Tag Archives: anniversary

Frugal Friday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, camping, cancer, decluttering, Walking by

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.

Anniversary day.

Posted in California, Uncategorized by

Actually, it was yesterday, August 23. Wow, from 1970 to now seems like a very long time, but in my mind, the years have been really short. We’ve always been a good balance for each other and enjoy each other’s company and we are best friends too. We certainly have had our share of issues, especially in the first 7 years when we went to couples counseling at U of A while students. We took an unusual path getting married so young but then heading to college and life in Tucson. No parents around and no pressures to be a certain way. We were carefree, had lots of sex, and traveled. Of course, we did go to our classes and B graduated in 1973 and I in 1974.

Also, we didn’t have our daughter till we’d been married 15 years and then our son came 9 years after that so we had lots of time alone with each other.

This we bought at Costco but it’s the winery in Napa we wanted to go to but there were no openings that day. It was beautiful smooth champagne. We decided to go out for breakfast at a new to us place in Auburn. It was mellow and the food quite good. We will go back again. Then we thought about doing dinner out but decided I would just whip together a pasta dish with homegrown tomato compote. I also used some baby eggplants that were delicious.

We’ve had so many adventurous anniversaries. On our 7th anniversary, we backpacked in Mt Rainer and hiked up to a glacier. There was a backpackers hut up there so we stayed in that and in the morning went out and picked huckleberries for pancakes.

Then we’ve had lots of special dinners out. Americo’s in Sacramento was in one of the first years we were here in California. Later we always went to Mt Shasta for our anniversary and that became an annual event for years. We loved the campground and then after about 10 years, it sold and went downhill and we stopped going. We also had the one year we had traveled the coast and had the most amazing breakfast at Big Sur. I can’t remember the name of the lodge but it was famous. I’m sure if it’s still there, maybe I’ll google it.

Sometime after that, we started going to Tahoe for anniversaries. We had our tent trailer and usually went on the East side. It wasn’t till way later we discovered the West side, Nevada Beach, in Zephyr Cove where we go now.

It’s been a wonderful life.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, camping, cooking, Flylady, Uncategorized by

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes!! No, it’s not that bad yet. We are getting a great crop of tomatoes this year as opposed to last. This morning I made 4 more pints of tomato sauce from the Ball canning book. I used citric acid instead of lemon juice. The next batch of tomatoes is ripening in the box. I’m guessing at least 5 more days. This reduced for about an hour.

At the farm, I picked up 2 zucchini to shred and freeze some and make zucchini bread with leftovers. I also picked up some more cucumbers to make a dill refrigerator pickle and I also want to make some tzatziki for falafels and pita bread. This week I’ll do some white beans maybe as a dip, salads, tofu something, and probably some BBQ chicken. Anniversary day (Tuesday) we probably will get an early dinner or late lunch depending on where we go. Hard to believe it’s 52 years. Honestly, it doesn’t seem like that but there it is. It’s been a pretty wonderful life.

I have been thinking of trying to sell my wedding dress on eBay to hopefully a museum. When I sold the very old Quaker dresses I had it was to a museum in PA that bought them and that was so right. My dress was handmade in Poland ( probably before she immigrated to NYC)and was my great grandmother’s. My mother repaired the lace panels and added a starchy fabric to the bottom so it would hold its shape better. It’s not doing me any good in a box under my bed. So I guess this year would be a good time to deal with it. My daughter, who is non-binary, certainly wouldn’t ever use it.

We’ve got 2 weeks before we go up to Tahoe so that’s exciting. It’s our favorite spot so that’s something to look forward to. September is still busy in Tahoe but most of the true tourists have left.

This week the Flylady zone is the bedroom and master closet. Since we only have one closet in this house, I guess that’s the master one!!!:) I’ll probably add the LR zone too as that’s easy and I’ll have the time.