What's In Your Cupboards?

 

 A while back my blogger friend Debra She Who Seeks did a blog post called, What's In Your Cupboards? 

I thought it was a cute idea and I told her I was stealing her idea. Ha! Sorry Debra. lol 

I have a ton of funny coffee mugs and cups in my cupboards so I thought I would share a few of them. If you want to share what's in your cupboards in a blog post too, I'm sure Debra and I would love that. 

Let's start out with this cute kitty face coffee mug. It has a little crack in it but still works just fine.

I got this for my daughter because she's been playing a lot of Call of Duty. 

It says, "I'm a Mom what's your super power?"

My brother sent me this for my birthday one year. LOL He knows me so well. 

Is this a statement or am I trying to convince myself that I'm fine? Maybe both. lol 

It's a white mug with a face on it. The opening at the bottom is supposed to be for cookies. lol 

This looks like a regular coffee cup, right?

But when you finish your drink, boom! Skull. 

More skulls. 

And today I'll leave you with my Falcor mug. I made a mug that has 3 pictures of Falcor. 

He will toss raw potatoes around like a ball if he finds one. 

Look at that cute face! 

Book Review: Angel of Darkness by Cynthia Eden

 

Book Description

Angels of death do not feel. They do not need. They do not lust. They do not love. They carry out their jobs. They take souls.

Or at least…that is what they are supposed to do, until Keenan, a powerful angel of death, refuses to take his latest charge on a blood-soaked New Orleans night. He should have touched Nicole St. James, a sweet schoolteacher slated to die, but instead…he took the vampire attacking her. With one touch, Keenan changed fate, and he fell from heaven.

When an angel falls, all hell breaks loose.

Keenan’s wings burned away in the fall. Without his wings, he’s hit with every single human emotion—and need. And his entire focus is on the woman who cost him everything. He hunts Nicole, tracks her, but is stunned to see that the human he knew before is long gone. Nicole changed on that dark night, too. She’s got some new and dangerous accessories—fangs and claws and definite bite because she’s a vampire.

Heaven and hell are after them.

Nicole and Keenan are being hunted. Demons and angels are both closing in. If Nicole and Keenan are to survive, they’ll have to trust each other completely. A vampire and a Fallen aren’t supposed to bond, and they sure aren’t supposed to become mates, but some desires just can’t be contained. Keenan has been tied to Nicole from the moment he first saw her. Human, vampire—doesn’t matter to him. Nicole is his, and he will wreck the world to keep her safe.

He fell for her. She will belong only to him.

My Review: 

Keenan is angel of death, he is waiting for Nicole St. James to be attacked and die so he can touch her and bring her over to the afterlife. Nicole fought very hard to stay alive and Keenan for some reason couldn't bring himself to touch her and free her soul. She hurts the vampire when she slashes him with some glass but that only made him madder. Instead of touching her so she can die when she's attacked by a vampire, Keenan does the unthinkable and touches the vampire instead, letting Nicole live. But what he did has terrible consequences for him because there are no second chances for angels, if they don't do what they're supposed to, they are punished and sent to Earth as a fallen angel. No trial, no hearing, no second chances.

Months later when Keenan finally finds Nicole, she's not the same woman he left to live. She had been good, trying to be a good person all the time. Now though she's a seductress, sinful...a vampire. When she slashed the vampire who turned her, some of his vampire blood got into her wounds and turned her. She still tries to be good and not kill anyone but hunters are still after her. Keenan is surprised to find she's a vampire. But that doesn't stop him from feeling things he shouldn't be feeling, wanting her like no angel should want a human. 

As an angel he didn't have feelings. He just did his job, did what he was told but now with all of these human emotions bombarding him, he's in trouble with Nicole because she's a vampire. Now Keenan has to try and keep her safe not only from hunters but The Angel of Death himself, Azrael who sent Keenan to Earth and burned his wings off in the process. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

*Click on the pictures to enlarge them.*

One day this week it got really cloudy. I took all of these pictures at the same time I just pointed the camera in different directions around me. This picture reminded me of a painting. 

Then this way there was some blue skies and grey clouds.

And more blue skies as all the grey clouds moved in the direction of the first picture. 

Book Review: Indebted To The Vampires by Erin Bedford

 

Book Description

A broken vase isn’t all this maid owes her masters…

Piper is desperate for a job, but when the temp agency assigns her to be a maid for a bunch of entitled rich men, she isn’t sure the long hours and meager pay are worth it.

But a priceless, broken vase takes away any other option, and Piper suddenly finds herself far more indebted to her new employers than she ever thought possible.

Now, Piper comes to find that her clumsiness is the least of her troubles. Her mysterious and dangerously tempting employers have a secret. One that they are willing to kill to keep. She already owes them her time and her pay…

But will she owe them her life?

My Review

Piper takes a job as a maid at a large estate with five wealthy men because she's in desperate need of money and has no other choice. But it becomes clear to her that weird things are going on at this place because the men are referred to as, "Master" by some of the other servants on the property and the aftermath of the wild parties are so extreme she's not sure she wants to know more. 

But the men there are flirting with her and even though she feels attracted to them, she's sure something strange is going on with them and that holds her back. It's a good thing too because they sure do have a big secret, a secret they are willing to kill to keep. 

Piper keeps the guys at an arms distance romantically because while she's more attracted to one than the others, she's still attracted to all of them eventually. This is definitely a reverse harem romance meaning all five guys want Piper which makes for an interesting romance. 

The sexual tension, slow burn romances, and great twists made this a very enjoyable vampire romance to read. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

*For those that don't get it, rabbit is probably a typo and should have been rabbi, because that's how the joke usually starts. A pastor, rabbi and priest walk into a bar...* lol It took me a minute to get it too.

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

Apartment Life #368

 

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.  

Monday morning around 6:30AM a guy staying with the guy who lives 4 doors away started yelling, picked up a chair, said "F*ck you" and threw it through the window of the apartment of the guy he was staying with. The cops came, arrested him and made him go to the ER. His roommate said someone gave him drugs 3 days ago and he's been acting crazy. His friend was trying to calm him down before the police got here.

The broken living room window.

He had been acting crazy for the past few days. I kept hearing him yelling randomly for a few days. 4 cop cars showed up to get the guy in handcuffs. And even when they had him in handcuffs he was yelling and acting crazy.

He was handcuffed, loaded on a stretcher and put into the ambulance on his way to the ER. 

---

On Wednesday that same guy was out of Jail/ER and was back. He was loud, acting crazy, slamming the door, threatening to beat all their butts if they didn't shut up ect. The police came again but by this time the people who live there were all inside the apartment with the door shut and were being quiet, the guy who had been shouting was elsewhere. 

So the police left. If the police had come an hour earlier they would have seen him acting crazy and being loud.  

Later that evening around dinner time that same day the police came again when the guy came back and was yelling at his friends who live in that apartment 4 doors away from mine. 

The dude was arrested again! But this time his friends who live in that apartment pressed charges and wrote statements out for the police. His friends kept yelling at him to leave and he refused so they had no choice but to call the police and have them remove him. 

His friends who live in that apartment told my daughter that he was recently diagnosed with bi-polar schizophrenia and that they asked the psychiatric hospital to keep him the other day but they let him out the same night he threw the chair through their window. 

----

 On Tuesday I watched the guy on the left in blue on the bicycle ride up to the 4 homeless people who are behind the white car and sell them what I figure is drugs. I've seen bicycle guy sell stuff to people in cars that pull up, get something from him and take off. 

After bicycle dude was gone, the 4 homeless people sat in the grass across the street, pulled out their crack/meth pipes and did their drugs. Right there out in the open without a care in the world as to who saw them doing it. The homeless people who were over there was married guy (Jeff)- his girlfriend cordless drill woman, long haired guy, Jessica and another guy I don't know. I've talked about Married  guy, cordless drill woman and long haired guy before a few times like in this post. Jeff used to live across from me until he had a fire in his apartment. I called Jeff married guy because he was cheating on his wife with cordless drill woman years ago when he and his wife were still together. The girlfriend used a cordless drill to get into the maintenance shop in my complex so they could have some sexy alone time together years ago, hence the nickname I gave her. lol 

Long haired guy is the guy that the guy drug dealer tried to kill by shooting him a few years ago. Thankfully drug dealer was evicted a while back. So as you see all of these homeless people have been around for years and are well known.

---

I got a picture of the Fire Department ambulance as they drove by on their way to the alley across the street.

The Fire Department's fire truck drove by on their way to the alley across the street just a moment later. I couldn't see what happened when they were in the alley. 

---

Tuesday morning I noticed one of the flags that maintenance installed 2 years ago that I told you about in this post, had been busted and thrown on the ground. This is the second flag that someone has broken. The flags were installed to try and prettify the grounds I guess. I don't know who it is that keeps destroying them. 

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The high this week was 95F/35C

The low this week was 59F/15C

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. 

Baked Chicken Thighs with Lentils and Sauteed Vegetables

What You Need: 

2 Chicken Thighs

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Salt and Pepper

McCormick Roasted Garlic and Herb seasoning

McCormick Chipotle and Roasted Garlic seasoning

McCormick Montreal Chicken seasoning

1/2 Cup uncooked Lentils

1/2 tsp. Chicken Bullion powder

1 Carrot- sliced

1 Cup Broccoli florets

1 Cup Fresh spinach- chopped

10 Mushrooms- sliced

6 stalks of asparagus

No Calorie cooking spray

What To Do: 

Add chicken thighs to a baking dish and sprinkle whatever seasonings you like to them. I wrote what seasonings I added above. Cook uncovered in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour.

Rinse the lentils under cold water. Add to a pot and add 1 cup of water. Add chicken bouillon powder and bring to a boil. Then turn temperature down to medium heat and cook uncovered for 20-30 minutes until done. Set aside. You can add a little salt to them at this point if you want to. 

Spray a non stick pan with some cooking spray. Add vegetables, except for the spinach and saute over medium heat for 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add spinach and saute for 2 minutes until spinach is wilted. I added the same seasonings to the vegetables that I put on the chicken. I didn't put the amounts since I just sprinkle some on. 

I put 1/2 Cup of cooked lentils on my plate and put some vegetables on top of them. I mixed it together to eat it. I like lentils mixed with vegetables but you don't have to do that. 

This dish has 350 Calories per serving and 25 carbs. 

Would you eat this?

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: 

A sample of La Roche Posay Vitamin C serum.

A sample of OGX shampoo and conditioner. 

Both were fine. I didn't care for the scent of the shampoo and conditioner but it works fine. Vitamin C serum made my face feel soft but that's about it. 

Did you receive any samples or freebies this week?

And because we had 3 days of rain this week and I took a few sky shots, I thought I would share those too. Cloudy days always make me happy. 

I was standing across the street from my apartment complex.

This big cloud on Saturday produced a little bit of rain. I thought we would get a lot from it. 

I decided to walk to Mariana's Market to do some shopping on Sunday. I was in my alley here and took this picture.That fenced in place is where Cal Ranch keeps their big items locked in the fenced in area.

You can see how close I live to the Cal Ranch right next door. Only the alley wall separates us.There were some big clouds this day.

Once I got out into the parking lot for Mariana's which is right next door to Cal Ranch I took a couple of pictures of the clouds over the mountains since it was raining over the mountains. We got a bit of rain a few minutes later. Mariana's is just across the parking lot. It's pretty convenient. 

More sky pictures while I walked across the parking lot.

On my way home after shopping the clouds were covering the mountains and we started getting more rain. Mariana's is the big building on the right of the picture.

Monday afternoon. More clouds and rain. It was a lot cooler at least. 

Monday morning it was raining over the mountains. And we got rain on and off that day and Tuesday.

I hope you enjoyed the clouds as much as I did. 

Book Review: Holidays With Hades by Brenda Trim

 

Book Description

Popcorn strands, holly berries, and twinkly lights. Add a little magic and the holiday season will be perfect, right?

'Tis the season and I'm setting the stage. But even with all the trimmings, I know better than to think everything will run smoothly.

I've promised an invitation to Fate and it's never a good idea to keep such a powerful being waiting, but my festive frenzy keeps getting interrupted.

Removing curses and humoring carolers are the last things I should be doing when I've also just learned that I have to make room at the Yule Dinner table.

For whom? Oh, just Hades, God of the freaking Underworld and father of the man in my bed.

I didn't have time for the normal chaos in my life, but this is a new extreme. It's impossible to make a good impression when I barely remember my name.

My power is hours away from turning me into a vegetable, my house is a mess, and suddenly my ex-husband has some demands of his own.

Not today, Satan.

Nothing will ruin these holidays for me and my family.

My Review

Phoebe and Aidoneus are dating. She's human but a witch and he's the son of Hades. Makes for an interesting family get together especially when someone comes to Phoebe for help with a curse and the curse gets transferred to her. Now instead of getting her house ready for Hades visit, she can barely remember who she or her family is. 

With the help of Aidoneus and his father, Hades they get to the bottom of who is responsible for the curse and how to get rid of it but that revelation comes with some sad knowledge because there's nothing worse than getting stabbed in the back by someone you thought was a friend.

With all this going on the anxiety of having Hades visit was put on the back burner until he just shows up and they have to deal with him and his nasty attitude about his sons love interest. But while everyone else is scared of angering Hades, Phoebe isn't and let's him know it. Hades actually likes her attitude which is one reason he decides to help her, much to everyone's surprise. 

This was a fun book and I liked Phoebe and her family. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week And Falcor Turns 11 Years Old Tomorrow

 

This is what the mountains to the West of me look like on a clear day.

And when we had a bunch of clouds one day, I took this picture back in March. This is what the same mountains look like covered in clouds. They got a bit of snow that day. 

I thought I would show some nice things I saw in my neighborhood this week. The apartment complex down the street from mine planted a couple of Birds of Paradise plants. This one is blooming.

Our Oleander bushes are big and blooming. I figured I should get a picture of it before maintenance comes by and hacks it to hell and back and all the flowers are gone. 

Monday morning the clouds looked like a painting. I didn't use any filters or enhance this picture in any way. This is just how the clouds looked that day.

This is also from Monday morning at the same time but I pointed my camera in a different direction.

Same time that day. The clouds just looked very fun to me. Later on that day the clouds all disappeared but they were nice while they lasted. 

It rained for 3 days this week so some of the sunset's were really cloudy and nice.

Happy birthday to my little boy who turns 11 years old tomorrow.

My little 12 lb dog who still has all the energy of a puppy. lol