Tag Archives: gas prices

Simple Sunday and Happy Easter

Posted in Blood test, budgets, California, cooking, home stuff, seasonal things by

For those who celebrate, happy Easter. For me, it’s more about celebrating spring! Our lilacs are in full bloom and lovely. The daffodils are all done, and most of the wisteria is too. But everything is growing like crazy. My daughter is weed-eating every day. All the lavender plants are buzzing with bees.

My son did get a gas-powered weed eater on Marketplace, so that will help when he can get here to do it. I told him I’d pay half of it. This weekend, he’s doing the community college motorcycle class, which is very intensive. But if he’s going to drive the Triumph, he needs all the safety stuff. But it’s a 3 day class so he’s finishing that today.

I made it through most of my Dex stuff and was ok. My blood pressure is always a little high on Dex, but that’s normal, and it should go back to my general range today.

I didn’t drive yesterday except to the park to walk and then the market for some things for our little feast today. It’s only S and me, but I’ll do the southern fried tofu, and I made the potato salad yesterday.

There’s always the firsts after someone dies, and this is the first Easter without Barclay. Our local community center is selling bricks with names on them, so I bought one that says in memory of. I’m not sure when they’ll come in, but it will be a nice remembrance.

Tomorrow I have labs, and it’s a double whammy as it’s also the labs for my PCP. Those are my lipid tests and thyroid. It’ll be quite a few vials, I imagine. After that, I’ll decide either to come home or head down to the gym/pool. With gas prices so outrageous, I do need to be aware of how much I can get there. Even Costco gas is near $6 a gallon, so that’s steep.

I also need to get the Santa Fe smogged, so I have to plan what day I’m going to do that. I could do that after my labs. I’ll have to check what time they open. That’s an extra expense, and so are the DMV fees. Hopefully, I can get caught up by the end of April. 🙁

Last week, I gave away another 2 boxes of canning jars, and I think I’m going to relist my canner and see if I can sell that. Last time I tried, I had zero interest. But it’s spring now, and canning season will start soon. I’ve thought about getting the electric pressure canner, but I just don’t see that as cost-effective for just the two of us. I do love canning, but there is the cost, and then storing the jars, etc. So, I think I’m at peace with letting it go. If it doesn’t sell, it can just sit on the shelf.

Another orchid, but this is one I just bought at Trader Joe’s. i have at least 3 more I’m hoping will rebloom. TJ’s and Costco are the best places to buy orchids. I love them because they last forever.

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.