Category Archives: travel

Friday Things

Posted in budgets, California, camping, cooking, Death, swimming, travel by

I have most of my budget ready for April. Some DMV items (Santa Fe)need to be paid for, and I need to do a smog on the Santa Fe. Also, the next installment for Allstate will come due in April. I ordered a replacement battery for my Dyson 8 from Amazon. I haven’t ordered too much over the last few months, so I’m pleased with that. Amazon is almost a necessity for things like that. I also need to order the porta-potty for camping when we go up to Tahoe because we’ll be in my son’s tent for that trip. There are very nice bathrooms at Nevada Beach, but that doesn’t help me at night 🙁

I plan on doing a freezer challenge to lower food costs. Last month(end of Feb and March through the 25th), came in right under $400. That includes a Costco shop, which usually (always) includes some stock-up items. So overall, I’m pleased.

The send Dad off in New Brighton ended up being a little spendy, but not bad considering the room didn’t have a microwave to heat food up. I used Starbucks GC when I could, and that saved some money. My daughter also paid for a few things. The biggest expense is a hotel room, of course. That’s one reason I loved Rubi because over the course of the time we traveled, staying in Rubi covered the cost of the RV vs hotels. Well, sadly, that is not my life now. Of course, I still need to sell Rubi and just haven’t bothered yet, especially since my son stays out there when he is here.

I’m already checking on hotels in Napa for a one-nighter. I wish I could stay at the Fairgrounds campground that B and I loved so much, but it’s not possible. I found a very nice room for around $200, and it does have a mini kitchen and a seating area, which is the one thing I would have liked in the other room. My daughter works T-F, so it has to be a Sunday night. I’ll have to see whether I can swing it even with it going on a card with the other things I have this month.

We have a change in the weather coming next week, cooler and rain. This has been such an early spring.

I plan on going to the pool this morning if I can get going. Since lap swimming ends at 9:15, I need to be there earlier. I’ll see how I feel by 7:30. Yesterday, I washed sheets and pulled out my summer curtains to iron. I also made up some chicken enchiladas with green chile sauce. That used up some frozen chicken. Then I pulled some black beans that had been frozen in the Souper cubes and heated them up. Very tasty.

My daughter has been weed-eating as everything is growing so fast. Last year, with Barclay in hospice, the weeds took over, and I had to hire someone to come and do it because they were out of control. This year, she’s keeping up on it. She also planted the 2 lavender plants I got at Costco. I don’t do much in the yard these days, but I love sitting out every day looking around at how beautiful the yard is and how fortunate we are to live here.

There’s Chester checking things out and the wisteria.

Hello Ocean!

Posted in California, camping, cancer, Death, husband, travel by

We had a great trip to Santa Cruz, Capitola, and Aptos. Since we left on Sunday, traffic was light and reasonable even through San Jose.

We did get there almost exactly as I planned at 12. From there, we went straight to Gayles for sandwiches and then down to New Brighton State Park. It was crazy busy, but we expected that as it was Sunday. After a few hours, we checked into the hotel, which was in Aptos. Quite nice, although a few things could have been better, but that’s nitpicking a little. The beds were comfortable and the location great. I rested up for a bit, and then we went to a Mexican restaurant in Aptos. That too was busy, but we were seated right away and had delicious food. The servings were huge, and since we couldn’t reheat them, we had to leave the leftovers. Before we went to the restaurant, we went to Sunset State Beach, and there were benches that I could sit on, and my daughter went down the stairs to the beach and walked. The third picture is the view from the upper parking lot where the benches were.

The next morning, we went back to New Brighton, and Dad had his Bon Voyage. My daughter took him out to a tide pool, and he washed away with the waves. I think he would have liked that.

We got coffee and breakfast next back at Gayles. I love Gayles. It is the primo cafe with the absolutely best food and pastries.

After we finished, we went to Santa Cruz and filled up with gas at the Costco. Then we went out to the lighthouse and walked the trail some.

The road in front of the lighthouse goes on to meet Natural Bridges State Park. It’s maybe a 3-mile stretch that goes along the coastline. We parked and took our camp chairs down to the ocean and chilled for a few hours.

When we were ready for lunch, we walked back up to the picnic tables and ate there. We wanted to go to the gift shop there, so we did, and I bought some cute Monarch Butterfly pins. Natural Bridges is one of the migratory stops for the Monarchs. We didn’t see any outside, as it might have been just a bit late for them. All in all a great day.

The hotel had a lovely outside dining area with a koi pond, so we had a light dinner there. Back in the room, I watched some Young Sherlock on my MacBook Air.

The next morning, we checked out and then got coffees and breakfast things from Starbucks and went back to Sunset Beach and ate there. This time, we drove down to the lower area and parked. The ocean is right there in the lower area. This is a very popular beach because it is quite flat and goes on forever, so people can walk quite far. The one picture above is the old ship that has been there a long time.

We had a good drive home without any delays. Traffic going in the opposite direction was insane, with stop-and-go for miles. We were glad we were going in our direction.

So, thankful we could do this and send B off. I still need to tally up what we spent on food and misc. After doing this trip, I feel pretty sure I don’t want to pull anything, even a tent trailer, so that makes things a little clearer. I’m still processing, but that seems to be the direction I’m going in. Obviously, if I had money, I’d buy a used Sprinter van, but right now that’s not affordable for me. So the process keeps going on.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, travel by

I had a good walk this morning. No one around so that was a treat!

My son is over and will stay here overnight and then on Monday as well. The kitties are very neurotic and probably will hide the whole time. The catio will be closed as one of them is an escape artist and can get out of anything.

I just need to pack up my CPAP machine and my meds, and I’ll be almost ready. My plan is to get there around noon or so and go to the New Brighton State Beach and hang out. We’ll pick up some sort of sandwiches beforehand. The weather looks perfect.

I post a picture or 2 when I can.

Menu Monday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, camping, cooking, meal planning, travel by

Last night we had tofu burgers. Nothing fancy, just grilled tofu with condiments.

Tonight I have some asparagus to use up, so I’ll find something to pair with that. I don’t have anything defrosted for the week, so I’ll look in the freezer and see what to pull out. I decided on a pasta with lemony asparagus. That sounds springy!

Tuesday is usually Mexican-themed. I have beans I can defrost and corn chips, so I may make a platter of nachos. I have avocados and sour cream too.

Wednesday- If I defrost some chicken, I’ll do that on the BBQ grill and probably do enough for leftovers.

Thursday-leftover chicken. Maybe a cobb salad. I don’t have any bacon, but I can pick up some at the store.

Friday- Last week, I made a sourdough discard pizza dough for the pizza, and didn’t like it. We might get a takeout.

Saturday?? TBD

Then on Sunday, we’ll be heading down to Capitola, so that will involve eating out. Whenever Barclay and I went camping at New Brighton, we just went to the store and bought what we needed to make in camp. Since we’re not camping, we’ll need to figure out something.

Today is my dentist appt for a cleaning, and then I will do a few errands in town. I don’t plan on going to Roseville today, probably tomorrow.

Frugal Friday

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, California, camping, cash envelopes, husband, travel by

Yesterday, I went to the gym and the library for my holds. I wanted to get that chair Pilates Yoga book again and start a small routine. I’ll probably end up buying the book, but for now I can use the library’s. I wanted to get an IN and Out burger but it was too early so I came home and had homemade sourdough bread with left over chicken.

I also checked DVDs in the Friends of the Library area and found 2 Blu-rays to replace the regular DVDs, so that was a win at $6.00.

I used up the rest of the Costco chicken. I made 4 Souper Cubes of stuffing and chicken, and put some gravy on top. They’re in the freezer, and later today I’ll pop them out and put them in Ziploc bags. So that’s 4 future meals for us.

I returned the sweat pants to Costco and then went in and spent $180, but $45 of that was our favorite wine, Kendall-Jackson Reserve. And I got the Kombucha for my daughter, so the food was probably closer to $125. Oh, and I had picked up the rotisserie chicken.

Today, I need to go get cat food in Auburn, so I’m not sure if I’ll go down to Roseville or not. If I don’t go, that saves gas for next week. I don’t need any groceries( I think). I should probably check the salad stuff. The Chef Preserve is working well for veggies, as long as I remember to use them. 🙂 Refrigerator blindness is real!

I’m starting taxes and still need one bank thing. Our taxes are pretty straightforward, and I always use TurboTax. When I started it a bit ago, I had to figure out how to change it so I would be the primary taxpayer, as Barclay had always been before. Fortunately, TurboTax told me exactly how to change it, so that’s all set. I just need the final numbers from the bank and SS. I hope by next week I can wrap it up.

The VW insurance came in, and I need to pay my daughter for that. The VW is in her name, so she pays it, and then I reimburse her. I had a cash envelope for it, but never put $ in it as I had too many other bills to take care of. I guess if we keep it for another year, it’s worth it for now. I only drive the VW to Auburn for errands, so technically I could get rid of it. But as long as it’s working, I think we’ll keep it, but I need to get that envelope going for next year.

I was reading another blog I like, ( My Tireless Retirement), and she was talking about buying a van to go camping in. One that the seats go flat, that she could put a mattress in there and sleep in it. I got to thinking that maybe we could do that. Get like a Honda Odyssey. Our Santa Fe is getting up there in miles, so that could be something to think about. Gee, I loved our Dodge Caravan. It was the best thing we did back then, along with our tent trailer. We took the kids out camping all the time. And we traveled in the Caravan to Canada and lots of places. It was a game-changer, not to mention ferrying homeschooled kids everywhere.

So maybe I should go look at one to see if that would work for me. It’s not like I’m looking to travel the country; I just want to do some of the things Barclay and I did together. So back to the drawing board. 🙂

Menu Monday and a BIG shout out to Frugal Girl!!

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, camping, cancer, cooking, Death, home stuff, Lake tahoe, travel, Uncategorized, velcade by

Frugal Girl has a huge blog following and deservedly so. But she never speaks of politics till now, and I am very Thrilled she has stood up and spoken out against the horrors of this administration, especially with the murder of Alex Pretti, a fellow nurse. I’m sure it was difficult for her to do, especially as she is an evangelical Christian. Although we are as far apart as can be on religion, I respect her immensely for all she has gone through and accomplished. She is an exceptional person, and thank you, Kristen, for using your voice.

I’m just a small blogger, but I will not shy away from speaking up about the wrongs this administration is doing. AND THE LIES!! You can see with your own eyes what went down, and to have them disgrace a wonderful human being is sickening. May Karma catch up to them in the end.

On to mudane things in my life.

The menu changed up a bit as one night we had ramen because we felt like it.

Last night I baked some chicken, and we had that with baked butternut squash and salad.

Monday- I think I’ll try to do the baked fish with something. I really want to empty out the small refrigerator freezer, and the fish is in there.

Tuesday- Mexican something. I have beans frozen, so I could do beans and something. I don’t have any enchiladas, but I could buy some if I get to Winco. We do love Amy’s cheese enchiladas.

Wednesday- I have some Trader Joe’s orange chicken to use up, and I could make jasmine rice to go with it.

Thursday- ?? Maybe a curry, as I have tofu to use. We really like tofu curry with rice.

Friday- Pizza of some sort. We finished up the last Costco one for lunch the other day, and it was pretty bad, so I won’t buy them again. The frozen pizza that we liked the best was Home Run Chicago Pizza, and I think only Safeway carries that.

Saturday-? TBD

After e-messaging my oncologist, Dr. Laptalo, he suggested half an Imodium for the IBS. So I’ve been doing that, and so far it’s been fine. It’s been about a week with no issues, so I’m happy about that. I went to the gym and library the other day, and no surprises. I’m not sure what triggered it, but I think the body remembers certain things, and with the Velcade, it responded to that. Dr. L thought it could have been Velcade, as the timing was right. I don’t know, and all I want is not be ‘surprised’. I’m planning on going to the pool this week at least once, so that will be sort of my marker. I overcame this before, and I will overcome it again.

I’ve had zero luck with getting a spot at Nevada Beach. My only theory is that because it is such a beautiful camping spot on Lake Tahoe and there are so few spots, getting one is getting harder. Reservations are now into the end of July, and I think I’ll skip those for now. Tahoe in the summer is not my favorite, as it is overrun by tourists.

And I’m still not sure what I would camp in. I still have Rubi, but I will try to sell it this spring. I do have the one night booked at Tahoe in June, but I can handle one night in a tent. Any more than that, I doubt I’d want to do. This probably is one of the hardest for me to accept with Barclay gone, that certain things, like camping, can’t be the same. The question is still, how do I want to go forward?

Well, this has gotten quite long, so that’s it for now.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, California, camping, cooking, Gratitude, home stuff, travel, Uncategorized by

I’m excited, I have a bid on the rare star note. So we’ll see how it goes. This was my brother’s, so whatever I get minus eBay fees, he gets half. But a few extra dollars will be nice.

I am very grateful it’s sunny again, and no rain is forecast. We do need things to dry up. I went for a walk after I tried again to get a spot in Tahoe. Either more people are vying for spots, or the algorithm is not working for me. 🙁 In all the years of booking Tahoe, I have never had such a difficult time as this.

I’m planning on checking daily for cancellations. I’m also going to make a list of what we need for a basic camping trip without Rubi. It’s a big unknown how all this will play out.

I’ve been enjoying watching a YouTuber who talks about Japanese concepts. His videos are quite beautiful. The latest one I watched was on Kakebo, or Japanese budgeting. I liked it enough that I bought a book from Amazon called Kakebo, and it has weekly sheets to fill in. Now I do a daily budget and write my daily lists in a notebook, but I always like a new twist on things to keep it interesting.

Today is a home day, and I’m doing a number of things. I made my favorite spinach soup, cooked up some burgers for lunch, and prepped some chicken for grilling either later or tomorrow. I still have a bunch of mushrooms to cut up and am thinking of a mushroom soup. I tidied the house, and all I have left is to put the Robo vacuum on.

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.

Bodega Bay, Ca

Posted in California, husband, travel, Uncategorized by

We had a wonderful trip to the coast. Google Maps had us going a way that Barclay never went, so we bypassed both Sonoma and Santa Rosa. I suppose if we had the trailer, we would go the way we always did, as these roads were definitely ‘country ‘roads.

We decided to get lunch at ‘The Tides’ snack bar, which is not in the main restaurant area. It was a good choice. Most places were packed with day trippers, I suppose from the Bay Area. We drove down to where Spuds is, and the line to get in was down the road. Definitely, not my style.

After lunch, we drove up the coast and walked around some. By then, our room was ready, so we headed back into Bodega. We relaxed the rest of the day.

The next morning, we had our free continental breakfast at The Tides and then headed up to Wrights Beach to have our ceremony. No one was on the beach, so that made it nice. We sent B off into the waves while listening to music. Of course, he was the ‘Dylan’ guy, so we played ‘Knock Knock Knocking on Heaven’s Door, Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, LOTR’s ‘Into the West, and a few more. It was foggy, and the tide was coming in, so it seemed quite mystical. I felt good about it.

We checked out the campground ( where we’ve stayed lots of times) and decided that after we get the tent trailer, we’ll come back. Barclay and I’s last trip over there in Rubi was in March last year, before everything started going south.

When we headed back, we decided to go to Spuds,

and there was no line, and we got a table. The BEST clam chowder ever.

So what a difference a day makes. We also stopped at the kite store, which we always did when the kids were small, and we picked up a couple of whirly gigs that B loved for the yard.

We headed back to the room to rest some before figuring out dinner. We decided to do Fishetarian that B and I loved.

It wasn’t too busy, but the food wasn’t as top-notch as when we had gone before. It was good, just not superb. After that, we went back to the hotel, sat out on the patio, and opened our Veuve Clicquot champagne. Boy, was that excellent.

I’m glad we did the trip for Barclay, and now the last place will be Tahoe.

My son did a great job staying here with the cats, so now my daughter and I can maybe plan some more trips in between her work schedule.

Today, I’m staying home to do some cleaning and just relaxing.

Five on Friday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, Myeloma, travel, Uncategorized by

We had the most wonderful thunderstorm and rain last night with lightning. We got a lot of rain, and the ground is pretty soaked for now. Yeah, for the rain. Although not so good, it started a lightning fire across the canyon, but I think I saw it was contained.

A low spend week for the most part. My daughter went to Costco after work for a few things, namely dishwasher pods that we needed. Plus water and just a few other things. Food came to @ $47, and then the wine I want to take to the coast was $18. It’s called Sonoma-Cutrer. I haven’t had it before, but it’s supposed to be good.

All the July bills are done, so I have August’s budget almost done. With SS decreasing, I have made a few adjustments. I think mostly it’ll be decreasing food costs and miscellaneous expenses. Most of our bills are fixed, so I can’t do anything there.

Let see, the good news is LLS opened funding for Myeloma, so I hopped on the website and was approved. I just need the doctor to fill out his form. Having that money will be a great help in paying for my insurance.

Other good news is, my kappa light chains stayed about the same, 19.8. So up from 19.6, but that’s really marginal. So good news on that front.

I had fairly good energy this week after the low with Dex. I got the living room ceiling painted. It took 2 days working for about 30 minutes each time. I also went to the paint store and bought another gallon of Simply White. Except for the bathroom, our whole house is painted that color. It makes it easy to do touch-ups and keeps the look clean and minimal.

Well, I’m off to do some tidying and put some stuff away.