Skeeter's Family: November 2022

I always thought that this particular occurrence was unique to my family. According to all the posts on my social media, it's a wide spread southern phenomenon.

Refridgerator filled with plastic margarine bins

Which one is the butter?

This was my fridge looked like growing up. Plastic margarine bins filled with leftovers. Only the family members knew which one was the current margarine container.

There was a time, after I had married and moved out, that I was visiting mom and needed the butter/margarine. I opened the fridge and not only did it look like the picture, even worse they were all the same brand and size!

Me: Alright, which one is the butter?

Answer from the living room: Second shelf down far left.

Obviously they kept the "current butter tub" in the same place. Understandable. I will admit that I refused to use empty margarine tubs for storage (something my very frugal mother always picked on me for), but I do keep the margarine tub in the same spot in my fridge. And yes, it's the second shelf down, far left.

But that's not the story I want to talk about. dear ol' mom used those plastic tubs in place of things that they weren't meant for. I'm not talking about putting odds and ends, extra buttons, or paper clips in an old tub. I mean things that were never intended to be used for. Like hot grease.

Yes, mom would pour her slightly cooled, but still way too hot cooking oil into plastic tubs to throw it away. For years I watched this miracle of modern science happen. Over and over she would empty the frying pan into this flimsy container and it didn't melt! How? Why? It baffled my mind. But then...

One day I had to ask,

"Mom, aren't you afraid the plastic will melt?"

'No honey, it never does."

Then we both watched, she in horror, me in bemusement as that flimsy plastic container finally gave in to thermodynamics, and melted. Hot oil was running out all over the counter. Mom looked at me and we both burst out laughing. Of course, I had to clean up the mess. I did jinx it after all.

We lost mom 21 years ago today.