5 Special Occasion Cakes!

Dr. Tanya continues her #5Things by asking for our special occasion cakes. Well, every cake is special, and honestly I don’t eat much cake these days, so when I do… it’s a special occasion! 😂

Unlike others, I don’t go gaga for choccy in cake. I mean, I’d eat it, sure, but chocolate works best in candy imo and I prefer other flavors for cake.

My favorite cake of all time is coconut with coconut frosting. It’s also wonderful to pair compatible cake flavors, such as lemon or pineapple, with the coconut frosting. Or just give me a bowl of the coconut frosting, thanks. 😍

A distant second is… every other cake. 😂 Just kidding. But obviously coconut is far and away the best cake.

Carrot and/or spice cake with cream cheese frosting is up next. But don’t put nuts in it for gawd’s sake! 😖 Acceptable add-ins are pineapple chunks, dates, golden raisins, and coconut (duh). It’s good to put an orange frosting carrot on top to identify the cake plus also sprinkles for prettiness. 🐰

Cheesecake is number 3, but it has to have a graham cracker crust or forget it. I’m not a huge fan of weirdly flavored cheesecakes either… just give me a normal slice, thanks.

This will shock many of you, but one of the best cakes I’ve ever had didn’t have frosting on it. I know! But it’s true. My friend Nancy made it for her daughter’s birthday (who is coincidentally my friend Jenny), and it was so good. She called it a margarita cake! I’ll try to find a pic on the google… 💚

Last but not least is… coffeecake. But I’m not talking about boring coffeecake. I’m talking about one with a a swirl of moist cinnamony goodness in the middle and big fat crumbs on top. Plus a drizzle of icing. Like this… 😘

Now I am hungry… 😋

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Image credit ~ Google

5 Favorite Sandwiches!

Dr. Tanya returns with a #5Things prompt for us. This week it’s about sandwiches, which is a tasty topic indeed. No burgers allowed in this one, since they’ll have their own day. Here are mine…

1. Lox and cream cheese on a bagel with capers (tomato and onion optional). This has been a top fave of mine forever, and I often eat it open-faced. I like an onion bagel for this, but plain or sesame is okay too.

2. Grilled cheese and tomato on rye bread. So, so yummy!

3. The old trusty peanut butter and jam! My favorite jam is blackberry, but strawberry is good too. Either wheat or white bread is fab for this sandwich.

4. Tuna! Okay, this one is a bit of a cheat. One, I don’t mix my tuna with mayo ~ instead I use guacamole. Two, I like this mashed up in a warm flour tortilla. It’s my latest invention and it’s delicious.

5. Egg salad with sweet and spicy pickle slices. I do use a little mayo for my egg salad, BUT! I also use mustard. Yep, I’m weird. What kind of bread? Rye again or whole wheat.

Sorry, I don’t have pics of the last two.

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

5 Things I Hate About Summer

Say what? I love summer! 🌻 But Dr. Tanya wants me to come up with 5 Things I Hate for her continuing prompt. I suppose I can spend days pondering this topic… psyche! I’ve already thought of ’em, neener!

1. Air conditioning. Just when it’s nice and warm, allowing me to bounce out of the house in short sleeves, crazy people insist on blasting freezing cold AC everywhere. 🥶 So, even on the hottest days, I have to bring a sweater with me. Annoy!

2. Gross men without shirts. Gah!

3. Traffic clogging up Pacific Coast Highway, and I can’t use it, bleh.

4. Amateur fireworks going off every night around the 4th. So dumb and irritating.

5. It’s over too soon, wah. Nice long days full of sun are already too short in August, and soon it’ll be dark early again. 😢

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

5 Coping Tools

Dr. Tanya keeps 5Things going by asking us this week what we do to reduce anxiety.

1. I make a list. Whatever the problem is, a list will help. I break the task or issue up into teeny steps, so I can cross them off or delete them when done. 😎

2. I think of all the worst possible things that can happen, and then I tell myself whatever does happen probably won’t be as bad as I imagine.😱

3. I focus on breathing for a few minutes.

4. If I’m at home, I discuss the issue with a kitty. 🐱

5. Eventually, I talk about the situation with a sympathetic person, like a daughter. 💖

My strategies are different from the usual listen to music type of thing. Trying to distract myself from a stressful situation never works. I still know it’s there. What helps me is to stare it down until it shrinks from my glaring. I’m scary, rawr!

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Image credit ~ Google and Bitmoji

5 Qualities

Dr. Tanya returns for #5Things by asking us to name the 5 qualities we most admire in others. This is interesting to ponder, along with today’s FPQ about ourselves. I find that the qualities I admire have changed over the years. I used to be drawn toward super smart, sarcastic, cynical, troubled people, but some of those traits have fallen out of favor with me.

Let me say something about honesty. I don’t admire honesty; it’s a baseline, something I expect from people unless extraordinary circumstances prevent truth-telling (like to save a life).

1. Kindness. This is by far the quality I admire most. I have been trying to become a kinder person and I gravitate toward kindness in others. Many times, kindness is manifested in not doing something. Not making a snarky joke at someone else’s expense. Not crowing about your luck or victories to make others feel lesser. Being the bigger person. Taking the high road. All that cliched mush. 🙂

2. Communicativeness. I admire people who are able to verbalize/write effectively to let me know what’s going on. It’s too hard to sustain any sort of meaningful relationship with poor communicators. My ESP doesn’t work well. 🤪

3. Resilience. I admire people who can easily adapt to new situations and make the best of things rather than complain. I know this sounds hypocritical, since I’m not too good at it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t admire the quality in others. 😎

4. Empathy. I can’t bear the overused term “empath” that so many identify as lately. I guess I’m an empath too! Wheeee! To me, this isn’t merely absorbing someone else’s feelings or reading the room. To me, this means the willingness to really listen and dive into another person’s POV by first abandoning one’s own and letting go of any ego issues and preconceptions/judgments. Now, this doesn’t mean we have to end up in agreement, but at least understand. It’s a hard thing to do consistently.🥰

5. Creativity. I admire creative people, whether writers, comedians, musicians, et al. I wish I were more creative! But at least I get to enjoy other people’s great work. 🤩

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

5 Post-Pandemic Predictions

Dr. Tanya asks us to make predictions…

1. The clock will strike 13 and the sky will smell like television.

2. Our phones will get an update to absorb calories from our fingers, so we will lose weight via texting, facebooking, etc.

3. Cats will stop eating stupid things that make them yark. 🐱

4. Men will quit lying. No, just men. These are MY predictions ~ do your own. 😛

5. No cute shoes will ever hurt our feet.

If you’re saying, but Paula these sound more like fantasies than predictions… you’re absolutely correct. And so is imagining an end to this pandemic. 😢

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

Image credit – Bitmoji

5 Favorite Summer Desserts

This is a continuation of the #5Things series from Dr. Tanya…

Probably my favorite summer dessert is mango 🥭 sorbet from Trader Joe’s. Note that it is gluten free. 🙄 (Pic purloined from Pinterest.)

Next up is cherry pie, which honestly can be nommed at anytime, but I think of it as a summer dessert. (Pinterest pic.)

Starbucks’ iced mocha frappuccino with whipped cream is one of my sweet summer indulgences. (My own photo.)

Frozen lemonade is something delicious I associate with summer, but the caveat is it only tastes yummy at a fair. I don’t want it at home ~ I want to overpay for it while wandering around the games and rides. (Pic from Amazon.)

Finally, vanilla frozen yogurt with peanut butter cup pieces is one of my top faves. I’ve tried a bunch, and Golden Spoon is the best. I failed to find the exact photo I need, so I’m using this Yelp one, but it shows PB froyo, which I wouldn’t get. VANILLA with PB cup pieces is the way to go. It appears I will have to visit Golden Spoon myself, order the proper dessert, and take a pic. Gosh, what a burden…

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

5 Things [I Enjoyed Doing During Lockdown]

Dr. Tanya returns with the #5Things topic for today: 5 things I enjoyed doing during the lockdown.

1. Nothing! That’s right ~ I enjoyed doing nothing for a while. I’d been super tired, without a real vacation for years, so it was lovely just to chill. 🥰

2. Reading! I’ve read several books over the last few months. It’s been great to have the time to participate in some fun reading challenges. 📚

3. Writing! I’m pleased to announce that I’ve made significant progress on my novel Ghosted. 👻

4. Organizing! I bought lucite holders from Target and straightened up all the junk in my bathroom. Rearranged some other misc stuff as well. 👍🏻

5. Bonding! Spending so much time at home has allowed my roommate’s cat to become more comfortable with me. She hangs out with me now while I’m at my laptop. Of course, my own kitty has had more quality time with me too. 🐱

Here she is, purring on my lap. ❤️❤️❤️

~*~

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon

Images from Bitmoji and me.

5 Things [I Love About Summer]

Dr. Tanya wants to know the 5 things we love about summer…

1. Ice cream! Since I’m always cold, it needs to be hot hot hot for me to enjoy ice cream.

2. Long, lovely days with lots of light…

3. Adorable summer clothes I don’t have to lump a sweater over because I’m not cold!

^^^ yes, that is me… 🤣

4. The sounds of fun at the pool! Not that I want to join in or anything.

5. Flowers!

~*~

Images from Pexels.

©️2020 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.

5 Things [I Miss During Lockdown]

1. I miss going to work in my office every day. I’m one of those rare souls who dislikes working from home. I don’t like to slob around in grungy clothes, graze at the fridge all day, and procrastinate until I end up doing my work late at night. So annoying! Not to mention all the noise from gardeners, cats, etc. I like to work at work.

2. I miss playing Ticket to Ride, my favorite board game. Other games are doable over Zoom (not that I like Zoom that much, different issue), but you really need to play TTR in person. I could go on indefinitely with remote games… except for the loss of TTR.

3. I miss being able to grab a coffee in a Starbucks (or wherever) and sit for a few minutes while zoning out with my phone… or even having lunch somewhere by myself at a little table and reading on my phone or gazing out the window. I guess we can start doing this again, but I’m not inclined to expose myself to germs for no reason. It just seems foolish.

4. I miss being able to fly up to Northern California to see my daughter and her hubby, and I don’t feel comfortable flying yet or going through an airport. Maybe I’ll drive up at some point, though that’s no fun at all. Seven hours on the road each way, gah.

5. I miss being able to hang out with my younger daughter in Los Angeles and her family, go to the park, or grab lunch, whatever. I can see them now, but it’s still pretty limited.

I don’t remember where I grabbed this TTR image. How are we supposed to keep track of all the images floating around in our library?

Written for Dr. Tanya’s #5Things Prompt.