And Then I Stepped in Gum . . .

Domestic, but in a Weird Way

That sums me up in a nutshell, sometimes. Right this very moment, cooling on the stove, is a large batch of yummy homemade . . . um . . . pepper jelly. It smells slightly acidic and vinegary in here. I'm not even sure I really like pepper jelly, nor do I know anyone who does, as far as I know, so why don't I just go ahead and make 9 cups' worth? But Family Fun or Parenting or something had this recipe under "Gifts Kids Can Make" (Who, me? Reading a pre-holiday magazine in February? Why, of course not!), and it looked so intriguing that I bought the jalapenos, green and red peppers, and liquid pectin when I was at the grocery store. I mean, who can resist a recipe that says, "Put the seeded jalapenos and 1 cup of sugar in the food processor and process until jalapenos are finely ground. Sugar will be green." How cool is green sugar?

(Naturally, as with any recipe, I didn't have all the ingredients on hand that I thought I did, but instead of substituting this time, I sent Dave out for apple cider vinegar and more sugar.)

Anyway, I'll taste this in about half an hour, and if it's halfway decent, I'll hand it out to unsuspecting neighbors and relatives next week. I'll make my mom and dad eat it when we arrive in Chicago tomorrow night. Hope you've got cream cheese, Mom!

Katie had her third horseback riding lesson today, riding Bob, the pony. (Oddly enough, it didn't occur to me that little kids take lessons on little horses. I expected her to be riding regular-sized horses, but she's out there on this little pony.) She was fairly bouncy at the beginning, but by the end she was finally getting the rhythm of posting. It doesn't seem like she's that blissful while she's out in the ring, but she literally glows after the lesson. I'm glad we get to do this for her, even if she can be a bit ungrateful at times. It's fun to watch, too, although I wonder how long we have to go for lessons before we start to fit in with the horsey crowd -- so far, we're very much the outsiders at the stables.

Our contractor was supposed to start on putting walls in our basement today, but it rained. You'd think that wouldn't delay an inside job, but apparently they won't deliver lumber in the rain. So all that scrambling around last night trying the make the basement as empty/neat as possible so the workers can do the framing was a bit of a waste. At least it's done, so they'll be able to build as soon as they get all the materials. Although I do wonder how all those piles of boxes and stuff, which take up most of the volume of the proposed rooms, is actually going to fit in the confines of the rooms when they're finally finished. Ah well, best to be all Scarlett about that and think about it tomorrow. After all, we don't even have walls yet.

Wish me luck on my 5-day adventure with two kids all by myself. At least the flights are nonstop, and short, and I think I've mustered enough surprises/goodies to keep Katie and Ian occupied. Can't wait to get home and give my dad a great big hug -- and then scold him for giving me such a scare. Off to do the packing before the kids go to bed.

posted by Jennifer Morgan, at 6:49 PM