Monthly Archives: November 2024

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgets, California, frugalism, velcade by

So far, I’ve resisted the siren call of Black Friday. There are, of course, things we need and want. Our ceiling fan died on Wednesday so we’re going to have to buy one of those. But not today. I like to be out of that flow.

Thanksgiving was mellow and everyone enjoyed the meal. There were leftovers to send home with my son and his partner. We have some for today and then that’s it. We generally do not do a lot of leftovers.

We watched Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and it was a fun Thanksgiving movie.

This has been a low-spend week. I did a small shop here in town at the Holiday Market, but it was odds and ends. I spent $75 but $21 of that was Mumm Champagne. Earlier in the week I bought B the AirPod Pro 2 because it has a hearing enhancement and he needs it. I got a great deal at almost $100 off. It ended up with tax $158.

I’m not planning on driving out anywhere so that will save gas too until next week. I think I’ll just stick to my usual swimming plan and the gym.

I do need to make an Allstate payment and will do that Monday.

I pulled out some of the Christmas stuff and will decide what to put on the tree. Last year I put very few ornaments on and we all liked that better. I don’t need to buy anything at all, like lights. I’ll probably get out the tree this weekend. I miss having a live tree but Tahoe actually wasn’t issuing Christmas tree permits this year.

I’ll go to Costco after my Velcade on Thursday. I need eggs and HP ink. I’m sure other things will find their way into my cart.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in California, cancer, Gratitude, Myeloma by

It’s Thanksgiving Day so lots to be thankful for:

For B doing well after Chemo. It’s early days yet but still, it’s nice to feel things normal. It’s around day 10 that the drops happen. The chemo was reduced some so maybe he’ll not have as big of a drop. Still, I’m thankful for the chemo working even though it’s a very difficult drug. (Cisplatin).

I’m thankful my 2 children are healthy and happy. They both help us so much. S is around to do extra stuff we need done and I’m beyond thankful for that.

I’m thankful my cancer is staying steady with my light chains in the normal range. My ratio is slightly out of range but not by much.

I’m thankful I can walk in the mornings and enjoy the early morning sunrises.

I’m thankful that we have SS and it pays our bills. Since we still have a mortgage that’s a big deal. We probably couldn’t afford to live somewhere else unless we rented and then that would just be using money from selling this. We don’t want to do that at all so here we stay. My son is putting in some railings by our deck and the sunroom for safety.

I hope this day finds you as well as can be and what are you thankful for?

Menu Monday

Posted in California, cooking, meal planning by

This week is Thanksgiving so that will simplify things.

Monday- The Greek lemon soup. I made it but not sure if I’ll do that tonight. My son is coming over after work so that may change the dinner menu.

Tuesday- Costco beef slices that are sous vide. We haven’t tried this so we’ll see. Plus I’ll do some potatoes and salad. We’re still getting beautify lettuce, kale and chard from the garden.

Wednesday- something easy probably ramen bowls.

Thursday- Turkey/nut loaf day.

Friday- leftovers

Saturday- pizza

Sunday- TBD??

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, California, cash envelopes, cooking, home stuff by

The rain has stopped and it’s patchy puffy clouds and some blue sky. It looks like the rain comes back in tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully some of the run off can be absorbed.

We had a nice walk this morning. The air was fresh from all the rain. We did see one of the park cats. I’m guessing he was dropped off. I hope he finds a new home.

I went in for my mammogram early and then to the gym. I was back home by 9 a.m., so it was a productive morning.

After I had breakfast, I started the IP with a chicken carcas to make broth. I’m not going to pressure can it but will freeze it. I might do a Avgolemono soup tonight so I’d need some for that. It’s one of my all time favorites.

Our new December budget start tomorrow. I hope it’s better than November. We had lots of extras to pay for and it made for a tight month. Next month includes Christmas but I have most of that done. Not all of it but most. The last big annual bill will be our property tax which I plan on doing this week. I had about half in my cash envelope so that helped but next year I will get it all in. I did fairly well with my annual bills using cash envelopes but I want to do better next year.

I’m roasting a pan of veggies for dinners this week. It has sweet potato, broccoli, red onion, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. I can use this with rice for at least one meal.

I still need to mop the kitchen floor and then I’m done. I’ve finished reading all the Baldacci’s I had and really enjoyed them all. John Puller is an interesting character. The Simply Lies, is a stand alone and I like that one as well. Tuesday after I drop B off at infusion, I plan on going to the library so I can checkout a few more books.

How Flylady and decluttering changed my life.

Posted in decluttering, Flylady, home stuff, minimalism, simplicity, Uncategorized, White space by

First a comment about Flylady. When I started with FL, there was none of the bat-shit crazy stuff she spouts today. She never mentioned religion per se or anything remotely conspiracy-related. Of course, this was back in 2010 or so and things weren’t quite as crazy as they are now. So if you happen to go to her channel be ready to see a wall of weird crosses behind her etc. I only go to the website which is now handled by someone else. I do that only to check in to what the zone is.

So without further ado, FL did change my life when I was overwhelmed with everything. Personally, when I see Youtubers like Minimal Mom, Shannon Torres, etc, I can see their need for some control in their lives, and decluttering and minimalism work for them. I felt the same.

By the time I was diagnosed with myeloma in 2005, I was heavy into collecting everything mid-century. I was doing craft fairs to sell stuff and always on the hunt for Life magazines, collectibles, etc. So after my diagnosis and subsequent year of treatment, everything came to a halt. Our small house was packed to the gills and messy. It was always clean but there was just too. much. stuff.

I think it was around 2010 that I stumbled upon FL. I wasn’t so much into minimalism at that time but FL’s plan included decluttering and getting rid of excess. I think the most valuable thing for me was her zone concept and cleaning your house by zones. I still do that today although it is modified to fit what I need. I would highly recommend the zone method as every 5 weeks you then deep clean the one zone. If your house is bigger with more bedrooms you would need to add some zones. So the zone concept really changed how I kept up with the house and cleaned.

In addition, her daily tasks really kept me focused. Daily tasks included clean/clear counters and surfaces, swish and swipe the bathroom, one load of laundry a day, sweep the kitchen floor and keep the sink clear of dishes. I implemented with the whole family, NO dishes in the sink at bedtime.

She is one of the original influencers who coined the 15-minute decluttering time. Basically, do what you can in 15 minutes, use a timer, and then when it’s up you’re done. That is how I started the great decluttering. So much stuff left our house and barn. I gave lots of the more valuable things to a friend who had a big house so it fit in well.

I haven’t missed a thing. I didn’t take pictures of all the stuff and I would recommend you do. It’s a great way to look back and go, oh yeah I remember that.

So, the biggest change was how I began to see our very small house. Since it is just 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom, we were always challenged with not enough space. My office area used to be my daughter’s room and my son had the small bedroom. In hindsight I would have done things differently but as said hindsight is always 20/20.

Now I see we have enough room since I got rid of anything that wasn’t serving a purpose or that I/we loved. Honestly, I’d love to get rid of more stuff, mainly furniture but each piece we own is functional. We have to sit somewhere:0

So I went from overwhelmed to organized. Maximalist to minimalist. Compared to die-hard minimalists, I still probably have too much stuff( Catherine Holm , anyone), but hey, it’s my definition of being minimal. Pretty much what you see is what I have. I have very little storage space, so… I mean I do have Christmas stuff, my vintage Halloween, a tiny bit of Easter/Spring but not things unknown in drawers.

All the areas of our small house work for us and I’m very glad that even after 14 years, we’re still trying to ”Pare down to the essence, but don’t remove the poetry” Leonard Koren.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, cooking by

We are way over our grocery budget but most of that was extra Costco stuff. It’s ok, some months are like that. I think I’m sitting at about $700 right now. I just checked and it’s more like $900 as I didn’t add in the last Costco trip. Oh well, I have a freezer full and will just need veggies mostly to fill in the blanks.

I got gas at Costco which does save almost $1 a gallon from prices in Auburn. I have enough gas to get through next week. B has his chemo on Tuesday and that will be my last trip to Roseville for the week.

I plan on returning the clothes to Costco today. I did find a pair of the Fila I like and ordered them. If they don’t fit I’ll return them too. I think they were $12.99 at Costco.com.

We didn’t have any meals out and stuck to my menu plan. If we do eat out it’s always lunch anyway. But with B having no appetite it’s not worth going out for lunch.

The turkey order showed up so that’s in the freezer til Monday or Tuesday. I have a coupon for $15 off a whole Diestal turkey down at the Holiday but I’m not sure I’ll use it as they are usually bigger than I need or want. But I may check it out.

We’ve got a small break in the rain today and then it comes back in tonight. It’s supposed to be a colder storm too. From the little news I get now, I did see the PNW got slammed by this storm.

I haven’t checked out any Black Friday deals but B said the new Airpods with hearing enhancement are on sale. I may look at those for him as he does need something to help with hearing. I’ll check that out his weekend.

I have my annual mammogram scheduled for next week too so I can cross that off my list.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in California, Gratitude, home stuff by

Well, I am beyond thankful B has felt good. There is no need for platelets or blood. Whoo hoo!!! He gets labs today, so we’ll see how much more they increase.

We are amid a rain deluge. It’s been raining almost nonstop. I didn’t walk this morning as it was pouring. It looks like next week will be raining off and on. I plan on staying home today but tomorrow I will probably go to the pool. I need to return those sweats so that’s a good reason to go rather than Saturday. Both days will be busy as Thanksgiving is next week. I don’t need anything at this point but I haven’t made a checklist yet. I’ll do that today ( I did it below).

I’m thankful I don’t really stress about Thanksgiving and keep it very simple.

Menu for Thanksgiving:

Turkey roast from Diestal( which didn’t show up yesterday???)

Nut loaf is made and in the freezer,

and mashed potatoes are from Costco and are in the freezer. My son might make homemade made which would be fine too.

cranberry sauce is my canned cranberries from last fall. My son will get or I will a can of Ocean Spray

green beans

rolls, I have a package of Hawaiian rolls in the freezer.

stuffing is just a box of Stouffers. Now that I think about it I need celery and carrots.

I think my son is going to roast some brussels sprouts too.

I have 3/4 of a Costco pumpkin pie in the freezer I’ll defrost. We rarely eat dessert at Thanksgiving but I still want it there.

I’m thankful for quiet times at home. It’s peaceful and cozy.

I’m thankful for my daily routines that keep things running smoothly in our household.

I’m thankful B installed both grab bars in the shower and even though the pan is nonslip it’s best to safer.

Pushing Through

Posted in books, California, cancer, decluttering, simplicity by

Good news finally. B got his labs on Monday and his hemoglobin and platelets both went up. His energy is way better and he’s more ‘with it’. So hopefully all is good till his next and last chemo on Tuesday.

I’ve been trying to push a little harder going to the gym and the pool. Today, I’m staying home and not going to go out. I do plan to swim one more day this week either Friday or Saturday.

I specifically went to Costco to buy some sweats on sale. After I got home and tried them I didn’t like them. They were fleeced lined which clearly, I didn’t register when I bought them. So I’ll need to stop and return them. I’m terrible at buying clothes which is probably why I wear the same thing day in and day out. The sweats I wear to go walking are at least 10 years old. maybe I’ll check Amazon to see if they have this brand which is Fila. They were not expensive and I think they are cotton. I could use some new T-shirts too. My Bombas are getting quite thin. They are wonderful though and get softer with wear. They’re Pima cotton. They are not cheap that’s for sure but do last forever.

Today then, I’m going to declutter some books and work in the kitchen some. My jars that I store all my beans and rice etc could use a good wipe down. I also want to take an inventory of what I have. One of the cats,( we think Gus), knocked 2 plants off the window sill so I need to fix them. I’ll have to figure out a better ‘cat-safe’ place.

We have a big wave of rain coming our way. I’m not sure how much we’re supposed to get but I think the Sierras will get snow.

So how about Oz as the head of SS. Can Orange Man make any other absolutely insane appts? It’s going to get weirder and weirder. And I think more dangerous too.