Today was a day spent at my mother's house for the most part, at least. We did go to Michael's for ribbon, Famous Footwear to get the twins and mommy new shoes, and to Target to get another bag and LOTS of tissues for the allergy afflicted amongst us. Then my mother and I stayed behind at the house while my stepdad went to work, and my dad picked up my sister and husband to do the first load of clearing out the storage unit.
We picked some oranges off of our good neighbors tree (so very very delicious let me tell you! If you have a chance to get some California oranges this year, I would recommend it!) and set to work making marmalade! First we used a vegetable peeler to peel half of the well washed oranges, and one of the lemons. Then we peeled the citrus as well as possible, trying to get most of the "white stuff" off. I cut each of the fruits in half then used kitchen scissors to snip the hard white skin off of the middle of each of the slices, then chopped them all up and seperated the slices throwing it all into a big bowl and keeping all the juice that slipped out. While I was doing this, my mom took the rinds that I had peeled and put them into a pan with some water and baking soda and let them boil for 20 minutes. I got the three biggest remaining oranges and juice them, getting almost exactly 2 cups! We put the oranges, the juice, the rinds, the pectin and 11 cups of sugar into the big pot to boil for about 10 minutes, then as I left to go clean out the storage unit, my mom ladled the marmalade into the prepared jars and fixed the lids, turning them all over to seal.
At our storage unit it was discovered that a large amount of water had entered the unit during our extreme rains earlier in the rainy season, and much of the contents of our unit were not sporting some not so great spots. Mold. Luckily it appears that we had gotten to the unit early enough that the mold had not spread far, and we immediately threw out the offending objects.
After my dad, sister and I finished cleaning out the unit and returned to my mom's house to drop off all the stuff, my dad left to go rest his aching back at his own home. My mom went inside to mind the kids, and make dinner, while the rest of us sorted through the massive pile o' junk on the front lawn, putting things that we wanted to keep into my stepdad's barn, and throwing the rest of it into a big pile for Ray and my dad to take to the junkyard first thing in the morning.
My mom made us pan cooked sausages and potatoes, steamed seasoned Brussel's sprouts, and a lovely salad with carrots, lettuce and cabbage! A basic meal that fed the starving hearty crowd that had just worked all day!
As I sit in my mother's room, typing away on her computer, listening to the random chatter and the sounds of children playing, I am very thankful for a day full of accomplishments and work well done. I love to be with my family and love to be able to laugh and joke with those closest to me. I am so very blessed to be able to share moments like this with my parents, moments where we can work side by side to accomplish what we alone could not. It is something that I look forward to doing with the twins as they grow up, and I am looking forward to each and every day! Nos pars!
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