An Important but Random Thought

A man was bartering with Satan.
All the man wanted in the whole wide world was a life free from financial stress with health and long lives for his loved ones.
All Satan wanted was his soul.
He was about to sign in blood when he was struck with a sudden fear,
“Wait!” He said, “Satan, can you guarantee that my death will be painless?”
Satan laughed.
“You mortals… you amuse me... How can you fret over some insignificant thing, and freely sell that one thing that is of utmost importance?”

We on earth become confused easily, and the enemy uses this against us. We are so very concerned with money, health, safety and pain, but we are ignorant of true value.
For what would you sell your soul?
Money… Beauty… Fame… Adoration…Power… Sex…
All of these things are readily available. “Not to you,” you say? Yes, indeed. Any of you can have any of these things if you work hard enough.
But we have only one soul. One life. One eternity.
Where will you spend yours? What is truly of utmost importance to you?

Please check out my new blog

As you all know, I want to be a writer.

I wrote a novel in 2009. And then I stuck it in a drawer for 19 months. I knew I wanted to improve it. But I didn't know how.

Then something occured to me: my desire to write comes from a God-given need to help people. And my writing is not going to help anyone if I don't share it.

So I've taken it out of the drawer. And I am rewriting it. Again. But this time, I am sharing it with you all and the internet-universe. I hope that the accountability of posting on this blog will motivate me to finish what I started. And I hope that this story will help others, or entertain, or provide whatever it is that you need at the moment.

You can find it here: http://theinvitationoftheocean.blogspot.com

-Lainie

What You Really Need to Start Canning

I procrastinated about canning for almost eight years. I was afraid. Older women told me it was a lost art. Teachers told me it was dangerous. The FDA or AMA or somebody official told me to not even try-- the risk of botulism was too great. But then my Dad started doing it.

My Dad and I are competitive. We can't help it. It's the way we were raised. ;) He enjoyed gifting me with canned pears, peaches, and boiled peanuts. Yessiree, he loved the look on my face when he revealed his new skills. And then he gave me an even better gift. You know the saying about how if you give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, but teach him to fish... Yeah.

Okay, so this is really all you need to get started. Canner (comes with wire rack and instruction booklet), pressure canner (comes with instruction booklet), canning kit (jar funnel, jar tongs, magnet-thingy to lift the lids out of hot water, and a stick-thing to let the bubbles out). The Ball Blue Book came from Lowe's, I think. The rest came from WalMart. If you live in the city (as I do), you may have to go to Ace Hardware to get your canning supplies. My neighborhood WalMart doesn't carry them. All of this cost about $75 to $85, one-time expenses. You don't need the Ball Blue Book because both canners come with instruction books with recipes. But I prefer the Blue Book. It has lots of recipes, tips, and pictures. I'm partial to pictures.




Other than that, you need jars. At first, just buy the box of jars-- they come with lids and screw-tops. After the first use, you'll need to buy more lids. I don't bother with labels. Simply write the contents and date on the lid-- you can only use it once anyways.


If you have your own garden and produce to can, Great! If you don't, make a trip to your local farmer's market. The prices are superb and you'll find plenty of fresh produce to can and preserve.


Have fun, my fellow ants!

I'm So Excited

My guest column printed today in The Beaches Leader. I am so excited. My very first publication!

Of course, now that I've seen it in print, I'm second guessing myself and wishing I had edited it a few more times. You guys should have no problem understanding me, since you've read my blog. But for all the other Leader readers... I'll just have to hope for the best.

It's a little bittersweet since they misspelled my name. Laine Fekula is a Jacksonville Beach resident. Laine Fekula lives the Beach Cheap life and loves it. Laine Fekula is wondering if maybe she should have chosen an easy-to-spell pen name. Heather? Kelly? Amber?
Ah, well, for better or for worse, I am Lainie Fekula.

And if you locals read The Beaches Leader, be sure to write a short note to Editor Kathleen Feindt Bailey letting her know how much you LOVE my column. Maybe she'll let me write more.

She can be reached at: editor@beachesleader.com

Farmer's Markets!

I adore food. I love it. And I really really love buying it on the cheap.

Sweet Vidalia onions. I am blessed to live close to Georgia.

Yummy peaches. 20 pounds for $6. Yep, that's right. $6.

And my tomatoes. I have a confession-- I am a tomato freak. Always have been. Probably always will be. I love them. I eat them like apples, halved and salted, broiled, sun-dried, boiled in a soup, juiced, in salsa and in sauce.

I bought 75 pounds of tomatoes (I washed them all and had to use the dishwasher as a drying rack!) at the Jacksonville Farmer's Market on Beaver Street for $36. Of course, I spent three days processing them and cooking the sauce. Then I canned it all. Well, all that I could get away from my family.

I also visited the Beaches Green Market.

The "beach" in me loves the Beaches market; live hippy-esque music, organic foods and natural soaps, fresh-baked bread and homemade granola. Yum!

But the "cheap" in me couldn't stand it. I was amazed to see people buying the expensive produce. It's overpriced because the vendors travel to bring their goods to the beach and the venue charges rent for booths. I understand this, but, for me, it just isn't worth it. You'd be better off to shop in air-conditioned Publix.

I have heard of another beaches market that is starting up in Atlantic Beach. They are not charging booth rent, so the atmosphere should be more grass-roots. When I get more information, I'll report back.

So, if I was Beach Chic, I would ride my bike (or drive my future Prius) to the Beaches Green Market. And the downtown Farmer's Market is certainly cheap. To make it Beach Cheap, carpool with some friends. The 30-minute drive will be more fun, and you can buy in bulk to get the best deal and then split everything up later. Make sure you take a minivan to haul all that loot away.

Happy farmer's marketing!

Beach Cheap

I decided that since we no longer live in the efficiency, I needed to change the name of my blog. "Life in the Efficiency" just doesn't fit anymore.

A few weeks ago, The Beaches Leader advertised for guest columnists. I was terrified almost to the point of not even trying. But I did. I wrote three sample columns. The editor, Kathleen Feindt Bailey, agreed to publish one. WooHoo! I will post again when it prints. Believe me, I'll let everyone know!

The one she liked was titled "Beach Cheap." I happen to know a few things about living cheap. Just ask my husband- I can make a penny scream. And I hope to one day achieve "Beach Chic" status. But for now, I am simply and contentedly Beach Cheap, and I have lots of tips to share with the readers of The Beaches Leader. Hmm, maybe the editor will allow me to submit another column.

In the Beach Cheap spirit, I have gone over all my previous posts and pointed out the Beach Cheap tips. Please "follow" my blog for more tips. If you'd like to share my blog, you can click on the share buttons below, or give your friends the link: http://beachcheap.blogspot.com/

HomeMade Play-Dough

Beach Cheap tip-

Make your own chemical-free Play-Dough. It's so easy.

We poured 2 cups of white flour, 1 cup of salt, 2 cups of warm water, 2 tablespoons of canola oil, and 1 tablespoon of cream of tartar in a pot and stirred it up. Then we heated it on low. I stirred it until it was cooked all the way through. When it pulls away from the sides of the pot and forms a lumpy ball in the middle, it's done. Just dump it out on the countertop and let it cool. Then you knead it until it becomes silky soft. Lyliana and I kneaded it together. We had a blast rolling the dough into a ball and punching it flat again.

Divide the dough into 4 or 5 balls. Spread one ball flat and squeeze some color on it. Then gently rub it in.

By the time I finished with the blue, Lyli had squished all the rest together.

We had a great time!

By the time she made it to the table, she had worked all the colors into one big blob of green.