Stacyverb

This one's for you, 1994 me

This month marks the 18th anniversary of my move to Altanta (my "Atlantaversary," if you will).  I started thinking, what would my 1994 self think about my current life? 

She’d be thrilled that I’m happily married, and to another creative person.  Probably would be disappointed at how much financial stuff is still a struggle, so that I don’t get to visit my family often or travel much.  Surprised that I work at a yarn shop (I don’t think she even knew such a thing existed), but maybe delighted by that as well, because in some ways it does seem like a dream job for a knitter.  Ditto making jewelry—she dabbled in that, but the thought that I could get paid for it would surprise and probably please her. 

Would she be disappointed that I'm not making a living as a writer?  She probably would think I should've published a couple of novels by now.  And what about other kinds of writing?  Back as far as college, I had this vague dream I used to talk about—“the ultimate magazine.”  It would just be a mishmash of whatever seemed interesting at any given moment, which is kind of what my zine, Box of 64, ended up being (on an extremely small scale, obviously) in the mid-to-late 90s. 

Hmmm, isn't that what I was just talking about yesterday--the idea of writing about anything and everything, for this blog?  The concept of a blog would have blown my 1994 self's mind, because she barely knew what the internet was.  (When I left Pennsylvania to move here, a guy I knew told me to keep in touch and handed me a piece of paper with his email address on it.  I thought, "What a weirdo!  Why would I ever need someone's 'email' address?" and threw it in the trash.) 

When I think of it that way, I feel like I owe it to 1994 Stacy to work on my blog more.  Because if she knew I had the ability to write things that (magically, it would seem) would literally be read all over the world, she would be appalled that I sometimes find it a chore or feel blocked, that I don’t take advantage of this opportunity more.  She’d be shocked at how easy it is to feel so connected with people I've never met in person or haven't seen in years, all because of blogs and Facebook and such.  She'd be shocked, but she would think it was VERY COOL.  And it is.  I don't want to forget that!

Blogging dilemma

Yesterday my friend Rich wrote a post on his blog that really resonated with me.  Rich is one of those people, like me, who has a lot of interests and does a variety of creative stuff.  The problem we're both facing right now is: where does blogging fit into all of that?

I want this blog to showcase my creative endeavors, whether on any given day that means sewing, knitting, learning to play my mandolin, dabbling in experimental cooking, or whatever.  I also want to report on places I go and events I attend--road trips, art shows, ball games, etc.  And, of course, there's that nebulous category of "Life/Whatnot": pictures of random sights around Atlanta, stories about my pets, and silly adventures and mishaps my husband and I have together.

But would I rather be reporting all this on my blog, or would I rather just be doing it?  Well...both.  I just have to figure out that balance.  That, and face the fact that this blog is probably never going to be about anything.  If people are looking for blogs about sewing, knitting, music, travel, etc., there are already plenty of blogs out there that tackle each of those subjects individually and much more thoroughly than I have any intention of doing.  I just wanna do my thing--all of my things.  Whichever thing I happen to be obsessed with focused on at any given time.

If there had to be a tagline for my blog, it would be this: "Life is short, but it is wide."

Eating well on a budget

[Yeah, I know, I haven't blogged in a while.  I'm not gonna give you a big song and dance about it.  Let's just move on.]

Yesterday I was having a conversation with some gal pals about ways to eat well on a budget.  Anthony and I have gotten really good at this.  Some weeks we budget as little 40 bucks for groceries, and we never go hungry.  We're two adults, eating three meals a day, and we make it work. 

One friend asked if I could share a sample menu with her, and I figured if it would help her, it might help others.  So here we go!

Now, the first thing we do is look in the fridge and the pantry and see what we already have that we can use for meals for the coming week.  Because some stuff we just don't need to buy every week--rice, peanut butter, butter, spices...these are all things that will last for a while and carry us through multiple weeks.

So then we make a meal plan.  No, it's not the most fun we'll have all week or anything, but it helps SO MUCH.  We figure out what we'll be making, and then make a list of the ingredients we don't already have.  Then we go shopping and buy only the ingredients on the list (this is key if we want to stick to our budget).

Okay, on to the food!  Here's a menu from a recent week:

BREAKFAST

On any given day, some combination of two or three of these: bagel w/cream cheese (often we'll split one), cereal w/dried fruit, hard-boiled egg, yogurt, English muffin w/peanut butter, piece of fruit. 

LUNCH

Typically, lunch is the leftovers from the previous night's dinner.  We also keep a few other basics around to supplement that, or to have as afternoon snacks.  In that category would be things like canned tuna, fresh fruit, hummus, crackers, pickles, etc.  (And again, a jar of pickles is one of those things that will be around for a while and doesn't have to be purchased regularly.)

DINNER

Here's what we had in our sample week.

Monday: Chicken enchiladas with Mexican rice and roasted broccoli on the side

Tuesday: Brown Rice & Lentil Casserole (this is a staple in our house, sometimes as a side dish, sometimes as a whole meal on its own)

Wednesday: Chicken noodle soup (when I made the chicken enchiladas on Monday, Anthony deboned the chicken breast first, then used what was left to make a broth and soup by adding some egg noodles, a few veggies, and dried herbs from the pantry)

Thursday: Had dinner at a friend's house.  She sent me home with a big container of extra salad, which I ate for lunch the next day.

Friday: Breakfast-for-Dinner!  I substituted mild Italian sausage (which was on sale) and red potatoes for the breakfast links and frozen hash browns.

Saturday: Tomato-Basil Parmesan Soup, which I put into the slow cooker before I went to work and let cook all day.  Served with some croutons that we already had in the pantry.

Sunday: Pasta with Butternut Squash and Peas, which used up the rest of the half & half and Parmesan that didn't get used for Saturday's soup, as well as some frozen peas we already had.  Plus, although this is orginally a meatless recipe, when Anthony made it he added the rest of the Italian sausage I got for the breakfast hash.  I think the pasta came from the pantry, too.  So basically, all we had to buy specifically for this meal was a squash.

We spent under $40 on groceries that week.  Yes, we already had some of the ingredients in the house, like the brown rice, lentils, and pasta.  But lots of the ingredients we bought for these meals carried over into the following week's menu, like the soft taco shells, the carrots for the soups, some of the eggs, and so forth. 

It definitely helps that we're not large people, we eat meatless meals a few times a week, and we're not opposed to eating re-heated food the next day.  If you're used to big portions and meat-heavy meals, you'll probably have to spend more than we do (or change your habits).  On the other hand, if you're a vegetarian, you'll probably spend less.  But in any case, just because money is tight doesn't mean you have to eat boring, crappy food!