The other day I was downstairs and let Gerald know we would need to peel Potato’s for Mashed Potato’s to go with the Roast we was having. Then I went back upstairs to work. Then David called and asked me to run a errand with him.

I came downstairs and let Gerald know I was leaving. He asked me to find him a potato peeler so he could peel the Potato’s while we were gone. I knew David was waiting on me and Charlie would be to.

I went into the kitchen and looked through the drawers to find the Potato Peelers which I couldn’t find because there was so many things in the drawers that shouldn’t have been in them.

The more I tried to hurry the more I realized how badly something needs to be organized until you desperately need something from it. Yesterday, I needed a potato peeler. Well, technically, Gerald needed the potato peeler.

And that’s when I discovered that my kitchen drawer has officially gone rogue. I opened the drawer expecting to find a potato peeler. Instead, I found… Everything. Knives. More knives.

Things that apparently had no other home. And somewhere underneath all of it was the poor, forgotten potato peeler. Everybody has apparently decided that this drawer is the place to throw knives whenever they’re finished using them.

And that is a problem. Not only is the drawer a hot mess, but there are knives buried underneath everything else. That’s an accident waiting to happen. Especially for someone like Gerald who can’t see.

Charlie and I say you shouldn’t have to dig through a drawer full of utensils and miscellaneous kitchen stuff while hoping you don’t accidentally put your hand on the sharp end of a knife.

And then there was my second problem. I thought I only had one potato peeler. David says I should have two or three. As usual, I’m beginning to suspect David might be right. But it doesn’t really matter how many potato peelers you own if you can’t find them.

So I started digging. Five minutes. Ten minutes. I’m not entirely sure how long I was standing there digging through that drawer, but I know I was in a hurry. David was waiting for me in the parking lot. Charlie was ready to go.

And, surprisingly, David wasn’t even honking. That may have been the biggest miracle of the afternoon. Meanwhile, I was standing in my kitchen thinking: WHERE IS THE POTATO PEELER?

But here’s the funny part. By God’s grace, I actually found it. And not only did I find a potato peeler… I found the one that actually works. That’s an important distinction in my kitchen. Because apparently owning a kitchen tool and owning a kitchen tool that actually works are two completely different things.

So the potatoes got peeled. They got sliced. And by the time I got home, that part of dinner was already taken care of. And honestly? That felt like a little godsend. One less thing I had to do. One less step. One less chore.

But that potato peeler also made me realize something. That drawer has to be cleaned. Not someday. Not eventually. Not when I get around to it. It needs to be one of my first projects this week.

Because that drawer should not be a junk drawer. It’s supposed to be our kitchen tool drawer. That’s where the potato peelers should live. The handheld grater. The cheese grater. Other small kitchen tools. Things we actually use while cooking.

The knives need their own safe and secure place where nobody has to go digging through them with their bare hands. And everything else? It needs to find a home now before someone gets hurt which most likely would be me.

So this is officially where Grace by Grace — Room by Room is going to begin this week. With one little kitchen drawer. I’m not going to clean the entire kitchen. I’m not going to reorganize every cabinet.

I’m not going to pull everything out and make a bigger mess than I started with. I’m starting with the potato peeler drawer. And when I get it cleaned out, I’m going to line it. I want to find some shelf paper at Dollar Tree—the kind you can put inside drawers and cabinets.

So apparently, this week’s adventure is going to be: Come with me to Dollar Tree and let’s find some shelf paper for my kitchen. Because once I get that drawer cleaned out, I want it to stay clean.

I want the kitchen tools to have a home. I want the drawer to be easy to open and find what I need. And, most importantly, I want to be able to reach into that drawer without wondering whether I’m going to come back out with a potato peeler… or a knife in my hand. That’s not the kind of surprise anybody needs.

This little drawer has actually reminded me of something important about organizing. Sometimes we make organizing harder than it needs to be. We look at the whole house and think: I have to clean everything.

No. You don’t. Buttercup. Start with one drawer. One shelf. One cabinet. One corner. One little problem. That’s enough. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Would you like to help me?

Because the potato peeler drawer is getting its makeover. I’m going to remove the knives and find them a safer home. I’m going to pull out all the things that don’t belong. I’m going to find my kitchen tools. I’m going to clean the drawer. I’m going to line it with shelf paper.

And hopefully, the next time Gerald asks for the potato peeler, I won’t have to dig for ten minutes while David waits in the parking lot. Because sometimes Grace by Grace doesn’t mean tackling an entire room.

Sometimes it means finally admitting: This one drawer is a hot mess. And doing something about it. So stay tuned. The potato peeler drawer has officially become Project #1. And if I can get this drawer under control, maybe—just maybe—the rest of the kitchen will be a little less terrifying. But one drawer at a time, Buttercup. One drawer at a time.

Grateful, Thankful, and Blessed.

Thank you,

Glenda, Charlie and David Cates