That Time I Decided I Hated My Pantry

I desperately needed to do some shopping prep and clean out the fridge and pantry.  The refrigerator is easy to clean.  It's bright and pretty and spacious.  I don't let it get gross so it's just a matter of pulling out old food, consolidating containers, and wiping down.

The pantry is a different story.  It's dark.  No light at all.  The shelves are deep and who knows what's back there.  It's impossible to organize and it's ugly.

My mother-in-law is having us over for dinner tonight so I had some extra time to figure out the pantry situation.  I decided to pull it all out and move all the food to the regular kitchen cabinets above the dishwasher.  That space wasn't being utilized to its potential anyway.

But first off I had to make lemonade.  A new pantry calls for a lemonade celebration and I had a new recipe that I am WEARING OUT because we love it so much.

So I relocated the cans and boxes and bags and jars.  I wiped down the shelves and called Zeke in from outside to climb up and do the high ones.  And let there be light!!  I can see everything.  It's organized and pretty and should've been done 3 years ago.

But now I have a huge mess of everything I pulled out of those shelves and put on the counters.
And then I spilled the lemonade.  But since we have someone in our house who cries over spilled milk anything, I need you to know that I only spilled about 1/4 cup and not the whole thing.  Anyhow it added to the mess.

I cleaned up the lemonade but at that point I ran out of steam.  So I shopped Amazon and bought myself a new book instead.  Maybe it'll explain why organizing has to be so messy.

A Talk About Chapstick And Other Happy Things

Did you have a good weekend?  My parents were in town and that always makes for a happy weekend for us.  And all day I've been thinking it's Monday because I was going to do a "from the weekend" post and I guess my Monday totally slipped past me.  The only thing I even remember about yesterday was the BEDTIME DRAMA from BlueEyes.

But it was good even though I didn't get to write about it. Except the bedtime business.  That's never good.

Look who's in town!! TATE!

He just showed up at the game with G'ma and G'pa and we had no idea.  My kids are super excited to see their cousin.  Except there have been a few complaints...something about Christian hogging all the Tate time.  And actually BabyB might have something to do with that since Tate is totally smitten with him.  Tonight we are taking dessert over and trying to squeeze in as much time as possible since they all leave for AZ this week.

The weather has been perfect in our neck of the woods and that means lots of outside time.  Walking the babies (and the cat), soccer, and just fun outside play.  BlueEyes behaves a lot better when he's not in the house.

I found myself to be almost completely out of all chapstick.  I know.  

There aren't many stores that carry my beloved Chicken Poop Chapstick so I thought I'd try out something new.  Or three somethings new.  I bought 3 different ones that I'd never tried before.

First this one.  (Sorry about the sideways horrible pictures.) 

I HATED this one!  I hated the way it smelled and felt.  In fact, I wiped it right off my lips.  It reminded me of little kids' toothpaste.  No.  I gave it to Meg. 

Now this one.  I got it because it was kinda like EOS but cheaper.  I've never had EOS but I kinda like the soft looking egg shape and would like to try it.  Turns out I don't particularly like the shape and in fact, my husband asked if I was smearing deodorant on my lips.  Anyway, it's a keeper but not my fave. 

Now the 100% natural caught my eye on this one.  And I have to say that it's not bad.  Except that it has a gritty feel going on and I don't like that.  Still it has a nice neutral natural type of scent and it'll do in a pinch. 

But then the most wonderful thing happened. When Nana came, she brought me THREE Chicken Poop Chapsticks!  And now I'm all set and I don't have to make do.  

Pictures of the Season

Or more like three. 

We have 5 kids playing 3 overlapping sports right now.  

It has never been more fun or busy. 

Laura Beth was on Charleston's first ever volleyball team.

She loved it all.

The girls played hard but didn't win much since it was their very first season to play. 

It was also LB's last season to play since she is a senior but she's hoping to play a little in college. 

Speaking of college, she just scored a 31 on her ACT!  

She's not content with that, however, since a 32 will give her more scholarship opportunities and she may be looking at med school.  Sooo, December is her last shot to get that extra point. 

We are so proud of her! 

And of course, FOOTBALL. 

Our junior high Tigers are playing hard and that kicker is amazing! 

I love this shot. 

And this kid. 

I'm pretty fond of this one too. 

And he has good hands for catching that football plus a pretty smile. 

Or maybe I'm a bit partial. 

This is our second season of our NewFire soccer league. 

We opened it up to 3-4yos and OH MY the cuteness!

We have about 100 kids participating again and everyone seems to be having fun. 

The parents are happy too and that makes a very positive atmosphere. 

Joshua has gotten to earn some money referring this season. He's at the age where he wants to earn money but is too young to actually be hired for anything.  So this is perfect.  It helps us and it helps him.  Win Win!