Pantry Makeover

I had a sweet little day off from Shelby County on Thursday so I decided with this wonderful time off I would need to be a little productive. *Enter Idea* I would give my pantry a makeover. And as you can see it really needed it. My friends call me Monica Ghellar off the t.v. show Friends for good reason. I have ONE closet where I stuff all my food and in no good order. Well Monica would be proud because I organized this little baby to a T.

Before















Found in the time machine pantry (I call it that because it is all the waaaaay across my kitchen where the coffee sitting area is and it's just a little odd over there):

4 jars of Skippy Peanut Butter

7 jars of Pasta sauce. I am a mere preschool teacher but I can count. I know there are only 6 there but I found one later after I took this picture. I mean really who needs 7 jar of pasta sauce? I guess I'm prepared if we have to go underground.

Lots of tomatoes. Can you guess what my favorite food is?

We even found a mouse.

Ok don't freak out it wasn't that bad. This is one of Emerald's TOY mouses.

So she stalked it. Acted like a boy and pretended she didn't want it.

Then she pounced. She was a happy kitty one more!

The find of the day was pretty bad. Lurking in my pantry behind everything in sight was this little guy. Looks innocent enough.

You saw that correctly the expiration date is August 4th, 2006! Wow. I don't even use boxed dinners like these anymore. I like making things that don't have so many preservatives and pre-made stuff in it.

So now the time machine is empty.

A clean slate. Then this is what happened to it.

Doesn't it look so much better!

I love aprons and my mom has gotten vintage ones for me over the years and I really didn't want them to sit in a closet without being seen so I made some hooks from one's I already had. They come off the wall clean too so that's a plus.

The Time Machine has a really tall ceiling and all that space was going completely unused. So I took some boxes and cut them down to make mini shelves without having to buy any. It doesn't look all Real Simple Magazine or anything but I think it works. I also put things I don't use often or things I have gotten in bulk on this shelf. Things like Ramen Noodles (my hubby loves them and it takes us back to our college days, haha), extra A1 sauce, our extra crock pot, mason jars, etc.

This shelf is used for breakfast items with some clear canisters I got at Ikea a while back for cereals (p.s. they really work!), the basket houses all the pasta noodles, and the right side is just for tea and drink mixes.

Next is a basket I already had used for bread items and the rest of the shelf is canned food and pasta sauce. They are all organized by soups, vegetables, beans, cooking soups, tomatoes, and pasta sauce.

I think I will get a little box or something to use in the extra space there or a basket of some sort. Utilize the space, that has been my motto this whole time.

Next shelf is rice and boxed sides. We have a few taco kits too.

Last is two fantastic little plastic drawers I snagged at Lowe's. They fit in there like a glove. I use these for all our snacks and coffee (we have a lot of coffee from other countries) and the buckets on the right are onions, potatoes, and other vegetables we can leave out of the fridge. I moved out step stool from the laundry room to the space in between because it seemed like a more convenient location and if I need anything off the top shelf that I created I can get to it easily without calling for Mr. Phillips. He hates that when I have something I can use. The last item on the floor is a Sushi kit that we really need to try out but honestly I'm a little afraid it won't be to our sushi standards but I'm sure it will be fun trying.

So no craft today but as I have been getting the organizing fever this will be it for now. I hope Monica would be proud. I think I'll make some labels for the drawers. Don't they look like they are just begging for some cute labels? 

A Little Christmas Miracle

So my sister called me a few weeks before Christmas and invited us to Christmas lunch with them. We had to be in Dandridge for a Christmas lunch already with Daniel's side of the family so it was no can do for the Phillips as much as we wanted to.

As we got to my sisters on Christmas Eve she needed to put a Christmas Ham in the oven to bake for this wonderful lunch she was having. Sounds good right? Well it was until she woke up at around 6 in the morning on Christmas day with a strange smell filling her house. As any good mom would do she needed to go investigate. It was quite a shock.


Her wonderful ham had gotten so excited in the oven the juices had bubbled out over the sides of the pan and made a nice black crust in the bottom of her oven and smoke poured out of the oven.


And being the fantastic sister I am, we had to fan everything to get the smoke out.

She tried to do things quietly but she needed reinforcements so my mom and I got up and began the de-crusting process. Doesn't look so happy does she?

People were freaking out. Ok, a little dramatic.

Of course her sweet sister was there to help her ummm document the whole experience. Hahaha. Doesn't that make you want to eat early on Christmas morning?

The poor oven will have to be super cleaned and all it's innards taken out.

 

Things weren't looking pretty.

Nothing looked very hopeful for the Christmas lunch or the Christmas Ham. But then a little Christmas Miracle occurred. We were sure the little piggy was as black as the bottom of the oven. So we went to go check the poor little guy out.

And what to our wondering eye would appear............. but Porky Pig all sugar coated and happy to make Christmas lunch appear.  

You would think Santa would have been nice enough to come and tell my sister that her ham was smoking the house up but I guess he was a bit to busy for all that. Thanks a lot fat guy!

All and all it turned out so well and we were happy to be here on the most special of Christmas mornings when the house was all filled with smoke. That's one for the books. 

Now off to clean this little guy out. Sisters to the rescue!

Christmas Time

Christmas this year was pretty different than previous years. We actually got a REAL break. We usu ally have a mission trip the last week of December/First week of Jan. Don't get me wrong we LOVE going on mission trips but it does make us rush with our families more than we would like. Go to this house, go to this house, go home, go to the airport, arrive in a new country in about 24 hours total. Needless to say it can get exhausting. But this year was different. We got to spend a glorious week and a half in Tennessee. It was so much fun and here are some pics from our time. We love you family and let us know if there is anything we can do for you!

Here are some pictures of our trip to Alabama Theater before the trip to Tennessee. We watched It's A Wonderful Life and I will be watching that movie from no on every Christmas on the big screen if I can find it. It was AMAZING. Daniel and I dressed up in our best 1940's get up to feel even more like it was opening day for the movie back in 1945. So here are a few pics and you REALLY should try to see it this way.

This one is of me in my get up.

Daniel and I got all dolled up for our night on the town. We had a hard time finding the theater because Mr. Phillips said he knew exactly where it was. Uh huh, we got these in enough time to see the movie but not enough time to go eat some dinner. No matter it was still really fun.

One last pic of my great outfit. Can you tell I like it. :0)

The Oregon player was fantastic and we all sang along to his music with Christmas songs. I can imagine this is what people just did bak then. It was so nostalgic!

 

And finally this is Big Mama as Daniel and I named her. This is the Oregon that is played before each show at the Alabama Theater. It's so pretty isn't it. We had a great time and we were ready for our trip to Tennessee after that night. Next year I think we will try to take in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation too if we have time. Have you seen any great movies at a theater like this one? I have been to the Tennessee Theater once and it was similar but bigger. No pics from that night, sorry. We were actaully singing there for something but that's a story for another day. The next few posts will be of our time in Tennessee so keep your eyes open for them. 

This One Is For My People

So I have been on a bit of a blog frenzy lately. I really have never seen myself as a talented enough writer to do a blog. Well that is still true but I wanted to post fun things from the life and time of Mr. and Mrs. Phillips and well this is the best way. So I am going to post pics here and show some all around good family time. Right now there are only 2+ kitty in our happy family but I'm sure we will add more.

Speaking of family, if you didn't know already, Daniel and I are beginning in January to go through Foster Parenting Classes with Shelby County in Alabama where we live. A few words come to mind when I think about fostering children.....excited, petrified, happy, ill-equiped and a few more. So who knows what this little adventure will turn out to look like but we trust God and know that no matter what little boy or girl God sends our way they will be showered with love and compassion that can only be found from having love and compassion showed to us from our Heavenly Father.

We will eventually adopt a child from another country, at least that's the idea but until we do we hope to have a great time 'borrowing' other people's children. Most cildren coming from the DHR system will be coming from traumatic experiences so I really have no idea what to expect. I know it will be great in a way that only God can make it great but I'll make sure to fill everyone in as I get info.

Here are a few things from the DHR foster care site:

"Currently now there are 6000 children in foster care in Alabama."

Can you imagine 6000 children? Wow. We won't be taking near that many (maybe) but I am looking forward to seeing God's grace in the lives of these little ones.

If you have any wisdom please don't hold back. I need all the wisdom I can get!