Tag Archives: camping

Frugal Friday

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, California, camping, cash envelopes, husband, travel by

Yesterday, I went to the gym and the library for my holds. I wanted to get that chair Pilates Yoga book again and start a small routine. I’ll probably end up buying the book, but for now I can use the library’s. I wanted to get an IN and Out burger but it was too early so I came home and had homemade sourdough bread with left over chicken.

I also checked DVDs in the Friends of the Library area and found 2 Blu-rays to replace the regular DVDs, so that was a win at $6.00.

I used up the rest of the Costco chicken. I made 4 Souper Cubes of stuffing and chicken, and put some gravy on top. They’re in the freezer, and later today I’ll pop them out and put them in Ziploc bags. So that’s 4 future meals for us.

I returned the sweat pants to Costco and then went in and spent $180, but $45 of that was our favorite wine, Kendall-Jackson Reserve. And I got the Kombucha for my daughter, so the food was probably closer to $125. Oh, and I had picked up the rotisserie chicken.

Today, I need to go get cat food in Auburn, so I’m not sure if I’ll go down to Roseville or not. If I don’t go, that saves gas for next week. I don’t need any groceries( I think). I should probably check the salad stuff. The Chef Preserve is working well for veggies, as long as I remember to use them. 🙂 Refrigerator blindness is real!

I’m starting taxes and still need one bank thing. Our taxes are pretty straightforward, and I always use TurboTax. When I started it a bit ago, I had to figure out how to change it so I would be the primary taxpayer, as Barclay had always been before. Fortunately, TurboTax told me exactly how to change it, so that’s all set. I just need the final numbers from the bank and SS. I hope by next week I can wrap it up.

The VW insurance came in, and I need to pay my daughter for that. The VW is in her name, so she pays it, and then I reimburse her. I had a cash envelope for it, but never put $ in it as I had too many other bills to take care of. I guess if we keep it for another year, it’s worth it for now. I only drive the VW to Auburn for errands, so technically I could get rid of it. But as long as it’s working, I think we’ll keep it, but I need to get that envelope going for next year.

I was reading another blog I like, ( My Tireless Retirement), and she was talking about buying a van to go camping in. One that the seats go flat, that she could put a mattress in there and sleep in it. I got to thinking that maybe we could do that. Get like a Honda Odyssey. Our Santa Fe is getting up there in miles, so that could be something to think about. Gee, I loved our Dodge Caravan. It was the best thing we did back then, along with our tent trailer. We took the kids out camping all the time. And we traveled in the Caravan to Canada and lots of places. It was a game-changer, not to mention ferrying homeschooled kids everywhere.

So maybe I should go look at one to see if that would work for me. It’s not like I’m looking to travel the country; I just want to do some of the things Barclay and I did together. So back to the drawing board. 🙂

Menu Monday and a BIG shout out to Frugal Girl!!

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, camping, cancer, cooking, Death, home stuff, Lake tahoe, travel, Uncategorized, velcade by

Frugal Girl has a huge blog following and deservedly so. But she never speaks of politics till now, and I am very Thrilled she has stood up and spoken out against the horrors of this administration, especially with the murder of Alex Pretti, a fellow nurse. I’m sure it was difficult for her to do, especially as she is an evangelical Christian. Although we are as far apart as can be on religion, I respect her immensely for all she has gone through and accomplished. She is an exceptional person, and thank you, Kristen, for using your voice.

I’m just a small blogger, but I will not shy away from speaking up about the wrongs this administration is doing. AND THE LIES!! You can see with your own eyes what went down, and to have them disgrace a wonderful human being is sickening. May Karma catch up to them in the end.

On to mudane things in my life.

The menu changed up a bit as one night we had ramen because we felt like it.

Last night I baked some chicken, and we had that with baked butternut squash and salad.

Monday- I think I’ll try to do the baked fish with something. I really want to empty out the small refrigerator freezer, and the fish is in there.

Tuesday- Mexican something. I have beans frozen, so I could do beans and something. I don’t have any enchiladas, but I could buy some if I get to Winco. We do love Amy’s cheese enchiladas.

Wednesday- I have some Trader Joe’s orange chicken to use up, and I could make jasmine rice to go with it.

Thursday- ?? Maybe a curry, as I have tofu to use. We really like tofu curry with rice.

Friday- Pizza of some sort. We finished up the last Costco one for lunch the other day, and it was pretty bad, so I won’t buy them again. The frozen pizza that we liked the best was Home Run Chicago Pizza, and I think only Safeway carries that.

Saturday-? TBD

After e-messaging my oncologist, Dr. Laptalo, he suggested half an Imodium for the IBS. So I’ve been doing that, and so far it’s been fine. It’s been about a week with no issues, so I’m happy about that. I went to the gym and library the other day, and no surprises. I’m not sure what triggered it, but I think the body remembers certain things, and with the Velcade, it responded to that. Dr. L thought it could have been Velcade, as the timing was right. I don’t know, and all I want is not be ‘surprised’. I’m planning on going to the pool this week at least once, so that will be sort of my marker. I overcame this before, and I will overcome it again.

I’ve had zero luck with getting a spot at Nevada Beach. My only theory is that because it is such a beautiful camping spot on Lake Tahoe and there are so few spots, getting one is getting harder. Reservations are now into the end of July, and I think I’ll skip those for now. Tahoe in the summer is not my favorite, as it is overrun by tourists.

And I’m still not sure what I would camp in. I still have Rubi, but I will try to sell it this spring. I do have the one night booked at Tahoe in June, but I can handle one night in a tent. Any more than that, I doubt I’d want to do. This probably is one of the hardest for me to accept with Barclay gone, that certain things, like camping, can’t be the same. The question is still, how do I want to go forward?

Well, this has gotten quite long, so that’s it for now.

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, California, camping, cancer, decluttering, Lake tahoe, library, Uncategorized, Walking by

It’s been so hot again. Today is the hottest at 99. The coolers go off and on all day. I always turn them off by 7:30, even if it’s still hot out. We have two more days of heat, and then it drops back into the 80s.

I’ve had fun reading this book,

It’s quite funny, although if you’re offended by the word fuck, then this isn’t for you. It’s quite motivating. I bought it as a Kindle book.

My walk was nice this morning. Only one person was showing up as I was leaving. My legs still don’t seem to be recovering as well as I’d like, and my app for iHealth still shows my walking steadiness as low. I’m guessing my right knee is still causing some lagging in my gait. Of course, that’s just a guess.

I picked up my holds at the library, and one was chair yoga and pilates. So far, I like it and may buy my own copy. I have it for 3 weeks, so I can give it a bit more time to see if it’s worth it.

The week ahead is Dr. appt in Sacramento, and Velcade in Roseville. That pretty much covers the week since Friday, I’ll take my Dex. My daughter starts back at her college job this week, too. We talked about maybe doing a day trip to Tahoe. Just the West Shore, as it is closer to Tahoe City. I’ll have to see how motivated I am to do that.

I still haven’t canceled one of the Tahoe trips in September. I guess I’m procrastinating. I’ll do it soon. We had booked 2 reservations that overlapped, so one will have to go, and even the one that’s left is questionable. I’m still not sure how we could pull it off without Rubi, and that is not an option. I suppose my son’s huge tent is an option, but not really a great one. I’d have to buy an air mattress and some other things, and I’m not sure I want to do that. I guess I’m waiting for some inspiration to show up. Kidding:)

My daughter has finished painting the studio, and it looks really nice. A pale green with a cream trim. We gave away the Ikea cabinet yesterday on Facebook Marketplace. Fortunately, the guy coming was nice and prompt. He had a van, so my daughter and he were able to slide it in. It was a brand-new hybrid Pacifica. Wow, it was quite nice. I checked the price and they run around 55K.

Well, off to do some stuff as I’m not heading out to the gym this morning.

Simple Sunday

Posted in budgeting, California, cancer, Death, decluttering, home stuff, husband, Walking by

The light is shifting in both the morning and evening. The other day was Lammas, so cross-quarter. For some reason, I always feel the shift, even if it’s 90 degrees out. My walk this morning at 6 am was nice, and again, it’s just a tad darker. No one showed up, which was unusual. Generally, there is at least one or two people. So that was nice. I’m still not up to a full mile yet with my knee, but I’m getting there.

Today, I plan to go to the Auburn gym and then drop a load off at Goodwill. It’s a bit of miscellany from around the house. I’ll do another round when I get motivated to go out to the garden shed. Since Barclay died, I haven’t had much motivation with things, but I guess that’s normal.

My son and daughter moved the trailer to a new spot, so the tires aren’t in the same spot. I haven’t been out there yet, but I will go out today. I also need to continue taking things out, like dishes. I won’t get rid of them because our plan is to get the tent trailer, so we’ll need stuff for that. I think the ease of pulling a tent trailer will suit my daughter and me.

We started watching the New Star Trek, with Captain Pike. It’s really quite good and really keeps to the Star Trek theme. It’s on Paramount, if you’re interested. I also watched the PBS production of Patience. It’s really a rerun of the French Astrid, but I enjoyed it. I also finished watching Murder on an Island, which takes place off the coast of Canada near French Quebec.

It’s my son’s birthday this week. 31 yo. Where does the time go?? He was a wonderful child, and he has grown into a wonderful young man. There are 9 years between my daughter and him, and he was a BIG surprise. I remember saying, I’M WHAT??? I was almost 42 when he was born.

Well, what things are you up to these days? I read a few blogs, but not as many as I used to. I do love peeking into other people’s lives. I guess that’s why I was a psychology major in college, and counseling in graduate school, and clinical psychology in a doctoral program, which I didn’t finish. No regrets, it was all a journey.

Thankful Thursday and Frugal Friday wrapped up together.

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, California, camping, cooking, frugalism, Gratitude, Political things, travel by

I’m thankful we had an uneventful drive to Tahoe. Eastbound traffic for Memorial Day was horrendous. The only real traffic was through Incline and Sand Harbor which had the roads line with stupid people people trying to get to SandHarbor because the parking lot was full.

I’m thankful the camp hosts were so friendly and we were able to check in early at 1pm. Our spot was so nice.

I’m thankful the drive home was safe too and very little traffic.

We walked every day and and I averaged 2 miles but my knee did start to hurt yesterday so I will back off for a few days. We don’t have bikes anymore and I started thinking maybe we should get some again. There are lots of trails in Tahoe and bike paths.

Frugal-wise camping fees were half because we have the lifetime senior pass. Our only expenses were gas to Tahoe and some camp groceries. So overall, it was a pretty cheap getaway. And we’re back the week after this on the 10th.

Today is Friday and I have my labs, but won’t swim partly because I want to do some home stuff and partly because the pool has been closed all week so it’s going to be busy, I’m sure.

We kept camp food basic and didn’t do any Lodge meals or anything fancy. Tonight, I plan on using the Webber and cooking some chicken. I will make a macaroni salad or Greek pasta salad to go with it. I have some veggie burgers for B.

We have quite a few loads of laundry to do but since it’s so warm out I’ll hang dry them and then do an air fluff in the dryer.

The BIGGEST THANKFUL THING IS OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM WORKS AND TRUMP WAS FOUND GUILTY!!

Almost back to normal

Posted in California, cancer, home stuff, meal planning, swimming, travel by

I am feeling much better and actually plan to go swimming today. The cold was mostly in my sinuses and didn’t go into a chest thing. I’m grateful for that. My eyes bothered me because they were watering so much but that’s been happening anyway and I think it’s a dex side effect. Still, I’m glad it was all relatively short-lived.

Tomorrow I have my Velcade but won’t be taking dex. I figure if I do 2 rounds of Velcade and my numbers are increasing I’ll need to add dex back in but at least for 2 months I’ll get a break. I guess it’s the luck of the draw.

Yesterday, I picked up my yarn at Joannes and then went to Trader Joe’s. I wanted some new cotton yarn for my millionth washcloth.:) Really, I just like knitting as it is meditative.

Meals have just been whatever is easiest to put together. I do plan on a BBQ tonight because I have a tri-tip from TJ’s to use. It’s one of the ones that comes all seasoned. I have a veggie burger for B and I’ll make a salad to go with it all. At TJ’s I picked up a few ready frozen meals for camping. One is the gnocchi cacio de pepe. That should be tasty. I might do a soup night and maybe a spaghetti night. We do keep it pretty simple when we’re camping. We plan on leaving later on Monday as we’re not sure if all the campgrounds are cracking down on early arrivals. We usually get there at 12:30 and we’ve always been allowed access but after New Brighton, we figure if we get there @ 1:30 then we’ll know. Either they’ll let us in or say no it’s 2pm. I’m guessing that the early arrivals were abused by people and now it’s something they have to deal with. Who knows?

In other news, we’ve had zero luck finding a plumber. I think because it’s such a small job it’s not worth their time. We’re still checking and I guess maybe B will have to watch some YouTube plumbing videos. 🙂

Thankful Thursday and Frugal Friday

Posted in budgets, California, camping, Gratitude, home stuff, swimming, travel, Uncategorized, Walking by

I’m certainly thankful we had an uneventful and safe trip down here to Capitola. Overall traffic wasn’t too bad even through San Jose. We arrived to find traffic though completely backed up going into Capitola. So from Santa Cruz to New Brighton, it took forever to go 2 miles due to construction.

We made it still a little after one only to be told the new regulations were no checking in before 2pm. I told the guy( park worker) that we had always been able to check in early. His response was so rude, he turned to get our plate # and said” Why are people always lying to me”. I was pretty shocked. So we drove down to the beach parking and waited till 2pm. Then we, along with 6 other RVs, checked in and then we still had to wait for RVs to back into spots. Terrible system and not efficient.

Regardless, I’m thankful it was a beautiful day and we got set up and relaxed.

We love our little ‘Rubi’. And I’m so grateful trailering has gone easy and we have a bathroom.

We headed out on Tuesday to go to Gayle’s for a croissant and coffee. I also bought a loaf of their Jewish rye bread which is one of my favorite. Then we went to the local Anytime gym for a workout. I’m grateful it is free to us and gives us a chance to strengthen our muscles. From there we headed to Trader Joe’s in Capitola, not Santa Cruz. We were surprised there was one on this side of Santa Cruz and boy, was it nice. A really beautiful store, big and well laid out as most Trader Joe’s are. We loaded up on food, a plant for outside Rubi, and some candles I’ve been wanting. Not too frugal but not much more than a regular weekly shop. Overall, a fun morning. Then we came back to camp and just relaxed.

Wednesday we discovered the Simpkins Swim Center. Oh my, it was wonderful. I was really ecstatic to swim. It’s a huge outdoor pool heated. What a find. I’m so grateful for cities that provide these amazing places. We paid $5.00 to swim.

Overall, we have been frugal where we can. We decided to do a day trip up to Half Moon Bay which is about an hour from here. We’ve actually never seen that part of Hwy 1. It’s quite beautiful with loads of State Beaches along the way. We had a nice lunch at the very well-known fish place, Sam’s. It was good but not as good as Fishetarian in Bodega Bay. From there we just took our time getting back to Capitola and once again hit the traffic snarl in Capitola.

We’ve kept our meals simple. Last night we had scrambled Mexican tofu on tortillas with salad. I’m not sure what we’ll do tonight but I’d like to get a pizza night in.

Sadly, on the home front, we had raccoons get 2 chickens because no one was home. They were in their yard but it wasn’t closed so there it is. Raccoons are always looking for opportunities and there it was. I feel really bad for the girls because we have been so careful and here it is just one night and this happens. My daughter who was working late just missed getting them in. She got home right after and I’m sure felt awful. Well, we know we don’t want chickens again but still it makes me sad.

This is Half Moon Bay. You can see that rock barrier if you look carefully. There were numerous ones on each side of the Bay.

Today, we’re going to walk and then go over to Gayles for a bit. The weather has been picture perfect. Today though, we’re in for a 20 degree drop in temperature and some rain overnight.

I don’t think we’ll go back to the pool as we’re both a little tired, so a day to rest sounds good.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgets, California, camping, cancer, cooking, freezer cooking, husband, Myeloma, Pantry, swimming, Walking by

It was a frugalish week. After swimming on Tuesday I stopped at TJs for a few things like eggs, sandwich bread, odds and ends, and wine. I need to go there tomorrow and pick up some stuff to take camping. There’s not a TJs in the whole of Lake Tahoe. There is a Grocery Outlet though. I spent just over $100. Other than that no grocery shopping. I think the way to save money(and it is working) on groceries is to stay out of Safeway, or even our Holiday Market is pretty high priced. Of course, sometimes I need something and it makes sense to get it here rather than driving out to get it. So I think I’m going to plan regular TJs, Winco, and then Costco for the bigger bulk items like coffee.

Today is B’s birthday so we’ll all celebrate with some cake and take out pizza. Another turn around the sun!! Happy Birthday to the love of my life.

We had a nice walk with only a few people there. It does really bug me though when people do not use a flashlight when it’s still dark-ish out.

Then I came home and made a loaf of pumpkin bread to freeze. I had enough pureed pumpkin left to make a batch of pumpkin muffins too.

Later I’m heading into town to go to CVS to hopefully pick up my dexamethasone. There’s been some confusion about where to send it and now I’m not sure if it’ll be there. I figured I’d better go in and check rather than call. The infusion center called and I have all my October dates scheduled. He wants 4 weeks on and 1 week off. Not sure why but in the long run it probably doesn’t matter. We canceled our mid October camping trip because we were going to leave the day I have an appt with the Dr. and then infusion after. There’s no sense going if I’ll have just gotten the shot and then Dex. We had a reservation for 4 nights so 3 of those days wouldn’t really make sense as those are the days I’m not 100%. That’s ok. We’re keeping the Napa reservation in November. I’ll start my next cycle that week so it’ll just need to be later in the week as we’re booked Sun- Thurs. Although, I think we’ll probably leave Wednesday so I can get the appt on Thursday.

Our fall weather is definitely here. Very cool mornings, nice days with warmish temperatures.

Here’s how the pantry is looking. I haven’t done another pressure canned meal as I don’t have a lot of room. When we get back I’ll make something to add. just look at the color of those tomatoes!!! The applesauce is from our tree this year. I still have half a box to do. All the rest of the tomatoes even the green ones I’m putting in a box in the closet to ripen. As they ripen I’m just bagging them and putting them in the freezer to process at a later date.

Frugal Friday, camping edition.

Posted in California, camping, cooking, frugalism, home improvement, home stuff, kitchen remodel, Lake tahoe, travel by

When we’re out in Rubi we definitely have low spend weeks. We really only buy gas to fill the truck up and then whatever groceries to fill in the blanks. After the gym yesterday we went over to Safeway( in the same parking lot) and bought veggies for a stir fry that we both felt like. We had brought from home some snow peas from the garden and then added mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, tofu, and steamed rice. It was delicious.

Snow peas were added after the rest was cooked.

Today is stay in camp day and we plan on walking out to the meadow. We had some thunder last night but not really rain. Then later my son and his friend are coming into camp with us. Zephyr does a lot of car camping so he’s all prepared. We might do a lodge dinner tonight but I’ll wait and ask him if he has any ideas. He will stay in our spot till Monday but we’re leaving sometime this weekend. I really prefer not to be in camp during the weekends, it’s noisy. too many kids. blah, blah, blah.

All in all not much spent this week. Oh, but I did find this corner kitchen cabinet on Marketplace with a granite top and the guy wanted $60. I asked if he could wait till the weekend but then said he could deliver it so I said sure. $60 Zelle later it’s in our driveway. I’m hoping this spurs us to rip out the counter and get going on the kitchen after we( not me, B) finish fixing the wood damage where the pipe was leaking. Our kitchen can only be redone ( unless we were rich) using the same footprint as the layout is locked in by 2 doors that are on either side of the room. There’s not any other way to redesign as I said unless it was professionally altered. We don’t have money for that so the sink counter will stay the same just all new cabinets and sink and countertop. It’s really quite small so I know we can get it done reasonably. But if this cabinet works it’ll be a good start. This corner has been a problem and I hope this fixes it.

Tahoe girl.

I’m terribly unphotogenic 😦

OMG, the best news….trump indicted !!!!! How he can say or even Mccarthy for that matter that he’s innocent when it’s 2 grand juries that brought the indictment is just nuts. All the right-wing mania with anti-LGBTQ+, book banning, and on and on is just insane. I can only hope the pendulum swings back for rights for all.

Frugal Friday

Posted in California, camping, cooking, meal planning, Uncategorized by

Today we have to go pick up the truck because we leave Sunday for Capitola. The AC isn’t fixed but we will just have to deal with it. It’ll probably be the following Monday after we’re back that we’ll bring it back to the dealer. After the warranty is done (in August) we’ll just take somewhere local as we’ll be paying out of pocket on any repairs.

After that, I’ll go over to the Rec center as that’s just across the freeway, and do a workout. I have books at the library to pick up so I have to wait till 10 am to get them. I put about 12 books on hold. Mostly Louise Penny and Margolin. There may have another random book as well.

Then it’s back home. Most of my weekly chores are done and I need to just get a few things organized in Rubi for camping. New Brighton has Gayles Bakery and a Nob Hill plus Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, etc, so we can go get stuff once we’re there. But I like to have some basics like cream for our coffee and bread to make sandwiches when we get there Sunday afternoon.

B is going to head up to Home Depot to get some posts for more fencing behind the barn. He also needs to go the bank to get a statement that LLS needs that shows the insurance paid. I’m still waiting for funding to open up. It’s been 2 months and no Myeloma funding yet. Last time it was right about the 2 month mark when it reopened. But I’ll need these statements when it does. It’s a big hit when we’re not getting that reimbursed. So hopefully soon. I’m sure plenty of others are waiting too.

Spinach quiche and potatoes from this week’s menu.