So you know

I love January because I finally had time to paint the pantry! I know that does not sound too exciting but it's something I wanted to have done for a long time. The pantry has been used and abused for 9 1/2 years and it showed. It's not even the most spacious closet in the house but some of my kids have spent a good portion of their day in that space. When my last guest left after Christmas, the cupboard was bare, so what better time to completely empty it out and get it painted. Unfortunately the elves had gone back to the North Pole so that just left me to get it done.

Now I need to fill it up so we have something to do, like eat, next time the wind comes sweeping down the plain accompanied by freezing rain. And if we should ever have a tornado, then everything will be distributed around the neighborhood. Today we are getting a new roof. The hailstorm that damaged the roof was last April, in fact the same week Eric introduced the truck to a power pole. We like to have all our insurance claims on the same page of the planner.

And for other happenings of a stay at home Mom in a mostly empty house, I sewed the elastics on Emily's ballet shoes for the first time in a couple of years. I could have included the "old shoes" in the picture but now you are spared from having to view what happens after wearing them two maybe three years. Just so you don't think we only purchase footwear in odd years, if we count pointe shoes, Emily has had four pairs of new ballet shoes since June of 2008. Pointe shoes apparently are only expected to last through 17 hours of dance. I knew I should have steered her towards jump roping.