Tag Archives: Goodwill

Midweek

Posted in Blood test, California, cancer, cooking, decluttering, garden shed, swimming by

Good news. Barclay’s platelets went up to 90!!! that’s from 22. So a big improvement and the nose bleeds have stopped. His hemoglobin stayed at 8.5 so not much improvement but they don’t do transfusions till you’re below 8. So all around he’s feeling better. He does need to have another set of labs tomorrow as they want it to be twice a week.

This morning he will have a video visit with the oncologist and we should have a plan for the next chemo. I’m heading to the pool and Winco so I won’t be able to listen in but I told him make sure, under no circumstances, are you doing the same amount next time. We’ll just have to see what she comes up with. I think she conferred with the Stanford doctors so that will be interesting. He’s scheduled for next Wednesday.

The mornings are darker now and I’m walking with my headlamp. I guess in a few weeks it’ll be fall back time so 6am will be 5am and so the light should be better then. Plus sunset is like 6:15 so it’s definitely different.

I’ve ordered a water bottle for B since he lost his large one some time ago. I use the Takada brand and like it better than most other ones. This one keeps ice water cold for hours. He’ll need something next week since the chemo will probably be 4+ hours.

I did a large Goodwill drop-off on Sunday. Most of it was from cleaning out the garden shed. I’d got most of it sorted and cleaned out. I do have another load of plastic bins to get rid of and I’m not sure if I’m going to leave them out for free ( this would be on our main road as our driveway is a dead end to our house) or take them to Goodwill. I also have another box of canning jars to give away as I don’t plan on canning that much next year. I do love canning and it’s been a great hobby and food saver but I’m older and it might just be easier to buy jam rather than making 12 jars of strawberry jam.:) I guess the reality of what I can do and what can’t/don’t want to do is becoming clearer.

Simple Sunday

Posted in decluttering, Flylady, minimalism, simplicity, Uncategorized by

Well, the clocks went back an hour so it’s now only 7am and we’ve walked and I’ve done some banking and now I’m eating a bagel.

I’m planning on starting the kitchen zone in a few minutes and getting that done. Then I plan to get a bag ready for the food bank and drop it off in one of the Food for Families bins.

Yesterday, I shopped at the new Trader Joe’s and it’s a lovely store. The layout is different so I had to kind of zig-zag to get stuff but it was fine. I picked up some Thanksgiving things like cornbread stuffing and some premade turkey gravy. Since we will be arriving home the day before Thanksgiving I need things to be as easy as possible. Of course, my son and daughter will be here to keep things running smoothly like letting the chickens out in the morning and in in the evening. They’re both working all the time we’re gone so they can keep up on the chores. It’s a big help really.

I’ve been reorganizing a few drawers of things like tools and will finish that up today too. B is taking a load to Goodwill so a few more misc things out the door.

The week ahead isn’t too busy. I have an annual visit with my PCP which is annoying to me since I see Dr. L every 8 weeks but I guess it’s their policy. Still a PITA. One is Sutter and my oncology is Dignity so I guess they don’t really communicate.

Since we’re having a no-gift/minimalist Christmas it has been very interesting to go into Target and look at all the stuff and realize, I don’t need to buy anything!!! ( well, a candle but that’s all the time). I’m determined to see how this plays out and if I like it or not. We have never had a Christmas with no gifts so this will be a new experience. Besides, we all get what we need/want anyway all year long. I will send my sister something( usually Harry and David’s pears) and my brother I just give cash to. Since we have no other relatives to exchange with I guess it does make it easy.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cooking, Flylady, home stuff, ikea, Political things, prepper pantry, Uncategorized by

BOYCOTT GOYA FOOD PRODUCTS!

( just a reminder)….

We stocked up the prepper pantry this week with

  • 25 lbs of black beans. they’re not organic but grown in Washington state so I felt ok about it.
  • canned goods
  • coffee( 2 bags of Starbucks French Roast on sale at Costco)
  • Bob’s steel cut oats
  • TP
  • paper towels ( Costco’s giant package gets us through most of the year) We try not to use a lot of paper towels but sometimes you just have to.
  • Dove soap( 16 bars)
  • ramen soup( my favorite breakfast)
  • lots of single item things from Winco like Asian seasoning stuff, and olives
  • four more boxes of pasta
  • Another 10 bag of Calrose rice

The barn pantry looks really good and as soon as I get the Ikea pantry the other stainless steel shelves will go out there too.

Not much on the schedule this week, so that’s nice. With the weather being so hot, I don’t like having to go out much.

I went to Goodwill yesterday and Whoaaaaa… I got there at 9:45am. Dropoffs start at 10am. there were probably 25 cars already in line. By the time it started, I had probably 30 cars behind me. I guess it’s the season.

My order from Ikea ( from 2 months ago) showed up. So it’s another bamboo plant stand. And another small cabinet. I have this cabinet in our entryway and my plan was to put this one next to it. But then since we put the small TV in my office area, I decided I will put it under the TV and put ALL the DVDs in it. If they don’t fit some will have to go. So a little more organization.

I’ve been taking some pictures of the different rooms again and looking at the spaces. In my office area, the brown rug ( once I took the picture) looked really awful with the grey Ikea couch. So that was pulled out and I’ll have to see if I want a grey rug to replace or just leave the wood floor. Some of the pine boards need replacing so another project.

This week on the menu will be

  • individual Lodge quiches, a mushroom /cheese, spinach/ cheese)
  • Yakisoba with crispy tofu
  • burrito bowls with pintos, avocado, tomato salsa, cheese and tortillas
  • maybe something with beef like in a Japanese recipe from Just One Cookbook
  • spinach crepes with a bechamel sauce( maybe) depends how ambitious I feel!

BTW, I am loving the Zojirushi rice maker I got. It is fantastic ( thanks Laura from The Occasional Nomads who always has great suggestions and has lovely Japanese things in her home on Kaua’i.

My head is spinning with the political crap going on. With Trump getting Stone off the hook and out of his scheduled sentence, I just want to throw up. The corruption is so blatant it’s mind-boggling. Then he and Devos ( who is also evil incarnate) just wants the kids to go to school 5 days a week. Ok, you send YOUR kid or you go and spend a week in a classroom with 30 kids and tell me it’s safe. Yeah, right.

In other boring news, the Flylady zone is the bathroom. Not exciting but hey it still needs to get done.

 

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, budgets, Flylady, husband, Uncategorized, Walking by

It’s been an okay couple of days.

Not getting up to walk is definitely weird but I think till I see the podiatrist, smart thing to do.  I got a small foot brace from a friend that holds the foot but it’s not the boot that I’m hoping to get.  I walked around our driveway ring and there was slight pain but it does seem less. Who knows since this is what happened off and on for the last 4months. It would feel better one day and not so good the next. Now I know probably because I kept reinjuring the stress area.

Today, I’m going to the gym to do weights and that’s it. It’s hard not to jump on the treadmill. I don’t have any other chores so just that.

Happy Father’s Day to all you Dads and my husband, who was and is the best Dad ever.(Ha ha, next Sunday is Fathers Day,)

I’m making blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs.

The bathroom zone is this week so I may do that later. Even though zone work is the whole week, I try and do it on Mondays. Sometimes Sunday.

I finally got the library copy of ‘Meet the Frugalwoods’ and most of the negative feedback was about her not really disclosing the high incomes they both had( him more than her, in the $200,000 range and more).  Also, she does quite often mention their ‘privileged’ life which is honest, just there’s not real transparency about them achieving financial independence not so much from penny-pinching but making huge amounts of money and saving as much as possible.  While it is commendable to be frugal and even extreme frugalness, but the fact remains about the income ratio to that.  It’s ironic and hypocritical on her blog to have reader cases reviewed which DO in Fact require the reader to fully disclose INCOME as well as EXPENSES.  When they do their own monthly accounting all it is their expenses. so while their expenses may be $4,000 a month their income is maybe $25,000. Or whatever 12 months divided by their annual income of over $300,000.

Anyway,  to each their own.

I went to Goodwill yesterday and picked up a few things. An OXO container for .69, a vintage Pyrex casserole dish for $4.00, a vintage milk glass vase that was $3.00 and a few pairs of jeans one being NYDJ which run $100 new. So that was a good score. Also 2 T-shirts but after trying them on at home they didn’t fit right for some reason, so I’ll give those back. Also, a sisal/grass rug for $12 that I put in the front room. It has a nice summery feel and was brand new.

Well, off to start those pancakes!!

 

 

Simple Sunday

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Finally, we’re getting some sunshine. We need it to dry things up some. Of course, 4 months from now we’ll all want some rain. But I am looking forward to a warm and sunny week.

The meeting the half-sister and her husband went well. They are nice people. They have traveled quite extensively so that was interesting. I still don’t feel any warm and fuzzy feelings but I’ m like that so maybe it’s just me. She had a privileged upbringing which is certainly more than I can say about ours. I guess it was Gov. Chris Christie that opened adoption papers after 50 years in NJ and that’s how she started looking.

I doubt I will go out of my normal ‘Hi and how are you’ with her but she is nice as I said. I’m sure when I fly back east, she’ll come up to Connecticut to visit.

I still haven’t decided when to go but maybe June?

I went to the gym and then to Goodwill and found some Legos for my daughters’ Library program. Plus a couple of nice T-shirts for me that were probably new without tags. I also picked up a Moosewood cookbook for a little inspiration.

Dinner is something with potatoes as I have a bag I got at Costco and maybe some chicken/tofu.

Well, I’m going to do my Yoga and then take a nap!!!

 

More accomplished

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My daughter put together the Ikea Shelves for B and they look very nice. The last piece is the file cabinet. There will be loads of space to put folders, books etc. But, I will want at least half of one shelf empty…one empty 1/2 shelf.  In all our bookcases ( we have 2 small ones and a larger teak one)  I’m trying to keep to the one empty shelf theme. At least one-half of a shelf. It seems to help with not stuffing everything into the shelves just because there is room. Less stuff, more space.IMG_0873.jpg

We still need to drop off the big desk that’s sitting in my van and a bookcase that needs to go. That won’t happen till Saturday since B is gone till late Friday afternoon and it’s too big for me to move and at Goodwill, they won’t help unload due to liability. So, that will have to wait till then.

My son’s birthday is next week and he already got a present in us paying for his car to be fixed. A very expensive present. But, I’m going to get him a gift card for gas as a little present.

WE live in a fairly rural area but close to a main town( Auburn). We rarely see homeless or transients but this last 2 weeks there have been at least 5 weird incidents around here.

Three people had break ins( a car, a garage and something else I can’t remember).  Then we saw a person walking thru town last week who was definitely out of character for our little town. no shirt, tons of tattoos ( I’m not prejudiced about tattoos but no shirt and the combination was weird. Plus he seemed out of sorts.  ( my projection)  BUT on our neighbor hood watch, someone said this guy, no shirt, tattoos, only a pair of slip on shoes,  knocked on their door at 10;30 AT NIGHT asking for a drink of water, and a cigarette. WTF???? This was not too far from our house.  So clearly something weird and I’m trying not to be too freaked. We usually never lock doors etc.  But this week I’ve locked doors and today I’m actually going to buy some mace( pepper spray) for the house.  We don’t own guns or anything defensive so….

The other thing is I’ve wanted to install gates at our 2 driveways. I know they could still go over them but gates are a deterrent so.  I priced them out and it’ll be @ $200 for each one. So I think well start with one. Of course, we need 2 because our driveway splits and goes in 2 directions. But it’s a start.

It’s very hot here again. It’s supposed to be 104 today. This has been a wicked hot summer so far.

Dinner is whatever Wednesday, so????

 

 

Sunday Stuff

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So, the latest news is my son isn’t going to be going to SFSU.  insert tears:( He decided that he doesn’t want to be burdened with the student loans in the amount of 25,000. We were going to be co signers on the one loan but then it turned out we were to be primary so we said we wouldn’t do that. But there are lots of private loans that he could take out and we could co -sign and then after a period of time, we would get removed from the loan. Then he found out at orientation that even though they said they accepted the 105 units from Sierra College, only 70 units would be applied to his degree. So essentially that means 2 years and that then is 2 years of student loans. So, I agree that is way too heavy a burden for a 25-year-old. ( when he finished). So at least for now, that’s the update. I wish we could just pay for it for him but we don’t have that kind of money and it’s too close to retirement to take out a loan for that.

It’s quite hot here again 101 today. I think this week it’s supposed to drop at least into the 90’s.

We went to drop off Good will stuff yesterday and because they were so full of stuff wouldn’t  take our items. What the heck.. they make so much money off of all this free stuff they’re given and they can’t figure out their intake system.  So, it’s in the back of my VW and I’ll try the big Goodwill today. I have a prescription to pick up and I need to get cat food.  WE did manage to drop a full box of VHS and hardback books that my son didn’t sell at the yard sale. That was at the pet bookstore.

We’ve had good success with organizing the barn shelves and it’s looking good. There’s still left over flea market stuff I need to process or my son does. But right now it’s all sitting in front of the barn and is a mess. But we have made progress.

My iPad just died this morning when I went to open it to write a review for NetGalley where I get free e books in exchange for reviews.  That’s where I have Bluefire downloaded so I can read the PDF versions of the books. So I opened my IPad and it blinked and lights went out.  It is 7 years old or maybe 8. It’s the second generation I pad my husband won in a raffle at work. They don’t do that anymore nor do they do the trips like the one he won when we went to Hawaii. So 7-8 years is pretty good but now I’ll have to figure something out. My kindle fire doesn’t have the blue fire so not sure what I’ll do.

Today is a gym day and dinner is a big chopped salad, grilled chicken, and grilled tofu. Oh, and I think I’ll make some couscous. Oh, and I have left over pizza dough so I’ll grill a pizza. I saw an interesting recipe from William Sonoma that was zucchini and pesto pizza.

On decluttering, my son is bringing the antique bin table up to his friend’s house and so now that’s gone too. Yeah, less stuff is more space.

 

Frugal Friday things

Posted in Blood test, bread, Uncategorized by

I made homemade bread yesterday in the Zojirushi bread maker. I wanted to make half wholewheat and half organic white but thought I didn’t have the WW flour. I found it afterwards in the pantry. Still it came out very yummy.

We took the load and more to Goodwill. Not really frugal except it’s stuff gone and clears space both physically and mentally.

I’m making homemade pizza tonight instead of ordering out which I kinda wanted to do.

Not frugal but the FOL decided to pay for the mistake of $99 for the website I bought but wasnt the right foremat. That was nice of them as I was going to just donate the mistake and not have them pay. But since they have a large donation that was a bequest to the FOL they budgeted $ for the website.  Also, they offered a $ gift to my daughter for actually doing all the website work.  It would have cost them hundreds to have someone else design it so it worked out well.

Not much else going on. Next week I get my bloodwork done and I’m a little anxious about it but overall not too worried about. It’s just once a cancer patient always a cancer patient in your mind.

This will be a no spend weekend since the budget is used up till next payday  😦

 

 

Thursday stuff

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Well, it’s off to Sacramento for my last Velcade shot of cycle 5. I’m really glad I’m approaching the end of this cycle and the last one #6.  Overall, this is a relatively easy chemotherapy but there’s still side effects. My eyes are still developing some styes and continue to water some. Plus, now the neuropathy has snuck in.  Most of it is manageable but still it takes its toll. Plus today I get to take Dex. Such fun!!

On another note, I’m ready with a small load for the Goodwill express drop off. I rather not give stuff to Goodwill as it’s CEO gets a huge salary, but I have to admit they have their donation centers down to a science. the guy comes out with a cart ,loads it and then whisks it away. Very neat and tidy.  I did manage to get rid of some Life magazine ads I had in slips, but still, I need to whittle down the Life magazines to maybe 4 bins.  Some of my oldest Life magazines are from the ’30’s and I like looking at them but maybe I’ll try to sell those as they are probably more collectable. I also just tried to sell mad Men seasons 1-5 and no luck so I’ll give those to the Humane Society bookstore to sell.

The budget is just ok. Not much new there except not enough money to fund my envelopes till next payday.  I’m hoping with some of the refiguring of budget stuff, next month will be better. We will have some reductions in expenses. One, my son will go back to working at Grocery Outlet and so he will have his own spending money so, I’m planning on not giving him the money we were, so that’s a big savings.  He is going to take a summer school class and will have an internship(unpaid) for now, so depending on his money we may chip in for gas. So with June starting hopefully we will see most of the big bills for the year, (taxes, property taxes, auto insurance etc.) done till November. My big goal is to save and put money back in our EF which has taken a pretty big hit.  If B gets a bonus( which he thinks he is), that’s number one priority.

Our garden is giving us lovely lettuces and herbs,(cilantro, thyme, parsley, oregano, dill) so we are having fresh salads.  We have tomatoes in plus all the usual stuff. I haven’t really been food shopping so today after my shot I’m going to go to Winco or Walmart for pasta, and a few pickle type things that I can’t stand buying in our regular store ( Bel Air) for those of you on the west coast. I tried to get some whole wheat pasta at our store here in town. First , IMG_0089they didn’t have the Barilla I was looking for and the  ones they did have were almost $2.00 I can go to Winco and get Barilla for .99  So, it’s worth stocking up. the same with things like salsa and pickle type things (relish).  I also need some bulk popcorn, polenta etc. I’m going to buy the expensive milk in the glass jar to help cut down on garbage stuff. I’m on a new kick of trying not to buy stuff with a lot of packaging.  At Costco, it’s hard to avoid since everything has giant plastic wrap stuff, but my regular shopping I should be able to at least make a dent in some things.

 

Where I have my morning coffee!!!