Sometimes I get these spurts of energy and my Type-A
personality forces me to use that energy to organize. Usually it’s not enough to simply organize
within things I already have. No sir;
it usually involves having to build something. If I were to put this into corporate terms:
it’s not enough to just re-organize, I need to restructure.
This bad habit is supported by two very important
things: first, while James completes his
Exec MBA I have a lot of alone time to walk around the house and think “I need
to change that!” Second, we have a slew
of very good, affordable carpenters in our Rolodex who aren’t afraid of my hair
brain ideas or very small jobs. (Or
the big jobs, if you remember the basement remodel…)
So we had this small, wasteful corner in our kitchen that
seemed ripe for a change. Because of
the odd size, I knew it was a custom job and called trusty Roberto who is great
with wood. A couple of hours later, I
had lovely new shelves and grand plans to organize and display all my spices. My spice collection is something I’m very
proud of, but is, honestly, out of control.
They were taking up some prime kitchen real estate, stuffed in the one very wide drawer by the stove.
That great idea had come to me in March, and Roberto built the shelves in April. Then nothing was done with this idea until
July. Well, I can’t say NOTHING – we did
manage to collect a whole lot of junk in a short time period.
This weekend I decided to take action, encouraged by a 15%
off Total Purchase (including sale/clearance items) Coupon at World Market. (This leads me to two rhetorical questions: 1) Why in the world are decorate baskets so flippin' expensive?! 2) Why does a 15%
coupon empower me to buy 150% more than I normally would?)
I came home from my shopping trip with some great finds and
a whole lot of ideas. A little touch-up
paint on the shelves, a good cleaning, and we were ready to go. I took out all the spices, combined where I could
(like my three separate jars of ground ginger), and threw out those that
were obviously old (such as the Hill Country Fair onion powder from HEB….and I
haven’t lived in a city with an HEB since 2005.)
If you’re thinking, “that’s a whole lot of spices”, you
would be correct. And, that’s only SOME
of our spices. We also have another
drawer (which is an old-fashioned bread box, in case you were wondering from the pic) that
is stuffed full of our “large” spice jars.
We load up on Tex-Joy and Fiesta spices when we're in Texas, and since we worry about running out sometime in the next 20 years we buy the big
ones.
Okay, enough bragging about my spices, let me show you the
finished product! A few things to note as you look over the pictures:
- James does not approve of the fern that I potted and placed on top of the shelves, but he has agreed to "see if it grows" on him. My strategy is to hope he forgets that it's up there so I can keep it. ;)
- Enda's treats and basket of meds / supplements / beauty products was on the bottom shelf, until we realized our own stupidity. She had that shelf cleared and scattered throughout the kitchen in a matter of minutes. We decided my 20lb dutch oven is a better item for the bottom shelf!
- And, no, I do not personally have a financial stake in Penzey's spices, but I do a pretty decent job of supporting their bottom line year over year. If you have not discovered Penzey's, check them out via catalogue or (if you're lucky and they're in your city) store!
(I threw in that last picture of Enda - demonstrating how she can "place" and "stay"- for good measure. She's doing so well in her training!)
