Apartment Life #406

 

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 27 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 27 years here in a weekly blog post.

I told you that maintenance was installing lights around the buildings, on Tuesday they were working on the courtyard lights and they started pushing the gutters off the roof to get the lights up in places. I'm glad I wasn't walking by at the time when it fell because they weren't even looking to see if anyone was there as the gutters were falling in places. They did remove this later that day.

Since we have no more gutters, when it rains the water will be coming off the roof everywhere instead of just a couple of places and down the gutter pipes at the end of the building. 

---

I spotted the police down the street early Tuesday morning. They got out of the cars and ran into that building and I could hear them pounding on the door yelling, "Police!" I waited around for a few minutes to see if someone would answer the door, but when no one did, they left. 

It was windy one day this week and I spotted this note flying down the sidewalk, so I picked it up and read it. Funny thing is, the 209 building is in my apartment complex. There is no assigned parking so I have no idea what this person is talking about. Maybe that's why the recipient tossed it on the ground when they read it. 

---

This is our pool. That building next to it at the top of the picture is the office. Ever since the new owner took over and hired this new management company, they haven't been maintaining the pool at all. Now they sent out a notice saying that there's too much wrong with the pool for it to pass inspections. *I call BS!* This pool has been here and open and passing inspections for at least 27 years. It passed inspections last Summer and was open, but now all the sudden it won't? Yeah, ok. 

So we have been told it will no longer be here and will be destroyed but if we want to use a pool, we can walk down the street to the next apartment complex *That our owner now owns too* and we can use their pool. I think the manager just doesn't want to deal with the loud kids, people having pool parties and the homeless using it to bathe in every Summer. 

We've been told that they are going to fill it and it's going to be turned into a dog run/potty place for dogs, sometime in the next 2 months. The manager said she doesn't want anyone letting their dogs potty elsewhere on the property. Well there are a lot of dogs down the street that walk here as well as the people across the street. So if she wants to stop them from walking their dogs down the street, she'll have to fence the entire property. No one is going to bring their dog into the office courtyard to use this small dog run. No thank you. 

The high this week was 66F/18C

The low this week was 36F/2C

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 healthier, so I am sharing some of the dishes that we are eating each week. 

Baked Zucchini Chicken Patties and Swiss Chard

You will need

1 lb ground chicken

3 TBSP diced Cilantro

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

2 cups grated zucchini (about 2 medium sized zucchini)

2 diced green onions

1/4 tsp Chili Powder

1/4 tsp Smoked Paprika

salt and pepper to taste

1 bunch Swiss Chard

1 avocado

2 TBSP lemon juice 

No calorie cooking spray

1/2 tsp. McCormick Montreal Chicken seasoning

Add the grated zucchini to a cheese cloth or clean kitchen towel and twist it to remove most of the moisture from the zucchini. Set aside.

Mix together the chicken, zucchini, cilantro, garlic powder, green onions, chili powder, smoked paprika, salt and pepper, and drop by large spoonful onto a baking sheet. Flatten out a bit so they look like patties. Cook in a 425 F oven for 30 minutes or until done. They will release some liquid while cooking, just pour it off about half way through the cooking process.  Serve with guacamole dipping sauce. 

Recipe for Guacamole

1 ripe avocado

1TBSP lemon juice

1 tsp mayonnaise

salt to taste

Peel the avocados and mash them. Add lemon juice, mayo and salt. Mix well. 

I love making these ahead of time and having them as a snack or lunch.

To make the Swiss Chard

Trim the stems of each leaf, cut the stems away from each leaf, chop into small pieces. Add no calorie cooking spray to a sauté pan, add the chopped stems, cook over medium heat for 5-6 minutes. Chop the Swiss Chard leaves small and add to the pan with the Montreal Chicken seasoning, cook on medium for 10 minutes. When it's done pour on 1TBSP lemon juice and mix well. 

Spread a little of the guacamole onto the chicken patties and enjoy.

Serving size = 3 patties, 3 TBSP guacamole and 1/2 cup of Swiss Chard. 

Each serving has 530 calories and 20 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.  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 Rodan Fields face serum. 

It made my face feel soft, that's about it. 

Did you receive any freebies this week?

Book Review: The Magical Mocha Latte by R.A. Muth

 

Book Description

I thought a free latte would be the highlight of my day. Instead, it changed my life.

What was supposed to be a simple errand for my aunt—a quick delivery to a nearby town—spirals into a whirlwind of magical mishaps, suspicious detours, and way too much fur when I accidentally adopt a dog… much to my cat’s dismay.

Now I’m dealing with enchanted caffeine, a missing family member, and two talkative pets with a lot of opinions. The only person who might be able to help? My ex-high-school sweetheart, Jones—the last person I want back in my life.

But with danger brewing and long-buried secrets bubbling to the surface, Jones may be my only option. Mockingbird Springs may be a small Southern town, but something big is stirring—and if I don’t figure it out fast, this latte might just be my last.

My Review

Zip is off to make a delivery for her aunt but what should have been a very easy thing to do turns into one surprise after another. On her day full of problems, she comes across a stray dog who she ends up bringing home to keep. But a magical drink makes it so she can talk to both her cat and the new dog. Zip decides to get help from her, only to find the aunt missing. 

Jones, her Ex-boyfriend, gets a call from Zip hoping for help finding her missing aunt. They might be ex's but they're still friends. They try to figure out why Zip's aunt went missing and where she might be. Along the way they encounter some strange happenings and more questions. 

The cat and dog are so funny since she can talk to them. I sometimes wonder what my dog is thinking and now I have to wonder what's in his head when he looks at me. The animals were so much fun. 

This is a fun read for sure. I found myself laughing quite a bit at this one. 

While this isn't my usual type of read, I won this book in a giveaway and decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did. 

I give this book 4 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Favorite Picture of the Week

 

This was at 3PM, in the middle of the day, that cloud was so big and so dark. I mistakenly took this picture with my flash still on.

This is the same cloud as above, but I turned my flash off. This is what it looked like to me as I saw it. This storm blew past and we didn't even get any rain from it.

Lots of cloud cover.

That night the sunset was so pretty though. I couldn't get the entire sunset in my picture but the picture below is the other side of this sunset.

Another fiery sunset.

Book Review: Fated To The Alpha Bear by Reece Barden

 

Book Description

The man they sent to rescue me looks more dangerous than my captors. Bodhi Lennox hasn't spoken a full sentence since he arrived, just watches me with dark eyes and growls at anyone who gets too close.

He's massive, barely speaks, and is supposedly here to protect me until my brother pays his debt.

But the way he looks at me? Like I'm already his. Like he'd tear apart anyone who tries to touch me.

I should be terrified of him. Instead, I'm wondering what it would take to make a man like him lose control.

******

Three months in fur. Three months avoiding everyone I know. Then Chase Walker drags me back to civilization for one last job, protect a woman being held as collateral for her brother's debt.

Simple. Get in. Guard the asset. Get out.

Then I recognize her. My mate. And I know I'm in trouble.

Every instinct screams to claim her, protect her, keep her. But she thinks I'm just hired muscle. Another dangerous man in a house full of predators.

She has no idea she belongs to an alpha bear who's more animal than man.

She has no idea I'll burn the whole world down before I let anyone hurt what's mine.

A wild bear shifter romance with a possessive alpha hero, fated mates, and a guaranteed HEA. No cliffhangers.

My Review

Emma can't believe her brother, Jake owes around $80,000 to a loan shark and is asking her for a loan. It's not like she's rich and has the money to bail him out. His gambling is out of control and now he owes the wrong people a lot of money. Those bad people come looking for Jake and they find him at Emma's place. Now the loan shark decides to take Emma as collateral until Jakes can pay off his debts to him. But all the loan shark can see are dollar signs when he finds out that Emma is a virgin. 

Bodhi is a bear shifter and works with his brother's in their security company. Jake goes to them to ask for help getting his sister back but Bodhi is in bad shape and doesn't know if he can keep it together to help them. Once the plan is set and he looks at her picture, he knows right away that she's his mate, that fact almost blows the entire plan because he wants nothing more than to just go in there, pick her up and take her to safety but he can't, not yet. Bodhi is sent in to just be more muscle for the bad guy and he plays his hand well.

Being around her once he gets in as more muscle for the bad guy, is hard for him. He wants to let her know that he's going to get her out of there, but he can't let her know it yet. Emma knows she only has a few days of freedom left because the bad guy is auctioning her off to the highest bidder soon. 

When something happens to make the auction not happen, there's a flurry of changes that happen all at once and Bodhi doesn't realize that the bad guy knows something about him now that puts Emma in danger. With the danger at its highest now, Bodhi does the only thing he can and tries to save Emma. But afterwards, he thinks that he's a monster and that Emma might not be able to look at him and see any kind of forever. So of course, there's a time when they are apart and they both have hard feelings about it because not talking about what they are both feeling is coming between them. 

I really love this series. It just gets better and better. Bodhi is a grumpy bear shifter who's childhood was hard because of an abusive father who was frightened by and probably jealous of how big and powerful Bodhi was growing up to be. When Bodhi shifts, his bear is 800 lbs of muscle and that scares some of his clan because of what his father made him do and how he feels about himself because of it. But in reality, Bodhi is a nice guy with a troubled past and abusive father who treated him bad and kicked him out of the clan when he was just a teenager. Bodhi and Emma both have bad things happen to them and they deserved to be happy and be together finally. I loved the ending of this book. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon

Happy Raturday!

 

"The Rat President having some cake with a friend."

*All pictures are courtesy of martymousehouse.com*

Apartment Life #405

 

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 27 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 27 years here in a weekly blog post.

A lot has been happening around my apartment complex this week. Last week we had an inspection with the fire marshal to make sure that the smoke detectors were all working. When he found out that the last owner had the apartment manager put fire extinguishers under the sink, he went and looked at mine and didn't like it being under there and talked to the manager about it while she was in my unit. The maintenance was supposed to check and replace all the smoke detectors, but they didn't and it's been rescheduled for Monday. That's what the notice above says. 

It also says they will be removing all the fire extinguishers from the apartments because the Fire Marshal told them to. She came over to me last week when she saw me outside and told me that the Fire Marshall thinks we're all idiots and if we have Fire Extinguishers in our apartments that we will try to use them and put out the fire ourselves instead of getting out and calling 911. So now they all have to be removed, but what she doesn't know is that I have 2 fire extinguishers of my own that are hidden and they aren't taking those. The fun never ends.

This is the tiny fire extinguisher they are worried about. Say goodbye. 

----

Maintenance has been really busy making upgrades to both my complex and the complex right next to mine. I found out that the new owner bought not only this complex but that one too. Maintenance has been installing these lights along the top of all the buildings. I guess the street lights aren't bright enough for them at night. They are spaced about 20 feet apart along the top of the buildings. 

The lights haven't been put in them yet. I'll try and get a picture of how bright they are when they are installed. 

I'm going to have a light near either side of my window, so I might have to invest in better blackout drapes for my window depending on how bright they are. 

---

After last week when I told you maintenance was removing 2 of the trees and placing plastic sheeting under the rocks this is what it looked like before they put in new rocks and the plastic. 

This is what it looks like now with the plastic under the rocks and the new rocks placed on top of the plastic. It doesn't look bad, just very plain. 

---

Then one day I finally got a picture of this dog. The owners live just around the corner but they let this dog out offleash all the time. I see him around here all the time. He never gets close to me but he says hi to Falcor.

He would run close to Falcor and then run away and come back. He's a fast little guy. I worry he's going to get hit by a car one of these days though.

Then he came over to say hi to Falcor who was happy to say hello to him. 

The high this week was 63F/17C

The low this week was 38F/3C

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 healthier, so I am sharing some of the dishes that we are eating each week. 

Baked Chicken Breast with Stir Fry Vegetables

I baked a chicken breast with McCormick Mesquite seasoning, salt and pepper. I put 3 slices of the chicken on my plate along with the vegetables I stir fried. 

While the vegetables aren't a true stir fry because I didn't use any oil to make this dish a little healthier and low calorie, it still came out good. 

Vegetables I used:

2 Carrots, 4 asparagus, broccoli, Swiss Chard, and cauliflower. 

I used a little no calorie cooking spray to get the vegetables started then I added 1/4 cup of water with 1 tsp. 0 calorie chicken broth powder, McCormick Herb and Garlic chicken seasoning, Mesquite seasoning, And Montreal chicken seasoning. I stirred it really good, added a lid and let it simmer on medium heat with a lid on until the vegetables were softer. You can cook them to the doneness you like. 

This dish has 200 calories and 15 carbs. 

Would you eat this?

Book Review: The Squeaky Clean Skeleton by R.A. Muth

 

Book Description

Hi! I'm Tori Madison, and I hate scrubbing toilets, which is unfortunate because my BFF Hazel and I own Bubbles and Troubles, Beach Plum Bay's premier cleaning service.

When Mrs. Livingston asked us to sort through the contents of her attic, however, we thought our toilet-scrubbing days were over. That is...until we found her corpse.

As if finding our client's body stuffed in a steamer trunk wasn't enough of an upset, someone needed to save her cat from being sent to a local high-kill animal shelter. That person, as it turned out, was me. I had no sooner set up the critter's litter box in my guest bathroom when he revealed another side. A six-foot-four, hunky, Irish side that only I can see.

Before I could come to grips with my new feline friend's secret, Mrs. Livingston's relatives, eager to claim their inheritance, asked Hazel and me to solve the murder. And the amount of the reward was many times over what their aunt owed for the job she hired us to do. Soon we had a plan that included Rune, my new housepet-turned-houseguest.

The more I got to know Rune, the more I wanted to confide in Hazel. But was I risking our lives by keeping my cat's secret as we went through with our crazy plan to catch a killer? Unfortunately, I didn't have a choice.

My Review

This is my very first cozy mystery!

I won this book in a FB giveaway and decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did because it was a fun read for sure. 

Tori and Hazel own a cleaning company, and they start sorting through an attic only to find a dead body. Tori feels awful but the surprises just kept coming. After bringing home the dead lady's cat, the cat turns into a very hunky man (Rune) that only she sees. This book had me hooked at that point. How could I not love this now?

Of course the family comes out of the woodwork to get what they can out of their deceased family member and then ask the cleaning crew to help solve the murder for a very hefty amount of money. My first thought was why are they asking the house cleaners to solve the murder mystery but I just went with it. 

This story made me laugh on more than one occasion and had me scratching my head a few times at what was going on with these characters. I knew who the murdered was after a while. But the murder mystery was fun to follow along with. This book definitely kept me entertained while I was reading it. 

If you like a fun cozy mystery, then you will like this book. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Amazon