The Adventures of Garrett Squared: Changes...Spicey Dicey...

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Changes...Spicey Dicey...

I opened the cabinet door and 2 things fell on me! Time to get busy on this thing!

As usual, I forgot to take the before picture BEFORE removing part of the stuff! Just imagine the two tiered lazy susan full to overflowing with spices that were falling off each time I turned it--K?

Suffice it to say I had to accommodated all of these spices...

I had the perfect dish holder for the camper, though.

I took this type dish organizer that I found at Wal-Mart and turned it on the back so that the dishes stood up and the wire back was in the front to keep the dishes from rolling out. Works great!

I first decided to try the Slide and Swivel.

It touts holding up to 20 bottles of spices in 4 inches of space! Now, I thought that would be great use of the vertical space in the cabinet and hold plenty of spices, so I bought 2 and scurried home to organize everything in 8 inches of space! Yay!

Unfortunately, the way that the cabinets are set up, they have the locks for the doors right in the middle where I wanted the Swivel Store to go. Darn!

So, being the resourceful and clever person that I am, I put the dishes in the middle and a swivel store on either side. Okay--pat me on the back!

Uh, or not!

Turns out that there is a little lip on either side of the cabinet that kept the swivels from opening and swiveling. On top of that, the left one had to swivel to the right and the right one had to swivel to the left which It could not do because the door doesn't open fully due to the microwave next to it. Also, many of my spices would not fit in the swivel store because it is made for only the McCormack size bottles and many of mine were bigger. Darn!

So, the Swivel Stores went back. I might add that in a normal situation I think they would work really well!

Back to the drawing board...

I saw a great kitchen makeover here at Sunla Designs...she gave me a great idea for using one of those step organizers and a metal shelf, so I ordered each of those things plus spice jars from Specialty Bottle and made labels on my printer using the Avery Dennison Design Pro 5 free program which were printed on standard mailing labels. I used a distressed blotchy brown background that looks like water marks on old paper (from my electronic scrapbooking backgrounds) and two red borders. I figured that they would be perfect! I mean, it worked great over at Sunla...

So, here is what it looked like. The cabinet is up so high that I couldn't see the labels on the jars in the back. I thought about putting a label around each lid with my label maker but then I realized that I would have to take the ones in the front out to get to the ones in the back and blah blah...

And what about when we moved the camper? What would happen to those bottles all sitting on their little stairs?

Time to rethink...

So, I started looking around the kitchen. As I was cleaning, I needed a dish towel that I kept in the bottom drawer (the tallest drawer).

Ah HAH!!!!

I had an idea!

I made extra labels for each jar and put them on the top of the lids and into the drawer they went! Easy to see what is in the jar, they are safe when we move the camper and the towels you ask?

Well I did find a way to use the metal shelf. The dish towels are under it and the larger spices are on top of the shelf and everything has a happy home!!!! :)

5 comments:

PatOctober 15, 2011 at 3:45 PM
I, too, had this problem with the spices. DROVE ME CRAZY! I, too, debated whether to get that handy-dandy spice rack. I finally ended up moving my spiced to a drawer, but I have my bottles lying down....never thought to stand them up. I wonder if they'd fit? I, too, have my dishes on that rack but I use the rack the way it was intended to and it works fine in our travels.
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GailOctober 15, 2011 at 7:59 PM
I love the way you shared the process with us. Nope, that didn't work...great solution.
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labbie1October 17, 2011 at 3:02 PM
Pat--My bottom drawer was taller than the other 3 so the spice bottles stand up perfectly. As you can see, I use a LOT of spices! Nice to know that the dish rack would work upright too. Any other tips from one RV'er to another? :)

*******************

Gail--Well, you know, sometimes things just don't work out as well as they look. It was quite a process though! :) Did you have a lot of traffic at the new shop over the weekend? What beautiful weather to be out antiquing! :)
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KellyOctober 18, 2011 at 8:10 AM
I love to read about good organization tips! Looks like you were able to figure it all out. You really have to think outside the box when you're working with tight quarters, huh? Still working on my paint project and taking care of a sick child today.
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SquirrelQueenOctober 21, 2011 at 3:19 AM
I really like what you did with the jars in the drawer. We have an RV and the spices are always tumbling around in the cabinets. The shelves aren't tall enough for the racks but the drawer might solve the problem. Thanks for the ideas.
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The Mockingjay

It is with great sadness that I say goodbye to the characters of this Trilogy.

This 3rd and last book in The Hunger Games Trilogy was not remotely what I thought it would be. While the first two books were books about horrific competition and massive loss it was also about the indomitable will to live and thrive of the human spirit.

I thought that this book would be much as the other two. Our heros are tested and then survive to live happily ever after.

But, this book is much deeper and probably much more realistic than that. The thin skinned President Snowden in his extreme anger makes it clear that Katniss, her family and even her village are not going to be allowed to live in the peace that we anticipated after the first two books. To the end that President Snowden wants to see Katniss and everyone who follows her and her courage destroyed, we are drawn deeply into a story of battle both internal and external, love and loss and the dramatic results of a long lived, hard fought war while unsure of who is friend and who is foe.

The end of this book was a loss in many respects. The loss of a group of people to whom I was drawn and the loss of a way of life for those characters. While the war was won, the battles took their toll on all of the characters that we have come to know and love and their lives are forever changed by the end of this book and trilogy.

Catching Fire

This 2nd book in The Hunger Games Trilogy was even better than number one!

I read it in about a day and a half.

I simply could NOT put it down!

The main thrust of this book is the Quell games. Every 25 years the districts must take part in not one but two games to celebrate the domination of the Capitol.

If I go further than that with explanation, I will probably ruin #1 for you, so let's just say that the Mockingjay has a part in this and that the families of Peeta and Katniss as well as Gale are well represented.

The ending leaves us hungry for more at the edge of an abiss...

Now, on to book 3.

PS--Don't start this series without purchasing all three books because you will surely kick yourself if you can't go right to the next book!

The Hunger Games

Book 1 of the Trilogy:
GREAT READ! This was recommended to me by my hair stylist while I was in Missouri. I purchased it for my Kindle, but subsequently passed it up for other reads. My mistake! What an engaging book! Following Katniss and Peeta as well as the other characters in a richly written narrative of the Hunger Games which are a fight to the death each year of children chosen from each of the 12 poor downtrodden districts of the country of Penam for the enjoyment of the spoiled, protected class of people in the "Capital". Gripping and twisting right to the end! I liked it so much that the second I finished I felt like I couldn't let go of the characters and zipped right on to the second volume of the trilogy! RECOMMEND HIGHLY!

Pumpkin Roll

Pumpkin Roll by Josi S. Kilpack~~This book was recommended by another blogger who made it sound so good that I I just had to check t out. I purchased my copy for Kindle and really enjoyed it! The author writes a very fine mystery without using vulgarity or objectionable content which is refreshing. This book was a fun one for the autumn season when our thoughts turn to pumpkins, spices and a nip in the air.

The neighbor is rumored to be a witch and with several other colorful characters of dubious nature, we have a fun Halloween culinary novel.

The nice twist at the end of the story gives an interesting wrap-up to make this book a good light read.

In addition, the recipes sounded so good that I had to copy some of them down and try them--including the Pumpkin Roll of the book title. A good read and good recipes! What's better than that?

Pages

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Changes...Spicey Dicey...

5 comments: