Lately we've been . . .

1. Watching Oliver get adjusted to his new digs:

I admit, he looks really relaxed and content in these pictures.  He has moments where he feels like that, it seems.  However, he still spends much of the day hiding, and managed to get himself locked in the linen closet for most of the day yesterday!  We finally figured out where he was late afternoon, when we heard muffled meows coming from upstairs.  :)

2. Celebrating John's birthday with Pecan Pie:

And Nutloaf, buttermilk-chive mashed potatoes, roasted asparagus, and Quick Gravy:

3. Starting plants for our backyard urban farm:

We are ecstatic that we saved nearly enough TP rolls to make little pots!  (Egg cartons to the rescue!)  We spent a total of $4 on cheap baking sheets from the dollar store, and a few bucks at Target on some plastic pots for herbs.

4. Eating pizza:

(It's kind of a Sunday night "thing" at our house.)

5. And still getting organized:

Spice racks went up yesterday!  Wahoo!  Our kitchen is finally organized, which is a big deal for this cook.  Very few unpacking projects remain . . . .

What have you been up to?  Anyone else chomping at the bit to get gardening?

organization for the tea-obsessed

As many of you have read, I recently purchased a load of new teas . . . and subsequently, have long outgrown what used to be my "tea cupboard." Now, keep in mind that I could fit about 12 boxes of tea in my old cupboard, plus a couple of different honeys and a small tin of sugar. Initially, I decided to leave some of my new teas unopened for a while, until I used up some of what was in the cupboard. Today, however, I had a total "a-HA!" moment, and solved my tea storage dilemma:

Yes . . . that is a cheap plastic over-the-door shoe organizer, holding my entire tea collection! Explain to me WHY I have never thought of this before? Each box of tea fits perfectly into its own little pouch, I can see everything I have and can organize it by brand/type, (nighttime teas, fruity teas, spicy teas, teas for sickness, etc.), I am using previously un-used space, (which is always a bonus in a 550 square foot apartment!) AND I freed up an entire kitchen cupboard!

Who knew $7.75 could make a girl so damn happy. :)

unrelated rambling

I wanted to blog this morning, but didn't have any interesting pictures to add to my post. Rats! Since I've had far too many pictureless posts in a row, I found a couple of things to take pictures of and tell you about. Here you go:

Thing 1:

While Dan was at band practice last night, I reorganized my spice rack! I know this seems like a very lame thing to be excited about, but I was getting to the point where I couldn't really find anything, and resultingly had multiples of certain things. Whew! I've also decided that I love the 1-ounce jars of spices from Penzey's, (I received a bunch from Dan's brother for Christmas,) and I think I'm going to start buying all of my spices there for convenience. Heck, the name of the spice is on the FRONT of the jar, so it can be easily read from the spice rack! Woo!

Thing 2:

I need to hit the store for a few things this morning; here's my list. My parents are coming to town today and staying (in a hotel down the street) until Friday, and I don' think any of us can handle eating out every single meal! Both our tummies and wallets would suffer greatly, so I'm planning on a couple of simple meals while they are here. I'm also having a few friends over on Friday night for potluck and board games -- woo cheap entertainment!