Mid Week

It’s been a lot of driving back and forth to infusion and there’s still more this week. Yesterday, I dropped B off at 10 and picked him up at 2:45. Tomorrow he needs to be there at 11am so I plan on staying down there and doing a few things. Depending on the timing, I will hit up the old Costco( as it’s closest) and I think maybe the library. Tomorrow is platelets so they go faster than blood transfusions. This week is all about appts so I’m not even thinking about the gym or the pool. Next week, I can pick up the rhythm again.

This is his last chemo as far as we know and I’m so over it all. Next week he has a video visit with the UCD doctor and that should give us a good idea of the next steps. Cancer has a way of shifting priorities. There’s not much you can do but go with the flow of it.

Today, I have my doctor appt in Sacramento. After that, I need to pick up a prescription and maybe go to the bank. I need the insurance printout but I’ll see how I feel after getting back to town.

last night we had the black bean soup and it came out good. I never follow a recipe with it just black beans in the crockpot and chili powder, cumin, garlic, and paprika. I also made turkey chili and there’s plenty left over to have tonight or freeze. Of course, B doesn’t eat meat so it’ll just be me tonight as our daughter works late at the library.

I’ve been working on organizing my cash envelope binders and have one just for savings challenges. The challenges are fun and usually, I only do ones with $1 or $5 bills. I’m saving up for an LV GM agenda preloved. I think this is what I want to use as my daily book. Once I get it, I can get some inserts and use them to write my lists and plans. Right now I’m using a really nice Leuchtturm 1917 my son gave me for my birthday. The paper quality is really nice. I use a CrossFountain pen and it doesn’t bleed through. The LV GM is the largest agenda and will make it easier to write in. Well, that’s a ways off yet but maybe by February/March.

Lake Tahoe in early April

We decided if we wanted to see Tahoe before all the snow melted we’d better get a move on. So off we went and it was really great.

We were not disappointed. Tahoe has a.lot.of .snow. still. It was very encouraging for the snowpack. We decided to head to Tahoe City to go to Tahoe House Bakery. They have the best coffee in the area. The pastries are delicious plus their breads and bagels and ready-made meals are quite nice. Pricey, but worth it. It was pretty empty as were the main roads. Tahoe, off-season is really a lovely place to be. I-80 was also pretty empty of traffic except for lots of semis. ( going too fast).

From there, we decided to go around the lake by way of Tahoe City, Carnelian Bay and basically, it’s the north side of the lake.

The story behind me standing with my Louie is many years ago we took this exact same picture with my old Louie. That’s the one that was stolen in the smash and grab. So for the insurance company to pay me for the loss, I had to have a picture of me with my LV and that was the one. So that’s why we were taking this picture.

From the lakeside, which is in Kings Beach, we headed down to Incline so B could go to Nuleaf for some gummy things. He picked up a tin of that. Again, hardly any traffic at all through Incline, which was pretty f*cking amazing. We thought of going down to Sand Harbor and then walking on the new lake trail but decided not to. Maybe next time.

I wanted to get a light lunch out so we headed back to Kings Beach to White Cap Pizza. It was busy with locals and a few tourists but not many. I had high hopes for the pizza and it fit some of my expectations. It was very thin crusted and the ratio of cheese to sauce was good. But the dough had no flavor as it seemed the cook had forgotten to add salt. A big no-no if you’re making pizza dough or even bread. Then the sauce was pretty flavorless too. The crust had been cooked a little too long and was slightly burnt , not charred which is totally acceptable, but more like burnt. So I’d only give it a 2 out 5. Still, we had a nice time there and I’m glad we went.

This was looking out at the patio seating.

We headed for home and unfortunately, a big rig had gone over one of the embankments so traffic was backed up. Trucks go too fast down these big inclines and lose control. We were not in a hurry so for us it was fine. After that traffic again was very light and at times, we had no one behind us or ahead. So amazing.

All in all a fun date day and well worth it.

Thankful Thursday and bad news on the knee.

I’ll start with the update on the knee. It’s a complete ACL tear and will need surgery. There’s nothing to be done by leaving it alone. But at least the MRI gave me the facts and I can go forward. The PC doctor referred me to the ortho surgeons and I’m waiting to get the initial consult. Recovery is 3 -6 months so it’s not quick, jump up and start doing things. Of course, I’m upset by it all but I’d rather know what I’m dealing with and then deal with it. So no walking, swimming, etc. I have to call PT and get that set up too. In the meanwhile, I’m trying to be uber careful and not have my knee buckle again. Certainly depressing but I’ll get thru it.

I haven’t gotten my light chain numbers back but expect them today. That’s the other thing I’ll have to pause the Velcade as I’m certainly not doing surgery, rehab, and Velcade. I’ll message Dr. L tomorrow so he has the updates.

So thankful things are:

The MRI was revealing and now I know what’s wrong with the knee.

B and I went to Louis Vuitton and I got my replacement Neverful. I waited 2 years to do this so I don’t think of this as unfrugal or impulsive. Did I need a LV, no but it was near and dear to me so there’s that.

A delicious soup of all kinds of veggies, broccoli, potatoes, onions, spinach, and carrots all whizzed together and then cheddar cheese added. Yum.

The rain we’ve been getting to help keep California out of a drought.

That I know every day is a gift and that our health is always the most valuable thing we can ever have. Even though the Torn ACL will take a while to heal after surgery, generally it is a complete recovery so that’s what I will look forward to and stay off of step stools.:(

The pantry is getting used up and it’s about half of what it was.

Frugal Friday

Overall, a frugal week. No extra shopping for anything so a low spend week with just groceries I got at Trader Joe’s. I need to go down to the market on Sunday morning to get the veggies for the fondue but that’s all.

I plan on continuing no spend/low spend into January. I do need a few extra things like hand soap but that can wait. Also, I’m trying hard not to buy too much from Amazon. I certainly like the convenience but it adds up pretty quickly.

I have my budget set for January and plan on increasing some cash envelopes for a couple of savings challenges. The big one would be to replace my Louis Vuitton that got stolen. I’ve hemmed and hawed at buying one but decided after 2 years(almost, February), I still want one. So that will be the savings challenge.

Christmas is all sorted so that’s done till next year. I plan on taking down most of the tree ornaments right after Christmas. I think I have the tree ornaments pretty well dialed in as to what I want on the tree. Most of the Hallmark ones we collected for years stayed in the bin( Star Wars, Superheroes, etc), and only a few of those made it to the tree. Most were the special ones like birds and some handmade ones too. So I have one bin in the barn that is all the Hallmark ones and that’s it. What I used I have in 3 Ikea boxes that I keep in the closet on the top shelf. I like Christmas to be as simple as possible and I think I’ve done that now. 

We still have a few more camping trips to book but I have to check dates on those. We don’t go to Tahoe in July or August because it’s crowded but June is great and we have 2 times already booked. The next would be our September trip. I’d like to book some place in March but that can be iffy with the weather, especially on the coast.

Simple Sunday

We had a nice walk this morning. The sunrise was all pink and orange. No one else there but the guy who comes out of the woods( it actually used to be a Christmas tree farm when we first moved here in 1995.)

I’ve tidied the house and the bedroom zone is done. I washed and ironed the closet curtain( an old Ikea canvas one). Then I made the sourdough bread that had done a slow rise in the refrigerator. This one is just sourdough, no jalapeno or olive.

Then I put a chicken in the oven to roast and now that’s done sitting on the counter. I also have cut up 2 delicata squash that I bought at the farm last fall, russet potato, and sweet potato. Then I washed all the dishes and put them away.

This week is again not too busy. We need to get buggie( the VW) smogged this week. I plan on swimming Tuesday and then going to Winco. I do need a few things but not a huge amount. My menu for the week includes the roast chicken, tortellini with Rao’s sauce, potato and sausage bake with scrambled eggs, pizza night, and the rest will be ‘fill in the blank’.

I’ve been using my daughter’s old Coach bag as my purse and decided to buy a Coach wallet. I doubt I will replace my Louis Vuitton. I’m just in a different place now than I was then. Even though I never thought of it as a status symbol or anything like that because I dress in jeans and T-shirts. But I loved it and because it was the monogram one it always was discrete. Plus no matter how the settlement goes, a new Louis is @ $2,500. So I really doubt I would/could justify that. When Barclay bought that for me, I was 6 months out from my SCT and it was kind of a life reaffirming gift. I think he paid less than $1000 for it then. It has gone to many places including Florida, Hawaii, all our camping trips, Seattle, and lots more. Now unless I can find a used one, I sort of doubt I would buy anything new. Unless I win the lottery, which I don’t play, … so??

My sister had a number of LV’s but of course, they are all probably going to the daughters as they should. Although, I used to joke with Heidi to ‘bequeath’ me her LV wallet which I did love.

I’m working on another small load for the hospice thrift store. It worked out great to drop off the Fiesta ware there and they were very friendly. I plan on giving them my two vintage fans and my original Waring blender circa 1985( which still works great).

some cherry blossoms from our tree.