SuperWoman, Crazy, or Just Plain Stupid - wah, wah, wah, etc.

Kelsey called me super woman for forwarding a family history email to her that Uncle Keith sent to me. So today I felt the challenge to do something to actually merit the name superwoman. I really needed and wanted a nap this morning and all was set for it...baby asleep, kids playing nicely (Matthew and Rachel), BUT we were freezing cold! I remembered how when I was juicing the grapes last night (couldn't turn down a box of free grapes- turned out to be a bushel of grapes), the steam warmed the house nicely and quickly. So, I thought, I'll just put in a batch of grapes to steam so my kids will stop freezing while I nap. (We have space heaters for heat - not really an effective way to heat large rooms with high ceilings, no insulation, and old unsealed windows.)

Anyway, last night it only took a few minutes to rinse the grapes and plop them in the steamer. Matthew said he wanted to do the grapes. As I was setting him up, I decided I didn't want the mess. He probably would have been fine, but Rachel was going to want to do whatever he did and then there would have been fighting, and mess, and falling off chairs, and crying and screaming...yeah, no nap. So, I thought I'd help him get a load on quickly and spend a little time with them before ignoring them again for a nap. However, today the grapes are a day older and we are getting to the bottom of the box and there are a lot more rotten ones to pick out and a lot of loose ones. No more just picking up a stem full at a time.

Hours later, the house is a little warmer and we have 6 more jars of grape juice, but I didn't get a nap. Rachel's feet no longer feel like popsicles. Sarah is still sleeping and Matthew is getting ready to catch the bus.

To sum it all up, I have mastitis, a cold (everyone in the house was coughing and blowing noses this morning), am canning grape juice made from table grapes (which I've decided I don't like the flavor so will probably turn some of the juice into jelly at at later date), I have pumpkin and butternut squash waiting to be canned (doesn't look like I'll get to that today), children that need to get up for school at 6:30 a.m., and a baby that doesn't go to bed until at least 12:30 a.m!

I thought I would feel good about getting all of this done under such circumstances. It did feel good to spend time working in the kitchen with Matthew and Rachel, but now that Rachel is asleep, Matthew went to school, and I sat down long enough to notice how wasted I feel -- I just feel stupid - especially since no me gusta el jugo. We made juice from table grapes with a food strainer in the summer and it was great! I don't know if it is the different grapes or the steaming them, but it just isn't the same. The kids like it though and will be more than happy to drink it - and we have something more for the food storage.

Well, I better wake Sarah up and feed her. Hopefully she goes right back out so I can too!