Monthly Archives: September 2020

Another turn around the sun.

Posted in cooking, ikea, Uncategorized by

Yip…. another year older. I made it to 68.

Getting older is kinda weird really. Inside you feel pretty much the same as you did when you were younger but the body sure can’t keep up the same:) I am extraordinarily grateful to be 68.

We had a nice walk this morning and got there @ 5:10. So the annoying lady showed up at 5:43 but we were done. It was so weird. She pulled in to the parking lot and parked in the middle of almost on the park road. Honestly, I was WTF? is she doing. Not the best place to park.

We had a fun trip to Ikea but alas, the chairs were not what I wanted and then we found some we like but they were out of stock. But I bought a bunch of fun Christmas stuff, a new bath mat, candles, 2 glass jars and their brand of cotton kitchen towel that run .79 and are really the best of found except William Sonoma’s but they are 4 for $20.

Tonight my son is going to go get a pizza for dinner so no cooking.

Last night we watched another episode of ‘THe Boys”. that show is intense to say the least.

It’s fairly warm today and there’s smoke from the Santa Rosa fires. We sure could use rain.

There’s also supposed to be a high fire warning tomorrow thru Saturday.

What a joke about the debate. We didn’t watch but caught all the news this morning. tRump was an asshole. Biden did the best he could but Chris Wallace should have shut tRump down. And that whole thing with the proud Boys makes me sick. I hope we can hang on till Nov 3 and then ?

A commenter wanted to know how to freeze the potatoes. Potatoes on there own don’t freeze well but these double stuffed do. First bake way more than you think because you will scooping out the potato. So I did 15 whole potatoes. It does take a while to bake. I had them on 2 hours but they were done by 1 :45. So then let them cool and cut in half. Scoop the insides into a big bowl. I add a stick of butter and About one cup of cheddar cheese. I also add 1/2-1 cup of sour cream. I kinda eye ball it. Salt and pepper. Blend well. Then I mound it into the shell. So 1 potato half is maybe 3/4 of the potato. I ended up with 20 halves. I wrap in foil and then put in a zip lock bag and then freeze. I often take them out and heat in the microwave or I’ll just stick back in the oven and rebake. Great for nights when you don’t feel like cooking.

Simple Sunday

Posted in cooking, Flylady, freezer cooking, ikea, Walking by

Perfect fall weather. The mornings are cool and days get warm. We still haven’t had any outdoor fires in the fire pit because of fire danger. We need some rain to do that.

Not now:(

Our walks are stress free since we’re the only ones there that early. The stars have been spectacular. Venus is very bright and Mars is quite red. We we’re leaving at 6 and the first person showed up so hopefully we can maintain this schedule. Frankly, it’s worth it to be out the door just a little earlier. As I said to B this morning, we can do it now but who knows the future. A year from now? or when I start Velcade? I may not be up to it so we might as well do this while we can.

This week is the Living room zone if you follow Flylady. I did ours including window washing. I need to do the outside windows this coming week. I try and do them each quarter. I use the outside bottle of windex that attaches to a hose. It works quite well.

Today is a mellow day without too much on the docket. I’m planning on soup for dinner with salad. Yesterday I prepped 15 baked potatoes( Costco, big bag) for double stuffed potatoes. That’s 30 halves. But when you pile it on you do get less. So I ended up with 20 halves. I left 4 out and froze the rest. The potatoes were really nice so if you’re in Costco, that’s a good buy. I guessing that’s because the harvest is happening in Idaho. Plus the value is incredible. 15 lbs of bakers for $5.69. I think down at the Holiday they are .99 a pound right now. Also, double stuffed potatoes freeze beautifully.

This coming week has some appts. I have a dental cleaning and we are tentatively going to Ikea to get 2 chairs for the sunporch. We’ll see. It depends how the week shapes up and my mood. The pantry from Ikea is still unavailable so that won’t be happening. But Ikea is fun and affordable.

Budget Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, frugalism, home stuff, Myeloma, prepper pantry, social security, Uncategorized by

I’m trying to come up with a good blog title for Fridays. I’m not sure Frugal Friday quite fits.

Overall, we are frugal because we have no income per se except SS. So maybe just Budget Friday would work. I’ll see. But budget-wise, all Octobers bills are in. We do have the 2 annual bills of house insurance and Allstate which is twice a year. With ALL the insurance companies getting out of insuring California property, for the most part, we are now having to do the California Fair Plan which is added to the AAA insurance. We went from our annual bill being slightly over $1,000 to now we are slightly over $2,000. Quite a jump.

Costco was just at $450, so that will go on October’s food budget. About $70 was wine and beer. I did buy a bottle of nice champagne for celebrating birthdays. Actually, it wasn’t expensive at $15.00. Plus there were a few prepper items and 2 bags of Starbucks coffee that was on sale. With all 4 of us drinking coffee we go thru quite a bit. But I don’t see us going back to Costco till the very end of October or even the first week of November which could then include any Christmas food or items. Prepper stuff included tuna, Cholula sauce, TP, another case of water, extra butter, and extra cheese. The only thing I didn’t get and I need is some tamari sauce. I’ll probably just go down here to the store and pay their price. The best place to get low sodium tamari is Trader Joe’s but I don’t think I’ll be getting there any time soon.

So far this morning I have made pizza dough, washed living room windows, cleaned the ceiling fan, and am just about ready to clean the rest of the sunroom.

Our lovely fall weather continues with absolutely beautiful days with temperatures in the mid to high 80’s. Next week does have a few 93degree days but this time of year that doesn’t seem so bad.

Budget-wise, I did my LLS for the UHC premium and my medicare which they cover for 2 months so that will be here in a week or so. I am very grateful to LLS for my grant (myeloma) as it does cover health insurance. If we had to pay OP for us both it’s almost $700 so I’m not sure how the budget would do. Probably we would be in the red. But there are gifts sometimes even with having cancer.

B did order the boards for the house ( 5 of them) so that was $120 about. But the siding needs to be fixed. Other stuff, even the fencing by the barn is optional and can be put off if we don’t have extra money.

If you’re looking for a new TV series, The Boys, is quite good. It’s super heroes that are darker more evil and is well done. We just started Season 2 on Netflix.

Well, that’s a wrap for now.

Floor project done.

Posted in Uncategorized by

This took 4 coats of Varathane.

Into the sunroom. Now I need a few chairs so we can sit out there. I did move my treadmill out there since this time of year it’s pleasant out there to use it. When it gets too cold I may have to bring it in.

Well, Everything is back in place. I dragged the couch(Ikea) in from the sun porch. ( you can see the towels under the legs).

I’m still not sure about the extra TV. We haven’t really used it but i have the DVD’s in the Ikea cabinet so, a question yet to be determined. I’m thinking waiting till spring and if during the rainy/winter season if we still don’t use it then give it away.

Ultimately, it came out nice but was really a pain. Next on the to do before winter list is some siding on the south side of the house( which gets a lot of sun) needs to be replaced. Hopefully that won’t end up being a big issue. just take it off and replace with new. Ha , does it ever work that way. Also, the laundry room floor needs replacing but we’ll see if we get to that or not. Also, I would like to get the fencing up back behind the barn to block the new neighbors workshop which is a noisy( not all the time) and not see his stuff. It’s a pretty big job to dig post holes etc, so we’ll see how hubby does.

BTW, he made it to the big 70!! Yikes, are we that old?? Weird I know. Anyway, thru it all, he’s still doing very well. There’s still a lot of drugs pumping thru his system so I really hope that changes soon.

Today, we’re heading to Costco to do our shopping for October. Plus, the sale items including coffee. Since we started the prepper pantry, being ahead on things is definitely a win win for us. I appreciate not having to think about whether I have this or that and know I actually have extra. I guess it’s my personality type that I’ve always liked buying bulk foods even back to the early days in California( 1975). Now it’s just more like Winco, Costco whereas back then it was co -ops and Mother Truckers( which was a co-op of sorts).

We walked quite early this morning and yay for us we didn’t have to see dog walker or ghost lady. It was glorious. So I guess we’ll keep that schedule up at least for a while. I do love the stars and walking in the predawn. Well, actually it’s technically still night since it’s quite dark and there’s no new moon yet. But the stars were really lovely.

Simple Sunday or back to my regular programming:)

Posted in budgeting, California, cooking, home stuff, husband, Political things, prepper pantry, Uncategorized, Walking by

Honestly, I am still on a rant about the SCOTUS shit. Mitch McConnell should go crawl in to a hole in hell and stay there.

Well, this was a pretty good week overall. The smoke is filtering back in but it’s not like it was so hopefully it’ll clear out soon.

Mornings have been cool walking but still nice. We still have the 2 others that are weird and annoying showing up right after us. I really wouldn’t mind if he wasn’t such a jerk. Doesn’t use a flashlight when it’s dark out, just barrells by without so much as a ” coming up on your left”and really sets the energy off in the park. The other lady is just plain weird and I can’t read her MO, which for me a counselor who made a living ‘reading’ other people, is unusual. I’m hoping she falls away with daylight savings in October but I’m pretty sure he will not especially since he does walk the dog or I should say drags his dog along.

Budget wise, September has been pretty good. I haven’t tallied up the food but I think it’s in the $600 range so that’s ok. I am planning Costco next week before the sales end. It’s been about every 4 weeks were going which is about on target. Prepper wise, I think we are set. When I get the upright freezer, then I can concentrate on filling that with stuff. It has been a trial and error with stocking up. All the non food stuff is great. Some prepper stuff I bought I’m not too sure how we will use it like the whole powdered milk. I suppose if you couldn’t get to the store at all powdered milk would work. It wasn’t expensive so I don’t mind if it ends up in the food bank stuff next year.

I did pay our Allstate bill ( every 6 months). My son needs to pay me his part but he can do that next month. Then our house insurance is coming due as well. Fall brings annual bills including property tax. Right now we can pay all that with our savings( EF is where I keep it) but who know 10 years from now. But that’s the future and I want to BE HERE NOW!! well, to a certain extent I do need to plan.

Here’s the floor finished. Even though it is beautiful light color now. Pine floors will darken with age.

Here’s our Philly cheesesteak sammies we had Friday night. The top one is just roasted peppers and cheese for the veg man.

This is the only picture I kept of my brother’s. He was quite talented. My sister has the really nice one that I wanted of a sailboat. I gave my younger brother 3 others(water colors) that I didn’t really want/or had a place for.

If you’re following, it’s the bedroom zone this week.

Also, B has a birthday this week. Another year around the sun!!

And “May you be inscribed in the book of Life for another year”

L’Shanah Tovah!!!

RIP, Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Posted in Political things by

It is almost unbelievable were dealing with this on top of everything else. She was a pioneer for women’s rights. Now we could be set back 50 years if a conservative woman gets on board. Can you even imagine revoking Roe vs Wade? I am appalled.

The god damned Republicans can’t even be decent enough to wait even a day out of respect for this amazing woman.

It is beyond comprehension except for pure evil from these republicans especially McConnell. What the FUCK?

Blue Skies

Posted in California, cooking, freezer cooking, home improvement, husband, prepper pantry by

It feels like a miracle that the sky is blue. We even ate dinner out on the patio. A miracle!!!

I do hope that’s the last of the smoky skies and that the tired overworked firefighters get a break.

We both got our flu shots and both had headaches for most of the day. But it only lasted 1 day so not too bad. B also had his IGIV on Tuesday and I dropped him off and my daughter went 4 hours later to pick him up. After I dropped him off I went to Winco and spent $130. Not really prepper stuff, just food to use and eat now. Bread, cheese, canned chilis, Amys enchiladas,spinach, tofu, tea, and 3 different kinds of trail mix to snack on. There was other stuff but I can’t remember.

This morning I’m making a zucchini bread from one of the last zucchini from the garden. Most things are done although I have maybe one more big batch of tomatoes to cook and then put thru the food mill. If you ever have an abundance of tomatoes and want to can or freeze a food mill is the way to go. I think I bought mine years ago at Crate and Barrel maybe for $50. But it removes the skins and most seeds.

Yesterday I made applesauce from apples from our one tree. They are a Golden delicious. Again I cut and quartered and cored, then just cooked down. Then I put thru the food mill. I ended up with 5 pints and tomorrow I will do the next box. The apples aren’t as big as we’ve had in the past and I think one trick is to remove some apples when they are small so that the tree can put more energy into the remaining. I don’t know if this is true but seems logical.

Tonight is pizza night but no one feels like a pizza so we are maybe going to do sandwiches. This week I did make a few newish recipes. One was from Tassajara cooking,it was mushroom stroganoff. I had a lot of mushrooms to use up. It’s a good recipe. Then I made a chili relleno casserole that used eggs. It too was quite good. Right now we are getting an abundance of eggs from the girls so that recipe used 8 eggs. They are on the small side. Also, I’m experimenting with freezing the beaten eggs. I guess this is a real thing so I’ve done a few baggies and will defrost one this weekend and see how it goes. You basically do a light whip of the eggs. You don’t want a lot of air. Then you do add a pinch of salt. I’m quite curious if this will work for scrambled eggs.

The pine floor has been a complete PITA. Honestly, I told Barclay, I don’t remember it being a problem last time at all. This time, he’s had to redo 4 boards, then plane them down and now sanding. If I knew it was going to do this I would have just done a laminate in a pine pattern. Oh well, he’s almost ready to do the Varathane on top so that’s that.

Well, that’s all the news.

Oh wait, I just got the Woodward book from Amazon, so excited to read that today.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Uncategorized by

I’m getting some bread dough ready to put in the Le Creuset and bake. I used mostly 00 flour so it is quite soft and I’m not sure how it will do its rise. I have some bread flour for the next loaf so if it doesn’t rise right in the oven I will start another loaf for tomorrow. Bread making is really an artform and when I have gaps of 3-4 months not making bread in the summer, it’s like starting over with getting the feel of it. It’s OK , I have nothing better to do.

This week is the bathroom zone for those following Flylady. If you haven’t streamlined your bathroom, now is a good time. Try not to have visual clutter and keep things off counters. I’d also suggest using white or neutral colors to keep the space fresh.( There’s a reason hotels always use fluffy white towels)!!

I’ve been playing around with making some macrame plant hangers. I have a lot of plants and I was looking at a few pinterest things and hanging the plants got my attention. It’s definitely a throw back to the 70’s. I actually use to do lots of macrame. But the few I just did and the couple I just bought make the hanging plants look nice and they are off the floor which actually was my primary goal.

Today I’m going to work on doing some knots and see how it goes. I tried to use some jute I had and it was too thin so I bought a roll at the hardware store but that was too thick and had a wire in it. So I ordered macrame cord from Amazon.

I’ve definitely been off with cooking. Maybe it’s just all the smoke but I haven’t felt like cooking all week. Last night we had Kodiak pancakes and that was good enough. Tonight I am going to do a pasta bake but even that’s not really inspired, it’s just something to put together to eat.

Here’s a shot of the pine floor. But some of it is still not quite staying down and 2 boards have bowed slightly. What a pain. So it looks like he will need to either try again with these 2 boards or get 2 new ones.

I do hope the firefighters can get a handle on these terrible fires. I think I read Oregon was expecting some rain so that would really help. California doesn’t really get rain( unless it’s a very unusual storm, till the end of October. If we don’t start taking global warming more seriously I afraid the future might be just as bleak.

Smoke, smoke and more smoke!!

Posted in California, husband, MDS, Political things, reading by

Our temperatures have gone way down to the ’80’s but we are still being choked by smoke. No blue skies and just haze constantly.

The pictures of SF are so apocalyptic. That same day our skies turned a bizarre purplish orange and it was dark at 3pm. My daughter said,” Just wait till Yellowstone blows”. Very reassuring.

The week has been overall ok. I had my Flu shot, the over 65 dose, and had a bit of a headache from it. In the past I’ve actually spiked a fever for maybe an hour then it’s gone. The pharmacist said the one dose is good for the whole season. Now B and the kids need to go get theirs. We usually all do it at the end of September or into October but this year I wanted to get ahead of it.

Barclay’s liver numbers went down but still not in the normal range. Just above high normal. At least that’s something. Although it’s been going up and then coming down. I still think it’s the Jakafi but he’s only on a single dose so who knows. He also has an IGIV next week since his immunoglobulins are down. It’s too be expected with his drugs. I will drop him off and Sachi will go get him. It’s not in Sacramento but Roseville so I’m planning to either go to Winco or Trader Joes.

It is so depressing about the fires,politics, everything. I just hope we can see some relief soon with the fires and the politics. I have to say though I am thrilled that tRump’s world is unraveling. He deserves nothing but shame and holding the place of “the worst president in American history”.

I’m planning on buying Woodward’s book only to support the fact he wrote it.

This is the book I use the recipe from for my pizza dough. I’ve made a number of her recipes and they are all good. I did buy her second book ” Let’s Stay in ” as a Christmas present for myself, but didnt like it all and gave it away.

This is the best recipe I have found so far. Always comes out great.

Finally a change in the weather.

Posted in Uncategorized by

Today is supposed to be our last hot day coming in at 93. This morning it was nice and cool walking. The rest of the week forecasts for the 80’s. I cannot wait.

This summer we have not used the BBQ except one time and that was at midday because I knew it would be too hot later. We also have not eaten out on the patio at all. This house sits with the front door facing N but this whole side gets the sun from the West all afternoon. So the patio is in full sun during dinner time. We have 2 umbrellas and 2 of those triangle shades but it’s still too hot when it’s 100 degrees out there. So maybe this week we can at least eat out there.

Here’s a pizza I made for lunch the other day for Barclay as I had just a little pizza dough left. This is not cooked yet. The cast iron does take longer to cook pizza so I have to adjust the timing.

 

These are two spooky pumpkins my daughter found growing in the big compost pile. The grew from last years seeds. I wish there were more.

 

I added my little pine cone pitcher as cute decor.

On a completely different topic of other people’s blogs and Youtube channels. I’ve been following a conversation about a blogger, who actually lives near me, in this area. This gives me some advantage of knowing the area where some of her sharpest critics do not know this.

The biggest issue of controversy is her not really being honest about certain things. For instance, they bought this place in a town near me so I know it well. She continues to call it a village where in fact it is no village but a rather populous foothill community. Also, she continually says she walks in the ‘forest’ all around her house. Well, there are Ponderosas and some fir trees where she lives but it’s not a forest in any sense. I’ve been kinda fascinated by the whole thing almost from a psychological point of view. She also does not allow any criticism or feedback or even constructive feedback on her blog or Youtube channel, only praise for what she is doing which frankly isn’t a lot.

She also says she’s into Zen etc( eastern philosophies) but as one who actually was a practicing Buddhist for a number of years( 8), I’m not really sure she understands what she is saying or trying to say. Plus, it’s not my place to offer advice but she has painted her interior in bright oranges, pinks, turquoise, and greens. Anything Zen would be muted colors and no visual distractions. I’m not sure I have a point here but it is interesting and I guess maybe I’m putting this into words to help me understand my own feelings toward this person and how she blogs.  I wouldn’t want negativity on my blog either,, but I think most of the people who have a criticism, have a point.  Another, for instance, is they were fostering a child and on her YouTube channel actually showed the child( a real no, no). It was at that point she was called out and she shut down the whole channel. 

Anyway, any thoughts about it would be welcome, as I’m not sure why this is even something I’m writing about.

Anyway, that’s a wrap.