Preparation begins!

I believe nesting has started, much to my husband's delight! I'd like to share with you what the children and I did last week. In a burst of energy we emptied the pantry cupboard, the small tea cupboard and a junk cupbaord. The children were thrilled with stacking the cans, and making piles. We gave the now empty cupboards a good wash with a mix of water, white vinegar, and soap, and left them to dry overnight.

The next morning when I awoke to the chaos in the kitchen I had been wishing that the job had never been started! But off we went, rolled up our sleeves and put everything back. In the tea cupboard went all of the herbal teas, a shelf (the highest one) of vitamins and supplaments, and on the lowest shelf the regular tea, pepermint tea, coffee filters and hot chocolait tin as we use them nearly everyday.

The bottom cupboard is a 'lazy susan' which was a pain to clean, but it had to be done! Organizing this took some thought as the shape (round) and size dictates where items must be placed. Must to my amazement everything fit in! Now the cereal it all together on the top shelf instead of being randomly tossed about, the baking items are on the top and then all the pasta, stew and canned items are on the bottom. In cleaning this all out I discovered a huge crack in my white sugar jar so that was tossed and an old wooden one brought up from the basement (and disinfected) now sits in there instead. It is a little bit of a pain as it doesn't fint an entire bag of sugar but we'll make it work.

The junk cupboard is what I am most pleased about. I got out our large mason canning jars and my Mother (who is amazing) gave me some screw on white plastic lids made for them. We barely do any canning choosing instead to freeze for the winter, but I digress. So now instead of a hog-pog of half empyt bags of goodies and such that always spilled and made a mess, everything has a jar. Carbo chips in one, walnuts in another, raisins in another, coconut in yet another, chocolait chips in another and in the biggest one (an extra wide one that my Grandma used to use for pickles) I put the children's treats such as bozed raisins, sugar free suckers and fruit leathers. They look so preety when you open the door and see everything peeking out of the glass jars.

On Tuesday we had the whole family over for dinner for, and with the new organized cupboards the baking and cooking went much easier. I estimate that for each meal of the day I save 5-10 minutes because of the simple fact that I know where ingredients are...bliss!

Now for next week I believe we shall attack the linen closet.....Help!