Jennifer Lyon


Monday, December 13th, 2021
Weekend Roundup

Before I get into a chatty roundup–I hope all of you and your loved ones are safe from the terrible tornado that hit several states. My heart goes out to all the victims and those trying desperately to find and help survivors.

Now onto the roundup.

Friday, I made mocha cookies, and froze those. The recipe I have is for a small amount of cookies, so I quadrupled it, and then I had to adjust a few ingredients like using expresso powder instead of instant coffee, which meant I had to change the amount used while remembering I was quadrupling the recipe. I used ALL my meager math skills on that batch of cookies, LOL. I’m generally not obsessive compulsive, but when I’m doing that kind of baking, I check, double check, then second guess and recheck. But I must have got it right, so A+ in math for me!

Saturday was Turbo (my grandson) day. As soon as we got to his house, he was thrilled to see us. He had a present for Grandpa–a Lego car set that was exactly like one Turbo has. He is very anxious for Grandpa to build it so they can play with their Lego cars together. Guys, I can’t tell you how much I love seeing their relationship and the joy it brings Wizard. Turbo does things with me too, and he LOVED the Santa Clause sucker, but seeing Wizard’s joy just doubles my happiness. Yeah, yeah, I know…too sappy right?

We also wrangled (begged) Special K to take some photos of us for a Christmas card with my phone. She was more than willing, and did her best. Wizard tries, but he hates posing, and once he hears a click, he moves. It’s like he’s going to make a break for it, LOL. It took more than 30 pictures (I counted!) but we got one that worked. The cards are all finished and waiting for me to pick them up–but it was a challenge. That’s all good. The bad part? Wizard got to my phone and deleted the hilarious outtakes knowing darn well I would have posted them. That’s what I get for talking away with my daughter in law and not paying attention to what the heck he was doing with my phone.

Yesterday, I ran a couple errands, made a batch of dairy free sugar cookie dough, wrapped presents, took an extra long hike with Maggie and then ran out of steam. I still wanted to cut and bake the sugar cookies and make another kind of cookie dough, but I think I’ll have to wait. No biggie, but I hate it when my energy doesn’t mate my to-do list. **Edited later last night: Cut and baked the cookies, they were tasteless. So those cookies are now history and so is the recipe. I hate the waste, but unfortunately, it happens when testing recipes.

Here’s a picture of Maggie on our hike yesterday to make up for the mean one I posted of her on Friday.

How was your weekend?

9 comments to “Weekend Roundup”

  1. B.E. Sanderson
    December 13th, 2021 at 6:56 am · Link

    The news and videos coming out of the areas hit by that storm are horrible. We were on the leading edge of it, before it started dropping hell. A little scary (mostly because of the alarm on my cell phone) for a short time and then it was gone. It dropped an EF-1 about 45 minutes from here. My heart goes out to all the people it didn’t miss.

    Yay for cookies and mathing it right! Yay for Turbo Time and no you are not too sappy. Yay for getting at least one good pic, but naughty Wizard for deleting the fun ones. Bummer about the tasteless cookies. I’d have to eat those because of my twisted, frugal nature. Good for you for tossing them. Yay for Maggie sitting still for an awesome pic!

    We got out in the woods and did some more logging. Eventually we’ll run out of deadfall to clean up, but we’re not even close yet. Unfortunately most of the good stuff is farther down the hill now, which means dragging or carrying that stuff up the incline. Really gives the old cardio a good workout, though. Yesterday, I made pizza. This time I made garlic butter and brushed it on the crust, then I sprinkled it with Parmesan before putting on the sauce and the toppings. OMG, it turned out so yummy. I’m definitely doing that from now on. I also made some progress on the WIP. Not a lot, but I feel good about it.



  2. Silver James
    December 13th, 2021 at 8:43 am · Link

    Awww. Maggie looks so regal in that photo! Wiz is a party-pooper. Yay for Turbo time, good cookies and baking. Boo on bad recipes. Special K is awsome, glad she got a good pic of y’all.

    Weekend? There was one. It was low-key. LG did some shopping. I did some writing. I’m making progress of the Christmas story and I got another book up on D2D and it’s live. Another one comes off KU tomorrow.

    Wow. It WAS a low-key weekend. That’s about all that happened. LOL I am going to try a new recipe today. It’ll be featured on my blog tomorrow (though I may have to update if it’s awful). I thought it sounded easy and yummy–snickerdoodle cookies made with cake mix and Cool Whip. We’ll see. LG picked up the ingredients yesterday. They only take 30 minutes so we’ll know soon enough. LOL

    That’s it for me. I hope to have the Christmas story done this week, plus a title and a “cover” so I can get it posted for Christmas. Stormy will be here tomorrow. They’re on virtual due to the Covid and the regular flu. He gets his first shot today and Only decided to bring him here instead of her office. He’s been hanging out there on virtural days and her co-employees enjoy him, which is GOOD!

    Anyway, have a great week, all! 🥰



  3. Viki S.
    December 13th, 2021 at 4:15 pm · Link

    I am heartbroken too. So much love and prayers for all the people.

    I love how Turbo is with Wizard. Sounds very much like my hubs and Harrison. It really does make me smile to see the love between the guys :).

    I love Maggie’s pose. She’s a sweetie.

    You haven’t had many cookie no’s. Most have turned out great. Good testing it out before making too many ;).

    Our trip to NY was different. We were in the upper portion of that storm, driving through VERY high winds. We were there about an hour when the power went out and about half of the neighbors house flew off. My mom is VERY frail. She looks like a stick figure. She was freezing and there really wasn’t much to be done. We did seem to have a good time though. Sunday the power was still out so we drove to a village that had power and had breakfast. That helped. We had to leave around noon and the power came back about an hour after we left. She LOVED Queso. He really made her happy.

    Glad you have your Christmas cards done. I decided I’d send out four. To those in the family that are older :).

    Have a great afternoon.



  4. Jenn
    December 13th, 2021 at 5:27 pm · Link

    B.E., I’m relieved you didn’t get hit by the worst parts of the tornado. I’m just stunned at the devastation and shattered lives. My heart breaks for everyone.

    I hated throwing them away, but we wouldn’t have eaten them. Normally Wizard would say, keep some and I’ll eat them. He’s like–nope toss them :-) But I should have frozen them, and maybe used them as a pie crust (in place of graham cracker crust) or something.

    Maggie was in her happy place in that pic which is why she’s so alert.

    You guys should be honorary lumberjacks! That’s such hard work, but you have been steadily working away at it. It takes real strength and endurance to do it.

    Your pizza sound delicious! And your book is coming along at the pace it needs to develop. It can be frustrating (to me!!) but it’s how the creative process works.

    Hope your week is off to a good start!



  5. Jenn
    December 13th, 2021 at 5:36 pm · Link

    Silver, well I got seduced by the idea of a sugar cookie that holds it shape. Half way through making the recipe, I knew it wasn’t great and should have stopped. There literally wasn’t enough sugar and flavoring and I’m experienced enough to know better. Shrug–that one is on me.

    I’m excited to hear your Christmas story is coming along! Despite what you’re calling a low key weekend, it sounds like things go done, and you had some well deserved down time too.

    When I’ve tried cake mix cookies, they usually come out good. Not sure how about the Cool Whip so I’ll be interested to hear. (I checked your blog just in case, but I didn’t see an update). Hope your Snickerdoodles rocked!

    Hope you have fun with Stormy. He’s so bright and has lots of adults in his life to help him with virtual school. I love that his mom’s co-workers all enjoy him when he’s at her office, too!

    Have a great week!



  6. Jenn
    December 13th, 2021 at 5:41 pm · Link

    Viki, the pictures of the devastation boggles my mind and breaks my heart. So many lives destroyed. I can’t imagine how friends and relatives of missing people are coping. It’s all just overwhelming.

    That had to be scary to drive through those winds. And I’m really sorry your mom lost power. I’m guessing she doesn’t have a backup generator. Did I read that right that half her neighbors house blew off? From the winds?

    On the bright side, I’m glad you got to see your mom, and that she enjoyed it. I can imagine how much she enjoyed Queso! Animals are such a comfort and have a way of making us smile.

    Hope your week is starting off well!



  7. Viki S.
    December 13th, 2021 at 7:22 pm · Link

    Yes, you read it right. They have been adding on to the existing house, doubling its size. The siding wasn’t on yet, though I’m not sure it would have helped. Most of the framing supports are still up but the walls and non-shingled roof are gone.



  8. Jenn
    December 14th, 2021 at 5:24 pm · Link

    Vivi, that’s just awful. Hopefully no one was hurt by flying debris.



  9. Silver James
    December 15th, 2021 at 4:52 pm · Link

    Jen, I added an update because I made them Monday (after I’d already written the blog but added an edit). They were yummy! LG says to make them again so I guess I’ll need to start adding cake mix and Cool Whip to the grocery list. LOL



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