Tag Archives: Fall

Friday Things

Posted in California, cooking, freezer cooking, seasonal things, simple foods, Uncategorized by

I’m in the middle of making spinach and mushroom crepes. I had to go down to the Holiday Market for gruyere and ended up spending $77.00. Food is really expensive and it seems every time I’m in the store it’s almost $100. I haven’t totaled this month up but I’m sure it’s going to be VERY high. Both Costco and the Azure order(which will be here next week) were around $300. So right there that’s $600. Oh well, I’ll just blame it on the holidays and inflation. sigh^^>>^^.

The kids took off in the Santa Fe for Hollywood this morning. Hopefully, it’s a good trip for them and fun too. My daughter, whose an author of Gay/lesbian Vampires, Werewolves, and other unworldly beings books, is there for the Whatpad convention for paid writers. I think there are awards being given and she is up for one. Her books are read worldwide and she has a big following. My son and his friend are going to the world tour concert by Elton John at Dodger stadium.

I won’t be going to the gym or pool unless I have B drive me in the truck. I could use my daughter’s Honda Fit but it’s such a small car it makes me nervous. So that’s ok, I can wait til next week if necessary.

Our days continue to be beautiful. There are still leaves on the trees so probably in the next storm they’ll all come down. We had a tree person look at the snags on the bottom of the property and he quoted $1500. I just laughed and said they can fall. I would prefer they don’t fall on the neighbor’s fence again but I’m not paying that kind of money for 2 snags. I’m hoping we can find someone who’s a logger( and needs work) to drop them for $100.

Next week is Thanksgiving and I plan on having most of our simple meal prepped and done by Wednesday except for the turkey, I made the nut loaf yesterday and froze that. I’ll use the canned cranberry sauce I made and then make mashed potatoes, green beans and, stuffing. I’m sure my sister’s family,which is quite large as she had 5 kids and they all have kids, will miss her. We never spent Thanksgiving together but I’ll miss talking to her. We were never really close but in these last 15 years she has been there for me and my family. So I’ll raise a glass to her. 🙂

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cooking, Flylady, Political things, Uncategorized, Walking by

Today is a day of JOY and celebration that we have hope for our country. The endless lies by Trump and Barr and all of them will soon come to an end. Honestly, I think this country saw the damage he was doing and heeded the call for change before it was too late.

I was thinking about it and trying to think of 1 thing Trump did that was positive for the American people( all of them). I can’t really come up with one. The tax thing was for the rich. The anti-immigration stuff was to keep ‘those’ people out that Bannon and Steven Miller didn’t want in our country, ripping children away from their parents and putting them in detention centers. All of it amounts to total negativity. Plus, for me, the lies and more lies, over and over, just did me in.

So a new beginning and with a woman VP. I am doing a happy dance for sure.!!!

Walking this morning was pleasant and the fall colors are lovely in the park. We’ve been getting there right at 6am instead of the 5:15 time and it is working out just fine.

This week is the kitchen zone if you follow Flylady. It’s a big zone with the stove and shelves to clean but at the end worth a bright clean space. My biggest takeaway advice is to minimize what you have in the kitchen and keep the counters clear. It really does make a difference. The second thing is to clean up as you cook. I don’t always do this but 95% of the time I do. It too makes a huge difference in keeping the kitchen tidy.

I plan on making some meatballs later to have with spaghetti tonight and a I’ll make a salad.

We’re in for quite a bit of rain this week and it’s welcome. Plus, it’s really chilly today so fall is here.

Finally, Cobra is activated!

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Well, it has been a hell of a week with this damn cobra but as of yesterday, the prescription part was activated so he could pick up his Cipro( for a very slight UTI) probably from the procedure.  But at least we could get it. Today I will drive down to UCD med center to get the rest. Mostly, it is the VERY expensive Noxafil he needs. But it was approved so we are good to go.

I still need to call to see if the Cobra vision and dental are activated but I need to regroup my energy before doing that.

We still haven’t gotten the form back from HR for Medicare so I think that will have to be bumped to next week. We may need to have a start date of November first and that’s ok as long as everything else is in place. I’d really like to shoot for October 1st but that may be too ambitious. It’s all good for now.

After UCD med center, I’m going to go to Costco because we need coffee and laundry soap. I’m sure there are lots of other things too. Like cereal, cheese, cottage cheese, etc. Well, it has been a while and having done the Walmart pickup has definitely simplified grocery shopping. I haven’t even been in Safeway in 2 weeks. That’s really saying something as it is right next door to the gym so I was in there every day for some little thing or another. So instead of Walmart this week, I’ll do Costco.

Fall is definitely in the air, with cool mornings and warm afternoons. I had B put the little table and chairs in the sunroom as this is a lovely place to eat dinner this time of year.

 

 

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Looks like I could use a decoration or maybe a pumpkin on the table.:)

 

Simple Sunday

Posted in cooking, Flylady, plants, Uncategorized, Walking by

 A nice morning walk at the park with only the ” creepy” guy who sits in his car and smokes cigars. He never looks up and doesn’t’ walk. He sits for maybe 30 minutes. Well, I’ve made up stories about him but they’re not nice so I won’t include them here. 🙂

Then I did the Flylady zone which is zone 1, entryway, front porches, and dining room.  I don’t really have a dining room so I just wipe the Heywood down and clean the glass.

We grew some Indian corn that is a lovely blue color so I will set those out as a fall display. I was thinking of getting some sort of small table for the outside but I can use a wood crate just as well. We didn’t get any pumpkins growing this year so I’ll need to buy some. I do have orange mini lights I like to string outside in the fall as it looks fall-ish.

Then we went to the gym and it was empty-ish too. So that was a win-win. We’re having burgers for BBQ tomorrow so I’m making a quick cheese lasagna tonight. Nothing fancy. it’s just I had all the ingredients in the fridge.

It’s still warm out but it does look as if the week gets cooler, down into the ’80’s so that will be nice. It’s toasty out there right now though.

The pool is still great although pretty much after Labor day the temperature of the water goes down so it needs to be really hot for me to go in. B is in no matter what though and doing some water exercises.

I’m hoping next week to get the house insurance figured out. I left a message with AAA on Friday but since it’s a holiday weekend I don’t expect to hear back till Tuesday.

I hope it’s a nice Labor day weekend where you live.

Lammas, August 1st

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Lammas is the cross-quarter in the Celtic calendar year. It begins the harvest season and beginnings of fall.

It’s very weird that both my daughter and I can actually feel the shift in the air and the light. It doesn’t matter if it’s 100 degrees in the day, there’s something else there.

Try going outside and walking around especially in the early morning or around twilight and see if you can feel it too.

Beautiful fall weather…

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But it’s going to change by Friday  when we’re in for rain and cooler temperatures. Right now our days have been in the low 80’s and high 70’s. By Saturday, it’s going to be in the high 50’s. Very cool. And even snow in the higher elevations. But today is lovely.

My sister and family are going to Nevada City today. I’m going to drive and then we’ll walk around this charming Sierra foothill town. I think we’ll do lunch at a place I’ve wanted to try called Three Forks. It’s a bakery /restaurant. There’s also the Nevada City winery and we’ll pop in there. Then  home and we’re all going out to dinner tonight.

Tomorrow they leave, and I go to get my flu shot. Thursday I see my doctor. B is taking me as my brother is still using my van ( week 4).  He says it’s burning oil and I said it hadn’t been but you’re driving it over 80 miles a day for the last 4 weeks. If it is, then I may just go ahead and sell it.  I don’t really want to put any money into it.  But I only have driven it maybe 20 miles a week, to go to town so this is quite different.  Hopefully , it’s only because he’s using it so much but I guess we’ll see. It does have 150,000 mileson it so we’ve gotten our moneys worth.

On another note, the refi is on and we should be able to finish up very soon. Yes!!!! What a long drawn out process. But the bottom line is for now this will make a big difference in the payment. Of course, I wish we didn’t have a mortgage as we go into retirement but , it is what it is.

 

 

Simple Sunday

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Fall has arrived in Northern California. Beautiful days and cool nights.  The forecast is much of the same for the next 2 weeks. When my sister arrives with her 3 daughters, the weather will be cooler. 75 degrees during the day and cooler at night.  I’ve already planned a tentative  itinerary and meal plan. One of the days they want to drive up to Lake Tahoe. I may or may not go. It’s a pretty straight forward drive but if you want to go around the whole lake, pretty long.  So, then we will do a wine tasting and lunch. It’s a nice winery and pretty. Of, course, this time, they’re at a hotel( thank you). But still, it will be a little stressful to deal with them all.

We have another tree to deal with asap. We have very large Ponderosa pines on our hill here and 2 years ago bark beetles came thru and we now have a stand of dead trees. But they are all down hill and not a threat. Just ugly. and a potential fire threat.  But also, way too expensive to take down. So, there is a tree below our pool that has looked a little stressed but not bad. Overnight, it turn brown. I kid you not one day, sort some brownish pine needles, bam ,the next day brown. So, We have to take it down. It’s a very large tree that , if it fell would cause some damage. so we just , and I mean just got our EF back up and now there goes the money… cha ching, cha ching. It is so frustrating. The tree needs to be brought down while someone can still climb it and if we wait that won’t happen. So, hopefully we can get a bid this week. It’s also tree cutters busy season, so there could be a wait. Ugh!!

Other than that not much new.  It’s kinda weird not being on any treatment but also quite lovely.  I go get my labs next Monday so I should know before our Florida trip how the numbers are.

B got the bathroom painted. Looks great and now he will work on the front room. I’m keeping the same color,Navajo white, which is a soft cream white. It works well in that room. He might get started next weekend. I’m going to paint one wall in the bedroom , simply white ( Benjamin Moore) to see how I like it.

WE are still waiting on the refi, because of the subordination, but it should be in soon and then the final whatever. We were offered a one time recast of the loan as per the HAMP program requires but the payment is still a lot higher than this loan we have going. It’s tempting but we need the lower payment in order to make this affordable. I’m hoping that right before B retires we can refi again for an even lower rate. Plus, we will need our ducks in a row, with no car payment. Since he has to have the car for work we will need to time that. We’re thinking of him getting another Elantra for the mileage. We’ll see.

Dinner is potato leek soup and grilled chicken. maybe a salad.38c79d4c9fd73259ae24c007303cfb01

Pretty fall colors

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Our weather has definitely changed to fall weather. Much cooler and our oaks are turning their yellow colors.  Things are back to normal after my sister left on Sunday. We moved out the extra bed and now I’ve moved one of those arts and crafts style chairs out there. It’s nice and a good use of space. This is the room where my daughter had her bed etc. this summer it was our remodel and that’s when after we took the skylight out we knew we needed a roof. So, one thing lead to another. I still have miscellanous hanging around but shall get to it.

Today was doctor appt day. Just as I thought he said lets do another cycle of pomalyst. He said , and I agree, we need to hold off as long as possible to use another drug. So all in all, my numbers did go down. Not a lot but still down. I need to get another blood test Monday to make sure my neutrophils are up and then get the Pom delivered. So I won’t even start till next week. Next month I’ll get the zometa infusion since its been 6 months.

Then B and I went to Mexican lunch and then home. Tomorrow I was suppose to take a friend for surgery, but it was cancelled. I’m going to go do some errands and then the Applegate coffee klatch. My sinuses are bothering me with the fall cooler temperatures and so I’m not feeling great. This happens every year like clock work. Fall, cooler weather, sinus issues.

Im going to crunch budget numbers tomorrow too. We just paid our annual house insurance and our last big bill is property taxes.

Good news!

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Well, for the moment. My labs 8 days into this 4 mg of Pomalyst( that’s double what I was taking) are great. My neutrophils are 2668. Wow, I hope this cycle is the one that does the job. I still have another 10 days to go so it’s still kinda a waiting game. But at least that’s the good news.

We’re walking at 5:30 , still dark but gets light quickly. The just keep walking project is at 90 days into year 3. There’s still a few people who show up this early, and I try and stay out of their way. I mean it’s a big park do you need to walk right behind me:( .

Fall is definetly in the air. Cool evenings ,warm days. My son started his semester yesterday. And my daughter her online program as well. So back to school for them.

This week I’m going to Costco for mostly vegies and bread. ( too hot to make bread still)! But soon. Also, I think I’ll go with her to her work meeting on Thursday and I’ll hang out at the coffee shop. Not totally sure yet.

Still working on budget stuff with the roof and trees. We haven’t heard from either yet so I’m figuring this will all go into September.