Tag Archives: birthday

May 29, Memorial Day, and Sachi’s B.D.

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Our daughter was born on this day. I think it was a Wednesday and it was raining. Grandpa( B’s father) was here for the Dixie Land Jazz Festival in Sacramento. For many years he never missed one. So it was a nice surprise he was here. Being a mom was pretty great for me and I loved it. Of course, I was almost 33 so that might be part of it and we used a fertility drug called Clomid to stimulate ovulation. It worked like a charm and after 2 cycles, we were pregnant. So, I really wanted this baby.

Memorial Day, remembering Philip E Ruminski, killed in Viet Nam, Jan. 7, 1968. My mother never really recovered from the shock and it was a downhill slide till she died 10 years later. Remembering all who gave their lives in all wars for freedom, and democracy.

It’s too bad people like tRump don’t really understand those sacrifices. He had how many deferments?? And being a New Yorker, people like my brother, who couldn’t get a deferment, took his place. Sadly, Philip was only 21 and quite a talented artist.

Well, today is a celebration day for Sachi. I made breakfast of hash browns, eggs, toast with homemade jam, some sausage and, cinnamon rolls. I’m not sure what we’ll do for dinner but tomorrow or Wednesday she and are going to go to the nursery and then out to lunch.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, cash envelopes, frugalism, Uncategorized, Walking by

Our weather has turned to the cooler side. Actually, the house is quite chilly but I refuse to light a fire. I have some house plants on the wood-burning stove platform so I don’t want to have to remove them to start a fire.

I didn’t walk this morning as I went to the gym yesterday and had on my new gym shoes. Anytime I get new shoes my feet and back take a hit till they adjust. So my legs were sore and my low back. I’m wearing them around the house today to help break them in and adjust.

On the frugal end of things, B is using our free dump pass to take a whole truck load of crap to the dump. Honestly, I don’t know where it comes from. It seems we just took a load and here we are again. Well, this was free so maybe he just loaded everything he could.

The plumbing is still not fixed but B has all the siding off and has access to the pipe so that’s a start. He and son are planning on fixing it this weekend. Fortunately, it’s not a gusher and just a slow leak. But I suppose it will save money doing it himself.

I did the Walmart order and a Trader Joe’s so I’m set with groceries for a few weeks. I came in at @ $200 altogether. I do need to do a Costco trip for coffee etc. but will wait till next week. The week after we’re in Tahoe so I wouldn’t be able to do it then.

I’m still doing cash envelopes for groceries, dining out, misc, Home Depot, and fun money. It seems to be working well and I like to have the cash available. It helps me with my budget and then I’m not debit carding everything.

Next week is my daughters birthday so she will pick where to get dinner. I figure about $100 for all four of us. So not frugal but it’s part of the birthday gift.

Friday things and a nice birthday for me.

Posted in Blood test, budgets, California, decluttering, meal planning by

First, another turn around the sun. I had a lovely day and we got Panera for dinner which is a treat for us. All in all, a nice day especially with this beautiful weather. My son got me two albums by a really great artist,sarah jarosz.

I actually didn’t want anything for my birthday as we just got the truck and the RV this summer but he’s a generous son and bought it for me anyway.

As a matter of no gifts, this will be the FIRST christmas ever I don’t buy presents. I think I’m just done trying to figure out gifts for everyone and so I decided to not do any. I don’t think I’ll put up the tree either. What I will do is give both kids some money and call it good.It’ll be weird on Christmas morning because we are use to some presents but it’s a good time to start a new tradition of no gifts.

Hey, speaking of budget stuff/spending did anyone else get enormous increases in Part D prescription plans. Mine is going from $28.50 to $68 and Barclay’s is going from $26 to $71. WTF is that about?? Did I miss something about increases in Part D prescription plans??? Anyway that is going to increase our budget stuff.

I’m off to get my flu shot this morning and maybe do another Goodwill drop off. I still have a few more things to take out to buggie so I might wait till next week.

I’m still waiting on my labs which is annoying me as i still can’t get in the patient portal to see the results so I have to call. Kind of a PITA really.

I finished paying the UCD final bill from August of 2019 where B was in the month in between Medicare and Cobra. What a joke that was. The cobra was supposed to pay for all the coverage and did squat and we were still paying $700 a month. My advice is NEVER do a cobra. Well, it’s done so that’s a nice feeling. Of course our house insurance has increased, I guess, because of all the fires in California especially in our area. Well, it’s always something!!!

I have my monthly menu plan done for October so I just need to laminate it. Tonight is pizza night but I don’t feel like a pizza so I think I’ll do something with an Italian theme. We had an Ooni last week, two actually, and so that made 30 pizzas with the Ooni which at $10 a pizza paid for itself. I plan on keeping it in the garden shed so if it’s not too cold or rainy in the fall or winter we can pull it out and make some Friday night pizzas.

This was last weeks!

Another turn around the sun.

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Yip…. another year older. I made it to 68.

Getting older is kinda weird really. Inside you feel pretty much the same as you did when you were younger but the body sure can’t keep up the same:) I am extraordinarily grateful to be 68.

We had a nice walk this morning and got there @ 5:10. So the annoying lady showed up at 5:43 but we were done. It was so weird. She pulled in to the parking lot and parked in the middle of almost on the park road. Honestly, I was WTF? is she doing. Not the best place to park.

We had a fun trip to Ikea but alas, the chairs were not what I wanted and then we found some we like but they were out of stock. But I bought a bunch of fun Christmas stuff, a new bath mat, candles, 2 glass jars and their brand of cotton kitchen towel that run .79 and are really the best of found except William Sonoma’s but they are 4 for $20.

Tonight my son is going to go get a pizza for dinner so no cooking.

Last night we watched another episode of ‘THe Boys”. that show is intense to say the least.

It’s fairly warm today and there’s smoke from the Santa Rosa fires. We sure could use rain.

There’s also supposed to be a high fire warning tomorrow thru Saturday.

What a joke about the debate. We didn’t watch but caught all the news this morning. tRump was an asshole. Biden did the best he could but Chris Wallace should have shut tRump down. And that whole thing with the proud Boys makes me sick. I hope we can hang on till Nov 3 and then ?

A commenter wanted to know how to freeze the potatoes. Potatoes on there own don’t freeze well but these double stuffed do. First bake way more than you think because you will scooping out the potato. So I did 15 whole potatoes. It does take a while to bake. I had them on 2 hours but they were done by 1 :45. So then let them cool and cut in half. Scoop the insides into a big bowl. I add a stick of butter and About one cup of cheddar cheese. I also add 1/2-1 cup of sour cream. I kinda eye ball it. Salt and pepper. Blend well. Then I mound it into the shell. So 1 potato half is maybe 3/4 of the potato. I ended up with 20 halves. I wrap in foil and then put in a zip lock bag and then freeze. I often take them out and heat in the microwave or I’ll just stick back in the oven and rebake. Great for nights when you don’t feel like cooking.

Projects done!

Posted in Blood test, California, Gardening, home improvement, prepper pantry, Uncategorized by

The closet looks bright and clean. We did move our space heaters to the barn and I have one box of “I don’t know what to do with” stuff. One item is my old Waring blender that I bought new in 1985. It still works fine but most I use my Vitamix. So I’m undecided and will wait on deciding to give away or not.  We still need to hang my mirror back up and then I can take a photo if I remember.

B finished repotting the bamboo in the new barrels. This is actually a pretty big job as the roots needed to be cut with a Sawzall.  That’s how thick they were.  We are going to get a 3rd barrel as it will fill the space out nicely.

We also took everything out of the chest freezer and defrosted it. I got a good count on what’s in there so that was helpful plus it’s more organized.

The weather is quite a bit cooler and we actually sat outside last night.  Today is also really nice with a high of only 85.

Yesterday I bagged up the Central Milling flour into 3 mylar bags. I could have used the food saver bags but  I wanted to test out how the flour would be. The other bag I will use the food saver bags and then compare the two.

Tuesday we did our Costco shop. It was just under $500. Some of that was alcohol. The Costco beer which is a variety of ales and other types is a great deal at $20. and this was the first time we’ve seen it in almost a year. So we bought 2. That should last a while. I don’t drink beer but B does( although not too much right now with his issues) and my son has the occasional beer. Then we bought champagne for our anniversary. Since we’re not going anywhere, we figured we’ll do some kind of celebration dinner with champagne. This shop wasn’t really a prepper shop but more stuff for the month, salad stuff, avocados, spinach, cheese, bread.  The only things I still need are milk, bananas, vegetable shortening, and burger rolls. I’ll probably do that later in the week.  I’m hoping this shopping will get us thru most of the month.  Oh, I did get organic pasta that was on sale. So that’s for the prepper pantry.  Later this month we’ll hit Winco and get 2 more of the buckets if they have them and the gamma lids. I’m tempted to go sooner than later as I’m guessing they will get sold out.

I’m still waiting on my labs, so maybe by tomorrow.

Tomorrow is my son’s 26th birthday. Such a wonderful young man. Funny, talented, smart, and has a full-time job with California State Sierra Nevada Conservancy.  He was a fun kid and outgoing.  He was homeschooled all the way thru high school. He then went to Community college, got 2 degrees, and then graduated from CSU Sacramento. No student debt and he did most of it on his own. We are so proud of him. So, I need to find out what kind of dinner he wants and dessert. Our family ritual is the birthday boy/girl gets to pick their favorite dinner and dessert.

I’m reading the new Todd Borg” Tahoe Hit”. It just came out if you’re interested. He’s one of my favorite authors and is local to Lake Tahoe.

685789B5-5871-4B18-ADA0-0533A910EDF3.jpegHere’s my new BLACK LIVES MATTER yard sign for the driveway.

 

 

Anything new?

Posted in California, cooking, covid-19, prepper pantry, Uncategorized by

No, not really. It’s just same ole same old.

On Monday we went down to Winco, which is @ a 25-minute drive. We went early like at 6:15 am. It was fairly empty and we got everything I was after for the prepper pantry. Extra pasta, salsas, instant potatoes, and lots of other stuff to put out in the barn where the prepper pantry lives. We have stainless steel restaurant shelves out there and I’m using bins to put things in. The bins are to keep things clean and to keep bugs or other things out. We haven’t had any problems out there in a while but better to err on the side of caution. Some things I don’t keep in bins like the canned goods. Plus we will need to be rotating stuff into the house so some stuff I want to be able to see. I have labeled most everything. There’s a little more to do but mostly it’s done.

In the house, I have my closet pantry and then in the kitchen, I have some wine crates dedicated to canned goods as well. Overall, I’m happy with what I’ve done. I think if I planned meals, I have at least 3 months worth at this point.

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I’m still spending ALOT on food but as it is prepper pantry stuff, I feel okay about it. I have a very bad feeling about what the second wave of Covid-19 will bring. People are going a little crazy going out and so many are not wearing masks. Go figure.

Tomorrow I will go to my eye doctor’s appt. I’m planning on wearing a mask. This is my annual eye exam and my macular pucker scan. I probably should do the surgery but honestly, I don’t want to deal with it. I can’t really see out of my right eye but my left compensates so I guess for the time being ( unless it’s worse) I live with it.

It’s really hot here for the next few days so the coolers are in the windows. By Saturday though the temperatures are expected to drop again. last year at this time I was driving to Sacramento every day and it was also a heatwave. By the time I was in the RV it was sweltering.  So I guess its par for the course.

I made a chocolate cake last week.

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It was very chocolatey… I ended up freezing half as we weren’t eating it all.

Our daughter’s birthday is Friday. Wow, 35 years ago!!! We were so happy!! And had waited a long time for her. We’d been married 15 years so, a pretty long time to wait for a kiddo!!

 

Five on Friday

Posted in Blood test, home improvement, Uncategorized by

I wanted to write this as a separate post from my good news with my labs.

But first,  I want to give a shout out to Bob over at Satisfying Retirement.

He wrote a very good post on being prepared for retirement. Or in our case, what not to do, but now scrambling to do!! ( If that made sense)!

So five:

  • my great news on my labs is top of my list
  • we went to Home Depot and bought a security screen door so we can leave the front door open at night and let cool air in!!
  • it’s been a hot,hot week, but we’ve managed to keep the yard watered and the house cool.
  • my son fixed the AC in my old van and it’s nice and cold now. so that saved us the money from taking it down the road to the mechanic.
  • we’ve had lots of zucchini from the garden this week and they have been excellent in a variety of recipes.

My sons birthday is coming up in the first week of August. He already received his present which was the trip and tickets to Elton John in LV.  But I am going to tuck a little money in an envelope for him and tell him that’s the start of his emergency fund.

Not much else going on, there are terrible fires all over but the one in Yosemite and up near Redding are especially bad. Our air quality is not so good.

 

Happy Birthday to me!!

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Actually, I’m a little surprised to still be here.  When I was diagnosed in 2005 with myeloma, the average survival rate was 3-5 years. I remember my first radiation appointment and the radiation oncologist said oh, 3-5 years survival. I just about fell over right there.  But here I am. And even more amazing, after 5 years of Revlimid and then Pomalyst for 6 months, I started Velcade and voila… I am in remission.  Six sessions of Velcade or over 7 months.  who knew. Pretty amazing and I am enjoying it for all it’s worth. I know I’ll relapse again, but for now, I’m a pretty happy camper. Although getting older means more aches and arthritis stuff, generally I feel good.

My son made me an amazing breakfast with cinnamon rolls, eggs, cheesy hashbrowns, and bacon. Yumm. Plus some lovely gifts.

Tonight is pizza night which I am cooking!  I’m going to do a marguerite one,  a bacon and chicken one, and ?  I’ve been cutting the pizza dough in thirds and that seems to be just the right size.

 

Happy birthday to me!

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imageWell, here I am, 61 today. It’s weird to say that, as I’m sure most everyone goes wow I still feel 35 inside. Or 25 or whatever.

I’ve enjoyed getting older. I like where I am. Of course there are things I wished I’d did differently, but hindsight is 20/20.

Im grateful to be here and feel good. When I was diagnosed it seemed so depressing and scarey. Now, I’m use to dealing with multiple myeloma. It’s never easy but I cope.

Today was my 122 day walking and it was sprinkling. But it was still nice.

No special dinner plans, but I did go out to the store and pick up some mini desserts. So well see what shapes up for dinner.

It’s been a great life and I’m grateful for the time that is been given to me.