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Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, Credit cards, Myeloma, Uncategorized, Walking by

Yesterday was a nice day, starting with a walk around 6:15 a.m. Then my son came up with his partner, and they brought Noah’s bagels, so we had a nice brunch. Then he got to work using the chipper to get rid of the tons of bags of pinecones B was collecting!!! He also moved all the redwood boards to the carport.

I can tell this is a drop-in-energy day due to the dex wearing off, so I’ll keep the day easy. We’re going down to Ikea for the morning, as my daughter wants to get a Billy shelf. IKEA is always fun. I also need to stop at the store, but I may do Trader Joe’s, as it is right off the freeway. I would do that on our way home. I need milk and cream and a few salad packs. Maybe I’ll check out a ready-to-cook meal like salmon.

Last night we had blueberry pancakes and eggs for dinner. Tonight, I’m not sure. I feel like some beans so I might start them in the crockpot before we head out.

I have labs tomorrow, but they are at 8:30, so that’s too late to go to the pool or the gym, so I’ll just come home and do regular Monday things. Hopefully, the Dex is doing its job, and I won’t have an increase (at least not much) in my kappa light chains. After labs, I’ll drop our ballots off at the Records office, which is just up the street from the lab.

I did my budget for June, and it is very tight. I’ll make it, but won’t be able to pay as much on my CC. Oh well, it’ll get done. I don’t have any more big bigs for a while, so that will give me a chance to catch up. I already paid the AAA membership, but Costco’s comes out in June. I’ll check if it’s on auto pay because I can’t remember if I did that. Other than that, I think the next few months there are no annual bills.

Mr Peabody is back!!

Midweek Musings

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, decluttering, home stuff, library, minimalism, Uncategorized by

Another shout-out to a supporter who made a donation. I am truly humbled by the kindness shown here. Thank you!

Well, yesterday I went down to the Roseville gym and did weights and the treadmill. I was going to walk the trail, but by the time I was done, it was already warm, and I didn’t have my hat. After that, I went to the library, which is next door to the gym, and got my 2 holds.

I got up to Costco around 10 and got the dishwasher pods( on sale), my vitamins, and protein bars that my daughter likes to take to work, also on sale, and AAA batteries I needed. I didn’t linger too long. I paid with some cash and put the small balance on the Costco CC.

I’ve been checking my SP02 every day, and the oximeter needed batteries. The daytime readings are fine for the most part, but there’s still a dip at night. Of course, that will be the primary discussion at my appointment, I’m sure. And that I will not do an in-lab titration test. My anxiety and my semi-claustrophobia would be too much for me. When I was first diagnosed, it was with a home test, but apparently, this test can fine-tune the CPAP machine. But as GEmini AI has pointed out, the SD card is giving him titration info every night. So???

Anyway, today is a home day, and I need to finish up some things. I want to get the recycling bags ready to go, put the thrift store stuff in the car, and tidy up some papers that are lying around.

I was playing around with Chat GPT with pictures of B’s office. And it came up with some nice minimalist images. I find taking pictures of areas that need some attention is a great visual aid. I’m a very visual person, so that worked, and I immediately removed a few things and rearranged some others. My printer is on the desk, and that’s one thing I’d like to find a different place for. But for now, that’s where it lives.

Of course, I don’t have a bookcase like that, but I do have the Billy shelves, and the desk is the Heywood Wakefield. The picture on the left is before I tidied it up. It’s a small area, but that’s where Barclay worked from home all those years. His desk was different, and the chair was an office chair. Well, it’s fun to do, and it gave me some good ideas.

Simple Sunday

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A cool morning. Temperatures dropped quite a bit and it’s only 63 out right now. There is also a delta breeze which makes it feel cooler.

I went to the Auburn gym, stopped at Goodwill to look around, and then came home.

Most things are tidy around the house, so not a lot to do, which is nice. I might do some ‘extra things’ I don’t normally get to, like dusting baseboards.

Last night I made spanakopita, but modified it to use cream cheese mixed with the feta cheese. I’m still trying to recreate a spinach pie my mother made. I’m pretty sure it had cream cheese mixed in with the spinach. Anyway, this one came out excellent. I also used frozen spinach and I don’t normally do that, so that may have made a difference in the texture as well.

My daughter has been mowing ‘the south forty today’. There’s still a lot to do. Hopefully, my son can pitch in and do some weed eating.

WE might do a day trip again tomorrow, but I think I want to wake up and see how I feel. I still want to get up to Donner Lake and walk that trail, so I might do that. Once my daughter finishes the semester, she’ll have more days when we can go do things.

Other than that, not much is going on.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, decluttering, Gratitude, Uncategorized by

I’m very thankful to feel ok again. Whatever it was, I’d prefer it not to happen again. Next time, I will be sure to drink some electrolytes. AI seemed to think that the need for them was contributing to my overall yucky feeling.

My labs came in at 30.4, so up from 29.1, but not too bad. .7 increase, and my ratio came down to 2.65 from 2.95, so that was positive. Another month of just keeping on.

I’m thankful for a day with nothing planned. I don’t have any plans for the day, so I’ll see what I get up to. I’ve been decluttering a few random items that I’m not using and will take to Goodwill once I have a few bags.

Today, I plan on making a chicken salad with leftover Costco chicken. The rest I’ll just freeze. Plus, at some point, make some chicken broth. I think this time I’ll pressure can it, so I don’t take up so much room in the freezer. But that’s not today.

We had a dead deer in our upper yard near the pond. We’re not sure if it got hit by a car or what. My daughter called animal control, and usually, if it’s on private property, they won’t get it. But since we said we had no way to move it, they took it. Why couldn’t it die on our neighbor’s property? I’m thankful they took it, though, as a number of years ago we had a dead deer down in the woods, and it just decomposed and certainly smelled for a while. We think that one, though, was a mountain lion kill, as there were only pieces left. Anyway, it’s gone.

Midweek musings

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I think I’m almost back to normal. I feel good enough to try the pool so, I’ll report back and update.

Update: The pool was relatively empty (no coast guard). I got a lane and did about 25 minutes, and then felt done.

I need to stop for gas at Costco first. Then I’ll only try to swim for 20 minutes at most. Definitely don’t want to overdo it and feel lousy again. I will mention what happened to Dr. Laptalo when I see him next month and see what he thinks. Food has been off, and that’s not fun for me, as I love cooking, food, and eating. Maybe today my taste will come back for something. I did have a salad last night, which was the first since last Friday, so that was positive.

I got gas at Costco, and it’s up to 5.69, so up quite a bit. After the pool, I went to Costco for coffee(always), a roast chicken, eggs, WW bread, some steak seasoning, chips, and wine. I picked up a rosé brut for Mother’s Day.

Now I’m home and will chill for a bit and then see what I get up to. I’ve been doing some embroidery, which I really like doing. Very relaxing.

Thankful Thursday

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That our temperatures are back to normal for this time of year, mid-70s. I was able to grill our burgers on Webi, and it was nice to sit out for dinner.

I’m thankful for the bravery and courage of Virginia Giuffre, who wrote” Nobody’s Girl” about Epstein and Maxwell. The book is very hard to read, so be forewarned. But because of her, she exposed many rich, powerful men who abused young girls and women. Although she died by suicide, she has left a legacy behind. It’s sad, though, it came to that.

I’m thankful for my first cup of coffee in the morning. It’s always the best.

I’m thankful for the comfort of my home, albeit small. It’s true that if you remove things, all of a sudden your house can feel larger and less cluttered. I’m on the lookout for a cabinet for our entry way that can hold more stuff that I don’t want out, visible. Right now, I have the Ikea lockers, which I do like, but I was hoping for something with more storage and maybe drawers. I’ve been checking the Marketplace, but most stuff is in Sacramento, and that’s too far for me to just go check something out.

I’m grateful for the infusion nurses who are great at what they do. I was in and out in 20 minutes, so very nice.

Menu Monday

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The RG beans were outstanding. I added onion, garlic, and some of my homegrown oregano. I’ll definitely buy them again.

In no particular order this week:

I’m planning on BBQing burgers one night as the weather is going to be fabulous. I don’t have any beef, though, in the freezer, so I may stop at Costco after the pool when I go this week.

I’m planning on a BLT night with homemade sourdough and avocado. I’ll cook extra bacon for the quiche.

I have extra-heavy cream, so I’ll try a quiche with bacon and Gruyère. The last one I made didn’t come out very well for some reason. It was not custardy but kind of dry. I’ll check the recipe; I may have the egg/cream ratio wrong. I’m going to use puff pastry instead of a regular crust, as I have some in the freezer.

I have chicken pot pies in the freezer, or I have chicken shredded, I can make my own.

I think I’ll cook up some brown rice and do some kind of bowl.

Other days, I’ll have to see what needs using up.( the beans with tortillas)

Today, I plan on staying home as I’m feeling a bit tired. The only thing I really need to do is get gas in the VW, but I’ll wait and see what I get done this morning. I like Mondays to be my reset day for the week. Plus, I like to do a full house dusting and tidying.

Here’s the Hokusai. I didn’t realize it was on canvas, but I still like it. Plus my newest orchid. I’m sort of obsessed with getting them to rebloom. I’m watching two that haven’t put any spikes up. I think I’ll take the one out of the pot and clean the roots. From watching YouTube, I guess it’s important to snip off the dead roots. I also have moss in my Amazon cart to buy, which is used for orchids.

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, Uncategorized, Walking by

Even though it was sprinkling, I decided to go for a walk. The park was mostly empty except for the park worker who came in at 6:30, driving a big truck and maybe a little too fast. sigh!

We had a fun day yesterday at Sierra College’s time capsule event. It was well attended. We were going to go into Grass Valley and walk around, but the streets were closed for a vintage car event. We decided to go down to Colfax to Il Pizziaoli for their wood-fired pizza. It was delicious, and we had leftovers for dinner. yeah!!

I finished Untamed about Yosemite. I’d give it a B. The scenery was beautiful, but the story was not very developed. Just ok.

Today, I’m actually going down to Roseville because I saw a print of ‘The Great Wave’ by Hokusai on the marketplace. I’ve wanted this forever, and it’s framed. I’m going to meet the person at Trader Joe’s and then get a few things in the store. If I’m energetic, I’ll go down to the gym; otherwise, I’ll just come home.

I plan to make Rancho Gordo beans today in the crockpot. These are ‘eye of the goat’ beans, which I don’t think we’ve had before. I also plan to make some polenta as well. Other than that just home stuff and plan the week out.

I have Velcade on Thursday, so that means it’s Dex time again. sigh….

There’s a brand new Nugget market right by the infusion center, so I plan on going in and checking it out. I know they are carrying Rancho Gordo beans, so I’ll pick some up. I’m hoping they have RG’s Mexican oregano, which is absolutely delicious.

Oh, and my random loaf of sourdough.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get any cake:(

Frugal Friday

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My new budget starts next week, so I did a preliminary write-up of bills and extras. May will bring DMV for Rubi and insurance. I was hoping for at least one month of no extras, but it won’t be May.

Groceries have come in high at almost $500. I’m not too thrilled with that, but again, the Costco trips include LT food, so I guess it evens out. I need to do better in May. I’ll probably aim for $400 for the 2 of us.

Speaking of groceries, I need to go to the store today. We need milk, salad stuff, and a few other things. I was going to do a Walmart order, but some of the things that I wanted were not available, so I canceled that. I guess I’ll either do Safeway or Bel Air. It depends on which way I go in town. I’d like to stop at the used bookstore, and I need to get gas in the VW. Have any of you done the Walmart delivery? It’s $98 for the year, and they now deliver in our area. I’m considering it, but Walmart isn’t my go-to for things as much as Winco is. But the convenience could be very nice.

I didn’t have any misc. spending so that’s positive, and no coffee or food out. I did buy a very large tarp from Amazon to cover Rubi, but that’s more of a necessity, as we need to keep the roof covered so it doesn’t get sun damage.

My daughter’s birthday is in May, and so I’ll need to budget for that. I’ll probably take her out to lunch.

Today I’m meeting the estate planner again to sign the revised trust papers and affidavit of death that the county needs. Then they will record them with the county. I feel good about getting it done.

Other than that, nothing else is going on, which is my favorite.

Frugal Friday

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A mostly frugal week.

Both my daughter and I went to Costco. Hers was pretty much all non-food, and mine was mostly all food. It will probably put me over my $400 budget, but once again, a lot of what I buy is for LTFood.

It’s ok, as I’m sure we’ll use it up.

I did stop and get gas at Costco yesterday, and it was $4.95 a gallon, so it went down a bit.

I was going to drive down today, but figured I would wait and conserve my gas a bit. There’s always next week to go down to the pool and the gym. I had a book on hold come in so I want to get that.

No other bills are due right now. In May, I have Rubi’s insurance and DMV. I suppose I should have been a little more on top of it, as I wasn’t sure when the insurance was due, and then I checked.

Today, I have just been pottering around. I cleaned under the sink and organized it. I am also working to get my sourdough starter stronger, so I fed it this morning to use tomorrow or later if it doubles in size.

Other than that a nice, slow day.