Jennifer Apodaca's Blog, page 61

Friday Five

TGIF! How is it that I’m always surprised by the end of the week? LOL! Okay diving into sharing five random things about our weeks.

By the time this posts, we should have our car back. That’s good news since Wizard has a three day race this weekend and I’d be stranded at home I am shocked how many people on FB page like Eeyore. I was really surprised by the response there to my cake. It’s been fun sharing something I enjoy and I plan to keep doing it.  It’s definitely better than sharing my other hobby of yoga. No one wants to see pictures of that!It looks like we might have rain today which we desperately need (understatement!).  The shifting atmosphere pressure plays havoc with my sinuses, but that’s standard for me.My legs look like a crime scene.  I have five new bites and one of them is an overachiever with exaggerated swelling. Add to that the fact that the dozen or more old bites are slow to heal from my meds, and my legs look like a crime scene, LOL. Hopefully the mosquitos will go away soon.We’ve had Maggie four years now. I have no idea what I ever did to deserve such a special dog with the sweetest heart, but I try hard to appreciate her each day.

That’s my find random things, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope you have a great weekend!

The post Friday Five first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Wednesday Check In

Whoa, the last two days really got away from me! As a result, I’m super late answering Monday’s blog comments, but I’m heading off to answer those once I finish setting up this blog. Today, things will settled into a more normal routine for a few days. Instead of waiting for Friday, I’ll tell you know what I was doing. Yesterday was Biker Witch’s birthday. So I baked the cakes on Sunday, then Monday I tried caving and decorating something she’d like. She loves Eeyore so…

I used the fondant I made and liked working with it. That’s what kept me super busy. Hard to believe an innocent looking cake takes so many hours of work, LOL. Then yesterday, Biker Witch and I lunch and did a few little shopping things, then back to her house to have cake with her Biker Hubby. We always have fun. But whew, by the time I go home I was beat.

By the way, I saw your suggestions of a book cake and I’m thinking about it! I have a couple other family birthday cakes coming up, but I’m going to start looking for book cake inspirations One day down the road, I hope to make some kind of Wing Slayer cake too, but that’s a ways off yet.

So that’s my Wednesday Check In–how’s your midweek going?

The post Wednesday Check In first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Roundup

Huh, that went by in a blur.

So Friday, I mentioned to Wizard that I might go to the hobby story that’s couple cities away, and he got right aboard the train. Since we only have the one car at the moment, we drove out there together, he dropped me off at my dealers, sorry, hobby store while he went to his hobby story across the street. We actually had a lot of fun–you know–like going to a bookstore

I found a cake recipe that’s supposed to be good for carving cakes. Then I doubled it, and now I’m not too happy with the cake as far as I can tell without actually cutting into it. I’m going to carve it today so we’ll see. But next time, I’ll stick with my other recipes. It’s supposed to be chocoate, but it’s a very light chocolate which is a strike against it right there. And I think the texture if off. It’s entirely possible I did something wrong, but I was rather suspicious of the recipe to begin with. However, it came from a well respected cake artist, so I’m giving it a try.

What I WANTED to make was a salted caramel cake recipe that sounded delicious, but using homemade caramel as part of the filling would make it too “slippery” for cutting and manipulating into a shape. Today I plan to cut another fairly simple shape and cover it in homemade fondant for practice–if it comes out, then I’ll show you all. By the way I made the fondant late last week and forgot to mention that. I’m anxious to see how it works when I cover the cake with it.

We also looked at a new home models. Always fun, and it’s good to see more housing choices popping up for when we’re ready to make the decision.

Writing didn’t really happen, or at least not the way I wanted it to. Maybe if I make this book into a cake it’ll transform itself to a written book?

How was your weekend?

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Friday Five

TGIF! I can’t believe it’s October 1st! Okay let’s dive into sharing five random things about our week.

The car is in the shop, and so far, we’re managing with one car. Many couples only have one car, so believe me, I’m not complaining, just telling you all about my week. We’re both really used to coming and going, plus we generally divide and conquer chores, including running errands. Now we have to think ahead a bit more, but it’s all manageable.  At least until next weekend if we don’t et the car back by then–Wizard has a three day race he’s super excited about going to and I’m not about to stop him.I’m still doing yoga usually three times a week, and this week, I’m trying to do some harder classes. I’m sooo going to feel that, LOL. There are a few things that I won’t do just because it’s not a good idea for me. That’s important in yoga (or anything really) to know and respect your limits. For me, it’s things like arm balances (those are pretty much what they sound like — you lift your legs off the ground and balance on your arms in weird contortions).  Considering I’ve had two discs in my neck replaced, I choose NOT to put that kind of pressure on my shoulders and neck. Plus I flat out don’t have the upper body and core strength to do it in a safe manner.Maggie knows my yoga routine. She’ll come in the room while I’m starting, then leaves once I’m moving. But at the end when I lay down on my back in  the closing pose called shavasana (also called corpse pose, LOL), she’ll come in. I have my eyes closed, but I always feel her. Wednesday night, she laid down next to me. I rolled to my side to pet her, then flipped to my back into the shavasana pose. And Maggie flipped to her back in the same pose, only her with her legs sticking straight up. It was hilarious. I don’t know if it was intentional, but let’s just believe she was copying my pose Yesterday I decided to pull out my carpet cleaner and do the coffee table sized ottoman. That took a while since I basically had to learn to use it, but got nice and clean. So yay! Then I remembered that when we borrowed Special K’s carpet cleaner, she didn’t have the stair cleaner attachment, while this one does. So then I cleaned the stairs. OMG that was hard and took forever! That sucked up the entire morning and my whole day ended up trashed. Plus the stairs take pretty much the day to dry because the suction isn’t strong enough to get much water out through the hose and attachment.  I don’t regret it, but sure wish I had the same energy I had when the kids were small I’m not sure what I’m doing this weekend. I’d like to get this book moving again, I really would but it’s just been a tough and distracted road. I’m thinking about cakes too but we’ll see.

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!

So what do you think is happening here? Too much partying? Or was the hat too heavy and he fell over?

Hope everyone is having a good hump day!

The post Happy Wednesday! first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Roundup

I’m posing this early on Sunday because I don’t want to rely on my blog scheduler. Anyway, it was a fast weekend!

So I believe dress #3 is the one. It’s a tad loose which is fine, and given the way I seem to be eating, it may not be loose for long Here it is:

Saturday, I made a baby dragon cake. It was a ton of work with very amateurish results, but I loved doing it. The part I loved the most was carving the cake and doing the crumb coat, which is a thin coat of icing to seal the crumbs in and prep it for the fondant. My fondant skills are a work in progress. I really had no idea what I was doing, and it’ll take a few more tries to get the hang of it. Because I was struggling with that, I didn’t have time to do much detail work like carving more of the face or texturing the skin of the dragon before the fondant began drying and would crack. Here’s my amateur attempt:

 

Sunday I met my sister, Biker Witch, for coffee because I was dying to hear all about the trip she and her daughter took to Virginia for a wedding. Guys, four hours passed while we talked and I didn’t even notice! I’m just happy for her and my niece that they took this special mother-daughter trip together.

And here we are on Monday with a new week in front of us. Wizard and I are taking the car into the shop for repair, then I’m going to sit at the computer and see what happens.

How was your weekend?

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Friday Five

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

Took Maggie in for her recheck and she’s healing well from the abscess. She’ll go back in a month because Maggie Money Pit is worth it   This is one of those things that requires watching for a while to make sure the infection is really gone, and things go back to working as they should. Also, she needs booster shots so I’ll get it all taken care of at once.I finally called my doctor and they are sending me the paperwork to get my mammogram done. It’s not a big deal, but it kept slipping my mind and I was getting very annoyed with myself.I got my hair cut and colored. I went darker, which I’m happy with at the moment. It’s a little shorter than I planned, but hair grows.Wizard’s accident is resolved to 1) It’s not wizard’s fault; 2) We’ll use the uninsured motorist section of our insurance; and 3) They waived the deductible.  We take the car in Monday and will be down to one car for 10 days. Given the way Wizard and I are always doing different things, that will require a little extra forethought, but we’ll work it out.Wizard is asking me to make another cake, but I need to think of a design I really want to do first. Hmm…so many possibilities. A cake with a fondant dragon? Or a cake carved into the shape of a police car? Or something more classic???? I’ve never carved a cake or covered it in fondant so the police car would be a huge challenge. Or maybe a dog cake, or…there are so many things I want to try!

So that’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! Hope you all have a great weekend!

The post Friday Five first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

The Dress Delimma

I ordered another dress.  My third dress for the wedding in the November.

When exactly did I become high maintenance? Also, when I forget how to spell maintenance? I kept trying to spell it maintainous, and spell check decided I was High Mountainous.

I think spell check was calling me fat.

Back to the dress. Part of the problem is my high mountainous figure   But it’s also the new way of life. We just can’t go to stores and try stuff on because there’s so little actual stock in stores these days. So I end up guessing on sizes and going through the endless process of ordering, waiting until it arrive to try it on and then returning. That didn’t use to be a problem back in the days when I was consistently one size…until the last few years when my mountainous regions expanded and/or resettled in disturbing ways. So…

Dress #1 was way too tight around my top mountainous region.

Dress #2 was too long and slightly baggy around the middle, but it did cover the top mountainous range. I figured no big deal, I’d have it tailored until I realized the hem was scalloped lace–and that I was going to spend a lot of $$ getting that dress altered than it was worth. That dress is going back.

I ordered dress number 3 yesterday, still in the bigger size but I’m holding onto hope that the new dress will drape all my mountainous regions in a way that I can live with.

And so it seems that I have become both high maintenance and high mountainous.

When all I really want is a damn dress that doesn’t make me look like a mountain.

Happy Wednesday!

The post The Dress Delimma first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Weekend Roundup

Wow, this weekend got away from me, LOL. First, though, Maggie seems to be feeling better after her abscess. I’ll know more after I take her to her followup vet appointment late Tuesday afternoon. For now, we’ve released her from the cone of shame.

Okay. so Saturday I meant to write, but then, I wanted to make sugar cookies for Turbo too. He’s really into police cars, and of course, I didn’t have a police car cookie cutter. So I thought I’d handcraft one of out of fondant. Trying to make a miniature police car in 2D to go on top of a cookie is a little crazy, especially since drawing anything isn’t my forte, LOL. It came out like this:

And this is Turbo’s face when I gave it to him:

The rest of the cookies, I made with a marbled icing and topped with sprinkles. It ended up being a day long project. But I had a lot of fun, and since my “audience” is three years old, he thinks I did an amazing job

Note to self: Buy a police car cookie cutter ASAP!

Sunday we went out to see Turbo and that sucked up most of our day. But it’s all worth it when he comes running to the door to greet us, and is sad when we leave.

So that was my weekend, how was yours?

The post Weekend Roundup first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.

Friday Five

TGIF and Happy Friday! Let’s jump into sharing five random things about our week.

My web guru did a major cleanup on my site a few weeks ago, and the blog scheduler was working great for weeks. Then it stopped this week. It’s has to be trolls trying to aggravate me.Poor Maggie reneged on our deal. I told her that if she didn’t lick her wound (from the abscess that pretty much burst open–it’s not pretty), I wouldn’t put her in the cone of shame. She wouldn’t do it in front of me, or if she started too, all I had to say was “Don’t do it,” and she’d stop. However I can’t watch her every minute, and the wound is driving her nuts. So yesterday I went to Petsmart and bought the dreaded cone of shame. It had to be done.Maggie, for all her sweetness, isn’t dumb. It only took her a couple hours to figure out how to pop it off. That dog went up to my room, found a spot between a chair and a wall and rubbed it until it unsnapped and fell off. Then she trotted downstairs a happy girl. It took everything I had NOT TO LAUGH. I mean, kudos to her for figuring it out. However, I raised 3 boys so yeah, the cone is back and this time I locked that sucker down. We’ll see what happens. We are keeping this cone on her only as long as absolutely necessary and I’m not super stressed about it. The good news is it’s a fairly small cone and not as miserable as the one she had to wear after surgery to remove the bladder stones.So it’s been a week. The car accident and problems with that, Maggie’s abscess, vet issues, a bunch of other crap and then Tuesday around the stroke of midnight, the smoke alarm malfunctioned. Wizard and I both knew what it was, but the trick was finding which freaking smoke alarm it was. We have 5 of them upstairs, one in each bedroom and the hallway. So both of us are running from room to room tying to ascertain which one is trying to make our brains bleed. Finally we found it, and I ran downstairs to get the step stool. Maggie was in her kennel, laying down with her head resting on her paws, watching me with an expression that I can only describe as, Humans are idiots. She’s not wrong.If Maggie’s doing okay, then I’m going to go see Turbo and his parents on Sunday while Wizard is racing. But I’m playing that by ear. If I stay home, maybe I can concentrate on writing.

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

The post Friday Five first appeared on Jennifer Lyon.