Why We Need Show Tunes – Poor Man’s Treat
Poor Man’s Treats are a very special treat with a great history! 
Tonight I realized that all of the gloom and doom is rubbing off of me and I’m here to tell you I’m not having it.
You see, within my mind lies a wealth of show tunes, show tunes which I have a tendency to hum and sing throughout my day and with very little conscious knowledge. I’m just a music-y person. I sing. I can’t help it. There is always a song in my head and my vocal chords like to get in on the jam session.
While walking through Wal Mart, I was humming. Now I’ve been known to hum a lot of things in Wal Mart. Once, while talking to a friend on the cell phone, I began humming the star spangled banner on the coffee aisle. I didn’t even realize I was doing it until she exclaimed in a disgusted voice “You have GOT to be the most patriotic person I have ever met”
“Huh?”
“No one I know randomly hums the star spangled banner”
Oh.
Minutes later I began humming My Country ‘Tis Of Thee
I wake my kids up with various up beat good morning songs and I sing the entire soundtrack from singing in the rain and just about every Judy Garland tune ever recorded (except the sad ones, of course!).
Tonight, while going through wal mart (okay so I spend way too much time in Wal Mart), I was humming, not really paying any attention to the tune until I heard my voice quietly singing the words and it hit me…
I gets weary, and sick of trying. I’m tired of livin’ and scared of dying…
Oh good grief, I’m singing Old Man River!
NUH UH! This stops here.
Now don’t get me wrong. I realize that life is harder now on some a lot folks than it has ever been in their lifetimes. Fact is, many of us have very valid reasons to complain and worry. What I’m saying though is that we also have valid reasons to be grateful, too, and the good things in our life deserve at least the same amount of air time as the difficult.
So I’ve decided to stop the cycle. I’m not buying into the whole “life is horrible, cower and worry” that is being sold to us all right now. I’m not going to spend my entire day in anxiety and I’m not going to exchange my inner peppy soundtrack for a slower beat or a mournful strain.
You know what we all need?
What we need are some upbeat show tunes and maybe even spontaneous choreographed dance.
Bring on the Judy Garland, Crank up Mary Poppins and hit play on the old version of Pollyanna, its time to bring back the good life!
We need to live our lives in such great appreciation of each day and each moment that we all find ourselves walking through Wal Mart humming the star spangled banner. It really wouldn’t hurt if the rest of the store joined in and we all started twirling and tap dancing about, now would it? Those without a partner can just grab a sack of potatoes or some of that abundant rice we all stocked up on during the panic over supposed shortage a few months back.
We need to realize that sometimes life gets so bad that we lose sight of just how very good it is!
There is ALWAYS something to be grateful for. There is always a positive side.
So here is your homework:
Smile at strangers today, count how many smile back.
Learn the words to at least one song from an old Technicolor musical
And lastly, hum the Star Spangled Banner. I don’t care who you root for in the elections, we live in a fine country and I got some “special” batch brownies for anyone who tells you different!
It’s like I tell my kids:
Each day when you wake up you have a choice. You can have a good day or you can have a bad one. So you might as well have a good one.
Same goes for life.
For the pessimists who haven’t left the room yet, things can ALWAYS get worse so you best get to enjoying them now. Don’t make me come over there and slap you around a bit because I will…and I’ll sing SHOW TUNES While I do it!
Oh and a recipe…here ya go. These were sent in to me by Cynthia, a reader who called them “poor man’s treats”. I asked my mother about them and she said her father practically lived on them as a child.
Spread crackers with peanut butter
Top with marshmallows
Place under broiler just until marshmallows are browned.
Eat with a grateful heart. 🙂
Ingredients
- Saltine Crackers
- Peanut Butter
- Marshmallows or marshmallow cream
Instructions
- Spread peanut butter on the crackers. Top with marshmallow or a dollop of marshmallow cream. Place under broiler in oven until marshmallow is just browned. Pay close attention because this will not take long at all! Devour.
Quick, easy, good. Make 'em tonight and eat like the po' folks do, our food tastes better than the rich people's anyway. Another thing to be grateful for.
Nutrition
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These are one of the first treat my mother-in-law made when my husband and I were dating. She called them “set-ups”. She used Ritz crackers tho. My kids grew up making them now my grandkids love them. My daughter has introduced them to her husband’s family and they love them! Every time we make them I think of my Mother-in-law and the wonderful Christian woman she was and how blessed I am to have had her in my life. What I wouldn’t give to sit at her table and eat a “set-ups” again! ☺
I imagine she felt just as blessed to have such a loving daughter in law in hers! I hope you make a few “set-ups” in her honor and enjoy some cherished memories!
I grew up on these (except with graham crackers) and still eat them often. They are just the right amount of sweet. We never knew they had a name. We called them “graham cracker things.” LOL
LOL, that name works too!!
My mother in law;who will be 104 in July has always loved our country so much used to decorate her house with red whit and blue on July 4th cause the parade came right by. Our family which at that time numbered close to a hundred would be hootin and hollerin when the bands came by and mom would be out there with a pitcher of water giving those hot kids a drink. Singing…next to moms house was a small machine that was noisy in the summer with their doors open. But Mom (with 8 kids) was always ironing and singing hymns. The men at the machine loved her singing so much they would quiet down and do small things..eat lunch: sweep up etc.just so they could listen to her singing. And she never even realized it until one day the owner came over and told her. She is still a great lady though her beautiful voice is gone but we were smart enough to record her over the years and play those cd’s all the time. And she to this day can resite poetry like no body’s business. The world will be losing a great lady someday.
Oh what wonderful memories Kathie!!! I can see and hear it all now 🙂 I am so glad that y’all recorded it, that will be precious to every one for years to come!!