Day 5 - Container Chaos

— 4 minute read

Sunday.

The main agenda of the day was to clear out the kitchen cabinets, which I did with trepidation. This is probably the first time that I have ever done that since we moved in (circa mid 2015).

Underneath the sink I found piles and piles of old containers (yogurt tubs, tapao boxes, the red-lidded CNY snack containers of different volumes, you know the drill) that I meant to reuse, but never found the time to sterilise and sort out. As a result they went forth and multiplied. At first big containers contained little containers but after a while that stopped - containers just balanced themselves precariously one on top of another and hoped for the best. Some resilient stacks stayed stacked. Others just gave up and laid scattered in resignation as newcomers came in and buried them alive.

I moved everything onto the kitchen floor, took some pictures, and escaped the scene. The pictures were sent to my decluttering compatriotas, accompanied by a dismayed call for moral support and some self-admonishment that I should have used the sad containers a long time ago and bought from zero waste places so that I didn't get more containers and things wrapped in plastic. I had some choices to make: what to throw, what to keep. Do I disappoint my younger, more idealistic self who was going to make good use of these containers, or do I just flip her off for making me deal with her hoarding consequences?

After some tea (of which I found copious amounts in my invisible tea department, hidden behind the first couple of boxes that I usually use) I reassessed the situation and realised that I could, in fact, put these containers to good use.

  • Many of the containers, the tapao boxes in particular, are good to make compartments within drawers, something that I sorely need to organise a similar stuff sprawl that was happening in my kitchen drawers. I don't actually have that much stuff, the space is just extremely underutilised as a result of things not being organised. The initial phase of organisation has shown much promise. I think I am going to have a lot of space in the end to enjoy.
  • The lids of the tapao boxes I can use to put linseed oil on when I do oil painting. Plus they don't take much space stacked.
  • The CNY snack containers I can either use in the future to do zero-waste shopping or to donate to cottage industries who will reuse them to sell CNY snacks in.
  • The very tall stack of yogurt containers stack very nicely and are relatively air tight, so I can just keep them in a corner to use for any adhoc containing purposes. Or, I can also give them to Komeil, my art-teaching best friend, to use during his classes.
  • All the little glass spice/herb containers will have to be washed meticulously and then I will have a fantastic spice rack reusing them.
  • There is still an untouched section where the glass containers are congregating, I haven't got to them yet.

I've not been working full time on the kitchen, choosing to pop in and out whenever my energy permits. The kitchen is still in disarray, but I can see how in a few days I will be having a vastly upgraded space where all things have their homes, and together we will make many a delicious meal.

I am dreaming of cookies :)

On Covid-19, I guess the biggest thing is that the army moves in as of today to keep people at home, and away from each other in markets. I read somewhere that 90% of the people are staying at home now, which is a good thing.

I'm trying not to think too much about the virus, but on most Whatsapp groups it is what people talk about. Next week (tomorrow, really) I will begin on a new project connected to it, so it will be occupying my mind a lot, but I am hoping to also carve out some space to think of positive, nourishing things.

This was a video sent by Komeil which made me cry, because it was so beautiful and sad.

In Other Words | במילים אחרות from Tal Kantor on Vimeo.

Somewhere out there is a person who made me feel what she felt. I think it is times like these that we need more art, so that we can be reminded to live, and that we are alive.