Monthly Archives: March 2022

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cooking, Flylady, library, plants, swimming, Walking by

Flowers from around the yard.

This is one of the original Camilla bushes that were here when we moved here. The other, a red one, was cut down as it was too near the house. This one is really a tree now.

This is a redbud which is native, I think, to California.

This was just a twig when we planted it( first in a pot). It was one of those free trees from the Arbor foundation. BTW, the Ponderosa tree you see in the background in the middle is the one we’re taking down as we can barely squeeze Rubi through. When we first moved here those trees were half this size.

Here are the ruffled daffodils out front.

The Flylady zone is the living room and I did that this week. Actually, there’s never much to do as it stays tidy and uncluttered generally. But I decided to add the kitchen zone as I skipped it last month when we were in Napa. The other regular zone is the entry ways since April 1st is Friday. We got the flowers all planted in pots out there this week so that’s done except for just a tidy up.

Here’s the first Ooni pizza of the year. The leopard spotting( the charred part) was perfect. I didn’t get a picture of the sausage one as it got eaten quickly.

There’s not a lot this week on the table and I’m glad of that. I’ll swim 2x and I might go down to the library one day too. Tonight I’m making a recipe from the youtuber’ Rachel cooks with love’. She’s hispanic and a terrific cook. She has a pretty big following too. I’m making her latest recipe, crispy chicken tacos. I’ll make a crispy bean for Barclay. Well, that wraps up things for me this week.

Friday things

Posted in books, bread, California, Gardening, LLS, Myeloma by

Yesterday we ventured out to Costco and it was fine. We were only among a handful of people wearing masks but heck, that’s ok. We spent $300 on food and $80 on nonfood. Overall, that’s a low $ trip at Costco for us. I still need a few extras and I think I’ll have Barclay do that next week after he gets his port flush. What I’d like to take advantage of is the Nasacort that is on sale. It’s 4 of them for $28. I pay $18 at the store for one. So that’s a big saving. Then I went over to Dicks’ sporting goods for earplugs. They didn’t have the Speedo ones so I got the TYR as a backup since last week I had to swim one time without earplugs because I thought I left them home. In actuality, they were stuck in my towel and when I lifted my towel they fell out. Oh well.

OMG. good news!! LLS just opened funding for Myeloma so I jumped on and submitted my application and was approved. They have it very streamlined and it was easy to do. I was definitely getting concerned about funding. LLS covers our medicare and UHC so it’s a good chunk of change a month.

Today I need to go drop off food at the food bank, Goodwill, check on my prescription at Bel-air, and then drop books off at the bookstore.

I plan to make pizza tonight but I’ll use a Trader Joe’s dough. I’m going to top with the fennel sausage I bought in Napa. I think I’m going to pull the Ooni out and use that so one with be cheese and the other will be the sausage.

Our weather has been spectacular and we ate dinner on the patio 2 nights in a row. Next week does look quite a bit cooler.

I’ve been reading the book ” High on the Hog” that the Netflix original was based on. I’d highly recommend it just for the history part. What we did to Africans is shameful. All that history SHOULD be taught in high schools so students can learn about ALL of our history, the good, the bad, and the ugly. NOT just what the good White people did. Arghhhh, don’t get me started.

We’re working in the garden areas and decided to buy 2 galvanized water troughs that people use for raised beds. B filled one with garden soil and is ready to plant. We bought some things at the nursery to plant like onions, and parsley, cilantro, chives. My daughter has lots of seeds to plant too. The garlic in the barrels we planted is doing great. We do have the front garden beds almost ready. Those will be things like chard, lettuce, kale, etc.

Everything is starting to pop with this warm weather. It’s been a very pretty spring.

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, California, Flylady, Uncategorized, Walking by

After a cloudy Saturday, today is bright and sunny. The rest of the week looks fabulous with temperatures in the 70s. I think I see BBQ this week.BTW, the series on Netflix, High on the Hog, how Black American cuisine changed America, and how we eat is truly phenomenal. So much history. If you have the chance watch it.

We had a nice walk this morning with no one around. We didn’t try to get there too early being Sunday I like to take my time.

Today is sheet day for us. We only have one set of sheets for our bed so we wash and put it back on. These linen sheets are about 4 years old and still wonderful. I’d definitely recommend linen sheets. I think these were only about $130 but lots of high-end sheets are way higher. IKEA has a nice set that we have out in Rubi.

I’m feeding my sourdough and think I’m going to do a nut one next. Walnuts, pepitas, and maybe sunflower if I get some unsalted ones. I’m averaging 2-3 loaves a week. One day to make the dough and then refrigerate overnight, then bake and enjoy for a few days. Then when that one is almost done I start the dough for the next one. Of course, this is now. Once summer hits I won’t be baking as it’s too hot to use the oven generally.

Tonight I plan on doing a stir fry with some leftover veggies. I need to get some tofu at the store though. This week is the bedroom zone and I finished that already.

Barclay has a busy appt week but I don’t so I’ll see what I get up to. I know doing some garden stuff and tidying up the garden shed. But I think I’ll plan a trip to the pet bookstore and maybe the library. Well, that’s a wrap up for today.

I thought you’d enjoy a picture of me after I got out of the hospital. This was dated March 26, so i’d been out of the hospital about a week. Heidi was with us for 2-3 weeks helping with everything. You can see my wig in my hand. My sweet boy was 10 and my daughter was 19 even though she looks younger.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgets, California, camping, pets, Uncategorized by

No walk this morning because I had to be in Auburn at 7:45 to get my hearing test and then see the ENT doctor. So I do have some hearing loss in the left ear but I could repeat all the words so there’s no distortion of hearing. He said to come back and check in 6, months to see if’s worse or the same. Uhh, well okay!

Then I went over to CVS to figure out why CVS Caremark( mail order) keeps getting my cholestyramine wrong. They’re sending the brand Prevalit which I do not like at all. I think we figured it out but I’ll have to wait for the doctor to reorder.

I bought 2 pairs of Okibashi at CVS and my Nasocort for my sinuses. I also spent over $100 at Safeway on Monday so I’ll need to figure out a menu for next week and then go to the store again maybe Sunday. I plan on swimming tomorrow so I could do Winco but I don’t have a list ready.

I ordered and received 6 1lb bags of Rancho Gordo beans which just happen to come from Napa. These are really lovely heirloom beans. I made the King City beans this past Tuesday and they were delicious. They cost more than regular beans but I think the flavor is superior. I froze a good size container for next week.

I need to tally up food costs for the month excluding camping. That comes out of travel money. I know gas for our trip was @ $300 maybe slightly less. With gas prices so high I imagine it’s restricting some RVers. Eating out camping was @ $ 110. The champagne tasting was $80 for both of us and the bottle we bought was $42. Groceries were @ $ 150. I’ll need to double-check my receipts. Plus Wrights Beach was $105 for 3 nights and Napa was $165. for 3 nights. Those were paid in advance.

This month is expensive because of property taxes and Allstate and we owed IRS this year. All in all, it was a lot. Our next annual bills are small ones like Costco membership, AAA membership, and ??? Plus there’s still no funding from LLS for myeloma so that’s quite a bit we count on that’s not there. I keep checking daily.

Here’s a picture of the kitties who are now almost 1 year old.

From left to right: Gus, Cherry, Bean, Smudgerton. So cute and they all have unique personalities. little Cherry is the only girl and the smallest.

Middle of the week and hopefully not WWIII.

Posted in Blood test, California, Gardening, Myeloma, Political things, swimming, Uncategorized, Walking by

As I’m sure all of you are, I’m trying to find some hope that the situation in Ukraine turns around and Putin is kicked on his ass. It’s a scary situation when there’s nuclear capability. I refuse to be upset by gas prices or higher prices for anything. If that is the cost of freedom in Ukraine then so be it. I can’t stand the Biden haters who think gas prices are because of the pipeline from Canada. That has NOTHING to do with it. Oh well, since I am not that well versed in oil exchanges, I’ll leave it at that.

I’m definitely a little sore today from swimming yesterday as it had been 10days since we were gone. I did walk this morning and that was good. Today I’m just pottering around and doing some rearranging of things. I filled 2 bags with food for the food bank that was in my wine crate pantry. It’s stuff that’s been in there and I know I’m not likely to use. I emptied one Far Niente wine crate and used that for DVD’s and put that under my little Ikea couch I have in the sun room. As always, I try to keep like with like and the other crate of DVD’s in under there to so it’s the logical place for it.

Tomorrow I have my appt with Dr. L . My labs came back with virtually no change so that was VERY EXCITING. I am just slightly above high normal. If it can stay that way or near that till June it’ll be 1 year since my last Velcade so I’d be happy with that.

With spring bursting everywhere it’s hard not to go spend a ton of money on plants and seeds. We are buying 2 galvanized steel container to try as garden planters. The garlic in the barrels is doing great so I should get a good harvest of garlic.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, camping, Retirement, travel, Uncategorized, Walking by

We got back from Napa around 12noon. A good drive through the valley. Some traffic but nothing unusual for Vacaville or Sacramento. There are crazy drivers everywhere. We got into the driveway with no problem. Going out is another matter and when we left B didn’t pull enough to the left and spent an hour backing up and trying to get it into position. So I left a voice message for our tree guy and we just need to get the tree down. I just don’t see it worth the stress of going out every time. There are only maybe 4-6 inches between the trailer and the tree when it pulls out and it’s way too close. Our next trip out is New Brighton so it needs to be done by then. Another expense:(

Speaking of expenses it’s bi-annual bill time with property tax and Allstate. So they need to be factored in for next month.

Daylight savings started today and we didn’t get out to walk til 7am which is really 6am but that was ok, nobody was there anyway, which is perfect for me.

This is a busier week for me than my normal. I have Dr. Latalo on Thursday and then Friday I have an appt with the audiologist to test hearing. I’m fairly certain that the one time I had water in my ear it affected my eardrum. After that, I started using earplugs. I can hear but it’s not as clear as my right ear. So we’ll see. I plan to swim Tuesday and I need to go to the library too.

I need to tidy up the house although my daughter did a great job keeping up with things. My son helped by doing 3 dinner nights so it evened out. I also need to shop tomorrow for a few things and plan my menus for the week. I have my basic plan but need to see what’s in the freezer to use up.

I started a list of things for Rubi too. The Ikea towels we bought are way too thick and do not dry quickly so I plan to switch to a Turkish towel. We had an extra cooking pot in there I don’t use so that’s going. I have 2 wine glasses we don’t use as we use the same Ikea glasses for juice and or wine/water. We also discovered we didn’t have any laundry soap so I’ll pick up something when I shop.

Here’s where we went for the tasting. Delicious.

They give you a taste of 5 champagnes. It was quite interesting and delicious.

This was our wood-fired four cheese pizza with arugula. The place was called Live Fire Pizza.

Just look at those leopard spots of char on that. Amazing.

Napa Valley

Posted in California, camping, Retirement, Uncategorized by

Right now we are in the Expo RV campground and it’s really nice. It’s all big RVs with a few small ones like ours. Full hookups are pretty damn nice though. Some of these big ones are almost obscene though, like 30 ft. Where can you go in those things and then pulling seems really crazy to me but hey each to their own?

Napa is a beautiful area and we discovered we were only a few blocks from some great restaurants. We went to Model Bakery which is good enough to be in the Goldbelly order online system. We had a lovely coffee and almond croissant. I also bought a baguette for later but it does seem a little hard. Maybe I can put it in a pan and warm up.

So to back up. We landed in Bodega @ 1:30 on Sunday. Our spot was empty and we were set up within half an hour. The weather was spectacular. Sunny and almost no wind. Monday was also no wind and sunny. We ventured out to Bodega bay and went to the Kite store and bought some twirling wind things that we like to have in the yard. The last time we bought those must have been 15 years ago. Then we went down to Fishetarian for lunch. It was delicious and a 10 out of 10.

We had lovely beach walks and walks on the bluffs above the beach. When we left on Wednesday the wind was picking up and there was a wind warning.

So this afternoon we’re going to Mumm Champagne for a tasting. We planned on doing 3 but they are just too expensive. Oh, get this, we thought it would be fun to do the Napa Wine train which we’ve always wanted to do BUT IT WAS $420 per PERSON. AHH, not for us.

Anyway, so far it’s been a lovely trip.

Friday things

Posted in Blood test, bread, California, camping, cooking, Myeloma, Political things, swimming, travel, Uncategorized by

I just got back from getting my labs. It’s great that Quest is by appt. only. I was the only one in there and was done within 10 minutes.

There’s still no funding for myeloma at LLS so that’s not good news. I keep checking daily but there’s only mantle cell leukemia and Waldenstrom ( sp is probably wrong)( which is pretty rare.)So means February won’t be covered as that was my look back month meaning if I was funded in February, they would cover it even though my grant ended Jan 31. Tough break for us as that covers all my insurances.

Back home I put the sourdough cheddar jalapeno bread in the oven. This will be my last bread till we’re back. I’ll put my starter in the fridge tomorrow. I tried a sourdough rosemary baguette this week and it turned out great. I have a baguette pan I bought eons ago at Williams Sonoma and used that. The trick I think with sourdough and bread-making is just to keep doing it over and over. I can definitely tell by the feel of the dough how the hydration is. I had gotten a copy of Nancy Silverton’s Bread-making and read it thru. Overall, though, recipes look good, but they all make 2 loaves at a time and I don’t do that. Also reading about how she feeds her starter seemed too complicated to me. What I do is just keep adding equal amounts of flour and water at least once a day. Probably not as ‘scientific’ but it works for me. I also hate to throw away discard sourdough starter so I end up with 3-4 jars in the fridge. Oh well.

Then I’ve made the pizza dough for tonight and that’s in the bowl doing the first rise. It’s almost time to get out the Ooni for spring. Last night I used our new gas Weber that I bought for camping. I wanted to try it before we left. So I made BBQ chicken, BBQ tofu, roasted mini potatoes, and roasted veggies. WOW. It all came out delicious. I’m pleased and am looking forward to cooking with it camping.

It’s a cloudy day with rain expected off and on but it feels warm out. But it’s supposed to get very cold tonight with the possibility of snow. I plan on swimming tomorrow so I guess I’ll wait and see how it is in the morning. After swimming I was going to go over to Winco for some camping supplies. If that doesn’t happen, I’ll just go to Safeway. I actually don’t need a whole lot but things like peanut butter and some veggies and cream for coffee.

In good news, AAA settled my claim for a fair amount. The depreciation was factored in and then the $1000 deductible. I can’t buy a new Louis Vuitton for what they gave me but at least the $500 in cash was covered. I miss my Louis but I certainly can’t spring for a new one. sigh….:( Maybe down the road I can get a used one. There are a few sites that sell authentic LV and they look good. Still more than the amount they gave me but not the cost of a new one.

The situation in Ukraine is so devastating. Almost a million people leaving Ukraine. I hope the sanctions President Biden is implementing work to cut off the money. No money = No war. I shudder to think what the asshole Trump would be doing. I still keep hoping he gets indicted for something. I made a small donation to World Central Kitchen that is providing food trucks on the borders to feed people. Here’s the link if you want to donate too. It’s a small thing we can do to help the Ukraine people.