Being broke is always fun come the time when groceries run short, but I try my best to get inventive. I was talking with someone at school the other day about how there is a perceived notion that poor people eat bad food. And part of this statement is true- case in point all the crap you can buy at Wal-Mart like Doritoes, or McD's $1 menu.

Since organic gets expensive, I tried my hand at making something healthy, filling (very important), and comprised of stuff I had randomly lying around the cupboards. I thought I'd share- though I'm sure this is not a "new" food mix.

Oatmeal Stew:
2 cups uncooked oatmeal
2 cups water
4 cups broth
3 large carrots
4 potatoes
"some" green onions
1/2 cup Almond meal, or around that amount
(optional) meat, like Polish sausage or chicken
(optional) seasoning- I used some basil and Mrs. Dash

So cook the oatmeal with the water and broth. While that is happening roughly chop the vegetables together. Once the oatmeal is cooked, but there is still liquid left, put the veggies in and turn the heat up again to around 7. Keep it at this temperature only long enough to get the the softening processed started, then turn it down to 4 or 5 so as not to burn the bottom. Cook the mixture until the carrots are pretty much soft (it took my stove 30-40 minutes), then add the Almond meal to help thicken it, and throw in the meat and seasoning. Let this cook for another 15 minutes.

I love sour cream so I garnished my stew with sour cream and salt on top. Not to bad for thinking I had "nothing" to cook with, plus I feel like I actually eat something healthy.

"Everyone knows if you don't eat oatmeal you'll dry up."- Eloise

This is a good explanation of things about our economy from NPR's Fresh Air, they interviewed Michael Greenberger.

Here's the link Our Confusing Economy, Explained.

If the link times out, it's April 2008's Fresh Air interview from April 3.

I love dogs. I don't have one right now, but am always looking forward to the day when I will own another. A friend of mine forwarded me a link to a blog which made me tear up.

If you own a dog, or know someone who does, please read about Chai, a very brave little dog. His life was nearly ended by a faulty toy manufactured by the Four Paws company. Here is the link for Chai's blog that explains his ordeal, and includes some very scary photos of what happened to him.

http://thechaistory.blogspot.com/

I have an older sister. Strangely, when I think of family she is the one I miss though I see her once every 6 years if I am lucky. She lives in Palmer, AK. Not only is she physically distant, but she has been emotionally distant since I was 7 (she's 9 years older). She ran away from home at 16 because of family issues and has never really looked back or cared to keep in touch. So, I find it really hard to keep in touch with her since she's so remote. When we do talk, she is off in some personal universe that is hard for other people to get into (I think this is due to drugs). Despite the lack of connection, I still call her and leave obnoxiously long voice mails and send her snail mail. I think email is a bit impersonal sometimes. Plus, everyone loves mail when it isn't a bill! Even though she hasn't been in my life since I was a kid, I miss her because our family tree is not complete without her unique eccentricities.

I am not a coffee person. The only times I really drink coffee are during finals. I used to drink to energy drinks, but with finals two times each school year I became desensitized to them. But I know lots of people around the world drink coffee everyday. And so I'm curious what other people think.

Personally I'm sensitive to caffeine and, I guess the best way to describe it is, the energetic level of coffee versus teas. Whenever I go to a coffee shop and order a mocha or latte (I still never really see the difference between the two, though they are quiet distinct) I end up being very jittery and zombie like. The only kind I can handle if it's not made at home is a drip coffee.

Does anyone think that there's anything to do with the way coffee is prepared in cafes like Starbucks, Rocket, espresso stands, and the like? Yes, I understand that those coffees will be stronger prepared at such places. Does anyone think that perhaps some people are just better suited to handle how coffee effects the body?

Are there any people out there who prefer drinking tea because it is energetically more calming than coffee, even when it can provide doses of caffeine?

Anyway, I'm just kind of rambling on here thinking out loud. I'm not well versed in the history of coffee or tea exactly, but I think the drinks people/cultures tend to drink are interesting and can speak volumes.

I'm not the type of person who can rattle off movie quotes or ones from books, but every once in a while I post quotes around my house or room to remind me of something. These are some of the quotes I've found in the past 4 years and really liked. I wanted to share them with other people to maybe give their day a boost. Enjoy.

1. Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.
2. The only courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one moment to the next.
3. Even the fear of death is nothing compared to the fear of not having lived authentically and fully.
4. A woman can forgive a man for the harm he does her...but she can never forgive him for the sacrifices he makes on her account.
5. Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.
6. Pray that your loneliness may spur you into finding something to live for, great enough to die for.
7. Perhaps the feelings that we experience when we are in love represent a normal state; being in love shows a person who he should be.
8. Every human being on this earth is born with a tragedy, and it isn't original sin. He's born with the tragedy that he has to grow up. That he has to leave the nest, the security, and go out to do battle. He has to lose everything that is lovely and fight for a new loveliness of his own making, and it's a tragedy. A lot of people don't have the courage to do it.
9. When you make a mistake, don't look back at it long. Take the reason of the thing into your mind and then look forward. Mistakes are lessons of wisdom. The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power.
10. Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things.
11. Live well. It is the greatest revenge.
12. Silence is a text easy to misread.
13. The farther behind I leave the past, the closer I am to forging my own character.
14. You may be deceived if you trust too much, but you will live in torment if you do not trust enough.
15. Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
16. Politics is made up largely of irrelevancies.
17. She had an unequalled gift... of squeezing big mistakes into small opportunities.
18. Blaze with the fire that is never extinguished.
19. The best way to predict the future is to invent it.
20. Love isn't a decision. It's a feeling. If we could decide who we loved, it would be much simpler, but much less magical.
21. Honesty is the only way with anyone, when you'll be so close as to be living inside each other's skins.
22. Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
23. There is no revenge so complete as forgiveness.
24. Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
25. You cannot acquire experience by making experiments. You cannot create experience. You must undergo it.
26. Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives.
27. Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.
28. The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a flaw.
29. It is by universal misunderstanding that all agree. For if, by ill luck, people understood each other, they would never agree.
30. Love is everything it's cracked up to be…It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for.