ON BEING GRATEFUL FOR WHAT I DON'T HAVE

Recently, a facebook friend posted a very wise comment. It was something to the affect that we should sometimes be as grateful for what we DON’T have as for what we DO have.

I got a real good chance to practice that kind of gratitude this morning.

I’ve been working on cleaning my kitchen. Notice, I didn’t say I was ‘cleaning my kitchen’, just working toward that goal. 'Cleaning the kitchen' implies that the whole kitchen will get cleaned.

Not happening. Not today.

I’ve been pretty preoccupied with getting prepared for the Holy Trinity Art Festival and had let things go in the housecleaning department, so it’s pretty bad.

I’ve never been a really good housekeeper. I always had other things to do and just wasn’t that obsessive about having everything all spotlessly clean.

In the last few years, I’ve gotten even less obsessive about it.

Somewhere I read that in the last days of your life, it will absolutely NOT be memories of scrubbing the kitchen floor or making the beds or doing the laundry, which you will treasure. When I read that, I gave myself permission to concentrate on having more experiences and making more memories which will sustain and comfort me in those days..... instead of doing housework.

I am grateful to have learned that.



Today, I am truly grateful for something I don’t have.

I don’t have a big kitchen with lots of cupboards and floor space and counter top.

I have this itty, bitty kitchen.

Yep, that’s the whole shebang right there. A whopping 7’ x 10’, as I recall.

And am I ever Grateful it’s exactly the size it is.

I say that, truthfully, because today, I have been scrubbing cupboard doors, among other things.

Not nice, new easily cleanable cupboard doors.

Kinda old, hard to clean ones, because they have a multitude of layers of paint on them with all kinds of careless brush marks which left fairly deep grooves in the paint for dirt, grease and grime to accumulate.

Wow…that was quite a sentence there! But, I expect you got the drift.

G.R.I.M.E.

Yep...they're also the kind of old kitchen cupboard doors which won't ever shut just right.

The bottom line is that after scrubbing just 5 lower cabinet doors (two of them are louvered-which makes them even harder) and the front of my kitchen stove, and cleaning my two glass shelves in the window and all the ‘stuff’ that I keep there….

.......my hands were yelling at me, quite rudely, that they intended for me to S.T.O.P.

Right now!

So, I did.


Let’s look at the kitchen window again, ok?

That’s something right there that I’m really GRATEFUL I have. I have it because my sweet hubby installed those glass shelves for me because I wanted them. And that was all the reason he needed. That and so he'd have a place to display some of his old Ball jar collection.

Just look at the way the light on all those colored jars and bottles shines...spreading happiness and joy all around my little kitchen!

And if you don’t mind, I’ll show you a few more things in my tiny kitchen that I especially enjoy.

But first, I have some ‘splainin’ to do, Lucy.

My little kitchen is not, as you can easily see, generous in the cabinet or counter space department. So, I have had to get really creative to provide myself with every extra inch of storage and workspace I can find.

A few years back, when a neighbor was remodeling, they discarded this little louvered cabinet.

I grabbed that right up because I thought it would work in that narrow space beneath the window. Eventually, I extended the top to go all the way back into the corner by the stove and added the mosaic top. It is so handy! And I love all that color! Mostly, I store canned goods in it. It’s narrow enough so that cans don’t get lost like they would in a cabinet of regular depth.

The microwave is sitting on a home-made wood contraption on rollers that I found in a yard sale. If I didn’t have this, where on earth would I put a microwave? And, it also provides a handy place for the trash bin.

I decided that I needed to add a picture of the microwave stand.  So, I'm going to.  However, this ain't a pretty picture.  I forgot that I had just made tuna salad sandwiches and had put the empty can down for our cat, Codi, to lick clean.  Yummo, says, Codi!  Also, I didn't bother to move the broom...I have no other  place to put it...or to try to hide the microwave cord....oh...and also...our trash can really looks gross.  I have no idea what all those marks are on it...and I haven't cleaned the micro.......oh, enough of the excuses.  This is, truthfully, better than things usually look in my kitchen! 

At least, the trash isn't at overflow stage...which it often is.

Onward.........

This is a huge drawer of some kind which another neighbor discarded.

It was almost the perfect dimensions to fit in the very narrow space between the fridge and the counter. We turned it on its’ side, added a shelf and some rollers. Now, we have a spot for the toaster! And even more storage!  The cat treats aren't usually there.  I just forgot to move them.  But, truthfully, something is usually sitting there.  Or several somethings.


I love my little sign….but I don’t really mean it anymore. I don’t think my kitchen is lousy at all. I think it’s perfect!

And after today, I guarantee you I have a real good dose of GRATITUDE that I DON’T have one of those roomy kitchens that I used to long for.

If I had one, I would just have to spend even more time cleaning.

And I’ve got better things to do.

Like blogging.

Or napping.

Which is exactly what I did after my little cleaning spree.

I am grateful for my comfy bed and my pretty comforter and my itty-bitty kitchen.