Jam on the floor and the tenderfoot with poison ivy

The aftermath of canning made my kitchen look like a disaster area. It wasn’t as bad as it looked certainly, but it looked awfully bad. I don’t think it would be so bad if it hadn’t been my first time. There was jam everywhere –counters, stove, sinks, towels. I only made the mess worse by cooking dinner before cleaning up (including fried squash) so it took forever to clean up. I thought I’d gotten it all, but then when I was getting breakfast this morning I stepped in something sticky, and sure enough, there was strawberry jam on my kitchen floor! Not the best way to wake up in the morning. ;-)
I also got poison ivy yesterday. I was hanging up my laundry and noticed this vine that has sprung up all over my yard. Robbie noticed it too and asked “Is that poison ivy?” I had no idea; I’d never seen it before (go ahead and laugh, I deserve it). Neither of us were sure. But by last night I started itching, and this morning I had a horrible rash. I went to spend the day with my grandmother like I always do on Tuesdays and today she took one look at me and said “Where’d you get the poison ivy?” She practically made me bathe in hydrocortisone, then when she learned I had no idea what poison ivy looks like she dragged me out to the woods at the edge of her retirement community and showed it to me.
Now I’m sitting here at the computer, benadryled but still itching, and ruefully licking my wounds. Yep, I’m a tenderfoot greenhorn all right –but at least I admit it!