Well, I'm Six Hours Away From A Master's in TiVo

Today I was bemoaning the state of my pantry, and I mentioned that I needed to reorganize it. David reminded me of a little funny from a couple of years ago.

When Alex was born, Mama stayed with us for a couple of weeks. She was a huge help to both of us, and after the first week of helping us settle into the whole baby routine, she turned her attention to housekeeping matters.

This is a good time to mention that if Mama comes to our house without my daddy, she is unable to sit still. And David and I know that we'd better have a large supply of the following on hand:

1. Gain detergent
2. Gain fabric softener
3. Bounty paper towels
4. garbage bags
5. Kleenex

We need #s 1 and 2 because my mama makes laundry whereas mere mortals might see only clean clothes surrounding them. She, however, will spy a stray washcloth or pillowcase that are apparently begging to be made clean again.

We need #3 because she rips a paper towel off of the holder at the rate of one every two minutes.

We need #4 because she makes garbage even more quickly than she makes laundry.

We need #5 because she has never, ever, over the course of my entire life, been without one in her hand.

Anyway, during her new baby stay with us, she apparently did all she could do with numbers 1 - 5, and she was bored out of her mind. So she looked at David and said, "You know, I'd really like to get a hold of that pantry."

He gave her his blessing, and I headed upstairs with Alex to take a much-needed nap.

When I walked in the kitchen a couple of hours later, that pantry was pristine. It was organized logically, it was functional, and it was so attractive-looking that I almost wanted to leave the door open so that visitors could see it.

In short, it rocked.

So David and I bragged and bragged on Mama, thanked her profusely, and basically bowed before her and coronated her as Pantry Queen 2003.

After a few minutes David said, "Mama Ouida, how do you know how to organize something like that?"

Mama replied, "Well, first of all, I love doing it..."

Here's the best part.

"...and second of all, I minored in food storage."