Tag Archives: LLS

Menu Monday, a little late!

Posted in bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, freezer cooking, medicare, Uncategorized by

First, a thank you to a subscriber who donated to my’ Buy me a coffee’. I was quite excited as this was unexpected and, of course, welcome. So thank you, very generous of you.

Last night we had nachos with beans, some beef, sour cream, avocado and salsa.

Tonight, I’m doing a Costco Veg barley soup with a cheese toastie.

Tuesday, not sure. This is my daughter’s late night, so something easy, maybe quesadillas. I still have some avocados, so that could work.

Wednesday, I have a freezer meal to use up, of orange chicken with rice.

Thursday, I think I’ll do some pasta with meatballs. I’ve been feeling like spaghetti. I have sauce I made in the freezer.

Friday, we did the takeout last week, so not doing that again. Maybe if it’s nice out, I can BBQ some chicken.

Yesterday, I went down to Mahany gym and did my weights. Then dropped off my books at the library. I considered going to Costco, but didn’t feel like it. I came home and baked the sourdough that was bulk fermenting in the fridge.

Today, I need to go to the bank and get my LLS. I’ve been putting it off, so today is the day. I might stop at Goodwill, which is in the same area.

I have some beans soaking, and I plan on processing them today. I soaked pinto and black beans, so we’ll see how it goes. We do like our beans, and especially Rancho Gordo beans. They have a new storefront in Napa if you’re in the area. I’m looking forward to going. Napa is only an hour and a half away, even a little less when there’s low traffic. So it could be a day trip. That would be fun for my daughter and me to do.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California by

Wow, are we getting the rain and thunder and lightning!!

We had rain all day yesterday and last night. I checked this morning to see if I could get a walk in, but it’s still raining. If I go to the Auburn gym, I’ll use the treadmill.

Update: I went to the gym and used the treadmill, and did weights.

Yesterday was low-key, and I didn’t seem to get much accomplished. That’s ok. I did do some laundry and tidied up some. For dinner, I pulled some rotisserie chicken from the freezer, and we had that with sweet potatoes and stuffing. It was an easy meal. Today, I’ll work on the menu ideas for the week.

This coming week, I have my appt with Dr. L in Sacramento. I plan on going to that and straight home. If I need to go to Costco, I may add that in, but I think my daughter will go to Costco so she can get a case of water and other things. I can’t lift the water, so she does that for me. I need a few basics like eggs, flour, butter( on sale), and a few other things. I’m going to try to keep it minimal.

I also need to go to the bank and get my LLS form to submit. My grant will run out next month, so I’ll need to be able to handle the insurance myself until I can reapply in July. I am grateful for the grant and LLS.

I’m assuming I’ll meet with the estate planner later this week as well. She submits it to the county recorder, though, so I don’t need to do that. One more thing checked off the list.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, frugalism, garden shed, Uncategorized by

Overall, it was a good week. Bills got paid, and the budget looks ok. A few more bills are coming out next week, the garbage bill and the water bill.

I only went to Winco this week, and mostly that was for veggies for salads. I’m motivated to eat more salads since I’ve been using the mandolin. It’s fun to cut up the radishes and cabbage with it. I spent $55 at Winco, so that was an inexpensive shop. We still have a lot of stuff to use up in the freezer. But that’s ok, that’s why I buy food at Costco, so it’s there. Last night we shared a chicken pot pie and had salad. My daughter suggested we go back and watch Stranger Things from the beginning, so we’re doing that.

Around Christmas, I ordered a food saver called Chef Preserve. It’s a handheld vacuum sealer that takes the air out of the bags it comes with. I’ve had the other kind of vacuum sealers, and they are big and bulky and kind of a pain to use, but this one is small and handheld.

I only used it on shredded Brussels sprouts, so I don’t have an opinion yet, but I think it will be a food saver, especially for veggies. Today I’ll try the radishes and cucumbers. I’ll keep you posted. The bags are reusable as well. You can also purchase glass containers.

I checked my LLS and discovered that only part of what I submitted actually showed up in the download. I guess I used a JPEG, and only one picture showed, so I had to go back and figure out what I did wrong. I noticed that each scanned item was a separate JPEG, whereas the PDF displayed all four. I have to show the bank statement and my amount on the insurance form. I resubmitted it, but that delays it by a few weeks. I guess I never checked before that the dropdown when sending to a file was on JPEG instead of PDF. I’ll check in a few days to see if they got it. sigh:)

I’ve only had a few people interested in the Ball canning jars( no takers), so I’ll drop them off at the Goodwill with my next load. I don’t need that many jars hanging around, taking up space in the garden shed.

Today is another beautiful day. Yesterday the high was 69, and it was glorious. I think today is a few degrees cooler, but still really nice.

On a political note, I find it odd that Machado gave trump her Nobel Peace medal. The title is non-transferable, so what kind of ass-kissing gesture was she trying to pull off? Yes, of course, she want strumpy’s approval in Venezuela, but still, what good is it going to do him? If anything, it’s a meaningless token since he did not ‘win’ it.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, California, cooking, LLS, Uncategorized, Walking by

A nice walk this morning with no one there. It was just predawn. I’m heading out to the gym soon, so I’ll finish this later. I also need to drop off the thrift store stuff, and Sunday morning is always a good time. It’s not a lot, maybe 3 small bags of misc. Still better out.

I got my LLS submitted for November, so that’ll pay my UHC insurance. I haven’t gotten a notice of increase, but I’m sure I will. Even after B died, they raised it by 15% because it was just me and not multiple people. Weird.

Okay, then, back from the gym. I didn’t do too much, only about 25 minutes. I wasn’t into it today.

Then I dropped off the Goodwill stuff, and then my library friend called and asked if I wanted to get a coffee, so I was spontaneous. Usually, I am not at all, so that was a good change for me. Then, when I got home, I started the stew for dinner. I’ll let it cook most of the day. Then I made some chocolate chip cookie dough and froze most of it. I cooked up a dozen cookies.

This week is open, and I just have labs tomorrow. I’ll probably swim tomorrow or Tuesday. I’ll just see how I feel.

Has anyone received notice of insurance premium hikes? Or is it too soon?

Thankful Thursday

Posted in budgets, California, cancer, cash envelopes, Gratitude, Myeloma by

It’s a chilly morning here in N. Ca. I hope the fires are under control in SoCal. what a thing to go through. We live in a high fire danger area and so many insurance companies have dropped policies. What is going to happen with the cost of policies now? I’m sure everyone’s is going up.

I’m thankful for a warm house and we have enough wood to get through. I think next year ( this coming winter) we’ll need to buy wood. I don’t see B getting the wood splitter going and going to get wood. We could take some more small oaks down in the woods, so maybe that’ll happen.

I’m thankful we’ve all been healthy( of course that is somewhat relative with cancer) but still no colds or flu here. Although I do have some sinus stuff going on but hopefully that’s just seasonal stuff.

I’m thankful, as always, that we can pay our bills with our SS. We don’t have ‘extra’ but we have enough! Of course, I’d love to re do the kitchen and fix our foundation but it is what it is.

Speaking of money, I’m very grateful to LLS that gives me a grant for Myeloma and pays my insurance. Without that, we would be struggling. Insurance adds up.

I’m thankful for this time in my life. It is hard getting older. It is a gift though to reach 72. Lots of people don’t. So I try to do the best I can and I’m thankful for that.

The VW should be done today or tomorrow. The mechanic said it needed lots of things fixed, hmm, yes, we know that) but we said just do the starter, battery, and an oil change. It’ll come in @ $ 1200 I think. I have $300 in my auto repair envelope and then I’ll put the rest on my card. Not ideal but needs must.

I plan on going to the gym this morning. Then we have the video visit with Stanford. Plus I’m soaking pinto beans to can so I’ll try and get the canner going after I get home.

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, California, cooking, frugalism, Uncategorized by

It seems like it was a low-spend week. I did go to Winco and got the strawberries and some other stuff I can’t remember and that was $50??? I haven’t been to Safeway or Costco so that always makes for a lower spend week.

I received my order of peaches but not both boxes. I ordered 2 and only got one. I’ve emailed them but haven’t heard back. It would make way too expensive for peach jam. I sure hope they deal with it.

Then I checked my LLS and it seems they’ve messed that up too so I’m waiting to see the final assessment. The other day when I checked they had it all right and then yesterday I checked and it looked way different and only was paying a fraction of what I submitted so, I may have to call:(

I guess all of this would be frugal if it was working the way it’s supposed to.

Today, I’m going to pressure can Boston Baked Beans. I have done the presoak and pre-boil and now have them in the oven for 4 hours. I should get 6-7 pints of beans. I omitted the bacon so it may not have as deep a flavor. I got this bag of Great Northern white beans at Winco during the pandemic. I think I paid $2.00 for it. So 6 pints of baked beans for that price is pretty frugal.

I’m heading into the gym for a workout and then when I get home will get the pressure canner going.

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.

Posted in cooking, Uncategorized by

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.