Monthly Archives: September 2019

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, Flylady, husband, MDS, Uncategorized by

A rainy evening with the wind. Plus, the temperatures have really dropped and we will need to start a fire in the woodstove.

Today, I’m doing the Living room zone and because October first is Tuesday another zone happens. That will be the entryway zone. I include our sunporch as that is the main door people see and use.  I brought in some of the geraniums and I think I will let them winter over in there. The sunporch is not heated but on sunny days it does warm up nicely.

I’m going to the gym later and then into Safeway for milk, cream, a whole chicken, and a few other things. My grocery bill has been low this week so I’m pleased. I made lentil soup from the new cookbook I splurged on for my birthday” Two Peas and their Pod”.

She doesn’t use a tomato base, but I always do. I think it adds more depth. I use the IP and it was delicious. This weeks menu includes the lentil soup, a homemade lasagna ( in the freezer), some sort of taco dinner, and maybe brinner with pancakes.  I’ve also been wanting spinach soup which is one of my favorite.

I used the “Two Peas” cookbook for a scone recipe and it was good but I made need to tweak it a little. I thought they were just a tad bit dense. I could have stirred them too much too as this will affect them. I’ll try again at some time.

Also, this week B has his appt with the transplant doctor who I assume is going to go over the BMB results and the chimera results. It all seemed good but we’ll see how he interprets it. Then B has labs and a port flush.

I’m planning on going into AAA this week and redo our house insurance that got canceled by AAA. They still offer it but with the new California Fair insurance. With all the wildfire claims, I think every insurance company is canceling their own policies and doing the rider with CFI.  Then I need to pay for B’s motorcycle registration too.

Friday things

Posted in home stuff, medicare, Uncategorized by

It has been a productive week and a really good one.

We got back from Tahoe on Tuesday and we were both a little tired. The sun is quite intense at that altitude and it can really dehydrate you. Even in the best of times it usually takes me a day to kinda get back to normal. But it was wonderful.

We have had some issues figuring out some of the Medicare stuff and we now have a clear path. B signed up for the AARP supplemental Plan F. That plan will not be offered after January 2020 ( I think that’s the date) so it’s the most comprehensive for him.

But we did run into some issues with Part D.  The issue is one of his medications is a Tier 5 , so out of pocket to start she said, $4900. Then $900 a month. Ahhh, no . This was AARP’s Walgreen program.  So here’s what we’re doing. We will continue to pay the Cobra at $700 a month while he needs the Noxafil. That should be for another 4-6 months. Once that’s done we can leave the Cobra behind. I am going to sign him up for Part D thru one recommended on the Medicare website( the Express scripts).  But we won’t use it for the NOxafil or any of his anti-rejection drugs till he’s off the Tier 5 ones. I may have him call today to verbally confirm they’re price levels. So all in all, good.

We are in for 3 days of rain so a change in the weather.

Birthday trip

Posted in Blood test, Bone marrow transplant, California, Lake tahoe, travel, Uncategorized by

We did it!!

This is our birthdays’ gift… B’s is September 22( the same as Bilbo’s and Frodo’s, ( so lucky) and mine is next week on the 30th…..  we are getting ‘older” ( ha, ha, no really we are now old!!

I had reserved 2 nights at Tahoe at Nevada Beach( our favorite). I wasn’t 100% sure that this was a good idea with Barclay just 4 months post-transplant but it turned out brilliant.

The weather was cool at night but the days were picture perfect fall in Tahoe. Plus the campground was almost all ‘old’er people and not a ton of kids running around or riding bikes. The beach was almost empty as was the beach parking lot.

In a word, it was my idea of perfect.

This was also a big deal as B hasn’t really driven any length since really his diagnosis so also a big accomplishment. Next week we see the transplant doctor and he should be able to tell us more about the BMB results which looked great. No MDS, no leukemia, the part we didn’t get yet was the donor cells amount. So hopefully that’s all good too. UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_398.jpg

We certainly hope it’s all good.

Today, Barclay has his labs in Auburn instead of UCD med center Sacramento. Then we plan to do a call to AARP to sign him up for supplemental plan F. I’m hoping to get Part D signed up at the same time.  So we may be on the phone for a while.  There is still some billing issues we’re dealing with when the Cobra wasn’t activated. I’ve called twice but it still seems to show we owe that money. I’ll wait to deal with that as I can really only handle one thing at a time.

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This is our sweet tent trailer that we really love and our anniversary present you can see there is the Honda generator. Wow, so quiet and definitely worth it.

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The handsome transplant patient 4 months post-transplant and almost a year since the horrible diagnosis. A new life.  A huge shout out of a” thank you” to his brother, Rodman, for the gift of life. A true gift.

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Here’s the happy camper with morning coffee!!

 

 

Wabi-Sabi

Posted in simplicity, Uncategorized by

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I’m planning on ordering his book called “Wabi-Sabi”.  I have a great affinity for all things Japanese( hence my daughter’s name’ Sachiko” or’ Sachi’ for short. I also feel a deep connection to all things Wabi-Sabi. It’s sort of the essence of simplicity and beauty. Nothing too shiny. Worn and used is best. Think of old barn wood. Beautiful and yet useful. We have an old funky barn and though it is definitely funky it is Wabi-Sabi.  The wood is aged and greyish. There is only a dirt floor except where B has added some concrete along the foundation. The barn was probably built right around the time of this house so 1950. It’s been useful since the house is small, most of our storage is out in the barn. B used it for all his samples when he was doing sales work.  We’ve since given all that to the food bank. At one time it housed my 40 bins of Life magazines I was selling on eBay. Now there are 4 small bins with the ones I’d like to keep( Kennedy assassination, Kent State, Martin Luther King assassination, The moonwalk, Some Beatles, and lots of others. I actually never had the very first issue of Life that was in 1937 or 1936 can’t remember. It’s fairly iconic.

 

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Maybe someday I’ll buy one off eBay.

Anyway, back to Wabi-Sabi, I like the blend of midcentury furniture that has a beautiful line and the Scandinavian look( mostly for the clean lines).  Most of my Heywood Wakefield is from the 1950s and has a wonderful Wabi-sabi feel and look.

Well, anyway, the quote resonates.

Think about it. How would you pare down without losing the poetry?

Five on Friday

Posted in budgeting, home stuff, Lake tahoe, social security, Uncategorized by
  • I decided to do a Walmart order so I can get the items I needed for going to Tahoe. Vegetarian baked beans, veggie dogs, sauerkraut, rolls for the first night. Since I’d spent so much at Costco last week I wasn’t going to but then it seemed the easiest thing to do. Not really frugal, but it is overall cheaper than Bel-Air or Safeway.
  • I have to go to the dentist to have them check on my tooth that broke. I called the Delta Dental that we have on Cobra and it is activated or some such thing( I hope)  so we’ll see how that goes.
  • Today I’m going to call either AARP or a broker to get B signed up for Plan F ( I’m guessing that’s the best although a reader did tell me Plan G was also excellent. And then also the PArt D. I plugged in his prescriptions and it’s the Noxafil that is a Tier 5 so that’s what will make it expensive but we’ve got to do it one way or another.
  • I don’t think that this can all be in place by October 1st but definitely by Nov 1st. Our plan is to pay for another month of Cobra then cancel.
  • All the monthly bills are done except Verizon which comes out at the very end of the month. So that’s good. Next month will be expensive since 2 of our annual bills will come due. AAA house, which is going up because it was canceled and it needs to be done thru California Fair insurance. AAA will still handle it but it’s going up quite a bit. And our bi-annual car insurance, and then in November the property tax which also went up.  Not sure how all this play out once B is not getting SDI anymore but I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

A bit of catch-up.

Posted in bread, cooking, Flylady, Uncategorized by

Not sure where the time has gone. I missed Five on Friday and Simple Sunday.

I haven’t actually been doing anything all that different although I have been making lists of things to do and then ticking them off. Maybe that’s where the time went.

We went to Costco on Thursday and did a huge shopping that completely blew my grocery budget for the month but I did get plenty of food for the rest of the month. Plus some things were big items that last a long time like laundry soap, dish soap, nuts( 2 bags), case of pineapple, case of olives, and lots of other things for the pantry.  so I won’t be ordering Walmart groceries for 2 weeks and hope that catches me up on my grocery budget till October 1st.

The windows and trim are done and just need painting.

I painted a small dresser that was white a darkish grey. Not sure where I’ll put it but it is useful and pretty as it has carved acorns on the handles. This was a thrift store find many years ago. I’ve done 2 coats but will do a third this morning.

I made a lovely sourdough sandwich loaf yesterday and it was almost gone by dinner. Plus I did make grilled cheese so half the loaf was used there. I had taken my starter out of the fridge and had been feeding it for 3 days. I wasn’t sure if it would revive but it did. I tried a recipe I had printed a while ago. Quite simple but I have another I want to try this morning. Both are started in the bread machine and then cooked in a pan. I like doing it this way. Of course, the best way is in the dutch oven using the slow rise method. but sometimes you just want sandwich bread.

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I cleaned out a lot of things from the chest freezer over the weekend too. That was on my to-do list. It looks better. There’s only so long I can keep bags of spinach I thought I use for smoothies. Plus some ‘burritos’ I made (4) that no one ever ate and were lingering at the bottom of the freezer.  I still have 2 bags of walnuts in there that need to be shelled. I bought those last summer from a friend so I need to use them soon in baking.( I probably overestimated how many walnuts we can realistically use).

We’re actually supposed to get rain/thunderstorms today. I guess we’ll see.

This week is the bathroom zone if you’re following Flylady. I’ll do that this morning plus it’s towel day. ( I wash our 4 towels on Mondays).

Tomorrow B has clinic and labs. My daughter has offered to drive so I get a break. Last week we had to drive down to get the prescriptions that had finally been cleared with the Cobra insurance. We let here around 8:40 and were down there by 9:30( amazing when there’s no stop and go traffic). Tomorrow though we need to leave by 7:30 and that will be morning commute traffic.

Finally, Cobra is activated!

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Well, it has been a hell of a week with this damn cobra but as of yesterday, the prescription part was activated so he could pick up his Cipro( for a very slight UTI) probably from the procedure.  But at least we could get it. Today I will drive down to UCD med center to get the rest. Mostly, it is the VERY expensive Noxafil he needs. But it was approved so we are good to go.

I still need to call to see if the Cobra vision and dental are activated but I need to regroup my energy before doing that.

We still haven’t gotten the form back from HR for Medicare so I think that will have to be bumped to next week. We may need to have a start date of November first and that’s ok as long as everything else is in place. I’d really like to shoot for October 1st but that may be too ambitious. It’s all good for now.

After UCD med center, I’m going to go to Costco because we need coffee and laundry soap. I’m sure there are lots of other things too. Like cereal, cheese, cottage cheese, etc. Well, it has been a while and having done the Walmart pickup has definitely simplified grocery shopping. I haven’t even been in Safeway in 2 weeks. That’s really saying something as it is right next door to the gym so I was in there every day for some little thing or another. So instead of Walmart this week, I’ll do Costco.

Fall is definitely in the air, with cool mornings and warm afternoons. I had B put the little table and chairs in the sunroom as this is a lovely place to eat dinner this time of year.

 

 

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Looks like I could use a decoration or maybe a pumpkin on the table.:)

 

Simple Sunday

Posted in camping, Flylady, Uncategorized by

Fall is in the air around here. Our temperatures have really dropped and I actually closed a few windows. We always open all the windows in the evening in the summer and then close in the morning as the heat starts. In the fall we keep the window open all day and partially close at night as it can get chilly.

We’re also watering quite a bit less and the gardens are just about done. We turned off the drip hoses and will only water as needed. We still have tons of cherry tomatoes so I’d like to keep them going. Our water bill is high again $155. but now it ‘ll drop back down.  Since we’re on Meadow Vista water it NEVER goes below $70 since they have huge fees attached to the water. In the winter we use about $20. worth of water a month but the rest are their fees.

 

Our trip up to Tahoe in 2 weeks will probably be chilly but that’s okay. We’ve got the heater in the tent trailer and lights. With the new Honda generator, we can run lights longer if we want. It’s very quiet but there’s still a curfew of 10pm on generators. We’re in bed by 9pm so no worries.

This week is the kitchen zone with Fly lady. I’ll start this morning and then finish up tomorrow. I’d like to reorganize the pantry( restaurant stainless steel shelves). they are not too bad but I do have loads of tomatoes and peppers on one shelf. So we’ll see.

Today is also a gym day and then home.

We finally got the 2 new windows we ordered almost 5 weeks ago. They go up and down and open which the other ones did not. So it is going to be great to get air in there at night or just when it’s nice out.  This is one of the few projects we did ( okay not me, but Barclay and my daughter) this summer. We’re still hoping to take down a tree or two later this fall but so far no one has called back to give us an estimate.

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A little fall color.IMG_0650.jpeg