"Musicians don't eat!"

Remember the movie Shakespeare In Love?  Though most of the details of the film have evaporated from my memory, one fragment of a scene has stuck with me.  It was the dance sequence where Shakespeare encounters his love interest - I think he was crashing the event.  Food and wine are flowing liberally among the company, but as a servant brushes by the performers' stand with a tray, he sternly admonishes the lutenists, "Musicians don't eat!"

As my larder dwindles and my food choices begin to become monotonous, I find myself having a very short fuse and blowing up at circumstances that I used to dismiss easily.  For example, I made a point of cancelling my 3-month Match.com (definitely a frivolous purchase) subscription on-line early this month to interrupt their auto-renew payment scheduled to kick in last week, but they charged me anyway!  Yesterday I had to run a torturous maze of "Press 1 if you have a billing problem, press 2 if you want to discontinue service,  have your account number and password ready, enter your credit card number here (repeat) (repeat), all the while listening to a continuous fugue of a sales pitch for all the benefits of the service that will be lost, lost, if you depart.   "It may be 7 - 10 days before you see a return in your bank account."  It took them less than a breath to bill me against my wishes in the first place!

The Combined Life insurance rep. called me yesterday - I cancelled that accident insurance plan years ago but they're still after me, oblivious to reality.

And today I stood in line for over an hour to convert my Verizon phone to a Straight Talk track plan.  My Verizon contract expired over a month ago, I removed my adult son's phone from the plan at that time (would have done so earlier, but there was a penalty).  I told the rep. at the time that I would be discontinuing the service for cost reasons - they immediately offered a nominally reduced rate, which I turned down.  I coasted on Verizon until this week - when I saw they planned to jack my bill up an additional $20/month.  With that bill (and necessary account numbers) in hand, I went to Wal Mart and waited behind an elderly couple for a full 45 minutes while they went through the 40 steps necessary to do the same thing I wanted to do, convert to a $30/month track plan.  They kept glancing back at me, offering apologies for the delay, and I smiled and replied, "I am going to drop dead standing in this line before giving up getting this phone today!"  And Verizon can whistle for their $92.

It's the anonymity of the whole thing that burns me now.  You have to fight not to be charged for things that you can no longer afford.  And the companies involved, while going through the motions of offering more affordable options remain oblivious to the fact that there are none!  Cut the crap!  Your stupid overcharges mean I have to live on lentils, rice, and my pantry garden produce for an additional month.  

Poverty Mindset

Is there a poverty mindset?  The media proclaim that those born into a low-income lifestyle are largely destined to remain there.  The implication then is that not much can be done about it, so don't waste your time trying to promote beneficial programs.  Low expectations breed low outcomes.  And on and on....

I was born into a pretty strange lifestyle, come to think of it.  My parents, four older brothers and myself lived on a farm, raised dairy cows for awhile, and farmed or rented out our land, and went to the local schools until high school.  But my mother (circa 1920's) was raised in an urban environment of music lessons, private schools, governess for the children, cook in the kitchen, upstairs maid, downstairs maid and a seamstress who stopped by once a week to help grandmother with the mending.  Because my grandfather was a medical doctor and worked for a living, they considered themselves "middle class."  Money issues were never discussed in front of children - a hold-over she carried into my generation that left me woefully ignorant of practical financial planning when I reached adulthood.  
 
On the farm we lived frugally within my father's Kodak income (his day job - between milking cows morning and evening).   "The big yellow mother" always provided health insurance and it never occurred to us children that our medical and dental needs would not always be met.  The only cost outside this umbrella was my braces, for which payment mother gamely returned to work in a local factory for something like $75 a week (mid-1960's).

Though our income was modest, mother raised us upon the "nobless oblige" principles of her own upbringing, seasoned with the enlightened socialism of my working class father.  In her later years she worked in the inner city, making life-long friends with people with backgrounds very different from her own.  She was equally at home at elegant dinner parties or hobnobbing with the rich and famous. Her example awed us.  My father was always somewhat irked by my mother's ease (which he did not share) in moving among people of all walks of life.  "You think you're as good as anybody," he once remarked, to her amusement. 

I am technically poor but don't have a poverty mindset.  I wasn't raised that way.   I'm where I want to be, doing what I want to do, with as much as I need, and more to give away.  My expectations are high, but not where money is concerned.  It's a beautiful life.  Thank you, mother.    

Counting the Groats

Counting the Groats

At this time of the winter season I really start appreciating the richness of last summer's garden bounty. Since I 'graduated' out of Food Stamps at the end of November, I now have to pay my household bills plus groceries with a half-time $10/hr. job, selling books on the Internet, and what I can pull together out of my musician's bag of tricks.

Since New Year's Day I spent about $30 for groceries, the majority to feed my cats, the rest being apportioned among very necessary coffee, milk, eggs, and a tub of hummus. I am doing without cheese, peanut butter, processed veggie proteins, salad greens, and other quick fixes. The refrigerator is a yawning void, yet I eat sumptuously from pantry and freezer.

A supply of dried green split peas, navy beans, lentils and quinoa are adequate and flavorful proteins in winter casseroles and soups. My dried cherry tomatoes add just the right tang to a rice and lentil bean loaf. The freezer is about 1/3 full of green beans, green peppers, mixed veggies for stir fries, corn, chard, and pesto. 20 lbs. of potatoes and 10 lbs. of onions remain in the cold corner of the cellar pantry. Home-canned, well-seasoned tomato sauce (15 quarts on hand) can be heated up right out of the jar, to go over rice or pasta or be the base of a minestrone soup. There are about 25 quarts left of canned applesauce and peaches as well as half a shelf full of strawberry and peach jam.

Right now I have a peach cobbler in the oven, which took me about 5 minutes to assemble (and 40 minutes to bake) from a quart of peaches and baking ingredients on hand.

Lack of cash is actually improving my life by forcing healthier choices. There is no more "grab and go" eating or easy sweets. Planning and preparation are necessary and enhance my appreciation. The variety and quality of my meals are much higher now that I am "reduced" to living mostly off my stored summer wealth.

Let's wake up and re-educate ourselves to this reality. It is worth it.

Balancing Act - Affordable Health Care

Because of my recently-acquired half time job, I found my marginally increased income boosted me $50 over the Medicaid limit, and I have been informed that I will be removed from the rolls as of Dec. 1st.  They told me that I still qualify for the family planning benefit - really useful as I approach retirement age, my reproductive apparatus removed 15 years ago, and my children grown and gone.   My self-employment is variable and has recently dropped drastically (yard work over, no house sitting/cleaning jobs, fewer music gigs, and students feeling the need to their focus time and resources on the holidays).  I have explained this situation to my DSS worker and challenged the ruling - results not yet back. 

The lowest premium  pay-as-you-go health insurance available to me is through my new employer.  This is generously subsidized, but  has an $1800 annual deductible, and would still cost half my paycheck .  Once I lose half my pay, I am squarely back in Medicaid territory, but without the benefit of affordable health care.  Not enough to live on and no funds to pay the medical costs up to the deductible limit. 

Figure this one out for me, President Obama. 

My Favorite Cheap Eats

One gets tired of beans and greens after awhile.  There are actually a lot of tastier ways to stretch a $30/week Food Stamp budget, and I'd like to share some of my favorites.  This is just a sampling of ideas.

Note:  If you buy these at your local Mennonite store (doesn't everyone have one of these?) you will get a huge lot of bang for your SNAP buck:

• Mushrooms - fresh mushrooms, primarily white but sometime portobello or shiitake, are available at amazingly cheap prices if you hit your Mennonite store on the right day.  I wash, slice, and freeze these in saved bread bags.  Then they are available to be sautéed up with your onions and peppers for omelets, vegie (or other) burgers, stroganoff, sandwiches....
• Cashews - raw, unsalted cashews are very versatile.  They add character to chili and stir fries, and are great for snacking. 
• Sliced almonds - I have found  sliced almonds to cost less than the same weight of whole, raw, unsalted almonds.  And they save you so much work!  Toss them into your green salads, morning cereal, yogurt & fruit (of course, use plain, organic yogurt and your own canned fruit), and homemade banana bread and granola
• Raisins and sweetened dried cranberries - these are my personal favorites in the dried fruit line.   You can get the large restaurant bags of bran, cornflakes or a generic version of Grape Nuts (in our Wegmans they call it "Wheat Crunch."  Someone in marketing lacked imagination)  and dress them up with a combination of dried fruit and nuts and have a much more flavorful and healthy breakfast. 
• 5 lb. bag of quality pancake mix - ah...the joy of Sunday mornings with a big stack of homemade pancakes and the real article syrup (see below).  I always make more than required for the meal and then use the leftovers for snack roll-ups for later with jam, peanut butter, bananas, etc. 
• 5 lb. bag of quality shortcake mix - this is another Mennonite grocery special.  Just spread a layer of home-canned fruit and a little sweetener and spice in a baking pan, blend some  shortcake mix with water/milk and a little melted butter, spread it over the top and bake and, voila, you have fruit cobbler. 
• Bread from your local discount outlet - the really good, whole grain, no high-fructose corn syrup varieties are frequently on "Manager's Special" for $1.00/loaf.  If you say you want their discard lots for chicken feed, you can get it for even less.  Just tell them you won't eat it yourself.  Save the bags for food storage.  After you re-use and wash them a couple of times, recycle.
• Fresh ginger root - grate this generously into your stir fry.  The aroma and taste are heavenly.
• Red curry paste - when you want a real kick to your vegetable dish - a teaspoonful goes a long way.
• Club pack tilapia or other low-priced fish - wrap each piece individually in plastic wrap and freeze (in a used bread bag).  Eating fish every third day, I stretch $15 worth of fish for two weeks, and even shared with company!
• 1/2 gallon of genuine maple syrup - dole it out sparingly and you'll feel rich.

More anon.

Gold vs. Gums

My daughter's best friend in high school, a talented performer and gifted singer, was denied a solo and a chance in the spotlight by the choral director because of her bad teeth. Her older sister, the courageous bread-winner for the family, could secure nothing better than substitute teaching work because of the gaps in the front of her mouth. The face of poverty was not to be seen.

A friend of mine volunteers once a week at the local community lunch program and afterward will drop off a bag of bread at my house – bread that those served that day did not want. Ironically, this is invariably a loaf of Normal Bread, donated to the program by the best artisanal bakery in town – delectable, organic whole grain, seedy, nutty, flavorful (and retailing at $4+ per loaf). I can't afford to buy it, yet every week I get it for free! “I don't know why this is always left over,” my friend commented. “They probably can't chew it.” I replied.

So many issues under this deceptively simple heading. The whys and hows of circumstance that keep people down and out, regardless of talent, grit, and determination; people trained by our culture to expect little and get less. Individuals born into a life whose only success is working the system to glean a few scraps from the public assistance table. “I went to the Medicaid dentist once,” the sister above told me, “but there were roaches in the waiting room. After they pulled my teeth, I didn't go back.”