a lovely day it is.
We went to the gym and then hit up Home Depot for some plants (indoor) and plant food.
Tonight we’ll have some champagne and I’m making tempeh Rueben sammies.
See ya next year( tomorrow):)
Monthly Archives: December 2017
Ending 2017
Goodbye 2017.
It has been a great year for me. I know some people have not had a good year including my sister who has had some serious health issues. I guess it’s all about how you experience the year with health, finances, family, work, and just life.
I’m so grateful my health has been good and I think that’s the main reason this has been such a good year. I think that makes all the difference. Even money or finances take a back seat to health issues. If you’re in relatively good health, I think you can handle whatever comes your way.
We had some great camping trips and work trips too. I always love going to Santa Barbara with B when he has to see the co-ops. It’s such a treat. This year I went up to the North Coast for the first time with him too. Eureka is a bit of a depressed area but the co-ops are amazing. so that was fun. Plus we camped at new Brighton twice and that was lovely especially going to Gayles Bakery. It’s the best!! Camping at Lake Tahoe always tops my list of the best things that have happened. This coming year we may do things a little different in regards to Tahoe. And I still haven’t booked any camping trips yet.
Learning how to Lodge cook was lots of fun and I ended up with 2 Lodge camping pots. It was such fun to cook a pizza in camp and other great recipes like chili topped with corn bread and breakfast casseroles. Such fun!!
Our finances were good and we were frugal yet got quite a bit done around the house. We even bought a wood splitter on sale for B to use. It was bought with one of his bonuses so that made it even better. We still have some big chunks of tree to deal with and I’m hoping this coming year we can take 2 more Ponderosa pines down so there will be more to split. Food and groceries in general still seem to be our biggest variable expense so I’m working on looking at working on that. I do menu plan and plan my Costco trips but food is just so expensive. I’m tracking food, non-food and pet food and this may give me a better idea of where it’s going. We ended December with just under $1000 for food, nonfood, Christmas food, alcohol, and pet stuff. Most months I run @ 600- 700 so that’s high. Although the Costco trip had gifts in it so I could reduce the amount by that and then it’s maybe $800.
I continued to declutter right up to Christmas and as a matter of fact, have a small load in the back of my VW to go into the thrift store. I would guess this year I’ve gotten rid of 2000 things. many just small but others not so small. For next year, I’m going to look at each room with a critical eye and see what can be improved. That should be a fun project.
Well, I’m making a whole wheat bread in the Zojirushi on the dough cycle and then I’ll bake in a pan. It’s a king Arthur WW bread recipe and so far looks good. Then I just finished baking the butternut squash for soup tonight and made a batch of mashed potatoes to freeze for when I make a shepherds pie on Monday.
So I’m off to read a bit and decide if I’m going to town.
Chrusciki and Le Creuset
Here’s a picture of our traditional ‘Chrusciki’. It’s a polish/European fried dough. It’s not very sweet except for the powdered sugar. My mother made these at Christmas. One of my few memories.
My fancy new pot. I love Le Creuset and they do last a lifetime or two. As I mentioned my other two are over 30 years old. I got this great deal where it was on sale and then got another 20% off so still expensive but under $300.
I’ve got all the Christmas stuff down except one swag I’m leaving up for a while because I like the twinkly lights in it.
I’m going to the gym today but no leg work as I must have pulled a muscle behind my knee on Sunday. I’m not sure what really happened but my knee was pretty flipped out the other day and I even only walked one round. Even when I am sick, I try and do 2 rounds so you can tell my knee was hurting.
It’s pizza night but I’m deviating(oh the horror), and making baked ravioli. I have some that need to be used so I’ll make them. Since my daughter is not eating gluten right now, I’ll make something else for her when she gets home from work. She doesn’t get in till 7pm so I whip something easy.
2018
A new year.
I do not set or make resolutions. I haven’t for years. What I do is just figure out what I want to do more of or less of. I do write out a list of things to accomplish so I guess that’s more of a goal. I do like goals as such. Like the Minimalist game and setting the goal of getting rid of things. But for some reason, I don’t do the resolution thing like exercise more, diet, lose 10 lbs. Those things just don’t interest me.
When I started the Just Keep Walking Project, I just wanted to walk every day. That’s a goal. But I try to not make it that there’s guilt attached or pressure. Since I’m in year 4 and 7 months, I guess I like that goal.
In terms of routines and keeping things simple, I like to do certain things daily and weekly. This is where I do FlyLady stuff. It keeps me focused and then I know it’s done for the week.
So my list for 2018 looks like this with stuff added and subtracted as the year progress.
- Keep walking
- gym 3x a week
- daily routines
- weekly routines
- now, this is new, I’d like to shop once a week or even once every 2 weeks. I only go to Costco once a month or even 6 weeks. But at the market, I tend to need something usually cat food or cream. I’m doing the Frugalwoods January no spend so that will help. But I’d like to get the other part figured out. I get conflicted with stocking up stuff(which I do for somethings) and more of a minimalist view(like in Paris or Europe) of getting what I need fresh more often. Well, since I haven’t figured it out yet, I will make that a goal.
- YNAB for our budget goals and daily recording
- build a new deck for the Studio( well,my husband would do this), I’d just supervise and get in the way.
- Put in a new kitchen counter and sink. This depends on money really and it would be from Ikea so nothing outrageous.
- if we can afford 2 more trees taken down.
- camping 6 x’s (last year we did 4 trips)
- go on some sort of date with my husband 1X a month. Like a new lunch place.
So there’s probably more, like continue to declutter my Life Magazines( 6 bins left) to ideally 2 but I think that’s a stretch since there’s the moon walk, Kennedy, Selma, MLK Jr., and so many great ones.
Of course, most of this depends on how my labs are thru out the year and if I will go back on Velcade if the numbers start going up. I guess that’s a big ‘who knows?’
Dinner is fresh cream of mushroom soup, which I just tasted and it is YUM, twice baked potatoes I did with the Costco huge bag of russets and a roast chicken in my NEW WHITE LE CREUSET that Santa brought. Oh, my it is very beautiful.
Looking at the new year and budgets
We had a delightful Christmas with lovely thoughtful gifts. A couple of favorites were the knitted cotton dish cloths by my daughter, a thrifted Japanese vase from my son, and this wonderful print from my husband.
the lights are just a reflection of twinkly lights in the living room.
This was taken from a picture of me looking out at Lake Tahoe in 1977 or there abouts. It may have been one of the first times we were up there. Jason, our first boy, was sitting with me but you can’t see that in this picture. My son stylized the picture and added Lake Tahoe. How cool is that? All in all a lovely day.
So on to budget stuff for the new year.
My plan is to get all the annual bills fully funded with our Social Security. Since we just opted to start SS even though B is working still. All that money will go to annual bills and EF. We looked at all the numbers and it still made sense to start this now. I started mine early anyway but that amount is pretty small since I never worked full time and that was one of my main reasons for working at the library. Anyway, now I get an increased amount called spousal something. Wow, I didn’t know that was possible. So the budget looks good for saving 100% of this money even though the monthly amount will be scary when full retirement comes. But we need this to go forward. The only thing I might do around July is to pay a chunk of the Santa Fe off. Right now, that’s a big payment but almost the whole amount is going to principal. It’ll be under $10,000 soon, so I’ll decide then. Other than that, just keep going. We know there’s no way to pay off the mortgage so that’s a given. We’re planning to sign the Subaru over to my son and take him off our auto insurance and that will decrease that substantially. Hopefully, we can do that before the next 1/2 bill rolls in which is March. So who knows how it’ll play out, we will just do the best we can. When we add in part b and supplemental insurance after B retires that will affect the monthly amount too. So that will need some research since my chemo drugs, when I’m on them, can run over $10,000 a month so we better have insurance to cover them.
Well, I’m off the gym this morning and then I’m in the Living room zone this week. I’ll take down the tree and put things away through the week.
Dinner is YOYO 🙂
Merry Christmas
Ho Ho Ho, may it be a great day!!!
22nd of December
Wishing whoever reads this blog a wonderful Christmas in whatever way you celebrate.
May it be merry and bright.
21st of December
Happy Solciste!!
I am thrilled that this is the shortest day and the longest night since it means we start going in the other direction. It does take a while to really notice it(like January) but you can feel it.
Still, no gym workout although I really wanted to go but my cough is croupy and I don’t want to put that on other people. Maybe tomorrow. It’s getting better daily but still not good enough to go workout. I miss it. I’ll have to add some days after I’m back in the swing of it.
Tonight we’re having a minestrone I have going in the crockpot. I think I’ll add some ravioli after it’s cooked so there’s a little pasta in it.
We’re joining Frugalwoods in a low -no spend January. If you haven’t seen her blog you should go take a look. I like her practical and down to earth advice. She and her husband worked to become Financially Independent at a very young age. Quite remarkable. We never had any money sense when we were young. We just sort skipped along and never really thought about it. I certainly wish we had now. But hindsight is 20/20 and whatever we can do to be frugal now we certainly try. I’ll do a post soon on budgeting and financial goals for 2018.
20th of December
A lovely walk this morning but later than usual. We went out at 6:30 which is really late for us, but it was lovely with just enough light to see the path without the flashlight. It rained last night and things were wet but it wasn’t all that cold.
I feel better today so I’m hoping I feel good enough to go to the gym tomorrow. I’m still coughing and my back muscles are sore from coughing but hopefully, it’s working its way out.
Since I’m home again today, I will focus on tidying up the Hanukkah stuff and other things lying around that other people, honestly, don’t see. I’ve already cleaned out the refrigerator as the turkey breast I had in there leaked as someone didn’t put it in another plastic bag. Oh well, it needed to be cleaned out anyway.
The minimalist game has slowed down since I got this cold but I’m planning on doing a few things today. Does throwing away food in the fridge count? Just being funny. 🙂
Dinner is turkey, aritchokes, grilled tofu, and maybe potatoes.
19th of December
Ahhh, feeling better but still coughing. I’m hardly ever sick which is amazing considering. But, if I get something it’s always the same thing. Sinus, cough, right into the chest. I rarely get a fever so that’s good. I hope this is done and over so I can get to the gym. I really don’t want to be THAT person hacking away over at the weight machines.
So it’s a cloudy day and damp. No rain in sight but not sunny and warm. Of course, this time of year warm is relative to @ 65.
I walked just 2 rounds and that’s all my chest could take so this morning I’m taking an Epsom salt bath and then relax. Probably read some more ebooks from NetGalley.
I was fortunate enough to get an advance copy of ‘The Gentle Art Swedish Death Cleaning’. It’s a very short book (70 pages) and is really more of her accounts of her own decluttering and downsizing. It’s charming and interesting but it will not rock the decluttering world in my opinion. I think what has most people drawn in is that she has coined a new and different term( death decluttering) and I think that’s what people are curious about. The book is fun to read and she does have a unique take on the subject and she does have a great sense of humor.
But the book that really rocks is ‘ Decluttering at the speed of Life’. I was blown away by this book and absolutely loved it. This author’s take on decluttering is completely unique and I have implemented a number of her ideas. I plan on buying the book when it comes out.
I’m still doing the 90/90 rule from The Minimalists and that has also opened my eyes to stuff I have stored. For instance, I have a lovely antique silk shawl that I’ve had for 40 years and it was antique then. I use to use it as a table covering. But I haven’t used it in probably 25 years. But its been folded into a keepsake box. so, should I pass it on?? I’m leaning towards yes even though it is pretty. But I’m pretty sure I’m not going to use it again. So that has been the kind of thing the 90/90 rule has helped me see things differently. It does open your mind up to a new of thinking and I’m all for that.
Taco Tuesday! ( maybe just nachos!)
Tahoe Girl 