Sick, Errands, New Toaster

I am really sick.
My throat feels awful and I could sing bass in a choir.  My head is stuffed and clogged and my eyes are weepy.  I ache all over.
But I had to run some errands.  Hm.
After 17 years our toaster died.  It was actually kind of sad to put it in the trash.  Why is it we get attached to inanimate objects like that?  I feel the same way about cars.  I got this one today with my 20% off and $5 off coupons at BBBeyond.

We put it right to work tonight.

Adrianne had the Beehives over and taught them how to make strawberry freezer jam.  They each went home with a large baby food jar of it.  And had to sample it before going home, of course!

 I had to go to the post office and mail a box to Nats of all the things they forgot here, then to Staples for shredder lubricant (much needed after shredding 2007 blog), and printer ink.  Dang.  Why is that SO expensive?  Do any of you get your ink at Costco?  If so, how does that work?  Ours refills cartridges, I think?

I felt so completely awful at this point that I treated myself to a frozen yogurt and came home to the couch.

Kevin B. got here around 9:30.  He is in town for his brother's wedding on Saturday.  He is staying with us for about a week.

We Be Jammin'!

Today was the day! The day for making J-A-M. The strawberry stands have been open since the first of the month and since we are totally out of any kind of jam and my family is so spoiled they WILL NOT eat any store bought jams or jellies it was definitely 'time'. Adrianne had the day off from work, so she ran some errands in the morning (getting her name 'changed' on important documents) and then came over.

I ran errands in the morning too, and stopped into the strawberry stand to procur the essential ingredient. Jose was very flattered I included him in the picture. I had been listening to music in the car and was humming as I picked out the berries. He asked me if I was happy. It kind of caught me off-guard. I replied: Yes, I am happy. He said good, because a lot of women come to the stand and are grumpy! I told him they were probably just concentrating on choosing their strawberries! Anyway, interesting what people notice...

We washed, hulled, and mashed berries. Here is Adrianne filling her jars. I got the ingredients this year and her job was to start acquiring their jars. She found some really neat jars that are new to the Ball collection. They are very CUTE. More contemporary and with silver seals and rims. If I already didn't have such an extensive amount over the last 30+ years I'd get these too! She did a great job and was a quick 'study' for never having done this before.

Here is the 'fruits' of our labor. We made 37 pints. I experimented the day before with using frozen raspberries and peaches for some raspberry/peach jam. It turned out GREAT! Those jars are on the far right. I only did about 10 of those.

Another view. Don't they look pretty? I love the feeling of accomplishment when I do things like this!

I tried to get a close up of Adrianne's jars. The back row are just some random glass jars, but the middle row is the pint jars, and the front row are the 1/2 pints. We like to do the freezer jams.

We had a fun afternoon, but were pretty tired when we were done. The guys came down and asked what was for dinner. We looked at each other, and then at them, and said, "We're ordering out!"

Natalie and Meredith: Start looking for your jars. We'll help you learn this summer when you're both here! Missed YOU.