#99: Organize our Pantry - DONE!

This is quite an accomplishment, as I seem to not be able to get anything done lately between working and spending time with Luke.

Just a reminder that this is what our pantry looked like before.

I took this picture way back at the beginning of 2010 when I set this goal.  You can see that post and more pictures here.

While I was in Memphis with Luke visiting my sister Rachel in July, Trevor got around to replacing our old wooden dinged up shelves with some new fresh, white ones he bought at Lowe's.  Here's a reminder of what the shelves looked like before:

...and here is how the pantry looked after just changing the shelves out.  Ahhh...already such a nice difference.

I told him NOT to put everything back in or I would never have the motivation to get around to getting everything organized the way I would like to.  So he held me to it.  Even when Dad came to visit for the weekend after I got back into town we left everything on the kitchen counters.  I wanted to just throw everything back in and deal with it later, but Trevor insisted we leave it all out.  I'm glad we did.  The next weekend, Trevor watched Luke and I headed out to go buy all the items I would need to get organized.  I stopped at Walmart first thinking that I would find some cheaper practical stuff there and then I would head to Target for the "cute" stuff.  I was very surprised to find tons of great things at Walmart and by the time I had spent way over an hour there I had pretty much everything I needed so I didn't even head to Target.  I bought quite a bit because I took the "I'm just going to buy anything I might possibly need, and I'll return anything I don't use" approach.  I knew that with Luke around I wasn't going to be able to just run out every time I needed something else...so I just got it all!

Now remember...THIS is what the chaos in our pantry looked like most of the time before this overhaul:

The kitchen was a a complete mess for quite a few days and it only got more chaotic with Luke "helping" by throwing things all over the place.

All the work was worth it though because this is how the pantry looks now!!!  SO much better than I ever thought it would turn out.  I love it!!!

I'm going to go ahead and describe each shelf at a time...so if you could care less about the details of my pantry, feel free to skip to the end and see the before and after pictures right beside each other.

The top shelf now stores our cereal in these clear containers that I bought at Bed, Bath, & Beyond towards the end of this organizing adventure.  I like having these since they not only look nicer than cereal boxes, but it is easy to tell when the cereal is almost gone and it's time to buy more.

The next shelf holds mostly baking stuff and some odds and ends that I wanted to keep in the super air-tight OXO containers I got for Christmas in 2009 from Trevor's parents.  Yes, I said 2009. No, I did not use these until now.  I have a bit of a problem of not wanting to use things until I can make sure I get to use them perfectly.  I also picked up a plastic carafe from Walmart to store Luke's Cheerios in.  To the left of the visible shelf, I have a black container I picked up at Walmart that holds disposable plates, silverware, etc.  To the right, there are some more baking goods in OXO containers and their original boxes.

Trevor's parents got me the set below for that 2009 Christmas and I have occasionally picked up some of the smaller matching OXO containers when I have a $10 off any purchase coupon at JCPenney.  I love the way these stack together so nicely and make things look organized.  They are also supposed to keep foods really fresh.  I'm hoping that will keep me from having the "brown sugar as hard as a rock problem" I've had in the past.  They open and close so easily too, I love the button mechanism on the lids.

On the next shelf, I have these super cute baskets I found at Walmart for a really good price.  Both Trevor and I weren't too sure how we felt about having to the pull the baskets out to get to things, but after a couple weeks we both really like that they keep things contained and it's really not a hassle to pull them out.  To the left and right of these baskets, there are other miscellaneous foods that we don't use very often. 

To add a little charm to the baskets and make it easier to remember what's in each basket, I made some chalkboard tags.  I had been reading on some home decorating blogs about chalkboard vinyl, so I picked up some at Hobby Lobby.

I also picked up a set of chalk markers.  These little guys are great.  They can write on chalkboard surfaces (and tons of other things) and they wipe off with a wet rag.  They show up really well, don't wipe off if you touch them, and you don't have the dust you have with chalk.

I liked the idea of chalkboard tags so that I'll be able to change what these tags say if I ever want to.

I'm totally in love with the can storage on this next shelf:

I saw the can storage idea on Pinterest.  Don't even get me started on my new obsession with Pinterest - that's a whole other post in itself. 

Trevor went to Lowe's and had them cut two wire closet racks to the depth of the pantry shelf.

Then he inverted the shelf and installed it at an angle on both sides of the shelf.  It was as simple as that!

Now I have storage that helps me keep like-kind cans together while enabling me to have the oldest cans roll to the front - so it's like a grocery store!

I also picked up three black storage containers in the dorm room section at Walmart.  One holds our bread and PB and unopened jelly. 

The other one is actually a CD/DVD Storage Container.

Here is what I had been keeping our spice packets in:

Now, instead we are using the CD/DVD Storage container.  It keeps all the packets nice and tidy and out of sight!

I also bought this pencil cup holder to store those long packets of drink mixes and other miscellaneous items.

The next shelf is pretty much identical to the one that is two shelves above it.  We keep our snacks in one and our condiments in the other.  I decided to call the condiments label "Jars" since I couldn't think of an appropriate way to fit "Condiments" on there...I didn't think "Condim." would be too appropriate for our pantry! :)

The final section is the bottom of the pantry.  I got a big black container to put on the left to keep potatoes in and off of the floor.  Then I bought that black crate to keep some of the small appliances in.  These used to be on the very top shelf and I'd about kill myself trying to get them down and dropping them on my head.  Now they are nice and low, but the crate keeps them off the floor and easy to slide out.

I also bought these jars while I was at Walmart and decided to not use them in the pantry, but to instead put them on the counter with some baking supplies.

I used the vinyl to make some more cute labels.   Side note: You'll be proud Mary Ellen...I actually used the scrapbooking scissors you bought me years ago to make these.  So even if I'm a total slacker in the scrapbooking department, I finally got good use out of the scissors! :)

And finally, I bought these vinegar and oil jars at Walmart to put on our countertop.  When we spent a college semester in Greece, we always had these on the table for bread and salads.  I'm hoping it will get me motivated to use them more.

Here's the final comparison - BEFORE & AFTER:

As far as the pantry continuing to look like this...so far, so good!  I really think containers and baskets were the right solution.  Everything has its place, so there is no reason for things to get chaotic again.  This was definitely money and time well spent for me.  Sometimes I leave the pantry open now just so I can see how organized it is in there!

P.S. This post took me like a WEEK to write from start to finish.  Luke apparently thinks I need to pay attention to him sometimes...go figure.  Now that he's mobile, he is a lot harder to watch from the laptop. :)  So now you know why I don't blog as often as I used to.

I should have known...

...that if I put my blog address on Luke's birth announcements that I would jinx myself and then never update my blog.  Sorry!  I hope some of you are still out there checking occasionally and will actually see this.

I had told myself that after having Luke I was not going to put pressure on myself to blog because I wanted to spend my time enjoying my son and not all my time documenting him.  The blog had become another thing that I was always trying to cross off of my "to-do" list and I didn't want it to become just another chore...I want to enjoy blogging if I'm going to do it!  But I do know that it's a fun way to share with friends and family what we've been up to and also a wonderful thing to look back on to relive the details of the memories that I otherwise might have forgotten.  So I would really like to keep this blog alive.

Anyway, my new goal is to just blog when I feel like it and to not feel pressure to keep up with the blog if I don't have the time or the energy.  You may have noticed that my 101 in 1001 deadline was in April...let's just say I didn't finish!  I'm going to keep my list though and still knock them off when I get around to it.  We'll call it the "101 in Whenever I Feel Like It" list from now on!! :)  I've actually completed quite a few of the goals that I haven't blogged about and I'll try to catch you all up on them when I get a chance.

My neurotic self feels the need to go back to February 2010 (when all the sickness began and I pretty much stopped blogging regularly) and update you all on what's been happening month by month so that I don't miss documenting anything.  That's part of the reason I haven't blogged even though we've settled into a routine and I have more time now...I just didn't know where to start.  But tonight I decided there's no better time than right now and what happened today! 

So here are some pictures of Luke's first swim lesson tonight!  It was the first time he's ever been in a pool too. He's now 7 1/2 months old and he's in the 6 month to 3 year old swim class.  Trevor got in with him tonight and I looked like the paparazzi snapping pictures the whole time.  It was too TOO cute. 

I think Luke won the "Whitest Baby" award and Trevor won the "Worst Redneck Sunburn" award! Ha!  Trevor went to his parents' place to fish today and apparently wore a wife-beater tank top and got fried. 

Here's a video of them doing "The Hokey Pokey".  I'm not sure why it uploaded with such poor quality.  Hopefully you can still see what they're doing.

 

Until next time...hopefully it won't be another 4 months!   Comment and let me know that you are still here - maybe it will keep me motivated to keep updating.     

#39: Resurface Fireplace

Woo-hoo!  I'm SO glad this one is done!! 

This may be one of my favorite things we've done to the house so far.   Trevor had always talked about putting a big flat-screen above the fireplace and I always thought that seemed like a lot of money to spend on a TV...especially when we don't even have cable!  Then I started thinking about it more, and realized it will make the layout of our living room so much better to be able to get rid of the armoire we had at the time.  No matter what, I knew I wanted to cover up the brick on the fireplace and bring everything more up-to-date. 

With the baby coming soon and Trevor not being too sure he could design a fireplace surround that we liked, we went ahead and decided to hire most of this project out.  His cousin's husband Matt built the surround and one of his contractors did the tile.  Trevor painted the drywall, the fireplace surround, and the fireplace insert.  Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself...

Here's the "Before" Picture after Trevor knocked down the old "mantle" (more like a piece of wood).  The tape was from him trying to figure out what size of TV we could fit up there after we put up crown molding.

Here it is after Matt built the surround and put up the 2x4's for behind the drywall.  A hole was drilled through these 2x4's and a pipe was run out to the side to the right cabinet so that we could run the TV cables behind the drywall to hide them.

With the drywall up and all the nail holes patched...

Trevor painting the drywall.

All painted!

We didn't want to pay the money to buy a new fireplace insert, but didn't like the gold on the one we had.  We decided to go ahead and try some high-heat spray paint and paint it black.  We figured worst case scenario it wouldn't work and we would have to go ahead and buy a new one.  Here it is before we spray painted it.

After the surround was painted white and the insert painted black...

Trevor's co-worker Michael came over and helped install the new 50" TV...

And finally, the tile was all laid and grouted!

Doesn't it look really good?!?  I think it just totally changed the whole feel of the room.  The only thing we have left to do is put the crown molding up around the room.  (That's why there's some wood ripped off around the top of the cabinets.)

Trevor just came by and asked if I didn't have an even older "before" picture.  We found the realtor CD from when we bought the house and here's what we found!  I just had to do them right next to each other to show what a difference.   Here's all we've done since we moved in:

1. Replaced carpet
2. Tore down beams on ceiling
3. Scraped popcorn ceiling
4. Sprayed on a new textured ceiling
5. Refinished the walls so they don't have a weird texture
6. Painted the walls tan
7. Tiled the floor from the door to the garage to the back door
8. Painted cabinets white
9. Refinished fireplace

What a change, huh?!?!

Babymoon and #71: Visit Truman Library in Independence

Trevor and I knew that we wanted to go somewhere before this baby came and took over our lives, so we decided to go on a little babymoon.  We looked into traveling somewhere, but I had too many requirements:

1. We don't go anywhere more than 100 miles south of us (too hot!).
2. I could only take up to a day off of work (saving up vacation for this baby).
3. I wanted to SLEEP, EAT, and get a MASSAGE.

So after awhile we decided that it might make sense to just stay around Kansas City.  We started reading reviews for the hotels that had spas in them and we actually read really good things about the Argosy Casino.  So we found a good deal on Expedia and booked a room and a prenatal massage for me for 2 weekends ago.  It also served a dual-purpose as our 6th anniversary celebration (our anniversary was this past Saturday!).

So I took off a half day on Friday and we crossed the state line to arrive at the Argosy.

Our room was great!  It had a comfy king size bed and a fancy bathroom complete with a rainfall shower.

On Friday night we headed to a Brazilian Grill called Em Chamas.  (This also counts as #81: Eat at 5 New Local Restaurants.)  Trevor loves these places, but they are normally pretty pricey.  I had purchased a $50 gift certificate for $25 on Spreesy.com ( I love these daily deal websites!) a couple weeks before and it happened to be only a few minutes from the Argosy, so it worked out perfectly.  If you haven't ever been to a Brazilian grill you definitely need to try it out!  They are SO good!

We slept for 12 HOURS on Friday night!  We woke up just in time to make it down to the casino buffet for breakfast prices and got to stay through and eat the lunch food too. :)  I'd always heard casino buffets were good, and this one sure was!  We ended up eating there 3 times that weekend.

On Saturday we decided to do something we've been saying we're going to do for the past 4 years of living in KC and visited the Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri.  

To be honest, going into it I didn't know much about Truman's presidency.  He definitely made some very important decisions in America's history.  He became President during WWII after FDR died in April 1945, just 3 months after FDR started his 4th term.  In August of the same year, he made the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan.

He also formed NATO, set up the Truman Doctrine, and put in place the Marshall Plan.  I remembered learning about all of these in history classes, but seeing how it all formed together, brought it more to life.

I had also forgotten that it was Truman who was predicted as losing when he ran for his second term as president and he ended up winning.  Here's the picture of him holding the newspaper that went ahead and printed his defeat.

We had an entertaining time walking around the library following this man in his short white shorts!  :)  He had an opinion about EVERYTHING and he voiced it loudly.  I wish I had a video of what he was saying right here.  While reading about McCarthy and his accusation of those he believed were communists in the government, he was going on very loudly about all the communists in our current government!  He was something else.

I have to admit I was a little surprised to find that many of Truman's agendas were pretty similar to someone we know today.  Do the ones with arrows by them sound familiar?!

Truman's office after his presidency.  They built the library at that location.

And they had a replica of what his oval office looked like...

Truman was buried at his library.

And of course we had to get the obligatory pictures with the Truman statue.

While we were in Independence, we went and found the temple that the Re-Organized Latter Day Saints built there.  They believe that this is the place where Jesus is coming back.  Good to know we'll be nice and close... ;)

We had a great weekend relaxing and now we're busy getting ready to meet this little boy in 3 months!