Happy Raturday!

 

All of the pictures used in today's post are mine. These are just some of the rats that I've had over the years. I made all of these meme's unless otherwise stated. This was Lucky. You can read His Story here. He was my 3 legged rat. I figured I would post some of the rat meme's I made of my own rats for those who are newer to my blog and hadn't seen them before. I've had 18 pet rats over the years. These are just some of them. 

*Flower, female hairless rat.* Melissa over at RatLogic FB page made this Meme for me when she saw this picture I posted. Melissa has since passed away. 

*Scribbles*

*Hades*

*Lucky*

*Lucky*

*Flower*

*Hades*

*Lucky* Lucky sat in between me and Ken and ate some pizza with us. lol 

*Scribbles*

*Flower*

*Ken (My late husband) and Scribbles*

*Flower* She was trying to grab the plastic bag I had sitting there while I cleaned her cage.

*Falcor and Scribbles*

*Flower*

*Scribbles*

*Lucky*

*Lucky*

*Jasper, Brodie and Hades*

*Jasper, Hades and Brodie* They loved to pile on top of each other. 

*Brodie and Jasper*

*Hades*

*Hades and Brodie*

*Brodie and Hades*

*Lucky*

*Jasper, Hades and Brodie*

*Flower*

*Lucky*

*This was Fang. I named him Fang because he bit Ken 4 times after we got him from someone who did not socialize him. He was brothers with Patches, Marbles and Bandit. He and Ken made friends after a few weeks and Ken was able to pet and handle him without getting bit. Ken (my late husband) kept giving him food and treats and Fang came around. This is how he would lay and sleep all the time. He looks pretty cute, huh? Don't put your fingers near him though. lol He always wanted me to hold him and he never tried to bite me. 

*Patches and Bandit*

*This was Marbles. He was my grumpy boy, he even looks grumpy. He never bit anyone but he did not like to be held. He loved coming out and running around which all the rats got to do but he did not like to be petted, held or bothered. He wanted to do his own thing. He was the only rat I ever had who was like that. Open the cage door, give him and treat and let him do his own thing and he was happy.*

*Did I throw Lucky a birthday party one his 1st birthday? You bet I did. LOL I even made a cake and a tiny birthday hat for him. Lucky had a few bites of cake and we ate the rest. lol *

*Bandit holding a rubber ducky while he slept*

So there you go. There's a look at some of the rats I've had over the years. 

Apartment Life #356

 

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 26 years here in a weekly blog post.  

On two different days a police car has stopped pretty much in the same place on my street and just sat there for a couple of minutes and then left. 

The next day another police car stopped right here again and just stayed there for a few minutes. Maybe they were there just in case someone wanted them for something? Who knows. 

We had rain one day this week though so maybe that's why it was quiet. 

Other than that, it was a quiet week. 

The high this week was 62F/16C

The low this week was 39F/3C

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

Egg Roll In A Bowl

You will need:

1 lb Ground Chicken

2 TBSP Sweet Chili Sauce

1 TBSP Soy Sauce

1 tsp. Sesame oil

1 Green onion- diced

2 Eggs, beaten and scrambled

3 Carrots- shredded

1/2 Yellow Onion- diced

3 Cups cabbage- shredded- or diced small

2 Celery stalks- diced

What to do:

Scramble the eggs in a pan and set aside. 

Cook pork until just about done, using a spoon to break it into small pieces. Add sauces and stir to mix. Add vegetables and stir. Cover and let cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. 

Add the eggs to the pan. Serve with a little green onion on top. 

This made 4 servings. Each 1 cup serving is about 360 Calories and 0 carbs. 

We had this for dinner and had leftovers for lunch the next day. 

Would you eat this? It was so good. The Sweet Chili Sauce gave this such a good flavor. 

Book Review: Stranger by Cecilia Campos

 

Book Description

One day, a stranger appeared at my door—not just any stranger, but an enigma in cowboy boots, wearing a suit worth more than my entire farm, otherworldly handsome with dark hair and even darker eyes. He was…

Rough. Mysterious. Dangerous.

And, strangely enough, he knew my desires before I even recognized them myself.

With him, I uncovered a new side of myself—an Angelina who relished the thrill of a cat-and-mouse game, of being hunted like wild prey. I ran; he chased. Again and again, he claimed me as his own, while I pretended not to want it.

I got lost in that game, longing to be devoured in his strong, wild arms. And yet, as strange as it may sound, I felt safe with him.

But this adventure? Believe me, it grew wilder and stranger than I could ever have imagine.

My Review

Years after her spouse passes away, Angelina is still mourning and depressed. Her neighbor tries to help by giving her a dog who needs to go out on long walks or her uses her furniture as chew toys. The dog, Patrick makes her see things a little better and because of that she decides to move away from the memories of the one she lost and build a new life at her uncle's cottage in the mountains that she inherited. After being there for a couple of years and finding her strength to make it on her own, she hears something crash near her property and goes to check it out. 

She comes across a man in a flying car who seems to have crashed in the trees. He's hurt so she takes him back to her home when he asks her not to call for help or take him to the hospital. Once he wakes up and recovers, she describes him as the most handsome man she's ever seen but he tells her his name is All (Later known as Aris) as in All Knowing. He's weird and kind of rude to her. Their banter seems childish at best. 

She talks to her dead husband all the time and he seems to talk back to her in her head but one night she sees him and he tells her that it's time for him to move on. It was sad and brought tears to my eyes. 

Things between Aris and Angelina change when she thinks that he can read her thoughts and he knows that she's very attracted to him. Aris tells her that he's not sure he can control himself around her and she is ok with that. So when he tells her to "Run", it's on! He chases her, catches her and they are intimate. The sex scenes in this book are wild and sexy. 

He asks her to come with him but can't tell her anything about his life or who he really is. And she has to leave her dog, farm, and animals behind with one of his friends. She can't take her dog? That right there would have been a no from me. You expect someone you've only known for a short time to drop everything and everyone in their life to be with you and you won't even tell them anything about your life? Big red flags, so many red flags. 

When I read the description of this book I thought I was getting a dark romance of sorts but that's not at all what I got. We don't get any real questions answered about who or what Aris is and why Angelina can't be told. The twist at the end of this book just made me mad for her. Plus this ends on a cliffhanger and that made me mad. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

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

Amazon

Book Review: Aziel by Eve Langlais

 

Book Description

It took an angel to make me believe in love.

As a woman of science, I am an unabashed, agnostic atheist—until I meet my first angel. Aziel, with big, beautiful wings, claims he’s here to stop humanity from being annihilated. Sounds impressive, but I have questions.

Full of arrogance and demands, he wants access to my life’s work while blaming me for the coming apocalypse. It seems my innocuous signal seeking life beyond our galaxy succeeded. Someone heard my invitation, and now the world is in grave danger.

At least according to Aziel.

As I get to know him, I find myself reevaluating everything I thought I knew. More surprising than my sudden belief in religion, though, is my irrational love for an overbearing angel.

But will he defy Heaven’s orders to save me?

My Review

Aziel comes to Earth in his space ship with others. He's one of God's warrior angels. They came to Earth after intercepting a signal that Lilith and her teammates sent out from her lab. Aziel needs to find Lilith right away and get her to stop the signal before anyone else can intercept it and find Earth. They are most afraid of Hell finding the signal and coming to Earth because that would be catastrophic. 

But Lilith is a scientist and she doesn't believe Aziel when he says he's one of God's warrior angels. But she's curious about him when he shows her some things and then she's convinced he's just an alien from outer space. So she gets him back to her lab and double crosses him so she can study him. She sent out a signal to attract alien life and now she thinks they have answered, she's not going to miss the opportunity to study one. 

I found this highly improbable that she could have used human drugs on an angel to knock him out. But it happened. It just wasn't very believable to me. There was a lot of talk of God, a lot of preaching, a lot of looking down on the humans because we don't believe in this god or follow his commandments. Therefore if Hell does come and invade, God isn't going to save us because we're unworthy. They mostly just want the Suul that is left behind when a person or living thing dies. Elyon (God) uses Suul to create life on other planets. So the fact that Earth has so much of it makes us look really good if they can stop Hell from finding us. If Hell does find us they will decimate the planet and all living things as well. Because Hell has ravaged so many other planets they have many more demon soldiers than Elyon does so they can't fight the demons to save any planets the demons want. 

The storyline got better over time as I read but it starts out really slow. Things start looking up when a great twist is brought out and Lilith and the other scientists find themselves betrayed. I started to enjoy the story a bit more then. There was a lot of backstory which I liked so we understand what brought the angels and demons to Earth and how but the preaching and looked down on because we don't follow this god's commandments was a bit much for me. There was a bit of a romance between Aziel and Lilith but it took a while to take off. I did end up liking the book enough to read it until the end though. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week!

 

*Click on picture to enlarge it*

The dark clouds over the mountains looked ominous and very cool at the same time.

The Alien Christmas Rescue by Alina Riley

 

Book Description

When my ship crashes into the mountains, I crash into the arms of a very handsome silver alien guy.

I was hurrying home for Christmas, but the storm destroyed all my plans. When I wake up to the hulky silver guy, maybe the storm isn't the worst thing ever. Yet, I'm here, away from everything I'm used to and... they don't celebrate the holiday at all...

Between the cold in the mountains and the storm that threatens to kill me, am I safe? Is there warmth for me?

My Review

Hannah is on her way home right before Christmas when the ship she's flying crashes in the snow. Orcoi is a big, silver alien and comes to her rescue. When he finds her, he feels a pull towards her and takes her home as is their custom, until the snow storm lessens and he can get her to the hospital to be checked out and he can write up his report of the rescue. 

But where this could have been a great Christmas type romance ends when Hannah wakes up and pretty much sexually assaults him within moments of realizing she crashed and was saved. Her attitude towards him was completely too pushy, too whiney and her language was much too crass to be romantic or even erotic. There was a lot of sexual content but I don't usually mind that if it fits with a good story, this was just sex. I felt no real connection between them and her pushiness was over the top. 

Once she got to the hospital to be checked out even she questions how she's been acting and wants to know if there's something wrong with her brain or a concussion. I was hoping the author would throw in something about mating pheromones or something like that to explain Hannah's attitude and actions but there was nothing of the sort. A real missed opportunity in my opinion, because that would have explained a lot and I might have forgiven her actions if that was the case. 

I liked Orcoi except for the fact that he went a long with sleeping with Hannah moments after she wakes up after having just crashed her ship which was a total loss of her ship. Why didn't he think that was strange on her part or think maybe she had a concussion and wasn't acting right? It was weird and a strange way to make them get together. Everything happened too fast and I just didn't feel a real connection between them. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"Did you have a View Master when you were a kid? I love mine."

"Just watching a little TV."

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

Apartment Life #355

 

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 26 years here in a weekly blog post. 

I had gone outside when I saw a neighbors dog running around in the street on my bedroom camera. I saw her down by the office and went down to make sure she knew her dog almost got hit by a car. She didn't care. She was on the phone with 911 giving them her details and I heard her say she had been assaulted. She didn't look hurt so I don't know what happened to her, could have been a different kind of assault. She wasn't gone long and is already back.

At the same time there was a guy sitting in the rocks staring at the rocks saying, "They're moving. The rocks, they keep moving." Dude was trippin balls! He was cracked out of his mind. All of the people, including the woman on the phone are known drug users and hang round with the homeless people. 

I kept a look out on my camera because I knew the police were coming. The police showed up and so did the ambulance. The neighbor went to the hospital. I don't know exactly what happened to her other than she said she was assaulted.  Could have been a fight, domestic, or something else. I have no idea. 

I went outside and got a picture of the police cars lined up after the ambulance left. There were 3 police cars and a car from the security company that patrols here. 

---

I had a run in with this lady and her two dogs earlier this week. She has her pitbull on a leash but the Australian Shepherd puppy that is pretty big already she lets run offleash and he ran up to me and Falcor. I picked Falcor up and told her she should have the dog on a leash. She said he's friendly. I said, you know mine is not to big dogs. Plus if your dog pounces on my little dog he could hurt my dog. She just ignored me and walked by. Oh she made me mad. So if I see her out now with the dogs who one is still offleash all the time, I just cross the street to keep away from them. 

---

My daughter was talking with one of the homeless ladies and she told her a few things. Apparently 2 homeless men have overdosed on fentanyl in the past month and died. One was found a couple of blocks away under the freeway underpass. The other man, Eric is someone that I knew from my neighborhood and he was found a couple of blocks away by the Fire Station. That's just sad. 

Antwon who I've talked about before, here, and here. He got mugged and the thief took his drugs. So Antwon tracked the guy down, shot him in the leg twice and was arrested for attempted murder. He's in jail on attempted murder charges. I don't think he'll be back for a while. 

Oh and long time readers might remember Jessica of The Jessica and Mikey Saga. If not, I wrote about them here, and here. Well, Jessica is now the Mayor of Tunnel Town. That's what I'm calling the tunnels around here from now on because all of the homeless people have been going down there and you don't see them on the streets all that much. I see them coming and going from the manholes all the time though. The homeless lady my daughter was talking to said that if someone needs something they ask The Mayor for help. I was shocked when she said the Mayor was Jessica. Guess she's moving up in Tunnel Town.

---

My daughter decorated the window for Valentines Day. 

And the little Valentine's Day tree is up. 

---

The Neighbor in my courtyard who's dog tried to attack Falcor a couple of weeks ago got evicted. A couple of neighbors including myself called and wrote to the rental office and informed them that the lady who used to live in that apartment had passed away a couple of months ago and her family was living in the apartment. They had a bunch of drug users coming and going from the apartment and the dog was offleash all the time. So I guess they investigated and found that those people were not on the lease and they evicted them on Thursday. 

I saw them put their cat in a carrier but they left the dog in the apartment when the constable made them leave and changed the locks. So the manager called animal control to get the dog. I watched at least 9 people come out of the apartment when the constable made them all leave. There was one lady in the alley with a grocery cart full of junk that came out and stood by her cart, swaying back and forth, mumbling to herself as she stared off into space. A bunch of the people were acting weird as they stood around waiting to get into one of their cars. Pretty sure they were all high as heck. Animal Protection Services left a notice on their door if they ever come back fir their stuff they might be able to get their dog back too. I doubt they're coming back though...

The high this week was 75F/23C

The low this week was 39F/3C

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

My daughter decided to make some homemade strawberry jam and it was good so I thought I would make some too but mine is made with a sugar substitute (Equal) instead of sugar. 

You will need:

1 Pint of fresh strawberries- chopped

1TBSP Lemon Juice

Sugar to taste (I used 4 packets of Equal) 

What to do: 

Add the fruit and 4 packets of Equal to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cover and cook about 3 minutes until the berries begin to release their juices, about 3 minutes. Remove the lid, add lemon juice and cook another 4-5 minutes until they are very soft. I used a potato masher and mashed the strawberries a bit. Let the fruit mixture cool. If the berry mixture is very watery, just cook another 5 minutes over medium heat or until it thickens a little bit. It will thicken more as it cools. 

Once it's cooled, add to a jar with a tight lid and store in the refrigerator. It should last in the refrigerator about 3 weeks. 

I added a spoonful of the strawberry jam to my oatmeal. I add a splash of milk and some cinnamon to my oatmeal. 

Calories for oatmeal with jam and strawberries- 200

Carbs- 27

I'm on a low carb diet because I'm diabetic but I'm allowed up to 150 carbs per day and because I don't have many carbs the rest of the day I don't mind having this many for one meal. Oatmeal does spike my blood sugar a bit so a lot of times I eat this as a snack at the end of the day and sleep through the spike. lol 

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 my points on Valued Opinions Survey Site and got a $10 Amazon gift card. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?