Kids and Jam

I admit it. I got out a spoon, scraped up and then devoured all the little blobs of rhubarb vanilla jam that spilled on the counter while I was canning. I also then used said spoon to scrape out the interior of the (giant) pot I used to cook it and ate that too.

This is actually a fantastic turn of events, because as of 24 hours ago, I was pretty sure I hated jam. I especially hated MY jam. My faith has now been restored in the form of six dozen beautiful jars currently cooling on my kitchen counter. That's right. Six dozen. That's 72 jars. In one batch. It was pretty insane. Also insane is how good my house smells right now...it's powerful enough to drown out the dirty diaper smell emanating from the trash (courtesy of Marina's morning gift to me).

Speaking of diapers, my kids are suddenly obsessed with diarrhea. Not the ACTUAL stuff, just the word. They made up a little war chant this morning, and were dancing around singing (loudly), "Diarrhea! Diarrhea! Diarrhea!" One of their baby dolls has also had her name re-christened to Diarrhea, which made for an amusing conversation that I overheard later:

Marina: "I love Diarrhea!"
Megan: "Me too! Kiss Diarrhea, Marina!"
Marina: "Okay! Now you kiss Diarrhea, Megan!"
Megan: "Okay! I love to kiss Diarrhea."

My kids crack me up...although I will readily admit to being glad we didn't have visitors today.

Back on the jam bandwagon, I did some math and discovered I still have 30 dozen more jars of jam to make before Wednesday. Yes, that's right. THIRTY. However, my kitchen counter is currently at maximum capacity while the rhubarb jam cools down, so I have allowed myself a break. I haven't decided if I'm going to do anything incredibly constructive with said break...hence the long blog post and the game of Mahjong I am currently contemplating playing.

Randomness

I would like to think that this randomness is in honor of my husband's 31st birthday...but I think it's a coincidence. In any case, first and foremost: Happy Birthday Dn. John! You are not old, because I am not married to an old man. So ha! :) Love you.

My kids woke up at 6:30 this morning. It was hard to be too annoyed, since they both slept like rocks all night until then, but still. If they could have postponed the early morning wake up call until 7:30...or even 7:15, I would've been much happier. Something about being awake before 7 doesn't sit well with me.

Also fun this morning was waking up and realizing my house had crossed the line from just messy to complete and totally repulsive filthiness. I've been so busy making jam lately that everything else has taken a backseat (like the laundry I washed and folded on Sunday that is still sitting in the baskets waiting to be put away). Therefore, I have put off all jam making until I get my house picked up. I'm sure you can tell that I am very excited about this, as I am currently blogging and checking facebook, not cleaning.

I had a chocolate cupcake and a handful of jelly bellies for breakfast today. How's that for a pregnancy diet?? I have a feeling that a gym membership is going to be in order after this baby is born.

Well, I am feeling the need to blast some tunes and clean up...even though I would really rather take a nap. However, since a housekeeper is not in the budget, I suppose I'm going to have to plow through.

Downsizing

I was looking around our house today trying to figure out how to rearrange to make room for the baby. The only thing I've come up with is to seriously downsize. That is going to be difficult for me, since I do love our "stuff." I also hate to lose the kids' play area upstairs, but I think it's going to get the axe. I have to figure out how to arrange their room to get their toys back in. It's going to take some pretty serious creative organization...hampered by the fact that their room doesn't have a closet.

So, I think the playroom becomes the office, the office becomes the baby's room, and all the toys go back into the girls' room. The only question that remains is where to put all my sewing stuff...which is a big question, since there's quite a bit of it.

Inventory

Since Monday, I have made:

28 pints of Chipotle BBQ
28 pints of Original BBQ
52 pints of Carolina BBQ
60 jars of Peach Almond Jam
55 jars of Caramel Apple Jam

I am officially only 1/4 of the way done. It is going to be a loooooooooong couple of weeks getting ready for the Make It Alaska Show! I have to do another batch (each) of Chipotle and Original BBQ, as well as 50 jars (each) of 11 more jam flavors.

Today's project is the Carrot Cake Jam. It is the most complicated flavor since there are so many ingredients that all have to be prepped through my very tiny food processor. Also, it is 10:22 am, and I am still not dressed, let alone starting jam. Somehow, I also have to do laundry and go grocery shopping this afternoon. And I promised Megan she could make cupcakes.

It's going to be a crazy day.

The Days of our Lives

I realize that it's been a good long time since I posted. Life has been crazy busy around here, and shows no signs of settling, so hopefully everyone will forgive me.

Marina had a lovely second birthday, and is rapidly settling into being a two year old. She walked up to me one day a few weeks ago, crossed her arms, stuck out her bottom lip, and proceeded to pout for the very first time. It was pretty funny that first time...not so much now, but ah well. She has a new love affair with Dora the Explorer, although that was tempered somewhat the other night when Dora was getting chased by a Bear, and Marina truly thought she was going to get eaten. The terrified screaming that commenced went on for a very long time. She did get over it though, and seems to have come out of the experience with no lasting scars.

Megan is a preschooler now, and loves every minute. She has really blossomed in the last few weeks, and will actually carry on a conversation with adults other than her Dad and I on a regular basis. She has also figured out that Liturgy is a fascinating event, so we've been talking about it a lot, and she's very engaged in church these days.

Our new baby is growing as well. I'm four months along this week, and according to the websites, the baby is the size of an avocado, and weighs about 3 1/2 ounces. We have a busy one on our hands again...I've been feeling movement for a few days now, which is pretty early, so I'm convinced that the kid is learning Karate in my belly. We're not planning on finding out if we're expecting a boy or a girl, so we have a good long time to keep trying to figure out names (we're at somewhat of a loss right now).

In less serious news, the kids heard MC Hammer for the first time yesterday, and spent the afternoon shouting, "Can't Touch This!" and "Hammer Time!" I suppose the next thing on the list is to introduce them to Vanilla Ice...

Amen and Amen.

Here's an idea: Instead of following the stupid advice of a man in Florida to burn the Koran, Orthodox (or any) Christians should bring Muslims to Christ, and let the newly converted do naturally what was recorded in Acts 19:19-20. So let's change "Burn... a Koran Day" to "Bring a Muslim to Christ Day". - Fr T. Soroka

Acts 19:19-20
¹⁹And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand ^A)">(A)pieces of silver.

²⁰So ^B)">(B)the word of the Lord ^C)">(C)was growing mightily and prevailing.

Happy Birthday Marina!

Most precious little girl, we love you so much! I can't believe you've been in our lives for two whole years already. May God grant you many, many more!