Jennifer Apodaca's Blog, page 106

Weekend Roundup

First on the agenda, my brother-in-law is having major surgery today, so please keep him in your thoughts. I plan to spend most of the day at the hospital, or doing whatever is needed. Wizard is splitting his time between Maggie and the hospital so I don’t have to worry about her, that’s a huge help.

Now for the weekend. Friday, Maggie had her follow-up shots, and no reaction. Yay! They had me pre-treat her with a half a Benadryl and that seemed to do the trick. Later that day, Wizard and I went to see A STAR IS BORN. I loved it! I saw some brilliance in that movie. They only told the parts onscreen that the audience needed to see. I loved Bradley Cooper’s performance, but it was Lady Gaga who surprised me with her ability to capture the character she played. There were so many character layers they showed through action but didn’t beat the audience over the head with it…I loved just loved the movie. Wizard really liked it too.

Saturday, various things were going on, then I met a friend for lunch. This is a fan I met online years ago, then met in person at a conference, and we just kept in touch. Anyway this friend wanted to donate to my daughter in law’s Homeless Christmas Gift Bags that she does most years. So we met for lunch and I picked up her donation. Holy Generosity!!! Her donation filled my huge trunk and part of my backseat! Full-sized bars of soap, toothpaste, cup of noodles, canned ravioli, it’s amazing! I didn’t ask her if she wanted to be identified, so I’m not revealing who it is, but WOW!!! Both myself, and my daughter in law, are so appreciative. I was so touched, and it was a great a reminder of how many special, wonderful people there are in the world. If anyone else would like to donate, here is the GoFundMe Link I usually give her cash directly to save fees.

Sunday, I repacked the donated items into boxes to store them, and to make it easier for my son to pick them up later. I have more room to store them than they do right now. I also worked on my new phone, there’s a lot to learn but it’s a lot easier than I expected. I will have it where I want it by the time I have surgery. I already have my audiobooks on there

I want so much to finish Savaged Devotion and the Wing Slayers. I remind myself daily (hourly if I have time, LOL) that the surgery is soon, and once I’m recovered enough to work, there’ll be no stopping me!

That was my weekend. How was yours?

Friday Five

How can it be Friday??? Well to be fair, we didn’t get home from San Diego until Monday afternoon, so we sort of lost a day So I’ll accept that it’s Friday, and time to share five random things around our week. Here’s mine:

When Wizard and I got home Monday and got out of the car, guess who was here to greet us??? THE SNAKE!!! HE CAME BACK! We got everything in the house, and Wizard chased him into the street, and then we lost him again. We figured he had of made his way back to the front hill but weren’t sure where.
Two days later, I took Maggie out with me to get the mail, and jokingly told her to “Your job is to find that snake.” Honest to God, she found him! He’d slithered to the trunk of a plant, curled around it and died (probably from a car, but we’re not sure). Wizard and I had looked for that snake and couldn’t find him. It took Maggie less than two minutes, LOL! I know it was coincidence, but it was freaky.
Wednesday I did all my pre-op tests. Luckily the doctor visit, blood work and x-ray were all in the same building, so I got it all finished in a couple hours.  Then Wizard and I bought our new phones. Now my kids, sister and the rest of the universe can stop teasing us for  while
How many coyotes does it take to make a pack? I saw four yesterday morning when Maggie and I were walking. I spotted them, and they saw us too. I put Maggie in a stop/sit (it’s a quick command that drops her wherever she is) and I stopped, staying still. All four coyotes headed back up into the hills to where the wild life preservation was before the fire. Once they were far enough away for me to feel safe, I moved to the trail the farthest away from them and headed to the street. We were fortunate. I know they’re hungry and hunting, but they aren’t desperate enough to attack a full grown human with a dog. Maggie was really good, doing exactly what I told her too. She doesn’t always do that, but I’m assuming she sensed either my caution or the danger of the coyotes.
Thursday, we went to see Baby Slayer. He’s cute as ever! We always have fun with him! Plus Special K helped Wizard with his new phone. Umm…Wizard doesn’t adapt well to change

That’s my five. Today, Maggie goes to the vet for the remainder of her shots. Keep your fingers crossed for her, we believe she had a reaction to her rabies shot almost two weeks ago. Because Maggie’s Vet Tech is also my future daughter in law, she’s already talked to the vet about Maggie’s reaction to the rabies shot last time, and they advised me how to pre-treat her to, hopefully, lessen any reaction. Either way, these shots are important, so we’re going to do it and get her through it.

Now it’s your turn to share your Friday 5! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Wednesday Worthy

Yesterday, I went to a specialist to get a cervical collar fitted, and brought the contraption home with me. This surgery is getting a little too real. It’s just three weeks away now. I know I have to do it. The good news is that I was able to celebrate my son’s wedding! Once the official pictures were done, I put on my flat sandals, and by the end of the evening, I kicked those off to dance on the sand without causing myself any more harm, so yay! I’m pretty sure that love and sheer will fueled by joyful adrenaline made it possible.

Wizard and I are still beaming from our happiness for our son and his bride.

And now it’s time to evaluate another Wednesday Worthy candidate, and today I’m feeling the cowboy vibe   He’s a little too polished for me, but I like the beard scruff and rolled up sleeves of his shirt.

But the real question is–what do you think?

Happily Ever After!

I’m late posting this! We were gone for the weekend, but I’m home now, and my son and daughter-in-law’s wedding came off beautifully! Here’s a picture of the bride and groom at the reception:

And this one when they were introduced at the reception. I love this one because she’s laughing in joy, and my son is looking at her with such love and happiness. This captures them as they truly are.

And here I am with my son before the wedding:

One of my favorite moments was an hour before the ceremony, and I asked him, “Are you nervous?” He smiled at me, and said, “Nope. Nothing to be nervous about when you’re marrying the right woman.” I love my boys! That’s what his older brother said when he married, and it’s what his younger brother will say when he marries next year. They know what love and marriage is, even in the turbulent and sometimes shallow times we live in.

And typically, I had one minor glitch. The stylist who was supposed to do my hair didn’t show up, but another stylist graciously worked me into my schedule put up my hair so I didn’t have to deal with a frizzstorm. She determinedly pinned, sprayed and spelled it into submission. It was such a different look for me, that easily a half-dozen people, including my youngest son, did a double take when they saw me, LOL. But I was happy with it. Seriously, my hair’s only shoulder length, but OMG, it could be a horror film called FRIZZ ON THE BEACH if left unchallenged.

This was one of the best weekends of our lives–we got to see one of our biggest dreams for our son realized when he exchanged vows with the woman who is his Happily Ever After.

Weekend Roundup

TGIF!!! I expected the week to be busy, but wow!! Nothing bad happened, though, so I’ll take it! Now it’s time to share 5 random things about our week, and I’ll go first:

1) First, Happy Birthday to the best sister in the world, Biker Witch! I’ve had to lean on her quite a bit in the last 18 months, and I believe she leans on me too. I not only have a great sister but a treasured friend.

2) Middle Son is getting married on Sunday! Wizard and I are thrilled that he has found the woman he wants to spend his life with, one who makes him laugh, and calls him on his B.S. Middle Son is highly intelligent, brimming with charm and brought so much laughter and joy to our family from the day he was born. And now he’s bringing his dad and I a daughter (in-law) to love, and his brothers a sister (in-law) to torment and protect. We are bouncing with happiness.

3) Wizard and I actually, really, truly went and looked at cell phones yesterday! After TWO FREAKING YEARS OF PROCRASTINATING. We are awesome procrastinators. I think we found what we want. My only reservation is my new phone will be much bigger than I’m used to, which is good for most things, but not for my walks. That’s a small thing I can adjust too. But since we’re so busy through the weekend, we decided to wait until Tues or Wed to buy it. Both Wizard and I will have a learning curve on our new phones, and this weekend isn’t the time to tackle that. Plus I wanted to research the phones because I’m compulsive like that. But all our family and friends will be astounded that we finally went to the store, got the info, and narrowed down our choices. Following through is something we’re actually good at

4) So this month, we have two major surgeries in the family. The first is my brother-in-law, who needs to have a pretty serious surgery. Keep him in your thoughts mid month. I’m not going to give other people’s information out, but while he’s facing a tough surgery and recovery, I truly believe the outcome will be very positive. And then my surgery has been schedule for Oct. 30th. It’s scary to do it, but I want to feel strong and ready to take on life again. Hopefully I’ll have my new phone and be able to keep everyone who is interested updated. My old phone is so antiquated I really can’t do much on it anymore.

5) And finally, I have to share a Baby Slayer pic with his big grin around his sippy cup (that he loves!). This kid is almost always a happy boy.

 

Okay now it’s your turn to share your Friday 5! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Wednesday Worthy

You know the drill, time for the Wednesday Worthy Candidate.

So is anyone tire of torso shots yet?

Yay or nay?

Weekend Roundup

Saturday, Youngest Son came by and stayed most of the day. He wanted to know more about my surgery, and I thought maybe he had reservations, which I would have listened to. However he was very supportive and encouraging. He wants me to do it,  get through the recovery and return to a healthier, more active life. Since he’s my most methodical son, and least likely to jump into anything, I was very relieved. He’d clearly done his own research too, which was also nice to know. In addition to all that, Youngest took us up into the burned out hills in his Jeep. I walk in there everyday, but he went deeper than I go, and this is the first time Wizard was able to see it way back there at all. We got an up close view of isolated homes and ranches that were saved by firefighters. I know I’ve said it dozens of times, but the work they did was nothing short of miraculous.

So back to our drive, we crested one hill, and saw a couple dozen white box things in a cleared area, and we weren’t sure what they were–until bees starting flying around the Jeep. Obviously, they were to housing for honeybees, so Youngest turned the Jeep around and we left Thankfully the bees didn’t follow.

All of us are getting super excited for Middle Son’s wedding this weekend! As a bonus, I get to see Baby Slayer quite a lot around the wedding festivities too. Let’s just cross our fingers that the storm that is arriving this week clears out by Sunday, or the beach wedding is going to get interesting

Speaking of the storm that’s supposed to dump some significant rain midweek, the city representatives were going door to door in our area over the weekend, warning us that we are now in a flood zone after the fires. We’ve also had two recorded phone calls from the country warning of the same thing. Sigh…so we’re on alert, and we will evacuate if we get the order. This isn’t a surprise, we knew it would happen if rains showed up. The good news is that the city/county have been working hard, using both big earth movers and k-rails to direct any runoff into the natural creek bed that leads away from homes. They are doing everything they can, and we appreciate that. This is just life in Southern CA, we get fires and mudslides.

Some of you may have seen on my FB page that Maggie wasn’t feeling well yesterday. As I’m writing this Sunday evening, she seems better and has eaten a little plain chicken and rice. If’ she’s not completely better by today, I’ll run her into the vet. For sure, I’m going to reschedule her second set of vaccines for another week or two out to give her more time between shots. My future daughter in law who works at a veterinary office is giving me advice so we can make sure Maggie will be fine

That was my weekend, how was yours?

Friday Five

Poof, another week has vanished! Which means it’s time for Friday Five, where we all share five random things from our week. Here are mine:

SNAKE!!! I looked out back on Wednesday, and saw Maggie staring down something that, at first, I assume was a lizard. They were on the other side of the pool, the thing in planter against the fence, and Maggie on the concrete about 18 inches away from it. I couldn’t see the critter’s body, just its head poking up over the lip of the concrete, frozen and staring back at Maggie. When I saw Maggie back up a couple of steps, a chill went down my spine. I thought, that’s not a lizard, she wouldn’t back up, she’d pounce on it. I called Maggie, and surprisingly, she came inside. I shut her in the house, then I went out to look, and got just close enough to see it was a SNAKE! I ran back inside and told Wizard. He rushed out and chased the snake away. He says it was a harmless garter snake. While he was doing that, I texted Biker Witch and said, “Maggie found a snake in the backyard, I’m moving today.” She totally supported me. Wizard, however, was completely unreasonable and insisted we were safe and not moving.
To repay Maggie for her amazing bravery in finding a snake (and last week she alerted me to a coyote on our walk) I took her to get her rabies shot, and renew her license. Maggie has informed me that is not a suitable reward. Too back for her, she weighed 19 pounds! She was 15 when we got her. Maggie claims it’s her new green collar, but I’m not buying that
So I have the shoes for the wedding! Much to my surprise, I kept the shoes from Pennys. It turns out Biker Witch was right about them. They are surprisingly comfortable, good for a beach wedding on hard-packed sand, and I’ll be able to wear them again. (I returned the other shoes to Amazon, they just didn’t work for me) Here are shoes I’m wearing: 
My health insurance has approved for my neck surgery, and the coordinator called Wednesday to let me know she was going to call the hospital to arrange a date. I haven’t heard back yet. I’ll probably check in with her today. I need that surgery date to arrange all my pre-op and get fitted for a cervical collar. I know logically this is the right thing to do, but it’s still not easy to jump into this. But, dang, I want my life back!
Wizard and I had a giftcard to Cheesecake Factory. I’ve been eating more than I should, out of frustration because I’m physically limited, missed deadlines, etc. But I’ve been trying this week a little bit. So at Cheesecake Factory, I chose something healthy and told Wizard to use the balance of the giftcard to get whatever dessert he wanted to take home. But Wizard is devious, and he ordered TWO pieces of cheesecake to go home with us, and worse, and was one of my favorites! What kind of wicked sabotage is this???? Wizard is normally supportive when I cut back, but right now, he is determined that I shouldn’t worry about weight as long as I’m eating generally healthy, and should just enjoy food and life. Sigh….this is why I love him despite his refusing to call movers to get us safely out of the house the day a garter snake got into our backyard….although I still think he was not being totally rational.

So my five, now it’s time to share yours! I hope everyone who sees this has a great weekend!

Wednesday Worthy

It’s hump day and time for our Wednesday Worthy candidate. Here he is:

So what do you think, is he worthy?

Weekend Roundup

Quiet. That was my weekend, and I’m good with that. I worked, not making visible progress, but noodling around with some ideas on how to get from the middle to the end. I’m going back to the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) Method

Today, I’m getting my teeth cleaned because the fun never ends around here

How was your weekend?