Italian Food Forever » Sausage Spinach Ravioli With Tomato Cream Sauce

Italian Food Forever » Sausage Spinach Ravioli With Tomato Cream Sauce

New Opportunities

These days I am spending a lot of time trying to find ways to make a business that will help keep me housed, fed and comfortable. I know how to do a lot of things, just finding the focus would be helpful.

Lately, the things that are taking up most of my time are: helping several people develop business plans; working on two other families genealogy, plus my own; creating some organization in my crafts/sewing/quilting supplies in order to make some items to sell.

Oh, and did I forget to say that I'm also working hard at developing new networks of friends around the country, no, around the world.

So what is the result? Lots of hours on the internet, many hours searching through my storage boxes, looking for things I thought I still had, yes, those boxes are a challenge.

Meanwhile, I have been able to take advantage of some access to fruits and vegetables that demands I either freeze, dehydrate or can the items I can't eat immediately. So I'm getting on that google search thingy and finding some new recipes for using lots of fresh produce, like 5 lbs of brussels sprouts! Having lost most of my recipe books and kitchen equipment recently, I am now down to making do and finding new ways of being frugal and practical at the same time.

I also took three classes on starting a community garden, helped a friend look for salvagable metals for his business, and so on.

It's all about frugal living, being oriented towards recycling, sustainable farming, permaculture, and everything else I can find to make do more with less.

Are there others out there like me, who worked hard for a living, and now find themselves single, out of work and struggling to make ends meet. I think so. I actually think there are thousands of us, doing the best we can and hoping for things to get better.

October 2011

Ya know, this is my birthday month, but that's not the reason I love October. I love the chill in the air, the smell of the trees as they turn, the fall colors on the plants, trees and people!
Lately, I have been noticing how many people are dressing for fall and seem to be making some colorful fashion statements at the same time.
Last Saturday I went to a community garden class that was held at Wild Willow Farms and Education Center.
The class was held outside. The farm is right next to the Tiajuana river and it was pretty chilly in the early morning as we began. It's a very interesting class and my plan includes gathering some other people and getting a garden going in east county. But mostly, I was fascinated watching as people got colder and colder and the sun finally peeped out of the mist. Each one moved very quietly over to the place where there was a patch of sun. Sitting on straw bales and shivvering. I came wrapped up in sweater, wide scarf, warm socks and heavy duty slacks. I was so confortable and happy to stay put and just enjoy the chill air.
There are many other things I love about October, like the various fruits and veggies that are so abundent in the gardens and markets these days.
I am a part of a food distribution program and the foods available this week were onions, potatoes, yellow wax beans, green tomatoes and strawberries. Yes! Strawberries in October. Grown locally. Yummy!
Ok, now I have to go get some out of the frig and gobble them down.
Signing off for now, catch ya later.
J

Learning how to be a better blogger

So I was reading some on-line links to blogs about genealogy this morning and realized that although I started a blog of my own a couple of years ago, I have been remiss in the actual blogging.
I have become blog deficient in these days of too much information and not enough time. However, I also realize that this may be one of the few ways I have of leaving any kind of trail for my descendents, who ever they may be.
I updated my interests on my Linkedin site and last night checked my twitter and tweeted. My facebook pages get some daily activity of some sort. With the decrease in actual letter writing of the paper and pen variety; where will they find out who we were, what we found interesting and what we want them to know for posterity?
Ok, so I am going to make a supreme effort to do a little blog, dance a little dance and get down tonight on the facebook pages besides my regular profile page. That old 70's song about "get down tonight" where did it come from? Hmmm, can't remember, but the tune is rattling around in my brain.
Let's see, recently I took a class on how to start a community garden and during the class I had several "ah ha" moments when I started listing the various gardening experiences I have had over the years. I have helped start several gardens in hospital and treatment settings, have encouraged friends, lovers, neighbors and mere acquaintances to get their garden on. Today, I have about 15 little red clay pots in front of my door with a variety of culinary herbs for cooking with. They're about a year old and actually doing pretty well when I remember to water them!
I think the whole idea of community gardening appeals because so many of my new friends and acquaintances here in this senior apt complex really want to garden and we have very little space and most of it doesn't get enough sunshine. Many of these folks are somewhat disabled, so leaning down or crawling around in the dirt might be challenging. I think we could do some table top gardening with some help from younger, more able bodied volunteers. My creative idea juices really got going on Saturday during the class and I sat down to a hamburger and kept on writing my ideas to empty my brain of all those pesty ideas.
One of the people at the class actually took my email and sent me an email yesterday about a more local garden being planned in El Cajon area, just a couple of miles away. That would work for me, since I have a car, but most of my compadres here at the complex don't drive and many are using wheel chairs, walkers or are very limited in their mobility.
I will get to the next two classes and learn some more about the details of making a garden in the community, but meanwhile, I need to spread the word here there and everywhere, that I'm looking for a plot of land that will be accessible as well as available to people of limited means.
Ok, Now I'm going to go check out my other possible places to post.
See you later.

Getting my blog together

I have been wondering when and if I would ever get this blog organized and if so, what my focus would be. Well, it's obvious that it wasn't happening, so I have decided to do some stream of consciousness writing to see what pops up.

I am interested in many things: gardening, cooking, genealogy, sewing, quilting, painting, making wreaths. The list could go on and on. What is it that I want to share here?

Hmm, maybe a little of everything that is me. I will see if I can put some photos up of some wreaths I have made recently and then if that works take some pictures of some of the cooking projects I try. Can't hurt right?!

Hurray! The pictures loaded! I am so happy to be able to start putting this together. I have about six other wreaths I have made. My plan is to sell them in gift shops or other stores in the area. I have also considered posting them on Etsy or another internet site, but not ready to deal with shipping to out of the area. Let's see how it works to sell locally first.

Let's see if I can post the rest of the wreaths for now.

Consulting Transitions

I am having a hard time getting in the habit of blogging. Have to figure out a way to trigger the event... hmmm, maybe a reminder in my email system or something.
Anyway, I am working on resurrecting my Consulting business. I have called it Transitions in the past, and that name seems to fit the situation for now. I have worked with a non-profit that is struggling to get some funding and organize projects; they are finished for now.
Started helping a person who has worked for me to set up a business plan, establish office procedures and design logos, stationary, business cards, brochures. I actually think I am pretty good at doing this. I have done a lot of marketing design of various programs I ran in the past as well as helped a few others do the same.
Some of the work involves coaching persons to be focused on their plan, putting their plan together and carrying it out. Part personal coach, part project manager, part business consultant and part sponsor.
I have been reviewing some of the articles and CD's I have on coaching, consulting and so forth and actually, I think there may be enough information right now for me to activate my business.
So I need to put into practice some of the principles that I am using with my clients on my own business.
Set up brochures, business cards, etc once again to reflect this aspect of my consulting/coaching work.
Ok, the principles work for everything. I know this and I will live this today.

The state of affairs in our World today

It's Saturday night and I'm sitting here wondering what to do with my evening. I am at a sort of crossroads in my life and many of my options are getting harder to access.
So I guess one way to deal with this is to blog about it and see if anyone notices or pays attention, or responds!
The first thing at the top of my list is the overwhelming amount of negativity showing up in the world regarding the disenfranchised: refugees and immigrants, homeless, addicts and alcoholics, mentally ill, and other folks with limited clout in the world.
As I read news articles and postings on social network sites and other places I have begun to realize that the pendulum is swinging back away from a position of care and concern.
There are a lot of angry people out there in the world who feel entitled to express their hate and disregard for the less fortunate of the world. So many people who want to blame everyone else for what's wrong and not make any effort to help correct the situation.
I read about a group of people in a town in Tenn who had a town meeting to refuse to let some homeless people pitch their tents on a man's property. They didn't just object, they spewed hatred and discontent from a church proclaiming to be "Christian".
I won't start a diatribe on false Christians here, just a recognition of the fact that just because people profess a particular faith doesn't necessarily mean that they practice what they preach, or that they preach according to the Word of God. I think Jesus called this kind of people hypocrites.
So often in my years of working with the various populations mentioned above, I found that the community in general was very judgemental and uncaring about the welfare of those people.
It was not uncommon for the people I served to be treated like lepers and the program I ran to be left with less funding and support than was needed until we faded out.
What is happening in the world these days? Not to be an alarmist, but I am wondering if the end of the civilized world as we have known it is perhaps upon us.
How many times have my programs struggled for funding only to be closed and the funds gone another way.
How many programs have ended over the past couple of years due to lack of funding and support? Where are the people going to get the help they need to overcome their difficulties. Most of my programs were aimed at teaching people to become more independent and care for themselves. Much of what I believe is important today in helping people accomplish their goals needs some opportunity to learn how to do things and be successful in doing them.
Like when I first wrote a curriculum for working with welfare to work mothers, I included the need for support for job training and education, clothing, transportation, child care, creating work values and ethics and teaching work behaviors, etiquette. Did that all get included when they finally wrote and approved the proposal? No. There was an expectation that you just give people a job and they will know how to behave, how to dress, how to interact with co-workers, etc.
What is the solution to this experience? I have to find some people who are loving and caring and provide that kind of atmosphere in which people can heal, learn, and become more truely who they were meant to be.