Canning and Cleaning, Cleaning and Canning

Getting things done with an infant in the house takes a LOT of planning, and even more patience. Also? It helps to document every little success throughout the day so that when you get to bedtime and the kitchen is trashed, the yard is littered with bikes and there are piles of laundry everywhere, you can remind yourself, "Hey. At some point today, I Did Things. And that counts."

On Thursday, it was time to put up the watermelon pickles I started on Monday. They take three days to make the pickles - two days of re-boiling the syrup, and then a final day of packing and canning. (Yeah, I was a day late. See? Planning and patience, yo. Planning and patience.)

Start with really clean jars. 

And find your Secret Weapons. Here, we have a funnel and a "magic wand." The funnel is great for keeping the sticky syrup inside the jar where it belongs, and the magic wand effortlessly fishes your canning lids out of their simmering bath. (You need to simmer the lids before you use them, to soften the wax ring around the outside.) Oh, and it's also super helpful to lay a towel down between your pot of sticky stuff and your clean jars for when you are ladling. It makes clean up a lot easier. 

I wished that I had just a little more time to plan and prep that morning - once you get the huge water bath going, it's nice to can a bunch of things at once. Alas, all I had were 6 pints of pickles. 

(Here is the huge black water bath, the small saucepan with the simmering lid, and the big pot of hot pickles, ready to be packed.) 

Also very important? A good helper, glued to your side. (A few minutes after I took this shot, I had to go lay her on a blanket so I could deal with the hot stuff alone. She wasn't thrilled about that arrangement.) 

Finally, pickles! 6 quarts of pickled watermelon rind, to be exact. Yum. 

Let's see. What else did I accomplish yesterday? Oh, yes. At some point in the afternoon, SJ was watching LeapFrog (hey, it's educational!), I was decompressing with some Pinterest time, and Baby Ying Ying was chilling on her blanket on the floor. (Ok, I admit it- the baby loves TV. She was totally watching LeapFrog.) Anyhow, she isn't exactly mobile yet, but she does move. She hates to be on her stomach, so she stopped rolling over right after she started. However, she does like to lay on her back, stick her legs up in the air, and drop them side to side. Doing that, she ends up scooting herself across the floor...a little faster than a slug. So, she's doing her sluggy thing while we all chill and enjoy some peace and quiet. I am keeping an eye on her, and grinned when she finally worked her way off of the blanket and onto the floor. Still happy as a clam. Then I look at the blanket. And see the big wet, yellow spot she's left behind. And look at her laying on my rug. 

*sigh* 

Did I ever tell you how much I love these "enzyme" cleaners? They get all sorts of things  out of carpet.  Blood, grease, spaghetti sauce...and bodily fluids. 

See? All sorts of things. 

Also, I have discovered that Baby Ying Ying doesn't like baths if they are rushed or panicked in any way. Like, for example, if your mother is holding you by just one arm, trying to peel your onesie off with the other hand and avoiding rubbing the soiled clothes across your precious fuzzy head. Like that. Just an observation. 

Finally? EWW.

In hindsight, I probably could have titled this post "Pickles & Poop". It has kind of a nice ring to it, eh?