Nostalgic Organizing

I do believe I may possibly be the world's least organized person. It's not do to lack of trying, believe me, I try and try again but I just simply can not pull it off. I get distracted easily or end up feeling overwhelmed and confused over where things should belong. Once in a blue moon I might find myself taking on a small organizational task, such as my yarn stash, but give it a week or two and it's right back to the mess it used to be. I might just be a lost cause.

Kevin, on the other hand, is a master organizer. I try to enlist his help when I can but unfortunately with his job and our dogs, it doesn't happen as often and I wish. Thankfully last weekend was a different story. Frustrated by the small pantry in our current kitchen I needed to find a way to get some of our staples out of the way yet still easily accessible.  Inspired by the wonderful Katherine, I pulled out some of our grains and put them in glass jars with chalkboard labels. I love the way they look. It motivates me to get some more of out basics out of the pantry and stored in plain view (in an aesthetically pleasing way, hopefully.)

As I was sorting through our pantry items I noticed that we have quite a bit of tea, but really, shouldn't we all?!  I know at least Mackenzie would agree with me. I realized how much space would be saved if we could somehow get all of the tea boxes out of there. Then I remembered a couple of vintage berry crates I had, simple treasures from a impromptu trip to Aurora, Oregon with a wonderful friend last spring. I thought if I could just add shelves to it, I could put the tea in that and hang it up. I presented my idea to Kevin and before I knew it, I had my very own tea shelf (thank you, thank you, thank you, Kevin!) I can not tell you how happy it made me! C and I cleaned it up and put a nice coat of beeswax polish on it then hung it up and organized the tea on it. The children love that they can easily see all of their tea options now and I love the nostalgic feelings it brings and how Kevin put it all together for me. Every time I look at that tea shelf I will remember that sunny spring day in beautiful Oregon and the dearest of friends we spent it with.

Perhaps, with baby steps (and a bit of nostalgia), this organizing thing isn't so very bad after all!

Nostalgic Organizing