Some One's in the Kitchen

Over the course of the last few years, I have transformed from stay at home mother to working full time, to having a full time job and an almost full time job to both of those and teaching both cooking and yoga plus all the volunteer work I have always done. Did I mention that I have a special needs son and my mother is moving in with us due to her own special needs? It’s not easy to keep juggling all those balls, but I am really trying hard. My life keeps me hopping, and I need to seriously get back on top of everything to get back to basics. I was issued a challenge the other day. I mentioned that I was working really hard on getting organized, and I was told that it was impossible. There was no way in h-e-double hockey sticks that I could possibly get organized, especially with my schedule.


Game on.

Several years ago, some well meaning folks decided to reorganize my kitchen when I was at work. Their intentions were great, but it didn’t work for me. They are not me, and they don’t know how I like things or the “flow” of my kitchen. To be quite honest, despite the whole thought of it being a nice thing-and for some other folks, it may have been greatly appreciated-it was quite traumatic for me. I felt like what I wanted and how I wanted my kitchen wasn’t good enough, and that it needed to be fixed. I know that its probably in my head, and just my insecurities rearing themselves, but I really haven’t “fixed” it back to the way it was either.

That’s going to change. The weather is supposed to be quite miserable and cold this weekend, so after the March for Babies and the Yogi Junior class I teach Saturday, and after church on Sunday, I am taking back my kitchen. It will be mine, all mine again after this weekend. I have big plans for that space.

First is cleaning out the cabinet above my island. It winds up being a dumping ground for homeless things. I am rather frustrated by the fact that it remains like that, despite repeated attempts to keep it cleaned out. When tidying up, I seem to stash and dash, and never get back to it later on. So, that cabinet is the first to meet with my fury. In the next cabinet, I keep my dishes, along with a bottle of Holy Water that my husband swears is expired cough syrup. He is Catholic, and has more of an affinity for it than I do, so it will be his responsibility to find a home for it. Moving along, the next cabinet are for my glasses. We currently are in a plastic tumbler state of life, due to a cat that likes to tip over glasses and break them. I need to adjust the shelves and make the space usable.

In the next cabinet are coffee mugs, and an awful lot of wasted space. The mugs can be moved elsewhere, and that space used more appropriately. I am thinking of moving my pyrex pans there versus where its currently housed. In the next cabinet it is our medicine cabinet. It earned that distinction seven years ago, before we had a medicine cabinet in the Little Man’s bathroom. I need to move the stuff out of there and into that cabinet, since its been virtually empty since our guest left in November. That cabinet would be perfect for my Tupperware containers. Over the stove are my spices, which is prime for me to grab them as I cook.

Next cabinet over contains my mixing bowls. This is actually quite perfect as is, and so it will remain! The cabinet next to that, not so much. It currently houses my baking stuff-mixer, pans, cupcake liners, decorating sugars, and I honestly can’t find anything in there. Something needs to be done with it, stat. The next cabinet is all the Tupperware, which is being moved, so the baking stuff can go there. Finally is the coffee cabinet. Coffee, grinder, all that jazz are currently residing there-which is a great idea, so adding the mugs makes perfect sense. The final top level cabinet is above the fridge, where I have serving platters. Wasted space, but I am too short for anything else to go in there.

The bottom level cabinets are due for some spring cleaning too! I have a cabinet that basically is wasted, which is where my recycling bucket is, but its on the opposite side of the kitchen from the garbage can…so the recyclables go on the counter. That is just high on the ick factor! We can mix our recycling, so its just putting them in the bucket and developing a new habit. In the cabinet next to that, I have some larger appliances, like my griddle and crock pot, that only fit into that cabinet-but again, lots of wasted space. I can do so much better! The cabinet next to that is a corner cabinet, but doesn’t have a lazy Susan like my other two corner cabinets. I currently have my pots and pans in there, but its hard to find things if they wind up in the back, so I need a better system. I think by swapping one of the lazy Susan’s with the pots and pans, I will be making best use of the space. Again, one cabinet has appliances that I use, but not very often, and bakeware that may or may not be used frequently. All of these can best be rearranged to meet my needs.

The one cabinet that I will not be working on is the under the sink cabinet. That will require a separate day (and post!)