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I'm the sort of person who likes to move the furniture around sometimes just to see if my brain works differently. That's part of what I'm doing with my kitchen re-org. I have Too Much Stuff and I'm trying to find ways to either make it all fit better, or at least make the stuff I use more accessible. Given that it's a nice spacious kitchen with a single occupant, you might think there would be plenty of room. That doesn't account for my fondness for gadgets and having One Of Everything.
Like: I'm trying organize my "coffee area" in an esthetically pleasing and functional way, but I own a Keurig, a French press, and a combo espresso machine with mid-size drip pot. And I use all of them at various times. Mostly these days I use the Keurig, but the espresso/combo isn't something that you can conveniently tuck away in a cabinet when not in use. So they both need counter space. But the French press, the bean grinder, and the milk-steamer pitcher can all live in the cabinet in space made by getting rid of less favored coffee mugs. The last item that gets actual shelf space is the cookie jar shaped like an old cast iron range that I store my k-cups in. (Mostly I use a re-fillable filter cup, but I keep a variety of k-cups for convenience,especially for guests.) So although I clawed back a little bit of counter space, it mostly comes from getting rid of mugs.
In the bit of counter to the left of the range (maybe 2ft wide?) where I used to have the toaster oven, I've moved the assorted handy-to-the-stove items (jar full of wooden spoons and other implements, knife block, bottles of things too tall for the cabinets. These, of course, used to take up just the same amount of space in the larger corner area to the right of the range and the left of the sink. But anything that was deeply back in the corner was hard to get at. so I'm going to move the toaster oven into that corner because I don't need to get at the corner itself, just the front. The blender also goes in that area since it gets used regularly (and is too tall for the cabinet where less-used appliances get stored).
That leaves me about 3 ft of counter space along the wall to the right of the range where other regularly used appliances *could* go. But I'd have to think about which items get used often enough to deserve a place there. The crock pot might be a good choice, but I don't know. A lot of the odd-but-regularly-used gadgets are in the corner cabinet with the two-level lazy susan style (that occasionally drops things off into the corner). I have an idea to maybe swap those out with the baking gear that currently lives in the mobile kitchen island. But honestly, a 3/4 circle round shelf doesn't really fit much of anything well. I must ponder.
Now the *really* lesser used appliances ought to go in the top shelves of the cabinets--the ones I have to climb up onto the counter to get at--but of course that makes me tend to forget I even own them. And if I forget I own something, I should consider getting rid of it. For example: I'd have a hard time telling you off the top of my head the contents of the cabinet over the refrigerator. It used to be where I stored the serving platters and bowls I'd accumulated for SCA feasting, but I gave almost all of those away in the SCA Divestment Party last summer. I know there's some sort of drying rack gadget that I picked up at a rummage sale that turned out not to work very well and that I should just throw out. And I think there are some plastic canisters that I don't currently use for bulk foods because they're the wrong size for the shelves where I keep such things. But I should move least-used appliances up there. And then pay attention to whether I actually use them at all.
The cabinet up above the microwave (over the range) is another trap for forgetting about things I don't use often. Because it's tall, it has things like the iced tea maker (which I hardly ever use) and tall thermoses, and a very large plastic funnel that I brought home when the lab was getting rid of unused surplus supplies. I mean, this is a BIG honkin' funnel. I forget what I've used it for, if at all. But you don't just throw that sort of thing away, right? (You can see why I have problems.)
Anyway, this is my process: pull everything out of a specific area, clean, decide what the best use for that area would be, move objects in, stare at the objects that used to be there and decide which area to clear next.
Yes, this is displacement activity. This is not something that Must Be Done Now. This is me taking control of my micro-environment in ways that make me happy.
And speaking environment, since tomorrow is trash day, I needed to do enough trimming to fill the green can (since my backyard activities haven't been producing waste). I was going to tackle the rosemary and lavender in the parking strip with the hedge trimmer, but it had been long enough since I last used it that the charge on the battery pack had drained away. So I did weeding instead. Weeding reminds me that my body is not young and spry, so I try to gauge carefully how much I can do without being sore later. Little by little will do the trick, as long as I can put those little bits in regularly.
We had our second DISTAFF weekly Zoom chat today, and I have another try at a video chat with Liz tomorrow morning before work (silly time zones) this time trying Zoom rather than Skype. And another video chat to organize. And I need to do another round of emails with my podcast interview prospects, with the scheduling options a bit more open since I'm home all day and can get my work hours in whenever. I need to come up with a better way to get interview appointments locked in. A lot of the drawn out process is my fault because I lose track of where the conversation is, but a lot of times I've said, "Hey, here's a bunch of possible dates, pick one and give me a time" and then I never hear back. It's hard to know whether people simply aren't that enthusiastic about being on the show or whether they're expecting me to simply pick a date and time arbitrarily. I love *having* the interviews but I don't love *scheduling* them. And speaking of which, I need to write up my script for next week's On the Shelf podcast and edit the interview...no, wait, I already edited the interview for the week after! Yay for Past Me!
Like: I'm trying organize my "coffee area" in an esthetically pleasing and functional way, but I own a Keurig, a French press, and a combo espresso machine with mid-size drip pot. And I use all of them at various times. Mostly these days I use the Keurig, but the espresso/combo isn't something that you can conveniently tuck away in a cabinet when not in use. So they both need counter space. But the French press, the bean grinder, and the milk-steamer pitcher can all live in the cabinet in space made by getting rid of less favored coffee mugs. The last item that gets actual shelf space is the cookie jar shaped like an old cast iron range that I store my k-cups in. (Mostly I use a re-fillable filter cup, but I keep a variety of k-cups for convenience,especially for guests.) So although I clawed back a little bit of counter space, it mostly comes from getting rid of mugs.
In the bit of counter to the left of the range (maybe 2ft wide?) where I used to have the toaster oven, I've moved the assorted handy-to-the-stove items (jar full of wooden spoons and other implements, knife block, bottles of things too tall for the cabinets. These, of course, used to take up just the same amount of space in the larger corner area to the right of the range and the left of the sink. But anything that was deeply back in the corner was hard to get at. so I'm going to move the toaster oven into that corner because I don't need to get at the corner itself, just the front. The blender also goes in that area since it gets used regularly (and is too tall for the cabinet where less-used appliances get stored).
That leaves me about 3 ft of counter space along the wall to the right of the range where other regularly used appliances *could* go. But I'd have to think about which items get used often enough to deserve a place there. The crock pot might be a good choice, but I don't know. A lot of the odd-but-regularly-used gadgets are in the corner cabinet with the two-level lazy susan style (that occasionally drops things off into the corner). I have an idea to maybe swap those out with the baking gear that currently lives in the mobile kitchen island. But honestly, a 3/4 circle round shelf doesn't really fit much of anything well. I must ponder.
Now the *really* lesser used appliances ought to go in the top shelves of the cabinets--the ones I have to climb up onto the counter to get at--but of course that makes me tend to forget I even own them. And if I forget I own something, I should consider getting rid of it. For example: I'd have a hard time telling you off the top of my head the contents of the cabinet over the refrigerator. It used to be where I stored the serving platters and bowls I'd accumulated for SCA feasting, but I gave almost all of those away in the SCA Divestment Party last summer. I know there's some sort of drying rack gadget that I picked up at a rummage sale that turned out not to work very well and that I should just throw out. And I think there are some plastic canisters that I don't currently use for bulk foods because they're the wrong size for the shelves where I keep such things. But I should move least-used appliances up there. And then pay attention to whether I actually use them at all.
The cabinet up above the microwave (over the range) is another trap for forgetting about things I don't use often. Because it's tall, it has things like the iced tea maker (which I hardly ever use) and tall thermoses, and a very large plastic funnel that I brought home when the lab was getting rid of unused surplus supplies. I mean, this is a BIG honkin' funnel. I forget what I've used it for, if at all. But you don't just throw that sort of thing away, right? (You can see why I have problems.)
Anyway, this is my process: pull everything out of a specific area, clean, decide what the best use for that area would be, move objects in, stare at the objects that used to be there and decide which area to clear next.
Yes, this is displacement activity. This is not something that Must Be Done Now. This is me taking control of my micro-environment in ways that make me happy.
And speaking environment, since tomorrow is trash day, I needed to do enough trimming to fill the green can (since my backyard activities haven't been producing waste). I was going to tackle the rosemary and lavender in the parking strip with the hedge trimmer, but it had been long enough since I last used it that the charge on the battery pack had drained away. So I did weeding instead. Weeding reminds me that my body is not young and spry, so I try to gauge carefully how much I can do without being sore later. Little by little will do the trick, as long as I can put those little bits in regularly.
We had our second DISTAFF weekly Zoom chat today, and I have another try at a video chat with Liz tomorrow morning before work (silly time zones) this time trying Zoom rather than Skype. And another video chat to organize. And I need to do another round of emails with my podcast interview prospects, with the scheduling options a bit more open since I'm home all day and can get my work hours in whenever. I need to come up with a better way to get interview appointments locked in. A lot of the drawn out process is my fault because I lose track of where the conversation is, but a lot of times I've said, "Hey, here's a bunch of possible dates, pick one and give me a time" and then I never hear back. It's hard to know whether people simply aren't that enthusiastic about being on the show or whether they're expecting me to simply pick a date and time arbitrarily. I love *having* the interviews but I don't love *scheduling* them. And speaking of which, I need to write up my script for next week's On the Shelf podcast and edit the interview...no, wait, I already edited the interview for the week after! Yay for Past Me!
