Clean-up Time!
Every six months or so, I must have a major kitchen cleaning. I don’t cook nearly as often as I used to, but the kitchen still gets filled with unnecessary things. I promise to try new recipes and have everything I need to prepare what I want to cook. I’m always missing something, so I create a variation of what I was aiming for. Perhaps once out of every ten shots at a recipe, I find one I like. Another kitchen storage issue is that everyone eats something different from everyone else. How do you keep up with all the staples of each diet? What do you do when you discover an unopened jar with an expiration date of 2015 heading toward the end of 2024?
I try not to impulse shop and stick to my list, but sometimes, the impulse is just too strong to resist. I know that I have to prepare something with that quickly bought item. If it sits for more than two days, it will never happen.
I do have a system for cleaning the pantry. I have used grandchildren to help me, but they are grown up now and too busy to come and help me with the satisfying, though tedious, job.
It doesn’t stop at the pantry. I remove all the pots, pans, and lids from the drawers and wash everything down. I then inspect the pots and pans and see which ones I should retire. I almost always return them all to the drawers. It’s the kitchen gadgets that frustrate me. Where do you put them all? If they leave the kitchen, I never remember where I put them. When you look at a kitchen magazine or in a store, the countertops are bare and show the beauty of the granite, quartz or Formica! That’s not real life! There is always stuff on my countertop. I tell myself that magazines and store presentations are not real life and that our kitchen has a well-worn look because we have used it extensively.
I often look around the kitchen and say to my husband, “Let’s go out for dinner.”
Switching out one season’s clothes for another is a huge job. Not that I have such an extensive wardrobe, but because I never know what size I will be wearing next season. I, therefore, have a wardrobe in four sizes. I have worn all those sizes at one time or another. I caught on about ten years ago when I would give away tons of clothing. Even though it doesn’t fit you now, like styles, eventually it comes back.
This year, I was thrown a more significant curve. Not only am I in the smallest size I have worn in years, but the styles have changed enormously. I am not happy about the change from straight to extensive pants. Wide-leg pants are not a good look on short people! Being very short, wide-leg pants makes you look rooted in the ground. If you aren’t thin, and no one has ever accused me of being thin, wide-leg pants add visual pounds to the lower part of your body. This is not a good look. I was finally starting to feel better about myself, and they screwed up the styles. This is not a tremendous problem, especially for someone who rarely dresses up, but it’s disappointing.
