Tag Archives: rain

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cooking, Flylady, Pantry by

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.

Another storm rolling in.

Posted in camping, cooking, swimming, travel by

Today was going to be our travel day. With the rain forecast and high wind warnings both here and in Capitola, I’m glad we decided to forego our trip down there. Now tomorrow looks quite nice but flooding just doesn’t recede overnight. In light of all this, I do think it was the right decision.

Today is a home day and I’m glad to be doing some home things. I plan on pressure canning pinto beans and that will take most of the morning. I want to reorganize my canned goods in the wine crate pantry and pull things that might be close to expiration so they can go to the food bank.

Now that I have the Ivar system for the canned goods complete, I can start to do more pressure canning. It’s great to be able to see what I have left and it’s all organized. I did use my raw silk curtain as a cover when I don’t necessarily want to see all the pantry items. I had B put up a small curtain rod on the top edge to hang a rod. Usually, I keep it open but I like the option of the visual of the raw silk. After this, I plan to pick one recipe to do like a ready meal. Probably a soup of some kind. I do have some split peas I need to use so maybe that will be first up.

I went to the gym yesterday and I plan on swimming tomorrow. The pool sent out an email that it will be closed for most of June and maybe July as they plan to resurface it. Their other pool is competition size and is used for swim lessons. I’ll need to check how they will do lap swimming and the times.

Friday Things

Posted in budgeting, budgets, home improvement, swimming by

We’re back in the rain today and all weekend:( I know we need all we can get but geez, it gets kind of old. Anyway, I didn’t go out this morning so I could do a few house things.

I made up a batch of hummus from the garbanzos I cooked the other day. I planned the next week’s menu using the pantry challenge. Tonight I will use the one frozen pizza I have in the freezer. I’ll make a salad on the side. I tidied up my office space and did a swish and swipe in the bathroom. I planned to vacuum but all the kitties are sleeping!

I had a nice swim yesterday and the pool was not super busy. I usually swim Saturdays but with the next wave of the storm is tomorrow and it’s forecast to be heavier rain and some wind.

Our UHC medicare supplemental has a gym membership with Anytime Fitness for free so I signed up for that. B is already signed up and is going 2-3 x a week. I plan on using the gym for the treadmill and weights when I don’t want to drive down the hill. Plus it’s free!

We went to Costco on Wednesday and it was not too busy at all. We usually try and get there right at 9 but this time we were there at 10 and it was great. Plus we didn’t need a whole lot. I was primarily going to get the 4 pack of Nasocort I use to help clear my sinus cavity. This was something the doctor said to try and it does help. We bought about $100 in just groceries. I’ll add that amount to the food budget but the non food I’ll keep out of the low spend challenge. Things like AA batteries, allergy stuff are just maintenance stuff and need to be bought regardless of low spend month.

My favorite youtube, Minimom had a good budget video the other day. She had bought a download from Etsy that is compatible with Google Docs. I checked it out and I’m curious but I tend to like my budget on paper. It’s on sale today so I guess I’ll need to decide.

That’s it for now, hopefully, the rain will ease up. It’s hard not to go stir crazy.

Frugal Friday

Posted in bread, budgets, California, home stuff by

It is miserable out with rain, rain, and more rain. I decided after I got up at 5:30 am I wasn’t going to risk driving to Roseville to swim. It’s not the rain, although that is a factor, it’s more the crazy New Years’ eve drivers going up to Reno or Tahoe. So I worked on my batch of pizza dough to freeze and one for tonight.

Barclay came with me to Safeway to get the sub sandwich things( our New Years Eve tradition) and surprisingly it wasn’t too busy. Then we thought we’d have a coffee date at Starbucks with peppermint mochas, but alas, they had no peppermint syrup so we just had plain coffee.

I’m going full steam on sourdough bread making and here’s today’s loaf: a walnut raisin loaf with some KA white wheat.

I ordered a bread slicer thing to get even slices but I’m not sure that I’ll keep it. I can cut pretty good slices with my bread knife, but I thought I’d try it to see whether I like it. Now for the sandwich bread in the Zojuruishi, it’ll probably be great. It won’t be here till next week, but that’s ok.

For January, I plan on doing a pantry/ freezer challenge that the Youtuber, Three Rivers Homestead started. Basically, you set how much you want to spend in the month, like for dairy or fruit/ veggies, and then the rest of your meals come from the pantry or freezer. I think I’ll put in $100 and see how far that gets me. I do need to go to Costco once for some non food items like laundry soap and allergy pills but I’ll keep it to a minimum and not add that to the grocery bill. The idea is to start using what you’ve canned or processed so you can reduce your pantry in preparation for the coming year.

All the Christmas stuff is away and at Safeway, I bought a bunch of Eucalyptus branches to put in a glass jar.

Well, Have a safe New Years’ eve. I’m working on my list of goals for the year, some for house stuff, yard and, some just for myself to work on.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, books, California, cancer, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma, Walking by

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday it was 93 and hot. Today it is overcast and 70. We even had a sprinkling of rain. How cool is that and we really need it.

I had a good walk this morning and almost no one was there except the one runner who happened to be walking. At first, I didn’t recognize her not running, and then on my second round I said” oh you’re not running, I didn’t recognize you”. She laughed. So all in all a nice walk.

I had a bit of a setback yesterday from doing the weights on Thursday. I guess the lactic acid build-up or exercise flu hit me pretty hard. I felt pretty lousy all day and figured out it must have been the weights even though I hardly did more than 20 minutes. So when I go next, I’ll need to hydrate and do less. I’m very careful with anything I do physically but I guess it was more than my body could handle. The last time I did weights at the gym was February of 2020 right at the beginning of all the lockdowns. So perhaps even the small reps were too much. I guess there will be an adjustment period.

Today I’ll do the bathroom zone and quick house tidy. Mostly just putting things back where they belong. Since I didn’t feel like eating much yesterday my daughter put together some ravioli and salad. I’m not sure what I’ll do tonight as I still don’t feel like food much. Maybe breakfast for dinner.

I started reading ‘Maus’ by Art Spiegelman and geez, wow, If you haven’t read go buy it, get it from the library. It is brilliant. Tragic, but brilliant. I’m not sure what the ‘banned book’ thing is about as the story is about his father in Nazi Germany and how he survived in Poland and then eventually was betrayed and was sent to Auschwitz. Maybe the White Supremacists don’t want the truth out there. ( I just looked up the banned book deal. Apparently, it Tennessee that banned because of language(damn) and nudity( I guess the naked men when they were stripped in the concentration camps). WTF, those horrors and so much more beyond our comprehension happened. The world CANNOT forget what Hitler did and was doing to eradicate and entire race of people.

I went to the farm stand Friday and picked up some early zucchini, radishes, lettuce, spinach, and some delicious peaches.

All good news with my labs. No increase and staying almost where they were right above high normal. So I made it to my goal which was to stay out of treatment for a year. Everything else will be icing on the cake. BTW, June 15 is my anniversary of my diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma. 17 years later here I am. Hopefully for a while longer.

This coming week should have much cooler temperatures except Wednesday which looks like a 90 degree day.

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, California, cooking, covid-19, Flylady, Uncategorized by

The weather is about to change and it’s going to rain and be colder. We need the rain so it’s all good. Plus the stuff we’ve planted will do nicely with a sprinkling of rain.

My son and I made Lodge dinner last night and it was great. We got pre-marinated tri-tip and cooked for 1 hour in the lodge.

My daughter made Boca burgers for her dad.

We added extra coals about halfway and only did one turn. It came out superb. Lodge cooking is such fun. I like our 10″ Lodge best. The 12″ is bigger and probably good for a bigger family. He’s planning to camp up at Lassen later this week and wanted to try the Lodge out before he left. He’s planning on taking our car the Santa Fe as it is a very comfortable travel car. I might do another one this week maybe a vegetarian chili with the corn bread on top.

I plan on getting my 2nd covid booster this next week sometime. I got a few notices from Medicare that they’re available so I’ll probably go to CVS.

I just finished 2 books by Judith Jones( the one who was the editor at Knopf when she read Julia Child’s draft). The first was her memoir and she lived an interesting life. She lived in Paris as a young woman and was totally smitten by French food and the markets and all of it. The second book was written after her husband of 40+ years died and she wanted to keep cooking even if it was just for herself. So these dishes are basically for one person. But they could easily be doubled. She was an interesting person for sure. She died in 2006. She certainly loved very weird foods like offal and other things that I certainly wouldn’t eat but she was an adventurous cook. But she wrote about a number of the chefs( and were a lot) and the books that Knopf published. So I went to the Pet bookstore and found 3 of the ones she mentioned. i don’t know if I’ll keep them or even cook from them but for a $1.00 each it’s cheap entertainment for me.

Speaking of which I found this youtube, I think I mentioned before, Rachel loves to cook. She’s hispanic and is a great cook and cooks similar to how I cook. So last week she made this breakfast dish that was a homemade tomato chili sauce, corn tortillas, scrambled eggs, crisy bacon bits and then they are rolled into an enchilada shaped. Then sprinkled with cheese on top and baked or on the stove top covered till the cheese melts. I made it this morning and it was delicious. Check out her channel and subscribe.

This week is the Flylady bathroom zone which I finished. I also did the bedroom zone but that was just a quick wipe of surfaces and dusting.

Rainy Monday

Posted in books, California, camping, decluttering, seasonal things, swimming, travel, Uncategorized by

Well, we would have been on the road by now down to Capitola. It’s still raining and there are numerous flash flood warnings. We live on a hill so we are not affected but around town there are a number of creeks that probably are flooded.

So, since we were not going I was going to go swim but checked the website and the pool heater is down. They said you could still swim but no thanks. So NO walking, NO camping, NO swimming. I think the universe is trying to tell me something.

I did get to the pet bookstore Saturday so I loaded up on some books so that will keep me busy. I don’t have any baking plans but maybe I’ll make so cookies. Plus, I’ve made a few more pot holders and have enough for one or two more.

Tonight I plan on making spaghetti and using two frozen sauces I have in the freezer as I continue to use up what I have. Funny how some people are stocking up again with the news saying the supply chain is going to cause some shortages. Someone in Costco was trying to buy 2 paper towel packs( which is a lot of paper towels) and they said only one per customer. So maybe panic buying is back in. We’re fine with what we have and I have no plans to stockpile anything. Actually, I plan to get out to the barn and seriously go thru stuff. I wrote a revised menu plan for the week( now that we’re not at Capitola) to use up stuff.

I did give away our artificial tree this past weekend to a nice young woman. this was our 7ft one that was quite nice but I just don’t want to store something that bulky. I plan to go thru our ornaments( again) and see what else I can get rid of. My son got out one wine box of DVD’s and separated out a huge bag to go to the pet bookstore because he has them on his Google Play Library. So that was cool especially since he is a bit of a hoarder on things. 🙂 I’ll drop them off next week.

Round 1 over, Velcade, shot #3

Posted in Blood test, cancer, cooking, instant pot recipes, Multiple myeloma, Myeloma, Walking by

It was a brutal drive down to Sacramento yesterday.

We had wind and rain here overnight and it didn’t let up driving down. Sacramento looked liked a war zone. It was hit very hard by wind and rain. I saw debis all over and many trees snapped in two. There was no power in the C street area but Mercy did have power. Off the exit onto J street, the homeless encampments looked like they took a huge hit with stuff ALL over the place. Why we can’t provide some kind of motel/hotel rooms for these people is beyond me. I know Gov Newsom is trying his best to come up with solutions. Why the nutsos want to recall him is all so beyond me. What was he supposed to do during a pandemic, just say ok, keep businesses open and spread Covid-19?? Honestly?? Some People are really stupid.

Anyway, I got down there just fine and saw Dr. Laptalo. He said the soft lump that was on my front temple area probably was a plasmacytoma so fortunately with 24 hours of my first shot it was gone and he said that’s good. But there’s not much we can do with the bone area right now. sigh… why is it always something?. But the important thing is when my numbers started to double in early November, that’s when this soft lump appeared so clearly the abnormal plasma cells were working overtime. I’ll be more aggressive next time saying we need to start treatment when we reach this 500 point.

So then when I left, the sun was out but still very strong winds. I headed up to Rocklin for my shot. I was 1/2 hour early but the nurse told me just to come in since the shot doesn’t require IV hook up or anything and they had done my vitals in Sacramento. The shot went well and I was on my way.

I need to do labs before my next round starts in February and I have off next week.

There wasn’t any rain when I left but the winds were still very strong and it was hard to even walk back to the car.

I got home by 12 having left by 8am. So not too bad. I ate some lunch and took Dex.

I guess it’s all a waiting game to see what my blood work shows, but after only one round, you can’t expect too much. Maybe by Round 3 in March.

My daughter made a nice comfort food dinner of Mac and Cheese, wedge salad and a few breaded Costco shrimp in the air fryer.

We are watching Brooklyn 99 with my son and it you want a funny show this is definitely it. Great writing and characters. We’re taking a break from the ‘Money Heist’ since we just finished Part 3. Then we browsed and started ‘Lupin” . French and quite good so far. We also paused Cobra Kai. It’s a good show, I’m just not sure if I’m into the story line although it is good and it’s fun they are the original characters from the “Karate Kid”.

Tonight my son will cook and is planning an IP chicken teriyaki dish. I’m going to make a tofu curry for the veggies. Plus I’ll put some arborio rice in the Zojirushi. An easy meal to put together.

It’s still raining and we didn’t walk. I just ordered this morning a set of Frogg Toggs since I don’t mind walking in the rain if I have the right gear. If I feel up to it, I’ll get on the treadmill and do at least something, maybe:)

Rainy Day

Posted in minimalism, Multiple myeloma, Uncategorized by

It was a rainy day and I had to drive to Sacramento for my oncology appt. The drive was slow but not too bad. My appt went well. I’ve had Dr. Laptalo as my medical oncologist since I was diagnosed in 2005. He was a fellow then and then later board certified. He’s a good person and I trust him. Again, it’s really just waiting till my numbers are higher to start anything. That’s ok. He did recommend I have the colonoscopy after the diverticulitis bout. So I will schedule that for January or even February. I had him look at my CT scan with contrast and he said there was nothing unusual. So that’s good.

Then I came up to Rocklin and went to Walmart to exchange the flannel shirt I had picked up by accident in XXL. That is way too big for B. Then home.

Tomorrow I have a gym day and then some errands. I need a candy thermometer to make the peanut brittle and I need to go to the bank.

I am feeling somewhat frustrated with the house and it starts to feel really small this time of year. It’s usually when I start looking at decluttering more or at least moving some things around so there is more space. Winter/rainy days do make things seem closed in. Well, that too will pass.

Dinner is veggies and one of the cheese fondues. It’s not the one I usually buy so I thought I try it tonight.

Simple Sunday

Posted in cooking, Flylady, simple foods, Uncategorized by

A calm and rainy day ahead. Rain is indicated for most of today but at least it’s not too cold yet. We managed a walk in the park yesterday between storms and it was pleasant. I’m not used to being there in the late morning so things looked different:)

Yesterday, the baking bug hit and I made some chocolate chip cookies, the dough for sugar cookies( in the refrigerator now) then I prepped dinner, which was chicken with mushrooms and finally assembled two casseroles of enchiladas for tonight’s dinner.

 

The week ahead is not too busy. B has clinic on Tuesday and then after that, we’re going to shop Trader Joes. I plan to do Costco later in the week.  I plan o getting what we need for Christmas dinner. Our tradition is fondue Christmas eve and then cheese lasagna Christmas day.

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Today is a gym day.

Plus it’s the kitchen zone for those that follow Flylady.  I’ll do some today and some tomorrow. It’s raining so no walk this morning.