Category Archives: home improvement

Organizing is not decluttering

Posted in budgeting, California, decluttering, Flylady, home improvement, home stuff, simplicity by

I’ve been on another round of decluttering. I don’t have lots of stuffed areas in my small home but I do have things that I no longer need or find useful. I didn’t make the connection for myself about visual clutter till way into my decluttering journey. Now I realize, that because I’ve always been a visual person, I need to see space around me in my home. That’s also the reason all the rooms of my house, the bathroom excluded, are painted Simple White by Benjamin Moore. I need that continuity.

If you’re just organizing your stuff, you’re really just rearranging stuff that probably needs to go. Moving stuff around doesn’t get rid of it. reI like organizing things using the container method. This method by Dana K White is about keeping only what fits in any container. The rest is decluttered. It’s a good method and very efficient at getting to visually see what you have in any given space. 

This month we took a bunch of things to the Placer Food Bank. Some of this was the ‘pandemic’ food I just knew I would never use but someone else might. Especially all the Mountain House dehydrated food meals that I thought someone homeless could use as they are complete meals. I still have a few random things to give them but I’ll wait till at least it’s a bag full.

We also took a load of ‘nice’ things to the Assistance League thrift. This included 2 pairs of dress-type shoes( Merrells, and Naots), and some other misc. I’ve already got a few more things ready to go including the Food Saver vacuum sealer that I haven’t used since summer and then it was only for frozen corn. I also have the beautiful quilt frame ready to go. I have it on Pay it Forward but so far no takers.

It’s important to reevaluate where you are in life and what things are helping in your space and what things are just in the way or cluttering up your home. I have decluttered pretty extensively since 2011( I checked an old file I had from when I started Flylady). So much has left my home and storage areas but it doesn’t really stop as there’s always something to get rid of. I’m a firm believer that the things I don’t need may benefit someone else. Plus, now being in my 70’s, there’s a whole other level to what I need/want. I need things in my home to be simple and easy to maintain. Plus, there’s the safety factor of how things are. We know we’ll need to change out the tub for just a shower unit and I’m planning on working that into a project for this summer. Since we only have one bathroom, summer will be best because we can use Rubi’s bathroom while we do this. The floor will need to be redone and sink, toilet while we’re at it. Of course, this is going to have to be budgeted for. But what we do know is the tub needs to go for safety.

We still have some boxes of photos to go through. B has been putting some on the cloud to preserve them. I also have gone through these boxes previously and gotten rid of tons of photos that were duplicates, of random nature pictures, and just blurry or strange.

Once the weather changes, I’ll go back out to the barn and clean the restaurant shelves, and decide what to do with the empty bins. There are maybe 8 bins or so. I might take some of the older bins we have and switch to these as they are smaller in size and fit those shelves perfectly. But, we are in a rainy period here in Northern California so it might be a while. The next week is forecast to be raining off and on.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Blood test, books, California, canning tomato salsa, home improvement, home stuff, reading, swimming, Uncategorized, Walking by

That I have the strength to stand and can tomatoes at 70 yo. Really, I’m 70?… That’s just weird.

This a new recipe for me. It’s like Rotel. Very spicy!!

I just read an absolutely fabulous book “ Fellowship Point” by Alice Elliot Dark. It’s a great combination of characters. The main narrator is 80-something and so is her best friend. Then it weaves in lots of Quaker stuff and takes place in Maine. I loved it and I think I’ll look for a used copy. Mine was from the library.

Even though our weather is hot and humid we have window coolers to stay cool in the house. I hate humidity. It reminds me of NY. Growing up in NY I felt I didn’t belong there and left at 18 never to return. But I do have illusions about Maine and Vermont. My father’s family were all Mainers but we never met them or even saw them at all growing up.

That the pool was a lovely temperature even though it was busier than usual. Plus the traffic was crazy with people taking kids to school. The school next to the pool was busy.

My lipid tests did come back high but only slightly out of range and down 20+ points from last year. So I’m ok with that. No results yet for the light chains. My thyroid tests were all in range too.

Our morning walks are always a highlight of my day. Even though there are still more people than ever, I suppose that’s just part of the growth in our area. Although quite a few people drive from other local towns to walk.

The window replacement wall is all done and painted. It looks nice. I’m amazed at how much doing just this little project costs and looking at the COMPLETE remodel of the old hoarders’ house just must be mind-boggling. I’m guessing $200K -$250. easily. It still makes me sad that she had to be evicted and couldn’t find a way around it. I wonder how she’s doing or if she’s even still alive.

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, California, cancer, cooking, home improvement, home stuff, Uncategorized by

A very nice walk in the park with no one there which is very unusual. It was cool and quiet. I guess there was an incident about a dog(huskie)the other afternoon where the dog was not on a leash and chased the geese and killed one. People were very upset. I hope they track him down. The person who reported it did take a photo of their license plate so I hope that helps. Why?? is all I have to say. oh and Fuck that!

I made 2 loaves of sourdough sandwich bread but I’m not happy with the results. They are nice and soft but they just are not quite what I’m after. These will be good for toast in the morning or grilled cheese/tomato sandwiches. I think I’m going to try tweaking the King Arthur loaf which uses the baker’s dry milk. I think I’ll add vital gluten too.

I’m going to take a social media break and not do Facebook, Instagram(which I don’t do often and have never posted, I just read other people’s updates), and YouTube. I’ll still use YT for recipes because I do look them up often but I don’t need to watch the millionth video on minimalism. Everyone’s on the band wagon and it really gets old. I’ll probably keep blogging but maybe less often. I’m kind of done with reading lots of blogs unless they are especially interesting to me. Any blog with religion or Jesus or prayers goes straight to delete. I have zero tolerance ( I know sad)for religious zealots who think they’re prayers are being heard by God/Jesus but somehow the others are not? or ignored? or what? UPDATE: I do really enjoy The Frugal Girl’s blog and she is a born-again, but she generally never mentions religion and is one of the most honest bloggers I read.

B got the wall/windows out of his office area and is now getting ready to frame up the opening. These windows came from a library in SF and were given to us by our friend Ed. Ed helped remodel this house and did most of the plumbing. He died a few years ago from prostate cancer. It was totally curable but he wouldn’t do radiation. Sad, really. He was a good guy.

That’s it for now. I hope all is well in your world.

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, bread, California, cooking, Flylady, home improvement, home stuff, kitchen remodel, Uncategorized, Walking by

I’m trying out some new sourdough recipes for burger buns. This is the second recipe. It has an egg and milk so it’s a soft dough. Not a lot of rise so I may try one that just uses instant yeast. Last night we had tofu burgers with the ones I did yesterday. They had excellent flavor but were on the smallish side.

Whoa, Nellie!! It is hot!!! Today is supposed to be the hottest at 106. I hope it doesn’t get that hot.

I just finished closing all the windows and the thermo curtains. These are the ones I bought from Amazon. I originally bought them for the entry way windows as they get full afternoon sun. They do a great job so I ordered a set for one of the bedroom windows and then 2 sets for my office windows that get full morning sun. They are affordable and do the job. I wanted to get the natural colored ones for myoffice but they were double what the grey ones were so that won out.

The window coolers are doing a good job keeping things cool enough. I have them set on the lowest setting and the 2 that are digital I keep at 78-80 and they come on automatically. Last night I turned them all off at 8 and opened windows.

We had a nice walk this morning and it was cool enough. Lots more people out early though to walk before the heat kicks in.

We took one side of the kitchen cabinets down yesterday.

We’re going to put up one 2×12 shelf using the hand forged brackets from Signature Hardware. B will paint it today and then get the shelf up. Then all the shelves will match except the other side which we’ll take down next week. I don’t have the brackets for that side yet. They are pricey but I love the look. Originally I was going to do Elfa shelving from the ceiling down but I don’t need that much shelving and plus I wouldn’t be able to reach anything. One shelf will be enough. I keep my bread up there and my basket of vitamins/prescriptions. There will be a few cups as well.

After I bake the burger rolls I’m going to the gym and do some weights. I plan on cooking a chicken while I’m gone so the oven can be off after 10 am. My oven is very efficient though and does not heat up the kitchen. Still, it’s on and there probably is some heat residual.

FlyLady this week is the bedroom but I’ve already done that so I’ll just do a quick once around and tidy some areas that need it.

I just finished Rhonda Hetzel’s book’ Down to Earth’. It’s a very fine book and worth buying. I got my copy off ebay. I doubt you would find it at a used book store. There weren’t a lot to choose from. It’s nothing all that new to me, but I like her perspective. Her husband, Hanno, died last year and it’s been a hard time for her. She actually closed her blog just recently. She has kept up all the posts and they are worth taking a read.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in bread, California, cooking, home improvement, library, simplicity, Uncategorized by

First, the cooler weather is wonderful. Our high today will be 87, which is not bad. Next week by Friday we’re back up to 103. So I’ll take it while we can.

B has almost finished the side of the house where the new drain pipe access is. He needs to go buy another bundle of shake shingles to finish it. Plus then it’ll need paint. In the future, access will be much easier than crawling under the house to this very difficult spot.

The library has approved to buy 4 books I’ve recommended. I’m quite happy with this as one is a beautiful book called ‘Lodge’ and it’s all the famous lodges in national parks.

Very inspiring to think about going to some of these. We’ve been inside the Ahwahnee but never stayed. We were going to right before the pandemic started but then we read about the Norovirus being found there and a number of people got sick. I don’t know how many of you remember Theresa Kasner and her blog. I was really blown away when she died very suddenly. She was just a year older than me. But they had gone down to the Ahwahnee for their anniversary so that’s what started me thinking we could go for one night. Maybe still…

I picked up some cookbooks at the library and I’m glad that I don’t have to buy them to enjoy them. The one I like the most is Melissa Clark’s ‘Dinner in One’.

I already made one recipe which was Chile Crisp Tofu. I didn’t have kale so we had farm salad and some jasmine rice.

When I find a cookbook that I will make more than one recipe, I usually buy it. I’ll keep this for a while and then decide whether to buy it.

I forgot to add this….

She’s saying who wants to go out!!!

Simple Sunday and Happy Father’s Day!

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

A happy Father’s Day to all dads! Even dads to our furry family members.

We’re doing a BBQ later with tofu burgers and pasta salad and I’ll open one of the baked beans I just canned.

Yesterday I made up the peach jam from the one box that showed up. Apparently, the other box got run over by USPS so they sent it back. That seems weird to me they would send a damaged box of peaches back:(

I used all but 4 peaches that were still not quite ripe enough. So based on the price factor, not inexpensive. I got 10 half pints, so about 5.00 each. Definitely not frugal but I feel ok about it. For one, it supports a woman owned farm co op. And they were sent directly from the farm( Stackhouse Orchards)(you can google it).

I think my next canning will be pressure-canned vegetable soup. We went thru those quickly and it made an easy dinner. I went to the farm stand Friday and bought lots of excellent vegetables including some green and yellow zucchini so I could use those in the soup. BTW, I have to say if you’re at all tempted to pressure can the All-American is definitely worth the price. I have no leakage and the pressure gauge is easy to read. The giggle on the weight also works way better than the Mirro did. I have the 921 but there is a smaller one if you only want to do small amounts of soup, or ready made meals.

B finished painting my office area/cat room.

The reason we painted was twofold. One, the room needed it and I’m somewhat fanatical about painting every 2 years and second, in the second and third photos you can see the wall to the left and then partially the 3 steps. We need to install a bar there for safety down the road. We don’t need it right now but I do think having one there will be important at some point. So we move the ladder shelf to the other wall. That wall had my Grateful Dead, Woodstock, and Dylan posters( by Milton Glaser). I’m not putting those back up yet. Maybe in the fall.

This week is a Juneteenth celebration and may it be a joyous moment in celebrating the end of slavery. Of course, we all know, systemic racism continued even to this day.

Frugal Friday, camping edition.

Posted in California, camping, cooking, frugalism, home improvement, home stuff, kitchen remodel, Lake tahoe, travel by

When we’re out in Rubi we definitely have low spend weeks. We really only buy gas to fill the truck up and then whatever groceries to fill in the blanks. After the gym yesterday we went over to Safeway( in the same parking lot) and bought veggies for a stir fry that we both felt like. We had brought from home some snow peas from the garden and then added mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, tofu, and steamed rice. It was delicious.

Snow peas were added after the rest was cooked.

Today is stay in camp day and we plan on walking out to the meadow. We had some thunder last night but not really rain. Then later my son and his friend are coming into camp with us. Zephyr does a lot of car camping so he’s all prepared. We might do a lodge dinner tonight but I’ll wait and ask him if he has any ideas. He will stay in our spot till Monday but we’re leaving sometime this weekend. I really prefer not to be in camp during the weekends, it’s noisy. too many kids. blah, blah, blah.

All in all not much spent this week. Oh, but I did find this corner kitchen cabinet on Marketplace with a granite top and the guy wanted $60. I asked if he could wait till the weekend but then said he could deliver it so I said sure. $60 Zelle later it’s in our driveway. I’m hoping this spurs us to rip out the counter and get going on the kitchen after we( not me, B) finish fixing the wood damage where the pipe was leaking. Our kitchen can only be redone ( unless we were rich) using the same footprint as the layout is locked in by 2 doors that are on either side of the room. There’s not any other way to redesign as I said unless it was professionally altered. We don’t have money for that so the sink counter will stay the same just all new cabinets and sink and countertop. It’s really quite small so I know we can get it done reasonably. But if this cabinet works it’ll be a good start. This corner has been a problem and I hope this fixes it.

Tahoe girl.

I’m terribly unphotogenic 😦

OMG, the best news….trump indicted !!!!! How he can say or even Mccarthy for that matter that he’s innocent when it’s 2 grand juries that brought the indictment is just nuts. All the right-wing mania with anti-LGBTQ+, book banning, and on and on is just insane. I can only hope the pendulum swings back for rights for all.

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.

Friday Things

Posted in budgeting, budgets, home improvement, swimming by

We’re back in the rain today and all weekend:( I know we need all we can get but geez, it gets kind of old. Anyway, I didn’t go out this morning so I could do a few house things.

I made up a batch of hummus from the garbanzos I cooked the other day. I planned the next week’s menu using the pantry challenge. Tonight I will use the one frozen pizza I have in the freezer. I’ll make a salad on the side. I tidied up my office space and did a swish and swipe in the bathroom. I planned to vacuum but all the kitties are sleeping!

I had a nice swim yesterday and the pool was not super busy. I usually swim Saturdays but with the next wave of the storm is tomorrow and it’s forecast to be heavier rain and some wind.

Our UHC medicare supplemental has a gym membership with Anytime Fitness for free so I signed up for that. B is already signed up and is going 2-3 x a week. I plan on using the gym for the treadmill and weights when I don’t want to drive down the hill. Plus it’s free!

We went to Costco on Wednesday and it was not too busy at all. We usually try and get there right at 9 but this time we were there at 10 and it was great. Plus we didn’t need a whole lot. I was primarily going to get the 4 pack of Nasocort I use to help clear my sinus cavity. This was something the doctor said to try and it does help. We bought about $100 in just groceries. I’ll add that amount to the food budget but the non food I’ll keep out of the low spend challenge. Things like AA batteries, allergy stuff are just maintenance stuff and need to be bought regardless of low spend month.

My favorite youtube, Minimom had a good budget video the other day. She had bought a download from Etsy that is compatible with Google Docs. I checked it out and I’m curious but I tend to like my budget on paper. It’s on sale today so I guess I’ll need to decide.

That’s it for now, hopefully, the rain will ease up. It’s hard not to go stir crazy.

2022

Posted in California, camping, covid-19, Flylady, home improvement, home stuff, Retirement, swimming, travel, Uncategorized, Walking by

I’ve said before, I never do resolutions anymore but I do set some goals as benchmarks to move toward. The top of the list is to keep doing things that are healthy for me/us. That would include walking almost every day, swimming 2x -3x a week, eating good food( which we do anyway), keeping positive( which I think we do anyway, but always a good reminder. I’m pretty disciplined with menus, budgets, groceries, Fly lady routines, and other chores.

Other goals would be for projects. The entryway windows where B has his desk are not doing well. They were wonderful old windows from a library in SF someone gave us. But now the wood is in bad shape so probably the first project will be taking them out and replacing them with a vinyl-type window. the footings under that part of the room should be done better too. The next 2 windows are in the sunroom. These shouldn’t be as complicated as the other ones as the wall is straight and not at an angle and it should be fairly straightforward. Other outside things are a fence along the nasty neighbor’s border. We hoped to do a privacy fence but I think that will be too expensive this year so we decided to put up 5-foot fencing to make the boundary more designated and we can even plant some things along it to create a barrier. Fencing and poles shouldn’t be more than $150 maybe and it’s a start. Right now it is the original (since 1950) 3-foot hog fence that has 4inch gaps. So this will be a good start. I’m pretty sure we are going to budget for the one tree to be taken down. I’m hoping the bid is @ 2500.

We’ve got 4 RV trips planned and I hope we can get reservations for at least 2 more maybe 3. I’d like to find one more new place to go. Last year was great with discovering Refugio State Beach and then the Wine Resort RV Park in Paso Robles. We definitely enjoyed full hookups.

My sister’s health is very precarious right now and she will go into hospice care soon. With Omicron, I won’t fly but we could drive back if she makes it into spring. We just don’t know and the details are somewhat sketchy. It’s been hard to deal with as she’s only 4 years older than me. What her husband said was, she was having difficulty breathing( she is on 24hour oxygen due to the Interstitial lung disease . Other than that , like why? I don’t have the details. It sucks really.

This week I have my 6 – month eye check for the macular pucker and I have Dr. Laptalo as well. I’ll swim at least once and probably call that good.

Last night I made a loaded baked potato soup and it was very good. Tonight I’m roasting a chicken and I’ll do some frozen nut loaf for B. Not sure what else, a salad and ? Then later in the week, I plan on making Beef bourguignon. I saw a recipe for mushroom bourguignon and I might do that for B.

Most of the week is supposed to be nice but there is rain tomorrow and Tuesday. I don’t think we’re supposed to get snow though.