Ah....Re-Organization!

I wish I had taken "before" photos of my baking pan cabinet in the kitchen. It was a mess of pans and baking sheets in a completely random order, to the point that I only used a select few pans for fear of actually trying to locate any of the others. But it didn't even occur to me to photograph that cabinet until I finished my re-organization this morning and sat there, admiring how nice it now looked!

Are you wondering what in the world possessed me to suddenly decide to re-do my baking pan cabinet? Well, I got a 13x9 springform pan from my mom for Christmas and I couldn't fit it in the cabinet!!! So, I decided to pull everything out and see if I could possibly rearrange things to make more room.

After everything was out, I started sorting my pans (I have stainless steel, aluminum, glazed stoneware, and basic stoneware, so it's quite a mis-match collection!) by size/type. Then I got to thinking....what if I had all my bread pans together, and all my square pans together, and my round pans, and so on. I thought I would give this a try. Here is the left side of the 4-door cabinet that houses my baking pan stash:




The top shelf has my baking sheets on the left, then my Bundt-type pans. On the bottom shelf are my cooling racks on the far left, pies and angel food in the back, right behind my square pans. Springform pans (I now have round, square, and rectangular - yay!) are in the back beside pie plates, with my round pans in front of those. Here is the right side:


I have muffin pans and bread pans on the top shelf, with all my 13x9 pans on the bottom. You might notice one stoneware round pan on that bottom shelf. It's there partially because it actually FIT there, but partially because it's a large round pan that will hold about the same as one of my 13x9 pans, so in my mind, it made sense.

I love my stoneware, but I have learned over the past few months that I love my stainless steel pans at least as much. They bake great, clean up easily, and I don't have to worry about cracking them if I'm not careful! I got them from kitchencollection.com and they weren't expensive at all.

I really hope I can continue this organizing trend into the new year. I certainly have a LOT of cabinets that can use it! I also hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!!

Christmas Open House

I managed to finish decorating the house, and even had company over yesterday for a cookie exchange! I know last year I posted some photos of the house and how it was adorned, but I thought it might be fun to do it again this year, especially for any new readers who don't want to go digging through the archives.

Here is a photo taken from the front door as an overview of my Christmas craziness!


If you look to the left, there is a stairwell, and I have a couple of trees there:


And going up those stairs I have garland:


In front of the stairs is what my kids call the "Tom Brady tree." It's decorated in blue and gold (U of Michigan colors, Tom's alma mater) and I have a U of Michigan ornament on one side, and a Tom Brady Patriots ornament on the other.


My lovely little elf stands beside the Tom Brady tree:


From the front door, looking up at the catwalk, more garland and a huge wreath:


And on the floor in front of you:


I love my fireplace in the living room!


Here is the main tree, fully loaded with ornaments:


And a peek into the dining room:



Can you tell I love Christmas??? :-)