Monthly Archives: August 2024

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, California, camping, cancer, cash envelopes, frugalism, Lake tahoe by

First off, I want to thank a reader, NW, for a very generous donation that took me by complete surprise. I do have my Paypal linked to my blog but haven’t thought about it in years. It was such a kind thing to do and will help most certainly with the trip to Stanford, gas, lodging, and food. So thank you again for such kindness. Honestly, I was blown away by your thoughtfulness.

My dentist appt was a cleaning and then x-rays. It was pricey and I had to put that on a CC as my cash envelope had been emptied when B went to the dentist. I hope by the next appt, I’ll have my envelope fully funded. Oh, I have a tiny cavity she(The dentist) wants to fill so I’ll do that in October. We need to get through these appts of B’s and see how that goes.

I went to Costco after I had my doctor appt in Sacramento. Yikes, the traffic going into Sacramento was awful and took over an hour. Usually it’s 45-50 minutes. So coming back out it went smoothly swung into Costco. I spent $188 total. $15 was nonfood, $20 was wine, and the rest was food. I used my cash envelope.

We filled up the VW this week and that was $45.

We went to the nursery and bought 2 bags of potting soil and 3 pots and that ended up $60.

After that was a stop at Panera, and that was $28. I had cash in my coffee date envelope but forgot to use it so I’ll need to move that to back to the bank. Although I haven’t put any money into dining out for this month so I could wait and deduct that. I usually only do $50 as we don’t really eat out that often.

Overall, a frugal week. I didn’t need gas in the Santa Fe so that was nice.

Today I do plan on swimming as I haven’t been all week and I can feel it. I don’t need to get gas or get anything from Winco( across the street from the pool).

Next week is open with no appts so we’re thinking of driving up to Tahoe which we had planned on doing for our anniversary. After Labor Day is the start of the off-season although September is still busy up there. We still have our Nevada Beach reservations for the end of September but the Stanford trip is right in the middle of that week, so I’m guessing we’re going to have to cancel. We could trailer up and stay 2nights, but then we’d have to come back down for Stanford 2 days, and I just don’t see us able to go back up for 2nights. We just don’t have that kind of energy. I don’t want to cancel yet in hopes we’ll get a cancellation at Stanford. I love it up there at the end of September. The air is so crisp and the lake so blue. Plus, we get the annual parks pass discount so where can you go on vacation in Tahoe for $150 for 6 nights. But if we don’t get into Stanford sooner then I’m not sure it’ll work.

Being in limbo with all this is pretty tough and I have to say my anxiety is fairly high. I guess since we can’t really control these things, I need to let it go some. Easier said than done.

Enough of that, I made a frittata last night to use up that spinach I had. Tonight is pizza night. I think I have one last dough ball in the freezer I can use.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Blood test, California, cancer, cooking, Gratitude, Walking by

I am thankful for a beautiful day. The early morning walks have been so pretty. The predawn sky is like a Maxfield Parrish poster.

I’m thankful that I had a good Dr. visit and there’s nothing new with my labs. My kappa light chains went down a whole point. So that’s great. When that happens though my ratio goes up so that is higher than normal right now. But I’m not too concerned about that at this point. The ratio between kappa and lambda is important especially when the Kappa goes high.

I’m thankful the budget looks good for September but it will be another close month with money. There won’t be much if any leftover. Plus we will need to book a room in Palo Alto by Stanford to spend the night. I guess we’ll figure it out.

I’m grateful we have the 2 appts for B set up although we are concerned about the Stanford one. The treatment( Hipec) is a tough surgery etc and it may be that he’s too old to qualify. So now, I’m worried about that too.

I’m thankful I repotted my plants yesterday. They were very root bound so I think they will do better, especially the Ficus. I plan on going around and seeing how many more I need to do. I think probably 3 more.

Tonight I plan on making a frittata for dinner. I have a lot of spinach to use up and a Boursin. The Boursin adds a nice creamy texture to the frittata.

Midweek

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, Gardening, plants by

I’m off to Sacramento this morning. After my appointment, I plan on going to Costco and picking up a few things. I need coffee, maple syrup, and some other random things. I just love not doing huge shops, it makes it so much easier for me. Plus I’m in and out in half an hour.

Our weather has been picture perfect for August. It’s been a little warm in the afternoons but with the angle of the sun it isn’t as intense. And by evening it cools way down. The garden is almost done. I have another box of tomatoes to process and I think that’s probably it. We had a great crop. Our peppers did not do well which is unusual.

Yesterday, we went to the nursery and I picked up some pots to split a very big spider plant. I also picked a larger pot for my ficus. Pots are expensive which seems weird. We also filled the VW with gas. Then we went to Panera for a snack but it was almost 11am so I had my favorite broccoli cheddar soup. Yumm

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, California, cancer, cooking by

We had RAIN! Such a surprise! It started yesterday morning @ 4am and kept going off and on till about 11 am. It was so nice.

I’m back from the gym and working on doing my folds in the cheddar/jalapeno sourdough. One more fold and I’ll put it in the bucket to do the bulk fermentation. The house is chilly so it could take all day. I have some chicken I want to use up. It was kind of a mistake order from Walmart a while ago. It’s not super great quality so I think I’ll put it in the IP with some seasoning and see how it turns out.

This week I have 2 appts. The dentist for a cleaning and then Dr. Laptalo. After the dentist, I might go down to the Roseville gym and the library. It’ll be too late to try and swim. We’ll see. I’ve been so uncommitted to things lately. I wonder where that is coming from? That’s definitely not my usual M.O.

No other news from cancer world. He did get a call from a UCD oncologist’s office and made an appointment. But it’s really only like an info appt not about treatment per se. We’ll do it because that may be the doctor who does follow-up after Stanford. But right now we don’t know that.

Here’s a Gus picture:

And here’s Chester

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, Credit cards, frugalism by

We didn’t spend too much this week.

I got gas at Costco and think it’s the cheapest I’ve seen in a long time. I think it was $3.83.

I stopped at Paris bakery because I had a cake slice offered at $3.00. Usually, their cake slices are $6.95, so a good deal. I also bought an iced americano.

We took some money out of our very limited savings and paid some of the CC bill. I hope I can wipe it out next month. I felt it was important to do.

B went to the store once for some wine and milk and a few other odds and ends. I didn’t go to Costco this week so I’ll probably go next week. Next week I have 2 appointments, the dentist and my doctor. I’ll try and swim one day next week but that’s probably all I’ll get to.

We might order a pizza for tonight since I don’t feel like cooking.

I did order a new Speedo suit because after my swim last time, I looked at my suit and it was somewhat embarrassing. I could see thru some areas so I figured I better get a new one. It was on sale though so that’s good.

Overall, a fairly frugal week although since we don’t have much money it’s more like business as usual:)

Thankful Thursday

Posted in California, cancer, Gratitude, home stuff, husband, Walking by

First for our great weather. Nice temperatures and we’ve been able to eat dinner on the patio again. So nice. Plus we’re sitting outside at wine time too.

Next, walking at the park and enjoying the fresh morning air. A few people are showing up but we’re generally almost done by then.

Finally, we have the appointment at Stanford set. It’s the end of September which seems very far ahead but that’s the best they could do with the specialist we’re seeing. He only sees patients Thursdays that’s that. We did ask to be put on a cancellation list. Our plan would be to drive to Palo Alto do the appointment and then spend the night in a hotel. There is no way I could drive 3 1/2 hours back and forth on the same day.

I’m not sure how the surgery etc will play out and how we will afford me staying somewhere but I’ll worry about that when the time comes.

Today is a home day for me and I just need to do house chores. I might make a loaf of bread in the bread maker. Not sourdough just regular sandwich bread but I’ll see how I feel.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, California, cancer, cooking, Death, Walking by

A wonderful walk this morning. Cool air and only us. Whenever I’m on DEX I can walk a little more since Dex masks arthritis. So we did 2 miles.

Of course, now Dex will wear off and I’ll see how my knee is 🙂

I decided to go to the gym since I don’t have any major cooking to do or house stuff. It was pretty mellow with only a few people.

For dinner last night I made up the honey garlic tofu again with jasmine rice and a salad. It was just as delicious. Tonight, I’m going to try the frozen tofu and bread it and make a tofu parmesan. This block I cut horizontally. I have leftover Rao’s sauce and mozzarella to use.

This week I have labs, swim, a gym time and that’s it unless B gets a call from UCD. If he does we will take the appointment as we’d like to get the chemo or whatever it’s going to be going.

So after the team of doctors met to discuss his case, they decided to do more testing on the first biopsied tissue, and the answer was revealed. Unfortunately, it is very rare, Peritoneal Mesothelioma. It knocked us for a loop. He’s never been around asbestos but apparently, there can be other causes? what, I’m not sure. The doctor who was doing this diagnosis has also referred him to Stanford. This is a pretty grim diagnosis and incurable so facing us is what time do we have. It’s hard to get this processed and I’m sure we will be going through a lot of emotions. I tend to freeze up emotionally and/or shut down so I’ll need to work on that. Well, at least we know.

That’s all I’ve got today.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cash envelopes, cooking, Gardening by

Costco $153. food 140, wine 13. I just love this new Costco.

It is so easy to get into and the registers are always open. I haven’t had to wait once. I think what I like the most is doing smaller shops. Usually, before shops were $300 or $400 and loaded up the cart. Now I am just picking up maybe 15 things. So yesterday, was tofu, block of Tillamook, cottage cheese, sour cream, eggs, black bean burgers( a new product I thought we’d try for an easy meal), Bonne Mamam jam in the EXTRA jar jar that I’ve been looking for forever, oh, another new item, potato and cheese pierogis, oh, and the gallon zip lock freezer bags on sale. I always try and buy the things on sale as that is where Costco excels.Plus the Kirkland Pinot Grigio and Kirkland Sauvignon. I think there was something else but I can’t remember now. Oh I remember, it was another new product of pretzel bites!! We love pretzel bites so it was a no brainer!

Dinners have all been homemade and easy this week. The start was the honey garlic tofu. I still have half the block frozen so I may make that again tomorrow. Tonight I think I will make a homemade pizza. I have dough in the freezer so that’ll be easy to do.

Since I’m on Dex for the next 3 days I’ll add some extra things to do. I’d like to spruce up our one entryway by the sun porch. Maybe switch out the faux flowers on the wreath to fall stuff. I had a nice red geranium out there on the table but the deer ate the flowers:(

Here are a few pictures of the front yard. Lots of morning glories which just seed themselves every year and this this delicata squash was a self seeder from the compost that we added to that bed. My daughter came up with the idea to grow it on this old trellis that was going to get thrown out. Works great and we’ve never had that many delicatas ever.

My next batch of tomatoes I plan on freezing and can later this fall. Tomatoes came in so early this year I guess with all the heat we had. Our peppers didn’t that great though for some reason. Which is odd since they love heat too.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cash envelopes, Gratitude, velcade by

Even though I slept terribly, I still got up at 5:15 to walk. I’m thankful I have the energy to do that. We got to the park at 5:40 and the two ladies were there. They are nice and don’t bother me. By the time we were almost done 6 more people had showed. I’m not sure what the story is about more people early as the weather is not hot and the sunrise is almost 6:30. I guess this will change soon as it gets darker. However, the one older lady that I’m not super fond of is the one last year that came at 6. It was dark and she never used a flashlight even when I asked her to because you can’t see people. oh well, people:(

I’m thankful my drive to infusion was uneventful. The other day on Hwy 65( the one I take) there was a horrible accident with a pedestrian. I’m glad I didn’t see it.

I’m thankful that I have some extra money in my cash envelopes because we need it till the end of the month.

I’m thankful I’m not losing hair like I was. I probably lost half my hair. So now when I comb it there’s a normal amount of hair. I think it was Dex, but it may have been Velcade too or both.

There’s a lot going on with B’s cancer and I’ll do an update soon. I’m still a little shell shocked so I need a day or two to get a grip. But I am thankful the doctor pursued a long shot and she was right. I’ll explain later in a separate post.

I’m thankful our kitties are safe and bring us joy. It is sad when cats go missing and I’m sure the neighbor is upset.

I’m very grateful Mr Owl left me this. B found it!!

Midweek…

Posted in bread, California, cancer, cooking by

We had another video visit with the doctor and it was somewhat productive. She requested that a team of oncologists, and radiologists review B’s scans, biopsy, etc. There were lots of ideas floating around but again nothing too conclusive except that it may be peritoneal primary cancer which is exceedingly rare. One pathologist was going to do a few more tests on the biopsy tissue for something. We should know something about that today. If there’s anything conclusive the Friday Biopsy would be cancelled or postponed. The one positive thing was she was going to make the referral to a medical oncologist for discussion of treatment. That’s good news as the tumors aren’t going away on their own. We haven’t heard anything as of today though.

I’m off to the pool this morning. I figured I better get a swim in since I’ll be taking Dex tomorrow and the next 3 days.

Other than that, no canning or bread-making for a bit. I’m caught up and I don’t need bread today. So when I get home the only thing I need to do is vacuum and I might have someone else do that while I’m gone. Later I’m meeting my library friends for a coffee at our cafe. I won’t stay too long as it’s busy down there and usually loud. Both of which I’m sensitive to. Still, it’s nice to get together for a coffee or probably iced tea by then.

We actually sat outside for dinner last night. The first in months. The weather is finally cool enough and quite nice actually. It’s been a tough summer.

I made a new recipe from Budget Bytes of Honey Garlic Chicken. I liked it because yo cut the chicken up in smallish pieces. Then the sauce was a honey sesame with some garlic. It was very good. Then I tried something new which was I did the same recipe but with frozen tofu chunks I had and Whozze! We all liked that better than the chicken. ( well, the chicken eaters anyway).

Our neighbor’s cat is missing and presumably eaten by a coyote. I hate coyotes for doing that. The cat was a very pretty all gray cat. We called him Little Smokey. We have lost a number of cats to coyotes here. It’s just part of this landscape. When we moved here we had no idea of this because in Foresthill we had 13 cats at one time and NEVER lost one cat to coyotes. Now all the cats we raise are indoors unless monitored outside except for Chester ( he’s the one who showed up one day and Mama Cat who is the mama to the 4 we have inside). They do go out unsupervised but there’s not much we can do about that. They are used to being out. But it’s still sad when a cat goes missing and with coyotes, there’s never any trace. Sad:(