We got to the park at 6:30 and had to use the headlamps for a bit. So this is an ok time for right now. It’ll start getting light earlier so we can keep backing up our time. My ideal is time is 6-6:30. although in the summer we are often out there at 5:30.
It’s a clear sunny day today but the next storm is expected tomorrow. My plan is to go the gym today, and the library then if the weather is awful later in the week I won’t feel as bad not going. I’m not a fan of driving in the rain.
The pantry challenge is going great.
Last night it was wonton soup except what I thought were wontons were periogi. Actually, it was quite delicious with lots of fresh grated ginger. Now I have to go find the wontons in the freezer. I tried one of the Costco beef burgers for lunch the other day. I only had half because they’re huge. But it was ok. Not great but I’ll try and use the rest up somehow. Not something I’d buy again.
Tuesday- tacos for Taco Tuesday. I have some crunch shells so I may do bean tacos.
Wednesday- Breakfast for dinner -pancake mix that needs to be used and scrambled eggs.
Thursday- macaroni and cheese from the freezer and a big salad.
Friday- one of the frozen pizzas
Saturday?? TBD
The good news is the ultrasound came back on the liver ‘unremarkable’. so that’s a very good thing. But it’s still not good that he’s still having some abdominal pain. I told him to ask Dr. Singhal if it could have to do with the gallbladder?? He’s going for labs either today or tomorrow so we’ll see what that looks like. This has certainly screwed up his surgery( although this is not official at all) but it’s just a waiting game.
No tree guys yesterday. I guess they got busy somewhere else. They might show up today though as they do work Saturdays.
It’s another sunny day but cold. The rain starts to come back in next week. I like the sun better but rain is always good. The yard needs some attention so with the sun my daughter can do some clean up. She actually does all the yard work except the little I do. When B is feeling good he does a lot too.
I plan on doing a pantry challenge till the end of the month. I have a list of quite a few things to use/make. I have quite a few freezer things that need to be used.
So far I have:
1.use the tortillas in the fridge( maybe quesadillas)
2.the 2 frozen pizzas
3. black bean burgers, I think there’s like 3 left
4.beef burger, this is a question mark. they’ve been in there a while and I’m not sure if they will taste ok. I think I’ll try one for lunch this week and see.
5.chicken broth in the freezer
6. vegetable won tons in the freezer
7. ravioli and Rao’s sauce for a ravioli bake with the mozzarella in the fridge
8. check if I have frozen beans
9. use the sauerkraut in the fridge with beef hot dogs( I think I have a few Kirkland ones in the freezer.) otherwise I’ll do baked tofu wth cheese.
10. english muffins in the freezer ( maybe a welsh rarebit night)
11. the double stuffed baked potatoes( 4 left)
12. fish from Alaskian Fish, there’s a pice of halibut,rockfish and 2 pieces of salmon
That’s all that comes to mind for now.
This morning I’m planning on making a sourdough ( get it started) and then wash the mirrors, dust, and mop.
A different morning. We went for a walk as usual but then I wanted to go to Ikea for a Hemnes that was on sale. It’s the 2 drawers one and I’ve been waiting for them to come back into stock. Plus they were 15% off so a very good deal. I plan on using this in my office area to corral odds and ends.
So there was no gym day and that’s okay. I wasn’t feeling it anyway.
This week is crazy with appts, which is my least favorite thing. But I’ll persevere through.
We’ve been watching ‘Slow Horses’ with Gary Oldman and it is sooo good. A little confusing at first but then you catch on. I just finished reading Ina Garten’s memoir and like it a lot. What a talented woman. Maybe a little over the top with a Type A personality but still I have a lot of respect for her.
I’m reading the new Thomas Perry book, ‘ Pro Bono’. Also excellent.
My son stayed overnight and did a deep clean of my car. It really needed it so I appreciate his effort.
After getting home, I started another Meyer lemon rosemary sourdough. This is a great recipe and seems to work every time.
Here’s the recipe:
88grams of starter
360 grams flour
236 grams water
11 grams salt
1 tsp yeast
Note: I think this recipe would work without the sourdough and just adjust flour and water for the 88 grams of starter and use more yeast.
Mix together to form a loose ball of dough, it will be shaggy. Let rest for 30 minutes and then start your fold and turns. Basically lifting one end of the dough over to the other side. I do this on all four sides if that makes sense. Let rest for 1 hour or so and repeat. I usually forget and just do a few more folds and turns when I remember.
Put in a bucket or bowl and refrigerate overnight. The next morning heat your oven to 475 and keep your dutch over in the oven to heat up. Then take the dough out of the bucket put on parchment paper and do a few tucks and turns( rolling the dough into a ball and turning to create some tension). Then I make a few cuts on the top and put it in the Dutch oven with the top on for 35 minutes. Take the top off and bake for another 15 or so. You can take an internal temp to check if it’s done. anywhere @ 200 degrees is right.
B is not feeling very well so I’m hoping it’s only a passing stomach thing but he’ll call down to Stanford tomorrow and explain what he’s feeling. Hopefully, it’s just a bug.
Groceries at Costco were $200. I bought a few things on sale like the breaded Talipa which is a great easy dinner option. Mostly things like milk, and eggs ( no shortage at Costco). I bought the organic 2 dozen pkt for $8.69. I also bought French roast coffee, seaweed snacks my daughter likes, Triscuits, nuts, cheese, asparagus, and a few items I wanted to try. One is a garlic spread( Toom)that’s supposed to be very good.
With that and my TJ’s trip, I’m already at $400 so I’ll need to be careful for the next couple of weeks.
Next week I have a dental cleaning so that’s out of pocket. But I am going to sign up for their dental plan which is $400. That covers 2 cleanings and other stuff so it seems like a good deal.
Today is the national No Spend Day. I hope it has an impact, especially on Amazon, Walmart, etc. During the pandemic, I liked Walmart’s pickup service and used it a lot. But since then I haven’t even been back.
I got gas at Costco so that’s always a savings.
I bought a Christmas gift for my son. An Easton Press copy of ‘A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs’s Court. ” That was Ebay and was $28.00. I haven’t started my Christmas envelope yet, but I’ll write this down. This year is going to be even more minimal as nobody really wants anything. So I’ll do a few gifts each like the Easton Press and East Fork Pottery.
This is the Lemon Meyer rosemary Sourdough. Wow was that good.
This is the newly rearranged office area with the couch on the opposite wall so I can open the sunroom doors.
Here are two of the newly reupholstered Heywood chairs. We got all 5 done. One is my office chair.
This is the dirty cover. Uck!! I guess it’s been about 3-4 years since I did these. I use painter drop cloth material.
They are certainly not professional but work for us.
Today is Dex day and I don’t have a lot planned but I am going to try and wash the inside sunroom windows.
A cloudy walk this morning but it was warm. It was 51 degrees. It’s quite nice really.
I’ve been to the Auburn gym and now I’m home. I’ve swished the bathroom and now plan to do some other regular Sunday things.
Sunday is our sheet-washing day. We only have one set of linen sheets so we wash, dry, and put them back on the bed. B was just saying though the sheets seem to wearing thin. He does the laundry so he would know.
I fed my sourdough so I might make a dough later after it does its thing.
I made some chicken salad for sandwiches from the chicken I roasted the other day. I’m not sure what I’m doing for dinner tonight. I know a salad is on the menu but I need to check what I have to use up. Last night we (my daughter and I) had the last turkey burgers and B had the last Boca burger.
We’re considering taking the trailer to Napa as we only have a brief window of time before he’s in for the major surgery. I’m mixed on this as it’s money and effort. I guess we’ll give it a few days to filter through.
This little Cherry( the only girl who gets picked on by her brothers and Bean.
This is Guster(Gus) and Smudge. I know… 🙂 these are the names they got when they came out of the barn. 🙂 They were the ‘barn kitties’.
Little Tux is adapting here well. But we need to get the neuter going. He’s a very sweet cat. As soon as I can I’ll get a picture.
Well, I’m going to move the loveseat couch on the opposite wall and see if I like it better. I don’t want to put it in the sunroom yet because Tux is sleeping out there and he might be squirting? 🙁 I hope not.
Last week ended up kind of a mish-mash of my menus. I did some and not others. Oh well, I’m flexible.
Last night I made a Mexican chicken dish and veggie Chicken patty dish. I grilled the chicken and then when it was done dumped the rest of the salsa in the pan and topped it with Monterey Jack cheese. I did the same in another pan for the veggie chicken patty. We had salad on the side. BTW, Wico has these new chicken veggie patties and for the price point, you can’t beat it compared to Quorn or another name brand.
Monday- I’m either doing fish or the Costco Slice beef, which is sous vide. The reason I’m not sure yet is my son is spending the night so I’ll see which he prefers. I have salad either way.
Tuesday: Quesadillas, beans, and cheese. If there’s any beef left over, I’ll toss that in, too. I bought 2 bags of avocados from Costco so if there are any ripe I’ll top with that. BTW, once the avocados start to ripen put them in the fridge. They will last weeks in there.
Wednesday- Vegetable Barley soup from Costco with homemade sourdough
Thursday- ravioli with marinara sauce with salad
Friday – pizza of some sort.
Saturday- TBD
The sun is out today and it’s a lovely day to be home.
I’m still showing ( apple watch)somewhat elevated sleep dist indicating sleep apnea. There doesn’t seem to be any pattern as to why one day it’s not elevated and the next it is. Does anyone have sleep apnea and what did you do? If I could lose some weight I’m sure that would help:)
I probably should start on our taxes, but not today. 🙂
When I got to the pool Monday, the parking lot was fairly empty. It seems the warming pool was closed because of something so a lot of people weren’t there. Also, the lap lanes were not too crowded. I got my favorite lane by the stairs. I had a good swim and did 950 yards again. My guess is that’s about my limit right now. I was pretty tired when I got home.
I am really enjoying having the Apple watch. I didn’t think I’d like it as much as I do. Usually, I don’t like anything on my wrist but this has really helped me track my steps and swimming and the sleep stuff. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re on the fence.
The baguettes came out GREAT!
The recipe is straight forward and easy to follow. I wouldn’t buy the book though for just this recipe. I took a picture of the recipe to use later. Most of the other recipes are using more unusual grains like Eikorn which I don’t have. Still, this is a great recipe to have. I made this with rosemary and wowza!!
Today is a home day. Usually, I go to the gym but I don’t feel like driving. It’s still early yet so I may go to Costco and get a few things.
Here’s the front room without the rug. We took it up because it seemed every time we vacuumed it was full of lint and fibers. I think it was because the rug was a shag rug and it just had that stuff. I love the fact it’s so easy to clean and when I vacuumed there was very little stuff in the vacuum so my point was taken. I will get another rug eventually but it’ll be something like a Ruggable. I can’t afford that now, especially with the VW in the shop.
My labs came back with my Kappa up some to 19.8 so a bit of a jump from 18.2 but since I’m just over high normal, I’m not too worried. High normal is 19.4. It is what it is and every month there is some variation.
B has his labs today. He’s only going once a week now and all have been good. Tomorrow is the big day with the appt with Dr. Lee so we should have a good idea of what comes next.
The menu plan has changed a bit since I made it up. We had Boca burgers last night and tonight we’ll have the soup( pasta fagioli ). I used some of my canned beans, the Marcella, and kidney. I plan on canning more pintos very soon. It takes some planning and it is time-consuming with the pressure canner going.
It seems this week has been Frugal probably because New Year’s Day was Wednesday. So that meant most stores closed. We didn’t go anywhere on Wednesday. Oh wait, I did go to Safeway on Tuesday with my daughter for the fondue veggies. That ended up $54 I think. After that, we went over to Target and needed dental picks, mouth wash and I picked up a $10 candle. So that was $25.
Wednesday, I made up the freezer double-stuffed potatoes. I had 12 potatoes in there and after they were cut in half and stuffed with potato, butter, cheese, and a little sour cream, I ended up with 15 halves. We definitely eat these and they don’t languish in the freezer.
Yesterday was Velcade and afterward, I stopped at Noah’s for a dozen bagels. I was going to do Trader Joe’s but wasn’t into it so I came home. That saved money, I’m sure.
Noah’s with schmears $21.00.
I took some frozen meals out of the freezer to use. One is lentil soup and it looks ok. The other is greek lemon chicken and I’ll have some of that for lunch. The other was a pulled pork from the fall and that didn’t look too appetizing:( I’m not sure that will get used.
I used the tamales from Costco last night with beans and salad. Tonight might be pizza but it depends on what we all feel like.
Today is a home day for me. I’ll take Dex around 12 or so. I want to vacuum and do some overall tidying. We gave away the Ikea fold-out couch that I used to have in the sunroom. it was a nice little couch but we weren’t using it and it ended up out in the studio and it definitely wasn’t getting used, so I put it on for free in the Facebook marketplace. A nice young couple came and got it. The studio, where my son had his bedroom, is now a catch-all for STUFF and I’m threatening, suggesting we go out there and do a reorganize. We’ll see if I’m up to it today.
Tomorrow, I’m not sure if I’ll go out. I have 3 bags of books to go to the Pet bookstore so that could be a trip out. Most of the books are my daughter’s that she is getting rid of but I have a bag too.
Other than that, I won’t go to the store till next week. Maybe do Trader Joe’s for some fill-in-the-blank stuff. I like their hash browns as they have only potatoes in them. Plus, they have WW tortillas I like too.
I plan on the pool on Monday, but I’ll look at the week and see what else is on the schedule.
Well, we made it to the end of the year. After the election, I pretty much haven’t read too much news. Little blips come in now and then but overall, I think my mental health is better for it.
I’m dreading frump taking office. It’s beyond comprehension how he can stand at that podium and take the oath of office after everything he’s done. I’m convinced he’ll go down in history as the worst president EVER. It’s going to be a shit storm for sure. Well, I can only control myself and my little world, so I’ll focus on that.
I was planning on staying home today but I need to return an Amazon purchase. I accidentally clicked on 2 of a calendar and I don’t need two calendars. Since I’ll be in town, I’ll get the veggies for the fondue tonight. if my daughter comes with me, she mentioned needing to go to Target.
The dinner menu was simple for the week :
Pasta bake from the freezer
Costco’s vegetable soup and rolls
fondue (tonight)
nut loaf and potatoes from the freezer
pizza of some sort
something else from the freezer
tofu scramble with leftover veggies
Lots of simple meals this week.
I have a few goals for 2025 but mostly it’s maintaining my swimming, gym workouts, and walking.
I’d like to add finding one new place to camp with full hook-ups and going to the coast, but so much depends on how the surgery goes and recovery. And as of right now, we don’t even know if that’s what will happen. If he gets the green light then we need to plan hotel stays and how that is going to all work out with me staying there. As far as we know B would be in the hospital for probably 2 weeks and then I’m not sure if he needs to stay within 15 minutes of the hospital like he did at UCD. If so we will need something like an extended stay hotel. I guess we’ll know by mid-January as that’s when Dr. Lee is back from vacation.
I could think of lots of other things I’d like to set as goals but I don’t want to commit to anything.
Around the house and yard, we need another carport as the one over the VW broke in the summer. We need to budget for garden stuff.
The VW needs a starter and battery so that needs to be budgeted.
I’d like to start painting some of the rooms, especially the living room.
Anything with remodeling the kitchen is totally on hold as we just don’t have money but we do need a new stove so that will get budgeted. Our stove has knobs on the front and because it’s about 10 years old the knobs will turn on if you lean over the stove and that is way dangerous. We’re all aware of it, so we’re careful but it has happened and then you can smell gas. I think I can find a good stove for around $1000. The one we have is Whirpool and it’s been a great stove except for this knob issue. I’ll check Costco first and then Lowes or Home Depot.
Of course, I’d like to keep minimizing things around the house and making sure we have only the things we need, use, and love. Mostly, that’s just keeping on top of hot spots like the entry way because things do pile up there.
Financially, have most of my cash envelopes fully funded for annual bills. That does take some effort as SS only goes so far. Right now, I have $70 for car maintenance so that needs some money for the VW repair. I’m sure it’s going to be around $1000.
As always, we’ll see what happens.
Wishing you a happy new Year!! “let’s hope it’s a good one without any fear” John Lennon.
Well, I am beyond thankful B has felt good. There is no need for platelets or blood. Whoo hoo!!! He gets labs today, so we’ll see how much more they increase.
We are amid a rain deluge. It’s been raining almost nonstop. I didn’t walk this morning as it was pouring. It looks like next week will be raining off and on. I plan on staying home today but tomorrow I will probably go to the pool. I need to return those sweats so that’s a good reason to go rather than Saturday. Both days will be busy as Thanksgiving is next week. I don’t need anything at this point but I haven’t made a checklist yet. I’ll do that today ( I did it below).
I’m thankful I don’t really stress about Thanksgiving and keep it very simple.
Menu for Thanksgiving:
Turkey roast from Diestal( which didn’t show up yesterday???)
Nut loaf is made and in the freezer,
and mashed potatoes are from Costco and are in the freezer. My son might make homemade made which would be fine too.
cranberry sauce is my canned cranberries from last fall. My son will get or I will a can of Ocean Spray
green beans
rolls, I have a package of Hawaiian rolls in the freezer.
stuffing is just a box of Stouffers. Now that I think about it I need celery and carrots.
I think my son is going to roast some brussels sprouts too.
I have 3/4 of a Costco pumpkin pie in the freezer I’ll defrost. We rarely eat dessert at Thanksgiving but I still want it there.
I’m thankful for quiet times at home. It’s peaceful and cozy.
I’m thankful for my daily routines that keep things running smoothly in our household.
I’m thankful B installed both grab bars in the shower and even though the pan is nonslip it’s best to safer.
