Pantry Pitfalls

Have you ever embarked on a project with the ideal finish in mind only to come up short of that fantasy?  Well that is indeed what happened when I decided to spruce up my pantry.  I wrote in an earlier blog that I would be reorganizing my pantry because too many cooks in a kitchen has a tendency to wreak havoc on my storage spaces especially the pantry.  I try to keep food items together in a logical manner like all baking goods on one shelf and all canned goods stacked together, but during the holidays numerous trips to the grocery and a stream of users of the pantry results in a very messy, cluttered closet.  Yuck.  I hate to open the door.  So this year I decided I would purchase more organizers to tame the mess and spiff up the walls by adding a fun contemporary wall paper (I would have preferred vintage paper but at $95+ a roll, my conservative side said "Nah!").  I explored many sites online and pinned several ideas, so I envisioned exactly what I wanted.  Here is a look at my pantry before I spent two days preparing and applying wall paper:

My pantry is  not large plus it is an odd shape.  It is a walk in closet and has a great spice organizer built  in on one side, so spices were not the issue.  Notice I have used containers of various sorts, lazy suzans for the triangular space and can organizers.  Of course the space is a mess but beyond that the can organizer works only for a specific size can.  I don't like "stuff" placed on shelves: I prefer it all be contained in a basket or plastic container of some kind, and I want all of the floor items off of the floor for easy cleaning.

This was my dream from the blog HouseofSmiths.com:

I picked this particular pantry because the size was similar to mine and the blogger added wallpaper.  I should have paid more attention to her containers as those are what make this pantry look so amazing.   I am a cook and a baker and most of my items are of that nature, so I have numerous vinegars, oils, spices plus three kinds of flours, sugars, flavorings, etc. and then I realized my husband had at least 20 different rubs, purchased and homemade, as well as numerous bottles of salts and peppers that would need to be organized within the pantry. I should have taken off the rose colored glasses but I just knew my pantry would be as beautiful.

Here are my results:

I did find bargain wallpaper, but my 10 foot ceilings meant I needed 2 double rolls of wallpaper.  This was more than I anticipated.  Also, the metal baskets are actually drawers and were somewhat expensive, especially since I decided they did not need to be mounted as I could easily get to all of the items, and I originally purchased them hoping they would work in the triangular space but no go.  They are expandable, and I do like that because I can customize them for the space.  All of the items are now housed in a container of some kind albeit not as pretty as the dream.  Reality for me also is that I will never place my flours and sugars, pastas and cereals into different containers.  I also know that I will not label things as my pantry is ever changing.  And of course maybe I am just too lazy to make those changes.  I prefer to be outside when I am not in the kitchen and the weather permits, so I will spend my time as I always do and feel good about taming the tiger in the pantry. (Secretly, I will search for beautiful containers and try to make them work as the dream must continue.)

P.S.  Sorry for the post delay.  Many technical difficulties, but mostly the technical issues are because I live in the country and rely on a wireless network that shuts down when the wind blows.  This is Texas.  The wind blows often.  Sigh!!!!!

All Things Charleston

Returned late last night from a quick weekend trip to Charleston, SC to celebrate our son-in-law's 40th birthday.  He and our daughter made all of the hotel and restaurant reservations, and every spot was exquisite.  Our first stop was The Planter's Inn.  I wanted to spend every waking moment in this room.

The beautiful windows looked onto Market Street.  Each morning greeted us with fresh brewed coffee, and every afternoon cider and sweet tea were self serve.  It is such a bright and cheerful room that I wanted to grab a throw and book and read rest of the vacation.

The reception area was equally beautiful.  I am now on a mad hunt to find these lamps for my living room.

We dined at The Peninsula Grill, The Ordinary and Husk.  My favorite at The Peninsula was the pan seared Carolina trout and of course their world famous coconut cake. Service was superb.  At The Ordinary my favorite were local oysters and my husband's rice pudding.  It was lightly sweet and creamy just the way I like it.  We dined at Husk and the catfish was just like my dad used to make.  I always make that comparison and if it is similar to his, then the restaurant gets a gold star.  The fish is lightly dusted with cornmeal and fried to mouth watering perfection.  We were stuffed from our meal, so we did not sample desserts, but I saved the coconut cake from earlier, and we savored the taste of Charleston one last time before boarding our plane for the trip home.

Our weekend wasn't just about eating.  We did walk historic King Street, Market Street and The Battery, and we visited Ft. Sumter and various other forts and historic sites.  All in all it was a very adventure filled weekend. I can not wait to return.

Lana

Pamper, Protect and Purge

It seems everyone has posted their new year's resolutions, and most, if not all are about taking care of self, being more forgiving and finding a calm in all of the madness.  I am no different, so I decided that January will be my month of pampering, protecting and purging.

I will  pamper my self by beginning a new age defying regime.  Ha ha ha!  Seriously, I will try to use the rather expensive rejuvenating cream I purchased at my daughter's insistence.  This is the same child who gave me the book THE WRINKLE CURE, several years ago.  Now she tells me it was more for my hands than my face.  I told her that every wrinkle, age spot and scar is a testament to my work on the farm as a child and teen, gardening and remodeling a home.  I don't mind that my hands look like they have aged beyond my face but she seems to mind.  She also reminds me that my grandmother would never have worked outside without gloves and bonnet.  I remind her that my mother worked outdoors without such and she never seemed to age at all.  Luckily my daughter has my mother's complexion, olive and oily, while I have my grandmother's complexion, light and dry, and sadly I have not taken as much care as she did.  Now that I am retired, I do devote more time to pampering my skin and hair, but I do continue to choose simple moisturizers and masks.  I like making my own, but I will use the purchased mask until it is gone, so I don't feel like I have wasted money.  I will share the results if they are positive.

After the Target fiasco, I have taken many precautions to protect my identity although I know scammers and thieves can retrieve that information easily.  I am not sure what I will do next, but I am debating going back to cash.  It is such an inconvenience because I have to stop by the bank (I do not use ATMs) and hope that I have extricated enough cash for my purchases that day.  I do plan menus and write grocery lists, but sometimes there are just random things I want for the week, so having the cash on hand may stifle the creativity.  The beauty of the Internet, however, is I can look up prices before shopping so I have a decent idea about the amount of cash I would need.  I continue to carry a checkbook, but so few places accept checks any more and I don't like the stare down at the register by those in line behind me.  I avoid eye contact with others when I do resort to writing a check.

Purging is my last action item for January.  I WILL (caps are for me, not you the reader) purge my clothing, outdated pantry items, attic stuff and barn storage.  Makes me tired thinking about it, but I always feel lighter afterwards.  I have the hardest time deciding what goes and what stays.  I know all of  the "trendy" advice, but if I followed that then I would not have my daughter's doll furniture and table and chairs that I plan to repaint for my grand daughter.  Nor would I have had an old iron patio table base that I restored for my front porch.  My son would not have had a sweater for his ugly sweater party, and I do need dressy black heels occasionally, but I hate to buy them, so I just keep them and wear when needed.  Nobody ever knows that my black heels were purchased about fifteen years ago.

Purging also means for me weeding through magazines for ideas, ripping out the page and sending the old magazine to be recycle.  This is a painful process for me because I want to keep the entire magazine, and I do have a collection of my favorites from years past that I peruse once in awhile.  Sure I could find most of the ideas or articles online, but it is like reading a book.  I like to touch the pages.  I have always believed that the senses help us remember and touching the picture and feeling the paper definitely helps my memory.

Whether you pamper, protect or purge during the month of January, I know you will feel better at the end of the month having done one or the other.  Onward.......

Lana

Reuse, Recycle, renew

Reuse, recycle, renew

Brrrrrrr it is cold in Texas.  It reminds me of the cold northern winds that would sweep down through the Texas south plains region.  Nothing could keep the cold out.  My husband and I built our first home in 1981, and we moved in just in time to have Christmas Eve in our new home with my family.  We discovered that the spot for our refrigerator was more shallow than we had imagined it thus a trip to buy a new and smaller refrigerator was necessary leaving me to fret about where all of the prepared food would be stored.  As any Texan knows, 80 degrees on Monday does not mean 80 degrees on Wednesday, and so it was that Christmas Eve.  Temps plummeted to freezing with wind chills well below 0 degrees thank goodness.  My garage served as our walk in freezer for three days.  What a blessing that was!

All this weather has served to do for me this week is make me want to cook and eat.  As I am constantly watching calories, that combination is lethal to even the most motivated of dieters.  I decided to begin looking at storage containers and such for my pantry instead.  As mentioned in my earlier post, I need to utilize space better.  I have ordered a few items from Organize.com, so I will let you know with pictures and post how that works out.

I have moved furniture, taken pictures of spaces I need to fill and organized my Christmas papers and ribbons.  Several years ago, I began buying recycled Christmas paper and satin ribbon.  While it is more expensive (sometimes double the cost of regular paper), my intent was to reuse and recycle the papers.  I am happy to say that I reused all of the paper and ribbon I saved.  Luckily, my children did not take any of the ribbon from their packages this year, so I will not have to purchase any ribbon for next.  My daughter wraps her packages in greens, browns and golds with a bit of whimsical ribbon (dog bones) while I chose blues and reds.  I now have enough ribbon to last throughout the year. I also saved gift tags.  I ran out of tags about 1/2 way through my wrapping, and because I don't like to drive into town for one item, I used key tags.  It worked great and I now have all of my tags for my husband, children and Miss Lucy, our first grandchild.

Notice all of the bright wrappings and ribbons.  Some of the papers are water color paintings.  The tin to the left houses traditional Christmas colors-red and gold.  The tags are the baggie with mostly white.

Wrapped packages under my tree. Colors were chosen to emphasize hand painted and vintage Christmas balls. Nothing fancy although for next year I am inspired to add some creativity to my packages with the help of  a lovely site on Pinterest called Two Pink Peas that creates cards, gift sacks and tags.  Check it out if you are wanting to create something unique for your next gift giving.

Time to wrap this up until next time remember that a recycle here and reuse there Will make all difference to our world.

Lana 

A Room with a View

Every year as I begin to take down Christmas decor, I promise to straighten, organize and clean closets and cabinets especially the kitchen.  Our children are very helpful and most appreciative of us for hosting holiday events, but they tend not to replace items in their original locations after cleaning.  Ultimately, my kitchen is a mess.  I spend days sometimes looking for a particular dish or utensil, so my goal for January is to reorganize, simplify and freshen my kitchen pantry and other cabinets.  I saw on Houzz where others have either added wall paper or painted the walls in their pantries.  Now I must decide what color and then purchase organizers.  Although I have organized this space before, my pantry is oddly shaped, and I never seem to be able to utilize the space appropriately, so I will call on the professionals this time to help.  Container Store here I come.

January seems to be the month I  rearrange furniture, so my husband and I spent all day moving pieces of furniture around to give spaces a new, fresh look.  Sometimes it works; other times it does not.  We moved a two piece solid oak cabinet from a bedroom to my husband's office.  In my mind's eye I knew it would be perfect, and while it holds all of his media (and believe me there is much) it isn't exactly what I want.  I don't like tilting my head to watch tv, but he is happy, so we will live with it for awhile.  The cabinet was housed in our son's bedroom that now serves as a guest room/nursery.  I felt that we needed to make space for baby things-books, toys, blankets, etc.  Moving the cabinet seemed to open up the room even more.  The room is not small, but the tall piece stopped eye movement.  Now I can see outdoors the minute I step in the room-so refreshing.

I am also hunting desperately for a space to write.  I have used every excuse  and finding the appropriate spot has been my biggest excuse.  I do not like to write facing a wall no matter how pretty the pictures hanging on the wall may be or how many fresh flowers I place in a vase:  it just does not work.  I have temporarily moved a small table into my living room and placed it in front of a bank of windows that look out over our backyard and the ranch behind us.  If I can get over the "look" of the space as you enter the room, I think this is the best location for a desk.  We have an office with all of the trappings, but the room is dark and the window faces north east, so there is very little light plus the built in desk faces a wall.  No wonder my husband uses a swivel chair, so he can turn and watch tv or view another computer screen or just turn and look out of the room.  I would fall out of the chair as I would have to twist around like a tornado seeking beauty to view.  I hope this spot works.

New View

I know the new year always brings resolutions, but I decided not to have one this year other than counting my blessings every day.  Life is what we make of it.  Challenges surround us daily, but it is always how we choose to handle them that makes all of the difference.  And no one can choose for us.
Happy is!

Lana

Country Fare

I have been inspired by other women who blog about their homes, cooking, DIY projects, and the many blessings in their lives. I am adding Country Fare to do the same. I am a newbie at blogging and actually sharing what I write' so "tips of the trade" are welcome.

I am a Texas native and a country girl at heart. I lived on a farm with parents and three siblings, and of course, a collection of animals. I discovered the written word early in life and spent many hours escaping into other worlds much to my parent's dismay as there were always chores to be done. My father was all business and I learned from him work ethics while my mother taught me to be creative through art and music. My grandmother taught me the beauty of silence and stillness. I used to sit for hours in her bedroom letting the sheer curtains flutter around me as breezes wafted across the hot parched land. It was magical. She and I would read for hours the newspapers and magazines ( hers in her mother tongue and mine in English) my great uncle collected as he visited relatives across the state.

I hope I can inspire you with my thoughts and my projects as others have me. May 2014 fill your heart with the grace of giving!

Lana