Monthly Archives: July 2016

Monday morning

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We are having lovely cool weather at least for a few more days, then back to the high 90’s. But it’s been very nice. this morning everyone’s’ off working so I blanched 8 ears of corn and then cut off the cob and froze. We don’t eat a lot of corn but I do like to add it to soups and stews.  Then I made organic long grain white rice for dinner tonight. Using the rice maker is a game changer. If you don’t have one run to Costco and get one. It makes perfect rice every time ,white, brown etc. Tonight I’m making fried rice with veggies and left over pork kabobs ( tofu for the veggie).

I’ve been looking up dutch oven camping recipes and I think it’s going to be fun to cook with a dutch oven. It’s sorta a slow cooker for camping. I sure I’ll burn a few meals, but I’ll try not to. So far, I know I’ll do a breakfast one, chili, a chicken one and  biscuits.  I hope the Lodge dutch oven shows up today. I ordered from Williams Sonoma and quite unhappy with their delivery. No tracking even though it says track your order. Nothing comes up. I sent them an email saying WTF, it’s the 21st century , surely you can track a package to a PO box.  Anyway…

The doggies are adjusting well but one of them still isn’t getting the no peeing at night .These are older dogs and should be completely trained  but now if they keep this up no coming in the house when it gets cold. For now, they’re on the sun porch but in winter that’s not insulated so either they figure it out or that’s where they’ll be.  I’m not having dog pee or poo in the house.

I’ve read some good books lately, I have to get the titles since I don’t pay attention to them to much. oh wait, one was ‘‘Britt-Marie was here’.  an interesting book about a woman,63, who finds herself ‘divorced ‘and forced to find work. Plus she’s OCD and some of it’s pretty funny.  There was another one, but the title eludes me.

I haven’t felt super great since off Velcade but I feel good and my eyes are or seem to be getting better. We have been walking 30 minutes so that’s better. Still ,feel a need to lay down around 1 or 2pm. Maybe it’ll get better. And I still have some GI issues that seem to happen . not sure what to do about that since it’s often without rhyme or reason.  One day I’ll be fine , poof the next dayI ‘m in the bathroom  3-4times. I am concerned about camping next month so I might check on getting that prescription some people use for diarrhea . I use Immodium but sometimes that makes me feel bloated and then it doesn’t always work completely.  Oh well, it’s so nice to be off Dex ,I think that’s the biggest thing no swinging up and then back down.

Well, off to the day.

 

 

‘A SUPER UPSETTING COOKBOOK ABOUT SANDWICHES’

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‘A SUPER UPSETTING COOKBOOKABOUT SANDWICHES’ by Tyler Kord ,chef, at No.7 Sub ,is a hilarious book about ,well the title gives it away, sandwiches. Every recipe has a funny quip about something.

The recipes look fairly straight forward but I haven’t tried any yet. For his roast beef sandwich, he scandalizes the world of cooking by putting the beef in the crockpot. But then the recipe itself calls for putting ‘ the beef in a roasting pan ‘….So it’s a little unclear which method he actually wants you to use.  I might try the crockpot method since I’ve not had a lot of luck with the oven. 

So, I think this book has great sandwiches to try and there’s lots of funny stories to read too.

I received this book courtesy of bloggingforbooks in exchange for my honest opinion.

Using YNAB and budgeting

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I bought one of the first YNAB’s when it was still just a simple budgeting program. I liked it well enough but after a year or so I stopped using it. I always budget daily with a notebook and pencil. SoI know exactly where money is going and when. I find using a notebook is easy and I like the physical act of jotting things down.But I’m always on the look out for an online budget. I’ve used Mint and that does quite work for me, I’ve used Dave Ramsey’s budget and that was good but got too expensive. I’ve also used his free one recently and that’s okay. So when I saw the new YNAB earlier this yea, I thought about it but didn’t do it. then about a week ago I looked again and decided I’d do the $5.00 subscription for a month and check it out.  So I had it figured out to a 0 balance and then when the paycheck hit direct deposit, it kept saying I still had $xxx to budget but I didn’t. I have tried everything to figure out where this error is and the only thing I can come up with is its an error in the program somewhere. So I have this $xxx  sitting in a category of ‘ this is not real money’…..If I believed what the program is telling me to budget we’d be quite over drawn.  So, I spent over 5 hours off and on going over this. Still, nothing jives.  I may just wait till August or all the bills are out and then clear it and start with a new budget. It is frustrating since the amount in the checking area is correct but not this other amount.  Any ideas anyone??? why would this discrepancy be there.

Anyway, I’m home all day today just tidying up, making pizza  dough, and some decluttering.

 

Costco trip

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I went to Costco this morning and it was busy. I guess it’s always busy these days. But I had a few things I needed and some I still didn’t get. We were going to get dog beds for the new pooches but then decided we would use an old nova foam and cut it and then cover with a sheet or blanket.  So then in the coupon book there it is Nova foam with $30  off … Yeah!  Sothen I checked the dog beds and geez they were $30. So We get a new Nova foam for out bed and then the doggies get one cut up.  then I drove over to REI to get a backpacking stove for Zephyr since he’s taking his new girlfriend out over night. It’s a place we have all backpacked into many times. It’s an easy 2-mile hike into some beautiful Sierra lakes. When I could still do it , it was fun and a great place hat was easily accessible as long as you knew where you going.  Interestingly, this spring a young man and his dog hiked in the long way* there is a second way to get in) and on his way out got completely turned around and since there was still snow on the ground. Rescue teams and black hawk helicopters found him 4 days later. He was fine but just didn’t stay on the trail.

Anyway, that’s part of his birthday present which is coming up in August.

Then I dropped everything off at home for my daughter  to put away and went over to the Koffee Klatch  lunch. Most everyone was there and it was nice to catch  up. they mentioned the Friends  meeting in September, but I won’t be there. I don’t want to put myself in an awkward position and refuse to place myself in a situation I am not 100% behind.  I will always love and need libraries( thank you Nevada County Library)but will not go back to the feeling of hurt and dismay.  So let it go…good advice.

Tonight I just didn’t feel like cooking and B was driving past Taco Tree so my daughter texted him and put in out  orders. Just a few veggie burritos and tacos.  Nice and easy.

Tomorrow is a home day and Friday night pizza>>>> I hope…

Middle of the week…

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Wednesday… Hurray…I don’t go to Sacramento this morning. After 7 months of going almost every week for Velcade, it’s kinda weird not to. But hey, I’ll take it. I think my body is still getting rid of drugs and I’m not sleeping great and don’t seem to have a lot of energy. Enough to get things done but I’d like to feel a little more energetic. I’m upping my walking to 30 minutes. I think that’s a good place as long as I’m not on dex or whatever.  My eyes are still watering a lot so I hope that improves in the next few weeks.

I signed up for the new YNAB program which has been redesigned. I used the original YNAB  for quite a while but it neve quite helped with the visuals of budgeting. The new one has taken a few days to learn but I really really like it so far.  It has very good visuals for the budget and keeps it simple too. I’ve learned a few new things in the last few days about budgeting from reading their booklets. So sit is $5.00 a month as opposed to buying the program like before. If you sign up for the year the cost goes down to 4.00.  I’m going to stay with the monthly for a bit till I decide to keep it or not.

I’m home today although I was going to go to the thrift store to look for some jeans but with the new dogs, I’m not sure about leaving them for too long alone. They’re very good dogs, mellow and well trained but still it’s been less than a week here so I’ll wait to go to the thrift store. I’ll post some pictures so. Older border collies that are named Bonnie and Rocky.

Tonight is salmon cooked in parchment, couscous and a cucumber (home grown)salad with dill and homemade yogurt.

 

Don’t send your husband out to…..

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IMG_0058    buy an instant read cooking thermometer.  This is what he brings home.  Now honestly, did I look like I needed my temperature taken.  I was in the middle of making crockpot yogurt when my instant read cooking thermometer fell in the milk.  So, I texted him to get me a new instant read thermometer.  Well,he tried really !!!! And, I still love him for the effort.

July

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Well, it’s July. Half the year gone already. It’s been a good year so far, and now that I’m off Velcade I hope it gets better.   My blood work came in and looks great. Kappa light chains normal, lambda light chains, normal, ratio normal.Yeah!!!!!

I am going to try and walk a full 30 minutes a day and then try and increase to 2 miles a day a few times a week. Since I won’t have the ups and downs of Dexamethasone, I really hoping to do more exercise. Plus just getting dex out of my system will be great. Yes, I will need to go back on at some point, but that’s not now.

It’s very smokey here due to a fire and the air quality is awful. But maybe a breeze will blow some of it away.  Hopefully ,they will get the fire contained soon.

I made a breakfast strata with bagels for breakfast. What a great idea. I put it together last night and popped it in my new Cuisinart toaster convection oven. What a great thing. It toasts nicely, but the convection oven is amazing. No heating up the kitchen. I love it. I tried baked potatoes the other day and same thing.It works great. If you’re even thinking of getting one of these ,do it!!!  I did order ( on sale) the Lodge camp dutch oven.It might take learning curve using it camping but I ‘m going to try. Especially since I like preparing food ahead of time. The dutch oven is placed on the coals or Weber and then you cook whatever for a few hours.  I’ll probably try it at home with a few simple meals like chili or??IMG_0059IMG_0060

This coming week is the Flylady kitchen zone. Always the biggest zone I do. I did reorganize where I keep bread to above the new toaster oven in the cabinet. I moved the teas up and got rid of a lot of old tea. It looks good and then I moved the microwave over to the stainless steel counter. I’m not thrilled with it there but it’s convenient.

I’m making turkey chili in the crockpot for dinner mostly because I defrosted the organic ground turkey. Plus a salad.