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.

So this week I wanted to show you how I cashed out a $100 Amazon gift card from Inbox Dollars. After cashing out the $100 gift card I still had $77.34 in my account that I could cash out. But I wanted to wait until I had another $100 that I could cash out an Amazon gift card for. 

I downloaded this game and finished the levels. They give you certain amounts of money for reaching the levels as you can see. You usually have 30 days to reach all the levels but they pay you for whatever levels you do reach in the time allotted. 

These are all the games I downloaded last month and was playing. Some of the games gave me 45 days to complete. I even have my daughter playing games and earning a little bit of pocket change now too. I just thought I would tell you about this in case you are already playing games on your phone. 

I also cashed out a survey points for a $5 Amazon gift card.

I also cashed out points from Pinecone Surveys for a $10 Amazon gift card.

Book Review: The Alpha's Catch by Reece Barden

 

Book Description

Sean's ready to turn his life upside down when the girl of his dreams lands in his arms, literally. After rescuing Sam from a devastating blaze, this stubborn shifter falls fast and hard. But when Sam bolts in the middle of the night, he's left alone in Grey Ridge, wishing he never let his guard down.

Sam has never relied on anyone. She's forced to lean upon a brawny stranger after a fire that nearly took her life, and while she enjoyed every minute, it can't turn into something real. Or can it?

When Sam is forced to return to Grey Ridge and accept Sean's help once more, she has a chance to repair the damage she's done. But will he ever trust her again?

And more importantly, should he?

This is a standalone novella linked to the Shifters of Grey Ridge series. It features handsome heroes, shifters of all kinds and lots of heat.

My Review

Sam is rescued from a building fire and Sean is the guy who catches her. They spend some time together and it's clear that Sam is having a really hard time with the PTSD/nightmares from the fire. so when she just ups and leaves one day and doesn't look back, it really messes Sean up mentally. He thought they really had something special. 

Months later Sam's friend knows she has to do something to help her friend because she's not eating, sleeping or living. She's just moving through life and still having nightmares. So she gets a hold of Sam's phone and calls Sean. He's not sure he was the right person to all since he thinks she made it clear she never looked back when she left but things are not always what they appear. So he comes to see how she is and what he finds makes him act and try to help her even though he's still mad that she just up and left him with out even a goodbye. 

Sam is in need of some serious help because she's not dealing with the trauma of the fire but seeing Sean again makes her feel bad for leaving him. Now he's back and she's not sure how to feel. These two had so many miscommunication problems that if they had just talked to one another and explained things, it probably would have stopped a lot of heartache on both their parts. Sam is human and Sean is a shifter but Sam doesn't know that for most of the book. 

Goodness, I loved these two. This storyline was so good. This series (even though I'm reading it totally out of order) is so good! I've definitely found a new favorite series to read. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Weird Things Around My Apartment

 

A while back my friend Anna, from Herding Cats & Burning Soup did a post about things around her house. I liked the idea so much I did my own post a while back. Then one of my blogger buddies Bytes From The 'Burbs, did her own post. I love these posts and you all seemed to like it as well so I thought I would do another one. Feel free to join in and do your own post.

So if you were to walk around my house there might be a few things that stand out as strange, nothing I'd classify as outlandish but maybe a bit weird. I never said I was normal...let's just get that out there, okay?  😛 😂

Skull mugs. They're not just for Halloween. 

It's been a while since I've done one of these posts. If you'd like to see the other two posts I did about things around my apartment, I'll post links to them below. 

Weird Things Around My Apartment

Things Around My Apartment- Inherited and Gifts

LED light tree. I use it as my night light. It changes into a bunch of different colors.

Wiccan wall art and shelves. I consider myself to be a Wiccan Agnostic. My daughter is also Wiccan. I'm not religious but I still worship nature. I don't think you have to pick one path and stick to it. Choose what you believe from many paths and believe what feels right to you. My daughter made the pentacle wall hangings. 

Wiccan shelf has a statue of Baphomet (because I find this diety interesting and the statues fun to look at.) Various small bottle with dead bugs. They were dead when we found them. A real cat skull that my daughter found, cleaned and bleached for the shelf and little rocks, geodes ect. 

Baphomet statue.

Baby Baphomet statue because he's flippin' adorable. 

A cat skull. The cat was already dead when my daughter found it. 

Hand statues symbolize strength, power and protection. 

Dead spider in a jar. My daughter likes to keep dead bugs she finds. She has quite a few.

And yes I know the shelf is dusty. Don't come for me. lol We just had a windy day and I swear it's impossible to keep anything dusted completely here in Las Vegas. I could dust twice and day and things would still be dusty.

And can you even call yourself a Nevadan if you don't have a small souvenir jar of gold flakes from a gift shop?

One last thing which I thought was fun was a pair of demon horns that my daughter bought because she thought they were cute and I did too, just because.

Here I am wearing the demon horns and using a black makeup TIKTOK filter just to make it a little more spooky. The TikTok filter made me look way older though. Lol

Here's one using a Snapchat makeup filter. You have to have a little fun now and then. 

So there you have it. Some interesting or weird things you would find around my apartment 

Book Review: Big Burly Foreman by Cassi Hart

 

Book Description

Ashley

For the past two years, I’ve been drawn to the mysterious older cowboy working my father’s ranch. Something about his strong body and stoic façade draws me in. I’ve done everything I can think of it get his attention with no luck. I want him, but he doesn’t see me. That is, until my father sets me up with the son of his new friend. Suddenly, my cowboy has decided to claim me, and he’ll stop at nothing until everyone knows I’m his.

Logan

I never intended to become a cowboy, but after my military career was unexpectedly cut short, here I am. I enjoy working with my hands and body every day. I enjoy knowing the boss’s daughter is watching me even more. Ashley may be her rich daddy’s princess, but after two years of keeping my distance, I’m ready to make her my queen. That kid her father wants her to marry doesn’t stand a chance at coming between me and what’s mine.

My Review

Ashley is an heiress and she and Logan have feelings for each other but neither know it. He's watched her as she's watched him but they have never acted on their feelings at all. When her parents set her up with someone in an arranged marriage, he can't let her go because he doesn't like the guy and he wants her for himself. So he let's his feelings be know once and for all. He doesn't give her time to come to grips with the reality that he's not going to let her marry this other guy before they get caught together by her family and he let's a big secret slip that shocks her family. 

This was a pretty quick read and while Ashley and Logan always liked each other they went from not acting on it to a fully involved couple very quickly. Nothing like an arranged marriage to put a spark under a cowboy's hat and spark him into finally acting on his feelings. I liked the storyline but Logan was a bit pushy and brusk for my liking. Why did it take so long for him to tell her how he felt? But things seemed to work out in the end. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #325

 

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 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

You might remember a few weeks ago I told you that my apartment complex installed 2 of the electric car charging stations in the alley. Well this week I noticed someone had completely cut the hose off of one of them. I circled in red where it was cut.

This is the second one and you can see there's supposed to be a long hose attached to it. People have been uncoiling the hose and leaving it on the ground with this one. I wonder if they will fix the one with the cut hose? I knew this was a bad idea.

 

This was the weather forecast for this week. So besides it being incredibly hot this week, it's been pretty quiet. I wonder if we'll actually make it to 118F/47C today like the forecast is showing?

On the 4th of July, after the fireworks around 1AM, the police helicopter was flying around my street. The police never showed up though,

I watched some fireworks on the 4th from my cameras. It was too darn hot to be outside. lol There were a lot of illegal fireworks going off around here. I saw on the news that there were 193 outside fires caused by illegal fireworks and 18 building fires caused by the illegal fireworks. I'm actually surprised I didn't see any fires around here.

The high this week was 116F/46C

The low this week was 83F/28C

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

 

Saul- More Of The Same

I just found this band and this was he first song I listened to and really liked it. His voice is nice. I hope you enjoy. 

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.

What I received:

I received a free box of dog goodies from Puppywise. Falcor loved the treats and food. The stickers are cute. 

I received a free bag of Ona Pecan Maple cookies from Try Products. Oh, those are good. 

I received a free Salonpas pain relief patch. 

I also received a sample of Keys moisturizer. 

Falcor loved getting an entire box of goodies just for him. He's been snacking on the Greenies snacks and loves them. He already eats Pedigree dog food so I knew he would like that and he was raised on Nutro dog food before I got him so I knew he could eat that and not get an upset stomach. He enjoyed his food and snacks. 

Those Ona cookies are so good. If you like pecan and maple then you will love these. I won a bag of them on Twitter from Try Products. 

I've used the Salonpas pain patches before and they do help for muscle pain which I used this one on my back when I had a muscle cramp and the muscle became sore. It did help for that. 

The Keys moisturizer was a good facial moisturizer. I would try that again. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: Pact With the Pack by A.J. Mullican

 

Book Description

Cherry Duvall's had a rough week.

After escaping an abusive, controlling ex with her jugular barely intact, Cherry finds out Eric's skipped bail—and he's out for her blood. Cherry jumps on her motorcycle, and it's through the woods to grandmother's house she goes in an attempt to get out of town while the getting's good.

Too bad Eric beat her there. Cherry's too late to save her granny, and things get hairy when Eric threatens her with his knife.

Things get even hairier when five larger-than-life wolves appear in her granny's cabin to battle Cherry's attacker.

Dive into a world of sexy shifters and pack dynamics in this steamy reverse harem romp!

My Review

Cherry is trying to stay away from her ex who tried not too long ago to kill her but when he finds her again, a pack of wolves stop him but not before she is hurt. The wolves turn out to be wolf shifters that save her and deal with her ex. They take her back to their house and heal her but she thinks she's dreaming. Once she's awake, she has a lot of questions and when they tell her who and what they are, she has a hard time believing it at first. 

Once that's out of the way though, she starts to get to know the five shifters and likes all of them. When they find out that her ex's brother is looking for her to make her pay for his brother's death, the guys know they can't let her leave yet because she's in danger. The ex's brother belongs to a biker gang so it's more than just the brother out looking for her. When he finds her, the danger amps way up but there's a great twist that just slides right in there that you never see coming at all. 

This is a why choose romance, meaning she is involved with all five men. They make it work after some drama. This was a fun story. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Recipe: Chicken Thigh Tray-bake

 

I make a lot of low carb meals in the oven. I especially like doing it this way because you just through everything on a baking tray, add some no calorie cooking spray, spices and throw it in the oven. You can do a lot of different types of meat or fish and different vegetables and it always comes out good. I eat vegetable heavy since I cut things like pasta, rice and potatoes out of my diet for the most part. So that's why I made several different types of vegetables with the chicken.

What to do: 

Add one chicken thigh per person to a baking tray. Add 3 carrots, 3 celery stalks, 1 package of sliced mushrooms and one package of cherry tomatoes to the tray. Spray all the vegetables with no calorie cooking spray and add whatever spices you like to the chicken and vegetables. Bake at 350F for 75 minutes or until everything is cooked the way you like it. 

I leave the skin on the chicken while cooking so the thighs don't dry out and just toss it once it's cooked. I've been trying to eat low calorie as well as low carb for the last couple of months. We'll see how that goes. For those that like the skin, feel free to keep it and eat it. 

Would you eat this?

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. 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.

Jim and Dianne

When I was a kid and my parents were still married there was a couple who lived next door named, Jim and Dianne. Dianne was a good friend to my mom and she would come over all the time when my dad was at work and Jim was at work. My dad was a dog and I knew he had affairs with many of the women in our area, he even had an affair with his psychiatrist, but that's a story for another time. I found out after Jim and Dianne moved away that my dad had an affair with Dianne and that's why they moved away. 

Years later (Like 5 years) after my parents had divorced, my mom ran into Jim and she started dating him. He was one of her nicer boyfriends. He was nice to my brother and I and he was nice to my mom. Jim had no job though and no money but he said he was going to get us crab and steak for dinner one night. So we all piled into my mom's car and went to the store. Jim had on a couple of shirts and his jacket. He told my mom to get a few things like she normally would and he would meet her out in the car. 

Once we got out to the car, Jim had smuggled a few packs of crab legs and several steaks under his shirts and jacket. I don't know how he did it but his entire torso was scraped up from the crab legs but he was so proud of himself. My mom didn't have much money so she didn't say a thing to him about how he got the food. We ate good that night. 

Jim didn't stay around for very long and my mom moved on to a different guy. I wish they had stayed together for a little while longer since he was one of the nicer guys she dated. 

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

Happy Raturday!

 

"Anytime is a good time for pamcakes"

"Corm is good too. I'm looking at you, looking at me eating some corm."

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

Apartment Life #324

 

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 25 years here in a weekly blog post.  

Monday afternoon I was out with Falcor,  I watched a jeep with 4 guys in it pull up to a neighbor's car,  get the door open and ransack it as the alarm was going off. They were all wearing dark hoodies in 110 weather, so I knew something weird was up. They took off soon after within a few seconds so it happened fast. I knocked on the neighbors door to let him know, thankfully they didn't wreck his car or steal it.

He decided not to call the police. He said he didn't want the hassle. They didn't steal anything, just broke the back window that he said he's just going to replace.

----

I saw this lady outside on one of the hot days. She was working on her car with two little kids inside the car and no AC running. So I was nice and went out there after 30 minutes and brought her 3 bottle of water. She took the water and then yelled at me to, "Next time mind my business".  

So I went back inside and left her to it. She was out there for another 20 minutes before she got the car started. No good deed goes unpunished I guess. I've never seen her before so I don't think she lives around here.

---

At 1AM Wednesday night I was woke up by this guy standing right outside my window yelling and whistling at someone down the street. 

He kept going out in the street and whistling really loud and then yelling. 

He would yell at someone, look at his phone, turn around look at my window I guess to see if I was looking out and then start yelling again. I took these pictures with my video camera though.

Finally another guy walks up and they stood there arguing but finally picked up their groceries they had on the ground and started to walk off.  They were yelling at each other the entire time they were walking down the sidewalk away from me. 

The high this week was 110F/43C

The low this week was 80F/26C

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

 

MARKO HIETALA - Left On Mars (feat. Tarja Turunen)

Marko and Tarja used to be together in Nightwish but years ago Tarja left Nightwish and I was so sad because I love her voice. So when I saw Marko and Tarja were singing together in this song I gave it a listen and I'm so glad I did. I've missed hearing their voices together. Such a good song. 

Book Review: The Alpha's Saviour by Reece Barden

 

Book Description

She saved his life. He's never going to let her go...

Hayley's on the run from a stalker who's determined to make her pay. When she saves the life of the local alpha, exposing her new location in the process, Cooper decides he has to make her his.

His to possess, his to love, his to protect.

He's waited a long time to find his mate. He's not going to let her go.

She risked her cover and her life to save him. He's willing to do anything to keep her safe.

Will Hayley be able to accept this whole new world of wolf shifters, packs and fated mates that she never knew existed, or will her past catch up to her and ruin it all?

This is book 1 in the hot and steamy paranormal werewolf romance series, the Shifters of Grey Ridge.

Read this if you love wolf shifters, insta love, fated mates, he falls first, protective dominant heroes and a female lead who can take care of herself.

Characters are in their twenties and thirties. Happily ever after, no bullying and no cheating.

My Review

Hayley is on the run from her ex who is violent. She told the Sheriff about her past just in case he finds her. But no one else knows and she's trying to make a new life for herself. Things change drastically for her when she witnesses a young boy about to get hit by a vehicle but at the last minute Cooper runs out to save the boy, getting struck by the vehicle and landing face down in the water. Hayley sees where he falls and pulls him out of the water and performs CPR on him, saving his life. He was badly hurt and his injuries would have killed him if he was human but lucky for him he's a wolf shifter with increased healing. He wants to go to Hayley right away because he knows she's his mate but he wouldn't be able to explain away how he is healed already. So he waits a few weeks while his family gets to know her better. 

As soon as he makes an appearance in person, Hayley finds herself completely attracted to Cooper. He wants to repay her for saving his life so he comes up with a ruse to help her the with remodeling on the house she bought. This way he can spend time with her and let her get to know him as a human would. 

But because they both have some serious secrets, it causes a lot of drama between them as well as a lot of misunderstandings. But neither one of them is willing to give up completely in making this relationship work. Things really get exciting when the danger comes right to her door and some secrets are revealed. I really liked Hayley, she is a lot stronger than Cooper was giving her credit for. But Cooper was such a delightful hero. I just loved him. 

This book was everything I could have asked for in a shifter romance. It had everything I love and then some.

  I totally have a bad habit of reading books out of order and I did that with this series. I read The Alpha's Inferno by Reece Barden a while back which is the first book in this series and you can find my review of that book here.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Book Review: Paax: Warlord Brides (Warriors of Sangrin Book 1) by Nancey Cummings and Starr Huntress

 

Book Description

Paax never wanted to be matched to a mate.

The situation in his clan was dangerous for a hardened warrior, let alone a soft Human female without fangs or claws to defend herself. Sending her back to Earth was the only way to keep her safe. However, the moment the curvaceous woman stepped off the transporter, his tattoo burned with a passionate intensity he’d never experienced before. Paax knew he would do anything to protect her, to claim her, even challenge the clan’s violent Warlord.

No force in the universe would take his mate from him.

Matched to an alien warrior in the Draft, Mercy swore she’d do whatever it took to get out of the marriage contract. She liked her life on Earth and her independence. No one would take it away, not even the ridiculously hot warrior who demanded she call him husband.

Why is being claimed by the horned muscular alien the only thing she can think about?

She didn’t want to stay, did she?

My Review

After the Suhlik aliens invaded Earth and killed people, Paax's people came and offered to keep Earth safe from the Suhlik in exchange for human brides. Women are genetically tested to see if they match one of the warriors and if they find a match, they are taken to their new home on an alien world. They don't have a say in this at all because there's a bride draft and most women are tested and sent away unless you are exempt like Mercy was for a while because she was taking care of her sick mother. But once her match is found, she is taken away from her home and away from her sick mother. 

Paax is a skilled doctor and made a serum that turned his twin brother into a bad person. His brother is unstable and also their warlord/ruler. Some of his people want Paax to fight him for control of their people but he doesn't think he's up to it. When Mercy arrives, he's instantly attracted to her but because his brother is throwing danger at both of them, they have to get to know one another really fast. So their romance happens really fast but they are attracted to each other right away. Maybe because they are a match genetically? I'm not sure. Paax is such a wonderful mate and guy though so I can understand falling for him to easily and fast. 

This was such a good alien romance. The danger, romance and action made this a quick read.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

Falcor has always liked to be under the blankets when he sleeps. Most of the time he'll hide his head under the blankets too. Must be the Chihuahua side of him. lol 

This is the area I take Falcor during the day when he needs to go out in the Summer. It's shaded because of all the palm trees and it's right next to my building so we don't walk too far in this heat. 

This Oleander bush is right next to the area I take Falcor. It was full of blooming Oleander flowers.