Jennifer Apodaca's Blog, page 55

Book Talk

For the first time in a while, I bought all the available books in a series up front.  I got the audio version of Darynda Jones’s Betwixt and Between paranormal series. It’s women’s fiction, but it fits in a lot of categories. I’m enjoying it. I’m on book 2, Bewitched, and what I’m liking so far is:

Heroine is in her 40’s. An older heroine if a refreshing change sometimes.She’s a witch! I love witch characters when it makes sense. A few things are a stretch to me, but the story is cute enough for me to suspend disbelief.The love interest has an interesting backstory tied to her magic.Her grandparents are meddling and one of them is creatively tied to the house she’s living in.I originally had mixed feelings about her “dads” in the beginning it felt like the author was checking off a political correctness box. But they are growing on as their characters develop so I may be wrong about my original reaction. If this opinion is somehow offensive to someone…whatever. Yesterday I was offended by the woman who drove 30 MPH in a 50MPH zone, and yet I survived There’s a cat named Ink. And he loves pizza.

This isn’t one of those books I can’t stop listening too, but it’s been really good for a bunch of driving I’ve had to do

So that’s my reading (or listening), what are you all reading?

The post Book Talk first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Roundup

The weekend came and went right on schedule

Saturday Wizard went racing, and I took advantage of a quiet day to do yoga, then I went out to Hobby Lobby to look around. I intended to buy a 2lb container of fondant to do some more practice cakes, but I ended up getting a 5lb container that was on sale for the price of a 2lb. It’s not great fondant, but perfect for practicing and playing around with ideas. I walked all over that store just amusing myself. Then I came home and took Maggie for a walk over to where our new house will be. We walked so long, that when we got back on our street and the girl across the street came over to say hi, Maggie greeted her, but then pulled to go into the house, which is highly unusual. Normally she’s all over the girl and has better manners than to try to tug me in the house. She was thirsty and tired, I guess.

Sunday, Wizard stayed home and I went out to see Turbo and his parents. Special K and I took Turbo to the park where he insisted he must take the special tackle box that Wizard got him filled with his cars. I got a picture of that for Wizard and that made him happy. Turbo played at the park for a while then we went to lunch. It was a low key and nice day. When I left, Turbo hugged me then he gave me another extra big hug for Grandpa. That kid is such a charmer when he wants to be!

In the morning before I left to see Turbo, I got in the car and the check engine light went on. Grrr. Wizard and I were both surprised. So this morning we’re taking the car in to find out what’s going on. Wizard made the appointment early so I can get home to drop him off, then turn around and go to a long planned lunch with a friend. It’s not the best way to start a Monday but it’s not the worst either and I get to see a friend that I haven’t seen since this whole Covid thing started.

That was my weekend, how was yours?

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Friday Five

TGIF! It’s time to share five random things about our week.  But first, for all of you in the bad weather areas, I hope your okay, have power and no significant weather related issues.

Last weekend, I was cleaning before BLB and his wife came over, and since it was so warm here, I decided to wash the outside table and chairs. I took the chairs over to one of our deck drains, which put me between the pool, the back fence and the side hill. I rinsed the chairs and set the hose down to scrub them with soap. Except…the hose rolled to the nozzle handle and locked on. Water sprayed an endless gusher, soaking me. The hilarious thing is because the nozzle locked on and I was basically in a corner, I couldn’t do anything except dive into the spray, grab the handle and finally wrench the pin locking it off. Then I laughed, because this so my life, LOL! It wasn’t a big deal though, I didn’t have my cell phone or watch on me so nothing was damaged. Wizard came outside to ask me something, saw me dripping water and burst into laughter. I never did find out what he wanted to ask me My knees have been bugging me this year off and on. I’m annoyed by this. It’s not bad and perfectly manageable right now, but I know it’s a sign of age  and that’s just insulting.In California, if you buy a new house, you must also buy or lease a minimum number of solar panels.  It’s totally out of our control, and we’re given predesignated packages by the builder and the solar company they contract with. We knew this going in to this house purchase, and we knew the exact cost (it’s in addition to the base price of the house and considered an upgrade…a forced upgrade!). We’re still pissy about it. I’m not even against solar, I’m against being forced into it, and not being able to choose which company or package I want. There’s no point to this, I’m just venting here. California, like most states, has positives and negatives.We’re drowning in house related paperwork, phone calls and emails. I know this is only the start of the process…fun times ahead I’m not sure if I’m going to shoot out to see Turbo on Saturday or not, I need to check with his parents to see if they’ll be around or have plans. But I’ve been waiting to find out if Wizard is going racing or not, and he’s been waiting for a call back from our pool guy (the one we use when we need something replaced) to make a decision. If the pool guy can come out Saturday, then Wizard will stay home. This really doesn’t change my ability to go see Turbo, but I still want to know Wizard’s plans first. It doesn’t make sense, even I know that.

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

The post Friday Five first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

The House Scoop

Happy Wednesday. I hope everyone had a great Valentines Day.

Before I get into house details, I’m going to do a reminder. Yes, we’re under contact to buy the house, but until the final closing is done and the keys are in our hand, things can go wrong. Just like things can and do go wrong in publishing deals (it’s happened to me!), but I wanted to share this journey with you guys. Also, for now, I’m not going to name the builder.

Okay moving on!

The new house is a one-story, 3 bedroom with a study (my office!). It’s an open concept floor plan with a great room and large kitchen in one space. It has a two-car garage, which means Wizard is sacrificing. We really tried to secure a lot where we could add a third car garage, but there just weren’t many lots with enough space and the correct positioning to fit in a side-turn third garage. Wizard feels he can make it work, and he’s excited about this house. I will happily make one of the bedrooms into a hobby room for him if he wishes. We’ll see what works best for him.

So that’s the basic house.  From those builder options, we’ve chosen to add a sunroom  at the end of the kitchen that will become our dining room, and a covered patio right off that to the basic plan. What’s really awesome is that adding the sunroom immediately upgrades the kitchen to what they call a deluxe kitchen. That means its bigger, extending the cabinets and the island quite a bit. Oh and it adds another window in the kitchen.  The island faces the living area, and it has the sink and dishwasher in it, which is exactly what I hoped for. This kitchen also has a walk in pantry. I have never had a walk in pantry There’s an option to turn that pantry into a powder room, but I’d much rather have the pantry. Plus it’s one less bathroom to clean because….priorities, LOL.

I’m in love with this kitchen. It’s one of those things that just works for both of us. Wizard is in the kitchen enough that it really matters to him too.

So while we are doing some structural upgrades, most of what we’ll be getting will be standard, meaning what the builder includes with the prices of the house. While I love design shows and videos, back here in the real world, I’ll be happy with what we can afford

That’s where we are now. Next up, we do the electrical upgrades (things like adding extra canned lights, and we’re adding a couple boxes for us to put in ceiling fans later, just a few things but nothing fancy) before the architect draws up the final design that then goes to the city for approval to start on the house. It’s interesting that all these plans with the structural options were approved by the city planning commission quite a while ago, but then they have to approve them again for each lot once the buyer finalizes their structural upgrades. But I know a heck of a lot more about building a book than a house, so maybe that’s how its always done.

Okay, I’m going to try not to bore you guys with this too much over the next months. But I will be doing some updates, hopefully for fun.

Now I’d love to hear how your Wednesday is going!

The post The House Scoop first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Roundup

Happy Valentine’s Day!

That was a fun weekend. Saturday I baked a chocolate chip peanut butter cookie cake while Wizard went to see Turbo.  Turbo met Grandpa at the door and immediately took him in his room to play. It’s just too cute, and Wizard was so happy when he came home. Then when Grandpa had to leave, he told Turbo he had to go home and take care of Maggie. That’s what we always tell him. But Turbo said, “No you don’t, Grandpa. Grandma’s there taking care of Maggie.” LOLOL! Busted! Long story short, Grandpa was an hour late getting home because Turbo wanted him to stay. I accepted that excuse

Then Sunday we celebrated BLB’s birthday with just BLB and his wife. Sometimes it’s nice to keep it small. We made tri tip and shrimp, then had the cookie cake which came out pretty well. I’ve never used this recipe, and I converted it to non-dairy, so  I wasn’t sure how it’d turn out. The important thing is Youngest was happy with his birthday cake. His actual birthday is in a couple days.

Also, they brought us a bottle of wine as a congratulations for our news, which I’ll share now Wizard and I signed a contract for a new house one week ago today. We’re excited (more like thrilled!), but it’s going to be a long process as it’s a new build that won’t even begin forming the foundation until next month or later. It looks like it’ll be September or October before it’s finished. I’ll be sharing a lot about the house and our experience over the next few months.

It was so fun taking Youngest and his wife to see the models. They were both so interested, and my daughter-in-law is great at decorating on a budget so I was chatting to her about everything and she was being very helpful and sweet.

I’m also excited that this house will have a great space for an office. I really haven’t given up on writing.

So that was my weekend, how was yours? I hope everyone had a fun and safe 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.

It’s hot and windy here. This is definitely weird for February. It’s so bad, I order 4 sleeveless t-shirts yesterday because I’m wondering if winter is avoiding us. Also, I want to stock up before they sell out.I took Maggie in for a quick tech appointment at the vet’s yesterday. She’s so quiet at home, but in the vet waiting room, she’s a Tail Wagging Chatty Kathy. It’s pretty funny. She’s half scared, and half just a happy girl who thinks everyone should talk to her. Of course, if they come too close, she either hides behind me or rolls over in a submissive pose. Maggie is a character, LOL.  And they all seem love her there, which I really appreciate.I’ve been doing yoga for ab0out a year now, I think. I’m surprised. I keep it simple and am careful of my limitations and it’s helping me. I believe we should do what works for each of us, not what works for someone else.Youngest son and his wife are coming over this weekend for an early birthday dinner. His actual birthday is next week. Here I’ve been teaching myself to decorate cakes, and what does Youngest want? A cookie cake. There’s not a lot I can do with that, LOL. But it’s what he wants and I will happily make it for him.  I’d truly rather make what he (and anyone I’m baking for) really wants. Plus it’s much easier to make Wizard and I are talking about seeing Turbo tomorrow, but I’m not sure I can since I’ll have prep work to do for Sunday. We’ll sort that out today, and Wizard can always go by himself. I saw Turbo two weeks ago, while it’s been a little longer for him.

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! Hope all of you football fans enjoy the Superbowl and have a great weekend!

The post Friday Five first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Distracted and Dangerous :-)

When I’m deep in writing a book (I miss it!), I get distracted and dangerous. By distracted, I mean I do stupid stuff. And I’m usually only dangerous to myself, LOL.

Monday was like that. Only I’m not writing a book right now, but Wizard and I are working on projects that required us to come and go all day and keep track of a bunch of details. Finally we were home long enough for me to finish a load of laundry.  I put another load in the dryer, and as I’m walked out of the laundry room, I reached back and pulled the door closed behind me.

On my finger.

It’s fine, just a blood blister and a little bruising on the end of my index finger. I don’t even know how I got the end of my finger in there. It should have been impossible, but I managed to contort myself into a position to achieve it. I mean we all have our talents, right? Ohh! Maybe I can blame yoga for this???

The funny thing is how much it reminded me of Writer’s Brain, which is a thing. When too many characters and plot lines take over our brains, we forget out to do simple things in a safe and logical order like: Step one: Remove all body parts from the area. Step two: Then close the door.

But there was no real damage, and I’ve been laughing at myself ever since

How about you guys? Any self-inflicted injuries from overloaded brains lately?

Happy Wednesday!

The post Distracted and Dangerous :-) first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Roundup

It was a good weekend! Nothing super exciting to share, just a nice weekend. Saturday was normal stuff. I had to laugh at Wizard though. I needed to go drop off something at Youngest house. I was leaving about 4pm and he said, “You’ll be back by 5 right?”

I mean…let’s see it take ten minutes to get there, then minutes to get home and forty minutes to pet my grand dog and visit? Not a chance, LOLOL To my credit I was back by 5:15 so I didn’t pretty amazing. Then we cooked dinner together.

Sunday, Wizard went racing with Middle Son, and Biker Witch (my sister) came over. We went to some model homes, had lunch and then did a little fun shopping. I really enjoyed the day. It was an easy, fun, no pressure day.

Today Wizard and I are going to see if we can move forward on some plans. That’s not vague, right?

Now a question: Do anyone have a light, fun and recent mystery series you’d recommend to read?

And finally, Maggie says Hi

So that’s my weekend, how was yours?

P.S. We just had a quick earthquake as I was writing this. That jolted my heart a the couple seconds while I tried to figure out if it’s a small or big one :-).

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Friday Five

Blooper Alert! I scheduled this for February 14th instead of the 4th. Too much on my mind, LOL! Sorry for the late post.

TGIF! Let’s dive right into sharing five random things about our week:

I think I might have set a records for the length of time I haven’t baked while at the same time not writing.  But we have other stuff keeping my attention so that’s good for now. But I’m getting restless…so we’ll see.Right before the first of the year, it looked like I had a small split on my thumb. I assumed it was from all the baking and dishes I did at the holidays. Fast forward and a month later, there’s a little swollen knot and pain if I touch it exactly right, but it wasn’t progressing like an infection. I could not get this thing to break open because callouses had formed. Finally I solved the mystery–a splinter! It must have gone in vertically, and I couldn’t find it until my body pushed it up. It only took a month, LOLI was walking yesterday morning, when I spotted a strange guy loitering on the other side of the street who didn’t belong there. I was above the school where enough people were around to hear me, so I kept going. Once I got far enough up the street to be out of view, the guy crossed the street to start walking behind me into the stretch where no one would likely see me.  The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I’m like…oh hell no. I surprised myself here as I’m rarely physically aggressive unless I feel backed into a corner.  I stopped, letting Maggie smell to double check both our positions, and sure enough he’s following behind me in his zip up sweatshirt with the hood pulled half over his face. I told Maggie, let’s go and I started walking purposefully straight at him with full-on eye contact and my hand on the trigger of my pepper spray in my pocket. I don’t know his intentions, but I knew mine–he wasn’t catching me by surprise. The guy looked startled, then he hauled butt off the sidewalk back to the other side of the street and never looked my way again. I may have made an innocent man uncomfortable, but he was definitely setting off my alarm bells. And I believe in trusting our internal alarm bells. Being safe trumps being nice. Every single time.  Keep in mind, I walk this all the time and know most everyone at least by sight.We’ve had a lot of winds and some cooler temps, but nothing like the storms much of the country is suffering. I’m so sorry for all of you going through brutal streaks of Cranky Winter’s wrath. I want to gently remind Winter, that we could use a little more rain here and to give the rest of the regions some relief. Nothing too crazy, we don’t need mudslides, just a bit of rain here and there.My windows are so dirty. I know darn well if I clean them, it will rain. So maybe I should make a pan of brownies instead? That’s logical right???

That’s my kind of lame five (except #3, that one is not lame in my humble opinion). Now I really want to hear your five! I hope everyone has a warm, safe and good weekend!

The post Friday Five first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Opinion: The Slippery Slope to Banning Books

**The following article is my opinion only. 

One of my most powerful and passionate beliefs is that we should NOT ban books. I understand and support everyone’s right to disagree with a subject matter, the point of view of a character, or a topic in the book. I support their right to be vocal about it. I may not like what they say but it’s their right to say it.

But I don’t support banning books.

We aren’t there yet, at least not in the most frightening version of governments banning books. But in my view, we’re on a slippery slope. Some schools, and other agencies, are removing books. Again, to be clear, this is not the same thing as governments banning books. So let’s not overstate it. I see people doing this and it’s not helpful. Stop being hysterical and calling a puppy a wolf, okay? But right now, I believe this is a slippery slope that could lead to banning books.

I read “To Kill A Mockingbird” when I was about 10, and it was my first experience with racism. Or more specifically, systemic racism that is woven in the very fabric of society’s beliefs and government institutions. At the time, I didn’t have the language or life experience to frame it in those words. But I could grasp hatred based on skin color, and I knew it was wrong.

That fictional story set in an all too real moment in our history helped me learn and grow. The impact of that one book had more to do with shaping my views on how we should treat all people than any protest or outcry since. It allowed me to see the destructive power of hatred through the child-character Scout’s eyes, and to understand that hatred must be fought against.

Right now, the book has been removed from some reading lists. Again that’s not banning, and it may just be shifting the reading curriculum with the times. Or it may not. I’m not sure yet. Are we are replacing that book with another well-written story that will teach some of the less savory parts of our history and expand our worlds along with our critical thinking skills? Or are we pretending it didn’t happen?

That’s why I view removing books from school libraries and reading lists as a concerning slippery slope. History has shown us how dangerous these actions can be. Banning books is a way to silence and control the population. Controlling books is controlling information. Now, I realize our world has changed, and we live on information superhighways. Unfortunately, many of our highways are built on misinformation, or not given proper context which is crucial for understanding difficult, and sometimes painful, topics.

But books have a special ability to give more in-depth context to ideas. That’s one of the things that makes fiction so compelling. We not only explore ideas, but the execution of those ideas in the lives of characters, along with the consequences. We experience it through the character’s emotional journey as they pursue their goals. We feel their joy of success and the agony of their mistakes or defeat. We root for them as they strive to repair or overcome mistakes, or fight against unjustness. We are invested enough cry real tears.

Books are powerful, and controlling which books are accessible is what dictators or other repressive regimes have done over and over. I sincerely hope we get off this slippery slope and stop yelling about books. Stop being afraid of them. Instead, read with our children. Look, parents, if you object to a book and don’t want your child to read it, I support you. It’s your right as the parent.

But it’s not your right to tell other parents what they can let their child read. I let my kids read most of the books they wished, but if I had concerns, I read it too. I was a much faster reader, and we talked about the book. I was actively shaping their impressions and reactions, and guiding them within the frame of our values.

Leave the decision on what to read to the individual adult, or the parents. Not the agencies or governments. We must never get to a place where we let fear and or hatred drive us into banning books.

The post Opinion: The Slippery Slope to Banning Books first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.