Oh Hot Damn, This is My Lazy (Strawberry) Jam (More Like Syrup)

Never in my life did I think I would be going to a hardware store to buy small canning jars and canning tongs, then skimming foam off of strawberry jam guts. Never. I was never interested in such things and then married a man who was a cook my profession when I met him. And he also loved to cook at home, so I was like SCORE!

Babies changed that dynamic a little bit and also the man I married ended up having to travel quite a bit so cooking became my thing. I have my staples like lasagna, spaghetti, tacos, meatloaf, chili and such. Things the kids will eat but that are not exactly gourmet. I leave that to the Mister.

I have also always left things like gardening and canning to him. But recently we went strawberry picking and I found myself with a surplus of berries and my man was out of town. What to do with them? My friend over here made some jam and I figured maybe I could give it a shot also. I don't have babies on my hip anymore so an undertaking like this should be easy, huh?

So here's the recipe I used from over here at this site. Immediately I was like, "Okay, so this chick doesn't have kids yet and has all the time in the world to spend 5 hours making jam and I don't have that luxury so I'm going to take some shortcuts." And it worked out just fine. So here is MY version. You decide which one to use!

1. Boil 12 8-ounce canning jars and the flat lids all together. I didn't separate them.
2. Cut the green tops off 13 cups of strawberries. I did not hull them because I didn't have an extra hour to spare. I hoped for the best and it turned out fine. Who cores a tiny little strawberry?
3. Put all berries into a large pot and simmer over medium-low heat while mashing them up with a potato masher. 
4. Add 6 cups of sugar and 1/2 cup lemon juice. Here I should have used real lemons and the rind and taken the rind out later. I did not use pectin because I wasn't running all over Creation to find it and Stacey says it's full of junk anyway, so what's the point?
5. Boil that pot of goodness, skimming the foam off. (yes, we did eat it later), stirring and watching the whole time.
6. After half an hour it should be getting thick. Should be. Mine wasn't even 10 minutes later (do that trick where you put it on a plate and if it's runny you're not done). So I grabbed a box of strawberry Jello-O I just happened to have and put in 6 teaspoons. Shoulda put in the whole box because it thickened it a little bit but not enough.
7. Remove the jars and fill with jam but leave 1/4 inch at the top. Put the lids on and the screw lids.
8. Put jars in boiling water in a huge pot for 15 minutes a batch.
9. Listen for that lovely POP that means they have sealed properly. One one of my 12 did not ... BAM! So we are eating that one immediately straight from the fridge. The rest go to friends or into the pantry.

I could see myself doing this with peaches and more strawberries and even blueberries and stocking up on jams for Christmas gifts. Twelve jars with lids and screw lids were only like $11 so those are about a buck a piece. Then count in the cost of your fruit, sugar and lemons and you have a cost-effective, healthy, yummy gift.

Like I said, mine did not get thick so I'm heading for the pectin next time. For now we are calling it canned strawberry syrup and putting it on waffles this morning!

#WohletzFarmFresh Strawberry Picking

So here is where I did something revolutionary for me: I planned our week. We always have so many cool things we want to do in the summertime and we also have to take into consideration very light homeschooling and swimming and friends and other things. So I tried to make a PLAN. Huh. Cool thing, a plan. Doesn't always have to go perfectly but you can at least give it a shot.

This is a post in pictures of our Tuesday. This day was INSANE. We went to the pool, we went to the free LEGO monthly minibuild, then we trucked it to pick strawberries half an hour away. We ate sandwiches in the car. I almost filled my 12-passenger van with children. I am insane and we had a blast! Needless to say, the Tackle It Tuesday portion of the day was cancelled for the sake of my brain not exploding.

A friend was texting me as I was screenshotting my weight loss for the week in the Weight Watchers parking lot

The gang outside Oak Park Mall after the LEGO build

Sam and Eva were a berry-picking team. I'm not sure why little Sam looks pained :-(

Ciara and Callie = besties

All my little berry-picking slaves and slavelettes ... the best berries around! Nothing like you get in the grocery store ... you have to go and pick your own!

I got a little toasty at the pool earlier in the day

Almost a full van, which is exactly why I always wanted it!

Oops! Forgot about having to process these. Let the freezing begin and I will try making jam later this week.

Free Summer Lunch Programs ... What Do You Think?

Okay, so Monday I wrote about some plans I had for our week. This is the part where I write the blog posts about the week ... mostly because Mr. Kerrie is out of town and it's entertaining for him and also for my parents and also because it's my online scrapbook and also because you might enjoy hearing about what we do and do it yourself!

Today's post might be a little controversial. We just got back from doing the Free Summer Lunch that our local school district is funded for. I took my own 5 kids plus their friend Julia. The free hot lunch program is for kids ages 1-18, so I ate before we went and took my water and some strawberries. The kids had their choice of chicken strips or hamburger, then their other choices were peaches, applesauce, pineapple, salad, broccoli and also juice or milk. My kids are chocolate milk fiends so most of them chose that and were in heaven! There are two weekly menus and they rotate.

Some people disagree with this kind of program, funded by the US Department of Agriculture. The free school breakfast and lunch programs for underprivileged kids is a hot button among political people. I mean, I get that our country is broke. We have no money. But we are still giving handouts left and right and funding programs like this. So I do understand that side.

First Week of Summer Plan 2015!

In order to try to keep my ADD butt in order for the summer I'm going to post our weekly plans here! Then as we do cool things I'll post about them on the blog with photos so you know the awesome things to do in Kansas City and beyond! I love to fit learning in with fun!

Manic Monday:
Daddy leaves town for work (sad face)
Cornstarch science experiment

Swimsuit for Eva
Have a friend over for the kids
Swimming at inside pool because it's only in the 60s temperature-wise
Joel to Scouts

Tackle It Tuesday:
Weight Watchers weigh-in morning

Pick strawberries in Lawrence at a farm (blog post to come)
LEGO monthly minibuild
Pool
Tackle It Tuesday project: the huge toy ottoman

Wacky Wednesday:
Free school lunch at local school with the Hammonds
Parkside to play at park with homeschool and school friends, chat with adult friends, walk around the park
Swim at night

Throwback Thursday:
Zoo? Franklin Park? Pool?

Freaky Friday:
Lowry City with my mom to see my grandma
Pool or park later

Super Saturday:
Home Depot kid workshop because we used to do those with the bigger kids but have not in years and I know Eva and Samuel would love them!
Edibles outdoor class
Swim?

Slow Down Sunday:
Zero plans except to go to Mass at 6:30 p.m.
Catch up on biz stuff while the kids play with the neighbors and go to the park

Other:
Have kids do Khan Academy daily and Callie does Reading Eggs while Littles do ABCMouse.com
Work on more articles for parenting magazines since the simultaneous relaxation/busyness of camping gave me several ideas
Work on Best Summer Ever with Kids ebook
Younique parties online
Jamberry parties online
Try to get together with Courtney
Play with neighbors and friends

My Husband Won't Let Me (or All The Cool Crap Happens to Me at Target)

By now you must be sick of me talking about the stuff that happens to me at my local Target. Yes, the one where that girl was stolen and killed. Gives me the creeps every time I go there. I watch my back there for sure even though the likelihood of anyone stealing 43-year-old ME is basically zero. Anyway, someone is always somewhere in that store ready to give me a rash of crap about having a lot of kids or something and I pretty much expect it now. But tonight was a tad different, and I'm starting to have fun with it. (perks of being older)

So tonight I only had one single kid with me. The oldest one. The one who needed swim trunks like IMMEDIATELY. I love hurry shopping. Not. At the checkout they always try to sell me on the Red Card or whatever and I always say no. They pester me and I say no, my husband says no and that he doesn't like saving money. (sidenote: Mr. Kerrie says they have never asked him about the Red Card, which I don't get because I thought they asked EVERYONE)

So tonight I was in a hurry and I just said, "No, my husband won't let me."

And this young girl looked at me and asked, "He won't LET you?"

And I said, "Well, he LETS me homeschool and run several businesses from home so he's not entirely oppressive. It's just the Red Card."

You can blame my parents for my sense of humor where I like to mess with people and don't take a whole lot seriously! I didn't mean to make myself sound like a simp or anything; it's just that I haven't been with Mr. Kerrie for almost 20 years by ignoring everything he says and being entirely selfish 100% of the time. AND ... you can call yourself a feminist all you want and I'm cool with that. I am one of those myself ... it's all about the choice to live how you want, right? Except you're going to be a divorced feminist with a horribly broken family if you think you always have to have your way and win every fight. Don't worry; I fight the fights that are worth fighting to me and the Target Red Card just isn't one of them.

Honestly, Mr. Kerrie puts up with me and I'm not sure why. He even LETS me keep this messy office space in the corner of our kitchen so I can homeschool and work.