Well, I made it through yesterday without the Ativan, but not last night. I decided before bed, I’d take one, and I slept well. Only a couple of wakeups and then back to sleep.
My Merrills finally showed up, so I’m going to wear them around the house and see how they feel. For the price of them, I need to know they fit perfectly.
It was foggy this morning, and apparently the valley is pretty socked in. That’s one advantage of living above the fog and below the snow. 🙂 Temperatures are still cool, though.
We had the polenta lasagna last night, and it was quite good. I have leftovers either for lunch or to freeze. I’ll probably pull some chicken from the freezer for the week and find some sort of recipe to use. Something I can get a few meals out of.
Frida, which Barclay bought last year, won the ugly ornament contest. I just added the green felted dinosaur in the middle of the picture on the right. I may look for some more. These were just Target brand.
My neighbor called and said they transferred him down to Antioch( Kaiser) in the cardio department. He said the tests were still inconclusive, but they were going to do an angiogram.
Wow, 2024 is coming to a close and Wednesday is 2025. I still need to write a few goals for the year. Nothing monumental, just things like keep walking, keep swimming, and up the number of times a week. Stuff like that.
A very very rainy morning. No walk again, so I’ll use the treadmill. I might try and walk tomorrow but I’ll wait and see. I was planning on going to the Roseville gym and the library. I have some books to return and a hold to pick up. The rain is supposed to stop later and tomorrow looks sunny so that may be the deciding factor.
Despite the rain, B and I went to Costco. He needed the protein drink and he wanted cereal too. We bought some of the sale items, dishwasher pods, and Swiffer dusters, and it seems there was something else on sale. We got a rug for the entry way as we’ve been using a towel and that gets old. I picked eggs, tofu, milk, bananas, and salad mix and they had microgreens which I love. This was a new item. Oh, we picked up the vegetable barley soup for an easy dinner.
Yesterday, I did most of my house chores, so today is an easy day. For dinner, I made brown rice, sweet potatoes, grilled tofu, and broccoli, and there’s enough for lunch today or even dinner if I add something extra.
I started reading another Baldacci series, the Camel Club. So far I like the characters and the plot. My son gave me a great Christmas present of 6 or 7 Baldacci hardcovers he got at the thrift store. They are in almost new condition. What a great gift. He always zeroes in on the right gift for people. Plus he said he didn’t want to buy anything new but used/thrifted. Very Cool. He found the graphic novel, “March” byJohn Lewis and others at the thrift store too, and that made a great gift to B.
We’re halfway through Hanukkah and I only did a card and cash for each person. The cash was only a $2 bill which believe it or not are very hard to find. So I’m definitely winding down the gift-giving which is my goal.
We finished the “Astrid” series and it was really good. Now we need to find a new series to watch. Does anybody have a recommendation?
We got home around 5:30 p.m. after B’s infusion. It was raining and dark, so driving was a bit of a challenge. I had made some beet soup in the IP, so dinner was done. Overall, it went well down there, and he got the 2 bags. So today, he’ll get labs and see how much it improved the platelets.
He does have an appt for tomorrow back down in Rocklin, but my son or daughter will do that. It’d be great if he doesn’t need them but that’s not too likely.
This morning is still cloudy but no rain. I considered driving to the pool, but honestly, I’m just tired of driving this week. This morning, I’ll do some house things and read. I’ll also check the pantry for menu ideas. Tonight is pizza night but we may not do that. I guess I’ll see what everyone want to eat.
I went to Safeway on Tuesday after my labs. I think I spent @$90. This month’s food is over budget but I’m ok with that as some of that was stocking up stuff from Costco. I still need to go get a few things from the Holiday market and there is Thanksgiving. Some months are just like that.
We have spent more on gas than normal, driving back and forth to Sacramento, Rocklin, etc. The Santa Fe needs windshield wipers so B will take the car maintenance envelope and get those when he can.
I’ve only got a few things left to buy for Christmas. I need to order /send my BIL (Heidi’s husband) his annual cheese from Point Reyes. I’ll do that soon. And I need to get 2 GC’s for my daughter. One for the garden center and the other for Gap. She pretty much buys whatever she needs so gifts are a challenge. And besides, she told me she dislikes Christmas so there’s that.
I’m still not reading any news, and I feel better for it. I do catch a headline here and there and then freak out( like Kennedy as head of Health. I mean he’s a fu**king anti-vaccer. It’s all too much and somewhat feels like an alternate reality. Maybe I should read Carlos Castenada again.
Overall, it was a low-spend week. Yesterday, I went into Target( the first time in quite a while) as I was looking for extra lights. They had zip. All sold out. I did pick up a few ugly ornaments to add to the ugly ornament tree. I picked up a few kitchen items to give as a Christmas gift for my son’s friend. They like to cook so I thought a few kitchen items would be nice.
Then, before I met my friends for coffee, I went into Safeway as I needed a couple more russets for the latkes. Also, I wanted to get our garbage guy a bottle of wine to add to his gift bag. We don’t do many gifts but I feel he works all year in rain, snow, etc, and deserves a little appreciation. Other than that, Christmas is done.
Today, I’m making a big batch of pizza dough to freeze and then use one for dinner tonight. The recipe I have makes 4 balls of dough and it’s been working out well this way.
I’ll be continuing the low spend into next week too and just do the one Winco shop for the Christmas lasagna ingredients. I’ve stayed off Amazon and that’s saying something!!!
I certainly am feeling better each day but next week starts Cycle 3. The great news is though, my numbers just hit normal. 19.0 . High normal is 19.4. My ratio between kappa and lambda is still a little high but that will eventually drop. In spite of some aspects being harder than I thought it would be( or maybe I just forgot from last time), it’s worth it if Velcade/Dex is doing the work.
Today, we’re going to go out for a while and maybe get lunch out. We’ll see:)
As usual, I started my day with a walk. Only one other person there today. She’s a regular who does an exercise class at the community center ( on the steps outside) with our neighbors. They’ve been doing this for quite a few years now. Later this week we’re supposed to get some very cold weather like the low 30s. I really dislike that kind of cold but it is what it is.
Then I worked on putting some Christmas stuff up.
Then I got busy pressure-canning the turkey broth. I noticed some water leaking from the top after I put the gauge on so I had to stop and let it depressurize and then see what the issue was. The gasket must have been slightly off so I reset it and put some olive oil on it to help seal it. For good measure, I went to Amazon and ordered a new gasket. I’m not sure I need the new gasket but at least I’ll have it if this happens again.
We watched Home Alone last night and I thought it was kind of dumb. I had seen it before, so I thought the same thing then too. We’re totally enjoying watching Poirot though. It is really well done. That’s on Prime if you are interested.
A somewhat busy week with my doctor appt and I have a follow up audiology check up. Plus a swim and the gym too.
Everyone got some nice things. I got my son a Pendleton National Park wool blanket from Goodwill Seattle. It’s the Glacier one that is white with color stripes. Very nice and a fraction of the cost new. He also got a used copy of Easton Press” A Tale of Two Cities”. B got a new Leatherman knife since a few years ago when he went to board a plane he had is quite expensive Leatherman in his pocket and they took it away. My daughter got 2 pairs of pruning shears, an Easton Press Grimm Fairy tales and some other stuff including these made in Japan Sound Collection plates… I discovered these by accident about 2 years ago at Goodwill when I found a bowl and fell in love with it. They are quite hard to find and the only place apart from Japan ,I guess, is Ebay.
I got a lovely sweater, a Kitchen Aid hand mixer( I asked for this), and some great gifts from my son, artisan flour, and a scone mix.
All in all a really nice and somewhat minimalist Christmas. It could have been scaled back even a little more but in the end I think it was perfect.
I made a NYT recipe called the Big Lasagna.
This is just the first page of the recipe, there are 2 more pages if you’re interested you can google it. It actually was huge and must have weighed 5 pounds. Lasagna is always our Christmas dinner. Not sure quite when this started but I remember when we were first married making lasagna since it was vegetarian.
It really was delicious.
I took all the Christmas stuff down and put away. I start to feel it looks a little cluttered up after 3 weeks of decorations. So now it’s all tidy and things put back in place.
I’m cooking up the scone mix this morning. It’s a ginger cranberry and it was a nice mix. I’m thinking scones are a nice easy thing to bake so maybe I’ll do this more often. This mix was from the Vermont Store but King Arthur has some lovely ones to choose from.
Our walk was lovely at 6:10am this morning. Still dark, but by 7am we’re getting a nice light and the park is all frosty.( well, it’s frosty before that but then we can see it!).
If you follow FL, we’re in the Living room zone. That was one reason I wanted to put Christmas stuff away. I’ll wash the inside windows and dust everything.
Well, this is the week I go to Sacramento to meet with my oncologist. My first question is going to be” when can I get the Covid vaccine? the second will be when do we start treatment.” 😦 Really, I’d rather start than have myeloma cells multiplying and then risking fractures or worse.
It was a lovely Thanksgiving with the four of us. My brother stayed home as he does work as a machinist around lots of other people. BTW, the company he works for made a number of the very specific pieces the Space -X used to go to the Space Station.Cool!
Update, on Saturday he stopped by for a pan of nut loaf and a plate of turkey with all the trimmings!! He’s a great guy who shares our political views and is outspoken about the corruption of Trump.
I had ordered the Diestel turkey breast and it was delicious. It was pricey, but worth. I have lots of slices left to freeze plus I plan to make a turkey wild rice soup.
Update: I think I’ll freeze the turkey since it’s now Sunday and we’re kinda turkeyed out:(.
Yesterday on our walk, 2 unusual things happened. We started out by the pond and a black cat jumped out of the blackberry bushes. One of his eyes was closed so we were concerned it was hurt. it was very friendly so we picked it up and drove home. I woke my daughter who tried to look at it but it squeezed under the kitchen counter. So we went back and walked in the park. On our last round we saw ‘granny’ goose( the last domestic goose at the park) limping. Her one leg had been injured. We were worried for her. I messaged ARD and told them and they said call animal control, which I didn’t do. This morning ‘granny ‘ wasn’t there so either she got taken by animal control or a coyote got her. Sad. At one time there was a flock of 20 geese and they were always fun to watch.
Back to the cat. So eventually it came out and wasn’t hungry and it looked like it was someone’s pet. And the eye wasn’t injured, as we thought, it didn’t have a right eye. B put it out on Nextdoor neighbor and within the hour some said it was our local hardware stores pet cat. So B took it home to the store. But it made us all realize how much we miss having a cat/cats.
Not much on the agenda for today. I may wander out to the barn and get the other Christmas boxes down to see if I want to use anything more. I’ve made a wreath with bay leaves for the front door. It has nice dark green branches/leaves so it looks Christmassy. I’ll probably go cut some cedar and pine branches also to make a centerpiece for the table.
Sunday morning:
off for our walk at 6am. It’s still somewhat dark and then it’s predawn. This time has worked out well. We’ve only crossed the jerk dog walker once so that’s a huge plus.
We still don’t have rain in the forecast but it’s cold in the morning( like high 30’s). I got an email alert from PGE saying we would have a high electric bill. I figured it would be since we use the space heaters off and on. Well, we may have to cut back on when we use them like maybe only in the mornings. This house doesn’t have any central AC/heat so we use the wood stove and then in the bedrooms small space heaters. I’m not surprised since we get this every year a few months of very high electric. I probably should just put that in the annual bills column. Yeah, I think I’ll do that. 3/4 months of high PGE which would be @ $1,000.
I don’t plan on making Tartine today so that will lighten my morning. I’ll get out my starter tomorrow for Tuesday/ Wednesday bread.
This week Flylady has 2 zones, the living room and the entry ways. My front room is fairly easy as it’s pretty minimal. It doesn’t take me more than 15 minutes to do the zone. I do wipe the tops of the Easton press as they are gold gild and do get dusty. I also do the windows and the mirror. We have a large Heywood Wakefield mirror in this room near the dining table. The entryways start on Tuesday which is Dec. 1. I’ve already changed out the seasonal decor to Christmas/ Winter. One thing minimalism has taught me is to use as much natural things for decorations hence the bay laurel wreath. Plus, I can keep that up all winter not just Christmas. I do change the outside twinkly lights from orange(fall) to blue( winter). We keep lights up year round as we don’t have outside lights so we put the twinklies on a timer to come on at dark till around 11pm and then again in the morning around 5:30 till 7am. It just helps with outside lighting.
We got a bumper crop of lemons from our one dwarf tree. This one of 2 bowls of lemons. I will slice and freeze some. Great for adding to water and then I thought I might look preserved lemon. Someone years ago, gave me a ball jar of preserved lemons and they were excellent on/cooked with chicken. Anyone have a recipe they use?
We’re getting a nice soaking of rain today , and tahoe is getting snow!!! Yeah! I’m sure all the ski resorts are very happy.
we walked ING rain and it was nice. Not a pounding rain just a nice gentle rain.
Today, I’m sorting thru Christmas lists. Mostly done. We’re giving money to our son, as he buys everything himself. My daughter is getting an electric guitar. Our budget for her $250, so she’ll,have to ante up the balance. We’ll add in some from my $ and dads $ as there’s nothing we need or really want. Plus we just spent $600 on gravel for our driveway, so merry Christmas !!
We don’t have much family. A brother I give $ to and my sister a few little gifts. That’s it. No parents etc.
we don’t really gift and friends . When I was at the library I gave some little things as gifts like homemade jams etc, but that’s it. So our holidays are pretty stress free. We also love to celebrate Hanukkha ( no we’re not Jewish, but atheists) but I love lighting the candles and the meaning of the lights.
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 