I begin today's Blog with the following side note: Yesterday I cleared off all the pictures on my camera's card, in order to take more today. I took a few this morning for this blog post. Here I sit at 8:00am, and whlist dumping my photos onto my computer, I see the shocking number: 83. How did this happen? How did I just take 83 shots in the last half hour? Will I delete the ones that I think aren't great? Will I? This is today's blog. I have long had this issue, for which I take more than a little cajoling, that I do not use everything I buy when it comes to food. I have this mentality of, "I need to have a little left in case there is a nuclear holocaust or emergency," or "I love this, and it's hard to find, so I will not finish it; then one day, when I REALLY need this taste, it will be here." Therefore, I have cans of fruit and veggies from 2004, I have 8 containers of honey, approximately 1 Tbs each, and I have this enclosed photo, an entire shelf full of tea. OK, OK, a shelf and a half.
The tea is really interesting, because today I decided to make a cup. This was my thought process:
-Oooh, I love black currant. But I got that in Ireland, and it's so hard to find.
-Oh! My tea from Austria with Elderberry (holunder! Something that was life changing and mind boggling to me, but likely means nothing to you)! But it's loose tea, and I don't know where my filter bags are.
-Hm.. This tea has never been opened. Organic Peach Detox...what is that? Can I drink it with toast? Probably not; I bet it's a fasting tea.
-Green tea...yech. Sick of it. What's all the hype again?
-I need to buy more Ginger Lemon tea; that's my favorite, and I only have 2 bags left. NO. NO MORE TEA. You must drink this entire shelf and a half of tea before more tea comes in to this house!
-My fancy, expensive tea from Mackinac Island...*sigh*. Same problem of no filter bags.
-Jason Winter's Tea. An herbal blend that only gets stronger, even after removed. I don't like it. But it reminds me of my fiance, who drank it as part of a therapy before he died. It would be wrong to throw it away. I wonder if anyone who has cancer would want it? (seriously, this is how I think...maybe I should have a garage sale for tea? Surely is an absurd idea...)
-Fine. Peach it is. Boring old peach.
So as I sit here drinking my peach tea and listening to the chickadees out on my patio thrash about in my pile of birdseed, I can't help but think that this is a problem. I'm not a hoarder or anything, but when it comes to food, I make all these excuses not to enjoy it all, and it inevitably goes bad, so I've missed out anyway. The tea is just one of many indicators.
Another example is that one day I was having a particularly hard day (for those avid readers of my blog, I refer you to the horrid day at the spa back in December of 2009). It was three days after my abomination of a hair cut and style (from a near GRADUATE, I remind you), and I was having a tough day at work (as tough as retail can get...). My friends located Bulmers, an Irish hard cider that I drank in Ireland with my newfound friends and locals, and adored. In the U.S. it's called "Magners". They drove to Minneapolis and brought me a six pack at work. My friend, Crystal, knowing me too well, also bought me a single bottle, which she knew I would keep on my shelf and never drink. She is so wise. That bottle is still on my shelf...as well as one in the fridge, which I had every intention of drinking on St. Patrick's Day, but instead sat at O'garas drinking Jamie-Gingers that tasted more like Jamie-Soda Waters. Oooh! I may have a photo of that too!
Not a great picture, but all the good ones have me and other people, and I don't want to assume it's ok to use them. I stole my friend's camera and tried to make a kissy face, but started laughing. I know, so unlike me, right? Hey! Back to the post, lady!
So I write now to admit this issue, and to address it in the following manner:
-I vow to get rid of any tea I don't find particularly tasty, even though I will feel SO wasteful to throw away tea. Don't ask me why.
-I vow to get "smart" selection of tea of no more than half of ONE shelf, such as Earl Grey, etc.
-I vow to drink it, not to use it as decoration
-I vow that if I have one bag left, I and do NOT drink it, I will put it in a tin, where no more than one bag of any flavor will reside.
-I vow to make LOTS of iced tea on my patio in the next few weeks and use up whatever I can.
Here's the rub. If I just keep this stuff in the hopes that one day I will really want it, when I finally eat or drink it, it will be stale and disappointing. You can't keep Manna, can you? It all goes bad. Even tea. *sigh*
Today's Song of the day is "Out in the Country" by Kristen Hall. For lots of reasons, one of which being the line in which she sings, "brew me up some twinings tea...tell me that you love me..."
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