Everything is a mess! And buggy! Ack!

Blah. The decluttering is slow and done in spurts and the cleaning . . . . isn't happening often. Someone! Inspire me! I'm losing motivation!

Well, we're having a mini-Thanksgiving dinner here a week from Saturday with approximately 21 people so that's incentive.

Anyway, I de-cluttered the pantry today. Not that I planned to. I went to get something and a plastic container of almonds caught my eye. There was something white in it. And it was moving. AGH! We used to eat a lot of nuts but for some reason we stopped a few months ago. My mom kept giving us nuts and eventually we got a little over-stocked. So yeah, we had too many anyway. I went through the pantry and tossed out every opened container of nuts. Into the garbage went two almost full (and yes, both opened for some reason) plastic containers of raw cashews, one half bag of raw cashews, one container of organic raw almonds (with worm - shudder!) and I think three plastic bags of nuts from the bulk bin (each containing a tiny amount). I also threw out the almond and raisin mix I had on the counter because (so glad no one ate much!) it had been made from the bad batch. The worst was that they were recyclable containers so I had to pour the yucky nuts into the garbage so I could put the plastic in the recycle bin. Yugh!

I also found 2 unopened containers of nuts. One plastic bag of raw cashews and one plastic container of organic almonds. Both were still sealed and well within their expiration date and I almost kept them but why? Like I said, we're just not eating nuts right now and haven't been for months. Well, just the other day a local Boy Scout troop gave us a flyer and a plastic bag for a food collection they are doing this weekend. We're supposed to put items in the bag and leave them on the steps saturday morning. Cool! De-cluttering made easy!

So in the bag with the two containers of nuts I put a package of organic whole wheat linguini, a can of organic diced tomatoes, a jar of natural peanut butter and a can of organic rice and beans (which seemed like a good idea at the time but I've had it for two months and have never felt the urge to eat it).

I won't put it in the count til saturday when it leaves the house, but that's 6 items packed to go (not counting the stuff thrown in the garbage). The pantry is much less crowded now. It's not really a pantry actually, it's just a wire shelf on the back of the basement door but that's what I call it. Now it's much less cluttered and much easier to find things and I feel like I'm helping the food drive a little.

Oh yeah, and NaNoWriMo? I gave up, LOL! I just couldn't get into it this year. Bummer. I had a blast last time. Oh well, maybe 2007.