Jennifer Apodaca's Blog, page 22

Weekend Roundup

I missed posting on Friday! Sorry! The 4th of July threw off my schedule. Feel free to include anything that would have been in your Friday Five in a comment on this post if you like. For me, let’s recap a few things in a Friday Five fashion:

We had a mostly good Fourth of July. Wizard and I went to an early dinner, then made sure we were home way before the fireworks started. We did our best to help manage her fear, and she did pretty well. She didn’t shake, pant or pace, and mostly just stayed close to me or Wizard. Still I hate that Maggie gets scared because she can’t understand the booming firecrakers. But overall, I’m proud of her, and us for helping her manage her fear better this year.I made a gluten and dairy free version of thin mint cookies. They are a softer, bigger version, but they work for most chocolate and mint lovers I’m going my best to stay busy while dealing with fatigue and other symptoms (like sudden, dramatic and gross, one-sided nose bleeds as I wait for surgery).Sunday, we went to a little pool party at youngest’s and had a blast. Turbo was there, and so was Daughter in law’s nephew who is a few years older than Turbo. Those two, plus Oldest and Youngest son, had more fun than should be legal splashing all of us, and other assorted pool antics.  Food was great. As a bonus: I made a bruschetta I was happy with, and used basil and tomatoes from my mini garden Maggie had a bath last week and I tried to take pictures of her. The first two attempts she refused to look at me or the camera phone. Then I went over and sat on the wall to contemplate my life choices in getting a dog. Maggie saw me, came over and reluctantly agreed to one picture. Then she made the third pic look like a scared hostage photo. Yet two minutes before that, she was running all over the backyard terrorizing lizards and looking half her age. This week is working on Daughter in law’s baby shower (that’s fun stuff), a hair appointment, pre-op appointment, seeing Biker Witch and trying to stay out of the worst of the heat. Also…I’m thinking lemon shortbread cookies. We’ll see.

Now it’s your turn to share about your weekend and last week if you like! Happy Monday!

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

You know that sick feeling when you realized you screwed ...

You know that sick feeling when you realized you screwed up? I had that moment this week.

So we are moving along, planning my daughter-in-law’s baby shower, and I was thinking I’m on top of things? Then…

I suddenly realized I left someone important off the guest list! The invitations already went out, and she would be aware of that.

Yeah…I did that. I literally felt sick when I realized it! I called the friend and apologized, and she was super gracious and wouldn’t even let me grovel. Even better, she immediately accepted both my apology and the invitation to join us.

She’s awesome and I’m…still a work in progress??? LOLOL!!

It’s all good. I think she really did understand I didn’t intend that exclude her! That’s the important thing.

But I’m clearly not on top of things in case anyone was wondering

Anyone else every get that sick realization? And were you lucky enough to have someone gracious and understanding like I did?

Happy Wednesday!

The post first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Roundup

We had a nice weekend. Some key points:

I bought the second book in a paranormal series that I said I wasn’t going to buy. I bought it before we went to Hawaii so I’d be sure to have enough books to read. Anyone else worry when they’re traveling that they might run out of things to read Anyhow, I wish I’d listened to my instincts and NOT bought it. I canNOT get into this second one after days of trying. The reason I knew buying the second book would be a mistake is because at the end of Book One, the heroine ended up back in her bedroom where the first book began. The beginning to book two is reading about a bunch of brooding in both main characters and we’re waiting for heroine to, once again, “snap out of it” and start fighting. I feel like I’ve already read this storyline in book one. But I deserve it for not listening to myself! I hate when I do that.

Sunday we went to Turbo’s house and visited. It was lowkey and fun. The effort to get there was a total pain for a few reasons, however once we got there, Turbo was happy and full of hugs and chatter. That made all the hassle of the morning worth it! Turbo and family will be going on an amazing trip to Rome and then a cruise to a few spots. I’m excited for them. I would love to go to Italy some day, but right now, this is their moment to go and enjoy!

I’ll back up to Saturday for this story. While eating lunch on Saturday, I told Wizard I was going to go to a candy store. He planned to stay home and do something or other. Seconds before I left, he decided he wanted to go with me. While I looked for the perfect candy for Turbo (Candy shaped like Lego blocks that you can build and eat fit the bill!), Wizard found himself two containers of candy. I was highly amused by this. Wizard has really developed a sweet tooth since he retired. And Turbo liked his candy-gift. Hilariously, his dad (my son) tried to get it from me before I gave it to Turbo for some silly reason, but I easily bypassed Dad’s sad attempts to get between me and my grandson! Also — this is only funny because I told Turbo he couldn’t open it until his dad said it was okay, and he agreed. I wouldn’t actually break the rules, just bend them more to my liking

And lastly, tomatoes!! Here’s a quick pic of my first crop of bing tomatoes from my little plant!

How was your weekend?

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Friday Five

TGIF! Let’s get right into sharing five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

I like cookies. This feels important.Maggie can still catch a lizard! And I can still sort of jump up and down while screaming, “Drop it!” Maggie dropped it–minus one tail–and the little guy scurried under a fence. Maggie was very proud of her stellar lizard catching abilities. I’m not as proud of my reaction, LOLOL! She’s confused by me acting hysterical because I normally don’t act that way. I reassured her I wasn’t mad at her.Monday I had an appointment with a general surgeon who told me this surgery requires an ENT. By the time we got out of that office, I had a blazing headache and a furious husband. So that was fun. It’s a long story why this happened, but it absolutely will get resolved, in fact I talked to a person in my group that assured me it’s already approved. But if not, I’ll could just do the surgery myself, I mean I have a brand new set of knives and I can follow YouTube directions….  (Do I really have to tell everyone I’m just kidding???? But I do really like my new knives for cooking!)I bought a new Bluetooth thingie (it’s the technical word, LOL). I have Bluetooth earbuds that are great for listening to podcasts, books etc. But they suck for anyone on a phone call with me. It’s super staticky and they have trouble hearing me. So I’m trying the single ear device thing. BLB sent a link to one, but I chose a different one. If I was wrong, BLB will make fun of me forever! But also, if I’m wrong, I’ll never tell him, so there’s that!This weekend Wizard and I plan to see Turbo (our grandson). Otherwise I’ll work on some projects and clean. Can you believe next week if Fourth of July????

That’s my five, I’d really love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend!

The post Friday Five first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Wednesday Reading

Grr, I got sucked into a book before I read the blurb. See I saw a list of books recommended by readers on FB, and I downloaded some samples. Then I random began reading samples, and found this one entertaining. I bought it — then read what I bought.

This category is generally not for me.

But I’m sucked in!

What do I do??? (That’s a rhetorical question — I’ll keep reading because the author is talented enough to suck me in enough to click buy without checking out what I was buying.)

Does this ever happen to you?

P.S. I’m not naming the book because I don’t want to

The post Wednesday Reading first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Roundup

It’s HOT!! Summer in here in So Cal! Wizard went racing yesterday out in the heat, but he was prepared and came home fine. I appreciate so much that he uses common sense. This kind of heat is dangerous.

My weekend was good. I finally had a couple days that moved at my pace, and I love that. I still did a lot, but I did it on my own timeline without feeling pressured. Plus I made cookies Sunday I went to lunch with a friend I value so much. She’s still working, so we have to meet around schedules, but certain friendships are worth the effort. The only frustrating thing is…well let me back up a bit. I haven’t been feeling great, but I was determined to bring my A game to this lunch. Okay, it was more of a C+ game, but still.

Full makeup, did my hair, choose a cute outfit — black and white striped shirt, white pants, black sandals, and jewelry. I was set. I felt good. I met her at the restaurant. We sat down, ordered some sparkling water and dove into talking. And that’s when I had a sudden nosebleed. In a packed full restaurant. It was my one of my Big Dreads with my nosebleeds come true. I had tissue and eventually it stopped — after getting on my pants. It was, um, a prolific one. Sigh, I tried hard to get the blood out of the pants. It’s faded but still there. I’ll try again tomorrow.

Thankfully, my friend isn’t squeamish and was very helpful. But me and embarrassment got real close in those moments And hopefully no one else saw it. Once that drama was over, we had lunch and a great time. In the scheme of things, it’s wasn’t a big deal.

So overall my weekend was a win – minus a pair of white pants

How was your weekend?

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Friday Five

TGIF!! Let’s get right to sharing five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

I finally bought some knives! They were on sale which always makes me happy. I think they’ll be fine for me.The receptionist at Maggie’s vet is my hero! I spent days with Chewy trying to sort out a prescription snafu with Maggie’s food. Basically we just needed a one bag of food and treats before she sees her vet for her annual exam and shots in August. But Chewy was doing things like approving the treats, but saying there was no prescription for the food. Then they sent me an email that the food was approved, but not the treats. Does that sound logical to you? I tried to explain this but customer service could not figure out anything and suggested I get a new prescription. I went in circles for days, and finally I took Maggie to her normal bi-monthly vet-tech appointment, and told the receptionist what was happening. I told her I’d happy cancel the chewy order, and order the food from them instead. But she wasn’t having it, and called Chewy. Within a couple hours, the problem was fixed, the food shipped and now I have it! Maggie won’t starve! In the receptionist’s words were: “They had 85 reasons why this snafu happened, and not one of them made any sense.”  I laughed in relief. It’s not me! I’m not the problem! I also thanked her profusely. (Maggie has prescription food to help prevent bladder stones).I also spent this week trying and failing repeatedly to get test results for my surgeon appointment next week. This would be hilarious if it were a skit on Saturday Night Live. At this point, I’m just going to trust the surgeon’s office has the report. They said they did, so all should be fine. Let’s hope so because I think my patience is running on empty My Cilantro Plant is moody and probably looking to unalive himself. Well, actually, he’s actively trying to unalive himself. My other plants are all happy and well adjusted. But my favorite herb to use just has to be a delicate, moody, unpredictable creature. I may have to decide to NOT like cilantro in my food because I can’t take this heartbreak anymore Or I suppose I could just buy it at the store as needed.This weekend, I’m seeing a friend for lunch! She just got back from Hawaii, so I can’t wait to hear about her trip with her family. It’s a total coincidence that she and I both went with our families about a month apart. We’d both booked the trips before we found out the other was going. Life is so weird sometimes!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours. I hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend!

The post Friday Five first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Unexpected Company

I had a weird thing happen at Costco. It’s only weird because it hasn’t happened in a long time.

While checking out I noticed the checker’s name was Norma. All I thought at the time was, “Hmm, I haven’t seen that name in a long time.”

Then I went to the guy who checks the receipt on our way out to make sure we’re not stealing. (It’s so freaking annoying after just spending a big chunk on money). His name was Frank. Okay, well that’s a pretty common name.

I was freed from Costco, loaded my loot and jumped in the car. On the way home, two characters, Frank and Norma, popped into my head. I don’t know anything about them, except this is unlikely to be romance because those aren’t names I’d pick for a romance. I don’t even know what they’re doing except hanging around and making me ask a lot of questions.

So that was my unexpected, but welcome, company. I don’t expect anything to come of this pop in visit, but it sure was fun to let them keep me company as I drove home from Costco. We’ll see if they stick around nor not

How’s your Wednesday going?

The post Unexpected Company first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Roundup

Oh look, Monday arrived right on time So our weekend was good. Saturday I cleaned and prepped to have youngest and his wife over on Father’s Day. They are absolutely the easiest people to have over for dinner. So the cleaning and prep was most anxiety driven to keep myself busy while dealing with an insurance curveball in my treatment. Things will be fine, it’s just my inner control freak doesn’t like it, and I had to physically exhaust her to shut her up And yet she still wakes me up in the night to uselessly fret. She needs drugs, LOLOL! The same inner control freak drove me crazy when I was writing, along with the characters waking me up to chat in the middle of night. I’m used to voices in my head

Sunday (Father’s Day!), Wizard and I went out to breakfast to a place we haven’t been to since well before Covid, and really enjoyed it. I had a Mediterranean omelet with feta cheese. It was so good! That afternoon, youngest and his wife came over and we had a fun and relaxing time. We ate and laughed way too much Maggie was exhausted when they left.

How was your weekend, and if you celebrated Father’s Day — how was that?

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Friday Five

TGIF! It’s been another fast week for me. Okay let’s jump into sharing five random things about our week.

I’m fighting with my voicemail. It tells me my password is not valid. Then I got it two work for two days. Then back to not working. So frustrating! I’ve been to Verizon once, and of course, it worked while in the store. I asked them to take the password off, but they said they can’t and tried to upsale me another feature (for an additional monthly fee). I left. But last night, in desperation, I tried to add the new feature last night. So far it’s not working, but maybe it needs time…I dunno. I’ll probably be back at Verizon today.I got my hair cut, but am holding off on changing the color. I’m thinking about doing something that blends brown and gray, but I’m not committed yet. Plus other stuff is going on at the moment so we decided to just trim it up, and see how things go health wise first, then think about changing the color.Huge Kudos to Wizard for finding us Homeowners Insurance! Ours went up thousands (and I mean multiple thousands!) and many insurance companies have left the state, while the very few that remain refuse to insure us. I’m fully aware that many states are going though this, but since I live in California, I feel justified in adding that the state has contributed to it as well. (I try to only comment on the state that I live in ) I will be sending the Insurance Commissioner some helpful information . I’m over it. While I love California for many reasons, it doesn’t make me blind to her faults.So this is a long story short: It looks like I’ll be having another surgery to remove at least part of my thyroid. The hope is to keep my thyroid function. It sure has been a crazy ride, but overall, I’m feeling good and everything will be fine. We’re waiting for authorization then we’ll schedule it. I’ve seen a lot of doctors, had a lot of tests, and the one that sounds the worst — a needle in my throat — was the easiest, quickest and the most informative! That cracks me up. Again, I will be fine. This is just something that needs to be taken care of.Sunday is Father’s Day and I want to wish all the dads out there a Happy Father’s Day! Oldest son is traveling, we just saw Middle last weekend, and I think Youngest and wife is coming over for dinner on Sunday — but that’s a loose and flexible plan. I’ll take Wizard to breakfast too. It’s a good day to celebrate dads and all they do!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend, and Happy Father’s Day to all the dads!

The post Friday Five first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.