Category Archives: budgeting

Simple Sunday/Monday morning catch up.

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

I decided not to go to the Auburn gym this morning. I’m feeling a bit tired and my stomach feels a bit off. I’ll just do some house things and declutter some areas that could use a look-through. Update: I didn’t find much to declutter, but I did add to my book pile to bring to the pet bookstore.

I did wash most of the inside windows yesterday, so all I have left is the sunroom. Update: Nope, didn’t get them done; maybe today.

That was yesterday. It was a mellow day and so pretty with bright blue skies and puffy clouds. It was a Tahoe-feeling sort of day.

Today I need to go to Costco to stock up. I need eggs, flour, coffee, and some non food items as well.

I wrote up a meal guide for the week and plan on spaghetti, burgers, some kind of soup, and a night of rice and spring rolls. The other nights, I’ll probably just come up with an easy something.

I called about the firewood, and I think he’ll deliver this coming Saturday. It’s crazy expensive at $475, but he mentioned that his delivery truck is diesel, and then I understood. Diesel here in N. Ca is almost or even over $8 a gallon, so I don’t begrudge him charging that at all. I just hope it’s nice wood. I’ll need to go get that cash sometime this week.

I made some whole wheat bread. This is just with the KitchenAid mixer, not the Zojirushi.

I froze one loaf and sliced the other up to use.

I’d like to get some rye flour and try rye again. Rye is difficult because it is a dense bread, but it’s worth trying.

I am going to get my flu/covid shot this week, so I need to work around that. I think I can get one swim in, but that’s it because I always have a down day after my shot. I’m also meeting my library friends for coffee this week. I have a bag of apples from our tree to give to one of them who still cans applesauce. We had an good crop this year but I still have applesauce from the apples I froze in the spring. If anything I’ll cut some up and freeze those for later use.

My daughter plans to go back to work this week. She still tested positive on Friday but didn’t test yesterday, so I’ll see if she does that today. I guess you can test positive for a while and you’re not contagious. I’ll probably do a test today as well, just to be sure.

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, home stuff, knee injury, Walking by

I’m in the process of canning tomatoes. I ordered a flat of Roma tomatoes from a local farm. They were 2.50 a pound, so a very good price. I did half the lug and have half to do tomorrow or Tuesday. I have 8 pints in the water bath and 2 more ready to go when these are done. I’ll add some jars filled with water so it fills the canner. I didn’t add any seasoning, just citric acid and a little salt. I’ll do seasoning when I open and use them. I’m a little tired from standing but I’m almost done.

I did go for a walk, and it was quite nice. A few other people, but not bad for a Sunday. My left knee (torn ACL and meniscus) seemed to tweak a few times, so I’ve been really careful, and I’ll probably put my knee sleeve on to help with stability. The only thing I’ve done differently is that I’ve added my PT exercises back into my workout, so maybe that tweaked it. So today I’ll back off since I’ve been on my feet a while now.

This is a busy week for me, which, as you know, I really dislike a lot of appts, but they must be done. That includes my Velcade on Thursday. I did change my dentist appt from Monday next week to Wednesday, as Monday is my labs and dex crash day. It doesn’t always happen, but I figured it would be better to change it if I could.

I also finished Calamity Club, and it’s as good as everyone says. Really, such insight!

I moved most of my cookbooks into B’s office bookcase.

I’ll see if I like them there or not. The other picture is the little fire pit I bought a while ago. I had a few nights of fires outside when it was cooler. Now with our temps dropping, I’ll sit outside again. Today’s high is supposed to be 75, so quite lovely.

Friday Things

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, frugalism, home stuff by

My appointment went well even with him being late( as usual). I thought of stopping at Costco for those non food items I still need but didn’t feel like it. I prefer to use the executive time only, which is at 9 a.m. when they open.

When I got home, I made a sandwich and called it good. I was starving since I hadn’t eaten before I left for Sacto. I thought about going to Costco this morning (Friday) and haven’t decided if that’s what I want to get done. Probably I’ll wait.

We got some rain!!! Very unusual for September in the Sierra Nevada foothills, but very welcome.

The only shopping I did was at Holiday on Monday for about $ 50. That was for deli meat for sandwiches, milk, and some salad stuff. I try not to go there too often, as it is more expensive than WinCo. But it is just right down the driveway. (Well, you still need to get on the main road and then make a right turn in.) I also spent $106 on the oil change.

Today, I’ll wait for the chimney guy to show up and give me his assessment. I wasn’t sure if he was planning on cleaning it today or just telling me. He wasn’t very clear. After that, I plan to go into Auburn and return a T-shirt from Old Navy that I ordered online and don’t really like.

Before the oil change, I dropped off the Goodwill stuff, so that’s out of the car. But think I’ll see about loading up our cardboard and take to the cardboard bins the county provides for free. It’s kind of a pain to do, and again, this was all the stuff Barclay did. UGH!!! I’ll have to check how wet it all got before I load it up.

I pulled some things out of the chest freezer: some bacon, the cannellini beans in the Souper cubes, bagels, and tortillas. I have quite a few avocados from Costco to use, so I’ll make some quesadillas and use them. With the cannellini beans, I might make a soup and add them. I did see some random containers of chicken broth in the chest freezer that I should get out.

Well, I just got a text from the Chimney guy, and he’s sick, so I will go down to Costco this morning at 9am. I’m sure the chimney will be fine.

The fires of Mordor!! Ha, just kidding. This was my last fire.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, home stuff, swimming by

Overall, my budget is going well. I haven’t really gone out most of this week, so that makes a difference. I’m making headway on my CC bill, so that’s encouraging. X amount of dollars can only go to X amount of places.

Today, I’m heading to the pool, then going to Costco to return the pants I bought online. I’ll pick up coffee and olive oil as well. My grocery budget for August came in a bit higher than I wanted, at $500 approx. Of course, some of this is LTF for the freezer/pantry, so even though it’s high, some things won’t need to be bought for a while. I’m going to try to stick to $400 this month and see how it goes.

I’ve got most of September’s bills in. Almost all are on autopay, but PGE is not, as it is on the balanced pay program, so it averages out over the year and is different each month. Other than that, except for annual bills, all are on autopay. Actually, some of my annual bills are on autopay like my Costco membership.

Finally, our weather is turning and will be much cooler next week. I’m ready to not have coolers going all day.

September brings my dentist appointment, eye doctor appt, Flu and COVID shots. I read that the new COVID shot will be available soon, so I’ll wait to get that.

Next week, I have my oncology appt. My labs came back good. No real big change, so I was very happy about that. My platelets are still a bit low due to Velcade, but nothing alarming- just below low normal. Overall, they were good. I’ll see what he has to say next week.

We’ve been moving all the plants near the house to a different spot. It’s suggested to not have anything within 5 feet of the house. We had 4 different bamboo pots near the house, so my daughter moved them out. I’m pretty sure our California Fair Plan insurance is going to have an increase, which I hope isn’t too dramatic. But I did hear/read that it’s likely going up.

We also scheduled a chimney cleaning for the wood stove. There are just some things Barclay always did that we just don’t want/can’t do now. The same with getting the firewood. He pretty much handled that, and now one of us needs to. sigh:(

Well, I’m off to go swim.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, cancer, Flylady, Gratitude by

I am very thankful our temperatures are cooler, especially in the morning. The afternoons are still hot (94 yesterday), but it doesn’t start to really get warm till 3 or so.

I’m thankful for our garbage service. We have been adding extra stuff every time since we’re paying for a larger bin. Maybe I should check out the smaller one once we finish gathering junk from the yard.

I’m grateful for the support from my kids. They are always there to help. This weekend is my 56th wedding anniversary. So my son is coming over to be here, and we’ll see if we want to go out to lunch or not. 56 years is a lifetime for some, and I miss him, and I will still celebrate! Looking back at how young we were, it’s a miracle we made it so long. But love is love.

The famous quote is: “You are the butter to my bread, and the breath to my life.” [1]

Yes, I’d say that sums it up. Plus, we were hopelessly romantic.

Origin of the Quote

  • It is often mistakenly attributed directly to Julia Child, but it actually comes from the movie Julie & Julia (2009).
  • The line is spoken by her husband, Paul Child, in a Valentine’s message to Julia.
  • Real-life letters between Paul and Julia show deep, poetic devotion, inspiring this romantic movie line that blends her love of food with their romance. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Today, after my shot, I plan on doing some errands. Plus, since I’m going down to the library to return some books, I decided I’ll go in and do 20 minutes on the treadmill. No weights today, as I just did them on Sunday. I am very grateful to be able to combine things like this.

Since tomorrow will be a dex day at home, I’ll make a list of what I can do. I did just get the Flylady zones on my calendar, so I’ll start that again. I really dislike her new website, and it doesn’t show the zones; at least I couldn’t find them. It’s a poorly designed website. I asked AI to check what they were.

So that sums it up for now. What things are you grateful for?

Mid-week Musings

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, sleep apnea, social security, swimming by

Here’s the polenta and chickpea recipe. I used fresh tomatoes from costco because they weren’t tasty enough for sandwiches. I would advise against that and use the can of tomatoes. After I cut up 4 big tomatoes and cooked them down, it didnt add much flavor so opened a can of san Marzano and added about 1/2 a can. also, I didn’t have fennel seeds( who keeps fennel seeds on their spice rack?). Anyway, it was a good way to use chickpeas. I added a few shrimp for protein after it was done.

I love polenta so that was a win. I had leftover polenta for dinner last night!!

I’ve had PGE looking at a tree to take down. But the new supervisor( some kid practically) decided it didn’t need to come down. I was a little pissed as this tree has a serious lean toward the lines. I told him I disagreed with his assessment. Well, there’s not much I can do about it.

My budget ends this week and my last bill coming out is water. After that the coffers are a little low till my SS comes in. Fortunately, I don’t need any groceries and I have enough gas so I’m set. My budget was well set and all the bills paid.

I had a nice coffee and bagel with my son yesterday. He works nearby the cafe I went to so it was nice to catch up. Today, I’m meeting my library friends for a coffee too. It’s been a while since we could all meet.

I finally got the Sleep HQ to upload. It took half a dozen tries and then it was yesterday about 4pm that it finally did it. I haven’t checked it all but there’s a few hypopneas and some Rera’s which are probably when I might be adjusting my mask. Who knows? Overall it looked ok. I didnt look at all the days yet and will today. What’s good about the app is that it tells how your pressure was and when it changed and mask leaks. It helps to see that data.

I had a good swim yesterday although the guy in the lane I shared was kind of a PITA. I hadn’t seen him before and he was a splasher which I really dislike. Also, when I got in to share the lane( he was there first), he looked at me like I was crazy to share. sigh:(

Well, off to do some things before I go out.

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

Simple Sunday and Lammas

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, Uncategorized, Walking by

Yesterday was Lammas, or the cross-quarter on the Celtic calendar. I didn’t bake bread although I probably could have cooked it outside on the patio. Lammas celebrates the harvest, thus the wheat has come in and there is bread making. It was strange how, I was sitting on the couch looking out the window, as I do a lot, and I instantly knew the light had changed. It was about 4:30, and I said to my daughter, look how the sun angle is different on the driveway. Then I realized it was August 1.

Anyway, it’s hot and going to be hot all week. I guess, I’m resigned at this point. We do have the little pool my daughter set up and it’s nice to float in it. It’s only 3 foot deep but on a little floatie, you don’t know the difference.

I’ve also had terrible allergies these last 3 days.The only thing I can think of is grasses outside. I rarely have allergy reactions so this was a bit annoying especially since I have sneezing and blowing my nose all day. I did take an allergy pill and that helped.

I finally got out and did a walk this morning. I haven’t been very motivated this last week. Maybe when the temperatures drop I’ll feel more motivated. It was a nice walk though. Even a little cool.

I do plan on going to the gym this morning.At least I can get doing my weights in. I think this coming week, I’ll get over to Mahaney gym and do weights there and treadmill. Plus, I’ll get to pool. At least, I hope to do that. With this heat, I am definitely not too motivated to go out.

I need to plan some meals for the week. We never had the tamales, so I could do that, some chicken, and I did make some coleslaw so I can add that in to whatever else I’m making. We’ll see, meal planning is low on my priority list right now. My son’s birthday is this week too, so I’ll check in with him what he might want to have to celebrate.

Friday Things

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California by

Boy, it’s hot. I hate the heat. At least, knock on wood, no fires nearby.

I was planning on meeting my library friends this morning but the cafe was closed due to a water leak. So I went down to the pool and then came straight home. I was home.maybe 10 minutes and my one friend called and said she was at the cafe and where was everybody? Apparently she didn’t get the memo, but at that point the cafe had reopened so I popped down and had an iced tea and we caught up. They just moved house into Auburn so that they’re closer for her husband’s medical needs. Ahhhh, getting old is something else.

I’ve worked on August’s budget and nothing unexpected so far. I hope to make a bit of progress on my CC. We’ll see.

I keep checking LLS but no luck yet. I’m guessing it’s going to be a while. But there is a change that will affect quite a few people coming. They are now only going to give awards to people on Medicare,Medicaid and Tri ? something. So that is going to cut out a lot of people. I wonder what their reasoning is?

My labs came back and they are the same as last month,kappa at 34.7, so I’ll take it. My ratio went up due to Lambda going up but that’s ok for now. My ratio definitely goes up and down. So another month of not stressing,for now.

Last night I just made us a couple of cheese quesadillas and had some potato salad from Ikeda’s. Tonight we might have the cheese tamales but I’ll see what my daughter wants.

Monday we are going on a bit of an adventure so that will take the whole day. I’ll take some pictures. Also, Friday is my son’s birthday. He’ll be 32. Where does the time go?? I know he and his partner have plans for Saturday but I’ll see if he’s coming up on Friday. With it being so hot, it may be better to wait.

Is it hot where you live? And what do you do to keep busy or is it watch TV/youtube??

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, Gratitude, home stuff, swimming, Uncategorized by

I’m thankful it’s been a good week without any appts apart from my lab appt. I did that early yesterday (7:30), and then went to the pool.

I’m thankful the guy who does my draws is quite good and this time he left NO mark, so that’s a win.

The pool was wonderful and I had a lane to myself the whole time. I’m a little stiff this morning from swimming but that happens if I haven’t been for 6 days. I am very thankful for this pool and how well it is maintained. It’s been 5 years since I started back swimming. I plan to go one more time this week. That may then exclude going to the gym as I do need to be conscious of time and gas $.

The weather is hot, that’s all I can say and it looks like this is hot and next week is hotter. Not my favorite at all. I did a little outside watering yesterday and will do some this morning. We’re not trying to keep any grass green, just watering lavender bushes etc.

I’m thankful my daughter did the Costco trip for water. We do use plastic bottles, mostly I do at night when I wake up and need a drink and also I use bottles to track how much H2O I drink. Not ideal with the plastic, but it is what it is and I have to choose my battles.

After the pool , I went across the street to Winco and got a few things. Mostly, I wanted some veggies and although not organic, they do have wonderful produce. They do have organic veggies though. I bought a cabbage for coleslaw, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, and romaine lettuce. I picked up some corn tortillas to make enchiladas. I also picked up a pre seasoned tri tip so I might make that tonight. I don’t usually buy meat at Winco, just Costco so I’ll see how the quality is.

Today, I plan on decluttering some in the bedroom and clean out the fridge some. I think I’ll put a pot of beans on too. Later, I’m going to pop out to Ikeda’s for more tomatoes. I kinda feel like going to the bookstore but that’s on the other side of town. We’ll see, maybe my daughter will want to go.

I am thankful to have started recycling again. It’s kind of a pain to do but I’m keeping it manageable. It’s in a convenient location so I like that. I only had 3 bags, so I got back $8. Not bad. I think next time I’ll wait to have a bit more.