The Frugal Musician takes a Friday Field Trip

http://agecrofthall.com

The Frugal Musician is a hermit. It’s a fact very well-known and since I developed tinnitus last year (an evil condition where one’s ears ring, buzz or pop all the time) I have not attended live music shows, which I enjoyed up close and personal, as my ringing ears now attest to.

April 30 was Beltane and I was pondering a solo celebration of this rite of Summer. I was committed to calling in the Earth Mother Goddess with Sage and water and smoke, blessing the house and yard. In leu of a Maypole, I was thinking of gathering up blooming flowers and streaming them over my arbor in the back garden, scrying for fairies through ivy circles and fancied making a Brigids Doll of found natural items.

Then I read Agecroft Hall was having a Beltane celebration. I’d wanted to visit Agecroft forever but had not (see the aforementioned HERMIT status). The house was built in Lancashire, England in 1495 and was the home of noble families until 1926 when it was sold at auction to Richmonder Thomas C. Williams who had it dismantled, shipped across the sea and reassembled in Windsor Farms. 

From Elizabethan England to practically my back yard!

Admission was $5 for the event and the drive fit my Frugal Field trip mileage standards ( less than 20 miles round trip) so off I went! It was a great time, easy parking (free), and the small crowd was perfect.

Are you taking yourself out for Frugal Field Trips? I’d love to hear about them.

The Frugal Musician returns from workcation

I returned home from a four day jaunt to NC to visit family, attend a business meeting and take in a few shows featuring my bands.  I was met with this glorious Gerbera Daily in bloom on the table of my back deck. This plant was purchased for a buck at Lowes and I had few hopes of it blooming after being neglected in a retail environment. But to my utter amazement, she pulled through and gave me a gorgeous gift.

It’s really nice to be home. Generally, my sister and mom and I and my nieces visit the beach, but this year, as many other Americans, we found the need to keep our purses closed and our minds open to other ways to have fun. When the opportunity arose for a weekend getaway combining family fun with business, I jumped in Miss Betsy and we headed down the highway.

My blogging has been sorely neglected and I promise to catch up as soon as I get my office in order again. As a daily worker, being gone just for four days puts me behind in many tasks and I’ve been catching up all week.

Being away from home makes me even more grateful to have a home.  I read with many smiles Angela Barton’s recent post about Gratefulness. Go to

http://www.myyearwithoutspending.blogspot.com

And while you’re there, check out Angela’s inspiring story in Potamac Review, To Have and To Hold. It’s under Angela’s publications. It has to be one of my favorite reads ever!

The Frugal Musician does FREE

I know last week I wrote about eschewing fast food and especially fast food soda, citing the gunky soda lines associated with fountain drinks. However, and in direct contradiction to my post from last week, I WILL take FREE when it presents itself.  I’ve been the happy recipient of a good many offers for Free or Nearly Free fast food items of late and have taken advantage of them.  Everything from totally FREE offers at the brand new ChickFilA down the street to one dollar McDonalds fish sandwich coupons have fallen into my hands. 

And as they have, I have offered up a prayer of thanks and a whisper of a doubt. 

Free is not necessarily healthy. But I figure I eat enough salad to make up for my occasional fast food freebies.

It made me wonder. Does FREE change your attitude about what you eat and where you dine?

The Frugal Musician gets portable…

I rarely buy a soda or any other beverage away from home.  I am suspicious of the carbonation and syrup lines indicative of the typical fountain type soda machines. I worked in a theatre and saw first hand how nasty those lines can get when not properly maintained.  I also am quite afraid of the “pink mold” that grows on the inside of industrial ice makers (and I am a girl who likes her ice).

When I leave home, even for a quick trip, I take my own liquid refreshment. It may be a bottle of water (I reuse plastic bottles), or a jar of tea or a jar of soda. Yes I said JAR. Mayonnaise jars are the best portable containers for tea or soda. I realize this may sound a little hillbilly, but it works for me. I can reuse mayo jars many times, significantly reducing my Styrofoam cup footprint. Not buying sodas at fast food joints or indulging in the plastic bottled soda at the market helps me reduce expenses.

That said, I do have a bad fetish for Diet Coke and I buy it in plastic bottles which I reuse as planters (cut the top off- it works great) . The cut off top becomes a plastic bell jar for fragile garden plants. But I really do wish I could afford those little baby cokes in the bottles.

Maybe someday. The Frugal Musician can always hope….

The Frugal Musician on the go….

Being on the go for most musicians requires eating and drinking on the run. Fast food may be fast but it is unhealthy and expensive.  With just a bit of time and planning, road trips don’t have to involve stops for fast food.  Trent at The Simple Dollar posted a wonderful recipe and how to for breakfast burritos . Breakfast burritos are nutritious, delicious, simple to create and PORTABLE.  Trent gives all the directions, include pricing,preparing and wrapping at http://thesimpledollar.com

My favorite morning drive breakfast routine is to make a couple of egg salad sandwiches and stash them in plastic containers. I make a container of chips or cut up apples to accompany said sandwich. I put everything in a paper bag along with a banana or raisins, powerbar or cookies.  I prepare the coffeemaker the night before with my favorite blend and put out a to go mug.

The Frugal Musician is NOT a morning person and the thought of a morning drive is nearly unbearable but must be done from time to time. It’s MUCH easier to manage the morning when everything is done the night before. I get up and get dressed while the coffeemaker is perking.  The bag is manageable and sturdy enough to throw in a backpack to sit in the front seat of Miss Betsy (my Jeep Cherokee).  Pour coffee into the portable mug and off we go.

About an hour into the trip, I take out my little bag and have a delicious, nutritious, portable breakfast with coffee. It’s such a sublime experience to take care of oneself and one’s food and not be at the mercy of Mickey D’s, long cues and high cost, high fat food.

What’s your favorite breakfast food when traveling?