Strawberry Honey Freezer Jam

For the past few years, my mom has had an extensive vegetable and herb garden.

We also have a serious number of strawberry plants. The berries are smaller than the ones you'd get in the store, but have a much stronger flavor (sweeter and juicier).

Starting in 2014, she hired a beekeeping service. So now, in addition gaining several thousand little pollinators, we have fresh, local honey. It is like no other honey I've had before. The color changes from season to season, starting out a very light yellow (straw yellow) and getting darker, with the late fall honey being a dark golden yellow. The flavor gets somewhat richer as the honey gets darker.

My favorite thing to do with our strawberries, besides eating them within seconds of picking them, is to make the following jam:

Two Years After

It has now been about 2 years since I moved back home. I have thought a lot about those two years, and of that rough journey from being a nursing student to being the patient.

Books of 2014 - July

As I worked on this post, I noticed that I desperately needed to read some non-Jodi Picoult books. My boyfriend's been making fun of me, which is a let-down because now I can't tease him for being a John Green groupie.

This is a long post. Don't say I didn't warn you. ;)

My Thoughts on Hobby Lobby

I originally wanted to write some of my thoughts on the ruling on another form of social media, but found I had exceeded a reasonable word count. I moved it here, and might have gotten carried away. But all of it has been on my mind, and it felt good to let it out.

***

I was beyond disappointed in the SCOTUS ruling on Hobby Lobby. I was outraged. As a woman of child-bearing age (what a lovely term), I care a lot about access to contraception. I want to be able to have children when I am emotionally, financially, and spiritually ready, if I decide on motherhood. I do not want to make decisions about contraception based on what the people who own my company (or my hypothetical spouse's company) believe about contraceptive methods.

I have the crazy idea that my decisions about my reproductive health should be guided by my health, my doctor's advice, and my personal wishes. Even though in the real world, there isn't a sacred bubble around a patient and health care provider, there need to be reasonable guidelines for third-party limitations. How is the religious beliefs of a company owner trumping those of an employee "because I believe so" reasonable?

Books of 2014 - June

I only have two books to report on this month. Sorry readers.

I ran out of gas! I--I had a flat tire! I didn't have enough money for cab fare! My tux didn't come back from the cleaners! An old friend came in from out of town! Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!!!*

Actually, this month I've been crocheting a blanket and spent a lot of time tending my mother's garden while she and my dad celebrated a major anniversary.

In addition, I've been preparing for the arrival of my nephew. I have been taking the American Red Cross babysitting course (with such sage advice as following the parents' instructions regarding TV/internet time and acceptable snacks**) and will take a First Aid/CPR class. One of the more interesting tips was how to determine if a toy is too small for children under 3: see if it fits through a toilet paper roll. If it does, it's a choking hazard.

Moving on to the books I read:

Books of 2014 - May

Spitting Blood: The History of Tuberculosis by Helen Bynum
Life Animated by Ron Suskind
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

It's a shorter list than April, so I will give you my thoughts on all 3 books after the jump.

Books of 2014 - update

It has been a year since my last post. Much has happened in my personal life, some of it very joyous, some of it exciting/terrifying, and some of it very sad.

For now things are going quite well. I have a wonderful volunteer job at a local cat shelter, and I have successfully turned my childhood room into a grownup room.

Also, I have been reading a ton of books, thanks to my new Kindle.

January:
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach (started 1/5)
The Autistic Brain: Thinking Across the Spectrum by Temple Grandin (1/28)

February:
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (2/5)
Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick (2/15)

March:
The Borderline Personality Disorder Survival Guide: Everything You Need to Know About Living with BPD by Alexander L. Chapman (3/2)
Dracula by Bram Stoker (3/6)
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (started around 3/15?)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (started around 3/22)

April:
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson (4/3)
You Can Date Boys When You're Forty: Dave Barry on Parenting and Other Topics He Knows Very Little About by... shoot, I forgot the author (4/3) 

Updated to add (on 4/21/14):
"If Your Baby Must Travel in Wartime" by United States Department of Labor - Children's Bureau (1944)
The Etiquette of Engagement and Marriage Describing Modern Manners and Customs of Courtship and Marriage, and giving Full Details regarding the Wedding Ceremony and Arrangments by G. R. M. Devereux (published 1903) - this was a riot and deserves its own blog post
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel  Hawthorne - I liked this way more as an adult than as a high schooler
Big Trouble by Dave Barry - I've reread this a lot but it's always a treat