Monthly Archives: December 2022

Five on Friday

Posted in California, cancer, cooking, decluttering, Myeloma, Uncategorized by

So, I had my oncology appt yesterday, and that all went well except for the horrendous rain going down to Sacramento. I don’t like driving in the rain because of my macular pucker which makes seeing out of my right eye difficult and rain makes seeing worse. But I made it down and back just fine. Dr. L said same old same old, we’ll just keep track of things and go from there which is really all we can do. It’s really when my kappa light chains start doubling that I’ll say let’s do something. We agreed, when the time comes, to go back on Velcade and see if it’s still effective. I’m still hoping for June-ish.

Then this morning I had my follow-up audiology appt and that went as expected. No change and still have less hearing in my left ear. I just mumbled umm ok… that’s what I thought.

Then Safeway had some great deal this week so I went over there which is just down the road from the Sutter Medical Bldg. The deals were $1.97 for 24 Arrowhead water, $1.97 for 1 lb butter, $1.77 for boneless chicken breasts, .87 for Honey crisp apples, and more savings on some other things. The cashier said I saved more than my bill was so that was cool. I think I might pressure can the chicken in a recipe like chicken soup or something. I’ll check my pressure canning book and see what looks good.

It’s pizza night and I will take out one of my frozen dough balls to defrost. My son’s not home tonight so it’s just us and my daughter. I’ll keep it simple.

I have everything out that I plan to have for Christmas and it’s quite pretty and simple. I did declutter all the Hallmark boxes except a few so that left lots of room in the one Christmas bin. I still have the Ikea white storage boxes in the closet but those are not in the way and are on the top shelf.

I plan to either swim tomorrow or do the gym. Usually I swim Saturday, but I feel I need to keep up on doing the weights. So I guess I’ll decide tomorrow.

December 1st

Posted in California, Gratitude by

It’s a very rainy morning. No walk since it’s more than an umbrella would stand plus I need to leave a little early to head to Sacramento. There’s a winter storm watch with lots of snow and wind for the Sierras. I -80 will be affected for sure but since I’m headed in the opposite direction it should be ok( except for the crazy drivers).

It’s hard to believe it’s almost the end of the year. 2023 is right around the corner. I was thinking back on all the wonderful Christmases we’ve had. A few were more somber like when B was diagnosed with MDS and me with myeloma and last year Heidi died shortly after Christmas. Really though most have been happy occasions, especially with children. Neither of my kids probably will have children so no grandkids but that’s their decision, not mine. I probably wouldn’t be the greatest grandparent anyway as I’m not into kids but then again, I didn’t like kids a lot before I had any so maybe it would be different. Who knows?

I’ve been working on a gratitude journal for next year and want to write something I’m grateful for every day. Right now I’m just waiting in my daily to -do/budget book. Maybe that’s all I need instead of something separate. I’ll think about it.

Our first Christmas together after we were married was in Tucson. We had rice with nuts and raisons in teak salad bowls my mother had sent us. I’m sure we had a tree of some sort as we used to work the Uof A’s forestry tree lot but I don’t think we did that first year. The following year started our tradition of lasagna for Christmas. We didn’t have an oven so I went to the landlord’s house next door and used his oven. I’m sure there have been a few Christmases we didn’t have lasagna. And that’s on the menu for this year too.