I’m sure you’re wondering where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to.
What I can tell you is that it’s very hard to be creative and insightful when life’s abundances happen all at once and it begins raining metaphorically.
Just as I began to “settle in” to our new office at the shop, my real estate business picked up. It’s incredibly gratifying to help my friends and clients make what may be their biggest and most important move of their lives.
I love, love, love my Master Gardener class, which is 3 hours one afternoon a week. And I have homework! GASP!
Of course, there’s volunteer work to be done.
Then my father-in-law had to be hospitalized, where he received a pacemaker.
I drove my dear friend Sophia to Columbia (Missouri) to see her mother in ICU one day.
We were thrilled that our good friends from Kearney were able to come up last weekend. My husband was one meat-smoking machine before they arrived! Then there was more smoke, and fire alarms, and calls to Central Dispatch to tell them to please disregard any fire alarms from this address. And Macaroni and Cheese that tasted like Hickory Smoked Mac & Cheese. (But that’s another story).
So, apparently I was amped up from the busy last few weeks of work; last Sunday I had the overwhelming urge to clean out my china cabinet. And it had to be done right now. I’m sure that happens to everyone. Doesn’t it? Please? 😉
This is my china cabinet. It’s one of my favorite pieces of furniture in our whole house. And versatile. It has served as a bedroom “dresser”, a linen closet, and now a china cabinet. I think I’ll keep it. Who knows what I might morph it into next?
It is filled with beautiful things that I almost never use anymore. We live a very casual lifestyle, and I am quite happy with this.
My grandmother’s china and crystal I am saving for our nieces, who haven’t picked it up yet. (Ahem!) 😉
Grandma’s China-Before
Gifts given to me by beloved friends I will keep and treasure, as well as heirloom pieces that have been in my family for several generations.
However, I have a few pieces that were given to me years ago by people with whom I’ve completely lost track of, as well as things I’ve purchased that I no longer use or like. I have a dear friend who’s daughter is collecting things for her future apartment. Perhaps I can bless her with some of these things.
I have no idea why I somehow felt this particular need to start this project now. After all, it’s not anything that can be done in one day (especially by the time I wash everything I’m keeping!) So this is what my kitchen looked like last Sunday.
My Messy Kitchen
Sometimes I think it must be my version of ‘nesting’. When life gets out of control, it brings me a certain degree of peace and comfort to bring order to what I can control. This would, of course, be my house.
For me, it’s a soul-soothing process to bring order and beauty to something that’s cluttered. It feels so good to open a cabinet door and have the space be pleasing to my eyes. Ahhhhhh.
This also means that my kitchen is a form of chaos until the project is done. But if you aren’t spending that much time there, you really don’t notice.
The Kitchen Counter
So today I finished washing all the china and putting everything back in. Did you know that you can actually put your china and crystal in the dishwasher? Yep. I loaded up the dishwasher, WITHOUT soap or rinse agent, and set it on the delicate cycle. Perfect!
It’s done. Doesn’t it look nice? Ahhhhh… 🙂
