After the Carnage

It’s been almost a week ago that the shelf fell down in the laundry room and we lost almost all of the produce we’d canned during the summer.  Today I finally gathered all of the surviving jars next to the sink and washed each one. Several were coated in syrup, and shards of glass glued to the outside. Don’t ask me how I discovered that…

Here are the survivors, all shiny and clean after a hot soapy bath and vinegar water rinse:

I removed and tossed many dented rings, but the seals held on everything except three jars of apple butter. 

I appreciate all of the kind comments of sympathy. I truly feel fortunate that we have anything left of our hard work and each time I open one of the surviving jars, I’ll be a little more thankful than before. :o)

Conversation

I am working hard today getting the den cleaned out and ready to paint. Holy Cow there is a lot of stuff in there. Stuff I obviously thought was necessary, useful, or loved and needed to keep. Unfortunately the "toss" and "donate" piles are not very big... Anyway, I'm taking a quick computer break and read this post so I thought I'd play along and join her conversation. Here goes:

::Name one place you would like to see before you die.

There are so many, but the first that popped into my mind was Italy. Tuscany to be more specific. When I read "Under the Tuscan Sun" (book is 1000% better than the movie!) I fell in love with the idea of spending a summer in Tuscany in my own villa. BTW, I would take Greg along. :o)



::Is there a foreign language you wish you knew or would like to learn?

I wish I was fluent in Spanish. I do speak a very little bit - enough to ask a preschooler to sit down, please, or tell them where the bathroom is.

I also speak a little German, courtesy of High School and Frau ........ (shoot! I can't think of her name!).
Edited 9/3: It was Hoge, Frau Hoge! (prounounced like the sandwich, hoagie). Yeah, came to me when I wasn't even thinking about it. Just popped into my peri-menopausal mind.


::What social issue concerns you the most? What is your favorite soapbox?

I worked for Head Start for fifteen years, so I have a few soapboxes! First thought that came to me, though is the lack of affordable health care in this country. While Nebraska has a good program for children (Kids Connection), there is nothing for women aged 18-40 years. Even when there is insurance available through an employer, it still is often NOT affordable. Do I have an answer? No. I know what I want, but I don't know how it's feasible...



::What do you think your mom would say was the biggest challenge you presented her with?

LOL! I wish my mom was here to answer this, but I think I'm pretty close when I say she thought I argued with her too much. I can still hear her voice saying, "Tammy Lynne, stop arguing with me!" :o)

I better get back to work or I'll have the treadmill and Crossbow in my living room forever...

How to take a nap, unless you're in the circus

This is Max, napping on the living room floor in the middle of the day.

I come from a family of nappers. Mom and Dad did, and Tonita and the boys all appreciate a nice afternoon snooze. I've always been a big fan of the same.

Well, maybe not when I was six and Mom would make all five of us lie down at the same time.

Tonita and I were bored one day, didn't want to sleep, so we thought we'd play "circus". (Okay, it was my idea.) We (I) took one of the boards out from under the springs on our bed and set it over the footboard like a fulcrum. I had Tonita sit on the end of the board, on the bed, then I jumped from my bed onto the high end of the board. The intention was to toss her up in the air, hopefully touching the ceiling. Right.

No, we hadn't studied physics yet in Kindergarten and First grade. We got a good lesson, that day, though, when the board snapped in half with a deafening explosion and I fell to the ground. Oh. No.

Tonita and I scrambled to hide the board under the bed and get under our covers as quickly as possible. Then we lay there in fear, waiting for Mom to come thundering into the room, demanding to know what just happened?!

We waited. And waited. No one came. Whew. But we didn't sleep.

When Mom finally came in to tell us we could get up (seemed like hours we were in there!) we knew we needed to confess. I took the board pieces out to the kitchen and told her what happened. I could see she was trying not to laugh, and that made me feel so much better!

We didn't get in trouble, but we did learn a lesson. The next time we didn't want to sleep, we chose paper dolls for entertainment and decided to leave the stunt work to the boys!