New Place Part II

This weekend, I installed little magnets to hold some cabinets closed. I attempted to do this with a manual screwdriver, but quickly became frustrated. I talked to a close guy friend about power drills and decided to buy a Black & Decker 12V electric drill. I got those pesky little magnets installed, so now the cats can't open the cabinets! Success!

Speaking of the new place, I wanted to show how I like to organize things around the house. Maybe it will offer some ideas to people looking to reorganize their space.


Spice cabinet


Kitchen appliances


Knife block!


Cookbooks & weights


Spoon rest



In the spice cabinet photo, you can see a sheet of white paper taped inside the cabinet. That is a list of all my spices in alphabetical order, as well as a list of liquids divided by storage location (another cabinet or the fridge). Yes, OCD. The kitchen appliance shelf saves so much cabinet space by keeping items that are not used daily outside the kitchen. I used to store my mixing bowls on top of the waffle maker, but I now keep both sets of mixing bowls on the countertop. When I was looking at knives, I knew I had to have a knife block to keep them organized and to prevent myself from knicking a finger while fumbling in a drawer. I went with Wusthof Classic knives, buying a boxed set and adding a tomato knife. I love these knives. I have another small shelf that I set near the sliding glass doors. This shelf has cookbooks on the top two shelves and free weights on the bottom two shelves. I have 5, 10, and 20 lb dumbbells, a jump rope, weightlifting gloves, and The Body Sculpting Bible for Women stored here. I set my yoga mat against the shelf and my workout ball is tucked in the corner. The last picture is my adorable new spoon rest, which says, "Live life passionately. Laugh out loud. Love unconditionally." :)

For your moment of zen, here are some cranes walking behind my new place. They started squawking after they crossed the street though. I never knew they could be so loud!