Category Archives: budgets

Midweek Musings

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, decluttering, home stuff, library, minimalism, Uncategorized by

Another shout-out to a supporter who made a donation. I am truly humbled by the kindness shown here. Thank you!

Well, yesterday I went down to the Roseville gym and did weights and the treadmill. I was going to walk the trail, but by the time I was done, it was already warm, and I didn’t have my hat. After that, I went to the library, which is next door to the gym, and got my 2 holds.

I got up to Costco around 10 and got the dishwasher pods( on sale), my vitamins, and protein bars that my daughter likes to take to work, also on sale, and AAA batteries I needed. I didn’t linger too long. I paid with some cash and put the small balance on the Costco CC.

I’ve been checking my SP02 every day, and the oximeter needed batteries. The daytime readings are fine for the most part, but there’s still a dip at night. Of course, that will be the primary discussion at my appointment, I’m sure. And that I will not do an in-lab titration test. My anxiety and my semi-claustrophobia would be too much for me. When I was first diagnosed, it was with a home test, but apparently, this test can fine-tune the CPAP machine. But as GEmini AI has pointed out, the SD card is giving him titration info every night. So???

Anyway, today is a home day, and I need to finish up some things. I want to get the recycling bags ready to go, put the thrift store stuff in the car, and tidy up some papers that are lying around.

I was playing around with Chat GPT with pictures of B’s office. And it came up with some nice minimalist images. I find taking pictures of areas that need some attention is a great visual aid. I’m a very visual person, so that worked, and I immediately removed a few things and rearranged some others. My printer is on the desk, and that’s one thing I’d like to find a different place for. But for now, that’s where it lives.

Of course, I don’t have a bookcase like that, but I do have the Billy shelves, and the desk is the Heywood Wakefield. The picture on the left is before I tidied it up. It’s a small area, but that’s where Barclay worked from home all those years. His desk was different, and the chair was an office chair. Well, it’s fun to do, and it gave me some good ideas.

Menu Monday

Posted in budgets, California, meal planning by

I did well last week with most of my food planning. So this week, I’ll look at what food items need to be used up.

I took some ravioli and the sauce out of the freezer. I think we’ll do that tonight.

I have some pulled pork I froze from last time, so I’ll take that out to use tomorrow. I have beans frozen as well. The refrigerator freezer is looking better.

I still have quite a few tomatoes from Costco, so BLTs might be on the menu board again. Plus, I do have romaine lettuce to use.

I plan on making some brown rice and will grill up some tofu and make a bit of a rice bowl with whatever I can find: green onions, cucumbers, and radishes.

I have a turkey roast in the freezer, and I’m thinking of doing that in the crock pot. I’d like to get that out of the chest freezer. I have some frozen peas and instant potatoes I can use with it. It would be easy.

Always a TBD, based on what I feel like.

I’ve been going down the rabbit hole trying to figure out my CPAP and SP 02. It’s still dipping at night below 90, and it needs to get sorted. Reddit has a dedicated CPAP group, and it’s been helpful to read there. I see the sleep doctor in a few weeks, so I want as much information as possible to present to him. I’m still waiting to hear about the overnight test. sigh:( It’s definitely stressing me out.

It’s always something.

Friday Things

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

A good furgal week overall.

I got gas at Costco, which was $5.65 a gallon, so it ended up at $40.( I usually fill up at half a tank).

On Monday, we took a fun day trip to Empire State Mine to walk the grounds. I wanted to use my Poppy Pass, but since it is a historical mine, they didn’t take that. So it was $5 for each of us to get in, and worth it. We stopped at Taco Tree for lunch, and that ended up $18. It wasn’t very good this time. Taco Tree is definitely a hit or miss.

Tuesday, I went down to Holiday Market here for romaine as I planned a grilled chicken Caesar salad. I also got some ham for sandwiches and sliced cheese. I spent $36, I think. I also went to the pet bookstore as I had books to donate. Then I found some books and a Poirot(DVD) set unopened. Total was $23.

I went down to the pool on Wednesday and then straight home.

Yesterday was a no spend/no drive day.

Today, I’m undecided if I’ll go to the pool. It’s only 6:30 right now, so I’ll think about it.

So, I’m pleased with the low spend week overall.

These are some pictures from the Empire Mine. This is the mansion; the mine area is in a different area. There is the shaft opening you can see, and the equipment. It’s amazing to see it and think men went down there to work. A bit of a dichotomy between the mansion life and where the miners were working.

The rose campion is in our yard.

Menu Monday

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

Part of a bouquet of flowers my son got for me. I separated it into 3 vases.

I hope all you moms of either humans or fur babies had a great day. My day was very nice. I went to the gym and did weights and some treadmill. Then popped over to Goodwill and actually found some stuff. Three dot notebooks,2 picture frames, a Starbucks mug, and a sweatshirt for my daughter. When I got home, my daughter made up a brunch for us, and we sat outside on the patio.

For dinner last night, I tried a new recipe for ramen. First, you blend up the veggies (carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and 1/2 apple in the food processor. Stir fry that till it’s soft and then start adding miso, broth, ginger, tofu, and some water. It was quite good, but it seemed to be a lot of work for ramen. I added 1/2 pack of ramen noodles, and we had some white rice on the side. There’s some left over, so I may have that for dinner again.

The rest of the week in no particular order:

I have some hot dogs from Costco I want to use. I’ll do them on the BBQ and have beans and sauerkraut too.

I think I’ll do a BLT night. We’ll see how that goes. I bought some nice tomatoes from Costco that are slicers, hence the BLT.

One night, I think I’ll BBQ some chicken. I used up all the salad stuff I have, so I’ll need to get something. I’ll get some romaine, so I’m thinking a chicken Caesar salad.

We had pizza last week, so I won’t do pizza again, I don’t think. I’m sure something will pop up.

Today is home reset day. So no gym and no pool. I like to take Monday to completely go through the house and make sure it all looks good, and check if any areas need attention. I know I need to water the sunroom plants. I’ll probably dust too. With the windows open now, the pollen is coming in.

I need to look at the week and decide which day to go to the pool and the gym. I don’t have any appointments, which is so nice, so I can just pick when I want to go. With gas prices, I’m intending to go down to Roseville only twice this week.

Frugal Friday

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, California, cash envelopes, home stuff, Walking by

Mostly a frugal week since I didn’t go anywhere for 4 days due to feeling lousy. Then on Wednesday, I went to the pool. Before that, I got gas, and it had gone up quite a bit from my last fill-up. Costco gas is still the cheapest, but yikes, $5.69!!

After the pool, I went to Costco as I mentioned and spent a little over $200. I took out non-food and wine, so the food cost was around $100. Non food included batteries, an orchid, and I think something else. Wine was my favorite, Kendall Jackson, which is $9.59 at Costco. Oh, and I picked up that Rose for Mother’s Day and the most expensive thing was some steaks for Mother’s Day and for the freezer. I think the pack had 6 pieces of thinly sliced rib-eye. My daughter and I will likely just share a piece, and the other counts as LTF for the freezer.

My food total so far is running around $300, so not too bad. I don’t need anything, so it may just be a small Winco trip or something.

I ordered propane and put that on the CC. I’m slowly getting the card paid off, but then something like this happens, and I need to charge another $257. Oh well, I’ll get there. sigh:(

I haven’t really been doing active cash envelopes. Most of what I get, I just use for groceries. I guess I need to try to do better, especially for annual bills. It does help when I have the envelopes even a bit filled. Well, I have a few months with just a few annual bills. Next month is the truck DMV, but my son will pay for that as he’s the one using the truck, so it may give me a chance to fill some envelopes for fall. Having lost 1/3 of my income after B died is definitely a factor. sigh:(

Well, today I plan to go to the gym and the library. I have a book to return. I don’t have any holds, so I may just browse the new items. I want to keep up with my weights as I feel they really do help. I’d like to find a new walking path for when I’m down there, so I may look at RPR (Roseville Parks and Rec) trail maps to see what is close to the gym. Sadly, the only paved trail up here is the park I walk at. Auburn has another paved trail at a park, but it’s not in my normal route. The MV park is so well used by so many people, and they come from all over because it is paved. I’m at the stage of life where I’d be concerned for my stability on an unpaved path unless I used my walking sticks. I have been taking them with me even to this park because they give me an added sense of security. It’s tough getting older.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, decluttering, Gratitude, Uncategorized by

I’m very thankful to feel ok again. Whatever it was, I’d prefer it not to happen again. Next time, I will be sure to drink some electrolytes. AI seemed to think that the need for them was contributing to my overall yucky feeling.

My labs came in at 30.4, so up from 29.1, but not too bad. .7 increase, and my ratio came down to 2.65 from 2.95, so that was positive. Another month of just keeping on.

I’m thankful for a day with nothing planned. I don’t have any plans for the day, so I’ll see what I get up to. I’ve been decluttering a few random items that I’m not using and will take to Goodwill once I have a few bags.

Today, I plan on making a chicken salad with leftover Costco chicken. The rest I’ll just freeze. Plus, at some point, make some chicken broth. I think this time I’ll pressure can it, so I don’t take up so much room in the freezer. But that’s not today.

We had a dead deer in our upper yard near the pond. We’re not sure if it got hit by a car or what. My daughter called animal control, and usually, if it’s on private property, they won’t get it. But since we said we had no way to move it, they took it. Why couldn’t it die on our neighbor’s property? I’m thankful they took it, though, as a number of years ago we had a dead deer down in the woods, and it just decomposed and certainly smelled for a while. We think that one, though, was a mountain lion kill, as there were only pieces left. Anyway, it’s gone.

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:(

Saturday happenings

Posted in bread, budgets, California, cooking, Death, Walking by

The estate planner meeting lasted all of 5 minutes to just sign the papers. She was going to record them that afternoon. Then the county mails back the paperwork to me. All good.

I walked this morning, and no one was around except the geese. It was nice. I did feel sad that one little gosling had been separated from its family, and the 2 adults it was trying to be with kept attacking it, which I’ve seen happen every year. Sad, it won’t make it.

Today I have a plain sourdough to bake, no inclusions.

This one is the everything bagel seasoning. The blueberry cream cheese one was interesting. I like the blueberries, but not the cream cheese. I froze most of it, thinking it would make a good breakfast bread /egg casserole. I wanted to bake this one in a loaf pan, but my cast-iron one is too small. I will need to buy a USA loaf pan to do that. I do have my pullman pan so maybe I’ll try that today.

The archive stuff my daughter has been doing is having an exhibit today. It’s for Sierra College’s 30-year time capsule. So we are going to go see that and get lunch out.

I finished watching Season 3 of Resident Alien. There is a season 4, so I’ll start that at some point. I then started Untamed, which takes place in Yosemite, and I like it so far. That’s on Netflix.

It’s cloudy today, and it looks like there is some rain forecast for tomorrow. But then next week looks really nice.