Weekend Projects
I'm working on several projects right now. One is trying to sleep off a cold (Baby E got it first and is kindly sharing with me, so I took a 5-hour nap yesterday and slept in this morning) and another is trying to get the house and yard presentable.
This weekend I've been working on the kitchen and pantry. I've been decluttering, reorganizing and cleaning a lot.
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So far I've tackled the clutter at ground level and in one cupboard. I got the area under the desk and the bottom level of the pantry cleared out, then scrubbed the kitchen floor while DH and I watched a Numb3rs episode.
I'm tired of sifting through the cluttered pantry every time I need a spice that's not in my countertop turnstile, so I tackled the cupboard next to the stove, which held vitamins, medications and miscellaneous clutter. By the time I threw away all the expired bottles and moved the things that didn't belong to more appropriate places, there wasn't too much left. I decided to move the medications and first-aid supplies to another location and left just the vitamins and nutritional supplements on the top shelf, leaving the lower two shelves for spices and flavorings.
I'd bought one of those stair-step organizers earlier, and put it in the cupboard for the small bottles of spices. I had fun organizing all the spices in alphabetical order, as I love having the spices in my counter rack arranged that way. (There, DH . . . now you can't tease me about that one any more :) ). In the process I discovered to my chagrin that I had multiples of quite a few seasonings--one of the many costs of disorganization. Really, now, do I need 5 bottles of cinnamon and 3 of sesame seeds?
I never did finish the pantry project I started while pregnant with Baby E. We used up a lot of things, but I didn't ever organize what we had left, so it's become chaotic and overstuffed again quickly. This time I hope to get it organized and trimmed down in a way that will be maintainable.
After getting the floor and half the lowest shelf in the pantry decluttered and cleaned, I managed to find a small shelf today that fits perfectly on the floor beneath the bottom shelf. I think that will help us to use that space more economically. I want to get a set of drawers to put under the other side to keep plastic storage containers in, rather than the big cardboard box we've been using. That will still leave ample room for the canning pot, bread machine, and a few other large items back in the corner of the floor.
Now I just have to figure out what to do with all the items piled on the kitchen table and counters.
Meanwhile, DH has been working on the yard, sweeping the deck, mowing, and setting up the sandbox for the kids.
We had the yard aerated and de-thatched this week, so tonight or tomorrow night we plan to lime, overseed and add some kind of loam to the lawn. We're considering buying an edger, too, so we won't have to edge the lawn and flowerbeds by hand.
I'm looking forward to seeing what the yard looks like after we finish with the lawn, add a few perennial flowers, spread fresh barkdust and fix the picket fence in the front yard.
Spring is the time for this sort of thing.
This weekend I've been working on the kitchen and pantry. I've been decluttering, reorganizing and cleaning a lot.
##############
So far I've tackled the clutter at ground level and in one cupboard. I got the area under the desk and the bottom level of the pantry cleared out, then scrubbed the kitchen floor while DH and I watched a Numb3rs episode.
I'm tired of sifting through the cluttered pantry every time I need a spice that's not in my countertop turnstile, so I tackled the cupboard next to the stove, which held vitamins, medications and miscellaneous clutter. By the time I threw away all the expired bottles and moved the things that didn't belong to more appropriate places, there wasn't too much left. I decided to move the medications and first-aid supplies to another location and left just the vitamins and nutritional supplements on the top shelf, leaving the lower two shelves for spices and flavorings.
I'd bought one of those stair-step organizers earlier, and put it in the cupboard for the small bottles of spices. I had fun organizing all the spices in alphabetical order, as I love having the spices in my counter rack arranged that way. (There, DH . . . now you can't tease me about that one any more :) ). In the process I discovered to my chagrin that I had multiples of quite a few seasonings--one of the many costs of disorganization. Really, now, do I need 5 bottles of cinnamon and 3 of sesame seeds?
I never did finish the pantry project I started while pregnant with Baby E. We used up a lot of things, but I didn't ever organize what we had left, so it's become chaotic and overstuffed again quickly. This time I hope to get it organized and trimmed down in a way that will be maintainable.
After getting the floor and half the lowest shelf in the pantry decluttered and cleaned, I managed to find a small shelf today that fits perfectly on the floor beneath the bottom shelf. I think that will help us to use that space more economically. I want to get a set of drawers to put under the other side to keep plastic storage containers in, rather than the big cardboard box we've been using. That will still leave ample room for the canning pot, bread machine, and a few other large items back in the corner of the floor.
Now I just have to figure out what to do with all the items piled on the kitchen table and counters.
Meanwhile, DH has been working on the yard, sweeping the deck, mowing, and setting up the sandbox for the kids.
We had the yard aerated and de-thatched this week, so tonight or tomorrow night we plan to lime, overseed and add some kind of loam to the lawn. We're considering buying an edger, too, so we won't have to edge the lawn and flowerbeds by hand.
I'm looking forward to seeing what the yard looks like after we finish with the lawn, add a few perennial flowers, spread fresh barkdust and fix the picket fence in the front yard.
Spring is the time for this sort of thing.
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Posted by purple_kangaroo at 5:24 PM[Permanent link]
5 Comments:
hey, we're doing the same thing to our yard - pretty much! We have to put the whole lawn in front and back though before it gets too hot. I'm looking forward to a greener landscape - also saw some verticle flowering trees in the spanish garden (at the botanical gardens downtown) that would work around the back wall. I also have temporary shelves in our coat closet (b/c we don't have a pantry) and have been slowly transferring food items into it. Was really happy to get the idea from a friend as it should work out better! Colleen
Sounds like you are getting lots done. Don't forget to cover the sandbox so the cats are not leaving their deposits in it. ;-)
The colds that babies share are the worst. I stopped by to see if you had a MM.
Mine's up.
http://collectingmythoughts.blogspot.com/2006/04/monday-memories-did-i-ever-tell-you_24.html
Sounds busy, busy, busy! I hope you feel better soon.
Colleen, that's a good idea to use the coat closet as a pantry. Did you move the coats to a rack instead?
Grandmac, don't worry--we make sure the cover stays on the sandbox when it's not in use.
Norma, this cold isn't really too bad--mostly just a runny nose, and it's making us a bit tired.
Liz, I think I'm usually too busy. :) I'm hoping that once our house gets decluttered and organized it will get a bit easier. (Is a project like that ever really finished, though?)
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