Preoccupied

Yes, I have dropped off the face of the earth. The only place that has seen me over the last three days is my kitchen. What that means, thankfully, is that I have finished canning 29 qts of sweet cherries and 93 qts of peaches along with 10- 1/2 pints of peach jam. YUM. But I am so done standing in one place for 14 hour days. Of course, my kitchen is still a mess. See for yourself :)

 I got done with the peaches around noon yesterday and thought I might have the afternoon off!! Sadly (and good timing!) the cherries came in the mail from Traverse City. Oh, wonderful cousin of mine.

 I opened them with trepidation. After all, 2 days in a box with warm, wet cherries is the perfect recipe for mold.

 But these fabulous insulated boxes did their job! I am so impressed. I will be keeping these and recommending them :)

My cherry pitter worked great, but made for stinky compost this morning. I think the flies love me. The neighbors, on the other hand, might not.

And my floor is spattered with cherry juice. My dog is pretty happy about that. My skin is not. Let's just say that my entire body looks like that floor. And, unlike the floor, cannot be simply wiped off. I've got extra special freckles for a week...

This was morning yesterday. By evening, the entire island, the table on the left, and the counter on the right (not in the picture) are also covered with sticky canned goods. And there are dishes piled sky high. And the floor is disgusting. Let's just say I have my work cut out for me. However, all of that will have to wait.

I am teaching a tatting class this morning. So I am dressed nicely, and I plan on ignoring my hideously dirty kitchen until later this afternoon. Mmmm, getting paid for sharing something I love. It's so wonderful.

Speaking of wonderful things, I got this package in the mail from the fabulous tatting-marie! I was so impressed. I've never done an exchange before, and to receive so many tatted things at one time... wow. Thanks to Aileen for putting on the exchange! And check out these goodies!

Thank you so much, Marie! I sent out something quite different... I hope it is appreciated, too. I'm a bit nervous now.

More tatting to get done this weekend, after running a 10K and other things. Hmm, I don't think I've eaten yet this morning. Have a great one, and hopefully I have progress to report on Monday.