Monthly Archives: September 2023

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, California, camping, cooking, Flylady, home stuff, Lake tahoe, seasonal things, Uncategorized, Walking by

I made it around the park 3 times so that’s a big improvement. My knee is definitely improving. I didn’t use the treadmill though at the gym as I thought that might be too much. I did the weight machines twice.

We’ve been having supper out on the patio all week and even had 3 evenings of a fire in the fire pit before we come in to watch Bosch. I only watch TV for an hour or an hour and a half is pushing it. Even movies, we split into 2 nights. We watched Otto this week for 2 nights. It’s a good movie, maybe not a great movie, but still enjoyable.

After the gym, I put the bread in the oven. This is a new sourdough recipe from ‘Everyday Sourdough’ and it uses whey from yogurt making. Since I had just made yogurt I saved the whey. It uses a Pullman pan which sadly I do not have yet. So we’ll see.

Then I did the bathroom zone, vacuumed, tidied the bedroom, and dusted the LR zone. That’s about it for zone cleaning.

My daughter harvested most of the basil and I made four 4-ounce jars of pesto for the freezer.

The next batch of tomatoes you see behind the pesto, I will freeze till I have enough for sauce.

This coming week looks light. No appts, but we may go to Costco. I’ll wait and see what I need. I know I’ll go before our Tahoe trip so I have 2 weeks.

Frugal Friday

Posted in bread, budgeting, California, cooking, freezer cooking, simple foods, Uncategorized by

Except for regular bills, we didn’t spend much. We went to the co-op twice. One trip was @ $23 and the second $8.00, so not much. I didn’t go to Winco or Costco so that’s a win-win. I also didn’t get gas this week but will need it tomorrow or Monday.

All the big bills are already out of our checking. But there’s still water, PGE, and ATT. But those bills aren’t as big.

We also didn’t do a coffee lunch date so no money there spent. We are planning something right around my sister’s birthday to celebrate her life. Even though for most of our adult lives we weren’t that close, after my diagnosis in 2005 she was very supportive and visited annually. Then she got diagnosed with interstitial lung disease and then later lung cancer. So we want to go out and either do a wine tasting( she loved wine as much as I do!!!!). Or do lunch at a restaurant in Auburn that we went to usually when she came to visit.

I meal prepped 4 frozen lasagnas for those nights just don’t feel like cooking. I also canned 3 more quarts of tomato sauce. I also made 2 loaves of bread. One is a walnut cranberry and the other boule but with some rye flour added.

Last night’s quiche.

Oh, I did buy a sourdough bread book that was recommended by one of the UK bloggers I read. At first, I was going to return it as her original sourdough master recipe is not in it but in her last book, but then I looked at the recipes and decided there were enough interesting ones I’d keep the book. Oh, and my fabric showed up for the back of my Japanese indigo small quilt.

I went to the Roseville gym. It seemed busier than normal. Usually, there are only 1 or 2 people there but this morning it was busier.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Blood test, California, cancer, cooking, Gardening, Gratitude, home stuff, husband, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma, swimming, Uncategorized by

I’m glad the doctor app’t went as planned even though he was an hour late:(

I never complain because you never know who before you is in a dire situation. So we agreed that I’ll get my next set of labs before Tahoe and if the rise is 20pts or more , we’ll start in October. He wondered whether I wanted to do a Pet scan/ Ct to look for lytic lesions first. I said I didn’t think at this point it would matter. I do have old lytic lesions where I had rib fractures and on my skull but at this point it’s my numbers that are the indicator and he agreed. He seemed to think Velcade will be effective again so that’s positive. I’m still a little concerned as this will be my third time. He also agreed that we’d know in 3 months whether it’s working or not which is what I wanted to do. He also indicated that this time I could keep up a maintenance schedule when my numbers are backing the normal range. This was something I suggested 3 years ago but at that point, he wasn’t inclined. So maybe now since I am at this stage it would be helpful and I definitely agree.

I’m thankful the weather is now Fall like. Beautiful days, cool evenings! I think there’s 1 day showing 90 but that’s it.

I am so thankful the indoor pool opened and it was not overly crowded. It probably depends on the day and the time. But after 3 months closed, it’s so nice to have it open and my drive time was 15 minutes less each way.

I’m so grateful to my daughter for being a wonderful gardener and planting all the tomatoes. I have another batch ready to go tomorrow. I dropped them in boiling water and took the skins off but I will still run thru the food mill to get the seeds out. She planted some late zucchini and now we’re getting just the right amount. I’ve made 2 more loaves to freeze for this fall/ winter.

As simple as it is, I am grateful for every day. I’m grateful to spend it with my husband and my kids( although my son is working full time and gone a lot, and my daughter writes full time and works at the library part time.) Still they’re around when we need them.

I’m grateful Barclay can do projects and improvements on our little abode.

Oh, that chess looking piece is my daughters anniversary present to us, a Peugot pepper mill. Believe me, if you love pepper you’ll want this. Why did I wait so long. It’s worth every penny.

I’m grateful for being able to make some freezer meals for when I don’t feel like cooking.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cooking, home stuff, instant pot recipes, Pantry, Uncategorized by

Wow, we are still getting some rain!! The poor folk though, out at Burning Man are in white mud up to their ankles. I have never been drawn to Burning Man. Too many people and a very desolate environment. We had rain this morning and I’m guessing they’re getting some more up there.

We did have a lovely walk in the rain with no one there.!!!! I only did 2x because of the knee but it was hard to stop. 😦 It seems every time I start to make some headway like walking faster and going a little farther something happens and I’m back to ground zero. Oh well, I guess that’s life.

I’m heading out to the gym and I’ll finish this later.

I got back from the gym, and boy is it ever raining. I only did arm weights at the gym so it was only 25 minutes. Then I went over to the Briarpatch Coop for a few things. This is our new co-op that just opened and it’s very nice. It’s more convenient than Safeway, with a better atmosphere too. The prices are higher but for a few things, I don’t mind. I wanted the Califia creamer and Califia almond milk. My daughter is lactose intolerant so we’ve been getting this and it’s quite good. Then I picked up some russet potatoes for a baked potato night this week.

Tonight I plan on doing a pantry dinner of chicken pie with pressure canned chicken pot pie mix. Then I’ll make a spinach pie with spinach, gruyere, onions and eggs.

My Instant Pot died last week. I was making chicken broth and had it started and then when I went back to check it it was off. I thought maybe it tripped the electrical outlet but it hadn’t. I tried another plug and nada. I unplugged the back plug and still nada. I don’t plan on replacing it. I really only use it for a few things and I can use the slow cooker for those things; beans, broth, stew, etc. I wonder if anyone else has had theirs just quit??

I have the pool on Tuesday, then the doctor on Wednesday and then the gym on Thursday or Friday. I’m working on my next Sashiko pattern and I should get the fabric this week for my Japanese block quilt. I plan on doing Sashiko embroidery on that too. I like having some kind of handwork to do probably a throw back from the Waldorf school days.

Frugal Friday

Posted in Blood test, books, budgets, California, cooking, reading, simple foods, swimming, Walking by

We have another rainy day forecast. It’s very weird for us to have rain in Northern CA this time of year. Usually, it’s around Halloween. But we’ll take it and it will help with fire season.

After overdoing the walking yesterday,:( I re-evalutated. I’ll just do 2 rounds tomorrow and see how that is for a day or two. I did swim this morning and it felt really great. It was raining a little but I’m in the water anyway so…

Well, I ended up going to Winco after the pool and it was not frugal. I spent about $125. But I pretty much got what I needed for the week ahead. Some salad stuff, fruit, almond butter, rye bread, cheese and misc. But other than that, I haven’t bought groceries. I think so far for the September budget I’m at about $275, and that was the Costco trip. I could put that back on August’s budget but I think I’ll leave it in September.

We didn’t have any lunch dates or coffee dates this week. Next week we might do a lunch date but I’ll wait and see how the week shapes up. I have my oncology appt Wednesday so that day is out. I’m hoping we can come up with my chemo plan for October. It depends on my next labs and what he thinks. We’ll see.

Last night I made a yummy chicken parmigania and spaghetti with some of my canned tomato sauce. Boy, was that sauce delicious. I did pick another big bowl of tomatoes so I may have enough to do another batch. I did another jar of refrigerator jalapenos. I must have 6 jars now:) I’m not sure what we’re doing for dinner but it won’t be a pizza. Maybe I’ll pull a jar from the pantry.

I just finished a library book “ The House in the Pines‘ by Ana Reyes. Yikes what a nail biter. Very scary and suspenseful. Not sure about the ending it seemed to unfinished to me and I don’t like that. I picked up 6 books to read, 3 of them are part of the Lincoln Lawyer series. Right now we’re watching the TV show on Prime and it’s very good.