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SDD5 (Social Distancing Day 5) - Since I got pretty much all of my usual weekend to-do tasks done yesterday, and since it's been raining all weekend (yay!!!!) so yard work is out, I decided to tackle the reorganization and sorting out of my kitchen cabinets.
The goals are several:
1) Identify things in my cabinets that are either outdated or spoiled and need to be discarded.
2) Organize things for better accessibility and more rational groupings
3) Catalog all the home-preserved items (both by me and received as gifts) and post a list to remind me of what I have and what needs to be used.
4) Remind myself of what foodstuff I have that I can use to put off grocery shopping until absolutely necessary, while still allowing for variety. (Honestly, I have enough food for over a month without any need to leave the house, but the trick is making it varied.)
I've also decided to do a complete overhaul of my herb/spice collection, since I'm simply not cooking the same way I used to and the idea of having 50 different spices "just in case I get inspired" is silly. Many of them were acquired specifically for historical cooking, and I don't do that much except for the occasional "for fun" meal. Since I've had most of them for the last 10 years, I probably need to discard most of the leafy green stuff. There's also the issue that I'd set up the spice racks on the inside of a pair of upper cabinet doors, which means I needed to get the step stool out to reach anything bhe the lowest couple of shelves, plus they reduced cabinet space a little.
My new plan is to install spice racks on the side of my kitchen island (probably not permanently installed -- I have a plan) which will make them all accessible. Thus I'll be more likely to use what I keep anyway.
The next kitchen re-org project is to look at all my appliances and see if I can make them more rational and accessible. Also: sometimes I just like to move things around to different locations, just to shake things up.
But I think before I do that, I'm going to tackle the last remaining "attractive flat surface" problem in the great room: the alleged computer desk (which is never actually used as a computer desk, but does provide storage for lots of accessories and peripherals, many of which are obsolete). I *might* actually set it up to be my work-from-home station, since it's not visible from the front windows (as opposed to the current set-up on the dining room table, which is).
I actually took a break to watch a DVD I've had forever and not watched: The Girl King, a dramatization of the story of Queen Christina of Sweden. Very lovely, though it takes the usual movie angle of deciding that all historical politics were driven by romance (for good or ill). But it solidly centers the Christina-Ebbe relationship and frames the outcome in a fairly positive way.
I've also joined an entertainment/solidarity/charity project organized by Maya Chhabra (a Twitter friend who is also one of my regular beta readers): Decameron 2020. It's a Patreon account that will post daily original short fiction (or novel excerpts) with an optional donation to benefit a charity in Rome that works with refugees. I've donated a story to it, so it you want to read something of mine that you probably seen before (unless you beta read it), check it out.
The goals are several:
1) Identify things in my cabinets that are either outdated or spoiled and need to be discarded.
2) Organize things for better accessibility and more rational groupings
3) Catalog all the home-preserved items (both by me and received as gifts) and post a list to remind me of what I have and what needs to be used.
4) Remind myself of what foodstuff I have that I can use to put off grocery shopping until absolutely necessary, while still allowing for variety. (Honestly, I have enough food for over a month without any need to leave the house, but the trick is making it varied.)
I've also decided to do a complete overhaul of my herb/spice collection, since I'm simply not cooking the same way I used to and the idea of having 50 different spices "just in case I get inspired" is silly. Many of them were acquired specifically for historical cooking, and I don't do that much except for the occasional "for fun" meal. Since I've had most of them for the last 10 years, I probably need to discard most of the leafy green stuff. There's also the issue that I'd set up the spice racks on the inside of a pair of upper cabinet doors, which means I needed to get the step stool out to reach anything bhe the lowest couple of shelves, plus they reduced cabinet space a little.
My new plan is to install spice racks on the side of my kitchen island (probably not permanently installed -- I have a plan) which will make them all accessible. Thus I'll be more likely to use what I keep anyway.
The next kitchen re-org project is to look at all my appliances and see if I can make them more rational and accessible. Also: sometimes I just like to move things around to different locations, just to shake things up.
But I think before I do that, I'm going to tackle the last remaining "attractive flat surface" problem in the great room: the alleged computer desk (which is never actually used as a computer desk, but does provide storage for lots of accessories and peripherals, many of which are obsolete). I *might* actually set it up to be my work-from-home station, since it's not visible from the front windows (as opposed to the current set-up on the dining room table, which is).
I actually took a break to watch a DVD I've had forever and not watched: The Girl King, a dramatization of the story of Queen Christina of Sweden. Very lovely, though it takes the usual movie angle of deciding that all historical politics were driven by romance (for good or ill). But it solidly centers the Christina-Ebbe relationship and frames the outcome in a fairly positive way.
I've also joined an entertainment/solidarity/charity project organized by Maya Chhabra (a Twitter friend who is also one of my regular beta readers): Decameron 2020. It's a Patreon account that will post daily original short fiction (or novel excerpts) with an optional donation to benefit a charity in Rome that works with refugees. I've donated a story to it, so it you want to read something of mine that you probably seen before (unless you beta read it), check it out.
