Category Archives: home stuff

Saturday Happenings

Posted in California, home stuff by

So far a nice morning of getting odds and ends done. I put up some more twinkle lights that are plug-in and not battery-operated.
I cleaned out the fireplace ash.

I cleaned the stove top with Dawn Power Wash. ( which, by the way, really is an excellent product. If you wait, it goes on sale at Costco.)

Next, I am planning on doing some touch-up painting.

My order from Bombas didn’t get delivered, and so I’m trying to track it down since it said delivered. 😦 I plan on ordering another 3-pack of T-shirts during Black Friday sales. It’s 25 % off if you’re interested. I’ve ordered from Quince before, and I like their T-shirts; they’re still not the quality of Bombas. Plus, Bombas gives one of the same items you buy to homeless shelters.

I have a few miscellaneous grocery items to still get for Thanksgiving. I need celery, sage, fresh cranberries, and a few other things.

I still need to do up a menu plan and look at the week ahead, and plan swimming and the gym. I need to go to the library as I have 2 holds there now.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, Gratitude, home stuff by

I’m thankful for a break in the rain. I woke up to it raining and now at 12noon it finally has stopped. It’s still overcast but not cold.

I thankful my foot isn’t any worse and it feels slightly better.There’s not a lot of pain walking so that’s good. But I still will keep walking to a minimum till I get the Merrills Moab. I do plan on swimming/and the gym but I think that should be ok.

I’m thankful to feel good enough to go to Costco and do the pre Thanksgiving shopping. I got the pie to freeze and the potatoes. It wasn’t a big shop so that was nice. I did pick up a small Lego set for my son’s partner. They love Legos so that’s a good gift.

I’m thankful for all the small things that make up life. Early mornings, walks, coffee, good food, jazz in the afternoon( that was B and my go to every day.) I do miss going out for coffee together and of course taking Rubi out. But I’m grateful we had the time that we did with the trailer. The very first year 2021 ,this time of year, November, we headed down to Santa Barbara. Unbeknownst to us the spot I reserved was the BEST spot in the entire campground as it faced the ocean and was steps from the beach. Good times, and I miss them.

I’m grateful our house is warm and dry. Our neighbors, who are in their 90s, have tarps all over their roof. Just to be clear, they have children and grandchildren that live right near by to help but don’t except to put tarps up. sigh:((

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, budgets, cash envelopes, home stuff, reading, Walking by

We’re back in the rain again. All.Day. Oh well, I won’t walk but may still go to the gym. Since that’s only in Auburn, I don’t mind. (Auburn is about 7 miles, just for reference.)

Friday, we went and picked up the VW. He fixed the brake light and the low beam headlights that had been out for like forever. sigh… $300 out the window. I pulled cash from my envelopes to pay. So now I need to go back and refill them when I can.

I plan on washing the couch covers today. This Ikea couch has held up so well, but now it is starting to show wear. I am hoping to buy a new couch sometime after the first of the year. It’ll be Ikea. The one I have picked out is grey and mid-century looking. I’ve loved my white couch, which was the Ektorp. But they don’t make that one anymore, but replaced it with another that looks similar.

I will also put together a meal plan and see how the week shapes up. I have some library holds, so I know I’ll go to Mahany and do the gym and library. I’ll see when I want to go to the pool. I may switch it up this week and go on Tuesday.

I have my Diestel turkey breast being delivered this week. I have some other things like green beans, cranberry sauce, and stuffing already. I’ll make the nut loaf and freeze it this week, too. I’ll probably buy the Costco pumpkin pie and freeze it till Thanksgiving. We’re not big dessert eaters at all, so I don’t worry about having 3 different pies. As I’ve said, this year I want to keep things like they were when B was here and not change the routine. Next year, who knows? My daughter and I talked about going to the coast for Thanksgiving, but not this year. I guess I want the continuity.

I’ve been reading Shogun again. Such a great story. I’m looking for a copy at the thrift store, but no luck so far. The new reprint was released this year, so I borrowed it from the library. Funny, how much back in the 70s this book influenced me. I suppose it is the traditions and simplicity that spoke to me.

Hurray for a win on Prop 50!!

Posted in California, cooking, home stuff, Uncategorized by

Finally, something to cheer about. Plus Mumdani winning NYC mayor, Virginia’s governor and the other democratic wins. Finally, a rebuke to tRump!!!

We’re in for lots of rain today. I think I saw almost 2 inches plus wind. There was just a huge lightning strike somewhere nearby and thunder, but we didn’t lose power. I was going to go swimming, but I think I’ll just stay home and get a fire going and get the house cozy. Tomorrow, I have to go down the hill because it’s my Velcade day. So I could go to Winco then. I’ll think about it.

I was also going to do a small Winco shop, but that’s out too. So I think if there’s a break, I’ll go down to the market and get the few things I need. Mostly, I need some oat milk, yogurt, and cottage cheese.

We had a very yummy lentil soup last night with the rest of the naan from the farmers’ market. When my daughter cooks, she makes delicious food. I’ll have leftovers for my lunch today. I was working on cleaning out the fridge, as tomorrow is garbage day. I got rid of a few things that had been pushed back and lost: a pepper, some old taco shells, and some stale bread. Today, I’ll do a wipe down and write a more detailed list of what I need.

Here are a couple of pictures of our maples.

Friday Things

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, cash envelopes, home stuff, travel, velcade by

I’m not sure if there’s much to share frugally. It was a crazy week with appointments, which I do dislike immensely. But today is my home day on Dex, so I should be able to get some stuff done and chill. All I have next week are my labs and a fun lunch date with my son, which is his belated birthday present.

After my Velcade shot, I stopped at Noah’s and got the dozen bags and one free one. I also got a free coffee. Most of the bagels I froze for later mornings, but kept some out for today and tomorrow.

I listed the Triumph, but no inquiries. I’ll lower the price next week and see if that prompts anyone. I’m sure motorcycles are a bit of a luxury right now, so who knows if it might sell. If not, it’ll just stay where it is.

This morning I sorted all our important papers into folders, so that’s one job ticked off. A while back, I bought a fire-safe file box, and that was for these files. I also finally made the appointment to go to the bank with my daughter to add her to the account. Slowly, a few more things are getting done.

I decided to not book a hotel for Tahoe on my birthday and B’s. I just don’t want the added expense right now, so I do plan on a day trip, which is totally doable, and B and I did that often. So I’ll see who wants to come, either S or Z. They have work, so I may just drive alone. We’ll see how it turns out. I also finally came to the realization, I don’t have to do anything right now so that eased my self pressure.

I dropped off all the thrift store stuff at both thrift stores. I also got my LLS paper from the bank and $ for the firewood. Firewood is quite expensive. If you go pick it up yourself, it’s less, but I can’t do that, so $$ it is. But one cord should see us through he winter with what I have already.

Other than that, not much.

Simple Sunday

Posted in budgeting, California, cooking, decluttering, home stuff by

Sunrise is 6:38 am, so I walked at 6:15, and it was just getting light, but I still turned on the flashlight, although I didn’t really need it. No one was there, which these days is pretty rare. Anyway, our beautiful fall weather starts today and goes on for at least the next 10 days or so. I’m hoping we can get more yard stuff done since it’s cooler.

Today, I’m not going to the gym but plan on going through each zone and tidying up and dusting, etc. I’m going to start in the sunroom and work from there. I also need to get out to the trailer and see what needs bringing in. Plus, do a wipe down of counters, etc, and fluff up the bed. My son is planning on spending the night and go to work from here so that’s a good motivator.

Sachi and I continue to watch Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. It is so good. The actors really have the mannerisms of the original down, so that is fun to watch. I finished Professor T, I think. It was on Prime and just as I was trying to figure out what at the end of Season 4 I had watched they took it off. So now I have to figure out where it is and see if I want to pay for it. Such a pain when Prime does that.

I made a roast chicken the other night, so for leftovers, I made some asian wraps for dinner, and we had those as we watched the show. I have a lot left leftover chicken, so I think I’ll make a soup and end up freezing some. I have a pan of lasagna in the freezer, and I think I’ll pull that out as it’s been there a few months.

Tomorrow is my dentist appointment for a cleaning. It’s early, but still not enough time to get to the pool to swim. I just plan on coming home unless there’s something in Auburn I need to do.

I have a good-sized load to take to the thrift store, so I’ll do that after one of my appointments this week. I added the dehydrator since I don’t plan on doing any herbs this year or ever, actually. I enjoyed all that in the past, but now it just feels like too much effort for just a little payoff. Oh well, everything changes. Nothing stays the same that’s for sure.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, home stuff, Walking by

Basically a good week with finances since all of Septembers bills are still out there and this week is just an inbetween week. I have my budget done for September and everything is set up to come out automatically.

I got my LLS reimbursement so I’m keeping the $300 for UHC in the checking account. I’ll submit September’s about mid month. What a relief to have that for now. The grant should cover most of UHC till next July. At least it’s something for now and I greatly appreciate what they do. ( LLS that is).

I checked my Allstate account and nothing is due yet but I’m guessing that first payment will be October. I talked with my son about this because his Subaru is sitting in the back by the barn because it’s not running right. It’s a 2006 and I think he should just get rid of it. He does pay his insurance so it’s not that, it’s just it would be better just to have the 2 vehicles on the insurance. At this point he’s driving the truck which is fine till he figures out what to do.

I ended up going to Trader Joes after picking up the sleep test. I spent $125, but most of that was wine, and then $25 was gift card and about $25 was gift stuff(plus some of the wine) for my son’s partner’s birthday. Other than that no money spent this week.

It’s nice to have these inbetween weeks and not have to think about things related to bills, groceries, etc.

The sleep test was a disaster. The first night I did ok but really only got about 5 hours sleep with it on but the next night was horrible. I couldnt get to sleep for hours and then I was only like dozing off. I woke up like a zombie. I drove to Roseville dropped it and told the receptionist I wasn’t sure it was on the night before. After that I drove home, took an ativan and went to bed and slept for 3 hours.

I did feel a lot better after that. I walked this morning and felt good. I was planning on driving to the pool but then just didn’t feel like driving. So, I plan on dropping off thrift store stuff because it’s piled in the back of the Santa Fe. Other than that just pottering around here and doing some house tidying.

Here’s a picture of where my desk that I work at is with the 3 steps. Remeber this was a porch with concrete steps when we moved in.

Here’s a closer shot of Barclay and his VW bus. Plus that’s Jason our first boy! This poster is supposed to loook like that as it’s some kind of photography thing my son did.

Another shot of the now Heywood office.

Here’s the Star wars shelf for now.

Well, off to get going in my day.

Do you keep a shelf of memorabilia like star wars? The other thing is a Dalek from Dr. Who.

The changes

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So here’s the desk moved to B’s office.

I don’t plan on using this as my office, as that’s down in our other room. That room was originally a porch, hence the 3 steps down. B put down pine flooring over the concrete. We closed this in I think the second year we were here, so almost 30 years ago. My Heywood table has narrow legs, so it actually fits in the small space with the one extension open. I’ll add some pictures for reference.

I definitely need to cover up those cords …:) or move them down under the desk. The photo that’s not super clear is Barclay in 1980 with his VW 1967 bus.

I don’t remember the name of this Heywood desk. I actually ( back in my heyday eBay days) bought this off of eBay and had it shipped across the country.

I need to get some furniture polish or beeswax and clean it up. It’s not taking up too much room as it is only 21 wide. I think.

This is still getting worked on. But one of the main reasons for switching it out was how dusty the cords were, and they were all jumbled, so it was good to tidy them up. I’ve since taken down the twinkly lights, and I have the other Paris picture to hang. I’d like to figure something out so the Wifi isn’t just sitting there, but for now, it is what it is.

We finally figured out the cords, but forgot the record player has a speaker(wifi), so that’s on the shelf now, where ghostie is.

I’ve put together another thrift store box, but I will wait till I have more. There are only a few odds and ends in there.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cancer, cooking, decluttering, home stuff, Pantry, simple foods, Uncategorized by

I didn’t sleep well last night. I’m not sure if it was the heat or what. So, I decided not to walk at 6am and will go to the gym to use the treadmill. Some days are just like that. Today is the last really hot day. Then it looks pretty nice after Tuesday.

Things are quiet around here, and I’m glad. After all the chainsawing last week and giant machinery, it’s welcome. This coming week looks OK. I’ll go pick up the sleep test in Roseville. I’ll need to Google it as I’m not sure where the location is. Then I return it a few days later. It would all be a lot easier if they just looked at my Apple Watch data, which says sleep apnea. sigh:( I’ll proceed with what the Dr. says, but I don’t even see him again till late October. The world of doctors and medical appointments really does suck.

I’ve done a little more decluttering, mostly paper stuff, but some odds and ends too. I have quite a few books to donate to either the library friends or the pet bookstore, whichever comes first.

Last night I cooked a crockpot meal, and it was good. I had 2 bags of cooked chicken, although it wasn’t a lot in each bag, and I had a bag of chopped peppers from who knows when. So I chopped up an onion, added a can of cream of mushroom soup that I had in the pantry and wanted to use, and a random pouch of onion soup. I added some taqereia sauce to add a little spice. I just cooked on low for a few hours because the chicken was already cooked. Then I boiled some egg noodles and added them. I liked it. It’s probably not my daughter’s favorite, but I use up a bunch of random things. So win-win.

This is my son’s chair he had in the barn, so I’m using that a my place to sit in B’s office. It’s very comfortable, although you wouldn’t guess that. I’m debating moving my Heywood desk in there. I guess I could try it, and if I don’t like it, move it back out. The Heywood is very heavy, though.