Monthly Archives: March 2024

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, California, Flylady, home improvement, home stuff, Uncategorized by

Another cloudy day but not too cold at least. I think next week is looking sunnier and warmer.

We’re watching Season 4 of Longmire and it’s a great show. When I went to the library Season 6 was there so I picked that up. I have 5 already checked out. I picked up 6 books and finished 2. One was # 29 of the Stephanie Plum series. Always good for a laugh. I have the latest on hold at the library and I think it just came in. Two were cookbooks so I looked through them and they can go back.

I’m in the bathroom zone this week so I’ll do that after I finish this blog. We have gone back and forth on the bathroom to either buy a shower unit or try and tile the whole area. Personally, I don’t care which, I just want it done by the end of June. After that, we’re going to pull out the kitchen counter and at least put in a new sink and counter of some sort. It may not be done professionally but it’ll at least be a start. If anything I’ll go with butcher block as that is somewhat affordable. If we had the money, I’d just hire someone to do it. We still need to go to Ikea and see their counters and make a decision. But first the bathroom.

Tomorrow, I see the eye doctor for the 6-month macular scan. After that, I may go down to the Roseville gym. It depends on how long the appt goes. I might go on Tuesday after my other doctor’s appt which is earlier.

If you want a good laugh go to YouTube and put in SNL and the spoof on the GOP’s rebuttal with the woman in the kitchen. It is pretty hilarious. Also, her facts were completely wrong about the sex trafficking of the young girl. Wrong president, wrong year, wrong everything. Why?? is all I have to say. Fact check, please. I guess they’re not interested in that, just misleading lies to put fear in people about undocumented workers or illegals.

Dinner is going to be simple, soup and biscuit sandwiches. That’s it.

Friday things

Posted in books, budgeting, California, frugalism, swimming, travel, Walking by

Buggie is still in the shop because another part was needed. Hopefully, we can go get her today. Still, it will need to go on a CC and then get paid. 😦 Oh well, whatcha gonna do)!!

I am pleased as anything the walk was great yesterday. The day’s total was 2.2 miles so a real breakthrough for me and the knee. And my knee feels ok this morning. I’m a little sore but that’s just because I haven’t been doing the same amount of walking. Plus some of my stiffness is osteoarthritis which is kind of worse in the mornings but once I start moving, it improves.

I opted not to swim but will do my PT exercises this morning. Next week is a wash with swimming or the gym as I have appts 3 mornings all early so there’s not enough time to get to the pool. I may be able to the gym after Tuesday’s appt as that is the earliest at 8 am. I’ll just see how it is.

We spent quite a bit on food so far this month with 2 Costco trips so I’ll need to try and just use things up and not do another shop except for minor misc things. ( I need some lime juice for a recipe). Of course, some of the Costco food isn’t just for one month but will last 3 months like Panko Shrimp.

The sun is out and it does brighten my mood. We booked a reservation in Napa for the week after next. It looks like the weather should cooperate. The last time we canceled it was rainy and cool. Plus we have 3 nights which is kind of a minimum for me. We’ll mostly eat in the RV but we’ll do a few meals out. At least get some things at Modeles Bakery. I also need to go to the Rancho Gordo store for some Marcella beans( like cannellini) and their Mexican Oregano which is absolutely wonderful.

Nothing else too exciting for the weekend. I plan on the Auburn gym on Sunday and that’s about it. Today, I just have a few house tasks and that’s it and then I’ll probably read some. Dinner is just a frozen pizza with a few toppings I’ll add.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in books, budgets, California, cash envelopes, Gratitude, Walking by

I am thankful I got a good swim in yesterday despite the asshole in my lane that was not moving over and ran into me:( I sort of yelled, get on your own side!!! I think he was new as he didn’t know how to swim very well. Oh well, it doesn’t happen very often.

Then I went to Costco and am grateful I had almost the full amount in cash. I actually did have it all but it was in another envelope and I didn’t want to be rummaging around for it..’

Buggie is in the shop as the water pump went out. That’s going to cost us $1000+ . I’ll have to put that on a card and then pay off in 2 installments. I might be able to do it all if I skimp on other things. We haven’t done a lot services on the VW so I guess it works. Plus buggie is 24 years old so something is going to go. Plus it needs a smog and registration in April but we’ll do that once she’s fixed up.

Today I’m going back to Roseville to pick up books at the library and then B and I are going to walk one of the trails down there. Hopefully, the sun will come out. After that, we’re going to get some lunch somewhere.

I’m grateful the PT was effective and although my knee is not back to where it was, it is much improved. The PT said I could do 1 more session if I wanted but also clarified that it would just be doing the same exercises so I declined. I see the ortho PA next week so I’ll see what she says about it all.

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, California, cancer, cooking, decluttering, husband, minimalism, swimming, Uncategorized, Walking by

So far we’ve made it through the ‘blizzard’ although we didn’t have the blizzard here but lots of rain and wind. Fortunately, we didn’t lose any trees. A friend from way back in the library days had 2 trees fall on their house. Yikes! I’d be breaking out. They live quite a ways up I 80 and I think the wind was worse up there. It looks like today is still stormy so I’m not going to go to the Auburn gym. Plus I’ve kind of felt ‘off’. It’s probably the residual of Dex and Velcade. My blood pressure was high yesterday even with taking my Lisinprol so I’m attributing that to dex too. It’s always something.

I have a loaf of sourdough in the oven and I’ll pull a frozen lasagna out for dinner. the other day I was able to get 4 lasagnas prepped. I think I have some salad stuff to use up too.

Yesterday, I cleaned out a few kitchen draws and probably will do a few other kitchen things today. I need to order propane too. That’s all done on line now so I can do it and pay that way.

I’ve been thinking about how having injured my knee in a split second of stepping off the step ladder wrong way. I think things like this do affect us in deeper ways than we realize. All of a sudden I couldn’t do what I had been doing at all. No walking, swimming, house stuff etc. It really did have an impact on me and with that some sadness of what was lost. I’m certainly much better now and am walking about a mile a day and swimming. But it’s not back to where it was and I’m not sure if it will ever get there realistically. But I’m grateful that I can see forward and keep trying. Yesterday, I used the PT band for a few exercises and it really stressed my knee out so today I’ll skip that part. The other thing I’ve noticed is my routines were more or less disrupted as I couldn’t do the same things such as swish and swipe daily. I’m back at it with more regularity but it definitely impacted me and one has to wonder how things will be in 5 years. I guess the whole point of minimizing and streamlining things was exactly the place I’m in now. My house can handle not getting dusted for a few days, or vacuumed because there’s less to take care of. Daily though, the dishes get done, counters cleared. laundry done, bed made, house tidied. My husband does the laundry daily. He also cleans the kitchen after dinner so it’s a good system. Because of this, I think I will start looking around the house to see what things are taking up space or require some maintenance and then probably get rid of them. I guess this really does comes down to Swedish Death cleaning.

Frugal Friday

Posted in Blood test, books, bread, budgeting, California, cancer, cash envelopes, cooking, frugalism, Uncategorized by

I stopped at Trader Joe’s after the infusion and spent$70 on food. Mostly it was bread, some chicken shwarma( TJ’s has this all seasoned in the meat section and for a great price)my son wanted, pita bread, and a few things I’d been looking for. One was Harrisa and I found it on a bottom shelf. It’s used in some vegan dishes in the new cookbook I got a while back,

Also, the YouTuber Vegan channel, Madeline Olivia, made some black bean meatballs with Harrisa and she said that’s what gives their kick, so I thought I’d try that.

Here’s my copycat Panera Broccoli cheddar soup we had for dinner. this was before I blended it in the Vita-mix. I used most of the leftover Costco bag of broccoli I had in the freezer. It was quite good with this loaf of sourdough. My starter is doing really well after a few days of feeding.

The rain is back and so is the wind so no gym or anything today. Plus Dex is still in my system and my face is still a little red. Boy, I looked like a beet yesterday:)

I bought a pair of Levi’s on eBay at a good price. NWT and only 29.99. On the website, they’re $60 so I thought that was a great deal. Right now I only have one nice pair of Levi’s I use to go out on dates etc. And then only 2 sort of beat-up ones for going to the store or around the house. I never sweat pants at home, only right after getting up and we walk, otherwise, I dress in jeans and Bombas T-shirts or my yoga pants to go to the gym. So I will take that cash and put it back in the bank when I’m in town next.

Next week I have labs so that will give us another picture of what the myeloma cells are doing. I have one more infusion at the end of March before I see Dr. L, so I guess ,depending on this one, I’ll decide to either wait or message him about adding in the second dose. Other than that I have PT on Tuesday and then no other appts. I really do prefer my schedule open and flexible but medical appts are necessary at this point.

I don’t have any meal prep to do today so I think I’ll concentrate on the kitchen zone.