Apartment Life #362

 

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.

  

The house that had the fire a few months ago in this post had the police at it this week. The homeless people are still breaking into this house and squatting there. The police show up (Probably when the neighbors call) and they make them leave. They should be arrested but aren't. Then the homeless break back in later. 

One of the pipes around my complex overflowed again this week. Raw sewage was leaking all over the ground until maintenance came and snaked the drain to clear it. But they left the mess on the ground to dry up like they always do. The health department has been called several times before and they have gotten a fine before. They pay the fine. They don't care.

---

On Tuesday the police showed up twice. This was the second time. The officer went across the street both times to an apartment upstairs. 

The police helicopter was up for a few minutes and there were police in the back alley behind this complex. They were walking around all over the place and I think they were looking for someone but they left without arresting anyone. 

---

The tree trimmers were on my street this week. These two trees had been big and full and they demolished them! 

They trimmed the palm tree's on my side of the street too.

But when they were done with the two trees across the street, they were bare. They had been so full of leaves and branches and now nothing. They usually trim these trees each year but this year they decided to wreck them! It looks terrible. 

---

BB Gun dude ( Johnathan) is moving out next month but in the meantime he's been having loud parties. 

 Wednesday night was loud until after midnight. At one point I thought they were going to burn the place down with their bbq. The fireball was twice as big as this picture that I caught right after it happened. Did they throw gasoline on the bbq? lol

Everything is so dry in my courtyard, a fire could have happened so easily.

The high this week was 90F/32C

The low this week was 52F/11C

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

Saturday Vittles

 

Refried Beans, Avocado and Pico on a Low Carb Tortilla

My Daughter and I are trying to eat more healthy so I thought I would share some pictures on Saturday's of what we've made. Most pictures are from my daughter since she takes good food pics. lol

When the price of eggs was crazy high a while back I decided to try and find other things to eat for breakfast and this was one of the things I tried that I really liked. 

You will need: 

Carb Counter Tortillas

Fat Free Refried Beans

Queso Fresco Cheese

Homemade Pico De Gallo

Avocado

Heat up 1/4 cup of refried beans. Spread that on 2 of the Carb Counter flour tortillas and top with 3 slices of avocado on each tortilla. Add a little homemade Pico De Gallo and lastly cut a 1" cube of the Queso Fresco cheese and crumble that on top of each tortilla. 

 Pico De Gallo Recipe

6 Large tomatoes- diced small

1 Yellow onion- diced small

One bunch of cilantro diced small (about 1 cup)

Juice from 2 lemons

Salt to taste

 Mix all ingredients together and let sit overnight in container in the fridge. You can eat it right after it's been made but for more flavorful Pico, make 2 days ahead of time and let it sit in an air tight container in the refrigerator.

For two of these it is 270 calories and 26 carbs. 

A Few Family Pictures

 

My nephew, his girlfriend and their 3 kids came over while my brother was in town. I hadn't seen my nephew for 20 years (it's complicated) and I met my great nieces and newborn great nephew for the first time.

This is my brother and I. And if you noticed I lost some weight since the last time I posted a picture of myself...yes, I've lost 80 lbs so far. I still have a ways to go though. 

Me and my sister in law. She's holding my great nephew. 

My nephew and grandson talking video games.

My brother came with me and Falcor for a walk so he could shine his flashlight down one of the manhole covers down to the tunnels. He said it's about 25 feet down to the bottom and the metal ladder that's there looks small. lol He said he wanted to go down in the tunnels to look around but thought better of it. 

I was up early most days and got a few nice sunrise pictures.

At least we had really nice cool weather this week.

Lots of cloud cover too. 

Book Review: Hell Of A Game by Elise H. Ford

 

Book Description

All I wanted was to have a fun girl's night at the traveling carnival that stopped in town for the weekend. Is that too much to ask??

After a recent breakup, I absolutely needed a night out with my roommates. I didn't expect to have so much fun or to meet a group of four sexy guys that worked at the carnival. I also didn't expect the four guys to be demons from Hell either…

Succeeding a crazy night that couldn’t have been real, I woke up in my bed like nothing had happened. I thought it all must have been a dream... That is until I keep seeing the demons everywhere…

Soon, they come to me and tell me what I really am... And it's not entirely human…

Being a busy holiday weekend, I haven't seen my roommates since we went to the carnival together. That's when I found the real purpose of the carnival and how it’s all just a front for soul trafficking. Both of my friends ended up being sucked up into the game… And I'll fight through Hell itself if I have to, to save them…

A Why Choose Demon Romance intended only for readers 18+.

My Review

Vera is just getting over a bad breakup so she and her roomates decide to go to a carnival. But while there things go wrong and she meets 4 guys who turn out to be demons. The carnival in just a place to snatch up souls and she finds out later that her roommates have been taken to hell. 

Vera and the guys have an insta-love connection but their romance never felt real to me. I didn't like the guys all that much but they are demons. I didn't like the different drugs they kept smoking and kept giving her, it felt wrong. It seemed like they had her smoke stuff and didn't tell her that it was going to have a big effect on her beforehand. They wanted her pliable so they could seduce her and it worked. 

The guys are demons but after they find her and let her in on who they really are and how they feel about her, they seemed to really change and want nothing but the best for her and I liked that.

I did like the adventure of having to go to hell and save her roommates from their fate after being kidnapped and sent there. Plus the big twist close to the end of this book was great, I really liked how the book ended. 

So while I did have a few small things about this book that bothered me, all in all it was a good read. 

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

*Click on pictures to enlarge them*

There were some clouds over the mountains and they moved pretty quickly over us and disappeared. 

The clouds looked cool while they were around though. 

Book Review: Hearts On Fire by Sabrina Wagner

 

Book Description

Hearts on Fire is the first book in the Hearts Trilogy, a steamy romance about first love, betrayal, and finding forgiveness. It is not a standalone.

First love is like fire…

I was a hopeless romantic.

Butterflies in your stomach, stars in your eyes… yeah, that kind of romantic.

When I met Tyler, it was love at first sight.

It flickered in the beginning, then blazed to life. We were an inferno and it consumed us.

As our worlds turn in different directions and we head to different colleges, I worry we won’t withstand the uncertainty of our futures.

They say distance makes the heart grow fonder.

I just hope he remembers he’s taking mine with him.

♥♥♥

Football was my life.

I’d been training for the pros ever since I could remember.

Nothing was going to get in my way. Not even changing schools my senior year of high school.

Then I met Kyla and my whole world flipped upside down. The beautiful blond stole my heart from the moment we met.

It was love at first sight.

Going to different colleges will be difficult, but nothing can tear me away from my favorite cheerleader.

Being an all-star quarterback won’t change me a bit.

She’ll always be my favorite end zone.

Kyla and Tyler’s story continues in Shattered Hearts the second book in the Hearts Trilogy.

My Review

Kyla and Tyler meet in high school and fall hard for each other. Things go well until they go off to college, two different colleges and more than an hour apart. Tyler is a quarterback on the football team so he's pretty busy. But they make things work. Then Tyler gets drunk and makes a huge mistake. I knew beforehand after reading the blurb that this is not a standalone book and would probably end on a cliffhanger but I read it anyway to see how it was. I have to say I was intrigued by these two but after they started being intimate with each other that ended up being 90% of what this book was. Even so, I kept reading since I felt like I wanted to see what was going to happen. 

This book ends abruptly and I kinda knew it was coming and I figure the next book will be all about them trying to work things out at some point but I don't think I can read anymore of these two since they just seem to act too childish for me to relate to them. But if you like first time love and coming of age type romance you might like this one more than I did. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

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

Apartment Life #361

 

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.  

It's been a full week. On Sunday evening the police showed up across the street for a domestic disturbance. Two people were arguing but neither of them went to jail or the ER so that's good I guess. 

----

Sunday night into Monday morning between 12:30AM and 1AM, the police were across the street in the alley behind the apartments across the street on their loud speaker telling someone who had shot their gun off, that they had all four corners of the building surrounded and he needed to come out with his hands up. I heard the police on the loud speaker for about 30 minutes. The police helicopter was flying overhead the entire time too. I went back to sleep so I don't know if he was arrested but I'm guessing he was. The neighbors across the street that I talked to the next morning said they weren't sure if anyone was arrested. 

I didn't get any pictures of this because it was late at night, and behind the apartments where I couldn't see them and I didn't want to go outside while all the police were telling a man to come out of his apartment on a loud speaker. 

---

Monday morning the police pulled up across the street while I was out there with Falcor. They ran into the apartment courtyard right to the right of where they parked. Right after that I saw one of the homeless men who hang out there, run out and down the street all the while holding on to a broom. The police didn't see him run away and I have no idea why he was running. 2 of the other homeless guys were arrested because they were fighting and one of them was a bloody mess. He was handcuffed and put in the back of an ambulance while the other guy was taken away in a police car. 

I got a picture of the ambulance when it showed up and one of the homeless guys was handcuffed and put in the back of it on a stretcher. The two men had been in a fist fight and someone called the police on them. 

---

On Tuesday my brother and his girlfriend were here at my place and the guy across from me that I talked about in this blog post last week was shooting off his BB gun in the courtyard again. My nephew, his girlfriend and their 3 kids were also at my place at this time. So my brother called the police and told them what he was doing. The police showed up pretty fast.

The police came and they lined up by the side of his door and made him come outside. 

Then they frisked him. They asked to see the BB gun and then they confiscated it. He was informed that shooting a BB Gun or any type of gun anywhere other than a gun range with the exception of in the case of protecting yourself, is a misdemeanor and he would be getting a fine for firing the weapon in the courtyard. 

My brother sat outside and stared Johnathan down while Johnathan was questioned and his name was ran for warrants. Then my brother filled out a voluntary statement and signed the ticket as a witness. 

Johnathan was not happy about the ticket and the court date that he's going to have to show up to next month. He slammed his door a whole lot after the police left. But I had a houseful of kids and any of those metal BB's could have ricocheted off something and come through my window and hit these kids that were here including a newborn baby. So that's what he gets for being irresponsible with his BB gun. I found out he'll be moving out at the end of April. So good riddance. 

The high this week was 73F/22C

The low this week was 43F/6C

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

Saturday Vittles

 

My Daughter and I are trying to eat more healthy so I thought I would share some pictures on Saturday's of what we've made. Most pictures are from my daughter since she takes good food pics. lol

I am experimenting with things I've never tried before, like tofu!

Crispy Air-Fried Tofu

You will need:

A pack of Tofu- I used 1/3 of the square. 

2 TBSP Hot Sauce

1 TBSP Sweet Chili Sauce

1 tsp. Corn Starch

1 tsp. Soy Sauce

I used Firm tofu and you have to press it to get the water out of it. I used a large water filled pan to sit on top of the tofu to squeeze the water out of it. I wrapped the tofu into a large dish cloth, placed it in a pan and put the pot of water on top of it for 30 minutes. A lot of water came out of it. 

Then I cut about 1/3 of the square into cubes, tossed it into the sauces and then tossed it in the corn starch. Placed the cubes into my air fryer in a single layer, leaving space between each piece. Air fried this for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. 

Not gonna lie, this was not my favorite new thing I've tried. It was still quite spongy in the middle. 

But I cut a few pieces in half and added it to my mixed greens salad. And topped it with some cucumber ranch dressing. It was pretty good in the salad. Not sure I will be getting tofu again but it was fun to try something new. 

This salad has 170 calories and 10 carbs. 

Book Review: Haakon: The Drogon Prince by T.J. Quinn

 

Book Description

The Slythonians are an alien race well know for capturing the best female breeders in the galaxy.

When women are abducted from Earth by alien slavers to be sold as sex slaves they think their lives are over.

Rosalind is acquired by Haakon, The Drogon Prince to be a breeder.

Join me and let's find out what happens. 

My Review

Rosalind and a few other human women are kidnapped from Earth by the Slythinians and sold to other aliens. Haakon is the King's brother so he is sent to take care of Rosalind and make her comfortable. When Haakon meets her he knows right away that she is his soulmate. The whole soulmate thing is not explained very well so I don't know what all it entails. But these aliens buy more kidnapped human females because they are compatible with them to find their soulmates. 

The storyline was good and this could have been great but I didn't feel a real connection between these two for most of the book. Rosalind starts to have feelings for Haakon who is a Drogon (think dragon shifter) and she asks him if he's her soulmate but he doesn't give her a straight answer which makes her leery of him after all she's been through after being kidnapped. 

The other thing that didn't make sense was after the very rushed ending, then we go back to what should have been in the middle of the book when Rosalind and the other women are on the kidnappers ship before she meets Haakon. That would have made more sense for that to be in the middle of the book as it was happening instead of at the end after the ending. I felt like I was reading chapters of this book out of order. 

I give this book 2 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon