We had fun in the end, but seriously I did not think this through. We went by my great uncle's house after church because he had said we could pick some of his apples. Luckily I remembered to ask him to turn off the electric fence (the only smart thing I did all day pretty much). Jake decided to change clothes I decided to go apple picking in my floor length dress...dumb...cute,but really dumb! I did not even consider how tall apple trees are and how short I am. Pretty much I held the bucket. I couldn't even move around the much to follow Jake with the bucket because there were tons of yellow jackets and wasps swarming around the fallen fruit. After Jake had picked all of the good apples that we could reach he said that he would need me to get on his shoulders to get some of the higher ones that he wanted...remember that long cute dress...Dumb! I said that maybe I could reach it if I just got on his back not his shoulders. We tried that method, but it put us at just about the same height. So finally I looked around to make sure nobody could see us hiked up my long dress and let him lift me on his shoulders. I thought I was doing great grabbing from one limb to another, but I still couldn't reach the apple that he wanted. According to Jake I was not doing so great after maybe 2 minutes of me flailing around he had to put me down. He said he could barely hold on to me because I wouldn't stop squirming. We ended up working together and I held down a limb so that he could grab the apples off of it. We ended up with about half of a 5 gallon bucket full of apples.
It called for 15, we had more than 30! It worked out though because we picked them a few days before I was ready to make the apple butter so a few had spoiled.
#3 I definitely underestimated how long it would take me to peel, core, and cut this plethora of apples.
Well I remembered having a three in one apple peeler, corer, and slicer that I had used once before. Apparently one use was not enough for us to keep it so it had long since traveled to the land of Goodwill. After doing all of this by hand for over two hours I would I've my right arm to have the three-in-one back and I now consider it to be the greatest invention man has ever created!
#4 I have to learn to read the directions all the way through before I start a project!
I read cook the apples on high for two hours and then pinned the recipe. I must have missed the next step, which is cook on low for 6-8 hours and according to my Aunt Patsy I should really cook it 10 more hours. I didn't start cooking until 3.
To sum things up I will now be canning apple butter sometime between midnight and 3 AM! This apple better be amazing. In other news I got finger printed today to start subbing so yay! That was an adventure all it's own. I couldn't find my new social security card this morning. Luckily I thought my appointment was thirty minutes earlier than it was because when I got their I realized I had left the cash to pay for it on the coffee table and didn't have enough with me. I walked to the nearest bank...turns out they closed that bank. I walked back to my car drove to the next bank and had to pay a fee for using it because I don't bank there. Then I tried to hurry back to the board of education and found out that all of the roads back to it were closed for construction...great! Then I passed the public parking lot because i wanted to get closer so I wouldn't have to run so far to get back to the office. All of the parking lots around the education building threaten towing and say that all of the spots are reserved even though only maybe half of them are being used. The two visitor spots were obviously old and outdated because they were blocked traffic. I parked illegally and prayed that nobody would find my car before I could get back. I made it back and the appointment took maybe five minutes I apologized for being late and the lady then informed me that I was actually on time. I should be in the system by next week and I'm praying that the Lord will let me the right people and make the right connections to maybe get my own classroom by next year. At the same time though I think why I am I praying for such small things my God is greater than that and His plans are always perfect so I trust that I will meet whoever I am supposed to and whether I have a classroom in a month or if it takes ten years it will be perfect. It may not be the perfect class as in it wont have it's own issues, but it will be where I am meant to be. Thank you Lord!
