It's always fascinated me how some people appear to be comfortably well off while others are struggling but it turns out that they are bringing in similar salaries. How can that be? Credit cards may be an answer, or a second income but a lot of it is attitude. Another big plus is resourcefulness and the ability to handle money.
It's also amazing to me how one can be as poor as a church mouse and still have wonderful things happen. At least that's what happened to me this last weekend. My youngest daughter sent me an airplane ticket to come visit her in Las Vegas. The journey is wonderful, 40 minute flights out of the nearest airports, both of which happened right on time and without incident.
Once there I was wined and dined in lavish style, taken boating on Lake Mead and jet skiing for the first time ever! My daughter and her partner totally spoiled me. It's also amazing that my children give me money to help out. I never in a million years expected that would ever happen. The first time they did, I didn't know what to do about it. But then I figured, what the heck since I was generous with them for many years.
I really want to become independent again though and stay that way as long as possible. I want to not only get by on my own but to learn to live well on my own.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Traditions
Last week we were housesitting at my brothers and he isn't a baker. There were no ingredients, so I was forced to resort to a box muffin mix. But this Sunday we are back home and therefore, back in business.
I decided to make the first recipe I spotted when opening my The Joy of Muffins: The International Muffin Cook Book. It was Irish Jam Muffins. This was a departure for me as I don't usually cook with buttermilk or lemon. OMG they were SO GOOD!!! You actually bake the jelly into them and top 'em off with a sprinkle of powdered sugar. I was glad I followed the recipe closely as they turned out so fine and high quality.
Here it is:
1 1/2 cops flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1 egg
4 tbsp. butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1 cup raspberry or blueberry jam
confectioners sugar
Mix together flour, baking powder, soda, sugar and grated lemon rind in a large bowl. Whick egg with melted butter, buttermilk and lemon extract. Make a well in dry ingredients and quickly add liquid ingredients. Fill greased muffin tins one-half full. Add two spoons of jam and cover with batter. Bake until done, remove from tins after five minutes and sprinkle tops with confectioner's sugar. Bake at 400 degrees, 15-20 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.
You have to understand that this took maybe 5-10 minutes in the kitchen to make and baked up really fast. There's no reason to make boxed muffins when you can throw homemade ones together from scratch so quickly and easily.
It actually made 9 nice, large muffins for us. I had one of those thingys that you grate lemons or oranges on to get a fine rind, can't remember what they're called. I was tempted to use vanilla extract since I didn't have lemon extract. Instead I just squeezed the lemon into the batter. Mmm, mmm, mmm...delicate, delicioso but be careful. That jam is really hot inside those muffins when they first come out of the oven!
I would have loved to use some black raspberry jam that my brother had at his house and was selling at the store for $5. But it would have been a frivolous purchase as I already had 3 kinds of jelly/jams at home. What I did was make 3 of the muffins with orange marmalade, 3 with prune jam, and 3 with strawberry jelly. I ate one of the orange marmalade ones and it was SO perfect. I'm not normally a big citrus fan but this made up into a light and satisfying product.
I decided to make the first recipe I spotted when opening my The Joy of Muffins: The International Muffin Cook Book. It was Irish Jam Muffins. This was a departure for me as I don't usually cook with buttermilk or lemon. OMG they were SO GOOD!!! You actually bake the jelly into them and top 'em off with a sprinkle of powdered sugar. I was glad I followed the recipe closely as they turned out so fine and high quality.
Here it is:
1 1/2 cops flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp grated lemon rind
1 egg
4 tbsp. butter, melted
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1 cup raspberry or blueberry jam
confectioners sugar
Mix together flour, baking powder, soda, sugar and grated lemon rind in a large bowl. Whick egg with melted butter, buttermilk and lemon extract. Make a well in dry ingredients and quickly add liquid ingredients. Fill greased muffin tins one-half full. Add two spoons of jam and cover with batter. Bake until done, remove from tins after five minutes and sprinkle tops with confectioner's sugar. Bake at 400 degrees, 15-20 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.
You have to understand that this took maybe 5-10 minutes in the kitchen to make and baked up really fast. There's no reason to make boxed muffins when you can throw homemade ones together from scratch so quickly and easily.
It actually made 9 nice, large muffins for us. I had one of those thingys that you grate lemons or oranges on to get a fine rind, can't remember what they're called. I was tempted to use vanilla extract since I didn't have lemon extract. Instead I just squeezed the lemon into the batter. Mmm, mmm, mmm...delicate, delicioso but be careful. That jam is really hot inside those muffins when they first come out of the oven!
I would have loved to use some black raspberry jam that my brother had at his house and was selling at the store for $5. But it would have been a frivolous purchase as I already had 3 kinds of jelly/jams at home. What I did was make 3 of the muffins with orange marmalade, 3 with prune jam, and 3 with strawberry jelly. I ate one of the orange marmalade ones and it was SO perfect. I'm not normally a big citrus fan but this made up into a light and satisfying product.
Monday, September 7, 2009
ADDICTIONS
It's Labor Day ... 3 day weekends unnerve me. I've become much more of a routine-oriented person in my old age and not being at work on a Monday morning just feels wrong somehow. It's nice to catch up on your sleep though!
Yesterday morning we had blueberry muffins and this morning corn muffins. No recipes to share as these were from mixes. Since Jeanne and I are housesitting, we don't have access to all the ingredients we'd need to make home made muffins.
Jeanne lost her job this week. We had JUST been celebrating that her store had released a list of employees ranking based on secret shopping scores, meeting daily sales quotas, credit card aps, etc. and Jeanne was ranked number 1. Within the week she'd been called into the office and told that her job was discontinued. It was "nothing personal" and mostly based on seniority. Since J was one of the last hired, she is the first to be let go. sigh. At first I thought we'd get by OK if she gets unemployment, but then I realized that she really has to kick butt and get a job NOW since this area is so seasonal. Her goal is to get back into the grocery store industry as she did so well in that field before.
But none of the above is what I had intended to blog about today. What I want to write about is addictions. I once spent a few days with friends who were going through rough times financially. They had little in the way of groceries but a refrigerator full of beer! Go figure. Our downfall is soda. No matter how poor we were this summer, we still managed to have fresh two liters of soda in the house at all times. Not as expensive as some addictions, but still troublesome.
I can't imagine what this is doing for our bodies. It's time to go cold turkey but I don't believe in giving things up, I believe in making exchanges. Instead of reaching for the coke, I'll drink sparkling water or iced tea. Oddly enough, sparkling water is more expensive than soda, especially in restaurants.
Another example of exchanges instead of sacrifice - I used to have a shopping addiction. That was my hobby and a fun way to spend weekends while raising 3 daughters. If bored, we'd pile in the car and head to the mall. When I realized that my finances were taking a downward turn, I stopped shopping at department stores and instead shopped at places like Ross and Marshalls. Then I downgraded to thrift stores and garage sales. It was fun to head out on a Saturday morning with a 10 dollar bill and see all the stuff I could find to buy with that, every bit as satisfying as department store finds. Since I'm not a packrat, this led to my holding a lot of garage sales of stuff I'd accumulated in my travels. That became an important end of the month boost to our finances for years, before the advent of ebay and craigslist.
Yesterday morning we had blueberry muffins and this morning corn muffins. No recipes to share as these were from mixes. Since Jeanne and I are housesitting, we don't have access to all the ingredients we'd need to make home made muffins.
Jeanne lost her job this week. We had JUST been celebrating that her store had released a list of employees ranking based on secret shopping scores, meeting daily sales quotas, credit card aps, etc. and Jeanne was ranked number 1. Within the week she'd been called into the office and told that her job was discontinued. It was "nothing personal" and mostly based on seniority. Since J was one of the last hired, she is the first to be let go. sigh. At first I thought we'd get by OK if she gets unemployment, but then I realized that she really has to kick butt and get a job NOW since this area is so seasonal. Her goal is to get back into the grocery store industry as she did so well in that field before.
But none of the above is what I had intended to blog about today. What I want to write about is addictions. I once spent a few days with friends who were going through rough times financially. They had little in the way of groceries but a refrigerator full of beer! Go figure. Our downfall is soda. No matter how poor we were this summer, we still managed to have fresh two liters of soda in the house at all times. Not as expensive as some addictions, but still troublesome.
I can't imagine what this is doing for our bodies. It's time to go cold turkey but I don't believe in giving things up, I believe in making exchanges. Instead of reaching for the coke, I'll drink sparkling water or iced tea. Oddly enough, sparkling water is more expensive than soda, especially in restaurants.
Another example of exchanges instead of sacrifice - I used to have a shopping addiction. That was my hobby and a fun way to spend weekends while raising 3 daughters. If bored, we'd pile in the car and head to the mall. When I realized that my finances were taking a downward turn, I stopped shopping at department stores and instead shopped at places like Ross and Marshalls. Then I downgraded to thrift stores and garage sales. It was fun to head out on a Saturday morning with a 10 dollar bill and see all the stuff I could find to buy with that, every bit as satisfying as department store finds. Since I'm not a packrat, this led to my holding a lot of garage sales of stuff I'd accumulated in my travels. That became an important end of the month boost to our finances for years, before the advent of ebay and craigslist.
I'm a different person now. I don't gather as much, I mostly reduce my belongings and see how little I really need to get by. I think I'll start a company - the Simplification Organization. It's time to use my years of garage sale experience to help others!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Sunday Morning Special
At the thrift store yesterday I found a little spiral-bound book entitled The Joy of Muffins. This fits right in to my never-ending pursuit of ways to keep Jeanne away from fast food. One of her favorite things to do on weekends is take the dog to the dog park early in the morning before I wake up and return with ... ta dah ... donuts and coffee...an unneeded $5 expense.
So I proclaimed that Sunday mornings are now Muffin Mornings, I'll try out a new recipe from my cookbook every week. I went through and marked the recipes that looked the most appealing. This morning I broke in the book by making Swedish Breakfast Muffins. I chose this recipe because I already had all the ingredients in the house.
This, the book says, is a 150 year old recipe and was surprisingly easy to make. The first muffins I think I've ever made from scratch. Here's the recipe:
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
4 Tbsp. sugar
pinch salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 tbsp. oil (or butter melted)
As I'm writing this, I'm just now reading that there are actually directions for mixing up the muffins ... I just threw all the ingredients into a bowl and mixed. They turned out fine. But for the purists out there, here are the exact instructions.
Mix dry together in large bowl. Whisk together egg milk and oil (or butter) and pour into a well in center of dry ingredients. Mix lightly and quickly together. Spoon into greased muffin cups and bake until done. Serve hot with butter and maple syrup. Bake at 375 degrees 20 to 25 minutes.
They said it would make 12 muffins. It made 7 large muffins for us. I served them with butter and strawberry jam. Jeanne felt that the texture was almost like a corn muffin. To me they tasted like a scone. I like that it didn't call for that much sugar.
At the thrift shop I had also seen two silk blouses that looked like they'd fit. I didn't buy them because they were $4 each, but I checked my account last night and found that I'd already been paid! I didn't think it would show up until tomorrow - the last working day of the month. So I went back to the store today and tried on those two silk blouses, one peach and one lavendar. They fit perfectly and were in top condition. I also found a nice pair of black capris and some cute, black shorts - a big splurge! When I went to pay, I discovered that all clothing was half off today! I got 4 top quality pieces for $8. Woo Hoo!
This thrift shop that I haunt (I try to check it every weekend) is my favorite because it's Revivals - all proceeds go to support AIDS research and treatment. It's also a consignment shop and I had fallen in love with a painting I'd been keeping my eye on. This painting was going for $195. This visit I was going to ask about it, could I work out time payments or put it on layaway or negotiate with it's owners if it was on consignment. Luckily when I got there today it was gone. *Phew* that was close. This is why I don't tour art galleries. I always fall in love with something unaffordable and never forget about it and suffer greatly that I can't own it. Champagne tastes on a beer budget, that's me.
So I proclaimed that Sunday mornings are now Muffin Mornings, I'll try out a new recipe from my cookbook every week. I went through and marked the recipes that looked the most appealing. This morning I broke in the book by making Swedish Breakfast Muffins. I chose this recipe because I already had all the ingredients in the house.
This, the book says, is a 150 year old recipe and was surprisingly easy to make. The first muffins I think I've ever made from scratch. Here's the recipe:
2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
4 Tbsp. sugar
pinch salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 tbsp. oil (or butter melted)
As I'm writing this, I'm just now reading that there are actually directions for mixing up the muffins ... I just threw all the ingredients into a bowl and mixed. They turned out fine. But for the purists out there, here are the exact instructions.
Mix dry together in large bowl. Whisk together egg milk and oil (or butter) and pour into a well in center of dry ingredients. Mix lightly and quickly together. Spoon into greased muffin cups and bake until done. Serve hot with butter and maple syrup. Bake at 375 degrees 20 to 25 minutes.
They said it would make 12 muffins. It made 7 large muffins for us. I served them with butter and strawberry jam. Jeanne felt that the texture was almost like a corn muffin. To me they tasted like a scone. I like that it didn't call for that much sugar.
At the thrift shop I had also seen two silk blouses that looked like they'd fit. I didn't buy them because they were $4 each, but I checked my account last night and found that I'd already been paid! I didn't think it would show up until tomorrow - the last working day of the month. So I went back to the store today and tried on those two silk blouses, one peach and one lavendar. They fit perfectly and were in top condition. I also found a nice pair of black capris and some cute, black shorts - a big splurge! When I went to pay, I discovered that all clothing was half off today! I got 4 top quality pieces for $8. Woo Hoo!
This thrift shop that I haunt (I try to check it every weekend) is my favorite because it's Revivals - all proceeds go to support AIDS research and treatment. It's also a consignment shop and I had fallen in love with a painting I'd been keeping my eye on. This painting was going for $195. This visit I was going to ask about it, could I work out time payments or put it on layaway or negotiate with it's owners if it was on consignment. Luckily when I got there today it was gone. *Phew* that was close. This is why I don't tour art galleries. I always fall in love with something unaffordable and never forget about it and suffer greatly that I can't own it. Champagne tastes on a beer budget, that's me.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Julie and Julia
Yesterday Jeanne & I decided to go out and celebrate my new job. We had to choose being going to Sizzler for a steak dinner or going to the movies (we couldn’t afford both.) I’ve been dying to see "Julie and Julia", so the movies won!
It was great fun, we actually splurged on the expensive Hot Popcorn, (which was cold) and two large sodas. Mid movie Jeanne excused herself and came back with another surprise – a box of candy. Life was good.
The movie was good too. I hadn't read Julie’s blog about cooking her way through Julia Child’s 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' but I had read her book. It was extremely entertaining. Meryl Streep played an affectionate, coquettish Julia Child and it was well written – the way the two women’s live’s mirrored each other.
You had to wonder how Julie afforded all those expensive ingredients. I know that eventually she put a paypal link on her blog so that supporters could contribute but what did she do until then?
A friend and I tried to blog and cook our way through Rachel Ray’s 365 No Repeats back in 2005. We made it through a month and then our families revolted and refused to eat any more of the weird, tex-mex type food. There’s a cute scene in the movie where Julie, Julia and their husbands are all reaching for the bicarb of soda to help digest the rich food. I could identify!
It is also every bloggers dream to break into the publishing world with their blog. It’s such a direct way to success and every writer’s dream … to have the publisher come to you. Every time you try to read some book about how to get your writing published, it’s always so convoluted … literary agents, editors, publishing houses, vanity publishing. I gave up a long time ago and shoved both my plays, my screenplay and my novel back into the drawer where they will probably always stay. My screenplay is coming back to life though in my mind and I want to do more work on it.
It was great fun, we actually splurged on the expensive Hot Popcorn, (which was cold) and two large sodas. Mid movie Jeanne excused herself and came back with another surprise – a box of candy. Life was good.
The movie was good too. I hadn't read Julie’s blog about cooking her way through Julia Child’s 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking' but I had read her book. It was extremely entertaining. Meryl Streep played an affectionate, coquettish Julia Child and it was well written – the way the two women’s live’s mirrored each other.
You had to wonder how Julie afforded all those expensive ingredients. I know that eventually she put a paypal link on her blog so that supporters could contribute but what did she do until then?
A friend and I tried to blog and cook our way through Rachel Ray’s 365 No Repeats back in 2005. We made it through a month and then our families revolted and refused to eat any more of the weird, tex-mex type food. There’s a cute scene in the movie where Julie, Julia and their husbands are all reaching for the bicarb of soda to help digest the rich food. I could identify!
It is also every bloggers dream to break into the publishing world with their blog. It’s such a direct way to success and every writer’s dream … to have the publisher come to you. Every time you try to read some book about how to get your writing published, it’s always so convoluted … literary agents, editors, publishing houses, vanity publishing. I gave up a long time ago and shoved both my plays, my screenplay and my novel back into the drawer where they will probably always stay. My screenplay is coming back to life though in my mind and I want to do more work on it.
A New Job
I am way excited as I have gotten a promotion! I've been testing and interviewing with my school district for over year. As you know, I badly need a 12 month, better paying job. I lucked out and snagged one of the 2 twelve month jobs up for grabs this fall! It's about 5 steps up the pay scale ... How much my pay checks will actually be remain to be seen.
I started the job last week. It's a doozy, I've more than tripled my work load working at a high school with over 3,000 students. But I intend to learn it all and become the foremost authority in my field.
Now I'm waiting to see if J gets hired by the same school district. We should know within the next couple of weeks as the para educators are put into place for the upcoming school year. If she does, that will help us out financially enough that we should be pretty comfortable.
The trick will be to manage our money well while continuing to live within our means. My biggest goal is to pay off our bills, mostly we just have some minor medical bills of J's to catch up on. We don't have any other debt that I know of. I also need to start paying back my retirement and building it up so that I can retire in 10 years with a nice pension.
Our other two goals are to buy a second car and move to a nicer place that isn't roach infested and has a washer and dryer. Hopefully those two things can wait until we have passed our 6 month probation periods.
Stay tuned as the next few months should be interesting.
I started the job last week. It's a doozy, I've more than tripled my work load working at a high school with over 3,000 students. But I intend to learn it all and become the foremost authority in my field.
Now I'm waiting to see if J gets hired by the same school district. We should know within the next couple of weeks as the para educators are put into place for the upcoming school year. If she does, that will help us out financially enough that we should be pretty comfortable.
The trick will be to manage our money well while continuing to live within our means. My biggest goal is to pay off our bills, mostly we just have some minor medical bills of J's to catch up on. We don't have any other debt that I know of. I also need to start paying back my retirement and building it up so that I can retire in 10 years with a nice pension.
Our other two goals are to buy a second car and move to a nicer place that isn't roach infested and has a washer and dryer. Hopefully those two things can wait until we have passed our 6 month probation periods.
Stay tuned as the next few months should be interesting.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Summer Woes
It's been a long hot summer. Energy bills here in the desert are ridiculous. We're paying $200 a month to keep cool a 700 sq. ft. apartment with no washer & dryer. That's what we get for living in the So Cal Edison part of the Coachella Valley.
Needless to say, we've been patronizing the 99 cent store all summer. What a great place! I had to get some saline nasal spray according to my doctor and was able to find it there. I was also able to find large bottles of my fiber pills there. This stuff normally sells for $14.99. Needless to say, I stocked up on several bottles as you never know if they are still going to be there the next time you go shopping.
When we lived in Las Vegas, my partner Kate became infatuated with the 99 cent store. We weren't allowed to tell anyone, as she is from Cambridge Massachusetts and a bit of a snop. I didn't understand the attraction but there's a big one in the middle of town and it's amazing what you can find in there! Everything from cleaning supplies, pharmaceuticals, toiletries and food~!
Needless to say, we've been patronizing the 99 cent store all summer. What a great place! I had to get some saline nasal spray according to my doctor and was able to find it there. I was also able to find large bottles of my fiber pills there. This stuff normally sells for $14.99. Needless to say, I stocked up on several bottles as you never know if they are still going to be there the next time you go shopping.
When we lived in Las Vegas, my partner Kate became infatuated with the 99 cent store. We weren't allowed to tell anyone, as she is from Cambridge Massachusetts and a bit of a snop. I didn't understand the attraction but there's a big one in the middle of town and it's amazing what you can find in there! Everything from cleaning supplies, pharmaceuticals, toiletries and food~!
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