Organising and a modicum amount of Progress

Slowly starting to organise things and addressing issues and items that irritate me to high heaven.

Cutlery Issues

One of the problems I have is with my cutlery trays; up until now I have had three green poly ones which I will use for other items in the kitchen.  These trays are very practical but periodically I catch the edge of it and it upends the contents of the cutlery box usually just after dealing with the washing and drying up.   I have been looking for something that I can ideally put on one of the Dressers in the dining room and I have come across this box with a drawer and a clear lid which I think will do the job and keep all the cutlery in the dining room.  It will be good to get this particular item sorted as it does annoy me.

Cutlery tray arrived today and I am pleased with it.  Not large enough for all my cutlery, but that does not matter as I will keep the blue handled set in the kitchen and the main dinner cutlery in the dining room.  I was tempted to buy another box, but have decided that I will go for a different type of box maybe.  I do like the one that has arrived, but am thinking practically at the moment in that I really do not want to spend any more pennies.

Therefore that is the cutlery potentially sorted.  That is one issue off the list.

Christmas Bauble Bags

The Christmas decoration bags are here, just have to sort all the ornaments into them. That will happen as I find each Christmas box.  That will be a slow process but better that than none at all.  Then that will be sorted;

Christmas Tree Bags

The Christmas tree bags are here, just need to locate the three trees (I will need another bag), and then can pack them into their respective bags.

Large Storage Containers 12 x 100 litre

As you all know from a previous post, I have bought in 12 large 100 litre storage boxes for trying to organise the Christmas decorations and to go someway to providing proper storage in the back bedroom.  That is going to be a massive ongoing job in the longer term, but at least am at the start of this. The preparations are in hand and this is something I can address for a couple of hours of an evening after the heavy and hard work has been accomplished during the day.

The Condiment Cupboard

I have been working on the condiment cupboard in the kitchen.  I have decanted spices, herbs etc. into jars and labelled them up.  This is therefore getting sorted although not quite finished yet.

I also bought some spray bottles for making useful things that I use in cooking, i.e. oil spray, cake pan oiler, vinegar spray, water spray, spray for my Rosemary hair water and Rosemary oil.  There will be more on that later on.

For the condiments cupboard I now need some smaller storage tins for keeping my stock pots, stock cubes in.  I also need about 6 x 1 litre jars for storing my Arrowroot, Cornflour, etc. in.  I have seen some that I would quite like, but that will mean a trip into town to procure some.  It will make a bit of a difference to the cupboard when I get these sorted.

Vertically Challenged

I also managed to find another small step for the kitchen.  I am vertically challenged in height and I broke the last step stool I had.  Today that was fixed though and I have bought another small one home.  It makes the difference with me being able to get into the wall cupboards.  In my stockinged feet that is absolutely impossible and because the cooker is to the side of the cupboard I have to be extremely careful especially when the cooker is on.  I was therefore very pleased to be able to address this issue safely.  Although not ideal, the cooker is sited where the Landlord had it put so there is not too much that I can do about this.

Baking Pan Container

As I had turfed out two cupboards in the kitchen that were holding some of my many baking pans to make room for my Magimix equipment and the accessories for my Kitchen Aid, I needed somewhere to store my baking pans.  They are going into one of the containers and will be on top of the freezer out of the way.  I will just have to retrieve the pans I need before actually baking in advance.  I do not think that will be too much of a new habit to get into.

Cake Decorations

In readiness for some baking I have been buying in some of the cheapie sweets like white and chocolate buttons, jazzies, dolly mixtures, little Easter eggs.  I have utilised a few little jam jars with some new jazzy lids (red with white spots) to store those bought so far and when I go into the Pantry again, (when the kitchen is finished) I will organise a space in there for my baking bits and bobs.  It is a small start but at least I am gradually gathering things together and organising them for easy access and try to gear myself up for Easter this year.  Easter Sunday is 20 April 2025.  My diary has been noted as well.

Very small starts therefore, but something else that is going on in the background when I can slot things in.  Very much Work in Progress (WIP), but each time I have a go at something, it will build up that little bit more which is not a bad thing in a place that desperately needs organising.  I will get there, no doubt with many detours but I am determined to build on last year's successes and move things forward that much more.  Fingers crossed and toes plaited!

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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