Monthly Archives: June 2023

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgets, California, home stuff, kitchen remodel by

I don’t suppose it was a very frugal week.

We had to pay DMV on the truck which was almost $500. Ouch! And it needed a smog test. cha-ching! Well, at least it’s done for the year.

Then it was our turn to buy the dry cat food for the kitties. Science Diet, so that was $60.

Costco came in right under$500. That included a case of beer for B, some wine I chose, and very expensive CoQ 10( that itself was almost $40, ) and a skin moisturizer. But most of that will be for the month. I plan to go out to the farm this afternoon so that’ll be an additional $30 for veggies for the week.

I bought garbage bags from Amazon. It seems there was something else from Amazon???

B bought the grab bar to put up in my office area on the stair wall.

I ordered the brackets(2) from Signature hardware to put up the shelf in the kitchen which will replace the ones there.

So I guess nothing was frugal this week. Some weeks are just like that.

Today I’m going to head to the Rec Center early so I hope to miss the traffic heading to Tahoe for 4th of July. It’ll still be busy on the freeway but not like it’ll be this afternoon.

I just fed my sourdough starter and will make the dough later this afternoon. I made the yogurt yesterday and today I need to drain the whey off.

Last night we had black bean bowls with my pressure canned black beans. Delicious. That was my last jar so I will add that on my to do list. I plan on doing pints though not quarts.

The lettuce is from the farm.

I’ve started reading some things on Ultra Processed Foods. There’s a new book out that Sue over at https://asmallerlifelivingsimply.blogspot.com/, was talking about. The book is brand new and I’m debating buying it. I requested it from the library(for them to order) but that can take a while. I’ll think about some more. The whole idea is we’re eating way too much processed foods. Now, we eat pretty clean but after going thru what we ate in a day there were a few surprises. For instance those tortillas in the bean bowls. Processed. I’ve made my own tortillas before but maybe I’ll look into making them and freezing them. The ones I get from Costco are in the freezer and I can grab them when I need which is what I like. Of course, regular bread, anything white flour etc. I’m always up for a new adventure.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in California, cancer, Gratitude, Uncategorized by

I’m grateful we had such lovely weather for June. Now we’re heading into a heat wave at least till Tuesday. Maybe it’ll be ok. We have our window coolers and I’ll close down the house by 9am.

I’m grateful our SS came in and we’re able to have all our bills paid. We may not have much in the way of retirement money but our basics are covered. We also did a big shop at Costco that should last most of July.

I’m so thankful ( not to any mythical god, just thankful), that B is 4 years out from his Allo and is just fine. Essentially he is cured of MDS.

I’m just glad the G..D. AC in the truck is fixed again. Last week B said, “Oh, it’s not working again.” So back down the truck went. This time it was the AC pulley. Do they even know what they’re doing.???? Anyway, I’m just thankful it’s fixed.

I’m grateful for other bloggers who bring a different perspective to life and in many cases, a different life in a foreign country.

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, California, decluttering, Flylady, simple foods, Uncategorized, Walking by

photo from The Nesting Place

I’ve been working a bit on decluttering and changing things up a bit. I decided to iron the linen duvet cover and put the comforter inside. It might be too warm this time of year but I’m trying to keep the comforter clean as it is white. So the big basket I kept that in and our one other blanket I have ready to go to the thrift store or the Pay it Forward group. Honestly, I’ve had very little luck with that group. People say they want something and never show up.

I finally got the second box of peaches from Stackhouse Orchards( Local in the valley), so I waited about 5 days for them to ripen and made a peach pie.

Not the prettiest lattice top but hopefully it tastes good. The peaches were very sweet. update: We had this with vanilla ice cream last night and it was yummy.

We had a nice walk this morning with no one else around except the Canada geese. All the families are grown up and they should start flying lessons soon.:)

I just started the oven to preheat for a loaf of sourdough. I’ll get that going before I go to the gym.

I was thinking back to routines when my children were younger. Since we did Waldorf schooling there is always a rhythm to the day and week. Rudolf Steiner, although weird, did create an exceptional educational model. Each day had a color, and like wise, each classroom in Waldorf is lazured ,painted, a certain color. For instance kindergarten is an orange pink, all the way to 8th grade which is usually a violet blue.

I think the rhythm of the day and year were important in how my kids developed. We always ate dinner together and often did school craft projects together too. My daughter who is an incredible artist often did watercolor painting with Z.

That’s probably where my love of routines comes in. I didn’t start Fly Lady till later, probably around when my son was in 4th grade. It was an instant fit for me to do the 15 minutes a day and that’s how I started decluttering. Most of the major decluttering is done except for keeping up with what’s relevant now in our lives. Things come and go. But the zone cleaning keeps me on track and even though I know it without even looking at a list, I like to have the lists as reference. What I did eventually was write down each of my zones and what needed to be done according to them. That’s what still use today.

We had a ready made meal last night from the pantry. It was the white bean ragout and then my daughter and I had the chicken chili verde with some of the white beans. It was a hit. I need to write up a menu for the week. I know one night I’m doing a spinach frittata. I also have some ricotta to use so I may make a couple of cheese lasagnas.

Frugal Friday

Posted in books, California, cash envelopes, cooking, frugalism, Walking by

This has been a frugal week overall. I only went to Winco for King Arthur WW flour, a few condiments, wine, and some eggs. ( $40) appx. We’re having to supplement our eggs with organic eggs from the store. We’ve lost half of the white leghorns to water belly disease which this breed gets and there’s nothing you can do.:( I’m more than ready to be done with chickens. I dislike paying for store eggs but there are plenty of good options as long as you don’t mind the price. Trader Joes’s has good prices on eggs but Costco is probably the best for organic eggs.

I got gas in the Sante Fe and that was $41 and Barclay took both the SF and Buggie to the car wash. I have a cash envelope for car washes so he used that.

Dinners were all homemade with some leftovers like the chicken. Tonight is pizza night and I made the dough yesterday. I’ll keep it simple with cheese ,olives, peppers, and some basil I still have from the farm. I’m going out to the farm later mostly for lettuce. I still have a bag of spinach from last week so I need to use that up.

I’ve been making a few pot holders and another washcloth. It’s just something to do. I didn’t get any books from the library as I felt I needed a break from reading.

The pool was cool again this morning but ok. I started out with a lane of my own but then someone showed up later. I was back home by 8:10. I’ve been tidying around the house and moving a few things around. Nothing major just a few things changed.

I won’t swim tomorrow even Saturday has been my favorite day. The hours are different and I’m guessing it’ll be busier. I’ll walk and then go the Auburn gym Sunday.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in California, cooking, Gratitude, home stuff by

First, our weather has been spectacular for June. We can see temperatures in the 90’s and 100’s by now and we haven’t even hit 90. I guess it looks like the heat is coming with 4th of July going to 105 😦

A good week of a gym workout and a swim. I’m so grateful for Roseville Parks and Rec that they have these facilities. Roseville is a fairly wealthy area so maybe that’s why.

We had 2 BBQ’s this week. Last night I cooked some marinated chicken and it came out great. Then we had a big salad with lots of veggies from the farm stand. I am grateful that the CSA farm is right down the road. They work hard at what they do.

My sourdough came out perfectly. After a few not-so-spectacular loaves, I watched some Youtube videos and figured out I wasn’t quite feeding my starter right. I used one person’s ratios and now it is perfecto.

B replaced the wood that was damaged on the kitchen side of the house where the pipe was leaking. He figured it out and did a great job. It wasn’t an easy task as it meant lifting the frame with a jack and then getting the new wood in there.

Simple Sunday and Happy Father’s Day!

Posted in California, cooking, home improvement, home stuff, Political things, Uncategorized by

A happy Father’s Day to all dads! Even dads to our furry family members.

We’re doing a BBQ later with tofu burgers and pasta salad and I’ll open one of the baked beans I just canned.

Yesterday I made up the peach jam from the one box that showed up. Apparently, the other box got run over by USPS so they sent it back. That seems weird to me they would send a damaged box of peaches back:(

I used all but 4 peaches that were still not quite ripe enough. So based on the price factor, not inexpensive. I got 10 half pints, so about 5.00 each. Definitely not frugal but I feel ok about it. For one, it supports a woman owned farm co op. And they were sent directly from the farm( Stackhouse Orchards)(you can google it).

I think my next canning will be pressure-canned vegetable soup. We went thru those quickly and it made an easy dinner. I went to the farm stand Friday and bought lots of excellent vegetables including some green and yellow zucchini so I could use those in the soup. BTW, I have to say if you’re at all tempted to pressure can the All-American is definitely worth the price. I have no leakage and the pressure gauge is easy to read. The giggle on the weight also works way better than the Mirro did. I have the 921 but there is a smaller one if you only want to do small amounts of soup, or ready made meals.

B finished painting my office area/cat room.

The reason we painted was twofold. One, the room needed it and I’m somewhat fanatical about painting every 2 years and second, in the second and third photos you can see the wall to the left and then partially the 3 steps. We need to install a bar there for safety down the road. We don’t need it right now but I do think having one there will be important at some point. So we move the ladder shelf to the other wall. That wall had my Grateful Dead, Woodstock, and Dylan posters( by Milton Glaser). I’m not putting those back up yet. Maybe in the fall.

This week is a Juneteenth celebration and may it be a joyous moment in celebrating the end of slavery. Of course, we all know, systemic racism continued even to this day.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, frugalism, Uncategorized by

It seems like it was a low-spend week. I did go to Winco and got the strawberries and some other stuff I can’t remember and that was $50??? I haven’t been to Safeway or Costco so that always makes for a lower spend week.

I received my order of peaches but not both boxes. I ordered 2 and only got one. I’ve emailed them but haven’t heard back. It would make way too expensive for peach jam. I sure hope they deal with it.

Then I checked my LLS and it seems they’ve messed that up too so I’m waiting to see the final assessment. The other day when I checked they had it all right and then yesterday I checked and it looked way different and only was paying a fraction of what I submitted so, I may have to call:(

I guess all of this would be frugal if it was working the way it’s supposed to.

Today, I’m going to pressure can Boston Baked Beans. I have done the presoak and pre-boil and now have them in the oven for 4 hours. I should get 6-7 pints of beans. I omitted the bacon so it may not have as deep a flavor. I got this bag of Great Northern white beans at Winco during the pandemic. I think I paid $2.00 for it. So 6 pints of baked beans for that price is pretty frugal.

I’m heading into the gym for a workout and then when I get home will get the pressure canner going.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in California, Gratitude by

This June has had exceptional weather. Not too hot at all. We can definitely have 100-degree weather by now so this has been so nice.

I was able to can 18 half pints of strawberry jam. I found a deal at Winco for .98 a pack so I got 7 packs.

I am so grateful that I was approved for LLS and my insurance reimbursements are being processed.

I’m also so grateful my Kappa light chains only went up 1 point, and that gives me another months reprieve.

Always, the pool and rec center to do weights. The pool was nice the other day but it was colder than the indoor pool. I really didn’t warm up. I did get a lane though so that was nice. Lap swimming is only from 5:30 to 7:45 so it’s not a lot of time. But then it opens at 12:45 – 3pm but I don’t drive to Roseville that late. Plus it would be in full sun and I don’t do that either.

Flowers in the yard…

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, bread, California, camping, cooking, home stuff, Lake tahoe, library, Myeloma, travel by

We’re back home and we had a great drive back with no construction stops. If you know Tahoe, you know that this is the beginning of LOTS of construction and road repair. Lots of delays. But because it was the weekend we sailed on by.

The yard was bursting with flowers everywhere. I’ll get some pictures to post.

This morning we didn’t walk and just got up at almost our normal time. We have lots of laundry to do and I wanted to get going on canning the cherries I ordered. They are beautiful cherries and I got 6 pints canned.

I plan on using these for cherry pie and putting them over yogurt or ice cream. This is just cherries and simple syrup. I plan on making cherry pie filling using frozen cherries but not till later this month.

Then I whipped a batch of yogurt and that’s in the oven now till tomorrow.

I fed my sourdough starter and plan on using that later as it seems to be very happy.

I bought these Bannetons to make more of an oval batard-type loaf. They seem kind of small. I had 2 Bannetons and got rid of them when I decided to just use a bowl but after watching some more You tubes on bread decided to get a couple. Around $20 so I’m ok with that.

The chores are caught up and tomorrow I will do the kitchen zone as that was last week. Then I’ll do the bathroom this week too.

My son said it hailed up there and was chilly. So we had really most of the best days except he did say it was sunny today. Apparently, the hail caused quite some havoc on I-80 with lots of spin-outs.

The BEST news.…. My Kappa light chains came back with only a 1 POINT increase. That’s such good news and now I can relax for another month. I go down to Sacramento on Thursday for my appt.

This week will be going to the gym, and 1 swim. I’m not sure how swimming is going to go since starting today the smaller pool will only have 2 hours for lap swimming. It may be tough for a while. I have books at the library to pick up too.

I sold some Pyrex bowls this morning minutes after listing them. They are in excellent condition and I wanted them gone. I listed them for 40. The person plans to get them later today. We’ll see how that goes. Basically, Z’s friend was talking about vintage Corelle and Pyrex and the lead in them. So I thought maybe I’ll whittle down my collection and then just have some display ones. These bowls are lovely but..

They would take up too much room if separated. I actually was using these for things so I’m thinking better to pass them on to someone who’s a collector or doesn’t care.

The yard is full of rose champion, roses, wildflowers and lots of others. Shasta daisies, feverfew, carnations and much more.

Frugal Friday, camping edition.

Posted in California, camping, cooking, frugalism, home improvement, home stuff, kitchen remodel, Lake tahoe, travel by

When we’re out in Rubi we definitely have low spend weeks. We really only buy gas to fill the truck up and then whatever groceries to fill in the blanks. After the gym yesterday we went over to Safeway( in the same parking lot) and bought veggies for a stir fry that we both felt like. We had brought from home some snow peas from the garden and then added mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, tofu, and steamed rice. It was delicious.

Snow peas were added after the rest was cooked.

Today is stay in camp day and we plan on walking out to the meadow. We had some thunder last night but not really rain. Then later my son and his friend are coming into camp with us. Zephyr does a lot of car camping so he’s all prepared. We might do a lodge dinner tonight but I’ll wait and ask him if he has any ideas. He will stay in our spot till Monday but we’re leaving sometime this weekend. I really prefer not to be in camp during the weekends, it’s noisy. too many kids. blah, blah, blah.

All in all not much spent this week. Oh, but I did find this corner kitchen cabinet on Marketplace with a granite top and the guy wanted $60. I asked if he could wait till the weekend but then said he could deliver it so I said sure. $60 Zelle later it’s in our driveway. I’m hoping this spurs us to rip out the counter and get going on the kitchen after we( not me, B) finish fixing the wood damage where the pipe was leaking. Our kitchen can only be redone ( unless we were rich) using the same footprint as the layout is locked in by 2 doors that are on either side of the room. There’s not any other way to redesign as I said unless it was professionally altered. We don’t have money for that so the sink counter will stay the same just all new cabinets and sink and countertop. It’s really quite small so I know we can get it done reasonably. But if this cabinet works it’ll be a good start. This corner has been a problem and I hope this fixes it.

Tahoe girl.

I’m terribly unphotogenic 😦

OMG, the best news….trump indicted !!!!! How he can say or even Mccarthy for that matter that he’s innocent when it’s 2 grand juries that brought the indictment is just nuts. All the right-wing mania with anti-LGBTQ+, book banning, and on and on is just insane. I can only hope the pendulum swings back for rights for all.