Mason Jar Madness

Mason Jar Madness & the Mason Jar Man

Mason Jar madness? This may not be what you’re expecting.

You may be expecting for me to tell you where to find great deals on canning jars. Or comment about the recent shortage of mason jars for canning.

These things are important and timely. Both are true—mason jars are somewhat in short supply, and I’d love to know where to find great deals on them! But here at our household, we have enough for now—at least until we straighten out our storage situation.

In fact, our mason jar dilemma began because we have an abundant supply of them. We use mason jars for canning, dry food storage, and more.

Here’s one project we used some of our mason jars for recently!  Dollar Tree Mason Jar Organization Wall

And mason jars make great drinking glasses!

Ah, the root of the problem surfaces.

Let me say that again. Mason jars make great drinking glasses.

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So much so that now many companies have clued into this fact, and begun producing drinking jars.

We have a few of the pint-sized mason jar mugs, and I love them. They give a homey feel they have a handle, and they’re real glass! Mason jars are sturdy—they’re made for heat and cold, and for the long haul. Even the drinking mugs. 🍺

So what’s the problem?

We have mason jars. We love mason jars. Why all the madness?

Herein lies the mason jar madness.

We eat home canned applesauce. The mason jar gets washed. With limited space, the clean jar is set on the counter to be put away.

We eat green beans. Same jar process.

Our counter space is tiny, so we should immediately whisk those jars off the counter and put them outside in the basement. But, I’ll be honest and tell you that sometimes they stay there for awhile.

So…when I go to wash dishes, I can clearly see which are the dirty mason jars and which are the clean mason jars. Obviously, the dirty ones look dirty, and you know—clean ones look clean!

Until someone come as along and drinks out of one of the many jars in the counter. Even if it’s only two jars, once he walks away, I have no idea which one’s which.

So I wash all the jars. Again.

I’ve painted jars and written a name on the jar with a Sharpie, but it always rubs off. Or…the jar gets carried off and since all mason jars look the same, the drinker grabs another one. And sets it on the counter by the sink.

I’ve tied twine on top of the jar. No good. It gets wet.

I’ve banished all jars from the sink vicinity, but that never lasts. It’s a never ending jar swap.

So I embraced the fact that we are going to have jars in limbo land until we move into our house and have a good way to store them.

But…I’m still washing a lot of jars because of the drinking jar.

Sometimes I wash all of the jars and take them to storage. Or I store something in the last mason jar, which prompts the interrogation as to where the drinking jar has gone. 🤷‍♀️

What to do?

At some point recently, I got more tired than usual of repeatedly washing clean in case I missed one.

During a recent nursing inservice, the presenter waltzed in with this beauty! It was a PURPLE ONE-QUART-sized mason jar drinking mug!

I didn’t tell you that the resident Mason Jar Man only drinks out of quart jars. Yep—a quart of water at a time!

But that lovely jar got me thinking of several things!

One, how pretty it was, and how even I would drink out of a mason jar if it looked like that!

 

And, two, why not look for a quart-sized mason jar mug to end all of this madness!

Well…apparently they don’t make that pretty purple mug anymore, or they sell them used for $20, and I’m too cheap for that.

Walmart and Amazon do still sell a teal or rose-colored jar , that is similar, but the design is different.  They are still pretty, and you can click here for the teal jar.  

And, there is a similar problem with finding quart-sized mugs. I had no idea they even made those, but they want an arm and a leg for them, and I need all of my limbs right now.

So…Walmart to the answer!

I was sure I’d find a big mason jar at Walmart. But, apparently I’m the last lady on this big mason jar bandwagon, and they’ve stopped carrying them. They used to in our local stores.  Now I discovered you can sometimes get one online.  

So I picked up the second best thing.

A quart-sized beer mug! 😉

 

This thing is huge, holds exactly one quart, and had a substantial handle. It’s a hefty mug.

I was so pleased with myself. It cost two bucks! At Walmart!

When I proudly presented Mr Mason Jar  Man with the new mug, he was mildly impressed.

Then he started drinking with it.

I wrote his name on it with chalk markers, which promptly washed off at the first drips. That’s ok. I just bought one mug, so everyone knew who it belonged to.

Success! Or is it?

Joke’s on Me

Within three days, I noticed jars creeping back onto the counter. WHAT??

It was a simple explanation: “The big mug is so wide the water dribbles down my chin.”

Wow.

Didn’t see that one coming.

Back to the drawing board.

I seriously started rummaging around for a can of paint to just permanently paint him a mason jar.

(And if I didn’t care about a handle, I would just get a pack of these pretty blue Ball mason jars!  Next time!)

But before I did that, I made one last trek to my favorite thrift store, determined to find something that would hold a quart, was made of glass, and would please my mason jar husband!  

Imagine my joy and delight when in the very first store, I did find a jar. On its side it proudly proclaimed itself as a Drinking Jar. Good enough for me. I snatched it up before anyone else could nab it.

And I didn’t have to lose a limb to get it!

This DID solve the mason jar madness for now. Yes, we still have jars on the counter. But only one has a handle. And so I can spend just a little more time rambling on about jars, because I’m spending just a little less time WASHING them!

My dirty little 🤫 secret  

Remember I looked and looked for a QUART-sized jar to drink from?  Don’t tell my husband, but the jar I found was actually a wanna-be quart jar.  I’m pretty sure it doesn’t hold quite a full quart, more like 28 oz, so if you see a certain tree guy looking a bit dehydrated, just pour him a mason jar full of water and stand back while he guzzles it!  

And that giant beer mug?

I took it back for myself and found out that it works nicely as a flower vase. Win-win for everyone!

Your Mason Jars

I’d love to hear what you use your mason jars for, besides canning, of course!  

Crafts, storage, decoration?  Drinking?  

Let me know in the comments below!