Kitchen Declutter....

So, I grew up in a home where everything in the kitchen was out... toaster, seasonings...etc. Everything. Both my grandparents' home were this way too. It was very practical, you need these things so they're easier to get to. However, I am married to a man who hates clutter. He wants everything clear. I am also a piler. I stack things into piles so when I clean up stuff, I just pile all my papers neatly and know what's there. It works for me but not for my husband. So... I knew I needed to figure out an alternative way to work on piles and organize my kitchen. haha! This weekend, I focused on my kitchen (and 2 hrs at the storage shed and cleared out about half the stuff in there, yay!).

I haven't repainted since we put in new counters so there's a little line that's not painted just above the back of the counters. I'll get to it eventually.

OK, here's the view from the entrance from the living room. Look at all those counters!!! YEAH!!! I went through cabinets and cleared out things we don't use. I even found something still with original wrapping we got for a wedding gift. Ooops! So, that's going to Goodwill with all the other stuff. 

Clearing out the cabinets allowed me a few shelves to put things occupying the cabinets into them. YAY!! Cleared off my counters.

This is my "mail station". YAY!! My pile is not neatly in a file thingy. The front level are my bills, the second level are things I need to do something about, the third level are my daily chores, menus and things like that and then I have a notebook stuck in the back. The jar has inspirational quotes from past General Conferences (I need those sometimes). The containers are from my 21 Day Fix program. hehe!! Those were just good places to put them and had nothing to do with the mail station.

So, I also went through our spices. I threw out any that were expired and then poured them into the empty containers in this nifty thing. I removed the labels on top and re-wrote them sharpie on the lid. This gave me an entire extra shelf and I can easily find my spices and herbs now. YAY!! :)

I also made a spices inventory list so I know what spices I have and what I need (I threw out a TON so my spices are seriously depleted. I don't even have oregano or seasoning salt anymore.).

I put the fryer in a cabinet and the dehydrator on a shelf. Ahhhh... I love it. It feels so open in there. It may not be as convenient as the kitchens I grew up in but at least all in this home are happy in my kitchen now. ;) YAY!!!

Storm Pax Clean Up

The kids were great helpers!

Paul handled the chainsaw and cut everything to carrying size. The kids and I then hauled it to the road or to the firewood pile.

This was our ginormous pile of limbs on the side of the road. They were from our front yard only and our neighbor's yard.

Our clean front yard!! YAY!!

I backed up a bit so you could see how long this pile was.

Firewood

This pile got larger with the next few cleanups. Friends came over and helped us with the side yards and back yard. More limbs have fallen. We'll get to those eventually. I'm sure more will continue to fall for a while.

Wild Turkey Federation

Collin had the opportunity to do a conservation project at the Wild Turkey Federation. Paul took him. Here are some pictures and I'll do my best to explain what's going on in them. :) I wasn't there so I've asked Collin.

This was the shooting range. I thought it was very interesting. It was like a bouncy house or something. It was just BBs so Paul said it didn't pop the canvas.  He has very good aim. He didn't even miss the paper. YAY!! Of course, I hear the paper was only about 5' away but Collin was very excited that most of his shots were near the center of the bulls eye. ;)

Oh yes, Collin loved shooting the arrow. He thought this was the coolest!

This was Collin's target. He got the bear once in the tummy. So, it was a little harder to aim the bow and arrow but still cool! :)

He learned how to light a fire with the fire starter.... the stick thingy. No matches or lighter. He thought this was cool, too! :)

Fur... the kids got to feel animal fur.

Helicopter simulation. I heard this was pretty cool. :)

This was the group out on the actual project. There were two packs working together. They were digging holes for the posts and putting the blue jay houses up. Cool!

After they were finished, Paul and Collin went out for pizza. :) I think they had a fun boys' day out.