Last weekend C suddenly announced he had bought a box of apricot jammers.  This Sunday was the only day we could order them.  They're from Needmore Farms a lovely organic farm.  Yesterday we made several batches of apricot jam.   My parents came and helped pit and cut the apricots.  Special K did too and did a great job once she figured out what was required.

I have to say my initial reaction was groaning but as C pointed out sometimes "the role of one's partner is help you stretch to do things you wouldn't do otherwise." 

Last night C fed me ice cream and apricot jam and it was delicious.  I had forgotten how supremely better homemade jam is too any store-bought even the most expensive organic kind.

I look at the rows of apricot jam sitting on our countertop and I feel happy.  Thank you C!

I spent some time today writing a letter to my insurance justifying physical therapy with UCSF instead of the local PT company who has no clue what to do with me and my myoclonic dystonia. I've not been nearly as good dealing with this issue as I have dealing with Little T's numerous medical issues.

With some nudging from C, I've gotten better at doing some of the exercises in the handout the PT gave me. The handout says to take an hour a day. I don't see that as attainable right now. I can manage 15 minutes twice a day. I also think it's more sustainable for me to repeat the same set of exercises twice a day. I'm supposed to be stretching and relaxing tense muscles. I find it difficult to learn new things. If I have too many things to remember, I focus on thinking rather than doing, and I jerk a lot more. So I'm continuing my ankle exercises until Dec 15 making it two months of exercises. And I just added exercises to stretch my neck, back and pectoral muscles and one exercise to stretch my arms.

Little T has stretched too. He's started cruising again. He lets me walk him holding his arms again.

I wrote more today, so my manuscript is now 30,764 words.

I also managed to prepare and roast a chicken. All in a productive day.

Making apricot jam was a blast. Jenny, Laurel and I chopped 24lb of apricots and chatted. C and I searched on the Internet for some recipes, but in the end we followed the recipe on the pectin box. The directions were peppered with EXACT. We measured as exactly as one can using cups. Maybe we did it all wrong, but it was surprisingly easy. You just had to keep stirring and pay attention when it started to boil. Definitely not something you can do alone with two children, but "this was like a quilting bee!" Jenny exclaimed.

We mixed apricots, pectin and lemon juice and stirred it until it came to a rolling boil. Then added the sugar and stirred again to a rolling boil and let it boil for EXACTLY one minute, then immediately laddled the jam into jam jars. We boiled the jam jars afterwards to be safe instead of turning them upside down. We tasted the leftover jam and it was just right -- sugar sweet and tart with apricots and a hint of lemon. I hope the jam in jars tastes as good.

My friend Robert claims the right equipment means the difference between a fun experience and a difficult one. I agree with him about jam making. We bought a Back To Basics Home Canning Kit. The funnel contained the boiling sticky jam and made decanting a lot easier. The jar lifter saved our fingers from scalding in boiling hot water. The jar opener gave Special K practice with chopsticks. I thought C was brilliant to think of OSH for canning supplies and so did he. Then today a friend pointed out that it is Orchard Supply Hardware. Doh!

In the first batch, large pieces bobbed to the surface on the boil. So we chopped the rest finer. Jenn displayed her knife skills while Jenny and I watched in awe. The children were louder than her chopping.

Sylvia and Special K played princess. They found "princess shoes, princess necklaces, princess dolls." They dressed up in princess clothes.

We feasted on a delicious supper. We roasted pork tenderloin with apricot and Mary Anne's curry rub. My sister steamed squash and mashed potatoes. Jenny whipped up apricot cobbler.