“Give me a laundry-list and I’ll set it to music.”
The last few days have been lovely with a bright sun and relatively warm weather, but once that sun goes down, it gets mighty chilly. Yesterday was errand day and Gracie and I were out and about for a couple of hours. I stopped at Hart Farm for some small pumpkins and ended up buying cherry tomatoes, purple and fingerling potatoes, onion jam and honey crisp apples. I couldn’t resist.
On the back of my cellar door is a spice rack. I had it built to fit the width of the door when my spices outgrew their kitchen cabinet. Every time I open that door to go down cellar I catch a whiff of the most amazing aroma, a sweet combination of herbs and spices. I have all the common herbs and spices and some exotic ones, mostly for Indian and Moroccan foods. They are, of course, arranged alphabetically to make it easier to find them. On the inside of a kitchen cabinet door is stapled a typed list of all the rack’s contents. I made the list when I found several cinnamon, cream of tartar and peppercorn jars. I also made the list because I am anal about lists.
My making lists started innocently enough. When I worked, with little free time during the week, I needed to cram everything into week-ends, all the chores and errands, so I made a list. It was one list, one all-encompassing list, until that fateful Thanksgiving dinner when I forgot to bring some food to the table. It was a Waldorf salad left it in the back of the fridge. A flow chart came out of that experience. It starts a day or two before the event and ends with the cooking times: in and out. I was unwittingly becoming a list maker.
One year I forgot a traditional stocking stuffer I always gave my mother, a new linen calendar for the kitchen. She mentioned it, and the day after Christmas I bought her one. I decided then to keep a Christmas gift list of all I’ve bought and the traditional gifts I need to get.
As I grew older, I forgot stuff so I kept a list of groceries, appointments and on and on. Lists tend to beget lists, and I was hooked on making lists. Post-it notes are my friends. I have them in a variety of colors, and they hang off the car dashboard, the computer monitor and the lamp shade.They are but the tip of the iceberg. I am a list maker.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: autumn weather, Shopping, Spice
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
October 23, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Don’t forget your list of lists please.
Here to help. 🙂
s
October 23, 2010 at 6:34 pm
S,
Ha, I forgot that one-thanks!
October 23, 2010 at 1:17 pm
I sometimes tries to make lists, but usually forgets them when I need them 🙂 So I always come home with the strangest things when I´m doing my shopping 🙂 🙂 You know how it is, I see a thing and thinks that it might be just why I drove to the store in the first place 🙂
My spices are mostly for Indian and African food. Not that I make a lot of food from those places, but I have friends that sells spices and I always fall for the scents they give away 🙂 🙂 It´s dangerous to walk in their storage 🙂 🙂
Have a great day now!
Christer.
October 23, 2010 at 6:36 pm
Christer,
I try and use a list when I shop or, like you, I come home with all sorts of stuff I don’t need. If I need only a few things, I make a sentence where the words start with the letter of what I need. It helps.
I have all sorts of stuff for African food too though I usually have to buy them on-line. Few stores have them around here. I wish I had your friends!
October 23, 2010 at 3:35 pm
I like that idea of having your spices in racks behind a door to the cellar. I don’t have a cellar or basement, rare to have one in Florida, but I’d love to find a home for my spices. Kat, are we talking Christmas now? I thought we were in the protest group against drug stores putting up the fake trees before Halloween.!!!?? I’m confused. I also can’t even think about Christmas this early.
October 23, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Z&Me,
I’m talking Christmas presents, not decorations, and I shop for those all year. I fill four stockings and also three bags with a few things for my nephews and niece so I need to keep an eye out for fun and unusual stuff. They are so much fun to fill!
I’m still anti-store decorations in July!
October 23, 2010 at 5:31 pm
A better Liszt: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9-2jM5RNSs
Cheers
October 23, 2010 at 6:40 pm
Minicapt,
She is so beautiful.I love her intensity.
October 23, 2010 at 6:26 pm
Memory is the second thing to go when you get old.
What’s the first thing to go?
Ans:
I can’t remember
October 23, 2010 at 6:40 pm
Bob,
Ha!
October 23, 2010 at 7:32 pm
ha ! love that bob!
lists i keep them all in my mind
and they randomly shuffle and eventually disappear
i have great respect for people who
actually write things down.
xoxoxox
October 23, 2010 at 9:28 pm
I used to write things down and then I couldn’t remember where I put the list. Now I use a to-do program on my iPod Touch. But I still have to remember to open up the program and look at the list.
October 24, 2010 at 8:09 am
splendid,
I used to keep them in mind, but my mind isn’t as reliable as it used to be so lists it is.
October 24, 2010 at 8:08 am
Bob,
I have no iPod so I do also use my computer calendar, but if the app’t is early, I have to set the reminder the day before so I don’t forget