Decluttering in the Kitchen, part V

behind the stove; you can see the mud from July 4th

Have you done your Weekly Home Blessing yet? If you don't know what that is, see my post here. It is basically a weekly run through the house, taking care of surface stuff, like trash, dusting, vacum, sweep & mop. While I was working on mine this morning I was sweeping in my kitchen and moved my rolly cart by the stove to sweep behind it. That's when I realized that the mud from July 4th had made it all the way down here.

To top that off there was bits of insulation the rats and mice have pulled out of the stove along with some dust bunnies. So I pulled the stove all the way out as far as I could. (it's gas, so range is limited by the flex line.)

the other corner behind the stove.

These before pictures were actually taken after I had swept up, but before I mopped.

behind the stove, after

So at least it looks a little bit better. My whole kitchen is in poor shape, especially the floor, so I don't spend a lot of energy on it, this is about as good as it gets.

side of stove before

While I had the stove out I realized that the side of it that is always next to the big cabinet had some grease and gunk on it so I cleaned most of that up with a Brillo pad and elbow grease.

side of stove after

It's not perfect, but it is better.

Reminds me too that I need to get the # for the repair man from my mom and give him a call. The oven is out in the stove again. At first I thought it was that darn electronic ignition again. But now I'm wondering if the rat had something to do with it.

Decluttering in the Kitchen, part VI

ants on fridge

ants on the edge of the door of the fridge

I noticed the other day that there were some little piss ants on the fridge the other day but I was busy and didn't pay them too much attention.

But then today when I opened the freezer door to see what was holding up the ice from the dispenser I realized that there were a LOT of ants.

The culprit seemed to be this basket of stuff up on top. mmmmm. The little piss ants had discovered the open bag of cough drops. So I dumped most of the stuff in the basket (it was more than a year old anyway, vitamins and medicine) and washed everything down.

These were the really tiny little ants that don't seem to bite. Some people call them sugar ants because they are always after sugary stuff. Did you know they smell like lemons when you smoosh them?

So now the outside of the fridge is about as clean as it is going to get. When this one croaks and I buy another one, I will probably buy a smaller one; I don't need a fridge this big and I could use a better freezer arrangement. That water & ice thing is handy but it sure takes up a lot of space in the freezer.

I also know that I will never again buy an appliance with a textured surface. Who the h*ll thought that up any way? I know it certainly wasn't the lady of the house who has to wash it! Even with a scrub brush you cannot get all the gunk out of that texture!

Why couldn't they leave well enough alone and give us a nice smooth finish like washing machines  have?

I looked at several other refrigerators and there was one a bit bigger for not too much of a bigger price, but of course the thing had a textured finish. This has a stainless smooth finish and while I don't really like the look of stainless this might be the only option to textured.

BTW, if you live in AZ and have APS electric service, they will pick up  your old fridge AND give you $30 for upgrading. Some restrictions apply, go to the APS website for more information.

Decluttering in the Kitchen, part III

Well I did another 15 minutes in the kitchen this evening. Tackled the pile that was sitting on those two chairs that are stacked together. They are stacked like that because a too big person sat in them and rocked back and forth, breaking loose a leg on each. I haven't had time to really mess with fixing them, so there they sit. Most of what was sitting on them was bags of fertilizer, which I moved to the front entry with the other bag of fertilizer.

Then I tackled the boxes of canning jars. I had already decided to chuck the commercial spaghetti sauce jars, simply because I don't need them at all. I have plenty of new and vintage home canning jars in a variety of sizes. I may whittle that collection down a bit in the future, but for today I got rid of one box of jars.  I also rearranged the canned goods and empty jars on the storage shelves in the corner. And discovered that I still have bags of bean and pea seeds to thresh out and put away from last year.

So at least now there is more walking space around this end of the kitchen. What I am hoping is that I can eventually get this corner totally emptied so that I can move in the wood cook stove that I am buying from my sister and which is currently living in her garage. Yes, that is an electric weed eater sitting there by the chainsaw. Another thing without a home. I have no outside storage that is safe from the elements and the critters so important things have to live in the house for the time being. You can also see the ice cream freezer on the floor and the fruit press on the broken chairs, empty wine jugs on the floor and assorted other stuff.

What I really really need is an old fashioned humongous farm house kitchen with a pantry and root cellar and a summer kitchen attached. What I have is a long skinny room-9'8"x19' chopped up on this end by the door to the porch and the door to the living room, no overhead cabinets, a ceiling with holes in it that slopes from nearly 8 feet to less than 6. Many other problems with it. Really I probably just need to rip it off the house and start over again. So I dream of the day when I can have a lovely harvest kitchen with plenty of work space, room for wine making, canning, drying, cooking and baking. Cozy in the winter and cool in the summer.


I have a copy of this book and love it. I can't wait until the day I can use the plans in it to build my own Harvest Kitchen. They have some lovely simple kitchen cabinet designs that you can build yourself, some with options for simpler joins and techniques for those that are new to cabinet building or don't have a lot of fancy tools.  Also some small simple projects like an herb drying rack and cutting board to start off with. The cabinet plans are built as modules so you can start with one and add to it as you have time and money.

Decluttering in the Kitchen, part II

Today I'm back in the kitchen, have to leave for work soon, so I really only had 15 minutes. If you are just joining me, you can see the kitchen 'before' pictures on this post from a couple of days ago.

I was able to sort through and move a few things around on the floor and sweep up the dirt in the area.

I also managed to clean off the table, except for one thing, an old drawer from a cabinet I ripped out. It was my 'junk' drawer and it's still full of junk! So it will probably need a 15 minute session all to itself.
The reason I want to keep the drawer itself, though is because my grand dad made the cabinet it was in and while the cabinet was in bad shape, the drawer is still pretty sound. So I'm thinking of hanging it on a wall someplace as a little display shelf.

 I will probably not tackle what's in the 'junk' drawer anytime soon. Right now my game plan is to work on the quick and easy stuff, so I get the most bang for my buck.

The large piles of stuff, things I can get rid of or move to another area, thus clearing large amounts of space in a short period of time. That does mean that I am just stashing things in other places; like tools & hardware are just getting dumped on the back porch and anything craft or art related is just getting dumped in the studio. But that is actually part of my master plan.

My goal is to get my main living spaces fairly free of clutter before tackling the really tedious stuff, like sorting through and organizing hundreds of assorted bits of screws, nuts, bolts, washers and miscellaneous hardware. Or organizing hundreds of containers of different kinds of paint, along with all sorts of paper, new and used.

The point is, don't get bogged down in the little details in the beginning. Make as much of a clean sweep as you can at first. It will improve your morale and your accomplishment will give you the energy to carry you through the tedious bits later.

Decluttering in the Kitchen

Well, as you can see, with everything that has been going on lately, the kitchen really needs some help! So I am going to focus on it for a few days, 15 minutes at a time.

The big blue thing is the book shelf full of cook books that I had to move when the water came in July 4th. Time for it to get back where it belongs!

That box of stuff on the floor? Stuff I brought home from cleaning out an estate in California in, get this, Dec, 2009!

Now I have to get ready and go to work in a bit, so I really don't have all day, but I do have 15 minutes.

Mmmm Rat poison, yes definitely need to keep that! I need to go stick it in the attic, they are getting noisy up there! (trapped a big wood rat in the living room the other day. He just danced in the front door when it was open!)

Some other things in that box, parts to a rain gutter, popsicle molds, assorted nuts, bolts, tools, pencils, a pocket knife, staples, stapler and staple puller. Miscellaneous junk.

So things are looking a bit better, that box on the floor to the right is all trash and on it's way out.

Some people have wanted to know why I have a chainsaw in my kitchen. I heat with wood so I need a chainsaw. It's in the kitchen because at the moment it is homeless. Hopefully I can find a place for it to live where it will be safe and out of the way, but still easy to get to.

As  you can see I think we are going to be in the kitchen for awhile; there is still a lot of stuff in there!

Today lets think about routines. If every morning you do the same things, in the same order, that is a routine. It has probably become a habit, and a habit is something you do automatically, without thinking about it. Now the question is, do you have good habits or bad habits? Stop and think about what you do in the morning when you first get up and again, what do you do in the evening before you go to bed?

Think also about the end result. Do you arrive on time for your job or appointments, feeling fresh and ready to go? Do you have everything you need for the day? Or are you tired & crabby because you didn't get enough sleep, out of sorts because you didn't have enough time to stop for coffee and you were still late for work?

By making some gradual, incremental changes to what you do in the evening and what you do in the morning, you can make some big changes in your end results. For instance, what is it, in the morning, that makes you feel less than in charge of your life? Think about what you can do the night before that will ease up that morning stress.


Marla Cilly, the Flay Lady calls this the 'before bedtime' routine. But don't wait until bedtime! You can start in the late afternoon or early evening, depending on your life schedule, to do these things that will help make your mornings go a lot faster and easier, with less frustration.

• Check your appointment book or calender and gather up everything you will need for tomorrow.
• Decide what you are going to wear and lay out your clothes, from the skin out, top to bottom, including jewelry and accessories. That way in the morning you just get dressed, you don't have to think about it, you don't have to make a decision, you've already done that.
• Set up your coffee, tea, breakfast. Do any little thing you can tonight, so you won't have to do it in the morning.
• Fix your lunch and refill your water bottle.
• If you have kids, help them do all of the same things. Make sure their permission slips and homework is in their back pack and it's handy to the exit door. 
• Shower at night. By taking a shower (or better yet a nice relaxing bubble bath!) at night, before you go to bed, you will probably sleep better, being more relaxed. You'll save time in the morning because you won't have to do it then. 
• Go to bed at a decent hour. We really do have more energy and feel better when we go to bed in time to get a full 8 hours of sleep. Even if you can't fall asleep right away, just laying there, deep breathing and relaxing and trying to clear you mind, you are at least resting your body. And you will probably fall asleep before you know it.

In the morning hop up as soon as the alarm goes off and get dressed. Make  your bed. Eat your breakfast, get your lunch and water bottle out of the refrigerator and put them with the rest of the stuff you need for the day. Assist the rest of the family as needed and get out the door with minutes to spare. Now I know that real life happens and sometimes everything does not go as planned, but I am quite positive that if you will follow these steps then your mornings will get off to a great start at least 99% of the time.

In the morning, especially if you work away from home, you will probably want to do minimal extra things, but there are a couple of important ones to squeeze in. Make you bed. You will be so happy you did when you come home in the afternoon. A made bed just makes the whole room look nicer. And if you are careful getting out of bed, then making it up is just a matter of twitching the sheets and blankets back up and smoothing them out.

At least rinse your breakfast dishes off, so the food doesn't have time to get dried out and caked on. If you have a dishwasher, which you probably ran last night after dinner, take a couple minutes and put away the clean dishes. That way you can put the breakfast dishes right into it. No more coming home from work to piles of dirty dishes in the sink. I really hate getting up in the morning or coming home in the afternoon to a pile of dirty dishes. It's just a depressing sight. It's like I already have 2 strikes against me. Whereas if things are clean and tidy, it's like starting with a clean slate.

bathroom shelves before

Today's decluttering session focused on finishing up on the bathroom floor. One more coat of paint and when it dried I put the shelves back in. I wiped every thing else down and then cleaned up the shelves.

Starting at the top I cleared one shelf at a time, wiped it down and put back just the things I wanted to live there.

It hasn't been that long since I did this (a couple of months) so there wasn't too much dirt & crud built up, and I only found a couple of bits of trash. so this was mostly about rearranging and reorganizing.

bathroom shelves after

In fact, since I'd gone through and dumped most of the clutter and stuff recently, it actually took less than 15 minutes to make it look this tidy.

So we will hopefully be able to get back to our regular decluttering work very soon!

De-railed; Again, part II

Whew! Almost done. Have laid down the new peice of plywood that my son cut for me awhile back, caulked the crack all around to prevent scorpions and other critters from finding their way in and put on one coat of paint.

painted toilet seat installed; acrylic craft paints

While I was down on my hands and knees painting the floor I got a really cool idea. Instead of putting down more tile, I think I am going to paint this floor with a scene. Not sure just what yet, but maybe something to match the toilet seat I painted one day.  I've seen pictures of floors painted to look like fish ponds and such before, I think it would be cool. Just don't let your drunk friends in, they might hurt themselves trying to swim. ;-)












This is a great book to get you started, even if you haven't done a lot of decorative painting before.







After the paint dries I'll put on 2-3 more coats. I'm using some leftover semi gloss exterior latex. I figured it was the toughest most waterproof paint I had. If I do paint a floor mural I will probably use my outdoor and patio paints for the same reason.