Category Archives: Flylady

The week ahead…

Posted in California, cooking, Flylady, meal planning, Myeloma, Uncategorized, Walking by

I missed writing Simple Sunday yesterday for no reason other than I didn’t get to it. We walked yesterday and it was nice. AH is still there, EVERY SINGLE DAY, but we avoid him and it’s fine. Today is our no walk day so I stayed in bed till 5:10am. ( really):(

Our weather is headed for terribly hot by Friday at 107 degrees. Geez I’m not sure our planet is going to survive global warming. The water situation in the southwest is dire and we are in a drought here for sure. All the reservoirs and lakes are way low, Folsom, Shasta, Tahoe all are very low. We are watering a lot for the gardens but I’m thinking by August I’m not sure that’s going to be reasonable and we probably should let some of the garden beds just go to seed. The 3 garden beds in the front are a wash as the gopher is eating everything so that’s just a waste. I’m planning on having my daughter dig up what’s there and put in some lavender plants and some more flowers.

This week is the bathroom zone and I may do some work in the sun room. I’ve had to move ALL my plants out of there because it is no the catio( kittio) playroom. they’ve knocked over and broken two pots already so now I have them in the front room and it starts to make me a bit claustrophobic. But it’s temporary till the kitties are older, I hope. We still haven’t gotten the voucher for mamakat so we may just have to pay for the spaying which is really expensive. But if we don’t do it soon, she will go into heat again and then everything’s complicated. So fingers crossed it’s there this week.

Last night’s dinner was cheese tortellini with pesto, watermelon and some left over potato salad. Tonight I’m planning on a quiche since I have some gruyere to use up. Then Tuesday is mexican and I might do a chile relleno bake with some pintos. I have some turkey burgers to use so I’ll do that Wednesday and a veggie burger for B. I’ll probably make some macaroni salad too.

My only appt this week is Velcade. Last Saturday was another rough day with feeling pretty lousy. Fortunately, it does pass, but still. Another Myeloma buddy died this past month. I was quite upset as I’ve been blogging buddies with her for about 8 years. Julie was funny, smart, a real warrior in the sense she never really had any treatment breaks like I have. She kept on. Then around 3 years ago her husband developed Alzheimer’s and died last year. So she had that to deal with as well. I will miss her.

I’m thinking of doing a Walmart pickup this week. I need some misc. stuff and Walmart besides Winco is the best place to go.

Well, I better go get the bathroom done and do some house tidying.

Simple Sunday

Posted in budgets, California, Flylady, Myeloma, pets, simple foods, Uncategorized, Walking by

A beautiful day here in Northern California. Not too hot and the next week looks really nice. We had a nice walk in the park this morning too. We missed yesterday because it was my Dex morning and my brain just isn’t all there.

We plan on going to Costco on Tuesday and then Wednesday I go back down to Rocklin for my Velcade shot.

We haven’t shopped Costco in over a month so that helped the grocery budget for sure. This won’t be a huge shop but big enough with basics. Plus I need flour,sugar, rice and other staples.

We’ve been watering like crazy and our water bill shows it . It’s $132 this month and I suspect it will be higher next month since we filled the pool. Oh well, in the winter it’s PGE in the summer it’s Meadow vista Water company. (sigh)…

We had some tamales for dinner last night( frozen ones I bought) so dinner was easy and no prep except I made a fresh salsa. The tamales were a New Mexico brand and they were ok not great.

Tonight I may just throw another freezer meal in and call it good. This week on the menu is:

Panko shrimp with jasmine rice, crispy tofu, bag of asian veggies( Trader Joes).

homemade mac and cheese to use up a block of sharp cheddar I have,

OOni pizza on Friday,

Something with eggs like a frittata,

And I think I’ll look for a recipe for an instant pot meal.

I need to go to Target to get a few things like stainless steel wipes, a basket for the kitty toys which are growing exponentially, paper plates for the cat food, some command hooks for the trailer and ?

BTW, 3 kitties are now in the foster cage in my office room/ everything room. My daughter has done an amazing job catching them and working with them. The last one is still out with mama and has been difficult to catch. She’s going to try today. We are going to call for Ciri to get spayed at a regular vet office hopefully this week.

Flylady zone is the kitchen which for some reason I thought was last week. So I did a quick sweep thru and timed it at 20 minutes. Really I could do whatever zone I want when it’s convenient but I just like to stick to the routine. Flylady’s book and program really did change my life when I needed it. Unfortunately, when I watched her on youtube, I was mortified at the Christian iconography all around her. I have no idea what religion she is but I think if in the beginning I knew that I would have not read her books. Fortunately, as far as I know that is never mentioned in her book( I may have to check that but I’m pretty sure I would have picked up on it.) Just to be clear, I have no problem with her being religious, but seeing a dozen weird crosses behind her when she’s doing a vlog is too much for me. That’s just me!

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Simple Sunday

Posted in books, camping, cooking, Flylady, simple foods, Uncategorized by

We’re busy getting the Rubicon set up for camping at Donner State park this week. I have most of what I need in there at this point.

I still need to prep some food as I plan on using the Lodge this time to make stuffed peppers with a tomato sauce. I might do a mac and cheese in the Lodge the 2nd night but still undecided. I like to use the small hibachi for BBQing so I might do that instead. We went thru all the stuff from the tent trailer and whittled it down to what we want in the new trailer. We have the white corelle dishes, bowls, and a serving platter, 2 pots, and 2 fry pans. I’m not sure I need 2 fry pans so when we’re up there I’ll see what we’re using.

This is a very quick trip and I’m not sure if we’ll be able to really tell what we need or don’t need. We’re hoping to find some place with hook ups in the next month so we can try out the things that run with power and the sewer hookup.

The kittens are growing and are now annoying tweens running around the barn. We are pretty sure we are not going to bring them in the house. The main reason is my daughter( who is really the one taking care of them) is actually allergic to cats so she has to wear a mask out in the barn. They are really cute though. MamaKat is quite friendly and we’re planning on her spay next week after we’re back from camping. Hopefully, we can get her in the cat carrier.

We had a nice BBQ of burgers, chicken and a veggie burger for my daughter’s birthday with a fruit tart for dessert. It was all yummy. I bought the Dr. Praeger burgers this time and I think they are way better the the processed Beyond meat stuff.

This week Flylady’s zones are the entry way and the kitchen. Our entryways are fine and maybe just need a spruce up but i’m not sure I’ll get to the kitchen zone till later in the week. It seemed like I just did it as the same thing happened last month when the week had 2 zones.

It’s supposed to be quite hot tomorrow with temperatures hitting 100. It’s way too early for such hot weather but I guess global warming is to be blamed. We are watering a lot so our water bill is going to go up.

I’m working on an idea for a series of posts about cooking. What I want to do is pick one or two recipes from every cookbook I own. If it passes the test of tastes good, ease of making, etc, I’ll keep the cookbook, if not, I’ll donate it back to the pet bookstore. I just feel I have way too many cookbooks that I’ve never made a recipe from. I like to look at them but not cook from them so that’s the challenge.

Kitchen zone

Posted in Flylady, home improvement, home stuff, Uncategorized by

I did the kitchen zone this morning. I actually timed it and it took an hour. I still need to water the plants and do the overhead lights but basically it’s all done. The bread stuff usually fits in the one bin but since we’d just been to Costco there was an overflow of ummm, danish things.

The new stove hood is great and I can reach the buttons/functions so that’s a big plus. We’re still hoping we can re do the counters with Ikea cabinets this fall but right now nothing is in stock. When we go in next time I’d like to ask the sales person if we can order and just wait.

This area will stay the same as it’s functional and we don’t need it different.

The top shelves you see will be replaced with boards and the same brackets I bought for the Ball jar shelves. I’ll also have B dropped them a few inches so the tops are more accessible. The shelves will also come all the way to the window.

This area will stay the same too as we just added that bottom shelf.

I wouldn’t mind a bigger window but probably that won’t happen. We will get a window though that opens up instead of sideways.

This is some of my All Clad. Barclay bought me a set when we finished building our house in Foresthill in 1988. If you ever need pans to last a lifetime, All Clad is it. I also have 2 frying pans and large stockpot.

The stove hood is a nice improvement.

As I’ve said the kitchen zone is my biggest zone mostly due to the work area. There’s the stove, hood, shelves, cabinets etc. so it definitely takes some time. I plan on getting a new stove sometime in the next year too.

Simple Sunday

Posted in cooking, Flylady, home stuff, simple foods, Uncategorized, Walking by

A lovely walk in the park this morning. It’s suppose to rain but it still hasn’t. We really do need some rain so I’m hoping later.

Today was a catch up day with taking care of some Flylady things. Swish and Swipe the bathroom, vacuum, mop floors, do the windows in the front room and my office area. Flylady has 2 zones again this week, the living room and then the entryways. I finished both but probably will tidy up around the 2 doors sometime this week.

My daughter bought a new desk that fits her better since she is still working remotely so we moved the Heywood Wakefield desk to the living room. I thought it looked to over powering by the one window so I had B move the other Heywood cabinet down to my office area and put the desk where that one was.

Both of these pieces I bought on ebay years ago and actually had them shipped across country.

I think the Heywood Cabinet will be more useful down in my space. The desk probably won’t be used as a desk but it does have a file drawer so that may be useful. Plus I love the shelves on the side. both pieces should have the tops refinished but I doubt I’ll get to it in my life time and really it’s not a priority to me.

I’m not sure I would buy any Heywood again but since I’ve never seen any out here, I guess I’m safe.:)

I feel pretty good this morning not too Dexed out. I have the week off from Velcade so that’ll be nice. I still need to see the doctor this week but that’s ok.

I talked briefly with my sister in Connecticut. Her small cell carcinoma has re-emerged as another nodule on her lung so she will need to start chemo in a few weeks. Fortunately, the scan showed her brain clear as that’s always a concern for small cell carcinoma. She has a huge support system with all her children and their families right near her. It seems a little odd to me not one of her children(5) ever moved more than 5 miles from her. But who am I to say. both my adult children still live her at least during these pandemic times.

I made a spaghetti sauce for dinner and we will have salad and spaghetti. One of my favorite youtubers, Ivy Kitchen, just did a vlog on some new dish ware she was promoting called Denby. It’s from England and really really beautiful. The prices are way out for me but I did go look on ebay and you can pick some random pieces at a good price. She was given at least 3 sets of these dishes in different colors. She does an amazing job with her food photography plus she has 350,000 followers so I guess that’s when the promos start coming in. She does have a great channel if you want to check her out.

Simple Sunday

Posted in cooking, Flylady, home stuff, pets, Uncategorized, Walking by

A nice walk in the park @ 6am so not dark but predawn. The jerk was still there but then left @ 6:15 so we had the path to ourselves. Nice!! The Easter christians were there for their annual sunrise thing but we avoided them.

The first iris are blooming now and so is the white camellia tree.

When we moved here almost 26 years ago there wasn’t much salvageable. But there were 3 camellia bushes. These were most likely heirloom from the 50’s. The only one to survive is this white one which is now more of a tree.

Under the camellia tree is buried Ollie and Finwe. Gosh, I still miss them everyday!!

This week is the kitchen zone. Because of all the painting and moving things, I don’t need to wipe a lot of shelves. Plus, I’ve been keeping up on some things I normally do in the K zone week, like the windows. It shouldn’t take too long to do.

For Easter/ Spring dinner( we don’t celebrate Easter), I’m making Southern Fried tofu which is just like it sounds. Like fried chicken but tofu. I dip the tofu( be sure it is pressed for a few hours) in an egg wash then coat with a blend of parmesan and bread crumbs.Then I fry. I serve it with a homemade tartar sauce made up of mayo,green olives, parsley and stone ground mustard. I usually make potato salad but I think I’ll do macaroni today.

The painting commences today and hopefully we will be done till we tackle the bedroom which was,as I said previously, kind of a mistake to start. Now we will need to finish it. That’s okay we’ll do it soon. I guess I didn’t realize the touch ups I was doing were so dramatically different even though it’s the same paint. It’ll look fresh and bright when it’s done.

Spring Refresh

Posted in California, cooking, Flylady, home stuff, husband by

Another beautiful day.

Today’s our no walk day so I’m going to get started with my Monday reset. Dust, windex mirrors, vacuum, and do a general tidy up.

I used feta which is traditional. But I did like the addition of pine nuts so I added those. I also did more layers than she called for.

A few of my Vintage Easter cards

When I did the Antique Flea markets many years ago I love selling these old post cards. many of them had the original stamps and were written to people.

Here’s the Simply White trim on the door and today I’ll work on this part of the wall. As you can see this was the outside wall that was all rebuilt when we remodeled 26 years ago. I plan on switching out the light for one of those gooseneck industrial lights which I think will work there.

A couple of more bunnies. That marble eggs is something that came from Barclay’s mother. I think probably from when she was a girl. We have never kept much from her as, well, besides she never sent us much, we just didn’t get along. Or I should say she didn’t get along with her son,B, or me for that matter. She was raised very wealthy, on a sugar plantation in Haiti early on and then they moved to NY. Later her mother, moved to Sarasota Florida. Very wealthy. I guess the hippy, alternative son was too much for her. This was from the woman, who with her second husband, BArclays step father, had houses moved because she didn’t like them so close to the road,. Then later they bought a maple syrup farm in Vermont. That was the one place they lived that I did love but the one time we went to visit, it had to be 1980, they also had raised a herd of some kind of small black cow for meat. She named the cows after her kids. Weird ?? Huh?? She joked ‘Barclay ‘was in the freezer. Good thing we were vegetarians.

Well, enough down memory lane. I need to go do the living room zone. BTW, Thursday starts the entryway zone as April 1 is Thursday.

Monday Musings

Posted in budgeting, budgets, cooking, Flylady, home stuff, Uncategorized by

It’s cloudy today. I guess no BBQ tonight. That’s ok, I have plenty of things I can cook. Because of chickens laying so many eggs, I will make a quiche of some sort. I have the pie crust in the refrigerator chilling. I don’t know why I resist making crusts. In the food processor it took all of 2 minutes to get it to form a ball and then into the fridge.

This morning I have already done the bedroom zone, made the quiche crust, windexed the mirrors and am still needing to vacuum.

I also paid the UCD bill for April by phone. I still need to do Allstate some time this week. That’s not due till April as well but I might as well do it sooner than later. I can remember vividly when we had zero money to pay bills on time and always had to do payments. Even our property taxes we had to arrange. Grocery shopping was limited and there was NO extra money for anything. I am grateful that we can pay what we need to. There’s not a lot left over but to me that’s fine as long as the basics are paid.

My son, who spends money like crazy,:) asked for a special edition Rockstar Pendleton for his birthday so I will do that too. It’s a throw size and quite stunning in reds and blacks with men on horses riding facing forward. I guess it’s from some game he plays.

The kitchen is back together and next we will move on to the entryway and B’s cubby. The one wall was actually an outside wall so it’s the siding on the house. It’s painted in the Navajo White I used originally around the house. We’re planning to use the semi gloss on that and the other siding too. I don’t think we’ll start this week but maybe Saturday. This area was a deck that we built right after we moved and remodeled. So 26 years ago. Then at some point we closed it in as room. At some point we should make the foundation of it up to code as it is only on foundation blocks. i don’t know maybe that would work but I doubt it and it would need concrete. Well, that’s out of my zone of things to think about.

Today is our no walk day and I don’t plan on going anywhere.

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, cooking, covid-19, Flylady, Uncategorized, Walking by

Daylight savings is so weird. I wish they would just pass the law and leave time in the spring alone since both mornings and evenings have plenty of light. I woke up at 4am on clock but it was 5am with the spring ahead. So I got up at 5:30 after I got the coffee going. We went out to walk about 6:10 or so and so really that was 5:10. AH was already there so I guess he’s on the same schedule as us. His dog crapped all over the path right where we walk but he didn’t pick it up. Just left it for someone else to do. Tomorrow is Monday and it’s our no walk day so that will give us another day to adjust.

We’re in for rain mixed with snow tomorrow. We need rain so can’t complain really. I’m planning to go to Costco tomorrow so we’ll see how that shapes up. I can hold off if necessary. Mostly it comes down to needing coffee:)

Flylady zone is the bathroom which I will do a little later.

I’m planning on a stir fry( tofu and veggies) for dinner with some rice. This week I wil BBQ( once the weather is nice again) some steak bits, tofu, and I have some chicken defrosting for a mediterranean dish with artichokes and olives. I also have a cabbage to use for something. We don’t eat the corned beef stuff and cabbage for St Pats day. I may make something similar with tempeh. Tempeh and cabbage and potatoes??? We don’t eat a lot of tempeh but it is good for certain things. I especially like tempeh reubens. You grill the tempeh, mustard,add sauerkraut and cheese. A trick I learned is to slice the tempeh thin and then soak in water for a few minutes as it takes away some of the bitterness that tempeh sometimes has.

After finishing the front room , I was pleased that the only thing I decluttered was 3 mini puzzles from so dollar store my son bought us for Christmas. We did them and now they can go to someone else. Other than that not much was deemed unnecessary.

T

The teak book case empty. This was a Salvation army find many years ago when you could still find deals there. I think I paid $20.

Some of the Easton Press Books.

The couch wall done.

More Easton Press and LP’s and photo albums.

It should be a good week. My daughter gets her 2nd covid shot this week. She’s a bit of a hypochondriac so hopefully it all goes well. The first shot did so I don’t expect any problem plus she will take a Tylenol and allergy pill when she gets home.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, camping, cooking, covid-19, Flylady, travel, Uncategorized by

I got my 2nd covid shot on Friday and it all went fine. It was easy in and wait 15 minutes after the shot. My arm was slightly sore but that’s it so I’m pretty jazzed.

We hit up Trader Joes and spent right around $200. That included some pantry stuff and assorted snacks and wine. It was fine till 9 am when they opened it to under 65 and then it was a madhouse so we quickly left.

Our two flowering cherry trees are in full bloom.

They are quite pretty this year. Some years because of rain or snow they don’t reach full bloom but these did. The bees are happy!

All the daffodils my daughter planted this fall are coming up too.

They are up and down the new fencing and just past our entryway driveway. Those trees on the right are our neighbors,Leo’s, so you can see how close that is to our parking area. That’s why we will want a fence there.

I’m planning on making a curry for dinner with veggies and rice. I have some broccoli that needs using and I bought some cauliflower too.

This week is the kitchen zone and I will start that tomorrow. Today I want to vacuum and do some other chores. We are headed into some rain tomorrow and for the next few days too. Monday is our no walk day so I can get a head start on the kitchen zone. Barclay is planning on starting on the LR walls painting. We figure a wall at a time or maybe a wall and a half with everything that needs moving. The bookcase wall will require all the books removed. So a bigger job than the fireplace wall which only has a Heywood Wakefield cabinet.

Still no luck getting a reservation at Nevada Beach. Now reservations are for almost the second week of September. I’ll keep trying but feel it’s probably a wash.