A few of the things discovered while cleaning out the kitchen cabinet

You know, the one above the desk that I promised in my 11 things to get rid of in 2011 post to purge?

Yes, this is it, this is the post where I name names and even post pictures. Be afraid, be very afraid. If you're me, that is.

If you are very very lucky, and treat me nicely, I might even take some "after" pictures tomorrow so you can see what a good girl I was. In the meantime, though, you'll have to suffice with these pictures of the "before" scene (including the "before" of the desk itself, a biohazard zone, which I cleaned off in early December and HAS REMAINED CLEAN FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH. I expect a parade. And chocolate cake.)

I hope these help you feel better about yourself because *you* would never let the clutter overtake *your* life to this extent. Oh no.

Pay special attention to the upper cabinets (again, I cleaned off the desk absolutely ages ago. It hasn't looked like this in WEEKS. The cabinets have doors, we can pretend like crap isn't there by just closing the door. Magic.) But the uppers, pay attention, as some of these items will be featured prominently later.

Again, focus on the cabinets. I get that the desk was a pigsty but I've moved on.

Okay, here's a few of the things I discovered in the bottomless pit that is the kitchen cabinets:

1. At least 4 dozen bubble envelopes, all sizes and in all kinds of states of disrepair. There is a broken part of my brain that won't let me discard a potentially usable bubble envelope, even though there are dozens of other bubble envelopes in better repair just an arm's-reach away. (Left and right side photos, all over the flipping place. If there's a nuclear holocaust, have no fear, I can safely ship small breakables.)

2. 2 baby books, completely empty. In my defense, I've already put one into the giveaway bag. It was a Marshall's impulse buy when I thought I might prefer the binder style to the book style. At this point ANY style would suffice since the second child's life has not been properly memorialized in a baby book. (Upper left corner, darker yellow box.)

3. 1 key to a car we haven't owned in more than four and a half years. Yes, I checked.

4. Husband's high school class ring. WTF? (It was in a box of stuff from the kitchen cabinet of the old house. That we moved out of in 2003.)

5. Wall calendar ("Your baby's first year" or some such) from oldest's first year in which I meticulously documented what he wore every single day. I told husband about this tonight, and of course his natural reply was, "Why the heck did you do that?" You see, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth and the oldest was born, my camera printed on 35mm FILM and didn't keep track of the date and other metadata tags on each digital picture file. Because there WERE NO DIGITAL PICTURE FILES. At least not until I got a digital camera when the now-9 year old was about 4 months old. This also begs the question - didn't I have anything else to do? (answer: yes, I worked and I think this was my way of coping with the separation, I'd dress him each morning and log it on his calendar. Every day.)

6. Ticket stubs from Wiggles Live! The things we do for our children (they loved it.)

7. An incomplete set of tails for the donkey. No donkey. The donkey is MIA. If you have the donkey, have seen the donkey, or know anything about the donkey, I urge you to contact me ASAP to reunite donkey with his missing tails. I imagine his hiney is cold.

 

Comments

[Abigail]

It makes me feel better not because I would never let clutter take over, but that I am not the only one. I laughed about the donkey's cold hiney. Poor donkey.

Somewhere I still have a notepad from when my oldest was born on which I documented EVERY NURSING SESSION. Yes. I wrote down how many minutes on each side and how long it took for the milk to come down. I was a little worried about how short his nursing sessions were. Now I want to keep it forever. :)

[Abigail]

Oh wait, that's every nursing session for the first six weeks or so, not the whole time he nursed! That would have been really crazypants.

[Karen Smith]

There were so many gems in the kids' baby things that I actually went out, with BOTH of the little darlings (something I avidly avoid in the winter because of the slop and the fact that it's a pain to shop with them both due to whining and begging) to Target to obtain bins for each of them so I could put all the ticket stubs and the little sheets from the daycare that showed when the pooped and things, all the hair clippings, the birthday cards received, the "congratulations on your birth" balloon, the copy of the newspaper on the day they were born, etc. And, incidentally, get that crap out of the kitchen! ;)

[Fancywithnancy.blogspot.com]

I am laughing because my recipe desk looked just like this until the other day when I dropped a pencil sharpener on my desk and the cuttings exploded all over my laptop (since of course I keep it there amongst all the mess). It is impossible to keep up!!!! I had a hard time before the kids came around.

I recently just blogged about the difference in documentation from when I was in high school to today - check it out: http://fancywithnancy.blogspot.com/2011/01/my-scrapbooking-journey.html

You better post "after" pictures!

[Patty]

OMG. I am in the process of de-cluttering. We are remodeling our basement and all the "stuff" had to come out. It is now in one half of the garage. We even got a Tuff Shed this past summer to help de-clutter from the basement. Good Luck. Go to the OWN network and watch a Peter Walsh episode ASAP. That will inspire you.

[Karen Smith]

Thanks everyone! I just took after pictures, though then I read an article about using a little grosgrain ribbon to put a finish on the edges of shelves and it got me thinking... ;)

I'll post them soon!