One Little Ouchie

While DH was hauling hay yesterday, I set to work making a batch of orange marmalade. I wish I could say I liked making it but, I don't. For one thing, I can't eat it. I get frequent canker sores so I avoid citrus fruit as much as possible. And it's a messy job. Once you get the oranges and lemons peeled, you have to get the tough membranes and bitter pith off the sections of fruit. I was sticky and there was orange juice everywhere. I really wanted to throw in the towel before I got it all done. So why did I even start making it, you might wonder? Well, DH loves orange marmalade. He asks for it every year. I try to put it off for 2-3 years in a row but then he will do something crazy (like fill up all my empty hay storage while he's fighting a "man cold" in the below freezing wind chills) and my resolve just melts. This year I decided to make enough for a few Christmas gifts, too.

For some unknown reason, I got distracted while filling the canner full of boiling water with jars of marmalade and skimmed a fingertip into the water. I knew it was going to be a painful burn but I had put so much time into preparing the stuff that I went ahead and finished loading the canner before I treated my finger. So today I am sporting a blister. I'd like to just whine and feel sorry for myself but there is a lesson to be learned instead- to pay attention to what I'm doing.  It's a painful reminder! But it could have been worse.

Does the thought of being hurt stop me from trying to do things for us the "simpler" way? No. But it does make me aware of the need for knowledge about safety and constant attention to whatever I'm doing. There is always a risk of injury when I make something for myself, just as a person could be hurt driving to a store to buy a jar of processed jelly. My little blister will soon be just a memory. But the memory of the smile on DH's face when he gets his toast with homemade marmalade will last longer.