A Virtuous Woman Gets Sidetracked--and Overwhelmed

• Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
• She looketh well to the ways of her household
• She eateth not the bread of idleness
• She is like the merchants ships, she bringeth her food from afar

The day this post was started (Monday) was Day 29 of the 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge at Money Saving Mom.  Our task was to clean one thing that really needed it that we'd been putting off--a drawer, a cabinet, the microwave, etc.

It was my intention, when I'd read ahead and seen what Monday's task would be, to clean my microwave--lots of spills and cooked on messes in there that I've been putting off taking care of!

But meanwhile, Saturday on my way to a Women's Ministry meeting, I saw a man selling these beauties on the side of the road, and when he was still there as I left the meeting, I couldn't resist, and stopped and bought a whole flat of these beautiful Louisiana strawberries.

All of you ladies in the cold, are you jealous yet?  April in Louisiana is strawberry season, and strawberries from Hammond are the best.  Twelve full pint baskets and a whole layer of extras on top, I think these flats are the equivalent of about 14 pints that you buy in the store. 

I think I might have lost my mind just a moment when I decided to buy these this week.  Saturday evenings are always busy getting ready for church on Sunday, Sundays are busy with church and getting ready for the week ahead, Tuesday I had a lunch date with a friend who is moving away, Wednesdays are usually my church office day, and Thursday we are leaving on a little trip out state. 

So that leaves--Monday. To do something with all of these beautiful, ripe, luscious berries. I was planning pies and freezer jam, with maybe a little something extra thrown in there, as well.  Meanwhile, I gave one pint away, and we ate another pint. I made my plans, and it seemed doable.

Sunday night I washed jelly jars. 

First thing on the agenda Monday morning was a trip to the grocery store. That was actually my first mistake.  I should have stuck with my morning routine and cleaned and straightened the house first, but I thought I'd get to that later. (Note to self: "Later" never gets here).

Then I thought I'd pre-bake a couple of pie crusts. Umm, something obviously went wrong. (Somehow, in my hurry, I didn't press the edges tight enough, or prick the sides.) But not one to waste food, I decided it would have to do and pressed on.

I started getting berries prepared.  I think I washed and hulled 6-7 pints to start with. 

There were berries everywhere, not to mention the rest of the messes.

About this time, my folks arrived with packages of their wonderful homegrown beef they'd picked up from the meat processing plant, so I stopped and put away their generous gift, then went to their house to help them unload and put away the meat for the rest of the family.  My sister came by, so I stayed to visit for awhile, then my mom fixed us all some lunch, and next thing I knew it was mid afternoon and all I had to show for my day was a bunch of washed and hulled strawberries and a couple of ugly pie crusts. 

So I promptly went back to my house and made two of the ugliest strawberry pies I've ever laid eyes on.

Then I made a small batch of low-sugar freezer jam, and seven jars of what has turned out to be sweetened crushed strawberries, suitable for pouring over ice cream and not much else.  (Note to self: read the fine print that says that smaller batches work best, larger ones may not "set".)  (Either that or I needed to drain some of the juice off so there was less juice, more berries.)  I even tried pouring it all back in the bowl and stirring in some more pectin.  Not such luck. 

At the end of the day, I was tired, frustrated, had a still-messy house, and felt like I had wasted time, money, energy, resources, you name it. 

And had no supper to feed my family. And a still-dirty microwave.

We ate sandwiches.  And pie.

On the bright side, the pies tasted good, even if they weren't photogenic (and you know we bloggers love photogenic)

My husband even poured some "jam" over some ice cream later and declared it the best strawberry ice cream topping he's ever had. 

So this is what I cleaned today--my kitchen. Over and over again. 

As for myself--sometimes I need to plan better.  Sometimes I need to say "no", even to myself, even to something good (like a whole flat of strawberries on an already-busy week).  And sometimes, I just need to lighten up. 

And eat some strawberry syrup.

Until next time...

This post is linked to:

Spiritual Sundays

The Weekend Brew at My Freshley Brewed Life

Make My Home Sing Monday at Moms the Word

Monday Meet Up at Covered in Grace

Homemaking Party at Hope in Every Season