Welcome to my real life snow globe.
Last week, I was able to visit the store ONCE and that was a task because I had to get out of the drive first. Monumental endeavor and when I finally did make it to the store, the shelves were nearly bare because we had a snowstorm LAST weekend and delivery trucks weren’t able to make it through.
The sparsity of the shelves aligned perfectly with the poverty of my pocket as I only had $20 to buy groceries for a week. I exited the store with a whole chicken, several cans of veggies, cheese, eggs, milk, sugar,bread and flour. I also purchased veal at nearly nothing along with Oscar Meyer hotdogs that were drastically reduced. All in all, I did ok and was happy to have gotten groceries for the coming week. I didn’t have to worry about food over the weekend.
Boyfriend was supposed to work all weekend. The place he runs sound also has one of the best restaurants in the city, so I only prepare breakfast and lunch on days he works. He was scheduled for a four day work week which all turned to mush when the snow started piling up. He’s out of work til next week.
This morning, I felt like my humble little cookery was Kitchen Stadium minus the sumptuous choices of meat, cheese, and all manner of extra ingrediants. I realized the neccessity of some seriously frugal thinking where food was concerned. I’d need to make use of whatever I had in the cupboard and freezer to make our food last for the next few days.
Last night I took pasta from the freezer and made a sauce of tomato soup, basil, oregano and cream cheese and milk. I’d bought two nice veal chops for $1.79 and cooked those up and served the whole dinner with cheese toast. It was excellent and I had enough left for lunch today.
But how do I make Superbowl snacks? What can I do about the rest of our meals? We will not starve, of course, but to stretch everything I will need to think like an Iron Chef.
Watch out Emeril.Beware Cat Cora. Get out of the way Guy! The Frugal Musician is in Kitchen Stadium and ready for some creative cooking!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39651231
As the weather cooled last autumn, I learned to knit on a round loom. I bought yarn at my second hand store and made use of the round knitting looms my aunt gave me several years ago to create hats and gauntlet gloves for Christmas. All were a big hit.
I also figured out how to make knitted draw string purses like the one you see here. I have several versions of this at the etsy.com site below the picture. These remind me of the reticule purses Jane Austen characters carried.
I hope I can make some extra cash by using my creativity. There’s something about making something and then having someone purchase it and love it that makes my heart sing.
Do you do anything creative to sell? Do you like Etsy.com?
Winter in the music business is never what one might call easy. Boyfriend is a sound technician and I’m a music publicist and we both rely on touring and entertainment to provide us with work. Typically, both of our businesses grind to a slow crawl from the week before Thanksgiving to mid January.
Partner the big slow down with bouts of SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder), a lack of warmth and sun and the ground’s barren and frozen status and we both start to think of alternative ways to make a living. My alternative idea this particular winter is to make a career of selling sandwiches out of a lunch wagon. It seems a reasonable and sane way to make a living. After all, people gotta eat.
In 2009, I released four booklets about the music business. To see how Divine Intervention made this happen you can read this http://alunatunes.wordpress.com/2009/01/27/january-27-backstage-pass-seminar/. 2009 also marked my exit from the music booking business and the build a band business, into full-time publicity and writing. Now the freelance writing business is experiencing a shake up and publicity often demands underwriting funds as publications try to keep afloat in the digital age.
Essentially I’ve spent 15 years intimately involved in building the careers of other people, while my own, sadly, sat neglected and ill-fed in a dank, dark and cold corner. “SSSHHHHH!” I warned her when she cried no one was paying any attention to her. “Too much whining in the monitors! ” I’d hiss ala Jeff Mosier.” You are not as valid as band a, b, and c and are not as talented as singer a, so just knock off the complaining and let me get back to WORKING on the dreams of others! GEEZ!”
A week ago, a lot changed. It was sudden and unexpected. For a week, I’ve mulled it over, not obsessed or whined or complained about it, just quietly reflected on the change as a major part of my work life becomes not so major anymore. And it is good because I truly believe change is good all the way around. Without change, we’d never grow or develop or learn to count our blessings more fully and fervently on a minute by minute basis.
This morning, I picked Dream Girl up out of her dark corner, sat her on my knee, wiped her tears, gave her some warm tea and honey and brushed her hair. Strangely, she looked dazzling in the sunlight streaming through the window and I realized what a pretty little thing Dream Girl always was. How she loved to write and sing and how she adored the art of creation. As she become nourished and clean, she giggled. “We can do this.” she reminded me, then gave me a hug around the neck, as if I had never neglected her or let her down or ignored her at all.
So it’s time to pay attention to me and Dream Girl and pursue the things we’ve always loved, our own hopes and ambitions, all the things that have taken a back seat to the dreams of others for so many years. Although our pockets might be threadbare for a bit, we’ll be like a Dickens character. Maybe a little ragged and worn, but full of the goodness of life and content to find our new place in it.
I love how these nandina berries stand out in the snow! They look like natural Christmas lights.
Today is Superbowl Sunday. We have no real vested interest in the game since our beloved Steelers are out of the competition.
Normally, I make superbowl snacks, but given our current economic state and environmental predicament (snowed in), I’ll have to get very creative this year. I didn’t buy our usual array of goodies, but think I can come up with something pleasing and snack like by using what I have on hand.
Our Superbowl Snack menu will be
Bite size bean burritos (I snagged a package of frozen pintos from the freezer and we have sour cream and cheese) I’m going to put these together and then slice into rounds.
Pigs in a blanket of snow ….er ah…wait a minute! I’ll make biscuit dough and roll out and fill with hotdogs and cheese and cook in the oven
Homemade potato chips and sour cream and spinach dip (I slice potatoes very thinly and fry quickly in hot oil-much healthier than a sack of processed chips)
And for a sweet treat, I have a few slices of vanilla and chocolate cake in the freezer that I’ll serve with cool whip and frozen blackberries.
Will your Superbowl snacking be frugal ? I’d love to know what you’re cooking!
For the third weekend since December 18 we’re snowed in. Great masses of the white stuff pile at our driveway and ribbons of windblown snow weave around our window panes. I have never seen snow like this. It would be remarkable and enchanting but my enthusiasm for it is tempered by a solid dose of winter work woes. When the weather is bad, Boyfriend’s work closes and he goes unpaid. It’s winter and most bands tour sparsely and close to home during the cold months. And I rely on touring to make a living.
This scenario is not new and each year I try my best to prepare for it. Unfortunately, in January, I lost what I considered my “day job”. I was a public relations gal for a regional act and it took up nearly all my time. The pay was good, contributing nearly two thirds of my income. So I was rather shocked when touring didn’t let the group to renew my contract for another year. Then panic set in followed close on the heels of despair, discouragement and downright despondency.
Deriving an income from music and those who make it is tenuous in the best of times. With that in mind, I keep an emergency fund quickly accessible. I am lucky. But the next few months will be some of the toughest I’ve ever experienced.
I’ve decided to share this and share it now after pondering my situation for over a month. I didn’t know whether I should talk about this sudden change of affairs or simply keep it to myself and let people continue to wonder what the heck is wrong with Tammy.
Transparency is a big deal. I am the strong, silent type, always more content to bear whatever comes along with the stoicism of a monk and the full recognition that The Universe knows what it’s doing. I may not understand it, but I trust that this is how things are at the moment.
It occurs to me a blog is a web log and perhaps I can share my scary moments and triumphs on this new journey with you. After all, you’ve always been so kind to read and comment and I value your friendship more than I can say.
So here’s to transparency and the stinky smelly side of slap me in the face reality. It’s like a rollercoaster here right now. Hop in but remember to keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times and don’t exit until the ride has come to a full stop.
Ready, Set -GO!
“…in a time lacking in truth and certainty and filled with anguish and despair, no woman should be shamefaced in attempting to give back to the world, through her work, a portion of its lost heart.” Louise Bogan
I’ve written before about the lovely, timely, deep and mysterious Simple Abundance book by Sarah Ban Breathnatch. Five years ago, stumbling around for some meaning in life, I discovered Sarah’s lively discourse on love, living and self-discovery. Each time I find a copy of Simple Abundance, I purchase it. Over the course of a year, when a friend is discouraged or longing for inspiration, I’ll send a copy her way.
As many times as I’ve read Simple Abundance, I somehow missed this first quote in the book. I pray this year to ‘give back to the world, through my work, a portion of its lost heart’.
The sentiment resonates with me as I weave various miniscule streams of income, combining work as a freelance publicist, writer, seller of plants and creator of crafts into a tapestry of sustainability and daily life.
I pray my daily work, whether it’s writing, creating, or growing, results in a daily gift of restoring the heart to pieces of the world that may be broken, longing or in disrepair. I pray my work is a small miracle and a gift to those who are seeking hope, refuge, inspiration, knowledge or laughter.
May you have a year of Simple Abundance and glad tidings.
The FM woke up feeling poorly this morning. A weekend of heavy cleaning was taking its toll on my nose and lungs. It was however a dark moon weekend, the perfect time to clean and de-clutter.
Did I reach into the medicine cabinet? I did not.
I walked into my garden and plucked baby kale. I boiled a cup of water and dropped in a chicken bouillon along with a handful of baby kale. I added a good dose of black pepper and a half tsp of ground ginger.
I already feel better.
When you feel poorly, do you go straight to the medicine cabinet or opt for alternative therapy?
My Creator, have the grandfathers teach us today about the old ways. This meditation is available at www.whitebison.org |
“Tis the season of the Christmas catalog.
These are not catalogs I subscribe to, but rather the ones that are deposited frequently in everyone’s mailbox. Along with the catalogs arrive numerous sale papers featuring Christmas decor, gifts and all manner things “very shiny, very sparkly, looks like a holiday”- to quote Raymond in Rainman on seeings a hooker wearing a diamond necklace.
When the catalogs arrive, I go shopping.
Shopping involves scissors, a glue stick and my Happy Book. My Happy Book is a red - blank 8.5 x 11 book which contains my vision maps and dream boards. I shop with a pair of scissors, a glue stick and a large dose of imagination.
This morning I shopped Pier 1 for my holiday decor for my (imaginary) lake house. I chose a lovely table and chair set, napkins, napkin rings, plates, glassware, tree decorations, and clipped any color or color combination I found pleasing. Rugs, runners and rum jiggers became mine with a snip of scissors and a swipe of glue stick. I also clipped every sweet word I found: all seasons, JOY!, perfect, bless, awesome, colorful, wonderful, essential and glued the words into my Happy Book on the page I’ve devoted to words I love.
I shopped, pleased the woman tugging at my sleeve for something not from the thrift mart, and started the day off by remembering to recognize the soul needs a bit of frivolity from time to time.
I shopped in my PJs while sipping coffee and listening to ocean music. I didn’t spend a dime, stress over mall traffic or get sore feet.
I know I should call and stop the catalogs. After I am finished cutting them to shreds I do recycle. To me, they are serving a valuable service. They quell the yearly urge to splurge and soothe a spirit yearning for beauty but living on a budget.
Do you subscribe to catalogs?
http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/nutritionInfo.do
Whatever you may think of McDonald’s, when in a pinch and it’s Sunday and Chick Fil-A is MIA, a Happy Meal is The Frugal Musician’s best bet for quick and tasty nutrition. Plus, one can hold it and drive, which makes its status even more appealing.
Sunday, I had batched errands for the West End, combining an excursion with Boyfriend’s Z Car Event and an expiring coupon for a free item at Victoria’s Secret with other errands.
In the middle of my day, I was starving. Typically, I’ll make a sandwich and drink before leaving the house and pack it in a bag. But I had nothing on hand with which to create a quick to go meal. So I opted for a real indulgence: A Cheeseburger Happy Meal from McDonalds.
Most of my meals are 400 calorie affairs, and I was happy to learn that, with a child size diet coke (no ice thank you) my meal came in at 530 calories. I ordered the Girl meal and even got a nice little Barbie item for my gift stash. Having a cheeseburger occasionally is a nice treat. It takes me back to childhood for just a few minutes. And at $2.29 it fits my frugal budget.
What is your best option for eating on the go?
