We had so much fun the other day, we decided to make some more jam today (actually we were going to do it last night but then ran out of time).
Today was blackberry, strawberry, grape, cherry jam/syrup. What took 4 hours, produced 8 pints of deliciousness! That makes each jar's value approximately $65.00 (we are taking orders)...
But wouldn't you know it...I just couldn't keep my hands off those hot jars coming out of the oven!
Yes, I DO have one of those jar lifters, and YES, I was using it this time.
NO, I wasn't in a hurry so much and YES, I was trying to be careful!
But I just reached my bare hand right up there and grabbed that jar to move it anyway! (now I know where my kids get it from! DANG, IT'S ME!).
THIS TIME, the oven wasn't on it's lowest setting. THIS TIME IT WAS SET TO 180 DEGREES!
There is a HUMONGOUS difference between 170 and 180 degrees. Oh, you say only 10 degrees. The difference between hot and boiling is only ONE DEGREE!
I couldn't believe I had done it a again. My wife didn't even laugh. This time she just looked at me, kind of like our 14 year old does when he's not happy about something...you know, the 'how-long-is-this-going-to-take' look.
While we were canning, the kids decided they were finished helping, long before we were actually finished (has that ever happened to you...where the kids have all sorts of interest at the beginning and then, after just a few minutes, decide to have NO INTEREST at all?!---It was actually quite a blessing, really).
Since they were finished in the kitchen, we sent them to the basement to play. The catch, we told them to take the baby. He's really not much trouble to watch. He doesn't really eat things off the floor unless it really is food, and usually he's the one who threw it there, so I don't really worry too much. And, he likes being around others so he doesn't usually diappear.
After about 15 minutes of quiet, we hear a scratching at the basement door...a muffled babbling...HEY, WHO'S WATCHING THE BABY?!
At the top of 1 carpet-covered stairs, scratching at the door was our toddler. He not only had climbed up unnoticed by the 'sitters' downstairs, he had also maneuvered the stairs while holding two toys in his hands. My hands were covered in pulp, my wife's hands were in dish suds to her elbows...but at that moment, none of that mattered. We were just grateful our little one had climbed up without teetering and falling.
Thank goodness for tender mercies.
