<p>Vderon’s much appreciated thread on cutting back to save money has made me curious. My H has been out of work for about 16 months and my business is in a definate slump. D is graduating in Dec and I thought about a year ago that this would be a great opportunity to spend all that extra income that would be piling up after we had paid our last tuition bill.
WRONGO… But in listing the ways Ive saved money, I also realized that that list also included ways that I have recently enriched my life.
What real pleasures and treasures have you rediscovered in these hard times?
As to myself, here are a few of my favorite things that I didnt have when I had money.
Homemade marshmallows
walks in the mountains instead of on a treadmill at the gym
the shock and awe that someone wants to PAY for one of my paintings
did I mention homemade marshmallows…?
pride in not having stepped inside a mall for over a year
beach camping on the Central Coast
smores made with homemade marshmallows</p>
<p>Please do share the recipe for the homemade marshmallows…they sound amazing!</p>
<p>marshmallows</p>
<p>3 pkg unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tea spoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
confectioners sugar for dusting</p>
<p>combine the gelatin and 1/2 cup cold water with a mixer w. wisk attachment.
let this mixture sit while you make syrup</p>
<p>combine sugar, cornsyrup and salt w. 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan over medium heat. raise heat to high and cook until syrup reaches 240 on a candy thermometer. remove from the heat</p>
<p>with the mixer on low slowly pour the syrup into the gelatin mixture. put the mixer on high and blend for about 15 minutes until the mixture is thick.
blend in vanilla
pour in a 8x12 non metal pan and let dry at room temp overnite. (before pouring in pan you might want to spread toasted cocoanut in the pan and sprinkle after spreading as well.
cut into squares, dust with confectioners sugar or confectioners sugar w. cocoa powder. store at room temp
I took this recipe from the foodtv website.</p>
<p>There are so many commercially made products that are fabulous when you make them yourself. Not because its cheaper, but its so much better. Like people making their own bread.
A local restaurant inspired me to do the following. I made my own graham crackers, got some Belgian chocolate, made fresh raspberry puree.
Top a homemade cracker with the belgian chocolate and a home made marshmallow . Place them under the broiler (watch they dont burn) and surround with a pool of raspberry puree just before serving to your lucky guests.
(make as individual portions only)</p>
<p>one night a couple winter ago I skipped the Celtics and went up to my kid’s HS to see the boys bball team play a game … it was an absolute great game that “our team” won in double or triple overtime … ending in a pig pile in the middle of the court like they won the NBA title. When the game finished I turned my friend and said “what a great game … and the best thing about it is that the exact same thing happened in about 500 gyms in the country tonight”. Every day and evening a bunch of amatuer athletes (musicians / dancers / singers) will play their hearts out for free for you … let you see them peform from the front row … and play the game right. For me a much better deal than attending a pro game with all the hyped entertainment (blaring sound, Jumbotron, and T&A).</p>
<p>excellent…im going to my D’s old hs b-ball game Friday night—THANKS
for the tip!!!</p>
<p>Congratulations on your painting! Also, if I come to your house will you feed me? </p>
<p>I’ve noticed that people seem to be more kind to each other. At the gas station, people are talking to each other and same in the grocery store. It feels like “keep with the Jones” has been lifted and people are being more honest about where they are and their struggles. </p>
<p>Often I just overhear these exchanges but I find them very touching.</p>
<p>One day a couple weeks ago, H and I went kayak-clamming out on the back bays behind Wildwood. Well, he did most of the clamming, and I kayaked around. It’s really shallow back there, especially at low tide–the best time to clam, and I almost ran aground a couple times. But I didn’t, and I watched the sun get lower on a gorgeous fall day, the cormorants collecting on the transmission towers that span the water there, the Wildwood ferris wheel, dormant now for the winter, against the afternoon sky, and, on the way back, an arc of rainbow in the clouds of an otherwise sunny day, like a glass prism up in the sky, guiding our way back to the spit of sand we launched from.</p>
<p>We were muddy and kinda soaked, as the winds had whipped up by the end, creating some odd waves when we crossed the Inland Waterway channel which swamped us a couple times. We took the clams home and made stew from them along with tomatoes from the garden. We were exhausted, and the food was good. And the company was better. </p>
<p>I can’t think of a better way to spend a day.</p>
<p>May I second the motion on reconnecting with our kid’s athletic events? We went to an outdoor water polo tournament this past Saturday. What fun and not a pound extra on these toned boy’s (I should say young men’s!) bodies.</p>
<p>We’re also doing more friendship pot luck dinners. Sometimes we end up hosting more of them due to the size of our dining room, yet the participants are great in helping with clean up.</p>
<p>Reconnect with your animals. Take them on a hike, to the dog park, to agility trials. They give us unconditional love. Spend more time in giving some back to them.</p>
<p>Take up a new hobby. Like photography? See what Photoshop can do for those photos and get your holiday letter done before T-Day.</p>
<p>We enjoy high school musical theatre almost if not more than professional theatre. The seats are usually great (as opposed to the far balcony seats that we are willing to pay at professional productions). The acting is sometimes phenomenal ( mixed in with a few not-so-great voices…but that’s okay too). The raw-emotion and pride often can’t be beat. It is usually better when you know a few actors in the production, but even if not. Larger cities often have larger high schools with incredible productions because of a larger talent pool (not to mention more volunteers). The money always goes to a good cause.</p>
<p>As wife of a music prof, I’d like to add that often (particularly if you’re not from NYC, Chicago, or LA), university orchestras, ballets, and recitals are even <em>better</em> than their professional counterparts! They have fewer performances so the performances are much better rehearsed. There’s so much heart behind what they do. Often, the recitals are free, and the concerts and ballets are so much cheaper than the professional ones. The students are so grateful for the patronage. It’s a real joy. I know that as a student at Rice, my parents were absolutely blown away when I dragged them to a symphony concert, and as the orchestra began to play, their heads snapped towards me and they looked at me, slack-jawed… these kids were <em>good</em>!!</p>
<p>Events lists can usually be found online by searching for the fine arts departments for your local universities.</p>
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<p>Why do you exclude NYC, Chicago or LA ? Just curious, used to live in Chi and looking for a house around LA.</p>
<p>Im guessing that the standards of student orchestras, as GOOD as they are (in LA -Thornton, Colburn et al ) are going to have a tough time(in comparison) against the likes of the LA Phil or the LA Opera. We still go to some great student recitals. I really miss my old LA Opera and LA Phil season tickets, but I have plenty of opportunities to hear great music. Especially when my mezzosoprano D is home. And hey Muchkin—welcome to SoCal—I live in the Pasadena area.</p>
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<p>It’s hard to beat the NY Phil, the CSO, the LA Phil, the Lyric, the Met, etc., if you’re just a student orchestra/opera. 
Your local student orchestra probably isn’t gonna be as good as any of those, even if they’re <em>really</em> good.</p>
<p>
one great thing about going to HS stuff (athletic or artisitc) is you get to see kids grow from kids to young adults and watch the performance skills grow also … and it sure seems to me that kids today are multiples more accomplished than my friends and I were back in the day.</p>
<p>The laughter and memories we are making doing a cheapo vacation- sleeping in the back of a pick up truck in the Wal Mart parking lot will be something we laugh at in years to come, wheres we don’t really recall the stays in reasonable hotels. I do feel a bit Natalie Portman (Where the heart is) but as an empty nester with three in college, it is the only vacation I feel comfortable affording.</p>