Cleaning the Kitchen - Day 1

A year ago my mother passed away and my dad decided that it's really time to sell the house.  Now that I'm home, I have been tasked with the wonderful job of cleaning out everything.  I have been doing small things here and there, jumping between the inside and the outside of the house.  My biggest job has just been trying to catch up on dishes.

Today I had a friend come over and help me as we tackled the "spice cupboard".   We realized halfway through we should have taken before pictures, so instead we have "mid-way through" pictures and after pictures.  The cupboard doors were damaged years ago and things were just never cleaned so they could be replaced properly.

The spice cupboard after clearing off the first shelf.

I decided it was just easier to dump all the spices that were in Tupperware containers and run the containers through the dishwasher.

All the spices that were pulled from the first shelf.

It took M and I about two hours to scrub down the shelves and wipe down everything that didn't get tossed.  Hopefully this will encourage dad to get the doors replaced.  If anything things will be a little easier to wipe down since it won't have so much build up.  At any rate, here is how everything looks now.  "White" space is good.

 The cupboard above the stove minus some storage containers that are currently in the dishwasher.  Though I may find another place for them.  

The spice cupboard with a clear shelf denoted for cooking and a shelf for baking supplies.  Plus room for miscellaneous extra stuffs.

I'm debating if I want to go back to the Tupperware spice containers.  I prefer the spice bottles and then refilling them from the bulk section at Winco.  I don't know, I'll see if any of my siblings want them first before I start making a yard sale box.

Sólás Caomh

Several months ago, a friend posted a pin on Pintrest asking if any of her friends could make this blanket for her.  Naturally I volunteered.  It was quite the challenge, but still fun to do.

Here is the finished blanket.

And here is a close up of the weave pattern.

I definitely plan on using this pattern again.  Though I may use a smaller weight yarn and not a color that is only available on a limited supply online.

SitRep: Plants

Wow...haven't posted since April.  Yeah, the end of the school year just got really busy with end of term projects and graduation.  Found out I had to redo my PACT which was more stressful than it needed to be. (Yes, I did pass it the second time around.)  Then moved back to Dad's, went to a regional Young Single Adult conference then spent a week in Maine for the Hobbs family reunion (more on that later).  Plus remembering to transfer pictures from my iPod (better camera) to my computer...I know, I know, excuses, excuses.  But, hey, I'm back and here's the situation with my plants...

Raspberry plant:  dead...methinks it got over-watered, or too much sun or some combination of the two.  I'll try again next season with a fresh plant.

Herbs: I give up!  Two years in a row and complete failure!  I was just sent an article about herbs, I'll read that and see if it will give some insight to what I'm doing wrong.

Garden plants:  So the garden spot at my dad's needs a little more work than I originally thought and there is no way I could get it done before I needed to transplant my starters.  In fact the entire yard needs a lot of work, so that is my project for the summer.  Get the weeds out and re-line all the beds, maybe even plant a few bushes.  Basically get it back under control and then I can focus on planting a garden.

Flowers:  I think there was something wrong with the bulbs because they did not look right once they started to really sprout.  Unfortunately the pot was knocked over and broke so I will have to start all over with those.  No biggie.

However, my Peruvian Lilly has bloomed it was absolutely gorgeous!!

 Still waiting on the Orientals to bloom though.  So there was some success.  Hopefully next year I'll get even more!