Monthly Archives: February 2021

Simple Sunday and my 15th SCT birthday!!

Posted in Bone marrow transplant, California, cancer, cooking, Flylady, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma, Walking by

Yep, Tomorrow would have been day 0 of my stay at the BMT unit at Sutter Hospital in 2006.

I was in for 18 days ( I think) it may have been 17. The nurses and staff were amazing. They come in and do what needs to be done and then leave. Most days I just laid in bed but once a day I’d walk the hall with B just to move. Most of what I remember was it was raining outside a lot. I’d be awake at 3am and see sheets of rain going across the freeway. The reintroduction of Stem Cells is anti climatic. It’s a bag that’s feed into the IV and it’s done. The worst Chemo has already been done a few days before. After the Stem cells, it’s just hurry up and wait for your numbers to plunge to zero and then slowly your immune system starts to reboot. It’s about day 11-14 you start to see the change.

Well, I had 4 years of remission before I relapsed and went on Revlimid. That was in 2010. So I’m pretty lucky. Many of ‘old crowd’ of myelomers are gone and sadly so. I’m grateful everyday to be here to enjoy the life I have.

Simple Sunday news.

We had a lovely walk with NO one in the park but us and the geese. My feet still bother me but walking actually seems to help the neuropathy. Sunrise is so early that we are getting there at 6 but it’s already light. I’m thinking next week to try and back it up to 5:45 am but we’ll see. With daylight savings in march 6am will be 7am so definitely not walking that late.

I’m making a King Arthur batch of lemon ginger scones. They are baking.

I”m going to put a turkey breast in the crockpot for dinner. I’m hoping it comes out ok, if not I have tofu I will make anyway. My son isn’t crazy about turkey so the tofu will be an option.

We have a Home Depot order to pick up but my daughter and B will do that soon. We need some 3ft to put around the front area garden to keep Rosie the chicken out.

I am going to start the second coat of paint here in awhile.

This week I’m in the bedroom zone so the fresh paint on the door is a nice improvement. OOPs, looks like that was last week. this week is a split week of Living room and then March 1 entry ways!!!!

Friday things…

Posted in Blood test, California, camping, Gardening, home improvement, Lake tahoe, Myeloma, travel by

I’m using up the dex energy to paint trim and the french door in the bedroom. Most of it done. I’m planning on painting the window trim as well and got most of one window done. I’ll do the rest tomorrow.

I’ve got the pizza dough in the bowl doing a first rise and then I’ll put it in the fridge till later.

I’ve been very frustrated about not getting ANY camping spots at all. It seems everyone in the universe now want to go camping. I’m in reserve america at 6:55 am and clicking reserve right up to 7 when it opens up and POOF they are ALL gone. I’m guessing people with faster modems or computers are just beating my Mac. Well, we might not be getting to Tahoe again this summer except for day trips.

I did order the garden shed from Costco at $999. It will be at least 3-5 weeks before delivery so that’s into April I’m guessing. I think it will be most useful.

My labs came back AMAZING. Get this. After one round of Velcade my kappa light chains went from 660.6 to 45.6. Ratio went from 60.1 to 3.65. Even my Dr was impressed. So this cycle who know but it is good news that the myeloma cells do not like VELCADE!!! I know it probably won’t always be this hopeful but for now it is and that’s all we really have in the end anyway, is this day and this moment.

Velcade, Round 2, shot #3 or 6 depending on how you look at it.

Posted in Blood test, cancer, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma by

The ride down to Rocklin was uneventful. It’s a bit windy here and there but temps still nice.

They had tried to call me about needing labs but I had blocked their number by accident so I didn’t get it but it was fine. They just took blood and did the labs there. At least I don’t hve to go in Monday then for that.

On the way home I stopped at Flour Garden Bakery and bought some bagels to bring home. We haven’t been in for ages and it was nice to see them busy. Only patio setting but still good their still in business. We started going to FG in the early 1980’s when it was just a tiny shop. After Sachi was born in 1985, many of us ‘new parents’ had coffee and bagels there. Funny note: Sachi would ( eventually) have a sliver of bagel with a whole pat of butter. She loved the butter.:)

Speaking of which, she is making dinner of spaghetti and meatballs with a broccoli salad.

Anyway, all is good. The dex is starting to hit so I’m off for now.

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, cooking, Flylady, Gardening, home improvement, home stuff, seasonal things, Uncategorized by

The weather is going to be lovely this week again and temperatures will be in the 60’s so quite nice. Things are starting to grow and the flowering cherry tree is in full bud. Daffodils are starting to bloom too. My daughter has started a bunch of seeds and is cleaning up garden beds. We’re debating buying a garden shed from costco. It seems a good idea so that we can corral all the tools and mower etc in one spot. The barn works ok but things are scattered and it’s more of my son’s place for his tools. Plus the prepper pantry is on one side of the barn too. We have a carport type area but it’s full of my son’s junk( note to self: time to tell him to clean it up or toss it!)

This week I’m in the bedroom zone so I will paint the inside of the french door. I washed one blanket and a set of curtains. I am debating putting the curtains back up and just using the bamboo blind. I guess it depends on how cold it gets as the curtains do keep out some cold even these are dual pane windows. One of the projects for this year is replacing those windows. They are fine in terms of condition they just aren’t as insulating as they should be. You can really see the difference with the windows we did in my daughter’s room. Really like night and day with keeping the cold out.

I’ve done most of my Sunday chores except to vacuum so I’ll do that next.

I’ve got the Tucson stew in the Staub simmering away and later I will make some brown rice to go with it. I made a loaf of sandwich bread yesterday so we can have that on the side too.

Frugal Friday

Posted in cooking, frugalism, social security, Uncategorized by

Well,here it is Friday again. This morning I have a Walmart order to get down in Rocklin. My daughter will drive as usually I don’t drive for 2 days after dex. ( learned from past experience it’s not a good idea to drive when on steroids)!! This will be my last shop of the month. I think I’m around $650 for food this month. That does NOT include non food and alcohol. I separated it out this month as I wanted to get a better idea of all 3 categories. Alcohol averaged $100 and that was with my son’s IPA Voodoo Ranger that he likes and I buy when I see it. ( He usually pays this back). Then non food was also @ $100 and that includes household stuff. So theoretically the total is still averaging right around $900 for the 4 of us to eat, drink and use toilet paper( ha Ha). I’m okay with this so that’s good.

I did have both kids give us $100 each more on their rent for the high electric bill. This month it should go down as we haven’t had too cold of weather and the space heaters haven’t been running. Of course, our dryer is electric and we do use that a minimum of an hour a day.

I asked on Facebook which I don’t use hardly at all anymore but it is useful for the local stuff, if anyone had Meyer lemons and our neighbor did. So I’ve been juicing them and freezing it in ice cube trays. I love Meyer lemons. We have a nice dwarf lemon tree in the green house and actually got a huge crop but that’s all gone now so this was a nice treat.

We signed up for VSP vision insurance as the Cobra of vision and dental expired. I knew that the Cobra ended after a year so I was expecting it, sort of. But I signed us up. I’m not sure what the savings will be in the long run but I’d rather have the coverage at least for the next year and then we can reevaluate. I haven’t gotten to the dental yet and I’m guessing that will be more expensive. Does anyone have a recommendation.? I’m planning on staying with Delta Dental but I guess I’ll know more when I actually go the site.

Our taxes are done and filed. We didn’t owe which I kind of figured since our SS comes in fairly low. Even the small amount we took out of savings for the trees last year didn’t affect the tax burden so I was pretty happy about that.

Velcade, Round 2, shot #2.

Posted in cancer, cooking, covid-19, instant pot recipes, Myeloma, Uncategorized by

Today is my next shot and it should go quickly. I still have bruised areas from the other shot but eventually it will fade. Also there is still some foot neuropathy going on but it’s not too bad. That just doesn’t go away quickly. It can take months after treatment has ended but I’m ok with it at this point.

Yesterday my daughter got her first Covid vaccine. so hurray!! Just a sore arm so that’s good. It actually went really quickly so these health care workers and those coordinating are doing a phenomenal job.

My son got back from Tahoe and went and had a rapid covid test and it was negative. But he’s still only coming in the house for food and bathroom breaks. Tomorrow he goes for the 24 hr test so then he’s in the clear, I hope.

I made the other Seville orange marmalade and I think the recipe is better. It came out properly jelled so maybe it was using the candy thermometer that did it. You want the temperature at 220 or 218 about and then it jells. It definitely did that.

I’m making a mediterranean white bean soup for dinner. I soaked the beans yesterday and put in the IP this morning. So far when I tasted it,it is delicious! I had B pick up a Truckee Sourdough baguette to have with it and I will grill up some sausage if the meat eaters want that too. Actually my daughter will do the rest as after I take dex this afternoon I’m not good for much.

Happy Valentines Day!

Posted in Uncategorized by

Hope it is a lovely day for all !

It’s cold here this morning but sun should come out later. Yesterday we walked in the rain and it was lovely. It wasn’t a windy rainy, just a nice steady misty rain. We used umbrellas and not our Toggs. This morning jerk walker was there deciding he owned the whole path and wouldn’t move to his right. WTF man! He’s such an asshole!

My Seville oranges showed up. If you’re interested in them, they are from Pearsons Ranch in California. They are a bit pricey but if you want”real’ English marmalade this is the way to go. I’ve made one batch already and will make the other today. I’m trying two different recipes. One was recommended on one of my favorite blogs,‘Tales of a Happy House’. She is a great cook and an inspirational blogger!! The other I’m trying today is Lebovitz who lives in France.

The color is quite beautiful. I let the jars set for 2 days and they did firm up some. It’s still more liquidy but it will be nice one pancakes or yogurt. For this next batch I will use my candy thermometer as the temperature may not have quite reached the 220 degree mark.

I’m making spinach and mushroom crepes for Valentines dinner with a cheese sauce. I think I’ll also make some brown rice to have on the side and then we can use that for Tucson stew another night.

Last night I made the smoky lentil soup which is one of my favorite recipes and with it I made fresh blue corn tortillas with my new tortilla press. I decided to get one after trying to roll out the masa between pieces of parchment and I couldn’t get it to go quite right so the press is brillant. I plan on playing around with plain flour tortillas later.

Both of us have now had our first Covid vaccination and it all went well. My daughter gets her first one on Tuesday as she is an educator and they are in the Tier 1 B. My son , who decided to go up to Tahoe this weekend and is kinda on my shit list for doing so, will have to rapid test and then not eat with us for the week or be in the house without a mask. I guess he felt he HAD to get a way. Well, he had better not bring Covid home or else? You can tell I’m pissed about it, right? Normally he is very considerate so who knows what’s up. He is almost 27 so I can’t exactly tell him what he can or cannot do.

My shot 1 of Velcade round 2 went well and I was in an out in no time.

I finished painting the alcove and did the high gloss yesterday.( trim and the bathroom door).The next phase is Barclay painting the LR ceiling this week sometime. Then I will start a wall at a time.

This week is the bathroom zone so I will get that done today as well.

Velcade, Round 2, shot #1 or 4 depending on how you look at it.

Posted in Blood test, cancer, Myeloma, simple foods by

Today is back to the Wednesday shots and then home to take Dex. This is shot #1 for round 2 or shot #4 if you’re counting total. Don’t think it matters really.

It was a nice drive down with sun and no rain yet. I was in and out in 20 minutes. My CBC and CMP came back fine but haven’t seen the other 2 and that will be Friday. So we’ll see.

Tonight I have dinner planned as I made some pintos yesterday and we have some brown rice left over. So we’ll have that with some avocado and pico de gallo.

Bookcases filled and freshly painted…

Posted in books by

Here’s a picture of the bookcase filled. There are 7 shelves.

One is the Harry Potter shelf, one is the Bob Dylan shelf, one is classics I don’t want to part with quite yet( Farmer Boy, Alan Watts, Gary Snyder) the rest are cookbooks and my simple living/decluttering books. I tried to get all my cookbooks here but there’s still about one shelf’s worth of cookbooks on the other bookcase. I could move the Dylan books and try fitting them there. I guess I’ll see.

I am happy with how bright and clean it looks and am looking forward to doing more. I also did the french door on the one side. I’ll do the other side later this week.

I only found one book to get rid of otherwise all these are useful and I do re-read many of them.( I’ve read the Historian at least 6 times!!!). This is all the books except for the collection of Easton press which is admittedly quite a few. That bookcase is a teak wood so I wouldn’t paint that.

I’ll show that again when we paint the front room.

Kitchen zone

Posted in Blood test, books, California, cooking, covid-19, Flylady, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma by

This was a busy weekend with starting the painting.

I did the area in front of our small bathroom and the book shelves. I’m waiting to put the books back for 24 hours till I’m sure they are quite dry. This morning I did the french door to the bedroom and that’s it.

I usually do most of the zone on Sundays but since painting was involved I didn’t get to it till this morning. It wasn’t the most thorough I’ve ever done but perfectly fine for a zone cleaning. The last thing I want to do with this zone is clean out my wine crate pantry boxes and wipe them and restock. I’ll probably to that tomorrow.

First this morning I had to go get my labs for Wednesday’s shot. He added in the IgG test which can be a myeloma indicator. Last time it came back normal so that’s good. Then my covid shot is Friday so I’ll have a day to recuperate and mostly get thru the dex.

I bought a new cookbook. Mark Bittman’s ‘Dinner for Everyone”. It seems pretty good with each recipe having an easy adaptation, a vegan one, and then a fancy one. I may try something tonight as I try and do 2-3 new recipes in my monthly menu plan.

We’re heading into some very wintery weather by Friday. Rain and lots of snow in the Sierras. We still need so no complaining.