Happy Raturday!

 

*All pictures this week courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #372

 

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.  

Tuesday morning on our first walk of the day I noticed some burnt trash on the ground by the dumpster in our alley. Looked to me like someone put some paper into the white bucket by the fence and set it on fire because the inside of the bucket is charred one side is completely melted. I didn't see the fire dept. come so I think someone else just threw some water on the fire.

I know it's hard to tell the difference in what's wet from the water and what's burnt.

There's a lot of trash on the ground for some reason. And a lot of it was burned. Falcor was interested in all the burnt material. lol 

Part of this cardboard box was burned.

Most of the trash up against the fence is burned or charred, you can see all the charred remains from paper on the outside of the fence. 

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I've been meaning to post this picture for a while but keep forgetting. It's a picture of the community bbq that sits in the pool courtyard. Any resident of this apartment complex can use it. We aren't allowed to have bbq's (Even though a lot of residents do) so they have this for us to use. And lots of residents use it.

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A little backstory... About 2 years ago the maintenance guy that used to work here knocked on my door and told me he needed to change the locks because the office didn't have keys to my door. He said he would be back with the lock and never showed back up. So I already knew that the office did not have keys to my apartment

.

On Saturday (yesterday) a different maintenance guy knocked on my door and said he needed to change the locks on the door because the office didn't have keys to my apartment.

I said ok, go ahead. He looked stunned and said, "Oh, right now?"

I said yeah. 

He looked puzzled for a moment and then said, "Uh yeah I can do it now. Let me go get my tools and the locks." 

So you come to my door wanting to change the locks but don't bring anything to change the locks and seem stunned that I agreed to it? Wtf? 

So he came back about 30 minutes later and changed the locks. LOL I swear this place hires idiots.

The high this week was 103F/39C

The low this week was 73F/22C

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.

Seafood and Sugar Snap Peas

You will need: 

2 fillets of whiting or fish filet of your choice

2 cups sugar snap peas

6 mushrooms

1 tsp. butter

6 large shrimp

12 ounces of imitation crab meat

2 green onions-diced

2 stalks of celery-diced

3 TBSP Mayonnaise

1/2 tsp. Old Bay seasoning

Juice of 1 lemon

No calorie cooking spray

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tsp. Paprika

What to do: 

Trim the sugar snap peas ends. Drop them into boiling water for 3 minutes. Then take them out and add them to a hot pan sprayed with no calorie cooking spray. Season with salt and pepper. Add the mushrooms and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. If you like your mushrooms more done, cook them in the pan first while the peas are boiling. 

Add the Whiting fillets and shrimp to a pan sprayed with a little butter flavored cooking spray and 1 tsp. butter. Season with Old Bay, salt, pepper, paprika and lemon juice. Cook until done. 

Recipe for Crab Salad

Shred or slice the imitation crab meat into very thin strips. I also cut some of the crab meat into small cubes for contrasting consistencies. Add the mayo, shredded imitation crab, diced green onions and diced celery. Mix well and refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.

I've made this before but have cut the amount of mayo in half recently to cut out some of the calories. You can always add more mayo if you like it that way. 

A while back I had a bad reaction to shrimp and thought my allergy had gotten worse. But as long as I get raw shrimp and cook them myself I don't have the bad reaction. It's only the cooked shrimp(from the store) that makes my hands itchy. Which is weird. So I'm eating shrimp again. lol I still have to wear rubber gloves to peel them though because I get blisters on my hands if I handle raw shrimp. I love the stuff though. 

Would you try this for a meal?

This meal has 400 calories and 20 carbs. 

What's in Your Cabinet?

 

Do you have a display/curio cabinet? What's in it? 

I thought I would share some of the items in my cabinet. 

The candle my brother gave me for my birthday a few years ago. A stuffed guinea pig that my mom bought in the hospital gift shop when I ended up in the ER back in 2011 when I found out I had an irregular heartbeat. I still have an irregular heartbeat but have been told it's nothing to worry about. The picture is of my grandparents. The glass curio shelf in the back was my moms. 

A fur lined vase that I inherited from my mom when she passed. 

A small stained glass jewelry box.

I bought this unicorn back in 1990. 

2 cat statues that have funny looks on their faces. 

Another unicorn stature I bought back in 1990. 

This is a glass shelf my mom had. It has a picture of my grandmother and her brother. A tiny vase, tiny salt and pepper shakers, 2 small shot glasses, a small bottle of my moms perfume and a Swarovski Crystal clam figurine. 

Another little jewelry box.  These little jewelry boxes used to be really popular back in the 90's. So I have a few kinds. 

Book Review: Just Another Love Spell by S.R. Griffith

 

Book Description

There’s a naked man in my living room!

I don’t know why, but I wanted that goldfish at the carnival. Maybe I’m really lonely. I lost the fish but in a moment of sorrow, I said a spam love spell that popped into my box. The next morning, I woke up to a naked man in my living room!

What he’s telling me is like a fairy tale. He says it’s “true love’s kiss” –yes, I kissed the fish bowl. I’m tempted to fall into the fairy tale except the world isn’t a fairy tale. I’m stressed out but he keeps promising forever.

Will I accept my own personal fairy tale before others try to separate us?

My Review

Rose and Thomas meet when she gets a goldfish from a man at a carnival. She's not sure what to do with the goldfish so she goes to sleep and intends to give him a new tank in the morning. But Thomas is a goldfigh shifter that was cursed to stay in his fish form until the curse is broken and Rose breaks the curse. 

But when Rose wakes up the next morning and there's a very naked man in her living room telling her that he's a goldfish shifter and she broke the curse, she's not believing most of what he says at first. But she can't throw a naked man outside with nothing so she helps him get some clothes and when he shows her that magic exists, she has no choice but to believe what he's been telling her. 

These two spend time together and start to fall for each other. Thomas is a great character and I loved how he was with Rose. It was such a cute, quick read. This was my first goldfish shifter which was fun. I felt bad for Thomas since he had been stuck in his fish form for a long time and had to adjust to how things are now in the world. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

We don't get a lot of cloud cover this time of year usually so when it does happen I'm happy about it. It helps on the hot days.

A few clouds during the day can help when the sun is beating down on you. 

On Monday there were a few clouds at sunset.

But on Tuesday there were so many more big clouds at sunset. The wind was blowing and I saw lightning off in the distance. Of course we didn't get any rain but when I walked Falcor at 8PM it was only 90F/32C which was nicer than it had been during the day. It was a lot hotter that day. 

At least we still get a few cloudy days and nights. I'll take it. I'm not a sunshiny day type person, can you tell? lol All those bright blue skies and sunshine all day is just not for me. I will take a cloudy, dreary, overcast day anytime over those bright sunshine days. I know I'm the complete opposite of most people. That's ok. I never proclaimed to be normal. 

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 and into adulthood. 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.

Mike and Dalene

Before my parents got married my dad had two friends named Mike and Dalene. They were a couple and my dad's best friends. When Mike got married, my dad paid for it and then later when my parents got married, Mike paid for it. After my parents got married Mike and Dalene broke up and Mike didn't take it so well. So a few months later when Mike found out that Dalene was dating another guy, Mike was really upset, took his gun with him and shot and killed Dalene's boyfriend. 

Mike was arrested and went to jail for murder. I was a little kid and don't remember much but he only did 5 years in prison for it for some reason. I was 8 years old when Mike got out of prison and came by our house. I remember he was a big guy and wore dark sunglasses all the time. I remember my dad letting Mike take my younger brother and I to the store and Mike buying us both coats. When we got home my mom was freaking out because she had no idea where Mike had taken us and my dad thought it was funny, I was just happy with my new coat. 

Sometime in the next year after Mike got out of prison, Dalene overdosed on sleeping pills. Mike had been trying to get back together with her and she wasn't having it. Within a few months of Dalene dying, Mike also killed himself by overdosing on pills of some kind. I remember when Dalene died that we all went to her motel/apartment  (I'm not sure which it was) and gathered up her things and took them home. I don't remember much except that the door to her place was red and the walls inside her place were also red. 

My parents had both Mike and Dalene cremated (I guess they didn't have any other family?) and we went out to where there was a lake during the Wintertime, because I remember the snow on the ground and they spread their ashes in the water. I remember some details but other details came from my dad telling me the story of them all the time as I got older. 

Links to past stories

2023

January 2023

February 2023

March 2023

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

February 2025

March 2025

April 2025

May 2025

Happy Raturday!

 

"Avocado is good for you"

"Sharing avocado is fine as long as I get my share"

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

Apartment Life #371

 

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.  

On Monday I saw the Fire Truck leaving from my neighborhood. I smelled smoke but didn't see any so I thought it must have been a small fire somewhere. 

As Falcor and I were walking down the street later, I started smelling smoke more and started looking around and saw this. The homeless must have set fire to a bunch of trash right here by the power boxes.

 I call them power boxes but each box has different electrical equipment inside them. Some down the street have a bunch of telephone wires while other have traffic light equipment and some have cable equipment. But you can see the scorch marks on the side of the power box there and a bunch of burnt material on the ground. 

The high this week was 104F/40C

The low this week was 72F/22C

It's starting to heat up.

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

Happy 20th Blogoversary To Me and a Giveaway

 

It's my Blogoversary!

It's still hard for me to believe that 20 years ago I started this blog and people enjoy reading what I post. Back then I had no idea what I was going to post and didn't think anyone would be reading it. 

A lot of things have changed in the last 20 years. My daughter is all grown up and now I have a 12 year old grandson. I used to have hamsters, rats and gerbils and now have a very energetic Jack Russell Terrier/Chihuahua named Falcor who turned 11 years old this month.

My blog has changed as I've changed over the years. I've met a lot of really wonderful people and made quite a few friends along the way.  I've ranted, reviewed, shared my thoughts and advice. I don't think I ever really thought that I would still be blogging 20 years later or that anyone would read what I had to say, but many of you do and I thank you for sticking with me through so many years.

I have quite a few new readers so let me tell you all a few things about me that you might not know. 

My husband of 30 years passed away in 2020 and I miss him dearly. 

I turned 55 years old this year and have seen quite a few gray hairs popping out. lol 

I have a 33 year old daughter.  

I suffer from depression, anxiety, Agoraphobia, Schizotypal Personality Disorder and SchizoAffective Disorder. I hear voices, have hallucinations and take antipsychotic medication. But I'm holding it together. Some days are better than others. 

I love to read and take pictures of the sky and clouds.

I love cooking and trying new recipes. 

So for all of you followers that have been here a long time and for those of you that are fairly new I just want to say thank you for visiting, commenting and enjoying what I've been posting over the years. I hope we'll all be around and blogging for many years to come.

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I thought I would do a small giveaway today in celebration of blogging for 20 years. Since I live in Las Vegas I'm giving away 5 Las Vegas postcards and 2 Las Vegas stickers to one lucky winner. Open to US only. 

If you're interested in winning the postcards and stickers (US only, sorry) just leave your email with your comment and I'll pick a random winner in 2 days. You'll have 24 hours to respond to my email or I'll pick another winner. Good luck. 

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.

I went from not getting any freebies to getting a bunch this week. 

This week I received: 

A sample box of cat food and treats from LittleKin. 

Iams sent me a 5 lb bag of puppy food. 

Cesar sent me a free Warm Bowls and a coupon. 

And Macy's sent me some perfume samples and I received a free pair of foam ear plugs. 

I gave the cat treats to a neighbor who has a cat. 

Falcor liked the Warm Bowls. And I add a handful of the puppy food to his food each day to give him a little something extra. He doesn't seem to mind. 

The perfume smells nice. And Sometimes I use foam ear plugs at night when people are making noise outside, especially in the Winter time if I have my window cracked open. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Savage Games by Reece Barden

 

Book Description

A rogue with nowhere else to go, Wyatt's made it through to the next round of the notorious Alpha Games, a brutal competition where the fiercest wolf shifters compete to win a pack of their own. Not here to make friends, Wyatt has his eyes firmly on the prize, despite nobody wanting to see a rogue like him win.

Naomi's got plans. Win a pack. Save her sister from an alpha who wants to make her pay for the death of his brother.

None of those plans involve finding her fated mate, and they definitely don't include him turning out to be a dark and brooding rogue on a mission to get himself a place to call home.

She shouldn't get distracted. Her sister's life is on the line. She needs to do whatever it takes to make sure she takes top spot.

And yet... try as she might, she can't stay away.

This book in a MF wolf shifter romance with a cinnamon roll gentle giant alpha, a born protector, and a man you don't want to mess with, who'll soon become your new favourite wolfish book boyfriend. 

My Review

This is the second book in the Alpha Games trilogy. You can find my review of the first book, Rogue Games, here. 

Wyatt is Jamie's brother from the first book. He is competing in the alpha games to try and win and get his own pack. As a rogue wolf shifter, there are a lot of members there that don't want to see him win. Rogue wolves are looked down on. But the only reason he was a rogue was because he was such a big, alpha shifter and no other pack alpha's wanted him in their pack because they were afraid he would challenge them for the alpha role and win. So because no one would let him in their pack, he had no choice but to be a rogue wolf. 

He and his sister Jamie had a rough life but in the first book his sister found her mate and she's safe and happy now. Wyatt just wanted to win these games until he meets Naomi, a female wolf shifter competing in the alpha games in order to win her own pack and keep her sister safe. But as soon as Naomi and Wyatt meet, they know they are mates. They can't let others know right away though because they don't want to be used against each other if some of the others want to cheat and put them in danger. 

There's a lot going on with Naomi though and she doesn't want to put all of her problems on Wyatt and make things harder for him. But he finds out what's going on with her and asks his sister and her mate for help which they do. 

Wyatt is a great guy. Strong, caring and exactly who Naomi needed. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book via BookFunnel but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

Here are some pictures I took this week. I was surprised that we had that many dark clouds this week. It's the time of year when things are usually really sunny. No rain but lots of cloud cover.

More great cloud cover on another day.

And then a nice sunset.

This was sunrise one morning. The entire week was nice. 

This sunset had the clouds looking almost a blue purple. 

And then this fiery sunset one night. 

Same night taken a few minutes after the last one. The clouds sure lit up nice for a picture. 

Book Review: Jacked Up: A Bloodthirsty Dark Paranormal Romance by Latrexa Nova

 

Book Description

Some people kill for fame and fortune. I'm killing for the chance to bang my Jack-in-the-box.

Yes, I mean that literally—but hear me out:

My life blows worse than my ex. The only family member I like just died, my Mom's married to a POS perv, and if you look up 'slum lord' in the dictionary, there's a picture of my property managers.

Three steps away from needing a short vacation in a grippy-sock house, I find the antique Jack-in-the-box that used to terrify me as a kid. Sure, it scared me back then, but now… It’s always there for me. I start talking to it like it's actually alive—

—And then he invades my dreams.

There, he's real—a surprisingly sexy, lanky, sad little clown man called Claus with a spring where his legs should be. But that doesn’t stop him from using that painted smile of his to bring me more pleasure than I’ve ever known.

Then he tells me he can join me in the real world—just one catch: he needs a human sacrifice.

…I'm seriously considering it, if it means I can bounce on more than just his coil.

This is a sentient object dark romance featuring a possessed Jack in the box, an incredibly unlucky FMC, bucket of violence, extremely jacked up sex scenes, manipulation, and a content warning list long enough you oughta check it out just in case.

My Review

Melody is having a very bad time. Her luck is bad, everything in her life is bad and then her grandma leaves her a creepy Jack In The Box that she hated as a kid. But then Claus invades her dreams and she realizes that Claus is the clown inside the Jack In The Box. He tells Melody that he's been trapped inside the box for many years and the curse can only be broken with a human sacrifice. But she has no plans to kill anyone until someone does something to her and she does. Once Claus is out of the box and has a 'mostly' human body, things take a very strange turn. 

Claus is not what he seems and Melody is 10 kinds of crazy. It was not the kind of dark romance that I was expecting nor was it the kind of paranormal romance that I usually read but it made me laugh at times and the insane craziness of the story kept me interested enough to keep reading. But bewarned, this story does have murder, violence, manipulating demons and graphic sex scenes. 

Sometimes reading something that turns out unexpected can be fun. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"Just making a quick run to the pharmacy."

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