Monthly Archives: October 2023

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, home stuff, Sashiko, Uncategorized, Walking by

A lovely fall morning. I feel pretty good this morning. Most of the dex has worn off and isn’t affecting me too much. We had a nice walk without anyone there again. It’s kind of weird since the two nice ladies haven’t been there all week. Maybe they’re on vacation. It’s pretty dark when we get there but daylight savings is less than a month away so that’ll change things.

I decided NOT to go into Anytime gym this morning and instead power washed the outside windows with the outside Windex. I’m really late on this since I do the windows once a quarter but not last quarter. It’s very easy to use the spray bottle attached to the hose.

I also started a loaf of whole wheat sandwich bread. Not sourdough just yeast. I almost always use King Arthur’s recipes. This one called for a 1/4 c veg oil which I thought was a lot but did it anyway just to see how the recipe turns out.

I’m rethinking a bread machine to make dough but not really sure yet. There are a couple of ones that I like that are in the $125 range so not like a Zojurushi. Unless I found another used Zoju I wouldn’t spend that much money for just doing the dough cycle. The one I looked at a Youtuber was using and liked that the pan was ceramic not teflon so that was interesting to me. We’ll see. mixing in the Kitchen aid is just as easy for the most part.

Here’s the quilt frame set up with the Japanese quilt on it.

I’m not trying to do perfect rows or anything, just quilting using the Sashiko stitching.

It may take a while….

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, Pantry, swimming by

It’s that time of year for our annual fall bills to come in so our savings are taking a hit. Fortunately, our AAA house insurance and California Fair plan only increased about $10o+. I can’t pay the whole thing at once so part will go on the cc till next month. Then Allstate was due and that went up over +$300. WoW!! Next will be property tax and which also went up but we can hold off on that till early Dec. And Barclay’s Triumph motorcycle insurance too.

So lots of BIG bills and it’s definitely stretching our limited finances.

In other areas though, groceries have only been about $160 and the $60 was splurging at Nugget market for fancy lunch stuff after my Velcade shot. I wanted to have some deli things available on Thursday and Friday so I didn’t need to think about lunches. Oh, and a piece of chocolate cake was involved too!!

Last night we had the leftover loaded baked potato soup and a salad for dinner. Tonight is going to be a homemade pizza.

I plan to swim tomorrow and then when I get home I’m going to pressure can Lentil soup. It should be an easy recipe as you don’t have to presoak the lentils or cook for 30 minutes.

This coming week I plan to try do these dinners;

*freezer spanakopita

*spaghetti sauce meat/ marinara sauce ( I want to make a big batch of meat sauce to freeze).

*panko shrimp and jasmine rice with veggies

*chicken noodle soup from the pantry( the soup base is pressure canned with out noodles, you add the noodles later)

*tofu something, maybe burgers or scramble or tacos

*mushroom frittata with salad

*falafel with tahini dressing and sourcream in pita bread

I think having a meal plan helps with keeping things running simply and smoothly. I don’t set a particular night for each meal, just when it fits in.

I still need to forage around the chest freezer and see what else needs to be used.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in books, California, cancer, Gratitude, Myeloma by

All things considered, my Velcade shot went well. The nurses are always the kindest and efficient people. Always concerned that everything is ok. The one nurse remembered me from last time so that was cool.

I went to the library and got my holds and it’s such a beautiful library.

We went out for a Mexican lunch and it was delicious and there were leftovers for dinner. Being a dex night I don’t usually feel like cooking.

Oh, I did remember a positive thing about dex. No aches and pains. Dex is a super anti-inflammatory drug.

The nurse had my schedule ready for November and now it looks like we will only be able to go to Napa for 2 nights instead of 3 because otherwise they would have to change all my appts to Thursdays. So I said fine let’s just keep Wednesdays.

Today is just a home day and I plan to do some quilting and reading.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, canning tomato salsa, cooking, Myeloma, Walking by

The day started with a walk in the park with NO ONE there but us!! Very unusual these days. But quite nice.

Then back home and right into prepping tomatoes to can. B did all the food milling and I got the canner and jars ready. Four Quarts of tomato sauce. They are in the water bath right now. Quarts take 40 minutes and I add 5 minutes for altitude.

I may or may not have a flu shot appt. I didn’t get a reminder and couldn’t find it in my messages as a confirmation. The website was useless. So I think I’ll go in at 11:30 and check. If it’s there great if not I’ll just reschedule. I’m skipping the gym because of canning and then going into town. I usually go to the gym by 8:30 a.m.

I pulled some ready meals from the freezer for tonight. Stuffed bell peppers( vegetarian) and a turkey chili. I need to dig down in the freezer and see what I have.

This week will be busy and different with going to the infusion center on Wednesday. I need to get to the library too. I have holds there. One is Demon Copperfield by Kingsolver. People love it or hate it. I suspect I won’t like it but I’ll try. Some of her stuff I have loved like Animal Dreams and Bean Trees but I disliked Poisonwoood Bible.

I also need to look at my swim times and rec center times and how that’s going to work. After Infusion, I’ll take Dex so the rest of the day is a wash and I never drive the next day either. Friday can be ok so I’ll just have to see. If I need B can drive me to the store or even down to the Rec Center. There are loads of trails there so he could walk or hang out in the library. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how it goes.

I’m going to work on my Japanese quilt today as I got the quilt frame. The poles are way too long for me to use so B needs to cut them down. I’m not sure how much easier it is with the frame. The lady did not want it back even though I said I’m not probably going to do more. She just said pass it on. That was generous of her. Her father had made this frame and it is sturdy and looks professional.

Well onward and upward. At least the assholes in Congress passed something so the govt doesn’t shut down.