Category Archives: budgeting

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Blood test, books, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, home stuff, medicare, Myeloma, swimming by

Yes, I am feeling thankful or at least hopeful the Santa Fe is doing ok. I went to the pool yesterday, and the temperature gauge stayed below half, where it should be. So I’m thankful and grateful, at least feeling a bit less stressed.

The pool was wonderful and not real busy. It’s so nice when it’s not crazy busy. I took my time as it had been over a week since I was there and didn’t want to overdo it. I really enjoyed it.

I’m thankful for another blog reader sending a Buy me a Coffee gift. Thank you for your kind gesture and support. Any donations I get I plan to use toward the car repair bill. So thank you kindly.

I researched the Medicare Part D plans and the one I’m on now will go up from $1 a month to $10. A big increase but still doable. It also seems to be the best for the drugs I take so I’ll keep it for next year. At least that’s done and out of the way. There’s not much choice but at least it’s done.

Today is just a home day and it has been drizzling. We really need the rain so it’s welcome. Tomorrow have the 6 month follow up with the Sleep NP in Roseville so that’ll be another drive to test if the car is doing ok. My CPAP is going well, overall. After I see her, I’m planning on going down to the library as I have a hold. I think it’s the Ann Patchett book, so I don’t want to miss that. Have you read that? I’m not sure what it is about.

My labs came back and my Kappa light chains went back up to 35.( 19.4 is high normal, for reference). So not really happy about that but what can you do. I see him in November but I’m sure he’ll just say, stable which it is and yet out of range. I’m disappointed but it is what it is. At least I feel ok. Well, I just won’t think about that today.

I’m not sure about dinner tonight. My daughter works late again, so I may just do quesadillas or scramble some eggs. I have some rotisserie chicken I can use too. I made some mac and cheese the other day and it came out so so. I cant seem to get the ratio quite right to have it not be so dry. Are any of you mac and cheese experts? I used the Costco aged cheddar so I know the cheese was a good one but it still seemed to fall short. Maybe I’ll just stick to a box or Stoffers. So thought the last time I had a Stouffer’s it wasn’t very good. Trader Joe’s one is ok not great. Oh well, we don’t eat mac and cheese all that often.

It’s almost the end of daylight savings time again. B and I used to joke about, how every year we are surprised by it and yet it happens every year. Go figure.

Well, I made it!

Posted in Blood test, books, bread, budgeting, budgets, California, decluttering, Uncategorized by

So I drove down to the Mahany gym after my labs, and the temperature gauge stayed steady. I drove more slowly as I was on ‘red alert’. I asked AI about the MPG not registering correctly, and it said it could be that when the battery was disconnected, it switched off somehow. But I called the garage, and the manager said that it was fine to drive and the MPG is just read out. I’m too ‘fried’ with it all to go back in right now so I’ll just wait till my energy comes back.

The gym was nice and fairly empty. After that I went over to the library but didn’t find anything on the new shelf to get. I also dropped off our ballots at the drop box outside the library. After that I dropped off a big load of stuff to Goodwill which included my breadmaker. I decided( finally) it’s too bulky and heavy for me to be lifting and putting on the counter so off it went. I’m sure someone will be thrilled to find a Zojirushi bread maker.

Anyway, a thank you to a blog supporter who donated to Buy me A Coffee. I am in awe of support when it comes. I had thought of at one time doing a patreon blog, but I just don’t feel that’s the right direction for me. I also don’t do ads as I find them very annoying so. So with that. I do thank you for the donation.

I’ll plan to go back down tomorrow to the pool and that will be trip #2 so fingers crossed. I also need to hit up Costco for coffee and a few other things. I need some socks. In the past I’ve always supported Bombas as they donate one item to shelters for the one you buy. But I cannot afford Bombas socks right now, so Costco will do. If the car is working ok, I’ll stop tomorrow.

We are heading into a change of weather with rain on the way. We definitely need it. Also, much cooler. I’ll need to get some firewood ready to have inside.

I’m working on November’s budget and writing a small Christmas list for the kids. I probably will do gift cards and a small gift or two. This will be our second Christmas without Barclay and it’s really just not the same.

Before the whole car debacle, I had put in a pick up order at Ikea for a wood shelf for my daily notebooks I use. I use one to track my CPAP numbers and 02 and a budget one and a few other misc. So I wanted a shelf to put them on near my desk. Well, that order got cancelled since the car was in the shop, so I,may think about driving down there to get it. It’s actually a spice rack but is perfect for holding a few notebooks.

That’s a bit of a drive so, I’d need to be emotionally ready if the car broke down:(

Saturday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, home stuff, Walking by

Well, I’m sitting here at 6: 30, and it still seems too dark to go for a walk. I’ll wait another 10 minutes or so. I’m not into getting there in the dark anymore. At one time, walking in the dark was one of my favorite things. Now, though, the path has lots of uneven places and holes, so for safety, I’ll wait. Update:/ I got there at 6:45 and it was fine.

Our weather has turned and it’s going to be cool and maybe even some rain. I think we’re ready. My daughter got all the wood stacked which was a big job. Since my son left the truck here while he’s gone we are planning at least one trip to the dump. Mostly it’s leftover junk wood that I’d like out of here. Frankly, I ‘m amazed at the crap still here that wasn’t taken care of. So my goalis, all of it gone by mid November.

I decided to go to TJ’s yesterday as it had more things I wanted on my list. It was busy for some reason. Maybe because it was Friday? I checked whether they had the fall mini bags but they are long gone. I did pick up the french fries and their has browns that we like because they are unseasoned. I also got some frozen meals of chicken chow mein and their fried rice for a easy dinner. TJ’s is so great for getting interesting things. I want to plan a trip when I have some extra money to get some Christmas things like chocolates and cookies. But not now.

A couple of my vintage Halloween things. Plus pumpkin boy and apple girl.

I’ve been doing some Sashiko on some linen blend napkins. I got the designs off Etsy and they stick to the fabric so it makes it easy to do them. I need to get more thread though. The sashiko thread is a bit silkier than embroidery thread. I’m planning on giving these to my son for christmas, at least that’s the thought now.

I have a few house things to do today and then I’d like to get back out to the garden shed. I had decluttered some but it’s a mess again so that’ll be my first priority today. Now that it’s cooler I get a bit more ambitious.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, freezer cooking, Gratitude, Pantry by

Well. I’m not too thankful that the bear came and knocked over the very full garbage pail this morning. He did it last week too. So I got up at 6am and decided to go look with the flashlight, and sure enough, it was strewn everywhere. We don’t have bear proof garbage pails here and besides it’s garbage day so it’s out on the driveway. Not sure if there’s a solution to this except maybe a bungee cord and then go get it when I get up?? I don’t think a bungee cord is going to keep a 500 lb bear out of the garbage.

Well, I am thankful I got out there before the truck showed up because if they see it strewn around they won’t stop. These new trucks are all automatic lifts so the guy doesn’t get out of his truck at all.

Another appt today, and I’ll be thankful when it’s over. But with this shot I’ll have to expect tomorrow the side effects won’t let me go to the pool or gym if it’s like last week. Fortunately, I did feel better by Saturday so hopefully this will be the same. My schedule has been very messed up with these shots and then side effects. I’ll be glad to get out of October. I have Velcade next week so that’s 3 days out. UGH!!!!

I made sole meuniere last night with some cheese raviolis on the side cooked with cherry tomatoes and olive oil, it was good. The raviolis were from the freezer and that’s one more thing out of there. I have one more serving in the freezer to use. I think from now on I’ll get the TJ’s pack and not Costco. Easier to get through.

The big freezer is emptying out nicely. I’m going to defrost it once it’s a little more cleaned out. I like having the chest freezer for extra things but not when it’s crammed full and there’s only two of us. I need to go get some chicken to defrost, so I’ll check on what else can get used. The raviolis were near the bottom and that’s why I used them. It’s been a challenging process learning to cook for basically just me and my daughter. We don’t eat all that much especially at dinner time. ( ok, then why am I overweight?? ha ha!!!) Well, for one, I am definitely not as active as I was even a year ago. I’m not walking as much and even with swimming, I dont get there as much as I’d like especially when there’s these appts. Plus, right now with gas over $6 a gallon, it’s hard to justify moe than 2 trips a week. Oh well, age catches up to us all.

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.