You Can't Make This Stuff Up

I've shared some of the antics that my neighbors have pulled recently but I don't think I've shared this story with you. Back in 1995 we lived at Mark Twain Apartments and Ken was the maintenance man for the apartment complex. We lived there for a few years but when Ken had to have his ankle operated on, the manager brought in a replacement maintenance man until Ken was able to work again. That's where the story gets crazy. The manager, Lori hired Gregory Leonard and he came over to our apartment all the time to get tips from Ken about the apartment complex and where things were kept in the maintenance shop, we even had him over for dinner a few times.

So it was a real shock when he was arrested for murder. The police found a body hidden under his bed.

You can read the whole story here.

So you see, I've always had crazy neighbors no matter where I've lived.

Favorite Video of the Week

These are funny animal voice overs. So you have to turn the sound up and listen. These are funny.

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 full size bottle of Clarispray Nasal Allergy spray from BzzAgent
Coupon for a free Powerbar
2 samples of Zing sweetener
A $5 gift card from Crowdtap

You can click on both the BzzAgent and Crowdtap links an sign up for accounts if you haven't already done so and start getting free samples and products from them if that's something you're interested in.

Did you receive any free samples this week?

Review: Target Beauty Box - March

What was in this month's box? 

 This box is valued at $25. There were 7 products in this box. 

MISSHA Time Revolution First Treatment Essence

Made with 80% fermented yeast extract to hydrate, restore and reduce the appearance of fine lines.

SoapBox Bamboo Shampoo & Conditioner

Bamboo strengthens and fortifies hair while helping retain moisture for ultra-lush, healthy looking locks.

Jergens Natural Glow Wet Skin Moisturizer

Instantly locks in moisture and gradually builds natural-looking color with each use. Apply to damp skin.

Dove Volume & Fullness Dry Shampoo

Add oomph to day-two ’dos. Weightless formula instantly absorbs oil to clean, revive and volumize hair.

Neutrogena Hydro Boost Lip Shine

Hydration-infused lip gloss moisturizes and plumps with hyaluronic acid for healthy, young-looking lips.

Skinfix Foaming Oil Cleanser 

Mild coconut-based cleanser nourishes skin and replenishes depleted lipids to restore skin’s delicate barrier.

So far I've liked all the products. I like trying dry shampoo because I've heard that some of them leave a weird white residue in your hair but this one didn't. 

I usually Tweet out and post on my FB when I see the boxes are available. I love new Twitter followers if you are on there, I'm @scarymary66

The Box used to be black so it looks like they changed up the color. I don't know if it's a one time thing or if all the boxes will now be white.

Have you signed up for one of the Target Beauty Boxes yet? 

Favorite Picture of the Week

When our daughter was little her favorite thing to do was to go to the Park that's just a couple of blocks away and feed the ducks and geese. In the picture is Ken and our daughter and a couple of geese. There are tons of geese and ducks at this park. There's a lake and in the middle of the lake is a little island with tree's that the ducks and geese live on. They fly or swim over to the park to chase people and get fed by the people who aren't afraid of them. 

I Was A Guest Reviewer At I Smell Sheep - Review of Wake A Sleeping Tiger by Lora Leigh

Wake A Sleeping Tiger (Breeds #31)

by Lora Leigh

Book Description

On a moonless Navajo night, the recessed Bengal Breed known only as Judd became Cullen Maverick, grandson to one of the Chiefs of the Six Tribes of the Native Americans.

Bengal genetics, usually so fierce as to be labeled primal, was recessed so deep inside Judd that no hint of it can be found. A phenomena so rare it’s been notated only a few times. And there’s no way, it’s believed, to force those genetics free once they’ve disappeared past the genetic level.

Now, as commander of the Navajo Covert Law Enforcement Division in Window Rock, New Mexico, Cullen leads his six agents in protecting the treasures of the Navajo Tribes by ensuring they remain safely in Navajo possession.

Added to this mix is none other than the delicate Window Rock police detective determined to stick her pretty little nose in his business.

And once Cullen realized the animosity that keeps flaming between them is far more than he imagined, then the Primal Breed that’s lurked inside him comes out to play. And when that beast decides to make itself known, Cullen suddenly remembers all the reasons it was better off sleeping.

A few days ago I was a guest reviewer over at I Smell Sheep and I reviewed this book there. So if you have a few minutes, I'd love for you to go over and read my review and let me know what you think. I've been reading this series for years and it's one of my favorites. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of *Poppy'sMischief*

"Just one more story before bed?"

*Picture courtesy of Rat Logic*

*Picture courtesy of Martymousehouse.com*

Review: DegustaBox- March

In this month's box was:

Good Thins Sweet Potato Crisps

Mrs. Thinster's Chocolate Chip Cookie Thins

Tolerant Foods Pasta

Loacker Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

Paul's Quinoa Bars

Energems

7 Days Peanut Butter and Jelly Croissant

Boboli Pizza Crust

Lemoncocco Lemon and Coconut flavored drink

Goya Quinoa -White Quinoa with Brown Rice, Black Beans, Bell Pepper and Spices

So if you've been reading my blog for a while you know I've been receiving a DegustaBox for over 6 months and I'm loving these boxes because they send products that I've never tried. Everything in this box was a new to me item or a new Brand. Each box is $19.99 and you can cancel at any time. I usually try new subscription boxes for a couple of months and then move on to another box but I've liked this one so much that I've stuck with this one for a while. I haven't found another subscription box that looks better than this one to try yet so I'll keep getting this one for a while. And if you want to try this box you can click on my link or use my code MARYK-ACB to get your first box half off. 

The only things I haven't tried yet are the pasta noodles, Quinoa and Boboli pizza crust. I've had Quinoa before and didn't care for it but it was plain and not flavored like this one so I'm hoping this one will be better. The pasta noodles are Kale and Green Lentil flavored so I'm not sure about that either. Everything else was good though. 

Have you ever tried a subscription box? Do you have one that you like?

Favorite Video of the month

Even if you don't like spiders you'll find this funny.

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:

2 samples of Elyptol hand sanitizer and a pouch to keep them in.
2- 10oz canisters of Folger's Coffee (Just paid $5 for shipping)
$5 Amazon gift card from Crowdtap

Did you receive any free samples this week?

Review: Jersey Mike's Subs

This past Monday our daughter took Ken to Jersey Mike's to get us all sandwiches. We hardly ever eat out so when we do, I hope that the food is good or they at the very least get our order right. Well none of those things happened this time. I was so upset with the sandwiches, the drink that was supposed to be Pepsi and the tip fiasco that I decided the only way for me to warn others about this place was to write a review and share it on FB, Twitter, Yelp and my blog. And, I'll be tweeting out my review on Twitter every single day for the next 30 days because just once isn't anywhere near enough.

Here's the review I left on Yelp...

"My daughter took hubby over to Jersey Mike's sandwich shop and he bought 3 sandwiches, a foot long #9 and 2 of the 6 inch sandwiches of another number.Well we'll never go there again. They messed the sandwiches up, royally! They were told no onions on mine and they piled the onions on. By the time I finally got all the onions off, there was a huge handful of them on my plate, there were more onions than there was lettuce. The 2, 6 inch subs had no mayo or mustard but loads of oil and vinegar. The amount of meat on these sandwiches was laughable. The bread is hard and tasteless. But that wasn't even the worst thing. When Ken went to pay for the sandwiches with his debit card, it wouldn't let him proceed to pay for it until he picked a tip of either 10%, 15% or 20%. You should be able to leave a tip or not or leave it in cash if you want. And then I tasted the pepsi that he got me and I'll be damned, it wasn't pepsi but a combination of Mr. Pibb and watered down pepsi. I know I let Ken and Elizabeth both taste it and they agreed with me that it was some weirdo concoction and not the pepsi that they said it was. So my opinion is don't go to Jersey Mike's if you want a good sandwich. Pick a different place."


Now I don't want anyone getting the idea that we were upset we had to leave a tip. We always give a tip. What I was mad about was the fact that they had one of those Credit Card Swipe machines that won't let you proceed with your purchase unless you pick a tip. That makes the tip mandatory and tips ARE NOT mandatory! It's a gratuity that you give for good service. If there's a tip jar we always put cash in it. Now if you want a tip to be part of your bill, the owner should just increase the amount of money they charge for the sandwich and pay their employee's more. Simple really. But do not set up your credit card swipe machine so that you can't complete your purchase unless you select one of the tip amounts that you have pre selected for your machine. That's not right. My daughter said that she's seen these machines at other restaurants and if you ask the person if you can pay the tip in cash they will put in a code so you can proceed but not everyone knows that and there wasn't a sign telling anyone this. If I had been there and had seen this, I would have told them to keep the sandwiches and walked out without paying. As it was, we spent $35.00 for 3 sandwiches which is completely ridiculous. And on top of that they got the order wrong. Maybe train your employees better and make sure your drink machine isn't spitting out something other than what it's supposed to.

Moral of the story? Don't piss off a blogger.

UPDATE:
Yesterday I received an email from someone at Jersey Mike's Franchise Systems, Inc. Asking if she could share my review with the franchise owner and would I mind sharing my telephone number with her to pass a long to them so this matter could be resolved. I declined to give out my number and said to me it's already been resolved because I'll just never eat there again so there's no need for any further contact.

Then today I get an email from Yelp telling me that my review was taken down...
"MAR 09, 2017  |  03:31PM PST
Hi Mary,

We wanted to let you know that we've removed your review of Jersey Mike's Subs. Your review was brought to our attention by the Yelp community, and we found that it fell outside our Content Guidelines because it appeared to be primarily based on someone else's customer experience.

We want to hear about your personal consumer experiences with local businesses. The best reviews provide context, detail and perhaps even a helpful tip or two. To learn more, check out our Content Guidelines at http://www.yelp.com/guidelines.

Thanks for understanding, and we'll see you on Yelp!"

Could be a coincidence but I doubt it. Now I told the truth that I didn't go there and order the sandwiches but I tasted the sandwich and it sucked in my opinion. I saw the other two sandwiches that they got and no mayo could be seen on them and the amount of meat was laughable. I stand by my review. I was truthful that I didn't go there but I did see my own sandwich piled high with onions that both my daughter and Ken said they made sure to tell them not to put on my sandwich. So I saw no reason to give out my telephone number to the franchise owner to try and resolve this. Resolve it how? By giving me a free sandwich maybe? Because that's what most restaurants or fast food places do when you complain. Now why would I want a free sandwich from a place that I didn't like the first sandwich I got? No thanks.

Favorite Picture of the Week

Falcor was sleeping, surrounded by his blanket and when I went to snap the picture he barely opened his eye to look at me like, "Do I amuse you, human?" 

My Crazy Neighbors

If you are friends with me on FB, you've probably seen me post pictures of my crazy neighbors or tell stories of them. Well this week is no exception. Now while the police presence has died down quite a bit and I haven't been seeing them around as much, it seems that my neighbors have decided to start doing weird things. So being me, I took a couple of pictures of said weirdness...

In this picture you can see a blue and orange bouncy house that my neighbor bought for her kids. She set it up in the middle of the courtyard and the kids were yelling and screaming. It didn't bad until the mother also got in it and started screaming, "Hot Potato, hot potato!" at the top of her lungs. Several people in my courtyard complained to the manager that she and her kids were making too much noise in the common area in front of the 16 apartments in my courtyard and she had to take it down. 

Then this week my neighbor set up a camping tent right in front of his door. It was set up for several days and when I walked by it with the dog in the morning, there was a sleeping bag in it. So I guess he just wanted to have a camp out. lol 

Oh and if you haven't seen it before, I've also taken a few videos of my crazy neighbors. Here's one of the best one's. 

Turn the sound up so you can hear it. Yes, I filmed through the screen door, I wasn't about to open the door and have them start screaming at me too. LOL

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of Rat Logic*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

"It's time for lunch. I can already taste it." 

Recipe: Baked Vanilla Custard

You'll Need: 

2 ½ cups whole milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large eggs + 1 Extra Egg yolk

¼ cup sugar

A Sprinkle of ground Nutmeg

Recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill a pan with 3 cups of water, and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat milk. Heat just until warm, add vanilla extract after milk is heated.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugar. Pour in vanilla-infused milk, whisking until smooth. Strain mixture into a bowl and slowly pour mixture into Ramekins. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

Place Ramekins in a large shallow baking dish, and fill baking pan with boiling water to come halfway up side of Ramekins. Place in oven and bake until custard is set, about 45 minutes. Remove baking pan from oven, and transfer Ramekins to a rack to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. Serve while slightly warm, or if you prefer, cold. I like mine cold so I put them in the refrigerator for 2 hours before eating.

You can change up this recipe if you like it more sweet, just add a little more sugar. If you want to add a different flavor, add it to the mixture before pouring into the ramekins. I've been making this recipe for about 10 years. I bought my first set of ramekins so I could make this custard and it's a great treat that only take about an hour to make. 

Tip: You'll know the custard is set if you stick a butter knife into the center of it and it comes out clean, just like testing to see if a cake is done. 

Have you ever made homemade custard? Do you like custard?

Favorite Video of the Week

This week I'm posting one of my videos of Falcor. Ken was having some fun with a chunk of dry ice and when it started bubbling after he poured some hot water on it, Falcor started barking at it. I thought it was funny so I took a little video. I know he kept putting his nose by the mist but the door was open and we didn't let him stay there long so there was no chance of it hurting him.

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:

Samples of pads and tampons from U by Kotex
2 Truvia Nectar samples
$5 Amazon gift card from Crowdtap

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Favorite Picture of the Week

About a month ago one of my older brother's and his wife went to see our dad. They hadn't seen each other in a while so my dad was excited. 

Recipe: Fried Flour Tortillas

I wanted something sweet and didn't want to spend a lot of time making something so I made this. It's fried flour tortillas tossed in a cinnamon sugar mixture. 

Cut your flour tortillas to a chip size. 

Mix together 1 ts. ground cinnamon and 2 TBSP. sugar and set aside.

Heat oil in a pan and add a few of the flour tortillas pieces. Fry for about 20 seconds on each side. They go very quickly. 

Toss in the cinnamon sugar mixture and enjoy. 

It took about 5 minutes. 

Because sometimes you need a fast, sweet treat. 

Happy Raturday!

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

*Picture courtesy of martymousehouse.com*