Kitchen Storage

Yesterday, blog buddy joeh, wrote about the storage war in his kitchen, where his beloved wife Mrs Cranky (that's what he calls her) had her dishes stacked in the cupboard like a Jenga puzzle.

I decided to show you all how I store my stuff in my teeny, tiny kitchen.

this is my crockery cupboard where everything has its place. See that white rectangular thing between the plates and bowls? And the same on the top shelf between large bowls and smaller ones.

it's a shelf stacker, lightweight metal, bought from Ikea two days after I moved in here, when I got sick of having to pull down or lift up the small plates to get a larger one.

here's a closer look, large plates on the cabinet shelf, smaller plates on the stacker, bowls are off to the side and lesser used things are up on the top shelf.

under the cabinet is the microwave, with the coloured plastic plates I use for cat food

next to the microwave, on the edge of the hotplates is the old chipped mug with the plastic forks and spoons I use for serving up cat food. For Lola of course.

two steps away, (literally two steps!), is the other corner of the kitchen which I call my coffee corner. Here you see all my mugs, which don't fit in that tiny crockery cabinet. Most of the utensils I use daily are here too, because the drawers are too small to hold everything. 

 In between this corner and the microwave corner is the sink, which you won't be seeing because that's where I stashed all the junk I didn't want in the photographs (*~*)

the jars hold International Roast Instant coffee on the left, raw sugar in the middle and Milo on the right

the tray they sit on has a pretty cups design and was found in a thrift shop for $2

the hanging shelf which holds my daily vitamins is from Ikea

and so are the rails and hooks, sold separately, the hooks being in packs of five for just a few dollars, about $3.95 I think

even my scissors and measuring spoons are up here, to be easily seen and reached

next to the hotplates, back on the other side of the kitchen again, is this utensil holder, again from Ikea, with all my wooden spoons, the small blue and white jug holds bamboo skewers and a plastic whisk, the saucer it sits on is used as a spoon rest when I need it

one step to the left is this matching utensil holder with the plastic utensils used for the nonstick cookware, all the saucepans are in the skinny cupboard just under this tiny section of benchtop. The brown stoneware container in the back corner holds herbal teabags and the smaller on in front and to the left of the plunger is filled with honey, for the tea of course.

on the wall is the big wire strainer (and you can better see the teabag pot and the honey pot.)

and my oven mitts, the small pair are thinner and more suited to bringing hot dishes out of the microwave, the striped pair are elbow length, insulated and great for getting things out of the real oven.

the plastic trays behind the hotplates catch any splatters from cooking and are easily taken to the sink for washing, much easier than me trying to reach in and crick my neck and strain my shoulders trying to wash down the tiles. 

So that's most of my kitchen, half a step left from the oven mitts is my fridge and that's right up against the door opening (no actual door just a space) to the living room. 

Sunday Selections # 401

Welcome back to Sunday Selections.

Begun way back in the mist of time by Kim of Frog Ponds Rock and now continued by me, with a drastic relaxation of rules.

Originally meant for showcasing old photos lost on your files, never seeing the light of day, the meme has morphed into photos of your choice, new or old, good or not-so-good, anything you please, but nothing rude please.

If you are participating, please leave me a comment so I can buzz along and have a look.
Elephant's Child always participates, although she may be away for a few weeks, and her pictures are always worth seeing.



We are back in the Botanic Gardens this week, looking at wisteria:

this is just a small section of the wisteria arbor which is quite long. Beyond it, across a lawn is another, newer arbor with much younger wisteria vines

the white wisteria which was buzzing with hundreds of bees, although I couldn't catch any on camera

black branches, white blooms and bright blue sky

I like the black and creamy white contrast

white at the top of the photo, purple from middle to bottom. This is looking towards the far end of the arbor where the purple wisteria is still quite dense

the blossoms appear to be purple and white rather than just purple

so pretty :)

here you can see the "white" section is actually very pale purple

another lovely shot. This is quite different from the wisteria on a front porch where I lived for a while, those blooms were a deeper purple.

last wisteria photo

a lovely large stand of Echiums, there are a few varieties, I believe these are "Pride of Madeira" the same as the ones in the front garden near my home.

moving away from the "purple" garden, walking towards the gift shop where plants, seeds and bulbs can be purchased, I saw this fiery stem of 'something'

We'll look closer next week.

Wednesday's Words on a Friday

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over by a moveable feast of participants when Delores had computer troubles.

The aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to mind.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please let us know so we can come along and read it.

This month the words are supplied by Margaret Adamson and friend Sue and can be found here.

This week's words are two well know phrases:

1. let the cat out of the bag

2. best thing since sliced bread

Here is my story:

We stowed the supplies in the boot and buckled ourselves into the front seats. Jasmine was so excited I thought she might explode. She carefully cradled the zippered carrier on her lap and turned shining eyes to me. “Can I hold her now Mum? Please please please?”

“Jas, we talked about this yesterday. It’s very unwise to have an unrestrained animal in a moving vehicle. You’ll have to wait until we get home.”

“But you didn’t even start the car yet. Just one little cuddle?”

“And if she jumps off your lap and runs under a seat or jumps up onto the dashboard so I can’t see through the window properly? No, Jas. Move your fingers away from that zipper. Do not let the cat out of the bag until we get home.”

I drove away from the welfare shelter and down Simpson street. “Look Mum, there’s that new bakery Honey Maxwell told me about. Her Mum thinks their chocolate fudge cake is the best thing since sliced bread. Can we go there for cakes next time you have an afternoon teaparty?”

Sunday Selections

Welcome back to Sunday Selections.

Begun way back in the mist of time by Kim of Frog Ponds Rock and now continued by me, with a drastic relaxation of rules.

Originally meant for showcasing old photos lost on your files, never seeing the light of day, the meme has morphed into photos of your choice, new or old, good or not-so-good, anything you please, but nothing rude please.

If you are participating, please leave me a comment so I can buzz along and have a look.
Elephant's Child always participates, and her pictures are always worth seeing.

Today, (last Sunday actually) we're taking a walk in the Botanic Gardens, specifically to see the wisteria arbor.
On the way to the gate I saw an amazing tree that I instantly fell in love with. 

I have no idea what type of tree this is, but I love all those aerial roots and the bark feels warm and friendly, almost smooth.

the tree in the distance to the right is a young Moreton Bay Fig tree

here you see smaller aerial roots with the "hairy" feeder roots growing towards the ground

some of the tufted "hairy" roots are almost brush like

the thicker ones look like you could cut one with a good length of stem and have a broom

leaving the tree and walking into the gardens, I saw the trumpet vine in heavy bloom

here's me hugging a Moreton Bay Fig tree, N took the photo and I think V took one too with her own camera.

on to the Wisteria Arbor where we discovered we were a week or so too late, we'd hoped to see the interior hanging with blossoms, but they were already mostly gone and leaves were taking over. Further down towards the other end there were still quite a few blossoms hanging, more on that next week.

from the outside you can see the arbor has purple, then white, then purple again, with the white being intensely fragrant and covered with bees having a delightful time.

here's a little teaser, the white wisteria.

 I was very glad I'd taken some antihistamine before leaving the house.

See you next week. 

Wednesday's Words on a Friday

The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over by a moveable feast of participants when Delores had computer troubles.

The aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to mind.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please let us know so we can come along and read it.

This month the words are supplied by Margaret Adamson and friend Sue and can be found here.

This week's words are: 

1 precipitation
2. lanky
3. grotesque
4. clockwork
5. still
6. transporting

and/or:

1. Eskimo
2. cyclone
3. cassowary
4. waitress
5. cleaning
6. auditorium

Here is my story:

Drama Club Afternoon Tea Party

Kylie and Joan burst in through the door. “It’s time”, yelled Kylie. “I’m so excited! The cleaning crew has finished doing the auditorium, we can start setting up now.”’

”About time,” grumbled Robbie. “I was hoping to be half done by now. I have so many other things still to do. You know I like my schedules to run like clockwork.”

“Take it easy Robbie,” said Dennis. “There’s eight of us here now and Theresa is coming, there’ll be no problem transporting all this food, and the trestle tables are already on the way. Johnno’s dad got the truck last night and loaded everything.”

“Well alright then, but I’m going to have to leave by three thirty and no later. I promised Phil and Sam a trip to the Zoo to see the new Cassowary enclosure where the baby chicks are making their first appearance. Phil wants to take photos and needs plenty of daylight.”

“You’d better hope for no precipitation then,” said Sandra.

“Why can’t you just say rain, like normal people?” said Kylie. “Always showing off with the big words, thinking you’re so much smarter than everyone else.”

“I don’t think I’m so much smarter. I know I’m so much smarter,” said Sandra.

“Did you read the dictionary instead of bedtime stories when you were a baby?” said Kylie.

“As a matter of fact, I did,” said Sandra. “And the junior encyclopedia.”

“Never mind all that,” said Johnno. “We need to get moving if Robbie wants to be finished by three thirty.”

“He can leave then anyway,” said Dennis, “we have Suzanne turning up soon, and she’s bringing that new girl Amelia. She’s from northern Alaska so she’s been helping with the right things for the Eskimo theme we’re doing this year.”

Brothers Alex and Chris both spoke up together. ”How about we start actually moving this food instead of standing around nattering!” 

“Great idea,” said Dennis and everyone picked up platters of sandwiches and cakes, heading towards the door.

“Who is our waitress today?” asked Chris. “I hope it isn’t that Julie who rushes around like a cyclone. You barely clean your plate and there she is whisking everything away to the kitchen for cleaning!”

“I think it’s Cathy,” said Robbie.

“Cathy? That lanky beanpole who towers over everyone else in the whole school?” 

 “Yes,” said Sandra. “I heard her saying how pleased she was to be getting a turn finally.”

“Well I hope she wears something suitably decent,” said Johnno. “Most of what she normally wears is pretty grotesque, if you ask me.”  

“I think Suzanne is helping her out with what to wear and she’ll be mostly covered by an apron,” said Dennis.

oh dear! and a small Lucky Streak

Lola has recently begun sleeping in my bed with me. 
Not on top of the covers, not at the foot of the bed, nor on top of the covers snuggled up by my side.
No, now she crawls under the covers and snuggles up by my ribs. 

The first night she did this passed without incident.

Last night was a different story. 
In my sleep, I'd rolled over and was facing away from her.
Still in my sleep I rolled back and in doing so must have flung an arm over my sleeping kitty. 

Not a wise move.

I now have several bandaids on that arm, another of the larger patches is higher up and another regular bandaid is on the under side of the arm.

Never unexpectedly wake a sleeping kitty!

The black band you see on my wrist is the hand brace I wear for sleeping every night. Two of them, one for each wrist.

it's padded for comfort and has a shaped metal splint in an inside pocket that keeps the forearm and wrist in a straight line, keeping even pressure along the carpal tunnel area. The metal splint is bent inwards at the base of the hand to fit comfortably into the palm of my hand. 

the grey area with small black velcro tabs pulls open to allow easy access into the inner sleeve, then the wrist tab is pulled closed firmly with base and top tabs being adjusted for comfort. 

Without these braces, I wake up with excruciating pain in my hands, it feels like a freezing hot burn, (that's the only way I can describe it), along the back of the hand, with painful tingling and numbness in the middle fingers. 

It's often worse in the winter and much, much worse if I do a lot of fine finger work, such as typing here on the blog, knitting, sewing, unpicking bad sewing when necessary and so on. 

This is the main reason I'm giving serious thought to giving up the Sunday Selections for a few months, (the photo sorting and processing causes a lot of pain even in the daytime) and just doing the Words for Wednesday challenge.

I'll see how things go. I've already scheduled next Sunday's selection.

On the upside, I have had a small lucky streak lately.  Nothing as spectacular as Val of Hillbilly Mom fame , but I recently found myself with $1 change from the shopping I'd done, so bought a $1 scratcher lottery ticket.

Won $5! 
So of course I went back to the same place and cashed it in for five more of the same type. When you're on a good thing, stick to it. That's what my mum used to say.

with the five new tickets, number one was a winner, getting me $2, tickets 2, 3, 4, were losers,

ticket  5 was another $2 winner. So $4 altogether and off I went the next day to cash those in for four more of the same

Got them home and tickets 1 and 2 were losers, but tickets 3 and 4?

winners! 
No cash this time, but two free tickets. 

Val, here in Australia, we have to scratch the same amount or the "free ticket" token three times on the one ticket to win anything.

Tomorrow, I'll cash in those free tickets and hope the new tickets are also winners, even if they only get me one or two more free tickets. 

All in all, I've had quite a bit of fun from that original $1 ticket. 

Sunday Selections

Welcome back to Sunday Selections.

Begun way back in the mist of time by Kim of Frog Ponds Rock and now continued by me, with a drastic relaxation of rules.

Originally meant for showcasing old photos lost on your files, never seeing the light of day, the meme has morphed into photos of your choice, new or old, good or not-so-good, anything you please, but nothing rude please.

If you are participating, please leave me a comment so I can buzz along and have a look.
Elephant's Child always participates, and her pictures are always worth seeing.

Remember the butchered tree from last week?

this is all that is left ☹

it's about a metre across. I'm still angry about this, but the new development on the adjoining block is covering all the area where the tree roots would be on that side and over the years the tree might have suffered a slow death, dropping branches on roof, paths, people, so while I hate this solution, it might be for the best. 

these are the erigerons (seaside daisy) I planted the first year I moved here. They're doing really well, these are knee height,

with this one being almost hip height to me.

I love the cheery pink and white flowers on them.

here is something no one wants to see in any garden, this is in one of the rain gardens on the footpath.

golden wattle is blooming brightly everywhere

on the other side of the block is this different wattle, which is much, much larger than it looks here

the leaves are different and the lemon scented golden balls are a softer yellow, most of these haven't opened yet, except a few dead centre in the photo

and a few right at the edge.

this lemon scented wattle is in the yard of this soon-to-be-demolished house that I showed you a few weeks ago. I expected that to have begun by now, but it seems I was wrong. The house will be replaced by two-two storey townhouses, so it's a forgone conclusion the tree will also go along with the rest of the vegetation there.

here is the lovely Lady Lola perusing the newest IKEA catalogue

gazing out the window

settling down for a nap

stretching all the way out

and sound asleep.