Week 3 Home Organization Challenge - The Pantry

Well once again, I'm behind a bit on the 14 Week Home Organization challenge by Bowl Full of Lemons...

I skipped week 2 as it was the garage.  So week 3 was the pantry.  I ended up doing week 3 in week 4 because I just couldn't get to it.

Last week was my last week of work at my previous job.  I have been there for 7 1/2 years and due to some changes on my contract (I work for a defense contractor), I chose to accept a severance payout and look for new opportunities.  So for the first time in 7 1/2 years, I am a housewife/stay-at-home mommy.  It's only temporary - as my husband keeps reminding me.  The last time I stayed home, Maddie was a newborn and I stayed home for 6 months.  So it is sort of exciting to have the entire day to tackle some stuff I really need to get accomplished around this house.  Being a full time working mommy, wife, grad student and part-time helper to my parents and grandmother leaves little time to do much around the house.  So I'm excited to have even a few weeks off from the working world to tackle some organizing and some painting.

So back to home organization - week 3 - the pantry.  Our pantry is pretty good size and in the shape of a U with shelves on 3 sides.  It typically becomes a huge mess.  So, being inspired by the organization challenge, I emptied out my pantry today.  I threw away expired food, 1/2 empty boxes and organized stuff into baskets.  I also found these adorable hanging tag labels by Avery and printed out the contents of the baskets.  I can't afford to buy matching baskets for the entire pantry right now, so my pantry is a mish-mash of different baskets - but hey, the tag are freaking adorable.

Here is a before picture - kind of messy and disorganized:

 

Here's the after pictures and a picture of the tags...I'm super excited...

 It's hard to tell, but the tags are designed with dark brown and ice blue stripes - one of my favorite color combinations.

So this week's challenge is the office.  I'm not sure I'll meet that one by the end of the week.  I have a ton of stuff I just brought home from my office at work.  Who knew you could accumulate so much in 7 1/2 years at an office.

Kitchen Organization

So, I'm a little behind the 14 week Home Organization 101 (link to the project at Bowl Full of Lemons is below)...  A few weeks ago it was Kitchen and Kitchen Cabinets.


I had recently cleaned out my cabinets, so I didn't really have much to do there so I hit the fridge.  I cleaned out all the food from each shelf, took the shelves out and scrubbed them clean and put it all back in nice and neat.  So I took pictures of that part of my kitchen and called the 1st week of the challenge finished.

The 2nd week of the challenge was the garage.  Our house doesn't  have a garage, as it was converted into the addition back in the late 1970s.  So I skipped that week..

The next challenge is the pantry.  I'll create a separate post for that week's challenge.

Home Organization 101

So summer is over, school is back in session (we go back early here in Arizona) and Maddie is in the 2nd grade.  My most recent Masters program class is over and I'm taking a breather.  I have so much to organize and clean out in my house and I found a great idea on one of my favorite blogs.

 

 I follow a great blog called "A Bowl Full of Lemons".  It's a great blog and one of my favorite.  So she's put together a 14 week Home Organization group and I enrolled.  Link is above...

This week is kitchen and kitchen cabinets.  I recently did this so I only have a few cabinets to go through and a few drawers.

I thought I'd post about it and then post pictures when I actually get started with each week's challenge.

More next time...

I'm back - An update on the summer

So I have been absent from blogging for a while :-)  I always have great intentions and then life happens.  I am not sure how people with more than 1 child have time to do so many things.  I only have work, Maddie, Jason, our dogs and my family (mom, step-dad, grandmother, aunts/uncles) that I help out with or that takes up my time.  And somehow the days and months seem to get away from me.

So it's been a busy winter and spring since I think I last posted anything on here.  I think I last updated with pictures from our Disneyland vacation.  Since then it was Maddie's 7th birthday, Jason's birthday, Thanksgiving and then Christmas.  Somewhere spring popped in and then school was out before I knew it.

Then this summer - what a summer we had.  Maddie finished 1st grade with high grades...4 quarters on the honor roll and finally a quarter with Perfect Attendance.  At the end of the school year, we had a great Girl Scouts sleep over and then Maddie's bridging ceremony.  That is where she bridged from being a Daisy to being a Brownie.  That was very exciting and definitely made Maddie feel very grown up.

About half way through the summer, Maddie decides she wanted to attend Girl Scouts' summer camp at Mt. Lemmon.  For those not familiar with Arizona, Mt. Lemmon is northeast of Tucson and there are camps towards the top of the mountain - about 8000 ft elevation and 20 miles up.  So we got busy picking which camp she wanted to attend (she chose Twist & Shout - all dancing and music), registration, and shopping for camp.  It was the 2nd Sunday in July when we drove her up to camp.  It's about 1 hour to Tucson but another 45 minutes up the very curvy roads up the mountain.  Maddie's first camp experience was probably harder on me than it was her!  I was nervous with butterflies in my stomach during the registration/in-processing piece.  Then her counselor scooped her off, we got a very quick hug and told to pick her the next Friday.  YIKES - I didn't even get to see where she was staying, and started freaking out on the ride down the mountain:  would she cry tonight without me? would she be ok? would she have fun?  would she get lost?  All the crazy thoughts of moms - especially this over protective mom!  I seriously cried the entire way down and I'm sure my husband laughed.  He then took me out to dinner before we drove the hour home to Sierra Vista.  It was so strange to come home and walk in the house without her.  I seriously didn't know what to do with myself.  After work was really strange - I didn't have to go pick her up at her summer program, I didn't have to get her ready for bed, and I was fairly sad.  It was a strange sensation to be at home without her all that time

I packed addressed/stamped envelopes for her to write to us and I stashed notes to her all throughout her suitcase.  It was so exciting to get that first letter from her.  I ran from the mailbox to show my husband!

That Friday finally came and we talked about how much fun she must have had the entire week.  When we got there, it was so nice to see her run to us and throw her arms around us.  She had such a great time and was so excited.  We asked, thinking we'd know the answer, if she wanted to come back that Sunday for the next camp - Crafty Critters.  She jumped at the chance - which through us for a loop.  So we registered for the next one and called the camp director and turned around on Sunday and took her back for a 2nd week.  By that Friday, I was so ready for my little girl to be home.

She had a great time and I'm glad we convinced her to do it.  She gained some confidence, learned to live with bugs and not scream at each and every one, and made new friends.   She's already talking about which camp she'll do next year.