Another rainy day! At least we had a few days of sunshine which were so nice. We didn’t even walk this morning because of the rain. Usually, I will walk in the rain anyway but this morning I was just done with it. I figured I was going to the gym so I’d get my walking in there.
This morning I started on the pressure-canned split pea soup. Right now it’s in the canner going for 90 minutes. I got the split peas cooked first then turned them off while I went to the Auburn gym. It was nice because almost no one was there. Then after getting home I finished the soup with chopped carrots and onions( thanks B) and let that cook for another 30 minutes.
Our flowering cherry tree is in full bloom. It’s a cheery site on a rainy day. Plus the daffodils are up and in full bloom too.
Tomorrow, I have my eye doctor appt for a macular scan. I’ve been on the fence as to whether to do the surgery and so far it’s been no, I don’t want to deal with it all. I guess as long as my left eye can compensate, that’s good enough. If it were to get worse then I’d have to do something.
The rest of the week is just normal stuff. I don’t have any shopping to do and that’s a relief. We might do a lunch date on Thursday but we’ll see.
I sold a lot of knights and horses(Schleiet) on ebay so I’ll need to send them out. This time I overpriced shipping by a few dollars as the last batch I lost money when I didn’t calculate the flat rate box right. Oh well, it’s sold and a few more dollars for the travel/rv fund.
Speaking of which, I was reading another blog of an RVer and they had camped up in Fort Bragg area. I checked it out and it does look nice. It’s private and does have full hook ups which we are wanting to try at least once this summer. Fort Bragg is about 5 hours from here so it would be most of the day getting there. I may check if there’s anything available at the end of July.
This morning I have my 6 month eye doctor check up for my macular pucker. I’m guessing it’s the same but who knows…? I should have the surgery but I really just live with the lack of vision in my right eye. If I get dilated, I’ll come straight home. If he skips that, I’ll go to Safeway as I need a few things like milk.
The shelf brackets showed up ,so B put them up and today I’ll do a first coat on the wood. I plan on using Benjamin Moore’s high gloss white. I think it will need two coats. So I may have the revised pantry done by Wednesday. It still will half open shelving which I was trying to avoid but it will look better than the restaurant shelves( I hope). Down the road if Ikea ever ramps up productions and the pantries are back in stock I can reevaluate.
This week is first week without a Wednesday appt either for Velcade or the doctor so I’m pretty jazzed about that. Since I just started back swimming I plan on going Wednesday. Excited!!! I’ll share more about where I’m going soon.
This was our NO WALK day so I stayed in bed till 5:08am. Oh, the luxury:) It is good to take a break from routines and not be so OC about having to do it. Well, at least it is for me.
My daily chores are done and the FL zone this week is the kitchen. The entry way was only 2 days so I missed that. But, I think I’ll sweep the patios and tidy up the fir boughs.(my daughter already did all this so it’s done!!) I’m going to leave them thru january as it seems wintery. My door wreath is bay laurel so that can stay up too. I also have some nice pinecones we collected up in Tahoe on the bench outside the front door.
One thing I’ve learned with being more minimal is to use natural things for decor or seasonal decorations. It makes it easier for me to not have think about the decorations in bins. I definitely used to keep bins with seasonal stuff but not so much any more. Now I only have my vintage Halloween, and some Easter stuff and Christmas in some Ikea boxes. Works for me.
I used my Staub again for a braised short rib recipe. It cooked beautifully but we ( the meat eaters) were not too into the dish. It was good but not great. It will not go into rotation even though it really is an easy one pot meal. This pot though has cooked everything I’ve done to perfection. If you’re looking for an all around pot this is it. Staub should sponsor me as I cannot say enough good things about this pot. And that’s coming from a die hard fan of Le Creuset.
I am doing a Walmart pickup so that should get us thru till we get to Costco about mid month. I’m planning on trying to use the Instant Pot to make yogurt. It seems easy enough so on the Walmart order I have some whole milk yogurt to use as a starter. We’ll see. I’ll post how it goes.
My rib feels pretty good. Maybe still a little tender where I probably pulled the muscle around the rib. I’ll be sure to mention it to my doctor. He did ask whether I wanted to do PET scans and a bone marrow biopsy to see it there were any hot spots and/or if the myeloma has morphed. I declined since it is what it is regardless. I think if I had more symptoms I might but at this point I’m fairly asymptomatic except for blood work that show the increases.
This week I see the eye doctor for my 6 month macular pucker scan. I’m hoping to not have to get my eyes dilated as they stay dilated for hours. I’m also thinking of getting the surgery when the pandemic is over and things are back to normal so probably a year from now.
I added some more ” things I hope to accomplish” list. :
find 3 new hikes to try
paint the living room and kitchen( this was supposed to be done last year)
find 2 new places to camp( I was thinking either private or maybe just Forest Service campgrounds)
keep up with the prepper pantry but streamline what I stock( and know we will use).
It’s been an okay week. I was supposed to go to the eye doctor yesterday for my 6 month retinal scan for my macular pucker in my right eye but I woke up feeling lousy from allergy stuff I’m guessing. I called at 8am and asked to reschedule. Usually I just ‘plow‘ thru as is my nature but this time I just wasn’t up for ‘plowing’ thru. Fortunately, they were very nice and rescheduled me. Today I feel pretty much back to normal. Still a little sinusy.
Tuesday we had a fun day getting our Christmas tree in the Tahoe area. We stopped for coffee at our favorite place in Tahoe City, Tahoe House. They are a local establishment that’s been there as long as I can remember. There coffee is made with some fancy Swiss machine and is almost like a cappuccino with crema on top. Delicious. After that we headed down the lake and found the tree area and a nice tree.
This time of year in Tahoe is one of my favorite. Hardly any traffic and no tourists. Really lovely!!
There wasn’t much snow on the ground but what was there was very icy and made walking a bit treacherous. But it was fun and now the tree is up.
Obviously, we’re not using this whole tree.
Obviously, we’re not using that whole tree in our small house. You still need to cut the base off at 6 inches and the diameter can’t be more than 6 inches. We cut about 4 feet off and put that in the car to bring home for a Yule log. When we got home we cut an additional 4 feet to make another log and then I used the branches for wreath making and around the house.
The permit was $10. I bought it online and when I checked the next day they were already sold out. I think that happened one other year when we were too late.
I made a delicious beef stew in my new white Staub Cocotte. I waited since Black Friday last year for this deal to come up again. The pot is smaller than my Le Crueset and the design is somewhat different. Under the top are small points that catch the moisture and so the liquid doesn’t just evaporate. I simmered it on the stove most of the day and very if any liquid evaporated. I don’t know if the sale is still on, but if you’re looking for a small dutch oven this one is great.
I paid one of our cars DMV this week and the ‘ole’ van is due at the end of January. I budget these in to annual bills.
Today I’m doing a Walmart pickup for some fill ins like salad stuff and half and half. I think my next in store shop will be Trader Joes in a week or so. That way I can get what ever small things I need for Christmas dinner. We always do fondue Christmas eve and TJ’s has a very good fondue mix. I’m not planning on Costco till mid January and that will be because of coffee. I bought an extra bag last time so we should be set till mid January.
I’m planning to do a No spend month or even a No Spend couple of months. I don’t include groceries in that but NO AMAZON!!!! I’m sure, like most people, Amazon is so easy to just click buy and voila, it shows up. So that’s where I need to just stop that except if it’s a need for the house( like garbage bags or the filters for the air purifier).
Tonight is a pizza night, so I want to get the dough made before I go to Walmart so I’d better get going.
That’s the diagnosis of my right eye. It’s not from the steroids the Dr. said, just happens. ( maybe she meant as we get older?? but was being nice). So, it’s basically a wrinkle on the back of the eye and that’s causing the blurred vision. I can cope with it ok but still.
I did have a horrible drive home as I could barely see and had to keep squinting. But I made it. Then it took most of the day for my eyes to stop bothering me. The dye they injected looked radioactive and so did my urine. Well, at least the good news is, if I can live with the blurred vision in my right eye, surgery isn’t necessary unless it gets worse. So, I’ll keep checking every 6 months and hope for the best.
We had the night of the killer raccoon again. it was around 3:30 am and I had just gone to the bathroom( my usual 2 a night) and climbed in bed and then all of a sudden squawking and screaming from the chicken coop. B hadn’t closed te back gate. Now, here’s the story. EVERY SINGLE NIGHT I say did you close the chickens in. EXCEPT for last night. So there’s a raccoon climbing over the fence and chickens still squawking. We see the poor chicken in the bushes with blood on her feathers. We get her in and hope she makes it thru the night. Well, she did and her comb is bloodied but she’s alive. We’re keeping them in this morning to recuperate and then will let them out later.
So, I never really got back to sleep so I feel kinda worn out. But today is gym day so I’ll go do that and then over to the Koffee klatch and see who shows up.
I’ve been working on a sourdough starter and it doesn’t seem to be activating. I bought it from Amazon from a good company. They have been helping me troubleshoot what could be wrong. This is day 6 and still not a lot of bubbles. I asked Amazon for a refund which they did and then bought another starter from the store.It’s the same brand so I hope it works otherwise I’ll order a totally different one. I’ll start the bread recipe tomorrow regardless and see how it goes.
last night we had a nice lentil curry and naan bread and a salad with greens from the garden. yummy!!
Tonight I’m going to do some chicken kabobs /tofu kabobs with salad.
I've been married for nearly 15 years to a wonderful husband and I'm a mom to three great kids ages 12, 11 and 9. Oh, and I just happen to have cancer. Multiple Myeloma is a cancer of the blood that is currently incurable but IS considered highly treatable! My goal is to make people laugh, cry or feel a little less alone whether you are a mom, cancer patient or BOTH!
Tahoe Girl 