Tag Archives: appts

Frugal Friday

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, frugalism, Uncategorized by

All the big Fall annual bills are accounted for. I put Allstate on payments and also the California Fair Plan. The AAA rider is still not paid, and I think I saw it was on auto, so I need to double-check that. I paid the property tax with cash from my envelopes so that was very positive. It’s not due technically till December but I figured i’d get it done.

Update: It does look like it’s autopay for October. I actually haven’t gotten the bill, so I’ll check the mail today. So I feel pretty good about having handled all this by myself, even though I don’t like doing it.

I also paid the motorcycle insurance for the year. They took Barclay off as the rider, so the insurance really is just on the bike if something happened to it.( I guess, they weren’t very clear about it.)

After accounting for all the monthly bills, there’s not a whole lot left, but I’ll manage. I’m planning on doing one more Costco shop because I couldn’t find the smoke alarms on sale last time. I spent $100 last time, so I still have a grocery $ budget. I’ll probably do that next week after I see Dr. L in Sacramento.

We had a horrendous amount of rain yesterday. It was like a hose turned on full. My daughter has been working on fixing the gutters so the water was coming down right in front of the door. Not good!! That should get fixed this weekend, and I think today is the last rainy day for a bit.

Today, I’m undecided if I’m going to the pool or not. I’m not crazy about driving in the rain. Plus, my sleep disturbances were elevated last night, and my blood oxygen was lower than normal. I generally don’t feel much different either way, but I have been tracking it since I got my Apple Watch last December. I just had a 10-day period of not elevated which is so weird because nothing is different. I’m glad it was like that but I still can’t figure out a common denominator. I haven’t heard yet from the sleep people for an appt so who knows when that will happen. If I’m inspired I will call them.:)

My son picked up 5 books at his favorite thrift store for me for my birthday, so I have a nice stack of books to read. That’s nice since I don’t feel pressured to go to the library. I started the Nelson DeMille, The Cuba Affair, and so far, I like his writing. I don’t know if I’ve read his stuff. I’ll check out some other titles.

Next week I have my doctor appointment and also Velcade. The doctor’s appointment is on Wednesday, and I do plan on asking about a plan of action should my numbers go up. Knowing his style, he’ll probably say, let’s wait and see, which is probably ok since we won’t really know anything for a few weeks. Fingers crossed it doesn’t but I do need to be ready probably more emotionally than anything. Hopefully I’m just overreacting but still cancer is always there in some way.

Midweek Musings

Posted in Blood test, California, husband, swimming, Uncategorized by

So 2 appt’s done and 2 more to go. I really hate having so many appts all in one week. But it should be over soon.

I got my labs done yesterday and then went to the gym and library. It felt good to do my weights. Today I’m going to the pool as it’s my only chance this week.

We did get the pizza at Round Table the other night. My daughter paid for it and she had a deal for one of them. B has something going on with his stomach?? so he didn’t eat any.

I did get pretty upset at him and yelled he needed to call the doctor. Well, he got an appt but it didn’t seem to be conclusive as to why he’s having some pain. Geez, let’s hope it’s not anything bad. I mean it’s only been a few weeks since his CT scan and the laparoscopy so I can’t figure out what it might be. Hopefully, he’ll just feel better because it’s a bummer.

It’s going to be raining for the next few days. It sounds like a good soup day. This weekend is the end of DLS so we’ll be springing forward. What a PITA. It takes me about a week to adjust. At least it’ll be light later. I prefer the light in the morning.

We watched the Conclave the other night and would recommend it. It’s not fast moving but it is so well done. With the pope ready to die, it seems a timely movie.

Then last night we watched the new Beverly Hills Cop movie. It was fun and it’s fun to see how everyone is so much older( like all of us).

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cancer, travel by

It certainly takes a few days to get back to normal stuff after a trip like we did. But today we had a nice walk and then I went to the gym.

I like a schedule and do feel a bit unmoored when we are traveling. Plus, I like routines and the structure they give me.

This coming week I have 2 appts so that’ll change my schedule. I think I’ll swim on Wednesday and then try and hit the gym Friday. It just depends on how much I want to be out and about.

I’m trying not to have a nervous breakdown over frump but it’s hard and my anxiety is high just thinking about what is going on. I just hope enough people start boycotting businesses that have dropped DEI and other ways to hit them in their money pockets.

Barclay is doing really great and still isn’t supposed to lift more than 10 lbs. But he’s doing great with no pain meds. I’m sure the next phase will be harder and a longer recovery. I’m hoping he’s only in the hospital for 2 weeks since that will be easier to either stay or come home. We won’t know any of that till we get the final word from Dr. Lee.

The weather is supposed to get very spring with temperatures in the mid-60s and even low 70s. Yeah, for nice weather. I’m not sure I could handle winters like back east.

Well, I’m keeping this short and will write more soon.

Thankful Thursday

Posted in Blood test, budgets, California, cancer, Gratitude, husband, peritoneal mesothelomia by

I’m thankful B is not in the ER after a second trip the other day. This one lasted 24 hours and was pretty awful. Something is going on with his platelets and they can’t figure it out except the chemo has affected his bone marrow.

Once again, it’s very stressful because we’ve had to coordinate pick-ups, drop-offs, and repeat. We decided if another ER visit happens which I guessing is going to, we’re just going to go to Sutter ER. It’s way closer and then we can coordinate food etc. In the UCD ER, they don’t offer coffee, water, or anything. Pretty fucked up if you ask me but I do understand because there are SO MANY PEOPLE, that the nurses etc would just be running around doing that.

Anyway, his platelets went up but by the time he was home and checked his final CBC, they had dropped some. I’m not sure where all this is going or if he can even pull out of this, but I am grateful for this time.

I’m incredibly grateful both my kids have done most of the driving him around and picking him up. Today, if he can get labs, I can drive him to that since it’s just Auburn.

I’m thankful we had a wonderful rain yesterday. Everything is fresh and smells like fall.

I’m so grateful my son went and got another load of wood from his friends. They had cut it and had it ready for him to load in the truck. I want to give them some money for all the wood they gave us, but I need to wait for the budget to settle down.

I’m thankful I had a good appt with my doctor. My kappa light chains went up 2 points and out of normal but he said, let’s not worry about that right now as it’s a minimal increase. Plus I have no mental energy to worry about it.

Simple Sunday on Monday…

Posted in cooking, decluttering, home stuff, minimalism, swimming, Uncategorized, Walking by

I got my flu shot on Friday and exactly 12 hours later( right around midnight) got hit with some side effects. Achey, headache ,general malaise so I didn’t swim on Saturday. Yesterday I did feel somewhat better. The shot was the extra strength for over 65 yo so maybe that’s why. Then for some strange reason my left foot starting up again and it was very painful to walk. Remember in 2016 when I just finished the 5 years of “Just Keep Walking Project” and I had gotten hairline fractures on the top of my foot from the repetitive motion. It’s like that. But what’s weird is in Tahoe we were walking over 3 miles a day and I had no problem. I used a bunch of arnica on it yesterday and this morning it feels somewhat better. Geez, getting old is not fun when you’ve got these issues popping up.

I made a new recipe last night ,Chicken Katsu. I saw it in the NYT and it looked good. Basically you pound chicken thin then coat with panko and fry. I guess what makes it katsu is the sauce which is described as Japanese BBQ sauce. I made chicken ones and tofu ones. The tofu ones were delicious. I did coleslaw on the side with a ginger dressing and some organic jasmine rice. Quite yummy.

This week I have a dental cleaning and that’s it for appts. I plan on swimming Tuesday and Thursday. With it being dark earlier till DLS, I may start to go just a tad later. Usually I’m there in the pool by 7:15am, so I might try to make it 7:30 or so.

IT WAS A MIRACLE!!!! AH walker was NOT there this morning. It’s the first time in about 20 months he hasn’t been there. I do have to say though he is staying out of our way and moving to his right when he passes us with his dog. We are just walking as usual and not trying to walk single file when he passes. So I do give him credit for that. But he’s still not using his flashlight in the dark and does pass us sometimes with us being surprised. The other day I saw he had his flashlight on over by the pond but when he came around the pond and saw our light he turned his off. ( passive aggressive anyone?) Oh well, he is not bothering us by walking into us anymore. Especially since now there are other people around and he’s more accountable then. All good, I’d say.

The laundry room has been almost completed. The shelves still need to go up and the one wall still needs some wood but it’s some tricky cuts at angles so I’m not sure when my son will get to it. At least the door is now back on and the new window in. It looks quite nice. I’ll try and get some photos up.

Also this week I need to take another car load to the thrift store. Honestly, I think decluttering just never ends and I do feel it’s like peeling layers of an onion. What used to seem important enough to keep is now headed to the Goodwill. I just keep going thru things and finding that I don’t need it anyone or my style has changed and it doesn’t fit it. Case in point, I have a number of very cool( to me) vintage 50’s lamps that I bought many years ago at an estate sale. One has a nice wood base and is curvy. But I took it out of the front room last year because I moved a different lamp there so it was out in the barn. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the almost 10 years of decluttering and minimizing is don’t just store something thinking ‘someday’ you’ll want that again. Most likely you won’t. In addition if you get rid of it and find 5 years later you really want that item again, I’m sure ebay will have something that will be similar.

Even though I’ve simplified our house and barn( aka as the large storage area for my son’s things now), I don’t think I’ve reached that final point of being ‘done’. Maybe that doesn’t ever happen and that’s just life.

Flylady is the kitchen zone. Most of my kitchen is streamlined and there’s not any decluttering but it is the biggest zone I have to clean that takes over an hour. Probably due to the stove, stove hood etc. Plus wiping down my jars takes time too. Since I don’t have a built in pantry, the Far Niente wine boxes I use that are under my stainless steel island work perfectly fine. My kitchen, even though it does need to be redone, works just fine for now.

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, California, cooking, covid-19, Lake tahoe, simple foods, Uncategorized, Walking by

I finished reading the sweetest little book called ‘Pottering, A cure for Modern Life”. Being British it’s pottering, here it would be puttering. I think I like the British spelling better. A very sweet book with lots of good ideas about how to slow your life down and really just a reminder for those of us who already live slow life, to keep going.

We had a nice walk this morning. No one was there till 6:05 and then of course it was AH. Later a couple showed up with 2 dogs and he (AH) had a hard time controlling his dog. It lurched at the other 2 dogs growling. He had to use both hands on his leash to control it.

Today I plan on doing refrigerator pickles with the ones I got at the farm. It’s only 4 cucumbers so maybe a small pint jars worth. I need some celery seed which I don’t normally keep in my spice basket.

Yesterday I made a King Arthurs scone mix, blueberry sour cream. They were very good and I’d buy the mix again. For dinner I made Ikea sauce, Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes. The sauce was delicious. B had a Dr. Praeger burger with the sauce.

This coming week is somewhat busy. We’re going to look at another truck down in Roseville, I have my appt in Sacramento, the Santa Fe is going into the dealer for a recall fix it, B has a video dr appt, and it’s our anniversary. I had hoped we could drive up to Tahoe but with the smoke and all the Forest Service everything closed, it doesn’t seem like a good idea. This happened last year with the pandemic, everything shut down and this year it’s fires and the pandemic.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Flylady, Uncategorized by

I overdid it yesterday doing things around the house and yard. It was good to be productive but this morning I feel some pulled muscles so I’ll back off today. I will get in the pool and move around a little and that should help.  This nothing really new. I often end up with aches and pains if I overdo it as my body isn’t used to extra activity.  So today can be a rest day.

This week is the bathroom zone and yesterday I cleaned some of the bins I use to keep things in. Today I’ll wipe the shelves.

It was really hot yesterday too and we actually ate dinner inside since it was @ 96 outside. My daughter made some BBQ chicken, corn and coleslaw. It was yummy.

The week ahead doesn’t look too busy. We see Dr. Abedi on Tuesday and B has his next Chimera test. So that’s exciting. ( I hope!! Then  Thursday my daughter will take him back down to Sacramento to get a boot for his foot.  The MRI, thank goodness, didn’t show any neurological stuff so it is a side effect of the Tacrolimus and he just has to buck up with it till that dose is reduced.

I’m going to the gym this morning to do some weights. Then I want to go over to Home Depot to get a few things.

 

Simple Sunday

Posted in cooking, Flylady, Uncategorized by

Today is a gym day and B needs platelets but not blood so that is huge. 🙂thankful-1081614_960_720

That makes it 14 days. The longest since he was diagnosed back in November. He starts the 4th cycle the first week of March so maybe we’ll see a better response. Let’s hope…

We’re in for rain again all week. Ugh… I can hardly stand it.  I guess they’re predicting flooding in the valley and low lying areas. We don’t have to worry that here but trees do fall over when the ground is saturated so…. let’s hope not. Our neighbor( who had the tree fall on the front of his house) has had a lot of work done already. All new electric box. Some inside work and actually he showed up with his son yesterday. So there’s still the construction that will have to happen but at least he has electricity now. I’d be worried about mold and wetness inside since the window was broken out and the roof was leaking.

This coming week is too heavily scheduled. He has labs and probably platelets Tuesday and Wednesday and then I have my oncology appt Thursday in Sacramento. I will be asking him about what numbers are we looking at for when I’d start treatment if it continues to go up. I’m guessing @ 100.  But we’ll see.

With rain all week there’s no outside time or gardening to do. The gardens and everything needs sprucing up. But it’ll have to wait. I was thinking of getting some pansies for the front door area but with the rain, it might be best to wait.

Not much going on in the decluttering. Things are all in good shape. I do have a small thrift store load (2 little bags) to drop off. Plus 2 bags of canning jars I really don’t need as I have way more than I need.

One thing I like to do in each zone as I start is to look around at what can be decluttered from that zone or isn’t functional anymore. So this week I’m in the living room zone which for us is also the dining area.  I think I could work on the bookcase some and stream line it a bit.UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_350.jpg

 

 

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Definitely, need to move a few things and make it look tidier.

Dinner is Instant pot lemon chicken and asparagus!! I also made some rice in the IP for the week.

A rare blizzard warning for the Sierra

Posted in California, Lake tahoe, minimalism, Uncategorized by

This is a rare weather prediction for the Sierras. Where we are in the foothills there is lots of rain BUT THERE WILL BE WINDS. High winds.  Since we’re on the eastern side of the Sacramento Valley that is where the high wind warning is.

I’m not sure how I feel about this. In the past, we have booked into the Holiday Inn in Auburn and just left for the night.  I’m not sure I want to do that this time unless it dire. The threat being 100-foot Ponderosa pines.  But we have in recent years gotten thru without trees falling. And we have removed some. I’d say we still need to take down 6 more trees that are on the South side of the house and then in the back by the barn there is one of the biggest trees we have( probably 4 feet diameter at the bottom) that is leaning toward the barn but not the house. These winds have generally always come from the SSW so that’s where there are about 6 left.  Some lean away and one leans towards.  Of course, these trees have been around for at least 50 years maybe 100, but still, a gust of 60mph can do some damage.  So I’m undecided.  My anxiety probably will be the deciding factor. So if by 5 tonight or so if it’s just too much we can go. My daughter doesn’t want to go since her cat Ollie is not well and almost died yesterday. She has taken a floating holiday today.  and she’ll probably need tomorrow too.

B has had a few days off from appts. How nice to just relax.  Tomorrow he has labs and then if he needs an infusion it would be Friday.

I might go to the gym. I haven’t decided as my back is still bothering me from lifting something too heavy last week. I do have degenerative disc in some areas so it could be that. I’ll wait a week and see how it is. If it’s still bothering me I’ll ask for an x-ray.

I cleaned out the kitchen pantry this week and reorganized. I’m following along with ‘the minimalist kitchen’ by Faux Martha.  Her blog is quite beautiful and her sponsor is OXO. So she has a huge following. I like her ideas and she seems very down to earth and not preachy. I really despise preachy.  If you’re interested go to her website TheFauxmartha.com or YouTube put in Minimalist Kitchen. minimalist kitchen