Monthly Archives: April 2025

Simple Sunday on Monday

Posted in California, cancer, cooking, home stuff, husband by

Yesterday was just an off day.

I went to the Auburn gym to do weights and then headed down to Costco. I had the motive to keep driving the Santa Fe to see if anything happened again. It didn’t. I plan on calling one garage today, though to see if they can run a diagnostic. I’m not sure if they will be able to do that this week, but I’ll try.

At Costco, I got coffee( the main reason), B needed Tylenol, and then I picked up eggs, bananas, and some other stuff.

It was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures close to 70 degrees. Sitting in the sun, it felt much warmer. Today, it’s raining, and it’s certainly fickle weather. Spring, I guess.

We are at T-6 days and counting down to Stanford. B will find out Friday what time to be at the hospital Monday. I’m guessing very early, as this can be a long surgery. He’s had his pre-op video appointments, and they all went well. Today, he has to get labs to check his hemoglobin and, if necessary, get a transfusion. I hope not, but we’ll do what’s necessary.

I plan on being home today and doing a house reset and some baking. I have a loaf of sourdough to make. I’ll put my starter back in the fridge after this as I won’t be making bread for a while after this. I’m also going to make a new recipe of Chicken adobo.

Tomorrow, I plan on going to Mahany gym and the library. I have a couple of holds at the library. Then I plan on swimming on Wednesday.

I’m thrilled at the huge turnouts for protests against the administration. It’s exciting that so many people came out to do that. I’m an optimist, so I think it will matter in the long run. What this administration is doing is trying to rewrite history and destroy democracy. It’s scary what is going on.

Menu for the week:

Chicken adobo with basmati rice. I have some tofu for B; plus, he’s not eating very much, which is worrisome.

Beans in the crockpot. My Ranch Gordo order showed up so I may make a new bean to me. Eye of the goat. I’ll check Steve Sando’s The Bean Book for a recipe.

Pasta of some sort. I have a TJ’s pasta alfredo in the freezer, so I may pull that out.

Brinner

Pizza

TBD, and then we leave Sunday morning.

My daughter will be coming with us to help out with driving and navigating the hospital. My son is planning to stay here and take care of the cats. He still has to work most of that week but will stay here at night. The cats really like their routines so this will be somewhat upsetting to them. But it’s the best we can do right now.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cash envelopes by

I got gas at Costco, so that’s always a savings. I think it went up slightly to 4.59. My total was just under $50.

I drove to Sacramento in my daughter’s Honda because as I was getting on the freeway, the Santa Fe started to make some sort of noise. I pulled off at the next exit which is still close to home, and tried to figure out what it was. I couldn’t make it out, so I dashed home and switched cars because I did not want to get stuck in Sacramento in a broken-down car. We’ve actually never had one problem with the Santa Fe, so I’m not sure what this is. B took it out after I left and said he didn’t hear anything. Later, he went to Auburn and again said he hadn’t heard anything. Still, it makes me VERY nervous thinking about driving in traffic to get to Palo Alto in 10 days. I doubt it was a one off so I’m not sure what we’ll do. B has that CT this morning in Rocklin, so we will take the Santa Fe. I may go with him in case we break down. of course, that is a PITA waiting for tow trucks, but I guess we’ll see how it goes.

I went to Trader Joe’s after swimming the other day, spent $96. Some of that was the $3.50 TJ’s wine. So, food ended up costing $80. Oh, wait bought 2 candles too, so that was another $8. So food would have ended up about $72.

Our dryer decided to die, so B had to order a part. That was $ 80-something. Fortunately, the weather will be nice enough to dry on the outside line.

I deposited the cash envelopes for Rubi’s DMV and our Recology bill. That will come out later this month.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Blood test, California, cancer, Walking by

I’m grateful for a sunny day. We had our first walk in quite a few days because of the rain. It felt good to get out and walk.

I’m thankful my labs have come back great. Kappa in normal range, lambda in normal range, and the K /L ratio normal. Yes!! I’ll take it.

I’m grateful we’ve gotten through B’s video appts, and nothing was said about cancelling the surgery so we can only assume it’s a go. The only hiccup could be his CT scan of his chest that he still needs to get. They somehow didn’t add in the chest when he got the other one.

I’m thankful for the pool and how Roseville P& R keeps it so clean and immaculate.

I’m thankful for a nice visit from my son the other day. He does make an effort to visit us. Now that he has his own apartment with his partner, he could choose to not visit as often so it’s so nice he does. Plus, he’s a good emotional support for his Dad.

What kinds of things are you grateful for? Usually I’d say for me, it’s about the little things of everyday life. The bread making, the tidying up the house so it’s clean and tidy, sitting in the sun enjoying the warmth and things like that.

Menu for the week

Posted in Blood test, California, cancer, home stuff, meal planning, Walking by

I actually write out a menu for the month. But usually, it is somewhat generic, like Taco Tuesday. So that may end up as burritos or enchiladas. It’s more of a guideline ( remember that funny line in Pirates of the Caribbean)!!

Anyway, we had the home-canned chicken tortilla soup and the vegetable barley the other night. Last night, I made spaghetti sauce and we had spaghetti with that, and B had some ravioli. The tomatoes were the last bag I found in the freezer from last summer, so I wanted to use that up, but I didn’t want to get out the canner, so I froze a few pints.

Tonight, I plan on chicken enchiladas from the freezer with home made refried beans. I’ll make B a few bean/cheese quesadillas.

Wednesday- I think I’ll do some sort of burger with fries.

Thursday- grilled chicken and a Boca burger for B.

Friday- pizza, and this week I will use the coupon I have for a free pizza.

Saturday-??TBD

It’s raining again this morning, so no walking. Plus, it’s quite cold, and a Sierra storm is hitting Tahoe pretty hard. I was going to go down to the Roseville gym, but I think I’ll skip that today. Tomorrow the sun is back and I’ll go to the pool.

Thursday, I have my doctor appt, and on the way back I’ll either go to the gym or Costco. I’m leaving it open, as you never know how long the doctor’s appointment is.

I ordered my Rancho Gordo beans last week, and they should be arriving soon. If you haven’t tried RG beans and you eat beans, you should try them. These are all heirloom beans and the flavor is unsurpassed. I always cook my beans in the crockpot, no soaking first. I put it on high for 6 hours or so.

I’ve been good about not ordering from Amazon although I did order a bamboo blind for the sunroom. That’s the kind of thing I’m not going to go search for. Back in the day(Ha Ha), you could go to an import-type store and find these, but I wouldn’t even know where to start today.

B has labs today, so we’ll see how the hemoglobin is. He still seems tired all the time, but I think that’s the cancer. Tomorrow, hopefully, when he talks to the UCD doctor, we’ll know more. What a shit show. Anyway, I’m just going on the assumption that everything is on schedule till we hear otherwise.