Friday Things

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California by

Boy, it’s hot. I hate the heat. At least, knock on wood, no fires nearby.

I was planning on meeting my library friends this morning but the cafe was closed due to a water leak. So I went down to the pool and then came straight home. I was home.maybe 10 minutes and my one friend called and said she was at the cafe and where was everybody? Apparently she didn’t get the memo, but at that point the cafe had reopened so I popped down and had an iced tea and we caught up. They just moved house into Auburn so that they’re closer for her husband’s medical needs. Ahhhh, getting old is something else.

I’ve worked on August’s budget and nothing unexpected so far. I hope to make a bit of progress on my CC. We’ll see.

I keep checking LLS but no luck yet. I’m guessing it’s going to be a while. But there is a change that will affect quite a few people coming. They are now only going to give awards to people on Medicare,Medicaid and Tri ? something. So that is going to cut out a lot of people. I wonder what their reasoning is?

My labs came back and they are the same as last month,kappa at 34.7, so I’ll take it. My ratio went up due to Lambda going up but that’s ok for now. My ratio definitely goes up and down. So another month of not stressing,for now.

Last night I just made us a couple of cheese quesadillas and had some potato salad from Ikeda’s. Tonight we might have the cheese tamales but I’ll see what my daughter wants.

Monday we are going on a bit of an adventure so that will take the whole day. I’ll take some pictures. Also, Friday is my son’s birthday. He’ll be 32. Where does the time go?? I know he and his partner have plans for Saturday but I’ll see if he’s coming up on Friday. With it being so hot, it may be better to wait.

Is it hot where you live? And what do you do to keep busy or is it watch TV/youtube??

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, Gratitude, home stuff, swimming, Uncategorized by

I’m thankful it’s been a good week without any appts apart from my lab appt. I did that early yesterday (7:30), and then went to the pool.

I’m thankful the guy who does my draws is quite good and this time he left NO mark, so that’s a win.

The pool was wonderful and I had a lane to myself the whole time. I’m a little stiff this morning from swimming but that happens if I haven’t been for 6 days. I am very thankful for this pool and how well it is maintained. It’s been 5 years since I started back swimming. I plan to go one more time this week. That may then exclude going to the gym as I do need to be conscious of time and gas $.

The weather is hot, that’s all I can say and it looks like this is hot and next week is hotter. Not my favorite at all. I did a little outside watering yesterday and will do some this morning. We’re not trying to keep any grass green, just watering lavender bushes etc.

I’m thankful my daughter did the Costco trip for water. We do use plastic bottles, mostly I do at night when I wake up and need a drink and also I use bottles to track how much H2O I drink. Not ideal with the plastic, but it is what it is and I have to choose my battles.

After the pool , I went across the street to Winco and got a few things. Mostly, I wanted some veggies and although not organic, they do have wonderful produce. They do have organic veggies though. I bought a cabbage for coleslaw, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, and romaine lettuce. I picked up some corn tortillas to make enchiladas. I also picked up a pre seasoned tri tip so I might make that tonight. I don’t usually buy meat at Winco, just Costco so I’ll see how the quality is.

Today, I plan on decluttering some in the bedroom and clean out the fridge some. I think I’ll put a pot of beans on too. Later, I’m going to pop out to Ikeda’s for more tomatoes. I kinda feel like going to the bookstore but that’s on the other side of town. We’ll see, maybe my daughter will want to go.

I am thankful to have started recycling again. It’s kind of a pain to do but I’m keeping it manageable. It’s in a convenient location so I like that. I only had 3 bags, so I got back $8. Not bad. I think next time I’ll wait to have a bit more.

Simple Sunday

Posted in budgets, California, cooking, home stuff, Walking by

Well, it’s officially hot and getting hotter. I saw close to 100 next week. Yikes. Coolers will be going.

I woke up early around 5 and decided to get up instead of lying there for half an hour. I checked my ResMed, and it looked good. Good mask fit and .2 events, which is almost perfect.

I did find a cancellation for my labs on Wednesday morning at 7:30, which is better for me than 11:40. I’ll keep checking, and maybe one will open up on Monday or Tuesday. Because of forgetting to do it, I went ahead and scheduled my next labs for after my August Velcade, so that’s done.

We’ll see how the labs are. It takes 3 months of a trend to be sure of something, so I hope it goes down slightly or at least stays the same.

The gym was a bit busy, but I did my usual weights and a little treadmill. Since I walked already this morning, I only did about 12 minutes.

After the gym, I went over to Goodwill and found a few things. A new Gap T-shirt in navy, which is always a hard color to find for some reason. Then a cool Starbucks cup that is a mini coffee press. It looked brand new. That’ll be fun to try.

I have chicken for dinner, as we had the cheese chile relleno last night. My daughter did it in the air fryer, and I’d definitely recommend that way to cook it.

The rest of the day is probably spent hanging out inside, as it’s too hot already to go sit outside. I’ll send iRobot around to vacuum and maybe mop. I’ve been doing some embroidering on napkins, so I might keep doing that.

Saturday Stuff

Posted in books, California, meal planning, Walking by

Still a bit dexed out, but I think if my daughter drives, we can go to the pet bookstore. I’d also like to get the Santa Fe washed. It’s fun to go check out the books and DVDs. I did buy a Blu-ray of The Lincoln Lawyer a while ago and watched it last night. I liked it.

Still a warm day today with temperatures in the low 90s. It is nice right now, and I had a nice walk. A few people at the park, but that’s just the norm now.

I made homemade pizza last night using 1/2 the TJ’s pizza dough. It stretched out quite thin, and with just a small amount of sauce, this time I used TJ’s whole milk mozzarella. It came out excellent. Their pizza dough is a fabulous bargain and stores well. It probably upped my calorie count for the day, but I’ll consider it my cheat day. I did lose a few pounds, but it seems at least one pound came back. At some point, I will go back to my PCP and get the Zepbound prescription. But right now I really don’t want to add anything to what I already take.

Tonight I think I’ll grill up some chicken, and I have some broccoli to use too. If I don’t feel like that, then I’ll do the chile relleno from TJ’s with some home-canned beans.

Well, off to start the day.

Friday Things

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Frugally, I spent $150 at Trader Joe’s, plus some of their Charles Shaw wine. I did get several frozen things for some fun meals like chow mein, cheese tamales, and a chile relleno. A spinach pack, which hopefully is safe to eat. Oh, plus two candles, and another orchid. I was YouTubing orchids and when I can expect a spike, and mostly it’s during their active period, winter and spring. So I guess it’s just a matter of being patient.

Then yesterday, after Infusion, I stopped at our local and quite famous produce pie stand ( Ikeda’s) for tomatoes. ($39) I’ve been really craving my favorite summer meal of thick-sliced tomatoes and mayonnaise on bread. So I got one heirloom tomato and a few others that were local. The heirloom was sliced up when I got home, and it did not disappoint. I also got some of their homemade salsa and chips and a potato salad. I was a little surprised that all of it was excellent. Usually I find fault with stuff like that, but not this time. Ikeda’s was started by the Japanese family Ikeda back in, I believe, the 70’s or maybe earlier. My son went to preschool with one of the younger boys. I believe their children are still the owners/managers, as I saw one of them yesterday. They are famous for their pies and fruit.

Today is a Dex day, so I’m homebound and just chilling. Not sure what I’ll get up to. The temperatures are back in the low 90s, so morning is nice, but then by 3 it’s getting too hot to be out. I’ll probably do some watering outside early.

This is little Wormie (smudge) on the Ikea chair. He’s the one attached to my daughter. All our chairs are cat chairs, and we just have to squeeze in next to them.

Beans went to the vet yesterday my daughter took him), as we wanted to be sure he was ok, since he’d lost weight. The vet said he seemed fine and took a blood sample just in case, and said to do another round of worm medicine. He was a good boy here, my daughter said!!!

All in all, a good week.

Midweek Musings/Thankful Thursday

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I’ve had a few productive days. I mostly cleaned up the laundry room. A little left to do, as I needed the step ladder to get some cob webs down, and it wasn’t in there. My daughter must have it somewhere. But there’s one in the house I can bring out. Found it!!!

It’s really hot again (95 yesterday), and that totally unmotivated me. I think it’s the same for a while, but that’s summer in California( at least in the Sierra Nevada foothills). SF, Berkeley, Bay Area, it’s quite different, as this is the foggy time of year. ( see update)

When I was at Costco, I was getting my Swiffer dusters, which I use almost daily. I walked by the Swiffer mop set. It was such a good price ( 14.97) that I bought one. I used it once already, and it seems to do a good job. I just need a hook to hang it somewhere.

My son is coming up today, as he is taking a few days off from work to be here and work on the barn. He wants to empty one side at a time and rearrange things. The barn is really his domain now, so he can do that.

Thankful Thursday

Yesterday was cooler, and it was even nice to be outside some. I’m thankful it was, as my son was working in the barn and it was not boiling.

Today is also a very nice temperature. I have Velcade this morning, and then I’m going down to the library to get my holds. I’m always grateful for the library and books in general.

I have my August budget ready, and it looks ok so far. X amount of dollars only goes so far, and that’s it. Still, I’m grateful for what I have. I asked on the Facebook Myeloma group when the last funding was, and the consensus seemed to be a while ago. So it’s just a matter of checking daily.

I forgot to book my labs for Monday morning, and nothing is available. So I had to book on Tuesday, but much later, near noon. Not too happy about that, but it’s my own fault. I checked a few other labs, and nothing in the early morning was available. Fortunately, this is not a fasting test, although the glucose will be higher as I will have eaten breakfast.

After the library and Velcade, I’ll come home and see what needs doing.

How to make homemade butter

Posted in California, cooking by

When I go to Costco, I often buy a half-gallon of heavy cream. Some I use in cooking, like for a mustard cream sauce for chicken, but then I make butter. So I’ve been making butter like this since the 1970’s when, in fact, I drove with my friend Shelly over to a town called Cool. There was a cattle ranch, and the woman sold raw milk by the gallon. Some of my original gallon jars I still have are from that time. With the gallon of milk, I would separate the cream from the milk and make butter. But in those days, Barclay would use a quart ball jar and shake it till it was butter. Believe me, that was a workout, as it took maybe 30 minutes. Shelley worked for the Forest Service with Barclay on the fire crew and then later was the first female fire lookout for Duncan’s Peak. It was really her who influenced my bulk buying and buying/making simple things.

So, of course, this is not raw milk and I use a food processor.

First, leave the cream out for a few hours to warm up. It goes faster.

Just set the food processor on low and add the cream to the fill line. With the warmer cream it takes maybe 10 minutes. If it’s cold longer.

Then separate out the buttermilk. That can be used for pancakes, etc.

Then get a clean dish towel and squeeze all the remaining buttermilk out. Some people run it under cold water. Then I usually cut it in half and roll it into a log. Then I wrap it in parchment paper and usually freeze until ready to use. Sometimes I do herbs or salt-and-pepper ones. When cooking, sometimes there will be some residual liquid, and that’s fine; it’ll just cook off.

Let me know if you try it.

Monday Menu and misc.

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Last night we had pulled pork, rice, and beans from the freezer. It was good. We used street taco tortillas, and that made it fun. This is the one from Costco, and it’s very good. Not fatty at all. It’s not the Costco brand, so make sure you check. I can’t remember the name, but it’s in the refrigerated section. We have tried the Costco brand, and we didn’t like it.

Things from the freezer to use this week:

Salmon, and I think I’ll make couscous on the side.

Chicken tenders, I will figure out either grilling or making them in a recipe. I’ve been using Test Kitchen, cooking for two. We like chicken piccata, so maybe that. Or, I do have some cherry tomatoes lingering, so I could do a one-pan dish.

In the fridge, I have some tofu to use up, so maybe a tofu scramble. I also have some broccoli to use.

I have some hot dogs left from Costco, so I’ll do that with saurerkraut and maybe beans.

As I mentioned, the chest freezer is looking great. Once it gets a little emptier, I’ll have my daughter defrost it and start fresh. As a matter of fact, I plan to go out to the laundry room and do a clean-up out there. Plus, I need to measure for a door since the one there was taken off because it was coming apart. Of course, my son or daughter will have to do it, but I’ll pay for it.

So once I get out there, I’ll check what else needs using up.

Today, I’m not going to the pool or gym, but I am going down to Costco as we are out of eggs. Plus, I need to return a pair of pants I ordered online. The legs are too tight for my liking. I also need some Swiffer dusters. I don’t want to stock up; I just get what I need for the next week or so.

What’s on your menu? Curious minds want to know.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cooking, Uncategorized by

A nice morning. It seems a bit cooler, and there are some high clouds. My walk was nice. There were a bunch of cars parked, but I only saw one other person, so it must have been a meet-up spot.

Today is my Auburn gym day. I can’t say I feel very motivated, but I will go anyway.

Ha, update: I left my key fob at home. I was not thinking, and it wasn’t in the VW, where I always keep my gym bag. So I got to the gym and looked under my TJs bags, and there was no gym bag. For some reason, I had brought it into the house. Oh well, I went and got the oil changed, a car wash, and filled buggy up.

Now that I’m home, I’ll regroup and see what I need to do.

I made a homemade pizza last night. Didn’t come very well. I used fresh mozzarella and overcooked it. Well, it has been a very long time since I’ve made a pizza. Not sure about tonight, I’m sure I’ll figure something out.

The new season of Patience is out if you’ve watched it before. I don’t think it’s as good. I’d give it a B-.

Anyone watching anything good? ideas?

The new show Ride or Die is good so far. I like the actresses.

Saturday things

Posted in California, cancer, home stuff, LLS, Myeloma, Walking by

I didn’t get to a post yesterday. I went down to the gym, and by the time I got home, I forgot about it. I walked this morning, so I plan on not going to the pool, plus that’s gas.

I plan on doing some house chores and popping down to Holiday for a few things. I need some cottage cheese, hot dog rolls, and a few other odds and ends. I really don’t feel like going out to Auburn, especially since I’ll go tomorrow.

In the next few days, I need to get the oil changed in the VW and wash it. I may stack that on tomorrow, but I’ll see how it is then.

This coming week is also when my LLS grant officially closes. Of course, the grant $ was gone in May, so once it hits the official date, I can start checking when it opens up for Myeloma. Sometimes it’s a few weeks. It’s a matter of checking multiple times a day, as once it opens, everyone who has been waiting gets on the site. Fingers crossed, since I’ve not had reimbursement on my UHC insurance, which went up $60 to $360. UGH!!!

Here’s a fun picture of the bookcase in the mirror and our Quaker wedding scroll.