(Psst...Fitbit, Inc. Rocks)

(Don't tell anybody, but they gave me a new Fitbit for free because I have been so nice to them.)

(NB: This is not their usual policy. And I was totally prepared to buy a new one--I ordered it, appending a pitiful message about how much I missed it and needed it right away, and they e-mailed me a nice note that they had cancelled the order and were sending me one post-haste in return for valuable information about how I lost it and how I used it so that they could improve their product.)

(I just had to tell somebody how wonderful they are. I did ask them if they preferred me not to mention the replacement publicly--not that this blog is all that public--and I did not hear back. The ONLY time they have not been responsive. But I just have to say, don't expect free replacements in the event of loss...though if you do buy one you can expect a great product and sterling customer service!)

And BTW, the Fatbet is going swimmingly. For everybody but me, that is...I seemed to be stalled out at about minus three pounds. Still have some time though...

I seem to be bogged down in ellipses today...

Upcoming: I knocked off Goal 78 (Go clothes shopping with someone knowledgeable and come back with at least two good outfits) and exceeded my goal to an amazing extent. More on this later. ScottieDog keeps trying to take pictures of my new outfits, but we are really not good fashion photographers. For one thing, he's so tall and all the pictures he takes are from above which make me look like I'm about four feet tall and as wide. We'll get that figured out sooner or later...

... ...

Must We Be Idiots? (No...)

Every now and then it will occur to me that I'm an idiot. Not generally, just about one particular thing or other.

I've been working really hard knocking off a bunch of goals, and actually revising some that I didn't really care about to others that I did actually want to accomplish, like re-organizing my kitchen.

I should actually break that down into smaller goals, but what the heck.

Today I organized my antique pie safe! Which I am actually using as a kitchen cabinet, there not being many of the ordinary variety in my approximately 10-foot-square kitchen). Here's a "before":

What you don't see in this picture is all the stuff I DO use stacked all over the dining room table and the wine rack and sitting on the floor behind doors and stuff. Why on earth would I be storing a whole bunch of stuff I never use in this cabinet???? Idiocy!

So I rolled up my sleeves and started looking at the junk in there as though I'd never seen it before. Like those humongous schooners up on the top of the cabinet--we never use those, and they just sit up there and get covered with greasy dust. Out they went. Also out went serving dishes we never use, a set of old measuring cups I didn't even know were in there, a whole dish full of water bottle caps...you get the idea.

Now I have room to put all the humongous wine glasses I got for Christmas! Plus some of the old ones. And the Chardonnay glasses I'm planning to buy.

After I clean out the bottom of the cabinet--NOT looking forward to that--I'm going to put all the random Rubbermaid containers down there, and possibly the KitchenAid mixer which is now sitting on the floor next to the new Cuisinart.

You'll notice the top of the cabinet is slightly less picturesque than before, but that's because I decided to put only stuff that we actually use up there every now and then, like the wok, so it doesn't sit there for ages and get the greasy dust thing going on.

There were Splenda packets in the right drawer that must have been eight years old. And I swear we must have fourteen boxes of birthday candles...I have to be selective what I put in these drawers because they don't open and close very easily. This is a VERY OLD piece of furniture. Well, by American standards, anyway--circa 1810.

So NOW I have a whole bunch of stuff to throw out/store/give away stacked on the dining room table and sitting on the floor, etc. Wonder how long it will stay there...

As a reward for reading all the way to the bottom of this very boring post, here's a bonus picture of the spice system I put up several months ago and having been meaning to brag about. I don't have room for a spice rack anywhere, and I've never liked them anyway because you're limited to however many the rack will hold and if it held a lot it would be a great big thing to have sitting around in your kitchen. Anyway, I heard one day about magnetic spice containers, and I went straight online and bought some. I forget how much the whole thing cost--I guess about $75. But what's it worth not to spend your entire cooking life having to dig around for the spice you want and usually knocking several of them off the shelf unless you keep them in a drawer like I used to but can't now because I have no drawers to spare. And I can always buy more jars if I need them. I even keep them in alphabetical order (except ScottieDog keeps putting them back wrong). (But that's okay because I really appreciate his cooking.)



BTW that yellow apron was a Christmas gift from the lovely AC! Isn't it the cutest thing? It has rickrack on it.