Tag Archives: LLS funding

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, California, cancer, frugalism, Uncategorized by

It was raining heavily yesterday down to infusion. There’s more rain coming in this morning too. I think the pattern will continue for the next few days. This morning my daughter will take B to his PET scan. Unfortunately, it is in Sacramento, so there will be traffic and rain. This will be his last appt. till the video visit next week.

Frugal-wise, I went to Costco to get the coffee. Spending $14 at Starbucks for a pound is not something I want to do very often. So with that in mind, I bought 2 bags at Costco. It was very busy at 1pm, which is a time I rarely go. I’m usually there at 9:30 and there are fewer people. It was okay and I got it done. I spent $180 and $$25 of that was champagne. The rest was food and $20 for TP and Toothpaste. So food ended up $124 or so. It’s not too bad overall.

I don’t think I need much from the store next week unless it’s some salad stuff. That’s the week before Christmas so I want to avoid stores if I can. I’m making our traditional lasagna and I might do a small ham.

I was able to submit my LLS for insurance. What a blessing. My grant is less than half of what it was last year, so I’ll probably run out of funds before my next sign-up period. I think they have so many people applying that a smaller grant allows more people to get some funding. It is still a huge saving for us.

Today, I want to go through the fridge and clean it. I have the leftover turkey chili I need to freeze and there’s a small amount of black beans too. Since I’m home for the day I can tick off some things on my list.

Friday Things

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, LLS by

Well, it was pretty bad. I didn’t think it would be that bad for Biden but it was awful. Trump was his asshole self and makeup made him seem tan or orange whichever way you look at it. But Biden just didn’t pull it off. So now, who knows which way it’ll all go. If tRump wins we are really doomed to autocracy or worse. He is a vengeful person.

Anyway, over a good week in the books. B went to Costco to pick up a few more things like coffee, Vitawater, regular water, and other basics. I’m trying to plan that we go to the new Costco more frequently and do smaller shops. I still need some brown rice and sugar and some other bulk items.

I tried to change my doctor appt but he had nothing available till August so I guess I’ll drive down. I hope eastbound traffic isn’t too bad since it’s the day before 4th of July. But it is what it is.

I paid the truck’s registration. Boy, that was steep over $400. I wonder why it’s so high? Anyway, I didn’t have the cash in an envelope so next year I’ll have one for the truck. The other cars plus Rubi, I had cash envelopes for. Overall, cash envelopes are still working well for us. I mean we don’t have much money anyway so maybe that’s why. But I am trying to get a head start with the fall annual bills because that’s when our house insurance is due and it’s not cheap. I just hope it doesn’t go up too much.

I’m still checking LLS daily for Myeloma funding but so far nada. It’s just a waiting game because at some point it’ll come up but it might be 2-3 months. So that won’t be frugal when we’re paying my insurance and Medicare. LLS covers both so that’ll be an extra amount till I get covered again.

Today is low-key, I’m finishing the steam mopping and baking a sourdough boule( it’s in the oven as I write at 6:30.) It’s still not too hot so it might be nice to cook something on the grill. Next week looks brutal with the heat. There goes our PGE bill skyrocketing. That’s not going to be frugal for sure.

I might go into town to the bookstore but I’ll see how I feel. I did finish all my books so…?

The 4th of July looks too hot to BBQ so it’ll need to be done either early in the day or figure something else out. I could do some salads and cook some burgers early and then just reheat later. I guess I’ll think about it later. If my son comes up we could get sandwiches from the store.

I should’ve named this post, Unfrugal Friday. Oh well.

Friday things

Posted in Blood test, bread, California, camping, cooking, Myeloma, Political things, swimming, travel, Uncategorized by

I just got back from getting my labs. It’s great that Quest is by appt. only. I was the only one in there and was done within 10 minutes.

There’s still no funding for myeloma at LLS so that’s not good news. I keep checking daily but there’s only mantle cell leukemia and Waldenstrom ( sp is probably wrong)( which is pretty rare.)So means February won’t be covered as that was my look back month meaning if I was funded in February, they would cover it even though my grant ended Jan 31. Tough break for us as that covers all my insurances.

Back home I put the sourdough cheddar jalapeno bread in the oven. This will be my last bread till we’re back. I’ll put my starter in the fridge tomorrow. I tried a sourdough rosemary baguette this week and it turned out great. I have a baguette pan I bought eons ago at Williams Sonoma and used that. The trick I think with sourdough and bread-making is just to keep doing it over and over. I can definitely tell by the feel of the dough how the hydration is. I had gotten a copy of Nancy Silverton’s Bread-making and read it thru. Overall, though, recipes look good, but they all make 2 loaves at a time and I don’t do that. Also reading about how she feeds her starter seemed too complicated to me. What I do is just keep adding equal amounts of flour and water at least once a day. Probably not as ‘scientific’ but it works for me. I also hate to throw away discard sourdough starter so I end up with 3-4 jars in the fridge. Oh well.

Then I’ve made the pizza dough for tonight and that’s in the bowl doing the first rise. It’s almost time to get out the Ooni for spring. Last night I used our new gas Weber that I bought for camping. I wanted to try it before we left. So I made BBQ chicken, BBQ tofu, roasted mini potatoes, and roasted veggies. WOW. It all came out delicious. I’m pleased and am looking forward to cooking with it camping.

It’s a cloudy day with rain expected off and on but it feels warm out. But it’s supposed to get very cold tonight with the possibility of snow. I plan on swimming tomorrow so I guess I’ll wait and see how it is in the morning. After swimming I was going to go over to Winco for some camping supplies. If that doesn’t happen, I’ll just go to Safeway. I actually don’t need a whole lot but things like peanut butter and some veggies and cream for coffee.

In good news, AAA settled my claim for a fair amount. The depreciation was factored in and then the $1000 deductible. I can’t buy a new Louis Vuitton for what they gave me but at least the $500 in cash was covered. I miss my Louis but I certainly can’t spring for a new one. sigh….:( Maybe down the road I can get a used one. There are a few sites that sell authentic LV and they look good. Still more than the amount they gave me but not the cost of a new one.

The situation in Ukraine is so devastating. Almost a million people leaving Ukraine. I hope the sanctions President Biden is implementing work to cut off the money. No money = No war. I shudder to think what the asshole Trump would be doing. I still keep hoping he gets indicted for something. I made a small donation to World Central Kitchen that is providing food trucks on the borders to feed people. Here’s the link if you want to donate too. It’s a small thing we can do to help the Ukraine people.