Category Archives: books

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, California, cancer, cooking, Walking by

A nice walk at 6am. It’s predawn and still slightly dark. I saw a few stars.

I went to the Auburn gym and did some weights. There were quite a few new people that I hadn’t seen on a Sunday. Usually, it’s pretty empty which is why I go on Sundays.

Then I went to Target to get the Murphy soap I use on the floors. I also picked up some Method Cleaner for the new bathroom tiles. Also a candle for a gift.

My son spent the night because he went over to his friends last night. So this morning he put up the new screen/security door on the Studio. It’ll be nice in the fall when we can keep the door open.

We’re watching the Rings of Power on Prime and it’s good. Quite well done. This goes back a long way from when Galaridal was still like an elf warrior. Also, Sauron is coming back to life. I think they’ve done a good job going back before LOTRs. I usually try and reread LOTR every September/October so I guess I better get started. Tolkien isn’t the easiest to read but once you find his pace it is truly a brilliant literary work.

My daughter is cooking brown rice for tonight’s dinner and I think she plans to do some kind of bowls with it. I have some broccoli to use too.

Well, just an ordinary day, simple and slow-paced.

Frugal Friday

Posted in books, bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, cash envelopes, Credit cards, frugalism, husband, reading by

It’s been a frugal week for the most part. All the birthday gifts, cake, and food were budgeted in my envelopes, so that was good. I did go to Costco for the burgers, rolls, etc but that too I had in my Costco envelope as well.

We are stretched really thin with money this month due to a few extra things. I’ve done really well with my envelope cash system but bigger bills are still catching up with us and we still have a cc balance from two car registrations, and some other bills from June. I hate having to carry a balance so I’m putting anything extra towards that and thus a very stretched thin budget. We’ll get there but not as soon as I’d like.

We had a nice date lunch of pizza(cash from my dining-out envelope) and it’s always nice to get out of one’s box. This month is our 54th wedding anniversary and although we usually don’t do gifts or anything extravagant we will do a lunch out. At this point we’re planning a drive up to Tahoe to see the lake and get coffee at our favorite Tahoe House. With everything still up in the air with B it’s hard to feel very cheerful. He is and always will be the great love of my life.

I didn’t feel great this morning so decided not to go to either the pool or the gym. I’m not sure if it’s stress or just feeling low energy. So I made a loaf of bread and did a few random chores.

B did get an appointment( we just found out) for next Friday for a second biopsy. It’ll be done at UCD hospital again so I can wait in the cafeteria. That will be a Dex day but I can wait and take Dex when I get home so it should be fine. He also sent a very detailed message to the doctor about some of the PET scan results and about the CUP diagnosis( that we are theorizing will be the case.) That’s called cancer undiagnosed primary. We’ll see what her response is.

My daughter and I went to the Pet bookstore yesterday and I hit the jackpot with Craig Johnson books. There were 5 on the shelf. For some reason, even on eBay these go for a minimum of $5 a piece. And most are more. I also picked up 2 more in the Baldacci series I’m reading. It’s the Atlee Pine series. She’s a great character. I also picked up Cooking for Two from the Cooks Test Kitchen. I saw a recipe for manicotti which used lasagna noodles rolled up so I may make that tonight instead of pizza.

The weather is cooling off and that’s a relief but there are lots of fires going on. One over where blogger I read lives. Hope you’re safe Donna and Dale!

Well, that’s it from this blogger. Anyone on a limited budget and how do you plan things, like big expenses. Do you ever carry a CC balance even if you don’t want to because you have to.? I’m hoping by this time next year we will have our envelopes fully funded for the big expenses but it does take time. I’m also concerned about our house insurance going up because of the California Fair Plan. A lot of people have been posting on Next door neighbor about some serious increases.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, books, bread, California, cancer, canning tomato salsa, cooking, home stuff, reading by

Update: B called the NP and she said it could take up to 2 weeks to get results. I kind of doubt that especially if there are cancer cells. So maybe soon. I don’t think that there’s going to be any surprise as it seems to be peritoneal cancer which basically is cancer masses in the abdomen. Hopefully, chemo and maybe some surgery will help and extend life. Who knows,? right?

So I opted to not go into the Auburn gym so I could do my first batch of salsa.

I only got 3 pints. The recipe called for 3 lbs cored tomatoes which I did but I think after baking they shrunk down so next time I’ll make more and then weigh the 3 lbs.

Then I got the bread going.

All in all, I started at 7 and I’m done now at 10. So, a good start to the week.

Tomorrow I have my labs and then I’ll go to the Roseville gym. So I’ll get my weights done for the week.

I just finished this book. It was good and I think by him writing stuff that was so emotional will help others. Worth reading.

The next book was about Judith Jones. What an amazing woman and what an amazing life she had.

There were so many books she helped get published including”Diary of Ann Frank”.

Truly a remarkable life.

Here’s a Gus picture;

I think that’s Cherry Ratski under the chair.

Well, I’m off to read or collapse one or the other. Probably read.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in books, bread, California, cancer, cooking, Gratitude, husband, velcade, Walking by

No reports back on the biopsy. I thought for sure, we’d hear something yesterday. So waiting, waiting. Not that I’m expecting anything but bad news but at least we’ll know what the official diagnosis is. 🙁

After that, no doctor appts until next Friday and that’s with his NP from his transplant team so I’m not sure how that will play out. The new oncologist appt isn’t until the week after that so it’s definitely a waiting game. Wait, Wait, Wait.

Things to be thankful for though:

We are getting LOTS of tomatoes and I plan on having my favorite tomato and mayonnaise sandwich later today.

I have Velcade this morning and I am always thankful for efficient and knowledgeable nurses. After that, I will go down to the library and pick up my hold.

I’m thankful we had some days of cooler weather but we’re on an upward swing again. It was nice and cool this morning walking. There were LOTS of people walking even at 6am. I guess it’s the summer crowd.

I’m thankful my son has a nice apartment and is staying cool especially since he just down with covid. It’s the first time he’s had it. I miss him being here so I can hover over him!!!:) But he’s a grown man and knows what to do.

I’m thankful the sourdough boule I made yesterday came out perfect. The last two were dismal and I had to throw them out. I read on the problem and I wasn’t letting my starter mature enough. So I’ve been feeding twice a day and it’s very active now. I plan on doing another one soon. Also, with the heat, proofing time and bulk fermentation are different because it’s warm, so that was a factor as well.

Thankful Thursday

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

We finally have a cooling off period so I’m thankful for that. Unfortunately, next week looks worse than this week with Wednesday being 110. Yikes! I’m supposed to go to Sacramento to see Dr. L but I’m going to reschedule this morning after they open. I’m not driving into Sacramento when it’s that hot.

I’m thankful for a day to just potter around and do some extra things. I want to steam-mop the studio and vacuum. We moved the Ikea sofa out to the studio so I want to vacuum that too. Plus the windows need washing. I may not get to it all but some.

I’m grateful for my swim yesterday, It was not too busy so that made it nice. After that I went over to Winco for strawberries. I think Winco has the lowest prices so I bought 5 containers. They were $1.48 ea. I have seen them as low as.99 but not yesterday.

I’m thankful I was able to come home from that and still have the energy to make strawberry jam. I used 4 containers, so that was $5.96. I ended up with 10 half-pint jars plus 3 quarter-pint jars. So overall a good savings. I don’t plan on any other jam-making so this will last the year.

I’m thankful that B has his medical things organized and is going for a CT scan to see if his weight loss is related to something intestinally. He’s actually eating much better so that’s an encouraging thing.

I’m not so thankful that the bathroom now has another issue. We thought the floor would be done yesterday but when B pulled up the tiles, the floorboards had water damage around the toilet. So we are now in stop, regroup, plan phase again. He’ll need to take the toilet out and repair the floorboards. All I can say is Fuck, it’s always something. At least it was discovered now instead of 10 years from now. The area is pretty small so hopefully, it’s an easy fix. Still, it means removing the toilet, putting in a new ring, etc.

I plan on making my sourdough bread this morning. I added more flour to my starter so it should be ready around noon.

Here’s one of our dinners this hot week. Scambled tofu with spinach.

This was an interesting book with lots of recommended reading.

this is little Cherry Rat. She’s the only girl besides mama cat.

Here are pressure canned beans, Rancho Gordo pintos, and Marcellas.

Two of the 10 half-pint jars. I skimmed as much foam off as I could but there’s always some left. Any canners out there with hints. I seem to remember something about adding a teaspoon of baking soda??

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, California, Lake tahoe, Walking by

We had a nice walk in the park. We were the only ones there again so quite nice. It was already 70 at 6am so it’s going to be another hot one.

We went down to see my son’s apartment and it’s very nice and fits the 2 of them well. Nice layout and all the used furniture he bought before had fits it well. We stopped at TJ’s to buy some flowers and prosecco and a few goodies. He had Noah’s bagels ready so that was sweet. He’s a thoughtful young man.

We are home now and I just started the pressure canner to make chicken broth. It’ll take about 75 minutes. This week I plan on pressure canning the white beans too.

I’m coming down off of Dex so feeling tired. But overall, I’m pleased with how it went. Of course, the true test will be my counts but I do feel these labs won’t really reflect it since it’s so close to when I took it but we’ll see.

The traffic coming down from Tahoe was horrendous. All I can say to Bay area, Sacramento, and Valley People is STAY HOME. Don’t clog up Tahoe simply because you want to dip in the lake. The roads are clogged, too many people on and on…

The infrastructure and really the lake itself can not handle so many people and cars. Be considerate. Just my 2 cents.

I finished the new Chris Bohjalian book, it was a very interesting read and I enjoyed it. His books are generally dark but complex characters.

My son is planning on coming up in the next few days to help clear out the studio. His mattress needs to go to the dump and the bed frame dismantled. Then we can paint and freshen it up. I’ll still get a bed for out there so if he and Alia come to stay they can use the studio. When I had the Norovirus it was very pleasant to be in and it stayed remarkably cool. this Tuff Shed has had a lot on incarnations. We put it up 2000 as our home school room. I lazzured ( a type of Waldorf painting using a watercolor base and it’s brushed on using two brushes)all the walls rainbow colors. In Waldorf school each grade has a color starting in kindergarten with peachy orange, then yellows, greens and finally eighth grade violets and purples.

Dinner is unknown as it’s hot so maybe another cold dinner??

More caulking done in the bathroom and the lights are up. Yay!!

Saturday, hot and hot

Posted in Blood test, books, California, Myeloma, reading by

That’s it. It will be hot. I have all the windows closed and the thermal blackout curtains closed too. I have one cooler running on 78 so some air is circulating.

As I mentioned, I was planning on taking the 8 mg of Dex and I did that evening. I slept ok so I don’t know if my BP went up but I think not. I took it when I got up and it was in perfect range. I checked all day and it was fine. So I decided to go ahead and do 4mg Friday. And today I did 4mg so that takes me up to 16mg. My BP has been in perfect range so maybe that’s the ticket. I’m still unsure how the efficacy of doing it over a few days will be and I will ask Dr. L when I see him next. I get labs Monday so it may be too soon to tell with these labs. I guess we’ll just wait and see.

I’ve been busy this morning and even with the 4 mg of dex, I feel pretty good. So I put back a few baskets on the bathroom shelves and hung my Japanese block print back up. I love Japanese block prints but really only like the ones with water or Mt Fuji. I’ve checked eBay and they are out there but pricey.

I hardboiled some eggs so B can have extra protein. He’s lost way too much weight and so we’re trying to figure out if it’s serious or just that he’s burning more calories than he’s taking in. So far all his labs are in the good range so no surprises. He has a CT scan scheduled to see if there’s some obstruction and he’s called his UCD transplant team to check in. Hopefully, it’s just calories in calories out.

Then I’m making chicken broth in the crock pot to either can or freeze. I still want to replace my instant pot but it’ll have to wait till we have some spare $.

I made a pesto noodle salad for dinner and added some olives and mozzarella. It’s so hot we’ll want to have something cold I think. We even ate at the table last night because it was too hot outside. We had a shrimp scampi, a big tomato, fresh mozzarella, and bibb lettuce. then I pan-toasted some homemade sourdough with garlic and olive oil. Very tasty.

I think my daughter will drive me to the pet bookstore to check if any Longmires came in. I doubt it though, I scoured Goodwill in Auburn and not one. I guess if I really want them I’ll have to buy them used on Ebay but there not cheap! I guess people keep them as they are very re-readable.

Guster in a small dog harness!!!

Midweek musings

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

Happy Juneteenth Day!! Celebrating the end of slavery. What a cruel, inhuman way of life the southerners( for the most part) treated African Americans.

We have had a lovely cool down in the weather whilst the rest of the country is roasting. So I guess DeSantis still doesn’t believe in global warming even after all the torrential rain and flooding. Well, Florida can get swept away by the rising ocean, and then let’s see what he says.

I went to the gym(finally) yesterday and it was a good workout. The library had a hold for me so I picked that up and a few other books. The book on hold is ‘The Kitchen Front’. It is so great It’s about a cooking competition during WW2 in England. Quite entertaining.

The bathroom is coming along although still no sink or light. Today is(hopefully) dry wall and then at least get the light up. I’m getting tired of everything all over the place. I plan on painting as soon as the drywall is up and it has the mud on it. After painting, we can put the floor in.

My daughter cleaned the tiles and it looks better. There are still some spots where the gout needs fixing but B will do that.

I plan on going to Costco tomorrow if everything works out because I want to pick up an orchid for my son’s new apartment. I also need flour, tuna, brown rice and a few other things. I think I’m coming in around $600 for food this month. My budget starts next week so I’ll figure out July’s budget.

Today, I need to vacuum and later make some spaghetti sauce as that’s whats on the menu for tonight.

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, bread, California, Flylady, home stuff, husband by

So good to be home. It’s cool out and the gardens look great. Plus it’s quiet!!!

Our obnoxious unfriendly neighbor has been unusually quiet for about 6 weeks now. I know he’s over there because he has opened his workshop/garage, but no metal grinding. Usually, he’s grinding metal all day. We’re pretty sure he’s running some sort of business but we can’t tell what exactly. But it’s been blissful to have it so quiet, let’s hope I don’t jinx it.

I used the new shower and it’s not going all the way over to hot so it’s warmish. I guess we’ll have to have the handyman fix it this week. Plus there are some gaps in the grout in a few places. Update: B watched the Delta you tube video and fixed it. It was quite easy.

Today I just need to use the steam mop and that’s about it. Yesterday I did the kitchen zone, the bedroom zone and washed the bathroom windows. I might do my office area windows too. I made a loaf of sandwich bread yesterday too using Rhonda Hertzel’s bread recipe. It came out perfect. I’m feeding my sourdough so it’ll need a few days.

I browsed Goodwill looking for any Craig Johnson books but nada. They really are hard to find. I found an old library copy of The Secret Garden which I thought would be fun to re-read.

Today is Father’s Day, happy father’s Day to all you men out there from your Furry kids and human kids. I told my kids to plan Dad’s lunch or dinner.

What plans do you have for Father’s Day?

My father was never around so it was a nonexistent thing.

Lake Tahoe

Posted in Blood test, books, California, camping, cancer, Lake tahoe, Myeloma by

This is around 8 am. Calm lake.

The difference in 10 days is quite noticeable. Lots more people at the beach and more kids in the campground. The camp hosts are very friendly and keep a tight ship. Very clean bathrooms and they keep the trash off the beach.

It’s nice here with a high of 77 which is very pleasant. We’ve had a fire each night and also BBQ stuff. Tonight I have leftovers from last night so I’ll see what I put together.

In other Myeloma news, my kappa did go up 7 pts. So I’m a little upset but I knew something probably was going to be different without the dex. Next week I have Velcade and then labs the following week. It’s a short time between labs so I guess I’m leaning towards not taking it and seeing the results. Dr. L’s take was that it was a very small increase. But it still was a jump in my book.

I’m enjoying the new Longmire, First Frost. Excellent!!

Sunset.