Acquisitions and Organizations

I spent a bunch of the day doing two things:  acquiring more groceries and putting them away.

The acquiring wasn't too difficult--went to Costco and spent a small fortune on snacks, it seems.  And bread and butter, which are supposed to be the things that you can live on (as in, "that type of work is my bread and butter,") but it seems to be a poor man's diet to only have bread and butter.  However, I supplemented it with breakfast bars, black beans, chips, hot dogs, orange juice, and chocolate milk.  Yum.  (OK, a few other things, too.)

When I arrived home, I realized that there was no way I was going to be able to cram it all into the pantry the way it was.  Of course, the pantry has become a sort of catch-all for things.  It is, after all, the walk-through area from kitchen to garage, and stores our washer and dryer (whoever thought *that* was a good idea should be imprisoned under the house, but first you have to gut the closet under the stairs--which has no light--to get to it).  It has such things as normal as cookbooks and those "necessary" appliances (like the bread maker, the rice cooker, popcorn popper, and a panini maker--a gift from aunt & uncle that we haven't used in the four years we've owned it), pots that are too big to fit in the cupboard, food storage containers (two boxes), lightbulbs (many sizes and shapes), disposable dinnerware (paper plates, etc), and cleaning supplies.  It also houses such unusual items as a backpack of toddler toys, family-heirloom art (not valuable, just personal), reloading supplies, a giant padded curtain (from the old house to keep the room warm), shop tools, a box of items destined for Goodwill, and arts & crafts supplies.  There isn't room enough for all these "treasures", so some of them will have to find a new home--either within our home or outside of it.

As it is, I threw out two bundles of aluminum poles from pop-up shelters that are no longer serviceable that were collecting dust in the garage.  What I didn't know for sure was what to do with them--do they go in the trash or the recycle bin?  They are aluminum...but can they be recycled?  I think I might just pitch them in the garbage and be done with it.  I have to try to not feel guilty about it, though...very difficult after 20+ years of guilt and indoctrination on behalf of the Environmental Movement.  I'm all for doing the right thing for conservation and clean air & water, but MAN!  I'm tired of the harping...aren't you?

I spent a good hour or more reorganizing the pantry, only stopping because I had to get dinner started.  Unfortunately, I only got three shelves done and a fourth one started.  With two gorilla racks and a side wall, I have several more to go.  I don't know if pictures will be necessary when I get done, but I will feel a great sense of accomplishment when it IS done.

I also hung up three of my framed SCA scrolls.  Yes, I'm that much of a geek.  What's sad is that I have at least three more that need to be hung up and another one that needs a frame.  Big geek.  And proud of it.  That'll be fine--I can stop by Michael's and also take a moment to duck into the used bookstore and see if they have any of the Folk Sock books.  Just curious and wanted to page through them to see if they'd be worth buying.

It took a while, but I did find the scanned pictures from the Fancy Feet book that Stasi loaned me.  I decided I wanted to make a pair of socks from it using the red and yellow alpaca yarns I picked up in Portland when I met up with Heide several months (a year?  More?) back.  It's soft as silky goodness and they're going to feel SOOOO nice on my feet...thing is, I'll be afraid to wear them!  Of course, I'm starting this just before I have to make a bunch of tunics for my long-lost middle school friend, Chad (who just resurfaced thanks to Facebook and his SCA pictures), and I was volun-told to be the secretary for the quilt guild up North.  It seems that 3 of the 7 board members have suddenly resigned in the past few months...for whatever reason...so the old faithful Patchwork Pirates have picked up the pieces and are going to pull it back together.  I have no idea what's going on, but I bet I'll find out shortly!

Ooops...I was supposed to make an apron for Cammie for the play.  Hm.  I guess I'll do that in the morning.

G'nite!
K