Tag Archives: nature

Bodega Bay, Ca

Posted in California, husband, travel, Uncategorized by

We had a wonderful trip to the coast. Google Maps had us going a way that Barclay never went, so we bypassed both Sonoma and Santa Rosa. I suppose if we had the trailer, we would go the way we always did, as these roads were definitely ‘country ‘roads.

We decided to get lunch at ‘The Tides’ snack bar, which is not in the main restaurant area. It was a good choice. Most places were packed with day trippers, I suppose from the Bay Area. We drove down to where Spuds is, and the line to get in was down the road. Definitely, not my style.

After lunch, we drove up the coast and walked around some. By then, our room was ready, so we headed back into Bodega. We relaxed the rest of the day.

The next morning, we had our free continental breakfast at The Tides and then headed up to Wrights Beach to have our ceremony. No one was on the beach, so that made it nice. We sent B off into the waves while listening to music. Of course, he was the ‘Dylan’ guy, so we played ‘Knock Knock Knocking on Heaven’s Door, Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, LOTR’s ‘Into the West, and a few more. It was foggy, and the tide was coming in, so it seemed quite mystical. I felt good about it.

We checked out the campground ( where we’ve stayed lots of times) and decided that after we get the tent trailer, we’ll come back. Barclay and I’s last trip over there in Rubi was in March last year, before everything started going south.

When we headed back, we decided to go to Spuds,

and there was no line, and we got a table. The BEST clam chowder ever.

So what a difference a day makes. We also stopped at the kite store, which we always did when the kids were small, and we picked up a couple of whirly gigs that B loved for the yard.

We headed back to the room to rest some before figuring out dinner. We decided to do Fishetarian that B and I loved.

It wasn’t too busy, but the food wasn’t as top-notch as when we had gone before. It was good, just not superb. After that, we went back to the hotel, sat out on the patio, and opened our Veuve Clicquot champagne. Boy, was that excellent.

I’m glad we did the trip for Barclay, and now the last place will be Tahoe.

My son did a great job staying here with the cats, so now my daughter and I can maybe plan some more trips in between her work schedule.

Today, I’m staying home to do some cleaning and just relaxing.

Five on Friday

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, Myeloma, travel, Uncategorized by

We had the most wonderful thunderstorm and rain last night with lightning. We got a lot of rain, and the ground is pretty soaked for now. Yeah, for the rain. Although not so good, it started a lightning fire across the canyon, but I think I saw it was contained.

A low spend week for the most part. My daughter went to Costco after work for a few things, namely dishwasher pods that we needed. Plus water and just a few other things. Food came to @ $47, and then the wine I want to take to the coast was $18. It’s called Sonoma-Cutrer. I haven’t had it before, but it’s supposed to be good.

All the July bills are done, so I have August’s budget almost done. With SS decreasing, I have made a few adjustments. I think mostly it’ll be decreasing food costs and miscellaneous expenses. Most of our bills are fixed, so I can’t do anything there.

Let see, the good news is LLS opened funding for Myeloma, so I hopped on the website and was approved. I just need the doctor to fill out his form. Having that money will be a great help in paying for my insurance.

Other good news is, my kappa light chains stayed about the same, 19.8. So up from 19.6, but that’s really marginal. So good news on that front.

I had fairly good energy this week after the low with Dex. I got the living room ceiling painted. It took 2 days working for about 30 minutes each time. I also went to the paint store and bought another gallon of Simply White. Except for the bathroom, our whole house is painted that color. It makes it easy to do touch-ups and keeps the look clean and minimal.

Well, I’m off to do some tidying and put some stuff away.

A simple life.

Posted in decluttering, minimalism, simplicity, Uncategorized by

I think it’s very important to purge things from your life that complicate it.  Are you always SOOO busy?  It’s easy not to be, just say NO! You don’t have to do all that extra stuff. Your kids don’t need to do 12 activities a week. You don’t need to be over scheduled. You can decide what you want in your life or not.

Even if you are working full-time, you can still decide what you need and want to do with your life. You can simplify meals, have a morning and evening routine, declutter so there’s less to take care of and slow down.

  • I think in our crazy world we need to step back and put into focus what is important.

  • Family time is important.

  • Time for yourself is important.

  • Time for your relationship is important.

One thing I learned from having cancer, is to slow down, do what only was essential. When you’re on chemo, you just don’t have the energy to do everything you used to. It’s a great lesson in some things just aren’t that important and they can either wait to be done or just nixed.  Now that on still on my drug-free time( chemo that is), I still prioritize what I want to do each day.  I never take on more than I want to in a day. I usually list what I need to do in the morning and then if I can’t finish that, I just look at whether I want to do it tomorrow or not.

Try and be less busy, it’s good for you and probably your family too.

image   Take time to enjoy nature.