It's DONE (the pantry that is)

My Mother-in-law sent us this cute snowman 2 Christmases ago, I believe.

It's the cutest thing in our pantry.  When it's not happy under the Christmas tree,

it lives in the back left of our pantry, carefully on top of other things.

I can't wait to bake bread again!

And chocolate chip cookies...

I began putting the pantry back together last night...

thank the Good Lord that the HVAC guy checked the Freon

and topped it up so I don't have to do this pantry 

everything out/everything in again! 

(At least I hope that is so! It's a lot of work)

So this morning I was already getting overwhelmed...

How and where was I going to get everything back in?

Tropical storm Fay caused rain and some flooded streets where

I live, we are well, safe, sound, dry and with power, thank God!

So other than the many boxes of crackers (and some cookies!)

that we have on one shelf, that Mr Husband handed to me and I put away,

I put EVERYTHING back by myself.

So, I was sweating so much I needed a bandana just to cope.

And by late tea time (after 3 PM) I just quite for a good 30 minutes,

made tea, crackers with PB, a bit of chocolate and half a banana

and watched about half of a Murder She Wrote episode

(I actually guessed 2 of the suspects this time). 

Then I kept working.  And sweating. My goodness.

Somewhere in there I watched the rest of the above mentioned episode...

And then we had dinner.  I told Mr Husband I was not making dinner

and he suggested cereal which was pretty much what I was going to have

and so that's what we had. 

And after that I kept working, called my Mom, Mr Husband handed 

me the cracker and cookie boxes and both of them told me not to 

stand on the top big shelf of the ladder.

"that's for a can of paint, not you!"

I explained to my Mom that if I didn't I could not reach the top shelf. 

My Dad bought us the ladder as a housewarming gift.

(There's a picture of it a few pictures up in this blog post.)

The ladder is super light and very sturdy.
I love it.  We use it often. 

And now, I am telling you about it.

I am SO relieved to have the pantry done.

***

My Great Aunt P moved to a nursing home *right* when everything shut down

and she's been in lockdown and it's been pretty rough, terrible.

Suddenly not seeing anyone, not going anywhere, not being allowed guests.

Before that she had her own house.

She's 94 now.  She just got a change in (heart) meds and is feeling better

and she moves to a 2 room unit next week and will have some of her own

furniture and I sure hope they let her finally have visitors, at least her daugthers!

My Grandma and she are sisters and very close; they call each other every night.

My Grandma kept saying that this lockdown is not good for old people.

She's been so worried, I finally realized, about her sister

(my Grandma, newly 90, is still in her own small apartment in a retirement 

apartment building).  I was getting quite worried myself and thank God

for theses answers to prayers.

***

As I was sitting on our library futon for prayers, exhausted from doing the 

pantry, I thought of my Great Aunt P and how when I am older,

DV, I won't be able to do that work of the pantry.

***

I don't dwell on it, but I understand that life is not going to get easier,

even just in terms of aging. 

The rest I really try not to think about, but often fail;

it's really a troubling time in our world for so many different reasons...

***

Well, tomorrow I hope to put the rest of the house more to rights

and make a plum torte, and maybe have a friend over on Sunday...

***

May God help us and have mercy!