Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real: Tales From The Kitchen Edition

~Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life~
Every Thursday at Like Mother Like Daughter

Ok, pay attention, we're going to mix things up a bit. Because I'm telling a story here.

Real

This is the pantry before I went completely mad and decided to overhaul it and the entire kitchen.  It is not pretty.  It does not make me happy.  It's decidedly un-funny.  It is, however real.

Also Real

This is what the kitchen looked like mid-shuffleandpurge.  And it looked like this for two days, for this could not be a single-day job, oh NO!  Somehow, this does not look as bad as I was imagining it as I was trying to sleep one floor above it, but the memory of it still haunts me.  Oh, the horror, THE HORROR!  But it is very real, yes?

Funny (at least to me)

Clearly, not to him.  This'll teach him to give me a camera!

The Viking pointed out that if I really wanted to improve the entire kitchen, something really needed to be done about the beast in the corner.  And I said, "So stop sitting in the corner!"  HA!  No, not really.  He meant that infernal lazy Susan corner cupboard and we all know it.

{Funny side note, though: we used to go to church with a man who has quite a severe case of Tourette syndrome.  One of his particular tics was making up nicknames for people and then screaming them at them whenever they came into sight.  Usually in church.  Like, in the middle of the service.  Like, while leading  prayer or taking the offering.  One of The Viking's was, "Bloody Hairy Beast!"  I can't repeat what mine was because it was quite profane and rather impugned my honor.  But I digress...}

The cupboard used to stick and took the strength of three men in order to turn it so I had resigned myself to keeping rarely used items in it.  And canned goods.  And flour, baking soda and sugar.  Because I don't have enough room in my kitchen to reserve an entire corner cupboard for little used items!  But this brings me to...

Happy (get comfy, we'll be here a while)

Hurrah!  He fixed it!  I transferred all my baking supplies into it and it's all very convenient and it makes me happy!  See?  Viking men don't sit on the floor, they CONQUER!  Things could only get better from here, and they did:

Still Happy

Boxless grains...

More Happy

Miscellaneous but necessary items including crock pot, pan lids, chargers and a small pharmacy...

Even More Happy

More miscellany used just often enough to not be exiled to the basement: trays, paper/plastic products and special occasion baking supplies...

Beyond Happy

Dry goods (plus a few pitchers)...

Ludicrous Speed Happy

A place for everything and everything in it's place!  It's not crammed full of stuff.  And I can find things!  And this, intrepid readers, brings us to Pretty with a final swing back through Funny in a completely unrelated way, if you're up for it...

Pretty

During my rearrangements, I managed to create a Tea Station.  We drink a lot of tea in this house and are very serious about it: Typhoo (or perhaps Revolution Tea's Lavender Earl Grey), made with boiling water, steeped for 4 minutes, with raw honey and whole milk.  Heavenly!

Ludicr--okay you get the idea

I have intentions of hanging the cups on little c-hooks...maybe next week?

Both the teapot and tea box were gifts from my children and they are some of my favorite things (the children and the gifts).  Man-Cub actually made the box for me on his very own workbench.  The tea cups are a new gift to myself (found during a romp through T.J. Maxx last week) and the sugar bowl (which is actually a strawberry but is hard to see in this photo) was an old gift to myself (Home Goods).  And there's the raw honey, courtesy of the Amish market nearby.  I love that stuff.  It doesn't make my blood sugar react like sugar does and it tastes worlds better!

And finally, a Bonus Funny

I considered putting this in the Happy or Pretty category but the accompanying story is Funny so...

Man-Cub and I went to the library yesterday to get a satisfyingly large stack of books for school.  I was so excited I was practically bouncing back to the car.  I was too excited to notice Man-Cub's rather glum expression until we got back into the house.

I turned to him, perplexed.  "I thought you liked getting new books from the library."

(Baleful look) "Yeah, when they're good books."

"How do you know these aren't good books?"

"There aren't any pictures in them."

It may be a long, long school year!