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The No. 1 thing you're not supposed to do when you have a medical problem is to Google it.

GUESS WHAT I'M DOING TODAY?

Jammin!

Canning combines some of my favorite hobbies, including cooking, couponing, and gardening.

Since it's March, I'm not doing much gardening these days. I'm dreaming of days when my tomatoes are growing like crazy and taking over my yard.

Until then, I have to watch sale prices at the store if I want to can. When I went to the store the other day, blackberries were on sale for 99 cents. Jalapenos are crazy cheap, and are under $1 per pound.

Blackberry jalapeno jam, here I come!

I started following one recipe, then I scratched that and followed another. I added some of my own touches in the middle, because I thought it'd taste better and I'm a rebel like that.

Namely: The recipes told me to mash the blackberries with a potato masher. I tried that, but nothing really happened. Maybe the blackberries weren't quite ripe enough for that?

You can't really stop canning in the middle of a canning session, so I improvised. I pulled out my blender and stuck the piping hot mixture in it. That's stupid dangerous, but I made do. Plus, I still have all of my fingers and toes. (Score.)

This jam is the most gorgeous color of red I've ever seen. It's my favorite color of red, that deep, dark red wine color.

I made two recipes. I spent $5 on blackberries, 79 cents on jalapenos, and around $1 on lemons. I already had the sugar, pectin, jars and lids.

For a grand total of around $7, I made 17 cans of jam.

...you could say I'm jammin!

One of my favorite things to do is to stay in my kitchen after I take the cars out of the water bath. Those sweet 'dings' are music to my ears.

Pure happiness.

Boom!

Hair

I took the twins to see Beauty and the Beast on Sunday afternoon.

When I was getting ready that morning, they watched everything I did. I straightened my hair, and they told me that Grandma doesn't do that. (She doesn't.)

When I put make up on, I put their make up on. Not really, but they thought I did. They asked for make up on their 'paint brush' which I thought was pretty cute. (Paint brush = make up brush.)

I did their hair in pony tails. It was a little tricky, because I didn't have little girl ponytails at my house. I had to use the ponytails that I use instead.

We made do, and their hair looked pretty cute.

The curly haired twin had some rats that I had to comb out. I put some product in her hair, and admittedly, I pulled her hair while putting a pony in.

She didn't cry, though.

When I was done, she turned around, put one hand on her hip and told me: "Monta," which is her way of saying Monica. "That was the pits."

Jumping issues

I spent a lovely almost 24 hours with two of the coolest 3-year-olds I've ever met over the weekend.

We hit two playgrounds in two days, did nails, and went to a movie. Expect my blog posts this week to be things they said during the time I had them. (You're in for a hoot.)

I'll start with Sunday morning. The twins woke up, went to a chair in my room, stood on it, looked up and saw the moon out of the window.

Curly-haired child starts jumping.

"I can't reach it!" She tells me.

Well, I said, if you jump a little higher, maybe you can reach the moon.

:)

I love those goobers.

Only to find your memory train...creepin

I really, really want to click on 'tried it!'

...does that make me a bad person?

Swoon. He's a dreamy dreamboat.

Dignity, grace and class

I haven't been blogging much recently.

My life has been fairly mundane, and nothing new or exciting is happening.

Last week, there was a day when the wind was out of control. My co-worker and I noticed our eyes burned when we were outside. To be honest, I was nervous about something else and I wasn't paying much attention to recent happenings.

It turns out there was a fire, maybe a mile or two from where I live and work. (I don't know the exact distance, maybe it's three miles.)

There was a rumor going around town that a house burned down. Back in the day, everyone took swimming lessons at this house. This house, along with the people who live in it, are literally the definition of my childhood.

Rumors swirled around for a day or two. Then, the son posted photos on Facebook. The house survived, with some damage to its siding and windows, but everything else was gone.

For the record, I think the fire got seven homes near town.

Anyway, a couple of days after that, my Dad asked me if I wanted to go to their house. The owners of the house with the pool had asked him to look at and possibly fix something.

Sure, I said.

I followed him out there, and talked to the wife while my Dad tinkered around and tried to fix the issue.

Donating money is great, and donating food is also great, but part of helping people just involves being there. The wife remembered me right away, asked about my life, my mom, and things like that.

"You look different from the last time I saw you," she said.

Yes, aging 25 years does that to a person.

:)

After we left, I told my dad something.

There was not an ounce of anger in anyone's voice at that house.

It's easy to place blame, to say that the fire never should have happened in the first place.

But that evening, no one at their house was angry. They thanked and credited firefighters for saving their house.

The pool that I swam in when I was little looks a little...different. Not even the pool liner survived, but you can see a part of the handrail that led into the pool. It now leads to a blackened hole in the ground.

If I ever go through something like that, in the face of tragedy, of adversity, and of trying times where losses are monumental, I hope I show an ounce of the dignity, grace and class that they showed me that night.

I didn't go there that night to take photos, or even to write a blog post about it.

I went there because I care.

I sent money to another family who lost their house, also because I care.

Because that's what you do when this happens.

You care.

You help.

I really ought to call and thank you

Less than a month away, people!

Giving thanks

There's been a lot of death around my parts of the world lately.

Around two weeks ago, an accident just outside of town killed a woman and her kids. That stretch of highway is one I drive often. In fact, I just drove that way on Monday.

A friend's Dad passed away about two weeks ago as well.

Last week, I had some errands to run. I knew it would be quicker to run around town by myself, but I found myself driving to my Mom and Dad's house instead.

I went and collected my Dad, then went around town to the different stores I needed to go to. We bought paint, and I got some other stuff I needed for my house.

Then, we went to my brother's house. We watched the twins ride their new wheels, and when the twins said "Monta's house!" I couldn't tell them no.

It would have been faster to run errands myself, but in the back of my head I knew that hanging out with family is something that many people wish they could do.

The twins came to my house and helped me clean up my yard. I got chased and smacked with a big stick. I showed the twins the new grass coming up in my yard. I sighed as they demolished the leaf and twig pile I had just finished raking.

When we were done with my yard, we headed to the playground. One of my favorite things about my house is that I can walk to the playground with them.

We played hard, guys. Grandpa and I went down the slides, holding their hands. We went out to eat afterward, and the twins were pooped. One laid her down on me and the other one laid her head on the table.

They were done for the day.

I would have gotten a lot more done on my own that day. In fact, I didn't get much of anything done, except hanging out with my family.

I'm okay with that.

You never know when things are going to be taken away from you. That day, I choose to be thankful for what I have in my life, slow down, and enjoy the little things.