Recipe: Low Carb Mini Chocolate Pudding Pie

 

I know you were expecting a Freebie Friday post but I didn't receive any freebies this week. So I thought I would share this delicious recipe for mini chocolate pudding pies that I made. 

You will need: 

Keebler Mini Graham Cracker Pie Crust

1box of Jell-O Sugar Free Pudding Mix

1 can of Sugar Free Reddi Whip

What To Do: 

Make the pudding according to the package directions. I made mine with 2% milk. Let chill in the refrigerator for an hour. 

Preheat oven to 350F, place 1 pie crust on a cookie sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Do not over bake. Remove from oven and let cool completely. 

When you're ready to assemble one, add about 1/2 cup of the pudding mixture to the crust and top with 2 TBSP of Reddi Whip. 

These crusts are ready to eat and you totally don't have to bake it for 5 minutes but I liked it a little crunchier. You can remove the crust from the tin before you assemble it if you like but it came out easy after I added the pudding also.

1 Mini Pudding Pie has 210 calories and 26 carbs. 

Would you eat this?

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

About 3 weeks ago my daughter, her ex and their son went hiking out at Red Rock when my grandson turned 10. Red Rock is only about a 30 minute drive from here in Las Vegas so it's not too far away to get out of the city. And in the Winter months it's nice for hiking and climbing. 

So I thought I would share a few pictures she took. While I like Mount Charleston better because of all the tree's and greenery, Red Rock has its own beauty and sometimes you even find some incredible spots. 

Like this one. There was this depression in the rock that had collected the rain water from a few days earlier and it just looked so cool. What a great find. 

Book Review: A New Orleans Threesome by Louisa Bacio

 

Book Description

Haunted by paranormal abilities she can't control and plagued by nightmares about a demon that seeks her soul, Lily Anima travels to New Orleans in search of salvation. She enlists the help of an unlikely couple: a vampire, Lawrence Justice, and a werewolf, Trevor Pack. The attraction is immediate and fierce.

There's only one problem.

Lily's a virgin. And whatever paranormal problem she's having is what has kept her that way. Every time she's tried to do the deed, something stops her.

Together, the trio encounters magic and unspeakable evil, and Trevor and Lawrence attempt to help Lily turn her powers into a gift rather than a curse. Ultimately, to get the demon off her back, Lily's men will have to show her all the wicked ways the three of them can come together.

Warning: Read at your own risk. This book is filled to the brim with steamy m/m sex, a virgin who wants in on the action, and a c*ckblocking demon.

My Review

Lily has some paranormal powers that she can't control so she seeks out Lawrence to help her try and get control. Lawrence and Trevor are lovers and live together so Lily meets Trevor first and he brings her home to meet Lawrence. Trevor is a wolf shifter and Lawrence is a vampire. They believe that Lily is a witch but there's something else going on as well because she's a virgin but not for lack of trying. Lily can't get her body to cooperate when she wants to do the deed though. 

Lily has been having horrible nightmares but doesn't think they mean much until the demon from her nightmares comes to kidnap her. There's more going on in her life than she's letting on and if she wants the help of Trevor and Lawrence, she's going to have to trust them and tell them everything. 

The pull between the three of them is intense and Trevor wants to add Lily as a third person to their relationship but until she can fully give her body to them, there's going to be a lot of sexual tension there which makes things a little more complicated. 

This is my first book from this author but I really enjoyed this story and am now looking forward to reading more. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Book Review: Munro by Kresley Cole

 

Book Description

TORMENTED IN UNIMAGINABLE WAYS

Coming off torture at the hands of his warlock captors, Munro MacRieve never expected to find his mate, or to lose her just as abruptly. Driven to desperation, the ruthless warrior uses his enemies’ own powers to reunite with her—in the distant past.

STOLEN FROM HER TIME

When a crazed werewolf crashes her wedding, Kereny “Ren” Codrina does what any cunning huntress would do: she captures him. Yet she finds herself softening toward the wounded beast—until he turns the tables and forces her into an incomprehensible future.

CAN A HUMAN AND AN IMMORTAL UNITE IN ORDER TO SURVIVE?

As danger mounts, Munro will do anything to make her undying, even sell his soul to an evil sorceress. But first he must convince his fiery mate that she belongs with him. If seduction means her survival, Munro will use every weapon in his arsenal to possess her—forever.

My Review

Munro is captured but he's an old, powerful werewolf (Lykae) so he thinks he can withstand any torture they throw at him until they time travel and find his destined mate and threaten to kill her if he doesn't give in to their demands. But he does what they want him to, he opens himself up to being made a puppet for them. When he does what they demand and his mate dies anyway, he's ready to give up. But instead he makes a plan to overcome what they've done to him, get his revenge and time travel to before they kidnapped his mate and save her. 

When Munro is able to escape, kill some of the people responsible and save his destined mate, he thinks he's made it through the hardest part. But he finds out that his mate, Ren, is a hunter that kills Lykae and Munro just happens to be a Lykae or werewolf. So Ren isn't thrilled to find out that she's his mate at all. But as the story unfolds and she realizes that he really was trying to save her life by kidnapping her and keeping her safe, she realizes also that not all Lykae are bad. 

I really liked the time travel part of this story and how her life in the past where she came from went on because the her that came to the future was a copy of herself so she got to find out what happened to her in the past. While the time travel storyline was interesting and I could totally understand it, it also made my head hurt at the same time because that could also be confusing. 

These two had a lot of drama to work through and Munro was kinda set in his ways and way of thinking. I'm glad that she was able to set him straight and let him know that he wasn't seeing things from her perspective at all and he understood and knew he needed to change for her. 

I love this series and am glad that it's still going strong. I always look forward to these books.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #358

 

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 go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 25 years that we'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 25 years here in a weekly blog post. 

The pipe right here is the sewage overflow. When the plumbing pipes in a building start to backup and get clogged, the sewage starts coming out of these pipes around the buildings. I called in a work order to let them know it was happening again, because this happens several times a year. They came out the next day and snaked the pipe. Then they came out again the day after that because it was still overflowing. Then again the day after that, they came out again. Three days of raw sewage has been leaking from this pipe and this pipe sits right underneath my bedroom window. 

Looking down at it from my bedroom window. It did finally get fixed but they just left the mess there to dry up and blow away per usual. 

---

Right on the walkway, near where the drug addicts hang out in my apartment complex were 2 needles, one had something in it. At least both were capped. I used a piece of trash to pick them up and throw them in the trash can. 

---

Thursday morning my daughter heard a bunch of yelling outside the bedroom window. So we went and looked and there was a huge fight going on in the courtyard right across the street. They were on the ground actually throwing punches at each other. When they got up, a woman had a broom and hit the tall guy with it. Then another man had a metal stick and hit the tall guy with that. The police showed up really fast and the tall guy walked right by the police officer as he was going to the apartment. 

I took this picture from my bedroom window as you can see I can see the courtyard from my window. The police officer was standing over there talking to some of the people that were involved. When my daughter and I saw the fighting there were at least 7 people involved but they all scattered before the cops got there. 

Then another police officer showed up. One cop went around the building where the people were pointing and I'm guessing telling the cops where the tall guy went. The woman who hit him with the broom handle had been yelling at him to give her back her stuff. Who knows what he took but she wanted it back bad enough to hit him for it. 

One cop left soon after and the other officer got paperwork out of his trunk for them to fill out but no one was arrested. Which I'm completely surprised about since two people assaulted tall guy with sticks. The police left a little while later. 

---

The high this week was 68F/20C

The low this week was 46F/7C

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

Favorite Song of the Week

 

No Resolve - What You Deserve

I found this song not too long ago but I really like the song. The music video is pretty sad though. 

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 won a $5 Amazon gift card from a blog contest on The Versatileer blog. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Smolder by Laurell K Hamilton

 

Book Description

Vampire hunter Anita Blake is no stranger to killing monsters. It’s part of her job as a Preternatural U.S. Marshal, after all. But even her experience isn’t enough to stop something that is bent on destroying everything—and everyone—she loves.

 

Anita Blake is engaged to Jean-Claude, the new vampire king of America. Humans think she’s gone over to the side of the monsters. The vampires fear that their new king has fallen under the spell of the most powerful necromancer in a thousand years.

 

In the midst of wedding preparations—including getting Edward, aka U.S. Marshal Ted Forrester, fitted as best man—Anita gets a call that the local police need her expertise at a brutal murder scene linked to a nationwide slaughter of vampires and humans, dubbed the Sunshine Murders.

 

But there is more than just a murderer to catch: an ancient evil has arrived in St. Louis to challenge Jean-Claude for his crown, his life, Anita, and all they hold dear. Even with Jean-Claude’s new powers as king and Anita’s necromancy, it isn’t enough; they must embrace their triumvirate or allow primeval darkness to spread across the country, possessing first the vampires and then the humans. Evil will triumph unless Jean-Claude and Anita can prove that love conquers all.

My Review

Anita and Jean-Claude are finally getting married...or are they?

Anita is making preparations to marry the new vampire King of America when a new, very old vampire comes to claim Jean-Claude's place as King. They find that this new nemesis is very powerful and have trouble fighting him when he first makes an appearance. It's only Richard's appearance back in their lives that seems to help strengthen their hold so they can best him. 

So not only does Anita need to worry about wedding plans, her family who hates vampires wanting to come to the ceremony, but now a new vampire threat, Richard coming back and Asher coming back with a new problem named Kane, as well. It was nice to see Richard and Asher back though. 

When Anita is called to a murder scene things start to go wrong because the government is working on a way to control vampires but it totally works the opposite way from what they wanted. Anita is mad, and rightly so. 

I was waiting for a storyline that I'm used to with lots of action and ended up with lots of therapy talk and talking about problems. I can kind of understand that since Asher and Richard are back and they needed to show Anita, Jean-Claude and the rest of the poly group that they have or are trying to work through their problems in order to come back to the group for good. But this felt more like a book that is setting up the next book so there aren't these emotional messes to deal with. I just hope the next book is high on action and has less talking about the emotional problems they have. 

Although they figured out who the big bad was in this book, they didn't take him down. They did figure out a way to fight him and are planning to do just that but it didn't happen in this book. This was more a setup for that to happen in the next book. This book dealt more with the jealousy, emotional baggage, and problems they have being a poly group with so many people in Anita's life. Some of the issues are being resolved but not all and Asher's big problem, Kane is still a big problem that he can't control. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with that. 

I will say that there are a lot of characters in this series and a lot of them are in this book so I would say not to start with this book if you want it to make sense. I would definitely start this series with the first book and work your way through since there seem to be new characters popping up each new book and old characters coming back from previous books. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

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

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

Today I have more overcast, cloudy, rainy skies for you to enjoy. 

During the Summer time this just doesn't happen too often so I have to enjoy it when we do have it. 

These were taken at 8am. It was nice outside and Falcor didn't mind that I wanted to go for multiple walks this day. If you're wondering about the big deserted parking lot. It's the Mariana's Mexican Market right net door to where I live. It was early in the morning so no one was there yet. 

Book Review: The Monster Alien by Ashlyn Hawkes

 

Book Description

I always thought my neighbor was a bit of a monster.

I had no idea how right I was.

When he gets into a fight with some of his friends, I can’t just stand by, though. I’m able to chase them off, but not before Zac is injured.

Injured enough that he can’t hide who he is anymore.

He’s not just a monster in my mind.

He’s a monster alien.

And maybe I don’t mind his being a monster after all…

My Review

Margo is tired of her neighbor Zac always being so rude to everyone so when he yells at the kids in his driveway, she's had enough and let's him know it. Later when some of his friends show up and he gets in a fight with them and is injured, he has no option but to let her help him, even though that means she'll see his true form. Zac is an alien who left his planet to live here on Earth after he had some difficulties back on his planet. 

After Margo gets over the shock of what he actually looks like and the fact that he's an alien, she helps patch him up. But they both have to worry that his alien friends might be back and they could hurt Margo this time. 

This was a fun, quick read about the alien next door. Zac came off as really gruff and antisocial at first but Margo seemed to change him as she got to know him. Once these two get to know the real people in each other, they realize that they like each other and I think that's exactly what Zac needed. 

This was a fun read. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #357

 

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 go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 25 years that we'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 25 years here in a weekly blog post. 

---

I watched as the manager from across the street told one of the drug addicts to stay off his property on Friday. I thought they were going to come to blows over it. They were screaming at each other but he did finally walk away. 

---

The police helicopter was hovering for about an hour over the street that is about a block away. I heard sirens but no police near my street. I looked on the Nextdoor app and a few people that live down the street said the police were there because a teenager was on his roof, wouldn't come down and was threatening to jump. They did get him down finally though. 

I was going to say it was a quiet week....and then this happened yesterday. 

The police helicopter was flying over my complex before I started getting pictures. Then I started seeing police on my street. They were at the end of the alley across the street and blocking it off.

Then another cop car showed up. 

Then there was a cop car directly across from my bedroom window and he sat in the street for a while.

My daughter and neighbor walked outside and saw that the police were actually across the street from the last building in my apartment complex.

They were going up and down the stairs to that building they are parked in front of with their guns drawn and their shields up. They were telling someone in one of the apartments over there to come out over the loud speaker. So it was a standoff situation. 

Then 3 motorcycle police officers parked at the end of the alley across the street. 

K9 officers were walking around with their K9 dogs. 

People started coming out of the apartment and they were put into handcuffs but there was someone still inside that wouldn't come out.

This person was put in handcuffs. The police were out there for hours and I thought it was over at one point. I was wrong. 

My daughter took a little video of all the police too. 

8 hours later....

More police show up, all of the surrounding streets are blocked off with police tape. And then SWAT shows up. That armored vehicle is the swat van. 

The alley across the street had a bunch of cops show up and one street over was also blocked off and an ambulance and fire truck was sitting there waiting.

Once the SWAT vehicle got here my daughter took another little video. 

The police had a drone up looking into the apartment and they told people down there that someone told my daughter that it was a hostage situation, the person fired a shot at police and they believe the hostage might not be alive. 

Here's a better video of SWAT getting ready to do something. This has been going on for quite a while though. So it's almost midnight as I'm updating this and this post is about to go live. The police and Swat are still out there. Swat hasn't made a move to enter the apartment yet and I don't think they will before this goes live. This standoff has been going on for 14 hours now. You would think that if they had a hostage that they would want to get in there and make sure that the person is okay. I know if I was a hostage I would want somebody to enter the apartment and come rescue me. Maybe it's because they don't think the hostage us alive? I don't know. It's bordering on ridiculous at this point. But if there are any updates after I wake up tomorrow, today now, I will update them in the comment section.

UPDATE:

The first comment down there from boots and braids found a new story about this. But the news hilariously said that the standoff only lasted 2 hours which is completely wrong because this went on for all day for at least 14 hours. The police are gone but the new story said that the man surrendered peacefully and it didn't say anything about a hostage so I'm guessing that there wasn't one or that they were fine. The police were all cleared out by the time I got up this morning.

The high this week was 75F/23C

The low this week was 41F/5C

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

Favorite Song of the Week

This song from Drag Me Out has been playing on my playlist for days. Let Me In is such a good song. I'm loving it. I hope you enjoy it as well. 

Freebie Friday/Product Review Healthy Snack Boxes

 

Daily Goodie Box now has a sister site called Healthy Snack Boxes and I was sent a free box. These boxes are 100% free, they don't even ask you for a credit card. 

Here's what I received in my box

Tobasco and cheddar popcorn

Sour Cream and Onion Vegie Puffs

Raspberry Fig Bar

Chasing Dreams crunchy tiny pops air popped ancient grains

Freeyumm banana maple cookie

Chocolate Brownie Z Bar

Whole Grain Belly Bears chocolate graham crackers

Perfection Snacks Avocado Ranch tortilla chips

Matcha Chai IQ Bar

I have to say that I liked everything except the Matcha Chair bar. But my daughter likes Matcha and she enjoyed the bar. I just don't like the taste of matcha so this wasn't for me. My favorite thing in the box by far was that raspberry fig bar though. That was great and I would definitely buy those. So tasty. 

The Belly Bear chocolate graham crackers were great too.

You wouldn't think the banana maple cookie would sound like a good combination but it was good. And it's a soft cookie which I like more than hard cookies. 

If you'd like to sign up and try to get yourself a free box of snacks you can do so on their Healthy Snack Boxes site or you can also find them on FB where they give away boxes everyday. 

These products were good and my daughter and I had a good time trying them all. 

Disclosure: I received a free box in exchange for an honest review but all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Recipe: Low Carb Salad

 

Since I started eating low carb, this salad to a similar salad has been a lunch staple for me. My latest A1C for my diabetes was 7.3 and that's down from 10.5 in August of 2022, so I'm very happy. My doctor is really happy too. My blood sugar numbers have gone from around 400 or around 140. I've also lost 18 lbs and I wasn't even trying to lose any weight but I'll take it. So here's what's in my salad. 

1/2 chicken breast fried in PAM cooking spray. 

1/4 of a head of lettuce. I use Iceburg but you can use whatever you like. 

2 heaping Tablepsoons of Black Beans

1 inch cube of cheddar cheese- shredded finely

2 Tablepspoons Light Ranch

1/2 Diced Avocado

Sometimes I add sliced mushrooms and a little bit of tomato. 

Calories for entire salad- 420

Carbs for entire salad 23

If salad isn't your thing, you just have to find foods that you can eat that are low carb. 

I also wanted to share these crackers with you. 

I found these crackers and love them. Plus I can have 17 crackers and it's only 22 carbs and 130 calories. I'm allowed 150 carbs per day so I try to spread the carbs out during the day. These crackers are so good. I'd love to know if anyone else has tried them. 

Favorite Picture of the Week

Falcor woke up early so I was able to get this sunrise picture at 6:30am. 

Book Review: Matched With A Jaguar by Eva Pierce

 

Book Description

Chloe Bennett isn’t interested in dating, but her close friends want to see her happy after a pretty bad breakup. One of her friends introduces her to Meet-A-Mate, a dating app for shifters. Chloe’s unsure at first, but as soon as she makes a match with one of them, she is completely captivated.

Javier Rodriguez likes to keep a low profile, but what else can you expect from a jaguar shifter? He’s content being on his own, but his inner jag is telling him it’s high time he finds his mate. When he matches with Chloe, he can’t wait to introduce her to his world. But will his big cat aloofness turn her away?

My Review

Chloe didn't know about a dating app to meet shifters until one of her friends told her about it. Because the shifters are looking for a long term relationship, and they want to find their mates Chloe thinks this might be a good way to start dating again after her bad break up with her ex. 

The first guy she's matched with is a Jaguar shifter named Javier. Neither one thinks that this is the one but they meet up anyway to see how things go. At first Javier isn't very talkative but quickly realizes that he likes her and he's not putting in as much effort as he should. So after a while they realize they really like each other. It was fun watching them realize they were meant for each other. 

This was a cute, quick novella. It was a complete story and a fun quick read. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

Goodreads

Happy Raturday!

 

Help me wish these little cuties a very happy 2nd birthday! I hope you enjoy the birthday pictures. 

Today's pictures are courtesy of martymousehouse.com

And yes, before you ask rat owners will throw birthdays for their rats. I know I did. LOL This is a picture of my rat, Lucky when he turned a year old. I made him a hat, a cake and Ken went and bought paper plates and birthday napkins. The cashier asked if we had a kid having a birthday and he told her no, his wife was throwing their pet rat a birthday party. She thought he was joking. Lucky enjoyed a few bites of cake as did the other 4 rats I had at the time. So before you ask, no he didn't eat that entire piece, that was just for the picture but he did sit there and eat a few rat sized bites. 

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 go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 25 years that we'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 25 years here in a weekly blog post. 

---

This past week I saw one of the homeless drug addicts with just his underwear on and he was bleeding all over the sidewalk where I walk my dog. I asked him if he was ok and he said he had a few infected spots and he was taking a knife and just cutting away at his skin. He had track marks all over him. All over his arms, legs...everywhere. It was after dark so I didn't see how bad it was until the next day when I noticed big puddles of blood all over the walkway. There were droplets of blood leading from the sidewalk all the way to drug dealers door too. They stopped right at his door. The rain we had all that day washed it all away. 

I feel bad for them, I do but I live here and I shouldn't have to be subjected to this type of this day in and day out. 

---

The police helicopter was flying over my apartment complex one day this week. I don't know what they were looking for since the police never showed up. They were flying in a big circle so it could have been for the street over too. 

---

Last Sunday night around 10pm I walked by drug dealers door and one of their dogs went nuts at the door. Barking, snarling and ran at the door so fast that he actually ran head first into the door trying to get at Falcor. They also have a small female dog, both dogs are smaller than Falcor. Well their two dogs had 8 puppies about 2 months ago and ever since the female dog had puppies the male dog has been really territorial. So what does drug dealers wife do right after we walk by? Her dumb azz opens the door and lets the male dog out offleash again and he ran over to Falcor, grabbed him by the back of the neck and bit him. Thankfully Falcor turned around and snapped at the dog and I was able to yell at him to go home. Falcor was not hurt, it didn't even break the skin. 

But it pissed me off so I took 10 minutes to walk him and calm down because I might have punched her right in the face had I seen her at that moment. On the way back I knocked on her door and one of the drug addicts answered. So I asked for Teresa (drug dealers wife) and told her what happened again. She looked at me and says, "Who let him out?" 
Me: "I don't know but you were home and he's your dog so it's your responsibility."

Her: "I'm sorry, it won't happen again."

Me: "That's what you said the last time. I would appreciate it if you didn't let him out offleash."
Druggie in the background: "This dog is an azzhole. He should be in a cage."
Teresa looked at her and told her to go sit down. lol 

"Teresa: "I don't remember you saying anything before."
Me: "I did, it's not my fault if you can't keep track of what's going on around you. But if I see your dog outside offleash again, I'm just going to bring him inside my apartment and call animal control for a stray dog. So if your dog comes up missing, you know why. I've asked you nicely twice now. You won't be getting another notice."

I walked away. 

Druggie in the background: "Oh, she's kind of a bitch." 
Yes, I suppose I am. I've never been confrontational before. I'm a quiet person and keep to myself but I'm really getting tired of all the crap taking place around here and it's made me kind of a bitch. Yep. I need a t-shirt with that saying on it. "Back off, apparently I'm kind of a bitch." lol 

A few days later the dogs were outside offleash again and as I walked by the druggie woman who heard the conversation and called me a bitch spots me walking by and runs outside to get the offleash dog and bring it inside. lol 

The high this week was 62F/15C

The low this week was 37F/2C

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