Frugal Friday

The week was overall frugal. I didn’t need gas yet in Santa Fe. I’ll fill up at Costco next week.

I went to the gym and library before my Velcade shot. Gettting books at the library always saves me from buying some random cookbook( a weakness(. I looked at two already, and there’s nothing I’d cook from them. They’re pretty books, but not how I cook. For instance, last night, we shared a steamed artichoke, and I made an us omelet to share with sprouts, cheese, salsa, and sour cream. We eat fairly simply.

I went to Costco after swimming on Wednesday and spent $250 or so. Some of that was snack/foodstuff for my daughter to take to work. She doesn’t get a full lunch break because of her hours, so I bought some beef sticks, egg bites (Kirkland brand), and something else I can’t remember. The two kinds of beef sticks were expensive, grass feed. I’ve actually never had one, so I can’t tell you if they’re any good, but as a high-protein snack, I could see it working. Organic eggs were 7.99 for 2 dozen.

Today is a home day because of Dex, but I feel pretty good this morning. I plan on vacuuming, dusting some, and doing a bit of decluttering odds and ends. I also have a pack of Kirkland I need to use, so I’m thinking of some meatballs I can freeze. We( my daughter and I have decided to mostly cut beef out of our diets. We don’t eat it often, so it shouldn’t be hard at all. But I have this to use and one other in the freezer, and I don’t want to waste it. If we go out together, we definitely would think about an In an-Out burger, but that’s pretty rare for us to do.

The rain is supposed to come by noon today, and it looks nonstop for days. I think I’ll plan on some soup dinners with homemade sourdough.

Thankful Thursday

First, what a tragedy about the AA plane and the Black Hawk helicopter. Very sad indeed. I listened to part of what trump said, and at first, he was somewhat consoling and then spiraled into his usual blaming of Obama and Biden. Geez, give it up, just be with the victims here and not political.

I’m very thankful to get the Stanford call, and at least we can get this part done. Today, he has a video call with the anesthesiologist, and tomorrow, a video visit with Dr. Neal, who is the mesothelioma oncologist at Stanford.

I’m thankful we’ve had a nice period of no rain. Tomorrow starts a long period of lots of rain. I’ll have to see how the walking will go.

I’m thankful to feel like myself again after that awful night. It’s the simple things, right?

I’m thankful I got to the gym before my Velcade. It was nice because then I came straight home.

I’m thankful for the library and the huge bag of books I checked out. Three cookbooks which were new, so that’ll be fun. Reading cookbooks is like a hobby. I don’t often make the recipes, but I like looking at them.

Mid Week Miscellany and Happy Chinese New Year/ the Year of the Snake!!!!

Well, whatever got me left pretty quickly. I think it may have been a build-up of acid reflux, which is why I take omeprazole daily. But I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know. This happened once before but then I had taken Dex and Dr. L thought the two were related. This time, no dex, but I did eat the turkey chili which probably was acidic. Who knows? Ill keep take in my journal. Anyway, I felt better by yesterday afternoon. And I slept well last night.

I didn’t walk this morning, though, so I’ll go down to the pool and swim. Tomorrow I’ll walk and get back on schedule.

Great news. Stanford called, and we have an appt for Feb 12. She didn’t have the exact time yet, so we need to hear what that is. So, at this point, we’ll go down on the 11th, he does need labs from their lab, so we’ll do that first. The lab is in the Medical Center, so we know where that is. I’m glad we have a focus finally!!

The 12th is also my appt with Dr.Laptalo, so I’ll have to cancel that and reschedule. As long as my numbers are stable( with some fluctuations), I’m fine with that.

I’m seriously trying not to be totally flipped out about what Trump is doing. Hesgreth confirmed?? RFK is a lunatic, the press conference person with a cross around her neck big enough to ward off vampires?? WTF is happening in this country??? I feel so hopeless right now. I just can’t imagine 4 more years of this if we even make it before we are an autocracy. So hard to imagine where we are in this country right now.

Well, I need to go get my suit on and control at least some fraction of my life. Swimming does help, as does walking. Keep on keeping on, I guess.

Sick:(

I woke up last night and rushed to the bathroom to throw up. And a couple of more times, too. Something got me. I think it’s a stomach bug or something related to food. I have a pretty iron stomach most of the time. Plus, I have a headache, which I rarely have. 😦

So I had to call the dentist at 7am and say I wouldn’t be able to make it in. I really dislike having to call like that so unexpectedly and I’m sure they don’t like it either.

Anyway, I’m obviously not going anywhere today.

We got the load of firewood, and it ended up $350. A very good price. I’ll walk out later to the wood pile to check it out.

Well, I’ll touch base when I feel better.

Menu Monday

Last night, we did end up having the Costco ravioli. It’s their spinach and cheese ones. Quite good. I grilled baguette slices in some olive oil, and we had a big salad.

Monday- I took out a container of turkey chili, and we’ll have that. B will have the vegetarian barley vegetable soup. I’ll probably do another big salad.

Tuesday- I am defrosting some chicken, so I may do Mexican chicken, and B can have another veg chick patty. Maybe I’ll do a Mexican burger-type thing. I’ll need to check if I have rolls. I have lots of avocados in the fridge. The best tip ever I learned was to put the avocados in the fridge after they just start ripening. Right now, I must have 6 in there, and they’ll be good for a few weeks.

Wednesday- I have some dark rye bread and plan on Ruebens minus the meat. Basically, grilled cheese with sauerkraut with a Russian dressing.

Thursday- My daughter starts back at her librarian job this week so she works late Thursdays, so I’ll just do something for B and myself, maybe blueberry pancakes.

Friday- pizza of some sort.

Saturday- TBD, leftovers??

Well, I’m not sure what I’m planning today. It’s early yet, so I can think about it.

Simple Sunday

I’m waiting for the oven to get to 475 so I can put the bread in. It takes a while with this oven. I’d like to get a new oven in the next year or so. Plus those knobs on the side are problematic. Anyway.

I went to the Auburn gym and there were ‘new’ people there. It was just getting busy when I left. I didn’t have to do anything in Auburn so I came straight home. It’s so nice not to have extra chores.

We had two more pieces of the Wild Alaskan fish I’d bought. This was the Coho salmon and sockeye. They were both very good. I made some couscous to go on the side. tonight, My son is coming over so I need to think about what I’m going to make. I might just do the Costco ravioli.

The week ahead looks a little busy with a dentist’s appt and then my Velcade. Plus, if I decide to do another gym or swim day. I haven’t decided yet.

My daughter has been planting the onion sets and garlic. She also started a bunch of tomatoes under grow lights. I’m sure glad she is the gardener. I like picking stuff but not planting stuff.

I hope we get a call from Stanford this week regarding his appt. I’d like to know when we’re going so we can book a hotel. As I’ve said, it has to be 2 nights minimum, and the first day down there, he has to go get labs as they want to use their labs and not UCD. So that will add to the day. Parking is an issue, so I may just drive around till he’s done at the lab. We still don’t even know where the hospital is. Where we went was the medical center, so we needed to get a map of that.

Well, that’s all I have today. I hope everyone is having a nice Sunday.

Frugal Friday

I’ll save on gas today since I opted not go to the pool. I just woke up grumpy and don’t feel like driving. Next week is busier with a dentist appt and then Velcade on Thursday so I’ll be out quite a few days including a gym or swim day.

I spent $75 at Winco on salad stuff and a few misc like cottage cheese. I wanted some bulk items too.

We went out for a coffee yesterday, so that was $16. B paid for that with his money.

I sorted out my cash envelopes for the month. I added $200 to the firewood envelope because we are going to need to buy a cord. I’ll have to check out from B how much we have left. We would need to have that sorted before a hospital visit.

Other than that, I don’t think I spent anything else. I did order the humidifier, which I like, but it didn’t really have any effect on the sleep apnea. Oh well, I think a humidifier in winter is probably a good thing, and it wasn’t expensive.

Yesterday, I put the Ranco Gordo Ayocote beans in the crock pot. I hadn’t made them before, and they were delicious. They are white beans but bigger than Marcella beans. There’s lots left over too.

Thankful Thursday

After reading about the severe cold in the south and midwest, our weather is something to be thankful for. I love living in California and am so grateful that we have a conscientious governor despite what the orange king has to say!

I’m grateful my LLS grant money came for my insurance. It makes a huge difference. Without it, I’m quite sure we would be struggling money-wise.

I’m immensely grateful that B is feeling so good for now. He’s doing all kinds of chores and is outside a lot of the day. Soon enough, with the Stanford surgery, it’ll be different but for now, it’s great. He still doesn’t have a date for the laparoscopy but hopefully soon.

I’m grateful for the other usual things, the Mike Shelito pool, the gym, and how well Roseville Parks takes care of things. It is much appreciated. If there was one other place I’d move to, besides Tahoe or Capitola, it would be Roseville. The former two would be beyond anything we could afford although if we had bought in the 70’s or 80’s it would be worth a fortune now. So much for hindsight.

I’m thankful for family and the support we all give each other. I do miss my sister, Heidi, even if we weren’t that close, she was still there and very supportive.

Well, that’s it from mi casa. Today is mostly a home day. I want to catch up on some house things and then pop into town to go to the bank.

Wednesday-Midweek

I bought a humidifier from Amazon to see how it might help with sleep apnea. My Apple watch showed it right on the line so that is an improvement. Plus, I didn’t wake up with a dry throat, so I think it will help. I’ll keep tracking it although Apple tracks for you, it’s the other stuff I’m doing that I’ll track.

Today is a swim day and I’m glad to be going. If I miss too many days I feel like a fish out of water:) After the pool, I may pop over to Winco but I’ll decide later. Otherwise, I’ll come straight home.

I have another sourdough ready to go so I’ll have someone at home(while I’m gone) start the oven to get it up to 475. It takes a while. This time I made one of my favorites the cheddar jalapeno. If we have the vegetable barley soup tonight that will be a good side.

I can’t even begin to process what the orange king is doing. Pardoning the Jan 6 felons is right up there with …I don’t even know. It’s so upsetting. I hope everything that he does comes back to haunt him. I can’t even begin to imagine how those Capital police families must feel. The betrayal and lack of morality are off the charts.

Here are the curtains I made for the sink. Barclay picked out this fabric. Since I love all things pinecones, it’s fitting.

Menu Monday

Last week ended up kind of a mish-mash of my menus. I did some and not others. Oh well, I’m flexible.

Last night I made a Mexican chicken dish and veggie Chicken patty dish. I grilled the chicken and then when it was done dumped the rest of the salsa in the pan and topped it with Monterey Jack cheese. I did the same in another pan for the veggie chicken patty. We had salad on the side. BTW, Wico has these new chicken veggie patties and for the price point, you can’t beat it compared to Quorn or another name brand.

Monday- I’m either doing fish or the Costco Slice beef, which is sous vide. The reason I’m not sure yet is my son is spending the night so I’ll see which he prefers. I have salad either way.

Tuesday: Quesadillas, beans, and cheese. If there’s any beef left over, I’ll toss that in, too. I bought 2 bags of avocados from Costco so if there are any ripe I’ll top with that. BTW, once the avocados start to ripen put them in the fridge. They will last weeks in there.

Wednesday- Vegetable Barley soup from Costco with homemade sourdough

Thursday- ravioli with marinara sauce with salad

Friday – pizza of some sort.

Saturday- TBD

The sun is out today and it’s a lovely day to be home.

I’m still showing ( apple watch)somewhat elevated sleep dist indicating sleep apnea. There doesn’t seem to be any pattern as to why one day it’s not elevated and the next it is. Does anyone have sleep apnea and what did you do? If I could lose some weight I’m sure that would help:)

I probably should start on our taxes, but not today. 🙂

This was my last boule!