Monthly Archives: August 2021

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, California, cooking, Uncategorized by

First, let me say we are safe from the River Fire although Colfax, which is the next town above us was evacuated. We were ready with our bags but thankfully it didn’t happen. There are RV’s down at the park and our neighbor has his daughters giant ‘Uncle Eddie’s RV in their yard. I think the fire is mostly under control but the sky this morning is a weird yellow color.

The monthly bills are all done and about half are paid already. Most of our bills come out in the first week of the month so then I can figure what’s left even though I already have it all written down. It’s when we add in Home Depot and those things that then budget needs adjusting.

Tomorrow is my sweet boy’s 27 th birthday. He is a great young man and so talented. I’m planning on making pulled pork( his request) corn on the cob and then for the birthday cake, an ice cream cake. I saw this great recipe for mint chocolate chip ice cream cake in NYT recipes. We actually do not eat a lot of ice cream or cake stuff even on birthdays so I will make just a loaf pan of this. It looks fun and easy and pretty yummy.

I bought some things from Costco.com this week too. A pair of pants for B and some T shirts and Frontline for the kitties. That’s what added to the cost. The pants and t shirts were only $22 and $20 respectively. As I’ve said before, we don’t really have a clothing budget since we generally don’t buy clothes but B needed some new pants and his t-shirts s are starting to look pretty ratty.

I’ve cooked some good meals this week including pesto pasta with our garden basil. Last night I made homemade french fries and they came out pretty excellent. Earlier this week I made chicken enchiladas from leftover chicken so that was tasty too. Tonight I may make a pizza or ?? I have the dough ready so I guess I’ll see how hot it is later.

Oh, BTW, Beth( reader) I still don’t have your email for the Zuni Cookbook. Can you email it to me. Thanks:)

This morning I’m going to drop off a load to Goodwill and then hit Safeway for the mint ice cream and fudge sauce and a few other things on my list. Groceries are sure getting expensive. With the water problems for farmers here in California and then the PNW burning up and then the crops fried, food prices are going to go up this fall.

My swimming is going well and I’m building up some stamina. It’s definitely an effort to go do but totally worth it. I’m trying not to overdo it and just add a minute or two each time. last week I had a day where I felt awful and realized the day before I had swum and not eaten anything before and I think my body went in to exercise fatigue.( yes, it’s a real thing). So I need to be more careful. This week I ate a banana before I swam I think that helped my glucose levels. I’ve been going twice a week and that seems to be a good amount. When I can I will try and add a third time sometime this fall.

I am the family curator.

Posted in decluttering, home stuff, Uncategorized by

I’m the one who goes thru 99% of our stuff to declutter and get rid of. Of course, I check with other family members about whether they want something or not. Other things that are in the realm of kitchen, misc, etc I often just put in the thrift store bag and be done with it.

Right now I’m back at getting rid of my Life magazines. I want to have just 2 bins of the best of Life. Kennedy assassination, Martin Luther King assassination, Selma, moon walk, etc, you get the picture. I pulled 6 out to give to the cancer thrift. They are somewhat collectible.: 2 Beatles ones, Arnold Schwarzenegger as a bodybuilder and a few others. i have to decide what to keep and what to let go of.

My son has been getting rid of old comics. For a while we were collecting all kinds from Superman to Justice League. But most just sit in a bin so what’s the point?

Most stuff isn’t worth my time to put on Ebay. Last week I had on a 1950’s slinky, and barkcloth from the 50s too. Lots of lookers but not one bid so I’m giving them to the thrift store instead of trying to relist. The barkcloth is a cool mid century pattern but not in colors I use anymore. Lots of yellows.

I think it’s a balance of what’s really worth keeping and what is just stuff lying around( or in closets, bins, storage areas, garages??

I was reading a really good article over at Food52 about visual clutter and that even when you’ve decluttered and things are pared down it might not be the amount of stuff but the effect of the visual stuff still left.. The person writing the article removed her container of utensils on her counter and put them in a drawer and she said she felt instantly more calm. So,it’s not so much about the amount of stuff( if you’ve decluttered) but the effect of the visual clutter on you of what’s left.

The article is written by Laura Fenton. She also says let FUNCTION be your guide. In other words , as she says, if all the shoes end up in your entryway instead of closets, then put a basket or something to hold the shoes in that area thus serving the function of the shoe dilema.

She has written a book that I think I will order from Amazon as I have liked all the articles she has written.

It’s a process, that’s for sure but I think in the end we all want our living spaces to reflect who we are and sometimes we need to just be the one to curate that space.

Project: cooking thru my cookbooks or else…

Posted in books, Cooking thru my cookbooks,, project cooking thru my cookbooks by

Susan Branch is one of my favorite niche cookbook writers. She lives on the glorious Martha’s Vineyard island where she moved too in the 1970’s. It’s a bit over the top since she and her husband live in a ginormous house and she has way way too much clutter. But her books are FUN to read thru. I will leave them for now.

The Zuni Cafe is really a classic by Judy Rodgers. She died of some rare cancer in, think the early 2000’s. Zuni cafe was started by a gay man and became iconic in SF. He later died of Aids but not before it was sold and the Judy Rodgers came in as chef. It is a great cookbook but doesn’ t make the cut. If any of my readers want it, just let me know I’ll send it media mail to you.

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, California, cooking, Flylady, prepper pantry, simple foods, Uncategorized by

Happy Lammas Day, the pagan celebration of the first harvest.

A very nice Sunday morning walk. Temperature around 70 degrees so not too hot at all. Yesterday we even sat out under the umbrella for half an hour and it was not too too hot. Today and all week it stays pretty much the same : around 93 degrees as the high.

Our water bill came in almost $40 less so we clearly have been watering less. Still high but that’s MV water.

Yesterday I did a bunch of cooking. I made a yummy ww bread in the Zojirushi( well the dough) since I bake it in the oven. Then I made homemade pie crust and a goat cheese quiche.

OOPS, who took a bite of the crust to test it???

This was the leftover cream and goat cheese mixture so I added some homegrown serrano peppers and it was delicious.

Delicious. I also put in brown rice in the zojirushi rice maker because we are having a rice salad tonight for dinner. I’m almost done with August’s menu.

This morning I’m making the pickled refrigerator jalapenos. I may see what else I can prep for the week. Maybe some chicken and / or baked tofu.

I’ve been buying some more things for the prepper pantry. Yesterday I bought some extra cans of tomatoes, cannellini beans and some Herdez salsas that we like. I think the rising food costs are just going to keep rising and so I want to get some stuff now before the real increases start this fall. I don’t plan on going overboard and spending $1000 again but just the stuff I know we use.

We finished a good series on PBS mystery theatre, Tennison. We both liked her character of a young police woman in 1973? or 1972? Not sure the date but the music is great as well. Now we have to find something new. We only watch an hour or so of TV in the evening so a series lasts a while. Well, we stream it with Amazon Prime as we don’t have cable.

Flylady zone is the Entry Ways and dining room. I don’t add the dining room here as that is part of my living room zone. So I just do both doors to the house, sweep up, tidy plants, wash the windows if needed.