POTS: as a means to an end

I was making some pasta today. Wagon wheels. Aren't those fun? And I mistakenly thought I could fit a whole 16oz. bag into my 2 Quart pot. 16oz. = 1lb. 2 Quarts = ? lbs.? Well, you can't really figure that out since pounds are a measurement of weight and quarts are a measurement of volume (I sound so smart don't I? smoke and mirrors, people, smoke and mirrors), but you get the picture... it wasn't really all fitting, especially as the pasta began to swell and overflow the pot. Luckily, I have done this before (I know you were pitying me until that admission) and I knew that it would all turn out alright. But it got me to thinking, and remembering, and wistfully smiling...

I've wrote before about moving and what we are going to do with all our stuff. The short answer to which is: we're just going to get rid of it. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but a lot of our furniture and other housewares were purchased with the intention of them lasting, for *us*, only about 5 years, and for some of this stuff, we are really pushing that limit. Ektorp couches from IKEA only get MORE uncomfortable as time passes, when I'm pregnant I can't even sit on it my back is in so much pain... lesson learned, yeah? We have sort of lived in this suspended existence of not wanting to buy anything new if we already own it and we can still make it work, a fine and economical way of living to be sure, but it has left a few, how shall I put it..."holes", in our family-oriented lives.

*We  have two steak knives. We had eight knives six years ago. That's 75% knife "lossage" over time. We're losin' that battle.
*We  have four large plates, and two of them are "borrowed" from my mom and dad. All of the rest have been broken by me (accidentally, I swear).
*We have three legitimate cereal bowls. But 5 soup bowls (lost only one of those... see, lacking soup skills is actually *better* for the family), which have replaced our big plates, and double as cereal bowls. It's easier to eat out of bowls anyway, less chance of slopping over the side. All class. All the time.
*We  have about 4 sets of original silver ware and a bunch of mix and match stuff from IKEA and some I "borrowed" (accidentally, really!,) from a couple eating establishment (and just for the record, would it really hurt to invest in some nicer eating utensils for your guests, really? ).
*We have about 4 original towels and about 4 "borrowed" towels from family, towels around here go the way of "the other sock."Hand towels? Only for guests!, and washcloths...uh, what's a washcloth? If I can't scrub it off my kids' face with my own bare hand then it best just stay where it is ya'll.
*We have one usable cookie sheet. "Usable" means the non-stick part still works, after that, it gets downgraded to holder-of-whatever-has-been- urinated-on-today-until-mommy-can-deal-with-it-later-sheet." I've got two of those. "Urination on things"- 2. "Homemade cookies" -1.
*We have 8 place mats that have seen better days, and one table cloth that is red with snow flakes, used weekly. Slap a little Bing on the record player and turn the A/C down real low, and just go with it.Just go with it.
*We have two mixing bowls, which are actually from the *third* round of mixing bowls that come here to die.
*We have two spatulas, both melted at the tips, with nondescript bits of food impervious to any scrub brush.
*Lastly, we have our pots and pans. All dented around the rims so the lids don't fit, and scratched on the bottom due to repeated scooping out of food. The handles refuse to keep any heat out despite the look of fancy non-conducting heat rubber handles they flaunt in my face every time I try to outrun the heat from the stove to the sink. I never win that race. The original little frying pan has scrambled probably over 500 eggs, and the big ol' pot has housed many a failed soup. The medium sized pot is my go-to for mashed potatoes and spaghetti sauce. And the little saute pot is so cute, with it's little lid...it makes the best iced tea...well, it boils the tea, and steeps the tea, and then I add the ice. Duh.

Yeah, so, we are living somewhere between a college apartment and a really old fussy couple who refuses to switch to C.D.'s from cassettes because "the tapes work just fine, who cares if we don't have any music made after 1999." Except I graduated from college some time ago. And I like C.D.'s. I think they're neat.

So, I'm looking at this pot, and the over-flowing pasta, and my apparent inability to gauge size and volume and capacity...and reminding...

Reminding myself , that every day that I make all these old and tattered parts of our lives stretch a  little further, for just a little bit longer, we are saving that much more money towards our future home. A home where I can buy all new furniture, all new housewares, and all new pots. Pots with lids that fit, and insides that aren't scraping off, and handles that don't conduct heat. And I smile. And I look forward...

...and I make no promises as to whether, in the future, I will be able to tell how much pasta can fit into which pot.