Kitchen cleaning #1

One of my major issues in Mama's kitchen is that the kitchen is so small.  Worse, there is very little counter space.  I don't know what genius designed this house in the 1950s, well before the Women's Liberation Movement moved a lot of women out of the kitchen and into an office, but the guy was definitely well before his time.  This tiny kitchen would do well on a modest-sized boat.  It doesn't help that a fair chunk of counter space was lost when a den was added to the house my senior year in high school, lo, these many years ago.

To be fair, the kitchen as designed and even as remodeled fit Mama's needs.  Mama was working outside the home long before Gloria or Bella or even Betty would fight for her right to do so.  Teaching full time and coping with her handicap was more than enough for Mama to handle in those days.  She needed a small kitchen that reduced her steps.  She prepared comparatively simple Southern-style meals that suited my late father's appetite and her skillset.  The tiny kitchen was enough.  I am pretty sure she never missed the lost counter space when it was replaced with a large den just as I am pretty sure she never missed the loss of a big chunk of lower cabinets when a dishwasher was installed. 

I, on the other hand, want to chop things up and then mix them together and even cook several dishes at once.  There just isn't enough room to do that when food and equipment take up already limited counter space.

My first kitchen cleaning strategy has been to clear the counter tops so that I have more work room.  That's easier said than done, but here's what I've managed to do so far--for only half of the counter space.  (I said I was slow.)

• Removed the old knife holder and the blender.  Both stored on a top shelf in the kitchen.  This may need re-evaluation when/if I get to that shelf.
• Limited on-counter equipment to toaster, coffee maker, and coffee grinder.  The coffee maker is a small 4-cup item, so it and the grinder still take up less space than the old full sized coffee maker.  (Did I mention that these kitchen counters are tiny?)
• Replaced rusting metal tray with "silver-toned" tray.  Set tray on top of old plastic cutting board (to avoid rust).  Stored vinegars along with knife sharpener and battery powered jar opener on tray.
• Limited on-counter food storage to the aforementioned vinegars, cooking oil (too tall for shelves), and about 5 large containers of seasonings.  
• Re-purposed napkin holder used to hold cutting boards upright.  Replaced old plastic cutting boards with new ones.
• Left napkin holder, salt/pepper shakers used in cooking as before.

The end result is cleaner (after wiping and scrubbing) and more efficient (tools and condiments are handily available) and less cluttered (only items used frequently are given counter space).  I also have two, maybe three, times as much clear counter space as before. 

Sadly, there is more to be done, because I haven't found a home for all of the things I had to remove in order to get these results.  The work goes on . . .

Shopping in a cart (2)

Well, while I'm on a rant about shopping with an electric cart, I may as well add a few more little annoyances that make for less than a helpful experience.  Shopping this way can actually be exhausting and stressful.  Were it not for the pain and (greater) exhaustion from the alternative (pushing a regular cart), riding an electric cart in a big store would not be my choice.

Let's start with height.  Collecting groceries from shelves that are higher and lower than your reach means getting out of the cart to get the items.  This is a lot of standing up and sitting down, which can be tiring as well as stressful for inflamed joints.  Using a cane to bat boxes down from a high shelf sometimes works, but that's a definite non-starter for anything liquid, even if it is in a plastic container. 

I don't particularly see a solution to this, since stores have to place items as high as they can to maximize display and storage.  Perhaps I'm just making the point that shopping in a cart is not as easy and relaxing as it looks.  I hate to ask for help and am a little embarrassed when help is offered, but, when I do ask for help, I wish I knew that the help was gladly given.  The looks I get sometimes . . .

It's certainly not relaxing when dodging pedestrians.  In the first place, people (adults and children alike) stepping in front of the cart run the risk of being hit.  To avoid hitting them, I just have to stop pressing the accelerator, and braking is automatic--and very abrupt.  I don't hit the pedestrian, but I am flung forward every single time I have to try to avoid them.  Try riding in your car in heavy traffic without a seat belt or holding onto anything and see how it feels.  It's sometimes painful, but always tiring and stressful.

What's so hard about watching where you are going?  What's so hard about giving the carts the right of way?  If one's fellow customers must be allowed to be careless, might we not at least expect that the employees would show better sense than to consciously and deliberately walk in front of a moving cart, forcing that brutal braking maneuver.  "Oh, excuse me" just isn't the same as pausing a second to let me pass, not when you keep going while I'm thrown around like a sack of potatoes.

Shopping in a cart

In an electric cart, that is, can be a challenge.  For the past year and more, I have had foot issues on top of other, longer standing problems that seem to be related to diabetes.  Walking was so difficult that, even if I could walk pretty well when I entered a store, by the time I was finished, I was crying with pain.  Combine that with low blood sugar, and pushing a shopping cart was just not gonna happen.  The first thing I check for these days is the availability of an electric shopping cart.

You can't believe how many large stores do not have these.  Of course, department stores generally don't anyway, but we (am I alone in this?) have come to expect that big grocery stores and "big box" stores like WalMart and Target will have them.  All too often, it seems to me, there are not enough of these carts.  My local Fiesta only has two for a large store with many food and non-food departments.  My local Sam's Club always seems to be "out." 

I'd like to see more stores have the carts in sufficient supply to meet the demands of the shoppers who want to spend their money in their store.  If it takes some research to figure out the right number, do the research.  If it costs to purchase more carts, use the buying power of your big ol' chain, and get some.  If not, you will lose my business.  I can't shop in your store if you won't accommodate my handicap.

Even when the stores do have the carts, they are not always charged up and ready.  The carts are left in the parking lot, and no employee has brought them in to the store to be recharged.  The carts are in the store, but unplugged.  Go in one door of the store and see that the employee guarding the door has no way to contact the employee at the other door to see if there is a cart available.  Enjoy the lack of concern by the employee/guard who has no clue where a cart might be and acts like he/she couldn't care less.  (Vow that if there were any other place within 20 miles to get that medication, you'd take your business there, while you struggle to walk to the pharmacy at the back of the store.)

I'd like to see more stores develop a cart management policy that parks the carts in a convenient location and assigns specific responsibility to specific employees to see that the carts get at least the minimum maintenance of a brief recharge between uses.  I'd like to see more stores train their employees about the needs of the handicapped to the point that they at least understand (and act like it) that persons with handicaps actually need their assistance.

This is not to say that I haven't seen some really wonderful helpfulness from chain store employees nor enjoyed a pleasant shopping experience with a fully charged and properly functioning electric cart.  I have.  Many times, many places--and sometimes even in the stores which strike me as the worst offenders for lack of availability, courtesy, or assistance.  However, it all just seems to be left up to the whims of individual employees to take care of handicapped customers and not to have any basis in store policy.  Or, if there is a store policy for this issue, it seems to be honored more in the breach than by its execution.