storyteller

Living today on a shoe string budget seems to be effecting all Business across the board, as people are cutting out things that are unnecessary within their consumption.  A lot of people are downsizing their consumption accordingly, and this could be a good thing in respects to the Environment.   We have become one of the most wasteful societies within the global community at large,  just my opinion.  I know this by comparing what I used to do as far as consumption of products compared to when I actually had an excess of money as compared to now in the present when my money is now limited as I am still unemployed and not receiving my unemployment.  The income I used to have would feed the household with a little left over to dine out once in a while, or take in a movie, or go to a social event of which I would make a special dish to take along.  And even giving gifts to newly weds, graduates, and new babies within our realm of family and friends.

I find that there are some simple changes that have been made within my household.  Instead of buying the name brand items that I used to purchase I have found other items that are comparable to that brand, also checking the  labels I found that the items listed in the ingredients panel are so similar that you cannot tell the difference except in the price.  In some cases that can add up to  $.40- $1.00 per item.  Shopping with coupons is another way that people can save additionally.  They can be found in most Sunday papers, and traded amongst friends there are even some stores that offer up coupons in a bin that other customers cannot use and so they leave them there where they are up for grabs.

Other changes can be as simple as going to the grocery store only one time a week, and now finding that I am planning out meals more frequently than before.  Which can ultimately save money in the long run.  With our house hold using up left overs, as  an end of the week thing, turning one day a week into a smorgasbord kind of meal, and all things are offered up as a final send off.  If it is not wanted in this meal, or we are just plain sick of the item whatever is left is Frozen for future use.  Dated and packaged/labeled for helpings within.  This can also be an advantage for a quick and ready thing for future use.   Example of this is that say my shift is from 9am to 7pm, and my other 1/2 wants to eat at 5 pm….then he is free to make his choices from the frozen ready to eat items which are readily available at his fingertips, and he does not have to wait for me to arrive home by say 7:30 pm. 

He can read the label which I have made on the package.  What is inside, how many helpings, and how to fix in the microwave such as to defrost first and even what buttons to use on the microwave so that he cannot mess it up. On this label there are also suggestions on what to have with the item in question.  Granted it is somewhat time consuming at first, but if your household has items that are staples or favorites on a weekly basis that can be made simply on the computer and printed off in duplicates and stored in a file for future use.  As in our household things like Spaghetti, Ziti, Chile, Stews, Chicken and Dumplings, Baked Macc & Cheese with Ham, even Kielbasi & Potato Casserole.  These have become things that I make throughout the month.  I have made labels ahead that have a blank for the date of freezing, a blank for serving size, and a blank for setting on Microwave. 

I have noticed that since I started doing this it is saving a lot of money, because I do not buy those frozen TV dinners as often as I used to.  At $1.89 -$2.49 ea. for the Man Size meal to fill my man up that turns into on average of almost $40.00 a month savings, and the fact that this was added to the cost of making all the other items. So now I do  throw those last little bits out any more.I even hold on to the vegetables such as peas, corn, Lima beans,   boiled potatoes, baby carrots, and even fresh pea pods, celery, onions, chunked up tomatoes.  These items can be put directly into freezer bags with labels.  These come in handy for stews, and goulash, even home made soups.  If you have several of these baggies frozen flat they do not take up much space and all you need to do is make your stock, with your meat and let that simmer at about 1/2 hour before ready to serve take the baggies out and put the frozen veggies right into stock, add noodles, or rice and simmer on low.  Makes great soup.  The general idea here is to stretch the Food Budget even further than what you have done before. There is also another way to save on the food budget that I used to do when I had my first child. 

I made his baby-food from our left overs, by putting them in the blender and using the small Tupperware cups that were in the size of baby-food jars.  And these would freeze quite well, which did save quite a bit of money when he was of the age where he was eating more solid food and this seemed to fill him up better than the store bought baby-food.   My son went from eating baby food at 3 months to eating almost everything we would eat in variety by the time he was 8 months old.  And we never had food issues, because he tried everything that his father and I would eat, less the spices.  This child liked all foods,  he would eat broccoli, Brussels sprouts, beets, squash even the meats like pork and chicken.  He never had any of the processed baby-food, unless it was the fruits, or special items  on occasion.  I would do this every evening after dinner if I knew we would not eat the small amount of leftovers, and do not forget to label them with date and use them up within  1  month or so.  I would never let them stay in the freezer too long..  

I hope that this has helped someone today who as the rest of us may be struggling with the cost of living in today’s world as things are somewhat unstable. Hopefully they will get better, but this will continue to help you save money. Have a good day!

I was at work saturday at my Part-time job,  with my sniffles, cold medicine fog and big heavy sweater. I am sick……Hug Me…… People coming in were put back by my outrageous cough, and saying snide remarks!  Like  “smoke another one”….. OMG I work in a tobacco store.  What did not occur to any of these people who had something to say was that they have a worse cough than I do.  And some of these people buy Cartons every 2-3 days…….And they say this to me???   And yes I am a smoker.  I do not have a problem with smoking, I have a Cold or the Flu…the jury is out on this one. 

I was trying not to breath on any of these people because I really don’t want to spread the love around.  But as I am not getting any help from anywhere financially I had to be there.  Now the ones who came in the door saying things yes I made sure to breath or sneeze on their money that was given in change.  And if they were paying for their bad habit in the form of a Check I made sure to run the check through the machine stamp the back and then the front over where they initialed it, Sneeze on it and then lay it down in front of them so they had to initial it again on the line>>>>>ha-ha!

Now the ones paying in the form of a credit card or debit card had no choice but to hand it to me, and yes they cringed when I sneezed or reached for a tissue.  So they got the germs anyway for not having cash to pay for their bad habit. 

Then there were the people who had a different form of illness than I do.  Of which I have now been exposed to, Thank you very much!  This is just great, at this rate I will never be well again, and my doctor will now think I am a hypochondriac if she doesn’t already.  I am supposed to go this coming week to get blood work done, and I can not get out of it my blood pressure medicine is going to run out.  I would much rather have the NyQuil than the metoprol, but she won’t see it that way, so I guess I will just curl up on the couch with a bottle of Rock N’ Rye and sweat it out. 

But that may be the death of me since I am sweating at intermittent intervals with this sickness.  I am Sick….Hug Me,   I couldn’t even complain at work, no one felt sorry for me, they just went straight for the Lysol can I had sitting on the counter, so I  would not forget to disinfect the counter and register so the other girls won’t catch it.  They will kill me if they get sick.

All I really need is a HUG, and no one will accommodate me, not even any of my friends that come into the shop.  I think it is the big sweater that I am now wearing that is the turn off to hugging your fellow smoker who is sick.  It makes me look fat,  I would think I would be able to get someone to hug me, my old man won’t even hug me and he is the reason I am sick!  Boy I will tell you this really bites, No Hug, No sympathy, Not even Chicken Noodle Soup, I can’t get anything I need right now.  Oh I have to take that back I guess, one good thing did happen on Saturday.

I actually had a knight in a shiny new Audi come into the store and listened to me complain because I couldn’t get anyone to go and get me a cup of ice for my Pepsi.  See I was there on the 9 am - 7 pm shift by myself, all by my lonesome, no break, no lunch, no sit down and rest time. And he listened to me say “sure wish I had some ice”  and then he said “do you have a cup?”  I wasn’t sure where that would lead so I was hesitant and he asked me again.  “Yes I do, why?”  He then proceeded to tell me that he had a bag of ice in his trunk.  I started jumping up and down like a little kid that got a puppy!  Ice, cold ice for my Pepsi, AHHH! Yippee!  There was no one else around so I darted out to the guys car and he opened it and gave me some ice.  That was so nice of him to do that, and I thanked him with a Hug!   It was a win win situation.  I WIN  I got Ice and the Hug I so desperately needed, I sure hope he didn’t get sick. 

Hope I made you giggle!  Have a good day.

Fall ….and the recipe books come out of hiding and are dusted off.  Everyone is looking for new ways to help get rid of the Squash, Zucchini,  Pumpkins, Apples, and other assorted goodies that are left from the growing season. Or they are starting to plan ahead for that Thanksgiving Dinner they are going to be preparing soon.   I had a limited childhood, as far as vegetables go, the only things we ate were what the stepfather liked.  Now don’t get me wrong it was a pretty good selection, but as an adult I found a wider range of items.  I never knew how to cook things like Squash because we never had it. I also knew nothing about how to cook soup beans, or navy beans.  Somehow I did not know they grew in feilds and were harvested, that they actually had to be picked and dried.  Dried beans I  never knew how good this could be. 

 And lets not even mention that I did not know you could make a concoction of pan drippings (usually  from sausage or bacon) add  flour and milk and make a creamy good sauce to put over a biscuit!   It is a white sauce not the red kind.  Oh and may I say that while I was growing up and helping in the Kitchen, I thought a biscuit came from a box with the name of Jiffy Mix.  Or they came out of a cylinder with the name of Refrigerator on them.    I am from mainly an Italian household if that helps to clarify anything, if it didn’t  have a sauce on it we didn’t have it.   My mother would try to accommodate her tyrant with Meat and Potatoes cooked in variations of Italian marinades.   And there was always the old standby of stew w/ puffy dumplings, Chili, Soups, Pot Pies, and  always room for Turkey w/ Stuffing.  

Sometimes she would lie about it and say to all 5 of us children, “You’ve had this before, I just haven’t made it in awhile.”  We always knew when she said that we were in trouble, she was trying out a new recipe on us the scapegoats!  We knew, but we never let on that we knew, because she may have found a good recipe this time.  Do not get me wrong, my mother was a good cook, she made killer potato salad and macaroni salad and was into baking, cakes, and frosting, pastry and so on.   And that could have been attributed to her father Bill, my grandfather.  He was a pastry chef, and owned a couple of Bakeries.  I remember he was a great cook, and I still use some of our family recipes like  Lasagna, and Baked Ziti, and also his recipe for Italian Butter-cream Icing.    But there really is such a variety out there that women everywhere should have access to all there is, and never be afraid to ask for help.  I didn’t ask because she would have nothing nice to say to me about wanting to get away from the Italian (her) way of cooking. 

It was when I met my now ex-husband that I was exposed to the Country cooking through his mother.  And that woman could cook!  She taught me a whole new world of ways  to fix all kinds of items.  I learned about Biscuits (Cat Head Biscuits) and Red Eye Gravy, Soup Beans and Cornbread served with a chunk of Onion. Chicken n’dumplings, Grits, and  How to make country ham.   Then I was introduced to her relatives and  they all cooked, and had great recipes, and they shared from a group called Easter Star.  OMG!!  I found out about the world of information that wasn’t even on the Internet back then.  I am talking this was 20-25 years ago.  And It is all inside my head, all of it !! there are a few recipes that are on paper, but I can reference them when needed. 

I was one of these people who could watch and learn or so I thought I could.  My ex-husband at the time being newly wed was a good sport….he was a good man.  I tried one night to make country ham, biscuits and gravy and other things,  the other things was easy.  But let me tell you about my poor try at the rest!  It was funny now that I think about it.  The biscuits looked like hockey pucks, and they were actually flat and black. If I had thrown one I would have killed someone!  NOT Kidding.  The gravy ended up lumpy and resembled wall paper paste, actually the spoon stood up in it .  And that country ham, I later found out that you have to soak that stuff in cold water for a bit to take the salty taste out of it……If you don’t it is like opening up the salt container and just chug-a-lugging it….I kid you not!  

I know the man loved me because he ate it!  I took a bite and thought to myself I just wanted to die….eating that meal would have done it. I made him stop eating it, and we went out……and so did the meal.  It took me a good year of try and try again, with the help of his mother to master gravy and real from scratch biscuits.  I am good at it a real pro now  20 years later, I even know how to make chocolate gravy, so practice helps.

It must be true what they say ”The way to a mans’ heart is through his stomach” because every time I make food to take to some function I always get a proposal.  I guess I will worry when I do not get any proposals anymore.  By all means get out a favorite recipe and share it with others…..It might bring a new friend into your midst, or it may make its way into a newspaper, or just into an acquaintances recipe box.  But you will never know how much that recipe is worth, if anything it may mean the world  to the person receiving it.   Hope you had a giggle, and have a good  day!

As we all take in the fact that the 44Th president will be Black, we must realize that the bridge is now being built.  And weather or not we like it we all must help build that bridge.  Before this election I for one have never viewed Barack Obama as  just a black man who was running for president. I viewed him as an Educated, Well Mannered, Honest, Clean Cut and Well Groomed Professional Man.  Nothing less  than that, and he earned my respect as that.  Not as a politician, but as a Senator and a member of our Government, he has never presented himself as what people here in Arkansas have referred to him as. 

Now prior to the election, for the past year in fact I have heard a lot of expressions that I wish I had never heard.   The fact is that in the State of Arkansas Bigotry is still alive and rears it’s nasty head.  That is right I said it, I live in a place that is over run with  REDNECK BIGOTS! I however have not witnessed any sheets in my travels, nor has a cross been burned in my yard.  But then stranger things have been known to happen in my neck of the woods.  I cannot believe that the people in my surrounding areas actually think that they would be better off with another 4 yrs. of Republican Rule!   That could be a blog all on its own merit. 

I was raised in a home that had a bigot running it, my stepfather was a huge bigot, and I grew up hearing the bad and worst of it. I never saw color, until he pointed it out to me at age 8 shortly after my mother married the creep.  One of my best friends was a girl named Glenda and she was black.  He hated her  and I did not understand why and because I was determined not to be HIM while I was growing up.  I formed my own opinions and had my own friends some of which are black, and he hated them too.  I still don’t understand it, and never will….He will die a lonely old man, with his bigot ways.   I find that whatever people think does not have to influence me and the way I see the world.  There is no color and I want to be one of the ones who carries the bricks to build the bridge not the one who tears it down.

We can all build a bridge over the gap that left this country and its people with deep, deep wounds.  You just have to do it with a baby step, one foot first, then the other.  And there needs to be a balancing of cultures, this encompasses all areas of understanding.  I know that people are very scared of the unknown, and this will be unknown territory.  Ultimately we are going in the right direction, with a bright, younger, and fresh new path, so why not loose the old way of thinking and go with it.  America is the melting pot for all who come here and now we must stand shoulder to shoulder and build the bridge for all of the Americans that reside here, work here, and live here.  I say Hello to our 44Th president Mr. Barack Obama, and I am here to help build that bridge.  Have a nice day!

It seems that on the news this morning they reported that most households in America are arguing and divided into two camps. The people who were Republican are turning Democrat, and vice verse. And because of this in this election year there seems to be more arguments erupting between cohabitants of these homes. I for one can attest to this as this seems to be what is happening in my home. My other ½ is a registered Democrat, and has decided not to follow his affiliation with said party. He had already voted this past week in early voting. And I did not ask him It seems that on the news this morning they reported that most households in America are divided into two camps. The people who were Republican are turning Democrat, and vice verse. And because of this in this election year there seems to be more arguments erupting between cohabitants of these homes.

I for one can attest to this as this seems to be what is happening in my home. My other ½ is a registered Democrat, and has decided not to follow his affiliation with said party. He had already voted this past week in early voting. And I did not ask him ” WHO? Did you vote for?” I did my part and showed respect for his privacy in this matter, I am also a registered Democrat. As I do think that who you choose for the elections is a private matter.I at the time knew he was speaking more evil against Obama and leaning more toward McCain. But I had attributed it to the fact that he has been listening to radio personalities that are of the political nature, and they shall remain nameless. I knew they had some influence over him with all the rhetoric that goes into radio talk programs. On Sunday while we were visiting with his elderly mother he let it slip out who he voted for. I raised an eyebrow, and said to myself>>>>HMM.

 His choice did surprise me and I cannot believe he did that, and that is when he started trying to influence me…..and trying to change my mind. Well I am not so easily swayed, and I look him in the eye and refuse to discuss it.!! As I am looking him in the eyes I tell him that it doesn’t matter anyway, they are ALL Liars, and Career Politician, and my vote won’t count anyway no more than his will! Because of the fact that the votes are not on paper ballots they can be messed with. Just like all the presidential races since Bill Clinton’s first term. And then I remind him of the woman we listened to on several talk shows while we were out over the road discussing the voting machines…Her name is Bev Harris, she has years of research into the truth about the voting machines. He remembered her and the facts, and he said ” Yeah you might just be right, my vote probably didn’t count anyway.” This has been put to rest in our home, and I will not discuss politics with him at all. We agree that we can disagree in silence and do not talk politic. And the fact is that our vote really doesn’t count, but I am going to cast it anyway and He and I are not discussing this any further.Go and check it out for yourself.  http://www.blackboxvoting.org