Keepin' It Real

 If you read my post yesterday, you know that one of my resolutions for 2010 is to be more organized.

Being highly motivated at the start of January, last night I tackled one of my most disorganized areas at home: my kitchen cabinets.

Now, if you were to come over to my place and casually look at my kitchen, you might think, “Her kitchen is very tidy”. See?

Look at these pretty cabinet doors – wow… I must be SUCH a good housekeeper, right?

But the ugly truth is, my cabinets are totally out of control. We’re talkin’, you need a hard hat on when you open them. I think that book, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”, was written about my cabinets.

Don’t believe me? Take a peek at this:

Yes. That is really what it looks like. I’m keepin’ it really real, folks.

And to make it even worse, I’ll remove that box of Grape Nuts and flour that is helping keep up the charade of organization:

I mean seriously. Like, I was too lazy to even put the instant coffee right side up? How did I let it go that far?!

And due to this total disaster area, obviously, it would be near impossible for me to have a realistic idea of my inventory, which would explain things like this:

So, here we have two brand new bottles of honey and one that has crystallized…. Hmmm

Or this:

Really? Is Italian food the only thing I make? And a life-time supply of nutmeg? Ugh…. Or… check this out:

I guess those massive bread crumb containers, none of which were empty, can be paired with the Italian seasoning.

This is just embarrassing.

So, I worked and I worked. I read expiration dates. Apparently I hadn’t done that in a couple years.

Yeah, that’s December of 2007.

I sweated. I braved the falling canned goods. I even balanced this tea box on my foot:

(Before you think I dress like that all the time, let me explain. I wore a dress and tights to work, and when I came home I wanted to be more comfy but I was too cold to change clothes - does that ever happen to anyone else? So I put on sweatpants and kept the dress until I was warmer.)

Anyway, I am very happy to announce: I came out victorious. Here is the before pic:

And here is the after:

Are you impressed? Well, there’s more. Here’s the other before:

And after:

Those are cabinets that a normal person could actually consider functional. Those cabinets are organized. Those cabinets have room for… gasp… more food. I think this allows me to qualify this regular Monday night as “highly productive”.

After my hard work and diligence, I let myself sit back and enjoy a hot cup of tea. And I can promise you that those closed cabinets hold nothing of which you should be afraid. I can open them with confidence, and I can open them without getting a black eye.

~Kathryn