Rubber Chicken

A whole chicken, roasted, can provide so many portions!

I buy whole chicken when it goes on sale for $.99/lb. or under.  That is my buying price.  Of course, I prefer to purchase it at under $.99/lb. whenever I can, but I will not buy it for more than $.99/lb.  I usually buy 2 or 3 chickens when on sale and freeze them and usually, they go on sale before I use the last frozen chicken.

Since we are a family of 2 (daughter and I) one chicken can serve us for more meals than if we were a larger family.  Especially these days, when daughter and I are living by ourselves.  So, the first thing we do is cut up the roast chicken and freeze half of it for future meals.

The remaining half a roast chicken will provide each of us with at least a week's worth of dinners.  Roast chicken with potatoes or pasta or rice and vegetables; sliced roast chicken breast in a sandwich, sliced up in a stir-fry with vegetables and served over rice; strips of meat pulled off the bones and sauted with sliced onions and spices, or cubed and mixed up with sauce and made into pot pies,or chicken fried rice, and finally, the remaining carcass boiled to make a broth, which, with the addition of vegetables and rice or pasta, can be made into several servings of soup.

Last week, daughter bought an already roasted chicken, on sale for $5.00.  This was more costly than buying a chicken and roasting it herself, but for her, it was a more convenient option (I chose to buy a chicken and roast it for myself).

Daughter froze some of her roast chicken and had the rest for meals throughout the week.  Yesterday, I pulled off the rest of the meat from the bones and sauted it with onions for dinner (made enough for our dinner plus there's enough to make into fried rice for our lunch, today).

And then, I made soup from the carcass.  I added some potatoes, carrots and frozen vegetables including some bell pepper cores that I had frozen specifically for soup making (I always freeze the trimmings and cores and other bits and pieces of vegetables to add to soups) and made enough soup for 6-9 servings.  I kept some in the fridge for her to have during this week and froze 2 containers of soup (each with 2-3 servings) for future meals.  She can thaw and reheat them and add some rice or pasta to them and they'll make a quick lunch or dinner for her.

In the meantime, I've a partly eaten roast chicken in the fridge at home, waiting to be made into some soup for myself.  Guess I'll be doing that, when I get home, tonight.

Do you have a price above which you will not buy some items?  Do you roast chicken or buy already roasted chicken?  If so, what do you make with the leftover chicken?  How do you make it stretch (thus the term, "rubber chicken") to get maximum value for your money?

Looking for Happiness

"Look for happiness and you will find it", the slip of paper inside my fortune cookie assured.

Well, that's nice and trite, I thought.  And yet...

The pursuit of happiness is one of three Creator endowed inalienable rights, according to the Declaration of Independence (the other 2 rights being life and liberty). 

That's a pretty powerful endorsement for the search for happiness, isn't it?  Actually, I am rather intrigued with the inclusion of happiness among those rights.  Life and liberty, I can understand; those are worthy entities to be identified as inalienable rights and be included in such a significant document.  But to include the pursuit of happiness!  Perhaps life and liberty, by themselves, without happiness, are not enough.






Buddhist meditations on loving-kindness usually begin with the phrase, "May all beings be well and happy."



Obviously, happiness is a very important entity.

So, how does one pursue happiness?  What does one do?  Where does one look?  Where would one find it?

I believe that happiness is a rather individual thing and differs from one person to another.  For me, happiness is a state of being.  It is being content with who I am and what I have, for the most part.  Daughter often remarks that I am easily pleased.  And she's right!  It really doesn't take a lot to make me happy. 

This is not to say that I am happy all the time.  There are times when I worry and feel anxious, times when I fret, times when I am angry, or hurt and sad.  But, for the most part, I am happy and content.

So where do I look for my happiness?  I look for it in my everyday life.  In all the things I do and experience during the course of the day.  Routine things.  Ordinary, everyday tasks.  Regular happenings.

And do I find it?  Yes!

I find it in my daughter's sleepy, "Good morning", at the other end of the phone, when we call each other to wake each other and in her almost as sleepy "Good night" at the end of the day; I find it in the loud purring of the cat as he nudges me for his treat of tuna; I find it in the act of saying my daily devotions and listening to daughter saying hers; I find it in the cup of coffee I make and drink (in my favorite mug, stirred with my favorite spoon); in having a job I enjoy doing (although there are days when I'd rather sleep in than go to the office!);  I can even find happiness in the commute to and from work (I enjoy driving and I meditate and listen to music while I drive; for 4 years, I drove 4 hours each day, 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening).

I find happiness in doing all the small, money-saving things I do which enable me to live debt-free.  I find much happiness in my leisure time activities such as reading, gardening, doing crafts, etc.  There are some household tasks that make me happy, as well: organizing my linen closet, for example (other household tasks, such as scrubbing the toilet, happen to be less happiness inducing, but I find pleasure in the knowledge that the house is clean; messy, perhaps, and cluttered, but, clean.)

I find happiness in nature - the sight of a red-tailed hawk circling above, a hummingbird flitting about the garden, the purple of a thistle growing and flowering on the side of the road.  I find happiness in harvesting the bounty of the garden and turning it into the jars of jam and chutney that fill the kitchen cupboard, waiting to be given as gifts during the holidays.  

And I find happiness in family and friends.  An aunt's phone call, a friend's visit, an exchange of emails, a cheerful greeting and wave hello with a neighbor, are all sources of happiness.

I look for happiness in my everyday life and I find it everywhere, spread throughout my day.  





How about you?  What makes you happy?  Where do you look to find your happiness? 

Fan Quilt

Fan Quilt

This is one of two queen sized quilts in the same pattern, that I made back in 1981.  Daughter has the second quilt.  This is a pattern known as Grandmother's Fan and Oriental Fan.  The "fans" are pieced and appliqued to the blue background rectangles, which were then joined together to make the quilt top.  It is very minimally hand quilted, just a single outline quilting along the outer edge of the fan.  I prefer piecing the patches to quilting.   Like the majority of my quilts, it is made of fabric I had in my fabric stash, mostly leftover from my mother's sewing (she used to make all our clothes).  I did buy the blue fabric and the backing, which isn't shown. 

I first became interested in patchwork when I was a teenager, in 1974.  I had seen a patchwork cushion cover in a magazine.  It was pieced using English paper piecing, where paper templates were cut out first and covered with fabric, and then whip stitched together.  English paper piecing is hand sewn.  The cushion was composed of 1-inch diameter hexagons and diamonds.

My second patchwork piecing project was a quilt.  Composed of 2-inch diameter hexagons, it, too, was English paper pieced.  It was a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  The year was 1976.  I no longer have this quilt top - I wore it out over the years. 

Since then, I've made several more quilts.  I have given away some of them.  Others are worn and tearing.  But others are barely used and look as new as the day I made them. 

Currently, I am sewing a new Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  With larger hexagons than the previous Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  I'll post pictures of it when I have finished it.

Does anyone else like to do patchwork quilting?  Do you have quilts you have made?  Do you buy the fabric especially for quilts or do you use scraps leftover from other sewing projects?

Wednesday

Woke up by 6:00 a.m. and did my usual morning routine of morning devotions, feeding the cats, having a cup of coffee, getting dressed and calling daughter to say good morning to her (and let her know it was time to wake up!)  Then, a slow drive on the freeway to the office.  It seems there's more traffic on the freeway every day.

Today wasn't as quiet as yesterday.  I received an alert notice from the bank, about "unusual activity" on a credit card, which caused a bit of concern and required an unplanned visit to the bank, during my lunch break, to attend to that matter.  The fact that I was able to resolve it, without any unpleasant consequences, is a blessing and something for which to be grateful.  Since I was already at the bank, I went ahead and took care of one other item I had needed to do.  It meant one less errand I had to remember and do, later this week.

And, since I was already out and about, I stopped by the pharmacy to pick up my medication refills.

Later, on my way home from work, I stopped to put gas to the car.  Once I was home, I put water to the back garden.

Then, I video chatted with daughter, who was feeling very homesick and sad and overwhelmed and in tears.  What she wanted was a hug, but all I could do from 400 miles away was talk to her, and sympathize with her and reassure her that it would be OK, she will be fine, the challenges she's facing can be overcome and she will overcome them.  I said a blessing over her and a loving-kindness meditation on her behalf.  I like to think that it helped. 


I had planned to do some cleaning and sewing, but those projects didn't get done.  It doesn't matter.  My daughter needed me to be there, talking with her, more than the kitchen floor needed mopping.  There will be time for housework, later.

Daughter thanked me before she said goodnight.  I think I made the right choice to spend time with my daughter instead of doing housework, don't you?  My kitchen floor never thanks me for mopping it. 

How was your day? 

Tuesday

A quiet day, today.  Went to work, came home and brought the trash cans in, said Hi to my neighbor across the street who asked about daughter, checked the grocery ads for this week's deals, watered the front garden, watched a favorite TV show, wrote a couple of emails, watered the houseplants, and video chatted with daughter.

Raisin buns and banana for breakfast, roast chicken and yellow rice for lunch, a strawberry/cereal bar for afternoon snack, tomato soup and roast chicken with lingonberry sauce for dinner.

I've packed 2 raisin buns for tomorrow's breakfast and more roast chicken and rice for lunch, to take to the office. 

As I said, a quiet day.  Filled with everyday blessings:  a safe commute to the office and back, friendly neighbors, dear friends, good food, a pleasant half hour spent in the garden, being able to see and talk to daughter even when we are miles apart, a purring cat coming up for cuddles, pleasant weather, etc., and so much more.

How was your day?  Did you have a quiet day, too?  I hope it was full of blessings, too.



   

Monday

Had a busy day at the office, today.  But I went for a walk during my lunch break and did some window shopping.  On the way back, I stopped in at a Japanese bakery and bought a bag of raisin buns ($3.50 for 7 buns) and a curry pan (deep fried bread roll with a curry filling; $2.00).  Amount spent was $5.50.

After work, I came home, took the trash cans to the curb for trash pick up in the morning, had a chat with my neighbor who was out for a walk, and e-mailed birthday greetings to a cousin.  Later, I video chatted with my daughter.  I also cooked the chicken I had bought.  But instead of cutting it up and making a curry, I decided to baste it with teriyaki sauce and roast it; it was easier.

Now, it is almost midnight, so, I had better get off the computer, pack my lunch to take to the office tomorrow, clean the cat's litter box and go to sleep.  6:00 a.m. comes too soon!

Hope you all had a lovely Monday and a good start to your week.

Balanced Sunday

Today was a lovely day.  In the morning, I video chatted with a friend.  Later, I changed my bed sheets, did 2 loads of laundry (hung up to dry), dusted the living room and dining area, cleaned one bathroom and cleaned the kitchen counters.  I also went through the dish pan where I store all the food containers and organized them.

In the afternoon, I attended the monthly prayer meeting.  One of my aunts,  a cousin, and a friend rode there and back with me.  Afterwards, I invited them to tea and we spent a delightful hour or so, having tea and biscuits and talking.

Later in the evening, I put away the laundry, spoke on the phone with a friend, and video chatted with daughter.

Today, there was a nice balance between housework and time spent relaxing with family and friends.   A nice balance between productivity and leisure.  I felt that many of the segments of my life were touched upon - spirituality, environment, daughter, family, friends, leisure, time management, etc.  It was a very good day.

How was your Sunday?  Did you enjoy your day?