Tag Archives: simple sunday

Simple Sunday

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I’m not planning on going to the gym this morning as my daughter and I are going to work on the fence area behind the barn. That’s the area that backs up to our asshole neighbor. When the tree guys took the oaks back there, it opened a clear shot into his garage workshop, so we bought a privacy screen, and that’s what we are putting up. It’s a green mesh type thing and does block out the view. So she’ll put in the metal posts, and I’ll probably stand around and watch unless she needs me to hold the post. .:)

We also bought 3 evergreen bushes that we want to plant out there too. That area is one of the few areas left that the ‘old miner’ who lived here dumped stuff so the soil isnt the best. Over the last 30 years we’ve plant ground covers and wild flowers and put down top soil so it’s better but when you start to dig down it’s really hard pack. So it’ll take some work plus adding bags of soil to the holes. We had intended to put up more cedar fencing before Barclay got sick last summer so that never happened.

We’re back in very hot weather 98 degrees but somehow it feels a little different than before. Maybe it’s that the mornings are still cool and the angle of the sun is very different. Still hot is hot.

Simple Sunday and how things are going.

Posted in Blood test, budgets, California, camping, cancer, Death, freezer cooking, Walking by

Well, it’s been 2 months since Barclay died. Most stuff is handled, but there are still outliers. We need to sell the motorcycle and the trailer. We’re going to try for the motorcycle in September when it cools off. It may or may not sell. It’s a specific niche of a bike, so we’ll see. The trailer is another story, and I’m emptying it out slowly. Most of the camping stuff I’ll store so we can use it if we get the tent trailer.

Some things that need official death certificates, like the bank, I still need to do. Other things like PGE, and I’m just leaving alone for now. The water bill I got changed to my name alone. He had one cc in his name, and I’m leaving that too, as they will close that if it’s not used. I’ve put a lock on it, so that should be ok.

I’ve cleaned out some clothes, etc, and I have a few more things to do. Some favorite T-shirts I’m saving.

It’s definitely a strange place to be.

This coming week, I have my labs, and I’m getting another steroid shot in my knee. We also have PGE coming to take the big tree with a crane. They figured out the other big tree wasn’t in their system, although Barclay tried to get them to add it. Well, maybe another time. The one they’re taking is a huge tree with a lot of lean, and that’s why they need a crane. I’m concerned for our water line, but I will tell them to be careful how they drop tree parts. The other tree I suspect we’ll have to pay for at some point, but I can’t think about that now. So that’s going to be a very anxious day for me, as my anxiety goes way up with stuff like that. Usually, if B were here, he would handle it, and I would leave, but he’s not.

The rest of the week looks fine. Although I don’t know what day PGE is coming until Tuesday, when he’ll call me.

Right now, our weather has cooled and is quite nice. I’ve enjoyed sitting outside. Today is also nice, and then it looks like it heats up again later in the week.

My motivation to do things is very low. I’m pretty much forcing myself to go to the pool or the gym. I’m sure this will pass with more time, but for now, it’s weird for me to feel unmotivated. I did have a nice walk this morning, though. It’s been busy at the park during the week, so I’m not fond of passing 6 people walking, but today was empty, except for two guys fishing in the pond. In the past, when it got busy, I’d just go earlier and then no one’s there, but right now I’m not motivated to get there any earlier. 6:00 a.m. is about my limit, considering I get up at 5:30.

I’ve baked a few things in the Souper Cubes, and it’s loads of fun. I did banana bread and then zucchini bread. They are food-grade silicon, so you can bake right in them. Very cool. I froze most of it as my daughter and I can only get through so much.

Well, that’s it for the most part. just day by day.

Simple Sunday

Posted in books, budgeting, budgets, California, camping, cancer, decluttering, Lake tahoe, library, Uncategorized, Walking by

It’s been so hot again. Today is the hottest at 99. The coolers go off and on all day. I always turn them off by 7:30, even if it’s still hot out. We have two more days of heat, and then it drops back into the 80s.

I’ve had fun reading this book,

It’s quite funny, although if you’re offended by the word fuck, then this isn’t for you. It’s quite motivating. I bought it as a Kindle book.

My walk was nice this morning. Only one person was showing up as I was leaving. My legs still don’t seem to be recovering as well as I’d like, and my app for iHealth still shows my walking steadiness as low. I’m guessing my right knee is still causing some lagging in my gait. Of course, that’s just a guess.

I picked up my holds at the library, and one was chair yoga and pilates. So far, I like it and may buy my own copy. I have it for 3 weeks, so I can give it a bit more time to see if it’s worth it.

The week ahead is Dr. appt in Sacramento, and Velcade in Roseville. That pretty much covers the week since Friday, I’ll take my Dex. My daughter starts back at her college job this week, too. We talked about maybe doing a day trip to Tahoe. Just the West Shore, as it is closer to Tahoe City. I’ll have to see how motivated I am to do that.

I still haven’t canceled one of the Tahoe trips in September. I guess I’m procrastinating. I’ll do it soon. We had booked 2 reservations that overlapped, so one will have to go, and even the one that’s left is questionable. I’m still not sure how we could pull it off without Rubi, and that is not an option. I suppose my son’s huge tent is an option, but not really a great one. I’d have to buy an air mattress and some other things, and I’m not sure I want to do that. I guess I’m waiting for some inspiration to show up. Kidding:)

My daughter has finished painting the studio, and it looks really nice. A pale green with a cream trim. We gave away the Ikea cabinet yesterday on Facebook Marketplace. Fortunately, the guy coming was nice and prompt. He had a van, so my daughter and he were able to slide it in. It was a brand-new hybrid Pacifica. Wow, it was quite nice. I checked the price and they run around 55K.

Well, off to do some stuff as I’m not heading out to the gym this morning.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, bread, budgeting, budgets, California, cancer, cooking, Flylady, home stuff, Myeloma, simplicity by

It’s warm out but cloudy right now. It’s supposed to clear up and be in the 80s, so that’s a first this year.

I might go to the Auburn gym to do weights, but I’ll decide in a few hours. It depends on what I want to get done today. I vacuumed yesterday, so it’s maybe a quick mop. Flylady is the living room zone. Usually, that means in my LR, dust the Easton Press books and the ceiling fan, and wash the mirror. So not too much overall. Most of that I do anyway on Monday mornings when I do my house reset for the week. I need to start on the sunroom windows so I may do some of them.

I have some sourdough starter ready to use, so I’ll get that together. Last night we had the Costco chicken burgers on the BBQ and they were delicious. I think I’ll put together a chili tonight since I defrosted some ground turkey. I’m still working my way through the freezer, and this was the last pack of Costco turkey. I’ll probably cook that in the Le Creuset on the stove instead of the IP. I have my pressure-canned beans to add, so I don’t need the IP to cook the beans. I’m still contemplating the electric pressure canner. Does anyone reading use the Presto one? They are not cheap, but from the comments in the Facebook group, most everyone loves the convenience. Mostly because you set it up and there’s no watching it, etc, like the All-American. Like I said, it’s expensive, so not something I’m rushing to do.

It should be a quiet week, no appts, unless B ends up needing a blood transfusion, which I certainly hope not. He gets labs tomorrow, so he’ll know by Monday afternoon. I have nothing but need to call the sleep place to arrange getting the home test, and I need to call Ortho, as they should have reviewed the MRI by now. Mostly, from Ortho, I just want to get the PT referral to start doing that.

I do plan on going down to Roseville to the gym at least once. I think I’ll try and coordinate either WinCo or Costco with that.

How does your week look?, Do you have routines you follow, like Flylady? Some people really like Clean Mama ( I think that’s her blog name), but I tried it and it seemed way too involved for me. I’m always interested in minimalism, especially in older people, and how that helps with daily stuff.

Oh!!! I forgot my labs came back just a smidge above high normal, so all good. 19.6 kappa light chains, high normal is 19.4. It does tend to fluctuate, but this is still excellent. Boy, I am always so relieved that Velcade is working because I couldn’t handle one more thing right now. 😦

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, California, cancer, peritoneal mesothelomia, velcade by

I’m waiting for the oven to get to 475 so I can put the bread in. It takes a while with this oven. I’d like to get a new oven in the next year or so. Plus those knobs on the side are problematic. Anyway.

I went to the Auburn gym and there were ‘new’ people there. It was just getting busy when I left. I didn’t have to do anything in Auburn so I came straight home. It’s so nice not to have extra chores.

We had two more pieces of the Wild Alaskan fish I’d bought. This was the Coho salmon and sockeye. They were both very good. I made some couscous to go on the side. tonight, My son is coming over so I need to think about what I’m going to make. I might just do the Costco ravioli.

The week ahead looks a little busy with a dentist’s appt and then my Velcade. Plus, if I decide to do another gym or swim day. I haven’t decided yet.

My daughter has been planting the onion sets and garlic. She also started a bunch of tomatoes under grow lights. I’m sure glad she is the gardener. I like picking stuff but not planting stuff.

I hope we get a call from Stanford this week regarding his appt. I’d like to know when we’re going so we can book a hotel. As I’ve said, it has to be 2 nights minimum, and the first day down there, he has to go get labs as they want to use their labs and not UCD. So that will add to the day. Parking is an issue, so I may just drive around till he’s done at the lab. We still don’t even know where the hospital is. Where we went was the medical center, so we needed to get a map of that.

Well, that’s all I have today. I hope everyone is having a nice Sunday.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, California, cancer, Flylady, home stuff, swimming, velcade, Walking by

A cold morning to start and damp. We had a nice walk again, with no one there. I guess we must be between walkers because haven’t had anyone in a few weeks on the weekend. During the week, I see some regulars that start to show up around 7am. The next 10 days look nice with no rain so that’ll help dry things out.

I headed out to the gym at 8am and it was a little busier with the ‘new years resolution exercise’ people. I left before 9 and then it was getting even busier.

I stopped at the store for some things for a greek salad and wine. After I got home I cleaned under the kitchen sink. It’s the kitchen zone this week, so tomorrow I’ll finish the cabinets and I want to clean the fridge.

My son is coming for dinner and to spend the night out in Rubi. He works in Auburn on Mondays so it’s a good time to catch up. I plan on cooking some leftover turkey and potatoes. I also have leftover nut loaf to heat up as well.

This coming week should be mellow, no appts !!! Hurray!! I don’t have my labs till next week so that’s a little different than usual. I always go the Monday after my shot but because I had been scheduled for my next Velcade later( Feb), I pushed my labs out. We did reschedule me for the end of January or 4 weeks.

Last night we watched ‘To kill a Mockingbird’. Even though I’ve seen it many times and read the book so many times. it is still such a powerful movie. Gregory Peck did such an amazing job as Atticus Finch. If you haven’t seen it in a while, check it out. We finished the series the Helsinki Murders. I wouldn’t really recommend it. It was dark and seemed overdone. Oh well, some series are like that.

I do plan to go to Roseville tomorrow and swim but I do have an alternative plan if the pool is too busy. If the wait is longer than 10 minutes for a lane, I’ll go down to the gym. I’ll just need to pack my gym clothes as I wear my suit to the pool. Plus, I’ll need to bring my Hoka’s as I wear my Birkenstocks to the pool. Whichever the case, I’ll do one or the other.

Not much else new here at mi casa so I’ll close for now.

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, California, cooking, swimming, Uncategorized, Walking by

We had a ton of rain yesterday but this morning is clear. We had a lovely walk in the park and I did a mile. I’m not back up to 2 yet with my knee.

The pool was quite busy yesterday and will be closed all week. Maybe that’s why it was so busy. I got in and out ok but did ask the guy in the lane closest to the stairs whether I could share as I didn’t want to try and crouch down to get in over at the far lanes. So that worked out well.

This morning I have my mammogram, I know on a Sunday?? But they had an opening so I thought that’ll work out ok. I’m not sure whether I’ll go to the gym or not. I also want to bake some brownies today and then I have some more reorganizing in the kitchen I want to do. I also want to bake a loaf of WWW sandwich bread on the dough cycle of the bread machine and then bake in the oven.

This will be a different week with Thanksgiving on Thursday. My infusion is Wednesday and I’m hoping traffic won’t be too bad.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cancer, home stuff, Uncategorized by

A bit cloudy this morning and I think we’re supposed to get some sprinkles. The leaves are holding on though and all the Japanese maples are turning shades of red. The oaks are golden yellow.

I’ve been off walking since I hyper-flexed my knee again. (That was Friday). Dr. L said it wasn’t dex so that was a relief. The most I can get is when I fell off the step stool I tore the meniscus and that is what is still causing the knee and muscle pain. I have an appt with the PC to check it out. There doesn’t seem to be much you can do but keep wearing a brace and let it heal. I’ve got a compression sleeve coming tomorrow. It was supposed to be delivered yesterday but our PO sucks and doesn’t always deliver and says pick up at office. I read that walking is good for it overall and I’m gue botheredssing swimming. What I can’t do is twist or hyperflex.It does seem odd that I’ve been walking ,swimming etc and not much has bothered me till just the other morning. Oh well, getting old is not for the faint hearted that’s for sure.

Yesterday, I made a homemade chicken noodle soup. I had that for lunch and dinner. The I prepped the cheese nut loafs for Thanksgiving. I had made the brown rice the day before( you want it cold when you mix the ingredients). Then added all the ingredients and baked in 2 loaf pans. So there’s quite a bit to have for Thanksgiving and whenever. Tonight I’ll serve some slices with gravy as a pretest. I have 2 small jars of cranberry sauce left over from last year so I want to use those before I use the ones I just made. As I said before, Thanksgiving is going to be dex day so I need everything ready for the fam to cook. We’re not big dessert people so, that can just be whatever maybe a Costco pie.

I finished the kitchen zone with B doing all the higher shelves. He just finished washing the linen sheets, and I just need to do tidy up in the living room.

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, California, cooking, Gardening by

A nice mellow day with some activity thrown in. We did our predawn walk and it was lovely. I’m having the tiniest feeling of neuropathy in my feet so I’m being super vigilant about what I’m doing. It’s sort of like a fire in your feet feeling. I had some of this before but clearly had forgotten about it till I said ‘Oh, my feet are tingling’. It’s something that will get people off Velcade if it gets too bad. We’ll see.

I didn’t have any big Flylady chores to do this morning as I had done most of them during Dex days. We’re in the bathroom and I do that almost daily except for the shelves and that’s once a Flylady cycle.

I do plan on using the carpet shampooer this week as our weather looks warm and sunny. That’ll be the last time till probably spring. My daughter has cleaned up all the garden beds so the yard looks tidy. I’d like to get some garlic and potatoes in as well as parsley and chives.

I’m reading Kingsolver’s Demon Copperfield. It’s a good story just maybe not my genre. She is a master story teller though.

I started a loaf of the WW honey bread in the breadmaker. ( It showed up this morning).

This is the second rise after the ‘dough’ cycle’. The two specks are herbs from some thing else I was making and flung over to the bread:)

This is the finished product. It’s too hot to cut so I’ll see how it is later.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Flylady, home stuff, reading, simple foods, Uncategorized by

Well, let me say right off the bat, today is not that simple and yesterday was a crisis.

Everything was fine until B put clothes in the dryer and then there was a loud pop. In the house, all the lights, appliances, space heaters were flashing. It wasn’t good.

My daughter ran out to make sure B wasn’t electrocuted and to turn off the power. He went to the main switch and turned off the laundry room but the house was still blinking everywhere. He turned off the main power to the house. All the power protector surges were fried. In fact, the one in my office area was smoking and melted.

THIS WAS NOT A GOOD SIGN. My daughter thought maybe it was something in our wiring but I didn’t think so.

After regrouping, he called PGE and in about an hour the repairman showed up. After checking lines to the house, he determined the main power line had come loose and caused the surges. He fixed it.

We lost the dryer, one space heater, the radio/record player and I think that’s it. Fortunately, we didn’t lose the TV, refrigerator, etc.

So today, we have to go buy a dryer and install it. Actually, I think B is going to take our son and go to Lowes. I ordered online so it’s just a matter of picking up at Will Call.(  I hope)!!!

So now to a Simple Sunday.

  • we have a nice chicken and wild rice soup for dinner plus a lentil soup for the veggie:)
  • I’m going to the gym and do some weights and treadmill
  • tidy the house and do the bathroom zone( Flylady zone for the week)
  • read, read, read…..I’ve read about 6 books in the last 3 weeks. This one is the new one in The Girl with the dragon tattoo series. The writer who took over is quite good. I also read the new Jack Reacher, Blue Moon, the new Anne Hillerman, The Tale Teller, The Tattooist of Auschwitz,  ( very sad but truly excellent), James Comey’s A Higher Loyalty, also superb and shocking stuff about Trump( what an idiot). I also read a couple MC Beaton’s Agatha Raison books.
  • walked this morning at 6:30 am and there was a nice, big moon.

This week I am on call for jury duty. I checked Friday and it said to check again. I really hope I get passed on.