Tag Archives: LLS

Friday things…

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, Myeloma, prepper pantry, Uncategorized by

I’ve added some things to the prepper pantry that I got at Walmart the other day. I think most of what I think we can use/ need thru the winter months is in there now. I also bought 8 Mountain High freeze dried meals as emergency meals if ever needed due to fire or other disaster. I still need a few things from Costco that I forgot the other day like maple syrup, tomato paste, and ? So I may pop in there or have B pop in some time after he gets back from Salt Point.

Today B is going to the bank to get the copy of our bank statement for LLS. You , of course, need to provide proof of payment. I’d like to get it done by Sunday so it’ll come in before the end of the month. It usually takes 2 weeks minimum. I am grateful to all the people who donate to LLS as they give us these grants for reimbursements for insurance, prescriptions, and lots more. When I was on Revlimid( an extremely expensive Tier 5 drug) they covered my OP expense. Thankfully, I’m not on Revlimid anymore and Velcade was covered by Medicare as it is in clinic infusion.

I just finished the pickled jalapenos and am about to start charring the Hatch chilies. I’m planning on just freezing those and not do the whole relleno thing. They do freeze well.

I sold a few Waldorf books to the young mom who bought most of my Waldorf toys. Nice young woman and I gave her all my wool roving and needles so she can make some felted animals from the book I sent to her. I have some wood toddler toys as well but her kids are older so I’ll donate them to Cancer Thrift.

Budget wise, Costco took us right to the $550 mark for the month. So I’ll end up probably close to $650 I think. Except for the small Costco trip, I don’t need too much except maybe some veggies. I might go out to our local CSA farm and get some. They are more expensive but totally worth it as it is all grown right out there in the fields that used to be Simpsons Ranch. The Simpsons homesteaded this property in Meadow Vista sometime in the early 1900’s. The Maidu Indians lived on this land seasonally and there are many grinding rocks in the fields where they would crush the acorns to make a flour for winter. Mr Simpson wrote a book called”OOTI” about the Maidu. What is wonderful is that instead of selling and making a shitload of money the land went to the Placer Land Trust and the people farming it are ‘renting’ it as a farm.

Our skies continue to be filled with high smoke clouds. It’s not down low but it is our there and the sun is a ball of orange.

I plan on using the Ooni tonight for pizza though as the temperature looks to be @ 93. So not too bad.

Budget Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, frugalism, home stuff, Myeloma, prepper pantry, social security, Uncategorized by

I’m trying to come up with a good blog title for Fridays. I’m not sure Frugal Friday quite fits.

Overall, we are frugal because we have no income per se except SS. So maybe just Budget Friday would work. I’ll see. But budget-wise, all Octobers bills are in. We do have the 2 annual bills of house insurance and Allstate which is twice a year. With ALL the insurance companies getting out of insuring California property, for the most part, we are now having to do the California Fair Plan which is added to the AAA insurance. We went from our annual bill being slightly over $1,000 to now we are slightly over $2,000. Quite a jump.

Costco was just at $450, so that will go on October’s food budget. About $70 was wine and beer. I did buy a bottle of nice champagne for celebrating birthdays. Actually, it wasn’t expensive at $15.00. Plus there were a few prepper items and 2 bags of Starbucks coffee that was on sale. With all 4 of us drinking coffee we go thru quite a bit. But I don’t see us going back to Costco till the very end of October or even the first week of November which could then include any Christmas food or items. Prepper stuff included tuna, Cholula sauce, TP, another case of water, extra butter, and extra cheese. The only thing I didn’t get and I need is some tamari sauce. I’ll probably just go down here to the store and pay their price. The best place to get low sodium tamari is Trader Joe’s but I don’t think I’ll be getting there any time soon.

So far this morning I have made pizza dough, washed living room windows, cleaned the ceiling fan, and am just about ready to clean the rest of the sunroom.

Our lovely fall weather continues with absolutely beautiful days with temperatures in the mid to high 80’s. Next week does have a few 93degree days but this time of year that doesn’t seem so bad.

Budget-wise, I did my LLS for the UHC premium and my medicare which they cover for 2 months so that will be here in a week or so. I am very grateful to LLS for my grant (myeloma) as it does cover health insurance. If we had to pay OP for us both it’s almost $700 so I’m not sure how the budget would do. Probably we would be in the red. But there are gifts sometimes even with having cancer.

B did order the boards for the house ( 5 of them) so that was $120 about. But the siding needs to be fixed. Other stuff, even the fencing by the barn is optional and can be put off if we don’t have extra money.

If you’re looking for a new TV series, The Boys, is quite good. It’s super heroes that are darker more evil and is well done. We just started Season 2 on Netflix.

Well, that’s a wrap for now.

Five on Friday

Posted in home improvement, home stuff, Lake tahoe, Uncategorized by

It’s going to be another nice spring day. We didn’t walk this morning but will tomorrow. Sunday is my favorite day for walking as usually, no one is there.  But this Sunday, B has his transfusion scheduled for 8 am. He doesn’t get labs till tomorrow at 3pm so we won’t know what he needs till after that.  So getting out the door will be too rushed if we try and walk at 7am.

Today is going to be a fun day as we are driving up to Tahoe, actually, Incline to go to the Marijuana store for B to get some edibles and may the oil.  He can’t smoke anything as he signed an agreement not to while undergoing the transplant.  So just the chocolates and something else.

Then we’ll go to Truckee for lunch.

The dogs will be home outside so we need to time it so they’re not out for too long. I think we’ll be gone for about 5 hours.

Here’s a couple of pictures of the Ikea cabinet we got for the bathroom. Funny, it’s really the only thing that would have fit there so I guess I was spot on.

 

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I’m planning on painting the tub black and we’re hoping to replace the floor this summer or fall depending on if B will be well enough or we may hire someone to do it.

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This is one of my most favorite prints.  I found this at a garage sale many years ago.

It’s been another frustrating week with NYC corrections not answering my emails about our original marriage license and then LLS (leukemia lymphoma society) denied my insurance claim because the breakdown in the forms we have doesn’t have B as the Assoc. alone. It shows him plus one. So that was not good enough for them even though that’s how I’ve been doing it since last June. Go figure.  I resubmitted everything again with an additional form we found that shows his health credits but it still only shows him plus one. So I’m not going to sweat it although I was pretty nasty on the phone saying that was all we had to show it.

Since I’ll be switching to Medicare by June 1st I  can just wait till then as they do cover Medicare.  I did speak to an insurance agent and actually got MORE info.  Wow, It’s amazing anyone figures this stuff out. So I need to get a form from B’s HR stating I won’t be on his insurance and then go into SS office for them to process. Then I add the plan F and Part D. He was helpful in that he said to go with the less expensive drug coverage as right now I don’t need the chemo drugs. And actually, in the future, I would ask for only infusions so that would be covered by Part B. I can’t see me going back on Revlimid since I became refractory to it.  But if that does happen I can change the plan in January ( I think that’s what he said). 

So at least I know the next step.

Dinner is some kind of pizza. I’m not making one so it may be a frozen one.

A busy start to the week.

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We were at Costco at 9am and back home by 10am. We left home at 8:30am. So a quick turn around. Primarily we needed to pick up Bonnie( the border collie) anti-seizure meds.  So we picked up cheeses, lunch stuff, Sierra Pale ale for B, and granola bars plus butter.

Then after putting everything away, I made turkey chili to put in the crockpot for dinner. I’ll grill some tofu for B. Then I put on a pot of brown rice for tonight and the week ahead.

My daughter has Mondays off so she vacuumed for me and I mopped the floors.

I also was able to download my stuff to LLS so as to get my part of our insurance covered. I am very grateful for this grant but the website is a disaster. It freezes up and then it locks you out for 24 hours if you mess up. But I persevered and got it done for September.

Tomorrow is my appt with Legal Aid for my name change. We’ll just have to see how helpful they are.

 

 

Simple Sunday

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We went to Costco yesterday and got a ton of stuff. A fire extinguisher we needed, some organic sheets ( yeah.. they were 29.95), lots of food stuff, coffee. I also went to the customer service desk and got a refund on the stuff that my husband bought 3 days before the coupon book came out. I didn’t know they did that. I was pretty impressed. I won’t need to go to Costco for a month at least. Unless I decide to go get veggies and fruit there.

It also wasn’t raining and that was a big plus.  After putting the load away, I made us a brunch of scrambled eggs( our own) and avocado, tomatoes and cheese. Pretty tasty.

This has been a gloomy week with lots of rain and it looks like more is heading in today. Although right now its okay out, no rain. On Wednesday we head to Santa Barbara. B is working the co-ops and I’m going along since work pays for it all. We will pay for my portions of food but hotel and gas are covered. I’m looking forward to it.  I love SB, even though I wouldn’t want to live there. It’s  somewhat locked in by mountains and of course ridiculously expensive. But it’s great to visit and I love the beach trail. Since we’ve been there before we know a couple of great places to eat, plus there’s Trader Joes and Whole foods just to get some snacks and lunch stuff.

Our budget plans are going very well. Paying off the last bit on a CC is going very well. Actually, I way ahead of my schedule. But that may change or slow down since in the next month we need to get wood for the new garden beds and a truck- load of soil. So that will be an extra expense. But the garden gives us food and freezer stuff to so it’s a win.

I did a bunch of paperwork stuff this week. I needed to reapply for my LLS grant which covers my health insurance and copays to the doctor. Nothing diagnostic but it does help. Then I had to update my son’s FAFSA because he plans to go to San Francisco State university in the fall as a senior. I would like to see him get a grant for housing and tuition but we’ll see. They now do the year before ( 2015) and that was the year B sold stock so we had a larger gross amount. So that may impact it. I’m not sure if I could have done 2016 as that was substantially less. But it said taxes from 2015.

Today is a gym day and then I’m going to roast a chicken with a new recipe from William Sonoma that calls for oranges and red onion. Sounds good.

Sleepless in Seattle , no Meadow Vista!

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ImageArghhh, no sleep last night. It’s a dex night but this is ridiculous. I went to bed at 10 ,slept till the cat woke me up at 1:44, then never went back to sleep. Got up at4:55 , had coffee, then we did our walk. Now, I’m ready for a nap. But I have already done some stuff. Listed some vintage lunch pails. And I’m going to list a few other things today. I have a few Flylady things to do but that’s it. Tonight is egg salad sandwiches, so the eggs are hardboiled already. I need to get my LLS forms ready for my insurance co pay. It’s going to be less since we’ve had a reduction in how much we pay. I am very grateful to the LLS for their support. 

I might go out to the barn and declutter some more but will see if I’m still awake. Plus we are having very hot weather, 100 degrees so not to conducive to being out side.

Back from my doctor visit

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So, a rainy drive to Sacramento and lots of traffic. Dr l was nice, blood work good. Didn’t get my m protein test back but should be soon. Got revlimid ordered and I should get it tomorrow . So a good visit overall.next month I’ll get zometa .

we went then to trader joes and bought some groceries and then to lunch at a super Italian restaurant with the best fire cooked pizza. Yummmmm

oh so the PITA health coverage is requiring a blood test for tobacco use and a wellness dr checkup and fasting blood test for HDL etc.

As if I don’t get pocked enough , and checked once a month. Well not cholesteral but everything else. What a pain.

A big shout out thank you to the LLS for granting me another grant this year to help pay for insurance and co pays!

Budget updates!

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So, we’ve had 9 no spend days, so very good. 

Then payday ,today, got cash for gas, and Costco. Did pretty well only $100 for food, but non food we splurged and bought some potting soil, a pot for the sweet potatoes, new pillows ,we needed. I got a t shirt,$10 and B got a nice dress shirt $20. So I’ll have to figure non food out if my food money, but I think it was good. Also put $100 in Santa, and $100 in savings.

B has changed our w4 so it will be less deductions and therefore more federal,tax taken out. We cannot have a repeat of this next year. So that’s going to affect our take home too. Oh well, it’s always something.

Found out a old acquaintance died recently of brain cancer. I guess she went all over, including Mexico , looking for cures. I don’t know, as a cancer survivor and patient, I think there’s a time to let go. But, who am I to say.

Also, everyone, March is multiple myeloma awareness month, so support someone with Myeloma, say hi, or help out. You can even make donations to the leukemia and lymphoma society. (LLS )!

Lost phone?

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Well, my son lost his very expensive smartphone somewhere. Humm, so I said he could use my upgrade and get a new one. I’ll help pay for the phone, I guess, but I’m thinking he’ll need to pay some of  it back to me. This is going to have to come out of our zero balance, which is NOT, where it should be. I’m going to be dipping under a $1000. Not happy about that. Actually , I’m pretty frustrated with trying to go forward and then it’s two steps back.

I’d like to start paying extra on our mortgage, but my focus is to get that zero balance back up to $1500. I will be getting an LLS check and that will help. But still frustrating…

Our studio

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ImageSo, here’s our studio. It was my school room for homeschooling till z got into high school. Plus, everyone uses it for something. My husband plays guitar here, my daughter plays her electric piano. And I read out here. Since our house is small it’s been one of the best things we ever did. So new colors. I want the main house a way darker green but this worked out. My daughter is painting the inside. She is starting her MLS on line graduate school  so we’re putting out the Heywood Wakefield desk for her to work on. I’m going to move our Heywood Wakefield dining table in our bed room as a desk. I was going to sell it as it wobbles unless it is against a wall, so now I will repurpose it. It’s actually nifty as it folds down (with the leaves out ) quite small. So a win win. Now I can explore buying a farm type table. 

On another note, I’m 100% sure I didn’t have shingles but a chlorine burn from the pool. My husband has sprinkled shock that morning and he thinks it landed on my floatie. I think I overreacted, but it certainly was burning and itching. So I stopped the acyclovir. If I need it again, I’ll have some on hand.  I’m still waiting to hear from Curascript . Not sure what’s up there. If I don’t hear by Wednesday I’ll call the nurse.  Also, I had faxed my insurance reimbursement to LLS, midmonth. Well I called today and they never recieved it so I went to town and refaxed it. So somewhere in cyber space is my LLS forms. Next time I’ll just mail them like I usually do.  I appreciate that I can get that grant and help monetarily.