside the zone. 

Brokka is used to humans being rude to him or being interested but cautious so after he's released and Marissa seeks him out at the Others fire department where he works, things don't go well and he knows he messed up. So he does the only thing he can think of, he goes to her and tries to apologize. After a while they start spending more time together and find that they really like each other. 

When I saw the cover for this book, I thought, "Now that's an alien!" I love it when the aliens in these romance books actually look like aliens. But Brokka turns out to be quite a nice guy even though there's a huge misunderstanding between them right when things were going so good between them. But something else happens to bring their relationship back to life and I was really happy about that. These two are so different but are so made for each other. They made such a great couple and I loved the secondary characters as well. I really hope that more of the Others from the Fire Department get their books as well because I can't wait to read more of this series now. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

*Pictures today are courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #369

 

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.  

I heard sirens pretty close on Monday morning so I pulled up the PulsePoint app and saw that something was happening at the end of my street. So I walked out there with Falcor to get some pictures. The police drove by while I was getting out there the police drove by really fast, too fast for me to pull my camera out and get a picture.

The fire truck was parked at the end of the street.

And as I was standing there, the first ambulance pulled up. 

And then the fire department's ambulance also pulled up. There was a lot going on down there and they were there for over an hour. Something happened but I'm not sure what. 

---

This made me laugh because when I Googled the words, I realized it was the name of a band. So, me being intrigued, I clicked on their Instagram and was surprised to see my neighbor!  It's the name of my neighbors band! And he must have spray painted their name on this power box that is right next door. That was really smart. Smh Good way to let everyone in the neighborhood know who spray painted on the power boxes. LOL Not very bright. Free promotion?

----

Someone spread a pile of shredded foam right in front of the manhole where the homeless people make their way down into the tunnels underground. Not sure what the purpose of this was. 

---

"Screamer lady' screaming in my courtyard right after 8AM on Wednesday morning. I've talked about her before. She is not homeless but does drugs and has mental illness. She routinely walks up and down the sidewalk just screaming nonsense. She's been doing this for years. 

On Tuesday the guy who was arrested twice last week was once again back. The jail/ ER didn't keep him more than a over night. I could only upload a short clip from my tablet since the videos I took with my phone won't upload to Blogger for some reason. This guy was in my courtyard and in front of my door for over an hour. His friends a few doors away told him to leave, then they shut their door and refused to open it again when he kept knocking. I didn't call the police because, why bother. They don't keep him more than a few hours and he's back again, even after throwing a chair through his friends window last week. He was back the next day for a while and then he's been gone since then. 

The high this week was 90F/32C

The low this week was 62F/16C

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

Chicken, Rice and Vegetables

You will need: 

4 ounces of Chicken Breast- cubed

5 Mushrooms- sliced

1/2 Bell Pepper- sliced

1/4 Onion- Sliced

1/4 Cup uncooked white rice

No calorie cooking spray

What to do: 

Cook your rice and set aside. 

Spray a pan with no calorie cooking spray, add onion, mushrooms and bell pepper. Saute over medium heat until desired doneness. I like mine very done. I have to spray them a couple of times with cooking spray to keep them from burning. 

Add chicken to the pan, add whatever spices you like and cook until done. 

Mix the rice with the vegetables and chicken and enjoy. 

I eat this for lunch quite often. 

Would you eat this?

This makes one serving and is 400 calories and 35 carbs. 

What's In Your Cupboards?

 

 A while back my blogger friend Debra She Who Seeks did a blog post called, What's In Your Cupboards? 

I thought it was a cute idea and I told her I was stealing her idea. Ha! Sorry Debra. lol 

I have a ton of funny coffee mugs and cups in my cupboards so I thought I would share a few of them. If you want to share what's in your cupboards in a blog post too, I'm sure Debra and I would love that. 

Let's start out with this cute kitty face coffee mug. It has a little crack in it but still works just fine.

I got this for my daughter because she's been playing a lot of Call of Duty. 

It says, "I'm a Mom what's your super power?"

My brother sent me this for my birthday one year. LOL He knows me so well. 

Is this a statement or am I trying to convince myself that I'm fine? Maybe both. lol 

It's a white mug with a face on it. The opening at the bottom is supposed to be for cookies. lol 

This looks like a regular coffee cup, right?

But when you finish your drink, boom! Skull. 

More skulls. 

And today I'll leave you with my Falcor mug. I made a mug that has 3 pictures of Falcor. 

He will toss raw potatoes around like a ball if he finds one. 

Look at that cute face! 

Book Review: Angel of Darkness by Cynthia Eden

 

Book Description

Angels of death do not feel. They do not need. They do not lust. They do not love. They carry out their jobs. They take souls.

Or at least…that is what they are supposed to do, until Keenan, a powerful angel of death, refuses to take his latest charge on a blood-soaked New Orleans night. He should have touched Nicole St. James, a sweet schoolteacher slated to die, but instead…he took the vampire attacking her. With one touch, Keenan changed fate, and he fell from heaven.

When an angel falls, all hell breaks loose.

Keenan’s wings burned away in the fall. Without his wings, he’s hit with every single human emotion—and need. And his entire focus is on the woman who cost him everything. He hunts Nicole, tracks her, but is stunned to see that the human he knew before is long gone. Nicole changed on that dark night, too. She’s got some new and dangerous accessories—fangs and claws and definite bite because she’s a vampire.

Heaven and hell are after them.

Nicole and Keenan are being hunted. Demons and angels are both closing in. If Nicole and Keenan are to survive, they’ll have to trust each other completely. A vampire and a Fallen aren’t supposed to bond, and they sure aren’t supposed to become mates, but some desires just can’t be contained. Keenan has been tied to Nicole from the moment he first saw her. Human, vampire—doesn’t matter to him. Nicole is his, and he will wreck the world to keep her safe.

He fell for her. She will belong only to him.

My Review: 

Keenan is angel of death, he is waiting for Nicole St. James to be attacked and die so he can touch her and bring her over to the afterlife. Nicole fought very hard to stay alive and Keenan for some reason couldn't bring himself to touch her and free her soul. She hurts the vampire when she slashes him with some glass but that only made him madder. Instead of touching her so she can die when she's attacked by a vampire, Keenan does the unthinkable and touches the vampire instead, letting Nicole live. But what he did has terrible consequences for him because there are no second chances for angels, if they don't do what they're supposed to, they are punished and sent to Earth as a fallen angel. No trial, no hearing, no second chances.

Months later when Keenan finally finds Nicole, she's not the same woman he left to live. She had been good, trying to be a good person all the time. Now though she's a seductress, sinful...a vampire. When she slashed the vampire who turned her, some of his vampire blood got into her wounds and turned her. She still tries to be good and not kill anyone but hunters are still after her. Keenan is surprised to find she's a vampire. But that doesn't stop him from feeling things he shouldn't be feeling, wanting her like no angel should want a human. 

As an angel he didn't have feelings. He just did his job, did what he was told but now with all of these human emotions bombarding him, he's in trouble with Nicole because she's a vampire. Now Keenan has to try and keep her safe not only from hunters but The Angel of Death himself, Azrael who sent Keenan to Earth and burned his wings off in the process. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

*Click on the pictures to enlarge them.*

One day this week it got really cloudy. I took all of these pictures at the same time I just pointed the camera in different directions around me. This picture reminded me of a painting. 

Then this way there was some blue skies and grey clouds.

And more blue skies as all the grey clouds moved in the direction of the first picture. 

Book Review: Indebted To The Vampires by Erin Bedford

 

Book Description

A broken vase isn’t all this maid owes her masters…

Piper is desperate for a job, but when the temp agency assigns her to be a maid for a bunch of entitled rich men, she isn’t sure the long hours and meager pay are worth it.

But a priceless, broken vase takes away any other option, and Piper suddenly finds herself far more indebted to her new employers than she ever thought possible.

Now, Piper comes to find that her clumsiness is the least of her troubles. Her mysterious and dangerously tempting employers have a secret. One that they are willing to kill to keep. She already owes them her time and her pay…

But will she owe them her life?

My Review

Piper takes a job as a maid at a large estate with five wealthy men because she's in desperate need of money and has no other choice. But it becomes clear to her that weird things are going on at this place because the men are referred to as, "Master" by some of the other servants on the property and the aftermath of the wild parties are so extreme she's not sure she wants to know more. 

But the men there are flirting with her and even though she feels attracted to them, she's sure something strange is going on with them and that holds her back. It's a good thing too because they sure do have a big secret, a secret they are willing to kill to keep. 

Piper keeps the guys at an arms distance romantically because while she's more attracted to one than the others, she's still attracted to all of them eventually. This is definitely a reverse harem romance meaning all five guys want Piper which makes for an interesting romance. 

The sexual tension, slow burn romances, and great twists made this a very enjoyable vampire romance to read. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon