Author Archives: Chris N

Frugal Friday

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, California, camping, cash envelopes, husband, travel by

Yesterday, I went to the gym and the library for my holds. I wanted to get that chair Pilates Yoga book again and start a small routine. I’ll probably end up buying the book, but for now I can use the library’s. I wanted to get an IN and Out burger but it was too early so I came home and had homemade sourdough bread with left over chicken.

I also checked DVDs in the Friends of the Library area and found 2 Blu-rays to replace the regular DVDs, so that was a win at $6.00.

I used up the rest of the Costco chicken. I made 4 Souper Cubes of stuffing and chicken, and put some gravy on top. They’re in the freezer, and later today I’ll pop them out and put them in Ziploc bags. So that’s 4 future meals for us.

I returned the sweat pants to Costco and then went in and spent $180, but $45 of that was our favorite wine, Kendall-Jackson Reserve. And I got the Kombucha for my daughter, so the food was probably closer to $125. Oh, and I had picked up the rotisserie chicken.

Today, I need to go get cat food in Auburn, so I’m not sure if I’ll go down to Roseville or not. If I don’t go, that saves gas for next week. I don’t need any groceries( I think). I should probably check the salad stuff. The Chef Preserve is working well for veggies, as long as I remember to use them. 🙂 Refrigerator blindness is real!

I’m starting taxes and still need one bank thing. Our taxes are pretty straightforward, and I always use TurboTax. When I started it a bit ago, I had to figure out how to change it so I would be the primary taxpayer, as Barclay had always been before. Fortunately, TurboTax told me exactly how to change it, so that’s all set. I just need the final numbers from the bank and SS. I hope by next week I can wrap it up.

The VW insurance came in, and I need to pay my daughter for that. The VW is in her name, so she pays it, and then I reimburse her. I had a cash envelope for it, but never put $ in it as I had too many other bills to take care of. I guess if we keep it for another year, it’s worth it for now. I only drive the VW to Auburn for errands, so technically I could get rid of it. But as long as it’s working, I think we’ll keep it, but I need to get that envelope going for next year.

I was reading another blog I like, ( My Tireless Retirement), and she was talking about buying a van to go camping in. One that the seats go flat, that she could put a mattress in there and sleep in it. I got to thinking that maybe we could do that. Get like a Honda Odyssey. Our Santa Fe is getting up there in miles, so that could be something to think about. Gee, I loved our Dodge Caravan. It was the best thing we did back then, along with our tent trailer. We took the kids out camping all the time. And we traveled in the Caravan to Canada and lots of places. It was a game-changer, not to mention ferrying homeschooled kids everywhere.

So maybe I should go look at one to see if that would work for me. It’s not like I’m looking to travel the country; I just want to do some of the things Barclay and I did together. So back to the drawing board. 🙂

Midweek Musings

Posted in bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, swimming by

Well, I did a SWIM, and it went well, so I’m encouraged. I am a little sore this morning( stiff), but I think I’ll try and swim one more time this week.

I’m almost done with the new Dan Brown book,‘ Secret of Secrets’. Not impressed. Too wordy and seems to just go on and on. But I’ll finish it.

My daughters back to work this week at the library, so I have some days alone. I’d like to make a list of some things to do and be a little adventurous. I might drive up to Tahoe and scatter a little more of B’s ashes. Last time we went up. I actually forgot to bring them with me. 😦

After the pool, I went into Costco to return some sweatpants I bought. They were not a comfortable fit. So I got a few things we needed: eggs, shredded cheese, tortillas, and my daughter wanted some Kombucha. Chicken was on sale with a $5 coupon, so I picked up a pack. Anytime there is a deal at Costco that I like, I get it because that’s where the real savings are.

This is a watercolor my daughter did. I might go over to Goodwill and see if I can find a frame. I also have my old Apple monitor that no one wants to drop off. I tried listing it on Marketplace, but no one was interested.

This was the latest loaf from yesterday. This is after slicing it. I use a Krups slicer I found at the thrift store. I’m freezing quite a bit of bread, it seems. 🙂 I slice it first, then put it in freezer bags. I might feed my starter today, but I won’t mix to start a loaf. I did this one in a banneton. (Well, it’s cold fermentation that uses the banneton). You don’t bake in it.

Menu Monday and a BIG shout out to Frugal Girl!!

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, camping, cancer, cooking, Death, home stuff, Lake tahoe, travel, Uncategorized, velcade by

Frugal Girl has a huge blog following and deservedly so. But she never speaks of politics till now, and I am very Thrilled she has stood up and spoken out against the horrors of this administration, especially with the murder of Alex Pretti, a fellow nurse. I’m sure it was difficult for her to do, especially as she is an evangelical Christian. Although we are as far apart as can be on religion, I respect her immensely for all she has gone through and accomplished. She is an exceptional person, and thank you, Kristen, for using your voice.

I’m just a small blogger, but I will not shy away from speaking up about the wrongs this administration is doing. AND THE LIES!! You can see with your own eyes what went down, and to have them disgrace a wonderful human being is sickening. May Karma catch up to them in the end.

On to mudane things in my life.

The menu changed up a bit as one night we had ramen because we felt like it.

Last night I baked some chicken, and we had that with baked butternut squash and salad.

Monday- I think I’ll try to do the baked fish with something. I really want to empty out the small refrigerator freezer, and the fish is in there.

Tuesday- Mexican something. I have beans frozen, so I could do beans and something. I don’t have any enchiladas, but I could buy some if I get to Winco. We do love Amy’s cheese enchiladas.

Wednesday- I have some Trader Joe’s orange chicken to use up, and I could make jasmine rice to go with it.

Thursday- ?? Maybe a curry, as I have tofu to use. We really like tofu curry with rice.

Friday- Pizza of some sort. We finished up the last Costco one for lunch the other day, and it was pretty bad, so I won’t buy them again. The frozen pizza that we liked the best was Home Run Chicago Pizza, and I think only Safeway carries that.

Saturday-? TBD

After e-messaging my oncologist, Dr. Laptalo, he suggested half an Imodium for the IBS. So I’ve been doing that, and so far it’s been fine. It’s been about a week with no issues, so I’m happy about that. I went to the gym and library the other day, and no surprises. I’m not sure what triggered it, but I think the body remembers certain things, and with the Velcade, it responded to that. Dr. L thought it could have been Velcade, as the timing was right. I don’t know, and all I want is not be ‘surprised’. I’m planning on going to the pool this week at least once, so that will be sort of my marker. I overcame this before, and I will overcome it again.

I’ve had zero luck with getting a spot at Nevada Beach. My only theory is that because it is such a beautiful camping spot on Lake Tahoe and there are so few spots, getting one is getting harder. Reservations are now into the end of July, and I think I’ll skip those for now. Tahoe in the summer is not my favorite, as it is overrun by tourists.

And I’m still not sure what I would camp in. I still have Rubi, but I will try to sell it this spring. I do have the one night booked at Tahoe in June, but I can handle one night in a tent. Any more than that, I doubt I’d want to do. This probably is one of the hardest for me to accept with Barclay gone, that certain things, like camping, can’t be the same. The question is still, how do I want to go forward?

Well, this has gotten quite long, so that’s it for now.

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, California, cooking, Flylady, simple foods, Uncategorized, Walking by

A cold walk this morning. The temperature is 36 degrees, but it’ll warm up to about 65 today, so still nice.

Today is a gym day in Auburn and then a few errands. I need to get gas in the VW, drop off a package at UPS, and stop and do a propane exchange down at the store. I’m sending my old MacBook to Apple to recycle. I had put in a request to send back a monitor, but I can’t find a box big enough, so I’ll have to find another way to recycle that or try giving it away on Pay it Forward.

I’ve been doing my FlyLady zones a little differently. Instead of just one zone, I try to do 2 and then just do a quick tidy of the other zones. Today, I’m doing the bedroom zone and bathroom. Both are very minimal, so it doesn’t take very long. Of all the zones, the kitchen is the biggest to do. But even that is timely because I’ve decluttered so much, it’s just essentials.

I try to do a check of each zone to see what can be decluttered. This time, in the bedroom, it was some ribbon I hadn’t used. Plus some Ball jars that are the regular mouth. I’m only keeping wide-mouth jars, as they are useful for pantry items.

I have another loaf of sourdough in the oven before I head out to the gym. It should be done shortly.

It’s getting there!

Friday Things

Posted in bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, frugalism, Uncategorized by

My budget month is coming to a close, and overall, I did well. Groceries came in at a little under $400, so that’s really good. Other bills were just normal things, I think. Most of my bills are on autopay and are generally fixed or close to it. The water bill varies by season, and so does PGE.

Today is a home day, and I’m doing another loaf of sourdough. It’s so weird that after not baking bread for a good while, it’s like starting over. But I did get my starter nice and active. The other trick I started using was to turn on the oven light and put the starter in there at first to double in size, and then later for bulk fermentation. It worked brilliantly. I guess there’s always something new to learn.

I had my first real-life experience with AI. I had a message about reordering some of my CPAP stuff. So I called the number, and it was an AI named Brenda. It asked all the pertinent questions. It was both weird and ok. I didn’t have to talk to anyone, so that was positive. On the other hand, this was not a real person, and there was no option to do so. I guess the future is here.

I do hope there’s a special place in HELL for the ICE agents that murder innocent people and use children to trap others. I’m not religious and am an atheist, but there has to be a HELL for them in some shape or form.

I do need to work on next month’s budget and see how far I can get with that. I started our taxes, but not everything comes in till the end of the month. I felt good about starting it. February has another Allstate payment and the Fair plan installment too, so that will be a challenge. I think that’s all the unusual stuff. Also, keep trying to get the last CC finished. We shall see, or maybe I should start singing” We shall Overcome”. ???

What things are any of you up to? What about that huge storm heading East? Are any of you in the storm’s path? It sounds awful.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in books, bread, California, camping, Gratitude, Uncategorized by

I’m thankful to be walking, even if it’s not what I used to do. I guess age catches up to us in spite of all that we do to stay healthy and active. I’ve always exercised and eaten mostly vegetarian my whole life, and still, things creep in. Until I get moving in the morning, I am pretty stiff but then my joints loosen up after walking around.

I am thankful that adjusting to my CPAP was so easy. As resistant as I was, it is a good thing. I’ve had zero sleep disturbances, so I guess it’s doing what it is supposed to do. I still need to buy a battery pack if I camp.( questionable at this point).

I’m grateful for the beautiful weather we’ve had with mild temperatures. Also, it’s getting light early again, and sunset is later; there’s a lot more light. These are the times I miss Barclay when we would start to sit out in the afternoon with our wine and talk about the day, or camping, or whatever. 😦

Today, I plan on going to the library and the gym for a short workout. I want to get home and bake the sourdough loaf I have in the fridge.

Midweek Musings

Posted in books, bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, reading, velcade by

I started reading Clavell’s Noble House. I read this back in the 80’s, but he is such a good writer, I wanted to reread it. The books are hard to find(any by Clavell is), but my son, who frequents thrift stores, found a first edition for me. Whereas Shogun takes place in ancient Japan, this is set in Hong Kong. I have a library book to pick up, and it’s one that’s been on hold for quite a while, Dan Brown’s Secret of Secrets. Have you read it? I’m curious about it and whether I’ll like it. I did like the action in his other books, so we’ll see.

I’ve had a flare-up of my IBS, so I haven’t been to the pool or down to the Roseville gym. I have walked and done the Auburn gym, but I want to keep track of what foods may be triggering this( pizza? dairy?). I checked with Dr. Laptalo, and he thought it might be connected to my Velcade. (Remember my chronic diarrhea started way back with Revlimid, like in 2010. Most of that is over with, but occasionally I get a period where it seems to flare up. He suggested some OTC Imodium, so I’ll check that out. I do have Lomotil, which I take when needed, and that was an absolute game-changer for me, so I could go out to eat, travel, etc. But these flare-ups make it hard to go out. Todays Wednesday, and I’ve been fine the last few days, so I’ll see how it goes for the rest of the week. This is a common side effect of chemo, but with Velcade, I haven’t noticed much. On the other had I didn’t develop IBS with Revlimid for 3 years, and then the last 2 when I was on it were truly awful.

So, as such, I haven’t decided if I want to get my book or not. I plan on making another sourdough loaf as I fed my starter. The whole wheat loaf didn’t have a very good rise, so I think my starter was too weak. I did get some organic flour to use as opposed to the whole wheat I had used. Whole wheat is great for a yeasted bread, but much harder with a sourdough starter.

I need to work on next month’s budget, too. I have Allstate as an extra expense and part of the house insurance, too. I need to check if there’s something else too. Property taxes are coming due, so I need to figure that out.

That about sums it up!

MLK Jr. Day and menu for the week

Posted in bread, budgeting, California, cooking, meal planning by

It makes me so sad to have this be MLK Jr day and all that he stood for and died for, and to have our country deteriorating in front of our eyes. I still believe in the ‘dream’ and that somehow we will find our way back to decency, truth, and democracy.

I read an article in the NYT, I think it was on a reporter in Minneapolis, and how on the ground there, it is much worse than it appears. She gave a couple of examples, and it was horrifying. I just checked, and it is the NYT and the reporter is Lydia Polgreen. You should read it if you can.

Like Samwise Gamgee says, ‘that there is still some good in this world’.

Onwward to the daily stuff in one small persons life.

Last night we had ham and Swiss cheese sliders while we watched ‘Stranger Things’. I think there’s one episode left in Season One. It’s better than I remember.

Monday- a freezer meal of one of the Souper Cube meals. I have a mac and cheese and a wild rice soup out to use.

Tuesday – I have some corn tortillas to use up, so I might make enchiladas and beans.

Wednesday- I have one frozen pizza left in the big freezer, so I want to use that up.

Thursday- I have some tamales in the big freezer, too, so I may do those as well.

Friday- Breaded cod and potatoes. I have 3 or 4 russets to use in the fridge, so either I’ll make some French Fries or do home fries. Plus, I have a baggie of cut-up bell peppers in the freezer, so I could add some if I do the home fries.

I am using the veggies I used the vacuum sealer on, and it seems as if it’s working great. I opened the shredded brussels sprouts, and they looked great. So I have lots of salad to use up this week, too.

Today is a home day, and I started some sourdough bread. The YouTuber I’ve been watching for sourdough tips is Kelly Welk. Very practical and useful information that she gives, plus she demonstrates how to do things. I didn’t have enough bread flour, so I added in White Wheat, so I’m not sure if that’s going to affect the density. For me to run out of flour certainly says something about where my priorities have been. I guess I haven’t made any bread in a while, except in the bread machine, and I wanted that to be half whole wheat. I’ll go to Costco to get their flour sometime this week.

I hope it’s a good holiday for you, and we must believe that good will always win out over evil.

What plans do any of you have today? In California, all the state parks offer free admission. That would be fun to go do.

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, bread, California, camping, home stuff, Walking by

A night of not sleeping well got me off to a slow start. I’ll see how I feel in an hour or so. I started my sheets in the laundry and watched a clip on YouTube on how to revive your sourdough starter. I got my starter out of the fridge and did the measurements. She suggested 15 grams of each, but I had 18 come out of the jar, so I used that. But I did follow through with all 3 measurements the same. So water, flour, and starter all were all 18 grams. I’ll see how that works when I go to feed it later this afternoon.

I’m heading out to the gym, and I’ll use the treadmill since I didn’t walk in the park. Mostly, I want to keep to my regular Sunday schedule, which is the Auburn gym.

Update: back from the gym. It was really empty, weird. I did use the treadmill for .5 mile and then my regular weights.

From there, I went into BelAir for some salad dressing, bread, and wine. After that, I went to the Auto Zone store for antifreeze for the VW. So now I’m home and finishing this up before I get going on other stuff.

My son is off camping on the coast as he has MLK Day off from work. It should be nice over there. He wanted to get out his camping stuff and see how it all is, so this was a good opportunity. He has a big canvas tent, but I’m not sure that’s what I want to sleep in when we have our camping trip( if I ever get a reservation). I was able to get a spot at New Brighton, but it’s still iffy whether he can come with me on that.

I mostly need to do a sweep around the house and tidy things. The kitchen needs some attention, too. After that, I’ll probably read and maybe take a nap! I plan to stay home tomorrow.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, frugalism, garden shed, Uncategorized by

Overall, it was a good week. Bills got paid, and the budget looks ok. A few more bills are coming out next week, the garbage bill and the water bill.

I only went to Winco this week, and mostly that was for veggies for salads. I’m motivated to eat more salads since I’ve been using the mandolin. It’s fun to cut up the radishes and cabbage with it. I spent $55 at Winco, so that was an inexpensive shop. We still have a lot of stuff to use up in the freezer. But that’s ok, that’s why I buy food at Costco, so it’s there. Last night we shared a chicken pot pie and had salad. My daughter suggested we go back and watch Stranger Things from the beginning, so we’re doing that.

Around Christmas, I ordered a food saver called Chef Preserve. It’s a handheld vacuum sealer that takes the air out of the bags it comes with. I’ve had the other kind of vacuum sealers, and they are big and bulky and kind of a pain to use, but this one is small and handheld.

I only used it on shredded Brussels sprouts, so I don’t have an opinion yet, but I think it will be a food saver, especially for veggies. Today I’ll try the radishes and cucumbers. I’ll keep you posted. The bags are reusable as well. You can also purchase glass containers.

I checked my LLS and discovered that only part of what I submitted actually showed up in the download. I guess I used a JPEG, and only one picture showed, so I had to go back and figure out what I did wrong. I noticed that each scanned item was a separate JPEG, whereas the PDF displayed all four. I have to show the bank statement and my amount on the insurance form. I resubmitted it, but that delays it by a few weeks. I guess I never checked before that the dropdown when sending to a file was on JPEG instead of PDF. I’ll check in a few days to see if they got it. sigh:)

I’ve only had a few people interested in the Ball canning jars( no takers), so I’ll drop them off at the Goodwill with my next load. I don’t need that many jars hanging around, taking up space in the garden shed.

Today is another beautiful day. Yesterday the high was 69, and it was glorious. I think today is a few degrees cooler, but still really nice.

On a political note, I find it odd that Machado gave trump her Nobel Peace medal. The title is non-transferable, so what kind of ass-kissing gesture was she trying to pull off? Yes, of course, she want strumpy’s approval in Venezuela, but still, what good is it going to do him? If anything, it’s a meaningless token since he did not ‘win’ it.