Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Canning Catastrophe


Look at this cool Twilight poster! For some reason Robert Pattinson looks more like the Edward in my mind with the gold eyes, although for some reason I have always pictured Edward with dark hair, not bronze.

So, my friend Carissa has been canning for the last couple weeks. She gave me a ton of tomatoes out of her garden, so I thought 'why not? I will give it a try.' After boiling my jars about 4-5 times, only 3 of them ever sealed (usually one per boiling would seal at the end).

I got so frustrated yesterday I opened the other three jars and dumped the salsa into a big tupperware to put in the fridge. Now I have to use it fast. What did I do wrong? I wiped the lids just like Carissa told me, and I made sure there wasn't much space between the salsa and the top of the jar. Anyway, I guess that is one homemaker-y skill I won't be mastering. But Stephanie, if you ever feel like passing on a jar of your FABULOUS strawberry jam, I won't put up a ruckus!

You may have heard me say how much Spencer likes Sesame Street. After he stole Mackenna's angel bear and gave it a very wet kiss, she most obligingly decided to give him her stuffed Elmo.
I think she got it when she was about his age. He keeps carrying it around the house. Then he'll drop it and when he realizes its gone he calls out 'Mo-Mo......Mo-Mo......Mo-Mo.....' (you get the picture.)

I think for his birthday I may do some sort of Sesame Street cake. I actually have an Elmo pan that I did for Kenna's 2nd birthday - but where's the fun in that? I saw this really cute cookie monster cake on coolestbirthdaycakes.com -

they used the stand-up teddy bear pan from Wilton and cut the ears off to make his bulging eyes. Then they did blue icing with the grass tip. We'll see how ambitious I am once that rolls around.

I feel so anti-productive. Maybe it's because yesterday I balanced the checking account, got caught up on some stuff for my callings, and cleaned three bathrooms. I should have felt great after all that, right? Well, my lower back hurt from all the bending, and my family room/kitchen was still a disaster - and I had no energy to remedy that. So I felt like I spent all day working with nothing to show for it. Maybe I should just go hang out in the bathroom.

I finished Emma's Belle dress, and now I am just waiting for my mom to sew the roses she made onto it. She is so talented. She made them out of this sparkling crimson ribbon. Once the dress is all together I will put some close-ups on here.

I also made my friend's baby gift, which I can't really go into since she looks at my blog a lot. I also started Emma's Dorothy costume. I found the fabric at Walmart before I bought the pattern, and for some weird reason I thought 2 1/2 yards would be enough fabric. So I am laying it all out to cut when I realize I am about a yard short. No big deal, right? I got it at Walmart. So I go to Walmart and my breathing starts to quicken as I search for it high and low, to no avail. I had to drive to the Clinton Walmart in a frenzy, and luckily, they had about five bolts of it.

Saturday is Emma's birthday, but my sister is getting her endowments that day, so we will be leaving the kids with Grandma and going down to Manti. FAT JACK'S HERE I COME!!! For those of you who don't know, Fat Jack's is a pizza place in Ephraim, where I went to college. Their fat sticks (cheese sticks) and antipasta salad are to die for! I can't wait. Then we will be coming back home and taking Emma to Chucky Cheeses for her birthday dinner. I tried desperately to get her to pick a different place ("Emma, how about Chili's? You LOVE Chili's. No? Red Robin? Remember how much you like their fries? You can even have a shake!"). Oh well. As long as she's happy.

8 comments:

Sarah E Boucher said...

Still cringing about Chucky Cheese...especially after a massive frosting disaster today. May I just say DON'T SEND A CAKE TO SCHOOL FOR YOUR KID'S BIRTHDAY! Why do they expect k teachers to be able to juggle 26 kids while simulaneously cutting and serving your stupid cake? Hello! Anyway, it had cars, a road (BLACK icing) and BRIGHT BLUE icing all around the outside. The blue and black got all over their faces, hands, my tables, the FLOOR. I hate birthdays. Anyway, just imagine me at CC's amidst all the kid birthdayness. I may vomit.

And...you may kill me...but is fat jack's still open? We went to the Ephraim with Joe and Jen and it wasn't where it used to be (and I really wanted to go there). So I was wondering, have you been there recently? Sorry, didn't remember that til just now. :(

KickButtMommy said...

That Elmo cake will be cute. Don't sweat it on the canning!

Dee said...

I'm surprised you of all people didn't catch all the bronze hair snippets from the Twilight series... how did that happen ;) Also, just a heads up... Fat Jacks is now "Roy's Pizza" and they upped the price of the sticks by almost 2 bucks. I was a bit put out... good news though, they are still the most delicious crumbs on the planet!!! Love you, have fun!!

Carissa Hill said...

Awww...come on! Just talk a little about my baby gift!!!

Becca said...

My mom always turns the sealed jars upside down after she puts the lids on. She says they seal fast.

Misty said...

sarah, you will be happy to know that for emma's birthday i sent individual packets of halloween marshmallows. i wouldn't even wish a birthday cake on a teacher. and, as dionne said, fat jack's is just called roy's pizza now. it is at the same place. thanks for all you did today - you are the bomb!

Misty said...

just for the record, i didn't miss the fact that edward had bronze hair. i just don't picture him that way in my mind. how could i miss it?

Amber said...

Misty, everything Steph knows about canning she learned from me... :) the strawberry jam is the easiest, so tell her to give you a lesson, or I will anytime.