Bloneliness is next to Blappiness

The secret to blappiness (blog + happiness) is getting more than twenty comments on one post. So if you're ever feeling blonely (that's blog + lonely), host a giveaway and the commenters will come flocking!

And on the subject of blappiness.....I am really touched by how many commenters want to win a blankie so they can GIVE IT TO SOMEONE ELSE! Who wants to win a prize that they don't want to keep? REALLY GENEROUS PEOPLE, THAT'S WHO. So keep commenting...

Did I mention that you get an entry for every comment you leave on each post I write between now and May 27th?

No kidding! So keep 'em coming! And I'm checking for blogertisements, too -- (blog + advertisem....you get the idea) so you people can really rack up the entries really easily!

In the meantime....today's Blote ("Blog of Note") comes from Beeswax . People, if you haven't read her post already today, go pay her a visit. She has a gift for wit -- so many of you all do! That's why I love blowsing (see if you can figure that one out for yourself) -- I know there are lots of other words for hopping from blog to blog, checking out what total strangers are up to -- but Beeswax's story got me thinking, and instead of a leaving a novel-sized comment, I decided to share my story here instead.

I come from a long line of canners. Women who can. As in fruits and vegetables. These women were survivors of the Great Depression, multiple wars, and periods of rationing where the process of canning was not only a life skill, but a necessity in order to prevent waste and improve independence.

Wow. When I put it that way, I feel even more guilty than I already did.....

Anyway, I grew up helping my mother during harvest time on our little two-acre piece of land, putting up gallons of peaches, and pears, and applesauce, and grean beans, and tomato sauce, and everything else that could possibly be preserved from our modest little family garden and various trips to the orchards. It was hard work, let me tell you -- and I'm probably preaching to the choir -- but there was nothing more satisfying and beautiful than a pantry full of gorgeous jars and jars of all our hard work, lining the floor to ceiling cupboards in our garage.

So....when I got married and received my first canner, I thought, Now I Am A Homemaker.

=

And then it sat on the shelf for about six years.

The bottom line was, I was scared to do this by myself. Had I an ounce of courage, I would have called my ward RS president and cry for help, but honestly, I justified my inactivity with all kinds of excuses. Time, money (it's not as cheap as people think!), desire .... we didn't have much of any of that then, so I buried the guilt and went on with life.

Until we bought our first house. In our backyard was a lovely little shade tree, just off the side of the covered patio. My kids loved to play around that tree in the summer time, and for the first year or two, we never figured out what kind of tree it was until, one dark and stormy winter's night, the patio roof came crashing down-- and sideways-- right on top of that tree.

When we sorted out the deluge, we thought the tree was destroyed, but as it turned out, the roof simply pruned it. But we weren't sure if it would survive the rest of the winter.

So imagine our surprise when the following spring, that tree bursted out in blossoms that eventually became... plums! Round, plump, purpley-red morsels of sweet, tangy, yellow yumminess that were such a delight! We ate them until we were sick of them, gave them away, and let the birds have as many as they wanted until my grandmother let me have it. (The cultured, feisty, Spanish-speaking grandmother... remember her?)

Grandma was thoroughly disgusted that I hadn't done something to prevent this waste. So, dutiful granddaughter that I wanted to be, I proceeded to pick off every ripe plum one day, without a clue of what I was going to do with them.

Five or six ten-gallon buckets later...I called Grandma and asked, "Okay, what now?"

• She gave me recipes.
• She brought me jars.
• She loaned me her dehydrator.

I was all set. I had my canning apron, an endless supply of sugar and pectin and all the other goodies you need. What I didn't have was any gumption whatsoever.

• I learned that some plums are meant just to be eaten -- not cooked.
• I discovered that plum jam has a shelf life of about ten years. (Especially if you're going for the Attractive-Paper-Weight creation, and not Edible-Toast-Embellishment ~ the stuff was awful! We finally through the jars away last year).
• I learned that canned stewed plums have no redeeming value as a dessert or side dish, since there are very few ways to prepare them other than....stewed.
• It was also revealed to me that, while prunes have their own redeeming qualities, eating a dozen or so a day is not a good idea for kids that are potty training.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of my success as a Can-Not girl. The only other time I ever got involved in preserving any kind of fruit was at the home of my good friend who took charge and told me what to do when, and by the end of the day, I had a dozen jars of freshly canned peaches to my credit. She had about ten dozen jars of her own, so we didn't do too bad.

But please, oh powers that be, please do NOT call me to the be the ward canning chairman!

I'll take on quilts any day instead.....

I've gotten a few emails asking to see a sample of some of my other creations. I started a blogfolio some time ago, but I just can't keep up with more than one blog at a time, so here they are...

The black and white blankies you see here are among my first creations. They are so much fun to make, but much more time consuming than the blankies we made for the bazaar. These are a lot of fun to personalize!

1. 2 3 45

1. I made this blankie for the Young Women in our ward. Each girl gets to take it home for two weeks, and while she has it in her possession, she is challenged to finish one personal progress experience. It's gone around the ward several times, and it has been fun to see what the girls have accomplished!

2. Emma helped me make this schoolhouse quilt for one of her teachers who retired last year. All the kids and teachers signed the back.

3. I found this Clifford Pillow panel in the bottom of a box of scraps, and one my friend's son is a Clifford FREAK, so we surprised him with this for his birthday.

4. Paisley is the new Baby Girl Name of the Year! This scrappy classic was made for a Paisley Marie.

5. I think I've blogged about this before, but this quilt was made from a set of fatigues that belonged to a soldier who came home from three tours of duty in Iraq. He was present at Falusia when they captured Sadhaam Hussein, and now that he is home for good, he and his wife were finally able to start their family and this blankie was presented to their little Carson.