New Cabinet for Jars

Jars full of salsa, jam, pickles, and sauces have been taking over our pantry ever since we moved into our condo in July. The kitchen, while plenty big, isn't as over-sized as the one in the last house we lived in. I've been fitting all my jars in the pantry, but the canning pot has been living on the floor between the kitchen and living room.

Now, thanks to my father-in-law and his furniture-building talents, I have another place to store all these jars (until the holiday season anyway). He made this cute little cabinet with a tile top and installed shelves in it this week so pint-size jars would fit perfectly in it. Now the canning pot gets to move from the living room floor to the pantry, right next to the recycling, and I can stop tripping over it.

The canning pot, or at least the lid, can also stop getting pushed around by our robotic vacuum. One night after I finished canning I put the pot back on the floor and set the lid on the floor next to it, upside down so it would dry. The next night the lid was gone. I desperately spent 15 minutes searching the kitchen and nearby closets for someplace I might have absent-mindedly stashed the lid. All the while I was SURE I'd left it on the floor. Early on in the lid search Ryan had suggested that the vacuum had pushed it somewhere, but after a cursory glance underneath the living room furniture, I didn't see it and went back to searching cabinets (since our kitchen is not very big, I had time to search every cabinet three times).

And then, just as I was about to conclude that our little street with picturesque views and a private drive sign had a home-thief that stole nothing but canning pot lids, I got down on my belly in looked under the chair in our living room (like I should have done in the first place).

I was so frantic I didn't see it during my first cursory glance under all the living room furniture. And I'll happily blame it on the under part of the chair being the same color as the lid. Now my canning pot can hide in the pantry, safe from the robot!