Monthly Archives: November 2024

Menu Monday

Posted in California, cooking, meal planning, simple foods by

I need to look and see what needs to be used up in both the fridge and the freezer.

Sunday- shrimp scampi with broccoli. I still have some broccoli to use so I’ll plan that

Monday- Breakfast for dinner. I have hash browns to use and lots of eggs. I also need to use up the veggie sausage.

Tuesday—I have some whole wheat tortillas to use, so I’ll make some bean burritos. I have frozen beans, or I can use my canned ones. I have lettuce but no avocado, but plenty of cheese and salsa.

Wednesday- I have some burgers in the freezer that need to be used. They’re from the summer so I don’t know if they are still ok or have freezer burn. But I’ll check it out and if they are ok do a burger night and fries. I have a Boca burger left over in the freezer too.

Thursday- This might be mystery night but I’m guessing soup. Either lentil or white bean. I try and do soup once a week.

Friday- I’ll make a pizza because I have a log of fresh mozzarella to use up. I may stop at the store for a few toppings like mushrooms, pepperoni, and peppers but I’ll wait and see.

Saturday- unknown !

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, Walking by

A very nice walk this morning. It’s getting light by 6:15 which is fine. One person was there and then he left. He must live down the road from the park because he turned left from the park which is not toward town. Other than that, it was just us.

I just got back from the gym I did some weights and some treadmill. My knee tweaked out some yesterday which was weird since I haven’t had any trouble with it for months. I think I might have twisted the wrong way. It’s better today.

My son drove his Dad to infusion and home yesterday. It took about, in total, 3 + hours. So not too long. We’re all hoping it’s an easy week. Fingers crossed:)

I don’t have much to do today. Most of the house stuff is done although I could vacuum. Plus I need to do a menu for the week. I have my monthly one but I think I’ve done most of the dinners I had written down. Tonight I plan on shrimp scampi with some pasta and broccoli.

Just a short blog today. Not much else going on which I’m very glad of:)

Frugal Friday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, frugalism, meal planning, Political things by

We got home around 5:30 p.m. after B’s infusion. It was raining and dark, so driving was a bit of a challenge. I had made some beet soup in the IP, so dinner was done. Overall, it went well down there, and he got the 2 bags. So today, he’ll get labs and see how much it improved the platelets.

He does have an appt for tomorrow back down in Rocklin, but my son or daughter will do that. It’d be great if he doesn’t need them but that’s not too likely.

This morning is still cloudy but no rain. I considered driving to the pool, but honestly, I’m just tired of driving this week. This morning, I’ll do some house things and read. I’ll also check the pantry for menu ideas. Tonight is pizza night but we may not do that. I guess I’ll see what everyone want to eat.

I went to Safeway on Tuesday after my labs. I think I spent @$90. This month’s food is over budget but I’m ok with that as some of that was stocking up stuff from Costco. I still need to go get a few things from the Holiday market and there is Thanksgiving. Some months are just like that.

We have spent more on gas than normal, driving back and forth to Sacramento, Rocklin, etc. The Santa Fe needs windshield wipers so B will take the car maintenance envelope and get those when he can.

I’ve only got a few things left to buy for Christmas. I need to order /send my BIL (Heidi’s husband) his annual cheese from Point Reyes. I’ll do that soon. And I need to get 2 GC’s for my daughter. One for the garden center and the other for Gap. She pretty much buys whatever she needs so gifts are a challenge. And besides, she told me she dislikes Christmas so there’s that.

I’m still not reading any news, and I feel better for it. I do catch a headline here and there and then freak out( like Kennedy as head of Health. I mean he’s a fu**king anti-vaccer. It’s all too much and somewhat feels like an alternate reality. Maybe I should read Carlos Castenada again.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in California, cancer, Gratitude, peritoneal mesothelomia, swimming, Walking by

Thankful we had a good doctor visit and she was very apologetic about all the lack of communications. She said she has all the orders in and somehow, whoever isn’t quite getting it together.

I’m thankful we were on the same page about Chemo next week, which will be postponed until November 27. That is the day before Thanksgiving but his numbers don’t get affected till about day 10 so we should be fine.

I’m thankful she also reduced chemo even further but not by a lot. But some may help. today he has more platelets, and my daughter will take him to Rocklin at 1pm and then I will drive down to get him at 4. I thought of getting a pizza for dinner but I think we’ll just get something out of the freezer. That’ll save money and time.

I’m thankful driving hasn’t been too awful except for the lunatic right here in town speeding past me on a double line. I beeped my horn and then he was up at the light I beeped again and wow, that was some angry person. In hindsight I shouldn’t have engaged him(the beeping at him) the second time as road rage is a very real thing. Lesson learned.

I’m thankful I’m flexible where swimming and the gym are concerned. I haven’t been to the pool in a week with all the other stuff going on. I haven’t been to Roseville gym in over a week too. It’s frustrating to say the least but it’s just what needs to happen right now. Hopefully next week things will be back to some normal schedule.

From Bad to Worse!

Posted in Blood test, California, cancer, husband, peritoneal mesothelomia by

Geez, can we get a break??

After Sunday, which took most of the day( my poor daughter sitting down at the clinic), they got home around 3:30. It was just one bag of platelets. So then even with that his nose bleeding got worse and worse. Some doctor called at 7:30 and said, you need more , your numbers just went to 25. Not good enough and hemoglobin down to 7.6. so either ER or if the clinic can take him. So why didn’t they figure that out to begin with and give him the 2 bags?? It’s ridiculous.

So he had very bad night which means I had a very bad night and ended up on the couch trying to sleep. He called right away in the morning and was able to get a 9:30 appt. It was unclear if they could do both blood and platelets. What a complete joke. Why are they not being proactive in this matter? I mean he’s down there on Sunday and has to turn around and GO BACK the next.

Anyway, being Veterans Day, traffic was light and he got there at 9:30. I left to come home. It was ALL day. My son went and got him at 4:30. Since it was so late he decided to spend the night and go to work from here.

So today is Tuesday, I have my labs and then I’m coming back home. I just can’t take going out again. AND especially since tomorrow, he has a physical appt back down at clinic with the doctor. I am going to be blunt about no chemo next week. He needs at least another week to recover. Hopefully, my labs are ok at least for now with all this stress. They went up last time so is that a trend or just another anomaly?

Besides that, it rained so hard yesterday coming out of Sacramento I almost pulled off the freeway to wait it out but figured I could get ahead of it in the foothills which I did. By the time I got to Newcastle, it was only a drizzle. Geez, what a stress factor.

Well, hopefully, today is a better day and there are no surprises. 🙂

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cancer, cooking, home stuff by

Well, another Sunday, and B is going to Sacramento Clinic to have a platelet transfusion. Overall, he is doing much better but his platelets are still decreasing. We see his doctor Wednesday so that will give us time to ask some questions. It’s only one bag. So last time it was just one bag it barely brought his numbers up so we’re a little miffed at the doctor for not ordering 2. Then he ended up having to go BACK to get 2 more bags. It seems UCD would want to be proactive here but obviously not.

I went to the gym and did some weights. After that, I went to Target for hand soap.

I plan on tidying things up and doing a quick house reset. I also need to water my plants and dust.

Last night we had breaded tilapia (from Costco) and potatoes. It was very good. tonight I plan on doing a turkey breast as a warm-up to Thanksgiving. I’m also going to bake some of the delicata squashes with butter and brown sugar. I will go pick some romaine from the garden for a salad too. for B I’ll make some tofu.

Here are some pretty fall colors from Meadow Vista.

Well, I better get to doing my chores.

Thankful Thursday( late) and Frugal Friday

Posted in Blood test, books, budgets, California, cancer, frugalism, Gratitude, husband, peritoneal mesothelomia, Political things, Walking by

Yesterday was busy so I didn’t get anything written. I had to be down at infusion by 8:30am so needed to leave early. I did get my walk in first thing and that was nice. I’m thankful, I am still walking even though B isn’t. With his numbers so down he doesn’t have the energy.:(

I’m thankful infusion went ok. They are great nurses for sure. I noticed though there weren’t curtains to pull around the chairs which is odd for infusion rooms. All the UCD infusion chairs have some kind of curtain for privacy.

After infusion, I went to the library to pick up my holds. I am thankful for the Martha Riley Library as it is a wonderful community space.

I didn’t really have any enthusiasm to go to the gym. After that, I went back down to Winco. I finally saw where the new Trader Joe’s is and funny, it’s right down from Winco. But you can’t see it right off as the gas station blocks the view. It looks to be a bigger one than the Rocklin one so I’ll check it out next time I swim.

I’m thankful this fall has been colorful with leaves turning all shades of yellows, golds and some reds. Other than that, this week is really a downer if I’m honest.

Frugal-wise, it was ok. I didn’t really do a whole lot. All of the first-of-the-month bills are paid. There’s a little left over to get through till the end of the month. There’s Thanksgiving and so I’ll need a few more groceries for that. I ordered the Diestal turkey roast to be delivered on Nov 21. They are not cheap, but local and I’ve had good luck cooking them.

I spent $125 at Winco, $25 was on wine, so $100 was on food. I also filled the car up at Costco gas so that is a big $$ savings.

Today is a Dex day so it’s home for me. Barclay’s platelets have tanked so he’s going in for more labs this morning and hopefully scheduled for infusion. this is day 10. so we’re starting to hit the real downtime (days 10-15). He’s much better this cycle but still, there’s the platelets dropping. His hemoglobin is doing ok, but I think this is the period too where that started dropping. Fingers crossed it doesn’t.

My son is coming up today to work on a few things. If B needs an infusion tomorrow he could take him and my daughter go get him. We need the labs to come in till we know and the doctor says his platelets need to be under 50 for transfusion. I guess what she was saying is this is UCD policy. What a crock of shit. If it’s only going to keep going down and that means an ER visit, he knows he’s at 90 so why wait??? Doesn’t make any sense.

I’m still committed to not watching the news, it’s kind of a relief really. I know how I am with stuff that upsets me so much, so I feel this is a good thing for me right now. For how long? Who knows??

Dark Days Ahead…

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Well, all I can say is if this is what America wants, then they deserve exactly what they’ll get.

I am/will not watch another minute of the racist orange baboon. I can hardly think about Melania Trump back as first lady. Truly Awful! What have they done???

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, California, cancer, cooking, medicare, Political things by

Barclay’s labs came back good. His hemo went down to 9 something from 10 something but still, that’s way better than last time. He gets labs again tomorrow but overall he seems much more alert and doing some things. So that’s really good.

I went to the Auburn gym and that’s it. I’ve just finished making spaghetti sauce for dinner tonight. We’ve had some great salads with fresh spinach, kale, and romaine lettuce from the garden. My daughter must have just hit the right time to get the seeds in. Soon it’ll be too cold and they will not make it. But for now, it’s great. I plan on another big salad for tonight.

Time change is always a challenge. Not so much in the morning because I get up early anyway, but the evening is tough. I’ll probably be ready for bed by 8 or 8:30. 🙂

We had quite a bit of rain yesterday but today it’s clear and the sky is a beautiful blue. My walk was very nice even if it was later than normal. But I’m ok with that as long as there’s not a ton of people. No one was there this morning but that’s normal for a Sunday.

I’m still having pre-election anxiety but I keep telling myself it’ll be whatever it is and there’s nothing I can do to change. Still, we can only hope there are more sane people voting for Harris than crazies voting for the orange man. We’ll know soon enough.

I ordered the Diestal turkey breast for Thanksgiving so that’s done. Tomorrow I plan on switching my Medicare Part D to Cigna from Wellcare. I really hate changing providers but our plan is going up by a lot so this one is much lower. They don’t make it easy that’s for sure.

Frugal Friday

Posted in Blood test, books, bread, budgets, California, cancer, frugalism, peritoneal mesothelomia, Political things by

It was a normal week of money stuff. I went to Costco and spent $300. Many of the items were bulk items like brown rice, granola, TP, and even some OTC allergy stuff for my daughter. I do try to get the items when they are on sale, as that makes for the best deals. I probably won’t do too much more shopping except for Thanksgiving stuff. But it seems there’s always something. Last month though, my grocery bill was under $500 for the 3 of us so pretty good.

I stopped at Noah’s Bagels after swimming and picked up one coffee and 2 bagels. I brought those back to infusion so B could eat something. I don’t often buy coffee out but we shared a medium coffee and it was very good.

Today I need to do my November meal plan. I’m going to use lots of pantry items and freezer ones too. I have lots of black beans so black bean chili will be on the menu. Also, pintos. I’m working on my sourdough loaves to get them to spring more in the oven. It’s an ongoing process. I don’t worry too much when it doesn’t work because it’s just flour, water, salt, and a starter. It’s fun and I enjoy the challenge.

I had to go out yesterday to pick up B’s meds and the damn pharmacy didn’t have 2 of them. He had done the refills a week ago so somewhere they screwed up. I had to wait for them to do them. PITA! Today he gets labs so we’ll see what the numbers are.

On the Facebook group, a new member was asking about the chemo and the surgery. Several people responded that the surgery is quite tough but one person said he was a year out from it and doing well. That gives me hope. I guess time will tell.

Yesterday afternoon we had a Samhain fire in the fire pit. It was nice to sit out with the fire and watch the sun go down. After a dinner of french toast and veggie sausages, we watched ‘Young Frankenstein’ which is one of our all-time favorites. So many great lines. We might watch Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein tonight.

I finished the LOTR Rings books and am back to reading some Baldacci. His different series are very good. I also read Mary Trump’s new book’ Who Could Ever Love You’. Boy was that an eye-opener. Trump is one sicko and his father was despicable. If you can get it from the library I’d recommend it just for the insight into trump’s mind.

I’m getting more stressed over the election and can hardly think about what will happen if he wins. It just really scares the Bjesus right out of me. The things he says and does are really nuts. Demented!! And yet people still are voting for him. It is beyond my little brain’s comprehension.

If he wins, I’ll just unplug for a while until I can handle it which may be never. Our country will be doomed for 4 more years. On top of that the policies will send us right back to McCarthyism. What a shit storm:(