Monthly Archives: August 2017

Almost Friday(ha,ha) and minimalism continues

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Well, I think we’re all caught up with stuff from camping. The 5 millionth load of laundry is done. The dishes from the tent trailer have been thru the dishwasher. The house chores are caught up too. This week was Flylady’s Living room zone which is a snap for me as there’s very little to do in our front room. I was the inside windows. Dust everything and then I washed the bottom of the couch cushions since someone kept putting their feet on them. Since it’s a white Ikea couch, it’s really easy to keep clean and I love, love the white couch. Never thought I would but I do.  Since there’s really no clutter in this space it’s quite easy. I did go thru the Heywood cabinet and decided to get rid of the last Franciscan desert rose big bowl and platter. I ‘m going to take them to the Cancer Thrift store this morning. I

I did go thru the Heywood cabinet and decided to get rid of the last Franciscan desert rose big bowl and platter. I ‘m going to take them to the Cancer Thrift store this morning. I haven’t used them in years so what the heck am I keeping them for,. We don’t entertain or have people over to eat so what’s the purpose of a large bowl and platter. I also decluttered the fondue pot. I do use this once a year at Christmas but I’m thinking I can use something else to put fondue cheese in.   I also have a giant Art book to go as well. We used this a lot when home schooling but that’s a long time ago and it’s a giant book that’s just in the way. Honestly, it amazes me the layers you go thru when minimalizing.  I’m not sure even using the KonMarie method you could get thru the different layers of emotional issues with things in one swoop.  I’ve been at this over 5 years and still learning new things and as a result get rid of things that I didn’t before for what ever reason.

My suggestion is to just keep looking at your space and reevaluate what’s useful and what is stuff just hanging around. And does it serve a need in your life NOW.

On a side note, my daughter just finished a 30 day challenge of 10 things a day to declutter. This is just out of her tiny room so she did absolutely great.

Today is a gym day and then I’m going to the Koffee klatch to see who shows up. I guess there’s some library stuff to go over. I’m making up 2 gift baskets for the bake and book sale so I’ll get that done soon.

Dinner is crock pot summer minestrone with our zucchini, other squash, green beans, and carrots. Oh, and our tomatoes are the base.  I might make some biscuits on the side too.

Ode to Billy

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While we’ve been camping, Billy our goat died.

My daughter heard him making some sounds and by the time she got out to him he was dead. As in “He’s dead, Jim”. If you’re a Star Trek fan you know what I’m talking about.

Billy was one of three pigmy goats we got many years ago. The other two have been gone a few years but Billy hung in there. He was the best of the lot. One of them, Rosie, was just plain crazy and you couldn’t turn your back to her or she’d butt your leg and try and break it. Landy, the boy, was sweet but he could get into any yard, however well fenced.

but Billy was the nicest. In the end, he was like a little dog that waited for potato chips or bread.

Two weeks ago I thought he was going out so I called the mobile vet and she came out to put him down. But he ran away, so she said let’s try a pain killer and it did seem to work and he was in much less arthritic pain. So, he had 2 great weeks.

RIP Billy.  We’ll miss you.

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My daughter though had to dig a hole to put him in and believe me that isn’t easy.So thank you, sweet daughter.

 

 

Catching up

Posted in Blood test, Multiple myeloma, Political things, travel, Uncategorized by

We’re still at Tahoe for a few more days. It’s lovely here with fewer kids running around and therefore quieter.  Mostly retired folks.  There are a few families here and there but even the beach is dramatically less busy. Of course, this is the weekend, so it’ll get busier.

We celebrated our 47th wedding anniversary here and planned to go to a fancy place for lunch. But the menu wasn’t impressive and it turned out not to be fancy but order at the counter. This was The Ridge if you’re interested.  So we decided to make fancy cheese and avocado sandwiches in camp and it was perfect. We’ll do something special out sometime. I’m not one to hold to ‘it has to be’ this way so it was easy.

We’ve had 3 Lodge dinners and last night was a pizza again. So much fun to cook with the Lodge.  But tonight we’re thinking a soup or quesadilla. Just an easy meal.

We had fun going to Goodwill and then we’ve been at the grocery store almost every day for either ice or whatever.  But since Safeway is just up at the corner it’s convenient.

We also have been to the gym twice and that was good to do some weights. I need to ramp up my workouts.

OMG, I forgot, the best news of all my LABS came in the normal range. I’m going on 14 months. Pretty amazing!!!!! I see my oncologist the first week of September so it’ll be just a touch base with him. So relieved and obviously, happy.

On a political note, it’s just amazing Trump would pardon Arapio(sp?) . I mean can we go any lower. And now banning transgender going into the service. We are going backward.  Geez, hard to really comprehend how low Trump can go.

Oh, and how bout it’s okay to leave up the Confederate statues to represent oppression because the civil war was about taxes(which I’m sure was part of the picture) and slavery was legal( so it wasn’t about that)?. So we need to keep them as symbols of respect…Well, I’m obviously being facetious and referring to another bloggers post about the whole statue thing so I’ll leave it at that.  This is my blog and I’ll write what I want just as she can write what she wants. We’re all entitled to believe what we believe as long as it doesn’t oppress or hurt others. I’m pretty sure that’s what neo nazis and white supremacists want to do.

Anywho…. it’s a beautiful day in Tahoe. I hope the hurricane in Texas didn’t cause too much damage.

‘the life-changing manga of tidying up’

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-This is a very clever book about the ideas in marie kondo’s ‘the life-changing magic of tidying up’.

It’s a graphic novel which depicts the story of a young professional woman who is very untidy. It’s a lot of fun to read and I enjoyed how it went thru the same things in the original book but as a storyline.

I’d give this book a 5-star rating! Lots of fun to read and the illustrations are great.

I received this book from bloggingforbooks in exchange for my honest review.

 

Tahoe

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I’m back home for a few days. I have to get my labs this morning and then the solar eclipse is happening, which I won’t look at.( No really, I don’t have the glasses).

I’m not too nervous about my labs but this is one of the longest spaces I’ve had between tests ( about 7 Weeks), so we’ll see.

Then I’m going to the gym, workout, and then home to get ready to go back up to Zephyr Cove. My daughter and I had a great time together and now B and I will be up there to celebrate our 47 th wedding anniversary. Wow, that certainly makes you feel old. 🙂

Here’s our Lodge pizza night

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Then me on the beach early am.

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Then the lake.

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We had an amazing thunder, hail, rain storm that lasted about 45 minutes. Everything got soaked.  We were cozy in the tent trailer but it took some clean up the next morning. The screen shelter we bought for over the table was nice but didn’t really do anything in this kind of rain so we may go buy an EZ up anyway.  It would keep the rain off the table. ( I think).

So, I post more pictures in a day or two.

 

 

Getting ready for Tahoe

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We’re off in a few days for 2 weeks at my favorite place on Earth. Lake Tahoe.  It’s where I want my ashes dropped or at least in the vicinity(ha, ha,).

But the first night it’s just the 2 of us. Then the next day B has to come home because our son is having a surgical procedure and it will involve anesthesia so someone needs to take him and bring him home. So, my daughter will drive up with the dogs for 3 nights and then B will come back up on Sunday.  It will be a little juggling around till Monday and then we should be good. Someone has to be here to take care of the 2 cats and the goat and chickens.  Plus watering gardens.  I’ll drive back down myself probably Monday.

But overall it should be wonderful will nice temperatures and even cool at night.

I’ve been packing dry food and others things. I also put out the 2 Lodges to take.

Mostly it’ll be relaxing, reading and walking. This year we bought a screened tent to put over the table. It may rain so this would help some. I didn’t want to get an EZ up after I saw how big they are and they weigh a lot. Usually, we try and buy one new item each camping season to add to our gear.

Nothing new on the dog front. Haven’t seen the lady or her dogs so I’m hoping she’s not coming to the park at all.

I’m excited I tried making bagels and they came out pretty good. I’d ordered a few things from King Arthur Flour and one was non diastatic barley malt powder.  It’s what makes NY bagels , well, NY bagels. I think they came out great but my oven wasn’t calibrating (which it does from time to time) so the heat wasn’t coming up to 425. So it was a little hit and miss.

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a little fuzzy on the last picture

 

 

 

I’m okay:)

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Other than a few bruises, I’m okay.

I had a nice walk in the park this morning and everything was good.

We went to the Farmers market later and got a bunch of nice veggies. Onions, peaches, strawberries, cucumber, beets, and probably something else. Then we went to Panera for a coffee.

Then after I came home, I noticed Billy our old goat was stumbling around. Worse than usual, so I called the mobile vet to have him put down. But after she arrived, she said why don’t we try some pain meds for his arthritis. So Billy lives another day. I hope he gets a few more months.

 

Tomorrow, is a gym day and then we need to get ready for Tahoe.

 

Attacked by a Mastiff

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So, I’m on my last round at the park and in the distance, I see the lady who used to walk her big mastiff, Jack. He’s probably 200 lbs. Always mellow. But I haven’t seen her in a good six months and right before that she had bought another mastiff, a female. So when I last saw them Maggie, the young dog, was maybe 4 -5 months old. So she was at the park and the lady was walking them separately.  She finished walking Jack and then got out the younger dog. I was coming around toward the baseball field (which is fenced) and she was walking the dog on the grass, a good 15 feet from the path. But the dog took off after the geese  ( which were on the other side of the fence)and just about pulled the lady over. She was on a leash and had a muzzle on. Then I’m passing by and say hi, haven’t seen you in awhile and she says no, they have been walking up on the canal. So I say Hi Maggie and the next thing is she growls and runs at me, lunges at me, knocks me over and is growling. The lady pulls her back and she does it a second time. Well, I was still on the ground at that point.  I was pretty shocked and struggled to get up thinking Shit, did I break a hip or what???? But I was tweaked in my back but seemed okay. She apologized and took off the other way. Now, I know this lady from the park and she is a responsible pet owner. she’s an ER nurse too.  But this was clearly unprovoked at another person.  That would be it for me with that dog.

So I’m sore and bruised but I still have a face and an arm which if the muzzle wasn’t in place I’d be in the ER no doubt.

A very weird way to start my day.  But I’m okay!! I’m just hoping tomorrow I’m not more bruised or worse.

the week ahead….

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Our temperatures look nice for the week. Low 90’s. It actually cooled off last night and our walk this morning was nice.

We are on day 67 of year 5. There have been a lot of people walking at 6 am. I guess because of how hot it has been. So it’ll be nice if a few drop away. As the weeks go on, it does get down to the maybe 6 of us that walk every morning. And when the weather turns we’re usually out there alone or maybe the one other very dedicated walker.

This should be a mellow week with B gone in LA, my daughter won’t be working every day, and my son, just in and out as usual. I have one appt Wednesday and that’s it. Tomorrow I’m taking food to the food bank and then to 2 different thrift stores. One will be the Cancer thrift store as my daughter has a few higher quality things she wants to go there.  Then a drop off at good will.

Next week we start our 2 weeks in Tahoe. We all won’t be there at the same time but they’ll be some overlap. We’re not paying for a house sitter this time so we need one of us here to put chickens away and feed and love the cats.

I got thru the Kitchen zone pretty easily and even vacuumed. So tidied and I’m getting a load of laundry done.

One of the things minimalism has done for me recently is actually not taking something away but adding. I’ve been adding houseplants here and there for a touch of green.  I’m really enjoying it. I’m sure I’ll lose a few like the maiden hair fern which seems quite temperamental. I’ve moved it into the bathroom as it like humidity but not sure if it’ll make it.  It’s been a nice added touch.

Dinner is cheese ravioli ( I think). It’s pasta Monday so….