Lifestyle Success: What Does That Mean to You?

Sheep waiting for a train.  Look familiar?

I ran across the phrase "lifestyle success" somewhere recently.  Can't remember where. Twitter?  I googled it of course. (Is that a recognized verb yet?  You know it will be if it's not already.)

Lots of different things popped up in the search results but no one theme.  There's not a movement towards "lifestyle success" like there is towards "voluntary simplicity" for example.

What I found - or to be more accurate, didn't find - gave me pause.  Why not?  Why aren't there lots of places on the web discussing lifestyle success?  Isn't that part of your decision-making?

Seems to me that in this American culture, we've all spent way too much time letting other people and other places decide for us what lifestyle success means.  It's got us in lots of trouble.

What is lifestyle success? 

What does it mean to you?  Who are your role models for successful living?  (Is it really and truly the Kardashians?)

Hash Brown Potato Salad Recipe

Take a bag of frozen hash browns (1 lb., or 16 oz. size) and add them to a pot of boiling, salted water.  Let them cook for around 5 minutes, then test for doneness.  Done?  Drain the potatoes.

Let them cool.  Combine with your potato salad faves.  On Memorial Day 2012, we had:

mayo - couple of big spoon spoonfuls (say, 1/3 cup)
dijon mustard - 1 Tablespoon
salt
pepper

This stuff stirred together and then combined with the potatoes.  Let this set while you chop and do other stuff, say 20 to 30 minutes.

Salt in Your Coffee Can Be a Really Good Idea. Or Not.

I don't remember where I learned about putting a smidge of salt into your coffee before you brew it, but it works.  It makes cheap coffee taste better.  It makes any coffee taste better, actually, because it takes away the bitterness.

Nope, I'm not blowing smoke here.  It's actually grounded in science and you can go read about that here, if you know or care what salt's "Na+" means and what that does to coffee.

Problem is, you can't get heavy-handed with the stuff.  It's a very, very small step to go from a smooth cup of joe to a nasty mug of salty mess.  Very, very small. 

Which is what I had this morning, as I got a bit too friendly with the salt shaker while brewing a big pot of coffee to drink while waiting for the washer repairman.  (I don't own a Maytag.)

It did wake me up, though.  Shock therapy. 

P.S. Hat tip to Debra Bruce on Twitter -- she asked how much I use, so I went to my kitchen tool drawer and messed around with the measuring spoons.  This was easy, considering I was in the front of the house on my laptop, one eye on vigilant lookout for the repair guy.  Anyway, thinking that measuring spoons were better to use as a measurement than what I really do, which is shake till I see the right amount of white on the top of the brown coffee in the coffee brew basket, I figure 1/8 teaspoon per cup.  Might be less.

Shake for yourself, let me know.  (@rebakennedy)