Category Archives: books

Thankful Thursday and a day trip to Napa Valley

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, California, Gratitude, Sashiko, travel, Uncategorized by

I am very thankful we had a wonderful day trip to Napa. I’ve wanted to go back since B died and show my daughter some of our favorite places. We didn’t spend the night, as that would have added to the expense, but we did some fun things. First and foremost, we did the Napa Valley Wine Train for their 3-course lunch.

It was such a great experience and something Barclay and I always wanted to do. the food was exceptional.

First, I showed them the RV park where we stayed in Napa. Such a great place. This time it was packed due to the fair but they got an idea of what it was. Then it was off to Oxbow and Modele’s bakery. We loaded up on goodies to bring home including their famous English Muffins.

Again I’m grateful to still be able to do these things.

It was a long day, but I felt pretty good overall.

I’m thankful we have window coolers as this heat and now the smoke from the fires is terrible. Today and tomorrow look like the hottest days.

I’m thankful that I have this time.

Today, is a home day except having to go down to the post office as a piece of important mail was put in our box by mistake and I want the person to get it ASAP.

I don’t have anything else much to do but need to tidy up some. Yesterday, at the library I got some non fiction books so I’ll look through those. One is on Sashiko, which I did enjoy doing. Maybe I’ll order some new thread. I think I got that from Etsy.

Anyway, the road goes on and on…


  (?)

J.R.R. Tolkien

“The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

tags: road

Saturday Stuff

Posted in books, California, meal planning, Walking by

Still a bit dexed out, but I think if my daughter drives, we can go to the pet bookstore. I’d also like to get the Santa Fe washed. It’s fun to go check out the books and DVDs. I did buy a Blu-ray of The Lincoln Lawyer a while ago and watched it last night. I liked it.

Still a warm day today with temperatures in the low 90s. It is nice right now, and I had a nice walk. A few people at the park, but that’s just the norm now.

I made homemade pizza last night using 1/2 the TJ’s pizza dough. It stretched out quite thin, and with just a small amount of sauce, this time I used TJ’s whole milk mozzarella. It came out excellent. Their pizza dough is a fabulous bargain and stores well. It probably upped my calorie count for the day, but I’ll consider it my cheat day. I did lose a few pounds, but it seems at least one pound came back. At some point, I will go back to my PCP and get the Zepbound prescription. But right now I really don’t want to add anything to what I already take.

Tonight I think I’ll grill up some chicken, and I have some broccoli to use too. If I don’t feel like that, then I’ll do the chile relleno from TJ’s with some home-canned beans.

Well, off to start the day.

A menu for the week, sort of…

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, home stuff, Uncategorized by

Last night we did do the Kirkland meatballs with Rao’s sauce. I threw a few egg noodles in, too. It was good. NO salad because I didn’t feel like making it. The humidity is awful, and we are not used to humidity here in Northern CA. I think today is about the same. There are some clouds that are keeping the heat in and the humidity high. Ugh…

So, I have some chicken defrosting so one night will be something with that.

I have 1 pack of tofu, so I’ll do something with that, maybe a tofu scramble, so that the veggies get cooked( don’t want the horrible parasite!).

I have some shrimp in the freezer, so maybe a shrimp scampi-type thing.

I might open some home-canned pintos and do a nacho-type thing. I’ll have to check what I have. I know I don’t have any corn chips because we were doing low carb. Maybe I’ll just do bean bowls. I do have some taco meat in the freezer I could pull out.

Past that, I have no idea. I probably should pull out some cookbooks and get some ideas.

I’m mostly home today and need to do a sweep through the house. Plus, I need to mop. Then the plan is to go over to the pet bookstore and maybe the nursery. After that, find some lunch.

I read two of Marcia Muller’s books, which take place in SF. I like her writing. These were not new at all. I think one was from 2006. A quick read and entertaining. Next up are two Stabenow books. All these I picked up at the pet bookstore. They are $2 a piece. Cheap entertainment.

I haven’t had any off days, which I’m pleased with. I’m still only getting 2 bottles down in a day, but that’s way better than before. Also, tracking my 02 has been good. Overall, it’s all in a good range.

This week, I plan to go to the pool and the gym in Roseville. I’ll probably tack on a Trader Joe’s stop as well. I don’t need anything from Costco, so I’ll skip that. Ok then, I’m going to go pick up cat puke!!

Thankful Thursday

Posted in books, budgets, California, cooking, reading, Uncategorized by

Well, let’s see,

I’m thankful I woke up.

I’m thankful for a cup of coffee

I’m thankful the garbage goes out today.

I’m thankful to be alive.

So, after a dreadful day and a night from hell, I asked AI about my fatigue. A couple of things,

not enough hydration,

a low viral infection

needing more sodium or salt

So with that in mind, I drank an electrolyte drink and made the teriyaki chicken into a soup with a ramen flavor pack.

I always wake up at the same time and do the same thing for an hour or so at my desk. Check the news, check blogs, check my bank acct etc. So it’s too early to tell if I am again fatigued.

If by 7:30, I feel ok, I plan on going to the pool. Thursdays are early days, so the pool closes for lap swimming by 8:45, so it means up and go. I don’t need anything from the store, so unless there’s a small thing, I can go over to Winco for it. I do need some cottage cheese.

I feel a bit adrift these days and feel like I need to add something to my life. Maybe walking a little later so it fills in the morning. I think partly that since I have some osteoarthritis in my hips, etc., I’m moving more slowly, so I can’t do what I used to do, and then I have gaps that seem like I’m not doing anything. If I have books to read, then I feel more engaged, or if I give myself specific tasks to do. I do write a daily list of things, so maybe I need to expand that to one or two more small things.

Well, on that cheery note, I say adieu.

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, budgets, California, cooking, meal planning, Uncategorized by

I hope you all had a nice 4th of July. I did my walk and then a few extra things. I must have felt good enough that I painted the front door. It’s been on my list forever, and I guess it was the right day. I might start doing all the window trims as it is the same color but we’ll see.

My daughter got out an old grow light of Barclay’s, and I put it near my orchids as it is full spectrum. Hopefully, that will encourage a few spikes. Growing orchids has been a fun hobby and a challenge since I tend to overwater. The light purple one that I had spiked is still going strong. I love that orchids keep on and on.

Today is open, and I’m thinking about what I’d like to do. It’s been nice being home and not thinking about going out to do anything. I do like structure and a schedule, at least of some sort.

First, I’ll go for a walk as it’s cool out and there are some great cloud formations. Next week still looks good temperature-wise, and then it creeps back to the 90’s.

I want to plan out some dinner ideas, being on the low carb. It does take a little more planning to not just fall back on pasta or potatoes. I know I’ll pull some chicken from the freezer and maybe the ground turkey. Last night we had steamed broccoli and a souper cube of meatloaf I had made a while ago. It was ok, not great. I think that had some breadcrumbs in it, so not totally low-carb. I’ll continue to assess as this goes along. So far, it’s not terribly difficult except for maybe the bread or bagels.

I do need to hit up Costco for romaine lettuce, as I’ve been using that to make turkey or ham roll-ups with cheese. Not too bad, and I like the crunch. I also want to buy some squash, and they have a big bag of both zucchini and yellow squash. I could try the sliced zucchini lasagna. I don’t want to overthink this and keep it simple.

I didn’t do a whole lot yesterday and was kinda tired all day. I finished a book on my Kindle that I’ve read numerous times and is one of my favorites: Meg Wolfe’s series. They are some of my favorite books to reread.

Today, after waking and having breakfast, I’ll see if I want to go to the Auburn gym. If I go to Maheny gym tomorrow, then I could skip today. I’ll wait and see how I feel in a bit.

We finished watching Project Hail Mary last night, and it’s a great movie. I’d definitely recommend but it’s long, so we did it two nights. It’s on Prime.

Frugal Friday

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

Mostly a frugal week since I didn’t go anywhere for 4 days due to feeling lousy. Then on Wednesday, I went to the pool. Before that, I got gas, and it had gone up quite a bit from my last fill-up. Costco gas is still the cheapest, but yikes, $5.69!!

After the pool, I went to Costco as I mentioned and spent a little over $200. I took out non-food and wine, so the food cost was around $100. Non food included batteries, an orchid, and I think something else. Wine was my favorite, Kendall Jackson, which is $9.59 at Costco. Oh, and I picked up that Rose for Mother’s Day and the most expensive thing was some steaks for Mother’s Day and for the freezer. I think the pack had 6 pieces of thinly sliced rib-eye. My daughter and I will likely just share a piece, and the other counts as LTF for the freezer.

My food total so far is running around $300, so not too bad. I don’t need anything, so it may just be a small Winco trip or something.

I ordered propane and put that on the CC. I’m slowly getting the card paid off, but then something like this happens, and I need to charge another $257. Oh well, I’ll get there. sigh:(

I haven’t really been doing active cash envelopes. Most of what I get, I just use for groceries. I guess I need to try to do better, especially for annual bills. It does help when I have the envelopes even a bit filled. Well, I have a few months with just a few annual bills. Next month is the truck DMV, but my son will pay for that as he’s the one using the truck, so it may give me a chance to fill some envelopes for fall. Having lost 1/3 of my income after B died is definitely a factor. sigh:(

Well, today I plan to go to the gym and the library. I have a book to return. I don’t have any holds, so I may just browse the new items. I want to keep up with my weights as I feel they really do help. I’d like to find a new walking path for when I’m down there, so I may look at RPR (Roseville Parks and Rec) trail maps to see what is close to the gym. Sadly, the only paved trail up here is the park I walk at. Auburn has another paved trail at a park, but it’s not in my normal route. The MV park is so well used by so many people, and they come from all over because it is paved. I’m at the stage of life where I’d be concerned for my stability on an unpaved path unless I used my walking sticks. I have been taking them with me even to this park because they give me an added sense of security. It’s tough getting older.

Rain is back!

Posted in books, bread, budgeting, California, cooking, home stuff, simple foods by

I woke up to rain and did not walk. I may use the treadmill later just to get some steps in.

Yesterday, though, was really nice and sunny for most of the day. My son took the day off and came up to weed eat, and he also did a bunch of tidying up in our driveway. Later, we got sandwiches at the store and had a nice chat. He’s a great person. He said his work schedule will be busy with a trip to San Diego and then his annual board meeting. He’s so lucky to have a job he loves as is my daughter.

My daughter wrote a novella for a contest with Wattpad. She let me read it, and wow, it was great. It’s a historical fiction set in 1926 in Philadelphia and is about a young gay artist. I encouraged her to, at some point, expand on it and self-publish or try to find a publisher, as it is that good.

Today, I’m staying home, unless I go to town to get some $ for my envelopes for the week. I need to get gas in the VW, too, so I could do that as well. I’ll see how the morning goes.

I got the new tag for the Santa Fe yesterday, and then I realized I hadn’t gotten the tags for the VW. I went back and double-checked that I paid it and what date that was. So it was March 12. We can only assume either it got lost in the mail or was stolen from our box. Our mailbox is on the street and accessible if someone wants to do that. Most of my mail comes to the PO Box, but the DMV is in her name, and she gets her mail at the street box. So I got online and ordered a replacement. I was pissed I had to pay $28 for it. My daughter suggested we get a locking mailbox for the street, so I think I’ll check Amazon for that. She’s also had 2 things recently that she ordered that said delivered, but weren’t in the box. So either the post office is screwing up, or someone is taking mail out.

I might switch out my meal plan tonight for beet soup. I had bought some beets at Winco and haven’t used them, so since it’s raining, it might be a good soup night. I grew up eating borscht and have memories of my great-grandmother BaBa eating borscht in her apartment in the Lower East Side of NYC.

I probably will start another sourdough loaf today, too. The cranberry pecan is now my favorite!!

A bit of catch up!

Posted in Blood test, books, budgets, California, cancer, cooking, decluttering, home stuff, Pantry by

The days have been busy, which is good.

I went to the gym on Sunday and then did some decluttering when I got home. I have a bag of books to take to the pet bookstore and a bag of odds and ends to go to Goodwill.

Monday, I continued decluttering out in the garden shed and a utensil drawer in the kitchen. I looked at things I’m not using, as I prefer to not have single-use things. I wrote out the menu ideas for the week too.

Mostly, using things I have in the freezer /pantry, which included using up the turkey chili, a box of cornbread mix, a jar of home-canned kidney beans, and some ends of cheese( cheddar and comte) to make a baked macaroni. Today I plan to prep what veggies I have and put them in glass containers. I have broccoli, beets, spinach, some lettuce, and carrots. I’m sure I’ve missed a few. My plan is to wash and put them in containers so I can see what I need to use. Too often, things in those new produce bags just get pushed behind things, and I don’t see them ( refrigerator blindness). To help, I ordered some containers from Amazon. They’re the brilliance Rubbermaid. Costco has these occasionally, but not right now.

We also had leftover Easter tofu, potato salad, and deli ham. I didn’t buy a ham since that would be too much for us, so I got some sliced ham, and it worked fine as a side dish. ( We mostly want the southern fried tofu with tartar sauce.)

Rest of the Week menu ideas:

BBQ chicken

One freezer meal

Bean burritos with toppings. This will use a can of refried beans in the pantry, and some of the toppings will use things up, too.

a pizza night

Orange chicken with rice and broccoli

TBD

After my labs on Monday, I went and got the Santa Fe smogged, so that’s done.

Tuesday, I headed to the pool, and it was quite mellow. I stopped and got some cash from the teller, as I want to give my son a few dollars to help offset the cost of the weed eater and the motorcycle class. I also stopped at Winco for spinach, broccoli, bananas, and a few other things. It was less than $40.

I haven’t gotten my kappa light chains back yet, but my other labs are all about the same. We’ll see:)

Update: just got them and they did go down 2 points. Not a lot and I hoped for more, but I’ll take it.

Today, I plan on getting the thrift stuff organized and put in the back of the car. Then I’ll go to town and drop some stuff off. I do have a big bag of books to go also.

I got the notice of the Fair Plan being changed, so that was good news. But paying for the new auto insurance added to my credit card balance, so be it for now. I just don’t have the income to pay it from my regular accounts. I think the only other annual bills coming up are DMV for Rubi and the truck in June. That’ll give me some time to concentrate on paying more of the CC stuff over a few months. sigh:( Still, I’m thrilled the auto insurance was reduced from the Allstate quote.

The rest of the week is open, so I’ll figure out whether I’ll do another swim or go to the gym. Because of gas prices, I’ll pick one or the other.

These are roses from the back yard area and the California poppies are in the front of the house.

Midweek Musings

Posted in Blood test, books, budgets, California, cooking, home stuff, library by

Yesterday was quite busy but productive. I had my labs and then went upstairs at the facility I go to and had my annual wellness appt with my PCP. It all went well. I asked about my blood pressure being inconsistent, and he said we could up my Lisinopril a bit. So I’ll think about that.

From there, I decided to get a Starbucks using a gift card and then drove down to the gym. I was on the fence about going, but decided to do it. I had a few books to drop off at the library, so that motivated me. After that, I went into Winco for some veggies and odds and ends.

When I got home, I unloaded( my daughter was still home, so she did this for me) everything and chilled for a bit. After I recouped, I set out to do the kitchen zone and got that done.

Today, I have my eye scan with Dr. Dan. I’ll specifically ask not to be dilated, which should be fine as this is a retinal scan, not for glaucoma. I get this scan every 6 months to check the macular pucker.

After that, I plan on getting the VW smogged, but will wait to see how I feel after my appt. I have time yet, so it’s not urgent. I also need to go to the bank for my printout for LLS. My grant is almost depleted, so I’ll have to wait to reapply in July, but it’ll run out of money by May. You can’t apply till the grant year is over.

I used the BBQ yesterday afternoon and need to clean it up today. Plus, I need to start pruning the wisteria a bit. It already has some buds, but I can work around most of them to remove the dead branches.

Spring has sprung here. How is it where you live?

A few odds and ends

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

Yesterday, I went to the gym and the library. I got a couple of books to read. I haven’t started them yet, so I can’t say yet, but I’ll give them a try. Then I went over to Winco and did a small shop. I wanted some navy beans and molasses to make some Maine Beans from a cookbook I have. I also got some salad mix and a few other salad things.

Then I came straight home. Today, I’m staying home since tomorrow I need to go to Roseville for infusion. I want to wash the cat blankets and do a few odds and ends of tidying. Plus, I need to mop the floors. I’ve been using the iRobot vacuum almost daily, and it does a great job. But I still need to mop. So that’s on the agenda.

Tomorrow, after infusion, I plan to go to Costco, mostly to get a few things but to cash my rewards. It’s not a lot, but it’s something, and then I don’t need to go get extra cash. I still need to fill some envelopes, but I generally don’t have too much extra to do that. Some envelopes are more important than others, such as fun vs auto maintenance. So I’ll keep adding what I can to the important ones.

I had a nice visit with my son yesterday as he came up after work. He has a regional meeting in Chico today and tomorrow, so he’ll be gone. He expressed some interest in taking the motorcycle class at Sierra College, and then he could use the Triumph. In reality, he could just have it, and I’d sign it over. Although the insurance would probably be higher. So it’s something to consider. Although I’d worry about accidents because with motorcycles, 99% of the time, it is other drivers.

We did chat about the whole camping thing. He doesn’t see the van idea working, and probably he’s right. I think after my daughter and I go down to Santa Cruz at the end of the month and I get to go to New Brighton Beach, I’ll be able to judge whether hotels may be what I do 3-4 times a year. I would like to plan some longer trips that Barclay and I never got to, and one was going over to the Oregon coast. So if we do hotels, in a way that would be easier than trailering. I guess I still miss the whole experience of sleeping in my own bed, cooking my own food, etc. Plus, waking up at a campground is very different than waking up in a hotel. Adjustments, changes, and being open are probably what I need to focus on.