Monthly Archives: July 2016

Almost ready…

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We are almost fully loaded and ready to go. I’ve been working on menus and you tubing dutch oven recipes for when the kids arrive.  Since our daughter still needs to work she’ll be coming up on Thursday and my son on Thursday too, probably with girlfriend, in tow. I know her from my library and homeschool days. Nice young lady.

Since check in isn’t till later we will try and get there around 12;30. Usually, they have the sites ready. We’ve ben there so many times now , we kinda know the routine.  I’m planning on at least 3 dutch oven meals, mac and cheese, lasagne, and maybe the chili with corn bread. I’d like to do a chicken meal too.

Our weather has turned a little cooler. Mid 90’s. We do have a house sitter coming to help with the chores as my daughter is gone 11 hours a day.  The young person ( only 23)is transgender and a very nice person. His family lives in Washington but he lives in our area with my sons’ best friend. That will take pressure off my daughter trying to come home and do everything. Our elderly neighbor is going away for 2 weeks and asked us to feed his cat, so that adds to the list of daily stuff…

Well, off to go lounge in the pool for a while with a cold drink.

 

 

Celebrate!!

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Good news. All my labs have come back in the normal range. No abnormal protein on the SPEP test. Hurray… kappa light chains at 10.9   Lambda at 9.3   ratio at 1.17

So kappa went up slightly, lambda went down slightly and the ratio went up slightly.  All still within normal parameters. So next month will be interesting, as it will be 2 months off Velcade.  I’m thrilled to have good results and feel very fortunate. I’ll take whatever I can. Sometime this fall I’ll need Zometa but not right now.

Other good news, the Questran has really been a miracle worker. No GI issues at all.  Normal everything plus there’s no urgent , better get to the restroom.  Honestly, I’m not sure why I waited so long to try this. Since we’re in Tahoe this week and the bathrooms are a walk away, I’m feeling confident I’ll be okay.  So happy with this development.

The other good news is our credit for completing 6 years of the HAMP program has been credited to our account. So we maybe going ahead with the Harp program refi but I haven’t heard back from anyone  yet.  with the interest rate due to go up again( as per the Hamp program) in October, we need this to go thru so our payments can be lower.

I emailed both loan officers and do hope to hear something about it today.

Dinner : I think I’m ordering a pizza . It’s still going to be 103 today so too hot to use the oven. Last night my daughter made a nice tomato ,fresh mozzarella salad with grilled salmon. Quite yummy. Plus I didn’t have to cook.

On another note, I went to the Koffee klatch yesterday. Nice to see everyone. But the library news is 6 hours taken from the Applegate branch. Wow, I certainly wouldn’t have a job anymore. I’m guessing only the manager will be doing those 4 hour shifts. It’s really only a matter time before they close Applegate. Actually, I was pretty shocked since with the other 2 branches closing I thought Applegate would get more hours.  Plus the hours are only going to keep circulation down since it’ll be 10-2. No after school, no working people. That will, of course, eventually support that circulation is so low, we need to close this branch.It’s a shame really to see this happen but it doesn’t surprise me with the current administration. Oh well, I have backed away and feel good about supporting Nevada County libraries. I love libraries and am always grateful  for their existence.

Book review, ‘Modern Potluck’

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This is a very ” in ” cookbook. People living in urban areas and even small communities that are into community events will like this book. It’s about the modern potluck.  I like the recipes enough, but most were not things I would make.  Partly, because my potluck days are over. We did tons of potlucks when are kids were inWaldorf school and home school. Now, not so much. I think if you’re part of a church or some group, these recipes would be great.

 

another tree goes…

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The other night @ 10 pm we all hear this huge crack and boom. It was too dark to see anything but we sorta figured it was one of our bark beetle trees that’s dead. Big surprise, we see in the morning that it’s a huge oak that has cracked apart and barely misses out neighbors house. This was a huge branch from a huge oak.  That evening @ 7 my husband hears this crack and pop. Sure enough another branch off this huge oak lands on our side of the fence. it must be the drought that has caused these trees to just give up. Even though we had a good winter with rain it wasn’t enough after 5 years of drought. So that leaves one huge branch left on this tree.

We also have a very large oak near our house. It wouldn’t hit the house if it fell but it would squish cars!! So we called a guy we had gotten a number of that cuts trees very reasonably. Remember the one guy said he’d have to bring the crane and then were looking at another $1800 minimum. so this guy will rope the branches down and will do it for $5oo. what a deal. I can’t wait. Of course, I will leave as I’m too nervous to watch these things. I just have a feeling that our oak is going to crack and go. We know it has had ants in it and water damage in some holes. So it’s only a matter of time.  So, were gone 2 weeks off an on so, it’ll have to be after that. the good part will be oak fire wood.

 

It’s another hot day of 102 ,ugh…I hate the heat.

Dinner : Taco Tuesday. I’m buying to hot to cook.

 

 

Simple Sunday

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Another hot day, as is the rest of the nation going thru. We have over 100 degrees all week till around Saturday. Then when we head off to Tahoe, it will drop back down to the low 90’s . since we have a house sitter coming that will make it easier for him.  My daughter will actually be coming home at night, but she works and is gone 11 hours so we thought  it best to have someone do the chores.

Our wi fi has been acting up and at first, we thought it was ATT, but now I think our router is going. Routers only last so long and this one is about 3 years old. Plus when it went out the other day, the printer wouldn’t reconnect. I spent 3 hours trying everything. Finally,I went down to staple’s bought a printer on sale. Came home and in 2 minutes, had it set up for wireless printing. So, these things happen and we just need to deal with them. I will check this week. at Best buy or have B go in to see what they have.

Tomorrow , I go for my big labs and , of course, I will anxiously await the results. I’m not too worried about these as it’s only been 4 weeks. But still, you never can tell. I don’t know if that anxiety ever goes away if you’re a cancer patient.

Dinner is chicken salad, tofu salad, sliced tomatoes, and freshly made refrigerator pickles…

Amazing!!!

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eleanorroosevelt143006As a long term cancer survivor of multiple Myeloma, I have had my share of side effects, issues, fatigue, etc…yada ,yada ,yada… It’s not fun being on drugs/chemo for so long but one puts up with it because well,  we want to live. It’s kinda a no brainer. But one of the issues I have had really since my SCT is G I issues.  It really started about 3 years into Revlimid when I noticed I was going to the bathroom a lot. I didn’t really quite register( a little slow on the uptake here) that I was having diarrhea a lot. I know I kept mentioning it to my doctor but he didn’t seemed concerned or said take Immodium.  It started to get worse and I would need to go immediately after I ate and then I needed to know where bathrooms were etc. I didn’t go out to eat unless I felt sure I could get home in time. I figured this was something I had to live with.  I’m off Velcade and Dex now but I was still having the same issues.  Eat, bathroom…..not fun.  Then last week I read the Myeloma Beacons column by Tom Shell about issues he’s having and GI issues. I always enjoy these columns written by very good writers and interesting people.  But I also read all the comments since I learn SO MUCH from other people. Well, someone, Katie, mentioned a drug called Questran for diarrhea and I immediately was interested. I posted a comment to her about the drug etc, but it wasn’t published for some reason, so she didn’t get a chance to answer my couple of questions.  Well, I looked it up and read all the details especially about bile and after eating the release of certain enzymes. It sounded exactly like what I have.  I’m guessing this is a result of so many drugs over the years but also, I think my body is triggering this reaction.  Well, the uptake is I  e-messaged my doctor, who always is very responsive, and said could he order me a prescription for me to try since I’ll be going on vacation in August and I’m concerned about diarrhea.  He said it’s worth a try and did.

AMAZING!!!! I’m taking 1 teaspoon in the morning and I have had absolutely no diarrhea. I want to give a huge shout out to Katie who wrote that comment, because I am amazed.  I don’t to get too confident yet but today is day 6 and it is amazing to feel just a little more confident about going out to town or whatever. I am taking a very small dose and it’s doing the job.

If this has been an issue for you read what it says about the drug. It really described my condition totally.

Ramblings

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I haven’t felt like blogging a lot. Maybe it’s just summer and there’s other things to do or I just don’t have a lot to say right now.  But things are going well. Next week I go get my first labs since I’ve been off Velcade(4 weeks) so I’m a little anxious. But it will be what it is no matter how much I worry so I usually let it go.

Yesterday I did get the outside windows done. I use Windex that’s made for outside use. It’s in a spray nozzle bottle and really does the job and it’s pretty easy. I try and do this at least 3x a year. I do the inside windows with each zone so that’s once every 5 weeks they get done. I am going to finish the touch-up trim painting this week as our temperatures are lovely and not too hot.

The budget is okay, not much new.  We have had quite a difficult time with our Harp program refi and now they want to increase the loan amount to cover the closing costs. I said no we’re not doing that.  Plus since we had completed the modification we were suppose to get a $5000 principal reduction and that hasn’t happened. So I’m just waiting to hear what they have figured out but if they can’t get it together we will go somewhere else to do the harp refi. This program ends this year so we will need to move on it as soon as we know if our current lender is jerking us around or its a go. It has been over 10 weeks of this BS> so…. I’m losing patience.

We are going to go look at an Rv today or Saturday. We still want a small hard body and I saw one 2016 that was a good price with a nice layout and bathroom.  Not sure about doing it but we can at least check it out.  Our tent trailer is 17 years old and has been great. We still love it but now we’re a little older and ahem a bathroom is sort a necessity (for me at least)….  There’s a bed that’s already down and a little dinette that makes into a bed.  No couch since the bed is down. I think I’d prefer that.  Plus we can’t afford to buy a V8 to pull something  big so it has to be a certain weight and this one seems to fit the bill.  So we can check it out at least.  Camping is really our only recreational thing we do ( and always have). We use to backpack and tent camp but those days are long over for me.

Dinner is Taco Tuesday.

 

Simple Sunday

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IMG_0074.jpgI have had geat success with the dutch oven cooking.  So far I’ve made the biscuits, chicken chile verde,  cheesy potatoes, and this morning I made cowboy casserole. Which is sausage, then I sauteed peppers jalapenos and onions, then cooked the hash browns and then once all that is done ( in the dutch oven) you spread out the hash browns, cover with the sausage( !/2 left unsausaged for the veggie, then the pepper mix. then you whip up eggs, I used 5, then pour that over the hash browns, top with cheese and cook for about 35 minutes. I was amazed it wasn’t overcooked and that it cleaned out of the pan very nicely. I love this thing its great.  It’s been great to try these before camping.

 

It’s a beautiful day today with a nice breeze and only 88 or less. Sorry about the heat in Arizona, 118 is just crazy hot.   this whole week will be nice with temperatures slowly rising as the week goes on.

I’m going to try and do some touch up painting this week if it stays this nice plus wash the outside windows.  It’s not a huge job but it is a lot for me.

We’re watching this series ” Indian Summers”. If you can get it from the library or check Netflix, it is really terrific. it takes place in the late ’30s in India. It’s shocking the British had such an iron-clad rule.  Gandhi is spoken of but as of yet not seen. he may not but you know that the protests are starting. I’d highly recommend it.

Dinner is left over turkey chili and pintos with tortillas. I’ve decided to do a freezer/pantry eat down as I need to empty some stuff out. It’s too packed. I’m also not going to shop except for veggies or whatever is needed but not a big shop. I’ve been to Costco twice not all was food but still we have enough.

 

Dutch oven camp cooking

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Lodge camp dutch ovenlodge-camp-dutch-oven-deep.jpg

 

So after reading the cute Frannie Shoemaker series,where they camp in an RV and cook with a dutch oven, I’ve gotten it in my head to cook with a dutch oven when we go to Tahoe in August. So I ordered one on sale from William Sonoma. It’s quite heavy and I have lots of recipes to try. I still need to get the lid lifter, tongs for the charcoal, and gloves.  I want to try some at home first and test it out. It looks like a lot of fun. Plus, I like to have my dinner prep done by 4pm or so and this way I can get stuff in the dutch oven and let it cook. Most of the recipes are for meat but I will try and shift some to vegetarian. I think like, enchiladas, rice veggie casserole, maybe cheesy potatoes.  I will do chicken and beef too but will need a veggie dish as well. Breakfast can be hash brown casserole and then I can do bacon on the side.

I went back to Costco yesterday for a few more things, organic beef, lettuce, OXO, and ?? spent too much overall, but I won’t need to go back for a while. I love  getting the coupon stuff as it makes the price even cheaper than the already less price. Sor some people buying the larger quantity is not worth it but I love not having to think about toothpaste for 6 months or knowing I have 6 cans of black olives. It just makes my life simpler.  As I’ve mentioned before, as far back as 1975 we were buying in bulk from the local co-op and a store named Mother Truckers in North San Juan, CA. It still exists today and is still going strong. We even use to buy are shampoo in bulk. I don’t do that anymore but I do buy the large shampoo and rinse at Costco especially when it’s on coupon. So all in all same concept.

I’m reading a historical fiction about Anton Chekhov called‘The Summer Guest’by Alison Anderson.    So far , interesting.

Dinner is ??? I’ll either get the dutch oven set up if I can get the lid lifter today or put something in the crock pot. I have a chicken I can cook plus a salad. I may go to our local CSA farm as I saw they had tomatoes. I look forward to our tomatoes but theyre not quite ready.