I too encountered a problem like this, only it was in real life. My church organized a one day only of classes you could choose from to learn basic but classic lessons you should know how to run a house. They offered free classes such as, Knitting, Basic Pie Crust Making, Mending, Sewing, Couponing, Canning Jam, ect.. I chose Canning Jam sinceI had watched my Mom can when I was a child, but wanted a refresher course. The lady told us she was self taught (Red Flag #1), that she red up on some of the older methods from our local Library (Red Flag #2) and by this time I was concerned and uncomfortable. Then when she hot packed them and said to leave them on the counter for a couple hours to "seal them" (Red Flag #3), asked if it was safe (full well knowing it wasn't), she said no one in her family has gotten sick yet and that her grandmother did it that way for years. I was upset and sick about this. Here this woman was endorsing an unsafe method to 20 women who didn't know any better. I tried asking her if she was sure that this was safe (in a wussy nice way) saying I remembered my Mom HWB canning them to seal it, but she brushed me off saying if I wanted to I could, "just to be safe". That is where I SHOULD have said "No, it IS safer. The Extension Offices say so and so do all of the new canning books" ect. But I didn't and even my best friend was sucked into the open kettle method. I took her straight to the web and my newest and latest BB canning book and showed her that it is never safe. I feel so bad and awful that so many could hurt their families even though they were just trying to do some good. I am now a total fan of just speaking up and saving some one from being very sick of botulism or worse.

Well, I'm home - in my pajamas, having just indulged in my idea of total comfort food (DH made me a grilled cheese sandwich), and I'm just going through some things here in the home office. Today was a long day ... a good day ... but so draining. The service was lovely; I was surprised at how many attended, especially since Grannie and Grandaddy have outlived many, if not most, of the friends in their circle - still, the chapel was full. The flowers were beautiful and the photos displayed of her at the front were so precious. My favorites were her high school graduation photo (today I wore the little gold bracelet she had received from her parents on graduating in 1934 that she wore in the photo - she was the first in her family to receive her diploma - as well as her jingly charm bracelet), and a portrait taken perhaps a year or two later in which she looked like a silver screen star. She was so beautiful. Of course, I always just knew her as "my Grannie", so it's fascinating for me to consider what her life must have been like as a young woman. It was sweet today to hear stories of what she was once like. How, for instance, she showed herself to be a thoughtful sister when she got up early one Sunday morning before church and polished her sister's shoes, so their mama wouldn't find out that the sister had been out dancing the night before. She looked out for others, always. It was good to see family and friends, both old and new. It was a delight to hold my 8-month old second cousin and watch his brown eyes dance as he took in all the activity around him. It was bittersweet to hold the hand of my Grandaddy. I know it won't be too long before we're repeating this whole process for him. ::sigh:: The readings and sharing of memories during the service, both my own and the parts of other family members, went beautifully. Of course we were emotional. And it was ok. It was an emotional time, so perfectly fine. I think Grannie would have been pleased. I hope that somehow, somewhere, she was able to know that we were there today, honoring her life. Again, I cannot thank you all enough for the outpouring of love and support that you've given me here. It means more to me than I can possibly even express. You are very special people indeed.

I'll be bringing Margaritas, and a heaping tray of shrimp with cocktail sauce. We'll need to stop on Topsail Island (my favorite place on earth) to watch the dolphins play, and I can't leave until I find a couple of shark's teeth. The Karen Beasley Turtle Hospital just won $10,000 from Animal Planet, so we should probably stop there, too, and visit their current "patients" who are being rehabilitated to return to the sea. Where to next? Oh...here are some pictures for your scrapbook... Here is a link that might be useful: Topsail Island

I have to admit that I sometimes "cheat" with the handwriting! For the ABC Album, I found a script font I liked and printed out the titles for each of the pages. I used my lightbox to trace the lettering onto my pages with my Calli pens. This kept the lettering consistant from page to page and lessened my fear of making too many mistakes.