Jennifer Apodaca's Blog, page 90

Friday Five

TGIF! Can you believe we’re 6 days into December? It seems like it should be about March Okay, let’s jump into our Friday Five, where we share five random things about our week.

Although I normally don’t get into the whole New Year’s Resolution thing, this year, I’m jumping on the bandwagon. I’m as healed as I’m going to get, and I want to focus on exercise and writing.
This week, Biker Witch and I went out and had a girl’s day out together. Then she had the nerve to go on a trip without me. Rude!
We’ve decorated the house, ordered and picked up my Christmas cards, updated and printed the labels for the cards, and I got a small start on Christmas shopping. One thing I love this year is our family–Wizard, myself, our sons and wives, are doing a secret santa thing. We each get one name to buy for so everyone gets a gift, but since it’s just one person to focus on instead of eight, it’s a lot less stress and expense. Special K set it up, including a way to post gift suggestions. I’m already hoping this is our new  tradition.
I got my new glasses, and I’m really happy with the frames. I chose them so fast, I was worried if I’d like them or not. And glasses aren’t cheap! But I was super happy when I picked them up. Wizard really likes them too. It was hilarious when he tried on my glasses, and for the gazillionth time, told me my vision is bad. No kidding. But my contacts make my life much easier, and my glasses do the job when I take my contacts out, so that’s something to be very grateful for. Many people have it much worse.
Maggie’s Christmas gift is coming tomorrow, but I’m worried I won’t have the self-control to wait until Christmas to give it to her. I’m already planning to get her something else too, LOL!

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

Favorite Holiday Cookie or Dessert?

Do you have a favorite? I’m thinking about making a cookie tray for a family party in a week and a half and am looking for ideas. Or do you have another holiday dessert you like better than cookies? Please share your thoughts!

Holiday + Weekend Roundup

Missed you guys! We had a great Thanksgiving despite the pouring rain. All the dogs and Turbo did well, which was my biggest concern. Jett and Hazel are really nice dogs. Maggie did better than I expected. She told Jett once that she didn’t want to play with him, and Jett was totally chill about it. That is good dog communication. Maggie wasn’t perfect, but overall, she was reasonably good.

Poor Hazel discovered we had a pool the hard way. This was her first time here, and she chased her brother, Jett, out the back door and didn’t see the pool until she plunged in. Hazel’s a really smart dog, but it was raining, the skies were dark, and she was focused on Jett. The poor girl was shaking with cold! She bounced back a few minutes later once we got her dried and warmed up. We didn’t let her out there again, though. Not until we have nice weather when we can walk her around the pool and let her get a feel for it.

The weekend was good, including a trip to the zoo with Turbo. When we got home, I went out back with Maggie where she slipped and fell in the pool. Crazy! Two dogs in one weekend! My sons had just commenting how fast and agile Maggie is, and then this happens, LOL! But she just slipped, and sometimes, crap happens. I had to haul her out, and got soaked in the process, but both of us were fine once we got dry. (I’ve tried to teach her to swim to the steps, but she was too panicked to do it.) She’s sulking here because she had to wait for her collar to dry before I’d put it back on. That’s upset her more than falling in the pool!

Once we put her collar on, she was wiggled with happiness. Such a silly girl.

I don’t go out shopping on Black Friday because, crowds! But Sunday, I ran over to the outlet center in town, and scored a pair of flat leather ankle boots 50% off. I’m pretty happy about that. I wish I could wear the cute ones with heels, but I’m striving to be practical

Now we’re on the fast track to Christmas and life will stay on the busy train.

Today, I’m hoping to get back to the gym and maybe even writing! A girl can dream.

So how was your Thanksgiving and weekend?

Thankful!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

I’m so thankful for friends like each and every one of you. It’s been just over a year since my surgery from the neck thing that completely derailed my career for the past two years, but thanks to all of you, I haven’t given up hope. I believe that all your inspiration and encouragement have helped me heal as optimally as possible. I’m slowly figuring out how to merge my new physical reality with my old passion to tell the stories of the characters in my head.

And thank you for coming here to share all our work and home celebrations, commiserate during difficult times, and battle life’s various stresses with wit and laughter.

I wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving with your loved ones!

I’ll be back on Monday and hope to see you here

Weekend Roundup

My scheduled blog didn’t post early this morning as it should have Sorry! Now off to see if I can figure out what the error message actually means!

Saturday, we met Turbo, along with his parental unit–CPA Boy and Special K, at the Long Beach Aquarium. We had a great time with our grandson, and man, if I could bottle up and drink that boy’s energy, I would rule the world! There’s a reason we call him Turbo, LOL. Although he will crash once he runs out of that vibrant, busy energy. He really loved the sharks, the seals and all the colorful fish–especially the bright orange ones. “Orange,” is a favorite new word, so when he saw an orange fish, he was thrilled, and just had to yell it out and show all of us. He’s very curious and social with other kids too. It really is fun to be a grandma! His parents do all the hard work, and Wizard and I have fun But we sure were tired when we got home!

Sunday, Wizard went racing, and I got to write for a short time. Then I headed over to see Youngest Son and his beautiful wife, and play with their two dogs.  Somehow, while there, I accidentally promised Youngest I’d make his special dairy free cookies on Thanksgiving. I don’t know how that happened. His wife blamed him, but I suspect that I actually volunteered before he had a chance to even ask. My bad!

After that, I came home and let Maggie smell the two dogs on me–she’s usually very curious, but once she gets the scent, she moves right on with the next thing that interests her. Such a good girl! Well kind of…I did find another dead lizard outside behind the trash cans this weekend. Sigh. Maggie swears she was just playing, and the lizard must have had a previously undiagnosed heart condition. Uh huh.

So that was some of my weekend. This week is going to be a lot of typical Thanksgiving prep and maybe a little writing.

How was your weekend?

Friday Five

TGIF! And here we go sharing five random things about our week:

Next week is Thanksgiving! It’s at my house this year, with a mid-sized guest list of all my three sons, their wives, Turbo, Biker Witch, Biker Hubby and two large dogs. There are more people who may come, and we’ll love it if they do. I’m very grateful to have a lot of help of help this year, which will make it so much more fun!
I got several things done this week, including my mammogram, which is usually a big hassle, but this one was pretty easy. Today I’m tackling the eye appointment I pushed way back until after Youngest’s wedding. My eyes are pretty bad. I’m hoping  I can keep wearing my mono-vision contacts since I see better in those than my glasses, however it’s possible I’ve passed the point of being able to do that. We’ll see how it goes. I’m really happy to get these routine things done and checked off my list.
My washing machine that had declared itself the I’ll-Spin-When-I-Feel-Like-It-Machine has been behaving 85 to 90% of the time. I don’t care why it’s behaving, I’ll take the win for now. And trust me, I’ve been washing a TON of stuff in the last few weeks.
We had rain! Real rain! We started the week well over 90 degrees, and ended it pretty danged cold for this part of California. Wizard and I both enjoyed the rain. Maggie tolerated it
We are seeing Turbo tomorrow, and going to the Long Beach Aquarium to see all the fish and sharks. It’s pretty small and a good place for young children so I’m really looking forward to it! By the way, Turbo is 20 months old now. He’ll be 2 years old next March. Time is flying!

That’s my Friday Five and now I’d love to hear yours. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

Shh…Maggie Is Hiding

Hi guys, it’s me, Maggie. But don’t tell, okay? I’m hiding from my mom and Wizard dad. I’ll show you how good I am at hiding:

Pretty amazing, am I right?

So yesterday, mom decided to clean the carpets upstairs, and while she was doing that, the big monster machine was spitting out wet clumps of black hair.

Guess who they blamed? Can you even believe they blamed me, Maggie?

So then I got my feelings a little bit of mad-hurt, and I hid from them. I bet they’re gonna feel real bad when they can’t find me, and then won’t care so much about my hair.

Later On That Same Day: Guys, you know what? My hiding must have worked, because Wizard-dad gave me an extra treat-bone for no reason! He never does that!

Happy Wednesday everyone and I hope you get an extra treat today!

Weekend Roundup

It was a quiet weekend of doing normal things. Saturday, Wizard and I took Maggie with us and went for a drive. When Maggie realizes she’s gets to go in the car, she can barely sit still to get the leash on her, and she does a crazy excited whine/purr thing that sounds ridiculous. The dog has a few quirks. Anyhow, we stopped at a place called Tom’s Farm. It has a food store, candy store, some restaurants and there’s an area where vendors can sell their products like handmade jewelry etc. We walked around in there, when Maggie spotted a small dog, I think maybe a Yorkshire terrier, sitting at the back of one of the vendor stations. Maggie was very interested. She pranced and wagged her tail, definitely flirting and trying to get the other dog’s attention.

The dog ignored her. Like he shut her down as if she didn’t exist. It was sad I think my girl got her little heart broken, or at least her pride dented.

However, a few people commented what a good dog she was and that perked her up a little

Sunday, I worked a bit, and then I oiled my kitchen cupboards, which was as exciting as it sounds, LOL! Middle Son called while I was doing that, so at least I got to talk to him while doing it.

This week will be busy with assorted appointments and stuff. And then we’re on the downhill path to the holidays, so I really valued an easy, quiet weekend. How was your weekend?

Friday Five

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

We had another heartbreaking school shooting yesterday in California. We are desperately sad and angry, as I imagine most people feel about these horrible and completely pointless tragedies. The poor families and survivors have had their lives shattered in a few moments of terror, and for what? I can’t even pretend to understand. Some days, I really like fictional worlds better than the one we live in.
We went to see the new movie Midway, and really liked it.
I wrote a tad yesterday, desperately trying something to fix problems. Moving a scene around might do it…or not…who knows! What I do know for sure, is I need to get mean about writing time if I want to get back to the job I still love
So on Wednesday, I told Wizard I was expecting a package from Amazon. Naturally he asked me what it was, and I told him a blue pumpkin. I think he just heard “pumpkin”. When it arrived and I opened it, he was so confused. “It’s blue.” So I explained it was for the Thanksgiving table to go with some other, smaller pumpkins and burlap leaves I’d already bought. His next question was, “But why blue?” I pointed to my kitchen “fall” towels that have pumpkins on it, including a blue one and said, “It has to match. I can’t possibly host Thanksgiving if my table decorations don’t match the towels.” He’s been with me enough years to guess I was yanking his chain He just smiled blandly and asked if I needed anything else. Some days, he has the whole husband-of-a-crazy-writer thing totally nailed. “Nope,” I replied, “I’m good. I mean I have a plastic blue pumpkin, what else could I want?” I was pretty serious about that–my blue pumpkin makes me happy, LOL!
I’m not sure what I’m doing this weekend. I may see a kid or grandkid, on the other hand, I wouldn’t mind actually working either. Although Wizard seems to keep coming up with ways to distract me from work too. But back to the weekend…no firm plans yet so anything could happen!

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

What Are You Reading?

The last two days have been insanely busy. Partly because Wizard and I borrowed a carpet cleaning from our daughter-in-law, and first decided to do one room. But it did such a great job, we wanted to do the entire the downstairs in two days, which includes moving furniture

All this while cooking/baking tri tip, chicken, spanish rice, and cookies, as well as putting together and salad and some bread for Youngest and his amazing wife with the broken foot. She’s not supposed to be on that foot at all, and we want to help with enough food to last them a few days. I offered this to do this, they’d never ask.

And then the car had to go into the dealer for an issue under warranty. No problem they took care of it, but when we were driving it home, all the warning lights came on. So the next day we took it back, and by the way, that’s like a 50 mile round trip twice a day to drop it off and pick it up–while we’re doing all this cooking, furniture moving and carpet cleaning.

Plus I had to do a some shopping to begin prep to T-day…LOLOLOL!! Wizard and I forget we’re not 20 years old anymore and try to do too much at once. But we got it all done, and we’re happy about that…however l ran out of steam to write a blog. So let’s talk about books.

I’m listening to a fiction novel about World War II that I’m really enjoying called THE THINGS WE CANNOT SAY by Kelly Rimmer. It’s told in the past in Poland when the Nazi’s invaded and the present in the U.S. Interesting, but not lighthearted, obviously. I also like that there’s a child in this book on the Autism spectrum, and very interested in seeing more of him and his relationship with his Polish, WWII survivor grandma.

And I’m reading on my Kindle a non-fiction book IF YOU TELL by Gregg Olson. This one I like, but it’s a disturbing account of abused children, so definitely not for everyone. This book is not released until December 1st, but I got an advance copy through an Amazon Prime program.

I didn’t choose two grim books on purpose, these are just the two that held my interest. Sometimes, I can’t go near darker books, and other times, I can read them with no problem.

So that’s what I’m reading, what are you reading or listening to?