Saving & Genetics

My Mom really knew how to use save and reuse things. I am sure this was due to her early life, part of which was spent on a small farm, and then her early adult years during the Great Depression and WWII. Among other things, she saved plastic plates, cups, spoons, forks, etc. She'd wash and reuse them. I am her daughter, and have the same genetic predisposition save junk for reuse. So, although I don't save the plates and seldom save the cups, the plastic forks and spoons get saved and resued. What else does one put in a lunch or dinner for work? Some people will carry metal ones, but not us! The loss of a plastic spoon won't bother us like losing another of our flatwear spoons will.

Mother was an early recycler, washing out and resuing the occasional glass jar (as I do now), and her biscuit/cookie cutter was a metal baking powder tin with the end cut off. When I was first married, I promptly bought and used some of the same brand baking powder so I could make my own biscuit and cookie cutter. (Good thing I did it then because now that brand comes in cardboard.) Margarine tubs are reused in my house just like they were in hers. I've even gone a step farther. I reuse the plastic tubs that frosting comes in. Since Mother NEVER used prepared frosting, she never had the opportunity to reuse these tubs. So, although we never wore flour sack clothes, she was sharp about getting another use from things, and passed that along to me.

Why am I thinking of this? Recently, my grocery has sold these nifty little tarts for a low price, each baked in a tiny aluminum pie pan. These aluminum pans look too nice to just throw away, so I have a little stack of them ready to use ... how? Dunno yet. William finally noticed my little stack and asked, "Are you saving those?" Yes, I said, because maybe I could reuse them someway. He then said, "Aunt Mary." and left the room.

This is a reference to my mother's older sister, Mary (born Narcissa Mary) Holt Cunningham. She had the remarkable ability to take anything that was a good idea just a little too far. She too saved and reused. To excess. When her house (in which she had lived for 40 years) was being cleaned out after she died at age 95, we found she had saved, pressed flat, folded and stored in boxes, dozens of foil and paper Arby's wrappers. We aren't sure what she planned to do with them, and I am sure rolled in her grave was as threw them away.

I'm not sure what I'll do with the aluminum pie pans, but I'll keep them for now. But keep an eye on me when I got to Arby's, OK?