Category Archives: My Home

Room by room pictures of my home

My Laundry Room Is Happy!

As I’ve mentioned before, I have a close friend who describes my decorating style as cheerful. She’s right. I like color and a certain brightness to the rooms I live in. They make me happy. Did I show you my very unhappy laundry room? It’s very, very sad.

I’ve finished updating the laundry room today. Here’s one of my “after” pictures and then details of what I did during this process of changing the look and feel of this little room that I enter daily.

I knew that red and black would change the way the celery colored paint would look, and I went looking for an inexpensive piece of fabric for a window treatment. I found a black, white and red fabric at Hobby Lobby for $9 per yard. I had a 40% off coupon so that brought it down to $5.60 per yard. I bought 1 and 1/2 yards.

Here’s the fabric..

We had created a storage problem because we stored tons of lightbulbs in the cabinets above the washer and dryer. It was Little Debbie to the rescue again as Mike picked up empty Little Debbie boxes at Sam’s Club and I painted them, hot glued ribbon on them and used wide-mouth canning lids and scrapbook paper for labels. With the ribbon, I have about $2 in each box. What a deal! I have attractive storage for the bulbs and easy-to-access storage for laundry and cleaning supplies. I couldn’t be happier.

I used four boxes.

I decided to keep trash bags out in the open where they are easy to find. When we have company, which is fairly often, sometimes they’ll ask “where do you keep the trash bags?” Now, I can just point them to the laundry room!

Living 17 miles from a grocery store, I’ve learned that white vinegar can handle just about any cleaning job and it’s a good thing to have for laundry, too. I’m keeping it on hand in one of my canning jars. Same with the clothespins.

My husband made this small distressed red shelf. Love it. I also keep clothespins in it. I like a plant in every room–that inclues the laundry room.

I had these red plates which I’d bought many years ago. I’ve never used them. When I was thinking about the laundry room and the need to have some brightness in there, they came to mind.

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I had to wait for several days to put the plates up. I use an adhesive backed plate hanger for hanging plates, and I haven’t found any place in Bristol that carries them. I ordered these from Amazon on Thursday and they arrived today (Wednesday). I was so excited when the mail arrived with them…you’d think someone mailed me gold!

The ribbon, fabric, spray paint and spraypaint were all that I purchased. I like using what I have on hand, as it inspires me to think “outside the box” (or in this case…in the box). My sweet mother, Vivan Barker, always said that “necessity is the mother of invention.” Mother was right!

Thank you for reading RiverCliff Cottage. If you care to comment, I’d love to read your thoughts!

Little Debbie Boxes Laundry Room Organization

It’s Saturday evening and I am parked on the couch…too exhausted to go to bed.

Today was the Mendota Heritage Festival, and while I planned to make a Barbie doll cake, I did not get it done. While I planned to be present at 10 am to help with the Health Fair, I did not get there until 11 am. While I planned to help with hotdogs from noon until 2 pm, I was told I wasn’t needed and I gratefully went home.

I worked very hard yesterday on multiple things. I cleaned house,spent time reorganizing and refreshing my laundry room, doing laundry and worked on organizing our master bath. I also sat down and glanced at an article on the internet entitled “Ten Tips for an ADD/ADHD Person To Keep A Clean House.” How did they know?

I do get the house clean, but I admit to doing it differently. I drag everything out and then I put everything away. I move along 3 or 4 things…and once in a while, they all get done!!

I took a good look at my laundry room this week. It’s very dull and boring. I haven’t paid any attention to this room. Ever.

After a good hard look, I made a list in my head of what would help this room. Here’s the result: (1) The paint is called “Celery”. With the white window treatment, white cabinets, and white washer and dryer, it looks institutional, yet I do not want to repaint the room. (2) I think red and black accents might help the room. (3) I have not been using the cabinet space well. The cabinet was full of lightbulbs instead of laundry supplies which were sitting on the dryer, etc. I know..it’s crazy but it just happened…we did not intend to buy a gazillion different bulbs. But we did.

The first thing I went to is my Little Debbie Box inspiration. While we do need to keep lightbulbs within easy reach, we don’t have to keep them all within easy reach. All but the minimum amount of lightbulbs will go in boxes above the cabinets. By painting and embellishing the boxes, it will also introduce black and red into the room.

Here’s the Little Debbie box in the before picture…

As I mentioned in prior posts, Mike picked up the Little Debbie boxes at Sam’s Club. I send him in to buy one thing but also to get a box or two to accompany the purchase! Feelin’ sooo smart! The boxes are the perfect size….here they are..

The black and white polka dot ribbon on the boxes is an interesting story. I purchased my first ribbon in a three-yard spool at Hobby Lobby for $3.99. I didn’t have a set plan so I only bought one spool. I love ribbon and keep it on hand. Never know when a ribbon emergency might come up. Once I got moving on this idea, I needed more ribbon, and I found a comparable ribbon at Walmart for $2.99–same size and quality. The difference was price and, more importantly–the ribbon from Walmart was made in Pennsylvania while the ribbon from Hobby Lobby was made in China. Gasp! Walmart became my New Best Friend. It took two spools to do all four boxes. Because I don’t have a lot of money right now, I returned to what I had on hand to label the boxes which was wide-mouth canning jar lids and scrapbook paper.

Here’s another photo…there are actually four boxes but to capture all four in a photograph, I would have to climb out the window!

I got totally inspired while doing this project…so much so that I willingly washed the windows yesterday while doing everything else!! Mike did the outside but I did the inside at the same time. Normally, I would have found an excuse NOT to wash windows but my laundry room redo was making me so happy that I didn’t mind doing the windows. Color in a room is so important to the way you feel when you’re in the room. At least for me.

I’ve made a curtain for the window and added a few other touches.

Another picture…

Finally, we had the Mendota Heritage Festival today. If cakewalks, quilts, baskets, original artwork, hotdogs, soup beans, baked bread and learning about the Mendota hawk count is more important than Fashion Week, the price of gasoline, or who had the best political speech, then this might be the place for you. It sure is the place for me.

Mendota Daily September 4

Do you recall that I said I was planning on doing a lot of fall decorating this week? Well, I still am. Everything is always slower than I think it will be. It’s like I run like water and everything around me runs like molasses.

One thing I really like about fall is fodder shocks. Many years I’ve been the first hanging out at a garden center asking when the fodder shocks are set to arrive. Even last year I bought a bunch of fodder shocks, loaded them in the truck, and then became mortified when they all fell out before I got to the first red light. I wasn’t so mortified that they fell out…things like that happen. I was mortified that I didn’t notice they were falling out and I was leaving a trail behind me. Yikes! Cars were blowing at me and flashing their lights. Finally when I stopped at the light, some very nice person knocked on the window and told me I’d lost my fodder shocks. Every where. All over the road.

This year there will be no trip to town. I grew my own corn! It was good to eat right out of the garden, good to eat now out of the freezer, and now I’ve got my own corn stalks. Sigh. Life is good.

So here they are. I decided I’d surprise Mike and cut them down myself. (This is truly a surprise…I usually outlast him on things like this and he’ll eventually take care of them for me.)

Truthfully, I wasn’t even sure how to cut them down. I went and got a little pruning saw. Here it is. It’s lying on our picnic table. Our oldest grandson painted his name on the picnic table two years ago. I always enjoy looking at it and thought I’d share it with you.

So I just went out and started sawing the old corn stalks. It was easy. However, I was glad I didn’t get a manicure today.

Just a few dozen whacks and a few trips from the garden to the front of the house, and I had one nice fodder shock set up. This is in the front of our house. I used a walkway light to anchor my fodder shock and lots of florist wire to keep it in place.

I wonder how many calories I burned trotting back and forth with my fodder shocks plus the sawing? Here’s the fodder shock in the rear of the house. There was a vine growing up the corn and I just left it in there. It’ll turn brown and not be noticeable, but right now, I think it looks pretty. See those little black eyed susie flowers? They volunteered and I love them.

I’ll be adding pumpkins and mums and bows. I didn’t grow pumpkins this year, and I’m so mad at myself!

Prior to my channeling Paul Bunyan and sawing corn stalks. I had been to Kingsport for a few things. I can’t believe I had to go to Kingsport…I’ve never liked that drive, but drive it I did! I had to return a fake pumpkin at Hobby Lobby and visit the consignment store to drop off some things. By the way, do you think that Bristol could manage to shelve either Cabela’s or Bass Pro and give us a Joanne’s, Hobby Lobby or Michael’s? I hate driving to Kingsport to get my crafty stuff and it’s especially difficult when you have to have two of everything since you mess the first try up.

Moving along after I cut down half of the corn stalks…I came back in the house.

I went back to my organization projects. When I organized the closet in the guest bedroom, I encountered the king size down comforter lying on the bed in the same room. I recently removed this from one of the beds, washed it, hung it out to dry and then realized I had no place to put the monster. It’s been lying in the front bedroom in a big blob on the bed for three or four days. In this picture, it’s on the floor, and you can see what I”m faced with. Try folding it and it comes to life!

However, when I was in Kingsport today, I swung by Target and bought a box of space saver vacumn things. Two jumbos bags in a box for $12. I wondered if they really worked that well. They do!

Here’s what the comforter looked like after I wrestled it into the bag and then vacummed the air out. It’s sort of strange looking. I wonder about all of the down feathers…will they ever fluff up again?

I’ll worry about refluffing later. Look how well it went into the bonnetiere..it’s at the very top. I do not know why this thing is called a bonnetiere, but we bought it at Ethan Allen about 15 years ago and that’s what they called it. I use it for quilts and stuff. Apparently, Mike uses it for a hotwheels set…that is what is in the little gold box on the right on the first shelf. What was he thinking? Isn’t he a little old for that?

Back on it tomorrow!

Thinking About Fall

On October 10, 2005, I began working at AGC in the Abingdon, Virginia plant– at that time called AFG Glass, and today that ended. I was very certain this is what I wanted to do in March…not as certain in May…but today as I pulled out of the Kingsport Corporate Services Office parking lot, I was happy. Starting my new life!

Fall is my favorite season of the year, and there are lots of opportunities among the family of bloggers to share fall decor ideas. I can’t wait to get started. I have some inspiration in these beautiful sunflowers my young and precious neighbor, Sarah Kiser, gave me.

So…I got home and following a celebratory nap, I continued thinking about fall. I decided there was no better time than today to start introducing autumn into my house. It was also more fun than cleaning windows. Since you enter my house from the foyer, I started there.

Here’s how my foyer has looked all summer…

So, to transition to fall here’s the minor changes I made today. I decided to use the P. Buckley Moss picture commemorating Bristol’s Rhythm & Roots festival as the festival occurs in September. The “B” was to also undergo a transformation. It is not exactly as I want it but it will work for a day or two until I fix it. Of course, I added gourds since I’m covered up in them.

However, as I looked at the picture, it just looked flat…a little blah. I like a live plant here and there — even though this topiary is not as healthy as it used to be–so I added the plant and removed a few of the gourds. Here’s what my foyer looks like tonight as I go to bed.

Back to these gourds…they are everywhere in my house. When I ~~stumble on~~ come up with a good idea, I get all the mileage I can out of it. I picked 200 from my garden, and ~~when they are not rotting~~ I really enjoy seeing them in my house. However, I have to “cull” them weekly. Here’s what happens if I forget to look through them…..

Gag…I should have warned you. This little monster was rotting in a bowl in our dining room. Does it make you hungry…want to eat at my house?

Earlier today I was completely chapped thinking I smelled cat pee in the dining room. We keep gates up to keep the cats out of most of our house, and I was immediately mad at Mike for possibly letting Sweetie Pi (she’s a mathmetician in the cat world) in the dining room. However, I could not find the cat pee. I looked…and sniffed…and looked and sniffed some more. I know…nasty.

Then, I spotted the gourds, and started pulling them out of the bowl. It was bad. There were about five that were starting to rot, and the bowl had moisture in the bottom. Guess what it smelled like?

Not to get too far off the subject, but the stinkin’ rotten gourd thing reminded me of when I was in my 20’s and worked at United Telephone in Bristol. I made a huge ordeal about an odor at my desk and had everyone looking for a dead mouse. As it turned out, it was my feet. Just thinking about it makes my face turn red.

And…I am all thumbs today. That little “B” was going to be such a smashing idea. You would have been very impressed with me…heck..I was very impressed with me! A little bit of fall themed scrapbook paper, slap the “B” on and immediate results.

I got my “B” at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon so it was a little over $1.00. I had such high hopes for my “B”.

It didn’t work out. I didn’t read the instructions. I’m getting a new “B”. I’m following the instructions after I ruined this one. Although it does look a little scary…maybe a Halloween “B”?

If you see a completed project on this blog, you will know that it was EASY with a very good success rate. Follow me…I’ll find the most mindless projects that give good results and share them!!

Thank you for reading my blog. Please leave a comment so that I will know you’ve been here! If you like what I’ve written, please share the Facebook post with your FB friends and ask them to follow RiverCliff Cottage. I would appreciate it.

Kitchen Light – SOLD!

Happy Wednesday!

In June, I spent much of the month cleaning my house, and as I cleaned, I shared rooms with you. I actually never finished cleaning the house, but I did make it to the kitchen. I have been feeling pretty good about my cheerful little kitchen, except for the light fixture hanging above my kitchen table. Here’s the light…I took the picture standing behind the sink facing the kitchen table.

Note to self: Retake this picture when you’ve wiped the countertop a little better and positioned the vase in the center of the table!!

Here it is…

That light fixture is not right. When I first put it up, the kitchen was a different color, had different window treatments and a different table. I am so passed this light fixture.

The great news is that I won’t have to look at this light much longer. Mike and I were headed to the movies last night, and just as we pulled in to get out and go to purchase the ticket, I told him I’d been looking at Home Depot in Kingsport at a potential new light for the kitchen. We decided to skip the movies and go look at Lowe’s (my love) and Home Depot (my next-in-line love) in Bristol.

Forget Home Depot in Kingsport, I found a light I really liked in the Bristol Home Depot. I had my phone with me so I took a picture. Here it is:

It was not expensive. It was $129. We almost brought it home with us, but we had not visited Lowe’s at that time. I wanted to compare because Lowe’s is my first love. Unfortunately, there was not one at Lowe’s I liked. The one that I considered..sort of… but didn’t like…looked like a woman’s wrought iron and glass breast hanging down from a chain. Pass.

It was getting late so we went on home deciding to return to Home Depot in a day or so. However, when I got home, I went to www.homedepot.com and looked up the light to see if the online price was the same as the store price. You just never know. It was on sale…$77.40 with free shipping. SOLD! It will arrive in about three days. Can’t wait to put it up!

I Cleaned My Living Room!

I cleaned the living room Saturday. I actually did it late Friday night because I’ve read from other bloggers that morning light is the best for taking pictures. So much learning!! So…I got up Saturday morning and took pictures.

Come in!! You’ll never visit where my living room will be this clean again. I’m not a dirty person but I’m happiest in a small mess.

But to refresh you..it’s been evolving…in this picture, which was taken with my old photo editing software before I changed to the very cool one I’m using now…I knew I wanted a “B” on the wall and I’d asked Mike to help me move the old entertainment center back in from hiding. I knew I had to make this work, at least for a while, else there would be a minor revolt on my getting any more furniture moving help. And there’s my trusted friend, the vacuum hose.

Now, here we are today. Furniture is in place. Not everything is perfect, but at least the cleaning supplies are put away and I didn’t get them in the picture.

Living Room

There has been almost no new purchases for this room in 12 years. Primarily, I moved the furniture around. I don’t have a before picture but the couch was in the center of the room. Ho hum. I was tired of it.

Here’s a picture of the current resting place for my “B”. That gourd doesn’t really go there, but I haven’t figured out what to do with her. She’s a pal of mine. I grew her a long time ago and when I shake her, she rattes. She’s like me…when I get shaken up, I get all rattled!

Here’s another angle…

The curio in the corner was a present from my husband about a gazillion years ago. We were pretty lean at that time, so he bought it unfinished.

And here’s the mantle which I’m looking forward to decorating for fall….

I always keep a pair of wire-rimmed glasses on the mantle. They remind me of my father, W. T. Barker. The P. Buckley Moss print is part one of the Rhythm & Roots series she’s doing. I haven’t bought the second one which depicts the Burger Bar in Bristol, Virginia.

The bowl with the gourds in it was a gift from a local Mendota woodturner/craftsman, Curtis. I can’t remember his last name!! If someone local is reading this, please leave a comment with Curtis’ name and I’ll correct!! The book is an old Bible that has my Uncle Johnny’s handwriting and notes in. He was actually John Pershing Parker. He’s long gone, and the Bible is almost falling apart. The cover is like soft denim. The Bible was found in an old garage Uncle Charlie (Charlie Litton) built that was being torn down by a contractor for VDOT during a road improvement project. It was worthless to him but means everything to me.

I’m feeling a bit smug about this photography software. I used a “vignette” feature on that picture which blurs the background so that the subject matter will capture the viewer’s full attention.

Here’s the coffee table with a bowl of gourds and some zinnias I picked. Like my vase?

Here’s a view so you can see why the foyer and the living room paint colors have to “talk”. It’s a little bit elongated. Sorry.

And my last picture..

Thank you for visiting me in my living room. I like this room. It’s best feature is the paint which makes a nice backdrop for everything else. It is especially pretty when it’s snowing outside and the fireplace is burning. I am looking forward to one of those days this winter.

Mendota Daily August 14

I get Pottery Barn’s catalog. I order one thing per year so I’ll stay on the mailing list. Confession…I order more than one thing but not too much more. So many good ideas!!

I’m trying not to be such a CONSUMER… shopping just for the hunt. However, I do like swapping stuff around and interchanging things, and sometimes I end up buying something. But I’ve been really careful spending money. Since I haven’t been working, I haven’t been getting paid. You get the picture! Recently I moved things around in my living room, and I realized I needed something in a blank spot on the wall. The CONSUMER started coming out, and oh well.

I tried to do an arrangement with this giant B pictured below that is actually cardboard. I’d hauled it from Georgia several months ago and hid it. Mike doesn’t care when I buy things but it was a cardboard B. I had a vision for it (Anthropologie) and I didn’t want to try to communicate what I saw in my head into what I wanted him to see in his head. It doesn’t work. We are wired differently.

I spray painted the B a metallic color thinking that you might not realize I got it for $9 at Joanne’s Fabrics. Did I fool you?

Looked pretty bad. The B went into the closet for a few days. I then came up with a brillient idea to put it on top of the entertainment center with a plant. This left a big blank wall spot, and while I wanted the entertainment center in the room, (Just a little over a week ago, I had made a big deal of it and made Mike help me carry the thing from the garage to the house) it looked like a big tall chimney. It’s really a dilemna in this room. It’s a cathedral ceiling so anything short looks squatty but the entertainment center is tall and skinny by itself. Like a lonely soldier.

I could not figure out what to do, and that’s where the Pottery Barn catalog arrived and gave me the idea to use a floating wall shelf. I could place pictures on the shelf and use it to “step down” to the couch so the entertainment center doesn’t stand out like an ugly tree. I didn’t want to pay Pottery Barn prices compounded by the fact that we have no Pottery Barn around here, so I went to Hobby Lobby and found one for $44. Of course, I had the 40% coupon, so it wasn’t too bad..less than $30.

Here’s what it looks like…I just ran and put these pictures on it. Not sure if they are staying.

I like it!

Here’s what it looks like from a few steps back…the couch looks awkward in this picture…I’ll clean the room and get better pictures this weekend. And draft…another tall skinny picture.

Don’t look at the coffee table which is stacked full of magazines and stuff. It’s just in your head. It doesn’t really look that way…I have a vision…

A Little Bit of Fall and Dishtowel Winner

Good morning! I’m still reeling from singing Bible School songs…suffice it to say at this time, I know I am one of the sons of Abraham. It has been such a fun week, and we’re not quite finished, but tonight is an easy night. We have singing, refreshments and then Johnny Wolfe is taking us on a hayride. If you are reading from far away, it’s worth the flight to Bristol just to ride with us in the haywagon behind the tractor. We are going to have fun!!

Because of all the fun I’ve been having, I have not posted the winner of the dishtowel. In fact, I haven’t been on the blog to see who won the dishtowel myself. It is Brenda Dean of Hiltons, Virginia, and DRAT…I just saw her at the Rally Mart!!! I could have given her this had I got on this blog earlier today. Congratulations Brenda on your great dishtowel from Target. Here it is…you will be basking in loveliness as you dry your dishes. Oh wait…Brenda is married to Alan (Allen?)…maybe she’ll be one of the lucky ones and he will be the one basking in loveliness.

I haven’t done much around here this week. Good intentions but no results. I did, however, make a quick trip into the jungle that continues to call itself a garden…here it is…

There are about 500 little gourds that volunteered and survived because I didn’t bother to hoe the garden. I used to grow decorative pumpkins in this area–that was about five years ago–now each year these little guys come up. I went out yesterday and tossed a few to the side…here they are..

Washed them off…must have got a little soap in this baby’s eye…it’s crying…

Once they dry, I sometimes spray some poly (I will not even try to spell that word) on them. It makes them last longer. By the time I get these gathered, I usually have about 200 tucked in corners of every pot in the house. I’ll keep them and enjoy them until around Thanksgiving…or until the rot smell starts. At one time, I thought my cats were peeing everywhere because I had such a strange smell in the kitchen. Poor kitties…they took so much abuse, and it turns out, I had about ten rotten pumpkins tucked in above the plate rack that had went beyond looking bad to dripping yuck, gook and ugh. Nasty stuff.

But today, we are far away from the time of smelling rot. They are all nice and shiny….

I put a sheet that I use as a drop cloth underneath the gourds when I’m spraying them.

Now…this would be the time for me to show you these gourds in a pretty bowl in a clean room. However, I don’t have that. Yet. Instead, I’m going to show you what the den looks like…NOT CLEANED. Later today, you’ll see it all cleaned with my gourds on display.

It’s a mess…those ladders are where I’m cleaning the bookshelves and I accidentally discovered a book…I started looking at it…I started reading it. You get the picture.
Will update you later today!!

Update:

I’m not sure how many gourds I actually got but there was enough to put them here and there. They’ll really look good when fall arrives and I add some pumpkins, etc. Fall is my favorite time of the year for decorating the house.

Picture above the mantle with little gourds below…

Hope you like the picture…chestnut genus. It’s framed in wormy chestnut. Mike made it. He and my brother-in-law, Gerald, also made the mantle which is also wormy chestnut. I love the story of the chestnut tree and what it meant to the people of Appalachia. I’m hopeful we’ll see the chestnut tree again. Lots of good work being done at the American Chestnut Foundation in Meadowview, Virginia.

Here’s a chestnut coffee table. I really like it as it’s so hard and durable. It takes a beating with feet, Wii games, etc. That’s tobacco barn siding on the “apron” of the table.

I Love Chalk Paint

I am in love. With chalk paint. It’s less than $5 per can at Lowe’s.

I went on a chalkboard tear today. Do you recall this picture (below) which was in my dining room before we painted? Oh look…who on earth allowed that cat to get on the kitchen countertop???

This was a nice picture but I needed a chalkboard for my kitchen. I thought about selling the picture at a future yardsale, but that was before I discovered Chalk Board Paint. Glass can be sprayed just like anything else, and this picture was just the right size for my new chalkboard.

After taping the picture frame so it won’t turn to chalkboard too, we went down to Mike’s shop for spraying. Mike got curious and just had to take over the spraying. Here he is spraying two pictures that are destined to be future chalkboards.

I put two coats on each chalkboard. Here’s one of the finished chalkboards….

We’re having a birthday celebration for our neighbor Helene. We’ll prop this birthday chalkboard birthday card outside where everyone can see it. It’s her first birthday in Mendota!

I made these little chalkboards (out of 4 x 6 and 5 x 7 picture frames) to let everyone attending the birthday celebration know that drinks are in one area and desserts in another area.

The neatest thing is that they wipe clean.

Here’s another chalkboard project…

This one is a little different. The glass was chipped on a small 4 x 6 picture frame. I needed some accessories for the foyer, and I wanted to use what I had vs. buying something.

So…I decided it was a candidate for a chalkboard with an initial on it. My high tech work center was the yard and an old newspaper. Could not be easier.

You can really see the broken corner in this picture. I wasn’t sure it was going to work.

But it did!

Hope you have enjoyed my chalkboard projects. Fun, cheap and easy.

I’ll be returning with a new post on Monday. What are your plans for the weekend? I think we are getting a break on the much-needed rain we’ve recently enjoyed, so tomorrow will be a day to work in the yard. I also want to push forward to getting the pantry back together.

Pantry Project

This is my project today. I’m organizing and cleaning the pantry. I don’t want to run out and buy a bunch of organization stuff. Actually, I do want to but I’m not going to because it’s not practical for me as I’m not working. Plus…I have a lot of baskets and junk already.

I had to empty the pantry to get started on this project. Where do you think I put everything?

Remember that nice clean dining room table? It was the perfect spot to unload everything from the pantry. We got a bunch of those “half boxes” that Sam’s Club gives you at check out. I was mortified when Mike got about 10 of the boxes on our last Sam’s Club visit. We didn’t buy anything. We just went in and he asked for the boxes. I wanted to craw underneath the register and hide with embarassment, but the lady was really nice and gave them to him. He carried the boxes out, and I followed about ten steps behind as if it was a coincidence that we arrived together and left together.

I also used the dining room wine cabinet as a repository for all the spice stuff…with the California’s Finest Nectarines box we got from Sam’s Club.

My parents were raised in the Great Depression and their discussions about how bad it was affected me. I must have several of everything. An example is the 8 ketchups and 4 Miracle Whip Salad Dressings (I use it for potato salad). I actually do like to keep about a 90-day supply of food on hand. It makes me feel good. I can also justify it by saying that we live 17 miles from a grocery store. Right!

Look close…there are four ketchups at the front of the picture and to the left of the picture, you’ll see four more. Ahhh…if the river floods and we can’t get out…we’ll drink ketchup.

There are very few canned or baking goods in this pantry. I’ve got a “baking center” in one of the lazy susan cabinets in the kitchen, and I use the pull-out cabinets underneath the counter for canned goods that we purchase. My home canned items are either on top of the cabinets or in another pantry area in our den. The idea to put home canned items on top of the kitchen cabinets was not my idea. I visited another Mendota friend, Amy Lou Statzer, and saw green beans on top of all of her cabinets. I immediately copied her! A shout out to Amy if she is reading this!

We’re painting the interior of this little pantry and reinforcing the shelving which sags. I want to label the baskets and shelves in such a way that anyone unloading groceries will know where to put things.

If you are reading this and you’ve organized a pantry, would you mind sending a photograph? We’ll put the pantries of Mendota and southwest Virginia on the map! I’ll post it along with my pantry…once it’s presentable.

Thank you for reading this blog and thank you for sending comments. The way the comment thing works is that I’m notified when a comment is waiting for moderation. I’m notified on my aol acccount, and when that little “ding” occurs, I stop whatever I’m doing and run over to see what you have said. It’s so addictive.