Category Archives: home improvement

Monday menus, And Simple sunday late.

Posted in Blood test, bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, cooking, home improvement, home stuff, library, meal planning, Walking by

The day got away from me yesterday. I was doing some house chores, baking a sourdough loaf( jalapeno cheddar), and sitting in the sun. It was a very nice day.

I had a nice walk in the morning. Sunrise is now 7am, so I’ve been getting to the park at 6:30. Since sunrise is going to keep getting earlier, I’ll have to decide what my cutoff is for getting out. In the past I’d jump out at 5:30 am but I’m feeling too old for that.

Last night we had a frozen pizza and watched some more of Stranger Things. This season(4) is really intense, and the episodes are quite long. Still it’s keeping my interest.

Tonight, I might make a chicken tortilla soup as I made broth the other day. I also have chips I can use on top along with avocado.

Tuesday- this is my daughter’s later night at work, so usually I do something easy. I might do a grilled cheese. I also have leftover curry from the other night, I froze.

Wednesday- I need to look in the freezer and check what should be used. I know some pot stickers could be used with rice. I also have some tilapia I can grill up.

Thursday- Spaghetti and meatballs,salad

Friday- I might get takeout, tacos?

Saturday- Something from the freezer. I think I have some other soups frozen, so I’ll go check that out, plus I have lots of Souper cubes frozen of beans, chili, etc.

My son was here on Saturday and built the railing for the stairs off the sunporch. He’s been working on making sure I have handrails and grab bars for safety. It looks good. I just need to have him buy a piece of lattice to make it more attractive, and I can plant a vine of some sort to make it even nicer.

I went to Ace and had them match the house trim paint as the one I had saved must have deteriorated, as the color was definitely off. I haven’t opened it yet to see, but from the color on the top, it looks like a match. It looks like we have rain coming in so painting will have to wait anyway.

I have my labs this morning, and then it’ll be too late to get to the pool, so I plan on going to the gym and then the library. I have a few books to drop off and a hold to pick up.

I also see Dr. L this week, so that will change my routine as to the pool. I think I’ll plan Costco after I see him on Thursday. As usual, it’s coffee that I’ll need, plus some non-food things like toilet paper, paper towels, etc. I might pick up a ready-made meal there.

Here’s the jalapeno loaf. It looks good. I haven’t cut it yet, but I will slice it up this morning.

I finished the taxes, and it all looked good, and we didn’t owe, so that’s a win.

Friday things

Posted in bread, budgeting, budgets, California, camping, cancer, home improvement, home stuff, velcade by

I didn’t post anything yesterday as I had my Velcade shot, then went to Winco, and then met up with my library friends for coffee. So by the time I came home, I wasn’t into it. I did get my sourdough started, did the folds and turns, and got to bulk fermentation. So it’s in the fridge doing a cold rise.

I had a nice visit with my friends, three of them are widows, so they understand. One of them just got a mammogram with something showing, so that is causing a lot of stress and anxiety. Why is it always something? One of them is quite wealthy and was showing us her brand new Honda CR-V. I’m thinking nice, gee, I just wish I had some extra money to pay my annual bills.

I lay down for a while after I took Dex and rested. I had some defrosted chicken to use up, so I made us a chicken curry with noodles. I used some of a recipe from ATK’s Easy Meal Cookbook, but I didn’t have garam masala, so I just used other spices like curry, ginger powder, and cumin. It came out very tasty. There’s some left over for lunch or another dinner.

After reading that Bezos fired all those WP employees, I checked whether I had cancelled my subscription, and I had, but it doesn’t go into effect till April. I read a few articles, both in the Atlantic and the NYT, about how this is a tragic thing for the WP and very sad too. I haven’t ordered from Amazon in a while, but I do have some camping stuff to get for our one night out in Tahoe in June. It’s only a night, but I still need a porta-potty and porta potty tent. I think my son said he had one, so I’ll check. Hindsight is always 20/20, right? WE had just bought a deluxe porta-potty for the tent trailer right before we sold it. Since we now had Rubi, we didn’t need it. Ha! Oh well, that’s just the way it goes. There are bathrooms at Nevada Beach, which are quite nice, but at night, I’m not trekking to a bathroom to go pee. 😦

Since today is a home day, I’ll probably keep it low-key till the dex wears off. I’ll bake the bread and tidy up. I did get out my low platform massage table to do some PT, so I’ll set that up and do a few. I wish I had room to leave it up, but in our very small house, there isn’t an extra place for it.

I started painting some trim on the house while it was so nice out, but once it was done, I could see that the paint had lost some color, as it is over 5 years old. So I need to get the color chip and get a fresh quart. I won’t do that today as I don’t drive on dex but maybe tomorrow if I can find it. Ace said they can match it, as it is a Kelly Moore paint, and they went out of business. Then I can finish some touch-ups.

Tuesday misc, and a menu plan

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, home improvement, Uncategorized by

Today, I have my labs, so we’ll see what they come back as. Always a bit unsettling, but we shall see. Today is not my normal lab day, so I won’t get them till Friday.

I slept better last night now that Dex is out of me. I swam yesterday, and it was very nice, but I was very exhausted from the swim. Probably because with Christmas and NY’s I haven’t been going enough. I was planning on going to the gym today, but we have an electrician coming to check on some outlets that keep popping.

Let me just say, I hate doing this stuff. This was Barclays’ area, not mine, and I absolutely hate having to deal with this stuff. But my daughter agreed that the outlet needs looking at, so I put it on Next door neighbor and got quite a few responses. So someone is coming out this morning, so that changes my plans. Plus, I barely have enough money to deal with an electrician. I’ll just have to work around something else. sigh:(

Menu wise:

We had breaded cod last night with a huge salad and some air fryer fries.

Tonight I’m planning on crunchy tacos with salad stuff on top.

Wednesday, I have some chicken defrosting, so I’m not sure what exactly. I’m trying to up my protein intake so I want to have some proteins ready for lunches etc.

Thursday, not sure. I think I’ll make some fried rice and baked tofu with some Costco dumplings.

At Costco, I had bought the giant salad mix and spinach, so I need to see if we can get through that. I’ve been adding spinach to my morning eggs, so I’m using some up.

Not sure if we’ll do a pizza this week. I’ll wait and see what we feel like.

We finally have a sunny morning. It’s bright blue skies.

Midweek musings

Posted in California, cooking, home improvement, home stuff, swimming, Uncategorized by

The dentist was long yesterday but it worked out fine. The fillings were taken care of. She’s a good dentist. I just wish that Medicare had some dental option. It was very pricey:(

Today I’m heading to the pool for a swim. I don’t have anything else urgent that needs doing so I’ll come straight home. I want to make a few of the condiment recipes in the new cookbook. She has a recipe for olive oil mayo that looks easy and I have the breadcrumbs with rosemary and parsley dried and ready to whiz up. I also plan on making the garlic confit with some cherry tomatoes I have some that need to be used up. BTW, if you’re a Costco shopper those cherry tomatoes, Hirros, are absolutely delicious.

I plan to vacuum as well and do some dusting. We heat mostly with wood ( no central air/heat) and it does create dust. We do have a wall heater(propane) that we use on very cold mornings.

It’s another cloudy day but not too cold. I think the temperature is around 55 degrees.

Well, I best be off to do my daily routine so I can read in a bit.

Another Heat Wave

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, California, camping, home improvement, home stuff, meal planning, travel by

We had a few days of milder temperatures, but tomorrow and the next day we’re back under the heat dome. It doesn’t look like it make it to 100 but close. After that, it actually looks like nice weather in the 80’s. We’ll be in Tahoe so the temperatures won’t be too hot. Generally, it’s 20 degrees cooler. I’m sure the beaches will be packed though. Nevada Beach is very popular as is Sand Harbor.

This time I’ve packed quite a bit of food so I don’t think we’ll need to go to the store unless it’s some random item. I’m planning a few BBQ nights with Webi and then some regular rotations of mac and cheese, a rice dish, veggies, and maybe a ramen bowl night. Plus, burritos of some sort.

Our son came up yesterday and put up the shower rod thing. It seems to work nicely. He’s going to come back this weekend to help move the electrical outlet so the cabinet fits better. So it’s moving along but still, I think we’re 2 weeks out from it being done. That includes painting and flooring. My daughter mopped the floor in there and it was very grimy from the grout stuff. She also is working on washing the tiles as the grout leaves a film. I’m sure glad they’re doing it and not me.

On our way up to Tahoe, we’ll stop at Zephyr Cove to use the dump station. Since we’ve had to use Rubi’s bathroom all week we need to be sure it’s empty for camping. It costs $10 to use. B has had Rubi parked by the sunroom and it’s been VERY convenient to use. Plus there’s water right there and electricity from the studio. It’s worked out well.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, camping, home improvement, home stuff, Myeloma, travel, Walking by

Finally a walk in the park at 5:30. Very nice and cool. All the Canada Geese babies have grown up except one family and they were the last ones born. They grow up so quick. We did 1.5 miles so I felt good about that.

Today we’re going to Costco so that will add more steps to the day. We don’t need a whole lot but it adds up, Toilet paper is 20, coffee 15, etc. Adds up pretty quickly. We also need to gas up the Chevy and get cash from the teller.

Once we’re back home my son will help B put up the shower curtain holder on the ceiling. The one contractor we had come check it out said his bathroom was just as small and he put in the hotel-type rod on the ceiling. So it’s a band that then has the hooks attached. Think of the hospital-type curtains in the ER or in a room. I ordered the extra long curtain so it should go all the way to the shower pan.

Here’s my well-loved claw foot tub. It took 3 people to move it out. I’m still very sad to not have it in there anymore but I know it’s for the best. I just wish there had been a way to keep the bathroom the way it was and add a shower somewhere else. But alas, that was not to be. Our future selves will thank us, I guess.

It’s been a rough week with norovirus and the handyman doing the bathroom, part one. As with most things, there were some snafus and it took a whole day longer. The grout has to now dry for a few days. We will still need him to install grab bars(they will need to be installed with a special drill because of the tile) and we’re not sure if he’ll do the flooring or B and my son will tackle it. The floor should be an easy project but we can’t do anything till we’re back. We still need to look at painting in there too. I think I have some of the original color left but not sure how much. I think I’d like to go to a very light grey as the grout between the white subway tiles is gray.

Since we’re gone all next week we can think about it. My daughter has some appts next week but otherwise, she’ll be here most of the time. She’s been working on cleaning up the chicken yard. Of course, Big Brownie is still using the coop but doesn’t go very far. Like I said, chickens are flock animals and I’m guessing she’ll go in a few months or less. We’re in for another few days of excessive heat next week, and that might do her in. Chickens don’t do well in the heat.

So yesterday, I drove to Roseville to pick up my holds so I’d have them for Tahoe. I’m excited about the new Longmire book. I didn’t go to the gym even though I wanted to. I still don’t feel quite up to working out. I stopped at Noah’s for bagels to bring with us and for here.

Things are still chaos in the living room that is now housing all the bathroom things. I really hate disorder so it’s been challenging. I guess I just need to get over it for now. I haven’t even done Flylady this week partly because I was sick and the contractor kid here( Well, he’s not a contractor per se, just a licensed handyman). It’s ok, it’ll all still be here to get done.

We’re back home from going to the new Costco in Rocklin. Wow, it’s really nice. It’ll be such an easy on, easy off from the freeway. I can see going more frequently and doing smaller shops.

Last night we had a BBQ and it was nice enough outside to sit outside. The temperature had dropped quite a bit to the mid-80s. I’m not sure what’s on the menu for tonight but probably I’ll BBQ some burgers and tofu.

Friday Things

Posted in Blood test, books, California, camping, cancer, home improvement, Myeloma, travel by

I’m feeling almost back to normal. Still slightly off but definitely better and I ate something yesterday. My daughter thinks I may have picked it up at In and Out Burger but she( a science nerd) says it can really be on any surface. So probably we’ll never know.

So today I was lucky to get a lab appt at 9am. A little later than I like with fasting but I’ll make it. I’m really anxious to know what my numbers are doing. Even if there has been an increase, I’ll go another month without Dex just to see. Sometimes, living with cancer is very tiring. With Myeloma, it just doesn’t go away or get ‘cured’, well I think if you have an allo it does. Oh well, I’ve made it this far.

The positive news is we’ve had a young man working on the bathroom. He’s only 30( my son’s age) but seems to know what he’s doing and is doing a great job so far. We need the shower at least functioning for my daughter next week because we’ll be in Tahoe. If it’s not, then I’m not sure what the alternative is. Hotel? outside shower? We’ve been using Rubi for bathroom stuff and B bought a new shower head which is divine. The one the trailer came with was pretty lame so this is a nice improvement.

We’re not going to have it all done before we leave as I don’t think the flooring will get done so B won’t be able to put in the Ikea vanity but that’s ok it’s mostly the shower. I’m not sure what we’ll do if there are leaks while we’re gone. I guess call and have him come over when my daughter is here? Well, it is progress and on such a small budget I think we’ve done ok. If we had lots of money I guess it would be a no brainer to have someone come in and redo the whole thing and build a second bathroom but alas that isn’t our destiny.

B has been going in and out to Home Depot and all over getting little bits of things and has been very busy. It helps he is organized that way.

The Oregon sparrows are migrating and are flocking in the bamboo. They are fun to watch. We turn the sprinklers on the bamboo and they love to drink the droplets. Often they hang upside down and are cute. We call them popcorn birds because they pop so quickly around.

The heat has been oppressive. I think today we’re about 10 degrees cooler so that should help some. We’re back to watering daily and the water bill just went over $100 and will definitely go higher. B filled the pool and that takes 10,000 gallons I think. This will be the last year of the pool. We’ve gotten our money’s worth that’s for sure but I can’t see investing in another pool next year. This is probably year 7 and think we paid around $1000 for it so I’m sure it is way more than that now. Plus there’s all the maintenance to take care of it and that cost. B is the only one that uses it daily. I go in once in a while to float and that’s about it.

I’ve been hanging out in the trailer all day and it’s been nice. I turned the AC on and it worked fine one day and the second day it blew the fuse so when it gets too hot I go out to the studio( my son’s room) and hang out there. He’s got a cooler and I’ve had that on. His studio is almost cleared out and sometime this summer we’ll paint in there. He’ll still come up to work in the barn and sleep over so I want to keep a bed out there. Also, he built a beautiful desk and bookcase out of birch plywood so that will stay too. His move has gone well and I’m happy for him. It’s very nice area very near the American River trail and lots of green space.

This week is a total wash with swimming or the gym but tomorrow I plan on going to the library as my holds are in. That’ll give me something to read in Tahoe.

On a sad note, our big black lady chicken, big mama, died yesterday. She was quite old for a chicken, maybe 10, and the heat was too much for her. So now there’s only big Brownie and I’m guessing she’ll be gone too soon. they were from the same batch and have lived an extraordinarily long lives. Maybe’s it’s the water? this is the end of an era of over 25 years of having chickens and with these gone, that’s it. The coup will come down and the area cleaned up. Rhonda over at Down to Earth talked about how she finally gave up chickens when her husband was ill and dying. She talked about how important it is to really check in where you are in life and what you’re capable of. We could keep having chickens as my daughter does live here but then it’s just one more thing to have to deal with, buying food, checking water, etc. So I’ll buy farm eggs when I can. There are tons of people around here who raise chickens.

On that note, she also talked about physical limitations as we age. She has a non malignant brain tumor which affects her balance so she doesn’t bend over. Because of that, she bought a steam mop so she could mop standing instead of with a bucket on the floor. Because of my macular pucker in my right eye, my balance is off sometimes so I just bought a very cheap steam mop for $59. I’ll try it out for a while if I really like it I’ll buy a more expensive model. This one just steams and there’s no on /off so I’ll give it few months

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, home improvement, Myeloma, swimming, Walking by

Today is our town’s annual Pioneer Day. There’s a parade and lots of booths in the park. We live in town so we always walked down with the kids when they were young. Back then the firetrucks threw candy to the kids. They don’t do that anymore. It should be a nice day for everyone, not too hot.

Our heat wave starts Tuesday with temperatures about 100. Yikes. All our window coolers are in so we should be good to go.

Friday, my labs were canceled by Quest due to a glitch closing down the lab. I had to reschedule and the earliest was Wednesday. So I won’t know my kappa numbers till probably next Monday. Kind of a bummer when I’m anxious to know how not taking Dex affected my numbers.

We’ve lined up a handyman to come and put the plumbing in the wall for the shower. Hopefully, it’ll all be good. We will need to have the water off for a few days so we will use Rubi’s shower and bathroom. I might even sleep out there.

After swimming yesterday, I went over to the Paris Bakery and bought a mini strawberry cake for my daughter’s birthday.

Wow, it was delicious.

Not too much on the docket for today. I plan on going to the Auburn gym and then to the store to have my other knives sharpened. The butcher will only sharpen 3 at a time. Plus I wanted some cottage cheese and wine for the week.

I need to go into the new Costco this week to get coffee. We always buy Starbucks ground for camping then bring the rest home. That bag is just about gone so that needs to get done. I need to check my list and see what else we need but right now I can’t think of things, maybe some English muffins or?? Fruit?

Rainy Saturday

Posted in books, California, cooking, home improvement, home stuff, husband, reading, Uncategorized, Walking by

We were able to get our walk in before the rain started. It’s supposed to rain all day and quite a bit. Well, we always need the rain maybe not the wind but certainly the rain.

Today is a home day and not a swim day. I plan on making a big pot of broccoli cheddar soup. I need to use the big bag I got from Costco. We’ll probably have that for dinner plus baked potatoes. I got the bakers at Costco too and plan on doing twice-baked potatoes. I usually start with 12-14 potatoes and then after I bake them, cut them in half and fill them with the cheese, and potato mixture. I usually end up with 12 half potatoes because I mound the filling. These do freeze great and are an easy meal with salad.

B got the new window in yesterday and it looks fresh and clean. We opted for no grids. All of the other windows( except the sunroom)have grids but as we replace the windows we are going for gridless windows.

We’re working our way through watching Inspector Lynley. We have the 3rd season to watch. It’s a great show and Lynley is a good character. I’m reading another Longmire book now. I am so impressed with the way he writes and how he brings in so much cultural stuff about the Cheyenne and Crow. Very different from Hillerman and the Southwest. In this one” As the Crow flies’, he takes part in a peyote ceremony. It was pretty accurate in his description. I’ve done peyote 3 times( B says, he thinks it was only 2) and it is a very mind altering/spiritual experience. Of course, I was in my 20’s and early 30’s and very much into the whole Native American thing. We also have had 2 teepees. The first one was given to us by a friend and it was painted with different Indian motifs. That one finally fell apart and we bought one from a company in Oregon. When we moved here we set it up and used it till it too finally deteriorated. We used to smudge our house and ourselves with sage as a way to cleanse negative energy. I haven’t done that for years but I still have some abalone shells that we used for that purpose. Longmire is in his early 50’s when he does peyote and also the character is very tuned into the whole spiritual side of the Native American, Cheyenne in his case. Anyway, I digress, they are great books!

Menu for the week and other misc.

Posted in Blood test, books, California, cooking, Gardening, home improvement, home stuff, meal planning, reading by

Last night neither of us felt like much dinner so I made a ramen bowl with tofu and a hardboiled egg. We like the spicy chili ramen.

I’m planning a few freezer meals to use things up.

lasagna is going to be first with some salad

scrambled tofu with zucchini I bought at Costco( probably won’t do that again since it is a lot of squash:( )

homemade mac and cheese and use more of the fish sticks up. (Costco has the big bags and they are good for a quick dinner). Salad stuff.

I have some naan bread in the freezer from Costco too, so I’ll make a curry for that. either tofu or chickpea. I like the Trader Joe’s red curry sauce. I have some frozen veggies I can throw in and use them up.

I made a recipe from Steve Sando’s Rancho Gordo cookbook. It was a chili using black beans and zucchini. It was a big hit and we all really loved the depth of flavor.

I have some goat cheese to use up so I might do a frittata.

I have a bag of broccoli( from Costco) and I’ll make a broccoli cheddar soup.

Yesterday, after my labs, I went to the gym and then the library. I didn’t have any holds but I dropped off 3 of the books I finished with and picked up a few books off the new shelf. Currently, I reading the very first Longmire book which is The Cold Dish. He writes so well and I love the history he brings into the books.

I had planned on swimming today and then Costco to pick up a tent that’s on sale but then just didn’t feel like it so it’ll be a home day. My daughter is planning to come up to Tahoe and spend a night( her birthday) and the trailer is too small so we thought we’d get a tent. We happened to see one when we were leaving last week so we thought we should get while it’s on sale. Plus, there were a few more sale things I didn’t get like the Kerry Gold butter. I think we’ll try tomorrow.

Today B is going to go to the plumbing place and order the shower pan and drain. The good news is he reached out on our local chit chat and asked about a plumber and got a few responses. So one guy showed up yesterday and gave us an estimate on the plumbing and even doing the tile. It was a reasonable estimate so we’re going to go with that. B still needs to take down the dry wall and open it up where the pipes will go. With the claw foot tub, the pipes are outside the wall so that needs to get changed. We might go into Home Depot tomorrow to buy the subway tile for the walls. We’re just planning white with a light grey mortar. Simple yet elegant( I hope). I’m hoping to do the floor in black and white tiles like you would see in a Parisian bathroom. Our bathroom is so small but I think the small octagon tiles will look good. I saw where you buy them as a sheet so that’ll make it easier to put down.

California poppies!!

more, flowers.

Wisteria. It’s almost done blooming.

Red clover. That tree in the background is a liquid amber that must have started as a seed from the park. It’s gotten quite big.