Monthly Archives: September 2023

Friday Things.

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It has been a super frugal week as we really haven’t spent much at Tahoe.

I needed my vitamins which, I get at Grocery Outlet. $7.99

Then we needed a few things from Safeway including some Advil which I didn’t realize we were out of in Rubi. Plus we bought a piece of Tiramisu to share after dinner one night. We forgot to bring tofu to BBQ so I bought a container.

We went to Goodwill for fun and I bought 3 books. Their books are crazy expensive $3.99. But one was a Louise Penny and the other a vintage cookbook called, of course, Alice’s Restaurant, and a first edition Help which, I like to read occasionally.

We saw a Mexican restaurant near the gym so we thought we’d try a lunch entree. it was good but the beans were cold and I told them. That added up to $15. with tip.

So really a no-spend week.

A granite boulder on a new trail we discovered.

Rubi with candle light.

The 73 YO and tomorrow the 71 YO. Good grief Charlie Brown, where have the years gone.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in California, camping, Lake tahoe, Multiple myeloma, travel, Walking by
  • the beautiful weather here in Tahoe and there are no crowds. Driving down to the Y was easy and relatively quick.
  • Excellent camp food. This morning I used up the last 2 bagels and the last 2 eggs and made egg bagels with cheese.
  • B’s work on getting the 2 new batteries hooked up to Rubi, so now we’re holding a charge overnight.
  • That there’s an Anytime Fitness gym right here in Zephyr Cove.!!!
  • For being able to walk over 3 miles yesterday and not have my knee hurt. OK, maybe a smidge.
  • I am grateful to be up here in the Fall, with no kids running around( a few couples with babies, which I don’t mind). Or riding bikes through camp spots!!! Really annoys me. Plus no parties because it’s darkish by 7pm and chilly. We had booked the last days at the end of the season but because of starting Velcade the days won’t line up.

This was this morning around 7:30 am. Look at that blue!!!!

Checking in from Nevada Beach, Tahoe

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It has been really lovely here. Quiet and lots of empty spots but the reservation list still shows no availability. I guess people just don’t show up or bother to cancel.

We may do that too as on Saturday the day we’re supposed to leave it’s calling for rain. I’m not too keen on driving the RV in the rain unless we have to. We’ll keep checking the weather.

We’ve had nice morning walks and afternoon walks too. Yesterday we went up to the gym and did some weights. It really helps to keep at the weights and not let it go by. Since Anytime has a gym right here it works out well.

Our spot looking out into the woods.

We love having this propane fire pit.

We’ve had lots of good food and wine too.!!

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgets, California, camping, cancer, cooking, freezer cooking, husband, Myeloma, Pantry, swimming, Walking by

It was a frugalish week. After swimming on Tuesday I stopped at TJs for a few things like eggs, sandwich bread, odds and ends, and wine. I need to go there tomorrow and pick up some stuff to take camping. There’s not a TJs in the whole of Lake Tahoe. There is a Grocery Outlet though. I spent just over $100. Other than that no grocery shopping. I think the way to save money(and it is working) on groceries is to stay out of Safeway, or even our Holiday Market is pretty high priced. Of course, sometimes I need something and it makes sense to get it here rather than driving out to get it. So I think I’m going to plan regular TJs, Winco, and then Costco for the bigger bulk items like coffee.

Today is B’s birthday so we’ll all celebrate with some cake and take out pizza. Another turn around the sun!! Happy Birthday to the love of my life.

We had a nice walk with only a few people there. It does really bug me though when people do not use a flashlight when it’s still dark-ish out.

Then I came home and made a loaf of pumpkin bread to freeze. I had enough pureed pumpkin left to make a batch of pumpkin muffins too.

Later I’m heading into town to go to CVS to hopefully pick up my dexamethasone. There’s been some confusion about where to send it and now I’m not sure if it’ll be there. I figured I’d better go in and check rather than call. The infusion center called and I have all my October dates scheduled. He wants 4 weeks on and 1 week off. Not sure why but in the long run it probably doesn’t matter. We canceled our mid October camping trip because we were going to leave the day I have an appt with the Dr. and then infusion after. There’s no sense going if I’ll have just gotten the shot and then Dex. We had a reservation for 4 nights so 3 of those days wouldn’t really make sense as those are the days I’m not 100%. That’s ok. We’re keeping the Napa reservation in November. I’ll start my next cycle that week so it’ll just need to be later in the week as we’re booked Sun- Thurs. Although, I think we’ll probably leave Wednesday so I can get the appt on Thursday.

Our fall weather is definitely here. Very cool mornings, nice days with warmish temperatures.

Here’s how the pantry is looking. I haven’t done another pressure canned meal as I don’t have a lot of room. When we get back I’ll make something to add. just look at the color of those tomatoes!!! The applesauce is from our tree this year. I still have half a box to do. All the rest of the tomatoes even the green ones I’m putting in a box in the closet to ripen. As they ripen I’m just bagging them and putting them in the freezer to process at a later date.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in books, California, camping, cancer, Gratitude, Lake tahoe, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma, Walking by

I’m always grateful to be able to walk in the early morning even if it is only for 40 minutes. As soon as my knee is 100% I plan on upping my time to 50 minutes. I’d also like to add in doing some hiking. Since we’ll be in Tahoe this week I’ll add in some extra walking if my knee feels good enough. There’s the hike through the meadow near the campground and there’s Richardson Trail near the Y in South Lake.

In spite of having to start Chemo, I’m grateful that I know what to expect as opposed to a new drug. Still, it’s hard to have to add this in but I’m grateful I have the option.

I’m grateful for a supportive family that I know will pick up the slack with things I won’t be able to do on chemo/dex days. Being the planner I am, I’ll have lots of dinner ideas ready plus freezer food.

I’m grateful my husband is having a birthday tomorrow, turning 73!!! Wow, after all he’s gone through he’s a walking miracle thanks to science. We plan on getting a pizza and some sort of birthday cake.

I’m thankful the Roseville Library is accessible and has an excellent selection of books. Roseville Parks and Recreation is probably one of the nicest resources in our area. After the gym this morning I plan on going over to the library and loading up on books to take camping.

So it begins…

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

So I just heard from my oncologist and my kappa light chains went up another 20+ points. My ratio( between kappa and Lambda went up over 2 points). So he’s going to set up my first shot the first week of October. I’m assuming the same as before 3 weeks on one week off.

The sooner we start the sooner we’ll know if Velcade is going to work this time. If not it would be on to the next regiment of treatment which is Darzalex.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, bread, California, camping, cooking, decluttering, Flylady, freezer cooking, Lake tahoe, minimalism, Sashiko, simplicity, swimming, Uncategorized, Walking by

A lovely walk this morning with a few people there. Sundays are my favorite day to walk as usually there is no one. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when the weather turns.

Yesterday the pool was quite busy and I shared a lane. I noticed more of the ‘regulars’ there so it must be the news is out that the pool is open. It was still great. This week will be different as I have 2 days of doing other things and then next Sunday we’re off to Tahoe for the week. We do plan to use the gym at least 2x and walk when we can.

Here’s a sample of the Sashiko I’m doing on a pair of old jeans.

I got these 2 books from the library. Both are quite good with patterns. I liked the one on the left more.

Working with the denim was more difficult but it’s just a patch so I’m not concerned about even stitching. Just random running stitches.

Here’s a picture of the sourdough rye I made. It had good flavor and it did a fairly nice spring for being rye. Rye is hard to do but I’ll do another loaf eventually.

I’ve been playing around with sourdough focaccia too. I still haven’t gotten the top all crispy like the YouTube channel showed. I’m thinking the oven needed to be hotter?? Not sure, but I’ll keep trying. I wanted to perfect a bread that we could use for sub sandwiches and the focaccia seemed like a good option.

This morning, I plan on going to the gym for just weights, no treadmill as I walked this morning and I don’t want my knee to be overworked. Then I have double-stuffed potatoes to make and freeze. Yesterday PGE had our power off all day so I couldn’t use the oven.

Flylady zone is the bedroom. If you follow along a tip I read from Peter Walsh was ‘ask yourself what the room in question is for’, so like the bedroom is to sleep, rest, etc. So remove anything from the bedroom that doesn’t support that. No electronics for instance. After having done Feng Shui for years, I do think what you have around you does affect you on some level. I don’t do FS anymore but the principles of FS and minimalism are quite similar. Keeping things harmonious and uncluttered is key, along with subdued color palettes.

I get my labs tomorrow so I should know by Friday what we’re going to do with treatment.

Friday things

Posted in Blood test, California, camping, Lake tahoe, swimming, travel, Walking by

I decided to not go down to the gym today and just do home stuff. I do plan on swimming tomorrow though. Next week will be a little different because I have labs on Monday and then my eye doctor appt. That will be dilation so no driving except straight home. Then Tuesday is probably a swim day. Wednesday is lunch out with my daughter at the High Hand Nursery. Then Thursday probably the gym.

We leave for Tahoe next Sunday, the 24th. The weather looks very fall-like. Cool evenings and warmish days, so nice. Barclay got the 2 battery system set up so we’re hoping that will give us the backup we need.

Barclay had to go down to Rocklin so he went to Costco and Winco. Costco ended up $100 and Winco $60 and that included some wine. I think we’re set till we get back from Tahoe. Any groceries we need, we get up there at the Safeway.

We continue to enjoy beautiful fall weather. The mornings are actually not that cold and walking has been nice. I’m a little surprised at the number of people walking early. We get there close to 5:50 and then by 6:15 there were 5 other cars there. Kind of weird. I don’t really remember previous years being quite so busy. Hopefully, most will fall away. There is one lady ( quite nice) who walks very early 5:15-5:30 and uses a headlamp. She’s been very dedicated to her exercise program and walks for over an hour. She does have a walking buddy so she’s not out there alone which is good because we have had homeless people sleeping in cars and vans occasionally. ( That is not a judgment on homeless people at all, it’s just best to be safe). Plus we do have mountain lions in our area too. Best to be careful.

We started our annual LOTR movie marathon. I can only get through about an hour a night so it’ll take a while.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in California, cooking, Gratitude by

It’s been a good week. Nothing too out of the ordinary.

I am thankful for being able to walk in the morning and my knee improving. I went to the gym yesterday and I think I overdid my knee as this morning it’s aching a bit.

Thankful for having little fires now in the fire pit in the evening. We don’t sit out too long, maybe an hour, and then go inside.

Thankful to be doing my Sashiko and my quilt is coming along. I asked on Pay it Forward if anyone had a quilting frame since the quilt is a little bigger than I thought. Someone has offered me one their father made. I don’t have it yet but I will update when I do.

I’m grateful to be swimming in the indoor pool again. I did have to share a lane after the first 20 minutes of swimming with someone who did NOT know how to swim and was flailing all over the lane:( grumble…. Still grateful though…

I’m grateful I can menu plan and it does save on groceries to know what I’m cooking for the week.