Monthly Archives: June 2017

Friday Stuff

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The sauerkraut seems to be bubbling fine. I tasted it this morning and it’s sour. Tomorrow I’ll taste again and then put in the fridge.  So far it is an easy thing to do. In the fridge it’ll last for a few months the recipe said. I also got out the Zojirushi to make some sourdough bread. It’s a small loaf and came out good. I haven’t been making bread as it’s been too hot and we just haven’t been eating much.

This morning I had to go down to Costco to pick up Bonnie’s anti-seizure pills. ( Bonnie is one of the border collies my daughter adopted a year ago. Shortly after bringing her to her forever home she had some seizures so this is a monthly expense for my daughter.

So I picked up laundry soap, toothpaste, TP and a few other nonfood items.  So now I won’t need to go next week.

Then I went to the gym for a short workout and then home to feed the dogs and do some of the chores my husband usually does. ( goat, chickens, pool, etc)

I’ve been decluttering and moving some things around. I decluttered dishes. and I’ll box them up to go the pet thrift store.  Then I moved my Melmac set into the cabinet so it’s not on the pantry shelf. Also, washed most of my mason jars and will move them into my closet pantry. Once again, trying to reduce the visual stuff and just reduce.

I find minimalism and decluttering such an interesting process of releasing layers of things. I’m sure it’s related to inner things and how at times we hold on to things and then poof, one day they just don’t matter anymore.  Tomorrow I’m not going out except maybe to drop off this load so I’m heading out to the barn to tidy and do some organizing. I’m hoping my son gets this flea market thing he’s doing organized as I’d like to move that stuff out.

I know one thing is that it’s not a one-shot deal but really an ongoing process.  Even with the Kon Mari method, which I have done, 6 months later there is still decluttering going on.

It’s been another lovely day. A little warm 93 or so, but not too bad.

Tonight is pizza night.

 

Sauerkraut

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Well, it seems to be working. There are bubbles   IMG_0794 which mean it’s fermenting. This is day 2, so I’ll check it tomorrow. In the quart Ball jar, it’s supposed to be anywhere from 3 days to 10. I’ll taste it tomorrow and then on day 3 and just till it tastes like sauerkraut. I started another batch this morning as one head does compress down to one quart Ball jar. So far, so good.

B and our son are heading up to Quincy for the big Sierra Sun Festival. They’re bringing the tent trailer and have a spot a friend of B’s know from the coop.  Too many people and noise for me. I’m perfectly happy at home putzing around, watering the gardens and tidying.

I’m going to head over to the koffee klatch and see if anyone shows up. It’s been 3 weeks since I last went so, I’ll catch up on library gossip.

Tonight my daughter gets home @ 7 so I was going to make zucchini fritters from the garden and ???

I’m not going to the gym today (my regular day) but will tomorrow. I’m sorta off schedule.

Summertime….

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It was so hot here last week. It was brutal. 106,105, degrees does not go over well with me. At night it would not cool down and we’d wake up to it being 80 something. Well, that’s passed for now and it’s been lovely. Today it’s going to be a high of 84 degrees then back up to the low 90’s. Still nice enough for me. Our window ACs were going overtime.

It’s just been life as usual here. Today I’m going to try to make sauerkraut. I’m on this kick for probiotic foods and sauerkraut is up there. I love it so I thought I’d give it a try. I’ll post some pictures when I get going. I’m using the Kitchn recipe.

We had rice and bean bowls last night for dinner and I made this coleslaw with a mayo, and sriracha, and lime dressing. Pretty tasty.

We’ve had snow peas from the garden, radishes. lettuce( which is now done), some carrots and tomatoes and zucchini. I’m sure soon enough we’ll have more zucchini than is possible to eat. I tried freezing it shredded last year but never used it. Too mushy.

Today is a gym day and dinner is ???

Yeah!!!! Here’s to 1 year of no Chemo

Posted in Blood test, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma, Uncategorized by

My labs are in and I am so excited, happy and a little delirious.  My kappa light chains went DOWN to 13.6 mg/L from 14.2 mg/L so very happy about that. The lambda light chains are at 11.4 so virtually unchanged. The ratio went down to 1.19.  Believe me, I am beyond happy.  It has been an amazing year for me. I know things will change as life changes but for now, I am celebrating.  My doctor just smiles and nods his head since there’s not really a lot to talk about. I was all ready to talk about future treatment plans but hey, another day. so I won’t see him ’till September, labs will be pushed out a little farther than I’ve done, to around 9 weeks. I can handle it…. I can handle it … I can handle it… 🙂

We were out of there really fast and then headed up to Costco.  Gee, the parking lot at 10 am was insane. the only thing I could think of is that people were trying to beat the heat. since it was a payday, we splurged on pool shock( a bucket for $65), a new lantern for the tent trailer, some trail hikers for B ( 19.99)  and a few other thingsI can’t remember.

Then we got home by 12 noon.  It was almost a 100 already.

Today is not as hot at around 98 degrees. Tomorrow even better.

I’m going to grill a marguerite pizza.

Happy First day of Summer

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It is so hot here that many records are being broken. Tomorrow is suppose to be the worst day(108) and that’s my oncologist appointment in Sacramento. Ugh…. well, hopefully in and out quickly. Then a quick stop at Costco for coffee and pool stuff and other stuff.

We plan on being home by 12 so not too bad.

Today I went with B up to Tahoe so he could visit some accounts and then take me out to lunch.  We went to New Moon in Truckee, very cool store. I bought a few things I needed like tahini.   Then I had a great cold brew coffee at Zuri and it was pretty darn yummy..

Then we went over to Tahoe City to go to the New Moon there, but their power was out so we just dropped stuff(samples).  Then we couldnt figure out lunch so we were going to go to the public beach in Tahoe city, but there was no parking and it was teaming with kids( definetely a no no for me).  So we thought oh… lets drive down to Kings Beach… Ok… well again because its’s so hot in the valley people are streaming up in hordes.  So back to Tahoe City to River Pizza which is right  on the Truckee river. And since there was no rafting today, there was parking. A slice of deliciousness.

Then back home to 101 degrees.

I’ll let you know if we melt….

Happy Father’s Day and a simple Sunday

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Happy Fathers Day to my dear husband who was and is the best Dad ever. Since I did’nt have a Dad around growing up B is everything I would have wanted in a Dad.  Our son made waffles with Farmers Market strawberries, scrambled eggs and bacon and veggie sausage. Pretty darn good.

Today, I’m going to the gym with my daughter and then home and float in the pool. B’s fathers day present, and anniversary, and birthday and Christmas is a new Intex pool. The one we bought from Costco 8 years ago finally bit the dust. So hopefully we will get lots of years out of this one.

I’m in the bedroom zone this week, so I may tidy the closet(again), and then wash windows and that’s about it.

It is so freaking hot here, it’s hard to breathe. It’s suppose to be 109 in sacramento.  That is pretty darn hot. So we will be @ 103-4.

Tomorrow are my labs, and then a dentist(invisalgn) appt. Then Thursday is my oncologist appointment. We’ll see what the numbers say.

I have a load to go to Goodwill(small load) and I’m trying to get stuff out of the barn for my son to sell at the flea market. Hopefully he does this soon as I want it out of the way. There’s the 2 chairs and a bunch of other stuff.

Back from Capitola,Ca /camping

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We had a lovely time at one of our favorite California campgrounds, New Brighton State Beach.IMG_0772.jpg

This was the view from our campspot. There were a lot more noisy kids running around this time but school is out so.

Here’s one of Lodge camping duth oven breakfastsIMG_0775 this was hash browns, veggie sausage and our chickens eggs!

We used the Lodge for cooking 3 nightsout of 4. It is so great. Even if you dont camp you could use this in your backyard. Lots of fun.

Our housesitter did a great job and everything is even cleaner than we left it. Wow.  thanks Ty.

Cancer and minimalism

Posted in minimalism, Multiple myeloma, Uncategorized by

June is a difficult month emotionally for me. June 15, 2005, is the day I received the phone call that changed my life. It’s always hard to put into words what goes thru your mind. But certainly, there is a lot of ‘why me’? I started out with 17 rounds of radiation and then moved on to 6 months of chemotherapy then preparation for a Stem Cell Transplant and then the transplant.  I was in the BMT unit for almost 3 weeks. And then, of course, there is the recovery for me that was about a year.

It’s been a lot of ups and downs but here I am 12 years later. For someone with Multiple Myeloma, that is quite extraordinary.  I’m one of the lucky ones. My cancer responds to the treatments I’ve had thus far.  There are new novel therapies out there now that I still have as an option.

Now, June 23, 2016, was my last Velcade treatment.  So, now June is a happy time for that reason. In two weeks I get my labs, so that will tell me where I am with my cancer. I suspect my numbers will have gone up some but still not enough to start treatment so I am lucky.  I have had a year of wonder.

So how does this relate to minimalism?  I’ve been on this minimalist journey for about 5 years now. Prior to that Flylady gets the credit for helping me with zone cleaning and doing just what I could in 15 minutes.  When I was in treatment this was extraordinarily helpful.  But then I moved into the space of wanting a fresh look, a minimalist look and then it just took off from there.  We have gotten rid of thousands of things, some valuable even.  Just gave them to the thrift stores.  I didn’t really try to sell a lot.  It was more important to just to let it go. Plus, I’ve always believed what goes around comes around and if I need something down the road, it’ll come my way somehow someway.  Maybe, I needed to purge things and create a new space for myself and my family. I try not to over think things so who knows. i just know it has felt right to do.

I also think having to face one’s mortality, does affect bring into focus what’s important. Plus, I was very taken with things I’d read about NOT leaving stuff for your survivors to deal with. In reality, we didn’t have a lot, but it was still too much for the intention I had to be a minimalist.

Creating a minimalist space has let me enjoy a clutter free space and while I’ve been off chemo, a more simple schedule and lifestyle. It’s been a joyful year filled with wonder, excitement, and beauty.

A simple life.

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I think it’s very important to purge things from your life that complicate it.  Are you always SOOO busy?  It’s easy not to be, just say NO! You don’t have to do all that extra stuff. Your kids don’t need to do 12 activities a week. You don’t need to be over scheduled. You can decide what you want in your life or not.

Even if you are working full-time, you can still decide what you need and want to do with your life. You can simplify meals, have a morning and evening routine, declutter so there’s less to take care of and slow down.

  • I think in our crazy world we need to step back and put into focus what is important.

  • Family time is important.

  • Time for yourself is important.

  • Time for your relationship is important.

One thing I learned from having cancer, is to slow down, do what only was essential. When you’re on chemo, you just don’t have the energy to do everything you used to. It’s a great lesson in some things just aren’t that important and they can either wait to be done or just nixed.  Now that on still on my drug-free time( chemo that is), I still prioritize what I want to do each day.  I never take on more than I want to in a day. I usually list what I need to do in the morning and then if I can’t finish that, I just look at whether I want to do it tomorrow or not.

Try and be less busy, it’s good for you and probably your family too.

image   Take time to enjoy nature.