Pancakes and Syrup:

Well, here it is 9:25 p.m., and past my bedtime.  I was just going to curl up with my good book, Evergreen, and go to sleep.  Then I remembered that my best friend husband would be up at the crack of dawn pouring over our grandson Tyler's stats (the McPherson Bullpups won AGAIN!!!),  therefore needing the computer, and I thought it would be better to just post this now.

WARNING:  If you are a relative and are likely to receive this for Christmas ... STOP!  Please read NO FURTHER.  Thank you.   Love you lots!

This is a very easy and inexpensive gift.  First, wash out your old wine bottles thoroughly.  Then, stencil on some M.E. squares with pink acrylic paint.  Second, go to Costco and buy a big bag of Krusteaz Pancake Mix (it costs around $10.00 for 10 lbs.) and some quart sized Ziplock freezer bags.  Then, go to Walmart and pay a lot for some new corks (I am still working on that part, on how to get them cheaper.)  Third, sew up some cute bags (I will show you how to do that very soon).  Fourth, find the recipe from 18 years ago on how to make awesome syrup out of frozen orange juice and apple juice, when the book from the Eugene Public Library is no longer available.  And you no longer live in Eugene.  (I am still working on that part too.  If you have a great syrup recipe, please let me know.)

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Okay, as you can see, everything is rounded up.

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Place four scoops (cups) of Krusteaz Pancake Mix into the quart Ziplock bag.  I am not reinventing the wheel here; I am just repackaging.  That is because the cool book that told me how to make my own rock candy and clove oranges left out a lot of details, and I do not want to fuss with bad pancake mix.

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

After the Ziplock bags are filled, stuff them into the pretty bags that you made.  Envision the pretty bottles filled with homemade syrup, after you find the recipe (or I find the recipe...whichever comes first).

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oh, they are so pretty!  A 10 lb. bag of pancake mix will give you 8 quart sized Ziplocks of 4 cups each, FYI.  You can also get larger boxes of 25 lbs. for around $25.00 at the store restaurants go to get their supplies.  That is cheaper if you are going to make a lot of these.

 Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Oh, and these wine/syrup bottles are useful after breakfast is over.  IF the paint doesn't wash off.  I was informed after I hand painted a lot of bottles (it took me YEARS to save them up, mind you), that you can buy glass paint and put these things in the oven to make the paint permanent.   You can read more about that project here.

Best of luck on this.  I know that there is a lot to be desired on the details here, but I am tired and am going to bed.

See you when I can get back on here!

~ Kathy 

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.
 

Essay: The Recyling Cop

Last year, when Little Missy (her Mom and Dad call her Greenpeace) was in second grade,  she had an earthy teacher who taught everybody all about recycling.  Little Missy's family set-up a recycling station in their home, and take it to the garbage company's drop-off area on a regular basis.

Around the time they began to recycle, Little Missy asked me if I recycled.  I told her, well, sure I do.  It was kind of a lie.  I sorted out the big cardboard because it wouldn't fit into my garbage can and I saved glass, but that was it. To tell you the truth, I was an avid recycler when I lived in Eugene.  Believe me, it is against Eugene's religion if you don't recycle.  Then I moved to La Pine, and they had never even heard of recycling ten years ago, apparently.  No little blue boxes came along with your garbage can, nor did you receive a discount for recycling here in Mayberry.
 

So, I kind of rebelled.  We had a wood stove and I did burn what I could in it.  But, how do I explain this?  If you grew up in Eugene, you would never think of littering.  Seriously.  It is a much worse sin than not recycling.  If you "accidentally" dropped a gum wrapper on the ground, it was a form of rebellion ... just as not recycling is.

Woodsy trained us well in the 70's.

Well, anyway, back to this fascinating story.  Last night Little Missy and her Mom came over to show me an awesome CD that they had made.  Not only that, but I received a spot check on my recycling program!   Little Missy is tough (not even bears scare her), but she isn't mean.  "Do you recycle cardboard too?"  Well, sure, right there with the plastics.  Good thing that she didn't ask me about tin cans.  Now that I know she's checking up on me, I guess I'd better do that too.

The Recycling Cop

My glass jars have a saved sign on them, because I want to use them for something else.  For food storage or terrariums or candles.  They are just too good to get rid of.  (This is where my BFH comes in suggesting that I may be a hoarder if...)


There is actually recycling all around our kitchen island.  The pop and beer cans are in their own garbage can, because here in Oregon they are worth money. The empty wine bottles have their own little box for handy storage, next to the real garbage can.


We take all of our garbage to the dump.  The odd thing is that I go to all this trouble sorting at home, and then get to the drop-off station and they mix most of the stuff all together.  I looked up online to find a good list of what you can and not recycle, and our local garbage service has a nice one:

So anyway, I try to do my best.  I will do even better now that I have learned I no longer have to take the bottoms off of the green bean cans ... I just need to rinse and save them until the next time we go to the dump.  It doesn't get much easier than that!