A nice walk this morning with no one there. It was just predawn. I’m heading out to the gym soon, so I’ll finish this later. I also need to drop off the thrift store stuff, and Sunday morning is always a good time. It’s not a lot, maybe 3 small bags of misc. Still better out.
I got my LLS submitted for November, so that’ll pay my UHC insurance. I haven’t gotten a notice of increase, but I’m sure I will. Even after B died, they raised it by 15% because it was just me and not multiple people. Weird.
Okay, then, back from the gym. I didn’t do too much, only about 25 minutes. I wasn’t into it today.
Then I dropped off the Goodwill stuff, and then my library friend called and asked if I wanted to get a coffee, so I was spontaneous. Usually, I am not at all, so that was a good change for me. Then, when I got home, I started the stew for dinner. I’ll let it cook most of the day. Then I made some chocolate chip cookie dough and froze most of it. I cooked up a dozen cookies.
This week is open, and I just have labs tomorrow. I’ll probably swim tomorrow or Tuesday. I’ll just see how I feel.
Has anyone received notice of insurance premium hikes? Or is it too soon?
I woke up at my regular time, and the clocks were back an hour. Based on the light, I went out to walk at 5:50, which yesterday was 6:50. I liked it as no one else showed up. It’ll be this afternoon that I won’t like it at 4, when yesterday that was 5. But every year we go through this and adjust.
My son visited yesterday and took a big load of wood to the dump. He thinks maybe 2 more loads and it’ll be gone. A good accomplishment. I went to the store and picked up sandwiches for us all and that was nice.
Today, I’m not going into the Auburn gym because my daughter and I are going down to my son’s place to visit and go to the farmers’ market. He has a lovely park that is right near the American River, and it’s quite nice, so we’ll go over there too.
This week I have Velcade and then my new lowered Dex. I didn’t notice a big difference, but maybe the Dex wore off sooner. Dex affects my breathing, and I did notice that the night I took Dex. It’s just a matter of getting through it. 😦
I need to go to Costco too this week. I wanted to get some of their sale items. The chicken pot pies are on sale, which are good for an easy dinner. The Starbucks holiday coffee is on sale, too. Buying stuff when they have their sales is definitely a big savings.
Because of Velcade this week, I’ll probably only get to the pool and gym once. Also, I need to make an appointment for the Santa Fe as the service light switch isn’t working( it’s a computer chip, apparently.) I got it to scroll once, but then it stopped working again. So I need to do that this week. At least I don’t have any other appts.
We’re in for another beautiful day here in N Ca. The wet weather is expected to arrive by Wednesday. Also, I hope Prop 50 passes so we can redistrict some of these worthless Republicans.
I need to write up a menu plan for the week and what house chores I need to focus on.
It’s been a while since I posted on Thursday, so I thought today would be a good day to do so.
I’m thankful this fall weather is so beautiful. Since I was born in the fall, I think fall is my favorite season. The colors around the yard and almost everywhere are full of yellows, oranges, reds, and browns. We haven’t gotten to planting the Chinese pistachio yet, but this weekend it’ll happen. I’m planning to put some of B’s ashes in the bottom of the hole since this is his memorial tree.
I’m thankful this week I’ve had a nice swim and a workout at the gym. I had to wait a bit for a lane, but then I got the lane nearest the stairs, which is my favorite lane.
I’m thankful, as always, for my two wonderful children. They help me out whenever they can. My daughter has become quite the handy person around here, fixing all kinds of things. The gutter she fixed now works well to drain the water in the right direction. My son comes over and does little things, too. He’s coming over on Saturday to take another load to the dump. This time it’s all the old scrap wood. So I appreciate he takes the time to help out here. I can understand now why people move to condos or just places with no or little maintenance. I know I probably couldn’t stay here if it was just me.
This weekend time changes, and I’m not thankful for that, but I’ll get used to it eventually. I guess it being light earlier will be nice, but dark at 5…(: 😦 It’s currently 6:30 and still dark. I’m going to wait a few more minutes to go for a walk.
I had a rough day yesterday. It seemed like everything was achy, and I was stiff. Not sure if it’s the rainy weather and arthritis hitting, but today is better. I walked even though it was drizzling and then raining. I’m not walking for great distances( one mile), but I felt I should at least move some. I’m planning on going to the gym this morning although its already almost 8am. I’ll sit here a few more minutes and decide.
Well, I’m back from the Auburn gym, so that feels good. I try and do weights at least 2x a week, and the Auburn gym helps since it’s close.
I finished the kitchen zone yesterday, so that’s done, and I only need to tidy up some things today and figure out dinner. I have some russet potatoes left from the Costco bag, so I might do some form of potato, and I have some broccoli. I’m not sure what protein I’ll add. I don’t have any tofu, so ??
I also want to write the menu for the week using what I have.
beans, WW tortillas, cheese, etc.
soup of some sort, I think I’ll do a lentil soup with carrots and add curry powder to make it curried lentil soup.
I have some chicken burgers or turkey burgers to use so I’ll do that.
I think I’ll do a breakfast for dinner night with scrambled eggs, blueberry pancakes, and sausage if I have any.
I want to look through the freezer and see what needs to be used. I know I have spaghetti and meatballs frozen. I need to check what else I have in there.
a pizza night
???
I plan to go to the pool at least once and Maheny at least once.
We’ve been having fun watching the original Frankenstein and Dracula, which is on Prime. We actually have the DVD’s but these have been digitally remastered and there are subtitles. Both of these were around 1931, so the sound quality wasn’t very good. Plus, they’re only like an hour and 10 minutes.
That’s about it for today. I’m going to read and do some more practice embroidery.
I had a really nice walk this morning. No one was there except a beautiful ‘priestess moon’ and Venus. Really nice.
I’m back from the gym and need to do some tidying up. I’ve kept up with things this week, so there’s not a lot of extra stuff to do.
I’m using the last of the apples from our tree to make more applesauce. We had a great crop this year, so it’s nice to have our own applesauce. Last night I made a very yummy dish that was called grilled chicken with a Boursin sauce. I had bought the 3 pack of Boursin cheese a while ago, and it’s pull date is coming up so I googled recipes. First you grill the chicken with some onions, then remove from the pan and add some chicken broth and then the package of garlic and herb Boursin. Stir until cream and well incorporated, add the chicken back in and cook for a bit more till the suace is nice and thick. It was quite good.
Yesterday, I also made up a dozen double-stuffed potatoes for the freezer. It’s one of our favorite things to have on hand. We had one each with our chicken.
I tallied up the Costco shop, and here’s how it breaks down:
non food came in at $200.
Long term food came in at $48
and regular food came in at $140.
So I’m pleased, and I’ll put the $140 in next month’s budget, which will start soon.
A couple of pictures. Flowers from my son and his partner, a vintage Halloween pumpkin, and my new heater that looks like a small fireplace. I needed something out in the sunroom as the little ceramic one I had died.
I’ve had a few days of nice walks in the early morning. I’ve been the only one there when I get there, and then by the time I’m leaving, a few people are showing up. It’s cool, though, at 44 degrees this morning. We’re in for much cooler and rainy weather starting tomorrow. I do plan on going to the pool tomorrow, so hopefully the rain holds off till I’m home.
I sat outside yesterday and enjoyed the sunshine, and later had a fire in the firepit before dinner. It’s a nice way to wind down the day. I made a spinach Boursin quiche for dinner. It was quite good. I think I’ll make some chili for the week today if I get the stuff out of the freezer to defrost.
I plan on going to the Auburn gym this morning. Then, after I get home, my daughter and I are going to go back out to do some errands and get lunch out. ( we think). Both of us can be indecisive at times about going out to eat.
A blogger I follow has been doing another sweep through their house, decluttering. She mentioned, exactly what I’ve found to be true, that as time goes on, certain things that seemed important before no longer are. So with that in mind, I think I’ll start another round of going through each room. I’ve let some of my FlyLady routines lapse some so I want to get back into that too. Most stuff is automatic like the in the kitchen, counters are clear and no dishes in the sink( well maybe a spoon occasionally.) But I’ve not been doing as deep a clean in some zones. So I’ll see how much I gather up.
Well, as expected, yesterday was a wash. I woke feeling terrible, so I just stayed in bed. I finally got up and started feeling better by the afternoon, and even sat outside a while. This morning I feel fine, so it wasn’t too long. My daughter, though, had a histamine reaction, so she’s had to take it easy all week.
I’m still getting up around 5:30 -5:45am, depending on whether I plan on walking, which I am today. I’m not pushing going out in the dark to walk, as I think that ship has sailed. As much as it was one of my favorite things to see the stars, I think it’s smarter for me to hold off. So that means today I’ll go out and walk around at 6:30. I’m still bringinga flashlight for the first round.
We are in for rain this week, so I need to be sure everything is done. The wood needs to be covered, and the wood stove needs to be ready. Tahoe is already quite chilly, as would be expected. It still would be beautiful, though. I’m still looking at a hotel for one night for my daughter and me to go up in October.
I’ve done October’s budget and made the first payment on Allstate. My son is going to donate his Subaru (which is parked in my yard). When that’s done, I’ll take that off the insurance, and that will help a lot. He’s using the truck and making the payment, so I’m ok with that for now. He still needs to figure out the car he wants.
Anyway, the budget looks ok. Not a lot of wriggle room, but ok. I haven’t done too much with cash envelopes since B died, but I do have some still. Mostly, I want the big annual bills covered, so I’ll keep adding to those. Smaller ones, like Target or household, I’ll just let go or add that to a general spending. I do keep cash for groceries unless it’s Costco because I can use the card and get the rewards back.
Here are my two LVs I use for cash envelopes. I also have a monogram MM that B bought me for my birthday a few years ago.
I have 2 preloved LV agendas in the Epi black. One I got off of the Facebook group, and the other from eBay. One is the PM size and the other is the MM size. Of course, I love LV with classic things. Most of their fancy stuff is way beyond my reality. But I use these daily and enjoy them.
Finally, a week where I think I can get to a regular schedule. I hope.
I need to do some meal planning for the week. I have some more soup in the freezer, so I’ll pull one of them out, and I have some tofu to use. My son is coming over on Tuesday, and I plan on ordering a pizza for us to share. He’s going to do at least one dump run. Hopefully, he can get it done before it starts raining. I also want to close up the trailer and have them put a tarp over the top.
One is with the sleep doctor, finally. I am sure he will order the CPAP machine, and I’ll give it a try. I figure, why not try it and just see? If I hate something on my face, I’ll know. Then later in the week is my flu/COVID shot, but that’s just walk in and get it. I do have an appointment for it.
In between, I’ll try and swim and I need to go the the Maheny gym and library. So a little busier than I like.
My son is planning to come over and stack the firewood. He is going to bring an apple pie to celebrate his dad’s birthday. He would have been 75. I’ll decide on the day trip to Tahoe tomorrow. It seems I am deciding things based on the day and that’s ok. Update: my debit card isnt working so I may have to go into the bank at 10 am and that will change things.
I didn’t sleep very well the other night, so when I woke up, I decided not to walk as I had a headache. Weirdly, though, my Apple Watch says no sleep disturbances(which is sleep apnea). Very strange. I did walk this morning, and it was nice. I used the flashlight for the first round.
Fall is really here, and the colors are changing on the leaves. Plus, the cooler nights make a difference. I’ve been sitting outside with the fire pit all this week while eating dinner. It’s nice. I have to fill the propane bottle as it is almost empty. I’ll just do the exchange at the store.
I’ve been having fun playing around with ChatGPT. It’s kind of fun to ask questions a get an answer. One was about selling Rubi while still having a balance on the loan. It’s not a lot, but that means I don’t have a title. So it suggested paying it off and then selling. Something to think about. The other idea was to do a trade in. If we can find the tent trailer my daughter and I want with them this would be a good option. Well, I have till next year to figure it out.
I listed the All American on market marketplace so I’ll see what comes of that. I also pulled out all my canning jars from the garden shed, and I will list them today. Or as soon as I have some pictures. I haven’t had any interest in the All American, which I’m surprised at since this is canning season. I won’t lower the price on that so I’ll just keep it for now. The pressure canner is one of those things that retains value even if it’s older, which mine is not.
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.
My new budget starts next week. So far, groceries have come in under $400, so I think I’m getting the hang of buying less.
I went to Costco this week and spent $233 on food. Freezer and pantry stuff brought it down to @150. For the pantry, it was granola, which lasts months, butter for the freezer also will last 3 months, pulled pork will be for at least 4 dinners over a few months, tamales, the same as they will be used over the next 3 months, and coffee, which will be about a month. Non-food came in at $70, about for batteries, hair conditioner, TP, and paper plates were on sale, so I picked them up for easy clean-up dinners. All of that will last for months.
For wine, I bought my favorite Juliet Rose and a fancy bottle of Sonoma-Cutrer wine. That was around $40.
Overall, I was pleased. Then I bought 2 pizzas for the tree crew that were here. I’ll show the pictures below.
We just got our Allstate car renewal, and it went up $1000 ( fuck Allstate) because of the claim that the scammer did, saying my car door scratched his. It’s a long story, but suffice to say, my door did not scratch his, but it did touch his passenger door, so Allstate had to favor his claim. It was a scam to begin with because then he got the money, and of course, didn’t go to the body shop. I tried to explain the setup because he was extremely aggressive verbally, and never even got out of his car, but took a picture ( or someone did) of my license plate. My guess is someone else was waiting with him in the parking lot. Oh well, done is done, but that is going to cause me extreme stress trying to pay that. I guess the best I can do is do the payment plan at this point.
On a positive note, the tree crane was here and took the tree. It was quite the job, as you can see. It took all day and then the next to deal with it all.
I’d had other plans to meet a friend for coffee, but that went out the window dealing with this. I hate dealing with this stuff, but I don’t have a choice. The other tree, I guess we’ll just have to wait on because it wasn’t in their system, but I’m going to try and convince them, but that will also take a crane( I think).
It would have been too much to do both anyway. All the wood is gone now, and it looks good. They did a good job.
Today, I’m going to Auburn and will drop off a load at Goodwill. It’s mostly stuff from Rubi that I know I’m not going to use if we get a tent trailer eventually. I still have the bathroom in Rubi to sort out, though.
It’s been a stressful week with my ortho appt, labs, the tree, etc. BTW, the shot hurt like hell, and my knee was really sore from it, but yesterday it started feeling a lot better. So hopefully in the next two weeks I can increase my walking. It takes about 2 weeks for the steroid to take effect.
Also, on a positive note, my labs came back about the same. Kappa went up to 20.5ml/g, so a slight increase from 19.8. Really, in the big picture, that’s not much. My ratio, though, did go up a bit because the lambda went down. If the Kappa goes up, Lambda down, then the ratio goes up.
The heat is back, and 98 * is hot for us. I think today it’s supposed to go to 99*. I’ll have to turn the coolers on by 10. Our PGE bill did go down some, though, so there’s that, I guess.
On a sad note, it’s our 55th anniversary soon. It makes me sad. We did have a wonderful life, even with the ups and downs of it. I’m planning a day trip to Tahoe soon, just not sure when. Burning Man is happening, so the freeway has lots of crazies, which also means the Tahoe area has some overflow. I’m hoping next week sometime.
I've been married for nearly 20 years to a wonderful husband and I'm a mom to three great kids ages 17, 16 and 14. Oh, and I just happen to have cancer. Multiple Myeloma is a cancer of the blood that is currently incurable but IS considered highly treatable! My goal is to make people laugh, cry or feel a little less alone whether you are a mom, cancer patient or BOTH!
Tahoe Girl 