7QT: the Organization Edition

Congrats to Jen, Hallie, and Christina on beautiful new babies!

After last week’s disorganization edition, I figure it’s time to share what we did last weekend to organize. So here you go:

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You know how you have papers that live on the kitchen table because they need to be addressed regularly, or that live on the table until they’re dealt with? For us, it’s Julianna’s homework packet, which is a month-long thing, and Alex’s “week in a peek” and spelling words. You know how they’re are always getting shunted around and having milk spilled on them and little hands are grabbing them and saying, “Whee! Something to rip!”

Enter this solution:

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We have lazy susans in two corners of our kitchen. One holds the plastic storage, and the other…well, it’s gone through various incarnations. Its most recent incarnation is an empty bottom shelf, because Michael learned how to open the cereal/graham cracker boxes and began helping himself to snacks whenever he was bored, and sometimes just because he felt like flinging cereal around the kitchen. Having the big plastic bins on the counter was making me want to scream, so my rockin-awesome husband came up with the idea of creating space in the pantry, thusly:

So here’s a tour of my pathetic pantry (on my list for a dream home? Walk-in pantry!). Top shelf: pasta and the blender. Shelf 2: recipe books. Shelf 3: spices and ice cream toppings. Shelf 4: cereal/cracker bins, with oils and syrups tucked behind. I don’t like this solution, but it works for the interim, until Michael loses interest. Shelf 5: Baking needs–sugars, flours, corn meal, rice, etc. Floor: bread machine, Foreman grill, mixer. Door: All manner of lightweight items that fit.

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And finally, we bought a computer desk to mount the old computer in the kitchen for kids’ use. It’s been sitting in a pile in that corner for eighteen months, so it was nice to get this up and running again.

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It doesn’t seem like much, does it? But the kids are thrilled about it:

(Well, actually they’re singing the theme song to Veggie Tales. What, don’t you prefer to watch TV with no cushions on the couch?

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I also made myself a work list this week. I was beginning to feel that I had no handle whatsoever on what my deadlines were. And I am GOING to finish my novel before Christmas arrives again. (I had said “and submit to agents,” but I realized that was a pipe dream. I’m on my last major revision, but I’ll still have one hard polishing run to do before I can submit.)

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Speaking of writing, if you aren’t following my This Little Light of Mine blog tour, I had a guest post this week on suffering, written by fellow Catholic blogger Barb Schoeneberger, and an excerpt from the corresponding chapter on “Blessed are Those Who Mourn.” (Plus a link to the week’s review & giveaway!)

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Great. Now I have the Veggie Tales theme song stuck in my head. So you should too.

Veggie Tales Theme Song