If you are a regular reader you probably know by now that I am a Cans Get You Cooking Canbassador, which means I always have a TON of canned foods in my pantry.  Since I’m also a busy mom of three, having a large pantry stash of ready-to-use healthy staples makes my life easier.  But one thing that it does mean is that my pantry cabinet is always a mess!  Cans everywhere!  (A good problem to have, since if I was stocking up on their fresh counterparts, I would be throwing most of them away every week!)

I have shared with you how I organized my upper cabinets, using in expensive photo storage boxes.. And that system works great..in my upper cabinets which are very shallow and at eye level.
On the other hand, where I was running into trouble was my pantry in my base cabinets, specifically the bottom shelf where I keep all the tall and oversized cans.

I literally have to crawl on the floor to see all the way to the back of the 24 inch deep cabinet.  Plus pulling something out from the way back is a nightmare.  It just isn’t a good system. 

Have you ever walked through a store and have something catch your eye, but you just aren't exactly sure what you need it for?  It happens to me ALL.THE.TIME.  That may be why I have a garage and craft room filled with supplies that would be cool to do something with.. if I just knew what.

Spring is almost here.. sort of.  But even if you are still under snow or suffering from cold temperatures, it is time to start gardening! Even if that means doing it indoors.

So today I want to show you how I made a simple little kitchen herb garden which is perfect either right on the kitchen counter, or even mounted on the wall.

The premise is simple, grow your fresh herbs right where you are going to use them: the kitchen.  And in this case I made mine to house the most common herbs we use in our cooking.

I am pretty sure a large percentage of houses built in the late 80s and early 90s have a large fluorescent fixture in the kitchen.  Back then, they were considered the most efficient way of throwing large amounts of light.   Our house had one, along with the vast majority of houses in our neighborhood:The problem is, that now in the 21st century, there are even MORE efficient lighting options available.  Ones that throw much brighter and whiter light, not the yellow (humming) glow of fluorescent tube bulbs.  So when I redid my kitchen, I knew the huge ceiling box had to go.

Replacing a fixture like this is pretty straight forward.  Messy? Yes.  But otherwise it is pretty simple to replace.