Pantry 911

 My pantry was ridiculously messy. The shelves are 30 inches deep (as compared to the typical 12-24 inches) so its one big black hole and we were literally just throwing things in there. It was driving me crazy. At first I was thinking about putting slide-out shelves in, but I decided the container option would be best. I don't have a before photo of the pantry but looking at the kitchen counters will give you an idea of all that had been thown in the "black hole"

 I love these containers. They are from Walmart and range from 5 to 7 dollars. And they are airtight!

I am loving the organization. I seriously just open the doors just to look at it sometimes. As well as labeling all of the containers, I also put labels on that showed the water ratio as well so I wouldn't forget on things like rice or instant potatoes. I also put the amount of minutes it would take to cook the various pastas. Even though it took a lot of containers, it was well worth the money in just seeing what I actually have in there! Long term that will save money from cooking from scratch and not buying ingredients that I already had!

Decorating with Nature

I love bringing nature inside to decorate with. There is something so warm and comforting about it. We made our traditional autumn trip up to Oak Glen and stopped by one of the nearby playgrounds to round up some acorns. There were a ton everywhere. After I got home I baked the acorns at 250 degrees for 2 hours to kill anything that might be lurking in them. I learned my lesson after last year. I bought both vases at the dollar store so it was a pretty cheap project.

(Disclaimer: I won't light the candles they are just for show)