taking stock

I started tossing boxed or frozen food yesterday. It started with a fading box of potato au gratin. I picked the dusty box and read it had expired in 2016. I looked at another potato mix box and it expired in 2010. Evidently I had decided at some point in the past I was buying ‘pantry filler’. So the pantry would look like I had food so I wouldn’t feel like I was poor, I guess. Later this morning after I am posting this, I will get busy with a large trash can by my side.

Health update. My Sarcoidosis appears to be burnt out, that does not mean it will not re engage at some point, its just tired? But it left a lot of scarring and caused me to have asthma. So I have the usual assortments of inhalers. I have to keep my oxygen for when I am balls to wall busy. My oxygen gets way to low. Makes me dizzy, when I feel that way I am to sit the hell down and put on my stylish canula and breath. Like yesterday when I am outside cutting wood and cleaning dog residue for 2 1/2 hours. I get to watch more movies these days. My GI issues I was having that made me drop 40 plus pounds seems to be settling down to a dull roar. I am ever vigilant to any sign of disruption and when out & about? I not only check to see where all exits are, now I check where all bathrooms are as I walk into a building. What annoys the hell out of me is the number of bottles and boxes of pills and supplements I need to take. Besides being damned expensive, it is the side effects. Who knew an enormous Vit B12 pill would turn my pee into a bright neon yellow. I had been taking Lisinopril HCTZ for years but now that is being switched out for a different more body friendly medication. Doctor urged me to take fish oil supplements, Vit D3 along with the usual suspects of the vitamin alphabet. I don’t like looking at all the minuscule to humongous bottles/boxes. THERE ARE SO MANY!!! first world problems. So in my possession I own a 2 week pill holder. I have developed a system of sorting all my pills to one little section a day for 2 weeks. The enormous fish pill might need to be put in a stylish china dish to make room for additions. The wasteful part besides packaging is what the hell to do with the medication I am not to use anymore. Can’t return it. Can’t throw it in the bin. Evidently I am the only one in my local network of aquatintists who are taking these. Also I made sure I had all of them refilled before I changed doctors. But first of the year I changed medical insurance. My nurse sent over the medications to the new pharmacy. They filled everything so now I have like 6 months worth of everything. I need a lockable pantry for all this stuff. As it is I have tidily placed everything in my top drawer that I am using now, but I need to find a place to store the surplus out of sight. bitch moan and complain. Really spending so much time and effort on this I barely realize that I feel better.

With all this activity of working on my house, filing my meds maybe alphabetize them, play with the dogs and cleaning because evidently I am the only one living in this fucking house! I have signed up again with the Boxer Lovers Rescue as a foster mom. I just filled out the forms and was told I passed and was accepted. I have given them stipulations but those will be easily met. Betty will have playmates and ZsaZsa will have her little black nose bent out of shape. Justin you ask? I do not give a flying fuck. It would be swell if he would join the human race. But I don’t think this will change as I am one hell of an enabler.

Recipe for the week? Cherry Crisp with brownie mix. While employed as a chef at the hospital. I would make Cherry Crisp on a regular basis. The topping was always white cake mix. As I was tossing frozen stuff in a nearby bin, I come across several bags of pitted frozen cherries. I forget what year but Lisa had cherry trees and I got some from her. no freezer burn and has the cherry twang to the taste. So Cherry Crisp it is, my favorite. Set the bag on the counter to defrost. In the pantry I am looking for a cake mix, nothing. All I had was a box of brownie mix ( only a year old and far from expiring). I put it all together. Cherries, now I added sugar and dry tapioca I don’t count this as the normal addition. canned cherries are what are called for, Pour the dry cake/brownie mix on top of the treated cherries, then place pats of butter on top. Bake at 350 for 30 to 45 minutes. This was put in a 9 by 9 pan. This is when it went south. I didn’t see where I was to put a smaller portion of the cake/mix because I did check. I just poured the whole damn thing on. And placed it the oven. At 45 minutes I removed a gooey 1/2 cooked dessert. I didn’t want to toss it without trying to save it. So I made sure there was more butter on top and sprinkled more tapioca, then put it back in to cook for 15 minutes. At 15 minutes it was bubbling away. I removed it and let it set to cool so I could try it. When I put some in a little bowl then took a bite, I found that it was sweet, tart, and had the texture of pudding. This would taste great with ice cream and although 9 by 9 pan is small. I wouldn’t be able to eat it before it spoiled. You know when you buy a box of plastic storage containers and there is always those real littles ones that you don’t use? Well I found a use for the 20 or so little containers that were languishing in my cabinet. I was chatting with mom last night and she suggested freezing them in small containers. Brilliant!

Ok I am tired of typing and you probably left before you finished reading. That’s okay. I don’t mind. You be you. Just know I love you and do stop by for some dessert. I don’t know how long it wil last before they expire.