Category Archives: simplicity

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, budgets, California, cooking, home stuff, simplicity by

A very rainy morning. Like downpours and roads flooding! I managed to get to the gym, but it was tough going.

Afterwards, I went and picked up a ‘pay it forward’ free item. It was a mandoline that I’ve wanted for some time. It’s an OXO and doesn’t look used. I’ll test it out on some radishes. I do have no-cut safety gloves, so I’ll wear those.

Last night we had baked salmon, a huge salad, and some brown rice. I’m trying to up my protein intake and veggie intake, so I did pretty well. I have leftovers either for lunch or another dinner. I’ll check with my daughter what she prefers.

I didn’t sleep well again last night, probably a residual of Dex. But I don’t feel too tired,yet.

This is Miss Cherry, who always has a frown on her face.

My brother found a rare star note, $10 bill. I plan on listing it on eBay and maybe making a few hundred dollars. Of course, it depends on who’s buying right now, but I’ll list it and see how it goes. I had Chat GPT write up a listing for me to look at and use some of it. For things like that, AI is great.

I don’t have any cooking lined up for today, so I may just tidy up some and then read.

New Years Eve

Posted in California, decluttering, home stuff, simplicity by

I hope all of you out there in blog land have a safe and happy NYE.

We will do our tradition of sub-type sandwiches and watch some movies. I have never stayed up to midnight in all these years. B would always stay up with the kids till midnight. sigh:(

The rain is expected to come back in tonight and continue for quite a few days. My son’s friend came yesterday and helped do a deeper clean. He’s a wonderful young man. I was happy to pay him to help. It’s interesting because I had just watched a YouTube channel that caught my attention about Japanese things. The concept was

‘oosouji’, which means ‘big clean’. I told T how cool that was because he was here helping to deep clean. He does a great job, btw.

So, today, I have some more oosouji to do, such as cleaning out the fireplace and washing a few windows. I’m also hoping that the desk and chair I have listed for free will be picked up this morning. They are in the sunroom, crowding it. It’s an extra desk my daughter doesn’t want anymore. If I had room, I’d keep it, but I don’t. So the other Japanese concept of ‘danshari’ is applicable here. Basically it’s refuse, dispose, and detach. So be it.

Well, what kind of NYE plans do you have? I have never gone out on NYE in all my years, ever. Do you go out? Just the thought of crowds is enough to stop me cold.

Mujō (無常)

Posted in bread, budgeting, California, camping, cancer, Death, husband, Myeloma, simplicity, Uncategorized by

The transient and ever-changing nature of things. As with Wabi Sabi, impermanence of things and the beauty in the imperfect.

Mono no aware, Mono no aware (物の哀れ): 
This term translates to “the pathos of things” and is an aesthetic appreciation for the transient nature of life. It involves a gentle sadness or wistfulness at the passing of things and a deep sensitivity to their ephemeral nature. That’s exactly how I feel in my life. It feels somewhat ‘unreal’ Barclay is not here with me to laugh with, joke with, travel with and everything in between. But I do take comfort in he’s not suffering anymore. It was a very difficult painful last 3 months of his life. Well, now to fall.

Fall is in full swing, here in N. Ca, I get the feeling of Mono no aware and Mujo, and wabi Sabi all rolled up together. We’ve had rain and cloudy days, as well as Tahoe-like days with big, fluffy clouds. I’ve had a few twinkly fires already, since the house stays cool even if it’s nice outside.

Just to back track a little here:

Barclay and I practised Zen Buddhism for many years after our Quaker roots seemed to fade away. However, Quakerism and Buddhism are very similar in fact. Both embrace simplicity and a WAY of life. Of course, Quakerism is rooted in a Christian context, and Buddhism in Eastern philosophy as taught by Buddha.

Right now, the impermanence of life is very real for me and maybe somewhat depressing. I am trying to embrace the Mujo concept because it does help me get through the day and realize that life does go on, and it will for me what whatever time I have left. Some of that is on my mind because of my rising kappa light chains and thinking about having to change treatments by January if they continue to go up.

I know that things will change, and I need to change too. But for now, I’ll try and take comfort in Mujo and mono no aware.

On a brighter note, my kids put together a very nice birthday for me. My son came and took a huge load to the dump( which I wanted done). We got a Round Table pizza, and my daughter had gone to Safeway for some small squares of cake to share. I didn’t have any champagne that day to celebrate, but I will soon.Turning 73 is not much different than 72 for me. The real change for me was at 70. Then I felt like I was getting old. Now, I’m old and just keep trying to do the things I love like swimming, walking, the gym and I hope some day in the near future doing some camping again. If i could afford the camper type van that’s what I’d do. We still ( my daughter and I) are going to check things out sometime in the spring. A small tent trailer is very doable, but I like the idea of self contained. Time will tell. Also, If I got one I’d get a loan so that the payment would be what we were paying for rubi. And we’d have the trailer as our trade in.

Well, I’ve rambled on a bit here, so that’s it for me. I do have the day home today after going to the gym yesterday, so I’ll do some tidying and make some sourdough bread.

Am I a minimalist??

Posted in books, California, Death, decluttering, home stuff, simple foods, simplicity, Uncategorized by

After reading the latest book,

I’m pretty sure that’s a spoof on her ‘author’ moniker.??

I wondered what I still had that was not really worth keeping. Or was it now something no longer needed? I’ve gone through a lot of shelves, drawers, closet ( we only have one closet) and took a hard look at things. Some things are left to deal with later, but a great deal was eliminated.

The author asks, “How do you want your home to ‘feel?’ “and then this is your why. I really want things to be simplified. It’s that simple. I want things to be uncomplicated and simple. Simple meals, simple house chores, simple maintaining the house, etc.

One of her tidbits was to go around your house and identify what irritates you or bugs you, and toss or throw them in the goodwill box. I like that idea.

This is part of the latest pile. 😦

Of course, having my husband just die is a motivator. Some of the things to let go of are those that I have no use for. Half-used notepads, a zillion pens, old T-shirts. ( I have saved some of his T-shirts like Grateful Dead, for now. I don’t know how I’ll feel in 6 months. Here I thought we had really prepared for his passing by getting rid of things, but honestly, it’s a shock what’s there. We have been on our minimalism journey for over 15 years, and here I am scratching my head going”why”?

As I’ve always contended, life is about change and trying to be in the season of your life as it is. I’ve never been here before, so I have to make the changes.

I’m not planning on canning in the near future, for example. So I don’t need a bizillion canning jars. I’ve given away on our Pay it forward group over 3 dozen jars. Now, of course, I’m holding back getting rid of my water canner and my All-American. Why? I don’t know, except I like canning, and I still might in the future. That is too early to tell, because this year, with Barclay dying, we didn’t have any garden. So time will tell on this one.

Even the yard stuff has been a lot. My son has done 3 trips to the dump already. And we still have at least 2 more that are mostly old wood. All this should have been done long before now. We’ve lived here 30 years, and well, stuff does accumulate, especially old wood from projects, scrap metal, old coolers, etc. I’m seriously thinking of hiring someone who does junk to get rid of it.

I suppose all things change as our attitude, circumstances, and perspective change. I’m glad mine is continuing to evolve and change with my current circumstances. I just wish Barclay were here to do this with me. 😦

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, cooking, Flylady, home stuff, Myeloma, simplicity by

It’s warm out but cloudy right now. It’s supposed to clear up and be in the 80s, so that’s a first this year.

I might go to the Auburn gym to do weights, but I’ll decide in a few hours. It depends on what I want to get done today. I vacuumed yesterday, so it’s maybe a quick mop. Flylady is the living room zone. Usually, that means in my LR, dust the Easton Press books and the ceiling fan, and wash the mirror. So not too much overall. Most of that I do anyway on Monday mornings when I do my house reset for the week. I need to start on the sunroom windows so I may do some of them.

I have some sourdough starter ready to use, so I’ll get that together. Last night we had the Costco chicken burgers on the BBQ and they were delicious. I think I’ll put together a chili tonight since I defrosted some ground turkey. I’m still working my way through the freezer, and this was the last pack of Costco turkey. I’ll probably cook that in the Le Creuset on the stove instead of the IP. I have my pressure-canned beans to add, so I don’t need the IP to cook the beans. I’m still contemplating the electric pressure canner. Does anyone reading use the Presto one? They are not cheap, but from the comments in the Facebook group, most everyone loves the convenience. Mostly because you set it up and there’s no watching it, etc, like the All-American. Like I said, it’s expensive, so not something I’m rushing to do.

It should be a quiet week, no appts, unless B ends up needing a blood transfusion, which I certainly hope not. He gets labs tomorrow, so he’ll know by Monday afternoon. I have nothing but need to call the sleep place to arrange getting the home test, and I need to call Ortho, as they should have reviewed the MRI by now. Mostly, from Ortho, I just want to get the PT referral to start doing that.

I do plan on going down to Roseville to the gym at least once. I think I’ll try and coordinate either WinCo or Costco with that.

How does your week look?, Do you have routines you follow, like Flylady? Some people really like Clean Mama ( I think that’s her blog name), but I tried it and it seemed way too involved for me. I’m always interested in minimalism, especially in older people, and how that helps with daily stuff.

Oh!!! I forgot my labs came back just a smidge above high normal, so all good. 19.6 kappa light chains, high normal is 19.4. It does tend to fluctuate, but this is still excellent. Boy, I am always so relieved that Velcade is working because I couldn’t handle one more thing right now. 😦

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, bread, California, cancer, cooking, simplicity by

Another cloudy, rainy day yesterday, and it looks like that again for today. We can always use the rain, so I can’t complain really. I think we’re back in the sun by evening, and then it looks nice the rest of the week.

I drove B for his transusion yesterday. This is probably the one thing that is frustrating me. Well, one of many things, but it is a big question mark why it is his hemoglobin is dropping. I suppose the simple answer is that the cancer is affecting his blood levels, but I’m not a doctor. He has his next immuno on Tuesday, so hopefully that will start to improve the hemoglobin. A very good thing, though, is he’s had a bit of an appetite and has eaten pretty well the last few days. I hope that’s a sign he’s doing better.

Today is a home day. Normally, I’d be at the Auburn gym, but I want to hold off till I get an official diagnosis on my knee. I had the MRI, so I should know by Monday or Tuesday. It didn’t take long, partly because there was no contrast involved. The one oncology nurse, Vicki, who usually does my shot, said that using a stationary bike is one of the best ways to build knee muscles. She had a torn meniscus a few years back due to a skiing accident, so she really went full on rehab and now is a committed bicyclist and goes out every morning at 4:30 am. Now that’s dedication. i will start on the bike once I know what’s up.

I’m making sourdough bread this morning. I thought I’d try something different, so I’m trying cheddar and olives. We’ll see how it comes out.

Friday night, I was able to use that frozen pizza that was languishing in the freezer, so one more thing gone.

Last night I made the Greek lemon chicken soup, Avogolimeno. It’s a simple recipe, but so delicious. I made B tomato soup and he ate it all!!!

I think tonight, I’ll do rice and the TJ’s Kung Pao chicken that I’d like to use up.

I made reservations for the 5 of us to go to brunch at one of our favorite places, High Hand Nursery and Cafe. It’s very popular and reservations are hard to get, but I got a brunch on the Sunday before my daughter’s birthday. I’m sure it’ll be pricey, but since we rarely eat out, I’m ok with it.

I finished the book “Enough’ about the Everest climber. It was an interesting read, but I would have liked more about what the camps are like. How many people climb in a day? Things like that. But a good read.

Then I’m working my way through the Harry Potter books for the 3rd time. I just finished #2. They are fun to read. It’s too bad JK Rowling has become such a jerk and anti LGBTQ+. Weird.

Tomorrow I have my labs, and I might go into Target( which I’ve been avoiding) to check out some PJs. I’ve been looking for just some cotton ones, and most, like from LLB, etc, are too expensive. I saw some online at Target for $20, so I want ot check them out.

This week, Flylady is the LR. So I’ll do a few extra things. I dusted all the Easton Press Books already, so I may just need to wash the inside windows.

How do you do house chores? All at once or break it up like Flylady?

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, camping, cancer, cooking, Pantry, simplicity, swimming, Walking by

Wow, did we get a lot of rain yesterday!! It was pouring all day with quite a bit of wind too. Fortunately, no trees went down. We still need to figure out money for getting at least 2 more trees down. Maybe in 2025, we can do at least one. I was very glad we didn’t need to go out anywhere.

This morning though is nice and clear with a beautiful full moon. We walked and it was quite misty in the park. After we got back, we got right on the computers to try and book Nevada Beach for June. Since we don’t know what the situation will be, I figured to book it because otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to get in. Both of us tried and B got a spot. Tomorrow one of our favorite spots opens up so I’ll try for that but it’s definitely a lottery.

Today, I plan on going to the Auburn gym and then coming home to do some house stuff. It’s the bathroom zone this week so I’ll do that and add in the bedroom as both are quite simple to do. My desk area needs some attention so I’ll tidy that up.

The coming week looks good weatherwise and only one appt for B but that’s his video visit. I plan on swimming and going to Maheny gym and the library. I don’t have any holds available so I want to look at the catalog and see what I can put on hold.

I’ve made my through some freezer stuff this past week and will continue to do that this week. I’m planning on falafels tonight and I’ll work on the rest of the menu later.

How Flylady and decluttering changed my life.

Posted in decluttering, Flylady, home stuff, minimalism, simplicity, Uncategorized, White space by

First a comment about Flylady. When I started with FL, there was none of the bat-shit crazy stuff she spouts today. She never mentioned religion per se or anything remotely conspiracy-related. Of course, this was back in 2010 or so and things weren’t quite as crazy as they are now. So if you happen to go to her channel be ready to see a wall of weird crosses behind her etc. I only go to the website which is now handled by someone else. I do that only to check in to what the zone is.

So without further ado, FL did change my life when I was overwhelmed with everything. Personally, when I see Youtubers like Minimal Mom, Shannon Torres, etc, I can see their need for some control in their lives, and decluttering and minimalism work for them. I felt the same.

By the time I was diagnosed with myeloma in 2005, I was heavy into collecting everything mid-century. I was doing craft fairs to sell stuff and always on the hunt for Life magazines, collectibles, etc. So after my diagnosis and subsequent year of treatment, everything came to a halt. Our small house was packed to the gills and messy. It was always clean but there was just too. much. stuff.

I think it was around 2010 that I stumbled upon FL. I wasn’t so much into minimalism at that time but FL’s plan included decluttering and getting rid of excess. I think the most valuable thing for me was her zone concept and cleaning your house by zones. I still do that today although it is modified to fit what I need. I would highly recommend the zone method as every 5 weeks you then deep clean the one zone. If your house is bigger with more bedrooms you would need to add some zones. So the zone concept really changed how I kept up with the house and cleaned.

In addition, her daily tasks really kept me focused. Daily tasks included clean/clear counters and surfaces, swish and swipe the bathroom, one load of laundry a day, sweep the kitchen floor and keep the sink clear of dishes. I implemented with the whole family, NO dishes in the sink at bedtime.

She is one of the original influencers who coined the 15-minute decluttering time. Basically, do what you can in 15 minutes, use a timer, and then when it’s up you’re done. That is how I started the great decluttering. So much stuff left our house and barn. I gave lots of the more valuable things to a friend who had a big house so it fit in well.

I haven’t missed a thing. I didn’t take pictures of all the stuff and I would recommend you do. It’s a great way to look back and go, oh yeah I remember that.

So, the biggest change was how I began to see our very small house. Since it is just 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom, we were always challenged with not enough space. My office area used to be my daughter’s room and my son had the small bedroom. In hindsight I would have done things differently but as said hindsight is always 20/20.

Now I see we have enough room since I got rid of anything that wasn’t serving a purpose or that I/we loved. Honestly, I’d love to get rid of more stuff, mainly furniture but each piece we own is functional. We have to sit somewhere:0

So I went from overwhelmed to organized. Maximalist to minimalist. Compared to die-hard minimalists, I still probably have too much stuff( Catherine Holm , anyone), but hey, it’s my definition of being minimal. Pretty much what you see is what I have. I have very little storage space, so… I mean I do have Christmas stuff, my vintage Halloween, a tiny bit of Easter/Spring but not things unknown in drawers.

All the areas of our small house work for us and I’m very glad that even after 14 years, we’re still trying to ”Pare down to the essence, but don’t remove the poetry” Leonard Koren.

Pushing Through

Posted in books, California, cancer, decluttering, simplicity by

Good news finally. B got his labs on Monday and his hemoglobin and platelets both went up. His energy is way better and he’s more ‘with it’. So hopefully all is good till his next and last chemo on Tuesday.

I’ve been trying to push a little harder going to the gym and the pool. Today, I’m staying home and not going to go out. I do plan to swim one more day this week either Friday or Saturday.

I specifically went to Costco to buy some sweats on sale. After I got home and tried them I didn’t like them. They were fleeced lined which clearly, I didn’t register when I bought them. So I’ll need to stop and return them. I’m terrible at buying clothes which is probably why I wear the same thing day in and day out. The sweats I wear to go walking are at least 10 years old. maybe I’ll check Amazon to see if they have this brand which is Fila. They were not expensive and I think they are cotton. I could use some new T-shirts too. My Bombas are getting quite thin. They are wonderful though and get softer with wear. They’re Pima cotton. They are not cheap that’s for sure but do last forever.

Today then, I’m going to declutter some books and work in the kitchen some. My jars that I store all my beans and rice etc could use a good wipe down. I also want to take an inventory of what I have. One of the cats,( we think Gus), knocked 2 plants off the window sill so I need to fix them. I’ll have to figure out a better ‘cat-safe’ place.

We have a big wave of rain coming our way. I’m not sure how much we’re supposed to get but I think the Sierras will get snow.

So how about Oz as the head of SS. Can Orange Man make any other absolutely insane appts? It’s going to get weirder and weirder. And I think more dangerous too.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cash envelopes, cooking, Flylady, meal planning, simplicity, Uncategorized, Walking by

We started to go walk in the park when the rain came in so we turned around and came home. I actually like walking in the rain but not pouring rain and we didn’t have on any rain gear. We still have our Frogg Toggs but haven’t used them in ages. Oh well, I’m planning on the Auburn gym this morning so I’ll add some treadmill if my knee is up to it.

Today, I need to do my PT exercises, go to the gym and make a menu for the week. Yesterday I pressured canned chicken broth and got 6 pint jars. I had soaked some Rancho Gordo cranberry beans and then put them in the crock pot. I used the recipe from his book( “Vegetarian Cooking)for Pasta Fagioli, and it came out very good. There’s plenty left over for lunch today.

Tenative menu:

cheesy potatoes and chicken or Quorn Chicken and salad

quiche with Bourison cheese with salad

Soup night of some sort maybe french onion

freezer meal, I have a rice and turkey one that needs to be used

Pasta of some sort with my canned tomato sauce

chicken pot pie( that’s what I’m planning for tonight)

Mex night, either bean tacos or ?

Flylady zone is the Living Room and all I need to do is dust some and vacuum. I’ll probably also tidy my office some too.

We just got a notice from UHC, which is our supplemental health plan, and it will increase 11.7 %. That’s quite the increase, but honestly, what choice do you have? That’s almost a $400 increase for the year. Geez, everything is crazy expensive and living on a fixed income with no other sources of income, does make it tough. I guess all we can do is see where else we can cut some budget items. April will be expensive with Allstate due and property taxes. We also have the Santa Fe to smog and do registration. Although I didn’t get my envelopes fully funded, there’s some in each one and that will help. My goal is by next year to have these fully funded. Even if I only get half that will be a good amount so I’ll keep going. I really like the envelope system and it definitely is working for us.

Some spring flowers and a sleeping kitty. That’s Cherry!

We all decided we need to order lots more daffodils and different varieties for this fall. I especially like the ones that are ruffled. The yard looks very pretty with them in different places.