Tag Archives: flowers in the yard

Frugal Friday

Posted in Blood test, bread, budgeting, budgets, California, camping, cancer, cooking, frugalism, Myeloma, travel by

It’s almost the end of the month and I’ve come in on budget with groceries. $600. for the month , so I’m very happy with that.

Tomorrow is my daughters birthday, so that extra food stuff will come out of the sinking funds for birthdays. She wants a fruit tart for her birthday cake so that will be bought and then some sort of BBQ food. How the years go by. I’m grateful she lives with us as she does so much in the garden( well, all of it really), and is such a great person. Smart, funny, well educated( librarian), and is fun to be around. Happy Birthday, Sachi!!!

Gas prices are going up here in California so I filled up the Santa Fe and it was $50. Towing the Rv will certainly add to the gas bill but that’s what it takes. Next week we plan on going up to Donner Lake for the maiden voyage. Only 2 nights since I scheduled my Velcade shot for Friday. I could have bumped it out a week but didn’t really think that far ahead so it is what it is.

We’ve been putting things in the Rubicon and it is so great that there will be a place for everything. There was in tent trailer, but everything was in bins that needed to come out and often it got a little messy with bins on the bench. In the Rubicon, the bathroom stuff will be in the bathroom and kitchen stuff in the kitchen. So cool.

After my appt with Dr. Laptalo, that went fine BTW, we headed over to Ikea to get some things for the Trailer. We needed kitchen towels,Ikea’s .79 towels are the best) bath towels, a paring knife, and a comforter and pillows. In the tent trailer we just slept in our down bags, no sheets. So since this is an actual bed we needed a top blanket. I don’t keep extra sheets or blankets in the house just what I use on the bed. Same with towels. We have 4 towels in the bathroom. That’s it. Ikea was busy even at 10:30 in the morning. Crazy.

Today, I’m making an Ooni pizza for dinner. I’m also making a loaf of sourdough sandwich bread in the Zojirushi. I have a few house chores and then I plan on going to the pet bookstore to get some paperbacks for camping.

Flowers by the front door.

.I did the budget for June. We still have 4 more UCD payments from the copay big mistake of August 2019. But since there’s no interest on this , that’s ok. Plus, they did the UCD grant for quite a bit of that month. It was extraordinarily high because Barclay had an IGIV which is $41,000 ( yes, you read that right) each time. So I’m more than happy to pay this copay amount over time.

We have 2 annual bills in June as well. AAA roadside assistance and Costco membership. I put these on auto pay so they will go on our credit card, I hope. If not, it’s the checking acct. Can’t quite remember which I did.

I plan on keeping the food budget to $600 again. That might be a little low for 4 people but I’m still using freezer food and pantry so that should help.

Simple Sunday on Monday…

Posted in camping, cooking, decluttering, home stuff, simple foods by

Somehow between painting and other things the day got away from me. I did get another wall in the bedroom done. What a difference it makes. I told B that it must have been longer ago that it was painted than I originally thought. It is looking very clean and crisp. Then I got inside the ONE closet we have and it was a mess. I tidied and moved some things so it looks better but today I plan to take all my canning jars out and put them in the barn in a box. I’m not planning on any canning this year except maybe salsa and tomato sauce so I can put them in a bin out of the closet.

This coming around from the door side to the window side where I’ll paint today. The contrast is startling:( I like the grey trim but wouldn’t do it again as painting over dark colors is a two coat job. I’ll just stick to white.

The yard is filled with lots of flowers and this geranium is a new one. A bright red.

Here is an assortment of succulents that were just taken out of the green house.

This is the water pond with a yellow water lily. My daughter bought goldfish so their in there too now. Last time we had goldfish the raccoons had a fish feast so it’s been a while and she is covering it at night.

Barclay has been working on getting the new stove hood up. Everything in this house is more complicated and he had to fix the wiring in the attic. But it’s done and the hood should go up today. We really needed a new one the other was just gross. I’m guessing stove hoods have a life expectancy since there is grease involved even though I clean it diligently, it’s never really really clean.

The roof is on the shed so now it’s only the doors and trim. The roof felting and roofing will be put on later.

Next Sunday we head out for our first trip in over a year to Capitola. It’ll be great to see the ocean and just camp. We do plan a few walks in Santa Cruz but mostly just hanging out. Gayle’s bakery is at the top of the list too. I don’t plan to over do the food as I figure we can go to the store( Nob Hill and/or Trader Joe’s ) and get stuff. I plan our basic camping foods, spaghetti, tacos, and whatever else looks good.

Last night I made this delicious dinner. This was from The Washington Post, Eat Voraciously Newsletter called Tortilla Espanola with two Aiolis. Of course, I didn’t read the 2 aiolis right so it ended up one with the smoked paprika and basil in it. Still it was delicious. I added a little Manchego cheese and I think that made it even better. I evened flipped it out of the cast iron pan. I have a picture but it’s on B’s phone. I’ll try and put it up later.