Fortuitous Fail

I’d made a batch of turkey chili a few days ago, and froze the results.

Also found in the refrigerator, when I was scrounging around for dinner last night was, as near as I could get to potato salad without mayo ─ which I don’t like, and pickles ─ which my gut doesn’t like, and also without Dijon mustard ─ also which my gut cannot tolerate. It was basically potatoes, olive oil, ground mustard spice and a chopped up boiled egg.

At any rate, putting the chili on the bottom of a cast iron skillet, potatoes on top, sticking it in the oven, I’d hoped to come out with a Shepherd’s Pie.

I didn’t.

Instead, it was a dry mixture of potatoes and chili, which looked like canned dog food, and tasted a lot like corned beef hash ─ which I luv, but can no longer have.

Thinking I’d failed my way into a mock corned beef hash recipe, I saved half for this morning’s breakfast.

It was DELICIOUS, topped with a fried egg.

A failure I’ll have to repeat next time I have a craving for corned beef hash.

On another note, I’ve been thinking about this for a while ─ long before I posted a comment on Dawn’s page this morning about interpreting an Old Lady she’d encountered not as sweet, but as devious, manipulative ... thinking for a while that, due to life experiences, I’ve become so jaded.

I do not look out through rose colored glasses. Nor do I look out through smut colored glasses. Instead, I look out through Three D’s, taking nothing for granted, stripping away the surface of everything and looking deep.

It’s not a bad thing. It’s an it is what it is thing, but I find more and more that my jadedness has carried over into the world of fantasy. I see danger in commercials others find heartwarming.

Case in point is Hobby Lobby’s newest commercial.

Nice, you probably think. Sweet that this old couple brought two young people together.

What I see is danger, danger.

That old couple don’t know that guy. He could be stone cold crazy wrapped up in a pretty package. And yes, so could the girl also be.

And then there’s this commerical.

My jadedness really comes up with this one, because I observed the child's dad did not go outside, stand at the bottom of the steps to make sure his daughter was safe.

Who is this Mr. Charles guy?

He’s obviously not a relative, not her granddad, because she referred to him as “Mr”.

He could have been some wacko neighbor who dragged her inside and harmed her in some manner so fast that her dad would not have realized she'd not returned until too late.

Don’t laugh.

It happens.

In fact, this particular commercial brought up a long buried memory of the Watch Commander at one of my early places of employment.

His teen daughter was going door-to-door, by herself, selling Girl Scout cookies.

A young man, at one of the doors she knocked on, dragged her inside and raped her.

It was back in the 60’s and, as far as I recall, he was some drugged-out druggie, quickly apprehended and put on trial.

The victim's dad ─ the Watch Commander, was so distraught that he smuggled a gun into the courtroom and shot the druggie dead.

Watch Commander had lots of support from inside the department, and from the general public for his actions. In fact, even druggie’s mom said her son got what he deserved.

My philosophy is that death is too easy. It's the living that's hard.

The guy was gone, he wouldn't suffer any consequences in this lifetime. Of course, there will be consequences on the other side of the veil and if/when he returns to another lifetime that crime has to be balanced out/paid for. So though I understood why Watch Commander did what he did, I thought it was a waste.

Druggie was obviously going to be convicted, so Watch Commander should just have let the process play through, but I guess it made him feel better to take action.

Watch Commander, of course, lost his job, but did no time. He was offered, and took, a position as Head of Security for a hotel chain.

So now I'm seeing this commercial of that little girl delivering dinner, and remembering what happened to Watch Commander’s daughter.

I’m so jaded because I’ve seen and experienced things that most of you only hear about or read about as having happened.

This is just one horror story from my repertoire of real life experience, but I'm not bitter, just distrusting ─ jaded.