Category Archives: books

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.

Menu Monday

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

We did really well last week, and I made most of the meals planned.

Last night I made a chicken parmesan because I had defrosted a pack of Costco chicken. I had to run down to the store for panko as I didn’t have any. Then I made a batter and fried the chicken breasts. I cut them in half first, but it was still a lot. They were really crispy when I took them out of the pan, but after I finished them in the oven with tomato sauce and mozzarella, they didn’t hold their crispiness. Any ideas? Maybe I should have just heated up the sauce and plated it right then?? Have you made chicken parmesan, and how did you keep it crispy? I followed the NYT recipe.

Anyway, probably leftover chicken today, and I may do some spaghetti on the side.

Tuesday- I want to use up some souper cube beans, so beans and cheese enchiladas( frozen).

Wednesday- tilapia and some side dish. Maybe a macaroni and cheese.

Thursday- Freezer cube meal. I still have some chicken and rice cubes.

Friday- I might make homemade pizza, although we had pizza this past Friday, so I may do something else. I do have leftover mozzarella, though, so ??

Saturday- something easy, maybe just some sandwiches.

I finished watching the first season of True Detective. It was absolutely great. Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey were incredible. It’s on AMC, so if you have prime you have to add it. Each season is a different crime and detectives.

I didn’t read anything this week except a Mauve Binchy book, A Week in Winter. It was okay. I don’t have any holds at the library, so I might look at what’s new and put a hold on something.

I have another admin thing to do to change our Home insurance policy over to just my name. It’s showing Barclay as insured even though I’m on there too. So I guess I’ll brave the phone and see if I can get it changed. I do hate doing these things.

Like I said the other day, I’m not going to the pool because of the parking issue, but I will try either tomorrow or Wednesday.

Menu Monday

Posted in books, bread, budgets, California, freezer cooking, meal planning, simple foods, swimming by

I did really well last week with using things up from the freezer. Last night we had Z’s chili with the homemade Rosemary Meyer lemon sourdough I baked. It came out great BTW. I have one more chili in the freezer, but I’ll wait on that for a few weeks. This loaf had nice spring and is delicious.

Tonight I have some frozen chicken to use. I’m leaning toward a casserole of chicken rice and some veggies. The NY Times recipe calls for the rice to be uncooked, so I’ll do that, and it’ll be easier.

Tuesday- I’m thinking burritos with frozen beans and adding cheese, etc.

Wednesday- I think this will be burger night. I have the beef defrosting in the fridge. I plan on using Frugal Girl’s recipe. I probably need to get some lettuce, but I can do that if I go to the pool this week and go across the street to Winco.

Thursday- I think spaghetti or ravioli with meatballs and a salad. I have a #10 can of tomato sauce, so what I might do is make up a big pot of marinara sauce and freeze it in portions. That would use up the can, and I’d have sauce ready to use.

Friday- We might order a pizza. I used up the frozen one< Home Run, which is a Detroit-type pizza. It’s good, but too big for us, so I won’t buy that again unless it’s the mini ones.

Saturday- TBD, not sure what I’ll pull from the freezer, maybe some tilapia.

My son is coming over to work on the barn some more. He took a big load to the dump last time, so he doesn’t need to do that this time. But he is working on decluttering things in there, which is great. Then my daughter and I are going to the pet bookstore and maybe get lunch or some sandwiches to bring home.

Mid-week and a break today from the rain.

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The Sierras are being hit extremely hard with whiteout conditions. We’re below the snow line, thank goodness. There was an avalanche, and 9 skiers are missing. My question is, why would they even go out in such conditions, they knew the forecast????

Hopefully they can be rescued.

Update: no, sadly, 8 were found dead, and they can’t find the other one. So Sad.:(

Today there is a break in the weather, but it’s back tomorrow, so I’m going down to Roseville to the gym and dropping off some books at the library. I also plan on stopping at the Goodwill near the library and dropping off the canning jars and a few bags.

I also want to try to find the shoe repair store I looked up. The strap on my vintage LV marly bandouliere broke. I’m not sure they can fix it, but I know LV will repair things. I didn’t pay a whole lot for this bag, so I wouldn’t want to pay LV prices.

After that, I might pop in to costco for a few more sale items. Laundry soap is on a coupon, and Zyrtec. I’ll have to see how my energy level is.

Other than that, not much. I finished the newest Reacher book, and it was good, predictable, but good. So I don’t have a new book to read.

Updated:

The freeway was closed going toward Reno this morning. Trucks were lined up along the freeway but it was an easy ride to Roseville because of no traffic.

I went to the gym, library, and found the shoe repair place too. I dropped off the Louis, so it’ll be a few weeks. All in all, a good morning.

Going Forward

Posted in Blood test, books, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, home stuff, library, swimming, velcade by

This week is my Velcade shot. I got an extra week(5 weeks instead of 4), so I could get back to my normal Thursday appt. I’m still having some neuropathy in my feet, even after that length of time. Next time I see Dr. L, I’ll mention this. Then Friday will be my Dex day at home. I’m curious if my numbers go higher with the extra week. I guess I’ll find out.

The pool is closed for 2 days for maintenance, so I’m not sure if I’ll go down there today. Since I’m driving down tomorrow, I sort of hate to use extra gas. On the other hand, I just don’t seem to be getting ‘ahead’ in swimming. My weights I keep up on regularly, so that is all good. Maybe going forward means accepting what I can do and what I do. (sigh) Who knows, right? It seems as if this is a recurring theme for me at this stage of my life. But, hey, I’m very grateful for what I can do!!

Going forward, I’m working on trying new things. It’s hard to do some stuff alone, but I’m determined to try. I did go out by myself for a burger, so that was a tiny thing. I didn’t sit in the car either but went in, so again, a tiny thing, but…

I wrapped up my taxes and submitted. I guess it’s next year that my tax status will change. The year a spouse dies, it’s still married filing jointly, but then it changes the following year. Hopefully, it will stay easy.

Here’s a picture of the upper patio around 3 pm yesterday. And a picture of the firepit on around 4 pm.

The book is from the library, and I was very impressed. Barclay, of course, was hugely influenced by Dylan and had a radio show for 25 years(KVMR) specifically devoted to Dylan. He would have loved this book. His last show was called Jewels and Binoculars after the line in a song.

Yesterday I made the Rancho Gordo King City Pink beans in the crockpot and had them for dinner. I may just do another bean bowl tonight. There is quite a bit to freeze in the Souper Cups. Rancho Gordo just moved into a new building in Napa. I’m curious what it looks like. We always had fun going into the other store, even if it was a little hard to find.

Well, I guess I’d better figure out the day.

What about you? Do you ever feel you should be doing more? Sometimes just accomplishing the smallest thing feels huge. 🙂

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. 🙂

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!

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.