Category Archives: Flylady

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cooking, Flylady, home improvement, home stuff, Political things, Uncategorized, Walking by

A nice Sunday walk to wake up the old body!!!!. We get up fairly early 5am or so usually 5:15 and have coffee. Then we go to the park and do 2-4 rounds. Today it was just us and that is always a treat. The Canada Goose families were there too!! The babies are all growing.

Supposedly the kitchen pipe is getting fixed today so that’s a good thing. The next issue is the wood on the foundation is pretty rotted and will need to be replaced. That could be a bigger job than just the pipe. So maybe it’s a good thing the pipe was leaking as we would never have pulled off that siding.

After tidying up I went to the Auburn gym and did weights and treadmill. I was going to go to Safeway as they have corn on sale again but I didn’t feel like it after the gym. Maybe tomorrow. After getting home, I put a chicken in the oven to roast for dinner. I made some coleslaw too.

The yogurt was put in a colander and drained off the whey. So what were 2 quarts of yogurt after draining the whey was one full quart. This method is pretty great and I feel I’ll keep making yogurt this way once a week. I figured out the cost factor to be @ $2.00 for an organic probiotic yogurt quart. The Nancy’s probiotic yogurt I’m using as the starter was $6. So a significant savings.

I moved a few house plants around for summer and probably will need to move some out of the sun room as it gets too hot for them. But since it’s still cooler out, for now their fine.

I’m glad something is happening with the debt ceiling crap but who knows? I’d like to see any of them deal with having to rely on SS to live and then see how fast they do something to change the system. Every Senator and Congress person should be required to live for one month(or more) with $$ xx for one month and see what it’s like. And it should be what the average senior gets which I can’t remember but I think it’s only $1500 or less.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, camping, cooking, Flylady, travel, Uncategorized, Walking by

We had a nice Sunday walk in the park. Quiet with only the Canada Geese families around. I think we counted 6 families.

I went to the Auburn gym for a bit and then when I got home sliced up the jalapenos for refrigerator jalapenos. It’s an easy recipe of 1 cup white vinegar 1 cup water, tsp of pickling salt, and 1 Tsp of sugar. Boil that and then pour over the jalapenos in the jars. Cool and then refrigerate.

I labeled the Chicken Chili Verde pressure canned jars and put them in the pantry. I plan on trying a few other of the Ball meal-in-a-jar recipes. There’s a chipotle taco meat one that sounded good. There’s also a chickpea stew one that’s vegetarian I want to try as well.

B cleaned out the inside of the fridge and freezer while I was gone so that chore is done. I plan on doing the kitchen zone tomorrow. Monday is usually my home reset day. I do the little things that need doing and the zone cleaning.

I made a quiche crust to make a spinach quiche for tonight. ( not anything to do with the coronation, just part of my meal rotation.) I had preordered the new Magnolia cookbook and will look thru that today too. I like her recipes and find them to be very good most of the time.

This is a quiet week with only one appt. I have an appt to get my booster. Other than that, just normal stuff. Next week we’re in New Brighton for the week. Hopefully, the AC charge they did works. I still think there’s probably a leak but at least for now, it’s working.

Simple Sunday and blog anniversary

Posted in bread, California, cooking, Flylady, Myeloma by

I started my blog in April 2012. I really wanted to document how my life with Multiple Myeloma was. At that point, I had been on Revlimid for 2 years and would stay on that for 3 more years till it was no longer working.

I had already begun becoming more minimalist and had been decluttering using Flylady for a few years. I mostly wanted to journal using the blog as the forum because writing( in a notebook), a journal never appealed to me. It’s been a fun outlet for me. So here I am 11 years into blogging and about ready to start another round of Chemo( well, I hope not till fall).

Spring has sprung here in Northern California and it’s been quite nice. The trees are starting to pop out and our white camelia tree is blooming( very late I may add). We had the Ooni fired up for Friday night pizza and last night used the charcoal Weber for chicken and veggie dogs. Tonight, I plan on Spanish rice, chips, and Pico de Gallo, and some main dish. I might open a pressure canned jar of veggie stew.

This coming week is just regular stuff. I plan on trying to go to the gym and pool twice each. We’ll see. That’s a lot of driving so, I’ll just see how I feel.

I’m making a loaf of sandwich bread right now. I’ve been trying to not eat bread but the rest of the fam needs it so I used the Kitchen Aid and made a King Arthur recipe. My son thought his partner might like the Zojirushi so he took it down to their place. I actually feel good about letting it go. I guess the final question was did I have the space for it and really I didn’t. It was in the closet but now I’m using that space for something else. Plus, most of the bread I make is sourdough in the Dutch oven and I only used the bread maker for the dough cycle for sandwich bread.

I sorted thru most of my canning jars and I have plenty for this season. I think I’ll buy some lids though so I have extra. Probably Winco is the best place to get them.

Well, I’m off to finish the bedroom zone and get the bread in the oven.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cooking, Flylady, swimming, travel, Walking by

We got to the park earlier than normal to avoid the Easter sunrise Christians. :)Whew, we made it out just in time before the singing got going:)

The weather for the next week looks wonderful. Today should be around 70 and tomorrow 72. Napa looks just as nice. It’ll be interesting to a hotel after all this time since we got Rubi but I think it will be fun and there is a heated pool so I plan on doing maybe 20 minutes of swimming. B even bought a pair of googles to swim with.

Here’s what the pool looked like when I got there yesterday at 6:50am. By 7:45 when I was leaving people were waiting for any lanes as they were all doubled up. So I had a lovely swim.

There’s the new spring babies at the park.

I’m sure these had just hatched!! So cute.

Since we’re atheists, Easter doesn’t mean anything special to us but for lots of people, it is a significant religious thing. I do appreciate that Easter still follows the calendar of the first Sunday after the full moon after the spring equinox. At least I think it’s pagan. This was decreed in the council of Nicaea but the original Easter is Eostre, from the goddess of fertility.

We’re going to fire up the Weber for the first time and BBQ some veggie dogs, chicken and veggies too. We will probably eat out on the patio for the first time if it gets cleaned up.

I’m in the bathroom zone this week.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, California, cooking, Flylady, home stuff, reading, Uncategorized by

Our beautiful spring weather of sunshine and warmer temperatures is back. It’s so nice to go out into the yard and see spring popping up everywhere. Greengrass, trees budding, the flowering cherry tree is still beautiful despite losing those branches.

Yesterday, I didn’t swim because I had an allergy attack and didn’t feel great. Also, it seems after I swim more vigorously like I did on Thursday, I get a ‘lactic acid’ attack the next day so that may have been some of it. Since I’ve increased my weights to 15-20 lbs, I am definitely swimming harder. Yay to that but then I get the downtime too.

Today, we’ll walk and then I plan on going into the Auburn gym for a bit. Tomorrow, I have labs and then I will go down to the Roseville gym. I have books to drop off. I’ve been reading the Dales Detective series( which is fun reading) and had gotten the 4th one in the series as a zip book. I plan on doing the 5th one as a zip too, but you can only have one at a time.

Yesterday, I washed the Ikea couch covers. I had checked about getting a new set but lo and behold, they don’t make the Ektorp couch anymore. I was kind of shocked. It’s been replaced by the Uppland. So I guess until I plan on getting a new couch, I’ll be washing these covers. BTW, they do wash up very nicely and I love having a white couch. The next couch though I think I want is a bit more modern looking and I think it only comes in a grey color which I do love also. The covers on our Poang chairs are a beautiful grey and look good with the white.

I plan on making up the week’s menu plan this morning. So far I have:

  1. chicken pot pie (shelf stable that I canned) and tofu pot pie with green beans
  2. pizza night
  3. Taco night or Mexican night, BTW, the pressure canned pintos came out delicious.
  4. A stir fry night with the veggies from Costco probably with tofu and rice
  5. I have some cheese ravioli to use from the freezer so I might do that
  6. ,???
  7. I have some tilapia to use too, so I’ll pan-fry that with asparagus and potatoes on the side

This week is the kitchen zone so I’ll start that this morning. I’ve been doing a little every day but still I like to do it one fell swoop so it’s all clean and shining.

B went back down to Costco to buy another pear tree because you need 2 to pollinate. They’re good sized trees so we might get some pears in 3 years. I wish we had planted more fruit trees over the years but we never did. Our apple tree was planted when we first moved here so it is over 25 years old and in a good year produces tons of apples. Last year, sadly, all the blossoms got killed by that very late frost and all the orchard around here lost entire crops of apples.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cooking, Flylady, Pantry by

Another rainy day! At least we had a few days of sunshine which were so nice. We didn’t even walk this morning because of the rain. Usually, I will walk in the rain anyway but this morning I was just done with it. I figured I was going to the gym so I’d get my walking in there.

This morning I started on the pressure-canned split pea soup. Right now it’s in the canner going for 90 minutes. I got the split peas cooked first then turned them off while I went to the Auburn gym. It was nice because almost no one was there. Then after getting home I finished the soup with chopped carrots and onions( thanks B) and let that cook for another 30 minutes.

Our flowering cherry tree is in full bloom. It’s a cheery site on a rainy day. Plus the daffodils are up and in full bloom too.

Tomorrow, I have my eye doctor appt for a macular scan. I’ve been on the fence as to whether to do the surgery and so far it’s been no, I don’t want to deal with it all. I guess as long as my left eye can compensate, that’s good enough. If it were to get worse then I’d have to do something.

The rest of the week is just normal stuff. I don’t have any shopping to do and that’s a relief. We might do a lunch date on Thursday but we’ll see.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, bread, California, camping, Flylady, Pantry, Uncategorized by

More snow!!!

Yikes, we are getting clobbered. I -80 is closed again for the billionth time. Well better that, than tons of accidents, which there still are plenty of.

I made it home just in time from the pool when the rain/snow started coming in. This morning it was snowy on the ground but we still went for a walk.

I did a fairly big shop at Winco and was glad to get that done. I bought lots of produce and some items for the pantry like mustard and jalapenos. The store was very busy which thought was odd since all the Saturdays I’ve been there it’s mostly empty. ???rain maybe??

I just finished the Kitchen zone and have now started another WW bread dough to rise. My order from King Arthur came super fast, and that had the vital gluten you add to your dough and the baker’s dry milk. I think in the bigger picture, I’d rather use the Kitchen Aid to make the dough and let it rise in the bowl. I’ll still think about it but I think maybe the bread maker will go sometime this summer.

I’ve been thinking about where to put more shelves for the shelf-stable pressure canned and regular canned goods. I came up with behind the bedroom door is kind of empty space that could handle a shelf unit. The french door is about 11.5 inches from the wall so a unit would fit. This is the one I’m looking at.

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/ivar-shelf-unit-pine-s49248311/

I would get 2 extra shelves because some jars like pints don’t need a lot of room. Since I did the kitchen zone and tomorrow is my day to not do any workouts, I plan to go to Ikea. ( unless it’s snowing:( )

If it works, it will free up the closet shelves. Since we only have one closet in this house, storage is always a challenge. Because it’s open shelving, I may have to hang a cloth or something as I have issues with too many visual things around. Speaking of which maybe I need to remove some things that are on shelves or the wall. Every once in a while I remove some items to see how it looks. What helps me the most is taking pictures and then looking at them with a critical eye.

This week is a fairly normal week with swimming and the gym. We’ll do Costco sometime too this week. Next week is our trip to New Brighton, but again it depends on the weather. If it’s raining here and there, then no. Capitola’s weather is usually milder than here so there’s that.

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, California, camping, Flylady, travel, Uncategorized, Walking by

A quiet Sunday. We walked and it was lovely in the park. No one there but us and the Canada geese.

I did the bathroom zone and then spent more time(wasted) looking at reviews on meat slicers for bread and whether an electric knife would be better. I’m undecided. I baked another sourdough and this one was some whole wheat. I timed cutting the other boule with my Mercer bread knife, which came in at under 4 minutes. Most of the slices were even. I guess one advantage of the bread slicer is it’s doing the work for you and not your arm.:)

After that, I went to the Anytime fitness gym. It wasn’t too busy today. Today’s Superbowl so maybe lots of people were doing other things.

This is another just the normal stuff week. I always appreciate the ‘normal’ weeks. Next week we’ll be in Napa so that’s exciting. I think we’re going to drive up to St Helena maybe to a winery. It’s only two nights so I know I want to go to the Rancho Gordo bean store and also back to the Public marketplace we liked so much. And there’s the river trail that we only did part of.

This week I’ll do a recheck of our taxes and then get ready to pay the little we owe and send it off. I suppose I could wait but not sure I need to. I’d rather they be done and gone.

Well, that’s it for this week.

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, budgets, California, camping, Flylady, meal planning, Pantry, travel, Uncategorized by

Another rainy Sunday.

I went to the gym in Auburn(Anytime Fitness) and did the treadmill and weights. Then I went to Safeway for some groceries to tide us over till we do Costco.

So far the menu planning for the pantry this week is:

Cheese/chile tamales from the freezer( used up the last 4) with refried beans and salad

Beer Brauts from the freezer( the last pack) with peppers, sauerkraut, canned baked beans( my shelf stable beans I canned, and Boca burger for B.

Chickpea curry over brown rice with broccoli( using up broccoli)

Tofu burgers

Chicken noodle soup/ lentil veggie soup

I’ll see what else is in the freezer and add a few more meals. I probably can’t get thru all February but I know I can do another week at least.

I’m back making some sourdough and have done a few loaves already. I plan to freeze 1/2 of each loaf so we have bread ready for toasting or grilled cheese.

I’ll see what else is in the freezer and add a few more meals. I probably can’t get thru all of February but I know I can do another week at least.

I’m back making some sourdough and have done a few loaves already. I plan to freeze 1/2 of each loaf so we have bread ready for toasting or grilled cheese.

There’s nothing on the agenda this week so It’ll just be normal stuff. B did book us a reservation at Napa RV in a few weeks. There are full hook ups which is always a treat and that’ll give us a chance to take Rubi out for the first time this season. It’s only 2 nights but it’s also only an hour and a half away. Maybe with towing. We really enjoyed our stay there last time and knew we wanted to go back. Unless there’s a really terrible storm we’ll go even with a little rain.

The Flylady zone is the kitchen if you want to do Flylady. Just set a timer for 15 minutes and declutter, wipe and clear counters, be sure there are no dishes in the sink or drainer, tidy shelves too. Just do what you can in 15 minutes and then do it again tomorrow. I have a laminated sheet that has my chores for the kitchen and I off each one when I’m done.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cancer, cooking, Flylady, Walking by

A nice simple RAINY Sunday which is fine with me. It’s just a nice drizzle although there is a winter storm warning for the Sierras. We walked this morning and it was just starting to drizzle as we left.

I went to the gym in Auburn and used the treadmill. I’m using this gym on Sundays for a quick workout to add to what I’m doing. It seems Sunday morning is old men’s morning who don’t use the wipes after using machines:(

Then I went to Safeway for a few things. Groceries are certainly expensive.

Then I came straight home and spent the last 2 hours looking at vintage Levi’s. I pretty much only wear Levis so a Youtuber I like was wearing some great-looking Levis and so I asked her what # they were and she said vintage 501s. So I just spent(wasted) 2 hours looking and didn’t really see what I thought would work for me.

Next week I have my doctor appt and then just the normal stuff. We may go to Costco as their sale stuff starts Wednesday and there are some items we need ie: laundry soap, coffee, toothbrushes and I think a few other things. Other than that same old same old.

The Flylady zone is the living room and entryways. I did the LR zone already so I’ll just tidy the entryways. I think I’ll also do some kitchen zone too. I want to start with all my pantry jars and give them all a wipe-down.

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