Monthly Archives: October 2017

Monday Musings

Posted in Flylady, Uncategorized by

We had a lovely visit with my sister Heidi, her daughter and her daughters’ daughter.

My brother came over to visit too. Then we went out for dinner and it was quite nice. Expensive, but it was a treat.

My sister is 4 years older than me and is having some serious health issues. Besides the pulmonary fibrosis, she has some nodules on her lung that looks suspicious.  I would definitely fly back East if she needed help in the future. She has come out every year since my transplant to support me. So it’s the least I could do.  She does have a large family that all live a few miles from her so that’s, I’m sure, a comfort.

Today, I’m home doing regular Monday stuff. The zone is the living room and I may try moving one Heywood under the window. It’ll be tight and I probably will move it back but I’d like to try. ( No, both my kids hate the idea, so that’s not happening) 😦 Then, laundry and a quick vacuum.  It looks like it’ll be cloudy today but it’s not cold.

Tomorrow my sister will come visit for a few hours and I think I’ll take her to lunch at Newcastle Produce.  Then If I need some produce I can get it as well.

Tonight I’m making a Fettucine Alfredo with a few shrimp. And a salad!

So, how did I do and more!​

Posted in minimalism, simplicity, Uncategorized by

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I thought I’d look at how I did with these goals.

goals for October just to be accountable.

  1. Paint the shake shingles where we replaced the door and windows. Yes, we finished all this.
  2. Buy at least 4 Christmas items, this could be gift cards or a book or item of clothing that might be needed. My son needs new slippers so that’s one. ,Yes, and more actually.
  3. Garden or be out in the yard tidying up 3 x a week for 15 minutes. We need to clean up the vegetable gardens and my herb garden and plant for fall. Not really, but my daughter did tons and tons of stuff in the garden.
  4. Go on one date with B, could be coffee or lunch.Yes, we went to Panera at least once.
  5. Help with FOL book and bake sale Done, we didn’t make a lot only @ $350.
  6. Make one new Julia Child recipe No, but I did try some other new recipes so maybe that counts.
  7. Get my blood work done the 3rd week of October. Yes, see post about that
  8. Continue to empty one bin and consolidate. Perhaps another round of Life magazines and there’s my children’s Waldorf main lesson books and art to go thru. Finally!! just emptied one Life magazine bin so, this leaves me with 5. These are not the huge bins but the ones Costco sells. Each one holds about 40 magazines.
  9. ?  Plan for my sister’s visit. That’s today and I’m going to order some sandwiches from our store and we can each have a half( they’re on a sourdough roll so huge) and I’ll get some potato salad. Not sure if any of them are gluten free but if they are they can just eat the insides of the sandwich.
  10. ?  TB figured out  Well, I did set a goal to declutter 1000 things this month. I didn’t care if it was 10 paper clips, I counted it as such. I’m up to 700.

So today, I’m going into the gym a little early and do just a quick workout.  Then plan to pick up the lunch stuff. Then home to tidy and move patio chairs so there’s enough for everyone. Fortunately, the weather is warmish so we can sit outside.

Dinner is out.

a book review’ the cottage kitchen’

Posted in books, Uncategorized by

9780451495761.jpeg‘The Cottage Kitchen’ by Marte Marie Forsberg is a charming cookbook. I love the whole English countryside idea and the food and the adorable cottages.

There are lots of good pictures of the recipes and good stories too.

I also like the recipes divided into seasons. I loved this cookbook and look forward to making many of the recipes.

This would make a lovely gift for any level of chef or home cook.

This book was given to me by bloggingforbooks in exchange for my honest review.

Friday Things

Posted in books, decluttering, reading, simplicity, Uncategorized by

It is another beautiful fall day here in Northern California. There is nowhere else I’d like to live except the coast. But not really, I need mountains and such.  Next week brings rain so it’ll change as it should. Nothing stays the same.

Today, I’ve been puttering around. I made a vegan banana bread. It’s from the blogger Sadia at ‘Pick up Limes’.  It is one of the best banana breads I’ve ever made. She has very beautiful food photos and her recipes are really quite delicious. All vegan.

Then I tidied around the house, and I’m finishing 2 loads of laundry as I had enough to do a small load of white.  As a minimalist, I find it much simpler to do one load a day and a few times a week a second. Fly lady is where I originally got the idea but it’s around a lot of other blogs.

I dusted around the house and watered my plant friends.  Not much decluttering although I did put a few pairs of earrings in a bag for Goodwill.  I’m up to 700 items in October. As I said lots of small things, but they do add up.

At the recommendation of a fellow blogger, I read’ My year of no clutter’. It’s an interesting book which focuses on her hoarding tendencies and anxieties. But I gleaned a lot from the book and would recommend it.

Right now I’m reading from the library, ‘unstuffed’.  I was going to buy this off amazon but it seemed to indicate some Christian things in it so I didn’t. So far I haven’t seen much in that way except a bible verse.  If a book starts including the Christian stuff especially related to minimalism, I quickly close the book.  It may all be fine and good for them to think Jesus was a minimalist, and yes I’m  pretty sure in 20BC there weren’t any Walmarts around so, yeah, not owning much there.  Not to be judgmental, but it is all relative and one does need to think about these things. Anyhoo, so far I live her ideas and it’s a good read.

 

UPDATE:  The book becomes a little more and more evangelical as it nears the end.  by the last chapter she’s really trying to tell us that only by turning to God can we find Grace. Because He is perfect.  And we are not. So that will help your decluttering journey.

Well, as an atheist, and someone who was a Quaker and a Buddhist previously, I can say with some certainty for me ,There is NO God.   Is he up on a cloud somewhere?  Is he in another dimension? For me, living a life of balance and simplicity is about being here in this life and living it fully and wholly.

Well, my sister will arrive in Sacramento tomorrow and we’ll see her Sunday. Should be a nice day although not as warm as today.

Labs okay, went up :(

Posted in Blood test, Multiple myeloma, Uncategorized by

It’s okay. But here’s a picture of the results.

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So if you have Myeloma, two tests are important to track your cancer.  These are the light chains and the SPEP.

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So in August, 2 months ago I was at 13.6 . and lambda at 12.0 ratio 1.13.

I was very happy with those numbers.

In October the jump was almost 3 points. to 16.2 and 14.2 but the ratio was 1.14 so almost no change which is quite important. The ratio is actually more important the individual numbers. Sorta  of…

Well, it’s ALL STILL WITHIN THE NORMAL RANGE,  that;s themes positive thing but a 3 point leap in 2 months and then what in another 2 months?

It’s possible the myeloma cells are on the move so to speak.

Gratefully my Serum Electrophoresis is normal.

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naturally, I’ve been obsessing some and it takes me a few days to rationalize it all.  It is all normal still and all good.

Just to put it in perspective, even when I go out of the normal range, treatment doesn’t really start right away. It’s more like when you hit @ 100 or so. or the ratio becomes squewed.  I’m Okay! I feel good. So onward.

I’ll be writing another blog later on just normal stuff.

Tuesday Stuff

Posted in Blood test, Multiple myeloma, Uncategorized by

Not too busy of a day. I’m going to the gym and then home.

I’m going to the gym and then home. My daughter needs to pick up some pet medicine at the vet, so I’ll drive over there.

My sister will be flying out this weekend with her oldest to visit. Her oldest child is doing a Catholic mission thing in Sacramento. So they are here to visit her and we will meet up Sunday for a visit and then go out for dinner. The turn around is 4 days. Geez, I couldn’t do that, I’d be wiped out.

Anyway, had my labs yesterday and my CMP( comprehensive metabolic panel) is all normal.  I’ll probably get the CBC today and then the big tests should come in Thursday or so. We’ll see……waiting anxiously as always.

Honestly, I don’t think it ever goes away, the anxiety. Having been thru the hell of a cancer diagnosis that was really out of blue plus how many people have heard of multiple myeloma? Well, I certainly hadn’t. But time is a wonderful healer and I am much more philosophical about it now. But that’s in part due to being 12 years out from diagnosis.

Here’s some of my vintage Halloween decorations.

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I actually didn’t put everything out this year. So more minimal.

Tonight is Taco Tuesday.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, simplicity, Uncategorized, Walking by

We walked just a tad bit later this morning @ 6:30. It was predawn and a nice rosy color.

I went to the gym and picked a few things at Safeway(cat food)!!  I loaded the thrift store in my old van and I’ll take that tomorrow. It’s always good when you’re decluttering to get the stuff out of your house.  It doesn’t help to have bags lurking or boxes and also, try not to let it sit in your car for 3 months. Better to be done with it.

Tomorrow I have my labs which I will anxiously wait for the results. I’ll know by Thursday how it all is. Sometimes, I feel a little more tired but who knows it may be just age catching up to me. Then I have to drop a check off at AAA for our house insurance.

I may go to Home Depot as I need some of those plastic things you put under plants. We’re moving some of the outside plants into the sunroom so I need to protect the table.

Flylady zone is the bedroom and I already washed the windows and tidied the closet some. I might organize my canning jars as I have them stored in there.

  • I have just a few more things to get for Christmas and it’s done. This will be a very minimalistic Christmas.  I like using the 4 themes of:
  • Something to wear
  • Something to read
  • Something you need
  • Something you want

Of course, within reason. Gift cards will play a big part. I have the reading covered with some eBay purchases of Easton press books. Clothes are mostly jammies, needs will be gas gift cards, wants, still TBD.

Dinner is Sunday Supper of spaghetti with meat sauce/marinara, salad, and I might make bread sticks.( I have some dough left from pizza).

 

Is it Friday?

Posted in cooking, Uncategorized by

I’m off schedule this week and it drives me crazy.

Yesterday, we went to Costco and Trader Joe’s because B was going to drive and help me. But it’s usually gym day. So that didn’t happen. Then our stove finally bit the dust this week as I was trying to make my sourdough boule and everyone kept complaining about the propane smell. When the oven wasn’t calibrating the temperature, it was doing this weird thing and propane must have been coming out. So, I found a good deal at Lowes for a $1000 stove on sale for $650. It’s nice and it was delivered on Wednesday. But then it wasn’t hooked up for dinner so that threw me off schedule too.

Well, it’s probably good to switch things up!!

So today I’m going to the gym and that will throw off my day. But at least I can make Friday night pizza in my new oven!!!

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This is the last of the cherry tomatoes. I’ll make a sauce after I use the food mill to get the skins and seeds out.

 

Clearing more Clutter

Posted in decluttering, minimalism, simplicity, Uncategorized by

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This quote really says it all.

I’ve been removing more little things that are just clutter. Old pictures that are duplicates( like @ 200), old pens, those old family books I mentioned in another post and more.

I’m up to 600 items. Of course, 6 pens is only 6 little items, but I still count them.  I also count stuff I throw away like old files and papers and junky little things. I figure it’s all part of decluttering another layer.

One of the most helpful things I’ve done is take pictures with my iPhone and then look at the space.  This has been very helpful in really seeing the space from an objective view.

Right now, I’m trying to work on my desk area. My desk is a Heywood Wakefield double wish bone table that I have the one leaf folded down against the wall. I have my printer, 2 plants, an orchid, my Mac book and then a desk organizer for bills etc. That’s the problem area. I need to figure out a way that this stuff isn’t so visible.  I also have a bin that was on the floor with files and that too looks too messy I realized after looking at the pictures. I think I might try getting some magazine holders and see if that works.

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I took off the wall folders so that looks better. Then I moved the file box to my Ikea cart. So, I’ll take another picture and see if that looks better.