September | 2018 | Who I am

Ingredients

Crust:

1 1/2 cups finely crushed chocolate wafer cookies

2 tablespoons white sugar

1/4 cup melted butter

Cake:

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, cut into chunks

3/4 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 cup sour cream

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cookie Dough:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Topping:

1 cup sour cream

2 teaspoons white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Mix the chocolate wafer cookie crumbs, 2 tablespoons white sugar, and melted butter together in a bowl. Press firmly into the bottom and 1/2-inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan.

Bake crust in the preheated oven until set, about 8 minutes.

Beat cream cheese and 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons white sugar together in a bowl until creamy. Add 1 cup sour cream, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; beat until batter is smooth. Pour batter over crust into springform pan.

Beat 1/4 cup butter, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup white sugar together in a bowl. Stir water and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract into brown sugar mixture. Add chocolate chips and flour; stir until cookie dough is well-combined. Drop cookie dough in 2 tablespoon portions evenly over the top of the cheesecake, pushing dough beneath the surface of the batter.

Bake in the preheated oven until cheesecake is almost completely set and jiggles slightly in center when shaken, about 40 minutes.

Stir 1 cup sour cream, 2 teaspoons white sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla together in a bowl until smooth. Spread sour cream mixture over hot cheesecake. Cool cake to room temperature and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours.

The Prompt

A LIST EXERCISE

Flash fiction stories are less than 1000 words.

Many are much shorter than that.

Flash invites you to be creative with form.

Today, your task is to make a list. A literary list, that is.

Grocery lists, to-do lists, or goals lists written with the effect of showing a person’s life, their struggles, their failures, etc, are terrific pieces of flash. They test the reader’s inferential powers.

Your challenge: Provide a list of items from a luxurious bedroom, a garage, or a refrigerator.

Use specific concrete details. Reveal a sketch of a person’s life through these items. Imply something.

http://storyaday.org/sept-2018-01/?ck_subscriber_id=211865176

When I first read the story prompt for the day; I went blank. I read down through the comments and thought, I can’t do this; I have no list; I just survive.

Then I thought of the fight that I go through daily from morning to night and I discovered; I do have a list; a Mental list.

My list is a bundle of mental thoughts that I do out of habit, without thinking.

My list contains;

1. Wake-up with a positive attitude

2. Walk to the bathroom without falling down.

3. Take my medications and shots on time.

4. Eat the right foods to help my sugars stay as low as possible.

5. Use the energy I usually have the most of in the morning to do productive things.

6. Clean or straighten up my apartment. This may include;

A) Sweeping the floors

B) Making the bed

C) Dust; my most hated job

D) If I have not fallen as yet; I will tackle the bathroom cleaning.

7. I usually consider something to set out of the freezer for supper. I enjoy making home made soups the most. The more time spent out of the kitchen; the less falls.

8.Play games online for memory retainment.

9. Eat a light lunch.

10. Take a nap; a must so that I can re-boost my energy level that has drained.

11. Talk to neighbors, listen for those who need prayers, help the Multiple System Atrophy patients who need help.

12. Fix supper.

13. Clean-up the dishes and kitchen.

14. Use my camera and either write a short story or poem.

15. Get ready to help patients on my Facebook. I am a teacher and advocate for M.S.A.

16. Go to bed

17. Give thanks for all that I have been given. Say thanks for the lack of falls that day.

My name is Terry. I have been a professional caregiver for over 23 years. I am a photographer and publisher of two books. I am a short story and poetry writer.

I have a diagnosis of; Parkinsonism/ Ataxia/Dystonia.

Thank-you for reading my list.