Thursday, April 29, 2010

A bad day, A good day.

Yesterday was a good day. A lot of little things gave me joy. I needed a good day because the previous one was bad. Very bad. Not just circumstances bad, but like trying to get your emotional footing in a major inner earthquake kind of bad.

But yesterday held a few surprises. One was the find of very great, very cheap new canisters for all my dry goods so as to thwart the persistence of little winged beings who keep turning up in my pantry. So super gross and I hate them. So I bought 11 new canisters. Here are some of them in all their glory.




Help yourself to a pest-free pretzel, loved ones.

And then I got a little crazy, in a good way. I had also purchased 6 new paste food colorings so that I can make this delightful dessert masterpiece for my daughter's eighth birthday coming up. Upon putting them away, I decided to clean out my food colorings and tube frostings (I have a lot). I threw a lot away, wiped them all down, got a new gallon ziploc. But how could I put that neat parcel away in the messy Baking Drawer, I wondered. So I then cleaned out and re-org'd the Baking Drawer. (I have a lot of baking tools and supplies since it's the only kind of cooking I really enjoy. Too bad mommying time has mostly replaced baking time, at least at this stage of life.) But look!




But then I got really crazy. Because all the disorganized drawers were suddenly looking hellish to me. (Does that ever happen to you? You've looked at the same chaos for months and then one day it makes your skin crawl? Must have something to do with the flying things.) I decided to tackle the worst offender of them all. Feverishly. And its name is The Junk Drawer. I wish I had taken a "before." But here's the "after". Look at all the pretty colors.




Yes, I like to organize with shoe boxes (see Baking Drawer) and shoe box lids. Especially ones which previously contained kids' shoes because they're small.

By the way, there were six tape measures in there. And FIFTEEN of those plastic things you attach to chop sticks to make them kid-friendly (see them to the left of the scissors, mixed with the alligator clips?). Mind you, we only have two children. Not fifteen. But my husband likes to pick some up every time we're at Pick Up Stix. Just in case. Kind of fascinating. If you want a couple, let me know.

Speaking of my cute husband, he thinks I say quirky and confusing things sometimes. (Well, I'm not arguing that one.) Like when he asked me if I could label the canisters, since almost all of them contain a white powdery material. I replied that it was easy to tell the difference: "The flour is the biggest, the powdered sugar is super white, the granulated sugar...just IS (I meant "is granulated" - it's even kinda sparkly), and so you know by process of elimination which one the pancake mix is, if you don't happen to notice that it's kind of lumpy." He laughed at my answer and repeated back what he heard: "It's big, its white, it just IS. You say funny things." He was kind of shaking his head because I was a piece of work. I am a piece of work. And, okay, I'm extra familiar with all the white baking products and he's not.

I'm rambling towards a point. Husbands and wives are different. I try to stay on the side of fascination, rather than the side of annoyance with that difference. I think we are a divine mixture. I think our mixture is beautiful, dynamic, revealing, and convicting...on most days. And on the days that the annoyance takes over....well, maybe I'll just get out my label maker.

2 comments:

  1. this isn't what you want to hear, i know, but I labeled mine with permanent marker underneath the lid since i have baking soda and cornstarch in my little ones....just FYI

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  2. But that is just so....permanent. What if I want to change it up? You know I'd have trouble putting, like, rice in something labeled pancake mix. But I did tape the pancake/waffle and oatmeal making instructions under the lids. I thought that was smart of me. :)

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