Jennifer Apodaca's Blog, page 43

Weekend Roundup

Santa brought Wizard a cold. I’m probably getting it too, so yay us But the bright spot is…

After four different tries, one return and waiting for the new mirror, countless holes in the wall, and discovering that the ceiling is off a half inch — we have hung the mirrors! This feels like a major feat, LOLOL! We had them hung at the third try, but they were they were too far apart on the wall (in my opinion), and one mirror was slightly higher than the other. I kept my mouth shut. I was not going to say anything because Wizard tried so hard and I really appreciated it. Seriously, he kept measuring down from the ceiling, and I’d double check his measurements, and they were exact. But the mirrors kept coming out uneven by half an inch. It was maddening. Then when he was out in the garage, it suddenly dawned on my what might be wrong, and I measured both ends of the wall from floor to ceiling. Sure enough, the ceiling sloped nearly about half inch from one end to the other. Who knows if that’s intentional with the pitch of the roof or just not squared. But we’d both had it that day, so I figured we’d live with the mirrors the way they were.

The next morning, he surprised me and asked me if I wanted to try one more time to get the mirrors even. He meant so that one mirror wasn’t higher than the other. I said, “Sure, I’ll try if you want to.” And then I added,  “Since you’ll have to make new holes, do you want to move the mirrors in closer together?”

He was startled and that’s when I realized that “centering” the two mirrors on the wall meant something different to each of us. In his mind divided the wall in half and center one mirror in each half. Doing that left a bigger space in the middle than on the ends, but it made perfect sense to him. While my brain wanted even wall space between all three sides of the mirrors. He wasn’t upset, just curious what I meant. Once I showed him, he was happy to do it.

Even after 40 years together, we sometimes still don’t read each other minds

Otherwise, our weekend was normal stuff, how was yours?

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Friday Five

TGIF! Wow how did it get to be December already? Crazy! But lets focus now on sharing five random things about our week.

I miss reading. Listening to audiobooks is great, I really love them and I’m listening to a really interesting one right now. I’m going to try harder to physically read more books in 2023 if I can. I miss writing too, but I’m just in a different place in my life these days. But 2023 will be a new year to get things done!We got the microwave and cooktop fixed! Turned out all they needed to do was replace the breaker with a better one. I wasn’t here but Wizard said it just took the electrician that housing track sent out a few minutes.  In related news on the new chairs: The company is sending out someone to look at them next Tuesday. I am hoping for just as easy of a resolution. It’ll be interesting to see if it’s our fault or the chairs At this point, it could be either.I went out shopping on Wednesday for some things for the house, and ended up only buying a set of Christmas dish towels featuring a dog that looks like Maggie on them I think I spent a whopping $7.00. We’ll be starting the retaining walls, planters and concrete outside soon, so I’m good with my $7.00 purchase, LOL! I had planned to go to my cake store but never made it due to time constraints, which also saved us a chunk of change! I’ll probably get there next week. Right now, I’m planning cookies for something Wizard wants me to do, but at some point, I’ll do a fun cake too.Yesterday morning, I was walking Maggie when a beautiful, fairly big black dog came barreling toward us. I stopped and told him no, he slowed and grew respectful and sweet. His body language was pretty easy to read so I wasn’t too worried until a second smaller dog showed up growling and much more fearful and insecure. That’s when things got serious.  A construction guy came over and helped tell the dogs to leave. I’m very grateful for his help! Maggie and I turned and went home, and I had to send the dogs away one more time on our way, but they listened. I don’t know what happened to the dogs after that. Once I had Maggie inside, they were gone. Wizard was out in the garage later and said he never saw them too. They had flat collars on, and I’m wondering if the belonged to one of the construction workers on the job site, but the guy helping me didn’t want to tell me that. The reason I suspect that is because they came out of the yard where the workers gather in the morning and they looked well cared for.Wizard is struggling with sinuses this week. We don’t think it’s a cold, it’s acting like allergies/sinuses that come and go. He’s a bit more tired than usual but doesn’t seem sick. The weather has gone from sunny to overcast and deciding if it might rain or not so that’s probably a factor. A lot of people we know have been really sick with the current cold virus going around, so we haven’t made any real plans for the weekend just to make sure we’re both well before we go and expose too many others.

So that’s my pretty boring week Now I’d love to hear about your five! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

The post Friday Five first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Happy Wednesday!

Yesterday, I was at loose ends and had something on my mind, so Maggie and I went for a walk. We followed a road until it literally dropped off into a wash for rain runoff:

It’s amazing what the force of water can do! It’s a lot steeper looking in person, and I never get too close to the edge (or let Maggie get close). What’s funny was years ago a housing track swore that the was going road would go through to the freeway that is on the other side of some of the land you see here, plus there’s a rock quarry back there. We laughed at them. Sure it was possible, but unless that housing track was going to pay for it — including buying the rock quarry, it was highly unlikely. It would take years just to get the funding  and do all the studies for that. I don’t remember who told them that, but they were trying to sell it to us as fact. We still laugh about that. It’s been about 27 years since then, and I feel pretty confident that we were right.

And this one is Maggie thinking: Yesterday you took me to the vet as an emergency, and today you take me out for a second walk that turned into a mile long hike?  Humans are not logical! LOLOL!

She has a lot of gray these days, but she’s still beautiful to me! She also clearly feels fine, she was excited to go for the walk. By the way, if anyone recognizes the martingale collar I use, that is for her safety. We are in an area that could be dangerous, and if she somehow slipped her flat collar, it could cost her her life. The collar never bothers her. If fact, when I pick it up to leash her, she gets excited.

How’s your day going?

The post Happy Wednesday! first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Roundup

I’m back! It feels like 9 weeks since I’ve been here!

Thanksgiving went well. It was the usual chaos when all my kids are together, but that’s how holidays always go with us Unfortunately, Biker Witch and her Biker Hubby couldn’t be there, but we all understood. All I can say though is these days, I couldn’t do it without all the help from my daughters-in-law! My middle daughter-in-law is an amazing cook so when she starts cooking, we get out of her way! And all the girls brought a lot of the food, which made it really easy on me. I made the turkey, potatoes and had three kinds of cookies in the freezer that I thawed out for various dietary needs. I had things on hand like whipped cream and ice cream for the pies and the girls pretty much did all the rest.

Friday we went to the car show which was in Los Angeles with CPA Boy, Special K and Turbo. Special K and Wizard both suffer from eternal car fever, so this was for them We did, however, run into Officer Turbo:

They were letting kids sit on a one of their fleet of motorcycles. And they gave him a badge sticker — he was thrilled.

Saturday I tried to rest, which somehow included two walks because I’m so good at resting, LOL! My side was annoying me, but it was somewhat better yesterday.

Sunday…frustrating. My chairs came, YAY! (right after Thanksgiving, LOL). I checked everything but whether they reclined. So of course, I can’t get them to recline. It’s probably just that they are tight because they are pushback manual recliners. Wizard will look at them when he gets home (I’m writing thoi Sunday afternoon when he’s at a radio control car race). Otherwise, I love the pattern and I think we’ll be happy. If we can’t bet them to recline, the store will send someone out to check them.

Then yesterday my microwave shorted out, and the lighter on my cooktop stopped working (likely shorted too). I need to contact the housing people today and push to get that fixed ASAP. I use my microwave and stove a lot, so I’m sort of at a loss without them.

Today, we are on standby at the vet’s office — they are going to try to work Maggie in for a swollen lymph node. It’s one of those things that could be nothing, could be something like a bad or infected tooth that I just can’t see, or could be more concerning. Overall, Maggie is eating and acting normal which is good.

But that’s enough of me, how was your Thanksgiving and weekend?

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Wednesday Story and Happy Thanksgiving!

On Tuesday, the two long hallway mirrors we’d ordered were finally delivered. Yay! We can get the pictures up before Thanksgiving! Hanging the mirrors was a little tricky as our long hallway has two sections on each side. We wanted to hang the mirrors side by side on one section.  After repeated measuring and remeasuring, we got the first one up in about an hour and a half. Progress! Finally we got the second one up, and realized it was a bit higher than the first one. Okay…we pulled out the measuring tape, and Wizard bent down to measure from the floor to the bottom of the mirrors to find exactly how much to move it when…

We found a crack in the bottom right corner of the second mirror! Both of us just stared at the crack in shock. We had scanned the mirrors looking for obviously cracks, but neither one of us looked that closely or we’d have found it. Picture us both slapping ourselves in frustration. Then we snapped out of it, and spent another hour taking the mirror down and repackaging it. And then more time the next day hauling it to a UPS store to return it (I didn’t want to store this mirror while waiting for a pickup during the holidays). Now we have one mirror hung and it looks, well, awkward and annoying. But the house is a work in progress and that’s okay.  It certainly wont affect Thanksgiving and it’ll give the kids one more thing to tease us about

To everyone celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow I hope you have a warm and wonderful time with those you love!

Quick Programming Note: I’m guessing I won’t get a chance to post on Friday, but I’ll be back Monday.  

The post Wednesday Story and Happy Thanksgiving! first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

The So Very Late Edition of Weekend Roundup

Hey! Sorry for the late blog! We had a later than usual night on Sunday, and the blog slipped my mind until the morning when I looked at my phone to see if the blog posted. That’s when I remembered I never wrote it, LOL! Then the morning made Monday-like demands, and here I am. Finally!

So it was a good weekend. Friday night, I got the good news that my CT scan was clear other than a partially distended stomach which is not a big deal right now and not a surprise given all my symptoms. That news is a relief and pretty much tells us what the pain is likely from — which is a functional problem not an illness or something else more worrisome.

Saturday was chores and errands. Part of those errands was feeding my grand dog, Phoebe, her dinner while her parents were out. Boy did I get an earful when I went in the house. She met me at the door and told me exactly how her parents had left her alone! If I hadn’t showed up, she might have starved to death or had some other equally dramatic misfortune. This dog is 100% goofball Golden Retriever. She cracks me up. She’s also perfectly fine by herself. When I left, I am confident she slept until her parents got home then told them a story of how she’d had to fight off scary villains or forage for her own food like the abandoned dogs she once saw on a TV show. The one thing I’d love her to tell me is how she knows it’s me at the door??? She doesn’t even bark when I come over anymore, yet I’ve seen her bark fiercely when a “stranger” comes to the door. Can she smell me? Does she recognize my footsteps? She’s not at the window, so how does she know????

Sunday we got to see Turbo!! They came out late in the day and we had a great time. I took Turbo on a walk on a group of empty lots that have piles of dirt. His dad and I were trying to take him to a parked tractor, but Turbo was way too distracted by the piles of dirt. We did eventually make it to the tractor which he also enjoyed. When we finally got back to the house, grandpa took him out back for more playing in the dirt. But grandpa one-upped us by building a ramp down our hill for his monster trucks I had no clue grandpa had saved wood for this project! I was highly amused.

And…guys…they brought us a housewarming gift! Wizard and I were beyond thrilled! This is like a dream come true. A Roomba!!! I know, I know. Other people dream of vacations or whatnot, but we have a robot vacuum! We would definitely not have bought it for ourselves and certainly never asked anyone else too, but they did it and we LOVE it! We hugely appreciate it too. Of course we’ll still vacuum and sweep, but this will help so much.

So it was a good weekend for us, how was yours?

Can you all believe it’s Thanksgiving weekend (if you’re here in the U.S.)???

The post The So Very Late Edition of Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Friday Five

TGIF! Time to share five random things about our week:

Wizard has finished the building portion of the garage! But man, his hands are a mess. Most of his fingers have cracks in them. Do you think that stops him??? Please a few bloody cracks in his skin are not the same thing as a Man Cold He’s done a great job! He has more organizing to do but the bulk of it is done.My brother-in-law is home now, and we’re hoping he continues to feel better. Fingers crossed!Turbo and his family have mostly recovered! They are planning to come out Sunday. Turbo wants to make chocolate rice crispy treats. Easy and fun!On the baking front, I found a non-dairy and gluten free chocolate cookie! They are meringue cookies, but very rich which is almost an oxymoron since meringue cookies are usually light. I froze them to see how they defrost. This cookie was just a personal challenge as I know someone who can’t have dairy or wheat, and I limit those items in my diet. Then I went to make vegan white chocolate macadamia cookies (which people seem to really like!) and realized I didn’t have any dairy free white chocolate chips. Now this is a problem since they are super hard to find in my town. Long story short, I’m hoping they ones I ordered arrive tomorrow as promised by Amazon, then I will make those. But all this is fun stuff. Eventually I’ll make cakes again. Cookies are just easier to freeze and get one or two out when we want them. I also have a half batch of regular and very good chocolate chip cookies in my freezer Unless Wizard ate them all when I was gone yesterday, LOL!My CT scan was yesterday and I did everything right because I sooooo want to be done with all this. I arrived an hour early, drank the contrast stuff (no idea what it was, but I was determined to get this done!). Waited an hour, got all set up in the room then drank even more mystery solution. Then the tech put my IV in. I started to get worried just because she kept cautioning me not to bend my arm so as not to pop out the IV. Okay…so they do the first two scans, then tell me the machine will put the contrast in my IV. Liquid spurted everywhere but into my vein. Two people came running, they thought I was having a reaction when actually something in the IV line spouted holes or a connector failed. I couldn’t really see from my position, but I know the needle in my arm was in fine. The next try shot contrast into my hair and the two techs were pretty flustered by them. On the the third they “think” some contrast went in, but I can barely feel it. What I should have felt was a sweep flush of warmth that makes me question my bladder control. But what I did feel was a tiny trickle of warmth a few inches up my arm then nothing. I have serious doubts about whether they were able to shoot good enough contrast scans. I so don’t want to have to redo this scan. We’ll see.

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

The post Friday Five first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Cookies are Good Luck

Yesterday was one of those days. But I don’t want to get into life’s frustrations — we all have them, right? Instead, I’ll tell you a small win. I ran to a discount grocery store to buy some roasted, salted macadamia nuts for cookies. I found the nuts…but then I accidently stumbled across something else.

A cutting board!

We’ve been looking forever for a big cutting board to replace my old one that resembles an ancient crime scene. I couldn’t find one the right size or at a bearable cost. Yet on this day, I found a perfect sized, bamboo cutting board with the well around it (for drippings) for only $11.99! Sold!

Today the food grade mineral oil I need to condition the board should arrive and I’m weirdly excited about this cutting board  But you know what’s even better? I found this board while out buying ingredients to bake cookies. So what’s the moral of this story?

Clearly cookies are good luck! We all need more cookies in our lives!

Happy Wednesday!

The post Cookies are Good Luck first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Roundup

This weekend was packed with errands. It was all small stuff at probably 10 different stores over a couple days. Because of our location, sometimes, those little errands can end up taking a ton of time because we have to go so far. I bought two “extravagant” item that’s going to irritate Wizard. One was another set of four wine glasses for $7.99, which is a steal. I probably won’t need them for Thanksgiving, but if I didn’t buy them, then for sure I’d need them. Also, I don’t want to brag, but I’m pretty good at breaking wine glasses while washing them. So that’s one “extravagant” purchase that will bug Wizard.

The second purchase is my one and only fall decoration. It’s late since we’re careering right into Christmas, but it was only $15.00!

I think he’s cute and I have a whole plan to make a table scape for Thanksgiving with him. I’ll have a second table and I’ll do something with that one too…I’ll know it when I see it Of course, I’m using cheap paper tablecloths, so I don’t think Martha Stewart or any other decorating gurus are feeling threatened. Decorating is soooo not my forte. I’m just do what makes us happy.

My brother-in-law is now in the right place that has the expertise to treat him and hopefully get him well soon. We are relieved about that. None of this has been easy for him, but he’s powering through.

So how was your weekend?

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Friday Five

TGIF! Time to dive into sharing five random things about our week.

The medical system feels like it’s totally crashing in the last week or two in our neck of the woods. First brother in law is on hold waiting for treatment.  We’re all not happy and baffled by this. It’s not good for him, and he’s stuck in a hospital waiting.For reasons I can’t begin to fathom, the imaging center decided they had to review my CT to see if it was medically necessary. Why? No clue, the specialist and my regular doc thought it was necessary, and sure enough the “team of doctors reviewing it” came to the same decision four business days later. It’s scheduled for late next week, and then I had a slew of paperwork to fill out. I’m sure there’s a reason but I can figure it out.On the upside, saw my regular doc today and felt like sanity had returned just because he’s so ground in reality and helpful. He rolled his eyes at the Fodmat diet I was on and said, “Most of my patients, like you, have already eliminated every problematic food from their diet.” I felt validated We’re all baffled by mysterious side pain, and all of us feel it will remain mysterious but we’ll go though this final step of the CT then…wish the side pain well and move on with our lives. (When all else fails, be sarcastic or ridiculous because seriously, who has time or money for all this????)All my pictures/wall art are still stacked in a corner of the living room. We keep trying to find time to lay them out and hang them. It’s becoming a fun joke. We’ll get to it eventually.Hmm…what else? Oh we have had gorgeous weather! A day or so of rain which we really needed. And fall like weather that I love! Maggie and I took a little hike on muddy dirt roads yesterday and neither one of us cared. Wizard just shook his head, but he knows I walk off stress. And my doctor also assure me and encouraged me to do all exercise that I want too including yoga, and I won’t make anything worse. That relieved Wizard’s mind. He knows me best and knows this is real even when I try to convince myself it’s in my mind. But the point of this is that I truly love and appreciate this weather!

This weekend, first I hope things happen for brother in law that need to happen. Second we want to see Turbo, but we’ll see how that goes. They will come out here if they can. So that was my five, now I really want to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

The post Friday Five first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.