Wild California Weather or Frugal Friday

We are still getting clobbered. Right now it’s been raining here nonstop and there’s some wind. There are flood warnings everywhere for N Ca, specifically the Sierras and the Bay area. At this point, I’m guessing we’re canceling New Brighton because of the flood dangers in the Santa Cruz Mtns. Plus we’ll be right on the coast so I’m not too comfortable with the whole idea. Also, the day we leave it’s raining nonstop all day in Capitola. Reserving something in March is always a gamble, so we’ll be flexible. I do hate to give up the spot because it was an electric one. Oh well, that’s life.!!!

This week was busy but not too bad. I swam on Wednesday and that was lovely. I went to the gym on Tuesday and the library. We went to Costco on Thursday( yesterday), and holy cow was it busy. We didn’t have a clue as to why. It seemed just a regular Thursday. Weird. Anyway, I got lots of things to bulk up the freezer and pantry. I plan on going back in soon to get a few things more that we need like AA batteries. I didn’t want to add them to the cart yesterday.

After Costco, we went to our favorite pizza place, Celestino’s which is the closest to a NY pizza I’ve ever had out here. Although I left NY in 1970, thankfully, NY pizza has always been near and dear to me since I grew up right next to Pepe and Eddies. Now that might seem strange since I grew up on Quaker Rd in Highland Mills which back then was VERY rural. But right up the road, actually, the end of the road was this Italian family who ran the restaurant. There was the grandmother, Nonnie, Eddie, Pepe, and 2 children, Barbara and Johnny. Johnny was a few years older than me and we did play together occasionally. Anyway, their pizza was the best, ever.

We also spent money at Ikea but I brought cash for that from my ‘home’ money. The Ivar shelf is absolutely fabulous. I wish I had room for a second one. Maybe if I look at the space closer, I may be able to fit it in but that would mean using most of the wall and I’m reluctant to do that. ( at least for right now).

I should have bought another shelf and actually when I did my calculations I had the extra shelf in there but Ikea sells the Ivar as separate pieces. I had figured the 5 shelves( as shown on the website were all together but they weren’t. I got 6 shelves instead of the 7 I had planned thinking that was all I’d need but I can see I need the extra one for pint jars and half pints. I love that I can see what I have left in the canned goods and what I need to do this summer.

This is such a clever system and the total was $115. So a fabulous deal.

Today is a home day and with the rain and wind, I’m glad to be home baking and tidying things up.

Overall, an expensive week but since it’s all stuff we don’t normally do, I’m ok with it.

My labs came in with another 6pt increase. 😦 so now I’m at 36.7mg/L for kappa Light chains. It’s a bummer but as I’ve said,” your blood is your blood and it is what it is”. I did go back and looked at the graph for my increases in 2019 and they really started doubling at about 55mg/L. So in one month they went from that to almost 100. And then the next month almost to 200mg/L. So that’s what I don’t want to happen this time. The Myeloma cells are clearly on the increase and why wait till I’m at 600mg/L to start treatment. We don’t even know if Velcade will be effective since this will be my 3rd time on it. Lots of unknowns.

Back from New Brighton State Beach

We had a great time. Our spot was level and out of the way. We didn’t have an ocean view but could walk to the overlook and see. Our next time here we do have a premium spot( has an ocean view). These are really hard to book. It looked RV city over on that side. Of course, there were the monster children whose parents think that camping is an excuse for their kids to run wild.

We spent time down at the beach walking and of course, B and I walked every am. Although not getting up at 6am.IMG_0670.jpgWe went to the store 2 x and the big hit was going to the Santa Cruz Farmers market. That was fun.

Plus we hit up Gayle’s for rye bread and a few sweets. If you’re ever in Capitola, do not miss Gayle’s . It is absolutely wonderful food and a great bakery.

It took us 4 hours to get home. WE had light traffic thru San Jose and Stockton and even Sacramento.

Friday financials

Wow, we still have money going out and for some reason all these misc bills coming in. The fire tax, a medical copay??,not sure why this is coming in, my sons extra class money for the fall semester, our propane tank bill, and I think some others, oh, yeah, my husbands crown expense at the dentist. So , the budget is stretched way too thin. We’ re off next week to Santa Cruz, so I’m not going to worry about it all till we are back. I’ve got our $5.00 savings, and I’ll bring that. It’ll be depleted but it’s for travel, so that’s what it’s for. 

It’s suppose to be in the 90’s here. What is up with that. 

Today, JKWP has 20 days left. So tomorrow we are under 20. Yeah, us!

so, I’m pretty over my rant about library stuff. Especially since my daughter is applying for a full time job with the library. Of course, who knows what they’re looking for, and I’m sure they already have a good idea of who they want. But, for her sake it would be awesome. 

I never had a full time job and it’s something I wish I had. It was never for lack of trying, but not continuing to try. Also, when I was ready after my daughter turned 9, I was at 41 pregnant and had my son at 42, so, that changed the picture ….Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.