One of my favorite vegetarian dishes is pasta. My boyfriend likes his with canned Alfredo sauce and mushrooms on it. I like that too, but when I make it I usually use herbs, sometimes with chunks of fresh tomato tossed in for flavor, color, and health.

While cooking the pasta I heat a frying pan containing a small amount of oil and sliced fresh garlic. My choices for oil are olive oil, coconut oil, or sunflower oil… all organic. For this, I usually choose olive oil because I love the flavor. To my garlic I add salt, thyme, parsley, kelp flakes, oregano and basil. When the pasta is cooked and drained, I put some in the frying pan with my oil and herbs, and mix it together. The fresh tomatoes go in last, when the heat is turned off. Then I put it all on a plate with Parmesan cheese on top, and sometimes a little grated sharp cheddar right under the Parmesan. Mmmmm… I am such a pasta lover.

You notice I share my recipes but usually don’t mention amounts. I expect that we all have have an inner instinct for knowing how much to use. Learning to rely on that is part of becoming a confident cook. My grandmother never used measuring cups or spoons, and I rarely do.

Pasta choices… my boyfriend likes fettuccine. Honestly, I like it all but usually use fettuccine, spaghetti, or macaroni.

A few nights ago I went to the regular Friday evening fund-raising dinner at our local art center. This is a vegan/vegetarian dinner. They served big pasta shells with some kind of sauce (I should have asked) along with a green salad, cooked beets, and a slice of homemade bread. The dinner was satisfying and delicious, and for five dollars, I enjoyed the meal and the company of artistically minded people. The money is to be used to build a new art center in our remote mountain town.

Yes, I’ve been poking around the Internet this week, and last, ever since I lost my job at this town’s finest pizzaria… the Pizza House. Yay! No more having to work with… oh, never mind. I’m just so happy not to have to work outside my home for a while, I could sing and dance. More about that later.

I’m getting back into the mindset of a blogger and work at home person. I’m re-arranging my life to make Internet income acquisition more feasible. I’m reacquainting myself with my blogs… blowing the dust off, and making them all homey and cozy again.

For the last couple of months I was not only working hard at the pizza place - I was also working toward achieving an online goal. I wanted to be part of the Giant Squid program at Squidoo.Com. (See my lensography.)This may sound strange to many of you, but I love the Squidness of it all.. it shows a complete lack of taking ourselves too seriously. After all, if we’re not online for fun and profit - what are we here for? Okay, so maybe some of you could do without the profit part… but seriously, I can’t. This will have to be part of my required income from here on in, and Squidoo is a place where you can easily earn money online.

Let me be a bit honest with you about my situation.

I’ve given most of my life over to the care of my children, in that I took care of them for more than thirty years. My oldest is 35 this year. My youngest just turned 18 and moved out in July. So for the first time in my adult life - ever since I was twenty (when I had my first baby) - I am suddenly childless, in that none of them live with me. YES, I get to experience “Empty Nest Syndrome” first hand. So far it hasn’t been difficult.

My main income for the last year and a half was via working at the local pizza restaurant. I live in a VERY small town with few job opportunities. I felt lucky to have the job even though it was just part time.

Early in September the woman I worked with, the morning supervisor, suddenly quit her job after being there twelve years. She’d been offered a better job with benefits at the grocery store. I got promoted into the morning supervisor job on September 8. Unfortunately the evening supervisor who had worked there on and off for more than fifteen years didn’t like me. At the time I got promoted she was plotting and planning to get me out of there. I know that because later I ran into someone who told me the other supervisor offered her MY job at about the same time I got the promotion. This woman apparently was badmouthing me to the business owner and undermining me in every way she could. Eventually she got her way and only two weeks after getting promoted, I got fired for no particular reason other than that the other supervisor didn’t want to work with me! Wow, that was a big surprise to me because I was a very good employee. For some reason that old woman (age 69) is very manipulative and always gets her way with the business owner, who seems to be a pushover, letting her run the show even if it is unfair to others involved. I’m not the first person I’ve seen affected by this phenomena.

Anyhow, to my surprise, my first emotions after being fired were relief as if a burden had been lifted from me, and then joy. Suddenly I realized how happy I was that I wouldn’t have to work in that environment anymore, and especially not around that old woman plus her progeny who also work there due to the nepotism that’s so much a part of that business. I blinked my eyes a couple of times, stretched, smiled, and started feeling like I was doing internal happy dances. Like I really NEEDED to be treated so badly? How much money is it worth to go to work daily in a hostile environment… especially one where I have to work with meats even though I’m a vegetarian?

Fortunately I’d saved some money, and am earning a bit online. Since as I said, there are few job opportunities here, I’m not expecting to get another job right away. Of course, you never know and I’m not going to turn any jobs down… but for now I’m exceedingly happy to work at home as a blogger, Squidooer, and ad salesperson. I’m not earning a living wage at this time but it might get better if I keep trying. Right?

The good news is that my expenses are few. I’ve become an expert at practicing economy. My rent is super low - I live in a small backwoods cabin (some might call it a shack)… three bedrooms, but definitely not upscale. I drive an old but economical car so there are no car payments and gas… well, let’s not mention that right now. I just won’t drive it much. I plan to save on gas and ride a bicycle. Plus I walk a lot… often to the post office and back in the late afternoon. Two miles… good exercise. And I’m stocked up on food and continually adding more staples to my collection. There are very few things I really NEED to buy. I CAN DO THIS!!! I mean, I can learn to live on a much lower income.

I know that a lot of you out there in the rest of civilization are going through financial difficulties right now. I know with the bank failure, lots of people have lost retirement funds and home equity. My heart is with you as I feel the pains of so many who aren’t used to having to cut back, suddenly finding the rug pulled out from beneath them. And I guess what I’d like to do now is share some of my techniques for living economically. I feel like I’m pretty close to the bottom of the income scale, yet living comfortably and happily because of the choices I’ve made in the past. Maybe I have some ideas I can share with others - especially the idea that we can stay cheerful and happy in hard economic times.

Enough for now. If you’ve read this far, you must be a saint, and I love you! Thanks for stopping by. I’ll be back.

Here’s more sad news from the economic crisis. People are selling their prized possessions and heirlooms to get enough money to pay for their basic living necessities. I haven’t gotten that desperate, but perhaps it is because I’m already living in affordable circumstances and haven’t lost my job. In fact, I’m starting a new business to supplement the money I make working in a local restaurant, so I’m hoping for better times and not worrying about how to pay the electric bill.

But many Americans are apparently that desperate already. This article, Americans unload prized belongings to make ends meet by Anne D’Innocenzio, an AP business writer, was published in the Sacramento Bee on April 29, 2008. The writer states that people are selling their belongings to pay utility bills, buy gasoline, buy food…

This is tragic… and I wonder what percentage of the population is having to sell things now. I haven’t noticed anything like that here in the mountains where I live.

Yesterday I was at the laundromat when an acquaintance came in and started talking about her frustrating day at work. We talked for maybe an hour, ending on the crisis in the world’s economy, poor choice of presidential candidates, and things like that. It seems that most people are aware now that something is dreadfully wrong in America, that someone is controlling us, forcing us into poverty, making America into a nation of slaves.

Have you ever considered that? America IS a nation of slaves. We are forced to work five days a week to be able to afford to live in this civilization. If we wanted to live off the land, that’s not allowed. We can’t camp full time in the National Forests. We have to buy land, so that means working, for most of us. Yes, I know some people own their land outright and have the cash reserves to live without working, but most of us work day after day, year after year, just to be solvent.

For those that can’t work, the crisis has shown its sharpest edge… that precipice between having something to hold onto and the fall into homelessness and despair. For those of us who are not at that point yet, it is unkind to pretend there’s no disaster looming, or to say we shouldn’t try to prepare for the worst, in case our homes are visited with the dreadful disease of poverty next.

My main theme here is “Wake up! Wake up! Things are changing.” Thanks for reading this far.

All the best to all of you.

Only a few years ago, back in 1999, a fungus was discovered in Africa. This fungus, unfortunately, destroys wheat. This year 70% of the African wheat crop has been lost to Ug99 (also known as Puccinia graminis.) The effects are frightening. According to the Food and Agriculture Office of the United Nations, about 1/4 of the world’s wheat crop is affected by Ug99 this year.

Wheat isn’t the only crop in crisis. During the past year hungry people around the world have been rioting, concerned about the cost of food. In Asia the price of rice has doubled in the last two months and here in the USA, stores are preventing foreigners from buying extra large quantities of rice to send to relatives overseas.

We’re in trouble, folks. Time to think ahead. I’m serious.

A few days ago I went into my local supermarket to buy parmesan cheese, something I’ve purchased regularly for years. Suddenly the price is up from $3.50 to over $6. I took a long look at the shelf and sighed, and decided to price it at the larger markets outside our tiny remote town. For now, I’ll do without. I suspect the cost of gas will be driving up all food prices before long.

The pizza restaurant I work in is small and cozy - a comforting fixture in a town remotely located in a valley in the mountains in the center of a large forest. There, we rely on wheat to make the pizza dough, and the parmesan cheese is an essential condiment. People here would not like losing their pizza parlor, because there are few alternative restaurants locally. But I foresee that the owner may have to raise prices, perhaps drastically. He drives out of town once or twice weekly to get supplies like huge bags of white flour, parmesan cheese, and everything else we need. His gas cost has doubled in the last couple years. The price of gas locally is now $4.22. It didn’t seem quite so bad before it hit that $4.00 mark, but now I look at the pump and cringe. People expect to see gas priced at over $5.00 here this summer.

Ug99 and the wheat crop crisis comes on the heels of a corn crisis and a rice crisis. For all these formerly-abundant items we consider “staples” and “necessities”, the price is going up.

Prepare now for the future, for your families.

On a similar note, do you realize how dependent we are on the trucking industry for the diversity of foods offered in our stores? My significant other is an ex-trucker, so we think about this often. He expects the flow of food availability to halt sometime within the coming years. It is up to each of us to help our families by preparing with food storage. Another way we should prepare is to develop our gardening capabilities. Raise as much of the food you use yourself and you won’t be devastated when your favorite items disappear from the supermarket shelves, or get priced beyond your ability to pay.

A few years ago I fasted for ten days using the lemonade diet - a wonderful cleansing ritual that is amazingly healthy. The essential ingredients are lemons and maple syrup (the real stuff, not imitation). How was I to know that the next year lemons would be priced so high I’d cringe at the thought of buying them. I still want so much to do another lemonade cleansing diet, but every time I see that locally lemons cost 79 cents each, I realize it just isn’t a possibility for me right now.

Ug99 isn’t in the USA yet; that doesn’t mean it won’t be. We live in a global civilization and we need to be aware that what affects one person affects us all. Scientists are saying the fungus could spread as spores on the wind to reach other locations throughout the world including the United States.

Source: Wheat Crop Failures Could be Total, Experts Warn published on April 24, 2008 on MoneyNews.Com.

See also: Crisis In Food Prices Threatens Worldwide Starvation - Is it Genocide? by Richard C. Cook, published April 24, 2008 on Rense.Com.

Video: Food Rationing at Costco and Sam’s

Friday, July 13 was my birthday. To celebrate, my boyfriend, Bob, and I went to the coast. It was great to get out of the Klamath River Valley for a few days. I had a great time, bought a bunch of stuff, won money at a casino that gave me play money for my birthday, and slept overnight in a motel.

When we returned on Saturday night at 11:30pm we were appalled to see a bright red mass of forest fire flames on the hill right next to the forested hill I live on. When we left on Friday, that wasn’t there. The lightning that started all the fires hit the Wednesday before. There are dozens of fires burning all through this forest, but this particular fire ignited two days later and came way too close to our little town of Happy Camp.

So my last few days have been occupied with packing for evacuation, storing valuables elsewhere, attending community fire information meetings, writing articles about the fires for Happy Camp News, being elated when it rained heavily on Tuesday night, and in general, feeling like I was misplaced.

Here’s something you never want to see happening less than a mile from your home. This is what it looked like last Tuesday. We had a lot of people praying for us and God sent rain on Tuesday night. Now there are only a few white wisps of smoke coming up in various places from the forest. I pray it doesn’t get this bad again before they get the entire fire under control. The fire is called the Little Grider Fire after Little Grider Creek, a creek that runs a mile southwest of here. The fire was between our town and the creek.

The map shows how close this fire got to my house.

I’ve been going to work every day. Yesterday at the pizza place where I work we were inundated by hungry fire fighters. I guess they had the day off because of the rain the night before. Guess what. Fire fighters like pizza. They kept us busy from noon to closing time, 9pm. Actually I heard that the night shift stayed open an extra hour to accommodate the famished. Seemed like almost everyone wanted their own personal sized mini pizzas, and we probably sold over a hundred, whereas we usually sell less than five of those in a day.

The good news is that the fire moved away from town and it looks like I won’t have to evacuate after all.

I’ll get back on my schedule again soon - I didn’t even have my computer in my home for a few days so I couldn’t do any blogging at all. For now I’ll file this with my thankfulness articles because I’m so grateful my house didn’t burn down.

Bob and I are heading out for our daily fire watch time. We go across the river every day to get a good look at fire suppression helicopters and to see where the smoke is coming from. See ya later!