Jennifer Apodaca's Blog, page 25

Weekend Roundup

Not much happened this last weekend. We didn’t go to Turbo’s game, and made a new plan to go to his game on the 27th and then lunch with my daughter-in-law and Turbo (and CPA Boy if he can — tax season can cut into his weekends). Naturally it ended up not raining during his game. But if we had gone, it would have rained

Otherwise, Wizard’s dealing with stuff with his brother’s house (we’ll be so glad when he’s finally done handling with the estate), and I was working with my  middle daughter-in-law’s mom to find a location for the baby shower. We don’t have a house located central enough, so we need a venue that fits our budget. We made some progress and will hopefully get a venue nailed down this week or the weekend. I really like her mom so I think we’re going to enjoy this.

Sunday I spent two hours trying on clothes in Kohls, and came home with a dress, a shirt and sunglasses. Then I ordered two pairs of sandals to see how they fit. I’m trying. The styles of clothes just doing suit me. I need my basic summer clothes before we go to Hawaii Mid-May. I ruin, wear out or hate most of my shirts lately. Wizard is nagging me to buy clothes that I want.

This week is shaping up to be full of appointments and more waiting. I’m having the throat procedure on May 3rd (assuming nothing changes as we are still gathering tests and results), so I’m doing the bloodwork Monday and need to go buy a volunteer shirt at the animal shelter. Tues is my eye doc appointment. Wed is errands. Thursday is my Dog Walking Class, and Friday is something I can remember But things are getting done so that’s always a win.

I also began reading THE SERPERANT AND THE WINGS OF THE NIGHT by Carissa Broadbent and am enjoying it. It’s a vampire paranormal.

How was your weekend?

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Friday Five

TGIF! It was a fast week for me. Okay, let’s get into sharing five random things about our week;

The temperature was in the 80s and hot yesterday, yet it’s supposed to rain on Saturday. The wacky weather is creating lots of allergy and sinus issues.I bought some pitted dates, filled them with peanut butter and covered them in dark chocolate. They are in my fridge plotting ways to make me fat. They are also way too easy to make, and that’s just dangerous I’m trying to volunteer for my local animal shelter, but I’m having to work around some scheduling issues on my part. Of course, I’d like to do the most popular thing of walking the shelter dogs, and that has a prerequisite class “Dog Walking Level 1.” That class is always full. But I had a stroke of luck yesterday, and a spot opened up for next Thursday. I signed up! I want get qualified and commit to future dates to walk dogs now, so once it’s hot, I don’t decide to wait until summer is over. Dog walking is between 8am and 10am, so it’s shouldn’t be too intolerable. In the meantime, I may put in some hours doing anything else they need — washing bowls, folding blankets, cleaning tools in the clinic, however I can help for a couple hours here and there. I’m a big supporter of our animal shelter and I really hope volunteering works out, but we’ll see if it works out.I had coffee with Biker Witch yesterday in Barnes and Noble. We were mostly catching up, and I love that. But we also book shopped, which is always fun. I bought one book that was really random — I think it’s a Young Adult, but I’m hoping it’ll catch my interest enough to keep me reading. My sister bought two books because she must outdo me in all things, LOL!Tomorrow we hope to go see Turbo play baseball if it doesn’t rain. The weather app is insisting it will rain, so we’ll see. If we can’t go this time, we’ll go on the 27th. Otherwise, I need to do some cleaning and maybe do some clothes shopping.

That’s my five and now I’d really love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

The post Friday Five first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Happy Wednesday and a Yoga Butt Story

When I first saw the term “Yoga Butt” I thought, “Wow someone must have worked really hard to get a yoga butt! Good for them.”

Sadly, I was wrong. It’s basically a version of a pulled or strained muscle deep in the butt-hip area. I’m pretty sure I have it. It’s soooo annoying and takes way too long to heal.

Even more annoying is that this hip has been warning me for a couple weeks by twinging more and more each day. I just kept ignoring it until Monday morning when I tried a new yoga practice and felt the muscle go hot and angry (but not the burn of a tear, or at least not a significant one). So not only is Yoga Butt not good or impressive, it’s my fault that I got it. I had this injury several years ago, and thought I was doing all the right things to prevent reinjuring it. Obviously, I was a tad overconfident (as well as being an idiot for not slowing down when the twinges started!).

Oh well, it will heal. And the good news is this week is calm, so I don’t have to rush around which will also help. Although, I probably shouldn’t have been shoveling dirt today

How’s your Wednesday going?

The post Happy Wednesday and a Yoga Butt Story first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Roundup

What a fun weekend!

Saturday we had the kids out for Wizard’s birthday. We had a really nice time! Wizard really was touched, and I think he felt as special as he is to us. It was a big birthday for Wizard. I did a simple cake design due to time constraints and a very soft icing (but good!). Here’s the slightly lopsided cake pic:

 

And here’s the dessert and appetizer table: Below Wizard’s cake are the gluten and dairy free cinnamon roll Mini Bundt Cakes.

 

My daughter-in-law (Oldest’s wife AKA Special K) ordered and brought the food, which was tri tip, chicken, rolls and tons of sides. I forgot to take a pic of that, but it was amazing to not have to do all that!

Sunday was my first day to really decompress, feel more rested and get my head together. It was amazing. Much of my improved mental state is because I saw my primary doctor on Friday and without my even asking, he talked through all the issues during my pre-op appointment. He already has an “in the unlikely event we need it plan” outlined. I truly didn’t know how much I was worrying. Knowing the plan is there if we need it has freed up mental space in my head to go live my life in the present and quit worrying about the tests and what to do next stuff. I don’t know if that makes sense, but it works for me. So Sunday, I worked out, Maggie and I took two long walks, I filled out an application to volunteer at the local animal shelter, worked on plans for a party (more on that below), and just had a day without pressure and worry. Plus the weather was gorgeous!

And now for my fun news: The party I was working on? A Baby Shower!!! We are going to be grandparents for a second time! Our middle son and his wife are expecting a baby at the end of August. We’ve known for six weeks or so. This is such beautiful, joyous news. Turbo will have a baby cousin So daughter-in-law’s mom and I are working together on the shower. She (I think) has input from the aunts on her side, and I have my other two daughters-in-law. I love it when everyone just wants to help and make it special. A new child in the family is truly something to celebrate.

So that was my weekend, how was yours?

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Friday Five

TGIF!! I can’t believe it’s Friday again. Let’s jump right into sharing five random things about our week.

Yesterday was Wizard’s birthday. We went to dinner to celebrate, which we really enjoyed. Saturday, the kids are coming over for a second celebration. I’m looking forward to that! I love that they are bringing food too, so all I had to do was easy appetizers, cake and drinks.I went to my little cake store this week. I was only there 20 minutes, but it was fun. I haven’t done many cakes lately, due to health, house projects and inflation. The cost of baking ingredients plus supplies has me pausing lately. I certainly don’t make cakes we don’t need. But it was nice to get out to the cake decorating store, and get some suggestions from then on the filling for Wizard’s cake. This one will be simple cake, not super decorated.Oh, Monday we got our passport pictures to renew our passports and Wizard broke the camera, LOLOL!! So first they staff did my pictures, and they uploaded and printed fine. Then they took Wizards, and they would NOT upload to the computer — the pictures would just vanish. It took about 20 minutes and 4 different employees to finally get a set of pictures that would upload to the computer. I was cracking up so hard. The employees were all laughing too. I, being the loving and supportive wife, accused him of being a vampire. Why he puts up with me is anyone’s guess. And then, we headed over to the At Home store and bought a six-and-a-half-foot artificial tree (I think it’s a dracaena tree?) for a corner in our great room. I was surprised that Wizard didn’t even blink at the cost — after I publicly accused him of being a vampire Both of us really like that fake bamboo tree that we probably won’t kill…hopefully.Today I’m going to the doctor’s for a pre-op clearance. It sounds like a big deal, but it’s just for a throat biopsy to see if we can determine what weirdness is brewing in there. The MRI ruled out most serious things, which is great. Here’s the funny thing. Wizard was in the doctor’s office with me, and I asked how the doc wanted to do the biopsy. He asked how strong my gag reflex is — and I look over at Wizard who was suddenly pale and leaning toward the door. He thought the doctor was going to do it right there and was panicking. He wanted out of that room. Wizard is squeamish, LOL. In his defense, he’s been very supportive and making sure I keep following up on this for 8 long months. Anyhow I told the doctor my gag reflex is a 10 out of 10, so we’re doing it under anesthesia. That’s why I need need a pre-op clearance from my regular doctor. So not a big deal. But trying to coordinate all this plus an ultrasound (another thing that is likely nothing to worry about), getting approvals and scheduling has been time consuming!I’m sure hoping I can start to catch my breath next week.

So that’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

The post Friday Five first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Happy Wednesday!

Maggie and I went for an afternoon walk behind our house. Here she is in front of the creek:

 

Every time I show Wizard pictures of Maggie, he comments on how gray she is with that tiny note of sadness. My response is: Who cares how gray she is? What matters is that she’s happy and active  (she did two walks for a total of 3.3 miles yesterday!).

And here’s a better pic of the creek.

It’ll dry up very quickly, but that’s all water running down from the hills. It flows down behind my house, through more forest land to Youngest’s house. There the creek gets feisty and likes to likes to wash out a convenient back road that we all like to use as a shortcut to Youngest’s house. Naturally I get blamed for this, because I’m his mom and obviously should prevent that from happening, LOLOL.

So that’s my Wednesday Happy, what’s yours?

The post Happy Wednesday! first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Roundup

I hope everyone had a nice Easter and a great weekend! We had rain. All weekend It’s supposed to be dry today, then more rain at the end of the week. Weird, but the weather does what it wishes without consulting me And I’m glad we’ve gotten a lot of rain this year as we need it.

So the weekend was quiet. I cleaned, watched a movie with Wizard and we had a nice Easter dinner of ribs. I also planned a simple cake for Wizard’s birthday and something to make youngest (he never asks me to make him a separate thing, I just do it if I have the time).  Oh and I finally picked up some gifts I had sent to Youngest’s because we were in the middle of painting. It’s pretty hard to hide gifts when every single place with a wall (closets included) had to be packed and moved. Which reminds me, I better get some wrapping paper.

I also finished Larissa Ione’s latest book ” Legacy of Temptation” She’s definitely one of my favorite writers, and that hasn’t changed. For me, though, this one was a bit of a struggled. She is introducing a new generation of characters and I was good with that. But also merging in the older characters and after a while, I grew a tad frustration with not moving on with the main story. I think I’m alone in that, and would bet that most of her fans loved seeing their favorite characters. I have truly developed a form of Reading ADD that causes me to get distracted very easily when there’s a lot of backstory or extras. I will still happily snatch up her next book!

I have no idea what I’m going to read next.

How was your Easter and weekend?

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Friday Five

TGIF! Time to share five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

It’s going to rain this weekend. It’s been very rainy this year, but we don’t generally get the same deluges in my area that other spots in California do.My frustration was pretty high yesterday. I spent hours making phone calls and trying to do other people’s job. I really wish people in one medical group or organization would pick up the phone and call the other. I’m just the patient who doesn’t actually have all the various info (and that’s another rant, but we’ll save that for another day). In one case, it’s taken me two days worth of phone calls, but I finally got it resolved yesterday afternoon. On the other issue, I’m still waiting for a return call. The bright spot in all this is that I have spoken to a few really nice people who have genuinely been trying to help, so that’s a win, right?Poor Maggie was so restless while I was trapped on the phone, that I finally ended the call, ate lunch and took Maggie for a long walk. I was proud of myself for just walking away and having fun with Maggie. We found huge fogs and lots of tadpoles in a storm runoff pond. Maggie “pointed” to a few birds. Maggie is not a pointer breed (she’s a mix) but she definitely points. I’ve had a German shorthair pointer and know what that looks like. It’s pretty funny. She actually has a pretty good pointer stance.I’ve been sitting on some good (not professional) news in our family. But still waiting to mention it. It makes me smile every single day.It’s going to be just me and Wizard for Easter, so I think I’ll make ribs. That’s been my plan, but i don’t buy the ribs until a day or two before. Neither one of us care for ham, so ribs it is! I really hope everyone who celebrates has a lovely Easter!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! Happy Easter and have a great weekend!

The post Friday Five first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Rambling Wednesday

Tuesday was a long day. Wizard went with me to discuss test results with my ENT, where we learned I need more tests There’s nothing more to report, except right now I’m fine, and my ENT is very engaged and doing what needs to be done. So we can shake off that subject and move on to a subject that recently caught my attention.

In my defense, I was on hold for two hours last Friday (not kidding, it was that long!) to sort out the usual tangled bureaucratic issues so I can get my Humira.  I got it resolved! But while stuck on hold, I decided to go on the social media alternate universe formerly known as Twitter, where I fell down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories regarding Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales. I don’t know the correct formal address for her, but most of you know who I mean.

Whoa, there’s serious crazy brewing down that rabbit hole!

For context, I’m a U.S. resident and have no stake in the British Monarchy. I liked to read about Diana in the old days, and these days enjoy occasional pictures and articles about Kate and her kids. I don’t know her, have no idea who she truly is as a person, but like her public persona. That’s it, that’s my interest. Then I heard she had major surgery, disappeared for a few months, and now she revealed she has cancer.

And the world lost it’s mind, as well as it’s manners, and compassion, in response. I think the palace, or whoever is the PR for that group did a poor job, but even so…to make the terrible accusations has me shaking my head. I’ll even say, sure, some of the pictures had me raising my eyebrows, but I don’t leap to crimes having been committed, bodies hidden, and AI used to cover it up. I don’t think even soap opera writers can come up with some of the wild plot lines I read. What makes me the saddest is near as I can tell, Kate is the most relatable of the Monarchy, and yet, the people behind all these conspiracy theories can’t seem to remember she’s a human being with three children. Could we maybe use a little discretion? Especially after she told the world she has cancer? Or do we just automatically accuse her of lying to cover it up and make ourselves feel better for the things we said before that revelation?

I think that’s what bugs me the most. The blind cruelty in the name of getting some kind of attention or clicks.

At this point, I wish her well and hope she recovers as I would for anyone struggling with cancer or any serious health issues. I especially hope for the best for her kids.

What do you think?

The post Rambling Wednesday first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Roundup

If a “good weekend” consists of working our butts off, then we nailed it! We have the house about 90% restored. All we have left is to hang pictures, and sort through boxes of old books and pictures.  Overall we are super pleased to get the two projects that required so much moving stuff around behind us!

Sunday morning we went out to breakfast which was a nice break. Later in the day, we bought some new luggage. We bought our old luggage a couple decades ago, so it was the roller-type with two wheels. The two new pieces are lightweight, inexpensive spinner bags (the four wheel type that turns 360 degrees).  It’ll make travel to Hawaii in May easier for us.

So it was a productive weekend. Now I can focus on Wizard’s birthday in a couple weeks Both Wizard and Oldest have “big” birthdays in April, roughly two weeks apart.

How was your weekend?

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.