Category Archives: Gardening

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Blood test, California, cancer, cooking, Gardening, Gratitude, home stuff, husband, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma, swimming, Uncategorized by

I’m glad the doctor app’t went as planned even though he was an hour late:(

I never complain because you never know who before you is in a dire situation. So we agreed that I’ll get my next set of labs before Tahoe and if the rise is 20pts or more , we’ll start in October. He wondered whether I wanted to do a Pet scan/ Ct to look for lytic lesions first. I said I didn’t think at this point it would matter. I do have old lytic lesions where I had rib fractures and on my skull but at this point it’s my numbers that are the indicator and he agreed. He seemed to think Velcade will be effective again so that’s positive. I’m still a little concerned as this will be my third time. He also agreed that we’d know in 3 months whether it’s working or not which is what I wanted to do. He also indicated that this time I could keep up a maintenance schedule when my numbers are backing the normal range. This was something I suggested 3 years ago but at that point, he wasn’t inclined. So maybe now since I am at this stage it would be helpful and I definitely agree.

I’m thankful the weather is now Fall like. Beautiful days, cool evenings! I think there’s 1 day showing 90 but that’s it.

I am so thankful the indoor pool opened and it was not overly crowded. It probably depends on the day and the time. But after 3 months closed, it’s so nice to have it open and my drive time was 15 minutes less each way.

I’m so grateful to my daughter for being a wonderful gardener and planting all the tomatoes. I have another batch ready to go tomorrow. I dropped them in boiling water and took the skins off but I will still run thru the food mill to get the seeds out. She planted some late zucchini and now we’re getting just the right amount. I’ve made 2 more loaves to freeze for this fall/ winter.

As simple as it is, I am grateful for every day. I’m grateful to spend it with my husband and my kids( although my son is working full time and gone a lot, and my daughter writes full time and works at the library part time.) Still they’re around when we need them.

I’m grateful Barclay can do projects and improvements on our little abode.

Oh, that chess looking piece is my daughters anniversary present to us, a Peugot pepper mill. Believe me, if you love pepper you’ll want this. Why did I wait so long. It’s worth every penny.

I’m grateful for being able to make some freezer meals for when I don’t feel like cooking.

Five on Friday

Posted in California, Gardening, swimming, Uncategorized by

It was a relatively frugal week. B went into Costco again to get more coffee and a few other things. ( some salmon, sandwich bread, milk, and ???) Other than that I went down to our Holiday Market and got some deli chicken slices, lettuce and chips, and ?? That was around $50.

Today I’ll go over to the farm and pick up some produce. Usually that runs around $30.

We’ve harvested all the garlic and I started on the onions. Both are good crops and probably will be all we can use in a reasonable amount of time.

I’m going to Auburn to return some Old Navy things I bought online. I didn’t like any of it. I probably should know by now that unless I know the item, like Bombas T-shirts, I shouldn’t bother. I wanted a white linen shirt but this one was only part linen so I didn’t want that. It’s ok but I’d rather get something I really like. Maybe I’ll check eBay for one.

The pool wasn’t open for lap swimming due to swim meets. It was very busy the other day and I guess that was why. Usually I have no trouble getting a lane but I had to start out by sharing and then other people were circle swimming which I will not do.

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, California, camping, Gardening by

We are getting things ready in the trailer and I’ve been working on the menu and foodstuff. I’m making lists for Tuesday morning since we want to leave by 8:30. With one stop for gas I’m guessing arriving around 1 or 1:30.

I plan on doing 2 Lodge meals so that’ll be fun. Then at least 1 BBQ maybe 2. Cooking outside is so nice and then the kitchen doesn’t get messy.

I went to the Auburn gym this morning and then over to Target. I wanted to get some of the Stasher bags to put things in. They are a reusable silicone bag in lots of sizes. I got the snack size and then the sandwich size which I plan to use for sliced cheese camping, and then a 4 cup bag. They were on sale but still they are pricey. If I like using them I’ll get more slowly to build up a nice supply.

These are a daffodil hybrid. I can’t remember if I got these from Brecks or Johnny’s but they are so pretty.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgets, California, cooking, Gardening, Political things, Uncategorized by

It’s been a hot week and it looks like the next 10 days are hot too. I do ok with the heat in the low -mid-nineties but the upper 90s and 100s are hard for me. I don’t want to be outside; even being in the pool isn’t all that great as the air is still stifling. I do all my chores early and then read or do some handwork in the afternoon. This afternoon I’m going to the Farm for a few veggies. I saw they had corn coming in.

I haven’t been to the store this week but B went to Costco after his hearing test and got some things. That ended up $245. Some pantry stuff and then just groceries. Food is costly and I guess will probably stay high for a while. He filled up the truck at Costco gas and that saved some as Costco gas is the cheapest around. All our monthly bills are done and I’ve done a preliminary budget for August.

Oh, I did stop at Walmart after the gym and bought a few capri yoga pants. For some weird reason, Walmart’s cotton leggings always fit my body. Anyway, I needed something that fit and I could use at the gym.

This morning I made a batch of maple granola, and 2 little 4 ounce jars of pesto

for the freezer. If the farm has basil I’ll pick up some and make a few more jars. We don’t use lots of pesto but it is nice in the winter to have. As a matter of fact, we’re having pesto pasta salad for dinner. We considered getting take out but it’s just too expensive for us to buy. I can’t remember the last time we ate out?? hmmm, maybe last spring??

Wednesday I spray washed all the outside windows with the outdoor Windex product. It works really well and there’s no going back to use a squeegee although in the past I did do that. We also have been harvesting the onions and I have some nice looking ones. Onions are hard to grow here but the one bed my daughter did, they grew to a good size. We think the reason was the cardboard that she put down before adding more soil to the bed. There are some more to get in a few other beds but they are quite small and I’m not sure they’re going to grow anymore. We have lots of tomatoes but their still all green.

We watched most of the hearing last night and I’m so over anyone ever supporting trump for anything. He almost destroyed our democracy and is STILL trying to with his ongoing lies that the election was stolen. I loved them showing Josh Hawley running like a scared rabbit in the hallway even though he had fist pumped the armed rioters. Ha, I hope he’s eating s#*t this morning.

Well, off to do whatever is left to do.

Friday things

Posted in California, camping, Gardening, meal planning, Uncategorized by

We woke up to very cool temperatures and a breeze. It’s a nice break. It looks like 90-degree weather is back for the rest of the week. The park was nice with just a few other walkers.

I just finished making the pizza dough for tonight and we’re going to use the Ooni. That should be fun. I also was working on my menu list for the week. I’m using food from the freezer and the pantry. So far I have spaghetti with meat sauce/plain marinara for the veggie. Then a tofu curry, taco night will be bean tacos and I think we’ll do a brinner this week too. I also have some shrimp to use so maybe a shrimp scampi. B will eat shrimp so that makes it easy.

I went to the Roseville gym yesterday and it was a little busier than the other 2 times but still nothing like the gym we used to go to. I like that it’s small but well laid out and has all the weight machines I like. My plan is to go 2x a week. If/when I have to go back into treatment then all this will change but for now it is what it is.

After the gym, I stopped at a Safeway near the gym and thought I could get the Boars head lunch meat for the week but they didn’t have anything I wanted( no turkey, chicken,) which I thought was really odd. But I did get some ham. We are planning a big Costco trip next week. I’m thinking Wednesday as their ad starts and coffee is on sale. Usually, I avoid the first sale days as it’s busier but we need coffee so that’s the best day for me.

I canceled our Delta Dental of California plan as our dentist dropped Delta dental as in- network. So my last cleaning was like $150 with fluoride( which they don’t cover anyway) but Delta Dental paid $20 on the claim. So it’s not even worth it to be paying $70 a month. I guess we’ll just pay out of pocket for 2 cleanings a year and then xrays. We just aren’t interested in looking for an in network dentist. I honestly don’t know why Medicare wouldn’t have some dental plan for seniors. I’m going to do the same with VSP (vision) but that’s set up differently as a contract so I’m not sure if I can cancel that or not. I’ll probably check next week.

It’s just a few days to the summer Solciste. It’s kind of been a weird start to the spring and summer. We don’t have any RV trips till September which is probably a good thing with gas prices. We also decided that if Santa Barbara is too expensive( gas wise) in October we’ll cancel that as it’s our furthest destination. But there’s still time to contemplate that.

We finished harvesting all our garlic and it’s a bumper crop. This was garlic we planted last fall in barrels. That did the trick and I must have 3 dozen bulbs. After they cure some I’ll probably store them in a dark cool place. I need to look up other ways that I could preserve them. I could maybe mince them and freeze them in ice cube trays??

Sunday is father’s day and I’ll do a big brunch for Barclay and the kids can give their presents to him. Being a Dad was a great joy for him and he’s always loved it.

So, we’ve not had any messages back from our tree guy about moving the logs with the wire in them that they left over on our neighbors property. I texted the guy 4 times and B also called and left messages. Nothing. So finally I was fed up and worried the neighbor was getting pissed, so B rented a small trailer that had a drop-down ramp. Both my son and daughter rolled them up on the trailer and then B drove the truck over to our property and rolled them off. It’s very strange that Brian( the owner) didn’t call us back. He’s always been super responsive. I hope nothing has happened to him. Anyway, it’s all complete now. It has been absolutely great to have that tree gone and when you look at where we drive out it’s right thru where the tree was:) So it’s a good thing it’s gone.

Five on Friday

Posted in budgets, California, camping, cancer, Gardening, home stuff, travel by

I decided to not go with Frugal Friday today as it seems this has been an expensive week. It’s not daily stuff but more like the bigger things. Both DMV’s for the Rubicon and Chevy are due and it sure seems as if they are almost double what they were last year. Then our AAA membership will be due next week and that’s gone up. There is one other bill but I can’t remember right now. Oh, wait, it’s not a bill but I added on the camping trip to SeaCLiff in the fall on the CC and that was almost $500. SeaCLiff is the campground right down the beach from New Brighton but it is right on the ocean and double what New Brighton is. It does have full hookups so that’ll be nice. Anyway, that took the credit card up I’ll pay that in a few days. So lots of bills. The regular groceries, gas, etc is all okay.

I had my doctor’s visit yesterday and all is good. I’ll see him again in 2 months. There is nothing too much to discuss, but he’s always very attentive and asks about my issues( diarrhea, sleep, etc). After that, I headed up to the new Trader Joe’s.

I went to Trader Joe’s to get some snacks like corn chips, crackers, and salad stuff. I picked some wine, half and half, juice, some frozen things, and frozen fish. Last time I bought a piece of frozen salmon and it was really good so this time I picked up some ahi tuna to try. B went to Costco because they had a patio cover on sale. It was normally $159 and it was $40 off , so a very good deal. We have to have something over the patio as the sun in the summer blasts that area and we can’t eat outside unless there’s a cover. In the past, we’ve used the shade triangles but after a while, it just looks tacky. So this is a good thing.

We’re on a high wind alert and high fire danger today. It’s warm out @ 80 but it’s the dry wind that is potentially a problem. B did anchor the new patio cover with stakes but we might need to do some sandbags as well. Everything is drying out due to the wind. We try to keep the areas around the house green as a fire block but that means watering the yard.

Today is a home day with pottering around the house and yard. I want o clip the herbs and get started with drying. In our climate, oregano, and thyme are year-round plants but parsley, cilantro, basil, and tarragon are annuals. So I want to dry a good amount of each.

Here’s one of the cool rocks we picked from the beach. Lots of fossils and two cool holes. I try to always look for rocks with holes in them, not sure why.

Friday things

Posted in books, bread, California, Gardening, LLS, Myeloma by

Yesterday we ventured out to Costco and it was fine. We were only among a handful of people wearing masks but heck, that’s ok. We spent $300 on food and $80 on nonfood. Overall, that’s a low $ trip at Costco for us. I still need a few extras and I think I’ll have Barclay do that next week after he gets his port flush. What I’d like to take advantage of is the Nasacort that is on sale. It’s 4 of them for $28. I pay $18 at the store for one. So that’s a big saving. Then I went over to Dicks’ sporting goods for earplugs. They didn’t have the Speedo ones so I got the TYR as a backup since last week I had to swim one time without earplugs because I thought I left them home. In actuality, they were stuck in my towel and when I lifted my towel they fell out. Oh well.

OMG. good news!! LLS just opened funding for Myeloma so I jumped on and submitted my application and was approved. They have it very streamlined and it was easy to do. I was definitely getting concerned about funding. LLS covers our medicare and UHC so it’s a good chunk of change a month.

Today I need to go drop off food at the food bank, Goodwill, check on my prescription at Bel-air, and then drop books off at the bookstore.

I plan to make pizza tonight but I’ll use a Trader Joe’s dough. I’m going to top with the fennel sausage I bought in Napa. I think I’m going to pull the Ooni out and use that so one with be cheese and the other will be the sausage.

Our weather has been spectacular and we ate dinner on the patio 2 nights in a row. Next week does look quite a bit cooler.

I’ve been reading the book ” High on the Hog” that the Netflix original was based on. I’d highly recommend it just for the history part. What we did to Africans is shameful. All that history SHOULD be taught in high schools so students can learn about ALL of our history, the good, the bad, and the ugly. NOT just what the good White people did. Arghhhh, don’t get me started.

We’re working in the garden areas and decided to buy 2 galvanized water troughs that people use for raised beds. B filled one with garden soil and is ready to plant. We bought some things at the nursery to plant like onions, and parsley, cilantro, chives. My daughter has lots of seeds to plant too. The garlic in the barrels we planted is doing great. We do have the front garden beds almost ready. Those will be things like chard, lettuce, kale, etc.

Everything is starting to pop with this warm weather. It’s been a very pretty spring.

Middle of the week and hopefully not WWIII.

Posted in Blood test, California, Gardening, Myeloma, Political things, swimming, Uncategorized, Walking by

As I’m sure all of you are, I’m trying to find some hope that the situation in Ukraine turns around and Putin is kicked on his ass. It’s a scary situation when there’s nuclear capability. I refuse to be upset by gas prices or higher prices for anything. If that is the cost of freedom in Ukraine then so be it. I can’t stand the Biden haters who think gas prices are because of the pipeline from Canada. That has NOTHING to do with it. Oh well, since I am not that well versed in oil exchanges, I’ll leave it at that.

I’m definitely a little sore today from swimming yesterday as it had been 10days since we were gone. I did walk this morning and that was good. Today I’m just pottering around and doing some rearranging of things. I filled 2 bags with food for the food bank that was in my wine crate pantry. It’s stuff that’s been in there and I know I’m not likely to use. I emptied one Far Niente wine crate and used that for DVD’s and put that under my little Ikea couch I have in the sun room. As always, I try to keep like with like and the other crate of DVD’s in under there to so it’s the logical place for it.

Tomorrow I have my appt with Dr. L . My labs came back with virtually no change so that was VERY EXCITING. I am just slightly above high normal. If it can stay that way or near that till June it’ll be 1 year since my last Velcade so I’d be happy with that.

With spring bursting everywhere it’s hard not to go spend a ton of money on plants and seeds. We are buying 2 galvanized steel container to try as garden planters. The garlic in the barrels is doing great so I should get a good harvest of garlic.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cooking, covid-19, Gardening, Lake tahoe, travel, Uncategorized by

Lots being done today.

The laundry room is torn apart and there’s hammering and banging going on. The one window is out and that will need replacing. Realistically if it’s done by next weekend, that’ll be good. The washer is hooked outside to a hose , real Okie( not to be prejudiced) but it does look a bit like, well maybe Appalachia. The freezer is outside too on the dirt:( It is covered and running but the whole effect is, well, Okie like. humm…..

I finished the Kitchen zone which took quite a while. But the floor still needs mopping and I’m too bushed to do it now.

I made some granola this morning for the week ahead. Then I made another Zojirushi pot of brown rice that used up the last of the organic brown from last year. The date on it was still good but best to finish it up.

Yesterday, I did more pickled jalapenos.

Tomorrow I’m planning on doing one last batch of jalapeno pepper jelly and that should do it. What a year for peppers.

My daughter has been busy cleaning out garden beds and surrounding areas of dead stuff. It already looks so much better. I think we’re ready to pull up most everything in the garden beds including the pepper plants:)

Barclays IGIV went well and he has more energy. Next week he gets his Covid booster, so that’s good.

No word from the dealer on the AC in the truck. They looked swamped when we dropped it off so who knows.

Tomorrow I will be modifying our Tahoe trip. The whole Tahoe basin is closed till September 17 so that affects our camping trip. Under these circumstances I’m fine with that and even if it all gets cancelled. Better for less people to be up there so the firefighters can do their job. …sigh…

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, cooking, Flylady, Gardening, minimalism, swimming, Uncategorized, Walking by

We are still in heavy smoke and the air quality is very unhealthy. We did walk this morning but with masks. I’m guessing tomorrow will be just as bad but maybe some wind will come in, let’s hope.

I made the ice cream cake yesterday . It was delicious and such a clever idea to use ice cream sandwiches.

I also made a huge batch of chile rellenos with hatch chiles that are coming in from New Mexico. It’s labor intensive as you do need to flame broil the chiles, then put in a plastic bag, then peel off burnt skin, then ,make egg whites, then mix egg whites with the yolks that have been whipped, then dip the stuffed chiles in the batter and then fry. By that time you are exhausted. And I still have another bag of chiles ready to do….

I think there’s 3 left from this batch.

We decided to do Costco today since I want to swim tomorrow. It’s probably going to be busy but that’s just the way it is there. That way we won’t need to go back till September maybe before our Tahoe trip. It’s always the coffee which decides it.

Flylady is the kitchen zone. Since Costco is trumping( geez I don’t like that term) that, I’ll need to do that tomorrow after swimming. I actually started it the other day by doing the stove hood and cleaning all the stainless steel but I’ll still do a go around.

The book I ordered from Amazon showed up finally. ( late by a few days). It’s okay. It has some good ideas but most of the apartments or houses are pretty glitzy and not too rustic. I’ll go thru it again and take some notes. I would have like to see more small spaces like our house which is more make do with what you’ve got rather than remodel and gut and then remodel with fancy stuff. Still her concept is valid and overall the book has beautiful pictures.

This coming week is pretty mellow. Not much on the docket, appt wise. So nice to not have to do something every week. I’ll try and swim 2x and then of course do my daily walk. I plan on getting more Hatch chiles if I see them at the store so that would mean another batch of rellenos. We’ll enjoy them in the winter if they last that long.

We’re getting tons of peppers in the garden, some tomatoes but not a lot, and we replanted some squash plants. I’m hoping to get some zucchini by September. Otherwise, the garden wasn’t a great producer this year but we do have nice herbs going ( basil, chives, thyme, oregano,mint, etc. Plus there’s some chard to pick which I’m going to do this morning.