Pinch It

"Influence is like a savings account. The less you use it, the more you've got."
-Andrew Young

So, I am going to drain a bit of my influential bank roll to try to persuade towards something I have found to be quite a gold mine: Groupon. Yes, like coupon for a group. I am not, nor will I ever be a hard core coupon clipper, but if I can find something convenient that saves me some money, I'll take it.

Here is how it works.... you register your email with the Groupon in your city and each day you will receive a deal via email. Each deal is set up with a threshold that must be met for the deal to be "on" (for example, 45 people must buy it before it is officially "on") Once the deal is on, you usually have 24 hours to purchase whatever is being offered. I have been receiving the emails for a couple months and have cashed in three deals so far. The first: a $70, 1 hour massage which I paid $35 for. I have also purchased a family membership to the Minnesota Historical Society. For those of you in Minnesota, that is good for unlimited visits to the Historical Society in St. Paul as well as unlimited visits to the Mill City Museum in downtown Minneapolis. Both of these destinations are fabulous, kid-friendly adventures. The last, but not least, was $75 worth of organic produce delivered to my door for $35. The latter of the three deals is currently still on. In my humble opinion, it's worth a glance.

Granted, many of the deals that come through are for obscure business located 45 minutes from me, but I've seen enough benefit to feel good putting it out there. The link is below... have a blast with a new way to pinch those pennies.

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu707283

What Goes Around...

"Each thing is of like form from everlasting and comes round again in its cycle."
-Marcus Aurelius

Red Lipstick, legwarmers, mini skirts, platform boots, bell bottoms, Farah Fawcett curls, Robert Redford: all these things that have cycled through our popular culture again and again. It's always striking to me how often I find trends repeating. Even more striking is the trend I've noticed in reusing old things. In my little jewelry business, the older something is, the better it sells. People are drawn to the past, and, finally, it's trendy to find new uses for genuinely old things. I like to envision this pattern as a spiral- circling back around to something familiar, but taken up a level. Just today, my friend Joan sent me a link that took me back to something from my past I thought was long forgotten...

For those of you who joined this party train early on, you'll remember a post with a Craigslist link taking you to a mighty fine find of a Peacock covered couch. There are those of you who might have missed it, and for those sad souls, there is a remedy- You must do this first, however: Close your eyes. Imagine yourself stepping into a room with just the right balance of shabby and sheik. The walls are a dusty teal. The fireplace dons a chippy mantle with what paint remaining, an eggshell white. The armchair perfectly placed by the fireplace is simple beige brocade. Sit down in that chair. Feel the warmth of the fire place. Across the room from you is a mural made from a mishmash of found objects creating some sort of imagined landscape, but, alas, there is nothing underneath that mural to anchor it to the room. Now you are ready to click... enjoy!



http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/hnp/fuo/1600540550.html

Salad Days

"The farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn't still be a farmer." -Will Rogers

It's winter. It's February. We need an escape. Let's do a little mental exercise: Close your eyes. Picture a landscape. What do you see? If you are living anywhere in the Midwest or East coast your brain probably goes right to snow. After all, we are buried in it right now. Maybe this will work... close your eyes again. Picture a perfect meal. What do you see? O.K., that probably didn't work either. My mind went straight to hot dish.

How about we talk about a subject near and dear to my heart that is sure to take you straight into summer: CSAs. No, I'm not discussing some acronym drummed up in some cooperate war room. I'm talking about Community Supported Agriculture. If you haven't heard of this, it's due time. After all, it's the hottest thing around since the farmer's market took hold in every town from here to Ogden, Utah. CSAs are deliveries brought straight to you directly from a local farm. Some farmers will designate a central drop-off spot. If you are lucky, you can find a farmer that will deliver right to your door (this, of course, comes with a steeper price attached.)

In my case, I'm lucky. For the last four years I have had deliveries from a local organic farm brought right to my door with a cut rate to boot. How did I achieve such miracles, you ask. I gathered a group of neighbors and the farmer gave us a deal because the boxes are all delivered to one address- mine. It's a great arrangement for all of us, especially me. Not only do I get my weekly dose of farm fresh carrots, lettuce, arugula, spinach, potatoes, tomatoes and on and on... but I also get the welcome visits of all my friends.

The vegetables and visits are just a couple of the perks. The biggest pay-off of all are the results I've seen with my kids. The farm box delivery is a highlight of each week for them. They are mesmerized by each vegetable as I pull them out of the box, and can hardly wait to get their little hands and mouths around them. Believe me, if this CSA thing can get my kids excited about brussels sprouts (which it has,) it can make your kids believers too.

Costs vary from region to region, but price comparisons often show that the same amount of organic produce bought from outlets as pricey as Whole Foods cost significantly more. When you buy into a CSA, you are purchasing a portion of a farm's harvest. Generally, you pre-pay early in the year and then are free to enjoy the salad days (in my area this lasts from June-October.) Some farms have bonus features. This year, my farm has added free-range eggs as well as offering to deliver beef and chicken from his farmer friend near by.

If you live near me- check out the link to my farm. If you like what you see, join the party!

Here is the link:
www.burningriverfarm.com

If not, but you'd like to find a CSA in your area, check out this link:
www.localharvest.org/csa

Bear in Mind

Here in the far Northern reaches of the U.S. during the coldest part of the year, it's not easy to keep perspective. The Starbucks drive-thu line is always long. It's hard to find just the right parka in the perfect hue to coordinate with all the boots lining my closet, and my hardwood floors are taking a beating with all the salt the kids track in. It takes focus to not fall on my sword daily.

Recently I was introduced to someone who snapped me right out of my self-inflicted, all-too-human dramas: Lily. Lily is a three year-old black hibernating under a log somewhere in Northern Minnesota. The North American Bear Center has cleverly set a camera providing all of us with a live feed of Lily's long nap. Though most of the feed is full of stretches of watching Lily take her average 3 breaths per minute, there are moments of magic to be seen. The coup de grace being the birth of her cub a couple of weeks ago. Do not fret- you may not have been there to see it live, but thanks to our handy-dandy YouTube, you can relive the birth again and again. Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBNtANbW5vE

Want to see more? Want it live? Here is the link to Lily's live cam:

http://www.bear.org/website/visit-us/lily-den-cam.html

I have to admit, I'm a bit mesmerized. I check the live feed often hoping for a glimpse of Lily's furry face (which I have, indeed, caught while watching) or to hear the call of her little cub (I've heard the cry many times as well.) I sit in my cozy house shielded from the snow that piles up on Lily's back, sipping my tea and realize that any drama I might conjure up doesn't hold a candle to what our beastly friends have to go through just for the sake of survival.

Sour Power

"Men are like wine: some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age" - Pope John XXIII

Yes, it's been a while, and I've been up to no good. Since my last entry and today, I've had too many martinis in Chicago, found myself an amazing pair of gold vintage cowboy boots and the Vikings.... well, what can I say about that? If you are anything like the five million or so Minnesotans, you might still be feeling a bit sour given the impending Super Bowl. With that in mind, I thought it would be fitting to talk about the benefits of something that leaves a bad taste in your mouth: Vinegar.

Of course, we all know the joy of a good vinaigrette. Some may know the pleasure of macerated strawberries in a balsamic vinegar, but did you know the good graces of vinegar go much deeper that this? There are those who believe it is a magic diet aid warding off even the strongest of sugar cravings. Others swear by its ability to cure varicose veins.

My personal love of this sour friend is, indeed, a profound one. A few months ago my husband and I were at wits end with a dishwasher that wasn't working. After a tedious and disgusting dismantling of said washer produced no more than the same film that had been coating our dishes for weeks, we began the process of looking for a new machine. Before the purchase was made, we tried one last theory. Four cups of vinegar was added to a cycle, and eureka! The problem was solved. The dishes came out sparkling, and a $3 bottle of vinegar saved us from a $600 sticker shock. The film that had been building up on the dishes was the result of mineral deposits from our hard water. Those same minerals had been clogging the water feeds in and out of the washer. The vinegar provided the chemical reaction to thwart those pesky deposits. To this day, we add a cup or so of vinegar to keep the minerals at bay.

With my new vinegar romance in full bloom, I went looking for more miracles it could perform. Low and behold, I found more. I came across recipes for both an all purpose household cleaner as well as for a glass cleaner. I've faithfully been brewing these concoctions since for a fraction of the cost of those chemically laden cleaners I carelessly sprayed about. My piggy bank is bulging these days, and it is sparkly to boot.

Here are the recipes:

Homemade Glass Cleaner

1 Cup rubbing alcohol
1 Cup water
1 Tablespoon vinegar

Using isopropyl alcohol and white vinegar together makes a quickly evaporating spray glass and mirror cleaner that competes with national brands. This can also be used to give a nice shine to hard tiles, chrome, and other surfaces.


Alice's Wonder Spray

1 Cup white vinegar
2 teaspoons borax
4 Cups hot water
20 essential oil (optional)
1/4 Cup liquid dish soap

Combine vinegar and borax with hot water. Add an essential oil (if desired for fragrance) and dish soap. Place in a spray bottle and be sure to label it.