Welcome to 2018. Setting the scene!

Yesterday we got started with making some plans.  I think all week we can be making and fine tuning  our plans!

I want to encourage thinking big and thought what better way to do this than give an example of a big plan coming to fruition!  I am going to share with you Vicky's 2017 goal.
First of all I will mention that Vicky's 2016 goal was also pretty awesome.  In  2016 she established her Victory vegetable garden and made over her cellar to be her preserves pantry.  It was epic!  You can take a look at that post here.   If you haven't seen this or can't remember it then take a look as it is inspiring to see what you can do in a year.

For 2017 Vicky set sights on another big project.   I had the fun of seeing each stage and to be honest I wondered if she could ever complete it in the year.  Her husband Rick did so much work on this and together they did it!  I know Vicky is still in the stage of adding her basket and final touches but still it is done!

My pantry has been a dream that has finally come true! Like most everyone else I loved The Little House books and all of the stories of what was done as far as food storage and making do and of course Victory Gardens and the canning and making do of that era, but one other thing with me is that when I was little there was still the little general store here and there or an old store/gas station and oh how I loved going into them and looking around. The hard wood floors and old wood shelves still being used and stocked with grocery items. Before the world became a plethora of plastic and metal. And playing grocery store when pretending was what kids did was one of my favorite things! I would take my pretend children grocery shopping with my little purse of fake money and buy our groceries and then cook for them the little plastic foods that came in play food sets back then and serve it on my nicest little play dish sets. My children back then loved everything I cooked! Haha! Even back then I was fascinated with butler's pantries and old cupboards and true pantries and whenever I had the chance I would sneak and have a big nosy if someone had one it was always so amazing to see! 

For years I have waited, but other things had to come first and life happened as it does for everyone, but then finally the right time came around! The planning started and decisions needed to be made, the arguing ensued and sometimes a fight and for me a royal hissy fit! Yep I admit it I threw a hissy fit, which Annabel thought quite funny! LOL Well every now and then the bowl runs out of sugar haha!  So here is a run down of how it happened. 

We started gathering supplies and it actually ended up being two rooms that we redid, the first would be my son's new bedroom and his old room would become the pantry room. We shopped around and looked and bought the flooring and paint and some shelving and redid the closet and installed the boy in there. Then I waited and waited. 

Then we shopped around again gathering supplies much to my hubby's frustration because a lot of times my answer would be no woman wants that your thinking like a machinist! I was always very mindful of the budget though so he showed me some gray paint and I told him it was ugly, but when he showed me it was on clearance for $9 I told him oh it's beautiful and that's what we came home with. Odd that it happened twice so apparently gray wasn't someone's preference after it was mixed. And we had many arguments over the shelving! So half are prefab and the other half the hubs had to make. Then I waited and waited because of the hub's work that he does everything came about in stops and starts and my ploys to get it going faster didn't work, You know little things like him asking if we had something and me pretending I didn't know where it was at because I had boxed everything up. And I for sure would get frustrated because oh it was getting so close and I was eager to get the rest of my house back. It was really starting to get to me. 

And then finally it happened! The real work began! The yuck carpet came out and the walls painted, the new floor put down and the shelving going up!

 My little girl's heart was getting a big pantry of her own! And the day was coming that I could finally fill the shelves I was so excited. 

Filling the shelves with everything now that was excitement! Look, look isn't it so nice I would say! "I have all my tomato products here and soup is right here and oh where should I put this?" I think I was doing a happy dance in there. And I am still getting things in place, but as you can see I'm off to a really good start. 

I over heard my husband and son talking in there and my son making fun of me saying in a high lady voice, "No Richard that can't go there I have to show off my prized collection of ramen noodles!" and the sad thing is it is partly true! Haha! 

Stocking the pantry- everything is pretty much from bargain shopping and using coupons and buying loss leaders and clearance or marked down items with goal of always having a year's supply of food on hand that we eat and also to be able to help others. And I can honestly say that about 60% of the foods you see I got free or for pennies. Since most others don't eat like we do I have a good selection of foods that they do eat and some things we do eat here and there, but we don't live on them by any means. And should anything happen with our power that lasts any length of time I can feed a crowd and really only have to boil water. 

What you don't see in this pantry? Well I do have a few rolls of paper towels and toilet paper in there, but hygiene and cleaning and laundry supplies are all kept in their own locations and I didn't need to put them in here yet, plus my water that is stored and the foods I can myself are in the cellar. Remember the cellar my husband redid for me? It is getting good use! I am sure I will make changes here and there in the pantry and I do have things that Annabel and Glenda sent me to help make it pretty (thank you ladies) that I haven't been able to get to yet, but I will be sure to give an update on that. 

I hope everyone has enjoyed seeing my new pantry and if your still waiting for something or want to get something accomplished just put it on your list and don't give up because it can be done. 

XOXO

Vicky

Thank you Vicky!  I think you are motivating everyone!

Even though I saw every stage during the year I was still AMAZED when I saw the end result!  The year before was big but last year was huge! 

I hope hearing and seeing this story will inspire you!  Many people have a spare room that no one ever stays in. In fact the other day I heard someone say how they had house guests who were really weird and got up and left in the middle of the night.  I thought "turn that room into a pantry!" haha! 

If we get our farm house I am hoping for a pantry room like this!  

Thank you so much Vicky for this post! 

If you would like to hear Vicky's voice and have a live tour of her pantry you can see that over on the Facebook page  here.

Tomorrow  we are starting a crafting challenge.  Start thinking about what you have on hand that you would love to use up. Or it could be starting something that you have always wanted to learn or improve your skills....

See you tomorrow! xxx