Category Archives: budgeting

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, home stuff by

We had a fun visitor in the yard yesterday. Big Bird!!

Mr Peacock lives down the hill from us but spent the day here in the front yard.

Today I plan on going to the gym and then home to do some house stuff. Tomorrow I have labs, so I’ll be leaving early and won’t have a chance to do my Monday reset. Hopefully, Dex will have done its magic and keep my numbers stable.

My son was over Friday night and spent most of Saturday doing stuff around here. He mowed and cleaned out the barn some more. He also took a load(another one) to the dump, and then he went up to his friends to get a truck full of firewood. Whew, I hope he didn’t overdo it. My daughter also did a bunch of mowing and weed-eating. This time of year, it’s hard to keep up with the grass growing. He’s a great thrift store shopper and found me a lovely Japanese print framed for $5.00. I’ll have my daughter hang it and then take a picture.

I went out and got gas in the VW. It was $5.15 a gallon in Auburn. Then I hit up the thrift store to use my credit and found ( I hope) an ice cream maker that works for 12.99. I actually tested it in the store, and it turned on so we’ll see. I plan on doing a simple vanilla to check it out. It’ll be fun if it works to do seasonal flavors like peach and strawberry.

We’ve been eating some rice and beans and pulled pork for the last few days, plus salad stuff. Tonight I’ll do a big salad and something from the freezer souper cubes. I need to work on a menu plan or at least an outline for the week. I know tofu will be on the menu as I have a few packs.

Friday Things

Posted in bread, budgeting, budgets, cancer, cooking, Death, frugalism, husband by

I had a good day yesterday. After infusion, I went over to the fancy Nugget. It is beautiful, but I could definitely not AFFORD to shop there. I was going specifically to check what RG beans they had. They didn’t have a big selection, but I did pick up one bag. Interestingly, the price was the SAME as on the RG website.

I haven’t tried these, so I’ll check them out. Then I also bought a fancy sandwich to share with my daughter, Texas hold ’em. I had my half after I came home. Also bought some milk and half and half that I needed. Overall, it is a beautiful store, but way out of my price range. I picked up some radishes that at Winco would probably be 79 cents, and they were 1.99, so yeah:( I’ll stick to Winco, TJ’s occasionally, and Costco, and now using the month free trial ( actually $1) at Walmart.

I do like the Walmart delivery, and my daughter did a pickup after work( it’s right there on her way home). She wanted some Bubbly water and apples, plus she threw in a few other things. She said it was super easy, so we may do that going forward. My daughter hates shopping, so this works well for her.

After I came home, I started on some freezer meatloaf and some spaghetti sauce. Not too sure about the meatloaf. I followed a NYT recipe, but it kinda looked weird, so I won’t know till I bake it.

Since today is a DEX day, I don’t drive or get on step ladders, so I’ll just potter around and see what I get done. I have a load of laundry to fold and a loaf of sourdough to bake. I’m using a loaf pan to see how I like that rather than the dutch oven.

Some more California poppies and the loaf pan.

Wow, it’s May 1st. A little over 10 months since Barclay died. I miss him every day. I miss our life together. 🙁

Simple Sunday

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

Even though it was sprinkling, I decided to go for a walk. The park was mostly empty except for the park worker who came in at 6:30, driving a big truck and maybe a little too fast. sigh!

We had a fun day yesterday at Sierra College’s time capsule event. It was well attended. We were going to go into Grass Valley and walk around, but the streets were closed for a vintage car event. We decided to go down to Colfax to Il Pizziaoli for their wood-fired pizza. It was delicious, and we had leftovers for dinner. yeah!!

I finished Untamed about Yosemite. I’d give it a B. The scenery was beautiful, but the story was not very developed. Just ok.

Today, I’m actually going down to Roseville because I saw a print of ‘The Great Wave’ by Hokusai on the marketplace. I’ve wanted this forever, and it’s framed. I’m going to meet the person at Trader Joe’s and then get a few things in the store. If I’m energetic, I’ll go down to the gym; otherwise, I’ll just come home.

I plan to make Rancho Gordo beans today in the crockpot. These are ‘eye of the goat’ beans, which I don’t think we’ve had before. I also plan to make some polenta as well. Other than that just home stuff and plan the week out.

I have Velcade on Thursday, so that means it’s Dex time again. sigh….

There’s a brand new Nugget market right by the infusion center, so I plan on going in and checking it out. I know they are carrying Rancho Gordo beans, so I’ll pick some up. I’m hoping they have RG’s Mexican oregano, which is absolutely delicious.

Oh, and my random loaf of sourdough.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get any cake:(

Frugal Friday

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

My new budget starts next week, so I did a preliminary write-up of bills and extras. May will bring DMV for Rubi and insurance. I was hoping for at least one month of no extras, but it won’t be May.

Groceries have come in high at almost $500. I’m not too thrilled with that, but again, the Costco trips include LT food, so I guess it evens out. I need to do better in May. I’ll probably aim for $400 for the 2 of us.

Speaking of groceries, I need to go to the store today. We need milk, salad stuff, and a few other things. I was going to do a Walmart order, but some of the things that I wanted were not available, so I canceled that. I guess I’ll either do Safeway or Bel Air. It depends on which way I go in town. I’d like to stop at the used bookstore, and I need to get gas in the VW. Have any of you done the Walmart delivery? It’s $98 for the year, and they now deliver in our area. I’m considering it, but Walmart isn’t my go-to for things as much as Winco is. But the convenience could be very nice.

I didn’t have any misc. spending so that’s positive, and no coffee or food out. I did buy a very large tarp from Amazon to cover Rubi, but that’s more of a necessity, as we need to keep the roof covered so it doesn’t get sun damage.

My daughter’s birthday is in May, and so I’ll need to budget for that. I’ll probably take her out to lunch.

Today I’m meeting the estate planner again to sign the revised trust papers and affidavit of death that the county needs. Then they will record them with the county. I feel good about getting it done.

Other than that, nothing else is going on, which is my favorite.

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!!

Menu Monday

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

I did get a lot done yesterday so I’m glad I just stayed home and focused on things.

The cranberry pecan bread came out great, too. The right side shows where I cut off a piece to taste it.

The ears on this got a little brown, but it may have also been the cranberries. Still, I’m super happy with how they are coming out. Today I have a jalapeno cheddar one to bake, but I’ll do that later after I get back from Roseville.

I still don’t have the feeding the starter and than make the dough down yet. What I tend to do is feed the starter in the morning, and then by the time it doubles in the afternoon, it’s too late to start the dough, so usually I wait till the next morning. It seems to be ok, but I could try feeding the starter in the evening.

Menu ideas for the week:

Last night we had Tuscan chicken in a pan. I think the Tuscan reference is that it had oregano and basil in it, plus parmesan. It used up the whole clamshell of spinach( which was what I was trying to do) and some tomatoes, too. It was good. When I cooked the chicken, I didn’t put all of it in the final dish, so I can use some of that for chicken salad.

Monday- I have some tortillas to use up, so I may just do quesadillas. I could add some chicken in too.

Tuesday- This is my daughter’s later night working, so I usually do something easy like scrambled eggs, waffles, or soup.

Wednesday- something from the freezer to use up. I have some french onion soup from Costco so maybe I’ll do that.

Thursday – I have a piece of beef in the freezer, so maybe fajitas. I also have frozen bell peppers to use also.

Friday- We didnt have pizza last week so maybe a homemade pizza.

Saturday – Again, a pantry or freezer meal of some sort.

I have some salad to use up today as well. I don’t plan on any big shopping except for fresh salad stuff.

Simple Sunday

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

I woke up with a headache. I think it was because I had some ice cream last evening. I rarely eat anything after dinner, so I think it threw my metabolism off. Anyway, I took some Advil, and it’s better.

I wasn’t going to walk, but then I powered through and did it. I really need to up my walking, too. Right now, I do about a mile, so I think I’ll try for 1.25 and see how that is. I haven’t decided on the gym yet, but I will soon. I went to the pool yesterday, so I got that workout in. If I’m going to Mahany gym this coming week, that’ll get my weights in.

Update: I decided not to go to the gym today and have a home reset day. 🙂

After the pool, I dropped off my Goodwill donations. That felt good as it’s been in the back of the car a while now. Besides misc stuff, I gave away 2 space heaters we weren’t using. It always feels good to declutter stuff.

We’re supposed to get rain tomorrow and Tuesday. My son was going to come up and weed-eat, but that won’t happen if it’s raining. He might just come up and work out in the barn. He’s done a good job organizing his stuff out there and getting rid of a lot too.

My starter is quite active now, and this was a kalamata garlic loaf. It came out really nice. Today, I’m going to make a cranberry-pecan one. I’ve been using my Krups slicer to slice the bread, then freezing about 6 pieces in a zip-lock bag. I plan on giving some to my son. The slicer is one of my better thrift store finds.

Thankful Thursday

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

That are temperatures are going back up. I had to make a fire during this spell, and that is using up our firewood. I guess I need to check when I can get some more.

I’m thankful to have enough energy to do things most of the time, although my legs always give me problems. Specifically, Dex affects muscles, and my leg muscles always feel a little weak. That’s even with doing squats, weights, walking, and swimming. I just live with it and get on. I did just buy some compression socks from Amazon, and they seem to help.

Flexibility. Today is my normal walk day, but I have to leave at 8am to get to Sacramento, so I’ll skip it this morning. I may go later after I’m back home.

I have to give a lot of gratitude to Pope Leo for standing up to the orange idiot.

Menu Monday, a little late!

Posted in bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, freezer cooking, medicare, Uncategorized by

First, a thank you to a subscriber who donated to my’ Buy me a coffee’. I was quite excited as this was unexpected and, of course, welcome. So thank you, very generous of you.

Last night we had nachos with beans, some beef, sour cream, avocado and salsa.

Tonight, I’m doing a Costco Veg barley soup with a cheese toastie.

Tuesday, not sure. This is my daughter’s late night, so something easy, maybe quesadillas. I still have some avocados, so that could work.

Wednesday, I have a freezer meal to use up, of orange chicken with rice.

Thursday, I think I’ll do some pasta with meatballs. I’ve been feeling like spaghetti. I have sauce I made in the freezer.

Friday, we did the takeout last week, so not doing that again. Maybe if it’s nice out, I can BBQ some chicken.

Yesterday, I went down to Mahany gym and did my weights. Then dropped off my books at the library. I considered going to Costco, but didn’t feel like it. I came home and baked the sourdough that was bulk fermenting in the fridge.

Today, I need to go to the bank and get my LLS. I’ve been putting it off, so today is the day. I might stop at Goodwill, which is in the same area.

I have some beans soaking, and I plan on processing them today. I soaked pinto and black beans, so we’ll see how it goes. We do like our beans, and especially Rancho Gordo beans. They have a new storefront in Napa if you’re in the area. I’m looking forward to going. Napa is only an hour and a half away, even a little less when there’s low traffic. So it could be a day trip. That would be fun for my daughter and me to do.

Sort of Frugal Friday

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

That’s mostly due to the cost of having the trust redone in my name. It’s actually reasonable at $300 plus county recorder fees. It should be done late next week. I’m not sure it was all that necessary but I feel better knowing it’s done.

We had incredible thunder and lightning last night and a huge amount of rain. It’s over for now, and only a sprinkle is happening.

Update: it’s pouring down rain.!!!

I decided to go to the pool and not the gym. I really would like to up my swimming. I popped over to Winco and spent $60, but $10 was on wine. I’m not sure where my grocery total is, but I think it’s low. I just did a rough tally, and I’m at $300 with another week or so to go. Some of that was Costco and long-term food items, so that evens out the costs.

I was able to throw a few extra dollars on the cc, so that felt good. Probably by the time I catch up, the next round of annual bills will show up. sigh:( Oh well, such is life at this point.

I’ve been using the new Rubbermaid containers, and I really like them. I can see what is inside each one. I did a bunch of food prep yesterday and used them. What I haven’t been using is the Chef Preserve that I bought. It’s like a hand-held vacuum sealer. I’ll probably see if I can sell it on Marketplace. The idea is great, but the usage is not so much. That’s ok, I’m all about trying new things when it seems like it will help. It wasn’t expensive, costing about $60. still …

That’s about it on the frugal side of things. How is your frugal life going? Where do you save money?