organizing: the spice of life

This is my spice drawer.

Where all my spices happily coexist.

When Mike and I first got married, 

one of our wedding gifts was a spice rack.

It was cute and small.

Perfect for a counter-top.

Perfect for someone who had no idea when/where/how/or even why(???) anyone would need such variety.

You see, I didn't really know how to cook.

But I love learning new things.

So I took on the challenge of regularly trying new recipes in an effort to please my husband's palette 

{and feed his stomach}. 

{P.S. Mike can't cook a can of soup, so one of us had to start trying...and if I remember correctly, I was the one who drew the short straw...just call me lucky.}

As time went on and my knowledge increased,

so, too, did my spices begin to multiply beyond what my sweet little spice rack could handle.

Thus, an entire drawer was needed to contain my collection.

{I am now taking the time to apologize to the person who gave us that beautiful spice rack who may or may not be reading this post right now...so sorry}

But each time I go to use/find {ehem...frantically search, and grunt ,and moan, in vain futility, for the perfect spice to accompany my dinner dish, so the flavors will lovingly linger on your titillated taste buds, only to throw my arms up in frustrated angst, and ultimately feel forced to convince my husband to drive to the store to purchase that spice I can't seem to locate, UNTIL he walks through the door, leaving me to, now, own two of the same spices that I will, somehow, inevitably not be able to locate in the future, and thus, leading the situation to repeat itself....} I can't find what I'm looking for.  

{Aren't we loving the run on sentences here...hmmm?...}

So I came up with a clever idea.

One that most would have thought of when they initially moved into their apartment 3-1/2 years ago...

Since the labels that come with the spices are located on the side of each bottle, 

the labels become useless to me and my "spice-system" {stop laughing, Michael}.

Observe...

Before

Can you understand the uselessness??
And the frustrating futility??

So, I thought it would be brilliant to grab some self-adhesive mailing labels I had in our office,
cut each label into thirds,
creating cute little squares,

and use them to label the lids of my spices.

See?...

After

Clever, no?

Problem solved.

Done.

And now my cooking experiences are a lot more pleasant due to the less grunting and moaning...

...because animal noises are not usually received well by guests, especially when emitted by humans.