In a Jam

After years of missing out.  I finally went to Brown's Farm at the right time.  Buddy didn't want to pick strawberries (he was having a fussy day), so I bought a tub of strawberries.  Actually, I bought two tubs of strawberries.  Which didn't look like all that much...until I got them home.

That's ok, I'm a pioneer woman.  I used to be a girl scout.  I can do this.  I have never canned before, but I can freeze stuff.  So a short trip to the store later, I had containers and pectin and lots and lots of strawberries.

After a minor excavation, I found Tdawg's protein shake blender.  Pan (check), 3-4 cups pureed strawberries (check), lemon juice (check) and 7 cups of sugar.  Do what??  Find glasses (check). Reread recipe (check).  Yup, SEVEN cups of sugar!  Egads!  Well, I don't have seven cups of sugar.  And I'm NOT going to my neighbor: "'cuse me, can I borrow seven cups of sugar?"  So I use the 3 cups that I have.

Well, in hindsight, I should have used a bigger pan.  We almost had a disaster.  And I don't have a (candy) thermometer.  So I guessed.  Added the pectin and it was a foaming explosion.  Waste not want not.  So the mix (very hot) went back in the blender to de-foam.  And then into containers.

All in all, it worked out ok in the end.  Back to the store again (for sugar) and made a second batch. And we have lots and lots and lots of strawberry...well, not exactly jam.  More like preserves/syrup.  But it is delicious!  I have been having it on my English muffins and it is killer on ice cream!

The Ugly Word

I know one thing, getting old is not for sissies!  They joke about planning their lives around doctor appointments.  That is no joke.  Last month, I had a three hour eye doctor appointment!  It was intense!!  I guess the days of breezing out the doctor's office with just a sticker are over.

Tdawg had an appointment with our dermatologist, Dr. M.  He couldn't make the appointment due to school commitments.  So I took the appointment instead.  I had a something on my foot I wanted removed.  So, while I'm there, I ask Dr. M about a place on my back.  I can't see it hardly at all and it seemed to be hypersensitive (kind of a mole or a scab).  He said that it took priority, the foot could wait. So he cut it off the place on the back and sent it to the lab.

Two weeks later, I go in for the follow up and to take care of my foot.  Dr. M said that the pathology on the spot came back cancerous.  (That UGLY word!  I keep hoping I'll never hear that word again.  It is an odd feeling when you hear the C word, your ears get fuzzy and your mind goes completely blank. Medically, I think it is called "shock").

On a positive note, Dr. M said it is the best of the three skin cancers; basal cell.  He will cut it out in his office the end of this month. There will be a few stitches and no getting it wet for two weeks.  And that should be it.  No chemo.  No radiation.  And probably (hopefully) no other occurrences.  He said that 1/3 of basal cell cancers are sun related.  2/3rds are genetic or unknown.

I don't believe in coincidences.  I think my taking Tdawg's appointment is divine.  And asking Dr. M to look at my back (I was going to just blow it off) was also divine.  I am confident that I will be ok.  But I would appreciate prayers because my mind goes nuts every so often.  I'm fair skinned and have lots of moles, so I start imagining all sorts of things (usually about 2am).