Another deep, dark secret..

I really hope you all don't judge me too harshly for all of my honesty on my blog. I'm sure you all have dark little secrets, too, you just choose not to air them all over the blog-o-sphere. I've held onto this post for about week...to post, or not to post...I decided to post.

I love my large pantry. I have a heck of a time keeping it looking neat and clean. When I was pregnant with Lindsay, we got a mouse in the house. He resided with us for quite a while before we realized we had company. When Mr. Mouse was finally caught and gotten rid of, I started noticing poop everywhere! I finally had to take everything out of my pantry. I found things on the top shelf that had been nibbled and pooped on. I threw pretty much everything away. In the past 5 years, I've seemed to have forgotten about that. I've gotten lazy with putting stuff on the floor in the pantry. Then last week, my neighbor 4 houses down blogged this. I kind of freaked about it.

I decided it was high time for me to gut the pantry again and get stuff off the floor.

So, I invite you to join me on a journey through my pantry that lasted about 3 hours.

BEFORE:

Pretty bad, eh? There was a small avalanche the night before and lots of things fell on the floor. This picture honestly makes me feel like a hoarder of food. Don't judge...my house is actually pretty clean everywhere else.

Discovery #1...Who knew I had all of these little things you pour into water...43 of them. I have no recollection of buying them.

Discovery #2...last week Jeramy said, "Do we still have a bread maker?" I honestly couldn't remember if I had thrown it away. Surprise! There it is.

Discovery #3...For Macie's birthday this summer, I frantically had to run to the store for candles...
Who knew I had over 50 in the black hole I called my pantry.

Discovery #4...this one made me laugh out loud. (lol, for those of you who need it abbreviated). A few weeks ago I needed sugar cubes for a preschool activity. I searched about a million stores and no one had them! I finally found them at WinCo. If I'd only moved the #10 cans on the top shelf in the pantry I would have found a brand new, unopened box from preschool with Maddie a million years ago.

AFTER:

I know some of you still sport a way cleaner pantry than me, but I am thrilled with the results. Every food item is off the floor and I know exactly what is in there. I invited every member of my family to join me inside the pantry - something we could not do before with all the junk on the floor.