While I'm At It-- A Pantry Redo

Someone please make me a t-shirt that reads:

The person wearing this shirt

is a 

PANTRY HYPOCRITE.

Remember this post I did last year on pantry organization?

I even showed a picture of someone's messy pantry and wrote, "Not that there is anything wrong with this [picture], but it doesn't really lend itself to smooth and peaceful meal preparation."

Oh, brother.

My own pantry is shove-it, cram-it unorganized mess.  In fact, since my kitchen trash can lives in the pantry, I make my friends sign an "I-promise-not-to-break-up-with-you-after-I-open-these-doors" agreement before I allow them to throw something away.

I've shown you this picture.

And now I feel so, so....exposed, like I am being forced to Zumba in front of a large crowd while wearing only an ill-fitting bikini and tennis shoes.

(Remember this?  I don't Zumba so well.) 

Odd shelf buddies, these two. 

I had to clear out the pantry in order to prep it for painting.

Four laundry-basket loads of stuff later:

I caulked every nook, cranny, groove and crack.

Caulking is not at all physically hard.  Digging a 10-foot long drainage ditch with a pick-axe in the rocky Arkansas ground when it's 97 degrees with 97% humidity:  now that's hard.

During moments of intense physical labor, I enjoy reflecting on how many famous people have never done such a thing.  A few summers ago, while we were working so hard on our back yard and I was digging that blankety-blank 10-foot-long drainage ditch, I tried to imagine Marie Antoinette wielding the pick-axe, her powder wig and corsets soaked with sweat.  And then I tried to envision Paris Hilton using a pitchfork to turn the soil in my vegetable garden (amid the snakes and ticks).  

Last night as I was caulking the pantry, I couldn't help but think of Kim Kardashian performing the task, her gorgeous long black hair tangled with the thick, pasty, sticky caulk.  In my daydream she threw down the caulk gun and dramatically walked away.  (I also wanted to stomp off, Kim, so don't feel bad).

I have high hopes for an organized and visually soothing pantry, so I am going to try and resist the urge to put everything back exactly as it was before.

We'll see how that turns out...

I'm going old school and using oil-based paint for the shelf surfaces...for better wearability (is that a word?). 

But it's SUCH A PAIN IN THE HIND END.

And the fumes make me forget how to focus my camera.  

Since I'm turning into that annoying person who bores you with all 432 photos of their vacation, I will stop now.

Just point me to the exit so I can get a breath of fresh air.