I have my mother's jars, my grandmother's jars, probably my great-grandmother's jars! I have my (now deceased) mother-in-law's jars, and some new jars and jars that were given to me by elderly ladies in my church who no longer can but happily swap those empty jars for home-canned goods or freshly baked bread. I occasionally find jars at yard sales or second hand stores, but not so much any more. Robert, it's too bad you threw away those zinc lids, they are worth more than the jars! I do use the old blue jars and zinc lids to store dried beans, rice, lentils, dehydrated onions and garlic, etc. Many have chipped edges so I can't use them for canning, but they remain useful for storage. Cast iron is coming back with a vengeance. I've cracked a coule of relatively good pans by placing cold pans into coals, or once by taking a pan from the fire and putting it into a bucket of water so the children playing around the campfire didn't burn themselves. It was irreparable. I recently bought several pieces of Le Crueset enameled cast iron for less than $30 a piece at a local on-line auction. I just bought a Squeezo for $24.00 there too, and have picked up a couple of old Griswold's for less than $20, but they are few and far between. I usually only find them because the listing sellers misspell the names. Annie

I actually found a rug at lowes over the weekend that i like for in front of the door. Now...should if i buy those rubber mats (that you can also buy at lowes)to keep it from sliding around do you think it will stain the vinyl? Anyone have an experience with this? It says right on most of the packs i looked at "will not stain floors" but it doesn't list what it's made out of. Sadly most are from China. The backing is currently just rough which i'm also afraid might screw up the floor.

I have made several rag rugs for our summer cottage. The way they turn out depends on the thickness of the strips, the size of the hook used, and what stitch you use. As well the type of fabric used can make a difference. I have used old sheets cut in strips and they are stiffer than rugs made with knitted fabric. Hope this helps.

Yes, I just had LVP flooring installed all downstairs and now wish I hadn't! I never knew this about the rugs until now! It is so hard to believe that none of these rugs will work unless you have this type of rug pad! I have spent a fortune now on rugs and now need to get rug pads because you can't have rubber-backing or it will destroy your new expensive LVP floors! So ridiculous! It is so hard to find vinyl-backed rugs! I am so frustrated by this! Any suggestions on where to buy such rugs, doormats, kitchen rugs without the rubber-backing and without having to pay a fortune on rug pads!?