On Wednesday, Thanksgiving Eve, Rick was laid off. We had expected something along those lines having heard the week before that the company that employed him made $2 million less this quarter.
After crying, talking, and stressing a lot I feel a little better. We have a couple of options and will have to make decisions very soon. We may move into a smaller place. I might get lucky and become busier at work. Rick may be able to get another job somewhere else and we may stay here. Either way, we are prepping for a huge purging of personal “crap”.
It’s strange that in the last few weeks we have talked about getting rid of a lot of stuff – basically anything we would not need. I’ve already started. I added a couple things on Craig’s List already. I’ll add more. If I can’t rid us of those things I’ll be putting things on Freecycle. So far no serious bites. Many other people are probably thinking the same thing as me, so there is competition.
If I can figure it out I will be adding a new page to The Modern Hippy devoted to photos and written posts about our “adventure” in a bad economy – what we do to survive, or better our situation. I think we are luckier than some, but worse off than those whom caused this snafu. It might help others to see that they are not alone.
I thought I would share some pictures of my office/massage room as it was and as it is now. (Sorry about the small picture, I only have it on myspace and could not upload it to my other hosting site)I still cannot believe that it is mine, though surely not forever. It is mine now and has been for a year and a half. Proof positive that a silly little girl whom never really lived in the real world but in her own imagination can survive in the world.
Though most days I would prefer a story book or hours of day dreaming I do love massage. It brings satisfaction that I am bettering the world through people. It takes imagination so that part of me is not wasted. It is not just for relaxation what I do is actually medically relevant in both western and eastern medicine.
Being that I did not start out with much money, it has taken me a long time to gather and use the things to make my massage room. I changed rooms earlier this year. I have more room that is now filling up.
I thought as a child that working in an office would be romantic, different, and exciting. I had always imagined working on a computer and having amazing amounts of knowledge at my fingertips. I realize now that office work as I thought it does not exist, according to Rick. I think there is some silly romance in being self-employed. Days ago, I was lamenting how most times I have no control over how busy I am, especially right now in this economy. However, it is still awesome. I have my own files, do my own paperwork, and do not have a boss. It’s great!
In the last two weeks, we have discovered that Rick’s work cut back that started about two months ago had a nasty effect on our recent finances. So I’m trying very hard to cut back on our spending, making everything last longer and cut back on things that may turn into expensive surprises later such as electricity.
Today or tomorrow, I will be off to my favorite store Central Market – which I have been avoiding because they have such fun stuff on which I tend to blow money – to get soup bones and roast for our next meals. I am concentrating on using everything in my fridge before going back for more.
Last weekend I bought organic chickens and roasted one for one meal and some left-overs and then used those bones for soup along with the second chicken. For the recipes check out these links: My Favorite Chicken Soup Notes on Chicken Soup The perfect roast chicken
This week it will be a beef soup and roast. Bones do not cost that much and roast is a cheaper alternative to the steak Rick would prefer. I have only made beef stew/soup once before so this time will be yet another experiment. It turned out well last time, but sometimes things do not translate into a successful second try.
Yesterday Rick and I were talking about things we can do to make things easier financially. Turning down the heat would be one. We live on the first floor in our apartment complex. It is much more different than living on a third floor apartment. Heat rises so in our old apartment we hardly needed the heat on. Here it seems it’s never warm enough. We have resolved to put on another layer of clothing, turn off the wall heater unless it’s unbearable and use the oil heater first. I do a lot of cooking with the oven so that helps warm things up on most days. It is just a little cooler on days we have left-overs.
Aside from putting on a sweater at home and sitting on the couch with a blanket, wear a scarf are great ways to stay warm in winter. I am a huge fan of scarves. I have a huge pile of them that my cat loves to sleep on. You loose a lot of your body heat through your head and neck and feet. So wear socks, slippers, and a scarf at home to keep you warm and cut back on the electric bill.
Pretty vintage chair
A little over a year ago, Rick and I went out garage-saling and picked up this little beauty. The original seat was broken out but the owner had a little leather replacement that had not been attached yet. Since we do not have a table it has become a home for my trailing plant. I’m not sure of the name. However, it makes a pretty picture.
Thanks to a company, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps,
that lost its right to use the USDA seal and the resulting lawsuit it is now okay for companies that don’t make edibles to use that seal. It is an old article that I found but important just the same.
David Bronner, the owner of this company – and other companies like his – spent extra money on organic safe ingredients and then more to be approved by the government to use the seal. They sued after being forced to remove the seal from the products. The argument for removing the seal was that the organization regulates farming and food products not cosmetics. An attorney representing the suing companies said basically, that if the requirements were followed what did it matter if it was food or not, as long as it was created with the same priciples.
For the full article read, U.S to allow ‘organic’ label on cosmetics.
This weekend I made a lot of chicken. My goal was to roast a chicken – I had not done that yet – and to make chicken soup with those roasted chicken bones. The chicken soup was a hit. It was perfect.
First, before I made the roasted chicken soup I had to roast that chicken. I was not sure what a roasted chicken was supposed to look like. Google is the perfect place to look for recipes. I found a couple. Both gave the same basic directions. I added my own little alternatives.
You will need:
• 1 whole organic, free range chicken
• Butter
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Rinse the chicken inside and out and pat dry with a towel or paper towel. This will make sure the skin is nice and golden brown and crispy. Place your dried chicken in an oven safe pan. I used a rectangular cake pan. You can separate the skin from the meat with a finger and slide in whatever spices you want. Since Rick can be sensitive to some spices I used only butter.
Tear off a piece of foil about the size of the chicken and just set in onto the bird. Do not curl it around the pan. Its only job is to keep the breast and skin from cooking faster than the rest of it and thus prevent it from burning. Place the pan in the oven and set the timer for about 30 minutes less that the total cooking time. I had a small chicken about 4lbs. The rule is 20 minutes for each pound of meat. Mine took about 1.5 hours.
Check with about 30 minutes left of total cooking time. I set my timer for one hour and then opened the oven to check it. Set it for 10-15 minutes longer and then upped the temperature to 450 degrees. This is supposed to crisp up the skin more. The chicken is done when it reaches around 170-180 degrees. Mine was at 175 degrees.
The result was one of the best chickens I have ever had. It was beautiful.
Please excuse the large slice in the chicken. I was almost going to serve myself a slice when I remembered to take a picture.
One last note: the directions I read said to let the chicken sit for 15-20 minutes to let the juices settle. I’m not sure if I did or not. I’m not ever sure why juices should be allowed to “settle”.
I am a lover a soups. My favorite would be the classic chicken soup. I make it every couple of weeks or so. It is always different because I make it with what is in my fridge. I made chicken soup two days ago and this time used one whole raw organic free range chicken and the bones of the same kind of chicken that I had roasted the day before. I would have to say it had the best flavor of all my chicken based soups so far. I got the idea from watching an Oprah show. She had one of her favorite chefs on, I can’t remember her name at the moment. On the show, they were making several things a couple of things out of chicken. I remembered the chef mentioning that the best chicken stock is made with roasted chicken bones. So that is what I did. It is true. If you want to make the best chicken soup or stock, use roasted chicken bones.
On a side note, my husband Rick said that he loves that we use everything when cooking. Bones do not go to waste unless there is not enough bone to make a soup base. I was proud as well. This might sound silly but it makes me feel like I’m living like a woman a hundred or more years ago that let nothing go to waste. Remember Little House on the Prairie? When I was a little girl I used to pretend that I had to make everything by hand. I would pick wheat in the fields around our house and pretend to dry it. Then take the bird food we had and separated out each grain and made my own “flour” by grinding it between stones I found. I felt so romantic.
That little girl only looks older. I love feeling like a romantic heroine in a story when I cook and make sure that everything has a purpose. As crazy as it sounds, I can hardly wait until we have a home. I will start canning things and stock them away in their Americana Mason jars in my own “cellar”. I may even be lucky enough to have an old enough house that has a real root cellar. They are great fun in the summer.
Happy cooking to all! Remember, the “real” Americans were not nearly as wasteful as we “modern” Americans. We should take lesson from our past.
The flea war is over. I gave Xiann her weekly bath today and there were no drowning black dots. I have not seen any on her belly in about a week. She is still itchy but I think that has to do with her skin being dry not fleas. So ends our battle. It should be several months before I will have to start worrying about it again. She is now napping quietly next to me on the couch, looking content.
This picture is one I took a few weeks ago. She usually naps next to me on the couch when I’m blogging or researching something new on the net with my new blue laptop. That afternoon I took many pictures trying to show how cute she was as she was trying to lay her head on my keyboard. This is the only one that wasn’t blurry. She looks odd I think. But I still like it.
In the last few months my skin has developed some problems. I now have eczema on my right hand which on a bad day will cause deep cracks making me wear a glove while I massage. I’ve discovered that a lot of the common ingredients in hand lotions and hand soaps make it worse. So I use natural, organic alternatives. I’m also having more trouble with the skin on my face. I’m getting blemishes like I’ve never had before, deep pimples and clogged pores that seem closed. I am slowly switching away from cosmetics and facial care that includes synthetics of any kind. My basic skin care regime is changed and that has helped. However, the cosmetics I have in my bag now are not all natural. I’ve done some research about where to find better alternatives. Many of them are not local and would have to be shipped. If that was the only option that would be fine. However, after some more research I found out that Sephora carries some alternatives to the normal cosmetics. I looked online first, going through product lists and reviews of the products and wrote down a couple of things too look at when I went to the mall. I consider myself lucky in that because I love just a few miles from Alderwood Mall so it is more cost effective for me to go into the store and buy what I need rather than having it shipped to me.
I’m not a fan of the mall. I find all the superficiality I see there to be repulsive. Though I enjoy makeup I think it’s what is inside the person that matters, not the outside. I walked slowly through the whole store with a friend not wanting to ask for help because I was expecting to come across a rude snob. Well, though the customers where annoying and fake the woman I asked was very helpful and nice. Questions answered and direction to the product for which I was looking I pick up what I needed and looked a couple of other things. I was very excited. I don’t mind ordering online, however it is nice to be able to see things in person, and colors are not always well presented on computer either because of the camera used or my computer at home.
I decided to get two products a mascara and a mineral eye shadow. I’ll let you know how they are after I’ve used them a few times. An idea to help with choosing a cosmetic is to look locally first. Though maybe your local mall may not seem like a typical “green” alternative consider this – it may cost you less to drive to the mall to look. It’s good for you to walk around; most malls require a bit more walking than your typical grocery store. The products have already been shipped to the shop so by going there you don’t have another truck have to ship things to your home – your car probably gets better gas mileage than a UPS truck, or you can take the bus or walk. Might seem like a stretch but it makes sense to me. You may also be lucky enough to have a local small business nearby that makes eco-friendly cosmetics. So far I have not found that, but if anyone whom reads this knows of a local small company in Snohomish County WA let me know. I will continue looking myself.
Though for the time being I’m an apartment dweller, I dream of the day when I can have my own little house. I’m always day dreaming about what improvement I’ll make to it such as tearing out all the carpet and replacing it with bamboo flooring.
Yesterday I got my daily news letter from Ideal Bite and it included ideas for eco-friendly countertops. I have two favorites. The first one, Vetrazzo, uses recycled glass chips and concrete. The results are gorgeous pieces full of color. I’m a fan of bistro green. Of course something this gorgeous will not cheap, it runs $125-$150 a square foot.
green bistro
Image source: http://www.vetrazzo.com/images/mixes/lg_bistro_green.jpg
The second one I loved was Terra Green Ceramics. These are also made with 55% recycled glass and come in different sized tiles. I’m a fan of Terra Fusion and Terra Crackle. These tiles are priced more reasonably than that the product above. I could see using them in more places around the home because of that.
If you are considering remodeling your home or just making a few changes here and there why not try something that is good for the environment? Choose something that is reclaimed and prevent stuff from filling our landfills.
