“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?
I posted a couple of recipes for muffins and strudel, both using self-rising flour.
I even explained how to make self-rising flour if you didn’t have any on hand.
And I used regular flour when I made muffins last night. I was excited because I added a mixture of pumpkin pie spice and sugar to the regular mix. So I forgot to add the baking powder and salt into the regular flour to make my muffins puff.
**Sigh** What to do with the flat little muffins? How could they be saved? I simply couldn’t throw them away….
So I sliced them and made cookies. I baked the slices at 400 degress for 15 minutes and they were OUTSTANDING.
Do you ever make a baking error? Are you brave enough to try and fix it? I’d love to hear your stories!
My summer wardrobe starts to morph this time of year. To acclimate to the steady decrease in sun and warmth here in Virginia, I simply start to add layers to my standard summer attire. I’m not one that switches out closets, though I do keep coats in my upstairs sewing room closet.
Generally during the summer I wear skirts and tank tops or short sleeve tee shirts in the office. I don’t wear shoes. I think that is my favorite part of working for myself- no shoes in the office! Liberating, indeed!
As the weather starts to cool, I add a pullover or jacket to the tank top for morning wear. Because by noon, my little sunroom office is HOT and a layer must go. I should also add, this layering technique works beautifully when one becomes a certain age and has certain alarming and sudden rises in core temperature…..
And shoes. Yes, in the winter I must wear shoes. I opt for sneakers or if it is REALLY cold, or a fuzzy pair of bedroom slippers. Underneath my jeans or pants or skirt, I’ll wear tights. I think leggings are really wonderful things and I’m going to knit myself a pair asap.
Do you do a whole wardrobe switch or does your climate allow a layered approach?
I’m not sure where this one came from but obviously it’s chilly here, else I wouldn’t be passing along oven loving recipes.
The is an incredibly easy strudel. I’ve made it with canned peaches, canned strawberries, fresh apples, canned apples, blueberries and blackberries.
1 cup self-rising flour (or one cup plain with 1 and 1/4 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt added)
1 cup sugar ( I use less if I am using sweetened canned fruit)
1 cup milk
2 16 oz cans peaches (with liquid) or equivalent fruit
Melt a half a stick of butter in 9×3 glass pan in oven. Mix flour, sugar and milk and pour into baking dish. Spread fruit evenly over mixture. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes. Great with Cool Whip or ice cream!
1-2-3 MUFFINS by Minnie Stark from the High Hills Baptist Church Cookbook 1987
I found this most excellent recipe for muffins in Boyfriend’s grandma’s cookbook. I’ve made them lately, zipping up the recipe with everything from cheese for savory muffins to nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar for sweet treats.
Who knew bread could be so easy!?
1 cup self-rising flour (if you don’t have self-rising, use regular flour and one and one quarter tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt)
2 tablespoons of mayo
1/2 cup milk
Mix all together and customize to your taste. Pour batter into six greased muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes. Yum-o and even more yum-o the next day with hot coffee!
http://www.groovygreen.com/groove/?p=689
I planted Luffa seeds last year at the base of a dead tree in my flower garden. All summer I’ve had gorgeous yellow blooms and long cucumberish looking fruit.
I was wondering about harvesting and found this fantastic link. I will be giving luffahs away for gifts along with bath salts packaged in handmade drawstring bags.
The mall is a distressing place full of consumerism. I’m happy to have a little plot of land and a little know-how to create my own gifts for holidays and special occassions.
What are you making for Christmas?
www.myspace.com/soldriventrain
Sol Driven Train, from Charleston SC, is one of the bands I work with. I admire their tenacity, ethics and LOVE their music.
The band came to stay with us Friday as they played here in Richmond. For Fridays dinner I made a big pot of STOUP, the soup that eats like a meal. Friday stoup was a combination of keilbasa, lentils, tomatoes, corn and pasta and it was excellent. I served it with crusty sweet bread and the guys loved it.
Next day, I made a southern bruch with bacon, scrambled eggs with cheese, biscuits, gravy, and grits. Joel brought in a watermelon the guys had picked up in South Carolina and we had a feast before the boys piled back onto the bus and headed out for West Virginia.
If you ever get a chance to offer a band room and board for the night, do it. Musicians are one of God’s most excellent creations and they never fail to give of themselves and their talent to brighten our lives.
Last Saturday was gorgeous here in Richmond VA and I was determined to NOT spend the day sitting in front of the computer working.
But I only had $15 bucks of “disposable” income. Don’t get me wrong. I have money, just not cash. And since I have eschewed the use of credit as well as debit cards (except for groceries and gas), my stash of cash is all the income my brain recognizes.
It took a bit of discipline to train my brain to just forget about the Emergency Fund, the change jar, the little squirreling back I’ve done since the beginning of the year. And sometimes I just get a shopping jones. This is when I usually hit up my favorite thrift mart, The Junior League store, where I can purchase items and know my purchasing power goes right back into the community.
But alas, there was no half off sale at the Junior League shop (the only time I allow myself to partake of goodies) and I just longed to putter around a shop. After all, I had not been out of the house all week.
So my fifteen bucks and I hopped in the 98 Besty Jeep and drove the 3 miles to Lowes. I was resolved to window shop when what to my wandering eyes should appear but a LARGE GROUP OF PERENNIALS AT ONE DOLLAR OR LESS EACH. They were what I like to call “adoptees” – maybe a little droopy and shabby but with a little love, they’d blossom and grow.
My eyes welled with tears. I would finally be able to fill my planters and pots and have some much needed color on my deck and porch. I had salivated over my neighbors’ gorgeous pots of yellow and red mums proudly displayed on front porches to welcome fall. But $20 for a porch display was just not do-able in my book.
I grabbed one of the large Lowes rolling carts. NAY, not the basket or the regular cart but the BIG DEALS with wheels and loaded up. I ended up with hyssop, geraniums, wave petunias in coral, yellow, red and purple, assorted decorative grasses, verbena, tiny trailing Petunia, angelonia, bacopa, red rocks bearded tongue and a few more things I cannot remember. I spent the day pruning and cutting and dividing.
One pot alone was $17.00. I paid a buck. When everything was totalled, I had purchased 15 BIG pots of plants (enough to divide for my planters) for eleven dollars and oh five cents.
One of the 15 plants was a HUGE yellow Gerber daisy…..
For my front porch of course (wink wink).
Jane Austen inspired tote
www.alunachicstreasures.etsy.com
I’ve been insanely busy of late. And I have missed writing and posting about my frugal adventures. I hope to get started again on my daily posts, but have decided, instead of pressuring myself in another aspect of daily living (I’m in the music business- and that is pressure enough), I’ll post when possible or when something cool happens in frugalland. It’s been nearly impossible with my work schedule to write (which I dearly love) and share ideas and read about all YOUR wonderful ideas.
As it happens, this is my one year anniversary in blogworld. I don’t know what I expected from blogging but am delighted with friendships made and recipes exchanged and the participation in a community of like-minded individuals. It’s indeed soul satisfying to be part of a community that validates saving instead of spending and mindful living over rampant and uncontrolled consumerism.
I’ve become more dedicated to the side hustle and have opened an etsy.com store as well as listed “stuff” at bonanzle.com.
www.bonanzle.com/booths/alunachic
At 50, I felt a shift in time vs. work. The words of Vikki Robin and Joe Dominguez in Your Money or Your Life that money is something you trade your life energy for, echoed in my head constantly. I decided to cut out the projects that were not offering me a living income or projects that expected miracles. I focused more on freelance opportunities. The ability to get in, do the work, and exit is enticing. I’ve been very lucky to find freelance work. I’ve been in the music business a long time and fortunately, have a decent reputation for doing a good job in a timely manner for reasonable pay. My work comes to me via word of mouth. How wonderful is that?
So I’m still here. Still hangin out. Still hangin in. And still frugal….after all these years.
