Rearranging... again!

Do you ever have days where you have a clear idea about what you want to achieve, but in an attempt to achieve it you have to do a zillion other things first?  A couple of weeks ago I had a day (and late night... ) like that. 

 It all started when a friend posted that she had ordered some rhubarb (something I tried to grow here for many years, but eventually gave up on), so I decided I really better have some too and discovered that not only did they sell rhubarb, but they also sold beetroot - another thing I haven't been overly successful in growing in our climate.  So I ordered far more than I should have in a weak moment of longing for New Zealand staples.  Which meant I had to do something with them... Rhubarb was frozen as well as being made into rhubarb and yoghurt pudding, rhubarb and ginger jam, rhubarb and strawberry jam and rhubarb and orange jam.  Beetroot was pickled and made into relish.  Success!  I managed to empty the whole box of produce without leaving it too long so it rotted all over the kitchen floor.  In fact I managed to do it all in one day.  Which led to the next problem......

We live in a Japanese house and although our kitchen is not too small by Japanese standards it lacks anything even vaguely resembling a pantry, which meant there was no room to put away all these wonderful goodies.  So, I had to convert my wrapping paper cupboard into a preserves cupboard, which meant spending a whole night sorting all the wrapping paper out into piles of things I would never use and things I might use and putting them all in a big storage box.  I was in one of those "organising moods" (you have seen them on occasion Mum...) and so I went as far as wrapping all the old ribbon around strips of cardboard so that it wasn't just thrown into the big jar in a huge tangle.  Very neat and orderly!  

The result... I now have a temporary preserves cupboard that will even fit some of our flour.  It definitely motivates me to make more things - the latest is some delicious blueberry vinegar.  But if I am not careful I will need to build another shelf in there... which may lead to more changes being needed.... and more rearranging needing to be done.   Perhaps I'd better hold off on the preserving until some of the stuff we have is used!