Jennifer Lyon


Friday, November 12th, 2021
Friday Five

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

  1. This week had much less stress than last week.
  2. The reaction to Wednesday’s announcement of a writing hiatus stunned me (we blanketed my social with the message). I think I was so focused on  making myself face facts and letting readers know what’s going on, I didn’t think about how kind and thoughtful everyone would be. I’m so touched by it. And of course, I have mixed feelings. This wasn’t something I *wanted* to do. However, I think it’s necessary.
  3. I adjusted to the time change pretty effortlessly. But Maggie is sad that her dinner has been pushed back a whole hour. Which means I get 60 minutes of sad puppy eyes trailing me around the house.
  4. I made some caramel sauce and used that to make a salted caramel cake to test the recipe for Thanksgiving. And also test my new cake pans which baked them exactly as I hoped. But I then immediately froze the cake because I don’t have time to do the frosting and attempt any decoration. Wizard can’t believe I would tease him this way :-) He’s getting used to the abundance of cakes and treats, LOL.
  5. Today we’re going to my niece’s wedding, and it’s a quite a ways away. We originally were going to stay the night as all our kids are doing. But there’s been too much going on in life, and we decided to come home. It doesn’t matter, though, we’ll have fun and I’m thrilled for my niece and her soon-to-be husband. These moments are so important to celebrate.

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

8 comments to “Friday Five”

  1. B.E. Sanderson
    November 12th, 2021 at 6:09 am · Link

    Yay for less stress! On the whole, I think people are pretty okay, so their outpouring of support for you isn’t too surprising. You did what you needed to do. :hugs: Poor Maggie. Yay for caramel sauce, but poor Wizard. Next time, see if you can save enough batter for one cupcake to appease him. Safe travels today. :additional hugs:

    1) Got some news yesterday that I’m can’t do anything about, but being who I am, I spent a portion of the time I was supposed to be sleeping turning it all over in my head again and again. (Nothing pertaining to me directly, so don’t worry.) Needless to say, I am draggin’ butt this morning.
    2) I am making slow progress on inputting my edit notes. yay
    3) I went to Wallyworld yesterday and their meat and dairy coolers were down. That was the majority of what I needed. Lucky for me, the coolers came back up shortly after I finished getting the other stuffs, so I circled like a vulture until they’d put stuff back in the cases.
    4) It feels like everything went up in price since the last time I shopped. It probably worse out there, but GAH.
    5) They had turkeys on sale for 87c a pound, so I snagged one. I’m not usually this early on getting the bird for TGD, but I couldn’t pass up the price.



  2. Silver James
    November 12th, 2021 at 9:38 am · Link

    *copy and pastes B.E.’s response to your five* Yes, I’m lazy and she covered everything I would say so ditto. My five:

    1. The leaves are finally falling. Sadly, this does not mix well with long-haired dogs who like to lie in leaf piles. I need a carpet rake for the rug just inside the back door. 🤣

    2. I have 6 pages left to proofread on MONTANA MOON and then it’s ready for Amazon upload. I need to update the D2D backmatter, copy/paste, and then it’ll be ready for D2D upload. Next up is MOON SHOT because it comes of KU today. I just have to update backmatter for it. ⭐

    3. The Mustang High School Marching Band is competing today in the Bands of America Grand National Championships. Long story, hopefully short. The day before they were scheduled to leave, the charter bus company they’d contracted with said, nope. No coaches. No drivers. TEN local school districts stepped up and offered school buses and drivers. That’s a long trip on a school bus but they have arrived and compete at 10 a.m. Central time today. A friend’s son is one of the drum majors. Good on the kids for perservering. Good on the other districts for stepping up. Bad on that company. This is one of those times that I wish I had that kind of money and could have just chartered some planes to get them there. FYI, Mustang is a big rival of Only’s high school. Anyway, that’s my feel good story of the week. 🎵

    4. I’m enjoying my relisten of Jayne Castle’s Ghosthunter/Harmony series. If you aren’t familiar, Jen, you should check them out. Joyce Bean is a great narrator, the stories are fun and there are dust bunnies! The latest book in the series drops this coming Tuesday but I won’t be even close to being through the 16 books leading up to it. I could just skip ahead but I enjoy the books too much. 🎧

    5. Uhm…one more thing. *thinkthinkthinks* I “fixed” Stoeffers Chicken Enchiladas in the microwave the other night. For some reason, every time I heat something else up, I smell the enchiladas. And crave them. I might have to make a Wallyworld run. 🤣

    Happy Friday and have a great weekend, witches! 🥰



  3. Viki S.
    November 12th, 2021 at 3:46 pm · Link

    1. Getting the pause in writing off your chest must have been a big stress reliever. Just happy to know that the week was better for you.
    2. We all understand what you’ve had to go through the past couple years and totally understand the need to pause. Caring about you is easy :).
    3. Oh no, the sad puppy eyes. They are killer.
    4. You tease – Poor Wizard! A salted caramel cake sounds good. I look forward to hearing all about it.
    5. Have a wonderful time at the wedding and be safe driving home.

    1a. I am so happy to be back on real time. Now just leave it alone! Spunk did NOT like Sunday. He wanted his dinner and I wouldn’t give it to him. He adjusted by Monday.
    2a. Last night hubs and I went to this local place for dinner. The guy opened the one restaurant here in Chagrin but has since opened 12 more from FL to Chicago. On Veteran’s Day all of the places give free meals to the military/veterans. Since it’s one of our favorite places, we always go. It was great.
    3. We’re supposed to have snow over the weekend. We’re in the snowbelt but I don’t think we’ll get more than 2 inches.
    4. I have never made quesadilla’s. Shocker I know :). Eldest gave us some meat mixer he made with his leftover smoked brisket and said he made quesadilla’s with it. So, I will be doing that in a little bit.
    5. Was bummed out with a trip to Trader Joe’s. First, it’s a haul for me to go there, so I don’t go often. Well, I had an email from them Monday morning that had all the holiday stuff in it. When I got there none of it had arrived. I will call first before I go again ;).

    I hope you guys have a great time at the wedding and a wonderful weekend!



  4. Marcy Barth
    November 13th, 2021 at 12:15 am · Link

    You’ve got to take care of you first. Yes, I love your books and hope you do return, but your health is more important to me than that. 💜



  5. Jennifer Lyon Apodaca
    November 13th, 2021 at 12:48 pm · Link

    B.E., I think I’m at an age where I appreciate people’s kindness more now :-)

    1) I sympathize with you on news you can’t do anything about. Our brains don’t usually get that part of the message. Hugs.
    2) Huge yay on progress!
    3) Glad your trip to Wallyworld wasn’t a waste.
    4) Inflation is a part of our economic cycle, and the pressures of Covid and other factors have made it worse. I’ll stop now, no one want’s to hear me discussing economics and finances :-)
    5) All things considered, you were smart to grab that turkey now!

    Hope you’re enjoying your weekends!



  6. Jennifer Lyon Apodaca
    November 13th, 2021 at 12:56 pm · Link

    Silver, we’ll jump right into your five:

    1) LOL! Sorry you have to clean up the dog and leaf combo.
    2) Since I’m a day late, you must have MONTANA MOON ready to go!
    3) That is awesome that the local schools districts stepped up. We need more of those feel good stories. Hope the kids all have (had, I think) a great time at the competition!
    4) I’ve seen those books, but haven’t listened yet. I’ll go get one after I’m done here. Thanks!
    5) LOL on the lingering scent. I have a couple things that I think the same thing. I can’t tell if it’s real or I’m imagining it. Wizard rarely smells it. And hey, if you find a frozen easy meal that you enjoy, buy more! We have frozen tamales that are our go-to for easy nights :-)

    Hope your weekend is going great!



  7. Jennifer Lyon Apodaca
    November 13th, 2021 at 1:02 pm · Link

    Viki, thanks and we did have fun. It was an easy drive home too, which helps. One of our kids made us check in when we got home :-)

    1) Poor Spunk, it’s not fair to the animals.
    2) Sounds like a great night out, and I love when restaurants can give free meals to veterans on Veterans Day. Some places may be too close to the margin (on profit) to be able to do it.
    3) This is the first snow right?
    4) Hope your quesadillas turn out yummy!
    5) Now that would really irritate me. I’m the same here, my Trader Joe’s isn’t close by. But I do love going there when I make the time :-) Sorry they didn’t have the holiday stuff you wanted.

    Hope you’re having a nice weekend!



  8. Jennifer Lyon Apodaca
    November 13th, 2021 at 1:04 pm · Link

    Marcy, thank you! I appreciate that so much.



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