Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Pantry Re-hab

OK. One of the things on my list of things I wanted to get done was to re-organize my pantry.


I'm really going out on a limb here, because I'm going to show you how bad it actually had gotten.


*deep breath*


It had just about everything crammed in there. There were tons of craft supplies included. And, if that wasn't enough, anytime the kids drop something, they just push it out of the way. Actually picking it up is out of the question. lol


Well, I had started going through things and cleaning it out and then I had to push it up to full gear. I have a neighbor that has goats. She's not feeding them. I would call animal control except that she would know it was me that called -- there aren't any other neighbors. We've had our issues with her before and I don't want to make it any worse. I plan to live here for quite awhile.

Anyway, rather than watch her goats starve, I bought feed and on of my daughters has been feeding them. She carried the bag of feed into the house and left it in the pantry. Bad idea.......it was full of weevils!!!

So, needless to say I had to empty and clean the pantry, then discard all of the grain products in my pantry. (I just got rid of them rather than checking to see if they had weevils--it can take a month after they've been infested to actually see any signs.)

I am still in the process of transferring things to glass jars to avoid any problems in the future, but the pantry is looking much better.



I'm always amazed at how much stuff is around my house that just doesn't need to be. Why don't we get rid of it sooner? Why is it always when it gets overwhelming that I finally decide to sort through it and discard the things that will never be used? It would be so much easier to just get rid of it as we go.

I guess that's why. I forget that there's an easy way to do things sometimes. LOL

Monday, November 15, 2010

I'm still here.......

Oh my gosh!!!! I can't believe how much time has gone by since I've posted. I'm so sorry for the absence.


Right after my last post, Dax and I went to San Antonio for the weekend. Just the two of us. My parents came to keep the kids.


We had a great time, but I woke up early that Sunday morning sick as a dog. It took about the next week for me to even have the will to live again. lol (My mother thought it was just a hangover. Really? For a whole week? I don't think so Mom!)  It took me about two weeks to finally get over it, and then a couple of the kids got sick too.


As a result, there hasn't been a lot of crafting or creating going on.


But I did get a little bit done.



In the entry way I hung this banner that says 'Give Thanks'. I used stencil letters that I first painted orange and then covered with orange glitter. It was a messy job but a lot of fun.


I came across several yards of burlap at the thrift store and used that to back my letters. I used scrapbooking brads shaped like leaves to attach the letters to the burlap. Then I strung the letters onto jute.


Above my banner, I hung a branch (a small one) from the yard. I bought a couple of bags of fake leaves in the dollar section at Target. Each day we use these leaves to write something we're thankful for and then we stick them on the branch or the wall around it.


The picture is just the first day. It's looking much better now.  I was going to do a whole tree with brown craft paper, but our kitten wouldn't quit attacking it and trying to crawl under it, so I had to alter the plans a little. (Now I'm a little worried about what the Christmas tree will be like.)


Anyway, I really like doing this because it makes the kids think of all of the things in their life they have that are good and worth giving thanks for. It's a good exercise for all of us.