Nonexistent goods
This is a good post for no picture. No picture exists of what I desire. It might not be frugal, but here is where I would splurge. When you hear my story, you may decide the uni-tasker is really a cheap way to do what I have attempted the last few days.
What do I want this unitasker to do?
Boil water.
Lower a basket of pasta into the boiling water.
Raise the basket up when the pasta has boiled enough.
Turn itself off.
Drain the pasta.
Sound a honking, blasting alarm to alert me.
Why?
Because I have managed to boil pots dry twice in one day. Plus, I did the same thing on three previous days but with one pot per day. (My "pot" for boiling pasta is a CorningWare casserole.)
Why?
Because my back hurts. or
I stay at the computer too long. or
I go to the mailbox and dawdle in the yard pulling privets. or
I have to go to the bathroom and just forget to go back to the kitchen. or
The chickens come to the door and call me outside. or
Someone telephones me and I talk too long. or
The Waltons is fascinating and I watch enraptured. or
I decide to give in to worry.
Understand?
Of course you don't. You have not made of career of boiling water with olive oil in it, boiling the water until so much is gone that the Corning Ware casserole you are using scorches.
Your turn
Have your repeatedly committed the same error in the kitchen? Are there any inventors in the audience? Seriously, I have already submitted this idea! What do you think?
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Update on copyright of "Urban Homestead"
Eric at Root Simple has a blog post full of links that are most interesting. I will allow him to take it from here....
Monday, April 4, 2011
Picture this: how I saved $30 or $40 or $12
Dear readers, help me by using your imagination for a moment. I can take a picture, but cannot post it as yet. When I get around to following your advice, maybe I can.
Lurker
For months I have been lurking in Office Max, wanting to buy with my maxperks rewards a pencil sharpener that is not hand operated. I really have wanted to buy it for my daughter and her children. I supply them with the tiny ones with a plastic case to contain the shavings, lots of them. And, they promptly lose them....sigh. Thankfully, I get them all on sale.
Decisions
In all this pondering, shopping, and wishing, I decided getting one for me would be nice. Decisions have to be made: Do I get top of the line for her? Do I buy mid-priced for each of us? Do I buy cheap one for both of us? How large might be too large for her desk and limited desk-top real estate? Should I get an electric one or battery-powered one? If electric or battery operated, should it be the type where you stick the pencil in the top or the one where you stick the pencil in the side...vertical or horizontal?
Drama
What if the electricity goes off and they need to sharpen a pencil? Can I use my Max Perks rewards for a better purchase? (I am not paying a dime in cash for this.) Will batteries be a pain when the nine-year-old needs new ones to do some desperately-must-be-done-now project with the only pencil she owns? (She is dramatic. I don't know where she got that...lol.) Will my daughter kill me if I get the old-fashioned kind that screws onto the wall and has the little hand crank? (She is dramatic. I don't know where she got that...lol.) See where this is going?
Solution
Finally, I just bought a box of ten reams of copy paper to use my perks before they expired. No, I did not take a picture.
Epiphany
Later. When I came to my senses, I figured no one will suffer by having a hand sharpener. Of course, I have a hundred pencils to sharpen and it will hurt me. Another epiphany coming in---> I don't have to sharpen all 100 at once. Whew, that reception is hurting me.
Before the storm
So, today before the storm comes and blows away my roof completely or drowns the inside of my house, I have to work off the nerves. (most of roof gone from my house anyway) I have my tiny pencil sharpener and three cups of pencils to sharpen. This will make my hands hurt and take me longer than it should.
Nature appreciation
Outside on the picnic table will be a nice place to do such a boring boring boring job. When I taught GED, I kept a plastic pencil box of sharpened pencils ready each day. I sharpened about two dozen pencils twice each day. Yes, students could have done it themselves, but my doing it kept down noise, distraction, wandering around, and excuses.
Plan
When I get this done once, I will transfer pencils in need of sharpening to another pencil cup and do this once every few months.
Three pencil cups
I know your burning question: Why do you have a hundred pencils in three separate cups? A friend asked me that the first time he came to my home. The answer: So I will have a pencil in any room in which I happen to need one. Okay? Got it? Next reason: I will not throw away pencil nubs, so why would I discard mostly whole pencils?
Storage?
Maybe I will put a rubber band around half the pencils and store them in the file cabinet with office supplies. Honestly, these things just happened.
Pat me on the back
Today, I saved $40 by using a $0.39 cent pencil sharpener. I can send my daughter a hundred of those with the money I saved.
Parsimony is painful
but satisfying. The painful part was thinking, planning, anticipating. Not spending my "money" on even the $12 sharpener was satisfying. Besides, the box with ten reams of paper will last longer than a $40 electric pencil sharpener.
Your turn
Have you ever agonized about a purchase and then found that all you really need is something you already have that is soooo simple and cheap that is is just too obvious?
Lurker
For months I have been lurking in Office Max, wanting to buy with my maxperks rewards a pencil sharpener that is not hand operated. I really have wanted to buy it for my daughter and her children. I supply them with the tiny ones with a plastic case to contain the shavings, lots of them. And, they promptly lose them....sigh. Thankfully, I get them all on sale.
Decisions
In all this pondering, shopping, and wishing, I decided getting one for me would be nice. Decisions have to be made: Do I get top of the line for her? Do I buy mid-priced for each of us? Do I buy cheap one for both of us? How large might be too large for her desk and limited desk-top real estate? Should I get an electric one or battery-powered one? If electric or battery operated, should it be the type where you stick the pencil in the top or the one where you stick the pencil in the side...vertical or horizontal?
Drama
What if the electricity goes off and they need to sharpen a pencil? Can I use my Max Perks rewards for a better purchase? (I am not paying a dime in cash for this.) Will batteries be a pain when the nine-year-old needs new ones to do some desperately-must-be-done-now project with the only pencil she owns? (She is dramatic. I don't know where she got that...lol.) Will my daughter kill me if I get the old-fashioned kind that screws onto the wall and has the little hand crank? (She is dramatic. I don't know where she got that...lol.) See where this is going?
Solution
Finally, I just bought a box of ten reams of copy paper to use my perks before they expired. No, I did not take a picture.
Epiphany
Later. When I came to my senses, I figured no one will suffer by having a hand sharpener. Of course, I have a hundred pencils to sharpen and it will hurt me. Another epiphany coming in---> I don't have to sharpen all 100 at once. Whew, that reception is hurting me.
Before the storm
So, today before the storm comes and blows away my roof completely or drowns the inside of my house, I have to work off the nerves. (most of roof gone from my house anyway) I have my tiny pencil sharpener and three cups of pencils to sharpen. This will make my hands hurt and take me longer than it should.
Nature appreciation
Outside on the picnic table will be a nice place to do such a boring boring boring job. When I taught GED, I kept a plastic pencil box of sharpened pencils ready each day. I sharpened about two dozen pencils twice each day. Yes, students could have done it themselves, but my doing it kept down noise, distraction, wandering around, and excuses.
Plan
When I get this done once, I will transfer pencils in need of sharpening to another pencil cup and do this once every few months.
Three pencil cups
I know your burning question: Why do you have a hundred pencils in three separate cups? A friend asked me that the first time he came to my home. The answer: So I will have a pencil in any room in which I happen to need one. Okay? Got it? Next reason: I will not throw away pencil nubs, so why would I discard mostly whole pencils?
Storage?
Maybe I will put a rubber band around half the pencils and store them in the file cabinet with office supplies. Honestly, these things just happened.
Pat me on the back
Today, I saved $40 by using a $0.39 cent pencil sharpener. I can send my daughter a hundred of those with the money I saved.
Parsimony is painful
but satisfying. The painful part was thinking, planning, anticipating. Not spending my "money" on even the $12 sharpener was satisfying. Besides, the box with ten reams of paper will last longer than a $40 electric pencil sharpener.
Your turn
Have you ever agonized about a purchase and then found that all you really need is something you already have that is soooo simple and cheap that is is just too obvious?
Sunday, April 3, 2011
New uses for old things--baking
I love new uses for items I already have. Don't you? I also love Real Simple, an online magazine. Today's list of 50 things to reuse in a different way lists favorites I already use, some ideas that will be incorporated into my kitchen, and one thing I would never, ever do. Do not use a golf tee to decorate your food--think China, toxic paint, poison.
Right now, I cannot post pictures until I pay Picasa $5. It seems my picture capacity quickly "became full" on the very day that marks a year from when I started this blog! So, it is $5/year from now on. Does anyone know a free way to get pictures onto my blog?
I know--$5 is not a lot of money. Here is where my parsimony kicks in and I dig in my heels. Also, do you know if anyone can access my web album? The Picasa sight did not give me lots of clues. Or, I missed it.
Back to the "reuse" list. You can submit a hint to Real Simple and maybe get it published. You can enroll and receive this mag in email. Check it out for some great ideas. I will be posting other reuse hints from the site in the future.
Your turn
What is your favorite new use for an old thing in the kitchen?
Right now, I cannot post pictures until I pay Picasa $5. It seems my picture capacity quickly "became full" on the very day that marks a year from when I started this blog! So, it is $5/year from now on. Does anyone know a free way to get pictures onto my blog?
I know--$5 is not a lot of money. Here is where my parsimony kicks in and I dig in my heels. Also, do you know if anyone can access my web album? The Picasa sight did not give me lots of clues. Or, I missed it.
Back to the "reuse" list. You can submit a hint to Real Simple and maybe get it published. You can enroll and receive this mag in email. Check it out for some great ideas. I will be posting other reuse hints from the site in the future.
Your turn
What is your favorite new use for an old thing in the kitchen?
Saturday, April 2, 2011
The Waltons and the Great Depression
I read all the blogs I follow and more, occasionally getting off track and reading new ones. People on many blogs are talking about gardening, raising animals, keeping bees, killing wild animals and fishing in order to feed their family or keep expenses down. At the least, they, like me, have eggs or are planning to get hens. They are grateful for what they can do.
For the last three weeks I have been watching The Waltons. I am on Season 2. John Walton makes similar statements all the time about: catching fish, killing game, raising animals, and how rough it would be if he could not. They have a cow to milk and hens for eggs and eating. They are continually discussing how they are so much better off than people who don't have their advantages. Grandma said she did not know how people in the city managed. They discuss starving people in other places.
The Walton family was incredibly poor, living a hard-scrabble life that is not entirely or even quite borne out by the scripts of the TV series. They count themselves as wealthy in the food arena. Many people on blogs I read have the same ideas and feelings about their incredible good fortune for the opportunity to help feed themselves without always going to the grocery for every bite they need. Of course, some bloggers are straining to reach a certain level of self-sufficiency as far as food and other items they need, canning, sewing, raising a garden, and honing or learning skills that will make them capable of providing for themselves. The Waltons always cook from scratch and make and remake clothing for the large family. Quilts have old clothes and household textiles as their only basis for the pieces in the quilts.
Oh, to have seven children to pick berries for pies and jam! ...lol. Of course, with the family of eleven members, it takes eleven times as much to feed them as it does to feed me. However, their combined agricultural and homemaking efforts produce more than eleven times what I produce.
Everything any one of the Waltons says resonates with me, echoed by bloggers, unknowingly. Watching these very old episodes reinforces what we may be going through in the short future. Some people actually are having the same hardships and level of deprivation that the Waltons experience.
The Walton family through John Boy's stories and narration values the closeness, family cohesion, and love. I know it is sappy, but I wonder if this economy will bring families closer or divide them further. No, I don't think love will conquer hardship.
Working together seems to be the key for the Waltons, along with mutual respect, and, of course, hard work.
And, I am in love with Ralph Waite (the father) all over again! He really does it for me. It is not just his "John Walton" persona. I like him anywhere I find him. Unfortunately, I have never found him in person, not that I have looked.
Your turn
Have you ever watched The Waltons? Do you see the similarities in the Depression and now? Would you like to emulate the efforts of the Waltons? Even if it meant giving up a few comforts? Remember, in the first episode, John Boy bought his mother, Olivia, a washing machine. We DON"T want to go overboard with the deprivation part. LOL What would be your greatest deprivation that was also their deprivation? Mine would be AC. Oh, yeah, the Internet and computer. They had electricity and an indoor toilet, so you cannot say those or the washer...lol...at least we did not go back another 100 years to determine what we would miss.
For the last three weeks I have been watching The Waltons. I am on Season 2. John Walton makes similar statements all the time about: catching fish, killing game, raising animals, and how rough it would be if he could not. They have a cow to milk and hens for eggs and eating. They are continually discussing how they are so much better off than people who don't have their advantages. Grandma said she did not know how people in the city managed. They discuss starving people in other places.
The Walton family was incredibly poor, living a hard-scrabble life that is not entirely or even quite borne out by the scripts of the TV series. They count themselves as wealthy in the food arena. Many people on blogs I read have the same ideas and feelings about their incredible good fortune for the opportunity to help feed themselves without always going to the grocery for every bite they need. Of course, some bloggers are straining to reach a certain level of self-sufficiency as far as food and other items they need, canning, sewing, raising a garden, and honing or learning skills that will make them capable of providing for themselves. The Waltons always cook from scratch and make and remake clothing for the large family. Quilts have old clothes and household textiles as their only basis for the pieces in the quilts.
Oh, to have seven children to pick berries for pies and jam! ...lol. Of course, with the family of eleven members, it takes eleven times as much to feed them as it does to feed me. However, their combined agricultural and homemaking efforts produce more than eleven times what I produce.
Everything any one of the Waltons says resonates with me, echoed by bloggers, unknowingly. Watching these very old episodes reinforces what we may be going through in the short future. Some people actually are having the same hardships and level of deprivation that the Waltons experience.
The Walton family through John Boy's stories and narration values the closeness, family cohesion, and love. I know it is sappy, but I wonder if this economy will bring families closer or divide them further. No, I don't think love will conquer hardship.
Working together seems to be the key for the Waltons, along with mutual respect, and, of course, hard work.
And, I am in love with Ralph Waite (the father) all over again! He really does it for me. It is not just his "John Walton" persona. I like him anywhere I find him. Unfortunately, I have never found him in person, not that I have looked.
Your turn
Have you ever watched The Waltons? Do you see the similarities in the Depression and now? Would you like to emulate the efforts of the Waltons? Even if it meant giving up a few comforts? Remember, in the first episode, John Boy bought his mother, Olivia, a washing machine. We DON"T want to go overboard with the deprivation part. LOL What would be your greatest deprivation that was also their deprivation? Mine would be AC. Oh, yeah, the Internet and computer. They had electricity and an indoor toilet, so you cannot say those or the washer...lol...at least we did not go back another 100 years to determine what we would miss.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Free chips
Remember, at Kroger's you can get a free bag of chips between 3pm and 8pm today, April 1, 2011.
Novella Carpenter Update
From Ghost Town Farm--an update about the growing and selling of crops in her backyard. It seems the "rabbit people" may be involved.
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