Category Archives: cancer

Frugal Friday and Happy 4th of July

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, cancer, cooking, frugalism by

I have nowhere to be and nothing big on my calendar, so I’ll be home doing what I always do.

We used to take the kids to the parade and watch fireworks every year. At some point, I guess maybe they were a bit older, we stopped because the traffic was insane afterwards, and there were too many people. Now, and over the last 20 years, it just doesn’t interest me. And now that I’m old, I just don’t do something if I don’t want to. Not worth it.

Frugal-wise, Costco was $200, with some of that being my favorite wine for this weekend and then lots of proteins for the freezer. I’m calling that part of the LTF storage as it was a bag of shrimp, another bag of salad shrimp, ground beef(3 packs), and some other sale stuff.

I went to Holiday here in town after getting back up from Sacramento. It’s easy and not crazy busy. I needed the cheese sticks that I forgot at Costco, and some salad things(broccoli, mushrooms, ?. I also got a jar of Hoisin sauce to make some stir-fries with. That’s it for me till next week, which is nice.

My appointment went well, and he did say that with these low numbers, kappa light chains can vary a lot. He said if it was a huge increase( like before ), we’d change up treatment. So onward! I do feel very lucky that my numbers and Velcade have kept me in near remission for the last 3 years. It’s a small price to pay. 🙂

Last night I made up a taco bowl, and it was tasty. I still have some ground beef left, so I may look up some other recipes to use it with. I’ll ask AI, which is fun to do.

I was finally able to upload my Sleep HQ data from my ResMed machine. It took trying like a dozen times till It finally went through. I think the problem was on their end, not the SD card. Anyway, it looked good. Some leakage (pressure), but not anything alarming like my mask coming off. Overall, I was pleased. My events have been around .5 which is statistically non-significant. Events need to be under 5. (AHI) . This is all CPAP lingo, but you get the idea.

Hope you all have a nice 4th, and share what you’re doing if anything. It’s always interesting to see how other people celebrate or not. Well, I guess different times of our lives are, well, different. With young kids, the parade and fireworks are cool; older now, not so much.

Miso soup for breakfast. an interesting recipe from that Japanese cook book I got. It uses tahini which I’ve never done.

Thankful Thursday

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

I am thankful that we are not sweltering like most of the East Coast. Our temperatures have been unusual for Northern California this time of year. Usually it’s 90’s and 100s. So very nice for us.

Last night we had some chicken wings from Costco, but they weren’t the best. I was disappointed as I bought them as kind of a special treat for dinner. I won’t do that again. The one thing I went into Costco for, I forgot, cheese sticks. Oh, well, I might swing in after my doctor appointment. The closer to 4th of July though the crazier Costco gets!!

I’m thankful this 02 ring I bought ( the RingConn) is tracking my 02, and it is different than the Apple watch 02. I guess the Apple watch isn’t as reliable because of movement, and can register an 02 drop when really all you’ve done is roll over. The ring is very accurate, and I’m very happy with it. If you have any issues that are similar, the ring is a great tool. I understand the Oura is the best, but I didn’t want to pay monthly.

Today, I go to Sacramento. I’m not too keen on driving with the 4th of July traffic, but at 10 am, hopefully it won’t be too awful. I’m hoping it’s easy in and easy out. My doctor is always pretty laid back, so we’ll see how it goes with my number increase. Realistically, though, there’s not much he can do until we see a different pattern, as I’ve said. All in all, it is what it is.

After going out today, I plan on staying home over the holiday weekend. I’ll look at how I want to plan next week, though, with the pool and gym.

My son is moving ahead with getting his dad’s Triumph going. He did the class and has the equipment now. I added him as a driver on the insurance, so he’s ready to get it started. I can’t say I’m thrilled about him riding a motorcycle, as it is dangerous, but he’s an adult. Still, as a mom, I worry. I did tell him that if he finds he doesn’t want to keep riding, he can sell the bike and keep the money. Motorcycles don’t sell very well here, so?

After the pool, I dropped off the Goodwill stuff, and as I was unloading, I realized it was quite a bit of stuff I’d been driving around with for the last month. So I’m glad it’s gone. I still have some food bank items, but I think I’m going to drop that off at the LFL in the park. Someone will want it. I might check, though, where there is a drop-off in the store. Usually, there is a bin for Food For Families. Maybe I’ll check that first. It’s not a lot, but I hate to just toss it. Since I’m trying not to eat carbs, there’s some mac and cheese in there, and I know someone will want that. Plus, some pasta.

Well, I better get myself ready to go!

Thankful Thursday, sort of..

Posted in California, cancer, Death by

I’ve had a difficult week and am not feeling very grateful. Mostly, I feel sad and overwhelmed. This week is the final week of B’s life and hospice; though they were great in the way they helped, it was still not easy. Well, it wasn’t hospice; it’s just the way someone dies. It’s not pretty, and everyone here at least has some PTS over those last days. Life does go on, and we go on, albeit differently.

Then Father’s Day is Sunday, and I’m sure that will be tough too. I wanted to do something special, like go to Tahoe, but right now Tahoe is filled with annoying tourists, and all the main roadways are under construction. When my son and I went last week, it was a disaster all around the lake, and Truckee was even worse. I-80 has numerous slowdowns with major construction, so no Tahoe right now. So, we will celebrate here, and I’m sure Barclay will be with us in spirit. I have a bottle of Veuve Clicquot in the fridge, and I think I will open that around dinner time. I’m planning on tofu burgers because anytime you ask Barclay what he wanted for dinner, he’d always say, How about tofu burgers.

I am grateful for all my great memories of the things the two of us did. Some were crazy when we were young, and then traveling in Rubi in our golden years. It’s been a year, but I’m not sure time is the factor here. Just trying to keep it together.

I haven’t felt motivated either. It could be the heat, as I definitely don’t do well in it. We are in a cooling trend so that will help if I can be outside more.

Meals have been simple this week. My daughter had some southwest chicken wraps from Costco; I had a quesadilla; we had pulled pork, beans, and rice burritos one night. When it’s hot, neither of feel like eating a lot. I still have a salad pack to use, so we’ll have that tonight.

I found an electric Cuisinart fondue pot at Goodwill, and I bought some fondue to try it, but I think I’ll wait. It is brand new in the box. I checked if it worked, and it did. I paid 6.99. We like fondue a few times a year, and the one I have is very small, actually a chocolate fondue pot, which I didn’t know when I bought it off eBay several years ago.

I do plan on going to the library, maybe tomorrow, as I have ahold and I want to return the 2 books I have. I’ll probably go to the gym first.

Well, on that depressing note, I hope your week has been better than mine, and this finds you well, healthy, and happy.

My new Ikea chair, my daughter put together for me. I wanted to get two and thought I’d wait till I got this one. But they were all sold out, as it was on sale for 70 off. IKEA stuff sells out frequently on their sale items. It’s quite comfortable, although not a curl-up-and-read chair.

Oh, that’s little Cherry lurking.

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. 🙁

A bit of catch up!

Posted in Blood test, books, budgets, California, cancer, cooking, decluttering, home stuff, Pantry by

The days have been busy, which is good.

I went to the gym on Sunday and then did some decluttering when I got home. I have a bag of books to take to the pet bookstore and a bag of odds and ends to go to Goodwill.

Monday, I continued decluttering out in the garden shed and a utensil drawer in the kitchen. I looked at things I’m not using, as I prefer to not have single-use things. I wrote out the menu ideas for the week too.

Mostly, using things I have in the freezer /pantry, which included using up the turkey chili, a box of cornbread mix, a jar of home-canned kidney beans, and some ends of cheese( cheddar and comte) to make a baked macaroni. Today I plan to prep what veggies I have and put them in glass containers. I have broccoli, beets, spinach, some lettuce, and carrots. I’m sure I’ve missed a few. My plan is to wash and put them in containers so I can see what I need to use. Too often, things in those new produce bags just get pushed behind things, and I don’t see them ( refrigerator blindness). To help, I ordered some containers from Amazon. They’re the brilliance Rubbermaid. Costco has these occasionally, but not right now.

We also had leftover Easter tofu, potato salad, and deli ham. I didn’t buy a ham since that would be too much for us, so I got some sliced ham, and it worked fine as a side dish. ( We mostly want the southern fried tofu with tartar sauce.)

Rest of the Week menu ideas:

BBQ chicken

One freezer meal

Bean burritos with toppings. This will use a can of refried beans in the pantry, and some of the toppings will use things up, too.

a pizza night

Orange chicken with rice and broccoli

TBD

After my labs on Monday, I went and got the Santa Fe smogged, so that’s done.

Tuesday, I headed to the pool, and it was quite mellow. I stopped and got some cash from the teller, as I want to give my son a few dollars to help offset the cost of the weed eater and the motorcycle class. I also stopped at Winco for spinach, broccoli, bananas, and a few other things. It was less than $40.

I haven’t gotten my kappa light chains back yet, but my other labs are all about the same. We’ll see:)

Update: just got them and they did go down 2 points. Not a lot and I hoped for more, but I’ll take it.

Today, I plan on getting the thrift stuff organized and put in the back of the car. Then I’ll go to town and drop some stuff off. I do have a big bag of books to go also.

I got the notice of the Fair Plan being changed, so that was good news. But paying for the new auto insurance added to my credit card balance, so be it for now. I just don’t have the income to pay it from my regular accounts. I think the only other annual bills coming up are DMV for Rubi and the truck in June. That’ll give me some time to concentrate on paying more of the CC stuff over a few months. sigh:( Still, I’m thrilled the auto insurance was reduced from the Allstate quote.

The rest of the week is open, so I’ll figure out whether I’ll do another swim or go to the gym. Because of gas prices, I’ll pick one or the other.

These are roses from the back yard area and the California poppies are in the front of the house.

Five on Friday

Posted in California, cancer, cooking, library, plants by

After my Velcade shot, I went down to the library and dropped off my books and picked up a new cookbook and a new Patterson. Traffic was weirdly light, so I’m guessing it’s the school’s spring break. Then I came home and did a few things.

I got the sourdough in the oven to bake. This loaf did ‘spring’ much, and I’m guessing my starter was strong enough. It still tasted good, though. I feed my starter and will probably do one more before I use it again.

Then I prepped for dinner by making oven bacon( while the sourdough was cooking. I had planned on BLTs with avocado for dinner. I had gotten Dave’s White bread at Costco because it was on a coupon, so I used that.

After a while, I took Dex and lay down for a bit. Dex doesn’t really kick in for a few hours. It was quite windy out, so I didn’t sit out very long. Today the temperature is around 70, so I should be able to sit out on the patio some.

Since it’s a dex day, I usually do those little things I see that need doing. The spot on the wall, the dust in a corner. Weirdly, Dex makes me so focused, and yet I won’t drive. Go figure. The only admin thing I need to do is call Allstate and cancel the auto insurance. I’ll do that in a bit.

My new fun hobby is getting orchids to rebloom. These took over 6 months, but I did get some!

Simple Sunday and almost the end of March!

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, cooking, decluttering, home stuff, Myeloma, swimming by

The park was nice this morning. I was the only one. I’ve been getting there at 6:30, so it’s not dark at all, but light enough to walk without a flashlight. Sunrise is 6:51 am, so very light.

Yesterday was a busy day. My daughter took down the shelf in the closet( our only closet) and repositioned it, and raised up my clothes bar.

It’s much more accessible now, and there’s plenty of room under my clothes for some banker’s boxes. The other side still needs some reorganizing. I keep my canning jars there, Christmas stuff, and 4 baskets that hold my clothes( undies, socks, workout pants. I’d like to get all the Ball jars together and put them on my Ikea shelves, which serve as my pantry, but I’d have to rearrange to make that happen.

I’ll spend some time today organizing that. I’m planning on giving away another case of quart ball jars. I might get out the paint( Benjamin Moore Simple White) and touch up the walls.

I also took down one of the velvet curtains and put up the summery ones. I had to iron them first and only got one pair done, so today I’ll iron the other one.

I made up a cabbage salad from Ella Mills new cookbook. We didn’t have it last night, but we will tonight. She’s a vegan but her recipes are quite good and I got some good ideas from it.

I’ll take some after photos if I remember.

I plan on going to the Auburn gym this morning and then dropping off a load at Goodwill. These days, I don’t have huge amounts, as most of my decluttering is done. But there’s always something.

This coming week is my Velcade and, of course, back on Dex. I guess we’ll see if it drops my kappa number, and then we’ll know that dex is important in my treatment plan. I’ll just have to relax with the dex and not go anywhere. 🙁

I think I’ll try to at least get a swim in. After Velcade, I could go to the gym to do weights, but I’ll wait and see how I feel. Other than that, it’s a normal week.

Hello Ocean!

Posted in California, camping, cancer, Death, husband, travel by

We had a great trip to Santa Cruz, Capitola, and Aptos. Since we left on Sunday, traffic was light and reasonable even through San Jose.

We did get there almost exactly as I planned at 12. From there, we went straight to Gayles for sandwiches and then down to New Brighton State Park. It was crazy busy, but we expected that as it was Sunday. After a few hours, we checked into the hotel, which was in Aptos. Quite nice, although a few things could have been better, but that’s nitpicking a little. The beds were comfortable and the location great. I rested up for a bit, and then we went to a Mexican restaurant in Aptos. That too was busy, but we were seated right away and had delicious food. The servings were huge, and since we couldn’t reheat them, we had to leave the leftovers. Before we went to the restaurant, we went to Sunset State Beach, and there were benches that I could sit on, and my daughter went down the stairs to the beach and walked. The third picture is the view from the upper parking lot where the benches were.

The next morning, we went back to New Brighton, and Dad had his Bon Voyage. My daughter took him out to a tide pool, and he washed away with the waves. I think he would have liked that.

We got coffee and breakfast next back at Gayles. I love Gayles. It is the primo cafe with the absolutely best food and pastries.

After we finished, we went to Santa Cruz and filled up with gas at the Costco. Then we went out to the lighthouse and walked the trail some.

The road in front of the lighthouse goes on to meet Natural Bridges State Park. It’s maybe a 3-mile stretch that goes along the coastline. We parked and took our camp chairs down to the ocean and chilled for a few hours.

When we were ready for lunch, we walked back up to the picnic tables and ate there. We wanted to go to the gift shop there, so we did, and I bought some cute Monarch Butterfly pins. Natural Bridges is one of the migratory stops for the Monarchs. We didn’t see any outside, as it might have been just a bit late for them. All in all a great day.

The hotel had a lovely outside dining area with a koi pond, so we had a light dinner there. Back in the room, I watched some Young Sherlock on my MacBook Air.

The next morning, we checked out and then got coffees and breakfast things from Starbucks and went back to Sunset Beach and ate there. This time, we drove down to the lower area and parked. The ocean is right there in the lower area. This is a very popular beach because it is quite flat and goes on forever, so people can walk quite far. The one picture above is the old ship that has been there a long time.

We had a good drive home without any delays. Traffic going in the opposite direction was insane, with stop-and-go for miles. We were glad we were going in our direction.

So, thankful we could do this and send B off. I still need to tally up what we spent on food and misc. After doing this trip, I feel pretty sure I don’t want to pull anything, even a tent trailer, so that makes things a little clearer. I’m still processing, but that seems to be the direction I’m going in. Obviously, if I had money, I’d buy a used Sprinter van, but right now that’s not affordable for me. So the process keeps going on.