Sigh....did you ever?

Did you ever have a killer idea but when you tried to get it off the ground it just wouldn't fly?

I had the awesomely original idea of stealing the credit card ad that asks "What's in your wallet?" and adapting it to the concept of "What's in your kitchen cupboards?".  Ok, so stealing isn't the original part - that happens all the time.  But I figured everyone would be absolutely riveted to my post wondering just what wonderful thing I'd come up with this time.

Writing it with a serious historical introduction it bombed - I just couldn't make it work.  So I'm just writing it as myself which, after all, is who I am.

It's only  marginally interesting to most of us to learn that the term cupboard originated back in the old country (England) when it really was a board.  They stacked plates and cups and other items on it - probably to keep them off the rush covered floors and away from the dogs.  As time went by it morphed into several shelves and then got nailed up on the wall and had doors added.  No more rushes on the floor but still probably kept the dogs out!

It's probably even more yawn inducing to hear that no one says cup board anymore than they say rasp berry or back ground for the simple reason that the middle letters are what is called bilabials - it takes both lips to pronounce them so we end up effectively only saying one of them.  (I know you all just tried saying them out loud to test that out!)

The whole thing I was trying to smoothly segue into was that most of us probably have only a passing acquaintance with most of the stuff in the hidden corners and obscure shelves of our kitchen.  And it's long been my contention that if I don't know what I have then I won't know what to use in an emergency - whether the emergency is real or imagined. Somewhere between "I'm actually starving" and "I wish I had some chocolate" is that grey area where most emergencies live.

Sure, I know that the top shelf is the wine glasses - all turned bottom side up so disgusting things don't show up in my wine.  But once up on the kitchen step stool I could find anything from old custard cups to that food chopper I got with green stamps.  Who knew!

Second shelf - darn - I had two more containers of nutmeg that got pushed to the back and I just bought two more.  This business of making sure I have extra of the things I use is getting a little off balance - I mean, come on:  how much nutmeg does a person actually use in a year?  And perhaps if I'd looked a little sooner I would have realized the almond extract was leaking all into the cornstarch box!

Back of bottom shelf - I don't even know what that lump is!  It must have been useful at some point but it's ugly and scary now and I don't want to touch it!

I could continue on regarding my struggle to retrieve the top of a blender I'd forgotten I ever had from the floor off the back side of my circular corner cabinet or mention the fact that there is still a fancy bottle of vinegar back there that I haven't figured out how to lasso yet but you see the issue?

My so far somewhat obscure point is that if we are going to be ready to take care of ourselves in the event of any type of emergency we need to know what we have to work with.  There!  I finally got it out!

Do you have the spices and materials you need to make a tasty meal out of just what you can scramble together if you can't get to the store?  Do you know if you have a manual egg beater in case there's no power and you NEED whipped cream for that desert you so cleverly put together?

None of the above rises to the same level of emergency as getting locked out of your house in a blizzard.  However, since it's coming on winter perhaps this would be a good time to take stock of what we have before we run out to stock up on things to deal with the "what ifs" of winter!

I'm not saying you have to alphabetize your spices or actually touch that "thing" on the bottom shelf but why not take a look around and see if there are some glaring omissions in your stock of basic supplies.

I mean - lets be realistic - how many re-runs of Criminal Minds can you actually stand to watch?  So you might as well be doing something useful and/or productive.

Looking this post over I think it more slithered along than flew but I hope it provided at least some food for thought (unlike that lump on my bottom shelf which is not food for anything/anyone)!