There are just some days when weird stuff happens without any interference or doing on your part. Yesterday was one on those. I was coming off my dex intensity, and up early.

I walked in the rain and then needed to get home to call about an issue I had with a refund from a company I had bought a thermostat from. This company upon receiving the item back said, wouldn’t refund the money because the box was damaged. I complained and said the box was not damaged and only had a small tear on the very top flap where I opened. it. Well, no they weren’t taking it. SO, I thought about this in today’s world of how Costco does returns, amazon etc.. So I wrote a complaint to the better Business bureau in their area telling them what happened. Within 1 day, I got a response from the BBB and then the next day a response from he company saying ‘we strive for 100% customer satisfaction, and now would give me my full refund. So I was calling to follow up and be sure it was all in place. A lesson learned. I could have just let it go as it was only $60 but I felt they were wrong, so I ‘m amazed it worked out.

But , now I was running late to get to my lab appointment. So out I go,no breakfast,which for me is a blood sugar issue. I get my favorite phlebotomist, and ohh he doesn’t quite get it and I can feel pain in the vein. I didn’t say anything, but went out muttering, oh no, not my favorite guy:(

Then I’m off to get a Starbucks coffee and get to the tire place that I have an appointment with to get the VW shocks done in the back. We decided to do a little at a time to get the VW some services needed. So My daughter comes and gets me aff we go to do some chores.

That went well, and then I get a call from he tire place that they don’t hear the squeak I mentioned and that the shocks look ok. HUhhhhh, really,! So he says it would be an upgrade but you don’t need them. I’m a little confused like, I kinda wanted to get these done. ?? oh well, we finish our breakfast that we are sharing and go get it.

Oh, in the middle of all that I’m trying to return my new walking shoes as they’re too tight across my bone spur area. So into the box they go and off to Amazon( that was easy). Now though I need some new walking shoes since these are pretty much gone.

So, now back home, I’m exhausted. My daughter had driven in before be and it’s raining and comes running that a HUGE coyote got a chicken. Great, it’s pouring and now we’ve got a coyote out here. She gathers what’s left of it and puts it in a bag for my husband to bury. Geez. We have been letting the chickens wander around outside their pen and we’ve been letting on of our cats out for short periods. Not in the foreseeable future ,I guess.

Plus, we are heading out tomorrow, so no one will be home in the daytime to watch things. So weird….

Then, I don’t feel like cooking dinner, so that’s always not fun as everyone sort of stares like,”well, what is there to eat?”. Well, tons of stuff.  onward….

But, wait for it,……… I check my email right before bed and there’s a lab result. I open it and am absolutely amazed. My WBC is 7.5 thousand/ul, my RBC over 4.1 million /ul, my neutrophils over 5000cells/ul. This is like amazing and even better my platelets have gone up to 176,000 thousand/ul.

Now most of you don’t get blood drawn almost every week, but for me on this new chemo therapy, this is amazing news. Next week I get the other labs which actually will show the cancer markers. I don’t want to get too excited but darn it’s hard not to.

Anyway, it was a very weird and wild day.

Off to Sacramento this morning in the old van. She did great and traffic was flowing. they are very quick in there and I got right in. I stopped at the nurses station to tell her about my eye issue. Over the last month, my eyes have really been dry and somewhat itchy. Monday my left eye was really bothering so I called my eye doctor and got in yesterday. He said its styes probably caused by my lower immune system. He put me on a very short course of antibiotics. Both eyes are affected. My daughter thinks( and she’s usually right), that since my eyes are so dry they are not producing tears and therefore, allowing bacteria or particles into my eyes, at least around my eyelid. So I’m going to get some different eyedrops tomorrow that is to help with that. I guess we will see (no pun really) how that works. At least, I know what is going on.

We leave for Santa Barbara on Sunday so I hope it’s better. The weather doesn’t look fabulous but ok. I was hoping for 70 degrees or so but it looks like more in the 60’s. Last time it was lots of fun although this time we don’t need to go see the mission etc. But the beach trail is wonderful and so is the main street and I hope we can hit the farmers market, which is incredible. It’s a long drive from us, @ 7 hours so….

It’s dex afternoon and I’m going to cook something easy for dinner. Chicken with a Trader joes curry sauce and rice.  After my shot, I drove up to Trader Joes which is right on the way home. I loaded up with tons of food and snacks too. Another blogger,frugalinflorida.com, recommended the organic riced cauliflower so I bought a bag. Not too sure what I’ll do with it but I think she used it for rice.

Above picture, with coffee!!!

Then, I’ve been wanting a Chemex coffee maker to make coffee after the morning pot is gone. They run around 50.00 or so for the 8 cup. Yesterday, I had seen World market had all their coffee makers at 30% off. So a great deal. So I went there after Trader Joes. The 8 cup was priced at $43.00 then with the 30% off it was like $23, then I had printed a coupon for 15% off the total purchase. I didn’t think it would go as the it was already on sale. But it did. Plus I got the special filters and a white cream pitcher. The total came to just over $30.  That’s a great deal…..

Tomorrow I may drive up to Truckee with my daughter, as she has her staff meeting. But it depends how I feel. I ‘d like to see the snow.

Of course, its still raining. At least isn’t the massive snow storm back east. Anyone watch’ the day after tomorrow’? well, there it is folks. Global warming. Anyway, I decluttered some spices and took out the little desk I was using in the now sitting area. I was just using it for the  printer and my date books.budget book etc. So now I just have the chair. I think I’m still leaning toward the day bed idea and then I can take my naps or lay down when needed. Plus I can use big pillows to lean up against. Just not sure yet thats what I want in this space. Adding the treadmill(which folds up ) has been great. I’m doing a little extra walking on it maybe every other day.   So i’ll just have to see how this evolves.

On another note, our refrigerator finally is on its last leg. The other day I noticed the shelf wasn’t super cold and thought .hummm . So I checked the next day too and still not super cold. I raised the number for the temperature and its better but still. No one wants food poisoning if the temperatures aren’t cold enough in the fridge. So I’ve ordered from Home Depot a bottom drawer freezer/refrig. I still haven’t gotten the confirmation but delivery should be next Friday. They can take the old one away too. I really have to have to spend over $1000 but we have waited and now its time. I am concerned about finances but we will just have to keep going. I told both my adult children that in July( half way point in the year), they will have to pay us more rent. Right now my daughter is quite responsible and always pays her ‘rent’ and extras. My son has been less so and this semester we are covering his expenses since he’s taking 21 units. He has worked 2 jobs last year, but spends whatever he makes so thats where he needs to be more conscientious.

I am going to have to get a newer car sometime in the next 6 months, so I’m not sure how that will play out. I can sell the VW for probably $2500 and that would help. My van isn’t really worth anything(17 years old now). We will keep it though for ump runs etc. Maybe by mid year we’ll have a better idea of whats up.

Not really cooking anything today. I thought we’d get pizza later or some tacos. I don’t feel like cooking. I have stuff in the freezer so if someone else wants to , it’s there.

With this snow storm back east, it has me thinking again of stockpiling some food things. We have some stuff but I think I could be more organized with it and have things like canned organic vegetables, etc. If power were to go , so would the freezer and canned goods would be better in that scenario. In years past, we have lost power for days. When the big Ponderosa trees came down in 2007, we were with out power around 3 days. But others were out for many days or even a week. So it can happen. More than likely it will.

Well, on with the day.

We just passed day 970 of walking every single day. Only 30 more till I reach the goal of 1,000 days of walking!

Right now we’re getting out around 6;45 , mostly because its dark and cold and rainy. We’ve had a long spell of rain here in California. I guess when they said EL Nino , they meant it. Today we had a break but its suppose to come back in tonight and be quite heavy tomorrow.  Ugh…… sick of it.

I was in the Flylady bedroom zone. Pretty easy for me as its all decluttered and all I need to do is wash windows and tidy my desk. We only have a small closet with shelves and I’ve rearranged some of them for better use. I have some under the bed bins that hold my antique wedding dress( was a tea dress that was my great grandmothers), some vintage linens and a few other things.

I made a roast chicken for the week and tomorrow will make some rice for the week. I might make the organic white  rice this week. I plan on staying home tomorrow and then Wednesday is Sacramento.

I also had 2 blood draws today. One was my regular CBC to see how I am for Wednesday and the other was a nicotine test for my husbands insurance.

Still  watching Vera  and I’m watching a few Outlander. I love the whole Scottish thing but the rest with her and Jaime gets a little old for me.

Finished up reading ‘Spark Joy’ and it is much better than the first book. I’d recommend it.

Its been raining on and off all day. Cold and rainy. But we’ve been in a drought so I won’t totally complain. But still I dislike the ongoing rain and gloom. Still we were up walking at 7 am. Not earlier as it was kinda dark and it was drizzling. Ive been using the treadmill some days but not today. Today I was puttering with some finalizing of decluttered areas.

Then brilliant husband put up my new Ikea pot rack. I love it !!  I’ve put all my all clad there and after they are scrubbed by dear hubby, they will look even better. FYI, these all clad were bought around 24 years ago as a set. They are a big investment but last a lifetime. I have had their non stick pans and I don’t think they’re worth it as they only go for 3 years or so before the non stick is done. I’d also recommend and investment in Le Crueset. I’ve had my dutch oven again for almost 25 years and  about the same on the other. This year I’m going to invest in anew Le Crueset dutch oven . Since they are a hefty price I will try and plan it as maybe a Mothers day gift or anniversary.

The budget continues to just limp along. My biggest frustration is I want to save more or pay down the car or mortgage, but its just business as usual. I am grateful for what we have  though as not too long ago there wasn’t money to pay basic bills. I do worry about retirement money but I guess we shall see. If theme comes and we have to sell, then we will. We don’t really want to move as this is a perfect location for being retired . on the other hand it is an expensive area to  live. I know some people want to just sell and move ,downsize, but our house is so small we’d probably be renting a bigger place. Ha Ha!!

We’ve been watching Vera and its quite good. Not super fast moving, but I adore her character. Older DCI in northern England. A little frumpy and slightly overweight. Gee sounds a little like me. Well, I’ve never been a DCI but I am quite the sleuth and and am always looking out for odd things to  check out. ( what are our new neighbors doing building a weird workshop behind heir house)??? Plus its obvious that their from Sacramento and don’t get the rural part of country living.Hummm, we shall be  watching.

I had preordered Marie Kondo’s new book. ‘Spark  Joy.  I like it better than the first book and have gotten a couple of good ideas so far. One, we had 2 mission style book cases that didn’t have a lot on them, so I moved that stuff and took them both out. I repurposed one outside not he sun porch for shoes and the other will find a new home. I’m all about less furniture stuff. Secondly, going back and looking again at areas that for me are hot spots. Where things inevitably build up clutter. So B is putting up a few hooks to help hang my purse and grocery bags.  My next real challenge is to get out to the barn with B and be ruthless in throwing stuff out or giving it away. Its really mess out there and there’s too much crap, mostly from when my son made the one half his man cave. We  do not need a futon, dresser, bookcases etc out there. Really we don’t!!!

No spend month is going ok, not great, but i’ve had 5 no spend days. Today I went to Grocery Outlet and bought some stuff so I may not need to go to Costco. Costco is great, but hard to not add stuff to the cart. We are holding off till February to buy a refrigerator, if ours makes it. the clunk clunking is getting louder.  i’m looking to spend no more than $1000. the Kenmore we’ve got has lasted 19 years, so pretty good.

I’ve been using the new Ynab. I have the ynab 4 version, which I like ,but the new one is a little more glitzy. now though, they want you to buy it at $5.00 a month instead of the one time price (like I paid). I’m not sure I want to do that but I’m doing the trial for 30 days.

Menu planning has been challenging, mostly because I haven’t felt like any particular foods. If food doesn’t sound good or the combination is off or my body chemistry is off,then cooking is a bit of a chore. I usually love cooking and menu planning , so maybe this is just temporary. Tonight, I have black beans in the crockpot and I’ll do some cheese enchiladas and maybe a green  salad.

This week I’ve got the dentist for new Invisalign trays and a cleaning and Thursday is my Velcade shot.

I am beyond thrilled. I’ve had 5 shots of Velcade now and my labs are good.

My CBC has come back terrific,all in normal range, Neutrophils great, platelets good, WBC good, RBC good. My CMP all good too.

But the best news is my m protein went down almost in 1/2. .9 to .5 YEAH

So excited. My light chain test was put in wrong so I had to do another draw yesterday. But…… the test he did just kappa/lambda and hang on, I don’t want to get too excited yet. were in the normal range. The ration, unfortunately was slightly high. So now I have to wait till the serum free light chain comes in before I celebrate. Also, I’m taking my ex that morning of my shot and its actually worked out pretty well. I always took it at night to get thru the first 8 hours or so. But I think this is actually working better. I was pretty hyped out last night, but then i took ativian and slept good.

Today is home day except meet at the civic center for our little koffee klatch.

sometimes its just 2, sometimes 6. But nice to chat. Plus these are mostly all friends of the library ,so I get to glean gossip.

Well, off to tidy and watch the rain (again!!!!)