Still in the kitchen. And boy, this one was a doozy. Actually, it’s more like the little mudroom off of the kitchen, but it’s got kitchen stuff so I’m counting it.

When Stephen demo’d part of the kitchen, we had to relocate our dishes, tupperware and kitchen appliances to the mudroom since we had no upper cabinets. I’ll post pictures of the actual kitchen another time, but suffice it to say, it’s crazy in there. Also, I’m a very patient woman because it’s been this way for fifteen months.

Anywho, here is the horrible mudroom before:

I went through everything on those shelves, including the tupperware, glass jars, dishes and appliances. And random other crap that had no business being there in the first place.

Some of the dishes I inherited from my mother-in-law when I was setting up my apartment my first year of law school. I had nothing and she graciously gave me dishes so I didn’t have to buy them. They are definitely from the 1970’s era, white with brown and yellow flowers and a brown rim around the edge. As the years have gone on, I’ve held onto these plates, even as I acquired new, plain white ones. So, they are being returned to her. One stack of plates down.

Then I turned to the small appliances. An easy win was the popcorn maker that we haven’t used in forever. And we haven’t used it because when you make the popcorn, it lands everywhere but in the bowl you’ve placed underneath the spout.

I’ve learned to make homemade kettle corn in one of our cooking pots. Anywhere I see that something is a one-use item or that I have something else that could do that thing’s job, I’m donating it. So, adios to the popcorn maker.

I also had this basket full of cute skewers, toothpicks and napkins that I used to make my kids’ lunches for school. That would have been the “cute bento box” phase.

I now no longer have the energy to spend making things cute, plus I was requested to stop doing it. The Boy told me one day after I’d painstakingly made his lunch and packed a note that, “it’s embarrassing, Mom.” Alrighty then.

I also culled through the random glass jars and sent most to the recycle bin. Some old insulated lunch bags, bags that you get free with purchase, and random stuff that we don’t need or use got set aside for donation. I still need to go through the white plastic bin on the top shelf and the big brown bin on the floor, but I’m happy with this improvement.

And it really didn’t take very long. Less than 30 minutes, actually. Sometimes, I admit, I go in there and just stare at it.