Jennifer Apodaca's Blog, page 114

Wednesday Worthy

Guess what day it is? That’s right, time for Wednesday Worthy!It seems like we’ve had a LOT of torso shots, but here we our with another one for today’s candidate:

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So what do you think, is he worthy?

 

Weekend Roundup

I blinked and the weekend vanished. It was a busy and mostly good weekend–just a lot of running around. And, yes, I got in some Baby Slayer time Today I’m home and really striving to write. It’s been such a struggle with crazy life stuff happening and the nerve pain/tinnitus making concentration difficult (and sleep nearly impossible!). But you know what? I’ve fought through challenges before and I’ll conquer this. I’m seeing two more doctors this week…

Although I’m starting to think that I need a witch not a doctor

Anyway I was thinking about how all this happened suddenly and stopped my writing.  While it’s true that I was working long hours, and dedicated to getting three books out in the year, that’s NOT what caused the underlying bulging discs. In fact, Wizard and I were just talking to our doctor about causes for this, and he assured us that it’s generally age and genetics that contribute most heavily to this kind of thing. Physical injury could have caused, or exacerbated, it too. In my case, the underlying neck problem has been brewing for many years.

In other words, my passion for writing didn’t hurt me. I never want newer writers to feel like I’m waiving some kind of caution flag on their dream. If you want to write, go for it! Work hard. Yes, of course it’s important to take care of yourself physically and emotionally, but it’s also crucial to be passionate about writing, especially in the early years when we have such a big learning curve.

I believe in enthusiasm, hard work and long hours to get that story out. I want to support the dreams of new authors, not discourage them. Don’t let any fears stop you.

I just felt like I had to say that today.

So that was my weekend and rambling thoughts (seriously, I’ve had a totally of may four hours sleep this weekend, but I think I’ll sleep Sunday night.)

Friday Five

Time to list five random things around our week. Here are mine:

Wizard and I went out to hang with Baby Slayer yesterday so Special K could take a nap and get in some work. Here’s my boy: 
See that adorable baby? As soon as Wizard took off to go do some stuff and Special K went to rest, he got busy with a dirty (gross!) diaper. Then when I was changing the diaper, round two showed up. Um…I began juggling fast, but I had it under control…that’s when Baby Slayer peed all over me and himself. LOLOL!! Grandma initiation! I’m pretty sure his dad put him up to it Overall we had a great day together.
We took Maggie to her daycare/boarding since wouldn’t be home until late last night. For the first time, Maggie didn’t struggle to get to me when I left, instead as soon as I took her leash off and put her inside the gate to the daycare section, she trotted over to the owner to say hi. I was so happy!
I’m trying to write!
Wizard had a good birthday this week. We went to dinner, he had steak and lobster, and I had chicken. We really enjoyed it, but DAMN the menu print was impossible to read. Obviously I’m due to get my eyes checked. My eyes are bad, but well corrected with monovision contacts. They don’t correct as well in glasses. I need to make that appointment but there’s not a lot of spare time to go around

That’s my quick Friday five, now it’s your turn to share yours. Have a great weekend!

Wednesday Worthy!

We finished our feature gallery wall–whew! One more thing done! This is a crummy picture from my ancient cell phone, plus there are three windows in the room creating too much backlight, but you can get the idea:

Then we had a contractor out yesterday to get a quote on redoing the kitchen cupboards, but I think that’s going to come out higher than our budget. **Shrug**  I’d love to get it done, and also refinish the old oak table in there, but overall, we’ve made some good progress before a self-imposed deadline (I’ll talk more about that at a later date when Wizard and I are sure about it).

Now I can go back to the book! I took a couple of hours off yesterday afternoon to rest up  as I’ve pushed my joints and shoulder too hard, but a little rest always makes that better Today, I’m writing, tomorrow, I’m going out to see my main man, Baby Slayer (my grandson), and then on Friday, more writing.

And now, here’s our Wednesday Worthy Candidate (and yes, he’s popping a LOT of veins.)

And a quick LOL–as I was writing this, from inside the house, Maggie saw a bird on the fence that’s at the top of our slope. She raced outside, determine to earn her Great Doggy Hunter Badger. The bird flew off the fence, circled our yard and headed off into the horizon (or wherever birds go just before sundown). Maggie kept running/jumping as if she could get high enough to catch the bird. She didn’t give up until the bird was out of her sight. The dog is a dreamer! LOLOL!! I laughed so hard, I think I pulled a muscle. But Maggie came back in the house preening, sure she’d done something amazing. Before anyone gets mad at me for laughing at her, I also took her to the dog park yesterday and she had a blast, so I get points for that

Okay so back to our Wednesday Worthy Picture–what do you think, is he worthy?

Weekend Roundup

It was another nonstop weekend. I’m sorry I didn’t answer Friday’s blog comments–but as always, I read them! Saturday, Wizard and I shopped for, and found 10 pictures, then hung them all on a big, slightly awkward wall in our living room to create a focal point gallery wall. We love it! We need to add a couple more pictures and do some fine tuning, then I’ll try to post a picture.

And we completed our refinishing tables project! As a reminder, the tables looked like this:

With our brown leather furniture, it was just too dark. We are going with a modern rustic theme in the room, so we sanded them down as far as we could, then whitewashed the tables, and this is how they turned out (sorry for the quick, sloppy pictures–I barely had time to snap a pic this weekend!):

We’re pretty happy with the coloring that came through giving it some “distress.”  We pulled all those colors, plus the colors from the pillows on the couch in the pictures on the wall.

But man this has been a ton of work! My shoulder’s not real pleased when I try to sleep, but it was worth it.

Sunday we went out to Middle Son and Fiances for dinner and to talk about their wedding plans. That was fun, and I’m excited for the lovely beach wedding in October. After that, there wasn’t enough time to go see our grandbaby since we left Maggie at home, but we’re going to go spend time with him this week.

I’m hoping to work this week too!

So that was my weekend, how was yours?

Friday Five

Time to list five random things about our week!

Wizard brought me home a solid chocolate Easter bunny last night! As soon as I’m done with this blog, I’m going to do serious damage to that bunny!
We got the living room tables sanded down, and white washed. Both Wizard and I have happy so far. Today we’ll varnish then, let them dry then reassemble then and take pictures to show on Monday.
My day with Baby Slayer on Wednesday was amazing! He’s such a good baby, and already making eye contact and engaging. When he hears his mom’s voice, he turns to find her. His dad is a total hands on daddy.
Wizard and I ate dinner out on the patio yesterday. It was a perfect seventy-eight degrees, and we had fun together. Maggie loved it too (That’s right, Wizard, I saw that tiny piece of steak you dropped on the patio for her!).
For everyone who celebrate–Happy Easter! We aren’t doing anything special this year, just being thankful for our family, Maggie, our son getting married this Oct. to a wonderful woman, and our beloved new grandson.

Now it’s your turn to list your Friday Five! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Wednesday Worthy…Easter Edition

Sunday is Easter! We’ve been so busy, birthdays and holidays are catching me by surprise. In between the baby (I’m going to see him today and help out Special K!), and some home improvement stuff, plus life, I’m in constant motion.

And FYI, the next time I say to Wizard, “What if we try sanding down those tables and whitewashing them?” they may be my last words. We’ve been sanding, sanding, and sanding our new living room tables trying to get as much of the dark stain out as we can, then we’ll staining them with whitewash and hope it comes out rustic-distressed. But tonight (Tuesday) as I’m writing this blog, we can both barely move. I really need to stop having bright ideas, LOL!

Naturally, no amount of soreness will keep me from going out to see my grandbaby tomorrow, and helping out Special K.

Now onto the Easter Edition of Wednesday Worthy: I have three candidates for you

Okay so which kind of chocolate is “worthy” to you? Dark, milk, white or none at all? Also, if you do like chocolate, do you like your Easter bunnies hollow or solid?

For me, it’s solid dark or milk chocolate White chocolate is usually too waxy for me.

Weekend Roundup

Another great weekend with very little work getting done. I’m really trying, but easily distracted by my new role as a grandma. But this will level out like all things do.

So Baby Slayer update: He’s doing fantastic! Wizard and I went out Saturday to spend the day and help out. Wizard insisted he had to hold him FIRST. I laughed, and made sure he got his wish. Then CPA Boy asked his dad if he wanted to feed the baby a bottle and Wizard handed Baby Slayer off to me. LOLOL!!! Men It was a good day, and the little guy is thriving now. Here’s a not-so-great picture of me with the baby. Wizard was trying to take it with my phone.  He takes wonderful pictures with his camera, but turns all thumbs with my phone.

I took a couple closeups, but in those, he (that baby, not Wizard ) has a hold of my top and more cleavage than strictly necessary is showing so I’ll spare you those

In other news, I forgot to tell you all that I had the audiologist appointment, and got some results. I’ve had 11 months now of tinnitus (ringing in my ears). It’s bilateral (both sides) but more severe in my right ear. I do okay when I’m active and busy, but sitting and trying to write or sleep is really tough. I have to try to block it to write, so it takes double or triple my normal concentration, if that makes sense? So…to my relief, the testing found that I’m having abnormal pressure in my right ear. I also have some hearing loss at a very high pitch that’s above the human voice range. But the rest of my hearing is normal–another relief. One theory was that I was going deaf. That does NOT appear to be the case so far.  So my next step is to see an ENT. I fully understand this may never go away, but at least there’s something real going on, not just my imagination

So now it’s your turn–how was your weekend?

Friday Five

Happy Friday! Okay so everything got crazy…again I’ll try to come up from five things for Friday Five, but once again, I’m fried.

So our grand baby. He had his pediatrician appt. Wednesday. Everything was great, until the blood work came back with some jaundice. His poor parents! Anyway, the baby is doing fabulous with the treatment. And this is a great example of why good prenatal and post-delivery care is vital. But it’s been a wild ride for over a week now and his poor parents really need a break. I may go out there today and help, or Special K’s mom may do it, which ever works out best for everyone. Either way, there’s plenty of help.
Maggie’s been a trooper! I left her in her doggy daycare overnight on Monday, and they’ve said I can just drop her off as needed through all this. They said she just hangs out, walks around and plays with the other dogs. Yes we pay for this, but they are so good to her, it’s really one less thing to worry about. She’s safe and happy, and seems to understand that Wizard and I are coming back.
Life is fabulous but man, it’s just non stop stuff. Wizard and I have other stuff going on, and we can’t quite catch our breaths with it all. Did I ever say that I was bored or something? Just asking…
I made chocolate chunk cookies. Originally I was going to take them out to the new parents (and get some to my other two sons) but that all shifted with the baby needing some extra treatments (again, he’s doing great), so now I’m pretty much just scarfing them down.  Wizard is helping with that chore, LOL!
What’s the last super-duper great, can’t put it down, book you read? I’ve finished one, that right ONE book, in something like three weeks (not counting audio books which I listen to in the car or while cleaning). I need a book that hooks me so hard I’ll blow off everything else to read.

So that’s my Friday Five, now it’s your turn to share yours!

Wednesday Worthy!

OMG I love having a grand baby! Especially since his mom and dad are doing all the hard work I went out on Monday when my son, daughter-in-law and the baby came home from the hospital and stayed the night. I didn’t get much sleep, but I did get a lot of love, so it’s a more than fair trade! Okay I won’t gush anymore, let’s move onto Wednesday Worthy.

Here is our candidate:

What do you think, is he worthy?