20-11 will be Heaven - Happy New Year!!!

You heard it here first, "20-11 will be Heaven."  For a description of heaven, please refer back to my September 29, 2010 blog entry.  In other words, heaven is description as your place of bliss and happiness.

While you heard my catchy saying here first, my word for the year has been copied.  On new year's day, I mentioned to Neptune and Hercules that my word for 2011 would be frugal, it seems a few others are thinking the same thought.

This morning while perusing the " Chicago Tribune", I came across two scenarios with MY word - frugal.  In first was a columnist with a self-description as "frugalista."  The second time, I saw my word "frugal" used was by Target in their Sunday ad.  They had a section called, "Fantastically Frugal Finds."

Is it possible, that I could be that in-tuned with the world?  Has the Great Recession truly had a deep behavior changing impact on America's spending habits?  Will the frugality kick last?  If so, will it help the economic state of the country and our personal bank accounts?  Time will tell.......

Personally, during January 2011, I will be offering 31 days of frugality.  Like everything else in life, it's attitude.  Let's make it fun and inventive.  Yes, everything can be a game.

1. Saturday, January 1 - dollars spent - $0.  Saucy and I brought in the new year with a tea party.  So, for breakfast on the first day of the day, we had a breakfast tea party.  We dressed in party clothes and celebrated the day.
2. Sunday, January 2 - dollars spent - $0.  Spent the day at my favorite place - Talbots - working and no shopping.
3. Monday, January 3 - dollars spent - $0 - many dollars saved.  Cancelled my Netflix subscription.  No $8.99 is not going to send me to the poor house.  But the interest accruing on the $8.99 each month plus the high balance is deepening debt.  So until my Visa is reduced by 80% - no more interest accruing $8.99 per month.

YUMM! Part 3

This a third in a series of a few - maybe many about good food. 

Now I really don't consider myself a "foodie."  Being a size 10, obviously I enjoy eating good food. 
When I plan a vacation or trip, I do a have checklist of restaurants I would like to visit.  When Monkey come home for a visit, I plan meals around her favorite foods. 

ALERT!!!! Name change......Coco is now Saucy!

During my visits with Neptune and Saucy, I definitely try to make their favorite dishes.  In fact, upon waking in the morning, Saucy asks for eggs with cheese or as we call them - cheesy eggs.

To the point of the story.  For years, Darling, JaclynSmith and I have been meeting throughout the year at restaurants for dinner and girl chat.  When I say years, it has been 20+ years we have meeting for girl time.   During the past few years, due to lifestyle changes and economic times we have started to meet more often at Darling's house.  (It's centrally located.) 

This last week we gathered at Darling's house again.  The combined efforts of the three us prepared a dinner no restaurant could compare to on taste or price.  We have done this many times.  The food is amazing and so is the company.  It is more relaxed and we have the opportunity to spend more time together. 

Will people start cooking and entertaining more often to enjoy their company in a more relaxed environment?  Or, to save on the high cost of restaurant bills?  Not that we are so trendy,  but could this be another old - new development result of the Great Recession?

Bon Apetitte - Mom

Chicago

As Frank Sinatra sang, "Chicago is my kind of town.  Chicago is my home town."  In my case, no truer words were ever sang.

Chicago is my home town.   Personally, I feel it is my personal city and background.  I feel privileged to have grown up in the city.  Even with moving to the suburbs in my mid-30's, for the most part, I worked and socialized in the city.  My children and I made the trek into the city for every holiday season, plays, museums, special exhibits, etc.

Since I have this great affinity for the city of Chicago, at a moment's notice, I am happy to visit the city or give personal guided tours to my friends and visitors.  Early this summer, my friend, Darling, and her daughter, Niceness, no strangers to the city, decided to spend the day in the Lincoln Park for a day of fun.  FUN it was.  We strolled and enjoyed the shops along Armitage Avenue just west of Halsted.  There are two things that are very special about this neighborhood.  The first is the buildings and homes along the side streets.  Secretly, or not so secretly, even as a child, this is the neighborhood where I wanted to live.

Even with the economic straits of limited funds, my friends and I have enjoyed the city at this best.  This summer, my friend, CareBear, and her sister and family wanted to rekindle some memories of a Chicago visit they had taken when they were young.  With five full-size adults, we crammed into my Jeep Limited and drove to the Lincoln area and found a great FREE parking spot for the day.  On this memory catching visit, we were only 3 blocks away from our first destination, Lincoln Park Zoo.  The zoo has free admission.  It's the parking that costs big bucks.  The second memory was a city beach on Lake Michigan. We walked through Lincoln Park, crossed Lake Shore Drive on the sky walk and landed at North Avenue Beach.  Everyone was thrilled and the pleasant memories were recreated.

My most recent tour was yesterday.  Monkey is dating a gentleman we will name, GingerBear.  He is a Yooper - Yah! sure.   GingerBear has never been to the city of Chicago.  He chose the visit the Shedd Aquarium.  To tell the truth, I have not been there since the Oceanarium for first opened.  If I remember correctly, Bill Kurtis was still a celebrity in Chicago.  We had a great time.  Then we walked back downtown via Milliners Park to see the BEAN.

It's mid-November, of course, we went to view the windows at Macy's.  They sucked.  Yes, I am one of those Chicagoans who will not give up anger of Macy buying Marshall Fields. The Walnut Room Tree was beautiful.  As tradition has it, Monkey bought two small boxes of Frango Mints for the train ride room.

.....my kind of town - Chicago

Happy Trails to you

"... all the lonely people." - Eleanor Rigby

The song, Eleanor Rigby, was written by Paul McCartney and released in 1966.  As the chorus of the song goes, "Ah, all the lonely people," it's a song about lonely people.  These people live among us each and every day.  They go about their lives and business.  Sometimes, the isolation is a matter of circumstances: fear of rejection, illness, geography, lack of social skills, etc.  Whatever the reason, I look at all the lonely people.


Which brings me to social networking.  Is social networking making us any less lonely? Or, is social networking isolating individuals from people even more?  Why is it called social networking?  Facebook, Plaxo, Linkedin, etc. are not really very social.  The conversation is in sound bytes and one-way.  Yes, there is an acceptance to an invitation, but no face-to-face conversation.  Updates are more akin to shouting and announcing to the network, "Hey LOOK AT ME!  I DID SOMETHING."   While this may be a conversation starts, it's not a conversation.  It grabs attention for a moment.  Then, the network goes about their business. 

Recently,  while working at the store, I have come across quite a few lonely people.  Every week, we see some of the same patrons.  They spend their time shopping, mingling with the salespeople and other patrons.  They buy things.  The next week, these same people arrive at the store to return 90% of their previous purchase.  The cycle continues with the same behavior.  At first, I thought these people were not decisive.  But the more I observed their patterns and behavior, the more I realized these sad people are lonely.  They visit the store for company and interaction with other people.

Wouldn't be great if we could somehow (without pointing fingers) form an actual social group or club.  These ladies could gather at the store to shop, lunch and develop a real relationship, and most importantly, make less returns to the store.  They could encourage each other and enjoy each others' company.

I could make a page, "All the lonely people, meet in the Missy concept for social interaction."

YUM! YUM!

The YUM! subject deserves a second blog report. 

By dear granddaughter, Coco, inspires this story.  As I mentioned earlier this week, she is now 2.5 years and a fabulous toddler.  I love toddlers.  They utter the most precious things.  A toddler is the most honest human alive.  

Of course Coco's immediate family think she is the smartest and most clever child alive.  This includes her Mimi, me.  Coco truly enjoys cake with lots of frosting.  To say the least, it's one of her comfort foods.  When you mention cake, her eyes light up.

A few weeks ago after a family dinner, we were playing flash cards with Coco.  A for apple. B for bee.  When we got to C, Coco shouts, "CAKE!  I LOVE IT!"  Needless to say, everyone was smiling.


So, this weekend, Coco and I will be baking cupcakes with lots of frosting.  I LOVE CUPCAKES!

YUM!

Comfort Food - This phrase was included into the Webster Dictionary in 1977.  Comfort food is loosely described as food which brings an individual comfort and well-being.  It says nothing about guilt.

YUM! Brands is the name of the ex-trinity of PepsiCo Foods:  KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.  Personally, these are not my comfort foods.  But they must be comfort foods for millions, maybe billions of people.   YUM! Brands is doing quite nicely even through the great recession.

Once upon on a time, I worked with a very young woman.  We worked in an office building downtown. Her comfort food was fried rice.  But it had to be from China town.  So she would send her boyfriend of the moment to China town to bring back an order of fried rice.  (Did I mention that she was quite attractive?)

Last evening, I had dinner with some friends, CareBear and Mikey.  As we were enjoying our dinner, we were discussing comfort foods and past combinations from our childhood.   One was dill pickles and peanut butter.  Another favorite was white bread with butter and sugar sprinkled on top. Quite a few of these concoctions were tossed around with comments.

There was a time during my preteen years when I sneak into the kitchen to make a butter and sugar sandwich as a snack.  (Did I mention that I was a chubby child?)  It has been a long time since I craved or ate a slice of white bread with butter and sugar.  At this point in my life, the thought does not appeal to me.  

We all crave those foods that bring us good memories or a positive feeling about life.  To tell the truth, my comfort foods have not changed all that much.  Currently, my list would include:

• Chicago pizza - sans pepperoni - a true Chicagoan does not eat pepperoni - it's sawsage
• Macaroni and Cheese 
• Cheeseburgers - pub style - medium rare
• A well-made cosmopolitan with grey goose vodka

What are some of your comfort foods?  We would all be interested.  Just check the pencil in the lower left corner and share - please.

Yummy, Yummy

Choo-Choo Charlie

Again for a moment or two, let's go back to early television.  Do you remember the candy called, Good n' Plenty?  It's still around.  It was not my personal favorite candy.  Good n' Plenty is licorice in candy coated shells of pink and white.  You can still find it in a Walgreens in the $1boxes of candy.  Yes, it was only 5 cents when I was a child (a million years ago).

Now that you are trying to picture the candy, stretch your memory to remember the commercial.  It was a black and white cartoon.  The only color in the commercial was the pink and white candy pellets.  The main character was Choo-Choo Charlie who closely resembled Charlie Brown. Well, Choo-Choo Charlie was engineer who shook his box of Good N' Plenty to make the sound of a train chugging down the tracks.

As a child and still as a mature adult, when I think about trains, picture the commercial as well as hear the song in my head.  Skip ahead two generations to the present.  My Coco is now 2.5 years of age. Her frame of reference for trains is the series of Thomas the Train. Can you believe that until Coco came along I never heard of Thomas and his train crew?  (Guess television was my babysitter.)

Coco is quite familiar with this entire train crew:  Gordon, Percy, and Thomas, etc.  Every time she sees a train pass by, she points, smiles and says "Thomas"!  So as a potty training reward,  on a bright sunny Saturday morning, the entire family boarded Thomas and rode the train to another suburb approximately 30 minutes away.  As we passed trains, in complete awe, Coco called out the names of the other train crew members.  Her face held great awe and wonder.

Those moments held great awe, wonder and joy for me as well.



Choo-Choo Charlie & Thomas the Train