Getting Rid of It - 2/15/2012, continued

I think I see my posting problem now (wrong format for images).  So, without further ado:

In the last couple of weeks my kitchen has yielded:

• 4 trivets.  Mom had two, I bought two for myself (and definitely used them), and then I inherited hers.  I will use two at once on occasion, but not four, so two of them (the two I bought myself) are going in the donation box.

• 4 lids to Revere 1-qt saucepans.  I have one of these saucepans (used to have another, but ruined it melting wax).  The lids are virtually identical, and I don't use them much anyway.  Not sure where they all came from.  I eliminated the one with the wobbly handle, picked one to keep, and put the rest in the donate box.

 

• Too many candles.  I am not "into" candles, and really can't be anyway, thanks to the cats.  I think I should have candles because my childhood was punctuated by numerous power outages, but the system I live in now is much more stable.  I don't recall having used a candle for a blackout since I was in the studio apartment, circa 1997.  I also have oil and crank lanterns for these situations.  So I kept three of the squatter (and hopefully safer) candles, but will donate the two unused/wrapped tapers, and am tossing the rest.

•  3 cans Hershey's cocoa.  One of these containers is from when these were still made of metal, and thus "cool."  I've never  "displayed" it, as I suppose I intended, but  here in the new house I'm going to need to substitute some open shelving for the pantry space I sued to have, so I think I'll keep the old one and condense the contents of the others into it, since cocoa keeps nearly forever.  There is a nostalgia component here - my kitchen-hating mother did seem to enjoy making cocoa for me (with marshmallows!).  I would sit and watch here pop off the metal lid and mix the cocoa with sugar and a little hot water before adding milk and heating it on the stove.  I make it the same way she did and have tried other brands of cocoa, but always  go back to the way Mom did it.

• 13 little glass spice jars.  As with the cocoa cans, some of these are here because They Don't Make Them Like This Anymore.  And they don't, not the ones on the left that are bigger on the bottom than on the top. And they have a neat recessed star pattern on them that is repeated on their lids. I like to think I might use them Someday, and I do frequently re-purpose other spice bottles (for herbs I've grown, or for small stuff like thumbtacks or safety pins) but not these, because  their narrow-mouthed shape makes it hard to get a spoon or other objects in and out, which of course is very likely exactly why they are no longer made this way.  Anyhoo, they are going in the donate box, in case someone else thinks they are cool, and then some of the others will be pitched/recycled too.  I use up spices often enough in baking that there are going to be more  little spice jars in my future.

• 2 juice pitchers - One ceramic and one plastic.  The ceramic one, on the left,  has done heavy duty over the years,  perfect  for mixing  untold gallons of orange juice from concentrate.  But a few years ago I decided that wasn't healthy and stopped drinking it.  Having said that, a treat now and then won't kill me, and I like the plastic one for lemonade which I make from scratch about a dozen times a year.  That one can also hold the little lemon juicer, so I can keep them together.  So, plastic stays & ceramic goes (donate pile).