Category Archives: Walking

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!!

Thankful Thursday

Posted in budgets, California, Gratitude, velcade, Walking by

I’m thankful for a nice walk this morning. We had rain yesterday, and everything was fresh. It’s still cloudy, though, but not cold. It snowed in Tahoe, and all I could think about was how much fun Barclay and I would have had, all tucked in Rubi. It made me sad.

Today I have Velcade, and even though it is chemotherapy, I’m grateful it goes quick and easily. The nurses are always so nice. I plan on breaking up taking dex between today and tomorrow. Last month it totally wiped me out, and I’d like not to repeat that.

After that, I plan to go down to the library, as I have a few holds that need to be picked up. I am always grateful for the library.

I plan on coming straight home unless we need something at Winco, but I think we’re ok, although I’ll check before I leave.

I am very thankful my appt with the sleep doctor went well. It’s a PITA to get to this facility, and I dislike the building and the whole complex. But the appt went well. He raised my minimum pressure and lowered the maximum. This is supposed to help keep the airway open, so theoretically, my SP02 wont drop. Unfortunately, it still dropped last night for a bit. Plus the extra pressure was a bit difficult to adjust to. He said there was no hurry on the in-lab test, and it’s really to see when and how much the oxygen is dropping. Medicare will not pay for supplemental oxygen without the titration test. I’ll see how I feel in a few weeks. I did bite the bullet and bought an 02 oximeter ring for $159 on sale. It should be here tomorrow. The whole point is to figure out how long these drops are. Also, losing weight will help, so there’s that on the table too. Overall, I was happy with his approach, and it felt much more like we can figure this out together. If I want the supplemental oxygen, then I will have to do the titration test.

When I got home yesterday, my daughter had taken down all the fence that was falling down. Barclay put that fence up 30 years ago so the yard would be enclosed and have privacy. Those redwood boards really held up. Actually, we’re going to reuse them and add to the fence blocking the hoarders’ yard. But that will take a post, cement, and cross boards sometime in the future.

Simple Sunday

Posted in budgets, California, home stuff, Walking by

A nice walk this morning. It’s Memorial Day weekend, so the town is quiet. I saw so many RV’s on the road coming home from the pool yesterday. Camping season has begun for sure.

Speaking of Memorial Day, a pause to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. My brother, Philip, was killed in action on January 7th 1968. He was only 21. Sadly, my mother never overcame her grief and died 10 years later.

Today, I plan on going to the Auburn gym and doing my weights. I probably will do some treadmill too. Then once home work on the menu ideas for the week. Last night we had tilapia and brown rice with the roasted vegetables from Costco. The veggies were subpar, so they may get tossed.

It’s back to watering the yard, and things are drying up quickly. My daughter wants to keep watering to a minimum this year. We also are not planning a garden. Times change, and there’s so much outside stuff to do that it’s hardly expected to do one. I think the only thing I’ll get is some parsley, basil, chives, and maybe a cherry tomato, and I’ll put them all in a barrel so it’s easy for me to water.

OOps!!Some Gus this is Chester, not Gus, portraits and cactus flowers. He must have been a cute kitten.

What plans do you have for Memorial Day?

My son is going to come over and spend the night so he can go into the office on Tuesday. That saves a trip for him and gas. I might do a BBQ with some chicken and make some potato salad.

Frugal Friday

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, California, cash envelopes, home stuff, Walking by

Mostly a frugal week since I didn’t go anywhere for 4 days due to feeling lousy. Then on Wednesday, I went to the pool. Before that, I got gas, and it had gone up quite a bit from my last fill-up. Costco gas is still the cheapest, but yikes, $5.69!!

After the pool, I went to Costco as I mentioned and spent a little over $200. I took out non-food and wine, so the food cost was around $100. Non food included batteries, an orchid, and I think something else. Wine was my favorite, Kendall Jackson, which is $9.59 at Costco. Oh, and I picked up that Rose for Mother’s Day and the most expensive thing was some steaks for Mother’s Day and for the freezer. I think the pack had 6 pieces of thinly sliced rib-eye. My daughter and I will likely just share a piece, and the other counts as LTF for the freezer.

My food total so far is running around $300, so not too bad. I don’t need anything, so it may just be a small Winco trip or something.

I ordered propane and put that on the CC. I’m slowly getting the card paid off, but then something like this happens, and I need to charge another $257. Oh well, I’ll get there. sigh:(

I haven’t really been doing active cash envelopes. Most of what I get, I just use for groceries. I guess I need to try to do better, especially for annual bills. It does help when I have the envelopes even a bit filled. Well, I have a few months with just a few annual bills. Next month is the truck DMV, but my son will pay for that as he’s the one using the truck, so it may give me a chance to fill some envelopes for fall. Having lost 1/3 of my income after B died is definitely a factor. sigh:(

Well, today I plan to go to the gym and the library. I have a book to return. I don’t have any holds, so I may just browse the new items. I want to keep up with my weights as I feel they really do help. I’d like to find a new walking path for when I’m down there, so I may look at RPR (Roseville Parks and Rec) trail maps to see what is close to the gym. Sadly, the only paved trail up here is the park I walk at. Auburn has another paved trail at a park, but it’s not in my normal route. The MV park is so well used by so many people, and they come from all over because it is paved. I’m at the stage of life where I’d be concerned for my stability on an unpaved path unless I used my walking sticks. I have been taking them with me even to this park because they give me an added sense of security. It’s tough getting older.

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:(

Saturday happenings

Posted in bread, budgets, California, cooking, Death, Walking by

The estate planner meeting lasted all of 5 minutes to just sign the papers. She was going to record them that afternoon. Then the county mails back the paperwork to me. All good.

I walked this morning, and no one was around except the geese. It was nice. I did feel sad that one little gosling had been separated from its family, and the 2 adults it was trying to be with kept attacking it, which I’ve seen happen every year. Sad, it won’t make it.

Today I have a plain sourdough to bake, no inclusions.

This one is the everything bagel seasoning. The blueberry cream cheese one was interesting. I like the blueberries, but not the cream cheese. I froze most of it, thinking it would make a good breakfast bread /egg casserole. I wanted to bake this one in a loaf pan, but my cast-iron one is too small. I will need to buy a USA loaf pan to do that. I do have my pullman pan so maybe I’ll try that today.

The archive stuff my daughter has been doing is having an exhibit today. It’s for Sierra College’s 30-year time capsule. So we are going to go see that and get lunch out.

I finished watching Season 3 of Resident Alien. There is a season 4, so I’ll start that at some point. I then started Untamed, which takes place in Yosemite, and I like it so far. That’s on Netflix.

It’s cloudy today, and it looks like there is some rain forecast for tomorrow. But then next week looks really nice.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, Gratitude, Uncategorized, Walking by

That are temperatures are going back up. I had to make a fire during this spell, and that is using up our firewood. I guess I need to check when I can get some more.

I’m thankful to have enough energy to do things most of the time, although my legs always give me problems. Specifically, Dex affects muscles, and my leg muscles always feel a little weak. That’s even with doing squats, weights, walking, and swimming. I just live with it and get on. I did just buy some compression socks from Amazon, and they seem to help.

Flexibility. Today is my normal walk day, but I have to leave at 8am to get to Sacramento, so I’ll skip it this morning. I may go later after I’m back home.

I have to give a lot of gratitude to Pope Leo for standing up to the orange idiot.

Midweek Musings

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, Walking by

Another gorgeous day here in Northern CA. The pollens are coming out, though, and a lot of people are affected. I get some seasonal allergies but not a lot.

I plan on going down to the gym today and to the library. I don’t want to miss my holds. Then I’m going to Costco to get the champagne to bring with us and a few other things.

I haven’t walked in the park since Sunday morning. It’s now 6:40, and it’s getting light out. I plan on walking down at the gym on the outside trail some. Then plan on walking tomorrow morning, and I’ll plan for 6:30. Sunrise is 7:10, so people start showing up earlier. That’s ok, really.

My eye doctor did order the other steroid eye drop, but it’s still coming in at $75. I had checked before I had him order, and it said it would be $39, so I’m not sure what happened. I’ll pick it up either today or tomorrow.

I finished watching True Detective Season 4, and it was ok. Seeing Alaska, though, with the endless nights, was certainly strange. I can’t imagine living in that. I watched an episode of Scarpetta too.

Last night I didn’t make the nachos and ended up with an egg salad sandwich. I just didn’t feel like much. I cleaned out a few things from the freezer, though I knew we weren’t going to eat them, like some pieces of bell pepper I stuck in there and some mushrooms I froze. I don’t know why I think I’ll use them. At the time, it seemed like a good idea.

Things do get buried in the freezer drawer, that’s for sure. Do you find you freeze things thinking you’ll use them and then don’t?

Menu Monday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, meal planning, Uncategorized, Walking by

I write a basic menu, mostly to keep me focused and to try and use up things that need using.

Last night was simple: beans and weenies with sauerkraut.

Monday- I think I’ll do something with tofu as I have 2 packages in the fridge.

Tuesday- I’m going to pull a souper cube of chili out of the freezer.

Wednesday- Chicken of some sort, maybe chicken pot pie?

Thursday- With the weather so nice, maybe I’ll get the BBQ out. I have some potatoes, so I could make a potato salad.

Friday- It might be a pizza night, as we didn’t do that last week. I might do homemade since pizza is expensive out, but I’d need to check what I have to make it. I think I’d need to get some mozzarella.

Saturday- TBD

I know I need some veggies and salad stuff, which I’ll get at Winco. I have some bell peppers in the freezer to use.

Today, I’m going to get the car washed and then go for a walk with my daughter down at Sierra College. There are lots of trails there, so we thought we’d give it a try. We’re planning on some sort of lunch out.

I also do sheets on Monday, so there’s that plus regular daily chores.

My son is coming over after work too, so that’ll be nice.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cooking, freezer cooking, simple foods, swimming, Walking by

A nice walk this morning, although a few people showed up. Still, nice enough, and it was not really cold. The rain is expected this afternoon and looks like it’ll be all week. It’s supposed to get quite cold, too.

I’m not going to the gym this morning either. I’m pretty stiff from my swim, so I’ll rest up. The pool is open on Monday, but I don’t think I’ll go down. I’ll have to see how it goes.

My son is coming up to deal with a garbage run and work on the barn some. Most everything in the barn now is his tools and stuff. I think he’s been getting rid of things, too. Yay for that!

Last night we watched the season finale of Stranger Things ( season 4). Geez, that show is intense. I may need a break for a few days. We had fondue with veggies and some bread. The fondue was an extra that I bought for New Year’s Eve. We also had some rosé prosecco. Yumm.

I’m not sure what I’m going to do today. I have the bathroom zone to do and maybe water my plants and ?? I do need to go drop stuff off at the thrift store, so I may do that because they don’t take donations if it’s raining. It’s not a lot of stuff, but I’d rather get it out of the house and back of the car.

I do want to freezer dive and see what I’m using this week. That’s a priority since it’s jammed packed. I might need to toss some things like bananas that I froze, as they’ve been in there a while. I had been doing that so B could have smoothies, but that’s now 8 months ago, probably time to toss. I could make some banana bread, but my daughter doesn’t really eat that kind of thing, so then I would, and I don’t need the extra calories. 🙁

Here’s a view from my bedroom window.