Showing posts with label jelly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jelly. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Messy Situations. Literally.

I posted this on Facebook this morning:
Your attitude about negative circumstances is so important. Sometimes, all you can do is laugh. If the rest of the day continues like this morning, I'm going to be laughing. A lot. :)
Things happen that are beyond our control. Situations arise that are less-than-pleasant. How you respond to those times can determine your day, your life. You can't change it. So why get upset?



I woke early this morning. I read my Bible and even had time to exercise before my 3-month-old woke up. I fed him while enjoying the quietness of the house as the others were still sleeping. We played together, just the two of us. He smiled. I smiled. He talked. I talked. He threw up all over me. I changed my clothes.

I sat at the table with my baby. All of a sudden, I felt warmth on my lap. Hmm, I thought. My lap feels wet.  I lifted Tyler up and there, where he had been sitting, was a pool of baby poop.

I stood up and instantly felt the warm liquid trickling down my legs. It was then that I really wished someone else was around. I needed help. Someone needed to clean the baby up. Someone needed to clean the floor and chair up. Someone needed to clean me up. That one and only someone was me. All I could do was laugh. For a split second, I debated what to do. I walked the few steps to the counter and grabbed a couple kleenex. I quickly wiped the streaks of pea-green that had reached down to my ankles, and against my better-judgment, trekked across my light-colored carpet to the other side of the house, praying the goopy liquid would not leave its mark on my floor. 

Still laughing because this whole messy situation was so ridiculously grotesque, I set the baby down on a changing mat. I slowly, carefully opened his romper. unsnap . . . unsnap . . . unsnap. Another pool of green goop was waiting for me in his clothing. Still more in his diaper. The smile on his face matched my own. Even he understood how absurd this was.  

I changed his clothes. I changed mine. I cleaned every trace of green from myself and my house. I put my little one down for a well-deserved nap.

It was after this incident that I wrote the above statements as my status.


Fast forward an hour or so.



I reached into my refrigerator for a jar of jelly, a big two-and-a-half-pound jar of jelly. The top, by which I was trying to retrieve the condiment, was not screwed on properly. Thus, I dropped the jar on floor, splattering jelly everywhere. Everywhere. Here I am, wearing ivory-colored capris, covered in deep red jelly. I remembered my words from this morning. And I laughed. Again. 

I rinsed  my clothes, left them to soak in a bucket filled with a stain-removing solution, and headed back to my sticky kitchen. I sopped up piles of jelly from the floor. I washed the sticky substance that was dripping down my oven. I scrubbed my cupboards that were splattered red. I wiped down the backsplash that was doused with more than it anticipated.

I turned to the remaining jelly and grabbed a piece of bread.

"Mommy, I don't want a sandwich anymore."

And I laughed.


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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Tasty Tuesday: Apple Butter

Jake has been on a "field trip" to his grandparents' house the past couple of days. He has done his school work there, much to his disappointment. So, we didn't do anything yesterday for Make It Monday. I was able to do some deep cleaning in the bedrooms though, since he wasn't here to reclaim the toys I was taking. I guess yesterday was Make It Clean, which makes me very happy.

Today, Alyssa and I made apple butter. She enjoyed having Mommy all to herself.


Ingredients:
5 1/2 pounds apples - peeled, cored and chopped         2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cups white sugar                                                          1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup brown sugar                                                           1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. Place the apples in a slow cooker. In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Pour the mixture over the apples in the slow cooker and mix well.
2. Cover and cook on high 1 hour.
3. Reduce heat to low and cook 9 to 11 hours, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened and dark brown.
4. Uncover and continue cooking on low 1 hour. Stir with a whisk, if desired, to increase smoothness.
5. Spoon the mixture into sterile containers, cover and refrigerate or freeze.




After six hours of cooking, I made the mistake of trying it. Actually, the mistake was allowing Zac to see me try it. He insisted on having some himself, and when I say "some," I mean a bowl full. At this point, it tasted and smelled like apple pie. Good, but not apple butter.

When it was finally finished cooking, I poured it in the blender and pureed it until smooth. Finally, after 12 hours, we have apple butter! It was worth the wait!




It's great on toast, pb&j sandwiches, as a topping for ice cream or however else you can think of serving it. I had never been a fan of apple butter before, but I love this homemade version!


Linked to Savvy Slow-Cookin'
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