Yes, This Post Counts as a Distraction

There are so many distractions in this world, it's enough to drive me to distraction.  Wow, that was lamer written out than in my head!  Haha.  But seriously, that is all I am about today, distraction.  Maybe I am just more susceptible to distraction than every other person out there, but it just seems hard to get away from.

There's my iPhone.  Wonderful thing that it is.  It's handy for phoning and texting.  Also handy for Facebook and Solitaire and Civilization and stupid, mindless games that have no point but I play anyways.  That's the problem, it's handy.  I can take it all over the house with me.  I can stop for a quick sit down in the kitchen and bam, spend half an hour moving cards around.  Wow.

There's books.  Some people, like my hubs, aren't readers and so they don't have trouble resisting the temptation to open a book and read and read and read.  I am kind of jealous of them.  Because I am a reader, and I sure have a hard time resisting that temptation.  In fact, I usually don't resist, I just give in and read and read and read and, well you get the picture.  I remember when I was a teenager and I shared a room with my sister, and I would read in our hallway by the light of the bathroom light so she could get some sleep.

There's the computer.  Since I have my iPhone, this isn't quite as big a distraction, but it definitely can be.  I can check my e-mail and then zoom around, maybe shopping, maybe just window shopping (yep, definitely window) and sometimes the stuff I'm looking at is 'good' stuff, stuff that I might need to know or use eventually, but really, I should be doing something else at that moment.

But, here's some points for me.  The TV isn't really a distraction for me!  Hurray!  We don't have any kind of cable or satellite so that's mostly the reason for that.  If we did have some kind of channels, I know that I would watch "just one show" and end up watching four.  I'm just that person.  

The After-Party

So I'm finally doing a recap of my adventure into hosting a surprise party, almost a week later.  Ah well, I'm sure that you guys will all forgive me, since I just know that you were waiting at your computers for my post to publish.  Hahahaha.  I can dream ;-)

Well, he was actually surprised.  And the fact that he didn't know there was a party for him until he walked in the door surprised me.  And this was despite the fact that he walked in 45 minutes before the party started to pick something up!  He still didn't know.  Gotta love a man's brain, so focused on one thing he missed realizing what was going on before his eyes.

So, one thing I learned, or rather realized anew, was my horrible lack of judgment regarding, well anything like estimating the amount of food needed.  We had TONS of leftovers.  And I mean TONS.  Granted, though, that there were a few couples who didn't make it, so if they would have come, we would have had slightly less than a ton.  And I had way too much punch.  Almost everyone had coffee or tea.  So instead of a punch bowl, I really needed a second coffee machine.

Seating.  I didn't truly think of seating until the day before.  But since we had a few less people than planned, I actually had enough chairs without having to borrow.  (Though my dear friend did bring some over just in case, without even asking! Yay for friends!)

I think that everyone had a good time.  This is what they have told me, and they've always been honest with me (as far as I know...) so I believe them.  I worry that I could have done more, like party games or something!  Do something hostess like.  I can make food, and place it in a convenient place for people to reach it, but I am such a social dud (it seems to me) that I don't want them to be bored.  'We ate food, now what?'

But that's me just over-analyzing.  I love our friends and I know they love me and my family.  And that was what the party was about, showing my hubs that we love him.

A Happy Birthday to my Hubby!

Today is my hubby's 30th birthday.  Hurray!! Happy Birthday Hun!  (I just said that for the sake of saying it publicly.  He doesn't read my blog.)

I have a desire to make birthdays in our family a special time, maybe starting some traditions that carry on through the years, but I have yet to reach anything close to my ideal picture.  Last year definitely didn't turn out like I thought it would, as I shared with you.  But this year I have a plan.  This year I am throwing a surprise dessert party.  With people invited.

Yes, I have chosen to host my first, more-than-just-best-friends party this Saturday.  And a surprise to boot.  I'm nothing if not ambitious (actually I am quite a few things more than ambitious, but I won't get into that now!).

Since the party is Saturday night, I am not doing anything huge today.  I am making a cake for him to have, and supper will be...well actually supper isn't super special since we didn't get our pay-cheque until yesterday so I haven't been able to replenish our meat supply.  But the cake he requested is a Lemon Chiffon cake.  I have never made one before.  Things that I haven't made before sometimes go very, very wrong.  So I'm crossing my fingers and praying that it turns out.

I have been busy cleaning the house and baking all the desserts this week.  I had a nice plan where I would make one dessert a day this week, but that flopped since yesterday I had a really bad headache, so I didn't get any baking, or any cleaning at all done.  So now I'm bunching up a little the last couple days.

I am a little nervous about having all these people in my house.  We've had Biblestudies here, but this is different.  The only purpose is to come socialize and eat our food.  I don't want everyone to be bored!  I don't want them to hate my food!  What if there are large amounts of awkward silence?!  Oh goodness.  I think I'm just going to not think about it.

I love the idea of hospitality, but am definitely a little more socially awkward than not.  So this is a big leap for me.  But Mark loves being social.  So I knew that he would so appreciate having all his friends with him.

Oh My Aching Back

That sums me up right now.  My back feels like it is trying to kill me.  I have been on my feet all day, or most of it.  And I have a cold, so that makes all the standing-on-my-feet even more miserable.  Wah, wah, wah.  Poor me.

Okay, so enough whining.  I did spend a lot of today standing in the kitchen, but I got most of what I wanted to do, done (sort of).  I have been given a box of plums, so I wanted to make jam with them today.  My first time ever.  Last year I canned peaches and pears, so I'm branching out further this year.  So far I have done cherries and peaches, though those stories have little success.

All but 2 of my cherry jars failed to seal properly and therefore spoiled (I had 12).  And I only had 3 jars of peaches, and one of them broke while in the water bath.  So now I only have 2.  (In case you can't do basic math...)

Wow, is making jam a lot of work, or else I'm just doing it wrong!  Hahaha, no.  I actually like it, just once I was started I couldn't really stop, though I wanted to.  And the girls sometimes wanted to.  Over all they were good today.  I brought out our Mega Bloks (I think that's what they are, giant duplo) and they played with that for awhile since we haven't had them out for months now.  But eventually they got a little whiny.  So I popped on a show.  (The Great Muppet Caper for the millionth time.)

So I made one batch of jam, which gave me 8 1/2 250mL jars.  And used only 1/4 (if that) of my box.  Now I have a dilemma.  I still have a ton of plums!  So I might have to repeat the process again this weekend.  Though I will need to buy more jars and more pectin.  But I think to myself, why do I need more than 8 jars of jam? We don't eat a ton of it, just a few sandwiches for Leigh and the odd day of toast for the girls and my hubs.  But I think I will try to give some to my family and friends.  Then they can all praise my skills.  Yes, I give so I can receive praise.  I'm nothing if not humble...

The Reason I Don't Add Up is I'm Using the Wrong Equation

I have a confession that will shock the world.  Ready?

I am NOT Super-Wife/Mom/Woman. 

Ok, maybe not so shocking.  And I can already hear all you moms saying, 'Me neither!'  And you probably all believe that.  You would say that you are just living as best you can, and you make mistakes the same as everyone.  But, I have to say, please don't take offense, I just don't believe you.  I believe that every other mom out there (with the exception of the truly crazy ones) is light-years ahead of me.

I read blog after blog of these moms who cook these great meals.  Not gourmet all the time, but healthy and nutritious and tasty.  They keep the house in at least a decent working order.  They can shelves and shelves of fruit and vegetables, grown in their own backyard.  They do this, and they do that.  Then I look at myself and I seem to be sorely lacking. 

Yet if there is any specific theme to all the stuff God has been speaking to me these past months, it is that everyone's walk with God is unique to them.  And His timing in our lives is different too.  We don't all have these cookie-cutter lives, where they all look the same.  Even if we are all listening to His voice, our decisions may still look different.  Homeschooling, church-going, working or staying at home, family size, head covering, children raising, house buying, so many decisions in life.  And everyone makes different ones.

And while there are a few decisions that only have one right answer, most of them don't.  Two different decisions can both still be correct.  This I have to keep telling and reminding myself.  My life doesn't have to look like Jane Doe's and neither does Jane Doe's life have to look like mine.

So that's it for tonight.  Now I'm off to can some peaches for my husband.  (Though I'm still hoping that some magic Canning Fairy will drop through my roof and do it for me.)

What Goes on in the House When Daddy is Away

My hubby is away overnight for work, so the kids and I are on our own.  It's funny, he works long hours in the summer, usually leaving before the kids, and a lot of the time I, are awake, and not returning home until close to 7, which is only a half an hour before it's time to start getting ready for bed.  Yet even though he's only here for those hours in the evening, it still feels different, even during the day, when he is out of town.

It must be the knowledge that he isn't coming home.  It sort of feels like when the boss is out of town.  You know, you can relax a little, not be so work driven, maybe chat with the office ladies a little longer.  For me, it means I don't have to stress over what I am cooking for supper.

Mark eats a fair amount for supper, since he works such a physically hard job.  And on top of that, he likes to take leftovers for his lunches.  This means that I have to make enough food for all of us for supper and at least one more meal for him (bonus if there's enough for me too) and I should try to make the food something that he enjoys.    But we differ in our tastes quite a bit.  My favourite foods are not his, and vice versa. 

I can be very emotionally sensitive sometimes (okay, maybe all the time) (okay and maybe it's more like over-sensitive).  If I make something that he doesn't LOVE and RAVE over, I feel a little bit of a punch to the gut.  Don't get me wrong, he is very appreciative of almost everything I make, whether it's a favourite or not (the only time he is unappreciative is when it's a complete disaster, like Pan-Fried Mustard Glazed Salmon, that both looks and tastes like cat poop).  So because I live to please him (hahahahaha, well I try) I want to make foods that he enjoys.  But man, do I hate planning meals.  I think it is worse than the actual cooking.

So for this reason I try to plan our meals out weeks in advance.  I usually have a four week calendar on the go.  And in it I try to balance out the meals between the ones he likes and the ones I like.  So it is very convienent for me when he goes away because I can make whatever I want and there is no gut-punching regret!  Or, I can eat leftovers for the third time that day.  (he doesn't like to eat the same thing for supper that he ate at lunch.)

Today, for example, I cooked a salmon for supper.  He likes salmon, but he likes it done a little fancier than me, with some kind of lemony-dilly-ish like sauce.  I eat mine with all the goodness of melted butter.  Mmmmmmmmmm.  So I got to cook it plain, and eat it like that.  My kids also get a kind of supper break when Daddy isn't home, since I don't really enforce our dinner table eating time.  They can have what they want, whenever they want it.  Today they wanted toast at 4, and then bread for supper later.  Yes, they ate mainly bread.  Leigh did eat a few potatoes.  Mom of the Year award over here please!

Tomorrow I will be back as a slave to quality(ish) food.  Hubs is coming home, and my in-laws are coming also, so I will really be putting out my best efforts...or just regular ones!  But I have had my salmon, and I'll have it for lunch tomorrow too!  (And maybe breakfast)

Downfall of the Lounging Day

Mark was heading out of town early this morning (5:30) and was going to be gone overnight.  I usually try to get up to say goodbye when he's gone for a few days, but last time I got up I wasn't able to get back to sleep and ended up with a horrible headache and just had a crumby day so I figured I would stay in bed and try to sleep.  Maybe if I would get myself to bed at a decent time I could get up earlier, which I would love to do, but that's a whole other story.

But Abby woke up around this time so he dumped her in bed with me and that hampered me getting back to sleep until she fell asleep again since she squirmed and fussed and fidgeted.  And insisted on drinking from a metal water bottle that went clink, clink, clink.  But I did get a few more minutes of sleep before Leigh woke up.  Leigh cuddled in bed with me for a little while before demanding "Hot Dogs!" for breakfast.  Well, I didn't have any hot dogs, and even if I did, I probably wouldn't give them for breakfast.  She settled for toast.

I sat (laid down under a quilt) on the couch while she was eating, half dozing, half trying to wake up by playing games on my iPhone.  Abby slept in until nine, the time when I was conveniently making myself some toast so I just gave her one of my pieces.  Then we proceeded to just do nothing much.  They played, and screamed and fussed and fought, while I read and played and sat there like a blob.  None of us were dressed.  I did change Leigh's diaper though, since she was STINKY. 

And guess who walks in the door just before the lunch hour?  Mark!  My wonderful husband that I want to impress with all my wonderful housewifely skills.  Yes, he caught me on a lounging day. 

I was so embarrassed!  Not that the house is always perfect and this will ruin any kind of image I have with him.  No, he's pretty much seen me (and our house) much worse than this.  But I have been trying so hard to keep up with cleaning and all that kind of stuff and to not slack off by reading or playing on my iPhone or wasting time on Facebook (curse you FB!!!  Why are you so addictive and revolting at the same time?).  He goes to work 5, sometimes 6, days a week, and he doesn't get to sit around.  But I am supposed to be manning the homefront.

Oh well!  So that is my secret of the day.  If I ever try to portray myself as this perfect super-mom/wife, you all know differently.  You know that my husband came home and found me in an old, hole-y tank top with no dishes or laundry done at all. 

On the Road and Nothing Gets Done

Yesterday I went to my ladies' Biblestudy in the morning and ran errands in the afternoon, so i didn't get home until 2.  Today I took Abby to the city an hour away for an appointment with a pediatricin, didn't get home until 1:30.  Both days, I have found it a huge difficulty to get anything done.  Partly from being gone for a fair amount of hours, but mostly from the resulting laziness.

But nobody wants to hear a complainer, especially someone continually complaining about themselves.  Instead I will inform everyone of how the doctor appointment went.

We went to the pediatrician on a referral from the hearing specialist.  The apointment was to see if we could pinpoint why Abby has speech problems.  I was apprehensive about the appointment since I didn't feel a super-great connection with the speech pathologist.  The speech pathologist actually made me feel like a huge piece of dog poo.  But that's a whole other topic that I don't need to get into since I've come to terms with it (really).

Anyways, blah blah blah, the appointment went fine, and the doctor is pretty positive that Abby does not have autism.  Which has been an on and off again fear of mine.  I knew that she didn't, deep down, but I still feared that she did.  Basically there are no physical reasons that can explain why Abby is delayed.  All her other developmental areas are fine.  So the doctor says, just start the speech therapy when they call, and that will be the best thing for her.

And despite the fact that I didn't really learn anything new, it felt reassuring to me.  Driving home, I felt empowered to do what I needed to do.  I could continue to do "preschool" at home with Abby, and send her to an actual preschool in the fall.  I could deal with the intimidating speech pathologist and stand my ground about my beliefs.  I could even clean and tidy my house...maybe.

Outdoor Parenting

The warm weather is back!  Hurray.  There was a couple of colder days earlier this week, with rain and wind, but now it is back to sunshiny bliss (though unfortunately the wind is still around).  I am definitely made for the hot days of summer.  I am amazed at how fast my body has adapted to the hotter climate down south.

Abby and Leigh love to play outside.  Absolutely love it.  Leigh will toddle around without a second thought about me, but Abby seems to be happier if I am actually around and watching.  If I am out of sight for more than a couple minutes she usually comes into the house looking for me.  This is where I am not sure exactly what I am supposed to be doing.

Their dad doesn't like me to leave them outside by themselves.  Our neighbour parks his trucks on the street so cars can't see our girls if they happen to step off the driveway.  I get that.  And he's also worried about just the unforseen.  Maybe they might get hurt.  Any number of things could happen.  I can see his points through it all.  But there is another side. 

I don't have a lot of "work" outside.  I could weed my flower bathtub (blech) or I could sweep the driveway (double blech).  I only have garlic planted in my big garden because our landlord will supposedly be putting in a retaining wall, right down the middle of it so there is no point in planting anything since it will be dug up, probably.  The garlic is there because I planted it in the fall.  And according to my husband's calculations it should be within the bounds of the wall, so hopefully I won't have to transplant the poor things.

So sometimes I take some hand sewing/patching outside and sit in the sun mending.  I actually really enjoy it.  Because I enjoy it, I feel like it is just a frivolous waste of time.  I should be doing some work, like vacuuming or cleaning the mold off my bedroom window or picking up the pieces of  'whatever-it-is' that the girls have ripped into tiny, miniscule pieces and thrown down the stairs.  Something that doesn't relax me quite so much.

Therefore I open the windows, at least all the ones that stay up without some kind of support, and I keep the front door wide open.  Every 30 seconds or so I make a trek outside to check on my girls.  This way I can keep working inside, making supper, or doing dishes, or whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing, yet they can play outside and have fun. 


But it does have disadvantages, like I stated above.  So what is the correct choice?  Mark's way or mine?  I don't want to deprive the girls of outdoor play time just because I can't keep up on the house work.  So maybe I just need to be less of a slacker and keep up better so that I have time to stay out there with them.  Because another huge disadvantage of keeping the door open is that we don't have any screen doors.  So all kinds of flies and bees and bugs make their way into our house.  They then proceed to pester us all evening, and possibly into the night.


Is there any winning solution?!

The Season

Crunch time!  Christmas is just a week and a few days away!  And I'm not too far behind...okay, so maybe I am.  I have only baked one batch of cookies, and those are slowly being eaten so I will most likely have to make more for my gift tins.  Not to mention the other kinds of cookies that I need to make, as well as fudge.  I did mail off our parcel of presents for family, but I have a few straggling cards that were waiting for addresses that I am just preparing today.  So I hope they still make it!

And yet, when I think of it, I don't really think that we are huge "celebrators" of this season.  We have no family down here, really just our one family of friends that we have dinner with.  Though this year we are more involved with a local church body so we have a Christmas Eve service to not just attend but participate in.  And Mark has a work Christmas party now too.  And after Christmas there is a party I'm sort of helping get together, though not at my house.  Hmmm, maybe I am a celebrator.

I have grand visions of what our Christmasses will look like, but they aren't there yet.  I suppose it takes time to organize our thoughts and ideas and implement them.  At least for me it does.  I didn't even do a tree this year!  Well, that's not so different since I haven't done a tree since we've been married.  At first my hubby and I went through a stage where we were against having trees, but now we don't care.  I just didn't want to be constantly fighting with Leigh about it, trying to keep her away.  I hung garlands across the living room wall.  It looks alright, just not great.  I wish it looked great.

Buying gifts was also a stress for me.  I love giving people gifts, especially if it has special meaning or thought behind it.  It doesn't have to be expensive, I'm fine with inexpensive finds (unlike my hubby who is slow to start, but once he's started he is SPENDING).  But I have a hard time actually deciding what to get for others.  Some are easy, like my sister-in-laws, I found things right away for them, but all the men I had to buy for, I couldn't decide, so I just gave them money.  And the annoying thing about money is that I had to give more than I likely would have spent.  But it's done for this year, so I have until next year to figure it out again.

I would actually like to maybe make our gifts for others.  A couple years ago I did scrapbooks of our oldest daughter's first year for all the grandparents and those were a hit.  I would like to do something like that again.

Surviving Meringue

Actually, the meringue was the easy part.  Surviving my children, on the other hand, was the not so easy part.  It was my hubby's birthday yesterday.  In my mind's eye I had a perfect day all planned out.  The gist: when he got home, the living room and kitchen would be completely tidy, supper (chicken pot pie) would either be in the oven or just out, the computer would be off the table and the table would have a table cloth and be set with our nice dishes, the girls would be dressed in some nice clothes with their hair brushed and possibly even curled, I myself would have showered and blowdryed my hair.  We would eat a nice meal together and then the girls would give him the cards they had made earlier in the day, along with the present, I would give him my card (he got his present from me in the summer) and then I would unveil the cake I had made.

I have been planning for a couple weeks now to try a new recipe for a Coconut Cream Meringue cake.  It was a three layer cake, with a browned meringue icing.  I made the cake around lunchtime yesterday, and had the layers on my wire rack cooling.  I then went into my bedroom to fold some laundry.  After awhile I realized that it had been fairly quiet in the house, so I went to check on my girls.  Leigh was playing fine in the room, but I found Abby on a chair pulled up to the freezer above the fridge, eating a chocolate bar I had frozen in there.  I gave her a scolding, and took her down.  But when I closed the freezer door, I saw my cake layers on the counter.  All three with big gouges taken out of them. 

I lost it.  Poor Abby had no chance.  She was exiled to her room until Mama was calm and rational enough to be nice again.  And that wasn't anytime soon.  Even when I finally let her out, I don't think I was over it.  The thing was, this cake was a little bit of work, so I might have had time to make another, but it would have pushed some other things off the list.  Also, it takes a lot of eggs, and I didn't have enough left. 

Mark ended up coming home early since him and his co-workers had a funeral to attend.  The house wasn't ready or decorated or anything at all when he got home, but I could get over that.  I was happy he came because it meant I could run to the grocery store for sugar because I ran out. 

Supper ended up being later, 6, though I guess it was actually at regular time, it just felt late because he was home at 5.  The table was not set with our nice dishes, there was no table cloth.  The girls were still in their random-clothes-thrown-on-in-the-morning-that-don't-match-at-all clothes.  I was at least in semi-clean jeans (ususally during the day I can be found in some kind of leisure pant) and a nice t-shirt.  I hadn't showered, and the girls didn't have their hair brushed.

I had prepared the meringue before we ate, but waited until after to ice the cake.  The meringue had actually turned out fairly well.  I waws glad because they can be finicky and I was worried it would flop.  Well I iced the cake, and the cake actually looked much better iced.  It hid all the holes and crumbling.  But I went to try my torch, and the lighter was empty.  And do  you think that any of the other lighters we had in the house would fit in the torch?  Of course not!  So I run out to 7-11 and pick up two more to try.  No such luck.  Mark even went out to find some and his didn't fit either.  So my browned meringue was not browned. 

I was soooooo disappointed.  I had worked hard all day and nothing seemed to work.  I think the only plan that materialized was that the living room was tidied.  The kitchen I tried to keep up on but I had run the dishwasher three times and still had dishes to wash.  Chicken Pot Pie takes a lot of pots.  I had washed my stand mixer bowl at least a couple times during the making of the cake as well.  All this work and things still didn't turn out how I wanted them to.  But I guess that is how life goes, right?  We can't count on anything, especially when we have little kids? 

I had wanted to make Mark's birthday special so he would know how special he was to us.  And he told me that night that his favourite part was when Abby gave him his cards and gift.  She gave him a kiss and a hug, and then another kiss.  Without either of us coaxing her.  It definitly was a special time, and I will have to make sure that that is what I remember.

Now It Feels Like Summer is Truly Over

Yesterday we pulled up the remnants of our garden.  I kind of felt sad doing it, even though the plants were all mostly dead from frost anyways.  Earlier in the week I had harvested the last row of potatoes, and got 24 lbs.  That made me happy.  I had enough carrots left for one last beef pot pie last night (we didn't get a very big carrot crop).  I have frozen beans in the freezer, but only enough for about 2 meals since the crop came late.  And I have been blanching, peeling, seeding, chopping, and freezing tomatoes to save for tomato sauce.  I have around 3.5 lbs frozen and had hoped to get another 5-7 lbs, but we lost a lot of tomatoes to frost.  I brought some green ones inside to try to ripen them here, but I've never done that so I hope it works!  I put them in a box with a banana.  Cross my fingers.

I have to admit that I am what I call a minimalist gardener.  I really like the idea of a garden and enjoy working in it, but I also don't want too much trouble.  I weed for the first couple months but after that I tend to let it go.  I enjoy eating the produce, but am not going to kill myself with tons and tons of different vegetables, and I can't since I don't have a ton of room anyways.  I turned a hillside flower bed into my vegetable garden.  Maybe it doesn't look as pretty, but I like the look of practicality.

<>

My gigantic potato plants with the carrots at the bottom

Potatoes on the right, tomatoes just visible on the left with my onions in the middle on the bottom (I don't want to talk about the onions)

Can It!

I haven't written for the past week because my mom has been down visiting. I love my mom, and I am so thankful that she doesn't ever complain about all the travel she does to come visit us at least a couple times a year. It is a 14 hour drive, but we flew her down here with our airmiles this time. She is such a help to me, always cleaning up, doing the dishes, the laundry, almost everything! She takes the girls for a walk everyday, and always trying to entertain them for me. It is excellent. And I enjoy visiting with her too, though a lot of the time, we just are together in the house, not having depp, in-depth conversations. She will read a book and I will do whatever it is I am doing. (Maybe reading blogs.)

Every fall my mom cans peaches and pears, and this year, she helped me do it. I have never canned before so I was very excited to try. First we went to the fruit stand to buy our fruit, and we decided to only do peaches because the pears were still too hard and we didn't have the time to wait for them to ripen. We only did a 10 lb box. Some were too soft already, and we just used them for pie (which I am baking at this moment). We blanched the peaches to make them easier to peel, but it only worked for some of them. I enjoyed the peeling, even if it was difficult on some of them. We had the syrup boiling beforehand, 14 cups water to 7 cups white sugar. Mom would take our jars as we filled them and pour the syrup in them right away. Once we filled them all and put the caps on we put them in the canning pot, boiling them for 20 minutes.

I actually enjoyed the whole process; it was not as much work as I thought it would be. My mom was obviously there overseeing it, so I don't think I would attempt doing this by myself, but would ask (force) my hubby to help me. He likes to cook and he is the one who likes to eat the peaches. I had borrowed my friend's canning pot, so I think that I will just invest in my own.

Surveying my cans after sealing them, I felt very proud of doing this for the first time. The only down side was that my husband commented that the slices looked small, he was used to seeing canned fruit in quarters. He didn't complain, but I felt like I had disappointed him. Next time I will remember to make the slices much bigger. So maybe next week I will have pears done!