I was reading a friend's blog tonight and she was talking about budgeting, specifically the household food budget. I've been mostly out of the workforce for a couple of years now and, not bring in any money to the house, have felt it's now my duty to stretch the dollars my husband makes. The best things I've done so far are in not throwing away the food we have because it expires (we're talking mostly leftovers here) before anyone becomes desparate enough to eat it. Case in point: old, blackened, mooshy bananas. I know people who will use these to whip up a tasty batch of banana bread. The problem I have is that inspiration for baking doesn't always strike when I notice the bananas on the counter starting to ooze through their skins. Solution: peel each banana and put into individual sandwich baggies to freeze. The will keep in the freezer nearly forever, and are the perfect base for slushy fruit smoothies. Another mostly wasted item? Bread heels. No one here seems to like them, so, unless I have the energy to toss them into the woods behind our house for the squirrels, into the garbage they go. Now I instead air dry them thorougly, run them through the blender and use the resulting crumbs in a couple of ways. First, I use them for homemade coating mix (Shake n Bake) by adding onion soup mix and/or other seasonings. Second, I have a falafel recipe that calls for a big dose of bread crumbs, so I'm always ready to fry up a batch. I usually splurg for the good, grainy, seedy bread so I'm pleased to have a use for the otherwise undesirable pieces too. Also, we very rarely take the kids out to restaurants anymore. This means, with most of our dinners prepared at home, we have a lot more leftovers in our fridge than we used to, both meat and dribs and drabs of vegetables. Once a week I used to round up this stuff from the fridge and throw it out, but then I found a recipe for Shepard's Pie. I take a pound of ground beef and then grind up whatever leftover meat I have in the fridge with my mixer's grinding attachment. This usually gives me a pound and a half of meat (which is what the recipe calls for). Then I can add whatever vegetables are at hand--fresh or leftovers--to make the base. Top that with a layer of shredded cheese and top the cheese with a layer of mashed potatoes and bake the hell out of it. It's a little different everytime, but always a winner with the kids. And I don't throw away nearly as much leftover food as I used to. For fresh vegetables in danger of exceeded their shelf life, I bought a wok and stir fry them all up with nuts, a bit of meat, and a pot of rice. In short, I'm making better use of the appliances that I already have to make better use of the food and finding key recipes here and there that make better use of the things we are otherwise reluctant to eat. If you have any advice found by stretching your own food dollars, I'd be pleased to hear it.
On Friday, I took the dog to the vet to have her stitches out. Long story, that. The short version is that she ran over a shard of broken glass the week before and had to be sewn back together. To the tune of $350. Ouch. On so many levels, ouch. So by Friday morning, we both had a healthy dose of cabin fever. With the vet's okay, we drove directly down to Brannan Park on the Green River for our first walk in about ten days.
This particular trail is ideal for a warm-up after a prolonged stay indoors. The trail follows the river through the park and beyond it for another half mile or so. And, because the trail simply dead-ends at that point, it's a bit of a trail-to-nowhere, so not heavily used. I can let the dog off the leash without having to worry too much about encountering other people/animals. It's short, it's quiet, it's scenic. What more could you want on a misty Friday morning?
Walking past the park, the first thing I noticed was a helicopter. It was hovering directly over the river, not moving at all. That was odd enough, but then I noticed another one further downriver, also standing sentry over the water. And then another beyond that. As we kept walking, we eventually noticed a full complement of sheriffs' vehicles parked along the road across the river, lights flashing red. And then the rescue boats in the water, probing the bottom of the rain-engorged river with long poles.
As we turned about at the far end of the trail, there were so many people standing about on the trail that I gave up the idea of letting the dog walk off-leash. There was even a KING 5 camera crew interviewing neighbors who'd come out of their houses for a closer look. I asked one of them what was going on. A car, she told me, had lost control and ended up in the river. The driver got out, but there were still two boys in the car. How long had they been underwater. Oh, at least a couple of hours.
We came home and I turned on the news. If you're local, you probably already know what happened, but for those of you at large, a 16-year-old girl was driving her 2-year-old cousin to day care for her aunt (who was recovering from knee surgery). Another 13-year-old cousin was along for the ride (why?). The day care wouldn't take the baby because he was sick, so the kids were heading home when the driver lost control on the wet and windy road and found herself in the river. She was able to get free of the car, but she was swept away when she tried to get back to the boys. And then the car disappeared below the surface. Distraught, she flagged down a passing car and was taken to the hospital. Law enforcement eventually found the car about 100 yards downriver from where it entered the water. The river was so high and strong that they had no visibility and couldn't even attach chains to the car to pull it out. The current was so strong the divers couldn't even keep their regulators in place.
The family has been holding a vigil at the riverbank ever since. They vow not to leave until their boys are pulled out of the river. Today divers finally managed to get chains on the car (probably at great personal risk--but with several inches of rain due tomorrow, the pressure was on). The baby was still in his car seat, but no sign of the 13-year-old's body. The family's vigil continues.
About 100 yards from the accident site (the same place they originally located the car in the river), on the same road, sits the Mary Olson Farm. The farm remained in the same family for nearly 75 years (from its establishment in 1895). In its remote and sheltered valley, it has remained largely untouched by time. The farm house still has never had plumbing nor electricity. The city acquired this unique property several years ago and has been in the process of turning it into a historical/heritage site, an interpretative center illustrating the sort of family farm that was the backbone of our area's settlement.
Since this school year began, I've been a volunteer facilitator of the school district field trips to the Mary Olson Farm. We began the year with first grade field trips, talking about our food and where it comes from. We've had the past week off and will now transition to sixth grade field trips which feature stream ecology and the life cycle of salmon (there are two salmon runs in Olson Creek each fall). The first of the sixth grade classes will be on site tomorrow. This means at some point the friends and classmates of the boy still missing in the river will ride a school bus directly through the vigil by the river--the tents and the grief and the media and all--to get to the farm. How do they possibly focus on ecology and fish after something like that?
I've been preoccupied with this situation all weekend. Mostly I think about the girl who was driving the car. I too got my driver's license when I was 16. It seems like most people who got their licenses at that age have some tale of stupidity and bad judgment to tell about their first year of driving. In my case, I totaled a car and put the life of a good friend in danger. Still, I was lucky. This girl is going to have to live her entire life with the knowledge that two children lost their lives to her inexperience.
What an incredible, tragic waste.
Clearly, I've screwed up NaBloPoMo. Well. So much for that. But I have a good excuse. I have a sort of job. Get this. One of my old Paralegal instructors hired me to work from home for her as an independent contractor sort of paralegal--anywhere from 7 - 20 hours a week. Last week was my first week. I worked 16 hours, most of it sitting right here in my newly mucked out sewing room in the dark hours of night with my weird old-lady music cranked. Painless. Maybe even a bit of fun. And what's especially flattering is that she sees all the paralegal students come and go and could have the "pick of the litter" (so to speak). That turned out to be me. Yeah, bitchen dude. I rock like that.
I figure I can contact the old attorney I used to work for to see if he can use me from home too on an as-needed basis. He's a bankruptcy attorney, so I figure he's probably drowning in business at this point. Now all I need to do is figure out how to deal with the self-employment taxes and I'll be in business. Literally.
Keep your fingers crossed for me. It's been WAY too long since I've brought home a paycheck.
Here is a group shot of the kids who ate dinner here and launched from our house for trick-0r-treating. Do they look a little old? Yeah, well, growing up is hard, especially when it involves giving up a sack load of free candy. At least they all dressed up. Nothing worse than a group of surly teens on the porch who can't even be bothered to dress up.
I made them all eat vegetables before they left. Yeah. So there.
Okay, settle down. It's not like I'm making a commitment here. Obviously I've been a bit--how you say?--flaky?--when it comes to posting here on Ye Olde Blog.
Okay, that statement there? That's so obvious that it qualifies not just as a "Duh" statement, but a bona fide Golden Duh. Yeah. Insightful!
So, anyway. NaBloPoMo. I'm keeping my options open. So here's a post. Bet you're glad you stopped by today, hoo boy. Guess you should have had a V8.
Yes, I've been neglecting you. I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, it's not because I've been having any fun. I've been occupied with things like shampooing the carpet (over and over and over--thanks dog), the area rugs, spot cleaning upholstery, oiling the wood furniture, and applying touch-up paint here and there. And the front yard? Weeded, mowed, watered, fed, edged, and bark-o-mulched. Why this out-of-character cleaning binge? A couple of reasons actually. 1) I feel the need to get a job, maybe even a full time job, once the school year starts. If such a fate comes to pass, I'd like to have the house & yard cleaned up before paid employment starts sucking away most of my waking hours. 2) Even if I don't find the career of my dreams in the near future, Halloween is only a couple of months away (the official start of the holiday season, as far as we are concerned). This year, through some sort enchantment, Halloween falls on a Friday. Yeah! It's our household's biggest and busiest holiday; because of the weekend timing, this year it will probably include a sleepover for half the neighborhood kids and a slightly drunken debauch for their parents. And I'd like to start with a clean palate (in terms of the carpet) before I have to clean up the unspeakable aftermath.
In cat news, our boy is at the vet's being neutralized today. And not a minute too soon. Think a good thought for him. (***wipes away a sentimental tear***) They grow up so fast!
Fore Sale: Kitten head. Slightly used. Reasonable. (Body sold separately).
So, a brief report on the weekend. I did two things this weekend that I haven't done in many years. First, I drew a picture, something I probably haven't done in at least 20 years if you really want to do the math. When was the last time you drew a picture (not a map, not stick figures, or any other low rent visual)? I've been hearing a lot lately about the power of images--especially in collage form--in making positive changes in one's life. And, I have to admit, when I want to change something about myself, the best way I've found to go about it is to take those few (or often many) minutes between going to bed and falling asleep to visualize new reactions to the given situation, or better alternative habits. And when I say visualize, I mean concentrating on every detail as if it were a photograph. If there are other people, I know their faces in detail and even the colors and designs of every article of clothing they wear. If it's an indoor scene, I can feel the carpet or tile under my feet; I can see where the paint is getting grubby and needs a new coat. I take a great deal of time to decorate the sets, as it were, before starting the action of the scene. And I don't know why, but it seems to translate into results in the real world. But, as I was saying, I've been hearing about collages lately, and I'm not real hep on the idea. I do, however, like the idea of collecting images of the things I want to come into (or stay, for that matter) in my life. However, as is my habit, I have very specific ideas of the sorts of images I might want to include--and I could end up leafing through magazines for hours and still not finding the things I'd want. So I sharpened my pencil and sat down to draw myself surrounded by some of the things I aspire to--not necessarily in an ownership sort of way, but in a how-I-want-to-invest-my-time sort of way.
I must say I'm far more pleased with the results than I thought I would be. The drawing I did of myself is something that I can look at without cringing, and I even got the sort of expression and comfortable pose that I was aiming for. I've made a bunch of random surrounding images, and all of these are recognizable as the things I intended. And, best of all, there's still room for more!
I know that several of you who read here are excellent photographers, but I really would be interested in knowing if any of you ever draw or doodle, even just for your own enjoyment. Obviously words play a large part in all of our lives (as evidenced by the persistent blogging habits we share), but does creating images from your own imagination and by your own hand play any role in your planning process? Or other processes?
Oh, and the other thing I did? I got started writing a short story. It was just suddenly there asking to be written down. I'm not done with it yet, but I may inflict it on you at some future date. Be warned!
