The not so HIDDEN cost of increased prices

LOL --- There was no need to trick DH into cleaning the spice drawers. Once we established the space where the ones he wanted to keep were, he went through them pretty quickly!!!

He wants to keep this, but what an unruly mess of containers for everything! 

The spices to keep

This is the throwaway pile. WAIT—I'm going to go through that, pull out the utensils, and check those before they go in the garbage. It seems a shame to throw all those spices away, but most of it has been hanging around for years, so the spices are likely stale. And if we don't use them, what's the sense of keeping them? 

The throwaway drawer

I need to wash both drawers and then I'm hunting for a spice system that fits in the drawer. I'm not a fan of anything on the counter—this is my new rule since I started decluttering. I could live with NOTHING on the counter, but DH has a few things, and well, he gets a say in the kitchen as well. I can live with the normal stuff. I'll take a picture for tomorrow. 

Thanks for the suggestion, Ruth. I'm going to check out the drawer units. I went to the mall yesterday, but they didn't have anything like that, so I'll have to order online or do some more research. Of course, then I'll need matching jars to fit the new drawer insert. That should keep me busy for this week, and then I think all the drawers in the kitchen have been gone through once. I bet I could keep going and find more to throw out. 

But—let's get the spices under control first. WAIT—I can't take a picture of the counters until I deal with the spices since they are currently on the counter!

I made great progress on my project yesterday. Good grief -- it's one thing to blog about something, but I had never done this part before, and let's say there was a bit of ripping (OK - a lot of ripping) until I perfected the technique to my liking. You'll have to wait to see what happened. I'm almost done, and even though we have a virtual retreat today, I should be able to finish. Most of the writing is done, and it'll be sent tomorrow. 

I was wishing for a rainy day (sorry to all the gardeners and golfers), but I needed to stay inside and get some work done! Look at the clouds in the sky—especially those near the bottom of the photo. There are a few weird cloud formations—I'm sure there's a name for that! We used to have a few names for clouds, but now, there's a whole pile of new ones! 

Wavy cloud formation

Good grief - I just googled that, and those clouds on the bottom are called Asperitas Clouds. 

I walked the girls with no rain, and then it rained, so I wasn't going anywhere. Then it cleared up and I went for my afternoon walk. I took an umbrella just in case, but the rain was done by then. 

It's raining!

When I went to find my walking butt belt (fanny pack - not to offend anyone with that term), I couldn't find it the first day. Good grief -- I know where I put them - I have two. So I went back the next day, and they were right there! Beside my hiking backpack. 

But then I spotted these two backpacks which we never use. They are practically brand new and are now in the giveaway pile! NOTHING is sacred in this house; once you get past the HUGE mess, it's easy to spot things that can go! 

Backpacks to be given away

I appreciate that people don't have cars making it inconvenient when they go shopping, and they may have some heavy things to transport, but what's with all the abandoned shopping carts? 

Abandoned shopping carts

It's pretty rampant in my neighborhood these days. 

Another abandoned shopping cart

What I don't get is that these carts cost money, and if the stores lose them, they have to replace them. Guess what? That means higher costs for us! People keep blaming other sources for higher prices, but do they think about theft, lost or damaged shopping carts, and many other things that the public is doing to raise the prices of things? 

Do you know how much a shopping cart costs? I just checked, and it's about $1,500 CDN. Yikes!!! 

It's easy enough to have a trolley cart to carry heavy things, and leave the shopping carts at the store. Imagine if the stores didn't provide them? 

OH -- and I found the blog post with my homemade template. Check it out. That was my FREE template, or you could buy the one I showed you the other day. I have an idea to improve my homemade template, and you'll have to wait. I have a scouting trip in mind for next week. 

It was cold yesterday—perhaps it was just the damp, but it was cold in Studio B. I refused to change into pants, but I had a big sweater on! 

Here's the link for the Virtual Retreat. It starts at 1 p.m. today. We had loads of fun last night, and I got some work done. I'll discuss that tomorrow as I hope to finish that project. 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82983517671?pwd=ODdsa1FJenQwdFNaQWFTNGd4bEhPZz09

Meeting ID: 829 8351 7671
Passcode: 117636

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!