Spirit of Bees

One thing about journaling, it keeps you honest, if you are honest about what you write, that is. I was cleaning up files and fixing links and in the process I read over some old entries over at Crazy Old Lady. I’m sorry to note that some of the things I am still complaining about today are a lot of the same things I’ve complained about previously. Yep, change is hard and slow to happen. But it does. And it’s heartening to read and note that some things really have improved a little.

The good.

Exercise. That’s a big one and actually I am very pleased to say that I really did so something about that. I joined a health club last year. I was motived by two things: I was gaining way too much weight, which I am having a hard time getting rid of; and I have a very bad arthritic knee, and walking is more and more painful. Exercise is the only thing which will help maintain my knee function. That, and loosing weight which will also help relieve stress on the knee. So I joined the rest of the fat ladies in the pool for Aquarobics two times a week. And I also figured out which machines I can use and do that once a week. I can’t say that I’ve lost any weight yet, but I’ve maintained, and I’ve chosen to believe that some of the fat turned to muscle. My stamina has improved. When I started I could only do about 12 minutes on the NuStep, and I was sore. Now I can do it for 45 minutes, and I could probably go longer. The best thing about this, though, is that I have discovered that I actually like doing the exercise, and I look forward to it. Now, if only I stopped letting the fat guy dip my ice cream…

The cat. After our beloved old cat died, we adopted a new one last year and she is just great, but I might make the obligatory cat entry, so I’ll save the cat stories for later.

My very good friends moved to California, and I bemoaned the fact that I might never see them again. But I got a gig teaching a workshop in LA last summer, so we just extended the trip and went to Sacramento to visit, and it was great to see them in their new space. And, as a result of the Huntington workshop, I now have a gig in San Francisco, so I will get to visit them again this year.

The workshops developed as a result of my having changed my work focus, and they have been going well, so that’s another positive change.

The bad.

The knee. Well, I still don’t have health insurance and I’ve had to resort to working through the public health system. At first, I thought it was going to go relatively smoothly and I was prepared to be impressed, but two years later. Nah. Not smooth. Not impressed. The system is a pitiful morass of red tape combined with indifference and ineptitude on the part of the employees. You have to wait for hours, and you get a different doc every time, and a different story. And I don’t really have any more hope that anything positive will come of it. So, I take my meds, I exercise and hope I can hold out until I am eligible for Medicare. In the meantime I am still looking for some affordable insurance to cover the rest of me.

The ugly.

Well, I deleted that entry.

Here’s to moving forward and becoming a bigger, smaller and better person.

All I have for you tonight is a recipe. Now, if you are a recipe snob, your first inclination will be to turn up your nose and say… ..ewww, is she kidding?…. Jiffy cornbread mix? You’ll want to toss this into the reject pile, relegating it to the same category as jello molds, or mushroom soup/green bean type recipes. And I’d understand your reaction because a lot of time I, too, am guilty of being a recipe snob.

I had not made corn pudding before, so this was new to me this year, and this version is my own riff on this recipe. So far it is playing to rave reviews, not only with my family, but also with friends and some strangers. I took this to a pot luck party the other night and everyone wanted the recipe.

So I urge you to suspend your disbelief and give this a try. It’s really good, and very easy to make.

Corn Pudding with Poblano Peppers

1 box of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
2 Poblano Peppers
1 can of creamed corn
1 can of regular corn (or equal amount of fresh or frozen corn)
2 eggs
8 oz sour cream (or light sour cream)
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)
Diced red bell pepper (about 1/4 – 1/3 of a medium to large pepper)
3 chopped green onions
1 cup of grated cheese, white cheddar is good. Cheese can be optional.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Roast poblanos over an open gas flame until skin is charred. Enclose in a paper or plastic bag for 10 or 15 minutes. Remove from bag, take off the skin and remove seeds. Cut into strips about a quarter inch wide by and an inch or two long.

Melt butter in pan and throw in the chopped red pepper and the onions, and sauté just barely. Do not burn the butter.

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl, and pour into a lightly buttered or oiled 2 qt baking dish pan.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes or so, until it starts to brown and the top looks dry. You have to guess a little here because the cheese will stay melted, so the usual test to see if the knife comes out clean is not going to work well. This dish will be a little soft inside anyhow.

You can vary this in many different ways, altering ingredients or adding seasonings to your taste. It’s practically no fail, and makes a grest side dish to take. You can re-warm it if you need to and it’s fine.

I glanced at the printer just now and noticed the thrift store price tag still written on the side, and it’s been here at least a couple of years. Must remove that one of these days.

Choosing to live the way we do doesn’t always pay the big bucks we were used to in the past. We’re forced to live as thriftily as possible now, so we’ve always done a lot shopping at the thrift stores and at garage and estate sales. They’ve become a primary resource for almost every piece of clothing we own, and for miscellaneous kitchen ware, and other household items, large and small. I rarely buy anything new anymore.

When we first started relying more and more heavily on the resale market, I would sometimes find myself starting to feel very sorry for myself as I walked through row after row of used clothing, wondering why I chose to do this in the first place, chastising myself for not having a “real job,” and generally sinking more and more into a depressive state. On those days, I just had to get out of there, and not go back until the bad feelings passed.

And they did. And even more quickly after some trips to the shopping mall. It was retail therapy in reverse. Noting the cost of regular goods, and NOT buying them went a long way to improve my mood. When you see an Eileen Fisher skirt for $169.00, and you remember that you just bought a similar Eileen Fisher garment —last year’s style— for only $3.90, it definitely cheers you up and makes a believer out of you.

We’ve also been collectors forever, so, of course, the various secondary markets are great for finding the odd item. If you are a collector, then you know there is nothing like the thrill of the hunt. Or, maybe it’s really more like the thrill of the find, when you find the perfect item for your collection, and your heart goes pitter patter. A little Weller pot for $1.00. A little piece of gold jewelry that slipped under the radar into the $2.00 costume jewelry basket. The rug for your dining room for $30, which exactly matches your living room rug which you also found two years ago at a garage sale for $150, which retailed for $1,600.00, originally. Definitely a mood lifter.

Not only am I saving money all over the place, but there are a ton of goods out there that are destined for the landfill, and I’ve saved a lot of them from that fate. So, I figure I am also doing my part for recycling.

Having developed an eye for spying the collectible, we also buy good stuff which we don’t really want to own. What we don’t want, we resell on eBay or in our space at at the antique mall. Mostly it’s collectible books, but once we scored really big and found a bronze horse sculpture which we paid $39.95 for and resold for $8,000.

I’ve totally rationalized my thrift store shopping. Intermittent reinforcement is a wonderful drug. We’re out there hunting every week, and I hardly ever get depressed anymore.