Catching up

Seeing as how I went an entire week without blogging, there were a few things that happened around here. I'll just make a list so we're all caught up with each other.

  • We are continuing the seizure medicine wean with H. The first day of the wean was dreadful. The worst behavior we've ever seen. We have seen gradual improvement, but there are still odd things that seem unusual and I hope will go away as the wean continues. There is also some weird attachment-stuff we're seeing again and I hope we haven't lost ground. In good news, H.'s eyesight is finally 20/20 with her glasses and when using both eyes (as opposed to having one patched.) 
  • B. finished his semester and came home for one day. He left early Sunday morning to fly to Taiwan for two weeks as a part of an environmental studies class. We are all a little jealous.
  • All three older children are gainfully employed for the summer. 
  • M.'s friend and future apartment-mate is bunking here until they can find an apartment. I will admit as proud as I am of my child who is ready to go out into the world on her own, my heart does a little flip-flop every time I think about it.
  • My compulsive gardening continues apace. (And I am so sore.) The front is looking better and all the vegetable plants and seeds are out in the raised beds. The yard will be decent for A.'s party on Saturday. I may not be able to move, but things will look good.
  • D. will start tech rehearsals week after next for Thin Ice's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. If you want to come see D. play Willie Wonka, put the dates down on your calendar. (5/29; 5/30; 5/31)
  • I heard the bad, bad news that there is now a back log of applications at the visa processing center which could slow down our adoption even more. I am trying not to grind my teeth because this, too, is IL's fault. Had we been able to apply when our home study was first finished, we would have missed the back log. Bringing the girls home before Christmas feels as though it has just slipped through my fingers.
  • I spent Mother's Day at the library and then home looking at the books I checked out. We ordered in pizza for dinner. That counts as a nearly perfect Mother's Day in my book.
  • I have a new article up at The End in Mind. It's the second part of my series on Homeschooling the Gifted Child.
  • Has anyone reading here ever done any pressure canning? Is it as scary as it sounds? I've been reading about it and it would be fabulous to be able to can the things you are able to in a pressure canner. But it also sounds a wee bit intimidating. Who has done this?
  • I have finally caught up with the laundry. This is possibly the least interesting thing for you to read on the list, but it is certainly one of the most exciting things for me.
So there you go, our week in bullet points. I'll try to get some pictures of the results of my gardening up in the next couple of days. When I do so, you will be instructed to ooh and ahh. 

Comments

Andrew said…
Re: Pressure Canning
I bought one a couple years ago, and while I've not used it nearly as often as I hoped, it's been successful the couple times I did. It's a little nerve-wracking the first time, when you have this 22 qt pot on your stove that sounds like it's trying to explode. Too much pressure? Not enough pressure? How much noise is the right noise? How much of a jiggle under the weight is right? If I do this wrong, what will happen to my future dinner guests?
But my chicken stock and vegetable broth both seemed to come out just fine. And as a bonus, my previously future guests all seem to be okay.
Maybe I need to pull that out again; thank you for the reminder.
Carla said…
Pressure canning is rather easy. I had been hot water bath canning for years and then when I got married, I put a pressure canner on my registry (I needed to put SOMETHING on the registry. People did not approve of the "no gifts" stance I tried to take.) My new one came with detailed instructions and after doing it once, I found out just how easy it was. Not scary at all when you follow the directions. I might hesitate if I found a really old one at a garage sale or something, but the new one is in great shape and the instructions were clear. No fear!
Amy G said…
We live in Alaska so we have the incredible blessing of having enough fresh salmon to pressure cook in jars every summer. It isn't as scary as it sounds. Just read up, and follow the instruction manual to the letter.

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