I Might Need an Intervention!

Seriously!  Who needs this many measuring cups/spoons?  But I just can't bear the thought of getting rid of any of them!!

What type of kitchen tools do you have an abundance of in your house?

Fancy Hot Chocolate Maker

Earlier this year I went to visit a friend of mine in Kansas and she had this awesome Keurig.  I had heard about them before but didn't really have any interest in them as we do not drink coffee.  While visiting her, I tried one of her hot apple cider pods that go in the Keurig and it was amazing.  The concept of how little time it took for me to get the finished product and how good it was made me really want a Keurig.  Neil and Daniel had also had hot chocolate at friend's houses and thought this little machine was pretty cool.  When I saw how much they cost, I just could not rationalize buying one simply for the occasional hot chocolate or cider as those are not an everyday thing like coffee is for most people.

Last week sometime, I was having a conversation with some of the ladies who also volunteer in the same office as me and somehow these machines came up.  I mentioned how much I wanted one but just could not bring myself to buy one for occasional use.  One of the girls mentioned that they were upgrading theirs and if I wanted their old one, she would give it to me.  I jumped ALL over that!  I was so excited!

I mentioned to Neil that someone was going to give us a Keurig and he replied that he had no idea what I was talking about.  I explained what it was and how he had used one at a friend's house.  He just shrugged and said okay.  Yesterday, I told him that my friend had brought it in and I forgot to bring it home and he looked at me like I was special and said he had no idea what I was talking about.  He claimed he had no idea what a Keurig was.  That kid, he makes me laugh with his way of filtering out things that he does not deem important.  Well today, I bring it home and I have it in the truck when I mentioned to him on the way back home from picking him up from school that I think we should stop and buy some of the special k-cups for the Keurig.  He looks at me and says, "I have no idea what you are talking about."  I tell him, you know the cool machine that makes the yummy hot chocolate and apple cider.  He replies to me, "why don't you just call it a fancy hot chocolate machine!".  So that is what we will call it so he will know what I am talking about from now on!  In fact, for the rest of today that's what I called it in front of him.  I would tell Michael and Daniel and Neil would just laugh.  I love that kid.

I'm super excited about our new to us machine that will give us yummy, warm drinks!  I came right home from the commissary and made some chamomile tea!

Ants, Oats & Honey!

Well now, that title sounds like some type of delicacy in some foreign country!

Our kitchen was invaded recently by ants trying to get some reprieve from the heat and dryness we are experiencing due to the drought.  (I am really looking forward to the rain we are supposed to get this weekend!)  I really dislike ants.  When we lived at Fort Knox, we had such a problem with ants, I once put Daniel on the floor (he was less than a year old), walked away for less than 5 minutes and came back to my baby covered in ants!  I was so upset that I nearly drowned him in the sink trying to clean him up, then I grabbed the other two boys and just left the house until housing would go and take care of it.  It was too much for me.  Since then, I really dislike ants and hate having them in my house.

They came to spray for the ants today and in order to prepare we had to pull everything out of our bottom cabinets and off our shelf we have that holds various food items.  My house was a complete mess!  I forgot I had my Visiting Teachers from church coming over and felt so bad they saw my house like that, but hey, it's real life! 

While I was reorganizing those bottom shelves, I decided I should clean out the other cupboards too.  I kind of feel bad about all the food we ended up throwing out because it was expired, some things by years!  Initially looking down from the stepladder I was on top of, I was a bit horrified at the money value I had just thrown away.  But then I really looked at what was in the trash and realized that pretty much all of that stuff was processed stuff we haven't eaten in years.  A few years ago, I decided I was going to make a real effort to be aware of what was going into my family's food.  As a result there were things that I never thought to make or look for in my cabinets.  It kind of made me feel good about what I am putting into my family's bellies!

Organizing those cabinets also made me realize what I am obsessed with buying and making sure I never run out of!  I have so much oatmeal, we could probably eat it for breakfast for more than a year!  We actually don't even eat that much oatmeal for breakfast, I use it mainly for baking.  Granola, anyone?  I also have four big jars of local honey and two small jars.  I also have a bottle of honey I bought from the store.  I am actually aware of my honey addiction.  I like to bake a a lot with honey instead of sugar and I like to buy local honey to help with Michael's allergies.  I always fear running out of it, but I think I might be good for a while (or maybe not, I might need to pick up a few more jars from the Farmer's Market before it closes for winter...just in case).

I guess I have 4.5 jars big jars of local honey!

You can't see all the oatmeal because I was too lazy to put them on the counter top.  There are four canisters, two tupperware containers and two bags.  I think I'm good on oatmeal for a while!

I also have lots of flour, in many different varieties.  If you need flour, I probably have the type you need.

I haven't even went through the pantry or the freezers (yes, we have multiple freezers, three to be exact).  I'm not sure I want to!

What would we find an abundance of in your kitchen cabinets?